Delayed Gratification

Fandango

I was originally hoping that my wife and I would take our new electric bikes on their inaugural ride on Monday, but Murphy’s Law took hold and it’s probably not going to happen until tomorrow.

Here was the plan:

  1. Order online and receive delivery of the two ebikes from the manufacture and drop them off (still boxed up) at a bike shop for assembly.
  2. Order online and receive deliver of a trailer hitch for my car.
  3. Order online and receive delivery of a bike rack specifically designed to accommodate two ebikes (which are significantly heavier than traditional bicycles). Our bikes with battery weigh 63 pounds each.
  4. Have the trailer hitch that I ordered online installed on my car.
  5. Receive and assemble the bike rack.
  6. Mount the bike rack on my car’s hitch and pick up the fully assembled bikes from the bike shop.
  7. Ride the new ebikes.

Here’s what happened:

The bikes arrived on time and I made an appointment with the bike shop to drop them off. That was last Monday.

The hitch arrived on Tuesday and I took it to the guy I’d arranged to have install it on Thursday. I told you here about the fiasco about installing the hitch on my car, which was supposed to take an hour but ended up taking almost six.

The bike rack I ordered, which was supposed to delivered on Friday so that I could mount it to my car’s newly installed hitch and pick up the assembled ebikes on Saturday, didn’t arrive. It was rescheduled for delivery on Monday.

The bike rack was delivered on Monday, but after 6:00 in the evening.

On Tuesday morning, I started putting that damn bike rack together, attempting to follow the rather cryptic directions (few words, mostly pictures) that would require a mechanical engineer to decipher.

It took me about five hours to put it together and mount it onto my car’s hitch. It wasn’t raining, so I drove to the bike shop, picked up my assembled ebikes and put them on the rack. My plan was to get home in the early afternoon and for my wife and me to take them out for a short ride.

Unfortunately, when I got home and removed the bikes from the rack, I discovered that the bikes’ batteries needed charging and it takes 6-8 hours to fully charge them.

Now, today, we got a text from our son and daughter-in-law first thing this morning asking if we could go over to their place for a few hours to help out with our very young grandkids. So we did, and now we’re back home. But it just started to rain and it’s supposed to rain non-stop until 5:00 tomorrow night.

Maybe we’ll get to finally ride our ebikes on Friday. Maybe.

35 thoughts on “Delayed Gratification”

  3. animar64 December 15, 2021 / 2:45 pm

    Life has a mind of it’s own and I’m starting to think it did to many drugs back in the day.

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. donmatthewspoetry December 15, 2021 / 2:49 pm

    You sure those instructions are not for something else?……

    I hope this is all gonna work out…..

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Fandango December 15, 2021 / 3:39 pm

      I got everything ready. Bikes assembled, hitch mounted, bike rack assembled, batteries charged. Now all I need is some sunny, dry weather.

      Liked by 1 person

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  7. Paula Light December 15, 2021 / 3:58 pm

    But you got a lot of exercise! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

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  8. rugby843 December 15, 2021 / 4:36 pm

    I had to laugh because you too are being visited by the omnipresent M

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 1 person

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  9. msjadeli December 15, 2021 / 5:52 pm

    Oh wow, that’s a cascade of irritation! I’m happy you’re getting lots of rain though, aren’t you?

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. Sadje December 15, 2021 / 5:57 pm

    Ah, the life intrudes on our wishes. May be tomorrow will be the perfect time to test the bikes out.

    Liked by 1 person

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  11. Marleen December 15, 2021 / 6:05 pm

    I’m amazed that following the directions got that part of the job done. I’m was just explaining, today, that when I used architectural drawing (with the right tools) to communicate with people who build, they didn’t know what it meant. I think it takes people who aren’t in the relevant field(s) to think things through.

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    • Marleen December 15, 2021 / 9:52 pm

      I… was just 🙄. Specifically, the person about whom I was relating an experience, today, was a man who installed cabinets. I was pretty sure measurements would’ve been involved. And the person to whom I was retelling this, today, is a man who got an advanced degree (MS) in a university math department… in computer science (when this included everything about computers; electronics, hardware, software, programming, and so on). But the mathematics monicker only served to frustrate me to a great degree. I attempted conveying that I had been great at geometry, in school — including the logical proofs and the enjoyment of lines, points, graphs. No architectural tools, today. But after hours of attempted interaction in order to plan for a floor, to make one edge of it parallel that isn’t parallel now, after observing out-loud, repeatedly, that this individual is bizarrely averse to change since he couldn’t hear my desire that the shape not being a wedge, I was flabbergasted to hear the current flooring referred to as being a parallelogram. He wants, suddenly, to make it into a rectangle, rather. “I want it to be a rectangle,” I said. “This is NOT a parallelogram… of ANY sort.” I had used the word “parallel” over and over for what I wanted changed. I had even said that “there is a definition for that word.” (He found that offensive to have been said.) I had additionally stated that in order to evaluate what I was saying, he would need to listen to the words I said. He did seem to consider the possible fact there was some truth to that. But it hadn’t occurred to me that I actually needed to use the word “rectangle.” What the fucking hell?

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  12. jilldennison December 15, 2021 / 7:23 pm

    What comes to mind is that famous line adapted from Robert Burns’ “To A Mouse” … “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”. It also reminds me of the way most of my plans ultimately work out! Hang in and enjoy the bikes whenever you finally get to try them out!

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    • Fandango December 15, 2021 / 8:12 pm

      Thanks, Jill. I hope so. And that Robert Burns quote is one of my favorites, along the one that loosely translates to something like, “Oh would the power the gift he give us to see ourselves as others see us.”

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  14. Nope, Not Pam December 16, 2021 / 12:58 am

    🙂. All things come to those who wait

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Fandango December 17, 2021 / 5:14 pm

      My wife has caught a cold and I promised her we’d take our inaugural ride together, so not yet. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday.

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  18. Carol anne January 14, 2022 / 2:16 pm

    darn! when plans go arye I hate it! I hope when you did ride them that it was fun!

    Liked by 1 person

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