Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

cycling / Friday / photo / site — Comments Off
02
May 25

The fickleness of the breeze

It’s Friday! Right? Friday? Yeah. Sometimes you have to check a calendar, just to be sure. I wrapped up the week’s grading in yesterday. And I have done the updates to my computer, cleaning a month’s worth of files, creating subdirectories for May, updating site statistics in the site statistics spreadsheet.

And, hey, we’re well ahead of last year’s numbers here, so thanks for that. I don’t know why people come here, but I’m glad you do.

So one class wrapped up this week, and their final is due next Monday. My online class has another week-and-change to go, with a lot of work still to come. And a lot of things to grade, and then grades to submit. The next two weeks, then, are busy. A lot of sitting here staring at computer screens, plenty of little study breaks, but then right back to it.

I never learned that skill young, but there’s nothing like impending deadlines to teach new skills.

I set out for a 25-mile ride after a day of sitting in front of the computer. One of the regular routes I established last year. It is a route that, on the map, is roughly shaped like a bullet, though I am not nearly as fast as.

I went into town and through it, doubling back and through a crossroads that has the word “town” in its name, but it is nothing more than a red light, a farmer’s market, a gas station and a small car dealership. Then, out into the countryside.

I took a turn that sends me back to the river, but crops, woods and a few houses and developments in between. Usually this is a road that gives me five or six miles without any cars. And, once you’ve done this for a while, those experiences stand out, and you make note of them, so that you may ride them again.

When the road ends, it is time to turn right. You have a nice wide shoulder-slash-bike-lane-but-mostly-shoulder, where you can do four miles super fast, which you also make note of, and visit as often as you can. And then back on the road for home, a seven-mile stretch … into the wind.

This is a mistake. The conventional wisdom is that you start into the devise a route that puts you into a headwind first, and then the tailwind on the way back. Economy of efficiency when you’re more tired. Because I was doing a rectangular route, a squishy bullet, I should have had a tailwind to start, and a tailwind to finish.

But, if you live in a place like we do, this is a challenge. Nearly an impossibility. Today, on that same road, a straight line with flags flying at regular intervals, the wind blew from every direction on the same road within 80 minutes.

What even is that?

adventures / cycling / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
01
May 25

Into the ever-persistent wind

My in-person class wrapped up yesterday, but they still have a final to submit, and there will be plenty to read there. Meanwhile, my online class is going strong. While mindlessly washing dishes last night, I thoughtlessly made the mistake of counting up the number of things I have to read and score between now and the middle of the month. And, because it is mindless, I went ahead and tried to determine how many pages that will work out to.

About 650, but perhaps a few more.

So there is a lot of work to be done. Plus meetings and who knows what else that pops up.

Anyway, while I wait for things to get submitted, we got in a nice little bike ride this evening. Here’s me, and my shadow!

And here are some Angus we ran across.

And a red Angus for good measure.

Of course, I could be wrong. My cattle identification is a bit rusty. That was a 20th century skill of mine, and it was shaky even then.

In my freshman year of college I had an animal and dairy science class and breed ID was a part of the class. The professor had a carousel of slides that he showed us, let us study, and quizzed us on. I found that, for some species of different sorts it was easier to learn what was in the background of photos. Great for a quiz, absolutely useless in the field, of course. Then again, I’ve not been asked to identify a breed of farm animal professionally since my internship ended … several presidential administrations ago.

Anyway, these are the things I had time to think about and remember on a windy out-and-back ride. I got dropped on the way out, fighting a bitterly persistent wind. My lovely bride is better in the wind, because she gets lower on her aero bars and I’m just a parachute. But then we turned around, enjoyed the tailwind and I pulled my wheels off the road.

I had a 38-mph sprint on one timed segment, days which I thought were behind me. And they are! But so was the wind!

There she is, in the final miles, after she caught back up, and riding into the sun. My ride back was 13 minutes faster than my ride out. She was faster, still.

Rowan / Wednesday — Comments Off
30
Apr 25

The last lecture

Today was the last meeting of my in-person class, international media communication. The students ended the semester in much the same way they began. I asked them to go to the library and pick up a book that falls under the broad genre of international media, read it and tell us about it. What’s the book about, why did you pick it up, what would make you recommend this book to others, that sort of thing. In this way, I like to tell myself, we are learning about the magic of libraries. And we all learned about 19 new books, some of them might be summer reading for someone. A simple presentation. Easy points. Momentum into the online final, which opened up Monday.

In our last few minutes together, I reminded them of the final. And then I reminded them of something I said in our first meeting together, that I think one of the job’s real perks is that I will go off topic, a few times, in the class. I reminded them of my two previous mini-speeches. The first is the true value of an education.

Discovering, for yourself, the joy of learning, which I now tell as anecdote about a former student.

The second is a bit I’ve done for years, about being mindful of cyclists and pedestrians when driving. Be courteous. Allow room, etc. I am one of those people. Let’s be safe. It’s a whole speech, with comedy and poignancy, but this was just a summary, reminding them of those two speeches to build to my third.

The screen read:

And this was the moment one of our deans walked into the room.

I said, “You all took a class which hasn’t been offered here in six years, so you probably only knew the title, and the catalog’s description. And it wasn’t previously taught the way I’ve done it here, so it is new, and, what’s more, you’ve stuck with it.”

“That,” I said, “takes an open mind, and I thank you for that. And next to an open mind is an open heart.”

“Put those two together, and you have the key ingredients for compassion. This goes well beyond our class, I’m just being real for a moment here, but I would encourage you to nurture that compassion in your life.”

“There comes a time,” I said, “when the greatest gift you can give someone is your compassion. There will come a time in your life, and I hope it’s far away and none-too-frequently, when the greatest gift you can receive is compassion.

“The world needs compassion, It always has. It always will.”

“And that is why I have always ended each of our meetings the same way. So I say to you one last time … Thank you. Be safe, and be kind.”

I walked past the dean, to the door, to applause.

Which is not the first time that’s happened, curiously.

photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
29
Apr 25

A moment of paws

It’s time for our weekly check on the kitties. And, this week, we’ll do a little comparison. Our cats, being bike cats, like to work on their aero technique. Here’s a recent effort of Phoebe’s.

Poseidon’s aero looks much more efficient … ears not withstanding.

We have a joke that when the cats are doing the same thing, or holding the same posture, my lovely bride says “You’re going to freak him out … ”

Then, I look at the cats, note the synchronicity and mock yell, “YOU’RE FREAKING ME OUT!”

The cats sometimes sit like this. Here’s Phoebe.

And here’s Poe.

To be sure, a lot of cats sit like this from time to time. But … still … they’re freaking me out!

cycling / Monday / photo — Comments Off
28
Apr 25

Three great rides

I went out for a little bike ride on Saturday, the best sort of ride, the kind where there’s no route, no plan at all, and you just find out what happens. This is much more fun than estimating a time or distance, and far more fun than the normal enterprise of planning a route. Saturday I just went … that way.

And so I went by the historic haunted house and past the church and down the three stretches of a road named after a town which was named after a plantation. From there, I turned left. Part of this road I know, in the reverse direction, because it is one of the regular routes. But I did not turn onto either of those two roads. I just kept going passed this barn.

There were clouds in the sky, something to keep an eye on, but i was going in another direction.

Over this way, for example, we had beautiful skies. And so I just kept pedaling. I contemplated alternated lefts and rights, but figured I would be sure to mess that up on the way back.

I just kept going straight, because the road allowed for it. Passed the houses and the woods and the cattle.

At some point I passed a “Now enterting” county sign. I hadn’t even realized I’d left the county, but now I was back. I’d been riding a straight line, but it was maybe a circle?

Maybe that explains the thunder, and then the rain, and possibly the small hail. It was raining, hard; I was 20 miles from home and who knows where this misbehaving storm cloud was headed.

I turned around, laughing, and started back. I had to do about two miles in the rain, but dried out for the last hour or so in the sunniest weather possible. It was 40 miles, round-trip, and at one point I went 11 miles without seeing a car.

And that’s how a spontaneous trip becomes a planned route. I’ll be doing that again.

Sunday afternoon I did the now-usual 15-mile route. I met this tractor near the house.

Nice of the guy to wave. Then, on the way back, I passed another tractor. This one was tilling right by the side of the road.

And that guy waved, too.

Me and my shadow are quite popular, sometimes.

Today’s ride was one of the standard 21-mile routes. (We have two of those.) And in this ride, an oddly misshapen rectangle, I encounter a dozen stop signs, seven turns and two railroad crossings. I did not have to put my foot on the ground the first time.

That’s a great ride, too.