Reading

The Virginian by Owen Wister. An American classic. This novel published in 1902 established much of the mythology of the cowboy, or as Wister puts it “cow-boy”. Hollywood should give Wister screenwriting credit. The titular character of the book is a man without a name (like Clint Eastwood’s character in the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns). The Virginian has many of the traits of Captains Call and McCrae from Lonesome Dove: He starts out as a 26-year-old rascal who matures into a sort of western knight. He has a personal code of honor. He rides tall in the saddle. He hangs a friend who has been caught rustling cattle. He beats a man up for abusing a horse. Let’s not forget John Wayne. During a poker game, the Virginian says, “When you call me that. smile!” He woos the pretty New England schoolmarm. A murderous adversary comes to town to kill him on his wedding day. He wins a shootout. Basically, the plot of Hight Noon. It is written in the language of its day, making it a difficult read. I do these things so you don’t have to.

Watching

The Washington Nationals – I saw nearly all their games, including a few day games in person at Nationals Park. With their current personnel they really have no business with a record above .500. Just to prove the point, late in the month they traveled to Philadelphia and were humiliated three games in a row by the Phillies who have three superstars who used to play for Washington. Alas, once the usual dog-days-of-summer injuries start happening, the lack of organizational depth will begin to show and they will sink in the standings.

Pearls of Peace – Lynnea Salvo has cycled a route that makes a massive peace sign over North America in memory of her brother who died in the Vietnam War. She holds many Guinness Records for her exploits. This video is a travelogue of her ride from the top of Norway to Gibraltar, another one for the books. Along the way she stopped at various peace monuments. Her narration describes the transition from wars and hostile foreign occupations to today’s fragile peace. She did this ride at the age of 75. There’s hope for my old bones yet!

Tour de Dinarica – Mat Ryder is at it again riding from Munich south through the Balkans on a route called the Tour de Dinarica. I know very little about the states that replaced Yugoslavia. It is undeniably beautiful country.

Riding

I rode The Tank, my Surly CrossCheck, and Little Nellie, my Bike Friday, much more than I expected this month, after making an impulsive adjustment to the seat height on both bikes. Riding them is actually comfortable again. In a weird turn of events, Big Nellie, my Tour Easy recumbent, is now bothering my creaky back. I have often referred to this bike as my “back fixer” because I could ride it whenever my back was in spasm. Go figure. The Mule hit 84,000 miles on June 2 so I gave it most of the month off.

For the month, I rode 676 miles on The Tank with a a long ride of 57 miles over 19 days. I rode Big Nellie 170 miles over five days with a long ride of 42 miles. The Mule cranked out 106 miles over three days with a long ride of 46 miles. I rode Little Nellie three times for 91 miles, with a long ride of 31 miles. Do the math and you get 1,043 miles in 30 days with no days off. (I haven’t had a zero day since May 23 and my legs are starting to feel like lead.) For the year, I have ridden 5,056 miles, a 10,196 pace.