Testing the Boogers, Dodging the Rain

Sandy Ridge Road

25 March 2017

I sprung for a second set of hearing aids that I can wear outside. They're tiny. They fit deep into my ear canal, out of the wind, away from sweat. They do one thing, and one thing only: they amplify. The sound quality isn't nearly as good as my other pair. It's going to take time for me to get used to the pluggy sensation. And they look like boogers. 

However, they amplify well enough for me to hear conversation and approaching cars, which is all I really need outside.

My last road ride longer than my commute to work was a month ago. I knew I'd be in for a world of hurt at the end of the day. Leaders gotta lead, though, so I wiped Miss Piggy's chain clean and got her ready to roll. I needed to test the Boogers too.

Nobody met me at home for the 5.5-mile ride up to Pennington. Piggy's shifting was sloppy; I'd been meaning to adjust the cables but I'd kept on forgetting. Halfway up the little hill north of Denow Road, the chain fell between the crank and the frame. I wasn't even in the granny when it happened.

I knew I'd be able to get it unstuck. Eventually. Nevertheless, I texted Chris to let him know I'd been delayed.

The chain was wedged between the frame and one of the chain ring bolts. It took patience, a lot of moving the cranks one way and the other, and, eventually, threading my bandanna around the chain and pulling up on it for more leverage. I don't know how long I was working; it had to be more than five minutes before I got the thing free.

I showed up at the ride start, a few minutes late, with blackened fingers. Chris never got my texts.

A few fastboys showed up. They like to warm up with the slow chick before they get their game on. So it was that Ken G, Ed W, and Larry H joined me, Chris, Pete, Ricky, and Bob.

Tired of the same old turns, I'd planned a route that would go counter to what my regulars would expect. I loaded the route into my GPS, but, my GPS being unreliable, I wrote a cue sheet as well. Good thing I did; the GPS lost my route half a mile from Pennington. Six miles later, I reset the thing so that I wouldn't miss the turn up Woodens Lane.

The GPS behaved all the way to Sergeantsville. Somewhere along the route back, it shut itself down.

Ken, riding an old, steel, touring bike with wide, slightly knobby tires, got a flat halfway up Covered Bridge Road. We paused at the edge of a driveway at the bend in the road. Never having stopped here before, I took the opportunity to get a few pictures.

 We headed east along Sandy Ridge Road. There might have been a raindrop or two.

On Bowne Station Road near Queen, a kitty was comfy on a hay bale:

Of course, I had to say hello to the gals in Mount Airy:

There were a few more drops of rain. We ignored them. By the looks of it, we managed to skirt the worst of whatever came down. Burd Road in Pennington was wet, but we weren't.

The Boogers did me well, too. They stayed put, didn't amplify the wind, didn't short out, and, somewhere up in the Sourlands, I stopped noticing that they were there at all. I'm going to keep them. If nobody gives a second thought to someone who has contacts and a few pairs of glasses too, it oughtn't seem weird for someone like me to have two pairs of hearing aids. Maybe my next set will be boogers that do all the things my pretty ones do. Maybe by then we'll have microchip implants. Check back with me in 2020.