Stupidity Defined

posted by Danni

I am a firm believer that the anniversary of one's arrival on this planet should not be restricted to a single day but should, instead, be at least a week long celebration. So, despite the fact that my birthday was this past Wednesday, the powers of the universe gave me my birthday present yesterday - a gorgeous, warm, sunny November day on which to enjoy a beautiful bike ride.

Susie and I set out yesterday afternoon from Maynard Center to take a 23 mile ride that I had done previously with the Sudbury upright cyclists. The ride took us through Maynard, Acton, Carlisle, Concord, and Littleton. It was a lovely ride through some nice neighborhoods, by some orchards and rolling farmland, and past Nagog Pond (where I believe I saw a mated pair of Buffleheads swimming in the pond - a new bird species for me which is yet another birthday gift from the gods!) While watching the Buffleheads, the helicopter I flew a couple of weeks ago flew overhead. It was fun to turn to Susie and say, “Hey, I flew that helicopter!” We had a great ride!!

And amazingly, despite my extreme talent for getting lost and the fact that my GPS kept crashing, we actually navigated the ride successfully. I went out of my way to ensure that we didn’t get lost this time. My guess is that the reason we got off track on the Concord ride was because I was so preoccupied chatting with Susie (I know, go figure ;-), that I wasn't paying attention to the GPS when it was telling me to take a turn and I missed it. To that end, I programmed my GPS to beep when a turn was coming up this time and, although it was quite annoying, it was definitely effective. I also printed the directions on paper and had Susie tape them to her handlebars so she could verify that we were following the route accurately.

During the ride Susie and I had a discussion about the new navigation precautions. She told me that her definition of stupidity was making the same mistake twice. She was extremely happy that I had learned from my previous navigational errors. So I am excited to say that, at least by Susie's definition, I can state with confidence that I am not stupid. However, I know that there are many out there that would definitely debate that assessment;-)

I hope you, too, had the opportunity to get out and ride yesterday on such a beautiful November day.

Danni