SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Kicking Back

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I\’m kicking back today! I love it when I get a three-day weekend. It means a day when I can sleep a few hours later; and go for a bicycle ride if I want to; and I don\’t have to get up early to run errands. Sure, I could go grocery shopping later in the day, but I like to get it done before there\’s much traffic; and, during Summer, before the heat builds up. Then, too, when I shop at the salvage store, I want to get there early. I suspect that the good stuff goes fast. At 9 am, it looked like a good time to go riding. The sun was out; and the wind was calm. True, it was 82 degrees; but it\’s usually 78-80 degrees at 5 am, anyway. \’Tis the season! Before 10 am it had become overcast; and in fact the chances of rain were high. I had thought of riding the hybrid to the drug store; but I decided to stick with kicking back, and stay indoors and dry. I have plenty that I can do at home! But no cooking today. The freezer is crammed with enough stuff for the next two weeks: Poppin\’ Pete; the quinoa version of Leapin\’ Leo; and more! Not to mention all the cheese cubes; bags of frozen blueberries and veggies; and the ice-cube trays. Speaking of kicking back, isn\’t today the first rest day for the Tour de France? But for those guys, the \”rest\” days don\’t mean lounging around. They\’re still doing a very easy ride; or perhaps spinning in a trainer. I\’m glad I can take it easy when I do get a holiday! I\’ve still got an uneasy eye on Elsa. It appears that Louisiana is in the clear — but it bears repeating: one never knows!

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Blank Verse?

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\”Happy Fourth of July!\” isn\’t exactly blank verse. In fact, I\’m not a poet, so I rarely bother with poetry; blank verse or otherwise. Today I did a short ride of 29 miles. I don\’t know why, but my legs still feel tired! There was little wind, for a change; and it was from the West, so I had it behind me on the way home. Again, I spent a lot of time on the small ring. Low-gear, high-cadence riding (average, 83 rpm) might burn fat; but I can see that such riding is where my gut most needs training. Speaking of gut training, today I tested a Luna Bar as ride food. It didn\’t seem very sustaining, although I like the chocolate-peppermint flavor. I think I\’ll stick with FitCrunch and Met-Rx bars. This morning I saw little or nothing over which to wax poetic; whether blank verse or haiku. No bald eagles; no rabbits; and (thank goodness!) no snakes. I had my eye on the clouds, of course. They were building up; and there\’s a 60% chance of T-storms. In fact, the forecast of afternoon T-storms is one reason why I kept it short today. But I got in my ride; and now I can be lazy for a while. At present I\’m charging up my ancient iPod, so that I can enjoy my favorite Fourth of July musical fare: Sousa marches! They seem to have a unique zest; and I say, if you want to move a roomful of furniture — play Sousa marches at it!

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Senility?

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Senility isn\’t creeping up on me already, is it? Sometimes it seems like it. There are mornings when I get back home at the end of a ride; and discover that I forgot to turn on my bicycle\’s tail light. Sometimes I also forget to turn on my wrist blinkie! It\’s a good thing I have my headlight on top of my helmet, or I might forget that, too. Today I noticed more senility. The trip to the salvage store went OK, at least as far as the weather goes. I felt only a few drops on the way to the store; and on the way back home it didn\’t rain, although the sky looked threatening. In fact, I\’m still waiting for the forecast to prove itself. Today I didn\’t take the trailer, because I decided I didn\’t want the extra drag if it did rain. The panniers were sufficient; and I think I need to do something to keep myself from bringing home big loads for a while, anyway! I got a few more cans of soup to add to my hurricane supplies; and I decided to get some bologna, because it\’s Fourth of July weekend. Senility struck again when I went to the bike shop. I had ordered a new heart-rate strap; and several days ago the shop informed me that it had come in. After I got home from the salvage store, I rode over to get it. So what did I do? I paid for the thing, but forgot to pick it up! I was at least halfway home before I realized my error. It\’s a good thing the shop is only one mile from home; and it wasn\’t a huge deal for me to ride back there. Fourth of July Now, what to do for the Fourth of July? I can\’t let fears of senility keep me inactive! According to the forecast, the main chances for rain/T-storms tomorrow are after 1 pm; so I should be OK for a morning ride. I think I\’ll make it rather short — perhaps 30 miles; and then the following Sunday I\’ll shoot for 55 miles. It\’s time I bumped up my distance! It looks like we\’re in for another stormy week. It appears that Elsa won\’t be a threat to us, which is something to be thankful for; but all the same I\’m SO tired of worrying about getting caught in a T-storm every time I ride! All I can do is hope that senility won\’t cause me to forget to take along my poncho!

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Alex and Ani Bracelet

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The Alex and Ani Bracelet lets you show the spirit of the Pan-Mass Challenge; and contribute to a good cause as well. Twenty percent of the purchase price for each bracelet sold goes to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This bracelet is adjustable; fits most wrists. Made in the USA. Pan-Mass Challenge takes place in August, so it sounds like a hot ride. Or is Massachusetts a lot cooler than \”Swampeast\” Louisiana?

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Snakes!

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Snakes! This is a year for snakes, for sure. In the last month or so, I’ve seen three of them while out riding; and that’s more than I ever saw in all the previous years combined! I wasn’t able to identify any of those reptiles; but I suppose they were some kind of water snakes. The first two had patterned skin; and the one I spotted this morning looked all black. I couldn’t positively identify it, because I was moving too fast to get a good look; but it might have been a cottonmouth. I’m glad it was on the opposite side of the path! Most snakes in the USA are non-venomous and harmless to humans; or they are so far. In recent years we hear of pythons in the Everglades; and pythons can grow big enough to be a danger. Early this week there was a report in the news about a cobra on the loose in North Carolina! I hope they catch that cobra; and I hope the Everglades can be cleared of pythons. If I ever have my own place, with a garden in the yard, I won’t mind having a few kingsnakes around. They’ll help keep vermin under control. I won’t, however, go out of my way to find them! That’s enough about those crawling creatures now. I have to make plans for this weekend’s riding! I though of skipping the salvage store tomorrow to go to Whole Foods, because I want some things that the salvage store probably won’t have; but then I remembered that I have Monday off. I can go to the salvage store as usual; and hit Whole Foods on Monday! It looks like I might be OK as far as weather goes; but we’ll see!

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Boucle sans Fin

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Boucle sans fin. I feel like I’m stuck in an endless loop. The weather is part of it. Day after day, the forecast predicts showers and T-storms. The overcast and rain keep us a little cooler; but I’m tired of dirty water getting splashed on my bikes; and on my footwear; and on my panniers. I\’m tired of wondering every evening whether I can ride the next morning; or whether T-storms will force me to abandon my ride plans. At times those daily rides seem like boucle sans fin. I have to admit that it can be quite a grind. Today I actually skipped doing a “real” ride, because I was tired; and my legs felt stiff and sore. I rode to the grocery store, though; and I then I rode to work.  Another boucle sans fin is the endless parade of tropical storms. Around here we can\’t afford to ignore that. The roster of storm names has already reached “E”; and I hope that Elsa doesn’t prove herself a lioness! I wish there were a way to break that endless loop; but I don\’t know how to trigger global cooling! Then there\’s La Grande Boucle. I don\’t follow the race closely, but I enjoy looking at the pics. Among my favorites are pics that show the peloton streaming past fields of sunflowers; and this, after seven years, is still my favorite of all! Photos showing the aftermath of crashes aren\’t my favorites; but I guess they have to show all aspects of Le Tour. It looks like we\’re in for a stormy weekend, and I might have to set up my bike in the trainer. Talk about boucle sans fin — pedaling and pedaling; and going nowhere!

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Advance Planning

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Is advance planning your thing? Get ready for cold weather now, and lay in a supply of Aik Cheong Hot Chocolate mix! This 10-pack will help keep you going through those Winter days; and it\’s great to relax after a long, cold ride with a mug of hot chocolate! Imported from Malaysia. Advance planning is a must when you\’ve got a big cycling event coming up, too. Be sure to leave yourself adequate time to train up; and to figure out what on-bike foods work best for you. Part of this is learning how much eating you can tolerate on the bike. You don\’t want to overeat and give yourself indigestion; but neither do you want to eat too little and bonk!

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UV Sleeves

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These SHINYMOD UV Sleeves help you to keep your arms cool while preventing sunburn; and without messy sunblock. They also help keep you warm in cold weather! SHINYMOD sleeves block over 99% of harmful sun rays. As an added bonus, they help prevent insect bites. Available in packs of one or three pairs. I tried a pair of sun sleeves (although not SHINYMOD UV Sleeves), and unfortunately they\’re now so stretched out that they can\’t stay in place! They definitely do keep my arms cooler on a hot day; and I\’m considering buying some more before the worst of the heat gets here. Yes, those sleeves feel warm when you first put them on for a hot-day ride; but after you get moving it\’s not long before, um, sweat starts to let those sun sleeves cool your arms. You can even splash on a little water to help with the cooling; convection cooling, I think it\’s called. I\’m glad the weekend weather outlook is pretty good. I\’m not exactly looking forward to starting long Sunday rides when it\’s already 80 degrees at 6 am!

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Clear at Last!

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Clear at last this morning; and I don\’t mean only that we\’ve had no rain for a few days, although of course I’m not complaining about that! But for at least three days, there was a freight train blocking my usual access to the levee bike path. That train sat and sat; and it was very frustrating to have to take a half-mile detour over rough streets, especially given the road-construction messes all over the place.  This morning the train was finally gone; the crossing was clear at last; and there was a pile of ties next to the crossing. I had wondered whether there was work being done on the tracks. Several years ago, trains would sit in one place for days on end; and it was infuriating. Then when a pile of ties appeared, I finally knew what was going on. When I was coming home from this evening, work was in full swing; and the crossing was a mess. I had to walk my bicycle over the tracks and loose rocks. I\’m lucky I didn\’t have a big load of groceries; and I\’m glad I was able to cross where I did. Otherwise I would have had to ride against a pretty stiff headwind to the other crossing! I hope that railroad work doesn’t last long. It’s not fun riding over bad surfaces; and I’m not quite sure whether it’s worse on the road bike, or when I’m hauling that trailer Tomorrow is full-moon time. The forecast is for mostly clear weather, so I should get my \”fix\”. I have some concerns about the condition of the bike path, though. I chatted briefly with my next-door neighbor when I got home; and she said something about a big hole in the levee. I\’m crossing my fingers!

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It\’s a Shame

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It\’s a shame that people who live with diabetes face blaming and shaming for their condition. Isn\’t it hard enough to live with diabetes without the \”it\’s all your fault\” attitude from other people? In February of last year, my A1c levels were in the prediabetes range. My sister had already had prediabetes for a year or two; and my paternal grandmother had diabetes later in life. Family predisposition? Diabetes, I hear, is expensive to treat. I already have to spend some $80 per month on prescriptions; and I don\’t want any more! I don\’t want even oral diabetes meds; and even less do I want to become insulin dependent. That was my major motivation for getting to work to improve my diet, and shed some excess pounds. By last Fall, although I had lost weight, my A1c levels hadn\’t budged; and I began to work with a nurse practitioner and a nutritionist, so I could figure out my calorie and carb needs. Bookworm that I am, I got a book about prediabetes as soon as I received the diagnosis; and I also bought a vegetarian cookbook for diabetes. The constant meal planning and calorie/carb counting is tedious, but I don\’t dare stop doing it. It\’s too easy to slide back into old habits if I don\’t stay right on top of it. Naturally there are rough patches, and I had one only last week. For several days I couldn\’t seem to stop munching on \”naughty\” foods! It\’s a shame I\’m not sure why this happens. If I did, maybe I could prevent it; but I guess bad spells are normal. The important thing is to get past them and continue with \”business as usual\”.

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