Occupying and other blog reading

After the annual weekend of gluttony (I managed to not be terribly gluttonous), it's back to the real world. The news still has images and stories of the Occupy movement, and how other movements are identifying with OWS by simply saying, "Occupy this," or "Occupy that."

Small wonder that a blog I watch, by Mighk Wilson, has a post titled, "Occupy the Lane." Blog readers and cycling education folks know Mighk's name as part of Commute Orlando, part of Cycling Savvy, and general pro-cycling good guy. I encourage you to have a read--Mighk is more eloquent than I on this topic.

I'm also a fan of Copenhagenize, as both of my long-time readers are aware. One recent post there quotes a brief essay discussing the amount of exercise we get and really should get. I'll have to send my mom a link to this next time she challenges my choice to bike to work "when I could get there in much less time by driving."

Even when it rains, as it is doing today (and probably tomorrow), I do better for myself by riding than by driving. Even if I ignore the financial benefits of riding instead of buying gas, I am doing better for myself. Selfish? Maybe. Enjoying life is part of the "American Dream," though, right?

'Tis customary to discuss things for which one is thankful today. Rather than bore you with all the usual stuff about friends and family, I'll be a bit more light-hearted.

One of the many things: Because I travel by bicycle more than by car, I am able to find cool stuff beside the roadway. I now have a pair of gently-used Channel Lock pliers to supplement my tool collection (and add to the two pair already in my possession), found beside Westport Road Thursday afternoon as I was heading to the dentist's office.

I've lost count of the tools, cash, and other stuff I've found beside the road (including a four-D-cell Maglite that needed nothing more than a bulb and fresh batteries to be in perfect working order!). How people lose this sort of thing is something of a mystery to me, but I don't mind having the extra five or six Vice-Grip pliers, the aforementioned flashlight, the assorted wrenches, the bungee cord, the, well, you get the picture.

I would not have found this stuff had I not been riding instead of driving. I suppose I could rue that the prior owners DON'T have it, but I figure if they are careless enough to leave their tools where they will fall out of their cars, they don't mind buying replacements.

What about you? What have YOU collected during your travels (by bike or otherwise)?

Dentist revisited.

The crown is finally in, and it feels great. Thanks to Doctor Hakim!!

Yesterday was a good day on the bike, too, despite a soggy ride to work. I got to Saint Matthews with a bit of time to spare, despite the headwind, had the crown installed, and rode to my next errand.

Jenn got sold on the idea of a wireless hot spot for our home computer system instead of a DSL connection about the time we moved to the house last year. The thing has worked well some of the time, not so well at other times. A bit over a week ago, it went to giving me upload speeds approximating those I had when on a 26k dial-up connection in 1997. Want to watch a video? Forget it. It wouldn't even try to download if I paused the video while waiting for the thing to load. Getting to watch a half-second or six of a vid, then waiting a minute for the next few half-seconds to load really stunk. I took the thing to Sprint over the weekend, and they determined that they couldn't measure its speed (ya think their meter wasn't calibrated in bytes per hour instead of megabytes per second?). They ordered a replacement, and I was able to fetch it yesterday.

From the Sprint store on Hurstbourne, I rode farther east (away from home) to get some supplies with which to continue the war against the fleas. We are gaining on them--fewer are showing their nasty little selves every week--but we aren't done eradicating them as a species from our house. Fresh round of Advantage (instead of Frontline, which doesn't work as well as it once did), a round of Capstar (pill which complements Advantage) and a round of de-worming stuff (at least one cat has worms--no telling how he got them--so EVERY cat and the dog get treated), and on my way to my next stop.

I hadn't eaten at Mark's Feed Store in a while, so took advantage of the proximity to enjoy some ribs before pedaling home. Forty-three miles for the day.

When I started writing, er, typing this blog, I used it in part to keep myself accountable in my efforts to ride to work more instead of driving. This year, I've been doing that quite well, but the accountability has been shifted to my log on mycyclinglog.com. I've crowed about the numbers here quite often, as it's been something of a surprise to me how the miles have accumulated. It's past the point where every ride sets a new personal best for cycling-instead-of-driving miles (and overall miles, for that matter). I'm not so sure I'll break the current goal of eight thousand miles for 2011, and my commuting for next year will be reduced with my stepping down from the LBC Education programs, so it may be a while before I get close to that number again. We'll see.

Dentistry

After a decade or more of horrible experiences with dentists and their staffs, I quit going. I just hated being in the chair. I live with constant sinus congestion of varying degree, and some dentists just didn't "get" that, nor have sensible and realistic ideas for dealing with it. Some dentists had hygienists that were, to be polite, indiscreet about discussing patient particulars with other patients. Some fell to the stereotype presented by the character in "Little Shop of Horrors."

After a decade or more of avoiding dentists like the proverbial plague they seemed to be for me, I found myself with a couple of teeth in bad shape. My wife insisted that I see her dentist for help, and in desperation, I went.

Long story short, Doctor Hakim is a wonderful person and a great dentist. I won't say that my experiences in her chair have been great fun, but they have been far less horrible than most I've had with other dentists before, and I wasn't going expecting to being entertained, after all. If you have need of a dentist referral, please drop me a line.

It hasn't been without the challenge or two, however. I had a root canal ten or twelve (or more--don't remember) years ago, and never got that tooth crowned. Doctor Hakim made the requisite molds a month or so ago, and contracted with a local company for the crown. When the crown was delivered two weeks ago.

That visit was probably the most miserable I have had with her. I had a head cold going in, and should have delayed things on that basis alone. Being unable to breathe through my nose at all gets a bit stressful when someone is working in my mouth. It didn't get any better when the crown was discovered to be sub-standard, and a new mold had to be made--this involves closing my jaws for four minutes or so while the mold material sets. It doesn't help any that to do this work, the Lidocaine has to be injected in the very hinge of my jaw--a hard place to reach and a very sensitive area. That needle feels like a three-inch water pipe in there!!

When I'm fairly relaxed, I can hold my breath for well over half a minute at almost any point in my breathing cycle (I got proof of this when I did a sleep study five years ago to screen for sleep apnea, and have been using a CPAP machine ever since). With a little preparation, I can hold my breath for a minute without a lot of anxiety. Of course, when I'm anxious from not being able to breathe well, these times shorten dramatically. In any case, four minutes of having to keep my teeth together while not being able to breathe through my nose at all meant I was getting air because the doctor or her assistant were holding my lips away from my teeth on the side away from where the work was being done, and it wasn't flowing as many cubic feet per second as I really wanted, but I was able to manage.

At any rate, the errant crown was returned to the provider with the new mold and instructions to not foul up a second time. I sat for the replacement crown yesterday afternoon. As you, the reader, have probably figured out by now, it wasn't right. I now have my third temporary crown on that tooth, with the "permanent" one to be installed Tuesday (we hope).

To be fair to Doctor Hakim, I must mention at this point that the crown was checked against the mold they sent, and found to not be within spec. The lab fouled up--again.

While Doctor Hakim's assistant was on the phone with the lab, she reported that their driver had already gone home. She told the lab folks that "our patient is standing here, telling me that he can get to your office within forty-five minutes--by bicycle. Yes, he rides bicycles instead of driving most of the time, and if he says he can get there in that time, I'm inclined to believe him. If you can't get a driver here within the half hour, we have this option." That apparently shamed the lab folks enough that they reported they had a driver in the Middletown area that could collect the mold and the failed crown en route to their office.

I appreciate that Doctor Hakim has professional standards she is not willing to abandon. I'm pretty disgusted with this lab, though, as I have had to sit through two aborted deliveries of my crown before getting the "permanent" one installed, and am less-than-confident in the upcoming appointment (and get to "enjoy" knowing that until that day...).

Windy

I didn't even get on a bike yesterday. The first of the errands we needed to run involved getting the dog to Feeder's Supply for a bath (it's much easier to do this in their tubs that are set up for the purpose than it is kneeling at home). After getting that done, we stopped by ValuMarket for some food to get us by for a few days. Driving there seemed easier since we were already out, and we wouldn't have to fight the wind to get there and back as we would have by bicycle. The dog didn't mind taking a nap in the back of the cab.

My ride to work this morning was punctuated by frequent thoughts of how the wind is going to affect my ride home. The forecast includes some rain and possible thunderstorms, so I rode the Globe as it was bought to be my bad-weather bike. My rain coat is more comfortable on this bike (it's an Endura Luminite and has the little sewn-in flashing light near the base of my spine that bugs me when I'm on the Vanguard). My route home has several "rabbit holes" I can use if the weather is nasty enough that I need to take a break.

It was odd to ride to work today wearing short sleeves and short pants, after a week or more of typically wearing long pants and more often than not a wind shell. I'm reminded of the November weekend when I brought out my Bacchetta Strada, when temperatures were in the 80s (although the wind wasn't as challenging).

I keep reading posts from friends about populaires and other group riding. Maybe I'll get to do some of that next year, once I get further along in my efforts to feel as if I've really moved in to the house.

back on the bike

I mentioned my head cold of last week. I drove to work--two days in a row. Even worse, the head cold sucked.

I went to a "doc in a box" yesterday to get some relief from the clogged sinuses and very sore throat. I came out with prescriptions for some cough syrup and some antibiotics--the latter seemed a bit weird to me since I really felt the head cold was more viral- than microbe-based. I guess the swab the doctor did (gag!) told him that I needed to fight germs, too.

I knew I'd feel better today, even though I almost felt worse last night. The cough syrup has some Codeine in it, so it made me a bit drowsy until I adjusted to its presence in my system. Between that and the antihistamine I took before going to bed last night, I slept like a proverbial rock (well, at least much like my normal patterns instead of the fitful mess I'd been the last couple of nights).

I have a few friends who have done the cross-country bike trip. They tell me that it's common to schedule rest days so as not to make the mental trip a battle. I had been thinking about whether I needed a break from riding to work all the time several days ago, only to find myself forced to take such a break.

Of course, that made this morning's ride to work all the better. I had a couple of brief coughing fits that brought up some interesting gunk from my lungs and bronchial passages, but each time I found that I was breathing just a bit easier after getting the gunk out. My chest has loosened a bit as the day has progressed. My throat still hurts a bit, but it's much better than it was.

I mentioned in a prior post that the City of Lyndon is going to be taking leaves away this week. Jenn and I raked most of the leaves into piles that we hauled by tarp to the front swale. Since I've been fighting the head cold, Jenn insisted on doing a lot more of the heavy lifting than usual. We used a smaller tarp than we did last year, which made the loads more manageable. We still have at least one good leaf-dump to go, and I'm sure it won't happen until after collection day, but at that point I can probably just run over them with the reel mower and leave the remains in the yard.

Ugh. Head cold. Yuck.

This feels really weird. I've driven to work two days in a row--not to haul stuff other than myself, but because I have a head cold that I don't want to worsen by riding for an hour each way. Yuck.

I don't even feel like the drive is making me any healthier--quite the contrary, to be honest. However, it seems at the moment to be the lesser hazard for my sinuses and lungs.

The City of Lyndon collects leaves at streetside once a year, and takes them to a mulching/composting operation. We got a letter a week or two ago telling us that our collection day is Wednesday or Thursday of this coming week. Work schedules being what they are, Jenn and I will get what we can raked and out to the street this weekend. Last year's leaf pile was four or five feet tall and ten feet long, filling the swale beside the driveway. We haven't had the complete "leaf dump" yet this year, and I figure that we'll have a fair quantity of leaves fall AFTER pickup day.

I don't like being sick. I get really crabby, like a lot of folks. I don't like who I become--sort of like not liking who I become when at the wheel of a car...

The velomobile fascination continues--and worsens

Yeah, it's getting worse, this desire for a velomobile. I spent some time digging around online, and found this page within this site, which includes this image of the cockpit of a Flevobike Alleweder of some generation or other:

I found it an illuminating image, as it answered some of my questions about cockpit layout. I've read that this model can be a bit snug between the wheel wells, especially for folks with heavy legs. I've been concerned about shoulder and arm room as well. The FAW+ that comes from Texas is based on this model, so the image has even more meaning for me.

Some months ago, I learned that there was a kit of the FAW+ being built in Louisville. I tried contacting the owner, but without success. A few weeks ago, I saw a post from him on Facebook, and made contact. We've had some correspondence, and I hope to try out his machine when it's road-worthy.

The current hurdle he's trying to overcome is that the tie rods for his steering system are too short. The trike is in a local bicycle shop awaiting the parts and final drivetrain and steering adjustments. When I heard through the grapevine that it was still there, I decided to stop by and see if another set of eyes could find something that would help. Since I was there, I took the liberty of gently getting into the thing to see how I fit.

The owner's legs are a bit shorter than mine, surprisingly enough, so my knees would strike the underside of the double bump in the picture. I don't think that's going to be a problem, though, as my own seat would be back a bit.

I find that with my arms within the body, I might feel a bit cramped. I might not, though, if my legs are good. I wouldn't need the fabric canopy all the time, anyway.

Oh, by the way: As I rode home from work Tuesday evening, I took a slight detour so that I could stop at ValuMarket on Whittington Parkway. As I left that store and headed home, I broke the seven thousand mile mark for 2011.