Nice Cycling - a new web page (and a few thoughts of my own)

http://www.nicecycling.com/

It is a well designed and simple page. No not a huge depth to the content but absolutely precise and spot on,

I related very much to it because, I suppose, it mirrors my commuting and riding style. That's how I ride to work.

In the past i've felt like (and sometimes still admit to the feeling) I'm going into battle against the 2 ton death mobiles. But that's a shitty way to go about thinking about cycling and commuting by bike. Prepare for war means you're loaded with ammo and armor, much more likely to use it if you're carrying it no?

A comment from G+ got me to expound and clarify the filtering forward connundrum that many people have.  MC's comment:

I agree with almost all of that, except for the assumption that you should stay in the flow of traffic. At least here in Chicago, it's completely legal for me to filter up a line of stopped cars. I see little point in being stuck in a traffic jam of cars if I can filter to the front of the line safely, then go through the intersection when the light changes, or it's my turn, whatever. If folks in cars want to get their drawers in a twist because I don't have to suffer the traffic jam like they do, then maybe they need to be on a bike instead.

My response:

Careful MC your justification falls into a very similar argument of "you don't like getting run off the road, get in a car."
Filtering when there's room is one thing. Filtering where you have to weave between mirrors and space on a tight road is another.
Filtering when you ride past 20 cars then they have to pass you right back over and over again or even only once is too many times. Every time you make someone pass you more than once you increase the potential for their frustration/anger/rage to increase. Doing that while, sure, seems great, just get on a bike, is a super good way to set cycling advocacy back and make the roads more dangerous for every other cyclist that individual encounters down the road.
Filtering when you're never going to see the cars again? I'm fine with that, but falls under a very different circumstance. 
I find it very much worth while being patient and waiting 3-4 or even 6 cars back from a red light, esp if it means I will get through the red light once it turns green. And even if I don't What's waiting for one red light going to cost me vs the potential aggravation others will feel from my filtering actions?
These are the things I think long and hard about. They are feelings and guidlines I follow having been in traffic on a bike since the 80s. 

There was a discussion about stop signs and stop lights from the RIBike email list a week or so ago.

ST shared an experience that happens quite a bit. You stop for sign. Car starts to go through (who has right of way) and your slow poke buddy comes flying past you and through the stop signs pissing off the car who had just started to go forward. I wrote this in response to ST's long story (I won't quote ST here)

So many thoughts on this very topic.
I have a rolling criteria based on my [short] lifetime of riding.First I prescribe to the vehicular cyclist model. lay that out first.Not really a surpise maybe to those who've ridden with me.
Red Lights are a curious thing. Over the years I've watched most ofthe stoplights I have to interact with go to detection/switchinghardware that can see a cyclists waiting at the light and switch it.IE most of the ones in Providence. In places that have coils I'velearned how to ride over the coils and trigger the light change (youneed metal ~32 spoke wheels to do it).
I don't see going through red lights as a viable, responsible action,with very few exceptions (there are always exceptions).
I am not a fan of filtered past cars unless the line of traffic is solong that they won't pass you again, at all or for a very long time(like tonight with traffic stopped on Waterman from Hope to the RedBridge). Even then, I still waited for the red light to turn green atButler even though there were no cars anywhere near that could enterthe intersection.
The laws may not suit us very well. And officers may wave us throughbut unless the officer does, I will be waiting in line, being veryconservative about when I filter forward. We don't have green boxes,and I'm not sure they are a good thing honestly, but that's a personaljudgement.
It is slower, it is more conservative but I believe very strongly thatit is safer and is a responsible thing to do. Running red lights evenif only one person sees you still puts you in the wrong. Sure, carsspeed, they cross double yellow lines to pass, they roll through stopsigns. Yes, people driving are the problem not the cars, but mostpeople do follow the laws. But it seems most cyclists don't. Or atleast barely enough to hit 50%. At least in areas where there isn'tany enforcement or penalty.
But do we really need enforcement or the threat of burning foreternity in hell to do the right thing? If so, maybe well, tangent andphliosophical topic not appropriate for the list. To the point thoughI feel running the red light...  is just not the right thing to do. Itsaddens me when others do it, and I've been nearly creamed by, i'msure nice cyclists, who've run stop signs or red lights because therewere no cars, there was just me and well - because I'm payingattention neither of us were sent to the ER. I hate that I have to bethe one to be aware of you red light, stop sign running riders (I usethe 'you' with a bit of liberty hoping no one here would treat acyclist in the intersection with less right away than their own givensignage and vehicular code).
Life is a journey of making choices. Every choice you make impacts others.
I feel that picking a path of peace making on the bike whilecommuting/riding is the right choice. Now I have a temper and can bepushed to far and have come close to fighting more than I like toadmit, but each interaction lately has been more zen like andentertaining to me. I guess that's sort of the premise here. Andalways, always I prefer to be wrong than dead right. I would prefer towait at a frustrating red light with no other cars coming for whatfeels like an eternity than roll through and give even just one car inline behind me the satisfaction of saying "HAH SEE TOLD YOU THEY ARETHINK THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAW"
Use every red light and stop sign as practice. for Cyclocross startsor trackstand handling practice. Make use of each opportunity toimprove. Getting somewhere faster without learning is a waste. Theaccumulated lessons make us wiser and better at this whole being humanthing.

Many words - but it does come down to a zen like state in a way. Maybe being too empathetic makes this approach easier for me than someone who's more prone to exploitation for personal gain, balancing that part of me is the part that is prone to lose it violently, but I know that's not good and have found ways to keep that in check. All that said, I do firmly believe that the Nice Cycling page's clearly stated guidelines can benefit everyone and move cycling advocacy forward in a productive manner and make it all safer for everyone.

heddwch
G

one of the other percolations

First post was a product of the over-thinking bike ride this morning.

So much going on, and yes my legs decided to say hey lets see how little work we can get away with while I was preoccupied with stupid brain thoughts.

My ride home was like a dream sequence of thoguhts

You know what I mean right?

Check the clock 4:30 have an intense and complex series of dreams and then look back at the clock and it is only 4:35, no way did that whole sequence happen in 5 min, it feels like an hour, sometimes a day.

That's what my brain was doing on the way home tonight.

Occilating between gut wrenching sadness hearing about Lesli having to make the brutal desicion to say good by to her beloved companion. Overclocking on the red light, and at the same time...  thinking about finishing Ready Player One... and the cascade of emotions and feelings and thoughts generated from it.

Doesn't help that I finished reading Ender's Game on Saturday, had some very deep and philosophical discussions on the ride on Sunday with Syl and David.

And just finished Read Player One today.

Add on top of it all some serious soul searching and challenging lately.

One moment of the ride home was a desire to write a Facebook post, turn off the comments and say:

Thank you, each and every one of you for being my friend. Not just a facebook friend, but a real friend. Many if not most of you it has been a long time since I've really talked to you, spent time with you or really been a friend in a physical sense. But you are still a friend. And I mean a friend in the sense I am grateful for what you've given me for affording me the tolerance and the patience and acceptance of my idiosyncrasies, even if superficially.  The last year has been a sgnificant awakening. Won't know for a few years if i can call it an epiphany, but it was, none the less, formative and eye opening. Making choices that ultimately really really hurt and what felt wrong and needed was the opposite. Losing friends and close confidants when you have few is never easy. I'm a challenge, a mess, few people really ever understand me. But I had unwittingly found a team that did. And then they were gone. And the void was pretty huge. Probably completely my own doing but I make some really dumb choices sometimes. "The choices you made" one of the most influential people in recent memory kept hammering into me. These are indeed the choices I made and I alone have to live with them.
And honestly I think I can. Most of them. The ones that have wound up hurting others are the toughest to deal with. They are challenging. So forgive me, please. I'm not new to this being human thing, but I am still figuring it out. 

The one thing I struggle with, still, is the awareness of when people fuck up, or have a position based on wrong information, or act on bad/wrong facts. I'm really struggling but at the same time really working on it. My brain is going overtime trying to find a way to respond and react in a positive helpful direction. I fail spectacularly still. But, failures are getting further apart it feels. And, yes, you can't even begin to fathom how self critical I am. Seriously. Not Possible.

Life is a weird weird thing. Honestly so much of the Ender's Game book and Ready Player One resonated with me. On a level that is both exciting and scary but in a weird way validates so many feelings and observations along the way. So many of my friends have wound up being the smartest people I know, mostly because we are all equally disfunctional and frustrated by the f'n idiocy in the world around us. Or driven together by common interests.

Life isn't easy on this end of the mendoza line. It can be fucking unbeliveably brutal.

Maybe some (one) of the people over here maybe I over estimated, or got played big time. But in the end, I often take comfort in knowing I helped, at somepoint open doors, get through struggles, make new connections, find new confidences, find something that clicks.

Some old (younger than me) pain in the ass guy said once: "You have a lot to offer the sport, and the people around you. It doesn't go without you. I mean that sincerely"

I rarely get any sort of praise, recognition or acknowledgement.  Much less thanks. It happens, but so infrequently that I think maybe it is just fake and contrived and insincere. And that's okay. I'm an observant asshole.

Once, long ago my sister described some guy as the creepy guy who stood in the corner and stared at people. She didn't know, probably doesn't know to the day that as she talked about this "creepy guy" she was describing me as I was standing there. It opened my eyes to how my shyness was manifested as I grew up or at least explained how/why everyone reacted to me the way they did.

But moving on. Moving on. One thing that has been reoccuring lately is just by follwoing my sub-concious how luck I am, well, not lucky enough to have a reliable car, or disposable income or a garmin or anything else luxurious. But that's a negative spiral. No, there are elements that I realize are difficult to explain, but also possible to explain, just not easily.

This may or may not be one of the most revealing or most cryptic posts ever. I think that is going to depend on who you are reading this.

Another realization riding home, my youngest may be indeed the smartest of the two despite the insane potential the oldest is exibiting. Reading the Jazz/soccer/coach article a while back, the youngest gets it. And I fucking hate that she got subjected to being put on a team where she's the strongest and the biggest because I wasn't playing the politic game like a few other dads were. But on the other hand it taught me so many lessons, Coach Kurt's links have helped, and perspective has helped. Also, youth sports and the whole system is really f'n broken and stupid. That said my kid has taught me so much.

This verbal unloading is probably because today someone said my beard had acheived wizard power. Could be. It has never been this big/full or amazing. Shopping on Sunday there were kids with their parents who couldn't stop staring at me. It was entertaining and at the same time kind fo made me feel a bit wizard like. This strange human like person who is different but special and distinctive and memorable but you don't quite know why.  No. Don't worry. I'm still as full of self doubt and have still zero self confidence, and pretty much no idea how to move forward still. But. I have a commitment to myself.

This is what hit me riding home. A commitment, to figure out how to see the flaws and help people without alienating them or pissing them off or making them feel like I'm trying to insult them or make them feel inferior. Fucking impossible task honestly. But you know what? Fuck it. I don't wany any easy challenges. We live once. Then we're gone.

That should be enough motivation to try...

I should proof read this verbal expulsion but I won't. I will ask Tommy D to give me a call if he reads this, shit anyone else wanna call? call...  you have my number...

Heddwch
G

in response to a story

about running a red light...  and pondering the possibilities:

i wrote this:

So many thoughts on this very topic.

I have a rolling criteria based on my [short] lifetime of riding. 

First I prescribe to the vehicular cyclist model. lay that out first. Not really a surpise maybe to those who've ridden with me.

Red Lights are a curious thing. Over the years I've watched most of the stoplights I have to interact with go to detection/switching hardware that can see a cyclists waiting at the light and switch it. IE most of the ones in Providence. In places that have coils I've learned how to ride over the coils and trigger the light change (you need metal ~32 spoke wheels to do it). 

I don't see going through red lights as a viable, responsible action, with very few exceptions (there are always exceptions).

I am not a fan of filtered past cars unless the line of traffic is so long that they won't pass you again, at all or for a very long time (like tonight with traffic stopped on Waterman from Hope to the Red Bridge). Even then, I still waited for the red light to turn green at Butler even though there were no cars anywhere near that could enter the intersection.

The laws may not suit us very well. And officers may wave us through but unless the officer does, I will be waiting in line, being very conservative about when I filter forward. We don't have green boxes, and I'm not sure they are a good thing honestly, but that's a personal judgement. 

It is slower, it is more conservative but I believe very strongly that it is safer and is a responsible thing to do. Running red lights even if only one person sees you still puts you in the wrong. Sure, cars speed, they cross double yellow lines to pass, they roll through stop signs. Yes, people driving are the problem not the cars, but most people do follow the laws. But it seems most cyclists don't. Or at least barely enough to hit 50%. At least in areas where there isn't any enforcement or penalty. 

But do we really need enforcement or the threat of burning for eternity in hell to do the right thing? If so, maybe well, tangent and phliosophical topic not appropriate for the list. To the point though I feel running the red light...  is just not the right thing to do. It saddens me when others do it, and I've been nearly creamed by, i'm sure nice cyclists, who've run stop signs or red lights because there were no cars, there was just me and well - because I'm paying attention neither of us were sent to the ER. I hate that I have to be the one to be aware of you red light, stop sign running riders (I use the 'you' with a bit of liberty hoping no one here would treat a cyclist in the intersection with less right away than their own given signage and vehicular code).

Life is a journey of making choices. Every choice you make impacts others.

I feel that picking a path of peace making on the bike while commuting/riding is the right choice. Now I have a temper and can be pushed to far and have come close to fighting more than I light to admit, but each interaction lately has been more zen like and entertaining to me. I guess that's sort of the premise here. And always, always I prefer to be wrong than dead right. I would prefer to wait at a frustrating red light with no other cars coming for what feels like an eternity than roll through and give even just one car in line behind me the satisfaction of saying "HAH SEE TOLD YOU THEY ARE THINK THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAW"

Use every red light and stop sign as practice. for Cyclocross starts or trackstand handling practice. Make use of each opportunity to improve. Getting somewhere faster without learning is a waste. The accumulated lessons make us wiser and better at this whole being human thing. 

Bike commuting makes me a bit overindulgent with the word count. My appologies. 

-g

Dirty Rice, GeWilli style, with Collards, Chicken, and Adzuki beans

Not a pre-meditated meal, just what was on hand. Hmm I have left over beans from making a black bean soup with the adzukis, and some chicken i needed to cook up or freeze. And collards were on sale this weekend so I had those.

But no plan to make this until tonight.

Starting with:
one smallish onion
one largeish green pepper
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 quart cooked Adzuki beans
2 chicken breasts (could sub any protein of choice or omit if you want)
1 1/3 cup long grain brown rice
two bunches of collard greens
chili powder
oregano
small can tomato paste
cooking fats (oil + saved bacon fat or other saturated cooking fats)
salt
pepper
stuff to make it taste amazing

Prep:
Start cooking the rice. put 1-2 teaspoons of chili powder in (make the rice dirty)
dice onion
dice pepper
de-rib and cut collards into 2-3cm squares (wash)
cut chicken breast, fist the thin part off then the fat part cut down so it is half the thickness (hard to describe maybe but this makes them all a consistent thickness - important to cook the breast through w/o drying out - if using thighs no need to cut), dry it completely with paper towel, then liberally coat with chili powder.

melt the bacon fat in the pan, add some extra virgin olive oil, once nice and hot stick chicken in there - keep moving it around so it doesn't stick (well seasoned pan is always best - whatever you cook it in make it heavy and make sure it is compatible with your heat source). If the pan is hot enough it should brown and crisp up, then flip, same thing.

When the chicken is finished pull it off and set it aside to cool (never cut into it while hot). Once cool then cut into small bite size cubes.

Into the pan the chicken was just cooking in put the onions and peppers, add a bit of salt, sweat them down. More oil if it looks like it needs it.

Once those are underway cooking, in a big tall sided stock pot put a bit of oil in and dump the washed (but still very wet) collards in, add a splash of vinegar (cider or rice is best) and a bit of soy sauce (salt and umami/aka depth of flavor). Let that cook down until they are completely wilted and soft and borderline becoming crunchy.

While the collards are cooking now you put in the garlic in the peppers and onions. Add more chili powder, dried oregano, cayenne, black pepper, salt (yes more salt - because the beans are just beans, nothing else, as is the rice). Then put the small can of tomato paste in there. Add water until it is still thick but more soup than solid (a little at a time), time for secret flavor touches. 1 teaspoon of mustard powder, 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, couple splashes of liquid smoke (more cayenne).

While the sauce base is simmering and developing flavor put the beans in with the collards and warm them up.

After sauce is close, add the rice in, add more water if needed to make it still more soup than solid. Then add the chicken to the sauce. Mix and taste, let it simmer a touch so the rice and chicken can soak up the flavor.

Finally transfer contents of sauce into the tall stock pot with the beans and collards. Gently toss and mix. Simmer (add water if too thick).  Be gentle mixing so you don't smash all the beans. But make sure it is all well incorporated and let it hang out. Give it 5-30 min to mellow and mature (or longer if you want).

Then serve. Just like that. doesn't need anything else on top.

No no photos of it. Ate it all up. Gone.

belly happy

There a long list of potential subs and variations, and yes in usual GeWilli fashion i can go on at lengths about each one and weight the benefits and reasons and debate why this vs that...

Andouille Sausage instead of or in addition to the chicken would be brilliant. Heck stick some okra in there too.

It is a creol dish at the root, sort out the flavors that make sense.

A good pile of steps i guess, three dirty pots but not that much dicing, and each step is season to taste and adjust. Without the liquid smoke and cocoa powder it was a bit missing something, the bitterness and the smokiness made that final dimension work and enhanced the rest of the flavors without being identifieable or overwhelming.

That's it. Cooking. Simple. Food.

heddwch
G

chunky or smooth

neither, fresh ground. Perfect amount of crunch but with more consistency and w/o the bread destroying chunks of nuts. If i wanted to eat peanuts I'd grab a handful. If i want nuts on my peanut butter I'll put them on when I make my sandwich. Super smooth is wrong too. that perfect middle, like that fresh peanut butter grinder thing in the store.

Add salt after you put the PB on what ever you put it on.

Could be worse. But that's still a lot of snow to put somewhere.

A photo posted by geoff (@ge_willi) on Mar 2, 2015 at 4:30am PST

Moved snow...  lots of snow. Over and over again. Move it from here to there. then from there to up there. from up there onto the pile. At least the plow truck had come through before I got up, no need to worry about dealing with plow berm and it is sunny and bright. Should easily melt the rest of the way dry from the shoveling.

More snow mid-week too?

The long ride yesterday on the shitty wheels the Studded tires are on didn't help them much. They are the crappiest wheels I have, and usually just see a few days here and there through the year. This year? Not so much.  Yesterday's long ride and extra hills torqued the hell out and now it is all wonky again.

And the bottom bracket is starting to self destruct. I have bearings at home, hopefully I can get there without it pulling a Plymouth 2013 where the drive side bearings completely grenaded. It isn't quietly imploding either. So we'll see how tonight's ride goes.

Before the bottom bracket started sounding like frostquakes, I was tired. Between the ride yesterday and the shoveling before the ride....  oof.  Tried to take it easier on the ride in, tried to find some recovery pace. Sort of worked. Kind of.

Probably going to keep up the lower profile other places and more content here... need a bit more time i think. not ready...

heddwch
G

A ride. a real ride

first since maybe I dunno Virginia and venturing out to HBFit Studio?

Was not a bad ride. https://www.strava.com/activities/261820368  Studded tires are loud and slow. But other than being a lot heavier than tubless MTB tires, probably an equalizer. Until we came to the hills.

Riding with Syl, even when he claims to be out of shape and having stayed up till 2am and started the morning off with Hot Yoga at 8am, is fun until the road turns up. Then it hurts.

With the studs I picked the inside line, riding over the ice mostly, no studs on Syl's MTB but he stayed upright and we only had a few stretches where he was forced onto ice.

One odd encounter with a guy but hey, it was just surreal, mostly and at the end of the ride.

I got home just as the snow was starting. And man is the snow going full force now. Again. 4-7" is what they are saying, we'll see what I wake up to in the morning.

40 miles outside, sure much easier mentally to do those outside than in, but it is just very strange that it took until march 1 for me to get out on an outside ride (trainer and commuting aside).

I peeked at the twitterverse, felt again compelled to say stuff, to reply. but didn't. not missed means not needed. At least here if you want to debate, you have to do it on my terms and it isn't as instantly inflamatory as twitter or FB can get.

Life is a strange thing.

heddwch
g

smells while riding

Of cars in various states of dis-repair mostly.

The thought occured to me yesterday that when I'm on the bike the smells don't trigger panic. In the car I'm always worried it is my car making the smell. Really no matter what car i'm in. Even new one. Brake, Belt, Oil, exhaust.

The smell of a cold gasoline car's exhaust. Volvos smell different than most cold, but randomly some others smell funny too. The VE-Pump style Diesels...  Not to mention the whole random people with fireplaces/wood heat. Some really wonderful smelling BBQ flavored smoke, some acrid yucky smoke.

Lots of polite considerate drivers last night. Handful of waves, a few smiles. Not too many notably threatening drivers. And the eggs i picked up on the way home for making breakfast this morning survived my backpack.

Wasn't fun but wasn't terrible. No riding today, making breakfast. Maybe tomorrow.

Fired up the woodstove for the sleep over. Loaded it up at 11 or so with two large rounds of honey locust, still enough heat to keep the thermostatic blower going this morning and enough coals to fire right back up.

This room here is like a little cabin. wood stove, pine board panneling, big table. And food. And coffee. Going to need to extract more wood under the snow covered tarp. Maybe cut up some of the dry driftwood.

I wonder what that smoke will smell like when it is burning.

heddwch
G

Tempting to retweet but... can't... wee elaboration

Wish I could.

I checked earlier today, so many instances where I might reply. Make a comment. But I didn't. Wanted to tweet about something but didn't, realized how dumb it was waiting.

Feeling like me, I was going to say 2nd-12th grade but then realized college applies and gradschool and real job and here and now...  in that hey - i'm just a burden tolerated or humiliated for sport and fun because it is easy to pick on the guy who cares about shit and isn't afraid to say his mind. Big old bullseye on my back. Somethings never change i guess. Tati goes off line and the internet freaks out...  me? not so much. Silence not noticed. the tall creapy guy in the corner too shy/afraid to interact, but if you do, you unleash a suffocating wave of attention you have no desire for...  Yeah, some interent dude who exists only on the internet to most if not all, vanishes and poof the world is fucking ending. me, silence? THANKS BE TO WHOEVER THAT PAIN IN THE ASS SHUT UP. Truth? no. Emotional response? yes.

I'll figure it out (probably not)

anyway...

What did I want to retweet? Last two tweets from Nimoy.

My grandmother turned 102 a couple days ago.

Life/death...  always on my mind.

And his last two tweets. Hard to find once who ever got his phone/account started retweeting all sorts of shit.

here... screen shot. old fashioned retweet... or ne fashioned or who cares...

Love is a strange thing. What is it, what is "in love with" and then to love someone...  very different.

Enough of that. too f'n serious...

heddwch
G

somewhere between

Asked if my ride home was fun. no. not fun.

But nothing is black and white even if I make it sound that way. Seems I have a way of saying things that leave others thinking there isn't any other option.

The commute kind of sucks. It is chewing up the bike, the miles are total junk miles. Do nothing. Can't go easy enough to make it a really easy day with the tires and the route. Can't get any rhythm or consistent effort going that resemble intervals to make a hard day functional training.

But it is better than driving and trying to find a place to park. And then there's my car.

THAT is janky. It works. But cold starts in the teens and below are anxiety attacks for me. Every time. And driving in that means two of them a day. Not to mention there's no fucking parking anywhere. Streets that had parking on both sides of the road barely have parking on one, some have none. I'd estimate the already difficult to park area has less than half the number of spots with the same number of people trying to park.

Besides if I stop riding in the cold I'll have to shave the beard.

Today's 11°F start was fine. The headwind sucked but it was whatever.

That and I think I need to drop social out of all media at this point. Twitter is done for now, going to add faceplace to the list too. Probably will still post stuff to the Nanoscape page but that's about it for a while.

Hoping the coffee makers hurries up. gonna take a fair bit of the extra strong pot i made to get through the day...

OCD snow removal confession

when it snows, and I'm not at home, and people get home before me.

i worry.

they will stomp footprints into the sidewalk that won't easily be removed. they may not put the snow in the right place if they move it at all.

but the worst is the walking on it before shoveling.

Yes. I'm far too exceedingly fastidious about shoveling snow.

Probably for the best that our house is in the middle of the street and not on a corner.

post thaw morning ice rink bike ride

The ride home last night was wet. Water everywhere. Salt mixed in, but there was enough melting of the 4" of fresh snow to pretty much wash the salt away and leave plenty of space for the melting water to actually freeze.

the dynamics of social media on the internet

That title works well for a well thought out in depth long form New Yorker length web log post.

But you know, I'm not sure this is going to be much more than a few words triggered by an urge to document a thought or two.

It isn't good. this snow. Esp in BOS...

I read this and then felt compelled to write this:

Most people really don't get how bad it is in Boston. Down here in Providence, we're lucky. Half as much snow, no reliable public transport other than busses to get screwed up (not that any bus stop has been shoveled or plowed) but still no where really to put the snow or money to do more than occasionally run a blade on the road and throw some salt. 

Down here in my hood of East PVD land maybe every other snow storm, stuff gets plowed. Not after every storm. 

It is bad. 

If you've never spent time in Boston/Providence/New England, you can't really appreciate how close everything is, how tight it all is, there's really pretty much no room for anything in the summer. Add snow and it is a legit disaster. Snow is one thing. But it usually snows, then melts, maybe snows again, melts. 

Not this year. 

So if you think you're feeling all smug and stuff and better than someone else who's bitching. Give that NYTimes article a read.

And yes. It is bad. And most of the complaints are from people who have a house. Those who don't are much worse off, no question. But the bigger tragedy is for those who were just making it work, two jobs, no car, doing everything in their power to put food on the table for their kids and they haven't been able to this last month. 

If you pay bills, remove your safety net, then cut your income in half and try to imagine what most of the people in the region are going through. 

I'm lucky. For now. But it breaks my heart to see people genuinely struggling made fun of. Laughed at. Or told "it could be so much worse." Maybe it is a character flaw. 

It is what it is though. 

Life.

And we move on...  life...  

is a struggle

heddwch
G

Making dinner tonight

Last night I got to thinking, well before I watched any movies.

I was thinking about cooking. How many meals have I prepared... How many years have I been working at the craft of cooking with a focus that goes beyond just eating and making something fit a cookie cutter pattern meal aka steamed potatoes, green beans and chicken breast. Something that takes tweaking, seasoning. Skill or iterations.

Gotta be well over 10k esp if you only count meals not mouths fed.

I'm not a Ben Lloyd of Salted Slate. But I've certainly not been working at meal preparation with any less focus or dedication. Most definately a narrower ingredient list. One thing that struck me as Yannis asked why i'm always just cooking veggies...  (my reply was who wants to see a picture of a burger), is that I don't really cook fancy cuts of meats. The meat isn't ever the centerpeice of the meal with a few exceptions. It is everything else.

In the last few years I've added Indian spice/curry to the mental resources and spices on hand.

I started simply with Mexican and Italian. working those two over and over, add some chili some other stuff. I can see the journey very clearly for the most part.

A progression. But like everything else I do better being given a set of constraints than a blank slate. I've moved to simple ingredients, to the point of only buying dried beans instead of canned ones. Planning is easy, spending money isn't.  How to feed a family of four on as little as possible is kind of the mantra lately. What's on sale, how to make that work in the meal plan, how to work it in to something everyone will eat.

Over think everything. Yes. Esp food. But food has this magical quality of making people happy, nourishing them, and for growing children providing both a dynamic palette but the building blocks for a healthy body.

Sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, rosemary, and stuff (including bacon fat)... Roasting, I'm going to sear a pork tenderloin then finish it on top of veg in the convection oven. Serving with a side of hot salad (kale and collards sauteed in olive oil with shoyu sauce and balsamic vinegar).

A photo posted by geoff (@ge_willi) on Feb 20, 2015 at 3:18pm PST

Tonight, tonight's dinner is a result of a pork tenderloin being on sale. Not the most flavorful bit of stuff, but it is pretty flexible and fits into my potential aresnal w/o much trouble. Easy to screw it up but I think I'll get it to be palatable.

So what do I serve with the pork? What do I have in the fridge? Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Onions and mushrooms? Add a bit of a luxury item of fresh rosemary and I think I can make this work.

Peel and chop the carrots and sweet potatoes. Quarter (ish) the onions and mushrooms. Toss them all with a few splashes of red wine, some balsalmic vinegar, shoyu sauce, fresh black pepper, finely chopped rosemary, salt, bacon fat and olive oil.

Plunk them in a convection oven at 325 (cook through then carmelize, too hot and they'll be raw and burnt).

They are 10-15 min away from being ready to crank the heat up to carmelize and get a nice depth of flavor.

So while it is cooking i started writing.

The pork tenderloin went into a bit of marinate earlier today. Red wine, balsalmic vinegar, fresh ginger, shoyu sauce, splash of water, rosemary...  cayenne pepper and some garlic powder (yes, using up some garlic powder as a flavor enhancer instead of fresh - in my book acceptable use of the powder).

Next up I'll get a pan nice and hot. Add some butter and olive oil (extra virgin, always and only), and sear the tenderloin before putting it in for the final 15-20 minutes in the oven at 400-450F.

Once the loin goes in the oven I'll cut the heat in the searing pan and add some collards and kale, shoyu sauce and balsalmic vinegar and sautee the greens (we call it hot salad around here). The hot salad is a special request from my 10 year old fwiw. I've still got enough Kale left over to do the tahini salad again for lunch tomorrow.

In the end my daughters and I should have a pretty fabulous plate of food to enjoy. With luck a bit of left overs for lunch tomorrow. And it was simple and easy, and fit into doing everything else today.

Life is this crazy thing. Make time for food. There is always time to cook food at home and get everything else done. If there isn't, make a change. It will be worth it.

heddwch

G

Sugar Man

Sometimes something shakes you completely.

sometimes you get turned upside down but have no idea how to pick up the pieces, and can't really tell if they are any worse than before but you know you've been tossed around by the tears down your cheeks and the overwhelming feeling of being close to genius?

Searching For Sugar Man....

thanks to Hola (canada) i was able to finally watch this documentary http://youtu.be/oWCoGhaS4Es

What can I say...  not much...  The film was deserving of all praise.

Somewhat depressing that it took this long to see it.

But so grateful for the confluence of circumstances that lead to it.

Like this quote:
He approached the work from a different place than most people do took it very very seriously, sort of like a sacrament. .... He had this kind of magical quality, that all genuine poets and artists have, to elevate things to get above the mundane, the prosaic all the bullshit all the mediocrity that is everywhere the artist, the artist is the pioneer ...
spoken by a guy that looks way too much like Gary David

But rings truer than anything.

There's something, something worthy of a million words. A long story.  My story.

Some confluence of emotional resonance.

Till i figure it out more it is what it is. Life. You live as an exploiter, and exploitee or one who fights the former with whatever tools you have been given. Or you find a grey area where you slip through the cracks by luck, chance or lack of either.

Two movies tonight. Avatar (holy shit what a boring over worked, shitty plot, bad writing movie, youngest was telling me what was going to happen next with scary accuracy) yes some people love it Oooo love story... meh stupid. Then...

Then...

I start watching Searching for Sugar Man after putting the girls to bed.

should have switched it up, watched sugar man with the girls and me fall asleep watching overworked CG film.

But no, i watched Sugar Man....

and middle of one of the coldest nights i'm wide awake.

You have a choice, he took all that torment and agony... And transformed it into something beautiful... Something perhaps transcendent

but... I'm listening to Rodriguez on youtube

and thinking...

desperately wishing for a way to convey, how i see things, to more than four or five people...  but watching the poison spewed by those who reach millions...  and look at why I have to think maybe not is a better measure of a life lived properly.

The detroit/michigan connection hit hard tonight. the snow everywhere in the film...  the snow everywhere here...

Michigan left an indelible imprint on my soul. I showed up and couldn't wait to leave. A few years later, i'd found some of the most amazing MTB trails, found some of the best friends ever... and well left with two of the most amazing daughters in the world.

And the guilt from never going back is palpable.

Michigan. The Mitten, right in the middle of the fucking mitten. And then we've got this tapping into my brain after 28 of the snowiest days in RI maybe. It has snowed 20 of the last 28 days here. No melting. And almost no plowing.

Maybe we get some rain on Sunday. Temps though have been decreasing on a daily pace. I figure by Saturday, the forecast will be for 8-10" of snow instead of the rain posted now.

But side track.

This film.

Searching for Sugar Man. Thank you UCI/CX for teaching me about Hola and watching live stuff, and discovering that I could watch this from Canada, seeing as we're close to the -20C temp range it seems appropriate that I watched it from the neighbors up north.

I think I may have gotten to the point of saying, hey - it is late enough, what's the point of going to sleep.

But words, aren't flowing like they should, brain delving into deeper introspection, out of practice just opening up and letting it flow. For better or worse. Maybe we'll unleash a bit more, unbridle, remove a bar or two from the window and see what happens. For now, maybe we'll force some big stupid head dumbass to go to sleep by hitting publish.

leaving it with: watch Searching for Sugar Man. by whatever means is in your digital/fiscal arsenal

heddwch
G

Tahini Dressing for Kale, Carrot, and Golden Beet Salad

Snow day number 3 in less than a week. I probably could have made it in on the bike, but it was sleeting and freezing rain by the time I had finished shoveling and there wasn't anything that couldn't be rescheduled and sitting on a pile of vacation days to use, well. I didn't suit up and try to ride to work dodging plow trucks and dealing with a nice coating of ice.

So I took a nap instead (okay more or less shoveled and then got horizontal in bed while the coffee kept me from fully dozing off).

Got up and well, for some reason I thought a tahini dressing over a Kale salad sounded perfect for lunch on a house bound snow day.

I don't usually (haven't ever) made a Tahini dressing but a million years ago the Antique Sandiwch Company in Tacoma was a place we spend lots of time. Step-father was either teaching classes in the rooms upstairs, or they were performing on stage. Or we were in between this place or that and would stop there for lunch.  Everytime, same thing: Hot ham and cheese on wheat bread. A mountain on thinly sliced ham covered in rich melty tillamook cheddar cheese. The sandwiches all came with a side salad and an amazing thick and flavorfull tahini dressing.

That is one of my happiest emotional meals of my childhood. One of the most memorable.

I made some hot salad to go with dinner last night. Half green kale, half swiss chard, sauteed in olive oil, with some shoyu sauce and balsalmic vinegar. That's it. Incredibly simple, perfect balance and everyone devoured it.

I still had a large bunch of Kale, and the girls love getting the Seven Stars Bakery Kale salad, and so maybe I will make my own take. Rather than use my normal dressing I kind of multi-thread brainstormed and wound up thinking a Tahini Dressing would be pretty amazing paired with Kale.

And with the massaged (with a bit of salt to break it down a bit) Kale I decided to use the poor man's mandolin (veggie peeler) and create ribbons of carrots and golden beets to add color, texture and flavor to the salad. My 10 year old was very excited about this meal just hearing what I was putting in it.

Topped with some sliced almonds and sunflower seeds, the salad was both delicious and filling.

Okay, the Dressing. Everyone knows I like to make stuff from scratch. Canned pasta sauces are an offense in my book, inexcusable. And yes I know, lots of people use them and don't care. Salad dressings too. Who makes their own? Not enough people do honestly. It is so simple.

Get a jar with a lid. put the vinegar/water/herbs/spices/salt in first, lid and shake to mix. Then add the oil based (or just oil) (doubling or just a bit more than 2x as much of vinegar mix), put the lid back on and shake. With a simple mustard vinegrette if you get the powdered mustard in there it will stay emulsified perfectly. Literally a very few minutes to make from ingredients most everyone has laying around (or could after the next shopping trip).

Tahini dressing.

Start with jar and lid

3 cloves garlic (we all like fresh garlic so i tend to use a bit more than some people are used to)
2 cm long small knuckle of ginger root, peeled and diced very finely
1-2 tablespoons of Shoyu Sauce
1-2 tabelspoons Organic Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
Some diced Cilantro
cayenne pepper
turmeric

Close lid and shake until all is well suspended and mixed.

Then, add
about 1/4-1/3 cup of Tahini
1-2 tablespoons sesame oil
Olive oil to bring oil volume up to more than double the first half volume

close lid and shake.

Finished.

Disclaimer. I did NOT measure anything. But I feel pretty confident that the ratios are close.

eat well and cook for yourself and your loved ones.
heddwch
G

post debacle thoughts and those on life in general

Seems topical #cxnats2015 "The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new." 

maybe not fighting, maybe complaining, or being outraged at the old.

how do we move forward and change though

how do we identify problems and issues?

the same way we discover our own limitations.

By having to go through it.

I tell the people that I train on my microscopes, the most important thing to do if something happens and it breaks or stops working: Tell me exactly what you did leading up to it, and tell me as soon as something happens. Accidents happen, my job is to fix it and get it working as quickly as possible and then make adjustments to training/education/signage/rules to prevent it from happening again.  Everyone fucks up. But I need YOU to tell me when you fuck up so we can move on without making it worse for everyone else who depends on the system. 

That's the key. Everyone makes a mistake.

And no one is flawless. Some may be perfect most of the time, but even the most practiced veteran/master of a skill/trade/sport/job/whatever messes up occasionally.

Sign of maturity is acknowledging it and appologizing and asking (even just asking oneself internally if no one else noticed) how to i make a change to keep this from happening again.

Now Keep in mind if you make the same catastrophic mistake twice you're off the system. Two strikes on half million dollar equipment is harsh but I also expect you to pay attention and not repeat yourself. And so far in my 20 years with that policy, no one has made the same catastrophic mistake twice.

THe CX nats disaster is one of these things. Sure the Tree People totally blindsided the event. That is not as outraging as it is unfortunate and sad and very costly for many people. 

As Colin so passionally put it (and backed up this passion with facts) the biggest mistake was the schedule for the girls. 
The more offensive issue is that they have appologized but not admitted it was a decision that was bad, flawed and had a horrible consequence, nor offered any assurance that it won't happen again.

And that I feel furthers the debate rather than ends it and helps move on. 

I wrote the above well before the tree people posted their manifesto and their side of the story. And that changes things, brings into doubt stories by some.  And no, I'm not trying to demonize or hate on USAC, but I would like to see some recognition and acknowledgement of their actions and how it impacted the juniors and how to move on.  

Parbo posted something this morning over on facebook. It resonated a bit. Committees exist for a reason, but it sounded like friends of the commiitee were acting more like an omerta than representatives of the cyclists. "Keep quiet, people are working on it." "Don't rock the boat." "Why all the complaining?" "There are just things you don't know so pipe down."

I'm overlaying some of my own frustrations sure, it is going to happen. But when LVG feels like she's been thrown under the bus, that's just enough to make me feel sick. 

Do I have any aswers? No, that's why I was posting questions and sharing my feelings on twitters and faceplace. Is my audience small and similarly minded? Yes. Do they get tired of hearing the same thing from everyone? I bet they do. Some of them at least.

There was more uproar and anger online after the USAC officials mis-handled the Cat 4 women's race lap times and cards and all that than there seemed to be about the Jr Girls getting relegated to sideshow status. Yes, I know, the grand plan was to give them their own race on the same day as the elites (but no TV coverage, save that for the boys), yes, saving their event for the marquee day of Nationals is pretty cool. Not cool was what happened and how the officials decided to handle it.

The tree stuff?

I've written about the soils. And spent sometime refreshing my woody plant physiology specifically about the roots. Worked a bit to try and figure out what species the trees were that they were all concerned about.  All I can find is that most of the trees there don't need water (they were complaining about needing to water the trees that have damaged roots). None of the roots looked larger than 3" in diameter (the critical size for live oaks). Sure. Will they maybe not grow quite as much this year as they did last year? Possibly. But water? Also mulching tends to promote root rot. So these people trying to protect the trees by watering and mulching them really could actually be doing more damage to them than the CX race ever could. Do I need to explain why watering a native tree is bad? If you water the tree then the tree doesn't spend resources digging down to a sustainable moisture source. If the roots don't spread and explore the ground gets more compacted and water table actually gets lower. Now the nice thing about new root growth into new soil pockets is that it picks up new nutrients. Damage can happen, but damage when it isn't actively growing may not be so bad. Why? Well there is wound response in the trees, and generally it can respond over time. Damage it now, when it starts growing it will respond in that area.

Reaction wood is a great example of that. The winter storms and prevailing winds can influence the growth of reaction wood. Some how these trees know what to do. Hell they've been living longer than most of us. How many generations of being left along by people do trees live? A hell of a long time.

Giono's short story is a great fictional parable. Moral of the story really isn't anything more than to inspire people to plant trees. The story is good because it is based on truths and practice to some degree. Trees though won't reclaim areas they've never grown in, but they can reclaim areas and environments they've been displaced from for a human generation or more. 

I hadn't really meant to get into the trees with this post. But it is an intertwined story.

Solobreak/Negacoach rightfully points out, esp with the US culture, having a CX race in a visible public perfecly manicured "crown jewel" park, well is pretty dumb. But until someone starts buying golf courses and turning them into CX courses, we're going to have to find solutions in land like over in West Warwick and the Riverpoint CX park. Or over in L'ville. Trade offs with both of those. 

What's the solution? who knows really. But if you tell everyone to shut up, they're more likely going to walk away. Tell them what they can to do help, what you're doing to make it better, and what steps are in place so it doesn't happen again. 

Ramble nonsense to get it out of my head. if someone wants to share this vomited pile of characters and thoguhts, great. I'm not going to. But I'm still going to hit publish, read it later, maybe edit it a bit. Maybe.

and hopefully keep the writing momentum up.
heddwch
G

the pancake/waffle recipe developed over many years

So a while back (shit doesn't seem like that long ago but oct 2010 kind of is i guess) I posted a pancake recipe.

We don't make these more than once a week or so, usually eggs for breakfast or some toast with peanut butter or something else. But the batter i've settled on isn't the sickly sweet flavorless until you top with syrup white pancakes most people think about. And no, it is never acceptable to use non-butter if you're not vegan. No problem with vegan, none at all. But if you are not vegan and you're using something other than unsalted butter for these, ask yourself why. Also that butter better not have have "natural flavoring" aka chemical shit storm because the cream used is gross flavorless stuff from high production industrial cows. Kerry Gold Butter, and most organic unsalted butter are free of the flavoring (thing microwave popcorn taste). Most noticable when you haven't had that type of butter in years. Then you do and you're like "this shit tastes like chemical butter!" Because it is.

Ha, damnit. GeWilli got judgemental a bit. Well you know what? It is a blog. I ain't making you read it. Change the channel. Also I'm not targeting anyone in particular. This is blanket advice for everyone.  Once the consumers realize they're not really tasting stuff they way it is, I think they'll get it.  You lose the nuance of the flavors...  the ingredients in your ingredients matter.

Even with pancakes.

or esp with pancakes?

So the original 1st gen of the recipe is linked above. I'm gonna take that - paste it here and make the changes as I currently make the 'cakes:

Single batch, actually this batter works great for waffles too for you crazy hupcake/belgian wanna be types. Pancakes are just a tad easier to make.

4 eggs (medium)
1 cup Milk
1 cup Yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoon flax
2 teaspoon salt

Beat the eggs till just blended, add the yogurt and get is smooooth, then the milk and rest of that stuff and blend together. (that vanilla better just be vanilla and booze, Trader Joe's Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract is what is in my pantry).

Next on top of the liquid I pile up (yes I mean in same bowl and I mean on top of the liquids):
1.5 cups of  organic all purpose Whole Wheat flour
1 cup of organic all purpose White flour (makes the pancakes just a touch lighter)
2 teaspoons Baking Powder (aluminum free stuff)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon-tablespoon of cinnamon 

Putting the small dry ingredients on top of the dry stuff and then mixing it all in works really well for me. You could alternatively put the dry stuff in a different bowl, mix them and then dump into the wet stuff - or put the wet stuff on top of the dry. I like only having one bowl to wash and since I do the cooking AND the dishes it is something i think about.

Okay. Mix just until barely integrated. The less mixing the better the pancakes.

Now you should have the skillet warming up. 

In that skillet put 6 tablespoons of butter to melt. Once the butter is just melted pour it all into the batter and fold it in gently. 

Okay.

is the batter too thin? add a bit more flour...
too thick? Add some milk...

how do you know if it is one or the other? Experience.

There ya go.

At this point you can add some frozen blueberries, or chocolate chips before cooking (I totally pretty much put semi-sweet chocolate chips in there, because CHOCOLATE IS AWESOME).  Add the chocolate chips AFTER the butter to avoid melting the chips into large chunks or dissolving totally (experience).

This is still one of my favorite variation:
One nice variation is to substitute 1/2 of the milk with apple cider and add extra cinnamon and then grate an apple into the pancake batter (nice big slot grater).

--

You can use these for waffles (leave of the chocolate chips so you don't mess up the waffle iron), serve with a bit of butter (optional) and topped with some nice Grade B (or whatever it is called now) Maple Syrup.

I use extras as ride fuel/sandwiches. Slap some fresh ground peanut butter in the middle. Boom. instant yummy round "energy bar"

there is enough flavor in these cakes that you don't need the sugar stuff.

Why this why now? Cally asked for the current pancake recipe, and Russ posted a picture of a stack of cakes with a fried egg on top. AND it is sunday and I had a second or two between dishes, lunch, computer consultation about school project, and I felt like it.  

Remember, i'm not judging you or trying to make you feel bad about how you cook or what you bought last time, or everytime. I'm just trying to help, the little things do matter, and they all add up.  Also, be sure you're going to be able to manage the insulin spike with appropriate activity after eating these. They are better than most and all that, but they still shouldn't be an every morning thing. Make them for dinner is better. But they are still grains and will still mess with insulin and those bad cholesterols...  keep it all in mind i guess. Moderation isn't really the answer to be honest. But these are my opinions based on the primary lit i've been reading for the last few years.

No more rambling....  and no tweeting of recipe, solobreak gonna have to find it himself

heddwch
G

A few words on CX and parks

My thoughts, yes i have a couple degrees in this stuff, it is okay, i think those facts mean I can be completely ignored.  But I've been watching all this CXNats brewhaha...  and feel compelled to say something.

How do you protect your trees? You managed your turf. Trees don't naturally grow with grass around them. Putting grass to the trunk is as unnatural as sprinkler systems and mowing.

If you want to protect your trees and parks and make them stronger and resiliant to anything humans can do in a week, let the grass do what it does best. Build soil.

Let the grass grow tall. (aka no you can't play golf on it) the roots will grow and expand to feed the blades. Then cut it short (simulate grazing) and the roots die back turning into soil also naturally aerating the soil to match shorter blades.

Let it grow again, oh hey look NEW ROOTS...  aka more carbon matter added to the soil. Also happens to put more atmospheric CO2 into the ground, as well as building a nice cushion around the base of the trees.

Repeat this process, and in a few years you'll have some pretty amazing lawns in your public spaces (I'M TALKING TO YOU GLOUCESTER PROVIDENCE AND AUSTIN- pay attention ASHVILLE AND HARTFORD)

The root of the problem is always below the soil.

Mowing grass on a weekly basis to the same height is pretty much the best way to stress your trees and make your park fragile (as is driving cars on it, but that's a different story).

I firmly believe that you can do what Joel Salatin does on his farm in our parks. Sure maybe you need some pelletized fertilizer (or liquid or some other source of nitrogen/nutrients) BUT, there's no reason why you can't let the grass actually do almost all the work for you. FOR FREE, actually would save money by reducing mowing costs.

--- Okay --- discussion with brother lead to this realization about the trees:


If you mess up the top soil around them (this time of year) while they are dormant. And then replace it with a huge pile of awesomeness (aka good nutrient rich topsoil). The surface roots will prolifetate at a rate that will NOT happen if left alone.

What does that mean? That CX races and repairing after the race is over is probably the best thing that could have ever happened to the heritage trees in the park.

yes. This is the truth and based on sound silvicultural methods.

Counter intuitive? Maybe a little, but give me a few minutes to explain the biological processes and I think I can convince you that cancelling the races today was actually proably not going to amount to ANY difference in the health of any tree.

That said - the fundamentals still stand, turf management is important, and critical to our parks. ...


hopefully won't add too much more to this...  but i won't promise.

-G