cycling « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

cycling

cycling / Friday / photo — Comments Off
7
Nov 25

Photos I forgot to share

Rather than spend this time discussing today’s committee meeting — we looked at some material we’ll distribute on campus next year — or the rest of the day spent staring at words on a screen, I thought I would try to once again impress you with some photographs. These were things I shot earlier this week and, as the title says above, I forgot to share them here.

This was, I believe, from Sunday night. If you hold the phone just right you can tilt the lines whichever way you want them to go, of course, but this was the true representation relative to my position on the ground, no adjustments necessary.

And while that was in the nighttime this is fully in the afternoon, Monday specifically, when I had a little race with my sheep herding friend. He was pretty fast that day.

Here is my shadow selfie, as he is cruising through a little town. I set a PR on that segment, despite sitting up for a few photographs.

I like this one for all of the colors, one season’s palette is giving way to the next. And, also, it looks like some forgotten frozen plain. Except it isn’t forgotten — I’m here. And it isn’t frozen. Yet.

And then just up the road, this spot is only slightly evocative of an African savanna. But it’s only the colors on the ground and those couple of trees poking, and the bright appearance of the moon that bring that to mind.

In fact, the moon was watching over the neighborhood. These trees are much more familiar trees. I see them every time I come in and out.

For appearances sake, I hope they’ll hold on to their leaves just a bit longer. Until the first week of March, let’s say.

Anyway, this is the weekend when I will catch up on some things. I have been behind on some work for a few days too many, and concerted efforts will be made to get back up to level. And then Monday will come and we’ll start this again. And then I will catch up on next week and I will start in on some other projects where I am woefully behind.

But, first, I must go deal with some leaves myself.

cycling / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
5
Nov 25

It was pleasant, I said

Grading this afternoon. Class prep this afternoon. A bike ride this afternoon. We are getting down to that time of year where any of these rides could be the last nice ride of the year. I hate this feeling.

There will be a few weeks of colder riding. I have some nice long pants and I’ll put plastic bags on my socks to keep out the wind. I have full-finger gloves and a ~~parachute~~ windbreaker. All of that buys me about 20 degrees of toleration. Also, it slows me down considerably. I’m not sure which of those two things is what ultimately drives me inside. Maybe we’ll find out this year! (Sigh.)

But not today. Today was beautiful, and I had a pleasant 30-miler. Here are some of the sights.

I wonder what this building is for:

Whatever it is, those water spigots seem pretty important in the design.

What’s really fun here is that when you get to this spot you’ve been going up a fast false flat, but right at the top, the little hill actually challenges you just a bit, unless you’re really turning over the pedals. And then you see this power station. And then it flattens out and points down just a tiny bit. Free power!

This is work on a 160-year-old steeple. It started this week. The church thinks it’ll be complete before the weekend. There are maybe 400 people in that community, I wonder what it was like in the 1860s. More horses and carriages, I’d guess.

And now a story about the wind. On my last road, headed home, I had a notable right-to-left crosswind. Coming up was a side road that is a .82 mile segment on Strava. So I turned right and rode into the headwind, so I could turn around at the other end and race down it with a tailwind. On the way up, I was riding into the sun, and saw this tree.

At the other end of the road I turned right, just to add on another mile or so, and see some more sights. Like this combine.

And that same combine in profile.

As I turned around and headed for that segment, that wind, which I’d ridden in for about 80 minutes, absolutely disappeared. So I was about 15 seconds off my best time on that segment, which was recorded 53 weeks ago. But, hey, I’m still supposed to be taking it easy. (Until Friday.)

Back at home, a lovely sunset was underway.

Click to embiggen.

This evening, more class prep, and other class stuff. Tomorrow, class!

cycling / Monday / photo — Comments Off
3
Nov 25

Stealing daylight

Did you enjoy Catober? I have a great time with that daily feature. A cat a day really makes the month go by faster, content-wise. Somehow. You might think it puts a lot of pressure on the process. A photo a day of cats doing cute things! You’d be wrong. The only hard part is catching them in various places among their routines. And then keeping all of that straight. Capturing the moments is the easy part. Choosing which ones to use, that’s the impossible part. There are only 31 days in Catober, after all.

It started like this.

And it ended like this.

You can see the full collection on the Catober, just scroll back to see the whole month.

Except it hasn’t ended yet. I still have some great shots to share, and I’ll put them up tomorrow.

But today there are other photos. We, too, are experiencing the time change, which means a lot of seasonal changes. Which means the sun went down at 4:52 yesterday. Which means that, for the next few months, it will really feel like we’re stealing daylight.

That’s what yesterday’s bike ride was like. Soft colors and blurry textures and stealing daylight. And also reed grass.

Quite a bit of reed grass. That just comes with being a little close to the water, I guess.

The cover crops in this field are shockingly green just now. I’m used to seeing corn in there, but the season has, of course passed.

And in its place things are turning a delightful series of yellows and browns. Oh, it is nice for a time. Even the vibrance and vigor of that soon will fade. It’s just around the corner, or the curve, if you will.

Now it may look like it is getting dark here, but that’s just the trees. Besides, I still have about 14 miles to go from here. I didn’t know that at the time.

At the time I was just starting to figure out where I was going to go from here. First up the king’s highway, then Main Street, and then the old road, back into town. From there, it was a four-and-a-half-mile tempo ride home. No longer stealing daylight, but racing it.

Stupid seasonal change. Why can’t it be light until 8 or 9 p.m.? And also warmer. Not much, just five or 10 degrees, for outdoor purposes.

It was a productive night. Watched a football game. Got most of Tuesday’s class prep done, got some things graded and so on. And it continued on into today. I wrote some things that needed to be written, including a job ad for a student employee role. And I was on a roll. My big to do list for the week is already down to just four things.

Two or three more days like this will feel like momentum.

That’s the opposite of what I had on the bike today. I set out to ride my 40 km time trial, but I simultaneously realized that I didn’t have the legs I wanted for that, or the time I needed for that. So I changed my route, mid-route to make it back before dark. Instead, I did 35 km.

I could have totally made it.

And, then after dinner I finished up tomorrow’s work. We’ll see how that goes.

adventures / cycling / Monday / photo — Comments Off
27
Oct 25

The You Have To Live Your Life rides

Over the course of three easy rides Saturday, Sunday and today, I got in 60 miles. These, and whatever else I can sneak in for the next two weeks, will be dubbed the You Have To Live Your Life Rides. I’m calling them that because of what the doctor said, now, two weeks ago. I wasn’t supposed to ride at all, for fear of bothering an incision. But when you have a little back surgery and you feel good you want to go out and say you rode the day after you had back surgery no matter how silly all of this is.

The doctor and I discussed this. I wasn’t supposed to do anything for two weeks, so I went on three easy rides in those two weeks. They were concerned about stretching the incision and tearing stitches. Not as much as me! I respected the doctor’s orders. But I couldn’t just sit still for two, maybe four weeks. But the point, on a road bike, is to keep your upper body still anyway. So I figured I could do that, and I had a few easy rides, just around the neighborhood stuff, not even trying to tax my legs. The weather, work, and my little procedure meant I only had three rides of 41 total miles in those two weeks. And, still, I felt like a blob.

In that discussion with the doctor I said I would not get in the drops. And I did not. I tried, briefly and only out of curiosity. It felt uncomfortable. So I rode on the hoods and at the stem. He said that the actual recommendation was three-to-four weeks, but you have to live your life. And so here I am, the beginning of week three, out enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

That’s a little branch off a creek off the river. Water comes up onto the road. The reflections are always nice. The traffic is light, and usually respectful.

I’ve gone through this little town, well, about 100 times or so now, let’s say. I’ve never noticed this little library before. I may have to donate some books to it.

I think I will wait, however, until after next week. The wolfman is lurking just a block or two away.

On Sunday afternoon we went out for an easy ride. It was not easy, because whatever I had that passed for fitness is gone, and we road into the wind at the beginning and I had to chase this one.

Sometimes you time these things just right.

And sometimes you just get lucky.

There are times when you can understand the moment, appreciate the perfection of it, the strain of what you’re doing, the purity of what you’re after, and how a perfect day can’t last. I should spend more time enjoying that than fearing the fleeting.

Anyway, yesterday was a beautiful day. I should have been out to enjoy more of it, because they don’t last forever. But responsibilities do.

I got out just a little bit earlier for an easy hour today, in between work chores, of course. You have to live your life.

adventures / cycling / photo — Comments Off
17
Oct 25

Scenes from a bike ride

It was work work work. And at the end of the day, we took a bike ride.

There she goes, trying to get away from me.

And there I am, trying to keep up with her.

And there’s my lovely bride trying to pull away again.

We passed another guy on the road. He was on the wrong side of the road at the time. We passed him again as we headed back. Happily he was pointed the correct way that time.

Cruising by some corn stalks.

And some lovely silhouettes.

That’s where the weekend begins. And with some more grading tonight. So I’ll get to that, and you can pass the time enjoying the latest entries in Catober.