Another small victory

Those of you who have known us for a while are aware that we have ridden bicycles forever.  Ever the optimists, we brought a couple.  Then we met the roads of Perú.

Having an inkling that we might not be able to pedal happily around the Mission, we also brought a set of "rollers," an amazingly old way of using a normal bike in one place to get exercise.  The bike is not attached, and has to be ridden on top of the rollers.  One can only imagine the hilarity of riding off the side at full tilt, or having a three year old walk by with a loose blanket, and...

So we brought our old set of rollers just in case.  However, after only 23 years of use, a couple of the bearings had gone bad.  While yes, this gives more exercise, the noise was pretty loud, and when I would ride in the mornings in the cool stairwell, it would almost (almost, mind you) drown out the noise of the noodle-brained taxi drivers honking their horns, or the music someone insists on playing loudly at that hour.  It's not even good music.

So, with Carlos Llacsas along for advice, I went looking for bearings.  He advised me to head down in to the auto parts section of town, where the usual warren of hole-in-the-wall shops are located.
He also wisely advised that I park on a well-traveled street, where the easily-removed parts of the car, as well as some of the not-so-easily-removed parts of the car (engine, transmission, etc.) might not quickly end up in one of the local shops, where I'd have to ransom them back.

I've got to admit, pulling the tools out of the shipping boxes and tinkering with something to fix was fun.

 A Dremel tool?  Duh!  Gotta bring the Dremel!

 The test ride proved the value of the repair.

I could now hear the idiot taxi drivers honking their horns for no good reason!

We hope that all your Preparation Day projects are so successful, and that you can find your rear-view mirrors to buy back.
Dave & Paula