Virtual Brush Box

Fit To Ride

 
Awareness of the outside world. World Bicycle Relief. I’m hesitant to mention specific charities because I never know who is doing good and who is buying ski condos in Switzerland. The Fat Cyclist appears to approve of this one, Just Look at What You’ve Done, 2012.
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Team Peachtree is nearing the end of Virtual Route 66. As of Wednesday, we were at 95%, with 107 miles to go, out of 2,280 total. Therefore, I am scouting around for my next virtual bike ride. [Biking Virtually, Route 66]

Option 1: Ride My Bike – Go Nowhere
No cost, no entertainment.

Get on bikes. Ride. Be done. There is an attraction to not fussing with logging miles, taking screenshots, or updating posts. OTOH, no pretty images to take screenshots of, no armchair traveler tie-in, no blog fodder.

This is what I did for years. As we all know, this is not a normal year. Cabin fever and stress levels are off the charts. Amusement is hard to come by. Which leads to …

Option 2: DIY Virtual – Silk Road
No cost, more entertainment, more work.

One of best parts of virtually walking along the Mississippi river is the amount of reading available: travel narratives, bridge history, river management. When railroads wanted to build bridges across the river, they had to fight the water commerce folks. Car bridges were a later add-on to railroad bridges. [Walking Virtually, Mississippi River, Table of Contents & General Info]

My “route” is the Great River Road. Right now, I am estimating mileage with Create My Route. I have not been looking at streetviews, but I haven’t really investigated how to generate them on my own without a specific address. Between satellite views, books, and media available online, I’m getting enough vicarious viewing.

Ultimately, I hope to follow the mileage in Bicycling Guide To The Mississippi River Trail: A Complete Route Guide Along The Mississippi River by Bob Robinson. Bought a copy. Went walkabout. Can find all my other Mississippi books. Not that one.

Given the success of this method, I looked for other famous roadways to virtually bike.

The Silk Road fits the bill for reading material. It’s an area with millennia of history about which I know little. I don’t think I’d run out of reading even if it took me 10 years to virtually bike the route. I started poking around on websites and in books. Yay research! For your amusement, The Atlantic:A Photo Trip Along the Ancient Silk Road, by Alan Taylor November 27, 2017.

What I’ve learned so far. The Silk Road is not the name of a specific path. Rather, it covers a network of trade across central Asia. Everyone agrees that it starts in Xi’an, China. The end is variable depending on who’s talking.

Trade was regional. You didn’t load your camel in China and walk to Turkey, or Damascus, or wherever. You sold your goods to this dude (and it was probably a dude), who sold it to that dude, who sold it to the next dude, and so on down the line.

The label is a retronym. “The German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen coined the term ‘Silk Road’ with the publication of this map in 1877. Before this date, people referred to the route as the road to Samarkand (or whatever the next major city was).” Valerie Hansen: The Silk Road, Gallery

Since there is no one road, I would be on my own for wayfinding. Not a problem. Pick two cities. Figure out the best route from one to the other, which is pretty much what the dudes with camels were doing.

The project would take a couple of years, at least. Encyclopaedia Britannica cites the figure of 4,000 miles. At height of summer with maximum light, we were biking 10 miles daily. As the light and weather ebb, that rate will go down. An optimistic rate would be 2,000 miles a year. If I started horse showing, that number could drop off dramatically.

A long-term project is not necessarily a downside. I’m going to be virtual alongside the Mississippi for ages. Walking 3,000 miles will take far longer than biking 4,000.

The more I read about the route, the more I thought that, while the cities are interesting, that’s a lot of time in the virtual desert. I’ll most likely go back to my original plan …

Option 3: Paid Virtual – Great Ocean Road
Trading money for ease and virtual postcards.

Stay with the Virtual Challenge folks and head to The Great Ocean Road in Australia. This is the company through which I did the Inca, New Zealand, and Route 66 virtual rides. I give them coin. They track my progress on a map, provide streetviews, and send digital postcards. [Will Bike For Bling].

At 149 miles, this should take from two weeks to two months, depending health, weather, and/or other diversions. At which point, I’ll will return to armchair travel planning.

“So the next day we were on the Great Ocean Road, which should be called Good Ocean Road. It was nice, but not overwhelming.” The Big Trip: Melbourne to Adelaide

Any suggestions?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Riding Journal

 
Awareness of the outside world. These are the same jeans I had on in a 2016 post [Macho]. No one can accuse me of indulging in fast fashion. “Fast fashion isn’t free. Someone, somewhere is paying.” Lucy Siegle, journalist and author. “Demand quality not just in the products you buy, but in the life of the person who made it.” Orsola de Castro, designer and cofounder of Fashion Revolution. (Original sources lost in a sea of requotes. 32). OTOH, it’s easy for me to sneer at fashion, because I so clearly have none. [My Denim Guide]
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Milton was using Rodney’s saddle. We wanted to ride together. So, I hopped on bareback. [The Tack Change]

I survived an hour & 13 minute ride! Go me!

Granted it was all at a walk, but that’s the longest I’ve ridden bareback in ages.

Getting off was a bit of a sideshow. My right leg was not responding particularly well at that point. By the time I managed to heave it over the horse, I lost control of the dismount and ended up slithering down his side. There were sound effects.

Rodney is reasonably comfy, for a Thoroughbred, but has a big, swinging stride. I practiced staying loose and sitting up tall.

You may now be impressed with my balance.

You may now be impressed with my fortitude.

You may now ignore the one-handed, white-knuckle grip I had on the mane.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Riding Journal

 
Awareness of the outside world. I would be more interested in Originalism if the Founding Fathers had a better definition of ALL.
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Overall
Trying Milton in Rodney’s saddle. On Saturday, we rode sequentially and shared the saddle. On Sunday, I rode bareback.

Milestones

Francisco’s, Mile 85. Image source & additional photos, The Tevis Cup: Francisco’s.

Daily Log
We are doing our rides in 1/3 or 1/2-mile laps around our pasture. Link to standings, Doctor Whooves, Major Milton, All. Daily screenshots from VTevis results page.

Wednesday, October 14, 2020. Tried to fit in an evening ride. No dice.

Saturday, October 17, 2020. Today, 1 mile, awarded. Total 82 miles.

Went over to Stepping Stone Farm to tryout new saddle combinations in a contained space. Forgot phone clip so no tracking. Milton went 28 minutes; Rodney, 42. Even our slowest pace is 27 minutes for a mile and Milton did some trotting, so one mile seems fair. Rodney went longer but stood more. No streetview.

Sunday, October 18, 2020. Today, 2.85 miles. Total, 85 miles. Time, 1 hour 13 minutes. Pace 25 minpermile/2.4 mph.

Yes, I deliberately chased the mileage to get us down to 5 miles per week for the next three weeks. Being close to another badge didn’t hurt. Horses were angels for first part. Then there was a lot of, ‘There is the mounting block. Don’t you want to get off?’ and ‘I can turn around so we can get back to the mounting block so you can get off.’ The horse equivalent of ‘Are we there yet?!’

Did a figure-8 across the pasture for variety. Took four tries (two previously, two this time) for Rodney to decide that bush-whacking was on his repertoire. When I say bush-whacking, I mean following trails that they had made across their own pasture. Rodney had led the first attempt. Hated it. Followed Milton a few times. Finally decided the idea was acceptable.

Recent Posts
Mine
[Miles 79-81]

Others
County Island: The Tevis Trail: In Which I Call a Chicken’s Bluff. Sorta.
County Island: The Tevis Trail: What Happened at Foresthill

[Tevis post archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Thoughts

 

Waiting for something good to happen.
Waiting for something bad to happen.

Waiting for it all to be over.
Waiting to understand that it is not going to be “over” for a long, long time. If ever.

Waiting for a good book to read.
Waiting for energy to do more than reread light fiction.

Waiting for inspiration to invent calculus.
Waiting for the strength to get through each day.

Waiting to get back to normal.
Waiting to figure out what normal means.

Waiting for election day.
Waiting for the day after election day.

Waiting.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Words

 
Awareness of the outside world time. A boyfriend of my youth turned 65 last week. That is legit old. That is retirement age … that is not possible … no way that sweet, young thing is so old … no way this sweet young thing dated anyone who is 65 … I said awareness of time, not acceptance.
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The downside of lunch at the barn.
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Note to self. Do not wear a red shirt when hosing Milton. The reflections on a wet, gray horse are too disturbing.
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When I type, SHOE comes out SHOW, RISING comes out RIDING. Freudian typing.
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Milton will not eat his frozen treat if I am holding the cup. He’ll will eat out of the exact same cup if I hand it over to his rider. I’m not taking this personally. Not at all. Not in the slightest. [Horsicles]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

Awareness of the outside world. A wise man once told me to vote the environment. It’s the only thing that will be around in 100 years.
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Visit to Stepping Stone Farm[Thoroughbred Invasion].

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott