The stupid and the oblivious

Way too many of them on the bike path today.

The best part of the day was hanging out with Cath and Jase this morning drinking coffee and chatting. They dropped in last night. After they left I got ready for a ride in a day that was much nicer than anticipated. Cloudless, warm, and sunny. A great day for being outside. Though by 5pm when I fired up the BBQ it had clouded over and looked like rain.

Last week coming back from yoga I got a glimpse of the bike path just north of the bridge where Deerfoot crosses over the Bow near Anderson. A few years ago it had been closed, leading to a long detour. Now it looks open. Today I decided to ride the hybrid and visit. Sure enough it's all nice paved path now, leading into the garden of doggie heaven. There is a huge dog park, but it's such a class operation they have the bike path fenced off. There are periodic gates that open inward to allow people to cross the path. The bike path has speed bumps. I kid you not. Speed bumps on a bike path. I laughed at one dog so frantic to get at me that it was flinging itself against the fence. If I hadn't been on a schedule I'd have slowed down to encourage it. The signs clearly say that the paved path is a leashed area, but some people weren't doing that. Grrr.

It took 45 minutes to ride from the very west end of Fish Creek Park to the very north and east end. It's a big park. There's a lot of changes near where the Chinook half IM course is run, but not so much I got lost. Just before the hour mark I was over the pedestrian bridge at Southland, and heading south on the east side of the river. From there, once I got back to Bow Bottom Trail I headed south on the west side of Sikome "Lake". I've seen bigger puddles, and it wasn't open yet. South of 22X then turned around and headed home going around the east side of the "lake". The ride ended up being 2.5 hours. Tried to keep the rpm up and the pace steady.

Took a few minutes for a cookie and to change shoes, then out for a 30 minute run. I never really found a good pace. My legs were tired and things got a bit sloppy at the end, but it worked out ok. Walked and stretched.

During the ride I was appalled at how many people were out on the 3B's without a helmet. (board, blades, bike) Frankly, I think you're stupid for doing any of those without a helmet. I saw one teenager with his helmet hooked over the handlebars. It won't do him much good there. One girl was on blades and given her unsteadiness I could believe she hadn't done it much. The roller blading. Yet she was wearing cut offs and a tank top. And the skates. She won't look so pretty if she crashes.

But worse than that are the people on the path that are oblivious to their surroundings. They don't seem to grasp that other people are using the path to actually move. Most people get the idea that we all have to share the path, young, old, fast, slow, walkers, runners, or whatever kind of wheels you're on. Most people get the idea that "keep right" is a good rule and generally obey it. Most people keep an ear tuned for bike bells or people saying "on your left" or "passing left" and move over a bit. Most of us appreciate that little kids are still learning those essential motor skills and need to be given some leeway.

But not everyone. I lost count of the number of times I saw people stopped on the path for whatever reason. Blocking traffic. Or people walking in a big herd on the whole path and not moving over. One romantic couple holding hands walking down the middle of the path and they didn't know whether to shit or go blind when me and another cyclist appeared at the same time, ringing our bells, bearing down on them at about 30 Kph each. In the end they huddled in the middle of the path as we zoomed past on each side.

People that don't keep their dogs under control or let the leash stretch out across the path. Or people moving down the path in a very erratic manner. There was one kid on a skateboard that had his eyes locked on me, and yet was maintaining a collision course. Until the last second when I guess he finally figured out how badly he'd lose given the resultant vectors of our masses and speeds. Strollers. Don't get me started on strollers, particularly the double wide models. While I mean the strollers that also applies to the people pushing it too. Some people should not wear snug pants. Though the cute girl on blades (with a helmet, elbow and knee protectors) pushing a single stroller at an impressive pace can be on the path in front of me all she likes.

Ipods or similar technology are their own issue. One guy was all over the path waving his arms and ignoring people ringing or calling to him. I heard the music from a person behind me for a little while. I think it was Rush, but I couldn't hear the bike at all. Eventually they dropped back. Walkers in their own little world shambling down the path and flinching when a bike goes by. After the rider had chimed their bell.

It's nice to see so many people out enjoying the fine day, but I was actually a bit grumpy at the end of it because a few people made things much more difficult than they really needed to be.

I think acupuncture is better than massage. At least for what gets done to me. Sometimes she does some shiatsu which is a form of massage. The needles are tiny tiny tiny and don't hurt at all. I went to sleep after she put about 18 needles into me and the put the heat lamp on my tummy.

Weekly Summary
Swim 3.0 hrs
Bike 3.5 hrs
Run 3.8 hrs
Walk 1.8 hrs
Total Cardio 12 hrs
Core 2.0 hrs
Total 14.0