I bought a bike. It's what people do here. Didn't want to pay full price so I waited 'til a garage sale had one in stock. Twenty bucks. The owner let it sit out in rain once. I bought a lock but I am not sure which is protecting which. "Nice lock... but I'd hate to steal that bike to get it." They have a symbiotic relationship.
The first thing I had to do was adjust the gears. It's a ten speed but only five were going when I rode it home. I adjusted a few screws and BAM five more speeds. I rock. Next I adjusted the rear brake. After seven or eight tweaks with no improvement I decided to try wiping the WD-40 off the wheel frame. I must have missed that lesson on fixyourbikeyourselfyounerd.com.
It had its christening yesterday as rode it into town. Half-way there I begin feel grinding rubber slowing me down every time I peddled. The breaks you ask? Have you already forgotten I adjusted them myself? No, it wasn't the breaks. The bolt holding the rear wheel was loose. The owner must have missed that in his twelve point inspection before he sold it to me. So here I am in the middle of town with a loose bolt and no wrench. So I asked myself, "What would Macgyver do?" I checked my pockets. All I had were my keys and some receipts. I pulled my carabiner off my key chain and compared it to the size of the bolt. A perfect fit. In no time we were back in action.
I may have inherited some of my dad's mechanical genius yet. Maybe next I'll try something really wild and adjust the seat.