I ended up riding blind today: when you\’ve got a long ride planned, always be sure your cyclocomputer is fully charged!

I though I had juiced up my Garmin; but apparently I had forgotten to do so. On the way home, with 16-17 miles still to go, the thing beeped. I looked at the screen; and saw a low battery warning!

I continued to ride a short way; and then I decided to turn the Garmin off. I didn\’t want it to run out of power entirely, and lose what data I already had.

It was weird to automatically glance at that screen and see it blank. I couldn\’t tell how fast was I going; and I had no idea what my cadence was. Neither did I know how my heart rate was doing. It was like flying blind.

At least I knew how far I rode before I turned around to head for home; and all I needed to do was double it to get my total mileage. I could see what my average speed was on the way out: well over 14 mph (nice following breeze!)

The forecast predicted a chance of T-storms by 9 am; but I lucked out. I ran into a few drizzles; but missed the worst of it. I rode through stretches where there had, apparently, been heavy rain. My poor road bike is a mess!

There have been times when I\’ve been caught in a blinding downpour. I\’m glad that wasn\’t the case today. It\’s scary when I\’m really riding blind.