Summer Games Round II

  This is my entry for the second round of the Summer Games at Lets Go Ride A Bike.  The first event I chose for myself was carrying a load, something I do it all the time.  I am ever amazing myself and others on how much I can carry on a bike.  I often go shopping without that very crucial question that bike riders should always have-how exactly am I getting this home?  When I make it out to the bike with my purchases, reality hits me, as though the bike was a complete surprise.  But I found with a little bit of ingenuity that I can fit it all and even ride it home.

  These pictures are from a typical Sunday shopping trip.  First a trip to the Chattanooga Market to get my produce, then a trip to Greenlife for all other grocery needs.  Usually that overloads me to beyond capacity.  But on this trip home, I by passed the 2 Bridges Art Festival and I was taken by the bright, big and cheerful flower.  My little garden corner is shaded and dark and it is hard to have colorful flowers. I thought this would brighten things up.

  Of course, I committed to buy it before I had a plan of getting it home.  No problem.  The stem went between me and my backpack.  I was quite the picture it seems, because several of the vendors stopped me to take their own picture of me.

Carrying Flower Home

"Planted" in my garden

For my second event, I had every intention of doing a maintance task but I didn't get around to it.  I am ashamed to admit that doing maintance on my bike is an extremely rare event.  I keep regular dates at Suck Creek Cycle for the guys there to keep me running but rarely do any on my own.  So while I have done enough to know I am perfectly capable, it just is not a thing that comes naturally to me. 

  So under pressure to get something done, I reached for something that does come naturally-reading.  I read Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne(Q, I bet you didn't notice that I had taken your copy)  Q had read it and greatly enjoyed it-telling me choice bits from the book.  He had forbidden me from reading it until he had had finished with it because he didn't want me ruining it for him with me telling him those choice bits of othe book.  While the book felt familiar because of this exposure, there were still delightful surprises for me to discover on my own.  A very enjoyable read.

n