nic at night

The big attraction of Chincoteague, which I didn't know about before deciding to go there, is the wild pony herd. They live on the part of the Assateague barrier island that's in Virginia (it's that little bit off the coast that looks like an island on a map of the state). The herd is owned by the local fire department, and driven across the channel to Chincoteague island each July. The foals are then sold at auction, so that the herd doesn't get larger than 150 horses (a cap that's maintained because of their location in a federal wildlife preserve).

It took us most of the weekend to piece together all this information, even with the knowledge that the horses were made famous by a book written 65 years ago by Marguerite Henry, the horse book lady. Not being horse people, we couldn't really still grasp why everyone seemed so excited about the horses, but we did enjoy the goofiness while we were there. On Saturday night, we went to the first live show of the season at the Pony Centre there. The Center is owned and run by the family that bought Misty's granddaughter, Misty II (daughter of another famous pony), some years ago. It's basically a barn with an indoor arena, where they give pony rides and show the horses, many of whom are descendents of Misty. So we went to the show, and were duly entertained by the (quite tall) teenagers riding the horses around. We also got to see one of the colts they have for sale, the black and white pinto (apparently the black and whites are both more rare and popular, so we were encouraged to ooh and aah over the colt, which wasn't difficult as it was really cute). It was neat to look around inside the arena, as the family has collected a lot of Misty-related merchandise, including posters from the movie and some models and toys that are no longer being made.

The youngest in the family, Kenneth, is pictured in the horse trading card of Misty II, and he offered to autograph them for me. In the photo on the card he's about 4 years old; he's 16 now and quite a bit taller. It's not a stretch to say that his boots almost touched the ground when he was on Black Mist. I'd already decided to get some pony-related presents for my cousins whose first communion I was missing by being on vacation, so I got Kenneth to sign a card for each of them.

We spent Memorial Day weekend down in Chincoteague, VA, which was dinkier than I'd imagined. I think I'd imagined a place of Block Island size/style, and it was smaller and more of a fishing village.

The refuge itself was great, with several trails through the salt marshes and along the dunes and beach. Saturday morning I woke up early, because of the laughing gulls, and decided to head over before people started swarming the beaches. I did a bit more than an hour of riding. My bike computer's still out of commission, so I don't know the mileage; from the map and how long it took given that it was pretty much entirely flat, I'd say it was about 12 miles. It was lovely to be out at 6:30am, and funny to see quite a few people out in front of their houses setting up for the day's yard sales. I was the only bike on the road, and the only people driving into the refuge were fishermen in trucks. On the trail, I did see a couple of hikers and another cyclist or two, but I mostly had the place to myself. There were birds everywhere, and that early in the morning there were also mammals -- I saw loads of rabbits, one of the little brown deer they have there, and half a dozen whitetails fighting on the path (I chose a different route rather than ride through a bunch of frisky young deer). That morning I also saw quite a bit of pony poop, but no actual ponies. I did ride down the trail that connects the marsh loops to the beach, but that was pretty gravelly and I decided to skip it in the future.

Sunday morning I slept in later, and went out around 8:30am. I again rode for an hour or so, and that morning I did two loops around the main marsh (called the Wildlife Loop, it's a paved three mile road that encircles the area where most of the birds can be regularly seen). There were lots of people out on the road that morning, and I got to use my martian bell and train some kids in how to move to the side. I didn't see as many animals, but did see the more common birds. This trip was more of a bike ride and less of a bird-watching excursion; I zoomed along the side of the marsh with the wind at my back and got a good workout coming up the other edge. It was a lot like riding on Hain's Point, actually, when there's a good breeze coming off the river. This ride was about 10 miles, and just about an hour -- I made it back up to the motel with just about 15 minutes to get my free breakfast.

Finally, on Monday I had breakfast first and then did another loop, just down to the marsh and then once around and back. On this ride, I discovered that there were telescopes on the lookout platform, so I spent quite a bit of time off my bike and looking at birds with them. There was a kid there who'd ridden up on his bike as well, and I told him the names of many of the birds, which he then described to his parents in Russian. It was nice to talk to a kid interested in birds, as it made me feel that I had knowledge I could share, in contrast to when I talk to older bird-watchers and I'm the complete novice. I did also go back with Dana later in the morning, before we left the island, to show him the telescopes and identify a few of the birds we weren't sure about.

It was a good feeling to be out on the bike every day, although I could feel my shoulder tightening up over the weekend. I'm looking forward to getting out on the trails at home again this summer.

distance: approx. 11 miles
time: approx. 1hr 10min [including getting in & out of the house]

Today I finally did what I've been planning to do all week: got up and went for a ride pre-breakfast and pre-shower. My goal for the next few weeks is to return to doing regular short rides, starting with an hour, several times a week. I'm still at the first level of my p.t. exercises for my shoulder (I've been told I have about 3 levels before I can swim), so I'll be doing those every day (soon to be twice/day) as well. With a little luck, that will keep my shoulders and neck from getting too banged around.

It felt great to be back on Pearl and out and about. I rode over to the Capitol Crescent Trail in Georgetown, which is almost exactly 2.5 miles from our house, and then went 3 miles down it and turned around. I love that the WABA page describing the trail talks about the "imperceptible grade" that you're going up the whole (10 mile) way to Bethesda. It may be visually imperceptible, but you'd have to be a complete dumbass to not notice that you are d r a g g i n g in the Bethesda direction and flying coming back to Georgetown. Granted I'm not the fastest pedaler in the west[ern hemisphere], but it took me 25 minutes to go 3 miles one way and 15 to come back. That means it's an hour and a half to Bethesda and 45 minutes back. I need to keep this in mind for future rides, that it's basically free miles if you turn around rather than doing a loop. Which is likely why the training rides I used to go on take you through Bethesda to Rock Creek Park rather than turning around and lettting you cruise back in, eh?

I should get an evaluation this afternoon on how my back is doing and, assuming all's clear, I'm going to bring Pearl with us this weekend and ride a couple of times on the trails down there while Dana sleeps in.

Last night we saw Gang of Four! Just as the NYC review promised, it was a great show, we didn't even notice while we were there that we were up hours and hours past our bedtime. These four old (for pop rockers) guys jumping around on stage were orders of magnitude better than the four old guys who were Duran Duran jumping around on stage, and that was over 10 years ago so the ages aren't even truly comparable. At any rate, up until the strobe on the very last song of the main set, which gave me a head- and stomach-ache all at once, we had a great time singing along and cracking up at the, well, goofy dancing. And, they ended with their cover of 'Sweet Jane' as the last song of their second encore, so I was happy.

Last weekend, I got Pearl out of the shop with new brake pads and a drive train clean-up. Nothing else was seriously wrong with her, except that I still need to figure out how to replace the battery on my bike computer and/or just replace the whole thing. Since I've been cleared to ride, I'm looking forward to getting back on the trails. From our new place we again have easy access to most of the area paths, so as soon as it stops pouring down buckets of rain in the mornings I'll be on the road again. One major benefit of not training for an endurance ride: not ever having to start a ride in the rain.

Earlier that week we also had a visitor from Ann Arbor, in town for a transportation government safety conference thingy. We walked, we talked, we ate, we slept (her on the ever-popular air mattress, which is standing the test of actual use quite well). I hope to be able to see more of her when I'm back in the area this summer, on my days off.

The weekend before that, I finally went to see the Modigliani exhibit. I enjoyed it, but wasn't all that impressed with all the flat blue-'eyed' portraits. The caryatid series was striking, but his controversial nudes and portraits of certain attractive dandies were the best of the paintings themselves. But enough about that, as others blather better about art than I.

And that's May. For Memorial Day we're joining the vacationing masses to drive over the bridge and down the shore to a little island that we've never visited. Should be good fun.

how bout those ivy leaguers? I hope to be able to get down to see them, and maybe have my moment in the sun spouting sociological theory to further the cause of participatory democracy, but they may be heading back up tonight.

nothing nearly as dramatic is up with me, and even if there was, I wouldn't have time to tell you since I have to go to my last class of the semester. right now!