Tuesday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Tuesday

How do you hold an aerosol?

Sunday was the sixth time we’ve seen Guster in the last two years. (Proximity has its advantages.) Twice we saw their “We Also Have Eras” tour, which they now call a play. We saw them once in a standing venue. We caught a lunch set they put on for a local radio station. We also saw the second night of their weekend at the Kennedy Center.

I was trying to count how many times, overall, I’ve seen them now, and finally decided to just count the states. It’s at least five. To be fair, I guess, to me, that’s over almost 30 years now. (That is in no way fair to me. Or to them, really.)

Anyway, Ryan did a little crowd work, as has lately become the custom, and he came right by us.

Guster as the feature act, did a tight, nine song, 40 minute set. Which gets us to the headliner, which we’ll play tomorrow.

I had a pretty crisp bike ride this evening. And for 26.7 miles (or 42 kilometers, because it sounds more impressive to the American audience) I held my average speed throughout. That includes when I had to stop to take this photo.

That section of road has been closed for several months now. Ordinarily we turn left there anyway, but the closure has made the nearby stretch even nicer. But today I turned right, just to see what was going on with that bridge. And, yep, the road crews really don’t want you going through there right now.

This was about 20 miles in, and you can clearly see I was going fast by how blurry the asphalt appears.

And now, a reminder about how stop signs work.

There’s a four way stop near our house. I need to turn left to go home. An SUV approached from my right, and stopped, as it should. A car then approached from my left, and stopped, as it should. And then I completed my stop. And waited.

And waited some more.

Finally I shook my head, lowered my eyes and waved on the SUV coming from the right, a driver so flummoxed by car brain and the presence of a person on a two wheel self-propelled bicycle that they did not know what to do at the intersection.

So I ask you, who, really, is making roads dangerous?

This configuration of vehicles is sure to stymie anyone who has forgotten how stop signs work. This is how they work. The person that arrives, and completes their stop, first, is the first to go. In this case, I was last. Also in this case, people had no idea how to behave.

I went out this evening to put the cover on the grill and water a few plants. The air was still. The night was quiet. The moon shone brightly, peering at us through a thin skin of clouds, who’s main contribution to the atmosphere was, well, atmosphere. The clouds had a “We’re here!” vibe. And I wanted to take a photo. Only my phone was inside.

So I finished covering the grill, watered the four plants I set out to water, and then went inside to retrieve the image capturing device. It all took about as long as reading about it, I’m sure.

But when I came back outside, the clouds were gone.

Nobody needs spooky night sky stuff in June, I said to the moon. She had no reply, because she’s an orbiting satellite, and not a character than I can dialog with.

But if it were, the moon would probably say, “I can’t hold those in place, I’m a quarter of a million miles away from your clouds.”

Guess I’m doing it by myself.

How do you hold on to clouds?

cycling / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
3
Jun 25

World Bicycle Day — and universal cat day

I was pulling this post together and a cat — I won’t say who — barged in and demanded that this was the day they be celebrated. I’m contractually obligated to provide regular updates and they are the most popular feature on the site. What’s more, they know it. And so these demands come in from time to time. And, this week, Tuesday is the day.

I have two taskmasters.

Two furry taskmasters.

Two shedding taskmasters.

I’ve mentioned the joke about when they’re occasionally doing the same thing and I say “YOU’RE FREAKING ME OUT!” in mock alarm. Sometimes they almost do the same thing. I guess I should develop a “You know, I am moderately unsettled right now,” joke.

Like they care about any of that, when there’s a good patch of sunlight to enjoy.

One of my favorite Poseidon poses is when he covers his eyes. I took two shots here. In one, his leg is tucked securely over his eyes. In this one, it looks like he’s just starting to peek out.

On those occasions when a box arrives, the cats of course take it over. Since I don’t dare disturb the furry taskmasters, this particular box sat unopened for a few days. It’s in the hallway, commanding a view around a corner if they’re interested, and standing on its end, its a nice cat height. So, of course, once I opened the box I put it back in the hallway. Recently, Phoebe has discovered a new adventure, if she works her way between the wall and the now opened box.

So that’s a permanent fixture in the house now.

The kitties, as you can see, are doing well. And they’re pleased they could help the site traffic around here.

Now one of them, and I’m not allowed to say who, is demanding treats and pets for all of their hard work.

I pedaled my bike down to the local bike shop today. My friend there replaced my cracked wheel and busted hub with an all new rear wheel setup on Saturday. Shiny new cassette, a wheel with zero miles on it and a hub that will surely last as long as the last one, which started all of this. (It’ll last, right? RIGHT!?)

He’s closed on Sunday and Monday, but told me to come back today to upgrade my chain, which was due a replacement. They wear. They can get stretched. Mine, today, was a full half-chain-length longer than it should have been. ~~I’m just that strong.~~ I’d just gotten that much use out of it.

So I rode a few miles Sunday and yesterday on the new rear wheel and old chain, and three miles and change down to the shop for the change today.

He fixed me up and then sent me out into the world. So I went out for a little 34 mile ride, about half of which was on roads I’ve never seen before, which is the best sort of ride, if you ask me.

The new chain moves easily, shifts smoothly and is nice and quite.

Didn’t make me faster though. And here, Mike at the bike shop and I will disagree on an important point. He seems to think that it is my job to go fast. I say that’s why I’m buying new parts from him.

He and I went on a little ride together once and we were talking about how we used to ride and what we’d like to ride. When it came my turn to discuss the nuances of aging out of performance he said to me, “Sure, but how many of the people that you grew up with are still out riding a bike these days?”

I haven’t the faintest idea. Probably not many. Maybe that means I’m riding faster, better and longer than they are. And this, I am sure, is where Mike would suddenly swap sides and say, “See? That new chain and wheel and ball bearings did the trick!”

Because bike shop philosophers are tricky people, is what I’m saying.

This was a delightful little detour I took. At one point I came to a curve in the road where a fork went to the right. I couldn’t decide which to take. When I’m on all new roads I’ve learned to keep it simple. I don’t get lost going out — I already don’t now precisely where I am. Coming back though, can be a challenge because where even are any of these roads? And was that my turn? Or is this my turn? So I’ve recently decided to stay straight when I’m riding on new roads.

But that fork looked so tantalizing. So I decided, Go around the curve. Stay straight. This road will T-off or do something else and you’ll double back eventually. Then you can take that fork. Which is what I did. It, too, became a T-intersection, but not before I discovered what I call a Pro Ghost Hill. I’m going uphill, but I’m speeding up while doing so. It’s a fascinating sensation. It looks like watching a race. I am pushed by ghosts. Pro Ghost Hills.

Anyway, along the route I saw a few of these signs, which are always nice. On these particular new-to-me roads, I saw as many tractors and signs as I did cars, which was even better.

Right about the place I turned around I ran across a sign that gave me a clue where I was. I’m going to have to ride that direction more often.

cycling / photo / Tuesday / woodworking, sorta — Comments Off
27
May 25

I love the smell of sawed pine in the late morning

Today we will lead off with an update on the bike. You’ll recall from yesterday that I busted my rear wheel hub on Saturday. There I was, happy to be out of the wind, pedaling along when POP! wobble wobble wobble. The hub was what popped. Three spokes were displaced, which took the wheel out of round and caused the wobble wobble. And thus ended Saturday’s ride.

The bike shop is closed on Sundays and Mondays which brings us to today.

So, this morning I took the rear wheel to the bike shop.

Mike was just getting off the phone when I walked in. Someone had two flats and, thus, couldn’t ride today. I held up my wheel and he said, “What is this? The day of flats?”

No, no I said, I broke a —

“You busted a spoke!”

Nope, I said, pointing to the hub.

Like I’d go win with a tube.

He told me I should just get a new wheel. By the time we bought a hub and he installed everything and so on and so forth.

I told him my plans for the bike, and he said, that it should be a wheel.

Then he saw a crack in the wheel. So it was a matter of time. And a matter of timing. And maybe good luck.

And my good luck continued. He said he was ordering round things today.

He would not tell me how long this would take. I told him I had only part of my Saturday ride and none sense and I was afraid of going into withdrawal and he made a joke about fitness, and that was that.

So it’ll probably be a fortnight. Bike shops operate on their own schedule, and their suppliers are often in their own universe.

Usually this happens when I’m riding well. I could have several strong rides in a row, and then we have to travel somewhere, or work becomes the order of the day, I catch a cold, whatever. But this time, I’ve lately been riding poorly. If it means anything in the great cosmic scheme of bike riding, who knows. Probably not much, which may mean it matters a great deal.

Ehh, it’s supposed to rain the next few days, anyway. And I have a half-dozen indoor projects I’m looking forward to working on. So there’s plenty to do.

And so I went home, and continued slow-walking a project toward completion. On Friday I screwed two shelves together. It’s an MDF corner piece I bought second-hand. Two shelves, probably from the original owner’s kitchen or bathroom. It’s going in our garage, in a corner of the punch out. And it’ll hold bike helmets and shoes.

I decided to make French cleats to mount the shelves on two sides in that otherwise unused cabinet. Today, I made the cleats.

This involved pulling out the saw, running some extension cords and digging out the ol’ safety glasses. Then I had to choose the appropriate lumber, rip it to develop braces, and then crank the blade to 45 degrees.

I’ve never made French cleats before. They’re super simple. But, still, they’re new. Also, my table saw is an old rickety and cheap thing. But it did the job. I made one long cleat and then cut the pine down to size.

The odd thing about the garage is that the studs are about 2.4 miles apart from one another, and so I’ll make super long wall mounts. It turns out that I had just enough of the same wood for the project.

Now I just need wood screws that are the correct size. And since I am slow-walking this project, I’ll go pick those up later this week.

But, now, since I have done this radical thing of writing this in the middle of the day (it feels weird, and also good) and I have all of those other indoor projects, maybe I’ll go get started on one of those now.

adventures / cycling / memories / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
20
May 25

Thinking of an interview I did almost five years ago

Things are looking lovely in the yard. This is out front, because we like to give a nice impression to all of the people who pull up the drive. So many people don’t. And they’re missing out. But that’s OK. More flowers for us.

We’ve been running a gag with a friend about bad photo composition. This is my contribution to the joke.

But, lurking up above, the promise of early August.

The ripening is underway.

Does anyone want some peaches?

In the fall of 2020 I was interviewed by a student working up a profile of my lovely bride for a class project.

He asked me what’s it like being married to an All-American, D-1 athlete, FINA Masters World Championships swimmer, three-time USA Triathlon national championship-qualified triathlete and two-time Ironman finisher.

(Except now she’s a six time USA Triathlon national championship qualifier and a three-time Ironman.)

This, I noted on social media, is what it’s like.

A few days after that 2020 interview I said “I’m going to go spin out my bike for a bit in the bike room.”

She said, “I’ll join you for an easy ride,” and then I watched her put out about 230 watts going uphill for an hour on Zwift. Sometime soon after that we were on a group ride and she was out front. She sat up and re-did her braid while we were chasing back on to her wheel. At the first sprint point on that ride she was laughing as I tried to go by her. She was LAUGHING during a full sprint. I didn’t win that one. So we got really, really serious about the five sprints after that.

But all of that was five years ago.

Today, I set a hard pace for eight miles, and then she went around me. Then she went away from me. And so I had to chase on for about six miles, hard, to get back. Thinking about that 2020 interview the whole way.

And here is when I finally caught her. We were going up a little hill, and I was doing 26 miles per hour up the long slow hill just to stay on her wheel. Look at how casual she is here, as she’s about to get to the top of the thing.

All told, Strava says this was the fastest 30K I’ve ever recorded.

What’s it like being married to someone like that?

Awesome — unless you’re trying to keep up.

photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
13
May 25

Checking in with the kitties, briefly

I may have been disturbing Phoebe’s attempt at a nap. She might have been judging me for it.

She was definitely put out by my interrupting her sunbathing in the western window.

Poseidon, seen here purring while having his head carefully for the camera, got into a pot in the sink, and enjoyed a bit of sauce before I could stop him.

He is embarrassed we noticed.

The kitties are doing great, thanks for asking. Though they aren’t doing much of the school work around here.