Thursday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Thursday

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31
Oct 24

The bow on October

Today’s bike ride became an important and record-breaking bit of effort. Somewhere right in here …

… or probably just before it … October became my second-biggest month of all time, in terms of mileage on the bike. The top month was this last February, and it was all indoors and I’m not sure how I did that other than it was February, and what else was there to do? Also, that was a, for me, ridiculous number and it’s hard to imagine getting back to it again. The gap between my most prolific month and the second month was substantial, but it’s a little more narrow now because of today’s bike ride, a 50-miler, and this lovely, dry, incredibly mild weather we’ve enjoyed all month.

So it was about three hours in the saddle today, enjoying the sun and the warmth and the trees.

And I spent a bit of that time thinking I need to find all of the roads that look like this, and ride up and down them all the livelong day.

I also, as is customary, spent some time wondering about the authenticity of this personal mileage achievement. It is the curse of the foreknowledge, and the spreadsheets. Sure, I rode every mile, turned every pedal crank. But without seeing where the numbers were last night, I wouldn’t have taken the ride I did today. If it is that purposeful, is it still organic? Is it more so?

The things you think about when your mind goes away from the world and comes back to you.

Not too long after that I ran across a woman who was trying to wrangle a dog into her car, which she’d parked in the middle of that road. I asked her if she needed any help. She asked if I had a leash. I did not have a leash. I carry a lot of things on the bike with me — three tubes, a pump, some set of lights, fuel, my phone, a tire lever, a few bucks, two water bottles and one or two other things depending — but never a leash.

So I found myself wondering Should I carry a leash? On the off chance that that, which has never happened in all of the years of riding a bicycle, happens again? And if it doesn’t, what else could I use the leash for, if necessary?

Not all of the things that you find yourself thinking about are particularly deep or useful. But I decided against it. For now, anyway.

So this older lady was struggling with this sickly looking dog. I opened the back door of her car for her, and went on my way and she went the opposite direction to get it some care. Hopefully it is a quick bounce back for the dog, and the lady will be pleased to have helped. I will imagine them being reunited and each loving the other in selfless devotion.

I did a little under half the ride on my own, but circled back to the house to pick up my lovely bride, fresh in from her day of doing things, and she joined me for the rest of the ride. I pulled into the driveway as she was topping off her bottles. I might be getting pretty good at timing these things.

By the time we got back to the road in that video, the same one you see here …

I was ready to be done. On the one hand, I want to do these longer rides, and longer one still. On the other hand, my bike fit isn’t great, and my fitness might be worse.

There’s only one cure for the latter, so I’ll just keep riding.

But not right now. Right now, I have to go write something about riding bikes.

While the miles counted today, this doesn’t count as the writing.

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24
Oct 24

A period of time short and marked

It was a lovely day. Was it a lovely day for you? It was a lovely day here. We’re in a nice long stretch of them, and it’s worth soaking up a little part of them whenever you can. I went out for a little run today, and before I started I stood under this beautiful old tree and watched the wind toss the limbs and leaves back and forth.

And then I ran two miles. I did not think of that tree again, which is a shame. It probably would have made the time pass more quickly, which would have been good, since I run slow. And it would have been less painful, since that’s a thing when you haven’t been running, and i haven’t been running. I should have thought of that tree.

We’re in this beautiful phase of things — and I suppose all of phases have their beauty — where the aging, shifting, changing seasons still have these beautiful colors we’re used to, but take on new hues.

The bees are unbothered, still going about their work with no additional hurry. Just the same amount of hurry they’ve always known. The same degree of purpose.

The still bright vibrant colors, the weathered, weary look. It captures a mood. Feeling it, but still here, still with our own purpose, still glorious. Still.

We all feel like that from time to time, I suppose. It can be beautiful.

Or maybe it was just the day. The angle of the sun this time of year, while we’re now so aware of being cheated, is simply stunning. This photo means nothing the rest of the year, maybe it means little now, but it’s playful, isn’t it? It’s full of expectation. It’s waiting for something.

I decided to try a little ride in the late afternoon, to see if I could pedal the run out of my legs. I went out seven miles into a headwind, the slowest, ploddingest ride I can muster. It was going so poorly I was able to compose this photo.

But then I turned around, and I put up perhaps some of the fastest splits I’ve done in … a while. Maybe that’s what makes the season, and days like today. It’s a sense from somewhere deep, deep enough you can’t ignore. So we try to absorb it through our eyes and skin and all of our senses because … we know. We know it’s only for the short while.

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17
Oct 24

An unremarkable day, remarkably

Is it possible to forget a day before it is over? I don’t mean that I want to, but that today just didn’t stand out in any prominent way. You wake up, eat food, do things, do some other things, and then the day moves on and you do, too.

One of the favorite parts of my day was sending an email to students to wrap up the week. I was trying to point out the value of thinking of the last two assignments together. And I was illustrating that with some real world context beyond the theoretical. The students will, I’m sure, roll their eyes. But then I ended the email with a short list of things going on campus. And that’s become my favorite part of the week: hey gang, the planetarium is having an open house, there’s laser tag, a beach clean up project, an important Buddhist celebration and so on.

There’s a lot going on, because that’s part of campus life. It’s not for me — the group running it didn’t invite me to laser tag, after all — but there’s always a group of students that might not know about something going on around them. Or, more critically, there might be a student or two stressed by a class or other things. It’s nice for them to know there’s more out there than just this assignment or that grade. So it’s one of the favorite part of my work week, finding those things, and sharing them. And if a few of the students come to think that I’m a prof that knows there’s more to college than classes, all the better.

I need to figure out a system for the plants on days like this. I moved them indoors last week, because the weather is variable enough. I have some grow lights in the basement and water them one day and spray them the next, but which day is which? And why am I bad with houseplants? Why am I trying? They aren’t even ours.

I sprayed them tonight.

Anyway, it was cool today. It will be warmer tomorrow. Work and play will be mixed and I’ll have to water the plants tomorrow night.

I went out for another late afternoon bike ride. I rode into town, setting two Strava PRs on the way. Then I doubled back and my legs disappeared. It was the headwind, I tell ya. And it hit me in the face as I rode in three different directions.

Because it is cool, my shadow was wearing a wind breaker.

It wasn’t necessary at first, so the first 10 or 15 miles it was just holding heat in, but then the sun got low, and I cooled off fairly quickly. By then, at least, the wind was at my back.

And somewhere right in here, I dropped some fuel. I’ll go out and try to find it tomorrow.

It’ll be a bit warmer, and even more remarkable than today.

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10
Oct 24

Up in the sky!

If you’re here for the day’s bike ride, and evidence of Halloween, that’s below. But, first, a first.

My first aurora borealis. Solar radiation and the magnetosphere in the night sky made for a lovely light show. Electrons collide with atoms and molecules of the upper atmosphere and isn’t this lovely? Ten photos below, poetry in essay form is not required.

I got in a late 15-mile ride today, a route I’ve come to think of as the neighborhood route. In truth, it includes at least three neighborhoods and several miles of farmland besides.

People around here love Halloween decorations. And, apparently, Halloween isn’t something you can do a little. To welcome the ghouls and goblins, one must go all out.

Believe me when I say, this is one of the more subdued displays.

I bet they give great candy though. How could they not?

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3
Oct 24

Hey, it’s a post

This round of grading is done. And now the rest of the day I, so deeply immersed in the effort, may just stare at a screen and think, I should really get back to those grades …

But what I really should be doing is getting on with the three or four other projects before me.

What I’ll probably do is look forward to all of the grading I’ll have to do next week.

Anyway, did you see Poseidon in today’s installment of Catober? They’re taking turns. Today was his solo debut for this Catober. He took this role very seriously. Tomorrow it’ll be back to Phoebe’s cuteness. See them all here.

I did not go on a bike ride today. A second rest day seemed important. But I did shoot this video on a ride last week, and I’m trying to clear out some old stuff, so here you go, a road that deserves a slower pace.

This evening I stepped outside to water some plants and take out the garbage and I found some great big blooms on some great big bushes.

It is the first week of ~~October~~ Catober and these guys are just having a show. I choose to see this as a sign of an exceedingly mild and pleasant end to the calendar year, and a warm and dry beginning of the new one.

Because now I have to mildly worry about that for the next four months.

Anyway, a light day today, if only because I thought every other day this week would be thin and they were and I’m tired, and so on. But there will be more tomorrow, plus Catober!