Yes I Do

It’s not like I just hang out in the woods and heckle all the time.  Sure, it’s fun, but it’s even more fun to actually ride my bike.  On Saturday I had the day to myself, which means that I get off my ass and ride.  It was brutally cold, but I didn’t give a shit.  I hurried out of the house and headed up to Statesville to ride Signal Hill, which I knew would be pretty damn fun.

I changed my clothes in the truck to stay warm, and when I got out all I had to do was grab my helmet and shoes.  There was only one problem though.  I hurried out of the house so fast that I forgot something really important…

My damn mountain bike shoes.

Instead of calling off the ride, I decided to keep going.  Sure, it was cold (and I was all by myself), but I wanted to ride so bad that it didn’t matter.  I figured that my skate shoes would be a little okay on my clipless pedals, since the alternative was not riding at all.  Turns out I would need all the help I could get, because the trail was frozen.

I mean, everything was frozen.

It wasn’t so bad.  Aside from freezing my ass off, I did okay.  I slipped off the bike quite a few times on jumps and corners.  I never really “crashed”, although I had quite a few “oh shit” moments.  Good thing there were on-trail facilities.

When the ride was over, I was happy.  Happy I actually got on my bike, and happy that I could learn a lesson from this.  Maybe next time, I’ll remember all my shit.

I cleaned myself up, grabbed a six pack of good beer, and headed over to First Flight Bikes to hang out for a while.

Photo cred:  Jonathan Finch

It was a good day, even though I’m a dumbass and can’t remember to bring everything I need to have a good ride.  Next time I’ll probably forget my bike.