Contingency plan

Something I learned very quickly is that one must always have a contingency plan because you really never know what could go wrong, mechanical problems, horrible weather (I've been caught in lightening and hail before), whatever.  

I had an issue once where on my morning commute I managed to fail to unclip my shoe and I just fell right over. That afternoon on my way home my bike was acting bizarre. The gears were slipping all over the place and I was riding in traffic and it was starting to become a safety issue. So I parked myself in the grass in front of a Burger King and called my husband to pick me up.  Had my husband not been able to come get me, my friend/neighbor and I have an agreement that we know we can call each other for rescue.

So whether it's someone you can call or knowing how to use the public transportation, it's really important to have a backup plan because things don't  always goes according to plan...