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Incongruity

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Incongruity is what I call it when the music that starts running through my head as I ride does not match how I\’m riding. I had thought of doing force work this morning. After my warm-up mile, when I opened up the throttle, I found that I was riding 15 mph quite easily! For much of my ride, I worked to stick with that; it\’s only too rarely that I get to enjoy it. So there I was, pedaling along at 14-15 mph, with a cadence around 80. And what starts playing itself inside my brain? The very lyrical second movement of Beethoven\’s Sixth Symphony! You might well ask why. I wonder, myself. Maybe it was the quiet; and the growing daylight; the lack of wind for once; the patches of mist on the ground. You can add the sighting of a rabbit, too, and hearing the birdsong. I\’m glad I got to enjoy the halcyon weather this morning; there\’s a chance of T-storms later in the day. For a fact it\’s so humid that my helmet had a film of moisture on it when I got back home. There\’s incongruity in my cycling life in other ways, too. I\’ve still got heavy Winter gloves lying around. I\’ll wear cycling socks that have my bike shop\’s logo on them, and cover up said logo with reflective ankle bands. I have MTB-style pedals on my road bike! Purists would probably be horrified. OK, so they\’re shocked; that\’s their problem. My problem now is, I have to end this blog and get ready to work.  

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Warning Signs

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Warning signs are all around us, every day. \”Construction Zone\”, for example. Or, \”Slippery When Wet\”. There are warning signs our bodies send us, and which we, as cyclists, must learn to heed. In his Cyclist\’s Training Bible, Joe Friel discusses this. According to his writing, your body \”whispers\” to you what it can tolerate when you first wake up in the morning. Among the signs to examine are your stress level and how well you\’ve slept. From these indicators, you can learn how to determine how hard you can train that day. For me, tingling upper incisors are a warning sign that my allergies are acting up. There\’s not too much I can do about it, except to take an OTC to relieve some of the symptoms. We all know about sirens: for police, ambulance, fire engine, tornado. The first three mean, GET OUT OF THE WAY!! The fourth? I guess all you can do is to find the best shelter you can, as fast as possible. Tornadoes, so I\’ve read, typically do not dawdle. What warning signs must we watch for while out for a long bicycle ride? What can Nature tell us? I\’m sure reading up on the subject is a big help; but a lot of it comes from experience. What kinds of clouds warn of rain? Is a certain wind direction more likely to bring rain than another? How do you deal with wildlife encounters, especially large animals? What other signs does Nature give of possible trouble? I know this one, anyway: \”Red sky at morning, sailor take warning\”. Maybe \”biker take warning\”, too.    

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Reflex

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Hey, that\’s \”reflex\”; not \”reflection\”. The forecast for tomorrow says, scattered T-storms at 5 am. It look as though it may be a time for a REpeat of FLEXtime. Ergo, reflex. This morning I didn\’t get to ride. Last night I got to bed rather too late. Then this morning, I shut off the alarm clock and fell asleep again. No surprise there, really. I would have gone for at least a short ride, but I needed to head out at about 8 am. I had an appointment with the ophthalmology clinic downtown, and had to take public transit. Today\’s forecast was also a rainy one, and I wanted to get downtown before the skies opened up if I could. With the reduced motor traffic, riding my hybrid down there may well have been possible. There was a major catch, however. An eye exam means dilating drops, so they can examine my optic nerve. The effects of those drops never fully wears off until the following day. Even with my sunglasses and an overcast sky, the light bothers my eyes. I was also concerned about the possibility of heavy rain; justifiably so, as it turned out. The streetcar ran into a downpour that stretched  for several miles. If I had been on a bicycle, that might have been major trouble. When I at last got home, I tried to do some work. The ophthalmologist hasn\’t said not to look at computer screens, but it sure is uncomfortable. If anything, my personal laptop is brighter than my work computer, so I\’d better finish this blog and shut the thing off for tonight. And I hope tomorrow doesn\’t have to be reflex.

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Memorial Day Thoughts

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Memorial Day Thoughts Memorial Day Our Memorial Day our thoughts are for men and women currently in service; those who have served in the past; and most of all, for those who gave their lives in service. I confess that my Memorial Day thoughts today are, one: I’m glad I didn’t take yesterday off, and wait to ride until today. At 7:25 am, it began to rain. It did stop after about 25 minutes, but it looks like more is coming. Likely there will be T-storms, too. Another thought: I don’t want it to storm all day. A lot of people want to get outdoors for picnics and barbecues, even if they must still practice social distancing. I do hope, however, for all-day overcast to keep it cooler. Just don’t forget the sunblock, for both you and the kids. An overcast sky does not keep off the UV rays! Thought number three: more cooking! I have some yellow crookneck squash that I’ll chop and cook in canned tomatoes. With onion and garlic, of course. I hope I can make room for it in the freezer. Whatever your thoughts may be, Happy Memorial Day!

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Rara Avis

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A rara avis is the roseate spoonbill. On my rides, I frequently see egrets; white ibises; and sometimes glossy ibises. This morning I spotted a pair of birds that looked like ibises;  but the upper chest and back were white, and the rest of the body was a darkish shade of pink. These birds were too small to be flamingos. I thought perhaps they might be scarlet ibises; but as far as I know, their range in the USA is restricted to southern Florida. When I got back home, I pulled out my old bird guide. It doesn’t have a picture of a scarlet ibis, but it does show the roseate spoonbill! This is the first time I’ve ever seen a spoonbill outside of a zoo. There’s a zoo close by here, so maybe those two were fugitives. Enough about ornithology. Back to the business of riding. Today I put in 37.5 miles. The forecast last night showed wind from the ESE at 5-9 mph. By the time I started back home, the wind was up to 12 mph. What a drag! I kept pressing my bicycle compuiter’s lap button when I felt that I was slowing down. Outward-bound, except for the warm-up mile, I averaged over 15 mph. At the time, there didn’t seem to be any wind at all! Tailwinds can fool you that way. Coming back home, my average speed never dropped below 10 mph, which really surprised me. Time was when a 12 mph headwind would have pushed my forward motion down to 8-9 mph. Aside from the wind, it was great for riding. There were enough clouds that the sun was sometimes obscured, which helped keep me cooler. I saw those spoonbills! My father would have loved to see them. He was quite the bird-watcher. A rara avis sure would have tickled him.

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QUEST-ion?

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I have a quest-ion: Which one of these flavors is best? With the Quest Variety Pack you can try a dozen different ones! I\’ve tried several in recent weeks, after a friend suggested them. The local Walgreen\’s carries four or five flavors. Unfortunately that\’s too few to answer my quest-ion! Unsurprisingly I went for Double Chocolate Chunk first. I\’ve also tried Birthday Cake, Cookies & Cream, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I wish I could try Maple Waffle. I love maple syrup! When I visit the salvage store, I always hope I\’ll find products like this in the make-your-own-grab-bag bins. Sometimes I do find various types of protein bars there; but not today. Quest Bars make pretty good ride food. I like to cut up one Quest Bar and one Kind Bar, and put the pieces in my road bike\’s top tube pouch. Then I can alternate bites; first one kind and then the other. Speaking of riding, I hope the weather will be OK tomorrow. It looks like the greatest chance of rain and t-storms will be in the afternoon, and I ride early in the day. We are now getting Summer weather; this morning it was already 78° at 7 am! Time to haul out the sun sleeves!

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Not So Tightwaddish

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I guess I\’m not so tightwaddish as I would like to be. I still love (and buy) my little luxuries. This morning I made another trip to the salvage store, taking along my set of panniers and the trunk. As always, I was eager to see what the store would have. The make-your-own-grab-bag bins were piled high; something I don\’t remember seeing before. I didn\’t see any candy bars there, but I found a lot of things that would be better as snacks than candy; or that I could use as ride food. Those grab bags really are a bargain: I was able to fit 56 items (mostly small cereal bars) into a large bag.  After I got home I did the math, and determined that each item cost not quite nine cents. I was thrilled to find Progresso® Lentil Soup for 99¢ a can. That\’s a bargain, too. So is a 42 oz canister of Quaker Old Fashioned Rolled Oats® for $2.72. I still had plenty of oatmeal, but — same old song — \”just in case\”. Enough now about things that I do need. If I want to become a genuine, card-carrying tightwad I\’ll have to work harder to resist non-essentials. Olives, for one. I love garlic-stuffed green olives; and plain green olives; and ripe olives. Pimiento-stuffed olives are OK, too. Olives, however, aren\’t really a need. They\’re a want, which is something very different. The same goes for poppy-seed filling, which I occasionally find at the salvage store. It\’s good on bread, or as a substitute for jelly in a peanut-butter sandwich. Or just to eat by itself. But as a salvage-store purchase it\’s rather expensive. Not so tightwaddish, right?  

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Boxing Day

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Boxing Day? Today? A little out of season, aren\’t I? Actually, it\’s been sort of the reverse of last Thanksgiving\’s Can Can. Instead of taking stuff out of cans, I was putting things into plastic food boxes (or jars). Almost immediately after trying out the Hoppin\’ John recipe, I began to dream up variations. \”HJ\” uses black-eyed peas. I thought of lentils, black beans, and so on. I just finished making Variation #1, using field peas. I\’ve dubbed it Br\’er Joe, after my field pea-loving brother; and you might say that the prep spanned the entire day. During morning break, I started the brown rice cooking. When it was done, I let it cool, and put in a plastic box and stored it in the fridge until I was ready to use it. At lunch time, I sorted the field peas and put them to soak. During afternoon break I chopped the celery and put it in a box to keep in the fridge until it was needed. That\’s box number two! After I clocked out for the day, I rode to the nearby grocery store to get the orange bell pepper and red onion. Back home, I started the field peas cooking. While they were simmering, I got the onion, cheese, and bell pepper ready. I didn\’t need either the whole onion, or the whole bell pepper. What I didn\’t use went into jars to keep in the fridge. The field peas were done just about the time I finished prepping the other stuff. I ate a cupful of Br\’er Joe for supper; and now I have to store the rest. It\’s really boxing day, you might say.

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Mix It Up

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Mix it up, the training advice goes. Don\’t always ride at the same intensity level, lest you become \”a one-speed wonder\”. Even when your weekly training schedule includes a variety of speeds and intensities, it\’s better if you don\’t always do: off on Monday; force work on Tuesday; easy on Wednesday, and so on. Mix it up, and keep your body guessing. \”Surprises\” help it to get stronger. So that\’s what I\’m aiming for in the training schedule that I drew up for Tour de Cure. Yes, I know. TdC will be virtual this year. And I keep forgetting to check and see whether my Garmin can download ride data to my Mac.  I sure hope it can; I don\’t want to have to buy a new one. Even though TdC won\’t be \”live\”, I don\’t see that as a reason not continue training up. I\’ve wanted for years to increase my cruising pace, anyway. TdC training should help with that. Another mix it up: food, on and off the bike. Always using the same thing for ride long-food gets most monotonous, and kills the appetite. That isn\’t good when you\’re out pedaling for several hours, and need the fuel. I\’ve tried Clif Bloks; Kind Bars; Quest Bars. I\’ve tried rice cakes à la Feed Zone Portables. I\’ve always enjoyed trying out different on-bike foods. Some seem to be more sustaining than others. Take Combos, for example; I like them, but when I\’m on a long ride they lack \”oomph\”. For off-bike food, I vary it, too.  Here\’s an example: I\’ve been a brown rice aficionado for many, many years. After my diagnosis of pre-diabetes I ate it so much that, after three months, I realized I needed a break from it. I fixed boxed mac n cheese (with tuna and some peas stirred in) for supper. It made enough that I could eat it for breakfast and lunch the next day! So go ahead and mix it up. Variety is the spice of life, they say.

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Mountain State

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Mountain State The Mountain State of West Virginia is home to a number of  Rails-to-Trails routes. It seems rather a contradiction to have nearly-flat Rails-to-Trails paths in the MOUNTAIN State, doesn’t it? Greenbrier River Trail follows the river of its name, passing through several state parks and state forests. The small towns along the way offer opportunities to stop for a rest and refueling. North Bend Rail Trail is for aficionados of bridges and tunnels. Its 72 miles include 13 tunnels and 36 bridges! You’ll find services about every 10 miles. The Caperton Trail is more urban. You’ll be near storefronts, restaurants, and city parks. If you want your legs to get a real workout, try the Deckers Creek Trail. Uphill from Morgantown, past hardwood forests. Follow the Allegheny Highlands Trail for some terrific views. Ride over asphalt, gravel, and dirt. You might want a mountain bike for this trail! The capital city of Charleston is also one of the USA’s cycling capitals. For an intense ride, try the Kenna Loop. Its rolling hills will give you almost 2000 feet of climbing. My legs ache just thinking about it! The out-and-back Paint Creek Route includes its share of climbing, too. Not many refueling opportunities are available along this route. Be sure you don’t forget that Camel-Bak, and bring adequate food. Aside from cycling, the Mountain State offers many interesting places to visit. You can find opportunities for hiking, horseback riding, whitewater rafting, and much more. Never a dull moment, right? 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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