Another one gone....

I was saddened to learn yesterday of the passing of musician Dan Fogelberg. Actually, I am always bummed out when I read that someone who has made great music dies, (Bob Marley, Frank Zappa, Robert Palmer, Nicolette Larson) but this is especially tragic. Like many of us, I was drawn to his music in the 70's and then his album "The Innocent Age", in the early 80's really increased his popularity. XM played his song "Same Old Lang Syne" often on their Christmas channel "Holly". My wife asked about the song last weekend while we were doing some painting and the song came on. We talked about how we liked the song and wondered if Dan Fogelberg really DID run into an old lover in a gracery store. News accounts suggest that he did not: he said that although his music had a mellow, brooding quality to it, that was not really his personality. In fact, he said one of his best friends was Jimmy Buffet. I"m going to miss this guy. I plan to download his greatest hits from the net.

Winter is here!

OK, I know I'm not having to put up with snow, or even with freezing rain. Nevertheless, Iknow that winter is here. How do I know this? Because of the boxes of Kleenex scattered about the house for the past 2 weeks. Some of those viral bugs people bring to my office daily have gotten to me. I was down for 2 consecutive weekends, just too weak to go out and ride (or do much of anything else, for that matter).
I did finally get a ride in this AM with my neighbor, Jukka. I scanned the weather channel website just before I left: not a speck of green to be seen. A light rain started less than 1 mile into the ride. Where did that come from?? Since it was quite cold (43) and real windy, it made for some less-than-desirable riding conditions. But hey, it was still a ride!

Thanksgiving

Once again, I ate too much. It's almost impossible NOT TO! Ther is just so much good food about, and you have to try a little of this and a little of that. Next thing you know... We spent the day with some of our neighbors. It was different, but it was a lot of fun.

I'm glad that there is nothing I need (or want) bad enough to get out of bed in the wee hours of the day and stand in line outside a store just so I can get a deal on something. I like getting a deal, just not that much. I got 2 new cell phones today BOGO free, $19.99. I also just picked up a new pair of shaped skiis. I got last years model for 46% off the original sale price. I think they will shred the gnarly stuff and plow through the powder just like this years model.

It was 77 yesterday and that made for a sweet pre-turkey ride. Tomorrow's high will be 51. Brrrrrrrrr! That's still better than 42 and rain. Later!

Great Riding

Five adventurous riders from Ohio made the trip down to NC last weekend for some winterish riding. The boys were in great form as we followed a nice loop out through the wetern fringes of Wake County up over Jordan Lake and back into downtown Apex. Although the weather was cooler than normal and the wind picked up, we had a pretty decent ride of just over 52 miles.

Sunday, we joined the local bike shop ride of 40 or so riders on the regular social ride. Two of the boys decided to run with the A group and all I knoe is that they finished the ride and did it faster than the rest of us. The remaining four of us stayed with the main group of B riders. I was amazed to see Bud pulling on the front for so long. He was followed closely by "Shoeless" Kevin B. on pulling duties. And not to be outdone, Todd finally let his legs do the talking by hammering up the final climb (which I still can't stand) to take the KOM honors. Give that man a polkadot jersey!

In between rides, we enjoyed some NC barbecue, a little Moe's and subs from Rudino's. The highlight of the weekend however was the Ohio State Buckeyes trouncing those pussies from Michigan. Ah, we had fun watching that game, didn't we???

Since its almost Thanksgiving, let me say that I'm thankful to have, among other things, a great group of riding buddies! Ride on.....

Rules of the Road

I've been thinking about the rules of the road lately. That is, the bicycling rules of the road. I've decided that most of them are unwritten, and most are learned by observation, trial and error. There was a guy on last weeks ride who had been disinvited because he broke the off-the-front rule. He rode most of last weeks ride...off the front. The response of the group was ultimately to pretend he wasn't there. If he was interested in riding at a faster pace than we were riding, 18mph, he had the chance to ride with the faster group. He CHOSE to stay with what he knew was the 18mph group. So why then act like we are going too slow for you, bro??
Another unwritten rule was highlighted last weekend: don't ride near a guy with a creaking bike! Chaz bought some high dollar Zipp wheels for his bike, but his front wheel was making an awful clicking noise. It was hilarious to see how someone would ride near him, realize HE was making that noise , then slowly drift back away from him like he had a disease. A wise mechanic decided it was an extra long presta valve stem that needed a little electrical tape to keep it from knocking on the rim.
Never ever ever talk on a cell phone in the peloton! This seems obvious to me but its amazing how many people try to do this. Apart from the huge safety issue, I don't know how you could hear with the wind screaming through your phone.
One of the most dreadful things I have encountered is a dropped water bottle. Especially when you're in a group with 30 plus riders at a good pace. Someone usually screams "Bottle!!!!!" and then the panic sets in and the collision avoidance maneuvers occur. If the bottle doesn't take you down, any number of people trying to miss the bottle can take you down just as effectively. And the WORST case senario is when the person who drops the bottle brakes hard like they are going to hop off their bike and pick up that bottle! Good grief! Dude, there are 25 people beind you going fast: now is not the time toi ris life and limb (yours or mine) to save a $5 watre bottle.
Then there is Dick (a perfect name for him) aka loud talker guy. This guy talks so loud that I know hes a financial planner, he has a lot of doctors as clients (really impressive, right), he is single(I suspect his wife left him) and he is thinking of retiring in the next 5 years and moving from his 2 acre lot to a low maintenance condo. Not that he's ever spoken DIRECTLY to me. He just likes to talk and he talks loud. I am not happy that I know all this about him but its like he forced it upon me. Kind of like second hand smoke.
There are lots and lots of other rules, but I'll save those for another post. Ride on!

Pain in the Rear

For the third time in the last year or so, I have been rear-ended by a woman. That is, my car (truck) has been hit from behind by a woman not paying attention. The latest was a 19 year old woman who hit me while I was going 35 mph in a 35mph zone (very heavily patrolled by the cops). I had my cruise control set so as not to attract the attention of the donut eaters, when WAM! A sleeping Ian bolted awake (it was 4AM) and asked "What was that?". I pulled over and the latest crasher pulls to my side, rolls down her window and asks "did I hit your bike?". There wer 2 bikes on the hitch rack and indeed she hit one of the bikes. She also smashed my Rhode Gear bike rack. At first she tried to leave: I insisted she stay. Then she wasn't sure if she hit me: the cop showed her the big dent in her bumper, and I had plastic shards fron her car sitting on my bumper! She agreed to settle for 250 cash and we wouldn't involve her insurance company. She was supposed to pay up by Friday. If she doesnt have a check in tomorrow's mail, her insurance company will be called: then she will get to pay with a higher insurance premium. I guess she too inexperienced to realize I'm doing her a favor by allowing her to pay directly. Incidentally, Yakima has taken over Rhode Gear so if I have to deal with her insurance company, I will take my smashed Rhode Gear rack to the bike shop and replace it with a Yakima equivalent, which goes for 300-350! I would have replaced my rack with a generic one but if she's not helping me, I won't help her (or her insurance). Stay tuned.

I'm Back!

After a not so brief period of time away from my computer, I have now returned. Moving gets a lot harder the older you get. I guess adjustment in general becomes more difficult as we get older. You'd think it might get easier, as we try more new things, have more experiences upon which to draw but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Seventy five days! That's how our summer has been. That is, we have had 75 days this summer where the mercury hit 90 degrees or better. It's been one of the hottest summers Raleigh has seen. The previous record for 90 degrees plus days was 73, set back in 1953. August was collectively the hottest month ever recorded in Raleigh. The high 2 days ago was 101: another record heat day. We have had many heat records broken. The high today was ONLY 86. No more 90 days forecast for the immediate future.
We still need about 20" of rain to make up for our rain deficit. We are only supposed to water our grass on Wednesdays now (5AM-10AM). Don't tell anyone but I have a whole bunch of law-breaking, habitual grass waterers in my neighborhood.
The hot weather has put a slowdown on bike riding too, and that's a real shame. I have spent the last month however, riding the streets around Holly Springs, getting to know the local roads. I have a number of potential routes plotted now to take visitors on. We do have some hills here: in fact, you can't get ouit to the west side of town, for good in-the -country riding unless you chug up a few hills first. Never fear though: we will set a nice easy tempo through these areas. That's it for today!

A foot fetish??

Recently, I had a patient asked me a question I've been asked before, in a numberof roundabout ways. She was a middle aged mouthy sort from New York (a place I don't love...see above). Anyhow, she said "why did you become a foot doctor- do you have a foot fetish?". I replied with the following: first of all, there is no such thing as a foot fetish. A fetish is defined as sexual pleasure derived from an INANIMATE object. The foot of course is not an inanimate object and therefore one by definition cannot have a foot fetish. About this time, Miss Mouthy was turning red as she realized how insulting her question was. Next, I explained that I had no sexual interest in the foot whatsoever (she got even more red). Finally, I explained that I just happened into the specialty due to a convergence of circumstances. Any more questions, lady??

I Love New York

No, not the show with Flavor Flav and those chicks from the hood! But the promotional phrase on coffee mugs, t-shirts, magnets and any other cheap, made-in China souvenir you could imagine. Anyway, having just returned from the Big Apple last night, I have to disagree with the sentiment. I don't love New York. Maybe its the traffic, the noise, the crowds, the concrete, the high cost of living. Maybe its all those things. I guess its an OK place to visit, but I sure wouldn't want to live there. In fact, I feel sorry for the people who have to live there.
I'll take Holly Springs any day. Give me an acre or .4, where I can watch the dog chase a ball, or some streets I can walk down without being hit by a bus. Or some country roads where I can hammer with 50 or 60 of my closest bike riding friends on Sunday afternoons. By the way, since this will be the first post on this blog, welcome. I hope you return often to read other posts. Let me know what you think. You can sign up to be alerted via email when a new post is added. I might post once a week or so. Thanks!