One good turn deserves another

When I went out to my bike this morning, I noticed that a couple of screws that hold the rear rack on were loose. I tightened them up and rode to work. They may have loosened during the 200K on while the bike was on the bike carrier on the car. When I got to work I noticed that one of the screws that I hadn't tightened was missing. I don't know if fell off during my ride or sometime earlier. I decided to stop at Maplewood Bicycle on the way home.

On the way home, my foot slipped off as I was clipping in and knocked one of the nuts of the front fender. I figured that this was something else that I could get fixed at the bike shop.

I little while later, someone called out to me from a bus stop on the other side of the street, "Hey, have you got any pliers?" Since I did have pliers I told him to hold on and I turned around and went back. He had some electric hedge clippers and something was caught between the blades. I let him use my Leatherman to fix it. He said that he rode a bike and that he used to live in Alaska. Oddly enough his name was A.J.

After helping him out, I rode off into the sunset (Well, it was evening and I was headed west). When I got to the bike shop, they replaced the screw and the nut. They didn't charge me anything. They told me that I could pick up the wheel tomorrow. Support your local bike shop and they will support you.