I have a part of my personality that at some times can be construed as a character flaw while at other times I feel is a huge benefit to have. If I decide to do something I do it. I don't take a long time debating the pros and cons of the situation. Most of the time this is a good thing in my opinion and it has allowed me to experience some wonderful things, but at other times I look back and think...I should have probably thought about that some more before deciding to jump in head first with a running start. This portion of my personality can every once cause me not to make the best choices.
The most recent idea that I decided to go full steam ahead with was definitely not the best choice on my side. Yesterday after sitting in my apartment for a couple of hours once work had ended the thought occurred to myself that I could ride my bike over to my brothers house and spend the night. I would need to be near his house the next day since I work at my previous place of employment every other Friday, and that previous place of employment resides very near his current place of residency. The flaw to this reasoning....my brother lives 3 cities away. Yes, count them, 3! I should also mention that since it has been EXTREMELY hot lately with it being summer I have not ridden my bike as much as I would have liked. I am very out of practice and very low on bike riding endurance, but I was not to be deterred by any of this.
I made the conscious choice to get my bike off of my balcony, make a quick detour at my uncles house to pump up my tires (the heat had caused them to deflate), and find the new bike path that had been constructed "near" my apartment that goes through the cities that would get me to my brothers house. On I went.
The first hiccuped happened not far from my uncles house. I was peddling along and tried to change gears (my bike doesn't like its gears to be changed, it tends to cause the chain to catch) and my bike made a terrible crunching noise signifying the fact that my chain had just become lodged deep into my gears. I of course had to stop, flip my bike over, and try as I might to yank the chain out of its mangled caught state. I spent a good 10 minute pulling and yanking on the chain until an old man decided to pull over on the side of the rode and help me. He walked over, flipped one lever on my bike, twisted the chain, and pulled it straight out. I was thoroughly schooled. Never again will I allow my bike chain to get the better of me because of what I learned from that old man (at least I hope I wont let it get the better of me again). I was once again on my way.
The second hiccup took place as I peddled up the hill towards the elusive bike path. I have learned that I am no judge of distance or time. Looking at the map to the bike path earlier on my computer the bike path really didn't look that far from my apartment. Boy, was I wrong. The farther I peddled the farther I realized I had to go. I thought that I could probably make it to my brothers house in a good 30 to 40 minutes. Nope, it took me a good 30 to 40 minutes just to get to the bike path. Finally I make it to the path and continued on my way.
To be continued......
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