It’s been a grand month. The home front has settled down with house guests gone back to Connecticut and Thailand. September is the start of the fall bicycle event season highlighted by the 50 States Ride. There was many other goings on so, as they say on the Interwebs, let’s get to it.
Reading
Land by Maggie O’Farrell. O’Farrell’s follow up to Hamnet is the epic tale of a rural Irish family in the mid-nineteenth century. In many ways it bookends nicely with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn which I read last month. And it’s every bit as good. From the first page to the last, O’Farrell tells a story using vivid word pictures. We meet an Irish family oppressed by their English overlords, a generation after The Great Hunger which killed hundreds of thousands and led to the Irish diaspora. This book has it all: mysticism and Catholicism, familial love and abandonment, sudden death and unexpected survival. Three quarters of my ancestry is Irish. Page after page, I could not help but wonder what horrors my ancestors endured for me to even be alive much less prosperous. Regardless of ancestry, the reader will find this book every bit the treasure as Betty Smith’s account of Irish Americans surviving in the Brooklyn slums.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominique Bauby. In the prime of his life, 43-year-old Bauby, the editor of the French fashion magazine Elle, has a massive stroke that leaves him with “locked in syndrome.” Paralyzed from the neck down, he dictated this brief memoir using only his left eye to communicate. His body is in an imaginary diving bell, his thoughts butterflies flittering around in his head. One day you’re driving your kid to an evening out with his dad, the next you are emerging from a coma in a rehab hospital. Neil Finn was right, “I could go at anytime. There’s nothing safe about this life.”
A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko. This is the tale of Fedarko and his photographer friend Pete McBride who hike the length of the Grand Canyon. Along the way they are brought from rank ignorance about the endeavor to intimate understanding of the difficulties of backcountry hiking. I have never been to the Canyon but this book undoubtedly gave me more knowledge about it than any tourist visit might have. Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods is similar in tone, but the difficulty of Bryson’s fitful hiking on the Appalachian Trail pales in comparison to what Fedarko and McBride endured. The AT is a straightforward trail. In contrast a Grand Canyon transect, as it is called, involves trail hiking, trudging up gorges, scaling cliffs, repelling into slot canyons, and enduring all manner of dangers far exceeding anything the AT poses.
Riding
I managed to reach 85,000 miles on The Mule before sending it for some TLC at a local bike shop. I have noticed that I am no longer riding pain free on my non-recumbent bikes, which means it’s time to see a back doctor. Ugh.
On the 19th I rode down the street to vote. No line. Early voting is great.
On the 26th I did my 18th 50 States Ride. It was windy and wet and lots of fun. Okay, not lots but we had a group of mostly newbies who didn’t complain when the going got hilly and windy and soggy. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I held up.
Over the course of the month, I rode 891 miles, one more than in March. I split the workload between my three main bikes. I finished the month with 7.775 miles for the year, If I maintain this pace (I won’t), I’ll hit 10,395 for the year.
Medical
My month began with a lingering sinus and chest cold. It sapped my energy but I applied naps and felt better after a bit over a week. I donated blood at the BloodMobile down the street. This time I remembered to not take my daily baby aspirin so that all of my blood (instead of just the plasma) could be used. A short time after the donation, I received a covid booster and my annual flu shot.
Watching
Washington Nationals – The local nine’s tailspin continued, fueled by a historically woeful bullpen. The truth is that if the team spends some money on three relievers during the offseason, they have a decent shot at making the playoffs next year. On the plus side they won 11 more games this year than last. The finished in fourth (out of five) place.
Ryan Van Duzer is posting a video series about his latest ride on the Great Divide Bike Route. I’m finding it entertaining but he’s a bit weird.
Meanwhile Mat Ryder posted a series on his Tour Dinerica, in the Balkans. He begins with his pre-tour planning right through the the tour itself.
