Blog

Great Break Up Lines

If you’re gonna go, go in style.

5) Sorry not Sorry:

“So often times it happens, that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key” … “But me, I’m already gone”

4) Honorable Mention:

“I know it’s a shame, but I’m giving you back your name.”

3) 3rd Place:

“The love we knew ain’t worth another try.”

2) 2nd Place:

“If there’s one thing in my life that’s missing, it’s the time that I spend alone.”

“I know it may sound selfish, but let me breathe the air.”

1) 1st Place:

“It’s just that I, I’m not in the market for a boy who wants to love only me.”

“Yes, and I ain’t sayin’ you ain’t pretty, all I’m sayin’s I’m not ready
for any person, place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me.”

“We’ll both live a lot longer If you live without me.”

Sleetless in Seattle (aka 2nd Annual “Triple Chilly Jam”)

First CCBC ride of 2019

“Good Morning” at 3pm

Most every ride I do starts in the morning. And many of those rides last into the afternoon. This creates a need to be aware of the time so that you can update your greetings for fellow cyclists, knowing when to correctly change from “Good Morning” to “Good Afternoon.”

Motivated mostly by laziness, but also a bit by bragging/ego/pride, I’d like to propose a greeting convention for cyclists. A cyclist’s greeting to other cyclists should be based on when that cyclist started their ride. So, if a ride starts in the morning, then you just keep right on saying “Good Morning” until you’re done riding, even if that’s 3pm.

Then, for those awesome century plus rides (or, better yet, a solstice ride), you can beam with pride as you yell “Good Morning” to a fellow rider at 7pm.

Steal the candy part of this lollipop ride | Ride | Strava

Self-Conscious Pedaling

“I’d recognize that ass anywhere,” is hardly what anyone is expecting to hear yelled out from behind them. The best possible outcome from that situation is that the person saying it is a fellow riding teammate of yours, because we do, after all, spend a lot of our time drafting in a pace line.

So I was relieved to discover my teammate Jason was who had said that. But as we got to talking, I realized I had heard him wrong. He had actually said, “I’d recognize that knee anywhere,” and went on to tell me about how my pedal stroke has a “hitch” in it where every few revolutions my left knee goes out to the side irregularly.

We parted ways a few miles later, but the rest of the ride I kept catching myself staring down at my legs trying to see what he was talking about.

I’ve got enough issues to obsess about … I don’t need another. 🙂

Double Shot of Jason | Ride | Strava

Sustained Strava

Atomic Habits (from James Clear) are all about manageably-sized habits that can be performed consistently. There is, indeed, joy in repetition (from Prince). After spending a year tracking 20 different atomic habits with pretty sensational results, I started the new year in search of another 4-5 to add to my tracking.

The afternoon of New Year’s Day, Charu and I met up with our neighbors, Tristan and Elaine, for a neighborhood walk. Tristan is one of my ccbc bike crew, and we were lamenting the crappy roads that were keeping us from venturing out on 2 wheels. The conversation turned to the need to “supplement with virtual,” which is when it dawned on me that the real attraction in all the riding (and hiking and walking and kayaking, for that matter) is being outdoors. So then, ding, I had just found another habit to add:

Daily outdoor Strava activity at least 30 minutes in length.

Typically I don’t share the habit with others until I’ve gotten into a groove with it, to make sure I didn’t choose poorly (from Indiana Jones). But this is a bit of a stretch, so I think putting it out there at the start will help seal my commitment level. Now call me on it (preferably before 11:30pm, so I have time to make amends) if you don’t see a Strava posting on a given day.

If all goes well, Tristan and Elaine and Charu and I will be walking together on Day 365 … New Year’s Eve 2023 … in Chelan!

1/365 (??? … !!!): New Year’s Repetitions | Walk | Strava

Sunrise to Sunset on the Solstice

Loving the endurance aspect of riding, in 2016 I decided to attempt to ride from sunrise to sunset on the longest day of the year. What came from that attempt was a new tradition, where both Solstices of the year would be spent in the saddle from sunrise to sunset. But as the years have gone by, I came to realize that this was a half good idea in need of some revision. Here’s how that unfolded:

  1. Summer 2016: (Half) Summer Solstice Ride | Ride | Strava – made it a century before having a day-ending mechanical
  2. Winter 2016: Sunrise to Sunset (Winter Solstice Edition) | Ride | Strava – Success #1
  3. Summer 2017: Summer Solstice … Success!! | Ride | Strava – Success #2
  4. Winter 2017: Winter Solstice ’17 | Ride | Strava – Success #3
  5. Summer 2018: 1000mi in 2wks, Day 6: Summer Solstice Ride | Ride | Strava – Success #4 – and still my top solstice ride ever
  6. Winter 2018: 5.67 x S2SS | Ride | Strava – Success #5 — and first Gravel solstice
  7. Summer 2019: Sixth Straight Successful Solstice | Ride | Strava – Success #6
  8. Winter 2019: Screw, Sogginess, Slide Stopped Seventh Straight Solstice Short | Ride | Strava – came up short, wrecking my Solstice streak, and planting a seed to be reflected upon a year later
  9. Summer 2020: Whipping the Solstice | Ride | Strava – Summer Success #4 (see what I did there?) – and successfully recruited more of my crew to join me for parts of it
  10. Winder 2021: Social Solstice | Ride | Strava – Success, but with an incredibly crappy finish. Combining that with last Winter Solstice’s experience, I ended that ride write-up with this foreshadowing: “I’m considering rethinking my ‘think of Pop’ tradition for Winter Solstice. Maybe a long walk and the rest of the day in the shop would work?”
  11. Summer 2021: Solstice (Observed) | Ride | Strava – Summer Success #5 – with three fellow CCBCers to make this epic ride (50% gravel / 50% paved) possible.

Which brings us to Winter 2021: A new way to remember Pop, and more in line with the “Season of Giving,” I spent the day in my workshop building things for other people. I built a new landing & staircase for my in-laws’ garage, and then I prototyped a cabinet addition for Charu.

When Pop would work in the shop, he would often have news radio playing in the background, so I did the same. It was fitting that I stumbled upon the “Gee & Ursula Show” when Gee was talking about “what legacy do you want to leave?” (Gee Scott’s ‘Leaving A Legacy’ Podcast begins January 4th – YouTube) He talked about that focus coming from his father, and said, “fathers help us go farther.” Indeed, I was in a shop where everything I was doing I had learned directly from my father, and that was enabling me to help others.

So, bike for summer solstice and build for winter solstice. I think I’m on to something even better. And with next year (crossing fingers) Winter Solstice being in very cold Chelan, I’ll be celebrating being in a woodstove-warmed workshop building something for the Chelan community while it most likely snows outside. And my son Drew has already signed up to help me. Working on my legacy, Gee!

Happy New Year!

Less Diamonds, More Stars

Inspired by two separate events on today’s ride … and a related experience earlier this week, I’m loving the places where the DOT (Department of Transportation) has painted dotted lines at intersections to help guide cars. It works so well, in fact, that I’d like to request they be standard issue at intersections. I think that would universally help left turners from ending up in the path of oncoming cars on their destination street.

Diamonds here are bad. The person turning left is at the very least restricting the car to their left from turning right. And, at worst, they end up coming across the lane so that the oncoming car has to stop short of the intersection to not hit them.
Very pointy stars here are beautiful. No surprises for the oncoming cars on the road you’re turning onto.

I have paint. I may test this in our neighborhood first. Shhhh, our little secret. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Water Renews | Ride | Strava

Never Escalate

It doesn’t matter how in-the-right you are and how in-the-wrong the other party is. Take the higher ground and don’t add fuel to the fire. That goes double when you’re on a bike and the other party is in a car.

I had an inconsiderate driver cut me off. I chose to get up right behind him and duck down so I could glare at him in his rear view mirror. Traffic slowed ahead which brought him to a stop. At this point, he had established himself more correctly in the lane so that I could swerve around him using the shoulder. But wet leaves made it slippery and I had to use the hood of his car to keep my bike upright. Bang went my hand. A quarter mile up the road, he buzzed me at pretty high speed.

Escalating isn’t worth it. Just give the inattentive and inconsiderate more space, so that you can keep pedaling along, today and tomorrow.

Remember Why I Retreat | Ride | Strava

WWDD?

What Would Danny (MacAskill) Do?

As we ventured deep into AZ backcountry, we encountered more and more obstacles. Eventually, as we approached each obstacle, we began asking “What Would Danny Do to creatively surmount the obstacle?” Clearly we have a ways to go in our skills development, because I’m pretty sure the answer to that question for the gate we encountered is “Not This!”

Cue Meatleaf | Ride | Strava

Ten Fifty Eight | Ride | Strava