Nighttime Bike Ride

I am spending my second summer here in Yankton. I come from a small town in Nebraska, so it's hard to find work at home. I'm living in an apartment with three friends from Mount Marty for the summer and thus far it has been a blast. We're all excited for it to get warm so we can spend a lot of time at the beach.


I'll elaborate more on my apartment experience in a future post. For now, I have a great story I must share with all of you. On Thursday night the weather was severe in and around Yankton. My roommates and I watched the clouds developing on the little porch at the front of our apartment. It was beautiful and frightening at the same time. For a while, we were convinced it was possible we might be killed by a tornado dropping from the sky. But anyway, the storm amounted to nothing more than rain, wind, thunder, lightening, and some awesome clouds. At about 9:30 p.m. the storm had passed and somewhat of a calm had developed. Beings that my friends and I felt like lazy piles after sitting around all day, we decided it would be a great time for a bike ride and run.

Now keep in mind, this is about the time that it starts to get dark outside under normal circumstances. Well on this night, it was definitely lights out in Yankton because the storm clouds were still around. Our plan was to ride all the way to the other side of town and then leave our bikes and run around Memorial Park. Beings Broadway is a very busy highway, we took a long way around to cross in a not so busy area. Lots of rain less than an hour before we left meant lots of puddles. You could call me an idiot as I wore one of my favorite white T-shirts that now looks like someone splattered tar all over me. Splashing through the puddles was a blast though. In fact, had I not decided to avoid one such pudldle and take the street instead of the road, a near death experience could have been avoided. You see, I decided to lead the way and on the busiest road of our journey, I darted out and hugged the curb of the road to avoid a huge puddle on the sidewalk. My roommate Brittany and I were both wearing white tshirts, so the oncoming traffic swerved a bit to give us plenty of room. Lindsay, roommate number three, was wearing black. The car swerved back at her and she opted to slam her bike into the curb and fall off onto the sidewalk to avoid death. I know, I know. Call us idiots for 1) riding our bikes in the dark, 2) not having helmets or reflecters, and 3) riding in the street.

After ensuring Lindsay was ok, we didn't yet have sense knocked into us - we kept going. Low and behold, our businest intersection of the journey was less than a block later. We waited until the cute little flashing man of the crosswalk blinked green and then hightailed it across....only to realize that some traffic violater in a truck decided to make a right-hand turn. YIKES! You see, being a bit financially challenged, I own a WalMart bike that has always had brake problems. I had to swerve around a bit and nearly turned a cookie in the street to avoid crashing out of control into the turning truck.

Continue on we did, and the journey continued uneventfully for a while. We made it to the park, ran, and were feeling more alive than ever by the time we started heading back. The night was perfect....until we made it to the big hill that had to be descended if we were to get home to our apartment. Everyone loves flying down hills on a bike, and the excitement shadowed over my brake problem. Two-thirds of the way down, I noticed a car in the intersection at the bottom of the hill. I gripped my brakes as far as they would go and only slowed a miniscule amount. AHHH...my last resort was to drag my feet along the ground for a good 40 feet and contemplate the option of falling off my bike backwards while I let it pummel into the street. Luckily, I skidded to a stop just in time. My fear gave way to uncontrollable laughter and a resolution to fix my breaks before I venture out again. I have some heavy-duty Adidas shoes whose toes miraculously toughed out the skidding. :)

Moral of the story: Despite the riskiness of the situation, we had a blast!! Yankton is a beautiful town - the perfect size for nighttime bike rides and runs. I can't wait for more adventures to find and experience this summer.

I have much more to talk about, but for now, I'm off to the beach to enjoy the beautiful summer sun! You should all stop reading and do the same. :)