2.13.2011 Ride: A Wonderful Day's Journey

Though I wasn't able to get on the bike until close to 3:00 PM, the biking journey for the day felt as if it began when I left for my morning walk and a fiery red sky was at the end of the road.

Many pictures today, many stories.

Sunday is the day that I stop and pick up donated produce for Community Meals.  At the store, I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in a long time.  I got to know her when I coached her daughters in softball when they were in third grade, nine years ago.  That has always been a memorable season for me because of one of her daughters.  The daughter had a slight build and was not the strongest athletically.  She had approached me during one of the practices and let me know that she didn't want to just play in the outfield.  This was a sad fact of life for even young kids playing rec sports; coaches would stick the less athletic players in the outfield where there was less action, which is where she had been put the year before.  I told her not worry, that I had no intention of sticking anyone in the outfield all the time.  My plan was to rotate players every game so that they had a chance to play both the infield and outfield.  She wanted to play third base and that's where I put her.  She struggled with the position but she was intent on improving, her throws to first always falling short of the mark.  The highlight of the season was when a hard hit ball came to her which she cleanly fielded and then threw to first, the ball reaching the first baseman in the air.  I was so proud of her and I could see the joy in her face for making such a great play.  It's all about believing.

The donation was quite the bounty today and I thrilled at all the fruit.  It takes me about an hour to organize the food and find room for it in the walk-in.  Perhaps because of the gorgeous weather outside, the church seemed extra quiet while I was working away.  Going outside to dump old produce into the compost pile, my itch to get on the bike would intensify as I got a new taste for the wonderful day. Having all my bike clothes on probably didn't help either.  Finally, the task was done and I headed for the bike trails. 

I opted for the bike trails as opposed to the open road as I was in a social mood.  Today felt like a spring day with the tree sap running strong and people's spirits running high.  Within the first mile, I passed a couple who I also knew from many years back  from when our kids were in pre-school and we hadn't seen each other in years.  It is one of those ride-bys where recognition doesn't come until just after the fact.  I turned around and we talked for several minutes.  I pushed on until I passed an interesting threesome.  I turned around and asked if I could take their picture.

From left to right:
Jordan, Dalton and Emily.
It turned out that they were on quite a trek of their own today, walking about 10 miles.

The trails had been plowed, which I thought was great, leaving them free of any ice or snow.  But there was still lots of water in places.  Being on the mountain bike I plunged happily through them, enjoying getting sprayed. 

I took several pictures of the spray coming off the front tire but was never completely satisfied with the result.  I like this one the best because of the yellow speck on the upper right of the tire.  I'm not sure if it is reflecting the yellow line on the trail, my yellow shirt or is merely some light aberration.

A bit later, I came up on another friend, Larry Long.  We rode together for several miles and then I turned back. 
That's Larry on the right, me on the left, in case you were wondering.

The ride back, with evening coming on, was much quieter.  I felt as if I had traveled to a destination (the ride out with all its encounters) and now I was on the long journey back.  There was one more encounter with friends as I was coming out of the tunnel.  Though my entire outing was just a bit over 2 1/2 hours, I felt as if I had been riding all day, which I mean in a very good way.
I did have one more picture to take within a half mile of the end.  I came across Matt with his unicycle and I had to include him.

Today's Ride:  2 hrs 15 mins.  26.4 miles.  58 deg.  Miles YTD:  753.96

A BIG Thanks to Ann Marie & Joe Ziegler for their very generous one time donation to Biking for Food.

2.12.2011 Ride: The Daily Ride Expands

Moving very sluggishly today after 6 hours of driving in the past 24 hours and a lackluster night of sleep.  Though the roads were basically clear, I still stuck to the mountain bike, sans studded tires. I moved sluggishly on the bike as well but the crisp blue day with a temperature of 50 degrees helped move me along.  I was also moved along by the overwhelming number of views to the blog in the past 24 hours, thanks to Ginny at Adventure Cycling.  When I first set this daily ride challenge for myself, I did not think about setting up a blog.  Doing so has been an enjoyable addition to the Daily Ride.  A heartfelt "Thank You" to all who paid a visit.  An added thank you to ab and 2coyotes for their messages.

My wife and I were at an event out-of-town last night.  The thought occurred to me to take a picture for the blog but I didn't have the camera.  Then, I thought, this event isn't part of the bike ride.  Today, while driving home, I thought about that moment some more and how, in an odd way, the event did feel part of my bike ride.  What has evolved is that when I am not riding, it is merely a pit stop to rest, or eat or socialize or to do whatever it is I'm doing until I get back on the bike again to continue my journey.    Very tired, so I am going to keep this short today.  I will add one more picture.  As I returned home from the bike ride today, I caught something odd on the 5 foot high pile of wood chips resting in the yard.  Must be the largest dog bed in town.

Today's Ride:  63 mins.  10 miles. 50 degrees.  Miles YTD:  727.56

A HUGE thanks to John Erwin for his pledge to Biking for Food.

2.11.2011 Ride: My Life As a Bike

I was trying to explain to Rachel, our 17 year-old daughter, who is worldly, intelligent, keeps up with current events and evens reads the Economist magazine (yes, you read that correctly), that my daily ride has turned into more than a resolution of sorts where I just try to accomplish the same task day after day.  The Daily Ride has become a philosophical way of being and seeing the world.  "I have had to become highly disciplined, not so much to accomplish riding everyday but to accomplish all the other sundry tasks of the day," I said to her.   I paused and waited, thinking I was connecting on some level.  "I feel like a Samurai warrior in some ways," I added.  "Oh, so that means if you don't ride one day you'll commit hara-kiri?" she quickly asked, followed with a big chuckle.  "No.  I'm talking about the discipline part," I said.  But, I knew it was too late.  I could have chosen any of the other various Eastern philosophical arts but I had recently happened to watch a Samurai movie and the discipline in the training, the way of life, the honor and protector of the community struck a chord with me. So, Samurai it was, is.  Not that I envision myself with a sword strapped to my back as I bike ride gloriously into battle.

Riding every day has indeed become a journey. A thread connects these daily rides and connected to the thread are all the other elements of my life.  Rather than viewing each day separately, linearly, there is a roundness to the view, three dimensional, spherical as if viewing the Earth from space and seeing the wholeness of the entire planet rather than the view from the one spot I may happen to be standing on.  Yes, all this, just from deciding to ride every day.  Though, I think, if it would be more helpful, Rachel could probably explain it for you in economic terms.

Simple Pleasure from Yesterday's Ride

A couple of times during the ride when it was still dark, a very fine cloud of snow dust reflected in my bike light. At first, I thought it was lightly snowing but looking up in the sky it was perfectly clear.  Looking around me, I saw no trace of the snow dust and could only detect it in the bike light.  This only added to the sense I had yesterday of being on another world, a place with little gravity where the dust floated almost imperceptibly in the air for days and days and I needed a special instrument to detect it. A moment later, a truck drove by and the source of the dust was revealed as another cloud of the very fine snow dust was stirred up. 

Woke up at 5:00 AM and saw the temperature was 13, a far cry from the -9 predicted in the forecast.  With a busy day looming in the latter part of the day, I decided to set out just before sunrise when the temp was still 14 instead of trying to squeeze in a ride latter in the day when it would be a balmy 29.  That's all right.  I enjoy riding at sunrise. 

Today's Ride:  60 mins.  7 miles.  14-17 degrees.  Miles YTD: 717.56

Do not let the pledge amounts on the Biking for Food site deter you.  Be creative.  Enter your own amount.  1/10th, 1/20th of a cent.  Make a one time donation.  Thanks!

2.10.2011 Ride: -4.5, -5.3 or -15?

"Houston.  The Eagle has landed."

It's almost 9:00 AM, over an hour and a half since the ride this morning.  My body is still trying to warm up.  Not that I felt cold during the ride.  My fingers did develop that sensation as if the gloves have melted away and my bare fingers are exposed to the outside air.  Just grabbing a handful of dark chocolate and dates as my sole nourishment probably wasn't the best pre-ride meal.  But, I was eager to get on the bike while the temperatures were reading below zero.

There was a slight pang of disappointment when I awoke and saw our weather station showing a reading of only -1.  I checked weather.com and did a double-take when I saw -16.  I refreshed the page twice.  Surely there couldn't be THAT much of a discrepancy.  I checked the Highland Station which showed a reading closer to mine.  Another check of my station showed the temperature was dropping.  I decided to go for it. The clothes were all laid out the night before, the least amount of layers I had ever worn for this temperature range.  I had been getting too hot so I had the bare minimum. About 20 minutes later when I was headed out the door, my sensor was showing a -3.1: Fayetteville, -15.  (Later, the sensor's memory would show it had dropped to 4.5).

Stepping outside, the chill was immediate.  Still dark with the sky just lightening in the east and the world eerily quiet, I felt as if I had just stepped out of a space capsule and out onto a new world.  Tightly tucked into my space suit, I knew that there wasn't going to be any pictures this morning.  My facemask was pulled as high up as possible and I had no plans to unglove my hands for even a moment as I knew I would be losing heat I could never recover.  Setting off, there was the initial favorable memory of riding on the driveway from yesterday.  Turning on to the road, the tracks had settled and crusted as I hoped and made for good riding.  The tracks became even better as I reached the main road of our neighborhood.  Not having been plowed, I steered along the narrow track between two 10" walls of snow.  It was still early enough in the morning, so I headed for Hwy 45 which had been plowed but was still covered in a thick blanket of packed down snow.  It made for perfect biking for the studded tires.  A few trucks passed me and I entertained the idea of riding all the way into town but abandoned that idea knowing that traffic would probably pick up.  After a little over a mile, I turned around, detoured down Sassafrass which was also plowed and made for good riding.

The ride was indeed other-wordly.   But what kept striking me was that I was not on another world.  I wasn't even in an exotic other part of our planet.  I was right here in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the thought was exhilarating and intoxicating, the latter probably due in some part to the frigid air I was breathing in. 

I headed back down 45 and I knew that it would be a bit of challenge.  Interestingly, Wes Bradshaw asked this morning how is it braking on this stuff.  Sticking out my foot and dragging it along the snow/ice and steering the bike into the thick snow are two methods that work great.  Squeezing with all my might on the brake levers is merely a suggestion to the tires.  It works slightly better than me asking the tires if they would please slow down now.  I inched my way down the Hwy 45 hill to the turn off for my neighborhood.

Checking my watch, I saw the sunrise was just a few minutes away.  I did a small detour so that I could end up on the higher portion of the road as the sun would come up.  Again, the sense of being on another world intensified.  The lightening of the sky, the whitening of the snow, the glow in the east, I felt as if I was about to witness a sunrise for the first time on a new planet.  I looked over to my left just as the sun peeked out over the horizon.  I let out a loud "whoop."  This, I thought, was why I get up at 5:30 AM to go ride in subzero temperatures.  And, again.  Not a somewhere-way-out-in-space high, not a Rocky Mountain high, but a good ol' Fayetteville, Arkansas high. 

Taken after the ride was completed and right before re-entering my space capusle.  I'm glad that I did not attempt to stop to take a picture during the ride because, to take this picture, I had to take the battery out of the camera and warm it up for it to work.

Today's Ride:  75 mins.  @6.5 miles.  Temp:  -4.5, -5.3 or -15.  Miles YTD:  710.56

Please Pledge at:  www.stpaulsfay.org/bikingforfood.html

2.9.2011 Ride: The World's Shortest Outdoor Bicycle Course?

      "Failure is not an option."

For the record, for anyone outside of the Fayetteville, AR area, we experienced a snowfall like none other for us, literally.  20" of snow that fell at a record breaking pace.  It's still falling.  I believe that this is the most snow we have ever received at one time.  But the daily bike ride must go on.  I don't think that there was 20" yet when I finally was ready to give it a go.  Maybe only 12-14 inches.  Since the snow was so light, I naively thought it would just compress down as I rode,  I had no doubts that I would struggle but one way or another I figured I would plow my way through.  I made it about twenty feet and decided that this wasn't going to work.

"Look, Ma.  No kickstand!"

So, back to the house and I pulled out the truck to lay down some tracks.  This would certainly do the trick.  I mounted the bicycle again, ready for a ride that would take me back and forth on a stretch of road just under a half mile.  "Riding" ended up being a misnomer.  Wrestling, might be a better discription of what I did with the bike.  I did manage to ride for about fifty feet before coming to a grinding halt.  It, again, became obvious that this was not going to work.  I mulled over my options.  There was going back and forth on my driveway that I spent two hours earlier in the morning shoveling.  It was a mere 50-60 feet in length.  It seemed that an hour of that would quickly get tiring.  I threw out the idea about riding a bike on the bike trainer outside.  Carol said, "Sure," but Rachel didn't like that idea.  In my heart, neither did I as I did not want an asterik next to the ride on February 9th. 

So, I grabbed the shovel and cleared a larger area in the driveway pad and made a circle around an island of snow at the top of the driveway.  Once again, I mounted the bike.  Hey, this was working.  Maybe some slipping and sliding on the turn-arounds but definitely do-able. I stopped a couple of times to widen the turn-arounds and adjust the curve.  About 20 minutes into the ride, I remembered about the sand in the back of the truck and liberally sprinkled the course with two bags.  That made a tremendous difference and I easily fell into a groove.  My biggest problem was Lupe, the dog, who insisted on standing or lying right in my path. 

As the last ten minutes approached,  an excitement grew akin to completing my first century ride.  There was a will and there was a way to keep the daily ride going despite a record breaking snowfall.  I made sure to ride a full 60 minutes, adding minutes to my ride to make up for stopping to shovel and sprinkle sand.  I wanted this ride to be complete.  After the ride, I walked off the distance and came up with 330 feet for a lap.  Each lap took about 45 seconds accounting for 80 laps in an hour.  330 times 80 equals 26,400 feet which comes to right at 5 miles.  Wow.  Really?  Five miles in a driveway?

Today's Ride:  60 mins.  @ 5 miles. 18 degrees. 15 mph wind. Snow!  Miles YTD:  704.06

2..8.2011 Ride: Habberton Rd. Revisited

"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get."

-  Ingrid Bergman



A hectic day where I rushed to make time to put a ride together.  The neighborhood roads still had too many icy patches so I drove the short distance down to Habberton Rd. to squeeze in my hour ride.  Being back on Habberton was comforting as it has always been one of my favorite stretches of road.  After my journey on it two days ago, it has taken on even more meaningful significance. 
A fair amount of the ice had melted and I was able to travel further along to a spot where a finger of Beaver Lake extends.  I like to think about this spot before the dam, imagining walking below the bluffs.

Sitting here, writing this, the ride felt so short, over before it even started.  Being in a warm house while the temperature outside is below freezing and the wind is gusting to almost 20 mph, it's sometimes hard to get motivated to gear up to ride.  But once out there, riding, it's where I want to be. I am definitely addicted.  Having the right gear for the elements makes all the difference.  As someone once told me, "It's important to have the right tool for the job."

Two weeks ago, I had originally planned to set off for a bike ride from Fayetteville to Little Rock, leaving yesterday.  The weather changed all that.  Now, since I will be in Little Rock for an event Friday evening, I'm considering the possibiltiy of doing the trip in reverse, leaving form Little Rock and riding to Fayetteville.  Next week is supposed to be gorgeous but there is so much to get ready in the next two days and another snow storm is on the way.  We'll see. 

I did encounter my canine friend from the other day and he ran alongside me for a short bit.  I can't say that I made friends with the bovine below but I thought he struck a rather handsome pose.

Today's Ride:  64 mins. 11.62 miles.  27 degrees. 15-19mph winds. Miles YTD:  699.06
Don't forget to check out Biking for Food at www.stpaulsfay.org/bikingforfood.html.

2.7.2011 Ride: The Day After

Always.  Always seeking beauty, no matter what a day of riding may have in store for me.  Yesterday may have been floating weightlessly in a bath of Dead Sea salts.  Today was walking through a hall of mirrors that randomly crashed to the floor.  Nothing in particular was that bad.  Even the the semi speeding its way around the curve into my path wasn't that close once I rode into the snow-filled shoulder. 

I decided to ride Hwy 71 south of Fayetteville and enjoy pedaling 10 miles in one direction before needing to turn around. It's not my favorite stretch of road because of the cars and scenery but it seemed as if it would be a nice change of pace.  The traffic wasn't that bad but enough for me to be ever vigilant and constantly checking my mirror to make sure that the vehicle behind me was moving over into the other lane.  Nothing is more blissful when riding on a highway than seeing the car behind turning on its signal to indicate a lane change.  People were polite and respectful, except for that one semi that wasn't even on Hwy 71; but it just wasn't yesterday's ride.  Still, I pedaled on.  Seeking beauty. Rather riding and hoping I somehow would stumble upon it.

I reached West Fork without incident even though I kept feeling an ill boding.  I thought about the woman, Teresa, I met in line at Harp's as I was coming out for the ride (another missed photo op as I love including pictures of people).  "Are you the one trying to ride everyday?" she asked me.  I felt so flattered.  Once in her past, she was a competitive cyclist, but no more.  She enjoyed following me on Facebook and cheering me on. She brought a smile to my face as I rode on 71 and beauty to my ride.

The ride back from West Fork did flow more easily even with a 15 mph headwind.  There was the clock shop whose clock did not display the correct time.  The old barn with the snow really captivated me.  And the rooster on top of the very tall barn.  I wouldn't have seen him if I hadn't heard him crowing.   

I was glad to reach Hwy 156 just north of the airport which was a quiet cut-through to Hwy 16 where I was parked.  The traffic diminshed considerably and my nerves didn't feel as rattled.  I was coming down a slight grade toward a somewhat tight curve.  Ahead of me was the only ice I had enountered on my ride today.  Two bands of thick, wide slush followed the curve of the road.  I headed for one of the cleared paths that ran almost in the center of the lane.  Behind me, I saw a semi coming down the grade. Rather than slowing down, he decided he would move into the other lane to pass me, on a curve, with double-yellow lines.  I looked ahead and I could see a car coming from the other direction but from his angle he was blind to that vehicle.  I put my hand out to indicate he should slow down.  It was too late.  He doesn't have the time and, with the snow in the road, a car coming from the other direction and a fairly tight curve, doom seemed imminent.  I can see him moving back into my lane in a path that will take him directly into me.  Quickly, I ride into the thick slush of a shoulder just as he hurdles by.  So much for the quiet cut-through.  As he passes I see he is a U.S. Mail truck, headed, I assumed, to the distribution center just up the road.  When I do reach the site, I see a semi in the parking lot backed up to the facility.  I entertain the idea of riding in and filing a complaint but why spoil a good ride.  Another mile and I'm back at my van, feeling good, somehow feeling that I have experienced beauty.

Today's Ride:  1 hr 46 min.  20.43 miles. 31 - 27 degrees. Miles YTD:  687.44