The Perfect Day

Well I finally decided to stop messing around with the cycling thing. It was obvious that it was least favorite of the 3 sports and I was making any excuse to avoid doing it (too cold, too helpless. But this weekend I said enough is enough. To get better at cycling and therefore enjoy it more, I just need to spend more time on the Bike.

So I went to the local bike store and finally bought the neoprene booties to cover my very breathable shoes. I also got an areobar because you might as well go big, or go home. I spent Saturday putting on the areobar and testing the booties around the house, incidentally my daughter thinks they look like elf shoes.

So Sunday morning I rose with the sun (actually I got up a lot earlier and waited in my garage until I thought there was enough light to see, but rose with the sun sounds better) and drove to the trail. You see, I thought I would drive to the trail so that I would avoid all the hills and stop signs and stop signs on top of hills. This way I might enjoy the ride a little more and worry a little less about clipping in and out and about traffic. The plan worked great, I could put on my shoes and booties, clip in and off I went.

I was zooming along and the booties kept my feet from going numb. I was a little worried that they would make it harder to clip in and out, but strangely they made it easer. The areobar was great, on a straight-away I would lean down and really tear into it, zipping through the air like a rocket. I had to be home in time to meet the family for church, but I went just a little farther because I was going so fast I knew I could make up the time on the way back. The sun was shining, the weather was pleasantly chilly and little cartoon birds were singing a medley of my favorite songs.

Sure, things are going so great that even you, dear reader, can tell something is going to go wrong...but at the time, I just thought it was the perfect cycling day. Well I stopped at a light and got off the bike for a second to stretch my legs and have a drink. I then got back on, clipped in and started to peddle off only to find the peddle wouldn't turn. Was I between gears? Was I not clipped in? I kind of pushed off with one leg to get to the other side of the street then got off to assess what the problem was...Broken Chain.

I don't know how it happened. There was no warning, no sudden jerk, just resistance then a chain dragging. I had a sudden movie-like flashback to my friend Brett, after tuning up the bike for me saying,"The Chain is a little old, and you might want to have that looked at sometime...but otherwise she's in great shape." Well he might not have called the bike a she...but it seemed a lot more movie flashback that way.

So I called my wife, like a helpless child, to come and pick me up. Oh sure I had a nifty swiss army like bike tool, that I remember the directions (which were sitting back at home) mentioning something about a chain tool. But who was I kidding, when my car gets a flat, I call AAA.

I limped for about a half mile trying to decided if it was easier to walk in the grass with the shoes on or take them off and walk on the trail...and by the way Ains was right...they did look a little like elf shoes. I made it to the bike Depot and tried to call Sheryl to see how far away she was, only to discover my phone was not working (I had some sort of reverse midas touch this weekend, where everything mechanical I touched seemed to break...I even found a way to mess up a kite).

After Sheryl picked me up and we raced to make Church on time, I couldn't help but think..."This sort of thing never happens to me when I run."