Sunday, July 3, 2016

Slip of the mind



          The goal yesterday was a chunk of the bike trail from Easthampton to Northampton, about eight miles round trip. Biking still doesn’t come naturally to me - I only finally learned how to ride about five years after my kids did. But the sun was shining, a breeze was blowing, and more importantly, there was the prospect of a nice lunch afterwards. What could go wrong?

          The ride was like many before. Trees swept by on either side, we caught glimpses of backyards, and even went by a riding academy with the students in a row on their horses. We passed bicyclists going the other way, some riding two abreast, blissfully ignorant of my tendency to wobble unexpectedly into the other lane. I was still drawn like a lemming is to the sea to the four foot posts in the middle of the path marking intersections, and I almost ran into the sides of a bridge over the highway twice.
 At one point I had the bad judgment to release the handlebar long enough to adjust my tee shirt, nearly capsizing into the poison ivy creeping onto the asphalt. By mile five, certain parts of my body gave new meaning to the term “pants of fire”, and I marveled at how my husband, the man who causes me to hold my breath every time he descends our basement stairs, could swing so effortlessly backwards to check on me.

So lunch was well-earned and quite good – I had a grilled cheese sandwich mounded with fresh spinach and fat slices of tomato – but on the way back to the car we realized that our favorite water bottle was missing. I had a sinking recollection of parking it on the bumper ‘momentarily’ while we strapped the bikes to the rack. Instead of heading to the highway, back we went to the car park we had started from. 

We were halfway there when bone chilling noises filled the air. “This is it!” I thought. “Our 19 year old SUV has finally dropped an axle.” Fortunately, we were on a quiet road and we able to pull over immediately. 

The long arm of the Thule bike rack had dropped 90 degrees, dragging the bikes behind us on the road for at least fifty feet. After much untangling and assessing of damage, we managed to anchor the rack back up, tie the bikes on with some rope we had with us, and limp by way of back roads to our bike shop 45 minutes away.
Note the unnatural bend at bottom
They assured us the patients might survive and it might be no worse that a few bent wheels. 

Somehow the clip that holds the whole shebang must not have been securely in place. Hmmm. Makes my forgotten water bottle seem like not such a big deal after all, particularly since we could have been sailing down the highway at 60 miles an hour when disaster struck.

         

16 comments:

  1. Human beings always consider "it could have been worse." We make me smile. Wish I could still ride a bike!

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  2. I like bike riding, but not in traffic, I'm too wobbly.

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  3. Glad it seems bikes and humans will survive. I remember bike riding with such fondness. We lived in a small town. My father took the only car to work and was gone a week at a time. It was decided a bike for me would keep my mother from having to walk to town for groceries and other errands, like going for the mail. I don't think they every thought of it as a toy or something I would enjoy but I loved that bike beyond anything. Wonderful memories.

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  4. Whew! I think your guardian angels were working overtime this weekend. Glad to hear the patients will survive. :-)

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  5. I love to bike ride! It was likely our first taste of independence as children. I remember taking off on a warm summer's day to play, meet up with friends, ram the streets of our small town. Lots of fond memories. In today's world of distracted drivers I would not dream of bicycling on the street. Happy trails to you!

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    1. Cars nearby have always given me the jitters, and you're right: everyone driving with a phone in hand makes everything that much more chancy.

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  6. My husband is an avid biker, but the few times I have tried (on my granddaughter's bike), I have failed miserably. I do think I would enjoy biking with him at the park or lake, but I wouldn't get anywhere other moving vehicles..not with my accident-prone self. I am glad your bikes survived the mishap, and I hope you got your bottle back. Have a lovely weekend!

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  7. I hope the patients do survive with minor injuries only. And yay for hearing the noise before it became catastrophic.

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  8. Loved your post. My advice as a cycle club leader is always the same for children adults: find your rhythm. That way the "wobble" will be reduced to a minimum. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  9. Uh oh! At least no one was on the bikes when the mishap occurred and you didn't miss lunch. But you forgot to say if the precious water bottle, cause of it all, was retrieved!

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    1. Nope. When we returned, it was long gone. Some enterprising person must have snatched it up. A new one is on order from L.L.Bean.

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  10. Your bike rides are far more interesting than mine. I just keep going until I get back home. I never carry a water bottle.

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  11. I hope your bikes are easily fixed and okay.

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  12. Your posts are always interesting and fun to read. Glad everybody and everything is okay, except for the missing water bottle. The dumb things I do rarely get topped with something bigger, and the dumb things I do usually get played up as something awful, making me wish something bigger and dumber would happen. :)

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  13. That day had "ouch" written all over it. So glad your bikes survived and know you will in time get over the wobbles. Nearly as much as missing my family and friends, I miss bike riding in Florida. Ah those nice level stretches with zero elevation. My brother is 80 and still rides around 1000 miles a year. It is great for the body and mind.

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