The 'Psychic Spouse' Fallacy

Talking to people who cycle with their spouse, I consistently discover for how many couples this does not really work. Despite both partners being into cycling, they just can't ride with each other - to the point than they each go off with separate cycling clubs or riding partners. After nearly three years of cycling together, I have to say that the Co-Habitant and I are sort of in that category. We do ride together, and it can be nice. But we seem to have such different approaches and styles, that it can get overwhelming. When two people are compatible as romantic partners, how can it be difficult to ride together?




A fellow cyclist recently voiced a theory that I think may hit the mark. Romantic partners - and particularly those who have been together for a long time - tend to function on the assumption that their spouse is at least somewhat "psychic" when it comes to gauging their intentions and needs. This comes from living together long enough to understand each other without having to explicitly spell everything out. And it then gets falsely transferred to cycling. Whereas with a stranger, we would never assume that they can anticipate a maneuver which we do not signal, or will experience energy bursts at the same time as us, or will know which way to go at an intersection if the route is new to them, with a spouse we sometimes do erroneously assume exactly that, without even realising it. The spouse is sort of like an extension of ourselves, and therefore is expected to "just know" these things... But of course they can't possibly know things like when you intend to turn left, or stop for water, or whether you prefer to weave through traffic vs wait it out, or whether you feel up to climbing that next hill. Is it possible to treat your spouse as you would a stranger when you ride together, without assumptions about them intuitively understanding you? I don't know, but it's an interesting idea. At least it might help to keep in mind that yourspouse is not actually psychic.

Grillin' & Chillin'

Tonight we headed to downtown Wauchula, where they had Main Street blocked off for the Grillin' and Chillin' event. It was a fund raising event that had a grilling contest. There was music and some classic cars there too. We had fun!



I didn't take my camera, so these are courtesy of Aric:

And just because they are so cute:

It's a School Night Matt.

The force is strong in this one.

Even before meeting him he had bugged the hell out of us all on qurank.com







"I turn my back for 5 minutes and these little Tinny (Mt. Tinbeerwah)kids are running around qurank and theCrag, posting like they're on red cordial and pixie sticks. Between posts from Sister Matt and Chester 2000, I'm finding it hard to catch some shut-eye.



We can blame JJ for encouraging them. "

Lee Cujes





It's true. I figuredthis precocioustweenager wasn't going to go away, so we had to take him in and show him the craft. Now he's my coach.











Within a few years Matt is working some of the hardest routes around. He is the onlyclimber to seriously take on the Lee Cujes test piece "Bite the Hand that Feeds" Coolum's hardest and as yet unrepeated.

























Sensational flexibility gained from previous years of gymnastics have given Matt a crazy range of moves.His years of pianoaccordian training haven't shown anyusefulness yet though. Mercifully.















Here's an example of whatputs schoolboy Matt Schimkein the top handful of Queenslands sport climbers.A wirey strength and explosive energy.

















Here's the kooky thing about Matt: He has a savant like memory for beta.He can tell you the sequence for any route that he has ever seen.Not just his beta but the exact sequence that each individual climber has used for each route.Spooky, I know.

I often say "Hey Matt how do I do this bit again?"



Thanks to Matt's Mum for all the yummy cookies.

Fantasy Land

These images of the Aurora Borealis were made last night at 10:45 p.m. over the Pigeon River in Northeast Minnesota. Many rumors were circulating that the aurora was going to show up again last night, so I figured it was worth it to head out again to watch the sky. I met up with my friend Nate and we headed over to the river at 10:00 p.m. Only moments after we arrived at the river we started seeing vertical shafts of light appearing in the sky. Like the previous night, the lights lasted for a little over an hour before diminishing entirely for the rest of the night. For those that might not know, the Pigeon River IS the border between the U.S. and Canada in Northeast Minnesota, and the man-made lights that you see near the center of this image are the lights on the Highway 61 bridge over the river. Last night was the first time I've made night images from this location. It was a terrific spot, so rest assured that you'll be seeing more night-time images from this location in the future!

Rutland Water clockwise by bike

With Harry. Pleasantly warm and dry. 15 miles.




The second time I've cycled in two days! I found the first section hard going - rough surface, then the steep hill from Manton. This was another where the ride was the thing, with a break at Whitwell car park for a much-needed drink. I'll stick a photograph or two from a couple of days ago, when I was wandering around with the camera.

Best cheap meal in Manila and jogging on a Sunday morning

When Dutchman and I are together—say during the weekend or when we are traveling, just like what happened during our travel to the Philippines last month, and this is when there is no family around—we tend to eat twice only in a day. We love to sleep in so by the time we wake up it is already brunch, and then later, dinner. I wish everyday would be like this but I guess a big part of the morning is gone, which isn’t good also.

So when we were in Makati, and after a tiring shopping day without lunch, we scoured Glorietta for a place to eat. We don’t want heavy stuff, no fast foods either, we just want to snack a bit, but at 4:30PM it looks like the restaurants are empty or they are getting ready for dinner. Then we passed by Cabalen and I had to stop when I saw the poster: Cabalen Merienda—P138 only! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me so I quickly did a Peso to Euro calculation on my head. Huh—that can’t be? That’s just €2 for a limitless merienda (means snack) buffet!

Cabalen Merienda serves the ff dishes:
—Dinuguan (pork blood stew)
—Pancit Malabon (stir fried thick rice noodle)
—Pancit Palabok (thin rice noodle with seafood sauce)
—Lomi (thick fresh egg noodles made into a soup)
—Spaghetti
—Macaroni salad
—Ginataang Bilo-Bilo (glutinous rice balls in sweet coconut milk)
—Goto (beef tripe rice soup)
—Tokwa’t Baboy (braised tofu and pork from pig’s ears)
—Lumpiang Togue (bean sprouts spring roll)
—Okoy Kalabasa (squash and shrimp fritter)
—Turon with Langka (fried banana roll with jackfruit)
—Biko (sweet sticky rice)
—Pichi-pichi (cassava cake rolled with grated cononut)
—Puto’t Kutsinta (dry rice cupcake and glutinous brown rice cake with grated coconut)
—Karyoka (deep-fried glutinous rice flour cakes)
—Palitaw (thin glutinous sweet rice with grated coconut and sugar)
—Halo-halo (shaved ice with various sweetened beans, glutinous rice balls, fruit jelly, flan, ice cream and condensed milk)

They also had cassava fries (fried in brown sugar) served which I really liked.

This is probably our best and cheap meal in the Philippines (or ever, at least for now). I think we paid about or under €5 together with our bottomless iced tea. Dutchman and I had to keep shooing the diligent waiter who keeps pouring iced tea on our glasses, lol. We didn’t anymore have dinner because we were so full.

Highly recommended! Especially for those who would like to sample Filipino cuisine.

Anyway, we’re trying to wake up early now so we can make the most of our weekends. Like today, Dutchman and I went to the sports community center (I want to check out the sauna soon), he went swimming and I went to enlist for gym. Unfortunately, the gym opens at 10AM on a Sunday, a bit late than the rest of the activities in the center, so instead I took a walk around the surroundings and saw nice paths. I went running.

Whilst jogging, I saw women nicely dressed donned with lovely hats and the men in suits. It’s Sunday, where are these people going? A church bell rang and I realized they are all going to a church service. I rounded the small austere-looking protestant cathedral watching as families gather outside the entrance greeting each other with hugs and kisses. A really good looking young guy, in a dark suit with a huge smile across his face galloped past me. He was clutching a bible securely in his hands. A middle age lady, in pink and white dress with a titanic quirky pink hat that reminds me of socialites carousing in daylight during Ladies Day at the Royal Ascot Race in Berkshire, England was in a hurry as she sprinted towards the church's doorway.

The scenario before me brought me in deep thoughts—two decades ago I was like these people; a god believer who goes to church every Sunday, in fact twice a week and reads the bible every day. It’s a bit strange thinking about those people inside the church now and putting me into their shoes. They are happy people; they seem to be. I remember listening to the pastor's sermon—the guilt being used as a weapon, the lively songs we used to sing, hugging each other, I even did Sunday School for the kids, but the weird thing is I don’t miss all of these. No, not at all. In fact, I am quite happy I am out of it. For two decades I am free. Free to be who I really am and want to be.

As I ran further, I saw other joggers running by a path along the wide canal where ships and boats pass by. The wind was quite strong against my face—chilly too and I’m glad I wore a jacket. I like what I am seeing. Moving forward, I will be walking and running in this area during the weekends, and then I will run further to discover other areas of the city. Hmm, this is a nice plan indeed.

So when I got home I told Dutchman I won’t be going to the gym anymore, instead I will be running. It’s much better to run and explore the surroundings than be locked up for an hour inside a room with other people sweating on the machines.
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Simple Suisse Dinner

Hi, I am still in Geneva, Switzerland right now. I’m using Geneva as my base and truth be told that I am a bit disappointed why I didn’t book my hotel somewhere in Lavaux, or Lausanne, or even in Vevey instead. Geneva is quite boring and not particularly pretty; well, it’s all about the money here.

What Geneva is all about - the Swiss banking secrecy, it is all about the money here. Swiss Francs are really colorful!

So just quickly want to post my only ‘Swiss Meal’ in this entire stay. I don’t know but I seem to be drawn to Italian restaurants every time I am hungry!

I did not want to try fondue because I don’t want to wake up dehydrated in the middle of the night in my hotel room. Raclette was tempting and I saw the ‘portion’ on the menu which was perfect. Need to taste just a little bit of Swiss fare in this trip, so I ordered a small portion of vegetarian raclette.

My very simple Swiss dinner! Just a portion of Raclette - bread and boiled potato (inside that red basket) dipped on the melted cheese with cornichons on the side.

The Suisse Specialty restaurant in Paquis, Geneva, and guess what? Almost all the diners were foreigners, haha. That doesn’t sound positive to me!

I also ordered green salad and (dried) Vaudois sausage on the side (sorry no foto). Vaud where the sausage is from is another canton in the Lake Geneva region, its capital Lausanne. The wine was Swiss, pointed out by the waitress, nothing spectacular though. She quickly rattled the name of the wine in French and while I (try to) cling on to every French word she said, she was too fast for me! You see I am trying to learn some French words—Oui, Merci, L’addition, s’il vous plait! Haha. Anyway, I am guessing this wine is from Lavaux, Lake Geneva’s wine growing area, also a UNESCO world heritage site.