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Let It Snow

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Uncategorized /

Let It Snow Can you believe that I am saying, Let it snow? It’s so hot that I almost wish it would snow; and cool us off. Then maybe we can go for a ride on a fat-tire bike; and have fun making tracks. This SAIGULA Fat-Tire bicycle’s four-inch tires are great for snow — or, when it’s as hot as this, try it on the beach! Right now a heat advisory is in effect; and there’s an excessive heat warning posted for tomorrow. They’re saying to stay indoors in the air conditioning if at all possible. Somebody tell me how I’m supposed to avoid going out into such an oven. I have to go to work; and of course I have to get back home. To complicate matters, I need to visit the bank; and the bank must be about a mile and a half from work. Maybe I’ll go to the bank in the morning, before the worst of the heat sets in; and maybe I’ll walk instead of using a bicycle. That’s a bit of a toss-up. Riding creates a certain amount of breeze; but of course that stops the moment I stop riding. At the same time, walking will be very hot work tomorrow! So, should I let it snow? That would relieve the heat; but snowy weather brings its own problems: icy surfaces; multiple layers to wear; and that danged runny nose!  

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It’s Official

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Uncategorized /

It’s Official! It’s official! Summer has begun; at least, according to the calendar. But things don’t always go according to our way of thinking of time. It feels like the dog days already; and has for a couple of weeks. Last week I was on vacation; and didn’t get in the extra mileage that I wanted to.  Of course when I’m on vacation I want (and need!) to sleep a little later; and when I don’t start a ride until 8:00 am these days, it’s already well into the 80s. In fact, overnight it gets little or none below 80. The cat-sitting was a complication. I didn’t want to leave the poor kitty hungry until late morning; and when I went to feed him in the evening, the heat index was often 100+! I wonder what the temperature in France is now. The Tour de France starts in a few days; and don’t stages typically begin around 1:00 pm? Thinking of riding in that heat makes me wilt! How do you keep cool during hot rides? The answer for me is that I don’t! Workday mornings I typically ride before sunup; but Sunday long rides are another story. Even if I start at 6:00 am, it’s very hot by the time I put in 35-40 miles; and I’m considering starting at 5:30 am! Unfortunately that means getting even less sleep; and it makes me long for Fall, when it might not be so sweltering. But it’s Summer now; it’s official.

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Like an Arrow

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Uncategorized /

Like an Arrow I wish I could ride this fast! Time flies like an arrow, so they say. Last week certainly flew past; and I feel like I got nothing done. I was badly distracted by the prospect of having to move; and soon. Long story short, that’s on hold for at least a few days. I hope it can stay on hold for at least six more months. But the upshot was that I didn’t get to work nearly as much on my dot net site as I had planned; and today I had to go back to work. Oh, how I want to retire! I also didn’t get any too much time to relax and rest; and by Sunday night I was exhausted. Yesterday morning I didn’t even try to ride because I was so worn out. I won’t be able to fly like an arrow down the bike path if I’m tired all the time. The unrelenting heat doesn’t help matters. Summer has barely begun; and it feels like the dog days. The overnight low temperature is hovering at around 80 degrees! It isn’t fun riding home from work in this heat; and I’m glad I have less than three miles to go. Some people have a much farther commute; and I don’t know how they manage it. If I had to ride far to and from  work, how would I fill my Camel-Bak before the trip home? I guess all I could do is fill it at home in the morning; and hope it doesn’t leak during the day if it doesn’t stay upright. Keep hydrated!

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Sit and Stay Fit

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Sit and Stay Fit? Helpful for desk-bound folks who want some action. Is it possible to sit and stay fit? The FitDesk Folding Exercise Bike is a possible solution to this problem. FitDesk can hold your tablet; and can adjust to users from 4’10” to 6′ plus/147.3 cm to 182.9 cm and over.  The FitDesk weighs 45 lb/20.4 kg; and can accommodate users up to 300 lb/136.1 kg. Folds for easy storage. I’ve seen several co-workers use other under-desk pedaling devices; but I’m not sure I can pedal with any energy AND use a keyboard (or write manually!) at the same time. The action of my legs would take too much of my concentration; and honestly, I’d far rather be outdoors on a real bicycle! But today I didn’t ride. This past week has been very stressful; and I’m glad today is a holiday! I have much more leisure to work at editing stuff in my dot net web site; and I can spend more time indoors, trying to keep halfway cool. Today is another scorcher; and by 8 am it was already 87 degrees! The predicted high temperature is a blazing 95 degrees; and I expect the heat index will rise over 100. At 10:25 am, said heat index was already 98. Unfortunately staying indoors has me in “park mode”; and I can’t sit and stay fit at the same time!  I’m trying to weed out some of the stuff I’ve got in here; but tiring as it is, it really doesn’t burn off many calories. I hope I get to ride tomorrow morning!

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heat index

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Uncategorized /

Heat Index Be careful when the heat index rises! At of  1:17 pm, yesterday, it was 95 degrees; our heat index was 103; and there was a heat advisory in effect. Today isn’t any cooler; and the lack of clouds doesn’t help. I  dragged myself out of bed at 4:10 am; went out at 5:00 am to ride some laps around the park; and then did about 29 miles on the levee. That let me finish by 9:00 am or so; and it was already brutally hot by that time! In heat like that, my ride food get half-melted; and my water and electrolyte drink don’t stay cool. I waited until I finished my ride to go feed the cat. He won’t starve if he gets his meal a few hours later. The poor thing is lonely, I know; but my friends return  tomorrow evening. They’ve been in England, where it’s cooler than it is here; and I hope the heat index doesn’t give them too much of a shock when they get back! In this heat and blazing sunshine, I’m using up a lot of sunblock. What a mess that stuff can make! It’s the payoff for not having to wear multiple layers. When it’s as hot as this, I wonder how Grand Tour riders manage to keep from collapsing. Well, tragically, sometimes they do collapse. How many years of acclimatization does it take to race like than in the heat?

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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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in the swing

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In the Swing The Street Strider really lets you get in the swing of it! When I see someone using one, the user typically sways back and forth a lot; and I’m not sure whether that’s normal operation; or an indication of a lack of core strength! It’s like a workout on the elliptical machine; but outdoors. So far I haven’t tried a Street Strider, and I certainly don’t have the space to store one; so I think I’ll skip buying one. I don’t have a loose $1400 lying around, anyhow. But they do look like fun. I’m getting in the swing of hurricane planning. There’s already a system out there that could attain tropical storm strength; and if it does, its name will be Alex. So far, we don’t have to worry about it here; but Florida could be in for some heavy rain. I need to email some friends in case I need to evacuate; and this is one of the few times when I wish I had a car. I can’t simply pick up and run; and besides, if I had to carry everything, I couldn’t take much with me. Several days’ worth of canned food is pretty heavy; and that’s before adding in a jug or two of drinking water. Add to that a change or two of clothing, bathroom tissue, etc. I might as well stay put! Plan for the worst, and hope for the best, as the old saying goes. I hope for the best — i.e. no rain — tomorrow morning. I had to come home at noon today for something; and about 1:30 pm it began to thunder. I was glad to be home!

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already

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Already! May is gone already; and it seems like 2022 just began! It’s the final day of Bike Month; and tomorrow begins hurricane season — already! Yesterday there were concerns that Agatha might get into the Gulf; but now it seems the storm is rapidly losing strength. I’m glad to hear it! But there’s an area of weather already in the Caribbean that they’re watching. It looks like it will stay away from us; but Florida might have heavy rain by the weekend. Our forecast looks like there won’t be too much rain through this coming weekend; and that’s good. I don’t enjoy riding in the rain, especially when there’s the risk of lightning! Today I decided to skip the road bike; and only rode to work. I know; Bike Month isn’t over just yet. But I take a medication once a week that must be taken on an empty stomach; and I’m not supposed to eat for at least half an hour afterwards; preferably a full hour. I could tell that I’d get too hungry if I tried to go for a ride; and no cyclist wants to bonk! Incidentally, that’s why I always carry some “goos” with me; and now and then I do need to stop and eat one. Even when I eat a pre-ride snack, it’s not unusual for me to get hungry before I’m back home.   May, Bike Month, is over; but I still hope I can get my Love to Ride Super Commuter badge. It requires riding to work 200 days in the calendar year; and I’m only 36% there. I have to ride to work 128 more times this year; and that’s a lot of commuting!

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Free Monday

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Free Monday Memorial Day It’s so nice to have a free Monday! I didn’t have to get up at 4:30 am; and I had time to do a 19-mile ride. I hesitate to say, Happy Memorial Day; for Memorial Day is actually quite a solemn occasion. We remember those who gave their lives for our country. Of course I went for a ride; and since I didn’t have to get to work, I had time to put in 19 miles. Naturally I had a headwind on the way back; and I get SO tired of that! But what else can I do? If I’m going to ride, I have no choice but to deal with headwinds. It was 80 degrees at 8:00 am; but the humidity is a relatively low 55%. Getting some comparatively dry air is a big relief. Even so, there’s a 20% chance of T-storms this afternoon. At least I don’t have to go anywhere; and I just hope that hurricane doesn’t cross over into the Gulf of Mexico! If it does, we might be in trouble. I’ve started to gather some canned goods to take along if I have to evacuate. After my many trips to the salvage store, I have plenty; and I’m looking for things that have pop-top lids. After all, what’ll I do if I forget the can-opener? With a free Monday, I had some time for cooking. I made a Hoppin’ John variation, with canned pinto beans and canned black-eye peas. I discovered that the plain yogurt had gone bad; and had to throw it out. Luckily the yogurt isn’t critical. The original recipe uses a little sour cream as garnish; so I mix in a little plain yogurt. Back to work tomorrow. What a drag!  

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Bananas

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Food, Uncategorized /

Bananas! Bananas are a popular food with cyclists! Today I finally got to the supermarket; and picked up some bananas. A favorite pre-ride snack of mine is a banana with peanut butter; and I was without bananas for something like two weeks! I didn’t have grapes, either; and grapes are another pre-ride favorite. They’re good with peanut butter; and also with — can you believe it? — hummus! This morning I discovered that there will be no more pre-work runs to the supermarket. I thought about going there first; then feeding the cat; and then heading out on the road bike. I decided to go take care of the kitty first; and when I got home from that, I changed into cycling shorts for the ride to the store. When I got there, I saw a sign posted at the entrance announcing new hours; and that new schedule began several days ago. They now open at 7:00 am; not 6:00 am. It’s a good thing I didn’t go to the store first thing! When I got home from the store, I put the groceries away; and got ready to go out on the road bike. The bananas I got aren’t as ripe as I like; but it was great to have one again. Then I filled the Camel-Bak; cut up a protein bar; and changed my blouse for a cycling jersey. It felt weird to start a ride so late: it was at least 8:30 by the time I got rolling. Maybe that’s why it seemed so hot; and that, in turn, was why the Propel tasted weird. I made this short for a Sunday ride; largely because I started so late; and because it was already getting hot. Besides, tomorrow is a holiday; and I can put in some more miles!

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