Henry Rose

Last night i had one of those awesome experiences that reminds me why i ride a bike.

After a Safety Meeting a few of us were riding downtown. A friend of mine (who shall remane nameless to protect him in his lawsuit against his employer, fuck the man!) told me a cop was yelling at us for running a red light, so we took off.

For the first time since i broke my wrist and was off the bike for three months i felt the power that my legs are able to put through to the wheel. The combination of riding every day for a couple weeks with some serious miles, then being out on the boat (resting my legs) all weekend let me really wail on the pedals. We were in Belltown when we started out, and had an awesome sprint up to 5th where weaved betweeen monorail pillars down to Olive. We shot up Olive and were halfway up the hill before we got the phone call saying there were no cops and that we’re just dumbasses.

But those couple of minutes where i was able to power through the corners with my full torque were simply amazing.

Like most of my classmates i operated under the assumption that upon finishing college i’d move on to a job with a comfy salary and start amassing all the wealth that a college grad ought to have. Whilst still in school I spent money and collected belongings at rate that far outpaced the meager income i recieved from my student job. I bought a condo and i spent some money on a credit card.

It was never out of hand. My mortage payments are quite reasonable and i’d be able to pay off my credit cards easily working at most entry level jobs for which i’m qualified. But now I’m wishing i hadn’t spent all that money.

Here I am, out of school for only a couple months, but wishing i had freedom that i simply don’t.  I have a sweet job that pays well and basically lets me work whenever I want. But I also have a mortage payment, DSL bill and credit card that demand my attention every month.
I’m really not the “own a home at 21″ kind of guy. My goals for a given month usually include things like going sailing 5 times, riding my bike 400 miles in a month or having the ability to leave and go skiing when the snow falls. The “own a home at 21″ guy’s goals are more like getting a raise, buying a new car or upgrading his home theater.

Now it’s become time for me to shed some this extra stuff and gain some freedom. First to go has to be the condo. Not having the condo will take a thousand dollars out of my monthly commitments. That thousand dollars is the equivilent of working 4 days less a month, or alternatively it’s building a sweet bicycle that i could ride to to San Fransisco with the next months free time. And that doesn’t even begin to consider the sizable chunk of change that such a sale would drop into my bank account. A sum that could buy a modest sailboat and leave money left over for a rainy day.

Is anyone in the market for a studio in Fremont?

This weekend I went sailing with my dad in the San Juans.

We left mid day on friday and found ourselves battling a northwest breeze at about 20 knots. That settled down to about 10 by mid afternoon and we had a nice close hauled jaunt from the south end of Lummi Island up to a little tiny island named Clark. The whole island is a state park but we were the only people there since it’s getting pretty late in the year.

I made steaks, couscous, a green salad and some fresh grean beans for dinner. The night was beautiful with a crystal clear sky and a full moon illuminating the surrounding islands. When we woke up the sky was still amazingly clear and Mount Baker was looming over us.

With the visibility so good this weekend it felt good to sail off the buoy and head north. We headed north in 10-15kt breezes making it as far north as Blaine (on the Canadian border). Then we headed south and put up the A-sail that we’ve only flown a few times. We had fun flying back to Sucia at 5-7kts over the water.

Staying at Sucia in October is a very different experience that it is in August. We stayed in Echo Bay which is the largest anchorage on the island. Sometimes in the summer there will be 200+ boats in Echo Bay but the cold weather of October meant we were one of only and handful of boats there. We had no problem getting a buoy very close to shore and were well protected from the 25 kt Northwest wind that would fill in that night.

Waking on sunday we found rain and a stiff breeze from the Southeast, the direction we were heading. I welcomed the rain as a chance to use my new foul weather gear. I sailed the boat on a close reach in 15-20 kts and lots of rain and fog for about 4 hours. We covered a ton of ground with the combined wind and current in our favor. Mid day the winds died and we motered a bit, but as we came around Guemes the wind picked back up. We hauled up Bellingham Bay for a while then turned back and popped the A-sail again. We made awesome hull speed and sailed the A almost all the way back in to the marina.

What an awesome trip!

This weekend was a blast.

Friday night brought Critical Mass which was fun, although this months gathering was marred by forced religion. A topic for another day perhaps…  I got the the monthly Midnight Greenlake Race a few minutes after the start so was able to serve only in an administrative role, which is probably fine as i’ve been off the bike for so long i’m still pretty slow.

Saturday I ate brunch with Charlie who was here for the weekend from Philidelphia. We had an action packed 24 hours that included a visit to the marina, buying some cheap plastic toys at Archee McPhees and huge amounts of lasagna made by the lovely Amanda.  Oh yeah… there were a couple of bottles of wine (each) in there too.

And now it’s back to the daily grind. Apparently there is some text that’s mysteriously moved a couple pixels left on the Van Cliburn Foundation website. A fascinating problem it’s not, but I’m sure i can bill it at two or three hours.