Getting ready to camp, August Recap

I usually prepare for camping or backpacking a few days early. We're doing the S24O Sunday into Monday and right now it looks like a relatively small turn-out. That's fine with me either way.

I don't know if I ever wrote about it here, but a while ago, Planet Bike sent me their "Keep On Keeping On" rack, a lightweight, strong utilitarian bike rack weighing in at just over a pound but being rated to carry 55 pounds. I've been using it since June, but never have gotten around to really loading it up. It doesn't have a spring-clip (sad panda) but otherwise, it's got the features I like. You know, like rear supports that don't turn my panniers into spoke-food?

I figured I'd load up my stuff (click to see an annotated version of what everything is)


And make sure things were all good:


Looks like all systems are go. Then, I found out that my wife would like to spend all weekend camping. So we'll be heavy camping (propane, coolers, etc) Friday and Saturday, too.

I found out cDude was planning on cooking over campfire. That's not a bad plan, but the wood you can buy at Hillsdale lake is usually green, uncured wood that's nearly impossible to start. I told him I'd rig up a penny stove to see how he likes it. Just in case. The end result was one that uses the jets coming out the side so that the pot can simply rest directly on top of the can for support.



Crappy composite, I know... but it shows how it works.


It brought 2 cups of water to a boil in about 4 minutes. It's certainly not a world record, but it's faster than the one I made last year.


The thing I love about these soda can stoves is that you just need 2 cans, a razor or pair of scissors and a finishing nail or small drill to make them. Well, and a penny or some other round metal object to act as a pressure valve over the filler hole. The fuel is really the most expensive part. Mark my words: knowing how to make these things will make you a hot commodity during the zombie apocalypse. Or something.

As for August... it was awesome and crappy all at once. I logged 275 miles commuting, and more for errands. I didn't have a cyclometer the entire time. I'm pretty sure I got more than 300 miles total this month. I'm not too worried about counting them this year, though. The mornings have been stellar:



The afternoons have been everywhere between the 70s and over 100 degrees, with one day sporting a heat index near 120! Multiple traffic closures and detours have slowed I-35 down to a slog. In the mornings when I'm riding along I-35 and with the direction of traffic, I'm often riding faster than the cars on the highway are moving, for extended periods of time. This has, of course, resulted in a lot of motorists rat-running the highway and opting for the side-streets such as the ones I use to get around.

Also, some old guy on a $2,800 Serotta Colorado keeps passing me every morning. At least he's friendly, but yep, I'm still slow.

August Tunage on heavy rotation:
First State - As You Were
Gravity Kills - Guilty
Barlow Girl - Enough
Golan Globus - Blazer (2005 Radio Edit)
Burn In Noise - Raca
God Lives Underwater - Rearrange
Stabbing Westward - Save Yourself
Duran Duran - Ordinary World
Grand National - Talk Amongst Yourselves (Sasha Involver Remix)
Madonna - The Power Of Goodbye
First State - Reverie

Bike Camping, Labor Day Weekend

Where: Meet at the South Olathe Price Chopper, 159th and Mur-Len. Not 151st. 159th.
When: Sunday, Sept. 5th, 2010 at Noon
Plan: Ride out to Hillsdale State Park, set up camp preferably near the Crites Boat Ramp campground

I'm scratching the idea of a northern meeting spot, because I'm probably going to ride to church that morning (yes, fully loaded) It's only a mile from the meeting spot.

Email me for more details and to RSVP.

More than half.

The first three motorists to pass me this afternoon on my homeward trip were either talking on their phones or looking down and frobbing something, almost assuredly dialing or texting. The fourth motorist that passed me had one hand on the wheel, the other hand out the window and seemed to actually be paying attention to the road. Coasting down the hill toward Deluxe Check Company, I realized that today's commuting game would be "count the texters" and I'd already counted one seemingly undistracted motorist. I might as well count those, too.

This highly unscientific survey didn't count cars that had windows too tinted for me to see the driver, or cars that were simply too close to one another for me to get a good look inside. The grand total, though: 59 people on the phone. 47 people not on the phone. More than half.

There's a lot of commercial traffic on my route. Semi tractors, commercial vans, delivery trucks and motorcycle riders made up the lion's share of motorists who were not on the phone. In fact, not a single commercial driver appeared to be on a phone, period. There are probably company rules about this, so it's not that much of a surprise.

Granted, there are hands-free speakerphones, bluetooth headsets and many other variables to consider. I was just keeping count. I'm frankly a little bit disturbed by my findings.

Then, there was my friend Andy, who -- for some inexplicable reason -- decided to wave at me by holding a 20" recumbent bicycle wheel out his driver's side window as we crossed paths... Yes, really.

Ah, weekend.

I had my (great) 90-day review at work and it totally doesn't feel like I've been at my new job for three whole months!

From mid-2006 to the first week of 2010, I was a tiny cog in a mega-corporation and my primary job responsibility was to make the red piece of a pie graph look smaller for some guys in big, cushy offices. I was told four times per year that I was exceeding management's expectations and was rarely ever given much more feedback than that. These days, I love what I do and who I work with. I'm constantly challenged with new aspects of the things I'm passionate about: security, systems administration and helping people understand technology in their own terms. I genuinely feel appreciated, too. My team is efficient and forthcoming with very short feedback cycles. That makes all the difference in the world.

Last week was one of the hottest weeks on record. It makes me really glad I live so close to work these days. The weekend brought sweet relief. Many of my pals put in a lot of bike miles today. It feels really strange to say that 89 degrees with 45% relative humidity feels mild, but it really was a nice break from the heat. After church, my wife and I met some friends at a local fishing lake, where I finally got to test out my new baitcasting reel. It took a few casts to get the hang of it, but now I can see why this style of reel is so popular. It casts far if you want it to, very precisely and operates much smoother than my other closed-face and spin-casting reels. My wife and friends caught a few bluegill. I ended up feeding the fish.


Argiope Aurantia (So-called "Garden Spiders") have always been my favorite spiders. When I was growing up in Nebraska, they were everywhere. They're very tame, don't bite and make zig-zag silk inserts into their webs. They're also some of the biggest spiders you'll find native to this part of the country. This female specimen has a leg-span of nearly four inches!


Random Tunage:
Barlow Girl - Enough (excellent Chris Tomlin cover)
Burn In Noise - ERT

August

The relentless triple digit temperatures might have been a clue, but I never really believe it's August until I see a Cicada up close.


By the way, I always knew these guys had a proboscis. I didn't know they used it on people. According to wikipedia, they don't "bite" on purpose, but this one got my hand. It felt like a big mosquito bite.

Cart rage in aisle three

I typically ambulate at a fairly good pace as far as plain old walking is concerned. The highly scientific and precise measurement as performed on a cheap home-gym dreadmill says I walk at 3.6 MPH, which, from what I can tell, is a bit faster than average.

I don't particularly care for walking. I avoid walking for transportation for all but the closest of destinations. If it's more than a few blocks and it's at all possible to ride a bike, I'll take the bike. Until such time as it becomes socially acceptable to ride one's bicycle through the aisles of the supermarket, that's at least one place I'll be forced to use my own two feet.

Despite my relatively quick gait, I actually had a lady behind me on my way out of the store this evening muttering "Come on. Move!" just loud enough for me to hear.

Related: I happened across a minivan with the license plate "KEWLGMA" that, according to another highly scientific instrument bolted to my handlebars, was incapable of exceeding 20 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. She was certainly a grandma. No, I didn't pass her. I drafted that thing! Thanks for the pull, granny. Perhaps that's how she earned the "kewl" label. I know she didn't earn it by holding up traffic.

* Title roughly based on a facebook comment from Bill Burns.

Random Tunage:
First State ft. Sarah Howells - Reverie
Alpha 9 - Come Home

Face-melting heat, Park Street, brine and coconut sunscreen

A new personal heat record: 118*F heat index. Ouch.

I had a good tailwind, and I think I'd have preferred a headwind in this heat. On the flat stretches of road, I could easily go fast enough to get some breeze, and it wasn't too bad. Going up hills, my speed would often match the wind's. Combined with 50% relative humidity and triple-digit ambient temperatures, that's no good. I really did feel like my face was melting off. A few times, I squirted my eyes with water to drive the stinging brine away from them. And all this on a relatively short commute.

I had some errands to run on the way home, and I'd usually take Pflumm. Pflumm is an arterial road that doesn't have any highway interchanges. If you count the small curvy northernmost section labeled "Quivira Drive", Pflumm cuts through all of Johnson County and the biggest intersection you'll ever have to deal with is Shawnee Mission Parkway. It's a decent road to ride on, but it's still an arterial road with hurried motorists. Today, I opted for Park Street instead. Park is a short road that runs parallel to Pflumm two blocks to the west and only for a little ways near Old Town Lenexa. It's very residential. It's got tree coverage. People sit out on their front porches and wave.

It reminds me how vitally important a good route is for us bicycle commuters, and how often finding a good route involves riding just a block or two away from the big roads you normally think of when planning your trips.

Finally, a few blocks from home I rode past a small, private pool for one of the nearby neighborhoods. I caught a very strong whiff of coconut-scented suntan lotion. I might not have air conditioning for my commute, but motorists miss a lot of little things in their hermetically-sealed transportation bubbles.

Random Tunage:
Dresden & Johnston feat. Nadia Ali - That Day (Tritonal Air Up There Mix)
New Order - True Faith (The Morning Sun Extended Remix)

Oontz.

It's no secret that I really like electronic music. Last night, The Crystal Method came to town to throw down a 5-hour-long DJ set at Lucky Strike Lanes. I had to go, and I dragged commuterDude with me. We carpooled.





Even though Lucky Strike Lanes is a bit of an upscale venue, it didn't stop the ravers from coming out to play.





And maybe cDude got into it a little, too...


It was a great show and of course they threw down some TCM originals mixed in with a lot of other stuff, like only they could.

Perimeter Lighting

While I'm going on about things that have been annoying me lately, let me talk about one of the most sinister automobile features ever: Perimeter lighting.

That's the name for the feature that turns on a car's headlights, tail lights, park lights, and (most horrifyingly) reverse lights when the owner unlocks the car with the remote key fob. That means when I'm leaving my own apartment at about the same time as everyone else in the morning, I get about 5 or 6 cars that suddenly appear to be applying the brake and shifting into reverse. Thanks to dense parking and dark tinted windows, there's often no real way to tell which of them will back out in front of me or if there even any drivers in the cars to begin with.

If it wasn't for the reverse lights, I might not be quite so annoyed. I'm convinced that there's a front row seat in hell reserved for the person who thought it was a good idea to engage the reverse lights when the car isn't actually in reverse.

Have a better idea?

I've written much on the state of the horrible railroad crossings on my new commute route. This is my usual approach to crossing them:


When I see a break in traffic, I creep out toward the center line to make it abundantly clear that I absolutely need the whole width of the lane. As I approach the crossing, I pull a zig-zag maneuver that lets me cross the rails more or less perpendicular. If I don't do the first step, I get cars that give me barely enough room to cross them in the direction of the road, much less the ability to cross the rails safely.

Have any better ideas? This trick earned my my first angry honk this morning. I suppose it's not bad for having to do this twelve times per day, five days per week for the past 2 and a half months.

18.3 MPH Average

... On the fixie. According to the little top speed calculator thingy I made, that means I had an average cadence of about 94 RPM. I plugged in the specs for the Wabi Special: 2090mm tire circumference, 46T chainring and 18t cog, and played with cadence until I got it right.

I was probably hitting 130 in some spots, and holding over 100 RPM for most of the way, dropping down to climb the three bigger hills on my homeward trip, which took about 5 minutes less than usual. This is a quick pace for me even when I'm on the road bike, where I can sustain 25 MPH for a good part of my trip if I feel like hammering it.

About a week ago, I got tired of the platform pedals and the ass-hatchet of a saddle. I swapped my SPDs and Bontrager saddle over from The Twelve. Those changes made the Wabi Special even more enjoyable to ride than before. The OEM saddle doesn't get along with me at all, and clipless pedals or rat traps go a long way on fixed gear. Without some kind of attachment system, high cadence spinning seems both disconcerting and dangerous. With clipless, I felt much more in control and more in touch with the pavement than before.

I'm probably going to be finished reviewing this bike at the end of this week. There will be a fixie-shaped hole in my life when I send this beauty back home to Los Angeles.

Fear.

I like storms. I even like riding in storms. It's not often that I fear the weather; Your chances of getting sucked up into a Swirling Vortex of Doom or getting struck by lightning are pretty slim.

Last night, I got scared.

The skies were ominous when I left, and there was a strong wind out of the north. I didn't have my waterproof backpack with me, so I'd wrapped my phone up in a plastic bag. I was ready for rain and headwind. Some co-workers offered me a ride home, but their sedans wouldn't accommodate my bike, and I didn't feel like messing with the bolted front axle to remove the wheel so it'd fit in a trunk. They wished me good luck. That made my day, at least.

Riding across 113th, there were a few times I was nearly blown straight off the road by crosswind. Once I got myself into a headwind situation on Santa Fe Trail Drive, I was okay. I had to put my sunglasses on because the wind was blowing debris at me with stinging force. Then came the first few sprinkles and even more wind, clawing at my forearms and calves. All while trying to hold a straight, assertive line on the road. A kind man in a pickup drove next to me for a while and asked if I needed a ride. I thanked him and waved him on. I'd later regret that.

After a few miles, the deluge set in, and it was like riding into a sandblaster nozzle. There was zero visibility and the driving rain caused burning pain on all my exposed skin, even my scalp as it drove its way through the vents in my helmet. Lightning strikes were landing way too close for comfort and finally drove me to find the nearest overpass to wait under for a while. It's easy to write off a lightning strike as a one-in-a-million probability until you've heard the sharp sound of arcing electricity right before you feel the thunder a few times in a row.

Shortly after getting back out on the road, I would find myself being passed far-too-closely by a lane-straddling semi as I tried to go over one of the gnarlier railroad crossings. Despite my assertive lane position, I didn't get nearly enough room, and I couldn't make a perpendicular cross like I usually do. The rear tire hit the second rail, lost traction, and tried sliding right out from under me. I managed to stay shiny side up without stopping, thanks to fixed gears' natural tendency to be easier to control in low-traction conditions. I would have looked for the plate number of the truck, but it had stopped to wait for a left turn and I didn't feel like waiting around.

The rest of the trip was uneventful as can be when you're dealing with storms. At least I felt refreshed when I got home, even if I did have to wring three gallons of water out of my backpack, clothes and shoes.

July DSR - Unofficial Lenexa Midnight Bike Ride alternative

I opted for a smaller group this time, as you can tell. Almost half of the people who had initially said "Yes" to the ride bailed out yesterday (for completely legitimate reasons), leaving eight intrepid souls to take the ride. I'm bad with names, so I can't remember Drew's guests names, but there was also Badger, Darius, Eric, Ben and myself.


Eric was rocking his brand new Surly LHT, which he's just picked up. I'm jealous. More and more of my serious commuting friends have some kind of nice steel touring bike.

I met Ben on the bus last year. He normally rides the whole way (College and Quivira-ish to Downtown) but had gotten a flat and retreated to the B bus, which I happened to be riding. It wasn't even my normal route. He brought this fixed gear bike out for the ride. I noticed that it wasn't just painted white, but it's almost completely covered in reflective material:


Outside the cave entrance.


Ben, Eric and I hit IHOP afterward, then parted ways. It was a really late night.

Also: Substation with a half-moon over it.

Lenexa Midnight Bike Ride

The Lenexa Midnight Bike Ride changed its route again. It's coming up this Saturday night.

There are rumors (started by me, of course) that there will be an alternative to this ride that promises to be more fun for experienced cyclists who like riding at night. This is the official Dark Side Ride for July. This is the closest I'm going to get to announcing it publicly. Contact me via email for details. I will not respond to in-blog comments about this ride.

Just take the lane.

A few things combined prompted this.

1. Dave Moulton had a nice rant.
2. St. Charles county wants to ban bicycles on certain roads.
3. People want to debate about bikes on roads and where they should ride.
4. I posted about "Gutter Bunnies" on BikeCommuters.com
   
5. Someone in Johnson County got injured badly by riding into an under-construction gutter seam.
6. Eric points out this awesome animation about the perils of a shy, cowardly curb-hugger vs. a savvy, confident cyclist.

Click the links. I don't have a lot to add here, other than to say that I generally ride my bike about where a car's right wheel normally sits in the lane, or 18-24" out from the gutter seam or fog line most of the time. I rarely have any problems riding here, and in the past few years of riding like this, I can count on one hand the number of times it's actually resulting in someone honking at me from behind in anger.

Early commute

Server maintenance this morning. Wet roads. Took The Twelve.


Random Tunage:
Energy 52 - Cafe del Mar (Kenny Hayes Remix)
Coldplay - Talk (Junkie XL Remix)

Weather Rage

Back in late July 2008, I rode home from downtown KC to Lenexa with an ambient temperature of 101°F, relative humidity of 37% and a heat index of 108*F. That was my hottest day on the bike of all time.

Today's ambient temperature wasn't nearly as hot, but at nearly 60% relative humidity, the heat index blew my previous record out of the water.

Let's ask Rage Guy what he has to say about this.

Rage Guy?


Yeah. That's about how I feel, too.

Random Tunage:
Orbital - Desert Storm
Libra - Anomaly

Behold, the watt.

"In terms of Classical mechanics, one watt is the rate at which work is done when an object's velocity is held constant at one meter per second against constant opposing force of one newton."

Blah, blah, blah. What the hell is a newton anyway?

Just kidding. I'm a nerd. I know what all of this means. Basically, a watt is a way to express the rate at which work is being done. When you're dealing with electricity, volts x amperes = watts. I actually think that transposes to mechanics easier than the crazy jibberish above.

The weight you apply to the pedals is like Volts. The speed you're cranking on them is like amperes. The combined work being done can, in fact, be expressed in watts.

I mentioned this a few days ago: fixed gear doesn't seem to have slowed me down at all. When I first hopped on the Wabi Special, I gave myself twice the time to get to work, just in case. I figured that I'd have a hard time climbing hills. I also figured I'd have to take it slow going downhill. To me, this whole thing sounded like a recipe for a slower commute. I got to work as fast as usual. Maybe faster. I didn't have a cyclometer, but total elapsed time with stops was 25 minutes, which is par for the course. This has been puzzling me for a few days. I keep leaving a little early. I keep thinking maybe I'm just hammering it harder than usual to make up for the time. I keep getting to work in 25 minutes. The return trip home is also about the same. What's going on?

When I'm riding on my own, I tend to fall into this pace. It's not particularly fast, but it's not very slow, either. I always thought this had something to do with my pedaling cadence. I'd adjust my gearing to keep my cadence somewhat stable.

Riding fixed gear, though, I've found out that I have settled into roughly the same pace, even though my cadence is all over the place. I'm now starting to understand how this all works. It's not about cadence, it's about watts. Without being able to trade-off effort for crank revolutions with dozens of gearing combinations, I still exert roughly the same amount of energy per minute regardless which bike I'm on. I just push harder on the uphills than I normally would, and spin faster than usual on flat land. The same amount of energy exerted moves the bike roughly the same speed on average.

Bonus: the fixed-gear drivetrain is actually more efficient and feels more connected to the road. You'd have to try it to know what I mean. The end-result is a remarkably simple, efficient and fun way to get around, so long as you don't have many steep hills around.

Mystery solved.

Danger Panda

This shot from a few weeks ago got me a finalist spot in a photo contest on Brightkite, a service I use to help me blast my pictures, announcements and whatnot onto various social media platforms. The prize? A Brightkite T-Shirt.

Danger Panda time.

Remember the burn?

Those of you who started riding a bike in the last 5 years or so will probably remember with a certain fondness how badly the muscles in your legs hurt the morning after your first ride. My first few times riding 2 miles each way to the bus stop felt like huge journeys. When I woke up in the morning, my feet would ache. My quads and calves would burn.

For me, riding 6.2 miles each way now feels like a short and easy trip. It's highly enjoyable. When I wake up these days, I feel refreshed. Bike commuting does that to you. It gets you into better shape and changes your mood. And if you ride every day at a pace you enjoy, you really won't tone your muscles any more. They'll get used to it.

Yesterday, I rode 13 miles on the Fixed-Gear Wabi Special. It took me about a mile to get used to riding fixed gear Wednesday night. Yesterday's commute went great. Fixed gear is fun! Although I had to hop out of the saddle for some of the hills, It's really no more total work to get around on a fixie than it is with any other bike. Gears just trade effort for time and distance. You don't need to mash as hard on the pedals to climb in a lower gear, but you have to turn the cranks more times to get to the top. Total work done to climb a hill is roughly the same either way you do it.

One thing I noticed, though, is that fixed gear forces you to use a bunch of muscle groups that, as far as I can tell, most normal cyclists don't use too often. I could tell yesterday that some new muscles were being worked. This morning, I hurt in almost the exact same way I used to hurt when I first started riding. At least this time I know that this phase only lasts a few days.