SpokEasy

August 2020

A New Twist?

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Putting a new twist on things can be fun. We need a break from the same old routine now and then. Variety is the spice of life, after all. But a new twist isn\’t at all fun when it involves a funnel cloud. What should we do if we spot a tornado while out riding? Read some advice here. I can\’t speak from personal experience, which is something to be thankful for. We don\’t often get tornadoes here, although they seem to occur more frequently since Katrina. Did that notorious hurricane permanently destabilize our atmosphere? So let\’s suppose I\’m enjoying a ride on top of the levee. I see a tornado in the distance. What can I do? What should I do? Number one, keep a cool head. That goes for any emergency! Then, put my thinking cap on. How far away is that storm? Can I determine which way it\’s moving? If it\’s moving away from me, I can relax a bit. Even so, I\’d better get down off of that levee, just in case. If the tornado seems to be heading my way, and no buildings are nearby, look for a low spot where I can get at least minimal shelter. If it\’s a ditch, and it\’s raining, be alert for rising water. Stay where I am if at all possible until the twister is past. I hope I\’ll never have to put that advice into practice. If I end up living in, say, Oklahoma, I might well need to use it. Tropical storms/hurricanes can spawn tornadoes; and as of noon today, there are two of them out there: Tropical Storms Laura and Marco. One or even both of them seem to be aiming right for us. Tropical storm conditions are possible by Tuesday night. This morning I made a trip to the salvage store and got some more canned goods. I don\’t know why I got canned beans when I have plenty of dried legumes on hand! Or maybe I do know. If there\’s a power shortage that lasts more than a day, storing cooked food will become a problem. My stove is gas, so yes, I would be able to cook; but the fridge of course needs electricity. Come to think of it, I better not do too much cooking until the storm threat is past. But I have a cabbage that needs to be used up. I plan to chop it and cook it in tomato sauce. For a new twist on the flavor, I got some cans of pasta sauce. Roasted Garlic and Onion!

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Mind Meanderings

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Mind meanderings can be pleasant. You might start off thinking about cycling along a shady forest path. The day is pleasantly warm. The birds are singing. Your pace is casual, and you\’re enjoying life. Your thought turn to the nice lunch you\’ll have before riding back home. Suddenly, before you know it, you\’re blazing down a highly technical single track! You steer your mountain bike over huge, gnarly tree roots, and leap across daunting gaps. You seem to have wings. The nice thing about mind meandering is this: typically you aren\’t actually riding a bicycle while indulging in such daydreaming. In fact, if you want to daydream, it\’s safer to do it while in a rocking chair! Letting your mind wander while cycling is not necessarily a good idea. If you must ride alongside motor traffic, you need to keep your mind on what you\’re doing. The same thing goes for riding in a group. Not to mention while racing! On the other hand, a solo ride on a route with little traffic can be a great time for reflection. Sometimes I get good blog ideas at those times! There are times when I wish I lived where there were more cycling routes available. Some real meandering now and then would be a nice change from riding the same old path again and again. I\’d need to keep a map handy, though; such wandering would turn unpleasant if I were to get lost. Perhaps, after all, I had better keep my mind meanderings at home.

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Chocoholic!

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Chocoholic Are you a chocoholic? You aren’t alone. Sometimes it surprises me that I’m a chocoholic now. When I was little, I didn’t care for chocolate much. It seemed bitter to me, and I preferred more sugary candy. Ironically, bittersweet is now my favorite type of chocolate! While I was on vacation earlier this month, I came across Alter Eco chocolate bars in a Whole Foods store. I bought a Burnt Caramel bar (70% cacao), and loved it. Chocolate, unfortunately, isn’t so good as ride food. Even in cold weather, it can get really messy on a sunny day. Not to mention what happens to it on hot days! I have to choose my on-bike food carefully, then. Much as I love chocolate-coated bars, I do better saving them for Winter rides. Chocolate Outrage GU-Gel is a possible solution. You could say that it’s melted already, but it doesn’t go anywhere until you tear the tab off the packet. Another way to indulge your cravings for that brown stuff is hot chocolate. Especially after a long, cold ride. Incidentally, I’ve never heard of a Chocoholics Anonymous. I hope they never invent such a group. It would be a sad day for many of us!    

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Abbreviations

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Abbreviations are useful things. If you can use one, why write a word of four or five syllables? This is especially useful if what you are writing is for your own use. So what if nobody else can understand it? Abbreviations occur in other ways, too. For instance, daylight. A few weeks ago it was still starting to get light at 5:30 am. Now, it\’s only beginning to be daylight at about 6:15 am. I\’ve noticed that it gets dark a little earlier in the evenings, too. Fall\’s a-comin\’, even if the weather doesn\’t feel like it. Today was my first day back to working on-site. Until further notice, I\’ll be working abbreviated days/weeks there. Four hours a day, three days a week. The rest of the time I\’ll still be working from home. That suits me just fine. Today my ride to and from work was curtailed . On the way there, I had to use the short route perforce. A train was blocking the RR crossing, and there was no telling how long it might sit there. When I emerged from on-site work to go home, I saw a threatening-looking cloud and heard thunder grumbling. I didn\’t want to get caught in a storm, so I took the short route home; but as it turned out, I could have gone by my usual, longer way. I wish I could continue to work remotely as a permanent thing. It means I don\’t have to rush through breakfast so that I\’ll have enough time to get to work. I can do longer rides in the mornings if I feel like it. Today I didn\’t do an especially long ride; but all of a sudden I was pedaling harder than usual. Where did that strength come from?

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Albania

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Albania This blog/page may contain affiliate links. “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.” Albania is another of those countries about which I know nothing, aside from the name. I think it would be interesting to learn more about it. What better way to learn about a country than to go on a cycling tour there? But you’d better get your climbing legs ready! A triple chain ring would be wise, too. For the most part, the terrain of Albania consists of rugged mountains. There are numerous cycling routes in and near the capital city of Tirana. The Easy Ride in Farka Lake looks, to me, both easy and hard. At a mere 19 km/11.8 mi long, the distance itself would pose me no problem. So why do I think it would be hard? Those 278 meters/912 feet of climbing! There aren’t many flat routes available. Bad news for me. But if you’re really out for adventure, you might want to consider Tirane to Istanbul. This route is about 1077 km/669.25 miles long! The early section includes some stiff climbs. Well, I think that’s better than having such climbs at the end of the route, when riders are tired. Get the hardest part over with early! Albania’s climate is Mediterranean. Depending on the season you choose for your tour, you might need some good rain gear. Winters tend to be wet. The country’s average Winter temperature in the lowlands is 45 degrees, which to me is not “mild”. It’s COLD! I’d need to get a good Gore-Tex rain suit! Summers often see temperatures of 90 degrees. Bring out the sunblock and sun sleeves! Oh, and watch your body language. In that Balkan nation, Yes and No are the reverse of their USA counterparts!

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Testing!

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Testing! One-two-three, testing! It isn\’t only for microphones. It\’s what I caught myself thinking this morning. I had just undergone my first COVID-19 test, in anticipation of returning to on-site work. On-site work won\’t be full time; four hours a day, three days a week. The rest of the time I\’ll still be working remotely. That suits me. I\’d really prefer to continue work-from-home full time. I like working from home because I can run back and forth between laptop and stove while I fix lunch. If I get a snack attack, being at home makes it much easier for me to grab a healthful snack. As soon as I shut down my work laptop, I can jump into preparing supper. Or, as I did today, I can go to work on my web site! I just now learned how to put wider borders around the pics in the pages; for example, Starting Up. I thought the pics looked rather lost, and I wanted to liven them up. Returning to on-site work will be another One-two-three-testing! I work on a university campus; and with the students returning, I won\’t be surprised if things soon have to shut down again. We\’ll see how it goes. I\’ve seen news reports of large student parties on other campuses, which makes me somewhat pessimistic. At least I don\’t have to stand in front of a classroom and teach! THAT would have me really worried!

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Sluggish Day

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Sluggish Day Today so far has been a sluggish day. Since last Sunday’s long ride, my legs have felt achy and tired. Even today, after a whole week, they still aren’t fully recovered. What’s going on with them? I hope it’s not a symptom of COVID-19! I decided it would be better to skip the long ride this week. Instead, I chowed down half a protein bar, and went out for a short ride; under 15 miles. Even that seemed pretty hard. I didn’t even go as far out as I had planned. For one thing, I had only two bottles of water with me; and I didn’t want to run out. But maybe what I really need is a few days’ break from riding. At least the sun was still low enough in the sky that there were some shady patches. The wind wasn’t bad; and it didn’t rain. Incidentally, the tropics are rather quiet at the moment. That’s good news! The not-so-good news: we’re still at the peak of hurricane season. August and September are typically the most active months. I’m still restraining myself from cooking more stuff to freeze; but before long I can get back to it. During vacation would have been the ideal time, but I had too much stuff already in the freezer; and I had to eat it up to make room before I cooked more. So there it is. A short ride, and no cooking. It’s a really sluggish day.      

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NIMBY

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The expression NIMBY has been around for quite a while. Not In My Back Yard! I seem to remember that it came into vogue as the environmental movement was getting underway. NIMBY frequently refers to a so-called necessary evil that people don\’t want to have close to their homes: landfills, chemical plants, and so on. This time of year I think of it in reference to hurricanes. About ten days ago Tropical Storm Isaias was barging towards the coast of the Carolinas, and expected to attain hurricane strength by landfall. NIMBY is these cases always leaves me with a tinge of guilt. I can\’t help being relieved that the storm isn\’t heading my way; but if it doesn\’t come here, it has to go elsewhere. SOMEone will take the brunt of it; as if COVID-19 weren\’t enough. Enough of NIMBY. How about some things that we want in our backyards? If I had my own home with a yard, what would I put in that yard? Perhaps a sort of gazebo, where I could keep a trainer permanently set up? Maybe I\’d stay halfway dry during \”rides\” on rainy days without the aggravation of a flapping poncho; that would depend on the wind. But I think that a lightning rod on top of my gazebo might be a wise precaution. OK, what else would I put in my yard? I think I might like to have a vegetable garden; and, I hope, eventually raise enough produce to try a little home canning. A few flowers, maybe; but if I\’m going to put in the work on a garden, I\’d rather grow something to eat! Just don\’t let that garden get so big that I don\’t have time left to ride!  

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Vacation Journal Day 5

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Vacation journal day 5, already! Time flies when you\’re having fun, right? I decided to skip the road bike (yes, again!) and head to Whole Foods. I wanted to get more sunblock well before I used up my current supply. To my delight, it was on sale! While I was at Whole Foods anyway, I got some more whey protein powder. At the checkout, I did what we\’re always being admonished against: I made an impulse purchase. I spied AlterEco 70% cacao chocolate bars, and I got one in Burnt Caramel. It\’s scrumptious! I must try some of the other flavors, too. I bet the Brown Butter flavor is good. Just don\’t let me get confused and try to eat my Chamois Butt\’r! After I took my mini-load home from Whole Foods, I gathered the glass jars I saved since the COVID-19 shut-down began. Then I rode to a glass drop-off, only to find out that the only day the place is staffed is on Wednesday! I ended up putting all those jars in the trash. Sad, but next week I\’ll be back at work. I thought I might take a spin on the road bike in the early evening. Instead, I got absorbed in some heavy editing of my web site\’s pages! Gee, time flies when you\’re having fun. So there it it, Vacation Journal Day 5. The problem with taking a week off is this: one week seems much too short; but two weeks seems too long!

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Vacation Days 3-4

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Vacation Days 3-4! Yesterday morning I was very tired, and decided not to go out on the road bike. Instead, I had breakfast; and about 6:30 I pedaled the hybrid to the supermarket. I wanted to go early for several reasons: to beat the heat; to beat the crowds; to beat the heaviest traffic. Besides that, I wanted to go to the Salvation Army thrift store. It\’s possible to find nice clothing there; and I needed a new pair of  (non-cycling) shorts. I found some, too, and they cost under three dollars! This morning I was a real sluggard. I didn\’t even get up until 8:20! After I had something to eat, I went out on the road bike; and I felt sluggish on the bike, too. It was 9:00 by the time I began my ride, and already hot. Perhaps because I hadn\’t yet had any caffeine, I began to feel headachy after only three miles or so. I had to stop and eat a \”goo\”. It also felt like I had a headwind, both outbound and coming back home. I was glad to get back home and cool off. I\’m also glad I was home before the T-storm started to fire up. Vacation days 3-4 are already over, but I can be glad that I still have one day of vacation left! 

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