Busted!

Something on my bicycle, that is.  I rode through northwest Olympia to The Evergreen State University this afternoon.  It's one of my standard routes and I've done it many times.  Eight miles out, on the Evergreen Parkway, I shift gears and my chain starts grinding and growling as I pedaled.  Something else was not right but I couldn't tell what.  I stopped checked it out as best I could and limped along.  As I did, my bike felt unstable, "not solid", like something was loose or seriously out of whack.  My bike may be coming apart, for all I could tell.  I knew I would ride no farther.

Fortunately, I was at the college and close to the bus stop with frequent service.  I soon caught a bus back into town with my bike mounted on the front.  In town, I rode uneasily to a bike shop.  The mechanic said I needed a new chain.  (The one I have may be either a 24 year old original or a long ago replacement.)  He couldn't find anything else wrong with the bike on the work stand.  He took it for a ride and came back saying he felt exactly what I described but didn't know what it was.

My bike remains in the shop awaiting the more experienced mechanics. 

I walked home.