Well, Easter was lovely, and quiet. The weather was perfect and we spent the afternoon in the backyard, relaxing in the shade. We had lasagna for dinner, which was delicious. And it was all very calm and productive in it’s own way.
On Saturday we went for a bike ride in the wind.
Not pictured: the wind.
The gusts were gusty, and could push you around. There were two hills and a lot of wind. Did I mention the breeze? I did set eight PRs over the 25 Strava segments on the day’s route. Even my shadow was tired.
We saw this beautiful bit of scenery somewhere between here and there.
I was only able to manage that composition because of the headwind.
The cats were unimpressed by the breeze, housed as they are. They probably slept through it all.
Phoebe was doubly insulated in her little box fortress. (If the cats don’t take over the joint their boxes surely will.)
Poseidon was sitting on my lap the other night and stuck his head through the side of the rocking chair for some reason and it makes sense because you see him staring at the camera, but that’s the wrong takeaway. My phone wasn’t there when he put his head through the rails. The phone was a reaction to his more spontaneous action. The real conclusion, then, is that he’s a weirdo.
And here you can see the rare moment where they are getting along nicely.
Saw another pharmacist today, got another shot. Pushed groceries into the little room because my lovely bride, who had arrived early at the store, did some shopping. She was getting her second dose in another room. Today an older gentleman jabbed me in the arm. White hair, white coat, giant needle, very official. He could have been anyone though, couldn’t he?
He said he wasn’t counting how many people he’d been giving shots to. Said he’d his first dose. Said I needed to relax my arm. Said I didn’t bleed but, and I quote, “I’ll give you a bandage anyway, so if anyone asks you to do any chores you can point to it and go ‘But uh uh, my arrrrrrrrrrmuh.”
So there I was in a pharmacist’s office, getting a minor medical procedure with major implications, while a rack of ribs sat in a cart behind me.
I thanked him, with eye contact, so he knew I meant it, and pushed the groceries back outside where my wife was standing. She was looking at her phone, pretending to wonder where the groceries went. She had her second shot. I had my second shot. We sat in some chairs to make sure we had no major reactions. We watched the very end of a car chase from Los Angeles on our phones. This is how things are done.
After we waited for a bit, we got gas and went to the house. We put away the groceries and stood by the kitchen counter and discussed how we were fortunate to have gotten through this to the degree that we have. And that was it. She rode her bike on the trainer, I could already feel the side effects coming on, so I just sat down and marveled at the world.
I think I may play hooky tomorrow and wait on my super powers to kick in.
Before our Saturday bike ride I finally changed out the Look cleats on my shoes. I probably should have done this in the fall, but it’s one of those things I don’t think about until I’m already riding and then, hey, too late. Recently my shoe came out of a pedal while I was standing out of the saddle and going uphill and how I remained upright is a mystery. And that adrenaline spike is also a motivation.
So these are the old ones, showing some six years or so of wear on them.
I have no idea how long cleats last for other people. It has to do with how you beat them up while walking around more than how much you ride or anything like that. But I do know that I eeked just about as much life out of these things as I could. And, so after lunch on Saturday I put on these pretty new ones.
So you can sorta tell, in all the places the plastic has been destroyed, how they were prone to user error when they were clipped into pedals. If there’s no there there, you can’t really expect these things to work to maximum efficiency. I’m sure engineers have a term for this concept.
This was part of our ride, a 26-mile route intent to give us our first real hill of the year. This was before the hill, but after the detour. A road was washed out — it’s always under water, seems like — and so we had to find a new hill. No matter! We were in a good place for hills. It found us soon after this.
I saw this little scene about to happen up the road so I had to pedal hard to catch up to capture my masterpiece. Almost all of the colors in her kit were reflected by nature in this photograph. Needed more flowers.
And fewer hills.
We were going up one, remember. I needed fewer hills than one.
Indoor riding this winter allowed me to climb pretend versions of famed climbs from all over France. And while that was fun and challenging and probably beneficial in some way, I am not convinced it helped with actual climbing that much. Or maybe it did. I’ve no real way of knowing. I only know this, at the end of this little climb that was about 240-feet of total ascent, I was ready for more of the flat parts.
I shot a little video of this, so that we could end this on something better than just the idea of huffing and puffing slowly and inefficiently.
I think this part is important. We got our vaccines today. I said, I’m going to sit here and nurse this sudden prickly throat, and The Yankee said “I’m going to ride my bike.”
We have television shows to show off. Here’s the news show. Headlines! Sports! Weather! A look abroad! Everything but traffic. (It’s a mess out there, anyway, may as well stay where you are and watch this. You’re already cozy anyhow. You don’t really need to go anywhere.)
And here’s the pop culture show. They had a band in to celebrate Women Are Awesome month. Women are awesome, and these two ladies are too. They’re studying various elements of the music industry and have plans for the future and rock ‘n; roll right now.
Musical performances in this studio never work quite the way they are intended. It’s just not a room designed for that kind of sound, and you have to try to work with a specific type of equipment which is, also, designed for a different kind of sound. The two-piece band was game to try, and that’s all anyone can ask of rock ‘n’ roll in the end.
Well, in the real end, I’m just pleased we can help create these experiences for students. I didn’t produce a lot of musical performances at 20-years-old, but this group of burgeoning young television pros are doing it. It’s nice to have nice things. And this is, if you don’t count a few things I’ve just happened to walk past outdoors last fall, the first live music I’ve heard in a year. We all deserve a little live music. You choose the genre. You deserve as much at this point.
Oh we had a lovely bike ride today. I messed up the route, as is my habit. But it all worked out perfectly, as is the nature of bike rides. We got in an easy 20 miles, and I think I could have gone a smidge harder if necessary. Most of it ranged over our familiar base route, but we did add in an extra few roads just for fun.
Because I knew that section would only have four cars (See? Total mess out there.) on it this evening, that’s where I took my pictures.
The Yankee liked this one, because my shadow made an appearance.
That wasn’t what I was really going for, but it took a while for me to understand the sun, I guess.
There are two big turns on that road, and the county has seen fit to put big signs on the road noting them. I knew they were up ahead, and knew that was the picture I wanted. I missed the first one. Nailed the second.
Next time we’re on that road, if she hasn’t dropped me by then, I’ll try to get a video in that same spot.
The next time we’re on that road she’ll be in peak form and will be well and truly dropping me. So I guess that means I’ll have to get stronger and faster, too, just so I can make personal memes. The lengths you go to …
I took this photo on Saturday evening, to sorta prove a point about one of my favorite aspects of this area. It’s 8:10 p.m., and this is looking south-southwest. Because we’re in the Eastern Time Zone, but so far west relative to most of that region, we get long spring and summer days like this.
In a few months it’ll still be bright enough outside to read at about 9:30 p.m. And that’s the nice thing about living 50 miles from the far border of the clocking changing.
It’s one of the best features about the place.
And spring finally showed up this weekend. Fake spring, anyway. We’ve still got another cold snap or two coming our way. Always verify your meteorological impressions, friends, that’s the lesson revisited upon a great many of us this time of year. Anyway, sunny skies and slightly warmer weather — it was in the 50s — meant I put my bike on roads for the first time this year.
First time in 99 days, in fact. December 11th was unnaturally warm, about 62 degrees, so we did some time trialing.
My first ride last year was March 8. So, in the outdoor sense, I am behind. But, because of the smart trainer my lovely bride gave me for Christmas and birthday this year, I was 676 miles ahead of last year’s curve before putting my helmet on. No pictures from the actual ride. I have a tradition of not taking any shots on the first one, because I feel I should concentrate complete. And I have a further tradition of not taking photos while wearing that vest. It has no back pocket, meaning I’d have to wrestle my way under the gilet, to get to the shirt pockets, and who wants to do that, when you can get a kiss at the end of your ride, anyway?
It felt like a nice mid-season ride. I passed seven other bicyclists. Sure, some of them were children, and none of them knew we were racing as such, but these issues are hardly my problem.
Strange sensation, having a tiny little bit of form to start the year. Let’s see how long before I mess that up.
We went on a spontaneous 16-mile ride this evening, because the weather was practically perfect. I think it made us even go a little faster.
The cats are doing great! Except when they are misbehaving. Phoebe, who is almost always a good girl — and we tell her this so as to try to coax her brother into being less of a troublemaker — is seen here being a bad girl.
She knows she’s not supposed to be on this ledge, and she’s just doing it for spite.
Poseidon is doing this for comfort. He’s on one pillow, and under another pillow. It was a challenging day for him.
Something caught their attention outside simultaneously, and I just happened to be in the right spot.
It’s unnerving when they’re both doing the same random thing, except for the times when they’re being cute about it.
Tonight I had the good fortune to join a ride with the many Major Taylor bicycling clubs across the country. So I wore my Major Taylor kit.
He won the world championship in 1899, set almost three-dozen world records in his career and had to deal with all sorts of racism and violence. He didn’t hang on to it, though, and explained why and how in his autobiography, which is a fine sports read.
So I’m on this group ride on Zwift, and I should point out this was in no way a race. Because I don’t race. Because I am not fast. But, somehow, despite that, I found myself off the front for about 25 minutes.
To not see anyone in front of you for that long is pretty wild. And then the really fast guys went by. It was a sight to behold.
But, for a while, my nose was in the wind and I was riding almost all alone. I celebrated with pizza.
Nah. I was going to enjoy that pizza anyway. The Yankee picked up Mellow Mushroom on an errand-trip to Indianapolis and so we are eating right tonight, and tomorrow! Mellow Mushroom really needs a store here. It’s a college town with woefully inferior pizza selections. Mellow would be a huge hit.
