Category: #bikedc

An August Month

I turned 70 this month. Suddenly, I can say that I am feeling my age. Still I carry on with my amusements.

Riding

As in July I devoted my riding, but for riding Little Nellie to and from the car mechanic, to Big Nellie. I rode 968 miles on the latter and 3 miles on the former for a total of 971 miles for the month. My long ride was a one-way, wind-aided, 57-mile jaunt from Purcellville, Virginia to home. All but 2 1/2 miles were on trails. The sky was blue and the clouds were cotton balls. Temperatures stayed in the mid-70s with low humidity. What more can a rider ask for?

Big Nellie has taken momentarily the annual mileage lead from The Mule: 3,901 miles to 2,478 miles. I’ll be switching over the to The Mule in early September as I prepare my aged carcass for the hillfest known as the 50 States Ride. My total mileage for the year stands at 6,926.

Reading

I managed one book this month. Mark Twain by Ron Chernow. Brilliantly crafted, this biography runs to over 1,000 pages, containing everything you every thought you could possibly want to know about America’s first celebrity. Twain was a brilliant author and lecturer and an absolutely terrible businessman. He was a champion of women’s rights and a creepy old man who platonically groomed young girls. He was a supportive business partner who could become vicious and vindictive when ventures soured (as they very often did). Last year, we toured the Mark Twain house in Hartford. If you’re ever in the area, check it out. Mark Twain is on a par with the two other Chernow biographies I have read, Alexander Hamilton and Grant.

Watching

Mostly, when I wasn’t dealing with Mr. Twain, I watched baseball. After an absolutely wretched week of perhaps the worst baseball played in my lifetime, the Washington Nationals teased me with some very promising young talent. A Bluesky account has been posting, two per day, of all the players who have worn a Nationals uniform in the team’s 20-year history. It’s amazing how many players initially showed promise only to wash out. I fear that the same fate will befall many of the emerging “stars” on this year’s team. Alas, the team finished August on an 8-game losing streak.

I went to a few games. On the last day of the month I went to a day game. In the late innings, a marriage proposal was posted on the big screen in center field. This was followed by a picture of the couple. They were sitting two rows in front of me.

She said “Yes.”

The Thursday Murder Club, a new Netflix movie, featured an all-star cast – Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Jonathan Pryce, Richard E. Grant, and David Tennant – but seemed rushed and missed the spirit of Richard Osman’s mystery novel. As the Washington Post review noted, Naomi Ackie and Celia Imrie outshined the big stars. I also agree with the WaPo review that this would have been much better as a mini-series. At least there are three more TMC books to go. (Osman’s fifth Thursday Murder Club novel comes out at the end of September.)

Medical

My PSA tests looked worrisome for a while, but my urologist thinks that it is highly unlikely that I have prostate cancer. I go back to him early next year for more anxiety.

For the first two weeks of the month, I grew increasingly worried that my right shoulder would need surgery. I took a fall a few months back during a test ride of a recumbent bike and landed flush on my upper right arm. Recently, I began to lift weights very carefully in the hopes of building strength and increasing the range of motion in that arm. It seems to be working. About two weeks ago while showering I felt pain as I was cleaning the left side of my body with my right arm. I gently grabbed my right elbow and pulled the forearm across my chest. I felt a stretching in my right shoulder. When I released my arm. there was no pain. This simple stretch seems to be working wonders. I have stopped taking pain medications and, for a several days, slept through the night. Next I will see how my arm takes to riding a conventional bike.

How Terribly Strange to Be 70

My odometer clicked a mighty big number this week as I turned 70 years of age, emphasis on “age”. How the hell did this happen, anyway?

Just for kicks I thought I’d look back at a selection of things I did during my 60s.

Work

Work is a four-letter word. I retired on my 62nd birthday. My first act as a free man was to purchase a seniors pass to the US National Parks.

Reading

I discovered several new authors and re-acquainted myself with old ones. A partial list includes Amor Towles, Fredrik Backman, Barbara Kingsolver, David McCullough, Eric Larson, John Green, David Grann, Michael Lewis, Bill Bryson, Richard Osman, David Goodrich, Ron Chernow, Sue Monk Kidd, Percival Everett, and Neil King.

The Arts

I am not a big concert goer. My favorite performances were by Elbow and Le Vent du Nord. I saw them both a couple of times. Similarly, plays don’t much float my boat but Patrick Page as King Lear at the Shakespeare Theater in DC was phenomenal. And when the time came, I didn’t throw away my shot to see Hamilton at the Kennedy Center. Superb.

Sports

I was at the last Washington Nationals game of the year in 2016 when they lost to the Dodgers in the playoffs. With the final out, the home crowd went from sounding like a jet engine to total silence. It was if someone threw a switch. So strange. Three years later they reached the mountain top and won the World Series against a cheating Houston Astros team. After that they began their “rebuild” which continues to this day. Well, at least I can ride my bike to the games.

Travel

With my wife as travel agent and my daughter as tour guide, I went overseas three times. First, we visited Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand. In Thailand we met up with our son who lives on Phuket. Next was Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. We finished with a fab tour of England.

Bike Riding

I did pretty darn good in the bicycling department. For my last year and a half as a worker bee, I commuted by bike to the office full time, year round. It turns out that bike commuting 30 miles per day is pretty good prep for touring.

All told, I rode a bit over 103,000 miles since I turned 60. My peak year was 2018 when I hit 11,807 miles, thanks largely to my coast-to-coast tour. I rode over 41,000 miles on The Mule, my trusty old Specialized Sequoia.

A few years ago I became a lifetime member of the Adventure Cycling Association.

Bike Tours

I rode eight bike tours, all of them on The Mule. Easily, the highlight was my self-supported solo ride across the United States in 2018 at the age of 62. Focusing on one day at a time, I pedaled 70+ miles each day through 15 states. Before I knew it, I was smelling the salty air of the Pacific. Mind blown. In two months, I rode 4,300 miles from home to Portland, Oregon. Dang. A totally unexpected post-ride sense of afterglow lingered for weeks.

My eight tours took me through 32 states, bringing my total to 40. Alas, I think the two years lost to the pandemic (and my fear of dogs) will keep me from bagging all 50.

Of course, I didn’t ride these tours without loads of help from family, friends, Warmshowers hosts, and trail angels.

Bike Events

I rode the big three local events, the 50 States and Cider Rides in DC and the Great Pumpkin Ride in Warrenton, Virginia nearly every year. My efforts were interrupted only by the pandemic and the trip to Australia. I also rode the Backroads Century and Vasa ride (now defunct), assorted charity rides in Northern Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland and in Baltimore as well as the Seagull Century on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Hiking

On my 60th birthday I managed to climb Old Rag in Shenandoah National Park. I did a few other hikes in the park, along the Appalachian Trail, in Great Falls Park, and in Prince William Forest Park before succumbing to lumbar spinal stenosis.

The Medical Merri-Go-Round

When you get old, you need to take care of your body. Things break.

At the end of 2017, I developed pulmonary embolisms from a deep vein thrombosis in my left calf. It was unfun and downright scary, especially when my right lung collapsed. I was hospitalized for three days. The recovery was gradual and by late April my hematologist gave me the green light to ride across the country.

My back succumbed gradually to lumbar spinal stenosis. After multiple cortisone shots, failed to offer relief, I began a daily routine of physical therapy. It has not been very helpful. I use a cane when I walk long distances.

Chronic left hip and knee pain during my 2019 tour from Indiana to San Francisco were resolved temporarily by edibles in Colorado. Back home, a doctor gave me some cortisone shots that set me right.

I endured a painful twelve-month recovery from whiplash after being rear ended on my recumbent by a dude in an SUV.

I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand this year. It seems to have done the trick.

I fell over on a recumbent I was test riding and managed to screw up my upper right arm. I had hopes the pain would go away after a while but it looks like I’ll be headed to the orthopedist this winter.

I had three colonscopies. If you get one, I’ll buy you some Ex-Lax. My cancer fun continued with four blood tests and an MRI for prostate cancer. Fortunately, I remain cancer free. Knock wood.

I continued on a routine of weight lifting until the pandemic hit. Last month, when my local fitness center re-opened after an impressive renovation, I started lifting again. It helps my old body cope.

Goodbyes

Jim Burgess, known to me and many others as Chet, died of colon cancer in 2017. He was a roommate of mine in grad school, Chet had an infectious laugh and an encyclopedic knowledge of rock and new wave music. He was the master of the mix tape.

Christian Maimone died from a heart attack in 2019. I helped him finish his first event ride, the very first Cider Ride. A couple of years later we did the Seagull Century together. He kicked my ass. He was a charming man, a devout Catholic, and a devoted husband and father.

Dave Salovesh was killed by an out-of-control driver on Good Friday in 2019. His death devastated the DC bicycling community. And me. He was a stellar human being. No words.

Anytime

As I advanced through my sixties, I learned that I have mastered a new skill: napping. In the decades ahead (who says I’m a pessimist), I intend to raise my napping competence to new levels until I take that last great big nap on the couch. In the meantime, I’ll take each mile one at a time with the rubber side down.

A Bent July

It’s been another scorcher of a month here in the mid-Atlantic. The heat index has been near or above 100 F’n degrees on several days. Storms roll through nearly every night giving us a good show and occasionally knocking down a tree here or there. Thankfully, August is forecasted to begin with pleasant weather. Ahhh.

A storm victim on the trail near Mount Vernon

Riding

I logged 744 miles, all of it on Big Nellie my Tour Easy recumbent. I took nine days off, two for a family reunion, a couple more for rest and to avoid nasty weather, and the rest in preparation for a blood test. Near the end of the month I put Knee Savers on the bike. These little chunks of machined metal move the pedals away from the crank arms by 20 millimeters. They seemed to work okay so I tried them with my Catalyst pedals. The combination worked quite well. After a couple of days I felt like my old bent self on the bike. As these things go, 744 miles for a summer month isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, but it isn’t half bad considering all the time I took off.

Knee saver pedal extender

For the year I’ve logged 5,955 miles, on pace for 10,253 miles for the year.

I registered for September’s 50 States Ride in DC. It will be my 17th. If you live in DC and have never done it, you should. As President Kennedy said, “We do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard.”

Reading

My Friends by Fredrik Backman. A splendid novel about teenagers, art, and friendship. On a par with Backman’s Anxious People and A Man Called Ove.

Medical

The medical merri-go-round decided not to take the summer off. After briefly considering physical therapy for my injured right arm, I decided to go it alone. It’s getting better incrementally. Fortunately, my local county fitness center re-opened a few weeks ago. I’ve been working out (carefully) on a set of nine weight machines and I have to say my body is pleased. My arm is still a wreck but it’s a happier one.

Since January, I have been getting monitored for prostate cancer. The level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in my blood was found to be slightly above the threshold for concern last December. As it turns out, high PSA levels can be caused by cancer but they can also be caused by a number of less serious things such as advancing age, an enlarged prostate, and (I kid you not) bike riding. To eliminate bike riding as a cause for my PSA levels, I took a week off the bike and re-tested. It made no difference. (I think the connection has to do with riding a conventional saddle which can compress the perineum and the body parts above.)

Earlier this year my urologist sent me for an MRI. It found no abnormalities other than the enlargement. My urologist is confident that I’m at very low risk for cancer. Just to be safe we’ll do PSA blood tests every six months. No worries.

The only disturbing thing about this whole prostate cancer business is the fact that old men (70 years old and up) can often skip treatment altogether for slow growing prostate cancer. The thinking is they’ll die before the cancer gets them. First do no harm; then call the undertaker.

You wouldn’t like me when I’m weeding

Last night the skies raged. It was another typical storm with beaucoup thunder and lightning. As is usual around here, the storm followed a horribly hot and humid day.

Today was yet another day that I abbreviated HHH – hazy, hot, and humid – in my bicycling log. I took today off from the bike and spent a couple of hours tending to my pathetic garden. It is full of unwanted vines, crabgrass, and weeds.

After 45 minutes I had to stop working. I sat in a plastic lawn chair in the shade, gulping water from one of three bottles I had brought outside either me. My clothes were already soaked with sweat. My heart rate was through the roof.

Fortunately a breeze kicked up and I cooled down. Once my heart rate came down, I returned to my labor. This time I lasted about 30 minutes before returning to my chair.

After reviving I gave the garden one more go before surrendering to Vulcan. Dang.

I hosed myself off so as to not drip sweat and mulch bits all over the house. Preparing for a shower I reached over my head to take off my T-shirt. It was pasted against my skin.

It was a shirt I bought in North Cascades National Park on my 2018 cross country bike trek. I bought it after climbing five mountain passes in four days. It had some small holes in it so when I gave it a yank I Hulked it. The back just shredded. It was still so wet that I had to take it off like a skirt.

Shirt died a hero.

It will live on for a while in my rag bag before succumbing to the trash.

Agin’ and Ragin’

At my 25th high school reunion my classmates and I lined up for lunch. The line next to us comprised the 50th year alumni. Overhearing their conversations, I couldn’t help but laugh. All they talked about was the diseases and operations they had been dealing with.

Of course, now that I am at the tail end of my 60s, I am finding that medical woes are the topic du jour no matter where I go. At Friday’s Coffee Club we had three shoulder impingements and one post-op rotator cuff. My shoulder impingement is an interesting diversion from my whiplash recovery (nearly complete), my lumbar spinal stenosis, my wrecked left knee (nothing new), and my recovery from carpal tunnel surgery.

Another thing that seems to be new is my difficulty in dealing with excessive heat and humidity. Aren’t old people supposed to love hot weather? This summer in the DC area has had it usual oppressive, swampy weather. Lately when I finish a ride in “feels like” 109 degrees F, I need to drink a gallon of whatever I get my hands on and take a nap.

You don’t want to know what it feels like. Trust me.

That hourly chart makes me super glad I hired out lawn mowing this year.

It’s at least ten degrees cooler inside this outbuilding on Capitol Hill.

The heat and humidity does provide us with some entertainment. We routinely have raging thunderstorms. The other day I was doing a 50-mile ride on Big Nellie when I came upon a tree that had fallen across the Anacostia River Trail in DC. Fortunately, a young whippersnapper (in the green jersey below) helped me by hefting my bike over the tree and sent me on my way.

Another recent storm dropped a tree from my neighbor’s property into my backyard. Most of what fell in my yard was from the top of the tree. My neighbor was not at all concerned that his rotted tree had left a mess in my yard. Thanks, pal. I decided to return the wood to its rightful owner and threw it over the fence onto his derelict property.

The other night another line of storms came through. A tornado warning was posted for the northern edge of DC about 25 miles away. I was sitting in my kitchen when the loudest bang and biggest flash went off right over my house. The floor shuddered. WOW! Somehow the lightning bolt didn’t cause any damage other than my frayed nerves.

The heat and humidity does bring some interesting flora. The lotuses, water lilies, and other marsh flowers were in full bloom at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in northeast DC. This, combined with Friday Coffee Club, made for a nice 48-mile jaunt on Big Nellie.

Speaking of Big Nellie, I have gone full on bent, riding it for 460 miles over the last two and a half weeks. My right arm, the one with the impingement, is happy.

A week ago my wife and I signed up to use the newly renovated recreation center three miles from home. I used to go there to lift weights before the pandemic. It had a crummy little weight room but it served my purposes. The renovated weight room is massive, with brand new equipment. Lifting helped my riding, especially during my recovery from pulmonary embolisms back in the winter of 2017 and 2018. I use only upper body machines with very light weight. I concentrate on going very slowly. One interesting result is that my upper back can now comfortably lean back when I am sitting. This makes for a much more efficient and comfortable ride on my recumbent.

Tone for my nap….

Cookin’ in June 2025

Weather

We’ve been dealing with heat waves and violent thunderstorms. One of the latter dropped a tree that partly fell into my yard. I worked on cleaning it up and hacking back invasive vines for an hour and was soaked in sweat by the end. I did another assault on run-away vegetation a week later and looked like I had jumped in a pool. I have a method that keeps me from doing too much; I own three 30-gallon garbage cans. Once they are filled with clippings and other debris, I stop. One more round of yard work to go and I can find another way to trash my aging bones.

Bicycling

I had three unstated goals this month. One was to reach 5,000 miles for the year. I ended the month at 5,211 miles. Yay me. I wanted to hit some thousand-mile milestones on my bikes. I hit 33,000 miles on the Tank, my Surly CrossCheck, on June 5. Five days later I hit 52,000 miles on Big Nellie, my Tour Easy recumbent. On June 25, I hit 80,000 miles on The Mule, my Specialized Sequoia touring bike. My last goal was to hit 1,000 miles for the month. This may seem like a lot but I’ve done it every year since I retired in 2017. This year I fell short by hitting only 50 miles. I guess it helps to be on a tour.

I spent the last week of the month on my recumbent to get my “bent” legs back. Recumbents stress different parts of your body so they do take some getting used to after riding conventional bikes for over a month. Once I get dialed in, and have no other problems, I’ll test ride some tadpole (two wheels in front) trikes.

Reading

1776 by David McCullough. The story of the rag tag US Continental Army’s fight against a massive British force augmented by Hessian mercenaries. British General Howe had the US forces in his hip pocket at New York but let them escape. The ultimate outcome, American independence, according to McCullough, “seemed little short of a miracle.” My last McCullough book. Not a bad one in the lot.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. The plot focuses on the coming of age of two girls in a working class neighborhood in 1950s Naples. Both are intellectually gifted. Their relationship evolves as they grow into their middle-teen years. Their lives become intertwined with their family and neighbors. Basically, it’s a soap opera. It sold extremely well and was praised by critics. I suppose if I had read it in one sitting I’d have liked it much more but, in the end, it wasn’t for me.

Watching

Good Night and Good Luck – CNN broadcast a live performance of this Broadway play about Edward R. Murrow’s confrontation with Senator Joseph McCarthy. It is based on the film of the same name In the film Murrow was played by David Strathairn, one of my favorite actors. Strathairn is now 76 years old so he’s aged out of the part which is taken by writer/producer George Clooney. (Clooney played Fred Friendly, Murrow’s boss, in the movie.) It was very well done. The sound, staging, and acting were all first rate. It shares one rather depressing thing with the Beatles’s Get Back. Like George Harrison in that film, Murrow is constantly smoking. Murrow died in his 50s from lung cancer. (The cloud of cigarette smoke from virtually every cast member is constant.) Harrison died from throat cancer that spread to his brain. The whole time I was watching I wanted to reach into the television and slap the cigarettes out of their mouths.

Mat Ryder Unplugged – Mat’s editing pal Ross made a 3-hour video from the massive content documenting his ride across America. This one has no commentary or music, just ambient sounds. Watching this I am a bit amazed that I rode across the continent at the ripe young age of 62. Mat also produced three new, shorter videos. One was about overhauling his bike. Another about his plans to ride mostly off-road from Land’s End to John O’Groats, the length of Great Britain. The third was about how he and Ross did a day tour riding the perimeter of the Isle of Wight.

Washington Nationals – The Nats went into a tailspin transforming from a promising team to one of the worst teams in the National League. They have a legitimate, emerging superstar in James Wood, and a couple of good starting pitchers who I pray won’t have arm problems. Where have you gone, Tony Two-Bags?

Trikes – I’ve watched countless videos on the various aspects of trikes, So many decisions: folding or not, will a rear rack impede the fold. drum or disc brakes, direct or indirect steering, three small wheels or two small ones up front and a big one in back. How would I carry stuff? Where does the water go? How will I transport it? Is the seat adjustable? Should I get one with an electric assist? It’ll probably come down to which one I like to ride the most.

Medical Merri-Go-Round

I noticed an odd looking spot near my left elbow last week. I am paranoid about getting skin cancer from my thousands of hours outdoors so I went to a dermatologist for a skin screening. It was a nothing burger. I’m of Irish and English ancestry so I burn easily. Nobody (that I know of) in my family has had skin cancer. Weird.

I continue to deal with pain in my right arm that resulted from my topple over crash on the Streetmachine that I test rode last month. Somedays I feel only mild discomfort. Other days my arm is screaming at me. I thought about going for physical therapy or I could just save myself the hassle, frustration, and expense and let time do its thing.

Maybe I Won’t

I lived in the northeastern US for the first 28 1/2 years of my life. I moved to the DC area to get away from brutal winters. Alas, I learned that DC has brutal weather of its own. Tree pollen knocked me for a loop for about a week. No amount of medicines helped. (Maybe this is why I usually leave on a bike tour in mid-May. DC area thunderstorms can be scary and very entertaining. (It helps if you don’t own big things that can get damaged.) Last week a violent storm passed through our neck of the woods. The winds and soggy ground caused scores of tree falls. Two people in cars were killed when trees fell on them. Last night we endured a tornado warning. Big fun. Next up is the suffocating heat and humidity of summer.

So what else happened in May?

Reading

Faithful Place by Tana French. The third in French’s Dublin mystery series. Frank Mackey, from French’s second Dublin mystery The Likeness, returns to solve the murder of a old girlfriend back in the neighborhood where they grew up. French captures family dynamics, particularly of working class Irish Catholic families, as well as any author I’ve ever read. The story was promising but the resolution I found to be lame.

Riding

I spent about a week test riding an HP Velotechnik Streetmachine, a short-wheel base, underseat-steering recumbent. I loved the seat design but could not get comfortable with the high center of gravity. I fell over while trying to start and had to admit that this bike was unsafe for me to ride. Two and a half weeks later my right arm, which took the brunt of the fall, is still achy.

I replaced the stem on Little Nellie with the original longer one as a last ditch attempt to make the bike usable. I also lowered the seat a half inch or so. I’ll be damned if it didn’t work. I rode the bike 130 miles over four days and my back and neck lived to tell about it.

I turned my attention to The Tank, my Surly CrossCheck. As of the end of the month no amount of adjustments seems to work. The longer I ride it the more I think of buying a recumbent tadpole (two wheels in front) trike. Stay tuned.

For the month I clocked 802 miles on five different bikes. I ended up at 4,260 miles for the year, on a pace for 10,297 miles. Watch this space, y’all.

Watching

Andor, Season 2. Andor is easily the best Star Wars product. Diego Luna as rebel Cassian Andor, Stellan Skarsgaard as the undercover mastermind of the rebellion, and dozens of other actors raise this to a higher level. No lightsabers or Jedi knights. Just oppressed civilians plotting against an impossibly powerful empire. The story is nuanced and complicated and ultimately sets up Rogue One.

Rogue One. Andor is a prequel to Rogue One. Until I watched Andor, Rogue One was my favorite Star Wars flick. (Aside from the first two, the rest are meh.) We watched it right after finishing Andor. Oddly, it didn’t hold up as well as I thought it would. Maybe that’s because it’s much shorter and stuffed with battle scenes instead of intrigue.

The Good Life – Mike Birbiglia. The latest comedy special from the whitest guy this side of Jim Gaffigan. He pokes fun at his father’s stroke, his daughter’s trip to urgent care, his visit with Pope Francis and other light-hearted subjects. Funny and poignant.

The Only Girl in the Orchestra – An Oscar-winning short documentary about the double bassist who in 1966 was the first woman to be made a member of the New York Philharmonic. The daughter of film actors (who’s physical beauty she inherited), she had no aspirations to be a soloist or a star. She lived for being part of the collective sound of the orchestra. Short and sweet, a great documentary. On Netflix.

The Quillters – Another Netflix documentary about prisoners in a maximum security prison in Missouri who make quilts for kids in need. It blew my mind that some of the men in the film have been in prison for decades. When they enter the quilting space they drop their tough guy personas. There is calm in their voices. The quilting project gives them a reason for being. Another terrific documentary.

Captain America – Brave New World. This one looks like they tried to make a worse Marvel movie than Thor Love and Thunder and succeeded. Not one actor had the slightest bit of presence or chemistry. And just to insult DC area people, they nonsensically put a mature forest in East Potomac Park where a golf course is. Just a mess.

Little Nellie Born Again (Again)

I bought my Bike Friday New World Tourist, the bike I call Little Nellie, about 18 years ago. It was a fun bike to ride but it was tough on my back. I bought a shorter stem which helped a lot. As my body aged, the bike became less and less comfortable.

A couple of years ago I had all but given up on riding it. Nearly every day I saw a local man riding a green Bike Friday on the Mount Vernon Trail. He seemed perfectly contented with his. I noticed he had different handlebars. Mine are drop bars; his were flat bars.

In an effort to revive Little Nellie, I bought some flat bars. It made a remarkable difference in ride quality. For a while, that is. As my back aged, even the new bars were not enough to keep aches at bay. Over the last year or so, I rode Little Nellie for only about three percent of my miles. Basically, it was just taking up space.

I thought about selling the bike but there is not much of a market for Bike Fridays these days. Bike Fridays are designed to pack into a checkable suitcase to avoid oversize baggage charges. Now a days, many airlines treat bike boxes as a regular piece of luggage. Bike Friday also fold but there are better folding bikes like Dahons, Terns, and Bromptons.

Little Nellie before I changed the stem and lowered the seat.

I decided to try one more thing before giving up. I pulled the old, longer stem out of storage and put it on the bike. After doing this I compared the seat height to the seat height on my two other non-recumbent bikes. The Bike Friday’s seat was one-half to one-full inch higher. I lowered the seat a half inch.

I took the newly configured Little Nellie out for a 30-mile test ride. It rode great and didn’t make my back ache. The next day I rode it 15 miles to Friday Coffee Club. And back. Same result. On Saturday I did a 40-mile ride to and from the National Cathedral in DC. The Cathedral is the highest point in DC so this climb put Little Nellie to the test. No problem.

I woke up rather stiff this morning but still rode Little Nellie to Nationals Park for a ballgame. This was another 30 miler. No problem.

One thing I like about the Bike Friday is that its small wheels make it easy to maneuver in traffic. It turns and accelerates much better than a conventional bike. The small wheels also make the gearing lower which made the ride up to the Cathedral much less of a slog than usual. (I have often wondered why Green Gear, the makers of Bike Fridays, doesn’t make a non-folding version.)

So, long story short, I’ll be holding on to Little Nellie for a while longer. Until my back catches up to it again.

While all these shenanigans were going on, Little Nellie broke 26,000 miles.

Recent Doings

I haven’t been posting pictures lately so I thought I’d remedy that.

I was on my last test ride of the Streetmachine when a passing bicyclist on the Mount Vernon Trail asked if I had a pump. I did and after much struggle he had fixed his tire and was on his way.

Almost fixed!

A local homeowner has humorous road signs outside their house. Here’s this month’s sign.

My backup eyeglasses are falling apart it’s time to replace them.

Time to ditch the metal frames after 25 years or so.

My in-laws live in northern Indiana where you can get an awesome Italian beef sandwich. My wife and I recently were bemoaning the fact that you can’t get one anywhere near home. A day later I stopped for lunch at a deli in Alexandria’s Del Ray neighborhood. The special of the day was Italian beef.

Not bad.

A short-lived but very violent thunderstorm passed through our area the other day. Winds whipped through the trees and rain fell at times like it was poured out of buckets.

Two people were killed near my home when trees fell on their cars in separate incidents. Our power and cell service went out. We were literally in the dark and had no idea how much damage had been done. We feared a repeat of our experience with the derecho of 2012, when we lost power for ten days during a heat wave. Luckily our power came back on after a day. Our property was undamaged. Others were not so lucky. (My friend Reba’s shed took a direct hit from a tree fall. )

One part of the storm came straight up this road, Morningside Lane. The neighborhood to the left was a mess. A half mile behind me a car was crushed by a falling tree killing an occupant.
A widow maker hangs above the Mount Vernon Trail just yards from the fatal tree fall.
Just one of several unfortunate homes in Hybla Valley near US 1
The George Washington Memorial Parkway was closed for a few miles for storm clean up.

With the Streetmachine experiments done, I put the Catalyst pedals on Big Nellie, my long wheel base recumbent. They weren’t an improvement over my usual mountain bike pedals and Power Grips so I tried them on The Tank, my Surly CrossCheck. As the Catalyst manufacturer recommends, I lowered the saddle a half inch or so. It was a big improvement. I did a bike-about into DC and went by my friend Dave’s ghost bike. It’s a memorial placed where he was killed by the driver of a stolen van whose speed topped out at 74 miles per hour.

Dave was a vocal proponent of protected bike lanes. A few years after his death, the city redesigned the section of Florida Avenue NE where he was killed. The protected bike lanes serve two purposes. First, they give bicyclists a safe place to ride. Second, they effectively narrow the street making it harder to reach absurdly dangerous speeds.

Dave’s ghost bike next to the bike lane he should have had