SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Round Two?

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Here comes Round Two of bad weather. It\’s not a very good time to pump up those tires and roll. Marco amounted to little or nothing in my neck of the woods. We aren\’t exactly home free, though. Hurricane Laura is expected go go ashore tonight or early tomorrow. We won\’t get the full brunt of it, but we\’re under a wind advisory until tomorrow evening; and heavy rain is expected. Am I cowardly for not feeling like going out to ride in 1) heavy rain; and 2) a wind of 20-25 mph? I got very little riding this morning, so there\’s one day lost already. I had decided to go ride in the park, in case the weather turned nasty. Halfway there, I remembered that I hadn\’t picked up a mask before leaving home. I decided to go to the park; ride around once; and go back home. I think the lack of activity is why I got so antsy today. In addition, Wednesday is one of the days when I work on-site. It takes a third of my lunch hour to get back home (if I walk); and by the third consecutive day of that, I\’m feeling the strain.? The stress might be why I got such a hankering after ice cream. I resisted for several hours; but after I clocked out, I rode to the drug store to get some of the sweet stuff. I was extravagant and bought two boxes of Talenti®. Round two of storms; round two of gelato! I\’m trying to be good and save it for tomorrow and the next day. Maybe even into Saturday! Think of it as a hurricane party! But let\’s hope there won\’t be a power outage.

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Anticlimax

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What an anticlimax this has been. After all the tension and preparations of yesterday, Tropical Storm Marco fizzled out just off the Louisiana coast. It makes me feel like a deflated balloon. But the \”excitement\” isn\’t entirely over. Hurricane Laura is out there, which means we still need to be alert. Laura is expected to strike at the Louisiana/Texas border, but SE Louisiana isn\’t off the hook entirely. Tropical storm conditions are possibly by tomorrow night; and for all I know, Laura is still far enough off-shore that a last-minute change in direction isn\’t impossible. But let\’s not get off-topic here. How does an anticlimax come into cycling? For me, that\’s how I felt after each century ride. As I finally hit that magical number of 100 miles, I experienced a major thrill: I DID IT!!! But then, soon afterwards, something in me said: Okay. I rode 100 miles today. It almost didn\’t seem like such a big deal, after all; the thrill died down quickly. Is that how the winner of the yellow jersey feels upon reaching the Champs Elysees? We see Olympic gold medalists standing on the winner\’s platform; on the top of the world, one might think. But what\’s going on inside of their heads? I\’ve read of them thinking, Well — what do I do next? We need to keep setting new goals for ourselves; we need something to work towards. That helps keep the post-triumph let-down, aka anticlimax, from getting us down.

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The Calm Before?

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The calm before the storm. That old expression, come to think of it, has a rather ominous ring to it. It conjures up visions of something waiting to pounce. This morning I overslept, and didn\’t get to ride before I had to clock in to (remote) work. The sky then was only lightly covered by thin, high, white clouds; and the wind wasn\’t particularly strong. In fact, a breeze of 10 mph really isn\’t too bad. By mid- to late morning, the sky was mostly clear. That surprised me. I expected that the clouds would constantly become thicker and thicker; and much darker. The calm before the storm, I thought again. By this time, however, the wind had strengthened to 18-20 mph. That\’s not so calm, as far as I\’m concerned. At lunchtime, I hooked the hybrid into the trainer and pedaled for 25-30 minutes. I decided against going for a short ride outdoors, because I didn\’t want to lose time while I applied sunblock. The wind would have presented me with quite a struggle, anyway. At 5 pm the clouds looked rather threatening, and it was beginning to drizzle. The arrival of the storm\’s outer bands, I thought. I re-checked the NHC site, and real tropical storm conditions are still a few hours away. I believe they said that Marco weakened somewhat. That\’s good news for us all, but Tropical Storm Laura is the one we\’ve really got to watch now. To make it harder, there won\’t be time to clean up after Marco before Laura arrives! Two tropical systems in the Gulf at one time is a rare event. I\’m sure that weather buffs are keeping a close watch — as is everybody else in hurricane-prone areas.

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Watch and Wait

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Watch and wait is all I can do now. I have lots of canned goods; bottled water; and paper goods. I hope we don\’t have much of a power outage, but at least some time without \”juice\” is 99% certain. I suppose the hurricane hunters are being kept busy. They\’ve got two storms to monitor! I don\’t envy the pilots of hurricane hunter planes the job. Marco is still heading right for us. So far he\’s a minimal hurricane, which is good. At 13 mph, he\’s moving fairly fast. Tropical storm or even hurricane conditions could set in as early as tomorrow; apparently Marco is moving faster than expected. It\’s watch and wait for tomorrow\’s ride, too. I\’ll see what the weather is like early in the morning. If it\’s calm enough, maybe I\’ll dare a short ride. But not on top of the levee! I\’ll go to the park to ride; and I\’ll use the hybrid, which has fenders. Staying in the park to ride lets me stay fairly close to home. If the weather starts to worsen, I won\’t be six miles from shelter. Even riding in the park is a gamble when a hurricane is snooping around. If the wind suddenly rises from, say, 10 mph to 70 mph, I\’ll be in big trouble. There I go pipe-dreaming again. I know that it\’s safer to stay home when a hurricane is approaching. Time to resign myself to riding indoors.

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On the Alert

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We\’re all on the alert now. Everyone on or near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico has an uneasy eye on TS Marco. My hometown appears to be the bull\’s eye, too. We\’re under hurricane watch, and tropical storm warning. When I was a kid, I thought it would be exciting to experience the eye of a hurricane: to have the wind suddenly die, and the rain stop; to step outside for a minute to see a clear sky. Nowadays the advice says, do NOT go outdoors during the eye of a hurricane unless it\’s a true necessity. If you really do have to go outdoors, stay on the alert! This calm can end very abruptly, and you don\’t want to get caught away from shelter when the wind and rain return. This morning I rode, but made it much shorter than my usual Sunday ride. There were thunderheads here and there on the horizon. For all I knew, they were an indication of Marco\’s approach. I wish I were more adept at reading Nature! The forecast is for tropical storm conditions by tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I do not intend to go for a ride in such weather. It\’s hard enough for me to control a bicycle when the wind is 20 mph. And tropical storm force winds? Only as a tailwind. Otherwise, no, thank you! Perhaps the prospect of being cooped up indoors in terrible weather is why I have a hankering after a special lunch. I can take a short ride on the hybrid to get take-out. Chinese food? A sandwich? Whatever I choose to get, I\’ll take along the poncho, and stay on the alert for changes in the weather.

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A New Twist?

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Putting a new twist on things can be fun. We need a break from the same old routine now and then. Variety is the spice of life, after all. But a new twist isn\’t at all fun when it involves a funnel cloud. What should we do if we spot a tornado while out riding? Read some advice here. I can\’t speak from personal experience, which is something to be thankful for. We don\’t often get tornadoes here, although they seem to occur more frequently since Katrina. Did that notorious hurricane permanently destabilize our atmosphere? So let\’s suppose I\’m enjoying a ride on top of the levee. I see a tornado in the distance. What can I do? What should I do? Number one, keep a cool head. That goes for any emergency! Then, put my thinking cap on. How far away is that storm? Can I determine which way it\’s moving? If it\’s moving away from me, I can relax a bit. Even so, I\’d better get down off of that levee, just in case. If the tornado seems to be heading my way, and no buildings are nearby, look for a low spot where I can get at least minimal shelter. If it\’s a ditch, and it\’s raining, be alert for rising water. Stay where I am if at all possible until the twister is past. I hope I\’ll never have to put that advice into practice. If I end up living in, say, Oklahoma, I might well need to use it. Tropical storms/hurricanes can spawn tornadoes; and as of noon today, there are two of them out there: Tropical Storms Laura and Marco. One or even both of them seem to be aiming right for us. Tropical storm conditions are possible by Tuesday night. This morning I made a trip to the salvage store and got some more canned goods. I don\’t know why I got canned beans when I have plenty of dried legumes on hand! Or maybe I do know. If there\’s a power shortage that lasts more than a day, storing cooked food will become a problem. My stove is gas, so yes, I would be able to cook; but the fridge of course needs electricity. Come to think of it, I better not do too much cooking until the storm threat is past. But I have a cabbage that needs to be used up. I plan to chop it and cook it in tomato sauce. For a new twist on the flavor, I got some cans of pasta sauce. Roasted Garlic and Onion!

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Mind Meanderings

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Mind meanderings can be pleasant. You might start off thinking about cycling along a shady forest path. The day is pleasantly warm. The birds are singing. Your pace is casual, and you\’re enjoying life. Your thought turn to the nice lunch you\’ll have before riding back home. Suddenly, before you know it, you\’re blazing down a highly technical single track! You steer your mountain bike over huge, gnarly tree roots, and leap across daunting gaps. You seem to have wings. The nice thing about mind meandering is this: typically you aren\’t actually riding a bicycle while indulging in such daydreaming. In fact, if you want to daydream, it\’s safer to do it while in a rocking chair! Letting your mind wander while cycling is not necessarily a good idea. If you must ride alongside motor traffic, you need to keep your mind on what you\’re doing. The same thing goes for riding in a group. Not to mention while racing! On the other hand, a solo ride on a route with little traffic can be a great time for reflection. Sometimes I get good blog ideas at those times! There are times when I wish I lived where there were more cycling routes available. Some real meandering now and then would be a nice change from riding the same old path again and again. I\’d need to keep a map handy, though; such wandering would turn unpleasant if I were to get lost. Perhaps, after all, I had better keep my mind meanderings at home.

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Chocoholic!

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Chocoholic Are you a chocoholic? You aren’t alone. Sometimes it surprises me that I’m a chocoholic now. When I was little, I didn’t care for chocolate much. It seemed bitter to me, and I preferred more sugary candy. Ironically, bittersweet is now my favorite type of chocolate! While I was on vacation earlier this month, I came across Alter Eco chocolate bars in a Whole Foods store. I bought a Burnt Caramel bar (70% cacao), and loved it. Chocolate, unfortunately, isn’t so good as ride food. Even in cold weather, it can get really messy on a sunny day. Not to mention what happens to it on hot days! I have to choose my on-bike food carefully, then. Much as I love chocolate-coated bars, I do better saving them for Winter rides. Chocolate Outrage GU-Gel is a possible solution. You could say that it’s melted already, but it doesn’t go anywhere until you tear the tab off the packet. Another way to indulge your cravings for that brown stuff is hot chocolate. Especially after a long, cold ride. Incidentally, I’ve never heard of a Chocoholics Anonymous. I hope they never invent such a group. It would be a sad day for many of us!    

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Abbreviations

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Abbreviations are useful things. If you can use one, why write a word of four or five syllables? This is especially useful if what you are writing is for your own use. So what if nobody else can understand it? Abbreviations occur in other ways, too. For instance, daylight. A few weeks ago it was still starting to get light at 5:30 am. Now, it\’s only beginning to be daylight at about 6:15 am. I\’ve noticed that it gets dark a little earlier in the evenings, too. Fall\’s a-comin\’, even if the weather doesn\’t feel like it. Today was my first day back to working on-site. Until further notice, I\’ll be working abbreviated days/weeks there. Four hours a day, three days a week. The rest of the time I\’ll still be working from home. That suits me just fine. Today my ride to and from work was curtailed . On the way there, I had to use the short route perforce. A train was blocking the RR crossing, and there was no telling how long it might sit there. When I emerged from on-site work to go home, I saw a threatening-looking cloud and heard thunder grumbling. I didn\’t want to get caught in a storm, so I took the short route home; but as it turned out, I could have gone by my usual, longer way. I wish I could continue to work remotely as a permanent thing. It means I don\’t have to rush through breakfast so that I\’ll have enough time to get to work. I can do longer rides in the mornings if I feel like it. Today I didn\’t do an especially long ride; but all of a sudden I was pedaling harder than usual. Where did that strength come from?

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Albania

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Albania This blog/page may contain affiliate links. “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.” Albania is another of those countries about which I know nothing, aside from the name. I think it would be interesting to learn more about it. What better way to learn about a country than to go on a cycling tour there? But you’d better get your climbing legs ready! A triple chain ring would be wise, too. For the most part, the terrain of Albania consists of rugged mountains. There are numerous cycling routes in and near the capital city of Tirana. The Easy Ride in Farka Lake looks, to me, both easy and hard. At a mere 19 km/11.8 mi long, the distance itself would pose me no problem. So why do I think it would be hard? Those 278 meters/912 feet of climbing! There aren’t many flat routes available. Bad news for me. But if you’re really out for adventure, you might want to consider Tirane to Istanbul. This route is about 1077 km/669.25 miles long! The early section includes some stiff climbs. Well, I think that’s better than having such climbs at the end of the route, when riders are tired. Get the hardest part over with early! Albania’s climate is Mediterranean. Depending on the season you choose for your tour, you might need some good rain gear. Winters tend to be wet. The country’s average Winter temperature in the lowlands is 45 degrees, which to me is not “mild”. It’s COLD! I’d need to get a good Gore-Tex rain suit! Summers often see temperatures of 90 degrees. Bring out the sunblock and sun sleeves! Oh, and watch your body language. In that Balkan nation, Yes and No are the reverse of their USA counterparts!

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