Thursday, May 14, 2009

Night Ride this Saturday, and the Missing Megaphone Caper

Join us this Saturday, May 16 at 8:00pm at the Peninsula store for our next Night Ride on the Towpath Trail. If the weather looks iffy, give us a call at 330-657-2209 to see if we still plan to ride. The shop will be open for special Night Ride hours from about 6:30-8:00pm for those who need to pick up a light, helmet, gloves, or other quick items.


The highlight of this month's ride will be the return of our beloved megaphone!


The megaphone, which made its debut for last season's Night Rides, came up missing just before the start of last month's Night Ride. With over 175 people to reach with the naked voice, it made the pre-ride announcements pretty pointless.


I last remembered seeing (and using) the megaphone before the last Night Ride I attended, back in August of last year. I thought (but could not guarantee) that I put it back in its perch inside the store before hitting the trail. I assumed that if that were the last it was ever seen, somebody would have noticed a lot sooner (like before the September or October Night Rides of last year). But just to be safe, my approach to the whole megaphone affair had been to try to keep my head buried in my TRS-80 and let the other CC minions try to track it down.


This strategy did not last long, however, as yesterday morning I got the call from Scott Cowan, appointing me Commissioner of the Presidential Bi-Partisan Committee of the Missing Megaphone Investigation Committee. I assumed that up to this point, all of the obvious places had been checked, but just to be sure, I did a sweep of the back room, the mechanic shop, the rental barn, the storage closet, and the basement (including the legendary Jimmy Hoffa Room), all to no avail.


I started conducting one-on-one interviews with all of the Peninsula staff. I disavow any knowledge of "harsh interrogation methods." The prevailing theory was that it had been borrowed for the Breaking Away with Masi and Century Cycles Party up in Rocky River back in March. My personal theory was that it had been thrown into the Cuyahoga River by Patti The Buyer after she finally had enough of Derrick playing with the siren inside the store.


During my interrogation, er, interview with Doug, he decided to pop into the office/operations center/climate-controlled data center (pay no attention to that man behind the curtain) of the Peninsula store and poke around, and lo and behold, there was the megaphone, sitting on a shelf hiding behind some phone books and toner cartridges, about 5 feet from my head the whole time. So, dear Night Riders, rest assured that this Saturday's pre-ride announcements (and the siren) will come through loud and clear!

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