esrosedotblog

Time for the annual Palm Springs bike tour.

25, 50 or 100 miles. Take your pick. They all go by our house. I am looking at some of them now. This is the last gasp....er lap!

We went out to see them. The main thing is to stay out of the way and on the "other" side of the street.

Marcus and I were out in the middle and watched the proceedings as we walked.

It is a nice thing, bigger every year.

The weather is hot enough to have them know they are in the desert but not disabling. 86 degrees F. right now. But in the desert sun that translates to hot hot hot.

Labels: bicycle

WHEELS

For two days we have been surrounded by wheels.

Tons of bikes riding past our house. In the back.

It is the Tour d' Palm Springs

They look like nice people as they sail by.

Jocks. Nice. Good legs.

It makes me think of my own bike riding days, now over. Never of the Tour d'X variety. Mine a classic Schwinn with a coaster brake.

But I "raced" nonetheless on a ten mile track down valley and back.

I finally gave it up because of safety reasons. Either my attention was not as focused as it should be or I was just not as agile. Or both.

Some falls, an ice spill and the last, a near collision with a car behind me coming on into the left turn lane. I remember a headlight appearing inches from my right hip, she stopped in time.

My heart went up to my throat. A critical injury (mental) which I did not want to repeat.

So those days are over for me. I am OK with it. It is the running that I miss both but I am not around anything like that. No marathons here that I see. No 10Ks. There is the ride up the hill to the Tramway that people run, fall down and puke but that is not for me. Never would have been.

The legs have seen better times and better days. But that is OK. The bike at the gym works great and I still do 30 minutes a day at the top setting.

Good enough for now.

Labels: bicycle, gym

GOING PAST

Today is the

Tour de Palm Springs

7000 cyclists participate in five tours, 5, 10, 25 50 and 100 miles.

The final leg goes down the street that is just outside the back of our condo. All day. Cyclists. 7000!

For the serious riders this is the pump it out place. It is not a race but I know they are doing it for time.

There is more talk and shouting than I would have expected had I thought about it.

A lot of group energy which we can feel right through the hedges that separate us from the street.

This race started 13 years ago with 300 cyclists and has gotten bigger and bigger from the very start. I don't think they expected such a serious, big time outcome.

People come from all over.

And, of course, spend money, along with the friends and family who came along with them.

They go by in clumps. It has been going on all day. First the 5,s then the 10s and so on.

I think now we are seeing the 100s.

Here are the courses.

We are having great weather for this.

Good for them.

Labels: bicycle, Palm Springs

TOUR DE TRAFFIC JAM

Tour de Palm Springs events begin today

This means that we will be dodging bikes and bikers all weekend.

But they are the motorless kind. Only blocked streets and highways.

They move quickly so it won't take long.

Better yet, I could stay home. I would anyway.

It is a pretty good event. There are short and long courses. 100 miles.

I almost did it one year with my no-gear, coaster brake Schwinn. Just to show that I could.

But I didn't.

No regrets.

Biking is over for me now. The stationary bike in the gym is my race.

Good enough.

Labels: bicycle

BROUGHT LOW

There has been a sort of landmark case going on out here in the continuing war between the bicycles and the automobiles.

An emergency room doc did one of those pass, swerve and slam on the brakes things in front of two cyclists.

He said "to teach them a lesson".

They hit the car with major injuries.

He is heard on his 911 call telling the guys to get their bikes off the road. And telling the 911 people that they can send an EMT but the cyclists will claim more injuries than are actually the case.

The guy seemed and seems to be a real dick.

The trial was long and contentious but left little doubt that the doc lied and also had malicious intent.

During the trial he seemed to have no remorse and to feel aggrieved that his valuable time was being taken up with this case. He didn't seem to get that he was in trouble, could be found wrong.

I guess that the verdict was a shocker for him. He went directly to jail and did not pass go. Yesterday the sentencing. Worse.

Los Angeles doctor gets 5 years for injuring cyclists

As he read his plea for mercy he seemed, still, to be unclear that he had really done anything wrong.

I don't like to see anyone get time but, in this case, it has the happy effect of breaking this guy's balls and sending a message to other drivers that "close call" games with bikes are not a good idea.

I have had my own experiences with this kind of, out of the blue, hostile behavior. Come up behind very close then pass even closer then swerve almosts 90 degrees in front of the bike and hit the brakes.

I never ran into anyone but only because I had a fast reaction and learned to be ready for this kind of thing all the time.

For some drivers, a bike is a target. An outlet for caged rage. Or something.

So a lot of cyclists are going to be happy this morning.

I did not realize that this guy had been reported but not arrested for doing this before.

So much for Hippocrates' "doing no harm".

Labels: bicycle, medicine

LIFE CYCLE

I never tried to bike in Boston except on the Esplanade. It was too intimidating.

And even the Esplanade, the long park along the Charles River, was frought. The sidewalks were shared with pedestrians who did not pay attention to the bike lane divisions and other bikes who didn't respect left and right side riding. All of it.

So. It seems things have changed.

Boston Tries to Shed Longtime Reputation as Cyclists’ Minefield

Labels: bicycle, Boston

ON REFLECTION

I decided (with some prodding from John) that maybe it is time to bring my fitness game back indoors.

It is going to be cold for awhile. The wind chill on the bike is not to happy at 6 in the morning. And there is the continued threat of unknown ice spots waiting out there for me.

Despite my earlier elan, I am a bit shaken by the near catastrophe yesterday (see below). Notice that it has moved up the scale of upset some. I think it took awhile to sink in.

And, I need to get some strength training back.

After a couple years of mostly aerobic exercise, my upper body muscles have become as flaccid as yarn.

So, this morning I signed up for my old on-line trainer program.

This time with Gym America.

It is the same software that I used with Mens Health—Genisant.

I will begin Monday.

I don't know how I will work it yet.

I will be at Golds.

We still have the old 99 dollar a year Lifetime Membership that we got when we moved to the desert ten years ago. We renew every year whether we are going to the gym or not. Keepin' it alive.

I bet they kick themselves everytime we renew. I think it is more like 99 a month now.

Maybe not. The deals change all the time.

Golds was open 24 hours. If they are still doing that, no problem.

If not, I will adjust.

It is time for a change.

It has been suggested that maybe I am too old to be vying with cars and trucks on the highways early in the morning.

I don't yet accept the "too old" part but I will accept that there is some risk involved on the road and I may not want to take that risk anymore.

Well, at least for now.

Labels: bicycle, fitness

CLOSE CALLS

Today's bike ride was fraught.

I took off a bit late with some light, not sunup light but light.

I had no more than turned onto Palm Canyon and went into the left lane to turn into LaVerne than I heard a car on my ass and turned only to see a headlight even closer to my ass.

I got that 'here it goes' feeling. I was helpless.

But the car swerved and went into the right lane and stopped. I suspect she missed me by a hair.

The woman driver was shaken.

So was I, quite frankly, and so I turned off and stopped.

My upset was offset by my gratitude at not getting hit with her car.

She had followed me out of the same street, just after I turned, and was entering the left lane to make the exact same maneuver that I was.

Only she did not see me.

I did not see her either as she was not in the picture for me. Not on the left as I entered Palm. Not in a lane at all as I turned into the left.

Until I heard her.

I had no time to make a move and any one I might have made might have put me in greater harm's way.

I asked if she saw my red light flasher. She said no.

I looked. It was not on.

It had died. On at the house, off on the road.

A whole set of circumstances. Adds up.

A couple of things. Don't assume because there is no one in either direction on the road you are turning into that there is no one going to be on the road from a sidestreet or from the same street you have just come from. On your tail but blind corners all around.

Double check the batteries.

The bottom line is that you cannot assume other drivers are on their toes. She should have seen me. I could see traffic hundreds of yards ahead. Light enough out or not she just didn't see me. I wasn't supposed to be in that lane.

She probably turns out every day into the lanes, makes her two turns and is on her way. All reflexive. As far as I know she wasn't on a cell phone. That would have been worse.

Just be grateful for the save wherever it came from and now look another couple of ways. Especially behind on turns.

The other close call?

There was frost this morning out on the golf courses.

I slowed to a crawl when I got to wet spots making sure that there was no ice on the sidewalks.

There wasn't but it is enough of a worry that I won't be going out that way anytime soon until we get some warmer AM weather.

You might remember that I slipped off the bike last year and bunged up my left side and twisted my left leg.

Learning from my experience.

Labels: bicycle

THE DARK AGES

We aren't Sweden (see below).

No midnight sun—yet.

Will that happen with global warming?

But it is getting darker in the morning. Inexorably.

And just a few weeks after the delayed DST change.

There is a whole lot of darkness going on.

I downloaded a widget onto my dashboard (no translation for PCtards) that shows the sunset and sunrise and all. Twilight. Dawn.

It is creeping inexorably to the solstice.

I can see it get darker every morning and, as a result, colder.

I now wear the thermal gloves and tights and hooded sweat every day and am into the second line of defense of tying my tassle at the hoodline.

Soon I will be wearing a thermal under the sweatshirt.

I am not into headlighting it yet. My tail lights are on though.

We have about two weeks until the darkest day.

And then we climb back into the light.

I know this is not a hardship but it makes good blog grit.

On reflection, if we were in Sweden it would not get dark. So it is not apt to include it in here.

WTF.

It seemed right at the time so I am going to leave it in.

Besides, I like the line about global warming. There have to be jokes in it somewhere, eh?

This picture is in Alaska but it is the same thing as Sweden. Or close enough.

Labels: bicycle, nature, weather

WIND UP

I will be back to biking this morning.

Yesterday's ride got called on account of wind. The palms were rockin'.

The Santa Anas were at it again.

There were gusts that would knock a biker down. The other reality is that, in my biking area, the wind is always in my face no matter which way I am going.

It comes up against the mountain wall and swirls around.

Normally that is not a problem. It is like dialing up the 'effort' control on a gym bike.

But yesterday it was too much.

Am I rationalizing a layabout?

I don't think so.

In any case, I will be back out there biking the good bike ride this morning.

Today is the longer ride out to the water park.

Labels: bicycle, weather

ODDS

This morning, on my bike ride, I found myself riding toward a guy walking away from me and and a couple walking towards me.

We were all clocked to come together at the very same spot in the sidewalk/bikepath.

I slowed.

The couple slowed a bit. We missed each other by a couple feet.

What are the odds of finding 4 people at the same time in the same place at 630 AM when I have only seen maybe ten people in a ten mile circle? These people are scattered pretty evenly over the 10 miles except just at this point.

Pretty low odds, I would say.

And yet, this situation arises quite frequently.

I know that these events are not subject to 'random number' analysis.

First of all, we are on a path. So we are not talking about the full circumscribed area. Just the linear distance.

There are also places where there it would be unlikely to see any people at all.

But these do not really account for much. It is all walk/bikeway.

I know that there are clusters of homes along the route and, one would think, there would be more walkers near those areas.

But this occurred in the middle of a golf course.

And so on.

I like coincidence.

Labels: bicycle, life

BACK ON TRACK

My favorite bike route got closed a month ago. A new culvert system at the lowest of low points. Always water there after a storm.

It was supposed to take a month.

I waited. I found another neat route out to the Indian Canyons entrance. All uphill.

Monday, I went back to see if they were done.

No. But close.

A friendly foreman explained that they were compacting and would resurface Tuesday then finish up on Wednesday.

So, good as his word, I went this morning and it is finished. Done.

They and their many roadblock signs are gone.

The job looks good.

My friend who also bikes that route is critical of the design. He thinks the culverts (8 of them in a line) will fill with sand.

I asked "When"?

"Forty years", he said.

I pointed out that neither he nor I will be around to see it.

Mortality breathes on my neck.

Again.

Something I won't live to see.

Labels: bicycle, life

ROUTED OUT

I have had to give up my new regular route before it could become boring!

They have closed off one of the main legs to install a new water culvert system. It is needed. I have pedaled through water at that spot.

It will take 6 weeks (maybe).

So I am back at an old standard up into the Andreas hills and have added a new leg, out to the Indian Reservation's entrance to the south canyons. Ten minutes of a very long hill and a ride back down.

A good omen. I saw a jack rabbit out there this morning.

The jack rabbits, unlike the cottontails, are spooked by people and have been pushed back into the wilds as new home construction has gone into that area.

This one didn't like me disturbing its morning constitutional either.

S/he jacked up and gave me a look and a listen with those huge ears. I was past before he could decide to take off.

S/he was a beauty.

Labels: bicycle, life, nature

NEUROGENESIS

One more reason to ride that bike!

Lobes of Steel

Labels: aging, bicycle, sports

ITCHING TO GET BETTER

My knees are doing better.

I biked again on Thursday and Friday.

No problem.

The right one is a lot bruised and a bit swollen but it is going down day by day.

I hit it with some heat three times a day.

The worst part is the itching.

Internal itching.

I guess it is the hematoma being absorbed back into the body.

Or something.

Can't scratch it.

But I am pleased.

It is a small price to pay for the joy and benefit of the outdoor, on the road, bike ride.

Labels: bicycle

UPDATE RASH

Just because a lot of worriers read this, I should report on the pm status of the road rash from the bike accident this morning.

There is some swelling of the right knee but no pain or sprains at all. I am giving it rest, ice, (no compression) and elevation.

It is improving by the hour.

The swelling in the left knee is virtually gone. A light raspberry shade of scrape remains.

My hands are a bit sore.

There is very slight strain to some back muscles.

By this time there would be a full onset of negative symptoms so I think that we can write this one off as minor.

No emails please.

Labels: bicycle, health

ROAD RASH

This morning I was on the bike path and a guy, a crip, was up ahead. Swinging his cane broadly and taking wide steps he had most of the sidewalk.

He was not going to get out of the way.

So I went on the grass to get around.

Coming back to the path, I hit a valley in the sod; too tight an angle to get back on and the wheel got caught.

I took a spill.

It was a five point landing; chest, hands, knees. A good decision on my part. Had I made one. Distribute the load on as many points as possible.

I got up, dusted off, noted the knee abrasions (none elsewhere) and got back on the bike.

The guy did ask me if I was OK.

He even thanked me for going around him.

He was not being ironic.

Home and time with the ice (the right knee began swelling) I seem to be in good condition.

I sat in a meeting with a wet ice pack and so there was some wound-weeping. Ugly. But there is a big bandaid on it now.

No pain.

Well, it is sore.

Nothing twisted or sprained.

I am a tough bastard. It takes a lot to do me in.

Labels: bicycle

RACER

I was biking this morning and came to the 'bunny place'.

Well, actually it is about half a mile along a golf course and the bike path runs along the edge.

The rabbits are having breakfast.

When they see me coming, most run for the bushes; across the path and to the other bushy side.

Others sit and wait until the last minute.

I have a dread of running over a cottontail.

So this morning there were two or three who took a really long time to run across the path. I slowed and talked to them.

They didn't move. I went more slowly.

Then, out of the blue, this fully costumed spandexed asshole on what we used to call an English bike blasts by me and the bunnies who, fortunately, are too startled to move.

This is a common rudeness of fully equipped bikers.

They do not say hello when you pass. Not even a wave.

They come up behind and pass but do not warn; no yell, no bell.

It pisses me off.

I shouted my usual 'good morning' in my most mocking voice and then, the rabbits having taken off in the right direction, I decided to catch this ass clown if it killed me.

Which I proceeded to accomplish.

Reminding you that I have no gears, no special tires. Just a coaster braked Schwinn.

It took some real effort but I pulled up along side of him and just hung there.

By this time we were in the pitted parking lot of Demuth Field. He was struggling.

Surprisingly, I was not.

He peeled off and went for the sidewalk.

A pussy move.

I stayed on the road and maintained the pace all the way to the next intersection where he went left.

It was over.

When I got home, I found that I had gained three minutes on my time for this track.

Amazing what a little anger and a dab of competitive spirit can do.

The bastard never did say hello.

Labels: bicycle

PROGRESS

I started my half-way measures diet three weeks ago. Maybe four.

Since then I have lost over 10 pounds and have broken through the dread plateau every dieter reaches.

The plan is simple. I just eat a half of everything that I would normally eat on a rather well planned diet. My normal diet isn't too complicated but there is a rigorous consistency to it.

For example, breakfast.

I have an two eggs and bread and a dish of apple sauce every other morning or a cup of low fat yogurt and fruit the other days. Every day, I have cereal (6 kinds in rotation) and some peanuts.

I have similar plans for lunch--four kinds of sandwiches, two types of fruit.

Evening meals are similar. About 15 different menus.

I gain just a little weight on it and eventually have to take it off.

Hence, the halfway measures. One egg, half the fruit, yogurt, cereal and nuts. Half a sandwich for lunch and half the normal fruit.

Since I still have the same food, the balanced nutrition, I am not deprived. I just take half of it.

I hit the wall or plateau after I had lost about 8-9 pounds. Days of no weight loss.

The body 'gets' that it is starving and so it ratchets down on the metabolism.

There are several ways around this effect.

One is to quit the routine for a day or two and just eat 'normally'. The body relaxes and lets go of the metabolism.

Another approach is to increase the exercise.

I did the one day of 'normal' eating.

That did the trick.

I also am taking a less dramatic approach to the half way thing and eating a normal portion of dinner. No starvation there.

This week I am starting a routine that will give me one hour more of bike time. I will go on the longest route every day. That is about 15 minutes more than any other route. At the end of the week I will have added 75 minutes of exercise.

My goal is to lose at least another five pounds and get back to my normal eating in a couple of weeks.

Don't want to go too fast because the body will take back control again. And I don't want to get all woofy and weak from not eating.

Labels: bicycle, health

REINVENTING THE WHEEL

This just in. Interval training is good.

A Healthy Mix of Rest and Motion

Jeez. I have known that from the beginning. Didn't everyone else?

That is why I like biking.

It does not go in the neat little pattern shown in this article. More random.

But the peaks and valleys are there and, I believe, because they are relatively unexpected by the body, they are even more effective for burn, cardio effect, and all the rest.

I don't have a lab. Just me. I can tell.

Anyway, every once in awhile, out on the forefront of science, they reinvent the bike wheel.

Labels: bicycle