I am not particularly eloquent… either by design or as a result of my upbringing, I am somewhat pragmatic in my use of words (both written and spoken). This tends to make me come across as either flippant or just plain short (which is synonymous with “rude” in the eyes of many). As a result, when I post on Internet forums, I am not known for writing volumes when I believe just an emoticon will express the appropriate thoughts just as well.
I felt it necessary to explain this before going on.
The world around me also tends to be pragmatic in its own distribution of words. Take this sign for example:
In just 2 small words, “Road” and “Closed” the message is stated in such a manner as to convey the appropriate message: don’t try to drive down this street.
The sign does not say, “We’re sorry, this road is closed because we’ve decided to spend your tax dollars and dig a large hole in the center of the street in order to improve drainage and reduce the amount of time we have to spend listening to you all complain about your basements flooding.”
Back to past tense:
This sign was something of a theme for my morning and became one of the reasons for changing my loose framework (okay, it was a plan) mid-stream.
…
The night before my potential day off, I had plugged in my iPhone, camera, and GPS to charge since I had not yet gotten around to wiring in my auxiliary power port. Unfortunately, my brain was not quite firing correctly at the time because, although I had plugged the GPS and iPhone into a power strip, I had apparently neglected to plug said power strip into a wall socket.
Since I would be dropping my daughter off at day care and because I am the emergency contact in the event something is needed, my phone was something of a requirement (the GPS, not so much since I wasn’t planning on getting into any unfamiliar territory).
I discovered this little snag only after putting all my gear on and rolling the bike out of the garage but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting away. So, I did what any half crazed rider would do: I improvised. I spied a couple alligator clips hanging on the wall and hooked them to the aux port… the positive I clipped to the positive terminal of the battery and the ground I clipped to a convenient piece of exposed metal:
(I only grabbed a photo of the ground)
I then zip-tied the assembly to the frame:
GPS secure:
A quick check to make sure power was flowing:
Tire pressure check just in case:
Finally ready to roll:
A quick check of the weather revealed no clouds but a bit of haze (who needs weather.com
):
At this point, I should actually outline my plan (not calling it a framework anymore because at this point, it had become something of a plan)… I had decided to roll down US Route 20 toward Albany with a plan to end up in Cooperstown, NY. After heading in that direction, I kept hitting signs saying “Road Closed.” One did lead to this:
… not a bad thing but this was a fairly isolated incident. In addition, I kept running into some fairly annoying traffic (30 in a 55 stuff). Okay, there was a message buried in there. My plan wasn’t going to work out. I listened.
New plan: I remembered that in the other direction on Rt. 20 there’s a nice little town called Skaneateles. I also remembered from a thread on ADV by GSBones that there’s a great burger place called Johnny Angel’s Heavenly Burgers… and I was a bit hungry by this point. Hmmmmm….
After turning around and heading in the direction of Skaneateles on US Route 20, it had become clear that I was a tad bit overdressed for the unseasonably warm temperatures (I was sweating my ass off). I decided that a pitstop in Cazenovia, NY would be a good idea:
I then changed from this:
… to this:
Much better. I also took this opportunity to open the vents on my Joe Rocket Alter Ego jacket and pants.
Some more information on Cazenovia:
These guys were certainly enjoying the lake and the weather:
I love my bike…
Onward:
(notice the “Bike Route” sign… this becomes significant in a bit)
Take the “Bike Route” sign and relate it to this picture:
All will become clear soon.