Stardate 200909.27

The Cycling Adventure of the Season

I have been bicycling all year, and retirement has brought an entirely different rhythm to it. Since I am at car shows or Star Trek stuff most weekends, I do most of my riding during the week, which means I miss out of most of the club rides. Although I got plenty of miles in, I ride much slower when I ride alone, when there is noone to keep up a steady pace. Plus I am getting old. And my back injuries mean I am riding a partial suspension bike which is not nearly as efficient as the racing bikes I used to ride. I got to one club ride in the middle of the summer. It was an "A" ride and I quickly got left behind, and ended up riding the route alone. The Mid-Hudson Bicycle Club did not have a formal century this year, but they did have and unsupported century. I decided to ride that, and ride a charity century two weeks later in Albany. I showed up late for the club ride, and ended up riding the 100 miles+ alone.

Two weeks later was a 100-mile fund raiser for Habitat for Humanity in Albany. Although I was clearly in shape to ride (albeit slowly), it was a challenge, even an ordeal, because it rained most of the time. I started out early, in the drizzle, alone. I started getting lost in the city of Albany almost immediately, before I finally found the route markers, which were difficult to see between the torn up roads and the rain. As I was back tracking from some "bonus miles" I met up with four other riders who were riding the 100 mile distance. So I rode with them for a while, but after the second rest stop, dropped back because I could not maintain their pace. The rain let up for about 20 miles, then came back, and continued with varying intensity for the rest of the ride.

Around 60 miles I passed one of the riders of the original four. He passed me a bit later on my break, and the next time I saw him stopped, I did also, as it appeared we were keeping about the same pace. I welcomed the company as a distraction from the misery of riding in the rain, and it seemed like a good idea to stick together, since it was getting late in the day. The organizers had let us know that the rest stop and sag wagon support would end at 4 PM, and it was clear we were going to be on the road well after this. We made the last rest stop just at 4 PM, and had another 15 miles to go. It was still raining. Just outside Albany, at a major intersection I got a flat tire. Lots of traffic, still raining, tired as hell, no support from the ride sponsors. I started to remove the tire, and my plastic tire iron broke. I got my pump out, and it was missing a piece. At this point, my decision to ride with a partner paid off, since he had a working pump. I replaced the tube, and we finished the ride. It was after 6 PM when we returned, and the free buffet which had been made for the riders was closed, so we missed out on that. However, the riders raised over $18,000 for Habitat.

The abnormally warm fall has allowed me to ride into December. As of this writing, that is probably over, so it will be the indoor bike until spring. Unless we get a warm spell.

with an update on recent events

I continue to enjoy my retirement, and I will close my private practice officially on December 31st. It is mostly an annoyance and doesn't even break even most years. I now no longer need it as a tax writeoff, so I will not longer be seeing patients. I will continue to do consultation/supervision, and may consider some teaching opportunities. I signed up as a Red Cross volunteer, but nothing seems to have happened in several months; I got part of my volunteer training in, but am waiting for them to tell me when and where the next courses are available. I get the feeling when not in disaster mode, the local Red Cross is laid back in the extreme.

I tried to get a breathing and meditation course at Stone Mountain Counseling Center going, but attendance awas poor, and various weird obstacles kept popping up, which I finally deduced were telling me that, inspite of my inclination, this is not what I should be doing now.

As a result I have continued to feel a bit unfocussed. I have been reading David Allen's Getting Things Done, and find it to be not quite the help I need. My problem is not that I don't have enough time to get things done, but that I have too much time to get them done. As a result there is no pressure to do most things and they get put off. It will change eventually, whether as a result of boredom, some miraculous development of self-discipline, or external opportunities or pressure. For sure, next year I am going to travel more.

I took up chess in the past year or so. Initially, my motivation was to do something to challenge my brain in some new way, get that Neurotrophic Growth Factor going, ya know, and stave off Alzheimer's or some other sort of brain deterioration. I went to the local college's chess club when it was in session, and re-connected with my old Quaker Friend Don Badgley, with whom I remembered having a casual game several years ago. We have been getting together every couple weeks or so.

Last week, Don came to Meeting for Worship in New Paltz (he is a member of Poughkeepsie meeting), to bring a concern, for which he had a traveling letter, in the manner of Friends. He has felt moved to re-assert the Friends Peace Testimony, and to bring it into the world to challenge those who both call themselves Christian and promote nationally sponsored mass-murder. I was rather moved by his ministry, and at our next chess game offered to be his traveling companion as he visited Friends meetings, initially, to challenge them with this, and possibly to other churches eventually. He accepted, and I will be traveling with him starting December 20th.

I have been wanting to do more with Friends, but have not found the leading to do so within the New Paltz Meeting. This feels like a calling.

After my chess game and conversation with Don, I went out for an hour long walk, which I try to do everyday, now that cycling is limited. While walking I found a ragged cloth bag on the road that had been torn up by traffic, but was still intact. I picked it up to see what was inside. There were a few stones, some damaged, one in a silver wire setting,

and this:

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