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Lesson Learned

Lesson learned doesn\’t have to be as basic as the alphabet. I\’d rather get beyond that. In fact, one of my more vivid memories from first grade was how tired I got of my class having to sing the ABC song several times a day! (I KNEW my ABCs.) There are other lessons, too, and they don\’t have to have a thing to do with formal education. For example, when you\’re first learning how to ride with clip-in pedals it can be scary. When I began I didn\’t know that you do not wait until you\’ve come to a full stop to unclip! On one attempt I fell and got a nasty gash in my left leg. It soon began to sink in: unclip while I\’ve still got some momentum going. Lesson learned. Then there are my antics in the kitchen. When I tried the Hoppin\’ John recipe, I was rushing back and forth between stove and counter (they\’re on opposite sides of the kitchen), trying to juggle cooking rice on one burner; cooking black-eyed peas with celery on another; and chopping cheese, onion and bell pepper on the counter. Trying to keep all that going was dizzying (literally!) and exhausting. When I made Br\’er Joe several weeks later, I had figured out that I need to make \”HJ\” and its variations in stages — a Petite Tour, if you will. This takes two days. One for cooking the rice; doing all the chopping work; and, if I\’m using dried legumes, putting them to soak. Day two is for cooking the beans with the celery; and assembling the final product. It works much better that way; I don\’t get so tired and frazzled; and I can even do the dishwashing involved in stages. Lesson learned.

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New Mexico

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

New Mexico New Mexico, “The Land of Enchantment“, offers opportunities for adventure and touring; both for roadies and mountain bike enthusiasts. For transporting your bicycle to New Mexico, how about an EVOC Bike Transport Bag? And, of course, choose your trail. For cycling families, the Chaco Culture National Historical Park Loop sounds like a terrific way to begin exploring New Mexico by bicycle: eight miles long; flat; and paved. You’ll have opportunities to park your bicycle and take a stroll through the archaeological sites along the way. If you want a bigger challenge, Sandia Peak Summit might fit the bill. This road climbs some 3000 feet over 15-17 miles! Be sure to take along some kind of jacket; high altitudes can get cold even in mid-Summer. MTB-ers sweltering in the hot, humid conditions of Summer might find the prospect of the Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon alluring. Once there, the bike-run-ski-snowshoe race should keep you plenty warm amid all that snow. Keep an eye peeled for wildlife: deer and wild turkey, among others. The South Boundary Trail is physically quite demanding; you’ll need intermediate or higher MTB skills for this one. Take along plenty of water and food; and don’t forget your tools. Stay safe; when on the roads, ride single-file. Watch for traffic. Carry a first-aid kit. Even if you’re riding with a group, depend on yourself. With proper planning and common sense, your bicycle tour of New Mexico can provide plenty of enchantment. 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.” ABOUT ME © This website is the property of its author. DISCLAIMER I am not a cycling coach; nor a health professional. This site is based on my own experiences, opinions, etc. If you need help, please consult the appropriate professional. FRESH FROM MY JOURNAL ✍🏻 Facebook Twitter Youtube INTERPRETER

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Mishaps

BACK ISSUES / CAL

Mishaps occur. No matter what we do to prevent them, sooner or later something untoward happens. Take yesterday, for example. I don\’t mean my jaunt on the road bike. That actually went well, if you discount the fact that I got going a good 20 minutes late. Another morning of almost no wind! How I wish that happened more often. Today I tried one-minute intervals of pushing for 16 mph or more; two easy minutes in between those efforts. Three intervals to a set; 10 minutes between sets. I already forgot how many sets I did; five or six, I think. Riding 16 mph is still quite hard for me, but not grueling. In fact, I touched a top speed of 20+ mph! Skip ahead a few hours. I wanted to fix squash (zucchini this time) cooked in tomatoes. While chopping up the onion, I got a bit too energetic. I suddenly had a nasty cut in my left thumb. I had to suspend operations while I put a bandaid on it. Two, in fact. I was bleeding through the first bandaid in no time. About four hours later, the bandaids had become soaking wet. I decided to change them; and when I took them off, that cut began to bleed again. I figured the cut needed some liquid bandage stuff on it; but why go to the ER for that? So, I called an Urgent Care center. They said I could come in at any time until 7 pm. That would work fine; go to my 2:45 pm dental appointment, and then head for Urgent Care. By the time I got out of the dentist\’s office, I looked like I might have mishaps with the weather. The sky appeared quite threatening, and I heard thunder grumbling. Well, I got to Urgent Care still dry. While I was there, I heard it pouring like crazy for a while. It had died down to a drizzle by the time I was ready to go home, thank goodness. But I put on the poncho, anyway. No telling when it might start pouring again. On the way home, I got worried about the possibility of mishaps with brakes that weren\’t catching. I\’m glad I had a paper towel stuffed into a pocket. I got off the road and gave the wheels\’ rims a quick wipe-down. Then they worked better; but I think I\’d better have them checked, before they cause a major mishap.

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Trenching

BACK ISSUES / CAL

Trenching came to my attention just last Wednesday. Most cycling enthusiasts have heard of Everesting by now, I suppose. Now, along comes its inverse: Trenching! Both of them strike me as a Mont Blanc kind of thing: Because It\’s There! The term \”trenching\” is, at least in this case, quite the paradox. It wasn\’t a downhill-all-the-way thing. On the contrary, it involved some brutal climbing. I\’m glad that, at least, it wasn\’t like the trench shown at left. The rider\’s gearing makes my road bike\’s drivetrain look hard, indeed. He used a 32 chain ring; my road bike\’s crankset is a 50/34 (keep in mind that, for chain rings, smaller is easier). And an 11/42 cassette? Mine is a 12/30 (on the cassette, bigger is easier). Of course it helped that this man is a professional cross-country racer. No doubt he\’s in much better shape than most of us recreational riders. I\’d better not dream of trying to duplicate his feat! Some who take up Everesting and Trenching do so in order to raise funds for a worthy cause. Others enjoy doing it as competition. So-and-so \”climbed\” Mount Everest in X amount of time; can I do it in X-1 amount of time? It that\’s your thing, that\’s great. But I don\’t seem to have much in the way of the competitive spirit in me. I don\’t care whether or not I can do any one ride faster than so-and-so. For me, trying to outdo everyone else takes a lot of the pleasure out of cycling. So far, anyway. Who knows? Maybe one of these days something will kick in, and I\’ll try my first bicycle race. Before that, though, I need to learn how to \”read\”!

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Thick as Thieves?

BACK ISSUES / CAL

It seems that we\’re thick as thieves with our bicycles, doesn\’t it? Especially when you enjoy putting in those miles, and lots of them. That\’s fine, but we don\’t want out precious \”rides\” getting thick as thieves with bicycle stealers. How do we guard against such illicit relationships? If possible, keep your bicycles indoors when you\’re at home. If that isn\’t possible, what else is there to do? Good locks, to begin with. In fact, two locks are better than one. Not only that, but more than a single type of lock. A bicycle thief might have the tools to defeat one kind of lock, but not another. There are U-locks. There are cable locks. Some, such as this Kryptonite Cable Lock, use a key. The Master Lock Cable Lock uses a number combination. So somebody tell me: which is worse; forgetting the key, or forgetting that combination? If you can\’t keep your bicycle inside of your home, can you lock it to a sturdy fence post? Is there good lighting? It seems to me that a thief would prefer to work in the dark. To protect your bike from the weather, try a bicycle cover. When you go somewhere by bicycle, do your best to lock up your ride in an area where there will be a lot of people around. Potential witnesses might deter a potential thief. Also, be sure to secure your bicycle to something solid. If no bicycle rack is available, try the post of a streetlight, for instance. I can\’t say for sure which type of lock is \”best\”. According to various sources, it depends on the rate of bicycle theft in your area; how valuable your bicycle is; and so on. Here\’s an idea. If you want to know which kind of bicycle lock is just right — ask Goldilocks!

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Forty or Fight?

BACK ISSUES / CAL

\”Fifty-four forty or fight!\” was a campaign slogan some two centuries ago. \”Forty or fight\” might describe my ride this morning: do 40 miles, or fight to keep going for a lesser distance. Today, fortunately, I didn\’t have to fight much. When I started out at 6:30 am, there was almost no wind. After having achy legs all last week, I suddenly felt stronger than usual. For an 11.4-mile segment of my ride, I averaged a shade over 15 mph! That\’s definitely an improvement. I\’m not yet capable of maintaining 15 mph for several hours at a time, and my overall average speed for 40.40 miles was a modest 12.77 mph. The weird thing is, although I seem to have gotten stronger, I still felt slow! Without the chest strap for my Garmin, I don\’t know for sure what my heart rate was. I tried to be aware of my RPE. I\’m sure that, at times, my heart rate was in it maximum range: rapid, deep breathing is a pretty good sign. Of course the temperature had climbed well into the 80s by the time I got back home. The wind was getting stronger on the return journey, but was more or less behind me most of the time. Forty or fight is to be the Sunday ride program for the next month or so. Tour de Cure is just five months away. But here\’s the rub. Do I work to ride 40 miles faster; or work to extend my mileage?

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Tardy Turtle

BACK ISSUES / CAL

Tardy Turtle is the latest addition to my list of variations on Hoppin\’ John. I used black beans, aka turtle beans, for this. Black beans are one of my favorite legumes. They actually seem to have a slightly sweet flavor; maybe that\’s why! I began the prep work day before yesterday. I cooked a big pot of brown rice; put what I\’d need for the Tardy Turtle in one container; and portioned out the rest for other uses. Then I put the dry black beans to soak overnight. Yesterday morning, before I went out on the road bike, I drained the soaked beans and put them in the freezer. Later I chopped the cheese; celery; onion; and bell pepper. The can of diced tomatoes needed to be drained, too. Today I cooked the beans with the celery. Then all I needed to do was drain the beans; and assemble the final dish. Naturally I had to sample it, but a good deal of it has gone into the freezer. The cooking had to wait until after lunch. This morning I wanted to ride to the salvage store before it got too hot. And of all things, guess what I saw on the way there? A turtle! It was crawling across the bike path. It was a big one, too; I\’d estimate that its carapace was about a foot long. I got a look at the turtle\’s head as I rolled by, and saw a patch of dusky orange. Therefore I suppose it was a type of slider; perhaps a pond slider? Or maybe a red-eared slider? Turtles are not known for speediness. The one I saw this morning sure wasn\’t in any hurry. If it had been on its way to school, it would have been one Tardy Turtle.

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Enophile Heaven?

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

Enophile Heaven? Moldova sounds like enophile heaven. In fact, Moldova is best known for its fine wines. This tour of Chisinau will let you visit the Cricova Underground Wine Cellar. That’s great for wine lovers; but how is Moldova for bicycle touring? With or without wine-tasting? You might want to try a small-group tour of Chisinau, the capital city. Or a whole-day tour of Old Orhei. And, perhaps the ultimate opportunity for cycling enthusiasts who happen to be enophiles as well: would you ever have dreamed that you could RIDE YOUR BIKE through a wine cellar? Although a poor nation, Moldova has much to offer visitors. And, once again, it’s enophile heaven. 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.” ABOUT ME © This website is the property of its author. DISCLAIMER I am not a cycling coach; nor a health professional. This site is based on my own experiences, opinions, etc. If you need help, please consult the appropriate professional. FRESH FROM MY JOURNAL ✍🏻 Facebook Twitter Youtube INTERPRETER

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Conjoined Twins?

BACK ISSUES / CAL

I never thought of conjoined twins in the sense of bicycles. Then, a week or so ago, I chanced across something about Henry Ford\’s quadricycle. It used bicycle wheels! This was the first gas-powered vehicle invented by Mr. Ford. He sold his first \”quad\” for $200, which seems incredibly cheap by our standards. This, however, was is 1896. In today\’s money, that would be over $6K. You could buy a really good road bike for that price, and forget about gasoline. Or two people could buy one $3K bike each, and they could find a way to join them side-by-side; and then they could ride together — they\’d be \”conjoined twins\”. Something I\’d like to know is: if Henry Ford could have foreseen the impact that the internal combustion engine would have on the world, would he have worked so hard to develop it? I know that trucking gets the merchandise that we take for granted to the stores, so we need trucks. We need emergency vehicles; an ambulance can mean the difference between life and death for someone who is injured or very ill. Unfortunately the use of private vehicles has had severe effects on the environment, and the USA is not alone in this. There\’s also the negative impact that overuse of private vehicles has on health. All those exhaust fumes can cause serious problems for people who have respiratory issues. The obesity crisis has been blamed, at least in part, on cars. You might even say that the internal combustion engine has birthed the \”conjoined twins\” of the environmental crisis, and the health crisis!

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Not the Season

BACK ISSUES / CAL

Not the season?! Since when does chocolate go out of season? My appetite for chocolate certainly knows no season, but there comes a time every Spring when ride food with a chocolate coating is impractical. I think we all know how that goes. Sunshine or not, when the temperature starts to rise much above 70 degrees, chocolate starts to get very soft; and then, to melt. Whether you\’ve cut your bars into pieces ahead of time, or unwrap the whole bar when you want it, you can have quite a mess on your hands — literally. It can be hard to lick those brown smears off your fingers while rolling. From there, your handlebars could wind up sticky. Now that the weather is hot, I\’ll have to resign myself to avoiding the stuff of cacao. At least, while I\’m on the bike. So much for chocolate. What about cycling? Is it ever not the season for that? Not around here. Snow and ice are rare. In fact, we don\’t often get weather cold enough for them. That doesn\’t mean that I don\’t get cold while out on a ride. My feet and hands especially get cold. My head, too. What would I do if I lived where months of snow were the usual? Learn to ride in it, for one. I might have to get a \”fat bike\”. Number two, set up the trainer; or learn to ride on rollers. I could keep a modicum of fitness going by working out indoors while I waited until I could ride outdoors again. And loving the ride? That, like my love of chocolate, knows no season.

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