i was riding home in pure darkness lastnight. i still had lights and all, but it was a pretty dark night for some reason. as i looked up into the sky i saw the most beautiful shooting star. it was pretty cool, because usually they catch you off guard, but i was actually thinking about this one before it happened. i made another wish and rode on [note: i made the same wish last week, which was the same wish i made on my birthday]. i kind of zoned out after that, until i started thinking about this television show i was watching the other night, it was a very compelling show about ufo’s. then i thought, hey what if that shooting star i saw was really a ufo, and i was abducted? it could be, i don’t really remember the last half hour, and my butt really hurts! :)
after i broke out of this stupid thought, i noticed someone in the shoulder kneeling down, doing something. this is pretty creepy at night, especially after having all these alien thoughts. it was really exciting to think i may be coming up to an alien! of course it may a little uncomfortable if it was the same one that abducted me. anyway, it wasn’t an alien at all!
it turned out to be some guy fixing his flat. i stopped buy to see if he needed any help. he was pretty well prepared, so i was ready to move on. i decided to stop and talk with him a little bit. it seemed kind of dangerous for him to be where he was, and i had all my flashing lights, and reflectors, i thought i would be a little safer.
this guy looked to be in his 50’s and in pretty good shape. his skin was a little weather beaten like he has spent a few summers on his bike. he wasn’t a regular lycra wearing carbon fiber riding cyclist, in fact he was kind of an ex-cyclist. in fact he seeed to be more of an ex-cyclist than me. he had some very practical clothing, and his bike was equipped for anything. he had drop bars with some extra padding under the tape. his seat was a bit wider and softer than i like [second thought maybe that’s why my butt was hurting]. the bike itself was an older trek touring bike. nothing special really. the real impressive part, was that this guy was finishing up a round trip from ft. collins to golden. he said the whole day would turn out to be 150miles. he said that he had to drop off some papers at the the office, or something like that. his day began at 5am and here it was 8:15pm with a flat, on the side of the road, an hour or so from home. this guy makes my adventures seem like amateur bowling.
i parted, and rode off thinking, “loveland to golden…..hmmm”