Thursday, 3/31/2022 - 7th outdoor ride of the year (and Michelle's birthday!!!)

2022 mileage: 1986.1

Wanting to spend time celebrating with my sweetheart rather than selfishly spending a lot of time on a long ride, I deliberately kept it modest today. However, this decision did not come entirely easily, as it was my last ride on the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail of Gulf State Park. We are leaving tomorrow morning, and there will not be time for a ride, other than the 2 miles down to the rental shop to turn in the trike.

I do not bid farewell to the trail without a certain sense of regret, as it has provided an excellent riding option for me down here. But one hopes that by now, upon our return to Michigan, the opportunity for outdoor rides will be much more consistent.

I left this morning about 6:40 in brisk 62° conditions, and by the time I finished, a bit past 8;00, the temperature had risen to 65°. I was happy to note upon walking into the condo that the birthday girl was still asleep; Danny was gaming on Christy's laptop at the table, and Christy and isabelle were down walking on the beach. (It remains quite windy today, with impressively high waves.) I got in a farewell (to the trail system) ride of 16.6 miles in 1:31, happy to be able to push myself to an average speed of 11.0 mph.

Each of the last two days, I saw a fellow trike rider -- on Tuesday, we exchanged waves and knowing grins, and yesterday the fellow I saw was more taciturn. Today I saw no trike riders, but this may have been a function of the early hour and the substantial rain we received last night -- the ground were still quite wet.

Relive video of today's ride

)Wednesday, 3/30/2022 - 6th outside ride of the year

2022 mileage: 1969.6

Good ride today, though I deliberately kept it shorter. I left at 7:30 in 71° sunshine, but with high winds—the kind that might prevent me from trying an outside ride at home, but here that factor is partially offset by the flat terrain. I rode 13.7 miles in 1:24 ... down to the trails, in there a bit, and then back to the condo.

When I walked in, I was surprised to see everyone still there. As Christy asked me about my ride, she proclaimed it a triple bonus day ... (1) I didn't fall; (2) I didn't get lost; and (3) coming home afterwards, I was able to find the condo on the first try. 😆

Relive video of today's ride

Tuesday, 3/29/2022 - 5th outside ride of the year

2022 mileage: 1955.9

This morning I left about 7:30 in 63° sunshine, rode down to the trail system, and did a good bit of riding in there. This picture comes from the ride down there -- a broad road, with good bike lanes.

Here's a view early on during my time on the trail, and then an eye-catching sign I saw shortly thereafter.

In the trails, I got off plan just a bit. Now I need to qualify that a bit -- Michelle calls me Blindo for my inability to see what should be obvious. I am good, though, with signs and written directions. However, the signage for the trails is wholly inadequate, and although by consulting the map I brought I was able to follow much of the ride I wanted, toward the end it fed me out into Gulf Shores -- several miles west of where we are staying. It was no problem to ride back, but with my energy waning I overshot the condos ... eventually figured it out, turned around and came back, and overshot AGAIN in the other direction. I was turning around to come back again, when I hit a retaining wall in a different complex (that I was using to turn around in), and tipped the trike. Two youngish fellows (early thirties, I'd say) came running over and were extremely concerned, wondering if they could call me an ambulance.

Eventually they calmed down when I showed them my card, and wrote out a note saying, "Where are Pelican Pointe Condos?" They didn't know, but one looked it up on his phone, and pointed me off the right way, and I was soon pulling in, with a healthy ride of 26.5 miles in 2:52 under my belt., finishing up at 75°.

Relive video of today's ride

Monday, 3/28/2022 - 4th outside ride of the year

2022 mileage: 1928.4

After long days of travel both Saturday and yesterday, it was great to be able to get back to riding today ... and SUPERB to have left the cold of Michigan behind us! I didn't get a temperature when I started riding, but I'm sure it was at least 70° or quite close to it.

Somehow, I had gotten the mistaken impression that the bike rental shop, that I had found and made a reservation for a recumbent trike, was right next door to us. However, Michelle was up early (with her 'body clock' telling her it was an hour later than it, in fact, was here in Alabama in the Central Time Zone). Accordingly, she offered me a ride to the bike rental place, and I was glad she did! When I gave her the address and she put it into her phone, she laughed, "WHEW! You'd have gotten your exercise ... it's 2 miles away!"

We were soon there, but had to wait. Then soon an employee was carrying the trike (same make and model as my former one at home—a TerraTrike Rambler, but yellow 

instead of orange like mine) out through the door (which Michelle held open for this mildly awkward procedure), and then they adjusted the boom to fit my height, and asked me if I was familiar with recumbent trikes (I managed, somehow, to contain my smile 😆).

The trailhead for this extremely nice system of nearly 30 miles of paved trails was right there, just yards from their shop, so bidding Michelle a fond farewell, I was off.

I had originally thought of riding 3 or 4 hours today, but as I pondered it, it seemed prudent to keep it shorter for the first day, so I settled for about 15.9 miles in 1:51. It surprised me somewhat to see signs notifying me of the presence of bald eagles, and (excitingly) of alligators -- but I neglected to get a picture of the latter one.

After the ride, I was mildly challenged to remember precisely how far the condo was. But I simply called on Google Maps to assist me, and, riding in the bike lane, got back with no trouble whatsoever.

Relive video of today's ride

Thursday, 3/24/2022

2022 mileage: 1867.1

Today's ride, of 30.6 miles (in 2:04) was done while watching Star Trek into Darkness, the second movie (2013) in the rebooted Star Trek franchise.

Trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness

Saturday, 3/26/2022

2022 mileage: 1913.5

We are glad to be leaving this morning to drive down to stay at a place on the Gulf of Mexico while Michelle is on her spring break next week—and with good timing, too! The wind-chill here this morning is in the low twenties, and tomorrow it is projected to remain in the single digits most all day.

Accordingly, with our departure imminent, I knew I would have to ride early, and beginning a bit before 8:00, I rode a brisk hour, doing 16.2 miles, while watching the first hour of Star Trek Beyond.

Trailer for Star Trek Beyond

Friday, 3/25/2022

2022 mileage: 1897.3

Yesterday and today during my rides, I watched the first two movies of the rebooted Star Trek series: today I watched Star Trek (2009), and yesterday I watched its successor, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). Tomorrow morning before we leave on our trip, I will watch the third movie in the series, Star Trek Beyond (2016).

Today's ride was 30.2 miles in 2 hours even.

Trailer for Star Trek

Wednesday, 3/23/2022

2022 mileage: 1836.5

After a few days where it warmed up enough for me to ride outside comfortably, the cold has returned, and since it was in the mid-forties, breezy, and rainy early this afternoon, i opted to ride inside, while watching Braveheart, the winner of the Best Picture Oscar in 1996. This gave me a ride of 42.5 miles in 2:57.

Trailer for Braveheart

Monday, 3/21/2022

 2022 mileage: 1794.0

I didn't ride the last two days because I played a piano solo at church yesterday, and Saturday I was doing last minute 'cramming' of practice all day, and yesterday I was up early preparing and then played it, and afterwards my daughter and son took Michelle and me out to brunch to celebrate our birthdays—after this, I just went home, all spent, and took it easy for the rest of the day.

However, today was the first full day of spring (it actually began yesterday at 11:33 a.m.). Because of this, I was eager to get back to riding outside, and my successful airing up of the tire and ability to close the valve (!) this morning encouraged me. So I rode the Platt/Packard Square this afternoon, 13.7 miles in 1:45.

Relive video of today's ride

Friday, 3/18/2022

2022 mileage: 1780.3

I usually try to hold myself to a minimum speed of at least 8 mph, which is laughably slow for a bicyclist ... however, with the weight of the trike, it seems reasonable, and I really cannot do a lot better. Howeably over, today I was greatly challenged in maintaining a (semi) respectable speed, and could not even approach that 8 mph minimum. Though I finished with an average speed of 6 mph, for most of the ride I couldn't even reach that.

Accordingly, I scaled my plans WAY back. I had hoped to do my 20-mile round trip to Baker Rd., but a short distance into the ride, I cut back to a route of a little over 7 mph.

For some time, I wondered if my days of longer rides might, in fact, be over. However, I figured this was probably overreacting, and that, in fact, something was temporarily amiss with either the trike or its rider. In fact, in the last couple of miles of the ride, I noticed that my left tire was down in air fairly substantially. This I found curious, since before yesterday's ride I had aired up the tires. Then I remembered, though—I was challenged in getting that valve to close properly (it just kept spinning, without tightening up), and finally I just did the best I could with it and figured it would have to suffice. It got me through yesterday's ride just fine, but must have allowed a slow, minor leak. I'll have to air it up again before tomorrow's ride, and hope that I can get the valve to close.

Relive video of today's ride

Thursday, 3/17/2022 - my 65th birthday

2022 mileage: 1772.8

As if God was saving this gift specifically for my birthday, lovely weather has finally arrived, enabling me to do my first outside ride since December 13! I had hoped to go farther, but scheduling constraints didn't permit that—however, not wanting to be ungrateful, I am supremely happy for what I COULD do!

I rode the Packard/Platt Square -- 13.6 miles -- in a slow time of 1:48. And after being inside for so long, I was really struck by the considerable difference. You might be inclined to think, "Well, pedaling is pedaling, right?" But you would be quite wrong in that assumption. The wheels spins around, not effortlessly, but in a way that you can expect and plan on, when you're inside on the stationary bike. However, as I noticed today quite pointedly, in Ann Arbor' relatively hilly terrain, the effort to drag my heavy body up the numerous hills brings to mind the "feeble knees" spoken of in the scripture verse from the Old Testament, Isaiah 35:3—"Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees." My knees did indeed feel quite feeble climbing some of those hills ... but I'm glad I got it done!

Relive video of today's ride

Wednesday, 3/16/2022

2022 mileage: 1759.2

I was slightly squeezed for time this morning, as I have to pick Michelle up at noon, since she is taking me to my colonoscopy appointment this afternoon (at 2, and I have to be there at 1). So I kept my ride on the short side, watching a movie I just love, The American President—this gave me a ride of 27.4 miles in 1:48.

Trailer for The American President

Tuesday, 3/15/2022

2022 mileage: 1731.8

This morning during my ride, I watched the movie First Man, about Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon. I had watched the first hour of it yesterday; unlike with other movies I had seen lately, I had no difficulty following it, but today I simply wanted to repeat that first half in order to get the whole sweep of the story. this gave me a good ride of 32.7 miles in 2:14.

Monday, 3/14/2022

2022 mileage: 1699.1

It feels as if we have finally turned a corner this week ... right now, at 2 p.m., it is sunny and 51°. However, I had already rented a movie from YouTube, and my time to watch it is limited, so today I watched the first half of it.

This movie was the biographical film First Man, about Neil Armstrong, the first man to stand on (and walk on) the moon. I watched the first 61 minutes of it, clocking up 15.3 miles.

Trailer for First Man

Sunday, 3/13/2022

2022 mileage: 1683.8

During my ride this evening, I watched the second half of The English Patient, which I had begun yesterday. Or, I should say, I watched much of it ... but I didn't finish it. Much of the movie is told in a series of flashbacks, and consequently I had a devilish time making sense of relationships and events, and eventually gave up altogether. I was also encouraged in this decision by the fact that I couldn't ride until evening, and that led me to want to cut it short, finishing with an abysmal 11.0 miles in 41 minutes. "Better than nothing," I guess—but not by much.

Saturday, 3/12/2022

2022 mileage: 1672.8

For this afternoon's ride, I did another relatively slim one, while watching the 1997 winner of the Oscar for Best Picture, The English Patient. Not too far into it, I decided to scale back and just watch the first half today; this gave me a ride of 22.1 miles in 1:30.

Trailer for The English Patient

Friday, 3/11/2022

2022 mileage: 1650.7

Today, I had hoped to be able to bundle up and ride outside. However, we are currently enjoying a cold day (29° just past 1:00 p.m.) with some snow. In light of this, I opted to climb on the stationary bike once more, and rode while watching Shakespeare in Love, the 1999 winner of the Oscar for Best Picture. This gave me a ride of 29.2 miles in 1:58.

Trailer for Shakespeare in Love

Thursday, 3/10/2022

2022 mileage: 1621.5

Having watched the first half of The Shape of Water (the 2018 winner of the Oscar for Best Picture) yesterday, I finished it up today, for a ride of 15.3 miles in 1 hour even.

However, I rode with a heavy heart. Just before my ride, Michigan played Indiana in their first game of the Big Ten basketball tournament. Michigan was up by 17 points with about 12 minutes to go, but then surrendered an historic run to the Hoosiers, and Indiana ended up winning 74-69. it was a sick feeling to watch what should have been a secure win slip away like that.

Wednesday, 3/09/2022

2022 mileage: 1606.2

During this afternoon's ride, I watched the movie which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2018—The Shape of Water. Given the fact that a leading character in it is mute but hears perfectly, I could obviously relate very strongly, and the fact that this character is a woman seemed utterly inconsequential.

However, I was eager to return to work on a choral composition I just began this week and on which I have been making excellent progress: a setting of the early (1925) poem by Langston Hughes (1901-1967), I ,Too. In light of this, I cut my ride short, only watching the first half of the movie, which I'll finish tomorrow. This gave me a ride of 17 miles in 1:06.

Trailer for The Shape of Water

Tuesday, 3/8/2022

 2022 mileage: 1589.2

After watching the first half of The Green Knight during my ride yesterday, I intended to pick it up from where I left off and watch the rest of it today. However, I rethought that plan and, instead, restarted it and watched the entire movie today.

I'm glad that I chose this approach, as it is truly a remarkably unusual film, many aspects of which still evade me. Still, I know my grasp of it is better for having seen the first half twice now.

This gave me a ride today of 32.5 miles, in 2:15.

Monday, 3/7/2022

2022 mileage: 1556.7

Today, I did a limited ride of 15.5 miles, in one hour even. While riding, I watched a movie suggested to me by a former student for its abundance of choral music, which, i was told, brought me to mind. This was The Green Knight, a movie whose release was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021. However, curiously, I found the first half of the film to be very light in such music—only two brief passages of choral music. There were, however, other bits of music that suggested (both instrumentally and texturally) its medieval time period.

The movie, described in WIkipedia as an "epic medieval fantasy film," purports to be a contemporary representation of one of the oldest existing works of English literature: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written anonymously sometime in the fourteenth century. Called also a "bold and fresh take" on the work, and also described by one reviewer as "a self-consciously revisionist take on Camelot lore," the movie is said to reward multiple viewings. After I have finished this inaugural one, I will certainly return to it.

Trailer for The Green Knight

Sunday, 3/6/2022

 2022 mileage: 1541.2

After taking yesterday off because of a busy schedule (that included a trip to East Lansing to see a matinee performance of a stage musical with Michelle), it was good to get back into the rhythm of riding today.

I had last ridden outside on December 13, and after not missing a month of riding outside since February 2021, it saddened me to have to miss both January and February of this year. I hoped to break that unfortunate streak this afternoon, and hated to miss doing so, with sunny conditions that were over 50°.

However, several factors conspired against me. I am currently suffering from severe lower back pain, and was quite sleepy this afternoon as well. And we were experiencing high winds, too.

So, instead of riding after church as I had hoped, I allowed myself to crawl into bed for a short nap, and then climbed on our stationary bike to avoid fighting the wind. During my ride, I watched the movie 12 Years a Slave, and in so doing I repeated a pattern I have experienced before—watching a movie that was based on a book I hadn't read, then taking up the book, and finding that it drove me to return to the movie. I am currently enmeshed in Solomon Northup's book 12 Years a Slave, first published in 1853, and it inspired me to rewatch the movie, which I first saw during my ride on February 21. This allowed me a ride today of 33.0 miles, in 2:09.

Friday, 3/4/2022

2022 mileage: 1508.2

During today's ride, I watched American Beauty, the winner of the Oscar for Best Picture in 2000. This gave me a ride of 30.3 miles in 1:56, and also put me over a new mileage milestone for the year (1500). Our stationary bike also has an odometer that measures the cumulative miles you have ridden on it, and we are now over 5300 miles since getting the bike for Christmas 2020.

"A telesales operative becomes disillusioned with his existence and begins to hunger for fresh excitement in his life. As he experiences a new awakening of the senses, his wife and daughter also undergo changes that seriously affect their family. Critically acclaimed, this film won Oscars for Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Film."

Trailer for American Beauty

Thursday, 3/3/2022

  2022 mileage: 1477.9

Having watched the first half of the movie Gladiator, and today I finished it up, for a ride of 20.1 miles in 1:17.

Wednesday, 3/2/2022

 2022 mileage: 1457.8

During this afternoon's ride, I watched the first half of the movie Gladiator, which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2001.

"Set in Roman times, the story of a once-powerful general forced to become a common gladiator. The emperor's son is enraged when he is passed over as heir in favour of his father's favourite general. He kills his father and arranges the murder of the general's family, and the general is sold into slavery to be trained as a gladiator - but his subsequent popularity in the arena threatens the throne."

This gave me a ride of 20.1 miles in 1:16. This, while fairly slim in comparison to many of my rides, still seemed to me fairly respectable.

Trailer for Gladiator

Tuesday, 3/1/2022

2022 mileage: 1437.7

This afternoon, I got the new month started by watching the movie Chicago, which won the 2003 Oscar for Best Picture, and was the first musical since Oliver! in 1968 to do so.

I reached a yearly milestone of sorts, going over 100 hours of elapsed riding time for 2022. This was achieved with a ride of 26.4 miles in 1:48.

Trailer for Chicago

Monday, 2/28/2022

2022 mileage: 1411.3

Today while I rode, I watched the movie No Country for Old Men. It won the 2008 Oscar for Best Picture. Wikipedia calls this a Neo-western .... I found it to contain a considerable amount of graphic and disturbing violence. Once again, I found myself unable to untangle all plot threads and figure out exactly what was happening, and a reading of the Wikipedia article on the film afterwards helped me somewhat to straighten this out. 

This gave me a ride of 28.4 miles in 1:57.

Trailer for No Country for Old Men