I’m just an old one-legged guy trying to get to the market before it gets hot.
Thought about that as I was laboriously pedaling the mile and a half to the Trader Joe’s this morning, heard “on your left” behind me, and got contemptuously passed by a guy on a skinny racer bike who made me mutter, “You’re not a superhero, you’re just a dweeb in brightly-colored Spandex.”
I saw a lot of brightly-colored Spandex this morning, particularly on a crowd of elderly morning bicyclists meeting at the “Bakery Cafe.” Yup, matching bike jerseys with faux-sponsorships splashed all over them as if they’d just stopped off from the Tour de France to have a croissant before entering the winner’s circle or whatever bike racers do. I thought it was … cute. I guess.
But I’m just an old guy trying to get to the market before the heat makes it unpleasant.
…and having missed the opportunity to stay up with trends in morning snackeries, I prefer Dunkin’ Donuts.
This is a very nice city, I’m sure. I mean no insult…
But it’s a city and I have lived with them and without them and I am much more comfortable without them. This is probably my last bike ride.
Hey! On my way back to the house…
…I passed a colony of those bitsy little prairie dogs I mentioned, and this bunch was so desensitized to traffic that they didn’t all disappear down their holes. So let’s see if I can zoom in on this…
Oh, it’s like that old picture of the Loch Ness Monster…
Sorry. This phone is good, amazingly good by my standards, but it’s not so good at details.
Anyway…
I expect and kind of hope that’s my last bicycle trip to the market. Though at least it is an excuse to leave the house for an hour or two in the morning, getting there is also 20 minutes of memorably laborious pedaling. Getting back, not so bad.
I’ll say in its favor, though, that it’s a grand excuse to sit in that lovely shower for a while…
Looks like you found TJ’s house brand wine…that’s one place you might miss when you get back to the desert.
Charles Shaw, AKA “2 Buck Chuck”. Good stuff!
“Three Buck,” but yeah. Way way seriously better than what’s at the dollar store, and cheaper too.
What blew me away about that is it was “Three Buck Chuck” back when I was in California, 13 years ago. And to my utter shock and delight it’s still Three Buck Chuck. I intend to go home with a case of it, minimum.
A) The Old Guy has perfectly good reasoning for biking when he does
B) “On your left/right” is considered good manners around here.
C) Loch Ness Prairie Dog is The New Mystery
D) What, you can’t bike ride in the caliche/sand/mud…. oh, nevermind, no pavement.
You take pictures of your food, so you’re a lot more hip (does ‘woke’ apply here?) than you let on.
” . . . elderly morning bicyclists . . . ”
Well, at least they’re out there, doin’ it. Cute, indeed.
I was referring to the matching jerseys, not the bicycling. Who am I to criticize bicycling? I think bicycles are great, I’m just not very good with them any more.
But some people should absolutely not wear Spandex – I’ll stand by that opinion.
And my “doin’ it” was referring to the fact that they’re doing SOMETHING, actual activity and wardrobe aside.
😉
I think I know where you’re house-sitting, Uncle Joel.
A friend of mine who lives in (redacted) only sporadically reads your blog. She happened by it, & sent me the parking-lot pic, asking “Don’t you read this blog? This is near my place.”
Odd how chance things work.
Yeah, I was a little afraid of that…
I’m not gonna ask!
Such things can happen. It’s safe with me. Did you think a reader of this blog would do otherwise?
By the way, to anyone who’s interested, it’s Connecticut. The western part.
Looks like Cleveland to me !
As a cyclist-commuter (I cycle to work nine times a fortnight), I absolutely LOVE the dedicated cycle clothing. Not for the logo, but the way it wicks sweat, and allows you to slide across the tarmac when you (inevitably) get taken out by a car driver.
Maybe I’ll launch a new line sans the logo – nah, the MAMILs* won’t buy it.
*Middle Aged Men In Lycra
Speaking as someone who once had to be spooned off pavement I’m all in favor of high-viz riding clothes, make no mistake. In fact BB sent me some Gilden Dry-Blend t-shirts, which to my amusement come in Olive Drab (the only color I wear) as well as Dayglo Yellow.
In Ben’s defense, it began life as “2 buck Chuck” way back in the ’00s. I even used to enjoy it back when I could drink wine [’tis an instant GERD-fest for me nowadays tho’, and has been since before TJ’s had to keep up w/ the post-’08 GFM “quantitative easing” inflation…] Enjoy!