Jim also ordered some Doggles to protect those big, buggy Boston eyes:

but persuading Noki to wear those WHILE riding the trailer will take some more training and treats on our part.

The longest test ride has been about 20 miles, but Jim is working Noki up to the big miles and Noki couldn’t be more excited to be out on the open road, spending time with his dad:

]]> http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2011/12/boston-tow/feed/ 2 http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2011/02/speed-post/ http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2011/02/speed-post/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 03:00:04 +0000 admin http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/?p=1570 In honor of Daytona weekend and the Bike Sebring race (and the fact that I have homework to work on and a test to study for) I’m making this one a speed post!

Race results:

Katy Polk

- 12 hours of biking in beautiful weather around the Sebring, FL area and on the Sebring International Raceway

- Place: 1st! (…out of one)

- Category: Recumbent female, 12 hr, age 25 – 29

- Official miles: 185.1

- Unofficial miles: 185.1 + 3.7 = 188.8 (I finished my last lap 10-15 seconds too late, so it didn’t count, except to my legs.)

- 1st 100 miles completed in 5:15 hrs at 19.5 mph (woohoo! ok maybe it’s not terribly impressive, but it is a personal best)

- Roadside pees: zero! (also a personal best)

Kent Polk

- 24 hrs of biking; half during a gorgeous day, half during a smoke-filled night

- Place: 2nd (his competition was an actual person – John Schiltter) and to clarify that’s 2nd in his category AND 2nd overall!

- Category: Recumbent male, 24 hr, age 55 – 59

- Official miles: 484.7

- Unofficial miles: 488.4 (same issue)

- Road pees (not a typo): …um, a lot, according to him.  I wasn’t there.  Thankfully.

This post is too speedy to cover everything, but lady Bacchetta riders Jackie, Michelle and Sara Kay did waaaaaaaaaaaay better than I did.  (Go ladies!!!)  And of course 24 hr Bachetta riders John (492.2 mi) and Troy (469.6 mi) were incredible, as always. =)

Thanks to my mom and my bf and all the Bachetta crew members who kept us awake, alive and on the bikes!  What a great weekend!

On the way home, we passed an interesting sculpture chained to the sidewalk:

which reminds me of a fixture of the Lower East Side, The Knit Bike:

(photo courtesy of S. Rice)

Someone recently asked me what I like so much about NYC, and though the answer largely has something to do with car-less living and wide social acceptance from anonymous crowds, the proliferation of art and culture also tends to bend my affections. Especially when a large part of it is accessible curbside.

Oh, and there’s the food.  In one day of my stay I had gluten-free mac ‘n’ cheese (and I’m not talking the normal stuff; this was rice macaroni with rosemary, melted brie, roasted figs & roasted shitake mushrooms), gluten-free cupcakes (vanilla with strawberry topping & carrot cake with cream cheese frosting), and delicious gluten-free pizza. It was a whirl-wind of food my brain said I really really really shouldn’t be eating and though it took me practically until the end of the day to relax and enjoy the meals, I am nonetheless amazed at what is available! We topped off my stay with tacos from a Korean BBQ restaurant (fish and shitake tacos may sound bad but are actually excellent) and episodes from Cowboy Bebop, which I hadn’t seen in ages (not food-relevant, I know, but worth mentioning).

Although I didn’t get to ride Central Park, missed my pilgrimage to the Met, and never actually got to be in the city with Batman (we kept missing each other – he really needs to get a cell phone) I still enjoyed every moment.

Upon returning to Long Island, I intended to go for a ride on the less-traveled roads east of where we stayed, but after my week of what I hope is the closest I will ever come to a rock and roll life style (my sleep schedule upended, my skin inexplicably bruised, my feet scabbed from dancing shoes, my liver exhausted from booze and my lungs gasping from exposure to a city’s worth of second-hand smoke) I felt more than a little under the weather and decided to skip the ride. Plus, since I was staying with family out on Long Island, we had more pressing obligations to consume our time:

(As a family, we have learned that it is essential to find Joy wherever one can. Even occasionally at the expense of small, dignified – and hopefully declawed – animals.)

Before I had time to recover and consider another ride, it was time for me to fly home.  Bye bye New York.  With any luck, I’ll be back soon. Next time, hopefully with Batman.

And in the meanwhile, be sure to wish Bruce Campbell a happy belated birthday the Sci Fi Wire way:

Check out the website for more info, the above images and a link to PDFs you can print up and apply to nearby, unsuspecting soup cans: http://scifiwire.com/2010/06/four-labels-from-the-bruc.php

For Bruce’s more recent fans, commenter “brucefan” pointed out on the Sci Fi Wire page that the can labels should remind consumers to be careful when eating scalding-hot soup. Some kind of warning or perhaps a notice about the danger of getting burned…  (If you look closely, the Gumbo Ho-Tep label does include a health warning, but it bares no relation to a burn notice.)

While crossing the country he needed to maintain a relatively constant power output, but since Dad got to ride the last leg of the race, they told him to give it all he had. As Crew Member Bill liked to say, “We put a quarter in him and let him go.” As I understand, he went around and above 30 mph for much of the last leg, and this after six days of riding cross-country with his teammates, climbing mountains, through high altitudes, across huge plains, along interstates, at night, downhill, on bad roads and amidst bad weather. These guys amaze me. Dad, Dana, JV and Willie: you rock. You can read Dad’s ride report here.

Considering they had just biked across the country, they looked pretty good when they rolled across the finish.  Of course, the official finish line was at a Shell station about 3 1/2 miles away. Upon arrival there, they were given a few minutes to clean up and don new jerseys, which we at the family-and-friends finish line greatly appreciated.

After congratulations and hugs (that were, happily, neither as sweaty nor as smelly as they would have been without the complimentary freshening-up stop), the team members got up on stage for a quick interview about their experience and a photo op, then opened a bottle of champagne with the crew to toast the accomplishment. (We got a picture of Dad holding the glass, but couldn’t catch a clear one of him drinking it. You’ll have to take my word for it.)

Subsequently, bikes and riders were packed into minivans with, of course, the exception of my Corsa – Dad’s borrowed backup bike for the race. In the commotion, I retrieved the beauty (oh baby, have I missed you) and spirited it away to our minivan waiting across the parking lot, then caravaned with the rest to the motel.

We slept a bit then spent Saturday’s remaining daylit hours wandering around Annapolis with two of his amazing crew members, Lonnie and Bill, feeding Dad multiple meals from various eating establishments. The afternoon culminated in a banquet hosted by RAAM where Dad was able to really really refuel himself with all the good, tasty, fresh, solid food he was unable to either get or digest during the race. They also received their plaques at that time.

Back at the motel, Dad, my sister and I sat on the back steps, enjoying the evening and talking with Dana and several crew members, one of whom is an author, researching his next book. His first one – Dead Hand Control – looks pretty awesome (and is currently on it’s way to my house), so I’ll be among those first in line for his next. One of these days I hope to publish something longer than a post, but in the meanwhile it’s neat to have the chance to talk to someone who has already been there.

For now, I want to applaud the riders and crew of the Bent Up Cycles team. You guys and gals did a fantastic job of kicking butt on the road and taking care of my dad. I can’t thank you enough. And to those of you who I got to know, I hope to see you again (and maybe ride with you!) sometime soon.

Oh, and though we didn’t get to spend much of Father’s Day with Dad since they had to get back on the road early Sunday morning to head home, we did give him his Father’s Day gift. Can you guess which one we finally settled on?

and their estimated time of arrival. We just rolled into town, but it looks like we’ll be spending the next 5-6 hours rooting for them while milling about, looking for free things to do.  The good news: I brought my camera.  The bad news: I left home without Batman.

(Photo by Terry Hutt)

And here’s the full team in their recently-arrived team jerseys:

Photo by IDKW

It’s strange to watch him prep for this from afar. I wish there was more I could do to help, but there isn’t. So, instead – since it is also almost Father’s Day – I’ve been spending my time searching for a Father’s Day Gift to give him when we see him at the finish line in Maryland. The problem is narrowing down the selection and that’s where I’m hoping that you, the readers, can help me.

Dad’s a diverse guy. He’s a computer nerd, a cycling geek, a mechanic & handyman, an avid reader, an avid eater, a music lover, a scifi fan and myriad other things, so I’ve tried to find gifts that appeal to these qualities. The categories are as follows:

COMPUTERS/COMPUTING

Binary “Dad” Shirt

Though this is probably the most appropriate of all the gifts for Dad’s Day, it may also be the most (obscurely) clichéd.

xkcd Sudo Shirt

Not particularly relevant to the holiday at hand, but I think it would still make him chuckle. Next category.

CYCLING ACCESSORIES

Universal Gadget Wrist Charger

With as much as he is on the road, this might be an interesting accessory. He’s finally jumped on the cell phone bandwagon, but I don’t know if he uses it enough to warrant an on-the-go charger … but maybe we could rig it up to a charger for this:

Helmet Cam

For all the times he gets run off the road, or nearly run off the road by passing cars, documentation could come in handy.  Plus, we’d get to see what it looks like to pedal a bike really really really fast without having to actually do so.  While brings me to the couch category:

MULTIMEDIA

Star Trek Next Gen Movie Pack

Granted, it’s a low-risk move, but you can’t go wrong with Jean-Luc. “On screen.” They have the set in Blu-Ray, but seeing as my parents don’t own a Blu-Ray player and still have beloved VHS tapes that get regular use I think DVDs are the good, middle-of-the-road solution where entertainment technology is concerned. On the slightly more advanced side, there’s this:

Barnes & Nobles Nook eBook Reader

Dad reads through books like fire consumes paper, so something like this would save him the trouble of carrying all those Bible-sized Neil Stephenson books on the bicycle. But since the Nook looks a little pricey, I checked gifts on the other end of the spectrum, too – the free end.

Hits from the 80s

And who wouldn’t love adding another 80s mix CD to their collection?  Right.

FOOD

Exotic Jerky

So this looked like a nice gift a father might enjoy … Then I came across this:

Bacon Moon Pie

Can anything compare? Marshmallow, caramel, chocolate and BACON. Wow. Four BMPs ship in the US for $33, or nine for $116. Plus, the recipe comes in the box. Now that’s what I’m talking about. Teach a man to fish and he’ll feed on bacon moon pies for a lifetime. A shortened lifetime, but a lifetime nonetheless. But, what’s a life without a little spice?

Jug o’ Tabasco

If the bacon and chocolate aren’t enough to cause some celebratory Father’s Day heartburn, there’s always a Jug of Tabasco to aid the process. Imagine how many eggs this would top! How many nasal passages this could clear! They even offer personalized gallons. Can’t help but think that this would make a wonderful gift for someone… But, I have to admit, Dad might be better off with a gallon of this:

Cane Sweeeet Iced Tea

“Dad, I slaved all day over a hot stove buying this free iced tea. Don’t drink it all in one place. Oh, yeah, Happy Father’s Day.” Perhaps it’s a little half-hearted.  But staring at this gives me a craving for sweet tea. I wonder if they will only hand this out to fathers… “No really, my dad is right around the corner. He sent me here to pick one up. Um, and so did my other dad. Yes, I have two. And they both want a Father’s Day gallon of tea. No they can’t share. Because it’s what they got each other for Father’s Day. It’s in lieu of a card. Yeah, neither of them are crazy about cards. I got them ties.”

Ideally I’d get him a lifetime supply of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (then regularly sneak a few), but in place of that I might try this:

Giant Peanut Butter Cup

Wouldn’t last a lifetime, but I could probably make him one on a quarterly basis for a few years. Supposedly, Reese’s already makes the World’s Largest Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, but it’s nothing Guinness would be interested in.

And the final category:

MISCELLANEOUS

Bendable Mr. Bill Figure

Actually, this should probably go under the Cycling Accessories category. I originally thought it would make for a good family joke – our first cat was named Mr. Bill (and my brother played Mr. Hand) – but on second thought, while riding across America it might be nice to have a companion who knows a thing or two about physical pain. The “Ohh nooooo!” would be appropriate on those long, steep downhill stretches too…

And that ends the list. Direct all comments and votes to me at ks.polk@gmail.com and if you know my dad and have a better suggestion, I welcome it!

But a close friend from the hometown (practically an adopted sister) visited this past week, and where she goes adventure is sure to follow. So, since she knows so well how to show Batman and me a good time, I thought I’d share some excerpts from our week:

Here’s a “Before” and “After” of a Black Widow we found on my back door:

I was way too nervous to get close to the Widow and certainly didn’t want to put Batman in peril. (Although – interesting side note – my ex-SO found a stunt double for Batman. I have a feeling the new little guy’ll have plenty of upcoming gigs.) Thanks for killing the Deadly Spider for me, Chica!

Now, onto the park:

Unfortunately, due to his perpetually flexed arms, Batman is cartwheel-challenged.

But, obviously D would make a great sidekick.

She’s got all the moves Tiny Plastic Batman can’t muster.

Plus she talked him into joining us for Ladies’ Night at the local bowling alley:

Unfortunately, none of us are that good at bowling, so we focused on messing around with the camera instead.

The Sepia-toned ones didn’t make the cut, but a some B&W’s ones came out neat.

And though negatives make terrible pictures, we both liked this one.

Due to the traditional low alley lighting, most of Batman’s pics didn’t come out well (the light of a flash tends to bring out his cheap, plastic nature), but that didn’t stop us from taking ten’s of photos of him.  We drew the attention of the management and some neighboring lady bowlers. All in all, a good night for Batman.

Earlier in the week, D joined me on an errand to the Bacchetta office and while we were there, Mike helped her take her first recumbent test ride.  Later, after a couple laps on my power-assisted recumbent with me hanging onto the back rack (parent-style) to help her balance, we figured she was ready for a real ride.

So the morning after bowling, we took off down the bike trail to visit the Bacchetta guys.  (As my Corsa is in California with my dad as he trains for RAAM – it’s his backup bike – I had to borrow a ride from a friend.  This Corsa (the black bike in the back) was provided courtesy of Jim Dibble. Thanks Jim! It’s a great ride!)

Mike was gone, so D didn’t get to show off her progress to him, but Jeremy, John and Mark visited with us and helped me work on convincing her to buy a recumbent and move to Florida. Afterward, to reinforce the brainwashing, we headed to check out the beautiful (not yet oil-soaked) beach:

Batman posed with the local pirate ship, then laid out to catch some rays.

After we had had enough sun, we packed up and were heading back to the car when a dragonfly landed on our beach bag.  Either he really likes green or he was just in desperate need of a lift down the beach. Either way, he stayed with us for quite a while.

Finally, we rounded the trip out with a trip to see Grandpa.

Grandpa certainly enjoyed his kiss goodbye and I enjoyed my wonderful week with this fun, encouraging, vibrant woman.  Now we both look forward to the next time D whirls into town to lift us out of our lives, if only temporarily.

]]> http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2010/05/resurrection-visited/feed/ 1 http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2010/02/bike-your-heart-out/ http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2010/02/bike-your-heart-out/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:03:19 +0000 admin http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/?p=1169 Wow! What a weekend! Despite the cold, windy weather we had a great time at Sebring (and I may have fallen for this race thing). Here’s a recount of the happenings:

Thanks to the long weekend, Mom was able to fly to Florida to help crew for the race.  On Friday we met up with some friends to caravan to Sebring:  Dad rode with Matt, his wife Lisa, their son Trevor and Matt’s Aero, while Mom and I toted Dad’s Aero and three beautiful black Corsas: Lisa’s, Trevor’s and mine.

After a quick carpool down from the St. Pete area, we registered for the race at the Sheraton next to the raceway, had some dinner and settled into our motel for a night’s rest.  My alarm when off a little before 4am Saturday morning and I headed straight for the room’s lamentably tiny coffee maker.  Dad – the one of us without the caffeine habit – popped right out of bed and started getting ready.  He hadn’t slept all night, but apparently this is normal for him the night before a race.  Yikes!

We arrived at the track a bit before 5:30 and started prepping our bikes, fuel, water and tailboxes.

We were scheduled to start at 6:30, ride a few laps around the track then head out on the long loop and after completing the track laps and the long loop, we would have ridden 100 miles.

At registration the night before, each rider was given a number to affix to their bike or clothing, a poker chip with their number on it (to toss into a bucket at the long loop turnaround checkpoint), and a little blue timing chip that hangs from the front wheel quick-release skewer and registers the time of each lap:

Everyone lined up at the start after initially registering their timing chip, and in the dark it was quite a flashy show of taillights, headlights, LED blinkies and reflectors:

This was my first race, so I lined up near the back and took a leisurely start.  Supposedly there was a lead vehicle, but I wasn’t anywhere near the front and so can’t comment on that.

Eventually they redirected us out to the open road, and other than the cold, the nasty headwind and an 8 mile wrong-turn detour, it was a wonderful ride.  The route leads out into the countryside and zigzags through cattle ranches and orange orchards so the ambient aromas alternated between the lovely scent of orange zest in the morning dew and that all-too-familiar smell from the Texas roads we’re used to: wet cow poo.

The fast group (which included my Dad!) rolled in from the long loop, finishing that initial 100 miles in about 4 hours and 45 min.  I took a lot longer: about 7 hours 20 minutes (fyi, you can sing a lot of songs to yourself over 7 hours, but it helps if you or at least the cows know the lyrics).

After completing the long loop, we were sent out to do as many short loops (at 11.7 mi each) as we could before 5:45pm, at which time we were redirected onto the raceway to do as many laps on the track as possible (at 3.7 mi each) until 6:30pm for the 12 hour riders, or 6:30am for the 24 hour riders.

During a break between two of the short loops, Mom introduced me to a man named Jim who was crewing for another Bacchetta rider.  He recognized me from this blog, and I don’t think he knew how much it thrilled me to know I have a reader I’m not related to. (Although, Family, I am delighted that you read my stories. And know that I certainly enjoy yours. That means you, Uncle John!) Yesterday Jim emailed me some pictures he took during the event. Hopefully he won’t mind if I repost them here:

Taken by Jim Dibble

Taken by Jim Dibble

He’s got more great photos of the race posted on a Fickr slideshow. Thanks for posting them Jim!

And here are a few from my mom:

After I finished the 12-hour race (I did 154 miles officially and 162 counting the bonus miles), Mom continued to crew for Dad while I hit the awards ceremony then took Matt and Lisa up on the offer to use the shower in their hotel room.   Partially thawed and slightly refreshed I hobbled back over to the pit, helped crew for a couple of Dad’s laps, then passed out on the floor of the minivan for about six hours.  Mom woke me around 2am to trade off – she slept while I crewed for Dad the remainder of the race.

Highlights of the night’s downtime included listening to an Italian rider’s crew yell at him in Italian and listening to nearby Bacchetta crew people joke about the different misnomers they’ve encountered for recumbents: “What’s up with those incumbent bikes?” “Well, the problem is when the party isn’t yours…” and “How about those recombinant bikes?” “It’s that unnatural DNA…” What a great group. =)

Dad hit his goal of 400 miles with plenty of time to spare and only a handful of riders remaining on the track.  He went back out to ride several more laps, came in for a break to thaw his hands in front of a propane-fueled heater, then headed out again. When we could no longer defrost his completely immobile fingers, he finally called it a night. Or morning. Or whatever.  All told he rode about 427 miles.

They held the award ceremony for the 24-hour racers around 7am Sunday. Dad won first in his division (55-59, male, recumbent) and 3rd (we think) overall (the final results haven’t officially been posted online yet, but some unofficial results can be found here).

Especially amazing were all the females riding recumbents in the 24-hour race:  Sarah Kay Carrell, Sandy Earl, Shellene Foster and Peggy Petty were unbelievable! Go ladies, go!

With the race over, the awards distributed and the sun back in the sky, we called to wake up Matt, Lisa and Trevor, then started packing up for the ride home.  While we were prepping for the return trip, Sebring was gearing up for another day of racing:

We eventually got on the road and though Dad and I had the best of intentions to stay awake and help keep our drivers alert, we both passed out shortly into the ride home.  Ah well.

And after unpacking everything upon our return we had the best of intentions to stay awake and do our ride reports, but shortly into our time home we both passed out for a good 8-9 hour nap.  Between 9 and 10pm we managed to crawl out of bed for a few hours before passing out for another full night’s sleep.  Now we are fully rested and working on recovering.  With some tender care to our joints, we’ll be back on the bikes mid-week, ready to do more centuries.

With a lot more training, I hope to log 200+ miles in next year’s 12-hour race, and there’s no telling what Dad will do.  Between now and then we’ll just keep riding as often and as far as possible.

Maybe it’s time to start thinking about that New York trip again…

Oh, and for those of you who are counting, some Quick Stats:

Stampedes: 0 (for local Sebring cows, this bike invasion is annual – nothing surprises them)

Roadside Pees: 1

]]> http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2010/02/bike-your-heart-out/feed/ 0 http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2010/02/bring-it/ http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/2010/02/bring-it/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:07:35 +0000 admin http://www.ifyouwerewondering.com/wordpress/?p=1164 Just a quick post tonight cause tomorrow morning is the big race: Bike Sebring!  We’ve been riding a lot in the weeks leading up to this, did more than a few centuries and several 60-80 mile rides.  Dad’ll be doing the 24hr drafting event alongside many of the Bacchetta greats, and I’ll be doing the 12 hr drafting event, spinning the pedals as I watch the clouds go by.

Ok, maybe not that laid back, but as this is my first racing event and I hope to do over 140 miles, I’ll be taking it a little easy to make sure I can last the full 12 hours.  (I can imagine the 24hr riders chuckling at me, but you gotta start somewhere, right?) =)

Probably my biggest achievement in the past month has been the evolution of my biking food: the power brownies!  The recipe, which began as this, ended up as this:

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c agave syrup

1/2 c milk

4 tbsp cocoa powder

—–

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c peanut butter

—–

1/2 c pecan meal

1/2 c flax seed meal

1/2 c rice flour

2 tbsp cinnamon

2 scoops protein powder (optional

dash ascorbic acid (optional)

dash citric acid (optional)

—–

1 egg

Directions:

- Melt butter, sugar, agave, milk and cocoa powder in pot until boiling. Boil one min. Remove from heat.

- Combine butter mixture with peanut butter and almond & vanilla extracts. Stir until blended.

- Add in pecan meal, flax seed meal, rice flour, cinnamon, protein powder, ascorbic and citric acids.  Stir until blended.

- Add egg and stir until blended.

- Drop about a tbsp of batter in each cup of bite-sized brownie pan. Bake at 325 for 10-15 min, or until centers are visibly set.

I was able to ride over 80 miles on those alone without any problems.  Hopefully they’ll come in handy tomorrow. Wish us luck!