4 May 2007 - A Day of Firsts:
Detroit airport to Ypsilanti: 19.9 mi; tail wind, 60s
It was:
* The first time I assembled my bike at an airport, rather than doing it leisurely at where I would stay that night.
* The first time I had not arranged my first night's accomodations ahead of time. I had checked out hotels on the web, so I knew which direction to head.
* The first time that I never trained with a load on my bike. It didn't hurt my speed, though - I couldn't have gone any faster without risking flats until I could get my tires properly inflated to 100+ psi.
* The first time a cop ever pulled me over on my bike -- and the first time I was ever happy to see those flashing red lights! As I cycled out of the airport, still getting used to the balance of my fully loaded bike, I hugged the right curb as cars that had picked up passengers zoomed past. Suddenly, two more lanes merged with ours, with cars that had dropped off passengers now whizzing by on my right. As I rolled down the middle of this four lane highway, still getting used to my balance, I wondered how I could possibly get over without dying. That's when the motorcycle cop pulled up, lights flashing to slow the traffic, ordering me to pull over. When I did, he kept going, only stopping when I began waving at him so I could get directions.
A side note: don't you hate it when an obnoxious tune gets stuck in your head, endlessly replaying itself? I had that all day. That feeling is even worse when it's the silly ditty you created a week earlier. (If you haven't heard my 'Camping Song', go to YouTube.com and search for 'litterwalk'.) I wonder if Lennon and McCartney ever felt like that...
It was:
* The first time I assembled my bike at an airport, rather than doing it leisurely at where I would stay that night.
* The first time I had not arranged my first night's accomodations ahead of time. I had checked out hotels on the web, so I knew which direction to head.
* The first time that I never trained with a load on my bike. It didn't hurt my speed, though - I couldn't have gone any faster without risking flats until I could get my tires properly inflated to 100+ psi.
* The first time a cop ever pulled me over on my bike -- and the first time I was ever happy to see those flashing red lights! As I cycled out of the airport, still getting used to the balance of my fully loaded bike, I hugged the right curb as cars that had picked up passengers zoomed past. Suddenly, two more lanes merged with ours, with cars that had dropped off passengers now whizzing by on my right. As I rolled down the middle of this four lane highway, still getting used to my balance, I wondered how I could possibly get over without dying. That's when the motorcycle cop pulled up, lights flashing to slow the traffic, ordering me to pull over. When I did, he kept going, only stopping when I began waving at him so I could get directions.
A side note: don't you hate it when an obnoxious tune gets stuck in your head, endlessly replaying itself? I had that all day. That feeling is even worse when it's the silly ditty you created a week earlier. (If you haven't heard my 'Camping Song', go to YouTube.com and search for 'litterwalk'.) I wonder if Lennon and McCartney ever felt like that...
1 Comments:
It's always nice to hear a story about a nice cop!
I hate it when I get an insipid song stuck in my head, especially when I'm on a bike or swimming!
I remember getting Donny & Marie Osmond's Paper Roses stuck in my head. It was my slowest day swimming ever.
Don't forget to throw in a couple of google map links!
Good luck!
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