Relentless Forward Motion

[pshaw_raven]

 Last night I got out on the bike and decided that instead of doing this on the road, I'd peddle around in the yard. So I started by remembering the gliding I'd done Friday, and found a slope where I could do that fairly easily. The garage has a concrete parking pad, about ten feet square, then there is more of a slope as the land angles down towards a small stand of trees and the side yard. We have weird drainage here and Fox has spent the last couple of years shoving dirt around with the tractor so that now, when we have flooding rains and hurricanes, we don't have a lot of standing water around the house. It all drains towards the Wayback. Anyway.

After gliding several times I started trying to peddle, fell a few times, then Fox said I should try pushing down on the pedal with my right foot while gliding with the left, long story short it was the suggestion I needed to finally actually ride the bike. I rode around the yard several times and avoided hitting things, remembered to use my brake, and I feel pretty pleased with the progress I made. I didn't expect to be peddling and basically ... cycling so soon. Today I'm going to try this on the road. Now that I understand how and can mostly do it (still have some false starts and wobbles) I'd like to get better at it. I was worried that I would never really learn, and we'd have spent all that money for nothing on a bike that would rot in the garage. Then next time we were on a trip and there was a chance to rent a bike or something I'd feel like a jackass for not pushing myself to learn.

We're moving the weather station to up on the tower. It's more or less fine where it's mounted about ten feet off the ground, but the trees block some of the wind, and the winds tend to swirl around down on the ground anyway, since we're in a shallow hollow. The idea is to mount it on the tower above the treeline to get a more accurate reading on the winds. 

I have a six mile run today. Next Saturday was going to be a race day, but of course I now have no idea when the next race will be and I need to decide what sort of training schedule I want to follow this summer. My original plan was to train to PR a half marathon, and I might as well go with that. By the time the end of summer rolls around we should have a better idea of when things will open up again. And half marathon training has enough variability to keep me engaged, so there will be speed days, longer long run days, cross training, etc. And I'll hopefully be able to add biking in there. I was not able to find or acquire an appropriate rucksack to tackle the rucking challenge this weekend, but that gives me time to adapt to it and maybe do it next year. The few backpacks I have that can handle the weight are sling packs, and there's no way I'll be able to support 10 kilos on one shoulder for a 15+ mile hike. I feel like I need an ibuprofen just thinking about it.

I was out early this morning hoping to see some of the Lyrid meteors but there wasn't anything going on. The peak is supposed to be tonight/tomorrow, but here it's also supposed to be very cloudy.

Comments

[oracne]

Go you on the biking! I remember learning to start pedaling myself while going down a hill, back in the day.

[pshaw_raven]

One thing I remembered reading was that if you're going slow, it's hard to stay up. So I thought I'd let gravity help me out in this case.

[cdayzee]

I'm proud of the progress you're making on learning to ride a bike!! I think it's wonderful!

We have a bad water drainage problem on one side of our house. I think the way the property is in relation to the one next to us is causing the main issue. During our first year of the home warranty, the builder came out a couple different times but kept saying the grade was fine. Well, clearly it's not fine. Now it would be on us to figure out how to fix it or hire yet another person. That stuff doesn't come cheap so we'll be putting up with it for the foreseeable future. It's particularly a pain when it comes time to mow on that side. I think the ground needs to built up more & the adjacent hill scaled down, but a lot of that area isn't our property. They sit up higher, so we kinda got screwed, particularly since we're at the end of the road that slopes in our direction, so everything ends up washing down to us.

[pshaw_raven]

Thanks! :D

We're in a similar position. We are the next to last house, and like the second or third from the last lot. The lot next to us is still wooded and we don't own it, then there are neighbors on the other side, but all the water in this small area drains towards us. Since the lots are long and narrow, and they back up on a state forest, we started cutting ditches and manipulating things so that the water keeps draining and goes towards the forest. It ends up still standing, but it's far enough away from the house to not cause problems for us.

For a while we'd have to put on wading boots to go to the mailbox, and obviously that wasn't good, LOL.

[cdayzee]

Yikes! Yeah, wading boots to check the mail isn't exactly ideal lol.

The other problem we're having is the fact that where this drainage problem is we had sod laid & a sprinkler system, so that's limiting what we can do there because I'm not really wanting to tear everything up & do major excavation & have to re-lay everything again. $$$$$$$$$$$$$ So we'll just live with it & hope it doesn't get worse.

[whatarewordsfor]

I feel so affirmed reading about you learning to ride a bike. I believe I will do I when I next get my hands on one! Whoo!

[pshaw_raven]

I'm glad my experience is helping. I felt a bit odd, going on about something that seemed like a pretty basic skill, but the more I talk to people, the more I find that also never learned it. But I'm also glad a pushed myself to do it, because it is a lot of fun. I was joking to Fox that I enjoy the feeling of the wind whooshing between my ears - heheheh

[rebeccarobota]

Go you! I am a member of the "never learned to ride a bike" club, and the times I've tried to learn as an adult, I ran into the issue of "Gosh, the ground is a lot farther away when you're an adult." Maybe someday when I have a yard again, I'll be able to learn...

[pshaw_raven]

I kind of had that "ground is far away" problem myself. But I was sitting there and I thought, what's the worst that happens? I fall down, it hurts. It's not like I have a race coming up. So it doesn't matter! :D

It sounds nihilistic, but I was approaching it from a more Buddhist mindset of "nowhere to go, nothing to do."

I'm also finally happy about having so much sand around. It's awful for trying to grow vegetables, but nice and soft when you land on it.

[rebeccarobota]

My problem when I was last trying to learn is that I wear glasses, and I was afraid of breaking them! I now have contacts, so the "falling down a lot" will be a lot less hazardous if I try again.

[zenbaker]

Well done on the bike riding - thats awesome.

[pshaw_raven]

Thank you!