kindness of strangers [teaching cancer to cry]

I realized yesterday just how thin a thread I’m hanging from*.   I was standing in the Graham Hill parking lot, 20 feet from the beginning of the trails, with a pile of disorganized prototype bike at my feet.  The bike was upside down, the back wheel was off, and the entire contents of my back pack were strewn around the scene.  It was when I realized the spare tube I had with me had a big gash in it, that something snapped.  I had a minor meltdown.  A semi controlled melt down.  I looked around for something to break, and ended up just throwing my hand pump at the ground.  Twice.  For emphasis.

I’m trying to figure out the right way to tell this story without boring the non bikers to tears with technical talk.  I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat, feeling crappy and in pain.  The following day (today) promised to be gross and wet and sleeting (and it is).  The trails have been wet and muddy and I hadn’t yet gotten a chance to actually RIDE the prototype Tight Ass that I finished over the weekend up in Vermont with the parts that Zach and Todd put together (not a shabby build in the end!).  I realized that I had a one day window before the trails got WORSE and I’d have to wait a few MORE days for things to dry out.   “I don’t have time for this,” I thought, and decided that I should pull on some tights and get on the train.  I headed up to Pleasantville station (you remember pleasantville..  shudder), and rode the mile and a half to the Graham Hill parking lot.  On the way, I noted that my seat wasn’t quite high enough, and that my rear tire felt a little low.  Rather than ride straight into the woods, I decided to pause in the parking lot and tune up the prototype.   The seat was no problem, of course.

[Keep reading at teaching cancer to cry]