Half Bike, Noodles and Beer

Anyone who knows me knows I am a tandem rider. What they might not know is why I pretty much stick to the tandem.

Two years ago, I took my newly acquired used single bike, a Bianchi Boardwalk, out for a ride around my neighborhood. I left with my garage door opener in my back pocket. No ID or anything else with me.

The next thing I remember is waking up at Marin General, Jerry by my side, a cut on my head and double vision. Somewhere, somehow, just a few blocks from home I crashed. I don't know what actually happened, though I can surely speculate.

Riding as a stoker on a tandem takes strength, but not much skill other than to be in tune with your captain. I don't steer; I don't shift gears; I sightsee and keep an eye on the cyclometer so I can kick a little harder when our speed is down.

What I think might have happened on that day I crashed is, I was paying far too much attention to my cyclometer and not enough to the road. Crash. I had a concussion and I damaged a cranial nerve, forcing me to wear prism glasses for six months until I'm thankful to say, it fixed itself without surgery.

Since then, I have taken two cycling classes but the fear has not left. But I really did not want to give up. So, once again, I signed up for a class-- this time with the Marin Bicycling Coalition.

The positive part: there were only two students in the class; the downside: the area in which we had to practice was far too small, due to Biketoberfest taking over much of Fairfax. We did run through drills and while I was shaky, I gained a bit of confidence. Then we went for a road ride. We rode for an hour, making our way through Fairfax, San Anselmo and a bit beyond.

And it felt great. I had a few wobbly moments, but I was comfortable in the traffic. I stopped at stop signs, signaled for turns and felt good. I'm not sure of my speed because I took my cyclometer off the bike, so no temptation to look at it.

Jerry had taken out his single, so we met up at Biketoberfest after my class. This event is a combination bike fair and beer tasting. Jerry and I are not much in the way of beer drinkers, but we had fun looking at bicycles, and everything that goes with them. Once again, we drooled over a Calfee tandem and got a kick out of seeing a bicycle powered blender. If you wanted a smoothee, you had to pedal for it.

Knowing we were going to ride today, last evening I thought about making a noodle dish for dinner, though I wasn't feeling particularly inspired. I had made a large pot of spaghetti sauce earlier in the week and we had already had that, so I wanted something different. But what, but what...

I dug in the pantry and found a box of Chinese noodles with black bean sauce. I didn't remember buying it and had never had it before, but that didn't stop me from figuring out an improv dish. I steamed some broccoli and snow peas, sauteed some spring onions and garlic while the noodles were boiling. I also threw some pieces of cooked chicken breast in with the onions and garlic to heat it up. With that, I added some grated ginger and hoped for the best.

While it won't win any prizes, it wasn't bad. Next time I will add some heat with some cayenne and add even more ginger.

So as not to lose my nerve, Jerry and I are going to take our single bikes out again tomorrow. We'll ride around the neighborhood, continuing my progress on the flats, and perhaps sometime soon, I'll actually attempt a bit of a hill.

But as my friend Diane said when I posted on Facebook that I had ridden.. one pedal stroke at a time.