I’m at CityMug, a small coffee shop adjacent to CityMac in Asheville NC. This is how they welcome you to their network. It’d be nice to say that I’m here for the wifi and hot cocoa, but sadly, this is not a pleasure visit—those hills that were kicking my ass on Monday were also shredding the aging clutch on my Subaru.
Despite recent advances in automotive technology, it remains physically impossible for a car to drive uphill without a means of applying the force of the engine to the wheels. And since it died going uphill (and I wasn’t quick enough on the parking brake), the full weight of the vehicle, post clutch-fry, was now resting on the transmission, making it impossible to shift out of gear.
The car was stopped, smack dab in the middle of a 10%+ grade on Paint Fork Road, with little more than its hazards to protect it. And I had to ride back up the even-steeper driveway to the house to just to start the process of getting it out of the way.
Orchestrating the ensuing tow was a nightmare. The house Rudy selected is extremely remote, meaning both that precise directions were required, and my cell phone doesn’t work. Our only connection to the Internet is the very landline we need to communicate with the towing company.
So I had to wait at the house for the wrecker to figure out where the car was, then call and say he’d arrived before riding down the driveway (dirt/paved/steep) in the rain in street clothes. And then ride in the wrencker into town under the guise of being Rudy, since, with the infrequency of my trips outside 495, I’ve let my AAA membership lapse.
I think next year I will run my own training camp again.
