Evil wind again

The headwinds were back. 18-gusting-28 MPH winds. Un-freaking-real. I just picked a cadence (I guess high 70s/low 80s) and went with it. I averaged about 14 MPH on the way home, so I guess my plan worked out okay. Better than wearing myself out on my mountain bike.

Tomorrow, I'm going to ride my outlook to the mall and lock it up there. One of my co-workers can give me a ride home since he lives nearby. When I go to the mall tomorrow evening, I'll rescue my bike, if it's still there. Ugh.

Lunch on the company is cool and all, but I really kind of wish they could do things closer to work. Instead, we go all over the place to these parks and restaurants 20+ miles in the wrong direction. Oh well. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?

Fun with cagers

Yesterday, I had a nice, pleasant ride home with the exception of crossing 67th street on the Turkey Creek Trail. All along the trail, road crossings are garnished with signs in the middle of the road with a stop sign saying "Stop for pedestrians in crosswalk" or something. These signs are almost universally ignored by motorists, who charge onward with cavalier abandon. One guy, though, knew exactly what he was doing. Westbound traffic stopped for me, and I entered the intersection. This usually gets the attention of eastbound traffic and they stop as well. A guy in a red pickup had other plans. With no intention of stopping, I raised my hands in a "what the hell?!" kind of fashion, to which he greeted me with the fickle finger of fate. As he passed, I yelled "you too, pal!" and he screeched on his brakes. I sealed the deal with "The stop sign was back here!" then carried on down the trail as he revved angrily and took off with a bark of the tires.

I usually dismiss such asshattery silently, but it felt good to let loose. More ironic is the fact that he then got stopped by a train because of his little display. Hope that 5 seconds you saved by illegally skating that crossing was worth the 5 minute delay to your day, numbskull! This was definitely a textbook cager (reckless or antagonistic motor vehicle operator that poses a threat to smaller vehicles, namely motorcycles and bicycles.)

Looking back, I guess the crossing of 67th street wasn't bad. I'll remember it with a smile for weeks to come. All in all, I made it back home pretty quick.

This morning, I was really, really tired and a little bit sore. By the time I get home tonight, I will have ridden the same number of round trips by bike this week as I'd ridden all of last month. My laziness in September is really hurting me this month. I haven't ached after 3 days of commuting in a long time. Despite my fatigue, I slipped out the door on time for a change thanks to the fact that I actually got all my stuff together last night. I also made it to work in a reasonable amount of time. For some reason, everything downtown was in my favor. The traffic patterns and the traffic signals gave me safe and solo passage all the way from the brewery to deep within the downtown loop. There were just as many cars as usual, they were just two traffic lights behind me the whole time, which was a bit odd. The signals stayed green just long enough for me to slip through ahead of everyone else, too.

Tomorrow, my boss is taking my security team (myself and two others) out to lunch somewhere out by Kansas Speedway, and tomorrow was already going to be frantic. The lunch is a good 15 miles from work, and almost 20 miles from home. There's no good way to bike to there, or bike home from there. In fact, I'd be forced to ride on a state highway with 55 MPH limits (70+ MPH traffic) and at-grade intersections for a few miles simply to get back across the Kansas river to have any hope of getting home. To make matters more complicated, I am making my monthly pilgrimage to the Maul tomorrow evening. I can hitch a ride to lunch with a co-worker. Getting to work and getting home from lunch will be interesting. We aren't coming back to work after lunch -- instead, it will be a "team building" outing.

I can't bring the bike to work, because my co-worker's Saturn won't hold it. I'll probably walk to the Maul (where the bus stop is) and catch the express bus. alternatively, I could take my hybrid and lock it up at the Maul and just pick it up when I get back down there tomorrow evening.

Then, there's the issue of getting home. It's *SORT OF* on the way to my co-worker's place, so perhaps I can catch a ride back with him as well. My wife was going to drive out there and pick me up after having some fun with me at Dave & Buster's since it's right close to where I'll be for lunch anyways, but she expressed a lack of interest in that option yesterday night. Gah. I'll hash this all out today.

Random Tunage:
The Act - Something about you

Really late start

I think I got out around 6:00. 20 minutes behind schedule. It was late enough that I had almost pondered just riding down to the bus stop, but I decided to go for it anyways. The air was a solid 50 degrees today, relatively chilly. I encountered a train on 67th, so I bypassed it by riding Turkey Creek trail to get to Merriam Lane. This move saved me time versus waiting for the train, but cost me a few minutes over my usual route (Carter to Merriam Lane) because it's pitch black and my NiteRider doesn't illuminate a wide area, so I had to keep my speed down.

Other than that, nothing really worth mentioning. JR and Lorin were already coffee-ing when I showed up. I locked my bike to one of the new snazzy bike racks, too.

Oh yeah, I made this somewhat ugly but apparently functional bicycle speed calculator. Enter your spin-out cadence and information about your bike's tires and gearing (biggest chainring and smallest cog). It will give you your bike's theoretical top speed. It'll also work to tell you an approximate speed given any gear ratio, tire size and cadence combination. Obviously this is spin-out top speed only and doesn't account for one's inability to push hard enough to spin out a hard gear, or for things like coasting down a steep grade.

My top-speed calculator

Random Tunage:
Freeloaders - So much love to give
Green Day - When I come around

Good Idea, Bad Idea

Good Idea:
Riding your bike to work.

Bad Idea:
Riding your mountain bike to work.

Okay, it wasn't a bad idea, but it was a horrible ride home. Mostly, it was the headwind. I ran out of steam a few miles from home. The wind just sucked everything out of me. The last leg of my ride home was just slow, crampy and painful.

Before all that fatigue set in, I was still only averaging about 10 MPH into the wind, despite sweating up a storm. My riding position on that bike, it's gearing and tires, everything combines to make for a pretty inefficient trip. Fun, but inefficient. I don't think I'm going to be riding the full round trip on the Sorrento too often. It just takes too much effort, and isn't worth the trade-off. When it gets really cold out, I'm probably going to slip back into bike/bus mode full time.

I'm gonna go crash for a few hours. I feel like a puddle of goo.

Random Tunage:
Orbital - Style
Moonman - Galaxia

That was a fun workout

Photo: The current state of my foul-weather commute. Minus the rest of the bike.

Aside from riding it 18 miles to my parents' place for Thanksgiving last year, this is the longest transportation trip I've ever made on my Sorrento. Even on Thanksgiving, I was using the slicks on the Sorrento. I've taken plenty of recreational rides that were further, but that's a different kind of riding and a different state of mind. For instance, last Monday, I rode the Sorrento to the Trek Store, on the ride, and back home pretty much all in one run of things for a total of 20 miles. I logged a similar distance on it during the Lenexa Midnight ride.

While I knew it would handle the distance and my body would be able to handle riding it the distance, it's no secret that mountain bikes are not the ideal machine for getting around on paved roads. Regardless I wanted to give it a shot, especially with the forecast for this evening: Lots of rain, but it may end up spawning severe thunderstorms or even tornadoes. I know, what the hell? Tornadoes in October? It was exceptionally balmy this morning, with humidity on the rise, winds picking up, and temperatures ascending even before the sun came up. Yes, something is brewing, and tornadic activity wouldn't take me by surprise. If it gets violent, I'll retreat to the bus. Otherwise, I'm ready to get soaked this evening!

Interesting things? Nothing really. I bombed through the rough terrain with reckless abandon instead of carving it with precision like I do on my road bike. Storm drains, rough RR tracks, sunken manhole covers, potholes, and curbs all become flat and smooth as far as my Sorrento is concerned. I'm running the tires close to their max recommended PSI, but the 1.9" knobbies and suspension fork gave me a cushy ride all the way in. Near Mission road, I was stopped in traffic by a slow train and didn't once put my feet on the ground. I had a long but twitchy track stand going. I almost lost it a few times. The Sorrento's smallish frame (theoretically too small for me), wide tires, and platform pedals make it a very stable and fun bike. I kept the stand going by lifting the front wheel off the ground a few times to get the bike back under me when I was about to lose it. Simple pleasures for simple minds, eh?

What a blast, this bike makes me feel like a kid on a BMX. I can't wait to play in the snow again! I am definitely noticing that my hip flexors and glutes got a better workout today than usual. They are aching just a little bit, and probably got used a little differently, as I don't usually hammer on this bike.

After slogging up Baltimore and bouncing through the construction zones, I pulled up to the coffee shop where Bob's bike was sitting outside. Lorin's Schwinn is in the shop, so his Trek 2300 was there in its place. It's a nice bike but without any braze-ons, it's not terribly practical for dedicated commute duty. It's meant only to be ridden fast. That's it. It has no other purpose by design, but any bike is a usable commuter bike if it gets you and your gear around.

Oh yes, and Jeff told me last night (and I noticed it this morning) about the new bicycle parking along 12th street. They've been re-doing the curbside along 12th street to make it look nicer and to be more accessible. The revamped section of 12th now has nice "A" racks for bicycles. They look like an upside-down rounded "V" sticking out of the ground, like a U rack with an angle. There seem to be racks aplenty along this corridor, so be sure to check them out if you're in downtown KC. They go nicely with the less-desirable wave racks along Baltimore, but any bike parking is good.

Random Tunage:
Lange featuring Morrighan - Follow Me (Club Mix)
Junkie XL - Mushroom

Out of the riding slump?

I hope so. First, my homeward commute was relatively quick. Then, I rode out to get some tasty philly cheesesteak sandwiches for supper after I got home. Once I'd devoured mine, I took the panniers off my 1200 and headed out to the Trek Store. It felt good to hit the Trek Store ride tonight. It was in the low 70's when I got there. It got dark about 3/4 through the ride and temps fell quickly from there.

When I left to come home, it was completely night dark, just like it was when I left for work this morning. Temps had fallen to 66. My NiteRider started to dim about halfway home so I switched over to the Blackburn Quadrant, which did well as long as I kept the speed down. Even though my ride home was less than 20 minutes, the temperature had slipped even further into the low 60's. I was at 49.7 miles for the day when I got home, so I did a lap around the parking lot to nudge it up to a full 50 miles.

They're calling for rain tomorrow, so I'm going to break out the Sorrento. Depending on how well it fares for tomorrow's round trip commute, it might end up seeing more use pretty soon.

Random Tunage:
Steve Porter - Vodka Cranberries
Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

Drunk Moron, Retarded Morons, Bonking Moron.

This morning, I stepped out into 55 degree goodness. A little nippy, but not too bad. I had some cargo pants on (chamois liner beneath) so my legs stayed warm. My partially-zipped ski jacket shell kept my upper body temperature regulated.

As I rode up Quivira, I passed the ever-busy Liquor store. I can only guess what the heck a liquor store is doing open before 6:00AM, but the place stays busy. Usually, it's no problem, but occasionally, you get the people who seem to be already drunk as they pull in to get their daily dose of mind-numbing liquid. This morning was one of those mornings. I didn't really get almost hit, but I had to stop in the middle of the road because I couldn't tell if the guy was going to stop or mow me over.

A mile up the road, I ran into another brilliant set of carbon-based creatures. A family, I suppose.

Before I continue, let me preface this. Joggers are a bizarre breed. For some reason, they really like to jog in the middle of the road against traffic. I'd imagine that they are in the road to avoid the seams in the sidewalk, and against traffic so they can see and avoid oncoming cars. They can easily hop up onto the grass or sidewalk if a car is coming. Why some CYCLISTS ride against traffic? I still don't get that one. They can't as easily avoid an oncoming car unless they're really good at bunny-hopping curbs sideways.

Back to my rant, though. This family (a man, woman and dog), were jogging three abreast against traffic, in the dark, with clothing that wasn't strikingly visible from a distance, much less reflective. A jogger on the road against traffic? Okay, just get out of my way. Two one-after-another? Acceptable. A dog on a leash in the street? Kind of ridiculous. All three abreast, and made no attempt to clear the road when they saw cars (or me on my bike coming)? I don't like to use the word often, but that is RETARDED.

So, with all of these morons out of the way, I proceeded to push the pedals at a reasonable pace to keep my body temperature regulated. I wasn't fast, but I was faster than Friday morning.

When I got near Rainbow, I had a semi-tractor pass me, then pull in front of me (gave plenty of room) but then it slowed down to turn. With no traffic in the middle lane, I was stuck with a decision. Get stuck at a red light after waiting for this behemoth to take its turn, or take the center lane and zip through a green light and carry my momentum? I chose the latter. I dropped the hammer, HARD. Push Push Push Double-Shift PUUUUUSH PUSH Push Push! 30 MPH came. 32, 35... Running a full-on sprint, I muscled past the slowing tractor before it reached the intersection, and just kept pushing with my speed in the mid-30's. As I started slowing down, I noticed something was wrong. My face was going numb. So were my arms. I was getting tunnel vision. My calves were tightening, and I was starting to pant uncontrollably. Yay! I'm BONKING! (Moron)

I Coasted and took a 10-ounce gulp of Gatorade; In what seemed like one solid swig, I downed half the bottle. I let my speed drop below 10 MPH, then shifted back to the middle chainring and pushed gently. I never got the dizzy or sick feeling of full-on bonk, but it was fast approaching. That's what I get for skipping breakfast.

I took the Baltimore slog after that (I'm a genius, aren't I?) which was surprisingly easy since I took it at a granny pace.

When I left the coffee shop, I saw the guy on the orange scooter that locks up to the bike rack at work. I pulled out beside him, but gave no attention. With a quick sprint up 11th street and a shortcut through some old, torn-up parking structures, I beat him to the rack by over a minute. Bicycle wins again!

Random Tunage:
ORM - Cube Loop
Ferry Corsten - Fire

Larry & Sierra Gaunt Update

Yesterday, authorities charged the man who killed Larry and Sierra Gaunt while they rode around Longview Lake... He was charged with 2 counts of Involuntary Manslaughter. Depending on the Jury's decision on the degree, he could face either a 4- or 7-year maximum sentence for each charge. Those are the maximums, though. The actual sentence could be less.

I think everyone that's driven has let their attention lapse for 10 seconds or so at one time or another. I hope that this is a wake-up call to motorists that inattention on the road can lead to consequences far more severe than a wrecked car or simply a hand-slap and feeling the guilt for killing someone. While I'm sure that there's significant emotional trauma over what happened, this needed to happen for the sake of ALL users of the road.

Full Story via KansasCity.com

September Recap

I know September isn't over yet, but as far as commuting is concerned, this is the last day of September.

I've been saying it all month, but I'm just plain lazy. I wrapped up September with about 380 miles, less than 2/3 the miles I rode last month. Part of it was the sinus infection, but I'd be lying if I blamed that for the whole month's display of slothitude. Yes, I made that word up.

Today was one of only 4 full round-trips by bike all month.

So, yeah. I'm not even going to try to wow you all with my crazy statistics skillz. Hopefully next month will be better.

Friday: The madness continues.

Just wow. I got out about 5 minutes late. The chilly air is giving me a mild case of EIA (Exercise-Induced Asthma), so I'm running a little slow the last few days. I get a little more than 1/3 into my journey, and see a bicyclist doing the hike-of-shame on Merriam Lane near Sonic. I did a quick U-turn and asked if he was alright. A bag he was carrying had gotten tangled in the chain. This ripped his rear derailleur completely off his bike and actually bent one whole chain link nearly perfectly in half, snapping it in the process.

I couldn't re-attach the derailleur. It had actually broken the hanger. The mount point on the dropout is okay, but he'll need a new RD. I asked where he's headed, and he rides daily from KCK to a day-to-day labor place. I'm guessing a trip to the bike shop to get a new RD and a tune-up isn't quite in the budget, so I whipped out the tools and went to work.

First things first, I had to get the RD out of the way. I took the cable and wrapped it around the seatstay and up by the brakes to keep it from dropping into the spokes and further complicating things. Then, I tried to find a good gear ratio that would allow him to get around, but still give the chain a somewhat firm hold on the sprockets. It's possible, but not easy to find a good singlespeed ratio without too much slack on a geary mountain bike. I eventually ended up cross-chaining it a little bit, but after cutting the chain and putting it back together without any derailleurs (the front has been jammed in the outer chainring position for a long time according to him), the end result was a surprisingly usable bicycle. He quickly vanished into the darkness, well on his way to work. I hope my little fix works for as long as it needs to.

Now, nearly 20 minutes behind my typical schedule, I had to fight through the cold. At first, this was easy, but my asthma started kicking in a little bit as I approached Rosedale. I may need my balaclava or a scarf a little earlier this year. I'm pushing a lot harder than I was last year. My lungs are also in better shape. I'm taking deeper breaths, which may be complicating things. I kept pushing, though. I got to the coffee shop about 20 minutes later than usual (no surprise) and saw Lorin and JR there, as well as another bike/bus commuter who I see on occasion. I think his name is John. He had his yard-sale $7.50 Trek 820 Antelope there. Heck of a nice bike, but he had to put some work into it after he bought it, of course. Another 5-bike morning if you count the pink cruiser bike with the handlebar basket that was parked in front of Jason's Deli.

Random Tunage:
Orbital - Halcyon + On + On
Pole Folder - Waxxx

Hecktic couple of days

Quick recap:
Yesterday: Rode to Lulu's for lunch, took the bus home. Got the road bike ready for action.

This morning: Rode all the way, had some quick coffee and didn't see another bicycle the entire trip, none.

Lunch: Rode to Jimmy John's for a sammich. Damn, they're fast. I called the order in as I stepped out the door. When I arrived, I was in and out with lunch-in-hand in quite literally 30 seconds. Just amazing. Good food, too, but kind of $$$ for what you get.

This afternoon: Took the bus home (I'm lazy) and ran out to get some grub for my wife. Came home, got the bike stripped down, threw it on the truck and drove to my old apartment. From there, I rode to the 127th street planning meeting. After that, I swung by the grocery store for supper, which included a sushi tray :)

Anyhow, the 127th street planning meeting was helpful and a lot more organized than before. Cyclists showed up in droves, and there are still some ill-informed people who think that taking away the bike lanes will let them keep all of their property. Truth be told, they're going with 4' wide bike lanes and 11' wide traffic lanes. These are all about 1' each narrower than comparable arterials and bike lanes. They are using less green space and going with a traditional sidewalk instead of a wide multi-use path in some places. All of these are measures to reduce the impact on the right-of-way. If they took out the bike lanes, the same width would be utilized and no land would be spared. I think we made a positive impact, though. Thanks to everyone who came out!

Tomorrow, I plan on riding all the way again. We'll see how that pans out. Sorry for being a little radio silent lately. It's been kind of a nightmare with the audit deadlines at work.

Random Tunage:
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (Pump Mix)
Depeche Mode - Confusion (Pump Panel Remix from the Blade soundtrack)

Yes, totally random from nearly 800 of the top-rated tracks in my library.

127th street meeting Thursday 9/27 - Be there!

In case you missed it here, here or here, there's another meeting about the 127th street improvement project. On the docket are some real hot-button issues, with Bike Lanes being in the crosshairs of angry citizens. Come out to Santa Fe Trail Junior High (NE Corner of 127th/Harold and Ridgeview in Olathe) at 7:00PM this evening to show your support. Critical information can be found on Improve127th.com. Bring your bike. Wear your helmet indoors to show your support.

Additionally, Johnson County Bicycle Club is hosting a Ride and Speak-Up event. A convoy of bicycles will leave 54th street bar and grill by the Great Mal of the Great Plains, and ride to the school. Information available on JCBikeClub.org. It's getting darker early, so be sure to wear your reflective gear. Helmets and lights absolutely required if you're participating in the pre/post ride.

This isn't just about what's going to happen to the 2-mile stretch of 127th street in question. This is about how transportation funds are allocated. This is about how the whole community can utilize the road and the city's right-of-way. This is about setting a precedent for future roadway renovation projects all over the greater KC area, but especially here in Johnson County. PLEASE come out and show your support.

I hope to see you there!

More of my rants and ramblings about the 127th street saga and bicycle amenities in Olathe in general:
http://kc-bike.blogspot.com/2007/05/olathe-cyclists-have-allies.html
http://kc-bike.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-127th-street-rant.html
http://kc-bike.blogspot.com/2007/03/127th-street-widening-meeting-tonight.html

Off-Topic: Talking to computers

Voice Recognition.

It was supposed to revolutionize the industry, change the way work got done, make things easier to do and improve the human/machine interface.

Here's another rant.

Am I the only one that can't fathom a future where speaking is the main input method for our computers? It's beginning already. You call a number to take care of business with your insurance or utility bills, and you're told to speak to the robotic automaton on the other end of the line.

First off, I rarely say a firm "Yes" or "No" over the phone. I'm much more apt to use yeah, sure, mmm-hmm, indeed, nope, or some other derivative in actual conversation. Next, what's the point of asking someone to speak a number from a numbered list? Just press the effing button on the phone (which usually works, by the way). Until the "computer" on the other end of the line can have an actual information-gathering conversation with me as opposed to the standard list of prompts enhanced with voice recognition, I see no point in asking participants to talk.

Furthermore, maybe I don't want the entire universe to hear what I'm doing. Imagine if you saw me in a coffee shop dictating a blog post to my computer. Worse yet, what if I was wearing a nearly-invisible bluetooth headset? Even if I was dictating this post into a telephone, it would look pretty odd to bystanders and quite frankly, I don't think I'd want everyone in my immediate proximity to hear what I have to say, despite the fact that I'm broadcasting a message into the public blogosphere. Then, there's the issue of private e-mails, instant messages, or commands and actions that you usually perform on the computer. Do you really feel like publicly demanding that your computer scroll down every 15 seconds as you peruse your favorite news site?

In closing, I think that touch screens and pointing devices work great for user interfaces, and keyboards work great for text input. There are special cases where voice recognition and text-to-speech are great, but the vast majority of people do not need nor want this feature, so I see very little point in making it the default option when calling to check on the status of your cable bill, for example.

/rant.

Greased lightning this morning

It was about 6:10 when I stepped out the door and 6:12 by the time I'd locked the door and gotten my gloves on. The thermometer on my Incite 11i indicated 55 degrees. Since it was chilly, I just rode to the bus stop in my work clothes. Dockers (tucked into my socks in true Fred form), a long-sleeve rugby shirt and my snazzy new Airwalks. The Outlook has clipless pedals, but I leave the test platforms on, and they work well. I can click in for long or fast rides, or just flick the pedal with my toe and plant some plain old shoes on the platforms so I can hit the road and just enjoy the ride.

With less than 8 minutes to get to the bus, I had to move. Fast. I dragged the bike down the stairwell. The rear wheel bounced off of the steps a few times and just from the feel, I could tell my tires were a bit low. By a quick squeeze test, I determined that it was okay to ride as-is, and I took off like a bat out of hell. It's a little over 2 miles to the mall. With as cool as it was, I could push pretty hard without sweating. I gave it about 85% effort to start off with, and cut back to about 75% once I finished slogging the first half of the Quivira viaduct over I-35. 75% feels like it's about my aerobic threshold. In raw wattage, it may not actually be 75% of my maximum output, but it's my usual sustainable power output level - the amount of effort I usually put into a full round-trip commute, and a little more than I'd put into a longer ride. As it turns out, this was just enough effort to keep me warm but not enough to make me sweat while riding. I beat the bus to the bus stop by less than a minute. Whew!

The Outlook has some features unique to other bikes I own. The flip-flop pedals are great. The geometry is a bit more heads-up. I sit more "on top of" the Sorrento - Great for climbing and working rough terrain. The Outlook places me a bit closer to the top tube and a bit more upright with the higher handlebars. I'm still bent over enough to be efficient, but it's a more comfortable and stable cockpit. The slick tires are smooth, comfy, and quiet, even when a bit low on pressure like they were this morning. They're almost mean on smooth pavement. Remember, even on a full commute my Outlook runs about the same average speed as my Trek 1200. The 1200's advantages over the Outlook are many: seating comfort, having a proper rack for panniers, handling stability, multiple hand positions, and higher potential top speed among them. The Outlook remains a very formidable machine in my arsenal, though.

I finished up my morning commute by hopping off the bus, hitting the streets of downtown KCMO with Lorin, and stopping for a discussion of music, literature and television over a hot Mocha before darting up 11th street and taking a shortcut through a decaying parking garage to get to work.

Random Tunage:
DJ Arne LII & Mirko Milano - Freak in me
Baby Anne - I wanna rock

Bus, bus, and bus some more.

I did a quick change into my steamy clothes, still slightly dank from the rain this morning. 8 hours just isn't long enough to dry clothes out on hangers under a desk. I felt like I was running a little bit late, so I bounded to the mountain bike, threw the wheel back into the fork and tightened everything up, transitioning into a wicked running saddle mount.

This bike absolutely, positively must endure the entire winter. I found myself marooned several times last winter when I used the slick tires on mild mornings, only to get ambushed by a freak mid-day snow storm. That's simply not going to happen this winter. With the exception of recreational rides on mild days, the Sorrento will be my only bike through the winter.

The engineer within me is still in test-to-failure mode with the Sorrento. Yesterday, almost 20 miles were logged without any hint of trouble. Now it's time to see if it's up to the challenge of winter terrain. On my way to the bus, I hopped every curb in sight. I bombed through potholes. I tore through sandy, rocky patches where urban erosion coalesces. I tactfully hurdled over the myriad pavement divots of the blighted blacktop. As brutal as it sounds, I need to make sure that I can't break this bike from the saddle, and these are the closest conditions analogous to winter. Soon I will be met with treacherous and inescapable ruts, boulders formed of snowpack and ice, slushy washout zones and curbs that materialize out of nowhere. My Sorrento passed the tests with flying colors. There's no way that any other steed in my stable would have answered my punishment by begging for more the way the Sorrento did this evening. I am satisfied that it will last.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be up to the same old bus routine. I have something to do in the morning that will cause some delays. The temperatures are also supposed to be plummeting down into the 40's again. With that, I'm doing another trip to the bus. I've got the Outlook geared up and ready to rock. 3 days. 3 different bikes. Depending on various factors, I may end up riding the Outlook all the way home. It's too early to tell. As I type this, my Trek 1200 is staring at me from across the room. I think it realizes that its days of being the daily commuter are temporarily numbered.

Random Tunage:
Peter Cetera - Restless Heart
Madonna - Frozen

Soggy Tuesday and a charity rant

A little after 4:30 this morning, I was jolted from my slumber by the concussion of thunder and the din of horizontal rain pummeling the bedroom windows. I knew I shouldn't have hung the mountain bike back on the wall. I was going to need it this morning, and I was going to ride to the bus.

I dawdled in the comfort of my home for a few minutes longer than usual, holding out for a sign that the pulsing electrical swell outside was moving onward. Once outside, I tarried a while longer. Still dry under the shadow of the breezeway awning, I watched as my halogen beam split the darkness, interrupted by pearly meteors. Within seconds, moisture formed miniature lagoons in the grooves of my knobby tires. Scores of seconds ticked away as I observed the heavens, which had produced not strobe nor report.

I departed into the soggy gloom, slightly captivated if not entranced by the pattern of gems being thrown into the luminescence of my headlight. By the millions, tiny droplets flew up and forward before becoming suspended and apparently still for a moment in front of me, then drifted back as the momentum gave way to my forward progress. Although being attacked from above and beneath by what remained of the torrent, this fascinating and compelling series of events was unfolding right before my eyes. Through this, I could clearly see the puddle-mottled pavement riddled with confused and nervous drivers in their bumper cars.

An ambulance darted below me on I-35, almost certainly carrying a victim claimed by the storm's peripheral effect on humans in cars in Kansas City. Not that it's entirely the fault of people; Had I been driving, I would have seen little more than foggy glass and splashes of water obscuring my vision. Sure, I got a bit wet. I was also able to see very clearly and at the same time, notice a beautiful display. I wasn't the only one crazy enough to ride, either. Lorin was waiting with his Schwinn at the bus stop when I arrived.

Enough verbose story-telling, though. On with my rant.

The company I work for has a pretty odd policy on charities. One may not solicit for any charity at work, period. MS-150, girl scout cookies, school or church fund raisers, or anything. Instead, upper-upper-uber-management has mandated that the official charity of our organization is United Way. End of discussion. And they solicit the hell out of us to donate, almost to the point where I feel guilty for not wanting to donate to United Way.

First off, I'd like to point out that I'm sure United Way does good things. I'm not intimately familiar with what they do or how they work, so from that standpoint I have no beef with them. I DO have a serious problem with the fact that we're not allowed to even leave a girl-scout cookie or MS-150 form in our cubicle for people to sign (no solicitation involved) but that upper management can put the pressure on us to give to one specific organization. Later this week, one whole hour of my day (probably more) will be tied up by a meeting where they'll try to get us to drink the UW kool-aid. Sorry, but I have things to do, like work. During my orientation in January, we were also given the whole United Way presentation and informed of corporate policy banning other charities. We each had to turn in a donation form. If we didn't want to donate, we actually had to zero it out and turn it in anyways. In my opinion, that's a huge guilt trip in disguise. It's a ploy scientifically and meticulously engineered to make one feel like a miser. I'm sure we'll have to participate in the same ridiculous ritual later this week, and UW will get another Goose-Egg on a pink sheet of paper.

Truth be known, as voraciously as they're approaching the whole United Way thing, they're making me less likely to donate. I don't like being guilted or prodded into something. I'm of the opinion that charity donations should be given privately with a cheerful heart and on the whim of the giver. They should not be begged for nor harped on. Also, the amount of money that one company can drum up should not be made an idol. Seeing my company's name on a list of top ten donating organizations in Kansas City would not make me proud. It would look like a gaudy display of self-importance.

In short, while UW may be a worthy cause, my company's approach to it is without a doubt 100% against everything I stand for.

/rant.

Random Tunage:
Push - Strange World
Garbage - Paranoid

Return Trip, Fun on the Sorrento, Linux, Etc.

Dodging the lunch rush wasn't as bad as I figured it would be this morning. The usual SE winds made for some challenging sections, particularly the climb up to Antioch. I accidentally left one bottle up in my office, leaving only the smaller bottle of Gatorade to quench my thirst. It was gone before I got to Turkey Creek Trail, so I hit the Trek Store for a water refill, then took Nieman home.

I took the Sorrento out to the Trek Store ride. The ride there wasn't without some goofing off. The ultra-steep multi-use path from Switzer has some gravel and dirt a few dozen yards to the north of it, and I took that steep gravel slope instead of the steep, windy paved path. Loads of fun! I goofed off a bit in the Trek parking lot as well. Sharpening my track stand skills, hopping curbs, going up and down stairs, etc. I had to adjust the front derailleur as well, but just with the barrel adjuster while orbiting the parking lot. On my way home, I conquered the same gravel slope I descended, and it was pitch black outside. The rest of my ride home from the Trek Store ride was the same route I took home from the Trek Store this afternoon.

I also had to run out and pick up some stuff for my wife to eat at work. I took the bike out again, for a grand total of a little more than 50 miles ridden today. Not bad at all. It's supposed to storm tomorrow, so I am thinking of keeping the mountain bike geared up. I may end up riding to the express bus tomorrow.

Also, this is my first post from Linux. I'm usually a big OpenBSD fan, and OpenBSD acts a lot like Linux in many ways. Getting it set up just the way you want it takes quite a bit of work, but once you have stuff installed, the programs work the same. Firefox for Internet browsing, OpenOffice for word processing, spreadsheets and the like. I love OpenBSD and won't get rid of it any time soon, but I downloaded Ubuntu Linux and gave it a shot on one of my old Pentium 3 (or is it Pentium /// ?) computers and it seems to be working pretty well. I'm such a geek. Sitting around me here at my computer desk, I have:

• Sun Microsystems SparcStation 5 Running OpenBSD 3.9
• Sun Microsystems Ultra 5 running Sun Solaris 10
• Dell PowerEdge 650 (1U Rackmount) running OpenBSD 4.1
• Dell OptiPlex GX150 (Mini Tower) running Ubuntu Linux 7.04
• Apple MacBook 2.0GHz running OS X 10.4 Tiger
• IBM RS/6000 Model 250 running IBM AIX 5.1/L

And that's not even counting some of the other stuff I have powered off and/or remains to be un-packed since I moved. Where was I? Oh, yes. Linux. I'm almost anti-Linux. Not because I like OpenBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris or AIX better. More because the word "Linux" doesn't really mean anything these days. A person could be a seasoned veteran at Ubuntu or heck, let's say Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SuSE SLES server Linuxes. Linuxen. Linxii. Oh forget it. Someone could be proficient at any of those, but completely worthless as a system administrator of, say, an ArchLinux, Gentoo, or Slackware server. They're that different.

So, I got off on this huge nerd tangent. Are you happy now? I guess I'll go back to playing with Ubuntu and coming up with things to complain about.

Random Tunage:
Grand National - Talk amongst yourselves
Jon Secada - Do you believe in us

That was quick

I was jammin' on it pretty good all the way to work this morning, just as planned. I didn't break my average speed record to the brewery, but I tied it at 19.2 MPH. Amazingly, even after slogging into the downtown loop, I managed to hold on to an 18 MPH average. Usually, my average speed plummets during the slog -- I lose 2 MPH, give or take.

I got to the coffee shop a few minutes before it opened, only sat around long enough to chug my mocha, then bolted. I saw Bob, Lorin and JR, but didn't exchange much more than greetings with any of them. I got to work at 7:00 sharp.

Today's another half day, so I get to dodge lunch traffic on the way home.

Random Tunage:
4 Strings - Let it rain
Orbital - Satan (Industry Standard)

No bike commuter convoy tomorrow

FYI, I need to get in to work a little early, so I'm going to be pressed for time. As a result, I'll be running at least 15 minutes ahead of my usual schedule. I may also be riding faster than usual and as a result, won't be able to lead a none-left-behind morning ride tomorrow.

Friday night it rained pretty hard and some people had other obligations as well, so my friends and I decided to abandon the mountain bike ride Saturday. The trails would have been soggy and we could have damaged and eroded them. We'll try again later.

Saturday afternoon, my wife and I took some sandwiches out to Shawnee Mission Park and went fishing. SMP Lake is being drained for remodeling right now, so the water level was at least 8 feet lower than usual. We fished off of what was left of the marina docks. My wife caught a nice largemouth bass, a bluegill and a baby catfish. All I caught was a bluegill, a box turtle and some moss. We let them all go. We thought about keeping the box turtle as a pet until we did some research. Freshwater turtles take a lot more equipment to properly care for than I knew about. We took some pictures of him and turned him loose. He's pictured above making an escape from our styrofoam cooler.

Random Tunage:
Nine Inch Nails - Reptile (no joke! Turtles ARE reptiles, right? creepy.)
Decepticonz - Underground Sound

Raytown to Lenexa again

Research Medical Center on Meyer Boulevard overlooking 71 Highway.

I had a nice ride back home from the data center this afternoon. It was a little sloggish at times, but fun all the same. It's nice to ride somewhere that you don't know like the back of your hand, but that you've ridden before. You notice new things, and the less-than-familiar territory keeps your senses sharp.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be hitting some mountain bike trails with some buddies of mine. I'll try to get pics. After that, my wife and I are going to have a picnic and go fishing, and perhaps get some riding in.

Random Tunage:
Cake - Never There
Limp Bizkit - Nookie