At least it ain't raining

When I was going through basic training, my platoon was THAT platoon, the guys who always showed up to lunch covered in dirt, dog tired, and rushing through the lines trying to get something down before running out to fall in. When we were out overnight in the field, it was a matter of time before we had to bug out and march to our next site in the middle of the night. During one of these night marches, a buddy and I found solace in the fact that at least it wasn’t raining. Of course, sometimes it was, such is life in the fall in southern Quebec.

Several years later, I still find myself finding comfort in the fact that at least it wasn’t raining. Today’s ride was one of those times. I’d planned a 30 mile ride on my new bike my wife has named Roxanne and was about 12 miles in and just crushing it. It was a great ride. Now I should mention before I left, my wife was rightly pointing out that I hadn’t grabbed my phone as I headed out the door. “What if you have a problem? What if there’s an accident and you’re the only guy there?” She asked. So, grudgingly, I found a way to fit it in my little bag just behind the handlebars. You can see where this is going.

As I passed 12 miles, I started to notice that my left foot was oddly pivoting on the pedal on each stroke. I played with it as I continued, was it the shoe? was the clip loose? what was going on?! Didn’t take me too long to find out. I eventually stopped and within a minute or two I had my shoe in my hand and my pedal in the other. No idea what was going on but the pedal was not going back on. So, I called my wife. No answer. I text. Still no answer. Ok, maybe she’s getting some much needed sleep while our daughter naps so I start walking.

Shortly thereafter, I hear from her and arrange a pickup and there’s my story. My lesson:

*Check your bike before you head out.

*Bring a cell phone.

*And because only one nice Scottish ( ? - I couldn’t quite place his accent) gentleman was nice enough to stop and ask a young man walking his bike and carrying his helmet and shoes if he needed help, pay more attention to the folks you pass for things that look out of the ordinary. Need a better example,