well at least I’m not the only one

Other people seem to be losing their grip, too. On the morning segment of today’s ride I was waiting at a stoplight. A young woman rode her bike in front of me on the crosswalk. Her helmet was on backwards. After riding up onto the sidewalk she stayed on her bike a reached out to press the pedestrian signal button so she could cross to the other corner. She pressed the wrong button – the one for the street she had just crossed – and then fell over at about 0.5 mph. She said, Owooh. I said, Are you okay? She said, I’m alright. She didn’t seem to want my help and there’s not much I could have done to be helpful, but I felt bad because it took her quite a while to get untangled and back on her feet. I wanted to at least say, Don’t worry about it, I’ve been doing that kind of stuff all week – must be the Santa Anas…

L Ankle, R Foot, L/R Knee, L Hip, L Elbow, L Shoulder, R Neck, and obviously something wrong in my head…

I saw another dude running barefoot today. For some reason these guys tend to be shirtless, too. I guess once you start taking it off it’s hard to stop… It made me really jealous. I want to run but my right foot is still a little whack from a long run about a week and a half ago and I figure it’s better to wait it out rather than push through it. It’s hard but considering how many injuries I have right now due to my many recent disasters I really should give my body some recovery time. As soon as I can walk without noticing the foot I’ll give it one more day of rest and then try an easy three in normal shoes. So, I guess I’m out for La Jolla Cyn this weekend. Dang. My goal for the rest of the year: stop beating the crap out of myself…

totally eighties reunited with hot wheels

Patience will eventually bring you a good deal on an old set of Dura Ace hubs (freewheel, not cassette) laced to Mavics and you’ll be so totally stoked at the difference they make, so Totally Eighties Stoked. The previous rims/hubs were suspect since I got the bike. They were okay, but I just felt in my bones that there was something missing. She’s like a whole new bike/personality now – one hundred percent more awesome which makes her pretty awesome. She’s alive!

Blood on the Tracks

“We [rode] that [bike] as far as we could, abandoned it out West…”

Mindful Mule took a fall crossing the railroad tracks over the weekend. Pretty slippy sometimes, those tracks. Black cherry elbow. She’s up and riding again though…

Jonah and The Immovable Object

Fire hydrants are extremely hard and immovable objects. I’m sure I knew this, could have guessed this, but a couple of days ago I found out the real-world-way by smashing my knee into one of those tough little yellow stalwarts.

I was sure I’d cracked my kneecap (but didn’t – low threshold for pain!) It all happened so fast. I was gardening and that little bugger was lying in wait, hiding behind a low bush. Wham! Everything stopped – all forward progress halted. I saw my future flash before my eyes in a blinding light – surgery, months away from running and riding – for all intents and purposes, a death.

If it hadn’t been for the little old lady standing near by I would have let out the most cursed howl of my life (probably more like a yelp) – whole flocks of black birds would have suddenly taken flight from their perches in nearby trees, darkening the skies with their numbers and echoing my cries to the morning turning quickly ominous.

Suddenly, I’m very aware of the presence of these fireplugs all over town. It’s like they’re stalking me. It seems I see one every time I leave the house, every time I round a corner, Ha, there’s another. They’ve definitely got it in for me.

Despite the fact that I smashed my knee a couple days ago I seem to be more or less okay. I made it through a long run yesterday with no ill affects. So with that my 6-month hiatus from 12+ has finally ended.

catch of the day

Saw someone fishing for their breakfast in the LA River this morning on the first half of today’s ride. This is actually a pretty frequent sight but I’m still a bit surprised every time I see it. Just over the weekend I was telling someone who was looking for places to fish that they could fish The River. They wanted to know if you needed a license. Uh, well, yeah, I suppose, I mean, I think you need a license to fish anywhere in the state, technically, but no, you don’t really need a license to fish in the LA River because no body will ever, ever check up on you.

They’ve been working on the bike path that follows the river. It also follows the I-5 freeway. It’s wedged right in between. It could be more beautiful. But it’s still okay, fine, fun, nice-ish. The bike path is still gated off even though they’ve shifted their work to a more southerly section. Luckily, some thoughtful cyclist or hobo or cycling hobo has cut the fence in half so it’s passable again – you just duck your head and ride right through.

experimental drink

Lemon juice – squeeze a few wedges
Agave nectar – a couple spoonfuls
Water – about a pint

Might be a good replacement for Gatorade-ish drinks.

trailhead

I rode by the trailhead this afternoon. You remember that giant sign that said “Forest Closed To Public Use”? Well, someone (and I don’t have an alibi, so maybe I shouldn’t be posting this, but…) someone has uprooted that sign. It’s lying text down a few feet away. So, I’m wondering if maybe I should make a run at Brown this weekend. If there’s no sign saying it’s closed then it’s open. I don’t have to tell anyone that I know all about the one year forest closure order and that I’ve been checking the fed website every week and that I’ve been stabbing voodoo dolls of Jody Noiron, the Forest Supervisor that signed the order to close Brown.

nice view from this plateau

So I’ve been running in the cross country shoes almost exclusively the last couple weeks - a few 9s and some 3s. I do like them a lot.

They remind me of kung fu shoes. You know those little black slipper-like shoes. They (both) are super light and svelte.

Now when I run I think a lot about that movie “Remo Williams” where there’s some sort of ex- military/cop/CIA guy (or something of some sort – haven’t actually seen the movie since the eighties) that gets super trained by a little martial arts master – you know, the usual one finger push-ups, running around in kung fu shoes, eating a spoonful of food per day, avoiding bullets, etc.

I can’t help but wonder, though, if I’m doing serious damage to my body. It’s strange, how different running feels now. My legs seem to really crave it but my mind has yet to be convinced of this new strategy.

The biggest stress so far has been placed on my calves. They’re just not used to that extra stretch down to the bottom of their range of motion. I’m not concerned about them though. The calves can handle a solid beating. They’re already adjusting to a level where I’m not noticing them with every step.

Of course, now that the calves are paining-down, I’m noticing some of the other things like knees. My knees feel funny. They don’t exactly hurt. They feel like they did when I first rode fixed gear. And, actually, that’s really the perfect analogy to this new form of running. Fixed gear to freewheel. Traditional running shoes to track flats/barefoot. Seemingly identical but so very different.

I think my funny knees are partly due to a combo of running and riding. I’ve been riding quite a bit. Even without Brown (sigh) my weekly average is way up from past years. And this higher mileage combined with slightly different running style is bound to throw a wrench into things.

At some point I should probably take a rest week, but I’m not quite ready for it yet. I really like hanging out on this higher plateau. I can see a lot more places I could go.

Pacific High by Tim Palmer was a really good book. Now I’m just finishing In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan – super good, too. It seems like every book I read now goes into the good books section to the right. Still waiting to borrow Born to Run – it’s super popular at the Library.