SpokEasy

May 2021

Measure for Measure

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Measure for measure sounds like Shakespeare. But after many months of working at my diet, I find myself thinking about that play\’s title because I never seem to stop washing measuring cups. I dare go only so far with eyeballing my portions. We\’ve all heard about portion distortion, I think; and if I don\’t want to fall victim to it, I have to put up with constant portioning-out; and the consequent dishwashing. It\’s amazing how small a serving size can seem. Canned salmon, for example. The label gives the serving size as 1/3 cup. Put that amount into a 2-cup bowl, and it looks like nothing! I can see how easy it is to fall victim to portion distortion. Preparing a lunch to carry to work takes more time when I need to be conscious of my portion sizes. That\’s why I usually fix lunch the evening before. Besides that, preparing a lunch and eating breakfast at the same time is too frantic for me. There\’s also the prep for the next day\’s breakfast, if I plan to have something that\’s not super fast and easy to prepare. Again, preparing breakfast means serving-size awareness! I wish that time spent on kitchen work could turn itself into some extra miles on the bike; measure for measure.

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Sneak Attack

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The wind pulled a sneak attack on me again today. While I was outward bound, there seemed to be little wind. Then, shortly before I turned around to ride back home, the wind seemed to strengthen. Perception isn\’t always reality; but in this case, it was. When I left home, the wind was only 6-7 mph. By the time I was on the return leg of my ride, it was up to 10 mph; and before I reached home, it was up to 15-16 mph! That was frustrating enough; but whenever I thought I could shift to the big ring, that wind would pull a sneak attack; and a gust would hit me. Then I had to shift back down again! Perhaps this wind is a harbinger of tomorrow\’s weather. There\’s a chance of showers and T-storms; and in fact, the entire week looks like a stormy one. That does not please me at all, especially as we just had a rainy spell; but I can\’t do anything to change it. All I can do is keep that poncho handy! Speaking of sneak attack, sometimes my appetite strikes unexpectedly. I might not feel hungry; but all of a sudden I\’m very tired, and I remember that I haven\’t eaten in a few hours. Then I have to find something to eat; and I\’m always trying to stay within my carb guidelines. I get tired of hauling so much food to work with me; but I don\’t want to have to buy something from a vending machine. That means deciding whether a candy bar or a bag of chips is the lesser evil; and I can\’t really determine that unless I can compare labels. To sum up: check the forecasts; plan meals; and hope nothing pulls a sneak attack.

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Spoiled

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I\’m spoiled rotten from riding a road bike so much. When I ride the hybrid to the salvage store, and take the trailer, I feel SO slow! I\’m even slower riding back home from the salvage store hauling that loaded trailer; but I do it anyway. Slow or not, I keep going to the salvage store so I can get the miles! I also always wonder what the store might have on its shelves. It\’s a good thing I\’m not a cat, or my curiosity would have long since wiped out all of my nine lives! Salvage store prices have spoiled me, that\’s for sure. This trip, I found Epic Bites at $2.99 for a 2.5 oz pack, which is cheap for Epic Bites. I enjoyed some of them for lunch. Naturally I brought home some more canned goods; and of course I rooted through the grab-bag bins. My Finds Today the bins didn\’t include many items suitable for ride food; I found only one FitCrunch bar. For a few months I found plenty of them! I didn\’t see any salmon today, either. The salvage store is funny that way: for a while they\’ll have an item in ample supply; and then for a long time they won\’t have it at all. That entire store is, in effect, one giant grab bag. I never know what I\’ll find, and that\’s part of the store\’s allure. Even while hunting down bargain prices, I have to try to keep carbs in mind. Hot chocolate mix, for example. I saw some, and checked the nutrition info; and that particular brand of hot chocolate is higher in calories and carbs than the Swiss Miss that I already have. I think I\’ll stick with the Swiss Miss. I took the cooler with me this morning. It wasn\’t quite big enough for all my cold stuff, so it\’s a good thing the weather wasn\’t too warm. I wouldn\’t have wanted my strawberry yogurt to get spoiled!

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Step Lively!

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You can step lively with this adjustable workout stepper. Useful for an aerobics session; practicing coordination and/or balance; or for off-bike leg exercises. This lightweight but sturdy product allows you to work out in the comfort and safety of home; especially important as long as the pandemic continues. If, like me, you are \”height challenged\”, this stepper is also handy for giving you a boost while working at the kitchen counter! Non-skid, shock absorbing surface. Height can adjust to 4, 6, or 8 in/10.16, 15.24, or 20.32 cm. Length, 31 in/78.74 cm. Weighs 4.5 lbs/2.04 kg.

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Freaky!

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No, I\’m not freaking out; but wearing leg warmers in May is freaky, all right. When I went out to ride this morning, it was below 70 degrees! Overnight lows of 80 degrees are far from uncommon this time of year, and it was a bit odd to go out in those leg warmers; long sleeves; cycling jacket; and skull cap. As it turned out, a long-sleeved blouse with vest might have sufficed. With that jacket on, I actually got a mite too warm; but then again, I don\’t enjoy feeling chilled as I ride. Friday is a work-from-home day, so I could take the time to ride a bit extra. It gets light before 6 am now, and I enjoy seeing the daylight grow. I appreciate the improved visibility, too. It\’s helpful when I work at hard efforts, and my speed gets over 20 mph! When I ride hard in the dark, I worry that I\’ll outrun my headlight. No interesting sightings today: no gator eyes; no shooting stars; and the next full moon isn\’t until May 26. Maybe next time! Tonight it will be freakishly cool again; down to 62 degrees! That\’s like October, not May. But this freaky weather is good for riding; it\’s cool, but not too cold. It will be good for tomorrow\’s trip to the salvage store; and for the Sunday long ride, too. I hope I can keep myself from getting too many canned goods! In a way it\’s good that I have a big supply. With hurricane season almost here, I must set aside some things as an emergency stash. It would be terrific if no hurricanes formed at all; but that would be downright freakish!

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Not My Fuel

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Gasoline is not my fuel; and am I glad of that! I think we all heard about that cyber attack, and consequent shortages at the gasoline pumps. About 99% of the time I\’m glad I don\’t have a car; and now I\’m gladder than ever! My fuel is food, especially during long bicycle rides. Over the last ten years or so, I\’ve tried many foods as on-bike fuel: Clif Bars; FitCrunch Bars; roasted chickpeas; even mini PBJ sandwiches. What\’s the best on-bike food? Choosing ride food can seem overwhelming, because there are so many options. Which one(s) are best depends on many factors: how far you plan to ride; whether you\’ll be riding at a steady, moderate pace or doing hard intervals; and perhaps even the weather conditions. On weekday mornings, my pre-ride snack is a banana or a cupful of grapes; often with peanut butter. That seems to be enough to hold me until I get back home for breakfast. I carry a few GU-Gels with me, in case I guessed wrong! For Sunday long rides, I like to try different bars. I\’ve tried rice cakes made according to Feed Zone Portables. Unfortunately my rice cakes often came out too soft; and when I tried to eat them while riding, they fell apart. That drove me crazy. Special Needs The things I use for long-ride fueling might be \”not my fuel\” if I had diabetes. I was reading about athletic activity and Type I diabetes; and it sounds like a very complicated balancing act. I don\’t want to develop any such special needs, so I intend to keep working at my prediabetes diet. Exercise should help to keep prediabetes at bay; and Sunday long rides are still very much on the agenda. But I don\’t think I\’ll ride past any filling stations if I don\’t have to. That stuff is not my fuel.

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Wake Up Legs!

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\”Wake up, legs!\” is what I felt like saying this morning. You know those days when your legs just don’t feel like doing anything? That was me today. Maybe the extra efforts of April Love to Ride are catching up with me, or maybe I got to bed too late last night. Or do my legs need a good dose of Jens Voigt? At any rate, my legs felt tired, heavy, and stiff. So I rode easily, and stayed off the big ring. I kept it pretty short, too.  The weather was still quite uncertain, and there were a few raindrops here and there. The farther I rode from home, the more frequent the drops became; and I was concerned that I was heading right into heavy rain. Speaking of weather, things got really wild in the wee hours. I think I remember hearing heavy rain and a lot of thunder. When I was out on the road bike, I rolled past some areas that had power outages; and I saw some branches on the ground. I later learned that a severe T-storm warning went out at 2:22 am; and there was even a possible tornado! I was lucky; the worst of it missed me. In other parts of town, trees were down; I saw at least one report of a car being hit by a falling power pole; and power lines were down. Last I heard, they\’re still working to determine whether there was an actual twister. It looks like the weather will improve overnight; and the weekend looks good. So wake up legs; I want to go to the salvage store Saturday; and do a long ride on Sunday!

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Atmospheric Dodgeball

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Atmospheric dodgeball is the name of the game this week. When the forecasts don\’t look so good, all I can do is hope for enough of a weather window to do a ride without getting soaked!  Mondays I usually don’t go out on the road bike; and unless there’s some kind of Love to Ride challenge in progress, I don’t ride to work on Monday. This is Bike Month, so I ride to work on Mondays – but yesterday I made an exception. I\’m lucky it wasn\’t raining hard when I left for work; and lucky that the sun was out when it was time to walk back home. Round Two Today was Round Two of atmospheric dodgeball. This morning I lucked out for my jaunt on the road bike. The forecast last night predicted overcast skies; and cloudy it was! I didn’t realize how just overcast it was until daylight; and then I could see that the clouds looked quite ominous. I was relieved to get back home before the weather broke bad.  Shortly before 7 am I was getting ready to ride to work; I heard something and thought: Uh-oh, was that thunder? It was. Somebody not far away was getting a T-storm. I decided to take the chance, and rode to work. There were already a few small drops falling, and I wore my poncho in case it started to pour.  On the way to work, I was eyeing a huge, stormy-looking cloud off to the South; and saw a big bolt of lightning! That made me nervous, of course. I remember an unnerving ride to work a year or two ago, when a T-storm swept up from behind me; and I felt like it was chasing me through the park! I’m glad it didn’t happen today.  In fact, I won the atmospheric dodgeball game: shortly after I got to work, things got much stormier. Thundery weather came in waves all day long. By 4 pm the sun was out. Tonight and tomorrow? More rain; and we’re still under flash flood watch. T-storms, of course, are small beer compared to the atmospheric dodgeball game of dealing with hurricanes. I’m puzzled now as to when hurricane season actually begins. I’ve seen both May 15, and the traditional June 1; so which is it? I’d like to know exactly when the game begins.

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Skip It

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I decided to skip it today, and left the bicycle home. The weather this morning wasn\’t at all conducive to cycling! At around 3 am, I woke to a T-storm. There was another T-storm in progress a couple of hours later, when I got up. I checked NOAA at around 6:45; and also my email. I get severe weather alerts via email; and sure enough, there was an alert about strong T-storms. We also had a flash flood warning, and that was bad news. I didn’t want to risk having to ride through water up to my bicycle wheels’ hubs, so I didn’t ride to work. It also isn\’t pleasant trying to get a bicycle hooked to a rack during a downpour. Yes, I know – May is Bike Month; but sometimes we need to skip it. It wasn’t raining very hard when I left home, but it steadily got worse; and by the time I reached work, it was pouring. At 8:45, the sun was out. Forty-five minutes later, things were looking very gloomy again. Weather is so fickle! When I left work for the day, the sun was out again. There\’s still some chance of further T-storms tonight; but it looks like tomorrow morning might be OK for a ride. I hope so, because Wednesday looks like it will be as bad as today. They don\’t expect it to clear up before Friday. My legs felt stiff and tired today. Was it because I rode 45 miles yesterday; or have my legs become too unaccustomed to walking? Back when I first got the adult trike, and immediately fell in love with riding, I told myself that I mustn\’t forget how to walk. It looks like maybe I really have forgotten how to walk!

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Not Depression Food

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Not Depression Food My ride food sure is not depression food. Just check out this video! Some of those things do sound weird; maybe because I’ve never had to desperately scrape together whatever I could find in order to eat at all (spoiled, aren’t I?). And hunger, as the old saying goes, is the best sauce. The segment beginning at 5:55 did give me an idea. “Mulligan Stew” sounds considerably more palatable than “garbage soup“! I guess that the foods that I use for on-bike fueling were undreamed of in the 1930s; hence they’re not depression food. I do get things like FitCrunch bars on the cheap whenever I can (grab-bag bin finds at the salvage store); and economizing was certainly something that people had to do during those bleak Depression years. Maybe my ride food isn’t quite as un-depression as I think? Yesterday evening I planned today’s ride food; and I got my drinks ready. And, of course, checked the weather. The forecast predicted 73 degrees at 7 am; and up to 82 degrees by 11 am. Skies, mostly sunny to partly cloudy. I didn’t like the wind forecast. I think that 14 mph is pretty strong; and a South wind seems to give me headwind trouble both going out and coming back. Bare legs, of course, meant I had to use a lot more sunblock. By the time I was back home, I had applied four layers! Often I don’t bother to wash it off; but my skin feels better if I do. Now my thoughts are turning to lunch. I haven’t decided what to eat; but not depression food.

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