I wasn't planning on walking today.

The plan was to ride my bicycle across the Venetian Causeway, down to the southernmost tip of South Beach at the South Pointe Pier, and back. I'd done this many times before, on bike and on foot. But all those times, my equipment had performed as expected.

Not today.

The spokes on my bicycle's back wheel had started breaking the last time I rode. I noted that I'd need to get that fixed, but didn't make it a priority. The back wheel forced the priority on me today.

As I got to the end of Venetian on my way back home, the back wheel started wobbling. I could tell the entire thing was about to collapse under my weight if I'd have kept riding.

I called my girlfriend to come get me; we could put the broken down bike in the car and drive it back home.

Bicycles don't fit into cars very well.

So I walked my bike the last 2.5 miles home.

[dt_quote type="blockquote" font_size="big" animation="none" background="plain"]Discipline? I got your discipline: The Mirror Of Motivation[/dt_quote]

I learned some things while walking.

I noticed a lot more when walking that I'd never seen while riding, running or driving. I've always read that great leaders and experts in various fields are great at noticing details. Just yesterday, in fact, I read an interview of boxer who had fought Floyd Mayweather talking about how, in between rounds, Floyd watches his opponent in the opposite corner for any sign of weakness or fatigue. I like to train myself to notice more details about people, places and things. Walking my bike home was a good starting exercise.
Problems need to be handled at the moment they present themselves as problems. Of course, this applies to much more than spokes on a bicycle wheel. It applies to your body, the people you love and work with, and the thoughts going through your head. [bctt tweet="Problems need to be handled at the moment they present themselves as problems." username="DreAllDay"]
No matter what, I can always walk. My mother never had a car until I was out of college. As young children, my sister and I would walk everywhere with mom. I'm sure that's where my affinity for long walks comes from. [bctt tweet="When all else fails, you can always walk. " username="DreAllDay"]

In 2009 I used to ride my bike to David Barton Gym in South Beach. I'd lock it up on this bike rack off to the side of what was the Gansevoort hotel. One day I came out of the gym and the bike was gone. I knew why: Miami Beach is a prime area for bike theft, and I'd foolishly used a cheap $10 bike lock on a cheap, $100 bike. I wasn't even upset. I turned and headed home. I walked from South Beach to Midtown Miami. That took awhile. I didn't even call for a ride because, at the very moment I realized my bike was gone, I knew I deserved it for having cheap insurance (the $10 lock) on my investment. The walk was my punishment.