The Blasphemous Bicycler

I was resolved not to go to work today, but I couldn’t quite decide whether I wanted to spend my day riding my bicycle or reading my books, so I decided to do both.

I threw my Kindle in the Carradice along with some provisions, and set out on the LVRT.

The LVRT is liberally festooned with park benches. I rode from one bench to the next, stopping to read a few pages before puttering off the the next bench, passing up those that were not squarely in the shade, as the weather was a good bit warmer than I generally prefer.

Given the rural location of the trail, I was surprised to find that the wireless broadband worked out here. I downloaded a newspaper, so as to stay abreast of world events while on my adventure.

I’ve never been a fan of actual, physical newspapers. They are too big and unwieldy to handle comfortably, and I can never seem to fold them back up correctly. I like reading the newspaper on the Kindle, though.

After much bench-hopping, and a few chapters of my book, I came at last to the Colebrook Twin Kiss.

After stopping for some refreshment, I reversed my direction, and continued my bench-hopping routine, until I returned to my starting place.

Today: 20 miles
July: 32 miles
2008 Utility Miles: 184
2008 Total Miles: 329 miles

Girtong² and I went for a leisurely ride on the LVRT today. It was very hot outside, and so afterwards, we went to the pub for refreshment and to discuss various political goings-on.

Today: 10 miles
July: 12 miles
2008 Utility Miles: 184
2008 Total Miles: 309 miles

Did you know you can fit four 2-liter bottles of soda into a pair of JandD Mini Mountain pannier?

You can.

Today: 2 miles
July: 2 miles
2008 Utility Miles: 184
2008 Total Miles: 299 miles

Last week, I got myself a neutral density filter for my camera, because I was tired of having so many overexposed pictures. It worked out pretty well last weekend. Everybody seemed to like my wheat picture.

So, today, I went into the woods, all overconfident in my new equipment. It was pretty much midday, which means shafts of white-hot sunlight stab into to the deep, dark shadows all over every picture I took. Basically, all my stuff is simultaneously overexposed and underexposed, all in the same shot. Maybe there is come combination of equipment and technique that can counteract this sort of thing, but I don’t know what it is.

Anyhow, here’s some pictures.

I think this deer escaped from the military base on the other side of the mountain, and is actually wearing some sort of top-secret military cloaking device. You might think I’m just a bad photographer, and that the picture is out of focus, but she was out of focus in real life, too.

Honest.

This little waterfall is the first picture I’ve ever taken with my camera set to fully manual mode where you can actually make out what it’s a picture of. I guess I should be thankful for small miracles.

Today: 25 miles
June: 25 miles
2008 Utility Miles: 182
2008 Total Miles: 297 miles

One of the challenges of bike commuting is trying to figure out what to have for lunch. Since my office is far from any restaurants, I have to pack in my lunch on days when I ride to work.

I think I may have found the ultimate commuter lunch:

Raja Foods makes a product called micro curry. It’s shelf stable (no refrigeration required). You pop it in the microwave at the office for 2 minutes, and shazam! you got vegan Indian food for lunch!

Because it’s shelf stable, it can sit in your panniers in the hot sun on the ride in, and you can keep several of them in a desk drawer at the office.

Add some Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice (also shelf stable) and you’re all set.

I got the curry on sale for $.99 and the rice was $1.50, so lunch is $2.50.

Today: 10 miles
May: 114 miles
2008 Utility Miles: 182
2008 Total Miles: 262 miles