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

If you have to stop because you are winded, sit down for five minutes
by the clock.

It doesn't take long to stop gasping for air, but it takes a while to
pay off an oxygen debt.

--
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.

I rode 27.8 miles today, and I is too tired to make sense.

Had to skip my nap, and the tea has worn off.

Not to mention that it's after ten.

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

Joy Beeson wrote in
:

I rode 27.8 miles today, and I is too tired to make sense.

Had to skip my nap, and the tea has worn off.

Not to mention that it's after ten.

I am waiting for it to warm up a bit so I can sortie in shorts.
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca...ontario/ottawa
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)

Andrew Chaplin wrote:
Joy Beeson wrote in
:

I rode 27.8 miles today, and I is too tired to make sense.

Had to skip my nap, and the tea has worn off.

Not to mention that it's after ten.

I am waiting for it to warm up a bit so I can sortie in shorts.
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca...ontario/ottawa

In Montreal it was 8c when I went out today. Beautiful and sunny though.
Leg warmers worked well. They're saying 21 tomorrow.

--
duane

There were three firsts on this ride;

My first time to take three bottles. This wasn't so much spring as
that I wanted two bottles of tea.

I also learned, by the way, that cold-brewed tea doesn't shrink in the
brewing -- I put one bottle of water in, and got one bottle of tea
out; no room for orange juice. But the hot-brewed tea evaporated more
than usual, so I poured cold-brewed tea into it until both accepted a
reasonable amount orange juice. Gave each bottle a squirt of honey,
too.

My first time to go out without wearing sweat pants over my tights.
(When I put my Spalding tights on over my old wool tights, my legs got
*colder*!)

And when I got to Owens, all my parking spaces were full of flowers.

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

I stopped at Open Air Nursery and Greenhouses; they were in the middle
of cleaning up for an expected influx of customers. The seed
potatoes, onion sets, and onion plants were on sale, but the herbs
hadn't been planted yet. Well I didn't see the onion plants; just a
sign saying how much a bunch of plants cost. Since I never use plants
-- and I planted the potatoes in March and the last of my onion sets
on the first of April -- I didn't look very hard, just noticed that
many of the onion sets had begun to sprout.

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

The work done on a body is proportional to the force on the body times
the distance the body moves while the force is applied.

SI units are designed to make the calculations neat: if you push with
a force of one newton through a distance of one meter, you do one
joule of work.

So if you pedal twice as fast, you can do twice as much work without
pushing any harder.

Of course, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. When you spin
faster, you burn more sugar and breath more oxygen.

But it's easier -- and more fun -- to eat a candy bar than to wait for
muscles to rest.

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

Since I have weak lungs, I have to rest anyway, if there isn't a long
stretch of easy pedalling after a long steep hill, but paying off an
oxygen debt takes five minutes; resting an exhausted muscle takes two
days.

I've become fond of a stand of arborvitae at the top of a hill on
200 S. I've only stopped there twice, but I think my next long trip
will be to Mentone, and I come back from Mentone by 200 S. It will be
comforting to know that the arborvitae are there.

It wasn't as comfortable on my second stop, because the owners had
done some spring cleaning on the leaf litter. They also left
sharpened weed stumps concealed in the remaining litter.

--
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.

Most people can buy walking shoes that fit, so a tip on how to keep
your feet warm while wearing sandals isn't of general interest, but
the buffer is bare, and the drafts folder is down to topics I've given
up on.

(My cycling shoes don't fit either, but they lace to the toe, so they
don't make corns.)

When putting windbreakers on your feet, the usual procedure is to put
them on over your shoes. This converts the otherwise-conductive
leather into insulation, and stops up the ventilation holes.

I tried booties, and found that I had to leave them unzipped because
the ankles were too narrow to fit over my bare legs; I felt indignant
that so-called cold weather gear didn't allow for socks and tights,
and so-called athletic clothing didn't allow for muscle. They weren't
too well designed in other ways, so when I got fed up with them, I
reverted to bread bags and never looked at booties again. Well, I
probably would have looked at them if I'd ever seen any for sale.

I pulled bread bags on over my cycling shoes and held them in place
with hand-knit ankle warmers; it converted well-ventilated shoes into
sauna-warm footgear. My slot cleats snipped a hole in exactly the
right place.

The first time I tried the bread-bag trick after giving up on shoes, I
discovered that sandals are wider than cycling shoes, and newspaper
sleeves are significantly narrower than bread bags. Duh! I wear the
plastic directly over the socks when I wade in snow; that's the best
way to wear it for cycling too: no changing bags after every stop. (I
stop a lot more often than I used to.) With sandals, there isn't any
spacer to convert into insulation anyway.

Enough yammer: on to the tip:

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

You need: two or more pairs of wool socks, two newspaper sleeves, and
a pair of black knee hose.

"Black" is important. The first time I used this trick, I grabbed a
sleazy pair of sheer beige hose that I wished would wear out quickly.
The wrinkles in the bags showed through the hose as variable
dark-orange streaks on an orange ground slightly toned toward flesh
color by the beige socks. This looked so unhealthy and cold that a
perfect stranger attempted to buy me a pair of socks.

So go to a discount shoe store and buy the cheapest black knee hose
they have -- the sleazier the better, since thin and not-absorbent are
good in socks that might get wet. When you get them home, put your
hand inside to straighten them out (they are often twisted in the
package), lay them flat, and put a mark in the middle of one side of
the cuff, near the edge. From now on, this is the back of the
stocking.

I put my tights on after putting on my socks because it's difficult to
remove my tights when they are inside my socks, and because I like to
keep my socks on when I change into house clothes. But at least one
pair of tights should go on before the knee hose, so that the nylon
and elastic don't irritate your skin. (And if you plan to remove a
pair of socks en route, that pair should go outside the tights.)

Layer on your socks, thinner and tighter first, then slide your foot
into a newspaper sleeve (or whatever long, narrow thin-plastic bag
comes to hand), pull it up as far as you can, smooth it as best you
can over the foot, and allow any surplus bag to bunch up around the
ankle or shin.

Knee hose are "fits all", so you have to make them fit as you put them
on.

First gather a stocking onto your thumbs, taking care that the toe
seam is horizontal and the mark is in the back. (The heel gets
permanently stretched, so it's important that it always be in the same
place.) Stick your plastic-covered foot into the stocking and arrange
the seam underneath your toe-tips. This allows a little more stocking
for your heel, it leaves a little less stocking to rumple on top, and
it puts the untidy seam where it doesn't show. Plant your toes and
the ball of your foot firmly on the floor so that you can stretch hard
while pulling up the stocking without squashing your toes. Stretch
the stocking while pulling up, releasing the gathers on your thumbs as
required. If the elastic at the top doesn't reach the notch below
your knee, re-gather it and stretch harder.

Now plant your whole foot firmly on the floor and pinch the stocking
at the end of your big toe. Pull the stocking out and let it spring
back. This makes it more toe-shaped over your toe

Put your sandals on -- unless you have some tights to pull on first.

When you are home for the day and take off your outer layers, don't
forget to remove the knee hose and plastic bag. The tight band of the
knee hose interferes with circulation if worn while not exercising,
and the plastic bag will make your feet sweat.


--
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.

Remember handlebar bags with a transparent map pocket on top?

The last time I was in the toy department of a big-box store, I found
a peculiar-looking bag with a phone case hinged to it. After some
puzzlement, I figured out that one was supposed to fasten the bag to
the front of one's handlebars, then fold the phone case back to lie on
top of the handlebars.

I imagine that it would work well, but I'll continue to carry a flip
phone in my right front pocket, a map snippet in my left front pocket,
and nothing at all on my handlebars.

--
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.

I thought that Ride+Walk Warsaw+WL was founded or inspired by the
League Against Bicycling, but perhaps I was wrong, or perhaps it has
been infiltrated by a cyclist. The following appeared on their
Facebook page:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Although legal to do in Warsaw - except in the downtown business
district, riding your bike on the side walk is not recommended for the
following reasons: 1) Other road users are not expecting cyclists on
sidewalks, especially motorists crossing intersections and pulling out
of driveways and alleys. 2) Pedestrians are unpredictable and may not
be expecting you. 3) Uneven surfaces and blind corners can create
dangerous situations.

Consider this,if riding on one sidewalk in a typical neighborhood
block there may be 10 driveways which are essentially intersections to
be aware of--- but if you are on the street there is more visibility
and room to see a vehicle backing out onto the street.

If you do decide to ride on the sidewalk follow these recommendations:
1) Ride very slowly-- at a walking pace. 2) By law, you must follow
all the road rules that apply to the parallel road, including one-way
riding, stop signs etc. etc. 3) Yield to all pedestrians
Ride on Warsaw & Winona!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Being also a denizen of alt.usage.english, I itch to put in the
missing dash, reformat the list, and so forth. I did allow my spell
checker to correct a typo.

To explain "Warsaw+WL", the city of Warsaw was built on the narrow
strip of land between Center Lake and Pike Lake to the north and Eagle
Lake to the south. A farmer (see "Beyer Farm Trail") bought land west
of Eagle Lake so that he could cool his milk in the many springs that
used to be here. In due course, a theme-park precursor called "Spring
Fountain Park" appeared on his land, and people from Chicago came here
to get away from the heat until well into the 1950s. When a hotel was
built to accommodate them (it still stands, but is now condominiums),
it was called the Winona Hotel, Eagle Lake was re-named to match, and
the cluster of summer cottages and boarding houses was also called
Winona Lake. Winona Lake grew north until it hit Warsaw's South
Street, now called Winona Avenue. Southern growth jumped the Chicago
Boys Club Camp and continued clockwise around the lake until it met
Warsaw growing counterclockwise.

For many purposes, the two towns are treated as one.

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

Joy Beeson wrote in
:


I thought that Ride+Walk Warsaw+WL was founded or inspired by the
League Against Bicycling, but perhaps I was wrong, or perhaps it has
been infiltrated by a cyclist. The following appeared on their
Facebook page:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Although legal to do in Warsaw - except in the downtown business
district, riding your bike on the side walk is not recommended for the
following reasons: 1) Other road users are not expecting cyclists on
sidewalks, especially motorists crossing intersections and pulling out
of driveways and alleys. 2) Pedestrians are unpredictable and may not
be expecting you. 3) Uneven surfaces and blind corners can create
dangerous situations.

Consider this,if riding on one sidewalk in a typical neighborhood
block there may be 10 driveways which are essentially intersections to
be aware of--- but if you are on the street there is more visibility
and room to see a vehicle backing out onto the street.

If you do decide to ride on the sidewalk follow these recommendations:
1) Ride very slowly-- at a walking pace. 2) By law, you must follow
all the road rules that apply to the parallel road, including one-way
riding, stop signs etc. etc. 3) Yield to all pedestrians
Ride on Warsaw & Winona!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Being also a denizen of alt.usage.english, I itch to put in the
missing dash, reformat the list, and so forth. I did allow my spell
checker to correct a typo.

To explain "Warsaw+WL", the city of Warsaw was built on the narrow
strip of land between Center Lake and Pike Lake to the north and Eagle
Lake to the south. A farmer (see "Beyer Farm Trail") bought land west
of Eagle Lake so that he could cool his milk in the many springs that
used to be here. In due course, a theme-park precursor called "Spring
Fountain Park" appeared on his land, and people from Chicago came here
to get away from the heat until well into the 1950s. When a hotel was
built to accommodate them (it still stands, but is now condominiums),
it was called the Winona Hotel, Eagle Lake was re-named to match, and
the cluster of summer cottages and boarding houses was also called
Winona Lake. Winona Lake grew north until it hit Warsaw's South
Street, now called Winona Avenue. Southern growth jumped the Chicago
Boys Club Camp and continued clockwise around the lake until it met
Warsaw growing counterclockwise.

For many purposes, the two towns are treated as one.

How high is the water these days?
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)