By James Durand
Schedules are hard. Hard to organize, hard to maintain, and even harder to complete sometimes.
I’ve been trying to take Wednesdays off work for a while and make it a ride day. Many weeks I go to work Wednesday morning to just finish up one little task, or have a quick update with the crew, or maybe do a quick adjustment on my bike before the ride, and more often than not, I end up there all day and miss the ride completely.
So, recently, I thought I’d invite a buddy to ride with me and maybe improve my odds of completing ride plans.
It worked out perfectly since my buddy Logan has not been riding lately and has had trouble finding motivation.
It was set, ride from Swicked at 9:30. I arrived at 8:30 and cleaned my bike up, sorted my riding gear, and was ready to go. Then I started working on a few small things since I had 15 minutes to spare.
Twenty minutes later I was in full riding gear, including my helmet, sitting at my desk, deep into my mini projects and noticed Logan was not there. I panicked a bit.
I was so excited to ride, I had the perfect route picked and the weather was as good as it gets, yet I knew without this commitment to Logan, I would easily keep working. I’d tell myself I would just do a bit more and then ride later in the day as soon as I finished, but then the store would open, customers would come in, and before I knew it, I’d still be walking around helping people in my clipless shoes, jersey, and helmet at 5 o’clock.
I’m definitely a creature of habit and I could imagine the grumpy end to my day when I realized I skipped another ride for what, I thought, was more important at the moment.
Then, a bang on the door, Logan was here.
I slammed my lap top so fast I thought I broke it, I grabbed my bike, and we were out-a-there in seconds.
We returned a few hours later, dusty and sweaty, smiling from ear to ear, no stress and definitely not grumpy.
Logan mentioned he probably wouldn’t have ridden without my invite, and I probably wouldn’t have ridden without his arrival.
I think we might have to make this a regular event?
I’m James Durand and I’m Goin’ Ridin’…