Riding the White Line: Traffic Tickets and Thunderstorms

By Mick Humbert

We all ride the white line, whether on a bicycle or in daily life. To our left is the smooth pavement where traffic is heavy, speed is up, and people are in a hurry. To our right is the shoulder which, while safer and slower, is often littered with gravel, broken glass, and the occasional pothole. Most of us choose to ride a white line existence: in the flow of traffic but within easy reach of the cluttered shoulder. Along the way, we are affected by and also impact the pedestrians of life that we meet and interact with.
With several long distance fund raising bicycle trips as a backdrop, Mick speaks to some of the positive values in life. Through the "pedestrians" he meets and the values they live out, Mick explores some of these values. Pedaling along the white line of life, while dangerous, is also rewarding. Certainly the pedestrians one meets are worth every revolution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463412753

Mick Humbert

Mick has suffered from a Mental Illness for over 30 years including inpatient hospitalization, outpatient programs, counseling, ECT, and other modalities. The author was born in Hastings in 1957 at the very facility, Regina of Hastings, which he retired from as a Chaplain in 2020. Coming from a background as a dentist in a family practice with his father and brother for 13 years, Mick moved toward a spiritual vocation in the late 80’s. Following ordination to the Permanent Diaconate of the Roman Catholic Church in 1993, he obtained a Masters in Pastoral Studies. Along with three different parish assignments in the 29 years of diaconal ministry, Mick functioned within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as an Interim Parish Life Administrator, as well as several years affiliated with the campus ministry staff at Cretin-Derham Hall facilitating outreach ministry with youth. Mick has also been active for 35 years in the Catholic retreat program called Cursillo. Following dentistry, Mick pursued a 14-year career in social services through the local private agency, Hastings Family Service, focusing on supportive transportation and caregiving services to the people of the Hastings area. Mick lives in Hastings with his wife, Rita, who now joins him in semi-retirement. Mick and Rita have two adult daughters who are married, and several grandchildren. For leisure and reflection, Mick engages most avidly in bicycling on his recumbent tricycle named “Trinity”, and electric recumbent named “Grace”.

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PROLOGUE

INTERNAL CHALLENGES

LESSONS BY THE SPOON(ER)FUL

SUDDEN IMPACT

SARAN-DIPITY

EXTERNAL CHALLENGES

BUSH-WHACKED

KREMLIN—USA STYLE

MR. SULLIVAN

HELP AND HOPE

SNAKES ALIVE . . . IT’S A TORNADO!

FREEZING OUTSIDE FREDERICKTOWN

TRUNK MOTEL

A LOBB’IN AND SPITT’IN ALONG

BRIDGE OUT

EPILOGUE

DEDICATION

To those who were most present during

the worst storm in my life—

Katie, Rita, Teresa

Mark, Peter, Ron, Scott

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are numerous individuals who assisted me during my bicycle journeys. Some rode along, while others provided ride support or were overnight hosts. They not only increased my joy of cycling, but also eased some of the effects from the challenges of cycling as well. Less obvious, but no less important, are the people and institutions that make bicycling on public roads possible. I have two groups I wish to especially thank. I am grateful to all those in public service work, from public policy to construction and repair crews who think about, build, and maintain the impressive paved roadways of the United States. Respect and remorse is mixed together as I am also very well aware now of the tremendous loss of land, livelihood, and life that the native peoples endured at the hands of a growing United States. They still live with this loss today, from which I benefit while crossing the land, as a cyclist, that they once called home.

Throughout all of my journeys, both in life and in cycling, my family has been present to support me. Without my wife Rita, and daughters Katie and Teresa, much of what you read may not have occurred or would have turned out very differently indeed. First and foremost, this book is dedicated to them.

Finally, Melanie Howard has again provided her professional editing skills. Her insight into and enthusiasm for writing keep my fingers tapping on the computer, knowing that the final product will be easier to read because of her efforts.

INTRODUCTION

There are times when everything in life or in cycling seems to go flat. Moments come, only some of which you can forecast, when the wind or storms beat you into submission. Even when you are cautious and minding your own business, others occasionally will curse, throw objects, or spit in your direction. The last chapter titled Optimism from my previous book, Pedestrian Crossings, serves as a starting point for the theme of this book: what I have learned from others and through my own experiences while riding a bicycle that may echo with you as you live in and through the really significant challenges in life. Crap does indeed happen, but how do we handle it and keep rolling along?

From the final chapter—Optimism in Pedestrian Crossings:

Why does a person get up day after day when they have to face acute dysfunction or chronic crap in their lives? Just thinking about it makes you want to plug in another DVD and eat a quart of HaagenDaz. This will not be a treatise on religion and faith, although Mick has found their messages concerning hope and endurance inspirational. What choices does one have when, to quote an episode from the TV sitcom Cheers: It’s a dog eat dog world out there, and I’m wearing milk bone underwear? Mick has found the all too easy platitudes and clichés lacking in his experience. If anyone gets into the it’s all in God’s plan mantra, Mick’s stomach starts to turn, or the more secular, whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger, makes him want to scream as well. When someone brings up the bloom where you’re planted cliché, Mick begins to get nauseous as in gag me with a spoon. In response, Mick wonders why not ask instead, Maybe I’m not in the right garden?

If you really thought about bicycling on roads, most without paved shoulders and dominated by heavily powered vehicles from motorcycles to eighteen wheelers going 50-70 mph next to you, danger with a dose of stupidity might come to mind. Bicycle touring is a very dangerous sport because of this close proximity between the self-propelled two-wheeled Davids and the internal combustion Goliaths. About the time of the 2006 cross—country ride, Mick heard a story of a commuting cyclist from the Hammond, Wisconsin area who, weather permitting, rode several miles back and forth to work each day. The terrain was a rolling county road with no shoulder. As the story goes, a motorist coming to the top of a rise, lost control of something in hand and bent down slightly to retrieve it. When the driver looked up quickly upon hearing the sound of the gravel shoulder, it was unfortunately too late to avoid the commuting cyclist who subsequently died from the violent impact. Very serious business, road cycling is for sure. So what happens in cycling, as in life, in the space between one’s ears when things don’t go very well; indeed when they go terribly wrong?

What follows are some of the challenging events that I or a ride companion experienced during some of the cycling I have engaged in over the last thirty years. The prologue and the first three chapters come from my early years of cycling and give an autobiographical account of some of my important life challenges. They hopefully will give you some insight as to why I care so much about this subject. The remaining chapters, divided into two parts, are from riding a recumbent bicycle, all but one from long-distance fundraising trips over the past decade. I will first explore three of the most challenging situations I faced on a bike and end with several stories which offer some help and hope in dealing with life’s challenges.

Each chapter will begin with a saying, poem, or a passage from Christian tradition as an introduction since that is the tradition I know best. The New American Bible translation was used for passages from the Bible. Since the stories I tell are often of a very personal nature, I have chosen to write in first person throughout this book. The individuals and events are accurate to the extent that they represent how I perceived them at the time and wrote them down each day in a ride or personal journal. I will embed my feelings and emotions within each story. At the end of each chapter are some questions for you personally or as a group to ponder, reflect on, and discuss.

The realization that everyone