I've been ignoring the blog of late

...to the point that I didn't even mention a couple of timeline milestones!

My last post, made on 9 September, was made on what was at one point planned to be my third wedding anniversary. Events surrounding my somewhat sudden departure from New Directions in July of 2009 led to my legal wedding day being the 17th of that month, but our original plan was that our wedding would be on September 9th of that year (09/09/09, or if inverted, 6/6/6/).

My last post was also made five days after another anniversary: On September 7th of 2007, Jenn and I met face-to-face for the first time.

Some would call me an incurable romantic for remembering these bits of trivia. I've been accused of holding romantic notions before, of course, and admit to a subset of such. I find it easy to remember a couple of dates like these for assorted reasons, including in no particular order: a) in just about every history class I've had to take over the last forty-several years, dates of events have been given importance such that I learned to pay attention to dates of events, b) I've managed to attach alternate significances to the dates in question to make it easier for me to access that information in what passes for my brain.

In the case of meeting Jenn that first time, I suggested the date planning for a time limit for myself, since I was riding the Old Kentucky Home Tour the next morning. The following year, I rode the century--again--on Saturday, and Jenn and I rode home on Sunday on a borrowed tandem. In 2009, we rode both days on a different borrowed tandem to celebrate our wedding--a brief honeymoon, if you will. 9 September 2009 was on a Wednesday, as I recall, and Jenn and I took time out to have a private celebration of our marriage and exchange rings that actually fit (in my case...).

Here I am, over three years into my first marriage. I have two stepdaughters and enjoy my relationship with each of them. Every day I set a new record for consecutive days happily married.

Who would have thought THAT would happen?

Why I ride where I ride

From time to time, I'm asked why I choose my lane position as I do. Many motorists simply don't understand my reasoning. Too many are not interested in dialog--one presumes they are afraid they will have to learn something that will change their outlook and cause them to change their behavior, but they are mostly just in a hurry.

I occasionally have discussions on the topic online. I have a couple of links I like to provide when that happens. One is on the Commute Orlando site, and is titled "Helping Motorists With Lane Positioning." Another is on a related site, Cycling Savvy, and it titled, "Why do you ride like that?" If I need to expand on either essay, I might toss out links to the Commute Orlando post titled "Widths and Buffers," or the Cycling Savvy post titled "You Lead the Dance."

A more recent post was published by Ian Brett Cooper, who blogs as "The Desegregated Cyclist." His post, "Why do Cyclist Behave in Ways that Anger Motorists?" has some gentle rejoinders addressing misconceptions held by many in society.

I sometimes use the term "anti-cyclist" to describe folks who seem almost violent in their insistence that cyclists don't belong on the roadway. Such folks would likely not let their anti-cyclist attitudes be swayed by the writings linked above, but some will--at least begrudgingly--acknowledge some points made in these links with regard to how the law treats us currently.

Ironman Louisville volunteering

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted on this blog--a week or so before Ironman.

I enjoyed being a volunteer for the Ironman event. I was there for two sessions--both involved using my kayak. They held a practice swim session for those who wanted/needed some open water time the morning before the big event. I used my trailer to get there, and doing so gained me some small notoriety and a few positive comments. I encountered a few friends there, and made myself known in the paddling community.

Jenn did a lot of volunteer work with Ironman as well--more than I did, to be honest. She helped event security manage the areas where racers moved through transitions and prior to the swim.

More about my Ironman adventures after the break.