Bits and Bikes

Two things that happened last night while I was working the concession stand.

First, I was sharing some info with the other parents working (during a slow time) about the recent interviews I was involved with for high school students who want to study critical languages. There's a program that is all-expenses paid for them to study for a summer session or an entire school year. The critical languages are: Chinese, Korean, Turkish, Arabic, Russian, Tajik, and Hindi. I think it's a great opportunity for kids -- and little known, so I was spreading the word.

One man jumped down my throat saying, "That's just a front for the CIA to get ahold of them and recruit them to work overseas. Critical languages means the countries we're afraid of!"  The guy is built like a mountain, so I sort of stepped back and replied, "No, this is underwritten by the State Department and the goal is to promote future understanding between the countries."

"Nope," he snapped, "I know all about this stuff. One of my daughter's friends did one and the CIA attempted to recruit her. She was smart though, she went into international business instead." He turned away with a note of triumph in his voice.

I couldn't quit at that point. I said, "I think it's a great opportunity for kids -- all expenses paid to learn about another culture and learn another language. I wish I'd known more about it when my daughter was in high school." He snorted at my naivete.

When I got home I was kicking myself for not saying, "There's nothing wrong with working for the CIA.  In the area we live, LOTS of people work for the CIA! It's an honorable profession!"  When I Skyped with my daughter later and told her about it she said, "I'd love to work for them because I want to be part of keeping my country safe."

Thank goodness some of the kids out there aren't paranoid!  Sheesh!

Then a lady who was very upset I was going to ride in the rain and the dark kept telling me I needed to take "spin" class instead of riding outside.  I tried to explain that the reason I ride the bike is because I HATE exercising in a gym. It makes me feel like a hamster on a wheel and there's no amount of hamster food that motivates me to excel. But if I'm outside, breathing clean air, and seeing how even day by day my environment is changing due to the artistry of the Creator, it's a WIN!  She just insisted that I would LOVE Spin class.  Sigh.

Night Moves

A personal first!  I rode at night!  This was the first of my 2 night errandonnee ventures. When I left to go to the high school to work the concession stand for a basketball tournament, it wasn't dark yet. However, the minute I started riding, it started raining. When I arrived at the high school (3.5 miles), I looked back to the west -- blue sky. I looked ahead to the east -- blue sky.  SIGH.

I took my bike inside because a bunch of kids, rival teams, Friday night -- I didn't want to leave it outside, even locked. That caused a few raised eyebrows but I just smiled and waved.

At 7:30 my shift was over so I headed out, stopping to take a photo of my lights (a requirement) before I got on the bike. You can't really see my rear red flasher, and the light on my helmet is pointed down. I also have a light on my backpack, but that was on my back.

And it was starting to rain again.  The first part was on the road, and there was enough ambient light from the neighborhoods to see pretty well. Once I turned off the road and onto the path it was pitch dark, but I know those paths pretty well, so I made it home no problem. By the time I was turning into my neighborhood, the rain was turning to snow.

So tonight  -- rain, sleet, snow, but a safe ride.

WIN!

Another Errand DOWN!

Another errand bites the dust today.

I had to go tutor (which for the errandonnee counts as work) and I debated fiercely this morning about whether I REALLY wanted to ride three towns over to do it. It was cold when I started out and it took me about 2 miles just to get a rhythm going. But I finally did and felt incredibly virtuous when I got there, tutored, then stayed and had coffee with a different friend.


It was a pretty cool ride, actually. I left my house in Reston (south of the tollroad), worked my way over to Herndon, caught up with the W&OD trail and road straight out just past the Rt. 28 car park. There I headed south towards Wegmans. When I got there I was desperate for a banana and all they had out were green. I begged the produce man and he told the guys who were chopping fresh fruit for the cups to sell me one. Best .21 I've spent in a long time!

All of a sudden I realized I'd been there for HOURS so I packed up to head home. I needed to get back before my husband/son left on a ski trip.  On the ride back, the day had become beautifully sunshine-y so there were a lot more cyclists out. I saw lots of wide "life is good" grins.

So here's the photo from getting ready to tutor. We meet at the Wegman's in Ashburn in case you're trying to figure the photo out!

Folders for tutoring on top of book. Essential coffee!

Tonight I'm headed to the high school to work concessions at the Basketball tournament. That will satisfy one of my night errands. Tomorrow evening I'll do another and then on Sunday I'll post them ALL!

This is so fun.

Unsettled

I love riding my bike, using it for errands, or just riding for fun. I love it more when the weather is nice. (Truth). I know there's wet weather gear and cold weather gear and lights for the fog/darkness, etc., but really, I'm mostly a fair-weather rider. And I *think* I'm okay with that.

Because I ride for MY pleasure, and the fact that stuff gets done along the way is inconsequential to my purpose for riding, I find myself feeling guilty, as if somehow I'm not doing it "right". The little voice in my head says, "You should be (fill in the blank)."

When we trained for the events last fall, I was pretty maxed out at 40 miles, and happy to finish. For one thing, the time sink drives me crazy. If I want to do a 40 mile ride, I pretty much have to jettison any other plans for that morning. By the same token, if something pops up (particularly concerning one of my kids) my 3-4 hour time block is no longer available to bike and visit with cycling friends.

I've tried riding with friends, but haven't found that sweet spot of friendship and cycling that is a reward in itself. I tried starting a meet-up group but that didn't last. There's a semi-local womens' biking group, but I haven't quite synched up with their ride schedules. And they live about 20 miles away -- I'm not going to ride 20 miles to ride 20 miles to ride 20 miles home and it seems a little silly to drive my car in order go ride my bike.

Does anyone else have these kinds of problems?

And maybe I'd want to go longer if I had a new bike. But how do I decide? The last time I bought a bike for myself was 1989. I was in Germany with the US Air Force and I bought a sweet Bianchi touring style bike. It has served well forever -- even toted a Burley with two kids at one time --I'm not inclined to give it up just yet. Got any ideas to help me figure all this out?

Two More Errands

One of the rules of the errandonnee is that if you don't get a photo of your errand, you need to verify it some other way. And they said be creative.

So for one of my errands on 2/9 to a PTSA Scholarship Committee meeting, here is the handout from the meeting.  It was held at someone's home so the photo would not really have shown that!

And for one of my errands on 2/12 that I forgot to photograph, my dear friend Sarah penned this "note from NOT my mom..."

I verify without notary that Kelley Westenhoff limped into  Panera at Fairfax Towne Center after falling off her bike enroute for our lunch meeting on Tues 2/12

Sarah.

I didn't exactly fall off ... more like fell over, but whatever. It was suitably dramatic and Sarah, being a nurse, was duly sympathetic enough. Catching up with her was so enjoyable that after the lunch, revived immeasurably, I biked home without problem.

So I hope those count!

BACK! No, REALLY!

Okay, it's been since September. But I have a very good excuse. I was LIVING MY LIFE.  Seriously, when the fall weather was at its best, I was on my bike almost every day so I didn't have time.

Then during the holidays we had an Italian student living with us. He was adorable, and we would have kept him except AFS had other plans for him. He is now in Ohio and living the American dream. We're still happy for him even though we miss him.

January 2013 ... well, bad weather and bad attitude. Nuff said.

So now I am officially OUT of my funk and back on the bike. I'm participating in something called an Errandonnee -- using one's bike to accomplish errands. All the details are at www.chasingmailboxes.com

In a nutshell, it's 12 errands, over 7 out of 11 categories, 12 days, and at least 2 have to be during darkness. And 30 miles. It sounds daunting but it really isn't. If you just think about the errands you run, and get on your bike instead, the distance gets eaten up quickly.

I know some of you live out in the country. Okay -- take your bike with you to town on the car. Park the car, and resolve to do all errands in town on the bike. Sure, there are some that won't work so well (picking up dry cleaning) but most others are easy.

For the Errandonnee we document our errands via photo and "something we've discovered or learned." I'm down to the last two -- the ones after dark. I was going to ride to our PTSA meeting tonight but it's supposed to be snowing so I think I'll wait until this weekend. I've already passed the 30 miles.

Here are my initial photos. Can you tell what the categories are?

Feb 11

Feb 11

Feb 11

Feb 11

Feb 11

Feb 12

Feb 12

A Doggy Day

Yesterday Brenda and I rode 20 miles so I went easy this morning.  I was just going to run up to the bank, stop at the grocery store, and then come home -- about 2 miles roundtrip.

But I forgot that the bank doesn't open until 9, so I decided to press on and make it a real ride. I went up to the Town Center to check on my geocache.  Someone said they found it but the coordinates they needed for the next stage were illegible.

Yep, the person was right.  I fixed it (temporarily until I can get a new one over there) but then realized that I had stepped in dog poop.  Darn it!  This is an area at the base of a staircase for a parking garage. It's very nicely maintained so whoever let their dog poop there and didn't clean it up was being a real jerk.  Why do some people NOT clean up after their dogs?

So I scraped the best I could and then rode back down to the bank, which was now open, got some money and ran into the grocery store and then headed home.  On the way home, a person walking her dog let it chase after me growling and snarling.  Yes, it was on a leash (thank goodness), but the other dog with her was not.  I get it -- the dog was old and not likely to chase anyone.  But what if it had wandered into my path?  Sheesh...

I like dogs.  I like people who own dogs. I like people who are responsible about dog ownership best.