3/14/11

Ride In 3/14

Lousy Smarch weather. It's not actually that bad- the sun was even out enough for me to attempt taking a video of my ride up Tunlaw and New Mexico (more on that later), but it's still not that spring-y enough to feel totally comfortable when leaving. Any time you have to think about layering- a term that should really only be used for delicious cakes- the weather isn't exactly optimal.
I started with Monday, Monday stuck in my head (adequate, but predictable), but that quickly switched over to Da Doo Ron Ron. My favorite part of that song (and really the only part I ever remember because I suffer from a disease that only lets me recall the first few lines of any song) is the incredulity about Bill's name. Somebody told her, and at that point all the listeners (or maybe just me) must be thinking, "so, you're just gonna trust this somebody about Bill's name? Even though he caused your heart to stand still? Seriously?," but then, only one da doo ron ron later, we have confirmation that he is in fact named Bill. Lazy song writing? Maybe. This is the music of my youth- not because I grew up in the 60s, but because the local AM station was "oldies" and that was the preferred choice in my mom's '85 silver Honda hatchback.
Oh, yes, the bike riding part. I decided that, at the behest of the Glover Park twitterer, I would try to film my trip up Tunlaw and New Mexico to give a better sense of what it's like to bike up those streets without bike lanes. And since I do it every day and since I seem to care about bike lanes and since I have a phone that records video and since I'm very open to reader suggestions (someone please suggest biking to get some Chinese food), I went for it.
I was woefully unprepared as I had no way to mount the camera either to my bike or to myself. I even pondered shoving my phone upside-down between my helmet and my forehead. That would be a terrible way to film anything other than me falling down and biking into a tree. I instead decided that I would try to hold my phone in my right hand and keep it about even with my handlebars. I also tried to angle it slightly toward the road instead of directly in front of me. Having watched it back, it's as if the film was shot from the perspective of a short child with a stiff neck. Plus the lighting was a little off on account of the tree cover.
Having watched the video back, I concluded that my amateur videography skills are somewhere between those of Rick Salomon and Abraham Zapruder. I'm not going to post it here. I might try again at lunch time, with the help of some duct tape.

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