This is part 2 of the More Riding saga. Part 1 was before this, it was about yesterday, Part 2 being now, is about today. Sorry for the redundancy, but I felt it was necessary, since I repeated myself yesterday, thought there would be need for recalling that today.
I've been getting bored with the normal route, so I wanted to change it up today. Rather than riding east like normal, it would either be north or south. Not sure which way to go, I asked the wife, and she said it's up to me. So I say I thought about riding toward Arlington, but don't know the best way. After about 5 minutes, that felt like 30, of playing on her laptop trying to figure out the route. I got tired of waiting on Google Maps to load. It's time to ride.
Start heading down the road, my normal way out of the neighborhood is blocked by utility trucks, and I'm afraid it's going to be one of those days. Take the next road, everything is going good, legs are working, no wind, not to warm. Am I becoming an outdoors type? Cruise by the university, dodging golf carts. I think they have one for each person on staff, 2 started and ended in the same spot, but both only had 1 person. Now I know why my wife's tuition is so high. I get through the cart slalom and look in my mirror making sure no more are coming up behind me, that's when I see another cyclist. I slide toward the curb, thinking he'll pass. Nope, he slows down and follows me for the next mile, finally I start going ludicrously slow, so he either passes or walks his bike. The biggest +1 for trikes, no need to balance. I'm back to thinking it's going to be one of those days again, but I'm outside and have my trike grin on.
Still not knowing which route I should take, I end up on a fairly busy 2 lane road. At least it has a wide shoulder, so no worries. Ride by Cooper Tire, get a few smiles, push on under 68/15 underpass. Lots of traffic, but still getting plenty of room. Not being familiar with the side streets here, I just stay on the main road. Finally, I see some H's painted on the road. Now I know where I'm going, just follow the Hancock Horizontal Hundred route. Keep pushing on, the sun's starting to bake me. Thinking this did not seem nearly this long when finishing the route last year, but it was dark and no traffic. Aha! there's the turn off. Now I start wondering why I didn't just stick to town. Sure, it's not the same route, and hardly any stops out this way, but I'm getting tired of seeing corn. Start to slow down a bit, just from boredom and not paying attention to what I'm doing.
Hear a big deep bark, look over and see a large yellow lab trotting toward me. Pay him not attention, pick up the pace a bit, figuring he'll stay in his area. Well, he did, but I didn't see the little Jack Russel/Chihuahua looking thing about 3" from my tire. Why's it always the little ones? Before I think about what to do I let out a loud "'Ey!!" and he jumped, and turned tail. Hmm...he must be afraid of angry Canadiens. Another half mile down the road, I see "DOG AHEAD" painted on the road from last year's HHH. Oh crap, now what. Stay alert, keep moving, nothing. More uneventful miles, and I'm starting to get tired, also hear a bit of brake rub. Stop in the shade, put on some sunblock. Start pedaling back north, where I came from, no noise. Feeling a bit rejuvenated from my sunblock break, I turn back south. There's the noise again, must be a sign. Start heading north to go back home, an older gent on a motor scooter gives a huge wave, then a thumbs up with a bit of fist pump thrown in for good measure.
Keep following the H's to get back home, they take me through the side streets I'm not very familiar with, straight to an overpass. Nope, not happening. Take the last road before the overpass, and back onto the main road. Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought it would have been. Ride by Cooper again, only person out this time gave me a rather nasty scowl. I grinned and kept riding. Maybe wearing a helmet on 3 wheels with a flag sticking out of the seat gave him the impression I need a helmet all of the time. The brake noise has been intermittent the whole time, but now that I'm back on familiar roads, I realize that if I lean just right it goes away. Note to self, gotta bend that back.
Thanks for reading about my 17 miles.
Soundtrack: Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Stryck-9, Nirvana, Weird Al Yankovic, Radiohead, Slipknot, MurderDolls, Dishwala, random punk bands from a compilation I bought years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment