It’s been a month since I last hit the trail. Until today, that is, when I visited Lynchburg.

I graduated from college a month ago and was quite comfortable with waking up at 10, something I hadn’t really been able to do in two years. But then again, I missed riding since I’d spend most of the last month painting my parents house. ugh. When Tim and Mike asked me to go for a ride at the crack of dawn, I hesitantly agreed…. half thinking I would really be regretting that decision the following morning.

Well, the ride was great. Somehow I got out of bed at 5 to get ready for what I thought would be an hour of torture, but instead it proved very refreshing. At first I thought I would freeze since it was somewhere in the mid-fifties outside when we started, but as usual, 10 minutes into the ride I was sweating like crazy. Thanks to my awesome Louis Garneau jersey, I felt like a champ even though I’m technically still out of shape.

The best part of the ride, though, was when my pedal fell off. That’s right. I was riding the Diamondback XSL Trail bike this morning with the platforms on, and suddenly…. I inadvertantly slammed my left foot into the ground. There, 5 feet back, was the pedal… which had somehow unscrewed itself from the crankarm.

Mike and I spent a good 10 minutes trying to screw it back in to no avail. Somehow the threading in the crankarm got screwed up and despite our attempts there was nothing we could do. Crap.

True to form, Mike looks at me with a serious face and says “Hey man, why don’t you just put a stick in there.” I collapsed onto the ground and laughed for a good five minutes before actually trying it…. and of course, it didnt work. I did “ride” the bike most of the way back to the car, though, by pushing my left foot on the outside of the crank arm after doing a half-revolution with my right. Sound awkward? You should’ve seen it.

It’s a good thing all of this happened before 7. No one else was out at Peaks View Park to laugh at my misfortune and… well… it was a great time anyways. I wish we’d brought the camera…..