Saturday, January 31, 2015

Cycling and the Beach

If you live in a beach town, it is easy to hop on a cruiser and pedal to the shore, have a swim, more or less dry off, and pedal home. But what about incorporating the beach into long, strenuous and hilly touring style-rides? This has been our dilemma when taking trips to Maine this summer. In the absence of folding bikes (and frankly, I don't think folding bikes would be appropriate for the terrain here), we strap our roadbikes to the car, and get around entirely by bike once we arrive to our "base" location. In rural Maine, everything is far away from everything else - at least by Boston standards - and it is normal for us to cycle 5-10 hilly miles from one destination to another, multiple times in a day. We often pass our favourite beach in the area, but swimming can seem like such a project when your bicycle bags are already stuffed with photo equipment and other things, and the beach has no changing rooms.

Plus, when a 10 mile ride with plenty of uphill lies between the beach and the nearest town where you could freshen up, believe me that you don't want any sand to be stuck in your body's crevices, and neither do you want to pedal in a bathing suit. The Co-Habitant has tried wearing his swim trunks on the bike, and regretted it.

So here is my solution: I bring a bathing suit and a thin Pashmina or wrap instead of a towel. These take up almost no extra space in my saddle bag. Once at the beach, I remove my shoes and socks, wrap myself in the pashmina, and change into my bathing suit underneath it. If you don't have a pashmina or wrap, a long oversized t-shirt can work as a "changing tent" as well. After swimming, I "air dry" while either walking around or sitting on rocks (rather than sitting on sand); then I reverse the "changing tent" process. After this, the bathing suit can be wrung out, placed on a rock to dry off a bit, then placed in a plastic bag and packed away into the saddle bag together with the pashmina. After de-sanding my feet and putting my socks and shoes back on, I am ready to keep cycling. All this is a surprisingly low-hassle process.

Of course, one thing to make sure of before you stop at a beach like this, is that your water bottles are full. Also, never try to prop up your bike on the sand using a kickstand; carefully lay it down instead (drivetrain side up). Even if it seems as if the bike is stable on the kickstand, the sand's consistency changes with the wind and the tide, and the bike can easily fall. Oh, and if you go swimming, leave your bike as far from the water as possible - the tide can come in faster than you think!



Swimming in the ocean and cycling are two of my favourite activities, and it feels wonderful to combine them. Interestingly, the ocean water seems to be a great complement to high-intensity cycling - relaxing the muscles and giving me extra energy to go on. Anybody else have this experience?

Thursday, January 29, 2015

A Visitor to My Campsite

Wednesday July 20, .. - - After leaving Guilford Lake and Columbiana County I leisurely drove north and west through Ohio, stopping for the night at Maumee Bay State Park a few miles east of Toledo. The temperature started out in the mid 70s and continued to climb all day long. I thought of just continuing with driving but I had already been on the road for eight hours. I was able to select my campsite at Maumee Bay State Park and found one that had a little bit of shade. It helped. A little. But the 100 degree temperature and high humidity made it very uncomfortable.



Very briefly, I thought about joining the crowds at the beach but it would have meant having to leave the van closed up in the open sun. I just didn't think it was worth it. A nice breeze would make its appearance every now and then and as the sun made its way across the sky, the shade lengthened in the campsite cooling the area off just a little.



At one point I noticed something on the picnic table nearby. I couldn't quite make out what it was and it stayed there for quite some time. Eventually, I got up and took a look and saw what it was and grabbed the camera.







Go ahead, double-click on the image to view a larger version. You know you want to. The wings are pretty amazing, so thin and delicate.



The dragonfly patiently waited while I moved in closer and closer with the camera. Finally, after half a dozen shots it jumped up, landed on my hand for an instant and was off to explore its own little universe. It was doing its job well – that of eating mosquitoes and other small bugs – so I wasn't bothered too much by them.



In between wiping the sweat (and it was sweat, not simply perspiration) off my brow (and elsewhere) I sipped a tall glass of a cool beverage and waited out the sweltering night, hoping that the next night would be just a little cooler! The temp when I crawled into the van for the night at 10:30 pm was 96 degrees. When I got up the next morning at 6:30 am it was 84 degrees. It was a rather uncomfortable night, to say the least. Not complaining. Just saying ;-)



Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Studio Bike

As mentioned previously, my beautiful Mercier mixte (now named Suzanne) was acquired and spruced up for the important role of Studio Bike. She lives full-time in our photography studio outside of Boston, and is there for me when I need her for local errands. These involve mostly coffee runs and scoping out photo-shoot locations, neither of which are too far from the studio. And thank goodness for that, because my initial impression of the area as "No Bike Town" has only been confirmed over the past two months.



I know it looks like a day at the beach, but honest - we've been working all through the weekend! Plus, this bit of sunshine was but a brief interlude between hurricane-like rains.



See? Hard at work. Mlle. Suzanne fits nicely in the narrow space between my desk area (a.k.a. negative-scanning station) and the wall. To the right is the Co-Habitant's desk (a.k.a. paper-cutting station), behind us is the darkroom, and in front of us is our studio-mate's work area - including a formal portrait studio that he has been operating for decades.



A portion of the dark room.



Drying area for negatives and prints. Suzanne is overjoyed to have access to this cool space and to work as an artist's assistant. And I suspect being close to the beach does not hurt either.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Social and Solitary

If you look at most cycling blogs today, the discourse tends to stress the social aspects of riding a bicycle. Cycling is presented as an activity that fosters a sense of community- with an emphasis on interaction with other cyclists, neighborhood initiatives, various workshops and co-ops, group rides, community action programmes, and city or state-wide coalitions.

I find this interesting to observe, because to me the bicycle has always been a symbol of solitude - something that brings complete independence and freedom. When I think of "riding a bicycle," I imagine cycling for miles and miles through changing landscapes, alone with my thoughts and at peace with the world; a meditation of sorts. But I can certainly understand that others imagine group rides, bike workshops, and other social activities - they see the bicycle as a shared interest that makes it easy to connect to others.

Often I am asked why I do not participate in group rides, and the reason is simply that for me socialising and cycling are two distinct activities that are best enjoyed separately. It makes me nervous to chat while trying to navigate traffic, so I fully enjoy neither the discussion nor the ride. I also feel that group rides - even slow ones - are more hazardous than cycling alone, because you have to watch out not only for traffic, but for the wheels of other cyclists; I know probably a half dozen people whose only cycling accidents happened during group rides. I can cycle pretty happily with one person at a time (though it depends on their style), but beyond that it starts to get stressful.

This is not to say that I am "against" the socially-oriented portrayal of cycling. I just don't think that the bicycle = community association is universally applicable. And after all, it is rather fascinating that the bicycle can be a symbol of two diametrically opposite things: the social and the solitary.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Grillin' & Chillin'

Tonight we headed to downtown Wauchula, where they had Main Street blocked off for the Grillin' and Chillin' event. It was a fund raising event that had a grilling contest. There was music and some classic cars there too. We had fun!



I didn't take my camera, so these are courtesy of Aric:

And just because they are so cute:

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Parka Time?

On one of the most frigid nights before , we went on a late-evening errand to the art store. Not wanting to have yet another "I am too cold to enjoy cycling" experience, I resorted to my floor-length down parka.

It may seem improbable that one can cycle in a coat like this, but it is doable. What you need is the kind of parka that unzips both from the top and from the bottom. I simply unzip it from the bottom to create whatever size opening I need for pedaling.

Bike and parka in motion. The shot is blurry but it shows off my headlight beams. The dynamo-powered headlight points forward (the beam furthest ahead of the bike), while the LED headlight points down at the road. This is essential when there are trecherous patches of black ice on the road, like now.

The art store is about a 20 minute walk from my house, or 5-7 minutes by bike. This is fairly representative of what my winter rides are like. Most of my current daily destinations are only 1-2 miles from my house, which makes for very short bike rides. For longer destinations, I used to rely on the Charles River Trail, which is not accessible once there is ice or snow on the ground - so in the winter I have not been going to those further-away places nearly as much.

Goods from the art store. The small bag looks deceptively modest, but the content - paintbrushes - can be painfully expensive. The store was having a sale and this was the last day of it, so I am glad I remembered on time.

Happy with my new paintbrushes.
After the art store, we decided to experiment with what it would be like to take a longer ride in freezing temperatures, and rode for a bit on a major road that leads out of town, stopping at a coffee shop and then heading home. It was okay, but did not feel entirely safe. The right lane was like an obstacle course: clusters of hardened snow suddenly popping up, potholes, icy patches. In addition to the parked cars on the right and moving cars on the left, it was a bit overwhelming to constantly watch out for all this, especially after dark. The good news is that with the parka I was at least able to finally cycle in these temperatures without feeling uncomfortable. A parka may look silly on a bike, but so what!

Friday, January 23, 2015

Detroit Tigers Baseball Game


One of the first things we did as a newly married couple years ago was to go and watch the Detroit Tigers play. And we have never been back to see them since then. Until today. We remembered that they do their spring training in Lakeland and bought tickets and headed out to cheer them on.



The stadium was really nice. The crowd was really nice. The weather was really nice. The game was pretty good. There was a lot of this:









We were in awe watching things like this:





I mean, seriously, how is that even humanly possible? Mind boggling is what that is. Still...the score was not all that exciting until this bit of magic happened:



And the score got very exciting:



After that, it was pretty much more of this:




And when all was said and done, we were very excited about the score! So neat!



Living the life in sunny Florida!




Lee & Tuffee



Lee and Tuffee with Albuquerque down below them.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Stellar weather and long term forecasts

I found this long term forecast from the Climate Impacts Group. They've done a little weather projecting into the fall and winter (and even the spring). Here is an excerpt,

The seasonal outlooks through spring 2007 suggest... a continuation of warmer than average conditions throughout the region for the coming fall, winter, and spring seasons... pointing toward[s] a weak-to-moderate intensity El Niño event for the next few seasons... suggest[ing]... an anomalously dry fall and winter for much of the region.
Of course there were some serious disclaimers, but if you follow this prediction, the forecast doesn't look so hot for skiers.

In the meantime, it's warm and dry on the mountain. Camp Muir enjoyed a balmy low of 49 last night! It's at 59 degrees as of 9 AM.

Image by Rob Veal

Monday, January 19, 2015

Shore Birds

One of the pleasures of strolling along the beach is watching the birds. They move in and out quickly with the ebb and flow of the waves. It is fascinating to see how they can time their movements so that they don't get drenched by the waves.











The least bit of movement on my part and they take flight.





This fella (or lady) graciously posed for me, though not for long...


Sunday, January 18, 2015

Cycling in a Heatwave... Making Friends with Florals

There are many websites out there with excellent advice on cycling in hot weather. Suggestions include cycling slowly, wearing breathable fabrics, drinking plenty of water, applying sunscreen, and using baby wipes - all of which I do. And there tends to be a consensus that once the heat and humidity get past a certain point (yesterday's 100F weather would probably qualify!), there is just nothing that can be done other than bringing a change of clothes to work, particularly if one works in an environment with a dress code.

While this is good advice for some, changing upon arrival is not an option in my line of work. I have meetings in different parts of the city in the course of the workday, and there is no reasonable opportunity to change upon arrival prior to joining the meetings. Plus, I am on a tight schedule and changing a half a dozen times a day would be ludicrous.

So, what to do? Well, the Boston Globe and Bike Snob have already quoted me on this, but I've never actually written it in a Lovely Bicycle post: I wear fabrics with prints, which helps to disguise the one part of commuting in the heat we cannot control - sweat! "Eww gross!" - I know. But a reality none the less!

The best sort of prints for this purpose are small and detailed with some tonal variation - such as florals. This tricks the eye into not noticing additional tonal variations that happen from sweat stains. Stripes, polka dots, and other busy prints can work as well - but micro-florals and paisleys are particularly effective, because the patterns they form are organic. It may seem too simple of a solution, but this really is an amazing technique at making a sweat-soaked blouse, skirt, or dress look no different from a dry one.

I wore this dress to a meeting after cycling in it for 30 minutes in intense heat and humidity. Can you tell it's wet and disgusting? My colleagues could not, and complimented me on staying so cool in the heat. Yeah, right! Well, at least I can fake it with florals.

Wordless Wednesday :: Once Upon a Time

a few years ago...

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Three Ladies, One Bicycle

I came across this scene in my favourite park in Vienna, the Augarten. Did not really know what to make of it, but it looked so iconic that I just could not resist a clandestine snap:

The three young women were resting against the wall - eyes closed, smiling, faces turned up towards the sun. The bicycle seemed to be "with them" rather than belonging to one of them, almost like a fourth person. Intriguing...

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Milk Jug Toy

No - it is not a dog fight. They play that way all the time. This is Tuffee and Ziva our dogs, and their favorite toy is an empty plastic milk jug.