Tales of Slow Brave Athena

September 4, 2008

the ride into work

a photo by Bandita!
This morning, I rode over 10 miles.

That's the longest I've ridden in a really long time. And admittedly, that's not contiguous. I rode a little over three and a half miles from home to the Goose Hollow MAX station, and then six and a half miles from Quatama into downtown Hillsboro.

It felt great. I'm surprised at how great it feels to be riding so much.

At Quatama, I rode south on 205th to Baseline. Here in Washington County, the bike lanes start and stop at will, with no warning, and generally in the worst possible places, like after a curve crossing a bridge.

Sometimes there are bikes lanes. Sometimes there are sidewalks. Sometimes there are shoulders. Sometimes, I just take the lane. What's a girl to do?

I cross Beaverton Creek, and then another creek.

Right after I cross 231st Ave, I must be in Hillsboro, because suddenly the next street is 60th Ave. Noble Woods Park is across the street, full of very tall evergreens and looking very sylvan.

At that point, about 3 miles into that leg, I feel like I'm almost there.

permalink September 4, 2008

August 13, 2008

hello, all!

Hi, it's me. Sorry I've been so quiet, it's just there's been an awful lot that's happened and that's still happening. This is really my whirlwind year of change. Whether I like it or not.

I've been focusing more lately on what I'm eating and drinking, and the types of exercise I'm getting.

Maybe a month or two ago, I borrowed a folding bike from a friend, and I absolutely adored it. It rode great. It folded up tiny. It weighs next to nothing (or, 30#). So I took a couple of weeks to think about it, and finally went a few weeks and bought one. A folding bike of my own!

I'm loving riding it. Today I rode 2 miles into town, and then another 4.5 miles from a train stop to work. It really makes me feel good -- and it makes me sleep good, too.

And yesterday, for the first time in I don't know how long, I went to the gym. I did some upper-body strengthening that I'm still feeling. But it's a good feeling. I'm planning to go back in tomorrow.
_________

Sometimes, I think I'm really doing well, self-esteemwise. And then.... like yesterday, or the day before, I saw a picture taken in June. It's not flattering, at all! All I could see in the photo was my belly. Now, I'm not deluded. I know I have a belly, and I'll probably have a belly the rest of my life. Even when I got down to my post-college low of 160#, I had a belly. I doubt it's the first thing anyone notices about me. But for whatever reason, that's what I see on myself.

I want to love my body. But I want you to love my body as well. Is that too much to ask?

permalink August 13, 2008 | Comments (2)

December 10, 2007

Hurrah for commuting!

I actually bike-commuted to work this morning! It was great! And about 37 degrees.

My sweetie and I transferred my battery-powered lights from one of the townies to the Oma last weekend, and I was looking so very forward to riding my bike. Then I got slammed with the flu, and bike-commuting, as well as leaving the house or getting out of my jammies, was not an option.

But this morning, I had a wonderful, life-affirming ride into work. I learned that my hub-generated back light works, but not my front (Todd, I know I opened it by mistake, and I hope you can wave your magic wand and make it right again).

permalink December 10, 2007 | Comments (2)

June 11, 2007

Oma

So, I bought a bike, and I think it's the most beautiful bike in the world. It might also be the heaviest. I love it. I'm getting nowhere fast, but I'm doing it in style.

My euphoria of getting the new bike was shot down soon enough—my sweetie's father has had a series of small strokes over the last week, and he's lost some motion and control on the left side of his body. Sweetie flies down to see him tomorrow, while I'll stay here. I am so absolutely distracted by this, because of course, my father had a series of small strokes a few months before he died. I'm reminding myself that even though my father died a few months later, this doesn't mean Sweetie's dad will.

I have been thinking so much of my dad in the last couple days.

I rode into work this morning wearing a long skirt. With the skirt guard and the enclosed chain and the internal hub, I didn't have to worry about the bike biting my clothing or making it dirty. I love that. I feel so dignified on the Oma, so adult in an odd but very satisfying way. I love it.

permalink June 11, 2007 | Comments (1)

June 7, 2007

swans, omas, and the old Dutch

So, I did it. I bought a dutch city bike.

I got myself over to Clever Cycles to meet up with Martina as soon as I could. She had three city bikes ready and waiting for me to try: an 8-speed Swan, an 8-speed Oma (both made by Azor) and a Batavus 3-speed Old Dutch.

Oh, and I was wearing a dress.

The Swan is gorgeous. The lines on it are so elegant. After some initial butterflies, I climbed on and took it for a ride. The shifting is super smooth, and it's a newer Shimano shifter that is totally forgiving if you downshift while you're standing still. How cool is that?

Anyways, it rode beautifully, and I felt great riding it.

The Oma is also very elegant in an understated way. It also has the Shimano shifter, and it also rode like a dream.

The Batavus is flashy and gorgeous in a pin-up girl way. It rode fine. But it's a three speed with coaster brakes, and I already have a three speed with coaster brakes.

So, I really liked the Oma and the Swan. The Swan had the edge, because it was so pretty... but the Swan couldn't get a front rack, and I gotta say, the front rack is the coolest thing since sliced bread. It'll hold 50#! It's dorky and just so wonderful.

So, I bought the Oma. I pick it up on Friday!

~ * ~ *
So I rode my bike into work today. I rode Pinky the three speed, as I'm going to be part of the Pedalpalooza Kickass Kickoff Parade tonight, so I was completely festooned with pink and silver accessories to decorate the bike with.

As I was coming down the bike ramp to the waterfront, I saw the battleships docked. I saw the coast guard boats with automatic weapons. Oh, good.

So, of course, all human traffic is being directed away from the Waterfront Park. There's 12ft tall wire fencing around it, and there are military personnel, carrying automatic weapons, ready to shoot. So nice. I love this.

The city, however, did close off one lane of Naito Parkway so bicyclists, pedestrians, skateboarders, and people in golf carts can get from point A to point B. Of course, you're protected from the cars by orange cones, so it's hard to get excited about this.

permalink June 7, 2007 | Comments (3)

February 22, 2007

A haiku for Fritz

it's raining outside
bus will be a sardine can
I'm riding the bike

Fritz at Cyclicious likes the haikus, yep.

permalink February 22, 2007 | Comments (1)

December 18, 2006

have I been sent a sign?

So, I wrapped up my mom's christmas presents, and jumped on the bicycle to go to my beloved's work. It's only about a quarter mile, but I had other errands to run: buy stamps and send off a package, get lunch, etc.

Two blocks from work, I wait for the light to change. It does, and I cross, slowly, after checking that the traffic is stopping. Except, only the traffic in the near lane stopped. The guy in the far lane was hightailing through. Luckily, I saw him coming, but I couldn't entirely get out of the way, and he hit my front wheel. And then he just kept going.

I'm not sure what happened to the bike beyond the fact that the front brakes no longer work, the tire felt like it was going flat (but wasn't), and to go straight ahead, you have to turn the handlebars about 30 degrees. I rode it, sorta, to MBPOW, and after finding no bike racks at the front or rear of the building, I took it up into the parking structure. I was planning on looking for bike parking, but I saw my beloved's truck, so I decided I would just put the bike in the back of the truck. Which took some doing.

Meanwhile, I was being watched by a bunch of smokers. They all went inside, one by one, until one came over and offered to help me with the bike. He kept insisting that I needed to call my beloved, and I kept insisting there was no way I was going to call my beloved, I was fine, thank you very much.

I did go in, and I did call him, and la-ti-da.

Why did I trust a traffic control? Why wasn't I thinking about the fact that all cars are out to get me?

I was in shock then. I think I'm coming out of it now. And I'm freaking out.

permalink December 18, 2006 | Comments (4)

December 13, 2006

pay back is a bitch

My ride into work is generally serene. Generally.

If you check out the map on the side, that's part of my route, the treacherous part, in the orange. On Vancouver, there's a bike lane that goes south all the way to Broadway. At Broadway, there's nothing.

And so the two blocks on Vancouver south of Broadway, from Broadway to Weidler to N. Center Ct. Drive, are a little too exciting.

I ride in the rightmost lane, the lane that can't turn right at Weidler, and can only make a right at N. Center Ct. Now, if I were in a car, and I saw a bicycle in a lane, I could think, I'm not getting in that lane because the bicyclist will slow me down (even though I am going the prevaling speed of traffic through these intersections. But hey, someone could think that). Or, I have an engine, I'm just going to blow past that damn bike.

But I've found, more than once, that the automobiles get behind me, and as I pull into the crosswalk to let them go past me, that they will try to force me into the traffic or drive slow enough to force me into the sidewalk.

Obviously, I'm causing some animosity just by existing, just by thinking that I have a right to not be killed.

So this morning, I'm at the light at Vancouver & Weidler. I'm in the right most lane, in the groove where a car's right tire would be. I look, and right along the curb is a broken beer bottle. It's not just a pile of glass though; about a third of the bottle is left, the bottom third, sitting up on its flat bottom.

The light turns green, and I'm off, and into the crosswalk to let the cars behind me pass me. And seconds later, I hear a horrible noise— and a moment later, I realize it's the car behind me. They've driven over that partial beer bottle.

I know it's wrong to feel shadenfreude, to rejoice in someone else's misery, but as these people threaten to kill me with their automobiles, I just don't feel a lot of sympathy.

Why did they run over the bottle? Was it because they were planning on forcing me into the traffic on Weidler? Give the cyclist a good scare? I can only assume they were out to get me. Jeez, I'm just trying to get to work.

permalink December 13, 2006 | Comments (3)

December 4, 2006

Another ride

It was 34 degrees outside when I left the house this morning, or at least, that's what the thermometer said. I bundled up and biked in.

It was another pleasant ride. One of the things that I enjoy about the morning rides (and sometimes evenings too) is seeing all of my regulars. You probably have them on the way into work as well: the folks you see almost every day.

I usually see my across-the-street neighbor when I leave the house; he's a caterer, and is usually heading to his kitchen to start his day, too. Though this morning his house was shut up tight, with no lights on inside. Oh, I wish I was still in bed.

I passed the guys I see every morning, meth heads probably, but nice enough. They always greet me, ask how I'm doing.

I see the construction guys loading up their truck.

I see the moms and their kids, waiting for the bus.

I passed the packaging factory, where someone usually is sitting outside the big garage door, smoking a cigarette and reading a paperback. But the garage door is closed; I guess it's too cold to read outside.

I look for the usual crew of homeless folks who hang out outside an abandoned house generally, but they too must have sought warmer climes. But the guy who works the freeway offramp with his Homeless Vet sign is out. We wish each other to stay warm.

I see some of the regular waterfront homeless folks, but to a huge extent, the regulars aren't there. It must have been a popular night at the shelters.

I thought about a lot of things as I rode: thankful that I have a house and a bed and heat, curious why some cyclists are in such a hurry, wondering how the homeless get by in this sort of weather, and why we as a society let them rot outside. I don't want to get political about it, but why do we let people suffer?

I thought about a story I had read about calorie-restricted diets, and then I thought that perhaps it would be better to start with something less extreme. Like say, veganism.

'Think about when you've been on a long hike,' Schneider says. 'When you get to the top, or wherever you're hiking, and you're really hungry and sit down for a snack. How does the food taste? It tastes better—everything tastes better. That's how it is for me every time I sit down for a meal.'

And I thought about how delicious heat would feel.

I rode into the parking garage and the wall of heat hit me like bathwater. I had never noticed the parking garage was heated. I mentioned it to one of the attendents who said, yes, isn't it nice? Yes.

Later, when I was dressed like an office lady, I went to get some coffee, and damn, it was cold. It was so cold! I hadn't been nearly that cold when riding.
...
My weekend was spent doing homework. It's almost over. Almost.

I had to run over to Hollywood, about 3 miles away, and when it was too late, I realized it could be a bicycle trip. Could have, if I had thought of it earlier. I want to get in the habit of converting these solo scooter trips to bicycle, but I have to actually prepare for it. Bicycling really doesn't take that much longer... but it does mean I can't leave at the very last minute. I can't make up time on the road.

(crossposted on vj.vox.com)

permalink December 4, 2006 | Comments (1)

December 1, 2006

Is this really necessary?

So this morning I was determined to get back on the bike. Great. It was cold, in the thirties, so I piled on the layers

• breast-immobilizing tank top


• old tshirt


• special expensive thermal wicking top


• old faithful (cashmere sweater that goes on every ride)


• fleece vest


• yellowjacket

and stepped onto the back porch only to discover that it was raining. Sigh.

So I went back in, put my work pants into the bag with my work top, and put on running pants.

I then went outside... and it wasn't raining.

While I probably overdid it a bit, I was warm coming in, and that was what I was aiming for.

Other than someone trying to mow me down by the Rose Quarter, it was a nice ride. I don't understand why people in cars need to threaten me, when I already know they could dismember, handicap or kill me without really trying. I was wearing the yellow jacket which is flourescent yellow, with its giant retro-reflective stripe, I had my lights on. I can only conclude that she threatened me because she felt I shouldn't be on the road. Or maybe that I shouldn't be alive.

Man, this stuff gets old. Yes, I'm on the road. What else do you propose I do? The bike lane ended, and left me in this lane, that you only need to be in if you're turning into the Rose Quarter.
...
I did get a good laugh though when I read BikePortland this morning. Yesterday, Jonathan reported on a sticker he had seen on the back of a truck:
One Less Bike
which for those of you playing at home is a reference to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance's
One Less Car

I personally enjoyed the suggested:
One Less Pedestrian (for bicyclists)
One Less Fixed Gear
One Less Bike (for tandem riders)

It was interesting to hear the PC go against the goofsters against the literal bar partiers.

permalink December 1, 2006 | Comments (1)

September 13, 2006

my little triumphs

A couple of days ago, I got together for beers with the Texiles. Sweetie had loaned his bicycle to them while another Texan was in town. The Texiles had gone for a bike ride to Mount Tabor (which, is really a dormant volcano and very very small by mountain standards, if you could even call it a mountain at all).

One of them had ridden Sweetie's bike.

Sweetie: Isn't the townie great to ride?
Texile: Oh yeah, definitely. Though hills, any sort of hills, are a bitch.
Sweetie: Yeah. That's a drawback.

...

Anyways, I was thinking about this conversation when I was riding my townie home yesterday. Though I should begin this with: I had great triumphs, hurrah!

I had a hair appointment in the evening, and a tight window of time to get ready for it. So as I'm coming out of the building garage, I'm looking at the bike computer and thinking, can I really make it home in 30 minutes?

I hit the road. The waterfront is crowded with people strolling, running, other bicycles, and homeless people. I am practically ringing my bell non-stop. At several points, I have to come to a stop because people are oblivious and there is nowhere for me to go.

The sprinklers are running in the park, so even though it's in the 80s, people are all crowding into the dry half of the concrete. I slow way down, and then swing into the sprinkler zone, and have to swerve to miss more humans, and as I lean into the curve to head back to the extreme right of the pathway, I slip. First time on the bike. I corrected right away, but it was one of those gulp moments.

....

There are 4 hills on the way home. Some of them are steep, some of them less so, but they're still all hills, and they're still a test for me. They include

1. The ramp from the Esplanade to the bluff above.
2. From the ramp to the stoplight
3. The Holladay-Weidler hill
4. The Knott-Graham hill (aka, Matt Dishman's revenge)

I'm neither feeling strong nor cocky, so imagine my shock when I rode right up the Esplanade ramp. I mean, I am a long ways away from having to stop on the ramp, but usually it's a big struggle. Last night, for whatever reason, it wasn't.

Getting to the stoplight was still a struggle. As was the Holladay hill.

By the time I get to Dishman's revenge, I stop at the stop sign and try to recollect myself. Just this last hill. There's even a chance I might make it home under 30 minutes.

As i'm ready to get started, a guy blows past me, grunting, "damn hills, damn hills". I figure he's saying this as encouragement as he looks young and thin and fit and no one to be complaining about Dishman's revenge. But he struggles, rising from the saddle, hammering the peddles, leaning the bike right and left.

I follow, and to my suprise, without trying, I'm in his draft, almost effortlessly being pulled up the hill by his momentum. And the rest of the way home, he's blowing through stop signs while I'm stopping for them. And I'm keeping up. Dude, I'm keeping up!

I did get home in 27 minutes. On my townie 3speed. Admittedly, I was out of breath for quite awhile afterwards, but totally manic too.

permalink September 13, 2006 | Comments (6)

August 22, 2006

Slow, it's the new fast

So. It's been weird since I returned the Trek. For a couple days, I felt like I didn't have a bike to commute on.

When I'd think about the Townies, it wouldn't seem right. I can't ride the 24 because it's not mine (not that he would care, probably, but). And it doesn't have a front basket. I can't ride the 3speed because it's a 3speed.

But I finally got back in the saddle last Wednesday. I rode Pinky the three speed, mostly because it had the basket in front. I just love the basket. And the ride in was good.

But I had something happen at work that was bad, so on the ride home I was battling tears. Trying really hard to not be the fat lady on a bike who's crying. And I decided then and there that I was going to go very slow. Because things were bad enough as they were.

That night, I started thinking about it. I started really making progress walking when I slowed down. When I quit pretending each walk was a race. When I decided that each walk would be its own reward.

So, hey, as Misty says, Slow is the new fast. My goal is to not need to lay down at the end of the commute home.

So, I've been going slower. Trying to enjoy the ride, which is always easy in the morning and quite a bit more difficult in the afternoon.

And knowing, while I'm taunted with images of Dutch bikes, that somewhere, my ideal commuter waits. I just gotta find it.

permalink August 22, 2006 | Comments (2)

August 15, 2006

the Bike Gallery rocks

If you need to buy a bike in Portland, you could do much worse than the Bike Gallery. Much worse.

They're who I've bought my last couple bikes from. They've been generous with service and helpful with advice and just plain nice.

I returned the bike last night. I felt like a turd. I almost started crying at the register. I so love the idea of that bike, and yet the riding of it is so thoroughly awkward. I rode it to the store, and while starting up was fine, stopping was a nightmare. Ack.

The folks at the Bike Gallery were totally cool.

"That's why we have the 30 day guarantee. We want you to love your bike. There's no use buying a bike if you aren't going to love it."

I almost started crying (again).

While I was there, I ran into a old friend whose partner was buying a bike. A Townie, baby blue, all decked out with white fenders and a white bike bag—so lovely. It'll be a good bike for her—she wants to start cycling—and she was obviously tickled by the Townie.

permalink August 15, 2006 | Comments (2)

August 14, 2006

holding pattern

I had an entry all written up, but it's gone now, through the magic of cats. Gosh, I love cats. Did I mention we might get a new kitten? Because we don't already have enough cats?

I'm going to return the bike tonight. It makes me really sad, because this did seem like it would be a great bike, and I'm sure it is a great bike: for someone other than me. But it feels like a personal failing. I need to get over it. The world is full of bikes, there will be one for me. Someday.

The interesting part of all this is that I don't have a replacement. I've called and called and called the folks with the breezer, but I've never actually managed to get a hold of them, and they haven't taken down their cra1gsl1sting, and so I am going crazy, crazy, crazy. Oh well.

The thought of going back to the Townie for commuting seems, well, crazy. It seems like a big step back.

...
In other news, I was compulsively websurfing yesterday as I seem to frequently find myself doing, and suddenly I had this click. What the hell was I doing? Why am I doing this when important things, like reading and housecleaning and yarn work, and hanging with Sweetie, are here in the real world? Why is the interwebs so compelling?

So I shut the computer and I started cleaning. I didn't get a huge amount down, but I managed to throw out about a bag full, recycle another bag, and bring three bags out to the car. It felt really good.

permalink August 14, 2006 | Comments (1)

August 10, 2006

I am powerless before bikes

So.

I've had this thought going through my head since I bought the new bike, that I should have held out and bought the Breezer. I just kept thinking, well, this is better on the Breezer, and that is better. Sure the current bike is okay. But the generator thingee is wearing out the side of the tires and it makes this horrible hissing noise when I ride.

So hey, at some point in the future, I'll buy a Breezer.

Except, of course, there's a Breezer available right now. Used, right size, nice color. Oh crap.

To make matters worse, I'm still under the returning period -- I could return the new bike. And then I'd feel like a total and complete schmendrick schmuck. Hell, I feel like a schmuck even having these thoughts.

permalink August 10, 2006 | Comments (4)

August 7, 2006

He's so cute, he's like a little bee!

A little bee that could whump your ass, but hey.

This is the sweetest RAGBRAI story ever. AJ seems to do well riding under the influence. But what a lionheart! He sees Lance, he makes the climb, all after 4 bloody marys. Whoa.

Going out of town was a bit of a brute with a long climb out of the river valley. On the way up the hill from behind me, I hear Uncle Terry yell “LANCE”. I look back to find Mr. 7 Time Tour de France champ chuggin’ up the hill with his crew in tow. FAST. As quickly as any mind floating in vodka and tomato juice could, I made the decision to pull over and grab the camera out of my pannier for another chase. Lance laughs as he passes me. He’s seen this before.

http://2wheelcommute.blogspot.com/

(oh, and I found this in a new-to-me blog called bikehugger.com. Schweet!)

permalink August 7, 2006

July 24, 2006

This is *so* not me

What should have happened here, if all worked, is that a little flash window should have loaded above with the most amazing fixie-bike-gymnastics routine. Auf deutsch!

permalink July 24, 2006 | Comments (1)

July 22, 2006

Spilling over

It's 9:30 in the morning, we have fans in the window, and the house is 83 degrees. Outside, it's 80 degrees, so it's not bloody likely that we'll actually cool the house down.

Yesterday, Hillsboro (a west suburb) got up to 108. It's not supposed to get that hot today, but it's still going to get hot. Ugh.

So, I bought a new bike this week. It's the Trek t80 mentioned in the last post. I'm absolutely thrilled, but there's a learning curve involved with it. It's super light, it's got everything I need to commute short of a computer and a front basket, and it feels agile and fast. It's got thin road tires! I luff it.

But as you can see by the photo below, it's ugly. It's very dutch utility bike (which I like, it's dorky), and it's got this awful paint job. If I were vain, and I kinda am, I'd get it repainted. Or repaint it myself.

I'm avoiding talking about the learning curve, but here goes: I'm used to being solidly in the saddle and able to touch the ground with my toes. That ain't going to happen with this bike. And so, at this particularly ungainly part of my life I need to learn the hop onto the seat and the hop off the seat.

The morning I bought the bike, I spent about 20 minutes in a parking lot starting and stopping. Hopping off the bike feels completely out of control, but I do it fine. No problem. Hopping on is a 50/50 proposition. My sense of balance is just not what it used to be.

So I would straddle the bike. Place left foot on pedal. Try to rise up onto the seat. About half the time I'd tip, almost going down, feeling that bit of adrenaline as I lose control.

Anyways, suffice to say, I have a bit more compassion for other bicyclists who don't stop at stop signs. I have been almost completely unlawful since getting this bike. I don't like it, but there it is.

permalink July 22, 2006 | Comments (2)

July 18, 2006

Commuter bike lust

The Trek T80 Navigator:
Great commuter bike?.... or greatest commuter bike?

Discuss :)

permalink July 18, 2006 | Comments (4)

June 22, 2006

Back on the bike

I rode my bicycle this morning! I rode my bicycle this morning!!

It felt so good to get back on it, and felt so good to be riding it. So far, this morning, I'm just having twinges of acheyness, which is a cue to get up and stretch. I figure this afternoon I can ride it home, or not, though if I do ride it home, I'll probably walk up the inclines, just cuz.

This just feels huge. I am so thrilled.

...
So, I've set a goal for myself: no beer, and no coffee drinks, until I fit into my old favorite jeans. It's not a huge commitment: I could button them when I put them in the other closet; they were just too snug to be comfortable. I had someone on the bus the other day ask if I was knitting for my grandchild, so I guess while I feel like I'm 27, I don't look it anymore—so, no tight jeans for you. The goal is that they will be comfortable again.

Last night I got home, and I was itchy for a beer. I thought about running up the stairs and trying on the jeans. And then I thought: it's not going to hurt me to wait til the weekend to try on the jeans.

...
Music today:
Gnarls Barkley: Crazy, Jamie Lidell: Multiply, Donner Party: Sickness

permalink June 22, 2006 | Comments (1)

June 5, 2006

Something good

I've been doing lots of cycling, and less walking, this week. The cycling has felt good—I feel like I'm getting stronger. And I've had lots of nice conversations while on the bike.

I did get a rain cape the other day, which has meant that it hasn't rained on my commute. Golden!!

As usual, the commute is the best part of my day. Even the ride home.

Lately, I've taking the bike lane on Williams back home. It's like a bike freeway, and the hills are more gradual than going through the neighborhood. The fact that I'm passed by tons of bicyclists who don't ever let me know they're passing bugs me, but hey. I still prefer riding through the neighborhood, I just need to get okay/better at tiny little hills.

I got a set of hex tools (I'm sure I already had a set, so this will allow me to find them) so I can tweak an old bike. Sweetie lent out his bike, so I'm going to be riding my old bike, most likely, during Pedalpalooza. I need to adjust the seat, and the shifting sucks on it... so I'll probably bring it by Bike Central and see if they can't make it better.

And then I've gotta do some training. Like tout suite. Pedalpalooza starts on Thursday, and my brew crawl is Friday!!

...

I've been obsessed about music over the last couple of days. I blame watching music videos from my youth. Anyways, I came across the video for the Talking Head's Nothing But Flowers.

I heard the song, or saw the video once. In 1988. I immediately went out and bought the album, and it's the only Talking Heads album I have. But I love the song, the golden rolling singing african-cameroonian guitars, and the infectious "you got it, you got it" bridge in the chorus.

After watching the video, I dunno, a dozen times, I noticed that Kirsty MacColl was in it. Oh my gosh!

But the next video was Kate Bush's Cloudbusting, not one of my favorite songs by her, but it has lodged itself into my head. Especially the line, I know that something good is going to happen.

Anyways, that's stuck in my head now.

permalink June 5, 2006 | Comments (1)

May 24, 2006

Zoom zoom zoom

I read Running in Place this morning, where Lara is being optimistic, positive, etc., about running the MCM, in spite of having a bona fide knee injury.

When she was in town, we did some talking about how to get back into a habit that you've lapsed out of. How do you move from disenchantment to falling in love again. I mean with walking, of course.

And as I was puttering around the house this morning, trying to spot clean, it came to me as clear as day. Fake it til you make it. Set some goals and work towards them.

I thought initially of the Helvetia Half, which is three weeks away. It's a nice hilly half, a test of not-starting too fast, not getting-too-gung-ho on the hills. And then I remembered that I committed to cohost (or host.... I'm not sure which) a pub crawl during Pedalpalooza... which of course is the night before.

So, I'm not sure what to do. It's clear I need to come up with a walking event to train for, and I could easily do the July 4th half, as I have for the last couple years. And maybe that's something I need to do, considering that I lost my lust for walking there last year.

Anyways, I'm on the look out. Thanks, Lara!!

...
Did I mention that I'm scared-$#@()*less about this pub crawl? Mind you, I have no problem with riding my bike to pubs, I've been known to do that sort of thing. I'm just afraid I'm gonna be riding with a bunch of speedies who will be leaving me in the dust. And hosting suggests perhaps leading?. Yikes.

Still, every time I do a group ride, I amaze myself at my ability to not be the slowest person in the group. Still, some training might be in order.

...
My sweetie works directly with a guy we call Snowball. Anyways, just found out that Snowball has Noro virus. It's not a big deal, just a highly contagious stomach virus that lasts a couple days that you'd rather be dead during.

Nausea, vomitting and diarrheoa are the main symptoms. The disease lasts for 1 to 2 days but victims can remain infectious for at least a week from the onset of illness. There are many strains of Norovirus and immunity to one strain does not protect against another. Therefore people can be infected again.
http://www.newgenn.com/microbes/virus-data/noro-virus.html)

Here's hoping we (and you) skip this one.

...
It only cost me $400 bucks to collect the car yesterday. My check engine light was caused by, get this, the bulb for the up-shift light being burnt out. I didn't even know I had an up-shift light. Another argument for less-complicated transportation.

As I sat in traffic last night waiting to get home, I watched the cyclists with envy. Here, they were moving freely, much faster than I was. Sure, I had a radio, and I could blast the Smiths, but they had freedom. Damn it!

...
So this morning, I cycled in. Yay!

As I was pulling the bike out of the shed, I saw a father-child combo cycling up the street. I've seen them before: usually, Dad is pedalling and child is hidden in the trailer. But this time the child was perched on Dad's shoulders, holding on to his helmet-ed head. My first reaction was, Dude, you can't do that! Your kid! You're endangering your kid!!

But the kid was clearly having the best time ever. It's gotta be great to be a kid and be up that high.

I made a detour through Irving Park. One of the things that marks this last six months of rabid guide writing is my following tangents. Oh so much fun. I have a yarn store page, and a farmers market page, both about 90% done. And then, there's my Better Know a Bridge series... and my public fountains you can let your kids play in page which I've just started on.

Anyways, you go to the Portland Parks page, and they have this feature search engine that is very cool, but you get to the results, and it's really unclear that you're at anything useful. Like, they claim there are Water Play features at all these neighborhood parks, but, then you get to the particular park page, and it's just not terribly convincing.

So, long story short, Irving Park supposably has a water feature, so I went looking for it.

They have asphalt paths going through the park, so I cycled past the covered and uncovered basketball courts, the softball field, the dog park, and way off in a hollow I could see playground equipment. And sure enough, there was this odd little water play thingee which of course was not running because it's 50-something degrees and drizzling, as well as being 8 am.

Now I just have to go back when it's actually running and take some pictures.

Did I mention that it was a wonderful ride in? I had all my stuff in my panniers, which seemed to just help the whole traction issue. I was feeling pretty good as I was cruising around, zoom zoom zoom. And then I'm down in the Rose Quarter crossing a busy street when I hear my panniers go splat.

It lands, naturally, in the middle of the busy street. So I jump off the bicycle, and, ta-da! My shoelace is untied.

I did manage to reassemble the bike/pannier combo, but not without getting a dirty look from another bicyclist. What was that about?

permalink May 24, 2006 | Comments (1)

May 9, 2006

happy camper

From the new Xtracycle promo by Ross Evans:

"My life is as much as 20% better because of this device. I was a happy camper before I got it, but now I am like the happy campground host. I am stoked."

http://xtracycle.com/slideshow.html

via Todd

permalink May 9, 2006 | Comments (1)

Commuting

It's been a beautiful couple of days, after a rainy weekend. Yesterday, I went out to the shed to get out my bike and was overcome by how wonderful, huge and stinky my lilac shrubs were. So I did the only reasonable thing: I filled the front basket with lilacs.

There's something especially fun about wearing girly clothing (a dramatic cut-on-the-bias skirt with a frilly frothy chiffon blouse), on a pink bicycle, with a basket of lilacs. I attract a lot of attention just with the bike itself, but I got smiles all around from everyone who looked my way.

...
I've been job hunting and strangely enough, it's been lots of fun. I still am full of the "I'm not worthy!" moments when I'm sending in my resume, but it's been strangely relaxing and enjoyable: talking to new people about their workplaces, etc, etc.

One of the big things that has come up has been the commute. This isn't a surprise, but I am surprised how much it's occupying my thoughts.

One of the jobs I'm most interested in is in Beaverton, and the car commute was a pure drag. It looks like the MAX portion of the commute would be about 35 minutes; I'm about a mile and a half from the MAX station, and then I'd have about 3/4 of a mile at the other end.

So easily, that could be walked. But of course, I'm bike-crazy and so I get caught up in all sorts of silliness.

Like, should I buy a folding bike? Then I could just carry it with me in the train, and bring it in and park it at my desk.

Or should I get an electric bike, that would allow me to bicycle there. It's only 12 miles away. So it would only take maybe a half hour to get out there. Though I have no clue what I'd use for a bike route.

Note to self: do they have bike parking?
...
I went to the local bike cooperative this weekend and enjoyed checking it out. They had an xtracycle there; a free radical attached to an old hybrid bike. I swooned.

My problem is that I want one of everything. But really, I need a garage if I am going to be collecting bicycles. Silly girl.

permalink May 9, 2006 | Comments (3)

May 2, 2006

On your right!

Yesterday, I was longing to ride my bike. As I rode the bus in across the Hawthorne bridge, the bridge was covered with bicycles and pedestrians, all looking like they were having a lot more fun than we were. And I just wanted to be riding. I was totally pining for the fjords.

But I couldn't ride, because I had an appointment in the afternoon.

I've been so caught up in preparing for these appointments that I just totally forgot about May Day. Yeah, I heard about the protests, and I remembered the true labor day, but I forgot about the Hal an Tow and the Maypole and all that. And really, usually, the labor day aspects and the maypole aspects are at the front of my mind. But I was preoccupied.

Sweetie and I had been chatting about it in the morning. When was I going to leave work? I, as usual, didn't want to make a decision about it, I just wanted to leave when the time was right. But he kept arguing that I should make a plan, and I should leave early.

So, I decided that I'd leave at 12:30. But in fact, I left at 12:45. Just as the march, or parade (as the cops were calling it) went by my building, bisecting my bus route.

As I was walking out of the building, I asked the cop who was redirecting traffic if the buses had been rerouted, or if they were staying on their same routes. "oh, they're on the same routes", he said "we're just going to try to squeeze them in here and there with the parade". The parade!

Anyhow, the parade was huge. I ended up walking halfway home before I caught a bus... an hour later. I was sure envious of the folks on bikes.
...
This morning, I wasn't in the greatest mood, so I decided to take preemptive action and ride the bike in. Which was an excellent idea. It was chilly and crisp and all together delightful. Except when I passed an erratically walking pedestrian. As usual, I gave him some warning, saying, on your right.

He began shouting at me, about how he hates bicycles and he hates bicyclists, though of course, he said it in a pretty nasty way. And then he told me to leave him alone.

The sad thing is that this guy looked totally normal. It was unnerving.

I understand being pissed about bicycles coming too close, not letting you know that they're going to pass, not giving any warning. But here I was, being respectful.

permalink May 2, 2006 | Comments (3)

February 6, 2006

it's sunny

It is absolutely gorgeous outside. I rode the bike in, and I was in such an excellent mood, until I got to work. But damn, it is beautiful.

I'm thinking about doing something crazy like bicycling into NW over lunch. Bicycling might be able to redeem my mood!

I have mixed feelings about the weekend. I had a lot of fun, but I didn't get much done, and it seems that I am all about quantifiable stuff. Pictures taken, places visited, notes taken, junk removed, areas cleaned.

But I did take a look at my bills, and it seems that I should have plenty of $$ leftover after paying bills. So, now all I have to do is to stop spending it all. (cue sound of hysterical laughter)

permalink February 6, 2006 | Comments (3)

December 16, 2005

Let it snow!

The city is getting the golden color it gets at this point in the afternoon, about a half-hour before everything goes pitch black. It looks cold outside, and while I haven't left the building today, I have no reason to believe that it is suddenly warm.

I know that every day I whine about how cold it is outside, and every day its worse than the last. Dunno what to tell you about that. It's true, damn it! When I left the house this morning, in my usual I'm-a-cyclist-incognito gear, it was in the 20s. Two-zero. Brrr!

I learned some things. N0rdstrom Rack makes these knee-highs, nylon/acrylic or some such, and they have amazing stretch—large enough to cover my ginormous calves. So I put them on this morning, with my newish thin leather boots, which meant I could feel my frozen and detached toes rolling around in my boots as I rode to work.

I also learned that if about half of the xmas presents for my mom are at work, I can fit the other half AND all 6 rolls of wrapping paper in my panier. Boy, I bet I looked festive pedalling like the worlds slowest slug.

Last night, and this morning, the Steel Bridge pedestrian bridge has been closed. A person invariably learns this when they are right on top of the damn thing. I know, lots of cyclists like the Eastside Esplanade better than the Tom McCall bicycle parkway, but I have one word for you, for what the Esplanade is not: F-L-A-T. So I huff and puff up and down the dorky little hills. Yeah, I should kept biking, I've lost all conditioning, I know, I know. Don't I know!

And then I'm crossing the Hawthorne Bridge. It got restriped recently, so peds and bikes have separate lanes. Sorta. So I'm trying to stay in the cycle lane, which seems ridiculous given that no pedestrians are crazy enough to be walking across the bridge, and Trimet buses are whisking by a mere foot away. And meanwhile, cyclists are calling out, on your left, and flying by me, and then moving entirely over to the right, to the pedestrian lane. So I started counting. There was exactly one other cyclist who stayed in the bike "lane". This whole obeying the law thing is a drag.

permalink December 16, 2005 | Comments (1)

December 15, 2005

a bit of a tiger

Oh, man, it's gotten cold here.

Yesterday, I had a ton of energy to burn off. Over lunch, a cow-orker and I went to the grocery and bought three bags of groceries for the Oregon Food Bank. I was so happy I practically danced the rest of the afternoon. And, for the first time in recorded history, my floor has brought in the most food. Incredible.

After laying in bed not able to sleep last night, I decided that I need to get more exercise. Didn't I decide that previously, recently? Oh, yeah, I did. So this morning in a show of, what, I'm not entirely sure of, I was out early, pumping up the tires on the bike, installing a new light (which tried to commit suicide, thank you very much, on 15th Street), and adding the tire sparx onto my tire valves.

Once everything was done and said, I turned on the battery-opped xmas lights on my bike basket and headed in. And damn, it was cold.

permalink December 15, 2005 | Comments (0)

December 7, 2005

Trees of many colors

Well, yesterday, I remained wound up all day long. I did the Salmon Street Death March with the usual suspects, then went to Bike Gallery to get some bike lights, and then to Santaland at Meier and Frank.

Santaland used to be this big room that had a monorail for little kids. The kids glide above the room, above Santa and their families and the giant miniatures displays with train sets and the likes. And while Santa was most definitely there, it was a much more informal setting than most mall Santas.

Meier and Frank has been bought and has been declining rapidly, and I guess they had pulled out the flooring in the Santaland area when municipal government stepped in and put some sort of kybosh on further demolition. And so there is a Santaland again, for the last year, which is unlike it used to be.

There's still a monorail. There's still a miniature, albeit much miniaturer. But now, it's all about Santa, all about corralling your kids, having to stand next to a bunch of toys while waiting to talk to Santa, about paying for the priviledge of talking to Santa, blah blah blah.

What's amazing to me is: Meier & Frank doesn't sell toys. Or at least didn't.
...
Yesterday was a workday like I'd like to have more often. I was very productive. And then I got to attend a class which made me all excited about work again. It was great!

After work, we went out and tried a new (to us) Chinese-American dive. I'm such a sucker for a good neon sign, and Sweetie has been very willing to try these places out with me. To our great shock, the food was good, though the atmosphere was sorta surreal (note to self: never use blue translucent ceiling tiles).

permalink December 7, 2005 | Comments (2)

November 29, 2005

Nobody Bikes in L.A....But they'd be a lot happier if they did.

Instead of the major thoroughfares I use when driving, I cycled quiet back streets—the kind that infuriate me in a car because of all the stop signs and the impossibility of crossing major streets without a signal. I found my commute so easy that I soon started looking for other short trips I could make on the bike—picking up a few groceries, going to the gym, returning library books—then longer ones. I plotted new stealth routes no driver would ever take. (Tip: The satellite photos on Google Earth are much better for doing this than a road map, because you can see exactly what the streets look like.)
slate.com/id/2130978/

permalink November 29, 2005 | Comments (1)

November 23, 2005

And now we are two

Well, Thanksgiving is getting smaller and smaller.

Last year, we had no Thanksgiving dinner party, and it made me quite sad. I love having people over, I love cooking for a houseful. So this year, I was hoping to have a houseful... and then I learned that another friend had snagged all of our friends. Except Mela. That's okay. Mela and I and Sweetie can hang out and cook.

And now Mela has the flu. Poor thing, she sounds awful. We'll make her a care package tomorrow, but I am so bummed.
...
Anyways, tomorrow will be fun. We'll cook, we'll hang out. I'll be bringing a huge pile of work home, but I'm hoping to have some time to knit and read as well. And maybe if this wonderful weather holds, I can get in a walk or two.

I rode home last night, natch. I had expected it would have been warmer than it had been in the morning, so I wore one less layer. But it was windy, and it was plenty cold. Damn, I am so slow, and the ride was taxing. But I slept well last night.

This morning's ride was beautiful. Cold, sunny, not too much wind. Even when I'm annoyed on the bike, I am so happy. I'm so glad to be doing this again!

permalink November 23, 2005 | Comments (1)

November 22, 2005

37 degrees!

I rode my bike today! I rode my bike today! Na-na-na-na-na, I rode my bike today!

And I was actually a little too warm!

I could have used some wool around my head, face, and neck. I wore a buff as a balaclava, and even though it is bright pink, people looked at my like I had just robbed a convenience store.

Wait a second, back up, let's look at what I was wearing. Yellow BMX Bridgepedal helmet (read: seriously goofy), check. Pink buff as balaclava, check. Yellow wind jacket, check. Respectable black wool skirt, check. Respectable clogboots, check. On bright pink bike, check. And people were looking at me like I was armed and dangerous. Oh, the power!

On my torso, I wore a drifit t, a thermal running top, my wool v-neck, and then the yellowjacket. I think I coulda done okay with one layer less.

I wore my dorky is0toner driving gloves: they were okay. And the great thing about those: they match nothing that I own. This bothers me much more than it should.

On my legs, I wore long underwear, the wool skirt, smartw8l socks, and the clogboots. Perfectly toasty.

It was a nice ride. Cold, but insanely sunny. I could really tell I haven't been on the bike in a while—I was very happy to leave it in second gear for the vast majority of the ride. I was leisurely, which meant I got in about a minute later than usual. There were quite a few runners, but not so many bicyclists out.

I know I need to get more exercise. My stress levels have been so high, and I'm hoping this will make a dent. I tell you, I do feel fairly relaxed this morning. And, while my clothes still fit, we are coming into the season of overeating and overdrinking, and I'd like my clothes to continue to fit. Or fit looser. And, we're just a couple months out of prime job hunting—it would be nice to look athleticly zaftig rather than just zaftig.

permalink November 22, 2005 | Comments (4)

November 8, 2005

Michael de Jong and his bike promotion

Still feeling crummy. Wondering when I will ever get more exercise than slowly walking up the stairs or across the house to the washroom. So very far away!

Still, I am thinking of movement. Check out this great article from the New York Times: Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words.

But Mr. de Jong does more than take absurdly long cycling trips across large continents. Since 1995, when he gave up driving after a devastating car accident, he has used his custom-built folding bicycle to get to and from airports in 30 cities around the world, including New Delhi, London, Lagos and Rio de Janeiro. Once he finds the most sensible route, he posts it on the Internet for others to follow. In most cases, he said, biking from the airport to a city center is faster than traveling by car or taking public transportation.

I couldn't find any evidence of his bike routes to airports online. Sheesh.

permalink November 8, 2005

November 7, 2005

Dexter Ave N., in Seattle

Too cool. This is a fundraiser for Bicycle Alliance of Washington which unfortunately has no info on their site about how to legally get a copy of this (BAW: Help me help you! Please!). I found this via Fritz of cyclelicio.us, natch.

permalink November 7, 2005 | Comments (2)

October 27, 2005

Too many words

So, somedays, you can try to lift yourself out of your doldrums, and what do you end up with? Lying soaked in your doldrums.

Yesterday afternoon at work was just a good example. I took lunch late because I was trying to finish up a project. As I left, my cow-orker/officemate reminded me of the staff meeting taking place in 10 minutes. Oh good. So I get a sandwich, take a bite of it, and go up to the meeting.

The beginning was not auspicious, when the boss asked what we were all reading. So everyone goes around, mentioning high brow fiction, and high brow political non-fiction, and I am filled with panic. I have lots of books, and I'm a chapter into most of them. Saying that you're a chapter into Firefox Hacks or Ambient Findability or Web Mapping Illustrated or Geographic Information Systems and Science or the Portland Edge or even 2/3rds through the Art of Urban Cycling—none of these sound high brow or impressive. They just sound like I'm a spazz, which admittedly, I am.

So I decided to take the faux-populist, anti-intellectual George W. tack, as well as the class clown approach: I say I'm reading Alterknits, and the Portland Edge, though I'm having a hard time with the latter because there are so many words. This gets a good laugh out of people.

I do find this stuff rather distressing though. I used to be an avid book reader before my dad died. But afterwards, I still read, just mostly magazines and newspapers. And I've never regained that conspicious consumption of books that I once had. Mind you, I still buy books, and take them out of the library as if I were going through a couple a week. But I'm not even getting through a book a month now.

Sometime this year, someone mentioned the fact that they had all but abandoned books, and then they realized it was an issue of needing reading glasses. Well, reading glasses really help, but since I've been waking up with a headache from my TMJ most mornings, when I forget and look up from my book through the glasses, I get a fresh shock of head pain. It's all very encouraging.

Anyways, I'm still mentally sorting through my panic and emotional response as the meeting goes on, and then I hear that I will probably be getting a partial RIF (reduction in force, not reading is fundamental) in the next two weeks, which is to say, I'll be involuntarily going part-time. Oh. Do you think you could have mentioned that to me privately rather than just announcing it in a unit meeting?

Anyways, I'm the only one who'll be RIFed in the department, and there is a cut and dried reason—the huge concern as to if we get the contract that funds most of my position. And it's probably all for the good, but it still comes as a big shock.

And it turns out that my boss had as much notice as me. Love it, I love it!
...
I've been really working hard to change my approach to cycling and walking, to be more predictable to drivers. For cycling, this includes not riding the wrong way down one way streets, obeying traffic controls, not darting across parking lots or lanesplitting, not riding on the sidewalk. It takes a bit of courage to be on the road, far enough out in the lane to be out of the way of car doors, knowing that while I might be inconveniencing drivers, I'm safer, and downtown, we're all going the same speed anyways.

Sweetie called me yesterday morning to let me know that the community radio station had the bike show on, and the bike show had an urban planner on. So I tune in, and all the callers are talking about how unsafe it is to ride on the road, and that they all ride on the sidewalk. The guests would patiently try to explain the vehicular traffic idea, which went over like a big lead brick.

Then last night, I heard about a pedestrian who was hit a couple blocks from my house. In looking for news about it, I found stories about another pedestrian was hit twice and killed maybe a mile or so away, and a suburban Seattle high school student hit by a school bus. I couldn't find any "official" news about the pedestrian guy or his condition.

And then this morning, I saw that Fritz had posted about bicyclists on a UK university campus: they like to ride on the sidewalks overwhelmingly, and 24% of peds report being hit by bikes (via Cyclelicio.us). How sobering.

permalink October 27, 2005 | Comments (7)

October 26, 2005

Futility

I'm just having a down morning this morning. Futility. Everything seems futile. Why clean when it will become unclean? Why agitate for social justice when evil corporate interests will ride ruffshod over everything? Why do I even hope for a job that will be satisfying?

All I really want to do is to knit and play with maps. I tried reading a book this morning—that sort of thing used to be way high on my list of fun things to do—but the words swam on the page. So many words.

Perhaps in a related note, I am obsessed with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Maps (though I've never heard the Yeah Yeah Yeahs—the version I have is by Arcade Fire)
...
Yesterday was pretty good, all things considered. I did the Salmon Street Death March, the three mile walk up and back down the Salmon Street hill, with the usual suspects. It felt good, though I appear to have deeply offended a cow-orker that I don't know very well. I'm not sure if I should get upset about that, but given that I'm on the fence about it, I think I should just give up the catholic guilt and not worry about it.

Of course, fifteen minutes before I could leave work, it began pouring. I thought about leaving Sweetie's bike in the garage—but it's not my bike, and what if it walked off? I thought about taking the train part of the way home, but I'd still end up soaked. A cow-orker offered to ferry me and the Black Hole home, but I was pretty certain that I'd end up soaked, and that the bike wouldn't fit into her car.

During the day, I had read Liz's recent entry about the not-so-recent beginning of her regular exercise, which involved following through on a promised walk, even in the pouring rain. And I thought, I could act like I'm made of soap and avoid the rain, or I could just ride home.

I chose the latter. I had my yellowjacket as my only raingear, which is water-resistant, so within about the first five minutes, I became soaked to the skin. Honestly, it's easier once you're soaked, because it just can't get any worse. Since I was riding the Black Hole, the ride home was pretty easy once I got past my ever complaining internal voice.

But I was soaked through. Sweetie met me at the door with a towel straight from the dryer. I began piling wet clothes on the floor, and was surprised to see water running away from the pile. Yikes. And my favorite red mary-janes - soaked through. Hopefully they'll survive this.

On my list of things to do today: buy rain gear. Seriously.

permalink October 26, 2005 | Comments (5)

October 25, 2005

Who are you, and how do you know my name?

I'm riding Pinky home last night, still downtown, when I hear someone call out.

Vicki, your tires! You need to inflate your tires!

Huh? I look over in disbelief. The voice doesn't sound like anyone's I know. The speaker then says:

I own a bike shop.

Huh?

I still have no idea who he was, or how he knew my name. But, thanks, unknown bike shop owner!

I get home, and Sweetie and I go to a new brewpub near by. We walk in, and there's one of my PFit coaches. So I go over to say hi, and she tells me that she found my blog, and what is a blog exactly anyways? We had a great conversation.

Once Sweetie and I have consumed a pitcher of Jubelale, I tell him about the Cask Ale Festival this weekend, and he reminds me that I was planning on walking a half on Sunday. I haven't been training at all for the half, so part of me is like - I have to rethink this. Another part is: you need to do a thirteen miler, why not just do the half. And then there's the ego that says, but I'm not going to PR on this race. I'm probably going to have a lousy slow race time, so I shouldn't sign up at all.

It's clear I need to make a decision. I've been drinking a lot of beer this summer, which I enjoy, but there is a cause and effect there. If I'm going to get serious about walking, I need to really cut back on the beer drinking. Sigh. At least there's still chocolate.

So I did pump up the tires on Sweetie's bike this morning, and had a really nice ride in. But I'm a bit scrambled. For example, I got all the way down the street before I realized that the breeze was going through my hair—damn, my helmet! It's still in the shed! Go back, get helmet. Pass by the church where Katie's funeral will be and start to cry. Start thinking about my other elderly neighbors...

permalink October 25, 2005 | Comments (2)

October 24, 2005

Big weekend

It's been a big weekend. Jon has done his first marathon, the Detroit Marathon, that I hope to do if and when I ever get fast enough.

Friday, I made contact with the career counselor guy. I have an appointment this Friday. I'm tremendously excited!

Friday night, my beloved and I went to our favorite restauranteur, to see how he did on his first marathon. He finished in about the same amount of time as Jon, 4:47, and he also had a hard time, and felt like he was too slow. "Nothing went well that day. I hurt from the first mile". But he has the bug, and he's already thinking about Portland next year, and was asking if I was planning on doing it. Hell, yes!

Saturday, I went to the Urban Planning open house. There were a lot of people there. It was all very interesting. There are some big holes in my knowledge, like, would I like doing this for the next 10 years or so? Maybe. Dunno.

Sunday was Slug Velo's Fall Colors ride. There was a great turnout, and it was really cool to recognize people from previous rides. As I was chatting with someone, here comes Hollie, riding down the street. Turns out she has a broken leg, but she's a bit of a tiger (as you all know), so she's bicycling. Huh? I don't know how that works either, but it was lovely to see her and get to chat for awhile.

Jonathan from Bike Portland was also there, so we talked about our tremendous need for more mapping applications. I've been obsessed with the subject now for a couple of months, but have been a bit cowed about it. Talking about it made me want to get home and get right on it.

I fell into a big conversation about neighborhood activism with a St. John's neighborhood activist which continued from the ride through lunch at the Lucky Lab. Maybe it was just natural after spending part of the day thinking about planning the day before, but I was totally framing my arguments, and his, in planning.

The colors were gorgeous. It was fun to ride through Sellwood, which has some nice quirky gardens and houses, and as usual, it was gratifying to realize, wow, I biked from NE to Sellwood, and then to Yoko's, and then to the Lucky Lab! This is doable. This is fun!
...

Oh, and there's one of everything even without the internet: the Hummer LX Tactical Folding Bike. Bright black and safety yellow, of course.

The other day, walking around Portland, I saw a security guy on a, wait for it! Wait for it! A Smith and Wesson bike! So I asked him about it, and he said he gets asked about it ALL the time. Imagine!
...
I'm feeling a bit shell-shocked this morning—my next door neighbor died.

In some ways, it's not a huge surprise. She went to live with her daughter in late spring, and she had alzheimer's as well as a heart condition and sickle cell anemia. I lived next door to her for 11 years, which is 8 years longer than I've lived near anyone but my parents, and Katie was like a wonderful aunt to me. She chided me about the yard constantly, but was always there for me, seemingly always happy to see me. I'm really going to miss her.

permalink October 24, 2005 | Comments (3)

October 19, 2005

focus

Okay, I think I am in the midst of a full-fledged midlife crisis. See, and I thought I had gotten that crap over with, already.

I got some really good bike reading in via cyclelicio.us. Fritz always points to some interesting stuff, and in the last while there's been Fat Cyclist writing on winterizing, Danielo's 9 reasons to drive a car, Jim Carson on the economics of bike commuting, Cycledog on the irrationality of fear, and the Journal of Applied Physiology on moderate excercise preventing and even reversing the accumulation of deep abdominal fat, which is linked to type 2 diabetes, high cholestorol and heart disease.

If you only have time for one timewaster (and it's not really one), go to Cycledog's entry.

Riding a bicycle on the road requires awareness, alertness, good judgment, and a wary eye on traffic. But it doesn’t have to involve mind-numbing fear. Maybe that’s one advantage of regular commuting. I see the same motorists day after day. They come to expect a cyclist somewhere on the road each morning. This is no exaggeration – I rarely have problems with motorists – and I ride a mixture of 4-lane arterials and 2 lane roads in suburban, rural, and industrial areas. The daily commute is a relaxing part of my day, not a stressful dash between home and work.
— cycledog.blogspot.com/2005/10/fear.html

I was thinking a lot about that entry as I rode into work today, and I hit the points one by one as I was commuting. I used the bike lane when there was one, and I used lane positioning when there wasn't. I tried not to appear "unpredictable and dangerous". All in all, it was pretty pleasant.

I've also been thinking, for days now, about Neal Stephenson's message on his home page: his 'ongoing struggle against "continuous partial attention"'. He has a real point here: our multitudinous distractions can keep us from achieving our goals. For example: my office door is open, and cow-orkers come and go, talking mostly about non-work stuff. The cow-orker that I share the office with talks frequently on her cellphone. My phone has wrung already a couple times in the last hour and half. And I have three different email accounts open now.

Why do I need all this communication? I don't have a cellphone for a reason—I don't want to be that accessible. Yet, I check my email like a maniac. Why aren't I getting any list mail? Or personal email? Or comments?

I was thinking, too, of the amount of time maintaining two blogs takes. The old rule of thumb useta be that online journals should update daily on weekdays because people were following their bookmarks and going directly to the journal. In this day of newsreaders and bloglines, I'm wondering, does it matter if I update daily? Some prolific blogs can be kinda overwhelming when I open bloglines and see that there are 18 entries that have turned up in the last two weeks. Anyways, weigh in on this please if you care to.

permalink October 19, 2005 | Comments (6)

October 18, 2005

Weekend in Bend

So sweetie and I just got back Sunday night from Bend. I'm worn out. These damn vacationlettes are wearing.

When I was asking folks for suggestions, I was surprised by how many people said that they would live there in a second. I'm still a little surprised, honestly.

In my uneducated opinion, there are three things to do in Central Oregon:

• Outdoor activities (mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, skiing...)


• Brewpub visiting (Deschutes, Bend Brewing, Cascade Lakes, Silver Moon)


• and Volcano geeking (Newberry volcanic monument).

We did the last two.

What to tell? We drank too much beer. Or actually, not very much beer at all, but for some reason, I seemed to have lost any tolerance that I had. We first went to Deschutes and had a sampler tray of 6 of their 8 seasonals. The majority of which were fantastic. We had a hearty snack to tide us over, before walking around town and Mirror Pond (Oh yes, Deschutes does name all their regular beers after geographic features of the area). Once we were hungry again, we went to Bend Brewing (or BBC as it's called locally), and had another sampler tray, this time the $11 40-0uncer (10 4oz pours), along with dinner. I was less impressed with their beers, but I also kinda felt like my palate was tired (bear with me, I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt).

Otherwise, we tried to avoid doing things in the cutesy, touristy downtown, which was expensive. We went for drinks at a cute, goofy, space-aged bar, and then did a special, expensive birthday dinner (his, not mine) which was unimpressive. The best meal was certainly the breakfast at Alpenglow, which was full of really good waffles, english muffins and eggs, and locals—including one guy with fangs.

I hit an incredible yarn store, and demonstrated why I shouldn't be allowed in one with a credit card. Damn, the colors were so pretty. I'm a sucker for the colors. I walked out with several skeins of Koigu, a gorgeous sock yarn from Ontario, and Mountain Colors, from Montana, in colors like wilderness and ruby river.

In wandering around town, I was noticing all the bike lanes. Lots of them, including along Highway 97. Hardcore! They also had sidewalks along the highway. And I saw lots of bicycles downtown. Which I took pictures of. And then tourists would ask me why I was taking pictures of bicycles.

They of course have bike lane stencils, and they have wacky bike lane stencils. And here I thought Portland was special. And not short-bus special. Sigh!

We hit the High Desert Museum, where we saw a bobcat, a corn snake, and a vicious otter, as well as a really great collection of Paiute beadwork.

We hit the Newberry Volcanic Monument in several waves—a hike around Lava Lands, where the astronauts trained to walk the moon, the site closest to Bend. Then we spent a number of hours at Paulina (puh-lI-nuh). We drove up the steep gravel road to Paulina Peak (at almost 8000 feet - you can see into 3 states!), which was just incredible. Climbing the hill, practically straight up, we passed three mountain bikers. Whoa!

As we undid our safety belts, we saw an eagle soaring overhead. Damn! We got out of the car, standing in wonder at the Peak. We had an excellent view of the horseshoe of mountains that surround the caldera, the twin lakes below (Paulina and East), the obsidian flow, and bald, bare areas where nothing grows. About 5 or 10 minutes later, the cyclists made the peak, in high spirits and talking about puking. They had ridden all the way up from highway 97. Whoa!

Then we hiked around the Big Obsidian Flow, which was also really incredible. It bummed me out to see a father and his three kids hike out with huge pieces of obsidian, not even trying to hide that they were doing something illegal. Thanks for setting a good example, dude! But my anger was soon turned to wonder at this insane landscape of pumice and obsidian. We're walking on the path which is largely made of broken pumice and obsidian, with large and small chunks of obsidian everywhere. Incredible.

I took tons of pictures, and I tried very hard to edit them in such a way that there aren't three thousand pictures of obsidian (just, um, maybe 15 or so?).
...
So I'm sinking back into normal life. I seem to be getting in touch with some internal rage. We had a couple encounters with assholes in Bend that left me shaking angry. Like, oh my gosh, I'm a volcano angry, and you better watch out. This intensity of anger is really seeming new.

At work, I try hard to be a team player. But not everyone else tries. Some people are jerks.

I have tried to just live with it, because I need this guy to be an ally. But who am I kidding? He's not an ally.

I had to ask him about something this morning, and walked away and found myself seething. I know that men feel this all the time, but I generally don't, and the violence of the emotion is kinda frightening.

I had just gotten in from a nice bike ride, feeling like all was right in the world, and now I'm glad that no weapons are easily accessible as I wouldn't like the food in prison.

permalink October 18, 2005 | Comments (2)

October 17, 2005

Make way for bicycles!

From an Oregonian editorial of the same name comes this excellent plea!

Although bike commuters will never own the roads here, Portlanders need to start taking bicyclists seriously. Just as light rail and the Portland Streetcar preserve transportation options that most people don't take advantage of every day, facilitating bicycling preserves options for the future, too, and enhances our city. The South Waterfront is a great example. Everyone won't bike to work from there, but it would be foolish—a wasted opportunity—if this extension of downtown isn't built to maximize its “bike-ability.”

permalink October 17, 2005 | Comments (1)

October 13, 2005

Bike and the City

I feel like I'm stealing from Peter to pay Paul today. It's been crazy. So just a quick check-in.

It's drizzly and grey outside, the perfect morning for a bike ride. I was thinking about how different the experience is, riding in the drizzly rain versus walking in the drizzly rain. It really requires a huge leap of faith, faith that I generally don't have, to enjoy walking in the rain. Yet, for whatever reason, bicycling is fun. I don't understand it, I just do it.

And because I was not thinking analytically this morning, I took sweetie's sweet super-geared bike. With no fenders. My butt is still wet, and I have a stripe up my backpack. I'm still grinning about it though.

Yesterday was good. I made some inquiries about school, and attended a geography-urban planning lecture. Esoteric language, but I was fascinated. I bought an Oregon topo atlas and went and took more pictures of Ira's Fountain (which, yes, I'm a bit obsessed with. Sooner or later I'll finish writing about it and then I can regain my sanity).

I biked from downtown to Alberta St to meet up with the librarians gone wild, so I got to cover a whole lot of new territory. Lots of interesting houses and gardens to look at. To my horror, the new building that the bar we were meeting at was in had no bicycle parking. Isn't that the law? Or am I being naïve? So I had to lock up Pinky across the street, where I couldn't obsessively watch it.

I had a wonderful time though. I think I have a touch of aspergers syndrome because crowd scenes make me crazy, and I usually can't hear in groups in a bar, which feeds into all sort of ridiculous and crazy thinking. But I had good beer and good food, and really good conversation, and I was shocked when I looked down at my watch and it was 8pm! How did that happen?

So I biked home in the dark. I only had my back light so I was be really careful. But it was exhilarating riding through the neighborhood at night. I loved it. Obviously, I need to ramp up the lighting on Pinky.

And then I got home, and there were BikePortland stickers in the mail from Jonathan! Too cool!

Sweetie and I are planning a trip to Bend soon, and I am so excited! I can barely focus today between the thought of a cartrip, and the thought of school.
...
Oh, and you might have been thinking, what is it that VJ needs? Me too. Here's the results, googling on [VJ needs *]
VJ needs advice on home improvements
VJ needs a real caddy to help him with the greens
VJ needs to return to its previous position of a border patrol force
VJ needs a dollop of charm, a helping of good looks, a serving of wit and a dash of 'difference' (ouch!)
VJ needs some professional-level equipment to do a traditional realtime set
vj needs to stop them effects!!!!
VJ needs to be removed!
vj needs new bikes. desperately.
VJ's need for a computer upgrade has risen quickly to the top of our wish list
VJ needs a good ass kickin' ;)

permalink October 13, 2005 | Comments (9)

October 10, 2005

Couch bike

Oh, you know I want one!

http://www.bikeforest.com/cb/cb.php

link thanks to Michael Rasmussen

permalink October 10, 2005 | Comments (2)

October 6, 2005

bikes: don't do this, do this

Well, the martini has been removed from the bon vivant bicyclist stencil. I bet you're all relieved. I tell you, I am. Wouldn't want the city promoting drinking now, particularly drinking that involves a glass. Though maybe the glass was plastic?

Really, I do appreciate the don't drink and bike sentiment. But doesn't our municipal government have more pressing issues to deal with? Everybody has to be so damn PC. Sheesh.
...
In other PC issues, I totally didn't recognize one of the Bike Commute Challengers outside of work. I never recover well with this sort of thing, and as usual, I didn't yesterday either. So embarrassing. And so crappy. Maybe it was because I was feeling crappy, maybe, hell, I don't know.
...
So, it's become somewhat commonplace for people here to move via bike. By commonplace, I mean, there have been multiple occurrences, so a person would be justified in asking 'which bike move?'.
Bike move, heh heh heh makes me think of that old Seger song. I'm revealing my advanced age now. Anyways, I digress.

Last weekend, there was such a big bike move that a reporter from the Oregonian was there. The story ended up in In Portland, an O insert, today with lots of pictures, none of which are online. Of course, now that I'm looking for the story, it appears to not be online—or if it is, it's thoroughly buried. Damn it!

Anyways, John Foyston wrote a nice article that I wish I could link to (damn it!), and there are some great descriptions and pics on Todd's blog, and Jonathan points to this great Shift (a local bike org) Move by Bike page.
...
Kipchoge made this excellent point in a comment, which I have to put right here:

I think to a certain degree clutter is a symptom. The disease itself is what needs addressing: our compulsion to accumulate any chance we get.

permalink October 6, 2005 | Comments (2)

September 28, 2005

my day of overdoing it

So. Yesterday I rode Sweetie's bike in. At lunch, I walked the Salmon Street Death March with the rest of our hearty crew of Death Marchers. I got some super-excellent pictures which I am so very excited about. I found some new bike lane stencils, and whoa, that really makes my heart flutter.

Then, I rode Sweetie's bike home. No news there. I luff his bike.

Then I went to pilates. On the way, I found two more bike lane stencils that were new to me! Then, I got to class, and my instructor tried to kill me. She was concentrating on glutes. Of course, pilates on Monday was all about glutes. And bicycling is all about glutes. And walking uphill. I tried chanting Nietzsche, like that did a lot of good. So after class, my hair is wet, my whole body is wet with sweat. I guess that worked.

Of course, this morning I woke up and every inch of me hurt. So I listened to one of Sheldon Brown's podcasts about English 3-speeds and the Oyster Band (I found this via Fritz at cyclelicio.us). Tszuj had mentioned Mr. Brown the other day when I was fumbling with bike-speak, but I had not visited his site. The podcast was totally too cool. I'm hooked. Last night I was a podcast virgin—now I am a devotee.

It was cold enough this morning, riding in, that I thought: I've got to wear tights in the morning. I've got to dry my hair. I've got to get a wool Buff. My skirt, which is too long, kept getting caught in the rear wheel. That was easy enough to remove but kinda a pain all the same. I was running late, so I was moving fast—but made my appointment. I give it the ment0s thumbs-up!

And thank you, all, for the suggestions on the breakfast. I hadn't even thought of fruit and/or hardboiled eggs. I'm still game for suggestions, and I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to pull this all off. The breakfast I'm hosting is Friday morning at 8am... and it would be very nice to bring everything in by bicycle. The bakery I'd like to get some of the croissant type things at opens at 7. I haven't figured out where to get the coffee—the building coffee shop could cater it, no doubt cheaply, but it's not really good coffee. And I want this all to be super special, super nice. Cuz I loves my Bike Commute Challengers!

Today's Question: how do you judge a liquor store? Here in Oregon, we sell all hard liquor in liquor stores (with a few exceptions). They vary wildly, from Soviet style commissaries to lush IKEAs (okay, maybe that isn't a good juxtaposition). I don't drink liquor at home, so I'm not a real good judge of what makes a liquor store good. Are there speciality liquors they should stock? What sorts of cool things should I be looking for? Any help here is appreciated.

permalink September 28, 2005 | Comments (2)

September 27, 2005

Sticky, sweaty and with bugs to boot

Jon suggests that I'm delusional. And I have to give in on that. I read Jonathan's description of being near His Mighty Bikedness at the LiveStrong Ride, and some might go so far as to refer to Lance as an @$$h013. I still like to imagine that a miracle happened, and Lance Armstrong gave me, a fat middle-aged woman, a thumbs up, though I'm willing to believe that prehaps it was some Lance Armstrong imposter. It's all good, I'll take it either way.

I did mat pilates at the gym yesterday with a new instructor. She kicked my ass. I thought my legs were going to cecede from the union.

To make matters worse, I had brought super ugly clothing: a pair of super-baggy capris and a super-baggy striped shirt, which meant I looked super-fat. You know how when you look in the mirror, you look differently than in pictures, because your eye and brain are editing the perception? Well, I usually see myself as a chubby woman, probably not as a woman of the size that I really am. But yesterday, in those clothes, it was painful to look at myself in the mirror.

Lesson learned. Them's going to goodwill toute suite!

After riding home, encountering a bug swarm within a block of the house (?!? ugh!)(and having them stick all over my sweaty face and freshly lipglossed lips—double ugh!), and listening to a phone message from someone who wants me to advertise their motels on alt.portland (?!?), Sweetie took some pics of the new haircut. Unfortunately, I'm wearing that awful striped t-shirt and it's all I can see in the pictures. Well, that and I appear to be in front of a firing squad. You'll note in the second one that I am protecting myself with a dog.

I rode Sweetie's bike in this morning. Oh, so sweet. So incredibly sweet. (I want one so badly. Is it wrong to covet your darlin's bike?)

Hey, you guys. Today's Question: If someone was going to present you with the all time best continental breakfast, what would it include?

(I'm doing a continental brekkie for my Bike Commute Challengers, and I want it to be super-good!)

permalink September 27, 2005 | Comments (8)

September 26, 2005

And now for something completely different...

This weekend was big. I cut my hair, took a walk, and went for a bike ride. Those links will take you to that section if you don't want to suffer through something you don't care for.

Hair
So, Friday, I went to the hairdresser with three options. Keep it long, do a cleopatra bob, or do this short-short cut. She chose the latter and went to work. It's beautiful. Really really short—so much so that a number of acquaintances haven't recognized me.

It was really fun. I like my hairdresser a lot, and trust her implicitly. Her boyfriend came by with the kids, and it was just sweet. Everyone friendly and outgoing, like a party going on in the shop. Loved it!

I got home and immediately got online and saw all the alt-chicks with their bobs, and thought, maybe I did the wrong thing. And then I thought, I'm not an alt-chick. I'm a middle-aged woman. No one is going to mistake me for Bettie Page, and that's fine.

I thought I'd miss playing with my hair, twisting it into a knot on the back of my head, swishing it around. But I don't, at all. If anything, washing my hair is especially pleasurable, as the hair on top of my head feels so thick and luxuriant. And my sweetie can't seem to keep his hands out of my hair.

Walk
I went to PFit on Saturday, albeit late, and did the walk. 7 miles. It seemed like nothing! It was great. It felt so good and there were so many interesting things to look at. I kept up a good pace, and felt just lovely and strong. It was super chilly so I was bundled up, but it was also clear and sunny.

This makes me think that my bad experience of a couple weeks ago was just that—a bad experience. And if I would have just tried it again, I probably could have gotten on track to do Portland. But it is probably good for me to take a bit of a break. And it will be great to work a water station, and maybe, walk someone in.

Oh. And Lance Armstrong gave me a thumbs up.

Am I delusional? I might be. I was coming to the end of my walk, and I had just gotten an excellent photograph of the absolute best bike path stencil in Portland so I was entirely blissed out. I was thrilled too that I had caught up with someone who had started 45 minutes ahead of me as well. So my heart was full to bursting with joy.

And then this guy drove by, in an old Jeep. He looked a lot like Lance Armstrong. In fact, he looked a lot like Lance Armstrong if he was trying to pass as a normal guy. And, he gave me a thumbs up.

I prefer to believe that it was Lance. But, who knows?

Bike
Sunday morning, I met up with the Slug Velo group for their Statuary in September ride. I like this group a lot—it seems to have a good cross-section of normal people and the bike-obsessed, and there's always a kid or two.

This month's ride visited George Washington, Joan of Arc, the moose, the volunteer, Portlandia, Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Skidmore Fountain, meandering through eastside, from 57th and NE Sandy to the Hawthorne Bridge, then to the Park blocks, and Saturday market.

It's always easier riding with a group, and it's fun too. I chatted with Dale, the recumbent rider, about his bike, and the electric assist I thought he had. He told me a bit about the former electric assist, but I definitely didn't get the impression he liked it.

Another person had an electric assist: in fact, the bike was so new that this was her first ride on it, and she hadn't yet tried the assist. It was really sharp looking and I'm looking forward to learning how it's working out for her. The setback of the rear wheel doesn't look far enough back to support an xtracycle, and I think we all know how xtracycle-obsessed I am. But it seems quite economical.

permalink September 26, 2005 | Comments (4)

September 23, 2005

One of those days

Last night riding home, I felt like my legs were long and so strong. I felt like a bicycle riding pilates ad. But my legs just felt so good, so... leggy.

(for those of you who don't know me in real life, my legs aren't long. Shapely, proportional to body size, check and check, but there's no hiding that I'm short-legged. That's fine, they still both work)

It was a nice ride home. I worked hard at points and took it easy at points, but got home, not out of breath. Very nice. I had fallen into work, so I missed a lot of the traffic, too.

It's already turning out to be one of those days.

Exhibit A: altportland. Some of the pages offer the option of comments, some don't. Okay, so that's not consistent. But worse: you can't actually leave comments. The commenting mechanism isn't even there. Oops. How embarrassing.

Exhibit B: the pc laptop. I'm borrowing this from work, and I went to grab some of the work that I had done over the weekend. Hmmm. I look around for blank CDs, they were just on the table, but, not any longer. Hell, I don't even know that this pc will burn CDs! So, plan B. I grab a floppy disk out of my backpack, and grab the external floppy drive out of the laptop case. The laptop is docked because the mouse mechanism sucks so, and, there is no port on the dock that matches the floppy drive. Okay. So I undock the laptop, and—no port on the actual laptop will work either. Sigh.

Exhibit C: yesterday's pictures. I noticed I never added them. Yikes.

I ride into work and that is just fine. On pinky. Yay!

Today I alternated between being in 3rd gear, and hitting a particular speed, and then shifting into second, and trying to maintain that speed without bouncing all around. It's getting a little better, and to my surprise, I can very frequently maintain that speed. I try to chant pilates phrases to myself about my core being strong and locked into place, which gives me the giggles.

Exhibit D: my work computer. I come up to my desk all in a whirl, ready to start immediately on my deadline task and—up comes a message that the computer must reboot several times more to finish updating the software. I can't win this one. I go to the coffee shop.

I'm hoping the coffee shop will signify the beginning of a brand new, sparklin' day, full of productiveness and not roadblocks (especially of my own manufacture). And not a lot of hurricane damage.

permalink September 23, 2005

September 22, 2005

Waiting for the storm

The ride home on Pinky last night was not pretty. But it really is getting easier on the 3 speed. Just not as easy as on Sweetie's sweet ride. I'm going to keep riding Pinky on M-W-F, as I hope it is making me stronger.

The Steel pedestrian bridge was going up as I was approaching it, so I went over the regular Steel bridge. I almost made it to the top with stopping, almost. As I was atop the bridge, the MAX was on the bridge at the same time, and I'm moving a smidge faster, thinking, hey I'm out here in the open air, and you guys are in a metal tube. A nice metal tube but a metal tube all the same.

I think about those fixies (A fixed gear bicycle, also known as a fixie, is a single speed bicycle without a freewheel. The cog is 'fixed' to the hub, usually secured by a reverse-thread lockring. This from wikipedia, natch.), and I swoon. I'd love to be the rider of a fixie. But first I need to gain skill and strength and stamina, and I'm sure not there yet. But it's nice to see some progress.
...
In Portland Transport, Jessica wrote about Evacuation, Sans Car. It's a timely subject, certainly, and one I've been obsessing about. Hmmm, me, boyfriend, 4 cats, one dog—that's a lot of stuff to carry in two bicycles or two scooters. Yet, two wheeled transport seems much smarter, especially if automobile traffic is sluggish or stopped.

I'm also nervously watching Rita. Sweetie has relatives in League City (Galveston County) and NW Houston. We heard from his brother a couple of nights ago, but since, neither we nor Sweetie's Mom have been able to reach him. Initially he and his extended family were going to hole up at his father-in-law's, but now that there is a mandatory evacuation of Galveston County, well, we're all hoping they're moving inland. I just wish we knew for sure about that. Sweetie's Dad is boarding the place up, planning (last we heard) to try to ride it out. And another relative has moved Sweetie's beloved Aunt Betty, as her place will almost certainly flood.

Last night, I dreamt that I was in a disaster. The most memorable part of it was that some guy irritated me so I broke his arm(!), but there was also some 4-wheeling along the side of a freeway, and some other stuff which is fading rapidly. Snow, for example (?). I had broken the irritating guy's arm right before waking up, as well as incorporating Sweetie's soothing wake up manner as little talking animals. Don't ask me, I don't know.

permalink September 22, 2005

September 21, 2005

winded

Yesterday, we did the Salmon Street Death March. Essentially, we start at Waterfront Park and walk up Salmon, strangely enough, til we get to Washington Park, some 26 blocks away. Up a fairly steep hill at points. It really winded me. I need to get out more often, obviously.

On my ride home, I was still cranky about a California-plated SUV driver who was adamant that I ride in front of her across Broadway—four lanes of traffic speeding directly at me, about a block away. I did get across the road, cursing myself for giving in to her "kindness", and then every stop sign required a stop. Get up some speed, then, stop. Repeat. Okay. Fine. Remember, Vicki, you're a good rider. You obey traffic laws (when other vehicles are around). Even though my adrenaline had my heart in my throat.

I'm waiting at a stop sign when I hear a voice behind me saying hi. It's Ali, one of my PTC teammates, also on her bike, natch. We chat, and then she says those words that freeze you in your tracks: I read your blog.

I met Jessamyn West at a party once. I followed her journal, so when we were introduced, I said so. That creeps me out, she replied. I wasn't expecting that. Hell, she posts her journal online, and I'm telling her it's interesting enough that I read it, and she's creeped out?? I didn't really get it then, but I do now.

There are all these invisible people (to me) who read a blog, and then there are the ones that make contact. When you meet the ones who have made contact, it's not weird, really. So why is it weird when someone you know socially tells you they read your blog? I don't know, really. It makes me confused, because, honestly, why shouldn't Ali read my blog? I mean, it's a compliment, dagnab it!

Anyways, I think I got over my initial freak-out quickly, probably by trying to get up the little Dishman hill, and was just enjoying talking with her. What a nice coincidence! I thought about it afterwards—bicycling as a form of social interaction. Pretty darn cool.

If I were scootering, would we have talked? Probably not. If we were on the bus—maybe. But that is one of the beauties of bicycling or walking—you have these opportunities to interact, to be friendly. Nice.

We parted about a block from my house. She shouted something; I couldn't distinguish what she said from the traffic. I wanted to say goodbye, and say, hey, my house is a block up and it's a nice through street (though not as through as others), and great to see you, nice talking to you, and thank you for reading my blog, but, no.

This morning I rode Pinky in. Not as fun as Sweetie's bike. Oh, that pains me to say that! But true. It was a nice ride, cool, sunny, absolutely beautiful. I loved seeing all my regular peeps: the karate guy, the ham radio operator who always walks the esplanade loop, the friendly homeless folk.

I swooped into the garage (whuhoo, I swooped! Shouldn't that by itself be the highlight of my day?), and then saw the guy, who I used to consider an ally, who is proposing outsourcing my work. I rode behind him, and I wanted to shout, So, So-and-so, are you outsourcing my job?, but then I thought that the combination of me bearing down on him (even on a pink cruiser bicycle with silk flowers on the basket) was probably too aggressive. So I just said hi, and I meant to ask him about it, but then a couple of other cyclists came through, and that was that.

So in the end, I didn't ask. I don't trust that he'd give me a truthful answer anyways. If I was in his position, would I?

Oh, and so far in the Bike Commute Challenge, I have ridden 78 miles. This doesn't count the couple of times I've bicycled to lunch, done errands, biked to dinner in Northwest, gotten bored and taken a longer route, etc. 78 miles!

I decided this morning to take a look at other daily Portland blogs. I know they exist, I even follow some of them, for heavens sakes. But doing a blog search only turned up three useful hits (in the 80 I bothered to skim). Interesting.

I'm kinda obsessed, again, with alt.portland, and working on a redesign so it looks new as well as is new. I have been working on a daily blog for it, which I haven't announced there. I don't want to announce it til I have a number of entries, and now I have a number of entries, but... But I think when I get the redesign finished, I'll move the blog to the front page, and the front page to an about page. Exciting stuff, huh? Oh, the minutia!

permalink September 21, 2005 | Comments (2)

September 20, 2005

Lots of links, lots of distractions

I just walked by one of the HR people, who had a giant binder on her desk: What to do about Personnel Problems. The spine looks like this:

What do do about

Personnel Problems

(I can't help feeling that I am a personnel problem. Outsourcing. Ugh.)

I love my sweetie's bike. Love, love, love. I go up that damned ramp up from the Esplanade to Holladay Street, and it's work, but not unending, thigh-searing, why-does-g-d-hate-me? work. Up the hill from the Rose Quarter, that's okay too. I even recover in time to be able to charge through intersections.

Today someone asked me if it was a folding bike. I thought of the cool Brompton I saw the other day, which folds up so small you can put it under your desk, and I realized that this guy was not a bike nerd—he was just making conversation. Which is fine too.

Today it is cool and sunny, and I had that wonderful synchronism of feeling like the pedals were natural extensions of my legs. The transfer of power, the small movements in my feet, it all affects the ride. I just felt like I could do that all day, and not be happier.

There have been a couple of interesting bicycling stories circulating: the principal who rides to school, the teachers who get paid (sorta) to bike-commute, and now, the bike messenger whose food costs are reimbursed! These are all via Treehugger, mostly via cyclelicio.us.

Cyclelicio.us also posts a public service announcement about protecting your bike from bike theft.

Finally, something not about bicycles. Here's a Vespa video. It's no LambrettTwist, but it's enjoyable in its own way.

permalink September 20, 2005 | Comments (4)

September 16, 2005

Hard-core!

Here's the short version.

Riding Sweetie's Townie 24 home was sweet! I was still slow going up hills, but I was going up them! And when I got back home, I didn't feel like I needed to lie down for the next 45 minutes. I also made it home 5 minutes faster.

Pilates: yucky. I was achey and tired and just felt exhausted during and afterwards.

This morning I rode in. (Of course) I had asked Sweetie if I could borrow his bike again, and he agreed, and then I noticed that it was raining. Not hard, but still. Since his bike has no fenders, I made the easy decision: ride pinky. And so I did. I love my basket, I love my bell, I love my shiny chrome fenders.

By the time I got into work, I felt hard-core! Yeah! You couldn't wipe the grin off my face. So much so that I sent the Talk Like a Pirate message to all my coworkers. I'm waiting for the fallout, but so far, nothing.

permalink September 16, 2005 | Comments (1)

September 15, 2005

Still we ride!

After a trying experience with the Russell Street hill yesterday evening, I asked Sweetie if I could borrow his Townie 24.

Sure, it might have been the beer that I drank with my librarian Portland to Coast team. Sure, I'll give you that. But it was an unpleasant experience. The hill, not the librarians.

So, I rode it (being the black on black townie 24) in this morning. It was funny because I did very little shifting—but of course, the route into work is mostly downhill.

It felt terribly fast. It still has no rack or basket so my satchels were digging into my shoulder, and no bell. The whole bell thing (or lack thereof) is very irritating.

Much to my surprise, all the folks in the garage commented that I was riding a different bicycle. The western African woman complimented its sleekness. It's a sweet ride, and that black on black—well, it's not pink. But it's awful nice.

I'm tempted to make an excuse to get lunch on Hawthorne, just to see how it does on that slow, slow hill. It's doable on Pinky, but I wonder if I would even notice the hill on Sweetie's?

I'm hopeful that perhaps this afternoon's commute home won't be such work. Part of me thinks the ease that I rode around with during the Bridge Pedal was all a peloton-inspired dream.

permalink September 15, 2005 | Comments (1)

September 13, 2005

struggle vs ease

And just like *that*, my funk is gone. I woke up and feel human again. Who knows?

Yesterday, I went to the gym mat pilates class, which is always really tough. And was. My arms hurt like hell today. Incredible.

I biked home, in spite of really wanting to load the bike onto MAX and getting home that way (funk, you know). It was good. I decided to consciously not hurry, to just relax. If it takes me awhile to get up the hill in this gear, so be it. So, I felt like I was going insanely slow—but once I looked at the computer, I realized that it really hadn't taken more time at all. Progress!

The evening was spent with friends watching Galaxy Quest. We got home late, but it felt good to have some social time.

And then I sprung up outta bed this morning like I had springs.
...
I was talking with a friend who I haven't talked to in months this morning (I'm bad about communications even with people I really really like, and I'm phone-adverse). Anyhow, she asked me about what walking events I had coming up, and I said, nothing. It's so weird to think, to realize, that I have no races coming up. I mentioned that my ambition and motivation for walking dried up after the Gorge Marathon, and she said that happens everytime her partner does a marathon.

I know I'm not the only one, but it felt good to hear someone else say, you just needed a break. I feel so guilty about it. I feel like such a slacker. But perhaps sometime soon, I'll wake up and want to race again.
...
There are so many stories coming out of the Gulf in the aftermath of Katrina. I get frustrated at points with the whole libertarian 'you shouldn't rely on the government' thing. Hello, government is, among other things, to maintain social supports. Giving people water, food, and shelter in a disaster is not communism.

This report is from a guy in Mississippi who had a deadline. This guy had a lot going for him: luck, not being in New Orleans, not being black, not being poor, having a working vehicle with gas in it, and having some infrastructure to be able to be off the grid. The infrastructure part was what I found interesting.

Which makes me think: I should set up my exercycle to be a DC generator. I should put solar panels on my house. And then it makes me think, sure it's nice that I can filter my water or buy it at the store, and that means that the tap water quality isn't as important to me as if that were the only source I could afford. What's wrong with solutions that benefit everyone—that make everyone float?

I've felt angry that the poor are dismissed by others as lazy and lawless, and that somehow they deserve what comes to them. Yes, we should all be accountable for our actions, but for heavens sakes, the majority of people under the poverty line work fulltime. They should work harder—how exactly?

There's an interesting Q&A with Donna Beegle, an educator who came from generational poverty—a really thought provoking read.

permalink September 13, 2005 | Comments (1)

September 7, 2005

Change of direction

More layoffs have happened. People look like they've seen their own ghosts.

But I'm trying to keep my spirits up. There's work to be done, goals to meet, things to learn.

I got home from athletically bicycling home (it's getting better. It's not easy, but it's getting better!) last night, changed clothes, made ramen, and sat on the stoop eating it. Sweetie was off doing sweetie-things, and the weather was nice—it was a nice thing to do. Watch the bicycles and cars and pedestrians go by, talk to my neighbors.

After that I went to pilates. The soccer guy was there, and we talked beer until class started, but no Jill. Class was not frenzied or insane as it sometimes is—perhaps because the instructor had bicycled there? Anyways, it was intense enough that I was covered with sweat by fifteen minutes in.
...
This morning, I thought about finances. For the time being, I am still fully employed, but who knows what will happen to the economy in the next little while. A quick estimate suggests that I'm spending about $60 a week on food, coffee and water at work. Sixty bucks! If I could manage to save that, that's not chump change—that's over $3K a year.

My goal isn't to spend no money, but certainly a lot less than I am now. So, I brought a can of soup for lunch, a tub of yougurt for a snack, and this morning I am seeing what the morning is like with no coffee at work. Will I survive? Who knows?

I biked in, of course. Damn I love it. It's just so much fun. I angled by the library to drop off some books, and then rode a whole new route in. I rode by an elementary and saw tons and tons of adults walking their kids into school—today is the first day.

On the ride into work, I just feel so free. The ride home is much less fun, but I love that I can change direction at will or whim.

permalink September 7, 2005 | Comments (1)

September 6, 2005

alt.Portland and bike culture

Wuhoo! The new alt.portland is up!

If you're familiar with the old alt.portland, well, yes, it doesn't look any different. This is the problem of concentrating on content. I may try to whip up a quick design later today. But I am so relieved and happy that it is updated and live and all that.

Previously, I had thought that I would send out a self-promo email now, saying that it was new and live. But since it looks just like it did, and I've really only pruned out-of-date content, maybe it's too early for the self-promotion. However, I know that the guide used to be seen as an important document, and it's fallen from grace, and I want to restore that grace ASAP.
...
I tried a variation on my usual route this morning, and I feel like it was a big improvement. Less street riding, more cutting through parking lots and riding on sidewalks. It is cool and sunny out, a beautiful day to be out on a bike. And as usual, that's been the highlight of the day.
...
We found some fun bike propaganda yesterday. Try these on for size:
The Amazing Bike Haiku Bros. Mega Mix
Moving via Bike
Portland Bicycle Tour

permalink September 6, 2005 | Comments (2)

September 2, 2005

moving towards living my politics

Like so many, I cannot believe the devastation in Louisiana and Mississippi. I feel so helpless. This could have been prevented. This could have been prevented. Not hurricanes, obviously, but the conditions that make hurricanes stronger. Not flooding, but ensuring that the levees were strong enough. What about evacuation of the poor? What about securing our largest national port? Isn't that national security, having a plan for disasters that have been predicted, for heavens sakes? Isn't that national security, protecting the poor—if for no other reason that they will cause revolution if you don't?

As Michael Moore wrote:

Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

Anyways, sorry. It's really on my mind.
...
Bike ride, ride, ride. Lots of bicyclists out. It's quite nice, that.

I've been thinking that I need to take everything down a notch. I've been running a deficit the size of my student loan payment every month since my student loan came due, and I think it's time to acknowledge that it's there, and figure out how to stop that.

What I've been coming up with is pretty common sense, I suppose. Cook and eat at home, that should save a pile of cash. Use the bike for transportation more. Try to use the car even less than I already do.

Something that I've been really interested in is a local product called a stokemonkey.

Stokemonkey is an electric motor assist kit for Xtracycle Sport Utility Bicycles. Xtracycle gives almost any bike amazing cargo capacity, and Stokemonkey gives you the power to haul it over mountains or swiftly across town.
It's for people who want to transport their spouse, their child, and their camping gear a dozen hilly miles offroad and back. It's for picking up a friend with two checked bags at the airport. It's for your knees. And if there are thousands of vertical feet between your farmers market and your family kitchen, now you can pedal those couple dozen melons home without qualifying for charitable sponsorship.
It's for people who commute twenty-five miles each way, can't shower at the office, and never want to sit in traffic. It's for taking the lane without slowing motorists down.
It's for people who understand that tweaking the efficiency of personal vehicles too heavy to lift is coming at sustainability problems from the wrong end, while ignoring the social and health problems of car dependence in built environments altogether.

I love the idea of being able to give up the car almost completely—to move to a Flexcar type model. I'd love to be a bicycle zealot—but as long as I'm a hundred pounds overweight and riding a 3-speed, even as wonderful as it is—that's going to be a hard row to hoe, you know?
...
Tomorrow is an 11 miler. I'm game to make it a 30K, to make up for a couple weekends ago. I haven't entirely come up with the game plan for this yet. But I'm looking forward to a good walk.

permalink September 2, 2005 | Comments (2)

September 1, 2005

Bike Commute Challenge

So, alt.portland is still static. Soon though, soon. (I hope!)

Today is the first day of the Bike Commute Challenge (they appear to be having server load issues, so, no link) here in Portland. Our Bicycle Transportation Alliance puts this together every year, for the last 10 years running. There are almost 500 businesses taking the challenge, and our team has 12 members.

It's fun. For competitive folks, they can see how they're doing against their coworkers. In the end, we get to see how we do against similar sized organizations. Last year, it was how I started actually bike commuting, which has created the monster that I currently am.

Last year we managed 2.5% trips by bike, with 136 days biked, 13 bicyclists and 8 new bike commuters. I'd really love to see those numbers rise.

So this morning, I noticed a new (to me) bike lane icon, a bicyclist wearing a hard hat, so I stopped to take a picture. At least 30 bicyclists must have gone past me in the couple of minutes I was off the bike. Pretty cool. It was a beautiful morning, bright, sunny, chilly. Great day for a bike ride!

Tzsuj had told me about the icon to the right. Pretty cool, eh?

permalink September 1, 2005 | Comments (1)

August 24, 2005

Go Matt Go!

Though I'm tempted, I can't say this any better.

A common thread in both (columns in the Saint Paul Pioneer-Press ripping cyclists for one thing or another) was cyclist's failure to stop at Stop signs. Now, leaving aside for the moment the point that most motorists don't stop at Stop signs either, I was looking around on the web to see what information there was about bicycles and Stop signs... 1) it takes much less energy to keep a bicycle (or car, for that matter) moving than it does to get it moving in the first place and 2) in a roadway with a Stop sign every hundred meters or so, bringing a bike to a full stop and then restarting it (means the cyclist must expend a huge amount of energy)

Read the whole thing—it's brilliant and well-reasoned.

I found it via Todd, who is brilliant and quite amusing all on his own.

permalink August 24, 2005

The cost of transportation

I now have 120 miles on my pink townie. Wuhoo! Let everyone rejoice!

I don't know why that excites me so, but it does.

I figured it out—the bike and its accessories cost about $500—so at this point it costs $4.17 a mile. The great thing is that number is going to just continue to get smaller.

For walking, assuming that a pair of walking shoes costs $90, and lasts 500 miles, it costs 18 cents a mile.
...
The accessories—basket, rack, panniers, bell, computer—make all the difference. I've thought about borrowing Sweetie's super-sweet bike to ride into to work, to see if I still feel decimated when I get home from the hills. But... his bike has no place to put my crap, and no way to signal to pedestrians and cars other than my voice. So I haven't ridden it.
...
Today I am very sore. Hmm, there was mat pilates on Monday and mat pilates on Tuesday, and oh yeah, bicycling both days, so I feel like just about every inch of me that could ache, does ache.

My panic at Portland to Coast continues to consume me. I need to just pack—it's not a big deal—I just need to pack. I'll feel better when I know that everything is done. And I may go tomorrow and drive the route. Maybe.

permalink August 24, 2005 | Comments (1)

August 16, 2005

The ride in

I rode to work this morning! Wuhoo! So much fun!

It's cloudy and chilly and just a wonderful bike riding morning. I followed someone up the first hill, and I could have passed her. Yes! It's like a dream. And this, on my little pink bike. Who knew?

I've been taking the Eastside Esplanade in lately, because it has a little bit more in the way of ups and downs, and I really could use some work on the ups. I was very pleased with myself. I was tired by the time I got to the Hawthorne Bridge, but I kept a good tempo.

I got very lucky and the eco-exterminators are coming to the house today, so I'll be heading back there soon.

permalink August 16, 2005 | Comments (1)

August 15, 2005

Bridge Pedal 2005

Sunday morning was Bridge Pedal. I borrowed Sweetie's sweet black-on-black Townie 24, and rode down to the start, loving how quiet it was. I had signed up for the 10 bridge tour/ride/thingee, starting at 6:30. That's 35 miles—about 25 miles more than I've ridden in the last, umm, twenty years. I decided to just take it as it goes—walk up hills if need be, stop when I get tired, and go home when it stops being fun.

Because I'm on Sweetie's bike, and because I didn't give this a lot of thought, at the last minute I'm trying to figure out logistics, like how to carry money and camera and cellphone, etc. I decide on a smallish purse—and then I remember that I might be meeting up with coworkers at John Street Cafe, so I need my lock. I ended up with everything in my big buzz hydro backpack—inconveniently located for any picture taking.

(But not to worry: there are lots of pics of Bridge Pedal here)

We got started, and we were off across the Morrison Bridge (the grating covered by grey wool blankets!), then down the ramp to Water Street, and by OMSI, and... stop. At this point, we all started walking our bikes when there was an opportunity to inch forward. This was some serious congestion, a big old traffic jam. But it was different than a traffic jam in that everyone was jovially talking to everyone else, and while we were annoyed, everyone was in high spirits.

The hold-up was volunteers metering us onto the Springwater Corridor. But once on the Corridor, we flew. It's a flat out strip, ever-so-slightly downhill, and I loved flying down it. I was amazed that I could move so fast!

It's such a different experience than walking the Corridor. Walking the corridor, there are all these animals to watch, my favorite madrone to look at, the swamp below the funeral home and memorial building. Riding, I'm so much less aware of my surroundings. I'm clueing into other people's conversations, their bikes, their helmets. Some guys behind me spotted the feral kitten family. Oh my kittens!

Then it's up the hill and onto the Sellwood Bridge. The Sellwood Bridge is old and on the verge of being condemned. It has a narrow sidewalk on one side which is wide enough for one person, though on the weekends there are people on bikes, runners and walkers trying to share the space, while cars come perilously close. To be fair, the car lanes are narrow too, so it's a great experience for everyone! But now, the bicycles have one full lane. Wuhoo!

We fly past landmarks in my Willamette Greenway loop, and then down into John's Landing. A guys siddles up next to me and makes smalltalk. Could this be Jonathan? Yep! Too funny! We have a nice chat, barreling onto the Hawthorne Bridge. The grating here is covered with plywood, so riding over it make this thump-bump-thump noise, very satisfying.
Then, back onto Water Street, by OMSI.... and stop.

Then up a little hill to the Ross Island Bridge. I downshift, and I hear nothing. I feel nothing. Oh, my chain had decided it's had enough of the derailler. I put down the kick stand and look seriously at the chain, hoping that by looking at it, I'll be magically made aware of how to put it back together again. There is no magic moment, however—I don't have a clue, and I'm just not getting any smarter. Suddenly, a man appears, and he shows me how it's done. And it's done. Thanks, Mystery man! And I'm off across the Ross Island.

Zoom, zoom, zoom, then up the Harrison Hill, then onto the freeway! Dude, we're on the freeway!!! And then, effortlessly, we're up the Marquam bridge.

It's a serious party here, and a total logjam. There's a band, bike repair, free rootbeer and clif bars and vitamin water and bananas, and people taking pictures, and no way to just get through if you want to just get through. A guy in a Salmon outfit (damn, that looks warm), puts a sticker on my shoulder. Finally, maybe a half hour later, I'm through the people, and I'm jetting down the hill. Damn!

And, we're back on Water Street, but this time, we're heading the opposite direction. We head up 2nd, then onto Couch, then onto the Burnside Bridge. Yeeha! Then through Old Town, and up to the Broadway Bridge.

Before we're on the bridge, I hear a couple guys near by.

Those elite cyclists, they probably aren't even going to drink beer afterwards, says one.

Or during, says the other.

I snort, can't help it. Too funny.

I can't believe how easy it is to climb these bridges. I haven't walked up a hill yet. This is so counter to my usual ride-the-bike home scenerio where I'm huffing and puffing my way home. But then I get to eat my words. We turn off Russell Street, and I'm behind some slow cyclists who slow down, and boom, I lose my momentum and have to stop.

You could have gotten over, a man shouts.

Well, actually, no, I couldn't, but thanks for your input, I say, nicely. And walk the bike up the hill.

Climbing the hill to the Fremont bridge is easy. It's a party up there too, but nowhere near as congested as the Marquam. It's so cool to be atop a huge, high freeway bridge. I get a reflector from City Commissioner Sam Adams (how cool is that?), get a clif bar, get a Starbucks samplelette, and then it's down the hill, off the freeway, down Vaughn and St. Helens to Hwy 30.

On Hwy 30, we're relegated to one lane. I'm trying to stay out of people's way, but amazingly, I'm faster than a lot of bicyclists out there. I keep getting caught behind cyclists who pedal-pedal-pedal-coast, and there are so many other cyclists passing, that I can't get around them. Unless I go outside the cones, and into car traffic. I start to get a little bent-out-of-shape about it, and then I realize: maybe this is a newish bicyclist. Maybe this experience will convince her to get out on her bike more often. Maybe even commute to work every now and again. Or do the Bike Commute Challenge in September. And maybe, at some point, she'll hit a rhythm of pedal-pedal-pedal-pedal.

I'm determined I'm going to make it all the way up my last bridge, the St. Johns. The hill up to the bridge is impressive, and seeming much steeper than when I walked it in the Portland Marathon last year. That's okay, I'm going up. I had momentum, I was gearing down, and then, an older guy ahead of me falls over in slow motion. No really—slow motion! I'm off my bike without thinking, helping him up, and he's laughing about getting his foot caught in his toe cage. I'm just glad he's not hurt. So I start walking the bike. And see before and behind, a trail of people walking their bikes.

Crossing the St. Johns is rather perilous. People are stopping, taking pictures, and generally all over the road, while we have one lane, and no real sidewalk. Oh good. What a nightmare! But finally, I've crossed, the rest stop is total chaos. I duck through downtown, then follow some renegades up a sidestreet, then I finally rejoin the route.

Immediately on the right hand side is the Portway Tavern. Ten am and it's open, and I hear the voices of my pals from Old Town. Stop here? Yeah, of course. Part of me wanted to invite myself into their party, but another part of me just wanted to get home.

As we are going down Willamette Blvd, it's getting less shady and quite a bit hotter. Some people have sprinklers out by the street—lovely. My thoughts are more and more about taking a shower and eating something that isn't a banana or a cliff bar. And so I finally navigate home.

All in all, 35 miles. And I cycled all ten bridges (I got the Steel Bridge going down to the start line). Great fun!
...
This morning, I was reliving it, and thinking that all those slow-downs were too bad. And then I thought, hey, we got what we wanted. There we were, taking over the roads. We were just like cars, only we could talk amongst ourselves. When the road was wide open, we could race or cruise, as we chose. And when things got congested, it just made me thankful for how flawless and quick and straightforward my bike commute is.

permalink August 15, 2005 | Comments (8)

August 12, 2005

Traversing Freeways, human-powered stylee

Yesterday I really screwed up and forgot to take my morning meds. I remembered once I got to work, so I worked a half day then came home and took them. I'm hoping it doesn't further set me back.

I'm feeling vaguely optimistic today though. I've had a couple successes, and I'm trying hard to fake it til I make it.

I'm looking really forward to going to the Providence Bridge Pedal Health & Wellness Expo over lunch. I'm hoping going earlier in the day will make it less chaotic and crowded, and will be good inspiration for me going into the weekend.

Last year, I did Bridge Stride, a six mile walk that crosses the Fremont Bridge, a highway bridge. It's part of the whole Bridge Pedal weekend. When I went to pick up my packet, I was honestly overwhelmed at the expo—I had never been to an athletic expo before—so I ran in, picked up my packet, and ran out.

This year, I want to check out the booths, talk to the volunteers, maybe collect some schwag or buy some things. And probably, sign up for Bridge Pedal.

Actually doing Bridge Stride last year was really fun. There is something so transgressive and wonderful about walking up a freeway to the top of a bridge. Even if it's with thousands of other people who are walking and riding up the freeway.

It reminds me of being a kid. When I was in junior high in suburban Detroit, a new highway (275) was being built nearby. So while the freeway was being built, one of the neighborhood adults would take us kids for bike rides up and down the freeway. It was wonderful having four lanes of concrete, ever so flat and smooth, for us to ride, miles and miles and miles.

Mind you, I was always the sort of kid, while good and obedient in most ways, who used my bike and my legs to get as far away as possible. I wanted to explore. And here, this was exploring that was allowed! How cool is that?

No doubt that experience fed my desire to ride the bike path that runs along 275, which I did compulsively as a teenager.

Anyways, this years festivities include a 6, 8, and 10 bridge ride, and Bridge Stride. That's 14, 24, 35, and 5 miles, respectively.

And Slug Velo's Ice Cream ride is also on Sunday.

permalink August 12, 2005

August 8, 2005

My weekend in the bush of bicycles

Friday was cranky. Saturday, I woke up, cranky. Didn't go to Pfit, and sweetie woke me up to go out to breakfast. I got up, and then had a hard time even making it to the shower.

This is all my own fault, mind you. If I were keeping track of where my prescriptions were at, I never would have run out, and I would have called my meds minder before the day she left on vacation. But it's incredible to me how debilitating it is when I do run out of meds.

Sweetie and I go out and have a nice breakfast, and then I come home and sulk. Before he left, sweetie reminded me about the Tour de Fat, that is sounded right up my alley. I responded by going on a diatribe about corporate events. But then I decided that I should give it a chance, and if nothing else, riding the pink (corporate!) bike downtown might help my mood somewhat.

I got down to the waterfront, and it looked okay. Like fun, even. There was a corral of funky homemade bikes, and pedal-powered carnival rides, there was a band playing, and booths for the BTA and PUMP, who were benefiting from the beer sales. So I called sweetie and asked him to join me.

I grabbed a beer and wandered around. Everyone was friendly. I collected some swag, I watched people riding tiny bikes and walking the tight rope, and I looked at bikes. Lots of cool bikes there. Perhaps most memorable was a Hello Kitty Bike, but there were cool old Schwinns, and just lots of neat details.

When sweetie got there was when things started getting good. I wanted BTA and PUMP to do well, so I made sure to buy lots of beer. At one point, I fell in a stack of the sound engineering gear boxes, which left a huge, very unhappy, bruise on my butt, a bruise and some swelling on my wrist, and an outline of the two boxes on my calf. I'm told I "slipped" "gracefully"—ha!

At that point, I was ready to try out the homemade bikes. A woman offered to haul me around in the sidecar of a bike, so we did that for about five revolutions. I tried out a long bike, and a bunch of other bikes that I can barely describe. Big fun!

We were ready to leave when I was approached by a member of the Belligerantes, Portland's Schwinn Bicycle Club—could I take their picture? Of course! I had been coveting some of their bikes, of course I'd take a picture. And the fact that they might beat me up if I said no had nothing to do with it (kidding, just kidding).

Jonathan has more about the Tour de Fat (including pictures) on his blog.

After that, I rode over to Powell's Technical. Remind me never to go technical book shopping when I'm drunk, please.
...
We got dinner, and then headed over for the Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo. They had a number of chunkified bikes, as well as three human-powered carny rides: the Cyclofüge (aka the Whirl & Hurl), a two-person ferris wheel, and the Dizzy Toy, a two-person carousel. At this point my beer-fueled bravado was wearing off, so I was perfectly content to watch and not hurl.
...
Sunday, I was back to my old self again, though covered in bruises. Sweetie decides he wants to go bike shopping. Cool! So we go to the bike shop, and low and behold, there's a black on black Townie 24. He takes it out for a ride, me trailing along on a Black Betty (which is adorable but nowhere as fun or comfortable as my Townie). A few test rides and a beer later, it is decided: it is the one.

I'm thrilled, and I hope he loves it and rides it. (If not, I sure will)

Many photos of Tour de Fat & the Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo are at my flickr site.

permalink August 8, 2005 | Comments (2)

August 3, 2005

more of the same

So, maybe a Trimet bus hitting a bicycle is an everyday event. Or a multiple times a day event. Maybe it's wrong that I'm shocked by it.

I only say this because I'm riding home tonight, I'm coasting on the knowledge that I actually passed another bicyclist on a hill, and the 6 compliments I got on the bike. I'm hercking my way up another piddling hill, herck, herck, herck, and I see a stopped bus, and a clump of maybe a dozen bicyclists, standing around. Oh crap.

Oh crap is right. To the driver's credit, he's out talking to the woman he hit, and to her credit, she does have a dozen bicyclists giving moral support. As I'm pedalling away, the cops and the ambulance are pulling up.

The situation seemed much less dire than the morning's. I cycled the rest of the way home, and to my surprise, made it in under 21 minutes, not including stops.

permalink August 3, 2005 | Comments (1)

from one thing to another

Yesterday, during my dental exam, I suddenly fixated on one image, and was unable to get it out of my head. It was the image... of a coyote curled up on a MAX seat. Like this:

I honestly have no idea how the image became painted on the ceiling of my brain, but it was, and then I was tearing through all my mental clutter trying to figure out where I had seen it. Online wasn't likely. Was it in a zine? We've been on a zine buying spree, me mostly picking up Constant Riders and Urban Adventure League stuff.

After the dentist appointment, I went home and tore through my physical clutter. No luck.

Anyway, here is the story, if you care. [The link now should work, sorry!]

After another medical appointment, I was released to pilates, which was a good hard class. I was the only old timer there—that felt pretty odd. But it was nice to wipe my brain clean of coyotes and other silliness and just work.

Then I ran to my Portland to Coast team meeting. Very interesting. I knew only one person on the team, but they are all very friendly and funny, and I think it will all be fine. They are not taking this very seriously, which is a relief.

And so I finally got home at 10:30, which is super late for me.

This morning, I biked in. The morning was cool, the lights were timed just right for me to just go-go-go! I felt great! I loved looking at the light and the shadows in my neighborhood, the cats, the people walking, other cyclists.

And then I have to go ruin it by riding into the Rose Quarter and seeing the bentup frame of a bicycle in front of a TriMet bus, an ambulance right there, closing up its doors. Oh gosh, seeing something like that makes me sick every time. What happened there?

It's hard to know as it appeared the bus had pushed the bicycle along a few feet.

All day today I've been checking the news sites, and I've seen nothing about it. Hopefully, it's not a fatality, hopefully, it's just a garden variety bike accident. Is there such a thing?

permalink August 3, 2005 | Comments (4)

more on commuting

I've been thinking more about commuter bikes, and interested to hear your comments. It's a good topic—how do we attract more people to cycling, and how do we lower the resistance? How do we make it irresistable?

Part of the issue comes squarely down on transportation planning. Gosh, it's great that we have so many bike lanes, but what do we do about drivers who don't respect them? Or bike lanes that are so narrow on crowded streets that only one bike fits? And really, there's the issue that holds many would-be bicyclists back—a barrier between them and automobile traffic.

Jonathan has some great points, as usual. It needs to be attractive, it needs to be made in an environmentally sound fashion, and it needs an internally geared hub. In another blog, he mentions the Electra Rosie being featured in Oprah's magazine.

These Electra cruisers (and others) have gotten tons of press because the mainstream, lifestyle media is smitten with their retro-metro look and flashy graphics. What the bike industry needs is a bike with the fun visual appeal of the "Rosie", the utility of a Breezer, the distribution of a Trek, the durability of a Surly, and the exposure of an Electra.

This new line of bikes would be hip, beautiful, utilitarian, durable, affordable, simple, and available. I know they'd sell well in Portland and other bike-centric towns and who knows, with some luck, maybe even the editors at O Magazine would like them.

The thing that really came to me in the last 24 hours, and in reading your comments, is that above all else, it needs to visible.

I feel rather goofy sometimes when I ride the bicycle or the scooter in my crazy get-ups, but I wear the crazy get-ups in the hopes that drivers will see me, and in seeing me, will not hit me. That's part of the reason for riding a pink bike with flowers on the basket too. Notice me, the absurdity of the pink bike, the silk flowers, the oversized person riding the bike, the silliness of wearing a skirt, my goofy bike socks—Notice me, dammit, and don't hit me!

permalink August 3, 2005

Bicyclist hit by Tri-Met bus at Rose Quarter during morning rush hour

More as I know it.

permalink August 3, 2005 | Comments (1)

August 2, 2005

Commuter bikes

Yesterday was a triumph for me, for riding the bicycle home. At one point, I drafted someone! I probably could have even passed him. It was all very exciting.

I did stop and take a couple pictures (on the right), but otherwise, never got off the bike. I concentrated on trying to spin even when I was tired. I stayed in the bike lane, rather than taking the side streets. It was terribly exciting. I'm sure I still look like I'm about to keel over, but I feel like I broke a big barrier.
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Another cyclist died last night. Hit by a hit and run driver.

Last night, as I was waiting to cross Holliday and Interstate, the most dangerous crossing on my route, I was in line behind several other cyclists and a person in a motorized wheelchair. We got the bike signal, and we started pulling out, and someone in a Jeep comes inches from hitting the first cyclist, and taking out the wheelchair as well. There has been some new signage at that intersection warning motorists about the new bicycle signal, but motorists obviously aren't seeing it—they just want to make their righthand turn NOW.

Anyways, the driver of the Jeep stopped in time, and gave the cyclist a I'm an idiot smile. Yep, I love seeing that smile when you've almost hit somebody.

I'm reading about Tszuj's being hit by a car, and I know my own experience as a driver. Ugh. I hate it!
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Chris at Portland Transport wrote today about the need for a commuter bicycle that would fit on Tri-Met (our public transport)'s bike racks. Yes, yes, yes! There is an absolute need!

S/he mentions zir recumbent is getting dusty, and I know all about that. Okay, I don't really, but. (I so want to ride a recumbent bike, I do, I do!) I would be more likely to bike commute if I knew—on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I have a tight window between work & pilates—that I'd be able to make it home quickly.

My townie is wonderful—gosh I love it—but it doesn't fit securely on Tri-Met's bus racks, and is too long for the train. Part of the problem with the bus rack is my fender—the thing that holds the wheel really is designed to hold a wheel, and not a fender with a light mounted on it.

So, from my perspective as a new bicycle rider, a commuter bike needs to be lightweight enough that it can be easily lifted. It needs fenders, chain guard, bell, lights and some sort of carrying device, like a basket or a rack or both. It needs to be attractive, and it needs to be fun to ride. It needs to be short enough to hang on the MAX train hooks. I don't know about price point, though I think the magic number for me is $500.

Does it need gears? My three-speed helps me immeasurably up hills (and I'm wishing I had more speeds now).

And I love the idea of being able to carry more. Would that that fit on Tri-Met!!

What do you think a commuter bike needs? And if you don't bike commute now, what would it take to make you change your mind?

permalink August 2, 2005 | Comments (6)

August 1, 2005

Klutz

It was bound to happen. This morning I bicycled in, and got my skirt caught in my chain.

I've been wearing longer skirts, if for no other reason that there's no need for me to advertise that I'm a klutz with my tremendously ugly knee roadrash. On one hand, it's nice because I have to worry less about skirt creep.

It only took me about a minute to figure out how to get my skirt free—the coaster brake that I love so was kinda an obstacle—so other than a small rip along the hem, no one may ever know that it happened.
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In other bicycle excitement, I practiced standing on the pedals this morning. It feels weird. Unsafe. To make matters worse, I am wearing soft-soled shoes today, and so when I'd stand, I was totally aware of where the pedal was and wasn't.
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Have you missed Marshall? I sure have. Well, I've got good news, and it's not about switching insurance—Marshall is back!
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I had big plans to get outside this weekend and work out, and I didn't. Not at all. It was super hot again, still. To make matters worse, my neighbors painted their house.

My newest neighbors are in their 20s and they make me tired. They're already involved in the neighborhood association, they're organizing our street's Night Out, and they're supernice. I just met them, but they seem to already be bosom buddies with my neighbors across the street (they who have everything and anything stolen, and then fenced to their nextdoor neighbors) AND the couple on the corner. This is significant because the couple on the corner and the folks across the street make the rest of us look like slackers in the house-proud department.

(and yes, I am a slacker in the house-proud department. It's not that I don't want my house/yard to look beautiful—it's just that it feels completely unachievable.)

So anyways, Saturday morning, I get up, and look outside, and the youngsters are taping up the windows and doors, as if they were going to paint. And then I look outside again, and they are painting. Not only that, but they've roped the couple on the corner into spray gun painting it. So by the time we get outside to go to breakfast, they have everything on our side already painted, and Michael is painting the foundation.

Of course, by the end of the weekend, everything is done. My hat's off to them, it looks great and really makes the house look a lot better... but I'm jealous.
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The time that we could have been doing something productive, we spent scootering. Sunday morning we rode out and around Sauvie Island, which is the world's largest inland island. There's quite an argument locally whether it's Sauvie or Sauvies, but map makers and the county refer to it as the former. It's only ten miles away, but it feels a world away. We just scootered around, watched the bicyclists, stopped at a nursery, and got a good sunburn.

Afterwards, we stopped at the liquor store. I volunteered to bring margaritas to our Portland to Coast team meeting on Tuesday, so I had to pick up the ingredients. I learned a great quickie margarita from Jill (recipe below). But to my great sadness, Rose's lime has high-fructose corn syrup in it. Of course it does. I had a momentary crisis, and then I bought it anyways.

While I'd like to make margaritas from scratch, on a school night, it's just not happening.

permalink August 1, 2005 | Comments (6)

July 29, 2005

all about bikes

So. Ever since Cheesepuppet mentioned the Xtracycle, a Sport Utility Bicycle, I've been obsessed. Reading the website. Remembering seeing one (without any info or context) at Alder Creek and thinking, how cool is that?!?. Thinking, who cares if it makes my bike longer?, my bike is already too long for the public transit options. Man! It's too cool.

I've been rather obsessed of late on how I can do more non-car travel, using the scooter, maybe with a trailer, and the bicycle. The real trick, however, is that I need to become fitter so that traveling more by bicycle becomes a possibility rather than a tantalizing but far off dream. Right now, riding on flat areas is fine, but even slight inclines are tough.

I think about all the biking I did as a teenager on a single-speed cruiser. And then I realize, yeah. And I was running cross-country and track then, and I weighed 100# less. Sigh!

When I saw Hanna the other day, we talked about Bridge Pedal, which is coming right up. Damn! I really want to do it! And I'm really not in the shape to do it! Am I really going to be okay with walking my bike up the bridges? Somehow, I doubt it.
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Awhile back, I was trolling through the new riders' discussion at Team Estrogen and found a post called Listen up new riders... learn how to spin... and save your knees!, and I've been thinking about it ever since. Of course, you can't spin if you don't have clips or toe cages or something to keep your feet glued to the pedals, and of course, I don't have clips or toe cages on any of my bikes (note to self: take some to g00dwill).

Anyways, when I was exercycling while watching the Tour de Lance the other day, I got it. The exercycle has foot straps. I spun rather than mashing and it was really rather fun, and rather easy to go rather fast. Wuhoo! Now maybe that's an addition I need for the townie?
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My evangelizing about bike riding has caused (I like to think, at least) a coworker to get a bike, and today was her first bike commute to work. Wuhoo! I heard her in her office (across the hall) telling someone about my bike commuting, so of course, my interest was piqued.

By the time I got across the hall, she was demoing her bike tire repair kit, and her guest asked her if she really needed that. "Well, you have one, don't you, Vicki?"

Well, no. I went on to tell her that I have never in my life had a bicycle flat, and I've never carried a flat kit either. I've done rides across Detroit, more than half of a double century, and tons of training rides of 40 miles or more as a teenager, and never had a flat.

So. Talk me into it, guys. Tell me your bike tire horror stories, please!
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I mentioned Jonathan's blog the other day, and then he goes and moves it. Can you believe it? Yeah! I gotta say, he's moved to a much more superior situation. http://bikeportland.org/ is the new address, and it showcases his photography (how I know him) as well as his bike advocacy. Great stuff!

permalink July 29, 2005 | Comments (4)

July 28, 2005

Saint Ralph

This morning, I'm feeling a bit underwhelmed. I just woke up in a fog, and I haven't really been able to lose it. All things in time, I suppose.

Yesterday, here in Portland, it was hot. 93 degrees. Hey, laugh at us all you want, but that's hot for here, and it makes me cranky. I got together after work with my pal Hanna, who as a bonus had a movie pass for Saint Ralph. She had seen it at the Film Festival, as had another pal, and both had raved about it.

So it was nice to catch up with her for a few minutes before beginning my arduous commute home.

One thing I learned is that I like riding downtown. For some reason, that's fun. Dunno what that's about. Once I hit the bike path, the real work began. I did better on the early hills but really started tuckering out before the last hill, and ended up walking up it. "You almost made it," a kindly woman said encouragingly. This is the first time in, well, a while that I had to walk that hill. Oh well.

I did notice that I'm becoming more confident on the bike. I'm still not at the point where I feel confident or comfortable standing on the pedals, but I am getting more confident with the riding in general.

My sweetie made me a burrito (the most delicious burrito ever, or should I say, Evar, just because it irritates Scooter?), and then I ran downtown to meet up with Hollie to see the movie. Being the geeks we are, we were both excited to see a movie about marathoning (kinda). And AC—did I mention air conditioning?

The audience was filled with runner types, and before the movie ran, we had a talk from the Team in Training coordinator, and a couple who lost a child to leukemia. So I'm fighting back tears before the movie even starts. Great!

I loved the movie—very heavily Catholic but not religious, funny and touching, beautifully lit, and then there's the impossibility of a 14 year doing the Boston Marathon. While I think this film has legs, it's especially meaningful to marathoners, especially the sort of unlikely athletes like myself.

The look of the movie was beautiful. Hamilton, Ontario is Canada's Buffalo, NY—a working-class industrial town—but the camerawork illuminates both the grittyness and the beauty.

So, yeah, I liked it.

permalink July 28, 2005 | Comments (1)

July 27, 2005

A Portland bike blog

My online pal Jonathan writes a bike blog for OregonLive, the online arm of our local newspaper. His entries for the last week are very interesting, including an op-ed about Lance's leadership (and the lack thereof in American commerce and politics) and this great description of a bike demonstration here in Portland:

Naked ride protests St. Johns Bridge

Last night a fun-loving group of Portland cyclists rode across the St. Johns Bridge sans clothing to make a statement about how vulnerable cyclists will be if ODOT (Oreg. Dept. of Transp.) goes through with their non-bike-friendly bridge remodel plans.

Here's a report of the ride:

the ride went off to rousing success. 14 free-spirited ciclonudistas took a lane on the St John's Bridge and refused to be cowed by fossil-fueled, death machines.

permalink July 27, 2005 | Comments (1)

bike

It's going to be another scorcher today.

Last night, I got home and got on the exercise bike, and watched the end of the Tour de France. Or at least, the end of the race. I hear Lance talked, but I didn't get that far. It was so unbearably hot in the house that being on the exercycle was kinda pleasant, as it threw hot air at me.

Then I went to pilates. It was hot there too. I was fine til we started doing kneeling exercises—at first I thought, I'll just work through the discomfort. But then I realized that the knee that I scraped on Saturday was bleeding, so enough of that...

Came home, mainlined some water, went to bed.

This morning, I was moving distinctly slow. I got really excited about seeing the end of the TiV0ed Tour de France, where Lance Speaks! But TiV0 must have thought better of it, because it was gone. Gone! I started to feel the tears welling up, and if I wasn't on a medication that keeps me from crying on a daily basis, I would have been bawling. Gone!

It seems silly, doesn't it? I know he won. I saw him cross the finish line, and I saw hours of coverage. I just wanted to see the end. And I didn't!

I should have just got moving, but instead I watched a 30 days on a conservative Christian man going to live with a gay man in the Castro. Boy, again, I could have been bawling. I could have been bawling. It hit home so hard. Especially seeing the PFLAG parents talking about their kids, which seemed to turn a light on for our prototagonist. And I always cry at PFLAG parents—oh, to be accepted as you are, unconditionally! I could just start sobbing!

Somewhere in there, I got the Pretenders' Stop your Sobbing stuck in my head.

I got on the bike, took the books to the library (4 minutes!), and then rode to work on a new route. I switched out of hard gear only for stop signs and stop lights, and I felt great, though completely and entirely covered with sweat by the time I got into work. I forgot to check the odometer to see how far I had gone, but it was nice to have a new route, with new houses, and new cars, and new flowers, and new animals, and yes, new bicyclists.

That's it. Everything's good—I'm just trying to stay outta the sun.

permalink July 27, 2005 | Comments (3)

July 21, 2005

good behavior

Follette is in for dental surgery, which perhaps explains why my teeth hurt. I drove in, so I could drop her off and come immediately to work. I am the enemy, the car! Though I thoroughly enjoyed watching the bike commuters coming in, especially one with finely muscular arms. And I enjoyed blasting the radio.

Last night we were meeting up with Mela at a restaurant, so I tried to get out of work on time (it's hard to leave work, hard!), and I pedaled like crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy to make it home. And, I cut 5 minutes off my best time. Amazingly, I never walked the bike, and once I'd get out of breath, I'd try to do some flat spinning til I caught my breath. At one point, I was intensely aware of my glutes—they were on fire! And then I looked down and my skirt was on fire. No, just kidding. Just my muscles!

So I got home and drank about 35 glasses of cold water, and tried to anticipate some issues. Like, I don't want to overeat. So I put containers in my purse. I don't want to eat too much. So I look for the fiber stuff, and in so doing, clean out half of a cabinet. All good.

So we had a good dinner, I did bring some food home, we ran into some foodie friends, and I got to try out a new brewery afterwards. I conveniently forgot that I was avoiding beer until after they had left, so, I stopped in for a glass (not a pint) of stout, and then got myself out of dodge.
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I've been doing lots of cleaning both at work and at home. It feels really good. It's amazing to see the plastic fake-wood veneer on my desk, and I admit feeling a bit more in control. I need to make a run to G00dwill—I've got enough to fill the backseat, and the trunk. Pretty good!

Gratitious cat on scooter link

permalink July 21, 2005 | Comments (2)

July 13, 2005

Visualizing Success

So, not surprisingly, I was not early for work today. Sigh. I was unable to wake up, and then I websurfed, which is like a snooze-button for me—I can waste so much time. Yikes.

One of the things I wasted time on was this thread on Ask Metafilter:

You're married or single, have no kids, hold a regular job and are out of school. So what do you do in the evenings after work?

I'm not looking for a new hobby per se, just trying to figure out what my peers spend their time on after the work day is done. These post work evenings of nothing to do but fiddle around with one of too many hobbies, zone out infront of the TV, and end up drinking a bit too much are starting to get to me.

It hit a big chord for me because I feel like my evenings get wasted a lot of the time. TV, websurfing, and beer. Sigh. So I guess this means I should figure out what I want to be doing, rather than just falling into the couch.
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I'm listening to Getting Things DONE now. As I do this while I work, I'm just listening to parts of it repeatedly, hoping that some will percolate through my destroyed brain cells. One thing that David Allen mentions is visualizing success. To reach a goal, you need to know what that goal will look like. Right now, I'm feeling rather diffuse and squishy, in recovery from the last super-stressful work period. What would success look like?

I did some visualizations for the Gorge Marathon and that worked out pretty good.
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This whole picture-taking thing has kinda taken me by surprise. I love taking pictures. And strangely enough, I am suddenly getting all these (okay, 2 or 3 over the space of as many weeks) Portland bicyclist contacts on flickr. It's so totally cool! And I am so totally not worthy. It makes me all very excited.

In related news, a few weeks ago, I bought a tiny digital camera. It was cheap, and it is super small. You know, because my regular digital camera (which fits into my tiny purse) was too big. I recognized the absurdity of that when, the other day, Sweetie and I were going scootering, and I slipped my regular digital camera into my pocket. The regular digital camera fits in my pocket.

My original digital camera, the Mavica, fit in no pocket. The thing could be used as a weapon. So this is all rather absurd.

Anyways, new tiny camera takes lousy pictures. What surprises me is that I thought it wouldn't. You know, take lousy pictures. I still need to figure out all the features on the damn thing, but my press-the-button pictures are all out of focus, and have weird discolorations. I can't imagine I'll put really much more effort into it than that, so perhaps it's time to see if it can find a better home.

But the pictures don't look too bad if you look at them really small. Here's a pic of the new addition to my beloved pink bicycle, now with chrome™—I think it's quite stylish.

Oh, and 17 minutes today. Damn I love riding that bike though!

Oh, on the way in, I saw another Electra rider. She was on a mint-green Hawaii cruiser! Swwweeeeeeet! Wonderful color, wonderful bike.

permalink July 13, 2005 | Comments (1)

July 7, 2005

riding through

16:10! 16:10!! I made it to work in 16:10! For whatever reason, I only hit one light, so I was able to keep my momentum up. It was beautiful!!

Last night I rode home, and I really tried, when I'd get tired from an uphill, to do a little spinning to bring my heart rate down. So I'd ride in little flat loops, on the easiest gear. I'm sure I looked like a total freak, but as I've proven before, I only care a little bit. Better that then Somali men saying to me in halting english, practice makes perfect. Yow.

I had the really cool experience of trailing some folks who were actually riding my speed. There was a woman wearing a blouse and bike shorts, who looked like the usual spandex rider who just about blows me over by passing me so fast and close. She confused me by slowing way down after we crossed Broadway. Whaaaa?!

But she was waiting for her friend, a punkrock girl in a vintage dress with two braids down either side of her chest. We all ended up taking the neighborhood route, which is steep then flat, steep then flat, but with much less bike and car traffic. I was really rather thrilled to have kinfolk, even as I didn't talk to them, and they didn't talk to me.

The evening was spent in the front yard killing things. I took some pictures, but unfortunately, there was no before picture, and then, I didn't unload the camera last night.

Basically, my goal was to cut a keyhole to the front yard raised bed, and then start cutting around and in it. It's tempting to take a scorched earth approach, but I love my ferns, crocosmia, mock orange, and banana, and I just want to kill everything else. We had a couple of volunteer trees, and lots of nightshade, clematis, damned wisteria, and boston ivy taking over and totally overwhelming the box and the yard.

It's nowhere near done, but I got enough done that it's visible that I did some work, and that was terrifically satisfying. I had a wheelbarrow load that was as tall as I am to go back to the yarn debris pile! Afterwards, we sat outside on the stoop and enjoyed the evening. A lot of our neighbors were out, also enjoying the warm, humid weather.
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I am resisting the urge to freak out. Sweetie told me to turn on the TV, and I did, but I am resisting the urge to compulsively check the news or run over to the windows that face the FBI and see what they are doing. Though even as I write this, the urge is overwhelming.

I thought about taking the bus in just because. And then I thought, if there are any hijinxs, any trouble at all, the bicycle is better. And the bicycle makes me feel better. And it gets me to work in a record 16:10!
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Nancy Toby has a new blog: Lanterne Rouge: Celebrating the last-place rider in the General Classification. Because you couldn't hang on his wheel for thirty seconds. Similar to last summer's DFL, I'm looking forward to this giving me a different perspective on the good ole Tour de France.

This is the first year I've tried paying attention to the Tour, and I'm finding it a little overwhelming. I'm TiV0ing 5 hours of coverage a day, which is an awful lot to even just fast-forward through. I'm feeling exhausted just writing about it, and it's just TV for cripes sake!

Anyways. Dave Zabriskie. Nancy pointed to his web site, which is just so lovely and funny.

permalink July 7, 2005 | Comments (3)

July 1, 2005

Poop!

It's been kind of a weird 24 hours. I went into therapy happy, and came out weepy. I came back to work and was tremendously productive. Then I rode my bicycle the three blocks to the MAX, to take the train up to my neighborhood, since I have such a short window between work and pilates.

I learned something. While my bike fits nicely on the bus racks, taking it on the MAX is another altogether. It's simply too long. If I hang it from the ceiling hook, the chrome fender is rubbing the ground. If I try to gracefully take it down so I can leave the train, it requires everyone around me to change positions.

I had a nice conversation on the train though, and a pleasant ride back to the house. I put the bike in the shed, and thought—I should get the scooter out, so I can just run in the house, change into my workout gear, and scoot?

I learned something. One, the scooter is really long. (Is this a trend?). Backing it out of the shed is treacherous. I don't know if some motorcycles have a reverse gear, but my scooter doesn't. So, I straddle-walk the 350# behemoth behind me, down a ramp, and past the car. Except, I don't have the angle right, and the scooter's exhaust is right up against the car's front bumper.

I couldn't go forward, because I couldn't push the bike up the ramp. I didn't have my scooter keys, because I only bring the keys I need. If I had had my keys, I could have turned it on, and driven it back up. But I didn't. I was stuck at a 90 degree angle, one side up against the car, holding the damn scoot up. No one was home. None of my neighbors were outside. I was, as we say, screwed.

So I did the only thing I could think to do. I laid the scooter down. Mind you, you never ever ever want to have a motorcycle on its side. The life fluids of the machine can easily drain out. Just add a cigarette and you'll have an big explosion. Or not.

I ran into the house and grabbed my car keys, moved my car, and lifted the motorcycle back up. I didn't even think about its weight or my form—I just did it. So it was on its left side for maybe 2 minutes, probably less.

I then ran back into the house and called the scooter shop. Rob picked up the phone and held my hand. I told him what happened, he asked questions, told me what I should try, and said that most likely it was going to be fine, and if it's not, to call back.

So I went out and checked the tiny rivulet of fluid. It was already dry, and I couldn't smell anything. So, I tried starting the scooter. It was flooded. While I figured this probably wasn't a big deal rationally, it felt like a huge deal. And I needed to have gotten to pilates ten minutes ago!

So I drove to pilates, all the while wondering if I had completely screwed up my scooter, and why didn't I insist on pursuing the garage idea rather than a shed?

Pilates was good. Hard. Lots of making perfect little circles. The woman who had instructed the ball class was there, and seemed bored all through it. I can't imagine being bored. Even on the exercises where I can do an entire set, it's work, hello!!

Jill and I chatted a little bit, then I went over to the Salvadorian tacqueria to pick up some pupusas. I had never been in, so I was pleased to see that the place was packed full of people. I ordered and then sat down and watched the telenovela on the TV on top of the fridge. There's something about men acting agressive and women acting catty and looking very european and expensive that is very satisfying. I also listened in on a conversation at an ajoining table.

The table had seven women, all reasonably young moms, most with infants in tow. They were having a great time, and I was loving the spanglish, how conversations went from spanish to english to spanish to spanglish effortlessly. I really wanted to join them. If only I spoke spanish!

I collected the pupusas and came home. Sweetie had started up the scooter -- it was running fine. And he had had a tuneup, with new tires, taillight and rack added on his scooter, and he said it handles 100% better. I can't wait to try it out.

So in the end, we had a nice evening. We ate the pupusas, which were really good, and watched some awful TV, and hung out with the animals.

I was hoping to spring out of bed like I did yesterday, but no. And then I found that my beloved dog had pooped by the backdoor. Lovely.

We have the strangest dog. We don't walk him very often because he becomes a nervous wreck, so we usually just let him out into the back yard. Very infrequently, he will just run out and poop, on his own, but most of the time, you have to tell him to poop, and make sure that he poops. Yes, we have a dog that poops on command, sorta.

But if you just let him outside and you don't make sure he poops, well, maybe he won't.

This is the second poop by the door incident. And it might not be the dog. It might be the world's largest cat poop. Yeah, right.

So I decided to do 15 minutes of my favorite form of gardening, killing weeds. My backyard butterfly bush is completely covered with blackberry and clematis, so I set out to kill a small section of it. And it was a small section, but so thoroughly satisfying to make it so.

I rode the scooter in—no problems. Hurrah! And the weekend looms. I'm looking so forward to some free time, some walking, some scooting, and a race!

permalink July 1, 2005 | Comments (3)

June 30, 2005

Good so far

Wuhoo! I rode home again last night! I persevered, even as guys laughed at me (I think) in Spanish. I did it! It kicks my ass, but I did it!

We got some food, then went and bought 3 bags of stones (60# each!) and 8 bags of soil. By the time we got back home, it was 9, but I was still wound up, so I went out with my shears and started killing things.

I was aiming at doing 15 minutes (the old flylady saw), but I fell in and came in only after Sweetie came out in the porch, and I noticed it was quickly getting dark. Still, I managed to get a lot of wisteria and clematis out of the rose bushes, and now it's much clearer how much remains. Tremendously satisfying!

And somehow, I sprang out of bed this morning, and went immediately into the shower. Then, I immediately started cooking breakfast. If I hadn't fallen into the couch, maybe I would have gotten to work on time. But I was only 8 minutes late, and I got everything done at home that I wanted to, so that's really a step in the right direction.

I rode the bike in today, again. Almost like a habit, this is. I couldn't find the nifty HRM/timer watch, so I went by the clock on the bicycle. I left the house at 7:47. I got into work at 8:07. I was on the elevator by 8:08. Damn! So it is as fast as scootering. And it's probably about the same amount of time to get home too.

It's nice to feel like I'm back in gear again. I'm hopeful that this is the first step in the right direction.

permalink June 30, 2005 | Comments (2)

June 29, 2005

Scattered

Heaven knows, I'm trying. I'm trying, dammit!!

I'm trying to have a good day. The supports are there. So why isn't it working??

Last night I had an awful headache from work, but I made myself go to mat pilates, which was a really good idea. It ended up being a class of 4, and we worked on doing things slowly and precisely. My belly aches this morning, though I don't have the all over ache that I had after the ball class. I need more of that.

This morning, I had this feeling of being a bit bummed out even before I left for work. Part of it, of course, was my inability to get moving in a timely fashion. I had this pang of nostalgia for when Sweetie and I used to go in together to work. And I was guaranteed to get in early, to have time to go to the gym. Now, I fend for myself, which means I get nowhere fast.

It's not something he and I have talked about, though it's probably a huge relief for him to not have to cattle-prod me through the morning regime. But I miss it.
....
Okay, I just got back from lunch with Sweetie and some therapeutic yarn buying. I feel better.

Anyways, this morning I rode the bicycle in, which is always a pleasure, and I also wore my heart rate watch, which has a timer function. I was going to get to the bottom of this and see if the times between scooting and cycling were comparable or not. Yeah!

I'm riding in, and as usual I look in the church parking lot to see if Sara's car is there. Hey, it is. And, hey, there's Sara, so I stop and we chat. I get a few blocks away and realize—I didn't stop the timer. Oh well. I probably spent 5 minutes chatting.

The rest of the ride in is unremarkable, except that I make it to my garage in 18:58 minutes according to the bike computer. Wuhoo! Speed demon! If I keep improving at this rate, why, in two years I'll just have to get on the bike to be at work!

I get up to my desk, and there's a small crisis, naturally, which I take care of, and later, I realize that I never turned off the timer! 38:24. Oh well, so much for data collection.

It was about that time that I also realize that I forgot my wallet. It's in my motorcycle hoodie, hanging from the coat tree in the dining room. Sigh!

I'm so sick of being so scattered. On Monday, I gave a guy directions to get to Powells Bookstore as if we were on the 14 Hawthorne bus. Unfortunately, we were on the 6 MLK. Lucky for this guy, somebody else jumped in and said, this bus isn't going to Burnside, it's going to PSU! Ooops.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. And yard work. Hopefully tonight, I can do some vicious plant killing, some straw-bale-raised bed building, and, some finding of the butterfly bush, which is currently covered with blackberry. The thought of killing blackberries sounds very good indeed!

permalink June 29, 2005 | Comments (3)

June 27, 2005

Filling up, and spilling over

I got a project done that I've been sweating at work, then went home on Friday. My stress level had hit a new high, and my body was just not cooperating. Though, amazingly, I felt much better when I got home. No doubt the bike ride helped. Though the bike ride hurt too. I just wasn't feeling that great, and the trek up the hill wasn't that fun.

Saturday morning, I thankfully felt okay. I ran late, as usual, and missed seeing the purples step off, so I got a map and just started walking. It was overcast and cool—it looked like it might rain. I decided, for some reason, that I would do intervals.

I have no idea where I got this, so don't try this at home, but the intervals I decided to do were based on the alarms on my heart rate monitor. So first I warmed up for 15 minutes. Then, I walked as fast and hard as I could until I hit 85% HR. Then, I'd slack until I hit 65%. Rinse, repeat. Except, once I started to catch up with humanity, or as humanity began to catch up with me, I'd start speeding up when I was trying to slow down, or vice versa.

So I did the intervals for the first 6 miles. Now you might be saying to yourself, gosh, I don't think that VJ has talked about doing any real walking for weeks, and you would be, in fact, correct, so why did I think that doing intervals would be a good idea? Well, why indeed? Suffice to say: they were not a good idea.

But, in spite of that, I was very happy to be out on a real walk. I got thinking about my walking route website idea and got really into it. I was enjoying saying hi to people, and looking at things, noticing the madrone growing along the trail, complete with hacking homeless person. Hmm, does he have TB? Yikes. I liked looking up at the road, way up high, and the caverns carved out by homeless people. I liked seeing the giant eagles nests on platforms above the electrical towers. I saw two crosses along the route, up off the trail, and I wondered who and why?

A runner who looked incredibly like Athanasia Tsoumeleka (the 2004 Olympic Racewalking champion) stopped and pointed out a bald eagle, perched on a stump in the swamp. The eagle appeared to be just hanging out, waiting for breakfast, and enjoying a little out-of-the-nest-time. I watched it for a long time. Then, as I softened my focus on the entire swamp, I could see that it was entirely infested with blue herons. I've never seen so many in one place ever.

I also spotted a beaver. In the wild. Damn!

So, the non-intervals 6 miles was less fun. I was moving slow, heart-rate was up, and I kept thinking about this Mac store in town that was having a garage sale, and it really was on the way back into town. I'd just need to walk, I dunno, six blocks out of the way. But I was afraid that if I did, I'd not finish the walk. Well, yes. So, I finished the walk. Slowly.

Afterwards, I did run to the garage sale, and it was just eMacs and G4 towers at that point. Poop. I talked to one of the sales guys, and he said that everything good was gone by 9:30. It was 10:30 now. Oh well.

After the ice bath and lunch, Sweetie and I went scootering to do some errands. We stopped at Ptown, we stopped at my fav yarn shop, and then, we spotted the Multnomah County Bike Fair, so we stopped and checked it out.

One of the things I absolutely love about Portland is its embrace of the kooky quirky contingent. Here, there are two types of bicyclists, not entirely mutually exclusive: there's the serious spandex-wearing bicyclists riding expensive fast bikes that do Seattle-to-Portland and Cycle Oregon—the athletes, and then there are the d-i-y bicycles, usually riding hand-me-downs or thrifted bikes, wearing, well, not a lot of spandex—the human-powered activists.

We have a local organization, Shift2Bikes, that tends more towards the latter. They do a monthly breakfast on the bridges for bicyclists, and they have a great calendar that you can post your bike events. They sponsored Pedalpalooza this year, and thus, the MCBF.

The fair was full of all sorts of quirky, d-i-y stuff. A smoothie stand whose blenders were powered by a bike with a generator. Our local zine folks. And, a stage area for performances, music and bicycle related.

I was so excited and I immediately started talking about bicycling down to the park. Sweetie reminded me that I had just overdone it, and maybe I should hold off on the cycling. Okay.

After a nap and a quick dinner, I scooted back to the Fair to do some documentation. I got there at the end of the last event, the Tallbike jousting, damn it! But as I hung out, there was suddenly this free-for-all, where lots of people were jumping on their bikes and riding around in circles. There were tall bikes, of course, a homemade recumbent whirly-bike, a longbike, and lots and lots of people enjoying themselves.

It was just beautiful. Here it was, a sunny warm evening, with the shade from trees here and there, and lots of people were out. Normal looking people, and people who had obviously dressed for the occasion. Vibrant and alive.

I want to be part of this. Yes!

The highlight of the next day was getting the strawbales. I promised myself, if I cut the grass, I'd see if any Feed and Seeds were open, and there was one. So I hightailed over there, got a couple of galvanized containers that I'll use as planters (thanks Fran!), and then decided to get strawbales.

See, you can build raised bed garden plots with strawbales. I've done it before.

So, I bought 4. I had sweetie's truck, and I was surprised to see that three fit nicely in his bed, but the fourth one had to go on top. Hell, the last time I bought straw bales, I was single, and I got 4 of them in my car, which is not terribly big.

Did I tie it down? Why tie it down? Ha ha ha ha! So of course, the bale flew off the truck in the middle of an intersection, in the middle of two 5 lane roads.

I managed to get the damn thing out of the street. But then I found that I couldn't lift it. Even by the strings. Damn it! Long story shorter, it was the help of strangers, 4 of them, that got the bale back into the truck, where I tied it down.

permalink June 27, 2005 | Comments (5)

June 24, 2005

Twarted

Last night, my sweetie made me a burger. Oh! Burgers at home are so good, so superlative, so absolutely wonderful, and even the best burger out can't compare. Last night, we had avocado on them. Avocado!!

Then, I scooted to pilates. Except, our instructor had gotten a sub, so it was ball class. It seems that the majority of us didn't come on Tuesday, so none of us knew it would be ball class, and we all privately grumbled that we would have stayed home or gone home if we had known. Still, the instructor was very nice, and very good, and both verbalized and demonstrated the exercises.

It was hard! My balance, while greatly improved, still sucks, so, everything had this new degree of difficulty. But that was good, and at the end, I really felt well worked. I feel like I'm more a part of the group now. Slowly, I am learning names. Slowly, I'm hearing personal stories. Yay! And today, many parts of me are achy.
...
So, I am still on the must-de-asthma-ify-the-house campaign. This morning's act was to take apart the living room aircleaner to clean out the filter, which according to the indicator was dirty. It took a few minutes to actually even find the door on the aircleaner, and then once it was found, it took another few minutes to open it. Would it be so hard to design in a little grip for users, so it would be clear where and how to open the device?—afterall, they are, hopefully, going to clean the filters.

So, I get the door open, and I find the filter easily. Great. There are no instructions on how to clean said filter. Hmmm. How hard would it be to have something on the inside of the device, where the user could read it, that would say how to clean the filter?

So, I go looking for the manual. I look through common piles, through my stuff, through Sweetie's. No luck. Hmmm. I even look in the manual file. No luck.

Oh, says me, silly girl, everything is online now. I just need to look on the web. So I go over to the airfilter, and marvel at the fact that it has no brandnames on it. There's an IFD logo, there's a HEPA thing, but nothing about the brand, or heavens forbid, model number. Grumble!!!

How hard can this be, really? Well, it seems, impossible. I looked at Honeywell's site, and all I could find there were Whole House Solutions. At-at-at-hhhhmm! (That would be the sound of me clearing my throat) That's nice, but hows about the whole room solution that I spent $200 for?

And, I can't let this damn thing go. Now I'm at work, and I checked the home despot web site, and there it is, and it's manufactured by a company I've never heard of, and so I go to their site, and their site is also infuriating, and it appears they don't have any documentation for my model. Sigh!

The home despot web site, though, is good. Categories, a search engine, lots of overlap—I was able to find what I wanted quickly and easily. Now, why don't they have manuals?
...
Today I'm feeling more relaxed, but I'm still in the middle of a panic attack. We (my and my med advisor) decided to ride this out a bit, and see if it improves on its own, but I'm wondering if that is a good idea, really. I'm totally unable to concentrate. And since lately these have almost only been happening while I'm at work, well...

Before I started with the panic attack this morning, my belly was very upset, as if to say, VJ, you may think you're the picture of serenity, but actually... NOT! When is all of this going to end?

I was able to finally leave the house and get on the bike. This morning was the best ride yet. The vast, vast majority of it was done in speed 3, the hardest speed, and it felt great. It felt easy, even. I don't think I saw the speedometer drop beneath 10 mph unless I was stopped at a light or a stopsign. It was just tremendously pleasurable to be riding this morning. Maybe this is the practice thing that I've heard so much about it?

My coworkers are so sweet—they bought me a bottle of pink nailpolish. Which perfectly matches the bike! I tend to like loud, dark colors for nail polish, but I have to admit that I really like this alot. I was planning to take a picture of it, you know, fingernails on bicycle, but I had to find the camera. I think the cats didn't want any more pictures taken of them, or perhaps the dog was jealous—all I know is that the camera had been on the table, and now, it was nowhere to be seen.

So I found the camera. It was about halfway under the couch. It had to be the dog.

So I got it out, and put it on the couch, with my other stuff for work. Left the room for a few minutes. And once I had gotten dressed and was packing my satchel, I realized that the camera was gone again. This time, I had some momentum, and I couldn't let myself fall into another game of let's find where the camera is now!. So there it stands. My documentation has been twarted. Again.

permalink June 24, 2005 | Comments (3)

June 22, 2005

bzzzzz (the sound of tension)

I'm gonna to try to keep this short, as the day is full of stuff, and I'm in the midst of a mild panic attack. Sigh.

I am a bit freaked out about the amount of work at work. And the fact that we are really overbudget. In the shower, my free floating anxiety began to extend to fitness. I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I'm a fraud. Here, I write this blog, theoretically about fitness, and here I am, blowing off mat pilates, walking erratically, never going to the gym...

I had to sit myself down and have a stern talk. Self: you're in the middle of a big pile of stress. Now is not the time to freak out about fitness. And it's not like you're doing nothing, you're just not doing as much as you have in the past. Is that such a bad thing? And really, I think—fitness is the scapegoat. Not the issue.
...
I rode the bike home last night. It was not as beatic as it was last time—it felt like work, some of the way.And okay, some of the way. I did stop, but only to take a picture! It will all get better. Practice, practice.

It only took me 23 minutes to get home (!), compared to 45 on the other bike. But since I had left work late, I was officially running late. I had a snack and tried to get ready to go to mat pilates, but it felt like a thousand and one things were holding me back. Like, feeling exhausted. My poor sweetie has been having almost constant coughing fits at night, and while I do manage to sleep through a lot of them, I don't sleep that great.

So I didn't go.
...
The highlight of this morning was vacuuming. I vacuumed the living room again. It looks great. This is frightening. This is not like me.

In my own defense, I wanted to pick up as much of the cat hair and dust as I could, as Sweetie is staying home today, trying to rest and recover from this awful asthma attack. Last night he managed to sleep hard for about 4 or 5 hours, with no coughing fits.

I also spent about a half hour combing Nigella. She wasn't very happy about it, and part of my calf is swollen from where she laid in her claws. But she's shedding her undercoat at a furious clip, and so I was able to collect a kitten-sized ball of fur all clumped together. Afterwards, I felt like I needed to be combed, and I had that horrible sensation of hair sticking to my face (ououough!)

The lowlight of the morning was losing my wallet. I was already late for work, and stressed about everything possible. The morning's migas were really hanging heavy in my belly. I went to put my wallet in my pocket so I could show my bus pass to the bus driver, and—no wallet.

I look in my purse. No wallet. I look in the usual places, the bookshelf in the hallway, the kitchen counter, the back bar, the dining room table. No wallet. Migas demand a quick exit. I think, maybe it's here in the bathroom. No. Maybe it's in the pocket of the dress I wore yesterday. No.

And then, I can see it in my mind's eye. I have a bad habit of leaving it on my desk. No doubt, it's on top of a pile of papers, in plain sight. I wonder if it's still there. That was a stupid thing to do, Vicki. Sheesh.

I make peace with the idea, and I ask Sweetie if I can borrow a little cash. I decide to take apart my purse one more time before I leave. I check each of the pockets. No wallet. I pull out my clear knitting bag, filled with the silver scarf and yarn.

When did you last get out your wallet?, Sweetie asks. I think about it. There was the coffee shop. Umm, and looking at the gas receipts for the scooter (looks like 55mpg right now), and upcoming appointments. Damn, I can just see that wallet sitting on the desk.

And then I see a black thing in my knitting bag in amongst all that silver. Oh my g-d! It's my wallet. Safe and sound.

Even though it's two hours later, obviously my stomach and my nervous system haven't gotten the message yet.

permalink June 22, 2005 | Comments (3)

June 21, 2005

a lot of transportation

So. To my eternal relief, my sweetie went to the Urgent Care when he got off work yesterday. By the time I scooted over, he was out, for all intensive purposes looking and sounding worse than he had. Talking causes coughing fits, a walk of 500 ft causes wheezing. My poor baby.

He dropped off a prescription at the pharmacy, and then we went off to dinner at the original Pho Van. This was my third time in as many weeks, and we had another spectacular meal. Then, back to pick up the prescription. And then, over to Bike Gallery to pick up the townie.

I definitely had the better end of the deal, riding the scooter. It was a lovely warm night, perfect for a scooter ride. It was beautiful to be outside.

We picked up the townie, which is gorgeous. It now has chrome-looking silver fenders, chrome bullet lights, a back rack, a bell, and a computer. Again, people stopped me to compliment me on the bike. Incredible. We loaded it in the back of Sweetie's truck, and just as we were about to take off, I saw a tandem come down the street. It had a woven reed basket, decorated with plastic flowers and mardigras beads, 50 skadillion horns, and the couple riding it were wearing matching Lif3 is G00d tandem t's.
...
My living room looks so good vacuumed. Oh my gosh! I felt so insanely proud of it. In fact, when we walked into the house, I felt like the living room glowed. It was all I could do this morning not to vacuum again!

Morning is the time for existential crises. What will I wear? Why do I have so many clothes, and nothing to wear? Scooter, or bicycle? I need to take the scooter in for its 1000K checkup, but I bet they'll want to keep it overnight, which will make me sad. It would be so cool to ride the new improved bicycle, but I need to really kick it on the way home to make it in time to change clothes and jump on the scoot for pilates.

I decided in the end to bicycle in, which was great. I had collected a bunch of roses, stemmed wrapped in a wet paper towel, and a vase with stones, which I wedged into the basket next to my purse. All good so far. Until I'm riding, and the roses are trying to commit suicide. Some actually do hit the road. This isn't good.

Meanwhile, I am loving the computer. The last bike also had a computer, which I couldn't figure out how to use. It was really frustrating, and I kept thinking that I should sit down with it and the manual and figure it out. I was kinda expecting the same from this computer, but, ha ha ha, the computer is idiot-proof. I love it! Another proof for the superiority of the Bike Gallery!

There, without me doing anything, is the miles per hour. And the trip odometer. Press the button, and there's the time. Press it again, and there's the timer, which started without me doing anything, when the ride started!! Press it again, and there's the odometer odometer.

So, according to the bike, I made it to work in 20:30, 3.1 miles. Wuhoo! I love data! I probably lost one rose, maybe two, but it's surprising how good the rest of them look.

permalink June 21, 2005 | Comments (2)

June 20, 2005

perfect bikes and goofy storms

Yesterday, I rode the townie a couple miles over to the Hollywood Bike Gallery to have all of its new stuff put on it. I had ordered black plastic fenders, a back rack, a bell, lights—in short, everything save the "Hawaii" accessories, which are pretty damn cool.

I took Alameda Street, which meant I had to climb that awful hill between 19th & 22nd, and I admit, I walked the bike up. Someday... Otherwise, the ride was easy, and so much fun. I keep waiting for bicycling to become a chore.

The roads were strangely quiet. It was 3ish, the sun was out, but I barely saw any cars, bikes or pedestrians. Was there some sort of alert that everyone must stay inside? It was spooky. Course, it was awful warm, and it did seem like the sun was set on broil.

But then I arrived at the Bike Gallery, and I saw that everyone was in there. So I brought my goofy pink bike inside and went to the service area. I stood there for a little bit, while various guys scurried around. Every female employee in the shop complimented the bike and said that the flowers on the basket were beautiful and a nice touch. Gosh, you guys!

I left the bike there, and caught the bus home almost immediately. I barely got any knitting done at all! The second bus ride was a quintessential bus experience: the guy in front of me smelled intensely bad (a recent bender, and no contact with water for either him or his clothes), and the teenagers sitting across from me who had the opposite problem. They had obviously changed clothes since they left the house, and were displaying hickies on their breasts, and thongs, and all manner of behavior that made me feel like a prude and like I am so middle-aged! Well, I guess I am so middle-aged!
...
I came home and we watched X: the Unheard Music. I love X, and I love that movie, and it cracks me up to see how Exene seems so messed up in some concert footage, and so lucid in others. We both grooved on Billy Zoom's guitar. Damn. Nice.

To top off the evening, we had an amazing storm, maybe even a perfect storm. No, probably not a perfect storm, but an incredible storm all the same. As I mentioned in the last post, it really was wild. A number of my neighbors and I ended up outside, watching the rainbows, the clouds and ever-changing sky. Incredible!

I took some pictures, and there are some others on flickr as well.

permalink June 20, 2005 | Comments (1)

June 16, 2005

forward and back

Yesterday, I was mentioning to my co-worker how stressed out I was, and she said, hey, why don't you give me one of your projects, and let me see if I can make some headway. So I did.

Instead of spending the day beating my head against the wall, as I have been for the last couple weeks, I spent the morning going through my email, and identifying projects and deadlines. I got through 3 or 4 months of email, and identified 12 projects, three of them with deadlines, and two of them with active naggers.

Unfortunately, two of the three deadline projects are due next week, which is all a little too exciting. But I feel a little more able to cope. And I went through and identified steps in the most important of the two deadline projects.

I am only on chapter two of Getting Things Done. As usual, the thing about reading 10 books at a time is that you really don't make a lot of progress in any of them.
...
I decided, since I'm a walker, and walking is what I do, that I ought to actually do some walking. How crazy is that? I decided that I would walk to the Grand Central on Hawthorne from work for lunch. So I did. It took me a half hour, so, I ended up burning a little more than an hours lunch, but it was very pleasant, and I got to have this week's favorite sandwich, the Bistro Ham. Yum.

Then, I biked home from work for the first time in I don't know how long. It went really well! It took me 35 minutes, so ten minutes longer than going to work, and I did end up getting off the bike once, but only once. Pretty damn cool! Not that I'm ready to do Providence Bridge Pedal, but then, that's two months off. I am so very pleased.
...
This morning, I was hoping to walk into work, but as has been lately the case, I dozed on the couch sitting straight up this morning. Pathetic. I don't even remember sweetie leaving. Yikes. I did eventually get my act together, showering, popping the world's largest zit (right on my chin, ugh), and making chilaquiles, before scooting in.

I woke up during a super-disturbing dream. I had some fatal disease and I was going to die soon. Oh, and I was contagious. Cool huh? There was something about the scooter (it was fine), and then at one point I was in the bathroom putting some miracle hair remover on my chin and mustache, while my father stood outside, yelling at me for taking so long. (Dad never yelled at me in real life) Why I was removing the hair on my chin and mustache when I was about to die, I don't know (and I feel like I've made my peace with my hairy southern-european face, so, umm, huh?). Oh, and outside, the snow was four and a half feet deep!

Outside of the scooter and my pathetic super-slow jock-like activities, things have been feeling fairly futile lately. Will I manage to make anyone happy at work, nonetheless myself? Will I ever get the yard into shape—like Sisyphus, knowing that once I get it into shape, it will just rain and I'll be back at the beginning? Etc. And even jockwise, will I ever get faster, stronger, fitter? It's all a bit overwhelming.

permalink June 16, 2005 | Comments (2)

June 15, 2005

Stress relief

Pilates was good last night. It was the first mat class I've made it two in two weeks, so it was hard. A class like that, where my mind is occupied and my body is complaining, is such a release when I'm stressed, and I feel like I'm hitting new highs in stress.

Afterwards, I went to the store to try to find some protein. I feel flummoxed by the new diet, simple as it is, and the whole question—how will I ever get enough protein, and not cause my arteries to completely clog?—hasn't been far from my mind. When I'm not thinking about work, or home.

I spent about 45 minutes reading labels. I was on the scooter and it was raining, so I needed to be thoughtful about what I bought. $55 later, I had one full canvas bag of coffee, fizzy water, and protein.

This morning I kept falling asleep on the couch. I finally got myself vertical and began making my monster breakfast: breakfast sausage with a black bean omellette. It was good but it seemed like so much food.

Oh, and my dog is a klepto. I put an apple and an orange on the couch with my gym clothes, the magazines for the gym, my ipod, etc. I came back in the room, and everything was just as it was, except the orange. No orange. Apple still there, not moved. Echo looked at me with those big liquid brown eyes, oh lovey, lovey, lovey. I ordered him off the couch, he looked offended, and I saw where he had tucked the orange under the cushion. What an adorable dog!

I was running severely late, but I decided I needed to ride the bike in. It was a good idea too. I can think about all the things that bother me, but I can't really be anxious because, hey, I'm riding a pink bike. I actually got a compliment (on the bike) from a serious cyclist. Wow!

I got the bike down in the garage and was locking it up when one of the garage guys said, hey, that's the most popular bike down here. Really?, I asked. Yes, because it's so pretty, he said. Cool!

I ordered black fenders, a black rack, lights, and a bell, which hopefully will be in tonight. If they have a decent little bike computer, I'll get that too. Fancy that, having a bike that I could figure out walking distances with, that I'd actually want to ride?!

permalink June 15, 2005 | Comments (1)

June 13, 2005

Decoration

Well, I had a really fun weekend, though not a terribly productive one. We bought hardware for the shed... which we did not install. It would have been perfect for yard work yesterday... if I had done it. Oh well.

We did, however, have a really good time. We went out to breakfast on the scooters, then on errands, all over town. I got soft silver eyelashy yarn to make into a scooter riding scarf, and learned my new favorite yarn store is getting a tavern license this week. Woo hoo, knitting and beer drinking, what could be better? And, I got some fake flowers to add to my bike basket.

So, I put stickers and devil ducks on the scooter (!!!!), and then I sat down with some floral wire, and added the fake flowers (orchids and roses) to the front of the bike basket. I had big plans of documenting the bike basket, as well as one side of scooter with the flaming rose sticker, but I forgot the camera this morning.

It's probably as well. I was (shock!) running behind, but I still decided to clip some flowers to bring into work. So, I grabbed a milk bottle, washed it out, put some of my new green pebbles in the bottom, and ran out with the clipper. A few minutes later, I had four mirandy buds, a bloom from my Mt. Hood, and some flowering tobacco (nicotiana mutablis), ready to go.

Because it's Monday (joy!), I also had my coffee cup, water bottle and water glass, and I also had my non-biking clothes. In otherwords, I had a pile of stuff. As usual.

So I'm wearing my backpack, and I have my purse and the fresh flowers in milk bottle in the basket. I only had the water about half way full, because I thought that should give enough room for splashing. Ha ha ha! By the time I got halfway to work, the back of my purse was soaked.

It was a great ride though. I decided to go along the Eastbank Esplanade because of the Rose Festival, and it was interesting and enjoyable to watch the Coast Guard boats with their machine guns aimed in my general direction. I usually avoid the Esplanade on a bike because of the ups and downs of it, which generally for me translates into walking the bike and panting.

I did end up having to walk the bike up one hill, but only because I shifted down instead of up or vice versa. But otherwise, the ride in was fun. And there's nothing like riding what looks like a big pink childrens bike for attracting some attention.

permalink June 13, 2005 | Comments (5)

June 10, 2005

Huh?

I am still sore. What is with that?
...
Last night, I went to the naturopath. My sports chiro had suggested that I see her about jumpstarting my weight loss process. So in preparing for my appointment, I thought about my diet, and exercise.

Diet wise, I suppose I would lose more weight if I actually did diet. Exercise wise, I'm not working out as much as I was earlier this spring. Right now, it comes down to three pilates sessions, 45 minutes each, and two significant walks, with some walk or bike commuting. I seem to have lost the drive to work out before work, or at lunch. Oh well, I'm still getting lots of exercise, and there is no need for me to get obsessive about it.

I like her. She's down to earth, and realistic. So after chatting a while, she made these suggestions:
- Breakfast: instead of my favorite hippie-made organic colon-blow cereal, I should get 50% of my protein (so, about 30-35 grams)
- Morning snack: nuts or fruit
- Lunch: veggies and 25% protein
- Afternoon snack: nuts or fruit
- Dinner: veggies and 25% protein
- Evening snack: nuts or fruit

So. So far, so good.

I got out of the appointment late, which meant I was late for pilates, and you know, I should have just gone. But I was tired, and I was hungry, and I wasn't wearing pilates clothes, so I headed home. I heard from Jill today that the class was cancelled, so it all came out in the wash.
...
This morning, I was ready for a good walk to work. Then I remembered that I needed to eat protein. Poop. So, I made myself some turkey sausage and an egg (because all we had was one egg). It was quite yummy, and I had this feeling of righteousness and fullness. Cool!

Today I decided the bike had to get out of the kitchen. And so it was. The ride in was just a blast. I tucked the pink devilduckie under the handle of the bike basket, and put my mexican oilcloth purse with flowers in the basket. I put on a pink scarf over my insanely floral dress. Great!

And it was a beautiful morning for a ride. Cool, cloudy.

I got across the Steel Pedestrian Bridge, and saw that the waterfront bike path was closed, due to Rose Festival and the Navy ships being docked here. So I followed the detours, or at least tried to, but it wasn't very clearly marked. So I ended up on the sidewalk along Front Ave.

And, I made it in record time. 23 minutes. That's 7 minutes faster than last time. What the ?? That damn bike is so much fun to ride...

permalink June 10, 2005 | Comments (3)

June 9, 2005

I loves a parade

Well, after all my complaining, my contortionist called me and rescheduled, and gave me quite the massage. Her massages are so hard, I feel like it's a feat that I remain laying on the table. At one point she started working on my hip flexors and I just had to say, I can't take it. I can't breathe through this, you have to lighten up.

Perhaps, not surprisingly, I ache more today than the day after the marathon! Allegro might have something to do with it too. Maybe.
...
There has been a thread on the local scooter list about cheap places to park. This morning, I parked for $2. For Portland, for a scooter, that's pretty incredibly cheap. If I park in my building, it's $7.75. I'm psyched.

I hate to actually pay for monthly parking, but on the other hand, it's really tempting. But if I did that, would I walk and bike less than I do now? Hard to say.
...

The Rose Festival is going on here, right now, which makes approaching the waterfront a giant pain in the butt. The intown portion of my commute is right on the waterfront, so there is absolutely no incentive for me to commute under my own power right now.

Though. Today is the first day of Pedalpalooza, which is this celebration of the quirky, creative bike culture here. There's a parade tonight! Damn, what a good excuse to miss pilates!

Because the townie is in the kitchen (still. Let's not go there), and because we have a cat that loves buckets and bags and boxes, we thought it might be fun to, umm, put Nigella in the bike basket. Was it fun? Oh yeah!

permalink June 9, 2005 | Comments (2)

May 27, 2005

bike, bike, bike!

First of all, I pass the book meme along to Neca or Nancy or Tszuj—have at, have a good time!

Speaking of Tszuj, her latest entry had this gem:

We're thinking about going in on a group order of "Scoop!" tee shirts (they say "it's a Pilates thing" on the back). Last week in class, after a particularly brutal set of ab-intensive work, someone said "my scooper is pooped". I think that would make a good tee shirt...hmmmm....

...
So, I didn't do pilates last night. After spending the day bouncing off the walls and trying to channel that energy—not so well, really—into work—aaannnddd, it's hotter than h-e-double-hockey-sticks outside, and the building A.C. has failed, again—I came home, we wolfed down some macaroni-cheese-&-tomatoes, I changed into my pilates clothes, and we ran over to the Bike Gallery.

My long-suffering sales associate/shop girl/bike guru sent me out first with a Townie24 (that's 24 speeds, dude!). It was a lovely Mela-shade of blue, so it would have matched the scooter (if I was trying to color-coordinate my transportation). The gears were heavenly as I rode up the hill to Alameda, and all around, but the bike felt kinda adult, and I'm definitely not looking for adult.

So I went back out with the pink Townie3, and while riding up the Alameda hill was not heavenly, it wasn't bad, and I dug it. It definitely doesn't feel adult. So I went back in to fill out the paperwork and empty my wallet.

They didn't have the fenders or rack that I'd like, but I did have them put on a big ole basket on the front. It disconnects easily, so if I were going to the grocery, I could just bring it in with me. How crazy is that? That rocks my world!
...
So, of course, I rode it in this morning. And I loved it.

My purse fits right in the basket. So nice. The bike is so comfortable. I went a leisurely pace, I thought, and had no trouble with any of the minor hills. I had no trouble with the only major hill too. And while Portland athletes are pretty friendly, just about everyone I saw smiled, waved or said hi. Including people in cars.

I was shocked to see that I made it to work in 25 minutes. Um, that's 5 minutes faster than with the other bike. And with the other bike, I'm totally winded by the time I get here.

Riding in was so much fun that I'm thinking about maybe riding to the eastside for lunch!

Oh! And, with the other bike, my private parts would totally numb out within 20 minutes. With this one, all of me remained alert and chipper!

permalink May 27, 2005 | Comments (7)

May 25, 2005

race worries

Well, I sit on my hands. I can't wait to get the new bike. I still need to compulsively compare models, but the pink only comes in 3 speeds, and I like the pink. Oh, and I need to order the rose stickers!

So, yesterday, I finally signed up for the Gorge Marathon. It's expensive—$92 including service charge. I barely had enough time to feel satisfied that, yes, I am going to do this, when I checked marathonguide.com and saw these recent horrible reviews. Ugh! I hate to be high-maintenance, but, um, I want races to start on time, and if I'm paying $92, I want a real start line, a clock at the finish, reasonable amounts of portapotties, lots of aid stations with the full compliment of supplies. I want to be sure that there'll be a bus that can take me from Hood River (the finish) to The Dalles (the start) that will get me there in time for the early start, and not leave at 4:30 in the morning.

That getting to The Dalles really does worry me. I wrote the contact address yesterday and got this reply:

The shuttles will leave the finish area in HR (Marina Park) one hour prior to start.

It's not inspiring confidence. I made our reservations at a place in Hood River, but now I'm questioning—maybe I need to also make one night reservations in The Dalles? Either that, or sweetie needs to haul me from HR to The Dalles.

Issue #45: we had talked about making this our first scooter trip. Hood River is about an hour away, The Dalles, maybe a half-hour further. It would be a great first trip, assuming no rain. But, if sweetie has to haul me, that means on one scooter. Is that too much excitement for race morning? Or, if we stay in The Dalles, sweetie has to haul all our stuff to HR. And does that mean we leave one scooter in HR? It's complicated!

There's the issue of making sure that I have enough fluids, so someone will have to provide support. Damn, that sucks. Sweetie isn't that crazy about races or crowds, so I hate to ask him. And I like being somewhat self-sufficient. And I guess I could if I got a super-huge backpack. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Anyways, this stuff is zapping my mental energy. That and a three hour meeting left me with a headache.

permalink May 25, 2005 | Comments (1)

May 24, 2005

bike lust

I probably did more cycling yesterday than I have in 17 years. I rode in, of course, with the weird noise. I took it to my bike shop, and the guy looked at it immediately, quickly made a couple fixes, and mentioned that the place where I bought this would give me a free tune up and I should take advantage of that. Hmmm, they never told me that.

So, after he took the quick look-see, I took a look-see at the toownies. I've had a schoolgirl crush on them for awhile, but I had never ridden one. And. They had a girl-pink one. What more do I need, a lightning bolt? So I took it for a ride.

Damn. Damn. Damn. It was fun. I felt comfortable on slight hills, much better than on my bike. I loved the coaster brake. I just felt this feeling of freedom, which I haven't really had with my bike.

Afterwards, I retraced the route on my bike. Yeah, not as fun.

So I tell sweetie. He's well aware that immediately upon buying my current bike, I fell hard for the toownie, so he's like, let's go bike shopping tonight. And so after a fast dinner of pho, we went to the bike store.

The pink only comes in 3 speeds. So, I tried out the 21. The gearing didn't seem to be set up right, and it was unhappy climbing the Alameda hill. So I come back and try the pink. Actually, much better. Not that it isn't hard, but let's face facts, my bicycle fitness is not terribly high. I brought it back in as they were closing, with the I gotta sleep on it line. I can't wait to go back and get it. I might not, though that seems unlikely.

permalink May 24, 2005 | Comments (3)

May 23, 2005

Just a flesh wound!

It doesn't matter how long the weekend is—it's never long enough. Oh well. Yesterday we purchased a shed which will be delivered in two weeks, which means we need to get a move on with cleaning out the area that the shed will go in. So much excitement!

Other than a shed, we also purchased the world's coolest peppergrinder, and a hedge trimmer. The hedge trimmer is my new favorite thing. It decimates like a weed whacker, but with precision. I very happily cleaned up an area which is nowhere near the shed location, and it looks great. We need to get another one, battery-operated so it makes less noise, because I'd like to get a little decimation into my mornings too!

I've already wounded myself, of course—no biggie, but it was a dramatic flesh wound all the same.

...

This morning I biked in. Blue skies, lovely, though a bit chilly. But my front tire was making a clicking noise. So much so that when I passed some homeless folk this morning, one guy yelled at me to get it in gear. Dude, it's already in gear. I'm sure it's something very obvious that will reveal me as the newbie I am, but I'm gonna bring it into the bike shop and let them deal with it.

permalink May 23, 2005 | Comments (3)

May 17, 2005

biking!

I don't know what got into me this morning, but I decided to ride the bike to work, even though rain is forecast and the skies are threatening.

As is my wont, I wore a dress today. I especially love wearing skirts or dresses while on two-wheeled vehicles. (I would love to find leg armour that would not ruin the look of a skirt on the scooter!) That, and now that I only have one pair of pants to wear to work, and I wore them yesterday and got them dirty, um, I had to wear a skirt or a dress.

The dress is one I bought probably 15 years ago. At K-M@rt. For less than 15 bucks. For reasons that elude me, it always gets compliments.

Today's ride was incredibly pleasant. I took the usual straight route to work, but I didn't feel like I was working so hard so much of the time, and I was able to ride in lower gears for most of it. And I never hit the highest gear, wuhoo!

But, I kept feeling the dress get caught. By the time I got to NE Holliday, right before the Steel Bridge, I stopped, and saw that not only was my dress caught, but at this point it had a big black hole near the hem from where it was getting caught in the brake.

I don't know why, but my reaction was pure joy.

So once I got to work, I wandered around looking for people who would appreciate the hole in my dress. It was a great ride!

permalink May 17, 2005 | Comments (2)

May 13, 2005

pleasure and work

Last night I cooked. It was great. I should do it more often!

I've really been wanting to cook lately, and it's really been a long time since I've made something from scratch that isn't, umm, tuna and beans, or quesadillas. So last night I made lemon linguine, a Nigella Lawson recipe that is super-fast and super-good. So I felt sated and satisfied when I went to pilates.

I haven't been to a single pilates class all week, so last night's class was tough. But good. I had a great time, worked hard, and got into it.

And this morning, I rode my bike into work. It was great. I was leisurely, I took detours and pictures and just generally had a good time. And it felt really good.

And then I got to work and have been on a dead run ever since.

Today has just been stressful. I am looking so forward to the weekend. I'd really like to do some heavy work, maybe beginning to put down the stone in the yard? Nothing is scheduled, nothing is happening save my 21 mile-and-PFit thang tomorrow.

permalink May 13, 2005

April 29, 2005

Triumph!

Obvious observation #1: it's much easier to ride a bike with correctly-inflated tires.

Last night was the turning point. Yes! Sweetie and I scooted to get some salad and 'za, and then I returned to the Bike Gallery with the gauge that wasn't working for me. I walked up to the counter, and the employee was working with someone on the phone, so I left the gauge, the receipt and my purse at the counter while I went to check out standing pumps.

They were having a sale, and there was an obnoxious yellow one that called my name. I looked at it suspiciously. On the packaging, it said that it fits both types of valves. So I bring it up to said counter.

The employee is now ready for me, and as a matter of introduction, I gave her an abbreviated version of my frustrations with getting back on the road.

Can I make a suggestion?, she asks.

Yes, please, I need all the help I can get!

She explains that the pump I've chosen has an adapter for schrader as an afterthought, and that she thinks I can do better at the same price. So we go over to the pumps, and she immediately picks out a much more subdued pump. A Wrench Force with its "easy to use dual head, all you have to do is put the valve in the correct opening, flip the locking lever, and pump. The dual head automatically directs the air into your tube." Ka-ching! Same price too. $30, marked down from $90!

I thank her and thank her and thank her again. And then I bring the pump out to the scooter and learn that it is just a smidge too big to fit in the underseat compartment, so I'll have to hold it between my feet. Which actually wasn't bad at all.

...

Mat pilates was great. There were only seven of us, including the instructor, and the focus was really on the abs. By Thursday night, after three straight days of pilates, I'm usually having a communication breakdown with my abs. I do what I think is bringing the belly button to spine, but I feel about as connected to my belly as I do to the soccer player's belly on the mat next to me—it's all theoretical. I worked really hard, and I concentrated on my abs, these abs that I could not feel, rather than leg lifts or the other crazy stuff you're supposed to be doing while you contract your abs. So that's not to say that I didn't do the other crazy stuff, I just tried to stay focused.

...

I got the pump home, and immediately brought the bike onto the backporch. It was so damn easy that, well, it was kinda a letdown, honestly. So I filled the tires, and then I went inside and got a pile of other stuff done, just as if I had some energy. Wuhoo!

And this morning, I biked in. It was fun for the most part. I can't even put words together to say how much easier it is to ride a bike with full tires. Oh. My. Gosh. A world of difference.

The steel bridge-pedestrian bridge was closed (and locked up!), so I ended up going along the Eastbank Esplanade. It's not my favorite as there are these little tiny intsy-weensy itty-bitty hills, and I'm not there yet in my bike-jock-evolution. But, I made it up them, and so what that a runner passed me? This is supposed to be lowkey and fun, and damn it, it's going to be!

I got across the Hawthorne Bridge and saw the Shift folks out with Last Friday breakfast for bicyclists. How cool is that. So I stopped. They are so great. They served coffee in real mugs, and had goodies from Grand Central Bakery, and were tremendously friendly. Wow! So totally cool!

...

So I am very pleased this morning. It's the first day this week where I've felt like I was not fighting the tide.

I need to come up with a 20-21 mile walk for this weekend. I could do the old Steel Bridge to Sellwood Bridge loop twice, but I like the idea of not having to repeat a loop. So maybe tonight I'll try out a route on the scooter. I wonder what the St. Johns Bridge to the Broadway Bridge via my house would be?

permalink April 29, 2005 | Comments (3)

April 27, 2005

on tires and valves and gauges

My pursuit of the right tools is bordering on ridiculous. Last night, on the way to mat pilates, I stopped at the Bike Gallery and got a bicycle gauge. As I was writing the check for it, I noticed that it was for Schrader valves, or maybe for Presto, I don't know, but suddenly the element of doubt was introduced. This is how much a poseur I am -- I have no idea which type of valves I have. Or what the diff is between the two.

I got to pilates a few minutes late, but I worked really hard, and having done pilates the day before, my abs were just not all that happy about it. Oh well.

So, I get home, get all my crap out onto the back porch including the bike, and the ever-so-helpful dog, who is being a real pest because it's getting close to his dinner time. I take the gauge carefully out of its packaging, approaching the bike, while Echo tries to smell the gauge. I unscrew the valve cap, and of course, the gauge doesn't fit! Of course. Echo is now busy smelling the tire, and the tire valve, and then as I move across the back porch, the gauge, my hand, etc. So, I bring over the pump... and it doesn't fit the valve either. Sheesh!

Now this is sweetie's pump, which he bought with his bicycle. I shudder to think how much he spent at the bike shop that day, but it was quite a bit. He was explicit about not having bicycled recently. Why didn't someone say, that pump won't work with your bike tires? I mean, if someone is spending your take-home for the month, wouldn't it be worth it to make sure he gets the right stuff? At least so the next time he darkens your door, he'll be happy?

I thought about going to Fred's to pick up a generic bike pump, there where they are dealing with pedestrian bicycles, but it just required energy that I didn't have. My becoming a bike jock would have to wait another day.

permalink April 27, 2005 | Comments (3)

March 14, 2005

biking in

I am not a superstitious person but every now and again I'll see a "sign" and I'll know it is a portent. Like this morning. I got my cup of coffee and sat down on the couch with the powerbook and the whippet, and I found that Large Fella on a Bike had referred someone to me, and I check out his blog and see that he refers to me as one of his "Folks who Ride & Write".

Man, I think to myself, I really haven't ridden much lately. Too bad it's really too late for me to ride in this morning.

And then I pad out into the kitchen for more coffee, and see... my bike, laying up against the stove. Hmmm, what is that doing there? And then I realize that this is a sign from G-d, cue trumpets here.

Now, it might have been a sign that I should ride in, but that doesn't make it any easier. Does it get any easier? Oh, yeah, if you practice. Damn it! I don't have enough time!! Anyways, I let myself take a break where I always get out of breath, and that did make the whole thing a bit more pleasant. Though I found myself daydreaming about how the whole experience might be more pleasant if I was on a Townie. Mind you, I've never done more than sit on a Townie, I've never ridden one, etc, etc, so why have I bought into the marketing??

Though I can't help but think that the Townie is a scooter amongst bikes. Why do I think that, I don't know. Obviously, I'm easily swayed.

permalink March 14, 2005 | Comments (3)

December 26, 2004

slug(gish) velo-ing

Since I learned of Slug Velo, Portland's mellow-paced group ride, I've wanted to participate. Their monthly rides are usually on Saturday—and I invariably have obligations on Saturdays. But today was December's Boxing Day Digestive, and it was perfect weather—hazy, cool, overcast.

My right knee has been bothering me a lot. Partially out of laziness, and partially out of fear, I haven't been walking. And as I started to ride this morning, I started questioning the wisdom of cycling when my knee was really really hurting.

I first needed to swing by the credit union before I'd head to the Rose Quarter and by the time I was almost to the credit union, I was almost in tears. What was I thinking, doing this ride? I hurt. And I'm slow. They aren't going to want to ride with someone this slow. Those slight inclines will kill me!

I made my deposit and looked at my watch. I had 8 minutes to get to the Rose Quarter if I was going to do this. Suddenly, I made up my mind that I was going to try: if I got there, and they weren't there, that would be fine. But otherwise, I'm going to try.

I got to RQ with one minute to spare. And saw no one with bikes. Then, after a minute, a guy rode up with his son on a tag-along and asked if I was there for the ride. And then a woman rode up with her daughter, the daughter on a purple bike with pink rims, who said, 'I think we're meeting down at the Esplanade'. 'If nothing else, we can go on our own slug velo,' said the guy.

Of course, immediately after that, we found the group.

We rode down and across the Hawthorne bridge, then, into town, and then Northwest. After an hour, we stopped at a st@rbucks for kaffee und kuchen and lots of talk. While I had feared group dynamics, etc, etc, people were friendly, and the official last person rode with me, and we chatted about all sorts of things -- his Bike Friday, my bike, the weather, cars. When we left from the coffeeshop, I was able to stay up with the front pack. Wuuhoo!

People were friendly. People were normal. There were parents with kids, couples with their in-laws. Some wore jeans, normal pants, while others wore bike gear. There was one dog with a spectacular sweater. Some had fancy bikes—others didn't. It was great. I am so glad I went.

permalink December 26, 2004 | Comments (5)

November 23, 2004

WindSprint!

I am so excited! The Windsprint (eg, exercycle) is home. For some reason, getting across town was arduous—traffic was thick and slow well after it should have thinned and sped up. But the trek got my mind off my obsessing, which was making me kinda cranky.

We heard a funny song, Underwear Goes Inside The Pants (video), which set the tone for the evening.

We got the Windsprint home without incident, all the animals came and inspected it, and then we both tried it out. If it wasn't so close to bedtime, I'd do a workout but I do want to sleep tonight.

Remember when I said it wasn't that noisy? Ha! It's like running the vacuum. It's a good thing we live in a free-standing house.

permalink November 23, 2004

November 12, 2004

bicycling

I biked into work this morning. I felt a bit creaky—no doubt from yesterday's walk, Monday's bruises, and not having ridden in a couple weeks—but it also felt pretty good.

The bruises from Monday have really come out now. On the bad arm, I have a big swollen green bruise from wrist to just above the elbow. The shoulder, which I had iced immediately, doesn't look great, but looks nowhere near as bad as the one a bit lower on that arm. I'll see the chiropractor today, who can give me a better idea how much damage I did, exactly.

permalink November 12, 2004