Inaugural Afternoon Delight Ride: Good News/Bad News

By Tom Reynolds

Good News:  The calendar assured me it was Spring.
Bad News:  The weather gods apparently feel unbound by the calendar humans took millennia to perfect.

Good News:  The sun was brightly shining.
Bad News:  It was 27 degrees, wind chill 17 degrees.

Good News:  The group stayed together, no one flew off the front or dropped off the back.  Everyone maintained the same moderate pace.  Everyone liked the route; no one got lost.  The group was highly compatible with no interpersonal tension at all.
Bad News:  The group consisted on only me as no one else showed up.

Good News:  Traffic was very light, nonexistent even.
Bad News:  Lack of intimidating traffic allowed a pack of wolves to begin shadowing me sensing an easy meal.

Good News:  A large, ferocious bear scared the wolves away.
Bad News:  The bear began to follow me.

Good News:  I was on a bicycle, the bear was on foot.
Bad News:  Bears can outrun bicycles.

My memory is fuzzy (pun intended) from this point until I got back to Bryan Park covered in blood with a 3 inch bear claw embedded in my helmet and a chunk of furry bear hide jammed in my rear sprocket.

Hopefully the weather will be warmer next Thursday and the group a bit larger.  I'll bring bear spray along with the route map.