The Rain Out

Being the day before the long run, Saturday is a day when I do not run. My program says that I can moderately cross-train. I do nothing in moderation. My plan was to meet my sister at 8 a.m. for a long bike ride. It was pouring rain and so we optimistically moved the ride back to 10 a.m. It was still raining, but I was in denial when I drove my two hybrid bikes to the Monon Center to meet my sister.

We decided to go have breakfast at Cafe Patachue on Range Line Rd. to wait out the rain. We drove and drove and could not locate the Cafe, partly because neither of us can focus long enough to map out the directions. We instead drove around with my sister slamming her breaks periodically as we finished each other's sentences. We finally settled upon Shapiros, but by then it was after 11.

It was pouring rain when we left Shapiros and so we decided to head over to my sister's apartment and wait out the rain. We went through family photos and continued to finish each other's sentences.

Finally the rain subsided and we went back to the Monon Center, where at 2 p.m. we embarked on a bike ride which took us down to Broadripple where we picked up the Canal Tow Path. We followed that over to the White River Path and took that to the downtown canal path and back again, for a grand total of 34 miles.

My sister is beginning her fitness journey. Near the end of the ride we were faced with 20 mile per hour headwinds. She was having difficulty moving the bike forward, but she continued along. She sunburns easily, unlike me. At one point earlier in the ride I looked back and she was nowhere in sight. She stopped to remove her bike shorts, and I, literally, left her in the canal dust.

I was listening to the Counting Crows sing about the Rain King, and so I did not hear her yell my name. When I realized she was missing, I simply waited in place until she appeared, which was quite a time later, sans bike shorts (she was wearing another pair of shorts under the bike shorts...a novice move on her part).

The ride was a walk in the park for me but I enjoyed the company. I could have done without the chocolate cheese cake though...but what are sisters for?