Absolutely Exercise

Mission accomplished

2020-07-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

Friday ride: I did a few more miles than I did in July 2019, but that 1,000 miles in a month target requires more than I had to give. Next year perhaps.

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Breathe, but try not to inhale

2020-07-30T16:09:00.001-07:00

Thursday ride: Sundown last night was a murky affair because of the smoke from the Bishop Fire more than 100 miles to the west, near Elgin, Nevada. A lurid, cherry-red sun sank ignominiously behind a bank of dark-grey smoke and the day ended with a whimper a couple of minutes before the advertised time. By sunup today there were still patches of smoke high up around the valley, although at ground level the air quality was better than in any city.

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New blooms on the block

2020-07-29T15:44:00.002-07:00

Wednesday ride: Those yellow flowers [?] at sunup made my day. I was struggling this morning, but the sight of those petals as the sun came up over the escarpment lifted my spirits. My physical performance remained rubbish (the word can be used as a witheringly dismissive adjective in my ineradicable working-class dialect). I have never seen such blooms before, nor are they present anywhere else on my route. They just appeared today, all on their lonesomes.

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Little grist for the photo mill

2020-07-28T16:07:00.002-07:00

Tuesday ride: There was a paucity of photo opportunities out in the countryside today. I rode back through the urban area and took some photos of those tipis. There is no good viewpoint and I decided on a warts 'n' all photorealism approach, just to get this subject over and done with once and for all.

I usually check a few factual points when I write the ride/photo descriptions. Today, I discovered that 'wigwam', as I was calling them, is a totally incorrect word to apply to the shelters shown. The correct word is 'tipi' (alternatively 'teepee'). They are erratics, to borrow a useful term from geology, and they are out of their original context in this location.

The surrounding built-up environment is clearly a mismatch, but tipis were a feature of the way of life of the Plains Native Americans, not something that was adopted by all the First Nations. If you are passing through Hurricane, UT, with only a sleeping bag for overnight shelter then these teepees are available for rent at the WillowWinds RV Park. The park website has a video that uses a good viewpoint—if only I had a drone!

In other news, St George News has published an article by Della Lowe of the Southern Utah Bicycle Alliance (SUBA). Entitled Nostalgia for the future: Southern Utah Bicycle Alliance advocates for active transportation policies, the article envisions a solution to the pressures and impacts that come from the ubiquity of motorized-vehicle ownership and use.

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Dreadful sorry clementines

2020-07-27T11:58:00.006-07:00

Monday ride: I refer to miles that are not recorded on Strava by annotating the record as a 'clementine' ride, which is to say the miles are "lost and gone forever". If it's not recorded with a GPS device then it never happened. That's the law. Protesting that one rode ten miles further than was recorded, like I just whinged, makes us sound like we have an OCD about our performances. Blush. Garmin users have been afflicted by clementines for several days, but through a service failure rather than any personality defects. Bear with me: help is at hand in an article by the redoubtable DC Rainmaker.

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Watched over by machines

2020-07-26T14:26:00.005-07:00

Sunday ride: The bicycle seemed to have a will of its own today. I was pedaling mindlessly and found myself over on the west side of town doing some unaccustomed hill-climbing at the end of my ride. A day when everything falls into place like the flick of a switch is a rare gift and a consummation devoutly to be wish'd, but in a good way. Long may it last.

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Ideal weather conditions

2020-07-25T18:48:00.001-07:00

Saturday ride: Everything was just right for an enjoyable summer-morning ride; the light was delightful; the temperature was just right in the light breeze: it was the kind of day when you forget your worldly woes and the pedaling comes relatively easily. I was expecting to see hordes of riders… well, a few anyway, but they were less in number than is usual even on a weekday. Perhaps there were other more exotic places to ride on this fine weekend.

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Lots of cloud, but no rain yet

2020-07-23T14:09:00.001-07:00

Thursday ride: The weather forecast gave a 15% chance of rain, but the day seemed fresh because of lower than recent temperatures and despite higher humidity. Is this the monsoon? Everything you could possibly want to know about that is available from the NWSFO (National Weather Service Forecast Office) in Albuquerque, NM, in mind-numbing detail. A few desultory drops of rain are falling as I write. Perhaps dancing might serve as an encouragement.

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Local acclimation

2020-07-22T15:08:00.003-07:00

Wednesday ride: There was a 75°/40% combination of temp/humidity this morning and for me at least that was more comfortable than the 79°/30% combination of yesterday. I seem to have acclimated recently and it has only taken me twenty years of suffering. There will be no local acclamation, however, for my paltry achievement. Someone is sure to observe, "It's dry heat".

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Beat the rain

2020-07-21T16:29:00.003-07:00

Tuesday ride: It was muggy overnight, so beating the heat (which is to say that oppressive combination of temperature and humidity that may be a portent of the coming monsoon season) was not possible. I did manage to mostly dodge the rain, such as it was, except for a refreshing sprinkle just as I rode down the home straight.

I thought the headline photo might not work; indeed, it may not work on a small screen, but take my word for it that there is an aeroplane in the centre of the frame. I use this blog as a workshop rather than a portfolio, which explains why not all of the presentations are polished.

The first three photos in the thumbnail gallery were taken for use in the Strava app on a mobile phone. Horizontal, aka landscape format, versions are also included. The overabundance of cloudscapes is here to allow me to judge which ones work best. If you are not a fan of cloudscapes, please feel free to leave now.

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One too many mornings

2020-07-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday ride: My schedule for July was twenty-eight days of riding and three days of rest. Blocks of riding were to be between seven and ten days. Today, to accommodate a scheduling snafu for a routine medical test tomorrow, was my eleventh day in a row. I could feel it, but now I am a hundred miles ahead, not a thousand miles behind.

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Empty Bottle Blues

2020-07-18T15:59:00.001-07:00

Saturday ride: The subject of the headline photo is not the sort of thing you want to see when parched, weary, and waterless. To compensate, I started making up a country blues song in my head, entitled Empty Bottle Blues. After successfully completing two lines, I thought, 'What a brilliant title. Damn! Surely, there must already be a song with that title.' Why yes, there is!

Country blues singer Jerry Ricks sings Empty Bottle Blues as the fourth track on his 1997 album Deep in the Well. Sadly for my nascent songwriting career, Empty Bidon Blues as a non-infringing alternative title just does not have the same earthy resonance and credibility.

The red green-rolling machine at the golf course creates something of an animated trompe-l'œil as it whizzes from side to side. Actually the machine is going backwards and forwards, but the operator sits sideways to avoid getting a crick in his neck when going in what would otherwise be a backwards direction. It's a strangely fascinating action to watch.

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Full swing at first light

2020-07-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

Friday ride: Operations were in full swing at the Copper Rock golf course by the time I arrived at first light. The immediate lee side of a high ridge is not the best place for viewing sunrises, but there was a fair showing from the golf course service roads this morning.

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Don't you bring Lulu

2020-07-16T16:19:00.002-07:00

Thursday ride: The air was clearer today with some dark & light yin-yang cloud effects. I was to see more of the dark side and lighter side later on my ride. Can bringing a dinosaur to the party ever end well? She's the kind of smarty who breaks up every party, as the song goes. Being a sausage dog in that neighborhood must be a risky gig.

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Weary and reluctant sunrise

2020-07-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday ride: The wildfires in the area have created air pollution around the valley. I was hoping for a spectacularly fiery dawn, but when it came it rose wearily and reluctantly above the smog with very little drama. I had anticipated an amazing sunrise so that I could headline this entry with: Smoke on the water, fire in the sky. I have the eponymous track playing in the background from Deep Purple on the 1972 Machine Head album. Beethoven would surely roll over if he knew the main riff was based on his fifth symphony. The Utah paddy fields are not really up to Lake Geneva standard either, but come on, use your imagination!

Today was another opportunity for hawk watching. Several birds were working the Dick Stout airport and the scrub across the other side of the road. Another pair (or perhaps the same pair I saw yesterday) settled on one of the utility poles and one proceeded to screech at the other. This time I caught the action on camera for anyone who can beakread.

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Kvetching raptor

2020-07-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

Tuesday ride: Before it was fully light, I passed a pair of hawks sitting quietly atop a utility pole. Later, I passed a pair in full sunlight and they were having what seemed like a domestic dispute. Forgive me if I have anthropomorphized inappropriately. The hawk on the left in the headline photo was vocalizing loudly at the one on the right, who seemed unmoved except to recoil when the kvetcher flounced off to the next pole in line. I hope they made it up.

My pre-sunup photos look better than I expected. Taking multiple images across a range of three EVs (exposure values) would allow me to make a composite photo that gave the correct exposure to both the sky and the foreground. Combining photography and bicycling has its limitations. I am not ready to spend more time and use a tripod, so for the time being it's a matter of accepting less of one in the pursuit of more of the other.

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Seasonal pulse

2020-07-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

Moday ride: The second cut of alfalfa hereabouts is being bailed. Like most things, there is more to it than one might at first assume. Reading that Wikipedia link, I was struck by the information that the plant exhibits an autotoxicity phenomenon. There is so much to learn and so little time remaining. The development of crop rotation, the solution to the autotoxicity issue, has been known for at least 6,000 years. That must have been hard-won knowledge. Observing the Sabbath of the Land (schmita) year must have been even harder in times of scarcity.

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Avian airshow

2020-07-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday ride: Yesterday, a hawk flew away before I managed to take a photo. Today there was an avian airshow at the same utility pole. The small birds did not seem afraid of the hawks and were more intent on squabbling among themselves. There was not much human activity early on this Sunday morning, but plenty of birds and as the light came up a coyote loped along the road in front of me before making a sharp right turn up a side track.

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Days like this

2020-07-11T13:16:00.001-07:00

Saturday ride: After a restful night, I awoke feeling… exhausted and aching all over? It's not supposed to work like that. Oh my mama told me / There'll be days like this—she just didn't say there would be so many. The thought of the industrial-grade chip and seal on my regular route filled me with dread. I stayed on the smoothest asphalt available en route and rode out and back until I had done as much as fell just short of too much and then I headed home.

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New every morning is the sun

2020-07-10T16:49:00.004-07:00

Friday ride: As I pedaled along this morning at sunup, I thought I was singing the first line of a hymn remembered from long ago. Sort of—I had mashed together two hymns, one by John Keble and the other by Thomas Ken, to make a cringeworthy truism. It has always struck me as odd that when I sing in my head I have perfect pitch and mellifluous delivery and it's only when I sing out loud that it sounds abominable. Ah, you don't know what you're missing!

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The more you look, the more you will see

2020-07-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday ride: I have passed that fierce face many times without noticing it. A sign on the gate says, Visitors welcome. Relatives by appointment. I supposed the totem was there to reinforce the point. I tried to locate information that might identify a particular culture from whence that style of totem was derived, but was unable to find anything specific.

The hawk that lives around the particular utility pole shown in the thumbnail strips (presuming it is the same bird, which may not be a valid presumption given that I have no idea of their range) is quite edgy and nervous. If I turn off my flashing riding light then the bird is less likely to make a rapid departure as I stop and take out my camera.

I saw two new garden artefacts today, although a photograph of one of them will have to wait until the sun is further to the west as I pass. I made a later pass around the site where the stone tortoise lives and the lighting had improved from the time of my first pass.

The cobble columns were familiar, but I have been waiting to photograph them without vehicles in the background, so consider this an interim attempt. I struggled to remember the correct name given to this type of construction. For a second time my search was not very fruitful: to get good results from Google searches you need to know the proper terms for your subject. The most common expression for this type of art is rock stacking (or the more esoteric rock balancing subset) and sometimes the artefacts are known as zen stones. I am always leery of the use of the word zen in the West, so I prefer the more prosaic rock stacks/stacking usage.

It seems that rock stacking is not just an art, discipline, or hobby, but also a competitive endeavor with an annual European Championship that is held in Scotland. The host website is StoneStacking.co.uk, where there is more information; the video by Glenda Rome on that linked page is available directly from the Vimeo website.

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Men at work

2020-07-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

The headline photo was taken yesterday, but it failed to make the cut. On my ride today, I saw some Utah linesmen at work and decided on a tribute to people—men, women, and those who choose a different gender identity—who do the physical work that supports us all. The photo of the men pouring concrete is not on a par with with the Ford Madox Brown composition for his Pre-Rapaelite Work masterpiece. Then again, it didn't take me thirteen years to finish my work.

There are two versions of Work (Manchester, the original, and Birmingham, a later and smaller copy) and on Wikipedia their reproduction coloration is quite different. I suspect that the yellow/green cast seen in the reproduction of the work in the Manchester City Art Gallery collection (viewable at the previous two links above) may have been introduced by the photographic process. There is a third reproduction of the painting that more closely matches the reproduction coloration of the painting in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery collection.

The two-man microlite seen in yesterday's gallery was flying again today. Some might cavil at the inclusion of a recreational vehicle in a post that purports to be about work. My own thinking was that it might be a training machine and that would mean that at least one of the crew members was working, albeit not the kind of physical work being undertaken by the others.

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Doors of perception

2020-07-06T20:57:00.002-07:00

Widely known as 'Uncle Sam', the origin of this personification of the government of the United States of America is uncertain. Cecil Adams at StraightDope.com reviews the record and opines: "Pit truth against a plausible legend and the truth hits the mat every time."

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Blame it on the moonlight

2020-07-05T15:17:00.001-07:00

I took a camera on my ride, but forgot the memory card. If I told you I saw a white llama peering over a fence in the moonlight, would you believe me in the absence of photographic evidence? I did see the moon setting and I did see a llama peering over a fence, just not both at the same time. Our memories plays tricks on us.

I recall reading an interview with a retired picture editor from the days when newspapers were how people received their news and informed themselves about the world. He was asked what defined a professional photographer and he explained: 'The professionals always come back with something I can use.' Blush. That's why I am only an amateur photographer.

The four photos for today are ones that didn't make the editorial cut on Monday.

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A day for reflection

2020-07-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Many people will follow tradition today and celebrate Independence Day as the foundation of the republic with flags and fireworks. Some will reflect of the history of the country and ponder its future. On my ride today it was difficult to reconcile the peace and quiet with the problems and divisions that are roiling the nation at this time.

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