Not an easy day but very gratifying, very successful in that the mind was free for great learning, and the body was largely on automatic doing great work. All this do to the months of work on cycling up until now.
As mentioned in the last blog, James doesn't know s***. But has he been wasting all the time up until now? It's certain not. At the very least his old body is in quite very good shape and quite strong. But probably much much more than that. And possibly the degree of difficulty, the degree of unknown, the newness of the e-bike technology, all combined to make this a really really really really difficult complex task. What does a skier do? They stand on some boards and go down the mountain. How tough is that? And Golf, and Tennis, Etc. And yet it can take a lifetime to reach the top of ones Pursuit.
The primary occupation of the Mind today when it was turned to cycling and away from the listening, only briefly now and then, was, behave as tho this is a big heavy object that is moved mechanically. Do not allow your body to play games, and do not get sucked into games played by the electronics. Keep it real. Keep it very very simple.
Will this work tomorrow? The next day? It very well may. There is nothing in the past that seemed really helpful that is counter to this. This may be the simple fruition. To paraphrase the mass murderer Churchill, and to take liberties, the body can be counted upon to find the perfect solution, after it has exhausted all of the alternatives.
James, how about your euphoric discovery of the chainring at your knee, imaginary? Yes, it was nowhere directly in today's four hour voyage. But was it necessary to get us to this excellent Voyage today? It didn't hurt. It may have been instrumental.
Maybe not emphasized yet, several days ago in a good voyage the feet were really unhappy. It was extremely low Cadence which means each stroke has to do a lot of work. And the feet really really wanted to move forward in the shoes so that the arch of the foot was directly over the pedal. Although this is counter to most or all instruction by the experts, for the objective of this Mission which is excellent exercise moving this huge vehicle on automatic, it is not clearly a bad idea and might be a really good idea. In recent years there have been times when enormous energy was lost trying to keep the ankle feet and shins and calves limp. Having the arch directly over the pedal pretty well does this. And this was a friend many months ago. A very good friend. Having these shoes that clip into the pedal is very nice, and maybe a wonderful thing on level ground, something we have not been on in well over half of a year. But in the voyage 2 days ago and today those shoes were dispensed with and summer hiking boots lightweight, used instead so the arch could indeed be right over the pedal. Who knows what would be sacrificed in some sort of race? Who cares? There was tremendous exercise, at least 1,300 calories again today, and it was automatic! Fabulous.
$10 replacement pedals and $10 velcro straps should arrive as early as tomorrow to replace at least temporarily what is on there currently so that this new Arrangement is safer and maybe even a little bit more powerful.
In part so this can be automatic James nervous system needs a simple goal that it finds realistic and meaningful. So that it doesn't get lost in the infinite possibilities of this electrical system. And currently the form that takes is, James, keep it real and honest. Be certain that you are carrying your own weight, and at least the weight of a lightweight bicycle which James's guessing is about 20 lbs. And indeed on this 62 mile energy equivalent climb, only about 10 Mi, but the energy equivalence comes by counting a mile for each 100 feet climbed, on this long to day voyage, James indeed carried at least himself plus 20 lbs, at some times was carrying himself Plus 100 lb of Sol. Throughout this journey. And this is one of the 12 most difficult bicycle climbs in the country, some of it 12 + 13% grade.
And Sol is being pushed to extreme limits and Performing beautifully. The many many many days of fortifying the vehicle for this difficult summer of climbing, is all paying off. And because all that work is done the mind could be free for all of the productive studying that took place today.
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