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AG: Aunt Granny's Advice, or How to become an elderly cyclist:



 
 
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  #961  
Old June 10th 19, 02:45 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
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Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Scraping the notes


At the bottom of the first page of my notes on Tue 4 June 2019: "AG:
overtaken stop pedal".

At the time, that was enough to remind me of what I meant to write
about being overtaken by a larger vehicle, but right now all I can
remember is that it's often a good idea to stop pedalling once it's on
your left so as to shorten the time spent beside it.

There's a lot more to it, but it's pushing bedtime and I'm not very
bright. Perhaps I'll open my training diary and transcribe the notes
that have been accumulating for a couple of months.

At least I've been geting out! The roads were slick the whole winter;
writing notes faster than I can process them is a real luxury.

Reminds me of the cellphone discussion raging over on bikes.tech -- I
write the time at every stop, except when I forget, so I consult my
cellphone frequently on every ride. Writing the time was originally
part of a scheme to get my top speed above five miles per hour, but I
haven't had time to calculate my speeds recently.

I also use the phone to reassure my spouse that I'm not lying in a
ditch waiting for a road crew to notice my red scarf and tell their
dispatcher to call for an ambulance.

I think maybe the scar is less lumpy than it was before I started
rubbing Vitamin-E oil on it. Pity I didn't take a close-up photograph
before I started.

(People in cars couldn't see into the ditch. The guys in the high
truck could.)

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/






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  #962  
Old June 15th 19, 05:22 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
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Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Communication is everything


Communication is almost all there is to safety on the road, and it
isn't all communication with other humans.

Today I slogged up a hill because two large dogs were frolicking on a
lawn to my left. If I had shifted down, my feet would have begun to
move faster.

To a dog, breaking into a run is an unequivocal announcement that you
are up to no good, and must be chased and harried until you are well
away from its territory.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/


  #963  
Old June 16th 19, 04:15 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
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Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Scraping the notes


Here's a note scraped in a more-timely fashion.

Yesterday I rode an honest quarter century, and with some modest hills
(Though I went around hills whenever possible). Before heading out
into the country, I spent a couple of hours walking around in Meijer,
and just before *that*, I took a quick lap around the Goodwill store
(charity second-hand shop).

Something yellow caught my eye on the men's shirts rack, and I found
an honest-to-goodness oval-cut jersey! Too transparent, and made
entirely of plastic, not to mention that oval cut is really silly for
someone who actually *uses* the pockets, so I wasn't tempted to try it
on.

I wonder how many of the people who see it have a clue as to what it
is?

I also wonder whether "oval cut" is still the trade term for making a
jersey longer in the back for coverage when you get down on the drops?
Oval cut makes a lot of sense for track jerseys, but I carry up to a
pound of coins in my wallet, so my jerseys are cut *shorter* in back
than in front. Well, not cut; I put darts across the back. Except
for the woven jersies, which have a drawstring around the waist. I'm
thinking of retrofitting the knit-fabric jerseys with belt casings and
taking out a dart or two.

I tried belt loops on the older of the cotton jerseys, and they work,
but a casing across the back would work better.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
  #964  
Old June 23rd 19, 04:39 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
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Posts: 1,638
Default AG: My first batch of switchel


"My first" makes me think of George and her first mouse. She lost it
in her own belly fur and frantically frisked herself.

Friday, 21 June 2019

It's been months or years since I had leg cramps, but I woke up from
my nap after today's ride with a doozy. I started to throw one leg
out of bed, the calf cramped up, I grabbed my foot to stretch the
gastrocnemius, that touched the other leg off, and things went back
and forth for a while. I even got cramps in the thighs. It stopped
when I finally managed to stand up.

So I opened a can of tonic, added a generous squirt of lime juice, and
reflected that I've thrown sweat-soaked clothing into the washer after
every ride of late -- it must be time to start making switchel.

Traditionally, switchel is diluted molasses, often tarted up with
vinegar and ginger. In New England, they added oatmeal.

Some day I'm actually going to put in molasses. I'm pretty sure there
is half a bottle of it in the freezer.

So far I have in the saucepan:

A quarter cup of the syrup off bread-and-butter pickles.
A stalk of rubarb, sliced thin.
One cup of water.
A tablespoon of frozen cranberries for color (the rhubarb is green).
A tablespoon of dried ginger -- the store where I bought fresh ginger
last year is no more (whimper).
A quarter cup of steel-cut oats. I went to the freezer for brown
rice, saw the oats, and decided to go traditional.

I think half a teaspoon of Lite Salt (equal parts of potassium
chloride and sodium chloride) will finish it.

The package says that the oats will soak up most of the cup of water.
The cranberries will also soak up some. (I'd like to know how
juice-drink manufacturers manage to get "juice" from cranberries.
Surely it's a water extract!) The rhubarb should cook out some juice,
but last time I boiled some, it didn't.

I have saved a 24-oz honey bottle to carry switchel concentrate in.
Honey weighs twelve pounds to the gallon. Water weighs eight pounds
to the gallon. Two thirds of twenty-four is sixteen. That bottle
doesn't *look* like a pint.

I added one cup of water. That should make half a bottle. I'll
probably add some honey while it's hot enough to dissolve it, and if
the rubarb isn't sour enough, a squirt of lemon or lime.

The residue in the strainer, with butter and maple syrup, will be my
bedtime snack.

--------------------

It made eleven ounces of concentrate. I added enough honey to make it
twelve. The porridge required neither butter nor sweetener.

The cranberries imparted no color at all, but looked nice in my
porridge.

--------------------

Saturday, 22 June 2019

It farmers' markets day! /stan frieberg

I poured the switchel concentrate into the honey bottle, then rinsed
the measuring jar it had cooled in with a cup of water and poured it
into my translucent water bottle twice. Then I added enough
concentrate to impart a slightly-starchy flavor and put the
concentrate in the fridge. (I was planning to get home pretty soon
after finishing the first bottle, and there are few places to get more
water on the farmers' markets loop. Also, the room-temperature
concentrate would have melted my ice.)

There wasn't the slightest trace of sour, so I added a few hearty
squirts of an inferior lime juice that I bought yesterday. It's "from
concentrate" but I don't think they used much concentrate; one has to
come pretty close to drinking it straight to detect any lime flavor,
when it's tasted straight, the bitter conceals the sour. At least
having to put in lots each time means that the 4.6 fl oz/133 ml bottle
won't last very long. Then I can buy better juice in a less-expensive
store.

I filled the bottle with ice cubes, which were pretty much melted by
the time I ate breakfast and got dressed, and put it in the cage.

A little starch in the water gets it out of the stomach faster, and a
little tartness in the water gets it into the mouth faster. I had
only half a bottle of water left when I got home about two hours after
I left.

I topped the half-full bottle off and left the empty bottle on the
counter before I went back to pick up lunch for two. I thought that I
might want the empty cage for the drink that comes with the special,
but I put it into my insulated pannier before bungeeing the foam box
of sandwich on top.

It's been years since Sweet Dreams switched from giving you the drink
in a cup to letting you select from a display of bottles and cans, but
old habits die hard. Also, they might switch back without warning.

It was a pretty good sandwich. We saved the can of fizzwater for
later, as I'd hit some bumps on the way home.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/



  #965  
Old June 27th 19, 07:27 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
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Posts: 1,638
Default AG: My first batch of switchel


Wednesday, 26 June 2019

The weather allowed an all-day ride today.

As I was packing a pint bottle with eight ounces of concentrate in it,
planning to use two ounces, I reflected that I need to find a smaller
honey bottle.

It turned out that the concentrate was weaker than I'd thought, and I
refilled more often than I expected, so I killed the batch. I'd still
like an eight-ounce honey bottle. I checked at Aldi on my last stop;
they do have twelve-ounce bottles of honey, but they are shaped like
bears. Won't do at all.

The switchel worked quite well, and I felt good all the way. I
planned twenty-one miles, but made a couple of wrong turns that
brought it to at least 23.4. One of the wrong turns re-aquainted me
with 8-Square Road. It's a pity that it's impossible to find
information about road names with search engines. I did finally find
out that Silveus Crossing goes through land once owned by someone
named Silveus -- but the story about it being a bridge over the Tippy
isn't compatible with the name "Silveus Crossing" ending nearly a mile
north of the Tippy.

Thought it was farther than that. The Tippy slants a lot through
here. (Not to mention the usual meanders.)


Thursday, 27 June 2019

The Goodwill store is about five miles from here. While I was getting
ready to leave Goodwill for Walmart, where I intended to eat a pizza
and change into cycling shoes for serious riding, another customer
remarked that she's seen me at the teller machine in Winona Lake. "My,
you've come a long way!" I smiled and agreed.

On the way to Goodwill, I saw a hollyhock in full bloom beside the
Beyer Farm Trail. Hollyhocks look much prettier among weeds than in
gardens.

I have a quarter cup of rice soaking in a cup of water, together with
a half dozen crumbs of achiote and a few mustard seeds. Tonight I'll
add a half pint of PBL's bread-and-butter syrup, two stalks of
rhubarb, ginger, and another cup of water.

I've remembered that when I carried concentrate in salad-dressing
cups, it was fresh-squeezed lemon juice frozen with equal parts of
honey -- and almost impossible to scrape out of the cup into the
bottle. I remember leaving a cup in the sun while I went into a
store, hoping that the honey would thin.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

  #966  
Old June 28th 19, 06:32 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default AG: My first batch of switchel

On Thu, 27 Jun 2019 14:27:32 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:

another customer
remarked that she's seen me at the teller machine


uh, " she'*d* seen me".

The porridge strained out of tonight's switchel concentrate was
terrible. A jalapen~o seems to have gotten in somehow, and I couldn't
taste the ginger.

There's less than half a pint of concentrate. I'll probably thin it
with orange juice to make sixteen ounces. Not soon, since festivities
are approaching.

I rode two miles to Kroger today, to pick up butter for the cheese
dip.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

  #967  
Old June 30th 19, 05:25 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default AG: My first batch of switchel


I just remembered that boiling vinegar with the starch is for when I
use flour, not for starch that I strain out.

I distinctly remember writing down the recipe, but I've forgotten
which diary it was in. My training log is the only logical one, but
it's not there.

I'll try a fluid ounce of flour in a British pint of water.

PBL's bread-and-butter syrup:

Fix enough vinegar and sugar equal parts to cover — approximately
a cup and a half of each. Add celery seed, mustard seed, curry
powder, turmeric, bay leaf, a snort (1/10 tsp) of cayenne pepper
or a fresh red pepper (hot).


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.
  #968  
Old June 30th 19, 07:35 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
jOHN b.
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Posts: 2,421
Default AG: My first batch of switchel

On Sun, 30 Jun 2019 00:25:30 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:


I just remembered that boiling vinegar with the starch is for when I
use flour, not for starch that I strain out.

I distinctly remember writing down the recipe, but I've forgotten
which diary it was in. My training log is the only logical one, but
it's not there.

I'll try a fluid ounce of flour in a British pint of water.

PBL's bread-and-butter syrup:

Fix enough vinegar and sugar equal parts to cover — approximately
a cup and a half of each. Add celery seed, mustard seed, curry
powder, turmeric, bay leaf, a snort (1/10 tsp) of cayenne pepper
or a fresh red pepper (hot).


When I was a little kid my maternal grandmother used to make a drink
from vinegar, honey and water. I can't for the life of me remember
what she called it but any time any of the grand kids showed up she'd
make up a batch, put it in the "ice box", and we could drink all we
wanted :-)
--
cheers,

John B.

  #969  
Old July 1st 19, 05:20 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default AG: My first batch of switchel

On Sun, 30 Jun 2019 13:35:58 +0700, John B.
wrote:

When I was a little kid my maternal grandmother used to make a drink
from vinegar, honey and water. I can't for the life of me remember
what she called it but any time any of the grand kids showed up she'd
make up a batch, put it in the "ice box", and we could drink all we
wanted :-)


My maternal grandmother had a real ice box in her summer cabin. She
had a fridge in the main house, and a pump on the back porch. I don't
know what cooler she had in the trailer, but it had a water tank for
when you weren't hooked up.

Our trailer had a refrigerator that could be operated as an ice box
when you couldn't plug in. (You could still buy a fifty-pound block
of ice almost anywhere back then.) There was no provision for water
on the road. The fridge was easy to defrost: just turn it off until
the frost fell onto the ice shelf, then clean it and turn it back on.
When we were plugged in (which was all of the school year) we kept a
gallon of milk in the ice compartment.

I don't recall any special beverage at Grandma's except the water in
the bucket. My mother diluted and sweetened rhubarb juice in hot
weather.

I like a bit of raw rhubarb ground up in a glass of ice water.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

  #970  
Old July 1st 19, 06:03 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
jOHN b.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,421
Default AG: My first batch of switchel

On Mon, 01 Jul 2019 00:20:45 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Jun 2019 13:35:58 +0700, John B.
wrote:

When I was a little kid my maternal grandmother used to make a drink
from vinegar, honey and water. I can't for the life of me remember
what she called it but any time any of the grand kids showed up she'd
make up a batch, put it in the "ice box", and we could drink all we
wanted :-)


My maternal grandmother had a real ice box in her summer cabin. She
had a fridge in the main house, and a pump on the back porch. I don't
know what cooler she had in the trailer, but it had a water tank for
when you weren't hooked up.


Just the opposite for me as my mother's mother had a "Frigidaire"
refrigerator with the cooling coils mounted on the top of the box,
while my paternal grandmother had an "icebox" It set on the side porch
and the Iceman came around every few days with a new block of ice.

When I was growing up most people referred to a refrigerator as an
"ice box" probably because there were so many actual ice boxes in use.
The "Ice Man" was still delivering ice when I was in grade school.

Both of my grandmothers had a wood stove for cooking and I can
remember them using wood for fuel, both in the cook stove and in the
stove in the "Front Room". In later years my father's mother had her
wood stove converted to burn kerosene, but my mother's mother cooked
on wood until she died.

I remember my mother and her three sisters once trying to tell
"Mother" that she ought to get a gas stove, it must have been
thanksgiving as the whole clan was at "Grampa's" house, and I
remember my grandmother telling her daughters that "she'd been cooking
on that stove since she was married and it still worked just fine".
But I also remember that in later years she had a kerosene stove on
the back porch for summer.

Our trailer had a refrigerator that could be operated as an ice box
when you couldn't plug in. (You could still buy a fifty-pound block
of ice almost anywhere back then.) There was no provision for water
on the road. The fridge was easy to defrost: just turn it off until
the frost fell onto the ice shelf, then clean it and turn it back on.
When we were plugged in (which was all of the school year) we kept a
gallon of milk in the ice compartment.

I don't recall any special beverage at Grandma's except the water in
the bucket. My mother diluted and sweetened rhubarb juice in hot
weather.

I like a bit of raw rhubarb ground up in a glass of ice water.

--
cheers,

John B.

 




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