Overheard as I was riding along the Cross Kirkland Connector today.
Boy: “Mommy, I’m getting that feeling in my legs again.”
Mom: “Just keep pedaling.”
I gave her a big smile, gave a supportive “crank it” motion with my arm as I passed her, saying, “Pedal through it.”
After my last success with Spotify’s Group Session feature with my VT Crew (from People Playlists), today I dropped a picture of me on my ride in the group chat with a Group Session link, and then invited them to “DJ My Ride.”
I said, “I’m starting with my Surreywood playlist. But I don’t need to stay there. Listen to these early MTV songs and add what other tunes they remind you of.”
It made for great surprises as I was riding along.
Next time I’ll have to include the link to my garmin livetrack so they can see when I’m approaching climbs and pep the music up accordingly.
This week’s recharge ride was a shorter solo ride to wrap up a busy week. The playlist I put on was “VT Crew,” (see People Playlists) because my friend group from Virginia Tech was front and center on my mind after helping some family friends for the last few weeks.
VT Crew is a group of friends, about of half of us went to high school together in Richmond, and the rest were college additions. This group survived the many trials of college, and has further survived the test of time, as evidenced by our occasional reunions (the last one in 2018 when most of us were hitting the 50 landmark) and by our ongoing “VT Crew” text thread.
When I took my son to tour colleges, I remember a guide saying “you can make a big college small, but you can’t make a small college big.” I nodded vigorously, thinking of my VT Crew. That is exactly what they did, at a state college of 25,000 students. The bigness of VT meant it had a lot to offer and a lot for us to be exposed to and to learn. But my VT Crew brought the smallness. The closeness. The laughs during the highs. And the support during the lows.
I can’t imagine high school and college without this group. The lowest point in my life came in the fall semester of my sophomore year at college. And that exactly coincided with the period that I was most detached from this group.
We have been helping family friends whose son is struggling in college. And everything I heard about his situation reminded me of my sophomore year. He’s half a country away from his family, and I’m encouraging him to lean on his friends at school. They can be the safety net that catches you.
VT Crew, I love you all! And I am ever grateful for the bond we have. 🤗💗
I love grouping music into meaningful collections. I have too many playlists in Spotify to count. So many, in fact, that I’ve come to group the playlists by the following themes:
Theme #4 is what I want to talk about here: People. I can measure the closeness of an individual to me based on how many of “their songs” have made it into “my playlists.” And in that regard, I have a healthy number of people close to me to have given me very broad musical tastes.
Chronologically:
Last night was a fun reminder of this music influence coming from the people you’re close to. My boys Drew and Luke were home for spring break and we went to the Kraken hockey game. Early in the second period, at a break in the action, the house DJ put on Run DMC’s “It’s Tricky.” The three of us were bouncing and singing away … and ended up on the Jumbotron for all to appreciate the beauty of a father and his two sons rapping together.
(I will be reaching to the arena to see if I can get a copy of that footage 🙂)
From Defy the Weather … Provoke the Weather | Ride | Strava:
I was feeling especially weather-oblivious today, and that was reinforced by the first song that played on my 2wheels playlist: Sometimes, by James:
There’s a storm outside, and the gap between crack and thunder
Crack and thunder, is closing in, is closing in
The rain floods gutters, and makes a great sound on the concrete
On a flat roof, there’s a boy leaning against the wall of rain
Aerial held high, calling “come on thunder, come on thunder”
Love that image!! I was smiling for the full 50 today.
When I got home, I pulled up the lyrics and video for that song. The video is awesome, with the band playing in a rough sea. And as he sings the above line, there’s this “bring it on” / “lean in” pose:
Unfortunately, no single frame of that video captures the full pose, so let me leverage one of my favorite uses of that same pose:
And an honorable mention for this usage, because it was, in fact, real!
I remember the feeling of complete satisfaction I felt in college the first time I completely disassembled my drivetrain, cleaned it, repacked the hubs, and reassembled it. I loved the sense of understanding the machine I was using.
After college, I returned to riding in 2004. That was when we had two kids and my time was a bit more spoken for. So all bike cleanings came as part of a servicing package the local bike shop would perform.
Until last week …
Here’s the photo summary, accompanied by some alternate lyrics 😀.
“Squeaks Like Violence, Break the Silence” – Depeche Mode
On last week’s ride, I heard a “different” sound, and that had me thinking “when is the last time I did a tune up?” which then immediately went to “oh no, I _need_ to replace the chain.” Thankfully I caught it before it was over-worn,
“Shiny Happy Drivetrain Running Fast” – R.E.M.
Today’s >16mph avg was effortless … and given how much gunk I scrubbed off of these babies, I discovered one ingredient in my previous slower pace. I’m switching to “dry” lube only … the “wet” attracts way too much bad stuff.
“That will be the return to yourself. The return to competence.” – Enigma
On rides where I’m bringing music, I don’t start the music right away. The first 10 minutes are spent with me listening to the bike to make sure everything sounds in order. On my first ride on Verse after this cleaning, I realized that 30 minutes had gone by while I was listening.
“You Hear That?”
“Hear what?”
“Exactly!!”
Literally, a well-oiled machine.
Riding with a good number of our crew, such that my “audible warning” to pedestrians/bikers we were approaching was “On your left; four bikes.”
At one point, as we were passing a couple of pedestrians after giving that warning, one of the walkers said, “It’s for pedestrians, too.”
I resisted yelling back, “f o u r, four” for fear of them only hearing “f” and “u”.
One of my bike crew pinged the group thread saying, “weather outside is pretty nasty; what do people think about meeting up for a Zwift ride”. I responded, “WWOO (Weather Whatever, Outdoors Only)“.
This has become my mantra. I tried Peloton for about 9 months in 2021. And in the end, I never had a ride feel anywhere near as satisfying as riding outdoors. My teammates do a good amount of indoor training, and I do wish it worked for me, because I see how quickly they can develop. But for me, I’m discovering that the main motivations for biking are the outdoors and the exploration.
So I’ll continue to ride slow and happy.
Harder, Faster, Louder … Blisser | Ride | Strava
The harder I worked, the faster I rode, and the louder the tunes (“VT Crew” playlist was a good choice), the more oblivious I was to the unfun weather around me.
I didn’t even realize I was completely saturated until I started shedding my layers in the garage. Mission Accomplished!
Was listening to The Bodeans “Good Things” on the ride today. And it occurred to me that they have bad grammar in their lyrics:
No, no, no, don’t pass me over
No, no, no, don’t pass me by
See, I can see good things for you and I
Yeah, good things for you
That should be you and me. Since a rhyme is involved, here are my replacement lyrics:
No, no, no, don’t pass me over
No, no, no, English is easy
See, I can see good things for you and me
Yeah, good things for you
Bodeans, you’re welcome.
My shadow was in the lead for the first half of the ride.
But I took the lead for the more crucial second half.
