spokesNspin

A week ago I went with a group called Zen Hiking.  We met at a lake and did an hour of yoga on the lake.  Then we took a hike around the lake.  It’s a nice combo. 

The most interesting thing was this:

First off  I will admit that this is a terrible picture of me.    But when I saw the dump rake I had to take a picture.  The dump rake seems to be the most common abandoned piece of equipment one will see around farm yards and back on the edges of the waste land.

I remember seeing them all over the county when I was young.  Let me just emphasize that they were abandoned.  I am not so old to actually have used one.

Basically they are like a huge horse drawn lawn rake.  The rake is pulled along while the hay piles up inside the curved teeth.  When it gets full the operator  pulls a lever and the teeth rise and dump the hay in a pile. 

The farmer would later come by with a wagon and gather the piles.

You can also see one of these in the movie Oh Brother Were Art Thou.  Note the scene where the three fugitives come to the farm of  Cousin Wash to have their leg irons removed.  As they walk around the back of the house Cousin Wash is sitting there and to the side is a dump rake.

Pay attention when you are driving around the rural countryside.  I bet it won’t be long before you will see an dump rake some where along your route.

Enjoy your Friday fotos.

I have recently been investigating different training programs and trainers to try and find something to jump start me back to where I was a few years ago.  There are a lot of things out there.  I find crossfit very interesting.  I like the philosophy behind it.  I have a friend who has had amazing success with it.  I also have some reservations about it.

I have looked at personal trainers and group training.  One of them included a cooking class.  That would do me good I am sure.

I like many of them but at this point,  I don’t want to spend the money.   I am already spending money every month for a gym membership.

In the meantime, I am doing something cheap, free and simple.  Last week I started the one hundred pushups.  I am also doing the two hundred squats.

Because of my extremely sexy bicycling legs, I started the two hundred squats at week three.  I am not sure but I think if I put my mind to it I could do two hundred squats right now.

With just one week behind me with the pushups I am surprised at how much improvement I have shown.  I just might make it.

I have committed myself and my log is out there for all to see.  Just go to the pushup and squat logger on the links above and check out Nielki.  That is me.

Now for the challenge. 

I think my family and friends out there should  take  this up. 

I excuse Ammon from this challenge.  He can probably do one hundred pushups right now.  I guess I could also excuse Liz for a few weeks.  She can wait until she recovers from the baby. 

But the rest of you slackers need to get out there and do it.

Check out these two stories about a Critical Mass ride in Ogden Utah.  

One is by the Ogden paper.

The other is the Salt Lake Tribune.

When I was living in Utah I once had a Davis County Police Officer intentionally brush very  close to me as he passed.  It was pretty obvious that he had it in for cyclists.

Saturday I took a ride with a different bike club.  It has been some time since I have really pushed myself  with a fast group of riders.  By some time I mean a few years.  I have been anxious to do it.

On Saturday, I decided to leave with the fastest group and then drop back if I couldn’t keep up. This group included a woman who was lithe, lean and had skin like leather from  too much time in the sun training for  triathlons.  Hard to guess a woman’s age when she looks like that but I would have put her and much older than me.

After about five miles of warming up she announced she was going to pick up the pace for a bit.  Four or five of us took off with her. She led out over the next 15 or so plus miles at a pretty good pace.  She never let anyone else lead the pace line.

When we stopped she said we had average over 20 MPH for that interval. Whew! It has been sometime since I have ridden like that.  I’ve still got some of what I had a few years ago.  I am still one of the strongest on the hills.

The ride was 46 miles.  I ended with another older gentleman who was also very strong and put the lead  group to the test more than once.  I found out that he had his birthday just a few days before.   He turned 62 and the woman who was leading that crazy interval is also 62.

They are my idols.

We rode a total of 46 miles.  The pace was moving right along most of the time.  For the last  few miles I just had to tell myself I knew I could last until the end.

When it was done my average speed was 18.4 MPH.   That is the best I have done in a few years.  Now for the downside.  I can remember about 6 years and 20 pounds ago when I could easily have ridden a hundred miles with an average speed of 19 MPH.

When I got back home I saw the couple who live in the unit below me moving out.  What to do?  My legs are shot but I really should offer to help.

A half dozen oreo cookies and a cold glass of milk later I was ready to offer.  I helped them load the last half of the truck.  I then left with them in the truck to their new home.  We pulled up to one of those older homes that is on a hill.  We had several steps from the street to the front door.

I wonder why they didn’t mention that before?

The thing that really surprised me was after that was all done I really didn’t feel all that bad.  On Sunday I couldn’t feel any effects from the ride or the move.

Maybe I really do deserve this:

This was  gift from a work friend who recently took a trip to Austin, TX.

One of the advantages to using a bicycle to get around is parking. It  is generally easy to find a place to park. Many places have bike racks. But sometimes bike racks aren’t all that great.

Check this bike parking out:

The very nice thing is that it is roomy and in a covered garage.  Now for  the bad news.  Notice how people have parked with the bikes running parallel to the racks instead of using the racks the way they were intended. 

One bike takes the space of four bikes.  But in this good designed but poorly placed rack there isn’t much choice.  The rack is set so close to the wall that you can’t park your bike the way it is intended to be parked.

What is even more interesting is that on the day I took this picture I ran into this same situation at two different places on the same day.

The other annoyance is people parking scooters at these bike racks.  I had a scooter and never used bicycle racks.  Again they take up the same space as about three bicycles.

When there is no official bicycle parking it is generally pretty easy to find a place to lock your bike for short errands.  Like next to a sign post. 

I did this a few weeks ago and came back to find a letter on my bike telling me it wasn’t allowed.  If they didn’t allow bikes to park there why don’t they put a sign up?  Of course they had tons of car parking.

What I really find ironic is when I go to a bicycle shop and they don’t have a bicycle rack.