Today's High and Low

OK, first the low...

Finished the ride down Monticello and decided to take this lake trail in
Saunders-Mont. Park. It looked great:

http://www.people.virginia.edu/~slj/pond.jpg
(note, large file, but suitable for wallpaper. (1544x1024), imo.)

As I come around the bend the "road" is deteriorating, and I'm bumping
along (setting up the excuse), and it kind of abruptly goes up to the
highway, and I wanted to either go around it, or go back up to the crushed
granite section and then to the car.

So at the point where you see that little orange tree in the upper left
corner, I decide to ride up on the grass and circle the tree and have a
U-turn. Fortunately, I'm going like 1mph, b/c as soon as I turn the
handlebars, I fall over like the guy from laugh-in (Arte Johnson), on his
tricycle (hidden bank cut blocked the wheel). D'oh. At that point, I'm
thinking 'yeranidiot...but at least nobody saw you'. Then my right calf
starts to cramp. Not the calf, but the little muscle that pulls your foot
into a blade, toe up.

As I'm lying there like a demented turtle, I look up and there this long
line of cars going up Rt 56 looking right at me...like I'm the carnival
attraction.

I want to get up and be nonchalant, but couldn't b/c of the cramp - it's
the kind you need to stand on your foot to get out. Couldn't reach my foot
with my hand...nothing. Then I start laughing and still trying to do a
situp, which makes it worse!

Eventually I got back on the bike, waved to everyone, and everything was
fine. (d'oh).

Now the high:
Half-way down the S-M Trail:
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~slj/trailmap1.jpg

There's a cut up the mountainside, making a corkscrew/curlycue to a little
observation point. (Carter Overlook). I had missed this on the first 2
rides.

Normally I like to climb seated, but this is about twice (wild ass
reckoning) as steep as the 4-5% trail. I went up it and had to stand
immediately - didn't even get to 'think' about it.

At about 100yds, I sit and get about 5 rpm, and then have to stand again,
but things are going fine...then I see it's about twice as far up this
pitch as I thought. So I get back in the saddle, and just try to relax, and
use every 'trick' I know, and try to smooth this out.

At 30 yds and a full 180 curl to go, I have this thought. 'Am I not going
to make this?' It passes in a second, as I realize 'dude, you can't walk on
your bad hip, you -have- to make this', and something inside shifts gears
(thank gawd), and I'm at the top. It's a neat horseshoe shaped wall, with a
dart-board type of patio, or compass pattern circular patio. Well worth any
effort. I had the cell and not the camera, so I'll get a pic tomorrow if
anyone is interested.

So I call my brother, on a lark, and he picks up the phone.

I suddenly realize I can't talk and am just breathing heavy into the phone
like an obscene phone call!!

He goes 'who is this!!', like all suspicious.

Then, of course I start laughing and choking and can't talk at all. ;-D

Fortunately, he stays on the line, and realizes it's me.

Suddenly, I realize I have to uh, take a screaming ****. I say 'hold on, I
have to run into the woods'.

I hear him saying 'what, huh?' off in the distance.

What a strange brother he must think I am. lol.

Anyway, that was fun!

-B
As soon as I got to the woods, I didn't have to anymore, but now my glasses
were all steamed up and I couldn't see where I was going...(insert more
laughing and falling over).

Badger_South wrote:
--snippity--
What a strange brother he must think I am. lol.

Anyway, that was fun!

-B
As soon as I got to the woods, I didn't have to anymore, but now my glasses
were all steamed up and I couldn't see where I was going...(insert more
laughing and falling over).

*snorfle*

What a perfect example of the kind of things people do on an
endorphin high. Hehe.

-km

--
Only cowards fight kids -- unidentified Moscow protester

http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts
proud to be owned by a yorkie

Badger_South wrote:
|| OK, first the low...
||
|| Finished the ride down Monticello and decided to take this lake
|| trail in Saunders-Mont. Park. It looked great:
||
|| http://www.people.virginia.edu/~slj/pond.jpg
|| (note, large file, but suitable for wallpaper. (1544x1024), imo.)
||
|| As I come around the bend the "road" is deteriorating, and I'm
|| bumping along (setting up the excuse), and it kind of abruptly goes
|| up to the highway, and I wanted to either go around it, or go back
|| up to the crushed granite section and then to the car.
||
|| So at the point where you see that little orange tree in the upper
|| left corner, I decide to ride up on the grass and circle the tree
|| and have a U-turn. Fortunately, I'm going like 1mph, b/c as soon as
|| I turn the handlebars, I fall over like the guy from laugh-in (Arte
|| Johnson), on his tricycle (hidden bank cut blocked the wheel). D'oh.
|| At that point, I'm thinking 'yeranidiot...but at least nobody saw
|| you'. Then my right calf starts to cramp. Not the calf, but the
|| little muscle that pulls your foot into a blade, toe up.
||
|| As I'm lying there like a demented turtle, I look up and there this
|| long line of cars going up Rt 56 looking right at me...like I'm the
|| carnival attraction.
||
|| I want to get up and be nonchalant, but couldn't b/c of the cramp -
|| it's the kind you need to stand on your foot to get out. Couldn't
|| reach my foot with my hand...nothing. Then I start laughing and
|| still trying to do a situp, which makes it worse!
||
|| Eventually I got back on the bike, waved to everyone, and everything
|| was fine. (d'oh).
||
|| Now the high:
|| Half-way down the S-M Trail:
|| http://www.people.virginia.edu/~slj/trailmap1.jpg
||
|| There's a cut up the mountainside, making a corkscrew/curlycue to a
|| little observation point. (Carter Overlook). I had missed this on
|| the first 2 rides.
||
|| Normally I like to climb seated, but this is about twice (wild ass
|| reckoning) as steep as the 4-5% trail. I went up it and had to stand
|| immediately - didn't even get to 'think' about it.
||
|| At about 100yds, I sit and get about 5 rpm, and then have to stand
|| again, but things are going fine...then I see it's about twice as
|| far up this pitch as I thought. So I get back in the saddle, and
|| just try to relax, and use every 'trick' I know, and try to smooth
|| this out.
||
|| At 30 yds and a full 180 curl to go, I have this thought. 'Am I not
|| going to make this?' It passes in a second, as I realize 'dude, you
|| can't walk on your bad hip, you -have- to make this', and something
|| inside shifts gears (thank gawd), and I'm at the top. It's a neat
|| horseshoe shaped wall, with a dart-board type of patio, or compass
|| pattern circular patio. Well worth any effort. I had the cell and
|| not the camera, so I'll get a pic tomorrow if anyone is interested.
||
|| So I call my brother, on a lark, and he picks up the phone.
||
|| I suddenly realize I can't talk and am just breathing heavy into the
|| phone like an obscene phone call!!
||
|| He goes 'who is this!!', like all suspicious.
||
|| Then, of course I start laughing and choking and can't talk at all.
|| ;-D
||
|| Fortunately, he stays on the line, and realizes it's me.
||
|| Suddenly, I realize I have to uh, take a screaming ****. I say 'hold
|| on, I have to run into the woods'.
||
|| I hear him saying 'what, huh?' off in the distance.
||
|| What a strange brother he must think I am. lol.
||
|| Anyway, that was fun!
||
|| -B
|| As soon as I got to the woods, I didn't have to anymore, but now my
|| glasses were all steamed up and I couldn't see where I was
|| going...(insert more laughing and falling over).

Damn, Badge!

Badger_South wrote:
|| OK, first the low...
||
|| Finished the ride down Monticello and decided to take this lake
|| trail in Saunders-Mont. Park. It looked great:
||
|| http://www.people.virginia.edu/~slj/pond.jpg
|| (note, large file, but suitable for wallpaper. (1544x1024), imo.)

Nice view.

||
|| As I come around the bend the "road" is deteriorating, and I'm
|| bumping along (setting up the excuse), and it kind of abruptly goes
|| up to the highway, and I wanted to either go around it, or go back
|| up to the crushed granite section and then to the car.
||
|| So at the point where you see that little orange tree in the upper
|| left corner, I decide to ride up on the grass and circle the tree
|| and have a U-turn. Fortunately, I'm going like 1mph, b/c as soon as
|| I turn the handlebars, I fall over like the guy from laugh-in (Arte
|| Johnson), on his tricycle (hidden bank cut blocked the wheel). D'oh.
|| At that point, I'm thinking 'yeranidiot...but at least nobody saw
|| you'. Then my right calf starts to cramp. Not the calf, but the
|| little muscle that pulls your foot into a blade, toe up.
||
|| As I'm lying there like a demented turtle, I look up and there this
|| long line of cars going up Rt 56 looking right at me...like I'm the
|| carnival attraction.
||
|| I want to get up and be nonchalant, but couldn't b/c of the cramp -
|| it's the kind you need to stand on your foot to get out. Couldn't
|| reach my foot with my hand...nothing. Then I start laughing and
|| still trying to do a situp, which makes it worse!
||
|| Eventually I got back on the bike, waved to everyone, and everything
|| was fine. (d'oh).

Hey - I was at an intersection a few weeks ago. I was going to rest my
right foot on the curb while waiting for the light to change. Well, said
foot decided to get clipped back in at the last moment, so I fell over on my
side. I hopped up quickly as if I meant to do that. I wanted to get back
on the bike too, but I noticed I had foobarred up the chain. So I had to
diddle with that before I could continue. Meanwhile, some cutie is spying
me from behind in my tights and wondering if I know what I'm doing out
there.

||
|| Now the high:
|| Half-way down the S-M Trail:
|| http://www.people.virginia.edu/~slj/trailmap1.jpg
||
|| There's a cut up the mountainside, making a corkscrew/curlycue to a
|| little observation point. (Carter Overlook). I had missed this on
|| the first 2 rides.
||
|| Normally I like to climb seated, but this is about twice (wild ass
|| reckoning) as steep as the 4-5% trail. I went up it and had to stand
|| immediately - didn't even get to 'think' about it.
||
|| At about 100yds, I sit and get about 5 rpm, and then have to stand
|| again, but things are going fine...then I see it's about twice as
|| far up this pitch as I thought. So I get back in the saddle, and
|| just try to relax, and use every 'trick' I know, and try to smooth
|| this out.
||
|| At 30 yds and a full 180 curl to go, I have this thought. 'Am I not
|| going to make this?' It passes in a second, as I realize 'dude, you
|| can't walk on your bad hip, you -have- to make this', and something
|| inside shifts gears (thank gawd), and I'm at the top. It's a neat
|| horseshoe shaped wall, with a dart-board type of patio, or compass
|| pattern circular patio. Well worth any effort. I had the cell and
|| not the camera, so I'll get a pic tomorrow if anyone is interested.
||
|| So I call my brother, on a lark, and he picks up the phone.
||
|| I suddenly realize I can't talk and am just breathing heavy into the
|| phone like an obscene phone call!!
||
|| He goes 'who is this!!', like all suspicious.
||
|| Then, of course I start laughing and choking and can't talk at all.
|| ;-D
||
|| Fortunately, he stays on the line, and realizes it's me.
||
|| Suddenly, I realize I have to uh, take a screaming ****. I say 'hold
|| on, I have to run into the woods'.
||
|| I hear him saying 'what, huh?' off in the distance.
||
|| What a strange brother he must think I am. lol.
||
|| Anyway, that was fun!
||
|| -B
|| As soon as I got to the woods, I didn't have to anymore, but now my
|| glasses were all steamed up and I couldn't see where I was
|| going...(insert more laughing and falling over).

Are you sure you hadn't had one too many beers, Badge?

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 07:07:10 -0400, "Roger Zoul"
wrote:

Damn, Badge!


Hey Rog, I was wondering if you had disappeared into the aether...

That was a great ride, and a giddy one, as you no doubt discerned. bfg

BTW, yesterday, I did that same short, but (for me) steep climb to the
observation point in the next harder gear, at a faster spin, and totally
seated in the saddle. Dayum! I could -not- do it seated the day before, and
by all accounts, I was fresher.

Though I'm trying to do a 'tear-down' week, I keep getting better...I
mean...I still suck by normal standards, but so much better condition and
performance than Wednesday's ride. It's puzzling...but I'm not complaining.

What's nice about that trail is that -nobody- seems to ride it on a bike!
I'm telling ya, after a year of dodging dog walkers and peds, to be out on
the streets doing the hills, and -now- on a trail steep enough that few
people try to walk it, and fewer still try to bike it...I...I..feel 3733T!
g

I've seen one biker in the parking lot (never saw 'em again), and one biker
standing on the trail, off the bike, about 100 yds up it.

Today, it's 46deg and drizzling....perfect!! I'll have the streets and
trails to myself. Nobody but we gnarly bikers will be out in this.

-B

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 07:12:01 -0400, "Roger Zoul"
wrote:

| Eventually I got back on the bike, waved to everyone, and everything
|| was fine. (d'oh).

Hey - I was at an intersection a few weeks ago. I was going to rest my
right foot on the curb while waiting for the light to change. Well, said
foot decided to get clipped back in at the last moment, so I fell over on my
side. I hopped up quickly as if I meant to do that. I wanted to get back
on the bike too, but I noticed I had foobarred up the chain. So I had to
diddle with that before I could continue. Meanwhile, some cutie is spying
me from behind in my tights and wondering if I know what I'm doing out
there.

You had a cutie in your tights? Boohaw for you, big guy! g

Really, I don't mind having a laugh at myself, but, really, my bike
handling is improving. I'm serious! hehe My brother, on the other hand
delights in making fun of me. He had me in tears, laughing, b/c he was
proposing coming up and Cam-cordering me, and calling it: "Duct Tape
Extreme", the adventures of Badger "Camo Duct Tape" Johnson. lol.

|| As soon as I got to the woods, I didn't have to anymore, but now my
|| glasses were all steamed up and I couldn't see where I was
|| going...(insert more laughing and falling over).

Are you sure you hadn't had one too many beers, Badge?

I do not partake of the bubbly, my friend. I'm so squeeky clean, don't
drink, smoke, nothing...ok, lots of vitamins, and I've played with Andro
twice, but I don't have many vices except maybe eating too much icecream.

KM says it was endorphins, and I'm inclined to agree!

-B

In article ,
Badger_South writes:

Are you sure you hadn't had one too many beers, Badge?

I do not partake of the bubbly, my friend. I'm so squeeky clean, don't
drink, smoke, nothing...ok, lots of vitamins, and I've played with Andro
twice, but I don't have many vices except maybe eating too much icecream.

KM says it was endorphins, and I'm inclined to agree!

It looks like you may have finally found your
cycling equivalent to Runners' High.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 09:11:12 -0700, (Tom Keats) wrote:

In article ,
Badger_South writes:

Are you sure you hadn't had one too many beers, Badge?

I do not partake of the bubbly, my friend. I'm so squeeky clean, don't
drink, smoke, nothing...ok, lots of vitamins, and I've played with Andro
twice, but I don't have many vices except maybe eating too much icecream.

KM says it was endorphins, and I'm inclined to agree!

It looks like you may have finally found your
cycling equivalent to Runners' High.


cheers,
Tom

Getting there. ;-D

As Claire P. pointed out, though, it starts to take more and more to bring
it out as time goes by.

(Actually some of that is b/c I'm changing my sleep pattern a bit.
Experimenting on riding with different amts of sleep. Also diet changes,
leaving me a little giddy, generally. But it's all of the good.)

-B
cuz I'm retired, and I can do what I want! ;-

Badger_South wrote:
|| On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 07:07:10 -0400, "Roger Zoul"
|| wrote:
||
||| Damn, Badge!
|||
||
|| Hey Rog, I was wondering if you had disappeared into the aether...
||
|| That was a great ride, and a giddy one, as you no doubt discerned.
|| bfg
||
|| BTW, yesterday, I did that same short, but (for me) steep climb to
|| the observation point in the next harder gear, at a faster spin, and
|| totally seated in the saddle. Dayum! I could -not- do it seated the
|| day before, and by all accounts, I was fresher.
||
|| Though I'm trying to do a 'tear-down' week, I keep getting better...I
|| mean...I still suck by normal standards, but so much better
|| condition and performance than Wednesday's ride. It's puzzling...but
|| I'm not complaining.
||
|| What's nice about that trail is that -nobody- seems to ride it on a
|| bike! I'm telling ya, after a year of dodging dog walkers and peds,
|| to be out on the streets doing the hills, and -now- on a trail steep
|| enough that few people try to walk it, and fewer still try to bike
|| it...I...I..feel 3733T! g
||
|| I've seen one biker in the parking lot (never saw 'em again), and
|| one biker standing on the trail, off the bike, about 100 yds up it.
||
|| Today, it's 46deg and drizzling....perfect!! I'll have the streets
|| and trails to myself. Nobody but we gnarly bikers will be out in
|| this.
||
|| -B

Damn, dude. That is totally too cool. I'm green with envy!

Believe me, though, I so 'get' what you are saying about how it feels to
actually improve over time. That, in and of itself, is motivation enough to
keep at it. Top it with the sheer fun of it and it goes over the top. I
kinda (yeah, only kinda) wish I was retired so I could devote more time to
cycling.

I had to go out of time this weekend (so no riding) and then I'm out again
next week. Argh! I still have a century planned for December 4, though, so
I have definitely some more riding to do.

Badger_South wrote:
So at the point where you see that little orange tree in the upper left
corner, I decide to ride up on the grass and circle the tree and have a
U-turn. Fortunately, I'm going like 1mph, b/c as soon as I turn the
handlebars, I fall over like the guy from laugh-in (Arte Johnson), on his
tricycle (hidden bank cut blocked the wheel).


I almost did that at the crest of a hill this morning.
Decided to make a quick U-turn before the car behind me
and the car in front of me got to where I'd have to stop
and wait. Problem is, the center line has these pylons
on it because one lane is being mined for sewer pipe.
The rectangular wooden ones with stalks and square rubber
bases.

One of which I manage to clip with my front wheel.

I had to unclip one foot and coast straight across
the outside lane and stop with my wheel up against the
temporary fencing and hope driver of the the car in that
lane wasn't laughing so hard he wouldn't notice running
over my rear wheel.

Okay. Maybe it isn't the same kind of crash, but it's
the same day.

--Blair
"I was thinking 'I just
BOUGHT this helmet!'"