Joy Trumps All. Patience Is A Virtue. Savor Now.

Friday the world returned to a winter wonderland. I wondered how it would be possible to survive another wintery day skidding along the roads.

"Just messing with you." laughed Mother Nature. By late Saturday afternoon, the roads were clear enough for a quick spin as a reward for organizing tax papers.

 

I had visions of a long, hilly solo Sunday afternoon ride. But I was blessed with a request for a short Kid-n-Dad ride into town for snack food. Joy wins. Human connection wins. The brief moments I can spend riding for pleasure with my kids trump any random training ride. No one is really interested in how many miles or what elevation gain you made today. But the whole universe vibrates at a higher level when you bicycle with a friend!

Bike Zen Master reminds us:  Follow Joy. That's why you first got on a bicycle! This very moment is what you are training for and to be savored. This moment is not an interruption of your training. This is the event. The hills have been there for an eternity. They are patient. They will be there for you when you are old. Learn from them.

Being Blanche or Being The Boy Scout?

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois famously confesses: "I always rely on the kindness of strangers." ...just before she's ushered off to an asylum. What Blanche relied on was that people would be willing to work within her imaginary world instead of the real world.

Today I was blessed by the kindness of a stranger, too. But he's fully real.

As I bashed through a pothole at the bottom of Rosedale Road, I missed the fact that one of my panniers had come unhooked and fallen off my bike. Somehow I didn't notice the shift in the bike's balance -- and didn't realize that the pannier with my planner containing all my notes and appointments and contacts and prescriptions and family photos, etc. was missing! I called home. Nancy hopped in the car and drove my commute route. I turned around and hastily pedaled back along the route towards her. After 20 minutes of fruitless search, we met in the middle and drove back towards Princeton. No luck.


Just then the phone rang.

Caller: Hello, is this Edward?
Ted:     Yes! Who's this?
C:        Tucker. I've got your bag.
T:        You are TOTALLY my hero! Thank you, thank you SO much! ...where are you?
C:        At the Princeton Cemetary on Witherspoon. Know how to get here?

As it turns out, Tucker works at the cemetery. He found my business card in the planner and tried my cell phone twice before that, knowing that it was probably pretty critical that I get the bag back as fast as possible. The hand-off and grateful hand-shaking were accomplished. Nancy drove me back to work.

As bicycle travelers, we are more vulnerable and exposed to the world. But that's not all bad. We're more connected with it's humanness, variety, and beauty. We see more, smell more, feel more, and experience more than the unfortunate souls who travel in cramped glass and steel isolation tanks on wheels with synthetic sound pumped in to mask the world's sound-scape.

While traveling as a cyclist, the vast majority of my chance encounters have been pleasant, and affirming of others. Many times I've been given help or good guidance by people I met along the road. And I do my best to offer the same whenever possible.

But rather than relying on the world for kindness, you can improve your odds by following the Scout Motto: Be Prepared!


A few suggestions:

* Check your brakes, tire tread, and tire pressure before every ride.
* Maintain your equipment in good condition. Proactive repairs are much easier in a well lit garage, than a muddy ditch beside the road.
* Carry a kit of quality tools that you know how to use.
* Understand that all the bouncing of bicycling causes everything to loosen up. (My error this morning was not realizing the pannier's tension strap had gradually loosened).
* Communicate clearly and consistently with body language and your position on the roadway.
* Do your best to approach everyone with humility and respect and express appreciation for even the smallest kindness.
* Follow Tucker's example too: Do a good turn daily!

First Across Town

A colleague and I both needed to get to a meeting across campus. We both left with only five minutes to spare. He grabbed a golf cart. I hopped on my bike. We took different routes across campus and up hill but arrived at the same time. He parked the cart and met me at the door.

After the meeting I was able to get down the hill and put away my bike about a minute faster than he was -- due to the governor that limits the speed of our golf carts.

The competition was just for fun. But having a bicycle available in a dense urban environment can be vastly better than having a car for short-radius trips. This is particularly true where there is heavy traffic or there are constraints about routes cars are allowed to use and where they can park.

When living and working in Philly, back in the '80s, it took less time to hop on my bike, zip across town, and lock it outside my office or a store than to walk from home to wherever I'd parked my car, drive across town in city traffic, find and pay for parking, and then walk to the office or store.

In Princeton it's much faster to grab the bike and ride across campus and into town and back for small errands at lunch than it would be to walk down to the parking lot, drive all the way around the campus, go find parking, walk to the store, and reverse that to get back.

For me the radius where a bike is faster than a car is between one and three miles. Beyond that, cars usually get there faster. ...but then you need to factor in JOY!

Know Thyself ...and laugh!

Stephan Pastis wields such a sharp knife, it barely hurts:

The NYC Vegetarian Food Festival

Took the family to NYC Vegetarian Food Festival on Saturday. I discovered a yummy vegan cheese that actually had the texture and taste of cheese. A very creamy vegan mayo that’s made with avocado.  A great seven-nut-butter.

Mostly went to hear Rich Roll speak. He’s an ultra-triathlete who follows a vegan diet for optimal performance and fastest recovery. He has done things like five Iron-Man length triathlons in five days. While his podcast had me thinking he was a bit “out there”, in person I really connected with his personal story and saw his path as a very understandable one to have taken to shake his own demons and restore wellness. Went up and thanked him for his talk. But there were a zillion people wanting his attention, so I didn’t stick around to ask anything.

 

A lot of the folks were there because they are motivated by compassion for animals, not necessarily optimal human health and wellness. While they really are thinking on a higher ethical plane than my own self-serving reasons for following a vegan diet, I don’t need another beets-and-soy vegan “hotdog” any time soon.

Eyes On The Flag

I pay attention to the wind when selecting a route. I look at clouds, flags, branches, leaves, smoke from chimneys and blowing debris. Given the choice, it's preferable to head outbound into the wind so you get a boost when you're more tired and can get home a little quicker than you got wherever you rode to.

It's often the case that winds blow from the west to the east. If you watch western Pennsylvania's weather today, you can guess what ours might be tomorrow.

Want to quantify wind speeds? Back in 1805, Sir Francis Beaufort of the British Royal Navy wanted to standardize notes about wind in ship's log books. So he developed a wind-speed scale based on commonly observable objects.

The Beaufort wind scale is still practical today:

Today's ride started into a moderate breeze. Got home pretty quickly, too!

May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

May the rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Easy Urban Travel By Bicycle

It's wonderful to see bicycles becoming more integrated into urban transit systems. People are re-learning that cycling is an excellent and efficient mode of basic transportation.

For years I've had it in mind to ride into New York City by bicycle.  The city has a very impressive cycling infrastructure that includes dedicated lanes and bike trails as well as good signage. Great maps are available from the NYC DOT.

But the George Washington Bridge is the only place you can cross by bike.  That would be a long ride from here before even entering the city!

Alternatively, Google Maps bicycle option suggests the Paulus Hook Ferry. That would be a 65 mile ride from Pennington and would be a pleasant way to access lower Manhattan. We could take the train back after riding around.


A third option would be to hop on NJ Transit and ride up to Penn Station. There are now hundreds of bike rental stations all over the Manhattan and into Brooklyn. Pedal around all day. Lock it and leave by train again that evening.

We saw these while driving in Manhattan today:

The concept is quite common in modern cities. It's called Velib in Paris and Bixi in Montreal.


Time to do some urban riding!