wrote:
The snow is all but gone and so are the resulting puddles (lakes?). So
I decided to bike home after dropping my car in for service: first
ride of the year.

Well, I made a couple of mistakes. First, I forgot to check on the
current weather conditions, which turned out to be suboptimal: 30 KMH
wind from the north (half my ride home was north); -4C (windchill
-12C). The remaining puddles were now skating rinks. Second, I took
my father's old bike (Raleigh Twenty folding bike) because it was
easier to get in and out of my car. Unfortunately, it hasn't been
maintained since he died in 2001. Might as well have been a fixy with
a big gear.

The Raleigh is cute, but I'm replacing the SA AW 3 speed hub with 7
speed Sachs/SRAM hub myself. You forgot to mention that the brakes are
utter crap (though maybe you're not in a hilly region).

So, I fought a stiff wind on a badly maintained bike. All I can say is
that I'll ride my own bike when I pick up the car.

I guess I'm a terminal case.

Yup, sounds like you're a no-hoper. Still, you're in reasonably good
company here.

--
Dane Buson -
"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a person can
be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a
man doesn't drive there's something wrong with him." - Art Buchwald