5000 km and counting...

I achieved a personal milestone on Sunday when I passed the 5000 km mark on my bike.  Well, it's 5000 km since I got an odomoter about four years ago (give or take a year, i don't remember).  If you can't read the picture above, it's 5032.4 km to be exact.  For those metrically challenged, that's about 3100 miles - or the distance from SF to NY.  I'm sure lots of bikers have riden many more miles, but it's a big enough number that I'm proud of myself.

I ride a 20 year Trek that was my dad's.  It's a steel frame road bike (600 series) that has certainly proved durable.  It's a vintage bike, but still performs well up hills, down hills and all in between.  It's changed a bit since my dad had it.  I've replaced the white seat and handle bar wrap with black, added a water bottle cage and gone through several wheels.  The guts of the bike, though, are all still there.  Of course, the Obama bumper stickers weren't there 20 years ago.

I would estimate that half the miles are from recreation rides and half are from commuting to work.  I started biking to work on a semi-regular basis two years ago when the Planet Earth shows were on Discovery HD.  There was a really sad episode about a Polar bear who was swimming around the artic because the ice had melted too early.  I was talking about it with some co-workers when I decided to at least do something myself.  I realize that the 8.5 mile round trip ride isn't stopping global warming by itself, but we all got to start somewhere.  The icing on the cake is that I love riding to work.  I've never shown up to work and wish I had driven, and there have been many times I've driven and wished I'd rode.

When it comes to recreational rides, the majority of the miles have come from out-and-backs up the coast.  The stretch of coast along 101 through La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, and Carlsbad is one of the premier biking areas in the country and I'm blessed to have such great access.  The longest ride I did was from my place up to north oceanside and back - 100 km.  Still quite a bit short of a true Century Ride (100 miles).  It's always fun to head up to Carlsbad/Oceanside and stop by Ross and Laurel's or Jac and Aaron's.  Of course, the pain always returns on the way home.  Leaving the Torrey Pines hill for the very end is a bit cruel.

Another ride I enjoy up and over Mt. Soledad.  The steepest hill I've encountered is going up the Pacifica Ave on the south side of Soledad.  However, that section is only half the hill, and the rest is more gradual.  The hardest ride has been going up the north side of Soledad.  Same height gained as the south ride, but in half the distance.  Closest I've come to walking.

My most recent ride, and the one that saw 5000 km, took me to Point Cabrillo.  It was the first time I rode south and I'll certainly do it again.  The views of the bay and downtown from the top of Cabrillo are awesome, and riding along Sunset Cliffs reminds me a bit of Carmel.

Getting on a bike and riding (both to work and for fun) has been one of the best things I've done.  But don't just take my word, get out and do it yourself.  You'll feel better after, I promise.

Lost in the supermarket

A few weeks ago Erin and I started a new system where one night a week it's my job to prepare for and make dinner.  I'm perfectly happy to do this.  Erin is definitely the household leader in cooking, and though I try to help with meals and do dishes, etc. she is clearly putting the most effort in.  I discovered a long time ago that I'm most productive with chores if I have a specific task so this works great for me.

So yesterday (Wednesday) was my day to cook and I went to the store to prepare.  I decided on Bobili pizza (with peppers and pineapple), salad and some veggie crisps.  Not fancy, but plenty good and right in my sweet spot of capabilities.  

The most difficult part for me was navigating the store to find the ingredients.  I'm sure there is logic to supermarkets, but it's not how my brain works.  I was starting to get frustrated when I dreamed up a kiosk system that would tell me where items were.  Everytime I go in the store I walk around aimlessy for 10 minutes.  All my problems would be solved if I could walk up to a screen and map out everything I needed.  It could even print me a little road map.  I can't believe they don't have this.

Well, this morning I saw a news article that shows researchers agree with me: Elderly shoppers to get 'sat nav' gadget to find their way around supermarkets. If I have to fake dementia to get this gadget I will.  And until this goes to market (pun intended), if you want to invite us out to dinner, make it a Wednesday.

A little bit of humor on gloomy day

Tonight was difficult for me.  It was the last Warriors game of the season and it turned out very similar to 52 other games this season (the Warriors finished 29-53).  I got upset at the refs, I got upset with the other team and I got upset with the Warriors.  I did my best to remain calm, but I still lashed out a few times at the TV.  Apparently I thought the referees and opposition could hear me despite the fact that they were 500 miles away and it all happened an hour earlier (I was watching on DVR).  Luckily for me though, I was able to find great humor in the antics of those who went out to protest today.

Perhaps the greatest humor for me was that they chose to be identified with the Boston Tea Party.  From an immature male point of view I laughed at the thought of these people being called Tea-Baggers.  If you don't know what tea-bagging is I suggest you go to www.urbandictionary.com and look it up (yes, it's juvenille and gross).  The only thing better than calling the protesters tea-baggers was the protesters calling themselves tea-baggers because they didn't know it's double entendre.  One never looks as pathetic as when everyone gets the joke but you.

From an intellectual point of view it's funny because in the 1700's people were protesting Taxation with Representation.  I guess the protesters of 2009 didn't realize they had a fair chance to vote in the last election, as well as the previous two - which they won and voted in a huge buffoon who is partly to blame for the current problems.  It's also funny, because I didn't hear many descenting voice as Bush and the Repubs made mistake after mistake.  In fact, these were the same people who said it was "Un-American" to question the president and his policies. 

Personally, I'm fine with the Tea-baggers protesting.  They have every right to and I'm not going to stop them.  However, they better recognize that if they don't start dealing with REAL problems and creating REAL solutions, they will just remain on the fringe.  Personally, I hope the intelligent, thoughtful Republicans go out and start to make postive strives.  The Democrats would be better off if they can be pushed by an effecitve Republican party.  The last thing I want is a monopoly - that just means the Dems can get fat and lazy.  Competition is a good thing and it will drive the country to better solutions.

With that said, thanks Tea-baggers for providing some needed humor to otherwise glooomy end to the Warriors season.

This is why I hate republicans

Some jerk-store from the from the Oregon House of Representatives named Wayne Kriger (email here) wants to make bike's register in order to be able to use the roads. Read about it here.

It should come as no surprise that this guy is not a bike rider. Only a car loving republican would propose something like this. He wants to take something that should be encouraged (biking is good for traffic, personal health and wellness and the environment) and he wants to discourage it. Plus, here's some big news for this idiot, bikers already are paying for the roads with their taxes and car registrations. Just because they have a bike doesn't mean they don't have a car, too.

I don't usually blog at 8:30am, but I'm so pissed off about this I had to let it out while it still burns in my veins. We should be thinking of ways to encourage people to bike. If the republican party wants to really start making a difference I think it would be a good start if they pulled their heads out of their asses. Ugh, I know this guy doesn't stand for every republican, but it so clearly illustrates their thought process that I can't help but dump on the whole party. And I'm not fan of the democrats either (politicians in general are a hindrance to actually solving problems), but at least they aren't trying to take away my bike.

To quote the famously un-liberal Charlton Heston, "You can pry my bike from my cold dead hands".

25 minutes of 60 Minutes that I'd recommend

Like my grandfather and a large majority of the older people in our country, I watch 60 minutes pretty regularly.

This week had a fantastic episode about the faultiness of eye-witness testimonies in trials. The science behind it and the doubt it places in the justice system are both interesting, but it's the personal story of the accuser and the falsely accused that led me to blog about it. If you've got about 25 minutes I'd highly recommend checking it out. You can watch the video below (it actually took up two segments on the show).

I've always had an interest in innocent people who go to jail because I just can't imagine what they most go through. For every case that has a "happy" ending (as happy as it can be considering the tragedy) there must be so many more that never get exposed. I hope the lessons learned from this case are being applied throughout the justice system.


Watch CBS Videos Online


Watch CBS Videos Online

I would actually say that the first segment of the show about how the FDIC takes over banks was worth watching too. In fact, even Andy Rooney's usually nonsensical and unimportant ramblings were thought provoking. Overall, tonight's episode helps explain why the old people love 60 minutes. Now, can someone explain to me why they like Matlock?

Getting all artsy

A couple of quick links to some awesome pictures I've seen recently. I would post the pictures, but their resolution is so high that it's best to go their pages.

The first one is from the inauguration. When you first go to the page you'll get the zoomed out version. The cool part is that you can zoom WAY in. Double click to zoom in and then give it a second bring in the high res version. You can also pan around by clicking and dragging. There is another version of this image that is annotated with the names of many of the famous people sitting on the Inaugural Platform.

The second picture was shot over the course of 20 days from the same spot at a train station in Berlin. It has 178 people in it and very few even realize they are being photographed. It's just people going about their daily business, which is something that I usually am moving (or thinking) too fast to see. You can pan through the image by moving your mouse along the smaller image at the bottom.

The last thing I'll post is a cool music video that Ray sent me. The band is called Bat for Lashes and the song is "What's a girl to do?" The lyrics are rather depressing but the melody is good and video is well worth at least one watch for its creative.

There's fast and then there is REALLY fast

It's finally here, a blog post worth reading. I've been wanting to write about this topic for a couple of months and now I've got some footage that really brings it to life.

In New Zealand, my brother in law, Sean, and his crew, Dan, have taken their R-Class sailboat to a whole new level, literally. First, let me explain that the R-Class boats are basically rockets in the water. The boats are about 18 feet long, crewed by two people, extremely light and have huge sails. The design of the boats is pretty much unlimited too (other than length) which means they can really innovate. Here is a picture of their boat last year. Notice that it's barely in the water.















And now, here is a picture from this year. Notice anything different?



It's the two hyrdo-foils that they've added. When the boat gets up on the foils (which can happen even in pretty light wind) they almost completely erase friction from the water. And with that, they can almost double the speed of the other boats in their class. In a race that normally takes the fleet 40 minutes, they can finish in 25.

They were recently interviewed by a Kiwi TV station and they got some great footage of the boat sailing. Check it out HERE.

Of course, as you can see in the video clip, they haven't worked out all the bugs yet and still occasionally crash, which means going from 20 knots to zero in a few seconds. Yes, it's a dangerous sport and they do wear helmets. This particular crash was caused by a breakage of the main foil. Here's a closeup of what the foils look like on land (that's Sean on the left and Dan on the right).



Needless to say, next season you'll probably see more (if not all) the r-class boats with foils. One of the problems with being the innovator is that you are paving the way for your competitors (and they don't have to struggle as much). However, I fully expect Sean and Dan to do well, as they've won the National Championship for the R-Class even in the conventional boats.

One of the places Sean and Dan got inspiration from was another class of boat called a Moth. Moths are one person boats, but have adopted the foil technology, too. However, they've spent a million dollars and received corporate money for development. Sean and Dan are doing this on their own. Here is some really unique footage of the Moth's in action:



I'm not sure what they've got up their sleeve for their next trick, but I would love to see a Foil Boat Championships. Moths, R-Class and anyone else doing it. Let's see who is the the fastest in the water (or over it).