Category Archives: Cycling
Long Time Coming
Apologies for the lack of writing these past three months; now that my day job consists of typing away all day on my computer, it’s been difficult to find motivation. I decided to play around with the site look and feel this slow Sunday morning, and figured I’d post some new content to go along with it.
Life is still in a gradual upward progression for me, slowly gaining momentum towards something loftier that I still don’t understand. The out-of-the-box thinking associated with my work has me thinking out-of-the-box on a lot of things now, and I’m almost ready to put graduate school back on the map. I’m hoping that some changes coming up soon will inspire me to take the final steps in defining my overall focus and direction.
Physically, I’m exactly where I want to be with my climbing and cycling. I’m riding 150-200 miles a week, and feeling faster and fitter each time I get on the bike. I’ve had some great breakthroughs with my climbing recently, just a few moves away from my first 5.11s in a long time. I’ve been making a conscious effort to align the rest of my lifestyle to support my goals.
There’s some really cool things about to happen for me, and I’m excited about showing you more than telling. Expect pictures in the first week of May.
September 6th?
Wow, it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been a month since my last update. Life has been moving along quickly.
Being in love makes the world look remarkably different. I’m totally convinced and completely hooked on the feeling. She’s the best thing in my life.
Fall is almost here. Three days ago the city of Austin let out a collective sigh of relief as a cold front came in and pushed out the terrible heat. It feels like we’re on the downward slope to happier times. Jerry and I have made it – an entire summer in Central Texas without air conditioning in the house. It’ll certainly be on my list of great accomplishments in 2010. I’m overflowing with excitement thinking about fires in the backyard again, cozy down comforters on the bed, and jackets.
Fall means climbing in Mexico with Carolina (and jackets). Happy and cool commutes to the office. All that good stuff.
Work has been going well. I’ve been busy, but never stressed. Some days I wish I was back at REI full-time, talking about my hobbies, my travels, and feeling like an expert in something. I still work there once a week, and I definitely enjoy being there more than I used to. I guess being involved with something on a more limited basis let’s you see the good things you’d normally overlook in the blur of daily activity.
Carolina and I strapped a pizza from Eastside Pies to the back of the Big Dummy two nights ago. I felt a fantastic sense of accomplishment. I sold the fixed gear a few weeks ago, and have been using the Big Dummy exclusively for my short commute and cargo carrying needs. It’s been amazing.
I had a few small accomplishments in the climbing department yesterday with Carolina. We stayed local and climbed on the greenbelt for a change, warming up on my favorite route in Austin and flailing on some overhanging rock at 5.8 Sanctuary. My back is sore today.
Like most things right now, I’m striving for more consistency with my blog updates, hoping for at least weekly posts. We’ll see how that works out… Thanks for reading.
Some Places
The switch to this new computer, and the subsequent relocation of files, managed to get me looking through old pictures. Texas 4000 pictures. Backpacking through the Ozarks. Trips, people, places, good and epic memories. Some days I’ll forget that I rode a bike to Alaska. It feels like such a long time ago – I’m all grown up now, doing grown up things. Those roads and those people changed my life.
I’ve thought about it for a while, but I’m 95% sure I’m going to start riding my bike again for speed and fitness. My commute (100ish miles/week) has been great at keeping me healthy, but I want to get stronger. I’d like to be able to randomly jump on the bike and do the Johnson City out-and-back in six hours [again]. I know it’ll be a tough task with my work and all, but I’m sure I can find some spare time. Eat right. Train hard. Sleep more.
It’s time to get away from the city.
Today I woke up and worked from the bed, sending emails and taking advantage of a wave of extra motivation. I typically work from home and coffee shops on Tuesdays and Thursdays – I like being able to mix up my work environment. I hit Halcyon earlier this morning, and now I’m typing away at JP’s Java. JP’s is further than I typically travel for coffee; it’s my old university hangout, and always gets me thinking deep thoughts. I like it here.
Riding through campus on my way here was another trip down memory lane, and another part of my life that seems so far away. I was thinking about buildings I used to have classes in, the places I used to live, where I used to eat. Those were happy and carefree times.
But not as happy as the now. I spent a considerable amount of time cleaning my little house this afternoon, and thinking about the place I’m currently at. I live a good life, and I’m sharing it with the most wonderful person. I can’t wait for Fall. For fires in the backyard again, for cool air blowing through the windows, for jackets and long-sleeved shirts. Only 2.5 months of heat left.
OK, time to get back at it. A few more work related things to write up, then I’m heading home for the night.
Good gets Better
Cruising around on the Surly Big Dummy is perhaps the best cycling-related experience I’ve had in Austin. My obnoxiously large box arrived on Friday last week, four days after the order was placed. I left the office a little early and went into time trial mode to the shop, so we could get started right away on building it up. I helped Andy (my coworker and favorite mechanic) get it all together, and must admit, I was a little intimidated by the sheer size of it all. The chain, the insanely long cable routing, the super-sized wheelbase – for someone who rides aggressive road bikes pretty much exclusively, there couldn’t be a more polar opposite.
But I’m totally hooked. The plush ride, the stopping power and control, the ease of packing – everything is right. I’m still waiting for the opportunity to load it up really heavy, but so far, it’s been incredibly smooth. I loved going to the grocery store and not thinking about what I was throwing in the cart. It may sound trivial, but when you commute by bike exclusively, that little bit of freedom is something to behold. I’m very, very happy.
Good gets better.
Carolina and I have been climbing almost every Sunday. Yesterday’s trip took us to Hand Beyond Wall with my good friend Rami, who will be departing for a new life in South-east Asia in just a few days. Hand Beyond is my favorite place out at Reimer’s. Few people know about it, it’s far away from the typical weekend crowds, and the routes are all especially high quality. We did a lot of mid-hard 5.10s, and just enjoyed life in the sunshine. After thoroughly wearing ourselves out on the rock, C and I continued on to a great afternoon together, and a beautiful evening.
She lifts me up to a higher place – if you can’t tell by now, I really like her.
My work is keeping me excited and quite happy too. We’re developing a very productive dynamic at the office, and I like being handed the reigns on more and more projects. I recently reconnected with an old friend of mine to work on a project I’m really, really excited about, and I have a good feeling we’re going to make some magic happen. It’s good to get excited about those things…
Recap
Time is going by too fast – so much stuff going on. Let’s go back to May 26th, Wednesday afternoon. I was riding my bike home from work with my coworker, Kieran, when a truck pulled out in front of us on South Lamar. I slammed into his driver’s side door at almost 30mph. Scary stuff. I reacted quickly; in my last two seconds I was able to get the bike fairly sideways, putting my shoulder into him instead of my face. I thought I broke my collarbone when I ripped his side-view mirror off with it; but beyond some soreness, cuts and bruises, I fared surprisingly well.
The bike is going to need some work, but that’s what insurance is for… $1,600 worth of work.
Three days later, on Sunday the 30th, Carolina and I, along with a friend of her’s, headed out to Reimer’s Ranch to climb. I still wasn’t 100% from my crash, and had to tape up the cut on my finger quite a bit, but it was a good day of climbing none-the-less. I felt like I could still pull pretty hard, but the cut was holding me back. We ended the day with a pretty amazing dinner at Carolina’s place.
Fast forward.
My adventures this past weekend started on Thursday the 3rd. Carolina and I had a late dinner, carb-loading for the test of endurance set for the upcoming Saturday morning. We made pasta and drank Mirror Pond Pale Ale, and before we knew it the clock read 1:30am. Opps. With an alarm clock set for 6am to head to work the next morning, I think this is where my long stretch of sleep deprivation started.
Saturday morning, the 5th, the alarm clock started singing at 4:00am. Carolina and I had wheels on the road at 5:00am. We were the two crazy cyclists doing the 100 mile route variation for the Texas 4000 ATLAS ride, going from Austin to Lampasas, TX. I don’t think either of us had done more than 20 miles in one go in the past few months, but we’re both rockstars.
The ride was amazing, but quite hot. It was great to see some old friends on the bike again, and my time riding with Carolina is always fantastic. We completed our epic and epically hot day around 2:00pm with BBQ and beer in Lampasas. Our plans had us camping in Lampasas that night, waking up too early on Sunday morning to cook breakfast for the 2010 riders before they headed to Alaska. We found a hose to clean the road off of us, then our group headed to a spring-fed public pool to cool off a little more.
Saturday, night under the stars, was pretty much perfect. But way too short. We were up again at 4:00am, after maybe 3hrs with our eyes closed, to start cooking.
And that brings me here; I’m finally caught up on my missing sleep. I’m juggling a few work-related projects this week, but it’s all within reason again. Looking forward to a good week.
Windy Bike Ride
Hard bike ride today. Lots of wind, lots of hills, and an undesirable “mileage to time spent on the couch” ratio. I haven’t really been on the bike since our new warmer weather here in Austin either, which certainly played it’s part today too. Regardless, it sure was nice to be out again.
I think a lot about where I’ve been and where I’m at when I’m pedaling on the bike. Most of the roads I ride I’ve been on hundreds of times by now. I cycle through snapshots in my mind of how I looked at any given point of the road five years ago. How my pedal stroke has changed, my position on the bike, the way my legs and arms have changed, and the relatively new stars on my arm. Even better, I think about how my thoughts and worldview has evolved and changed so dramatically. I’ve come a long way, and I still have a long way to go.
303 blog posts later, you can probably tell that I like to follow pathways from past to present.
Today, Carolina is headed down to Xilitla for the weekend, and I’m jealous. I spent a lot of time at UT studying Nahuatl and Teenek cultures, but I never had the opportunity to make it down there. She’ll be coming back to Austin near the end of April, which is just soon enough for me to start getting excited. Distance between us has been a difficult obstacle for me, but things are looking up.
My body and mind is tired today, especially since that bike ride, and I’m having a difficult time putting words together. Maybe I should take this cue to go relax for the rest of the day.
Drinks
Last night I found happiness inside the walls of a martini glass. I’m making an effort to expand my cocktail drinking/mixing knowledge. And to that end, with Austin being such a hotspot for trendy mixologists at cool spots right now, I’m going to try to sample a new fancy drink and establishment once a week. Last night after work, I ended up at Eastside Showroom, on E. 6th Street. Very cool place. Dimly lit, sweet decor, with a huge rack of bottles dominating the space over the bar. The two guys behind the bar were shaking, juicing, measuring, sampling, and serving passionately made drinks all night. Really fun to watch. I had their Medina Martini, which was simple and amazing. Lots of great flavors bouncing around the tongue at once.
I’m feeling a very, very strong pull to find a new job again. Unfortunately I’m also experiencing an equally strong feeling of not knowing what on earth I want to do. It’s such a strange contradiction. So right now, I’m just looking at everything I can, seeing if something special jumps out at me. I guess all I really want is meaningful employment, something I can be proud of at the end of the day.
I’ve been riding again. There’s a lovely new saddle on my road bike, and I really have nothing else getting in the way. It’s been good to feel the wind on my face again. This afternoon I squeezed in a solid three hours, and I hope I can get in another good ride early tomorrow morning with C. I mistimed my grocery shopping today though, and came home to an empty kitchen. A quick trip to HEB, and a huge plate full of breakfast taco goodness later, my balance was restored. I was feeling a lot of restlessness before, but riding calms my mind and body like nothing else.
And I’m still climbing, just not as much as I should be… C and I try to make it out together at least once a week, but work and travel schedules make it difficult. We were at Reimer’s Ranch this past Sunday, and had a fantastic time with some new friends of ours. With Rami and Ryan both too busy and/or incapacitated, my climbing partners have become a bit more dynamic, but I like it regardless.
Maybe it was the bike ride, or maybe it’s just me right now, but I’m feeling a little low. Almost like the things I want most are just out of my reach, and there’s not anything I can do to bring them towards me. I know that if I let go though, and found something else to chase after, I’d be leaving something almost perfect. It’s almost that’s killing me right now, because I feel like perfect is so, so close.
Chowder!
I cooked last night, on another one of my inspired food missions. For some reason, I was thinking about clam chowder, then I fell asleep and started to dream about clam chowder. I was left with one option: hungry and almost out of energy, I made the trek to Whole Foods, filled up the messenger bag, and pedaled myself back home. An hour later, the house smelled wonderful, and I was enjoying the product of my labor. With the leftovers going into my freezer soon, hopefully I’ll be enjoying it for a long time too…
I’ve had almost three days off in a row, not counting the late night inventory gig on Sunday night. The extra time to myself has been nice. I’ve decorated my room a little bit, re-organized the black hole that was growing in the corner of my closet, and spent a little bit of time with C yesterday.
The closet was probably my proudest accomplishment. I allow one box of clutter in my home, where things without a definitive place or purpose live; and that box has been living in the corner of my closet since I moved into my current house. Through laziness and carelessness, it was almost over-flowing. Something had to be done. The biggest offender was my camping equipment, so I re-located and reorganized all of that. Then I threw a lot of stuff out, cutting the box down to a manageable size. A simple act can create so much clarity for me – it’s like releasing a little pressure valve in my mind.
My new bike saddle shipped yesterday. Good news. A new saddle makes my bike ridable for more than two hours. Still waiting on new components to come into stock, but I’m in no hurry. Fancy components are just extra motivation to ride. I don’t need extra motivation – I’m really itching to get out and do long miles right now.
I go to court this afternoon, to meet with the city for that ticket I got almost two months ago. Hopefully it won’t take long… All I’m looking for is equal and proper treatment for bicycles in Austin under the eyes of the law, nothing combative. I’ll go to an actual trial if I need to, but hopefully I won’t need to waste anymore time on all of this.
Active
Austin, TX is probably the prettiest place to be in the world right now. 70 degrees, with never-ending sunshine and a gentle breeze. I”ve been spending as much time in it as possible. Tuesday and Wednesday were my mid-week weekend, and since I’m only working a half day today, I’ll use this part of it to catch you all up.
Work has been keeping me occupied quite a bit, but not the “going somewhere/doing something meaningful occupied.” More like “paying the bills/mind numbingly boring” kind of occupied. There’s nothing wrong with it – I’m never stressed, and I get to hang out with my friends all day, but I’m starting to get a little restless. The motivation to start up a new job search is certainly coming back to me. After I burn up my vacation hours on this 10 day trip to Mexico on the 20th, I’ll be jumping back into it full swing.
I took off on the road bike Tuesday. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done that, but the bike is always enthusiastic to take me back. My legs felt skinny and weak. Climbing has been working out my upper body with a vengeance, and I felt a strange imbalance my first hour on the road. I still have a pretty good base fitness from my everyday commute and hyperactive lifestyle, but I hope this winter I can add some quickness back to the legs.
Yesterday I went out to Reimers Ranch with a handful of good friends from REI. I really just wanted to get in a good workout on routes that were too difficult for me. The feeling in my hands and arms last night, and especially this morning, confirmed my objective was met. Lots of physical 5.10s and 5.11s. Ryan is climbing as good as I’ve ever seen him, redpointing some really stout climbs. As always, I’m glad he was around yesterday to exhaust me with cool routes.
Everything is happy right now, but I feel like I’m missing somehting. I know what it is, and why it is; I just wish I knew who it is. I thought I had it all figured out, but I was careless with my timing. Now I don’t know what to think.
The sunshine today is still incredibly beautiful though…
