Normally you would think me UNlucky when a pedal falls off my bike. Not so this morning…I was about halfway to work when my left pedal started feeling loose. I stopped to check, but it looked fine so I continued on. A few minutes later though, not just my pedal but my left crank fell off entirely!

I needed to get to work, and it was too early to call home for help, so I walked the bike to the nearest subway stop and begged them to let me get on even though it was rush hour (no bikes 7-10am). Got off a stop early by mistake, and almost decided to take the commuter rail home instead but got back on the subway. Following my transfer from the Orange Line to the Red Line, had to wait for the second train which had space for me and my bike (first train was packed).

Got to work eventually, figuring I would kill some time until local bike stores opened. But on the way up the ramp to our building, I bumped into Ken P., whom I knew from working with Sloan A/V. He hadn’t seen my road bike and wanted to give it a look. When I pointed out that my left crank & pedal had fallen off, he said “No problem, let’s fix it up for you.” Less than a half-hour later, I was back on two wheels. Ken happened to have all of his bike tools with him, including wrenches, lubricant, and a leather hammer (for aligning the crank on the bottom bracket).

When the crank fell off, I figured I was out a couple hundred dollars and wouldn’t have my bike for a few days & I was cursing my decision to buy via craigslist. But thanks to Ken, I’m all set! So here are all the ways I was lucky this morning:

1. I’m lucky the crank fell off less than a mile from a subway station and not somewhere more remote on my 13-mile commute.
2. I’m lucky the crank fell off ten feet after I got on the bike path and not anywhere earlier in the nine miles I pedaled, where I would have had to go into the road/traffic to retrieve the lost pieces
3. I’m lucky that I got off the subway one stop early by mistake, and that the first train after the transfer was too full for me. If either of these hadn’t’ve happened, I wouldn’t’ve run into Ken
4. I’m lucky that I had a crummy classroom last semester without any A/V equipment, which is how I got to know Ken in the first place
5. I’m lucky that, despite our frequent bike conversations, he had never seen my road bike so that he was curious enough to stop instead of just waving and moving on when he saw me from a distance
6. I’m lucky I left home at 6am instead of my more common 9am departure
7. I’m lucky this happened today and not last Saturday, when I was doing a 40-mile ride on Martha’s Vineyard and would’ve been completely stuck

I’m thinking I should buy a lottery ticket or something 🙂