Cool, I have a book at the post office! I just need to ride down and get it.
Or I could tell them to just leave it at my doorstep. Oh what the heck, it's Motor Free Month, I'll just ride down and grab it on the way to work. It's just one book, right, it's probably wafer-thin at that! So this I do; the weather was cloudy and brisk, but far better then yesterday. And I managed to locate my rain pants so I'm ready for anything now. On to the post office in old town, about 1 mile from home, and probably 1.5 miles from work. I give the post officer (officer? what do you call them anyway when they're not actually carrying mail?) my little slip and he wanders on into the back, appearing a short time later with an enormous bag from the British Post containing what could be the collected works of Charles Dickens inside. Uh, I was under the impression there would be only one book? Apparently this was my annual "free-bee" book shipment from The Folio Society, a brilliant book retailer by the way, and the one book I did order was lovingly accompanied by 3 others I did not order, but was presented with as well, and 2 other books that I did not think were coming until next year. Cool bag though, but how the heck am I going to get this, well, anywhere?
Won't fit in the backpack, that's for certain. Don't think I want to haul that on my back anyway. Won't fit in the rear pannier either, it's way too big for that. I don't have any way to strap it down either. You know what I wish I had? Yes, that's right, a car. They're oh so handy. On would car free day, too. How ironic.Problem solved -- sort of -- by draping the top of the bag over my left handlebar so I could grip both it and my bike with my left hand. That left the books swinging freely with every change of momentum into the tire or my shin on alternate pedal strokes. When it swung back I could feel it slowing down the momentum of the bike!
And this arrangement made the left brake next to impossible to operate. You know a trailer would have come in handy as well, now that I think about it. All part of the adventure! I sort of got used to it after a few blocks, and was even able to make a death-defying crossing of Prospect next to the Hilton carrying this thing.
I love how the picture states "Eat Britain Post." Makes me wonder, what does Britain Post taste like? I'm going with Stale.
My Colorado readers will know that we're experiencing (The Kooks,) Stormy Weather these past few days. Luckily for me Ft. Collins seemed to avoid the worst of it today. My ride home for lunch (where I deposited my books at home once and for all, ending that adventure) was windy but dry. It was quite windy, not quite a biblical wind, more like an apocryphal wind; seemingly significant at the time, but ultimately not that important.
One other bit of news to impart; it's official, I will be riding my bike down to Denver for the weekend! If you're going to the Great American Beer Festival, come visit me, I'll be pouring beer for Buckbean Brewing Company on Saturday, and possibly Friday as well. I'll see you down there!
Wednesday I'm going both motor and bike free. Foot power, baby.
I just realized this post really has nothing to do with World Car Free Day, other than probably convincing you that going car free is not always the birghtest idea. So, well done there. But that steve nash infomercial for Vitamin Water is pure gold. "Are we crazy? Maybe!"
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