"I told that glass guy he better get the hell out of here"

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

We were short a car because I’d left the van with Dan so he could install a new window motor.  I’d dropped Holly off at one of her clients in the morning, but she would need a ride home sometime during the evening and I wanted to ride.  Simple solution.  I loaded the bike in the Jeep, drove to her location in Willoughby, left the Jeep with her and began riding to Dan’s place in Chardon to pick up the van he said would be completed by the time I arrived.  Except it wasn’t.

I rode John’s bike again and decided to make life tough on myself by riding one of the area’s steeper climbs from Daniels Park into Waite Hill.  I followed that with the longer climb on Kirtland-Chardon Road up to Route 6.  I pushed hard throughout the hour plus ride to Dan’s place and was pulling into his driveway as another customer was leaving.  I was drenched in sweat and my legs were screaming.  I’d ridden particularly hard because I’d planned on driving from his place back home.

“That was the glass guy pulling out the drive as you came down the road.  I pointed you out to him as you were riding down the road and suggested he get out of here fast.  Told him you’d just ridden 30 miles from Highland Heights…and now you’d have to ride back since he’d screwed up and the car wasn’t ready,” he said.

Dan explained how he’d tried to install the window only to find that a key part that fit into the motor was missing from the old window.  The glass guy had stopped by to show Dan that he was mistaken…but Dan is never wrong about repairs…and this was no exception.

“I can throw the bike in the truck and drive you home,” he offered.

“Hey…I don’t mind the extra miles.  I just don’t want to be the one to tell Holly she’s got another day without wheels.  Maybe I’ll just bunk here tonight,” I said.

I did the ride home in 54 minutes…a 3minutes faster than I’d ever done it before.  The Rocket…my name for John’s bike…continues to crush all my course pr’s.  I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to return to the old machine…but if I do, I’ll throw away my stop watch.

Bike Duration: 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 120 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1900.