If you've been following the blog, you'll see that my vehicle fortunes are not great right now. I'd like to consider myself "challenged" right now. Of course the big issue is with everything I drive as it seems they all are cursed. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that if it is a car and I drive it, expect something major to go wrong.
With the above thought on my mind, I decided to take a different approach. Pondering on my fortunes and the personal desire to get into better shape, I readied my bike and prepared to ride my bicycle to work. I intend this to become a regular function of my week too.
I got my old bike from Mom and Dad's house, were it has been sitting under the abuse of the elements for some time. After some wrenching and liberal use of WD40, I had a bike ready to test-ride. The test went well for about half a block, when at such point the chain broke and halted my journey. I returned home.
A new chain later and I was ready to embark on this momentous journey. The ride is about seven miles and is uphill most the way. I decided to pace myself and not try to rush right out of the gate as I don't want to be too hard on myself right now. Upon departure, I realized how much I really did miss riding my bike.
The climb was tough at the 2/3 point and from there on. My legs burned and my butt reeled in pain as the hard plastic seat (covered in duct tape of course) carved a spot out with every undulation of the road.
At the five mile point I felt a bump in the rear tire. With every rotation there was a thud and the sound of something rubbing against the frame. I looked down only to see what I perceived as some object stuck to the tire.
When I got to a point to dismount from the bike I saw what I could only describe as amazing - I had blown a bicycle tire! Forget about the apparent impossibility. Forget that at no point did this bike pass faster than 35 mph. Right then and there I began to laugh hysterically.
You see, I referred to the movie "the Money Pit." In it, the main character and his wife buy a beautiful house that they discover later is a gold plated piece of septic waste. As they discover more problems, the husband goes about the business of actually fixing the house, but soon finds it overwhelming to fix the house and keep up his relationship. In a classic scene when literally everything that could go wrong went wrong, he draws a bath and gets into the tub to take a bath. A short while later he falls through the floor of the house with the tub down to the main floor.
And he begins to laugh hysterically.
And so it is, a reminder that the money pits of our lives can either consume us or make us better for them. I hope to find that after the end of this trial that it is similar to the ending of the movie. In the end he gets his relationship worked out stronger than ever and they live together in that old beautiful house, fully repaired.
And hopefully all they had to do was keep up on the furnace filters in order to live happily ever after
The End
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