A rolling stone gathers no moss
Breaking Away is on! And he’s chasing the Italians. That’s how it should be.
You. The bike. Closing the gap on the Italians. Rossinni’s Barber of Seville playing.
As long as those damn Italian bastards don’t fuck with you, it’s a great day to be on a bike.
Why aren’t you out there?
Fat War in Japan!
Well not exactly.
It looks like they want to get their populace to slim down. Perhaps it’s all the rice that they eat. I wonder if we can do that in the States?
Scanning the television dial the other day and I come across some belly
dancers. It's on the FitTV channel and they claim that it is some form
of exercise. While I don't doubt that shaking and gyrating your hips
can feel like exercise, the one whose blood pressure rose was mine.
It's strangely hypnotic.Is it getting hot in here?http://fittv.discovery.com/convergence/shimmy/shimmy.html
I should be actually doing some work. But I don't want to. I'm
actively watching the clock. And it's ticking very, very slowly.The thing is that I should be happy. Things are somewhat picking up
here at IniTech. But I can't get past the fact that it's still IniTech.Just hoping that these last thirty minutes can go by quicker. Then I'll
be free to get away from here for the weekend. The weekend. Is there anything more sweet than hearing those words? (Perhaps, je
t'aime? But I digress)
“The wisest men follow their own direction.”
Euripides
About 10 miles in 45 minutes averaging close to 14 mph around my normal, simple route: out to Soldier’s Delight ride around the block. How did it feel?
Boy the working out since Jamuary really made this easy! Looking over my logs from last year and I am running about a mile quicker around the same distance. The hills weren’t bad or tough, and almost didn’t have to be used. I felt like I was using a larger gear.
One thing though was my form was awful. I may be somewhat stronger, I may be somewhat fitter, but my control of my bike was off. Breaking, shifting, and pedaling was off. It’s going to take a few turns to get better.
Being fit also makes 10 miles somewhat easy. I might have to go out for an hour, and that means entering the scary forests. This will be a fun season.
I assure you, my readers, that it will.
I’m not talking about those damned stationary bikes. Those things fixed inside a room are a faux simulation of cycling. They are a means of administering some insidious form of abuse on the mind. Those things will make you really, really sad even if you do get the same endorphin high.
No, cycling in the great out doors will make you happy. If you do it on a busy thoroughfare, I’m sure you won’t be so happy scared about the cars, but you’re much better off than indoors on a stationary bike.
Why?
Remember when you first learned to ride a bike? Remember the thrill keeping it upright. Wobbly at first. Then your pedaling smooths out, the front wheel straightens, and then, you’re cruising! You probably had a wide grin across your face. You probably also squealed. Nothing as delightful as that moment.
So, why aren’t you riding your bike more? You don’t have to ride in the road. Ride around your neighborhood. Ride in the woods out back. Ride the local rail to trail conversion. Just go out and ride.
You’ll like the breeze in your face. You’ll relish the hill to climb, because of the down hill and the speed to come. You’ll enjoy the rush from the exercise. You’ll breathe in the fresh air. You’ll be invigorated. You’ll be happy. I guarantee it.
Let’s go!
I don’t really write much about politics around here. Every time I do end up calling this president a fucking fucktard. (There I go again!).
Tomorrow is Super Tuesday when a lot of states hold their primaries for each political party to assign delegates for a particular presidential candidate. I think it’s about twenty states that hold these primaries or caucuses. Here in Maryland, we don’t have ours until the 12th, but by then the presidential race may have been decided by tomorrow’s poll results.
Even if it was Maryland’s primary day tomorrow, I can’t go because they are not open to registered independents. Thats’s right. I am not associated with a particular party. I sit on the fence and perhaps choose who I think is the best which is strange because I pretty much vote a straight Democrat ticket except for the judges who I don’t even know how they get on the ballot in the first place.
This is all prelude to letting you know that I am endorsing Barack Obama for president. For me, he stands the idea of change. We don’t need another set of royals running the country. It would be 12 years of Bush rule (excluding 8 years of GHWB VP) and 16 years of Clinton rule if Hilary can get elected twice.
That’s too long to see executive power confined to these two families. We need some new blood.
Now, I have some reservations about him. Mostly that he preaches some kind of cross partisan unity. We don’t need any of that. We need a Democratic party leader to put the fucking Republicans in their place. Make them a withered, destroyed, desolate party in full rather than just the souless one they currently play. And he doesn’t really ask for that. I don’t think any Dems are asking for that, but payback is a bitch.
I want change. Perhaps Obama can bring it to us.
When theSeed, CapitolSwell and I were on the infamous cruise of 2001, the first city was Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the first things I noticed about that place was the amount of cyclists on the road. I was surprised to see dedicated bike lanes for them. Later on I find out that Copenhagen is one of the more cycling friendly of world cities.Here's a blog about the cycling culture there: http://cycleliciousness.blogspot.com/.Here's another about the girls over there cycling: http://copenhagengirlsonbikes.blogspot.com/.I'm so envious. What a way to commute! It's probably much better going on a bike to any activity that involves a car. Going to the cine on a bike. Going to a pub. Drunken biking afterwards. Tooling around the city shopping. Then drinking some café au laits. Even in the winter it sounds like fun.I've got to get on my bicycle soon.
