This is part 2 of the More Riding saga. Part 1 was before this, it was about yesterday, Part 2 being now, is about today. Sorry for the redundancy, but I felt it was necessary, since I repeated myself yesterday, thought there would be need for recalling that today.
I've been getting bored with the normal route, so I wanted to change it up today. Rather than riding east like normal, it would either be north or south. Not sure which way to go, I asked the wife, and she said it's up to me. So I say I thought about riding toward Arlington, but don't know the best way. After about 5 minutes, that felt like 30, of playing on her laptop trying to figure out the route. I got tired of waiting on Google Maps to load. It's time to ride.
Start heading down the road, my normal way out of the neighborhood is blocked by utility trucks, and I'm afraid it's going to be one of those days. Take the next road, everything is going good, legs are working, no wind, not to warm. Am I becoming an outdoors type? Cruise by the university, dodging golf carts. I think they have one for each person on staff, 2 started and ended in the same spot, but both only had 1 person. Now I know why my wife's tuition is so high. I get through the cart slalom and look in my mirror making sure no more are coming up behind me, that's when I see another cyclist. I slide toward the curb, thinking he'll pass. Nope, he slows down and follows me for the next mile, finally I start going ludicrously slow, so he either passes or walks his bike. The biggest +1 for trikes, no need to balance. I'm back to thinking it's going to be one of those days again, but I'm outside and have my trike grin on.
Still not knowing which route I should take, I end up on a fairly busy 2 lane road. At least it has a wide shoulder, so no worries. Ride by Cooper Tire, get a few smiles, push on under 68/15 underpass. Lots of traffic, but still getting plenty of room. Not being familiar with the side streets here, I just stay on the main road. Finally, I see some H's painted on the road. Now I know where I'm going, just follow the Hancock Horizontal Hundred route. Keep pushing on, the sun's starting to bake me. Thinking this did not seem nearly this long when finishing the route last year, but it was dark and no traffic. Aha! there's the turn off. Now I start wondering why I didn't just stick to town. Sure, it's not the same route, and hardly any stops out this way, but I'm getting tired of seeing corn. Start to slow down a bit, just from boredom and not paying attention to what I'm doing.
Hear a big deep bark, look over and see a large yellow lab trotting toward me. Pay him not attention, pick up the pace a bit, figuring he'll stay in his area. Well, he did, but I didn't see the little Jack Russel/Chihuahua looking thing about 3" from my tire. Why's it always the little ones? Before I think about what to do I let out a loud "'Ey!!" and he jumped, and turned tail. Hmm...he must be afraid of angry Canadiens. Another half mile down the road, I see "DOG AHEAD" painted on the road from last year's HHH. Oh crap, now what. Stay alert, keep moving, nothing. More uneventful miles, and I'm starting to get tired, also hear a bit of brake rub. Stop in the shade, put on some sunblock. Start pedaling back north, where I came from, no noise. Feeling a bit rejuvenated from my sunblock break, I turn back south. There's the noise again, must be a sign. Start heading north to go back home, an older gent on a motor scooter gives a huge wave, then a thumbs up with a bit of fist pump thrown in for good measure.
Keep following the H's to get back home, they take me through the side streets I'm not very familiar with, straight to an overpass. Nope, not happening. Take the last road before the overpass, and back onto the main road. Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought it would have been. Ride by Cooper again, only person out this time gave me a rather nasty scowl. I grinned and kept riding. Maybe wearing a helmet on 3 wheels with a flag sticking out of the seat gave him the impression I need a helmet all of the time. The brake noise has been intermittent the whole time, but now that I'm back on familiar roads, I realize that if I lean just right it goes away. Note to self, gotta bend that back.
Thanks for reading about my 17 miles.
Soundtrack: Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Stryck-9, Nirvana, Weird Al Yankovic, Radiohead, Slipknot, MurderDolls, Dishwala, random punk bands from a compilation I bought years ago.
Friday, July 26, 2013
More Riding Woo-Hoo! 1 of 2
Well, I had good intentions, but forgot to put anything on about yesterday's ride :( So I'm doing this as a 2 parter, part 1 being yesterday's, part 2 being today. No I didn't need to add that in there, but sometimes I'm redundant and repeat myself about what I just said, once in a while.
I started off thinking it would be another ~5 mile ride. On the approach of the usual turn around, my legs felt fine, and my wife said not to rush. So I pushed on a little farther, deciding to ride by the cigar shop that was the normal stop last year. The way between the park and the cigar shop is a bunch of residential streets with stop signs every block, or about every 3 houses. The view at each intersection is clear, so it's normal to just look a few times each direction on the approach and keep pedaling. Not saying it's right, but I have passed a few cops and they never said anything about it. Whenever I see a car, I do slow down to at least see what they are going to do. This time, I saw a truck, he paused and kept coming at me, so I just powered right through, knowing it was clear. This is when I catch sight of the driver waving his finger at me, reminding me of the scene from Jurassic Park "Uh uh uh, you didn't say the magic word" I think, okay, I was in the wrong, no big deal. I keep watching in my mirror as he rolled through the next intersection without even tapping the brakes. I <3 hypocrites.
Feeling better still, than when I left, I thought it would be fun to play stalker and see if I can find where one of my old friends just moved to. Thinking I was somewhat close, I started going down some different side streets, not knowing where I was going, I ended up just doing a loop right back to where I was when I started the stalk. D'OH! It's obvious that I was wrong, so I start heading back home. Not wanting to take the same old path, I got adventurous. Elected to go down the busiest road in town. "Eek, that's a lot of traffic," time to play on the sidewalk for a while. Being that this is a slight down hill, I start going for it, end up in my 2nd highest gear before I realize how bumpy the sidewalk is. After getting air time like the bunny hills on Magnum at Cedar Point, I get brave, venture on to the road. My top speed being only about a third of what traffic is doing, this was pretty nerve racking, but almost everyone got over into the next lane, giving me plenty of room. Another +1 for trikes looking like wheelchairs.
All is going well, then red light, no big deal, I'll just dive on to the, oh crap, no sidewalk here. Oh well, make people go around. Yay! sidewalk. Hand signal, cut to the right on to the sidewalk. NO! BRAKES PLEASE WORK! Evidently some people don't know what hand signals mean, nor where to stop when leaving a parking lot. I just about ended up on someone's hood. It's time to go to residential streets again. I've had too much excitement. Get to the residential area, think a drink sounds nice, look down, no water bottle. Hmm, that was there before the bunny hilled sidewalk. Keep pedaling toward home, when I find the street I was originally looking for that my friend had moved to. Take the right and if I wasn't sitting down, I would have kicked myself. It's uphill, so I have to try keeping momentum. Make note of the park, knowing that there's a geocache there. Keep going, find the house, decide he's probably not awake. Turn around, yay, down hill time. See the park again, think about going to hunt for the cache, and find somebody golfing in the park along the railroad tracks. Guess he couldn't afford greens fees this week. Keep pedaling for home, nothing too remarkable.
Thanks for reading about my 10 miles.
Soundtrack, as best as I can remember: Motley Crue, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, The Offspring, Weird Al Yankovic, The Verve.
I started off thinking it would be another ~5 mile ride. On the approach of the usual turn around, my legs felt fine, and my wife said not to rush. So I pushed on a little farther, deciding to ride by the cigar shop that was the normal stop last year. The way between the park and the cigar shop is a bunch of residential streets with stop signs every block, or about every 3 houses. The view at each intersection is clear, so it's normal to just look a few times each direction on the approach and keep pedaling. Not saying it's right, but I have passed a few cops and they never said anything about it. Whenever I see a car, I do slow down to at least see what they are going to do. This time, I saw a truck, he paused and kept coming at me, so I just powered right through, knowing it was clear. This is when I catch sight of the driver waving his finger at me, reminding me of the scene from Jurassic Park "Uh uh uh, you didn't say the magic word" I think, okay, I was in the wrong, no big deal. I keep watching in my mirror as he rolled through the next intersection without even tapping the brakes. I <3 hypocrites.
Feeling better still, than when I left, I thought it would be fun to play stalker and see if I can find where one of my old friends just moved to. Thinking I was somewhat close, I started going down some different side streets, not knowing where I was going, I ended up just doing a loop right back to where I was when I started the stalk. D'OH! It's obvious that I was wrong, so I start heading back home. Not wanting to take the same old path, I got adventurous. Elected to go down the busiest road in town. "Eek, that's a lot of traffic," time to play on the sidewalk for a while. Being that this is a slight down hill, I start going for it, end up in my 2nd highest gear before I realize how bumpy the sidewalk is. After getting air time like the bunny hills on Magnum at Cedar Point, I get brave, venture on to the road. My top speed being only about a third of what traffic is doing, this was pretty nerve racking, but almost everyone got over into the next lane, giving me plenty of room. Another +1 for trikes looking like wheelchairs.
All is going well, then red light, no big deal, I'll just dive on to the, oh crap, no sidewalk here. Oh well, make people go around. Yay! sidewalk. Hand signal, cut to the right on to the sidewalk. NO! BRAKES PLEASE WORK! Evidently some people don't know what hand signals mean, nor where to stop when leaving a parking lot. I just about ended up on someone's hood. It's time to go to residential streets again. I've had too much excitement. Get to the residential area, think a drink sounds nice, look down, no water bottle. Hmm, that was there before the bunny hilled sidewalk. Keep pedaling toward home, when I find the street I was originally looking for that my friend had moved to. Take the right and if I wasn't sitting down, I would have kicked myself. It's uphill, so I have to try keeping momentum. Make note of the park, knowing that there's a geocache there. Keep going, find the house, decide he's probably not awake. Turn around, yay, down hill time. See the park again, think about going to hunt for the cache, and find somebody golfing in the park along the railroad tracks. Guess he couldn't afford greens fees this week. Keep pedaling for home, nothing too remarkable.
Thanks for reading about my 10 miles.
Soundtrack, as best as I can remember: Motley Crue, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, The Offspring, Weird Al Yankovic, The Verve.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Trying again...
So, I tried this last year, and didn't follow through with it. Now it's time to say why not try it again.
There's been some very significant changes in my life recently. I am now a very proud papa to an ultra cute little boy. Tore my calf muscle, went through therapy, developed bone spurs, had surgery, went through therapy again, still feel worse than I did before the surgery. I even started going to church again after about a 8 year hiatus. Anyway, onto the blog...
I haven't been riding nearly as much this year, see changes above, this morning my wife wakes me up, and I can barely get out of bed. She mentions that I need to start riding again, and that it was cooler today. So I throw on clothes, pump up the tires, and off I go. Putting less than a fourth of the miles on this year, compared to last, my distances aren't nearly the same as what I was doing. 5 miles is a workout, ugh. On the bright side, my speed hasn't seemed to suffer too much, still averaging about 9-10. That is when I remember to air up the tires and release the parking brake.
Today was a good ride, not long, or fast, but good. It was great to get out of the house today. Captured 2 Munzees, was going to try for a GeoCache in the park, but didn't want to leave my wife home with the baby for too long. Took basically my normal route, then roved through the University of Findlay campus for a minute or two. Put a smile on a few older peoples faces, looked more like they were giving me the "good for you" look, but I'll take it. Turned back onto a side street, saw a guy on a recumbent trike, gave him a big wave, and kept riding. Went by the church that there's another cache at, but they were having some sort of event there, so I let it alone.
Make a few more turns, everything is uneventful, just some good pedaling. I see a truck in my mirror getting closer and closer, but they aren't going around me, even though there's plenty of room. I decide to slide over to the side, seeing if that encouraged him, it did. Woo-Hoo! or so I thought for about half a second. That's when I realize that he's passing me, but hasn't changed his line any at all. I would have thrown my hands up in a "C'mon Man!" gesture, but I wouldn't have been able to stick my left arm out, as he completely crowded me off the road. Once he's past, I see he has a whole bunch of bumper stickers all over the tailgate. I didn't read most of them, but 2 caught my eye. "SHARE THE ROAD" and "CYCLIST" He was behind me long enough, and my flag darn near whipped his windshield, so I know he saw me. I absolutely LOVE (where's the sarcasm font) these types of hypocritical people. Unless he was a roadie that just has it out for recumbents. In which case he should still SHARE the road, not hog it.
I made it home with nothing else to really report, other than passing by where one more Munzee was, but couldn't get to because of the semi blocking it. Oh well, tomorrow's another day. Hopefully I get to stay on the road tomorrow. Now it's time to play some video games while the son's asleep.
Thanks for reading
There's been some very significant changes in my life recently. I am now a very proud papa to an ultra cute little boy. Tore my calf muscle, went through therapy, developed bone spurs, had surgery, went through therapy again, still feel worse than I did before the surgery. I even started going to church again after about a 8 year hiatus. Anyway, onto the blog...
I haven't been riding nearly as much this year, see changes above, this morning my wife wakes me up, and I can barely get out of bed. She mentions that I need to start riding again, and that it was cooler today. So I throw on clothes, pump up the tires, and off I go. Putting less than a fourth of the miles on this year, compared to last, my distances aren't nearly the same as what I was doing. 5 miles is a workout, ugh. On the bright side, my speed hasn't seemed to suffer too much, still averaging about 9-10. That is when I remember to air up the tires and release the parking brake.
Today was a good ride, not long, or fast, but good. It was great to get out of the house today. Captured 2 Munzees, was going to try for a GeoCache in the park, but didn't want to leave my wife home with the baby for too long. Took basically my normal route, then roved through the University of Findlay campus for a minute or two. Put a smile on a few older peoples faces, looked more like they were giving me the "good for you" look, but I'll take it. Turned back onto a side street, saw a guy on a recumbent trike, gave him a big wave, and kept riding. Went by the church that there's another cache at, but they were having some sort of event there, so I let it alone.
Make a few more turns, everything is uneventful, just some good pedaling. I see a truck in my mirror getting closer and closer, but they aren't going around me, even though there's plenty of room. I decide to slide over to the side, seeing if that encouraged him, it did. Woo-Hoo! or so I thought for about half a second. That's when I realize that he's passing me, but hasn't changed his line any at all. I would have thrown my hands up in a "C'mon Man!" gesture, but I wouldn't have been able to stick my left arm out, as he completely crowded me off the road. Once he's past, I see he has a whole bunch of bumper stickers all over the tailgate. I didn't read most of them, but 2 caught my eye. "SHARE THE ROAD" and "CYCLIST" He was behind me long enough, and my flag darn near whipped his windshield, so I know he saw me. I absolutely LOVE (where's the sarcasm font) these types of hypocritical people. Unless he was a roadie that just has it out for recumbents. In which case he should still SHARE the road, not hog it.
I made it home with nothing else to really report, other than passing by where one more Munzee was, but couldn't get to because of the semi blocking it. Oh well, tomorrow's another day. Hopefully I get to stay on the road tomorrow. Now it's time to play some video games while the son's asleep.
Thanks for reading
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)