December 2025

Reading

Going Up Down East – My journal of my 2023 bike tour, a big circle from DC to Bar Harbor to Erie PA to DC. I had forgotten how much it rained. Also, I seemed to do much more walking than any other tour except 2024’s Kentucky fiasco.

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. (My first 2025 Christmas present book.) Rick Rubin is the answer to the question: what do Johnny Cash, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Tyler Childers, and Run DMC have in common? He produced all these acts and many more. He claims that when he began producing rap acts as a student at NYU he knew very little about music (he played some guitar in a punk band) or music production. Oddly, this book mentions only a handful of musical artists in passing. It’s more about how you go from a vague idea to final product, one that first and foremost pleases yourself. It’s not surprising that the book is woo woo as all get out, given the fact that he’s been a practicing meditator and Buddhist for over 50 years.

Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller My second 2025 Christmas present book, also non-fiction. Miller’s romantic live crashes and burns. She falls into despair. How to climb back out? By studying the life of a world-renown taxonomist who rapidly recovers from one crisis after another. Interesting enough. But when the story takes a series of incredible twists and turns. And about those fish….well, you’ll just have to read it.

Watching

The Beatles Anthology Episode 9 – This new installment tells of how the “Threetles” reunited to make the Anthology series, and rejuvenate two John Lennon demos, Free as a Bird and Real Love. The abandonment of Now and Then, a third Lennon demo is briefly explained. Not worth the time.

Train Dreams – A meditation on a long life through the eyes of Robert Grainger, a logger, a railroad worker, and a hermit who’s story runs from the late nineteen century into the 1960s in the northwestern US. Absolutely wonderful. Great acting (Joel Edgerton, William H. Macy, Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, among many others), great cinematography, great editing, great score. On Netflix. Worth every second of your time.

Jay Kelly – Noah Baumbach’s tale of an aged actor – played with more than a hint of irony by George Clooney – who agonizes with regret over the life choices that enabled his rise to mega stardom. Despite terrific performances by Clooney and many others (including Greta Gerwig, Laura Dern, Jim Broadbent, and Stacy Keach), the story just didn’t connect with me. For the record, I am no fan of Adam Sandler but he’s really quite good in this.

Nick Johnson’s TransAmerica Bike Tour – On a way-too-cold day I decided to ride my CrossCheck in the basement. To keep me amused I watched this series of videos on Nick’s 2011 ride across the country on the TransAm. His experience was very similar to mine. (And yes the dogs of Appalachian Kentucky made him absolutely miserable.)

Sheelagh Daly’s Trip Across the Wilds of Scotland. This relatively short video tells the tale of Sheelagh’s 10-day solo ride across the Scottish Highlands. Mud and rain and cold and winds and fierce looking livestock didn’t deter our heroine from having an epic journey.

Riding

On the 16th, I managed to reach 82,000 miles on The Mule. As the month wore on, I became increasingly anxious about reaching 10,000 miles for the year. After all, I had twice been surprised my medical calamities in late December of prior years. I pulled it off though, reaching 10,000, for the eighth year in a row, on the 20th. A couple of days later I donated blood as a celebration. Here’s a helpful hint: do not lift weights and ride a bike for an hour before donating. I was knocked for a loop.

For the month I rode 684.5 miles, 168 was done indoors on various bikes: the CrossCheck and the Tour Easy in the basement and the recumbent torture device at the fitness center. I deliberately took it easy after the 20th, reaching 10,164 by year’s end. Instead on some days I went for long walks with my trusty cane.

I finished the month at xxx miles.