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

I went for two rides today and didn't have time to write, so I'm
appending some undigested notes.

It was a split ride, really. I went to the Farmers' Markets in the
morning, came home and took a nap, then went to Aldi for groceries.
This is the second time I've split a ride, and I plan to do it again
next Saturday: markets in the morning and the Pierceton Tomato
Festival in the afternoon.

My first split ride was to Pierceton Days. This time I'll take enough
water for the entire trip; the only outdoor drinking fountain in
Pierceton wasn't turned on this spring, and neither the library nor
the Senior Center is open on Saturday. And the Oddfellows Cafe closes
after lunch.

The split ride solves both the long-ride problem and the figure-eight
problem. When I take a long ride, I have to skip my nap, and I'm not
worth much on the following day. And whenever I planned to drop off
something at home and then go somewhere else, I invariably chickened
out and stayed home -- until I thought of *planning* to eat lunch and
go to bed.

On to the undigested notes:

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Folks have a terrible time learning the rules, because they try to
learn unrelated rules covering each of thousands of situations.

It's a lot easier to learn the principles used to build the rules;
then you can derive them as required.

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

Traffic law is intended to get everybody to his destination without
endangering people or property, and with a minimum of getting into
each other's way.

The first traffic law, on which all others are but commentary, is
"Thou shalt make thyself easy to predict."

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Two objects can't occupy the same space at the same time, and
considerable damage will occur if they try. Nearly all rules concern
themselves with trying to avoid collisions.

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

Two bodies travelling along the same line are much less likely to
collide if they are going in the same direction.

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

--
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.

Oops, I meant to change that subject line.

I've forgotten what I meant to change it to, however. I should have
been in bed half an hour ago.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net

Wednesday, 23 August 2017

I felt like oats for breakfast, so this morning I made the last batch
of switchel of the season.

Marsh being dead, I'd have thought it the last batch ever, but I've
seen something that looks very like ginger root at the new
International Foods in Lakeview Plaza. On the third hand, IF might
not live until spring; I'm *always* the only customer when I go, and I
don't spend much. And I never buy produce because I don't know how to
cook it, and it isn't labeled, so I can't look it up. (Organization
has been improving, so labels might appear. And if I catch the male
clerk on duty, I can ask him.)

The first step was to mince (finely chop with a knife) the remaining
lump of ginger root and put it into the special container for the
stick blender. Ordinarily, I measure out a pint of water, add just
enough to operate the blender at each iteration, and strain the
flavored water into a pint jar to be refrigerated for later use. But
the ginger had gotten rather feeble, so I used only two half-cups of
water, and strained it into the previous batch of switchel base.

Then I put the ground ginger -- which had expanded amazingly -- into a
sauce pan and rinsed out the blender container with a quart of water.

There was a scrap of lemon that ought to be used up in the fridge, so
I cut a mostly-peel chunk off one side and threw that in. Half a cup
of rolled oats, a quarter teaspoon of Lite Salt (50/50 sodium chloride
and potassium chloride), bring to a boil, stir for a few seconds, turn
off the fire, run back to shut Roomba out of the sewing room, strain
into a one-quart maple-syrup jar, which it came a cup or so short of
filling, let the strainer drip into the funnel for a few minutes, plop
the residue onto a plate, and eat it with butter and honey. No
discernable ginger flavor; should have used up that root weeks ago.

I dilute the base with ice cubes when filling bottles, and usually add
strained orange juice or honey and lemon.

I really should try vinegar and molasses instead of orange juice. It
wouldn't be authentic, because the only molasses in the house is a
high-toned sorghum, and I'd probably use up some of that surplus
"balsamic" vinegar.

Just checked: I don't have *any* cider vinegar, but there's an
un-opened bottle of malt vinegar.

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

I first saw the word "switchel" on the 18th-Century Woman mailing
list, where it was called "eighteenth-century Gatorade" and defined as
water flavored with molasses, vinegar, and ginger. I later learned
that some areas also added oatmeal -- which was probably real oatmeal,
not rolled oats.

The O.E.D. informed me that the original meaning was diluted molasses
served to hard-working men as a beverage, and that it was sometimes
flavored with vinegar, ginger, or both.

"Switchel" was also the name of a "wretched tea" served to sailors,
but that meaning doesn't appear to have left any descendants.

Switchel is still better than Gatorade, particularly when you add some
complex carbs. But barley coagulates when frozen, and the curds clog
a bottle's valve. I haven't tried freezing brown-rice water. I
vaguely recall carrying frozen concentrate made from rolled oats, and
the only problem was breaking it into pieces that I could put into the
bottle. Usually the sugar makes the ice soft, but once I layered
ingredients into salad-dressing cups without mixing them together;
when partly thawed, it was very hard ice and honey that was firmly
glued to the bottom of the cup. I had to set it in the sunshine while
I went into a store, and it still wouldn't go into the bottle.

There's a half-cup container of concentrate in the freezer; it's pink
-- I wonder what I put in it? Probably be spring before I put it into
a pannier. Frozen concentrate is mostly for the trip to Mentone, and
I didn't do that this summer. Lunch at Teals is motivating, but not
motivating enough. Really no more interest in Mentone than Pierceton,
now that I know that the Oddfellows Cafe doesn't sweeten its tomato
soup, and it's only seven miles to Pierceton. The Pierceton library
doesn't have a couch in the reading room, but one doesn't need a
lie-down before riding back.


25 August 2017

Yesterday I squeezed the remaining scrap of lemon into a bottle, threw
in the crushed peel, filled the bottle with most of the old switchel
base and ice cubes, and went for a ride. Didn't drink all of it; I
learned that it's time to start carrying more than two handkerchiefs,
and I wished that I'd worn my heavier jersey.

Tomorrow, if I get to bed Right Now, I'll go to the farmers' markets
in the morning and the Pierceton Tomato Festival in the afternoon.


26 August 2017

Did go; used only two handkerchiefs per tour, but had more handy.
Morning was the usual farmers' markets tour, except that I ran into my
niece and nephew at the Center Street market. At the fairgrounds
market I bought three pints of little tomatoes (yellow, orange, and
red. The orange are the best.) and put them into two Little Salad Bar
boxes I'd brought for the purpose; they fit the bottom of my insulated
pannier neatly, and allowed me to pack stuff on top of my tomatoes. I
didn't buy anything at the Center Street market, but I did have a
couple of food bars and some spare handkerchiefs on top of the boxes.
(I carry table napkins as handkerchiefs.)

In the morning, I diluted the remaining sour switchel with the rest of
the older switchel base and some ice cubes. Upon return, I dumped the
lemon peel and basil (which by then were in plain water) onto the
winter savory, and refilled after my nap with the new switchel base,
strained orange juice,fresh basil, and ice cubes.

I put a bottle of plain water into the other cage, and two bottles for
the trip back into a pannier, grumping at the space they occupied and
cussing the town of Pierceton for turning off its only drinking
fountain. Then the dime dropped and I fished a one-liter tonic bottle
out of the recycling bin. Holds as much water as two bike bottles,
takes up less space in the pannier, and I can throw it away if it gets
in my way. And at Aldi, after buying a bottle of cherry juice that I
wanted its space in the pannier for, I did empty the tonic bottle onto
an ornamental bush and throw it into a trash can. Also refilled the
bike bottles, which had lasted that far, one at the sink and the one
with basil at the drinking fountain.

Took two more Little Salad Bar boxes to the festival, but bought only
one tomato. I'd had my eye on another, but the booth packed up before
I got there. Putting first things first, I'd bought a plate of fried
green tomatoes and a bowl of apple crisp under a pint of homemade ice
cream before shopping for tomatoes.

At Aldi, I manfully resisted the urge to buy a box of Little Salad Bar
potato salad and throw the empty box after the tonic bottle. (Spouse
isn't supposed to eat carbs.) I did buy a package of beef snack
sticks; I had a craving for something salty.

On the way to Pierceton, I was overtaken by a boy in Lycra, and met
him coming back when I'd almost reached the town.

--
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.

Riding safely is almost all communication.

A very important message that you must radiate continuously is "I know
the rules and plan to follow them. It is safe to act on the
assumption that I won't do anything stupid and unpredictable."

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

On Sun, 03 Sep 2017 00:09:37 -0300, Joy Beeson
wrote:


Riding safely is almost all communication.

A very important message that you must radiate continuously is "I know
the rules and plan to follow them. It is safe to act on the
assumption that I won't do anything stupid and unpredictable."

I think I would rephrase that to read "I'm going to do what you expect
me to do", but essentially true. My guess is that the number of
motorists that actually want to run over a bicycle is extremely
limited but the motorists who might hit you when he glanced down to
change the station on the radio and you swerved in front of him is
much larger.

The year long study that the CHP did in L.A. county showed that over
half of the accidents, for which blame could be assigned, were the
fault of the cyclist, many of them riding on the wrong side of the
road. In both New York and California autopsy's of cyclist fatalities
showed that ~25% had blood alcohol levels in excess of the "he's
drunk" level.

--
Cheers,

John B.

On 9/2/2017 11:09 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

Riding safely is almost all communication.

A very important message that you must radiate continuously is "I know
the rules and plan to follow them. It is safe to act on the
assumption that I won't do anything stupid and unpredictable."

And another big part of riding safely is just paying attention.

Most bike crashes are simple falls of one sort or another. Common causes
are not paying attention to the gravel in that turn; or the wet steel
manhole cover in the rain; or the slot in the streetcar rail, etc.

One must also pay attention to the traffic situation up ahead; to the
squirrely rider trying to ride next to you; to the dog or motorist
coming down the driveway at your right; to the ear-plugged jogger who
may suddenly U-turn on the MUP, etc.

Zoning out is relaxing, but it works only in ideal conditions.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Sun, 3 Sep 2017 09:58:27 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 9/2/2017 11:09 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

Riding safely is almost all communication.

A very important message that you must radiate continuously is "I know
the rules and plan to follow them. It is safe to act on the
assumption that I won't do anything stupid and unpredictable."

And another big part of riding safely is just paying attention.

Most bike crashes are simple falls of one sort or another. Common causes
are not paying attention to the gravel in that turn; or the wet steel
manhole cover in the rain; or the slot in the streetcar rail, etc.

One must also pay attention to the traffic situation up ahead; to the
squirrely rider trying to ride next to you; to the dog or motorist
coming down the driveway at your right; to the ear-plugged jogger who
may suddenly U-turn on the MUP, etc.

Zoning out is relaxing, but it works only in ideal conditions.

On Saturday there was a news article about a woman who fell asleep at
the wheel (as it were) of a small motorcycle and crashed:

" An 11-year-old girl was killed and five family members injured when
their motorcycle struck a road divider after the woman driving the
bike dozed off early Saturday morning."
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/gene...es-off-on-bike.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Frank Krygowski wrote:

Zoning out is relaxing, but it works only in ideal conditions.


To this end, I will *never*, under any conditions, ride with earbuds, no
matter how bored my brain might get. I'm far too dependent on hearing
what's going on around me.

Smith

On 9/4/2017 12:33 PM, NFN Smith wrote:
Frank Krygowski wrote:

Zoning out is relaxing, but it works only in ideal conditions.


To this end, I will *never*, under any conditions, ride with earbuds, no
matter how bored my brain might get.Â* I'm far too dependent on hearing
what's going on around me.

I tried it maybe twice. Once was on a remote empty road in North Dakota.
And North Dakota has some _really_ empty roads! But I still didn't like
it. I can't imagine doing it in a place where I had to pay any attention
to other traffic.

--
- Frank Krygowski

John B writes:
On Sat, 12 Aug 2017 23:48:38 -0300, Joy Beeson wrote:

What I say:

Take the first sip of water as you are rolling out the driveway.
It sets the proper rhythm, and lets you know you forgot to clean
your bottle while you can still go back and do something about it.

What I do:

Last Saturday I was well beyond the bridge before I learned that I
had to go back and swap half a bottle of very sour tea for a full
bottle of chilled water. (I drank the tea -- diluted with plain tea
-- on Thursday.)

I ain't abuyin' no more opaque water bottles.

[...]

What I do is the night before a ride I mix my drinks, in this weather
two 1/2 litre bottles, in the hot season, four, and put one in the
fridge and one in the freezer, in the hot season on in the in the
fridge and three in the freezer. Which gives me "coldish" drink over
about a four or five hour ride.

It isn't a perfect solution as the bottles do warm up a bit but is
better then nothing. In really hot weather I stop at 7-11 stores -
there is one at nearly every gas station - and buy bottles of cold
water and mix them with any leftover drink that I happen to have.

In a tropical climate I find that some sort of "sports drink"
containing at least salt is pretty well mandatory. Or, at least my
experience drinking bottled water on a 50 km ride in 95 - 100 degree
weather was very debilitating compared with the same ride using a
sports drink.

Interesting. I typically take two 1.5 liter bottles of mineral
water (a specific local brand) for a 5 to 9 hours ride. This
summer, I had to buy one more along the way once, but with about
80 km covered (or so is my estimate), that was probably my
lengthiest trip so far.

I saw no need to cool my drinks, even though the temperature
here in summer does reach 80-100 F. (One trip this summer,
the water felt almost hot. Never thought of it as an issue.)

Also, as caffeine narrows blood vessels, I'm unsure if I'd like
to try mixing tea and pretty much any serious physical activity.

In spring or fall, one bottle is usually enough, but I still
take another just in case. (And for winter walks, I take one
0.5 liter bottle instead, as it's what fits nicely in the inner
pocket of my winter jacket.)

--
FSF associate member #7257 58F8 0F47 53F5 2EB2 F6A5 8916 3013 B6A0 230E 334A