my brakes done broke

I just realized that Bike to Work week is coming up and I broke my bike last week.
I guess one hundred-some-odd miles is a bit much for a cruiser to handle in a week--during my lunch hour last week the brakes were like "We're sooo tiiiired!" and they were definitely not working correctly. Lame-o. Time to balance the checkbook & hit up a bike shop.
I think it would be cool to build my own but I don't think I have the drive to take it that far yet.