March 2026

Watching

The TransAmerica Bike Route – The Full Movie by Mat Ryder. A condensed video (albeit three hours long) of the long series of Mat’s epic ride from coast to coast.

Washington Nationals Baseball – On the eve of Game 1 of the season, my cable provided announced that it will be carrying Nats games again. They’ve won 3 of their first 4 games but I have faith that they will lose at least 100 games this season.

Reading

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. The story of the life-long friendship of Sam and Sadie, two video game developers. Sounds boring but it made best sellers lists for months for good reason. In an odd way, it reminded me of Normal People. Zevin really makes you care about these two, as well as their friends, lovers, family members, and business associates. In video games, you die until you re-start the game. Real life not so much.

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty. The story of Smithy Ide, a middle-aged, obese drunkard who decides to ride his bike from East Providence RI to Los Angeles to claim the remains of his beloved, mentally ill sister. McLarty was a character actor back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. This is his debut novel that I first read in 2006. It’s quite good but extraordinarily depressing.

The Birth of the Erie Canal by Harvey Chalmers II. This is a brief history of the various concepts that evolved into the Erie Canal, the early 19th century moon shot that transformed the economies of New York and the rest of the United States and Canada. The original idea was to connect central New York to the Hudson River and Lake Ontario by cleaning up rivers and creeks. This idea would have limited cargo volume because the canal boats called bateaux would have had to be small enough to navigate the shallow waters. Eventually Gouverneur Morris promoted the concept of a waterway that would travel down an “inclined plane” from Lake Erie to the Hudson. Ultimately this was rejected for a level waterway with lift locks. The political pushing and pulling went on for over 25 years. Although the book was published in 1960 (when I was in Kindergarten), the author autographed my copy: “To John, I hope you enjoy the book.” I have no recollection of meeting him and wonder if “John” might be one of my upstate New York cousins.

How the Irish Built the Erie by Harvey Chalmers II. This 1964 history of the construction of the canal follows the efforts of Irishman J. J. McShane, the primary contractor tasked with building the canal. McShane with the significant help of his right hand, Pippa Post, used mostly Irish convicts from New York City as laborers on the project. The story is bogged down by detailed descriptions of various engineering methods, many improvised, to overcome the swamps and rocky hills that the canal traversed. Bitterly cold and snowy winters and malarial swamps made for additional challenges. Chalmers is a champion of Post, who earned the respect of the all-male workers with her multiple talents from cooking, providing makeshift shelters, supervising, and skill with two long knives she kept in scabbards under each arm to keep the workers in line.

Riding

I fell just short of 900 miles for the month reaching 889 miles on the last day. My longest ride, 52 miles. was to and from the Kenwood neighborhood of Bethesda, Maryland where I viewed cherry blossoms that were truly amazing. Last March I did several longer rides in preparation for my tour of the Natchez Trace. This year’s 52-miler damned near did me in.

My bikes took me some interesting places this month. On one day I ride to Capitol Hill to participate in a ride to protest the threatened removal of a cycletrack near the Washington Monument. The next day I rode back to the Hill to check out the purported best Italian sub in the area. It did not disappoint.

I rode 363 miles on my CrossCheck, hoping to convince my body that this bike should remain in my stable. I have a new stem on order and if that doesn’t help with my various aches and pains, this bike will be donated to charity. The remaining 367 miles this month came on my trusty Mule. For the year, I have managed to ride 2,302 miles, a little over 100 miles less than last year.

The highlight of the month was the emergence of blooms and flowers. Cherry trees, weeping cherries, crocuses, daffodils, tulips, eastern red buds, forsythia. DC puts on quite a show in the springtime.