Kyle Banerjee's Blog

Three weeks ago, I posted a picture of Shirley and me enjoying some skiing on Mary’s Peak. Well, today it was over 100 degrees, so I rode my bike up there to test my new climbing wheels and alpine gearing. I’m happy to report that the wheels and gears work great.
The cyclist is another matter. Despite having better equipment, I clocked the worst time I have in years going up and down the mountain twice. I would love to blame the heat, but I have good heat tolerance and today was no exception.I drank 8 large bottles of water (I hid water along the route so I could restock), and I felt good after the ride.

Although my speed was pitiful, my legs felt just fine afterwards so there is reason for to believe I’ll be able to get ready for the tough rides at the end of summer.

Incidentally, it was a gorgeous day and the view was exactly like this picture — minus the snow.

I enjoy challenging myself physically, so last weekend I went on a 200 mile bike ride. It just so happens that this ride passed a few blocks from our house so Bryan and I popped by for a short visit around mile 130.

I felt great all day, but around mile 170, one of my knees hurt so bad I couldn’t bend it without causing excruciating pain. I thought about bailing since abusing knees is a great way to permanently injure them, but when you’ve come that far, you really don’t want to quit. I popped some ibuprofen and tried to compensate with the other leg, but within a few miles, the extra strain led to massive cramps which forced me off the bike. Fortunately, it took only a few minutes for me to get a handle on the knee pain and continue to a good finish.

This ride worked out well, but the question still remains on how you know when it’s time to concede things won’t work out they way you hope. Anything worth doing requires perseverance and sacrifice. At the same time, if you refuse to exit with grace when you reach a point where all the willpower and effort in the world can’t help you, the line between dedication and delusion is crossed.

Knowing where these boundaries are is not just an academic exercise. For example, Keiko’s condition has been deteriorating steadily. As recently as a few months ago, we walked 4 miles a day. Now we walk 2 blocks. I’ve been sleeping on the floor with her for the past 2 months because she can’t climb stairs and needs to go out several times each night. She’s lost a huge amount of weight and is in constant pain from a giant and rapidly growing tumor.

You’d think that would make the decision obvious, but it’s not so easy. Her appetite is strong and she enjoys eating. I’ve been feeding her bacon and eggs for breakfast, and at night she’s been eating things like cheeseburgers, pizza, steak, meatballs, etc. She is content when she’s asleep. She’s been a very tough girl her entire life, so we will not give up until she indicates she’s not interested in hanging around anymore.

People who’ve known Keiko become sad when they see the fading shadow she’s become of her former self. At some point, there won’t be enough left for her, and we will have to let her go.

Dr. Lindsay and the other staff at the vet have been truly impressed with Keiko’s resilience, and he tells me that she will let me know when it’s time. I hope he’s right.  Even doing what I know is right will rip my heart out, so it’s really important to get this right.

I’ve maintained my website with the same company for years. There are a lot of reasons I’ve been with this company, but the main ones are that they offer services I like, customer service has been excellent, and the value is good.

This past week, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that my account was suspended and that I was locked out. I called to find out why, and their abuse department told me I was keeping files unrelated to my website there. They explained that it didn’t matter that I was using only a tiny fraction of my quotas. The service is for hosting websites.

One of the selling points of this account is that I have shell access. That allows me to do things you can’t do with a regular account, so I’d sometimes use it as a workspace for things unrelated to my website. Before I started doing these things a few years ago, I called to make sure it was OK since it wasn’t clear in their policies (I’m one of the few people who actually reads user agreements). I was assured it was. I would go so far as to say I was encouraged to do what I wanted.

The company reserves the right to change policies. If they decide they can’t make enough money doing things the way they did in the past, that’s fair enough. But I wasn’t too happy to be blasted off the internet when they changed and I didn’t catch the change. I think a warning would have been in order.

The trick is that I chose this company specifically because of the services it offered me and the price I had to pay. By changing the terms of service so I can’t do something important that I chose them for, they lose most of their edge over the competition.

Aside from that, having to deal with sudden changes forces me to scramble and find a new way to do things — this is bad service in my book. If they need to change to stay competitive, they need to work with their customers and not just flip a switch and expect people to instantly adjust.

I will stick with this outfit for now because my overall experience with this company has been very positive. However, they lost quite a bit of goodwill with this last stunt, so it really needs to be an isolated experience.

Oregon may have a reputation as a cycling Mecca, but the reality is that the weather is pretty crummy for most of the year. It’s cold, windy, and rainy. The good news is that once the sun finally comes out, it stays out.

This year, I’ve not been able to put in nearly as much saddle time as I normally do and I’m paying the price. My bike computer tells me that even on a good day I’m not as fast as I was on a bad day last year. When I first realized beyond any doubt that I wasn’t being slowed by the weather or other factors, it was a bit depressing.

Last week, Bryan and I did the Strawberry Century. Like me, he’s also not been putting in enough riding time.We’re accustomed to being pretty speedy, but instead, we got to watch people that we should have been blowing by pass us up. It was crystal clear to me that there’s no way I have a chance of finishing my favorite rides unless I get my act in gear. At least we had some nice scenery as you can see in this photo.

Now that the weather is finally clearing up (though it would be nice if the morning temps could crack the lower 40’s), riding season can begin in earnest. The Watermelon is this weekend. It’s 200 miles in one day, and I’ll extend it a bit. Then, I can start working on Mary’s Peak — that’s where Shirley and I went skiing last weekend. I’ve got quite a bit of catchup to do, but there’s still enough time to be ready when the really challenging rides start up in August.

Oregon is known for its cool and wet weather, but this year has been nuts. Almost every time I get on my bike, the temperature drops and the sky spits on me to remind me of my role in the universe. Despite a 20% chance of rain forecast yesterday, I spent almost 4 hrs getting misted on. The day before, I enjoyed rain and temps in the 40’s as I rode into work. It’s literally been weeks since I’ve ridden without getting soaked.

This picture was taken today at my favorite place to train for climbing rides such as the Shasta Super Century and the Everest Challenge. It is within biking distance of our house and it’s short enough that I always climb it multiple times.

As you can see, conditions aren’t exactly prime for cycling. However, we did have a lot of fun skiing. I can’t believe this is how we’re spending June weekends…