Getting Stronger

24. December 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: cycling, daily life, storytelling

Every now and again, when I’m out on a ride, I come to a spot that once gave me a great deal of trouble and realize that the spot has now become “just part of the ride.”

In the past two days, there have been many of these moments. There’s the ever so slight rise to the top of the Rusty Bridge over East West Boulevard. Three years ago, I was huffing and puffing to get up that minor hill. There’s a similar rise to the bridge over MD100 that used to nearly kill me. The Naval Academy Bridge once looked like a mountain that I’d never be able to climb.

And then there’s the satisfaction that comes with overtaking and dropping another rider. I’m not usually competitive on my rides. I’m not usually one to gloat either, but I’m going to allow myself to do so today.

I was about 25 miles into my ride yesterday as, I approached the Rusty Bridge headed south on the B&A trail. I noticed cyclist on a Cervelo coming down East West Blvd. Since the trail is closed just south of the Rusty Bridge, he went up Light Street Ave before getting on the trail. I had to follow the same detour, which meant slowing down to get though some switchbacks, and that put me about 75 yards behind the rider when I re-entered the trail.

A number of thoughts went through my head:

Should I sprint to catch up with him?

You are 25 miles in on this ride. You are getting tired. You might not have the strength.

If you do catch up and don’t want to talk with him, what do you do? You’d look like an ass if you couldn’t keep up with him.

I started peddling like mad and shifted into a higher gear. I was gaining on him pretty quickly and then I made the decision.

I’m gonna drop him.

And I did. And it felt great.

To be fair, my feat may not have been much of a feat at all. I’ve got no idea whether he is a strong cyclist. I have no idea where he was on his ride. He may have been out for a short recovery ride. Perhaps he was just stretching his legs.

And yet, there is still a certain satisfaction about smoking a guy on a bike that easily cost three times as much as mine.

A Letter of Love

23. December 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: cycling, daily life, storytelling, twitter

You and I had an amazing day yesterday. I couldn’t have asked for a getter time than we had. When we left the house, and the boy, I wasn’t sure how things would go. I hadn’t gone for so long in quite some time.  As we settled into the rhythm and a steady pace, I began to relax.

The weather was just about perfect, with almost no wind, strangely warm temperatures, and some low December sunshine. I tweeted before we left that I was going to make some vitamin D. I’d forgotten just how low in the sky the sun is at this time of year. We’ve just entered the beginning of the lengthening of daylight for the year. We’re over the hump, rounding the bend.

As we crested the Naval Academy Bridge, you dropped the chain. I struggled with your derailleurs to right it without getting off, but that chain was stubborn. We had to stop for a mechanical. I worried that this might be a problem for the rest of the ride, but it turned out alright.

As we cruised into Annapolis, there was a fair amount of traffic which I hadn’t planned on. I debated the route. I’d thought we’d ride around the river through Crownsville when we left, but was second guessing that now. There would be more traffic than we wanted to deal with on MD450. So we took a short break at the City Dock.

Decisions made, we peddled off with the intention of heading back up the trail. Your gears gave us no trouble on the bridge, thankfully, and getting over the few short hills coming up to the trail was not a problem.

Riding up the trail, I found that I was suddenly smiling for no reason at all, and I knew it was because I was out in the open air with you. As we approached the usual turn off from the trail, I knew we weren’t ready to go home, and so we continued, with no planned route.

Something lead me to turn us toward Kinder Farm Park when we were on East West Boulevard. We’d never ridden through the park, but I knew that there was a nice paved bike trail. It was a little more crowded than I’d hoped, but we managed, and I’m sure we’ll ride there again some day.

By now, the sun was sinking low and I felt the need to get us home before long. We headed back down the B&A tail and took the right at Cedar lane. When we got home, I put you back in the shed without washing you. That was wrong, and I’m sorry.

Today, you’ll get a proper bath and some pampering.  You deserve it.

Impromptu rides are often the best rides

30. May 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: cycling, daily life, mr. grey, mrs. tkd, sidetracks, storytelling

Me and Mr. Grey, the RADDEST little bike rider in the world

You know how it goes.  The weekend whips by and you do a ton of things on your todo list around the house, but you don’t get a ride in.  You’ll admit that happens won’t you?  I’m not alone in this, am I?  Didn’t think so.

The morning started out a wee early when Mr. Grey got up at 6:24.  Mrs. TKD was out for her MWF run at 6:00 and he was not happy about the fact that mommy wasn’t here.  To be fair, he usually doesn’t wake up and not have Mommy home.  Mr. Grey and I watched some quality PBS programing with milk and coffee.  He had milk, I had coffee.  Everyone had some form of breakfast, and we headed outside in a vain effort to beat the heat and get a little gardening done.  That’s when my neighbor Dave rolled up, “You up for a ride, or are you tied up in your projects already?”

It didn’t take me long to calculate that I was going sweat my ass off no matter what, it was a choice of doing it in the yard or doing it in the saddle.  The saddle won.  I did check with the boss first, but she said that it would be okay.

Dave and I have never ridden together before so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  He is a few years older than me but a pretty fit guy.  He does triathlons.  I don’t.

We cruised out of the neighborhood at about 17 Mph and kept the pace high for the first 12 miles, then I started to lag a bit.  No worries though, I knew the route and Dave wasn’t going to drop me anyway.  Every now and then he’d slow down and I’d catch up.  We rode a 30 mile ride in under two hours, with an average pace (for me) of 16.39 Mph.  There was one mile where I averaged 21 Mph.

When I got home, my boy wanted desperately to “ride with” me and so we did.

Sometimes a workout isn’t just a workout

19. March 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: cycling, daily life, friends, good things, gratitude, smiles, spring, storytelling, writing · Tags: , ,

Six-thirty comes early on a Saturday.  Rolling over and going back to sleep takes a bit of resistance.  Not quite strength, but nothing short of strong will.

As the alarm went off this morning I realized two things — this was the second time I’ve set an alarm since leaving Discovery and I really hate WYPR on a Saturday morning.  I hit the snooze button.  It was only natural.  Post Ride Latte and Some Dreams

Eight minutes later, I something clicked.  I’d known that the reason for the alarm was to get up to ride, but to be honest, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to get out of bed and meet the peloton when the alarm first went off.  I could certainly ride on my own as I did a few weekends ago.  But something clicked, and I got myself out of bed and scrambled into a pair of bibs and a jersey.

Since, I’d stayed in bed for an extra eight minutes, I really didn’t have time to make coffee.  I grabbed an energy bar and a banana, filled the water bottles with Gatorade and headed to the shed.  Walking out the door, I looked at the thermometer.  58F. More »

Reflections on Traveling by Train

09. February 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: america, Baltimore, daily life, storytelling, time, travel · Tags:

B & O Whistle No. 1I read a piece in Orion Magazine last night about traveling on trains as opposed to traveling via air. Train travel is compelling on many levels. It is a reconnection with our past — trains built America in many ways. It feels much more civilized than air travel. There are no full body scans, no metal detectors, no long lines. While a train is similar to a plane in that it is a long tube with seats on either side of an aisle, we don’t all board through a single entrance.

There is little hierarchy to train travel. While trains may have First Class cars, a ticket for the First Class coach is not a seat reservation, at least this is not the case on most rail routes in the United States. And the First Class coach boards at the same time as the rest of the train.

Where I can afford to sit (in a coach class seat) everyone is equal. Everyone must find a seat on their own, present their ticket upon request, and be responsible for their own trash. Of course, there are folks who are incapable of producing their tickets or keeping up with their trash.

Years ago, I lived with a woman who frequently had to travel to New York City from the Washington suburbs. She insisted on taking the plane for reasons that are still unclear to me. There’s a lot about her that remains unclear come to think of it. Her argument was that it was faster.

The train from Union Station in DC to Penn Station in NYC takes about four and a half hours. A flight takes about one and a half hours. On the surface this appears to be faster. But it never works out that way. First, there is no airport in Manhattan — one must land at either JFK or LaGuardia. In either case one needs to tack on 45 minutes to an hour to get into Manhattan. Second, one needs to arrive at the airport early enough to clear security (which in DC means about an hour and a half), where as with the train one can literally arrive and board. Finally, the flights in and out of JFK and LaGuardia are perpetually delayed. So, an air trip ends up taking as long or longer than a rail trip.

Leaving the time out of the equation, the rail trip to NYC from DC is much more interesting. The Amtrak line runs up the east coast, through Baltimore, Philadelphia, Trenton, Newark and finally New York. There is a lot to see on the way including the seedy sides of Baltimore, the countryside north of Baltimore, a trip over the Susquehanna river, and a very unique view of New York as you approach from the south. Who would have known that there are grasslands and marshes right outside of NYC?

For me, the train is the only way to go from DC to New York. More »

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