A Lesson on Fixing a Chain and Kindness
I realize I haven’t given you an update on my two wheeled adventures since getting my new bike in May. It has totally changed my commute, and I’ve only taken the metro once since I got my bike six weeks ago. As a means of getting from point A to point B, I’m totally smitten. I am, however, still learning to love the long rides. Most of them have been characterized by at least some level of adversity (weather, poorly developed internal navigational beacon, etc. etc.) My mom is concerned about my number of “near misses,” but I’ve assured her that with each one I’m learning something. On my most recent ride, for example, I learned about fixing a chain… and about kindness.
On Monday I set out on a ride to Mt. Vernon to meet my family for the Fourth of July festivities. Having pumped up my horribly deflated tires, I was having a much better ride than the one I had on Friday… until I stopped too quickly on a wooden bridge and my bike flew out from under me. I landed on my feet and was totally fine, but my chain came off and was fairly tangled. Admittedly, I do not know as much about bikes as one should if they are going to set out on 20 mile solo rides. As I was looking at my tangled chain, pondering what I was going to do and whether YouTube might be able to help me, a guy and gal came around the corner and recognizing my dilemma, offered to help. He said, “a Bianchi, I love Bianchis!” flipped my bike over, and they proceeded to show me how to fix it, getting quite greasy in the process. I felt so incredibly lucky that they just happened to be coming around that corner at that very moment, and couldn’t help but think, “is this some act of kindness coming back to me?” While I thanked them several times, I didn’t get a chance to tell them just how much their act of kindness changed the course of my day, or that promise I WILL pay it forward (and learn basic bike maintenance!) At the macro level, the world can be a pretty scary place, but I really do believe when you focus on the micro level, kindness prevails. And that you should always pay it forward. As far as my lessons in biking go, I’ve learned that when you become a biker, you become part of a community, and it’s one that’s filled with kindness. Oh, and I’m pretty sure I could now fix a chain.
