Bike Lesson – Another Reason(s) to Carry a Good Lock

Bike Lock Kept the Rear Wheel From Bouncing Out of a Short Bus Bike Carrier

Actually, based on my post count, this is bike lesson number 968. Some of those I have attempted to pass along from long experience and learning from others. Others have been learned by me by experience I gained without any explicit attempt to do so. Put this one in the second category.

To make a long story less so, this morning I was asked by the motoring part of the family to take the family SUV in to Aberdeen for some fixing. It seems that at least the rear differential was hemorrhaging oil from one or more seals. I brought my wife’s bike along, figuring to visit the local Aberdeen Library, do some grocery shopping, and then catching the bus back to Ocean Shores.

However, it seems that the “best laid plans…” don’t always work out. Unlike every other time I’ve taken a bike on a Gray’s Harbor Transit bus, this time, the bike was a bit longer than the bus bike rack. The driver informed me that the rear wheel would pop out during the highway trip to Ocean Shores. My first inclination was to inquire as to whether I could bring the bus on board, but I imagine I’d have been met with a curt “no.” Quickly thinking, I suggested I had a lock that could lock that back wheel to the bike carrier and make things safe for one and all. The driver said to go ahead and, in a jiffy, I locked the rear wheel tightly enough to guarantee that if the bike DID bounce off on the highway trip to Ocean Shores, that at least the rear wheel would still be aboard.

As you may see from the photo (taken upon arrival in OS) at the top of this post, the bike arrived safe and sound. John Romeo Alpha may put sad little monkey cards on bikes improperly locked, but I think he would not have dared to run out in front of the bus to tag my bike.

For the record, the photo I didn’t take would have showed the same bike PROPERLY locked for theft resistance at the Aberdeen Safeway bike rack. The U lock attached the frame and rear wheel to the rack, while the cable secured the front wheel to the lock. That MIGHT represent still another bike locking lesson – it might be MORE important to make sure your bike is securely locked at any location with needle disposal stations than in locations without same. That’s just a guess on my part since I have no personal first-hand evidence either way.