Bart Boehlert's Beautiful Things

Bicycle update (see A Boy and His Bicycle). Something happened to my nifty new blue bicycle -- the front wheel was squeaking. It didn't look like the brakes were rubbing against the wheel but something was going on because it squeaked as I rode it. It seemed harder to petal. I took into into my bicycle repair place and asked the guy to look at it, center the wheel, or whatever. He took it into the back where the repair guy works and I heard them both go, "Whoa!"

I went back to see what was going on. They said someone tried to take the front wheel off the bike. The nut on the left of the sprocket was dangling off the end. "Someone tried to take it off by hand," they said. Oy. They screwed the nut back on and now I'm careful to thread my chain through the front wheel when I lock it up.