It was this or pound goldfish by the handful

A bike and an hour to kill? Lunchtime joyriding!

This is what America has come to

I work in the middle of over-developed nowhere. Who even lives out here? This right here is my version of hell. Little boxes all in a row. Nancy Botwin selling over-priced ganja. Doped-up housewives hiding bodies with a smile. In this vast suburban wasteland, one can find many things. Horror. Humiliation. Horses.

Yes. Horses.

Mmhmm. Horses. About two miles from the office is that path I took on my adventure from Bachmann Lake and that path cuts through a polo field and stables. So I saw horses. I also heard the gun range in the distance. I bet I know what they do when those horses start to get ooOold ...

Also?

That's right, fatty. On your bike ride slash run, you can stop along the way for some strength training. It looks like it's all resistance (probably because the weights would get jacked) but these things are scattered all along the trail because ... Las Colinas has nothing better to spend their money on? Roads? Schools? Anybody?

And that is an overpass in the background. This trail is not nearly as scenic or idyllic as it'd like to think it is. To be fair, it's not a highway. It's Royal Lane. Ay yi yi.

The fun part was getting back. On my way across an actual highway overpass, I tried to be the nice cyclist and stay out of motorists' way as much as possible. There's a painted line that creates about a foot-wide gulf between the curbed pedestrian walkway and the drivers' lanes, and I try to stay in that. So that's all the room I have and here comes some car zipping past at what feels like the closest part of the closest lane. I could have reached out and touched it.

With only 500 feet to the office, I followed it back to the parking lot. It was a buddy of mine—someone who, in addition to valuing my life as a human being, should also value my life as a co-worker and a friend. I was shocked and a little rattled and I hope like hell that came across in a "What the hell were you thinking?!?" There had been a miscommunication between her and her passenger when it came time to playing a joke on me, a joke I tried to explain could have killed me. Jeez louise ...

Ugh. That may be enough joyriding for me for the day.

Update:

So she just sent me this. And my angry little heart grew thee sizes.