Absolutely Exercise

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 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.

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. "

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.

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.

There are always more things to see when on a ride than there are photo opportunities. A few days ago I saw a fox, which darted into the scrub. Today, I saw a family of skunks drinking from an irrigation channel. The sun had not risen and they didn't see me so I kept going so not to disturb them. A roosting hawk awaiting the sun loudly expressed displeasure at my flashing lights. A landing plane made its approach so quietly that I missed an opportunity. Finally, I spotted a lurking garden monster and that saved the day photographically speaking.

I was standing around again today watching men and insects as they busily excavated their respective domains. My own work seems inconsequential in the great scheme of things, although I would be hard pressed to put a quantative value on any of the opertions.

The sewer crew has started to work eastwards, which reduces the distance I can ride along W3000S. Up at Copper Rock the road crew has extended the back stretch on the south side (photo on the left, below). I think there is a net loss of riding distance for me, so I will have to find another half mile somewhere else. We are now halfway through the year and today I saw my first 2020 sunflower today; perhaps I should have been paying closer attention.