MachineReason

Cycling through the Corn

2011-06-25T17:30:00.001-05:00

Howdy, any faithful viewers that may still be around. It's been awhile. To bring you up to speed, I got laid off from Pfizer, enjoyed 6 months of leisure (while getting my unemployment check taxed, thank you Government) and then found a job with a large agricultural company. In vast irony, this company is headquartered in St. Louis, but my job is in Des Moines, Iowa. Working on robots, of course. I moved up here, bought a house, and Bob's your uncle. All that happened around the beginning of 2011. Now it's nearly the end of June.

I just got back from a short ride with my new Garmin Edge 500. Mitch the Mashor indirectly introduced me to the marvel of GPS bike computer technology, and I finally took the plunge. It's great. Now I can have one computer to easily move between my numerous and varied bikes, no pesky sensors or other nonsense to worry about. It updates the speed pretty quickly...I'm not sure how they do that, being based on GPS and all. And of course I can upload rides to Garmin Connect and ponder my pitiful performance. All in all, based on one test ride, I give it two thumbs up.

As well, the test-mule for this ride was the mysterious Giant Defy 1. I bought the Giant a couple of years ago, simply because it was such a gorgeous bike. Geometry seemed good, everything seemed fine...but I never got comfortable on it. I've decided to give it another go, because it really is a nice bike. Put a new seat on it - the Arione Versus or whatever the newer one is. Seems comfy so far...albeit it was a 2mile ride around the subdivision in cargo shorts. I still think it's a nice bike, hopefully I can pin down whatever isn't "right" for me and turn it into a workhorse. It may get upgraded from Shimano 105 (triple crank, blech) to some nice SRAM Force this winter.

So there you go. I'm in Iowa. It's ok. Not the best, I still miss STL, but it's not so bad. And the bike trails can't be beat. Time to go cook some dinner. Take care dear reader, if there are any left!

Life With Corn

2011-03-16T22:05:00.000-05:00

Actually it's just a bunch of empty corn fields, as winter is just now being beat back by spring. As a quick update, I'm up in Iowa, in my new house (closed Feb 10th, thank you) and settling in. Job is going well, my first robot project is about to switch to production work, house is awesome (three car garage, yeah!) and the bike trails are as vast and asphalt-y as anyone could wish for. Seriously there must be 80+ miles of interconnected, luxuriously paved trails going every which way up here. I've even seen a few cyclists out on the roads, so it may be a popular pastime here.

Life away from my family and friends in STL has been a bit lonely, but I keep in touch and travel back down from time to time. I'll adapt, I'm still new here.

Technology in the Corn

2010-12-14T10:56:00.000-06:00

My migration to Iowa continues unabated. Realtor contacted and in motion, movers scheduled, blah blah blah. All very exciting, especially while trying to organize Christmas concurrently.

Due to the "aggressive timeline", I'll be in short-term housing for a month or two until I get into a house. During that time, my main PC (and most of my other belongings) will be in storage. The Droid is great as a miniature computer, but its small screen and tiny keyboard make casual web surfing, blog updating, and email composing less relaxing than I'd like.

Enter CostCo. They have the Acer Aspire One netbook for $300.

It fits the bill as a temporary computer perfectly! I can use the WiFi to do email, surf the web, etc. etc. with a relatively comfortable keyboard and screen. 8 hour battery life means I'm not tied to a power outlet. And then I remembered that with the latest update, the Droid can serve as a WiFi hotspot! So here's the scenario. I'm driving to Des Moines. I get the urge to update this blog. I pull into a convenient location, fire up the Droid, set it as a WiFi provider. Fire up the Acer, and POW! I am composing essays on the glory of corn in the middle of a cornfield! Oh, the delicious irony of it all...

Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of an Acer Aspire One netbook. Merry Christmas to me! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go schedule an "on-sight survey" so the movers know how much truck to bring. Carry on.

New Job

2010-12-02T19:06:00.000-06:00

Well, after a long summer of leisure, I have finally found a new job to my liking. It is in Des Moines, Iowa, about a 6 hour drive from my current home.

That's where it is. I'll be helping to develop the next generation of high-throughput robots for a well-known agricultural company in the area, should be fun. In addition to corn, Des Moines has a downtown:

They also have a nice big lake, tons of bike trails, and minimal traffic. I start on January 3rd, which leaves me little time to find a place to live and get my backside up there.

Retirement is Tiring

2010-08-10T17:54:00.001-05:00

My life of leisure is anything but. I've become brainwashed by Costco, and promptly bought some shelves and a big pile of totes to store my stuff in. Rather than merely on the floor, which is where most of it was this morning.

**Due to privacy concerns, the content of this blog section has been deleted. And by privacy, I mean my shoes. And by concerns, I mean I don't want them eaten by the dog whose tail is in the picture that was previously in this location.**

I'm still working on Colorado pictures. Hold your horses. I'm retired, it's very busy.

Update - No Time!

2010-07-28T12:41:00.000-05:00

So faithful reader(s)...it's been a while! Since my last post I was laid off from work, coincidentally started summer vacation, found a woman who tolerates me, paid off the Super Wagon, bought a motorcycle (2008 Honda CBR600RR, great-grandson of my 1992 CBR600F2), and went to Colorado for two weeks of adventure. Rafting, high-altitude hiking, rock climbing, living without plumbing (outhouse!), and great fish tacos in Salida, CO.

Someday maybe I'll post up some pictures. Right now I'm too busy enjoying my life of leisure.

Carry on!

What a Day

2010-04-17T19:59:00.000-05:00

I'm exhausted, in a good way. The day started with some cycling around the Chesterfield Valley/Wildwood areas. Nothing too extreme, just shaking out the legs. After some lunch, high-speed hiking (with an attempt at trail running thrown in to keep the heart rate up) at Lewis & Clark. Which, by the way, is in fine shape after yesterday's spotty rain. And to wrap it all up an evening paddle at Creve Coeur Lake, in my sister-in-law Amy's 12.5' boat, which has now replaced my 17' monster at the CC Lake Boathouse. Because she doesn't like my boat, and her boat is plenty capable in the placid lake environment.

I can't believe it's 8 o'clock already...where does the time go?

Quick Update

2010-04-08T21:03:00.000-05:00

Wow, over a month since the last post. Oh, well, life gets in the way. So here's a quick update.

Still employed by the Great Pharmaceutical Juggernaut, for a couple more months anyway. Today the site was handed over to the company that bought it. Tomorrow should be interesting. Also had to say goodbye to my good friend and cubicle-neighbor Gary, though I'm sure I'll see him again soon; today was his last day of employment by the Juggernaut. Their loss, he's a legend in the small world of NMR.

Regular exercise, food moderation, and riding at Babler have been improving fitness quickly, as well as burning off the flab accumulated over the winter and at work. For some reason that job made me fat, but that's all over now! It's amazing how much easier it is to climb hills on a bike now...

The Trek and the Gunnar still vie for supremacy. I'm not sure there will ever be a final decision, they are both amazing bikes in their own ways. The Trek is stiff and fast, the Gunnar is quiet and smooth. If only the Trek was quiet, it could achieve outright victory.

With warm weather being more and more frequent, my legs are feeling the burn. It's tough not to ride when the weather is this fantastic.

Trek vs. Gunnar: Throwdown at Babler

2010-03-06T21:05:00.002-06:00

So at some point I bought a Trek Madone 5.2 Project One bike, tricked out in orange with Sram Rival component group and Easton Circuit wheels. Recently it was upgraded with a set of Red shifters I had lying around:

At some later point I bought a Gunnar Roadie frame in sparkly blue from my buddy TK. It was built up by yours truly with SRAM Force components and Mavic CXP33 wheels:

The Trek is a modern bicycle of bonded carbon fiber. The Gunnar is a "new classic" bicycle handcrafted from the finest of modern steel.

My curiosity leads me to constantly compare the two. Steel vs. Carbon. On flats and moderate inclines, I could tell little difference. Both transferred my leg power to the wheels effectively, both were silky smooth. The Trek has a lot more drivetrain noise - whether this is from amplification of noise through the ginormous frame tubes, or less exacting frame alignment I cannot say. Aside from the noise, though, both are comparable.

Recently, I took each to Babler Memorial State Park with the intention of comparing them on the brutal climbs there. Grades around 20%, where pedal mashing at VO2 max is the name of the game. I do not "spin" up those hills, I grind and slog up them as best I'm able.

In the end, I'd say the Trek is marginally more efficient. It was also noticeably more stable on the high-speed (40mph is common) descents. This is not to say the Gunnar is a slouch, we're talking very fine degrees of difference. Some or all of which could easily be in my head. Except the downhill stability, which was pretty obvious...but also could be attributed to wheel or fork characteristics and not just frame material.

So which is my favorite? That's a tough call. I prefer the Gunnar's quiet ride. And the steel bike does feel "springier", and "more lively". Traits that are hard to quantify or even describe, but there you are. For all out speed the Trek holds the edge. It also weighs a couple of pounds less, which makes a difference. For longer or more leisurely rides I'd choose the Gunnar in a heartbeat.

In the end, though, I'm quite impressed with the modern steel alloy. The steel frames of yesteryear were quite noodly and flexible beneath my enormous bulk, and I wasn't sure what to expect from the Gunnar. It is astonishing how competitive it is with the aerospace marvel of carbon fiber. The Gunnar craftsmanship is miles ahead of the Trek's mass-produced but advanced technology. In the end it comes down to your style of riding. If you're racing, carbon fiber hands down. Everything else, modern steel. Or if you're really lucky, one of each.

Post Cave Debrief

2010-03-01T10:34:00.000-06:00

Saturday's ride was exactly what I was going for. Figure-8's around Babler State Park. Ride the ridge a while to warm up, then bomb down the center road and alternate veering left or right at the Y. The shorter climb to the left was manageable for me. The longer climb past the horse stables, that's the one that gets me. Past the "Y" there's a short, steep climb, then a short downhill, then the long slog back up to the ridge-top. I don't even remember half of the last time up that climb. Heart rate was close to max'd out, legs were dead, and I was thinking I should probably stop or my heart would just quit. Being an idiot, I just put my head down and thought about one pedal stroke at a time. Next thing I remember I looked up and was 20 meters from the top. Oxygen deprivation is a beautiful thing.

So beautiful, I think I'll go back on Tuesday. "Base miles" be damned.

The Pain Cave

2010-02-27T11:49:00.001-06:00

The Pain Cave is that place athletes go during particularly intense efforts. For me, the surest way to gain entry to the Pain Cave is by riding laps around Babler State Park.

The Cave starts innocently enough. "Hello, Brian, it's been awhile. Come on in." Clamber on the bike and start moving. After about 20 minutes, an eerie stillness settles in. That's the sign to start pushing it. Before long, the only noise you can hear is the roar of your lungs and the pounding of your heart. Your legs have transformed into searing, boiling lumps of lava. Your body begs, then demands that you stop. You fear your heart may just cease beating to end the misery. When you ignore all that - scream at yourself "Shut up, we're doing this" - and keep going, only then are you admitted to the Pain Cave.

It is a strange place. The agony is brutal and immediate; something you can feel, touch, examine every nuance. Horrifying, yet soothing. It consumes you: nothing exists except you and the pain, but at the same time it is remote, something outside of yourself. Everything is burned away in the fire of suffering.

The only thing that makes the Cave bearable is that you know it will stop at some point.

Most days, you use the cave to get stronger. Some days, you need the Pain Cave. The burdens become too much to bear on your own. You enter the Cave with stress, anger, frustration. You leave it calm and rejuvenated.

Today, I need the Pain Cave. I'm going there now. See you on the other side.

Recent developments...

2010-02-25T21:57:00.000-06:00

Well the winter doldrums have struck...been a while since my last update. Since then I met a great girl, who then dumped me on my birthday. With help from my best friend Christy I'm over it, don't worry.

My good friend Marty joined Facebook, which is great. At first I was leery of Facebook, but it's become a valuable tool in keeping in touch with people, and reconnecting with long-lost friends.

Another friend TK got out of the eBay business, which means I will have to find another way to pawn off my unwanted cycling gear. But he's moving on to better things, so it's all good.

This year will be a good year for cycling. I've begun shedding the winter fat a month ahead of schedule, new workouts have increased my off-season speed considerably...and events at work and in life have provided excellent rage-fueled workouts. Rage may be an exaggeration, but you know what I mean. Anger, stress, frustration: all these can be exorcised with some exercise. I could well be faster on a bike this year than ever before.

Ride on.

Reshuffling

2010-01-23T19:45:00.000-06:00

If you look closely, you'll see I've reordered my bike list. The Jake the Snake still takes top honors, although I fear for its life. Many miles on that aluminum frame. The odometer reads ~13,000 - and it got reset at some point with new batteries. May be time to retire the old boy. Probably 90% of those miles were spent on epic rides on the Katy Trail. For the past year or so, the Jake has been neglected. Too many pedestrians have overrun the Katy Trail, and it just got too boring.

And the Top Secret bike has sadly plummeted to the bottom. I don't know exactly why. On paper, its geometry nearly matches the orange Trek. It should fit. But somehow I can never get comfortable on it. I've swapped stems, changed saddles, moved the saddle around, everything. I just never "settle in" to it. It baffles me, but there it is.

Too Many Bikes

2010-01-23T19:33:00.000-06:00

I have an addiction. I buy too many bicycles, and then refuse to get rid of them. Need proof?

This is the "master bedroom". It's bad enough I rent a 2-bedroom apartment just to have room for bikes. But then they go and take over the main bedroom! I am relegated to the smaller room. While it's true all of these bikes get out and about from time to time, there's simply no rational reason to have so many. In just this photo there are three road bikes, a road frameset, a 'cross bike, a singlespeed, and a mountain bike. Like I said, it's a problem.

I theorize that the problem stems from my lack of having had a bike as a kid. My first bike was my dad's ten speed. He's about 5'11, and obviously it took me a few years to grow tall enough to ride it. The reasons for my lack of bikes is unknown. My older brother had a bike. I figure it was because I was growing so fast, my parents didn't want to buy anything that would be useless in a year or two.

So now I horde them. C'est la vie.

In other news, here's a picture of my niece M from Christmas:

She is currently going through a "lean against the wall and make faces" phase. It's quite cute, don't you think? Compare that photo to one from last Christmas:

What a difference a year makes!

Product review, winter cycling

2010-01-17T18:34:00.001-06:00

Fortunately it warmed up above freezing today, and I de-sanded myself and took the Gunnar out for a spin. A leisurely jaunt around Creve Couer Park. I'd abandoned CC Park last year, due to the masses of milling pedestrians. Sadly, even in winter the problem remains. Fewer people, but those that are there appear to enjoy standing in groups across the entire trail, and can't be bothered to move aside for anyone else.

Irritating people aside, my new Cannondale Slice balaclava performed well. It was warm enough, really, to do without. But hey, I had it and I was going to use it, right? Anyhow it kept me warm. My hair actually was a little damp after the ride, the balaclava did its job so well. Recommended.

The separate glove and liners also did well. At first I gave it a go without the liners, but my index fingers rapidly got chilled. Whipped out the liners, and was good to go. And removing/replacing my gloves for whatever reason was easy and convenient. Unlike the nightmare scenario involved with my ancient Nashbar gloves, with liner attached to gloves at the wrist. Getting the liner back into the appropriate fingers after it was even slightly damp was well-nigh impossible. Happily those days are behind me now.

And why is it that cyclists generally check out each other's ride? I notice it time and again. Meet someone on the road/trail, and more often than not they are looking at my bike. I admit my bikes are awesome, but still. It's not about the bike, as a certain famous cyclist said.

All in all a great ride. I look forward to another tomorrow, when it will allegedly be even warmer.

Not the Best Car for Snow

2010-01-10T17:55:00.005-06:00

I was out getting some stuff, and came across a Nissan 350Z having some trouble. He was trying to escape a parking lot with about 1" of snowy slush on the ground, spinning his tires frantically. What is odd is the other 2 exits from the lot were completely clear, but he seemed intent.

This is clearly not the actual car, I thought it might be rude to stop and take a picture. Rear-wheel drive, nice wide tires, and overall an excellent car. Not for the snow, though. Apparently not even a little snow.

The Super Wagon with its fresh all-season tires and all-wheel-drive barely even noticed the snow - it shines in the snow - but the 350Z fella' was having all kinds of trouble.

(not my wagon, either, but similar)

Reminds me of my old Toyota MR2 Turbo. Fantastic car 350 days of the year, but with even a hint of snow it was rendered useless. The 350Z was gone when I came back by, so he either successfully navigated out, or gave up and used one of the clear exits. I would imagine a Corvette Z06 would be similarly useless in that situation. Just sayin'.

Here are some gratuitous photos of other Super Wagons:

The Homeland

2010-01-09T01:45:00.001-06:00

I was born in Hawaii. I miss it. My Dad was in the Navy, you see. Worked on the shore gun computers, back when computers were rooms full of vacuum tubes and were programmed with yellow punch cards. We left when I was young, long ago now, but I miss it. I've been back a few times, and it is truly an amazing place. I get that "home" feeling when I step out of the airport and catch the flowery scent. With my job situation in flux, I contemplate the possibility of moving back there. Probably not Honolulu; it's expensive. But I wonder if the cost of living in some other town, or on one of the other islands, would be more reasonable. Of course I'd have to find work. I wonder how many robots need tending on an island paradise?

Hawaii is, on the other hand, kind of strange. There you are on tiny bits of land in the middle of a gigantic ocean. Anywhere you go, there's the ocean. It can be a little humbling, the size of that ocean. Makes you feel small.

I miss it. I don't know if it's just me, or a shared trait of humans in general, but the sound of the waves just feels right, down in my bones. Sounds like home. It's time to go back, if only for a little while.

New footwear, and apathy.

2010-01-07T22:23:00.001-06:00

As it happens I got the new tires on the Super Wagon just in time for the big "winter storm". A whopping, what, 3 inches of snow? In typical bizarre snow-removal fashion, the smaller streets were fine, but the bigger streets -- Olive, Chesterfield Parkway, service roads - were all but untouched. Fortunately the Super Wagon merely howled its turbo and drove along with aplomb. A few four-wheel drifts around corners, but nothing a little all-wheel-drive throttle couldn't keep under control. That's the awesome thing about all-wheel-drive...if you start to slide sideways, you just feed it more gas and it goes where you want. Good times. If it weren't for all the other drivers - many of whom are sadly clueless - I would drive all over in the snow for the sheer psuedo-rally-driving joy of it. Happily the new tires are miles ahead of the stock tires in all respects. Dry traction: yes. Wet traction: yes. Snow traction: yes. And they're quieter to boot. An interesting aspect of stickier tires is how much more effort it takes to trip the ABS...the car can stop HARD now. Before, I thought the ABS was overly-sensitive...but no, it was just the crappy stock tires losing grip at the drop of a hat.

In other news, apathy for work is rampant. It's getting harder and harder to drag myself into work, knowing that myself and 3/4 of the people around me will be out of jobs in a month or two. Today was a great example of "colleague non-engagement" as the managers would put it, as a full 1/2 of the site decided to use the dusting of snow as an excuse to stay home. I went in for a solid four hours, and felt pretty good about it.

In other other news, my post-employment plans seem to be coming together nicely. I've been batting around the idea of freelance consulting with a friend of mine for the past year or so. He co-owns an established custom laboratory robotics company out of Earth City, and we've known each other for years. Worked together at my first post-college job...which is forever and a day ago. He seems pretty keen on letting me freelance under his corporate umbrella. I don't know if there will be enough work in the area, but there's only one way to find out. Hopefully between St. Louis, Columbia, Jeff City, KC, and Chicago I ought to be able to pay the bills. Maybe Nashville, though I'm not fond of that drive. If only Monsanto would buy a pile of Tecans for me to program...

Scinomix, by the way, is packed full of geniuses. If you need a robot that doesn't exist, they can build it for you in no time at all and for a reasonable price.

New Footwear!

2009-12-30T13:22:00.000-06:00

For the Super Wagon*. The winner in the "best tire for my purposes" showdown was the Bridgestone RE960 A/S Pole Position. Sadly, they are not cheap. But according to widespread tests and word-of-mouth, they offer the best dry/wet grip with an acceptable amount of cold/snow performance. I'm too lazy to swap between summer tires and winter tires, so "Ultra High Performance All Season" it is:

The stock Bridgestone RE92's still have abundant tread, but at five years of age, there's very little grip left. No grip in the wet, or cold, or snow. And to be fair there was very little grip even when spanking new. They are not very good tires, unless endless tread life is your goal. Not so much with the stopping and the cornering. Needless to say, I'm excited to see what the Super Wagon can do with quality tires.

While getting new footwear, the Super Wagon will also be getting an alignment. It's never been aligned. Five years without an alignment. That's pretty good! The Super Wagon has a very sturdy suspension. It's shared with the Outback which was designed for light off-road use, so it has ample beefiness for asphalt. But of late the car's been wandering a bit, pulling a bit more than usual on off-camber sections, and bump-steer has gotten noticeably worse. I figure it's time.

Possibly on tap for the Spring are some suspension upgrades. Anti-roll bars, spring, and dampers. Maybe a bushing or two. Front tower brace, perhaps. If the Super Wagon has a fundamental flaw, it's the overly-soft suspension. More "wagon" than "sport". Got squat? I do.

*Super Wagon = 2005 Subaru Legacy GT Limited Wagon. One of very few sold with a manual transmission. The manual, in fact, was only offered for this one year in the wagon, so they are few and far between.

Sodastream!

2009-12-28T20:52:00.001-06:00

It was a dream that I thought unattainable. Make my own soda (a.k.a. "pop", "coke", "sodapop" etc. depending on your geographical situation) at home.

I drink a lot of soda. Orange soda, Diet Coke, Root Beer, Grape, you name it, I drink it. I'm a thirsty guy. Lugging all those cans around, gathering them up to resell the empties, what a pain in my backside.

This Christmas, I received the ultimate soda-drinker's dream: the Sodastream. You get a kitchen gadget, a CO2 canister, and soda syrup. Bang. Make your own soda. When the CO2 canister runs out, exchange it for a new one for a nominal fee. My dad ran the numbers; it's cheaper than buying your soda pre-made.

Sure, the flavors are slightly different. Sodastream uses sucralose (Splenda) rather than aspartame for the diet sweeteners. And I'm sure they can't blatantly copy Coke/Pepsi recipes...but you know what? It's pretty close. Good enough for this soda-chugging fiend. They've even got Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, and Red Bull knock-offs. If it's a flavor people drink, Sodastream probably sells a knockoff.

Check it out. It's good stuff.

Gunnar hits the road

2009-12-23T11:26:00.002-06:00

I took the Gunnar out for a leisurely shake-down cruise yesterday. It did not disappoint! These new steel alloys are literally decades ahead of the old '80's steel I grew up on. Heh heh, get it? I made a joke. It was so smooth and quiet, I thought my tires were low on air. But no, I had pumped them up to 120psi just before the ride, to accommodate the colder temperatures. The 10 pounds of Framesaver I put in there probably helped damp vibrations as well.

Here it is hanging out by the shelter along the Monarch Levee Trail. To make a better comparison to the Trek, I put a backup set of wheels on the Gunnar. The Open Pro wheels it normally sports are pretty cushy in and of themselves, so today it was wearing CXP33 with some radial lacing. Conti GP4000s tires, naturally. I really should have put the Easton wheels from the Trek on it, but couldn't be bothered.

So, yes. Smooth and quiet. Just like the frames of yesteryear. Not at all like the smooth but rattly and noisy Trek carbon fiber. But, in a huge improvement over the frames of The Day, it doesn't waggle the back end under heavy pedal mashing. Not that I was doing much of that; we'll have to see how it fares around the hills of Babler.

And in another first, I used the Droid to track the ride. It had some issues. Worked great, technically. But, I stopped in at the LBS to show off the bike (thanks for the assembly help Jim!) and the Droid decided I was still moving at 1-2mph that whole time. Kind of dragged down the average speed, haha. The Cardiotrainer folks admit they have some work to do around the GPS tracking. However, as a bike computer I wouldn't recommend the Droid. You can't really use it while riding, so no real-time feedback. And it's not meant to be out in the weather like that.

Also my first attempts at Droid "screenshots". I apologize, they're not that good. The Droid is so bright it washed out a bit. But it's better than nothing, right?

This is the map screen, showing my path.

And this is the home screen. I love the "Droid Eye", haha. Is there a resemblance to any infamous computer of the past? There are two other main screens you can get to by swiping side to side. Plenty of screen real estate, but I like to keep the main screen clear so the Droid can keep an eye on things. The four buttons along the bottom are actual (sort of) buttons. "Actual" in that they are physically there. "Sort of" because all you have to do is touch them, you don't press them; there's no mechanical action. Back, menu, home, and search. The Droid is awesome.

So there you go. Everything I own rocks. The Gunnar rocks, the Droid rocks. The Trek may find itself relegated to rain duty, we'll see. When you're as fat as I am, the extra couple pounds of the Gunnar don't really make a difference...and it sure is quiet.

Note: If any of the mysterious viewers of my blog would like more Droid photos, let me know. I'll try and optimize the picture settings. If no one cares, I won't bother.

Second note: Due to a now-infamous thread on StL Biking, I feel compelled to let everyone know how rich I am not. The Gunnar frame was second-hand. Kind of. The Droid was new at $200, but with 2 years of indentured service to Verizon. And if you read the fine print, early termination will cost you a kidney*. I have never hit, nor been hit by, a cyclist. And I drive a relatively cheap station wagon. It is, make no mistake, the Super Wagon, but cost-wise it doesn't compare to say a Z06 Corvette. Just off the top of my head.

* Even the FCC has questioned Verizon's exorbitant early-termination fee. Verizon said, politely, "Eat it. We'll do what we want."

Wheel dreams

2009-12-19T18:16:00.000-06:00

For many years, I've wanted to learn how to build bicycle wheels. I've decided now is the time. And I've devised a diabolical plan, as well. You see, I've also been interested in the H.E.D. extra-wide rims. Rounding off the tire profile makes sense to me. It's what GP motorcycles do, and look at them go around corners! So my initial plan, if I can find the rim, is to build some wheels out of these:

The Velocity Chukker. Made for the hipster bike polo crowd, but I like the 24mm rim width, as opposed to the normal 19mm width. Throw some 25mm tires on there and bam. The only potential downsides are A) have to widen the brake calipers; 2) non-machined sidewalls -- hipsters don't use brakes; d) they seem hard to find. It might be a tight fit on some of my bikes, have to wait and see.

Figure I'll snag "The Bicycle Wheel" by that Jobst Brandt fellow, and go from there.

The Axe has Fallen

2009-12-17T16:38:00.001-06:00

Yep. I "will not be part of the organization, going forward." Intelligence reports indicate I'll remain employed until sometime between April and October. After that, I'll probably try my hand at independent consulting. Anyone need a Tecan programmed? I can even write the software to help tie it into your LIMS system. And originally I was a molecular biologist, so I can understand your assay and automate it. It's what I do.

And yes, if you read the previous post, you'll see that (very) recently an email stated that we wouldn't know until first quarter of next year. That's my employer for you. Very keen on abrupt changes.

The Axe Draws Nigh

2009-12-15T21:37:00.000-06:00

Well ok maybe not. Actually I've received an email from management stating that decisions about peon's jobs (i.e. my job) will be communicated in first quarter of 2010. So I've got that going for me; complete ignorance of my job's status until sometime between January and March of next year. Reminds me of cable company appointments. The email was as informative and concise as the normal management communication. It took about 3 screens of corporate gibberish to inform me that I wouldn't know if I had a job for 1-4 months. But I was abundantly, repeatedly, and emphatically reassured that they respect me, care for me, feel my pain, and that I should keep working my fingers to the bone for the good of the company until told to stop.

Sadly, I got a call from a friend of mine - he was given the boot today. Seemed pretty upbeat about it. It's always a slap in the face to be told your company doesn't want you around anymore. But how sad is it when a majority of people are happy to get laid off, and actually want to get out as soon as possible?

In other news, the Droid continues to delight. I had to go to Catholic Supply the other day for a gift for my sister-in-law. First, the Droid told me where it was and guided me there. Upon arriving, I had forgotten the particulars of what I was after. Droid to the rescue! Pull up the email gift suggestions, review, and bam I'm on my way with a bag full of Christmas joy. The daily utility of such a powerful device is hard to describe. Truly a lifestyle changing technology. And Verizon didn't even pay me to say that.

Droid Navigation

2009-12-07T22:34:00.001-06:00

I tinkered with the Droid's navigation function today. It uses the GPS in combination with Google Maps and the 3G network to deliver spoken turn-by-turn directions, with the usual mapping functions, searches, and whatnot you'd expect from a dedicated car GPS. It has a few added features courtesy of Google, such as voice search and street view. The street view is nice, but not really all that useful while driving - too distracting.

Photo courtesy of here

All in all, it works great. It's not as sophisticated as my Garmin Nuvi. Not as fast to update and reroute, the screen isn't as big. The Droid made some odd navigation choices, but would have gotten me to my destination. It also lacks a night mode, failing to emulate the Garmin's switch from white to black background after the sun has set. Did I mention Google Navigation is free, and part of a device that can do very nearly everything except tie your shoes. It could, however, display instructions on *how* to tie your shoes if you so desire.

The one big, big drawback to relying on the Droid solely for navigation is the fact that you must be in a 3G coverage area for it to work. No internal storage of maps. It would be nice to be able to put a few gigabytes of maps on the phone. If you find yourself lost on the steppes of Siberia, I would imagine it wouldn't be much help. Or maybe it would, I'm not really up on 3G coverage in Siberia.

Another quick mention of the voice search feature. It continues to astonish me. Astonishingly good, that is. I don't know how it does what it does, but it works every time. And I don't feel my enunciation is all that great, either. "Navigate to Target" and bam, it's navigating you to the nearest Target store. "Map of St. Louis" and pow a map of St. Louis is on the screen. "Call Jimmy Joe Bob" and the phone pops up, requiring only the press of a button to call Jimmy Joe Bob. And the most useful search: "STLbiking.com" and STLbiking.com shows up in the browser for your reading pleasure. That's right. Hit the voice search button, and say "Ess-Tee-Ell biking dot com" and you're there. It's just that easy.

Win.

Cardiotrainer Part the Second

2009-12-06T18:22:00.000-06:00

Well I took the Droid out for a walk today. Two walks, actually. I wanted to give "Cardiotrainer" a real-world try. After a vigorous stroll to the Post Office, I discovered to my dismay that I'd had the program in "indoor" mode, so all it did was monitor my steps and time and infer a distance. Naturally, after correcting my mistake, I headed out again to the Post Office. Round trip, 0.85 miles. 14:45.7 minutes:seconds. 69 yards (? I guess yards are cool for walkers?) of elevation gain. Average speed 3.5mph. I know all this, courtesy of the Droid. It shows a map and all the various statistics. I tried to go online and check out the website to which my tracks are allegedly uploaded...but it's down. C'est la vie for a free program, I suppose.

You may be asking yourself...aren't you a cyclist? Or at least like to pretend? Why are you walking, like a common caveman? Well I'll tell you. I like to walk. You see more, you can jam out to music, and - let's face it - it is impossible to be so far away from home that you can't just...um...walk back if you encounter trouble. The worst "mechanical" is an untied shoelace; easily remedied without carrying tools and performing roadside repairs in the freezing cold.

I have to admit, I'm being a weenie this year for unknown reasons. Typically I have no trouble gearing up and going riding in the cold. Historically I ride through the winter, at least whenever its above 20 degrees. For whatever reason I'm just not getting up the gumption this year. Maybe it's the fancy new indoor trainer. Why go outside in the cold when I can pedal to nowhere while watching TV? It will, inevitably, end. I can already feel the stir-craziness...stirring.

Guilty!

2009-12-04T12:28:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned previously, the front brake nut on my Ouzo fork was cracked. I didn't notice it upon installation, and you'd think I would have. I don't think I torqued it down very much at all. Just enough to snug down the brake caliper and a bit extra to hold it against vibration. But: cracked. A clean, complete longitudinal crack the length of the nut.

The replacement nut showed up today. No cracks. Installed, no cracks. The best I can figure is I didn't insert the allen key deep enough into the deeeeeeep recess, and applied too much of a point load to one of the corners. That's where the crack is, though it's impossible to see in this photo. Suspicious. Or maybe it was just one of those things, a flaw in manufacturing.

I don't like it when fasteners fail. Especially something as vital as the front brake! Would it have worked? Probably. The worst side-effect of this particular crack would probably have been a self-loosening nut. But, you know, the front brake is pretty important. And with the nut now able to expand, maybe it would have damaged the carbon fork that surrounds it. Too risky for me. So now there's a new, non-cracked nut in place. Rest assured I will be keeping a close eye on it.

Now I'm just waiting on some miscellaneous small parts from the LBS, and the Gunnar will be road-worthy.

Cardiotrainer

2009-12-03T19:52:00.000-06:00

The Droid phone continues to astound me. All that technology and capability in such a tiny little device! One of the apps I just downloaded - and will try tomorrow - is "Cardiotrainer". It uses the GPS and accelerometers to track your location and, if running or jogging, your steps. It then does various analysis, can upload to a website, or even post to Facebook.

It will even provide you with voice-prompts. Time intervals, speed intervals, and a "race-against-yourself" feature which will compare your current track to a previous track, and tell you how far ahead or behind you are.

The only downside I've noticed so far is the snooty British man voice. I miss the sultry Garmin GPS babe voice: "Please drive the indicated route....recalculating. Please drive the indicated route...recalculating. You are such a man, you never listen to me. Recalculating, you ignorant SOB. Drive where I tell you!"

So far, it looks like it's only available for Android phones. But if you're cool, you have one so this is not a problem. I'm sure the iPhone has plenty of similar apps, if you're into that whole iPhone thing.

Have too much money?

2009-12-03T18:32:00.002-06:00

There's a company willing to take it from you. Especially if ceramic bearings on your bike don't quench your non-metallic bike lust.

How about ceramic cable housings? You heard me. And the price? A paltry $250. Yeah. Sadly, I don't have too much money, so I will not be buying them.

Now, aside from the tires, tubes, and cables...you could theoretically build an entire bike from non-metallic material! Get to it! You will go faster, I promise. I'm surprised no one has made a ceramic chain now that I think about it...

In other news, the Gunnar is now attached to my indoor trainer. It's smooth, and definitely stiffer than the ancient Trek 560 which used to do trainer duty. I'm trying that new "ergo-compact" or whatever handlebar bend...can't say I'm overly impressed, but I'll wait to pass judgment until I get some road miles with it. I'm starting to think I prefer deep-drop traditional bend bars. Does that make me a retro-grouch? Deep drop because of my giant paws. Traditional because sometimes I feel like having my hands behind the levers, and sometimes I want them parallel to the ground.

Gunnar all but done!

2009-11-29T13:12:00.002-06:00

The Gunnar is all but finished. A few odds and ends (paint protectors, new brake nut, neat seat collar) and it will be road-worthy.

This, when just a few weeks ago it was a lonely, bare frame without even a headset or fork. Here it is having Framesaver applied...that glorious waxy rustproofer:

I have to say I really love building bikes. My perfectionist ways take far too much time to work at it professionally, but I love it anyway. I re-wrapped the bars three times, and re-tensioned the derailleur cables at least twice each to attain shifting perfection. Not good when you're racing against the clock, haha.

Gunnar nearly done!

2009-11-28T22:39:00.000-06:00

Well my long-term winter project is nearly complete. Once I get started building a bike, it's ON!, regardless of my initial intentions.

Everything is on. Still need to wrap the bars, slap on some pedals and adjust the drivetrain. Seatpost collar is the wrong size...30.0 and I need a 28.6. It clamps, mostly, but the collar is all closed up. The Salsa Lip-Lock is a nice seatpost collar, though! Detail of the rear triangle:

And the front end. Upon greasing, I noticed the Reynolds brake nut was cracked! It's on there, just holding the brake in place, but probably not a good idea to actually use the brakes. Hopefully the local bike shop can set me up.

With our globally-warmed winter going on, I should have plenty of opportunity to ride the new bike in above-freezing weather. 65 degrees after Thanksgiving...it's absurd!

Gunnar crank, brakes

2009-11-27T21:31:00.001-06:00

Got the crank, derailleurs, and brakes onto the frame now. I'll save the chain and cabling for tomorrow. I'm too exhausted by my niece to focus properly. Chain installation and cable routing is no joke!

If you look closely, you'll see that I haven't adjusted the brake pads...or tightened down the saddle. Nor have I really fixed the brakes to final torque. What can I say, I'm tired. But it's looking more like a bike. I must give credit to Gunnar, the craftsmanship on the frame is outstanding. The normal bikes I build require a little tweaking and finesse to make everything fit right. Not on this frame, everything just bolts right up. A little trouble with the Force cranks. Using the included spacers as the instructions say, the crank seized against the frame when even remotely tightened. Removed the spacers, and all was well. So much for following instructions.

In other news a shout out to my friend Ryan. He just bought his first road bike, the excellent Cannondale CAAD9 4, with Sram Force/Rival group. I've seen pics, it's a sweet ride.

Gunnar - a slight delay, but back on track

2009-11-27T18:40:00.000-06:00

After a little break for malaise-induced apathy, the Gunnar work is set to continue. After returning from (yet another, and final) T-day feast, I was surprised to see a package on my doorstep. The last of the Gunnar bits have arrived! I think the last, anyway, unless I forgot something.

Perhaps I will put some stuff on it and post up some pics later tonight. Later, at any rate. My adorable niece "M" wore me out today. I don't know how my brother/sister-in-law do it day after day! She still enjoys making me run up and down hills chasing her ball. I think she kicks it downhill on purpose, then looks at me like "well heck, it's easier for you to go get it than for me, I'm 1!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ted's Montana Grill

2009-11-22T19:52:00.000-06:00

In Indianapolis, there's a restaurant called "Ted's Montana Grill", started up by Ted Turner the TV guy and some other restaurant guy. Apparently it's quite "eco-friendly". All I know is they had paper straws, which were kind of cool. Mysterious how they don't become soggy, but cool. It's a nice place, down-homey kind of atmosphere. Lots of wood, dim lighting, kind of Outback Steakhouse-y without the Outback.

I've been craving their onion rings lately. You may think you've had onion rings. They're oniony, and ringy. But the onion rings at Ted's are on a whole other level. As it happens, there's also a Ted's in Kansas City. Also some scattered around Chicago. None in St. Louis. Indy is about 5 hours away, Chicago about 5, KC about 4. Six of one, half-dozen of the other. I'm thinking it's road trip time. The Super Wagon needs to roam free. This weekend is Thanksgiving, so that's out. Maybe next weekend? Then again, 8 hours of my life for onion rings...maybe I should re-think this.

Anyone know where to get some good onion rings locally? Thick, tasty, cooked just right. I don't want raw onion, and I don't want onion that's cooked into oblivion. Help me out, save some gas. Do it for Ted Turner, he's "green." Apparently. He uses paper straws.

Droid is mine!

2009-11-19T21:55:00.001-06:00

Yes, well, now I have one. I couldn't resist. Really, the cost of a Droid is nothing compared to the cost of cycling. And my current employer gets me a 21% discount on the plan fees, and 25% off accessories. It would be foolish not to take advantage of that while I can, right? At any rate I have one. After a few hours of using it, I love it. Intuitive, fast and smooth. I've already downloaded some apps to make my life better.

Mostly games, to keep me occupied at work while the scientific research at the site slowly dwindles to nothing...at least until the new owners move in. And the "lightsaber" app, so I can pretend I'm Darth Vader. Stupid, but strangely alluring. The Droid has a dark side...

Hopefully tomorrow I will start putting more parts on the Gunnar. I've been distracted by general malaise...possibly caused by my impending unemployment.

Droid

2009-11-18T22:39:00.000-06:00

Since I anticipate being out of a job soon, why not buy a fancy new high-zoot phone? That's how my brain works, don't question it. This is what I'm thinking of...the Motorola/Google/Verizon Droid. It does nearly everything, as near as I can tell. GPS navigation? Yep. Music, video, camera? Yep. Phone calls? I hope so. Texting, Facebook, Twitter? Yup. Web surfing, antigravity, faster than light travel? But of course.

I also hear that if you hold it up to someone's head just right, it will read their thoughts and display them on screen. How neat is that? The government will love it! And it can land a plane in a pinch.

Gunnar Rolls On

2009-11-16T18:56:00.002-06:00

As you can see, some progress was made on the Gunnar today. I snuck out of work to take the bike up to Ghisallo, where Jim again did some outstanding work. Cut the steer tube, installed the compression plug, ordered some miscellaneous tidbits for me. Front derailleur clamp, black seatpost clamp, brake cables. I expect that by this weekend all the pieces will fall into place, and I can start final assembly. Not that I'm in any hurry, as the monsoon appears to be back in town this week.

See that saddle on there? Riders "of a certain age" might recognize it. You know you are jealous. It's ok. Really. I'm sure your saddle is just fine.

Gunnar continues

2009-11-15T10:04:00.003-06:00

I put on some spare wheels and tires, and acquired a stem and bars from the local bike shop. Starting to look more like a bike! Next steps are to cut the steer tube and install the compression plug to hold the front end together. I have a seatpost and saddle for it from another bike.

As my slow and methodical scouring of eBay continues, I happened to run across an interesting tidbit. A Sram Force group, with a price a little above the general rate. Reading carefully, they had a paragraph about Sram's "Minimum Advertised Price" policy, and how any price lower than theirs was in violation of this policy and the parts would not be warranted. They never actually came out and said it, but the clearly, even emphatically implied message was that I should "Make an Offer" to get a better deal. Is this "Minimum Advertised Price" policy just a farce to try and fool people? A crafty ploy? I don't know. But it's interesting, our world. Sneaky subterfuge abounds.

In other news, my niece "M" continues to amaze and astound. It's shocking how fast she learns. She has figured out how to communicate what she wants pretty effectively and walks pretty confidently, and continues to learn how to make noises which are ever more similar to language. Are all babies that smart? I have no idea, but it's incredible. I am happy to say I'm not as afraid of her as before. I was afraid the gentlest touch would snap a rib or something. But she's pretty tough.

I am a giant jungle-gym to her, she gets great joy from climbing around on her giant Uncle B. Cutest thing in the world.

Gunnar Build, headset and fork

2009-11-12T20:14:00.002-06:00

I used my homemade headset press to install the headset, and the kind folks at Ghisallo (thanks Jim!) put on the crown race for me. I don't have a slide hammer, you see, and setting a crown race requires one. I'd imagine you could jimmy it, but why take the chance?

Homemade headset press.

Chris King, naturally.

The fork. Reynolds Ouzo Pro, with crown race freshly installed. 43mm trail, if you were wondering.

Together. Time to measure and cut the fork!

Note the color-coordination of the fork stripe and Gunnar logo. I'm so fashionable, it hurts.

Unfortunately I'm out of parts again. And due to my pending unemployment, this is going to have to be done on the cheap. Off to scour eBay...

Wondering...

2009-11-10T20:18:00.000-06:00

Is the threat of losing your job in 6-8 months worse than losing your job instantly? I don't know. Either way it bites.

I am drinking a "Full Moon" beer. And I don't even drink. It all started Friday with an innocent six-pack of Bud Light from the gas station. It will have to stop soon before it becomes a habit...I have enough beer gut as it is, without the additional burden of actually drinking beer.

Update! Safe for now

2009-11-09T21:47:00.001-06:00

Well the Big Day has come and gone. I didn't get the immediate boot, nor -- I think -- did anyone else. Sold the campus to another company, though, and announced 600-800 layoffs next year. I imagine, based on the reorganization, that I will be among them. Very high probability. But that's at least a few months down the road.

Maybe I can find a low-sodium Ramen. I used to subsist on Ramen in college. You might think that's a joke, but its not. Ramen is good stuff. Throw a little chicken in there. Maybe mix in some veggies. It's very cost-effective! Apparently somewhere they have Ramen vending machines...

Poetry

2009-11-09T08:13:00.000-06:00

Poised on the brink of the Abyss,
the lion meets the vacant gaze of the hunter's rifle.

What do you think? I'm off to learn my fate. Maybe I'll retire to a cabin in South Dakota and write poetry, heh heh.

"Vacant gaze"? C'mon, that's good stuff! Hunter as the soulless corporate masters wielding supreme power? Genius! South Dakota, I hear its nice and quiet up there.

And So it Begins

2009-11-08T21:08:00.000-06:00

Word on the street is that tomorrow is the Big Day for site closure and reorganization announcements at my job. Further rumor was that the Powers That Be were meeting today from 4-8pm to discuss things. Sure enough, I received a meeting invitation at 8:37pm today to "discuss details" of the reorganization.

Based on the size of the meeting room, sheer speculation, and gut instinct, it doesn't look good. But don't worry about me, I'll be alright. A lot of my coworkers, though, will be up a creek. And for them I am very nervous.

Rattling around the hovel

2009-11-07T19:01:00.003-06:00

Word on the street is that Monday, we at my place of employment will find out about site closures and possibly gain more insight into the probabilities of losing our jobs. Possibly because of this, I find myself at loose ends this evening, rattling around by myself. Fortunately, I have a new bike to play with.

Opportunities are limited, though. All I have so far is the frame. Not even a fork, nor a headset. They're on order, but it'll be a few days. I do, however, have a can of trusty Framesaver about. I seized the opportunity to apply the first coat:

It's a very sparkly bike. Metallic with a capital "M". True Temper Platinum OX steel, one of the "new breed" of steel alloys that gains strength in the weld zone. What that does in the heat-affected zone near the weld, as far as losing temper, I couldn't tell you. I'm no metallurgist. I figured with my fleet of 20 year old steel bikes, I owed it to myself to try out this modern steel. An opportunity presented itself - steel frames in my size at below-retail price do not come along too often - and I pounced. After a week or two of hemming and hawing, but pouncing nonetheless. The sparkly paint is little too blingy for my tastes, but its growing on me. It will look better with some parts on it, no doubt. Right now there's nothing to distract you from the bling-tastic paint.

If I feel motivated, maybe I'll put up pictures of each build step. We'll see how my motivation holds up. I have a King headset in black sotto voce (i.e. discrete branding) and a Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork on order. I was lucky to stumble upon an Ouzo Pro on eBay with the non-integrated crown, the only one I could find. Pounced again, with only a two or three day delay for contemplation. Kind of a slow-motion, very deliberate pounce, if you will.

Stay tuned. I have a sneaking suspicion that I have too many bicycles. Some may go up for sale at some point. Maybe.

Stress

2009-11-05T20:39:00.001-06:00

I like to think I'm a fairly mellow guy. Sure I get angry at bad or unsafe drivers. Rude people irritate me. But mostly I just roam around doing my thing.

Except the past couple of months at work. Normally I don't get too riled up about work. My job is pretty easy, after all. I'm not getting shot at, no IED's to worry about, and if I'm feeling under the weather or just not in the mood, I'm pretty free to just call it a day and go home. But the past few months have been special. My extremely vast employer has bought another nearly-as-vast company, and announced that at the end of it all 30% of the combined juggernaut will be out on the streets. That's a lot of people. Will they close the St. Louis site? Maybe. Will hordes of people be unemployed, even if they keep the site open? Without doubt. The best part about it, for sure, is that the VP's all patted each other on the back and gave each other million dollar bonuses...and used tax-payer money for 1/3 of the buyout money. Classy.

Mostly I'd be okay with that. Rich people get richer and screw everyone else. That's capitalism. I'd likely have to leave St. Louis to find work, but that's ok. I have no dependents to worry about, and I can always forage for food if need be. But many people around me at work are absolutely bat-sh*t crazy. Freaking out. Weeping in the hallways. Collapsing in sobs in meetings. Howling about the unfairness of it all. And they haven't even been given the boot yet. I can sympathize. If you've been at a company for decades, have kids to feed and put through college, would like to retire within your lifetime...that can be stressful. Unfortunately the stress rubs off on me.

Unsubstantiated rumor on the street is that site closure announcements will be revealed Monday. I don't expect the St. Louis site to be closed entirely...which unfortunately means several more months of stress and sobbing coworkers until our individual final fates are handed down. At least until the next buyout/merger/reorganization...

In other news, my niece is still ridiculously cute. She was candy corn for Halloween.

"Yo! Give me some candy!"

A day at Creve Coeur Park

2009-11-01T20:31:00.003-06:00

Today I spent a good chunk of time at Creve Coeur Park. First, drop off a pair of surplus cycling shoe covers to someone who will actually use them. He was doing the running race portion of the Bubba Cyclocross race. I watched part of the running race, and handed over the shoe covers. Next up was some kayaking. The weather was perfect - cool but not cold, windy but not too windy. Water condition was ideal with some decent wind chop for entertainment. And too cold for the stupid Asian Carp to be jumping about and menacing my boat.

A couple hours later, I returned my trusty 'yak to its berth. I proceeded back to the Bubba race area, where I watched my first cyclocross race. It was brutal, and I was just watching. Tires coming off rims, people falling over from exhaustion. An hour of anaerobic misery. I had arranged to meet TK to look at a steel bicycle frame he was selling. I planned to meet him before the race, so as he wouldn't be exhausted, but I was on the water too long for that. Fortunately TK has inexhaustible energy, and was still game to show me the frame after the one hour of hell he'd just endured. It's a nice frame. A little on the sparkly side, but I bought it anyway. Winter project, you see. It's "new steel", which I've been wanting to try. As opposed to the rest of my "old steel" bicycles from the '80s. Bare frame, which means I'll need to find a fork and do the complete assembly myself. Should be fun.

I had an encounter while on the water. "Jason" hailed me from the shore, so I paddled over to see what was up. He had a wood strip boat, which he'd built himself. I was impressed; that's no easy feat. He asked if I wanted to paddle. No, sorry, I was finishing my boating for the day, off to watch the bike races. Then he talked about mountain biking. Then we talked about my boat. He seemed quite intent on talking to me, and I have no idea why. I'm really not that exciting to talk to.

Now I'm home. A little sunburned on the face, but not bad, considering.

*bonus tale of boating blunder: My kayak is narrow. 17' long, 22" wide. It's made for moving efficiently on the open ocean, it's a little overkill on a mellow lake. In kayaking with such a long boat, it's helpful to "heel" the boat, tilting it to one side or the other with your hips, to aid in turning. This lifts the bow and stern out of the water, and helps it to "carve" a turn. Trouble is, my boat is so low to the water, and so narrow, that I can easily heel it to the point that the edge of the cockpit goes under water. Normally, you have a spray skirt on, and there's no problem. Today, I did not have a spray skirt. So that water just came right on in the boat with me and made itself at home, dousing my pants in the process. Note to self: do not practice extreme heeling maneuvers without a spray skirt.

Cars

2009-10-28T19:56:00.007-05:00

Unfortunately a dude I know got me thinking about cars. The WRX STi, the non-existent Legacy GT Wagon; and the car I almost bought, the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII. This video demonstrates a few of the car's capabilities...

And here's some WRC action for your amusement. Those cars are not fooling around.

In my opinion, World Rally Championship drivers are the best drivers in the world. If you listen carefully, you can hear the rattling engine sound of the anti-lag. The car injects raw fuel into the exhaust, which ignites and the explosion keeps the turbo spun up while the car shifts gears. Turbo lag? Not so much.

My niece is cuter than yours

2009-10-25T21:38:00.001-05:00

As proof, here is niece "M" inside a water heater box. She is quite the artiste, don't you think? Mischievous Uncle Brian is making strange faces at the far end; "M" brings out the strange faces in my normally stoic visage...

Yow, that was a doozy

2009-10-21T20:29:00.000-05:00

I have been sick. Rarely do I get knock-down, drag-out sick. Allergies, sure. Raging sinus headaches that would kill a bull from time to time. This last one was something else. I don't know if it was swine flu, or regular flu, or a small outbreak of Ebola, but it's been bad news around the bthoss abode the past week. Headaches, fever, grinding fatigue, endless sleep, coughing, nausea, you name it. The worst part, though, was the "muscle ache". People say "muscle ache" alongside the flu and I figure it's like after a hard bike ride or something. I'm here to tell you, no it's not. It's like someone took a freaking baseball bat to very nearly every inch of my body. I imagine wheat being ground into flour feels much the same thing. It was pretty much all I could manage to crawl out of bed and into the shower periodically, maybe hobble to the kitchen for some food. Fortunately I had an ample Diet Coke supply on hand, so I had that going for me.

Am I whining? Sure. Do I have to go back to work tomorrow? Yes. Do I want to? No. The sad thing is, I'm usually pretty hygienic. Trained biologist, see, we're supposed to know how to keep germs and stuff off us. Wash the hands, avert face and hold breath if someone nearby sneezes or coughs, the usual. Somehow this one snuck by and got me. And I have no idea who gave it to me! I can't think of any biohazard close calls in the past week. Must have been a shopping cart. Those things are nasty.

So, you know, watch out. And if you feel yourself getting sick, don't try to fool yourself and keep going like normal. Crawl into bed and hope you fend it off before it really gets its claws into you. Stay healthy out there.

Decisions...

2009-10-19T11:40:00.000-05:00

My sport-utility bicycle, the venerable Kona Jake the Snake, has a problem. Last year if you recall my Michelin Jets developed a hole in them the size of the Grand Canyon. Being pretty much worn out, I replaced the pair with Continental Twisters. Thinking the big ol' knobbies would be good for the Katy Trail.

Turns out I was wrong. The big ol' knobbies are just a giant pain in my ass. Buzzy on the road, buzzy on the Katy. Buzzy everywhere but grass, which I wouldn't know much about because I rarely ride on grass.

So now I'm thinking of putting some Contintenal Contacts on there, or at any rate something a little smoother. Tires. They're very important.

New Bike Dreams

2009-10-07T23:37:00.001-05:00

Yup, I have a problem. I love to acquire bicycles. Especially over the winter. Now I'm eyeballing this Trek. The SoHo. Why? No good reason.

My Cannondale has been performing flawlessly as a commuter. Ridiculously low gears, big smooth wheels, disc brakes. Rear rack with awesome Arkel panniers -- they're Canadian! -- for hauling my stuff. No complaints.

But the Trek has a freaking BELT DRIVE! How cool is that? Maybe not cool at all, but I must experience it myself to find out, right? And it has an 8-speed internally-geared hub. I like that. No derailleur hanging out in the wind, waiting to get crunched. No ice buildup in the winter jamming the chain.

The Trek has one potentially deal-breaking flaw. Roller brakes. Back in the day, roller brakes did not have a good reputation. Hopefully they've improved. Or maybe I can sweet talk Trek into building me a version with disc brakes, or at least conventional caliper brakes. Anyone out there familiar with the new Shimano Alfine/Nexus roller brakes? Do they work?

If I do wind up buying a new commuter, the C-dale will likely go. And maybe the IRO singlespeed. And I should probably pawn off one or two others, just for good measure. Fortunately I know a guy who pawns stuff on eBay, because I'm too lazy to do it myself.

Penn Station

2009-10-07T23:25:00.001-05:00

I love me some Penn Station. Delicious hot subs, and equally delicious french fries. Sadly, the staff at the local store down in Chesterfield Valley (the longest strip mall in the U.S., by the way. Officially.) recognize me now. While that may seem sad and pathetic, it actually works out pretty well. They give me stuff. Extra fries. Coupons. The occasional cookie.

Tuesday night is free sub night. Buy a sub, get a free small sub. You should go.

*disclaimer: I don't work there, and other than random perks I get no kickbacks for this endorsement. I just like the food. And since I like them, you should too.

My niece, "M"

2009-10-01T21:41:00.001-05:00

Ah, how time flies. In less than a year "M" has grown from a curious, immobile, bow-entranced infant to a rambunctious, curious, sneakily smiling walking machine. Above she is checking out the houses at Faust Park on a recent photo shoot. She was amazed by the small wooden bridge there, and kept walking from one end to the other. Cute.

Diabolical Winter Plans

2009-09-30T22:49:00.004-05:00

So I took the singlespeed up to the Post Office tonight. I finally admitted to myself that it is, in fact, too small. 59cm was the biggest frame IRO offered back in The Day. Uh, four years ago?

Anyway, now vague plans of a bizarre utility bike are stirring in my brain. Something involving a Shimano Nexus 8-speed internally geared hub perhaps, and fenders. And probably a rear rack.

Speaking of strange bikes, the Surly Pugsley has always intrigued me:
Big ol' massive low-pressure tires for floating on any surface and absorbing any bump. Not a "high speed commuter" by any means, but it would be worth it just to roll into work on one of these. Arriving on a bicycle seems to mystify enough people, but to roll in on a Pugsley would send people running for the hills. Security would lock down the site, thinking I was an alien/terrorist mutant hybrid on steroids.

Which reminds me...

2009-09-29T21:35:00.002-05:00

I wonder...are there any "fast" cyclists who are mouth-breathers? Do the sinus membranes absorb any oxygen into the blood, thus increasing VO2 max? I am most definitely not in the "fast" category, and am primarily a mouth breather. At rest I preferentially breathe through my nose, but congestion or the slightest elevation in heart rate requires a switch to mouth breathing.

Feel free to chime in.

Careful what you wish for!

2009-09-29T21:14:00.002-05:00

Yes, well, these new drugs appear to be working. So well, in fact, that I can see what appears to be a polyp up inside my left sinuses. Formerly obstructed by bloated tissue. White spongy, floppy looking thing up in there, as opposed to the rest of the fleshy-looking structures around it. That's going to have to come out at the talented hands of Dr. Druck, no doubt about it.

I am happy to report that although I still have only limited nose-breathing capabilities, at one day post-steroids my sinuses are much improved. Although I do have some weird heart palpitations/high blood pressure, so have to keep an eye on that. Could just be from the withdrawal of the 'roids. Current meds are: Zyrtec (morning); Nasonex (evening); Xyzal (evening); Benadryl (as needed). I'm sleeping much better, thank you. I may switch the Zyrtec and Xyzal, or discontinue the Zyrtec altogether. Although they are different mechanisms of action...but anyway we'll see. Cross your fingers.

In other news, I've "flipped" my flip-flop IRO Jamie Roy over to the fixed-gear side. Just to mix it up. I kind of like the direct-drive action. Don't worry, though, it still has a full complement of brakes, fenders, and regular drop bars. I am in no danger of becoming a hipster. I'm far too old for that, anyway.

Go Time

2009-09-25T22:32:00.004-05:00

It's never fun to be locked in battle with your own body. Granted, it's not what you'd call a life or death struggle. Allergies. I've officially declared war. This won't end until my nose starts behaving itself...or else winter sets in.

Wednesday I went to see the kind and talented Dr. Norman S. Druck, my sinus surgeon. I told him I was fed up with a lifetime of sneezing, stuffiness, lack of sleep, and everything else that's bad about allergies. He agreed to a prudently headlong assault on my overactive immune system.

So here I sit. Hopped up on a multitude of medications. But happily breathing through my nose as humans were meant to. Will it last? Maybe. If not, Dr. Druck has a prescription pad and endoscopic surgery tool up his voluminous sleeves.

Freaking nose. It's go time.

Misery in Missouri

2009-09-19T18:51:00.003-05:00

I have allergies. And sinus issues. Not real bad allergies, like the kind that will kill you. And I had an operation several years ago to manage the worst of the sinus issues. But they're still there, and they're at their worst in the Fall. Like yesterday. Yesterday was quite possibly one of the worst allergy days I've had in years. Nose running like a faucet, no airflow, sneezing so much that now my throat hurts.

So I assaulted my own immune system with a multifaceted offense. Nasalcrom, Zyrtec, saline sinus washes. Things improved. Then I pulled out the big gun: Benadryl. This age-old antihistamine works great for me, but has the unfortunate side-effect of drowsiness. Serious drowsiness. You know that "Tylenol PM" that you take to curb a headache and help you sleep? Yeah that's Benadryl in there putting you to sleep. Diphenhydramine HCl if you're into that sort of thing.

But it works. So now I am shuttered in my apartment, fearful of pollen and ragweed, HEPA filters on high, groggy and sleepy. But my nose isn't running, I'm not sneezing uncontrollably, and I can breathe through it a little bit. Life is good.

Allergies. I wish someone would find a cure already. Wednesday I visit my ENT doc to see if there's any new drugs he'd like to try. Cross your fingers.

Slow, but not really

2009-09-13T19:57:00.003-05:00

Today's ride was interesting. 10-15mph wind, fine. Right off the bat, I felt weak. When I'd try and push with my legs, nothing much would happen. I made up for it with a faster cadence, which seemed to work out alright. Although it felt like I was struggling just to get by, the speedo told a different story. Not my fastest riding - which isn't very fast to begin with - but not nearly as pathetic as it felt. It happens.

I chalk it up to the following: not going to bed until 3am, not eating since breakfast for a late afternoon ride, and general lethargy. Other than that, the ride was awesome. 80 degrees is perfect cycling weather. Hopefully I can find the energy after work tomorrow to go and give it another try. Winter is just around the corner, after all.

Winter will of course mark the beginning of kayak season! At least for me. I despise kayaking in hot weather. Missouri is too humid to have a good time sea kayaking in the summer - it's just a sweaty, smelly affair all around. And my plastic boat loses rigidity as well, so that's not good. No one likes a flaccid 17' kayak!

It's Over - road season wrap up

2009-09-08T14:06:00.004-05:00

I am sad. The most epic weekend for cycling in St. Louis is over for another year. This weekend we had not only the Gateway Cup - four days of pro-am racing in various St. Louis locations, but also the first stage of the Tour of Missouri.

Not only is the road racing season largely over, but it also marks the start of the slow descent into winter. I will ride through the winter, as I have little choice if I want to maintain my sanity, but it's not nearly as much fun as riding when it's not freezing cold. I am definitely a warm-weather kind of person.

My slow progression to faster cycling has been interesting. Not only is it a matter of fitness, but also of learning *how* to go faster. Just by the mere act of going faster, I've learned that I've never really even remotely scratched the surface of what my body can do. I accelerate to speeds I don't think I can manage, and then somehow manage to manage it, manageably. Also spinning my enormous feet around faster broke down another barrier - brute leg strength (or the lack). I don't quite understand that one, but it seems to work. Must be some biochemical thing in the muscles.

I even bought a fancy-pants indoor trainer to attempt to at least maintain, if not improve a bit over the cold winter months.

Thanks to everyone (TK, Mitch, Ghisallo, John S., Ted, and the kind folks of St. Louis Biking to name but a few) who has tolerated my inane questions or otherwise helped out with my desire to go faster on a bicycle. Some of you know bits and pieces of my struggles the past few years, and your support and kindness has been invaluable to me.

The next four to six months will be interesting. My employment future at Pfizer is in serious doubt these days; whether I remain employed, continue to live in St. Louis, or even if the St. Louis research site remains open will all be determined shortly. Fortunately I have a lucrative set of skills, so I'm not worried much about employment opportunities. Just where my paycheck will come from, and where I'll be living.

Now, I shall go ride my bike.

What is wrong with the world?

2009-09-08T12:20:00.005-05:00

Ok, one of my minor pet peeves. Today I receive an email advertisement from a popular discount computer store. One of the taglines reads - and I'm not making this up - "Delivers unmatched technology for Intelligent of performance on the most demand tasks..."

Do you see the problem here? That is so bad, it hurts my brain to read it.

Also, claims like "Multi-task up to 28% faster." Faster than what? Faster than the competition? Faster than the previous CPU from Intel? Faster than a cow? That number is meaningless.

If advertisers can't even bother to come up with coherent copy, I'm certainly not going to bother buying from them. As a result of this, I "unsubscribed" from this merchant's email list. I mean really, it's not some mom-and-pop operation. They can afford decent writers.

Walking is for cavemen

2009-09-03T21:05:00.003-05:00

Today I was faced with a dilemma. I needed to get my rent check from my abode to the office, roughly 2 blocks away. Fire up the car? That would be absurd. Walk at night? People might think I'm a lunatic and pepper spray me. A tall male walking at night without a dog can be frightening, especially one as menacing-looking as me. The scar on my face makes me look like...oh who am I thinking of...Scarface.

Bike to the rescue! Pumped up the tires on the singlespeed, slapped on some lights, and headed out. Shorts, tennis shoes, t-shirt. No kit required. I even went "extreme" and didn't put on my helmet. Danger is my middle name. It's nice, from time to time, to ride like the old pro's before helmets were all the rage. Roughly 30 seconds later I arrived at the office. Dropped off check. 30 seconds after that, back at my hovel. Bam. Simple as that.

Bikes. They rock.

Wind - it's there

2009-08-30T19:05:00.003-05:00

Yup, windy today. A first taste of fall. Cool (65F!) with a lovely 12mph breeze. Which naturally manifested as a crosswind for the bulk of today 1.5 hour ride. Normally wind makes me lazy, but today it actually seemed to inspire me to work harder. Good ride, though I definitely prefer warmer temps. Took a while to warm up and be comfortable.

And to motorists who complain about "scofflaw" cyclists - STFU. Today I waited at an intersection to make a left turn. No fewer than three successive cars chose to not employ their turn signals - thereby preventing me from making my turn. I don't know where these motorists get off; a solid 50% or more ignore at least one traffic law every 5 minutes. And yet they see one cyclist rolling a stop sign and suddenly all cyclists are criminals who deserve to be "taught a lesson" and slaughtered.

I have a problem

2009-08-30T09:55:00.003-05:00

Hello, my name is Brian H., and I am addicted to buying bicycles. I already have a bike for every conceivable purpose and circumstance, and yet I still want more. "Race" bike? Yes. Rain bike? Of course. Flip-flop utility bike for the 1-mile commute to the Post Office, complete with fenders? Doesn't everyone have one of those? Two mountain bikes, a cyclocross/utility bike, ancient non-functional British bike, etc. etc.? Yes, and more.

So I was talking with a friend of mine out in KC, who recently got the biking bug and then was promptly mowed down by an inattentive motorist. Fortunately he escaped - miraculously I might add - injury free, but his bike was destroyed. He's been looking at replacements, and happened upon the 2010 Cannondale CAAD9 4. Upon investigating this bike, I decided that I too must have one:
It's the legendary CAAD9, after all! Reputed to have astronomical stiffness, light weight, and a comfortable ride. This model happens to have a mix of SRAM parts, making it all the more enticing. And to make matters worse, this is the last year these frames will be made in the USA.

Do I need one? Absolutely not. The sizing isn't even quite right for me. But I will inevitably buy one. I already have the justification all worked out. If I decide to enter a race or two next year, most likely I will participate in what is known as a criterium race or "crit". Short, fast races. Since I'm new to racing, I'll be among other people new to racing, and undoubtedly we'll be crashing a lot. I can't risk the Trek in that environment, can I? And the rain bike - which may or may not exist - is clearly not a race bike with its triple chainring. I could deploy one of my many other bikes, and get beaten on all of them. But if I'm going to get beaten, it might as well be on a nice new bike, right?

Oh, well. it could be worse. I think I'll go ride a bike, and mull over the possibilities. Fortunately I can choose from among a wide array of options, selecting the bicycle best suited to my anticipated ride parameters.

Portishead

2009-08-26T21:45:00.004-05:00

So I've strayed a little, listening to a lot of Audioslave. But then a little Portishead came up on the ol' MP3 player, and now I am reminded why they are still my favorite band. Not exactly hard-charging cycling music, but Beth Gibbon's angelic voice with the mellow "trip hop" wacky guitars never fails to pluck at my heartstrings. And that's how we know we're alive, right? It's good to be alive.

Freakish Chesterfield Statues/Aliens

2009-08-26T21:27:00.009-05:00

As mentioned previously, spooky statues have been appearing around Chesterfield. They freak me out. Here's a few.

This is what I spend my days staring at. Trying to figure out how it works, maybe why it's not working right, and hopefully how to fix it.

Tecan deck being modified in our incredible machine shop. Don't know how I'd do my job without the shop.

Weird occurence...

2009-08-24T20:00:00.003-05:00

So the other day I was out riding around my usual evening stomping ground of Chesterfield Valley. As the sun sank, I found myself proceeding eastbound on the Monarch Levee Trail, nary a pedestrian or fellow cyclist in sight. Approaching one of the gravel road crossings, I noticed a maroon Toyota Highlander moving towards the trail on the gravel road. Oddly, he pulled off and parked at the foot of the levee, on the grass, parallel to my direction of travel. As I drew alongside, the roar of an engine alerted me to odd happenings. The Highlander was pacing me! I was cruising along at a brisk 20mph. Thinking that perhaps the SUV driver was trying to figure out how fast (or slow) I was going by pacing me, I naturally nailed it. Accelerated up to around 28mph, the SUV engine roaring anew to keep pace. Over about 200m or so I drifted down to 25mph, not deigning to look over at the SUV, which I could no longer hear. Fortified by fear that perhaps the SUV driver meant to launch onto the trail proper and run me down - I was a cylist and it was a big powerful cyclist-mashing SUV after all - I proceeded at that pace to the next big metal posts in the trail, maybe 1/3 - 1/2 mile along.

Why would an SUV pace a bicycle, on grass? Why would he accelerate to match me, then drop back? Very mysterious.

I proceeded down to the ice rink, then deciding there was enough light for another lap, I turned back. The SUV was back on the gravel road where I'd initially spotted him, moving again towards the trail crossing. I slowed, because there are "Yield" signs on the trail. He stopped at the foot of the levee, still on the road. I proceeded, with a friendly wave. The driver waved back. That was the last we saw of each other.

Weird. Perhaps it was one of the creepy statues come to life and out for a joyride?

Tales of the TeMo

2009-08-20T21:32:00.003-05:00

You may be wondering, how did this rivalry between Brian and the TeMo evolve? Well it's a long and painful story, my friend. Pull up a chair and I'll tell you.

It all started many years ago, when the TeMo was first emerging into the world. It was a ferocious beast, hastily engineered and programmed to compete with the multichannel dominance of the Biomek FX. Tecan, being a Swiss company, normally builds finely crafted, exquisitely engineered robots. The TeMo was a little rough around the edges. Or should I say razor sharp? Be that as it may, I was among the first U.S. service engineers dispatched to Switzerland to train on them. Possibly even the very first.

The TeMo made its move early. While lifting the monstrously heavy beast out of its shipping crate, one of the four lifters slipped, and the TeMo teetered towards the hapless soul threatening to crush him under its mighty mass. Fortunately, the other three of us were able to restrain its ferocious assault until the man was able to regain his footing.

Later that day, as we disassembled the TeMo, one of my kind Swiss hosts calmly pointed out to me: "You're bleeding." And lo, it was so. Not just any cut. A deep, razor sharp gash across the entire palm of my hand. The TeMo innards were so sharp, it had sliced me open like a scalpel and I hadn't even felt it. Blood was streaming from the wound. Being a tough American, and not wanting to appear weak in front of the Swiss, I merely wrapped the cut in a paper towel and squeezed my palm until the blood stopped. Which took the rest of the day. The TeMo literally drew first blood in our epic years-long struggle.

A few months later, back in the U.S., I was called upon to install the first TeMo to be sold in the Midwest region. Up near Madison, WI. Although it did not manage to physically injure me, I struggled to make it work. It taunted me. The software then was a little primitive, and it didn't help that I didn't have the specialized tools required for the job. Eventually I got it working, but it required Herculean effort and every ounce of brain power and patience I could muster. And then a little bit more.

All was quiet between me and the TeMo for many years. I moved on, as did it. Its software improved, razor-sharp edges were dulled for safety, vast strides were made. Until that fateful day when I met the TeMo again. Not all of its claws had been removed, and it remembered me. Remembered the taste of blood. It still had powerful motors, blazing speed, and no regard for human life. It attacked me, and I was too slow to avoid its headlong rush. Too many years dealing with calm, docile robots had dulled my reflexes.

I am humble enough to admit I've never fully mastered the TeMo. I'm a little afraid of it. The electronics bewilder me, the command set eludes me, its speed and power intimidate me. I don't intuitively grasp how to teach it where it needs to go. I can muddle through, but it's not easy for me.

I can only hope, being a mostly peaceful man, that the TeMo and I can find a happy middle ground. Wary of each other, certainly. But no longer lusting for blood and/or seized bearings and cooked motors. I'll be keeping my eye on you, TeMo.

Me vs. the Robot, part II

2009-08-20T21:17:00.004-05:00

I had cause to work on my arch-nemesis the TeMo again today. You know, the one that attacked me? Gouging a nice furrow in my skull and causing a mild concussion? Well we had at it again today - man vs. robot. I am pleased to report that I managed to fix its broken ass, and it did not so much as scratch me. TeMo: 1; Brian: 1. It's go time for the tiebreaker! I've got my bandages ready. You want some of this, TeMo? Come and get it...
Mind you, the TeMo is perfectly docile and user-friendly in normal operation. Until you start removing parts to work on it...then the claws come out.

Vintage Bikes and Funny Emails

2009-08-19T20:48:00.005-05:00

A guy I know who is in the business of providing people with bicycles and other goods, just inquired if I had any big road bikes to sell. Because I'm tall, you know. It's true that my hovel is choc-a-bloc with bikes...most of which were constructed when "Flock of Seagulls" was spankin' new. His reply when I stated what was available was funny: "...house full of my dad's road bikes."

Steel is real! Sure it may be a little heavy, and a little flexible, and it might rust a bit...but man it's smoooooooth. Like the Town Car of bicycles. And yes downtube shifters might be a little hazardous to use when going around corners...or up hills...or ever. Maybe the wheels aren't exactly "straight" or "round" but they do alright. Those 12 or 14 speeds might require you to stray from your maximally-efficient cadence from time to time, and the brakes may stop working at any moment.

I mean what part of "original SunTour parts, downtube shifters, 7 speed" is not exciting?

What was my point? Anyway, I have old bikes.

Dehydration = bad

2009-08-16T18:39:00.002-05:00

I'm not a fan of dehydration. First, it makes it hard to pedal a bike. But that's really secondary. What I dislike most about it, is how thirsty you are for the entire freaking day after a lengthy, high-temperature ride. I've consumed at least a gallon of various beverages (Diet Coke, Hawaiian Punch, 7-up, strawberry milk, water, Gatorade) since the end of today's ride, and I'm still thirsty! But my stomach is full to bursting. So even though I want to drink, I'm afraid to. A burst stomach can't be good for you.
Managed to slip between two major thunderstorm cells today. There was one to the east, and one to the west. Lightning, curtains of rain, the whole shebang. Nothing where I was, except wind. Towards the end of the ride, energy flagging from dehydration, the wind shifted and the temperature dropped. I hightailed it home, but the rain never showed.

Although I knew I'd be dehydrated riding today (still dehydrated from yesterday, after all) I went anyhow. And as it happens, it was a good move. Forecast for the week looks pretty storm-intensive. I don't mind riding in the rain so much, but lightning makes me twitchy. Get it? Twitchy? Tough crowd.

Great ride

2009-08-11T21:39:00.002-05:00

Some days, you just have a great ride. You don't plan it, you don't know it's going to happen - it just appears all by itself. Today was a great ride. The semi-regular Tuesday meeting at Babler of some MS150 folks and/or coworkers. To be honest, I almost ditched. Poor sleep last night, frustrating day at work, total lack of energy and 30 minutes late when I got home. But I headed out anyway. My ride started pretty lethargic - my computer shared the mood as it refused to work. I pedaled around hoping to meet up despite my tardiness. Soon enough, I encountered Mike D. Then we came across John S. and Jerry C. Shortly thereafter Mike's wife arrived. We chatted for a bit then resumed riding. Mike and wife peeled off to head home; John, Jerry and I continued around the tortuous Babler loops. My computer decided to start working, and I also started to feel pretty good. Good enough that I made it up the climbs without excessive trouble, mustered a couple of "attacks", and generally rode with a decent degree of dignity rather than struggling and straining just to hang on.

The greatness of the ride dawned on me about halfway through. I had energy, the grind of work had washed away, it was hot but not suffocating, and the Trek was nicely orange. Days like these really put an exclamation point on why I love cycling.

Oh - and I took some phone pics of the freaky statues/aliens over the weekend. Once I roust myself to get the pictures from my phone to my computer, I will share them in their bizarre and unsettling horror. Why Chesterfield chooses to install statues rather than repair terrible roads (Chesterfield Parkway, Baxter, I'm looking at YOU!) is beyond me, but there it is.

Wind Noise

2009-08-08T18:46:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, by the last remaining light of day, I was out riding on the Monarch Levee Trail. The wind was howling at 10-12mph out of the SSE, sparse traffic on the trail. Perfect for a little experiment I've been wanting to do. I stuffed my Shure SE115 noise-blocking headphones in my ears, cranked up some Audioslave, and hammered into the (cross)wind. It felt weird, and somewhat nerve-wracking, to not be able to hear what was going on around me. But the relief from wind noise was profound. I didn't go any faster, but the "psychological pressure" of battling through the wind was gone....I could maintain a given speed longer. I wish there was some way to cancel the wind noise, but still hear motorists barreling down on you.

In other news, another creepy Chesterfield fake-person has appeared. RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY HOME! Yes that's right, they're getting closer. If you find yourself driving by the Chesterfield City Hall, look at the nice fountain/pond out front. Is that a person standing there fishing? No, it's a freaky alternate-reality zombie cyborg statue from beyond the 9th dimension! Don't worry, though. I'm keeping my eye on them. For the safety of humanity.

Wow. Seventeen visitors?

2009-08-04T21:19:00.002-05:00

I checked my traffic log...apparently 17 "absolute unique" visitors dropped by my web hovel on Saturday. Thanks for stopping in! At this rate I'll be able to start selling ad space and retire in 60-70 years, easy!

Half of you are using Internet Explorer. Seriously, try Firefox.

So, what kinds of posts do you visitors want to see? More product reviews? Ride reports? News of my incredibly cute niece "M"? Aimless rambling about anything I think of? Leave comments, and I'll see what I can do. I'm contemplating a short piece on Vietnam Veterans...stay tuned. And thank a veteran.

My niece can walk!

2009-08-04T20:07:00.005-05:00

Booyah! She can walk upright! Mostly. With some effort, and a lot of falling down. But she just gets right back up and keeps on trucking. My poor brother will surely never know peace for the next 17-20 years, heh heh. Go M go! It seems like only yesterday she just figured out how to roll over, and now she's strolling around like it's nothing.

Chesterfield is creeping me out

2009-08-02T22:21:00.003-05:00

There are some new apparitions appearing around Chesterfield, and they freak me out. My first sighting was Friday. I went with some guys from work to have lunch with the happily retired Craig the machinist at Chesterfield Mall. At first I didn't notice them- then someone pointed them out. Fake "people" in the mall. "Dude at lunch" was a fake guy sitting on a fake bench, eating a fake lunch in the classic "construction worker" milieu. Another fake guy fake-painting the wall. There were more, but I will save you the horror.

Imagine my shock and dismay when I encounter even more of the disturbing figures around the sports fields in Chesterfield Valley. I was riding around exploring the fields, and nearly toppled when I saw a fake dude apparently reclining on a bench reading the newspaper. In an otherwise deserted area. I quickly spotted more.

They give me the heebee-jeebies, and I high-tailed it out of there. They freak me right out, in a way similar to Willy Wonka. They look relatively normal, but they're just that little bit out of kilter that makes you aware that something is amiss. Kind of like, say, if aliens were pretending to be humans, but not quite getting it right. If one of them ever moves, or even if I think it moved, I may get violent. And as some of you know, I have some experience with beating the tar out of things. Those alien-imposter statue things better watch themselves. 'Cause I've got my eye on them.

I hope they are only temporary installations. Or maybe someone will steal them. Either way works for me. Freaking Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

I apologize for not having pictures. I thought of taking one, but I was on my bike and didn't want to give up momentum in case one of them came to life and attacked me. Maybe next time.

In other news, it was a beautiful weekend for riding bicycles.

RoadID review

2009-08-01T15:35:00.006-05:00

In keeping with my dream of doing reviews, here's another. My RoadID showed up in the mail the other day.
I've seen the ads for a while, but was finally moved to buy one. I got tired of moving my license to my bike all the time, then forgetting to put it back in my wallet.

Right off the bat, RoadID treated me right. One of the owners emailed me, personally, complimenting me on my intelligence:

"You have made a very wise investment in your safety and peace of mind - it's quite obvious that you are a highly intelligent individual." -Edward Wimmer Co-Owner Road ID

Surely that's not a canned, computer-generated email. It's like he knows me! With such personal attention, I eagerly awaited my RoadID. It shipped fast, and got here even faster.

It's actually nicer than I was imagining. Very well made, the laser-engraving looks fantastic. Alas, I ordered a medium/large according to their sizing guide. It fits, but just barely. I'm sure they'd have no problem sending me another wristband, but I chose to just buy the next larger size. It's only $3! Can't beat that.

So to sum up, I couldn't be more pleased. The price is a little on the high side, but given the sturdy construction I anticipate this thing will last for decades. And I won't have to worry about the whereabouts of my driver's license anymore. If you've ever been run off the road, wrecked, or otherwise been concerned about being identified if you're taking an involuntary nap, go get one. If this:happens on my bike, instead of being the result of a vicious robot attack, I'll be covered.

Raining...

2009-08-01T15:25:00.003-05:00

It's been raining all day, but now it's stopped. Time to ride! A vision of beauty and grace will light my way:
Fortunately I won't have to muck up the Trek. I can neither confirm nor deny that I have or have not acquired yet another "rain bike". It's top secret. Super black ops stuff. The bike may or may not, in fact, be black.

The rumored rain bike has a rough life. It has to suffer every indignity that the frilly, pretty Trek just turns its nose up at. Rolling through rain? Yup. A little off-road action? Sure, why not? It's a rain bike! Triple chainring? Hell yes! I can be lazy on the rain bike. Ridiculously high handlebars? Absolutely! See previous comment about laziness on the rain bike. Which may or may not actually exist. Hard to say. No comment.

Carry on. I was never here...

Milestones

2009-07-26T20:27:00.002-05:00

Today's ride was interesting. After becoming depressed after the end of the Tour, I decided to ride my bike. After yesterday's brutality in Babler and Wildwood, I decreed an "easy day". Chesterfield Valley, nice and flat. Lots of wind, though. Starting out, my legs were creaky and sore. I puttered around, to and fro, for about an hour. All signs pointed to ending the ride. Oddly, my legs had at some point started to feel pretty energetic. So, signs notwithstanding, I decided to do a little "time trial" on the Chesterfield levee trail. Minimal pedestrian traffic, which was good. Nice even wind, not too strong and not gusty. After resetting my computer, I set off with the hammer down. 4 miles later I slammed on the brakes, turned around as quick as can be, and set off the other way. There was some suffering, but nothing extreme. Lot of breathing, maybe a little drool, some burning legs. 8 miles later, I checked the computer...20.3 mph! That isn't fast by any means, but for me it's nice...I like that 20mph number. I did about 19 into the wind, and hovered between 21-22 with the wind. Mostly a crosswind, so it didn't make a huge difference, but it was noticeable.

Hooray! 20mph for 8 miles, and I didn't even fall over at the end. In fact I felt pretty good. But I had laundry to do and groceries to buy, so I headed for home...

As anticipated, the ride did wonders for my Post-Tour Depression Syndrome (PTDS). The planned "easy day" didn't quite work out. If I can hit 20mph now, only a few months after beginning my "speed training" and still far from my previous fitness level...I have high hopes for the future.

The Tour is over

2009-07-26T10:48:00.002-05:00

Well the Tour is over for another year. Alberto Contador stamped his victory with undeniable authority. Cavendish made the sprints a bit boring with his unbelievable speed. And I, alas, have fallen in love with the podium girl on the left. Doomed to be unrequited, no doubt.

I can't understand why bicycle racing is not more popular in the U.S. Football, baseball, soccer...how boring are they? Conducted inside, mostly controlled environment, same places time and again. The Tour is contested on the open road, in beautiful ever-changing scenery, and the riders display the pinnacle of human capabilities, endurance, and skill. Nothing comes close in my book.

Until next year, Tour. I am now sad. I think I'll ride my bike.

Product review!

2009-07-25T14:24:00.006-05:00

Since I appear to have at least one semi-regular reader I figured I'd offer a review of a cycling product I recently tried out. Maybe if I keep it up, manufacturers will start paying me to review their wares. Then I can retire to a life of prancing about in amazement at each latest greatest new product and subverting my conscience in the name of capitalism! No more dodging bloodthirsty robots. Lofty dreams.

At any rate, up for your inspection is the Camelbak Podium bottle.

Waterbottles, meh. They've seen modest improvements over the years. High-flow valves, less plasticky-tasting plastic. All but worthless insulation. Finally Camelbak of strap-on hydration system fame has taken it upon themselves to improve the breed. And in summary, they did a good job. Nice bottles in small and large volumes, low-plasticky-taste, high-flow valves, and even insulated versions. The trick is in the valve. At first I figured "Bah, stupid Camelbak bite valve, why would I want that on a bottle?" Then Alex at the Hub demonstrated the bottle to me. The valve remains sealed until you squeeze the bottle. Then a rush of refreshing beverage shoots out. Pretty ingenious, really. Everyone I know squeezes the bottle anyway, so why not use that as the "trigger"? So I bought one, liked it, bought a couple more. The only drawback is breaking the habit of opening the nozzle with my teeth, then slapping it shut again. No need! Just grab bottle, position near mouth, squeeze, and enjoy delicious hydration. Replace bottle. Done.

So far, it doesn't leak at all. The insulated version is just as "meh" as other insulated bottles I've tried. They work for 30 minutes or so, but in the blistering heat of a St. Louis summer they only manage to stave off the inevitable for a short time.

In my usual tinkering style, I tried to transplant the cap to another bottle. No dice, proprietary threading. Nice try, though. Hopefully my favorite shops will start to carry shop-branded Podium bottles so I can go back to being a rolling billboard!

My recommendation? Go buy one or two. They're not much more than the other bottles at your local bike shop, and they work. I think you'll like them.

And so on some more...

2009-07-24T22:52:00.002-05:00

While you're online, go check out Mitch the Masher. Tomorrow he begins a 24-hour mountain bike race in Wisconsin, which you can follow in real time! I worked on the same campus with Mitch for who knows how long, never realizing he was a cyclist. Then I ran into him at a local bike shop, and discovered he's a ravening madman cyclist and endurance mountain bike racer! Nice guy. Now go watch the race, 11am Saturday to 11am Sunday.

Gears, revelation, and so on

2009-07-24T22:32:00.004-05:00

Yep, it's pretty shocking. After my sparkling revelation that in order to go faster on a bicycle, you must pedal harder earlier this year, I've been making progress. I'm getting to the point of ticking over ever-increasing gears, approaching the top gear rapidly. A couple days ago I discovered (actually common knowledge...) that I can sustain a given pace longer by choosing a lower gear and spinning my giant ham-hock legs faster. It's pretty amazing, really, that I'm already approaching the limits of my compact gearing after only a few months.

The really amazing thing, though, is how long it's taken me to figure out how to exploit the latent potential in my enormously long legs (yeah, I'm tall, we're supposed to be good for power on bicycles...). Remember this guy?Greg Lemond, waaaay back in the Day. I'd been hooked on cycling for a few years before his appearance in the Tour de France, but this guy - plus Andy Hampsten shortly before - inspired me to buy a race bike and go for broke back in the mid-to-late '80's. That and my high school physics teacher, who was a well-known local racer.

It's a little sad for me that LeMond has, er, regressed to this:I imagine getting shot by your brother-in-law and leaving lots of lead pellets in your body can have a...detrimental...effect on your mental processes. With all due respect for awakening legions of Americans to cycling and his amazing accomplishments in a then-inhospitable stage for American cyclists - someone he respects needs to slap him and advise him to "let it go."

So, what's it been? 22 years? 22 years I've spent puttering around at 15mph in the small chainring, thinking the big ring was just for downhills and tailwinds. Ha! Had it backwards...the big ring is for everything except steep hills! Well it's on now. Watch yourself.

In follow-up to my previous post, the respected and admired Jens Voigt appears to be doing better. About as well as anyone can be after grinding their face into the asphalt at 45mph, but not nearly as bad as he could have been. Heal fast, Jens.

Le Tour, and training

2009-07-21T23:22:00.003-05:00

First off, allow me to express my sorrow at Jens Voigt's horrific crash today. By all accounts he'll be okay, but it was brutal to see. I can't imagine the pain. Sliding down a mountain at 45mph on your face, after having broken your cheekbone...well I hope I never experience it. He was allegedly knocked out - even with the best efforts of his helmet - so at least he wasn't conscious for it. I hope. Jens is one tough mofo, though, so if anyone hops back on the bike with more fire than ever, it'll be him. He's an inspiration to watch both on the bike and off. I only hope he returns for at least one more Tour - I'm sure this isn't the way he wants to remember his last go-round in France.

If you haven't already, buy "Hell on Wheels". It's a great documentary of the Tour, does a fantastic job capturing the feeling of the riders. The optimism and excitement at the start, then the gradual descent into grinding misery as it drags on and on. Jens is featured, and his humor and personality alone are worth the cost many times over.

In other news, I'm a terrible cyclist. Everyone has told me that to get faster, I need to take time off. I.e. ride hard, then either take a day off or at the very least ride "easy". Well, when the weather's nice and I have time I can't not ride. And if I'm on a bike, I can't not attempt to go faster. If you're not breathing hard, heart pounding and legs burning, what's the point? Some kind of psychological issue, most likely. Oh, well, what can you do?

Watch out for that...

2009-07-16T20:36:00.003-05:00

Thunderstorm!

So I was out pedaling around for a couple hours after work, and an ominous cloud appeared on the horizon. Looked like it was going to the north, so I pedaled on. Then the wind picked up, which provided some excellent exercise. Then the temperature dropped about 10 degrees between one pedal stroke and the next. At that point I headed for home. Wise choice as not 10 minutes later there were some powerful-looking lightning bolts maybe 4 miles away.

Just checked the radar; yep giant red storm, very southern tip of it just passing barely to the north. But another big red storm with Chesterfield square in its sights right behind. In fact I think it just starting raining...

Dodged another one!

Progress report

2009-07-10T20:11:00.003-05:00

Ah...final victory over the new Trek. As you may recall, the drivetrain has been bugging me. I got it all tuned in, and it shifted flawlessly. Except for what I considered to be excessive noise. I considered maybe it was the new 10-speed, or the giant carbon tubes. Being me, I was unable to leave it alone. Turns out the b-tension adjustment was off. I figure it must have loosened itself at some point. SRAM specifies a 6mm gap between the largest cog and the first pulley. I set it. BAM! Still makes a little noise, but it's what I'd consider normal for a bicycle. Sounds goooood. Now I can ride without the constant distraction of a clickety-clackety drivetrain. It's the simple pleasures that keep me going.

In other news, my fitness is improving. I find myself seeking out hills, rather than shying away from them or slogging dejectedly up them. It's good to have enough power and fitness to go up a hill in a reasonable gear at a decent cadence rather than grinding up at 30rpm, panting and struggling for every meter. Of course, living in the bottom of a valley, with only 10% climbs in every direction, does help. Every time I step out the front door I have no choice but to climb my way to freedom on the open road.

And as always, watch the Tour! Today was a fantastic stage, Contador leaping to the assault. This weekend is sure to be entertaining.

Ahead of the curve...?

2009-07-07T21:48:00.003-05:00

So, I was browsing the Trek Project One site today, checking out the new Madone. Interestingly, they've dropped metallic orange from the color options. Lucky me, that's the color of my bike. I might have to investigate, and see if I own the only Madone in that color...collectible? Maybe that's why the initial paint was butchered...it was their first and last attempt at painting with that color.

Apparently I am attracted to bizarre items. In addition to my discontinued color (after one year!) bicycle, I am one of a small handful of manual-transmission Subaru Legacy GT wagon (Super Wagon!) owners. Also only offered for sale for one year. What's not to like? 250 rage-fueled turbocharger-boosted horsepower, wagon utility, all-wheel-drive, sporty handling! Not to mention ravishing good looks.

I'm either way ahead of the curve...or several decades behind. Burnt orange, anyone?

Are you watching the Tour de France?

2009-07-06T22:26:00.003-05:00

You should be. Today's stage was incredible. Columbia-HTC was chasing down a random breakaway, when a turn in the road and ferocious crosswinds provided an opportunity. They took it, and gapped the main field. Who should happen to be in the right place to go with them? Lance Armstrong and Fabian Cancellara, that's who! The 29-person group stayed away to the finish, with Cavendish and Hushovd duking it out for the sprint finish. Cavendish won in an impressive double-kick effort.

Post-race interviews were great. Cav accused the rest of the field of being junior racers..."you want to race like juniors, you get junior results." Gutsy, but he is undeniably the best sprinter in the world at the moment. Even Lance got a little riled up. Alberto Contador did not make the break, so Lance leapfrogged him on GC. Asked about this, Lance responds "It doesn't take a genius to know in that wind, with a turn coming up, you need to be up front." Ouch. The Astana team table was probably an...interesting...place to be tonight!

Progress

2009-07-05T18:00:00.003-05:00

Today I managed to go up the Wirth climb at Babler with a tiny shred of dignity. Instead of my previous lumbering, struggling, grinding ascents I managed to stand and turn a decent cadence up 3/4 of it, then sit and turn a slightly mashing cadence over the crest. But I didn't blow up, and it didn't turn into a slog-fest.

I guess what they say is true, to build strength you should climb ridiculously steep hills.

Oh, and the baffling "mystery" of excessive calf usage as a result of seat scooching is over. The kind folks at Ghisallo (thanks Devlin!) pointed out that by moving the saddle back, I've also increased the distance from saddle to pedals. My feet were reaching for the pedals too much. Dropped the seat 3mm (trigonometry!) and voila, problem solved!

Still tearing my legs off

2009-07-01T22:32:00.003-05:00

Yep, still going at it. Yesterday I met two MS150 veterans, Mike D. and John S. at Babler Park for some good old-fashioned hill-thrashing. Two hours and ~30 miles later, my legs were toast. Actually not completely toast (like the Wildwood Death Ride), but nicely fatigued. I even "attacked" if you can call it that. Not so much attacking my riding buddy, but the gentle roller that had the temerity to appear in front of us. I went at it with the big ring and am happy to say I crested the subtle rise and powered over the top without exploding. One of those "last hurrah" sprints as a ride draws to its conclusion. I do that, it's weird. I suppose since I stealthily (?) upshifted and jumped from behind you could vaguely call it an "attack". Announcing my intentions probably nullified any "attack"-iness, though. That and the general lack of velocity.

I scooched my saddle back about 5mm to eliminate some big-gear front-of-knee pain -which worked - but now my calves seem to be doing a lot more work. Baffling.

The Trek is getting there, and I will too

2009-06-27T14:40:00.003-05:00

The Trek is nearing the perfect state of "dialed-in". New bike kinks are getting worked out, new saddle is on order. It's taking longer than usual due to a lot of travel lately, but it's getting done.

In other news, a dude I know took pity on my paltry pedaling prowess, and invited me along on one of his recovery rides to show me some of the roads of Wildwood. Quite frankly, I have no business riding with this fellow, as he's a leading racer in the area, regularly putting the beatdown on people in the mountain bike scene. I suspect he dialed back his "easy" pace even further just so I could keep up, and even then my legs were shot at the end of 30 miles. I'm not so used to hills, and Wildwood has plenty of them. Beautiful roads, though, and good company. My computer showed an average, jaw-dropping 13.3mph average, with ~2,800 ft. of climbing. The kind soul who hobbled himself to allow me to keep up, has done the same ride at an average pace of 20.6. That's pretty much the difference between a soapbox derby car, and an F1 car. And the relative horsepower is probably pretty close, too.

I've determined that I'm slow due to two primary factors. Excessive weight and lack of fitness. Too many hours noodling along on the Katy Trail, for sure. I need hills. I will have hills. Hills - and eventually some group rides - will kill both birds with one stone. Hills are probably good for building power, extending the aerobic threshold, and raising basal metabolic rate. Bam!

The Trek was awesome on the ride. Shifting was crisp and clean, no chain-dropping, didn't have to think about the bike at all. A couple of descents edged into the 40's, and one even into the 50mph range and the Trek was solid as a rock. The demo Arione was just a perch to park my butt while struggling along, which is what you want in a saddle. No rubbing, chafing, or other drama.

The "meh" ride

2009-06-23T20:16:00.003-05:00

Meh. That's about all I can say about today's ride. The heat just took all the fire out of me. 'Bout an hour down in Chesterfield Valley, moderate pace. Around the end I started feeling like pushing the pedals, but then I was at my car and it looked so inviting. Certainly better than sitting on the non-existent couch, but not as much fun as less heat-intensive rides.

Some changes to the bike were also being investigated. Switched to a 110mm stem, from a 120mm. May not seem like much, but it matters. Now I can plant my hands firmly on the hoods while cruising in perfect comfort. Also some new tires, Conti 4000S, apparently all the rage. Felt pretty good, but then most tires do. Didn't really push them. And the local shop kindly attached a demo Arione saddle on my bike, which was being tested. The stock Bonty saddly was too wide, and too heavily padded for longer rides. The Arione is narrower, and less padded. Definitely fits me better, I can feel my sit bones in the right place, and after 30 minutes or so couldn't feel the saddle. Which is good, not a sign of numbness. ;) A lengthier ride is in order, but so far so good. Most likely Thursday.

The new Flite won't fit my bike, so that's out...

Drink lots of fluids. It's hot outside!

The Importance of Torque

2009-06-22T11:35:00.004-05:00

So my new Trek has been having some front shifting problems, getting progressively worse. Dropping the chain both high and low, rubbing all over. This morning I gave in and took a look at it. I wrench on robots all day at work, I don't spend as much time on my bikes as I used to.

Lo, the derailleur had rotated and dropped about 2mm! Did a nice number on the paint, too. Investigating, the clamp bolt was barely doing anything. Not even what you'd call "snug".

Sure, I understand with lightweight frames you don't want to overtorque anything, having the risk of cracking the carbon or crumpling the metal and destroying the frame. But you don't want to undertorque it excessively, either. There is such a thing as PROPER torque. As my brother the engineer explained, proper torque for a fastener can be calculated. You want to stretch the threads just a wee bit, so they "lock" together. An experienced mechanic can feel this, to an extent. Where proper torque is important, good thread prep and a torque wrench are your friends. In seriously important fasteners, you can even buy special fasteners that limit their own torque, no torque wrench required!

Granted, the extremely thick paint on the Trek (I suspect they did not bother to remove the botched original paint, just sanded it down a bit and shot another coat over it) complicates matters.

But seriously. Torque. It's your friend. Too little is generally better than too much, but best of all is "just right".

The derailleur is to my liking now; lined up, vertical position good, stops set correctly, cable tension good. With proper setup, even the narrow SRAM front derailleur requires minimal trimming. I can see why bike shops may not like SRAM, because they do require more setup time than the competition's components.

I'm looking forward to today's ride and enjoying correct derailleur function!

Audioslave and Doctor Who

2009-06-21T17:19:00.004-05:00

So I've been listening to a bit of Audioslave lately. Moments ago, while listening to "Cochise", I swear I heard the Tardis noise in there during the refrains, and even hidden in the deep background for most of the song.

You know the Tardis, don't you? "Doctor Who"? The wacky noise it makes when phasing into or out of a time/place? Yeah, it's in the song. You'd be surprised how often sounds or other references from the long-running "Doctor Who" series appears in our culture. And yes, that's a Dalek up there, staring you down. Don't F___ with the Daleks. In the most recent Who series, they countered a long running joke among Doctor Who fans - "To escape a Dalek, just go up some stairs." Well they had a big epic Dalek chase scene, the good Doctor ran up some stairs and looked back expectantly. Majestically, and with great suspense, the Dalek rose up and FLEW! Take that, mofo's. Scenes of mass Daleks flying, agile and graceful as birds, have been abundant recently.

So, who in Audioslave is a fan of The Doctor?

Cycling Psychology

2009-06-17T19:58:00.002-05:00

So I read a lot of cyclists' blogs. Mostly after getting back from a ride of my own. One of the recent hot topics is "nutrition". It can not be denied: you need food to ride. I myself have bonked many times, though my bonks generally have more to do with dehydration than lack of fuel.

Which leads me to my topic. Somehow, over the years, I've come to look at water as "fuel". Other cyclists talk about slamming down a Gu or gel or energy bar and - though it is physiologically impossible to instantly metabolize sugar from your stomach into your bloodstream - immediately feel a boost. I get the same thing, but from water. Clearly there's no caloric value to water. Sometimes on a tough ride I will over-hydrate, feeling bloated from all the water intake, simply because when I'm suffering taking a swig of water alleviates some of the pain and gives me a little shot in the arm.

So where does psychology end and actual nutrition begin? For most, around 2 hours. If I do a ride with no food intake, I can "feel" my muscles run out of sugar around the 2 hour mark. Dehydration is much faster, and much more severe. On a fast ride on a hot day, I can feel the power loss after 30 minutes. If I don't drink something instantly (if not sooner, I should know better by now!) the bonk sets in and 13mph is about all I can manage. When the chills start, I know there's trouble on the horizon, and I look for some water and some shade.

So when I see people lining up for a 40-minute crit, or a 30-minute time trial with Gu packets tucked into every nook and cranny of their kit, I have to smile and marvel at the power of psychology. And I smile at my frugality - water is cheaper than Gu. Tastes better, too.

What keeps you going on rides?

I've made the leap

2009-06-16T20:39:00.003-05:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again: SRAM rocks! The more miles I put on my SRAM road components, the more impressed I am. Brakes are phenomenal. Rival shifters are ok, but the Red shifters rock the house down. The derailleurs take a little time and care dialing in, but once set the shifts are lightning-fast. Double Tap shifting is the cat's meow. I'm a little "meh" about the gloss black finish on the Rival parts, but hey...you ride, not stare at your bike, right? All in all if they fit your bike and you like Double Tap, the price/performance of SRAM cannot be denied.

Pedals, pedestrians

2009-06-14T18:36:00.002-05:00

Today I opted to do a couple hours at Creve Coeur Park. I've largely given up on this park, due to the high numbers of meandering pedestrians and/or meandering low speed cyclists. I don't mind pedestrians or slow cyclists...except when they completely disregard the lane striping and wander into the oncoming lane. Or better yet ride/walk four abreast and occupy the entire width of the path. This makes both approaching ped traffic, and people trying to overtake come to a dead stop while they scamper aside and apologize, belatedly, for their lack of common sense. Little children I can understand, they don't have the "right lane" thing embedded in their brain from years of driving. But adults? Makes me wonder how they drive...

At any rate, I braved the chaos today to do a little pedal cleat tuning. I've recently switched back to Shimano pedals, trying out the new "batwing" design and because their cleats are SO much easier to walk in than Speedplay. Made a few adjustments, cleat position feels much better. Toed in the brake pads a bit, as they were howling at Babler yesterday. Rear brake was dragging after the toe change, no cable adjustment left, so I opened the release and just didn't use it. Also some more tweaking of the drive train is in order, as well as transplanting the Red shifters from Velotron to the Trek. I checked, the Rival shifters that came on the Trek have about 3x the slack before moving any cable compared to Red. I wondered why they felt so sloppy and sluggish!

The joys of dialing in a new bicycle...it can take a while! My two weeks in Indy certainly didn't help, as my legs were gently cramping after only 1.5 hours...

Home!

2009-06-12T21:48:00.006-05:00

After my two-week top-secret mission to Indianapolis, I am back at El Casa del Senor van Hossfeldo. Better known as my hovel. I am now fully able to tear apart, troubleshoot, and reassemble a couple more robots. Good for the resume, in these trying economic times. And since The Great Pharmaceutical Juggernaut picked up the $15,000 tab, I figured why not.

Class was interesting. I missed three questions on the final test. Two because of a lack of information - everyone (6 of us) in the class missed those two questions. One because I over-analyzed a trick double-negative question and confused myself. But I got my certificate, so it's all good. Beckman-Coulter (the company whose robots I was training on) has one of those "we are right and the customer must obey us" mentalities. Not so much with the customer service. I fear they are on their way out in the Great Laboratory Automation wars. Nothing really new in 6 years, high prices, poor engineering, and a general lack of customer focus. It's a competive business these days, and they no longer have a lock on the multichannel pipetting market like they used to. The writing is on the walls, but I don't think they are looking.

Best of all...get this...they engineered and build a plate-moving arm that can rotate. It's got the motors, gears, controllers, and is actually pretty elegant. But - shockingly - they couldn't be bothered to write the software to actually make it rotate! It can rotate, it wants to rotate...but the software is unable to tell it to rotate. Likewise with variable span of the tips. 6 extra motors, 8 lead screws...but no software to take advantage of it!!!! What the Hell? Those little servo motors are not cheap. Figure $700 a pop at wholesale. $1,600 for the control electronics. They have 8 of them in there that - because of software - don't do anything. That's like having a 12-cylinder car but only using 4 of them because the company couldn't be bothered to program the engine controller to fire all the spark plugs.

Indianapolis is a great place, but I could never live there. Despite the presence of the Major Taylor Velodrome (one of very few functional velodromes left in the US) the streets and motorists are decidely anti-cyclist. My hotel room had previously housed untold numbers of cats, which negatively impacted my sinuses, and resulted in a sinus infection. I switched rooms after the first couple of days, to no avail. The infection has already been roundly defeated, mind you, but it was tiring nonetheless.

I am pleased to be back in my home, my own bed, listening to a little Soundgarden. Tomorrow, I will get reacquainted with the Trek...

Nearly home...

2009-06-11T15:51:00.005-05:00

Ah, travel. I went by car so none of that airline nonsense. Indianapolis! Indianapolis has a gorgeous downtown area, highlighted by the pictured canal. I am in the northwest suburbs, where apparently too much chlorine in the drinking water is not nearly enough. Burns your eyes in the shower! On the way, I encountered what must be among the world's largest crucifixes (crucifii?). It will be nice to get back to my own bed after two weeks away. I think I'll be needing some Imo's pizza, as well. Although I have to say, Indy has no shortage of good restaurants!

How NOT to build something

2009-06-06T09:22:00.002-05:00

This past week, I've had the privilege of attending training for a particular breed of liquid-handling robot. It does its job, and it works reasonably well, and The Vast Pharmaceutical Juggernaut which gives me money owns quite a few. They do tend to break more (a lot more) than other brands, but they are also simpler to program.

Now that I've torn one down and rebuilt it, I am shocked, amazed, appalled, disgusted, dismayed, and mildly outraged. Engineers supposedly design these things, right? No engineer I've ever met would admit to designing this one.

Let's talk fasteners. Metric allen-head bolts? Sure, of course, they Da Bomb, and everyone knows it. Usually, that's about it. But WAIT! There's more! SAE freaking allen-head bolts. What?!?!? Two different measuring units on the same robot? Madness. But hold the phone, the insanity gets worse! FREAKING PHILLIPS-HEAD BOLTS! For the love of all that is Holy, these are the scourge of the universe. Is this a nightmare? No, no, sadly it is reality.

My dear brother the aerospace engineer, would be furious if he saw this thing. Blind bolts you can't get to without massive disassembly, high-stress bolts in shear (bad engineer! Bad! BAD!), an infinite amount of "tweaking" required to render the robot remotely operational. Incorrect Loktite application. And mind-scrambling opportunities for failure, any one of which requires a total rebuild. Hmm, this motor output shaft has a lovely flat on it...let's put a round coupler on it and completely ignore the convenient flat, and introduce the possibility - nay, certainty - that at some point the motor will spin and the drive shaft won't. Brilliant.

Rant over.