ROAD RIDERS

Today I finally had a bike ride with my son on the street.  It took him a long time to finally master the bicycle and then only on a playground.  The heat wave arrived shortly afterward and that was good enough of an excuse not to go biking, even in the evening.  After much pleading and threatening, he recently finally resumed biking, moved up a notch to biking on the sidewalk on a large block that has few pedestrians.  I would prefer he rides on the road, but he was so unsteady and the typical driver in NYC are rude and uncaring, I didn't want to take the chance.  The first time he went around the block, I ran along with him.  He was slow and I could handle it, but it was still exhausting, so the second time I took out another bike and rode, on the road, with him.  He had some issues with making turns in the beginning but by the end of the second session, he was good enough.  Today, we took to the road.

It was not much of a ride, basically around a small park and a housing project, all right turns.  With a nephew of mine on the wife side, the three of us formed a bike train for safety in number.  I led, my son was in the middle, nephew covered the rear, since he's better than my son.  We first went around Scarangella Park, with one side bordered by the elevated track of the D train, the on-street columns creating somewhat of a protected bike lane.  Twice of that and we moved on to the housing project between Avenue V and Avenue W, as well as the block between Avenue W and Avenue X.  Most of the roads are wide and two-way.  A few times there was some vehicle double-parking and we had enough space to go around it.  Two loops of the big blocks and I considered that enough for the kids.  We accompanied nephew home then son and I actually pedaled home. 

I think the kids enjoyed the little outing.  There was little traffic but once some car slowly followed our bike train without honking, rare driver if I say so myself.  I made sure the children knew about "dooring", or being hit by a car door as a careless driver exits a parked car.  I used hand signal to let the back of the train know where to turn or stop.  We already agreed that before the end of summer we should ride all the way to Caesar's Bay to have a car-free trip along the waterfront to Owl's Head Pier.

MY SON IS A CYCLIST!

I started teaching my son how to ride the bike as early as 2007.  Wow, six years ago!  He is too afraid and didn't become a cyclist back then.  I think a few years ago I had a day or two trying to get him into it but again no luck.  With the most recent attempts, the promise is that I will get him a certain Nerf product.  Maybe that did the trick.  It also helped that as someone who is not gainfully employed, I have the time to take him to the park on weekdays, as opposed to having the time only on weekends, since I usually get home late during the week when I was working.

This time around it took four sessions, according to my son.  I think it was three sessions, but it's his child-brain versus my aging brain, I'll trust his memory.  It was frustrating, as with all things new.  It was like he never learned at all.  At first, he would not even pedal.  Then he did, but only moved a few meters.  Next he moved, but with me holding the seat and the rightmost tip of the handlebar, he would lean into me.  Maybe it's because my son and the nephew and nieces are all older, most just a few inches shorter than me, training them wasn't too physically demanding.  I was able to physically support them without feeling too drained.  It was a little more energy-draining with my son since he's overweight, but I managed.

Little by little, he got better.  I started with letting go of the handlebar and he was able to move along briefly before going wild with the steering.  He's tall enough to just put his feet down to stop.  He wasn't moving too fast so braking was not absolutely needed.  I made sure he knew about braking nevertheless.  He thought he would need a few more days to learn how to start off on his own, but I noticed a few times he just automatically put his feet on the pedals and continue moving.

It was such a joyous moment when I finally let go of both the back and the handlebar and jog along with him!  Some day he and I can go brunning, or biking and running.  Even better would be both of us running, but I take things one item at a time.  He still had trouble turning and was going in circle, clockwise because he didn't know how to turn left.  Then for a while he would only go counter-clockwise.  In the end, he got it, even if he was still a bit shaky.  Then he had a crash, maybe because he got overconfident and was going too fast to chase his cousin LZ, who just became a cyclist last week.  Only a scraped left knee and barely a scratch on the right elbow.  I think my bike got it worse, with a out-of-whack basket and even the bike head got twisted.  He's cool about it all and is eager to resume tomorrow.  I so look forward to some quality time with my son on the few bike paths we have in the area!

The Long and Short of Cyclist Shorts

After two weeks of plunking down some hard-earned money for a pair of cyclist shorts, I finally put it on and went for a ride. My philosophy with working out is to get out of the house quickly, which means clothes shouldn't be a factor in getting ready. I've been wearing old pants but once or twice the pants got caught by the bicycle gears. With the warm weather mostly arrived, I can get by with wearing regular shorts. Still, I decided to splurge and got a pair of real cyclist shorts, something like $60+. Gel-cushioned, it's comfy on the standard bike seat, but I have to wonder how cyclists store the usual things like home keys and wallet. In my case, I used a fanny pack strapped around my chest but I suppose it still negated the cool factor introduced by the cyclist shorts. I never have to worry about having people telling my fly is open but I imagine if you need to go it is rather complicated while wearing cyclist shorts.

The first time I thought of putting on a pair of cyclist shorts, I recalled the poster for a particular classic movie. I haven't seen it but I have a general idea what it's about. I tried to re-create a scene in the movie. Can you tell what movie it is?

The Down Side of Cycling

It has been over 3 weeks since I last went jogging. The right foot still hurts even though I have been doing bicycling only. No impact there but then again it does not hurt as much as before. I probably have to go see a podiatrist.

Substituting jogging with bicycling allows me to go farther from the house and explore the destination's neighboring areas. On foot, I would never visit the Fuhgeddaboutit sign on the border of Brooklyn and Queens on the Belt Parkway. Sure I could drive there but then I would have to find some place to park and walk some distance to the site to take a picture of it. A waste of gasoline, fuhgeddaboutit!

The down side of cycling is that to get to the bike trail I have to go on the road, along side with motorists. In my mind, most motorists are jerks, to put it lightly. A perfectly nice person outside the car can easily turn into a monster behind the steering wheel. Motorists' general attitude is "get out of my way or I'll ram you." I drive a minivan mostly on weekends and the experience usually leaves me exhausted. Being on a bike only makes it worse. I have to be extra alerted about cars traveling parallel to me that are about to turn right into my path. Assuming people use turn signals, that is.

When I drive, I have the radio on or listen to podcasts on the iPod, but not loud enough to drown out the sounds from outside. I need to focus on the road and be aware of the surrounding. When cycling, I don't listen to anything at all while sharing the road with motorists. I cannot afford to. Even with the helmet mirror and the mirror in the handlebar, I still need to turn around when shifting lane or going through intersection. Cars mirrors have blind spots and those on the bike cannot be any better. Once I get to the bike trail, where there are only pedestrians and cyclists, then I can relax with the iPod, but before that, 100% alert!

I used to hate the "new" bike lanes in Manhattan, such as those along Grand Street in Chinatown. The older lanes run along the left side of the parking lane. The newer ones take place of the parking lane and usually reduce the street to just one lane as the parking lane is pushed further into the street. Tough luck for the motorists with the narrower streets but it is great for cyclists. With the old bike lanes, there is a good chance some careless driver, after parking, opening the driver-side door straight into the path of a cyclist. There is also the not-too-unfounded fear of being fatally squeezed between a car on the road and a parked car. Lastly, with the new lane it is impossible to double-park so cyclists do not have to put up with double-parkers. One moment a cyclist can be happily moving along an old bike lane, the next moment he would have to shift into traffic to go around a double-parking car. I love the new bike lanes and hope to someday make use of them if they come to my area.

Let Us Accessorize!

Popcorn and soda to go with the movie. Case and headset to go with the cell phone. Flash drives and USB hub to go with the laptop. Accessories. You do not absolutely need them, but they enhance the experience many times. Since resuming bicycling a few weeks ago, I have rummaged around the house to find the various accessories I got for the bike but for one reason or another did not put them to use.

When I first took the bike out of mothballs, figuratively speaking, the one accessory I got to work was the bottle-holder. Adding an extra clamp made all the difference, I do not know how I lived with the twistie wire. Funny thing is the one time I needed a drink while bicycling the water inside had frozen. I am sure it will not be the same in the summer.

Mounted on the handle bar and is more useful is the simple bell. I do not go fast but it is still necessary sometimes to alert joggers or walkers when I need to pass them. Also on the handle bar is the headlight. I do not know why but the light assembly was not on the bar. Luckily I was able to find it in the mess in my room. Strange how the mind works. I just knew that the light was in a particular place. Good thing I was correct. Alas the battery drained some time ago. It seemed obvious to me that there was no way to replace the battery. Luckily this time I was wrong. A colleague pointed out a slot where a strategically placed coin would easily pry the assembly apart. Last hurdle was to find the replacement batteries. Up to today I did not know that N batteries exist - just plain N. Whatever happened to E though M?

The last accessory to be put on was a rearview mirror, a Third Eye bar end mirror. Again I had no trouble finding it but then I had plenty of troubles figuring out how to install it. Adding insult to injury, almost everybody on Amazon wrote that the thing was easy to install! There is already a small hole in the end of the handle bar, the screw goes into it but there is nothing to hold the screw in place. I gave up and took it my local bike shop. The person at the store proceeded to use a razor blade to cut away a portion of the rubber grip that covers the handle bar. In went the mirror end, now padded with two of the four rubber rolls that came with the mirror. So that's how it works, doh!

Coney Island Boardwalk

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The nice thing with bicycling, versus jogging, is that theoretically I can go farther to carry out the exercise. With jogging, I would walk from home to Caesar's Bay shopping area and start jogging from there. With bicycling, instead of slowly pushing the bicycle, I would ride it to the destination. Bicycling should be faster than walking, so the time saved can be put into covering a longer distance, say, to get to a destination further away. Today, that destination was Coney Island. I just found out that Coney Island is about 2.6K from where I live, whereas Caesar's Bay is 1.6K away. That translates to 2K for a round trip.

It was not the first time I visited Coney Island, but rather the first time I was there unaccompanied. I was free to snap photos here and there without being slowed down or slowing down any company I would be with. A big group may be fun to be with sometimes but most of the time I prefer to be on my own, to do what I please.

I started around the Wonder Wheel then went east to the very end of the boardwalk. I totally forgot what this end of the boardwalk looks like. I was there a few years back with two nephews. We did not stop there but went on to the street and all the way to Manhattan Beach before heading back. For me, the goal today was just to reach one end then the other end and back to the starting point. Just my luck, I did not bring a real camera and my cell phone's battery died by the time I reached the western end of the boardwalk, so no photo for that end.

The distance I traveled today was about 8K, again 1K less than the maximum distance I reached with jogging. Oh well, something to do to burn the fat while the right foot recovers...

Let's Get Physical - Plan B

I thought with my exercise program my weight would drop below 200 pounds but alas here I am on the last day of the year and I am still right on 200 pounds. It does not help that as of last Saturday the arch on my right foot got really hurt. The left foot got some boil but that's skin level. For the right foot, I think some muscle or tendon, or whatever, is really banged up from all that pounding of the pavement. I also need a new pair of sneakers, as the one I'm using really wore away much at the heels. This Saturday will be exactly one week of rest, I cannot rest any more. Time for Plan B.

With the injured foot, I think I still can pedal. No pounding of the pavement there, so hopefully it should be OK. Of course, bicycling goes against my idea of simplicity in execution. Whereas with jogging I just need to put on some clothes, extra layers for the cold weather, a pair of shoes, perhaps even an iPod, bicycling will be more involved. Getting the bike out the door is one extra step. Helmet is needed - Step #2 right there. Air does leak from time to time, so I may lose some more time pumping the tires.

I actually spent some time this evening getting the bicycle into usable shape. The last time I used it was to attend my son's Field Day, back in May. On the way back, the left pedal fell off and I had to push the thing back. Even since then the bike just stood in the vestibule, taking up space and collecting dust. With Plan B in motion, I managed to put the pedal back on - the task is so much easier with the wrench of the proper width. Next I tried to pump the tires but I think I actually let the air out. The foot- and hand-pumps I have didn't work. Some Mechanical Engineer I am, cannot even get the tires of the bicycle pumped. Maybe the pumps are defective. I'll splurge tomorrow morning and spend the 75¢ at my local gas station. Rain or shine, I will be biking tomorrow!