Total time: 96 hours
Total distance: 1593 miles
The bike outside Frist can be a surreal and sometimes frightening experience in the wee hours of the morning. Completely alone at 3 or 4am with only the sound of the spinning wheels and an iPod if the rugger has thought ahead, the darkness seems to constantly press in on the tiny circle of light surrounding our tent outside Frist. Often with no signs of other people for hours at a time, any sudden appearance of movement, be it squirrel or late night Terrace member, can be unnerving.
Senior Kurt Brendel relates a story of a night time encounter from his bicycle shift at 3-5am last night.
I was about half an hour into my shift, so around 3:30am, and it was the usual kind of 3:30am New Jersey weather: cold, windy, wet and miserable. I didn't expect to see anyone the entire shift and the first half hour was living up to those expectations.
All of a sudden a man appeared out of the shadows around Frist, sniffing around the line of bicycles locked to their racks. His hoody was up and was looking sketchier than an Etch-a-Sketch. I noticed the massive pair of wire cutters around the same time he noticed the rugby player sitting on a stationary bike.
We had a bit of a stare down for a minute or so. I could tell what he was thinking: "Why the f*!k is there a kid biking at 3:30am?" I didn't even try to explain, but just gave him a nod and kept on peddling like we've been doing for the past 90 or so hours. I'll admit my hand was on my cellphone in case the guy either started cutting chains anyway or, worse, if he realized there was a plastic jug full of cash donations being guarded only by a college kid sitting on a bike going no where.
The clogs must have clunked together the right way in the guy's head, because he clearly decided that it was not the ideal time for bike theft and left. It was the only person I saw until the end of my shift, but the bikes outside Frist will be safe as long as the Princeton Rugby Team stands its night time vigil.
No comments:
Post a Comment