Cycotherapy News Roundup: smokey skies, records and fancy grilled-cheese sandwiches
Happy Friday.
Happy Friday, cycopaths.
The world, it seems, is on fire. And unlike Greg Camp’s lyric in Smash Mouth’s hit All Star, that’s not the way I like it. At least not this week. I have a huge bike trip planned for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and smoking the equivalent of 24 cigarettes in a day doesn’t sound pleasant in the least.
Fortunately for us, the smoke seems to be subsiding and will likely clear by the time we come rolling in to D.C. on Tuesday. Fingers crossed.
I hope to keep you all updated along the ride by posting to Substack’s Notes feature. If you haven’t used it before, here’s an article about it. Essentially, Substack has created a platform that mimics your favorite features of all the various social media platforms. But it’s for writers and readers. That’s it. No ads. No marketing BS. Just underwhelming posts accompanied with occasional photos from your favorite writers.
So make sure to follow along on our trek from Pittsburgh to D.C. I’ll try to post as often as I remember. (Which might be, like, once. But I have a feeling that might be enough because we’re all cycopaths and rarely check devices for posts from Substack writers. And that’s OK!)
headlines
Exercising in a haze
If you’re planning on riding your bike this weekend in areas that are experiencing smoky skies, here’s an article about what to expect could happen to your lungs. Spoiler alert: it’s not good. Some physiologists are saying you could be OK, as long as you don’t experience symptoms like coughing or throat irritation. you should probably just stick to the indoor trainers. Others are encouraging the use of beloved N95s. I’m not a doctor, so don’t take advice from me. But just use common sense. If you can’t see past the tree line, just postpone the outdoor ride.
A cross-country unicycle trek
This dude is traveling 80 miles a day on a unicycle from D.C. to Los Angeles to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. Name’s Lucas Oakley and he’s an Air Force veteran. I’ll be honest, I was a bit disappointed when I clicked on the article that told me it was a man riding a unicycle across America, only to find out it’s electric. Still impressive. And unusual. But man, can you imagine someone riding an actual, leg-powered unicycle across the country?
And that’s when I did some Googling and found Lars Clausen. He holds the current Guinness World Record for the longest unicycle journey of 9,125.97 miles. He cross the U.S. twice in 2002.
Apple’s newest watch can calculate FTP
And a whole bunch of other stuff. For cyclists who are into knowing the minutiae of training metrics, the new watchOS 10 could be worth the yet-to-be-disclosed price tag. Apple announced the cycling-related functions earlier this week when it said it can now automatically connect to Bluetooth-enabled accessories like power meters, speed sensors and cadence sensors. That means that things like wattage, cadence, Functional Threshold Power and Power Zones will pop up on your little Apple screen during a ride.
IDK man. The Garmin Instinct works well for me. It tells me the time, my heart rate and what time the sun sets and rises everyday. It also tracks my sleep when I wear it at night. That’s enough for me, for now.
It is interesting, however, to imagine Apple’s incorporation of these cycling-related features as an indicator of cycling’s growing role in our society. More and more people are riding their bikes. Apple wants in. Or it just could be the latest example of the corporate world’s obsessive effort to turn us all into friggin’ cyborgs.
feature of the week
Speaking of GWR, I found this gem of a read about the book each of us likely received as a Christmas present from Gramma that is now collecting dust on a shelf somewhere. The author chronicles the book’s origin and rise to fame through the decades, and, more interestingly, its survival through the age of TikTok and Youtube. She also gets a bit introspective on the very natural appeal us humans have to be the best at something, whether that be jumping over cars with a pogo or sticking spoons to one’s chest.
Oh, and she tries to break a record herself: the longest time someone has stood on one leg, blindfolded. I won’t give it away.
book excerpt of the week
“I’m not the first to be drawn to this open-air room with walls varnished by water-lain strips of manganese and iron. It’s a fine surface for painting, and everywhere are figures of muscular kangaroos and fish and see-through humans with skeletons revealed, X-ray style. Kakadu is home to about five hundred of the original Australians. Some call themselves Bininj, other Mangguy. The rock is called Nourlangie, and one of the paintings features a man with a fish for a head and serpent for a penis. A sign says it was done by a man, in 1964, painting over a similar, older piece that was, in turn, painted over the same work.
Why the paintings? More signs explain the mythical significance of each work in clinical language, but the interpretation comes off like Freud explaining the virgin birth of Christ. I find a better explanation of the paintings the next day, in an oral history exhibit down the road at the Waradjan Aboriginal Culture Center.
Why the paintings? A quote from Bill Neidjie:
Look see
this good one, that painting.
Give you all that feeling of life,
all that big story.
That sounds about right …”
Jim Malusa — Into Thick Air: Biking the Bellybutton of Six Continents
dish of the week
Fancy Mozzarella Grilled-Cheese Sandwich
I really need to start taking pictures of my food. I’ll get better. Maybe… We tried this earlier this week and really liked it. Hope you also find it tasty. My only addendum would be to add a balsamic-type sauce to dip the sandwich into. That would make this really good.
First, butter one side of each piece of sourdough bread. It’s gotta be sourdough. It’s just better. Second, grab some pesto (ours was pre-made in a store-bought jar) and lather it on each side of the bread. Then, get your mozzarella and stack it. Get your fresh tomatoes and place them on top of the cheese. Close the sandwich and grill it however you see fit. Make sure the cheese is melty, though. Obviously.
There’s something about the simplicity of the grilled-cheese sandwich, eh? Brings back memories of childhood. (Or college, when all I had to eat was cans of tuna, chips, cheese and bread.) I learned at a young age that eating the grilled-cheese is better when dipped in ketchup. And crunchy dill pickles need to be close by. Mmmm.
That’s all for today, folks. Have a smokeless weekend.
Ciao.
Have a great ride this weekend. I hope the smoke dissipates.