Ten Off

So I'm looking through my email this morning and I see that good ole Nashbar has yet another sale going on.
Good no?
I've been waiting for this kind of sale for I've been thinking that I need some socks.
More socks, I mean.
See, I started off this whole cycling thing in typical fashion.
Get it? Fashion? Socks?
Nevermind.
In other words, I wore what I brung and just got on the bike and rode away.
That worked for about six months.
Then I discovered synthetic fabrics.
Being a cotton man myself, this was something of a revelation, these new fangled high tech materials that supposedly absorb your sweat faster than you can well, sweat.
This would have been nice to know about since back in my pre-renal condition, I perspired profusely.
I mean bad:



Okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea.
I still perspire, but it's more of a dainty sweat.
In a masculine sort of way.
So anyways, my footsies would start to get all tingly and numb sometimes on rides so I started to wonder what the big deal was about cycling socks.
I mean my usual cotton socks were okay:



I even had those low cut jobs:



I hardly wear those socks anymore because when I do I feel like I'm wearing girly socks, you know, the kind with the pom poms hanging in back.
Okay, these don't have the pom poms, but they feel like they do.
The problem with these cotton socks is that they tend to stretch out over time and the ankle part becomes sort of a cuff:



Not very aero, having those things flapping in the wind.
The cotton socks also tend to get a bit toasty, especially riding around these parts, and they don't exactly wick moisture.
Well, I got me a pair of free socks when I ordered a jersey from the folks at Love2pedal:



Not being the ostentatious type, the flame socks sat in my sock drawer for some time before I decided to try them out.
Not too bad!
I wasn't digging the flames though.
So I decided to take the plunge and get me some real cycling socks.
Probably make me faster, right?



Now I'm really liking my new camo cycling socks and I was thinking that maybe I should wear this kind of sock all the time.
I mean do a lot of standing around at work, and sometimes I notice my dogs start to get all hot and bothered so maybe these space age socks would be better.
The only thing is, they cost like an arm and a foot.
Even on sale.
Well Mr. Flat Tire, why don't you just wear the socks you got to work?
The thing is, at work, I wear only white socks.
Image is everything don't you know.
So I'm sitting here cause it's like election day and school is out so I'm thinking about getting me some white cycling socks but ten off is not really doing it for me.
Actually I've been thinking about getting white socks for some time now but the thing is, the folks at Nashbar know I've been thinking about getting some white socks and they just won't put them on sale.
This ten off thing is just a test, I know as soon as I get them, the socks will go on sale for like twenty percent off.
Ten percent off.
They can't fool me.

Simpler Times

I got up dark and early this morning, I don't know why for I need the rest.
Must have been my internal clock for nowadays, I seem to beat the alarm and rise at around the same time.
Not that I would call that a good thing.
I mean it serves to remind me that I have a routine that revolves around my employment, that my job serves to regulate even my most primitive instincts.
I sure miss the days when I could just wake up at all hours of the day.
Okay, not really.
During those days, back in another life, I wasted a lot of time.
A lot of time.
Now, it seems like all that time I had to waste sure goes by faster.
I get up, blink and then it seems like I'm getting ready to start that routine again.
I have to be careful not to let myself get caught up in a cycle.
Unless it's a bicycle.
I guess that's one of the appeals of cycling. It's sort of simple, elemental, basic. All you need is a bike and some roads or trails and there you go.
Okay, you sort of need like a patch and pump just in case, other than that you can pretty much go off the grid so to speak and not have to worry about all the things that make today, well, today.
I was thinking about all this kind of stuff because I found this:



Now I don't surf, but if you live here, you cannot help but be caught up in the culture. I mean Hawaii is all about the ocean, being surrounded and all, and just being here you get this vibe that's hard to resist.
The same vibe I suppose that one gets while watching the sun set in the desert or taking in the majestic scenery in the mountains.
The feeling that sort of makes you feel alive and appreciative of the things around you, the natural things, the things that have been here long before you and will be here long after you.
For a brief moment, you can sense, no, you can feel the world around you and it dawns on you that it's okay that it's not all about you and what happens day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute.
Time sort of slows down, almost to a standstill as the realization comes that those waves will keep breaking on the shore, the sun rise and warm your face, the wind will blow through your hair, and at the end, tomorrow is another day.
I'm not sure how life got so complicated. Progress, evolution, growing into responsibilities all have their hand in the things that make up my daily routine.
The endless pursuit of my own happiness sometimes leads me astray, down paths I did not mean to take, towards places I only think I need to be when I the end, I find it was a meaningless detour, a ruse, a manifestation of my overly commercialized imagination.
As a grown up person, I realize now that it wasn't just about my bicycle, the beach and having a dollar in my pocket, but that doesn't mean I don't think about those simpler days.
Bus fare took you to the beach and bus fare took you back home and in between you didn't think much about anything else except what time the sun was going down.
Time seems to to go by so quickly these days, I barely have time to think and well, I just don't seem to have the time.
I'm trying to remember back to those days when time seemed to stand still, you know when five minutes seemed like five hours and I'm trying real hard to remember.
Maybe that's the problem.
I'm trying too hard.
Way back when, it all seemed so simple.