Light warmup
I rode 70 miles with bikerjohn from BikeJournal.com on Friday. Pics from that ride are here. John mapped our route at Gmaps Pedometer. Before sitting down to write about it, I’ll do a little light warmup, then have dinner.
They broke me down
Well, they talked me into it. I’ll be leading one of the new “Sweeps” rides for the Rochester Bicycling Club next year. For every protest I had, they had an answer.
- I’ll be only in my second year of cycling
- Which means you’re right in the target demographic for the “Sweeps” rides. They fall right between the “Slow and Easy” rides (which I’ve complained are too slow and too easy) and the regular rides. Everything else is in the ten-page Ride Leader handbook.
- I’ve never done any on-the-road repairs. If someone had problems, I can’t help
- You’ll only need to help with flat tires. We’ll teach you that (and I should learn it anyway). It’s the responsibility of the rider to bring a mechanically-sound bike. Issues beyond flats are not your problem.
- All the rides start out in the suburbs. I don’t mind riding to the ‘burbs to go on a ride, but I don’t want to lead one from there.
- Ride Map 21 starts and ends at Cobbs Hill Park. You cycle through there all the time.
- Whine
- Smack
I’ll lead only one ride next year, Sunday July 8 at 9am, from Cobbs Hill Park in the city to Mendon Ponds Park in the southeastern suburbs and back. Ride Map 21 is rated “moderate” at 25 miles with 1,145 feet of climbing. There’s a mix of city residential, suburban residential and suburban arterial streets, with some nice park roads in Mendon.
It was only after I accepted that I realized this is the same day as the annual Gay Pride picnic. I was going to ride there and back too. It’ll be a busy day. Especially if CBC comes to visit for the weekend. If I still have only one bike when the time rolls around, I’ll have to remind her to bring her bike.
They wore me out
The library was closed on Friday for Veteran’s Day. We were open yesterday, on the actual holiday itself. It’s weird, yes. But when you consider the city closed all its public offices on Friday and that library is the only public city department with weekend hours, it sort of makes sense.
The bookdrop in the parking lot was so full the door wouldn’t shut. When I was a page on Saturday mornings, two to three carts between the two bookdrops was the norm, and I’d be done checking them in between 12:30 and 1:00. Yesterday, there were 5½ carts and the page didn’t finish them until almost 3:00.
Saturday is usually quite busy and yesterday, well, they kept me hopping. My legs were sore from the 70 mile ride the day before. I joked before opening time that if I got stuck getting CDs and DVDs out fo the bottom drawers, that I’d need someone to rescue me. It didn’t come quite to that. Quite.
I barely made it up the fire escape with the bike and my groceries when I got home. And my right quads had twitchy little spasms all evening and into the night. The usual sorts of moving around the apartment last night—like to the kitchen and the bathroom—was, um, interesting. Especially since I’d begun to stiffen up. I’m still sore today, but feeling a lot better.
They moved me
It had rained early yestreday morning. I expected a quite a crowd for breakfast at Jim’s Restaurant. When I arrived, there was plenty of room at the counter and I got a seat right away. I had plenty of time to linger over a second cup after eating.
I was just sitting there listening to the cook sing Christmas songs, watching the toast come out of the toaster and glancing occassionally at CNN. This girl, with a rather embarassed-looking guy in tow, asked if I would mind moving down a couple of seats so they could sit together.
I did. I sat next to Mr. Bill, an old guy who’s a fixture at Jim’s. To the point that the staff tells him what he’s having for breakfast. Yesterday was oatmeal and a banana. He’d had eggs the day before and they don’t let him have them two days in a row. Doctor’s orders, and he made the mistake of complainging to them about it. Since then, they monitor his diet. At least his breakfasts.
I put my gloves on the counter with my coffee and Mr. Bill asked, “You ride a bicycle?”
“Yes,” I replied. “My doctor told me I have to get some exercise. But don’t tell them,” I continued, indicating the cooks and waitresses. “They’ll yell at me if I ever take the bus here instead.”
He laughed.
They screwed me
My nicotine patches were delivered on Thursday. Since I wasn’t home and the post office won’t leave packages in unsecured lobbies of aprartment buildings, I have to pick them up now at the downtown post office. I was out riding all day Friday, and figured I’d pick them up on Saturday morning.
I arrived at the post office yesterday morning to find it closed for Veteran’s Day. Damn. I had to buy a pack of cigarettes instead. So I’ll start that whole business next week.
