On-call Week = Creative Riding

Once every 5 weeks my life moves from a state of control to a state of uncertainty.  This is the time I have to start an on-call rotation for work.  During this week I am the point man for our company to handle calls 24x7 for issues that affect our production systems (the big computers that make the Internet go).

 It is inevitable that I will be called at least once a day but generally more often than that.  Sometimes I will take multiple calls in the middle of the night (why do people need the Internet to work at 2AM???).  Given the need for me to be available I have certain restrictions on what I can do and where I can go.

1. Must be within cellphone range.
2. Must be within 20 min of a computer with an Internet connection.

Fortunately the technology exists these days to still have somewhat of a life outside of this madness.  My tools to provide some degree of freedom are an iPhone, MacBook Pro, and a Verizon 3G card.  Even with these in hand I am still very limited in what I can do on the bike.  Most of the 3G coverage quickly degrades as one gets into the really good riding.

So I am faced with a conundrum: I can simply ride the trainer, which translates to not riding in most cases, or get creative (open to suggestions here).

So far my creativity for this week has included wearing out the first 3 miles of Mount Falcon.  I can almost ride it with my eyes closed at this point. It provides some good climbing and a straight shot back to the car and my technology. Cellphone is in the jersey pocket streaming Pandora, a great way to make sure phone coverage is there while playing some sweet riding tunes.