Waiting and Searching

 We're doing two searches right now for short term positions.  One of those searches has a large enough pool or really good people that we should be able to draw on those candidates to hire to fill in, temporarily, for the faculty member who's resigning.

Good news:  The deanling office came up with a legal way to cover the health insurance of the folks who want are resigning so that they can put in their resignation now, but still be covered.  (And that will mean we can hire someone to replace them from the pool I mentioned above.)

The bad news:  the paperwork to do that legal coverage has been waiting on an administrator's desk most of a week.

Good news:  We did interviews and I did the paperwork for the hiring we have permission for last Friday, and the deanling in charge signed off his part on Monday morning, and it went to the campus lawyer for approval.

The bad news:  the lawyer sat on it.  I emailed Thursday to ask if there were a problem, and the lawyer emailed back basically saying "oops" and that they'd get to it.  They got to it later Thursday.  And it went to HR.

Good news:  We did interviews for the other position, and I did the paperwork for the hiring on Monday, and sent it off to the deanling.

The bad news:  the deanling didn't sign off on it until Thursday afternoon.  And then it went to the lawyer.  And just in case, I emailed the lawyer on Friday morning, and they're out of town until next week.

Good news:  HR did the paperwork and sent it back to the lawyer (I don't know why): this was also part of my email on Friday.

The bad news: yeah, the lawyer is out of town until next week.

I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to get administrators to do their administrative thing, or waiting for them.  Yes, I know they're busy.  But if I didn't respond to their request for whatever in a timely manner, they'd be pissed as hell and I'd hear about it from the Dean.

Also: all the tagging of electronic forms through various administrative offices is frustrating.  I'm guessing it's important to have the lawyer look at the forms and make sure they're legal and won't get us sued.  But damn...

The thing is, I can't do the second round of paperwork, the one where I get to say "we want to hire candidate X," until the first round is fully approved.  I've already got the paperwork filled out, waiting in my queue, but I can't do anything with it.

***

A few weeks ago, I borrowed a friend's bike, because I'm thinking of getting a new bike, one I could use for bike camping, and I'm thinking of a Litespeed titanium bike, and my friend has a Litespeed.  So I rode it, and it's a good fit for size.  But her bike has an aggressive geometry, and so feels twitchy compared to mine.

The real revelation was that her saddle is SO much more comfortable than mine.  So now I'm on a quest to find a similar saddle.  The difficulty is that she bought the saddle probably in the 1990s, and that one isn't made any more, and saddles seem different now.

I started by visiting the three local bike shops here in town, and ended up trying two cheap saddles (one from the box of extra saddles that every bike shop ends up with when people change their saddles, the other cheap off the rack).  They weren't an improvement, in different ways.

So then I started searching on line, and found one that might work (from measurements), and looked while I was in California for a shop that carries them to go try them out, without luck.  They just don't seem to be carried.

Then I found a shop a state over, about two hours away, and called, and they said, yes, they had them in stock, and I could come try them out.  So I drove over last weekend, and no, they weren't in stock.  We looked, and I ordered one, and went Thursday to pick it up.  I rode it for 15 miles yesterday (they said I should give it 50 miles to break in), and my sit bones are sore.  There's very little padding, but all the pressure is on my sit bones.  That's good, but...  it's still not close to as comfortable as my friend's saddle.

I think the search continues...

Spring Break, Day 1

Yesterday afternoon, I read my friend's book (good, and very fun for me), put the switchplates and such back in the living room, and with a neighbor's help, moved the furniture back in place.  And I graded my small stack of stuff before I left campus!

Today, I relaxed a lot.  And I cleaned and lubed my bike so I can go for a ride (the streets are mostly good now).  I graded 7 papers.  (12 more to go for this stack.)  That feels really good!  I also practiced, including practicing against a wall so I don't bow with my whole arm when I should bow with just the forearm (for a fast bit).  Ugh, I don't like practicing against the wall!

Goals for the rest of break:

1.  Grade 12 more papers.
2.  Reread Faustus for class on the Monday after break.
3.  Reread Reservation Blues for the Wednesday after break.  (yep, conflicted!)
4.  Reread "Yellow Woman" for the Monday after break.
5.  Write the next assignment sheet for the first year writing class.
6.  Clean up the garage (mostly sweeping at this point).  Move the kayak up out of storage, if I can get some help.
7.  Read Sing for your Life, which a friend lent me.
8.  Red up my campus office.  (The clutter bothers me!)
9.  Practice violin every day!
10.  Get out and ride my bike!
11.  Put up art in the living room.
12.  Do some birding!
13.  Start drafting the paper I worked on at the British Library.
14.  Clean up the house as I can (as the painting gets done).

I'm expecting a guest at the end of the break, who's coming to read poetry on campus.  I'm very excited, but the house is way too chaotic right now.

And my neighbor dog will also be my guest, and promises to take me out for walks!

A Little Adventure before I Go

I have 8 days before I need to be on a plane to London!  I'm excited, overwhelmed, and more overwhelmed.

I've now finished all the big projects that absolutely have to be finished before I go except the whole class prep project.  There are two other projects I should also get further on.  But at least I've taken steps on one of them.

My friend, K, who's going to house sit has moved in.  So far, this arrangement is working out really well.  I hope he enjoys living in the house!  (He's a really good guy, and easy to get along with.)

I started riding my bike again this past weekend, just on a local trail.  And on Sunday, I was thinking about cutting my ride short to work on something else, so I turned off the trail onto a road in order to be able to turn around more easily, and saw a sign that pointed to a landing and said something about the joys of taking your kid fishing.  But I'd never heard of this landing, and it's only about a mile off the bike trail.  I rode up the road, which I'd thought ended at the gravel mine (visible from the trail crossing) and realized that it turned and went on from there.  What I found was a little park area, with a gravel/packed dirt and pothole parking area, a few picnic tables, and a little paved boat ramp with a sign saying that it was four something miles up river to the landing near campus, and 5 something miles down river to a landing further down.

I had a plan.  It wasn't a particularly cunning plan, but a plan.  I could put the kayak on the car with the bike inside, and drop the kayak at the landing near campus along with my life vest, paddles, and so on.  Then take the car (with the bike) to the new landing, leave the car there, and ride the bike up to the landing near campus, lock it there, get in the kayak, and go down river.  So I could do my own drop off and pick up because it's fairly close.

And that's what I did yesterday.  I was a little anxious about it, especially worried about what if I missed the landing somehow?

The thing is, right across from the landing is a ski jump, and that's visible from pretty far away, and not easy to miss, so the chances of my missing the landing and having to go another five miles were low.

The weather was good, and I told a couple friends what I was up to, and texted them before I got on the water with my eta (and then when I got out again).  But still, doing things all alone makes me a bit apprehensive.  It doesn't usually stop me doing them, but it makes me worry a bit along the way.

Here are some pictures from the adventure:

My kayak at the first landing.  (There's an ice rink right near, owned by the city and university jointly, and the city rec people were kind enough to let me leave my life vest and paddles and such there.  I used my bike lock to lock the kayak to the sign, probably illegally.  But it was out of the way at least.)

At the second landing, ready to get on the bike!

Bike parked at the ice rink, and locked up!

Kayak loaded and ready to go!

Gorgeous day on the river, mostly very quiet and calm.

Ski jump in the distance!  (Why was I worried I'd miss that?  I blame my recent reading of The Mill on the Floss, where Maggie becomes a "fallen woman" because Stephen purposefully "misses" landing at the town where they were supposed to land, and ends up going so far that they have to be sort of rescued by a ship and spend the night on it.)

A much closer view of the ski jump.  I really don't know how anyone has the courage to slide down that and fly through the air.  But they have big competitions here during winter.

The landing (with my car parked up the hill).

Pulled out!

Packed and ready to go back and pick up my bike!

All in all, it was a really lovely adventure, and I'm glad I went.  I'd like to try the next leg, too, maybe next summer!

Hit the Ground Running

And we're back!  At least I'm back.  From Kalamazoo, where I met Dame Eleanor to say hi, and also other medievalists. 

I felt good about my paper, and heard some stellar work.  I learned to play a game, and am trying to think how I might make that work in my own courses.

But I barely slept.  Blanketgate. 

Just so we all remember: at some point a short while before the conference, word got out that people staying in the dorms wouldn't be provided with blankets, but would need to either bring their own, go without, or buy one.  Some smart folks figured out how to arrange so that the bought blankets could be donated for one or more shelters for people more needy than most medievalists, and also worked to fund some blankets for more needy medievalists (especially grad students).

I bought a blanket.  It was an okay blanket, but nothing to blog home about, mostly because it was too short.  I'm about 5'5", and I had a choice of either shoulders or feet for coverage.  Fortunately, it wasn't super cold.  (And in case it had been, I had long johns and sleeping socks packed.)

Most important, I reconnected with a friend and had several lovely long talks with her.

But now, holy cow, back trying to catch up on all the stuff I put off.  I have papers to grade by Wednesday morning (so I can give them back at the final).  I had a final to write, but it's now written.

My home is a mess, my office is a mess, my life is chaos, and I haven't practiced the violin since before Kalamazoo.  (This afternoon, I promise myself.)

I need to figure out all sorts of things before summer really starts, but can't do some of those until official paperwork happens, and we all know how paperwork getting done sometimes is.


And the Giro d'Italia is on, and Nairo Quintana is in the lead!  (It's a rest day today, the second during the three week race.)  Tomorrow is a time trial, which I don't find much fun to watch, alas, and which may also spell the end of Quintana's time in pink for now.  (Since the Tour de France is more familiar, folks may be more familiar with the yellow jersey worn by the general classification leader of the Tour.  The general classification is the total time to finish the race.  For the Giro, the general classification leader wears a pink jersey.)  There's also a cyclamen/purple jersey for the points leader, which is basically a jersey for sprinters, currently held by Fernando Gaviria; a blue jersey for the leader of the mountain competition, currently held by Jan Polanc; and the white jersey for riders under 25.  (There are other competitions, but only four result in distinct jerseys.)

Death on the Internet

For years now, I've read Steve Tilford's blog.  If you don't follow cycling, you've probably never heard of Steve Tilford, but he was the first US mountain biking champion, four times the US cyclocross champion, five times world mountain bike masters champion, twice world cyclocross masters champion, an inductee in the mountain biking hall of fame, and three times a member of the US world road team at the world championships.

He was also just a bit older than me, but still raced and road tons, and wrote wonderfully about racing and riding, and all sorts of things.

But today, I opened  Cycling News and saw this.  And then I opened his blog, and saw a post by a friend of his.  (It was a car accident, a really horrible car accident.)

I never met Steve Tilford.  (I don't even feel like I can call him by his first name, certainly not by the nickname many seem to use.  But just his surname doesn't seem right, either.)  But I'm really sad.  Reading someone's blog, following their life, learning from them, seeing pictures of their dogs, family, friends, adventures, it all makes you feel sort of like you know them.  Except you don't.  Not really.

But still, what a life the man led, and how he'll be missed by his family, friends, the whole cycling community, and his blog readers, including me.

First Outside Bike Ride of the Year!

I don't think I've ridden outside this early in the year since I moved here.  Pretty amazing.

I almost fell because I hit an area of ice without being able to stop in time.  My rear tire slid out, but I was able to unclip and get a foot out in time, so I didn't fall.

It was really great to be outside!

Last Week's Best Ride

It's a loop, I call the Priory Hill Short Loop, about 22 miles.


About a mile in, there's Priory Hill.

 It's way harder than it looks.  But at least the hill's short.

Further along, on the left, soy, on the right, corn.  Along with some wheat and alfalfa, pretty much the big farm crops around here.

The road goes off into the distance.  But that hill isn't nearly as steep as Priory Hill.

 There's a little, well-kept 19th century cemetery.  I'd never stopped there, but as long as I was taking pictures, I did.  Here's what I saw.

 What stories Timothy Burgess could probably have told!  From the War of 1812 to the great North Woods.

These were about the earliest grave markers I saw.  So sad.

Here's something I see a lot around here.  I little building at the side of the road.  If you're not from the Midwest (in which case, I'm guessing you know), feel free to hazard a guess!

Making a New Habit

That's what I'm working on this new year, and so far, okay.  The new habit is to exercise every day, and it's not that hard during break, so my goal is to get myself in the habit pretty well and then hope I can keep it going once classes start.

The thing is, I've already ridden my bike (on the trainer, so way quicker, but not as exciting) over 100 miles.  And that makes me think about how lazy I've been all fall not being on the trainer at all.  It's amazing to think that if I rode for just 10 miles a day (about 30-35 minutes on the trainer for me), I'd rack up 3000 plus miles for the year, no problem. 

My system to avoid utter boredom is to put on a bike race from last year (many are on youtube) and ride along for the last however many kilometers using earphones to hear the commentary over the trainer.  (They often don't start televising or youtubing the races until the last 30 kilometers.)  I've now worked up to just over an hour (20 miles), so mostly the timing works out pretty well.  If I need a bit more time, I watch the last few kilometers of another race. 

The key is, I have to not remember who won the race, so Paris-Roubaix is out, because that was very memorable for me.  But stages are really good because I tend not to remember who won the stage, even if I remember who won overall (the Giro, for example, will be good).  And most of the classics and monuments are good (those are one day races, often in spring or fall).

Today's stage is Stage 7 of the Dauphine, I think. 

The racing season has started in Australia and New Zealand (new national champions in both countries today/last night), but they're not available here, alas.

Jour Sans

That's the biking term for when you have a day when you're just not riding well.  (It's French, of course, and means basically a day without, usually without the energy or speed or whatever that bike riders want.)

That was my ride today.  I chose a route with a fairly hard start, and then an easier finish.  I barely (and when I say barely, I mean barely) made it up the hard start hill.

I was ready to be done five miles out, riding back against the wind.

I don't know why.  I'm reasonably rested, ate decently, drank plenty, and it wasn't especially hot out (about 80F).

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing everyone a happy new year.  I hope we have a breakout of peace in the world, but I'm not holding my breath.


A rundown for 2014.  It's been a busier, more eventful year than I realized before I started this post. 

Goal for 2015: good health and happiness, being a good friend, being a better teacher and colleague.

Professional:
I taught a totally new senior seminar and learned a lot.

And I taught my usual two comp courses, an unusual two Shakespeare courses (usually I teach one, sometimes none).  Had a course release for committee work, which helped a lot, considering how much work the committee was.

Goals for 2015: Finish two current projects, teach better


Birding:  The best birds of the year were Snowy Owls, Northern Hawk Owl, a Garganey (at the end of the post), Warblers galore!  Yellow-headed Blackbirds.  Sora, Swainson's Thrush, and a YHB!  Brown Pelicans and Sooty Shearwaters (also Dolphins!), Pigeon Guillemots and Western Gulls  Wow, it was a really good birding year for me, wasn't it?  I saw a lot of new birds, and learned a good bit along the way.

Trip: California in summer, Hearst Castle, and Elephant Seals!  (And some birds, too!  See above.)

Goal for 2015: Maybe take a camera class, see more spring birds, more snowy owls, and see the Hawk Owl again.


Biking
Bike odometer: 10763.  That means I've ridden over 10K miles on my bike.  That's a lot when you think about it.

2014: 1022 miles (76 hours)
2013: 700 miles (52 hours)
2012: 1296 miles (89 hours)
2011: 460 miles (29 hours) (in UK from July to December)
2010: 1020 miles (66 hours)
2009: 2380 miles (166 hours)
2008: 1425 miles (97 hours) (in Japan from January to early June)
2007: 2011 miles* (There may have been more miles, before I started using the bike journal thingy, but I seem to have started using it in mid-May, so probably not tons of miles.)

One thing that's fun about a blog is that it's searchable, so you can look back fairly easily.  Here's what I had to say when I started looking for a new bike, and a post after my first ride, both back in 2007.  I'd say that bike's been a pretty good investment.

Goal for 2015: Bike 1500 miles, and have more fun!


Kayaking
I bought a new kayak in May.  And named it, the Retirement Fund.

Goal for 2015: Enjoy more kayaking!

Gardening
I had some planting beds put in the south side of my yard, and planted a veggie garden for the first time.  Here's what it looked like on May 8th or so.

And here's what it looked like in August.

Goal for 2015: Be a little more realistic about planting, and enjoy it as much!


Gardening, the Artichoke Project
Last winter, I managed to keep a couple of artichoke plants alive through the winter.

This winter, I've brought in five pots, and am trying again.  I've added light, but so far, I have a bug problem I can't seem to shake, though not spider mites this time.  When we had a break in the weather, and things were just above freezing, I put them out for a couple of days, hoping to kill off the bugs.  But it doesn't seem to have worked. 

What my friend and I have learned: we should put the plants out as early as possible, and bring them in late.  Bringing them in late, after a couple of frosts, may help kill off the bugs.  My friend reports that her plants don't seem to have bugs, and that's what she did, and mine do, and I didn't bring mine in as late as she did.  We're hoping that putting them out early, even if we have to cover them some, will give them more "winter" and thus get them to produce more chokes in summer.


And finally, I started some forced bulbs the other day, so in a couple of months, I may have tulips and daffodils!

A First

I went camping yesterday. 

I went up to an island park, complete with my car packed full.  How full?  I think the Lewis and Clark expedition had less stuff.

Maybe not quite, but there was a lot of stuff.  Some years ago now, I bought a tent for a specific purpose, though I no longer quite remember why.  I used it once for that purpose.  And I lent it to a friend about five years ago.

 

When I thought about going camping recently, I aired it out and found the friend's reading glasses (a different style than my own).  So it's been a while.  I wasn't sure I'd enjoy camping, even, so I made a one night reservation, and figured if I hated it, I could leave and come home and never go again.

 

 

I got my camping spot and set up my tent.

 

As you can see, it's a beautiful site.  There's water!  (But there were surprisingly few bugs, which was great.)

I had the Retirement Fund with me.



So I went for a paddle, a couple of hours, first up the river, and then back down.  It was beautiful, and quiet.  I saw some other boaters, but mostly fishing or paddling themselves.

Then I went for a 20 mile bike ride, first scoping out the nearby town, where I found a diner.  Towards the end of my ride, I stopped at the diner and had dinner, and then road back, making it to my campsite in plenty of time to get stuff ready.  And then it was time for bed.  I was really tired, so I was lying on my sleeping bag, trying to get the energy to take out my contacts  (I did).  It was semi-noisy until it got almost totally quiet at 8:45.  After that, there was the occasional kid noise, but almost nothing.

And then it was morning!  I made my coffee (elixir of life!), and had some basic breakfast, and then I paddled around the island.  And as I was reaching the landing, I saw something swimming in the water.  I thought it was a muskrat, but hoped it was an otter.  So I paddled closer.  (I was a good ways off.)  And then it turned towards me, and it had a tan muzzle.  And round ears.  My eyes got big, and I stopped, and it swam a bit faster towards the shore.  So I paddled a bit faster.

And Yes, I saw my first bear!  It wasn't huge, but it was definitely a bear.  It got to shore, and jumped up, and went off into the underbrush.

That was pretty much the highlight of a really good camping trip.  (Short, but good.)


Meanwhile, I did some birding recently and saw a couple new birds, some of which I even got pictures of!  (The first is a Least Sandpiper; there there are Red-headed Woodpeckers.)

Century

I accomplished that goal I had to bike either my age in years (miles) or a metric century (100 kilometers, or just over 62 miles).  (I also did that in 2007, looks like.)  (I rode 63.5 miles.)

Mostly, I had a really good time.

I saw a skunk.  At first, I saw this black bobbing thing with some white, and thought maybe there was a crow with something white in its beak hopping down the bike trail.  And then I realized it was a skunk, and stopped, a good 30 feet away.  The skunk also stopped, and raised its rear a bit (but was still facing me).  I thought, oh, this could be VERY bad.

But then after a short moment, the skunk decided that I wasn't really threatening, but was big enough to be avoided, and it made its way to the side of the trail and into the underbrush.  I waited long enough for it to be out of sight, and hopefully out of range of where it would feel threatened, and then bike on by on the far side of the trail.  And all was well.


I rode a trail I like not too far from where I live, which starts in a town, and then a couple miles away has a trailhead (where I parked), and then goes about 18 miles to a state park with a circular road, passing through a couple small towns along the way.  So I started at the trailhead, rode to the state park, rode around the circular road several times, then back, beyond where I'd parked towards the other bigger town, and then back to where I parked with about 8 more miles to go.  I stopped, refreshed my water with icewater from the car, drenched myself with lukewarm water, and then rode the final little bit towards the park and back.

Mostly the ride was fine, but the last 6 or so miles my wrists were really achy.

However, my feet didn't quite fall asleep (I kept doing stretches and stuff along the way which help), so that was a huge positive thing.


I started earlyish, and by the time I was doing the circuit of the state park, campers were starting the morning.  And since I did four or five circuits, I saw the development of the morning in several camps.  My favorite had a bunch (maybe 12) seats around a campfire.  The first circuit, someone was starting the campfire.  By the second circuit, it was going well, and there was some movement of other folks around.  But the third circuit, all the chairs were full of people eating breakfast.  And by the final circuit, all the chairs and the camp seemed empty.


Earlier this summer, I thought about trying to do a century of 100 miles this summer, but now I'm rethinking.  It would probably take me 8 or 9 hours (because I'm slow, and would be riding alone), and I think my wrists would really hurt, and I don't think I want to spend that much time on a bike not having fun.

So I think I'll find a different summer goal, maybe something running, which would take less time, but still give me a good goal.  And I'll bike and enjoy shorter rides, up to maybe 50 miles, and really focus on the fun of biking, since no one is paying me enough money to have my wrists ache.  (They were fine by the next morning, and my legs, while tired that night, were perfectly happy the next morning.)


And I think I'm going to try to go camping at that park for a night.  It just looked so beautiful.

Slightly Sore

I've been trying to ride my bike a bit, so I'm slightly sore in the legs, not enough to make it hard to sleep, but enough to be aware that I've been working.

I have a goal to ride my age in miles or a metric century (100 kilometers, which is about 62 miles) by the end of the month.  I rode 41 miles last week, and felt good, so I think this is do-able.

It's a matter of time on task, mostly, that being willing to ride for four or five hours at a time (because I go a whole lot slower than the pros), and building up over the couple of weeks.

I also have had a problem with my left foot falling asleep.  It used to be both feet, but moving the cleats on my shoes helped, and doing some stretchy stuff and reverse pedaling (pulling up instead of pushing down) has definitely helped.  And, weirdly, I'm finding that wearing thinner socks helps somehow.  But still, if my foot starts to go numb at 20 miles, facing another 42 is really unpleasant.  And I'm not paid to bike, so I don't want to do it if it's unpleasant.

My longer term goal, which I'm almost afraid to name, is to go 100 miles by the end of September.  Time on task is hard for that one.  It would be a huge mental accomplishment for me at any rate.  (The furthest I've ever ridden was 75 miles.)

 ***

Things just got busier with school.  The busyness is very good and encouraging and wonderful, but also daunting. 

Ten Thousand Miles

That's my bike's odometer on the bike computer.  Way back in June of 2007, I wrote about getting the bike.  So in just over 7 years, I've ridden 10,000 miles.

Yes, real riders ride that in a season.  Still, those have been ten thousand mostly really good miles.

Today, for example. 

There's a biggish bike race in the area, with both men's and women's pro races, so I left my house early and drove a while.  I wasn't sure how timing would go, but I wanted to be at the first sprint point before the men's race went through.   The sprint point is about 20 miles from the start, and the men started at noon, and the women at 1:30, so figuring 30 miles an hour, I wanted to be at the sprint point by 12:40.  Of course, as I was planning this, I was thinking of the Dauphine, Tour, Giro, Vuelta, etc.  Big crowds, lots of screaming.

I'd scoped out some maps, and figured out that about 15 miles from the sprint point town is a town that's an endpoint of a bike trail, one of those rails to trails things.  So my plan was, if I got to the area early, I'd stop there and go for a ride, figuring the time ahead, and then go to the town with the sprint point.  And then between the men's and women's races going through the sprint point, I could also take a short ride if I wanted.  And that's how it worked out.

I stopped at the trailhead, and figured if I rode for 40 minutes (thinking 20 out, 20 back), then I could hop in the car, drive to the town with the sprint point in time to park, find my way, and so on.  I only rode just over 9 miles there, but it was beautiful, not windy, and quiet, and relaxing, with flowers, birds, and me riding along.  The day was slightly overcast, and just a perfect temperature for riding.

Along the way, I passed by a guy sitting on the ground next to a TT bike, a beautiful Felt.  Naturally, I slowed to check to make sure he was okay, and he said he was, just had two flats and was waiting for his friend to pick him up with a car.  He said the path got really bad ahead, and he'd had two flats.

I turned around maybe five minutes later (at the end of my 20 minutes out), and saw him again and checked to make sure he was okay.  I told him my plans to go see the race, and commiserated on the flats, and asked him what tires he was using (because I carry a 25mm tube, and would have shared, but I don't know if it would work on 23 or 27 mm tires).  But he said he didn't know, just whatever the bike came with; he'd just been set up on it.

What a bummer is that?  Brand new bike and two flats on what has to be a pretty early ride?  BUMMER!

But also, isn't it weird that someone who does triathlons (he said so, when I told him I thought his bike was beautiful, which it is) doesn't know what sort of tires they're rolling?  (I'm not nearly as geeky as to own a TT bike, and I know I'm riding 25mm Gatorskins.)

But anyway, he was hanging out waiting, and not hurt or anything, so I went on my way.

I got to the small town where the sprint point was. 

Luckily, there was someone in a yellow vest, looking vaguely official, so I asked and he just waved at the street and said to park wherever, just out of the traffic lanes.  So I did, just a bit past where he was (near a bar and grill, and near an open tent with stuffs happening).  As I drove past, I saw a sign marked "Sprint 200 m," so I drove 200 meters, and there was a little sign saying "sprint" and a little line across the road. 

I parked and walked back to the bar, bought a diet coke, used the restroom, and went back out to talk to the yellow vest guy, who said that he expected the men's race to come through in 15 minutes or so.  (I was earlier than I'd expected, since it didn't take long to get from the trailhead to the town.)

So I went and waited on some steps leading to a wedding chapel right in front of the sprint point and relaxed with my coke.  After a while, a car drove up, parked off the road, and two judges (with official looking judges' shirts on) and another yellow vest guy got out, and the yellow vest guy put out two traffic cones on either side of the road at the sprint point.  And then we all waited.

And after a few minutes, the official cars came through, and then ZOOM, the race went buy, all nearly in a bunch, with a little stringing out in front so that one guy won the sprint fairly obviously.  And then the rest of the cars went by, with a couple of straggling bikers.

I cheered for all of them, from the first to the last, though I felt silly because it was only me, and the two judges, and the yellow vest guy, and they weren't cheering.

The excitement ended at 12:50 or so, which meant the men had taken 50 minutes to ride the 20 miles, and they were all bunched.  The women's race was due to start at 1:30, and then I figured it would take them a bit longer, but at least 50 minutes to get to the sprint point, so I had an hour and a half to do what I wanted.  And what I wanted was to bike some more.

So I got on my bike and headed out riding the race route backwards.  I had 7 miles to make the 10K on my odometer, so I knew I wanted to ride at least 3 and a half miles out.  And I figured I was starting at 1, and needed to be back by about 2:20 (but if for some reason I weren't, I'd just cheer from the side of the road where I was, but so long as I was back, I'd be able to put my bike away and such).  And off I went.

And it was a slog.  There was a little hill, but then mostly flat, but my legs just felt awful.  I was riding at about 50-60 rpm (the rotation of my pedals), which is slow, even for me, and I just felt like I was riding through thick mud.  There was a headwind, and I was feeling it, but even more, it felt like just a slog.

So I rode to 1:30, and I'd gone about 4 miles, and I decided if my legs were just that bad, I'd turn around and go back, and that would be fine.  So I turned around.

And suddenly, I was seriously flying.  The headwind was now a tailwind.  So when I hit the 10K on my odometer, I was going down a very slight hill at 24 miles an hour, feeling more like a real biker, spinning at 90 rpm and grinning.  It took me maybe 10 minutes to make it back to town, maybe a little more, but the whole time, that tailwind was helping a lot.  So I went a bit beyond the sprint point, and up a little hill, past a different yellow vest guy, who cheered for me, which totally made me laugh. 

I rode back in, changed clothes in my car in the parking lot of a little park (out of the way, and not highly visible to anyone), went to the tent thing, which was a benefit to raise money for a scholarship thing for folks studying to be EMTs and such, made a donation and got a pulled pork sandwich, some baked beans, and some potato salad, and enjoyed my lunch.  I think most of the town was there, all in t-shirts to honor the young woman in whose name the benefit was being held, since she'd died several years earlier in a car accident.  (You can learn a lot in a small town if you ask politely and donate for a sandwich.)

Then I wandered back to the sprint point, and hung out until a new judge and yellow vest guy drove up, and then I cheered as a lone breakaway rider (#61) passed.  She was more than three minutes ahead (but with 50 more miles to go, that didn't seem likely to hold, or maybe?) and then the rest of the peloton came through, and I cheered for all of them. 

And then I walked back to my car, and drove home quite happy with my day.

Nearly Perfect

So far, it's a great start to the break.

I went for the first outside bike ride of the season, and it was great.  I was slow as molasses, but it was great because I was outside, and pedaling.  It was just about freezing, so with good clothes, I was pretty much warm enough.  And did I mention, it was GREAT!

(You'd have to try hard not to be aware that riding a road bike in biking gear is a pretty privileged thing, but it's especially noticeable in colder weather when the homeless folks are out during the day trudging, wearing many layers, and I'm out in the cold for fun.)

I tried to take a nap, but didn't fall asleep.  Still, being able to take a nap is pretty luxurious.

And now I've just about finished grading a set of midterms.  That means I won't have to grade this set of midterms later in the break!  I still have a makeup set to grade (some students needed to take it earlier), but that's only three exams.  That means, yes, I have almost no grading to do for the rest of the break!  For once, procrastination didn't win!

A nearly perfect start to spring break today!

Cidery

I went out for a bike ride a ways away today, and on the way back, stopped by a local cidery.  They had tasting, like wine tasting (they also had wines), but of ciders.  I tasted two "still" ciders and three carbonated ciders.

One of the carbonated ciders they make with whatever apples they have around, so it tastes different with different pressings.  The other they make with Honeycrisps, and boy, is that good!  Very light and refreshing.

They also have tours, but you have to arrange ahead of time, and I didn't know.

Lovely ride (with a super yummy piece of lemon buttermilk pie along the way), lovely peaches (after), and lovely cider.  A good day all around.

Eating on the Bike

I went for another 30 miler today, and it was way better.  I don't think I've gotten a bunch more fit in two days, though.  I think I ate better today, and that makes a lot of difference.

On Sunday, I didn't take any food, but ate a 100 calorie bag of sports beans.  Today, I took a 250 calorie sports bar thing.

I think I need to be a lot more thoughtful about eating on longer rides because it really does make a difference!


On today's ride, I saw a snake in the middle of the road.  It was maybe 2-3 feet long (it was curvy, and I didn't stop to look closely), and mostly brown.  I'm guessing maybe a hogsnake?

Five More Miles

Yesterday, I rode 25 miles, slowly, because these days I'm slow.

Today, I rode 30 miles, also slowly.

I feel those extra five miles a lot right now.  It doesn't seem like I should, right?  An extra 25 minutes or so?

On the other hand, it's also an additional 20% over what I rode the previous day, so I guess that makes sense.

And that's how things are around here.  I'm reading and working on classes and a student's thesis.  I'm gardening and weed whacking.  I'm biking a bit.  And I'm hanging out with friends, which is probably the very best part of summer.

On my ride today, I saw a Sandhill Crane, a number of Eastern Kingbirds, and, I'm pretty sure, my first Ruffed Grouse.  It was standing along the road on a curve, near some woods, and barely bothered to look at me when I rode by maybe five feet away.

I've also taken a few photographs.  I have a friend from college who takes fantastic photos.  Then he uses photoshop on them to enhance colors and such.  But often, they look unreal somehow.  Not in the, hey, I made it black and white way, but in a really weird way.  And then, of course, I wanted to try some of that.  So I did.


Here are some pictures after a storm passed the other day.

Unretouched.  I was trying to get at the way the sun comes through, near the upper right.

And this one is made black and white.
 




Unretouched
 

Cooked by photoshop's automatic fixer
 

So, the move to black and white seems fine.  The sky was really orangy, as it is at sunset sometimes, and the black and white makes it a bit dramatic, but not weird.

 

But the other one looks too, I don't know.  It's interesting how it picked up the contrast so that you can see through the tree a lot more clearly than you can in the original.  But the sky looks way more pink than it did.  The cloud looks way less ominous and dark than it really was.

 

Clearly, I need to play with more pictures!

Ride!

First (outdoors) ride of the year!

My rear got wet, so did my feet a bit (from the spray), but it was GREAT!

News from the Professing Front

I went to an awards thing yesterday because one of my students had one an award, and so I was sort of obligated to go.  And I was feeling sort of resentful about it because it's two hours out of the day after an otherwise already full day.

And then I got there, and sat with a colleague and an advisee of mine who also won a prize, and best of all, the advisee's family, dad, grandfather, sibling, and partner.  And it was just delightful how completely proud the dad was, and how the grandfather was close to tears when she accepted her award and spoke about how her project was inspired by her family.  It didn't take long with these folks to change my mood much for the better.

I was proud of my own student, too, and I think I did an okay job explaining her project and the award.  (It wasn't the easiest project from my end, but she really came through with it.)

***

Two of my other students got projects accepted to the student research day presentations.  I'm happy for them, but secretly also thinking about my responsibility to go to another activity.

***

I got several bits of good news the other day, of import mostly to myself, I think.  I had my eyes checked, and they are healthy.  But, I also asked about whether I would be a candidate for Lasik, and the optometrist almost laughed in my face.  She didn't, though, and kindly explained that Lasik is most effective when someone's eye prescription is no more than a minus five.  Mine are around minus ten.  So I guess that's a hard decision I won't have to make.  (I've hesitated totally about the idea of eye surgery, but I was beginning to think that it would be really amazing to go camping and not worry about dealing with contact lenses and also be able to see the stars without then taking my contacts or glasses off.)  Still, I'm stressy about my eyes, and having a positive report on eye health is really great news for me.

My bike is back from the shop where it got its spring tune up, but I haven't gotten out on a ride yet.  It's cold, and there's this job thing, and the awards thing, and so on.  But soon, I hope.

***

I can report that our department search(es) was/were successful, and that we'll have a/some fine new colleague(s) joining our department in the fall.

***

There's this person I know, not really well, but we have contact sometimes in various ways.  The thing is, I keep hearing/reading X complaining about this one sort of problem, and then three months later, I hear/read X complaining about this same sort of problem in a different context, and on and on, for a while now.  And I wonder, hmmm, could it be that X is somehow the source of this sort of problem? 

And then I immediately wonder if I do the same thing myself, complain again and again about a problem and not see that I pretty much bring it on myself?  (I know I've done it in the past, in a pretty serious way.  But I hope I've grown in awareness.)

(Okay, true confession here: I still procrastinate about grading more than I should.  I should have gotten over that by now, right?  Yeah.  Like that.)