False Spring Payback

The last two days in Chicagoland have been amazing with partly sunny skies and temps over 54F/12C each day out by us. Yeah, they had wild thunderstorms two nights ago in Chicago, but I live 40 miles west where we got but a sprinkle. It’s been great.

But we are a fatalistic lot here in the Midwest. We believe that we will pay for enjoying a false spring in early February. We have history and facts on our side. The year my oldest daughter was born on the 5th of February saw a mild winter … until after she was born. Then is snowed and snowed through March.

However, while the false spring was around, I did what millions of others in greater Chicagoland did and headed outside … in shorts. Two days ago, I amazingly took my second bike ride in February on a normally unnavigable trail so early in the year. It is usually slop until May. But two days ago, it was relatively free of snow and muck. I was having a great time, although my out-of-biking-shape legs protested mightily. I had the trail to myself, and I was comfortable in shorts and a sweatshirt in early February. Glorious. And then, I received some payback for enjoying myself so early in the year. This happened …

I spotted some sloppy trail ahead of me right before my planned turnaround point. It was at that moment that I realized my desire to make a quick 180 degree turn on a narrow, soft trail far exceeded my ability to do so. And, so …

It was definitely a minor tumble, nothing like when I hit a soft spot on the very same trail years before and flipped over the handlebars, breaking my pelvis.

Cyclists behind me told me it was spectacular. But this was just a minor accident on a … deserted trail. Gulp. That’s when I realized there was nobody around to help me up.

I instinctively reached for my Life Alert button like I normally do when I fall or get lonely and just want to talk to someone.

See? It’s not just for us olds … although his mouth doesn’t seem to match with those words. Hmm. It didn’t matter. My kids had absconded with my Life Alert button to make prank emergency phone calls, so I was on my own. After several hours on the ground wallowing in self-pity, I eventually realized that I had not broken every bone in my body by slowly falling onto a softish trail. Another miracle? Perhaps.

I got up and cycled home. If you want to call me a hero for saving myself, that’s fine. It’s better than words like pathetic and pitiful I heard when I reached home and told my harrowing tale. I did also receive a lovely purplish-red bruise resembling the old Soviet Union, sprawling and angry, in my groinal area, which is why there are no pics to prove it. Nobody wants to see that.

But what do life coaches say? If life knocks you down, get right back on the horse. And they were correct. I took their advice and rode a horse on the trail the next day, and it was much easier than cycling.

Anyway, false spring is gone. We are back to temps around 41F/5C today for a high. I may try a chilly kayak today. We’ll see. Maybe I can be warmed by my memories of two glorious days of false spring in February.