SpokEasy

December 2020

Dry Up!

Dry Up! is what I often feel like screaming at my nose. It gets sniffly when the weather turns at all cool. Let me start a ride, and I can\’t keep up with it. Does every cyclist have this problem? We\’ve just had our first wintry (for us) weather of the season and, true to form, my nose acted up. Monday morning the wind was frightful, which didn\’t help matters. In fact, my morning ride was only a bit over two miles. It felt like I was barely making any headway during the first mile. If I had kept riding, and gotten the wind behind me, the headwind on the way back home would have been terrible! The temperature took a nosedive over Monday night, and getting myself up and moving yesterday morning was difficult. As a result, I got started late, and did only a short ride. The wind had died down, but was I cold! I wore heavy gloves, but not the heaviest pair that I own. Bad move! My fingers were freezing before I had ridden a mile and a half. I wore slacks over my leg warmers; but was concerned about the possibility of the leg warmers sliding down and bunching around my knees if I rode for a long time. Who needs that? Especially when fixing it means taking off the gloves. A long sleeved blouse + jersey + vest + windbreaker kept my chest pretty warm, but my arms were cold. And I wore my heavy skull cap this morning. Did all that layering help my nose to behave? No. Once again, I wanted to tell it, Oh, dry up!

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Do You Hear?

Do you hear music as you ride? I\’ve noticed enough riders who have an iPod (or whatever) blaring away. Last Saturday, during my long ride, bits of music starting drifting through my head. It took a few minutes for me to remember that it was Homage March. I couldn\’t remember how the piece began, and had to find a YouTube to listen to! Do you hear birdsong along the way? That\’s one of the things I enjoy most about long rides; and if I have music playing during my rides, I probably won\’t hear the birds. It\’s worth it to keep alert for that; you might learn some surprising things. I sure was astonished to discover that bald eagles sing! Even without a radio going, I often don\’t notice other riders coming up from behind. A bicycle with time-trial wheels is often easier to hear, because those wheels cause a whirring sound; but of course not every bicycle is thus equipped. Mine isn\’t! I like to hear my own thoughts as I ride. On-bike conversation would be hard, because I still can\’t maintain a 12-14 mph clip and talk. At any rate, it doesn\’t feel like I could! I rather envy riders who can pedal and chatter away at the same time. What about weather sounds? Riding causes wind noise; and lightning has to be too close for comfort before I can hear the thunder. It isn\’t a comfortable situation. Last Saturday I was rather worried about that. The sky looked quite stormy, but I was lucky and got only a few drops. What do you like to hear as you ride? Keep your ears open; you never know what you might hear!

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