Well That Sucked

Have you ever had "One of those days?"

Every once in a while, I have "One of those days."

It seems like the shit just piles on.  Like you're just that close to a whole heap of trouble or personal loss.  It doesn't make sense to me that all of this should happen on a single day. Well, it kind of does.

I think most days, an average number of positive and negative things happen to you (based mostly on your perception).  But some days, there are way more positive things. Some days - way more negative.  In the end it averages out.

Perception is the key.  If you are in a foul mood, you tend to notice bad things. Every little thing that happens seems to confirm that you are having one of those days.

Sure, that explains some of it, but I swear - whenever I have "one of those days" something really bad happens that has nothing to do with my mood.  Or does it ...

For roughly the last 24 hours or so, I've been in a crappy mood.  I've had to reevaluate how I look at certain things. I hate doing that.  I like to think that I have a pretty good idea of what's going on. When I discover I was way wrong, it tends to bum me out.  

The last 7 days hasn't been much help.  With rain and weather and commitments, I haven't been getting enough riding in to keep the demons at bay.

So tonight I decided to try to exorcise most of the demons that have accumulated over the last week.  I knew I wouldn't have enough time to get them all, but if I could get a relatively hard ride in, I might drop their numbers to something manageable.

Unfortunately, from the start of the ride I knew something was off.  Hamilton was closed at about 50th.  I always take Hamilton and I know the detour.  I followed the detour sign to find that all roads (except the one going the way I'd just come from) were blocked.

Unbelievable.  

Eventually, I circled back and got across Saddle Creek for my destiny with the BK Bridge.  A couple of times, I encountered people in cars doing stupid stuff, nothing really out of the norm.  It was just heightened by my bad mood.  Since it was really nice outside, there were lots of stoned people driving around.  

Well, it might be the same number as normal, it's just that I smelled lots and lots of weed on my ride tonight because windows were down.

When I got to 30th I just about got hit by a car.  It was my fault.  Through inattention, I didn't see it and started to roll through the intersection.  I hit the brakes hard and no problem.  But still. I thought I had better start really paying attention because the gods are out to get me tonight.

Then I got to the BK bridge.  I went around a young couple pushing a stroller.  I made the sharp right hand turn onto the bridge proper.  

At the beginning of the BK Bridge, there is a gate that's almost always open as it was tonight.

I was not to the gate yet, but I saw a young girl riding a rental bike down  the steep slope toward me.  I noticed she was going kind of fast.  Hmm, I thought, she's going kind of fast.

The next thing I noticed was she was on my side (my right) of the bridge.  Then I noticed that both her feet were occasionally sliding on the pavement.  She was trying to scrub speed with her flip-flops.

Then I realized with horror, that she had no brakes and no idea what to do.

What a day I'm having, I thought.  Because the thing about having one of those days is that even if it's way worse for someone else, you perceive it as all about you.  So yes, the girl in great peril was about to make her problem my problem.

I wasn't sure how to avoid getting hit by her.  Then I saw the gate.  If I could get to the gate, it would effectively protect me from this poor girl.

In this photo, the person walking away is about where the girl was riding out of control toward me.  I was pulling over to the far right to let the gate block me.  She eventually went all the way to her left and tried to use the fence to slow her down. And Blammo!

The gate stopped her rather abruptly.  Her glasses flew over the fence.  Her head bounced as it made hard contact with the edge of the gate.  It made a deep gash in her left eyelid.

That's gonna leave a mark

I was panicked. I was sure she would be seriously hurt.  The terrible realization that she needed immediate assistance and this might cut into my ride time was too great a burden to bare.

Just kidding.  What really happened was I realized how most of my problems the last 24 hours and even 7 days had to do with my selfishness.  The things that were upsetting me boil down to a succession of days of me not getting my way.

This girl was bleeding all over the place ...

see?

And I had been whining about the weather and family stuff.  I have it pretty damn good overall.  I have zero valid complaints.  My complaints come from the fact that sometimes my extreme privilege gets slightly interrupted with life.

Thankfully for me, I got to witness a girl banging her face into a big metal gate to knock some sense into me.  She was having one of those days.  Not me.

I asked her some questions.

"Are you ok"

"Did your brakes go out?"

"Is it 'One of those days?'"

Then I reached down and grabbed the hand brake of her rent-a-bike.  It was fine.

I had the awful realization that she must have thought this was a coaster brake bike.

She was a little bit in shock.  People were starting to gather.  She said, "My glasses."

I said, "I'll go find them."  I didn't even know her at all and I stopped to help her.  I did not just keep riding. It would have been ironic if I had, wouldn't it?

She said "Thanks."

I must've looked through those weeds for about 10 minutes.  But I eventually found the glasses.  

Her friends caught up with her and started giving her aid or some shit.  I gave her back her glasses and continued my ride. But now with a new outlook.  I've got it pretty damn good.  For instance, I know how brakes work.

Then when I got onto the trail on the CB side and started heading North/East, I was completely blocked by five people just standing around. I slowed and said, "Howdy."

I startled them.  For some reason, one of them tried to hide the big old joint he was smoking.  They moved aside and I thought "What a day I'm having."