It was a dark and stormy morning. Or at least it was raining buckets. Shawna and I had a riding date for our first ride of the challenge. I spent an inordinate amount of time at the Department of Licensing that morning, perfecting my “eyeroll while standing in line” and “heavy sighing” techniques. Finally escaped the government-issue greige of the DOL and showed up an hour late for our riding date.
At least the rain stopped.
Nigel had sass to spare after being unemployed for 3 months, so I put my helmet on. We spent the rest of the ride arguing over who was the grand marshal of our little parade (me) and whether prancing was an acceptable gait (it was not).
We ended the ride on a nice note and then Shawna and I went to the Palm Tavern for Taco Tuesday and had sandwiches and french fries and red beer, naturally. We just weren’t in the mood for tacos I guess.
You’re automatically entitled to greasy food and beer if you ride in inclement weather. And by that I mean any time it’s below 70, windy, rainy, somewhat cloudy, over 85, too sunny, too dry, or there’s a slight breeze. If it snows, you can have whisky. I don’t know how widely-recognized this rule is, but I try to abide by it.
After the ride and the sandwiches, I went to my friend Eve’s and we sat in front of the fireplace and she repeatedly killed my chess pieces. I don’t know what we were doing but at one point my bishop ended up in her shoe. I don’t recall that being part of any strategy.
From there I went and had dinner with a good friend of mine. The thing about being from a small town like Benton City is that some of the good folks stick around and you can go have dinner with someone you’ve known for 40+ years. I didn’t realize until Suzie mentioned it how fortunate I am in that regard: to have history with a place and with people.
I settled in to bed with a full heart.
Challenge stats:
Rides: 1 down, 29 to go
Hours: 1.1 down, 38.9 to go
The ride tracker I use to track our time/rides.
