Bike ride

Took off early today to do a half lake ride.
Ran into a event at Seward Park.
It was a race for dogs!
They called it the Furry 5.
For five miles, I guess.
Anyway it was so cute to see the dogs on their little bicycles.
The had two sets of pedals staggered to match the dogs natural gait.
They steered with their noses!
They had a little muzzle like thing where the handlebars would normally be and the dog stuck his nose in it and steered with it.
Makes sense when you think about it, that's pretty much how the get around anyway.
The little ones were funny, their tiny little legs buzzing away in a blur.
The big dogs managed some truly impressive speeds.
Anyway, I didn't watch the whole race.
Went around the park and up to Madrona Beach and up the trail to the floating bridge and down the trail to Renton and around the airport and up Holyoke through Dead Horse Canyon,
for a total of;
24.71 miles
10.2 Average speed
34.0 max speed
2:24:36 trail time
2219.1 odometer.
Nonstop (except for stop signs)

Splog

Overall;
45.5 miles
10 mph avg
36.6 max
4:29:54 hours
2104 odo

Last half
19.94 miles
2:19 hours
8.6 avg

Bike ride

21.83 dist
11.0 avg
31.9 max
1:58:52 time
2149.3 odo
21 miles in under 2 hours.

Some Beacon hill climbing

11.17 miles
9.1 average
30.5 max
1:13:17 time
2086.8 odo

Just a bike ride, no reason to get excited.

20.52 miles
10.8 mph avg
34.8 max speed
1:53:10 hours
768.6 on the odometer
1307+768.6=2075.6

Tour de Beacon hill country.

18.18 miles, no yellow jersey.
Not that I didn't have the fastest time.
I had the only time,
And no jersey, of any color, was offered.
I did get up to 32.8 mph, but only averaged 8.9
Took 2.02 hours.
Lots of hills there, had to walk one of 'em.
Explored several dead ends (sometimes there are paths)looking for a way off the hill to the waterfront.
Ended up using Columbian-Spokane street ramp to the industrial area.
Didn't go to the waterfront, didn't want to do that big a ride.
puffed and panted my way back to Airport and thence to M.L.K-Henderson-Renton-Roxbury.

18.18,
8.9,
32.8,
2.02,
2055.1

April is looking up.

'Twas an hillarious day.

Rode a bunch of South Seattle/Renton/Skyway/Tukwila hills today.
Ten miles of 'em.
Thought I'd see if the exercise had any effect on the migraine.
Can't say as it had, but who knows?
I was wondering how to refer to my lowest ratio gearset, so I asked my old pal, Hamlet.
This is what he said.
This is what Hamlet said.
"Well" he said, Hamlet said, "You could call it your "Granny Gear" 'cause it's the easiest one to push, but that makes you sound kinda wimpy.
That could be humorous if everyone could see that you are an incredibly, massively strong biking monster.
Which they can't
And which you're not.
Or" he continued, "you could call it your "Stump Puller" which adds a touch of the absurd in picturing pulling stumps with a bicycle. That has a bit of appeal.
On the other hand...we have a thumb..hahahaha"
Not not a great sense of humor, but he continues;
"Compound Low is another possibility, or..."
Anyway, I stopped listening about then, trying to get a straight answer from the guy is next to impossible.

Anyway, I still see stars around my head and feel like shit.
Speaking of shit;
Life is shit, and money is toilet paper.
The bigger the ass, the more paper needed.

12.20 miles
7.8 average
36.4 maximum speed (What goes up slow, comes down fast)
1:33:25 trail time.
729 + 1307 = 2036.9

Iditerod ride

26.87 miles.
2:15:30 hours.
11.8 mph average.
59.6 max speed. There is apparently some kind of electrical field along the Sammamish Slough trail that does this kind of thing to my CatEye.
717.7 + 1307 = 2024.7 odometer.

Clear blue skies, ice on the grass, cold.
Dressed for it, no prob.

Thought I'd do 20 but it was too cold.

8.34 miles
1:00:24 hours
8.2 average
32.9 max speed
690.9 + 1307 =  1997.9 odometers

A ride

Thought I'd take a five miler to the hardware store for some ABS plumbing parts for a stupid invention I'm wasting my time on.
Ended up wandering around and doing a little more.
13.78 miles
1:18:24 hours
10.5 average
26.3 max
682.5 + 1307 = 1989

Been putting 2hrs a day practicing clarinet always getting better but never getting good.

Bike ride

10.73 miles.
9.2 avg speed.
35.5 max speed.
1:10:04 hours.
668.7 + 1307 = 1975.7

Chickens

I guess I gotta write something about a chicken.
I hate chickens, every time I get a some at the Colonel's I look into the bucket and say "I hope they killed you slowly, you disgusting piece of scum". Serves them right for attacking me when I was a mere child, no bigger than a chicken myself.
Chicken factories? I'm all for em, the more crammed together and miserable, the better.

That's what I think of chickens.

It's personal


In other news;

I was thinking that the major challenges of riding had been met and it's not a very interesting ride unless it's at least 30 miles. But I talked myself into a 10 miler only to find myself extending it to a half - lake (25 miles)
At 20 I found a heretofore unmet challenge, to wit, the half block straight up hill on the west side of the I-90 bridge. I've done it before by swerving back and forth, but today I rode straight up.
Hoop-de-friggin- do.
Any way at 23 miles I still felt full of it and decided to extend it to 30.
A 2.25 lap around Seward Park and a few other side trips accomplished that.
And my butt ain't even sore.

30.63 miles.
2:56:33 hours.
10.4 average.
36.2 maximum speed.
630.8 + 1307 = 1937.8

You call that a ride?

2.42 miles
14.42 minutes.9.8 average.
36.2 maximum speed.
1909.6 on the odometer.
Didn't feel like riding.
Didn't feel like sitting around playing computer games.
Didn't feel like reading.
Didn't feel like watching TV
Didn't feel like


Still don't

Primarily

Not much today.
I thought that with Meredith gone to the dig, and Keth gone most of the day, I'd have lots of time to fool around!!
BUT!
That's my job these days.

It's like what a cat does on it's day off; lies around the house; that's what a cat does; that's all a cat does.

But instead of fooling around I wasted my time washing dishes, trimming hedges, watering plants, and building stairs.

And having a headache all Wednesday because I watched late night television.
Jay Leno, that other guy, and even some Jimmy Fallon.
I'm amazed that I could even get out of bed next day.
Or wanted to, never again.

No series of long distance bike rides for me.

But, tonight, I stepped outside and it was nice, a short one to the hardware store for a gallon of primer for the new steps wouldn't hurt.

13.12 miles
11.8 average
1:06:25 time
29.4 max speed
530 + 1307 1807 odometer

Just got back, gonna git dinner.

Ciao

Ol' Sploggy rides again

Yeah, well, Why not.
Decided to do 10 miles and got distracted again by roads not traveled.
To make the ride a bit less boring, I rode around Seward park, which warmed me up and encouraged me to drive on on northward.

It was kind of gray and rainy looking, but I've been wet before.

Turned up McGilvra to avoid the dread s-curves just north of Leschi on LWB.
Ended up in Madison park where I bought a nice maple bar and a cup of prettygood coffee.
Sat outside where a brief glow of sunlight filled me with a soon to be dashed hope for the rest of the ride.
Some one at the next table was walking three small dogs one of whom was intent on having some of the walker's cupcake.
Climbed up on a chair and was tugging the cup the cake was in and almost had it before his guardian snatched it back from the canine jaws of doom.
The two white dogs behaved themselves impeccably.
So they got no attention whatsoever.

As soon as I finished my repast and got on the road again, it started to rain in vero.
So I had a couple miles of that before it stopped.
When I got back to the dreaded s-curves on LWB, I said to myself, what the heck, and rode up anyway.
The road isn't that bad.
Especially after a maple bar and a cup of Caffe Vito.
Drove on through the raining drive to the Arboretum, where I took the high road while they took the low road I don't know if they got there before me..I mean who are they anyway?
Took the path through the wetlands trail to MOHAI and noticed a sign at the museum parking lot that "Dont ride bicycles on the wetlands trail.
I seem to be collecting a bit of a rap sheet, or would be if I ever got caught.
HA Ha ha hahahaha!

Why not go into the museyroom I said, once again I said this to myself, because, because I RIDE ALONE! This is not for any antisocial motivation on my part.
I guess society is just anti me.

Read the whole story in the archives of this blogsite.

Then what happened?
Sun came out a couple of times.
I was not deliberately intimidated by an automobile in a SSO-related incident of vehicular intimidation.

You know, maybe it wasn't intimidation.
After all I did not become timid.
If anything a teeeeny bit bolder.

There are OLD bikers,
And there are BOLD bikers
But there are no OLD BOLD bikers.
I didn't fall off.

Here's what I did do.

First three quarters of the trip before I accidentally reset the computer;

12.75 miles
34 max
10.0 avg
The rest got lost in the accident

Here's what I got for the rest of the trip;

7.53 miles
21.5 max
8.8 avg
0:50:58 hrs

And fortunately the little machine has a backup which saved the whole trip:

29.61 miles
3:03:17 hrs
9.6 avg

I realize that this blog is supposed to be about my musical career.
Here is my musical career.
13 years of composition study,
Maybe 5 live performances.
Maybe 3, maybe four pieces that are actually worth a damn.
Amongst possibly hundreds of compositions including 10 "symphonies" and 14 "concertos"

A piece for solo piano sung by a choir of cats.

A trio for piano, bass, and flute that got me thrown out of whaddyacallit hall.

A variation for solo piano of a Diabelli waltz that got me laughed at in the little room of whaddyacallit hall.

And seven short works for wooden train whistle and strings right hand only.

And of course the excellent rendition of the double concerto for two violins and piano that has made it all more or less worth it.

II (that's supposed to look like a double bar, which means stop reading, put down your instrument and take a bow.

Oboists may resume scraping reeds.

Yours truly....Uncle Doug

I'm back!!!

O.K. I did ride hang on a sec while I log the specs...

Miles 32.86
Avg spd 10.1
Max spd 37
Time on the trail 3:13:57
Total miles on the new counter 65.1

I would not stop for the stop sign -
Tho it kindly stopped for me -
The motorcycle cop gave -
Some advice to me for free -

Do not do that again she said -
In a stern and serious voice -
Because it is a law young man -
It is not a choice -

So I saluted and capitulated -
And promised never again -
While, in my head, the words ran free -
Fat chance, cutie pie -
Fat chance.

Actually, what she said was "try stopping next time" and I waved and said "OK, I will.
You never know, there might even be some traffic there next time.

I guess I'll have to throw in a picture, jissasec

Heres a bunch of trees;

Bike ride

I tried to ride around the lower half of Lake Washington today but was thwarted by the crowds on the east side of the I-90 bridge.
And the fact that the bridge was closed.
So I turned around making a 25 mile trip into a 32 mile trip.

Also It's hot!!! (90 degree est, it's hotter on the road than on our shaded porch. Shaded porch says 88)

Distance 31.74 miles (my mew counter has tenths of miles but no thermometer)
10.5 average speed (hard to get moving through the throngs of Blue Angel aficionados)
Top speed 34.6
Riding time 3:00:57
Odometer reading 31.8 (I'll have to add that to the old one I guess. Maybe I can set the new counter to show all the miles I've already got.

Oy, Fidelio!

Popped out for a little ride. the bike behaved itself as well as could be expected seeing as how I put the front gear on wrong. An adjustable problem.
The new "there's always something" deal is the computer.
It misbehaved something fierce. Most of the time I was being told that I was randomly going 4.5, 13.2, 8.1, etc mph. The rest of the data was jumping all over the place too.
I though the battery might be a problem, but the guy at the bike shop in Leschi said no, so I decided to buy a new computer.
And a Clif bar. (Chocolate chip variety)
Fifty bucks
Back at the bike I cleaned the magnet on the spokes and, after awhile it seemed to work again.
But can I trust it?

Go ahead, ask me why I didn't clean the magnet thingy before I spent fifty bucks.
Go ahead, see if I care.

So today's specs are estimated. I rode to SPU but didn't do the kilo hill climb to the Starbuck's near the spot where somebody tried to run over me in a SSO-related incident.
Stopped at the little park along the canal at the foot of the hill and watered the horses.
Had the chocolate chip Clif bar.
I measured the trip home and doubled it.

31.4 miles
3:15:51 hours
30.6 maximum speed (I didn't double that)
10 mph average (approx)
1273 on the odometer.
84 - 94 degrees.

Lot'sa nice trees out this time of the year.
Cool shade appreciated.

I'm tired.

Fidelio gets hot and wobbly

9:00 to 1:00 today.

Ride the Cedar River;

35.6 miles,
3:24:44 hours,
10.3 average speed.
1248 total miles,
Temperature 73 to 84,
Cooler by the river on the trail lined with trees, moss, ferns, rosebush hedges and the Maple Valley highway.

Some welcome shade. A lot of it.

Schattenfreunde.

Maximum speed 63.4 I doubt it.
Computer glitch, I guess.

1:00 to 5:00 today

Asleep, tired, rubber legged, eck setra.

The wobble in the pedal shaft has been diagnosed (loose nut on the pedal side) and will adjusted as soon as I recover.

Or later.

The chain shield I made worked fine, chain stayed on for the whole trip but I still got greasy fingers from fooling with the loose bearing.

Some day I will have a clean trouble free ride.

Yikes! Bikes!

Slightly iffy weather. Didn't really want to go.
Sprayed varnish on the rosewood violin.
Figured I'd best leave it alone so I pedaled off for half-a-lake ride.
Got home, took a look at the violin and promptly stuck a couple fingerprints in the still wet (duh) varnish.
I was planning to sand it down for the next coat anyway.


Trip length 25.1 miles
Trip duration 2:27:14 hours
Maximum speed 28.5
Average speed 10.1 mph
Total miles to date 1213
ambient temperature 66 deg.

Actually the first 12 miles were done at 12.9 average speed.
But then came the hills, the headwind, and the fatigue.
Didn't even try to ride up the last hill to home.

Took a shower, ate a sausage, and went to the hardware store for a couple new toilet seats.
I was let down rather rudely this morning.