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cycling / photo / Thursday / video — Comments Off
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.

Monday / Philadelphia / photo / video — Comments Off
28
Oct 24

Across the cold, watery expanse

We were supposed to go over the river three times this weekend. But I only went two times. And it was still a lovely weekend, despite my coming up short.

On Friday we went over to watch a field hockey game. The team we were cheering on won, 1-0 or 2-0, it was difficult to see the tabletop scoreboard from across the field. They are on the verge of going undefeated for the season, and I finally got to see them ply their trade across a bumpy, lumpy field on a beautifully warm and sunny fall afternoon.

Our favorite player was a defender and that is most certainly a big part of why they pitched a shutout today.

On the way back over, I managed to get this shot on the bridge.

And in the driveway, I could hear the geese before I could see them. I’m not sure if I really saw them, even as I was trying to take a photo. They can make for a beautiful photo, in better light.

There’s a slew from the river back that way. Maybe that’s where they were headed.

I’d been fighting a sore throat and woke up feeling like I was losing the battle on Saturday morning, so I did not make the second trip over the river. There was a 5K that my lovely bride ran, and she was kind enough to tell me to stay in bed. I still got my t-shirt, though.

I went outside that morning to do outside chore and was rewarded with a few minutes of beautiful light.

You could probably write a poem or two about scenes like that. They might come off maudlin, or Irish, or both. That would not make them bad.

Some of the bushes are still doing some amazing work, here at the end of October. They have to be confused. Cool yesterday, outrageously warm tomorrow.

I found this tree on a Sunday afternoon walk at just the right time. What a lovely tie dye moment. If you’re going to go maple, go maple with flair.

Another shot from that walk.

And then we went back across the river again, meaning we went over the bridge, which gave me this shot.

We went to the Flyers game. Hockey! People sliding on frozen stuff. And, at times, the ice was a part of the display. Makes for a nice canvas, really.

The Flyers have an impressive graphics package. The LED ribbons are everywhere in the venue, and they make an impression. Then they shoot pyrotechnics out of the screens that are raised and lowered around the central scoring display. There’s a lot to see, and it’s not all on the ice.

On the ice, the good guys got off to a bad start, and then it got worse. Starting the third period it was 4-1. The home team battled back, putting two pucks in the net in the last two minutes, but the clock ran out, and so they have started the season 2-6-1. They’ll get it figured out soon. I’m sure we’ll be back to see it happen.

photo / Thursday / video — Comments Off
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.

adventures / cycling / Monday / photo / video — Comments Off
14
Oct 24

Wasn’t that a beautiful weekend?

We only had the one night of aurora. That was Thursday. Friday night, the sky looked like it always does.

Which isn’t a knock on the night sky, but everyone would have enjoyed another light show.

The rest of these are just photos, and a video, from weekend bike rides, but don’t think of this as yet another bike riding post … well, I suppose you have to for this video. It was a road worth riding down slowly.

Think of it, instead, as a beautiful Saturday afternoon I got to enjoy. Watching you watering your sod …

Or letting a field sit for the weekend …

Or cutting your hay for winter …

Or imagine you sitting inside, wondering if you’d brought all of your equipment in, or left something out somewhere …

I asked my lovely bride if she’d like to go for a ride, just something easy to get outside for a while to enjoy another beautiful autumn day. She considered it, and agreed to an easy ride. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the steely look in her pretty eyes when she settled onto her aerobars.

It took a Strava segment PR and a second-best time on another near the end of the ride to stay in front of her.

To be fair, it was her THIRD workout of the day.

adventures / photo / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
9
Oct 24

“No flag, no country; you can’t have one!’

More grading today. But I’ve made good progress on this batch of grading and feedback-ing. So many words to write, and metaphors upon which to expand.

I stopped for two things. First, a quick 25-mile ride this afternoon. Nothing like 90 breathless to reinvigorate you to come back, sit down, and sound knowledgeable about the topics at hand.

The other thing I did today was actually something that we did tonight. We went across the river.

Eddie Izzard was in town, touring on a 35-year career, playing some of the hits. We watched a lot of Izzard in the oughts and early teens, so it was fun to see some of the old bits.

This classic bit made the cut tonight.

We heard the Romans, Carthaginians and elephants story. The woman sitting next to me repeated parts of it word for word, which was cute.

And Izzard closed with the Death Star canteen, of course.

It was a fun show. We had front row seats on the mezzanine. Not bad for spur-of-the-moment tickets.

And now back to grading!