Nobody Knows Anything

Welcome to Diane Patterson's eclectic blog about what strikes her fancy

20 miler

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I have a new running record: 20 miles! Woot! Go me!

Mind you, it was only supposed to be 29 kilometers (18 miles). But you know me: gotta overachieve.

Rob and I ran the Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Run yesterday. I was somewhat nervous about this, down to having a race anxiety dream the night before. I told Rob when we got there: “I’m kinda scared.” Last week, when we did a 13 mile run at Waddell Creek I couldn’t finish it running because of my hip, and here I was trying for 29k? Was I completely insane?

The short answer was, Yes, I pretty much was, but I managed to finish it. Not well, mind you, or particularly fast, but I managed to run 20 miles up and down hills and I finished it standing.

You could do one of 5 courses: the 10km (from the starting area to Route 9), the 21km (from the starting area to the Aid Station and back again), the 29km (from the start to the Aid Station, then back up the hill to a separate side loop, back to the Aid Station, and then back to the starting line), and the 50km (the 29k + 21k courses).

Oh, and there was a stream to ford in the middle of it. That went up to my waist. And was really, really cold. It actually wasn’t too bad — one of those fun things to talk about! — except our shoes stayed squishy for a mile or so afterwards, which got kind of old.

The hardest part was the hill that started after the stream: straight up and down. It seemed to take forever to get to the Aid Station. Then we had to go back up the hill to the yellow ribbon that marked the beginning of the 8km extra loop. Rob said, “And the 50k’ers have to do this hill three times altogether.” The 50k’er behind us said, “Don’t remind me.”

It was a beautiful run, but I don’t think I’ll be doing again. For one thing, the incline was just too steep at too many points. I’m still having a hard time going up hills. For another thing, an equestrian event was held the day before our race. As you may or may not know, “equestrian” means “horse,” which means that the trail was covered in horse manure. Fresh horse manure.

It got to be a little much.

The funniest thing is the private joke I’ll be taking away from this race. As 50k’ers passed us, returning from finishing their 29km segment and heading out to do their 21km segment, Rob said to me, “It would take a gun to my head to get me to leave the starting area again.” This became “Gun to my head” and finally a shake of the head and “Bullet.”

When we finally finished (after our impromptu extra mile or so), I said to Rob, “It’s weird, but I don’t feel hungry.”

“Exercise suppresses appetite. In 45 minutes we’ll be knifing one another for food.”

We went to Emily’s Bakery again, because their sandwiches were so good last week. They were really good again this week. My sandwich was done first, and I sat down as Rob’s name was called. By the time he returned, I’d finished half of my sandwich already. “I’d still swear I’m not hungry,” I said, “but I can’t seem to stop eating this as fast as I can.”

Rob has said he wants to try a 50km at some point. I said, That’s completely nuts, but then I remembered: last year was my first trail run, 8km. This year, 29km. What’s to say I couldn’t add another 21km at some point?

I’ll have to get a lot better at hills though.

My new wheels

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I got rolling on my new Xtracycle last week.

xtracycle.jpg

I love my new bike.

It really is an SUB — it’s held everything that I’ve needed to load on it so far (a purse-backpack, a briefcase with my computer in it, four bags of groceries, and/or two kids), it handles just as well as the bike did beforehand, and it looks snazzy.

Today Sophia and I had a plan to bike to Stacks, a breakfast place in Campbell six miles away. She made it the first two miles, but then after a not-terrible spill wanted Darin to pick her up. I met up with Darin and the kids at the Campbell Farmers Market and then we had breakfast. After breakfast Simon wanted to go to the park near our house, so I said, “Okay, I’ll meet you there.” Sophia asked if she could come with me instead of in the car with Daddy.

Sure. Hop on. Put on your helmet. Hold on.

And off we went.

Despite the 90 degree heat, the sailing was fine down the Creek Trail to the park. I would say, “One, two, three,” and Sophia would sing out, “On your left!” to warn the unwary of our approach. Sophia says she much prefers riding on the bike to riding in the car. “You get fresh air, you can see people, you get wind in your face…”

A man who had his dog riding in a box strapped on the back of his bike stopped to ask me what kind of bike it was I had. “Oh, a Trek,” he said. “A Trek connected to an Xtracycle!” I told him, and then I gave him the song-and-dance about what it can carry (200 pounds) and how easy it is to get stuff (like a dog in a box) onto the rack.

I have taken the bike for food shopping a couple of times, always with Sophia, who now always wants to go along if a bike is involved. Strapping canvas bags into the Xtracycle’s Freeloader pockets is easy and fast, and the bike handles just fine with a full load.

As I get stronger with bike riding, I can see that I’m going to need my car less and less. I gotta remember the sunscreen next time though: I got baked today, and not in the fun “Oh, let’s drink some more tequila” type of way.

I bought a Peapod seat for Simon, but that hasn’t worked out so well — when he was in the seat, the bike’s handling got very difficult. He’s not thrilled with riding on the back without something to hang on to (other than the back of Mommy), so I’m installing a stoker stem and handlebars next week. Once those are on, I can see Simon happily sitting on back on the way to preschool.

Bike mania

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During a few conversations I’ve had over the past few months (which, with my current memory, probably means closer to “a year”) I’ve found myself saying, “I can’t wait until Simon’s at the same school as Sophia. Then I won’t have to use my car any more.” Because the school’s within walking distance, and the market is not too much further beyond that. We already walk downtown to go to various restaurants and stores.

A few months back I found myself saying, “Why wait? What would I have to do right now to use my car as little as possible?”

I’m just tired of driving. 90% of everywhere I go is within 5 miles of my home, and I sometimes feel like I’m starting and stopping, starting and stopping, circling for a space, starting and stopping… And after reading a few tomes like Asphalt Nation, Road To Ruin: An Introduction to Sprawl and How to Cure It, The High Cost of Free Parking, Divorce Your Car, and The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies, not to mention watching videos like Robert Newman’s History of Oil, I don’t exactly have blinders on to what I’m doing by driving everywhere.

The big reason I need the car? Kids. Taking Simon to preschool and picking him up. Going to the grocery store with them. Taking them to the park.

So one day I found myself wondering, “So how much would a pedicab be, anyhow?” Not that I’d really do it, of course. But wouldn’t it be fun to think about?

I found Bikes At Work, an American company that specializes in pedicabs and freight bikes. I also found Henry WorkCycles, a Dutch firm that has the coolest cycles — look at this bike and tell me you don’t want to grab a few kids and take them for a spin. But none of the bikes on these pages leaped off the page at me, or, more importantly, seemed like something I could really get into. Onto. Whatever.

Then I came across the Xtracycle. Ooo. Ooooooooo. I saw the possibilities of this immediately, particularly when running across pictures of the bike in use, such as Todd’s tale of “One Mom, Two Kids, Four Bags of Groceries.” I might not be able to use a bike for everything, but it sure looks like I could use it for quite a few more things than I do now.

And then something snapped, and I just went Bike Crazy. Lots of bike blogs (see List o’ Links). Books on bike mechanics, on bicycle history, on bicycle tours cross-country. Bike forums.

I haven’t gotten an Xtracycle yet — for whatever reason, the cash flow gods have not smiled benevolently on me since I first desired one, but as soon as they do, I am getting that puppy — but I have started riding my bike (a Trek 720 hybrid, 17″ frame). I rode it downtown to the post office and then to the park to drop off Sophia’s application for science summer camp. Emboldened by my success (and how much fun I had), I bought some grocery panniers and went to the market. It’s only a mile away, so driving there is more trouble than it’s worth, but it’s a teensy bit too far to walk. I can’t get very much in these two bags, but that’s okay: shouldn’t be buying that much anyhow, right?

(Of course, there is no bike rack at the local market — I use the Handicapped parking space’s sign. There is no bike rack at the Whole Foods either, which is of course the fault of the shopping center’s management but still.)

Yesterday I voted and then went to the market on my bike. Which meant riding up a steep hill in granny gear, and I made it. I was excessively proud of myself for the next five to seven minutes after that one.

Today I went completely nuts and bicycled to the gym. Which is 5 miles away, although it’s over completely flat ground.

Errr… wait a minute. Flat? Not so much, as it turned out. One of the great things about riding a bike (or running, for that matter) is that you experience your surroundings in a whole different way than you do if you’re in a car. I always know the names of streets and the layouts of the surrounding areas better than Darin does, because I’m out there doing it on foot. Today I learned that Highway 9 and Quito are actually really damn hilly, at least if you’re as out of shape as I apparently am. Bicycle-wise, at any rate. It’s amazing how many different muscles bicycling uses than running. Yowch.

It took me 30 minutes to go the 5 miles to the gym and 30 back, which I assume would get faster the better a rider I became. According to my fitness watch, I spent about 500 calories doing these 10 miles. Bicycle 10 miles a day, eat anything I want. And I’m having trouble signing up for this plan? I don’t think so.

What these recent excursions have proved to me is not just that I could switch to the bike for lots of things, but it would be practical. I could take Simon to school the three days a week he goes. I could do the food shopping. Okay, I’d need the car to take the kids to the Rosicrucian Museum, but hey — how many times a week do we go there? (Answer: way far less often than they want to go, that’s for sure. I’m not sure why they like it so much, but they do.) And if I don’t have to spend $60 a week to fill up? Just so much the better.

Now if only our car insurance bill hadn’t crossed our doorstep this morning ($2000, hello — Irony, thou art heartless, wench). Somehow I’ve got to figure out a way to budget in the Xtracycle.