A few blocks from the house, on the route I usually walk to downtown Silver Spring and the yoga studio, there are sunflowers planted in front of one of the buildings. They're an unusual and somewhat unruly landscape plant, but they've been there year after year. I'd like to thank the person responsible, as they're a popular attraction for bumblebees. Almost every time I walk past, I see bees - morning, midday, or evening. Today there were a lot of bees when I passed in early afternoon. It's fall now, and the time for gathering pollen and getting ready for winter is growing short. As I usually do, I stopped to watch the bees for a while. Pollinators. They rely on the plants for food, just as the plants rely on them for reproduction. The co-evolution of plant and animal life is amazing. In one sense, neither the bees or the sunflowers are separate - neither can exist without the other. They can exist only in intimate and dependent relationship - a meta-organism of bumblebee-sunflower.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Friday, September 9, 2016
Isosceles Exercise
The pool is a mile from the house. Both the pool and the house are 3.7 miles from Willow Street Yoga in Takoma Park, making an isosceles triangle of sorts. I left the house a little before 10:30 am and rode down through the park and up the hill on the other side to the YMCA. After swimming my laps, I left at 11:20 for the ride to Takoma Park for a noon class. After a short climb, a long downhill glide to the creek and then on downstream to Maple Avenue. The last mile is all uphill, with the last part a steep climb. After yoga, I reversed course, with a mile run down Maple Avenue and then I ride up the Sligo Creek bike trail and then home, about 2 pm.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Reprogramming
I crashed on my bike today. Full over, onto my back, bike on top, feet still clipped into the pedals.
How did this happen? I was nearly home from a 10.5 mile ride. I had just turned off of the road to head over the bridge to the path that leads to our street. Unexpectedly, I saw that two park employees had the bridge completely blocked - they were driving a 4 wheeler pulling a trailer across - they may have been blowing leaves off the trail.
The reactive part of my brain kicked in - can't go across the bridge - STOP - figure out what to do. Unfortunately, my reaction didn't include successfully unclipping the pedals, and I toppled over. Fortunately, the only damage was a scrape on my upper shin.
Thinking about the accident, after I got home and was washing out the wound and trying to get the bleeding stopped, I realized that the problem was in my head. My instinct to stop when caught by surprise was not useful when I was firmly attached to the bike. What I needed to do was to keep going, which I could easily have done in this situation. I could have simply ridden on past the entrance to the bridge and come to a controlled stop, or continued on up the road for a ways. But my instinct to stop in the face of danger was so strong that riding on didn't even occur to me.
I need to reprogram my brain. When riding the road bike and clipped into the pedals, stopping is not an option. Stopping only becomes an option after my foot is free. So riding on must become the default, instinctive response, and I need to always be aware of the best alternative path if the one I want to take is blocked.
How did this happen? I was nearly home from a 10.5 mile ride. I had just turned off of the road to head over the bridge to the path that leads to our street. Unexpectedly, I saw that two park employees had the bridge completely blocked - they were driving a 4 wheeler pulling a trailer across - they may have been blowing leaves off the trail.
The reactive part of my brain kicked in - can't go across the bridge - STOP - figure out what to do. Unfortunately, my reaction didn't include successfully unclipping the pedals, and I toppled over. Fortunately, the only damage was a scrape on my upper shin.
Thinking about the accident, after I got home and was washing out the wound and trying to get the bleeding stopped, I realized that the problem was in my head. My instinct to stop when caught by surprise was not useful when I was firmly attached to the bike. What I needed to do was to keep going, which I could easily have done in this situation. I could have simply ridden on past the entrance to the bridge and come to a controlled stop, or continued on up the road for a ways. But my instinct to stop in the face of danger was so strong that riding on didn't even occur to me.
I need to reprogram my brain. When riding the road bike and clipped into the pedals, stopping is not an option. Stopping only becomes an option after my foot is free. So riding on must become the default, instinctive response, and I need to always be aware of the best alternative path if the one I want to take is blocked.
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