Sunday, December 14, 2008

The End is Near

The end of 2008 that is. I know it is early for this sort of thing but that's the way it is here at Codfish Reporting And Publishing News Sevice: always on the cutting edge. There will be those retrospective "The Year in Review" type stories in the papers and on the web (oh, yeah, on TV too) but that bit about bicycle habits, might be stuck in the back of the 'life style' section. Front page stuff here at C.R.A.P. News though.

So, I wonder what your new years routine (if any) is. I don't mean the funny hats and noisemakers, I'm talking about what routines you have for your bike, or any other of your fitness activities. Toward that end I've put up a Poll, new for me. This is a little intimidating: The 'hit counter' says the Chronicles has received over 16,000 hits so far. But of course we don't know if that means all 8 of you have taken a peek 2,000 times each, or if there are more folks who stop by to take a look. I'm hoping the poll gets more than 8 responses, so help out here.

The speedo aside, what else do you do? Do you routinely overhaul your bike? Rebuild the valve stem caps? Replace the air in the tires? Lube your bottle cage bolts? And what about actually getting out on the bike? Do you make riding goals for your self for the coming year?

Do you go for a new years day ride? During the years I lived on Olympia and Tumwater, I would alway go for a New Years day ride. Not just anywhere, I always rode out to this little mom n'pop marina, Boston Harbor Marina. Early New Years day on a bike you pretty much have the roads to yourself and the weather is invaribly some form of cold and wet. Peddaling along in these conditions it's easy to wonder about the role the bike plays in your life. Questions like "Am I stupid to be out riding my bike in a cold rain on New Years day?" invariably pop into your mind. But then you get to Boston Harbor Marina, get a cup of bad coffee and wander out onto the dock to watch a small crowd of very pale people rush into the cold water. The polar bears are only in the water for a couple minutes, then emerge a very bright shade of pink. On the ride home, feeling not quite so chill in my rain coat, wool tights and jersey, it occurs to me that riding a bike in the rain on New Years day may not be the dumbest thing I could be doing.

I will roll my speedo back to "0". It won't be a big number for me this year, 2008 was sort of a throw away year bike wise. but I am counting on more miles and more events in 2009. How about this: 2009 will be the 30th annual STP. I've had some great times on that ride, it does not conflict with the summer populaire next year so who knows, mybe I'll be riding south on July 12th. I'm hoping to put on a 200K over unpaved or back country roads this season. That should be a real kick in the pants, and if the discussion at the club's annual meeting is any indication, I think there are a few riders interested in such an event. In general my goals are to put in a few more miles and a few more events, maybe a dart, maybe a fleche (The MOST fun Rando event!) and hopefully at least one complete rando series.

Let there be no doubt that this is officially the off season here in the rainy corner of the country. The mercury here at Rocky Acres registered below freezing for most of the day and the rain turned white, leaving the ground covered for the whole day.












I know that for most of you living in the northern tier this is a yawn, but of course 'extreme' weather is all relative.

We went up to Olympia early Saturday evening, Mrs C had some shopping to do and I planned to spend the time at the gym. I guess the health club was having their christmas party or something because the doors were barred and the lights were dimmed. Oh joy, to the mall we go!

As I said, today was cold and white so rather than take to the courty lanes on two wheels, I elected to go for a run. What's old is new again. It has been a long time but I used to be a runner. To say I went for a run may be an misuse of the term, but I was out shuffling along and eventually I did end up back on the porch where I started.

I thought the Oakville Pioneer Cemetary seemed particularly peaceful in it's blanket of snow.












The pitcher pump there is not for show. The cemetary is not connected to any public wate supply system so if you need water to spruce up a gravesite there, you grab the handle amd pump. I tried pumping and taking a photo all at once, but with little success. The shutter lag time was a little longer than the pump's lag time, technology, 0ld and new.












This is according to some traditions the first day of Christmas. No partidge in a Pear Tree but some noisy wrapping paper and a new box to play in provided a brief respite for chairman's acute case of cabin fever.


2 comments:

  1. I just pushed the poll up to 8 Paul - only 1 to go and you'll have met your goal! What the h*ll is that comment above? Can we get spammed on our blogs now??? Amy P

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  2. Amy:

    Alas, I can't figure out how to 'scrub the grafitti from the wall' so to speak. It seems the best way to get rid of unwanted comments is to build a better wall to avoid allowing them in the first place. And so I have installed comment moderation; Sorry folks, no more instant gratification here at the Codfish Billboard.

    I trusted the internet (foolish optimism) and got burned. Given the small number of folks who look here (and the infantessimaly smaller
    'crowd' of commenters) I can only assume that those who would choose to 'advertise' here must indeed be loosers.

    Anyway, hope you are snug as a bug. it's pretty snowy here (duh) but we have power and are reasonably provisioned so life is good.

    Mrs C flew back to the family in the Mtns of West Virginia yesterday so it is just me and the cat (He's got a baaaad case of cabin fever!) I suspect I will be burrowing out to the shop today to set up and put some mieles on the trainer ...ugh!

    Happy Solstice.

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