ORION Essay by Anthony Doerr

If you're reading this post, you should probably also read this phenomenal essay by Anthony Doerr. Here's a short excerpt:

What did I do today that will still retain its original meaning two hundred years from now? Might it be better, and more lasting, merely to walk home right now, and open the backyard gate, and lie down in the grass?

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME you were dazzled? When was the last time you lay down on a block of granite and fell asleep beneath the sky? Our few remaining pockets of unconnected, unwired time—walks, airplane trips, camp-outs, reading a novel on a beach—are dwindling fast. And yet: The Earth is 4.5 billion years old! There are at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy! What could be wrong with shutting down the computer some afternoon and sauntering for four hours through the woods and over the hills and fields?

  

“Dad!” calls my four-year-old son, Owen. He runs inside; his hands are cupped; his eyes are wide open.

“I found a grasshopper leg!” He flexes it back and forth; he wants to know if he can keep it.

I throw my phone onto the couch. I lift my son into my lap . . .

The author also quotes Robert Louis Stevenson:

“We fall in love, we drink hard, we run to and fro upon the earth like frightened sheep. And now you are to ask yourself if, when all is done, you would not have been better to sit by the fire at home, and be happy thinking.”

Doerr is such a talented writer! If you haven't read his short story collection The Shell Collector, I highly recommend it. The title story is dazzling.

Gaby's Spring Break List

Fractured Forks & Trail Clean Up

Things didn't go according to plan last week. I think this photo tells the story:

The day before my fork fracturing crash, I was able to get in a good four-hour workout on the Stumpjumper (including an hour of "tempo" in Zone 3 / Zone 4). Then I crashed.  Apparently I rode over an object that got stuck in my front wheel and, as it spun around, literally sliced through the front forks. I was going approximately 23 mph when this happened so my landing was not soft. It took a few days for my left knee and shoulder to heal.

While recovering, I was able to participate in one cycling related activity--on Saturday twenty volunteers spent four hours cleaning up some of the trails at Craighead. In spite of the rain and near-freezing temperatures, we were able to remove all the fallen trees and branches from the park's three most popular loops.

I hope to ride those loops several times in the next few days.  Surely this week will be better!

"ARTHUR BOND" by William Goyen

Yesterday in my fiction workshop we read a short story by William Goyen entitled "Arthur Bond." Here are the first few paragraphs (the story's only about four pages long):

Remember man named Arthur Bond had a worm in his thigh. Had it for years, got it in the swampland of Louisiana when he was a young man working in the swampland. Carried that worm for all his life in his right thigh. Sometimes for quite a spell Arthur Bond said it stayed peaceful, other times twas angry in him and raised hell in him, twas mean then and on some kind of a rampage Arthur Bond said, stung him and bit him and burnt him, Arthur Bond said, and itched and tickled and tormented him. Arthur Bond himself told us that he was a crazy man then.

He was sick a lot form the worm. Nest was in the sweetest part of the thigh, if you will look there on yourself and feel of it, there where the leg gets the softest and holds the warmth of the loin, halfway between the knee and the crouch, where it's mellow and full and so soft, like a woman's breast if you catch hold of it. (I have noticed that the parts of a man and a woman are a lot alike and feel the same, and why not? One God made them both, settled that in the Garden, Man and Woman created He them, though God knows  it still don't seem to be settled in some, but don't want to get into that.)

One time worm begun to try to come out his knee, Arthur Bond said, said saw its head in a hole that had opened up in his knee. Doctors tried to pull the worm out but it broke off and drew itself back into Arthur Bond's thigh and lived on--without a head Arthur Bond said. Jesus Christ a headless worm. Doctors saved the head, put it in a bottle of fluid and the face was pretty, face of the worm when you looked in and saw it looking at you lolling in its fluid was like a little doll's. Nobody, no doctor anywhere could kill out that infernal worm from the swampland of Louisiana living without a head in Arthur Bond's pale thigh, he died with the worm, old and vile and aflourishin, in his thigh. Poor Arthur Bond, how that worm of the swampland tormented him all his life since he was eighteen and went into the ground with Arthur Bond when he was sixty-six. But the head of the worm with its pretty doll's face still bobbles in a bottle where Arthur Bond left it when he died, to Science, at the University. Yet Arthur Bond hisself never even got to high school, idn't that funny? Went to work in the swampland when he was fourteen. If he hadn't gone to work in the swampland, wonder what his life would have been? Without the curse of the worm, I mean.

Anyway, what I'm thinking is that we can't all see in a bottle the face of our buried torment . . .

I'm amazed  by how perfectly Goyen captures the narrator's voice, and how he uses dialect so effectively. (While we were reading the story, I heard Morgan Freeman's voice in my head.)

You can find this story in Goyen's collection Had I a Hundred Mouths. I just ordered it.

Tough Week of Training

Last week was tough. I slept terribly Monday night and woke up Tuesday feeling a little off. I skipped Tuesday's workout. Wednesday's workout was new: 90 minutes total, keeping my cadence up and heart rate down, except for a 20 minute, zone 3 (heart rate at 157 - 163 bpm) "time trial" in the middle. I was feeling better by Wednesday evening so I jumped on the trainer and put in my 90 minutes. The 20 minute time trial felt surprisingly easy.

Thursday morning I woke up feeling great. I made coffee and oatmeal and sat down to work on a story for my fiction workshop. I wrote for about two hours and then the sunshine drove me from my desk. My training plan called for max cadence drills on the trainer. No way--it was sunny and 60 outside (and I hate max cadence drills)! I jumped on my hardtail and made for Craighead. Last week the park was closed due to damage caused by a recent ice storm, but I thought I would at least ride by and, if there were no other options, put in 3 hours on the road. When I got there, the barriers were gone. I hit the trail. Not for long. Maybe 40 minutes in I trashed my front derailer. Realizing there was no quick fix, I rolled the Stumpjumper to the main road and hitched a ride to the house with a sweet, older lady. I threw my bike in the bed of my truck and raced to Gearhead. Broadway slapped on a sweet new SRAM derailer and I started over.  I was feeling really good--sweating a little, floating over every obstacle. Not for long. About 30 minutes in my rear tire went flat. I wasn't happy, of course, but I've had my Stumpjumper for two years and this was the first flat! I peeled the tube off (it had practically bonded with the tire), put in a new tube, and was soon on my way again. Not for long. 10 minutes down the trail I noticed that my rear tire was going soft AGAIN. Since I wasn't equipped for another flat (it's never been necessary), I decided to ride home while I still could. Not my day. It took 4 hours to ride 1.5.

Friday got away from me somehow. It was a busy day and the prescribed 30 minute recovery ride didn't happen. I woke up early Saturday morning determined to make a bad week better. I suited up and jumped on the Madone. What followed was at 3.5 hour suffer-fest. It was windy (25 - 30 mph) and cold (40 degrees). For some silly reason I didn't wear booties. I guess I'm so ready for warmer weather that I dress as if it's already here. It took a hot shower and the heaviest socks I own to finally thaw my toes. Suffering aside, or maybe BECAUSE the ride was so brutal, I felt I had somehow salvaged the week.

Sunday brought even worse weather. Instead of fighting the elements again, I did Tuesday's pedaling drills.

I managed about 8 hours on the bike for the week, and struck out once again on the strength / core work. Saturday's difficult ride did end up being my longest of the year so far--51 miles! Hopefully this week will be better.

Watch this then go ride your bike!

It's Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

Good Week of Training

I put in a solid block of training last week! I recovered quickly from Tuesday's fitness test. On Wednesday morning I left for Memphis early and didn't return home until after my evening class, around 10 PM. It had been a long day and I just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep. Mustering all my willpower, though, I suited up and cranked out 90 minutes of low-HR, high-cadence spinning on the trainer.

Thursday's workout was the toughest. The schedule called for 2:15 on the road bike, including 2 reps on a 10 minute hill in a big gear.  I rode for about half an hour and then headed for the longest hill I could think of. Unfortunately northeast Arkansas is completely flat. A 6 minute hill was the best I could do, so I climbed it four times. I love climbing, but this was a new challenge. I used a big gear, kept my cadence at 60 - 70 (normally it's 75 - 85 when I'm climbing), and stayed in the saddle. It was tough. I found it difficult to keep my heart rate in zone 2 (145 - 156). It kept creeping up above 160. After the hill climbs I cruised home, tired but looking forward to doing that workout again.

The sun came out on Friday so instead of doing my 30 minute recovery ride on the trainer I thought I might do an easy off-road ride. I pedaled to Craighead only to find the park closed. Apparently our winter blast did a great deal of damage. I need dirt in my "diet"--at least one serving per week, so I hope the trails are open soon. And my training partner is ready to ride! Lately every time I roll the Stumpjumper out the back door Oso's whole body starts wagging.

Saturday brought even better weather--high 60's! I was supposed to put in 2:45 on the trail. Since that wasn't possible I jumped on the Madone. Last week I adjusted my position slightly--dropped the saddle a bit and opened my cleats so I have more float. The weather, my much improved position, and good legs all made for an enjoyable ride. I didn't push it, kept my HR in zone 2, but I felt great. It was just one of those days. I don't know how else to describe it--I felt free!

On Sunday I decide to "blow it out." I've mapped out a rolling 18 mile course near the house that I do occasionally as a time trial just to test myself. Late last year I broke the hour mark for the first time--59:16. On Sunday, even with 20 MPH winds, I stopped the clock at 58:11! I'm getting stronger.

I put in close to 11 hours on the bike. I was also supposed to do 3 hours of core / strength training. That didn't happen. This week calls for another 11 hours of riding, plus 4 hours of strength training. We'll see how it goes.