And Apparently Current King

After yesterday's post about The Once and Future King, it turns out the book was recently featured on NPR's "You Must Read This" segment.

Let me add this to what I said about it yesterday: I mentioned that it was episodic in nature (at least it is so far) and what I really admire about that style in this type of novel is that it emulates the original fantasy/epic genre. Stories like the Odyssey, Iliad, Niebelungenlied, or the Saga of the Volsungs. These are stories that don't solely follow a single plot arc - they're told in a "this adventure happened and then this adventure happened" sort of way. So I like that T.H. White mimics that to an extent in his own epic tale.

Rainy Day Reading

Here's what my weather forecast is looking like this week:

But the rain isn't keep everyone off the streets. I saw this young boy waiting to cross the street while I was driving home from work. Sorry for the fuzzy picture - there were a ton of raindrops on my window preventing a clear shot.
Marin will probably stay in the garage until it gets sunny again. I'll admit I'm a fair weather bicyclist. Without a chain guard I worry about rust and my brakes always squeal for several days after getting wet. Does anyone else have this problem or is there just something wrong with my bike? Plus I don't like the rain in my eyes and the coldness involved.

So instead of going out for a bike ride I will stay in and read. Currently, I'm on this:

I'm liking it so far, but the episodic nature of it makes it hard to really get into one of those reading time warps. You know when you sit down to read and the book is so interesting you want to forego any other commitments and simply read all day and then suddenly 4 hours have passed and you missed lunch? Not happening with this. But that's not necessarily bad. It's a great book to read during breakfast or lunch when you only have a set amount of time before you have to leave for work or go run errands.

Since I'm a big reader and everyone who knows me is aware of this, I often get bookmarks for gifts or seek them out myself. My mom got me this one this past summer on a trip to Cape Cod. I love the boat. Once I finish this book I'll probably take another bookmark out of my collection. I have to be fair to them, after all.

To those staying in, happy reading!

Rail Trail Break Pic

Snapped this picture while I took a mid-ride snack break Friday. I think he thought I was interested in the fact that he was shirtless, but I was just interested in the fact that he was on a bike!
This woman picked up some food at the Polish restaurant/ice cream place located next to the trail. She knows how to get her dinner shopping done right - via bike!

It's Not Easy Being Green

I have to quote my friend Kermit the Frog in regards to yesterday's work commute. Yes - I did it. And yes - I loved it. But it wasn't easy. While I want to encourage other people to try bicycling instead of driving from time to time, I'm not going to pretend it's simple. For example: I've got my bike equipped with a rack and detachable basket, which makes it easier for me to carry the things I need without getting the horrible backsweat that a backpack would leave me with.

Full as it can get!

I've got my lunch cooler in there (alas, my pear got rather banged up going over bumps), a pair of shorts to change into for the ride home since it was supposed to be 87 degrees in the afternoon, purse, dress shoes, camera, and sweatshirt.

Now, I've ridden my bike in those shoes before. It's not difficult, but with 36 miles round trip and some long hills on the way home I figured I should stick to my trusty sneakers:

Sneaks.

Saving these for the shorter rides.

One commuting difficulty that can come up no matter how you get there: directions. The bike trail in my area was recently extended, and I had never ridden on the extension before. I thought it was pretty straightforward, but it turns out I was wrong. After getting off one portion, I got on another part in the wrong direction. Rode about 1.5 miles before I stopped a woman walking the opposite way if I was going the right way. Turns out I wasn't.

Bike Commuting Tip #1: if it you're trying to go east,

don't follow the signs that say "West."

Total commute time there: 1 hour 44 minutes (including time spent getting lost).

Total commute time home: 1 hour 40 minutes (last 6 miles or so are uphill and I was tired).

This probably isn't feasible for most people. And that's fine. I admit I had to give my legs a pep talk with about 2.5 miles to go. They were tired but they made it. So what makes sense for me may not make sense for others. I get that people have kids or other commitments and can't afford to spend 3 hours on their commute. But instead of thinking about what you can't do, think about what you can do. Can you drive partway and bike the rest? Can you use your bike to do some errands, like going to the bank or out for coffee? Even if you don't have a bike, could you take public transportation more? Do what works for you.

So, do you commute by bike? If so, what's your commute like? If not, what's stopping you?

Happy riding!

Commuting in the Suburbs

I've recently started a new job. It's actually farther from my house than my old job but significantly more convenient to bike to. 18 Miles from my house. So far I've tried doing a combination of driving the first half and biking the second. It requires bike deconstruction since my car is too small to fit it and I don't have a bike rack.

Bike in the back seat of my car - tight squeeze!

Have to take the front wheel on and off every time I commute to make it fit.

I have to admit I only did this two days before I got tired of the hassle and just drove (although it was in part due to rainy forecasts and then it was hard to get myself started again). Tomorrow I'm going to bike the entire eighteen miles. I feel like I have to because so much of the US is not bike-friendly, and here I get to live in a part that does have some decent bike infrastructure in places. We have several miles of bike trail that leads pretty much right from close to the highway to my office. Here's a video for you:

It's going to be so beautiful over the next few weeks - hooray fall!