A Work in Progress

Yesterday I witnessed something magic.  For the second time in my town, we hosted a High Wheel bicycle race.  This is a race between those huge one giant wheel/one small wheeled bicycles.  Yes, it is as awesome as it sounds.  In fact, more awesome, I discovered, as I wandered through the huge crowd that had gathered for the occasion.  All sorts of people were there, and all stood for an hour, encouraging the racers as they went by.  These cyclists, due to the unusual fortitude required to sit five feet up on a wobbly bike with no brakes, have clear personalities.  There was the guy who fabricated his bike by hand into a work of art.  Another who wore (rather wisely) a full face helmet and was guided by the skull figurine welded to his handlebars.  The more traditional riders wore early 1900's garb and looked right at home atop their impractical velocipedes.  Well, at some point they were practical.  Until the chain drive was invente...

In cycling, if one rides 100 miles in a day, they call it a century. It sounds cool. When I did 50 miles for a charity ride last week, they called it 50 miles. I think it would be much better if cycling adopted cool names for smaller accomplishments with your velocipede. Such as 50 miles is a 5 decade. It can be applied to any number of miles under 100. "Yeah, I did a 7 decade yesterday, it was awesome." or, "I did a 2 decade! And I lived!" or, "I did a decade on my bike yesterday," he proudly sniffed. "Wasn't so bad." Anyway, I did 50 miles and it really wasn't so bad. Probably because I was slightly prepared, had good company, and the terrain was more or less flat, but I did survive. I'm not sure how I got roped into it, but, it was one of those situations where I knew I wouldn't regret saying 'yes.'  Only three days before, I bought my first proper road bike.  It's a 1983 trek, sold to me as 'vint...

Thank you, nail, for causing me to jump off the bike in the middle of the intersection like an idiot.  For causing me to look like a fool, cursing on the side of the road.  For causing me to walk it (thankfully) three blocks to the bike shop, and then have to pay them to use pliers to get you out. Thank you, nail,  for punching all inch and a half of yourself into my brand new tire and tube. Thank you, nail, for being in the street.  Don't you have some boards to hold together or something? 

When I ride my bike on the road, I wear a high-vis vest, I have a blinking tailight, and I chose roads very carefully based on speed limit, shoulder width, and of course, hilliness. I ride in the road as that is what I am supposed to do. I obey traffic laws and signal my intent at intersections. This morning, while riding along, minding my own business, I was honked at. Confused, I looked over and saw a woman in a van nobly gesturing to me and then forcefully pointing at the parallel sidewalk.  Her implication was clear that she wanted me to be on the sidewalk despite my shoulder riding and despite the fact that she had the width of two lanes in which to get around me.  I immediately went crazy, at least by my standards, and shouted at her.  I remember repeating "no" quite a bit, and then pointed to myself and shouting "I am a vehicle!"  I didn't even curse, which was surprising to me, and I didn't do any rude gestures in her direction. Despite my anger...

Having house guests had the desired effect on me. We ate plenty of meals at regular intervals, rearranged the living room (for the better) and hung out like normal humans. My fridge was stocked and I bought a new chair. I learned I can deal with a dog, but that whole 24 hour job thing still gets in the way. In addition, they brought their bikes here and we had to justify that. I've been biking more in the last month than I have in the last three and it feels good and bad to be back on that track. I am reminded that the bike was expensive and I have to take it out to justify it. I was also reminded that if you stop exercise, it doesn't take long to feel like an out of shape lazy-ass. Inspired by my house guests' fitness, I have started back at the gym, which I immediately regretted when I climbed stairs the next day. But, fear not! Especially if it keeps snowing and unseasonable amount, I will have no reason to avoid it. The biking has been great and with only a f...

...ride bikes.

I warned you about the excessive bike pictures.  Took me ages to clean. 

Possibly the most awesomely fantastic bike on the trail, no, in the whole state, no, country, no, planet. James Starley would be proud. Most definitely the coolest, most awesomely fantastic sweetest gift in the history of gift giving. And it rips.

I've been exploring where I can safely go on the bike from my new digs.  Sure, I could get back to my old bike route, but now I can get to other parts of the county too.  It's a cool city and I love how quickly I can go from downtown to a rural paradise. The only problem with urban and suburban riding is the increased number of cars I have to deal with to get to these rural paradises. (paradises? just go with it).  The problem is not only do people somehow not see me despite lights and a beautiful high-vis vest, but they continually underestimate how wide a bike is, and how I just might not want to ride through the puddles or over the grates and tons of gravel on the sides of the street.  The new law in my state is that bikes must be given three feet of space when being passed.  So, basically I need to tape a yard stick to my handlebars to illustrate just how wide three feet is. More importantly for my immediate safety is that I need to remember that in this h...

The bike and I found some unauthorized trail today a couple miles from the house.  It wasn't trespassing exactly...

I like my sweet new fancy pedals. They do not like me.

Today I rode the bike to the Emergency Services Show. It was about six miles away, and about three miles in, the traffic was backed up. I figured there was no way it was for where I was headed (but it was!). Happily on the bike, I cheated and rode on the "pavement" passing many trapped motorists. Unfortunately about 1/2 a mile away I ran out of pavement, and after riding in the traffic for a while found a path to the entrance I could take. Of course it involved lifting the bike over a fence, and in the end was completely not worth the time it took, but I still enjoyed leaving the road. The expo was great. Outside of getting tons of free pens, I also got some cool keyrings, lots of information, got to play with a lifepak 15 (awesome) and saw more emergency vehicles than I will in a year. From motorcycle ambulances, to helicopters, to police jet skis, it was all there. Even a rescue kayak! Yes! It goes without saying that it was super squirrely, and I'm very glad I ...

If you have ever mused: "I wonder how much fun it would be to ride a bike 3 miles with a 13 pound frozen turkey in my backpack while its raining." then look no further. I can attest that there is very little fun involved in riding your bike while carrying a 13 pound turkey in the rain. It is probably more fun that riding 3 miles with a live turkey, though. Ah, silver linings. It is thanksgiving week and although I am looking forward to sharing our traditions with the rest of the world, I am a bit nervous about all the people who are coming over. I mostly has to do with the admittance that I have never cooked a turkey. Everything good I had to eat in college was made by the uni or my roommates. Not me. Every past thanksgiving I have kind of helped out, chopped, or stirred, but never really was a part of the big thanksgiving picture. Also, our kitchen is sparsely stocked with a few plates, random silverware, and a strange assortment of pots. I'll be borrowing a few ...

The new wheels. Sorry it's not a very glam location (the bike store room in the basement) but a picture of it to day was pretty much required. I found this for £30 (

Last week I spotted this amusing warning painted along my bike route. Strangely, I had never thought of being sabotaged by a groundhog before. So, be warned, bikers!

While mountain biking yesterday I had an awesome time and marked my second proper crash (in which I sustained no injuries) But before my pedal caught a root and launched me into the grass, I was making a hard effort to get up a tricky hill. Here, on a particularly vibrant upstroke I managed to squish my foot soundly between my pedal and a protruding root. Immediately I jumped off the bike and proceeded to go into what I like to call a "pee-pee dance" where basically I dance around yelling and breathing like I'm in labor. Almost immediately my toenail turned a lovely shade of lavender. Driving home was tricky as pushing the pedals sent me into bouts of hyperventilation. It's better today although after a night of working and a day of PALS refresher, I took it home and gave it some ice. I will continue to ignore doctors' advice of heating up a paper clip and jabbing it into the top of my nail. There is no way that is happening.

Lovely singletrack.

On Friday I took ACLS refresher. It was unrelated to the rest of the weekend. When I got home in the afternoon I rode the bike about 14 miles and up two of my greatest nemesis hills. On Saturday I slept in and in the afternoon C and I kayaked about 10 miles. It doesn't seem like much, but it is a long way in a kayak. In fact, I hadn't done that much in one session in probably two years. It was a beautiful day for it. We had been following a canoe of three people and a little trolling motor. They headed back to the put in about 10 minutes before we did and we arrived back right before they did. This was a great source of consternation and amusement for all of us. It felt awesome, and afterward we had a very nice and unexpected dinner with some old friends. On Sunday we got up early and drove to Shenandoah National Park. We hiked the 8.8 mile loop to the summit of Old Rag (3291 feet) which includes a "strenuous rock scramble" to get to the top. Of course, he f...

Bike time.

The outdoor season is now in full swing. C and I have been kayaking and biking and are having a contest to see who can kill who first with our favorite hobbies. I think he's winning as on our last bike trip I had my first proper, slow-mo, nearly over the handlebars crash. I survived with bruises, but was thrilled to wreck, as I feel it's a rite of passage to real mountain biking. We've gone kayaking a few times as well, and yesterday I found a few bottles floating in the lake, and then a recycle bin to put them in! Here are some more pics.