Tag: blood donation

Down a pint

With warming weather, I am starting to bump up my mileage. On April 28 I managed 52 miles on Big Nellie. I chose the hilly route to Falls Church to buy some Halt pepper spray at a bike shop. It was closed. Derp.

I continued west to Vienna to see if Bikes at Vienna sold any. Nope. I did get to chat with the ever- loquacious Beth. She was dying to get her hands on Bike Nellie for service work, but that will have to wait until I wear out the chain later this year. She mention that she had a recent chat with Lawyer Mike, a loyal customer who is a regular at Friday Coffee Club. Mike bought an electric assist Hase Pino tandem. The front is a recumbent, the real conventional. Mike’s son is developly disabled so the bike allows them to go on weekend excursions. The son is the stoker, which means he sits up front on the recumbent half of the bike. Mike is the captain in back. It’s an amazing design and works great for them.

I had intended on continuing west of the W&OD trail to check out a new bridge over Wiehle Avenue in Reston but Beth told me it isn’t installed yet. So I headed back east. Not a half mile later Mike and his son passed me going west. (They stopped at Bikes at Vienna on their way to a milkshake place in Reston.) I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen someone I know on a bike in the last year.

Temperatures were unseasonably warm but I made it home in decent shape, making sure to take a swig of pickle juice to ward off leg cramps.

I did an easier 30-mile ride the next day, again on Big Nellie. I finished the month on Tuesday with a day off the bike and a blood donation at the Bloodmobile parked at the hospital down the street. Back at home, I set up my tent to make sure I remembered how to do it. I slept in it overnight. It rained. I stayed dry. I slept very deeply in three roughly two-hour stages. I guess the blood donation factored into that.

The weather on May 1 was perfect so I got on The Mule and headed out for what turned out to be a 52-mile ride from my house to Bethesda, Maryland and back. After emerging from the new tunnel under the Humpback Bridge on the Mount Vernon Trail, I noticed a couple of people standing around checking out some Canada geese. Among the adult geese were a handful of yellow-green goslings busily snarfing up grass. The first goslings of the year are always a welcome sight.

First goslings of 2023

I continued onward up the Capital Crescent Trail, stopping in Bethesda to snack on a few cookies I brought then I headed back, down Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park. The temperature was in the 80s but the shade in Rock Creek Park took the edge off the heat. Seeing all the green made me all but forget that stick season is barely over.

On my return, I crossed the Potomac River on the 14th Street Bridge. The ramp connects to the Mount Vernon Trail pretty much exactly were I saw the goslings. This time there were 20 of the fuzzy little critters being tended to by a pair of adult geese. As I stopped to enjoy the goings on, Miles, another Friday Coffee Clubber, came by on his electric-assist Brompton. What’s with these encounters? Miles was on his way home from work and he sped off south on the trail.

More goslings later on the day

After some gosling zen, I headed south as well. About four miles later I came upon a horrific scene on the adjacent George Washington Memorial Parkway. A crash had just occurred. (Miles passed the site before the crash and I arrived just after it.) A BMW was speeding north on the Parkway. The driver passed two cars in the right lane. The driver of the van had entered the Parkway from a perpendicular side street. Eye witnesses said the BMW was going “about 100 miles and hour”. It hit the van and sent the van airborne for what witnesses said seemed like three seconds before it landed on its roof on the Parkway. The BMW ended up upright in the wide median between the north and southbound lanes.

Insane crash aftermath

The force of the impact destroyed the front end of the van, sending parts, including the entire engine, off into the grass on my side of the roadway.

The engine and assorted other debris

The elderly driver of the van had been removed from the vehicle by passersby and was being attended to. He was in rough shape, but was conscious. A school-aged boy who had crawled out of the van was sitting on the grass about 20 yards away, surrounded by some super nice folks. He didn’t have a mark on him and seemed remarkably calm. (He complained to the ambulance crew that his back was sore but there were no surface injuries visible.)

It is amazing to me that no one was killed. (As far as I know, that is; the elderly driver, the boy’s grandfather, is in critical condition.)

The rest of the ride home was blessedly without incident.

Thursday I rode The Mule to a big box hardware store for some home repair supplies. I wanted to take it easy but the store was on top of a big hill so climbing was involved. After shopping, I went for an exploratory ride through Kingstowne and the Fort Belvoir areas The Kingstowne part of the trip was intended to avoid a brutal hill on the direct route to Fort Belvoir. The roundabout route I took cut the one big hill into three manageable ones.

It was hot and muggy during the ride. I drank all my fluids. At home I hit the floor to do my physical therapy exercises. When I went to stand up, the back of my left leg seized up with a humungous, very painful cramp. After it calmed down, I went straight to the kitchen for a shot of PJ.

Today I rode to and from Friday Coffee Club on only four hours of sleep. The weather was fantastic: 70 degrees and breezy. The pollen, however, was not. I had three coughing fits brought on by pollen coating the back of my throat. I used albuterol to calm my lungs and managed to ride home without incident. PJ was imbibed.

I was going to attend to a home repair project but the weather was perfect for napping on the deck and so I did.

Tomorrow I plan on riding 50 miles in the cold rain.

Thoughts on a Day Off

Errands Galore

It’s been 19 days and 488 miles since I took a day off from riding. I planned to take today off so I could donate blood. And so I did. I walked to the bloodmobile at the hospital down the street. I opted to give a unit of whole blood instead of a double red. The latter involves extracting twice as much hemoglobin. It’s not a big deal but I’d prefer not to feel like I’m living at altitude for the next week.

After my blood donation, I walked to the bank to get some cash. Oddly, getting cash is something that I used to do on a weekly basis but I use cash about as often as I use gasoline these days.

While at the bank I realized that I had neglected to get a t-shirt after donating blood. It’s not like a need another one but why not? So I walked back to the Bloodmobile to claim my prize.

I walked home and drove to the drug store to pick up a prescription. The pharmacy charged me $125 for a two-month supply of my asthma medication. Last month it charged me $112 for a one-month supply. I am not complaining about my good fortune but this is just another example of the inscrutability of the US medical system.

After the blood donation it was off to the barbershop to get a trim. I didn’t specify what I wanted so I got what I deserved, something close to a crew cut. It’ll grow back.

After a stop at home for lunch I drove to the voting place down the street and voted in the presidential primary. It was weird seeing only three names on the democratic ballot, two of whom have absolutely no chance whatsoever.

Seeing an octogenarian’s name on the ballot reminded me. It’s time for a nap.

Bridges and Blood

After completing my bicycling goals for the year, I decided to do some volunteering things. I haven’t done much volunteering mostly because my last several volunteering gigs were not a lot of fun. For example, there was the time I volunteered to staff a Bike-to-Work Day pit stop 1.5 miles from my house. It ended up involving 90+ miles of bicycling over three days to fetch and return handouts from an advocacy organization.

My volunteering gig this month was to help scrub the gunk off a wooden bridge on the Mount Vernon Trail. This effort is being spearheaded by the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail. The National Park Service of the U. S. Department of Interior owns and is supposed to maintain the trail but they have been grossly underfunded for many years. One needs only visit East and West Potomac Parks in DC to see evidence of this. There’s the collapsing sea wall that lines the Tidal Basin and Hains Point for a start. Then there is the Jefferson Memorial jersey barrier farm. A security perimeter was put in after 9/11 but they ran out of money to put in proper, permanent protection (as they did with the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument) so the Jefferson Memorial is surrounded by jersey barriers. America, if you want nice things, you have to pay for them.

End of rant.

The Friends have been working on removing kudzu that was obstructing sightlines on a bridge in Alexandria. Other efforts, more like the one that I volunteered for, involved clearing the gunk from wooden bridges on the trial in Alexandria and Arlington in preparation for the application of grip paint. (That appears to be what it is actually called.) The paint hopefully will keep bicyclists on the trail and out of the emergency room.

My first MVT bridge crash was on what is now called Bridge Number 1. This is the bridge closest to the Mount Vernon terminus of the trail. (There used to be a bridge even closer but it was so dangerous, the Congress ponied up money to re-route the bridge after the wife of a senator crashed on it. That same bridge also claimed Mrs. Rootchopper as a victim.)

Bridge Number 1 took me out in 1989. I suffered a smashed bike, a dislocated left knee cap, and a cut on my left forearm that went to the bone. Gross.

So volunteering for this effort was a no brainer. Plus it was only three miles from home. I think we did about 2 hours of work and one hour of portaging the tools and water in large heavy bladders to the bridge which was 1/2 mile from the nearest parking lot. Thankfully, the younger volunteers carried the water.

I applied oxygen bleach and scrubbed it in. A power washer was used to finish things off. The power washing was a bit of a Rube Goldberg affair. Water was poured into a multi-gallon bladder. Gravity pulled the water through a hose to the power washer. Somebody had to hold the bladder up. Somebody else had to constantly refill the bladder to allow for continuous operation of the power washer. Water is heavy. There was spillage. Long story short, several of us had wet pants by the end of the event.

Sam with bladder, Judd with washer, Josephine with jug for filling bladder

We did about half the bridge before we ran out of battery power. Good enough.

After three days of low mileage cycling, I took today off. Today was also the day our housecleaning service came so my wife and I cleared out. Normally, we go to a diner for breakfast but lately we haven’t been all that interested in biscuits and Covid so we both went over to the Bloodmobile at the hospital down the street and donated blood. My wife has donated gallons over the years but today was my first time. Other than some annoying administrative glitches the donation went smoothly.

I’ll do anything for a t-shirt

We each received a festive t-shirt that gives ugly Christmas sweaters a run for their money.

If you’d like to help with the Mount Vernon Trail efforts, you can make a donation here or sign up to volunteer here.

My next volunteering effort will involve removal of cookies and fudge from our kitchen. Something has to be done.

Happy holidays.

It Gets Harder at the Finish

In marathon running, the race is 26.2 miles long. The half way point is at 20 miles. That’s when the bear jumps on your back.

Riding 10,000 miles in a year has some resemblance. It seems the last 200 miles are going to have some challenges.

A New Route

We had terrific weather over the last three days so I banged out 111 miles. I discovered a new 41-mile out-and back ride that has lots to offer. It follows the Potomac Heritage Trail to Fort Washington National Park.

I ride 5 miles to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Then I go over the bridge and down a fun spiral ramp that takes me further down to a cove near National Harbor. Just before the harbor, I turn east through a corrugated steel tunnel and climb a half mile past the MGN casino complex and up Oxon Hill.

At the top, I bang a right on Oxon Hill Road and ride through three roundabouts. They do a good job of calming traffic and they make you feel like a little kid for some reason. Whee! There is an bike lane, sometimes protected, often with glass and other debris. (Not the greatest design but at least a B+ for effort.) After my rotary service, I take a right on Fort Foote Road for three miles of rolling suburb. This takes me back to Oxon Hill Road. A right turn begins a fast descent off the hill to Livingston Road where I take a right. This road isn’t very pleasant but I’m only on it for a mile or so when I take a another right onto Fort Washington Road. A half mile later the PHT turns right on Riverview Road for a tour of a pretty fine suburban neighborhood. Many of the homes face the Potomac River. (There are a few big houses down long access drives. I think they are safe houses or owned by mobsters. Feel free to check this out on your own.) I go past a marina and over Swan Creek.

Next it’s time for some golf. The PHT winds through a golf-based development for another mile or so before returning to Fort Washington Road where two short but challenging climbs bring me to the gates of Fort Washington Park. I ride to the fort and, if I am in the mood, take some time to check out the view of the river. (Fort Washington is directly across the river from Fort Hunt. Riders on the Mount Vernon Trail can get a good look at it.)

After reaching the fort, I retrace my steps. There are only a couple of nasty hills, one leaving the park, and one going back up Oxon Hill.

Beware the MVT

On Sunday I did my 35-mile route up to the Arlington Triangle, and back. About 26 miles of this ride are on trails. The 60-degree weather brought out all kinds of people making the ride truly annoying. Twice I came to a dead stop because traffic backed up behind a slow mover. Then there were the people who stopped and chatted on the trail. (Lovely day. Look at all the bikes. Those riders look upset. Can’t imagine why.) Must not kill. And there was the one guy walking his dog with a friend. He decided to do a crazy Ivan (a quick, no-look turn around into oncoming traffic). Something told me to be ready. Good thing I had my hands on my brakes.

I have come to expect that trail users who are chatting as they go filter out audible warnings from passing riders. That’s what happened in this case. I just missed taking Ivan out. He said he was sorry. Would have been a lot sorrier if I hadn’t been paying attention.

In Rosslyn I passed the site of a hotel implosion earlier in the day. It was an immense pile of rubble. I pulled over to the left to take a picture from the side of the trail. A pathlete zoomed by me without warning. I yelled “Passing on your left!” sarcastically.

Later the ride included getting stuck behind seven riders going at a crawl. (Try passing seven bikes at the same time.) During the delay we came to a cluster of people blocking the trail. It was a group of seven walkers. Three were blocking the left lane. Four had just crossed a busy road to our right. One of the four, a toddler, decided that now was a good time to flop on the ground and whine. With mom and dad distracted, their six year old was darting back and forth across the trail.

Once I cleared all this humanity, I found my self speeding along with a tail wind. The ride home was not half bad, except for the running of the tourists in Old Town Alexandria. The passage under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge just south of tourist central was scenic relief. (This picture was taken at the same time of day on Friday.)

Fed up with trail chaos, I left the trail and climbed the Park Terrace hill. This beast is exactly 20 yards higher than my legs will go. I stood and pounded away at the pedals. My thighs felt like they were on fire. All I had to do was to get past the parked Volvo at the top. Not gonna happen. I had to sit and use my granny. Dang.

The End of the Line

Today featured cold rain. We’re back to December. The last 100 miles will be tough. Tomorrow I’ll ride in 40- degree weather. I don’t wanna! Then we expect snow for Wednesday. After that I’ll pick and choose my last three days of cold riding. Temps will top out around 40 for the remainder of the week. Nothing like having a polar bear on your back.

Barring a catastrophe (don’t laugh, it happened three years ago), I should be at 10,000 miles by Sunday or Monday. On Saturday, I am joining the indefatigable Judd Lumberjack who is organizing volunteer work crews to do maintenance on the Mount Vernon Trail. Our assignment is to clean and nail down boards on infamous Bridge No. 1. I crashed on this bridge about 30 years ago. I cut my arm to the bone, dislocated my left knee, and nearly destroyed my bike. Vengeance will be mine.

Next up, on December 23, I am going to the Bloodmobile down the street to donate blood. Maybe I can throw them a clot or two. In all seriousness, I am ashamed to say that I’ve never donated before. I picked a good time to donate because I think they give a covid antibody test to all donors. Can bears get covid? Seems only fair.