June 9, 2006

yes, i was on drugs

Posted by dogpossum on June 9, 2006 12:39 PM in the category bikes

I'm not sure if you all know this, but I ride to the city every Thursday night. I pack my lappy up in my crumpler backpack (red of course), slip on my lovely day-glo cycling jacket and pedal into town, somewhere between 6 and 8, depending on whether I'm DJing, and which shift I'm doing. In summer, this is one sweet trip. In winter... well, it's dark, it's cold, you can see the pollution (which is disturbing) and I have to wear gloves. I usually have to stop just as I get to Royal Parade so I can take off a layer.
But I like it. I can sing really loudly on the way home (at around midnight), I like the way the fog makes everything kind of soft and quiet. I see lots of interesting things (usually roadworks, but last night it was a pile of vomit halfway between the pub and the colleges at the university, but then a bat flew past at helmet height, so it was ok). And I'm safer than I am when I catch the tram (I hate waiting at the fairly-isolated stop in the city).

So it's all good. Even though I'm usually pretty tired and sweaty after dancing for hours. But so long as I don't let my heart rate drop too low between dancing and riding home, I'm ok.

Last night, as I rode home at about 11.30 (earlier than usual), dodging vomit and bats, trying not to wipe too much snot on my gloves and singing loudly (something about banana splits I think. I blame Louis Prima and a momentary lapse of judgement while DJing), I thought 'this is great. I'm lucky. I love my bike.' When I got home, though, I'd stiffened up in the cold and post-yoga, post-dancing aftermath and could barely get off my bike to open the garage. Then I could barely get the keys into the lock because my fingers were so cold. It was 6degrees, but it gets colder with windchill on the bike. When I got into the shower it felt like I was scalding myself with luke-warm water, I was so cold. But only on my cheeks, ears, the front of my thighs, my forearms and my shins.

But I was still cheery - all that dancing and pedalling and wind chill had exorcised my grumpiness of the earlier evening - and the endorphines. Well, yes. I guess I was on drugs, albeit natural ones.

Posted by dogpossum on June 9, 2006 12:39 PM in the category bikes