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OPINION

Forgetful

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by VecchioJo
Tue, Jan 20, 2009 12:58
4

A mile down the road and something feels not quite right. Pat head, there's a cap there but I've forgotten my helmet. Ah. Dolt. Turn round back home and put helmet on.

Start again.

25 miles later reach round to back pocket for a munchie bar. Ah. Dolt. I've forgotten to pack some munchie bars, and no spare inner-tubes either. Double ah.

That's never happened before, obviously my mind wasn't totally focused on going for a bike ride, and to be fair I had to kick myself out the door on this particularly grey and uninspiring day. It didn't get any better less than 10 miles in as the cloud came down on the hill with attendant dampness and visibility went 20:20 to myopic, thoughts pondered a discretionary heading for home if it didn't improve over the top, at least I got out on the bike, right?

But things cleared up (damn) and now I'm stood at a junction fumbling in empty rear-pockets.

If i go my intended route I can pick up something to eat in that petrol station there and I could just head the quick way home to minimise potential puncture time, but that would be sissy. Let's play with the fates.

Press on.
Ham and salad sarnie bought ("Is it raining, this tenner's a bit wet?" "Um, sorry"), god, it tastes good.

Carry on into a headwind and perma-drizzle, lovely. Some day in the future this miserable ride will prove worthwhile.

The roads are wet and there's plenty of wash-off from gutters and fields, perfect puncture hunting grounds. Pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, pleasenopunctures, for at least the last hour.

A ride I'll be glad to forget.

punctures
rain
training ride
VecchioJo

Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.

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4 comments

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DaSy | 15 years ago
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Dave, there is nothing you can do to make that song any more prominent in my mind...

I think it has been lodged in there for about 5 years now! It all started when a colleauge of mine used to commute everyday from Coventry to Reading and back, so spent many hours in his car. I sung that song after seeing it on the original ad at the time; the following day he was livid, he had spent the entire trip with that going round in his head.

From then on I organised all the office to wait until he was just walking out of the door, at which point we would all burst into a rousing chorus of "I love horses" just so he had something to sing on the trip home...he loved it!

It has since backfired, as it has become the backing track to my life.

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DaSy | 15 years ago
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and only discovered this about 60 miles into the ride, the last 15 miles were riden to the beat of pleasenopunctures....pleasenopunctures...still it took my mind off the "I love horses" song from the advert some years ago that seems to haunt me when I have nothing better going on in my brain!

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dave atkinson replied to DaSy | 15 years ago
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the best of all the animals! i love horses! they're my friends!

that should set you up for the day 19

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dave atkinson replied to dave atkinson | 15 years ago
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http://www.jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1196611719_1496_FT0_i_love_ho...

a work of sublime genius

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