MID WINTER BLAHS....It could've happened...

Its not that I don't ride in winter, the less factor is in effect, less daylight, less miles, less opportunity, less motivation. A cooling rain shower in July is welcome, in February it can ruin your ride, your day, your night,  a bane to avoid, muscles, joints, tendons, perform and heal better in warm temperatures. On a July Saturday morning I can pack food and drink, wear little as possible, head out without direction or care like Huckleberry Finn, make an adventure happen, time, distance, direction, daylight, all irrelevant. In winter, I ride several weeknights, 10 to 15 miles ,,, I try to hit 40 to 50 on Saturday and 20 to 30 on Sunday, once the days lengthen,, temperatures rise, that'll all change.  I recount a recent ride, it may or may not be true, I haven't decided yet. One evening, riding to transcontinental I scoot over to the Lake to ride the path, it's safer at night to be off the street, it's all dark so it don't matter, just ride. I arrive at the Levee in quick time, my 10,000 lumen headlight leads the way, the levee is high and steep, in daylight I'd ride up on an angle using all the machismo I can muster, but at night the 10% of my brain that actually thinks says , "Walk up and down the Levee", so I do so .  Digging my toes into the grass and dirt, pushing bike at my side , I climb Mount Levee, its high, I stop for a few seconds at the top, start walking down the dark side, fighting gravity, looking for obstacles, I wasn't half way down, my left foot went into hole, I lost my balance, lost my bike, tumbled down, helmet flew off, I rolled into a ball to not break anything, my head hit the ground, jolted my brain, then I stopped , my normal procedure for a fall like this, check for breathing , bleeding and breaks, all ok, head hurt, I stood up to scan for my bike, a terrible jolting pain gripped my right knee, no light, I limped to the bottom of the levee, gathered myself.  I reached into my left back pocket for a small LED light I kept for such emergencies, got to find my bike. Searching the ground, struggling to take 3 steps forward I spot long brown leather shoes attached to a very tall ominous man in a light brown suit,  he looked a lot like French President DeGaulle, thin legs, pot belly, prominent nose, big man, in his left hand was a half burned blunt,tarred on one end,wet on the other,  the other hand grasped a frosted can of Strawberry Flavored Metrical,  I could only think of one thing to say ,"Can I help you?", He replies in an accent of unknown origin, , "no I'm here to help you", I retort , "you mean stop my right knee from hurting", "no", he delivers, "I'm here to explain to you the deepest workings of your alimentary canal, "  Again I could only respond with ,"your shitting me ",, "no", he answers with a serious DeGaulle face, "that's what I want to explain". I immediately follow my instincts , turn, hobble the opposite direction,  my knee is really hurting, I shine my little light on it , there's a gray rabbit with his buck teeth sunk into my knee, no wonder I thought, my right hand wraps around the top of his jaw, my left on the bottom, I spread them gingerly , remove him and toss that silly wabbit to the side, he sits up on his hind legs, bites into a carrot, and says, "Whats up Doc?,", a black hole appears on the ground, he dives into it , the whole closes up , I'm relieved, my knee feels better, it could have been Tex Avery then a wolf that whistles would have had me,  still looking for my bike, the tiny light is not much help, mp3 player came back on , seemed to pick up some Why fly channel playing bits of Harvey and the Moon Glows, so NOW, I'm in the dark, with out my bike, injured, a tiny light, I have to listen to "The Ten Commandments of Love", any other time would be fine,  I see something glimmering about 15 feet away, moving toward it I recognize it as a big belt buckle on white bell bottom trousers, with a matching jacket, high heeled boots, rhinestones everywhere, 8 inches of chest hair busting out a high collared opened shirt,  turning my light to the face I'm relieved to see it's not Elvis, it's Captain Kangaroo dressed like Elvis and he's looking for Bunny Rabbit..I explain to him, he bit me then went into a hole in the ground that disappeared,"figures" he responds, by now I'm done, I've had it, just then I smell ammonia jamming up my nose, my eyes open, again, there's flashlights in my face, several people surround me. my bikes next to me , my helmets on my lap, no Elvis, no DeGaulle, no wabbit, everyone keeps asking, "are you all right", again I can only respond, "I don't know, what happened", someone offers an explanation , " you fell down the levee, your were out for a few seconds, skinned your knee, you must have tripped in a rabbit hole, my reply was automatic ,"OOOKKKK",. I get my senses together, decide to recross the levee and head back home ,  Down the other side of the levee I approach Transcontinental, 2 men standing next to a Peugeot , yes, its Degaulle and Captain Kangaroo impersonating Elvis, DeGaulle says in a concerned voice, "need a ride?",  again I can only answer, "no","no","no", "no", .. Getting home I clean up, bandage my knee, don't mention anything about what happened, the TV's on, "Stories from the ER ",  I hear the commentator saying to a patient, "you mean you took 2 Valiums and saw Captain Kangaroo dressed like Elvis", OMG,   I then immediately took the 3rd Valium and hid in the bathroom till morning.....the end finally.....waiting for spring.... .....