Two approaches to cycling

Approach No. 1:
Make sure you have a good, lightweight road bike equipped with moderate- to high-end components. Wear lycra cycling shorts, knee- and/or arm warmers, a lightweight, brightly colored vest or jacket, cycling gloves and shoes with cleats that are compatible with your clipless pedals. Ride 20 miles, stop and eat lunch, then ride home. Total: 40 miles.

Below is an illustration of Approach No. 1, as exemplified today by Stu, me, Barbara and Dave just after a lovely lunch at Tomales Bakery.


Approach No. 2:
Find your bike. Pump up the tires. Put a rack on the back and attach a pannier-type bag to one side. Put some clothes and other stuff in it and into a couple of large, black garbage bags, which you can also attach to the rack. Put on a sweatshirt and a pair of pants and some shoes. Gloves can be of any description. Start riding in Olympia, Wash., sometime around the first of October and head south to San Francisco. Total miles: 750.

Below is an illustration of Approach No. 2 as demonstrated by Kate, riding solo from Olympia. (Not her first such trip; this past summer, she rode to Chicago.)

Conclusion: Stop reading all those cycling magazines and just get on your bike and ride. (Disregard if you are older than 25.)

Bloggers, take heed

Today's New York Times ran the obituary of Robert Shields, who devoted the last quarter-century of his life to writing entries in his diary, documenting his days in five-minute segments. Everything he did—eating, performing household tasks, urinating—he considered worthy of note. By the time a stroke ended his ability to type, he'd entered 37.5 million words.

I think I'll stop now.

Way back . . . way back . . . gone!

The baseball season is now Officially Over, both too long (baseball is a summer game and should not be played when the forecast is for snow) and too short (both league championship series and the World Series were done in four games each, darn it). Congrats, Red Sox; you are definitely the best team in baseball. And congrats to the gritty Rockies, whom I fear we Giants fans will see plenty more of (but how about that Matt Herges, who used to be Our Guy, ditto Yorvit Torrealba? And the Rocks have the best-named player in baseball: Troy Tulowitski).

So now begins my personal drought. I listen to a lot of baseball during the season, and when the end of October comes around, I go into withdrawal. Aside from the games, themselves, I miss the Giants' play-by-play guys—Jon Miller, Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, and David B. Fleming—who are vastly entertaining. I learn a lot about baseball by listenening to them, and their post-game rap is often hilariously funny, even (or sometimes especially) when the Giants have tanked (sadly, a commonplace this 2007 season).

I'm not a football or basketball fan (don't hate 'em, just can't relate to players I either can't actually recognize because of all the gear or, in the case of basketball, are running back and forth in incomprehensible patterns), and until recently (like, yesterday, when hell froze over as the Comcast guy was installing cable in my flat), I haven't had TV access to the more arcane sports, like bass fishing and rodeo, that are featured on the Versus channel.

Now that I have cable, though, I'm gonna check out bullriding. The cowboys are cute and exotic, the bulls are handsome, and I can recognize all the players. It's not baseball, but it'll have to do until spring comes round again.