Today I had a dentist appointment. For those of you who are moms, you know this involves logistics — in our case, Ian took the car in the morning to drop Benji off at Grammy’s house, while I rode my bike to get my teeth cleaned. I decided that, while I had some time and the forecast looked tolerable*, I would follow up my teeth cleaning with a bike ride from the dentist office. To that end, I brought water and some on-bike snacks (not something I usually bring on a 2-mile commute). At the last minute I noticed it was actually raining, so I rode my rain bike and wore my rain jacket.

What I didn’t account for was at the very end of the appointment, after finding no cavities and noting that I needed a couple sealants replaced, the hygienist (Erin; she has a son Benji’s age; I see her every time and we chat) painted fluoride onto my teeth. That always feels a little weird and gritty, and tastes odd. But the reason it mattered to me was because of her instructions:

Don’t eat any sticky or crunchy food for the next few hours.

In my pockets as fuel for my post-appointment ride:

For those of you who don’t know, that top one is a Kind bar, almost 100% crunchy nuts held together with something of a honey-like consistency. The bottom two are extremely sticky gummy squares of energy “food” — so sticky that bike racers actually lick them and gum them to their handlebars or top tubes before a race, and then pluck them off for nutrition during the race. What a mess.

So what did I have for my bike ride fuel? Water. And, not pictured, one Clif Shot, which is a kind of jammy goo that I decided didn’t qualify as too sticky since I can swallow it without it touching my teeth.

* About the forecast. Yesterday was forecast to be pretty nasty, so I drove Benji to school and went for a walk. During the walk, it got nicer and nicer, until by the time I had to get Benji, it was sunny and lovely. I rode our bike for the commute home, anyway, and spent the afternoon weeding. Today, however, was forecast to have a few hours of dry-ish clearing between 9 am and 11 am. Unfortunately, that dry-ish-ness never materialized. My “waterproof” jacket left me looking like this when I got home:

Shoulders and fronts of my arms, the places that tend to get the most rain? Soaking wet, and not from sweat.