Yikes!

4 March 2005

I got up, got dressed and headed out for a bike ride. I didn’t take my camera again. Just like yesterday. Yesterday I missed a magnificent sunrise. Today I missed…

A skunk!

Doing the jitterbug near the construction detour, his full and bushy tail stood upright in blatant warning. He had me.

If I turned around, I may have scared the daylights out of him. And sent me home reeking of his self-defense.

I couldn’t keep going straight. An orange barrier, like the one that nailed me last week, wouldn’t have kept me scent-free. It would have pitched me into a fluorescent orange cage, and the black and white mammal would have been free to have his way with me.

I could slow down, walk around the detour, just like I was supposed to, pretending the little critter wasn’t causing my nerves to quake and my hair to stand on end. I could hope and pray he didn’t take offense to my intrusion on his morning constitutional.

I took my chances.

I hopped back on the bike as if it was an aircraft about to take off. I was out of there in no time. I began warning oncoming cyclists of the road hazard ahead. They looked at me as if I were nuts.

I thought, “You know, I was trying to do a nice thing for you. But you know what? You can find out the hard way. It won’t hurt my feelings at all!”

I quit warning anyone.

I’ve been working on my cadence because The Lizard said it’s not even half what it should be. My normal average speed for this ride is about 10.9 to 11.2, depending upon darkness and detours, etc. The best I’d done so far on the flats during daylight was about 17 mph.

Today I did 20 mph for maybe about a mile. Then I did 19 mph for about another mile or so. Then I did 18 for another mile or so. And then I held 17 until I reached the barrier where the skunk had been.

The skunk was gone, of course. But I couldn’t get my speed back up after that. Still, I did a good interval, I think. I could do that last summer. But now it’s harder for me. It’s like starting all over again.

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