The kitchen sink

So the biking has been going relatively well so far. Only 3 flats since I started the trip just over a month ago. Not too shabby, considering my prior record of roughly 8 miles per tube....

Anyhow, I've been doing quite a bit of thinking (mostly when pedaling uphill) about how to cut some of the weight. Ollie's looking a bit more curvy than when we first started. I seem to be acquiring things more quickly than I can shed them: a pretty cool beer can camping stove from the Hoadleys during my sojourn in Shepherdstown, a second (and incidentally much-needed) sweater from my Aunt Barbara in Cumberland, some good hand lotion from Pam (I had developed dry and cracked "farmer's hands" from all of the field work which was just too inefficient when I tried to use gloves so I worked without them) while staying at her home in Bedford one evening on my way east....

Now, I've tried doing a bit of thinking outside the box (or outside the pannier, if you will) and kicked around some ideas: combining the spice kit and first aid kit, for example. Each has its own merits: the traditional first aid kit's space blanket doubles as a shiny cape for costume parties, while the culinary emergency kit would come in handy if I were to, say, run into Michael Pollan at a state park and he wanted to talk about the burgeoning local mushroom culture and asked what I was making on the camp stove and so I invited him to stay for dinner and then as I was handing him a plate of macaroni I became suddenly paralyzed with an overwhelming fear that the food around the campsite was lacking the appropriate level of epicurean sophistication and was just crying out for... oh, I dunno... herbes de provence. (It could happen. Luckily I have a stash of it with me, along with about 25 other must-have seasonings.) But then, I don't know that curry powder or spanish saffron would have helped much with the bangs and scrapes along the way, so perhaps I should keep the Band-aids and Neosporin and Aspirin and... okay, the whole first aid kit. Shoot.

The hills I've made it up thus far along the way are going to make way for mountains pretty soon. Anyone out there have tips on what to scrap to shave some weight off the bike? I've already sent the full-size pepper grinder and whisk home....

(What's really sad is that I'm serious about the grinder and the whisk.)

...Swine flu the economy and how cycling saves all..

So... we are all sick of it, maybe I should say we're all fed up with it. The news coverage on the swine flu. Anyways, the recent media coverage may be the best thing to happen to the country at this time. Think about it, would you rather listen to media coverage talk about the swine flu or report stock markets like baseball box scores... The other point why swine flu is beneficial to the county is it is helping to jump start the economy... Again, during a recession spending, not saving is a good practice but everyone goes about it backwards... but with swine flu people are going out and BUYING hand sanitizer, something no one would spend money on 2 weeks ago. I believe I ending up at this conclusion at the end of a short ride, as most of my thoughts are materialized in the saddle... Maybe the government even introduced swine flu to take the public mind off the economy- OK that is a stretch... Here is another stretch, rain is bad for the bike business.... but good for malls. The last few rainy weekends have been driving people to the malls where they SPEND MONEY. Can the government control the weather too... Anyways the last rant I have is riding your bike gets you outside, being outside exposes to you germs, these build up your immune systems making your body stronger. The fitness thing also helps health too. Besides health benefits and mental sanity that cycling provides it also boosts the economy. If you are riding your bike you will need stuff, tubes, tyers, lube and parts, this pumps money into the economy... This is still cheaper than maintaining a car. And better for green fitness. (A gym uses lots of energy to power tread mills and all the other stuff that goes a long with it...)

Not sure if I've made any sense but ride your bike it will make you happier....

Pet rocks

So a mechanic friend of mine once told me that there are 2 types of bike owners. I got into a discussion about this with a couple of guys from Anapolis over lunch at a corner store a few days ago.

The first are "dog" bike owners. These are the people who ride their bikes into the ground. They will not bring their bike into the shop for a tune-up until the handlebars have been zip tied back on at least three times. Their bikes are covered in mud and make odd creaking sounds sometimes. The brakes mostly work. They love to ride, but don't have the patience or finesse to keep everything rolling smoothly. If the wheels turn, that's what matters.

Then there are the "cat" bike owners. These types are very in tune with their machines. They know every nuanced sound change and notice slight shifts in performance. They regularly tune things up, cleaning and lubing the chain after a ride in the rain, checking the bolts and cables before each big ride. They love their bikes as much as the "dog" owners but are borderline OCD.

On my trip, I have also run into a 3rd category: "fish" bike owners. These are people who ride a bike a few times a year or less. They don't know why the bike would be creaky after sitting in their parents' damp shed for 8 years. They bring it into the shop when they get a flat tire, perplexed by the whole idea of changing a tire themselves. (These are the same people who come back to the pet store with the belly-up goldfish they'd gotten their 4-year-old a week before but forgot to feed. The fish, not the 4-year-old... I hope.)

I am not an elitist. Hardly. While I like to think of myself in the "cat" group, I am some hybrid of all of these, to a degree. Heck, up until a few months ago, I would have been in a 4th category: "pet rock" bike owner.

Which one are you?