Short but memorable

That was today’s ride — short but memorable. The weather is what they keep calling “unsettled,” which means sunny, rainy, blustery, calm, warm and cold, all within about five minutes of each other. So getting dressed for the ride I second-guessed my outfit like a starlet getting ready for the red carpet. Decided that since I was cold in the house, I’d be cold outside — the thermometer said 60 degrees, and the wind was a-blowing. So I put on a base layer under a long-sleeved jersey (mistake No. 1) and pull-on leggings (less of a mistake, No. 2). Then got out on the actual ride, the sun was burning through the clouds, and I made more costume changes than Liza on Broadway — 6K out and the leggings had to go, and the base layer was gone by 8. Then it was zip up, zip down, I’m warm, I’m cold, I’m on fire — me, me, me.
I’m used to people in cars yelling things at me, throwing things at me, slowing down to match my pace, and doing just about everything else imaginable as they go by me. But I’ve never before had someone in a monstrous pickup truck start tootling me vigorously as they come up beside me, match my pace with a mirror bigger than a baby just inches from my helmet and ask me for directions. Of course, I had a hard time understanding them, because they kept asking “Where’s New Road at?” I know where it is, but I don’t know where it’s at, man, you know what I mean? Okay, well I actually just couldn’t understand them. I just kept my eyes straight ahead, figured out what they were asking and hoped the trailer they were pulling didn’t take me out as they sped past.
I don’t know who’s building all these new homes out on my riding roads, and it’s not that I don’t support in-fill, but it’s starting to make what the pros call “nature breaks” a lot harder to come by. There isn’t always a cemetery nearby!