I dropped the car off at my Lovely Lovely’s workplace with my bike in the back. I wandered inside to drop off the keys with the receptionist.
“You went in there in your bike clothes?” my Lovely Lovely asked me later. “Well, yeah.” That just netted me a strange look. Well, the first few times I wore a kit I felt like I must look like nothing in this world, but now I just wear them without thinking much about it. I’m quite sure whether or not I embarrassed her by walking in there dressed like that.
The main road was far too busy for me to want to tackle it on two wheels, but there was a labyrinth of small roads winding around all of these little office buildings. As I was finding my way through the maze, I was passed by a car with almost no clearance at all. I thought a few choice thoughts to myself. Ahead of me was a pickup truck stopped in the middle of the road. The car that had just passed me passed the truck, again with almost no clearance. Apparently it’s habitual with that fellow.
I went around the truck. It had three people, one large and two small, sitting in it. A quick turn put me next to the main road for a hundred yards or less. While I was there, I heard voices behind me arguing. I could only understand the occasional word – generally obscene, and the tone made it clear that unhappiness was in the air. The arguing voices got louder, and then the pickup truck passed me. Someone inside it was extremely unhappy and wanted to make sure that everyone, no matter how far away they might be, was aware of that fact.
The noise faded into the distance, and a quick cut through parking lot finally got me onto the road I wanted to be on, where I was stopped by cars turning off of the main road. I was too lazy to want to pull my feet out of the toe clips, so I did attractive little circles around the parking lot while several cars went down the road and then I pulled out after them.
My original idea had been to saunter the six miles back home, but, somehow, it just didn’t happen that way. It was really hot. The temperature was around 1,875 degrees F
(1,023.9 degrees C)*
*Rather than checking the weather report, I have chosen to estimate the temperature based on how I felt, so there may be a slight error in these numbers.
The wind was whistling down the road, and my legs didn’t feel great, but, somehow, I just kept going hard and picking up speed. I would sometimes decide to just cruise at the current speed, but my legs would assure me that we could go a bit faster, so we did. It was a hard ride, but a good one. I guess that one of the advantages of a short ride is that you can go as hard as you can. I was going so well that I took a longer route home and turned the six miles into twelve
miles – still short, but nice just the same.
There are people who will tell you that, if you only have a short time to ride, it isn't worth it. Don't you believe them. Ride when you can and your life will be better.*
*Not a guarantee. Void where prohibited. Offer good only between the hours of 12:01 am and 12:20 am on alternate Thursday in January during years with a full solar eclipse. Tax, tags and license fee extra. What's up Doc? Go, Speed Racer, Go.
See you on the road.
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