Mapping API Test

Just playing around here to see if I can get a Gmap to embed here...

Bicycle Commuting: Showers and Stink

RL over at Bikecommuters.com has a good post about avoiding the stink when bicycle commuting to work. I won't rehash the conversation here. Okay, maybe I will a little. But first a little rant. When I hear otherwise rational and environmentally-concerned people make excuses (and they are just excuses) for why they can't bike commute to work, one of the foremost reasons is that they are worried about stinking. Whenever the temps go above 69F, I sweat as if someone attached a garden hose to my skin. I have an extremely sensitive nose, to boot.

Yet I bicycle commute year-round (I have no car).

I will admit that my situation is a little easier than most. I have a private office, there are showers here, and I can park my bicycle in my office. But I have not always had it so easily.

Stop with the excuses. If you don't like to bike commute, just say so. But don't go buying a hybrid car to salve your conscience. It's okay to be slightly hypocritical; we all do it when we start to espouse principles.  But don't try to piss on me and tell me it's raining.

Okay, rant over. For starters, to dodge the stink, start out clean. You should shower before and after your rides anyway. Wait, didn't I just say that a lack of showers was an excuse? More on that in a moment.

Use a good deodorant. I despise anti-perspirants, even though I am a good candidate for them. The idea of clogging my sweat ducts with aluminum chlorohydrate gives me a little bit of the creeps. Crystal deodorant is The Way. It rocks. The new Tom's of Maine Natural Deodorant seems to work pretty well too and has a nice smell.

Don't wear polyester. We learned that one in the 70's, yet somehow here we are in the 21st century and we seem to have forgotten that polyester fucking stinks! And it is a tenacious stink; it does not wash out. Or maybe it is a conspiracy by clothing manufacturers to get us to keep buying more clothing. The solution? Wool. Yes, wool.  There is just no better fabric for bicycling.

Change your clothes once you get to work.  You sweat in your clothes, you take the clothes off, along with the sweat.  Pretty simple, huh?

But without a shower, we're still a little at a loss for getting clean. Ah, now we are getting to the crux of my post. For the sweaty, grimy commutes, I made my own cleanser/moisturizer/disinfectant/deodorizer. Inspired by Rocket Shower (of course, you could just buy Rocket Shower):

• 50% - 90% rubbing alcohol, 1 part
  
• witch hazel, 1 part
  
• essential oil, your choice, although I like lime, teatree, or peppermint, 1-10 drops to"taste"
  
• couple drops of olive oil, optional for moisturizing skin
  

Put all the ingredients in an oil mister and shake well. Spray on as needed, wipe off with soft, absorbant cloth. Enjoy your newly cleaned state sans shower. This combo also works on hair. Not exactly a shower and shampoo, but gets the sweat out and the clean in.

I find this also keeps the crotchitis away. Since I have started using this mixture, I have not had any crotch issues at all.

Enjoy.

Good Brats in Vermont!

I have this love/hate thing with pork. I love ribs, pork roast, sausage, wurst, and chops. And of course, bacon. Bacon, bacon fat, bacon-wrapped everything. I was once flipping through one of my vegetarian cookbooks. I saw a really good recipe and thought to myself, "Hmmm... that's a pretty good recipe. Know what would make it better? Bacon." Next page... "Good recipe. Know what would make this better? Bacon."  Bacon makes everything better.

But, unless you are in the know, it can be hard to find good pork. When I say good pork, I mean meat that does not smell and taste like a hog factory when you cook it. You know the smell: part sewage plant, part rotting animal, part visitation from the seventh circle of hell. I am positive that this flavor/smell comes from the hogs rooting in their own mess. Basically the worst of what PETA has to say about factory-produced (notice I did not say "farmed") pork.

Good pork does not have this narsty smell and flavor. It is very hard to find here in Vermont. Oh, I am sure there is good pork here, but I have yet to find a regular hookup for my fix. One of the most egregious offenders is McKenzie Country Classics. Every pork product I have ever had from them smells and tastes as if it was scraped out of the bottom of the pig pen. So, imagine my double surprise when I found great bratwurst here in Vermont and from the same parent company that owns McKenzie's: Kayem.

The Kayem brats are the best sausage I found in Vermont so far. To do any better without making them myself, I order from the folks at Bavaria Sausage Inc.  It is seriously difficult to do any better than they do it. My friend and I both had two brats with breakfast a couple days ago. Well, there are five brats in a pack. I threw the fifth in the pan on low and forgot about it. It was one crispy sausage by the time I remembered to shut off the stove. I dropped it in a ziploc bag and tossed it in the fridge.

I ate it this morning and it rocked. Still juicy, great flavor, and the casing stood up to the abuse of pan-cooking. It even tasted great without mustard. And best of all, none of that nasty hog factory smell or taste.

Cage Rattling

I like to rattle peoples' cages. I like to jar them into thinking differently, maybe encourage them to consider a different context (even if incorrect), and get people to question their assumptions and their own assertions.

I like when people can provide a well-formed, cage-rattling perspective for me. It's rare that it happens, but it is often the simplest thing.

I like to ride bicycles. I love to ride bicycles. I love all things bicycle. It's an illness, an addiction, an obsession, and one my passions. I wanted to randonneur and I was going to start a blog about one mediocre cyclist's journey to the BMB and PBP. More on that in a later post.

My first brevet was to be on 30 March 2008.  I have been trying to get my base mileage up to a point where I could comfortably start my brevet series. I have been scrambling to get my bicycle, my randonneuring platform, to the point where I could trust it to take me hundreds and thousands of miles. In order to be a randonneur, I need to go join the elite ranks of randonneurs and anciens.

But in a soul-searing moment this weekend, that dream was blown away. It was replaced by something so much simpler and so obvious, that I could not have ever imagined it on my own. My best friend Rose pointed out to me that I should just skip the organized rides. She cited that I am more of a solo rider anyway, which is true. Why not just ride on my own, map it via GPS, and post my adventures in a blog? Duh! So here it is. Here is my journey.

Your friends, true friends, know you best.  I hope you will follow along and enjoy the ride with me.