Photos From the Saddle

After yesterday’s long ride, I felt as though I’d earned some lazy-time and indulgence… so I ordered a pizza and rode to the grocery store to grab a beer to help wash it down. Along the way back, I spotted the glove… but I didn’t have my camera with me. Fortunately, I wasn’t too far from home, so I grabbed the camera and rode back to nab the shot. Something tells me that I went a little beyond the “call of duty” in this case…

It’s difficult to see, but the guy was flying a RC helicopter a few feet above him, over the road. It’s the little yellow and orange dots in the pic. It was slightly odd riding beneath it, which was the only option… visions of the engine suddenly cutting out and the little rotor blades chopping me to pieces may or may not’ve crossed my mind.

After getting home from work, having driven to the station, I was thinking a ride was in order… though I didn’t know how long of a ride I was in the mood for. So I just set out riding. It turned into a very pleasant almost-30-miles.

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~Herbert Spencer

It’s hard to believe that by this point last year, I’d already logged almost a thousand miles. To compare, I’m at a little more than half that now. Honestly, though, I’m okay with the disparity. While I’m certainly not as strong as I was, I feel a lot more relaxed… if that makes sense. I do know that I want to start doing longer rides—commuting is fine and all, but I’m itching for those days with many hours are spent in the saddle… where you run the full gamut of feeling strong, weak and then that weird middle ground that exists for a while before you really hit The Wall.

In mathematics you don’t understand things. You just get used to them. ~Johann van Neumann

A quick note about the quotes… I thought the gloves were getting kind of lonely and sometimes I’m not inclined to write about them, finding them, pondering them, etc. So… quotes. Random quotes.

To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can. ~Sydney Smith

A hint of burning wood is hanging in the air, which seems out of place… campfires feel like summer and fall more than spring.

Commuted on the Double Cross today, carrying the mostly-fixed Karate Monkey wheel in to work. I didn’t have high hopes for the wheel and the shop didn’t come through as well as I’d hoped. Even still, I enjoyed re-over-engineering the lashing of the wheel to my pack and had a rather leisurely ride to the train.

A fairly gusty wind served as both a head- and crosswind in the afternoon, making things slightly more entertaining. I will say this, though… The Fear hasn’t quite worked itself out and I find myself riding a bit more… gingerly… on the DC.

The city has been doing some pothole patchwork after “finding” a couple million dollars in their budget… though something tells me that this fix won’t last terribly long.

Weather was great Friday and Saturday, which was convenient since I’d finally replaced the pedal on the Double Cross. I hadn’t ridden in 3 days, but the little spinning I did Friday felt blissful. Saturday was an errand day of sorts, and I thoroughly enjoyed over-engineering the securing of the KM wheel to my pack. It worked great, and the shop owner got a chuckle out of the setup once I got there, mentioning that he once saw a guy carrying a complete bicycle strapped onto his backpack.

That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The first of  another pair I saw, though they were fairly well spread out.