The in mid-June you see a lot of sidewalks and parking lots stained with mulberries. Around here most people perceive them as a seasonal mess that is forgotten by the first week of July. I decided to try to make something from it. I gathered about 2 lbs. of them from the trees overhanging Moveeable Feasts’ parking lot. They come down easily, when you touch them they fall. Sometimes I enshrouded a whole branch in my bag and shook all the berries off. Next year I’ll lay down a tarp and shake the whole tree. You’d have too many in a minute.
I indulged myself and took a self-portrait with all of my sweet people.
We had a great day at the lake. It was like a short vacation, and it was perfect. The lake was very cold and refreshing. Carol brought some crostata, rustic fruit pies, which I love. I took video of all sorts of summery, beachy details. I had an iced coffee from Peet’s, which you don’t see too much around here. And our dinner was wood fired pizza from a nearby Trattoria… and gelato down the street. We came home sunny, sandy and tired. Very nice all-around.
On one of my local bike rides there’s a section that is magical. It’s dense woods with a ferny undergrowth. It’s so peaceful and barely any light makes it through the trees. It’s about 15 degrees cooler in there. I always ride slower and soak it in. My favorite place on earth… it’s called Bliss Woods, really. The only downside, there’s a shooting range just over the rise, so just when you think you’ve landed on the most peaceful terra ever, a gunshhot wakes you up.
One of the memories that always comes up when I’m in Bliss Woods is of my first experience of this type of wooded realm. In the Summer of 1985 we were in the East Coast for about a month and the older kids were free to explore the woods most of the time. Coming from California, I had never been anywhere so green and lush, and moist. It was really a new world for us. Vines, fallen trees, trickles of water dribbling everywhere. I guess every time I’m in woods, I feel that same wonder again.
I didn’t take a lot of photos because I was more inclined to take short video clips. I only did that for a short portion of the first day, when things were still light and easy.
Here is a video that I slapped together for memory, etc. Next time I will make an effort to capture the whole scene including the hard, sweaty bits.
The big ride (Tour of the Mississippi River Valley) for the Summer came and went. When it was all over everyone was happy to live through it.
The first day we rode 69 miles of hilly terrain. It was hot and humid, and we struggled to stay hydrated and energized. I found that I was able to eat just about any amount of food and my body burned it without much inpact on my glucose levels. It was pretty fun to eat carbs left and right. We were sweating so much that we drank several bottles of electrolyte drink and never had to make any bathroom stops. It was definitely a relief to climb the final hill in Dubuque, IA and find our dorm rooms for the night. They had a great banquet for everyone that night and you could tell everyone was happy and tired.
The second day only required us to travel 47 miles, but some of the hills were a mile or two long, so there were a few sections with some challenge in them. The real challenge on the second day was the weather conditions. About on third the way through, a storm front moved in. We were riding in the driving rain, and then had to pull over and take cover from lighting about three times. I had put my packable jacket in one of the guys bags, but luckily, it was warm enough that being wet was comfortable and actually took the sting out of climing hills. We had some high winds and pelting rain that almost blew us off the road, and one of the guys in our group was minorly struck by lightning. I was a bit nervous going down the big hills with wet pavement and wet brakes, so I was glad I had a good bike. Our descents on some of those hills got us up around 40 mph. I was all about those brakes.
My favorite part about the ride was the physical challenge that really pushed me. I realized how seldom I have that opportunity, and it was exhilerating to do it. I have to say, coming home I felt like I had survived something. I’m excited to do it again. Maybe with better conditions?
Interesting things about the ride: About 1500 people did the ride. Some chose to do the longer ride and add 40 miles to each day. They did 196 in the weekend, the rest of us did 116 miles. One guy rode a fixed gear bike for the whole ride, that means one gear and he couldn’t coast, ever. That would make even the downhills challenging. Another guy rode a bike without a seat, which meant he stood up for the entire ride. I have heard that he’s a former marathon runner and has trained to ride like a runner. I saw his bike around the college in Dubuque and it was leaned on a curb, not locked up. Who would want it? Another bike that was interesting was the streamliner. It’s a recumbent bike with a fairing built around it. It was fast. We were going about 20mph when he passed us like we were standing still.
The guys I rode with.
In costume. Roadside blood sugar test. Streamliner.
I got this bike from a neighbor for $5. It’s in great shape and is a “mixte” frame, which means it’s a step-through (some would call it a “women’s bike”, but if you like to keep your groin away from steel bars, it’s called “your bike”). It is Japanese made, Panasonic, from the 80s and has good components. It is in perfect condition, and the wheels fit my Fuji. It’s great for parts or as a a whole other build. I might update the handlebars to a more relaxed position and set it up for Carol or a bike I can leave at a bus stop if needed.
This bike was found abandoned in our neighborhood. It was unique because it is a very small frame (20″ tires) and has a Shimano deraileur with 5 gears. It was great for Simon this Fall because he could go faster on the bike path, and take on some hills. In March I stripped it down and sanded all the stickers and junk off of it. I painted it at school and then put all the stuff back together. We added new grips, and repacked all the bearings with grease. We plan on putting smooth tires on it, to help it go faster. It turned out pretty well and Simon is excited to take it out for a longer ride. He recently did 15 miles on his single-speed.
As the gas prices climb to $4.20 and up here in the midwest… like a lot of people, I’ve been much more aware of how much gas I’m using. You think more about unecessary trips and how much trips cost you. One thing that has been interesting is studying the fuel economy readout on our minivan’s console. It calculates your mpg both as an average and as a moment by moment reading. I have figured out some ways to use less gas and get a higher mpg based on the way I drive.
Here are my findings:
1.) Keeping your car in lower rpms uses less gas, that means slow accelerations, coasting and using your inertia as much as possible.
2.) Starting from a stop is the most gas guzzling thing you do. So choosing a route that has little traffic, or few signals will save you gas, even if it’s a bit further.
3.) In our van, keeping the RPMS below 2K keeps you in a pretty good zone, but really good mileage was around 1500rpms.
Our van usually averages about 17 mpg in normal around town driving. I found that, with some concentration, I was able to squeeze about 22-24 mpg on some normal local trips. So, with some changes to driving habits, that comes out to a potential of 90-125 more miles per tank. With our average driving day in the van being about 50 miles, that’s at least 2 more days before filling up. We could go from a weekly fill-up to a 10 day fill-up, maybe? One less tank of gas per month would be roughtly $70 savings. It would almost get us back to what we were spending on gas a year ago!
The last event for my Spring track gig was the Track Banquet. This would be when we give the atheletes awards and say a few words about each one. Normally this would take just a hour or two… but somehow we started a tradition of letting an undetermined number of the girls (usually seniors) come up to give their parting words. It became a stream-of-consciousness pep talk that included a lot of inspirational repetition, and memories recounted. Wow…. not to mention the slideshow that apparently included every photo taken in the last four months, and spanned about six songs. It started at 6:30 and we left at around 10pm, spent.
My good friend, Jim Little, who is the head coach, was going to announce his retirement from track, but with the late hour he just slipped out of the hall, wanting to get home quickly. He’s one of the reasons that I’ve been involved for seven years. He was good to work with, and we have enjoyed finding humor and absurdity in the strange world of Track and Field. He is cool because he has always kept me around even with the knowledge that I wasn’t really 110% coach. It was more about having a good time and caring about the kids. I doubt I will return to the team without him there.
Carol took the photo and Penny stayed up all night. Fr. John at St. Joseph’s is the editor for the magazine. We volunteered to collect some images and media from Holy Week. There you go.
I’m an enthusiastic fan of sloppy handpainted animation, but this really took me for a ride. Wow. That’s a lot of smearing and repainting. For more on the artist and his projects head to Blu
So, in my last post I was so dead set on taking the bus, that when I missed the first one, I rode to the trans center and grabbed the next one… why not just drive your car? That’s what I used to do, when I missed the bus. Only, now I don’t have a car. My car grew up and became a taxi in Guatemala. I’m expecting to see a photo of it from down there any day now. That’s another story I might tell later (with photos?).
So, instead of hastily buying a cheap/junky car, which I’m eager to not drive… We have decided to hold off and bide our time. With it being almost summer, the daily trans routines will change. I can currently get to work fairly efficiently by bus, and, better yet, bike.
Ironically, as I embarked on this car-less adventure my cell phone also went wonky. I was all over the place, at the whim of circumstance, with no way to communicate where I was or when I’d be back. It was like being a 15 year old in the 80s. Awkward, funny, strange…
Thankfully, I have a new phone (thanks, ebay) and I have developed a couple of plans for dealing with a full bike rack and a bus that doesn’t stop. Today I tried one, which was the “lock it-leave it” trick. It worked, but I felt oddly naked when I exited the bus and had to walk like a normal person for 10 minutes straight. I have to admit, a bike can make you feel like a superhero… especially on short distances.
I made it to the bus on time today, and as I stood there with my bike, my bus rolled right by. A couple people inside were smirking as they whizzed past. Why? The bike rack on the front was full. If there are two bikes on the front, the bus won’t even stop. I realized that it would have been smart to have my bike locked up, so if need be, I could go bikeless.
I called a co-worker to cover my first class, and then biked over to the transportation center where the buses originate. I figured if I snagged a bike spot on the bus there, I’d be sure to get to work. It worked. A mile down the road another bike boarded the bus. Now at full-capacity, another would-be bus-biker was shunned in Batavia. It’s so cruel, this transportation lottery. If you are lucky you get a ride, if you’
