Saturday, August 1, 2009

Beat the Clock & Ally and the Rock

Beat the Clock is an all bike messenger service I started with my friend Ian. That means I own a small business and work for myself now. 
CEO Bitch!

I totally pimp myself out now to make sure I continue to get paid to ride my bike for a living. Today I rode Grendel, a steel touring bike belonging to my good friend Mo, with 48, 1lb bags of coffee beans from downtown Austin to Whole Foods San Antonio in the Quarry. I had a few good friends (many thanks go to Sherri, Stefan, Dave and Jonathan) pace me as far as Gruene, TX and then I was solo the rest of the way. It was pretty grueling as the morning overcast skies flamed up with afternoon sun and the Mexican border's silent whispers became heavy headwinded messages. 

My friend, Ally, just got back to Austin from a long bike tour. Her world fell apart when she lost her husband to suicide so she decided to do a lil soul searching while pedaling around the country. In April, she rode from Austin to New York, took a train to Seattle, rode down the west coast, took another train to Iowa and rode across Iowa. She had so many moments that were truly unique and all her own. One day while riding down the coast in California, she spotted a rock all by itself out in the water. The beach was full of rocks just like it, yet this one rock was all alone out there. 
"What are you doing out there?" Ally asked the rock aloud. "Everyone is over here and your all by yourself over there. I mean, you look great with the waves hitting you from several directions, and your all glistey, and the birds seem to like you better cause your covered in their poop. Now that I think of it, you seem really happy with yourself right now and it shows cause you look so beautiful!"
Ally then realized she was talking to herself. 

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