Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition – Page 37

On the bike: Entrenched edge rider

When I started this blog (almost 6 years ago!), I thought I would be recounting a lot more tales like the one I’m about to share, stories in the “brave cyclist vs. rude, ignorant motorist” genre . Fortunately, that has not been the case, but every now and then . . . .

Saturday morning found me riding in two central St. Louis neighborhoods, Southwest Gardens and The Hill. After a quick stop at the library, I headed to The Hill to pick up a couple of items at DiGregorio’s Market (really hope I can get them to add some bike parking!).

The scene: The Hill is a dense, urban neighborhood, mostly single family residential along one-way east-west streets, and small businesses along Marconi Ave. When traveling north on Marconi, as I was on my way to the store, there is a significant downhill for the first few blocks.

Marconi is narrow two-way traffic (i.e., barely enough room for two small cars to pass one another when cars are parked on both sides), with street parking on both sides of the street, no center stripe, 25 (or 20?) MPH speed limit, short blocks, and all-way stops at every. single. intersection. So, despite the downhill, this is not exactly the type of street you zoom down, whether in a car or on a bike.

A couple of blocks after turning onto Marconi (and only a few more short blocks to my destination), I picked up on a motorist behind me, giving off an impatient vibe. With the parking lane pretty solidly full, there was no place for an obvious release, not to mention that, with the downhill, I was already traveling pretty close to the speed of traffic.

Even with no oncoming traffic, the effective width of the street (what was left after accounting for the parked cars on both sides, plus five feet between me and the cars parked to my right), there was really not room for the motorist to pass me on my bicycle.

But pass me he did. And then I saw this (picture taken after we had both pulled over) . . .

. . . not just a rude pass, a rude pass by a “fellow” cyclist. Whomp, whomp, whomp.

As I expected, given the road and traffic conditions, I followed him more or less at his exact same speed for two-and-a-half short blocks, until he arrived at his destination. As he put on his blinker to park, I pulled up next to his window, and po.lite.ly asked him if he was aware how close he had passed me. (I had rather been expecting a young whippersnapper, but the face looking back at me was a man in his 60s.)

He helpfully informed me that he “didn’t pass as close as I thought he did” (I am the one who judges that, not you, sir.), and “if [I] had been riding by the side of the road, where [I] was supposed to be,” I would have had more space.

I responded that the side of the road was the [mostly-full] parking lane, not a travel lane.

He went on with his parallel parking (with a bit of performance anxiety). I took a deep breath, pulled my bike up onto the sidewalk (my destination was just a half-block away), and reached into my purse for a CyclingSavvy card.

When he joined me on the sidewalk, I noticed his “Bike Vermont” hat, and asked if he was from this area, or just visiting. He replied that he was from St. Louis. I handed him the card and suggested he check out our courses.

He replied that he knows about “people like me,” and the “claim your lane” idea. He went on to inform me that he knows better, having written “13 books on cycling,” and that it was “cyclists like me, taking up the ‘whole’ road, that make motorists upset.”

At this point, I’m not sure anything I could have said would have made a difference, but I didn’t get a chance to find out, as he rather rudely excused himself to “go get a sandwich.” He was clearly in a rush to get that sandwich — good thing he arrived at his destination a whole ONE second ahead of me! (See Reality of Delay.)

I walked my bike to my destination down the block, shaking my head. I usually don’t engage motorists in situations like this, partly because I often don’t quite catch up to them, but as much because it’s often an exercise in futility and a way to cast an unpleasant shadow on a nice outing. But sometimes doing nothing is hard, and you never know until you try, right?

This was one of those frustrating, futile encounters. He was so sure he was right and I was wrong. Never mind that he was THE only motorist, in over an hour on streets big and small that morning, to object to my cycling. Never mind that he has probably never been on his bike and had a motorist go out of her way to thank him for the way he was riding. Never mind that we arrived at his destination at the EXACT same time!

I realized later, as I was biking home, that I could hardly expect this man to respect my space on the road, when his “right way” to cycle involves not respecting his OWN space on the road. Sad, but true.

Birthday, biking bodies, and a new doc in town

Let’s start with a mystery photo, shall we?

Make your guess now . . . and all will be revealed later.

Birthday
Early April through early May is a big birthday month in my family. This week we celebrated Matthew’s birthday with not one, but two, homemade pizza dinners (now Sir thinks we should have pizza for dinner every night), and two rounds of birthday cake.

I made a chocolate chip banana cake with peanut butter frosting. I used this recipe for the cake, omitting the orange zest and adding about 2/3 c. chocolate chips. The cake was not bad, but it seemed more banana bread than banana cake. I’m not exactly sure of the difference between the two, but it wasn’t quite what I was going for.

The frosting, however, definitely said “cake!” If you’re into peanut butter, you should definitely make this frosting (or perhaps not, as it may be hard to avoid eating the whole batch!). I started with this recipe, and made a couple of tweaks: 1) reduced peanut butter by 1/8 – 1/4 cup, 2) replaced the missing peanut butter with 1/8 – 1/4 cup plain, whole fat yogurt, 3) omitted the milk, 4) added 1 t. vanilla, 5) sifted the powdered sugar. It was tasting good and starting to come together, but an extra couple of minutes with the highest speed on the mixer really elevated this frosting to the light and airy level.

Then I got all fancy and melted chocolate to decorate the cake (I almost never bother with the “decoration” step, but I had fun here). Also, there is extra peanut butter frosting, to be eaten on chocolate graham crackers.

Nothing like a birthday to make us reflect on health, right?

Matthew’s Knee
After I wrote this post, Matthew saw an orthopedic specialist who ordered an MRI. The doctor expected to find some cartilage that needed to be removed, but the MRI came back clear, so instead of surgery, Matthew got physical therapy, aimed at correcting muscle imbalances in his leg that are making his knee cap rub when he bikes.

He has returned to biking, but the pain is not gone. Both the physical therapy (an hour of exercises ev.er.y day) and the warmer weather seem to help, but in all honesty, surgery to remove some deteriorated cartilage would likely have been a quicker fix.

He’s also experimenting with clipless pedals again, so he can balance his muscles while biking, by getting the “pull up” motion, as well as the “push down.” He used birthday money to purchase a pair of Keen cycling sandals, which, while not nearly as roomy as biking in Birks, have much more toe space than a standard bike shoe.

My Back
My back is my back. After two visits to a chiropractor (the first followed by intense neck pain, that I tried to attribute mainly to sleeping wrong), I’ve decided that is not the route for me. On the second visit, I gently mentioned the neck pain, not blaming her, but suggesting we stay away from that area.

This seemed like a perfectly reasonable request to me, given that the issue that brought me to her office was pain in the MIDDLE of my back. I mean, I know it’s all connected, but still. Unfortunately, this chiropractor (and I suspect most others would be similar) could NOT stay away from my neck, and my neck doesn’t seem to like chiropractic care.

I discovered that some sun salutations seem to help (if not cure) the pain, so I’m trying to do those daily, along with a few of my previous PT exercises. That’s the current plan, given that the pain, if annoying in duration, is usually quite minimal and doesn’t really limit my activities — I can live with it.

If it gets out of hand, I can always go see our new doctor . . . .

. . . . Dr. Gabe! He’s definitely into alternative healing; little pink super balls can work wonders, apparently. Or maybe he just has a healing smile!

And now, to return to our mystery photo . . . perhaps not all that mysterious — if you guessed winter squash, you get the honor of being correct! I love working with this variety of winter squash — a long, solid neck and very sweet flesh with a nice texture — and I loved how it looked on the tray after slicing.

Diaper doldrums

It’s been 7 months since I wrote about Sir’s potty learning progress. At that time, it seemed like we were very close to being completely, truly diaper-free! In addition to a few months of daytime dryness under his belt, Sir had started staying dry at nap time and overnight, some nights.

That was in late August and early September. After a few weeks, he reverted to wet diapers every morning and almost every nap time, and my diaper-free dreams went down the toilet. ([Awake] daytime is still fine — he’s been daytime dry for almost a year now!)

As of a month ago, Sir is back to being dry at some nap times, i.e., the short naps (about an hour) that he takes at child care. He is SO consistently dry at child care that Mrs. L puts him down for his nap without a diaper. Brave lady, but zero accidents, so far.

On the other hand he almost always wakes up wet when napping at home, but he naps longer (about 90 minutes), so I don’t mind. Nap time diapering is easy: a thick prefold and a Thirsties diaper cover.

Night time diapering is trickier. Sometime after Sir’s first birthday, we discovered that fancy pocket diapers, with their feel-dry material, helped Sir sleep better and longer. Good for him and good for us. We bought four pocket diapers (3 bumGenius, 1 Fuzzy Bunz) which we use exclusively at night.

Except! After awhile, I noticed that regular washing was not getting the stink out of those pocket diapers. And the trick that so nicely and simply de-stinks my prefolds (a vinegar rinse) doesn’t work on the pocket diapers (vinegar would ruin their absorbancy or waterproofness or something).

Instead, you have to “strip” them. Unfortunately, these instructions from Cotton Babies (an StL-based company and the makers of bumGenius diapers) are just a leeeeeetle bit off.

First, it does not take just two hot water rinses to get the stink out. It takes many. Like ten. And all that time you’re using HOT water. Suddenly the “environmentally friendly” cloth diapers are seeming much less so.

Second, the directions claim that, AT MOST (i.e., worst case scenario), you should have to strip your diapers “once every 3 or 4 months.” In my experience, that is complete and utter B.S. After following their instructions to. the. letter (plus eight more rinses), the stink went away for about two uses. With four pocket diapers, two uses = eight nights, so barely over a week after stripping, I’m stuck with stinky covers again.

Unfortunately, whatever causes the stink also irritates Sir’s skin, and he’s had some nasty diaper rashes, despite the fact that he barely wears a diaper, except for overnight.

The diaper rashes necessitate using disposable diapers, since diaper creams and lotions are generally a no go with pocket diapers. So we just cycle back and forth. Disposables and cream to get the rash under control, then back to the pocket diapers until his skin gets irritated and forces us back to disposables.

On a side note, Sir almost always poops in the potty, but two weeks ago, we were a little off schedule, and he woke up in the morning with a poopy diaper. Of course it was NOT a night when he was wearing a disposable diaper, but I swear I almost threw that $17 pocket diaper away anyway. It was horrible, and I was literally in tears by the time I finished dealing with it. If I never have to do that again, it will be too soon!

Anyway, I really prefer cloth diapers to disposable, in general, but not when they require this much work (and hot water) to keep decent. I guess we could go back to the basic prefolds for nighttime, but I don’t want to sacrifice sleep.

It’s tempting to just stick with the disposables at night, and be done with the stinky pocket dipes, but for someone who’s used disposables very minimally, the idea of going through more than a handful of diapers a month is hard to swallow, both environmentally and financially.

I’m not sure where this leaves us. There is really no end to night time diapering in sight. It could be any day, I suppose, but it could also be a year or more from now, realistically. I keep hoping that maybe this will be the last pack of disposable diapers I ever buy, but that dream has yet to be realized.

What’s in a bicycle name?

We heard on Monday that Xtracycle will start shipping out the new batch of Edgerunners mid-month. Since we’re just getting the frame, it will likely be at least another week beyond that before our bike is ready, but it should be road-worthy by the end of April. I have to admit that when they pushed back the date from March to “early to mid-April,” I was hoping for more on the “early” side, but at least this is better than another delay.

My least favorite thing about the Edgerunner (and I say this having never seen one in person, much less ridden one) is the name. It conjures up images of scooting along on the very far right side of the road, absolutely the last place you ever want to operate a bicycle.

Riding far to the right (i.e., at the edge of the road) makes you invisible and irrelevant to other road users. It is also the place you encounter many of the dangers that cause the most common kind of bike crash (a solo fall) like debris, grates, pavement imperfections, wet leaves, sand, etc. This is not how I ride and this is not what I teach.

So I am less than excited about the implications of the model name of this bike, but I’m also not huge on naming bikes.

I oh-so-creatively dubbed my Kona Jake, “Baby Jake.” BUB (short for Back-Up Bike, my Schwinn Voyager) never really had a name, until I needed a way to distinguish between Baby Jake and BUB when writing here. Before that, I may have also referred to BUB as “Baby.”

At any rate, I don’t really use the names I give my bicycles. I don’t wake up in the morning and say, “Hmm, which bike will I ride today? I think I’ll take BUB.”

I may just end up referring to the Edgerunner as “the longtail,” which easily distinguishes it from any of our other bikes. I could also rename it “Roadrunner,” which deals with my main objection to the name, although I’m also not sure “runner” is terribly appropriate, as cargo bikes are not really built for speed (maybe it would deserve that name if I had electric assist!). Another option, in a continuation of my not-so-creative names, would be “Blue.”

We’ll probably wait to settle on a name, if any, until we actually have the bike, so we can get a feel for her (his?) personality, but it’s not too early to start brainstorming.

So, what do you call your bike? And, any suggestions for a good name for a blue Xtracycle Edgerunner longtail?

Using up and starting anew

‘Tis the season for finishing what remains of last year’s harvest, getting some early tastes of this season’s bounty, and prepping the garden for much goodness to come.

The Old

In the “root cellar“:
- Potatoes — For awhile there, I really wasn’t sure we would make it through all of these. I’m planning a new potato triage strategy for this year’s harvest (more below).
- Winter squash and sweet potatoes — Also a decent bit to use yet . . . .
- Onions — a couple of pounds of small (i.e., pain-in-the-butt to use) onions left. The fact that I pay three dollars for a single (large) organic onion at the store may motivate me to put in the effort to use these.
- Garlic — what’s left is a bit dehydrated, but still okay to use.

In the freezer:
- In general, items in the freezer aren’t as urgent, but still good to make room for this year’s harvest.
- Loot includes shredded zucchini (for zucc bread), red raspberries, chard, pureed winter squash, green peppers, and fennel.

This meal made use of some of our stored potatoes (Purple Viking, which are white inside, and an all-blue variety, which look dark purple). Plus canned beats. The cabbage for the slaw was not from the garden. And, alas, we don’t have chickens, so the eggs are from the farmers’ market.

So, potatoes. They store best if you leave the dirt on after harvesting, but by this time of year, when they’re a bit wrinkly, cleaning them is a pain, especially the little ones. For this year’s harvest, my plan is to immediately (i.e., within a few weeks of harvest) sort out all of the littles, wash them when their skin is still nice and smooth, and then prioritize eating them within a month.

The New

Thanks to the voles (ha!), we didn’t leave much in the ground this winter. Instead of one long low tunnel (or a couple of shorter tunnels), as in winters past, Matthew put up one relatively small tunnel, mainly to keep the artichokes alive. He also planted some arugula in that tunnel.

After the winter we had, I didn’t expect anything to survive, tunnel or no, but lo-and-behold, the arugula made it, and we’ve been having arugula salads for the past few weeks.

It’s so nice to taste fresh, raw veggies at this point in the year, after lots of cooked veg all winter. The meal also included some freezer goodness: green peppers, red peppers, and tomatillo sauce, plus some of our homegrown corn meal went into the corn bread casserole.

In the ground

As of this past weekend, the spring garden is in great shape. The potatoes are planted, along with all of the cruciferous seedlings, fennel, and onion starts. So many plants ready to be outside and growing!

We are also starting a number of things from seed: peas, beets, lettuce, spinach, and chard — all in the ground! Matthew’s mom made this awesome planting grid, that makes planting easier, faster, and so organized (I love that last one!). I hope to get some pictures of the grid in action this weekend.

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