SpokEasy

April 2021

Unseated!

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Get unseated during a jousting match, and it\’s not so good. But just a couple of days ago, I discovered that I can climb unseated! To be sure, I\’m not tackling the cols of La Grande Boucle. I\’m merely going over the mild humps that my regular riding route presents. But to ride over any hump out of the saddle is, to me, a feather in the cap. This latest achievement stemmed from my unclimbing efforts. In fact, I had an inkling that unclimbing just might lead to it! Climbing unseated involves very much the same use of the arms and core: I pull on the handlebars with my arms, and that lets me get up off the saddle. The core must hold me steady enough that I don\’t waver all over the path. Although I had done a little out-of-saddle pedaling here and there, I didn\’t feel ready to climb out of the saddle. Then, all of a sudden, I was doing it! Is this analogous to an infant/young child hitting his or her developmental milestones? If so, I\’m one heck of a slow developer! I\’ve been cycling since November 2009; and on two wheels since May 2012. And I\’m only now figuring out how to climb without being firmly planted on that saddle! During yesterday\’s ride I did very little or no unseated work. I spent much of the time on the small ring; and out-of-the-saddle work goes better when I\’ve got the resistance of the big ring. As with any new skill, it\’s better if I don\’t try to do too much, too soon; and there\’s no hurry about it. After all, I\’m not preparing for a bicycle tour in the Ozarks! I\’ll just let it come as it will; and be glad that being unseated doesn\’t mean I\’ve lost the contest.

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Half Measures

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Sometimes I do things by half measures. Century rides, for example. Last time I rode 100 miles in one day was July 2013; a long time ago. Something in me seems to think that it\’s high time I did it again. So today, I decided to shoot for a half-century. Most Sundays I\’ve been riding up to 30 miles or so; and if I can do that, I figured I could manage 50 miles. If I have any notions of doing a century before this year is out, I have to start working up to the mileage right now! I\’m on vacation this week, and had thought of doing this ride about Tuesday or Wednesday; but the long-range forecast given last Friday night made me change my mind. Today was predicted to be clear; and not much wind. By the middle of the week, things were likely to turn stormy once more. The Ride Well, the wind was stronger than the 5-7 mph forecast of last night; I could tell that as soon as I went outdoors! But I reminded myself that today\’s ride wasn\’t about speed, or even about endurance-building; it was just about doing 50 miles. As a matter of fact, I seemed to do fairly well riding into that wind. Better than I could do a few years ago, anyhow. I tested a new ride food, the Met-Rx Super Cookie Crunch; and also took along an old favorite, the FitCrunch Birthday Cake bar. That particular item is becoming rather a problem, now that the weather is warmer. The coating gets half melted, and is very messy! And if I think it\’s bad now, just wait until the days when the temperature is already 80 degrees at 5:00 am! Next time, eat the FitCrunch first. A Quest S\’mores; a couple of GU-Gels; and Zym completed my ride menu. Today I didn\’t bother much with riding on the big ring; that probably would have tired me too much, too soon. I used it when the wind got behind me; and the rest of the time I rode on the small ring. I did, however, maintain a pretty high cadence: average 81 rpm for the entire ride. I didn\’t see much of special interest: no bluebird sightings; no alligators; and of course the moon wasn\’t out! I rode out as far as the spillway; and after a brief rest stop headed for home. Naturally that\’s when I got the headwind! I reminded myself again that I didn\’t have to hurry; and worked to keep a brisk cadence in an easy gear. A wind such as that used to push me back to 8 mph; or even a miserably slow 6 mph. Today, my overall average was 11.33 mph; so it looks like I\’ve gotten a little bit stronger!😊 So there\’s my first half-century in quite a while. That\’s certainly doing things by half measures! !

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Mirror off the Wall

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Mirror off the wall? What would the Queen in the story of Snow White think of that? Well, let her think whatever she wants. When I\’m riding, especially at night, I want plenty of lights and reflective material. These reflective bands, in neon yellow, fit around ankles or wrists; arms or legs. I made it a habit to wear reflector bands when riding from the very start. If putting them on before mounting a bicycle is automatic, I\’m far less likely to forget them when I really need them. These mirror off the wall bands are helpful when it\’s raining, too; or any time that visibility is poor. They\’re lightweight and comfortable. I can easily forget that I have them on!

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Doing What I Oughtn\’t

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I was doing what I oughtn\’t yesterday; most unlike the little white duck. What I mean is that I re-used cycling shorts without washing them first. That\’s a no-no! It can result in skin irritation; or even saddle sores. But now and then I do it, if I wore the shorts for only a very short ride; AND if the weather isn\’t warm. Day before yesterday the weather in the morning seemed too threatening for me to ride outdoors; and during lunch break I put in a half-hour stint on the trainer. I didn\’t pedal hard, and the shorts didn\’t really get sweaty. I figured I could use them again before washing them. Yesterday morning I re-used the shorts for my jaunt to the supermarket. It was still early in the day; and I didn\’t get very sweaty from that ride, either. And then, I used those same shorts to go out on the road bike in the afternoon! I just made sure to use plenty of Chamois Butt\’r; and I cleaned myself up after I got back home. It soon will be too warm for me to be able to get away with that. I wouldn\’t have been doing what I oughtn\’t this time, except that having stitches in my thumb makes it awkward to wash shorts (which I do by hand). This morning I pulled another oughtn\’t, or what feels like one: I skipped my usual trip to the salvage store. Ordinarily I\’d be there right now! It really feels weird to not be there, and I feel like I should be there! But the weather is stormy, and let\’s face it — I\’ve got so much stuff from that store that my abode looks rather like a hoarder\’s den.

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Floating

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Floating is almost what it feels like when I\’m on my road bike, and pushing the speed close to 20 mph. For those brief spells, it\’s as though my wheels weren\’t on the ground any more; and it feels great! I think I understand why some cyclists get hooked on racing. Today I\’m taking my \”floating\” day from work. The rain is holding off for the time being, and I made my delayed trip to the supermarket. I wanted to hit the store early, and I woke up too late to go for a ride before the store opened at 6 am. I\’m still being COVID-cautious; and even before that notorious virus cropped up, I preferred to avoid crowds. Going early meant I could avoid get-to-work traffic; and I always have been an early bird, anyway. As I was riding home from the store, the sky seemed to be getting grayer; so I decided not to take the longer route home through the park. Said longer route means crossing railroad tracks; and my load included a large bag of frozen blueberries. Even though I had brought an insulated envelope for frozen items, why risk having those berries thaw too much? Later I\’ll head for the bike shop. I want a red blinkie for the trailer; and I have to stop at the bank to get quarters. With those stitches in my thumb, I won\’t be able to do laundry my usual way; and I\’ll need quarters for the washing machine at the laundromat. Last time I checked, a regular load cost $4.00! Forget dryers; I\’ll bring my stuff back home and hang it up to dry. Tomorrow Tomorrow is looking iffy; floating, if you will. Of course I feel the tug of the salvage store; but I do want tofu, which the salvage store seldom has. Besides that, the forecast is another rainy one. Maybe I\’ll skip the salvage store and head for Whole Foods. Or maybe I\’ll wait and get tofu another time. I\’ll see what the weather\’s doing tomorrow morning. I don\’t have to decide right now.

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Acidophilus

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Acidophilus is much on my mind just now. When I visited urgent care this past Monday, the doctor put me on a five-day course of antibiotics. We know that taking antibiotics can upset gut bacteria; and often the advice is to eat acidophilus-containing yogurt. Fortunately that\’s no great problem for me. I\’ve been eating a lot of plain yogurt for the last fourteen months; and in fact, I have it nearly every day. I should be getting enough of those live cultures! I buy yogurt in quart tubs that have fitted plastic lids, so that I can re-use them. They\’re great for freezing all the stuff that I cook! Sometimes I wish I had space to store a blender. I could use yogurt instead of milk to whip up a post-long ride smoothie! I know, I know — that isn\’t vegan, like the recipes in this book; but I could have blueberries in it; and I can substitute almond milk for the yogurt if I want to go vegan. A blender, I\’m sure, also mixes protein powder more thoroughly. Shaking up powder and milk in a jar results in lumps of protein powder in my drink — even after I let it sit in the fridge all night so that the powder can dissolve! But I didn\’t need any recovery drink this morning, and in fact I didn\’t ride. The weather looked too iffy. The forecast for tomorrow is still 50% chance of T-storms; but as long as it isn\’t actually storming, I think I\’ll ride. And then head for the supermarket. I feel restless now, thanks to today\’s lack of activity. Half an hour in the trainer at lunch break just doesn\’t do it for me!

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Decisions

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Decisions; always decisions! Shall I try to ride, then go to the grocery store before I clock in for work tomorrow morning? According to the forecast, rain is likely; and I\’ve got those stitches to keep dry. Or so I tell myself. I have to change the bandage every night anyway when dishwashing and showering get it soaked; and why is getting caught in the rain any different? If it\’s going to rain, I hope it does so overnight. At the moment it\’s mostly cloudy; but it\’s not raining yet. It\’s windy, though; 18 mph, with gusts up to 29 mph. If there\’s a wind like that tomorrow morning on top of rain, maybe I\’ll skip the grocery run, and ride in the trainer later in the day. But don\’t borrow trouble, they say. As a matter of fact, the forecast shows a big drop in the wind by morning. As so often happens, all I can do is wait and see how things are tomorrow; and then make my decisions. If I feel that I\’ve just got to go to the store anyhow, there\’s always the poncho; and I have some rubber gloves. Or maybe I\’ll get lucky, and it won\’t be raining at all! It won\’t be cold, although it will be cool enough for those leg warmers. If it is raining in the morning, and I ride anyhow, I\’ll ride the hybrid; whether I go to the store or not. I just lubed the road bike\’s chain, and I don\’t want it to get wet. Today my legs felt heavy and tired; and I figured they needed a break. So I pedaled in an easy gear, and enjoyed hearing the birds tuning up for the day.

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Found a Peanut

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\”Found a Peanut\” was a popular kids’ song when I was growing up, although these aren\’t the exact words that I remember. How are “goobers” for fueling a bicycle ride? Not too bad, I would guess. A two-tablespoon serving of peanut butter has 8-9 grams of protein; and about 7 grams of carbs. My weekday pre-ride snack typically includes some fruit (often a banana; sometimes grapes or a small apple) and some peanut butter. Today I did some unclimbing; and lately I enjoy the fact that this on-bike exercise makes my abs feel flatter and tauter than they did a few months ago. Even though I’m not faster overall, I often feel like I’m pedaling more strongly. Maybe peanut butter is good fuel. In fact, I went overboard with the goobers today. In addition to my pre-ride PB, during my morning break at work I ate some goobers. I brought along a Caramel-Peanut Detour bar for snacking; and at lunchtime, I ate a peanut butter sandwich! I hope I didn’t chance to get too close to some poor person who has a severe allergy to those legumes; I found a peanut big-time today! When on the bike, however, I avoid nuts. They tend to stick in my throat; and that doesn’t feel comfortable. I need too much fluid to wash them down; and during long rides that, of course, increases the likelihood that I’ll need to make a pit stop. I ride through long stretches where there are no obvious pit-stop places, unless I ride a mile or more out of my way. I’m too lazy for that! Part of the reason for today\’s nut binge was that I was figuring out some Internet problems last night; and I was trying to keep my stitched-up thumb dry. But tonight I\’ll fix a real lunch!

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Shortcut?

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Don\’t look for a shortcut. How often do we hear, \”There are no shortcuts\”? Last night I tried taking a shortcut when I decided to chop some cabbage for this evening\’s supper. It\’s a nuisance to have to cut vegetables when I\’ve just gotten home from work; and I wanted to have that cabbage chopped and ready for sautéing. And what happened? I managed to give myself a nasty cut in the thumb! I had to suspend operations while I went and put double bandaids over the laceration; and then I had to get the blood spots out of my blouse. It was one of my newer ones; and wouldn\’t you know, it\’s white. Then it was back to kitchen work; and I think we all know how awkward it is to do anything with one thumb bandaged up! On top of that, the bandaids quickly became soaked through; and that meant changing them. Bandaid adhesive nowadays is pretty strong; and getting the bandaids off meant pulling the cut open again! Before I got in the shower last night, I went after another kind of shortcut: I gave my hair a short cut. Whenever I start playing barber, I wish I had a three-way mirror. I can\’t see what I\’m doing in the back; and often my back hair on one side comes out shorter than on the other side. This morning, that cut still bled when I took the bandaids off. I decided I\’d better head for an urgent care clinic; it looked like I needed skin glue at least; or maybe even stitches. And stitches it was! It won\’t be easy keeping that area clean and dry; and I hadn\’t realized how much stress that little spot on my thumb gets. The shortcut isn\’t always so short!

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Easter Already!

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It\’s Easter already! How time flies. This morning I went for a long ride. My average speed was the same as last Sunday\’s; but I rode much farther — 31.3 miles instead of a mere 13.5 miles. The weather is nice today; and I wish it would stay that way. Unfortunately, April showers are likely to set in by mid-week. I was delighted to see some bluebirds in flight. I never saw any around here before last April. Maybe I was just never in the right place at the right time. I hear that bluebirds are rather shy; and maybe they stay away from the bike path. Today I tried some new on-bike foods: a Met-Rx bar; and a Quest White Chocolate Raspberry bar. I found them in the grab-bag bins at the salvage store yesterday; and they seem to work quite well. Back home, I had my usual recovery drink; then indulged in a Diet Coke and a piece of my chocolate un-rabbit. \”Chocolate un-rabbit\” requires a bit of explanation. It goes back to when I was fifteen. We kids, of course, were long past the Easter Bunny stage; but we still put out our Easter baskets. That year, our mother included large chocolate bars in our baskets. Since those bars weren\’t shaped like bunnies, she said they were chocolate un-rabbits! This year I\’m skipping jelly beans; and in fact most Easter candy. I must always be mindful of that A1c level! If it weren\’t for A1c concerns, I\’d be eating candy like crazy today! I probably wouldn\’t be saying, Easter already. I\’d be saying, Easter at last! Speaking of all that candy, here\’s another one from my mother. She used to say that, when she was a girl, Easter Monday was called \”castor oil Monday\”!

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