Short jaunt downtown accomplished with no fatalities.

[gurdymonkey]

Mission accomplished: I figured out a way to get to Alameda Bicycle without getting run over by someone's Mom. Headed straight down Willow to Central Avenue - mostly stop signs and one traffic light. Trying to get across Santa Clara sucks in the truck, and it sucked by bicycle, but the four way stop at Central was just fine. Left turns on busy streets are fraught with peril, and are, in fact, illegal at most Park Street intersections during certain hours. Basically, I ride across to the far side, wait at the cross walk, then ride parallel to the crosswalk or walk the bike, depending on what the intersection is like. Central Avenue has a bike lane. I crossed Park Street there, cut left on Park Street and through a parking lot onto Webb, which brought me back out on the corner where the bike shop is - and a burger joint that smelled awfully tempting.

The folks at the shop oohed and ahhed over the vintage, two-tone hotness that is Mimi, while I grabbed a waterproof cover and the last aluminum  rat-trap style bike rack they had. Stephanie topped up the air in my tires while we were at it.

Tomorrow I'm riding down to Pagano's Hardware for some longer screws because, of course, two of them are two short to attach the rack to the posts beneath the seat, and it was too late to try to get to the store by the time I discovered this.