Bicycle

Or Disaster Strikes Or Where Our Intrepid Hero Gets Bit on the Backside by Hubris Or What Were You Thinking???

I don’t know about you, but I find that the week before a vacation can be more stressful and busy that any of the weeks preceding it. There always seems to be too much to do and so the night before is always a mess of chaos and frayed nerves. This trip was no different except that I was tired from my ride during the day. It was in this frame of mind that I made my first foolish choice. Instead of fighting through the sleepiness and finishing everything up that night or even more intelligently, rescheduling the ride for the next day, I decided to just finish packing and put off my “work work” till the next morning.

Or, Things Start Looking Rocky but are Ignored Through Enthusiasm for the Adventure.

It is a sign that it has been a troubled trip when it is almost a week in before I start posting trip reports, however things are improving greatly and I have the time and the energy to start catching up. Saturday was a day that I had been dreading for sometime. I had volunteered to lead any of this year’s Freewheel training rides that no one else picked up. Unfortunately, this left me with the 70 mile training ride the day before I was scheduled to head out on my trip. We tried and tried to find someone to take the ride for me, but to no avail.

Many of you have expressed upset, if not downright dismay, at the lack of head shaving from me this year. While I really enjoyed the St. Baldrick’s Day event, this year I am serving on the organizing committee for the Tour de Cure ride in Mustang, Oklahoma. This ride raises critical funding for diabetes research for the American Diabetes Association. As of 2010, over 10% of Oklahoman’s have been diagnosed with some form of diabetes and many more remain undiagnosed. This far outstrips the national average and it one of the most critical health issues facing our state. So, to do my part, I am going to be riding the 62 mile distance on June 23rd in Mustang, OK.

This certainly doesn’t qualify as one of the more attractive photos, but I guess it tells the story of my day.  It was a very damp but pleasant ride to work but I required some improvised drying techniques to get ready for the ride home.  Thankfully no one dropped by my desk during the day.

So today was a frantically busy but productive day. I spent today assembling a seemingly endless number of children’s bicycles for the Salvation Army as part of their Bucks for Bikes program which acquires brand new bicycles for needy children on Christmas. It was a great event and I got to meet some more members from OBS whom I hadn’t already met.

After being cooped up inside for a couple of days, a simple ride to get groceries was a welcome trip. With all the leaves changing colors, it was a pretty time to ride.

I took Ms. Blu Haul in for a regular tune-up. Going into bicycle stores is always dangerous for me because there are always so many bikes I want to buy.

I had the opportunity right before Thanksgiving to take part in a fun cycling event called Cranksgiving. This informal ride takes part in many places around the country and consists of several stops at area grocery stores where riders will pick up selected food items which will then be donated to an area food bank.

Since I can never compete on speed, I put Ms. Blu Haul to good use by going for the most weight which ended up being about 40 lbs of can goods. It was a nice ride and I got to meet some nice folks.

Admittedly this is pure bike porn, but I couldn’t pass up another pretty dawn ride picture. My morning commute remains my hands-down favorite part of my day.

I’ve seen the guys who always have spotless gleaming bicycle chains and I know I will never been one of them. However, I do get a lot of satisfaction when I can get most of the grime taken off and a nice bit of clean oil back on.