? Boehm’s 2 – A Bike Shop Review | Main | Why do anything? ?
April 11, 2005
A day in the sun
This morning I rode with Mike, Kevin, Rich and Scott for 21 miles at an average speed of 19mph, then I crashed into a pole and broke my speedometer. I think I was about 5 miles from home. My handlebars were bent but I was no worse for the wear. I took the day off from work and promptly took a 2-hour nap. After that I worked on my bikes, blogged, rode my mountain bike down to the Sibley Bike Depot and replaced a broken cable housing and adjusted my rear derailleur. I had fun talking to the other people there working on bikes. I can’t believe there were 6 people there working! It was really interesting. Then I followed one guy to a church where he was going to eat dinner. We were talking as we were riding together and I found that he sleeps under a bridge. We both made it to the church while there was a lull in the rain, so at least he was dry for dinner. Then I proceeded to ride home and it started to rain heavily. I didn’t have any rain gear on, so I got really soaked. But let me tell you that the ride in the rain was awesome. First of all, I learned this last year while commuting every day even in the rain: As long as you have dry clothes to put on at your destination, who cares? The rain is actually very cleansing for the soul and it’s liberating to not worry about it. I also had my wallet in a Ziploc so again, who cares if it’s raining? Secondly, I had just cleaned and lubed my mountain bike, put two new slick tires on, plus the new aluminum stomper pedals, adjusted the rear derailleur and it was a great smooth ride that handled well in the rain. The final great thing about today was that if I didn’t follow my heart into the rain, I would not have had the interactions I had and would not have been building these friendships. It was really a great day.
When I got home, I was already soaked so I sprayed off all the road dirt from my bike with the garden hose, shook it off, carried it into my basement and hand dried it. Before bed I’ll go down and relube so it’s ready for the next ride. Tomorrow night I have to fix the handlebars on my racing bike and replace the speedometer. I have one from my old bike so I don’t need to go out and buy one.
Today was kind of rainy and cloudy, but to me it was a bright sunny day. What made today so bright? It had to be coming together with these other people, first on my morning ride with Mike, Kevin, Rich and Scott, then the bike shop with the six other people, then the ride to the church with my new friend who lives under a bridge and gets around everywhere by bike, all year-round. Life is really good when you can see the sun through the rain. He told me that.
Posted by carl1236 at April 11, 2005 9:19 PM | Attitude