I called in a hooky day at work. I haven't slept to well in a few days
and I was feeling funky...
I managed a few hours of sleep in the morning and feeling the least bit
rested I decided to do _something_ when I woke up.
The dog looked up at me with "those" eyes and I decided I would drive
to a nearby park and give him a good long walk... There is a newly
re-opened park not too far away and it has a short bike path. Carla and
I tried to take a ride on it the first attempt was when we realized it
was soon to be newly opened ... the gate was locked... The second time
we tried to drive in but we were put off by the soccer moms that had
packed the park.
I drove all the way there with the dog just about jumping out of his
fur in anticipation... I was greeted with several prominent no pets
signs and two of Suffolk County's finest parked in the lot. I really
didn't feel like a ticket and a lecture.
I now felt the quest come over me. I decided I would ride there and
finally get a look at this so called bike path. I turned around and
made my way back to the house. When I pulled in the driveway I looked
down and the dog gave me that "you're going to take off on me and leave
me on this perfect day look"...
Sighing I parked and got him out and took him for a really long walk in
the neighborhood...
What can I say I am a pushover. There is a nice little park about a
mile down the road and we went there and there were no signs and no
signs of the police. We walked around and checked it out. We spent a
considerable time sniffing and marking. When I finally got home I
realized we had been gone long enough that my quest would have to wait.
I had time for a toodle...
Quoted message said:From _something_ to a quest to a toodle... This was beginging to smack
of a pattern... I figured I'd better get out while I could.
I grabbed a helmet and put pedals on the fixie and took off... I
hovered over my messenger bag for a minute thinking I should load my
lock and just in case I went past a BEvERage store I might need it... I
finally decided that it would be a waste of time.
I took off to the hills in the neighborhood and after a quick ride
found a great short cut I had been looking for to a major road... and
low and behold a beer distributor on one corner and a head shop on the
other... I decided a sixer would be a good idea...
For a change I brought my bike into the shop and the owner didn't have
a problem with it...
So the lock issue was moot... I got a six and he actually double bagged
it for me!
I was pleasantly surprised... He even wished mer a safe trip on the one
handed ride home.
He will have my business from now on!
I took off riding one handed (my one free hand on the single brake
hood)
I did okay until I hit the hills.. With no way to downshift and way off
balance I found it a challange to climb the short steep hills... If
only I had the brains to have brought my messenger bag!
I got about a 1/4 mile from home and was cruising down a pretty big
hill... which was a nice challange on the fixie... my legs were doing
the bumble bee...
Some redneck in a pick up decided to yell something at me and as I told
him what I thought of people in big pick ups who have a need to yell
stuff .
I finished the downhill and was pushing up my last hill when I torqued
the right pedal down I felt the wheel shift in the dropouts and the
wheel, crank and my legs all had a sudden stop.
I did a slow motion unclip/dismount. I was amazed that I did no damage
to the bike and I had not dropped the bag!
I did a quick once over and was able to right the wheel enough to walk
it home and not flat spot the tire by dragging it in a locked position.
I got home and crack a beer and looked among the wreckage of the
basement for a 15 mm wrench.
I finally settled for the pedal wrench and made everything right.
All in all it wasn't a mtb ride or a quest or even a very long ride but
I got one in and it was still a bit of an adventure
Jimbo(san)