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SpokEasy

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FOMO

BACK ISSUES, Uncategorized /

FOMO We hear a lot about FOMO these days; that is, Fear of Missing Out. I’m beginning to see what that means. To make a long story short, I’m looking around for another place to live. Not much is available in my price range; and to make matters worse, my old email stopped working! I wasn’t getting notices that I should have gotten about places for rent. I haven’t been able to enjoy my vacation because of this; and it’s causing a lot of upheaval in my life. It’s no wonder I’m developing FOMO! Finding a place to rent is only half the problem. I might have to move to a smaller place; and then I  have to be prepared to sell/give away quite a lot of things. Not to mention the stash of canned goods that I have! I couldn’t find out anything about what’s going to happen to this place: whether the buyer will want to keep renting to the tenants already here; or whether s/he wants to tear the place down and build something else. If I can only stay here one more year — or even just six months — it will make a huge difference. If I have to move, I might be far away from the levee bike path; and riding to work might be far longer and/or more difficult. There’s street construction going on all over the place; and some streets are nigh well impassible. If I must move, a delay of 6-12  months will let me use up my store of non-perishable foods; and I can sort through a lot of things and see what I need to keep; and what I can discard. Or could I even hold a garage sale?

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Precovery

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

PREcovery? Sometimes I “recover” before I ride. Recovery is a vital part of any exercise program; but  precovery? That’s right; sometimes I down my recovery drink before I go out riding! My usual pre-ride snack is a banana or a cupful of grapes; often with peanut butter. Sometimes I’m out of peanut butter; or I’m simply not in the mood for bananas. I don’t always have grapes on hand; and I don’t have time for a real meal. Going for a first-thing-in-the-morning ride on an empty stomach isn’t the best idea. At least, it isn’t for me. I’ve heard about fasted training; but I think I’ll skip it. Even with that pre-ride snack, I often get hungry before I’m back home; and my morning rides usually aren’t much over one hour long. I have to have something; so if that recovery drink is sitting in the fridge, I’ll grab it. Once in a while, in spite of a pre-ride snack, I get too hungry before I can get back home; and that’s why I carry a few GU-Gels with me. They’re my emergency rations, because I don’t need to bonk! Today I didn’t go out on the road bike. I had some errands to run; and the apartment search goes on. I also wanted to tune in to a webinar about Medicare that my employer is hosting today; that’s information that I’ll need in the not-so-distant future. Unfortunately my laptop couldn’t connect to the program. I guess it doesn’t have enough memory. I’m sure it was recorded, though; and maybe I can listen to it next week, when I’m back at work. When I ride anywhere now — even if it’s a short trip — I need something as precovery to cool me off before I go out. This morning it was in the low 80s before 7 am!  

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curveball

BACK ISSUES, equipment /

Curveball Life sometimes throws us a curveball, so they say. I sure got one a week or so ago. This place where I’ve been renting since before Katrina, is up for sale; and the manager has no info as to what the buyer will do with it. S/he might want to leave it as is, and keep renting the units out. On the other hand, the buyer might want to demolish the place; and build something new. I don’t quite dare wait to find out. It might be August before I an get definite info; and this is a  college town. By August, the students will be pouring back into town; and anything close to campus will quickly get snapped up. I need to stay close to here, where I am. The levee bike path is a stone’s throw away from my current front door; and that’s very important to me. I really need the exercise! My application for an apartment is under consideration; so we’ll see how that works out. If I do move, that trailer will come in handy! When I began stocking up like crazy because of possible COVID stay-at-home orders, I had no idea I might have to move. Now I have scads of canned goods, bath tissue, and so on. So, I really don’t want to move; but if I’m accepted for that apartment, I don’t quite dare refuse it. I just hope that, whatever I decide to do, it will be the best thing. I don’t need any more curveballs!

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more power to me

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

More Power to Me? Sometimes I wish I had a power meter. Does a power meter mean more power to me? Unfortunately, it doesn’t; but there are times when I wonder how much wattage I can generate while on the bike. Such a device can let you know how strong a lightbulb your efforts can light up! I suspect that my wattage is quite low. It’s been a while since I did much of anything by way of force development; and force is a component of power.  On top of that, I’ve been tired for the last few months; and when you’re low on energy isn’t the best time to push force work. Besides that, these devices are a bit beyond my budget. But if you can afford them, and wish to do serious training, the Favero is easily installed; and its rechargeable batteries last up to 50 hours. Speaking of tired, that’s how I felt on the bike this morning; and I’m on vacation! I didn’t have to get up at 4:30 am to ride; but that meant I missed seeing the full moon over the river.? I rode only 16 miles; and while I’m off work, I’d rather put in 18-20 miles per day. Well, we do what we can. I’m halfway to my Love to Ride mileage goal for 2022; so as far as that goes, more power to me!

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Fish Or Cut Bait

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Fish Or Cut Bait We can’t cut bait forever! Sooner or later, we’ve got to fish. I’ve been in a fish or cut bait situation for over three months. I was working hard to convert my old  spokeasy dot org to this dot net site; and I must confess, there’s still a good bit of editing to be done on Products. I thought at first that perhaps I should complete all the editing before launching dot net. But I can’t stay in that fish or cut bait mode forever; and if I did wait to finish all that editing, this dot net site might never get out! Cycling shorts make the ride more comfortable! Speaking of products, Pearl Izumi® shorts are a favorite of mine. When I first had the tricycle, I rode for some months before I bought my first pair of cycling shorts. They took a bit of getting used to. At first cycling shorts made me feel like I had nothing on below the waist; and I kept checking to be sure I was dressed! Now, I can hardly imagine more than a very short ride without them. This morning I put in 39 miles on the road bike; wearing cycling shorts, of course. I’m glad I was home by 11:00 am; because about an hour later, a heat advisory was posted. It felt hot enough while I was out there riding; and it isn’t even officially Summer yet! I need to go to the drug store; but it’s thundery. I don’t want to get caught in a T-storm!

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Thumbs Up

BACK ISSUES /

Thumbs Up! Sometimes it’s thumbs up! I guess it’s thumbs up today. This morning I saw the hand specialist; and surgery is on the sidelines for now. In fact, I may not need it.? I do have a small bone spur; but I also have thumb CMC arthritis; and the doctor’s first recommendation was a splint to protect and immobilize the thumb for a while. I see him again in about six weeks; and we’ll take it from there. But I don’t give today’s weather the thumbs up. It was sprinkling on and off when I went out on the road bike; and it continued like that until late morning. That wasn’t bad; but then, around noon, it rained hard for a while. There was a flash flood warning in effect for several hours; and in fact, some areas had street flooding because it rained so hard. I’m very glad I’m not riding on the levee right now! The weather site I just checked said the wind is 25 mph; and wind like that makes the going very hard. More T-storms are possible overnight; so it’s a good thing I’m back home. It looks like conditions will be much better tomorrow morning; so I guess I can get to and from the store without getting wet. I plan to visit Whole Foods to look for sunblock; and I think I need to keep myself out of that salvage store for a week or two. I’ve got so much canned stuff it isn’t funny. One good thing about the current weather is that my place didn’t get too heated up. Most days it’s sweltering in here by the time I get home from work; and today it’s much more bearable. Thumbs up to that!  

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Heat Exhaustion

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Heat Exhaustion Heat exhaustion is an appropriate topic at present. Anyone engaged in outdoor activity needs to be mindful of it; and that, of course, includes cyclists. Ride early in the day if possible; and avoid going out in the noonday sun. I get off work at 4:30 pm; and the heat index this afternoon was 107! Fortunately I have only 2.5 miles to ride; and when it’s hot and sunny, that’s quite far enough. Before I went to feed my friends’ cat, I added some ice cubes to my water bottle. They didn’t stay frozen for long. Summer isn’t officially here yet; but it’s quite light by 6:15 am. Soon I’ll need to begin my Sunday long rides at 5:30 am; and even when I do, it’s very hot by the time I get home several hours later. I wish I could stop at several points to put both water and ice into my Camel-Bak; but that would mean going well out of my way. I already have some sun sleeves; Protect your arms from UV rays while keeping them cooler. and maybe I’ll get some leg sleeves, too. Another problem with heat is the effect it has on my ride food. Most ride foods that I use get very messy when it’s hot; and I end up smearing bar coatings on my shorts in an effort to get my fingers halfway clean. That’s another form of heat exhaustion: I’m tired of the heat making things more difficult!

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Brain Dead

BACK ISSUES /

Brain Dead I wish ideas were this easy to come by! I feel so terribly brain dead. Yesterday I couldn’t think of a blog topic; and today, all I can think of to write about is being — brain dead! I think it’s partly the heat. At 5:00 am, it was already about 80 degrees; and when I got off work, it was close to 90 degrees! Even with a bottle of water at hand, I got very heated up on the way home; and I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved blouse! I don’t leave the window units running when I’m away all day at work; and on a blazing sunny day, this place really heats up! Of course it takes a while for those units to really cool off the place; and until they do, I have to keep a piece of cardboard within reach, so I can fan myself. I’m getting very tired, too. The cat-sitting will continue for about 11 more days; and while it’s not difficult work, it takes time. That’s hard when I have so many other things I must do. It makes me feel especially frazzled in the morning, when I have to get to work. Tomorrow will be another scorcher; and this is only June! July and August are likely to be even worse; and September is hot, too. It has me dreaming of cooling cloths. I’m tempted to get some of these; but I fear I’d get spoiled for riding in the heat! I wonder whether Grand Tour riders use anything of the sort. The pics I’ve seen don’t look like it; and those riders surely need a bit of relief from the heat. I don’t want them to go brain dead from overheating!

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Super Commuter

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Super Commuter? I ride to work when I can; but some days I just have to skip it! I fear I’ll not become a super commuter. The Super Commuter badge is one of many that you can earn by participating in Love to Ride. To get it, you must ride to work 200 times in the year — I suppose that means the current calendar year. I’ve been slogging away at it; and I am now 38% there. That means I rode to work 76 times so far in 2022; and I have to ride to work 124 more times by the time the Christmas break comes. As well as I could count, there are 131 working days left. I did my best not to count days when I won’t be going to work: vacation; tomorrow’s ophthalmology appointment; and so on. That leaves little leeway for days when I can’t ride to work; and there are bound to be some such days. Sometimes the rain is simply too heavy; and/or there’s too much lightning overhead. The disruption of a hurricane is always possible; and if I need surgery on that bone spur, I’m likely to lose at least a few days. Thus I guess any dreams of earning the Super Commuter badge are as much fantasy as dreams of riding a unicycle. I’m not sure I could manage one of  these! I suppose that riding a unicycle is vastly different from riding a bicycle; but I bet it’s fun once you get the hang of it. After all, it took some doing for me to get going on two wheels; and now, I can’t imagine being unable to ride!

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