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Jul. 25th, 2008 @ 07:56 am
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The Tour de France just passed by a field where fans had set up an elaborate fake bike. For wheels, they had a post in the ground for the hub, and the people themselves were the rim, holding ribbon tied to the posts. Now, what would've been REALLY cool is if they had used a non-radial spoking pattern.
I am a dork. |
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So many links
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Jul. 11th, 2008 @ 10:36 pm
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I should be in bed, but I tripped and fell into the world of Copenhagen cycling, and more specifically bakfietsen, which led me to searching for similar products available here (there aren't any) or for importers (which there are). So apparently these things run ~$3000 in the States. Which is a whole mess of money to shell out for a bike you haven't test-ridden. Given that Clever Cycles is in Portland and I don't plan on being up there any time soon, any chance of riding one is pretty much done. Then I found a company in Somerville, MA that may have some. Neat!
I also wandered around Surly's site looking at the Big Dummy and seeing what the options were for accessories from Xtracycle (OMG Pea Pod! With the extended rear end on an SUB, the normal problems with rear-mounted child seats go away!) I expect I'll be getting one of these at some point - the only question is whether I'll be converting the Giant Sedona (currently the town bike) or buying a Big Dummy frame and adding parts as necessary. |
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So I had this Stupid Idea (tm)
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Jul. 6th, 2008 @ 09:40 pm
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Initial post I made was in Bikepirates (read this for background). Which led to me making a preliminary Bikely route map, starting at the destination and working my way west toward where we might want to start. Placerville was about 50 miles from South Lake Tahoe by this route. If one can't bike on Route 50, the alternate will be an additional 30 miles (swing south through Sly Park from Placerville, then straight north to the lake). As is, I have the starting location set at the Fair Oaks location of the shop I work at (seemed as good a place as any at the approximately 100 mile mark).
From the starting point, Bikely says it'll be about 97 miles to the finish. 50-some miles from the end is Placerville and the Jack Russell Brewing Company and the rest of Apple Hill, where snacks and refreshments can be had.
Now I have a map, so I must do the ride! Probably sometime in October. Preferably not a weekend, due to Apple Hill being a crazy house on fall weekends, and traffic up to the lake being generally worse on weekends. We'll see, though. |
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Hematocrit!
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Jun. 20th, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
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I went to the doctor this morning and had blood drawn for some tests. I just got an email informing me that the results were ready, so I went on their website (yay kp.org!) and checked them out.
Amusing factoid of the day: My hematocrit level is 47.2%, which means I'm not doping! Whew.
My hemoglobin and red blood cells count were in the high end of their respective normal ranges, which is probably expected for someone who's exercised regularly for the last 13 years (nevermind I missed out on the last year or so).
I am FASCINATED by NUMBERS. Apparently. Which makes my ride to the store today ironic, since I don't have a computer on that bike, so I know nothing about my rides on it. It is different and wrong. |
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Yay around town!
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Jun. 6th, 2008 @ 01:07 pm
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I recently installed my old rack on my Sedona (note: link goes to not-my-bike, as mine is more ancient). I had some errands to run today, so decided to take it for a spin and see how it worked in real-world conditions.
Conclusions:
The drivetrain worked as well as could be hoped. I can't put power into a normal pedal stroke, so quick acceleration is a thing of the past, but the chain didn't derail at all, and transitioning from forward-pedalling to backward-pedalling (and vice-versa) was smooth and easy. Super-skinny 650C tires were not squirrely, and ancient canti brakes worked fine. Wider tires on standard mountain rims would not go amiss, but I didn't have any problems with this setup.
The mustache bars are painful. They should be switched out posthaste. To what, I don't know - preferably something where my hands can be in a natural position. And I do have spare drop bars and a couple sets of brake levers that'd work with the cantis. Don't think I'd be able to keep the tassles, though.
The saddle is likewise painful. If I hadn't had to stop regularly for lights, I would've been hating the seat. I still have the saddle I took off my Trek 800 that I put thousands of miles on comfortably, so I'll switch that in.
I'll have to doublecheck the rear rim to make sure it stayed in true through all the bumps and rough pavement - should be fine, but never hurts to check a build like that.
All told, I was out for a couple hours doing errands. Next time I'll bring water - I somehow didn't anticipate being as thirsty as I was (because not going out in order to exercise). Good thing Office Max has a water fountain and a helpful lady who pointed me at those and the ink I needed. |
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Jun. 1st, 2008 @ 08:59 pm
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I was looking over the Groton Road Race information and noted a new course. Curiosity replaced sadness and I pulled up Google Maps to follow it.
The conniving bastards threw in Breakneck Rd (the easy way, admittedly; still a hamstring-crushing descent) to finish up the fifth mile, followed by the uphill on Common Street after a half mile rest. Talk about brutal! And I thought the previous hill between 4 and 5 was bad on the old course (granted, after a couple run-throughs, you realize that you try to conserve energy on this hill, then steadily increase your pace for the next mile or so until you're headed back to the track). At least you were basically done with hills at that point and just had to worry about the flats and minor things.
And now I want to run it. |
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Running Log
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Jun. 1st, 2008 @ 07:35 pm
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How long has it been since I made a running/exercise log entry? Entirely too long!
PRs, for reference:
10K - 44:57 (7:14 pace) (Colonial Gas Community Dash, held during cross country season, from my junior year)
5K - 20:07 (6:28 pace) (last meet at home cross country course, while attempting to go 19:50)
Today's run:
Attempted to run a 'short' block (of 1.3 miles, going down the multi-use path to Bannon Creek and back over to Truxel), but was not familiar enough with the path. Next time, cross over the river on the bridge that looked so neat, instead of looking lost and confused when I got lost and confused upon dumping out onto the end of a cul-de-sac. The loop still ended up being about the same length, though. Upon reaching Pebblewood, I continued up to San Juan, took it over to Azevedo, and back down to the other end of Pebblewood. Stopped running at 30:10.
Total distance: 3.5 miles (according to gmap pedometer)
Pace: 8:37/mile
I also did a short run (~2 miles; "major roads" block, west to Azevedo, south to W. El Camino, east to Truxel, back north to Pebblewood) earlier this week, and it kicked my butt.
Yes, this is out of shape for me. My legs have shrunk in the last couple years, and I can't just hop on my bike and ride for hours or decide to run a 10K next week and be smiling at the end (note: this picture taken after running a 5K in the morning, and finishing this 10K at 8:04 pace, a hair under 50 minutes) (other note: I'd completely forgotten that Matt Brown had beaten me in this race - one of the Squannies I miss running with). And this is upsetting to me - because I know that I had the capability of doing these things, and I lost it somewhere along the line. Exercise stopped being a priority, and it really needs to be, if I'm not riding my bike a minimum of 30 miles a day like I did in Amherst.
So I've decided to start running again. I have enough time before work to go, given that I wake up around 7, or like today I can run when I get home. I've also set up my Sedona/Retro-direct with a rack so I can use it to do small grocery runs (and confuse people as I ride uphill pedalling backwards), so that'll help too.Current Mood:  determined |
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Back!
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May. 25th, 2008 @ 04:30 pm
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We made it back safely Friday afternoon after pushing our flight back (because 7AM is too early for a flight to be). Pushing back the flight also allowed us to meet up with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tharyn for breakfast before she had to go to work.
Notable happenings in bullet format:
* Pike's Place Market is really cool. Expensive, mostly, but neat to walk around.
* The Utilikilts main store is an experience. Walk in panted, walk out kilted. At least, I did. So very comfortable.
* wolfieboy and his gaming nights are interesting and fun; not necessarily something I'd do weekly, but enjoyable.
* MONORAIL! MONORAIL! MONORAIL! (Shortest. Monorail. Ever. Brought us to the Seattle Center, where we visited the Science Fiction Museum and then watched the children in their zoo.)
* Listening to a waitress when she tells you the specials can be good. Case in point: the night we arrived, I got the Halibut special at the swanky restaurant downstairs in the hotel. Later that night I was found in a waking food coma.
* The Underground Tour is fun, but the educational bit is mostly in the intro. The rest is just entertainment as you wander what used to be Seattle's sidewalks.
* Watched Iron Man and Indiana Jones. I'm excited about where the Avengers-related movies are going. Indy was enjoyable, but they didn't play up the age thing in the action sequences as much as they really should have.
* Walked. A lot. Also used the workout room at the hotel and might actually be able to continue a routine of running in the mornings.
* Baby went from "Blue"(berry) to "Peanut" and was very picky about its foods. |
| » FYI |
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We're preggers.
Now accepting applications for babysitters.
May. 14th, 2008 @ 09:26 pm
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| » Books! |
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I have several ebooks which I would like to read at some point. I do not like reading book-length things on the computer monitor (too many distractions RIGHT THERE). Solution? A reader program for my Palm Vx (read: old-old PDA). All I needed was something simple, no frills, didn't even need color. You'd think I could find a freeware text reader online, but this ended up being extremely difficult.
First I tried one whose documentation was entirely in Russian. Using Babelfish to translate gave something resembling readable, so I gave it a shot; it even claimed to have several features which might come in handy for reading files. It failed miserably. It was buggy (crashed the PDA) and couldn't find the ebook files I transferred.
Then I tried Rich Reader AA, the anti-aliasing version of the shareware Rich Reader. It comes with a converter program, so you can start with PDF, HTML, or RTF files and come up with files recognizable by the Palm and readable by Rich Reader. Kick ass.
So now I have two books on my PDA, to be read either in bed or on planes or wherever.
May. 6th, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
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| » Hey Northwesterners! |
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M and I will be up in Seattle for our second anniversary, from May 19 through the 23rd. We'll be flying in and don't expect to be renting a car due to having a hotel near *things* and public transit of some kind.
If you'd like to hang out with us for a while, let me know. As far as I know, we have no definite plans aside from 'we need to see this and this, and eat here, here, here, here, and here (and here!)'. Also, suggestions about things to see and/or eat would be appreciated. I'd prefer non-touristy things, but M likes it, so whatever.
Apr. 30th, 2008 @ 06:46 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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Happy birthday lianthe and lyssabits!
PS - How are we supposed to recreate Idlenaire if you're not there?! What is Idlenaire without its Overtyrant and her mud-slinging sister?
Apr. 19th, 2008 @ 09:22 am
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| » Icon meme |
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1) Reply to this post, and I will pick six of your icons.
2) Make a post and talk about the icons I chose.
3) Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4) This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee.
Or something.
As chosen by mousme:
This is an image from WINGS, a WWI simulation/flying game for the Amiga, which I played for hours on end with da5em and sqogoo, along with several other games they had. I had downloaded an emulator and found the game, so played for quite a while on my own a few years ago. The puppy shows up some way into it, as something the airmen found and play with; the picture was supposedly taken by them when he hopped in the cockpit with one of the pilots.
Ah, Foamy. Used when responding to someone who's done or said something stupid, or jokingly when responding to someone who's done something unusual.
Taken from ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) m15m - Movies in 15 Minutes. Funny 15-minute writeups on movies. She then makes icons, using the best lines she wrote for the writeup. This one was from Troy, and makes for a suitable "You idiot" icon.
Sluggy Freelance went downhill a long time ago. This line was just too good to pass up, though admittedly my image editing skills were obviously sub-par. The character in question is a demon. He's also an idiot. Hilarity ensues.
kimberly_a made this icon a while back. I had no idea that this was a character on some TV show or other until it was pointed out to me later. It just seemed perfect for grammar-related posts.
Machall was a webcomic I read regularly through to the end (and now I read Ian and Matt's Three Panel Soul, their new project), and this comic just made sense to make into an icon, what with me having a Philosophy degree and all. To be fair, the argument in the comic has a hole in it (though one which can be satisfied fairly easily), but I was entertained. I use this icon for all Philosophy/theology-related entries and responses.
Mar. 29th, 2008 @ 07:46 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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I was browsing through Twin Galaxies when it occurred to me to check out any Sega Saturn records that might be there. Lo and behold, there were several! On further inspection, I realized... I could beat some of these. But on Daytona USA's Advanced track I've gone below 50 seconds per lap, and certainly better than the overall time posted for it, as well as the lap and overall on the Beginner track. I want to know the rules behind Biggest Blowout for Worldwide Soccer before I make any statements there (though I do recall a 14-point lead being a disappointment at halftime).
I knew I was *good*, but... Did I really play enough to get runs THAT optimal? REALLY? Damn. I need to track down my Saturn and a VCR and submit some scores.
Edit: I may be conflating Worldwide Soccer with Goal! for NES. I know I had some big blowouts on the Saturn, too, but on the NES my highest margin was something like 35. Which, incidentally, also has a listing on TG.
Mar. 29th, 2008 @ 01:54 am
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| » Yup, it's about summer |
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Seen on my commute a couple days ago: Guy on motorcycle, merging onto the freeway. Wearing: Sneakers, jeans, t-shirt, full-face helmet. No gloves.
Definitely about that time of year. Which one of these yahoos will be the first to make headlines and bring the negative aspect of motorcycles back into the public eye?
Though what confused me about this sight was the fact that I was in full leathers - not even wearing my summer gear - and I was fine, temperature-wise. Even waiting at stoplights, I wasn't overly warm.
Mar. 12th, 2008 @ 07:47 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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I looked at the clock as I woke up this morning. It said 6:40. Quickly doing the math in my head, I figured this was an hour and 20 minutes until 8, which was not long before I had to leave, so I should get up and start showering.
Now that I've had breakfast and look at the computer clock that says 7:48, I realize that I don't work until 10, so don't have to leave until after 9 - and I'm leaving earlier today than I normally do because I have to stop by the bank first.
That'll teach me to do maths before eating.
Feb. 29th, 2008 @ 07:46 am
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| » Ow. |
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Yesterday I rode 20 miles, mostly to test whether switching the pedals on my road bike made the knee-hurt go away. 20 miles of pain-free riding later, and I decide I want to ride to work today to pick up my paycheck.
Note 1: Work is a bit over 22 miles away.
Note 2: I haven't ridden regularly in over a year and a half.
And now my thighs want to kill me ded. I also know where I am on my personal fitness scale. I knew it wasn't as high as it was even a couple years ago (let alone my last year at UMass), but the 15-25 mile rides I've done the last couple weeks have felt pretty good, so I went for it.
Note 3: When I met my wife, she thought I had thigh pads under my cycling shorts. My thighs have shrunk noticeably since then.
Feb. 27th, 2008 @ 04:42 pm
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| » Things I learned yesterday |
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Important lesson: Pay attention to roads the surface of which you're not familiar with, especially when they are wet with rain and you are trying to slow down while going down a hill. Your shoulder and upper back will thank you later.
When your foot is pinned by your motorcycle, it is nigh impossible to lift said motorcycle off the ground. But be thankful when there aren't any cars coming when your foot is pinned.
Yeah.
So yesterday, as I slowed to turn into the parking lot at work, my rear tire locked up when it hit a slick patch of tar, swung around, and caused the bike to fall. On my foot. Fortunately, my boots did a fantastic job of protecting my foot and ankle (no pain at all!), and the pants and boots did a great job of protecting my skin from both the pavement and the heat of the engine. Also fortunately, two guys happened to be working 20 feet away and came over to help me up and make sure I was okay.
At the time, the only pain I felt was in my hip; today it's been a sore shoulder and that side of my back. Nothing overly serious. The bike fared about the same - left peg was bent to hell, mirror was knocked askew, and one of the supports for the fairing was bent. I ordered a replacement peg today (~$50), and that should be that.
Now THAT's out of the way...
Feb. 22nd, 2008 @ 05:42 pm
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