SpokEasy

July 2022

Let’s Go Exploring

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment, Uncategorized /

Let’s Go Exploring Let’s go exploring! As its name suggests, the Schwinn Discover Hybrid Bike is great for cruising around. Take a ride through the neighborhood; and pause for a chat with a friend. Get some panniers to hang on the rack; and bring home the groceries.  My hybrid is my transportation to and from work; and I use it to ride to the salvage store. If I had to use public transit to get there, I wouldn’t go nearly as often! Taking the bus is much more time consuming; and I’d rather save the fare. If you’re eager for longer rides, a handlebar bag can hold your snacks and other necessities. Wait. Long rides, with a hybrid bicycle? Yes, you can do long rides on a hybrid! It isn’t as fast as using a road bike; but it’s definitely possible. I’ve sure put some miles on my hybrid; 17,000+ to date. A hybrid will even do for centuries if you don’t [yet] have a road bike. With racks for luggage, I suppose you could even use one for a tour; but if there are lots of climbs in store, be sure you’ve got the right gears! Yesterday, however, I didn’t feel any Let’s go exploring urge. The forecast was for T-storms; and I decided not to ride. Then nothing happened! It really annoys me when I lose the opportunity for a long Sunday ride. The forecast for much of this week is similar to yesterday’s; and I hope my rides don’t get rained out. It hasn’t rained here today — not as of 5:30 pm — but as I was riding home, I saw some big clouds building up; and there’s a 60% chance of T-storms. This isn’t the best time to say, Let’s go exploring!

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Always the Question

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Always the Question Ever wonder why; what; etcetera? There’s always the question when I don’t ride: could I have gone for a ride, after all? Today’s forecast was for T-storms, from about 4:00 am onwards; and in fact, I heard rain at about five o’clock. I decided it was better not to go riding; and as of 9:00 am, I was still waiting for  the bad weather to set in.  Of course, I don’t know what things are like ten miles from here; and as I’ve said before, weather can move really fast. Few things are more unnerving than being caught out when the lightning gets close! Well, there’s always the trainer if I want to do some indoor pedaling. There’s always the question of, will I ever get around to another century? I’m sure not doing any training for it today! It’s hard to do the amount of training that I think I need; and if I were to do a 100-miler in October, I need to be preparing now. Last night I put some Nuun in the fridge to chill, in case I did go for a long ride today. Now I have to drink it up, or pour it down the drain. Nuun is supposed to be used within a certain time frame after you mix it; and it’s not the cheapest stuff around. I find it to be quite tart; so I might be naughty and put some sweetener in it. The sun keeps dodging in and out; so I don’t know whether it’s going to rain or not. I want a few things from the drug store — should I ride over there, or not? That’s always the question!

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Sardines

BACK ISSUES, Food /

Sardines When I see pics of the Tour de France peloton, I think of sardines in a can. That’s how closely packed those riders are! One wrong move, and the result is a big pile-up. This morning I went to the salvage store; and sometimes I see sardines there. I’ve never bought any, though. I remember when an uncle visited us when I was about twelve; and he was eating anchovies. I thought they smelled horrible; and that turned me off to anchovies and sardines! Today I brought home a pretty light load; but even so, I took the trailer so I could bring the cooler along. It’s too hot now to take home things like yogurt without a bit of refrigeration. Can you believe I got only three small cans? I got two cans of Vienna sausages; and one of smoked ham. I want a break from chicken and tuna sometimes; and the sausages went into my box of hurricane supplies. Tomorrow’s forecast isn’t favorable for cycling; and I considered going for a short spin on the road bike today. But after I got home from my trip to the salvage store, I headed for the bike shop to get Chamois Butt’r; and then made a stop at the drug store to get masks. With the talk of another [!] COVID spike, I thought it was a good idea to stock up. As it happens, I chose my time well. The store had a special: buy one pack  of masks; get the second pack of the same or a lower price half off! By the time I was home from all those errands, it was 11:00 am; getting rather too hot to be starting a ride; and I was hungry. About noon it got drizzly; so I decided to stay home. As to tomorrow, I’ll have to hope for the best.

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Diminishing Returns

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Diminishing Returns? This week seemed like diminishing returns – every morning I’ve biked fewer miles than the morning before! Today I rode less than five miles, which is next to nothing. I didn’t ride to work, either, because I had to get downtown for an appointment; and I didn’t want to drag my helmet with me. So I rode public transit; and noticed that many passengers were not wearing masks. This, right when the news is reporting another COVID spike! Incidentally, is all this business about vaccination and boosting a case of diminishing returns? Seems like they keep saying that it is; or am I getting it wrong? As cyclists, we have to guard against the diminishing returns of going too hard, too often. Training seems to be a double-edged sword: no structure in your daily rides, and you probably won’t make much progress (if any); but train too hard and you risk burnout; injury; and even loss of interest in cycling! We don’t want that, do we? I’ve been watching the weather, of course. It looks like tomorrow’s chances for T-storms are mainly in after 11:00 am; so I should be able to ride to the salvage store. I just hope it doesn’t turn into an inconvenience store, the way it did one time! Sunday looks like it might be a different story. The forecast says, scattered T-storms; starting at 4:00 am. Not fun.☹  Maybe I can take a Sunday off for a change. Or, if I’m lucky, I can get in some miles on the road bike after I get home from the salvage store tomorrow. I’ll have to play it by ear, I guess.

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Shoo

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment /

Shoo? “Shoo fly, don’t bother me!” I remember my mother singing part of that song when I was little; but I didn’t know it beyond the first two lines. When we’re cycling, we want a good shoo — I mean, a good shoe. The Fizik R5 is especially designed for road cycling; and has a two-year manufacturer’s warranty. I’m still using MTB shoes on my road bike. That sounds quite ironic; but I don’t feel the need for super-lightweight cycling shoes. I also don’t relish the thought of trying to walk in “roadie” shoes. Once I tried some on in the bike shop; and they are SLICK!  MTB shoes typically have recessed cleats; and are much more walkable. That’s helpful when you make stops during long rides; and if I forget to put my heel (not my toes) down first when I stop, I don’t slip. I hope the rain and T-storms will “shoo” during the mornings this weekend. I need to visit the salvage store again; and I especially want some kind of bars I can use for ride food. I’ll have to guard against getting more canned goods, though; and that can be hard to do! It’s especially hard when I bring the trailer; but I need that trailer when I bring a cooler. I want to look for hummus! I don’t want bad weather around Sunday morning, because I want to do a long ride. I think I’ll push for 40 miles; and I hope we get calm winds again. This past week there were several consecutive mornings of little or no wind; and oh, what a luxury that is! But there are plenty of flying insects around. Shoo, fly; don’t bother me!

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Time Trial

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Time Trial This year’s Tour de France began with a time trial in Copenhagen, Denmark. But I have another kind of time trial on my mind. I hope to retire early next year; and I haven’t ruled out relocation. I wish I could take the advice given to retirees who want to relocate: to give a “new spot” a time trial (aka trial run). As long as I’m still working I can’t take the time for a proper trial run; and I don’t have the means for such experimenting. In effect, relocation for me is grabbing blind. Visiting a place is not the same as living there; and it can take a while before you’re sure whether you really like any location. It might take a full cycle of seasons before you know whether the local climate is a good fit. You might love hot weather; but how long is the hot season in “Newplace”? Is it suffocatingly humid; or so arid that your skin shrivels up? Do you love snow; but hate shoveling it? Even if you don’t mind the shoveling, are you physically capable of doing it throughout your golden years? In New Orleans, we spend at least six months out of the year worrying about hurricanes. I wouldn’t mind being out of their immediate reach; but suppose the Newplace I have in mind is tornado prone? That’s no improvement at all! With hurricanes we have several days’ warning, or even more; but with tornadoes it can be mere minutes. I don’t think a blizzard-prone area is a good fit for me, either. Is my Newplace bicycle friendly? Can I get around easily without a car? Is there a good public transit system? Of course I have to factor in the cost of rent; and the cost of essential goods such as groceries. What about the crime rate? And much more.

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Fenders

BACK ISSUES, equipment /

Fenders Fenders are much on my mind sometimes; say, when the weather turns wet. During rainy spells this equipment comes in handy; but there’s at least one thing that I have to watch out for — mud! My hybrid has fenders; and I need them, because we average 60 inches of rain per year. It’s one thing to have my road bike’s rear tire toss water up my back; but when I rode a bicycle to work, I needed to stay halfway dry. Fenders can be a problem if you run into mud. At one point, there was a lot of road work going on in my neighborhood; including the street I normally took to reach the bike path. Then one night we got some rain; and that street became an absolute quagmire! I decided to ride the hybrid to work the morning after the rain; but I didn’t even try to  ride through that street. I walked the bike; but even so, the tires picked up so much muck that the rear tire got jammed! For some reason, the rear tire’s fender fits more closely than that on the front tire; and it was very hard to pedal with all that muck on the tire. I put up with it for the ride to and from work that day; and for the next day’s ride to the supermarket. After that, I had to hose down the bicycle’s tires. Even then, there was still a clump of mud stuck under the rear fender. When I was riding to the store, it had made annoying scraping sounds; and twice it nearly jammed the tire.  Lesson learned: don’t even walk that bike through mud again! And if I ever get new fenders, I want some with a little more clearance between fender and tire. I can see why mountain bikes don’t use this particular piece of equipment. Imagine the result if a MTB tire got jammed during a highly technical descent. Disaster!

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Not the Firth

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Not the Firth ‘Tis not the Firth of Forth; but somehow that’s what I end up thinking when I hear, Fourth of July. The Fourth got an early start in my neighborhood. Saturday night I heard someone setting off fireworks; and it’s not something I enjoy. Going for a ride on any firework-y holiday has me a bit on edge. I don’t know when someone might toss an explosive my way without looking; and I don’t need to get an eye blown out, or an eardrum ruptured. Today I’m taking it easy. It was great to not have to get up at 4:30 am! By 10:00 am I was debating whether to go for a short spin on the road bike; but the sky was getting very cloudy by then. When I went to the supermarket last Saturday I forgot to get lemons; so I took a short ride with the hybrid to the closest store and  bought two. I like to use lemon juice to stretch salad dressing; and I like the tang that lemon provides. I was home from that mini-ride by 9:00 am; and already there was a big cloud building up in the Northeast. It had the kind of appearance that makes me nervous about lightning. I didn’t want to go riding at that time anyway, because I had to cook the Chickiflower! “Chicki” is my latest culinary experiment; and it let me get rid of two cans. It’s not the Firth; but maybe it’s a little bit cooler there! It was 86 degrees by 10:20 am; and the heat index was 98! Even that is cooler than last week’s temperatures. I think I’ll stay in for now; and keep cool. The cloud cover helps!

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Calm for Once

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Calm for Once! Today the wind was calm for once! I wish we had calm winds much more often. I’m working to lengthen my Sunday long ride. After two weeks of doing only 28-29 miles, I knew I’d better not shoot for 50 miles; but I extended my distance to 37.90 miles. It helped a great deal that I didn’t have to fight a headwind.  According to the forecast, rain and T-storms were possible from 10:00 am; and as I rode back home, I watched the clouds building up. I got home ahead of any bad weather; and within the next hour, I decided to ride the hybrid to the drug store. By then the sky looked more threatening; but I took the chance. It paid off; and now I have ice cream for the Fourth of July. About 45 minutes after I got home, I began to hear thunder. As long as I’m home, it may storm; and it might even cool us off a bit.  The problem with rain is that the streets around here are in a mess. A little rain results in quagmires that clog bicycle tires with mud; and for now, I have to detour several blocks to get to and from the bike path. It looks like tomorrow morning will be OK for riding; and I’d better get in some miles while I can. I’m almost to 2900 miles for this year; and my goal is 5000 miles by December 30.  While today it was calm for once, there will be some wind tomorrow. Of course I don’t like that; but you’d think I would be used to it by now! The main thing is that any T-storms wait to break out until I’m back home.

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Great Strides

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Great Stides Let your youngster make great strides towards the enjoyment of cycling! The Strider Balance Bike helps a child to learn how to balance on two wheels; and she doesn’t have to worry about pedaling. Or he can start to explore his world; and the puncture-proof tires eliminate worries about flats. Back when I was about to “graduate” from the tricycle to two wheels, I googled around for advice; and I found this. It gave me the idea to temporarily remove the pedals from my new hybrid bike; and do glide biking. No, it didn’t make me feel silly; because I made up my mind that it wouldn’t! I’m not sure you can say I made great strides; but I did get the hang of two wheels after a while.  The Strider Balance Bike has a sturdy, easy-to-maintain steel frame; and can be adjusted to a child’s growth. The handlebars are especially designed for small hands; and the Strider can be used by youngsters ages 18 months to five years. Of course, don’t forget to equip the little one with a helmet. The Joovy Noodle X-small is for kids ages 1-4; and meets CPSP standards. Comes in assorted colors; so you might not have to settle for pink! I don’t much care what color my helmet is, although a light or bright color is a good idea. I’ve never had a pink one, though!

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