Bicycle Diary: The Little Things

A quarter of my 1,000 mile goal is complete. Today I rode 12.6 miles to put me at 264 miles on the bike. Today's ride was slightly frustrating, but it made me think about a few things I was grateful for. My bike is one of those things. I can't seem to ride it for less than an hour at a time. I love it so much.

To start the ride, I felt gentle little rain drops, nearly drizzle. Much like most of the country, Michigan and specifically southeast MI has been in quite a drought. We haven't seen this much consecutive sunshine in a long time.

I cherished the short time I had with the light rain. I estimate 7 minutes. A light misting during the ride shaved a degree or two off the oppressive summer heat. I tried to extend my ride to perhaps catch another random patch of rain, but I wouldn't have any luck. In fact, I passed nearly two dozen sprinkles and couldn't catch a drop! Eventually, the sun would have it's way once again. I was prepared this time with sunblock. My last ride started cloudy and so I didn't feel the need to apply the sunblock, which didn't go well when I found myself 40 minutes from home under the blazing afternoon orb. Today I would avoid a burn.

My bike route that I start out with was derailed by construction that pulled both road and sidewalk out of the earth. I tried to do some exploring for another loop, but Southfield has a problem with sidewalks ending abruptly. I quickly returned to the task of catching my normal route. Once I escaped the construction and found quieter pastures in the neighborhood, I saw tons of wildlife - particularly squirrels and birds of all sorts. What appeared to be a little baby falcon hopped on the sidewalk in front. I heard him call out and heard the returned calls. I became a bit nervous I was going to get a bird beat down, but none came. One bird I didn't see was a goose and good riddance. I hate those damn things.

With another 20 minutes of riding ahead of me, my iPod died. This 20 minutes made me grateful for my technology, but it was okay to unplug from the machine a bit.

When I returned home, I was very hot and covered in sweat. The air conditioning at my apartment has been out for TWO weeks, so being hot and sweaty has become a pretty regular occurrence. This has hastened my search for a new home. While I'm grateful for that, I'd be a lot more grateful if my air conditioner worked on these sweltering 90 degree days. Looking forward to A/C again. Maybe someday.