Stopping for red lights

Yeah. I do. And I even stop for them when it is clear and no one is around. granted I only see a half dozen or more on each trip, and I will occasionally take a different route to minimize red light interactions. But I do feel it is important to stop and wait. Let drivers see that while I may not be breaking the speed limit like autos do every place, at least I am no running red lights like most of the cyclists around.

My wife forwarded me the comments to this NY Times Op-Ed. Not a bad read. In a way it is like driving the speed limit on the highway. Sure, you might be the slowest car on the road but if you've tried it, you know it is very relaxing and a calming way to drive.

It builds a bit on what a few callers to the Heidi Swift/Eben Weiss talk show last week.

I was headed in this morning, started to get out the door at 7:40 or so and the temp was still cold, but the sun was shining. Hmm. Maybe if i wait a few minutes it will warm up a touch.

Nope.

It didn't. Still cold.

But. That waiting found me slowly reeling in a rider up ahead. Someone I hadn't come across before on the path. Turned out to be Reed on his way to work. He had the same thoughts (waiting for it to warm up a bit). And that wind was BRUTAL this morning. Killer headwind.

It was nice catching up and chatting. I do like the social aspect of riding, I have to admit. Esp when commuting.

I do wish I had raced at Sterling, sure the course doesn't suit me and I had WAY too much going on, and had a fantastic morning with my youngest instead, but if I didn't have stuff going on more important than bike racing I think it would have been fun. I make no secret to the fact that I kind of like adverse conditions. I like it when it is nasty and all that. My layer of old man blubber does a good job keeping the core temp from plunging like most anorexic bike racers with 1% body fat and water and rain make me feel at home, comfortable. But reading Solo's colorful retelling of the race, well, for a change his wheel choice matched my options. And he successfully destroyed ever last thread of confidence that I could be even marginally competitive against the light carbon hooped masses that are overwhelmingly prevalent even in the Cat 4 field. Oh well. I guess I can still work on making the muscle stronger between my ears and at the same time trying to overcome the handicaps the cards have dealt me. I head the 4s were a mess. 35s had tons of crashes. One of my team mates flatted the second year in a row, this time he blew out his brand, and i mean BRAND new Ultremo Tubulars, yeah they are impossible to get, have been back-ordered for a couple years and he goes and blows on when a guy in front of him juked around a water covered pothole at the last second... This is also the same guy who flatted at Battenkill every year he's ridden it. Once more than once, and that first year when i stopped to give him a tube and let him use my pump, only to have him just ride away from me leaving me alone on the hill only to be saved by Wayne Cunningham's gracious and generous offering of a full bottle. Yeah I'm not a clydesdale, i'm a damn fucking elephant. Seriously, he flats more in races than anyone else I know. Last year he flatted twice. Actually 3 times. The third time his tire exploded while we were driving home. And it would still be funny if it wasn't a $150 tire destroying funny this time. Honestly I probably would have given Kurt a run for his money there as DFL. But then reading Kevin's Sterling Saga, well that doesn't sound much fun. But he's one of those 1% body fat guys. He can totally kick my ass but still, sometimes being a big 9-12% body fat fatty is a good thing.

What would I have worn? I don't know. At those temps I would have been actually leaning towards the vermarc winter jacket I have in team colors. But it is pretty heavy when wet, would have added a good 5 pounds of just water. The vest probably would have been mandatory at the least and a good heavy thick coating on the legs. Likely going with my secret embro. But, well, it doesn't matter. I didn't ride, nor race on saturday. I've certainly commuted in that type of conditions plenty of time in the past without dying, but as Solo or some other old curmudgeon will likely point out, commuting for 45 minutes in those conditions is much more like CX than racing for 2 hours in that shit.

Mystic Velo's crit down at Ninigret is Sunday. The girls are otherwise occupied all morning and through most of the afternoon, all I have to do is figure out how to get there. Maybe the weather will be conducive to riding down. Would be a good warm up, and the race isn't until 9:40am... plenty of time, hmm. Maybe not that much time.

Bunch of other stuff to go through but, hey, writing this has taken all freaking day as it is. 30 sec here, a minute there, trying to figure out what the hell the rest of the sentence was supposed to be. Not figuring out where that train of thought was going and then - shit happened again. Three times for this one. Ah well. I've got more pictures to upload and other stuff floating around that will just have to wait.

Peidiwch da
G