currently reading

Roll Around Heaven All Day: A Piecemeal Journey Across America by Bicycle
by Stan Purdum, 1997

and 

Backpacks, Boots and Baguettes: Walking in the Pyrenees
by Simon Clder and Mick Webb, 2004

Just Outside Paris

I live just outside Los Angeles. But I'm tired of riding around LA. The other night I figured out a way to remedy the situation. I imagine that I'm riding around Paris. Suddenly everything I see, the streets, lights, cars, people, buildings - all are new to me. And my mind opens up at bit, releases from its rut. Ceci n'est pas Les Anges... 

salt to taste

I spiked my water bottle with salt on Saturday's run through the Arroyo. Just a couple dashes worth in a 20oz-ish bottle. The fist sip is expectedly salty. The rest are fine. I think it helped with overall fluid balance throughout the run. I'm going to keep experimenting with this. Maybe I'll use it on rides, too.

Oprah

Oprah is interviewing Lance Armstrong on January 17th. 

currently reading

The Secret Race; Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs.
by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle, 2012.

and just finished 

Why We Run: A Natural History.
by Bernd Heinrich, 2001.
(second time I've read this)

and recently read but didn't get around to posting

Lance Armstrong's War
also by Daniel Coyle. 

and

Rise of the Range of Light
The Places in Between
Sacred Summits
Walk in a Relaxed Manner
River-Horse
and others…
happy reading...

1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4

I'm just back from a short run up and down the street. My Easy-3, as I like to call it. A good rejuvenator at the end of the day. For the second half of the run, all the way back down the hill, I kept my breaths matched to my steps. 4 steps to breathe in. 4 steps to breathe out. 4 in, 4 out. 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4…. The last couple of Easy-3s I've run have been pretty slow. I'm still trying to recover from the holidays, I guess. Today's run started out a little lighter and freer in step but by no means fast. I wasn't intending to push it at all. Just get the legs going for a bit. I actually fall into that 1-2-3-4 counting at the beginning of many of my runs and today was no different. Usually I get distracted from it pretty quickly and move on to more great philosophizing. But I learned today that, if you stick with it, it really helps you to stay focused on pace, which becomes speed. I didn't end up with my fastest Easy-3 or even come close but I think the counting, the matching of breaths to steps, took a couple minutes off my time. 

the road less travelled (by road bike)

I rode a short distance up this dirt road on the road bike this morning. It's a place I've been a lot on the mtb and on foot. But never on the roadie. It was a lot of fun to stretch the limits of the 23mm tires. Nice and slow. But oh so fun. A  winter morning ride along a forest road - wool sweaters and cold toes. I'll remember this short section of the ride more than most. One of those moments, you know… 

a note from her to me to you...

test: head light. "people are people so why should it be…"

I tested out both the rear facing helmet reflector (red) and the forward facing "head"light (I used one of those miner style headlamps popular with the hiking/climbing/camping crowd). I perceived an immediate positive difference in the patience and care of the surrounding drivers. And this was a Friday rush hour test when sometimes that patience can be lacking. I felt as if I had graduated to the standing of a pedestrian which in the eyes of the motorist is one step closer to being a human. 

I guess I was most surprised by the difference the rear reflector made. Especially since I always have a rear reflector and flashing red tail light. But somehow, putting a reflector on your head really gets the point across: human. 

The forward head light also made a big difference. In part because of its height above the level of parked cars so that it is visible even when a handlebar light would be blocked. The head light was not very bright. I've had it for a long time and the batteries were a little low. I've just never used it on the bike for some reason. I kept the light on steady mode. As I do with the handlebar light. I think flashing headlights are really annoying to everyone involved. The dimness of the light did not seem to be a problem, though, and it might even be better to keep it slightly dim so that you can look around at people without putting a bright spot light right on them. 

I'm immediately afraid to ride without either of these head mounted lighting systems. 

Of note and a twist: I don't think the head light and reflector made me more visible (except in a few special cases). Motorists always see me. They just don't "see" me. If that makes any sense. And that's the big hump out there - not getting people to see bicyclists (oh, you know you see me!) - getting people to see people. 

forty paces of solitude

There's a very short stretch of dirt between the sidewalk and the high school baseball field that I've recently been using as my own secret trail running route. It's mostly filled with weeds. There's no obvious reason to take this route as it directly parallels the sidewalk. And it only lasts a moment before one must return to the sidewalk. But I take it. I like it. It's far, far from a nature path. It's right along a busy residential street. And it's short. But it's there. It's earth. It feels good under the feet. It rained recently so the ground has been a bit muddy along this stretch. I saw someone's footprints and I followed them. He matched me stride for stride. My right hitting just to the side of his left and vise-versa. Then I recognized the tread pattern. I was tracking myself. So many footprints that we follow along the way, some of them our own.

reflectors, reflected light, light

I found a rear bike reflector the other day by the side of the road. I find reflectors often. They seem to jostle loose. I zip-tied it to the back of my helmet. Why not? When I was a kid (even into my early thirties) I'd take off every reflector I could thinking they were uncool. Now I've got them just about everywhere. Still there seems to be a blind spot in front of me to the sides. Cross traffic at night (especially on dark roads) doesn't seem to see me well enough. Which maybe is okay because I see them and I slow down but I want it to be better/safer than that. Reflectors only light up when there's light shining on them. And cross traffic lights aren't facing the right direction. And bike lights, even the strong ones, don't provide much lateral light that a car driver might see. A glowing helmet would be interesting. At least, a white helmet probably helps. I'm considering a helmet mounted light.

slow motion dream running

I had one of those slow motion dreams last night. Where you're trying to get somewhere in a hurry but as hard as you try you can only run in ultra-slo-mo. Those used to be so frustrating. But now I've discovered that ultra-slo-mo dreams are a great opportunity to practice form running! I did about a mile of perfect foot placement along some unknown sidewalk - felt a little like Orange Grove Blvd. if it were in Idyllwild. In addition to foot placement I was really focused on forward acceleration/explosiveness with each individual leg/foot/hip group. Another dream breakthrough was that I actually, eventually made it to where I was going. Hopefully some of all this will seep into reality soon… 

rubber bands, man

Now that the temps have dropped a bit I've been wearing long pants for my evening rides into town. For years I've been a roll-up-your-pant-cuffs kind of guy. I'd usually do two neat folds on both sides - so they match - otherwise I might always be turning right - or left(?). Suddenly, this season, things have changed and I've grown into that weird eccentric bicycle man that wears rubber bands around his ankles to hold his cuffs in place. When off the bike/in the pub you can leave the rubber bands on you ankle under the pant cuffs for quick storage and retrieval. I'm okay with this development. In fact, perhaps, almost proud - or happy about it, anyway, and hope to see further developments along these lines into the future. It's what the Mule would want. 

Telltale Laundry

Why is there so much synthetic cycling/running wear in my laundry? It's more than half the load! I should get a prize - confetti and streamers falling from the ceiling and loud sirens wailing and flashing as if I were the Millionth shopper at the Quickie Mart or something. Maybe I've been putting in more miles. Or maybe I wear the same everyday-clothes over and over again too much. Or maybe it's just winter and I have to wear several layers at once...

Did I already run today?

So often these days, by the time it gets to evening I'm ready to go for a run, my legs feeling the pull. But then I take pause for a moment, trying to recall if perhaps I've already gone running today, this morning. It doesn't even seem to matter what distance I've gone earlier in the day - long or short - I just don't recall. Not that I'm opposed to running twice in a day - I actually think it's a pretty great way to ramp up. But sometimes I feel like I need the rest - like now, with another race in 10 days. I just find it rather amusing that I have to literally ask myself and nearly every time I do the answer is yes. But it's sometimes a little depressing (especially on a day like today - dark and drizzle), too, because, well, then what… if no run? 

running to the moon on brown mountain

Approaching the top of the trail by mid-morning, the still plump moon sunk slowly over the ridge, feeling very close by, a friend to the mountain.

happy halloween

doughnut houses

For a while now, maybe even a couple years, I've been noticing doughnut houses, or donut shops, or whatever you prefer, when out riding my bike. Most notable to me are the small, independent, mom&pop shops with unique and/or simple names. It seems they're almost always tucked away in the corner of some sort of mini strip mall, which doesn't really seem an ideal location to sit and have a doughnut and a coffee, but I guess that's what's affordable these days. Their connection to biking is two fold. One, I'm always hungry on the bike and from many early-years experiences my body knows just what handy morsel will end my calorie crisis, and fast. And the smells waft out into the street to grab you. On almost every ride I smell fresh baked goodness. Second, as is so often noted, one notices a lot about the neighborhood from the saddle. It's really amazing, the difference - like a whole 'nother world. A friend of mine recently sent me a link about the new trend in combining coffee houses with bike shops. Well, for the would-be entrepreneur out there, I'd say make it a doughbike shop and you'll be in business - of course, you'll want coffee available, too - an beer, naturally. I never get around to stopping at these doughnut spots but I fear that I should or else they will be gone forever, like so many other little shops around the country, classic small town nooks, disappearing before the corpormatronimarts. So I should stop. What's the rush anyway. No need to speed into the future. I can always count on the added sugar spike to pull me back into the peloton. 

rest/taper/sick week, or 3 birds with 1 stone, and 2 of the perks of races

There's a trail race coming up this weekend. I'd like to hit it well rested (relatively speaking for someone with a 3-month-old). So I'm tapering this week. Taking some rest days. Maybe I'll do a few easy 3s. My body has also slotted (conveniently or inconveniently, I'm not sure yet) a few sick days this week. So I guess I'm doing some serious multitasking. 

I go back and forth about whether racing is worth it or not. It's expensive and often far away and often requires a car trip and often requires getting up early and forcing your body to do something that might not be on its schedule for the day which might instead be to sleep in and drink coffee. But I do enjoy the community aspect of races. It's nice to be reminded that other people are into trail running, too. So I do it a few times a year, trying to pick out what I consider to be "the classics," races that have been around a long time and/or that I've done before and/or great location and/or friends are running. 

Two perks of racing that might make them worth it are the ramping up of training leading up to them that wouldn't otherwise happen, and the ramping down of training just before the race that also wouldn't otherwise happen. So they add some waviness to the routine which is probably a good thing. 

This weekend is Lasse Viren named after that famous Finnish Olympic runner from the 70's. Strange that "his" race is in Malibu, California since he lives on the other side of the Atlantic/World, but here it is. 

I'm looking forward to it. I'm ready for the distance. I just hope I can get rid of this cold and show up with some sleep and rest and not too much pre-race "nervousness" (to put it nicely). 

I did this race for the first time last year. It's a good one. It's a trail race that's not steep! - seemingly the first of its kind and a great idea. It's probably the shortest 20K in the world (I swear it's only 18 or 19) so fast times can be had when the planets align. 

Just Ride Over the Hills

Just finished reading Just Ride by Grant Petersen (2012) of Rivendell fame. It's an okay, fun little manual of bicyclism. There are some good tips in there and some silly tips in there. "You decide which is right and which is an illusion." 

Next up: Over the Hills: A midlife escape across America by bicycle, by David Lamb (1996). Quite good through the first chapter.