I’ve had a good first day, stopped for now near Mercer
March 15, 2015 at 11:11AM note
Last wet weekend trip with Chris. Mostly didn’t even rain, pleasant ride to Ryerson Station yesterday. Exploring the park today, and plan to ride home tomorrow.
Planning
I am planning to travel by bicycle. I expect to leave Pittsburgh at the end of March, and ride my bike many places. I hope to keep going until I don’t want to be going anymore.
This plan was easy to make. It is not hard to look at a map and say, Yes, I’d like to go to these places, and maybe these ones, too. Or even to look closer, and say, Hmm, maybe these roads will be good to ride on. That said, while there are a few places and rough dates I’m aiming for, nothing is set in stone, I’ll probably do a lot of using good judgement, turning on whims, and asking local advice. I’m trying not to depend on a guess about how I’ll feel a few months down the line, it is good to leave room to make choices then.
The hard part is leaving. I’ve known when I wanted to go for almost six months, and it has felt so far off for so long. Now, with only a few weeks left, I’m pushing to finish projects, convince everyone I know not to expect anything from me, get rid of the useless things I own, decide what things should come with me, or that I’d like to be waiting for me when I some day settle down again, who will take care of my garden…
Goals? They feel pretty vague right now. Mostly I just want to go, and while that feels right from home, I expect I’ll want more structure after I’m on the road for a few weeks. I’ve been getting frustrated with a lot that I’m involved with lately and really feeling the need to step back, think about what I’m doing and how I can be effective. I feel like I’m in a relatively good position to leave, to visit places I’ve been wanting to get to, to take some time away from the place I’ve considered home, and I feel secure enough to walk away hoping I can start again when I need to.
Consequent to my upcoming departure, I’ve begun to mentally check out of many of the things I am involved with. I’m having more trouble caring, I worry more or less or about different things… I don’t know. I’m fading away, for better or worse.
Posted in So it goes
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Winter Bike!
I recently put together a new winter bike. This is probably my last new Free Ride bike for a while. It is lovely. It is a tiny yellow mountain frame and I threw on a three speed coaster wheel that had been hanging for quite some time, which it is tolerating just fine. I took a while to find the right chainring, but I am very happy with the gearing. I had to buy a new chain and push rod, this is ok. I took a day getting used to the coaster brake but I’m quite appreciating it now. Riding other bikes feels weird already. I’ll have to get used to hand brakes again in the spring, I guess.
Winter riding isn’t all about getting sprayed with salt water by trucks that pass too close, or cautiously rolling down hills and hoping that the wet ground isn’t actually icy ground, or occasionally spending as long dressing and undressing as actually riding to get somewhere. It is also a good excuse to put together a new bike. Sort of. Winter is rough on a bike, all that freezing, the slush and salt. I like that this guy has internal shifting and braking (rear wheel hub) which gives it less chance to freeze if I ride through slush and then leave it somewhere cold. I also like the coaster brake on slippy ground, though I’m not sure if this is a real security, it feels more stable, though. I’m riding wider tires on this, and smaller wheels, than my most of the year commuter has, which puts me a little lower to the ground and with a little more connection to it. I believe that this makes me more stable. I also believe that this is mostly in my head, and feeling like I am more stable is a good chunk of being so.
Stars!
Last weekend I rode with Chris up to Moraine State Park. We left Friday afternoon and came back Sunday afternoon. Scott drove up and hung out with us Saturday night. I hadn’t gone on an overnight bike trip since April!
It was nice weather when we set out overcast and cool. Looked likely to be cloudy and maybe a little rainy Saturday, too. We’d intended to stay at Breakneck Campground and wander in McConnells Mill, but arrived there and found the campground closed. (don’t know why they would close a campground before even the end of summer!) No worries. We’d passed an elementary school a couple miles back. The school is abandoned, and there is plenty of space behind it not visible from the road, out of the way perfect camping spot. Made dinner and cleaned up and had different ideas about what being quiet means. I looked up at some point and realized the clouds were actually clearing!
Aside: For years now Chris and I have been trying to plan camping trips that would be good for star gazing. While light maps are available, it can be tricky to plan around the weather. We’ve gone out during meteor showers and seen none. Last summer we rode up to the Allegheny forest because it is the darkest spot reasonably close to Pittsburgh. We took five days, and saw only a handful of stars the whole time (I woke Chris up once to look at a single star poking through a hole in the clouds).
Saturday morning(9/13) we went over to Bear Run campground. Paid for the opportunity to leave our bikes somewhere secure-ish and wandered through the woods for a few hours. There were many trees and some large ant hills. Went (part way) around Lake Arthur and happened upon a presentation on monarch butterflies as we were wanting to stop to eat lunch. So we ate and learned about butterflies, and then the group dispersed to try to catch some and regathered to tag and release them. Did you know you can tag butterflies? Though they were not thrilled about being held, they seem unfazed by the stickers these folks pressed onto their wings.
Scott K. came out and we mostly talked about Free Ride. Cooked spaghetti and brussels sprouts and sweet potato in a pot over a fire. After an overcast, drizzly day, the clouds again cleared by night and we were in a great spot to stare at many stars. A short wet hike with Scott in the morning, then he left and Chris and I ate and packed up and rode back to Pittsburgh.
another aside? I’m actually not sure what to do with stars. They are pretty. I enjoy staring at them for a bit, but it is hard to do this for too long. I don’t want to be the first one to feel satisfied by them, so I’ll keep staring, for fear of seeming uncultured or something. I don’t mean that I don’t appreciate being able to see more of them than normal (normal isn’t very many, I’ve only ever lived in well populated and well light polluted areas)
This is a practice post. An experiment in writing about an experience. I’ll get better, but probably never so much better that I’ll actually encourage anyone to read these. I’m also still experimenting with what to do with the cell phone posts. I like the idea of being able to send an information from my cell phone (via if this then that- ifttt.com) with a small contents. It is maybe a way to track my whereabouts, or where I am stopped at least. Especially for my someday soon dream adventures.
Portersville, PA
Stopped for the moment in Portersville, PA
Braddock, PA
Stopped for now in Braddock, PA
I can use If This Then That(ifttt.com) to post from my cellular telephone, so I can more regularly tell the blog where I’m at! These posts may not be elegant or interesting.
Aryn Adventures 