Anybody else *always* get things backwards?

[Geonz]

I have put the rear tire on backwards. As in, the derailleur was on the wrong side. On a group ride. WIth relative strangers.

I have ridden 10 miles with a kickstand jammed into the tire. (I thought it was difficult, but I had already ridden 70 miles - on a different bike - and it *was* a heavy Western Flyer Repro.)

I thought my helmet strap was twisted up in the helmet... it kinda hurt... but no, there was a ball point pen in there that I hadn't seen when I put it on. I still have a divot in my head there.

Last year we let a friend ride 24 miles with a brake rubbing - she kept saying "I'm just not in shape!" and I even once said, "Are you sure it's not mechanical? You're coasting slowly, too!" Alas, we set women's lib back 20 years... it took the man in our group to say, "Why don't we stop at the top of this hill and check it out?" (DUH!!@@) and as soon as we spun the wheel...

I still might not have figured out the pattern, but the very next week I pulled in with my car and noticed a low tire and said to a buddy, "I kinda thought it was pulling a little" and he said, "Typical woman. WOn't stop and check!"

So... now I stop and check... at least a little more often! And you say you don't want to ride next to me?

I remember that the hand that shifts is never right next to the gears that go with it, so the left hand shifts the big gear thingies and the right hand shifts the ones in the back.