My Other Bike Is a Tauntaun

It’s been a solid week now since last week’s bike commute home, otherwise known as “Snowfest on Wheels.” The meteorologists all said we were only supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow during the day but by 1 pm there was already 3.5 inches on the ground and it was still going. By the time us regular bike commuters suited up to go home there was 4-5 inches on the ground.

As two of my coworkers and I set out for the ride, we all knew that it was going to be an adventure. The frontage road that we start off on gets traffic, but not like a through road, so the snow was plowed and driven on just enough so you could bike on it decently well as long as watched out for patches of slick slush. Once we turned off of the frontage road the real fun began.

The Southwest Commuter Path was full of unplowed snow that was however crisscrossed with ruts from other bikes that already had made the passage through. If your balance and handling was perfect, you could stay right in the track that someone else had made. As soon as you hit the side of that rut however, you had to jerk on the handlebars to stay upright and use all of your might to stay upright. I affectionately call this “pilates on wheels” as you’re using a lot of your core muscles to stay up and moving forward. The large 2.1 inch tires on my mountain bike were not helping my progress. Neither was seeing one of my coworkers just slice through the rutted snow with his inch wide tires. Normally, my big tires can float on fresh snow. That night however there was just too much wet heavy snow and too much traffic that had gone through it.

Normally I turn off onto the street after just over a half mile of the bike path, but when it snows enough I continue on the path and do my “snow route,” which takes me just a half mile further than my normal route. I struggled with my coworkers on another mile or so of path before I turned off onto another path that cuts along a golf course runs to a decent traveled road. As soon as I turned off, I hit rough snow and had to jump off and walk. Because of the rough snow, I wasn’t able to get back on the bike and ride so I had to trudge through the snow, dragging the bike to the road. Once I hit the road, I took to the sidewalk and the trudge continued. I finally got to a section of sidewalk that was freshly run through with a snowblower (I waved to the homeowner) and was able to mount my bike again and get going. Sure there was some covered sidewalks, but the snow was fresh enough to plow through, fresh enough that it was fun riding. Eventually I crossed the busy intersection that ends this stretch of route and made my way to a less traveled bike path beginning at a YMCA and running to my part of the city.

This bike path had far less action before I got there. There were only two sets of wheel tracks and one set of footprints (pretty sure it was someone pushing one of those aforementioned bikes). The snow was fresh and pristine so I got bulldoze through the snow in a good clip. Most of the time the snow was around the 4 inch mark, but every now and then there would be a drift that the snow was hub high. At those points I just had to build up momentum beforehand and hold on as I went through. The worst part was the hills, which normally are quite small. However, with all of the dense snow bogging the bike down, that simple small incline turned into a mountain. It’s been a long time since I biked (or did any exercise for that matter) that made me dry heave, but I needed that type of effort to even attempt to get up the ascent. On both of the two “major” hills, I needed to get off about ¾ of the way up to catch my breath and start walking. I know I stopped a third time somewhere along that stretch of path just from being so tired.

After the YMCA bike path, I was in the homestretch and had just a mile of road before home. Here I just took the road and dealt with the few cars that shared it with me. The road really wasn’t that bad – here I realized I should have just stayed on the roads and taken my normal route home. I biked that small stretch home and only stopped for a stoplight, where I’m sure all of the drivers around me thought I was crazy. At home, I opened the garage door and grabbed the ice scraper brush. I had to do something to dust all of the snow from the bike.

Once I managed to trudge up the stairs to our apartment, take a shower, and change, I felt completely dead. It took me a half hour longer to get home and I hate to fight to stay awake at only 7 pm. Still with that said, what did I do the next morning? I jumped on my bike and began another day of bike commuting.

Freedom

The other day at work I had a phone conversation with a woman about many different topics on cycling. Initially it was just a call for a simple warranty part, but it turned out to be a half hour phone call. Among many other things, we talked about the topic of riding tandems with our significant others, the appeal of old bikes, and our habit of browsing bike shops even when we don’t need anything. However, it came up in the conversation how she couldn’t get her teenage kids out on their bikes even though she and her husband were very active cyclists. We basically shared our disappointment that kids today just don’t have the same relationship with a bike as kids of generations before.

I’ll be the first to say that I – growing up in the generation of TV, Nintendo, and early computers – probably didn’t ride my bike as much as some other kids, but at least I did. I knew someone in college that never even learned how to ride a bike! This was so appalling to me (and as well to others) because learning to ride a bike is a universal rite of passage. You learn to talk, you learn to walk, you learn to drink out of a big cup, and you learn how to ride a bike. (Ok, maybe there are a few others in there.) While as the others only welcome you on your way to adulthood, learning to bike gives you something much more – FREEDOM. For me it was freedom to ride over to my Grandma’s house, jump a dirt pile in the back yard, and do whatever else on two wheels. For others living in a city, it was maybe leaving home on your bike in the morning with some friends, getting into trouble on the other side of town, and biking back home just in time for dinner. With a bike, you could go anywhere and do anything.

That night on the bike ride home, I decided to ride with some of my coworkers toward downtown just to have a bit more of a ride instead of going straight home. Originally I said I would just turn around at the first place the bike path crossed a road, but then I kept going. My turn-around point kept get pushed further and further and eventually I just said, “It’s going to be easier if I just ride downtown and loop back home on another path.” Upon reaching downtown, my coworkers split off to go home and I was left to enjoy my ride. I figured that since I was downtown I could ride through campus and say hello to my wife. Even though we saw each other for just a few minutes it was worth seeing her surprised face. I then journeyed back to the apartment pedaling on bike path or zigzagging my way through suburban streets. It was one of those rides where I got off the bike, walked into the garage, and, having so many different emotions and thoughts in my head, just nodded and said, “Yeah…that was good.”

“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.”

- HG Wells

Catching Up

Now this is sad. I know I haven't updated this in quite awhile, but February? Really, it's been that long?? I was thinking more along the lines of sometime in March...

Well maybe I should do a quick list of some of the major things that have happened since then:

- Crazylegs Classic, April 25th - an annual 8K in Madison that I did with a friend of mine (at that time also Joan's roommate) It was quite fun for me to run in the rain (always love it) but she needed some convincing.

- Madison Marathon, May 24th - Days and weeks after the race, I kept referring to it as a "non-event," which should be considered odd for a race of 26.2 miles. Working up to race day, I was getting burned out on running - so much that I didn't care. I also didn't train enough, mostly not long enough. The actual marathon went great...for the first half anyway. I felt great for the first 13.1 miles, but then got to the halfway marker to realize I went out too fast. If I remember right, I was about 10 minutes ahead of where I should have been. From then on it was just a mix of running/waddling/walking to the finish. My end time was 4:50:30, my worst marathon time, not far from an hour behind what I ran at Marine Corps. Oh well, at least I finished.

- Biking to work - Yes, not really an event like the others, yet something to be talked about. Although, I didn't bike everyday through the summer, I did do it pretty consistently through July and August. I always wanted to start bike commuting more but just never did it. However, after my car got a flat tire one weekend, it just pushed me over the edge. I was just sick of dealing with my car. I haven't been so good about biking in lately, but I'm hoping to jump back on track this week. I'm also trying to fix up Ol' Blue (my old '78 Schwinn Traveler) to be my main commuting bike so I don't always beat up my nicer road bike.

- Dousman Duathlon, Sept 20th - This was probably my highlight of the season. I had never done a multi-sport race before so I didn't really know what to expect. The race was comprised of a 2 mile run, a 20 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. Conservatively, I was hoping for a time of a time around 1 hour and 40 minutes. The first run leg I probably ran too fast, but I was pulling back the reigns some to keep enough gas for the rest of the race. Looking back I could have made the fist transition faster, but being my first race I just wanted to take my time and not get caught up in racing. My bike leg was awesome, passing a lot of people along the way. I knew the biking was going to be my strong part, but I was just flying. It really felt good to be passing all the tri-geeks on their super bikes with aero-bars and carbon deep-rim wheels, especially since I was just using my normal road bike and my normal training wheels. Gaining confidence from the great bike ride, I sped up my transition and got running as quick as I could. Running after biking always hurts and this was no exception. My legs were dead but I just kept going. As long as I was passing just as many people as were passing me than I was doing good. During the last mile, I was coughing and dry heaving, but I just shook it off. I did have a final sprint for the finish line, as I always do in a race, but not as long of a sprint as usual. Still I finished with a time of 1:35:24, a time that I was quite excited about.

Well I think that gets things caught up for the most part. I did want to write more, but I think I'll do that in another post that I promise to do soon...

New Look

So I decided to try on a new look for my blog. I was getting a bit tired of the old look, especially with the disco dots and, in my opinion, some sort of The Price is Right flair. Anyway, I'm liking the design of the new layout but feel free to leave your comments and let me know what you think.

"Things do not change; we change."
- Henry David Thoreau

Can It Be Spring Yet?

I guess not.

After enjoying temperatures in the high 40s and even in the 50s last weekend, it snowed Friday night and then dropped into the 20s. Then this Thursday the forecast is for a possible 2-6 inches of snow. It’s alright since we’ll be leaving for the Twin Cites for the weekend, but it better be drivable. There’s no way I’m missing Flogging Molly again. But anyway, back to the topic at hand. It was so nice doing my 12 miler in just one layer of tights and sans jacket last weekend, that I really don’t like the thought of doing longer runs back in the snow and cold temps. I’ve had enough of that.

On the bright side of things I’m doing alright on my New Year’s resolutions. Yep, I did actually make some and yep, I am just first mentioning resolutions now a month and a half into the New Year. Ok, ok, so maybe doing more frequent blog updates should be included…

1) Lose 30 pounds – Already lost 5!

2) Finish a marathon under 4 hours – Don’t think it’ll be the Madison Marathon in May but doing it at the TC Marathon is a definite possibility.

3) Eat better

a) Salad every other day – Mostly doing this

b) Oatmeal ever other day – Granola counts right??

c) No fried food – Not any that I can think of

d) Have pizza no more than twice a month – On track, and surprisingly not missing pizza at all.

e) Make real dinners – a.k.a. ones that actually give you leftovers; not ones that come pre-made from the freezer section

4) Run a total of 1000 miles in the year – should happen

5) Some sort of biking milestone – Bike commute 1000 miles? Ride the bike 1000 miles? Put more mileage on the bikes than on my car?

As far as eating better, I made thing of Tater Tot Casserole the other night and have made a new favorite – sweet potato fries – a few times now. I guess I’ve always like sweet potato fries since discovering them in of all places, the cafeteria at Luther. My homemade fries are super tasty with the curry ketchup that I get at Bavaria Sausage, a German grocery / butcher shop. Of course, I also get my ration of brötchen (German hard rolls) and salami there as well.

While I’m on the topic of food, I have to mention two other things as well. First at Pasqual’s (a small local Mexican restaurant chain) I had their tamale burrito. Tamales hands down are my favorite Mexican dish and coincidentally enough I ordered there 3 tamale meal last time we were there. However, I couldn’t pass up the ridiculous but delicious idea of the tamale burrito. So imagine – take a flour tortilla, cover it with refried beans, lettuce and tomato, and then most importantly flop a chicken tamale in the middle and roll it up. Of course it was too big to pick up and eat, but really, you can’t complain having edible gluttony all rolled up for your enjoyment.

Second, this weekend while grocery shopping, I discovered two beers that have become new favorites. Both brews were by the New Glarus Brewery, just from the town of New Glarus, down the road from Madison. Both the Berliner Weiss and the Bohemian Lager are part of the brewery’s “Unplugged” series, limited time only beers where they basically just let their brewmaster go loose. The Berliner Weiss is a golden Euro styled pilsner that’s simply just right. Nice blend of hops, caramel, and malt tones. The Berliner Weiss is a strange beast that I’m not sure if I can simply call a beer. It’s made with Pinot Grigio and Riesling grapes as well as Wisconsin white wheat. As noted on the bottle, Napoleon once called the style of beer the “Champagne of the north,” and I’m not going to disagree with the short-statured Frenchie. I would rather open a bottle of this on a special occasion then popping open a bottle of Champagne. It’s a slow drinking beer, in part to it’s complexity but also due to an addictive tart sweetness. If you find either of these beers in the beer aisle near you, don’t hesitate; put them in your cart!

"Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!"

- Martin Luther (joking a bit of course)

Epic

“You’re gonna die.” When you hear those words, you know a run is going to be epic. Sure it’s an exaggeration, but really it means that a person (or people in this case) think that you are absolutely crazy, and/or stupid, for going out and running. Now, I’ve had epics before – a 20 miler in a downpour comes to mind – but I’ve never run when it was 4 degrees and snowing. Sure I was cold, sure I was wet, but I wouldn’t have changed things one bit.

It’s these epic runs that really make you stop thinking about running and start thinking about, well, anything and everything else. The conditions are so extreme that it distracts you from paying attention to every foot strike, every breath, or even your time. Today my mind wandered. First, I saw another set of footprints in the snow. “Are these somehow mine?” I thought to myself. Then of course, “Maybe I can catch up to whoever it is.” However, eventually they veered off the road to the snow-less shoulder and then disappeared.

Desperately glancing around for the lost tracks, I looked up and saw a fox watching me from up the road. Now, rarely do you ever see a fox, and am unable to remember the last time I’ve seen one, or for that matter if I have ever even at all. This does seem odd to me that although growing up on a farm and usually seeing multitudes of wildlife, my memory file seems to be blank in the fox category. In any case, my fox friend disappeared as well, running into the woods hopefully to be seen another day.

Wanderings often turn into perseverance to finish out a run strong. Still, I didn’t think of every little technical aspect of the run, I just gave it all I had. It becomes a battle against the weather. Each gust of wind, each eyeful of snowflakes just made me hunker down more and just go. Sure the weather threw a few good blows with snow covered ice patches, but I ultimately came out the victor. I ran my best 3 mile time since picking up running again and had a blast doing it.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

- "The Charge of the Light Brigade," Alfred, Lord Tennyson

You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

Those sorry sorry souls. Every night I drive past them. Dozens of runners at the YMCA running on treadmills, going nowhere. They just remain there in one place the whole time. Sure they have the treadmills all lined up by the window so it seems like they’re running outside, but really come on. They’re just a bunch of lab rats on their little spinning wheels. Really, they should just be flushed. You’ve spent how much money on a gym membership just to run by a window, pretending you’re outside? (Especially for a window view of the beltline highways!)You could have spent the same amount of money or less on some cold weather running gear, maybe a light or two, and hell maybe even still had the cash for Wii Fit if you needed some extra entertainment. What’s so wrong with exercising outdoors anymore?!

Is it snowing? I think I’ll go for a run. Rain? Hmm, a run might be nice. Sub-zero temperatures? Fancy that, a warming scamper around the block will warm things right up. Just stop complaining, stop making excuses, stop thinking and GO!

I’ve already run through just about everything this winter and it’s more than a week till Christmas. Last week we had seven inches of snow, today it was negative degree wind-chills. Rough weather sure, but nothing that layering, donning a face mask, and wearing some wool socks doesn’t fix. Plus, the difficult miles I put in now will only make the miles easier come marathon in May.

Oh, did I mention any of that yet? So yes, I’m planning on doing the Madison Marathon at the end of May. First off, I’m about thirty pounds overweight and second off I haven’t done a marathon since fall of ’06. Basically a marathon was way beyond due. I’m just going to run it to get back into a exercise schedule again and, as I’ve said to a few people, to make friends with running again. I’d like to finish under four hours but if I don’t I’m not going to hate myself.

I’m also playing with the idea of doing the Twin Cities Marathon in October as well. Any cycling passion has been seriously dulled by a daily beating of it at work. Just like I used a bike-less semester in DC a few years back to accomplish the goal of simply finishing a marathon, I’ll use this to qualify – or to see how close I can get to qualifying – for the Boston Marathon. Now, the qualifying time for my age group is 3:10. Right now that’s incredibly fast. Of course, I don’t think it’ll be this next year, possibly not even the next. However, I want to see for myself if 3:10 is impossibly fast. I don’t know, and I won’t know, until I try and push myself to go for it.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
- Will Rogers