Freewheeling Friday - Shhh, I Have A/Many Secret(s)

    

     Welcome to the first installment of what I am going to be calling Freewheeling Friday in which, hopefully, a few things will happen (weather permitting); 1) I will ride Betty instead of Pearl, 2) I will wax on more interesting things that flow through my consciousness as I ride a longer route to and from wherever it is I go, and 3) Whatever will happen will happen and we'll just roll with the flow!  Sort of like Anything Can Happen Thursday;

     Firstly, who is this Betty of whom I speak?  Well, on most days (especially when I am commuting) I ride on The Black Pearl.  She is the Frankenbike (the frame of which I found in the trash) that I began the entire Connor's Army saga upon and the one that carried me clear across the country raising money for Sunrise Day Camp.  She looks something like this;



Avast There Me Hearties - A Pirate's Life for Me!

     She's steel, she's real and she's a bit heavy on the climbs but she always gets me where I'm going and I can't ever complain because she takes the abuse of my commute in all sorts of weather and keeps on going!  However, today I decided to freewheel on her sister, the svelte and sexy Betty;

Oh, Black Betty Bam-a-lam!

     She's lighter, she's quicker and she's rebuilt after that crash I had all those years ago.  But the plan is when the weather is good I will use her on Fridays to commute to SHS.  Of course, since she IS so shiny and svelte I don't take her out in the rain.
     So today was a ride unlike most of my previous rides in that SOOOOO much happened.  First off I took the medium route to school this year which gave me an extra three miles to ride.  Lots of fun.  My average miles per hour were higher than they have been in a long time (time to brag, I was hovering around 19) when I turned onto West Pulaski Road from Oakwood Road.  In the distance, about a quarter of a mile off, I saw another cyclist. 
     And so begins secret number one - I'm competitive.  I try not to be.  I try to really only compete with myself, to push myself to be better.  That's really what all my training as a dancer and an actor have taught me to do - always strive to be better than you were.  Well since I haven't taken a dance class in far too many years and this year begins the second year I'm not teaching dance, I don't really get to push myself in that way anymore.  So I look to my riding to try to push myself a bit each ride.  Today I was feeling good and since I'm used to propelling a fifteen pound heavier bike I was making good time.  I wanted to have my best ride yet!  And then I saw this lone figure in the distance and I thought, "I'm just going to ride my ride, I'm not going to try to catch him, just ride your ride".  Yet as I did that I found myself inching closer.  I suddenly thought, "I'm going to catch this guy".  Now my first thought was that he was probably someone like myself, a middle-aged guy out on his road bike in the morning and it wouldn't be much of a challenge to catch him.  But as I drew closer and saw his full Fi'zi:k cycling kit, which looked something like this;

And below that was a Garmin issue team bike and some SERIOUSLY chiseled calf muscles.  So as I pulled up behind him (just in time for the descent to Cold Spring Harbor train station) I just tucked in and thought, "let's just see if I can hold his wheel for a while!"
     As we turned right onto 108 I thought he would probably head straight out to Cold Spring Harbor and I would be left to climb Stillwell on my own.  I announced my presence and let him know I wasn't creeping on him and trying to be a wheelsucker, just in time to see him start to make the left turn up Stillwell.  "This is it," I thought, "here is where those chiseled calves and ultra light road bike leave me panting and dejected in their wake!"  And yet, it was not to be.
     Maybe it's the fact that I've been swinging with a heavy bat all these rides, maybe I had a good night's sleep (doubtful), maybe I just had more energy than usual.  Whatever the reason, I passed Mr. Fi'zi:k and went into my own here-is-where-I-pedal-with-a-fast-cadence-and-keep-going tempo that I almost always use on Stilwell.  I stay in the large ring at a high cadence until I get to where the hiking trail crosses the road and then I switch to the small ring.  As I reached the crossing and started to put it into the small ring I noticed I had already pulled away significantly.  Inconceivable!  And then a school bus passed me so closely I could have leaned hard left and hit the side of the bus!  I was a bit pissed at that point so when the bus stopped to pick up passengers 50 meters up the road I didn't stop, I just went around the bus.
     Now, I would like to think Mr. Fi'zi:k did the same thing.  Most cyclists I know would do so after checking to see the coast was clear.  I don't know if he did or not.  I DO know the bus passed me very shortly after and when I got the intersection of Stilwell and Picardy Lane, I couldn't see him.  Inconceivable!  How could I possibly drop Mr. Chiseled Calves?  As I reached the intersection of Stilwell and Holly (the top of the climb) he was nowhere in sight!  Okay, now I was pumped!  In times past I've never been known to have a "big engine" but someone who has lots of "gas in the tank", meaning I'm not the strongest rider but I have endurance.  Back when I used to ride fairly consistently with Huntington Bicycle Club I was told I should think about competing as a cyclist.  A few of the members who actually raced tried to encourage me to do so.  As flattering as it was, I just don't have the time to train the way I want to.  And, if you go back to the first post, that's really not what my riding is about any more.  I just wants to ride and think!  Although pulling away so strongly today did sorely tempt me!
     Now let me segue here.  My in-laws are sailors.  They've sailed almost as long as my wife has been alive (yes, only twenty years!) and although they used to sail competitively, those days are long past.  However, when they're out with friends they always like to sail for bragging rights to be first to their destination and as they pass each other they might call out "not racing!"  And that's the way I felt with Mr. Fi'zi:k.  I wasn't racing, but the boost to my confidence did make me pedal just a bit faster.
     And now I was flying!  My average speed after climbing Mt. Stilwell was 18.9 mph!!!  If I could just push it I would be able to roll into SHS with an average speed of 19.  I made the left turn onto Southwoods road and the road ahead of me was fairly clear!  I cranked it up to 22 mph and enjoyed the feel of the wind in my face.  If you may know, I "lecture" to the SHS Driver's Ed classes twice a year about how to share the road and I subtitle it, "How Not to Hit Your Teacher on the Way to School".  Well, TODAY that almost happened.
     As I reached the point where someone would turn into the senior parking lot a black BMW, which at first nosed out and seemed to vacillate as to whether or not it was going to go, actually decided to go just as I was reaching the intersection in essence almost T-Boning me.  And I don't mean the good kind;

Yum, steak!

     But the REALLY bad kind, which can often look like this;

Nor is he that great songwriter who brought us "Deep in the Meadow" from Mockingjay Part 2, Musician/Composer/Producer T-Bone Burnett:


Another acceptable use of the moniker "T-Bone"

Although, since I'm telling secrets, I can confess I too am a closet guitarist;

   Fortunately, I was able to slow down before she took me out and I made it to the teacher's parking lot. But then I had a thought.  This could be a teachable moment.  So I went across the parking lot, rode on the sidewalk back to the senior lot and tried to find the young lady to simply remind her of that lesson in Driver's Ed.  Unfortunately, by the time I got there she had already vacated the car, although other students DID see it.  That's where the real irony came in.  I got in trouble from the security guards.  I was told in no uncertain terms that I can't just ride around the parking lots.  I reminded them I worked here and have for twenty years and was trying to find a student that almost ran me over.  I even happened to see two of my theatre kids in the lot who asked me what happened.  After I spoke to "security" he asked them if I was "bothering them" even though he was ten feet away when they spoke to me first.  Oh well, so much for trying to teach a life lesson.
   And since I'm sharing with you (all 150 viewers of you) some secrets I'll let you in on a big secret.  For much of my life people have told me I'm good at something.  It's changed over the years - drama in high school, forensics (speech and debate, not dead bodies) in junior college, classical acting at The National Shakespeare Conservatory, dance at SMU (although not all of my teachers shared that idea), musical theatre, teaching and directing (although I confess I still think I'm pretending and some will see right through me), supervising ('fess up time, I have my Administrative degree but am in no big rush to find a job and use it), drama specialist (various camps have loved what I do - I still think they'll see me for the sham I am) and now as an EMT for the Northport Fire Department. 
     Last night I went to a Continuing Medical Education class on Obstetrics, Neonatal, Pediatrics and Geriatrics.  I knew most of the information (I still remember two years later) and I'm actually less nervous now about the concept of assisting on a delivery.  But here's the secret - like with all of the other things I mentioned above, I really don't think I'm any good at that either.  I feel like any day now my fellow members will see through me as the "buff" I really am and want me to just go away.  There are times when I feel like if I go on a call, I may do more harm than good, like this guy;

     That REALLY is a big fear of mine, that I'll go on a call and mess up somehow, and do more harm to the person.  So I'm using this opportunity of refreshing through my CME's to really pay attention and really get it this time.  I've put my family through a lot and they've been nothing but patient and supportive as I try to give back to the Northport community as a member of the fire department.  I really do look up to all of the people that have worked so long and hard to make our community safe and I don't want to let them, the patients or my family down.  So the trick here is to set the old EMT me in my sights and blow past him like he's Mr. Fi'z:k and become a stronger, leaner and realer EMT, like these guys;

     

      It doesn't always make sense to the people around me and trust me, I'm not asking for an ego stroke, I'm really not into pity praise.  But on my ride today I realized that it's one of the things that drives me, I'm always racing - against myself.  Trying to be a better version of me.  I don't always succeed, but I just keep pedaling.  
     So, I'm competitive.  I'm a closet bike racer.  I'm an iconoclast and don't want to listen to "the man".  I'm very insecure about most of the things (okay, almost all) I should be confident about.  And suddenly, I have a REAL big hankering for a T-Bone Steak!  But Betty is calling me for my ride home -Let's see what today's ride home may possibly bring me!


That's all for now, unfortunately no new FFR, just the same ones I've always seen.  Maybe the migratory patterns on Long Island have stopped!


Stay well and I'll see you on the road!