Category: #bikedc

A busy week

It’s been a busy week:

  • Four medical appointments (endocrine system, eyes, teeth, skin), two indoor bike rides on Big Nellie, two outdoor bike rides on Little Nellie, a visit to the gym, five yoga sessions (on my own) (Did I mention I hate yoga.) A return to meditation after several months. One WABA event followed by a WABA happy hour. And Friday Coffee Club. Also, I stealthily bought Mrs. Rootchopper flowers for Valentines Day. And we went out to dinner.
  • I started doing yoga again because my body is a wreck. I suspect part of the reason it is a wreck is that I’ve gained about 20 pounds since last summer. My left knee, hip, lower back, and arm are all messed up. And very painful. My thighs feel like they are made out of concrete. So the yoga I am doing is very basic and emphasizes freedom of movement. My routine also includes PT exercises for iliotibial band syndrome (which I think may be behind the knee and hip pain) and runner’s calf stretches. I’ll give it another week before I go to my doctor and raise a white flag of surrender. The last thing I want to do is get on the medical hampster wheel again.

Next week promises to be busy as well.

  • A CT scan (as part of the endocrinology thing) on Monday at 7:30
  • A bike ride at 9:30 on Monday (I’ll probably miss the start because it’s in DC)
  • Breakfast with Mrs. Rootchopper at a diner on Thursday, an every other week thing.
  • The Hains Point 100/Bike DC 3rd Thursday happy hour. (This coincides with my friend Rachel’s trio playing at a local eatery. Sad face. Gonna miss it.)
  • Friday Coffee Club

I suppose I could be cavorting in Antarctica or Munich or some other far away land. But I’ll leave that to the young folk for now.

In a couple of weeks, the Crystal City Garage Bike Races begin. If you are in DC and want a cheap (i.e. free) night out, you should come.

 

Tour Planning 2019

  • Warm weather and improving health have nudged me to start thinking about a tour.
  • I went to Friday Coffee Club and talked to Felkerino about the Sierra Cascades Adventure Cycling Route. He said it was not a climbing hellscape, had lots of services, and is very pretty.
  • So I just sat down and mapped out a tour using Adventure Cycling’s interactive route map.
    • Take Amtrak to Chicago (I’ve ridden across Ohio and Indiana enough, thank you.)
    • Ride Bike Route 66 from Chicago to Marshfield MO. (Basically this is in west central MO.)
    • Hang a right and take the Trans America Route west from Marshfield to Pueblo CO.
    • Take the Western Express Route from Pueblo through the Rockies, the canyons of Utah, and the basin and range terrain of Nevada to Alpine Village CA, near the southern end of Lake Tahoe.
    • Switch to the Sierra Cascades Route north to Sisters OR.
    • Switch back to the Trans America Route and head west from Sisters to the Oregon Coast.
    • Ride from the coast to Portland and fly home.
  • This tour would be 3,700 miles long. That’s 600 miles shorter than last year. This one is considerably hillier and hotter, though. I guess I could do it in 65 days.
  • If I were feeling spunky, I could ride down to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. This would add 300 miles and a week. Also, a side trip into Bryce Canyon would take a couple of days.

 

Lost and Found – Adventures in Early Onset Dementia

Lost

Another springlike day in DC demanded that I go for a ride. Having just achieved a mileage milestone on my Cross Check, I switched hosses and pulled Little Nellie, my Bike Friday New World Tourist, from the shed. I was all set to go when I remembered that I needed to bring a lock.

I looked.

And looked.

And looked.

No lock.

WTF

I’ve had the same Kryptonite black U-lock for ages. In fact, in 2004 when Kryptonite’s old key/lock mechanism was found to be hackable with a Bic Pen, I sent in my old lock for this one.

So we’ve been together for 14+ years.

After 30 minutes I gave up, grabbed the lock off the Cross Check and headed out.

Found

A few month ago I bought new brake levers for Little Nellie.. The levers were more comfortable than the old ones and I was pretty happy until I rode a few hundred miles with them. My back was screaming at me. The brake hoods (the part your hands rest on) on the new levers are about an inch longer than the old ones. In order to use the brakes I had to stretch out my lower back, which is a bad thing even if you’re a yogi (which I ain’t). It’s even worse when your missing a disc in your spine (like I yam).

Now, Bike Fridays have little wheels and little wheels do not absorb road shock like bike wheels. The jolt of every bump went right to my lower back.

Ow.

Shortly after buying the bike, I bought a second stem for it. (The stem is a long piece of tubing that connects the headset to the handlebars.) This stem was shorter. So I figured I’d just swap out the shorter stem to compensate for the longer brake hoods.

It must be here somewhere….

I looked.

And looked.

And looked.

No stem.

WTF

In order to ride the bike I had to rotate the handlebars to bring the brake hoods closer to me. This meant that the shift levers which stick out of the ends of the handlebars would be farther away. And with the brake hoods leaning backward, the brake levers rotate upward making for very awkward braking ergonomics.

As I rode Little Nellie today, I contemplated this less-than-ideal set up. I all but decided to call Bike Friday and order another short stem.

Then, as if I were tapped on my shoulder, I thought about the suitcase that I bought for this bike. I wondered if my short stem was in the suitcase. When I got home, I opened the suit case and

Voila!

There was my short stem swaddled in bubble wrap.

I figure if I wait a few months, I’ll remember where I put that lock….

We interrupt this winter…

I rode 32 miles today. In shorts. It was 70 degrees F during the ride.

I’ll take it.

Oh, and this happened.

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My Cross Check went all Nigel Tufnel and turned 11.

Time to put this bike away for a while and switch to one of the others.

Tonight was the State of the Union Address. No mention was made of the most important event on the horizon: Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a week.

 

 

Do hips lie?

On our first day in London we walked about 8 miles. My left side was a wreck. My back, my hip and knee all screamed with pain. Same after days 2 and 3. Then I switched shoes and things got better.

I haven’t done any long walks since. So today, to take a break from riding in the basement, I went for a long walk. (My iPhone said it was 6.1 miles but my bike and car odometers put it at 8.)

I used a third pair of shoes, some low rise hiking shoes with no orthotic insoles. After a mile, my lower left back started to tighten. That’s pretty normal for me these days. After five miles my left hip felt a little tender.

The last half mile was Day 1 in London all over. My left hip and knee were on fire. I could barely get up the steps in to the house. My left leg wouldn’t flex.

I took some ibuprofen and got comfy on the couch. After an hour or two, I got up and did some iliotibial band stretches. They seemed to loosen things back up.

I quit stretching during my 2018 bike tour. I did get hot spots on my left hip and some lower back soreness, mostly when I was climbing for hours on end. On a number of occasions, while walking, my left hip seemed to pop out of joint for a split second.

One unexpected benefit to not stretching was the fact that I became more flexible. I could change clothes in my tent with ease. So I continued to avoid stretching even after getting home.

Looks like I’m going to have to start up again. (I might even pull out the old yoga book that I’ve used in the past, if for no other reason than to give me a routine to follow.)

My left knee has been wonky for decades but this left hip thing is relatively new. I’m going to give it a month. I will test it once a week or so with long–ish walks. I’d like to do some hiking this summer so fingers crossed….

Feels like we’ve crested the hill

January, here’s your hat. What’s your hurry?

For the second year in a row January involved recuperation. This year it was from four bouts of head colds. (I’m almost completely recovered. Knock wood.) And I took a week off life to travel to London to watch my daughter get her diploma from the graduate school at King’s College. And see sights and walk over 40 miles and eat foods. Sadly, the shitty air circulation and leg room on the British Airways flights has made me dread getting on a plane again in this lifetime.

I did do some riding, but it was my lowest mileage month since December 2017. I finished the month with 381 miles. 241 of that was on my Cross Check outdoors. The rest was on Big Nellie in the basement.

Now that the polar vortex has had its way with us, I look forward to getting some serious miles in during February. And to turning my attention to getting my bikes fixed up.

Being sick for over three weeks has made it hard to care about warm weather bike touring. (No, Jessica, you will not see me roll up to your apartment in Buenos Aires next month. But keep bugging me. You never know. Nothing stops an old gringo on a bicycle.)

Today, Cyclosource, the catalogue from Adventure Cycling, came in the mail. It contains the complete Adventure Cycling U.S. route network. And once again the little squeaky planning wheels in my brain are turning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Germliner aftermath

Last January I lazed around the house trying to re-inflate my collapsed lung and waiting for my pulmonary embolisms to dissolve. Since then I have read numerous accounts from friends who knew someone who died from PEs. Every time I read about one of these people I shudder.

This January I have had a head cold off and on for three weeks. The first one came and went in three days. I didn’t miss a beat. The second one did the same. I felt fine when I boarded the flight to London, only to arrive in England with a horrible head cold. After four days, it went away. Then I boarded another British Airways Germliner home. I have been sick for three days. You know I am sick when the temperature outside is 50 degrees F and I sleep through the entire day.

I know that if I wait a week my cold will probably go away, but tomorrow I am raising the white flag and calling my doctor. No mas.

Wovel and Ride

I woke up yesterday feeling quite a bit better. I took it easy and rode my Cross Check 18 flat and easy miles in the 30 degree cold. The cold air helped my sinuses immensely. My hands, however, were frozen into claws. Maybe next time I’ll use those chemical hand warmers. Doh.

I woke up today feeling better still. This was a good thing since it had snowed overnight and there was shoveling to do.

I spent about 90 minutes with my wovel (a big shovel on an even bigger wheel) and a conventional snow shovel. A kindly neighbor plowed the sidewalk in front of my house.

The snow was what we called in my childhood days growing up in upstate New York “good packing”. Ideal for snowballs and snowmen.

Last year when it snowed, I watched Mrs. Rootchopper do the shoveling. I stayed inside feeling feeble, a result of pulmonary embolisms and a collapsed lung

Before
After

 

With pavement clear and cars liberated, I went inside.

I spent another 80 minutes in the basement riding Big Nellie, my Tour Easy long wheelbase recumbent, on a resistance trainer. While riding I read a chunk of Presidents of War, a new book by Michael Beschloss.

After a 30 minute nap I awoke to find my cold completely gone. Better still my legs feel springy for the first time in weeks.

While I was underground, it started snowing again. Now the snow is big, puffy flakes. It’s picture pretty outside. I’ll venture out again in an hour or two.

 

Shutdown of another sort

In apparent sympathy with federal government employees and contractors, my body has shut down. Three days ago I came down with a nasty head cold. I can’t remember when I’ve been sick for more than a day so I suppose I was due. The head cold coincided with my legs feeling like lead. I think two years and 20,000 miles of riding, much of it without any stretching whatsoever, has finally maxed them out.

I hope to be back on the bike for a few hours before tomorrow evening’s predicted snowstorm. With snow on the ground, I’ll probably be riding Big Nellie in the basement for a few days before I give my bike legs a planned full week of R&R. After that, I’ll turn my attention to the business of summer tour planning. Once the weather turns warmer, I’ll be itching to ride somewhere where the purple mountains rise.

Twice to the end

A Ride with Heather and Daniel

My friend Heather sent me an email the other day asking if I’d like to do a ride on the Mount Vernon Trail to take advantage of the nice weather and her furlough. And so I found myself riding my Surly Cross Check up to DC to meet her at the Capital Crescent Trail beneath Key Bridge in Georgetown.

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Heather brought her friend Daniel, an ultramarathoner and rider of a 29er (a mountain bike with big wheels and front suspension). Heather rode her aluminium Specialized Sequoia which bears absolutely no resemblance to the Mule, my 1991 steel Specialized Sequoia. (Specialized recycles it’s bike names, apparently.)

We began by walking up stairs to get from the underside of Key Bridge to the roadway atop it. Across the Potomac we rode. I stopped before turning onto the Mount Vernon Trail to point out the Intersection of Doom, the bicycle counter, and the glass and steel ick that is today’s Rosslyn.

Down we rode to the trail and across Trollheim, the sketchy boardwalk under the TR Bridge. We came to the staging area of the Memorial Bridge reconstruction project and were delayed by a tractor trailer backing its load onto a barge in the river.

Down by the airport we stopped to admire the planes landing at National Airport. I broke the news to a dismounting cyclist that the porta potties were padlocked shut thanks to the government shutdown. I explained that in order to keep rapists and drug dealers out of the country park users must pee our pants. The cyclist who was by now doing the pee pee dance hit me with a right cross.

On we rode to Old Town were we stopped to admire the hulk of the decommissioned coal fired power plant.

Further south I explained how the fake arches of the Woodrow Wilson bridge were put together. Then it was down the trail past Porto Vechio were an SUV driver failed to stop at the red light and nearly hit me as she turned right  onto the Parkway. Having been hit here once before under nearly identical circumstances at this intersection, I hit my brakes and STOP!! I do wish Alexandria would change this to a no right on red intersection.

As we rode south I pointed out a bald eagle perched in a tree across the road. We made our way through Belle Haven Park then along the edge of Dyke Marsh where I pointed out the nests on the Haul Road and along the trail just south of Tulane Drive.

The gradual climb up to the stone bridge took us by another nest, this one near Morningside Drive.

We continued on the trail with Daniel taking the lead. Despite having sore feet and knobby tires he set a healthy pace. We came to the nasty switchback hill south of Waynewood Boulevard and everyone slowed to wobble a bit.

The ride to Mount Vernon was pretty and uneventful. We are all pretty tired once we reached the top of the hill at the end of the trail. Heather’s husband Rulon appeared as we were about to lock up our bikes. Heather treated us to lunch at the food court.

After lunch I led the descent back toward DC. As we passed Fort Hunt Park I pointed out the big eagle nest across the Parkway. When we got to the stone bridge, I bid Heather and Daniel good bye and headed for home. I finished with 41 1/2 miles on my odometer, my longest ride since Veterans Day.

The Puzzle from Hell

This year we decided to go low key for Christmas. No tree. No presents (we all cheated a bit). Just a few decorations, a shitload of junk food, some board games, and, a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle has been on our dining room table for over a week. I swear it was taunting us in our sleep. Looking at it day after day made me see jigsaw pieces as I rode my bike around.

Jigsaw puzzles make you appreciate how painters take what we see and how our brains translate that vision and distill it into bits of paint. That white dot in the puzzle piece is a headlight. The splash of white on the leaf is the reflection of a street light. The black line is the shadow beneath a piece of trim on a building.

Today I finished the painting. The push to the finish involved re-placing a couple of dozen pieces that had been improperly positioned. I laid 999 pieces together and realized the last piece, on the upper left side of the puzzle, didn’t fit! After 10 minutes of puzzle inspection I found a piece of the right side that was misplaced, switched them, and voila! Done.

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I am doing the puzzle in the middle of the day because I woke up with a head cold. Reason enough to lay about in sweatshirt and sweatpants and eat some chicken soup.

Now to bed….