Category Archives: Personal stuff

If it’s not one thing, it’s another (almost-daily diary issues & lack of updates)

Personal stuff, Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

Near the top of Kings. The deer on the left did something funny; they walked across the road in front of us, trying to get away, moved up the hillside and we saw them again on the other side of the hairpin. Kind of like how spectators at the Tour de France rush from the downside of a hairpin to the upside as the riders go past.
It’s bad enough that I haven’t kept things up here as I should; the “almost daily” part of this seems like a ship that sailed a very long time ago. Probably two years ago, and I can look to some strange stuff that went on then (not bike stuff) for some of the reason. And then, when I try to get caught back up, the webhost for the diary is down! So I can’t update when I want to update!

It’s been a really rough summer, having to watch the ‘Tour from the sidelines (well, no, in-person it would be on the sidelines; I’m watching from 6,000 miles away). And then the craziness that Covid-19 has brought to the bike biz, and add to that trying to get things moving for the shop move (we’ve been paying full rent for the new place since April; that’s going to come to maybe $90,000 by the time we move in, and I can think of a lot better ways I’d rather be spending that money than on an empty building!).

Love that needle on the bee stinger “assembly.” Ouch.
But for now, we’ll cover yesterday, and why I didn’t sleep much last night. A nearly idyllic morning on Kings, albeit alone, until I got stung by a bee just as I got to the wide-open clearing with 1.5 miles to go. It must have hit my helmet because the instant it bounced off my arm it managed to sting me. No way that could have happened if it hadn’t already been angry and prepared. It’s like, c’mon, you’ve got to be kidding. All the stuff that’s been going on, and now I get stung by a bee? The good thing is that it was, in fact, a bee, not a yellow jacket. I react really badly to yellow jackets. But you could see the stinger and see it pumping venom into my arm (one of those few times I wish I didn’t have “readers” on my sunglasses that allow me to see things close up!). I know enough to scrape it out, not try to pull it, which would pump more venom into my arm. Even saved the stinger part and put it on top of my garmin so I could get a photo when I felt like it.

I considered turning around right then but no, it wasn’t a yellow jacket, let’s just keep going and see how things feel. I stopped a bit further up, to check up on my arm and get a photo of the stinger (it later fell off my garmin but it was a scary enough image to remember without having to save it). Kept going, got passed by a few guys, the the slower of the three I managed to catch back up to and gradually grind on past. Got to the top, exchanged pleasantries (wondered if they were going to be doing West Old LaHonda) and, when it turned out they weren’t going to be heading the way I normally would, I decided to head back home, straight down the hill.

This morning, I’m suffering a bit from lack of sleep because that arm (left) has been itching pretty badly. Allegra helps. It’s not swelling too much, but it’s not much fun. And that’s kind of how a lot of things have been lately- not much fun. It’s time to have some fun.

This photo shows why I have my doubts the 2020 TdF can run as planned

Personal stuff, Tdf trip planning

July 20, 2017, atop the Izoard at the Tour de France. Me and a few, maybe tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of my closest friend.
A picture’s worth a thousand words. It’s hard to believe that everything is still in place to run the 2020 Tour de France in a normal fashion; “social distancing” and Grand Tour Cycling, as we have come to know it, don’t really co-exist. But so far, everything says things are good to go.

In general, it wouldn’t be that difficult to avoid overly-packed situations, if you’re willing to watch the race pass by from a less-than-optimal spot. Unless you’re on Alpe d’Huez, which is packed from bottom-to-top, there will be plenty of less-interesting places where spectators are fewer, especially on the descents. You’d miss the angst and suffering but after 20 years of going for the same thing, the same shot more-or-less, doing something different could be fun.

Whatever they allow is likely irrelevant though, as I doubt France (or any other reasonable country) is anxious to let Americans into their country. I’m thinking we might, maybe, have a two-week window in which Trump could declare a national mask requirement and get things to settle down a bit, and then, maybe, we could travel again. It’s interesting that I don’t find travel itself fearful; International flights are likely to have very light loads and the filtration systems in planes are advanced far beyond anything you’ll encounter outside of a lab. It’s pretty clear that it’s places like bars and parties clubs that are the new petri dishes, while elsewhere things aren’t so bad.

Since the Tour de France is held on public roads and it would be impossible to fence off access for the entirety of a 100 mile stage, it would be seemingly impossible to run it without spectators. And even if it’s terribly inconvenient and sub-optimal viewing, just being able to say you were there, at the 2020 Covid-19 edition of the Tour de France… that would be a story to tell for years down the road. It’s not likely a story I’ll get to tell, and I’m not entirely sure it’s going to be a story anybody gets to, as Covid-19 cases begin to reassert themselves in France, and elsewhere, as they’ve tried to regain some sense of normalcy and end the most-draconian measures Covid-19 has brought us.

Kevin and I still have tickets for the flights, we still have reservations, but the only money that has been spent was for the flights, and they were both very inexpensive and can be changed to any other date or destination for the 9 months following. So no financial risk, but my desire to travel, to get away, to spend 10 days thinking about something other than the craziness that is the bike biz currently, has never been stronger.