When I was in sixth grade I won a bicycle light as a raffle prize at the "family dance". I really didn’t know what it was until I brought it home and my Dad had a look at it. He actually had a good chuckle because even by his standards it was a little archaic. He showed me how the big, heavy generator was charged by the bicycle wheel and powered the tiny light that emitted little more than a birthday candle.
Fast forward 20 years... Riding home from Alba, dusk turning to dark, I was much more enthusiastic about this antiquated piece of equipment when I discovered it strapped to my rear wheel. Light engaged, resistance increased 10 fold (from the generator against the wheel), we pressed on towards home. As the darkness settled in completely, I realized that the skinny little highway we were riding along was completely void of street lights. Our path dissolved from a wide bike lane, to a sidewalk, wide shoulder, narrow shoulder, no shoulder! I concentrated on riding on the white line marking the edge of the road, and the last 4 inches of concrete. Incidentally, Italians have less regard for the lines on the road than they do for the lines in a colouring book; an observation I chose to ignore as I pedalled along, desperate for more pavement to appear on the other side of the line. At this point we had about 15km ahead of us-- it had to get better. Then all of a sudden.... FLASH, BOOM! Nature decided to light our way, or at least hasten our pace as the thunderstorm pulled up behind us. The only positive spin I could put on the sitution is that we were both sober.
We finally found shelter about 5 km from home. With a huge hill ahead of us and the storm still hot on our heels we contemplated locking up the bikes and calling a taxi. Choosing adventure over sanity we decided to race the storm home (yes we were still sober). The hill wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated, considering we only had three gears with which to tackle it. With the hill behind us, we sped down our block just as the first raindrops started to fall. By the time we pulled under the cover of our hotel it had started pouring. Check out Adam in action on the "purple people eater” in the video.
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Ride Home
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5 comments:
You guys just continue to make me laugh.
My theory on the ride home was that being sober was a problem. If you had of been drunk the following would have occured:
1. You would have been in the pub when it rained keeping you dry.
2. You could have ridden home after the storm and with a skinful you wouldn't have realised how dangerous it was in the dark. Happily singing songs as you rode along.
Keep up the good work!
oi....
remember: Happy wife, happy life!
I didn't know you won a bike light at the family dance!
well, at least you did better than me. I won a dozen donuts.
ah, i ditto matt's thoughts. more vino, less raino. but i loved the description of your ride home--yikes!! i feel exhausted for you!
and more stories, more stories!! need the italy fix, need the italy fix!! i'm suffering from chianti withdrawal... *twitch*
Okay, okay... sobriety might not have been beneficial- Matt we need you here to steer us down the right path.
Anna, the reason you didn't know I won the bike light was because we couldn't figure out what it was- and we were more focused on scoring a dance with Bobby Parent. Perhaps we could've bribed him with a bike light and some donuts! Oh the priveleged life of growing up in the Surrey school district!
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