January 1, 2024
In with a bang
The year gets off to a vexing start - no, a mind bendingly maddening one - when we start dressing for our first bike ride of the year and find we are missing some socks. Some background on what brought us to the odd situation where we have these three unmatched but similar bike socks:
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- On the day we arrived in Tucson, my suitcase was stolen, including all of my socks except the pair stuck in my bike shoes. They’re long in the ankle, like the lowest of the three above.
- Three days later I finally go on a shopping spree at REI and find exactly one pair in my size. Coincidentally it’s also a Smartwool sock in the same color as the ones I have, but with a shorter ankle.
- Two days later, I somehow lose one of my longer ankled socks in our house here. I’ve gone nowhere since taking them off, so they have to be here somewhere. We look everywhere over the course of several days, but it never turns up
- The day before yesterday (New Year’s Eve), Rachael did the wash. In helping sort out the dried laundry I paired up the socks. I’m quite sure my new pair was there, as well as one of the many pairs that Rachael has, including one of hers that again coincidentally is the same color and brand as mine. I leave hers for her to pack away and toss mine toward my bike shoes on the floor. This is nearly the last thing we do before watching the premier episode of our new miniseries (The Paris Murders) and go to bed. We’re sure neither of us left the house since doing the laundry.
- This morning, Rachael looks at her pair of socks and finds they’re unmatched, so presumably I just mismatched them last night. But we can’t find the other pair at all. We look everywhere! Many times! Even in such unlikely spots as inside the refrigerator and microwave. They never turn up.
We have no explanation for this at all, other than maybe it’s another thief who torments us by sneaking in, grabbing an unmatched sock or two, and slipping off into the night again.
So, that leaves me only with two unmatched socks. Enough to get me through the day’s ride, but I guess I should go shopping again soon.
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So that’s perplexing enough, but the new year continues problematic when we get to Granada and find our way blocked to the Saint Mary’s loop access by a stopped freight train. Were not about to sit and wait for it to start rolling again after the next ten to one hundred minutes, so we turn north and cross under the freeway and over the wash on busy Speedway instead.
So we’re not really held up or inconvenienced much, but it’s certainly ominous. What sort of nightmarish 2024 lies in wait for the hapless Team Anderson, we wonder?
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The ride though is just fine, and a new route for us to take together. Rachael’s been after me to come up with a ride with a bit of climbing to it so she can test herself out, and now that it’s done we declare it a winner. It’s one I’m sure we’ll repeat this winter - maybe with Susan or the Branhams, if either of them is up for it when they arrive next week.
The first half of the ride matches our ride up Oro Valley from two days ago - down the Santa Cruz, then under the freeway and up Oro Valley to the restrooms at mile twenty. We’re just riding - it’s a loop and a new route, so we need to stay together - but I do allow myself one shot of a beautiful adult Cooper’s hawk, calmly posed on a railing just about forty feet from the cycle path.
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The new stuff begins after we backtrack about a mile and then leave the loop to climb over the low western snout of the Catalina range. The north face of the mountains is especially colorful and striking in today’s light, so I fire off a quick shot while we’re stopped to take off a layer before the climb begins.
And climb, we do. It’s really not a bad climb at all though, with most of it on smooth, quiet residential streets that gradually gain elevation. It really isn’t bad except for that first short 11% patch; and then for the longer, steeper one that ramps up to 13%; and finally the short but gut busting couple of blocks that hit 16% before bringing us to the top on Campbell.
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After that we’re home Scott-free, starting with a fast four mile freewheel down Campbell to the Loop. It’s a great descent, well worth the climb. Once on the loop we stop for lunch at the first vacant bench we come to. While we’re sitting there I get my second bird-freebie of the day when a small flock of verdins flits around in a mesquite right in front of us. I’m starting to realize that verdins are really pretty common here, if you just know how to recognize them. They remind me a lot by size and behavior of bushtits.
So that’s the ride. We make our way home by way of the now familiar Treat Street/3rd Avenue Bike Boulevard couplet. As we pass through the campus Rachael decides to circle back and pick up an extra mile to hit 42, and I tag along with her. For one day of the year at least, we end up with the same YTD stats.
And that’s the day. We eat in, Rachael generously sharing some of her leftover prosciutto and arugula pizza from Reilly’s with me, and then watch the next episode of The Paris Murders, feeling pleased with ourselves and at how well the day turned out considering it’s rocky start.
And then I open the mail.
Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 807 miles (1,299 km)
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4 months ago
4 months ago
Turns out this was a very old washer, and the tub wasn't sealed along the top, so during the spin cycle it was possible for lightweight articles of clothing to slip up over the top edge, and then fall down under the washer.
The sock gremlins can work in mysterious ways.
4 months ago
4 months ago
4 months ago
4 months ago