Throw Caution to the Wind!

Did you read my last post? If so, you must remember that my #2 Weakness was:



Strength#23 (AKA Weakness #2)

Caution, prudence, and discretion



You are a careful person, and your choices are consistently prudent ones. You do not say or do things that you might later regret.



Well it became evident that I was lacking this strength when I recount tonight's biking adventure. It all started innocently enough. Moorewrites and I decided we wanted to go biking this week and we chose to go today. We decided to meet at the 96th Street Monon parking area at 6:00pm. All went according to plan and we were on the trail riding north at 6:10. This was due to me needing to do some bike maintenance and not either of us being late ;)



We were riding and having great conversation when we hit the first obstacle, a bridge. I was aware that she doesn't like heights, but I didn't think much of that when I decided upon our route. I should have thought about it! We get to the bridge and I speed up to get some momentum and I quickly go over to the other side. I stop at the bottom of the hill and turn around and look for her. She is no where to be seen. I wait about five minutes hoping she will come, but she doesn't. I call her and when she answers I ask if she is coming. She said she was not going to go over the bridge. So I think that I said something like "Get the Fu*k over the bridge!" in an exasperated tone of voice. I have to say that cursing at her didn't help the situation.



I ask her to get off of the monon and cross the street, but she doesn't see an exit. I said wait there and I will come and find her. I get off of the trail, cross W. Carmel Drive and look for an entrance to the Monon. Guess What...there isn't an access point on both sides, just the North side. I ride my bike through a parking lot and then through a dry ditch until I finally find her. But we have an obstacle. There is a 4.5 foot wooden railing that is preventing her from getting off of the trail. I think for a moment, and I tell her to lift her bike and I will lift it to the other side. I figured if I got her bike over, I could somehow manage to get her over too. I want you to picture this. Both of us have very little upper arm strength and the fence reaches my shoulder area, so I have to reach very high to get the bike over the fence. Somehow we manage it.



Next we need to get Moorewrites to the other side. I suggest that she walk through the brush but she doesn't think that is a great idea. I then suggest she climbs under the railing and scoot on her bottom. She hedges a bit, but then decides that looks like the best option. Did I mention that she is wearing a white T-Shirt? The back of the shirt was no longer so bright when she was done.



After our 15 minute obstacle we continue on our ride North and we made it to the end and past 146th Street. It was a beautiful ride and the weather was very nice. As we were riding I began to get hungry and I suggest that we stop for dinner at Bubs. Moorewrites agrees and we stop on our way back South. We have a fabulous dinner and when we were paying I look up and discover that it is getting pretty dark outside. I look at my watch and to my astonishment it is 8:30. The time just gets away from me when I am biking.



We begin to hurry as we are quickly loosing daylight and we know that we need to take a detour to skip the bridge in Carmel. I ask the server and she suggests that we take Rangeline road down to 116th Street and access the Monon there. That worked out great and there were nice sidewalks for us to ride on the entire time. As we reenter the Monon it was now completely dark. The darkness is doubled by the large quantity of trees that line the Monon as well as a large cloud cover in the sky. We begin to get a bit scared as we cannot see very far in front of ourselves. I have never rode in such a dark scenario. It was not pleasant. You cold hear the frogs croaking and the grasshoppers making their nighttime sound.



We began to ride faster and the bugs were entering our area in droves. I kept feeling them hit various parts of my body as I was riding. I really don't like the bugs and it was kind of gross. I imagine that there are dead bug carcases on my various body parts. YUCK!



We make it back to our cars safely and without incident. But you can see I was missing a bit of caution on this ride. Perhaps we shouldn't have tried to break off of the Monon and lift the bike over the railing. Perhaps we shouldn't have stopped for dinner. Perhaps we should have had lights for our bikes.



Even though I make fun of you....this is why I need to hang out with my cautious friends. We balance each other out. I get you to spread your wings and you get me to close mine a bit. Thanks for that even though I roll my eyes a bit.