So, can I just say that I live on top of a really-freaking-big hill?
Topic: Nature
[index] [bot]23:09 Thursday, 27 March, 2003
Ithaca, NY
So, can I just say that I live on top of a really-freaking-big hill?
I love living up here, because of the fantastic view, the wildlife, the near-by hiking, and the proximity to my place of employment (it's a 5-10 minute drive). And, being so close to work, I decided I should really do my part to stop wasting natural resources and such, and start transporting myself without using any fossil fuels. Namely, I decided to start biking back and forth to work. Now, I've never really ridden a bike any worthwhile distance. A bicycle was always a toy when I was growing up. We'd 'ride bikes' around the neighbourhood, which basically entailed riding back and forth along our ?-mile valley of pavement, occasionally venturing into the yards of our annoyed neighbours. It was a very popular past-time, but we rarely left the immediate area, because going anywhere else forced one to ride up or down a big, long hill. Sometimes we'd ride the 2? miles (almost all downhill) to the town park to play or swim, and arrange for parents to come pick us up, piling all of the bikes in the back of the car. But that's about the extent of it.
When I was in China, there were some cities that were flat enough, poor enough, and had narrow enough streets that bicycles were actually the preferred mode of transportation, so I took advantage of this, since I didn't have a car, anyway. And I found I had a blast riding a bike all over town -- it was so much faster than walking, but less of a challenge than trying to co-ordinate with buses or subways which never went to exactly the place I wanted to go anyway. Anyway, this gave me the idea of trying to make a bicycle a more-legitimate form of transport in the United States. Almost nobody here bothers to bicycle, because we're all too lazy to do anything harder than stepping on the gas pedal, and too spoiled to know that living without a car is not the end of the world. I do have a car, unfortunately, because a lot of the things I enjoy would be far too impractical to do from where I live and work. But when I was apartment-hunting, proximity to work was definitely an important feature.
So here I am, spring has come, and I have my opportunity to start taking advantage of my youthful energy. I tried it out earlier this week by biking to work to buy a few things, then continuing across town to meet Thundercat to go hiking. After hiking, we bought a charcoal grill (but that's another story) and she drove me and my bike back home. It was actually really fun biking the few miles to work, and it only took me 15-20 minutes by bike (as opposed to 5-10 minutes by car), so I was thinking this could be a viable option. I knew the hill back up would be hell (I'd never used my brakes so much as I did going down it), but I've seen a few other people do it, so why not? Well. I left work at 9:45pm, after installing a head-light, a tail-light, and rear-view mirrors, and happily pedaled to the base of the hill. I've got an 18-speed bike, which means there are 18 different gears to chose from, so one can maximize the amount of energy he spends pedaling. Most standard-transmission cars have 4 or 5 forward-moving gears. You use 1st when starting from a stand-still, quickly change to 2nd, then 3rd. Third gear takes you around town, 4th is good on longer straight-aways, and 5th is good on the highway. I've got 18 gears to choose between. And some bikes have 21, 24, and even 27 gears (and probably more than I've never heard of). I typically only use gears 13-18 around here (on top of the hill) or around town, and was thinking it funny that there were 12 more lower gears that just made you feel like you were pedaling in circles while the wheels seemed not to be moving at all. But now I see what they're all for. As soon as I turned the corner to head up the hill, I immediately was forced to switch down to 13th, then 7th, and then 1st gear, and I stayed in 1st gear for the next half-hour. Yes, the wheel barely turns in first gear, but I found myself wishing it would turn even less, because it was still too much work on my legs. I crept along as my legs burned, until half-way up the hill I pulled off to remove a layer, as I was sweating pretty well by this point. Keep in mind, too, that it's still 10pm, and I have a wimpy flash-light clamped to my handle-bars. So I start up again, and find that the break gave me quite a boost of energy, but that wear off within 20 feet, and I'm exhausted again. So for the second half of the hill, I wove back and forth across the road, just trying to make the grade a little less steep by performing switch-backs. It made the hill about five times as long, but less steep, so I was grateful. Anyway, I finally made it up triumphantly, only to find that the rest of the ride home was a lot more up-hill then I'd ever noticed while on the way down. But I survived, and took a much-deserved shower, and stretched, and now here I am.
So will I try to do it again? Unfortunately, yes. I can manage. I may end up with quadriceps so big I'll need to buy new pants by the end of the summer, but I think it will be good for me and for the environment. I think I'll ease into it a little, by waiting until next week to try again, but I think I should have the persistence to keep at it. It
is way fun to bike down, and still a very quick option for getting to work, so hopefully that can help motivate me. Encouragement is welcome!!! :)
~Fidget
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I woke up to three inches of snow on my car this morning. Not that I mind snow; I was actually thrilled to see it again. But it made me late for work, since I didn't allow any time for clearing off the car or driving cautiously. But no matter. It continued to snow all day, bringing back the familiarity of the past four of five months. This always happens, every year. No matter how pathetic a winter we've had, March is always good for one unexpected storm, and we nearly forgot it would happen after this long winter. But it managed to squeeze in with one day left in the month. It'll rain tomorrow and wash it all off anyway, so we should enjoy it while it's here. It really is beautiful, and it's better than getting rained on all day, which was the alternative. 