Day 15 of NBM: Rainy Day Swag

This morning’s haul.

It was a super-rainy Bike to Work Day today, so I didn’t get the kind of massive haul that’ I’ve gotten the last two years (2013 and 2014). I stopped at only 3 of the 10 stations I’d planned on, because I feel the need to go much slower in the rain and slowly hitting 10 stations around the city takes some time. And I did need to get to work, after all. I hit Thunderbird for coffee, Quack’s Bakery for coffee and an oat bar, and Wheatsville Co-op for coffee and everything else. Wheatsville always has a deluxe setup with multiple vendors. This year’s Bike Austin bag had a free pass for B-Cycle too, which is cool—those funny red rental bikes with the super-low frames and enormous baskets are fun for short distances (that don’t include hills). I sported a bright yellow poncho to keep my backpack dry (no chance of keeping anything else dry) and it worked perfectly. What a blast to ride in the rain, even if slowly!

Day 12 of NBM: Major Taylor’s 12 Rules for Clean Living, Illustrated

Major Taylor was the first African-American to win the world track cycling championship. Track cycling is the one where the riders go around an indoor track as fast as possible on bikes with no brakes and no gears—just one fixed gear. For Major Taylor to win the world championship in 1899, he obviously had to train harder than everyone else and maintain focus, as racial discrimination was a major force in his racing career. (Once he started winning races, for example, tracks began banning him.) He raced as a professional from age 18 to 32, and during that time developed 12 rules by which he both raced and lived. In 2010 graphic designer Chris Piascik developed an illustration for each rule. (Below the graphic is a typed list of the rules.)

Behold the power of graphic design!

1. Don’t try to “gyp.”
2. Don’t be a pie biter.*
3. Don’t keep late hours.
4. Don’t use intoxicants.
5. Don’t be a big bluffer.
6. Don’t eat cheap candies.
7. Don’t get a swelled head.
8. Don’t use tobacco in any form.
9. Don’t fail to live a clean life.
10. Don’t forget to play the game fair.
11. Don’t take in unfair advantage of an opponent.
12. Don’t forget the practice of good sportsmanship.

*The Major Taylor Association provides this explanation of the term pie biter: “In the track races of Major Taylor’s era, teaming and cooperation between  riders to physically block or ‘pocket’ a strong rider was forbidden.  Major Taylor was often a victim of these corrupt practices.  The term ‘pie biter’ probably refers to a rider who agrees to block a stronger rider in exchange for a share of the purse.”

[11.12.13 post, re-run]

Day 11 of NBM: 10 vs 11 Speeds

I ran across this handy comparison of 10- and 11-speeds. It is on the Performance Bikes blog, so you have to take it with caution. Performance is national retailer who has good prices on stuff, but you should hesitate before taking their advice and NEVER let them touch your bike. They have people dressed as mechanics, contained with a service-like area, standing around holding mechanics tools, but they are not mechanics (just people who I guess finished a training course or employee orientation or something) and WILL fuck up your ride. Anyway, I thought the Performance blog post was an interesting read. When I got my road bike, I went down to a compact crank on the front and miss that granny gear on these Austiny hills (yes, I know I should just become a stronger rider, but I should also floss every day, so). I hadn’t considered going up in gears in the back (currently just at 7, not 10). Something to think about when I upgrade in a few years, anyway, when I am that much older and closer to the grave and still not strong on hills.

Day 10 of NBM: Yesod

I read a delightful article today entitled “My Daughter’s Ten Bicycles,” in which a Jewish man considers the 10 dimensions in which he bought his daughter a single bicycle. A lovely read, it is based on a 500-year-old description of the universe as a manifestation of the Creator’s 10 attributes:

• Chochmah (wisdom)
• Binah (understanding)
• Daat (knowledge)
• Chessed (love)
• Gevurah (might, restraint)
• Tiferet (harmony)
• Netzach (victory, ambition)
• Hod (splendor, devotion)
• Yesod (foundation, bonding)
• Malchut (sovereignty, receptiveness)

The author considers his purchase of a bike for his little girl through each of these 10 dimensions. My favorite one is the one related to Yesod:

In the sphere of Yesod, it was an act of bonding. The event became an integral part of our relationship. From this point on and to all eternity, this act will be part and parcel of what makes me her father and makes her my daughter.

That reminds me of my dad teaching me to ride my bike. I remember him telling me he was holding on to the back of the seat while he ran behind me, but at some point he stopped holding it, and I kept going, powered by my own momentum. I remember very little of my childhood, but I can recall that moment, when I realized he had let go and was just running behind me as a show of support (and to show me I didn’t need his support to power myself through the air). I did the same thing with my daughter, as I’m sure all parents do.

Day 9 of NBM: I Got You On Tape

Today I participated in the worst kind of bicycling: a spin class. It was not the worst possible situation, in that the room had huge windows looking out on a scenic vista. The worst possible situation involves a class in a windowless room, where the sweating cyclists steam up windows that aren’t even there, and all hope is lost. Spinning sucks for various reasons: it’s boring, it’s hard, the room gets so hot and humid, you are the mercy of someone else’s musical tastes*, the other spinners can be intimidatingly fit**, and in general the rewards are far from evident. However, the rewards are there: when I’ve forced myself to go to spin class regularly over about six weeks, my bike speed on the road increased significantly. So, I’m going to force myself to go at least twice a week for the next few months. I thought I’d spice up this post with a song from a Danish band called I Got You on Tape, as the other songs I found with “spinning” in the title were not doing it for me. So, here’s this song. You don’t have to spin while listening to it. You’re welcome.

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*(I once took a class from an instructor who favored use of Robert Earl Keene’s “The Road Goes On Forever” for a super-long climbing stretch, making for a miserable experience.)

**In today’s class, the instructor said at one point that the women in the class should be at 190-200 watts. I was hitting maybe 130. Oooof.

Day 8 of NBM: Infinity Bikes

An eight on its side is the infinity symbol. A nine on its side is just a drunk six.

Day 7 of NBM: Frozen Yoga

Tonight’s hour of hot yoga just did me in & I fell into bed instead of going for the night ride that’s become my custom this past week. I’m psyched for tomorrow’s bike commute, though. And so to bed.

Day 6 of NBM: Go Bike to Sleep

RJ, first day of 5th grade (2010), accidentally matching her hair to her clothes to her bike.

Today was the national Bike to School Day! I celebrated by driving my daughter to school in our car and then returning home to sleep til 12:30. An unconventional approach, sure, but we all have to observe Bike to School Day in our own way. I didn’t sleep last night (maybe because of the giant iced coffee I had at noon?)(and also last night’s thunderstorm) and I was feeling crappy anyway, so sick day until about 1:30. Then I pulled myself together and began editing a paper on choice modeling, which a terrible thing to be editing or even thinking about, and then picked up my daughter in the car.

I actually bought her a bike specifically for her use in getting herself to and from high school. She rode it on the first day of 9th grade, and then utterly abandoned the very idea, as she discovered that 1) she arrived at school drenched in sweat, because it was August in Texas, and 2) coming home is actually a gradual uphill slope and the single-speed she’d picked out was not ideal. Also, 3) she is SUPER lazy, so. Back in elementary school, when we lived in a ridiculously hilly neighborhood, she’d psyche herself up to tackle the biggest hill on the way home by imagining there were breakfast tacos at the top. So I thought she was going to be a real badass in life, if she had already figured out self-incentivization by 5th grade. She probably will turn out to be a badass, but adolescence is taking a lot out of her right now, as it does out of everyone, so to the car it is. One day she will be cured of adolescence and will reclaim her former badassery.

Day 5 of NBM: Cinco de Biko

Yeah, yeah, I know it’s Cinco de Mayo today, and not Day of the Dead. But Day of the Dead iconography is much more interesting, and also November 1 is so far away. More importantly, Day 5 marks the first day of National Bike Month I haven’t been able to ride my bike. I was looking forward to a nice night ride, like I took last night (tooling around the neighborhood around 9, feeling the evening breeze in the nearly empty streets), but a massive thunderstorm with flash flooding presented discouraging conditions. So just as the Day of the Dead celebrates the departed, I am celebrating my broken 4-day streak with the knowledge that I will ride again someday. Like tomorrow. Tomorrow’s probably that day. So, Cinco de Biko. Let’s do this:

Day the Fourth of NBM: Kessel Run Edition

Many of these images are from here.