Losing your license to ride a bike

My 15 year old son got his driving permit yesterday. When I was a kid this was a very important milestone. Now a days it seems less so. I’m not sure why, as kids today are more dependent on a car ride then we ever were when I was a kid. Maybe they just don’t want to be distracted by the chore of driving while they are texting, watching the DVD player and listening to their Ipod all at the same time. I don’t know, but I can still remember the excitement that filled me when I was finally able to pilot the Dinosaur that we called a car, a 59 Pontiac Fire Chief with a 389 cubic engine that had numurous horse ranches under the hood. Gas was under $.30 a gallon then and it still seemed high. Of course I still had to have Mom or Dad go along for the drive and there was no such thing as going to the mall. Still I got to drive to and from church on Sunday morning and all of the sudden I didn’t quite mind having to go to church as much. Still I had my trusty old 10 speed to deal with most of my transportation needs. I’ve always enjoyed the sensation of cycling but I see so many people give up their bike as soon as they are old enough to legally drive. When ever I give someone a ride on my tandem recumbent I always ask, “When was the last time you rode a bike?” Often the answer I get is “When I was a kid!” Which translates to me, “When I got my Driver’s License!” I read yesterday that if all the residents of the world lived the standard of living that we enjoy in North America we would need 6 planet earths to provide all the resourses. I wonder what that number would be if most of us hadn’t lost our license to ride a bike when we got the one to drive a car. Why not renew your license to ride your bike if you’ve let it expire?

roast duck

While my Edith and Alicia were at the Women’s Show, I skinned a King Eider duck that has been residing in our freezer. What a beautiful bird. I went to Utube to learn how to skin it as I do when ever I need advice. I was sicken to see the waste of some people when they merely cut the skin at the breast and take the fillet of breasts and toss the rest. Anyway I was enlighten by the many comments that ranged from “That’s the way to do it” to, of course, “Why would you kill such a beautiful bird?” One of the more interesting comments to me:”I used to be against hunting wild game for food but have changed my mind to, better to eat wild game that has had a free life then domestic meat which may have been force fed and never been out of it’s small pen.” Interesting.

A gun gives you the body, not the bird. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

Anyway I stuffed the duck and roasted it and when Edith came home she said she had never eaten roasted eider, they had always made soup with it. There wasn’t a whole lot of meat and I can now see why there are so many Utube videos of hunters just taking the breasts. Oh well, it was still good.

Just like Dad…almost!

My dear Dad is very fit for an eighty year old youngster. He likes to keep busy with projects that help other people and show off his craftsmanship. One of his rituals is his daily 10 mile roundtrip to town in his van or truck to see friends and check out the local lumberyards. Now I find myself doing the same thing only it’s my almost daily bike ride to Lowe’s(box store lumberyard) often I think of things I can use or need that allows me a nice bike ride in these dog days of summer here in Anchorage. Working on rental property is a never ending chore but does keep one positively engaged. I find myself enjoying the journey more then the destination as has been much of the story of my life. I travel down a wide multi use trail against the flow of auto bound prisoners. I catch myself smiling which I don’t often see from the drivers I meet unless they are returning my smile. I then swoop through the lovely midtown park that neighbors the Lowe’s store. Of course I take the long way around the duck pond and walking trail.  Watching the workout folks, the dog walkers, the duck feeders, the children care givers, the cluster of drunks, and the kite fliers.  There is a convienent gravel trail connecting this bucollic escape where there are no motorized vehicles, back to the real world where motorists rule, by brute force if nothing else.  At the local Lowe’s I see folks I know, busy with their own projects.  Even some of the landlords from my street where they are often buying things that would fit in my bike trailer or saddle bags.  They are often amazed that they see me making the same 4 mile round trip in almost the same time it takes them with their couple hundred horses!  Of course with my bike I don’t have to feed a couple of hundred horses!  And I actually break a welcome sweet sweat!  Rode your bike lately?

alternative energy fair

Here is something I wrote a little earlier this summer that I found in my draft box:

Saturday morning was bursting with promise as the sun came streaming in over the Chugiak Mountains to the East. Edith and I left the boys sleeping as we perused the streets of Spenard in the early morning sunshine on our tandem. If you want to see sunshine in Anchorage you have to get up early, lately. August’s rainy weather has followed July’s rainy weather. Great for slugs but tough on bike riders. Today was also National Farmer’s market day so we made an attempt to hit all the farmer’s markets in our bike range. We were not disappointed. With sun breaks giving us all great hopes we made our weekly appearance at Spenard’s  Farmer’s market.   Then if was on to the one on 15th.

Then we were off across town to the one at the University Center where Edith also treated herself to a pedicure. That left me with an empty back seat so I started hunting for an adventurous, open-minded, sub 250 lb candidate for a back seat ride on our tandem. I was soon rewarded with a sceptical 40+ male who had to be given the extra sales pitch…most men are “AFRAID” to try this rig without driving it themselves!  Works except for the ones that retort, “Or are too smart?”  He bit and was immediately embarrassed by the smirking and smiling faces as we did a slow Lazy Boy slide through the parking lot.  I reminded him that they are laughing with us…not at us!  He jumped on that with a burst of laughter that I treasure and the joy and comfort of the ride struck him full force.  I shared the laughter with him as we did a graceful swoop out on to the street for a quick run around the block.   It’s kind of like hooking a salmon,  you troll, get the strike, and then play the victim or in this case the adventurous, open-minded person.  Well, sometimes.  Got several interesting, open-minded, adventurous folks to go and then it was time to pick up our boys and let them in on our adventure.  We next went off to downtown where there was a street fair in Fairview.   Just after we got  our special tickets that were used at the BBQ and the Beer garden it started to rain.   The Hula girls were done and a band called “Spank the Dog” was sounding good with “Black Magic Woman” when it really opened up.  We thought about heading for home but wanted to make one last stop:  The annual alternative energy fair.  There was shelter there and Kenny was having a blast in the Imaginarium tent while I gave a couple of rides to hapless bystanders.   Unfortunately the rain won out and I eventually volunteered to run home and trade our tandem recumbent for our pet Dinosaur, the Suburban.  It was to bad but the family was glad to have a dry ride home.

This rain out contrasted dramatically with the next alternative energy experience which was on a gorgeous 77 degree day in Fairbanks a couple of weeks later.   We took a 1000 mile roundtrip by auto to Fairbanks, Edith,  attended the Alaska Power Association’s annual meeting.  I took a Bike E semi recumbent along and rode the new bike trails along the Chena river and of course let anyone ride it who expressed any interest to try a recumbent!  The APA also arranged a tour of Chena Hot springs which was quite an eye opener.  Bernie Karl, the fellow that owns the Hot Springs is one innovative and forward thinking fellow!  Check out this clip from the Today show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho02IdfCUBs

Chena Hot springs hosted the interior’s Renewable Energy fair  and Bernie had the VP of Google as the keynote speaker.  We also got a tour of his Ice Museum which Forbes Magazine voted as the worst business idea ever(it melted the first time).  Since then he has served over 10,000 Appletini’s (Vodka and apple liquor) each year in ice glasses inside his ice museum.  His museum has been standing now for 6 continuous years and is the only year round ice structure in the world!  It was 77 degrees and beautiful outside the day that we were there.  It is a wonder to behold.  He also has a full-sized ice carving of “The Quitter”(Sarah Palin) and a pit bull!  He has an igloo built inside the ice museum that you can go into and play an ice xylophone!  Two full-sized Knights on horses jousting, a chess set made of arctic animals.  A wedding chapel, a circular staircase in a faux brick castle turret from which he mounts and then holds forth
as he looks out over the crowd.  A large circular bar with stools all made out of ice with caribou skin covers that seats over 10 people while he sets you up with his trade mark Appletinis in the ice martini glasses.  It is worthy of putting on your bucket list.   If I was younger I would apply for a job with him because he is doing a lot of things that I can relate to.  He is sprouting sprouts to feed to his animals(that was the only gardening I did in Barrow and I’m still an avid sprouter), growing tomatoes with stems like jungle vines in his green houses.  An incredible vegetable garden and of course the hot springs swimming area and hot tubs which I loved.  He’s growing algae in some of the hot pools that he is getting oil out of and using for biofuel.  He is something else.  Anyway I took along the Bike E and enjoyed riding it around the trails and campgrounds.   Bernie, the forward thinker that he is, even took a ride and enjoyed it!   Later I was riding the Bike E around the area and a woman stopped me and asked me if I was Bernie Karl.  I said, “No, but I can understand you mistaking me for him since I’m riding this bike of the Future!