Life On Two Wheels

Along the river and toward the mountains a morning shadow shimmers across the road. The rays of the first light jet through the trees and across a figure gliding upon the road. His breath trails in short spurts, petrified as it hits the icy air. All is quiet except the slight sound of the athlete as he summons himself for yet another days work. Soon the rest of the world will bustle with life as well and the brief simplicity of cyclist and nature will disappear into the everyday struggle of life in full motion; the errands and intervals, the appointments and intersections, and the deadlines and finish lines OutPaceTheRace

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Important decisions

North Bend, WA
Sunday, July 02, 2006

When the weather’s good, it’s like you’re always at the beach… Did anyone else notice that? Maybe not, but it’s really all the same when you’re on a bike ‘cause you’re not spending so much time checking out the surroundings. Nonetheless, heat is heat, and I attribute it to the beach, so whether I’m riding up a mountain or near the ocean while it’s hot, I’ll just assume I’m at the beach. I always envy the dude who seems to be checking out the surroundings while he’s riding.
So the last couple days have been pretty hard. Today was a nice easy 2 and a half hours. Then I went to check out the wooden boat show in Seattle, but ended up looking for it instead. It’s pretty much the same anyway, right? They both have looking involved- looking at boats vs. looking for boat shows…
I’m finally starting to get back into America mode, it’s been hard. Siesta’s a pretty hard habit to break, you’ve always got that urge to start riding around 4 pm and finish up at 8 or 9. But then you realize it’s only Spain that goes by late time so it’s a bit beneficial to make the effort to switch back.
In the last couple weeks I realized what Europe is missing… Safeway… I’m sure that there are numerous people who disagree, but the fact of the matter is that a town could be built around Safeway and flourish. So if they’d just open one in Girona, it would be perfect. Have you ever wandered the isles in a Safeway and wondered how they could possibly sell all the stuff? I mean, who’d actually need all the stuff? But it’s good, I prefer a good selection… you don’t want to make a decision to quick, you’ve gotta go through the process… 1 product 2 price 3 weight. You’ve gotta decide what you want, compare the prices, then make sure you can carry it back home via bike. I guess that’s a lot of thinking though.