June 6, 2009

Freaking bummerland

I suppose it won't be a total loss: there is lots of month left for me, but who am I kidding? I think I might be trying too hard to get another R-12 started, and fate is shaking her finger at me. Because of a family member's car woes I lent a helping hand on Thursday this week and let them borrow my car for a few days. No biggie at all, really, because I haven't been using it. The commuting has been going really well, and we have the wife's car if needed...which, would come up this weekend because I knew I'd have to travel to the ride start Sunday AM. The ride start, honestly, is a skip away - like 30 miles from the house. The usual solution is simply to make it a 300k by riding to and from the event. No biggie, but time is not on my side: I have to be back in time to make a Sunday night dinner - and even though I'm feeling especially strong, its best not to push one's luck. So, I make my plans, lay out clothes, and mix bottles. The usual. The time comes, after w
atching "Bolt" with the kids and putting them to bed, to perform the last step: pack the wifes car. It's a bigger car, slightly, than mine so this should be a snap. I drop the fold down seats, and take the front wheel off the bike. I begin to get it into the trunk - but its hitting something. I try a different angle...no....backwards? No. what the? So, I remove the rear wheel also...try again... No. Denied. Fail. WHAT IS THE DEAL? What appears to be a larger car yields a smaller trunk, and a tiny little pass-thru where the seats fold down, instead of the fully open fold down I get with my car. With the fenders attached, I can't get the frame in sideways to sit wheel-less inside the trunk either. The farthest I can get it in longways, the handlebars are sticking out of the lid...and I'm sorry: its ME: I ain't bungeeing or tying the trunk lid down against my bike's bartape. No sir. It's either IN the car where nothing will happen to it, or its OUT of the
car - there is no halfway. I try laying it across the back seats, but the doors won't close.. And I discover I've now left a nice chainring tattoo across the wife's light grey interior now. Pause, apply stain lifter, clean.....whew...... I try every possible angle, approach, and nothing gets the bike in the car without having something about to get bent, pressed against wrong, kinked, or sticking out. So, I can either remove the rear fender, which requires removing generator taillight wiring (no.), or I can remove the seatpost - which is a ridiculously tight fit (no.) - or I can remove the front fender and turn the handlebars sideways.... Dude, this is getting stupid..... I will remove a front wheel for bike portage, but I don't need to be reassembling a bike in a parking lot before a 126 mile ride, where everything needs to work so I can get home on time: oh, yeah..and have time to take the bike apart again so I can get it home. Let's forget the hour I just killed t
rying to Rubiks Jenga Uno this bike into this stupid car.... This is BS. It's now an hour past when I wanted to get to bed for the 4am alarm call... I'm sweating, stressed, nearly hopping mad, confused why Kia makes a larger car with LESS storage space than my (under loan) Kia Rio has...into-which my bike slides easily in and out of with no hassles, and ticked at myself for making assumptions that it was gonna fit just fine without checking first, and not at least attempting to pack the car until an hour before bed-down. I tried everything - I can pack a car: I once got a lawn mower and about 20 boxes of stuff and two people into a 91 Escort. Why the heck can't this bicycle fit into this car?!?!?! Why is the passthru so small? How come that part of the trunk is shaped that way? Theres no reason for it! No matter what I try, something is preventing something from closing, or the frame is resting on a component that will get bent or pushed out of adjustment in transit
, and that's not worth it, either.
I shoulda loaned the wife's car, but I didn't think it'd be this way, as I'm standing in the garage with the bike upside-down, both wheels removed, and beginning to wonder if I really need those fenders on there....hmmm....DUDE, NO, STOP. This is dumb. Just...stop......

fine.

I'll wake up, drive up there, get cards and cue sheets passed out, see the riders off, and go home. Maybe I'll ride somewhere else later, just meander, and then come home and chill. It just won't be the same, and won't be for the RUSA credit I was looking to get. Who knows...but, I DO know I won't be riding the All's Wellsville in 6 hours, that's apparent. Ooooooooohhhhhhh well. With the weight loss, the strength I've been feeling lately, the good meal tonight, the bike running great, an awesome tailwind forecast and sunny skies and mid-80s on tap, and an actual GROUP of riders on a KC Area PERMANENT?!? Six riders?! Dude...that was gonna be sweeeeet .... I was just really excited about this one. Maybe I can get another one later this month: but a few things are certain: my next 'car' will be a pickup truck. Family can borrow my wife's car. AHGGHGHHGGGG.....!!!!!!

3 comments:

warbird said...

The proverbial, "they don't make 'em like they used to" eh?

WildcatAl said...

My recommendation, just get a hitch on your next "car". Then you can find a bike rack you like and still bring the family on a bike ride in the future.
P.S Always get a bike rack that holds one more bike than you need, otherwise you will be like me standing in a parking lot someday trying to get 4 bikes on a 4 bike rack and realizing this activity has the same degree of difficulty as a rubik's cube.

Jason said...

Man that sucks! My trunk is the same way!! I ended up borrowing a hitch rack ... the car already had the hitch so it works out perfect!