First bike commute day of the New Year.
Ouch.
So much extra strange body english needed for the first and last 4 miles of the day has cooked me and beaten me up a bit more than expected.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Happy New Year.
Back when 2012 started I said this:
Time to look back I suppose.
The long rides were key to surviving, maybe they can be worked into this year. 2012 was maybe one of the most challenging years for me in recent memory. But I survived. Kept moving forward.
Figured a few things out, discovered some new amazing friends. Went on a pile of amazing rides with wonderful people.
2013... lets see what ya got!
Back when 2012 started I said this:
Every year brings new challenges, what is 2012 going to offer up...
we shall see in 2013, as we don't know till we're through and can look back.
Time to look back I suppose.
The long rides were key to surviving, maybe they can be worked into this year. 2012 was maybe one of the most challenging years for me in recent memory. But I survived. Kept moving forward.
Figured a few things out, discovered some new amazing friends. Went on a pile of amazing rides with wonderful people.
2013... lets see what ya got!
Dill Bean verdict...
F'n Good.
Youngest can't stay away from them. Oldest approves, wife won't have anything to do with them (you know, being green and beans and weird and stuff).
And I love them.
None of that canning nonsense and really tasty pickled green beans. Salty, vinegar, spicy...
Now if you have a garden full and need to make quarts and quarts of them you might not want to keep them all in the fridge so canning makes sense. But if you just want to have some green beans laying around to snack on, want to take advantage of readily available supply in the food store and make a small batch or two at a time when the previous one is gone, it is a great way to do it.
Remember fresh stuff only lasts so long. If it is getting old, you can preserve it by freezing it, cooking it or with veggies, pickling them. Or combine the first two, cook then freeze.
Beans are great, buy dry (save $) soak (two days unattended is best IMHO) then cook and freeze extras or freeze the soaked ones to cook later. Just depends on the beans and what you want to do with them. Pintos are great to cook first and freeze esp if you're going to be refrying them. Adzuki, Black beans and Navy beans and the like you may want to just freeze post soaking and cook in the soup/chili they will wind up in.
Cook with good ingredients. Eat a diversity of plant species. Try new stuff. A food rut is like a mud rut, you're fine if you can stay right on it, but any little shift can send you into the tape and knock you out of the game.
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
G
Youngest can't stay away from them. Oldest approves, wife won't have anything to do with them (you know, being green and beans and weird and stuff).
And I love them.
None of that canning nonsense and really tasty pickled green beans. Salty, vinegar, spicy...
Now if you have a garden full and need to make quarts and quarts of them you might not want to keep them all in the fridge so canning makes sense. But if you just want to have some green beans laying around to snack on, want to take advantage of readily available supply in the food store and make a small batch or two at a time when the previous one is gone, it is a great way to do it.
Remember fresh stuff only lasts so long. If it is getting old, you can preserve it by freezing it, cooking it or with veggies, pickling them. Or combine the first two, cook then freeze.
Beans are great, buy dry (save $) soak (two days unattended is best IMHO) then cook and freeze extras or freeze the soaked ones to cook later. Just depends on the beans and what you want to do with them. Pintos are great to cook first and freeze esp if you're going to be refrying them. Adzuki, Black beans and Navy beans and the like you may want to just freeze post soaking and cook in the soup/chili they will wind up in.
Cook with good ingredients. Eat a diversity of plant species. Try new stuff. A food rut is like a mud rut, you're fine if you can stay right on it, but any little shift can send you into the tape and knock you out of the game.
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
G
Monday, December 31, 2012
Post snow commute exploration
I finally got on the bike. Watched the superprestige race first, so when i was out there I was all in the pro's flying through the sand visual as I was riding in the deep snow.
Of course I was going 1/8th their speed. But hey i was out there.
Where there were tracks from a truck, and then a quad, it wasn't a big deal. Where there was only the uneven icy footprints of all the walkers, oh man did that suck. Some of the snow was bottom bracket deep, some wasn't. With the studded Marathon Winter tires on there I was good for grip, but man it was slow going. 38x25 or so just grinding the pedals around.
Tried to make an effort to move the plow piles a bit before the froze but I neglected to bring a small shovel with me so i had to make due with kicking it around. Got enough at the key spots for a bike, trailer will be another story.
The ride to work on the 2nd will be interesting. And slow. And Long. But hey who doesn't like to make things that are good last longer? The white blue does handle the lumpy stuff pretty well, and the tires were gripping on the uneven ice. Just a matter of getting enough leg to last all the way in after a long hiatus.
I did snap a few images on the ride. Had to start with the Snowtranny. Liquor bottle nipples and a snowpenis with a pair of snow balls even. Someone spent a bit of time on this... probably has been knocked down but if it is still there on my ride in, I'll have to take another photo, the snowpenis is not super easy to see in the shots.
Between the shoveling and the bike ride I had a day with more activity than the previous week and a half.
here are the photos - they've been up on G+ for a day or so... just making it to writing a bit here. Still haven't tried the beans, has it been two days yet? Maybe.
Probably going to start making some black eyed peas, I might be the only one eating them but hey, that's fine by me. Gotta trim all the winter drinking fat off now. Holidays are almost behind us... no bike racing, no beer drinking. Done. Sad but accepted and moving on. Just have to watch the coffee intake.
the photos
yeah... time for a nap or something... of course i tried to fight a low/late caffeine headache with... a cup of coffee so there's no chance in hell i'll fall asleep.
Heddwch
G
Of course I was going 1/8th their speed. But hey i was out there.
Where there were tracks from a truck, and then a quad, it wasn't a big deal. Where there was only the uneven icy footprints of all the walkers, oh man did that suck. Some of the snow was bottom bracket deep, some wasn't. With the studded Marathon Winter tires on there I was good for grip, but man it was slow going. 38x25 or so just grinding the pedals around.
Tried to make an effort to move the plow piles a bit before the froze but I neglected to bring a small shovel with me so i had to make due with kicking it around. Got enough at the key spots for a bike, trailer will be another story.
The ride to work on the 2nd will be interesting. And slow. And Long. But hey who doesn't like to make things that are good last longer? The white blue does handle the lumpy stuff pretty well, and the tires were gripping on the uneven ice. Just a matter of getting enough leg to last all the way in after a long hiatus.
I did snap a few images on the ride. Had to start with the Snowtranny. Liquor bottle nipples and a snowpenis with a pair of snow balls even. Someone spent a bit of time on this... probably has been knocked down but if it is still there on my ride in, I'll have to take another photo, the snowpenis is not super easy to see in the shots.
Between the shoveling and the bike ride I had a day with more activity than the previous week and a half.
here are the photos - they've been up on G+ for a day or so... just making it to writing a bit here. Still haven't tried the beans, has it been two days yet? Maybe.
Probably going to start making some black eyed peas, I might be the only one eating them but hey, that's fine by me. Gotta trim all the winter drinking fat off now. Holidays are almost behind us... no bike racing, no beer drinking. Done. Sad but accepted and moving on. Just have to watch the coffee intake.
the photos
bike with the studded tires and the SnowTranny
Snowtranny must have been watching Chandler Delinks when figuring out the bike carry in CX, form is so wrong...
snow on the island
snowy lighthouse
sweet quad tracks. make it easier to ride
until the dude driving the quad couldn't keep on the path or in a straight line, the transitions on and off the pavement suck with the bike, couple inch lip is unsettling and hard to see/prepare for.
squantum club in the snow (and wind turbines)
yeah... time for a nap or something... of course i tried to fight a low/late caffeine headache with... a cup of coffee so there's no chance in hell i'll fall asleep.
Heddwch
G
Saturday, December 29, 2012
experimenting in the kitchen
Got headed off into a bad mood before dinner. Not good, don't like it, so i worked out a few things to focus on. Still haven't gotten on the bike, that may not happen. might have to put the studded tires on and just ride outside tonight if i can't sleep or tomorrow in the morning.
While hanging out with my dad a bottle of dill beans was produced. A staple of every garden we had. Always too many bean plants and basil plants to consume fresh. And there isn't much better than canned dill beans. Before my parents split my mother would make them. We had beans and pea rows so tall that I could hide in them as a kid. Looking at the spot where the garden was now gives me some perspective but that memory of the long row of beans and peas, picking piles of them. My mother would pickle them. Southern tradition if I would hazard a guess... a staple of child hood. Each jar precious like gold. Each crunchy dill (never sugar added, just vinegar and salt) bean pickle was savored.
We would be lucky to have one jar still left at Christmas despite the best rationing.
My step mother was better at rationing them when she made them from the mountains of beans my father grew as one of the founding green thumb/urban gardeners in DC. After a bit most of the beans came out of his garden plots at the house or at the Colonial farm, not from the plot across the street from the Air and Space museum.
His was the first garden there, soil was pretty crappy, but he had a large plot, I listened when he would talk about it. I was always the last of the four of us to bail on a hot Saturday and find an excuse to stop weeding and join my brothers wandering around in the icy cold air conditioned museum of awesome across the street.
Beans.
Dill beans.
My step mother gave me a small jar of them (the jars seem smaller know even) this week. Beans from the garden in Saguache, CO this time, Pickled with the hot canning method. Boiling bring poured over raw tightly packed beans, and then capped, boiled for a few minutes and then a turn of the lid and they were set to cool.
There was an art to packing the beans in those Bell jars, and this time for certain my memory stood, the jar I have not is a bit smaller in volume than the ones we used to fill with Blue Lakes. We would pack them in tight until they squeaked as you pushed them in.
With the fresh recollection of that in my mind, after a 9.5 hr drive home yesterday I saw a pile of beans on sale and grabbed a handful.
I've been watching the food chatter a bit and noticed a while back the trend towards refrigerator pickles. Not canned but just brined. It works with most all veggies and plenty of people are doing it with carrots and anything other than cucumbers you can think of.
I had an empty Grillo quart in the fridge, not empty, just no more pickled cucumbers, some garlic and dill. Well I ate those and cleaned out the container to make my own first run with the stuff.
My only stainless steel pot is soaking some black eyed beans so I went all science like and created my own protocol. Will it work? I'll find out and report in two days.
Here's how it went...
1.5 cups of water, 3.5 teaspoons of salt (not Kosher/coarse) into a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup. Heated in the microwave until the salt dissolved. (most of the recipes used sugar and combined the salt, sugar, vinegar and water in a sauce pan and boiled until dissolved). I nuked it.
Once dissolved I poured that and then added 1.5 cups of white vinegar,
1 teaspoon of mustard seed
1 teaspoon of dill seed (I forgot the damn fresh dill but, we always just used the seed)
1 teaspoon of black pepper
That was mixed up, heated again for 1 min in the nuker.
Since i was making pasta for dinner i had a big vat of boiling salted water, so I blanched the beans, a bit too long, a whole minute, and then plunged them into an ice bath. Probably should stick with 30 seconds.
Once they were cool I sliced up 4-5 cloves of garlic put them in the bottom of the empty pickle container, dumped 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes on top of that and then packed the beans in.
Sadly my two or so handfuls once lined up neatly, ends trimmed to expose the cellular matrix behind the waxy cuticle, weren't enough to squeak the last few in there tight. More of a loose arrangement of beans in the container.
BUT this is a quart container, bigger than the odd size jar given to me, bigger than the jars I packed as a kid at the kitchen table in Accokeek.
The brine was still hot so I put that in the ice water bath (in a container) that i used to plunge the beans into after blanching. Cooled the bring down, swirled the spice seeds around and dumped the cooled liquid over the beans. Snapped that lid on. Gave it a shake, and put it in the fridge.
Lots of salt, and vinegar, and cool, not much will grow in there no matter how badly i messed up the contamination... Gonna give them a shake or two and wait the two days most recipes call for before trying them
One common comment I found looking at a few of the recipes was that they should be good for about 6 months pickled like this, more importantly that there really is little chance that they will last that long.
Will report back. Pickles in the winter? crazy talk. Yeah, I'm not perfect, far cry from it, sometimes ya gotta do something fun. Now, I just hope they are too spicy for everyone else or I will have to share, or adj the heat level in the next batch (or stick some Serrano slices in between the packed beans).
Heddwch
G
While hanging out with my dad a bottle of dill beans was produced. A staple of every garden we had. Always too many bean plants and basil plants to consume fresh. And there isn't much better than canned dill beans. Before my parents split my mother would make them. We had beans and pea rows so tall that I could hide in them as a kid. Looking at the spot where the garden was now gives me some perspective but that memory of the long row of beans and peas, picking piles of them. My mother would pickle them. Southern tradition if I would hazard a guess... a staple of child hood. Each jar precious like gold. Each crunchy dill (never sugar added, just vinegar and salt) bean pickle was savored.
We would be lucky to have one jar still left at Christmas despite the best rationing.
My step mother was better at rationing them when she made them from the mountains of beans my father grew as one of the founding green thumb/urban gardeners in DC. After a bit most of the beans came out of his garden plots at the house or at the Colonial farm, not from the plot across the street from the Air and Space museum.
His was the first garden there, soil was pretty crappy, but he had a large plot, I listened when he would talk about it. I was always the last of the four of us to bail on a hot Saturday and find an excuse to stop weeding and join my brothers wandering around in the icy cold air conditioned museum of awesome across the street.
Beans.
Dill beans.
My step mother gave me a small jar of them (the jars seem smaller know even) this week. Beans from the garden in Saguache, CO this time, Pickled with the hot canning method. Boiling bring poured over raw tightly packed beans, and then capped, boiled for a few minutes and then a turn of the lid and they were set to cool.
There was an art to packing the beans in those Bell jars, and this time for certain my memory stood, the jar I have not is a bit smaller in volume than the ones we used to fill with Blue Lakes. We would pack them in tight until they squeaked as you pushed them in.
With the fresh recollection of that in my mind, after a 9.5 hr drive home yesterday I saw a pile of beans on sale and grabbed a handful.
I've been watching the food chatter a bit and noticed a while back the trend towards refrigerator pickles. Not canned but just brined. It works with most all veggies and plenty of people are doing it with carrots and anything other than cucumbers you can think of.
I had an empty Grillo quart in the fridge, not empty, just no more pickled cucumbers, some garlic and dill. Well I ate those and cleaned out the container to make my own first run with the stuff.
My only stainless steel pot is soaking some black eyed beans so I went all science like and created my own protocol. Will it work? I'll find out and report in two days.
Here's how it went...
1.5 cups of water, 3.5 teaspoons of salt (not Kosher/coarse) into a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup. Heated in the microwave until the salt dissolved. (most of the recipes used sugar and combined the salt, sugar, vinegar and water in a sauce pan and boiled until dissolved). I nuked it.
Once dissolved I poured that and then added 1.5 cups of white vinegar,
1 teaspoon of mustard seed
1 teaspoon of dill seed (I forgot the damn fresh dill but, we always just used the seed)
1 teaspoon of black pepper
That was mixed up, heated again for 1 min in the nuker.
Since i was making pasta for dinner i had a big vat of boiling salted water, so I blanched the beans, a bit too long, a whole minute, and then plunged them into an ice bath. Probably should stick with 30 seconds.
Once they were cool I sliced up 4-5 cloves of garlic put them in the bottom of the empty pickle container, dumped 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes on top of that and then packed the beans in.
Sadly my two or so handfuls once lined up neatly, ends trimmed to expose the cellular matrix behind the waxy cuticle, weren't enough to squeak the last few in there tight. More of a loose arrangement of beans in the container.
BUT this is a quart container, bigger than the odd size jar given to me, bigger than the jars I packed as a kid at the kitchen table in Accokeek.
The brine was still hot so I put that in the ice water bath (in a container) that i used to plunge the beans into after blanching. Cooled the bring down, swirled the spice seeds around and dumped the cooled liquid over the beans. Snapped that lid on. Gave it a shake, and put it in the fridge.
Lots of salt, and vinegar, and cool, not much will grow in there no matter how badly i messed up the contamination... Gonna give them a shake or two and wait the two days most recipes call for before trying them
One common comment I found looking at a few of the recipes was that they should be good for about 6 months pickled like this, more importantly that there really is little chance that they will last that long.
Will report back. Pickles in the winter? crazy talk. Yeah, I'm not perfect, far cry from it, sometimes ya gotta do something fun. Now, I just hope they are too spicy for everyone else or I will have to share, or adj the heat level in the next batch (or stick some Serrano slices in between the packed beans).
Heddwch
G
3800....
...number of posts. Not all are published, a handful of drafts so I guess in a while I'll hit 3800 again in a different column. insignificant number really, not a huge mile stone.
Well I survived, managed a not terrible drive back, 90 min longer than the drive down, over the whole distance considering what we were driving through, not terrible. Could have been worse, we could have been driving south on 95 yesterday through NYC. Parking lot from the GW bridge all the way back pretty much to Rye. Sort of insane the number of Trucks just parked there. Driving down on Sunday last week was not insane, pretty nice actually, few trucks, was odd, only a few minor slow downs.
Got back in time for the indoor soccer scrimmage and a quick run to get the first round of re-provisioning. First round because I had been driving non-stop for 9.5 hrs, unloaded the car, then headed back out right away in the rumble wagon. At idle it is very much like one of those massage chairs. Was nice. But back to the point, after all that, I forgot some key elements to pull off a week of dinners and day time meals, got most of it though, and after the last few days I felt compelled to get lots of dark greens and piles of dried beans. Want nutrients... Which reminds me, I meant to start soaking the beans last night. Oops.
I did manage to end the stay down there making dinner for 11. Enchiladas. They were pretty fantastic, maybe I have to do a run down of them here. Heading out for soccer soon, not going to happen right now.
Had meant to get on the bike today, that didn't happen, got started on a few re-organization projects, maybe after soccer I'll pull the trainer out and see what's on TV. And having just checked the OTA schedules, there's not much on unless i want to watch a Harry Potter movie on the trainer for 3 hrs with commercials, that is if that station even comes in on the old tube in the bike room. Not motivated enough to do that.
Have to get dinner made before I can think about riding a bike. Life of Mr Mom.
No idea what i'm making though... best figure it out sooner than later.
heddwch
G
Well I survived, managed a not terrible drive back, 90 min longer than the drive down, over the whole distance considering what we were driving through, not terrible. Could have been worse, we could have been driving south on 95 yesterday through NYC. Parking lot from the GW bridge all the way back pretty much to Rye. Sort of insane the number of Trucks just parked there. Driving down on Sunday last week was not insane, pretty nice actually, few trucks, was odd, only a few minor slow downs.
Got back in time for the indoor soccer scrimmage and a quick run to get the first round of re-provisioning. First round because I had been driving non-stop for 9.5 hrs, unloaded the car, then headed back out right away in the rumble wagon. At idle it is very much like one of those massage chairs. Was nice. But back to the point, after all that, I forgot some key elements to pull off a week of dinners and day time meals, got most of it though, and after the last few days I felt compelled to get lots of dark greens and piles of dried beans. Want nutrients... Which reminds me, I meant to start soaking the beans last night. Oops.
I did manage to end the stay down there making dinner for 11. Enchiladas. They were pretty fantastic, maybe I have to do a run down of them here. Heading out for soccer soon, not going to happen right now.
Had meant to get on the bike today, that didn't happen, got started on a few re-organization projects, maybe after soccer I'll pull the trainer out and see what's on TV. And having just checked the OTA schedules, there's not much on unless i want to watch a Harry Potter movie on the trainer for 3 hrs with commercials, that is if that station even comes in on the old tube in the bike room. Not motivated enough to do that.
Have to get dinner made before I can think about riding a bike. Life of Mr Mom.
No idea what i'm making though... best figure it out sooner than later.
heddwch
G
Thursday, December 27, 2012
#svenness
CXHairs Via the Fatmarc
Missing the bike, missing racing CX... Surviving though. A break is a good thing. Weather hasn't been super conducive to riding much here anyway. Good bit of a storm rolled through yesterday, snow and rain mix.
Not a bad day today, would be the first time to ride but we're headed back soon enough, waiting just a bit longer than you want is probably a good measure of an off week. I'm definitely feeling stiff and fat from not riding at all, eating not my cooking.
10 day forecast is looking not terrible for a potential Mental Health day ride but not super warm either. Too much up in the air at this point to plan it at all. That and well I'd want to do it on the Black blue and it isn't ready to go, needs some TLC. Maybe I can work that in to a bit of a priority before the new year draws to an end.
We'll see.
Had an idea to do a retrospective look back at 2012 CX season... we'll if that idea percolates into a post or not.
heddwch
G
SVENNESS #1 from In The Crosshairs on Vimeo.
Missing the bike, missing racing CX... Surviving though. A break is a good thing. Weather hasn't been super conducive to riding much here anyway. Good bit of a storm rolled through yesterday, snow and rain mix.
Not a bad day today, would be the first time to ride but we're headed back soon enough, waiting just a bit longer than you want is probably a good measure of an off week. I'm definitely feeling stiff and fat from not riding at all, eating not my cooking.
10 day forecast is looking not terrible for a potential Mental Health day ride but not super warm either. Too much up in the air at this point to plan it at all. That and well I'd want to do it on the Black blue and it isn't ready to go, needs some TLC. Maybe I can work that in to a bit of a priority before the new year draws to an end.
We'll see.
Had an idea to do a retrospective look back at 2012 CX season... we'll if that idea percolates into a post or not.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
sorry this is the best one
So Happy Christmas
This is and will always be the best Christmas song there isn't a better version online so go click through.
Yuletide concert songs excepted and all better than these of course...
but i'm the one awake, getting fat and unable to sleep, while my loved ones slumber...
No bells, just the roar of the cars up and down the road outside to mark the passing of time. Irregular.
18:1
eighteen to one
I feel like writing about odds, and always hoping against them. Against all odds everyone will realize the best present to give me is an S3... yeah no that's dumb wait till the nexus 4 is available get him one of those, no don't get him anything it might be the wrong thing......
I've grown to hate this time of year, last year was a good variation, forced into action. This year almost forced into inaction.... inaction won. For so many reasons.
I tried to follow Dean's advice, but we ran out of beer.
oops
and of course the timing is more of a "lets get GeWilli fat" than a "lets help him sleep"
working solidly on that first one, not so much on the second
No Sleep Till... RIVERSIDE MOTHERFUCKER! (Jack Chapman reference, you get it or you don't).
heddwch
G
This is and will always be the best Christmas song there isn't a better version online so go click through.
Yuletide concert songs excepted and all better than these of course...
but i'm the one awake, getting fat and unable to sleep, while my loved ones slumber...
No bells, just the roar of the cars up and down the road outside to mark the passing of time. Irregular.
18:1
eighteen to one
I feel like writing about odds, and always hoping against them. Against all odds everyone will realize the best present to give me is an S3... yeah no that's dumb wait till the nexus 4 is available get him one of those, no don't get him anything it might be the wrong thing......
I've grown to hate this time of year, last year was a good variation, forced into action. This year almost forced into inaction.... inaction won. For so many reasons.
I tried to follow Dean's advice, but we ran out of beer.
oops
and of course the timing is more of a "lets get GeWilli fat" than a "lets help him sleep"
working solidly on that first one, not so much on the second
No Sleep Till... RIVERSIDE MOTHERFUCKER! (Jack Chapman reference, you get it or you don't).
heddwch
G
Monday, December 24, 2012
christmas eve is here
Survived the drive, actually made record time, not sure why but we've never had such a short trip between here and there.
The experiment is going well, on all counts.
Dog's a bit clingy, doesn't want any separation, also felt like 5:30 was an appropriate time to wake up after me not getting much sleep.
Now to survive an action packed 4-5 days w/o a bike.
The experiment is going well, on all counts.
Dog's a bit clingy, doesn't want any separation, also felt like 5:30 was an appropriate time to wake up after me not getting much sleep.
Now to survive an action packed 4-5 days w/o a bike.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
time for a break
not from the blog, but from a few other "social media" places. I'll be on G+ but not the other two.
Email or the plus. This is a pre-emptive strike against the coming week. A goal. No bike riding during that time either so it will be touch and go.
pretty clear that i am not a fan of this time of year, not much better than my birthday, could be worse.
it is what it is.
Time to live the lifestyle of my phone category. The flip phone. Email and Web Logging on the computer. Talking to people with the phone. No pretending to be connected using the web interface at twitter or faceplace.
Something that needs to be done, how long will it last? Who knows. Maybe only until tomorrow night. Maybe until next week. Maybe through the New Year and beyond. My friends know where to find me, y'all have my email, shit most of you could actually call me if you wanted to, not that i would encourage that, i'm really barely marginally happier than G-ride talking on the phone.
Pulling back.
Figuring shit out.
Yeah right. Who am I kidding. If GeWilli hasn't figured shit out by now, good lord no chance of EVER figuring it out.
So yeah.
Something
*shrug*
I'll be here but we'll see what shows, no forcing it.
heddwch
g
Email or the plus. This is a pre-emptive strike against the coming week. A goal. No bike riding during that time either so it will be touch and go.
pretty clear that i am not a fan of this time of year, not much better than my birthday, could be worse.
it is what it is.
Time to live the lifestyle of my phone category. The flip phone. Email and Web Logging on the computer. Talking to people with the phone. No pretending to be connected using the web interface at twitter or faceplace.
Something that needs to be done, how long will it last? Who knows. Maybe only until tomorrow night. Maybe until next week. Maybe through the New Year and beyond. My friends know where to find me, y'all have my email, shit most of you could actually call me if you wanted to, not that i would encourage that, i'm really barely marginally happier than G-ride talking on the phone.
Pulling back.
Figuring shit out.
Yeah right. Who am I kidding. If GeWilli hasn't figured shit out by now, good lord no chance of EVER figuring it out.
So yeah.
Something
*shrug*
I'll be here but we'll see what shows, no forcing it.
heddwch
g
Friday, December 21, 2012
Mother Nature Watts
Woke to a howling wind out of the east... putting the garbage out, what? damn that's a mighty fine tailwind now.
Checked the radar earlier and saw a big clear spot around PVD with rain on either side. Damn I got a window AND I HAVE A TAIL WIND.
Tailwinds are free mother nature watts.
Of course I started reading the NYTimes link that Timmie tweeted this morning so instead of leaving with no rain from my house to the CT border... well I think the window closed. I didn't check the radar before leaving so it was a bit of a shock hitting outside at one point and feeling a few drops of rain. Damnit.
But man that tailwind felt good. Wow. HONKING.
My wife left just after I did. On a normal day if we leave at the same time and she makes the school drop i get up to the part of the path along the Parkway just before she does. No drop off today. Full max HR TT interval right out of the gun with the tailwind. Days like today would be nice to commute with something bigger than a 46x12.
Saw two other regular runners. no walkers, and one bike commuter with the reverse commute to mine. All of them headed into the wind.
As I was coming up the hill along the first parking lot I saw a line of cars, lights on, a bit of mist in the air, couldn't ID the minivan, but the hill sometimes takes a bit of attention away, the burning legs the attempt to just go up and carry speed, looked up and oh hey... There she goes! I WON! (well that race at least).
By the time I got down to the new road the wind had shifted... WTF? COME ON! Headwind. Man.
I went from feeling like a PRO to instant SCHMO until I made the turn around the Fuji plant.
Oh hey. What's this? A tailwind all the way down Angel? Fuck YEAH. Back to feeling like a Pro over the bridge and down the road with the cars.
Boom. That was fun.
But with the wind shift full on pelting rain started. Not dry. Oh well. Rain didn't dampen that fun.
Now I have to figure out what to do for lunch. There was enough hanging out in the fridge and with soccer and dance both of us going in different directions all night well, leftovers worked. AKA not enough lunch in the fridge for 4. for 2, yes, but those two take priority. Anyone wanna grab lunch in the 'hood drop me a line!
Heddwch
G
Checked the radar earlier and saw a big clear spot around PVD with rain on either side. Damn I got a window AND I HAVE A TAIL WIND.
Tailwinds are free mother nature watts.
Of course I started reading the NYTimes link that Timmie tweeted this morning so instead of leaving with no rain from my house to the CT border... well I think the window closed. I didn't check the radar before leaving so it was a bit of a shock hitting outside at one point and feeling a few drops of rain. Damnit.
But man that tailwind felt good. Wow. HONKING.
My wife left just after I did. On a normal day if we leave at the same time and she makes the school drop i get up to the part of the path along the Parkway just before she does. No drop off today. Full max HR TT interval right out of the gun with the tailwind. Days like today would be nice to commute with something bigger than a 46x12.
Saw two other regular runners. no walkers, and one bike commuter with the reverse commute to mine. All of them headed into the wind.
As I was coming up the hill along the first parking lot I saw a line of cars, lights on, a bit of mist in the air, couldn't ID the minivan, but the hill sometimes takes a bit of attention away, the burning legs the attempt to just go up and carry speed, looked up and oh hey... There she goes! I WON! (well that race at least).
By the time I got down to the new road the wind had shifted... WTF? COME ON! Headwind. Man.
I went from feeling like a PRO to instant SCHMO until I made the turn around the Fuji plant.
Oh hey. What's this? A tailwind all the way down Angel? Fuck YEAH. Back to feeling like a Pro over the bridge and down the road with the cars.
Boom. That was fun.
But with the wind shift full on pelting rain started. Not dry. Oh well. Rain didn't dampen that fun.
Now I have to figure out what to do for lunch. There was enough hanging out in the fridge and with soccer and dance both of us going in different directions all night well, leftovers worked. AKA not enough lunch in the fridge for 4. for 2, yes, but those two take priority. Anyone wanna grab lunch in the 'hood drop me a line!
Heddwch
G
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Sauce...
A long winded but very effective way to talk about variability.
Best not to write anything original today.
Too uncertain of the direction my consciousness will take my words.
I'm one cup from finishing the pot of coffee, and I'm falling asleep.
Best not to write anything original today.
Too uncertain of the direction my consciousness will take my words.
I'm one cup from finishing the pot of coffee, and I'm falling asleep.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
blank... white.... space.....
Staring at the blank white space, hunger of lunch pangs, esp since i've eaten almost all of it and what is left may not get me through the day.
Why not try to bust the flood gates down with a forced introduction. But then that isn't a forced introduction. I have been looking at this blank space all day.
Why not try to bust the flood gates down with a forced introduction. But then that isn't a forced introduction. I have been looking at this blank space all day.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
special treat
to have Petitesreines put together a US version of their amazing video documentary of Cyclocross. Even got a few seconds of mug time for fatmarc!
Sur la route de Las Vegas from Petitesreines on Vimeo.
Monday, December 17, 2012
not three in a row
Today was a driving day. I could have loaded the girls up and taken them to school, driven home, grabbed the bike, but I didn't. I kept going. I drove in. Wound up getting lucky with a parking spot, and no riding. It was 40°F and raining pretty steadily.
honestly not terribly upset about getting to work cold and wet, running the fan in the office until the shoes and socks were dry for the ride home.
Tomorrow might be more of the same.
Unavoidable reasons, for all practical purposes at least. There's always an alternative, the most logical one was the car for today.
A bit too busy today to be terribly introspective, I would be lying if I hadn't been mired down with the aftermath of CT. Not sure adding my voice and my opinion to the mix will change anything. The country is too polarized for debate. We have great evidence of that looking back at the election. The news schism, the rhetoric, the talking points. People getting mad at everyone for politicizing the events so soon w/o allowing for a grieving period. But there is far too much silence from many of the gun advocates. Just making observations. not unique to me, i'm certainly not the only one to make such comments. Compromise is needed, further polarization isn't going to help the situation. Still the question remains where to we go from here? Hopefully in a positive direction.
Hopefully.
Somber a bit, contemplative. Grateful for the health and safety of my family.
Weather like today has me relieved that I'm not trying to squeeze whole long ride day in over this week. Too much going on. We'll see what the forecast brings when the new Year rolls in. We'll see what the future brings. At least I have something bigger to push the minor trivialities of life out of my brain. I'm not as locked down with panic at Christmas and the reality that I need gifts to make it special. I'm a shitty person when it comes to trying to figure out what to get people, panic, freeze, attempt. I've certainly managed to hit it big and special. Getting it right but it takes work and effort to overcome the natural signals of freak out. I've got a few days to figure it out I guess. At least I've been consistent enough of the years that no one expects much of anything from me anymore. But that doesn't make it easier, makes it sadder and harder... my gifts, at least I rationalize to myself, are often not material, time, love, caring... I'm not perfect. I'm pretty broken. But I do keep trying... Alright, enough of that bullshit.
Time to sort out what the hell i'm making for dinner. Talk about a big question to over think.
Writing to fill space at the end of the day. 3 min here 5 there... kind of disjuncted but at least no one can ever understand what the hell I'm writing about anyway, i've got that going for me.
heddwch
G
honestly not terribly upset about getting to work cold and wet, running the fan in the office until the shoes and socks were dry for the ride home.
Tomorrow might be more of the same.
Unavoidable reasons, for all practical purposes at least. There's always an alternative, the most logical one was the car for today.
A bit too busy today to be terribly introspective, I would be lying if I hadn't been mired down with the aftermath of CT. Not sure adding my voice and my opinion to the mix will change anything. The country is too polarized for debate. We have great evidence of that looking back at the election. The news schism, the rhetoric, the talking points. People getting mad at everyone for politicizing the events so soon w/o allowing for a grieving period. But there is far too much silence from many of the gun advocates. Just making observations. not unique to me, i'm certainly not the only one to make such comments. Compromise is needed, further polarization isn't going to help the situation. Still the question remains where to we go from here? Hopefully in a positive direction.
Hopefully.
Somber a bit, contemplative. Grateful for the health and safety of my family.
Weather like today has me relieved that I'm not trying to squeeze whole long ride day in over this week. Too much going on. We'll see what the forecast brings when the new Year rolls in. We'll see what the future brings. At least I have something bigger to push the minor trivialities of life out of my brain. I'm not as locked down with panic at Christmas and the reality that I need gifts to make it special. I'm a shitty person when it comes to trying to figure out what to get people, panic, freeze, attempt. I've certainly managed to hit it big and special. Getting it right but it takes work and effort to overcome the natural signals of freak out. I've got a few days to figure it out I guess. At least I've been consistent enough of the years that no one expects much of anything from me anymore. But that doesn't make it easier, makes it sadder and harder... my gifts, at least I rationalize to myself, are often not material, time, love, caring... I'm not perfect. I'm pretty broken. But I do keep trying... Alright, enough of that bullshit.
Time to sort out what the hell i'm making for dinner. Talk about a big question to over think.
Writing to fill space at the end of the day. 3 min here 5 there... kind of disjuncted but at least no one can ever understand what the hell I'm writing about anyway, i've got that going for me.
heddwch
G
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Das Pro und the Rookie
Everyone has heard about it at one point. Longest running joke in NECX for a couple years.
Twitter account was made that counted the days it was late being delivered.
And I finally had time to watch it today. I got it way back at White Park in September. But I've been pretty busy since then. Bike racing, or kids activities or just flat out life was happening, no down time.
Twitter account was made that counted the days it was late being delivered.
And I finally had time to watch it today. I got it way back at White Park in September. But I've been pretty busy since then. Bike racing, or kids activities or just flat out life was happening, no down time.
Friday, December 14, 2012
two in a row...
Two perfect weeks in a row. Was close today, nearly had to first up the rusty rattle trap to do a kid shuttle mid-day but I escaped that and just rode in. The morning started off with the colors of Brent W's Circle A, and the sun just warmed it all up. Mid-20s when I got up and by the time I left it was almost 30 and I think it climbed up a bit further as I was riding in.
The tailwind was much appreciated too. The big wind turbines help with an unmistakably que as to the direction of the wind, esp now that they are on almost all the time now.
I haven't yet managed to get the front fender on the White blue (as you can see here) but I've got it and will put it on. I also need to eventually get the winter tires mounted up on a set of wheels.
A couple gripes that arose last night on the ride home. Riding on a bike path at night, no cars, the only people going faster than you are other bikes, over-taking is never dangerous and even a bike Ninja is easy to spot if you have a headlight on.
No problem. So why do people insist on buying the brightest tail-lights, mounting many of them on at once and on the helmet and then ride on the bike path with them lit up? I understand that maybe you rode to the parking lot to meet up (doubt it in many cases) and yes riding at night is really cool. And yes your 5,000 lumen brand new light you ordered from china online for $50 is amazing and bright and all that. Can you just turn the fucking tail lights off on the bike path?
Even if you only have a putzy little 2w LED like me, if you're coming up behind you can see me. And then as I'm passing you or you're passing me, or the guys you are riding with are staring at the blinky, it is not just annoying. It is worse.
Turn the tail lights off, or at least put them on steady for the trail. Or turn all but the dimmest one off and leave the dim one on steady. Esp in a group.
That dawn ride down in OBX started in the dark. Who ever was running tailgun had a light on, the rest turned them off because when you are drafting at 25mph the last thing you need messing with your vision is a tail light flashing in your face.
Another thing. Calling 'ALL CLEAR.' DON'T DO IT PEOPLE. Let everyone else make the choice unless you're getting off the bike or are waiting there until the last rider comes through. Shouting all clear for the people 5-20 yards behind you on roads that have blind corners and cars that occasionally go way too fast is kind of a good way to get someone killed. By saying all clear you've just assumed liability. And if you're riding in a group and someone says all clear. IGNORE THEM. Make your own call.And be careful out there. Marc Tatar (55+ masters Road and CX racer for Bikeworks/Flandria Cafe) got hit the other night. T-Boned in an intersection by an old lady running a red light. Marc's a supercommuter. He does ride year round, he enjoys the commute (nearly identical to mine) and he got pretty seriously messed up. Broken ribs, not just fractured I'm gathering, and a collapsed lung. He spent maybe 24hrs or more in the ICU heard he was maybe moving to the floor soon. Pretty serious, but he was also very lucky it wasn't worse, it could have been much much worse. Send some healing thoughts his way. Be safe out there everyone.
And since I am just now getting to eating lunch (I sat down to eat lunch at 12:30... yeah that was an hour ago... interruptions abound).
Just caught a bit of the tragedy today, just now. I saw something earlier flash through looking for something, and poked into faceplace for a second and the wall is filled with comments about CT. And I was doing okay until I thought about the parents who lost everything today... my empathetic heart is in pain. Hug your kids, your loved ones. Mortality is a scary prospect. We do all eventually die, so much thought of the end lately. Ezra and his stage IV diagnosis. Mark Nicholson's birthday a few days ago, Matt and Aaron's very severe crashes at Sterling, Marc...
Thank you for indulging me in trivial venting in the midst of such serious matters. It will indeed be a contemplative ride home on the bike once i hit the path.
until i get to the path I will be using cars as shields as I generally try to do with this current busier commute while us commuters from the east bay wait for the Linear park to be completed.
heddwch
G
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