The wind is clocking a Brazilian miles per hour out there today, which means it can strip you of your pubic hair in an instant (after first blowing off your pants).
Happily, I’m safe inside, doing a bit of light pixel-pushing for VeloNews.com, thinking halfheartedly about riding the trainer, and wondering what I can whip up to fetch to an informal New Year’s Eve gathering at a neighbor’s place. Tequila surprise? Nope, there are too many surprises lurking in that Mexican cactus whiskey. I don’t know these people well enough for that. Homemade salsa and chips will suffice.
I had hoped to get in one last ride to close out 2011, but the wind disabused me of that notion. Plus given my calorie consumption this holiday season it felt something like bolting the gate to the sty after the pig had escaped.
A quick check of my training log finds that I rode just short of 3,500 miles this year, about half of what I did 20 years ago when I was still racing a ton. No records exist of my 2001 mileage. However, I had begun losing interest in competition after a brief peak as a cyclo-crosser in 1999, and living outside Weirdcliffe made training on the road difficult and getting to races problematic and expensive, so I expect I had already begun my glide path toward the lower mileage of the recreational rider.
But there’s something about working in cycling journalism that — for me, at least — makes cycling less recreational than it might be for, say, a radiologist, carpenter or accountant. I write columns, edit stories and draw cartoons about people who ride bicycles over impossible distances with authority and panache, then perform a poor imitation of them in my free time. Some days it can feel something like dressing up in other people’s clothes, like a fat kid wearing a Superman costume.
This is one reason I was glad to find I could take up running again after a few months off. I don’t earn a dime from the sport or know anything about it and thus can contentedly lumber along, nodding sympathetically at the pained expressions on the other runners I encounter. It’s more medicinal than recreational, the equivalent of a hearty dose of fish oil or flossing your teeth.
And man — you want to sample an activity that elevates cycling above other pasatiempos, take up running three days a week. It makes a brand-new Brooks saddle feel like the gentle hand of the Lord.
So let’s all do more of it in 2012, no matter how badly. It’s an election year, after all, and people will need the comic relief.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
• Late update: Thanks and a tip of the Mad Dog Media IWW tuque to the folks WordPress tells me are the Most Active Commenters of 2011:
- Khal S. (473)
- Larry T. (296)
- Ben S. (117)
- James (116)
- Libby (111)
You folks keep the joint lively and it’s a pleasure to have you — and all the rest of you — stopping by.
Mad Blog Media 
Happy New Year to all. Rode three days this week without a million layers of clothing…so happy for that. Happy to be employed, happy to be loved, happy to have a great home and wonderful friends (some of whom are looking for jobs still). I wish everyone a fantastic year – full of great rides, friends, food and enough sleep to be content. Oh and Patrick…please keep bringing the funny in 2012. We need as much as possible to keep it going! The primaries shoud help you a bunch with material.
Sharon, will do. Glad to hear you’re still living the dream, even though a few friends may not be. Jobs these days are like cops — when you need ’em, you can’t find ’em.
Must be nice to have Gov. Goodhair out of the state for a spell, eh? What a thoughtful holiday gift he gave y’all.
Hope Perry stays in Iowa. Good riddance.
Happy New year Pat, to you & the missus. Forecast for the D tomorrow is winds 25-35 with a rain snow mix so I probably won’t get out on my bike. Hopefully some hardy souls won’t take no for an answer though.
And right back at you, Doug. We’re looking at highs in the 40s and I’m getting out on something, dammit, either running shoes or a bicycle. It’s a whole new year, f’chrissakes. Got to start loggin’ them miles. I’m at zero right now.
Hi, Patrick and Shannon
We tried to get out on the tandem for a decent ride and were almost literally blown off the road, so we cut short the festivities after about 45 minutes and came home to grill some dinner and open the bubbly. I suppose seeing the flag almost ripped off the fire station flagpole on the way back from Fanta Se should have warned us.
As far as logging miles. After a few years of being the Masters Doormat in Honolulu and tearing the patellar tendons in both knees trying to win races, I quit worrying about trying to live up to someone else’s expectations, less so my own, while wearing kit, If I feel good, that’s all I ask for. It beats getting fat in front of the TV. A lonesome ride up NM4 into the Jemez, even as slow as a slug, beats a lot of other stupider things I could be doing. I long ago learned I was better at bike politics than bike racing. Its shit work, but someone has to do it. So to all the accountants, carpenters, and radiologists blowing my metaphorical doors off on those mountain rides, more power to you. I’ll cover your back in town when someone is trying to tell you to get the fuck off the road.
To everyone, and with heartfelt honesty, happy new year and have a great 2012.
K, I’m with you on the masters-doormat thing. I don’t need to ride it like I stole it anymore. I own the sumbitch and I’ll ride it as slowly and badly as I like.
Shit! I didn’t make the list, I’ll try again in 2012.
Interval training, Bro’ … interval training. Elevate the snark, then recover. Repeat as necessary.
Happy New Year and may it be a far better year than this last one. This is my favorite blog and I really appreciate the thought that goes into many of the comments, especially the political ones. Thanks to all of you.
It was only sunny and 74° today. A ride is scheduled tomorrow.
Charley, the commenters keep the place hopping, for sure. I’ve gotten kind of sloppy about posting regularly and hope to do better in 2012.
You hosting down at McDowell again? How’s the snowbird traffic? I need me a road trip the way Rick Santorum needs a solution to his little Google problem.
I call unfair on the commentator’s totals… Larry T is “retired” and doesn’t do a g.d. thing but ride his bike most days, do the shopping – IN ITALY ferchrissakes – how hard can THAT be, cook for he and Heather (which I will admit the meals look pretty damn good) and arrange that whole CycleItalia tour thing, which I know can’t take up more’n a hour or two a week, tops. If I had that kinda time I’d better his 296 total in a month.
Thanks for the blog Patrick. It really is a treat – it’s one of the first places I visit everyday.
And all best to you and H Larry…
Hope 2012 is a good one for everyone here.
David, it is tough to watch Larry waving at us from sunny Italy as we crouch by a smoky fire in our animal skins, is it not? One day we too may be civilized. Or not.
Happy Gnu Year to you, too, and thanks for enjoying the nonsense.
All I have to say is Jeeze, I finally won something having to do with bicycling. Its been about fifteen years since I won anything, in that case first place in a time trial in my age category. Nice thing about time trials is there is no one to kick into a sprint at the end and clean my clock. (…and here’s post #1 for 2012).
Patrick,
Thank you for the blog it keeps me moving on several levels.
Khal, that wind of yours is headed here tomorrow (next year?) so no bike. Instead a hike with friends and dogs for which (friends and dogs and the ability to hike) I am thankful for.
So my best wishes to all the denizens of this blog, both 2 and 4 legged, Patrick and Shannon for a very happy and safe New Year and beyond.
Ben, ain’t nothin’ wrong with being a pedestrian from time to time. You see things you miss on the bike, same as a cyclist sees more than a motorist. Low and slow, bro’.
Best to you and yours in the new year, and thanks for popping round to kick in your two cents’ worth.
Kinda windy here too, (not to mention many of my posts right?) but TODAY we’re getting out on the bikes to start the new year right. Correction David, HEATHER does the cooking, I do the rest. As for racing I found out years ago I was a much better wrench than racer (not that it took much at that time) and have worked more on those skills than bike racing skills. But RUNNING? Ouch. Been there, done that to the tune of a sub 3-hour marathon back when I was dumb enough to think I could qualify for the big show out in Boston. Walking is just fine for me these days if I need exercise and can’t get out on the bike, though I have done some indoor XC skiing and trainer slogging over the winters in Iowa. It’s good to know there’s usually something on here worth smiling or ranting about regularly and all of you guys and gals are entertaining and have hearts in the right place. Felice Anno Nuovo tutti da Sicilia – where the skies are blue, the sea is too and the food and wine is up there with the best in Italy.
Larry, I used to despise running. I started out as a swimmer, and would bitch mightily (imagine that) when I was forced to run the track in high-school PE after a brutal morning’s workout in the pool.
I tried jogging in the Eighties and hated it, returning quickly to the bike for transportation and exercise.
And then the racing bug bit — first road, then mountain, and finally cyclo-cross. A guy has to run for that last one, and I eventually got used to it, the way a Bibleburg Democrat does his regular beating sat the polls.
But a marathon? Uh-uh. I ran a half once in training, at altitude, and never did cycling seem so attractive, a veritable Sophia Loren standing next to a Rosie O’Donnell by way of comparison.
Give our regards to The Boot. One day we will all descend upon you like a pack of Lycra locusts and put the CycleItalia cooking-and-wrenching stills to the acid test.
As ol’ George “what me worry?” W. Bush said, “bring it on!” since in Italy with clients we let the pros take care of the cooking. The wrenching gets less and less since more and more rent bikes from us – since I maintain them there’s not much to do other than dial ’em in to the client’s specs, then look after the tire pressure and chain lubing. A wash and service after each client gets ’em ready to go again. If you bring your own bike, I’m happy to help you put it together and fine tune it as well as put it back in the box when it’s time to go home. HAPPY NEW YEAR from Sicily!
Happy New Year to all!
All the best in 2012!
Thank you for the blog: political commentary, diaries, toons, tunes, bikes, rides, menus, cycling, furry companions, life lessons, photos and consistently calling-out b.s. all delivered with the right amounts of wisdom, mockery, wit, disgust and appreciation.
Perhaps we will see more home-grown videos in 2012?
Thanks to you, too, Libby … and funny you should mention it, but I shot this little bit of Buddy as a test of my little Canon 300 HS point-and-shoot’s HD video capability:
Happy New Year to all.
It could be worse you know…Here, it’s sunny and in the 50s/60s with little to no wind; and I’m booked with FFF* for all usable daylight today.
This post made me realize my last ride of the year was Tuesday night and it ended prematurely with a flat tire, since neither I nor my bike-shop-owning friend had a spare tube with us. At least there was moonshine in the flask.
*FFF= Forced Family Fun
Barry, if there’s moonshine in the flask you don’t need a spare tube. You can just kind of float home.
Hi y’all. Welcome to v2012. Blustery, windy, not enough snow for the “motorized recreation” crowd; those with the wherewithal trailered up the sleds & booked to ‘da UP a few days ago.
Me and the missus hiked out from the North of our property yesterday – we live on the edge of Camp Wawbeek, a Wisconsin Elks/Easter Seals Respite Camp that runs a wonderful facility for challenged youths, physically and otherwise. Anyway those hundreds of acres stretch across some of the rolling aspen & pine forests and there are still some legacy dirt roads/paths in there that we locals enjoy. Nice to have it kissing our property, ’cause we won’t see any McMansions around in our lifetime.
This week the Cyclo-cross National Championships come to Madison(Verona) :
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=35454
I’ll be there either Sat or Sun with my Flip camera. It will be a real hoot!
Hey, Swell … send a little CX-nats video love our way and we’ll slap up a link on the DogS(h)ite.
Sounds like you found the right place to live. When Herself and I were still in Weirdcliffe we had open access to a few thousand acres of a land conservancy and it was awesome. Hike, bike, run, whatever, and chances are all you’d see would be flora and fauna, with the occasional working cowboy a-horseback.
Happy New Year to all, and hopefully a prosperous one to boot. No ride today for me, weinied out of the local club’s annual New Years ride to cook a fabulous omlette for me and the bride. We’ve been on a three day food and drink bender, so the chances of squeezing into my cold weather grab were slim and none. And Slim just left town. But, the lobster, paella, steaks, etc. were a small sacrifice to the fat gods to be atoned with a steady diet of, well diet and exercise. The give and take of life never ends.
lol Now I’m starting to worry about becoming the old(er) guy who maybe gets fat in the winter! lol. Only a few (ok, less than 7) years ago I was 30 and felt 19 (thanks, Italian preparatori!) and couldn’t eat enough in the winter to avoid wasting away while training in California, then racing in China, Cuba, Brazil, etc. … Now the only thing saving me from Team OGWGFitW (besides pride, shame, and a super-hot 26 y.o gf) is the fear of not being able to comfortably fit back into the countless euro size med/3 Vermarc kits stuffed into my closet! I didn’t ride today owing to the snow, but even under house arrest I managed to turn the pedals for almost an hour yesterday to make sure I started the New Year right! Have a great 2012 everyone, and thanks O’G for the opportunity to comment…
Oh, BTW – you said: “But there’s something about working in cycling journalism that — for me, at least — makes cycling less recreational than it might be for, say, a radiologist, carpenter or accountant. I write columns, edit stories and draw cartoons about people who ride bicycles over impossible distances with authority and panache, then perform a poor imitation of them in my free time. Some days it can feel something like dressing up in other people’s clothes, like a fat kid wearing a Superman costume.”
While our circumstances are certainly different, I’ve been confronted with the same proposition, and somewhat regretfully (or at least to my chagrin), I’m continually reminded that I prefer riding my bike to any other sport or training modality I’ve yet encountered. Only snowboarding gets me as enthused to head outdoors as biking, especially with friends or a group. I’ve four years still on my 8-years-instead-of-life ban so I won’t be competing any time soon, but I honestly feel a tranquility, contentedness, rightness when I swing a leg over the top tube and push off down the hill that marks the start and finish of every ride here for me. I even wear the aforementioned Vermarc kits from teams my friends might’ve ridden for, but me – never! But I feel like I earned the right to pose like that, and not to need to be training for a race or competition to derive pleasure from the bike. Absent the pressure of competition (while still forced to think about cycling and sport in general 24/7 thanks to my circumstances) cycling has become an incredibly satisfying recreational activity for me – except when it’s cold and/or raining and the skies are grey 😉
Peace!
Hi,
How do I get in contact to pay for image use?
Thanks,
Chris