Posting progress prevenient to the usual day as I won’t be able to cycle tomorrow because of Tropical Storm (as at time of writing) Hanna. So 62 miles for the week even although I missed Thursday and Saturday.
Most of my cycling seems to involve being “Against the Wind” so that’s not a bad track to be listening to on a ride. I did no mileage on Monday and Tuesday evening was not much better with a paltry 5 miles being clocked up towards the 50 for the week. “Must do better”, as the headmaster remarked about my Latin test scores some 50 years ago!
Since Tuesday held nothing of interest to post about cycling I offer this, from 2005, a flower whose name I do not know but which resided in Dawyck Botanic Garden in the Scottish Borders. Worth a visit if you’re ever in the neighborhood.
Remember the GCN video (“Friday Off” June 19th) which persuaded me that it is not necessary to train every day – today was that day.
No cycling, no yard work, and not even a stroll to the mailbox. Activity today consisted of logging into the morning church service followed by laundry and towel folding whilst watching the Will Ferrell movie listed above, and then sifting through my collection of digital photographs in search of blogging inspiration.
I’m not a big fan of Will Ferrell but this movie was brought to my attention by my friend David , who lives in Scotland, as it features a few scenes shot in Edinburgh. Even better – it also features some scenes filmed in Glasgow that are passed off as being in Edinburgh. Long live the East / West rivalry of Scotland’s two largest cities. The movie was indeed quite enjoyable.
Technically, ”Rhythm of the Rain” is just a single not an actual playlist, but it seemed appropriate for today as I was really expecting rain and I did listen to it on my way to Corpus Christi this afternoon. No rain was experienced but a large smattering of bird related liquid did hit the windshield as I crossed the causeway.
I didn’t leave Corpus Christi until 7:45 PM so I knew there would be no cycling tonight. Instead I pulled off at Indian Point Park and took a walk around. I was hoping for a Sahara dust sunset but it wasn’t that impressive. Later, as I drove past Gregory, I noticed a much more spectacular sunset but I couldn’t pull off anywhere to take a photograph.
For whatever reason a few memories from the ancient history that is my cycling career have been in my mind today. No reason other than I can’t get motivated to ride today so I’m “Relive-ing” past journeys – without the benefit of the app
Cycling to school one Fall morning I was struggling up the not inconsiderably steep Bruntsfield Place when I was hit side on by a veterinary student on her way to sit an exam. Presumably her mind was elsewhere. She was very embarrassed, I had slight abrasions on my knees. Way back then, last century, no one was into blame culture or of an instant mind to engage a lawyer, so she bundled me and my bike into her car and delivered me home. No more was said on the subject. I hope she passed her exam.
Fifteen or so years later I was cycling to work in Edinburgh City Center when a chauffeur driven BMW cut across Queensferry Road at speed and hit me side on; I did not get knocked off my bike because I hung onto the vehicle until he stopped. Unfortunately this resulted in a, no doubt, very expensive scratch along the side of the vehicle. Chauffeur and passenger were embarrassed but I had no injuries so once again no more was said. I hope the chauffeur kept his job.
No vehicle impacts involved here but I did need to struggle up this very steep road which leads to the Scotland / England border with only one knee powering my bicycle.
To this day I have no idea what injury I sustained, or how it happened, but this was day two of a 100 mile journey to reach the ferry to The Netherlands so I had no option but to carry on trucking.
Downhill from the Border I was able to rest my knee as I hit 42mph by gravity alone – that was scary!
The next day I had miraculously recovered and spent two weeks cycling the flat roads of The Netherlands without further incident.
