Taming the Bicycle

We’ve gotten back to Pensacola by way of Fredericksburg, VA, home of daughter Jody and family. I didn’t ride the bike in Virginia but did check out a 30 mile segment of the last few days of the cross country bike ride. It is a rather nasty back road avoidance of I-295 around Richmond. Probably when the trail was set up in 1976 (the bicentennial year cross country bike ride) it was isolated back country road. Now it is suburbia—filled with subdivisions and traffic and no bike lanes on winding roads. The cars will be on your tail instantly. At least by then I’ll be in shape and experienced.

Check out the following story by Mark Twain entitled “Taming the Bicycle.” It’s apropos. http://www.bicyclinglife.com/HowTo/TamingTheBicycle.htm

I’ve been taming my bike here in Pensacola. I’ve watched the Tour de France, ridden 5 miles a day for several days, been contacted by my colleague Dr. Dick Weaver who knows how to ride and actually rides. Dick and I will be going out on a quarter century ride (sounds better than 25 miles!) tomorrow. He rides all over and around the town and dreams of a cross country ride. But he is a productive member of the medical community (still) and will not be going along, either. I plan to learn everything from him tomorrow.

Today I walked my 4 mile route with my crewman, 84 year old Cimarron. We talked about our plans and practiced visualization. If you don’t actually ride, visualization is next best, I hope. I then took the VW camper to get a bike rack installed, while Cimarron went to a funeral. When we each returned he gave me the first “indoctrination of the VW.” When he got to the outside shower nozzle which looked more like a hand held dish washing sink sprayer to me, I said, “Is that hot water?” He said in a loud voice, “WHAT?” I guess it isn’t.

He’s been studying the 101 maps of the ride, trying to transpose the route onto road maps using a highlighter. He’s a retired military pilot and a retired school teacher and is looking for all the military bases we can find for some cheap stop over’s.

I’ve added a cycling computer, a pedestrian warning bell, an LED blinding light, a handle bar bag, padded handle bar extension grips, and HALT Pepper spray to the bike.

Tomorrow is my first longer ride.