Burn This Bitch Down

I met Kujo at the Field House in Forest Park at noon today.  The plan was either to do loops in the park or head out to Creve Coeur; however, he said he wanted to see Ferguson.  Having lived in Ferguson for nine years I am familiar with the area so did the tour thing.  From the park we headed up Pennsylvania, then through Bell Noir to St. Charles Rock Rd.  We went north on Lucas and Hunt to Emerson Electric Headquarter and jumped on West Florrisant. We passed the burned out buildings on West Florrisant and what was amazing to both Kujo and I was how many business there are along there and how inconsistent the damage is.  Some business were untouched while others were burned to the ground.  The housing is mostly small one story ranch like houses and they all seem to be well maintained.......in other words this did not look anything like the ghetto that was portrayed in the news media.  We went west on Chambers through Dellwood where there were some stores looted and then to Florrisant Rd, past the police station.  The damage on Florrisant Rd. was all confined to the area north of the police station although both police cars that were torched were south of the police station.  I took Kujo through the very nice areas of Ferguson and he was very impressed.  The very nice new section of old downtown Ferguson was also spared.  Most of the businesses that were looted were mom and pop operations, many of which cater to the minority population......doesn't make a lot of sense.

I would not recommend riding those roads on a regular basis, mostly because there is too much traffic that is not used to seeing cyclists on the road.  But, at mid day on a Wednesday the traffic was light and the rolling terrain made for a good ride in an historic area.

Weekend Rides

Did great rides over the weekend with several of the regulars and some new folks.  Warm weather but very windy.  On Saturday pushed with Chris Stevens and Liz Heller late in the ride.  I was proud that I hung in there although my heart rate was sky rocketing.  Two days of not riding really helped my legs pop back.  Sunday was another windy day.  I backed off considerably as there was little pop in my legs.  Nevertheless I got it in.  Walter rode a tandem with his wife.

Next Saturday I have some family commitments and will be unable to ride.  Hopefully I can get some mileage in this week.

Not a Great Night for the Human Race

I was glued to the tv yesterday afternoon and evening waiting for the Grand Jury decision on the Michael Brown case.  Since we lived in Ferguson for 9 years and lived two blocks away from the police station I was very familiar with the scene.  When we moved away the area was clearly going down hill.  Miraculously over the last several years the community experienced a revival with new restaurants and shops in the downtown area which was pretty much shuttered and in decay when we left in 1987.  We are pretty loyal to local businesses that give us good service so even though we no longer lived there we still buy our tires at Andy Wurm, a family owned tire business located directly across from the police station.  They appear to have survived business intact, but that was not the case with many businesses both in the downtown Ferguson area and on the east side of town.  Many local businesses were torched including minority owned businesses and family businesses that had been serving the minority community for years.

Ferguson has been portrayed as a rascist city ruled by white folks using police to terrorize the black community.  Not true.  If you did not want to live in a mixed community you voted with your feet a long time ago.  The white folks who live there are mostly long time residents who want to be there.  The middle class black folks who live there have moved out from the city looking for less crime, better schools and good housing.  In Ferguson they found all three; however, the events of the last three months is changing all of that.  Middle class folks, white and black, like lots of folks before them, my family included, will continue their quest for less crime, better schools and good housing.  The folks who are left will have a meager tax base, declining services and higher crime.  We have done this dance before.....in Riverview, in Normandy, in Jennings and in North City.

As a final note Jay Nixon is an ass.  He is the worst excuse for a governor I have ever seen.  To let the city of Ferguson burn was inexcusable.  He has no political future.

Cold and Windy

Cold and windy ride this morning.  Did a lot of meditating on Rule #5 and 9 both fingers and toes got pretty cold.  However, very satisfied that I got the ride in.  The is always an excuse not to work out.  If you wait for the weather forecast to be good before going out for a ride you would never get out the door.

Looking forward to riding with Mike on Wednesday and the group ride on Saturday.  Weather on Wednesday is a little iffy right now but Saturday looks gorgeous.

In the Michael Brown case the Grand Jury has completed its work and waiting on an announcement of results.  As I rode in Clayton heading to and from Forest Park this morning there were police everywhere.  Forsyth was maybe the most protected bike route in the country.

Random Thoughts on a Saturday Afternoon

Back in the day when folks talked about "reform" it generally meant that something was going to get better for most folks e.g clean water, safe foods and medicine, equal protection under the law, etc.  These days "reform" pretty much means the opposite.  Generally when politicians talk about "reform" what they really mean is that someone is going to get screwed.  It is sometimes couched along the lines that someone is going to get screwed for the "common good."  Whatever that means.  For example "pension reform" means that folks who worked their entire careers in a particular industry, generally public employees, will get less than they were promised.  Usually the premise is that those championing the "reform" are doing it for the good of the system.  Never mind that those clamoring for "reform" don't much like public employees and pretty much believe that their jobs should be privatized.  Much the same regarding tax "reform" which generally means that those who benefit the most from our economic system will pay lower amounts in taxes and those who benefit the least will pay the most.  The theory being that rewarding folks who have benefitted the most from our economic system is for the common good because those folks will create jobs.  I believe George Bush called that "voodoo economics," and it has been generally discredited.  Nevertheless, there you are.  A cynical person might point out that the common good generally means that ones political opponents make the sacrifice and ones political allies get rewarded.

A great week of training capped by an unexpectedly good ride on Saturday morning.  Forecast all week was for a cold rain and high winds.  The high winds showed up but the rain held off until the afternoon.  Curiously the creator of the HTFU facebook page wasn't hard enough to show up for the ride.  Not casting any stones but just saying that if you advertise yourself as a hard man then you can't let the threat of a little rain stand in the way of your Saturday morning group ride.  Actually conditions were so good that rule #5 and #9 did not really apply.

Going to Chris and Jess's for Thanksgiving on Thursday.  Have not checked the weather for next week yet; however, hopeful I can get outside a couple of days.  Already tired of riding indoors.

The Weekend in Chicago

We had a great weekend in Chicago.  I got to play with Sashi and took him to the park a couple of times.  Jack and Abby came into town and had a great visit with Mere and Sal.  On Saturday I helped Salvador with a plumbing project that we successfully completed after only two trips to Home Depot.  On Sunday Ana's Baptism was followed by a birthday party at the house.  A fun time was had by all.  It was a nice break from training; however, I discovered that four days without a workout was about the limit.  I was pretty much climbing the walls by Saturday and if it wasn't for the plumbing project and a trip to the park with Sal, Jack and Sashi I would have gone nuts.......Probably due to my addictive personality.

I was back at it on Monday.  Did a two hour spinning workout...keeping heart rate in the 125-132 range and worked on cadence.  I also did a good stretch and passed on the yoga class.  Pretty cold with 15 mph winds out of the north.  Looks like the same tomorrow.  I can get a better workout indoors so I will do an hour spin and then weights.  I think that I will stick with the squats for awhile until I can master that rather than switch between deadlifts and goblet squats.  Cannot handle as much weight but I would like to master that skill and then maybe I can add weight.  Anyway its an idea.

Mr. Softy

Winter arrived yesterday.  Temps started out in the 40's and dropped into the 30's during the day with substantial winds out of the northwest.  Could have hopped on my bike and gotten a ride in; however, wimped out and headed for the gym.  I did get a good 90 minute spinning workout in, really working on cadence......followed by my stretching routine.  Today I am headed back to the gym for a 60 minute spinning workout, followed by resistance training.  I have been using the smith machine for my squats but I am going back to the free bar today.  I am also going to experiment with the trap bar and do some dead lifts.  This afternoon we head to Chicago for the weekend and a break from training.