August 2008 Recap

The sky's staying darker later into the morning. It's getting darker earlier at night. The din of Cicadas fills the evening air. After sunset, they give way to the sound of delighted crickets and the occasional blips of straggling fireflies. Folks, August is OVER.

Once again, I miss my target of 600 miles for the month, and my numbers for August look frighteningly similar to July's.

Commuting/Errand Miles: 474 (July was 467)
Recreational Miles: 62 (July was 72)
Total Miles: 536 (July was 539)
2008 Miles: 3,536

I rode the bus 14 one-way trips in August, and did not drive to work (or to the bus stop) at all.
I had 8 bike-only commute days.

A look at the past:
Week 1: DefCon in Las Vegas (not a lot of riding that week)


Week 2: Hybridzilla Gets Stolen :(


Week 3: Getting back into the swing of things


Week 4: The Twelve coming together nicely. I really, really can't thank you guys enough for helping me replace the essentials for my somewhat long-ish commuting adventures.


Coming up in September:

• Talk Like A Pirate Day and the second anniversary of getting into bike commuting (Sept 19th). Yes, I plan on flying the Jolly Roger again this year.
• My initial road-to-5,000 miles has September marked as a 400 mile month. I have some catching up to do, so I am going to push for another 500-600 mile month.
• I've been staying below 200 pounds reliably for the last 2 months. I still can't get below 190. I don't like setting weight goals, but I want to get below 190 before the end of Sept.
• Although I've written Hybridzilla off as a total loss, I hope to God she turns up somewhere. The Twelve works really well right now, but you know how you feel when something gets stolen.
  

Unintentional Recreation Ride

'Twas a beautiful morning. I decided I'd ride to church again today. Now that 127th St. is open again, it's a little more than 7 miles each way. That's about half an hour at my usual (brisk, but not remotely fast) commuting pace, and 40-45 minutes at a pace that keeps sweating and panting to a minimum. I was somewhere between the two, taking advantage of the relatively cool morning and lack of wind.

When I arrived, no one was around. I called my parents, and apparently, I'd missed the memo. No official church service today (due to issues with the school we're meeting in). With that, I decided to get some recreation miles in. The school is just down the road from an entrance to Indian Creek Trail. I took Indian Creek south until I got to the Nazarene College campus, then took roadways to the southern terminus to Mill Creek Trail, which is just a mile from my old apartment.

I rode the trail north, and saw the new bridge they put in at College Blvd. This is nice for everyone. College is an increasingly busy arterial roadway, and Mill Creek Trail was an at-grade crossing, and a dangerous one at that. Both trail users and motorists had to be really careful. Also, there was a busy railroad crossing that would jam up traffic on College. Now, College goes right over all of that stuff.

Further up the path, I saw these landmarks, signifying the last stretch of the trail that was put in place in June of 2000.




At the northern end of the trail (some 17 miles north of the point I'd entered) on Nelson Island, I took this shot across part of the Kaw River. I haven't been here since March 17, 2007 when I rode the same stretch of trail with Tim on Hybridzilla.


I had to pick up some stuff at the grocery store on the way home.


Great day for a ride. Total of 46.5 miles. I was kind of hoping for a full 50, but had to get back home.

Random Tunage:
While on the Mill Creek Trail part of my ride, I rocked out to some 8- and 16-bit video game theme songs.

Mmmm... Audits

No, not an IRS Tax Audit... at least, I hope not!

Quarter end is always a fun time in the business world, and as part of my job duties, I get to help with the periodic industry-standard audit reporting. I've actually got two different audits somewhat in the works right now (SOX and SAS-70 for those who care) and it's got me swamped. I'm actually trying to wrap up as much SAS-70 stuff as I can before I get thrown into SOX reporting after the Labor Day weekend.

I got out pretty late today, and tomorrow's looking like more of the same. I'm writing this on the bus!

Sure, there's a stiff headwind, and a heat index of 100, and a thunderstorm watch (which, by the way, is causing some breath-taking thunderheads that I wish I could catch on time-lapse camera). Then there's the traffic that you start to see after 5:00PM. Those are the real reasons I'm on the bus and not on my bike right now. I'd probably beat the thunderstorm on the way home if I took the bike, but it's hard to tell. Regardless, I commute by bike primarily because it's fun, not just on principle alone. The current situation would easily take the fun out of it.

No homeward photos this evening, unless you're really interested in the backs of other peoples' heads.

Oh hai, August!

That's more like the August I know! 75°F and 85% humidity. I think this is the first time it's felt like an August morning this August.

(O hai. Sorry for the lolcats reference)

Leaving at 5:30 or so in the morning, it's now completely dark. More or less a month ago, the sun would already be inching up to the horizon by this time.


The moon is just a splinter, and with patchy overcast skies, there was absolutely no light out except for man-made illumination.


The sun had begun coming up by the time I got downtown. I'm digging the clock tower's radiance. This is the first time I've noticed it lit up. I need to get some night photos of it.


Random Tunage:
Information Society - What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)
Madonna - The Power Of Goodbye

Mile-fest

This week seems to be a mile-fest. Since The Twelve seems to be holding up quite well, I've been enjoying the nice weather and almost finding excuses to run errands on the bike. I skipped lunch today and knew I wouldn't make it home on an empty tank. First stop after work: Sammich! These Guys at Jimmy John's make a sandwich almost as quick as I can order it, and they know what I want and how I like it. (Vito with peppers, no sauces)


Karen and I saw a fire truck and ambulance near Southwest and Rainbow. They ended up here in Rosedale. No idea what happened, but there was a train stopped at the intersection just out of frame to the right, and the white car next to the ambulance is just kind of there... not parked. Not damaged.


Approaching Antioch, a landscaping truck was obviously burning engine oil. It smoked us as it drove by. In this picture, it's idling at the stop light.


I saw these odd items, just as shown, where Turkey Creek Trail meets the ramp connecting Merriam Drive to Shawnee Mission Parkway. It's a water bottle and a damagedTV/VCR Remote.


After spending some time at home cooling off and recovering a bit from the humidity, I decided to ride to BikeSource, as I had some business to conduct with c'Dude (he's a part-time bike wrench at BikeSource). As Quivira's the only logical way to cross I-435 on my way there, I opted to take Quivira, but I took the pedestrian bridge to get over the viaduct.


Not sure what's up with emergency vehicles today. There was also some kind of a crash on the northbound side of the viaduct, but I didn't get pictures of that.


c'Dude hooked me up with his old CatEye halogen light (the white one on the opposite side of my bike computer), which is an order of magnitude brighter on the road than my NiteRider's current configuration, and more focused as well. This will save me from having to worry about buying a better headlight (or a new 15W bulb) as the days get shorter. And they ARE getting shorter.


All The Twelve really needs to be complete is a decent new rear wheel, and that's something easy to come up with on my own in due time. The one that's on there is functioning well enough, obviously. I already have 300 miles on this bike in the last two weeks. The rim is permanently trashed, though, with a nasty flat-spot and flange. When I buy my new wheel, this one is definitely hanging around as my backup unless it falls to pieces.

If you just started out a little bit at a time...

Karen and I were greeted at Rainbow and Southwest by a motorist. She said "If I were in better shape, I'd be riding too!". I bit my tongue, but you can imagine what was running through my head.

No signs of Lorin this morning. I locked up to the Metro sign while I drank coffee, just to keep "Security" happy.


While JR and I were talking, we saw this guy ride up on his de-stickered Next bike and lock up to a trash can. I suppose that works. There are a lot of commuters out. About this time last year, they were starting to fade. It could be the gas prices, but my money's on the mild temperatures we've had this month.


Random Tunage:
Orchid - Starlight
VNV Nation - Arena

The Focus is getting jealous...

I haven't started it in about a week now. Usually, I drive to church but I even rode there. It's been a while. That's about 30 pounds worth of groceries, work clothes, and gadgets in the panniers.


Then there's lunch time. This is The Smokers' Alley around the corner from my office. There are a few places near me that require me to hike through the smoke cloud. Here, there are close to 20 lit cigarettes going all at once. Gag me. This is right next to the structures sticking out of the ground that might be mistaken for bike racks if they were moved away from the building a bit.


I got out a little late today, didn't see Karen, so kept on truckin' home. I say truckin' but I wasn't, really. I was actually taking it pretty easy. I had to get the groceries that you saw in the first photo, so I took this ultra-steep part of Turkey Creek trail again. It's still as steep as ever.


I also slogged through some of Dave's stomping grounds. 71st St, Pflumm, Lackman, Blackfish... Oh joy. Hillfest.


A smidge under 35 miles today. I'm tuckered out.

Frenetic

Had a somewhat crazy morning. This long exposure at an odd angle captures the essence of the commute pretty well.


We've got a lot of stuff going on at KC-Bike World Headquarters this week -- Not the least of which is the landlord sending out the exterminator in an attempt to thwart the Brown Recluse Spider infestation that we're dealing with. For those not in the know, Brown Recluses are pretty much the only spider around this region that you need to really worry about. Sure, spiders are creepy crawly but most of them are actually pretty good guys. Brown recluse bites are poisonous, and occasionally result in a festering wound that won't heal, sometimes leading to gangrene, requiring amputation or deep tissue surgery. Sounds like a blast, right?

Some of you may have seen one or two recluses. Well, we've been trapping these little suckers BY THE DOZEN. From babies that could stand on the head of a straight pin to grand-poppas that can span an inch-and-a-half, I've got insect glue traps LOADED with them. Other tenants have the same problem, so I'm glad the landlord is doing something about it.

Well, that means I had to do some last minute cleaning-up stuff this morning to prepare for the Bug Man. I got out late, was rushed on the road, and didn't get breakfast before I rolled out. Bad combo.

Random Tunage:
DJ Encore - I See Right Through To You (Tandu Dub)
Flobots - Handlebars

Commute, fender repair, Monday Night ride

I finally feel back in the swing of things. Today brought with it about 50 miles. The afternoon was ridiculously mild for August, but it doesn't surprise me given the chilly morning we had.


Barely any wind, hardly a car on the road this afternoon. Southwest Blvd was practically barren for the time of day.


Mail Call! The spring clip holds all the mail nicely so I don't need to open the bags up and shuffle stuff around to make room for it.


When I started using the Twelve again, I noticed that my rear SKS Fender had started cracking. This was almost certainly from user error. If you recall, I had an incident where the rear fender got mangled, back on May 14th. I'm pretty sure that's why it was cracking now.

I tried to epoxy the fender back together a few days ago but it kept getting worse. Today, the crack had worn all the way through, my rear fender was two separate pieces of plastic. It's time to get serious. My original plan was to use fiberglass and resin, but as I thought about it, I figured that denim and epoxy would probably be fine. This epoxy is pliable, but needs something to really bond to the plastic with. The denim provides this.


Denim soaked in epoxy...


A layer of epoxy-impregnated denim inside and out. It set nice and hard, and seems to be holding up.


On my way to the Monday Night Ride, I saw two guys with huge messenger bags. Both were on Bianchi Axises ...axes? ...axii? well, whatever. Definitely commuting. One offered to let me carry his payload. I told him I had just dropped off a similar payload at home, and declined his generous offer. At Goddard and 87th, they grew tired of waiting for a chance to turn left and pushed onward. Shortly thereafter, I made my left turn. I saw them a while later behind me as they turned from a different side street.

The Monday Night ride was a blast, as usual. Here's Tim sporting the C'Dude team Jersey.


Mark found a new shortcut. Its hard to see, but this is a narrow sidewalk between two fences.


When we got back, there was a sweet Torker cargo trike there with an older Schwinn World Tourer. They weren't with our group, they'd just ridden to get something to eat.


Now, at about 10:00 PM, it's just perfect outside at 72°F. If only it would stay like this all night. Somehow, I know it won't.

Cyclist down?

I'm pretty sure these medics were treating a cyclist, as the "victim" had a helmet on. No sign of a car or police so I don't know if it was a bike-vs-car crash or what. Haven't found anything on the news sites yet.


Helicopters were making the rounds above, and at first I thought it was probably due to backup on I-35, but they appeared to be circling the site of this incident as I rode past. Anyone know what happened? I'm sure if there were two news choppers on the scene it would have at least been mentioned on the morning news.

Oh yeah: kinda chilly this morning. I never did quite warm into it. The bonus was that I didn't sweat at all on my way to work.

The new setup (pics)

I promised these a while ago but never got around to getting decent photos.

Here we go.


The new SunLite rack rocks. Highly adjustable.


It even has a spring clip, which I've found to be handy for things like getting the mail. I think these clips were originally designed to hold the center panel of saddlebag panniers.


The Trek Sideloader I got to replace my hold Headland CMT wedge pack. This thing holds a lot of stuff!



In the main pocket, 3 spare CO2 cartridges (upper left), Park MTB3 (background) and Genuine Innovations UltraFlate 2 (foreground). I have some park tire levers in the other flap, and some Zogics CitraWipes on the underside.


The back pocket holds my spare tube and patches. The rear loop provides a great mounting point for the Trek tail light.


I mounted the Planet Bike SuperFlash on the rack. It's REALLY bright and might even rival the DiNotte 140R.





I rode to church and back today since it was so nice. Took a little detour on the way home, picking up more than 18 miles for the day. Wish I could have ridden more.

KC Airshow

I didn't have the time in my weekend for the full Kansas City Air Expo but as I've said before, flight fascinates me. When I was riding to Research Med yesterday, the USAF Thunderbirds were overhead, practicing for their full show today. Riding through the streets, there was one occasion where I heard a low bellow and then suddenly a high-pitched afterburner wail -- a very distinct sound. My pulse quickened. My heart skipped a beat. I was still in the heart of the city, though, and didn't see that fly-by. Moments later, a cluster of four fighters in triangle formation entered a steep climb. I had to resist the urge to stop and gawk.

Needless to say, I was all but hell-bent on at least catching the Thunderbirds' performance this afternoon. The general rule of an airshow is that the airfield will be packed by noon, and the roads, particularly bridges and high areas, will be too clogged with people trying to see the airborne events. Sounds like a perfect job for a bike to me.


My suspicions were correct. Too many people and parked cars on this stretch of Woodswether Road for even the most determined motorist to traverse.


I kept moving up Woodswether towards the Broadway Bridge (in the background of the above photo) and found myself a nice spot among other cyclists. Navigating up here through the backed-up traffic was a pain in the butt, but worth it. I got more than one jealous look as I proceeded up the hill through gridlock.


Even the river below us was teeming with boats.


Take-off. I have no clue how these four pilots left the ground in formation but they did.


Initial Climb


Stunts


This was insane. I have no clue how high they were from the ground, but it wasn't very far. They weren't staggered, either, so the planes were mere feet from touching.





I snagged a photo of one landing over I-70.


All in all, a great day, even if it was more like August (hot and humid) than it's been for a while.

My new niece

Friday, I had to ride to Research Medical Center after work. My sister in law had an emergency Caesarean section and delivered her new daughter, who she actually named after my wife. She's a preemie, and weighs in at a scant 4lb, 1oz.





I was initially planning on catching a Metro Area Express bus to get to Brookside, from where getting to Research Med would be a piece of cake. After missing the bus, then passing it at a good clip, I decided to ride the whole way. This would be a new adventure for me, as I don't have much experience riding through midtown. My commuter intuition didn't serve me as well here as it does in the suburbs, what with the mess of one-way streets and all. I managed to find some great roads in not-so-great neighborhoods (not that I felt threatened or afraid), some horrible roads, some big hills and some roads that were probably more traffic-loaded than I'd have liked. I got to the hospital in one piece, though.

Most enjoyable morning

I kicked off my morning with mild temperatures, lower humidity, and a great sunrise that I wish I could have caught on camera. The Twelve handles a lot differently with loaded panniers. Note that prior to this week, I hadn't ridden this bike at all since June 4th, and today was the first time with panniers on it since I started using it on Monday. It feels a lot more like the bike I remember, but it's completely different from the bike that I'd been getting used to.

As this is a relatively small frame, I had to adjust the rack quite a bit from the recommended settings. It's up quite a bit higher than my old rack used to be (adjustable-length main stays) and back as far as it will go, just so that my feet don't hit the panniers. The spring-loaded rack is nice, but it makes for an interesting time attaching the panniers, too. I think I've finally got that part figured out.

Now, we see how long this rear wheel holds up. I have a feeling that a static weight load combined with Kansas City's craptastic roads are both part of why I keep trashing spokes and ruining wheels.

Pics of the new setup coming tonight.

Random Tunage:
Denki Groove - Niji
Orbital - Lush 3-1

Coming together!

Wow, guys! The Twelve's got a rack, tail lights, a decent multi-tool and even a replacement polar bottle and some other goodies thanks to Sallymander and her husband. No more achy, sweaty back from lugging my gear to-and-fro in a backpack, and no more freaking out about lack of safe lighting. Tomorrow morning's commute will finally feel normal and comfortable.

My wife is taking the camera along to a family event tomorrow. When I get home, though, I'll try to post some pics of the new, improved Twelve.

It's still cool for the middle of August, but the wind and humidity this afternoon more than made up for it. Still a great afternoon for a ride, and better than shoe-horning myself onto a standing-room-only bus.

An endo with an audience

I almost chickened out this morning. The pavement was really wet, and I couldn't tell if it was condensation or rain. The air was foggy, bordering on mist but I couldn't actually feel water droplets when I was stopped. It's the kind of morning where your bike and your eyebrows accumulate moisture straight out of the air. I'm glad I opted to ride in, but the humidity was overbearing. I still think I may have been better off with flippers and a scuba tank than a bicycle and backpack.

John in Calgary, Jason, and Dave: You guys seriously rock! I've got most of my commuting essentials back, and The Twelve seems to be holding up well despite my attempt this morning to test it's resilience. That brings me to the headline:

I did go to the same-old coffee shop this morning, and I locked my bike (and Lorin's as well) to a place that's agreeable to security AND still in eyeshot. I suppose that's the best I can do for now. On my way to work, I took the shortcut through one of the two-level parking garages in town. This one has a 3-inch "lip" going into it, where the asphalt has sunken down but the concrete going into the garage has remained at its designed height. Usually, I take it really slow, pop the front wheel up, then pop the rear wheel up and I never even touch the lip. Today, I was going too slow or hopped too early. Whichever it was, the result was the same.

Ready to lift the rear wheel by tucking my legs and pulling up on the clipless pedals, my handlebars were loaded. The front tire hit the lip (at less than 2 miles per hour) and then the inevitable happened. My front wheel acted as a perfect fulcrum. My bike was the lever, and I was the load. It was such a slow endo that I got unclipped and caught myself on my hands. Chuckling, I got up and realized a few people saw me take the spill as they were smoking in their cars before trudging into work. I'm sure they'll have something to talk about in the office today. None of them were direct cow-orkers of mine, fortunately. No harm done to me nor The Twelve except for what I assume will be a bruise above my left knee where I hit the handlebar.

These mild days are the kind of thing I'd expect from Late September. I'm really hoping this isn't a harbinger of a really harsh winter.

Random Tunage:
Ecano - Run
Lisa Loeb - How

Lights, camera, action!

I forgot to post this photo this morning. It seems that pigeons have made the old Lane building their home. A large crack in the facade (not visible) makes for a great nesting place.


Brent Hugh (Director, MO Bicycle Federation) and I met up with a reporter and camera crew from NBC Action News (KSHB 41 in Kansas City) after work. The last time they covered bicycle commuting, it was more of a "Whoa, people actually do this?" kind of thing.


This time, they wanted street-level video. A camera man tapes a pinhole camera to Brent's helmet light.


They also set my bike up with a camera on the handlebars:


Their goal this time around is to cover bicycle commuting safety, what kinds of challenges bike commuters face, and what bike commuters can do to make things easier on themselves. We'll see how many of our answers they use.

I was running almost a full hour behind schedule today because of the setup, which means a lot more traffic. On the ride out of downtown, Brent and I experienced traffic that's pretty typical of Kansas City's evening rush hour. This was complete with a few motorists taking wide right turns a little too close for comfort across our path, lane crowding, and a few honks. Both of us were diligent with hand signals and traffic laws, and I think the video that was gathered should turn out well. the reporter doing this piece is a recreational cyclist, but those are the very same people who seem to be adopting bike commuting right now.

I don't know exactly when the piece will air, but it sounds like it's part of a bigger story that will hit the local news early-to-mid September. Having Brent there was a big help. He's got a lot more experience than I do. He's also an LCI whereas I have learned most of what I know from making mistakes and learning from them without having ever taken any classes. The rest of what I know comes from other cyclists both local and in online communities. I'm sure plenty more learning opportunities exist in my future. Hopefully not too many of them result in things like a stolen bike, missing teeth and a broken face. I can do without those learning experiences, but sometimes that's what it takes.

Time for a new coffee shop?

I've never been a huge fan of Starbucks, but in downtown KCMO, they get the job done better or at least with more consistent results than anywhere else I've found that opens before 7:00 AM... This is usually fine and well with me, but occasionally something goes wrong and they do NOT open before 7:00 AM. This time, the manager was running late.

No, I'm not going to get bent out of shape because they didn't open on time. Since they didn't open on time, one of the "security guards" was there, waiting with the employees for the manager to show up so that she could be chief of the queue to quaff her caffeinated concoction. Upon my arrival, the security guard came out, asking in a pleasant tone if I was there for Starbucks. I affirmed her suspicions, then asked if the manager was running late. That's when things got ugly. The imp switched gears in a vain attempt to become the biggest five-foot-one authoritarian the world has known, and told me I can't park my bike against the building. This is a practice I've engaged in for two years now, and I let her know it. Apparently, no security guard, in the dozens of times monthly I see them shooing off panhandlers and loiterers, has ever witnessed as many as four bikes all parked there at the same time, because according to her "none of us have seen your bike here before, it's against corporate policy."

Now, I do realize that she has been granted authority to act in the best interest of her company. I do realize that sometime, somewhere, discussion about bicycle parking may have come up and someone probably said that they don't want bicycles parked on their property. The wonderful thing about security guards, however, is that you can often hoodwink them or at least get them to agree to your antics temporarily simply by telling them what you are going to do, regardless if it goes against what they just told you that you're not supposed to do.

Me: "I'm going to park my bike here today. I will not move it to a location I cannot see."

Guard: "Do you have a lock?"

Details surrounding my ability to lock my bike are not even remotely pertinent to this situation. Being locked to a tree around the corner does not make my bicycle secure or safe from theft. Sitting 3 feet from my bike on the other side of some glass and being able to jump up and get outside within 5 seconds DOES make my bicycle pretty secure. I responded "Pending my discussion with the building manager today, I will determine if I can or cannot park here in the future, and we won't need to have this discussion again."

She agreed. Looks like I have some phone calls to make after 8:00 this morning. I'm really looking forward to seeing the written corporate policy outlining bicycle parking.

All of this really got me thinking about the other coffee shops in the downtown loop, though, and maybe a few that are "on my way" even if they are out of the loop. "The loop" I'm speaking of, is the part of Kansas City that resides within the boundaries of I-35, I-70, US-71 and I-670. In reality, I'd like something that's more within the boundaries of 7th and Truman, Broadway and Grand. Here's my list of "tried and hated" coffee shops around downtown based on the metric of being able to provide a reliably tasty Mocha before 7:00AM. Anyone in KC have some suggestions that I'm missing?

• Coffee Girls.
  
• Scooter's.
• Nine Muses in the KC Library.
  
• Country Club Cafe in Country Club Bank.
  
• YJ's Snack Bar.
• McDonald's in City Center Square.
• PerkUP!
• Black Coffee.

Black Coffee is the closest one to work, and SOMETIMES has mind-blowing drinks. Other times, it's bland or just plain bad. Regardless, they don't open early enough for my schedule. I never did get my fix this morning. At 7:00, the manager called one of the employees to inform him that he'd be there in about half an hour. I may swing by Black Coffee soon.

I haven't mentioned it lately, but I really, really miss Sandy, the lead barista at Johnson County Community College. I got my morning dose from her (or her well-trained staff) pretty much every single day before I left the college for greener pastures.

Oh, and my ride this morning? It was nice and quick. I'm afraid we might have some rain for the ride home, though. There's also some other stuff potentially going on this evening that could be considered exciting. Stay tuned.

Random Tunage:
Say Anything - Baby Girl, I'm a Blur
Plumb - Cut (Bronleewe & Bose Radio Edit)

God Bless America... and Bikes.

It looks like this guy takes both his bike and his patriotism almost as seriously as his bald buddy takes his truck-bed La-Z-Boy recliner. He might even take his American flag as seriously as I take my Jolly Roger.


I got some sandwiches by bike, too. Black Dog coffeehouse makes some good sandwiches, but they changed their packaging. They barely fit in my cheapo messenger bag.


Taking a quick little sidewalk shortcut to get back home.


Random Tunage:
Orbital - Remind
Sarah Brightman - Snow On The Sahara (Cover of Snow On The Sahara by Anggun. Better than the original, IMHO)

Chilly?!

61°F this morning. I actually had to warm into my bike ride. Coming out of winter, I usually use 50° as my guide to determine whether or not to wear long pants and sleeves. This morning, however, I was kind of chilly for the first few minutes of riding. Karen e-mailed me yesterday saying she'd be on the road this morning and wondered if I'd wait up for her. I stopped at 79th street and waited.


While waiting, I noticed a car down the road with its hazard lights on. It's the one in the left lane pointed away from the camera.

As we rode past, it was obvious that the car's transmission was shot. The acrid stench of caramelized Mercon, the characteristic whirr of the transmission's front pump grinding against itself (not getting any fluid) and the mechanical ratcheting of computerized solenoids and a valve body struggling to make sense of it all. This car wasn't going anywhere without some help. I was not prepared to offer such, and the occupants of the stopped car to the left (perpendicular to traffic) seemed to be offering assistance.

The Sun is coming up later and later. My puny 5W halogen bulb is not ideal for this kind of riding, but with the sun coming up later, I get a good view of the earlier phases of the sunrise.


Although we weren't running behind schedule and our average speed was typical (about 17 MPH) we still managed to run into a train on Southwest Blvd. My guess is this train was running behind schedule.


Daybreak over the Power & Light district


Lorin getting his grub on at Starbucks.


Random Tunage:
Sarah McLachlan - Possession
Active Sight - Take The Day As It Comes

P.S.
The Active Sight track is my new favorite spine-chilling trance anthem. Ranks right up there with Ferry Corsten's Galaxia and the Hiver & Hammer remix of Kate Ryan's Only If I -- All of which are tracks you should take a listen to if you enjoy electronic music.

Photos - Aug 18, 2008

A cicada shell found along Turkey Creek Trail during my homeward commute.


The bank lobby was closed and I had business to conduct. I rode through a drive-through lane.


Monday Night Ride photos.






You'd hardly know it's August what with the mild temperature today. Also, Jason gave me the hookup on one of his old tail lights so that I won't feel so vulnerable out on the road pre-dawn. Thanks, buddy! I sense a full round trip tomorrow.

Good to go

The Twelve's got about 6 miles, and everything seems to be working properly. I did forget that when I'm wearing a backpack on this bike, I can't see anything with my Take-A-Look mirror without temporarily sitting far upright (moving to the flat center of the handlebars)

I've forgotten what a different attitude and riding position this bike has compared to my flat-bar bikes. I also forgot how much I really love a precisely dialed-in STI shifting system. I didn't get any photos this morning, but I plan on riding the whole trip home, and I'll be riding the Monday Casa Paloma ride if The Twelve holds together. More action shots coming soon!

Random Tunage:
Orbital - Dŵr Budr
B-Movie - Nowhere Girl (Adam Freeland Remix)

Naked!

That's how The Twelve feels.

You guys kept asking when I was gonna break out the road bike again. Well, here it is.



I spent a LOT of time on the rear wheel, a lot of time trying to tweak the rear brakes to work properly, and it's KIND OF usable. The Twelve is anything but "alive", however. The rear brake still needs some more work and the proper solution to my woes is still a new rear wheel.

Along with Hybridzilla, I lost a lot of stuff that I've come to rely on. Getting The Twelve back into commuter duty was an interesting game of digging through some old stuff that I'd upgraded, scavenging stuff off of the carcass of The Goat, and simply learning to deal without some stuff.

Gone:

• DiNotte 200L
• Trek Incite 11i computer
• Headland CMT wedge pack (and all its contents)
  
• Blackburn Crossrack
• Trek DiscoTech tail light

I reverted back to the NiteRider headlight, but all it has is a 5W bulb in it and I can't find the 15W bulb right now. I had it set up with the 5W bulb for a few of the longer rides I went on this summer, as a backup to the DiNotte. With this setup, it should run for close to 5 hours. 5W isn't a lot of light, though.

I had a Trek Incite 6i on The Goat. That came off and went into the 11i's mounting bracket just fine. I'm missing all the extra features of the 11i, but hey... I still have a bike computer, I guess.

I also stole the small wedge pack off of The Goat. The theif made off with my CO2 inflater, pedro's levers, multi-tool and glueless patches. I picked up a new inflater and patches today. I have plenty of tire levers kicking around.

The lack of a tail light is freaking me out. I have a small blinky on my helmet but eeh. You know. The lack of a rack is going to be a serious cramp to my (pannier-loaded) style. I really don't like the backpack. The Park MTB-3 got me out of so many binds that I think it's going to feel a little odd knowing I don't have it. The headland CMT held a TON of stuff.

Taking inventory of the stuff I need to get back into the game full force in my perceived order of most pertenent to least:

• Tail light (got my eye on the PB Superflash)
• Rear Wheel (Shimano Acera, something cheapish?)
• Rack -- Okay, scratch that -- John in Calgary hooked me up
• Multi-Tool. The MTB3 rocked.
• Eventually, another DiNotte, before the mornings get too much darker and the nights start coming on too much sooner.

I have put a link to my Amazon wishlist to the right. I really suck at begging, but I can't afford not to right now. Don't feel obligated, though.

I'm going to ride to the bus tomorrow morning, I may ride all the way home. I haven't really gotten to shake The Twelve down yet, so I don't want to be stuck on the side of the road tomorrow with a wheel that's buckled into a pile of spoke-spaghetti, 7 miles from home, 7 miles from work, and 4 miles from the nearest bus stop.

I'm hoping I can get Hybridzilla back, but this will have to work for the time being.

Hybridzilla - Stolen

My Red Diamondback Outlook was stolen sometime today, right in front of my apartment near 87th St. Pkwy and Quivira Rd.

It's a cheapo bike I snagged off craigslist, but it's my primary mode of transportation, and I'd kind of like it back.

• 1999 Diamondback Outlook - Red
• Weinmann ZAC19 Wheels
• Forte Slick City ST Tires
• White bottle cage
• Clipless pedals with the test platforms still on them (for tennis shoes)
• Giant(tm) Fenders
• Blackburn cargo rack
• Lots of reflective tape

It's unmistakably set up as a hybridized commuter bike (I called her "Hybridzilla"), and she's pretty hard to miss. I'd imagine all my accessories (DiNotte headlight, etc) are long gone, but the bike will probably be around somewhere. If you see a red Diamondback Outlook around (especially if it's set up anything like I described above), let me know. I've attached a photo.

All my other bikes are down and out in need of repair, so the sooner I find her, the better off I'll be.

Geekery

Had a nice ride home, my first round trip commute in quite a while.  I was energetic and spunky all the way home.  Did intervals for the first part of the ride, then took it a little easier once I hit Turkey Creek.

My wife went to Aldi (a store selling pretty much only generic food) while I was in Las Vegas.  She scored these Crescent Rolls, which I made last night to go with leftover spaghetti that I made Monday night.  Bueller?  Bueller?  (I know, it's not spelled the same, but I laughed)


The admission badges that we got at DefCon this year are all electronic and completely programmable.  The key?  You had to solder your own USB port onto it first.  I did, and it worked, but it was kind of a sloppy job.  I decided to clean up the solder job last night.  Yes, I use butane instead of electricity when I solder electronics.  Call me paranoid.


When you hook it up to your computer, you can see a console log of what the badge's on-board program is doing.  This isn't like anything I've ever seen before.  I love it. 


The badge is powered by a Freescale JM60 microprocessor, includes an SD Card reader (on back), 8 LEDs as well as an IR transmitter and receiver.  With the built-in program, it will send files from your SD card to other badges via IR, or it can be used as a TV-B-Gone, transmitting all the known TV power-off codes from its IR LED.  I'm probably going to spend a lot of time in the next few weeks figuring out what kind of reprogramming I can do.

Yes, I know I'm a nerd.  This is how I spend my evenings.

This morning, Lorin and I grabbed some coffee.  Yes, I caved in again.  I needed the boost.  I had a nice but humid ride in to work.  It's overcast today and it looks like it could be raining for my ride home.   The ride home will be interesting as well, because I need to swing by the Plaza and go to a meeting out there.  I'll probably get home after dark.  I really should start poring over some maps and figuring out how I plan on getting home.  My intuition usually serves me pretty well when it comes to navigating unfamiliar residential areas, but that's no excuse for not checking things out ahead of time.

Random Tunage:

Binary Finary - 1998

Accuface - Desire 

Yep, 1990's four-four trance music is in full effect.  Oontz Oontz Oontz Oontz!!

I can has sanity nao?

I think I'm finally shaking the side effects of last weekend and finally regaining my sanity and health. I managed to actually crawl out of bed at 5:00 like I should. I had time for a real bowl of cereal. I was able to finish packing my bags and shove off by a little after 5:30. The first thing I noticed is how dark the sky is getting in the morning. It wasn't long ago that the 5:00 sky was brighter than the below photo (taken at about 5:41)


Although I woke up with (and still have) a bit of a frog in my throat and have some kind of sinus thing going on, I managed to get out and actually ride all the way to work for the second time in almost three weeks. Karen has been at it the whole time. I'm getting back into the swing of things now.


It was actually a very clammy morning. Cool and humid at 64°F with almost no wind to speak of. On my way in to work this morning, I saw two other bike commuters I'd not seen before. One road-bike-riding guy going south on Quivira with lights, vest and all. The other one was riding a mountain bike on SW Blvd near Mission Rd with a bottle holder duct-taped to his seat tube. I actually haven't seen that trick before, surprisingly. No wrong-way cyclists this morning.

I should be game for the full round-trip commute today. I'm feeling quite a bit better, but still not 100%. I did cave in and get a mocha this morning. So tasty. I probably won't be back there until Friday. DefCon really stretched the family budget. We really couldn't afford it despite my best efforts. I went anyways and it was worth every penny, but I really don't have the funds to indulge myself much.

Random Tunage:
Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place
Steve Porter - Drama Queen

Ugh. Not today, either.

Getting recovered is taking me longer than I thought it would. I suppose I get what I deserve, as I was pretty hard on myself at DefCon:

• Lots of walking in the dry heat means there was some dehydration
• Drinking a little every night didn't help. Although, I only had about 2 drinks per day until Saturday night's party, where I was a VIP and had (and used) an open bar badge.
• I wasn't eating enough or getting enough water
• I was barely sleeping
• From Phoenix to Kansas City, I sat on a cramped, stuffy Bombardier CRJ900. Not only was it cramped, but the APU was not working, so for the 45 minutes I sat on it before take-off, there was no air circulation or filtering at all.

I have a pretty good case of the airline crud, and it's not getting any better. I can't afford another sick day, so I am going to bus it again (probably both ways today) and I'll probably crash early tonight.

Back in KC

Well, I'm back from Defcon, and I had a really slow start. One could easily say I have a case of the Mondays.

On one hand, I come back to KC, really revitalized with a new passion for the kind of work I do. On the other hand, I am recovering from getting 2-3 hours of sleep per night while in Las Vegas.

I got to meet a lot of really cool people, many of which are "thought leaders" or who carry "big names" in the security industry. I got to interact with them on a panel:


...In full-on technical talks and presentations:


Even more people in a bit of a round-table discussion kind of way over a nice sushi dinner:


And yet others, such as Jon King here, on a very casual social level (such as at a rave):


I even got to experience Transit out there in Las Vegas. Their express bus service uses double-decker busses and is called "The Deuce" - I just about crapped myself laughing when I read it. In the afternoon, it's a surprisingly fast way to get around Vegas. After dark? You might as well walk. It's so crammed and so slow due to how clogged The Strip gets at night. I also gave the Taxi a try a few times. Dangerous and expensive are the only words I can use to describe it. Also, the i-Hacked.com guys and I took a Limo to In-n-Out Burger on Thursday. We had enough people to split the limo fare that it ended up being cheaper than a taxi. Plus, he waited for us while we ate. Big Pimpin'

I rode to the bus this morning, but will be riding the whole way home. The weather got really nice in KC while I was out in Las Vegas. It was less than 70°F when I woke up and I think it's barely in the 80's now. You won't find me at the Monday night ride tonight. I just don't have it in me today. Tomorrow will hopefully begin the return of daily bike-only commuting.

Random Tunage:
Orbital - Style
Real McCoy - Another Night

Vegas!

Wish I had my bike out here. The bicycle police are out in full force. These guys got busted!


Random Las Vegas photography.




One of the DJs at the HackerPimps party last night:

Getting ready to head out of town

My flight leaves tonight -- a genuine red-eye that'll land in Vegas sometime between 11pm and Midnight. Def Con doesn't start until Friday morning, but that doesn't mean I can't schmooze with some big names in the information security industry all day Thursday.

I have a camera again. Here's some stuff from yesterday and this morning:

Office movers


Grammar Fail.


Squishy tire on the way home (only ended up being down to 55 PSI, but max is 85)


Messing with our cat, Dora. Not manipulated. This was camera motion (intentional)


Red-light runner (but only barely)


Great morning for a ride to work.



Random Tunage:
Morningwood - Nth Degree
Libra - Anomaly (Calling Your Name)

A day off...

Well, pretty much everything is lined up for the convention later this week. I had everything ready to go for this morning, and had a lot of trouble sleeping last night thanks to a combination of the heat and a killer headache. I was planning on making the full ride to work today, then taking the bus home. It just wasn't in the cards. I took a sick day.

I did a lot of pedaling on Friday night, most of it after dark. I took the bus to get closer to home. With a heat index over 100 Degrees and only one water bottle with me, the whole trip home would have been miserable. I rode to The Maul to hang out with some friends before grabbing supper at the Chinese buffet. Once we were done eating, I parted ways with that group to go meet another batch of local nerds at Daily Dose. All in all, I rode more just navigating to my various social events than if I'd ridden all the way home and used my car for the night's festivities. Even after dark, the heat index stayed in the 90s until well into the night. I'd hardly call it a cool evening ride.

I've started to realize while experimenting on the roads that suburban bike commuting gives you a pretty keen sense of what residential roads go where, even if you've never used them before. In neighborhoods carved up with mile-after-mile of winding, maze-like cul-de-sacs, I can usually find a pretty direct path through without the help of a map, and usually without getting dead-ended anywhere. Friday night's after-dark jaunt through Johnson County's "Windham" subdivisions would prove to be no exception to this rule. Of course, part of my navigation skill could have come from my two years delivering pizza in Olathe, but I feel like I've learned a lot more about the lay of the land in the last 8,000 miles or so on a bike than I did covering 2,000 miles a month in the car.

I'll probably ride to work Tomorrow and Wednesday, but opt for the bus on the return trip. Wednesday night, I head to Vegas.