Alone Together

The current pandemic has eliminated group rides so all my rides are solo rides and I suspect that will be true for some time. There is talk about starting to reopening certain parts of the economy but they are just in the planning phase (except for a few crazy states who think that barbershops and salons can operation safely). You know its bad when even Insane Clown Posse is shutting down all concerts and gatherings because this stuff is too insane for even them.

To fill in the social gap from not riding with the gang I have been scheduling a zoom meeting every Friday to catch up with them. At this point, over a month into the lock down, everybody is getting good at these meetings and if you look at the top left corner of the picture you can see that even my dog knows how to join a zoom meeting.

These zoom meetings are not the same as physically getting together but they are fun and help us get together and check up on each other. And that is the important part. Even though we are riding alone its still important to get together in other ways to help the Insane bike posse be a little less insane.

Today I did a 50 mile ride to Rova farms. Laura was in the hills and was planning on crossing paths with some of the gang. It was too far for me to ride from home so I sent her a picture of me instead and told her to say hi.

I did notice today on my ride that there were a lot more people out in both cars and bikes. Although all parks are suppose to be closed Etra was open and people were out in the park walking around and playing soccer. As the weather gets nicer I'm wondering how many people will stay home and inside.

Over the pass few weeks of solo rides I have noticed that although most people are keeping their distance some are not. I saw a couple of group of bikers who riding as close as we use to and even got passed by a few bikers a little closer than I should of. I'm trying to take a sensible approved to riding out in the real world to minimize my chances of exposure without becoming paranoid about it. So here are my general rules.

• When moving I try to be at least 20 feet from any other rider.
• When I'm stopped I try to be 6-10 feet from anybody.
• If I have to pass another rider I try and wait until there is no traffic and pass as far to the left as possible. 
•  Although it is against my normal way of riding I'm now avoiding or going around road closures if there are workers or police there. I don't want to add any extra problems or anxiety to people already in a tough situation. I also don't think interacting with police is a good idea since there is no doubt that most of them have been in contact with people who have been sick. 
• I bring all I need to eat and drink with me so I don't have to go into any store
• I try to avoid town centers where it could be crowded. 

Basically I am trying to avoid any unneeded contact with anybody. It makes for a bit of a lonely ride but I'm still glad to be able to get out and ride.

Signs of Hope

You know things are bad when you are excited to see toilet paper at the supermarket. We are able to get most of what we need to at the supermarket, except flour. Sometimes we can't get the brand we want but each week we are finding the shelves a little more stocked. We even found some hand sanitizer this week.

 Now it was from some local distillery and smelled like some horrible bath tub gin (which is more or less what it is) but we put it in a spray bottle and can use it to wipe down surfaces we have to do now after they have been contaminated from something coming from the outside world.

Things are far from normal and even when they do return to normal it is going to be a different type of normal. As to when we will be able to ride in groups again who knows so for now all my rides are solo rides from my house.

Since traffic is low I have be doing rides across Rt 1 on roads I'm usually a little reluctant to ride. Although it is spring the weather hasn't been great. I have gotten rained on during my last three rides and yesterday when I went out it was a little cold and really windy. I am known for a certain ride signature. My rides start with some climb close the beginning of the ride and somewhere along the way there is usually a bridge out. When I'm leading rides I get a lot of complaints about the hills and the bridge outs. When I'm riding solo there are also lots of complaint (mostly in my head). I would change my ride signature but I got to be me.

Yesterday's ride went from my house across some open farm fields and up New Rd to the canal. The first 20 miles of the ride was painful as I'm not in great shape yet and I was fighting a 20 mph headwind most of the way. At Blackwells Mill I ran into Jack and road a few miles together.

My ride took me through the middle of Princeton on Nassau Street. I normally won't ride on Nassau Street but knew there would be light traffic and wanted to see what the town looked like with things shut down. There are some cafes and restaurants open, for take out, and one of them smelled amazing. Princeton is quiet but has not reached ghost town status yet.

The purpose of going through Princeton was to check out the bridge on Alexander Rd that is being replace. It has been a while since I went passed a bridge out sign so it felt like something I needed to do. I headed pass multiple signs and barriers and checked out the bridge.

It looks like they have the bridges finished and paved and are just working on the curbs and walls surrounding the bridge. Even though it was Saturday there was some construction workers working on the bridge. I approached one of them and asked if the bridge was passable. He said yes but that there was a lot of construction with heavy equipment going on at the other end. He said he was glad I asked because a few people and even a car drove right through and pissed off the guys at the other end. From what he said I implied that he was saying only assholes would try to go over the bridge while they were working on it. I'm willing to walk through water, mud and take the risk to go over partially finished bridges but don't want to be an asshole about it so I turned around and took Washington Street back over Rt 1.

Alexander Rd will probably be finished in another month or so. It is probably safe to go over on Sundays and nights when no work is going on but should be avoided otherwise.

Moment of Zen

When my wife and I go on one of our driving trips we usually try to stop for lunch at some kind of scenic vista. We call it our moment of zen. It's a way to make sure we have a few minutes of relaxation on our vacation instead of just rushing around to get some where or see something. 

Riding has always been a stress reliever for me and I know it is that way for other people too. Part of the stress relief of riding is just getting out of the house and exercising. Part of it is getting into a different mind set. When I'm riding I forget about work and other things going on in my life and just concentrate on turning the pedals. On a good day when I'm ridding by myself I can really connect to the bike and tune into my body and get into a meditative state.

As part of the wellness program at work I have taken some mindfulness and meditation courses. I did it to get money put into my HSA account and the mindfulness and meditation courses are the shortest and easiest to complete. Most of these courses were a bunch of guided meditations with a guy talking in this droning soft voice telling you to empty your mind and find your center. It reminded me of those Saturday night live affirmations skits. It was useless.

However it did get me curious about meditation and led me to a book by Dan Harris (of ABC news) called "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics" which explained meditation from a scientific point of view with out the religious overtones. After reading the book and a couple of others I came across a good description of what meditation is.

Your brain is like a highway with thoughts racing back and forth. You are the dog, on the side of the road, frantically chasing after each thought. What meditation does is calm the dog down so it just sits quietly on the side of the road and watches each each thought go by with out chasing it.

Some of the meditation practices have helped me recently during the passing of my mother. They helped me keep my anxiety in check as she was in the hospital and hospice. Some of these same practices are easy to apply when riding and was something I was sort of kinda doing anyway. These practices should come in handy as I will be doing a lot more solo rides.

Based on the latest guidelines there will be no group rides for quiet a while. Its just not worth the risk. I have been scheduling some zoom meeting with the insane bike posse to check in with them and socialize. This past weekend I also posted the route of my ride and some of the posse intersected my route so we could have a quick safe distant conversation. However I expect all my rides for the next month to be solo rides. It is tough riding 40 to 50 miles by myself but it does help that it is spring and the trees are starting to bloom. The hawthorn trees are at peak now as are the magnolias and cherry trees. There is a certain joy to watch the rebirth of spring.

It is going to be tough not riding in a group and still be motivated to go out and ride but I'm comforted by the words of Winston Churchill after the battle of Dunkirk.

 "We shall go on riding our bikes to the end. We shall ride them in France, we shall ride them on the seas and oceans (?), we shall ride them with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our right to ride bikes, whatever the cost may be. We shall ride them on the beaches(unless they are closed), we shall ride them on the landing grounds, we shall ride them in the fields and in the streets, we shall ride them in the hills; we shall never surrender our right to ride (unless of course Dr Fauci tells us to )"

So okay maybe Winston Churchill wasn't talking about biking in this quote and I might have changed it just a little but you get the idea. In any case stay safe out there and keep in touch.