Busting Out The Bicycle

So I've been spending a lot of time lately in my apartment ... and in my head, trying to figure out what my next steps in life are.

I had ideas on what I wanted to do, then I had a rude awakening that maybe, as Dr. Phil says, it ain't about me.

So I'm back to the drawing board.

Again.

Thinking. Planning. Thinking. Crunching numbers. Thinking. Reading books. Thinking. Building test computers. Thinking. Making DVD's. Thinking. Because whatever decisions I seem to make hurt the people I care about.

And me.

And I'm tired of it.

I'm tired of hurting people.

I'm tired of me hurting.

I'm tired of not knowing what to do.

I'm tired of this limbo I'm in.

I'm just tired of waiting for the next thing to happen.

I keep trying to hope it's good, then I realize, as Quinn Fallon has sang many times, "I'm always standing in the doorway waiting for the next heartache life brings."

So lately my life has been this:

a lot of stare and think and stare and think and stare and think

as Janine Stoll says in her wonderful song "Decide Not To Decide."

Then I realized one of the many lessons from "The Shining" --

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

And apparently a psychopath.

So I busted out the bicycle, lubed the chain and gears, put some air in the tires, grabbed the iPod and the Gatorade and figured I'd ride over and explore the bike trails here in the north part of Columbus.

Specifically Antrim Park.

Last year I rode all over Reynoldsburg, and the east side, Gahanna and Whitehall ... dodging cars and stray bullets.

So this year I figured I'd go to Worthington and dodge SUV's, Jags, and uppity soccor moms.

And I found a trail.

But it wasn't Antrim Park.

It was some park.

And it was cool. So I took it.

And went north. For a long, long time.

To a place I didn't recognize.

Then I saw the sign that said "Route 315 North" and the road was just two lanes. So I decided I'd hop on that, figuring I'd get to Schrock, or something I'd recognize sooner or later.

The first sign I saw said "Leaving Franklin County. Entering Delaware County."

Apparently I was much further north than I thought.

Eventually I came to Route 750, took that up that killer hill past the place where the llamas watch the sheep (seriously. There's a sheep farm and each pen of sheep has a llama babysitting. Drive it and see) eventually coming out on Polaris Parkway, and took that to Cleveland Avenue, to Route 161, and then back home.

Total Time: 2 hours.

Total Cars Avoided: Three.

Drive-By Shoutings: One.

See, I know that on a bicycle I have just as much right to the road as cars do.

I also know that they weigh a lot more than me.

And go faster.

And are often staffed by inattentive drivers who are reading, talking on their phones, eating, beating kids in the back seat, etc.

So I'm very alert. I'm a road rider. I've got my head on a swivel.

And at least once on every ride I get the person who informs me about sidewalks.

Like I've never seen one before.

Today's informant was a redneck in a black SUV who, while sitting at a red light, said to me, "Hey asshole, there's a sidewalk right over there," gesturing to the busted up sidewalk on Cleveland Avenue.

I looked at him and said, "Yes, and it ends in one block. And unless it's marked as a bikeway, it's illegal to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk. You should read your Ohio Driver's Handbook."

Apparently having baffled him with the facts, he had no comeback to that, and when the light changed, he squealed his tires, trying to leave me in a cloud of smoke, I guess, or he was in a hurry to get to the next red light.

Where he sat behind a few other cars.

I peddled past him in silence.

I love stupid people. They're so entertaining if you know how to play with them.

Like a cat with a mouse sometimes. Yeah, the cat could kill it, with ease, but what fun would that be?

Sure, it's easy to ignore stupid people, but what fun would that be?

Exactly.

So anyway, I got home and showered and realized I had no idea how many miles I had gone. So I decided to map my route. And I realized that I had a pretty good haul today ... about 22 miles. Not bad for the first ride since November.

Now tonight I'm off to see The Receiver at Carabar and get my hands on their much-anticipated debut CD.

I've been good today, so I'm going out.

I exercised.

I got my X-Rated Cowboys DVD done (Comfest and their Little Brothers show from August 4 ... both on one DVD) and got some other stuff captured to be burned, so I'm going to go see the fabulous Cooper Brothers rock the joint.

Show starts around 10:30 and there's no cover.

Come down to the hood ... Livingston & Parsons area ... and get your groove on.