Lennard Zinn.. another tall freak like me

Dat guy... i like him... except i'm not so much like him as i am envious of him...

This is a great little Tech Q&A today... if Vnews wasn't publishing online - i can't imagine what i'd be missing...

Next to Zinn, there are really two other cycling 'journalists' (okay add one more for Delightful Dawn), that i really really enjoy reading. Mike Ferrentino, Maynard Hershon. Bob Roll doesn't count - he's just nuts... but a good read.

Mike's kinda like the second coming of Maynard. About a decade separates the two of them... and damn - its kinda funny - i did a very quick spell check using my fav: google... and damn if i didn't find Mike has a Wikkepedia entry. I've called that source on of the biggest sacks of shit over at Derek's place, a fake fact source. Some stuff is good, some is total shit... looks like Mike ain't so happy with it and what the hell do ya know - he's talking about it today... kinda funny cause google linked first to this one with a pic of the man in some styling Swobo gear... but then i said damn - that's cool - now i can get more of the grimey dude... and today... look at this... too gd funny... i tell ya - we must be long lost brothers or something...

Sumbitch (mike) was up for Cross Nats IIRC and sumbitch didn't bother to look me up to have a beer... Gonna be looking to score an audience with the king (of cycling prose).

Maynard is pure old school. There's an unnoficial home page (damn my spelling sucks today - fuckit - i can read the shit and i ain't getting paid to post so fuckit). Haven't read his stuff for a while... But who else could have so eloquently described how to Half wheel someone using eddy mercx as an example!?

So there ya have it - Lunch? On me? With Lennard, Maynard, and Mike... toss Dawn in there for some lively medical advice and her award winning smile and size contrast for me and Lennard...

Back to that rotating weight stuff...

My wheels are probably costing me about 4 hummers (the truck - the lennard article - nevermind).... brass nipples, wire bead tires, mr. tuffies, heavy ass oversized tubes, 25c conti ultrasport tires... but as i've said before - that's good. If i train pulling 4 hummers then when its just me... well... i should be a bit quicker...

whatsitdoforme? unmotivates me to get the light weight bike out... i read Kerry's comments about the superfastest bike and how amazing it is and a joy to ride... and i think, yeah, i know the feeling. But i'm just as happy to be on this paramount, with the eight-speed down tube shifter... the 50 tooth ring, the NiteRider Ni-Cad waterbottle battery and everything else that's heavy on it. Makes me think that if i can do okay on that i should be much better on a fast one.
(if i write it enough it MUST be true)

spelling - i suck at it - but half the problems are just fingers getting in the way... i was gonna rant about it but - i don't care, well not true - people with spelling hang ups entertain me... i think its very funny to be festidious about spelling... esp in an informal sense when the conveyance of the informations still happens...

well - there i added to the heap at Bikemag's forum... wise move? I dunno... I've gotten one or two letters pub'd at Bikemag... and one that i wrote after last time, but never quite got around to emailing... or transcribing from my scribble pad... not that it makes me anymore reputable or nuttin. Ah well - what the hell - we'll see how it all shakes itself out...

now if that damn service engineer would just show up already... gotta get working on the damn scope and stuff...

but here's a joke that just popped into the email... not as funny as this one:

Bubba and Junior were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking up. A blonde lady walked by and asked what they were doing.

"We're supposed to find the height of the flagpole," said Bubba, "but we don't have a ladder."

The woman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a few bolts, and laid the pole down. Then she took a tape measure from her pocket, took a measurement & announced, "Eighteen feet, six inches," and walked away.

Junior shook his head and laughed. "Ain't that just like a dumb blonde? We ask for the height, and she gives us the length.

Bubba and Junior are currently doing government work supervising the reconstruction of those New Orleans Levees.

but worthy of posting anyway... esp in light of all the phun stuff jonny's been posting about over at DC lately (its a totally rehashed joke but still amusing)

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike
English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."

"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."

A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups,
male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether
"computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the
feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is
incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible
later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half
your paycheck on accessories for it.


(THIS GETS BETTER!)


The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine
("el computador"), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE
the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a
little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

okay - i really hope to be celebrating around noon on thursday... sofar - sogood - the freaking albatross is about to be tossed...

mushy brain is spreading

i didn't ride this weekend and i think it is contributing to my grumpy 'tude and a mushy brain. its just not falling into place...

even the concert at the peace abby (while great) didn't fire up the weekend. it was a great concert - anyone should try and hit a Magical Strings tour show. its a fantastic environment and definately a night of music worth every penny of energy to get there...

changing the tires over to the summers on the Golf didn't even make me feel that much better... i think dumping over the 3/4 full cup of sip 'n dip coffee didn't help matters... i needed that coffee...

That comment by Greg about the fixie not being a good way to learn to pedal... may have some element of truth, but... i wonder... if it worked for Walden and the wolverines... I dunno.

Solobreak's kinda mimic'n my thoughts... that or i'm just empathizing or using the 'rest' rational for light duty 'training' right now. Each week is one week closer to Cross season and one less week i have to get miles under the belt... each week spent like this last one... is probably a whole host of places lost in the races...

but... i keep tellin myself that this year is the first one back and i don't really care what i place... so... it helps mentally a bit, but this weekend not getting out didn't help much.

That and thursday when i mentioned i was feelign blah... i had the damnest best GD ride home... freaking flew... felt great, loads of extra power, green lights and only one really pissy obnoxious car.

This coming weekend looks like crap as far as getting a ride in - gonna be in East Hampten NH for a big TDI event, and sunday? May meet up with Magical Strings sat night and hang out just outside of Keene, in Marlborough. But probably no bike.... so i'm gonna try and get out maybe for a morning ride or two maybe tomorrow or wed... or try to do it every morning... i dunno - just damn hard finding riding time these days... esp trying to get a full day of work in.

gotta see if i can find something positive to say - The nice organic Fuji apple from my home state tasted super yummy just now... it goes well with coffee... what doesn't!?

It was stupid in the 90's

and it still is...

Biopace vs Q-rings... can anyone tell me the difference besides weight and 26 years?

Rotor rings claim first road win

The elliptical chainring renaissance continued in Portugal a couple of weeks ago when Sergio Ribero of Team Barbot-Halicon scored the first professional road race win by a rider using Rotor's

elliptical Q-rings. Ribero took forst place in stage 1's uphill sprint finish, and followed it up three days later with second in stage 4 to finish second overall in the four-day race.

Developed as a ligfhter and less expensive alternaitive to Rotor's canm-action crank, Q-rings are claimed to heklp reduce the effects of the 'dead sport' in a rider's pedal stroke by effectively reducing the size of the chainring at that moment, lowering the gear the rider is pushing and speeding the foot through the point at which little or no force can be applied to the pedal.

More info: www.rotorbike.com/Q/home.htm

stupid stupid stupid... pedal faster, like Lance...

Solobreak got me all teary-eyed... i miss that 13-18... sort of... I've got the Chorus freewheel hub still... and the 3 or more 6 speed freewheels kicking around with matching chains... not to mention the 6 speed Dura-Ace downtube shift lever set... and the 6 speed Suntour bar-end shifters (and the 8/9 speed D-A ones that i used on the cross bike before i got a second hand STI set).

Bikes are cool but i need a new one... the Paramount... the one i'm riding now, with the goofy partly effective fenders, the Open CD rims... the frustratingly limited tire clearance...

maybe i'll grab a heavy ass surly cross frame and a set of 700c flip-flop fixie-single rear wheel to start with...

or not...

thanks for stopping by Jill! hope ta see ya around to give me another kick in the pants when i get a bit emotionally charged and somewhat one sided... sounds like you are used to kicking guys named Geoff around (me=Geoff... Ge part of GeWilli... ah nevermind)

in honor of that Rice puddin lover in Portland OR:

peace out

(for now)


see told ya - i'm back - and this time with a quote for Solobreak:

"I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft...as for me, give me a fixed gear!" - Henri Desgrange

there's even more cycling quotes than the ones i posted a while back...
So Solobreak - do you have an excuse for gears?... I don't *LOL*

me me media generation thoughts explained

continuing the comments started in response to Jill:

yikes - maybe i did just say that...

scary. no i think they are loosing critical skills. I see it in my generation and all the generations quite honestly.

But like the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor, the gap between those who have the ability to focus concentrate and communicate will do the best.

I'm sure as all generations have proven, those in that age range (the M generation) will fit the mold and make their current skills work for them.

Here's a good summation of what someone else said that i think fits what i and so poorly trying to communicate...
Its an except taken from an article written for the Hawthorne Valley School News. Titled Parzival: Pierce Through the VEIL by Eric Müller

Parzival grew up in the seclusion of the forest of Soltane, away from the customs,traditionss and rules of the court, and its codes of chivalry. This, in the end, gave him the forces to find the grail, and become Grail king. And it is interesting to note how many great individualities who have brought something new into the world have had a unique childhood, often at one remove from the reigning conventions of contemporary life: the Buddha, Zarathustra, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington Carver, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, or Rudolf Steiner. Waldorf Schools are a Soltane of sorts, protecting the students from an increasinglychilde-unfriendly world, while simultaneouslynurturingn and strengthening their multiple faculties.

I think these 8-18 year olds of the M- generation aren't choosing this media lifestyle, i think the parents are failing them miserably. The parents are so wrapped up in their blackberry, the headline news feed, the constant barrage of media on demand that they don't allow the children to bechildrenn. And to grow and develop in the best way.

I don't think its the choice of the M-generation, i think the parents are condoning the behavior, buying cell phones and ipods andcomputerss and DVD players.

It is an extension and natural evolution of the DVD player in car. Gosh we wouldn't want to try and keep thechildrenn engaged ourselves while driving! The horrors, we could never gab on the cell phone while driving the kids to school and running over their teacher.

I expressed remorse that these kids will enter university/college with underdeveloped communication skills for the sciences and humanities. Moving on in life without the model of healthy family interactions. And people wonder why the divorce rate is up?

As a father of two, its all i can do tonurturee my girls. We eat dinner together everynight. The oldest even helps make it occasionally. We play together and when in the car, we talk, sing, laugh, or just observe the world around us.

If you are fixated on a DVD screen you might miss the Deer in the woods, or the crew team on the water as you go over a bridge. You might miss the colors of the leaves as the change. Might? You will. You will miss the birds, the Hawks perched in a snag waiting for a meal to move in the median of the highway.

Last night for example. I looked out the window and saw the most amazing Skunk. YES a skunk. It was nearly completely snow white on top, with the smallest of smallest black spots over his haunches... whole tail white. Why did i see it? The TV wasn't on, i was curious to see what i might see outside. Not concerned with sending a text or downloading the latest song.

It just is frustrating. Sure i'm the walkman generation. I know the addiction and the pleasures of personal music. But the iPod has made it crazy worse. 95% of the people walking around are absorbed into their own world. The Walkman was great. You had to carry the tapes, and the batteries wore out fast. The iPod lets you walk and listen to anything, a whole freaking suitcase full of cassettes. Now don't get the idea i don't like music.

music-is-heartbeat-of-life.html

not my mosteloquentt or wordy elaborations but the essence is there...

What are we loosing with the Media Generation? We are reducing the numbers of amazing artists, musicians, and thinkers. Maybe we are creating a massive pile of multi-taskers... but... there are a few things multi-tasking is not good for, raising kids is one of them.

Jill, thank you deeply, for the critical kick in the pants... I'm still slumbering in theoppressivee nature of the previous university, the discouraging writing. Here it IS better. But not 100%. But then again, people get into universities, not always on their merits.

It was a tough morning with the girls though, the oldest wasn't feeling great, but that meant my wife drove her to school (too late for the bus). And i hitched up the trailer and took the little one to daycare. It was fantastic. She had a blast, and i got a great 1.5 mile extra interval on the way in to work. I can't wait to pick her up this evening. Might just have to make a habit of that! Maybe we can get out a bit early and do a few laps around the boulevard before daycare once it warms up in the morning.

I need to cogitate a bit more on the whole media generation, but as always it falls on the parents. The parents who do a good job, take action, set boundaries - create individuals like Jerome Bettis. That guy could have been just another thug like the kids his age in his neighborhood... but his parents took a role in his growing up.

TOOK A ROLL... not here - go play with your friends while mommy and daddy watch TV, or get stoned, or have a life of our own....

Or here - watch tv... while we are at home, in the car, on the airplane... i don't have the patience or the skills to raise you properly and interact with you because it doesn't fit with my lifestyle.

Fortunately there are exceptions, lots of them, but i fear that there are not enough. That is what scares me. Not the kids so much, they'll figure out what they have to or the mass of them will change the workplace/society so it fits their needs and abilities.

I am old, but not THAT old yet... And the biggest problem with the term global warming is that take last winter - when it was wicked cold in the Northeastern US for a very very long time, people were unable to understand, "If its this cold how can there be global warming." "What a bunch of hippie liberal scientists." *shrug* that's my problem with the term...

Oh and Ernst Haeckel is one incredible scientist, artist.

stay tuned for my next lopsided incompletely explained lunatic ravings...

it must be the cycling... all that exercise... the disconnect from the car... the constantheightenedd awareness of everyminutiaea that is happening around me on the bike... that or i'm just nuts

a busy slacker

i've got one seriously stimulating project coming down the pipeline...

and a boat load of stuff going on - sucking my time... and the thoughts just backed up... mental constipation induced by external forces... to be crass and crude - a mental butt plug... but i must be on a liquid diet cause its not causing anything but a small bit of remorse. And that i think is good - not feeling like being anchored down to writing everyday...

uh oh...

One thing i really wanted to get out is writing quality, style and readability. The most frustrating thing is reading a peer reviewed publication article that is absolutely crap. Crap to the point that the language is distracting from the subject.

My theory goes along these lines... Kids don't know how to write and the same attitude regarding respect (lack there of) is destroying written language. I'm not talking about the "media generation" that is getting the hype and news as of late. I'm talking about the 20-30 year old kids writing... Its very unsettling and depressing in a way. Esp in the sciences. I came to expect it from the students at the thrid tier public university in michigan that i was working at. I expected the students to have poor writing skills, to have challenges expressing themselves in concrete and meaningful, without excessive modifing, ways. The pure ignorance about phrasing kills me. Sure, i'm not the best example, but i should put effort into writing and let yall (meaning me) be the judge of that. And to some degree the more patient entries are close to how i'd be happy to turn in the story to an editor. Two articles in very particular drew me to this frustration. I won't link them, even though they are both online for fear of one coming back and reading my comments. While i find the writing equal to fingernails on a chalkboard - i want the person to find out from me in person so they can get the physical impact and the emotion of support that can be conveyed in person but not as effectively in writing. Writing however can convey emotion, but, more, what i am saying is that the instantaneous feedback i get while talking - the emotion in the eyes - the ability to say what's needed to soften eliminate the blow to the guy that often can happen unintentionally with writing. And esp off the cuff quick writing.

And the media generation - scary as shit. It scares me more than Global Climate Change (global warming is a hippie liberal uneducated reactionary term that is a mis-nomer and leads to irrational and unbased dismissal of the hard and good science that the Climate Change is based on, no offense meant to you Kerry -if you make it this far-, as i can understand emotion can cause slips in language and i've often refered to it as global warming in off the cuff remarks, more because its a term people are familar with). Damn that aside ( ) should be its own comment section.

This media generation. This 8-18 year old batch of kids hooked up with pure bits and bytes connectivity but little real personal creativity. What's next? People will wind up like Demolition Man's Sandra Bullock character (Denis Leary kicked ass in that - i like that guy - he's funny). Digital imagry is critical, for science. What happened drawing and physical forms of expression. It doesn't just develop your drawing skills. It develops the creative thought process. Music much the same way. The physical aspect of creating music and practicing and perfecting it goes far beyond sampling someone elses stuff and making it your own. I really don't want to read most of their writing... well i've seen some of it and its scary. Can they focus on one task and one task alone?

FUCK - sorry - i get a bit expletive now and again, but i'm hypersensitive when in the presence of kids. And i'm talking hypersensitive like OC... although... i'll have a mental lapse when emotion overcomes me. damn freaking interruptions...

Bullet list: BMC Road bike in Pez... ME WANT... Carbon Nanotubes are WICKED cool to the max... i've worked with a bunch of microscope imaging of that stuff and its flat out GD amazing...

Waldorf Education... damn fine stuff... its the next deliberate destination to my media generation 'discuss' (rant) above... hopefully i can get to it later...

cycling...

ALMOST GOT DOORED this morning.. fun stuff... fun stuff...

yesterday was feeling very flat - today a bit as well - accounted for by two things - i'm slightly more dehydrated than normal and tired. I've mentioned the importance of rest for good cycling, and i'll say it again and again and again. Rest is critical... those twenty something kids have dynamic cellular function that requires less rest than us old farts in the mid thirty range.

Shit - gotta run - time is up... and vanishing...

A friend said - if you have time to web log or post you either have too much responsibility or not enough... i'm now teetering on the edge of falling head first into the too much side of things... not sure i'm like'n it but the job is WELL worth it... esp with the project i alluded to to open up...

i think the plug fell out... ewwww-yuck

Tuesday Bike thoughts

gravy train:
pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3866

yeah... a link - power and all that - maybe best read today again and then commented tomorrow - but i feel no need -cause it says it all there- and its how i've been calc'n power anyway, grade, wind, hill the like can get ya rough power #s... so... no computer on the main steed now... now what to do [smirk]

and...

if this isn't the most beautiful Ebay posting:
ebay.com/CAMPAGNOLO-C-Record-Delta-brake-set
i dunno but it does JUSTICE to those brakes....

gorgeous hunks of aluminum...

freaking gorgeous...

and in about 20 minutes i get to clock my CD time... can i make it home in under 8 minutes? When i started it was 12 minutes or more at max effort... and when ya add the stop lights and stop signs and variability in all that - its rather significant... best time to best time... dunno if it means i'm any faster...

oh and that pez article... one 'sprinter' guy here - was completely all over the road, and watching his form all i could think was man - stop wasting all that power - make it work FOR you... the guy's bike was nearly horizontal. A bit of standing out of the saddle bike rock is one thing... but it doesn't really make you go any faster....

stumped no more

I was actually wondering what should i write today - the bike's kinda got me tapped out (who'm'i'kidding) and i have it... and in spades...

first - this spinning stuff - i'm definately loading up the hammies at the higher cadence, and i tried to unload them but i can't... ie tried to spin with just the quads... but i bounce right the fark out of the saddle... engage the hammies and i can spin way way way faster and keep going and going, which is kinda cool, no real deadspot in the sounds of the drivetrain either... but... i need to put that togehter for a bit more than a 1-2 minute effort... i'm getting there... i'm getting there.

now this other topic... wait - one thing, a very good dear friend had a stroke, a car club buddie of mine. He's over at Mass General. Pretty freaky, he's one of those guys that has a heart of gold, a sense of humor, and an ever present smile on his face. Last report was he was able to communicate but is slow at finding words. The TDIclub and the New England BioDiesel community wouldn't be the same without him. He was a guy that embraced the TDI for the fuel economy, the VW Beetle for the practical side of things, but also the fun and excentric side. He was devoted to the use of BioDiesel as an alternative fuel that makes E85 look like a Exxon Mobil's wet dream (which it is). A guy who could talk to anyone and make that person feel comfortable. He even went out of his way to talk to my daughter who was just kinda bored and quiet at a GTG (she was 5 at the time)... Man i hope the doc's and the drugs and the spirit in him bring him completely back.

Okay - what got me going... Kerry's entry for March 20th. A friend of mine wrote " What's amazing (and scary) is that about half of the most powerful storms ever recorded have occured within thge last two years. Global warming anyone??" with regards to Cyclone Larry that slammed Australia. Think about that side of things.

Think about the energy in a storm, pick any one that hit this summer. The destruction! Teh power. Where has that energy come from? The sun no doubt but why now and why is it worse?

IN my mind its damn simple. But, i've been a scientist thinking critically, looking at facts and working to understand how things work. The earth is definately trapping more energy. We don't have to think about it as warming, we can think about it as creating more storage or dissipation sources of this energy in terms of wind, and what not.

here's how i simplistically broke it down:
Solar ray are constant - but the equilibrium is out of balance favoring trapped rays (greenhouse effect) = heat (ocean specifically)
heat = energy
more energy = more pressure differentials
more pressure difference = more wind
more wind = more storms...

more destruction... the amazing polar bears are not even consequential to the habitat destruction potential in the storms...

I guess as a biologist, i'm less concerned about the animal path of extinction, okay i lied, i'm a botanist and i care more about the plants, i'm less concerned about the extinction of individual species as i am about global genocide... even then...

change, flux, it happens, species get wiped out. There is absolutely NO unhealthy environment. It can be an inhospitable environment, a barren one but not unhealthy or conversely healthy. An environment is what it is, not what is "should be" as deemed by 'us' the human element.

I'm doing my GDamnest, burning Biodiesel (pure stored solar energy from the last oil seed crop) i'm commuting by bike everyday, recycling, reusing, reducing packaging an insane amount. Not ust at home but on the job as well. Waste is horrible. In all forms. There are also balances, quality of life. Our apartment is cheaper to heat with the gas on gas stove, however, it doesn't heat the bedrooms adequately so we use the much less efficient steam boiler and oil. The environmental costs are more significant, but the trade off is the health of my daughters, without it they are very cold at night. And since it is an apartment, there's not much more i can do than i am to make it more efficient, warmer, what not.

The global warming is troublesome, and kerry ending with mad max/waterworld doesn't seem to put fear in me. Despite the hardships in both environments, there is an underlying and critical hope and human optimism that lives on. Sure its hollywood and that's how it goes... but take em out of the movies, put it in a book, the human desire to do survive and make it will not die.

There were a few articles i ran across last year sometime saying the earth will revert back to a fudalistic society of landowners and such within 100 years or so... once the resources are completely exhausted and those that survive will be the landowners in sustainable areas... ie that can grow or raise their own food, and that art and 'luxuries' will fall to the wayside and dissapear...

there is always hope - for a brighter future. Take the fears of Kerry and look into the eyes of your two beautiful little girls (okay mine) and that fear becomes a monster, a giant that is a bit like Mordor and the eye of Sauron. A fear that can only be overcome by their joy and innocence. And the hope that the majority of the word can make the difference needed...

okay - enough scary ramblin nonsense... but in all honesty its a terribly debilitating fear. But positive outlooks are very critical. Being vocal, but being vocal in the proper way in the proper venue.

Protesting to a degree can work but more effectively presenting cold hard data in a passionate but clincal, professional and precise manner can be much much more effective. It takes FAR more work than protesting.

Protesting is the 'liberal' equivalent to War. its the easiest way out of a conflict that still leaves you feeling like you did something. Sure you did something but there is always a way out that is more peaceful, but much much more intellecutally demanding. Planning a protest, a rally is fun, easy, much like a general planning a war a battle, an attack.

its about the energy of the masses. a protest a war, often are charged with the same negative emotion. Hate. The answer to the conflicts is to set aside the hate...

damn fire alarm... at least i was able to save as draft off site before i left the building.

one bonus of the fire alarm was that i said fuckit i'm walking down to the Rock and seeing if they have my book.

Well GDamnest, they went and grabbed it for me. I'm slightly underwhelmed by it but also completely in awe of it.

The article i'm looking forward to the most is the one written by Charles Darwin, on the subject matter he was most well respected for: Geology. Yup, not evolution or what not, but Geology.

Would it make sense that a guy who thought in geological terms would have the scope and mind to think about evolution? not a surpise here.

And that is the kind of perspective we need to have. A perspective that each individual amounts to not a whole lot, but each individual needs to focus doing the right thing, as a balance first for the children, second for the earth, third for themselves. Unfortunately most americans seem to put #3 first, sometimes #2 second and usually almost always #2 last...

all the power to those like Kerry and the science teachers that i had like Mr. Lynch. The ones that can inspire the childern to ask questions and to try and understand this complex world we are a part of.

slacker

yup! thats me...

i felt a bit under it this weekend, sleep deprivation and a runny nosed daughter somehow managed to see me start to fight something sinusy again, but I think i may have fended this one off, maybe. no ride, but i've been tellin myself that at this point rest and recovery is just as important.

two days not riding may not be a bad thing. esp since i've rarely taken a day off the bike, yes i count commuting as a day on the bike... even if it is just 4 miles at the least... its 4 miles of intervals, with no warm up or cool down...

that and i've tried something friday and today (both down the hill to the other place and back)... ampin up the cadence a bit... focusing on ped'lin faster not harder if i wanna go fast... and it isn't quite natural but unlike that promise to go down a cog everyweek heading up college street, its something i think i can focus on as long as i don't make it an absolute challenge (too mentally rebelious to stick with something, i'll not stick with it just cause i said i would). But i did bomb up in the 21 (if that's what the 3rd biggest is, and i think it is, just too dirty to read right now).

And dirty, yes - bike is dirty, however the chain is well lubricated, as are the other moving parts and exposed metal. just cause it'll (the chain) turn anything it touches instantly the darkest black, doesn't mean it ain't well protected...

and i'll add this agreement to solobreak's comments about the 39... i'll agree that it completely is useless if you have something other/more than a 13-18 straight block in the back. and as far as chainring sizes go... no limit if ya wanna stick with 9 speed, j/k, i dunno about size variations but i'd ass/u/me there were plenty of selection.
hmm looking at the only crank set i'd lay any cash on at any price at the moment:
53-42T
52-39T
53-39T
50-39T
54-42T
55-42T
56-44T

seems like a nice variation there - i'd definately be picking the 55-42... if not the 56-44...

why that one? well it's flat out sexier than "Perfect 10" its light, and comes in my 'ideal' 180mm size.

yes its the dura-ace 10 speed 7800 crankset... and yes - it's far above any other crank on the market in my mind - not even the carbon record or the alloy record come close to it... the Mavic 631 is the one predecessor that sort of looks like it but, its different... i have a mavic 631 but its 177.5 and i prolly won't be using it, cause its too short...

and mavic wise i've got a Mavic bar on the Q-pro that i love... heavy- soft but perfectly shapped, shallow drops and a crit bend so that big doofus me here can be in the drops for a sprint without bashing the backs of my wrists...

not that i'll be sprinting in them anytime soon... but its hard coming up with those Cinelli Crit bend bars... at least it seemed so when i stumbled upon the Mavic's in the back room of the shop one day...

I still haven't heard back if my 'book' being pulled from storage is at the circ desk yet or not... kinda frustrating.

oh and its been a while since they were introduced... but i just couldn't stand the irony of Shimano going back to the Look design. Really really really funny... and not to mention that Mavic version actually worked damn well - of all the 'floating' ones it was one of the best - kinda big, yellow and black but really nice how easily they set up...

there was something else - oh right - thumbshifters. I love em, always have. Bonuses, easily read visual for what gear you were in, way easier than gripshift, or rapid-failure, esp when your eyes are buggin out and all, shift-em with your knuckle, thumb, finger, teeth, no need to take the hand off the bar, and bomb-freaking-proof...

and now i see that Paul Components has the answer! And can i say: that is an elegant and sweet application of their CNC machines. oooo - now i'm wondering if i've already posted that nugget... oh well - its good enough to do twice...

i'd better wrap this up before i add any more distractions.

st. pat's

"At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies."
- PG Wodehouse

and yes - i'm well aware putting PG Wodehouse on a St Pats post is akin to saying Cromwell was a fan of the Irish Ballad tradition (he wasn't).

I should be doing something more than i am today, to celebrate, but the choice to put on a dark green shirt and to wear my Guiness Toque to the bus stop this morning is about it. No, not a drop of the mellow tastyness that is a good stout in the fridge. Nothing here save the normal rounds of coffee and lunch, again on the strangly meager side. Music? So far, none. Which i feel sadly dismayed that until this very moment, my speakers have been quitely silently waiting. For what? Well a Bit of Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill. These guys can flat out play. Martin Hayes is really without peer in the irish/celtic fiddling tradition. No i can't even come close to playing as well as he does. I can try, but this guy is something else. The sad thing is, there is soooooo much shitty outa tune fiddle music out there. I mean its almost a rare occasion that Eileen Ivers is 100% in tune. Which maybe it isn't fair to single her out when there are dozens of dozens of recordings of less skilled musicians out there than her.

take a listen to Martin's stuff. The fiddle has clean purity to it, each note intentional, each bow stroke evoking absolutely what he wants, with perfect tone.

its not about how much rosin you can let build up on your fiddle (and ruin it), its about making the rosin work. its not about playing the most notes and the fastest tune, its about being able to play the slowest of slow airs and keep the rythmn AND stay in tune with a pure tone. it is much harder to play a beautiful slow air than a rip roaring fiddle tune.

No i'm not irish, i'm from welsh descent. Yeah a tall freak of a welshman descended from a northern welsh coalmining minister's grandson. Go figure. But from my dad a strong streak of the welsh pride has been passed down. The Dragon is an important symbol to me... so the whole irish thing is by association and culture, but also the deep rooted comonality between the Celts. The true 'native' population of the british isles and the brittany coast. The Gauls and the Celts, united in spirit against the opressors and cultural destroyers. At least for now celtic roots are popular. Unlike in the past.

solobreak mentioned in a comment somewhere online or off that of all the people out there with and without a power meter i might be one of the group that could actually use it - and as much as i dissed em i'm a heart a technogadet guy - counter the whole beaufortian thing that got me on this track of thought. Which is funny, the whole point was the scientific classification but a classification not in pure numbers, but in descriptive terms.

i once said the effort was so intense that i could feel my eyeballs jerking back and forth in my head to keep going forward... yeah, an undergeared effort, but one that pushed me so far over the edge that my physical body was feeling rather strange... is that something that others feel? dunno, but if i don't write down and do the scientific thing, no one will know. And by scientific thing: i mean communitcation.

What is art if done in a vacuum. What is science if done in a vacuum.

What links the two?

And for me i get another test at it. I lectured once at my Alma mater in the fall about Art in Science, regarding cell biology and the electron microscope and the link between art and science, and now i get a second chance here in a few weeks. A chance with a different audience. An audience in a class called "Images From Science, Images for Science" which is a bit daunting, and really really exciting.

And actually i'm completely full of a new perspective now - the whole descriptive scale.

I love this - i've got a serious kick ass way to open now... all from talking to myself. Okay more specifically, the idea was born out of the process of writing and thinking in a very specific format, fasion.

Also, last night i was reading a chapter by someone i know. And it was painful. The writing. Not to the scientific standards i would expect from that level. very colloquial, wordy and heavily modified with vague and (worse yet) absolute modifiers.

not that this 'web log' is the ivory tower of perfection in brevity, precision and scientific writing, partly in fact it is often quite the opposite. A place for ideas to be seeded, explored, fleshed out in a non-reviewed raw exposed and personal manner.

the hope to get down to the Hub are dwindling away... further and further away... but its been a fantastically inspiring and fullfillign day at work so far. One of those rare days when things just make ya go, Yeah!

Okay - there now i went and found a flaw - ME - can't even edit a post without screwin up i guess... maybe it was the lack of food yesterday that did it to me...

Oh and Kevin Burke a s pretty damn good fiddle player... add Johnny Cunningham and Christian LeMaitre to the list as well...

That and Martin Hayes will be coming to Canton, Mass in June (10-11) this summer. Might just have to head up and say hey and catch a kick ass Music Festival.... and now... i think that might be it - and damn - no way to get to the Hub...

stupid blog entry name removed

"shower thoughts" I must have been suffering from caffine deprivation to come up with that title

I dunno why but now - pretty much just as i am getting in the shower or while i'm in there i think of something i wanna get down in here...

this morning's thought as I'm getting the water temp right:
"There's no freaking way i'm racing road this year just to get ready for cross, cause this'll be the first year back in a long time and i need all the prep i can get. Why rush into a venture that is a lifestyle?"

anyway, that with the other thought saying, i'm not expecting to wear the stars and stripes jersey in the 35+ master's catagory in December... if it works out i won't exactly be dissapointed but first year back after a long time, no expectations other than to have fun competeting in the sport i really enjoy (cyclocross btw).

Okay - now add a few more power musings to the bag... Crank length... i'm runnin 180s... not cause that's what Big Mig used to win his 5 tours, but cause they feel right. 175s never felt right. 177.5 was better, but not quite perfect, the 180s are perfect. And regarding power and pedal force...

It may not change the wattage but it should decrease the force felt... i'm just shotgunning the thoughts now before i get sucked into other more pressing issues, also so that these thoughts aren't floating around and distracting me.

Now big mig, certainly wasn't a spinner up the climbs, but IIRC he may have had a bit higher cadence than Jan. And i got thinkin - damn i just need to watch one of the old tapes of the climbs with Mig to figure that out... but of course, my one cycling video is a Cyclocross Worlds (damn if i can remember what year).

That and i got thinking - maybe once i start looking like Champion (in the Triplets), then i can go to a smaller gear fixie or single and focus on the spin... which could be completely backwards, but... at this point its still a thought... but fixie prolly is the way to go to really focus on the spin...

To be Continued
ahh

this caught my eye - can't make it but as the lucky kid use Apple IIe+black and Apple II whatnots then to get a 512k Mac at home... there's something really really exciting about that original box. Freaking cooler still than the stuff here almost.. One of the Mac guys from back then is speaking this afternoon... about a book and what didn't make it:

"Revolution in the Valley"

Andy Hertzfeld '75

Thursday, March 16, 2006 at 4:00 P.M.

Lubrano Conference Room (CIT 4th Floor)

Andy Hertzfeld (Brown '75) was an early Apple employee and one of the main designers of Apple's original Macintosh computer, writing the initial operating system and user interface toolbox. He left Apple in 1984 and went on to co-found three companies, Radius (1986), General Magic (1990) and Eazel (1999). He has been a software engineer at Google since August 2005.

In 2003, he created on a website for collective storytelling called Folklore.org, focusing on stories about developing the Macintosh. The website led to a book, "Revolution in the Valley", published by O'Reilly in December 2004, which contains numerous anecdotes about the development of Apple's breakthrough product. His talk at Brown will recount lots of interesting stories that didn't make it into the book, from the early pre-Macintosh days at Apple Computer through the long evolution of the Macintosh to the present day.

Book signing will follow.

anyway - click the quote for details.

So i've been reading the 53x12 articles... good stuff - well said, and i suppose if i had actually checked there first i might not have made myself look like an inquisitive retard... cause the answers are there even good hard science journal references (yes i am considering getting the raw data)...

okay... the Lipid Power article is a good short read... makes sense... and makes me wanna do all the lactic acid level testing now...

Okay - here's the deal - read everything over at 53x12 (tellin myself as much as anyone tolerante enough to read this far) They are frustratingly short, but packed with some damn good info... no wonder the dude's a rather popular figure in the cycling world...

one more thought...
big efforts like the hill climb yesterday seem to increase my percieved need for calories - i'm freaking HUNGRY right now... and lunch wasn't that long ago... oh so really really wonderful...

I lied - here's one more even...

29er Debate continues on Cyclingnews!

Sweet!

hills are good

Got in a nice ride this morning - knew the afternoon was gonna be insane, starting in about 20 minutes... lunch is scarfed down so i've got one second,

not much more, but the ride kicked so much ass i wanted to tell myself all about it incase the meeting drives me to the point of self lobotomizing...

7:45 start, no not early, i gotta get a kid awake, fed, dressed, brushed and out the door by 7am, then get back, get me ready go, i could probably do the turn around right away and be at a ride by 7:30, maybe i'll keep it in mind for my own rides...

so 745, rolling around the blackstone blvd... nice two or four laps while waiting for the rest of the gang... first two who showed up had power meters... next to show was a downloadable fancy combo bike computer HRM (polar)... and then the last - might have had a bike computer - me, just a simple simple display HRM, no recording, nutting, just display... that and its the only way i can get a clock on the bike without checking my cell phone all the time... yeah - no bike computer on the blue beast...

the hills felt great... first effort was hard - but they got easier, in effort and grade. Said thanks to the group and peeled off for the pad to shower and head to work just after 9am. Not a uber long workout but a nice targeted 'interval' type...

and one of the old guys on the ride was telling one of the 'kids' watts is watts, if you can generate 400 watts on a climb you can generate 400 watts in a sprint, its just that some people have a mental block one way or another... i liked that thought - which is good and true and all, but i gotta say this big 50tooth as the only front chainring isn't terribly conducive yet to working on the RPM side of the power, maybe it will be sooner than later... that and i'm getting a bit more chain rub on the fixed front Der (a busted cold worked old 600 der) in the 25 so i am limited to the 23... 7 speeds, not 8, 12-23

which, is close enough, and so far, perfectly adequate for riding around here, and its supposed to be hilly!!!

And wheels... I'd put my Rolf wheels as big company. seein as it was one of Burke's 'last' acquisitions, that worked in both Trek and Rolf's favor. The paired spoke patent and all that, i gotta say those are a bit heavier than average, but the deep section rim and the bladed spokes are wicked fast... and accelerate like nutting - that stupid clutch hub ain't got nuttin on a Hugi!...

And the loud racket the Hugi kicks out is fantastic incentive to KEEP PED'LING!

I was deeply complemented i think, the other day. My writing here was called 'Lucid' between that and chatting with my little bro to find out that my graduation from college with the degree and words inspired and drove him to do his very best. Two small little things - the first, not sure how much of a compliment but the second was really cool to talk to him and hear that from him for the first time. Nothing like sitting at the bar with your brother and just talking, even if ya are in different places doing the talking over the cell phone!

and yes... Hills are good...

bike part - lunch part 2 - musing

So sitting here running lambda scans baselining one of the systems.. i'm purusing wheels... and stuff

okay - run down:
neuvation - cool stuff - cheap, good arguments...

Gravity Zero - clutch? no lag? hmmm

HED - sweet new offer... except i'm too fat for Ti-spokes (at least i think so)

Topolino - very cool, these i'd like to try... but maybe not buy

Easton - argue passionately against the j-bend... kinda counter the neuvation guy's mantra

Rolf - My old vector pros still rock... not sure why i'm looking... can't have too many wheels can ya now ;)

that and how do you beat a set ya built by hand... with three different spokes, bladed non-drive in a radial pattern, straight 2.0 pulling spokes, 1.7-1.4(i think) idle spokes... makes for a light and wicked quick accelerating wheel without the harshness of a complete 2.0 spoked wheel...

ah well - ya know - i can muse and babble in my tower - thinkin can't really make me faster - just riding... focused specific riding... a goal would be to have a nice balance of the mesomorph power (i'm not one btw - i'm the poster child for the tall skinny kid) and the uber twitchy spinning freaks...

i do see riders with ability to spin, but no strength/force behind that... it don't matter how fast they are spinning, they tend to top out at 28-30 mph... can't develop the strength to break that barrier...

hmmm is that like the speed of sound for cyclists?

== okay == i've been makin numbers... the hard way -
looking at the power requirements from 19 mph up to 33 mph for KL (4'11" 43 kg individual) and me (6'6" 90 kg individual)

picking 30 mph it requires 40% MORE power for me to go the same speed - with the assumption that KL's on a 700c bike, not a 650c. 90.2% of my power is fighting wind resistance, and only 85.3% of KL's is doing the same.

Logically the first conclusion: KL can benifit WAY more than me by making the other resistance factors better: front & rear wheel drag and rolling resistance. The rolling resistance is the least out of line 1.9% (404.5 gmf) for me and 1.6% (212.4 gmf) for KL.

I should clarify - i could pick Delightful Dawn as a comparison but she's taller than KL and its always more fun to use uber extremes (maybe that's why tall guys like dating short women, although i'm sure KL will say my wife at 5'4" isn't that short)

Okay - anyway back to the comparison... the rolling resistance is the biggest difference in force, the numbers for Drag are identical between as they are independent of our frontal area and weight, and only a function of wheel mass, inertia and aero stuff... that's where the almost 5% difference in forces get sucked in...

and why i draw the first conclusion that lighter wheels would make a significantly bigger difference for a smaller rider than a bigger rider.

Now the questions all those funny people stuck in the middle are asking: where do i fall in?
go plot it for yourself here. I took a few assumptions that solobreak made... they are:

Frontal Area	0.7	0.4	m2
Weight Rider	90.0	43.0	kg
Weight Bike	9.0	8.0	kg

The other stuff - ie wheel weights and all that - i fudged on the lighter side for the hell of it... and cause i think it was a bit high - but maybe not...

I'd be suprised if i was a full 0.7 square meters... i ain't the widest guy on the block, but it makes for a reasonable assumption. And the bike weights should be close but 2.2 pounds is a safe difference between the two...

kinda funny - i started off thinkin about wheels and show to myself un-intentionally that wheels don't do shit for me - i gotta be strong... and crap, i gotta be at least 40% stronger than KL to match her at 30 mph (no headwind, no draft)...

it sort of supports the point though that i was looking at - if ya got a total power threshold of say 20,000 (gmf) then for me i couldn't ever get going 29 mph without a draft or a tailwind. And maybe that's where its helpful to find your power limits - damn musings and pre-oocupied ponderings... that and the lambda scans with the 'test' slides have me a bit confounded... seems they have a much broaded emission/excitation range than one might expect... or that i expected...

depression hangover

no not booze... from the sucker punch the weather gave us...

lets see - it just cost me a loaded cyclocross bike... or a little more than two Fuji Cross Comps. Sucks don'tit... and that's just the increase from Saturday to Monday...

i really shouldn't think about it in terms of bike parts or in reality complete bikes... the basement fix would get me a completely loaded custom upon custom IF.

well maybe in 10 years i'll beable to look back and think damn that was hectic but worth it...

the biggest hangover is that just as i'm starting to relax and fall asleep my wife starts talking about it all... 'course we hadn't really discussed it much while the girls were awake, but at that point it put me on major edge... i was completely wrecked. couldn't fall asleep, slept like total crap and the littlest didn't make it any easier.

So... flush one good ride away with the lost sleep... sure one night of screwed up sleep won't erase the muscle development, but it ain't helping anything.

Tickin through a few of Solobreaks comments has been a nice distraction this morning but i've had my hands full till now/lunch. And, yeah, too much time in front of the computer.

that and one thing - beaufortian to mention - walking back from the bus stop with one of the mother's there she said "what did they do 30 years ago?" regarding the weather? Now maybe we should go back 130 years. But it was very much a descriptive lifestyle.

No wonder the poets and writers and language in general ain't what it used to be. People were forced into written/spoken description. How did people survive without the weather channel, without knowing to the tenth how cold it was or how cold it was going to be later on.

power meter again, i'd love to have one - i'll admit - i'd love to borrow one, but i've watched it, as others have noted, totally f*ck with people's riding. it ain't a job for me, riding never was. fixin em? organizing the team? that was a job, but riding wasn't. Maybe if i took it as seriously as a job i might ahve better results, but i might also have burnt out like many folks i know and hear about. I don't wanna burn out - i enjoy riding too much.

I dug out a few CDs from the 'hard to get' location at the apartment. The 50+ or so sitting out are getting old. I popped question the answers into the cd player (mighty mighty bostones) and damn that brought back memories, it also elicited not so favorable reaction from my wife... she didn't like it too much... so i switched it out for abit of Little Feat, waiting for columbus. And i will say, if i could only have one CD, i'd put Willin on there. I love that arrangement and that melody... Lowell George really was a freaking genius. I found one of my Pixies Albums, but that'll wait maybe till tomorrow...

music, really is important... i've gotten back into listening to BBC 1 here at work, and didn't realize how much i like hearing the 'football' reports - even if i can't name more than a few teams in the EPL or almost any of the players - its still entertaining to hear which boss is hiring who and who's going where and all that stuff...

Its also funny that Natasha Beddingfield hit the british airways big almost a year before she made the charts here in the USA... yeah - i listen to a freaking eclectic range of music... criteria: in tune. gotta play in tune... unlike that Gaelic Storm group's first album... wretched, and people loved it cause of the titanic... freaking crazy...

okay - time to restore blood sugar and caffine levels in this emotionally wrecked shell i'm flatoing around in today

When it rains

- an empty basement floods

farking house for sale... empty - back in MI... now is full of freaking water... sort of...

why for the love of whatever is it so hard to unload the damn house? WHY?

and why... why did it have to rain for two days before inspection, and WHY did it have to really completely and totaly dump last night before a visit by the realtor and the buyer?

I feel like i've been sucker punched in the gut... deflated...

that cycling calc thing is something i'd normally be geeked about for days... now... it means blah

totally farking blown to smithereens...

the last tie - the last noose around my neck from Michigan... that damn house...

So begins St. Pats week

Where everyone and their brother pretend to be irish, and its the one week a year if you play celtic music you are assured a good gig... with minimal effort.

So I made it up to the Diamond Hill Part of Rhode Island on sunday. Had a totally kick ass ride...

confirmed that my HR maxes out at a measly 187 or so... and started thinking more and more about the power, cause these hill... nice big hills... , add other riders, and them there's me... 50 tooth chainring, just one ring, and a 25 tooth large cog in the back (8 speed cassette)... and the rest in micro rings, one Road triple, one XTR 4 arm crank (cross bike), and one 38tooth or smaller inner ring... and me on my 50t...

Thinkin about power... and as i'm grinding up, these guys are working hard too but seemingly its 'easier' reminding myself that FORCE is different than POWER and it takes more force to turn over a big ring, but then if we are going the same speed, my cadence will by measure be slower than theirs and thusly... equal power...

But it also got me thinking... cause we came around the Reservoir into a bitching wind, and the Dutchman and the exMichigan flatlander (me) decided to have fun in the wind... okay well i decided to have fun in the wind and well... the Ney-der-lander Stuck to my wheel... freaking bitching fun.

And this is what i realized yesterday. I like working into the wind, I like going up hills... i REALLY like powering away... but i absolutely SUCK at going down hill esp in 1 lane twisty sandy roads. Call me chickenshit or just call me too tall-fat-stupid, whatever... BUT i acknowledge that i suck at it and thus i can focus on figuring out how to be the next Sean Yates...

cause i am NOT him... part of my problem yesterday was that i was stupidly somehow leading the gang down... i shoulda been on second or third or ideally last wheel...

oh well... next time, right ;)

Here's a nice map of the ride - that walkjog thing is cool... so is screen printing


apparently someone had their GPS running on the route - but with one small exception (had to ask where we went going south) i was able to recognize the corners or the roads and re-make the route... It was a damn good route...

Going back to that power vs force and all that... i guess it is the strength vs Power that one article somewhere or other was talking about, IE- Strength= making more power faster... =Jump
AND... I gotta say, that power/kg thing is kinda bullshit. Sort of. The doubts come in on the hill. It can't be a linear relationship between power and weight when comparing a flat road and a steep hill. maybe it still is the same...

but if say someone make equal Watts/kg and one is 93 pounds and one is 193 pounds (KL vs Me) okay - too freaking distractin around here to work on the rest of the train of thought - i feel like i JUST missed the GD train... that and i need food. Time for trip down to East Side Pockets for a nice Falafel sandwich/wrap thing...

Maybe i'll beable to re-board the train when i get back - gonna post now... to get this all out of my head- and either edit or followup post... (definitely going to run spell check later)

peace
G

Staying home with my sick kid... writing...

So I sit here, typing, working on conceptualizing a book. Yes… a book. No not based on this writing, but a more technical instruction book. I think there is a big deficit in confocal microscopy instruction and use. So, I’m pursuing the idea of writing a book, a text so to speak. More of a generalized manual that is broken down in the way I feel is best to start with instruction on the system.

But I’m sitting here, no real references, just my over active brain, listening to Magical Strings Beneath The Moon CD, while the little one sleeps with the hammered dulcimer, harp, cello, and all sooth her sickness away.

The last time I was home alone with her when she was a puking mess, was two years ago. That was a dark Michigan December day, in meteorological terms. I read one book cover to cover, only interrupted with catching puke and cleaning carpets and the bathroom. That book was – shoot, ah yes –The Shipping News (I should underline that properly… we’ll see if I can translate formatting and the linking when I get around to publishing it--well here i am publishing the entry and well - hyperlinking underlines for me... woot).

So, now, I could start reading my next book from the Christmas pile, The Sea Rover's Practice: Pirate Tactics and Techniques, 1630-1730, all about the real history of pirates and the like. It is starting off pretty well but the writing is rather, plain and simple. Not that mine is the most complex but it certainly to me, is full of complicated sentence structure, most of which I assume violates some rule of writing I have learned and forgotten. I could read that book. Or three or four others. The shortest of which is rather tempting. It’s a called The Children of Cyclops- - The influence of Television Viewing On the Developing Human Brain. About the television and its impact on child development and cognitive function. I read a few lines skimming it recently, and one thing stuck in my head. The book works on making the distinction that television as a functional light emitting system is what is worse, or maybe the concept that reflected light is much better, and less harmful. The work focuses specifically on developmental stages of children’s brains. I should probably read it, esp since TV is a part of our lives. A much smaller one without cable/dish programming, but its there, although I’m not sure reading the book will do anything other than make me more of an obnoxious know-it-all. Books have a way of doing that ya know?

There was a brief interruption there. Now I’ve changed venues, I’m sitting in a pink plastic SNILLE Ikea chair, one with wheels and a molded seat thing that has adjustable height. Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but being here in the same room is comforting for her, although the sleeping bit right now it is probably more subconscious than anything else.

Looking outside the weather is a bit overcast, but the light in March is much stronger than December. But sitting up here close to the top of the hill, with the wind whistling outside the window, it still feels a bit wintry. And now my favorite childhood song is on, “The minstrel boy.” Yes the CD was changed to Celtic Mist, by Philip Boulding (of Magical Strings). Simple Harp arrangements, played beautifully, and recorded masterfully. This song and the Golden Vanity are almost two that move me to tears, at least make me extremely emotional. In a very different way than a kick ass Tiesto mix.

I’m tempted to write all day, about what I’m not sure, but write, and write. That’s what the blog is for anyway, right? Babbling on to oneself? I suppose there’s the lofty goal of gaining the popularity of big jonny, but… I ain’t gonna put his combo to use, I don’t really like using the word p&%o&%r&%n (remove the &% to get the word) cause of stupid searches… and random word combo here with that and who knows who will google their way here.

Google… now that’s something. I remember Excite, and a few other search engines that kicks serious but. Before Yahoo got huge, before google was born, when searching was an art, and doing a search meant trying different engines and all that. Of course searching is easier, in a way, now because there is just exponentially more content out there. A SERIOUS amount of it. Not just the stuff with the &% in the word. I mean real content.

Of course there is this content, and what does it mound up to be. A pile of Heinz beans? (as an aside/sidebar- it was a GD pain to find the link but generally its easy to find those around-also i am not endorsing that specific supplier - just using them for their image...) Now those are some damn fine beans. Vegan even. Tasty as hell, heat em up and have em with some potatoes, tofu scramble or scrambled eggs, sausage or gimme lean patties. Damn it… now I’m hungry. Shit. And it isn’t even lunch time. Coupled with how’m’I gonna eat in front of someone who can’t even keep water down.

Oh well. Content, pile of Heinz beans? Right, and specifically the turquoise label. Its English I believe and probably why it generally costs a buck and a quarter per 16 oz or so… but worth it…

I gotta find something other than writing to do right now. But I’m not sure I feel motivated yet. Cleaning the bikes would be a good idea, but I’m not geeked about doing it up here in the apartment and I don’t wanna be down in the basement with them while she’s up here sick…. Anyway I’m gonna force myself to stop. Maybe…

And Ain’t those images from the handmade bike show inspiring? I should definitely give more thought to starting up the bike brand KL suggested. Small and Tall. I was gonna stop right? And where am I? Line 31, column 49, no 57.

-a few hours later-

This could be worse, could be better. And I’ll say this – just in case someone gets the wrong idea – the Olive Leaf is supposed to have an anti-viral component to it, so for the hell of it I’m tryin it out. But in case ya confused my sports supplement raggin a bit ago and this OLE stuff, well.. there ya have it… the logic, strange as it may be.

And there ya have it - written yesterday - hyperlinked and posted today... ain't computers fun

Coffee/Espresso

Okay - a bit of a background history on this compilation of other people's webpages, and one book... (referenced of course)

A friend of mine was at a party and the host was going on and on saying how Cappuccino is Chinese in orgin, and that coffee (the plant and bean) was a new world crop.. alarm bells went off in my head and well - this is what i found...

ESPRESSO

Espresso is a coffee brewing system and the beverage produced by that system. The beverage is the base for many popular coffee drinks (see "Recipes & Presentations" section). The Italian word "Espresso" means "speed" or "to put under pressure", defining the espresso brewing process. It may also suggest a single cup made "expressly for" a consumer as opposed to a pot of coffee made for a group.

In 1855 at the Paris Exposition, Edouard Loysel de la Lantais introduced a very large hydrostatic percolator that used the pressure of steam in a boiler to raise the brewing water through a tube. Some cite this as the first espresso machine. However, in the late 1930's and 40's, Giovanni Gaggia developed a spring-lever brewing head assembly that product espresso, a coffee beverage that was distinctly different from any other brewed coffee. The Gaggia invention produced a single serving of espresso with an intense, sweet coffee flavor and aroma, and "creme" in about 15 seconds.¹

1. Ian Bersten; Coffee Floats, Tea Sinks, Helian Books, Roseville, Australia, 1993; pages 81-83, 115-117, 260.

from: http://coffee.lifetips.com/faq.asp__Q__SiteID__E__310__A__QuestionID__E__86249__A__type__E__0

Cappuccinos originated in Italy. Italians tend to drink cappuccinos in the morning, preferring the straight shot of espresso (without the added milk froth of the cappuccino) the rest of the day.

COFFEE

http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/6454/coffee.html

The coffee plant is said to originated in Ethiopia, in an area called "Kaffa" from which the name coffee got its name. The first definite dates go back to 800 BC, but many Arabian legends tell the story of a mysterious black and bitter beverage with powers of stimulation.

Legend tells that a goat herder in Ethiopia noticed that his goats were very frisky and alert after eating red berries of a local shrub. That that he also tried them and maybe even boiled them up and drank the first cup of coffee.

01st century
Arab traders brought back coffee back and cultivate the plant for the first time on plantations. They created a drink they called "qahwa"; this literally translates as "that which prevents sleep"

15th century
Around 1453 it is introduced into Constantinople by the Turks and the first ever coffee shop is said to have opened there in 1475

16th century
Jesuit missionaries first brought arabica coffee beans to the country of Colombia. The volcanic soil of the Andes Mountains, along with the mild temperatures and abundant rainfall of the Colombian topography, provided ideal growing conditions, enabling the coffee plants to flourish.

By the late 1500's the first traders were selling coffee in Europe, thus introducing the new beverage into Western life. The Dutch planted coffee in their tropical colonies of Batavia and Java, while the French planted it in Martinique in 1723 and later on in the Antilles. The English, Spaniards and Portuguese followed suit in their own colonies.

17th century
Coffee is thought to have been introduced to the 'New World' by Captain John Smith; the founder of Virginia. Some say it was much later and were introduced by Gabriel de Clieu; a French naval officer.

The first coffeehouse opens in England. One such coffee house later became the Insurancers "Lloyd's of London", as it was opened by one Edward Lloyd.

The first Parisian establishment dedicated to serving coffee is opened around 1672

With a coffee plant smuggled out of the Arab port of Mocha, the Dutch transport and cultivate coffee commercially in Ceylon of all places (known more for tea) and in their East Indian colony: Java, this being the source of coffee's nickname

18th century
In 1713, King Louis XIV is presented with a coffee tree and it is here, in his courts, that it is believed that sugar was first added.

In 1727 coffee growing was started in northern Brazil, but the poor climatic conditions gradually caused the settlers to shift their crops, first to Rio de Janeiro and finally in the early 1800's to the States of Sao Paulo and Minas, where coffee found its ideal environment.

19th century
The first espresso machine might have been invented in France at the start of the 19th century. But the first manufactured machine is said to have happened 100 years later in Italy.

20th century
The 20th century saw a major revolution in the way coffee was made and served.

• in 1901 a Japanese-American chemist Satori Kato of Chicago, creates the first soluble "instant" coffee
• In 1903 a German coffee importer: Ludwig Roselius and a tam of researchers perfects the process of removing the caffeine content from the beans without destroying the flavour. He marketed it under the brand name we still know today, "Sanka."
• In 1905 the first commercial espresso machine is manufactured in Italy
• In 1908 Melitta Bentz invents the worlds first drip coffeemaker by using blotting paper
• In 1933 Dr. Ernest Illy develops the first automatic espresso machine
• In 1938 Nescafé instant coffee is invented by the Swiss Nestlé company, to aid the Brazilian government in solving its coffee surplus problem
• In 1945 Achilles Gaggia perfects the espresso machine with a piston that creates a high pressure extraction to produce the thick layer of crema that we all love today

the early hours of sleeplessness

Well... I'm droppin the entry quick-like, cause i'm addicted to the post... Well i should be more 'positive' and 'technically correct' and say that i have habitualized writing a few words to myself. I miss it in the weekend and have managed to suffice to add a post written during the weekend last week.

There's something pleasant about getting an entry done. why do i blog? call it my attention to detail and the affect of A Manual of Scientific Enquiry influence. I have yet to ...FOUND IT... and its now on call up from the 'Rack' I am SOOO excited... can't wait. They were correct - the library here has EVERYTHING... In fact they have three copies, the first edition (i think, pub 1849) A Manual of scientific enquiry; : prepared for the use of Her Majesty's navy : and adapted for travellers in general. / Edited by Sir John F.W. Herschel, bart. Published by authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and the 3rd (the one i requested) 1859, and the 5th 1886. The Beaufort book i've been obsessed with lately (well sort of) was based on the 3rd edition as the primary source. Referring i believe to the first, but like he primarily focused on the 9th Collegiate dictionary for the beaufort scale, a single source was needed for clarity.

Anyway - i'm freaking GEEKED.

Oh i need to interject a clarification. Someone made a comment about me listening to Rush. I assume it is in reference to the Rollers and all that. RUSH = THE BAND! If i was referring to That bloated sack of shit windbag who has troubles with drug abuse and hearing loss... well i'd say as much... and all listening to that fat sack of blubbery radical shit (cause that sumbitch AIN'T A FCUKING CONSERVATIVE TO SAVE HIS DFAMN LIFE - unless it meant lower taxes and high defense spending in light of reduced taxation ain't the true definition of conservative - deficit spending is about as far from true conservative as you can get) - and all that listening to that sack of shit would do for me is what it did right now, raise my blood pressure...

-deep breath-

-focus-

-gotta get the stuff done here early and get back soon-

There's nothing like waking up to hear your kids puking. At least the older one can get herself outa bed - fortunately, and well - i'm headed back home for a day of being Daddy Nurse. First one kid, then the other. A nice viral stomach bug that is floating around. I think i've been fighting it off pretty well, we'll see. I'm poppin Olive Leaf extract pills like no tomorrow. Even if they are a placebo, i want all the extra help i can get to stay well. I don't wanna spend the day with stuff coming out both ends.

Okay - well now that the business of the week is caught up (sort of - at least email/scheduling) and the coffee is happily transferring its anti-oxidant/caffeinated goodness into my blood stream i am taking off and saying, yall have a great weekend, and get out and ride... cause... i really doubt if i'll be lucky enough to ride - the horror and the shame... but we'll see... i can cross my fingers... and toes...

oh

PS: check out the goodness from the North American handmade Bicycle Show...
Dirt Rag
Cyclingnews
(the cycling news like is for part3 - cause it has links to part 1 and 2)

and if this one just don't make ya wanna ride - you are strange:

for cryin out loud

Can this turn into any more of a clusterphuck?

This being today. Software patches that don't do what they are supposed to, its been like two steps forward and 1.5 steps back every time i get an update, and most of the updates are from bugs i'm finding and telling the programmer...

its almost enough to make me wanna write the god damn code myself. But, almost, is the key distinction... i don't actually do much code writing but i'm starting to gather that it ain't all that big of a deal... but i've got enough to do with the other end of the software... the getting users to use it properly and helping them figure out how to image their samples.

Toss in a critical part we need for one of the Electron microscope prep equipment things... its expensive, so i call the US distributor and am told - hey we can put a rush on it and it'll be there no later than monday, probably earlier... Monday being this past one... and that would be a week's turn around. So, nothing on monday, the supplier says it should be there today and at the latest Wed. Tuesday, no part, email from me to supplier asking - do you have a tracking # or carrier info? - no reply to email. Wed... emailed again, No part. Mention to someone else here - they supposedly were going to follow up. Hey whadda ya know, while i'm down dealing with the software headache on the confocal, the part shows up at the main facility. It was shipped via FedEx Priority overnight (meaning next business morning). And it was shipped FREAKING YESTERDAY.

talk about LAST time that company gets an order from us unless its a sole source, and it looks like if we wait - rumor has it that the equipment supplier will be dividing the US territory in 1/2 and we'd get the new supplier. But its been a frustrating pain in the ass. Backlogging the class, and about three or four labs of users on that scope! That and there appears to be a significantly less amount of material on this target than the first one that wore out.... but hey, its here and i can cross it off the list.

some other cool things are hap'nin in this work realm too, besides these headaches. maybe for another time...

the Race this weekend... the Charge Pond one. I was even thinkin about it... but too much other stuff in the way... not to mention i don't wanna race the cross bike in the training race, and i don't wanna get the Q Pro all set up just for that... and i've got other obligations to deal with. I know i shouldn't even be tempted to think about even a training race... but i was/am...

i'm not sure what my base is like anyway... and since i do interval training most everyday on the commute (hills and long sprint intervals to keep up with the cars and all that) my base needs work. hopefully i can just get a good pace ride in, maybe even a trailer ride... a slightly higher intensity but importantly to contrast the daily stuff steady state.

And poppin back up the hill on College street from messing with software and bugs, i felt great... the first ~12% grade was quick... sure - just a block long but that's still steep and i felt good. About 1/2 up the second block i thought... what gear am i in... the 50x23, cause it felt pretty easy, tough but easier to the point i thought i was in the 25. I guess i can try out the 21 on the next jaunt up the hill... although i'll admit - if it wasn't raining and if my body hadn't been screaming feed me for over an hour i would have taken the longer low grade way and stopped in to say hey to Jack and Jessie at the Hub....

and fer crying out loud, where the hell has the day gone!!!!!! at least i can get the words out of my head pretty fast this way... faster and LIGHT YEARS more legible than the scribbling in the notebook...

till later... and Shannon ain't the only one saying Peace Out... and not the first...

but i'll end with Peace Yall... love your brother and neighbor, charity begins at home, next door, at work. A smile and a hello go a lot further than down cast eyes and avoidance....

i feel bad...

Not sick, not riding, but somewhat remorseful that i may have inspired a ride and may have had it changed to a day that i could do it but then wound up not being able to go... and its a ride i've been wanting to do for a while...

it was inspired by and email with a link... a link to a entertaining (mildly) video, it is definately with the dl if ya wanna bit of hill climb inspiration (that link btw is to the web page, not the actual video).

And i thought we've got a few hills around here that are steep lots of 10%+ grade... and at least one 15%+ grade... and a couple that are just under 10% but a bit longer...

that vid incited me to write this to the group:

yeah... but that's a tripple... 1-1 ratio... ;) nothing special...
nice clip - if that doesn't make ya wanna go do intervals on Jenkes...
nothing will

That and Jenkes is no slouch 'round here... Ya can come close to that
circuit of his doing the College, Waterman, on up to Jenkes climbs...

hmmm sounds like a good 'fun' ride either to start a Faunce or end a
faunce ride... also a one of the best ways to measure who's king of
the power/kg...

notice the reference to power/kg... subtly tellin them that power alone is a stupid retarded measurment. Okay it ain't that useless but well... if ya've been riding for 10 years and ya get a powermeter... that's one thing... if this is your second or third season... and you have a power meter? fercryinoutloud... what are ya thinking....

Anyway - so the ride was supposed to go out this morning - i was supposed to go out with them but, well with the littlest one just barely getting better, i couldn't just take off for a long morning ride. As much as i wanted to, and that's what kinda makes me feel bad... the ride was changed to today so i could make it and i still couldn't... i hope it went off well enough that they might do it again, but now i'm thinking if i can sort out my own time to do get this ride done... i'm gonna... a bit extra motivation - and hell maybe i'll *gasp* even plan my own route!!! Enough of the following people around on roads i don't know...

Maybe i should clarify - this weight obsession i seem to convey is not cause i have one... its cause i think its curious. I found back before i started commuting by car and working a 'real' job instead of grad school/bike shop/ride when ever and everywhere that 200 was an ideal weight, both physiologically and power wise. More reserves, 60 miles with not food was easy if i had good prep going into it.. ie rest and food, and overall better energy levels. Not to mention power. I college at 165 pounds i spend almost a month eating 10,000+ calories a day (college food and an unlimited meal plan is key) and gained NO weight... only once i hit the mid-20s did i start to put on a few pounds... and that was a slow process... a few a year... and that extra weight i was carrying from not riding was well hidden on the 6'6" frame... but since if ya wanna go fast... its all about power to weight... i need to optimize everything for me... and right now, i'm feeling a bit old 'vette stylin... good power, but not an autocrosser by anymeans... and maybe that shows my Mt Bike roots... i'll take a turn on the trail to the limits of the bike, on the road... i'm a bit more conservative (lets leave it at that).... and leave this at that...

blogs... and other terrible tuesday musings

so last year... and yet... lately i find i'm tracking more and more cycling blogs... and i t hink that's a good thing...

its all part of my transition from TDIclub uberposting freak to more introspectiveness and less Ann Landers. Its a burden knowing the answer to all the questions people can ask about something. That and the burden i feel is that i need to answer them, cause i know the answer. I'm a teacher at heart - maybe not the best, a bit harsh cynical critical whatnot - but gimme technical details and i get a rush working out the way to explain them so people understand it. I mean actually understand it - so they can know what they are doing and apply it to their own stuff, specifically in the microscope training i give...

So reading all thes blogs is cool... inspirational, also somewhat depressing, 1 in that i'm a freaking slacker by comparison, 2 i have way less time than most of them, 3 there often is a connection of comradery that is kinda cool... dunno how to explain it better - although gimme 1000 words and i could come close... i've already dumped my 1200+ word entry for the week.

So off the bat the first new one i read through today is Shannon's Too Vanilla For You. That Sumbitch has a sweet bike - when cyclingnews ran the bit on the bike... man i was inlove... not so in love with the prices they ask... but if folks buy em at that price and it supporst their racer support - thassallgood. I just can't be the one supporting their stuff... but its like freaking DAMN cool (the Vanilla bikes)... which.. BTW ya can find here.

So who else as of late? I do click through my link bar over there on the right left... generally daily... and i'll prolly add shannon's and a few others maybe that i list today... at somepoint (and send the courtesy/obligatory note saying "Hey i'm linkin your stuff - just to let ya know").

Who else? Okay there's this kid down in Georgia... i think i read it from a bikeblogs hotlink. He's got a really original (/sarcasm) blog title and site name, I WISH I COULD BE PRO and ilikebikes.blogspot.com respectively. Reading through i see all the references to this new nutritional supplement and this energy drink and all i think is: Man, get yourself a better diet and that stuff will stop being effective. All it's pointing out is that you probably have a deficiency somewhere that these things are making up. I'ma big fan of diet. And only from experience. Cause i tried a bunch of that stuff as a kid - poppin supplements, drinks, vitamins... nothing illegal, well i tried some Mahuang(sp) for a Mt bike ride, but it didn't to jack except make me twitchy as hell, no faster. And what i find is 24 hr before a big exertion/race getting hydrated, eating a good balance, getting my minerals and all that makes all the difference. I typically operate slightly on the dehydrated side of things, and the extra water intake makes way more difference than drinkin a fancy uncarbonated soda (energy/race/recover/hydration drink) ever does. But i'm also pretty damn sure he'd write me off that the youth typically exhibits. Us old farts... well are old farts - whadda we know. That and everyone *is* different.

Who else? There are a few that i check linked either from Solobreak's or Kerry's and i was checking Tree Farm's stuff but it was slow... (just noticed that there's a new entry there).

Add all that up with Big Jonny's daily updates and the forum, cyclingnews, PezCyclingnews, velonews... I was checking Cyclocrosworld but they seem to have gone into hibernation... the RushinRevolution, NE cross... a bunch of those get checked and might get an actual hyperlink if i didn't impose some random "i've linked enough shit for one entry" criteria... if ya wanna check my math i think that's 12. plenty... too many maybe... i'm not much in the mood to care, esp after changing the most foul smelling diapers and cleaning puke up all night... okay - i cleaned up puke once at 3:30, got up every two hours to bring the poor kid to bed to nurse and be comforted (the 3:30 one resulted in the top end...) a bit viral i think. A slight fever with diharea and vomiting... all started last night... absolutely fun stuff. That and i might cut into a hill snake ride i was really looking forward to tomorrow morning. Ah well - my excuse: Season don't start till then. which i have a feeling will turn into a paniced "The season starts WHEN???!!!!" in say mid summer if this 'training' pace keeps up. But it won't, i hope... Not sure how it'll get better, not sure where my miles will come from... but they've gotta come... sick thing is i've actually thought about running! With my knees! But I think that's about as close as i'll get to pounding the pavement until august or september to do the minimum required for cross racing...

okay - enough babblin - and yeah... still commuting to work on the bike... that and i stuck the specialized Tri-cross wire bead 28c i have kicking around thinking they'd be a bit wider with more air volume than the flat prone 25c Conti Super sport Ultras... no fucking way - same exact size, if not smaller, on the same exact fucking rim. Retarded. Gonna switch em back today if i get a chance after lunch... Anyone want that rubber? Free? You come get it.

early morning comments about the Beaufortian thing

Finished the book - awesome and highly reccomended to anyone curious about science. I'd say required reading for people working in hard/descriptive science. Its less about the wind scale than about how you approach the world and observations. I *gar-run-tee* everyone that reads it will enjoy reading it and get something out of it... even if ya ain't a geeky scientist.

Comments i've gotta make (from a jotted down peice of paper - written after the moment thing was written).

1) coaching exception ot the Power Meter. Yes it can be a good way for an inarticulate or noobie cyclist to get meaningful feedback from a coach. BUT it still has a very detrimental side to it: it removes all obligation and responsibility from the communication. Not totally obviously. And sure many coaches and athletes may say "its a small element of the whole picture" and i'll counter by saying: "if you didn't have it would you be slower or faster?" I'd wager no change to faster. Focusing on that meter rather than focusing on what makes you faster will make you slower.

2) We need a power scale that's like the Beaufort Scale. With gradations, 0-coasting, no pedal effort, 10-Mt Washington Hill Climb Race. A descriptive scale, like the rock climbing one. Maybe people are more familar with the Yosemite Decimal System, if a rock climber says hey i just cleaned that 5.13 ya say nice job... its a standard measure, one that everyone can relate to. Now if i said, "I just put out 500 watts on that climb" someone might say -DAMN but someone else might only put out 250 on the same thing and feel inferior. Now if that same person was only say 50kg and fatso me sitting at almost 100kg... thats the same output/kilogram...

That one site i linked talks about Perceived Exertion - HOLY SHIT - if that ain't the beaufortian equivalent... ANOTHER MOMENT!!! WOOOOT
Its a scale - rating exertion, not as descriptive as Beaufort's but still potentially much more useful than a power meter.

So in reviewing that again (after linkin - I have lately always tried to read the whole page i'm linking when i link it)

In [Allen Lim, Ph.D.]'s ground-breaking doctoral work at the University of Colorado, Lim analyzed data from power meters used by pro riders in races and training. You'd think Lim would advocate scientific training. He does, but recommends a middle ground: training by feel and then analyzing the results by scientific means.

So, that sort of throws back to the initial comment i made. And sets the data in place. I've seen one cyclist around here with the Polar stuff, he wears the cycling computer on his wrist where he can't see it - then downloads it all later. Makes sense. Collects the data, lets ya go back and analyze how you felt. However. Danger there i see is if you don't document how you felt in a manner of precision equalling the data collection that the data then becomes meaningless. Or at the least much less useful.

Anyone with one of those power things - get a bit of electircal tape, put it over the power display (say maybe you need the clock to track intervals or something) and then get home - write up the ride in the training diary ya keep, then download the data. And monthly analyze it by looking back at the training diary. Cycling is a long term event. Taking years and years to build properly.

Going back to that web page one statement just absolutely makes me ecstatic:

But when it matters most, your carefully honed self-perceived exertion level is still the best monitor ever created.

can ya guess why ;)

I'll wind up this entry with the scale...

RPE scale

• 6 - resting
• 7 - very, very light
• 9 - very light
• 11 - fairly light
• 13 - somewhat hard
• 15 - hard
• 17 - very hard
• 19 - very, very hard