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Stormy Thoughts

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\”Stormy thoughts\” doesn\’t automatically mean that I\’m angry about something. With Hurricane Delta about to hit land, stormy thoughts are with most everybody on or near the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. I can\’t say how condition were early this morning. I shut off my alarm clock and fell back asleep — again?! — and didn\’t have time to ride before work. At lunchtime, the wind seemed to be picking up. I rode to the drug store for a few things, anyway, so that I could get in at least some pedaling time. The sky was mostly cloudy, and I was surprised when the sun made a brief appearance. I was also surprised at the lack of crowds at the store, but of course was glad I didn\’t have to wait through a long check-out line. If there had been such a line, I would have left the store because I couldn\’t afford the time. The wind has now reached 25 mph. So far it hasn\’t rained, but I suppose it could begin at any time. This is, perhaps, the worst part of having a tropical storm anywhere nearby. I\’m on tenterhooks, waiting for all H*** to break loose. It\’s frustrating when nothing much happens; and I realize that I could have gone for a ride, or made a trip to the grocery store. It looks like things will be calmer tomorrow morning. I hope so! I want to make a grocery run, and then go for a real ride. It will probably be a short one; and Sunday I can do a long ride. So I still have Delta on my mind, but am less concerned that I was. Let\’s send some thoughts to the citizenry of Lake Charles. Two hurricanes in six weeks!

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Pizza?

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Pizza for breakfast? Well, sort of. A while back a local pizzeria had a sign out front, advertising cauliflower-crust pizza. Remembering that sign gave me an idea for this morning\’s breakfast. I need to use up the cauliflower in the fridge in any case, so I steamed a cup of chopped cauliflower. I put it over a layer of quinoa, another food item I need to finish. Meanwhile I heated a cupful of Boyardee. I poured it on top of the other layers; and put a little mozzarella cheese over all. It was pretty good. I sure get some odd ideas for breakfast, don\’t I? Strangely, I kept feeling hungry all day, and carb-watching fell by the wayside. Maybe I\’m simply overtired, and keeping my mind focused on work was stressful. That can easily masquerade as hunger. Perhaps I didn\’t eat quite enough yesterday. Have I been overly-zealous about my diet, and my body demanded a break? I certainly had a hankering after chocolate! Or was it that I didn\’t ride enough this morning? I didn\’t even feel like doing it; but I know that the weather tomorrow might prevent outdoor exercise. I just went to the park and rode around three times. That was better than nothing. Today\’s main preoccupation has been, of course, the hurricane out there. The latest forecast shows that Delta is heading for SW Louisiana; as if the poor people there haven\’t had enough already! They were slammed by Hurricane Laura only six weeks ago. A tropical storm warning is in effect for my city. We\’ll see how things go soon enough. In the meantime, I must think of some more exotic breakfasts!

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Ahead of the Race?

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Hurricane Delta got ahead of the race this afternoon. At about 1:50 pm, the power went out. I though, \”Wait, this isn\’t supposed to happen until tropical storm conditions set in!\” Not until day after tomorrow. Luckily the outage lasted only about 10 minutes, but it took a half-hour or so for me to get back on the Internet. I forgot that, whenever the power goes out, I have to re-set the modem. Maybe I\’m getting ahead of the race, too: what if Delta knocks out the power? I\’m worried that an outage will last long enough for everything in fridge and freezer to spoil! But maybe it won\’t happen, after all. Can I ride tomorrow? Rain chances are 50%; and East wind at 15 mph. I\’ll wait and see how conditions are in the morning. I want to ride the hybrid to the supermarket; but what I most want is hummus, and hummus requires refrigeration. As things stand now, ride on Friday is out of the question. Winds of 25-35 mph are a bit too much for me. It\’s possible that my workplace will close for the day ? and my thoughts automatically went to cooking projects. Unfortunately the freezer is still crammed. On a brighter note: yesterday I bought a pint of Halo Top Sea Salt Caramel. Now I have a good excuse to finish it up!?

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Not the Airline

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It\’s not the airline we mean down here just now, when we say \”Delta\”. There\’s a hurricane by that name in the Gulf, and it\’s heading in our general direction. Many years ago Delta Airlines had an advertising jingle on TV: \”Delta is ready when you are.\” Well, I can tell you that we are not ready for another hurricane, no matter what its name is. In fact, I think we have the equivalent of combat fatigue. We\’re certainly storm-weary. All these hurricanes; the pandemic; economic stress — we really need a break! Last time I checked, a few hours ago, Hurricane Delta is most likely to make landfall about 90 miles to the west of New Orleans. Good news for us; unfortunately, bad news for somebody else. Even so, the forecast says that tropical storm conditions are possible by Friday morning; and hurricane conditions are possible by Friday night. I must haul out the cable lock again, and hitch the trash can to the fence so it doesn\’t blow away. Meanwhile, conditions look all right for a ride tomorrow morning. Thursday? Maybe; maybe not. It\’s Friday when things will get really rough. It\’s time to set up the trainer. \”Riding\” that way is tedious; and if the power goes out, I won\’t want to do it because I\’ll overheat. If the wind is strong, opening a door to keep myself cool would be unwise at best. Plan for the worst, and hope for the best, the old saying goes. This is why I keep hitting the salvage store for more canned stuff. Having a good supply on hand at all times actually gives me a certain sense of security. So look out for Delta — no, not the airline!

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The Mother of Invention

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Necessity is the mother of invention, as the old saying goes. Just look at what need can lead to: vaccines. The light bulb. Even the forerunner of today\’s bicycles! Necessity is the mother of invention in the kitchen as well as the workshop. What can you do when it seems like there\’s nothing to eat? Or when the same old thing appears too often? I can\’t speak for anybody else, but I know what I do. I invent something! I\’ve already made up about six variations on Hoppin\’ John. Sometimes I make up something new. When freezer and/or fridge are getting too crammed with containers of leftovers, a garbage soup is in order. The freezer is now stuffed with things that I\’ve cooked; bags of cheese cubes; and frozen fruit and green beans. I certainly don\’t need to buy food for a while. Good thing; we might see hurricane conditions later in the week. Back to inventions. A few weeks ago I bought a package of two frozen, pre-grilled chicken breasts. One was still in the freezer, and I decided to use it and get it out of there. While it was heating up, I chopped a cup of cauliflower. Once the chicken was out of the pot, I put the cauliflower to steam. I chopped up the chicken while I waited for the cauliflower to cook. Then I tossed the chicken and cauliflower together, with a little sprinkle of ground ginger; a half-teaspoon of sesame seeds; and some chopped scallion top. Then I shook on some soy sauce, and dove in. How did it turn out? I\’d make it again. Maybe with broccoli instead of cauliflower. Or sweet potatoes. Or…

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Too Late?

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Is it too late now to really improve my strength and stamina in time for Tour de Cure? Have I done too little? I have a suspicion that I\’ve been too lackadaisical about my training. Today I rode 32.3 miles, a little shy of the 35 miles I had planned. On the way back home, the wind got as strong as 13 mph. My overall average on this ride was a plodding 10.46 mph. I have to admit, though, that I was making a deliberate effort not to hurry! On the one hand, I seem to be doing a little better at battling headwinds. On the other, I can\’t hold the kind of pace that I want, for as long as I want. Especially not in the face of said headwinds. I think that means, more pushing the pace on my weekday morning rides; and start doing force intervals again. I\’ve rather let them go for a while because I kept feeling tired. But is it too late? I have only a few more weeks for them now. And, what shall I take for \”ride food\” on TdC Day? I continue to experiment with various on-bike foods. Speaking of food, this afternoon I finally got around to cooking quinoa; and yesterday I made a garbage soup. I have no idea what it tastes like, because it all went straight into the freezer. Well, not straight from the hot stove! Now that I have pre-diabetes, what else can I cook? Many of my hot dog variations are off the menu now; but I can still make tikka masala with chicken sausages and tomato sauce. In fact, I had better go mix it up right now; and then I can have some for supper.

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Misadventure

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Misadventure can occur to anyone, anytime. A miscalculation of distance can do it. Forgetting to look both ways before entering an intersection can also result in disaster, even in the case of a one-way street. There\’s always the possibility of a driver going the wrong way; and often enough, I see cyclists riding against one-way signs. That is a no-no for cyclists as much for motor vehicle operators. I wonder whether the rider of the bicycle shown above was wearing reflective clothing. Or was using lights. Either one might have prevented this crash. This morning I nearly had my own misadventure. Coming back from Wal-Mart, I had to take to a main road for a short stretch. I neither saw nor heard anything coming when I got to that road. But before I got to the place where I can leave the road, I heard a big truck coming up behind me; and another vehicle was approaching from the opposite direction! I got off the road as soon as I could, but I heard the truck\’s brakes hissing. My \”escape hatch\” was the dirt-and-gravel access ramp to a mini-industry. I use it when I ride toWal-Mart; and today it was a big struggle getting up that ramp! I had a heavy load to begin with. The surface was loose and skid-y. My feet couldn\’t get any purchase, and neither could my bicycle\’s tires. The load was poorly distributed between my two panniers, and it was nearly impossible to keep the bicycle upright. I had to wrestle that bike off the access road and get into the grass. But I ultimately got home in one piece, and that\’s the important thing. I\’m just glad I won\’t need to go to Wal-Mart again soon.

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Plotting and Planning

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Plotting and planning sounds to me like planning where to plant everything in a garden plot. At present I can\’t have a garden. Even if I could, I\’m not so sure I really want to do the work involved in raising my own vegetables; and am I physically up to it? In my garden, I want tomatoes. I want broccoli and cauliflower. Kale and spinach, too, and maybe romaine lettuce. I want red onions and scallions. Don\’t forget garlic! I want herbs, too: chives, basil, rosemary, and flat-leaf parsley. And maybe a dwarf lemon tree. But that\’s a dream garden. I\’m better off plotting and planning about things that I know I can do, such as this weekend\’s activities. Temperature-wise, tomorrow and Sunday will be perfect for riding. Clear, too. The wind will get strong enough to be bothersome, but at least there\’s no rain in the forecast. This morning I rode very short and easy with the road bike; and then did a Whole Foods run with the hybrid. And I got sticker shock! I always do whenever I buy groceries anywhere but the salvage store. Tomorrow I think I\’ll go to Wal-Mart. I need some new bed sheets; and there are a few groceries that I didn\’t pick up at Whole Foods today. For one thing, I was in such a hurry that I forgot to get bread. I need to do some more cooking, too. It\’s time I concocted another garbage soup, and maybe I\’ll hunt for a new recipe to try. Plan for Sunday: a long ride, of course. I\’ll aim for 35 miles this time. For ride food, I\’m thinking of Stroopwafels and Lara Bars. Yes, I know — that stuff is loaded with carbs. Let\’s hope I burn them off during my ride.

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Oktober UNfest?

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Oktober UNfest? That\’s what it looks like this year. Months ago I read in a news article that Oktoberfest was to be postponed, or perhaps even cancelled. I guess that there are a lot of disappointed people who think that it isn\’t Fall without that famed celebration. For the time being, it actually feels like Autumn here! Yesterday morning\’s low was 58 degrees. That was cool enough for leg warmers for my morning ride, so now I know that Fall is here. Using leg warmers isn\’t all beer and skittles. The pair I wore this morning is brand new; but not the shorts. The gripper bands at the bottoms of the shorts\’ legs didn\’t grip so very well. As I pedaled along, I became aware of something rubbing against the inside of my left thigh. I really should have stopped to see what was up; but I seemed to be doing unusually well, and didn\’t want to interrupt it. Back home, I saw that the left leg of the shorts had pulled up, leaving a patch of bare skin. It took several hours for most of the chafing to wear off, and one small spot is a brushburn! OK, enough about my ills and cycling wardrobe problems. I saw the most gorgeous full moon this morning. The Harvest Moon! It was quite low, and cast a beautiful light path on the river. It\’s worth it to get up at 4:15 am to see that. The wind was calm, too; a big relief after the previous evening\’s ride. I hope the weather is clear for October 31: blue moon time! Meanwhile, I — and many others — will have to put up with Oktober UNfest.

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Crazy Day

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It was a crazy day yesterday. First, I forgot to set my alarm clock the night before. It was already 5:40 when I woke up. Today was Tuesday, and that meant I had to go work on-site. I didn\’t feel like rushing around to fix and eat breakfast post-ride, so I decided not to ride. It was actually a nice change to have a leisurely breakfast! There\’s a FedEx near my workplace, and I had planned send a fax of four or five pages. I changed my mind after I called the FedEx and asked how much it cost to send a fax. Three bucks per page! I didn\’t ride the hybrid to work because I had a large envelope containing the pages I was going to fax. I put the envelope in my backpack. That backpack is so old that the chest straps are all gone, and I don\’t much care to ride a bicycle with a backpack that won\’t stay securely in place. Of course that meant I had to walk to and from work. The hike to work is one thing, but the trek back home is another story. It takes quite a chunk out of my lunch break! It\’s no wonder I end up feeling like that kitty some days. I didn\’t want to skip riding, so I went out on the road bike after work. The wind was 10-13 mph, and much of the time was either a sidewind or a headwind. Even so, I averaged 11.6 mph for a round trip of 11.80 miles. That\’s still quite slow, but such a wind used to push me back to 6-8 mph. Progress! So yes, it was a crazy day; but I still got out to ride.

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