Is This What They Mean By "Going Green?"

 In my half-century of dedicated cycling, I've noticed that, when it comes to food, there are two extreme types of cyclists.  One fuels up on pepperoni pizza washed down with Coke or Pepsi and eats steaks or cheeseburgers and ice cream after the ride.  The other wants the packaging to be as organic as the food in it.

Most cyclists, of course, fall somewhere in between. I admit that I eat and drink stuff that isn't found on most training tables, but I cringe at Twinkies, Jell-O and the like.  I eat less meat in all forms than I did in my youth--and I not only eat more vegetables, but more of them are fresh rather than processed.

Like many other Americans, during the past decade or so, I have discovered the joys of one vegetable in particular:

On The Bridge Too Far

 Bells clang.  Lights flash.  A gate drops.

You have to stop for: a.) a railroad crossing or b.) a drawbridge.

I admit that on more than one occasion, upon hearing the bells, my legs pumped out a momentary burst of speed that would have impressed a Russian sprinter. OK, I'm exaggerating---only slightly! 😉 But I did manage to cross tracks before trains plowed through, or bridges before they opened.

It's been a while since I pulled such stunts.  These days, I envision the fate of a cyclist in this video:

 

He hung onto the North Palm Beach, Florida span as it opened.  According to a news report, the witness who took the video saw the cyclist on the bridge as it began to lift and, believing the cyclist would ride down, started to take the video.

When the witnessed noticed the cyclist was in trouble, he stopped taking the video and "rushed to help him down  off the bridge," according to police.

The bike was damaged but the cyclist suffered only "pain and discomfort" in his left shoulder from holding himself up on the bridge and a slight burn in his right inner bicep from sliding on the railing. 

He declined EMS help at the scene but went to the hospital on his own.  

The bridge tender claims she didn't see anyone crossing the bridge.

The Weather Outside Is Ice-ful

This morning, anything that can fall from the sky has been falling.

All right, that was a terrible description to use on Day 2 or 3 (depending on what you consider “zero hour”) of Putain’s, I mean Putin’s, invasion.  Actually, it would be a frightening description any day, given my proximity to an airport.  So let me be more specific:  Anything that can naturally fall from the Earth’s atmosphere—snow, rain, sleet and freezing rain is falling. That combination, according to my, shall we say, layperson’s understanding of meteorology, can happen only in the conditions we have now: the air is saturated and the temperature is yo-yoing a degree or two above and below the freezing point.

The weather is indeed frightful.  But some of the resulting scenes are, if not delightful, at least interesting.