Despite the fog and damp, I was glad enough to have been invited on Trudy Hutter's "Escape Marathon Sunday Ride" to Golden's Bridge this past Sunday.

The ride began well (and well out of the way of the marathon route) at the at the 79th Street Boat Basin as we seven souls set out north on a track up the Hudson that eventually led us to the South and North County Trailways and some of the best Fall scenery viewing in recent memory.

Two or three hours later, we pulled off the route and into a small A & P strip mall for lunch at a previously-scouted, French patisserie that offers delicious, quality victuals, hot soup & cocoa, and indoor seating just inside the glass from where the bikes are parked.

The heated interior of the shop drove the chilly fog's dampness out of our gear in short order, and the hot beverages warmed our innards as we conversed about our great good fortune at catching the colors at their very peak and thanking Trudy Hutter for organizing such a perfect ride.

So when we came out of our lunch stop (Jean Jaques in Millwood) the rider who had locked all of our bikes together announced that he had forgotten to bring his key....

::BLINK....BLINK::

Fortunately, my bicycle had been the first one on the wall and the cable hadn't reached it, so it was the only one that was useable...

Now, I happened to have built that dry cleaner that's next to Jean Jaques, so I know that there are two (not one) hardware stores and a lumber yard within 1/4 mile of there, so off I rode in a hurry....both closed.

So I try the firehouse......no one from the company is inside....gas station...shop closed on Sunday...Motorcycle shop...likewise.

I am now ready to call 911 to order up a rescue truck (sirens & lights and roaring diesel engines.... how mortifying.) when I look up the Trailway to see an "obvious non-cyclist" with a full gray beard with an even more obvious knee problem, limping south on the bike path coming in my direction.. and he is wearing an HVAC uniform, just like those gathering dust in my closet.

::Jack Benny folded-arm, dead-pan take toward the camera::

"HVAC?" says I (translation: "Are you a Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning technician?")

"Yes." says he "A/C B Mech. laid off for the winter" (translation: "air conditioning mechanic, second class)

From experience, I know that HVAC Mechs never go ANYWHERE without their tools, so I say:

"I've got a twenty dollar bill for a man with a battery sawzall or a bolt cutter in that shopping center's parking lot just down the path."

So HE says:

"My car's just down the bike path in the parking lot. The tools are in the trunk. Show me the way!""

....and so it came to pass that in the middle of "Blue Law" Millwood, NY on a Sunday afternoon, the Great Spirit sent us a bolt cutter in the trunk of a parked car just behind the bull rushes on that little stretch of road between the shopping center and the northbound bike path

So there's our blushing hero, holding his bolt cutters and the clipped cable lock after having been roundly applaided by all!

Life is sweet!