BACK ON THE BIKE for an evening ride, after yet another trip to the bike shop on Sunday. I had put the repaired front tire back on at home (see my June 3 post), only to find that the brakes were grabbing. Fiddle as I might with the cable and adjustment screws, I couldn’t get them centered and set at the proper distance. Turned out the wheel was out of true. So much you have yet to learn about bikes, grasshopper.

I had a short recovery run scheduled tonight, but my legs were still feeling heavy from Sunday’s half marathon, so I chose a ride instead. I headed out at 8:30 and got in a good hour, really enjoying the warm night and a bike that glided smoothly down the road. I stopped at the Dairy Queen just as it was getting dark, and after securing my Blizzard, tapped the headlight button – and nothing happened. And no spare batteries on me. I made it home fine, but I’d sure hate to have that happen in the middle of a long trip.

All these little things going wrong at once is a good wakeup call for me. I’m going to need a system to make sure I have what I need in case of a problem miles from anywhere. Perhaps a pilot-style checklist. Item #1: Check the headlights before I begin an evening ride.