Turning New Pages, Part 1

à Paris

I've added a new feature to The Curious Randonneur blog: pages. Under the banner, I have added ten labeled tabs, one for each new page. The pages are:

• à Paris!
• Stanzas
• Rantings
• Captured
• Ahhh!
• Scribblings
• Heartholds
• Vintage
• One World
• Sillinesses.

Each tab is a new page for this blog, and it is focused on a distinct idea. So, for example, if you are interested in my preparations as a newbie for entering the Paris Brest Paris Randonnée, then go to the à Paris! page and you'll find links to all the relevant posts plus a few pictures.

Stanzas

Stanzas is a page devoted to art. So far, it is my handful of cycling poems and information about the artist, Aaliyah Gupta, who created the banner for this blog. It will expand as I introduce other art or artistic endeavors.

Rantings

Rantings is just what it seems: a collection of links to my occasional rants. Who doesn't love a good rant?

Captured

Captured is a page with links devoted to my latest experiment--sound recorded during rides--and a few video links. I am digging the nighttime sounds especially. Tricky business as sound pollution permeates the night just as light pollution does.





Ahhh!

Ahh! is the page that folks have been asking for. It is designed as one place for links to all my observations about my new (now a year old) custom randonneuring bicycle and other observations on what makes a comfortable performance bicycle. I still have many posts to deliver here on my promise to document the new Pereira, and they are forthcoming. Promise.


The pages will grow over time as I post about relevant topics, so I hope you'll check them out. You can also search the entire blog for any topic by keyword by using the Search engine at the top left of the blog (above the banner). Or, you can search by Topics in the sidebar to the right of the main body text.

I hope you enjoy the new pages. I like them because they pull out some arenas that either are important to me or that I think others mind find useful, and it gives them a little more attention by putting it all in one place.

I've described the final five pages in Turning New Pages, Part 2.


Keep it archived,

CurioRando

The things we do for...

Why exactly am I doing this again? My physical therapist, she whom we call TheHealer, told me to shave my left, lower leg for my next visit. And so I did. Wow, is that weird.

Next visit, she taped it into what she called a "fibular lift". It seems that my Fibula isn't allowing my Talus to slide fore and aft as smoothly as we'd like. My theory is that this is the result of an injury from a little race over twenty years ago. I had taken my son to a dude ranch for a weekend of horseback riding and hiking in the foothills of the Rockies.

We had just had a grand day hiking those hills and sneaking around spying on a herd of Bighorn Sheep. We were tired, but having fun. At day's end, I remember clearly seeing my old, green Jeep across the gravel parking lot and saying "race you to the Jeep!". And so we tore off across that gravel lot. Just a stride away from the Jeep my tired ankle turned under and I heard that distinct "pop" as a tendon pulled a bone chip off of my outside bone on the foot where it connects to the fibula.

I never put weight on it as I hopped my last stride on my "good" foot, hauled myself into the Jeep and drove us into town to the ER. I wore one of those goofy walking casts for a while, and that was it.

But on my last brevet, the Nighttime 200k, I ended up the last 50k or so with very mild pain down my left shin. I had issues here before, though not often. TheHealer theorizes that this rough fore/aft motion of my talus causes the muscles in front of the shin to work harder, thus the pain.

Well, we'll find out. Meanwhile, I'm still getting over the crud...again, and I'm a little frustrated. I had planned to do my 400k this weekend, but this recurring sinus crud isn't helping me along. I'm showing restraint, and a passage from the book I've been reading, Base Building for Cyclists by Thomas Chapple, has helped:

The athlete with a commitment to her long-term goals also knows that skipping a workout when her body is not up to the task will not set her back but will actually keep her moving forward. Committed athletes know the benefit of maintaining balance in their lives. When the committed athlete asks herself, "What can I do today to make myself a better athlete?" the answer may be "Rest." The athlete who attempts to train through an injury rather than adjust his goals always believes he is committed, but he is not. He is acting obsessively rather than remaining committed to his objectives. Remaining injured is not the way to progress, and by not resting he only creates long-term setbacks. This is when obsession is mistaken as passion or commitment.



The very athletic Bighorn Sheep, per Wiki.



Keep it shaved and wrapped,

CurioRando

US-1451

I have pre-registered for the Paris Brest Paris Randonnee! As most know, the pre-registration is based on the longest brevet each rider completed in 2010. And if there is going to be a larger number of applicants than slots available--which is still uncertain--then this earlier pre-registration is important.

In any event, I'm in and I don't have to worry. That feels great. Now it's just finishing the 400k and 600k to qualify.

My Registration Number is US-1451. That means there were 1451 registrants worldwide as of when I pre-registered. I think that also will become my Rider Number that is attached to my bicycle. If so that may also be the way to track me en route. We'll see.

One thing I'm proud about is that I persevered to get my 600k done last year. I attempted the Willamette Headwaters 600k in Oregon, with more climbing than I was prepared for...and I abandoned. Some serious lessons learned then. I regrouped, cast about for another opportunity and attempted and finished the Surf City 600k out of Santa Cruz. More lessons learned, but I did it.

I know some who couldn't finish a long brevet last year--including some who were plagued with serious physical limitations not of their own making--and I wish you, my buddies, plenty of opportunity for you too to qualify this year. There is much discussion of quotas, but clearly not all those eligible are utilizing their spots. I do hope that any of you who wish to go get your shot to go too!


Keep it hopeful,
CurioRando

Carry a Spare

I started carrying a spare tire on my Night Brevet 200k this past weekend. I like the way it worked out on my Gilles-Berthoud saddlebag.

This is what it looks like under better conditions. This is all a part of my PBP prep.


Keep it spared,

CurioRando

Critters of the Night Brevet 200k, PBP Qualifier #2

Yep, I saw another Bobcat while riding a brevet in Oregon. I spied one on my first 400k (the same brevet I ran over a weasel). This time it was on Geiger Road at 3:30am where the road crosses a small stream. What a rush! I love nighttime riding on lonely country roads.

This route was put together by Marcello of the Oregon Randonneurs. Come to think of it, I met Marcello on this very 400k while I was photographing a Turkey Vulture. But this brevet last night was his night-starting 200k. I needed a 200k Qualifier for Paris Brest Paris, and I like the idea of practicing night starts as that's what it will be in Paris.

Only six of us started at 5pm--I wonder why more didn't join us?--and we jumped out fast. Once again, despite telling myself to start slowly I got into trying to hang with the faster guys. My rationale was that since we faced a stiff headwind, it'd be worth it. And it would have been if I wasn't too slow.

So I peeled off after 20k and rode the rest on my own. The weather held, and despite getting a spit of rain now and then, mostly we saw stars.

Before it got dark, I captured the picture above of a chawed tree along a bridge crossing a small stream. I'm guessing beaver since it was near the stream and porcupine often chew bark higher up the trunk, but I'm not certain. What do you think? Below is a closer look.

Reminiscent of a previous post featuring a beaver-chawed tree. Is there more beaver activity now, or am I just tuning in to beavers now that I've seen their handiwork while riding? Am I experiencing a rando version of the familiar Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon again?

I also really like the sounds. Lots of frogs last night. Once, it was quiet, and I was riding along when a frog croaked right next to me all of a sudden and very loudly. Maybe I startled him, but I know he sure startled me out of my pedaling reverie!

Like to hear some frogs I recorded last night? Check this audio file out!

Also saw a raccoon that crossed a road in front of me--from a wooded area along a stream on one side to an open field on the other. When he understood that he'd be out in the open by the time I got to him, he spun around and loped back from whence he came back into the brush and stood there staring at me in that scornful, defiant way they do.

It was a cold night--frost on my window after my 1.5 hour nap before driving back home to Seattle.

But it was nice and toasty in Marcello's and his wife Kathy's house. I was the last finisher, and she conjured up some biscuits and jam and hot tea for me. Really hit the spot. And as I ate she regaled me of their chicken-raising adventures. I was really interested as I've been contemplating chickens, even getting Dartre's blessing. But in the end, even though Kathy reminded me of how affectionate they can be (I really took to the chickens when I visited the farm where my grandfather grew up in Oxford, PA when I was a wee lad), I think I've come to the realization that we just don't need more responsibility in our lives.

On the way home from this nighttime brevet, I was pretty beat. But as I came upon the exit for the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge I had to stop. I used to visit there years ago, but they recently removed the dikes and opened up the area for reclamation by Puget Sound. The Ranger told me they doubled the amount of esturay in the Southern Puget Sound in this one restoration. Perhaps as much as 750 acres of restoration, I'm not certain.

I was too pooped to go for a stroll--I really wanted to be back home with the family--but I put it on our family to do list: visit the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. As I was leaving I saw an older couple with cameras and huge wildlife lenses. They were fixated on the little pond adjacent the Info Center. There, just in front of us was a pair of Wood Ducks. Talk about beautiful! They said they were told that they had just descended on this spot for the first time this year.

Perhaps the most beautifulest of all the ducks (though the Harlequin is right in there), the Wood Duck is stunning.

But all the critters great and small have their habits, whether they be wild or domesticated. I am enchanted by them all.

Night brevets are cool!

Photo of Bobcat courtesy of National Geographic. Wood Duck photos courtesy of Wiki.

Keep it croaking,

CurioRando

Women Welcome!

Back in the saddle after an injury break, and here's what I found.

Spring is doing it's best, and so was I.

Good to be on the road with bits chirping, new signs on old trails.

Keep it springing,

CurioRando

Fenders and Mudflaps!

Went for a little spin yesterday through some puddles. Pictured above is the spray from the front tire hitting the mud flap. What you don't see is street water hitting my shoes...because it mainly doesn't.

I love my fenders and mudflaps. I know most folks hate fenders, but I believe that they just haven't experienced quality fenders mounted properly. They make a rainy day that much more enjoyable.

And then when I ride behind somebody without fenders on a rainy day, I just think it's plain discourteous of them. Why should my bike, my handlebar bag and I get muddy? Why should I get dirty glasses and eat grit, etc. because they go fenderless?

Yes, I could stay farther behind them, except not if I'm going to pass them on a busy road. I mean I live in the Pacific Northwest for crying out loud: it rains. Of course it's worst on a brevet or other group ride where a paceline might be in order. Damn near impossible to stay clean among the unfendered.

And even many of the fendered bikes aren't set up adequately. Many of the fenders don't go down far enough or the fender is a poor design. Part of the problem is also that quality fenders aren't sold most places. The demand isn't there. But they are out there, and if you're one of those unfendered riders who rides in the rain (how not in this neighborhood?), how about giving those of us in your wake a break so we don't have to give ourselves a brake!

Thus endeth the Fender and mudflap rant. I do love my fenders and mudflaps! And so do others. On a recent brevet, a guy walked up to me who had passed me in his truck to say how much he admired my dashing (hammered) fenders. They're just cool!

PS: You can't quite see the mudflap, but it extends out to the left of the fender. You can see the farthest left splash point. That's how far it extends.




Keep it diverted,

CurioRando

Big Blue Schwinn, Little Blue Schwinn



At the Puget Consumer CoOp in Seattle.





Close-up of Little Blue Schwinn.




I wish I had this helmet!


Keep it to scale,

CurioRando

Wisconsin Governor Walker Cuts Bicycling Funding Too

Photo by AP photographer John Hart.

The photo above is of 100,000 or so folks at Madison, WI this past Saturday protesting Governor Walker and the Republican legislature's attacks on collective bargaining rights and his my-way-or-the-highway approach to governing. As to highways, his "Wisconsin is broke" budget will increase spending on highway construction--a payoff to his highway construction campaign funders.

This same budget cuts bicycle funding as this Milwaukee-based cycling blog, Over the Bars in Milwaukee, describes.

From my 11 days in Wisconsin, I can tell you this: this struggle for the soul of civil society in Wisconsin is far from over. Efforts to recall the Republican 8 are going very well from my observations. I haven't witnessed such an outpouring of previously inactive residents taking matters into their own hands in a long, long time. Folks don't like being hoodwinked or shoved around, and that is how they feel in Wisconsin. You can fairly taste it, it's so pervasive.

Keep it fair and for the greater good,

CurioRando

I Opened a Local Bike Shop Specializing in Randonneuring

Then I woke up, and realized I was in Madison, Wisconsin. I don't own a bike shop, but I did stumble upon this Williamson Bicycle Works (my name is Williamson) in my travels. I'll bet actually owning a bike shop is a pretty tough row to hoe these days.

Below is the sorry photo I took of the actual shop I saw. I didn't realize they had two locations, and the lovely photo from their website above is obviously the more beautiful shop.

I also discovered a local fried fish shop where I got dinner. Yum. I had wondered why there were so many varieties of fried fish until I remembered the Great Lakes. Now, I just have to find some of that squeaky cheese or Wisconsin Cheese Curds. In that wiki story they allude to a New York Times story about how the sound of eating cheese curds is like "balloons trying to neck"! First I heard of them was yesterday from a local who told me you have to get them fresh to experience the squeak.

So off I go in search of fresh and therefor truly squeaky cheese!


Keep it squeakin'

CurioRando