Chilly

Perhaps it was an ill-fated ride from the start. A decent snow early in the week and not a day over freezing since then left a few patches of ice on the roads. Especially in the shadows of buildings and trees.

And it’s here that I’m reminded of my younger brother when we were both still kids, who, not long after our mother’s warning “be careful with that knife and not cut yourself” while cleaning fish, proceeded to cut himself while cleaning fish.

Because not a minute after telling my riding partner, Wil, to be careful for ice, I hear a bellowed curse behind me followed by the clatter of a bike going down in the road. I turned around to see Wil lying there taking inventory of his parts, wondering whether he’d be able to get up.

Wil’s a big guy, and the saying really is true, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” And the older they are, the more you might break. And at first glimpse, it didn’t look promising. He knew something wasn’t quite right, but would actually have to move a bit to find out what.

At the same time, it took all of my willpower not to take a picture of him lying there. As is the case when guys ride together a lot, they get to razzing each other, and this would’ve been a precious memory for our group. Still, when you don’t know how bad it is, it’s best to assist the wounded first and get the pictures later.

So I spent the next minute or so going down the checklist: “Can you straighten your legs?” A car comes. “Well now can you draw them back up so this car can get by?” “Anything else broken?” The chain was off his bike, but other than that it looked OK. I helped him up and got him over to the side and away from the ice. He was tender, but thought he could make it. Not for extending the ride as planned, but to at least get us home from there. We got the chain back on, and eventually got home in a more roundabout way to avoid any ice and hills.

So that was the day’s adventure. It happens, and it sucks, but we live and learn. By the time I got home, my fingers and toes were frozen anyway (it was about 16 degrees Fahrenheit when we started out), so I was fine with cutting it short.