Two kinds of bikers

The Blue Skunk has been quiet lately. I am on a week-long bicycle trip in Belgium and the Netherlands. It’s one of those boat and bike adventures where one stays on a river cruise ship each evening and bikes during the day. My ship, the MS Fluvius (not, as one friend noted, Flu-virus) has a capacity for 40 guests, but there are only 13 of us on this tour. Nice - a lot of space and personal attention. The bike trips are guided so I don’t have to navigate the extensive paths, alley ways, and sudden turns. I can simply enjoy the scenery and the commentary offered by the guide

We are a fairly pokey group with our speed, rarely, if ever over 10mph. Although we are a small bunch, there are always a couple folks who run late, have issues, or dawdle. (I delayed the group a couple times when I forgot to unlock my bike.) We stop for extended coffee and lunch breaks.  There is never a rush, really. We get back to the boat when we get back to the boat.

But we are not the only recreational bikers on the paths. Several times each day, a single or group of hard core bikers speed by us. Heads down, legs pumping, aerodynamic in their tight little outfits, you quickly realize these folks are biking for a whole different reason that we are. Maximum exercise, meeting fitness goals, adrenaline rushes. I got an adrenaline rush a couple times when these fanatics nearly collided with each other on blind corners. But the groups themselves are interesting to watch, resembling a tight flock of birds, sharing a common direction and turning as a group. We turtles must drive them crazy.

Who gets the most pleasure from their type of biking? Personally, I am a “smell the roses (or poppies)” biker, enjoying moderate exercise, the interesting sights, the strange sounds (did you know real cuckoo birds sound just like cuckoo clocks?), and the short stops to hear mini-lectures about the significance of a building, a local legend, or the geology of the region. 

There is probably a metaphor in there somewhere about “two types of people” and how they lead their lives. I was something of a striver during my career (fast pedaler) and I still cannot stand to just ride escalators - I have to walk up them. But at the same time, I always carved out time to slow down, enjoy family and experiences, read books, and take a few deep breaths. 

Maybe I am just to old and lazy to be a hardcore cyclist anymore. 

Both and...

Any regular writer not discussing the tragic shooting in Texas is insensitive. While I have grown desensitized to adults shooting each other - you read about a few of them in the paper every morning - I am still horrified by our elementary students' deaths. Good grief.

As always, the Uvalde shooting has created an outpouring of prayers*, sympathy, and expressions of grief. But it has also, as always, offered highly politicized methods of preventing such incidents in the future. I am totally disgusted with using tragedies for political gains, regardless of which side of the issue is being argued. Disgusted.

• The gun crazies say more psychological counseling is needed.
• The anti-gun loonies say more restrictions on gun ownership are needed.

Those of us in the radical center, say yes - to both. This is not an either or situation. It is a “both and…” 

So many current “issues” should be dealt with by using a “both and” approach.

• Women should have control over their own bodies.
• The health of expectant mothers and viable fetuses should be protected.

• Police methods should be reformed.
• More police and mental health care workers should be added to communities.

• College tuition should be forgiven.
• College tuition loan forgiveness should be means tested.

I don’t know of a single controversial political issue to which a radical center cannot be found by using a “Both and…” approach.

The right solution to these major issues of often moral division will piss off the absolutists on both sides. When in a leadership position in my school districts, I always said that I could never make a decision which made everyone happy, so my goal was to make sure everyone was equally unhappy.

Where is our political party of the radical center? You’d get my vote along with, I am sure, a great many more of us pragmatists. 

*Prayers like acts of kindness only count when done in private and without public recognition. Politicians, don't tell me you are praying. Tell me you are acting.

A restaurant rant

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. 

A friend and I took a week-long road trip last week to a couple of WIsconsin “hotspots.” (Oxymoron?) We stayed a few days in Bayfield, gateway to the Apostle Islands, and a few more days in Fish Creek, Door County. The scenery was stunning, the hiking trails were energizing (if often a little wet), and our weather cooperated. It was a most enjoyable trip.

We counterbalanced the current high gas prices by driving Heidi’s Prius hybrid that gets 57 miles per gallon. We stayed in modest hotels. Neither of us are big souvenir shoppers. But what startled me were the prices we often had to pay for even a modest meal.

First off, I am no epicure. I don’t expect or look for fine gastronomical experiences - in fact if it says “fusion,” I tend to give the food a wide berth. Heidi is vegetarian and I don’t require meat with every meal. I like a glass of wine with my supper, but the house red is just fine.

But even small cafes offered few entrees costing less than $20, not including salad. Just a sandwich and potato chips usually ran $18. Better be prepared to lay out a couple Hamiltons if you wanted a steak,  porkchop, or some walleye. A stingy pour of bad Merlot was often $10. Yes, we were in two of Wisconsin’s most touristy areas, but even our local restaurants here in the Twin CIties ‘burbs are plenty expensive. (I am sure there are plenty of younger people reading this who find this hysterically cheap.)

A couple strategies helped us bring down the cost of eating on the road. Breakfasts are a pretty good deal and we ate hearty. (See above.) We often enjoyed light trail lunches of sandwiches and fruit purchased at convenience stores. And we often shared an entree and a salad for supper since most servings are enormous and it’s tough to deal with leftovers while traveling.

I also play a mental game when I see the bill. My income today is ten times what it was when I first graduated from college. So divide the bill by ten and think if the price is still outlandish. Hmmmm, would I have paid seven dollars for that nice meal back in 1972 that I am paying $70 for today? Probably. I also have to remind myself that costs have gone up for restaurateurs. And I hope the higher prices reflect better pay for servers, cooks, and dishwashers, not just more expensive raw materials and bigger profits.

There are few things that give me more pleasure than providing a meal to those I love. I love cooking for family and friends. I like picking up the bill when treating at a restaurant. And I consider someone else buying me dinner or cooking for me to be a most sincere act of affection.

But the sticker shock seems to be getting worse each time the server brings the bill.