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Old December 4th 16, 05:03 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
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Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Dead for a runny nose


I'll try to lay the blame on the Crazy Egg Cafe: I ordered tea with
my lunch, as is my habit when I have to skip my nap. They brought me
a pint mug of delicious spiced tea, but about halfway down the mug, I
checked the tag and discovered that it was "herbal", which usually
means that they've left out the herbs that have caffeine.

I'm still trying to work my way up to being capable of riding the
thirty miles to Spring Creek and back. Between the early curfew in
December and the slick roads in January and February, I'll probably be
starting from scratch in March, as has been my custom for the last few
years.

At the moment, the biggest barrier is that I'm out of places to go.
For today, I as able to exploit a back door into the Crazy Egg that
turned a trip of six point eight miles into eleven point two. It's a
pleasant route, but alas the only dish on the menu that looked
suitable for a little old lady who was about to engage in vigorous
exercise was the half order of biscuits and gravy. This was an entire
English muffin (they were out of biscuits; I had arrived a little
after one and the kitchen closes at two.) and at least half a pint of
bits of meat (seemed to be mostly ham) stuck together with white
sauce. This was tasty, but if I don't want the same again, I'll have
to tackle something like a three-egg omelet. I never ate more than
one egg at a sitting when I was young and skinny!

I'm sure that they box one's left-overs, but boxes don't fit at all
well in panniers if you want to stop at a supermarket too, and few
breakfast dishes travel well in sandwich bags.

From there I took 350 W to 200 N, came back by Fox Farm and the
roundabout, sat for a while at Lake Street Plaza, went south on West
Street to Fort Wayne, went to Owen's Market by way of the Beyer Farm
Trail, and came home by McKinley (crossing Center on Cleveland, which
has a light, but I didn't bother Google Maps with that detail.) 10.1
miles, a total of twenty-one point three.

All this time, the temperature wasn't much above freezing. I lost
count of the number of paper towels and napkins that I saturated; I
disposed of a handfull every time I passed a trash can.

By the time I got to Owen's, fishing a piece of paper out of my
pocket, blowing my nose, and putting the paper away wasn't something
that I paid a lot of attention to.

Now I'm always telling you guys that parking lots are more dangerous
than the open road. DO I READ MY OWN COLUMNS?

As I mounted up after packing my panniers with fruit and vegetables, I
reflected that I was tired and ought to be extra careful. DID I
LISTEN TO MYSELF?

I proceeded west in front of the store, going into the oncoming lane
of the aisle so that I could see into the prescription-pickup aisle
behind the stop sign. Then I coasted along the continuation of that
aisle, planning to turn left but entirely unaware that I was
approaching an intersection, let alone remembering that the other guy
had the right of way.

My nose was already clogged with tears, so I pulled a piece of dinner
napkin out of my back pocket and raised it to my nose -- and then
realized that I was about to coast into the path of a car. With all
my monkey ancestors screaming "Don't let go of what you are holding!
You'll fall a hundred feet!" and no time to boot up my cortext, I
couldn't brake. I swerved into a triangle painted "not for parking or
driving", and -- still controlling the bike with only one hand, I
nearly fell off while stopping. I sure hope the driver isn't
acquainted with "The only problem is that cars are bigger than bikes
so we need long skinny parks" Kip Shuter.

As it happened, all I paid was deep embarrassment and a salutatory
lack of confidence during the remaining mile and a half of my ride,
but I could have died of a runny nose.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.


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