Comfortable with Uncertainty

I've got three full weeks of riding to work every day under my belt.  I feel like I've undergone a huge shift in my mindset about this.

It's funny.  Not ha-ha funny.  But interesting funny.  I got an email from a friend, Grammarblock blog writer Monika, commenting that I've been quiet lately in my blog/writing.  I realized I'd finally been riding MORE than writing or thinking about riding.  That's a huge shift.  AND....a powerful one for me.

I was noticing something that would happen in my thoughts when it would be late in the evening, about the time I was getting ready for bed, getting the next day's lunch ready, etc.  That is when I was always deciding on whether to ride the next day or not.  So many times, countless times, my thoughts would go to a safe kind of thought.  The thought would be something like, "I've already ridden twice this week, I should rest tomorrow."  Boom.  Instant nail in the coffin for riding the next day.

Something shifted though a few weeks ago when I started to allow myself to hear that little thought in the back of my mind that was saying...."what would it be like to ride all five days.  I bet you'd feel great about that, and I bet you're physically ready for it."

Physically I have been ready for it.  It was mostly all in my head, so to speak.  I have been a bit more tired in the evening, but then, I sleep more soundly.  Good deal on that.

The title of this posting, COMFORTABLE WITH UNCERTAINTY, is the title of a book by Pema Chödrön, who I've written about before and provided some links for her talks, teachings.  The first line in Chapter 32 is:  There are three habitual methods that human beings use for relating to troubling habits such as laziness, anger, or self-pity.  I call these the three futile strategies- the strategies of attacking, indulging, and ignoring.  


She goes on to say a few paragraphs on:  The mind-training practices of the warrior present a fourth alternative, the alternative of an enlightened strategy.  Try fully experiencing whatever you've been resisting- without exiting in your habitual ways.  Become inquisitive about your habits.  


Become inquisitive about your habits.  So true.  

Quote of the day

The only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor;

he takes measurements anew every time he sees me, 

while all the rest go on with their old measurements 

and expect me to fit them.

George Bernard Shaw 

Almost June

Memorial Day weekend!  Hooray for a nice 3 day weekend.

Inspired by the awesome BIKE TO WORK DAY, which was so much fun....this past week I passed a huge milestone.  I biked to work all 5 days!  I've done weeks of 4 days quite a bit, but had never gotten to all five, Monday thru Friday.

And besides being a little bit more tired in the evening than usual, it was WONDERFUL!

Probably going to ride to the beach in the morning tomorrow and take some pictures along the way.  Will post if I get some good ones.

Bike to Work Day

Bike to Work Day is tomorrow here in San Diego.  I meant to write about this earlier in the week, but had been away last week back east visiting family, so this week has been catch up with everything/one week. 

Here's the link to the "official" site.

From there, you can see where there are support stations along your route.  There they will have snacks, bike safety info, free t-shirts if you register in advance!  I can not resist a free bike to work day t-shirt....

And...not to be left out, The Onion has their take on this great event...check it out here.  :o)

Enjoy the ride!!

A Sunday ride

Just got in from a BEAUTIFUL Sunday ride with my friend Dan.  We ended up doing 14.74 miles, which on a day off from bike commuting was pretty good!  I mapped it out just now using MAPMYRIDE.  That site can be used for biking...and they have sisters sites for running, among other activities.  I have an app for it on my phone which I haven't used yet.  I'll test it out tomorrow on the way to work to see how accurate it is.  There's something about seeing what I've just ridden on a map, with distance, etc that is very high on the cool scale.

We stopped to take a few pics I wanted to share:

Florida Canyon....The yellow wildflowers are breathtaking....Rolling beds of them all over the place.

Another Florida Canyon shot, heading south.

And another, going up one of the many running trails.

Over to the neighborhood of Mission Hills.  You can see thru the tree a few skyscrapers of downtown San Diego.

Mission Hills for this pic as well.  Thru the trees you can see the houses on the other side of this grove of trees, bushes and shrubs.


So many people out today, walking, running, biking.  The ride thru Balboa Park was fantastic...families, couples, friends...volleyball games, flag football games.

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR IN SAN DIEGO!

Department of Transportation

I try and not repost from other sources in this blog to make up an entire entry.  I really try and create my own "original thoughts".  But this article about the Department of Transportation is great.  

Here's just a taste:  In what amounts to a sea change for the Department of Transportation, the automobile will no longer be the prime consideration in federal transportation planning. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the needs of pedestrians and cyclists will be considered along with those of motorists, and he makes it clear that walking and riding are “an important component for livable communities.”

In a word: TERRIFIC!!!! 

On a related note.....

Bike to work day is coming up too.....May 21st.  More on that later....

Start planning now!!  ;o) 

                                           

                                              This is "Walking Bike" by Max Knight.  

Google maps for bikes

I've been using Google Maps so much since I started this car-free adventure.  I've gotten pretty good at it, using all of the features in it, the various options, etc.  In case you don't know, for directions, it offers options for car, public transit, and walking.  That has helped tremendously figure out how to get from point A to point B for me without a car.

Now, it's gotten even better.  They just introduced, in beta, an option with bike routes!

Go to the main page, and then click, GET DIRECTIONS.  After you enter your point A and B, you'll see the default option of BY CAR.  Click and that for public transit, walking, or bicycle.

I'm not going to walk you through all the different things you can do with it.  Play with it.  Even if you're doing the directions for going by car, you can play with it.  You can choose, under options, AVOID HIGHWAYS, among other options.

Once you have the map up that they give you, one of the coolest features is the drag feature.  You just pull the line they tell you to go on to a different street, and the whole map resets itself according to your new route you've chosen.

Play with it.  I find it's pretty fun to play with and come up with new ways to go somewhere that I hadn't thought of, new things to see.