In Which I Ride X Miles and Lose the Computer

My tracks in the morning snow Tuesday. And bonus shadow theater going on with my bike and my hands. Looks like a chicken milking a cow on the right side there.

Tuesday morning was white and chilly. Another dusting of snow overnight, just as the snow had fallen the day before.

I decided, nonetheless, to ride my bicycle to the gym in the morning. It was not a really great decision—the slightly warm pavement meant the that a layer of the snow that had fallen overnight had melted and then frozen—what looked like a light dusting was a light dusting on an icy layer.

Still, I was on sidewalks almost the whole way to the gym and made it, slowly, with no mishap.

That afternoon, I had a bell rehearsal at Mount Mercy and a sister in the hospital to visit, so I hit the road again. The day was windy and cold—the high was in the 20s—much colder than it has been lately or has any business being this late in March. We’ll have some warm days coming—in fact, today is much nicer—but the lamb is taking its time showing up.

Anyway, due to the chilly air, I had on two pairs of socks and my long winter underwear. It felt like some crime against nature to wear long johns in the final week of March, but the windy cold made it a good idea. So despite the cold, the ride was fine. By the afternoon, even in the cold, the sun had cleared almost all of the pavement. I rode to campus, had a pretty good rehearsal, and then rode downtown to Mercy Medical Center.

At about 7:15, I decided I would leave to beat the full dark—better to ride when it’s slightly light out, still. I turned on every blinking light I had and hit the road. On my way up Third Avenue, about 7 or 8 blocks into my ride, I glanced down to find out my speed—and there was no computer on my bike. I had knocked it off somehow during the day’s ride.

Well, shoot. I am going to give myself credit for 16 miles—2 miles for the ride to and from the gym, 7 mile round trip to the hospital and home. At least I think it’s 7 miles. My mileage for a while will be the vaguest of guesses. Not having a computer won’t keep me from riding, but it will keep me from having some information about the ride that I like to have. My guess, by the way, puts me up to 222 miles this year. One third of a beastly number, about half a RAGBRAI.

And no, I can’t use a map app on my phone to track my treks. My phone is too primitive for that—it’s just a phone that can text, not a minicomputer with apps.

Oh well. At least the sun is shining now, and although I have lots of work that I will tackle in the next few days, after Thursday’s rain I should get some biking miles in. None today due to visiting with grandchildren—but there’s always Friday for the next ride to take place and mileage to be guessed at.