Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2045:

At 8 AM this morning I had a dental appointment to get a crown to address a cracked tooth. This was the first crown I've ever needed in 55 years of life, and I was a bit nervous about the procedure. I was also a little apprehensive for the commute, as it was going to be at a different office than my usual dentist, and that office is not in a very bike-friendly area which I would be traveling through at rush hour. I came up with a route that was the best I could make of a bad situation, which involved a bit of back-tracking.

The temp when I left the house was 19°F with a strong headwind. However, there was no ice or snow on the ground so I used this as an opportunity to take the road bike. That made fighting the wind a bit easier. My thighs were pretty chilly when I arrived at the dentist from that wind.

I pulled out of my driveway and my headlight went flying off the mount. This mount has been getting looser and looser as of late. When the light hit the ground it went dim. After that it wouldn't get very bright, and kept shutting itself off after a minute of use. I fought with it most of the way to the dentist's office, until about a half mile away when I remembered that I had a backup light on my helmet. I ordered a replacement light and I'll have to use my backup until the shipment arrives.

Getting the crown wasn't all that pleasant. I've never had a lot of luck with novocaine completely numbing my teeth. Mostly I laid there trying to keep myself calm through the pain of the drilling. I like to think of myself as a pretty tough guy, then something as simple as a dental procedure shows me how much of a wimp I really am. They were able to save a good portion of my original tooth, so the final bill was less than they estimated. Also, they let me go watch the milling machine as it made my crown, and that was pretty cool to see.

Afterwards the ride from the dentist office to my company office didn't have much in the way of routes that didn't involve very busy streets. I took a couple of back streets where I could, but a lot of it was on a major artery. I had a driver of a courier van rev up their engine and then intentionally close-pass me. Jerk.

Once the novocaine wore off my tooth started to throb. I'm hoping it's just complaining a little and will calm as the nerves settle down.