Ah, young love. You know what I’m talking about. That phase when you just can’t get enough, and you want more, more, more!
Not much can compare to falling in love with cycling. I suppose I’ve fallen twice. Once in those early childhood days and then again when cycling recaptured my heart as an adult and has refused to let go.
Again, I’m not like most folks. I never had the itch to race my bike. Even when I fell as an adult, I never thought much about making a career out of cycling. But dang, I sure loved to write about the experiences.
Pedaling along the bike path in Eugene, Oregon one typically rainy, chilly winter day, I watched Karl chug past me piloting one of those massive cargo/messenger bikes.
I thought, wow, what a cool job to have — even on a day like this.
Of course, when I decided I wanted to get a taste of that life to write about it,
Karl had a simple request: If possible, don’t come along on one of those days that everyone would love to have my job. Come on one of those days when this is the last thing you’d want to be doing.
Karl spends his day on a bike, rain or shine. He knows the way most people think. On a wonderful sunny day, you see Karl roll up to a stoplight. You’re stuck in your car with the AC on heading to the office and you’re thinking, “What a great job. Fresh air. Exercise.”
So, to accommodate Karl, we postponed our adventure over and over and over again as we enjoyed that wonderful early fall weather.
Then came a grand opportunity. Karl called me early one evening when the coast was getting pelted by high wind warnings. It was pouring like crazy at my house. The forecast was for more rain.
“You want to do this tomorrow?” he asked.
Tomorrow wasn’t a typical day. It was a Thursday. On those mornings, the dudes at Pedaler’s Express get up early and deliver Eugene Weekly newspaper around town.
“Let me get this straight,” I said, “you want me to be there at 6:15 a.m., in the cold, windy rain, to deliver papers for a couple of hours before you do your regular route?”
“Well, if you want to …”
“Done,” I said. “You said you wanted me to do this on a day that no one would want to. Sounds perfect.”
The next morning at 5:30, a sliver of the moon shone brightly among the stars. Sure, it was about 45 degrees. But no rain. I hopped on my bike and headed for the Center for Appropriate Transportation thinking to myself, “Great, what else will go wrong?”
I’ll save you the trouble of reading on. The answer? Everything.
Karl arrived on time, under the clear dark skies. Then, well, as they say, life happened.
They already were down a pedaler, Karl said, since one of their guys got cut off by a car, and broke his wrist when he hit the pavement. I think it was really his first little test to see if I’d flinch.
I shrugged.
Crash? Sounds like a great story to me. Heck, two or three stories. You’ve got the lead up, the crash, the emergency room, getting back on my bike ….
A few minutes later, after a phone call, Karl noted that another rider can’t go today. Bad knees.
“Fine,” I said, “I’ll do his route.”
Karl chuckled, “No, really …”
“No, really!” I said. I’ll do it.”
“Fine,” Karl said, realizing his options were, well, he had no options. We headed to get the papers. And Karl got a flat tire,
“Great,” Karl said, “in five months I’ve never had someone call in sick in the morning, and I’ve never had a flat at the start of a shift. What’s next?”
Oh, Karl, you don’t know my SOP. He found out “what’s next” when we arrived at the Eugene Weekly to find all the delivery dudes mulling about aimlessly.
One of them says he’s been doing this for three years, and this is the first time they are late.
The papers eventually came. I headed out around downtown Eugene with one of the long haulers — that is, one of the specialty bikes with the big chest on the front — pulling a trailer filled with 800 papers, following a treasure map route list.
It took a few starts to get used to getting a ton of cargo rolling, not to mention getting it to stop. Or turning around with a heavy trailer when I missed a paper box. I had to reroute around the block.
Think about it. This is most kid’s dream! Delivering papers on a mega bike!
With everything else dominating my attention, I barely noticed the rain has started. It actually felt great since, pulling the long hauler, kept my thermostat on high all morning.
They eventually they pulled me from my route, having falling way, way behind the typical schedule. A backup took over. I felt like a pitcher getting the hook. I was just hitting my groove. Close enough to the finish that I could feel it. My trailer near empty and ditto for the chest. Not happy.
I got reunited with Karl, who was now two hours behind starting his regular route. He looked at me and just shook his head. I laughed, as we headed out for more fun.
He got what he wanted. It was definitely a day when this is the last thing you’d want to be doing.
Still, I had a blast.
Time to ride.
