Well, I decided to make lemonaide out of lemons.

If I can't ride 56 miles today, then by God, I can ride 5.6! I thought of it like getting a cupcake with one candle, instead of a three layer cake with...well, you get the idea.

So off I went, wobbling around the neighborhood with untested monocular vision, wearing my patch over my bloodshot eye which insisted on watering profusely (another good reason for non-fingered gloves!). I got in a nice 5.6 miles, got into trouble only once at a busy intersection that somehow became confusing because I couldn't judge the speeds of the on-coming cars for a moment.

Otherwise, other than being brief, it was an OUTSTANDING ride. I'm off to the eye doc now, having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Maybe I didn't get the metric century I'd anticipated, but I did ride, and didn't let a little thing like a stabbing pain in my right eye and an eye patch stop me!

All in all, it's been a happy birthday already!

Here's a shot of me I took before setting out. Don't I look sexy? (It helps that this is Halloween season. No one gave me a second glance!)