I’ve been gathering books (with some help from my school’s book sale, where I’ve found some good titles at $0.50/each) for Dewey’s Read-A-Thon.
The plan is to start with these:
An old friend (I’m re-reading -A Separate Peace-) and some new friends waiting for tomorrow.
(A Separate Peace by John Knowles; The Dancer’s Way by Linda H. Hamilton, PhD. and New York City Ballet; and Eminent Dogs and Dangerous Men by Donald McCaig.)
…And this:
La Belle et La Bete: “Beauty and the Beast” en francais.
I also have a DI Marjory Fleming mystery on tap on the Kindle. Since I have class in the morning, I plan to read that on the bus. I really enjoy Aline Templeton’s books; she writes well, but they’re still very relaxing reads.
I have no idea how much of this snowbank-o-books I’ll make it through, but the idea is to enjoy it rather than to kill myself (kind of like the bike ride I took this evening!).
In other news, general updates:
Monday’s ballet class was a mixed bag — my core was more together, my turns were in some cases pretty good — but my head wasn’t entirely in the game the whole way. I think it was a function of not having slept well at all for a few nights in a row, so I’m hoping to be much better after a good, solid rest tonight. I got “Use your technique; don’t lose your technique,” a couple of times on Monday; while that implies that maybe there’s some technique in here somewhere after all (ha!), I’m hoping I’ll hear a bit less of that. I do get overenthusiastic in the turns, though, sometimes.
I wore my stripey shirt on Monday. Addendum: I should have captioned this, “Use your technique; don’t abuse your technique.”
Today was the Student Conference (undergraduate edition), and I think it went quite well. Bringing my poster to school (and back) was interesting, as we didn’t have a sufficiently-sized poster tube and I didn’t have time to get one.
I am super, super tired at this point, so I’ll probably turn in pretty soon so I can get a good night’s rest in before class tomorrow.
All jokes about dancers not being able to count higher than eight aside, there are some very good reasons to count things.
Like, for example, alcoholic beverages.
Historically, I have been one of those people who have a couple of drinks perhaps six times a year (mostly on trips to visit family and friends, who — I am convinced — enjoy plying our naive systems with alcohol and watching us get tipsy). Various influences (read: somehow, we have suddenly developed a non-bike related, non-ballet related Social Life o.O) have conspired to knock out three of those drinking occasions in the past three weekends.
Friday night we went out for dinner with Kelly. It was the best kind of dinner: grazing at table for something like three hours without overeating, then enjoying coffee and affogati by a really cool fire pit.
Not content to stop there, we dropped in on ironically-named Bardstown Road hot spot “Big Bar,” which is really a lovely little venue, after which we went dancing at NoWhere, another Bardstown Road venue with lasers, DJs, and enough room on their dance floor for me to actually dance! …Which is to say that I danced for like 2.5 hours while Kelly and Denis intermittently danced and chatted. We packed it back home at 12:30 and were in bed by roughly 1 AM.
Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal. However, I made a serious mistake: I completely failed to count how many alcoholic beverages I had enjoyed. I’m still not really sure. That’s not a good thing. If you can’t account for all of it, you have definitely had way too much.
Needless to say, I remain quite a lightweight. I don’t think I went Full FratBoy on this excursion, but I do know I more than found my limit. I wasn’t exactly incoherent, but I was hammered and I knew it.
I wasn’t “drinking to get drunk,” either — just kept trying different things because they tasted good, and quickly lost track of how many good-tasting things I’d tried. So, evidently, it is quite easy to vastly overdo it without trying. It was very much like the, “Petit fours? Don’t mind if I do!” sort of thing that can happen at catered events where endless plates of new and different little hors d’ouevres and desserts circulate.
The end result was a jammed left knee, one heck of an abdominal workout (derived from about two hours of early-morning hurling), a wickedly sore throat that persists to some extent today (cinnamon infused whiskey is lovely going down and hellish coming back up), and no ballet class on Saturday. I think I probably would’ve forced myself to get up and go if it weren’t for the knee thing, but the knee was definitely a problem. I am guessing I jammed it on the dance floor and failed utterly to notice until I woke up at 5 AM.
So, in all, a distinctly self-punishing experience … and I think maybe I’ve reached a point in my life at which I’m smart enough to learn from my mistakes. At least, this mistake.
The lesson? I can handle two to three drinks in the course of a night out, depending on how long the night out in question is. That’s all. No more. More than that, and I begin making poor decisions, like, “Sure, coffee with creme de cacao sounds delicious!” and “I can have one more shot of that cinnamon stuff, that was delicious!”
In case you’re wondering, “delicious” is not a good reason to miss ballet class.
Ballet class is more important than Trying All The Drinks, even if they’re tasty. Also, it’s hard to enjoy dancing at a club* as much as I normally do when you’re as hammered as I was on Friday ._.
Also, there was some of this.
It is nice having a kind of straight razor in your life that helps you make decisions.
“Will this interfere with the ballet? Yes? Then I’m not doing it. End of sentence.”
Denis kept telling me this would happen: “Some day you’ll find that one thing that you feel passionate enough about to put everything else down.” I don’t think I quite believed him, but ballet is the only thing that has ever made me willing to change the way I ride my bike and, yes, even give up Strava (at least for now, until I learn how to ride in a way that doesn’t directly conflict with my ballet goals). I am an Endomondo boy for the foreseeable future.
Easter seems as good a day as any for clarity of thought, revelations, and renewals — so I will consider this a lesson and a renewal. The occasional night of wild culinary excess is no big deal because I am skilled in the art of enjoying small portions and tend not to overeat to the point of imminent explosion, but there will be no further nights of wild alcoholic excess. Two or three drinks is my maximum, end of sentence … and I probably ought to stay away from the ones that combine alcohol and coffee, because alcohol + caffeine = 32 flavors of Asher Being Stupid.
So that’s it. Class notes will resume on Monday.
Notes
*I realize this is the opposite of how many people feel. For me, alcohol-induced clumsiness interferes with freedom of movement, and the high you get from dancing itself is much better without alcohol.
I shall try to keep this brief.
We had a good class tonight even though Denis and I were held hostage by Steak-n-Shake and ran in as the barre segment was beginning. There were only four of us, so we all received close scrutiny. Many questions were asked and many corrections received, especially by me. I was particularly in need of corrections tonight, but they were all good and useful ones.
My core still wasn’t great. I think I’m going to have to put some dedicated time into that. The past couple of weeks I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off collecting data and so forth, and consequently not putting much time in at home for strength training (which, in my case, generally involves calisthenics and fooling around on an exercise ball, because it’s fun), barre practice, or riding-of-the-bike.
Today we launched a raft of piqué turns. There were only four of us, so the rate of collision remained low … mostly.
Figure 1. Line graph of one ballet class’s progress across the floor. (“NO” is for “PiaNO.” As for “DANGER?” Seriously, Denis and I nearly collided in that one spot like three times.)
If I were making my usual bulleted lists of strengths and weaknesses, the pique turns would be on both. When I put my brain on hold and went with the flow, it was All Good(or well, kinda good, anyway). When I started thinking, I did crazy stuff with my arms, failed to keep my shoulders square, and sort of fumbled my way into and out of turns.
Denis and I also nearly collided in exactly the same spot every time we were heading to the right, which was actually kind of funny.
I actually have no idea if our other two classmates were traveling on nice, straightish lines like I’ve depicted. It’s possible that they were zigging and zagging like a championship football team, just like I did from time to time. Meanwhile, Denis’ brain kept wanting to chainé instead of to piqueé.
A good time was had by all. It was a happy class, for all the crash potential. There was a great deal of smiling. Nobody fell down. Not that anyone has done, at this juncture, but we did lots of turns today, and sometimes people like to fall over when doing turns.
Tomorrow I hand in my data for my independent project and re-hand in the exam for P-342 that Dr. R extended on Thursday. Then I’ll be working on tweaking my project and writing it up as well as writing up my awesome research proposal.
It has just occurred to me that, with any luck, I will graduate this year. Finally. I feel like maybe I should buy one of those obnoxious t-shirts that say SENIORS!!! and CLASS OF THIS VERY CURRENT YEAR OMG! and so forth all over them … except, another part of me feels that’s a little too much like getting your sweetheart’s name tattooed on your person, which never ends well.
Okay, that’s it for now. I think we’ve earned a nice relaxing evening, and I’m going to go read in bed.
When you were a kid (or, you know, more recently than that, because some of us don’t impose silly restrictions on ourselves about what kinds of pastimes are appropriate for “grown-ups”), did you play that famous game, “The Floor Is Lava?”
Yeah, me too. It was (and remains) one of my favorites (for even more fun, try the “Ballet Moves Only” variation).
Well, yesterday I played a different version during ballet class. Instead of the floor, it was my core muscles … and instead of lava, it was jello.
Seriously, the caption says it all.
I was wiggly. I was jiggly. I was sweating my socks off, because suddenly it was 70+ F and sunny and even though we kept the blinds closed it got quite warm in the studio. I try to be all proper ‘n’ shizzle, but I think I might actually switch to capri-length tights for the summer, because seriously, our studio gets waaaaaaaarm.
On the other hand, much like if you want to ride a hot century, the only way to acclimate yourself is by riding in the heat, if you want to dance under hot lights on a potentially-warm stage someday … yeah. So maybe ignore me, and I’ll just go on wearing my tights, because evidently while it is totally de rigeur for dudes to dance topless whenever modern choreographers are involved, we still gots to wear tights*.
Anyway. There was a another new gentleman in class yesterday, which was pretty cool. He’s a newer dancer, but usually does a different class with his wife. She wasn’t dancing due to an injury (I think?) so instead he joined our class, which was surprisingly full, given that it was the morning of Thunder Over Louisville, which is the kickoff event for our several-weeks-long bacchanalia of horse race-worship known as “Derby Festival.” There were something like eight of us. This resulted in a varying degrees of hilarity as we went across-the-floor doing jetes and turned into a game of human pachinko at either end.
Nonetheless, during barre, my core was like a six-pack … of Jello snacks. This might be because I went dancing on Friday night, slept five hours, crawled out of bed, and hauled my bacon to ballet class. I don’t do the rock-’em-sock-’em when I go dancing. I engage every muscle I can find. I use the tools I’ve learned in ballet and modern dance. Sometimes the result is a more jello-y me a few hours later.
So, needless to say, even my strengths were a little weak. I’m not going to bullet-point things this time: basically, it was all pretty mediocre, except for leaps and port de bras, which took place at the end of class and benefited from an hour of trying to remember to hold it together.
My arabesques were high but weak, my barre work as a whole left a lot to be desired, and let’s not even talk about grand battement (for what it’s worth, the leg part looked great, as long as I ignored the fact that my body was kind of all over the place … which, of course, one cannot do in ballet: the core is everything; without it, beautiful legs are meaningless).
On the other hand, evidently my leaps looked pretty awesome. I let the legs take care of themselves (which they do pretty well) and focused on not getting all Freddie Mercury with the arms. Three separate people complimented me on my jetes and sautes arabesques, which was super awesome.
I also felt pretty happy with the port de bras exercise we did: I probably wasn’t awesome at it, but at least I was following along and didn’t look like a Giant Elbow Monster. Seriously, I seem to be so constructed that I really have to work hard to look like I don’t have giant pointy elbows when I’m dancing. Likewise, my arms weren’t tired when we finished, which evidently indicates that I’m using the right muscles to do the exercise in question.
Our teacher, The Divine Ms. Margie, describes it as “hanging” the arms off the back muscles, basically. That’s certainly how it feels when I’m doing port de bras, so I think it’s a good analogy.
In other news, I have basically finished data collection for my research project … though last night, as we stood atop the Cressman Center parking garage watching crowds of people on foot streaming back to their homes and buses and cars after Thunder, I really wished I’d designed an experiment to see how many people would look up if I shouted, for example, “John!” or “Nice hat!” from the top of a building. That would’ve made data collection so much easier.
But, anyway, my research project is basically done, and I’ve sent the preliminary version of my poster to my professor, so it’s too late now (THE DATA IS LAVA! IT’S LAAAAAAVAAAAAAAAAAAA!). Next up, I need to make some revisions to my Research Methods and Statistics exam and write up a research proposal (for a project that will probably never happen, so I get to make it as elaborate as I want to).
And, of course, moar ballet. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s class. With any luck, my core will be a wee bit more stable.
Notes
*Seriously, go see a modern ballet production: as often as not, if you combine the wardrobe for the ladies and the gents, half the dancers could have a full outfit. Of course, they other half would have to dance naked, but that would be even more modern … right?
Last night we had an insane adventure while transporting a 32-foot ladder after class, so I didn’t get my notes posted. D’oh!
Anyway, it was an interesting class. Three guys and two ladies this time, in a reversal of the usual pattern, and we got our petit allegro on. I was about as graceful as a gator on rollerskates, at times, but you know. We all have our off days (especially after days off).
As always, there were some strengths and some (many) weaknesses:
Strengths
Grand Battement:
I always think this looks pretty good, though.
Balance:
This is really improving.
Arabesques:
These felt good.
Weaknesses
Strength:
For some reason, I was a bit on the weakish side last night. While my arabesques held together, I really felt my effort. Likewise, I experienced trembling thigh muscles at a few points.
Arms:
Seriously, arms, we’ve talked about this. (To be fair, they are improving. They were just a wee bit, um, enthusiastic: like, repeat to yourself, this is not modern dance ).
“You do, ‘FOSSE! FOSSE! FOSSE! … but you keep it all inside.”
Also, I was a ballet ninja yesterday, because I got locked out of the changing room and didn’t have time to change my socks.
Oh, FFS, the combination:
While we were learning the combo for our petit allegro, I started too far over and ran into the window, so then I had to try to remember it without having properly marked it in the first place. I was fine up to the point where I ran out of room, but couldn’t remember the rest to save my life.
I am perpetually afraid of being that moron in class who takes forever to get the choreography straight anyway (I would love to see more about this study from Duke University in 2010), so this did not help my confidence. I hid on the back line doing the watch-n-pray the whole time.
At one point our teacher told us (me?) to stop thinking. I suspect that would help. Thinking only gets me in trouble.
As always, got some useful corrections (including the universal “stop being lazy and point that toe” tap while we were stretching at the barre). I felt almost ridiculously flexible. I didn’t want to stop when we were done, but I never do.
I want to stop when I fall down.
I guess that’s a good sign ^-^
Last night we went to Play Dance Bar.
I might have had three cosmos (holy crap, they mix them strong!) and I might have broken out some ballet stuff on the dance floor. Evidently I had an audience for a while, but I didn’t notice (Denis mentioned it to me afterwards). When I go out dancing, I go to dance, and I generally dance alone. Sometimes I dance with Denis. Mostly, I just go to be absorbed into the music and let my body run free.
I might also have taken off my boots (they’re cute, but holy moly, do they ever stick to the floor!) and danced in my socks. Shhh, don’t tell.
We got home at 3 AM following a wee-hours breakfast with the Fabulous Miss Kelly and slept for 5.5ish hours before getting up for ballet class. I was quite proud of Denis for peeling his bacon outta bed to go dance some more after I dragged him out** to dance and kept him up way past what he calls “old man bedtime” last night. Nonetheless, I felt surprisingly great in class (though I did chug a cup of coffee with caffeine and everything, just to be safe). Class went quite well, with four of us plus our lovely teacher representin’ in Studio 5. Everyone seemed to be peppy this morning, too, which was pretty nice.
Today’s Strengths
Today’s Not-So-Strengths
This Is Harder Than It Looks
I feel like I’m making improvements. This is reassuring. I continue to feel like the old muscle memory is waking up and like my body is getting itself together again. Also, not having my hair in my eyes all the bleeding time does help, though I think I liked the Ballet Prince haircut I had going on before, so I might let it grow back out. OTOH, my neck being nice and cool during class doesn’t hurt.
I think this week I’m going to start a little once-a-week series covering some basic ballet stuff. Denis will appreciate that. We also found a basic ballet video that sounds promising, so I’ll probably run up a review with him, since my experience as a returning student will be very different than his as a true n00b who’s still learning the ropes.
That’s it for now.
Keep the leather side down!
Further Notes
*Okay, so not exactly “all” night. I probably only danced for 1 hour and 45 minutes total, but all night sounds better ^-^
**Actually, he suggested going out. o.O
First, On Unhelpful Thoughts
If you do ballet, you already know that ballet class affords very little time for indulgent mental wanking. Especially when you’re new, or “re-new,” as I currently am. However, because our minds are capricious, every now and then an unhelpful thought finds its way in.
Like, for example the following:
This is the unhelpful thought that I had last night. It actually wasn’t judgmental or anything … just. You know, like, WTF? Because my butt was all, like, pointy and triangular in profile in the mirror while we were doing something facing the barre (I can’t even remember what, now!). I didn’t know butts could even be pointy and triangular, but there you go.
I don’t remember any other random, unhelpful thoughts from last night, so there probably weren’t any. But that one was amusing enough to last a good long while.
And Now, the Round-Up
Strengths
Weaknesses
Chaines: Scourge of the Universe
I asked Denis last night what he’d like to see in a beginning ballet blog, and he asked for explanations of basic positions and stuff with links to videos, so I think I might put together a wee series of that sort of thing.
That’s it for now. I must go forth and clean, then try to learn not to fall over whilst executing chaines.
Notes on the Notes
*Unfortunately, we do not yet have a surface at home on which one can practice more than two chaines at a time, because I cannot do chaines small enough to fit more than two in our tiny kitchen, any everything else either has carpet or huge area rugs. We are in the process of planning a studio for the basement, and — come to think of it, there’s always the storage room and my backup slippers.
The nice lady at the front desk at LBS took this for us, which was totally lovely of her. If I was a better person, I might have some idea what her name is. I really should have pointed my foot and squared myself up and so forth … but, hey, it’s more ballet picture than I had before 😀
Oh, and here’s the goofier version. I have no idea what’s going on with my head:
The number of things that are wrong with my arms in this picture cannot even be enumerated.
After a winter characterized by minor mental breakdowns, a minor mental breakthrough is a welcome thing. So here’s mine for today:
When you’re marking movements, don’t forget about your arms*.
On Saturday, in class, I failed to mark the jetes effectively. In particular, I forgot that I had an upper body, never mind that my upper body had been doing brilliantly a moment before. Thus, whenever we did a pass, my upper body was like, “WTF?!” And then my legs were all, “ZOMG, upper body, get with the program!” And then everything fell apart more or less literally.
When you mark movements, you’re wiring your brain to do them (why didn’t I think of this in class? I should know this stuff!). Thus, you need to make sure to incorporate all the limbs and so forth.
Even though you’re not going all out, you are enchaining the circuits that should be firing together and, if you use visualization, harnessing them to a kind of mental 3D movie of David Hallberg executing whatever movement you’re marking**.
Research has demonstrated that good visualization activates the nerves in both the brain and the muscles, so when you mark and visualize, you’re practicing. What you mark and what you picture will influence what you do at the barre and on the dance floor.
For what it’s worth, I’m realizing that it might take a little while to remember how to be a dancer when you’ve taken a sizeable break and concentrated deeply on a very different athletic discipline. It’s cool, though, because I now have an opportunity to develop an intellectual understanding of something I only grasped by instinct earlier in my life.
In other news, I lost about a pound over the last few days. Hecks to the yeah!
That’s all for now. Leather side down!
Notes
*So, yeah, this should be obvious, right? I blame cycling, “The armless sport.”
**Okay, and also David Hallberg, because if you’re going to visualize technique, you might as well visualize exceptionally solid technique…
First, the Review
I owe a number of longer-term reviews on a number of topics. I figured I’d start with my most recent major bike acquisition, the 2013 GT Karakoram 2.0 now lovingly dubbed “Mountain Monster.”
At first glance, the Karakoram seems as unlike my Fuji Roubaix (AKA “The Fearsome Fuji”) as it gets. It is not really all that light (though it’s also not all that heavy). It’s much more upright. It has clearance for some pretty big tires. In short, it’s a mountain bike — and its mountain-bike breeding really shines through when you take it off-road.
That said, some of the qualities that make the Karakoram shine on the trails are qualities it shares with the Fearsome Fuji: sharp handling and the kind of mind-reading feel that make the Roubaix my absolute favorite road ride.
You can absolutely fly this bike by the seat of your pants. It responds brilliantly to countersteering. I relish the experience of railing sharp turns on the Karakoram by dropping my weight deep into the outside pedal and then just letting the bike kind of lie down towards the inside of the turn*. Exceptional balance means you can give it a lot of lean before you begin to feel like you might be risking road rash.
In short, the Karakoram is wildly nimble. I am far from being an accomplished off-road rider, but during this year’s Death March attempt, I rode the Karakoram through and around and over all kinds of stuff. At one point, my rear wheel slipped on a branch hidden under some muck and the bike’s responsive handling saved me from careening into a tree. A better rider would even have made it out of that tight spot without stopping (again, I’m pretty half-baked off-road). Simply put, the bike is well-balanced and responsive: ideal qualities in any road or off-road ride**.
This nimble handling also translates well to an urban environment. While I don’t think the Karakoram will ever be my go-to century bike, as an urban on-road commuter, it actually gets the job done with a fair bit of elan. Road obstacles can be smartly avoided, and the hydraulic brakes’ stopping power comes in mightily handy when oblivious pedestrians or drivers fumble into the road without looking.
That said, in terms of rider experience on the commutes, there’s a trade-off involved: a more upright position offers an awesome visual field and helps keep you visible to drivers, but it also means that you catch wind — lots of it! Even when tucked down over the bars, I’m still in a more upright configuration than I’m used to, and I definitely feel the air resistance. In less-aerodynamic winter kit, it can feel like riding in a parachute.
Coupled with Maxxis’ 2.10″ Aspen tires — which are fantastic on trails but can really soak up your effort on the road — this means that the bike is slower to accelerate and slower on the climbs. Yesterday, on a Karakoram commute, I rode a not-insignificant overpass climb into a stiff headwind and found myself really fighting to maintain a pace above 10 MPH. Make no mistake — this bike climbs, but it does so slowly, and seems to prefer to do so in tiny little gears. That said, in the right gear combo, pretty stiff climbs can seem fairly effortless — as long as you’re not pushing for speed. I suspect the right tires could go a long way towards mitigating this effect if you plan primarily to commute or tour on-road on a Karakoram 2.0.
Commuting-wise, between geometry and fat tires, the Karakoram encourages its rider to spin smaller gears. That’s good for me, because I remain an inveterate masher, and spinning will indubitably leave more in the legs for ballet class 😛
Coupling a high cadence with a low gear, it’s not difficult to maintain a 14 – 16 MPH pace on the flats on this bike once you’re up to speed. Likewise, the enormous gearing range means you can basically ride it up a wall, albeit slowly. Still beats the heck out of walking. Moreover, the bike descends like a freaking rocket.
Shifting is crisp and responsive (and continues to function, with varying responsiveness, even in mucky conditions). Braking is nigh miraculous: the hydraulic disc brakes that come stock on the Karakoram 2.0 are both powerful and nuanced. You can modulate speed with great sensitivity and still stop fast enough to scare the crap out of yourself.
Maintenance-wise, the bike seems to be pretty much “wash-n-wear.” After the mudfest that was Death March, a good bath and a shot of chain lube got it shifting perfectly again. Shifting adjustments should be no sweat (I haven’t needed to bother yet; I took the bike in for a full shop tune-up before the race); braking adjustments will be more involved due to the hydraulics. I plan to pay someone else to mess around with those, for the most part. There are limits to my expertise, and I’m fine with that.
At around 30 pounds, the Karakoram could be lighter (and, indeed, you can lighten it up considerably with a few easy-but-pricey upgrades: lighter wheels, etc.); however, it doesn’t feel heavy when you’re riding it.
Experienced off-road racers looking for race bikes should probably look elsewhere, but for beginning-to-intermediate mountain bikers, the Karakoram offers a lot of bang for the buck. Likewise, experienced off-road racers looking for a fun bike for non-racing rides could enjoy the heck out of this machine.
In summary, the GT Karakoram 2.0 is a very solid bike at its price point (especially if you can snag one on clearance, like I did — I paid $500 for mine). As an entry-level off-road 29er, it’s stellar; likewise, it shines as a slowish-but-steady urban assualt bike. For gravel racing, I’d reserve it for races with true off-road sectors; drilling away for hours on gravel climbs or flats really asks for a less upright position.
For loaded long-distance touring, I’d say that GT’s Karakoram 2.0 is quite admirably suited (and comes drilled for a rear rack), but if you’ll be any distance from places where you’re likely to find good bike shops, you might want to swap out the hydraulic brakes for a set of mechanical ones***, which are better suited to field maintenance. Nobody wants to carry around a bleed kit and hydraulic fluid on a backroads tour of anywhere.
The 29″ wheel size could potentially make finding tires and tubes harder in some parts of the world, but the Schrader-drilled stock rims offer flexibility: more retailers carry Schrader tubes than Prestas, and you can inflate them at gas stations, with most readily-available air compressors, and with cheap, widely-available hand- and foot-pumps. You can also use Presta tubes if you snag a couple of those little converter sleeves to go over the stems. Though I actually like Presta valves better, my imaginary “world-touring” rig is specced with Schrader-friendly rims for all of these reasons.
If you’re seriously considering the purchase of a Karakoram 2.0, go ahead and pull the trigger. I doubt you’ll regret it — for the price, you’re getting a reliable, capable bike that can be dressed up for racing or down for touring in rough country, not to mention a metric shedload of fun.
Next, the Miscellany
Things to remember for Saturday’s ballet class:
This is great when you’re supposed to be on the balls of your feet — like in relèvé, for example — but kind of a bad idea when your heels are supposed to be on the ground. I suspect this is the child of my favored gymnastic discipline — floor exercise — coupled with cycling, though I’m also one of those freaks who run on their toes. Or, well, jog. I don’t know if you would call what I do these days “running.” Anyhoo! I remembered on Monday (after class, of course ._.) that standing flat-footed with your weight in your toes doesn’t work so well in ballet.
If your foot is flat on the floor, you want to keep your weight in your heel; it stabilizes the whole column. If your heel is on the floor but your weight is in the ball of your foot, all kinds of craziness happens, and then you sprain your ankle.
Other things to remember:
In other news:
That’s it for now. Keep whatever side down is supposed to be down 😛
Notes
*Sure, I’m gonna lose some knee skin this way sooner or later, but the soaring feeling is worth it.
**…Also great qualities in a life partner or best friend.
***You can’t go wrong with Avid’s BB7s.
YouTube: BOSU Balance Series
danseur ignoble 