MARosko's Blog

Only 6 days away from the MS 150 bike ride !  It's 150 miles from Duluth to Blaine over two days, and I am riding  with Team Bikeman, of Erik the Bikeman fame. 

After I recovered from May's terrible tree crash incident, and Erik patched my bike back together, I was back in the saddle. 

Of course, me being me, last week's training ride was not without incident.

Last Thursday, I was riding a total of about 40 miles from Minneapolis, along the Midtown Greenway Bike Path (I love the fact that it's finished and extends ALL the way to the Mississippi River now!) to the East River Parkway, and down Shepard Road to St. Paul. 

I was on my way back, when I stopped at a port-o-let near Crosby Farm Park.  I'm not going to lie to you, I was sweating.  And it's not exactly breezy inside those plastic biffs.

So, I'm in the biff, fumbling with my gloves, my headphones, my iPod.....and then....plunk.

My iPod disappeared in an electric blue splash of other people's waste.  My 40G iPod, etched with a personal inscription on the back, because it was a gift from The Boyfriend TM.......the musical symbol of our love, sitting in a pool of.....well, I don't want to think about it too much.

I'm not terribly squeamish, and the biffy was newly cleaned--pristine, even--so....after standing there, sweating profusely, wondering what the heck I should do for a few seconds, I took off a bike glove, closed my eyes, and shoved a hand down in there.  Yup, I sure did.  And I sure did wash my hands REAL GOOD when I got home.

Now I'm faced with how to tell an Apple tech exactly what happened to my iPod and why it doesn't work. 

Although a person could conclude that there have been a few bad omens regarding this ride, I'm still excited, if not conditioned, for it.  I'm really looking forward to meeting some of the 3-thousand or so of you who are also doing the MS 150, and most likely, are better prepared for it.

I'll be the one who's all chatty.  After all, I don't have an iPod to listen to.