who is getting more and more euro-ized. If that was possible.
I have to say I started off pretty skeptical watching it at first. But i was smiling and completely entertained by the middle of it.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
I had fun
Way too much fun. With a tiny bit of frustration tossed in on Saturday.
To start off Kailey finished second overall in the kids race and was the first girl, she loved her new bike with all the gears. Before Saturday she was staying away from "3" on the left (big chain ring) but she spent the day riding around the track and outside the track in it. She started slow but picked kids off one by one. She was still closing the gap on 1st when they crossed the line. Pretty proud moment.
After that it was Daddy's turn to hit the oval. The 3/4 race was up first and I will admit to being slightly intimidated, there were some fast and fit looking dudes warming up. And yeah, I know looks are deceiving. Just ask anyone in the cat 4 35+ race.
45 minutes of going around a 1/2 mile track. sounds pretty boring i guess. but well, i had some bitching wicked fun doing it. Raced very conservatively. Stayed out of the wind as much as possible. Found myself pretty much always on the inside near the yellow line or in the middle. Even sitting in the draft it was a fast race. Attacks all the time. A few people got away for a lap or two but every break was brought back. I would move up and back, feeling pretty fluid and comfortable moving around in the group. One super sketchy guy that got chewed out by a Cambridge guy, that was entertaining. I thought I was going to explode and fall off the back in the first 5 laps or so but suddenly it wasn't so hard. Cambridge did a but load of work, HUPster Jeff got a good break there at the end but him and the other guy weren't able to hold off a charging Keltic rider (who towed the whole field up with him). I raced a boring lazy race (but it was anything but for me). Moving up and around but hung around in the back for the last 5-10 laps.
There was a slight slowing going into the final lap, i moved up about 1/2 way going into turn one, then coming out of turn two (really only one turn but it is a nascar track they have 4 corners even in an oval), someone fired the afterburners. Down into the hooks, holding my place but staying out of the wind as much as I could, hugging the yellow line. Heading into turn 3 they were crowding up behind a bit and then out of turn 4 some had gone up hill to try the slingshot but the front opened up and just as I had thought it would, i was left with a perfectly open shot along the yellow line to the finish. I was already spinning the 53x12 and I jumped with everyone, full gas, and holy shit I was passing people, dig deeper, this wasn't hurting at all, awesome there are only a few people in front of me and I'm going faster than anyone else...
BANG CLATTER swoosh CLATTER swoosh... can't be... yes... broken spoke - i knew that feeling all too well... keep pedaling... tire was rubbing wicked hard on the chainstay and brake pad every rev.
I managed to hang on and get a 13th place finish. No broken spoke and I think I probably could have managed a top 5 at least. Even a top ten would have been a victory. As it is - I am happy the way the race went.
And then the wait began for race #2. The 3/4 race had 35 or 36 people in it. The biggest field of the day. The Cat 4 35+ was a small one. 10-15 maybe? And it started to sprinkle at the start. And soon it turned into a Noah deluge. And we kept pouring it on. The race was pretty damn fast. MRC was attacking constantly with 4 guys there, the pair of Quad guys were taking turns attacking the pair of NEBC guys were too. I had intended to take the race a bit like the first and just hang on for the end. But I started getting in the front, taking a pull or two in the rain, tried a sprint for a Prime (was 3rd or 4th) pulled back a break, wound up in a break with 3 of the MRC guys, but I didn't know it was a break until after the race when my team mate said we had over 4 seconds before he started to work to bring the break back. That pissed me off. His logic was 1st that the would work me over, and second, well, he didn't want to miss out on the fun. I'm still a bit miffed by that. Sumbitch couldn't just block a little and let the strongest team tow the biggest guy in the field around? Oh well. At least I have the satisfaction to know that it was my pull at the front that initiated the break. There was a really short little guy there riding a 20 year old road bike with down tube shifters wearing casual clipless shoes and a cotton like jersey and an equally old almost no vent helmet. He was spinning like a washing machine. But he was smooth and steady. He went off on one attack covered by MRC, but brought back after a lap. At the finish i had worked way too much, burned too many matches over the day and I think I had too much fluid between races (stomach felt funny all race), and when I went to sprint... well the tank was empty and I just mailed it in, i mean i just coasted in across the line. Satisfied with the fun I had racing tight and hard and intensely. There was thunder and lighting all around us (lighting was far enough away). As it was the 25 lap race was shortened a bit but man alive it was fun. Anytime ya started getting cold just stick a leg in the wheel spray of the guy in front and the water from the track was super heated from the brilliant sun and 80+ temps just before the clouds rolled in.
Super fun. I like this flat boring non-technical stuff. It's good for bigfat guys like me (still solidly a clydesdale).
My wife made the comment comparing me and Nate (team mate who rode the cat 4 U35 and 3/4 race) the sponsor logo is 3x bigger across my ass than on his. No wonder he kicks my ass on the hills on the Mark Nicholson Memorial Smack Down on tuesday nights.
Speaking of Mark. About 30 minutes before the start, just after the tallest freak left the track, I was talking with Darcy. The one and only Darcy. She hadn't heard about the passing of Nicholson yet. And I broke down completely telling her and filling her in. I was hazy with the dates and specifics but got it pretty close, it was very emotional. I had to stop talking many many times to try and keep my voice coherent. we were both in tears. She said she never knew that he even had brain cancer at all, never knew that 5 years ago he was told 99% of patients with his diagnosis die within a year.
Tomorrow is the Memorial Smack Down ride. With the TT not running on Thursday due to the holiday and Fitchburg competition it looks like i should be able to make it. I'm still down two busted spoked rear wheels. But I pulled the wheel off the croll. not going to do the disc on the Q-pro anymore. I did some measuring and the P-mount's bars are 3 cm lower than the Q-P and the bb is 3-4 cm lower. And for a huge giant guy, i don't need to be sticking up in the wind. Paramount is back in action as the TT bike. It will be getting a 46 tooth and I'm going to take the bar con off the Croll and move it to the end of the clip ons so i don't have to break position to shift. I still don't have the aero helmet, but maybe I'll tape up a Supermoto or something ala Solobreak style.
- Results have been posted since starting this - dead last in the 2nd race. 14th place, I guess that is what happens when you sit up and roll it in while everyone is sprinting tooth and nail for every last spot. One of the most satisfying DFL finish i've had. Still left wishing I hadn't blown the spoke.
the rest of the stuff in my head will have to wait - and i'm just going to hit publish in this momentary lull.
heddwch
G
To start off Kailey finished second overall in the kids race and was the first girl, she loved her new bike with all the gears. Before Saturday she was staying away from "3" on the left (big chain ring) but she spent the day riding around the track and outside the track in it. She started slow but picked kids off one by one. She was still closing the gap on 1st when they crossed the line. Pretty proud moment.
After that it was Daddy's turn to hit the oval. The 3/4 race was up first and I will admit to being slightly intimidated, there were some fast and fit looking dudes warming up. And yeah, I know looks are deceiving. Just ask anyone in the cat 4 35+ race.
45 minutes of going around a 1/2 mile track. sounds pretty boring i guess. but well, i had some bitching wicked fun doing it. Raced very conservatively. Stayed out of the wind as much as possible. Found myself pretty much always on the inside near the yellow line or in the middle. Even sitting in the draft it was a fast race. Attacks all the time. A few people got away for a lap or two but every break was brought back. I would move up and back, feeling pretty fluid and comfortable moving around in the group. One super sketchy guy that got chewed out by a Cambridge guy, that was entertaining. I thought I was going to explode and fall off the back in the first 5 laps or so but suddenly it wasn't so hard. Cambridge did a but load of work, HUPster Jeff got a good break there at the end but him and the other guy weren't able to hold off a charging Keltic rider (who towed the whole field up with him). I raced a boring lazy race (but it was anything but for me). Moving up and around but hung around in the back for the last 5-10 laps.
There was a slight slowing going into the final lap, i moved up about 1/2 way going into turn one, then coming out of turn two (really only one turn but it is a nascar track they have 4 corners even in an oval), someone fired the afterburners. Down into the hooks, holding my place but staying out of the wind as much as I could, hugging the yellow line. Heading into turn 3 they were crowding up behind a bit and then out of turn 4 some had gone up hill to try the slingshot but the front opened up and just as I had thought it would, i was left with a perfectly open shot along the yellow line to the finish. I was already spinning the 53x12 and I jumped with everyone, full gas, and holy shit I was passing people, dig deeper, this wasn't hurting at all, awesome there are only a few people in front of me and I'm going faster than anyone else...
BANG CLATTER swoosh CLATTER swoosh... can't be... yes... broken spoke - i knew that feeling all too well... keep pedaling... tire was rubbing wicked hard on the chainstay and brake pad every rev.
I managed to hang on and get a 13th place finish. No broken spoke and I think I probably could have managed a top 5 at least. Even a top ten would have been a victory. As it is - I am happy the way the race went.
And then the wait began for race #2. The 3/4 race had 35 or 36 people in it. The biggest field of the day. The Cat 4 35+ was a small one. 10-15 maybe? And it started to sprinkle at the start. And soon it turned into a Noah deluge. And we kept pouring it on. The race was pretty damn fast. MRC was attacking constantly with 4 guys there, the pair of Quad guys were taking turns attacking the pair of NEBC guys were too. I had intended to take the race a bit like the first and just hang on for the end. But I started getting in the front, taking a pull or two in the rain, tried a sprint for a Prime (was 3rd or 4th) pulled back a break, wound up in a break with 3 of the MRC guys, but I didn't know it was a break until after the race when my team mate said we had over 4 seconds before he started to work to bring the break back. That pissed me off. His logic was 1st that the would work me over, and second, well, he didn't want to miss out on the fun. I'm still a bit miffed by that. Sumbitch couldn't just block a little and let the strongest team tow the biggest guy in the field around? Oh well. At least I have the satisfaction to know that it was my pull at the front that initiated the break. There was a really short little guy there riding a 20 year old road bike with down tube shifters wearing casual clipless shoes and a cotton like jersey and an equally old almost no vent helmet. He was spinning like a washing machine. But he was smooth and steady. He went off on one attack covered by MRC, but brought back after a lap. At the finish i had worked way too much, burned too many matches over the day and I think I had too much fluid between races (stomach felt funny all race), and when I went to sprint... well the tank was empty and I just mailed it in, i mean i just coasted in across the line. Satisfied with the fun I had racing tight and hard and intensely. There was thunder and lighting all around us (lighting was far enough away). As it was the 25 lap race was shortened a bit but man alive it was fun. Anytime ya started getting cold just stick a leg in the wheel spray of the guy in front and the water from the track was super heated from the brilliant sun and 80+ temps just before the clouds rolled in.
Super fun. I like this flat boring non-technical stuff. It's good for big
My wife made the comment comparing me and Nate (team mate who rode the cat 4 U35 and 3/4 race) the sponsor logo is 3x bigger across my ass than on his. No wonder he kicks my ass on the hills on the Mark Nicholson Memorial Smack Down on tuesday nights.
Speaking of Mark. About 30 minutes before the start, just after the tallest freak left the track, I was talking with Darcy. The one and only Darcy. She hadn't heard about the passing of Nicholson yet. And I broke down completely telling her and filling her in. I was hazy with the dates and specifics but got it pretty close, it was very emotional. I had to stop talking many many times to try and keep my voice coherent. we were both in tears. She said she never knew that he even had brain cancer at all, never knew that 5 years ago he was told 99% of patients with his diagnosis die within a year.
Tomorrow is the Memorial Smack Down ride. With the TT not running on Thursday due to the holiday and Fitchburg competition it looks like i should be able to make it. I'm still down two busted spoked rear wheels. But I pulled the wheel off the croll. not going to do the disc on the Q-pro anymore. I did some measuring and the P-mount's bars are 3 cm lower than the Q-P and the bb is 3-4 cm lower. And for a huge giant guy, i don't need to be sticking up in the wind. Paramount is back in action as the TT bike. It will be getting a 46 tooth and I'm going to take the bar con off the Croll and move it to the end of the clip ons so i don't have to break position to shift. I still don't have the aero helmet, but maybe I'll tape up a Supermoto or something ala Solobreak style.
- Results have been posted since starting this - dead last in the 2nd race. 14th place, I guess that is what happens when you sit up and roll it in while everyone is sprinting tooth and nail for every last spot. One of the most satisfying DFL finish i've had. Still left wishing I hadn't blown the spoke.
the rest of the stuff in my head will have to wait - and i'm just going to hit publish in this momentary lull.
heddwch
G
Friday, June 26, 2009
4 20 minute TTs in 24 hours
maybe not the best way to have a really fast time for #3.
#1 was 20 minutes almost to the nose - full intensity, no wind, but a few stop signs and traffic
#2 was 25 minutes or just under - race pace, brutal headwind, stops and joggers and walkers and cars.
#3 was 20:06 (three seconds slower than solobreak) very little wind
#4 was 24 minutes just like #1 but on the cross bike w/o disc wheel or aero bars, actually might have been going hardest for the last one.
I'm not really counting the interval between #2 and #3 when I TTed up to the henderson for 20 minutes, but maybe I should.
got a few things to work on to hopefully get the 20:06 back down a bit... at this point my slowest time last year was 19:39, but I think the Paramount has a lower position than the quantum. And last night was the first time i'd done it w/o any pacing aids. All summer I used the avg and current speed to help throttle back on some of the down hills. Last night? Well I just rode hard. Completely left it all out there but it was not a smart ride. But hey, it is what it was. I didn't get caught and I was third from last to start. Lots of positives to apply going into two weeks from now. No TT on the 2nd of July. 4th of July weekend and Fitchburg sort of compete for the attendance. We'll see if I can get back under the 19 minute mark like last summer.
Ideally I wanted to take it easy on the way in this morning but I had a time deadline to be here and the girls still wanted to ride to the Y. No denying them the ride in.
Maybe I can take it easy on the way home.
heddwch
G
#1 was 20 minutes almost to the nose - full intensity, no wind, but a few stop signs and traffic
#2 was 25 minutes or just under - race pace, brutal headwind, stops and joggers and walkers and cars.
#3 was 20:06 (three seconds slower than solobreak) very little wind
#4 was 24 minutes just like #1 but on the cross bike w/o disc wheel or aero bars, actually might have been going hardest for the last one.
I'm not really counting the interval between #2 and #3 when I TTed up to the henderson for 20 minutes, but maybe I should.
got a few things to work on to hopefully get the 20:06 back down a bit... at this point my slowest time last year was 19:39, but I think the Paramount has a lower position than the quantum. And last night was the first time i'd done it w/o any pacing aids. All summer I used the avg and current speed to help throttle back on some of the down hills. Last night? Well I just rode hard. Completely left it all out there but it was not a smart ride. But hey, it is what it was. I didn't get caught and I was third from last to start. Lots of positives to apply going into two weeks from now. No TT on the 2nd of July. 4th of July weekend and Fitchburg sort of compete for the attendance. We'll see if I can get back under the 19 minute mark like last summer.
Ideally I wanted to take it easy on the way in this morning but I had a time deadline to be here and the girls still wanted to ride to the Y. No denying them the ride in.
Maybe I can take it easy on the way home.
heddwch
G
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Thursday, TT day...
TT day for the Southern Mass/RI folks at least.
I'm hoping to head over to Bob's Bikeworks TT in Rehoboth tonight. Hoping to. A perfect storm of timing has to happen for me to get there I think. Ideally I should be able to ride up there getting a nice 12-13 mile warm up in before the race. Suboptimaly I will be racing up fighting traffic and get there frantically park and unload the bike and race to the start line with a 2-3 mile warm up. I'm really hoping for the first option. The final one is just to bag it all together and stay home and make dinner. Actually I'm hoping to get dinner made before I have to jump on the bike and ride to the TT.
Somehow I managed to lose half of the bolts holding my wheel cover on. Such an idiot. I installed it and started riding and forgot to periodically check to see if they were tight. I heard something tink tink tink followed by excessive noise coming from the rear wheel. Hmm wtf. Pull up to work, look down, hmm loose bolt - oh - shit - what the fuck? where'd the rest of them go? Fashion some clips over lunch to hopefully make it all work tonight. If I make it.
This morning was the first ride to camp. The girls are at summer camp now. Just day camp. I suppose they could call it summer day care with more activities, it is at the Y just down the bike path from the house. In the rain, well the rain with a trail-a-bike just sucks, for me? I love it. I don't want to subject them to it w/o getting much better fenders for my bike an the trail-a-bike (TAB) and my oldest's new bike. Loaded their bags into my big ancient oldschool timbuk2, i didn't think they'd fit but they did, barely.
This was the first ride on the TAB for the youngest. She's got more miles riding in a trailer in her life than Most Fred/Gumbies get in the same time span, so following her dad's bike isn't much different. This time though she got to sit up and hold on and keep her feet on the pedals. Only two back pedal shin waps, ya know what I mean if you've had a kid on a TAB behind ya. But she was having fun. Jumped off when we got there and as I started to lock K's bike up to the rack there a friend in her group walked past and L burst out with obvious pride and excitement that "I just rode my bike to camp, well not MY bike, the TRAIL-A-BIKE behind my DADDY'S bike." Yes with the emphasis in her voice. It was cute. K had a good ride too. Damn thing stops on a dime. I nearly rear-ended her coming up on road crossings a couple times.
Headed back and swapped bikes and TT'd in. Not pushing to fast I still managed to get here in right around 20 minutes. Couldn't really get here much faster in the car with the assumption that i could find parking. Not that I have a car at home that I could have chosen to drive. The Passat got whacked in the right front fender (I've always called it a quarter panel but the body shop guys call em fenders *shrug*) and hopefully it comes back tomorrow and I can start working on the head gasket/leaking coolant issue. I really need to get the cat cut off and replaced with a section of pipe, wishing i had a stick/wire welder. Car doesn't need it, no emissions, already pre-cat has as near to zero CO (carbon monoxide) as you can get, plus the fact that it is being driven on generally at least 50% biodiesel. So the emissions profile is very different than one of those big scary diesels that the lung people want you to worry about. A bunch of projects need to get done on it. Just have to find the weekend time. So yeah. We've been a single car family this week and it really actually has worked out fine. There are enough times that we really do actually need two cars that it makes more sense to keep them both so ditching one isn't really an option. Anyway. Getting more into the gewilli groove of writing again i guess? Maybe not such a bad thing... I always wonder if when I fill it up with more words do people read less? I guess maybe we don't need them both but it makes it possible to be more efficient and get things done and get people to different places when that time arises without excessively complicated schemes, it also means I can go to more CX races, and well ya know, that's really all the justifcation needed to keep one old wagon and a sweet Golf.
Oh this just in. Farrah Fawcett has died. Fucking cancer taking all the great people. Fuck you Cancer. Fuck you.
Thinking of old school, the Five minute talk with Sean Yates is pretty damn good. Sort of helps to take the mind off those who've died.
I've got to figure out if I'm going to try a nice flat twilight crit on saturday. Maybe that's something my fat ass won't suck too terribly at, first I'm going to try and not to suck to much at the TT tonight (assuming i make it there). Yes I get a bit obsessive about things. Oh well.
The debate in my head of when to (even sometimes if at all) transcribe the writings from vacation week is going on. So far this is the most coherent bit of time I've had in front of the screen and keyboard since coming back. Having a dead laptop doesn't give me the time to do it at home either. Kind of stuck. I should really get a new on, but then fix car, pay for summer camp, and buy groceries all rank higher than a new computer at this point. 4th grade probably will make it a necessity, but until then the priority has shifted replacing the old Dell to the bottom.
And with the word bottom, I think I've finally maybe come to the bottom of my thought bucket for the day. At least without looking back and re-reading and remembering all the tangents that always pop in my head as I'm writing, and while I do get a lot of tangents written there are whole bunch more that either spin off into nothingness or wind up as posts of their own later.
One thing from the writings over vacation: the Journal Gastronomica is AWESOME. Picked up a copy of it at the bookstore in Maine and read the whole thing cover to cover. Talk about a super high word/dollar value. Best damn money spent on a "magazine" ever. Granted CXMag is in a different category. It is the best money spent on a Subscription ever. Speaking of which - if you don't already sign up. Issue 6 was waiting for me when I got back. Awesome interview in there with Vos, that correspondent they have there stationed in Belgium is a wicked awesome writer. I've been saving Stephanie Chase's history article for last. Can't wait to read it.
Okay -
heddwch
G
I'm hoping to head over to Bob's Bikeworks TT in Rehoboth tonight. Hoping to. A perfect storm of timing has to happen for me to get there I think. Ideally I should be able to ride up there getting a nice 12-13 mile warm up in before the race. Suboptimaly I will be racing up fighting traffic and get there frantically park and unload the bike and race to the start line with a 2-3 mile warm up. I'm really hoping for the first option. The final one is just to bag it all together and stay home and make dinner. Actually I'm hoping to get dinner made before I have to jump on the bike and ride to the TT.
Somehow I managed to lose half of the bolts holding my wheel cover on. Such an idiot. I installed it and started riding and forgot to periodically check to see if they were tight. I heard something tink tink tink followed by excessive noise coming from the rear wheel. Hmm wtf. Pull up to work, look down, hmm loose bolt - oh - shit - what the fuck? where'd the rest of them go? Fashion some clips over lunch to hopefully make it all work tonight. If I make it.
This morning was the first ride to camp. The girls are at summer camp now. Just day camp. I suppose they could call it summer day care with more activities, it is at the Y just down the bike path from the house. In the rain, well the rain with a trail-a-bike just sucks, for me? I love it. I don't want to subject them to it w/o getting much better fenders for my bike an the trail-a-bike (TAB) and my oldest's new bike. Loaded their bags into my big ancient oldschool timbuk2, i didn't think they'd fit but they did, barely.
This was the first ride on the TAB for the youngest. She's got more miles riding in a trailer in her life than Most Fred/Gumbies get in the same time span, so following her dad's bike isn't much different. This time though she got to sit up and hold on and keep her feet on the pedals. Only two back pedal shin waps, ya know what I mean if you've had a kid on a TAB behind ya. But she was having fun. Jumped off when we got there and as I started to lock K's bike up to the rack there a friend in her group walked past and L burst out with obvious pride and excitement that "I just rode my bike to camp, well not MY bike, the TRAIL-A-BIKE behind my DADDY'S bike." Yes with the emphasis in her voice. It was cute. K had a good ride too. Damn thing stops on a dime. I nearly rear-ended her coming up on road crossings a couple times.
Headed back and swapped bikes and TT'd in. Not pushing to fast I still managed to get here in right around 20 minutes. Couldn't really get here much faster in the car with the assumption that i could find parking. Not that I have a car at home that I could have chosen to drive. The Passat got whacked in the right front fender (I've always called it a quarter panel but the body shop guys call em fenders *shrug*) and hopefully it comes back tomorrow and I can start working on the head gasket/leaking coolant issue. I really need to get the cat cut off and replaced with a section of pipe, wishing i had a stick/wire welder. Car doesn't need it, no emissions, already pre-cat has as near to zero CO (carbon monoxide) as you can get, plus the fact that it is being driven on generally at least 50% biodiesel. So the emissions profile is very different than one of those big scary diesels that the lung people want you to worry about. A bunch of projects need to get done on it. Just have to find the weekend time. So yeah. We've been a single car family this week and it really actually has worked out fine. There are enough times that we really do actually need two cars that it makes more sense to keep them both so ditching one isn't really an option. Anyway. Getting more into the gewilli groove of writing again i guess? Maybe not such a bad thing... I always wonder if when I fill it up with more words do people read less? I guess maybe we don't need them both but it makes it possible to be more efficient and get things done and get people to different places when that time arises without excessively complicated schemes, it also means I can go to more CX races, and well ya know, that's really all the justifcation needed to keep one old wagon and a sweet Golf.
Oh this just in. Farrah Fawcett has died. Fucking cancer taking all the great people. Fuck you Cancer. Fuck you.
Thinking of old school, the Five minute talk with Sean Yates is pretty damn good. Sort of helps to take the mind off those who've died.
I've got to figure out if I'm going to try a nice flat twilight crit on saturday. Maybe that's something my fat ass won't suck too terribly at, first I'm going to try and not to suck to much at the TT tonight (assuming i make it there). Yes I get a bit obsessive about things. Oh well.
The debate in my head of when to (even sometimes if at all) transcribe the writings from vacation week is going on. So far this is the most coherent bit of time I've had in front of the screen and keyboard since coming back. Having a dead laptop doesn't give me the time to do it at home either. Kind of stuck. I should really get a new on, but then fix car, pay for summer camp, and buy groceries all rank higher than a new computer at this point. 4th grade probably will make it a necessity, but until then the priority has shifted replacing the old Dell to the bottom.
And with the word bottom, I think I've finally maybe come to the bottom of my thought bucket for the day. At least without looking back and re-reading and remembering all the tangents that always pop in my head as I'm writing, and while I do get a lot of tangents written there are whole bunch more that either spin off into nothingness or wind up as posts of their own later.
One thing from the writings over vacation: the Journal Gastronomica is AWESOME. Picked up a copy of it at the bookstore in Maine and read the whole thing cover to cover. Talk about a super high word/dollar value. Best damn money spent on a "magazine" ever. Granted CXMag is in a different category. It is the best money spent on a Subscription ever. Speaking of which - if you don't already sign up. Issue 6 was waiting for me when I got back. Awesome interview in there with Vos, that correspondent they have there stationed in Belgium is a wicked awesome writer. I've been saving Stephanie Chase's history article for last. Can't wait to read it.
Okay -
heddwch
G
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Yehuda Moon is back
in case you missed it... i missed it - but didn't miss the re-introduction. I love that strip.
riding in the rain tip
for keeping your glasses clear, wear a cycling cap... the classic cotton ones ya know?
There is that that bill on the front?
Right?
It works.
Keep if forward and flipped down and you'll keep the lenses clear and clean for the whole ride (just don't stop or they might fog up).
Now this is assuming you are in a classic racing position, flatish back, going fast. On an upright tourist bike it probably won't do any good, but I haven't tested it on one of those. All I can say is the other guys on the ride had to ditch their glasses because they couldn't see last night with the rain on them and my lenses were still nearly 100% clear and dry.
There is that that bill on the front?
Right?
It works.
Keep if forward and flipped down and you'll keep the lenses clear and clean for the whole ride (just don't stop or they might fog up).
Now this is assuming you are in a classic racing position, flatish back, going fast. On an upright tourist bike it probably won't do any good, but I haven't tested it on one of those. All I can say is the other guys on the ride had to ditch their glasses because they couldn't see last night with the rain on them and my lenses were still nearly 100% clear and dry.
Rain - gotta love it
So this really isn't rain by most standards. It is just wet. But that's how it rains in Seattle. Just enough precipitation coming out to make you fight your windshield wiper settings.
Like out here this morning. Or last night.
The Mark Nicholson Memorial Smack Down was great. Smaller turnout but still a couple a smaller lighter guys to kill me on the hills. That worked out okay. I worked my ass at my limit on the rises they attacked me on and they held a steady slower pace till I caught back on and then I just kept the intensity up and rolled past and they jumped on. I got a solid steady race pace effort in (make note - races with hills are really going to suck for me), and then.
Another rear wheel 'essploded'. Just like my rear wheel spoke destruction Brentani blew a spoke on his Ritchey wheel at the top of a climb sprinting for KOM points against Nate. I heard the bang clatter clatter clatter.
Not again.
Third rear wheel to be toasted on this ride. The roads aren't excessively bumpy or rough. There's just one hell of a lot of hard attacks and sprints along the way, and a lot of them up hill. Bring your heavy duty indestructo wheels on this ride. I am now, and I'm paying for it (by lugging the extra weight).
We weren't quite half way and after releasing the brakes a bit there was no rubbing but the choice was made to turn around and head back on the same route. We weren't quite half way so we just headed back.
still a great ride. I had the clip on bars on to get comfortable in the TT position, we'll see if I actually can make it to the TT tomorrow night. Fingers crossed.
This morning was pure zone 2, mellow, recovery, slow, mostly aero position to work on the comfort a bit, went to the smallest gear for every climb, and just rode easy all the way in, as steady state as I can get. And with the exception of three small little "hills" (not really but short and steep does take effort so i'm still calling em hills) it is flat anyway.
Really flat. Realized that on the way in. Thinking about finding some hills near the house to do some repeats for cross if I start running this year, and there are none. totally flat. good and bad I guess. nice that i can have a predictable cool down and warm up leaving the house. bad, well bad no hills to do repeats on. At least the roads aren't near as bad as most of the ones in Maine.
heddwch
g
Like out here this morning. Or last night.
The Mark Nicholson Memorial Smack Down was great. Smaller turnout but still a couple a smaller lighter guys to kill me on the hills. That worked out okay. I worked my ass at my limit on the rises they attacked me on and they held a steady slower pace till I caught back on and then I just kept the intensity up and rolled past and they jumped on. I got a solid steady race pace effort in (make note - races with hills are really going to suck for me), and then.
Another rear wheel 'essploded'. Just like my rear wheel spoke destruction Brentani blew a spoke on his Ritchey wheel at the top of a climb sprinting for KOM points against Nate. I heard the bang clatter clatter clatter.
Not again.
Third rear wheel to be toasted on this ride. The roads aren't excessively bumpy or rough. There's just one hell of a lot of hard attacks and sprints along the way, and a lot of them up hill. Bring your heavy duty indestructo wheels on this ride. I am now, and I'm paying for it (by lugging the extra weight).
We weren't quite half way and after releasing the brakes a bit there was no rubbing but the choice was made to turn around and head back on the same route. We weren't quite half way so we just headed back.
still a great ride. I had the clip on bars on to get comfortable in the TT position, we'll see if I actually can make it to the TT tomorrow night. Fingers crossed.
This morning was pure zone 2, mellow, recovery, slow, mostly aero position to work on the comfort a bit, went to the smallest gear for every climb, and just rode easy all the way in, as steady state as I can get. And with the exception of three small little "hills" (not really but short and steep does take effort so i'm still calling em hills) it is flat anyway.
Really flat. Realized that on the way in. Thinking about finding some hills near the house to do some repeats for cross if I start running this year, and there are none. totally flat. good and bad I guess. nice that i can have a predictable cool down and warm up leaving the house. bad, well bad no hills to do repeats on. At least the roads aren't near as bad as most of the ones in Maine.
heddwch
g
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The riding in maine...
Was wonderful. Didn't get out nearly as much as I wanted but I had a nice steep hill with pitches at 15% to work with and a longer one around a mile with points from 4-8%. For a flat lander down here in RI these were wonderful to go do circuits on. I pretty much did the same circuit each ride. First one was sort of a trial and a bit short, but nothing too long. But the intensity was up there for each. Got warmed up, then hit it big and hard always big ringing it either grinding or trying to keep a fast steady cadence alternating between standing or sitting.
It was only a 18 mile or so loop, really short for the one short day (mapped) with only ~1400 feet of climbing based on the one map program i tried. That I did in just barely over an hour including warm up and cool down and no attacking on the downhills unless they were not so steep (actually did a bit of breaking because the sight lines were bad and i didn't want to push the envelope). Adding a second loop and an extra longer hill pushed the time up to about 90 minutes with warm up and cool down. Short. But intense.
I rode hard with Mark Nicholson in my thoughts. Warmed up in the little ring and stuck with it much longer (till the first shot down the steep hill) than I would have normally (like he did on the smackdown) and I just attacked every crest of the hills, and the base of every climb.
Didn't make it out every day, strung a few days together in a row, one day off, hit it again. Added some walking and stuff with the dog and stayed pretty active.
No idea on speed. Just time. No idea on distance, till mapping it out. Just going based on keeping my breathing labored and pushing my legs past the breaking point.
Mark Nicholson Memorial Smackdown Ride Tonight. 5:15pm Faunce, 5:30 Depasqualle Square. About 2 hours or so, neutral warm up start. Off the path attack until you puke and hold on. Word is that there might be markings on the road to follow now.
Heddwch
G
It was only a 18 mile or so loop, really short for the one short day (mapped) with only ~1400 feet of climbing based on the one map program i tried. That I did in just barely over an hour including warm up and cool down and no attacking on the downhills unless they were not so steep (actually did a bit of breaking because the sight lines were bad and i didn't want to push the envelope). Adding a second loop and an extra longer hill pushed the time up to about 90 minutes with warm up and cool down. Short. But intense.I rode hard with Mark Nicholson in my thoughts. Warmed up in the little ring and stuck with it much longer (till the first shot down the steep hill) than I would have normally (like he did on the smackdown) and I just attacked every crest of the hills, and the base of every climb.
Didn't make it out every day, strung a few days together in a row, one day off, hit it again. Added some walking and stuff with the dog and stayed pretty active.
No idea on speed. Just time. No idea on distance, till mapping it out. Just going based on keeping my breathing labored and pushing my legs past the breaking point.
Mark Nicholson Memorial Smackdown Ride Tonight. 5:15pm Faunce, 5:30 Depasqualle Square. About 2 hours or so, neutral warm up start. Off the path attack until you puke and hold on. Word is that there might be markings on the road to follow now.
Heddwch
G
Monday, June 22, 2009
Vacation week
Maine... by the Cabin from gewilli on Vimeo.
One of the nicest days of the week. We did have plenty of good ones. I got on the bike a handful of well focused and fun but hard rides and had plenty of walks and playing and reading with the girls.
So many things bottled up that want to come out but can't seem to get the inertia started to write. So i uploaded this video and well... that's about all i'm going to do...
heddwch
G
I'm back...
But with a very heavy heart.
On the drive up, before getting to the cabin I got a call from Aaron, letting me know that our friend and fellow team mate Mark Nicholson had died. Many people knew Mark, and if you did you knew an amazing person.
He was one of those people you just wanted to hug because he was so full of joy, always smiling, always positive...
Every time I got on the bike this week, and nearly every time I sat down to write something, I thought of his passing.
Coming back to only 250 new emails to sort through between gmail and work (really not to many - maybe thanks to the out of office notification on one) had me staring at a pile of them all about Mark.
I haven't read them yet. Just seeing the subject has those emotions rolling back. I'd dealt with the grief once, worked through it.
I'll miss that man with the green scarf the most at the Plymouth Cross races.
Okay damn it.
Now i'm crying in my office. I miss that guy.
Bwyso I Mewn Dangnefedd Mark Louis Francis Nicholson
-G
On the drive up, before getting to the cabin I got a call from Aaron, letting me know that our friend and fellow team mate Mark Nicholson had died. Many people knew Mark, and if you did you knew an amazing person.
He was one of those people you just wanted to hug because he was so full of joy, always smiling, always positive...
Every time I got on the bike this week, and nearly every time I sat down to write something, I thought of his passing.
Coming back to only 250 new emails to sort through between gmail and work (really not to many - maybe thanks to the out of office notification on one) had me staring at a pile of them all about Mark.
I haven't read them yet. Just seeing the subject has those emotions rolling back. I'd dealt with the grief once, worked through it.
I'll miss that man with the green scarf the most at the Plymouth Cross races.
Okay damn it.
Now i'm crying in my office. I miss that guy.
Bwyso I Mewn Dangnefedd Mark Louis Francis Nicholson
-G
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Cross Goodness
So I was checking to make sure my links weren't set up to open a new window or a new tab... and the link i clicked on:
CyclocrossVideos.com
And the flash vid in the first part... that got my heart rate up and my pulse going...
I might have to bring the dvd collection up with me to annoy the family and set the stage for Pre-Season.
So if you haven't already ordered all of Henry's Videos. Go do so. New to cross? Get his videos. Great clinical stuff of the difference from the front of the pack to the back. Well worth watching and ordering.
CyclocrossVideos.com
And the flash vid in the first part... that got my heart rate up and my pulse going...
I might have to bring the dvd collection up with me to annoy the family and set the stage for Pre-Season.
So if you haven't already ordered all of Henry's Videos. Go do so. New to cross? Get his videos. Great clinical stuff of the difference from the front of the pack to the back. Well worth watching and ordering.
Propriety
After the Detroit Loss, (only a 2-1 loss despite the best attempts by the officiating to call it in Pitt's favor as much as possible), I was not ready to sleep quite yet.
I needed to unwind a bit. So I grabbed the book that so far, until last night, has put me to sleep w/in a few pages. I haven't given up on it though. First, it was written by Wendell Berry. Second, I actually like having something there that I can read that puts me to sleep. So I grabbed it. But wouldn't ya know, it got interesting. This chapter really got into his Propriety argument and the roll of science now as a religion.
It got me thinking. And it got me being thankful I actually worked to keep my personal research (when i did that sort of thing) well grounded in its relation to everything. Most people here are pretty good about the overall perspective around here, more so than many places I've been. Some departments are better than others, on the whole it isn't bad being surrounded by these folks. One might take it for granted that everywhere is like this.
So really I've just barely started the book. Into the second section. But the definition of Propriety struck me as something I really haven't considered too much, or at least in terms of using it to describe a rather ordinary and ever present awareness of mine.
Now it can have some solidly snooty meanings, and the definition certainly would strike some people towards anarchy or what ever the optimal antonym is. But I really like the way Berry goes about defining it in the book.
I dug up a handful of links:
Eco books has a bunch of excerpts:
There are some great lectures here. I'm listening to this
Another link with some great quotes and discussion is here.
Propriety. Make an appropriate choice.
Now i just need to finish the book. It will be one of the ones I'll take on vacation next week. An analog week. Gonna be fun.
heddwch
G
I needed to unwind a bit. So I grabbed the book that so far, until last night, has put me to sleep w/in a few pages. I haven't given up on it though. First, it was written by Wendell Berry. Second, I actually like having something there that I can read that puts me to sleep. So I grabbed it. But wouldn't ya know, it got interesting. This chapter really got into his Propriety argument and the roll of science now as a religion.
It got me thinking. And it got me being thankful I actually worked to keep my personal research (when i did that sort of thing) well grounded in its relation to everything. Most people here are pretty good about the overall perspective around here, more so than many places I've been. Some departments are better than others, on the whole it isn't bad being surrounded by these folks. One might take it for granted that everywhere is like this.
So really I've just barely started the book. Into the second section. But the definition of Propriety struck me as something I really haven't considered too much, or at least in terms of using it to describe a rather ordinary and ever present awareness of mine.
Now it can have some solidly snooty meanings, and the definition certainly would strike some people towards anarchy or what ever the optimal antonym is. But I really like the way Berry goes about defining it in the book.
I dug up a handful of links:
Eco books has a bunch of excerpts:
Quotes from Life is a MiracleThe shift is an amazing one. Fortunately the costliness to thrift is happening a bit right now, at least more than it has in the past. I fear though that the movement towards thrift will end soon unless the "recession" lasts for years. Long enough for the expense reductions to become habitualized.
"The most radical influence of reductive science has been the virtually universal adoption of the idea that the world, its creatures, and all the parts of its creatures are machines—that is, that there is no difference between creature and artifice, birth and manufacture, thought and computation. Our language, wherever it is used, is now almost invariably conditioned by the assumption that fleshly bodies are machines full of mechanisms, fully compatible with the mechanisms of medicine, industry, and commerce; and that minds are computers fully compatible with electronic technology.
"This may have begun as a metaphor, but in the language as it is used (and as it affects industrial practice) it has evolved from metaphor through equation to identification. And this usage institutionalizes the human wish, or the sin of wishing, that life might be, or might be made to be, predictable."
. . .
"I am aware how brash this commentary will seem, coming from me, who have no competence or learning in science. The issue I am attempting to deal with, however, is not knowledge but ignorance. In ignorance I believe I may pronounce myself a fair expert.
"One of our problems is that we humans cannot live without acting; we have to act. Moreover, we have to act on the basis of what we know, and what we know is incomplete. What we have come to know so far is demonstrably incomplete, since we keep on learning more, and there seems little reason to think that our knowledge will become significantly more complete. The mystery surrounding our life probably is not significantly reducible. And so the question of how to act in ignorance is paramount.
"Our history enables us to suppose that it may be all right to act on the basis of incomplete knowledge if our culture has an effective way of telling us that our knowledge is incomplete, and also of telling us how to act in our state of ignorance. We may go so far as to say that it is all right to act on the basis of sure knowledge, since our studies and our experience have given us knowledge that seems to be pretty sure. But apparently it is dangerous to act on the assumption that sure knowledge is complete knowledge—or on the assumption that our knowledge will increase fast enough to outrace the bad consequences of the arrogant use of incomplete knowledge. To trust 'progress' or our putative 'genius' to solve all the problems that we cause is worse than bad science; it is bad religion."
. . .
"If we lack the cultural means to keep incomplete knowledge from becoming the basis of arrogant and dangerous behavior, then the intellectual disciplines themselves become dangerous. What is the point of the further study of nature if that leads to the further destruction of nature? To study the "purpose" of the organ within the organism or of the organism within the ecosystem is still reductive if we do so with the assumption that we will or can finally figure it out. This simply captures the world as the subject of present or future "understanding" which will become the basis of further industrial and commercial optimism, which will become the basis of further exploitation and destruction of communities, ecosystems, and local cultures.
"I am not of course proposing an end to science and other intellectual disciplines, but rather a change of standards and goals. The standards of our behavior must be derived, not from the capability of technology, but from the nature of places and communities. We must shift the priority from production to local adaptation, from innovation to familiarity, from power to elegance, from costliness to thrift. We must learn to think about propriety in scale and design, as determined by human and ecological health. By such changes we might again make our work an answer to despair."
Copyright © 2000 by Wendell Berry
There are some great lectures here. I'm listening to this
The Restoration of Propriety: Wendell Berry and the British Distributists Compared(really well worth listening to - well at least until he starts talking about the Distributists stuff. The Hollister apple fest story that he started with is pretty good)
William Fahey, Assistant Professor of Classical and Early Christian Studies, Christendom College
Seelbach Hotel, Louisville, KY11/20/2007
MP3
Another link with some great quotes and discussion is here.
“What I was thinking, then, looking down on the little fields of the Andes, was that the most interesting, crucial, difficult questions of agriculture are questions of propriety. What is the proper size for a farm for one family in a given place? What is the proper size for a field, given a particular slope, climate, soil type, and drainage? What is the appropriate crop for this field? What is the appropriate kind and scale of technology?. . .We farm, generally, on flatter land, and for us the questions have not been so obvious, so far. We have had the luxury of pretending that the questions do not exist, that there are no problems of propriety, proportion and no limits to scale.” (43)That is the nugget of our social/corporate/marketing problems. Capitalism decided that profit is more important than anything else and well these generations have a slogan that fits much too well: "He who dies with the most toys wins!" I refrained from making it gender neutral because it is really a male driven problem (historically - but as culture blends more to being gender neutral it is more across the board).
Propriety. Make an appropriate choice.
Now i just need to finish the book. It will be one of the ones I'll take on vacation next week. An analog week. Gonna be fun.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
BKW - brilliant read today
I'm not reading nearly as many blogs as I have in the past. Things are busier, some people aren't saying much- and really how many race reports can you read from people you don't really know in person. Those from results boy or that Zen dude, and the Tolstoy-esque war and peace rivaling tomes of solobreak, yeah i read those. Fortunately they aren't terribly prolific and so when something is posted I have a few days to get it read before something new is up there. I've cut back to only opening 3 folders in tabs and sometimes only two. So there are a lot of things not getting read much lately. And conversely not much is seeding in the head to ponder and comment on and do the around the word of blog much.
BKW has a bit about Astana up there today. And honestly while I still open it up, I haven't been reading all the posts. Looking at the title I thought "maybe" but reading the first line, I was hooked.
A good opening line does work. And this one was just right to draw me in. A great read, nice analysis.
It WILL be interesting to watch. The "tension" could very well be fabricated. It is working. The pre-tour saga, gossip and what not is fit for a Puccini Opera, with the final act really being the tour itself. But if it was something Puccini was writing, the ending would be along the lines of LA and AC coming in 4th and 5th with Horner or a young new kid on top. Or maybe that is how I would script the ending. Puccini might have both LA and AC riding off a clif together during an epic battle.
Time will tell. The fireworks will be flying early on the 4th of July.
heddwch
G
BKW has a bit about Astana up there today. And honestly while I still open it up, I haven't been reading all the posts. Looking at the title I thought "maybe" but reading the first line, I was hooked.
A good opening line does work. And this one was just right to draw me in. A great read, nice analysis.
It WILL be interesting to watch. The "tension" could very well be fabricated. It is working. The pre-tour saga, gossip and what not is fit for a Puccini Opera, with the final act really being the tour itself. But if it was something Puccini was writing, the ending would be along the lines of LA and AC coming in 4th and 5th with Horner or a young new kid on top. Or maybe that is how I would script the ending. Puccini might have both LA and AC riding off a clif together during an epic battle.
Time will tell. The fireworks will be flying early on the 4th of July.
heddwch
G
quick trip for drano = huge headache
So, I thought about taking the bike, but it was hot and i was tired from the ride home and well, yeah I was lazy. Add a request for some beer in the house (since I've cut back to basically almost no ETOH the stock is near empty most of the time) added to the car trip. I don't have a good lock up able grocery getter bike right now, that's another contributor to the 'just get the car' syndrome. Maybe last night will teach me a lesson.
The drains have been plugged before. It is simple, nice and clean. 1 1/2" copper pipe from the tub to the iron down pipe. There is a Y in it 3 feet from the stand pipe where the second and first floor bathroom sinks tie in. Last time it was just the tub that clogged up. The sink flowed just fine. So that was easy, i put one bottle of the cheap liquid drano down the bathtub, waited 30 minutes, slight improvement. Added the second bottle, waited another 30+ minutes and the drain was a super highway. Sunday night if ya turned the sink on it would fill the tub up. Not that it was easy to see at first with a tub full of shower water. This time the drain clog was just past the Y.
So I got three bottles of the drano, and not much else. Hopped in the car, headed over to the Packy(sic) and ran in, got a 6 of Newport summer ale and a 6 of the 'gansette tall boys. I was inside for all of a couple minutes. Came back out and the passenger front quarter panel was smashed in. So i put the beer in the car, looked around for a note, or anyone who seemed to be watching, all clear. The car on that side was a different one than when I pulled in but she was in a black car and the marks on the panel and tire were from a white car. My bro commented that it must have been someone half in the bag making a quick run to the store to resupply, the tagged my car and split before getting anything. That or it was the car parked next to me when I got out. A neighbor was leaving the lot and we did the 'hey how ya doing wave' as I got out so I didn't really notice what the car was parked next to me as I got out and went in.
Got a police report - but man. They could have at least tagged one of the older panels with some of the rust, not the replaced one (maybe it has happened before). Soooooooo frustrating.
Got the drains unclogged with one bottle in the sink, one bottle in the tub. They drain quite well. I bought three this time so i'd at least have one on hand the next time the copper lines fill with hair and soap and what ever else kids manage to wash down the drain. And I guess buying one or two or three automatically gets you a nice $25 coupon off a Rotor Rooter service call. Go figure. Targeted marketing eh?
The ride home was pretty solidly tough. One white shirt was up ahead of me, and with an empty trailer and a headwind I figured: might as well get some intensity in. Caught him as someone else passed me and then passed him... but then the white shirt guy's BB must be rubbing metal on metal because when he was pedaling it was a sharp high pitched squeel. Not a chain noise, had to be an old frozen BB. He had a flat bar and some aero bars, and he tucked into them into the wind and the guy between us went around and then I went around and leapfrogged in front of both and kept the pressure on. The guy I leap frogged sat on my wheel, but I managed a pretty steady pace and when traffic cleared a bit by the Mobil terminal he pulled around and we chatted the rest of the way down. Keeping the same pace it was hard to talk. The headwind and the trailer made it quite a bit of fun trying to keep up. The squeeky bike wasn't any where to be seen when the leapfrogged guy pulled along side. He seemed genuinely surprised to hear me mention how much extra drag the trailer is. Most people don't really have a good concept unless they've hooked one on and ridden.
This morning I rode in with one of the marks and man alive it was hard work. He kept up a slightly slower than normal pace and I was killing it to ride in. Maybe that's what I need to do. Save my back, and haul the trailer. maybe set it up and take the seat out so the dog can ride in there to work. She's a good 70+ pounds. that'd be some decent couple day a week added KJ.
We're taking more pictures of insects today with L. Looked at some of her hair, I need to do the measurements. I've got a mini hypothesis I want to see if I can test.
The MRI folks brought her a big box of legos, I guess her sitting on the ledge by the window at the end of the hall singing gave them the idea that she might be bored.
She likes to sing. And this morning we were treated to a great loud wonderful version of "You are my sunshine". Perfect to hear on a gray overcast and ominous day. It is dumping buckets now. And I'm bailing on the ride tonight. No sleep and pulling the trailer has me with some heavy legs. That and I need to cut up a can to make some shims for the aero bars. They slip a bit on the old Mavic bar that I have on the Quantum Pro. Yeah. I still have a 15+ year old bar on the Klein. Granted it was NOS in 1998 and it didn't see any use for about 5 years between then and now... But these clip ons that skinny loaned me slip a bit, can't have that doing a TT, slipping they aren't much better than the Spinachi bars.
The little one is sittin on my knee right now eating home made hummus on carrot sticks, i'm just answering phones and well, typing right now. I don't think we'll get a chance to take a look at the three spiders or the 4 ticks we prep'd for the SEM this morning. But man we got some amazing fruit fly leg shots.
heddwch
G
The drains have been plugged before. It is simple, nice and clean. 1 1/2" copper pipe from the tub to the iron down pipe. There is a Y in it 3 feet from the stand pipe where the second and first floor bathroom sinks tie in. Last time it was just the tub that clogged up. The sink flowed just fine. So that was easy, i put one bottle of the cheap liquid drano down the bathtub, waited 30 minutes, slight improvement. Added the second bottle, waited another 30+ minutes and the drain was a super highway. Sunday night if ya turned the sink on it would fill the tub up. Not that it was easy to see at first with a tub full of shower water. This time the drain clog was just past the Y.
So I got three bottles of the drano, and not much else. Hopped in the car, headed over to the Packy(sic) and ran in, got a 6 of Newport summer ale and a 6 of the 'gansette tall boys. I was inside for all of a couple minutes. Came back out and the passenger front quarter panel was smashed in. So i put the beer in the car, looked around for a note, or anyone who seemed to be watching, all clear. The car on that side was a different one than when I pulled in but she was in a black car and the marks on the panel and tire were from a white car. My bro commented that it must have been someone half in the bag making a quick run to the store to resupply, the tagged my car and split before getting anything. That or it was the car parked next to me when I got out. A neighbor was leaving the lot and we did the 'hey how ya doing wave' as I got out so I didn't really notice what the car was parked next to me as I got out and went in.
Got a police report - but man. They could have at least tagged one of the older panels with some of the rust, not the replaced one (maybe it has happened before). Soooooooo frustrating.
Got the drains unclogged with one bottle in the sink, one bottle in the tub. They drain quite well. I bought three this time so i'd at least have one on hand the next time the copper lines fill with hair and soap and what ever else kids manage to wash down the drain. And I guess buying one or two or three automatically gets you a nice $25 coupon off a Rotor Rooter service call. Go figure. Targeted marketing eh?
The ride home was pretty solidly tough. One white shirt was up ahead of me, and with an empty trailer and a headwind I figured: might as well get some intensity in. Caught him as someone else passed me and then passed him... but then the white shirt guy's BB must be rubbing metal on metal because when he was pedaling it was a sharp high pitched squeel. Not a chain noise, had to be an old frozen BB. He had a flat bar and some aero bars, and he tucked into them into the wind and the guy between us went around and then I went around and leapfrogged in front of both and kept the pressure on. The guy I leap frogged sat on my wheel, but I managed a pretty steady pace and when traffic cleared a bit by the Mobil terminal he pulled around and we chatted the rest of the way down. Keeping the same pace it was hard to talk. The headwind and the trailer made it quite a bit of fun trying to keep up. The squeeky bike wasn't any where to be seen when the leapfrogged guy pulled along side. He seemed genuinely surprised to hear me mention how much extra drag the trailer is. Most people don't really have a good concept unless they've hooked one on and ridden.
This morning I rode in with one of the marks and man alive it was hard work. He kept up a slightly slower than normal pace and I was killing it to ride in. Maybe that's what I need to do. Save my back, and haul the trailer. maybe set it up and take the seat out so the dog can ride in there to work. She's a good 70+ pounds. that'd be some decent couple day a week added KJ.
We're taking more pictures of insects today with L. Looked at some of her hair, I need to do the measurements. I've got a mini hypothesis I want to see if I can test.
The MRI folks brought her a big box of legos, I guess her sitting on the ledge by the window at the end of the hall singing gave them the idea that she might be bored.
She likes to sing. And this morning we were treated to a great loud wonderful version of "You are my sunshine". Perfect to hear on a gray overcast and ominous day. It is dumping buckets now. And I'm bailing on the ride tonight. No sleep and pulling the trailer has me with some heavy legs. That and I need to cut up a can to make some shims for the aero bars. They slip a bit on the old Mavic bar that I have on the Quantum Pro. Yeah. I still have a 15+ year old bar on the Klein. Granted it was NOS in 1998 and it didn't see any use for about 5 years between then and now... But these clip ons that skinny loaned me slip a bit, can't have that doing a TT, slipping they aren't much better than the Spinachi bars.
The little one is sittin on my knee right now eating home made hummus on carrot sticks, i'm just answering phones and well, typing right now. I don't think we'll get a chance to take a look at the three spiders or the 4 ticks we prep'd for the SEM this morning. But man we got some amazing fruit fly leg shots.
heddwch
G
Monday, June 08, 2009
Bumble Bee Leg
Image collect this morning... the leg from a bumble bee. Amazing stuff on this. Only had a few minutes to check it out while tweaking the system. Definitely want to go back and explore more of this sample!
clogged drains
why do they always happen sunday night?
the main bathroom's sink and the bathtub/shower drains are connected and well the clog is either right at the Y or just downstream of the Y. Once the tub backs up when you run the sink faucet the tub starts filling up. My snake is lost somewhere in the barn and I didn't think to buy an extra bottle of the chemical drain cleaner the last time this happens.
The youngest was playing in the bathroom for a while on Saturday. I'm guessing some tp or something else went down the drain that created the problem. Couple it with a house full of long haired girls and well, drain's clog. Worked with coat hanger snake (not long/strong enough) tried hot water. Filled the sink and tried plunging the tub (two plungers, one over the overfill drain and one on the bottom drain.
Going to be heading out to get some Sodium Hydroxide.
At least I could still take a shower in the basement. The house has an extra shower in the basement and while it doesn't get much use, it sure is nice to have it there.
So add the insanity of the trying to deal with the clog: me trying one of those Clif Peanut Toffee Buzz bars just before 1pm (long ballet recital to sit through), that made for a semi sleepless night. Not good, not fun.
And the ride in with the trailer, fully loaded all the way was fun. The hills seem harder than I remember, but then, the cargo is a lot heavier than it was last year when I was doing the trip on a regular basis. We stopped to watch one of the baby tankers being pushed away from the terminal by a Tug, and then steam up the bay a bit more. Perfect riding weather this morning.
This week, tomorrow and wed esp don't look good. Hopefully the rain will hold off and the TT will happen on Thursday.
The youngest really wants to go work on the SEM. Going to take some pictures of a tick or two!!!
heddwch
G
the main bathroom's sink and the bathtub/shower drains are connected and well the clog is either right at the Y or just downstream of the Y. Once the tub backs up when you run the sink faucet the tub starts filling up. My snake is lost somewhere in the barn and I didn't think to buy an extra bottle of the chemical drain cleaner the last time this happens.
The youngest was playing in the bathroom for a while on Saturday. I'm guessing some tp or something else went down the drain that created the problem. Couple it with a house full of long haired girls and well, drain's clog. Worked with coat hanger snake (not long/strong enough) tried hot water. Filled the sink and tried plunging the tub (two plungers, one over the overfill drain and one on the bottom drain.
Going to be heading out to get some Sodium Hydroxide.
At least I could still take a shower in the basement. The house has an extra shower in the basement and while it doesn't get much use, it sure is nice to have it there.
So add the insanity of the trying to deal with the clog: me trying one of those Clif Peanut Toffee Buzz bars just before 1pm (long ballet recital to sit through), that made for a semi sleepless night. Not good, not fun.
And the ride in with the trailer, fully loaded all the way was fun. The hills seem harder than I remember, but then, the cargo is a lot heavier than it was last year when I was doing the trip on a regular basis. We stopped to watch one of the baby tankers being pushed away from the terminal by a Tug, and then steam up the bay a bit more. Perfect riding weather this morning.
This week, tomorrow and wed esp don't look good. Hopefully the rain will hold off and the TT will happen on Thursday.
The youngest really wants to go work on the SEM. Going to take some pictures of a tick or two!!!
heddwch
G
Friday, June 05, 2009
Music
Found an awesome new resource for listening to music. Different stuff. I'm getting bored with the mainstream/lack of diversity over at Pandora lately. Nothing goes quite deep enough.
So right now, I'm listening to some wicked chill but awesome Bombay Dub Orchestra. Disc 2
not the tracks I was listening to but close enough:
Mumtaz (Dj Drez Jahta Mix)
Dust
pretty mellow trance-like melodic electronica. I'm a big fan of the bollywood sound mixed by some of the London DJs, this is a bit subdued comparatively. These two tracks don't really grab me as much as the ones I've been listening to. Oh and the music source/stream i've got access to is some decently high quality, much fuller sound. Lots more nuances and all that (vs the youtube). Listening to the Mumatz track first in Youtube then in the Alexander Street collection is night and day, so much better hearing it off the recording.
So right now, I'm listening to some wicked chill but awesome Bombay Dub Orchestra. Disc 2
not the tracks I was listening to but close enough:
Mumtaz (Dj Drez Jahta Mix)
Dust
pretty mellow trance-like melodic electronica. I'm a big fan of the bollywood sound mixed by some of the London DJs, this is a bit subdued comparatively. These two tracks don't really grab me as much as the ones I've been listening to. Oh and the music source/stream i've got access to is some decently high quality, much fuller sound. Lots more nuances and all that (vs the youtube). Listening to the Mumatz track first in Youtube then in the Alexander Street collection is night and day, so much better hearing it off the recording.
Damn Detroit
So I find out that the Wings lost. Actually that's not so bad. Means I can see two more hockey games. If they swept I'd have just been able to watch the first two games. Now there is a chance I can catch the next two games. Hopefully Detroit can figure it out and get back ahead in the series. Some folks are saying it will be a 7 game series. Others are saying the Refs are calling so the network/commissioner get 7 games out of it.
On the whole detroit thing, this is a great joke at that city's expense.
On the whole detroit thing, this is a great joke at that city's expense.
Jack was sitting on the plane when a guy took the seat beside him. The guy was an emotional wreck, pale, hands shaking, moaning in fear.
"What's the matter?" Jack asked.
"I've been transferred to Detroit , there's crazy people there. They've got lots of shootings, gangs, race riots, drugs, poor public schools, and the highest crime rate in America ."
Jack replied, "I've lived in Detroit all my life. It's not as bad as the media says. Find a nice home, go to work, mind your own business, enroll your kids in a nice private school. It's as safe a place as anywhere in the world."
The guy relaxed and stopped shaking and said, "Oh, thank you. I've been worried to death. But if you live there and say it's OK, I'll take your word for it. What do you do for a living?"
"Me?" said Jack. "I'm a tail gunner on a Budweiser truck."
Why call it "Lappy?"
Well it is a reference to something that I found entertaining in Michigan. But sort of fell out of keeping track once heading to N.E. Strongbad Emails. His "new" computer is a Lappy 486.
So, for the one or two people who didn't get the reference as to why I was calling the computer that went TU 'lappy' well now you know the rest of the story.
Or a small part of it.
So, for the one or two people who didn't get the reference as to why I was calling the computer that went TU 'lappy' well now you know the rest of the story.
Or a small part of it.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
blank - not feeling it
I've done a but load of walking today. All in my office footwear, some Birkenstock Bostons. I didn't realize how far away the Music building was from here in the dungeon. Long walk. Then the trek over to lunch and back and then back over to a Cookin' it Local presentation.
That walking had things popping in my head. Ideas that could spawn 500-1000 words alone. But i've been staring at this blankness each time I sit back to my desk or finish an email, or hang up the phone and just stare at it.
The only thing I can remember is the ideas being good. But that's not enough to remember I guess.
Museum of Science in Boston was pretty cool. We skipped over a whole bunch of stuff. I learned a bit mostly from the planetarium show, but it was fun being there with my daughter's class. I drove separately and alone on the way up. Followed the bus because all I had were rough instructions, i'd forgotten to check the map the day before. And that was working great until we turned north there at Braintree and the bus headed to the HOV lane. And I was stuck with the other morons like me driving an empty car. I high tailed it until traffic bogged and then a few minutes later the bus passed me. I made it to the lobby just as instructions were being given. Timing was good. Driving back it was a race to get to Ballet. Why is there stop and go traffic at 3pm? WTF? Seriously. We were a touch late. Not to bad, the girls just missed a touch of warm up but not the rehearsal. But man. Driving sucks. I know how i did it in the past, but I can't really imagine trying to go back to it. That would be really crappy. Riding to work is just an amazing luxury.
We finally got the new team kit. I picked mine up from Skinny yesterday, was going to wear it into work, but with the rain in the AM I thought it might be better to be scientific and wear the last years verge stuff to work and the vermarc stuff home.
Out of the bag the stuff is very different. We'll see if it really is like someone described because I have to take his word, as unlike Marcus I haven't actually worn French lingerie. That sentence is messed up but the elements are there - fuckitall. I'm reluctant to go out and compare publicly the Verge and the Vermarc clothing, because it can't do all good. I'll either be dissing a really amazing and wonderful participant/supporter in the New England Cross scene, or I'll be bitching about a current sponsor. Neither are good options.
The fit is a bit more snug in the Vermarc but the cut of the jersey is longer. And yeah I might be 200-205 now (yeah i've dropped more weight than the rear disc wheel weighs lately) but I still fit in a L jersey/jacket/vest. Bib's gotta be XLs. the Verge XL bibs actually were pretty tight around the leg, we'll see if these are cut any different.
that's more than I thought I had.
heddwch
G
That walking had things popping in my head. Ideas that could spawn 500-1000 words alone. But i've been staring at this blankness each time I sit back to my desk or finish an email, or hang up the phone and just stare at it.
The only thing I can remember is the ideas being good. But that's not enough to remember I guess.
Museum of Science in Boston was pretty cool. We skipped over a whole bunch of stuff. I learned a bit mostly from the planetarium show, but it was fun being there with my daughter's class. I drove separately and alone on the way up. Followed the bus because all I had were rough instructions, i'd forgotten to check the map the day before. And that was working great until we turned north there at Braintree and the bus headed to the HOV lane. And I was stuck with the other morons like me driving an empty car. I high tailed it until traffic bogged and then a few minutes later the bus passed me. I made it to the lobby just as instructions were being given. Timing was good. Driving back it was a race to get to Ballet. Why is there stop and go traffic at 3pm? WTF? Seriously. We were a touch late. Not to bad, the girls just missed a touch of warm up but not the rehearsal. But man. Driving sucks. I know how i did it in the past, but I can't really imagine trying to go back to it. That would be really crappy. Riding to work is just an amazing luxury.
We finally got the new team kit. I picked mine up from Skinny yesterday, was going to wear it into work, but with the rain in the AM I thought it might be better to be scientific and wear the last years verge stuff to work and the vermarc stuff home.
Out of the bag the stuff is very different. We'll see if it really is like someone described because I have to take his word, as unlike Marcus I haven't actually worn French lingerie. That sentence is messed up but the elements are there - fuckitall. I'm reluctant to go out and compare publicly the Verge and the Vermarc clothing, because it can't do all good. I'll either be dissing a really amazing and wonderful participant/supporter in the New England Cross scene, or I'll be bitching about a current sponsor. Neither are good options.
The fit is a bit more snug in the Vermarc but the cut of the jersey is longer. And yeah I might be 200-205 now (yeah i've dropped more weight than the rear disc wheel weighs lately) but I still fit in a L jersey/jacket/vest. Bib's gotta be XLs. the Verge XL bibs actually were pretty tight around the leg, we'll see if these are cut any different.
that's more than I thought I had.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
suckitude
or seriously OTB on the hills... freaking couple mountain goats...
but
i was told i dragged everyone along snake hill at 48-51 kph for a mile or two...
and
when i did pop off the back I TT'ed the fahk out of it. So even with the 3+kg rear wheel, it was a killer ride, for me at least. A bit slower with the two flats and waiting for one guy's nature call a couple times. Saw an AFD guy headed out to "do hill repeats".
the flat deserves some extra amazing credit - big machine screw - straight through the rear tire/tube AND through the bead seat on the alloy Dura Ace Rim. Incredible. And that happened all happened at 32 mph...
Hitting the MOS tomorrow with the oldest's class. Gonna be fun!
heddwch
G
but
i was told i dragged everyone along snake hill at 48-51 kph for a mile or two...
and
when i did pop off the back I TT'ed the fahk out of it. So even with the 3+kg rear wheel, it was a killer ride, for me at least. A bit slower with the two flats and waiting for one guy's nature call a couple times. Saw an AFD guy headed out to "do hill repeats".
the flat deserves some extra amazing credit - big machine screw - straight through the rear tire/tube AND through the bead seat on the alloy Dura Ace Rim. Incredible. And that happened all happened at 32 mph...
Hitting the MOS tomorrow with the oldest's class. Gonna be fun!
heddwch
G
It is getting close
vacation time that is... with everything breaking around here making scheduling nightmares and all... a step back will be nice. And with a busted lappy that means no finding some free wifi for updates. I will have to go back to the original days of writing long hand.
Might not actually be a bad thing. Some of those entries I still enjoy going back and reading.
Vacay isn't this week but it is soon. I haven't really felt like writing much today. The death of the lappy sort of maybe sucked some motivation. I took it apart, nothing was loose or seemed to be obviously overheated. And judging by the behavior of the different power supplies I tried, well there's a short in the motherboard and I can buy a new refurb with 10x bigger HD and a DVD burner for just a bit more than the parts and then there's no assurance that putting the new MB in the case will fix the problem (it should but... worth the chance?).
That aside i'm going to see about hitting the Smack Down Ride here. It is tuesday night and PVD has the throw down. Route is simple. Anyone is welcome to join, if you get dropped it is easy enough to find your way back home (esp if you check the map before leaving).
When the rolf busted i picked up a few wheels for short money and one of the rears (a plain heavy beat up 32 hole R400 rim on a no name hub) got the spokes tied (not soldered yet) and the disc cover put on. there's a good mm or so hope in it where a few spokes were replaced. I will see about working on that a bit more before hitting the wraps with some solder. But I slapped the disc on for tonight to see if I could feel the out of roundness. I'm guessing that my round-assed-ness with 100-110 psi in the rear should maybe mask it. The wheel is actually surprisingly really well balanced at high speed (on the work stand pedaling the 53x12).
I'm going to keep the P-mount hanging out of the way this year and TT with the Q-pro. The tubing diameter is a pretty small quotient and while the higher bottom bracket in the Klein may put me higher in the air, the bike itself is more efficient. Trade offs. And this way I don't have to pick and choose what chainring I'll run up front. I had my year of beating lots of people with much bigger gears and not really being that much slower than some. That 40t served me well, but it also killed the torque-making. And I found out the hard way at the start of cross, my max torque was down and my fluid spin i developed did me shit all with all those accelerations. Gonna try a better balance between high rpms and torque. And hey- if a disc wheel works for curly, heck, i might as well run it. I have a feeling I'm going to regret the heavier wheel on a few of the long slogging up hills. But it shouldn't be any different than normal. Me being OTB.
rather than add this on someone else's comment page (it doesn't jibe well with the friendly dig in return) about my "style" or lack of it writing here... it has evolved over time, and yes I alluded to the transcription of the hand written entries as being good ones, in general i subscribe to the e e cummings philosophy. once you learn the rules, you can break them. first though. you must master them so as to know how to do it deliberately. A high school english teacher taught us that. Or sort of maybe not intentionally. But that was one of the things I learned. I can't recall from memory any poems, but i remember the discussions about why e e cummings poetry was they way it was. so - i got as good as was possible - plenty of highly polished prose has my name on it. and the blog actually is a deliberate style. it is a rough draft, as it flows out of the brain through the fingers. the words being crafted (more like grab bagged and tossed) onto the screen with little changes from the conception. not the best example of the english language. a butchered americanized dialectic version. copy editors nightmare. that or a writer's nightmare after an editor has been through it trying to figure out what the hell to do with it.
Watching the hockey game i'd realized something. I'm losing my michigan/UP/ontario inflections. They are coming out rarely now. For a while they were an ingrained teaching accent for some reason. But now. It took watching and listening to the NBC commentators during the hockey games before I noticed. And I'll be honest, right now? The words in my head are coming out here in these paragraph with a hard core UP/Ontario accent, eh? Pretty funny. Sort of like a red green show in my head ya know? Eh?
Alright. Enough of that. Time to slip into some team gear (I hope the new stuff will be at skinny's house soon) and go see if I can work on making these tuesday nights mimic figure 2.
heddwch
G
Might not actually be a bad thing. Some of those entries I still enjoy going back and reading.
Vacay isn't this week but it is soon. I haven't really felt like writing much today. The death of the lappy sort of maybe sucked some motivation. I took it apart, nothing was loose or seemed to be obviously overheated. And judging by the behavior of the different power supplies I tried, well there's a short in the motherboard and I can buy a new refurb with 10x bigger HD and a DVD burner for just a bit more than the parts and then there's no assurance that putting the new MB in the case will fix the problem (it should but... worth the chance?).
That aside i'm going to see about hitting the Smack Down Ride here. It is tuesday night and PVD has the throw down. Route is simple. Anyone is welcome to join, if you get dropped it is easy enough to find your way back home (esp if you check the map before leaving).
When the rolf busted i picked up a few wheels for short money and one of the rears (a plain heavy beat up 32 hole R400 rim on a no name hub) got the spokes tied (not soldered yet) and the disc cover put on. there's a good mm or so hope in it where a few spokes were replaced. I will see about working on that a bit more before hitting the wraps with some solder. But I slapped the disc on for tonight to see if I could feel the out of roundness. I'm guessing that my round-assed-ness with 100-110 psi in the rear should maybe mask it. The wheel is actually surprisingly really well balanced at high speed (on the work stand pedaling the 53x12).
I'm going to keep the P-mount hanging out of the way this year and TT with the Q-pro. The tubing diameter is a pretty small quotient and while the higher bottom bracket in the Klein may put me higher in the air, the bike itself is more efficient. Trade offs. And this way I don't have to pick and choose what chainring I'll run up front. I had my year of beating lots of people with much bigger gears and not really being that much slower than some. That 40t served me well, but it also killed the torque-making. And I found out the hard way at the start of cross, my max torque was down and my fluid spin i developed did me shit all with all those accelerations. Gonna try a better balance between high rpms and torque. And hey- if a disc wheel works for curly, heck, i might as well run it. I have a feeling I'm going to regret the heavier wheel on a few of the long slogging up hills. But it shouldn't be any different than normal. Me being OTB.
rather than add this on someone else's comment page (it doesn't jibe well with the friendly dig in return) about my "style" or lack of it writing here... it has evolved over time, and yes I alluded to the transcription of the hand written entries as being good ones, in general i subscribe to the e e cummings philosophy. once you learn the rules, you can break them. first though. you must master them so as to know how to do it deliberately. A high school english teacher taught us that. Or sort of maybe not intentionally. But that was one of the things I learned. I can't recall from memory any poems, but i remember the discussions about why e e cummings poetry was they way it was. so - i got as good as was possible - plenty of highly polished prose has my name on it. and the blog actually is a deliberate style. it is a rough draft, as it flows out of the brain through the fingers. the words being crafted (more like grab bagged and tossed) onto the screen with little changes from the conception. not the best example of the english language. a butchered americanized dialectic version. copy editors nightmare. that or a writer's nightmare after an editor has been through it trying to figure out what the hell to do with it.
Watching the hockey game i'd realized something. I'm losing my michigan/UP/ontario inflections. They are coming out rarely now. For a while they were an ingrained teaching accent for some reason. But now. It took watching and listening to the NBC commentators during the hockey games before I noticed. And I'll be honest, right now? The words in my head are coming out here in these paragraph with a hard core UP/Ontario accent, eh? Pretty funny. Sort of like a red green show in my head ya know? Eh?
Alright. Enough of that. Time to slip into some team gear (I hope the new stuff will be at skinny's house soon) and go see if I can work on making these tuesday nights mimic figure 2.
heddwch
G
Monday, June 01, 2009
RIP lappy
after taking it apart (using the service manual - actually pretty damn good) putting it back together, trying it with and with out batteries, different adapters... with nothing obvious all it points to is a short on the MB somewhere. And even then, that's just a guess... I'm not sure it is worth buying a new motherboard just to find out. Better off just buying a USB laptop HD enclosure case.
It turned 5 years old last week. 5 good years of service. Not so bad for a Lappy. Too bad it still looks like it is in perfect shape. Ah well. maybe i'll find a freebie 600M with a dead battery or missing HD or something that I can try and make one good working 'puter with.
being a cheapbastard is one thing, not having the cash to replace busted stuff like this is another... sigh... ah well... we'll survive
It turned 5 years old last week. 5 good years of service. Not so bad for a Lappy. Too bad it still looks like it is in perfect shape. Ah well. maybe i'll find a freebie 600M with a dead battery or missing HD or something that I can try and make one good working 'puter with.
being a cheapbastard is one thing, not having the cash to replace busted stuff like this is another... sigh... ah well... we'll survive
dead lappy
pissed - bummed - frustrated. the lappy won't turn on, an old 600M running XP but still perfectly functional and all that. trying to sort out the problem but man it puts a crimp in a whole bunch of stuff. I've been pretty good at backing it up, but not in the last couple weeks. But at least I think it is more power than HD so i'm not worried about the data - just frustrated not to have a computer at home. And yeah, it is our only 'puter at home. There is an old win98 box but i'm not sure if it still works. It hasn't been turned on since we packed up and left MI.
Zero riding this weekend. Stayed up late to watch the wings both nights. Awesome games even though the Wings were getting it taken to them for a couple long stretches in both games. Good to at least sort of reconnect with that period of life, even if through a hockey game on TV. Helped my bro put some more rows in the big garden... it is slowly filling out, way to slow for a huge crop, but he has started a good bit of everything in flats already.
Bought the oldest a birthday present. Picked up a used Fuji 24" girls MTB for her. Fits great. Good price, and her first geared no coaster brake bike. Took her a few trips to figure it out. Gonna be tough for her to shift between 1 and 2 on the left side, but she was flying back between 1 and 7 before deciding that she likes 3, 4, and 5 the best. Oh best part. She went over to the park to ride around on the grass, rode back and said it was too bumpy over there. Now this bike has a fancy (not) front fork. But the tires had 30-40 psi in them. She's maybe 60-70 pounds soaking wet, so I let some air out, down to cross levels (~10 pounds in those fat 24" mtb tires) and she like the ride. I'm not worried about her curbing it and all that, she's still pretty timid (fine with me). She was racing around the "track" at the playground, ran outside after overcooking a turn and headed back on the track, the low pressure in the tires helped he get back on to the asphalt w/o bouncing her off, and she was grinning and grinning. She can't wait for camp to start so she can ride down there every day!
Zero riding this weekend. Stayed up late to watch the wings both nights. Awesome games even though the Wings were getting it taken to them for a couple long stretches in both games. Good to at least sort of reconnect with that period of life, even if through a hockey game on TV. Helped my bro put some more rows in the big garden... it is slowly filling out, way to slow for a huge crop, but he has started a good bit of everything in flats already.
Bought the oldest a birthday present. Picked up a used Fuji 24" girls MTB for her. Fits great. Good price, and her first geared no coaster brake bike. Took her a few trips to figure it out. Gonna be tough for her to shift between 1 and 2 on the left side, but she was flying back between 1 and 7 before deciding that she likes 3, 4, and 5 the best. Oh best part. She went over to the park to ride around on the grass, rode back and said it was too bumpy over there. Now this bike has a fancy (not) front fork. But the tires had 30-40 psi in them. She's maybe 60-70 pounds soaking wet, so I let some air out, down to cross levels (~10 pounds in those fat 24" mtb tires) and she like the ride. I'm not worried about her curbing it and all that, she's still pretty timid (fine with me). She was racing around the "track" at the playground, ran outside after overcooking a turn and headed back on the track, the low pressure in the tires helped he get back on to the asphalt w/o bouncing her off, and she was grinning and grinning. She can't wait for camp to start so she can ride down there every day!
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