Surfcycle Plague 1: Heat

Think way, way back to late June in the summer of 2012. Facebook was aglow with mobile updates of triple digit car dashboard thermometers, people updating "SO HOT OUTSIDE!!!!!!lol", or "omg al gore was right!", and others responding, "it's summer, dumdum", or posting a Fox News article refuting global warming. Ah yes, it certainly was fun to share the temperature, politics, and science. We all learned from each other...

MEANWHILE

I was sweating my baguettes off at Andersen Cycle Works in Framingham as they finished installing the saddlebags which would carry my luggage for two weeks and a suit for a wedding the next day (~4 cubic feet for poindexters people who like numbers).

I asked Mr. Andersen for any advice on my first trip. To be honest with you, readers, I was surprised:

"Go fast. Stay in front of all the cars or else you'll get complacent." Kaaaay. I was still taking turns with shakingly rigid arms and thinking through each turn as a procedure in list form. Proooolly not gonna stay in front of all the cars.

"Keep your jacket zipped up. You want to keep your sweat in to stay cool. You'll get dehydrated from the wind." "That is another thing that I am not going to do," I thought... defiantly. Because I don't play by anyone's rules, not even my own, like Craig Hoffman.

I completely ignored the experienced motorcyclist's tips and took off. I stopped every hour to hydrate and show off my awesome motorcycle.

After an hour, my jacket sleeves were stuck to my arms and the inside of my helmet smelled like used gym shorts. Luckily I only had 26 hours to go.

Keep riding,
LSF

PS: Blogging milestone of strikethrough-a-word-and-replace-it-with-something-less-offensive achieved.

The Six Plagues of the Surfcycle Diaries

Bear with a change in scope of the blog. It doesn't have to be all about advice or how you do this or that. It doesn't even have to be about athletic stuff. You, beloved reader, come here for two things: laughs and celebrities.

We exercise to live and not live to exercise... unlike what those hardcore motivational Pinterest posters would have us believe. Well maybe they don't but the hardcore levels reach Way Too High for an endstate of being healthy and being really really good looking.

To satisfy my lust for doing awesome stuff I bought a motorcycle. I two-birds-one-stoned it with a surfing trip I've been meaning to take since last year and went down the east coast for a couple of weeks.

I understand that motorcycles are dangerous. Even if you're a good driver... er rider... er driver, whatever, you're still extremely susceptible to getting hit by cell phone users, the elderly, and nerds.

Motorcycles can only stop so fast and only have so many swerve options. If you're not lucky, you could end up like Lawrence of Arabia, Lance Murdoch (you'll really like this clip if you like barely-audible Spanish), or, worse, Gary Busey. A+ clip of Busey btw, don't miss it.

But seriously, with a weekend course on riding and two days on the roads of Boston, taking off on a 2200 mile road and sea trip from Boston, MA to Wilmington, NC was a major risk which I would not recommend for the weak or faint of heart. It seemed like everything that could go wrong, went wrong. I was visited by the Six Plagues of the Surfcycle Sojourn.

Heat
Rain
Sleet
Killer
Spiders
Sand

Strap in for a Jumanji-like adventure.

Keep riding,
LSF

PS: Is Pinterest still cool? Do people go on there? Is it just for women?
PPS: Check out them sassy sox up there.
PPPS: Just cause you were curious--