Ridin'

I set out for a bike ride in preparation for my first Ironman triathlon race. The race was scheduled next month, and I needed to spend a lot of time pedaling away on the road. I planned to ride fifty miles this day. I wouldn’t finish one.

I had downloaded some new songs onto my iPod, hoping it would make the long ride bearable. Fifty miles would take me around three hours to complete, so having new songs to listen to was a must. Half of these new songs I’d never fully heard before, so I decided to download them and try them out through the ride. One of the songs was “Ridin’,” by Chamillionaire.

“Ridin’” was the first song on the playlist. I’d heard the first part of the song the day before, and loving rap music, I decided it would be first on my new playlist. Turning the volume on high, I started to ride. I was unaware, however, how the song ended.

As I was riding, I heard the horn of what sounded to be an eighteen-wheeler blast loud. The sound was coming from behind me. I panicked. I needed to dodge this truck.

Hugging the side of the road, I ran off into a ditch in a last second effort to escape the truck. Landing in a ditch, my bike hit hard. I had cuts and bruises all over. As I looked up to see the truck, I found that the truck was nowhere, nor was there any other car. I was alone. Suddenly I realized where the blasting horn had come from – the song.

As I lay in the ditch, frustrated to no end, one of the guys in the song says: “Damn! I done spilled my drink.”

I was both frustrated and hurt. However, I couldn't help but laugh.

It had been a horrible ride. Painful, nerve racking, and embarrassing. With my bike and I in a complete mess, I walked back to my house and called it a day.