First Ride in Weeks
cycling
Ride
You know you’ve discovered a completely negected trail when you become a Strava Local Legend after only one ride on that trail:
Ride
Four Fridays in a row now I’ve managed to get a post-school bike ride in. This time, a good friend from work joined me, and we made an evening of it. It seemed like it might be a bit too hot to ride, but once we got on the trail, it was relatively pleasant. Ending the week with a 19.7km mountain bike ride — perfection.
Conestee Changes
We’ve been going to Conestee Park for some years now. We’d lived here for several years before discovering it: our now-sadly-deceased neighbor, Mr. F, mentioned that he went to Conestee every day to walk.
“What’s that?” we asked.
Once we went the first time, we kept going. Again and again. We know all the trails by heart now. A few years ago, they closed the off-road trails to pets and cyclists. They eventually reopened them for pets but not for cyclists. Instead, there’s another off-road section nearby that’s open to cyclists.
We’ve been going there regularly this summer, almost neglecting the Conestee we’ve come to love.
In the meantime, there have been so many changes in the area.
It’s a poorer area for the most part. There were few homes and a lot of trailer homes in small open areas in a forest.
Then the forests started disappearing. Across the street from this trailer home appeared a Dollar General — a sure sign of an economically depressed area.
Then the trailer disappeared and this monstrously huge home appeared. It’s across the street from a Dollar General and some trailer homes.
We’re trying to figure out who would build such a home in such an economically depressed area. We wonder that almost every time we drive by on the way to our now-favorite mountain biking trail, as we did tonight.
Saturday
I spent much of the morning working on school-related issues. My honors kids have turned in their first assignment (the famed/infamous 500-word introductory letter I assign the first day of school — “I didn’t know we’d have homework our first day,” some write), but it’s not for a grade (they don’t know that yet — I will apply it to extra credit later), so I read it as I would anything else: for information.
After lunch, which included (for me) a finely-sliced fresh habanero from a colleague at work, I started working to fix the pressure reduction valve that I had to take out a few weeks ago due to its leaking. I thought, “This should be a quick job. Just some Teflon tape to prevent leaks from the joint between the Shark Bite fitting and the valve itself…” but I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. It never is. Because the valve has 3/4 inch openings and our plumbing is 1/2 inch, I had to add a couple of couplings as well. And two of the four of the connections leaked when I put it all back together and turned on the water again. I turned off the water, pulled everything apart, and did it again, with more Teflon tape. The same thing. I tried a third time, putting an ungodly amount of tape. Finally, I got both of the leaks stopped and a third one started.
In the evening, when K and E went to mass to fulfill their Sunday obligation, I threw the bike on the rack and headed out for a quick loop at our favorite spot. It rained last night, but I didn’t quite realize how much.
Part of the boardwalk — K’s favorite part of the ride — washed out.
While I was gone, though, the Girl decided to bake. And my goodness, did she ever bake. Cupcakes topped with raspberry choclate ganache.
Working on the Room and the Trail
The Boy and I spent a little time working on my classroom. I head back in a week; the kids go back in two.
I was toying with the idea of changing things up in my room, but everything has been as it is for about the last six years and it works — so why change it?
Tuesday
St. Augustine 2024 Day 1
Morning
The shells on the beach just at the edge of the surf were visible for only a few moments before the white bubbles and turbulence hid them again.
In the brief time I could clearly see them in the shallow water, it was obvious most of the shells were only fragments, often smaller than the smallest coins, slivers well on their way to becoming grains of sand. Every now and then, a shard would catch my eye, and I would think, “I might try to grab that one” just before incoming wave hid them once again.
By then it was too late: once the water cleared up, the tide would have tkane the shard so far away from its original position that finding it was all but impossible. Another might catch my eye, but then the process would simply repeat itself.
To get a shell required calm and patience followed by a paradoxical ability to move quickly when needed. Hesitation meant the loss of the moment. In some ways, that’s a metaphor for live in general for many people. Everything is about getting the right moment, and when that fails, increased stress is the outcome.
Yet the older I get, the more I realize the error in living like that and the unnecessary stress it causes. Yes, I might not get that exact shell that I wanted, but there were plenty of other shells that were just as lovely, often more so.
Evening
In the evening, after we’d spent a few hours back at the Airbnb, after we’d spent some time downtown and had dinner, we headed back to the beach.
I took a few pictures:
and the Boy took a few pictures:
A short walk to end a lovely day.
And we got home, and I saw the fantastic news from the Tour de France: Mark Cavendish got his record-breaking 35th stage win, assuring him the historic title “The Greatest Sprinter of All Time!”
Almost as enjoyable as watching the win itself was seeing the other riders’ reaction to the amazing win.
Previous First Day
Saturday Ride
A big, ten-mile ride followed by a lot of car washing makes a delicious dinner all the more so.
Fathers’ Day Ride
Thursday
Today was a day of yardwork. “Think of all the time we spend with just maintenance,” K said as she looked at what I accomplished today. We’re not really getting ahead with our yard with a day like today: we’re just maintaining a steady state.
I turned this, for example,
into this. To do so, I borrowed my neighbor’s massive trimmer that theoretically allows one to trim the top of such high bushes without a ladder. Theoretically.
It’s also heavy. My shoulders ached after just a few minutes of work. That’s why I took it back after finishing the first two shrubs and used our own, light electric trimmer to turn this
into this. The growth on those shrubs — what are they called again? I can’t even remember what’s growing in our own yard — has been phenomenal. I have to trim them several times a year.
I continued with the electric trimmer to turn this
and this
into this. The trimmer has its advantages: it’s light and, well, I guess that’s its only advantage because it’s terribly stressful (perhaps not terribly, but it is an added concern) to make sure one doesn’t trim the power cord along with the shrub. Not that I’ve ever done that. Countless times.
In the evening, another bike ride.
Ramp
The Boy decided he wanted to build a kicker ramp to practice jumping.
“Will you help me?”
“Of course, but that means I’ll help you — you’ll do it, I’ll just coach.”
So the Boy measured the wood,
cut the wood,
created the curve of the ramp, and
screwed most of it together.
When it came time to jump, he got a little nervous. “It’s a bit higher than it looked in the video.”
He’ll get it, though. I have no doubt.
Saturday
We took a bike ride this morning.
In the evening, the Boy went for a sleepover, the Girl was at work.
We went out for dinner.
New Bike
We finally got K a mountain bike so she can actually ride with E and me on trails. It took a while to get the seat just right…
Sunday Here and There
Spring 2024 Tournament Day 2
Today was the final day of our short spring tournament. They boys played their hearts out, and they had a good time — the results (0-1-2) weren’t as important.
It was a bittersweet afternoon, though: it will be the last season this team is together. There are always some new members each season, but this team has had a little core for the last three seasons, and now it’s all over. Several of the boys (E included) will be too old to play on the fall team, and the coach won’t be working with U12s anymore: he’s moving up to the 18s travel team.
Coach M was a great coach, the only coach the Boy really wanted to play for, and we’re going to miss him.
In the evening, we went on our first ride of the season.
Except for L: she doesn’t like cycling, which is a shame.
Family Ride
It’s been a while since K joined E and me on a bike ride. (What about L? When it comes to cycling, forget about L: biking is not her thing anymore, and we’re not going to try to force that on her. )
We headed south to Hickory Knob State Park, which has a six-mile bike trail that winds along beside a lake. Only 300 feet of climbing, so it seemed like something K would be comfortable with. After all, she’s on a suspension-less hybrid bike with 32mm tires: it’s not going to do well at a lot of the places E and I like.
We got started, took a few pictures along the way, found a turtle in the middle of the trail (rescued it), rounded a bend in the trail to discover huge, dark clouds just a few hundred feet from us.
We knew it might start raining: it was in the forecast. But we hoped it might hold out, that we might survive with a few sprinkles.
Within a few minutes, it wasn’t sprinkling; it wasn’t raining; it was a monsoon.
What else could we do except continue pedaling?
Out of Shape
Starting to ride to work more. Those morning rides are usually fine — slow, but lovely. Afternoon, though….
First Day Out
We had our first day out on mountain bikes today. It was a beautiful spring day with temperatures in the sixties.
It had rained a bit yesterday, so the trails were a bit muddy at times, but nothing too awful.
Overall, we did 11.59km.
Bike Ride to Bory
