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Aug. 9th, 2010 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynDiscoveries I made this weekend:
- It is possible to hit 20 mph on a flat stretch of road on a commuter bike even if you are wearing a backpack containing a 12-pound chain, as long as you are absolutely sure no one is coming towards you from either direction. And if you are careful you can maintain that speed going around a corner, but it has to be a very gradual one, not a sharp turn.
- There are wild parrots living in Edgewater, New Jersey. One of them landed in a tree outside the Whole Foods parking lot while I was unlocking my bike. Turns out the colony's about 35 years old. Quaker parrots are stubborn birds.
- About two or three times a year I get hit by menstrual cramps so bad as to be incapacitating. This is not the discovery. The discovery is that they can hit when I'm 9.5 miles into a bike ride that was supposed to be 18 miles, and I can still haul myself, my bike, two 1.5 liter bottles of green tea, half a gallon of milk, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of tomato sauce, eight cans of cat food, and my 12-pound chain the remaining four miles to the nearest train station.
- And then haul all that stuff up the stairs, admittedly in two trips, before feeding the cat, putting the milk and tea away, taking a shower, and then collapsing in bed. (We're talking kidney stone levels of pain here by the time I finally gave out.)
- Also apparently my interest in folk/filk music and things Canadian has registered enough with my parents that they saw an interview with Corb Lund (of Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans) on NPR and automatically called me to let me know what I would be getting for Christmas. Dad was amazed at the existence of country music that sounded so much like non-overblown country music in Canada; I told him when Canadians say "Alberta" they're basically saying "Texas, but a little further north". He seemed to accept this.
- It is possible to hit 20 mph on a flat stretch of road on a commuter bike even if you are wearing a backpack containing a 12-pound chain, as long as you are absolutely sure no one is coming towards you from either direction. And if you are careful you can maintain that speed going around a corner, but it has to be a very gradual one, not a sharp turn.
- There are wild parrots living in Edgewater, New Jersey. One of them landed in a tree outside the Whole Foods parking lot while I was unlocking my bike. Turns out the colony's about 35 years old. Quaker parrots are stubborn birds.
- About two or three times a year I get hit by menstrual cramps so bad as to be incapacitating. This is not the discovery. The discovery is that they can hit when I'm 9.5 miles into a bike ride that was supposed to be 18 miles, and I can still haul myself, my bike, two 1.5 liter bottles of green tea, half a gallon of milk, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of tomato sauce, eight cans of cat food, and my 12-pound chain the remaining four miles to the nearest train station.
- And then haul all that stuff up the stairs, admittedly in two trips, before feeding the cat, putting the milk and tea away, taking a shower, and then collapsing in bed. (We're talking kidney stone levels of pain here by the time I finally gave out.)
- Also apparently my interest in folk/filk music and things Canadian has registered enough with my parents that they saw an interview with Corb Lund (of Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans) on NPR and automatically called me to let me know what I would be getting for Christmas. Dad was amazed at the existence of country music that sounded so much like non-overblown country music in Canada; I told him when Canadians say "Alberta" they're basically saying "Texas, but a little further north". He seemed to accept this.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 03:15 pm (UTC)\o/
It is Monday, that is about all the coherence I have got.
That and wow parrots.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 03:59 pm (UTC)A friend of mine had his first encounter with University Health Services as an aftermath of that, on a downhill. Mostly because some rednecks think it's funny to force a cyclist who's approaching 20mph off the road and into the grass. (They came up behind him, paced him in their truck, and did all but reach out of the passenger window and shove him off the road.) I didn't see it, but I understand the resulting road rash was impressive.
EDIT: I am not at all surprised by the description of Alberta. From what I saw, Calgary is doing its damnedest to be Fort Worth's northern twin.
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Date: 2010-08-09 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 05:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 04:00 am (UTC)Speaking of things Canadian, you should probably see the Scott Pilgrim movie. I've been told it is "too weird" and "too Canadian" for most audiences.