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Beat the Heat

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I need to beat the heat. Or try to, anyhow. What’s a quick, easy supper to cook when the kitchen feels like an oven; and you’re tired, hungry, and in a hurry? And when you aren’t in the mood for energy bars? “Squashed sauce” isn’t a bad choice, and that’s what I made today. Ingredients: One 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes ~7 oz of tomato sauce that was left over from another cooking project 1 small onion, coarsely chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 yellow crookneck squashes, chopped Put all in a large pot, mix well, and heat. When mixture gets bubbly, give it a good stir; turn down the heat; and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. At the end of cooking, add seasonings as desired. While the tomato mix was cooking, I cooked up  a serving of elbow macaroni. Squashed sauce over pasta, with a little Parmesan cheese on top. Yum!! Prep time + cook time I’d say was half an hour; 40 minutes at most. I’ll have to think up a new beat the heat supper for tomorrow. And now for the downside of cooking — washing up!

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Making Weight

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MAKING weight? Not so fast! That sounds like gaining weight, which many of us neither want nor need. \”Making weight\” is an expression I\’ve come across often enough while reading about pro cycling, and it can easily mean losing weight. It actually is about attaining one\’s desired  racing weight, whether poundage needs to be lost, or gained. I know I need to shed some pounds, even though I\’m not planning to enter any races. Fifteen or even 20 of them! Time to drag Ride Your Way Lean  out of the book case! It\’s also past high time I cleaned up  my diet. I\’ve been eating far too much candy and other junk; and doing too much nibbling when I think I\’m hungry, but probably am not truly hungry. I need more fresh veggies, too. The trouble is, it\’s hard to do both meal prep/cleanup, and blog. It\’s no help that I seem to gain weight rather easily. Fortunately I also seem able to get it back off fairly easily when I make up my mind to it. I think I also need to incorporate more intense efforts into my daily rides. According to the literature, there comes a point when a cyclist\’s body has adjusted to the effort level that\’s being made, and actually burns fewer calories for that particular degree of \”try\”. Then it\’s time to start pushing harder to rev up the metabolism again. Cycling can help with weight control, and is fun as well. C\’mon, everybody, let\’s pedal our way to those numbers we want to see on the scale.

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A Suspenseful Ride

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Do you love a suspenseful ride? Mountain biking can get you into some pretty rough territory. Jolting over uneven ground, rocks, and so on can be hard on the body. Suspension can help keep the ride from giving you such a beating. MTBs can be had in either \”hardtail\” or \”dualie\” models. A hardtail has front suspension only; a dualie has suspension both in front and in the rear. Personally I have no experience with mountain bikes, and can\’t offer any advice of my own. This video may be helpful. MTBs can, of course, be ridden on the road. They say that those knobby tires take a lot of extra effort when riding on the road; so it you want to ride your MTB over paved surfaces, you might want to switch to other tires. I can get a suspenseful ride in ways other than tackling the single track. One is when a T-storm breaks out when I\’m miles from home. It\’s a bit of a nail-biter when there\’s a thick fog; it\’s still pitch dark; and I know there might be people on the path who don\’t take the trouble to make themselves visible. Recently I found another thing to be wary about: alligators. With the river high, there\’s a lot of more-or-less quiet backwater alongside the levee, where I ride. With my headlight mounted on my helmet, I can look around and see things, including the gleam of those scaly reptiles\’ eyes. From what I read, alligators aren\’t too likely to give chase, and I just hope they keep their distance.          

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When Long Is Short

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When long is short? How does that happen? Long is long; and short is another story, right? Sunday, as a rule, is long ride day. Today, however, I decided I wouldn\’t try to knock out 40-45 miles. During the past week there were one or two days when my morning ride was much shorter than usual. Last Thursday I was so tired and sleepy that I skipped it. Thus I figured it really would not be wise to push myself too far today. I decided to shoot for 30 or so miles, and got in a bit  over 32 miles. That is when long is short. I actually felt pretty good, and was tempted to go farther. I hit 19+ mph while passing some other riders. All the same, I stuck to my plan. That\’s part of training, after all! On the way back home I tried riding more easily with five miles still go. I want to see whether I\’ll have less trouble with post-exertional hypotension. It\’s worth a try. Today I tried some new ride food: This Bar Saves Lives. I found them on sale for 50 cents each, and bought a couple: one Dark Chocolate  Cherry, and one Madagascar Vanilla Almond & Honey. Not surprisingly, I like the chocolate kind better. The vanilla one seems too dry and crumbly, although it tastes good. The trouble with the chocolate one, naturally, is that the chocolate got rather melt-y and messy. It\’s hot today!

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Third Eye

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A third eye sounds like a creepy something from a horror movie doesn\’t it? Or a fairy tale. In bicycling, the \”third eye\” is the navel, as discussed on pg. 2-3 of Get Fast! Prior to reading the book, I knew that you should look where you want your bike to go; but had never heard of the \”third eye\”. I believe it\’s this same book that says, you ultimately steer your bike with your hips. I try to remember those things when I\’m making a turn, even it isn\’t a tight, hairpin one. Come to think of it, the hips must be how to steer a unicycle. With no handlebars, the rider\’s got to do something to steer as well as to remain upright. Add turning into the equation, and the unicyclist must need a well-developed third eye. I suppose the only way to develop a good third eye is lots of practice. These more technical aspects of cycling are where I fall short. I\’m too busy just getting in my riding! Moreover, such techniques would be better practiced in daylight.

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Think of Something Else

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I\’ve got to think of something else! Now that I have my Store up, I thought it might be helpful to create a second slide with buttons for departments for various types of merchandise. So, I created pages for bicycles and equipment (such as lights); clothing; and so on. Then I made the slide, linking each page to the appropriate button. After I got all that done, I checked it out in the actual web site. I found that the pages load VERY slowly, and not all the pics show up!  That won\’t be very helpful to prospective customers, so I had to think of something else. I decided to delete that slide, and put the Shop button back in the Store slide. Besides, there\’s that little Search box, so having departments would be rather redundant. Now to get back to stocking my store!

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Refresher

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Feel like you need a refresher? You know how sometimes going for your ride seems like a drag. It happens. What can we do about it? Several things. There are times when we simply need a break from the bicycle. We can do something else: go for a run (I\’m not into running, because I have arthritis in my knees), or for a long walk. Some of us like to go for a swim. Or we might need to take a rest from all activities. We aren\’t inexhaustible machines, after all. As one of my cycling books says, it\’s natural to have times when motivation ebbs, and don\’t fight these times.  Don\’t force yourself to ride no matter what, or you\’re risking  burnout, and possibly injury. The result of burnout might be abandoning cycling altogether. If you find you\’re tired all the time, and your legs feel heavy and sore, let yourself have some time away from the bike. A brief break from riding is a good refresher; the desire to ride returns.

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Dutch Reach

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Do the Dutch reach for things differently than we in the USA? Perhaps. There\’s more to Holland than canals, windmills and wooden shoes, it seems. From thence we get the \”Dutch reach\” method of opening car doors prior to exiting. I hope you’ve never been “doored” while cycling. The possibility is why I ride away from traffic if I can, and feel nervous when I can’t avoid it. Years ago I was reading a web site about cycling safety. It told of an incident – I don’t remember where – in which a young woman was riding a bicycle along a street. Someone flung open a car door right in front of her, and she wasn’t able to stop in time. The impact literally threw her under the wheels of a bus. I think it said she died instantly. Drivers, please remember that there are cyclists out there. They’re trying to get to work; to the grocery store; home from work at the end of the day. They want to get where they’re going in one piece. They might be in a hurry, just like you.  Open the vehicle doors with caution. Here’s where the Dutch Reach is useful. I can see the sense of it. Even if it takes a few seconds longer to do, those moments are worth it. You could literally save a life.

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New Look!

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SpokEasy has a new look! I do hope that I\’m not repeating myself here, though. \”For All Cyclists\” and \”In My Humble Opinion…\” have been combined as Cyclist Essentials. And the brand new feature: an Amazon Affiliates store. I admit that the store is rather a jumble at this point. I want to create \”departments\” for the various types of merchandise (bikes, clothing, etc.), so things will be easier to find. Maybe it was jumping the gun, but I wanted to get the store up and running. There are so many products that browsing through all of them would be a time-consuming chore. For someone who is in a hurry, that\’s quite a headache; and who isn\’t in a rush these days? Sorry this post is so short, but I can\’t think of anything more to say; except that I hope you enjoy the new look.    

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Magic Number?

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Is there a magic number out there? Ten thousand seems to crop up a lot. For example, we hear about getting in ten thousand steps a day. It\’s dismaying to see that I can put in several hours\’ riding at an average cadence of 81 — and still not reach the equivalent of FIVE thousand steps! A web site I was reading about cyclist training says it takes 10,000 hours of practice/training to become proficient. Naturally I wondered how many hours of cycling I\’ve put in since November 2009. Except for my century rides (trike, hybrid, and road bike) I don\’t seem to have records of ride times prior to 2013. Luckily I had a \”totals\” page for each year, 2013-2018, in the 3-ring binder where I keep my weekly logs. It didn\’t take long for me to add up the hours. Grand total, 2816:24:07. I\’ll have to guess when it comes to November 2009 through to the end of 2012, and that\’s going to be some very wild guessing. Even if I got in 300 hours each year for 2010-2012, my total hours from Day One aren\’t even halfway to 10,o00. So I\’ve got quite a way to go before I reach that magic number of 10,000 hours, and am \”proficient\”! And what about cyclists who want to improve, but are very short on time? The Time-Crunched Cyclist might help. I admit that I haven\’t tried it, but it sounds like it would be interesting; and let\’s face it, we\’re all time-crunched these days.  

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