<narrator voiceover>
And now, the conclusion.
A mite hungry after the meeting, so I rode a few blocks and obtained a couple of High-Energy-Density Portable Sustenance Objects (AKA Jack in the Box tacos). But Jack was remodeling, so I rode several more blocks to Rusty Spoke to find a quiet place for devouring. Al came in to start his Tuesday sales shift, and I hung out for a while as we analyzed an old Trek donated a few days ago ("is that a 531 sticker?" "Yup." But why a VX front and a Cyclone Mk II rear...?")
Lowering skies persuaded me to think about moseying homeward, and the "don't expect rain until tomorrow morning" forecast changed to "hey, you can get wet early!" And I remembered I had my laptop with me, in a pannier whose waterproofing was most recently intact somewhere around 1994. So, kicked it into medium gear, pedaled into the wind and over the freeway, and let the Inside-The-Skull Symphony devise an inspiring imaginary soundtrack as the breezes buffeted.
Stopped at twilight to activate the taillight and it shone well, but the usually-reliable headlight was seemingly craving extra TLC. It was eventually persuaded to resume full operation after the proper balance of testing and threats - and that's when it started to sprinkle.
Almost home as I crossed another major street, and pedaled up another grade - and saw my route was blocked by yellow crime scene tape and a bevy of blinking patrol cars. The only other option that didn't involve jumping fences or steep singletrack was to ride for a while along a busy arterial, where I took the lane in between platoons and scooted over to the turn lane before traffic got too heavy.
After that, a hop, skip, jump, stagger, scurry, a short steep (as in 17% steep) up & down, and home was achieved in the dark. Almost 30 miles at an
embarrassingly slow nicely relaxed pace, and a fun way to spend the day. Sure beats working...
