BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 30 min.
TIME BACK: 29 min.
WEATHER: overcast, -7C, 7 km/hr wind there; overcast, -5C, 9 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: fleece pants, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer jacket, lobster gloves, balaclava
NOTES:
Old habits die hard.
When I was eight years old, I started horseback riding as a serious hobby, taking lessons year-round instead of just going to riding camps in the summer. During my first year of taking these lessons, I remember walking into my rental horse's stall to groom and tack him up when, just a few steps into the horse's stall, I got a sideways kick from a back hoof that landed in my stomach. Keeling over, I ran out of the stall fearing for my life from this obviously rabid beast. What would possess this animal to do something like that??
"It was your fault," the instructor told me nonchalantly when I went to tell him of this grievous injustice. "You entered the stall on the wrong side. You have to remember - you have to do everything on the horse's left side." Apparently this is something I did not do. I had entered the stall with the horse facing away from me and to my left, so that when I entered into his personal space I was on the right side of his flank - the perfect spot for a good kick. And apparently this was my fault, so I deserved it.
Horses are typically trained to be approached and mounted on the left side. This is a hold-over from when soldiers had to mount their cavalry horses on the left so their belted swords wouldn't stab them in the process. So, how could this possibly relate to biking, you say? Well, I've noticed that no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get comfortable putting my right foot on the pedal first. I have to lead with my left foot. The left foot has to hit the pedal first and it has to make the first rotation. This means that whenever I stop, like at a stop light or behind a car in traffic, I have to make sure to kick my left pedal into position before I take off so that I can jump on it and pedal away the moment I need to get going again. This can be kind of awkward, but it's just the way I operate now.
Amazing how one little horse-kick to the stomach of an eight-year-old will really make a lesson stick in the brain. Who knew?
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Week Twenty-One - Day Four: A Bad Day
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 29 min.
TIME BACK: 29 min.
WEATHER: overcast, -8C (-13C with wind chill), 11 km/hr wind back (info for morning commute not available on The Weather Network today for some crazy reason)
WHAT I WORE: fleece pants, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer jacket, lobster gloves, balaclava
NOTES:
I'm ready for the weekend. After my fall yesterday, the muscles in my left shoulder have seized up and I can feel the tender bruising on my inner thighs where they impacted against the bike frame. During my first session of the day at work, sitting across from a client who is truly struggling and for whom I do have sincere affection, I kept fantasizing about Dutch Crunch Mesquite BBQ chips. That ain't right. I was hungry all morning, even after having my usual breakfast of good old-fashioned stick-to-your-ribs oatmeal. It's a damn fine thing that the massive box of Lindt truffles the staff got as a Christmas present is finally gone - otherwise, the afternoon would have been my own little private chocolate-fest.
I just want to rest my weary bones. I want to sleep in. I want to shed the weight of my responsibilities just a little bit. I want to finally hear back from my babysitter so I can make some social plans over the weekend. I want to know if I did the right thing. I want to get a phone call. I want to lose weight ten times faster than I have so far. I just want . . . a change. But it's never easy, is it? And it never comes exactly when you want it to.
So I guess I'll just have to continue relaxing in the rare moments when I can, staying home alone every night while my daughter sleeps and the rest of the world is having fun, and bike-commuting every day while keeping track of my caloric intake in the hopes that I'll lose weight in good time. Sometimes, this lifestyle feels pretty shitty. Oh, how I miss my freedom . . .
TIME THERE: 29 min.
TIME BACK: 29 min.
WEATHER: overcast, -8C (-13C with wind chill), 11 km/hr wind back (info for morning commute not available on The Weather Network today for some crazy reason)
WHAT I WORE: fleece pants, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer jacket, lobster gloves, balaclava
NOTES:
I'm ready for the weekend. After my fall yesterday, the muscles in my left shoulder have seized up and I can feel the tender bruising on my inner thighs where they impacted against the bike frame. During my first session of the day at work, sitting across from a client who is truly struggling and for whom I do have sincere affection, I kept fantasizing about Dutch Crunch Mesquite BBQ chips. That ain't right. I was hungry all morning, even after having my usual breakfast of good old-fashioned stick-to-your-ribs oatmeal. It's a damn fine thing that the massive box of Lindt truffles the staff got as a Christmas present is finally gone - otherwise, the afternoon would have been my own little private chocolate-fest.
I just want to rest my weary bones. I want to sleep in. I want to shed the weight of my responsibilities just a little bit. I want to finally hear back from my babysitter so I can make some social plans over the weekend. I want to know if I did the right thing. I want to get a phone call. I want to lose weight ten times faster than I have so far. I just want . . . a change. But it's never easy, is it? And it never comes exactly when you want it to.
So I guess I'll just have to continue relaxing in the rare moments when I can, staying home alone every night while my daughter sleeps and the rest of the world is having fun, and bike-commuting every day while keeping track of my caloric intake in the hopes that I'll lose weight in good time. Sometimes, this lifestyle feels pretty shitty. Oh, how I miss my freedom . . .
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Week Twenty-One - Day Three: Damages
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 29 min.
TIME BACK: 28 min.
WEATHER: overcast, -13C, 7km/hr wind there; overcast, -10C (-16C with wind chill), 11km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: warm-up pants, turtleneck, waterproof shell, lobster gloves, balaclava
NOTES:
A fine mist descended on my fair city this morning, causing a light layer of frost to develop over everything. It enveloped the scenery in a mysterious, eerie beauty. It also caused the roadways to be just a little bit slicker today. This didn't have much bearing on my commute - and I'm thankful for that! - though it may have been a contributing factor to my sixth bike-commuting fall, which occurred on my way to work this morning.
I was already on campus, so my ride was nearly over. Just having come up the High Level Bridge hill and walked Mike up the stairs onto campus, I started rolling along on the sidewalk heading towards the parking lots on the eastern edge of the campus. Just as I began picking up speed, I noticed that I was coming up behind a pedestrian who was walking in the middle of the sidewalk. I rang my bell, though I wasn't sure if he heard me, so I started slowing down so I wouldn't crash into him as I tried to ring the bell again. Just as I began braking, the back tire hit a patch of ice so that when I hit the brakes the front wheel slowed down but the back wheel didn't. This made the bike skid sideways and I was thrown to the ground. The sound of me hitting the concrete (and, knowing me, probably saying, "Fuck!") got the pedestrian's attention, and he turned around with what looked like an expression of horror and asked if I was okay. When he turned around, I thought I recognized him as an esteemed professor in my department. Ugggghhhh. Embarrassed, I quickly hopped to my feet, said I was fine, and immediately got back on the bike so I could pedal past him and pretend it never happened.
During the remaining short ride from there to my building, I did a mental scan of my body to check for injuries. Remarkably, just about nothing was sore. Not my hip or shoulder that hit the ground, not the leg where I now have a decent-sized tear in my pants, not my neck from the strain of ensuring my head didn't hit the ground. The only thing that seemed worse for wear were the heels of my hands, which felt bruised and tender, but that was it. I breathed a sigh of relief that I've made it this far, and that I've fallen as much as I have, while garnering no serious injuries. That's incredible! Six falls in five months of commuting, and the worst injury I've received has been a sprained finger (which, by the way, is still healing several weeks later). At this point, falling doesn't even seem like that big a deal! It doesn't even hurt! Not that I like falling, mind you, but it just seems a whole lot less scary than it did when I first started. Then again, if it were the summer and I were in shorts and a t-shirt, that might be a whole different story - but without ice, it is my sincerest hope that I won't be falling anymore!
The tear in my warm-up pants.
The bruises on the heels of my hands.
TIME THERE: 29 min.
TIME BACK: 28 min.
WEATHER: overcast, -13C, 7km/hr wind there; overcast, -10C (-16C with wind chill), 11km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: warm-up pants, turtleneck, waterproof shell, lobster gloves, balaclava
NOTES:
A fine mist descended on my fair city this morning, causing a light layer of frost to develop over everything. It enveloped the scenery in a mysterious, eerie beauty. It also caused the roadways to be just a little bit slicker today. This didn't have much bearing on my commute - and I'm thankful for that! - though it may have been a contributing factor to my sixth bike-commuting fall, which occurred on my way to work this morning.
I was already on campus, so my ride was nearly over. Just having come up the High Level Bridge hill and walked Mike up the stairs onto campus, I started rolling along on the sidewalk heading towards the parking lots on the eastern edge of the campus. Just as I began picking up speed, I noticed that I was coming up behind a pedestrian who was walking in the middle of the sidewalk. I rang my bell, though I wasn't sure if he heard me, so I started slowing down so I wouldn't crash into him as I tried to ring the bell again. Just as I began braking, the back tire hit a patch of ice so that when I hit the brakes the front wheel slowed down but the back wheel didn't. This made the bike skid sideways and I was thrown to the ground. The sound of me hitting the concrete (and, knowing me, probably saying, "Fuck!") got the pedestrian's attention, and he turned around with what looked like an expression of horror and asked if I was okay. When he turned around, I thought I recognized him as an esteemed professor in my department. Ugggghhhh. Embarrassed, I quickly hopped to my feet, said I was fine, and immediately got back on the bike so I could pedal past him and pretend it never happened.
During the remaining short ride from there to my building, I did a mental scan of my body to check for injuries. Remarkably, just about nothing was sore. Not my hip or shoulder that hit the ground, not the leg where I now have a decent-sized tear in my pants, not my neck from the strain of ensuring my head didn't hit the ground. The only thing that seemed worse for wear were the heels of my hands, which felt bruised and tender, but that was it. I breathed a sigh of relief that I've made it this far, and that I've fallen as much as I have, while garnering no serious injuries. That's incredible! Six falls in five months of commuting, and the worst injury I've received has been a sprained finger (which, by the way, is still healing several weeks later). At this point, falling doesn't even seem like that big a deal! It doesn't even hurt! Not that I like falling, mind you, but it just seems a whole lot less scary than it did when I first started. Then again, if it were the summer and I were in shorts and a t-shirt, that might be a whole different story - but without ice, it is my sincerest hope that I won't be falling anymore!
The tear in my warm-up pants.
The bruises on the heels of my hands.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Week Twenty-One - Day Two:
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 27 min.
TIME BACK: 33 min. (including a stop at the liquor store for some wine)
WEATHER: a few clouds, -12C, no wind there; clear, -3C, 4km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: warm-up pants (getting too damn cold for these in the morning - my thighs were frozen and bright red by the time I got to work), turtleneck, waterproof shell, running gloves (also too cold, I need to move up to lobster gloves again), scarf
NOTES:
There seem to be an awful lot of cyclists out this week. I passed by two in the west end yesterday, which is quite rare. If I pass by any cyclists en route, it's usually closer to downtown and the university, not in the west end! Then today I was pedalling along the north ridge of the river valley when someone whizzed past me at what seemed like twice my speed. I had to fight the urge to call him names in my head or start beating myself up for not pedalling faster. Instead, I tried to be at peace with the fact that I was c-c-c-cold this morning and I just didn't feel like I had it in me to push myself to go much faster. Even as it was, I made good time - a 27-minute ride is nothing to be ashamed of! Still, I hate being passed like that, it makes me feel like such a lazy-ass.
I go back and forth on how I feel about running into other cyclists. Sometimes it's wonderful - a feeling of camaraderie, of being part of a small but quickly growing community of people who live active lifestyles and care about their environmental impact. And I do genuinely and without exception enjoy the conversations I have with my fellow cyclists when we happen to stop at a red light together or meet up while we're securing our bikes to a rack. On other days - like today - I feel territorial about cycling. It's as though the more people bike-commute - especially through the winter - it makes me feel like this great thing I'm doing is really no big deal at all, that what feels like a great accomplishment to me is just an everyday thing that lots of people do. And if that's the case, why bother? Why bother be so committed to it? Even on those days when my throat hurts, or I'm exhausted, or it's so damn cold it feels like I'm getting freezer burn on the inside of my lungs every time I breathe deeply - why push myself to go through all that crap when it's so meaningless?
The answer is that it's not meaningless. No matter how many cyclists are out on the road, I can be proud to be a part of a growing movement of people who forgo their cars for bikes. No matter how many other people bike-commute, I'm still improving my own fitness and my own health and contributing in my own way to lessening the burden on the environment. What other people do has no bearing on what I've accomplished - and really, it has been an accomplishment - and it absolutely doesn't make my great feat any less great. It just means that other people are doing it, too, which means that cars are more aware of us, we have more of a political voice (i.e., when it comes to advocating for cycling infrastructure), and we can support each other. How is that possibly a bad thing?
Sometimes I need to remind myself to think less competitively and more collaboratively. Most of all, I need to stay focused on the positive - the fact that I've already biked 110 miles this month, and that I've really been noticing my weight loss over the past couple weeks, and that clients who haven't seen me since the beginning of last semester come back and comment on how great I'm looking. That feels good. And that's infinitely more important than whether I'm the only cyclist on the road or not.
TIME THERE: 27 min.
TIME BACK: 33 min. (including a stop at the liquor store for some wine)
WEATHER: a few clouds, -12C, no wind there; clear, -3C, 4km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: warm-up pants (getting too damn cold for these in the morning - my thighs were frozen and bright red by the time I got to work), turtleneck, waterproof shell, running gloves (also too cold, I need to move up to lobster gloves again), scarf
NOTES:
There seem to be an awful lot of cyclists out this week. I passed by two in the west end yesterday, which is quite rare. If I pass by any cyclists en route, it's usually closer to downtown and the university, not in the west end! Then today I was pedalling along the north ridge of the river valley when someone whizzed past me at what seemed like twice my speed. I had to fight the urge to call him names in my head or start beating myself up for not pedalling faster. Instead, I tried to be at peace with the fact that I was c-c-c-cold this morning and I just didn't feel like I had it in me to push myself to go much faster. Even as it was, I made good time - a 27-minute ride is nothing to be ashamed of! Still, I hate being passed like that, it makes me feel like such a lazy-ass.
I go back and forth on how I feel about running into other cyclists. Sometimes it's wonderful - a feeling of camaraderie, of being part of a small but quickly growing community of people who live active lifestyles and care about their environmental impact. And I do genuinely and without exception enjoy the conversations I have with my fellow cyclists when we happen to stop at a red light together or meet up while we're securing our bikes to a rack. On other days - like today - I feel territorial about cycling. It's as though the more people bike-commute - especially through the winter - it makes me feel like this great thing I'm doing is really no big deal at all, that what feels like a great accomplishment to me is just an everyday thing that lots of people do. And if that's the case, why bother? Why bother be so committed to it? Even on those days when my throat hurts, or I'm exhausted, or it's so damn cold it feels like I'm getting freezer burn on the inside of my lungs every time I breathe deeply - why push myself to go through all that crap when it's so meaningless?
The answer is that it's not meaningless. No matter how many cyclists are out on the road, I can be proud to be a part of a growing movement of people who forgo their cars for bikes. No matter how many other people bike-commute, I'm still improving my own fitness and my own health and contributing in my own way to lessening the burden on the environment. What other people do has no bearing on what I've accomplished - and really, it has been an accomplishment - and it absolutely doesn't make my great feat any less great. It just means that other people are doing it, too, which means that cars are more aware of us, we have more of a political voice (i.e., when it comes to advocating for cycling infrastructure), and we can support each other. How is that possibly a bad thing?
Sometimes I need to remind myself to think less competitively and more collaboratively. Most of all, I need to stay focused on the positive - the fact that I've already biked 110 miles this month, and that I've really been noticing my weight loss over the past couple weeks, and that clients who haven't seen me since the beginning of last semester come back and comment on how great I'm looking. That feels good. And that's infinitely more important than whether I'm the only cyclist on the road or not.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Week Twenty-One - Day One: Shits n' Giggles
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 29 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min. (woot!)
WEATHER: clear, -8C, 7 km/hr wind there; clear, -4C, 7 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: warm-up pants, t-shirt, waterproof shell, running gloves, scarf
NOTES:
I'm trying to think of dirty (and by that I mean hilarious) references for bicycles. I've come up with a few, but I'd love to hear your ideas if you have any!! In the meantime, here's mine:
TIME THERE: 29 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min. (woot!)
WEATHER: clear, -8C, 7 km/hr wind there; clear, -4C, 7 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: warm-up pants, t-shirt, waterproof shell, running gloves, scarf
NOTES:
I'm trying to think of dirty (and by that I mean hilarious) references for bicycles. I've come up with a few, but I'd love to hear your ideas if you have any!! In the meantime, here's mine:
- Can you please help me lube my chain?
- I had a pretty rough ride last night and now my taint hurts.
- Watch me work this crankshaft!
- I put too much pressure on my stem and it broke.
- Everyone saddle up for a group ride!
- How's my rack looking?
- These new headlights will really draw attention.
- I traded up my slicks for studs, now nothing's gonna stop me.
- Watch out for rough rides, they'll ruin your rim.
- Beware! Big holes will make your tube pop before your ride is even over.
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