SpokEasy

March 2022

Hope for the Best

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At 6:28 am: I’ll have to hope for the best today. It isn’t raining just now; but the wind is already 22 mph! Thanks to the wind, I decided to go ride a few circuits of the local park; and I made it a short ride. I think it will be wise not to ride to work today. The forecast predicts storms and strong wind right at the time I’d be riding home; and I’m going to chicken out. As to getting back home on foot, I’ll have to hope for the best. Waiting for the Storm At 2:20 pm: I got to work dry; but by 10:40 am we were under a tornado watch. The wind had risen to 21 mph; and we hadn’t seen the sun all morning. About half an hour later, the sun came out for a brief time; but then the clouds moved over it again. We had been under a wind advisory for several hours already; and when we were given the option of leaving early I seized the opportunity. I jumped ship, so to speak, at 1:30 pm; and got home about 2:00. Perhaps that was premature; but when potentially severe weather is looming, I’d rather err on the safe side. During the walk home, it didn’t seem that storms are on the way; except perhaps for the strong wind. The sun came in and out of the clouds; and it actually wasn’t bad out there. Who knows, though. With wind like this, a power outage is always possible; and during the last hour or so that I was at work, there was an occasional flicker of the lights. At 2:15 pm, the wind was SSE 21 mph; and both wind advisory and tornado watch were still in effect. I’m glad I didn’t ride a bicycle to work! For at least half of the ride home, that wind would have been right on my nose; and strong winds also make me nervous about falling tree limbs and flailing power lines. When I do ride when it’s so windy, I just hope for the best.

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Plan for the Worst

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Plan for the worst; and hope for the best. That’s all we can do when it comes to cycling and weather; and it looks like our weather will be terrible tomorrow; especially from early afternoon onwards. By late morning today, the wind was already 20 mph. Tomorrow morning T-storms are possible from 7:00 am; and I hope I can ride before I go to work. The forecast says, some of the T-storms might be severe; and naturally I don’t want to get caught out in such a storm. At the same time, I’m tired of being on tenterhooks about bad weather. A forecast will sound like doomsday, and it’s most irritating to skip riding because of such predictions; and then nothing happens. It makes me feel cheated; because I could have gone for a ride, after all! And why does the weather have to turn nasty during Ride Anywhere Week? I can’t do anything but wait and see how things are in the morning. If it’s storming, I can put the hybrid in the trainer; and get a little “exercise” that way. If there’s no imminent threat of rain and lightning, I think I’ll ride in the park. Sometimes I wish I had a book to help me figure out what the weather is going to do. There may well be signs that I could “read”; but I’ve never had the time to learn them. And so, after a lifetime in this place, I still can’t tell what the weather is going to do! That’s why we have to plan for the worst; and then hope the worst doesn’t happen.

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Down Pat

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There are things that I should have down pat by now; or at least, so I think. Among them is handling a water bottle on the road bike. I still can’t do it consistently. Sometimes it goes fine; and sometimes I waver all over the place while I struggle to get that bottle back into its cage. Windy conditions make it even trickier; and especially a gusty sidewind. Sometimes I’m tempted to use the Camel-Bak for any and all rides; but for my Sunday long ride, I need the Camel-Bak for plain water; and a bottle for electrolyte drink. Thus I’ve got to be able to manage it. Today I extended my ride to 45.2 miles. On the way back home, the wind seemed to keep getting stronger; and indeed, there were gusts up to 20 mph. Of course I was tiring; and that didn’t help matters. My legs love to ride; but prolonged spinning wears them out! I apparently don’t have my fueling down pat. Today I tried eating slightly more than I did for my last few long rides; but it still might not have been enough. Even plodding along at an average of 11.73 mph, I seem to need a lot of fuel! Two Gatorade Whey Protein bars and one GU-Gel amounted to 780 calories; and I burned off 1100 calories! I did a lot of fast, low-gear pedaling; and when I do that for a long time, my stomach begins to feel uncomfortable. That’s quite an appetite-killer; and I have to remind myself, Train Your Gut! So, for my next 45-mile ride, should I eat three of those Gatorade bars? The wind tomorrow will be 15-20 mph by 10:00 am. I’m glad I won’t be riding 22+ miles against that!

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Spoiled by Nictemaw

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I’m really getting spoiled by Nictemaw! I began to use it three weeks ago; and it’s a much faster method of doing laundry than using the James washer. If I set it on the “soft” cycle, it takes only about 30 minutes to do a load; and with the James washer, it took at least an hour and a quarter. At a commercial laundromat, a cycle takes about 45 minutes; and even when I use fragrance-free detergent, I wind up with my “clean” clothes stinking of everybody else’s laundry products. That makes me furious! I’ll never understand why anyone wants their clothes to smell like that. The Nictemaw also gets much more water out of things than the wringer of the James washer. In fact, that wringer has been worn out for two years; and I was tired of having to wring so many things by hand. Of course a sheet or bath towel is too much for me to hand-wring; and I was tired of having dripping things all over the place. I can put down a tarp on the front-room floor; set up my six-foot stepladder; and drape a sheet over it. At least that keeps the dripping water from getting on the carpet; but a bath towel just had to drip on the kitchen floor. I rather miss the physical workout of using the James washer; but with rheumatoid arthritis affecting my hands, this is probably a wiser method. I miss being able to save all the water, too; but at least I can still save some of it. The Nictemaw also gets my clothes cleaner than the James washer did; and I like that. Spoiled by Nictemaw? You’d better believe it!

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Both Ways

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You can’t have it both ways, they say; but that’s not always accurate. I had a lot of headwind both ways today. That happens when it’s blowing from the NNW! I rode to the salvage store; and today I took the trailer. Sometimes the wind was from the side; and it was strong enough that the trailer acted like a sail. I could feel it pushing me around. The grab-bag bins were nearly empty again. I got spoiled when they were heaped with all sorts of things; and I might find six FitCrunch bars, in addition to many other items. But for several weeks, the salvage store has had Gatorade Whey Protein bars for sale, $1.11 each. That seems expensive after the bargain-basement prices of the grab-bag bins; but it’s still cheaper than the regular price. I’m buying them up while I have the chance. I keep saying that I have too many canned goods at home; and I still bring home more! I already had plenty of dried beans on hand; and I got more lentils! Do I expect a sudden doomsday to keep me indoors for several months? That’s what all that COVID-19 business did to me. Where I live it never came to shut-in orders; but I keep on as though it still might happen. Oh, well. Be prepared, they say! Long ride tomorrow. There will still be a wind, but at least I won’t be dragging that trailer along; and a Northeast wind probably won’t give me a headwind both ways. I’m thinking about ride food; and that reminds me, I’ve got to get some cooking done.

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Where Did It Go?

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Where did it go? What happened to the bad weather that seemed so likely? Of course I’m glad it didn’t storm; but it’s annoying to skip riding because of a weather threat; and then it doesn’t happen. I skipped going for a moon-view ride this month. I knew it was likely to be overcast, if not raining; and I needed a few extra hours of sleep. The only riding I did today was a short trip to the closest supermarket; and the round trip was less than two miles. At the time, it looked like it might pour at any moment; and I didn’t want to go far. I’m still wrestling with re-constructing this web site into a dot net. At the rate I’m going, it won’t be ready to launch for months! I hope I won’t have to take the laptop anywhere to get help with the technical side of things. I’m quite a technophobe; and that doesn’t help matters. Kids nowadays practically cut their teeth on technology; but laptops, cell phones, and such were undreamed of when I was young. No wonder I’m so often at a loss with online file management and other programs. I took two days’ vacation partly because I needed some more help with my web-building; and where did it go? Here I am, at the end of the second day already! At least I got a head start on the weekend; and I need that! The trip to the salvage store will take up at least two hours; I need to do laundry; and I also have to get some cooking done. In fact, I invented a new twist on Hoppin’ John today, using red lentils. It made 12 cups; and soon I’ll be saying, Where did it go?

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Going Green

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I’m going green today, for St. Patrick’s Day! “Going green” sounds like environmentalism; and I don’t know whether you could call me an environmentalist or not. I don’t drive a car; and that means I don’t produce much in the way of greenhouse gases. But that’s not much of a recommendation! But I’m far from living off-grid; and I’m not sure I even can. Rheumatoid arthritis is affecting my hands; and self-sufficient living, I suspect, means a certain amount of hard physical labor — such as spading the ground for a garden. I’ll have to go green in smaller ways, such as using a bicycle for transportation; and I did quite a lot of that today! I’m taking a couple of days’ vacation; and I made an early-morning run to the supermarket. The moon was out; and I enjoyed getting to see it. It won’t be full until tomorrow; but it looks like the weather won’t cooperate with any moon-viewing plans. After the grocery run, I had a 8:00 am appointment; and I rode to it. After I got home from that, I went for a jaunt on the road bike. The wind had picked up a good bit; and it was from a southerly direction. On the way home I had a good tailwind sometimes; but for the last mile, it was right in my face. Enough riding for the day? Not quite. After I finished that ride, I readied the hybrid for a trip to the neighborhood Chinese restaurant; and got take-out for lunch. It’s a good thing I got in some extra miles today. The forecast looks like a wet one!

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Hiatus

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I’m glad of this hiatus in rain. For a while there, it was quite wearisome. All day today it was cloudy, and looked like rain; and I’m glad it didn’t rain. The mud isn’t all dried out yet! We’ve got another day of nice weather in store; and tomorrow night it’s back to showers and T-storms. Since I have a lot of stuff I’m trying to get done, I’m taking two days off from work. Tomorrow I want to make an early run to the supermarket; and then I have an appointment at 8:00. If I didn’t, I think I’d sleep in! After that, I want to go out on the road bike; and I can put in a couple of extra miles😊 Then I can go hammer and tongs at the web site reconstruction. I’m relieved that the forecast for the weekend looks good. I want to ride to the salvage store on Saturday; and this time I want to take the trailer. Of course I want to go for a long ride on Sunday; and it looks like the temperature will be nearly perfect. If only we’d get a hiatus from the wind! All weekend it will be 10-15 mph; from the North on Saturday; and from the East on Sunday. Both mean headwind problems on the way back home. I’ve enjoyed a hiatus from cooking, too; but by next weekend I’ll have to make more stuff to freeze. In fact, maybe I’ll jump the gun and start cooking this coming weekend. I don’t want to spend all weekend hanging over the stove; and if I begin early, I can do it in stages. Just like a big bicycle race!

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Rethink

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Sometimes we need to rethink things; and I believe I need to rethink my long-ride eating strategy. A couple of months ago, I began to experiment with decreasing the amount of on-bike eating a little: I’d cut my energy bars into eight pieces, instead of six. I thought it seemed to work OK; but now I’m not so sure. I haven’t been bonking, but my pace seems to be suffering; and maybe I’m actually under-fueling. My Garmin‘s ride data includes Calories Burned; and on my last few long rides, I’ve come up with a calorie deficit as much as 300. There’s only one way to find out about the fueling; and that’s to go back to eating slightly more on the bike. As long as I don’t eat more calories than I burn, I should be all right. I’ve got to keep that prediabetes in mind, though. After nearly two years, it’s still very hard for me to resist candy and other sweets; and constant meal-planning and food journaling take their toll. More Rethinking I had to rethink my ride plans this morning, too. When I got up it was overcast, but not raining; and I got ready to roll. Just as I was walking out the front door, the sky lit up. I hesitated; counted 15-20 seconds; and no thunder. I decided to go out; and that’s when I heard thunder. I changed my mind and went back indoors; set up the trainer; and pedaled for 15 minutes. I didn’t want to go for longer because I needed the time to fix a lunch. While on the trainer, I had shifted several cogs smaller; and forgot to shift back to the big cog before stopping. When I noticed that, I held up the rear wheel and turned the pedals by hand, so I could make the adjustment. Then I saw that the wheel was out of the drop-out; and wouldn’t turn! I had to wrestle with it for a good 10 minutes before I managed to get things back to normal. I suppose the bike hadn’t been properly secured into the trainer; and it’s lucky I didn’t pedal for long, let along hard. I might have destroyed the entire rear wheel assembly. As it turned out, my “ride” took place during a weather window. About 6:30, it began to rain; and the wind got quite strong. I checked the weather site; and there was a Special Weather Statement about a strong T-storm in the area. It was moving fast, though; and at about 7:10 am I left for work; and got there without getting rained on. It looks like we’ll have tomorrow and Thursday rain-free; but Thursday night the rain will start again. I hope I won’t have to rethink my weekend cycling plans!

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Tea Leaves

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I once read something about using tea leaves in fortune-telling; and if they’re good at reading fortunes, maybe they can predict the weather. Or maybe a used bag from green tea will work? The online forecast shows rain chances tonight and tomorrow; and I’d like to know whether it’s really going to rain; how hard it will rain; and for how long. More rain is in the forecast for Thursday night and Friday morning; and there’s a chance of rain on Saturday. I hope it doesn’t rain Saturday, because I need to get to the salvage store; and I want to take the trailer this time. I hope it won’t be too blustery! I don’t need to buy tea leaves; but I want to look for almond milk; hummus; and, of course, items suitable for ride food. I’m sure I’ll get more canned goods, too; and if they have those mega-packs of bath tissue, why not stock up some more? IF it isn’t raining, that is; the trailer doesn’t do well at keeping the rain out; and wet bath tissue, of course, is useless. Back to the forecast. The catch with online forecasts is that I get mixed messages. One site that I checked says, rain and T-storms; and another takes it up a notch by saying that some of the storms could be severe. Either way, it looks like tomorrow morning’s ride will be a wet one; and that’s if I can ride at all. Riding in a T-storm isn’t the wisest course of action; and I might have to set up the trainer. This uncertainly drives me crazy. Maybe I should fix myself some of that Tetley®; and maybe the tea leaves can put my mind at peace.

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