Resiliency

If you've been keeping track (but why would you?), you'd know that I watched the documentary Inspired to Ride three times in two months and topped it off by watching its predecessor film, Ride the Divide. They both are about endurance racing - one involves mountain bikes, while the other is about road riding.

In Inspired to Ride, the viewer meets Juliana Buhring, who began riding in 2011, set the first Guinness world record for fastest woman to circumnavigate the world by bike in 2012, was the only woman to race the inaugural 2013 Transcontinental Race (London to Istanbul) and placed ninth overall, and raced the 2014 inaugural Trans Am Bike Race (Oregon to Virginia). I won't tell you how she did - - - you should watch the beautifully filmed movie, regardless of whether you ride a bike.

Juliana explains in the documentary that she grew up in a cult, and that her ability to survive that experience helped her persevere as a endurance rider. She added that when she left to ride around the world, with very little experience or training, she didn't care what happened to her on the road.

For Christmas, my sister-in-law Sophie gave me the book that Juliana and two of her sisters wrote about their survival and escape from the cult. I am way more of a fiction kind of girl, but read the book in two nights. I don't really have adjectives to describe the mental/emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that they endured - and overcame. I can't imagine how I would've fared under those circumstances and have only read about some of them over the past two days, but in reading Juliana's account of withstanding beatings from adult cult members while a small child, I can better appreciate her statement about how she is able to focus and keep going on her bike when the going gets tough.

I am amazed at people's resiliency, but wish that they only had to demonstrate it when in engaged in voluntary recreational activities, not to survive abuse, overcome racism or xenophobia, house and feed their families, or fight illnesses.

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A good kickoff

Last night, I saw A Christmas Story at the Riverview Theater with my friend Jen. It was a good way to kick off my winter break.

Observations:

• Every time the mom was cooking supper, she was making meatloaf and mashed potatoes, except when she was cooking the turkey they never got to eat.

• When Ralphie was imagining how a BB gun would allow him to protect his family from mauraders, he is spitting chewing tobacco out of his mouth. I wonder if that was a paid-for product placement. The industry is very nefarious.

• One dedicated movie-goer was wearing a pink bunny suit. I'm so glad.

• Jen really can fall asleep easily, as she claims.

• I probably shouldn't have skipped yoga to go to a movie, in light of the last two weeks of lethargy.

• At my parents' tomorrow, for an overnight, we'll have 8 adults, 2 kids, and 5 dogs. I hope the dogs don't eat the dinner like the Bumpus' dogs.

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An Old Lady's Reflections

I'm really grateful for the birthday wishes I received over the past three days, particularly those that were part of a larger message about how the well-wisher appreciates our relationship - - regardless of whether we're related, we met each other somewhat randomly, or the frequency of our getting together.

Some random thoughts, as befitting my age:

• The Co-op Creamery is good. You should try it if you're in the MSP/STP metro area. I'm going to take my sister and B-I-L there the next time they visit.
• Cycling was a recurring birthday theme, either in terms of cards or gifts. I love it, including the donation to the MS Society.
• It is really sad, when seeing postings/articles about Sandy Hook on a day I feel somewhat naturally inclined to celebrate life, that we haven't resolved our gun problem.
• Suit jackets are more comfortable - at least when it is cold out - when you accidentally forget to take your cardigan off before wearing the jacket for a few hours. 
• Downtown St. Paul, as a place to work, hasn't gotten any better since I stopped working down there, but Caribou has some cute little gifts (probably at all locations) that I had to stop and admire and refrain from buying for myself.
• I like cards with the f-word.
• The cranky DMV guy likes self-depricating jokes and people who don't primp.
• I really am not a good Irish dancer, but it is a nice complement to biking, yoga, and the occasional day in the pool trying to remember what I learned at lessons last year.
• I have some quality co-workers. 
• Celebrations can (and should) happen anywhere - whether it is a balloon brought to a gathering, an impromptu solo dance party (resembling kung fu?) in your living room along to unknown (but surprisingly good) songs on the Google Play indie xmas radio station, or ribbons as streamers filling the passenger side of a car that you get into.

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A wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track

Apparently Neil Young no longer sings Alabama, finding his own lyrics condescending and accusatory, but the lyric about a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track really resonated with me while in Montgomery this week. (I hear Birmingham is better.)

There are a lot of pretty homes, cool old buildings, and an abundance of historical plaques every seven-ish feet, but while there appears to be a lot of development happening downtown, I cannot figure out what - or who - is actually going into the downtown area.

My hotel room was just behind this statute of Hank. The hotel put a big Christmas tree and a little Christmas village (which a colleague thought perhaps was a dog training area, but I think it is a kids' play area) right in front of Hank, so I wouldn't have seen him if his shadow hadn't appeared once the tree was lit up at night.

I didn't make it to the Hank museum, unfortunately.
Like everything else in downtown Montgomery, it keeps very limited hours.

I got a little choked up looking at historical markers of key civil rights events and places, juxtaposed with the (sort of boastful seeming) historical markers about how Montgomery was such a key location for the slave trade and confederacy activities. Mix all of those thoughts and feelings together with thoughts and feelings about current civil rights and human rights issues, with a dash of exhaustion from a few full days of work meetings, and you get a sense of my twilight stroll around Montgomery.

We first walked toward the capitol.

Big marble sign along the street that leads to the capitol.

It was locked when we got there. The front wooden doors are pretty cool. 

You can imagine the marchers and the energy (plus there were a lot of photos on signs) in this area in 1965, and then feel the significance of this location when you get to the top of the capitol steps and see that it was the same site of Jefferson Davis' "inauguration." (We learned that in the years before the Civil War, or as half the signs said, "the war between the states," no free black people were allowed to live in Montgomery. I suppose that minimized any confusion about whether the white people needed to keep up a pretense of treating any black people with civility.)

On the top of the capitol steps, right in front of the doors.

About a block from the capitol - - - Rev. Dr. King's church. 

We then walked down toward what you'd probably call the business district (again, is there any business?), and saw this beautiful fountain in the middle of a roundabout-ish intersection. It was at this intersection that Rosa Park bravely refused to give up her seat.  

It wasn't all serious, of course. While strolling, I felt compelled to mingle with some appellate judges outside the courthouse. We had a good dinner at a farm-to-table restaurant (where the waiter - strategically? - called me "my love"), and then we snuck in a super quick visit to the site of the outdoor Shakespeare festival before heading to the airport this morning.

I didn't do any biking, although I learned from the local bike coalition that (at least in the summer, perhaps in the winter), the city has four bikes that can be rented from the visitor's center/chamber of commerce. I would have enjoyed the early 2015 bike ride from Selma to Montgomery commemorating the 50th anniversary of the march, I think.

p.s. Is it just me, or does the lyric "a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track" trigger a thought of "one foot on the brake and one on the gas" (or, as my sister sings it: "one foot on the brake and one on the wheel")?

[Editor note: This post edited on 12/11 to change the verb tense surrounding Molly's mis-sung lyrics from the past tense to the present.]


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Xmas list

Dear Santa,

For Christmas, I would please like:

A new, lighter road bike
A new, slightly smaller fat tire bike
A new mountain bike with shocks
Irish dancing skills
World peace and justice
Better gloves and foot protection while cycling
A new Garmin
People to be more freaking tolerant and accepting
Bike repair skills
Better bike lights
Fewer guns
Resolution of a work situation
More bike trips
Cycling pants 

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Said the night wind to the little lamb

Last Sunday, I came across a lot of ice and road salt when riding to yoga, so today I diligently and lovingly cleaned up my road bike, with the intent to not ride it until spring.

I figure I can get anywhere on my mountain bike that converts into a fat tire bike. In pursuit of that goal, I got those studded tires and a new pannier rack that will fit on my bike regardless of the type of wheels, and commuted to work in the snow a couple of times this week - for the first time ever.

I spent a lot of time this week fiddling with that rack so that it doesn't rub against my tires and so I can easily swap out the wheels. After all that monkeying around on Wednesday night, I was back at it this afternoon, realizing that there's no way to put the fat tires on without removing the rack and consulting with the bike shop about online rack retailers, if I want to buy yet another rack to try.

After all that, I was getting ready to ride to my sister-in-law's birthday party tonight and messed up my brakes, rendering my bike stationary.

I was pretty frustrated because I spent all day getting ready for a ride that never happened, and am not going to be able to ride this week due to work. But in the grand scheme of things, this is a totally fine problem. I calmed myself by remembering riding home the other night in the dark, senses heightened, passing the Christmas tree lot, overwhelmed by the scent of pine trees.

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One big, paved bunny hill

Today, I commuted to work for the first time in the snow.

I am connected to a woman's cycling Facebook group and it appears that a number of Minneapolitan women commuted in the snow today for the first time. One of them compared today's conditions to a bunny hill, and I'd have to agree. I've ridden in more snow, obviously, with my fat bike, but got to test out street conditions, St. Paul plowing leftovers, and traffic from the safety of my big, heavy, slow bike (or is that me?) with new studded tires in mild temps.

I learned some things today about gear, the fragility of old boots, and the kindness of faster, better riders like Ward, who decide that they are going to ride half of the way home with you. (He's got some spectacular high vis gear that I don't get to see in the summer!)

Today was Giving Tuesday. I don't think I received any donations to the MS Society, but will have to check. If you've donated before, you learned from an email from me that the new donation system is kind of quirky (but not on the donor's side!). If you donated today, and didn't get a thank you message from me yet, never fear, you will!

I've included a photo of a guy doing a fancy bike/ski thing. I think, based on things I've heard from some of you, that you think that I'm doing crazy stuff like this, when really, I'm a pretty boring bike person. Also, Google REALLY thinks that I should have searched for images of Benny Hill, rather than a bunny hill.

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