Rolled the Dice and Lost

I’m doing my best not to do a happy dance that Miranda has taken an interest in cycling. Seems like it would jinx it, eh? Anyhow, yesterday afternoon, she and Tammy signed on the dotted line with the club, paid the money and she was an official member. Thursday night is the Ladies’ Ride, which I know relatively little about for obvious reasons.

The weather forecast called for thunderstorms, but with Calgary you never know. They were supposed to hit at 3:00, but that didn’t happen. Then the forecast said 5:00 and that didn’t happen. Then it was revised to 8:30. At this point, one has to ask what the purpose of the forecast is.

Tammy was off to work, so I took Miranda and Ian down to the shop. Liz the ride leader was there, and other ladies started appearing so the ride was on. Liz decided to proceed cautiously and ride the Bow Pathway so that they could turn around if the weather turned. Miranda was off, and that left Ian and I with time to kill.

First I dropped my Roubaix with the service department so that they could re-seat my bottom bracket without the annoying creak that’s in there now. Then Ian and I were eyeballing the Kona Jake 24, a cyclocross bike that’s the last junior size: bigger than his existing 20 inch bike, but not a adult size. We took it out into the back alley for a test ride.

It was his first time riding a bike with drop bars. He was a little uncertain at first, but overall it went well. It reminded me so much of when I got my first bike like that: a 5-speed road bike.

Meanwhile, Miranda and the ladies were cruising the pathways. Miranda said she was having a lot of fun.

I took Ian to Ed Worthy Park, which is along the pathway. We poked around by the river, which is swollen with the spring melt, and we were mesmerized by the rushing water under the bridge. Unfortunately the sky was turning from threatening to menacing.

When the first raindrops started, we went back to the car. I figured if the storm hit, Miranda might be happy to see me and get a lift. We watched her location on my phone, and then the storm really plowed into us. It was torrential, with wind and lightning and pouring rain. I noticed that Miranda’s location had stopped moving at the Extreme Bean Café, a spot about two kilometers away along the path. So we drove there, and I found six very wet women huddling in the foyer of the café. I offered to give lifts back (since I had the bike rack) and Miranda and one of the ladies accepted. The rest waited it out, I think.

Despite the sudden intervention by Mother Nature, Miranda was really excited by the ride, and it was more to her taste than the Sunday one was. It was more social, and at a lower speed. I’m happy that she’s happy, and that I was in the right place at the right time.