I WAS GONNA RIDE – REALLY I WAS…

I promise. I had every intention of riding today. I planned it. I looked forward to it. I was eager to do it. I knew the weather prediction was for rain in the late afternoon and lasting through Sunday so my plan was to get a start on a ride by mid-day.

Funny thing about plans – it doesn’t take much to change them. I spent the morning doing my book keeping and attendance charting for my Rotary Club. I’m the club’s Executive Secretary so my duties need to be done promptly following our Friday meetings. I sucked down my 3, maybe 4 cups of coffee doing the work. My “best half” had departed to spend time with her Dad today. It was quiet and I was absorbed in the computer. I finally realized my coffee cup was empty (again) and looked at the clock. Oops, mid-day is here!

My next realization was that I had not eaten any food and I was beginning to vibrate from the caffeinated coffee. I knew that riding with coffee as my sole sustenance wasn’t a good plan so I prepared to run to my favorite cafe for some protein to fuel my ride. As I was stepping off the deck at our house, Mattie Anne, my father-in-law’s Golden Retriever greeted me with her big brown eyes. She has come to live with us now and is still adjusting to not having the full ability to roam where she wants. In this particular moment, she reminded me that I still had to fix the fence that the recent snow storm had made escapable. So, it seemed that a quick run to Lowe’s for some lumber was in order after lunch and before I could ride.

Once up town at the cafe, I remembered I had some brochures about a local mountain bike trail that just opened that needed to go to the local Mast General Store on Main St. So, I headed up Main Street, one pedestrian among many, many tourists in town today. Upon entering Mast, I realized that they had a really good sale in progress. The store was packed!

I finally got a chance to deliver the brochures and decided to check to see if my favorite new socks – SmartWool – were on sale. Yep, they were. Buy 3 get one more pair free! So, with great care in selecting the proper color and style to match just right with riding gear, I bought 2 pair for me and another pair for my beauty back home. Oh yeah, she got the 4th pair that was free. (You’re probably saying “What a guy!” about right now. This may rank up there with arranging that 14” heavy snowfall that kept us homebound for our recent wedding anniversary…)

O.K., back to the excuses… uh explanations…. I made a quick trip in to Lowes knowing exactly what I wanted and where it was located. In and out! Headed home and ready to ride. Well, knowing it was probably going to rain later, I determined that it was in everyone’s best interest if I went ahead and repaired the fencing for the dogs containment area. This shouldn’t take long I reflected to myself.

I managed to tear down the remaining destroyed fence and get the new materials up all while Zeke, Orla, and Mattie Anne graciously helped me by sitting under me, bringing me a ball to throw, and generally sniffing around the work area to make sure there were no OSHA violations going on.

Done, I’m through – I’m gonna ride! But, then I noticed the load of clothes in the washer that needed hanging up. Next, I skipped through the kitchen but I spied the dishes I had promised my wife I would wash and, of course, I hadn’t. Oh well, this won’t take long and then I’m gonna ride.

Finally, all is done and I glance up at Cold Mountain.

(49 degrees and rain moving in across Cold Mountain) 

---and what do I see? Rain! Not pretty white snow but RAIN! My motivation to ride in 49 degree weather in the rain just wasn’t there today. A warm shower followed by a nice steaming cup of coffee seemed like a much better idea.

I promise… I was gonna ride… No, really, I mean it….

(Note: In this post, I offer up a number of plausible excuses for not riding. Should you find yourself someday on the edge of being motivated to ride and in need of a somewhat reasonable excuse to AVOID riding, I hereby grant full access to use any or all of my excuses. I would point out that “my dog ate my homework” has limited application to this situation and would suggest that you not rely on it as a proper excuse in cycling matters.)

(P.S. On a more serious note, I just received a link to some images taken of our Main Street during the December 18, 2009 snowstorm. I’ll post the link for all to enjoy. Nothing to do with cycling – just some beautiful work done by one of our local craftsman, Ed Kelly. To see the images, CLICK HERE!

Until later,

- Zeke