Gimme a Sign…

I love riding my bike in the country…way too much stop and go in town…even one as small as mine…there are still stop signs and traffic signals…even if there isn’t any traffic…

So…I hightail it to the country back roads…just as fast as my little feet can pedal me…there’s such a sense of freedom…little traffic…few houses…but…also…a very limited number of pit stops…

Now…for me…pit stops are vital…when Nature calls…I need to answer…and…at my age…it seems…Nature…has me on speed dial…if you know what I mean…geez…

On what I call my…go-to…rides…I usually have a country store where I know…I can stop…use the facilities…buy a little something…take a little break…and be on about my business…no problem…

Except…sometimes…I vary my route…there’s nothing worse than being 10 miles from home…with Nature calling…and nowhere to go…

Trust me…I know…because it happened to me…just like that…not sure if I’d gone further that day…or if it was just…one of those days…but…there I was…in the middle of almost nowhere…and I needed to go…bad…that’s when I noticed…a small country Church…and although…it was on a corner lot…between two country roads…it had a very big HVAC unit…big enough to hide a middle aged biker…with a full bladder…

I must admit…I felt rather guilty…blasphemous…even…what would God think…if I defiled…literally…His…Holy Ground…but…it was one of those situations…it was gonna be easier to ask for forgiveness…than permission…and…there was no way…I could pedal back home…it just wasn’t happening…

Reticently…I did what I had to do…leaned the bike…against the building…headed around the HVAC unit…and there…as big as you please was…a…shiny…white…porcelain…toilet…just sitting there…like it was waiting for me…I kid you not…it was there…

No…I didn’t use it…honestly…as much as I would have loved to…I was afraid to open the lid…for fear of what was in there…the old song lyrics…I don’t like spiders and snakes…came to mind…but…I did take it as a sign from above…that all was well…all was forgiven…at least…this once…

And…once…was all I needed…that day…

Jane

Fool Me Twice…

Yesterday was the perfect morning for a bike ride…sunny…breezy…cool…so…I pumped up the tires…donned the padded shorts…and headed out…for what I told myself would be a six mile ride…I know…if you aren’t a bike rider…that sounds far…but…if you ride…then you know…that’s really not far enough to warrant tire pumping…it’s just the distance I’ve been able to go while…putting myself back out there…

So…that was my original intent…until…I crossed the highway…and got started towards my favorite riding spots…then…it became…well…I could ride here…then…it would be about seven miles…good to start increasing my mileage…think I’ll just go to the big tree…I can turn around there…that would make about eight miles…yeah…that would be a good ride…

Of course…once I was at the big tree…I wanted to ride the road that…began there…and…there is a Church a few miles up the road…that is a nice resting spot…

Anyway…I won’t give you the pedal-by-pedal details…but suffice it to say…sixteen miles later…the bike was back in the garage…and I was feeling…even more satisfied…than tired…and…I was plenty tired…

Later…I found myself…in the kitchen…having bought groceries…and…cooked a healthy dinner…looking at the mess…and…not really wanting to clean up…so…I said…well…I’ll just rinse the dishes off…I can leave the rest…along with the nonperishables…until morning…

Then…something happened…I picked up a can…then another…and another…then…a dish went in the dishwasher…and there was…warm…soapy…water in the sink…for the pots and pans…the kitchen was cleaned…whilst…I declared…I was only going to do this one thing…

Bertha…of course…had to remind me…that…this is an approach that works well for me…trickery…tomfoolery…when the task seems more than I can handle in the moment…tricking myself into starting…by…giving myself permission…to just do a tiny portion…knowing…full well…as I did with the bike ride…as I did in the kitchen…that once I’m started…I’ll want to do more…

Hmmm…now I’m wondering…what tricks will I play on myself today…

Jane

Like Riding a Bicycle…

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles…but most of them never happened…

Mark Twain

Interesting that I wrote about fear yesterday…for…after the post…I went for a bike ride…and…although…I’ve been for hundreds of bike rides…and ridden thousands of miles…over the last few years…there was an insecurity prior to this ride…

It went something like this…

I wasn’t able to ride like I wanted to last year…has it been too long…will I remember how to shift the gears…will I remember to clip out of the pedals before I stop…the remembrance of a broken arm while learning that lesson…crept through my mind…can I make the hills…can I ride my fancy road bike…or should I take the more predictable…less challenging…cruiser instead…and…what about airing those tires…quite the challenge…after months of slowly leaking…

Bertha…met me at the door…with cycling shorts and shoes in hand…listened to no excuses…reminded me to focus on what I want…rather than what I don’t want…had…me dressed…and pumping tires in no time…

Pumping the tires…a great triceps workout…I’ll leave it at that…

And…yes…she had me on the fancy road bike…you knew she would…didn’t you…yeah…me too…

I was delighted with the ride…my cycle computer died as soon as I clicked it into place…so I have no idea how far…or fast…I went…which is probably for the best…now…I can assume…or pretend…that my stats far outweighed…my performance…

Interestingly…my fingers knew exactly which levers to click…to shift into easier…and more difficult gears…my body…instinctively knew how long it could balance…in a near stopped position…then…my feet…automatically…unclicked at the proper moment…and…found the ground…there were no stumbles…no tumbles…

So…where did I go…well…truthfully…I made several loops…just around town…my experience has taught me…that…unlike the exercise bike…which allows me to abort my mission at any time…on the bike…wherever I pedal to…I have to be able to get home again…so…for uncertain days…I find it works to be close to home…and…honestly…in the Spring…there is so much to look at…I couldn’t have seen it all in one trip anyway…

The cool thing is…the first loop was the hardest…it was all uphill…and downhill…after that…

Today…new battery for the computer…I’m thinking a different route…maybe a little further from home…or…maybe not…it really doesn’t matter where I go…as long as I go…at least…that’s what Bertha says…and we know…she’s always right…

Jane

Where the Dogs Are…

Looks like I’m into cycling stories…I think I’m trying to motivate myself to get back on my bike this spring…summer before last…I rode at least 1200 miles…last summer…following surgery…had to be less than 100…

I miss it…I miss the sense of freedom that riding gave me…I miss the sense of power…I miss the sense of adventure…I miss sense of accomplishment…

I don’t miss the dogs…

Dogs…are the bane of a cyclist’s existence…any good book on cycling will have at least a section on how to deal with dogs…

Tops on the list…pedal faster…duh…

There’s also…avoid swerving and losing control…or going into traffic…duh…

Of course…everyone says…pepper spray…but…I’m not sure…everyone…has ever been riding into a head wind…with a dog nipping at their ankles…trying to get a canister out of a bag…aim it directly at said dog’s eyes…while missing their own…and…keeping control of the bike…not my best option…duh…

And…lastly…if forced to dismount the bike…put it…the bike…between you and the dog…I’m not sure they considered more than one dog…circling like an Indian raid on a lone covered wagon…again…not my best option…at least…not as long as pedal faster works…duh…

So…while they give some great advice…there is a vital piece of dog information…that isn’t covered…by any book I’ve ever read…

And…that would be…where the dogs are located…wouldn’t it be easier to just avoid them in the first place…duh…

Instead…it’s kind of a trial and error thing…I find a road I want to ride…imagine a fancy flow chart with this information…

No dogs…ride again…

Dogs…I’m comfortable with…ride again…

Dogs I don’t feel comfortable with…pedal faster…find another way home…and a try another route next time…

But…the funny thing is…just when I think I’ve got it all mapped out…I know where the dogs are…my rides are smooth sailing…a new one moves in…or…I get bored…and want to try a new route…and…there I am…pedaling faster…all over again…

Bertha…says that’s a lot like my life…just substitute troubles for dogs…somehow…it all makes sense…

Jane

Just Keep Pedaling…

When I first started riding a bicycle as an adult…I was afraid of hills…somehow…I had this vision of myself attempting to go up a hill…and rolling back down…so…I rode for weeks…at least…to the bottom of this little hill by my house…turned around…and rode the quarter mile back home…I didn’t ride in the opposite direction because there was a fairly busy road to cross…

According to Bertha…I limited myself…

Riding in North Carolina

Of course…she’s right…I did…but…I also built up strength in my legs…I gained stamina…by riding…over and over again…that same half mile loop…it really wasn’t intentional on my part…it was just what I did…

Until…one day…call me bored…call me brave…call me crazy…I kept going at the foot of the hill…it was challenging…but I made it to the end of the road…where I turned around…at another even busier road…but…my cycling world had doubled…I now had a mile loop…woo hoo…

My world expanded that day…I soon began to cross that fairly busy road…riding another small country road…and before long…I was riding the road I considered busy…and…before I knew it…I was riding all over the place…miles and miles…hills and flats…I rode them all…

Interestingly…that little hill…and…trust me…it is pretty little…is still a fairly challenging climb…something about the grade of it…

Bertha’s advice for making it up hills…just keep pedaling…some days…it’s easier than others…

Jane