the tao of cycling: out of sight . . . out of mind

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

out of sight . . . out of mind

I have this issue with things I buy. it's as if I think the mattress tag police are going to come get me: am I really allowed/supposed to/not going to ruin anything if I rip that tag off the new item I just purchased?
will I destroy the integrity of the product if I trim a piece back, cut the legs off, add to or take away from what's already there?
apparently a part of me believes so.

and that is a key reason I haven't fixed the too-long, ill-fitting, ends-flapping strap on my bike helmet.
every time I wear that helmet my right ear hurts.
every time.
and each time I get off my bike and remove my helmet, I promptly forget all about it.
which is the other reason I haven't fixed the strap on my bike helmet.

between fear of the secret product police and my "out of sight, out of mind" method of operation, I have this terribly uncomfortable strap on the right side of my helmet that causes me no end of grief, and I can't seem to do anything about it.

bike helmets, you see, come with the incredibly complicated system of straps that my little brain can't (won't) completely make sense of. you would think it would be fairly simple: straps come from front and rear of helmet, meet under the ear, then move down and snap together with the straps from the opposite side.
however, something happens when those flat woven straps bend and slide through the little adjusting gripper thingees (yes, I know they have a real name but I will not deign to do that research) and for the life of me I can't get the right side to fit correctly and leave my ear alone.

the question one should ask now is: just how much effort has susan given to this project?

the answer: very little.

because (1) I have a congenital fear of those product police and (2) out of sight, out of mind.

I laughed while telling the story of my helmet and ear on sunday as I rode, was bothered by it monday when I rode, and only rubbed it once or twice this morning when I rode.
and have I fixed it yet?

no.

because it's sitting on the other side of the wall, two rooms away.
and besides, it has that special protection to keep it safe from consumers like me who may, one day, be tempted to take scissors to it and violate its very nature.

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the Male Ego

The other day I was coming down a canyon in my drop bars (two years ago I would have said, 'what's a drop bar?'), working hard, when I came up on two guys who were also heading downhill but at a more leisurely pace. I passed them, said hello as I did so, and pulled back into the bike lane. a few minutes later they went flying past me, faces looking dead ahead, not a single bit of acknowledgment that I even existed on this planet let alone was involved in and enjoying the same sport they were.
I have to attribute this to the male ego. what else can it be? now I know we all have egos, myself included. and mine even shows its ridiculous little head once in a while, or perhaps more often. but the difference between mine and say, those of certain men on bicycles, is that I KNOW mine exists and I can LAUGH at mine. I know my ego was quite excited to pass those guys, and I could also smile because I knew if the men had really been working like I was, they would have kicked my butt down the hill.
I think I pissed them off.
and I'm sure I will be sharing with you much more of my thoughts about the male ego . . .

a little history

I was married, and I had a mountain bike which I rarely rode. we separated, I moved out, and four months later someone stole my bike. the next spring, 2005, I bought myself a new mountain bike. I rode occasionally, and in april 2006 I rode in my first century, the Cactus Hugger in St. George, Utah. I made it 54 miles on that mountain bike, and it took me about 6 hours. I think that included the rest stops where I prayed that someone would steal my bike again . . .
in june 2006 I started riding my mountain bike five mornings a week, a 45-55 minute loop that was intended to be all about exercise. and what I found was that I loved the quiet, peaceful morning full of bird chatter and barely breaking sunrises. by that fall I was hooked, and began considering the purchase of a road bike. I rode up emigration canyon for the first time that Labor Day of 2006, panting and plowing along on my trusty (heavy) bike, and a month later I was the proud owner of my own road bike: I had become a two-bike girl!
a 17-week-long "power camp" over the winter and a handful of new friends kept bicycling front and center in my life, and when spring of 2007 rolled around I was ready to hit the pavement. I rode my first century the end of april, when I again went to St. George and completed that Cactus Hugger. it took me about 7 hours, but this time I rode the entire 100 miles with about 9300 feet of vertical gain. woo hoo!
I started riding canyons around our area, emigration and millcreek, city creek, big cottonwood, little mountain and big mountain, and once--yes, only once--little cottonwood.
then in september of 2007, I rode from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, in the slightly infamous LOTOJA race. I rode, I did not race. and I completed the thing, crediting my good training buddies, the incredibly perfect weather, my support team, and an amazing convergence of all things positive in the universe.
I put in about 3500 miles last season, and as of today, july 19, 2008, I have about 1700 in, adding to it every day.
I have again signed on to ride the LOTOJA race, and my goal is to have just somewhere near as great a ride as I did last year. oh, and to have someone fun to talk with along the way as I got incredibly bored last year . . . star valley is still a nightmare scene in my biking memories . . .
and here is a picture of the machine that has helped me reclaim my life.