I love these winter rides. When it is this cold out, I generally have no motivation to ride outside in the dark during the week either before or after a long day of work at the toasty cubicle.
Even on Saturdays - it would be difficult without having others there to share in the suffering. But last year there were always at least 11 people on the Saturday winter rides, which I think is amazing. We had some pretty cold ones last year.
Earlier this year - I wondered if I was even going to be able to go at all. Group Ride Omaha was giving me a "You're not special" error. It would say that it was only open for reading by those permitted to do so and I wasn't one of them. I thought that was weird if they wanted to ride with a group. Well - maybe they just didn't want me there, which would be understandable.
Typical conversation on the Saturday Omaha Winter ride:
Costello: What's that Fred's name? (pointing up ahead to me)
Abbott: Fred.
Costello: Obviously, but what's his name?
... and so on.
So for a while, I thought I might have to rely on Brady to help me crash the rides. You may not know this, but oftentimes I'll be sitting in the basement of my house alone on a Friday night. I will be facing the cinder block wall in the damp darkness (there could even be a dankness involved), staring off to nowhere in particular. I will glance at the half-empty brown bottle of Budweiser and take a pull, drinking in the bitter flat warmth that it has become while I'm flooded with a lifetime of matching bitter warm regrets.
I'll sigh heavily and heave my massive barrel chested girth to one side so I can reach into my pocket and grab my cell phone. It's buzzing with a new text message. And like most Friday nights, it's Brady letting me know there's a ride tomorrow.
A ride. That's just what I need to get me out of this funk, I'll think. I will then typically lick my palm and smooth down a tuft of misguided hair. I'll straighten the lapels of my stained, white cotton tank top. Once presentable, I will text back to Brady, thanking him for letting me know about the ride.
That's why some people think that I am only on rides if Brady's there. The bitter (like flat warm Budweiser) irony of Brady's and my respective cycling histories will hit me like a ton of pungent liquid bricks as I reach from my basement lawn chair and flip the top off of the styrofoam fishing cooler, only to find a dozen or so empty Budweiser bottles. I will pick up a couple and shake the last of any dregs onto my tongue as I consider the next day's ride with great relish. At this point, I should mention the awkwardness of the last sentence and ambiguously placed whatsamahoozits is entirely intentional. Make your own decision about the relish.
But Brady's in Singapore studying ancient methods of coconut puncture or something. So with Group Ride Omaha's blog safely locked away from my prying eyes, I was left to the fishing cooler, the green and white basement lawn chair, relish dregs, and the cinder block wall. Good grief.
But it turns out it was some sort of unintended privacy setting at the blog site. Rafal got it fixed and all who cared to join were once again welcome.
In a way, I was hoping it was personal. Like most of the country, I am always looking for the next big thing to enrage me. Just as the "ZZ TOP Duck Call Guy" outrage glow was fading - Exclusion from a local group ride might be just the ticket to fill my outrage void. But no. No such luck.
So yeah. I can see the ride announcements now. Yay! Even with Brady in Singapore, I can learn the time and place of local group rides!
And what a fantastic day it was. It was sunny all day and started out in the mid 30s. We spent much of the 3-4 hour ride in 50+ temps. Just great for this time of year. It was the most wonderful perfectly marvelous ride of the year. Except for all the assholes.
I'm just kidding. I mean yes - there were literally exactly the same number of assholes on the ride as there were cyclists, but I think that is always the case. Before I slide into a "Team America" like diatribe, I'm going to move along and chat about the highlights of the ride from my vantage point.
The first 2 were before I even had a sip of coffee.
The start point for the ride was at Crane Coffee at 60th and Center.
I arrived and sat near a small group of cyclists forming in the northwest corner. I removed my gloves, helmet, cap and sunglasses. Leah said, "Wow Fred, I didn't know you ever did anything without Brady!"
I suppose I deserved that. I mean, I had my bike painted (powder coated) yellow, so ...
After a few hellos and stuff I went up and got a cup of coffee. I went back to my stuff, but there were more cyclists who had arrived and now no place to sit. Shim then said, "Hey Cube, we saved you a spot," and pointed across the room.
"I've been dropped already, I see," I said. Good times.
Then we all went riding around for a while where eventually we saw this sign.
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| Brady took this photo |
This photo was taken a few weeks ago, but the sign was the same. After we passed it. Shim was like, "Uh Fred. Where's the fun?"
"I don't know," I didn't know.
Then Shim said, "You're not very fun. Here. Here's a joke to get you started."
Okay that was pretty funny. I don't remember what the joke was but Shim said his kid just told it to him or something.
And there it is. The highlights of the first Winter ride.
And Scene.
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