I\’ve been drawing a blank!

Don\’t we all know that sinking feeling when we\’re about to begin a long ride; and see that we forgot to recharge the bicycle computer? It happened to me yesterday.

As a rule, I recharge my Garmin on Friday night. This past Friday I overslept, and didn\’t go out on the road bike; I wanted to get a few things from Whole Foods. That made it only too easy to forget about the recharging.

This morning, while preparing to ride, the thought suddenly struck me: DID I charge up that Garmin? I couldn\’t remember for sure. I found out when I turned the thing on. I had forgotten!

I couldn\’t take the time to recharge right then. I wanted to get going early, before the heat got bad; I had a ride of 42 miles in mind. In addition, I knew that T-storms were possible starting from about 11:00 am.

The Garmin held out at least to my turnaround point, so I could easily calculate my total distance. Determining time was trickier. I had to check the clock when I got home, and go from there.

Starting out at barely 6:00 am turned out to be a wise move. The heat didn\’t begin to be really bothersome until I had only 5 miles left to go. I made it home two hours before the first rain.

Speaking of drawing a blank, let\’s be glad it resulted in an under-charged bicycle computer. Suppose I had taken off without my Camel-Bak? That would have been a very short ride; I would have had to return home to get my water supply. How did cyclists manage long rides before the \”CB\” was invented?

Somebody will have to tell me that. I\’m drawing a blank.