Victory

Hi, friends! I hope your weekend was full of rest and play, and that you got to drink that icy glass of lemonade on the patio. Mine was full of biking. Yes, it's true: I conquered my bike rack's very sturdy, very hard to move metal pins.

First, though, some folks gave me some advice:

Advice #1: Why not use a ratchet or a makeshift twisted tourniquet to squeeze those two wires together until you can align them both and then gradually release the pressure allowing them to insert as you describe? Or go get a gorilla for a boyfriend and have him do it.

Advice #2: What you need, Sarah, is to gather all said parts and instructions, bundle it up, take it back to be your store, look helpless, find the best looking young man with lots of muscles and ask for help. They often are easily influenced by a beautiful smile, an asset in which you are highly qualified. Wish you were closer. Your uncle would be happy to help.

Advice #3:  I was looking at the picture of the rack, and maybe you could un-assemble it a little bit by unscrewing the the screws near the top so you can move the black part around better? And then screw those parts back in. Or maybe that is too much work or will make it worse... in that case, I would call for a muscle man.

Advice #4: Dirk

There are three comments I'd like to make about this advice.

First, Dirk is a childhood friend who can take a pile of miscellaneous, complicated mechanical parts and make them do cartwheels, the rhumba, and the moonwalk across the table. He just has a way of getting them to do what he wants. Naturally, his name is one of the first that comes to mind when I need something fixed or built. Apparently his name is also the first to come to mind when others are giving a mechanically challenged girl advice for her bike rack.

Second, the first three pieces of advice all have something in common: they all ultimately advise me to find a big, strong man to help me. I like this advice. I like it a lot. Keep it comin', folks. 

Third, although this advice is all quite helpful, I didn't end up needing it after all. Because it turns out I have the brute strength of an ox. That, combined with a handy pair of pliers, enabled me to muscle the pins into their respective holes. And voila! the bike rack was complete.

The next morning I had the bike rack and beach cruiser secured to my car, and I was off to Newport, where a girlfriend and I had a lovely day cruising around the back bay before heading to the beach for some glorious sun and sea.

And not a hiccup did I experience with that bike rack of mine. It's turned out to be a solid, secure and reliable little guy. No doubt thanks to those pins-that-won't-budge...

Happy Monday, y'all!



© by scj