Well, no, not really. But I did take apart and successfully reassemble the brakes on my road bike this weekend. I judge my success by the fact I made it into work alive -- and although my trip was speedy, I stopped at every stop sign.

Since I've been leaving my car downtown, my bike has been my only transportation when I'm not at work. On the way to get dinner and groceries Thursday night, my rear breaks squealed like crazy. Then not at all. Because one side of the brake ripped away from the rim and was dangling by the break cable like an abandoned marionette. So we limped along to dinner with only front brakes on my bike (I was really, really hungry.)

So Saturday, I hopped on Yellow Bike and we headed for Bill's to get parts. The thing about Yellow Bike it has, by design, a really upright frame, so you sit like a giant sail. Which was great for Greg, who rode behind me, because it was like peddling away behind a brick wall. For me, it was like a cartoon where the character's legs spin like mad, but she goes nowhere. Nowhere.

What a happy coincidence that Greg decided to pick last week to give up coffee! He stared at my breaks for about an hour first thing Sunday morning. Every 15 minutes or so, he'd say, "I don't know how to do this."

I had a whole pot to myself, so I was sufficiently amped to fix the breaks. And ,now, they're better than ever.

 Leslie