This week saw all three bikes in use.
Tuesday night, Idid not listen to the little voice that suggested I ask if I could bring my bike in tothe lobby at Cinematheque. I was really late for the movie already and I don't know how to use the elevator while the stairs are tall and high so it is prohibitive to carry her up.
When I came out 1 hour and 40 minutes later, I swung my bag off my shoulder to put it on my rack only to discover the rack was gone, my cables were dangling loose from being cut and the front fender was loose.
After bellowing in rage and cursing loudly and repeatedly, I began a cold and angry walk home. A short chat with a homeless guy huddled in an alcove (beginning with a probably unwise "did you take stuff off my bike?!") cooled me down a bit as I realized how grateful I was to have a warm home to go to with food in the fridge to eat and no relationship drama preventing me from seeing beloved family members.
The futility of the theft still makes me mad, though.
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Later in the week, it was not the hour standing outside at minus I don't know what at a vigil but the removal of my mitt momentarily to send a text message update that pushed me into "too cold to do anything" territory. The reason for the vigil was a horrific tragedy -- a well-loved woman full of life who died after being mowed down by a car while simply trying to walk across Osborne -- but I was exhilarated by the "success" of the vigil. The combination of those two emboldened me to try something I've heard others talk about doing: I just rolled my skyline into the store with me.
Not a single person blinked. I even said a cheerful "have a good evening" to the security guard as I rolled past him on the way out, in part as a test, and he too merely said "you too" and made no further comment.
I might say this will make winter so much easier if I can take the fatgirl into the grocery store with me when I need a shop, but I can't expect things to go quite as smoothly. the skyline doesn't take up very much space. The fatgirl on the other hand, is ridiculously wide, impressively large with her balloon tires, and -- and this is the worst -- she has no kickstand. Keeping her from falling over can be a challenge at the best of times; while trying to wrangle a basket of groceries need not apply.
On the other hand, after the incident at Cinematheque, I'm going to feel nervous every single time I lock up the fatgirl now, so not having to leave her out in the cold at the grocery store would be a boon! She's always been the most tempting of all my bikes.
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Yes, the fatgirl finally came out this week.
There have been a number of close calls but I kept risking it with the omafiets and skyline. A light dusting of snow would fall from the sky but no appreciable precipitation would build up on the roads. I'd almost forgotten winter's arrival was inevitable as it is LONG overdue when I woke up to white streets on Saturday morning. A short ride on the skyline wasn't terrible but I rode cautiously.
A short ride later on the fatgirl was the annual reminder of how uncomfortable the geometry is on the fatgirl, but also why I ride her: I felt confident and stable on the increasingly snowy streets.
By later in the evening when I took a longer ride, my appreciation for the fatgirl was tripled. Busy intersections were total skating rinks. From nothing to full on winter in 24 hours or less!
This has got to be by far the longest non-winter biking season. It was extended at both ends, with a very early switchover in April and an extremely late switch on the penultimate day of November. Mixed feelings, as I said to another lady in the elevator about the late arrival of winter: we know the land needs it....but it sure was nice living without winter!
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