Brooklynne and Halleigh are in Colorado this week celebrating Brooke's mom's birthday (yesterday). So I am temporarily a loner again, and I tried to use my time to good effect by going to the Durham Bike Co-op and giving it a try. I thought the co-op would be kind of an open shop where you would take your bike in and there would be tools available for your use, and you would just work on your bike with some guys or gals floating around to answer an occasional question if one came up. However, it was a little different. The Co-op is run out of the Bull City Headquarters in north-east central Durham, and the BCH was partitioned into two sections--a front waiting area, and a back shop area. When you come in, you have to sign in on a list and then wait for your name to be called before you can go back to the shop area and work on your bike. Also, instead of working semi-independently, each person was paired with a volunteer for one-on-one help. Apparently, this proceedure was instituted due to the large amount of chaos in the shop. A number of neighborhood kids were wandering in and out, and it looked like anyone could have grabbed any parts without any record of what they were taking, so I can only imagine what it might have been like before their attempt at some structure. Still, I could have finished my project with only minimal help, and the wait time was kind of a drag. The co-op opened at 1pm, I got there at 1:30, and had to wait until 2:30 to start working on a 30 minute task that I could have done mostly without help.

The help that I did get was great, though, and the guys there provided some key points of information that made a huge difference in the success of my repairs (like how to adjust the position of my derailleur). I also was able to scavenge 2 screws and a derailleur hanger, which I needed badly. No one asked me to come back and volunteer for the parts I took (probably less than $3.00 in value), but I probably will go back to volunteer at some point because I think they have a great concept, if they just had some more help. Another big need--tools. At one point, three of us were passing one screw driver back and forth. I had brought my own tools, but I did not get them out for fear of other people picking them up and losing them in the chaos. I might post a wanted ad on Craig's List and donate any tools I can collect.

But in short, thanks to the Co-op, and despite the long wait, I now have an operational bike.