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| The ice bouldering conditions I found on Sunday 12/11/11 |
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| Happy to find ice and enjoy the colder weather. |
The ice I found was a little delaminated with running water in some areas, but was tall enough and stable enough that I could get some early season mixed training in. What the ice lacked in size it surely made up for in fun! I was able to traverse several hundred yards covering both ice runnels and rock. The ice varied in thickness from relatively thin (enough to hold body weight) to some decent swing and sticks. It was nice to see ice again. The temps up high have been cold since my visit and should still be good. I plan to visit again this week for some more early season ice bouldering.
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| After ice bouldering I went to check other areas. Here's the best I found. Still has a ways to go, but winter is almost here! |
When I complained about the unseasonably cold weather in Vienna, the Co-Habitant comforted me with tales of 60 degree temperatures back in Boston. Imagine my dismay when I came home to this.
Snow, in October!I went for a 25 mile ride wearing layers of wool and a down vest, my nose running the entire time.
The sun helped me warm up, but even as late as mid-morning there were some icy patches on the Minuteman Trail, and cycling over slippery wet/ frozen leaves was especially treacherous.
But I realise that I've reached a level of being comfortable on the bike where I will actually cycle over slippery leaves and frost-covered brickwork intentionally, just to see what happens. So far, nothing. Once my rear wheel skidded a little, but that was all. I am trying to develop a feel for traction on a fixed gear bike, so that I can be more confident once it starts snowing properly... but I am not sure I understand it.
Last winter the transition from riding a roadbike almost daily to not at all was very difficult for me, and I am trying to mentally prepare myself this time.I had been counting on at least another good month of cycling before the snow, but apparently nature has other plans and I will have to adapt (i.e. get the trainerout from under the bed). Of course I will still keep cycling for transportation, but last winter that did not feel like enough. What are your winter cycling plans?
Last night I met 
Apologies for the unflattering photo, but it was dark. 
I picked up 
It was a 25 minute ride home, and I had no trouble at all. Figuring out the route was much easier than I anticipated, as was navigating the intersections and other quirks of the bike-path system.
And yes, this was playing in my head as I flew through the night-lit city. It was interesting to notice how much more lighter Vienna is at night than Boston; I never really paid attention to this before. The dynamo headlight and tail light on 
So am I!
The small street where I live is positioned between two radically different neighborhoods on the Cambridge/Somerville line in the greater Boston area.
In one direction is an affluent Harvard neighborhood with brick sidewalks, historical mansions, romantic gardens, and overarching trees.
In the other direction is a stretch of concrete lined with multi-family houses with faded vinyl siding, shopping plazas, warehouses, and unfinished construction sites behind chain-link fences.
When we first moved here, it amazed me that two neighborhoods of such different character could border each other so crisply: There is no overlap, it is as if someone drew a line between them. Over time I got used to the divide and just accepted it as a given, but having begun cycling made me hyper-aware of it once again.
Cycling towards Harvard is relatively tranquil, with roads that are in reasonable shape and motorists who seem accustomed to bicycles. I would not go so far as to call it a "Disneyworld version" of a vehicular cycling experience, but close to it.
Cycling in the other direction, the roads are covered with pot-holes, the drivers are more aggressive and impatient, and traffic patterns are chaotic. Recently, Somerville has painted "sharrows" all over the major roads and this has helped a bit with the driver aggression. A bit.
I mentioned previously that Blondine and I drank our way through Cuba. We literally sampled all alcoholic concoction that is being thrust in front of us. Now, we are happy to report that we both like Trinidad’s famous fresh cocktail drink called ‘canchanchara’.
Inside the La Canchanchara bar... not busy as it was very late in the afternoon. Trinidad is not like Havana. It is not rundown with tourists.
Canchanchara is a very refreshing cocktail drink. You will have to stir the drink until the honey at the bottom mixes with the drink.
And we got serenaded!
Jose was such a funny guy! He makes us laugh the whole time.
I tend to think of myself as having begun cycling when I got into it as an adult. But technically, that is not so. I learned to ride a bike when I was a child, and rode one all through junior high and most of high school. There was a nice post today on ecovelo, where Alan mentioned having "lived on his bike" as a kid, and in a sense it was similar for me. My friends and I did not race each other through wheatfields or pop wheelies, but we did use our bikes to get around our small town. Even once old enough to drive, most of us somehow still stuck with bicycles: It just seemed easier and even kept us off our parents' radar (for example, they could not look at the odometer to determine whether we had gone out when we were told not to).
But during all those years of riding bikes as a child and teenager, I knew absolutely nothing about "technique." At some point I was given a 2-wheel bike, and I used it as a push-bike for a few laps around the park until suddenly I was able to pedal without the bike falling over. To me, that meant that I was pretty much done learning "technique." In the years that followed, I rode with the saddle low, never learned how to start and stop "properly" or to pedal while standing, and was not aware that turning involved leaning and balancing, rather than using the handlebars. Heck, I never even learned how to shift gears, because the shifters on my low-end bike were jammed!
When I think about how it feels to cycle today - and particularly, how it felt when I first started doing it as an adult - I am confused and frustrated by all those younger years spent riding a bike without knowing how to do it properly. It's odd that I did not naturally pick up any skills what so ever during that time. (How can that be? Surely no one is that unathletic?) Moreover, my friends must have been just as clueless, because no one ever made fun of me or told me I was "doing it wrong." And it's frustrating that those skills were so much easier to learn as a child than as an adult - so by not having learned them early, I am at a disadvantage that may take me some effort to overcome.
As for saddle height, it is an ongoing fiasco: It took over a year of gradually raising it until I was able to have it at more or less the height where it needs to be for good leg extension... But I still cannot mount a bicycle properly and have to do a graceless little lean-and-hoist maneuver to get myself onto that raised saddle. Terrified of falling, I am highly resistant to being taught, and watching videos of others doing it over and over has not helped. At least I am now finally able to pedal while standing: After months of riding fixed gear, I finally got it (at first I could do it only on the fixed gear, then the skill gradually transferred onto freewheel bikes). I have to say, that was not easy for me to "get". In my head I understood what to do, but my body refused to balance.
And in the random, things that make me go hmmmmm category: First, there are these things in some of the yards. I think they are beehives. I want to find out for sure. This one is in front of the school here.
I'd go in and ask them what it really means except clearly I am PMSing and my temporary insanity would disqualify me as an intelligent person with whom to hold a conversation. And I'm afraid if I did, next week I'll drive by and it will say "TOO DEVOTED TO BE BLOATED". I don't even want to see the angry mob of chocolate cake eating women that would show up to protest that sign. Well, I kind of do want to see that angry mob, because I'll be right in the middle of it!
To brighten up your Fall, I am giving away these fantastic, colourful Dutch dress guards, which I reviewed here earlier.
To receive the dress guards, please ask your bicycle - yes, your bicycle - to post a comment here explaining why he or she would like them. A link to pictures of the bicycle is a plus (but please no nudity). My Dutch bike,Linda, will then decide which she likes best and will announce the recipient on Friday.
Comments by humans will be disregarded; bicycles only please. Multiple bicycles belonging to the same owner are eligible.Have fun, and thank you for reading Lovely Bicycle!