Emm Pee Three

Tired as heck and a cold, light drizzle outside. But no way I could get my hours-in-the-saddle quota for the week unless I ride. So I gear up, throw my road bike on the car and prepare for misery. It's 5:30pm as I drive out to South Run Rec Center to start my ride on the Fairfax County Parkway. To keep things interesting, I take along my wife's MP3 player. I know it's stupid to ride with earplugs, but it's the only way I'm gonna make it through the hours in the rain, and I promised myself that I would stay out of traffic. Clip in, hit "play" and the first song by the Beautiful South sets the mood for the ride:

And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco bay,
But you realize you can't make it anyway.
You have to wash the car, take the kiddies to the park...
Don't marry her, f**k me.

Nice. I'm keeping a "zone 2" pace and before I know it, 30 minutes roll by and I'm getting serenaded by Sinatra as I start the climbing part of the ride:

Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars.
In other words, please be true.
In other words, I love you.

I have to restrain myself from singing along. Don't want to scare the joggers up ahead. It's now twilight and the stars are in bloom. Funny how the ride starts to feel like a music video when the songs are set up just right. I hit the halfway point of my ride and stop to turn around. Saturated with Sinatra, I hit the shuffle button and reward myself with a random selection. Jaya's Christmas Album comes on. This time I can't help myself. I let loose at full volume to the traffic on the Parkway:

People making lists, buying special gifts,
It's a time to be kind to one and all.
It's that time of year when good friends are dear
And you wish you could give more than just presents from a store
WHY DON'T YOU GIVE LOVE ON CHRISTMAS DAAAYYY!

That felt good, even in March. I know someone in their car must have heard me. It's fully dark now and I didn't bring lights thinking that the headlights from the traffic would light up the bike path. I thought wrong. The headlights blind me so that I can't see a thing. I plod on at a painfully slow pace. Once in a while catching myself right before I ride off the path. Good thing I have Pixies to keep me company:

Got me a movie, I want you to know
Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know
Girlie so groovy, I want you to know
Don't know about you
But I am un CHIEN Andalusia
I am un CHIEN Andalusia
I am un... wanna grow up to be, be a debaser...

The ride is winding down. Only a couple of more miles to the car. I'm already picturing myself crashing in front of the tv to watch City of God, again.

I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste, a flannel for my face
Pajamas, a hairbrush, new shoes and a case
I said to my reflection, let’s get out of this place
Past the church and the steeple, the laundry on the hill
Billboards and the buildings,
Memories of it still keep calling and calling
But forget it all I know I will

Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
What’s been going on
Now that you have gone
There’s no other
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered

As I open the trunk and throw my stuff in, the encore sneaks in. I laugh out loud. It's from my kid's CD:

There's a bug on the rock in the hole in the middle of the road.
There's a bug on the rock in the hole in the middle of the road.
There's a bug, there's a bug.
There's a bug on the rock in the hole in the middle of the road.
DON'T SQUISH IT!