bleach and reduced expectations." Masterfully done.
Every few paragraphs I kept waiting for the shoe to drop, that catastrophe hit and you had to stop the race. You kept on going on, through lack of waterr, food, pain in your knees, possible bike failure. Every time Mark left you behind, you almost magically caught up to him again. Nature interceded on your behalf with calm weath and tailwinds, and you kept finding new reserves to push on through.
I eagerly await the end of the tale.
PS - forgive my typos, but your reply font is SO DAMN SMALL! :p
i love reading your writings. i got all sorts of anxious, wanting a different bike, one with cantilever brakes. there's a batavus with generator tabs and all the braze-ons, a touring/commuter bike, at the community bike shop, and i really want to get it and do some long riding stuff, but i'm such a chicken.
do you take any notes while riding for your writing later?
yeah, but long rides don't necessarily have to be these marathon, time-sensitive, unsupported death marches. There's something to be said for just getting on your bike, riding out to Marin or Sonoma and going farm hopping.
I don't take notes during the event, but sometimes, close to the end, do some quick sketches to just fix some ideas in place that I'll fill in later when I have more time.
For instance, on this ride, at the finish, I took a copy of my brevet card before turning it in, and wrote down all of the times I arrived at different checkpoints, then later that day, while soaking in a tub back in Vancouver, I'd put down a few prompts/reminders for memories that I wanted to describe on each leg of the journey. A theme or framework kind of emerges as I mull it over mentally before I start typing.
Comments 4
Every few paragraphs I kept waiting for the shoe to drop, that catastrophe hit and you had to stop the race. You kept on going on, through lack of waterr, food, pain in your knees, possible bike failure. Every time Mark left you behind, you almost magically caught up to him again. Nature interceded on your behalf with calm weath and tailwinds, and you kept finding new reserves to push on through.
I eagerly await the end of the tale.
PS - forgive my typos, but your reply font is SO DAMN SMALL! :p
Reply
though, really, one can argue that the shoe does drop. I just decide to pick it up again.
Reply
i got all sorts of anxious, wanting a different bike, one with cantilever brakes. there's a batavus with generator tabs and all the braze-ons, a touring/commuter bike, at the community bike shop, and i really want to get it and do some long riding stuff, but i'm such a chicken.
do you take any notes while riding for your writing later?
Reply
I don't take notes during the event, but sometimes, close to the end, do some quick sketches to just fix some ideas in place that I'll fill in later when I have more time.
For instance, on this ride, at the finish, I took a copy of my brevet card before turning it in, and wrote down all of the times I arrived at different checkpoints, then later that day, while soaking in a tub back in Vancouver, I'd put down a few prompts/reminders for memories that I wanted to describe on each leg of the journey. A theme or framework kind of emerges as I mull it over mentally before I start typing.
Reply
Leave a comment