As The Frenchman settles in to being my daily rider, I decided I wanted to add some unique bits to personalize the bike. I remembered that a while ago we had purchased some small charms from a bead shop, and when I dug them out and did a little research, found out that they are Latin American milagros (miracles), little charms that evoke various protections or prayers, depending on the shape of the charm. The one I chose to hang on my bike is the leg, which represents (according to the websites I could find that explain the symbolism): one's strength, and the concept of travel, such as walking, a journey, or even the prayer involved in daily travel. Perfect right?
Here's the weird part. On my first ride to the grocery store with the milagro hanging from the bracket that attaches my bell to the stem, the leg would occasionally swing over and ding the bell. Probably 40%-50% of the time, this happened at a moment when it would have been a good idea to ring the bell, mostly in situations where I wanted to make sure people knew I was there. The rest of the time, it just dinged randomly, but the fortuitous coincidences were frequent enough that it did seem as though the charm was giving me some protection. Am I going to rely on the little guy to keep me safe? Definitely not, but it's nice to have a little backup.
