Jhciacb

Cancel The Woke…

There’s no such thing as Woke Culture or Wokeism. The term is a construct, created to spin the inevitable arc of moral progress over time. I’m embarrassed that it gets thrown around as often it does, and by intelligent people who should know better. But agenda is an intoxicant that can put alcohol to shame, especially in the veins of the media and politicians.

An archaeologist sees the head of a nail sticking out from the dried earth. He digs a little deeper and exposes the stem of the nail. Further still, and he realizes the nail is held fast to a board. Brushing away more dirt, he exposes the length of the board — which is connected, by other nails, to a series of other boards. 

As the dirt is cleared away, a form takes shape. What appears to be a wooden wall is exposed — until the archaeologist finds a curve in it. Over time, and with the help of others, the large section of wood is exposed to be the hull of an old ship. Just hours earlier all that could be seen — all that was known was just the head of a nail.

Exposure, layer by layer and over time, tells a more complete story. It’s not that the ship suddenly grew under the nail — it was there all the time, waiting to be discovered. The archaeologists, and subsequently the people who learned about the ship, weren’t woke, they were educated about what was already there. 

Honestly, I’m glad for the increasing exposure to the moral inequalities that plague society — racism, gender bias, and social and economic disparity, etc. To be clear, I cringe when bad things happen to good people. I don’t want to see property destroyed. I don’t want to see people get threatened, injured, or killed. But the more that hatred and ignorant bias step into the light and the louder they announce themselves, the better off we’re all going to be in the long-term. I truly believe that. 

More recently, it’s as though the ship itself is clearing the dirt away. Let their voices be heard. Let their ignorance be observed. Let the fruit of their hateful minds be on display for everyone to see. Let’s clear the streets and give ‘em all microphones. Allow them to gather in large numbers and speak without interruption. 

Morality, like mathematics, isn’t something man invented. It’s been there since time began, woven into the fiber of the universe — to be discovered and used for the advancement of the species. The moral progress of man is a treasure. Social equality, over time, is taking shape. It won’t be fully exposed in my lifetime or yours, but every day we need to keep wiping the dirt off of it and allow it to be exposed further — and we need to keep others from burying it once again.  

Woke isn’t the act of creating something new. Woke is exposing something that’s been there all along. 

This is what I think about when I ride… Jhciacb 

This week by the numbers…

Bikes Ridden: 7

Miles: 195

Climbing: 7,900’

Mph Avg: 15.3

Calories: 11,100

Seat Time: 12 hours 44 minutes

Whether you ride a bike or not, thank you for taking the time to ride along with me today. If you haven’t already, please scroll up and subscribe. If you like what you read, give it a like and a share. If not, just keep scrollin’. Oh, and there’s this from Jake Bugg. Enjoy…!

Jhciacb

The Toll…

It’s harder to get moving these days, and when I do, I more resemble Detective Fish from Barney Miller than an advocate for fitness over the age of 60. My body is feeling the effects of an absence of sleep. 

If there’s a weakness in my physical life, it’s that recovery isn’t an option. I still do all the physical things I’ve done since my teens, I’ve simply given away on those hours when exercise recovery takes place. Due to a variety of reasons, I get just 4 to 5 hours of broken sleep each night.

I’ve struggled with sleep since I heard that first trashcan lid make contact with its base on my first morning of Boot Camp. That noise came as such a shock, I immediately began developing a system of anticipating subsequent trashcan lids, alarms, and anything else which might intend to wake me. By the time I completed my term in the United States Coast Guard, I had lost the ability to sleep for more than 4-hours at a stretch.

From the Coast Guard, I would go through a series of jobs involving shift work — very often swingshift and graveyard shift, with sleep taking place during the day in bits and pieces as I was able. Eventually I’d settle into a career of fitness training, but that involved taking clients as early as 4am and and often as late as 8pm. 

A fear of oversleeping worked against me. In time I was able to weed out the early and the late client sessions, but years of being a poor sleeper created synapses in my brain and body that manifest for life. 

In 2005 I saw a sleep specialist. When I described my sleep habits, combined with my physical lifestyle, he suggested I cut significantly back on the physicality of my life. I explained that exercise is primary in my life, as much for mental stability as it is a physical outlet. He said he understood, and told me to expect my body to break down in time. For a long time I fought that — successfully. I just did what I did, ate what I ate, and slept when I could. I did okay with that. 

In time though, I’d add into my life the hobbies of writing, photo editing, and actually expand on daily exercise — all while accepting my role as a caregiver for my aging mother. What could possibly go wrong…? Actually, I’m kind of proud that I make it all work, and I do. With one problem though…

I sleep less than ever and I feel myself breaking down. 

Caregiving has put me in a position where I need to stay up a little later and wake a little earlier each day, in order to accomplish the things that fall through the cracks in my hurry-scurry day-to-day. I do most of my writing and photo editing either before my mother wakes up or after she goes to sleep. Notwithstanding, the administration of my business, workout planning for clients, correspondence, and just finding some quiet time.

To paraphrase George H. W. Bush…

The Jhciacb way of life is not negotiable. 

I’m beat up these days. I ache, crackle, and move slowly if I’ve been seated too long. Wrapping my fingers around a barbell at 6am requires a mental coaxing that’s new to me. When I walk into my bike room each afternoon, my mind spies the  bike of the day while my body cries for a nap instead. Each morning, when I could attempt to sleep for another hour, I wake up and write. I choose movement. I choose creativity. 

I’ll continue to do the things that feed my mental health, my confidence, and my need for physical and creative outlets — at the expense of the sleep which I also need. Besides, nobody ever died from a lack of sleep. Well, not immediately anyway.

This is what I think about when I ride… Jhciacb

This week by the numbers…

Bikes Ridden: 6

Miles: 170

Climbing: 7,200

Mph Avg: 15.4

Calories: 9,700

Seat Time: 11 hours 02 minutes

Whether you ride a bike or not, thank you for taking the time to ride along with me today. If you haven’t already, please scroll up and subscribe. If you like what you read, give it a like and a share. If not, just keep scrollin’. Oh, and there’s this from Ray Wylie Hubbard. Enjoy…!

Jhciacb

No Meat For That Dog…

When I turn my bike from East Mission Road here in Fallbrook, onto Live Oak Road, I’m like a kid. Know that I get to glide downhill for the next for the next 3-miles. Just three or four kicks after I make that turn, and I can let the gravy and good wheels do the work. 

Live Oak Road is a meandering descent along the eastern edge of Fallbrook. As the name indicates, it’s lined with dozens of old oaks, a handful of which form tree tunnels along way. Riding this road can be transcendent, depending on my mood, and is often the cherry on top of my day.

Live Oak comes to an end when it reaches Reche Road — another beautiful 2-lane road, with more oaks and some beautiful homes as well. As I transitioned from Live Oak to Reche one evening last week, and as I passed one of those beautiful homes, I was startled when I heard several dogs barking. I’ve turned that corner hundreds of times and never heard dogs there before.

I looked over my right shoulder and saw three unleashed dogs, all stocky and looking to be (approximately) in the 60-pound range. They were different colors, appeared to be mixed breeds, and certainly had some fighting dog in them — because they were charging me at full speed. It took only a moment to realize they were running faster than I was pedaling. 

The dog closest to me, a tan big-head, was running faster than I could ride. He looked hungry, and I have a lot of leg meat. Fortunately the gradient of the road increased, and going downhill allowed me to stay ahead of him. As I created some distance between me and the big-head, he slowed and turned back toward his two companions. At his closest, he was within 5 or 6 feet of me.

Once clear of any danger, I stopped, drank some water, and took in what had just happened. Experience has taught me that some dogs can run upwards of 25 to 30 mph. If I’m riding on a flat road, the fastest I can ride is roughly 25 mph. That is, if that road hadn’t turned downhill when the dogs began chasing me, they probably would’ve caught me.

That was the only time I can remember seeing dogs off-leash while I was riding, that I didn’t stop to try and find their homes. It was a busy road, they appeared aggressive, and I felt vulnerable. When I got home, I checked a couple of ‘lost pet’ pages for this area on social media, but found nothing similar. I’m hopeful they were local dogs whose steward left them unattended or left a gate open.  

For the rest of the ride though, I kept imagining what would’ve happened if big-head dog had caught me. The last thing I’d ever want is to have to defend myself from a dog that’s the product of poor stewardship. I drove by that area later that day to see if I could find the owner or which yard the dogs came from. No luck.

I’ll still ride by that street in the future, but a lot faster, and without looking back. 

This is what I think about when I ride… Jhciacb

This week by the numbers…

Bikes Ridden: 6

Miles: 185

Climbing: 8,400’

Mph Avg: 15.0

Calories: 10,500

Seat Time: 12 hours 20 minutes

Whether you ride a bike or not, thank you for taking the time to ride along with me today. If you haven’t already, please scroll up and subscribe. If you like what you read, give it a like and a share. If not, just keep scrollin’. Oh, and there’s this from Oasis. Enjoy…!

Jhciacb

The Art Of Being Scarcely Informed…

I haven’t been checking the headlines much recently, and not at all this morning. War could’ve been declared overnight and I wouldn’t have known about it until someone mentioned it to me. And if I did know about it, would it have have made a difference in my day…? Not much, honestly.

My information triage each morning goes something like this…

– Check Reuters headlines

– Check AP headlines

– Check NPR headlines

– Correlate those three sources for common impactful stories

Stories which I think might have an impact on me directly, I read immediately.

Stories relevant to my clients, which might come in conversation during my workday, I skim.

Stories of interest which I’m sure won’t impact my day, my lifestyle, or my finances, I bookmark for a possible read later in the day.

I guess this makes me scarcely informed.

I’ve come to believe this is a good way to be — to be (at least) partially informed of the big stories and scarcely informed about smaller news stories. In truth though, unless a missile is headed to the United States, the banking system collapses due to a cyber-attack, or a river of lava is flowing down Main Avenue, I could probably make it through the day without knowing what’s going on in the world — I could probably make it through most of my life without knowing what’s going on in the world. I mean, unless a pandemic breaks out, but what are the odds of that…?

And that was my convoluted mind-chew for much of my pedaling week…

I’ve never believed that being informed is as critical to our day-to-day lives as so many make it out to be. For most, being informed is a justifiable form of entertainment.

– It’s good to be informed, yes.

– It’s good that information comes from credible sources, yes.

– It’s good to process that information in a way that applies appropriate context and perspective to the reader, yes.

In his book, Why We’re Polarized (2020), Ezra Klein tells the story of a friend, a bay area businessman, who goes to great lengths to avoid all news. He does this under the pretense that no matter what the news is, it will affect only his mood. Any news so significant it would impact his life or his business, he’d learn from the act of just living.

At least half of me believe there’s some value to that, and that’s not so small-minded. It’s been studied from many angles, and suggested that a lesser demand for news would result in a better quality of information. In The Elements Of Journalism (2014), by Kovach and Rosenstiel, the authors suggest that quality information becomes more distinct and more available when the demand for all information decreases. One of the strains, they suggest, on today’s journalism is the demand to feed the masses what they think they need — information about things which aren’t impactful in their day-to-day lives.

I’m just a chimp with a smartphone, but I think there’s something to that — so I stay moderately informed about important things and scarcely informed about the little things. But I wonder increasingly, if there’s any benefit to being informed at all. As I’ve said before, if there’s a missile headed my way, one of my neighbors is probably going to tell me anyway.

As an exercise in what I’m suggesting, next time you look at the main page of your favorite news and information site, scroll from top to bottom, reading the headlines only, and before digging in to read any story, ask yourself how knowing that information is going to make you a better business person, a better parent, a better friend, or a better neighbor. Then, again reading the headlines only, ask yourself how knowing the information contained in each story is going to influence your mood — stories about the arts notwithstanding.

Many will argue that an informed electorate is the foundation of a strong democracy. An electorate that’s over-informed about insignificant things, might just be the reason we’re in our current situation.

This is what I think about when I ride… Jhciacb

This week by the numbers…

Bikes Ridden: 6

Miles: 186

Climbing: 7,800’

Mph Avg: 15.0

Calories: 10,500

Seat Time: 12 hours 25 minutes

Whether you ride a bike or not, thank you for taking the time to ride along with me today. If you haven’t already, please scroll up and subscribe. If you like what you read, give it a like and a share. If not, just keep scrollin’. Oh, and there’s this from Poi Dog Pondering. Enjoy…!