Strictness of Cause and Effect

Cause and effect are very strict, when you dislike something, even if you thought you didn't show it, it's there. When you like something, even if you think you show no partiality, it's there as well. You make a cause either way and the consequences show up in some form or another along the way. Sometimes they're great, like when your bicycle shop is good to you for being a good customer. Sometimes it's bad, and you don't like what you have to face. So then what?

Face the facts and deal with it.

The only problem is (well maybe not the only problem) is sometimes we don't know what the facts are. Sometimes we only have a vague intuition of a tenuous situation because the parties involved "stand upon the edge of a knife" (Thanks Galadriel...although I do believe Celeborn says this in the book, Tolkein's genius), as it were, and we're all tiptoeing through a field of broken glass in the dark. Far off glimpses of light shed a twinkle, then its out and you don't know where to step, where to turn, how to proceed.

That's where dialogue comes in. Some people will tell you exactly what they think without prompting, sometimes that's great, sometimes not so great. Some people expect you to know, or see something that may be immediately apparent to them but perhaps not to you. It is so obvious why would they need to state it? So they do not speak, not until it is too late, when they can't stand it anymore, then the edge of the knife is quite painful indeed.

These scenarios happen at work, in families, in relationships, you name a relationship - it can happen there.

So what to do? What's this dialogue thing anyway? By having open communication you can learn, you can deal, things can be addressed - even if it isn't news everyone wants to hear. Some people are patient, some inpatient, some tolerant, some not- and on and on - dialogue allows us to bridge those differences so that we do not have to suffer for our differences. And instead can use them to foster a new kind of solution.

A new way forward.

Versatility

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. -Henry David Thoreau, Walden 1854

So Charlie and I are going to the woods. Charlie is not exactly a mountain bike, he is a road bike, and he is not exactly set up for where we're going, but we're going to learn how versatile we both can be. Can you pedal up mountain roads on a single speed? We'll see... This is not a tour or anything, just a side dish what is generally a rather stationary camping trip.

Charlie's going to see pretty sights:

He will be far from the concrete of home, onward to the next adventure!

(P.S. maybe he'll take a photo at a scenic vista or two?)

Tighten Up the Slack

"The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit. "
-Morihei Ueshiba

Or in this case tighten up the saddle...

Charlie's got one of the Brooks classic saddles, the B17. The inestimable, brilliant, guru-of-all-things-cycling, late Sheldon Brown tells us that one shan't tighten one's Brooks saddle or peril shall come to thee, and a ruined saddle too. But, after approximately 4,289 miles in this saddle things are looking a little saggy in that department.

Having been, prior to this bicycle and this saddle, someone who always had some sort of vinyl or plasticy sort of seat - the Brooks was a big change. And for the better. If you want an exhaustive listing of the benefits of a leather saddle, read Mr. Brown's article. Or if you're an equestrian you already know the answer.

Just riding the bicycle contributes to a person in all those ways Ueshiba-sensei mentions above (although he was a martial artist but maybe he rode a bicycle at some point?); but the riding of the bicycle does the opposite to the bicycle. So Charlie's going in for tightening of saddle, chain, and brakes to name a few.

Keep on rolling...

Minimalist; Fully Loaded

After hearing a car commercial for a fully loaded (V-8, turbo-charged, can talk to facebook, navigate, tell you pi to the four thousandth decimal place, do calculus whilst at a stop light, leather seats, speakers galore!, render you so spoiled you don't have to even think! its drives itself! and it gets 31 miles per gallon on the highway! can you believe it! (there are plenty of cars that do better than that with city driving, not to mention highway....)) vehicle I thought, with what is Charlie fully loaded?

Fully loaded with 2 wheels, 2 pedals, one saddle, one gear, and a girl who pedals! This bicycle is so efficient it runs on vegetables! you never have to fill it up at the gas station, it goes until the girl can't pedal anymore! Minimalist, fully loaded.

Well Charlie has other features, such as his bell with a pterodactyl on it (with which we attempt to communicate with pedestrians), sparkly blue handlebar grips, a lovely Brooks saddle (B17), vintage (and not matching) Campagnolo basket (toe-clip) pedals, vintage Motobécane crankset (probably from the bottom of a spare parts pile), Shimano front caliper breaks, coaster break in the rear, aluminum wheels (front is quick release), Gatorskin tyres. He has some blinky lights as well, and race blades (think fenders with commitment issues) by Planet Bike. I am Charlie's engine and I am powered by vegetables.

There was an ingenious chart showing the relative fuel economies from bicycles to airplanes which I will endeavor to find, the maker converts energy units across the board, and bicycles end up being the most efficient form, now to find that clever chart....

Old roads, memory lane....

Charlie and I took the old road home on Sunday. We came back from my sister's home in Waltham along memory lane, my old commute route from Waltham. It was glorious in the sun and the miles went by like a dream of summer in winter.

Its a steady downhill grade as you go east (nothing you really notice unless you spent half the winter biking west home to that then slight-uphill-the-whole-way, with a north/west wind bearing down on you at more than 20mph when its only 17 degrees outside (or sometimes 14) and your eyes are about ready to fall out of your head from having the tears freeze dried away and by the time you get home they ache and blinking feels like sandpaper, even though you have eye protection....). It felt so easy, the last times I rode this route were in the deep cold and this felt like all my dreams from that time come true.

I still remembered each hole in the road, found some new ones, was delighted by some repairs that had occurred. I bike about a hundred miles a week even now so I took the miles in stride. We stopped off along Memorial Drive to see the nice people with the bike fix cart to use their floor pump (Farina's in Watertown Square doesn't have a floor pump you can use, what's the deal with that?) to top off the pressure I couldn't get much higher with my hand pump that I always have with me....

Sometimes the things that seemed so hard before aren't anymore b/c you've changed. Its only been a little over a year but life is so different and so much the better.

and on the 18th this blog had its one year anniversary!:)

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

We've spend 1 year and ~3,772 miles together.

For his birthday Charlie got a new front wheel (aluminum, quick release, and hand built (not by me, I don't have those kinds of ninja skills yet)) and a new chain.

Keep on rolling young man....

Hold that thought...

Please be warned the bicycle has been personified in this post:

Charlie's birthday is on Thursday...
...but he's having hip replacement instead, as it were- rather than the previous goal. I am under the impression that I was much more intelligent (as in knew more facts about things) when I was 17, because back then I would have known about the virtues of aluminum versus steel.

Anyway, Charlie is getting a new front wheel of aluminum with a sealed hub to replace the current steel one. Steel wheel says, "Damn you to hell, high pressure tires!" and has decided anytime the pressure in the tube is higher than 60psi that the tube will then explode. This happened when Charlie was parked outside one day some weeks ago, which I didn't dwell on much b.c I truly had been an imbecile and overinflated my tire that morning.

But on Friday, in the middle of Comm Ave: BOOM! sounds like a gunshot, the tube explodes, I run on the rim for a few feet and tube has exploded the tire right off the rim.... This is the second explosion, so I don't just change the flat out myself, this is going to take knowledge and experience. We go to the shop and we learn things. Learn things as in, steel wheel says "no thanks" at the least to high pressure tires, and in my case a resounding, "HELLS NO!". Aluminum wheel is ordered and we wait in anticipation. (Aluminum wheel also says, "Yes, I don't mind the rain, I will stop properly with these delightful caliper breaks you have.", whereas steel have always said, "Rain, means we don't stop, no how, no sir, not for anymore, even if this means you have to die or be injured." So we're really looking forward to aluminum.) In the meantime had another tube pop on Sunday too, not to mention the bearings on the front wheel are loose, so it feels like the entire front of the bicycle is running on pudding ...

And we're getting a new chain for good measure...