Just Fahgetaboutit

Man, what a pain in the arse of an evening just trying to get out for something simple as a ride. The simple plan was to get out for 2 hours or so with some buddies or alone if need be. I was getting out to ride either way. I did hook up with Conlan, Gov'ner, and Chad for a bit and having a decent ride when all was said and done, but man, I'd have lost my head if it wasn't screwed on tight yesterday.

It started off getting ready to go in the office. Hmm, seems I forgot my bike computer. Ahh well, I can live without it. Wait a minute, where are my bibs? Shit, now I have to go home. Sure I could run for a couple hours without my bibs, but really, I enjoy that layer of diaper between the seat and my junk. So, instead of meeting at the shop at 4:30, now I had to run home and grab a few odds and ends and figure out a new meeting spot. We settled on Principal Park and I boogied to get down there in time. Once home I found my bike computer wasn't charged yet, double strike for that now. At least I plugged it in for a few minutes to the portable charger and got a little data.

From there I jumped in the truck and sped off to rendezvous with the boys. Once down there, I went to put my lights and such on the bike realizing I'd now forgot my main battery sitting in my gym bag at home. Doh! Ahh well, I still had my helmet light, which anyone that has ridden with me, knows its enough to vaporize most anything that comes into its path all on its own. So, I suit up and hit the trail. all is right in the world now.

We loop back through Grays and Waterworks, heading back towards Windsor Heights and Chad splits off for home. Once up in Windsor Heights, my plan was to work over to Urbandale Ave and hit the interurban for a loop back downtown to my truck. Conlan and Gov'ner pulled off to head back going down Beaver and I headed onward. By now dusk was settling in around 5:45 and it was time for headlights. That's really odd, my vaporizer headlight wasn't lighting up. Apparently the battery was either dead from the last time I used it or had drained down to nothing. In either case, I was a man without a light.

Luckily it wasn't that dark yet, but by the time I worked my way down towards the botanical center, darkness had pretty well set in. The dead end road where the trail comes out was a massive ice field that I felt lucky to escape with nary a fall. Beyond that, it was pretty uneventful heading back to the truck. I shorted myself to 1.5 hours out, but at least it was outside. On the plus side, I made it back in time to scarf some burgers and head out for a couple hours of rec league volleyball with my wife to finish off the night.

I'm shooting for an hour or so snowshoeing through Denmans tonight right after work if anyone happens to be interested. Might be one of the last days possible with all the warm weather headed our way.