Geek Habitat

This is by no means a perfect expression of my feelings or views on the topic. It is a stream of consciousness response to a hate-filled thread of 120+ comments (view here) regarding the Texas Governor’s recent veto of Senate Bill 488, otherwise known as the “Safe Passing Bill.” Without even diverging into whether or not that was the “right” decision, the level of vitriol and misinformation evident in the responses set me off. HOW can people be SO hateful and vengeful to utter strangers? I celebrate much of what the Internet and other online communication channels have brought us, but I will forever cringe at some of the horrific worldviews and mindsets I’ve been exposed to online. I truly hope they represent nothing more than a very vocal, if not always coherent, minority. Why, all these years later, do I still feel the need to step into the fray when I know those to whom my comments are directed will simply ignore them, or worse, twist them into an unrecognizable shape…?

Anyway… it’s 2:45 AM and I just posted my comments to the tread. Comments are (surprisingly, given what still gets published!) moderated so it could be some time before these appear in the thread under my screen name (“wildtexas”; I have no regrets to tying my Wild Texas: Parks, Travel & Recreation website to these comments, by the way–it’s 100% in line with the site’s purpose, enjoying the Texas outdoors.)

–START full text copy  of my response to the hateful comments–

“The people who cycle on our public roadways are working men and women,
high school and college students, veterans, teachers, CEOs, and
everything in between. They are your co-workers, your neighbors, your
kids’ teachers and professors, retirees and in time, perhaps
even your sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, son- or
daughter-in-law. Cyclists are not (any moreso than motorists–every
group has its bad apples) morons, suicidal, arrogant or trying to
“teach” you anything, and they don’t need you passing closely, swerving
into their path as you pass, throwing things out your window, honking
or yelling to “teach them a lesson.” Passing a cyclist is simple. Just
as you do when approaching any other slower moving vehicle, you wait
until it is safe and legal to overtake that vehicle and you go into the
oncoming lane far enough to pass the slower-moving vehicle safely. You
do this without honking, gesturing, yelling or otherwise making an ass
out of yourself. You just do it and move on.

Each and every bicyclist on the roadways is MORE than well aware of
the risks of riding near inattentive drivers; after all, most of us
are drivers of motor vehicles as well as cyclists. We do everything in
our power to make our bicycle-based travels to our workplaces,
schools, errands and exercise as safe as possible by following traffic
laws, maintaining our bicycles, equipping them as required for
nighttime riding, and yes, wearing flashy clothing so we are more
visible to drivers and other cyclists. We are not trying to prove
anything to you and we are not all on expensive bicycles… although
the cost of the vehicle should not have any bearing on the rights
incurred imparted to the vehicle operator.

Almost every single time I’ve had a motorist close swipe me (while I
was riding in a bike lane, single-file, in broad daylight, with
another cyclist for visibility) there has been NO ONCOMING TRAFFIC
WHATSOEVER. Your vehicle will not blow up if two of your tires touch
or cross the lane line for the .5 to 2 seconds it takes you to pass a
cyclist. You spend more time parked at red lights than you will lose
waiting for a safe passing zone to pass cyclists.

I am a woman. I am a mother. I am a motorist. I am a cyclist. I have
no delusions of being anything other than myself. I ride to get fit
and to get outside. I used to ride a mountain bike on trails until I
became a mother, and I will always prefer trail riding even though it
has its own disadvantages (dodging headphone-wearing dog walkers,
joggers, walkers, hikers, people on horseback, etc.) I switched to
road bike riding because I can ride longer and further with less
travel time from my home if I road bike. Even though San Antonio is
making progress by adding trails bicyclists can use (Leon Creek
Greenway, Salado Creek Greenway, extending the Mission Trail, etc.) it
still takes far longer to get myself and my bike to one of those
locations to exercise than it does to get myself and my bike to a
suitable road bike start point.

I don’t tell you how to exercise or where to do it. I don’t tell you
what type of motor vehicle you “should be driving”. I don’t tell you
when you should stay off a particular road because it’s already
over-crowded with other motor vehicles.

If I rode in my neighborhood I’d have to do hundreds of laps and I’d
have a far higher likelihood of being hit by a motorist or hitting a
child or pet because, just as cars aren’t expected to do laps at speed
in a neighborhood, neither are bicycles. I have an indoor bike trainer
I use occasionally. It’s about as fun and challenging as jogging in
place inside your house is, and I have no desire for a gym membership
where I can add to the road congestion and pollution with every single
workout (I’d have to drive much further than I do to start my road
bike rides; yes, I still pollute. My “stuff” still stinks like everyone
else’s.)

All this vitriol is disheartening to me. Most of you wouldn’t own up
to these feelings or comments if we were standing face-to-face. In a
way I am glad you feel comfortable enough to do that here so we are
all reminded of the anger stewing in some of our fellow citizens
heads. Road rage among motor vehicle drivers is on the rise here in
San Antonio, and we all need to be mindful of that the next time our
lesser selves think, “That person needs to be taught a lesson!”  There
is no telling what that other person might do… THAT is the true
danger on our roadways and it affects ALL of us, no matter what our
mode of transport.”

–END full text copy–

Any typos or logic errors are my own doing and the result of thoughts allowed to pour from brain to keyboard without (much) editing but with a lot of thought and consideration. Any discrepancies between the quoted text above and what’s printed on the linked MySA thread are due either to my editing (I repeated veterans twice; a worthy group to accidentally repeat, but I only meant to include them once) or due to any editing MySA’s web folk might do…

ADDENDUM at 11:34 AM on June 23: I was apparently too wordy for the MySA comments block (understandable; I just expected to receive an error informing me of that fact). I just reposted my intro paragraph as an excerpt, with a link to this blog entry for the remainder of my comments, and it posted almost immediately. Thanks, MySA, for the public forum… frustrating or no, it gets thoughts out in the open where they can begin to be addressed.

On Sunday, I managed to get two rides in: a pre-dawn 6.31 mile indoor bike trainer ride and an afternoon 20.77 mile road bike ride with Justin and brother-in-law, David.

I posted some pics from the road bike ride on Flickr for your amusement/enjoyment.

Keep an eye on the “Building a Fitter Geek” sidebar over on the right to keep track of my latest rides — indoors AND outdoors.

—
It’s becoming a broken record, but no, I still haven’t picked a ride I’ll be participating in. It’s looking more and more like it won’t be a charity fund-raising ride as my first organized ride, just because so many of them are either coming up a lot sooner than I’ll be ready (April, etc.!) or they’re longer (multi-day) than I’m ready to commit to, due to never having left Sara in anyone’s care overnight, and not having any particular desire to start that now.

So we’re just working me up gradually to longer rides and, as I handle those better (they’re getting a little easier every ride), Justin will start throwing in more challenging distances and terrain (HILLS…my nemesis) at me to get me ready for the ride we choose.

Sara’s immune system is amazing. She still isn’t 100% herself yet, but she made it through last night with a lot less pain and suffering than we expected. She is still eating much less than is usual for her, probably because her stomach is still doing loop-de-loops, but she’s staying reasonably well hydrated and even had the energy to walk to the neighboorhood playground where my folks’ (her Grandma & Grandpa B.) live and play on the equipment for a good twenty or more minutes.

Here are some strong li’l gal, already feeling so much better 24 hours after the bug hit!

Oh, and there’s one pic in there of my 25.82 mile indoor bike trainer ride. The date on the graphic is incorrect — the “ride” was indoors (and thus out of GPS reception capability) and in the wee hours of this morning, January 30, 2009.

Did 19.23 miles (ride stats) with Justin and David today. Justin suffered a punctured front tire so we had a delay toward the latter 1/3 of the ride, but it was my favorite route to date — challenging but some recovery spots and an awesome downhill segment just when your excitement/energy might be flagging. Feeling good–usual post-ride soreness of course, but didn’t find myself cursing my fat arse quite so much… at least not out loud (I really need to work on that… although I am among adults, so maybe I need to keep it as my outlet?

TO DO’s:
I need to mount the road bike to the CycleOps indoor trainer and practice shifting between the big chainring and the small chainring. I have a really bad habit of dropping my chain, and need to work that out before I’m ready to transition back to “clipless” pedals.

I need to switch back to clipless pedals. I’m wearing flexible soled tennis shoes and it’s hurting my perpetually stubbed left little toe. I don’t like wearing my hiking shoes because they’re heavier than I want to pedal with and the laces would be no fun if they got sucked into my chainring. I really want to switch back to clipless pedals for the more efficient pedal stroke (generate power on both the upstroke and downstroke), but I’m nowhere near proficient enough yet on the road bike to be ready for clipless+bike handling 101+traffic (esp. the arses who think it’s fun to pass cyclists close enough that I could slap their vehicles.) I figure I need at least 100 miles under my belt on this bike. With our rides averaging over 15 miles each, that will be sooner than later.

I need to eat better. A “no duh” but sometimes we all need to be reminded of the obvious.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. BEFORE the ride. I chugged a whole Gatorade and felt a lot better than I do on rides where I forget to hydrate before the ride. Could still have used another 16 oz. of water before the start, at least. Shouldn’t be arriving back to the parking lot with BOTH of my water bottles empty considering it’s nowhere near summer yet and the guys are only carrying one water bottle each.

Stretch! No cramps on my rides so far, but really should be stretching beforehand. We did it in PT when I was rehabbing my knee, so why the heck wouldn’t I want to stretch before a 20 miler?

Buy a new helmet. This one officially sucks. That is all.

Find some cool bike jerseys that fit. My Google one? Sorry, but Hincapie brand cycling jerseys are cut to fit only one body type, and that’s George Hincapie’s/Lance Armstrong’s. My frame will never be comfy in it, even after I return to my pre-pregnancy weight and post-knee surgery fitness and muscle tone. I wanted to wait until I’d been back to the biking a bit and reward myself with a new jersey here and there to keep the motivation up. I love my Ireland jersey and while it’s tight right now it’s built-in motivation to lose the weight, shape up and fit it properly.

Gotta run; kidlet’s home from day with Grandma & Grandma Moore. I owe them HUGELY for this weekend!

Relaxing on my (still rather sore) bum after my second training ride with Justin and bro-in-law David. 14.35 miles with a bit of headwind at times; started ride at 2:45 PM so it was cool but not cold (which is good because I have *zero* cold weather gear, though I could borrow some of Justin’s in a pinch.)

Feeling good. Definitely did NOT want to get on the bike today–was fighting horrible allergies and overall low battery–but endorphins and a bracing wind and descent at the start of our ride got me awake and feeling good now. A workout has a way of clearing one’s sinuses, too… you gotta breathe!

We will obviously be working up to harder and longer routes over time, but I’m still trying to teach my heart about the new demands being placed on it.

Here’s the ride stats, including heart rate, distance, route and so forth -> Getting Fit 2009, Ride #2. If you’re really bored, or curious, you can compare those stats to Justin’s, particularly taking note of how much better (lower, and quicker to recover) his heartrate is on the same exact ride!

I need to mount the road bike on the indoor trainer and add some weekday indoor rides, but I haven’t found a way to do that w/an almost two-year-old yet.

The other good thing about exercise? I think I’ve only had 2 Dr Peppers today, and that’s counting the one sitting unopened next to me that I haven’t drank yet. Don’t clap too much, though, as I’m sure to have at least one more before the day is through. We’ll tackle that trojan horse when we get to it. Right now, I’m focusing on making the cycling (read: exercise) a part of my life.

Kidlet’s been with Grandma & Grandpa Moore since about noontime. I miss her but am going to enjoy a couple more hours alone by playing WoW or something else fun yet totally unproductive.

My love to my beloved for getting me back on the bike and my thanks to brother-in-law, David, for letting me ride with you guys and slow you down until I get into better shape.

P.S. No World of Warcraft. Forgot to log computer in while I did misc. other tasks in prep for Monday. Result? 900+ players in queue ahead of me.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. More to the point, the few times I have made resolutions I’ve bombed them in short order. However, I do have a very real goal for 2009 –

Feel, look and (most importantly) BE more physically fit. (Read further to see how we’ve made this a measurable goal.)

To that end, yesterday I rode 12.98 miles with Justin, brother-in-law David and 13-year-old nephew Tanner. Check out the complete ride stats, including GPS track and heart rate data.

Frankly, I’ve been disgusted by my utter lack of physical fitness since my pregnancy with the kidlet — a healthy, active and wonderful daughter who turns 2 in mid-March. Hauling around forty extra pounds in body weight isn’t doing my heart, mind or my ACL-reconstructed knee any favors. Hauling that excess, unhealthy weight around while also carrying a healthy 26.5 pound squirming toddler? Not.fun. And I’m not a good example to Sara if I continue down this path, either.

I’ve been at this level of personal disgust for awhile, but it’s taken Justin’s gracious but ever-so-persistent encouragement for me to join him to kick-start the process.

And yes, there have been false starts. I had a goal of being back to my pre-pregnancy weight and fitness by the time Sara turned 1 year old. We can all see how well that worked out. I didn’t even bother resetting the goal for her second birthday, coming up March 15, 2009.

My goal this year isn’t a set weight loss or clothing size goal. It’s not even necessarily a distance goal. Instead, with Justin’s encouragement, it’s a goal to complete at least one organized cycling event.

The best way to explain it is simply to share the email Justin wrote me several weeks ago:

I still need to select the ride or rides I want to commit to, not the least of which is mapping out when each of these is scheduled so I know how aggressively I should train, but it’s definitely provided a motivation I’ve been lacking. I was pregnant with Sara when Justin and his workmates did the Valero MS-150 a couple years ago, and I’ve missed both times he and his brother, brother-in-law, father and nephew have participated in the Conquer the Coast ride. So it’s definitely my time!

I’ll be keeping you updated here. I’ve created a new category here on GeekHabitat.com for “Getting Fit 2009,” as well as created a “Getting Fit 2009″ photo set on Flickr. You can also see my most recent rides in the sidebar here on GeekHabitat.com under the heading “Building a Fitter Geek“.