meme patch

I’m not a very good rider in the heat. I can work up a sweat in the shade going under 15mph when it is under 60°F (16°C) outside. When temperatures rise I turn into a portable salty stream.

Next week it’s going to be over 100 (38°+ C) in the afternoons. This lead to an conversation with a co-worker.

That could work well. A backpack full of ice each afternoon and some portable shade could make the ride close to comfortable. I’ve got to give it a try.

July 24th, 2009 | Category: Bicycling |  Print This | Comments (2)

On my ride to work this morning I passed my weight. Yay!

A change this month, since the pounds are starting to come off I’ll base each month’s weight target on my weight at the start of the month.
Weight : 240, measured at work on the doctor’s office scale.
Miles : 244, after the morning commute 255 or more by the time I get home

Making this month extra special is that I didn’t ride at all on the 1st through the 12th. The first three days were “relaxing” after hitting weight day on June 29. The next week I got caught up in following the Tour de France and telling myself I couldn’t be late for work so I “had” to drive.

On Monday the 13th however I had a doctor’s appointment. My doctor strongly encourages bicycle riding. No matter what I ride to my appointments. Riding one day, or even for 240 miles in June, does not reverse the months off the bike. Dr. Yates and I talked about the higher cholesterol levels and the weight gain. He asked what was going on.

We talked about the nature of the daily decision and what it was like each day. Then he started in on the big talk.

I’ve been riding every day since.

July 24th, 2009 | Category: Bicycling |  Print This | Leave a comment

The light is red, so I come to as close to a full stop as I can while staying upright. The plan is to turn right zip down 39th (soon to be César Chávez Blvd.) for a block and turn left onto home street. I’ve been out for an hour and a half of riding on a Sunday morning. Between sunup and the time Jennifer sleeps in to is a marvellous time to ride. It is especially marvellous with temps around 60°F (15°C) instead of the projected 90 (32) forcaste for later today. There’s a baguette straddling the handlebars and a pair of scones in the h-bar bag. I’m looking forward to breakfast with Jennifer. It’s the end of a pleasant Sunday morning ride. A little pause here at the red light and I’ll be on my way.

I look to the left and don’t seen a car coming. I start forward and into the turn and recheck now that my line of sight is better. Oh! Cab coming! Snap! The brake lever bottoms out.

It’s really wonderful that bikes are made with two brakes. I normally use the back one only to trim speed. Now I use it for full stop while I turn into the curb. The cab wizzes by with a honk.

Wouldn’t it be great if all catastrophic front brake failures happened at two or three miles an hour on a flat bit of road in low traffic two blocks from home? This is as good a piece of luck as the bit I had with the flat tire right before the crest of a hill on a street with well tended, grassy medians. The hill with road kill in the bike lane and cars flitting by closely through the S curves. It was great to bomb down that hill with a freshly patched and pumped tire instead of a flat compromising my bike handling.

Good luck doesn’t last forever. I’ll enjoy mine while I have it.

July 19th, 2009 | Category: Bicycling |  Print This | Leave a comment

Some ride reports are about how fast who went where. Others, my favorite kind, give a kind of sideways transcription of the experience. Joe does just that with Portland to Glacier, Yes that Glacier. He made a glib comment during the winter about riding the Portland to Glacier if it were offered. It was and he did.

One excerpt to whet your appetite. After commenting on how he was able to eat through the whole ride he describes food at the end in a way that long distance riders will recognize:

Read and enjoy. His photos are also very good.

While you are visiting Joe’s site don’t miss his apologies to Bob Dylan.

July 15th, 2009 | Category: Bicycling |  Print This | Leave a comment

Some of the costs of not having a public option are simple to calculate, but immeasurable in value. Infant mortality rates in the United States are 6.37 deaths/1,000 live births. A sampling of other industrialized nations with public health care finds the United Kingdom at 5.01 deaths / 1,000 live births. Canada at 4.63. France at 3.41. If the United States infant mortality matched that of the United Kingdom, just under 6,000 fewer infants would have died in the United States last year. If we could match France around 13,000 fewer infants would have died.

That paragraph is part of an analysis of not having a public health insurance option by DailyKos writer Devilstower. People with right leaning politics tend to be against the public option due to it being part of big government. They’re also against abortion because they’re “pro life.”

Dissonance for dinner anyone?

July 13th, 2009 | Category: Health, Politics |  Print This | Leave a comment

Um, Wow.

July 13th, 2009 | Category: Web Curiosity |  Print This | Leave a comment

Well, I’m sucked in again. Fat man who is not a fan of spectator sports that I am, following the tour. This year without TV. There’s no reasonable, meaning neighborhood, place to watch it. I’m following with online live blogs. Yes, I miss the visuals. Judging from comments it seems the visuals from the TV coverage (on the appallingly named Versus network) are marred by frequent ad interruptions, sometimes at key moments in the race. The network also cuts from the race to featurettes, like interviews, so often that viewers have a difficult time following the rhythm of the race.

Following online has its own pleaseures. One of these is the Velo News commentator Charles Pelkey. In addition to solid coverage and insight his color commentary is a hoot.

You can catch his commentary each morning during the tour on the Velonews Live Feed.

I’d be remiss to not also mention the Bicycling Magazine live blog on the Boulder Report. There’s a bit more gossip there and they post many more comments from readers. You’ll find mine with the screen name Michael “not that one” Rasmussen. The Boulder report is also a plain text blog. Translation: the firewall at work doesn’t block the content type so I can read at my desk. I have to save the Velonews cast for when I get home each evening.

July 12th, 2009 | Category: Bicycling |  Print This | Comments (1)