Then yesterday and today, a reprieve! The trail was clear enough and it was already in the 40s, so I headed out for my ride. And for the first time in awhile, I was overdressed! The gloves came off after 10 minutes, and the jacket after 40. I wished I could've taken my tights off too, but I had no place to put them.
Anyway, myself and about 4 million other people were on the trail. This blog will briefly summarize some of the things I encountered on this obstacle course of a ride.
1) The first (and last) parts of my ride are on a portion of the trail that goes through a retirement community. No matter how loudly I shout "ON YOUR LEFT", these people don't hear me. They tend to wander and drift about the path, so I am force to shout and subsequently apologize for startling them as I weave my way through the parade of the elderly.
2) When I got closer to my old office building in Glendale, I encountered no less than 100 people jogging in a big spread out and somewhat clumped pack. They had no numbers on, so it was not a race, yet they didn't interact with each other in a way that would imply they all meant to be there at the same time. Strange.
3) Strollers too numerous to mention. And with that, sun bonnets and large floppy hats also plentiful.
4) Children on their bikes, who don't understand "on your left" means "please move to the right of the trail so that I may pass you without incident", forcing me to off-road it.
5) A shirtless man with headphones on, I think maybe doing "the Snake".
6) A man in a recumbent tricycle, with a large orange flag waving behind him. If it was intended to make him more visible, it was superfluous.
7) Piles and piles of horse manure.
8) Squirrels.
9) An elderly couple, not heeding my warnings, feeding aforementioned squirrels. When I approached this obstacle, slowly, the couple saw me, barely moved, and continued feeding the squirrels. The squirrels were too distracted by the food and too unsure about which direction to go, so I ended up nearly running one over. We shared a near-death experience as I was forced to suddenly stop, remain balanced (not enough room to unclip because the elderly couple never moved out of my way entirely), take the Lord's name in vain, and allow the squirrel to dart back and forth three times before finally running away and allowing me to continue forward instead of falling over sideways.
With these amusing encounters and the pleasant temperature, it was a lovely 25 miles.
"And I'm on your freaking left".
ah, squirrels. they do make life interesting, don't they? one of my favorite frazz comics is about ADD and squirrels. if my hard drive hadn't chewed off its own arm, i'd send it to you.
ReplyDeletewhen i was running, many people didn't understand "on your left" either. i assumed dyslexia.
nice hat. looks familiar. :)
This would have made me apoplectic! Grr! That's what I remember about the Cherry Creek bike path, especially on a mild winter day. Everyone comes out from under whatever rock they've been hibernating under. As for old people, well, if you hit one with your bike you're more likely to damage your bike than if you hit a squirrel. Squirrels are harder to hit, though. They're pretty fast!
ReplyDeleteOKATB: These squirrels are slow and fat. Their senses have been dulled by constant feeding and tolerance, including their senses of direction and self-preservation.
ReplyDeleteOh, and SOMH: I believe it's called a "chapeau". :^)
ReplyDeleteDear CC, I recently returned from an extended blog-attical and was pleased to see you'd undertaken your own blog. I've spoken with others about it, but not directly to you, and I thought your birthday might be the time to do that. I knew you could write long ago, from the standpoint of stringing together words and ideas, so that's not what has grabbed me as I've read your 22 posts. It's more the change in where your head and heart seem to be vs. some few years ago. You've blossomed and matured and I think we're viewing the you who will last throughout your life. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHere's a birthday toast to you from the tip of a fork bearing, what?, maybe a bite of Andy's mother's chocolate mousse cake? Or perheaps you've developed other tastes. Happy birthday!