Big Guy on a Bicycle

Do I Look Deaf?

2010-10-07T03:00:00.005-04:00

OK, I'll admit that it has been a while since I have posted anything. Well, I don't really have a good excuse or anything other that to say that I've been busy with other stuff. Sorry.

But I thought I would relate a small segment of what happened on my ride today. I found it interesting, anyway.

I decided that today would be a good day to ride from the house up to the Edmonds-Kingston ferry and go for a ride out on the Kitsap peninsula. It's the second time recently that I've done this. Last week I crossed over to Kingston and then rode down to Bainbridge Island to catch the ferry back to downtown Seattle and then rode home from there. Today I figured I would just go on a shorter loop on the Peninsula just to see some views I hadn't seen yet.

I got a little off course on my way to the ferry today and got there just as it was coming in from the Kingston side. Still, I had plenty of time and still stopped at the little espresso stand next to the waiting lanes to grab a granola round as a late lunch ($1.60 vs. $3.00 if you get it onboard). The way they have it set up is that bicycles and motorcycles go up to the front to board first as long as loading hasn't started yet, so I made my way up to the bicycle holding area where I was by myself. There were probably 15 motorcycles. As soon as the incoming crowd was off-loaded they waved me on, followed shortly by the motos and then the cars. I tied off my bike and went up to the passenger deck to eat my granola round.

I ended up sitting near the westward end in front of a couple of motorcyclists. They were talking about just general stuff and I was just sitting and eating. I think they started out talking about the hazards of SCUBA rapid ascents (though they had their physics wrong - not that I corrected them), and then moved on to griping about politics/politicians. Then they started in on bicycles. Hmm. I am pretty sure they could see me sitting with my helmet and cycling gear still on less than 5 feet away. Hmm.

Oh, it started out with complaining about all of the new bicycle lanes. Specifically, I think their main 'point' was that cyclists don't pay any road use taxes and that we (cyclists) should have to pay a licensing fee. Then they complained that bicycles get to board first and they have to wait until we are on the ferry. Next was the general scofflaw nature of all cyclists (we all run red lights and stop signs, we all ride three wide down the middle of the street, we don't ride on the sidewalks where we "belong", et cetera). Then, of course, was the fact that we all look down our noses at other people. Yada yada yada.

The ranting continued on, touching on how one guy's coworker was a cyclist and had made some comment about overly aggressive drivers at work one day...

And then one of them made the following statement: "Yeah, I guess everyone is an assh#le until proven otherwise."

Sensing an opportunity, I stood up and turned to face them. Then I laid out the following (as close to verbatim as I can recall) - in a perfectly calm and non-confrontational tone:

"You know, guys, I can't really disagree with you completely on any of the points you made, but I don't think you are seeing the whole picture."

[shock on their faces; maybe they thought I wouldn't dare say anything?]

"First, you are correct that I don't pay road use taxes for my bicycle. But for one thing, I don't have anywhere near the same impact on the road infrastructure that engine-driven vehicles do. What next? Do you then start charging pedestrians to walk on the road? Also, every cyclist I personally know also owns at least one car - I have three in my driveway - that they do pay road use taxes on. Besides, I think the biggest reason that bicycles don't have to be licensed is that it would cost more to register and placard bikes, including enforcement, than it would bring in. And maybe you should just consider that bike lanes help keep bicycles out of the flow of traffic and slowing it down"

[silence from the two of them, but people are starting to listen in]

"I believe that your next point was that bicyclists board the ferries first. Frankly, I agree there. I would actually prefer to board last and leave last just so I'm not getting passed by a steady stream of a few hundred cars that just came off the ferry behind me. But I didn't make that decision. If you don't like the policy, you should call the Washington State DOT. But you know, I'm guessing that those several hundred cars might complain about you guys getting to go around to the head of the line, too, now that I think about it."

[still silent, but squirming a little - and there are now about 15 other people standing by listening in]

"You also mention that bicyclists are all scofflaws, but I can assure you that not all of us are by any means. I follow the rules of the road - not the sidewalk, where I don't belong - when I ride, even when cars - and motorcycles - around me don't. Yes, I have seen the guys you complain about and I don't like it either, especially since the 5 to 10 percent of those doing it paint the rest of us in a bad light. I think we would do well to teach school kids bicycling safety so they know how to follow the rules of the road, but currently it is mostly a grass-roots effort in a lot of areas. I would also point out that many drivers tend to see you guys in a negative light based on the actions of some motorcyclists riding dangerously in traffic or just being perceived as being "hellions", so I would think that you might be a little more understanding in this regard."

[still very silent, looking toward the floor - surrounding people look interested, though]

"No discussion about the points I'm making?"

[s-i-l-e-n-c-e]

"Okay, well, I'll leave you with this final thought. That statement you made about everyone being an assh#le until proven otherwise? Yeah, I think you were dead-on with that one. Have a pleasant afternoon, gentlemen."

At this point I turned to go, stopping long enough to throw away the wrapper from my lunch. A couple of the bystanders came walking with me back down to the car deck. One of them said "Very eloquent. You know, I don't think you're an ash#le". "Thanks," I replied, "You either."

__________________________________________________________

The story isn't over yet. I got down to the car deck and untied my bicycle from the securing point as others got back into their cars - or on their motorcycles. Once the ramp was in place the deck hand looked over at me and was about to give me the signal to go ahead when two of the motorcyclists charged ahead off of the ferry, almost knocking the deckhand down. Guess which two?

__________________________________________________________

Story still isn't quite over. I rode off the ferry and started up the roadway just in time to notice two motorcycles (guess which two) go blasting right through a red light. Right in front of a Kingston Police cruiser. Lights flash, motorbikes stop on roadside, so on and so forth. It took about every bit of restraint I had not to say "Hmph. Scofflaws." as I rode past. I didn't, but I sure thought about it.

Exploring the River Trail

2010-01-27T02:34:00.004-05:00

One thing Seattle has a lot of is bicycle trails. The big one that I tend to touch on a lot of my rides is the Burke-Gilman trail, but until recently I hadn't actually been all the way from one end to the other. The Burke-Gilman is about 17 miles long from one end to the other, which would make it a 34 mile round trip. The thing is, I don't live at either end but rather I usually connect in somewhere near the middle. I've gone south and west to end up on the Seaview Avenue trail to Golden Gardens park, and I've gone north and east out to Kenmore, but I never made it quite to the end out that way. Had I realized before just how close I'd been...

Last week I decided to go north and east and just keep going until I ran out of trail. I got to where I'd been before and only went just a little past when I discovered that the Burke-Gilman ended and the Sammamish River Trail began. Actually, another trail started out near there, and I took it to the north first, only to turn around when it disappeared after about 3 miles. Then I figured that the Sammamish route should be tested.

Back toward the beginning of January, MG and I drove out to Woodinville to try to find a winery we could visit. We specifically wanted to go to the Chateau St. Michelle winery, and after figuring out that the GPS didn't really know Woodinville all that well I was able to backtrack and locate it. We did the tour and then joined the Vintner's Club, if only because they hold outdoor concerts in the summer for club members. And we aren't just talking about some unknown bands here. Last year they had (among others) both Elvis Costello and Diana Kraal, though surprisingly not at the same time. MG even surprised me on the trip home that day by saying that it was her goal to get on the tandem and get to where we can ride to some of the concerts this summer. I figured that the Burke-Gilman would be part of our route, but that we'd have to exit onto local roads to go the last several miles.

I was wrong. I found this out on my ride last week.

As I rode along the Sammamish River trail I figured that I would have to hit Google Maps when I got home to try to find out exactly where I'd been riding. That was before I suddenly realized "Hey, that building looks familiar." Sure enough, I was riding right past the winery grounds. What I thought would be several miles of Woodinville roads to reach it turned out to be just a 1/4 mile or so to go from the trail to the entrance. Serendipity strikes again.

Of course, it's going to take a while before we can do that ride. From our new house (we move in early next month) the ride out to the winery is about 15 miles one way. MG hasn't been riding for quite a long time, so we're going to have to build up to that kind of distance for her and then hope that she recovers enough at the concert to be able to ride back. I think we can do it, though. We've got 4 or 5 months to work with and we get the tandem back out of storage once we move.

Personally, I'm looking forward to it. Especially since I now know how to get there from the Sammamish River Trail.

A Farewell to Knoxville (at least for now)

2010-01-10T14:01:00.003-05:00

Having grown up in Kingsport, Tennessee, I was well aware of Knoxville from an early age, if not as a place to go to, then certainly as a place to go through. My grandparents were all in Atlanta, so more often than not we would travel through Knoxville and on through Chattanooga on our way to visit. I guess my earliest memories of Knoxville are of the Arby’s on Kingston Pike near Papermill and of the gas stations at Cedar Bluff. The first time I can remember Knoxville as a destination would be when my father took us to go see the Ringling Bros./Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Civic Coliseum. In 1982 Knoxville became a destination for millions with the World’s Fair (I only visited once that summer, but I remember it well).

My college career began in 1983 at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville studying mechanical engineering, so Knoxville was again relegated to ‘place I pass through and stop for gas, maybe’. There were a few times that some of my friends and I would make a trip to Knoxville for an event, but more often our destination was Nashville.

After a few years at Tech, I decided that I’d change my major to Architecture, which was a program not offered there, so I transferred to the University of Tennessee. My stay in the Architecture program was brief (long story there) so I transferred into the civil engineering program at UT, and then determined I could finish my degree quicker if I returned to Tech. Thus my stay in Knoxville was only about 6 or 7 months at that point, but I was glad to at least leave my cockroach-infested apartment behind.

In 1988 my then girlfriend (and future wife) left Auburn University to attend the UT College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville, so I suddenly found myself making the trip from Cookeville to Knoxville almost every weekend. My knowledge of all that Knoxville had to offer expanded greatly during the next two years until I graduated from Tech in 1989 with a degree in civil engineering.

Degree in hand, and knowing that my girlfriend/fiancée had to stay at UT to complete her degree until 1992, I decided to concentrate my job search in the Knoxville area and landed a job in Oak Ridge, only minutes away from west Knoxville. I moved into an apartment next door to a high school/college friend/fraternity brother and began my twenty-year stay in Knoxville. I married my wife (aka MG) one year later and we moved into a slightly larger apartment.

After she graduated, we decided that we might as well settle in to Knoxville as our home. I had my job, and she found work in west Knoxville, so we moved into our first house for the next four years or so.

I found myself on the road for most of 1995 through 2000, but always with Knoxville as my home base. Since her career was in Knoxville, MG stayed home while I was wandering about the wilds of northern New York, northern Maine, and northern Alabama (you know, all of those “northern” places). In 1996 MG sold our house and moved in to house sit for some friends on an assignment in Maine. That same year we bought some land (backing up to another fraternity brother’s property) and started building a new house. I was home for most of the winter that our house was being built, so MG and I were able to put in a bit of the work ourselves including tiling, painting, and installing the dining room hardwood floor. We moved in during the spring of 1997 just before I shipped out again.

I finally finished my stint on the road in late 2000 and got assigned to a project out in Oak Ridge again, so I was able to begin feeling like I actually lived in Knoxville again. This was about the same time that MG made a career change and started being a road warrior in her own right, though she spent more nights at home than I had ever been able to.

Most of the real connections that I have in Knoxville started after 2000. I got back into cycling through a friend at our church, and from there joined a cycling club sponsored by my favorite local bike shop. Many of the people that I feel closest to now have come from branches of one of those two trees; cycling or our church Sunday School class. There are exceptions, of course, including friends from MG’s veterinary career and from the car club we belonged to for many years.

So fast forward now to 2009. MG’s career has progressed as she has moved up through the ranks at her company. We originally thought that the next step for her would be a move to the home office near Philadelphia, PA, but instead she was offered a position that would better allow her to utilize her medical background as well as her other experience with the company. The catch? The position is to cover the Pacific Northwest region of the country. We looked at the region, studied our options, and decided that Seattle, a city we had already visited and liked, would be the location to host the next phase of our lives. We moved into a small rental house in Seattle with about half of our possessions in September.

We had put our house in Knoxville on the market in July. We knew it would be tough to sell a house in the existing market following the economic chaos of the previous two years, and indeed it was. Showings were sporadic, and though feedback from those showings was generally positive, we had no offers since the market was flooded with houses in the same price and size range. We realized that it would take someone coming in and falling in love with the house the same as we did. In December it finally happened.

We went under contract in mid-December and I returned from Seattle in January 2010 to get the remainder of our stuff moved from the house in Knoxville to a storage facility in the Seattle area. Due to a mix-up we were not aware that the closing date had been moved up until just a day or two before my trip, so it turned out that closing was scheduled only hours before my return flight to Seattle.

I spent my week in Knoxville dealing with details concerning the move during the days and trying to get together with friends in the evenings. That worked on Monday through Wednesday, but Thursday didn’t turn out so well. Snow started falling early that day and the movers were not able to finish up by 1:00pm as they had predicted, but rather at 5:00pm. I still had too much to do, what with hauling away excess cardboard boxes and recyclable paper and plastic, to meet with the friends I was scheduled to have dinner with. As it turned out, the chef at the restaurant even called me to say that he might have to close due to the snow. Snow was quickly making the roads very slick and icy.

I’d intended to spend the night at my friend JB’s house, but I found that I couldn’t get the rental car up his driveway. Other friends had previously offered a room for that night, but I quickly narrowed it down to only one place where the roads were flat enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting in and out, so I spent my last evening at K&K’s.

I got up the next morning and decided to head straight to the title company office rather than run any of the last-minute errands I had planned. I got there early for our closing, but they let me go ahead and start signing the paperwork I needed to sign. I left there hoping to have lunch with Wally before I had to be at the airport, but time had slipped too far away from me. Yet another casualty of the snow.

So now I no longer have any ties to Knoxville other than the emotional ones. I do not know that this is the way it will stay, though. For some reason I don’t think Knoxville has seen the last of MG and me. Maybe in 5 or 10 years our paths may turn that way again. Meanwhile we will still visit periodically (my next visit is scheduled for two weekends from now, in fact).

So farewell for now, Knoxville. Farewell, and good luck.

Storm Chasing

2009-11-18T13:33:00.002-05:00

Actually, that title is more about storms chasing me. They haven't caught me yet, but ...

I went out for a ride yesterday afternoon. We are into the rainy season here in the Pacific Northwest, so every day when it isn't raining, or if there's a good clear window of time, the bike's siren call seems to get louder. There have been three days in the last two weeks when I have actually gotten out. Today may end up being another. If this keeps up, I'll have to buy more cold weather gear (or do laundry more often).

So yesterday seemed like an opportune time to go see how far the Burke Gilman trail goes to the west. A quick ride down 15th led me to it, and a turn to the right sent me the direction I wanted to go.

I can see the allure of the trail right now. It skirts along several urban areas, allowing you to ride without having to constantly watch for cars (except where the trail crosses roads). Watching for other cyclists and for pedestrians is another matter, but at least right now there aren't as many out there as during the summer or on a weekend.

The Burke Gilman ended quicker than I expected it to. I knew it would end, but I didn't think I'd gone that far when it did. So I hit some urban streets (with at least some markings for cyclists from time to time) and headed further west through Fremont/Ballard, rather than crossing a bridge toward downtown. I will have to cross one of these days, but yesterday wasn't the day.

Right about at the Chittendam Locks (aka, the Ballard Locks) I picked up trail again and followed it as it curled north along the western shore of northern Seattle, ending up at Golden Gardens Park. From there I had two choices. I could turn around and go back the way I came, or I could climb this heinous-looking hill up the ridge. MG and I had driven on it before, so I knew it would be steep. Looking to the southwest, I noted that the clouds - dark clouds - were starting to mass and move in my direction. Going south would be toward them. I climbed the hill.

Now maybe I'm just used to climbing by now. After all, I usually rode some very steep stuff back in TN. I've also ridden a goodly portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway several times. (Sitting here typing this, it is very hard to reconcile just how far away those places are now.) I kept preparing myself for the climb to be worse than it was. I am out of shape, after all, having not ridden very much this year (I've had other stuff going on, OK?). I also haven't been climbing since I finally went cold-turkey off of the beta-blockers. But it wasn't so bad. That's not to say that it was easy - it wasn't - but it wasn't what I'd mentally prepared myself for. Maybe that was the difference.

I got to the top and realized that the quickest way back to the house was to head due east on 85th. A glance over my shoulder at the clouds motivated me to get going, perhaps a little faster than I meant to. 85th rolls a little as it crosses north Seattle, and I was out of the saddle moving quickly up each uphill section. I crossed several major roads, rode with a lot of traffic (but was able to maintain about the same speed, mostly), and finally turned down Wallingford to get from 85th to 80th. I figured that crossing the bridge over I-5 on 80th would be a little better than doing it over 85th.

After the bridge, a quick right on Banner Way led me to 75th, and then it was only about 4 blocks or so back to the house. I jumped off, headed into the house, stripped off my outer layer and sat in a stupor due to pushing harder than I'd meant to. But I felt justified about five minutes later. When the clouds reached the house.

And then it rained for a while (and I dozed off dreaming of riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway).

'Crossed Up

2009-11-15T22:55:00.003-05:00

I went to see my first Washington State cycling event today. It was the Woodland Park Grand Prix event (First Annual, they say, but I don't think the 'First' denotes 'Annual' until after it has been repeated).

I actually didn't even know about the event until this morning over breakfast. I was eating my breakfast while flipping through the most recent Seattle Weekly independent newspaper when I saw the notice for the race. The first heat was to start at 9:30am, but since I had to have MG at the airport at 9am (closer to 9:10, actually), and it's a 30 minute drive back, I figured I'd miss the start anyway. Of course I only barely missed it, since I have seen very few race events that have actually started on time.

It was a long and winding course. Most of the races I've attended/scored/officiated in Knoxville, TN have been a bit shorter, I think, but maybe not. Maybe it only seemed that way. Now that I think of it, the lap times were fairly similar.

The weather cooperated with the race, which is to say that it was cold and drizzling. That's the way a cyclocross race should be though. A little snow and it would have been perfect.

I hung around near the finish line to watch the last half of the first heat, the second heat, and part of the third. It was a little strange being at a 'cross race where I wasn't either racing or officiating. I'm way out of shape for participating, and I haven't had any local race contacts to do any officiating, though I did talk to a couple of guys today and offered my services in future events if needed.

To be honest, though, I did get to do my small bit to help out. The race announcers were working from on top of a truck near the finish line. At one point during the second heat the wind gusted and blew a couple of their start lists down to the ground below. I walked over and retrieved them for the guys and handed them back up, wet as they were. Not much, but at least I got to do something useful.

... Found

2009-11-08T20:23:00.004-05:00

The keys have been located. I spent a goodly amount of time last night looking high and low before it suddenly occurred to me where I'd stuffed the keys to my bike locks. I'm not going to say where I found them. I may want to use that hiding place again. It obviously worked pretty good this time, eh?

So, with that crisis averted, I found myself with the ability to actually go for a ride this afternoon. I had a few chores and such to finish first, so it was almost 3:30 before I got out there, which limited my ride time. Why? 'Cause it gets dark here early. Like, before 5:00 (actually, sunset was at 4:39 today according to Weather.com). Yeah, I have lights, but I'd rather not have to carry them if I don't have to.

I did have one chore that I waited to do, figuring that I could easily accomplish it by bicycle. Thus, I left the house and headed straight to the Post Office box first thing (1 piece of mail, which is better than wasting my time on none). Having done that, I headed ENE to a spot just north of Lake City where I thought I could pick up the Burke-Gilman Trail according to Google Maps. Google Maps lied. That's my story, anyway, since I refuse to entertain the thought that I could have misread the map, like maybe if I thought it said 137th instead of 157th or something. No way. They lied. I can't back that up, though. They must have corrected it while I was out riding, thus obliterating the truth of it. Yeah.

Well, I found the trail anyway, but not until after I wandered about for a little while (nothing wrong with that, though. Tolkien said "Not all those who wander are lost"). There weren't as many people out on the trail today as there were a few Sundays ago. Maybe the cooler weather kept them in. Or maybe there was a good football game on TV. I don't have TV right now, so I wouldn't know. I do plan on having it before le Tour de France next summer, though. I mean, I'm not crazy or anything. Still, I won't complain about less trail traffic. Maybe I should just become a die-hard winter rider so I can spend the next several months getting back in shape without having to dodge runners, walkers, young families who stretch out across the width of the trail and act indignant if you alert them that you'd actually like to pass their precious like tykes on his and/or her tricycle, ... the list goes on.

I did get home just before sunset, at about 4:35. And then, just as I was carrying my bike up the front stairs and before I could get my keys out and go inside, my cell phone started ringing and I had to stand outside talking for the next 10 minutes until I could hang up and dig my keys out of my carryall. How does she do that? How does she always know when it's a bad time to call? How?!?

Lost and ...

2009-11-07T02:33:00.002-05:00

Hmm, now where did I put those things?

Well, I'm back in Seattle, and it has actually been raining here over the last few days. I know, crazy, huh? It was nice enough on Wednesday after I got back, but I didn't have an opportunity to ride my bike that day. I had to go retrieve my dogs (no pun intended) from the kennel and get the cat from the vet's and grocery shop and ... well, you get the idea. And then it has rained.

It's supposed to be a little nicer than that on Sunday according to the Weather Channel. I'd like to get out there if I can, but I have a little problem right now. What could that be? Well, I can't find my key.

OK, so what does a key have to do with cycling? Everything, when it's the key that goes to the lock that is wrapped around all of my bikes in the basement. Why did I lock them up if they are in the basement? Well, I'd heard of a rash of local break-ins lately, and since we were gone for 12 days, I figured that if someone did break in, I wasn't going to make it easy on them.

Except that now I haven't made it easy on myself, either. I feel certain that wherever I put that key, at the time I thought I would have no problem remembering where I'd left it. Ha! Shows how much I know, huh? Hmph.

So, here's hoping I can find the key to that lock, or at least find the other key that goes to my tool case where my hacksaw is, by the time the rain lets up for a while. Of course, some folks back home think I've got until April.

Man, I sure hope they're wrong.

12 Hours of the Hill of Truth Report

2009-11-01T14:39:00.004-05:00

What a muddy mess it was. And that was just in the Start/Finish area.

The race started at 11 am on Saturday under cloudy skies. It wasn't raining then, but there had been some rain overnight which, combined with all of the rains over the last few weeks, meant that the trails were fairly saturated.

I was in the field where the race started, and just after that I headed out to walk the route backwards. I walked up Saddle trail to the top of the ridge. I noted that it wasn't muddy there, but that the leaf cover on the trail was still intact at that point. It wouldn't take too many tires going by to change that, and reportedly, it didn't.

I stood at the top of Saddle for a long time, waiting for everyone on their first lap to go by. There were a couple of guys out there who were riding one lap on a tandem, so I had to make sure I saw that. I'd planned on getting a lot of photos, but light scattered light rains came along, and MG called me and wanted to talk for about 10 minutes, so I didn't end up getting a whole lot of shots up there. I did see the guys on the tandem, though.

After that, I continued on walking the route in reverse, policing the trail a bit as I went along (straightening out some markings, picking up a front fender, finding someone's race number...). I stopped once in a while to try a shot or two, but it just wasn't working out with the occasional light rain and the poor lighting conditions in the woods (and I don't think it's a good idea to hit racers with a flash in their eyes - unlike at least one other guy I heard about).

I ended up following the course all the way to the top of the Hill of Truth, which was maybe about half of the way around, and then turned and headed back to the Start/Finish area to hang out with everybody instead of wandering around with a camera and not taking very many pictures.

I had originally planned to head back out into the woods to try taking some long-exposure shots to get some light trails from the racer's headlamps, but by the time it got dark enough the rains started up a little harder than before, so I just stayed put. I did end up giving Jay a couple of breaks by taking over the scoring briefly.

The race itself ended up looking a lot like a war of attrition. Several teams ended up dropping out early, even before dark. By the time it had been dark for an hour I would guess that only half of the racers were still going. It had to be miserable out there. It was wet, it was muddy, and it was getting colder. Sometime around 9:30 or 10 pm the clouds parted and the moon came out. The bad thing was that the clouds had helped keep the temperature from dropping very fast. So it got cold quickly then, though I was at least prepared for that.

I saw riders come in with so much mud you couldn't tell what color their clothes or bikes were supposed to be. One guy came in with mud, grass and leaves trailing from his rear derailleur almost touching the ground. As people started leaving across the evening the camp area around the Start/Finish began to resemble dark brown peanut butter. Several cars and trucks lost traction and had to be pushed out. I saw ruts about 8" deep out there. I was happy that I had parked over in a gravel lot further up the road.

The race ends at 11 pm, but that only means that racers aren't allowed to start a new lap after that time. The last rider out had left at about 10:50 pm, so we had to wait until she got back near midnight before giving out the prizes (since the team she was on did place in the top three in their division). I helped with that, then helped break down the PA system, and then left.

I had planned way back in September that I would camp out with everybody else that night, and had left enough gear in my truck in Knoxville to do it. If it hadn't rained so much, I would have. Instead, I headed back to my truck, got out with no problem (and no mud), and went back to the house to sleep in a warm, dry bed.

In 11 years of the 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth, they had never had rain fall during the race before last night. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Let's hope next year the race can be 'in the dry'.

Race Weekend

2009-10-30T21:36:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is the annual 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth mountain bike race at Haw Ridge near Oak Ridge, TN. I have been to all of these races since 2002 except for last year, but I had to miss that one to attend a wedding in Blowing Rock, NC for one of MG's friends. I'm happy to report that it worked out that I could be here for this year's race.

I was going to help John with some course set-up today, but most of that was already done. Where he needed my help was in the splitting out of all the the prizes donated by local bike shops and other sponsors into classification awards. That can be a very tough job, but I won't go into detail. That took us about three hours to get squared-away, at which point we finished up the marking of the start/finish/scoring area and setting aside t-shirts and glasses for the volunteers and sponsors.

Now the question is about the weather. The forecast has been calling for a 50% chance of rain tomorrow. The trail conditions at Haw Ridge are OK right now according to some of the folks who talked to us after they did practise laps today, but any rain will likely turn the trail surfaces into a soupy mire of muddy muck. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Go West, Young Man!

2009-10-29T23:02:00.005-04:00

Well, it's done. The inhabitants of the former Casa de Big Guy have relocated to a new, temporary Casa de Big Guy. How temporary? That is anyone's guess. We are in a rental house in Seattle until our house in Knoxville sells and we can then afford a down-payment on a Seattle home. Anybody want a house in Knoxville? It's a nice house. It really is.

Mrs. Guy and I loaded up most (but not all) of our household items onto a moving truck on September 17th and 18th. Well, to be honest, we stood back and watched as the professional movers came in and did it. We also loaded up a rented minivan with all of the myriad things that we wanted to have with us in our rental house until the movers made it to Seattle. What kind of things? Well, enough clothing to get us through a couple of weeks if needed. An air mattress to sleep on (along with sheets, blanket and pillows), all of our computer gear, other miscellaneous stuff we'd want, my Ritchey Breakaway, and the cat. What? Only one bike? And what about the dogs? Not to worry. I drove the Mini Cooper Clubman with the dogs in the back and a bike and a cargo carrier on the roof. MG drove the van.

Ever since I told people we'd be moving to Seattle they've been going on about all the rain I would have to put up with. Well, that hasn't exactly borne out. It has been really rainy in Knoxville this summer and on up into the fall. It rained on us almost all of the first day of our drive from Knoxville to Kansas City, where we spent the first night. It rained for the first half of our drive from KC to Cheyenne on the second day. It was mostly sunny on the third day from Cheyenne to Boise, and sunny on the fourth (and last) day from Boise to Seattle. Then it stayed mostly sunny for our first three weeks in Seattle, with only a little rain during the fourth week, at which point we flew back to Knoxville for a couple of weeks so MG can have her second round of surgery. Yeah, it's still a little wet here. Go figure, right? Actually, Seattle averages less rain per year than Knoxville. It's just that during most years Knoxville gets the occasional downpour, whereas it rains more often in Seattle, but generally lightly.

So, you're still thinking I only have two bikes in Seattle, right? Wrong. Two of the bikes were boxed for me at the Bike Zoo (my Knoxville LBS) and loaded onto the moving truck. I left the tandem and my SS mountain beast - I mean bike - in Knoxville for now. They'll come in the final move when the house sells and we have a bigger place in Seattle. So I have the Ritchey, the Seven, the road SS, and my geared mountain bike in Seattle, and the other two in Knoxville.

Now then, those of you keeping score at home will remember that I had seven bikes. Well, the key word there is 'had'. I decided it was time for me to part company with the Kestrel. I hadn't been riding it much since I got the Seven, and space was at a premium, so I found it a new home with a friend of a friend. Besides, I could use the money.

Did I mention that I quit my job and don't have one out in Seattle yet? Don't worry, the hiatus was planned. I'll start my job search once MG is recovered from her surgery. Meanwhile I've been working on getting the house in order, getting essential services lined up, and acting as tour guide for MG's little sister when she showed up for a long weekend (she wanted to be our first visitor - I think she'll be first by a large margin).

So that's more or less a synopsis of our last couple of months. Maybe next time I'll actually discuss cycling in Seattle, the Emerald City.

Still here

2009-10-28T11:57:00.001-04:00

I am updating posts today over on my other blog site, Dr. Deb's Surgery

Still Out There

2009-06-29T20:12:00.002-04:00

I'm still out there. Perhaps in more ways than one.

I know I haven't been posting much here (big shock, I know), but I have been posting a lot on the other site listed below about MG's (OK, it's 'Deb' - feel better?) surgery and recovery. Still, once in a while I get a pass to go out on a ride. I've gotten out two or three times during her recovery period, but I won't complain. It's better than none.

On one of my rides I discovered something I didn't already know, though I might have suspected it. Apparently, Hummer H3's are not required to stop at Stop signs in this state (or maybe it's all states?). I take this revelation from empirical observations taken in a Farragut (West Knox County) suburban area. Not one observation, but three, all in the space of twenty minutes and each observation was with a different vehicle (I can only assume it was a different driver). Amazing, huh?

My latest ride was on Saturday with Joshua. We'd planned on a greenway ride, but we modified the plan heavily. The greenway runs through Volunteer Landing (by the water), but Joshua remembered that a wakeboarding competition was going on, so we took a major detour that led us across the river, behind the UT hospital, up a major climb (that reminded the 400 lb gorilla what its raison d'etre is), and behind the old Baptist hospital building (where we could look down at the wakeboarders from a bluff high above). We also ended up taking a big detour on the way back to stop for ice cream at Market Square, but that was only for the social experiment aspect of it. Right.

My bike club is having a major ride on Sunday, which we call our 4th of July ride, even though it will be on the 5th. No, we're not delusional. I got a call from Ron tonight while I was driving home, so at least I know that he and Wally will be there, and I suspect Joshua as well. There are three ride options: 100 miles, 62 miles, and 36 (or so) miles. I think we'll be taking the short ride, but only because we want to get back and help grill hamburgers for everybody else. Right (probably we'll serve best as 'food tasters'). Actually, I figure it's good to ride with those guys because they've all been riding about as much as I have this year (although I think Joshua has been a good bit more).

Stay tuned to this channel later this summer, though. Some people have heard already, but the big news at Casa de Big Guy is an impending move across the country to Seattle, a cycling-friendly city if I ever saw one. I will be posting more about that (especially if I don't have a job right away - MG's job is why we're moving in the first place).

2009-06-17T09:25:00.003-04:00

I'm going to be posting a bit for the next little while, but not here. I'll be over at drdebssx.blogspot.com for now.

(Sigh)

2009-05-16T15:47:00.002-04:00

The gorilla is still there. @&#*%!!!

I did at least talk to the doc about lowering my beta blocker dosage if he wouldn't let me cut it out entirely. He let me win at least that much, so you know what that means.

The gorilla only weighs 400 pounds now.

That's not a bad trick, for a gorilla to lose half of its weight in such a short period like that. I'm sure there's lots of folks out there who'd love to accomplish it. Not me. I wouldn't mind losing 10% to 15% of my body weight, but any more than that would likely be counter-productive.

He's still heavy, though. Oh, yeah. I found that out on my last two rides. One was a greenway ride west of here with Joshua. There's one spot where the trail has a huge dip in it requireing a bit of climbing to power back out of it. There's another spot worse than that. I made it through the first intact, but I walked the last bit of the second one (but then, so did Joshua). I can usually make it up that hill, but the spots in front of my eyes warned me off of the attempt this time. The other ride was a longer venture with several hills. Hey, I live in East Tennessee, so go find me a decent ride without any.

I have an appointment with a specialist coming up. With any luck the gorilla will lose more weight, if not go away entirely (maybe I can lose him in a crowd somewhere).

Interesting how we use animals in so many figues of speech, isn't it? the '800 pound gorilla', the 'monkey on my back', the fact that 'every dog has its day', and the ever popular 'cat let out of the bag'.

Speaking of which, here's a new word for today. "Haemochromatosis." Big word, isn't it? Meow.

Blocking My Beta(s)

2009-04-26T07:41:00.004-04:00

My doctor has slapped an 800 pound gorilla onto my back, and it's especially heavy during climbs. I discovered how heavy yesterday during a ride. He ain't heavy; he's my gorilla.

It was a lovely day yesterday. The forecast had been good for something after all. I texted and called several ride buddies as early as Tuesday, hoping to get a least a couple of others to go on a ride of the closed (read that "long unfinished") section of the Foothills Parkway between Walland and Wears Valley. The Foothills Parkway was envisioned as a scenic roadway skirting the north and western edges of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Congress authorized it in 1944. Construction began in 1960, starting at either end with the intention of meeting in the middle. What we've ended up with is a well-used 17 mile section from Walland to Chilhowie Lake on the western end, and a less used, though open and viable, 5.6 mile section on the eastern end between Interstate 40 and Cosby. Both were completed during the 1960s. Fifty years later, there still isn't commitment to ever complete the entire project.

Still, work has been done in places. The 15.8 mile section from Walland to Wears Valley was mostly completed except for the 1.6 mile "Missing Link" that includes several bridge in various stages of completion. The rest of the planned 71 total miles of the Parkway? Well, we'll see. After all, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Natchez Trace were only completed after several decades of work. Still, the best I think we can hope for now is that it gets completed before the 100-year anniversary of ground-breaking, if it ever gets completed at all.

OK, enough with the history lesson, lets come back the present. Though (obviously) unmaintained from a roadwork perspective (e.g., badly degraded pavement, etc.), the Walland to Wear's Valley section is well used and loved by hikers, equestrians, and cyclist alike. We saw all three yesterday morning. The "we"? Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce my ride buddies du jour, John B. and Joshua. Big call-out to John B., who had a birthday on Friday (and still showed up without a hangover!).

The ride up this section of Parkway starts out steep, so I'd arranged to start a mile or so off to give us at least a five minute warm-up before the climbing starts, but it didn't help much. John and I rode away from Joshua (and his mountain bike) pretty quickly, and then John rode away from me. Soon after that was when the gorilla stared making its presence known.

The gorilla? Beta-blockers, which is a class of drug used for a number of things, including hypertension. I don't think my blood pressure is that bad, but the doc wants to see how I do on Propanalol for a month, so ...

What beta-blockers do, though, is keep your heart rate low. So I can't get my heart-rate up too high. Literally. I don't mean that I'm not supposed to, I mean that I cant. I thought, until yesterday morning, that the limit was higher. After all, I had been on other rides since being on the drug without any issues. Not the case yesterday.

There are two "tops" on the piece of road we were on. As I got close to the first one (at a lovely overlook of the valley and the mountains) I was seeing spots in front of my eyes (maybe gorilla hands?). Joshua caught me and we rode into the overlook so I could take a break. I sat down, and stayed down for a while. Joshua left at one point to go look for where John had gone (after I assured him I'd be fine). My intention was to just rest until I could continue the climb. I soon realized that if I when the rest of the way up, I'd be in the same boat again. Joshua showed up with John B. soon (along with another guy John had met out on the road) and discussed my options. Continuing was pretty much out of the question for me, but I insisted that they go on. After I convinced John (and pointed out that he'd know where to look for me if he got back and my car was still parked next to his). Then I got up and rode back down to Walland.

But you know, I felt so good when I got back down there that I decided to keep riding. I left a note on John's car and took the relatively flat River Road from Walland to Kinsel Springs. That's a road that is heavily used by cyclists. You can't swing a cat (or an 800 pound gorilla) on a Saturday without hitting at least two, so I knew that if I did have problems, somebody would be along quickly.

But I had no problems. The gorilla didn't even move (I think he may have even jumped off at the car thinking I was done). I rode at a good pace the whole way without even getting close to being out of breath. I even felt good for the rest of the day without feeling tired at all.

So hear is the new formula for me and beta-blockers. Climbing for more than 2 minutes = bad. everything else is apparently good. Still, this is East Tennessee, so climbs abound.

I have an appointment with the Doc this Friday. I gotta talk him into taking the gorilla back.

Recommended Daily Allowance of Iron(y)

2009-03-22T13:55:00.006-04:00

Something I didn't mention in yesterday's post (it was already getting long as it was) is something that happened during the ride between Fountain City Peddler and River Sports. We were still on Broadway, which is a four lane road with a turn lane down the middle of quite a lot of it. I was in front of Joshua, Alex, and a couple of other guys who had caught us briefly and riding on the right side of the right lane, right where I was supposed to be. We were approaching the intersection with Woodland, which has a dedicated right turn lane, so I moved over in order to allow traffic behind us to use that turn lane while we waited for the light to turn green. One lady in particular did use the turn lane (which as I believe I said we had moved over so as not to block her), and also took the opportunity to yell at us out of her window something that sounded as she passed by like "muffle muffle muffle get on the sidewalks if muffle muffle muffle..." (I guess people don't always realize that it's hard to hear something shouted from a moving car when you aren't moving next to it at the same speed).

OK, first, I was well within the law by using the road and not the sidewalk. In fact, even the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization recommends that bicycles not use sidewalks (top of page 8) except for the very young due to safety concerns. Second, I would have needed to cross over the right turn lane anyway in order to cross the intersection (since I wasn't turning). But the third thing I have to mention was the ironic part. The lady in question had a bumper sticker on her car that said "Coexist."

Hmm. I somehow think she wasn't really all that sincere about that, was she?

I want to take some space for a call-out or two. First is for Steve, who runs my local bike shop. He was involved in a crash yesterday morning during a group training ride (apparently a chain came off of a bike in front of him and got into his front wheel). I saw him briefly after he got back from getting checked out at the hospital, so at least I know he's going to be OK. Second is for Ben, the boyfriend of one of my sisters-in-law in Charleston, SC. He was hit by a car while riding. He was roughed up pretty badly, with facial lacerations, broken facial bones and clavicle, and I don't know what else, but he was at least able to get mostly clear after the impact. The car that hit him kept going, dragging his bike for 4 blocks. They pulled into a grocery store parking lot, disengaged the bike, and drove off leaving the bike there. I haven't heard enough about the event yet to know if the witness(es) were able to give a clear description to the police, but I sure hope so. The worst thing is that Ben doesn't have health insurance right now. I'm just glad it wasn't any worse than that.

Pokered

2009-03-21T20:59:00.009-04:00

It was a lovely day to go for a ride here in Knoxville, and that fit in just fine with Randy C.'s grand plan. You see, Randy is the president of the Appalachain Mountain Bike Club (AMBC), and today was set aside a while back for their first Poker Run around town. The plan was to meet up at noon at the old Bi-Lo supermarket (now closed, but everyone knows where it is, so we still refer to it for meet-ups). Mrs. Guy is sick today and wanted to sleep the afternoon away, so I got a free pass.

I was expecting somewhere between 30 and 40 people to be there when I pulled in. By my rough guess, the number was closer to 100 people or more. Wow. Big turnout. We milled about waiting for Randy and crew to give their pre-ride talk, so I found John B., Joshua, and several others I knew. Finally Randy got up in a truck bed and went over the rules.

To start, we were to ride down the greenway to Volunteer Landing several miles away behind Joel, who would serve as the pace-rider that no-one was to pass. This was pretty smart, because if you release 100 riders to go racing off to one spot in an uncontrolled fashion, carnage will likely ensue, and I'm not partial to carnage at this point in my life. At Volunteer Landing we would receive a 'spoke card' (which nobody actually stuck in their spokes) that we'd have to present at each check point before getting a playing card. The checkpoints? All of them were local bike shops. Seven in all (I know of two that chose not to participate). No preset order, no prize for finishing first. Just ride to as many as you can because you'd get an extra card for going to all seven. At the end we would see what the best five card poker hand we could make would be to determine the placings.

I took off near the middle of the group of folks headed out. I ended up nowhere near anyone I knew personally, but at an event like this if you know twenty out of a hundred, that just means you have eighty freinds out there you just haven't met yet. Actually, Abby and Derek did catch up to me close to our arrival at Volunteer Landing. To our surprise, they also gave us a playing card at to go along with our spoke cards. There were other surprises later on.

I got a 10 of Spades. Josh showed up soon after and got an Ace. . John came in soon after. We talked about routing from there, with Josh and I deciding to head to Tennessee Valley Bikes (TVB), and John deciding to head on out to Fountain City Peddler (FCP) after a bathroom break. Josh and I left, headed through downtown, and got seperated when he took a turn with a larger group after I'd gone straight at one intersection. As cosmic validation, I did get to TVB first, so my route plan proved correct.

At TVB we were surprised to find we'd have to do a stunt to earn our card. The stunt was to ride a (very) tiny bike down the sidewalk to a manhole and back. It looked really funny, but wasn't all that easy. Plus, they only had one tiny bike, so it took a while to wait through the line (I think a large percentage of riders went there first). I got my card while waiting for Josh (I got a 9 of Diamonds) and talked to Eric O. (who offered a beer, but I turned it down). I forgot what Josh got, but it was a face card.

We left TVB and headed out Broadway toward FCP. I'd never been there, so I was happy that we hooked up with a group containing someone who had. Still, after riding a little over 3 miles out there, Alex (a young guy I only met today) and I rode right past it (it's very hard to see - I was even looking for it). Josh called us back, and happily they didn't make us do any weird stuff to get a card, which for me was a 2 of diamonds. Josh got another face card. .

Josh, Alex and I ended up together on the return down Broadway back into town. Alex asked if we minded if he rode with us (of course not!), and I got the impression he didn't know his way around the hinterlands of Knoxville. That was when he and Josh put their safety in my hands and let me lead the way to River Sports Outfitters (RSO). I knew a shortcut. I didn't tell them it went through a particularly rough-looking part of town, but I've ridden there alone before without problems, so I knew three of us would be fine. A little over six miles later we pulled up safely at RSO.

The stunt here looked interesting, but I had to beg for a medical exemption. Given my problems with fractured and patched up collarbones, I didn't think my doctor (or wife) would approve of my taking a turn on a climbing wall. I showed the volunteer there my scar and hardware, promised to stay with Josh the whole time and not skip out early, and generally be a good boy, so she went ahead and gave me a card (Ace of Hearts). The line was long again, but at least they had three climbing sections open. I watched several people tackle the wall. Angie did well. Tanya did great. Others I knew, not so great. When it was Josh's turn I jokingly told him I was giving him 30 seconds and no more. I needn't have bothered. To my surprise he practically flew up the wall. It took him longer to get the harness unkooked than it did to climb. Wow. He's been holding out on the skillz, I think. He got another face card. Hmm.

We'd lost Alex in the crowd, so we headed on to Bike Zoo. The stunt there was to sing the "I'm a little tea-pot" song out on the front sidewalk. I jumped right in first off. It's not really embarrassing when everybody else around you has to do it too. My card was the Jack of Diamonds.

We left there and headed over to Harper's Bike Shop, where the stunts were more heinous. They had five set up, of which we had to do two. Forget the two involving jumping on a BMX bike. I did the log pull (a railroad tie attached by chain to the back of a bike they had) and the 'dizzy' course on my own bike. The log pull was a lot tougher. I got the 4 of Diamonds. Hmm. Maybe I had a chance after all?

Josh and I left and took a southerly route to Cedar Bluff Cycles (CBC) over Nubbin Ridge road. I wanted to stay on Westland (shorter, flatter), but Josh insisted there'd be less traffic on Nubbin Ridge. Well, that may have been true, but as I sit here now hours later my knee still says it was a bad idea due to the more-intense-than-I'm-ready-for climbs. After eight or so miles, we finally caught up with Alex at CBC.

The stunt at CBC was to ride a kid's bike (not as small as the one at TVB) all the way around the strip mall building (a LOT farther than at TVB). My knees already hurt. This was adding insult to injury. My knees were hitting the handlebars, so I had to ride with them both sticking way out to the side. Not comfortable. But my card? Queen of Diamonds, and that spells Flush, baby. There was one more bike shop on the list, but it was way further out in the wrong direction, and I didn't really see how even getting two more cards (one at the shop and one for hitting all seven) would help my hand enough to be worth adding an extra 10 miles (if we were stupid and rode straight down Kingston Pike - more like 16 or 17 to do it safely) to our ride. This was already going to be my long ride for the year, I thought. Josh agreed, so with Alex back with us we headed for the greenway entrance over by Lowe's Home Center.

Again Josh got seperated, but he won this time when Alex and I Got caught up at a traffic light. We hit the greenway and headed back toward the Bi-Lo. I was happy to find that the section of greenway behind the Wal-Mart/Sams Club had been finished so I wouldn't have to ride through their parking lot on a Saturday afternoon. We took the greenway all the way to where it ends, which is where we saw John, Dianne, Cathy, and some other guy headed the other way toward CBC (they had no plan to go further west than that either.) John was nice enough to tell us the quickest way back to Bi-Lo from there.

As we finally approached the Bi-Lo, Alex said he still needed to go to Bike Zoo (which explains how he'd gotten ahead of us to CBC). Bike Zoo is really close to Bi-Lo, though, so I knew he'd be back soon. Josh and I rode in to discover that there wasn't really any activity going on other than sitting around at El Mezcal, a Mexican restaurant which is in the same strip building where Bi-Lo was. Josh got a beer. I got a Diet Coke. Then we went out and sat around meeting several of the friends we didn't know yet. This was about 4:30. Fifteen minutes later I ordered a burrito and rice since I was famished (not surprising since I'd had no lunch before riding a total of 39 miles).

They finally got around to determining prizes at about 5:15, by which time I was shivering since the temp was dropping, the wind was picking up, and the clouds had moved in front of the Sun. I felt good about my flush, though, since I knew places went about ten deep. Little did I know.

Apparently there was a lot of horse-trading going on out there. I'd seen a few people trading cards around at CBC, but didn't think much of it since even their hand improvements were not better than my flush. However, when about 9 people held up their hands with a 4-of-a-kind, I knew there was something more widespread going on. Since there had already been a straight flush (Hmmm), I knew my flush was useless. At one point I figured I could give my 4 of Diamonds to John to give him a fourth 4 (and tenth place), but he declined. Good for him.

All in all, a great day for a great ride. I think a lot of people were headed over to Union Jack's bar afterward, but I didn't have a change of clothes and figured I really needed to get out of my cycling gear and into a shower. After twenty minutes under the spray of hot water in my shower back home, I knew I'd been right.

Struck in the Moonlight

2009-03-15T13:11:00.013-04:00

One of my very first blog posts (way back in the old MicroSoft blog days) was about a full-moon ride I went on with some friends that went up and over Rich Mountain Road into Cades Cove (in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in case you didn't know). On Tuesday night we did something similar, but with a little bit of modification. Instead on entering Cades Cove via Rich Mountain Road, we rode in on the main access road and then went over Rich Mountain Road to go back out. That ends up making it a 28 to 29 mile loop (that can be extended if desired).

Wednesday was a work day for me (meaning I had to be up before 5 am), but the ride was scheduled to start at 7 pm (while it was still daylight), so I figured I might actually get home between 10 and 10:30 pm. I discuss what time I actually got home a little later.

I amazed almost everyone by actually showing up a little early for the ride. That even amazed me, really. I don't get off of work until 5 pm, which usually means I get to my car at about 10 or 15 after 5 pm. Then it's a 30 to 40 minute drive home, I have to walk and feed the dogs, give the cat her medication and put down food and water for her, change into cycling gear, gather my stuff, and then drive 45 minutes or more (depending on traffic) to Townsend where the ride starts. I must have somehow bent the laws of time and space (without bending the laws of traffic), because I got to Townsend at 6:55 pm. Prepping my stuff the night before helped a lot.

The one usually getting on my back for being late is Wally. Who do you think was late by 5 minutes? Wally. Think I got some payback in?

Nine cyclists hit the road at 7:15 pm or so and rode through Townsend on the greenway next to Hwy 73 toward the Park. After the greenway ends Hwy 73 comes to a tee where it goes off to the left toward Gatlinburg and Cades Cove Road goes right. Turning right, we got into the gradual climb that takes you most of the way to Cades Cove (there's a short downhill section just before you get to Cades Cove).

I was not in the front on the climb.

Nor was I in the back.

Actually, I was able to mostly stay with Jen, as we would pass each other back and forth as the grade would gradually change. We did that all the way up to the top of the climb where the group waited to get back together. Joshua was last up the hill, which wasn't surprising since he was climbing on a mountain bike with mountain bike tires (at 45 psi) and no way to lock out the rear suspension. The cyclists among you will realize that makes for a more difficult climb.

Now, up until this point I had no need for my new, not-cheap, helmet-mounted lighting system, though the daylight had been slowly fading as we climbed up the road. I had turned on my rear flasher light long before (as we left the greenway and got on the tarmac), but I had just enough daylight to get me to the meet-point. Barely. It got dark awfully fast after I stopped. Then, a few minutes later while we waiting for Josh, the moon started to come out.

I realize that folks love a good sunrise. I know that folks love a good sunset. But sometimes there is nothing like a moonrise on a lovely dark night up in the mountains far away from city lights. Gary got some pictures, though I haven't seen any of them yet, but it was wonderful. I would guess this was sometime in the 8 to 8:30 pm range.

One problem with doing a ride like this on a weeknight is that the ride has to start early in the evening and the moon never really gets very far overhead. I've been on rides around Cades Cove when I almost never had to have a light on at all except in the midst of thick tree cover. This wasn't the case the other night.

We left the pull-out where we'd stopped, climbed up the road for a few hundred yards, and then started the descent into Cades Cove. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to turn my light on correctly (this was the first time I'd used it), but I did get it on and I was very happy with how bright it was, even at the setting two down from the brightest. We crossed the parking area, rode around the bar gate stopping traffic from entering Cades Cove at night (except for cyclists and hikers, of course), and proceeded along the loop road until we got to the old Missionary Baptist Church, which is where the turn-off to Rich Mountain Road departs to the right.

We stood there and talked for a while, allowing all who needed it to find a proper spot for a nature break, when I looked at my watch and announced that I didn't care if everyone else decided to continue around the loop further and then back and over Rich Mountain Road, but I was going straight out. Joshua decided to head out as well, but everyone else went on around the loop.

Rich Mountain Road starts off with a consistent climb out of Cades Cove that stretches on for a while. I would guess that it is a 3 1/2 mile climb to the top of the ridge, and it is on gravel road.

Let's talk bike selection for a moment. Normally I would ride a mountain bike on Rich Mountain Road just because the tires are so much better for traction. I would also lock out my rear suspension (which Joshua couldn't do) to save energy - you waste a lot climbing and the bike always feels "mushy". However, we did a lot of riding on pavement. Most of it, actually. On pavement I would want my road bike which has no suspension (it doesn't need it) and tires that run at higher pressure for greater efficiency. So, what to ride? Well, there is a middle ground. Most of us were on cyclocross bikes, which typically have sturdier frames and slightly wider tires than a road bike. I rode my 'Three Week Bike'. I still had one issue, though. I was running my tires at fairly high pressure. I figured I would want that for the climbing and road riding and that I could deal with it for the gravel (which is typically hard-packed) road.

Climbing up was not fun. The road surface was not as solid as I'd remembered, though I had only ridden it on mountain bike tires at lower pressures, so maybe it had been like that all along. Still, I slogged along as best I could and maintained a minimum ridable pace (so I didn't ride off too far from Joshua and abandon him). About half-way up the climb is when it happened. I got hit in the face by a bat. No, not a baseball bat.

Ironically, we'd all been talking about usual wildlife sightings earlier, but until then I hadn't seen any. I couldn't miss this one really. It was up close and personal. I heard the "thwack" on the front of my helmet and suddenly there was this soft floppy thing covering up a goodly portion of my face. Before I really had a chance to react, it fell away and then flapped off into the night air. My question is; what's this echo-location thing I keep hearing about and does it actually ever work? Honestly, I would bet that it was as surprised as I was when it hit me. I think I understand the old "Blind as a ..." thing now.

I waited for Joshua at one point on the climb, and then waited again at the top. He wasn't the one I saw at the top, though. Gary and Philippe came riding up after having cruised around the loop a-ways. They hadn't had any bats to the face, though. I asked if they cared if I took off and left Joshua to them, and then headed down the descent back toward the car and the rest of bat-free civilization (relatively speaking). But I was having a couple of problems.

First, and most importantly, my headlight was starting to flash red intermittently. This is a design feature intended to let me know that it's not going to be long before the battery gives out. I found this surprising, since I hadn't been using it at full power and I thought I was supposed to have a longer charge capacity. I was informed later that the battery needs to cycled (charged/discharged) a few times before it gained full capacity. Wish I'd know before. The other problem I had was the lack of front suspension on the descent. The road is a bit rough. I had the headlight turned low to conserve power. I didn't see quite all of the larger bumps and ruts. Basically, I was getting beaten up. I started riding with the brakes on full time, but I was getting more concerned about overheating my tires/rims and about my already fading battery reserve.

Happily, Jay and Jen caught up with me about half-way down the mountain. I was able to shut my light off for a while and see by Jay's, which made me feel a lot better. That lasted maybe five minutes until we got to the park boundary and they decided to wait a while for more of the group. I didn't have the time to wait, so I flicked my light back on and headed down the road, which was at least paved the rest of the way.

But paved doesn't mean smooth. I swear it was almost as rough as the gravel road I'd just left.

Jay and Jen didn't wait long at the boundary, either to catch me or because they could see more people coming down the gravel. Jay caught me for a while, but fell back at the last few miles and I finished on my own. Those two were less than a minute back, though, and got to the cars just as I was opening my rear hatch. I expected the rest to come swinging in at any moment, but I didn't see anyone else before I left. This was at 10:25 pm. And I had a 45+ minute drive home to make. Think I got home between 10 and 10:30 pm?

I got about half-way home before my phone rang. It was Wally, asking if I had Joshua's phone number. I told him I did, but it was programmed into my phone and I couldn't really get it. So instead he had me call Joshua and tell him to turn around and go back to the Huddle House. Apparently they had discussed going to the Waffle House, but made a change in plans on the fly, but Joshua had missed seeing it happen. He missed my call, too, so I left him a message to let him know that he was going to be awfully lonely when he got to the Waffle House and noticed he had a message.

So I finally got home at 11:20 pm or so after stopping for a quick snack at a mini-mart along the way home. I think I was in bed by midnight. Was I dragging the next day? Guess.

3 Weeks

2009-03-15T13:11:00.001-04:00

I lied. It's been four weeks.

Sorry.

Three Weeks

2009-02-16T20:26:00.005-05:00

OK, it seems that last time I might have mentioned that I got a new bicycle in 2008. That was a true and factual statement. I really like the bike, but some of the joy of a new bike was ... well ... hmm. How to explain.

To say that the whole buying experience was a disappointment would be a gross understatement. With that preface, I now present the story of what I call my 'three week bike', a true tale of consumer woe.

I have long wanted a travel bike. That is to say, I wanted a bike that I could easily break down and pack into a reasonably-sized case and take on an airplane to some far-off destination that might promise some pleasant riding. Now, I didn't really want to increase the size of the stable here at Casa de Big Guy, so I had to choose which bike to replace. My cyclocross bike didn't see a whole lot of use outside of 'cross season (and not much then, truth be told), so I ultimately decided that I could replace it with a bike that could serve a touring purpose yet still be called upon in a rare 'cross emergency (yeah, I can't really think of one either, but that isn't the point). So the LeMond Poprad would go to make room for the new bike.

The big decision then was what to get as that new bike. I thought about an Independent Fabrication or a Seven (steel frame), but the price tag on either was a bit high (and this was before the major financial meltdown). I eventually settled on a bike that had a good reputation among several people I know, and that was a ... hmm. Maybe I'd prefer not to say exactly what bike I went with for various reasons. Maybe I'll leave a hint or two as I go along.

So, around about July 21st (remember that date, it's important later), Steve down at my friendly LBS place an order for my new bike that comes apart like a field in that old movie about a stone cutter's son who wanted to race against the Italians .. or something. Was that a hint? I can't tell.

After Steve called in the order he called me to let me know that since they were changing over frame colors, there would be a three week delay. OK, I guess I can wait that long. I'd like it sooner, but OK.

Three weeks passed.

I called Steve to ask if he'd heard anything (this was actually about a month after the order was placed). He called them and called me back. There was some unspecified problem with the paint on the frames. It was going to be another three weeks.

Three weeks passed.

I called Steve. He called the company that reminds me of that Cunningham kid on Happy Days. (Another hint? I dunno.) More problems with the factory in ... I forget .. somewhere in Asia. It would be another three weeks.

Three weeks passed.

I called Steve. I discussed with him some of the names I was thinking of calling those guys (the names got worse as time went on). He called them. Some issue or another. Another three weeks.
By this time I was thinking I'd made a real mistake not sucking it up and buying the Independent, but by then it was October and the financial turmoil was in full boil.

Three weeks passed.

November came and my cycling really took a back seat once it started getting cold and dark befroe I got home from work. Still, hope (no matter how foolish) springs eternal. I called Steve. Steve called them. Steve called me back. Yet another inexplicable excuse. Yet another _____ weeks (I thought it might be fun to let you, the reader, fill in the blank).

Around Thanksgiving they said things were really happening with the bike/paint/asian factory/whatever. But not for another two (TWO!!!) weeks.

So of course it took three more weeks before my new bike finally arrived at my LBS during the week of December 8th. I had most of the components switched over from the Lemond and went on vacation ... without my bike. I didn't think Jamaica was the best spot for a maiden voyage, and besides, the bike build-up wasn't quite ready before we left anyway. So my first real ride (other than around the parking lot or up and down my street) came on Christmas Day when I joined John B. and several others for the traditional downtown parking garage races. My second ride was on New Year's Day in the same parking garages.

Now, you might think (I certainly did) that a company who promises a bike in three weeks and actually delivers it in about five months - for WHATEVER reason - might want to do something for the customer who stuck with their order. I'm not talking about a free fork or anything (though this company makes them). I'm not even expecting a free logo jersey or anything. But maybe a card with a "Sorry it took so long" or a "Thanks for waiting, we appreciate your business" or SOMETHING. Nope. Just a bill for the bike.

So now, everytime I look at my new bike, instead of getting excited about going for a ride, I think about just how long three weeks can sometimes turn out to be and how exceedingly poor the vendor's customer service is, at least in my experience. The 'new bike' thrill was gone before I even got it. Think I'll ever buy anything of theirs again? Nope. Think I'll ever recommend anything of theirs? Nope. Think I'll tell this tale in greater detail than this if anyone ever asks me about their products? Oh, yeah. And I will be entirely honest - brutally honest in fact.

Oh, and if you're wondering when I'll post again, three weeks.

Prarie Dogging

2009-02-14T12:03:00.002-05:00

Wow. I just realized how long it has been since I stopped blogging regularly. Right around 1-1/3 years. Wow.

Well, a lot has happened since then. Happily I have no further major injuries to report, so I haven't had to bother my surgeon recently. But I've been doing other things.

My riding has suffered a bit over the last year. I'd set a goal of 2,000 miles ridden during 2008 and then failed to meet it. Work has been a big part of it. We've been working a scheduled 50 hours each week, so by the time I get home I'm usually tired. We only backed down to 40 hours/week again in January, so maybe going forward I'll do more. Other factors have been travel, weather, just plain life in general. Also, Mrs. Guy has been commuting to Philly each week, so my weekends have been more committed to her.

But I have remained somewhat active in cycling. Last January I became an entry-level USACycling Official. Now ever time my bike club or my friend John sponsor a race, I'm there helping to run and score the race. I was already doing a lot of that for John, but now it's official and he doesn't have to hire someone to come in and oversee it all. I think I've officiated in some capacity at 13 or 14 races since then (with two more coming next weekend). I volunteer my time for John and the bike club, so I've only gotten paid for doing one race, but I'm not really doing it for money anyway.

I also got a new bike last year, but that's the subject of another post for later. When, you might ask? Well, soon, I hope. Soon.

I hope.

If you think you "get" the title of this post, comment and I'll tell you if you are correct or not.

Return of the...

2007-10-25T17:42:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally did it. I actually did what my blog title says and I became the Big Guy ON a Bicycle again, instead of just the Big Guy WITH a (several, actually) bicycle(s).

My parents came through town on Friday evening. They got in at about 5:00 or so, and we all went to dinner and then just had a nice visit back at the house. They left for their condo time-share week in western NC fairly early on Saturday morning.

My sister came in on Saturday evening. She’d really come to town earlier in the day, but was attending a wedding and only came over after the festivities were over. She stayed the night because she didn’t feel like driving back to Georgia that evening.

So, between the time that my parents left and my sister showed up, we had most of Saturday to do whatever we needed to do. This included minor errands such as grocery shopping and the like, but it also included my escorting Mrs. Guy to see her new personal trainer. It was her fourth visit, and she’s thinking I might want to start using him too.

But that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. I don’t think I’m ready to do a lot of the exercises that even MG was doing. I had tried to go jogging one night last week, but I barely got 20 paces in before I decided that the noise/feeling coming from my shoulder, while not necessarily painful, was not a good thing and that maybe I’d better lay off of it for another few weeks. Where does that leave me? Well, I get in a lot of walking at work, but that’s just not doing it. The Big Guy is just getting bigger.

But then, on Saturday afternoon, came the perfect moment to reintegrate the bicycle into my life. The weather was good (just a little breezy) and the sun was shining. MG was even encouraging me to get out there (which is rare – she usually complains that I spend too much time riding).

I left the house at around 4:00pm planning to ride for about 15 to 17 miles. That was before I realized that my cyclometer wasn’t working. Come to think of it, it wasn’t working well on the last day of the Blue Ridge Parkway trip back in August, which I guess was the last time I rode. So instead of paying attention to how much distance I was accumulating, I just rode.

It was a good ride. I just went on a looping course not too far from my house. My legs were OK, and the lungs were fine. Only my butt complained a little, but it has been a couple of months since I rode last. My only difficulty came on Rather Road with a dog I’ve had experience with before. I thought I’d be fine passing him since he had just started to…do his business…right as I was approaching. Every other time I’ve seen a dog in the process of … doing their business … they have remained committed to the act and not given chase. I suppose there’s an exception to every rule. This dog just jumped right after me as soon as it noticed me. I was going to try the ‘Gatorade-up-the-nose’ trick, but he seems to have remembered that one from before. I ended up slowing down a bunch and letting him run back and forth behind me (while I kept the bottle aimed) and then punching into a sprint that he couldn’t react to. Dumb dog.

I figured out later that I rode about 15 miles (using Gmap-pedometer). Not bad, but very much shorter than my typical ride. Maybe I can get back out on Sunday. Saturday is out, since I’ll be doing photography at the annual local 12 hour race during daylight hours, and then will take over scorekeeping after dark. Maybe I’ll plan on a 20 miler on Sunday.

Right after I replace my cyclometer.

The Lesson

2007-10-17T19:17:00.001-04:00

This morning, when I stopped at a mini-mart on my way to work for my morning dose of caffeine, I stood in line behind a man who was trying to ask the clerk for something.

“Gimme a pack of Doornail* Lite 100’s,” the man rasped quietly.

“What?” asked the clerk. “I couldn’t hear you.”

“Doornail Lites. A pack of 100’s,” the man rasped again, barely audible over the hum of the fluorescent light fixtures overhead.

“Doornail 100’s?” asked the clerk.

“Lites. Doornail Lites,” he choked out again.

“Huh?” said the clerk.

“Lites! Doornail Lite 100’s!” he hissed, agitated, though barely louder than before.

“Doornail Lite 100’s?” the clerk asked.

The man simply nodded his head and the clerk retrieved a pack of cigarettes from one of the racks behind the counter. The man paid and left quickly, and already had one lit by the time he got into his car.

I put my liquid breakfast on the counter and pulled out my wallet. “Hard to hear that guy,” I said.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I knew what he wanted, but I refuse to make it easy on him. He’s already destroyed his voice with those things, so who knows how long before he’s dead of cancer. The damage has been done, but I guess the lesson was never learned.”

“That’s non-fat creamer in there, right?” he asked.

“You bet.”

I think I like this guy. He’s alright.

*Not the actual brand name, but close enough.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

2007-10-16T00:09:00.000-04:00

I went to do MG a favor today. She had to leave town this morning, and I had an early afternoon doctor’s appointment, so I had time. What did I do? I closed an old savings account that she had at a local credit union (not the credit union we use for most of our banking). It’s one we haven’t used for a while, and they’ve started charging us an “inactive account” fee of $1 per month.

It seemed easy enough to do. The credit union was only a mile or so from the doctor’s office, so I just headed over there after I got done. I walked in and said to the teller, “Hi, I’d like to close an account.”

You’d have thought I’d said that I was thinking about cutting off one of my legs or something. She didn’t seem to take it very well and was filled with concern, possibly thinking me mentally unbalanced or something slightly worse.

Teller (with great concern etched on her face): Oh, sir, are you sure you really want to do that?
Big Guy: Um, yes, I really do.
T (with steadily increasing concern): Is there some sort of problem?
BG: Well, no. Not really. It’s just that we haven’t actively used that account for a while and we’re getting charged for that now.
T: But what will you do for a savings account if you close this one?
BG: Well, I actually have our main accounts at another place in Oak Ridge. It’s a lot more convenient for me there.
T: But don’t you feel that you need to have this account as well?
BG: Uh, no, not really. My wife only had this account as a place to keep money from her home side business when she still had one. But that was a while ago, and it really isn’t that convenient for us to have this account here anymore.
[Conversation carries on for a little bit longer, with the Big Guy afraid that she is considering an intervention of some sort, until she finally relents…somewhat.]
T: OK, well, I guess that’s it then. You’ll have to write and bring in a letter to the credit union stating that you want the account closed, and it will of course have to be signed and dated.
BG: Do you have a blank piece of paper I could use?

[Big Guy writing quickly]Dear Credit Union, Please allow me to close my account as of October 15, 2007. Thank you, …

BG: Um, do you have a small knife I could use?
T: Excuse me?
BG: Well, you do want this signed in blood, right?

*OK, I will admit that I did not actually have that last little exchangewith her, but I sure did imagine it.*

BG (handing over hastily scrawled and barely legible letter): OK, here’s my letter.
T (with a slight scowl): Oh. OK. Let me take this back to the manager so she can check for any outstanding loans or credit card balances.
BG: I can assure you that there aren’t any, but I understand that you have to do it anyway.
T: This will just take a minute.
[BG checks his watch, as he always does when someone says “This will just take a minute”…]

[Time passes. People back in the office area scurry around regarding my ‘letter’ and other paperwork.]

[More time passes. More people scurry.]

[Just under 15 minutes have gone by when…]
T: OK. The manager has gone over everything and your account is now closed. Thank you for your past business and remember to keep us in mind if you need any banking services in the future.

[Big Guy stands there for a moment looking at her.]

[Teller looks back at Big Guy.]

BG: Um, aren’t you forgetting…
T: Oh! I guess you want your money, huh?
BG: Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea.

[Teller counts out money and hands it to the Big Guy.]

T: OK, thanks again for your business, and remember…
BG: Right, if I need any…
[Big Guy allows door to close behind him, cutting off any further exchange.]

All this hassle and time over a lousy $39.63?

Official

2007-10-14T21:59:00.000-04:00

OK, it’s now official. Actually, it became official a few months ago, but I’m only just now reporting about it. I suppose that it was only a matter of time really. I could see the signs that it might be coming, but I just didn’t completely connect the dots for a while. But now it’s happened.

My parents have become senior citizens.

Oh, now I’m not talking about mere age categorizations here, or an acquired attitude toward ‘young whipper-snappers’ or anything like that. And they aren’t the type of people who are willing to sit around waiting for each tick of the clock to go by. They travel a good bit. They spend a lot of time with family (more on that in a bit). Dad plays tennis frequently, by which I mean it’s normal for him to play at least once a week even on travel unless circumstances don’t allow it. That’s not bad for a man who’s been around for almost ¾ of a century.

I don’t even mean that it’s because that they are retirees (if MG would let me, I’d retire!). Dad’s retired from several jobs already. Mom and Dad are still known for their recent volunteer work at the hospital back in Kingsport, so I guess that would be something they could retire from as well. I don’t mean that they dress in funny ‘old person’ clothes (you know what I mean, so don’t pretend that you don’t). I don’t mean that they babble on about ‘the old days’ (e.g., blah blah blah, walked uphill to school both ways, blah blah blah). I don’t mean that they’ve joined the Grey Panthers (they haven’t – and won’t be likely to, either).

No, I’m talking about the one sure sign. The one immutable indicator. The one thing that defines and characterizes the culture of senior citizens in this country.

Yes, it’s true. They’ve moved to Florida. Yes, yes, I know (I heard you gasp).

They actually ended up moving into a house in Pensacola that’s only a stones throw from my brother’s house (and no, I don’t think anyone is actually throwing stones about down there). I guess that they could say they only wanted to be closer to their grandchildren, and since MG and I have failed to provide them any that aren’t of the canine or feline persuasion, then south toward my brother’s kids was the only direction left to go.

Still, that could have been mere coincidence that my brother just happened to live there. Maybe they would have heard the siren call and made the migration regardless of that factor. Who can say for certain?

Still, it has happened, and I guess I’m OK with it. At least they aren’t out wandering up and down the beach waving metal detectors back and forth all day and mumbling about how milk used to cost a nickel per gallon. At least I don’t think they are. Could they be? … OK, I have to go call my brother and check on some things now…
______________________________________________________

MG and I went to see Nickel Creek on their ‘Farewell (For Now) Tour 2007’ on Thursday night. Great show. You should travel great distances to a city where they will be playing. And who knew they’d be covering a Britney Spears song? (Sounds better that the original version, but I’m not exactly a fan of Ms. Spears anyway).

London Calling

2007-10-13T10:15:00.000-04:00

Ah, London. My favorite big city. I can’t believe I just said ‘big city’ like that. The term ‘big city’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. OK, it’s my favorite huge metropolis. Or at least my favorite national capitol.

And how many other nations’ capitols have I been to? A few, actually. Washington DC, of course (pretty sad if I didn’t have that one). Let’s see now. In no particular order, I’ve been to Ottowa, Sofia, Amsterdam, Vaduz, Dublin, Edinburgh, Vienna, and (I think) Bonn. Can anybody name all of those countries? No more trivia quiz stuff, so just answer in the comments field.

Anyway, London. We hadn’t really planned on going. We’d been discussing a domestic vacation trip this summer. Then, one day, MG said “Hey, I wonder if we could get to London so you could see the Tour?”

She does love me.

After a little research, we decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea, so the plan took shape quickly after that. We left on the 4th of July so we could take full advantage of holidays to minimize vacation days taken. Of course, leaving on the 4th means getting there on the 5th, but at least it’s early when you get there (all jet lagged and everything).

The Tour events really started on Friday evening with the team presentations in Trafalgar Square. I honestly am not sure that I’ve ever seen that many people all packed into one space that wasn’t a major stadium. The crowd was huge. HUGE!!! After the team presentation I saw Didi Senft (AKA "the Devil") walking along the east edge of St. James park near the team compound. I wanted to get a photo of him dressed up in full regalia, but he was trying to get away from the following crowds and I guess didn't want to stop long enough to pose for a shot. I tried to get a shot anyway as he moved along, and he did at least smile in my direction, but the light was failing and it turned out badly blurred. When I turned around to go I almost fell over one of the Astana riders. He was trying for a photo of Didi also and had walked up behind me without me hearing him. At least he would have a few more chances for a photo over the next few weeks.

The crowds were huge the next day as well for the Prologue TimeTrial, though it was spread out over the whole of the course, which stared near Trafalgar, came past Buckingham Palace, through Hyde Park, back past Buckingham, and finished up headed back over toward Trafalgar again. I was lucky that our hotel was right on the route near the exit from Hyde Park, so I just walked out after a late breakfast, staked out as decent a spot as I could for photos, and just hung out as the crowds started packing in. The nice thing about a Time Trial is that you get to see every rider go by at around one minute intervals. On the other hand, with 198 riders it takes three hours and 18 minutes for all of them to pass by. MG made my day by bringing me back some food at one point (and then went and got some for several of my new comrades packed in around me).

The other side of the coin from a Time Trial is a regular road stage where, especially at the beginning, the peloton is all together and has come and gone so fast you barely have time to register it all. That’s why I like mountain stages, which tend to break the peloton into smaller groups, but England didn’t have any mountain stages. I still had a great time.

OK, that was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We were there from Thursday until we left Wednesday morning. So what else did we do? Oh, rest assured that MG got her due by having that time all planned out. We saw two plays (Avenue Q and Wicked), went to a few museums, ate a lot of incredibly good food, did a good bit of shopping, and walked through a good bit of London’s park system acreage. So yeah, we both got to have a really good time.

But I got to see the TOUR!!! WOO HOO!!!!

Windy Stone

2007-10-10T20:35:00.000-04:00

Well, it took me a little longer than I’d thought it would to get back to this. Yes, we went away for the weekend. I’ve been fairly busy since we got back. It was a matter of timing, ultimately.

We went back up to Blowing Rock, NC for our weekend trip. We tend to go there for two or three weekends each year. I guess you could say that we like the area. Our reason for going up this time was to attend Art in the Park. Art in the Park is a little thing they do once each month during the warmer months where usually about 100 or more artists (some local, some not so local) come to the community park and set up tents to show off (and hopefully sell) some of their creations. MG and I did our parts to help out. I bought a photo print from a lady named Dinny Addison, and MG bought a hand-made bracelet from Q Evon. MG spent over four times what I did. I guess I have some leeway toward buying a new lens? Or camera body? Or software? Hmm, likely not, I suppose. Still, I hope to maybe get my photography business up and running enough to maybe start going to these types of things as a vendor.

The park was crowed on Saturday, as was the whole town of Blowing Rock, at least in the morning. What we didn’t know when we made our reservations, and what many people at the event didn’t realize either, was that it was Homecoming weekend for two local colleges. We’d passed by Lees-McRae in Banner Elk on our way in on Friday, so we knew about that one. Saturday morning at breakfast (at Knights On Main) we found out that Appalachian State University in Boone was also having theirs. Appy State has a lot going for it right now. You may remember that they are the ones who upset Michigan in football during their first game of the season. Go Mountaineers, I guess.

Every time we go to Blowing Rock, MG will pick up one of the little “Homes” guides to flip through. She thinks she’s found the perfect house for us. Does anyone have $1,600,000 I could use? I can’t exactly promise to pay you back or anything…

Synopsis

2007-10-03T22:18:00.000-04:00

OK, I’ve been silent for a while. Some of you may be wondering what I’ve been up to. Some of you have been asking (a few of you rather vociferously – I guess it’s my fault for letting my email addy out there, huh?). That’s OK. I have been keeping myself occupied.

I think that I was still in the process of painting inside my house when I was last posting on a semi-regular basis. Well, I’m still not done with that. Why not (you might – justifiably – ask)? Well, to tell that story I have to go back a bit further.

Last September (2006) I was involved in a rather ferocious crash while riding on Labor Day and ended up with both collarbones broken. Surgery was needed to realign and hold the pieces of those bones in place while they healed. Apparently one of the fractures on the right side didn’t heal quite right. Sometime in February or March I went to my surgeon for a re-check. That was when we found out that the plate had actually failed at some point (likely in February) and part had shifted, along with the bone that was attached to it. I’d had some soreness in that shoulder, but I wasn’t expecting that.

For that reason my painting efforts, along with woodworking and bike riding activities and other such, were severely curtailed. More about the shoulder later.

In April Mrs. Guy and I went to the 2nd annual Blue Ridge Wine Festival in Blowing Rock. You might remember (if you've been reading along or have visited the archives) that we also attended the first one. It's growing. This year had larger crowds, but it was still manageable and, thus, a blast.

Then, in either April or May, I went with Mrs. Guy on one of her company’s award trips to Cabo San Lucas. That was very nice, but I’m not sure I could easily go back to stay at the same place if I was the one having to pay for it. Yes, we went to Cabo Wabo. No, we didn’t see Sammy Hagar while we were there (though we did hear plenty of his music).

In June, among other things, I helped put on the 3rd Annual English Mountain Challenge bike ride. Not for the faint of heart. I was driving one of the support vehicles, so I got to climb English Mountain several times that day. Good event. You should come ride it … unless you’re scared or something

Also this year I changed projects at work. Not by choice. I was “requested”. I’m choosing to make the best of it.

Let’s see, July…July…what did I do in Ju… Oh, yeah. Mrs. Guy and I went back to London. Why did we go to London? Well, many reasons, but among them was to watch the first two days of the Tour de France (and also the opening ceremony, so I guess it was really part of three days, after all). I write up something about Le Tour in a later post (assuming I don’t disappear into the internet æther again).

For August I did something really special. Uh huh. I had surgery again to replace the plate, along with the use of a bone graft from my hip to repair the collarbone. That was six weeks ago. I’m still in therapy for it (physical therapy, not the emotional kind – though maybe I could use it, too). I am healing, but it’s taking longer due to the graft. And my hip hurts, too. Not from having the bone taken off. No, that’s fine. The pain is from the incision site. You never realize how many muscles you use to do really simple things until you are aggravating them with almost every step.

So convalescence carried me into September (during which I also marshalled and photographed a local bike race), and now we are just barely into October. I have, though, already done something noteworthy for October already. I bought an iMac. This should be interesting as I try to flatten out the learning curve.

All of these subjects will likely be expanded on a bit in future updates. Maybe. Yeah, probably.

So, maybe another post in a few days, though I’ll be out of town over the weekend, so if you don’t see anything by Friday evening, don’t expect anything until at least Monday.

Ya Know What?

2007-09-09T23:37:00.000-04:00

I'm still out here. Somewhere. In the ether, maybe, but still here. Somewhere.

Maybe.

(I've busier over at Flickr [see link to right] of late. Go check it out.))

Missed Opportunity/Mystery Ride

2007-06-17T00:05:00.000-04:00

The pathway to Hades, they say, is constructed with bricks fashioned out of such things as "shoulda, coulda, woulda" and the like. I'm afraid that I'm guilty of firing my own gargantuan pile of pavers. Well, since this blog is austensibly cycling-related, I guess maybe I should say I'm hewing cobbles laced with the stench of brimstone. Yeah, whatever.

Several of us had made tentative plans to ride from Townsend, Tennessee (on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains Nat'l Park) to Elkmont (inside said Nat'l Park) on Thursday with the expressed purpose of witnessing the magic of the fireflies. It turns out that, at this particular time of year, the fireflies that populate the Elkmont area tend to flash their lights in a synchronized pattern. It was first reported to a researcher in the 1970s, I believe, who studied the phenomenon. At first they thought that it happened only at Elkmont, but it has since been witnessed at other places.

But not by me, and certainly not on Thursday evening. I was a victim of weather forecasting. That's my story, and I'm not budging from it.

When I left work on Thursday the Nat'l Weather Service was calling for "Strong Storms" throughout the area. Thus, I bailed. It turns out that we all bailed except Gary S., who ended up going and of course never seeing a drop of rain. He did see some fireflies, though.

I'd thought of using the evening to go to Sundown in the City (a local summer outdoor concert series. The band this week was Uncle Earl, an all-female bluegrass band. I thought Mrs. Guy would enjoy it. Sadly, she had a bad headache. We stayed home instead. And never saw a drop of rain either.

On a side note, Uncle Earl is performing at Bonnaroo, as are several local (Knoxville) bands. My friend John B. will be playing with two of them (Angel and the Lovemongers, and the Westside Daredevils). Bonzer, fellows.
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I went for a ride today (Saturday, when I started this post). There was a ride starting at 9:00am starting not too far from my house. I got there at about 8:55am. They were already gone. (What the....?). I have never, ever been to a ride that even started on time, much less more than five minutes early. Yes, my watch is accurate. Very accurate (set to the National Institute of Standards and Technology atomic clock).

Rather than sulk about it and drag myself home to sit in a dejected heap on the sofa, I decided to head down toward downtown. I wanted to go to the Bike Zoo anyway, so I just parked there and headed out, knowing they'd be open when I got back.

I usually have some idea of where I'm going when I start a ride. I'll at least have a general route in mind. Not today. I just, well, headed out, letting the bike aim itself wherever my subconcious whim told it to. I've done this type of ride before, though usually with others along for the ride. We call them mystery rides.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, OK."

I've been on some Magical Mystery Tours, and I've been on some Tragical Mystery Tours (AKA 'Tragical Misery Tours'). Today wasn't either end of that spectrum, really, but it was a fun ride. I just rode along finding roads I'd never been on before. Some I knew where they would come out, and some I didn't, though I recognized where I came out in all but one place.

All but one, did you catch that? It's important.

I was somewhere around the half-way point I was aiming for as far as mileage (I was hoping for 30 to 35). I was on a road I figure would come out in a certain place. But it didn't. "Hmm", I kept thinking, "maybe it just comes out further up than where I thought."

And then at some point I realized that the sun was in the wrong place for the direction I thought I was going. Hmm, indeed.

What to do? Well, I entertained the notion of continuing on until I eventually hit a road I knew, as I knew I was bounded by several main thoroughfares. Of course, I did realize at the same time that some of those bounding roads were quite a ways away from where I would really like to have ended up. "Hmm", I thought, as I kept riding along. Hmm, indeed.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a couple out working in their yard. "Excuse me, but I was wondering if you could tell me the best way to get to downtown Knoxville from here."

"Well," said the lady, "you could turn around, take the second left, and take it back to Chapman Highway."

"Or," said the gentleman, "you could turn around and just go straight and come out on John Sevier Highway."

"But whatever you do," she started, "I'm going to have to turn around," I finished for her.

"Yup."

Other pleasantries exchanged, et cetera...

"Thank you very much. Have a nice day."

And that's how a friendly couple out placing mulch kept me from ending up in Sevierville, a good 25-30 miles from where I needed to be (and in so doing prevented a Tragical Misery Tour, or at best a call to Mrs. Guy to drive an hour to come pick me up).

Catching Up After an Extended Absence

2007-06-12T18:14:00.000-04:00

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. It’s been a long time since I’ve even thought about posting anything. I’ve been busy, I guess. Busy pursuing and/or developing other interests, mostly.

I originally started this up as a way to let out some creative energy. I remember thinking that I could post about three times a week and be happy. Then, immediately, I threw that notion aside and was posting daily (barring travel, illness or injury – and there were a few of those). I immersed myself into the blogging culture. And it was working very well for me. For about a year.

Then it became tedious. I felt the internal pressure to keep it up. I even felt some external pressure (“Hey, you didn’t post yesterday – are you OK?”). I started to burn out. Add to that the fact that Mrs. Guy was starting to complain about the amount of time I was spending on writing. Yeah, I’ll admit that it was taking longer than in the past. Where the words had previously flowed easily, it became a struggle to come up with something new. I felt like my writing was suffering. It was frustrating. I needed to do something.

So I took a break. I’d meant for it to be a short break – maybe a few weeks. Then I got wrapped up in my photography. The amount of time I’d been spending on writing was then being split between Flickr and trying to spend more time with Mrs. Guy. But now I think I’m starting to feel the spark a little again, so maybe I’ll start posting some again.

But it will be different. I will mostly be posting when Mrs. Guy is on the road with work. I will also try to ignore any self-generated feelings of pressure to write. Maybe I’ll post three times a week, and maybe I won’t. I will, however, try to live up to more of the quality of my earlier work than the products of drudgery that I felt I was putting out toward last winter.

So, what have I been doing? Some riding, though not enough. My mileage is down this year due to nagging injuries, but it’s starting to pick up again (and I’ve started running some again, too). I’ve done some travel. Mrs. Guy and I went to Cabo San Lucas courtesy of her company (and some of the photos I took made my Flickr page). We also took a trip to Charleston, SC to see her sisters (no photos, though I did convince her youngest sister, a burgeoning photog, to get her own Flickr account). I’ve also helped put on a major bike ride (the English Mountain Challenge) again with my bike club. That was just last Saturday.

Oh, and I got allergy tested and am now getting weekly shots. For the next three or four years. Joy.

Coming up? Well, Mrs. Guy and I are going to London in early July to catch the start of the Tour de France (WooHoo!). I'm told we'll also see a couple of plays (including Avenue Q - WooHoo!).

And more allergy shots. For the next three or four years.

All's Quiet on the Blogging Front

2007-04-27T10:46:00.000-04:00

.......

Yeah, yeah, I know.

I hope to be back soon, though.

With Smoke Pouring Out of His Ears...

2007-03-23T15:06:00.000-04:00

Hi. I’m not BGoaB. I’m not Major Tom, either. I’m Pick, and I’ve decided to jump on this bandwagon as well. One of the things I’ve noticed when I look around at other people’s blogs is that a great number of people use them to vent about a wide variety of things. I don’t think BGoaB does enough of that. I’m going to make up for that right now.

I’m going to pick on one of my favorite pet peeves. What is that? Smoking. Or I guess I should say Inconsiderate Smoking (and smoking tends to bring out the inconsiderate b@st@rd or b!tch in quite a number of people).

What got me started thinking about this today was my experience driving back to work from lunch today. The girl in the car in front of me was sucking on some foul stink-stick, and of course the breeze was blowing the smoke right back at me. That isn’t really something I complain about too much, though. At least she wasn’t sitting in my car puffing away. No, her sin came a little later after the light changed. She (and I, behind her) got up to about 30 mph when she flicked the still-smoldering butt out of her sunroof, at which time it followed a near-perfect arc onto my windshield. Which is were it stayed. Lodged under the wiper blade. Melting the wiper blade in one spot. Grrr.

Could it be worse than that? Oh, yes, it could be worse than that. As I pulled up beside her to pass (and showing great restraint by not flipping her off, I thought – I mean, what good would it do, right?), I noted the presence of a car seat in the back. And then another. Both full. And a pre-teen girl in the front passenger seat. That, my friends, is horrible. I always figured that I’m OK with smokers who want to kill themselves slowly (or at least smell bad constantly), but when it comes to damaging the health of others, and especially those who aren’t given a choice in the matter? Well, I think that capitol punishment should be reconsidered. Well, maybe not anything quite that severe, but at a minimum there should be public floggings.

Smoke all you want. That is, as long as you are only hurting yourself (and not littering too, you cretins!).

Love,
Pick

Editor's note:
I want to say thanks to Major Tom and Pick for actually stepping up and taking on the challenge (that'll keep their mouths shut next time). As for Pick's post, I don't usually rant quite so much about arguably touchy subjects, but if he wants to rant, I'm happy to have the content.

On a personal note, let me say that I have helped fight five different fires in my life. Three of the five were caused by someone carelessly tossing a still-lit cigarette butt on the ground during drought conditions. One of those fires burned about two acres of grass lawn at my university. It took a long time for that area to come back to normal. One of the others burned up an entire median strip's worth of mulch and landscaping at a shopping center near here. In no case did the offending party likely even realize what they'd done. Just more cases of people not thinking about the possible consequences of their actions.

-BGoaB

Oh, Yeah ... Blogging. I Think I Remember That...

2007-03-20T19:24:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay, folks. It’s almost like I was the Big Guy himself, eh? (I’m just kidding, BG. Put that knife down.) First I got busy, and then I forgot. It took a gentle reminder from somebody else entirely to get me going again.

So, where was I? Hmm. Not really anywhere in particular, I guess. Let’s just start off at some random point for now.

I guess I should clarify a statement I made before for Ms. Lilac Penguin (see comments from the last post). She asked about snow cycling, and I stated that I don’t like the cold so much. She (rightfully) pointed out that my statement seems contrary to my professed love of snowmobiling. OK, what I should have said was that I don’t like cycling in the cold so much. What’s the difference? Clothing, mostly.

When you ride a snowmobile, you can generally wear as much as you want to wear. It doesn’t really matter how heavy it is, nor how restrictive (within certain reasonable limits). I personally have a one-piece whole-body suit I like to wear that is quite well insulated, but I wouldn’t dare to begin marathon running in it. Riding a bicycle, on the other hand, requires that one wears a much lighter set of gear, and thus less well insulated. You also have to consider that you might actually sweat some while riding a bicycle, so clothing that wicks moisture away from the skin is a must.

Then there is always the cold, dry air to think of. Riding the s-mobile doesn’t get my breathing rate up nor does it make me take deep breaths to get more oxygen (unless I do some really exciting maneuvering, whether by intention or not). Deep breathing cold and dry air tends to lead to cold-induced asthma for me if I do it for long enough (like when climbing a local mountain range on a bicycle in sub-freezing temperatures). Not fun. No, not fun at all.

Plus, the helmet is better.

Come to think of it, motorcycling clothing is similar. I can wear better stuff there, too. I’d guess that if the Big Guy was wearing an armored leather jacket and pants during any of his clavicle-breaking wrecks, things might have been different. But there’s a reason bicyclists don’t wear such things while riding. Wearing a leather jacket while physically exerting yourself is rather questionable from a sanity standpoint. Passing out from heat stress is probably counterproductive.

Trivia Question: What Food Network star did a mini-series based on his travels by motorcycle?

Advanced Trivia: What brand of motorcycle was it?

Major Tom

Wreckless Abandon

2007-03-14T18:54:00.000-04:00

This is Major Tom with spin control. Since it seems that the Big Guy has left everyone in a lurch and abandoned his post, I have bravely volunteered to step in and give this blogging thing a go.

Well, that’s not entirely true. I’m doing this because my bluff got called.

I’ve been emailing with the Big Guy for a little while and have been giving him grief about not posting for so long. I’m apparently not the only one. Even his brother from Florida called to make sure he hadn’t gotten injured again (since that’s been the main reason for previous hiatuses – or is that hiatae? I don’t really know).

No, the Big Guy is reportedly painting. He’s apparently spending all of his free time on it. Except for the four or five days he had the flu, that is. Paint, paint, paint. Maybe it wasn’t the flu. Maybe he was just really high on paint fumes. Hmmm.

But for now you get Major Tom. I guess I could go by something like ‘medium-sized guy who used to ride bicycles but now rides snowmobiles and motorcycles’, but MSGWUTRBBNRSAM is a little much.

So I said to the Big Guy, “Dude, what’s so hard about writing a post now and then? How can you be getting writer’s block after doing this for only a year-and-a-half? I bet I could do better.” That last sentence was the mistake I am now living up to. Except my challenge from him is to just write a post once in a while and not every day like he’d been doing. Oh, and I’m free to throw out trivia questions, too.

Ya know, sometimes it’s hard just to come up with one thing to write about, much less several month’s worth. And so far this post has just been background as to why I’m actually writing and not him. I guess I’d better get to typing something with some substance.
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We just switched around on Daylight Savings Time again. This year was a little different, coming early as it did, but we still fool around with our clocks twice each year (except that I rarely get around to resetting the clock in my car, so it’s only good for half of the year).

The whole idea behind DST was to provide some kind of energy savings, or something. According to what I’ve read and what I’ve heard on NPR, nobody has actually proven that any energy has been saved. In fact, little things like moving the switcheroo up to last weekend this year have cost significant money to businesses and government offices that use computers so that the transition got made more-or-less smoothly. Add to that the issues faced by multi-national companies who have offices in places where they don’t use DST. Seems like a big hassle to me. Some have even suggested that we go on DST permanently. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Here’s what I think we should do. First, get rid of the whole DST thing altogether. Then, if we decide that maybe it would be a little nicer to have more daylight in the evening during part, or even all, of the year, then maybe we should just shift our work hours. Instead of showing up for work at 8:00 am (or 6:30 am for the Big Guy), we start showing up at 7:00 am (or 5:30 am, dude). It’s really the same thing we have now. The sun would be in the same position when we go to work on March 15th at 8:00 am DST as it would when we went to work at 7:00 am Standard Time. And I wouldn’t have to fool with changing my clocks around twice each year (just the alarm time on the clock in the bedroom).

But you know that someone would complain. I can hear it now. “How would we ever remember to change the batteries in our smoke detectors under that set-up?” Oh, I don’t know – maybe write it down on your calendar?

Been a pleasure,
Major Tom

Trivia Question for today: A certain Brit-pop rocker has at least two songs that mention me. What was the second one?

The Loneliest Number

2007-03-02T21:07:00.000-05:00

Gosh. Have I ever been busy this week. Mostly with painting, and that's not going to slack up any time soon. I've also actually done some cycling stuff, including scorekeeping at the last of the KnoxieCross race series last Saturday, and a greenway ride with five other guys on Wednesday.

Today was mostly painting. My arms are a bit sore. So I'm taking the rest of the evening off and I'm headed to Preservation Pub to watch a band with several friends of mine in it.

But I remember promising something about trivia. Well, here's the thing. What with painting and the fact that my Step-Father-in-Law has been having a quintuple by-pass surgery today (and we've been on the phone a lot about that), I haven't really had much time to think of five questions. I did think of one, though. I'd hoped the first one would open the mental floodgates, but it hasn't (yet).

So here it is. You know the procedure by now, and if you don't, go check last Thursday's post for the rules et cetera links.

1 (and so lonely it is right now). What breed was Rin Tin Tin?

I really do hope to have more tomorrow. Really I do.

Patience

2007-03-01T21:39:00.000-05:00

Trivia tomorrow.

Wait for it, wait for it...

Movie Night

2007-02-22T23:05:00.000-05:00

Some of you may have noticed I haven't been posting much lately. My main excuse is writer's block. Instead, I've been spending my time on other creative endeavors. And painting a few walls, too. Tonight I set all those other things aside to go to my bike club's winter monthly (i.e., we do it once a month during winter) Movie Night. All comers are welcome, not just club members. Tonight we were scheduled to watch the seminal classic Breaking Away.

Things don't always work out as planned, though. Philippe brought his DVD of Breaking Away, but the DVD player wouldn't read it. So he tried hooking up his laptop to the projector. It wouldn't read it either. We tried someone else's Mac book. No dice.

I forgot who it was, but somebody had a VHS copy of American Flyers in their car. Well, any port in a storm, I guess. Philippe took it out of its sleeve...and the end cover fell off. While he went searching around for another VHS tape to cannibalize, we watched a few scenes from Pure Sweet Hell, a cyclocross movie someone else had in their car. If I'd only known how it would go tonight - I have a copy of Breaking Away on VHS at home.

Philippe finally found enough tape pieces for us to watch American Flyers, so we did at leat get to watch a cheesy mid-1980's movie starring Rae Dawn Chong and Kevin Costner's bad mustache. It's a touching film, really. We laughed, we cried, ... well, we didn't actually cry, but we did laugh at a lot of stuff.
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Trivial Stuff You Might Know
Here's a link to the Rules. Here's a link for where to send your answers. Enjoy.

1. There are, according to Greek mythology, several rivers in Hell/Hades, including the River of Forgetfulness. I can't think of it's name right now. Do you know it?

2. According to Greek mythology, who guards the entrance to Hell (Hades, actually)?

3. Who was the ferryman across the River Styx?

4. Finish the lyric: "Domo arigato, _______ ______"

5. What group recorded "Carry On My Wayward Son"?

Trivia Answers From February 8th

2007-02-16T17:36:00.000-05:00

1. On this day in 1971, trading began on the world's first electronic stock exchange, the NASDAQ. What does NASDAQ stand for? NASDAQ is the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system.

2. There are States and there are Commonwealths. How many of the 50 'United States' actually designate themselves as Commonwealths? There are four…

3. Name at least two of them. … and they are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Virginia. So what does it mean that they are ‘Commonwealths’ instead of plain ol’ ‘States’? Not a whole lot as far as I can tell.

4. The Falklands War in 1982 was between what two nations? Great Britain and Argentina. The Argentineans apparently thought that Great Britain was overextended militarily, having gone through a reduction in forces and having the Royal Navy spread out all over the world. They thought the Brit’s couldn’t really respond if they took over the Falkland Islands and would just try for a diplomatic solution that would be time-consuming, allowing Argentina to strengthen their positions on the islands. They thought wrong. The results of the failed occupation hastened the downfall of the military government then in power in Argentina.

5. What was Star Fleet Captain James T. Kirk's full middle name? Tiberius, though that wasn’t solidly established until the movies came out (I’ve forgotten which one mentioned it). Before that it was just popular fan lore, having never been mentioned in the original series.

1996

2007-02-15T23:42:00.000-05:00

In keeping with the video theme, I have one more story (at least) to tell.

Back in 1996 I was assigned to a jobsite in Massena, New York for much of the year. Massena is the subject of a different story, but my company paid for me to take a trip back home for one weekend each month. We worked four ten-hour days each week, so at least it would be a long weekend. One such weekend came up during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. MG and I drove down from Knoxville to spend a Saturday hanging about in Atlanta, joined by Sis (my Sis). We didn’t stand much of a chance to get tickets to any venues at that point, so we headed over to watch the one event we didn’t need a ticket for that day; the cycling Time Trial.

We saw many of the greats of the day – briefly – as they flew past us at dizzying speeds. I remember seeing Lance go by as we headed into a restaurant to get lunch. I remember that he didn’t look on top of his game at the time. I figured he was just having an ‘off’ day. It was just after that when he discovered he had cancer. We also saw Tony Rominger, Abraham Olano, Miguel Indurain (who came so close to the barricade that a small drop of sweat hit Sis’s arm), and many other of the time’s top cyclists. But that isn’t the story, either.

Somebody had a tent set up near the Time Trial venue. Inside the tent were a bunch of stationary bikes with video screens set up on each and a master screen up on one wall. They would invite people to “race” against each other in heats using a software set up to let everyone race against everyone else. Most of the guys (and a few gals) hanging about were in their cycling garb and were very fit looking. I was wearing a pair of regular shorts and a T-shirt. I was already a Big Guy as well, weighing in at … well, I met the ‘Clydesdale’ criteria. Thus, most of the others getting ready to race in my heat were giving me the look of disdain as if I was some yokel who had an old Huffy he likely rode once or twice each year if he could actually find a tire pump.

Poor guys (and gals). I will freely admit that if we’d been on real bikes out on the road that they might could have easily taken me (especially given my less than cycling-friendly attire). But what the video program could not account for was the power to weight ratio. When I’ve been riding a lot (as I had been doing that summer), my overall power to weight ratio is reasonably close to that of a lot of other avid riders (essentially meaning more weight and more power). But this thing took weight out of the equation and went strictly by power. My competitors never knew what hit them. More than one jaw dropped at my posted time. Too bad they didn't understand the physics of it as well as I did. Too bad for them, that is.

Now, if only I could lose the weight I’d like to lose without losing the power I can generate…
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Trivia Time
Rules. Email your answers.

1. I’m standing in a grassy field looking out at a full-sized version of the Parthenon while listening to the Commodores playing on a local radio station. What city am I in?

2. Suppose I stabbed my father (don’t worry, Dad, I wouldn’t really do that) and ended up on the ‘Group W’ bench. What singer/songwriter might I have ended up sitting next to?

3. All denominations of US paper currency have dead presidents on them except for one. Which one?

4. What, according to Douglas Adams, should you never let a Vogon do to you?

5. Which great poet/novelist warned us to ‘shun the frumious Bandersnatch’?

One-Armed Paper Hanger

2007-02-14T17:56:00.000-05:00

Wow. Been a busy few days. I almost finished replacing the ceiling fan in our den on Sunday, but had to go get some new bulbs on Monday to finish up (two of the old ones came apart as I tried to pull them off of the old fan unit and put them in the new one). So since we were going to the home/hardware store anyway, and since I have a set of scaffolding for a month (minimum rental period), we decided that it might be time to repaint the den and thus buy more paint. And since we were out anyway, we ended up making it a major shopping extravaganza by including the wine store, the outdoor clothing store, the post office, and the grocery store in our little excursion afield. By the time we got home I had no time nor inclination to type up a post.
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Last night I met Ron at a local restaurant to discuss a mountain bike event that we are apparently now in charge of coordinating (along with Wally, who couldn’t make it to our meeting). MG was to join us following her hair appointment at her favorite salon, but ran later than planned. By the time she arrived we had already decided all the issues we could and discussed all we couldn’t settle right away (and assigned a bunch of tasks to Wally since he wasn’t there). We thought about going on from there, but since she showed up hungry and we’d only had chips and beverages, we ended up grabbing a table to get real food. Oh my goodness, was that ever a bad choice. The service was so slow, we could have gone home and fixed stuff a lot quicker. So again I arrived home with neither time nor inclination to post anything.
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And today? Well, MG is fixing me dinner soon, and then we’ll watch a movie, so any posting I do will have to be done now. And a subject? Well…

I had thought of this subject a few weeks ago, but it would seem that NPR and Jef Mallett have beaten me to it, so I’ll let you see what they have to say first (funny that Jef’s strip came out so soon after the NPR piece, especially since he likely had to turn in his to his syndicate a couple of weeks ago).

I have thought for a while that video games are a likely contributor to the expansion of adolescent waistlines. Except for a Coleco Telstar Pong-type game that the family had at one time (and which our use of was limited by Mom and Dad), I’ve never had a video gaming system. I always used to want one, but never ended up getting one. Now I’m glad for that. I’d imagine that I would have likely wasted a lot more time exercising my thumbs on a game controller than exercising my body on a bicycle if I’d had that temptation. And if I’d had a Wii/Xbox/PS3 as a kid? Would I have wanted to play soccer or softball or tennis or racquetball…sports I would actually have to practice at for a long time to gain any proficiency…when I could beat the Brazilian National Team in the World Cup with a deft A/B/Up Arrow combination that I could figure out by reading up at a game-cheats website?

Then again, I might never have sprained my knee or dislocated a shoulder. But you know? I think it was worth it. And who wants a sprained or dislocated thumb, anyway?

Whew

2007-02-11T22:50:00.001-05:00

OK, today I've helped pick up trash on Neubert Springs Road (the bike club's Adopt-a-Highway), I've posted the results for yesterday's KnoxieCross race to the local cycling website, done some downtown photography (may be posted to Flickr sometime in the coming week), substitute-instructed a class with MG, helped MG with laundry, and just finished changed out a ceiling fan in a double-high room (which means I had to set up scaffolding to get it done - then climb up and down it about a dozen times). I'm cooked. Good night.

I Think I’m Having Problems With My…Um, Wait, What Was I Talking About?

2007-02-10T21:33:00.000-05:00

Today was the third race in the KnoxieCross ’07 series. I got there at about 10:00 am and found the weather to be surprisingly warm. And then the sun went behind the clouds. There we were (I’m referring here to the scorekeepers), sitting or standing in one place, in the middle of a big open field where the wind can come right across the water and chill us to the bone. Worse for me, I’m the one doing the computer work and can't wear gloves like the guys who only have to write numbers on paper. Happily (for me), John B. had a pair of fingerless gloves he let me borrow. They had a little mitten-like end attached to them, so I could pull that over my fingers when I had a few moments between riders coming through. John almost didn't get them back at the end of the day.

We had the largest field I think we've ever had before, and certainly the most the the Junior category. Those kids were really giving a lot out there. I remember commenting that I wish we'd had races like this I could have participated in when I was growing up.
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Here's part of the problem I've had with creative writing lately. I usually think of a great subject for a post at some time or another during the day. Really, I do - almost every day. The problem is, by the time I get home and I'm sitting in front of the keyboard, the idea has disappeared into the ether. I can't tell you how many times I've sat staring at my monitor trying like anything to remember what the heck* it was I'd been planning out earlier.

It's not really a new problem, to be perfectly honest, but a year ago I had a bigger backlog I'd built up during times when the creative juices were really flowing (I can remember having written three completely separate posts in one afternoon before). My backlog is long gone, and at about the same time my muse decided to take a long sabbatical. I'm still trying to coax her back to work.

I also used to carry a pocket calendar/appointment book with me everywhere. I used to jot done little key phrases that would prompt me to remember things I been thinking of earlier. Sadly, I lost it. I'd gotten it from MG (it was a promotional item she'd gotten at work), but she didn't get one this year.

Even today I thought of a post subject while MG was driving us downtown for a late lunch/early dinner. I remember that, as I often do, I'd thought out about the first paragraph or two of it. Now? Gone. I only recall that I'd thought of something, but I have no recollection of what that something was.

I guess I just need to break down and actually buy a pocket appointment book for 2007. Either that, or I'll have to start writing stuff on my hands and just not wash them until I get home.

* 'Heck' is the nicer version of the word I might normally want to use.

Set Up

2007-02-09T22:39:00.000-05:00

Well, as usual on the day before a cyclocross race, we were out there right around noon to actually set up the course. I know I talked about the course earlier this week, but that was just to decide where it would go. Today was all about setting out the flagging and other course markers.

Caleb and I showed up right around noon and hopped on our bikes to just have a quick spin while we waited on John B. to arrive with the marking stuff. It was a real quick spin, as we didn't even get 1/4 of the way around the course before he got there. I'd set my cyclometer to measure a complete lap, so I went ahead and finished a lap before going to John's car and grabbing a handful of flags. The course lap length is right on 1.6 miles, by the way, which is longer than any other course we've ever set up. To me that's a good thing from a scoring perspective. It means the riders will come through fewer times and more spaced out (on shorter courses theres a lot of lapping going on).

Marking went fast; faster than normal. By the time Steve showed up at 1:00 pm or so we had almost completed the course marking in general, but he got to help me with setting a triple barricade on the lowest part of the course and with some final tweaking of the course overall. Caleb headed over to Haw Ridge to do some mountain biking once we got done, and Steve stayed to ride the course for a while and get a good workout in. At that point John and I went to lunch.

We talked about a lot of stuff in general over lunch. Cycling plans, travel plans, cycling travel plans, music, house stuff, and the creative process. The creative process has been on my mind a lot lately. I feel like I'm having problems with mine. Not a total writer's block, per se, but a bit of one. And it isn't all about my writing, but it is about it where the blog is concerned. I guess I just don't feel like my writing has been up to my own internal standards for a while. A long while, actually. Maybe even as long as it's been since my last surgery, though I don't think it is necessarily that event that knocked me off-kilter. I just feel that with few exceptions, my creative writing hasn't been up to snuff, maybe even forced. For that, dear reader, I apologize.

However, I hope that I can turn a corner on this soon. I've started thinking about woodworking projects again. I've started thinking about some photographic work I'd like to do. I've even started thinking about some new poetic stuff (man, how long has it been since I posted any of that in my blog? - a long time, I can tell you, maybe even since June or so). Gotta get all the creative juices jump-started at once, I think.

So I know what I'm up against here. They say that knowing is half the battle. As far as I can tell, the other half of a battle must involve violence of some kind. Hmm. Maybe I need a better saying than that one, eh?
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Trivia Answers from 2/1/07

1. Today is the Feast Day of one of Ireland's secondary patron saints. Rumor has it she was named after one of Ireland's pagan gods of yore. Who is she? St. Brighid (though the spelling varies) of Kildare. The Goddess Brighid was apparently the Celtic equivalent of Athena for the most part.

2. What is the only X-rated movie to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture (and Best Director)? 'Midnight Cowboy'. No, I've never seen it, but those who have tell me it likely would only have gotten an NC-17 rating under today's system.

3. What was the last G-rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture? 'Oliver!' It was actually the only film originally rated 'G' to win, but that's because the rating system was new that year. Other winners such as 'Sound of Music' were rated first under an older system and re-rated under the new system.

4. What two teams faced each other in the very first Super Bowl way back in 1967? The Green Bay Packers (most people knew that) and the Kansas City Chiefs (not as many knew that part). I guess the winners are always remembered a bit better.

5. What Augustinian monk is considered to be the father of modern genetics? Gregor Mendel, who worked mostly with different varieties of peas to discover the dominant/recessive natures of genes.

Faux Foe

2007-02-08T18:02:00.000-05:00

Let me explain that title a bit. I am not referring to a fake enemy. I am referring to an enemy of things that are fake. We’ve all seen fake things before; no doubt about that. I am not opposed to such things necessarily, either. Sometimes they are so good that it is difficult to tell that it is fake. Other times it’s quite obvious. But they should tell you.

You can go into many department stores and buy look-a-like items for fractions of the cost of frighteningly similar designer items (purses are a good example). It wouldn’t surprise me if these items were made in the same factory with just a few subtle differences thrown in. I have no problem with that.

I do have a problem with the guys on the street saying they’ve got authentic branded stuff at pennies on the dollar. Why? Well, they’re either trying to pass off the fake stuff to the patsies (and if you don’t know what a patsy is, you probably are one), or they’re selling off stolen merchandise (which might still be fake).

But that’s not really what this post is about. This post is about the place MG and I went for dinner tonight.

MG and I love Irish Bars. Knoxville hasn’t really had a good, authentic Irish Bar in quite some time, though Patrick Sullivan’s downtown has great (though largely unrealized) potential. So a new place MG heard about, advertised as an “Authentic Irish Pub”, gave us some hope. Well, it gave MG some hope, but I was reserving judgment. And rightfully so, I’m afraid.

You see, first of all I feel that an authentic pub of any kind can’t be part of a shiny new strip mall. Old buildings are best, though not entirely necessary. Still, from the parking lot it looked promising, what with the proper signage and a well appointed façade. But the furnishings inside are important; critical even. This place looked more like a pretentious sports bar than an Irish pub. It made me wonder immediately if the owner/proprietor had ever even been in a real pub.

The place was packed. And it was cramped. The bar area was poorly designed (hard to move around). The din of conversation was horrible. I couldn’t have understood the girl at the hostess stand except for the fact that I can read lips a bit. We were seated at a table on the opposite side of a wall from the bar area, but the wall only went ¾ of the way to the ceiling and there was absolutely nothing in the entire place that might serve to absorb the noise. MG and I gave up on conversation quickly. That left more time to check out the fare. It was marginally passable (but I could suggest easy ways to improve it). We skipped on dessert, which was the same thing we could have gotten at a steak house up the road. But the worst thing? And the most unforgivable sin imaginable at an Irish drinking establishment? The Guinness had been served to us without the requisite double pour. The horror… Am I a beer snob? When it comes to Guinness, you bet I am.

So this was in no real way an Irish Pub, other than its name and the smattering of advertisements for Irish beer. My prediction? The place will make a good sports bar several months from now when they give up the charade (maybe after the gobs of money they’re sure to make on March 17th starts to run out). Except that it will still be too loud, the food won’t have improved, and the bar will still be cramped. The sad thing is that most of their clientele probably don’t know the difference.

Our house is more of an Irish pub than that place, but we don’t advertise it that way (except maybe one night per year). And I’ll do my guests the honor of a real double pour.
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Trivia
Here for your enjoyment is this week's Trivia Quiz. If you haven't read the Rules yet, go check them out. Please email your answers here.

1. On this day in 1971, trading began on the world's first electronic stock exchange, the NASDAQ. What does NASDAQ stand for?

2. There are States and there are Commonwealths. How many of the 50 'United States' actually designate themselves as Commonwealths?

3. Name at least two of them.

4. The Falklands War in 1982 was between what two nations?

5. What was Star Fleet Captain James T. Kirk's full middle name?

The Backs of My Eyelids Are So Compelling...

2007-02-06T23:04:00.000-05:00

I've spent the evening dozing on the sofa. I've needed it. I need more.

Thus, no post other than this, though I will show you the map of the next KnoxieCross race course I created today.

I have to tell you, I do love Google Maps...

Hodge Podge

2007-02-05T18:57:00.000-05:00

I know I haven’t posted for several days, but I’ve been busy with a lot of other stuff. I would say that I won’t let it happen again, but I probably will.
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On the cycling front, I went out yesterday afternoon to Melton Hill Park to help John B. and Steve scout out the courses for KnoxieCross races #3 and #4 (Feb. 10th and 24th). Both will be at Melton Hill Park this year, where we only had one race last year. The markings from last year’s course are still very visible. Not that we marred the park last year or anything. We actually used existing paths that had been mowed into the fields. I think the park is used for a lot of cross-country racing/training by area high schools.

Steve hadn’t seen the previous course, so I described it to him a bit and we looked at part of it while waiting for John to arrive. We also looked at another area I thought might be good for adding something onto the course, but I’ve since decided that it wouldn’t work very well. Right after John showed up I took a lap with Steve around the old course to show him the exact layout. We decided to make a couple of minor changes, including running the course backward.

We then scouted out a totally new course in an area of the park we hadn’t ever looked at (and in fact didn’t realize just how big it was). I think we’ve fleshed out a good draft for a very challenging course. Steve rode around it a good bit, but I’d flatted my front tire after riding only five miles on the old course. But I think I will go out there on Tuesday or Wednesday and go for a jog around the new course layout, just to get a better feel for it. It should be a great course.
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Other goings on this weekend included, of course, watching the Super Bowl with MG on the couch. I made up a batch of my semi-famous guacamole, which ended up becoming our dinner (we ate so much of that and chips that we weren’t really hungry enough to make chili at half-time as we’d planned).

Saturday was MG’s Vet School 15 year reunion. There were only about ten or so of her classmates there (out of fifty or so), but I knew them all (MG and I got married while she was still in school, so I was at a lot of class functions). I think everyone still had fun, especially talking about the folks who didn’t show (including two who live in town and have no good excuse – though they’ll likely make up something).

Anyway, that catches me up, I guess, except for…
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Trivia Answers from 1/25/07

1. What is the mythological significance of ‘Mjolnir’? Mjolnir was the name of Thor's (Norse god of ... lot's of stuff) hammer, with which he summoned forth thunder and lightning and smote his enemies and yada yada yada...

2. What does ‘Testarossa’ mean (hint: it’s Italian)? 'Testa' = 'head', and 'rossa' = 'red'. Put them together and you've got a redhead. So what's the story on the Ferrari Testarossa? Open the engine bay and you will see red-painted cylinder heads. But first you've got to find one and talk the owner into popping the hood open for you.

3. Mars has two moons. Tell me the name of either one. They are Phobos and Deimos after the sons of Ares in Greek mythology. Ares's Roman counterpart is Mars, so it's interesting that the planet is named from one mythology and the moons from another.

4. In the 1998 movie “Shakespeare In Love”, who played the part of the Queen of England? M. No, seriously, it's Dame Judi Dench, perhaps better known to many Americans as James Bond's boss. The Brits know she has a long and storied career as a superb actress.

5. Most of us using computers these days are familiar with USB ports, but what does USB stand for? Universal Serial Bus. I'd explain what that really means, but it would get long and technical pretty fast.

Pact

2007-02-01T21:35:00.000-05:00

It's settled. Once and for all, it's finally been established for all time. MG and I will no longer celebrate Valentines Day. We aren't really boycotting it; we're ignoring it. It's just never been a big favorite of ours. And like Christmas, it's gotten too commercialized.

We've never had great success with celebrating it anyway. For our first Valentines Day, MG was sick. I showed up at her house, delivered her a box of candy, and left so she could go back to bed. For the next several I was in college and couldn't necessarily make it home on February 14th. One year I tried driving from my college to hers on Valentines Day (on a Friday that year), but I got caught up in an accident on the interstate that mangled my car, so I spent the night at my sister's (near the half-way point) and had to borrow her car the next day to finish the trip. Lately we've just gotten weary of the crush of people all trying to spend that perfect evening with their sweetheart while packed into a loud, not so intimate local restaurant (and likely waiting for 20 to 30 minutes for their table with all the other couples in the lobby).

Am I jaded? Good question. Maybe. But we've come up with an alternative. Now we celebrate a different holiday with the same fervor that some reserve for Valentines. It's also a holiday that encourages you to share fellowship with lots of people, and not just one other person.

And besides, St. Patrick's Day is still named after a saint.
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Trivia Stuff
There are Rules to follow when answering and a place to send your answers as well. Let's just jump right in.

1. Today is the Feast Day of one of Ireland's secondary patron saints. Rumor has it she was named after one of Ireland's pagan gods of yore. Who is she?

2. What is the only X-rated movie to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture (and Best Director)?

3. What was the last G-rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture?

4. What two teams faced each other in the very first Super Bowl way back in 1967?

5. What Augustinian monk is considered to be the father of modern genetics?

Gangrene (Well, Maybe Not Quite)

2007-01-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

As I’d mentioned, I did go riding last night. I did not, however, go riding at Cades Cove. I talked to Wally at mid-day and he established that instead of going up to the Cove, he would instead be leading a night-time Greenway ride starting at the old Bi-Lo Supermarket at 6:00pm. I begged for a later start, say …6:30, and he agreed. I just can't get there after work by 6:00.

It should have been easy for me to make it by 6:30. Really, I could have been there a few minutes early on an ordinary day. But as I was leaving work yesterday, a co-worker asked me for an opinion on a subcontracting issue he was struggling with. He’s a good guy, and I’ve been dealing with subcontracts for years, so I spent a few minutes discussing it with him. Not a problem; even ten minutes late leaving I could make it.

Then I got behind a flatbed truck carrying sod on a curvy, hilly road (actually I was about seven cars back). I think it averaged about 15 miles per hour (the speed limit is 55 mph). Yes, they had room to pull over onto the shoulder. No, of course they didn’t. Five miles later the line of cars stretching behind that truck was likely a mile long.

Even once I got home little things slowed me down. I ended up finally deciding to take my mountain bike since it already has my light mount on it and I didn’t have time to transfer it to another bike. I barely had time to find my lights before I left. I called Wally and let him know I was running behind, so he said they’d ride up a little ways and then come back for me.

I got to the parking lot and got my gear together as quickly as I could. Gary C. showed up and asked if I’d seen Wally and the others. We took off down the trail at about 6:40 pm to go catch up to them.

We met Ron coming back the other way after about ½ mile. He told us he was headed back to Wally’s truck to get him some extra light cable and that Wally and Gary S. had taken a detour to RiverSports to get better gloves. The temperature was in the low 30s and the gloves they’d brought weren’t doing the job. Gary C. was under a time crunch, so he decided to go on and ride out the Greenway, so I turned back with Ron. We got Wally’s cable and headed to RiverSports.

Wally and Gary S. got some nice gloves there. There was a sale on some Mountain Hardware gloves, and they did look warm. So with that out of the way we headed back to the Greenway happy and warm…almost.

I had good gloves. I had good tights, a wool jersey under a windshell, a balaclava, and wool socks. Sadly, the socks were the weak link, or rather the lack of shoe covers may have been. My toes started feeling a little cold right from the start. No worries, I thought, as they would warm up once I got my body temp up and my circulation really going. Riiiight.

We rode out to the Ijams Nature Center, stopping at the Island Home Community Park when we saw Gary C. coming the other way and spent a few minutes chatting with him. We did a total of about 23 miles, and I’d given up on having warm toes after about seven. I just didn’t think they’d ever get that cold. I ended up being the one to say “OK, let’s get going again” each time we stopped just so we could get back to someplace warmer sooner.

With about five miles to go I noticed that the cold was creeping up my legs. That was actually a secondary concern at that point because I noticed that my lights were fading. In fact, the light on my handlebars was about dead. The light on my helmet was still shining, but somewhat diminished. I turned my light off during the times we were under streetlamps, but the last three miles were in the woods. With a little over a mile to go I had to ask Wally to pull up next to me so I could see by his light. It might have been my imagination, but I think he started half-wheeling me about then.

We got back to the cars and decided to go get food. We ended up at Ruby Tuesdays (I do like their burgers), but I never really warmed up while we were there. Even when I left I blasted the heat on high the whole way home. I never got warm in the truck even though my head was sweating. I took a hot shower when I got home. I changed into clean dry wool socks. I hopped in bed and stuck my feet under a heat engine (aka: cat). It still took another hour before my feet felt warm.

We’re doing this ride again next week. I’m buying some shoe covers this weekend. And maybe some battery-powered socks.

I wonder what the ASPCA would say if I just strapped a cat to each foot while I ride?

Trivia Answers From January 18th

2007-01-29T19:44:00.000-05:00

Question 1: Who are the two British guys who have been announcing the Tour de France on American TV for about the last twenty years? Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen have been America's voices of Le Tour for as long as I've been keeping up with Le Tour, which is amusing when you consider that they aren't even American. Still, they beat Adrian Karsten hands down IMHO.

Question 2: Actually, one of them doesn't even live in Great Britain. Where is his current home (just name the country)? Paul and his family live in Uganda (near the border with Kenya), where he owns a gold mine.

Question 3: What two martial arts movies did Darryl Hannah appear in? Darryl appears as the 'best looking eye-patch-wearing-psycho-murder-b!tch in a nurse outfit' in Kill Bill Vol. 1, and returns in Kill Bill Vol. 2 to try to kill "The Bride" (Uma Thurman) off once and for all.

Question 4: Speaking of parks, what is the largest National Park in the United States? Most people said "Yellowstone", but wouldn't you think that the largest state would have the largest park? Yes, it's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, covering over 13 million acres of Alaskan countryside.

Question 5: The Cassini Spacecraft is currently flying around taking data on and pictures of Saturn and its moons. What was the name of the probe that Cassini piggybacked out there and then dropped off at Titan? The Huygens probe was named after 17th Century Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens (no, the extra 'a' is not a typo). He is credited with discovering Titan in 1655.
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There may not be a post tomorrow. It depends on whether or not I go on a Cades Cove Moonlight Ride tomorrow with a bunch of friends. Those who have been reading my blog since the beginning (yeah, both of you) might remember that my second ever blog post was the story of a Cades Cove Ride.

A Little Riding, A Little Work, A Good Day

2007-01-28T00:00:00.000-05:00

I went riding at the King today. I met Ron and Joshua at I.C. King Park just after 11:00 this morning. What did you think I meant, Burger King?

Actually, I met Joshua at a little after 11:00 this morning. Ron was running a little later than I was, so he called and said we should go on and ride a short loop until he got there, and that he’d call my cell phone when he got to the parking lot.

Joshua had never been to the King before (having just moved here recently), so I decided to take him on the expert loop. Now don’t get the wrong idea and think that I was being mean by throwing him to the wolves, so to speak (even though they do have such nice shiny coats and such sharp, pretty teeth). ‘Expert’ at I.C. King Park doesn’t mean all that much. I really decided to go that way because I figured it wouldn’t be all that muddy.

And it wasn’t all that muddy. It was actually rather good riding, if somewhat rollercoaster-like. We got around to ‘The Center of the Universe’, which is where most trails north of the water converge (though not all), and decided to cut back along the low trail which most closely follows the shore back toward the parking lot. Ron called soon after we started that way, so heading back was a good choice.

The low trail, however, was not such a good choice. Even though it hasn’t rained in a good while, the trail was as muddy as, if not muddier than, I have ever seen it. My bike was covered with big hunks of gloppy muck by the time we slogged our way back out to Ron’s truck. While Ron finished getting ready, I spent the time clearing as much mud from my drivetrain as I could with my fingers.

With Ron ready we went back into the trail system, but we didn’t go far before we stopped at one particular new trail that someone had cut in a few years before as a hiking trail, though it was actually more likely used to hide out and pursue more nefarious activities. Today we used some folding saws we’d brought to remove some of the tight underbrush and make it a rideable connector between two other trails.

The saws came in handy later as well. After we’d ridden over to the south side and come back, we came upon a pine tree that had fallen across the lower trail between the bridge and ‘The Center of the Universe’ (that section being not so muddy). The tree was too big to move and too big to ride around, but not so big that Ron and I couldn’t brandish saws while Joshua hauled off what we cut away. Ten minutes later the trail was clear again except for one small bit that Joshua wanted to finish up. That's Joshua in the shot below using my saw to cut back one last branch.

We rode out satisfied that we’d done our good deeds for the day.

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Sign That Bicycles Could Help Cure Society’s Ills

As I left the parking lot to go home, I turned right just as another car was coming along in the other lane next to me (going the same direction. I was driving a ten year old pickup truck with a muddy mountain bike thrown in the back. The other guy was driving a shiny new Mercedes E320 with a $5,000+ bike attached to the roof rack. Old truck, new car. But we both raised our hands to wave at each other at exactly the same time with no hesitation.

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Silly Question

After I got home I found MG in the home office playing something or other on the computer. She couldn’t wait to tell me something that had happened today when she worked relief at the Vet Clinic. Preface: MG got some new earrings this week to celebrate a big company award she got at their recent company-wide meeting. They’re very nice. OK, on with the story.

Mrs. Guy: Mary Beth noticed my earrings today.
Big Guy: Yeah? What did she say.
MG: She really likes them. She wanted to let her husband know she wants some like them for Valentines.
BG: Yeah? Well, they might be a little hard to describe to him without him being able to see them.
MG: I know. Get this. She asked me to Xerox them.
BG: You … what? You Xeroxed your earrings so she can show him which ones to get?
MG: Yep. Blog-worthy?
BG: You have to ask?

Milestone

2007-01-26T19:15:00.000-05:00

Brighid turned 50 today. 50k, that is. It happened out on I-40 while I was on my way home from downtown. It was a big thing for me. Not so much for Brighid, though. Confused? Brighid is a car.

To be more precise, Brighid is a 2000 Evolution Orange Mazda Miata. Yeah, we name our cars. We name our cats, too, and the cars are just as likely to come running when we call them. Some people think it’s silly to name cars (and have told me so in no uncertain terms). Not that I really care. I have a long history of naming cars, starting with The Behemoth (Mom’s old Mercury Marquis). Actually, it may have started before that. I can’t remember if Dad got The Slug (a Ford Zephyr) before Mom got The Behemoth. No matter.

Regardless of history and tradition, it makes a bit of sense that MG and I named Brighid. At the time, Brighid was not our only Miata. I also had a 1992 Miata named Mjolnir. It was easier to say “I’m going to go put gas in Brighid” than to say “I’m going to go put gas in the Miata. No, not the white one; the other one.”

So naturally you can’t name just two cars if you have more than that. We currently still have Brighid, of course (I sold Mjolnir a few years ago). We also have Traineau Noir and the truck, which I recently named Jene (short for Genome – don’t ask).

All this might naturally beg the question, “Hey Big Guy, what about the bikes?” Yep. They have names as well. There’s Silver, Trigger, Clyde, Spock, PopMonster, the Beast, Jessica and Daisy. There are reasons for their names, of course, which I will be happy to tell you over an adult beverage sometime, provided you come here and buy me one.

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Trivia Quiz-thing

Please refer to the Rules as necessary, and please send your answers to this email address.

1. What is the mythological significance of ‘Mjolnir’?

2. What does ‘Testarossa’ mean (hint: it’s Italian)?

3. Mars has two moons. Tell me the name of either one.

4. In the 1998 movie “Shakespeare In Love”, who played the part of the Queen of England?

5. Most of us using computers these days are familiar with USB ports, but what does USB stand for?

Post Poned

2007-01-25T22:07:00.000-05:00

I must offer my apologies for this, but trivia and any other post I might write will have to be put off until tomorrow. Sorry about that, but that's how it goes sometimes. So consider tonight's post officially poned.

What? Huh?!?

2007-01-23T16:33:00.000-05:00

It’s official now. I am deaf.

Some who know me wouldn’t be too surprised to hear me say that (at least the ones who can hear). I’ve always demonstrated some minor amount of hearing loss, though I don’t know that you can say that you’ve lost what you’ve never actually had. OK, I guess it’s safe to say that I don’t hear certain things quite as well as others do.

But as of yesterday, it would seem that I have a severe hearing loss. "How do you figure that?", you might ask. "Huh?", I might reply (in jest, of course).

Yesterday was my annual physical at work. Since I work at a hazardous waste site (though I don’t handle the stuff myself), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) thinks I should have a physical every year to make sure I don’t suffer any ill effects from said waste (such as a new foot growing from my kneecap, an extra eyelid over my scapula, you know, stuff like that, I guess). I’m not complaining. I get a free annual physical and they share the results with my regular doctor.

Along with testing my blood and my blood pressure and my eyes and everything (yes, that everything every few years), they also perform a hearing test every year. After all, there is a lot of heavy equipment used at our jobsite that is quite loud. I’ve always scored about the same on the test, or at least I did until yesterday.

Now let me say that I am just getting over a cold, which might affect my hearing slightly, but that’s not really a factor here. What is? Be patient, I’m getting to that.

The audiometric test (AKA hearing test) is performed by placing the subject in a sound-isolating booth (think ‘cone-of-silence’), putting headphones on said subject, and having them push a little button every time they hear a tone. The pitch and volume of the tone change, so you go with the lowest volume heard for each pitch to determine the overall score. Most of the time I can hear my own heartbeat and breathing louder than some of the quietest tones I can hear. Except for yesterday, that is.

You see, the sound-isolating booths aren’t exactly perfect at cutting out all external noise. As standard protocol, the technician either leaves the area or just sits quietly at the console during the test. In that case, the booth is adequate. But imagine, if you will, that the technician stays in the room, joined by another technician, and maybe another technician, and they discuss (loudly) the (apparently) hilarious television show that each of them watched the night before. You might, as part of your imagining, wonder if the booth would be adequate at “sound-isolating” under that set of conditions.

Well, wonder no longer. It really came as no shock to me that I failed the test miserably. I did ask them to run the test again while, perhaps, standing in the next room in silent Zen-like contemplation and self-reflection. (Okay, I didn’t say it that way, but even though I was polite, I did get a brief scowl from one of the technicians – fortunately not the one who later drew blood from my arm). I passed the next test with my usual score.

Too bad, really. I could have used the ‘deafness’ excuse the next time MG gets after me to do some minor chore around the house. Hmm, I think I (don't) hear her coming now...

Panography at the Tapas Bar

2007-01-21T22:27:00.000-05:00

Try saying that title out loud. Now imagine that you were overhearing that phrase from a few feet away. Suppose that you are unfamiliar with panography (as most people likely are - it's a photographic technique). What word might your mind perhaps think it heard? And then there's also the part about the Tapas Bar. What might that sound like?

And that is how a friend in my Sunday School class thought that I was saying that I'd been discussing pornography in a topless bar last night with my wife. OK, I can see the humor in that. I did have to set him (and everyone else in earshot) straight about what I was really talking about.
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So I went out on Friday afternoon and helped set out a new cyclocross course in a park I'd never seen before, Victor Ashe Park. It's a nice park, I must say, and a lot bigger than I'd imagined it would be. Given that much space, the course that Steve R. came up with was huge. The longest course we'd ever had before was 1.2 miles per lap (last year at Melton Hill Park), and we all thought that was long. The course this weekended up being 1.6 miles.

The course took some time to set out, but not as long as I'd expected. John B., Steve, Phillip and I met there at noon and split into two groups, with Phillip and me concentrating on the lower half of the course. Bob D. showed up a bit later to help, but we were almost done. He and Phillip test-rode the course, and then Bob did another lap with me when Phillip offered me his bike to go give it a try. Steve also went out on his own bike, and John rode Phillip's bike for a lap after I did.
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It was Saturday morning before we knew the length of the course, though. None of the bikes on Friday had a cyclometer, so I arrived early enough to make another test loop on my own bike to get the measure of it. Even being as long as it was, it was a very fast course. Faster than we'd really expected, because the mucky mire we expected on the climb toward the scoring area/finish line never really developed. The conditions were there, but everybody was able to use the four to six inch lane on the far left of the pathway that was relatively hardpack, and it never got worse as the event went on.

But not everything went smoothly. I had a couple of computer problems with scorekeeping that I didn't discover until after the races were over. I still had all of the places correct (after confirming with the guys keeping score on paper for back-up), but I lost the split times for all but the Men's-A race. Very embarrasing, but I now know what went wrong (a PEBCAK error), and I'll be able to prevent it from re-occuring during future events ... I hope.
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Trivia Answers from 1/11/07

Yes, there was a bit of a theme to this quiz.

1. What 1980 film featured John Travolta and Debra Winger and centered around Gilley’s Club? Urban Cowboy. The story prominently featured mechanical bull riding.

2. What domestic model was the best-selling car in the U.S from 1992 to 1996? That would be the Ford Taurus. MG even once had one as her company car. I understand that fleet sales helped keep the overall numbers high for the Taurus.

3. What mythological critter was famous for hanging out in a maze? Half-man, half-bull, the Minotaur was famous for setting up house in the mythological labyrincth.

4. What is the term used for a solemn public decree issued by the Pope? Don't ask me how it came to be called this (though I'm sure I could look it up if I had time), but it's the Papal Bull.

5. Who caused Custer’s downfall (other than Custer himself) and where? The 'where' was Little Big Horn, and the 'who' I was looking for was Sitting Bull. Still, Custer's overconfidence and arrogance were major factors in his defeat.

Bonus: What was wrong with Fuzzy Wuzzy? I departed from the theme here in a way, but I was going with a tie to 'Bull vs. Bear' markets. "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?"

Imbedded Trivia

2007-01-18T21:14:00.000-05:00

I just got home from the first of my Bike Club's Winter Movie Series showings. We do these about once a month during the colder months up until the time changes and we can get back out on our bikes in the evenings. Tonight's movie was "The Tour, Baby", which is a behind-the-scenes look at the Tour de France from the perspective of a guy who started out as just another tourist, but ended up getting a little ways inside the door into the machine that is Le Tour.
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Don't forget the Rules and where to send your answers.

Question 1: Who are the two British guys who have been announcing the Tour de France on American TV for about the last twenty years?

Question 2: Actually, one of them doesn't even live in Great Britain. Where is his current home (just name the country)?
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Speaking of movies, I just dropped by Blockbuster Video on the way home to return the movie I watched last night. I occasionally like to watch martial arts films, especially the ones by Jackie Chan (they're usually pretty funny), but I've found that some of the more recent big budget ones have way too much "wire work" that takes away too much of the realism.

However, last night I watched Jet Li's "Fearless" based on a recommendation from a friend. I must say that I was not disappointed. This was a little "wire work", but no so much that it took anything away from the story for me. And Jet Li is such an incredible martial artist that it blows my mind. "Fearless" will never take the place of the Akira Kurosawa movies in my heart, but it is absolutely worth watching, probably several times,
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Question 3: What two martial arts movies did Darryl Hannah appear in?
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Tomorrow I go back out to help set up another cyclocross race course for this weekend. We're going to a park I've never been to before; Victor Ashe Park (named after a long-time Knoxville Mayor and current ambassador to Poland). I'll have to let you know tomorrow how the set-up goes.
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Question 4: Speaking of parks, what is the largest National Park in the United States?
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I really don't have any more topics to discuss tonight. I guess I'll just wrap it up and get started on some housekeeping work I need to do before MG gets back from Baltimore tomorrow night. I only have tonight and tomorrow morning to do it all (since the afternoon is dedicated to cyclocross stuff). I don't even have a lead-in for a last trivia question. I guess I'll just have to pick something at random.
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5. The Cassini Spacecraft is currently flying around taking data on and pictures of Saturn and its moons. What was the name of the probe that Cassini piggybacked out there and then dropped off at Titan?

Spamalot (Rather, a Lot of Spam)

2007-01-17T18:23:00.000-05:00

A 7-year-old girl with cancer. What could be sadder than that? Who wouldn’t want to help if they could? Especially if all they had to do was simply forward an email to 50 million of their closest friends? But, contrary to popular ~~gullibility~~, uh, opinion, you can’t. Really. Need more information to back up my claim? OK, try looking here. Go ahead. I have time.

…

…

Had a look? OK. Now I’ll be the first to admit that there are numerous (‘numerous’ being somewhat of an understatement in this case) such urban legends and other similar tripe flying about from inbox to inbox these days. So why did I pick this one? Because this is the one that caused the huge email firestorm at work today.

I can't remember exactly what time it came through, but it was very early in the day, likely in the 8:30 am range (of course by then I'd been at work for two hours, but others come in later than I do). Somebody had gotten the "Amy Bruce" email from someone else outside our company and decided that it was worthy of forwarding ... to the entire company distribution list. This despite well published rules against using work computer resources for this type of thing.

Why did he do it? I don't know. I don't even know him. But maybe he was hooked by the part of the subject line that said "(This is local!)". A quick look through the email trail revealed that "local" in this case was reported to be somewhere in Kansas. Kansas doesn't even border Tennessee. How local is that?

But regardless of his reason, the response was quick and multiple. My personal response was to delete it, but the first "Reply to All" response that went out was actually in the right spirit. The respondent quickly pointed out that the message was indeed spam and that folks should, in the future, refrain from forwarding such useless drivel. Well that was all well and good, but then came a cascade of further responses in rapid succession. Some were pleas to "Please remove me from this type of distribution", which they of course sent to everyone in the company. Some were brutal assaults on the mental capabilities of the original forwarder, which were of course sent to everyone in the company. Then came the attacks on the "pleaders" and "assaulters" for sending their responses to everyone in the company. These were naturally sent to, you guessed it, everyone in the company.

In the space of about five minutes there were 14 messages that came into my inbox that were all related to the original spam. I would have found it amusing, except that it slowed my system down and even locked up the computer of the guy across the hall from me for a few minutes. That plus the time it took for me - and everyone else in the company - to identify and delete the plethora of mishapen missives. I do wonder how much wasted money that represents.

The IT department finally weighed in with a terse reminder that computer resources were not to be used in such ways and that the company has its own department which handles sending out well-screen company-wide announcements.

One thing I do wonder about, though. I only saw the responses that went back out company-wide. I wonder how many responses the perpetrator got from people who hit "reply" instead of "reply to all" to dress him down? I'm guessing that number is rather high. I'd also guess he got a personal note from IT about the whole brouhaha and his part in it. I wonder if he's crawled back out from under the nearest rock yet?

Snap

2007-01-16T21:02:00.000-05:00

I ran last night around the neighborhood. What (you might ask)? Hey Big Guy, didn’t you just explain yesterday how you bonked out so badly at Haw Ridge? Well, yes, I did, but I think that the two, maybe two-and-a-half hour long nap I took yesterday afternoon helped tremendously. And I didn’t really spend the evening planning on running. It was really a last-minute decision.

It was about 10 pm last night when I looked out to see what the weather was like. It was raining lightly; enough that it would keep me from running with the dogs, but not enough to keep me from running. It was a quick little “I used to run all the time in this kind of weather” thought that started the ball rolling, and before I knew it I was tying the laces on my running shoes and putting on my rain shell.

But what made me really decide to do it? A couple of things, I guess. First was the realization that I had bonked so badly because I am somewhat out of shape and need to correct that. Compelling, I suppose, but I could have waited a day, right? Except that I knew a little something about today. Sure, I knew I had a meeting downtown after work, though a little planning might have made that work in my favor if I'd taken running gear with me. No, what I knew about was the weather forecast.

We here in East Tennessee were blessed with a wonderful holiday weekend, from a climatological perspective. While regions of the West and North were being battered by bad, really bad weather, we had warm temperatures and only mostly cloudy skies (despite predictions for a weekend full of rain). And even though it did start raining on Monday afternoon, it never rained really hard. But a cold snap was coming, and my left shoulder joint confirmed the forecast for me. I'd rather run in light rain and temps in the mid-to-upper 50's than run in the dry with temps in the low 30's any day of the week.

So running last night was my best option, no matter how slow I might end up going after the harsh lesson of Haw Ridge. But you know what? I felt good. Really. I don’t mean to say that I set any records, but all things considered I felt really, really good.

So from now on I’m going to plan two, maybe two-and-a-half hour long naps into my exercise schedule.

Haw Ridge Ride

2007-01-15T19:16:00.000-05:00

Despite the dire predictions for a weekend full of rain, I got in another ride this morning. This, of course, following my ride yesterday and the running of the KnoxieCross race on Saturday, also in the dry. Today’s ride took me to Haw Ridge for my first ride there of 2007. I met John B., Monty, and Larry at the trailhead parking lot, and also Tommy from Georgia. Tommy was up visiting his girlfriend, but she had to work this morning so he decided to see what the fuss about Haw Ridge was all about. He was parked closest to me in the parking lot and asked if the trails made one big loop.

Hmm. Well, Haw Ridge is a little more complicated than that, I told him. I directed him to the kiosk and the trail map on the big board and pointed out the maze of possibilities. “Well,” I said, “You could try this route, or you might try this route, or … well, you might try coming with us.” Thus Tommy became our fifth man. He rode pretty well today and kept up pretty well.

As for me, I did great today. I was off light a flash from the start, flying over the singletrack as fast as I’ve ever gone. I felt invincible. I stopped to wait at all of the intersections, but nobody could actually stay with me today. Even all the way up the ridge to the highest elevations, I felt like I was riding on air. I was …

Okay, let me admit at this point that the preceding paragraph is a complete fabrication. Let me emphasize the word “complete” here. I was the slow man from the start and it only got worse. I had some traction problems on West Shore, so I stopped and let some of the air out of my back tire. That helped a good bit, and I was able to stay on with the group for the next several trails, along Lake Road, Twister (always a favorite), New Trail (sad that we never came up with a better name), Red Hill, Briar Loop, and part of the way up the Power Cut. But that was where my real trouble began.

I overheated a little on the climb up that part of the Power Cut. I asked for a water break, but quickly realized I was a bit dizzy. So I got off of the bike and sat for a few minutes, hoping that would help. Was I suffering some lingering effect from the cold I’m still shaking loose? I don’t know, maybe, but the rest I got there was not enough for what was coming. We started off again and Monty led us along Middle Road to the turn onto Low Gap trail.

Low Gap. That sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? Sure it does. But it isn’t. Low Gap is a long climb up the ridge. And it did me in today. I was actually in the saddle for the first good bit, but when I caught up with Tommy walking his bike I sensed that solidarity was in order and climbed off of my bike and started walking as well. There was a brief gradual down gradient where I got back on the bike, but the previous overheating returned and I didn’t stand a chance at the last bit where the slope of the climb cruelly increases near the top. I took a quick nature-break, almost as much as a chance to extend the stop as to get relief from a semi-full bladder.

And then we started along the ridge, which is a little bit more climbing, though more gradual. It didn’t matter. I was spent. I was riding like I was drunk or something: slow and slightly wobbly. The wobbly part was my biggest concern since the trail was narrow and plunged off down the hill on the right. Still, I was doing my best to hang in there and finally made it to the intersection with K2 trail. From there we went downhill for a while and I recovered a good bit, but the damage was done. Oh, and somewhere in there we found Alan and he joined the group.

Yes, I was cooked by Low Gap and was in ‘limp-along-home’ mode. However, from where we were, it made more sense to follow everyone East to East Edge trail and then up to where there was paved road I could follow back to the parking lot way back on the other side of the park.

I was happy to see that John and Tommy were waiting for me at the paved road (Old Edgemoor Rd), and they rode along with me for the first part of my trip back. After I convinced him I’d be okay, John took Tommy back in on another trailhead to ride with the rest of the guys as I continued on toward the parking lot. I felt better riding back, until I hit Edgemoor Rd (the new one, I guess) and turned to face a stiff headwind for the last ½ mile.

I got to my truck and put my bike in the back, and then just slowly started getting ready to leave. I was in no hurry to actually drive away until I at least had a chance to drink more from my waterbottle and get a small bit of food in my stomach. But right when I was ready to go, I saw Tommy coming back out on the main trailhead and stopped to talk to him for a while, explaining where all we had actually been vis-à-vis the map. I think he was rather happy to have gone in with us. His eyes were a bit wider with wonder as to just how many different possibilities there are at Haw Ridge, and how easy it might be to get completely turned around and lost.

Maybe I’ll see Tommy out there again. Maybe I won’t blow up quite so badly next time. One thing is certain; I need to get my stamina back up and fast. I can’t continue to suffer like this on rides I know I should have little problem with.
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One from the "You Gotta See This" file. Can I go ahead and put this on my wish-list?

Getting A 'Cross

2007-01-14T20:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I would say that the first race in the 2007 KnoxieCross series was a smashing success. The largest field ever to show up raced in the different heats (A, B, and the combined C/Women/Juniors field). The best part for me personally was the validation of my decision not to race and to concentrate solely on helping out with scorekeeping.

We’ve been using my laptop computer for the last several years to do scoring entry, with several people copying down the entries on paper as a backup. I’m familiar with the program we use, and I’ve usually been able to show someone else how to run the computer during the heat I’ve been known to race in, but there’s always some little glitch somewhere that we have to go back and figure out. Sometimes I’ve had to finish a race and go directly to the computer without having a chance to cool down at all. Well, actually that happened most of the time. It can be a quirky program.

But yesterday it all went smooth as silk. I got the name/number entries for the B and C races entered even while keeping score for the A race, and was even able to solve the one minor glitch we did have in real time without having to wait until it was all over and then got back and fix it then. The result printouts got out printed sooner than we’ve ever done before and nobody contested any of the scoring or split times. It was great. Well, mostly great. The one problem I did have was that the black ink cartridge on my little printer when dry, but I just changed the text to blue and it all worked out. I love it when it all comes together.

Next race: This coming Saturday, January 20th at Victor Ashe Park.
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The weather here has been freakishly warm for the last several days. I couldn’t do anything about it on Friday or Saturday due to KnoxieCross, but I did do something about it today. Joshua, Ron and I went for a 30 mile ride on one of the local Greenway Trails (two, actually, as they don’t connect, but we rode the short distance in-between to get from one to the other).

We saw a bunch of people out on the trail today. That’s not so surprising since the weather is so nice, but I think I actually saw more people out there today than I’ve ever seen out there at once during any other time of the year. I guess people think this might be their only chance for a while. They might be right, but then again there is that whole global warming thing to consider.

One notable sighting (other than the pretty girls): We passed a middle-aged couple on the Greenway at one point not far from the entrance to Island Home Airport. She was pushing a baby carriage…with a small collie in it. Gives another meaning to “taking the dog for a walk”. Ron looked over right after we got out of earshot and said “Man, that’s the ugliest baby I ever saw.”

“Yeah”, I said, “and it sure was a hairy little thing, wasn’t it?”

Crossing Again

2007-01-12T18:11:00.000-05:00

It's January, and that means it's time for Cyclocross here in Knoxville. I went today to help set up the course for tomorrow's race. I met John B. downtown for lunch, and then we headed over to the first race venue of the 2007 series, Morningside Park. John's been using Morningside as long as I've been involved in cyclocross here, and it's always been the first race location. But unlike this year, the race course has always been pretty much the same.

This year John was approached by Steve R., who wanted to try his hand at designing the course. John was happy to let him give it a shot. John and I got there today at abour 1:00 pm, joined soon after by Wally J. and Bob D. We started out by going ahead and removing leaves and as much broken glass as possible from the pavement segements of the course. After about an hour Steve showed up and the real work began.

It would be impossible for me to try to describe the routing of the course and do it justice, but it's certainly a tough course. In fact, the word that popped into my mind for the upper half was "heinous". Overall the course is a good bit longer than previous ones as well. It should make for some interesting racing.

But I won't be racing this year. This series has grown in popularity each year, so I think it's gotten big enough that I should concentrate on score-keeping full time. Besides, after seeing tomorrow's course...
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Trivia Answers for 1/4/07

1. What is the capitol of Canada? Ottawa is the Canadian capitol. When I lived in Massena, New York I used to drive to either Ottawa or Montreal to fly anywhere. Both were closer than the nearest major domestic airport.

2. Former presidential candidate Gary Hart watched his chances capsize and sink due to some 'monkey business' with what woman? Gary wasn't very smart about his affair with model Donna Rice. He told the media to follow him around if he wanted to, and they did, digging up the dirt on him and Donna in the process.

3. What is the significance of 'Monkey Business' in the previous question? "Monkey Business" was the name of a yacht that figured into some of their illicit time together. In fact, the most famous photo of them together shows her sitting on his lap and him sporting a T-shirt with the ship's name on it.

4. What 1985 movie did Oprah Winfrey co-star in (hint: Danny Glover was in it too)? Oprah was in "The Color Purple" as a supporting actress to Whoopi Goldberg.

5. A German tourist recently ended up in Montana due to a mix-up when purchasing his airline ticket on-line. Where did he intend to go? When he ended up in Sidney, Montana he figured out that maybe it wasn't spelled quite the same as the Sydney in Australia. He finally got to Sydney where he was going to visit his girlfriend, but he was a few days late and several hundred dollars short by then.

Good Friends and Lessons Learned

2007-01-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

I learned a lesson today. A $163.48 lesson, in fact. The hard way.

A few weeks ago I noticed that one of the belts on my truck would sometimes squeal briefly when I started the engine. “Hmm,” I remember thinking, “I should probably look into replacing that at some point.” Unfortunately, I didn’t really consider it to be an imperative. After all, my first car, a 1974 Ford Mustang II, did the same thing, only longer and louder when I started it. And I drove it for at least 10,000 miles before I got around to replacing the belts on it. In other words, I thought I had some time. Guess what? I ran out of time this morning.

I got up and did my usual morning ritual and then left the house at about 5:55am. Instead of driving through Oak Ridge to get to work like I often do, I decided to take the interstate (which I do less often, though I almost always come home that way). I heard the squeal briefly when I started the truck, but it stopped as usual and off I went. Everything was going along fine until I got almost to where I-40 and I-75 split, which was when I noticed that the battery light and the parking brake light were on.

Well, that was odd, I thought, but the truck was still driving fine, and a quick check let me know that the parking brake was indeed NOT engaged. Thus, I concluded (incorrectly, it turns out) that it was likely an electrical glitch. But nothing else was wrong and the headlights were still on, so I … looked back down at the dash and noticed that the engine temperature was spiking. Huh? Uh-oh, I thought, since I had just passed the last available exit for several miles.

Sure enough, I lost power and coasted to a stop on the side of the road. I noticed a little steam on the right side of the hood as I shut the engine off, and I figured that it was coolant bubbling out of the reservoir. There was only one likely explanation. The belt must have broken, and it must have been connected to both the alternator and the water pump. Yep.

I called work first to let them know I’d be late. Then I called AAA. Then I waited for almost 45 minutes for the tow truck to arrive while the cab of my truck got steadily colder and colder. It finally got there and he hauled me back to a Pep Boys in Knoxville where I left it for service. Still, there I was with no way to get home or to work. Why do these things only happen when MG is out of town?

Thank goodness for George R. He works about 2 miles from the Pep Boys and I knew he’d be there early as always. I called him and he came and got me and drove me home to my other car. I finally got to work two hours late at about 8:30 am.

But I still had a problem. I had a car at the shop and no way to get there to pick it up without having to leave a car there. Enter Kelly, who is a long-time friend (she and MG went to Vet School together). She also happens to work with George R., so I think she was anticipating my call. She came and got me at home after she got done at work and drove me back down to Pep Boys.

I’m lucky enough to have a lot of good friends, but especially lucky today to have two of them close at hand. Thanks, guys.
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Trivia Time

The Rules are here, and please email your answers to this address.

1. What 1980 film featured John Travolta and Debra Winger and centered around Gilley’s Club?

2. What domestic model was the best-selling car in the U.S from 1992 to 1996?

3. What mythological critter was famous for hanging out in a maze?

4. What is the term used for a solemn public decree issued by the Pope?

5. Who caused Custer’s downfall (other than Custer himself) and where?

Bonus: What was wrong with Fuzzy Wuzzy?

Old Trivia Answers

2007-01-10T22:00:00.000-05:00

Not much time tonight for a post. MG flew in from Philly this afternoon and left for Kingsport just after dinner, leaving me with errands to run for her. So instead of thinking up a post, I'll just catch up on a couple of old quiz sets I never got around to answering before.

Trivia Answers for 12/28/06

This was the slogan quiz.

1. Crisp and Clean and No Caffeine. Sprite put out this one way back. I can still hear the guy's deep booming voice on this one.

2. Mmmm Mmmm Good. Remember Andy Warhol's famous soup can? It was Campbell's.

3. Must See TV. NBC came up with this promotion at about the same time I stopped watching much TV, especially the major networks. So, no, it wasn't really "Must See" for me at all.

4. We Don't Make the Products You Buy; We Make the Products You Buy Better. I'm still trying to figure out why BASF decided to spend all that money to promote themselves when the only final product under their label I knew them for was cassette tapes, and they weren't even featured in the ads. Go figure.

5. All the News That's Fit to Print. The New York Times owns this little catch phrase. I'm not sure what they consider unfit to print, though.

Bonus: All the News That Fits. Rolling Stone did the Times one better with their little truncation.

Trivia Answers for 12/21/06

1. What terrestrial feature causes the winter and summer solstices? Quite simply, it's the tilt of the earth. During the winter solstice the earth's north pole is pointed away from the sun, so anything north of the Tropic of Cancer at that time is going to have less exposure to the sun. Anything north of the Arctic Circle gets no sun at all on the solstice.

2. Who created Winnie the Pooh? Scottish-born Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne created the stories centered around his son, Christopher Robin Milne, and his stuffed animals. However, 'Winnie-the-Pooh' was originally the name given to a Canadian black bear by the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Regiment (Winnipeg -> "Winnie"). The bear was left at the London Zoo after WWI, which is where Milne saw it and later used the name.

3. Who invented the game of basketball? Dr. James Naismith was looking for a indoor fitness regimen for students at what is now Springfield College (in Massachusetts) to keep his students fit during the long New England winters. The game evolved a good bit since he first introduced it (e.g., we no longer use a peach basket for a goal, et cetera).

4. In “Casino Royale”, Bond orders a drink with gin, vodka, and Lillet Blanc. What does he name it? Bond names it after his love interest, Vesper (Lynd)

5. “Beefeaters” is a brand of gin. Where are the original Beefeaters employed? The Beefeaters guard the Tower of London, though a lot of their time is now spent leading tours.

I'd Gladly Pay You Thursday For A Hamburger Today

2007-01-09T20:04:00.000-05:00

I wimped out tonight. Yeah, I’ll admit it. I really did.

I was supposed to go on an urban bike ride tonight. The Tuesday Night Clydesdale Rides are starting up again, and though we normally go mountain biking, the rule is that we do an urban downtown ride when the trails are sloppy. It rained a lot this last weekend, and the report coming from IC King (our usual Tuesday evening haunt) was slick, snotty slop. Thus, downtown we go.

But I didn’t go. I wimped out. Nevermind that it actually snowed this morning. Nevermind that the temperature was only in the upper 30’s as of our designated meeting time. Nevermind that the wind speed is 15 or so miles per hour with gusts of up to 30 miles per hour (it blew my hat off at one point today). Nevermind that I’m still getting over being sick. Nevermind that it was spitting little bits of rain as I drove home from work. Nevermind that Wally had already started backing out when I talked to Ron. Nevermind all that. I wimped out.

Oh, yes I did. You’d better believe it.

For those who don’t get the title’s reference, it's a phrase that was commonly used by Popeye’s friend, Wimpy.

Decay Is Not OK

2007-01-08T18:08:00.000-05:00

First off, let me apologize for not posting since last Thursday. I've been sick. All I've really felt like doing was sitting on the couch and watching TV. That's not to say that MG has let me get away with that, but the blog certainly has. I'm still sick, but getting better.

Now, straight to the heart of the matter.

There once was a thing known as 'Southern Hospitality'. I'm not sure it exists anymore, at least not in a general sense. Sure, there are local pockets of it here and there, but overall?

I notice the social decline a lot. As life has gotten more complicated in our increasingly busy world, hospitality and even decorum have gone right out of the nearest window. Fewer and fewer people smile and wave at their neighbors. For that matter, fewer and fewer people even know their neighbors. I grew up in a suburban development with about 50 to 60 houses. I think I knew most everyone, or at least knew who they were. I probably know less than 25% of the people in my current neighborhood. Nobody sits out on their porch here. Not many people even go for walks around the neighborhood here. I wave at people here who half-heartedly wave back, and some who don't wave back at all. I know who a lot of the kids are around here, but striking up a polite conversation is like pulling teeth ("yeah, like, whatever"). However, I am trying to do my part to set a good example for other people. Even things as simple as holding doors for people - am I naive to hope might be enough to get people to think about (not-so-common-anymore) courtesy?

But here's the thing that set me off today. I went to the Post Office on my way home from work. The parking lot is a one-way single lane with diagonal parking on both sides. I pulled into the parking lot behind another guy and noticed a car up ahead backing out of a spot on the right. It was about half-way out when we got into the lot, but the guy in front of me - and I'm not exagerating or embellishing at all here - sped up, laid on his horn, and swerved his car to squeeze between the car backing out (which wisely stopped) and the line of cars on the opposite side. I would guess that he was going about 25 to 30 miles per hour as he went by. Why did he do that? I dunno, but all he did was drive to the mailboxes at the end of the lot and put his letters in before leaving (I can't see how doing that thirty seconds later would have adversely affected his life). I had to wave the stopped car out, as she was visibly shaken and not going to take any chances, I guess.

I started thinking about it a little. What if she hadn't been able to stop? What if someone had walked out from between the parked cars on the other side? What if it had been a child? What would a reasonable person have done if they had been driving the offending car? What would Jesus do?

And I ask that last question for a very good reason. After all, it was written right there on the guy's bumper sticker.

The Pager

2007-01-04T17:53:00.000-05:00

I carry a pager for work. But then, I haven't had my pager with me for a while. I forgot to wear it one day. Not on purpose, mind you. I simply didn't think to put it on that morning. I didn't even realize it until I got home from work that night and saw it sitting on my dresser. "Oh well," I thought, "it didn't matter much. I haven't been paged in months anyway."

I first got the pager about four years ago when I was doing a different job function on a different project. I didn't have a cell phone of my own back then. I'd had one before, but I gave it up to MG when she went on the road traveling a lot. Back in those days I could expect to get paged just about daily, sometimes several time daily.

Then I went to a different project where I got paged less often (but I got a cell phone again while I was there). For the 18 months before this last August I was on still another project, and I almost never got paged. In fact, it was around June when I forgot it that day I mentioned previously.

So I decided to try an experiment. I left my pager at home for a week. I would check it daily when I got home, but I never got a page. Why would I? I had a cell phone and voice mail. Most people knew to call me on one of those anyway.

Then I left it at home for a month. Then two. Then … well, you get the idea.
This morning I decided to bring my pager with me to work. The plan was to find the time to walk down to Tech Services at some point during the day and turn it in. I'll give you three guesses what happened today.

I got paged three times across the day.

Three.

There's an old joke that I was reminded of recently. 'Q: How do you make God laugh? A: Make a plan.'
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Trivia Time

Rules are here. Email your answers here. Ready? Let's begin.

1. What is the capitol of Canada?

2. Former presidential candidate Gary Hart watched his chances capsize and sink due to some 'monkey business' with what woman?

3. What is the significance of 'Monkey Business' in the previous question?

4. What 1985 movie did Oprah Winfrey co-star in (hint: Danny Glover was in it too)?

5. A German tourist recently ended up in Montana due to a mix-up when purchasing his airline ticket on-line. Where did he intend to go?

The Year That Was

2007-01-03T20:47:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess it’s time to look back at 2006 and see how I did compared to the goals I set out for myself. I’ve gone back to the post I put up on my old blog site way back on January 3rd of last year just to see exactly what my stated goals were. Let’s see how I did. Last year's stuff is in italics for easy reference.

So anyway, here's what I'd like to do this year:
- Participate in all four of the local cyclocross races (Knoxiecross). I would say "Race in...", but I know better than to think I stand much of a chance to be anything more than pack fodder.
OK, well, I did accomplish this goal, but I was right not to expect too much of myself performance-wise. Especially in the last race, in which I rode with a pulled muscle in my back.

- Ride in at least two century events. For those unfamiliar with the term, that means doing a ride of 100 miles or more in one day. I have done at least two each year for the last several years, so I shouldn't have a problem with this. I hope to do the Smoky Mountain Wheelmen Fall Century this year - I've done the last five except the latest, when I was out of the country. I haven't decided on the other one(s) yet.
Complete and total failure on this one. I had planned to do the 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge in June, but that plan disappeared into the ether when I re-broke my right collarbone mere hours before doing a 62 mile ride on May 20th. I then pinned my century hopes for the year on the SMW Fall Century in October, but that one also fell off of my radar due to my catastrophic crash on Labor Day and the subsequent surgery to repair that damage.

- Help organize my bike club's century, the English Mountain Challenge. This will be the 2nd annual event. I helped organize and also drove the SAG Wagon last year, so I won't get to ride (unless the organizers decide to make a test run...hmm).
This one I was able to do. I rode in the SAG Wagon again, this time with John B. I didn’t do a test run, though.

- Ride at least 2,500 miles. I had over 2,100 miles last year even though I missed most of October and November due to injury. This sounds like a lot, but Jon N. rode about twice that this year. Thanks to the Tour de Downtown Parking Garages, I already have my first 13.25 miles in the books.
Failure here as well. I achieved just over half of this goal. I spent way too many good-weather riding days on the Disabled List this year (rough estimate – 3 ½ to 4 months). But, just like last year, the Tour de Downtown Parking Garages gave me my first mileage of the year.

- Go on at least two unsupported multi-day tours by bicycle. I'd like to make one of them a camping trip.
HA! Yeah, well, this didn’t happen either. Mostly for the same reasons as stated above (on the DL), but I may not have found the time anyway.

- Ride my mountain bike at Tanasi and Panther Creek. Most of my mountain biking buddies talk about doing rides at these two places, but I've never been to either. This is the year.
I got to ride at Tanasi. That was fun, even though I was having bike trouble at the time (rear shock died). Panther Creek still eludes me.

- Ride the Virginia Creeper with Mrs. Guy (by tandem). We were supposed to do this in November, but I was still in a sling. We still made the trip, but only walked part of the trail while our friends rode on it.
No, I didn’t get to do this either. MG and I rode less than 100 miles together on the tandem this year, and all of that was during cold weather months. Most of those miles came last month while we were in Florida.

- Participate in my first mountain bike race. I just hope I've got some good karma built up for this one.
Ah, now this is one I can proudly say that I exceed expectations on. I rode in not just one but two mountain bike races last winter, and I did much better than I’d expected to do (an 8th and 4th place finish, respectively). I wanted to ride in more, but my mountain biking was on hiatus from mid-April until late December.

- Lose 20 more pounds (at least). I was doing well until the crash, but I have gained more over the holidays than I'd like to admit. Still, I weigh less than I did at this time last year.
Well, I was on my way there, more or less. I struggled a little bit in the Spring after my April surgery, but was able to keep from gaining more than I could easily lose again after. I was in pretty good shape going into the Fall up until the Labor Day debacle. I lost September and October on the bike, and part of November. By the time I was back to the bike the days were to short for me to ride during the work-week, and the weekends were cluttered with other obligations as well. One ride a week was about all I could muster, and that just isn’t enough to counter the effects of the holiday season on my wasteline. Comparing what I weigh now to what I weighed then, I’ve actually had a net gain of a few pounds, even though I’d lost a good bit during the warmer months.

So, where do I go from here? Well, some of my goals for the next year are a little different, though maybe a little more reasonable.
- I still want to ride at least 2,500 miles (12 down, 2488 to go).
- I still want to lose 20 or more pounds. Emphasis on 'more'.
- I won't be riding in the KnoxieCross races. They've grown to the point where I think I can best serve by dedicating myself to scorekeeping full-time. I'll still get some practice laps in.
- I'm already helping organize the bike club's century ride for this year.
- I've been talking to John B. already about trying to do another unsupported multi-day tour, maybe from here to Blowing Rock, NC. And we've started thinking about a supported multi-day tour on the Natchez Trace Parkway (a suggestion originally from John H.)
- I haven't decided about more mountain bike racing this year. MG might not think much of that, and my conditioning stinks right now as well.
- I want to ride in one, maybe two, century rides.
- I want to finally take MG on that Virginia Creeper ride on the tandem.
- I want to avoid further visits to my orthopedic surgeon unless they are purely social calls.

I think that's a good enough list for now.

New Year's Ride Report

2007-01-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

Well, once again a bunch of us braved the cold weather and ventured forth into downtown Knoxville in search of fun and adventure. This year marks the third or fourth year that I’ve participated in the Tour de Downtown Parking Garages, and the second year that it’s been held on New Year’s Day instead of Christmas.

We had a bigger crowd this year than we’ve had before. Actually, attendance has increased each year, I believe. Last year I think there were six of us. This time I think there were sixteen or more. We met at the sculpture of the Rowing Sinking Man as usual at around 3 pm. Why so late? Well, the hometown college team played in the Outback Bowl (and sadly lost), so we made accommodation for those of us who wanted to watch the game.

I showed up right on time, but had a few issues to iron out. I’d just replaced my rear tube (which I'd flatted weeks ago in Florida) before I left the house, but somehow it went flat again before I could get to the meeting point. I spent about five or ten minutes changing my tire and then changing into my cold weather riding gear, but everyone was willing to wait for me. Besides, it gave Bob D. a chance to change the gearing on his singlespeed. Then we headed out toward the Walnut Street Garage.

In years past I have always done well in the parking garage coaster races. That’s where you go to the top to start and everybody coasts the whole way down. However, I find myself a little more tentative about riding very close to other people, especially since I hadn’t ridden with some of these folks before. I chose discretion and took a fifth-place finish.

I’m used to us hitting almost all of the downtown parking garages on these rides, but the will of the group was that we head straight over to Thompson Boling Arena for the ‘Spiral of Death’ race. As we took a practice lap I noticed a concrete bollard that was lying on its side that could have caused somebody big problems if they hit it. So after the practice lap, I went over to try to move it out of the way. I was able to move it in increments (sliding one end over, then the other, then the first again, et cetera). However, much to my chagrin, I pulled a muscle in my lower back in the process. Ow. Not bad enough to keep me from continuing riding, but bad enough to hurt like crazy.

We ended up doing two races there (I was not competitive in either). I took a flying start in the first race before waiting for someone to say “Ready, Set, Go”, but that was mainly to prove that I know how to cheat (cheating is encouraged in these races) and to get everybody going. I didn’t even maintain my lead for half of the first lap.

Last year we stopped at a fountain on campus and watched as Phillipe rode inside of it (it's drained and dry this time of year). On this occasion, we got to watch Phillipe and Luke W. do it at the same time. Next year I expect to see it done with circus bears and monkeys riding on tandems. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here's a shot of Phillipe doing it by himself last year.

We ended the day at the Dwight Kessel Garage, which is arguably the best downtown venue for bicycle garage racing. I think we did only two races, but we also did a lot of other laps inside the garage for practice/fun. Again, I was not competitive.

After that we all went our own respective ways (though I stopped by Bob’s truck – parked near mine – for an adult beverage and a slice of summer sausage). I got home and pulled an ice-pak out of the freezer and laid on that up in the office while MG was processing expense reports. I’m not sure it helped much, nor did the hot shower I took twenty minutes later, but at least the shower felt good.

And my back really hurts this morning. I walk with a strange shuffle, and I can’t stay seated for long. Still, I’m glad I moved the bollard. I just wish I had lifted it differently. Or maybe just marked it with road flares or something.

Three, Three, Three Posts in One...

2006-12-31T17:52:00.000-05:00

Junkie

Well, I survived Dollywood on Friday. For those of you who don’t know, Dollywood is an amusement park in Pigeon Forge, TN (near Knoxville). It’s not one of the largest ones around (Six Flags in Atlanta is bigger, and I'm not even going to mention the Disney Empire), but it isn’t bad. What’s bad is the crowds.

I guess I was relatively lucky on Friday. The crowds were large owing in part to the fact that a lot of people were off work and in part because the park closed yesterday and won’t open again until the end of March. I sure that just about every season ticket holder within a 150 mile radius (which is where I would expect most season ticket holders to live) were there at some point between December 26 and yesterday. But, with that being said, the crowds were not quite as bad as I had feared. But I still don’t like crowds all that much.

Happily, there weren’t that many people there to ride the rides. I think most folks were there for the Christmas-time shows and to shop for stuff. Dollywood does have a lot of crafts artist working there, and they usually have stuff on sale at very low prices to clear out the last of their stock just before the winter closure. But I wasn’t there for that. No, I’m a roller coaster junkie.

There were five of us together there on Friday. It would have been six, but She-Mom wasn’t feeling all that well and decided to head back to Kingsport. Those of us there headed straight for Thunderhead. Thunderhead is a large wooden rollercoaster. It features a 100 foot maximum drop, speeds up to 55 mph, and causes you to experience approximately 3.5 G’s. The ride lasts about 150 seconds, which seems like a very short time considering the fifteen minute wait in line, but it is worth that wait. MG and her half-sister Emma went from there to Timber Tower (which seems like a rather lame ride to me), so I took the youngest half-sister, Hannah, with me for another shot at Thunderhead. Step-She-Mom went with MG and Emma to watch them.

I thought about hitting Thunderhead one more time, but everyone else wanted to move on. So we headed up to the Tennessee Tornado. The Tennessee Tornado is a roller coaster with an interesting bit of history. There used to be an older roller coaster sitting where it does now, but it was quite old. When, years ago, Opryland decided to close their theme park, Dollywood bought the ride from them, dismantled it, shipped it to East Tennessee, and reassembled it where the old roller coaster had been. This ride only lasts about a minute, but the speeds are higher and the G-forces a bit more extreme (since you do multiple loops upside down). My only complaint about the ride comes at the end, where the track jolts the cars upward before coming into the station. I’m still sore today from that little bump, since it made me bang my knee and the harness compressed against my collarbone implants. Maybe I’ll stick to Thunderhead.

And we did. After milling about for a while, and letting Emma watch the glass-blowers doing their exhibition (always a crowd-gatherer), we ended up going back over to Thunderhead for one last ride before going to the smaller rides (e.g., bumper cars, the Scrambler, etc). Man, I love that rroller coaster. And they’re building yet another roller coaster near that one. It will open in April. I think I can brave the crowds for a shot at that…maybe by May or so once the “new-ness” wears off.
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Last Ride of ‘06

I did get one last ride in for the year. I met John B. at his house yesterday and we rode over to the mountain bike trails at IC King park. I didn’t really ride very well. I was still sore from the Tennessee Tornado and from running a couple of days last week. John had claimed he wouldn’t ride very well either (due to being ‘over-served’ at a bar the night before), but he still rode much better than I did. I guess I do OK mostly on the flats and uphills, but he really rides away from me on the downhill sections. I seem to be having a bit of a confidence problem with going fast downhill on a mountain bike. I can’t imagine why.

We rode all the way out to the end of the loops by the second (unused) parking lot. John showed me a location that he was wanted to see about opening up for a few more trails. I have, on occasion, thought the same thing over there, but John actually knows the people to contact to make it happen. I’ll be glad to help cut the new trails once approval is gained from the Park Department. Looking at the area, I see a lot of potential.

John needed to be back at his house to get ready for a wedding, so I mentioned that we should head on back. We did, until we met up with Philippe, who was also out riding. We ended up stopping and talking with him for maybe 10 to 15 minutes. I was just getting ready to remind John about his need to go when he realized it himself. Since he was riding so much better, I told him to go ahead and not wait on me. I kept up for a little while, but I had a little difficulty at a log-crossing and lost sight of him there. From that point on I just continued on at my own pace all the way back to his house.

My one real moment of concern happened about half a mile from John’s. As I was riding through the neighborhoods, I saw a dog (maybe a Doberman mix?) jump over a fence as I was coming by. After a moment of panic, I noticed it had jumped out of one fenced-in area and into another. However, I knew that if he did it once … I sped up. So did the dog. He reached the corner of the fence and … sure enough, up he jumped. I decided it was time for a sprint. However, sprinting is not something that full-suspension mountain bikes are made for. I felt I could have easily outpaced him on my road bike, but on that bike he was quickly gaining on me. My usual tactic would be to grab my waterbottle and give him a squirt in the face, but I knew I couldn’t get to it fast enough. So instead I pulled out Plan B.

I stopped sprinting and turned my head in his direction. He got to within about five feet of me and I, well, I barked at him. I can’t describe it any better than that. It was loud. It was abrupt. And it worked. I really loved the confused look on his face as he scrambled to a stop.
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Today

Well, I had planned to spend today going through closets and drawers and reorganizing my clothes (culling out the stuff I don’t wear anymore), but I woke up at about 4:30 am unable to breathe through my nose. Yeah, I’ve come down with a cold, I guess. So much for going to Philippe and Sylvie’s for New Year’s Eve festivities, eh? At least MG is taking good care of me and I’m getting plenty of rest.

I just hope I can make it to the New Year’s Day Tour de Downtown Parking Garages tomorrow. Well, I’ll probably go anyway. I don’t think I can make myself worse.

Well, That Took Longer Than I'd Planned...

2006-12-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

I'd hoped to leave work a little early today. Didn't happen.

I went to go get a new mobile phone today. I figured on 30 minutes, tops. It took about 90 (but I did get a new phone).

MG and I went to dinner right after. The wait was 35 to 40 minutes (on a Thursday?!?), and then service was slow coming from the kitchen. We'd planned on an hour. Closer to two.

And just now our house guests for the next two nights showed up (be right back)...

....

....

... (OK, I'm back).

So now I will be entertaining MG's stepmom and two half-sisters for the rest of the evening. With that in mind, it's...
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Trivia Time
Please review the Rules if you need to and remember to post you answers to bgoab at mindspring dot com.
There's a theme tonight. I'll give you the slogan or catch-phrase. You tell me where it came from. Capice?

1. Crisp and Clean and No Caffeine [forgive me, CafLib and MochaMomma]?

2. Mmmm Mmmm Good?

3. Must See TV?

4. We Don't Make the Products You Buy; We Make the Products You Buy Better?

5. All the News That's Fit to Print?

Bonus: All the News That Fits?

Zzzz...snrk..........zzzzzz

2006-12-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

I am exhausted. I don't really even know why, but I am. I didn't really have that hard a day at work, though I did put in a full day. I came home, had dinner with MG and She-Mom, and then started nodding off occasionally sitting on the couch with them and watching FoodTV.

Maybe it's a lack of riding. My body is rebelling. Yeah, that's it. Saturday will be my earliest opportunity, though. I work tomorrow and it's off to Dollywood on Friday with ... well, let's just save that for later, shall we? (We shall.)

Savoir Unfaire

2006-12-26T17:54:00.001-05:00

Well, I hope you all enjoyed your holiday yesterday. I certainly did, even though I spent much of the morning (and most of the time opening gifts) with a cold washcloth held to my left eye. No, MG didn't punch me for not getting her gifts in the right size (though that's the story I'll tell at work tomorrow just for fun). No, I got smacked in the eye by one of my dogs when I was playing with them yesterday morning. Alice rolled over on her back and flailed her rear feet about at random, and before I even knew about it I had a paw rake me across the lip, nose, and eye. I think the cold washcloth applied quickly by MG helped me not to have a real shiner, but I do have a nice scratch on my face. Merry Christmas, eh?

Well, I still enjoyed opening gifts, so I won't sulk about it. MG and I were also both off work today, so we went out to run several errands, including trading in her old mobile phone for a new one. She walked in talking about the "no-frills" little blue basic phone, and walked out with one that has a camera, MP3 player, web-access, and a kitchen sink. I was also going to get a phone, but I walked empty-handed since none of the phones meet what I think the allowable criteria for having them at work would be. I'll have to check tomorrow at work, but I think I will likely get stuck having to have one of the three lowest models that they carry at the phone store. Oh well.

So, on to the real point of this post's title, my visit to the auto-parts store. I went there looking for touch-up paint for my truck. I pulled into the more-empty-than-full parking lot and got out of my truck just in time to watch a guy in a flame-red older model Pontiac (a really nice-looking one) pull in to one of the handicap parking spots. He hopped out, along with his two young kids and started for the door. At this point I faced a dilemma.

There was no blue tag hanging from his rear-view mirror. There was no special plate on the car. The occupants of the car were clearly able-bodied. I knew my duty was to say something to the guy, but I don't really want to have to make somebody look like a bad guy in front of his children. Besides he might get defensive about it, which is another good reason not to say something in front of his kids. Hmmm. What to do, I considered. Turns out, nothing (in this case). Just as I was trying to figure out just how to discretely and tactfully say something to this guy, his daughter, who looked to be about five-years-old, turned to him...

Little Girl: "Daddy, that's a handicap space."
Father: "Yeah, well, we'll just be a minute..."
Little Girl: "But Daddy, you're not supposed to park there."
Father: "It'll be OK, we won't be here long."
Little Girl: "Daddy, it's not right."
Little Boy (seven, I'd guess): "Yeah, we learned that in school. And the sign says $160 fine."
Father: Okay, you're right. I'll move the car. Stay right there on the sidewalk where I can see you. [turns, sees me watching the scene play out, shrugs, moves car over about three spaces to an empty one]

I breathed a sigh of relief and hope. Perhaps today's kids are learning something in schools these days after all.

Catching Up From Waaaaaay Back

2006-12-24T10:15:00.000-05:00

No, I’m not talking about a race here, though it can happen that you can get back into a race that’s gotten way ahead of you (though you’re likely to burn all of your energy doing it and have nothing left for the finish. No, today I’m talking about the Trivia Quiz. I’m finally catching up on the points standings.

Yes, you heard (read, actually) correctly. I’m catching up on tabulating results from way back on October 6th.

So, what really happened is that the old contest ended with the quiz from October 19th. That’s when GeekCyclist passed over the 50 point mark (your prize will be emailed out later). All current scores reflect answers from the October 26th quiz and forward.

So, with that out of the way…
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MG and I had a lovely dinner the other night. We even had a small measure of privacy. The restaurant we went to has two … well, booths, for lack of a better term … that are semi-enclosed, which cuts down on the noise and also lets you draw a curtain so you can feel a bit more isolated from the rest of the diners. Quite nice.

We also went by the bike club’s Christmas Party for a little while after, so I got to see some folks I hadn’t seen in a little while and MG even got to talk to some friends of hers that were there.
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Yesterday I finished the last of my Christmas shopping in the morning (a gift certificate for a friend’s little boy – that’s what he asked for). MG and She-Mom went shopping themselves, culminating in an afternoon-long, multi-store grocery run. Since I was (mercifully) let off of the hook for that, I took the opportunity to go for a short impromptu bike ride.

I still haven’t patched the rear tire on my main road bike (blown out on the last day of the Florida trip), so I decided to ride an older bike in my stable. It’s still a good bike, but I’m a little nervous about the spokes on the rear wheel. That’s one of the few wheels I’ve ever broken a spoke on, and I’ve done it several times. Taking into account the extra weight I’m carrying right now, and I knew I wouldn’t want to get too far afield (since I knew MG would have to take a long time to come and pick me up if it did become unrideable). I ended up doing several small loops (almost like I was trying to ride in a clover-leaf pattern) from near the house.

Not a long ride, and not a particularly adventurous or challenging ride, but a ride nonetheless. And that’s what counted.

Lemons -> Lemonade

2006-12-22T16:45:00.000-05:00

I was really hoping to get to ride my bike today. Ma Nature had other plans. Who am I to argue with Ma Nature? Time to activate Plan B.

Since the rain was falling, I hoped in the car instead and drove into the abject and vociferous madness that is Knoxville traffic. Traffic here is usually only this bad on college home game days, but the month of December is like a month of October Saturdays. Fortunately, the traffic this morning wasn't quite so nutty. At least not this morning.

I headed downtown to do some stocking-stuffer shopping for MG. John B. called while I was out and mentioned something that we just couldn't pass up doing for lunch, so I incorporated that into the plan-of-the-day.

Todd Steed and the Sons of Phere (the name makes more sense if you are fairly familiar with Knoxville) were playing on the Blue-Plate Special on WDVX. John knows most of the guys in the band, and has played with several before (including Todd). I was several minutes ahead of John getting downtown, so I order take-out sandwiches for us at the Tomato Head. He showed up just before the food was ready, so we got it and walked on over to the studio.

The Blue-Plate Special is a regular feature at WDVX (most weekdays at noon). Today's show was more crowded than most, perhaps since more people were off work, or because Todd Steed and the boys have a pretty good following. It wasn't the whole band today, but four of the guys. There isn't really room on stage for a drum kit, so Ed was playing a cardboard box. Don't knock it - it sounded great for that venue. So for an hour today John and I ate our lunch while standing over by the elevator in the studio, joined by Derek who wasn't eating. I we saw others we knew there as well, such as Tim and Susan (other local musicians) and another guy whose name I can never remember. Shame on me. Anyway, it was a great show, and Todd and the boys (especially Todd) have really good 'stage presence', for lack of a better term.

I followed that up with more shopping as John, Derek and I went our seperate ways. I won't say where all I went just in case MG happens to read this post (though she usually doesn't read my stuff - I don't know why). I will say that traffic got horrid as the day went by. At one point it took me five minutes to go 30 yards on the Bearden Hill section of Kingston Pike. Yikes.

I can say one place I went. I stopped at an auto parts store to buy a Christmas present for the truck. A brand new set of wiper blades. I installed them when I got home. I can tell it really likes them. Maybe I'll give it a bath tomorrow if the rain will hold off long enough.

I'm going to close now. I've got to go get ready for my Anniversary Dinner with MG. Sixteen years, if you must know.

Maybe trivia answers tomorrow?

Obligations

2006-12-21T21:54:00.000-05:00

I haven't kept up my posting very well lately. 'Tis the season. I blame the constant demands on my time lately. I'm going to stick by that story.

I still haven't ridden since last Saturday. Will I get to ride tomorrow? Depends on the weather. The forecast is bleak right now, but I must hold out some hope.

There may not be a post tomorrow. MG and I are celebrating our anniversary (16 years - our marriage can get a driver's license in most states now). We'll be going out to eat tomorrow night and maybe stopping by my bike club's party for a few minutes on the way home (maybe).
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Trivia Time
You know the drill by now. Rules. Bgoab at MindSpring dot Com. 'Nuff said.

1. What terrestrial feature causes the winter and summer solstices?

2. Who created Winnie the Pooh?

3. Who invented the game of basketball?

4. In “Casino Royale”, Bond orders a drink with gin, vodka, and Lillet Blanc. What does he name it?

5. “Beefeaters” is a brand of gin. Where are the original Beefeaters employed?

2006-12-19T19:43:00.000-05:00

Photo evidence of the "Road That Wasn't (All) There" (Gulf Islands National Seashore between Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, Florida, Dec. 2006

Sometimes December is the Cruelest Month

2006-12-19T19:24:00.000-05:00

I rode six days last week. In Florida.

I got back home on Saturday evening. I haven't ridden since then.

I got a call last Tuesday while in Florida from Ron. He'd left a message saying that he couldn't remember if it was that week I'd be gone, but that if I was home I should go ride with Wally and him. Well, by the time I got the message and called back I had already ridden 40 miles, notwithstanding the fact that I was approximately 500 miles away and would neer make it back on time. Still, it was time to start our Tuesday Night Clydesdale Rides back up, so they went.

Hoping for a ride tonight, I set my headlamp batteries on their chargers last night. That fact, if nothing else, virtually assured that I wouldn't get to ride tonight.

I first called Ron this morning, but he didn't answer. Then I called Wally. Wally has family in town for the holidays already, so he's out until the next Cades Cove Moonlight Ride on or about January 4. Ron called me back a little later. He was interested in going, but had to check with his social coordinator (his version of MG). He called back again around midafternoon. He forgotten a few errands he had to get done tonight, so he was out.

This always happens around Christmas. Everybody gets busy, and MG is out of town like usual.

I tried calling John B., but could never get him on either his house phone or his mobile. After that I just couldn't think of anyone else to call that has lights. Until I got home from the Post Office and it was too late to go. Phillip. Why didn't I think of Phillip? Shame on me. I'll have to do better next time.

Ahh, he probably either had to work or has X-mas related stuff to do as well.

And it's so unseasonably warm out these days. <3rd>

I guess I'll just have to go for a run instead. At least I can take the dogs (one at a time to prevent my certain entanglement, and thus, doom).

Travelin' Man (and Woman)

2006-12-16T23:00:00.000-05:00

Today was our day to drive home to the hills of East Tennessee from the flats of Western Florida. We planned to leave this morning by 11:oo am (noon, Eastern time), so I got up early enough to take in one last ride. This made six days in a row of cycling, which is something I almost never get.

The wind was near still again this morning. Looking out at the gulf was like looking at a calm lake. There weren't really any waves to speak of. What little there was simply lapped against the shore. This made for easy riding in about any direction, so I picked the one direction I really hadn't ridden in yet. I headed west through the town of Pensacola Beach and then went north.

The first thing you have to do when heading north from there is to go over an Intercoastal Waterway bridge, which is the closest thing they have to climbs around the Pensacola area. They are relatively steep, but very short. Barely worth the effort of a East Tennessee boy like me, but you take what you can get. Next up was the passage through the town of Gulf Breeze. Gulf Breeze is usually heavily trafficked, but not so much on a Saturday morning, so I had the left-most of the three north-bound lanes mostly to myself. The only thing that really slowed me down was the fact that I just missed making it through the green on every traffic light.

The Intercoastal Waterway bridge from Pensacola Beach to Gulf Breeze crosses over Santa Rosa Sound. The next bridge I came to, which was on the north end of Gulf Breeze, crosses Pensacola Bay to Pensacola. This bridge is known as the "Three Mile Bridge", and for good reason. I'd been across it before by bicycle four or five years ago, and it hasn't gotten any shorter since then. There are three "humps" in the bridge to allow ships to pass under, but only the middle one is of any substance, and the slope and height are similar to the other bridge.

I got to the Pensacola end of the bridge and waited about five minutes before I could cross the road and head back (traffic was picking up). On starting back, I found that I had been riding into a bit of a headwind after all, and I was able to go a little faster back over the bridge. I again caught every light going through Gulf Breeze and hit the final bridge for the last time. The four crossing were my only real opportunities to coast at all. I think I'll enjoy doing that most of all once I get back out on my home roads.

We hit the road about when we wanted and my brother caught up with us in downtown Pensacola just before we hit the Interstate on-ramp. He was on his bike, and was heading to the Post Office and hoping to catch us. Thank goodness for cell phones, 'cause he got us just in time for us to pull into a gas station for the minute or two he needed to get there.

The trip home was mostly boring and uneventful other than the SUV with the trailer whose driver decided to veer quickly into our lane somewhere between Birmingham and Gadsden in Alabama. If I hadn't been looking right at them, they would have hit us. As it was, it's a good thing there wasn't anyone behind me when I hit the brakes...hard.

But now we're home. Maybe I'll see if someone wants to go ride at I.C. King tomorrow?

A Full Friday

2006-12-15T22:49:00.001-05:00

Well, it's our last full day in Florida, so it was our last chance to take a spin on the tandem. I usually like to get out early, but MG had a call she had to make to her boss this morning, so we had to wait until after that. One of the problems that we've had here is the spotty coverage on our cell phone service, so she actually had to get in the car and drive about four miles toward town to get a strong signal. That left me with about an hour to wait on her, so I used the time constructively by taking a post-breakfast nap.

MG returned after her call and we got ready for our ride. There was very little wind again today, so we rode westward toward Fort Pickens for just under six miles before turning around and heading back. MG used the ride to look at the houses along the way and dream of life living at the beach. I'm more of a mountains guy myself. It's too flat around here for me. There aren't really any good places to coast.

We spent the rest of the day going into Pensacola proper for lunch, shopping at a craft fair, making a quick run to Target, and looking for gifts for She-Mom at a store we'd visited on Tuesday and MG wanted to go back to. We also ran by my brother's to say "bye" to my youngest niece and my sister-in-law. Then we headed back to the condo.

We had dinner here at the condo with my parents, but we also had the oldest niece and her boyfriend by for dinner, and the middle niece is here spending the night. The only one we haven't been able to say our final "bye" to before we leave is my brother, who wasn't home yet when we went by the house. We leave in the morning for home, but we may have to make a special trip to see him on the way out.

But maybe I'll still have time in the morning for one last ride...
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Last week's trivia answers will come either tomorrow or Sunday after we get home.

The Other Road That....

2006-12-14T17:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday’s ride, for me, was all about recovery. Having ridden pretty hard on both Monday and Tuesday, and considering the ride I also did on Saturday, my legs and … more sensitive areas … were ready for something a bit more relaxed. It takes two to tandem, so I joined MG for a relaxed pace riding through some of the neighborhoods out here in the Pensacola Beach area. Many of the houses have been repaired and/or rebuilt since the devastation of the hurricanes, but there are a large number of homes that look very damaged. Some are being worked on now. Some look abandoned.

To be fair, though, those home owners may just be waiting for their turn. The supply of labor available since the hurricanes has been very tight. My own brother had to wait quite a while to have his roof repaired following the storms, and at a premium price. Capitalism is alive and well in the Gulf region.

Nonetheless, we saw a great number of houses that MG just loved. Being the beach, I pointed out to her that maybe the broken down trailer home on one lot was more in our affordability range, though I wouldn’t even guarantee that.

It was a pleasant twelve mile ride, though, and just the thing my legs needed. We followed it up with several laps in the pool (heated indoor).
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This morning I got up to find that the winds were almost non-existent. This provided my chance to make a westerly excursion without the fear of having to spend the return trip battling the wind. I rode through Pensacola Beach and took the road that once went all the way out to Fort Pickens. I used to visit Fort Pickens on every trip I made to the area, but I haven’t been there in quite a number of years. A storm in the ‘90s took out a lot of the road at some point back then, and I’m not sure they’d ever recovered before the more recent storms came through.

I got to (and went around) the gate similar to the one east of the condo where automobile traffic must stop. From there I rode maybe a mile or two to where the old toll booth used to be (it used to cost a few bucks to go to the fort, though I generally went on my brother’s annual membership pass). Not far past the booth is where the pavement gave way and the first portage started. But what a portage. I couldn’t even see the other end of the former pavement. There was a sign at the pavement’s end telling hikers and cyclists that the round trip to the fort from that point was 14 miles, of which 1.5 miles would require cyclists to carry their bikes. It also cautioned people to have water, sunscreen, et cetera.

I turned back.

What little wind there was today came from the North, so it didn’t really cause me any trouble on either the trip toward or from the fort. I decided to just ride on back to the condo, but when I got near it I found that I was several miles short of 20, which is what I like to keep as a minimum when I go out on a road ride right now (the minimum increases during the warmer months). I rode on out to the gate east of the condo, then turned and headed back. I recorded 21 miles when I got back. That will do nicely.
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Trivia Time

The Rules are still in effect. Please email your answers to bgoab at mindspring dot com, and remember, you have a whole week to turn in your answers.

1. Who starred as James Bond in the very first film version of Casino Royale?

2. In the TV special, what profession did Rudolph’s elf friend want to pursue instead of making toys?

3. ‘Elf’ is the name of a French company. What do they sell (main product)?

4. According to the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, Superior, it’s said, never gives up her dead when _____________?

5. The Chicago World‘s Fair saw the debut of a wondrous new invention which has spawned scaled down copies at almost every amusement park and traveling carnival in the nation, possibly even the world. What is it?

The Road That Wasn't (All) There

2006-12-13T17:25:00.000-05:00

Day two (not counting the evening we arrived) in Florida saw me deciding to attempt a full loop ride. When I stayed here in 2001 or 2002 (I can’t quite remember which year), I did a ride that took me from Pensacola Beach to Navarre Beach along Santa Rosa Island, across the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge to Navarre, along Highway 98 to Gulf Breeze, and finally back across another Intercoastal Waterway Bridge to Pensacola Beach again. The whole loop works out to somewhere around 40 miles.

A strong wind was coming out of the East again, so I repeated the attempt to ride in that direction along the Santa Rosa Island Highway. As noted yesterday, the road has not been repaired (or maintained at all) since the double hurricane whammy of Ivan and Dennis. Much of it is somewhat rideable, but there are major sections that require dismounting and carrying the bike across major swaths of sand where the road has been completely washed away. On Monday I had gone about seven miles and had “portaged” across three sections. On Tuesday I was determined to complete the journey to Navarre Beach come what may.

It wasn’t the easiest of trips. The first seven miles I had already seen were the easiest. There was far more damage on the Navarre Beach side. There was one section in particular where I had to carry the bike through deep sand for about 50 yards, and then I had twenty yards of pavement where I didn’t even bather getting back on the bike because there followed a 75 yard section of deep sand again. I did eventually reach Navarre Beach, but I figured that I had carried the bike somewhere between ¼ and ½ mile of the eleven or twelve mile trek.

The town of Navarre Beach also suffered badly from the hurricanes. I rode past a lot of construction sites. I would see two very nice houses up on piers, followed by a house on piers leaning at a 20 to 30 degree angle, followed by an empty lot but for six or seven straight piers and ten or so piers sticking out of the sand at odd angles. The scene repeated in various order throughout. And large piles of sand were everywhere.

Happily, there was no damage to the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge, and I was able to cross to Navarre without incident. I turned left at the end of the bridge onto Highway 98 and experienced a lovely tailwind for most of the 15 mile journey to Gulf Breeze. I wasn’t thrilled about having to ride on a major highway, but there was decent shoulder and the (very) occasional “Bike Lane” marking. I also noted that there were several “Bicycles Sharing Roadway” signs, but I didn’t count on their presence to protect me. Rednecks are everywhere, as evidenced by the jerk who screamed something unintelligible (unintelligent, as likely as not) just as the car he was traveling passed me.

I got to Gulf Breeze and turned left to take the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge to Pensacola Beach. It was then that I really appreciated the tailwind from Navarre to Gulf Breeze, and wished I cold have carried a little bit of it with me back over to Pensacola Beach. Mother Nature was having none of that, though, so I slogged across the bridge and the four miles or so back to the condos through the same wind I’d fought to Navarre Beach. I ready for my pre-lunch nap. I was allowed to sleep for ten minutes before MG sent me to the shower (I’ll admit that I did stink by then).

My cyclometer showed just over 39 miles. Add in the parts where I carried the bike and I am happy to round it off to 40 miles.

Sleepless 'n Sea-Adled

2006-12-12T15:17:00.000-05:00

Greetings from overcast Florida. You may have noticed there was no post on Sunday. That was our travel day. You may also have noticed there was no post yesterday. I’d planned on posting yesterday evening, but Mrs. Guy (MG) had work to do and needed the computer to do it. I waited patiently until midnight, reading a book a friend loaned me, but decided at around midnight that I wasn’t going to be getting online. MG ended up working until sometime between 2 and 3 am.

But there was bicycling yesterday. My parents have rented a condo for the month on Pensacola Beach. The condo is at the eastern end of town and there is no development further east for about eight miles or so through the National Seashore here on Santa Rosa Island between Pensacola Beach and Navarre. Hurricanes have done their damage in recent years (Dennis and Ivan, most notably) and the road going through toward Navarre has been closed to traffic.

Motorized vehicular traffic, that is. I got up yesterday morning and noted that the wind was coming out of the east, so that was the direction that I knew I wanted to start out. I left the condo complex and turned out into a 20 knot headwind. Only a mile or two from the condos is where the road is blocked off. I went around the gate and noticed a lot of other bicycle tire tracks through the sand. Even so, I had the whole road to myse…

Well, that isn’t really accurate. I would say I had the whole road to myself, but that would imply that there was a whole road. There was not. Large sections of the road were intact, but there were many sections that were eroded under, crumbled, or simply washed away. Along one stretch I had the rightmost two feet of pavement I could ride on.

I rode out about seven-and-a-half miles. By that time I had ported my bike across three large sections of sand and decided that was enough for one day. The return trip was dizzyingly quick, as I now had a 20 knot tailwind to assist me. Arriving back at the condos, I decided 15 miles wasn’t enough, so I continued eastward until I got to a detour (for roadwork) and headed back. That made a total of eighteen miles, but I knew I wasn’t done.

Then MG came out to play. We came to Florida with two bikes; my road bike and our tandem. MG and I now took off for a short ride on the tandem. The plan was to go five miles out to the east (the way I’d gone before) and turn around. We rode out along the partial roadway to the turning point and headed back. We’d gotten about one-and-a-half miles when MG asked “What’s that shooshing noise?”

Sure enough, we’d gotten a flat tire. The bad thing was that we had no patch kit, no spare tubes, no pump, nothing. We ended up walking the remaining three-and-a-half miles back, but we counted it as riding miles since the bike was at least with us. And it was a nice walk with the waves crashing against the beach only a few dozen yards to our left.

We did find a bike shop yesterday evening before going over to my brother’s house for dinner. I bought a new tube, a patch kit, tire levers, a CO2 inflator with two cartridges, and a saddle bag to carry them in. The lesson has been learned.

Icy King

2006-12-09T17:37:00.000-05:00

Robert Burns' "To a Mouse" is arguably his most famous poem, at least in part. That is, just about everyone has heard one particular line quoted at one point or another (more often than not misquoted), that being this:

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley."

Add an airline into the equation and it's a sure bet.

Mrs. Guy (henceforth "MG") was supposed to get in from NYC last night. We were then going to leave this morning to drive to Florida where my parents have rented a house for the month. Her direct flight from LaGuardia was cancelled due to high winds (as were all ComAir flights). She was then redirected on a flight through Cincinnatti, but...

MG got on the plane for Cincinnatti, but they couldn't leave due to a mechanical problem. What was the problem? The copilot's seat was broken and would not go up and down. Because of this, they had to wait for a mechanic to come and look at it, and he ended up going back to the garage to get a new one and then replacing the old one. This took enough time that MG missed her connection to Knoxville and had to spend the night. The earliest flight here today didn't get in until just afternoon. Ergo, push the Florida trip out one day.

However, I was able to salvage the day by going for a ride this afternoon. Not just any ride. I went mountain biking. I met John B. at his house and we rode over to I.C. King park. I figured out while we were riding through neighborhoods that I hadn't been on a mountain bike ride since March or April. Way too long.

John saved me from myself, though. I foolishly listened to the Weather Channel when they said that the temperature would be in the 50s by 3 pm. I got to John's at about 2:30, and it was nowhere near 50 degrees. He offered up a pair of leg warmers, and I took the offer. I was glad I did. was comfortable clothing-wise with them on, but I'd have been miserable without them. It was cold, especially in shady spots. We went through several spots were it might have been muddy had it been warmer, but it was frozen ground instead.

It was and uneventful ride except for John's sticking chain and my bike deciding to mystery-shift once in a while (probably mad at me for not riding it for so long). I did suffer a pretty severe calf cramp near the end of the ride, but I was able to work it out enough to ride back while compensating with the other leg.

So we now are getting ready to leave for Florida in the morning. At least that's the plan...

Answers

2006-12-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

Busy day. I'm trying to get stuff ready before the trip to Florida, and it's got me busy running around. I also hope to make it to the Corner Lounge tonight to see Angel and the Love Mongers (a local band) play, but Mrs. Guy's flight plans back from NYC tonight are in disarray right now, so all bets are off.

Still, I owe you guys some answers.

Trivia Answers for 11/30

1. Which Chinese philosopher wrote the Tao Te Ching? That was Lao Tse (or Lao Dsuh, as some want to spell it, which actually is more phonetically correct).

2. The Aum Shinrikyo cult group release what poisonous gas in a Tokyo subway in 1995? They let loose some Sarin gas, which is highly toxic and guarantees a painful death if you breathe in even a small amount.

3. The Prime Meridian (the line denoting 0 degrees of longitude) famously passes through what English town? Also know as the Greenwich Meridian, it passes, of course, through Greenwich.

4. Who played Lenny on Laverne and Shirley? Also one of the stars of the upcoming film "For Your Consideration", it's Michael McKean. I personally think one of his best roles was David St. Hubbins from "Spinal Tap".

5. Which now defunct company’s camera technology made it possible to view images on your computer that you could rotate in all directions – up, down, and side to side? iPix was even a more-or-less local company. I was sad to see them fail, but I was happy that I didn't buy stock.

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Trivia Answers for 11/23

1. Who were the Four Horesemen of the Apocalypse? Not from the football team, but the classic horesmen: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death.

2. What are the Seven Deadly Sins (name at least six)? I have to admit that it took Mrs. Guy and me a few tries to come up with all seven. They are: Greed, Lust, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Wrath, and Pride.

3. Name the Three Musketeers plus one. Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artagnan

4. What was the Fifth Element (from the movie of the same name - you find out near the end)? It's kinda complicated how it all works out in the movie, but the answer is "Love".

5. What is the distinguishing feature of Hemingway Cats? The Hemingway Cats, who occupy his former Key West estate, have six toes.

Rack 'Em Up

2006-12-07T19:06:00.000-05:00

I'll be gone to Florida next week. I wish I could say it will be warm there, but I'll have to take consolation that it will be warmer, at least compared to here (where it is currently 26 degrees and falling). I don't know that it will get about 60 where I'll be, but at least I'll be able to ride. And, I found out today, so will Mrs. Guy.

I ordered the new roof rack for the car we're taking, and the Bike Zoo guys called today to let me know it was in. All I have to do now is go get it, put it on, and attach the tandem carrier to it. I'll also take my solo bike. I doubt Mrs. Guy will want to ride every day like I plan to, nor nearly as far as I'll want to go.

But don't worry, I should have plenty of internet access while I'm there.
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Trivia Time - WWII Edition

In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, tonight's trivia will be about World War II stuff. Don't forget to read the Rules, and email your answers to bgoab (at) mindspring (dot) com like always.

1. On what day did the United States officially declare war on Japan?

2. On what day did the United States officially declare war on Germany and Italy?

3. Who was the military head of the Manhattan Project?

4. What is the only photograph to earn a Pulitzer Prize in the same year as its publication?

5. Which Scandinavian country sided with the Axis Powers during World War II?

Non-Theme-Related Bonus Question: The Galileo spacecraft arrived in orbit around Jupiter on this day in what year?

Veni, Vidi, Vice

2006-12-06T21:23:00.000-05:00

There was a bike club meeting tonight. I’ve missed the last three for various reasons: I had just broken my clavicles two days before the September one; I was out of the country for the November one; and Mrs. Guy was coming back in town on the evening of the October one (yeah, I know it’s out of order, but the last one was the most defensible to some people). I really needed to go to this one and had planned to anyway, but Phillippe, our current President, emailed the other night and said he’d be out of town tonight, so it would fall to me as VP to run the meeting.

I got there early. All the better to hang out and talk, but also a good way to get to test ride bikes around the parking lot (I needed a fix). I also ended up having to be the one to walk over to the nearby grocer to get adult beverage since I was the only one there who could sign a club check (the checkbook was there, but the Treasurer was running late).

Happily Philippe sent me a loose agenda to follow, and a lot of the stuff to be discussed could be referred to others to explain (whew). The only things I really had to talk about myself were the upcoming cyclocross series and the elections. Turns out that elections for club officers was tonight.

So I announced the nominee for President (Philippe again), Treasurer (Steve again), and Secretary (Holly again). Then I announced that we didn’t have any nominees for VP.

“Oh, that would be you,” said three or four people at the same time.

“Oh, OK. Well, are there any other nominations for any of the offices?”

Silence.

“Alright then. Well, since we only have one person running for each office I suggest that we just vote as a block for all of…”

Ten or twelve hands were already in the air. Others followed when I paused.

“Ah. OK, all opposed?”

No motion registered whatsoever.

“I guess that’s it then. Your officers carry over for another year.”

So I guess I’m starting my third stint as VP tonight.

Ninja Day

2006-12-05T04:28:00.000-05:00

It's the Annual Day of the Ninja. Go forth and be stealthy.

Class

2006-12-03T20:47:00.000-05:00

I rode today. John B. and I had been talking about doing a ride sometime this weekend, so I talked to him on Friday about trying for today. I let him pick the route.

I also called Joshua. He'd mentioned wanting to get back out on the bike, and since he'd only just moved back to the area from living in South Carolina for two years, he hadn't been able to do a lot of riding recently.

OK, two key things have been mentioned. John picked the route, and Joshua just moved back from South Carolina. John picked a route with quite a few climbs. South Carolina is mostly flat. I think Joshua was suffering a bit today. However, we still had a good ride in some very scenic areas north of town.

Well, we were actually quite a bit north of town, to be honest. Way back in the boonies in most cases. But I still saw something I'd never seen before.

You know how you will sometimes drive past a house where they have what seems to be an automobile graveyard in the front? I'm not talking just one car up on blocks; I mean cars in the plural sense, as in multiple. Often more than two, even. Well, we passed one of those today. But this one was a little bit different. The homeowners in this case were a little different class of redneck. "Upper crust" rednecks as it were.

There, in their front yard, near the obligatory pickup truck on blocks and the land yacht (in this case a Mercury Marquis) with grass going high from underneath, sat, and had obiviously been sitting for quite some time, a Jaguar X-Type. Complete, of course, with the flat tires and the weeds grown high into the undercarriage.

Next thing you know the neighbors will have an Astin Martin up on blocks. This could be the start of a vicious cycle.

Stain

2006-12-02T20:25:00.000-05:00

[sigh] The Dish is back.
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I feel stained somehow. Not one that is visible, but one that likely coats my aura in big, splotchy spots. There's not much to do for it now, though. I'll just have to live with it until (that is, if) it goes away.

I bought a used pickup truck last night. I needed to go get it registered today and get a new plate for it. I had to go, of course, to the County Clerk's office to do that. They have five or so offices spread out around the county to make it easier for people to get to an office, but there's only one open on Saturdays. That office is in Knoxville Center Mall.

I'd made a promise to myself that I would not go anywhere near either local mall this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I try to avoid the mall in general, but I really can't stand being there during prime shopping season. I'm just slightly unnerved by large crowds to begin with (though it doesn't approach agoraphobia), but it seems that some of the worst aspects of human behavior are actually displayed more prominently during the "Season of Giving".

I was lucky today. I was able to get there early enough that I found a parking space within 500 yards of a door, and I only had to pass through one anchor store to get to the County Clerk's office. After getting my new registration certificate and plate I decided to try to avoid the return trip through the same store, so I went to the "Authorized Personnel Only" door (I deemed myself "authorized") and walked down the corridor to the exit, which was closer to where I'd parked anyway. I did have to pass a couple of stores to get to the corridor, though. It was all I could do to keep from running in one to buy the T-shirt with Homer Simpson on the front dressed like Antonio Banderas from "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". [whew]
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The rest of the day has been occupied by going to get a Christmas tree and running numerous other errands. Just perfect for my new (to me) truck.

Four Fell

2006-11-30T21:15:00.000-05:00

The drugs have helped. Today I can move my head side to side a little (a little), and more importantly, I got to sleep through the night. I didn’t take any more muscle relaxers ‘til I got home today (I did want to be able to drive home from work, after all). But I did when I got here, but not with a anti-inflammatory at the same time. Still, I can feel the effects.

Speaking of ‘effect’, I got into a discussion with another engineer today on the proper usage of ‘effect’ versus ‘affect’ (in general you should use ‘effect’ as a noun and ‘affect’ as a verb). But it got me to thinking about words in general, and how some have different meanings and et cetera, et cetera. I think the one I was most fascinated with today was the word ‘fell’, which has about four distinct meanings that I can think of without pulling out the dictionary. I can even make a sentence using them all.

The Fell Man of the Fell tripped down the stair and fell onto his ursine fell.

I think I got that right. I’m drugged up, though, so I really couldn’t say. Somebody look it up and tell me if I got it OK.

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Trivia
Follow the Rules. Email Answer to bgoab at mindspring dot com. Volunteer at a shelter. Help an old lady across the street. Don’t take candy from strangers. Have a good time, all the time.

1. Which Chinese philosopher wrote the Tao Te Ching?

2. The Aum Shinrikyo cult group release what poisonous gas in a Tokyo subway in 1995?

3. The Prime Meridian (the line denoting 0 degrees of longitude) famously passes through what English town?

4. Who played Lenny on Laverne and Shirley?

5. Which now defunct company’s camera technology made it possible to view images on your computer that you could rotate in all directions – up, down, and side to side?

What a Pain in the Neck

2006-11-29T21:33:00.000-05:00

I went to the doctor today. Not my orthopod, but my GP. I’ve been having a problem with my neck for a few days and Mrs. Guy told me that if it wasn’t better today I needed to go have it looked at.

It started this on Monday. Yesterday was worse. Today is almost as bad as yesterday. I must have pulled something, maybe slept on it wrong. I can’t turn my head to either side. You don’t realize how many times a day you turn your head until you can’t do it, or worse, forget that you can’t do it, try it, and have hot and cold daggers of pain invade every inch of the realm of your conscious being.

I was surprised to be able to get in to see my GP today considering that I called just this morning for an appointment. He must have had a cancellation or something. I got in at about 4 pm, but didn’t see him until almost 5:20 pm. Still, he prescribed Celebrex and Flexeril (or the generic version of Flexeril). One is an anti-inflammatory and the other is a muscle relaxer. Both have a tendency to knock you out.

So I have decided to go ahead and take one of each before sitting down to write this, but I have also decided to stop writing when they start to kick in. I don’t want to ramble on in a drug-induced stupor (or worse, a torpor), so as soon as I feel the effects, I’m going to hit the ‘Publish’ button.

In other words, don’t be surprised if this post just stops in mid-sentence at some

Ode to Olive

2006-11-28T20:12:00.000-05:00

On my way home from work today I had to run a few errands. Nothing major, just a stop to get a new car battery followed by visits to the Post Office and video store. The more interesting experience was in the Post Office.

I got in line to mail a CD or two to a friend. While I was waiting, I got acquainted with the talkative little girl in front of me in line. Her mom was looking a bit weary, so I got down listened to the little girl as she regaled me with her favorite stories of Christmas, of which she probably remembered no more than three (Christmas's that is...I'd guess that she was five years old, if that).

Her favorite story was about the reindeer with the luminescent proboscis and his various supporters and detractors. The detractor she had the biggest problem with, or at least was the most vocal about, was Olive. No, she didn't like Olive at all.

At this point I noticed confused amusement on the faces of several other folks in line.

Yes, Olive certainly was mean, wasn't she? She didn't act at all like a friend or classmate should. She should be sent to "time out" or possibly even grounded (I almost snickered at her unintentional pun*, but held it back).

Concern about the little girl and what types of things she was being taught seemed to be becoming etched on the faces of those others in line. Even her beleaguered mother looked a little confused.

But I was catching on. I just had to remember how to think like a child for a few minutes.

The little girl talked about the eight sleigh-toting reindeer for a moment, and even mentioned how glad she was that Santa had been nice to Rudoph (she pronounced it "RUDE-off" - no "l"**). Still, she wasn't very happy about that Olive.

It became to much for the guy behind me in line. He asked me in a loud whisper "Who the heck*** is Olive?"

"Oh, you know," I said. "Olive. The other reindeer. Who used to laugh and call him names."

I think there were some folks in pain trying not to laugh at my new little friend on that one.
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* You know, "grounded"? Flying reindeer?
** No pun intended, but I'll take it.
*** Not the exact word he used.

Seredipitish

2006-11-27T21:07:00.000-05:00

I got up this morning and went to work. I hated to do that, especially after four days off, but I felt that it was something I really should do. I got to the parking lot, shut the car off, and grabbed for my cooler, my cell phone and my iPod on the passenger seat. I juggled those and my keys most of the way from the car to my office, amazingly managing not to actually drop anything. I got to my desk and set down my cooler, my keys, my phone, my iPod, ... and my head lamp? No, not a car-type headlamp, but the kind I use (on my head, natch) while camping so I can keep my hands free for other stuff and still see at night. I wondered about how it got there as I pocketed my keys.

Then I remembered. I had put the light in the car when I went to the 12 Hour Race back in October. I knew I'd need it to get to my car after the race was over near midnight (ain't no light out there but whut you brung yerself). I guess I just forgot to take it back out again.

So there it was, sitting there on my desk next to my lunch cooler. Uselessly so, I figured. But then...

I went to a meeting at 11 am. At 11:30am, the power in our part of the complex went out. Let me tell you, it was pitch black in that conference room. Luckily, someone had a (weak) pen light on their keychain, which Lee used to go back to his office and grab a more powerful flashlight. We went ahead and finished our meeting with that as our light source, wrapping up at about noon.

My office doesn't have a window. My old one did, but I'm going to be moving again in about another week or so, so I'm not complaining. Without use of my computer (and of course I lost the email I was working on before I went to the meeting), all I had to work on was several documents to review. Most of the other people in my group had to step outside in the breeze to see their work. Not me. Somehow I had my head lamp with me today.

If only I'd had it in the conference room during the meeting.

Post Scriptum: The power did eventually get turned back on at around 3:15 pm or so.

Busternut Squash

2006-11-25T23:15:00.000-05:00

I rode in a race today. No, not really. That is to say, I did ride, but it wasn't really so much of a race. I guess I should say that I participated. OK, I participated in Busternut 2. The ride started and ended in Market Square downtown, so I headed over there after eating lunch with Mrs. Guy nearby.

If you are familiar with Alleycat Races, Busternut is loosely based on something that might somewhat resemble something similat...maybe. It really turns out to be less of a race and more of a good time. Today's ride was like a scavenger hunt in a way, in that you had to go visit several different (four) places around downtown, do something, and then get a stamp/mark/scribble/coffee stain on your map sheet. I don't think the coffee stain was intentional.

Most of these types of events are done on either weird home-made bikes or on fixed-gear bikes. I don't have a home-made bike, but I do have a fixie, so I took that. I needn't have bothered. Most folks showed up on everything from mountain bikes to cyclocross bikes to road bikes et cetera, including the lone BMX bike. I counted maybe three other fixies.

There was, for the most part, a team format going on. I didn't have a team, so I just planned on riding with Phillip and his wife. When the "GO!" came, people took off in all directions and we were pointed toward the Old City, along with Eric N. and Dianne. We got to our first stop at a hair salon at about the same time as ten other riders and went inside to figure out what we had to do.

Being a hair salon, they were cutting a small lock of hair from everyone before giving the requisite stamp on the map. I asked the lady with the scissors if they were collecting DNA samples for some secret database or something. She just gave me a truly wicked smile, so I'm not really sure what to think. Maybe they'll be making voodoo dolls?

The next stop was the statue of Alex Haley. A lot of people didn't know exactly where to look, but only to go to the general vicinity shown on the map. I knew where it was, and I owe that to cyclocross racing. Huh, you might say? The statue is in one of the parks we've used for 'cross races for several years. The stunt there was to have a picture taken with the statue. I was going to climb up onto his lap for the shot, but I was concerned that I'd slip on the way up or down and bust my butt (or something worse).

Leaving there, I found that we'd somehow left Phillip and his wife behind, so I ended up teamed with Eric and Dianne by default. We headed for one of the downtown cemeteries, only taking one or two wrong turns along the way. Once we got there our instruction was to find the marker for James White. Eric and I might still be there looking were it not for Dianne, who found it after we'd gone pretty far past it in the wrong directions.

The Library was the last place we had left to go, so we headed there along with most of the people who heard Dianne telling us she'd found the marker back at the cemetery. We got to the Library right as another group was getting their maps marked. One of the station workers thrust an atlas into my hands and said look up the Capitol of Alberta. Some guy behind me shouted "Calgary!" "No, that's not it," the station worker and I said at the same time. I stood there a few seconds trying to remember it and then started to flip through the atlas. Almost at the same moment I opened the book, it came back to me. "Edmonton." "You got it," she said.

Eric and I took off toward Market Square with Dianne right behind us. We ended up being 11th, just out of the top ten. We consoled ourselves with a beer over at Preservation Pub.

One quick note: If you are riding a fixed gear bike, watch out for the hills. You can't coast, so you have to keep your speed low enough on the downhills that you can actually keep up with the pedals with your legs. It isn't so hard if you have brakes, but if you don't you have to keep back-pressure on the pedals to slow you down. That ain't easy, folks, especially when you aren't used to doing it (like me right now).

Rack'em Frack'em

2006-11-24T23:20:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Guy got a new lease car recently. I may have mentioned it before, but I can’t remember. Her new vehicle is a Chrysler Pacifica.<BR>
We’re going to Florida for a week in December. It will be the second full week in December, in fact. My parents are renting a house at the beach not too far from where my brother lives, so it will be a good chance to do the whole Christmas thing with them (we’ll have to catch up with my sister later).

Mrs. Guy and I have a tandem. I’m just now getting to the point in my recovery when I figure I can start riding on that bike again, especially passenger and all. Don’t worry, I’m about to tie this all together.

Mrs. Guy suggested that we take the tandem with us to Florida. We had already figured on driving the Pacifica.  But there’s a slight problem. The Pacifica doesn’t have a rack that we can attach our existing roof rack system (Yakima, if you must know), and you can’t put a tandem on a rear rack, which requires that the bike go on sideways (it’s just too long and would stick way out on both sides). The only way to take the tandem is to put it on the roof.

So the other day I started looking up accessories available for the Pacifica, hoping to find something that will allow me to attach our existing system to it. Most of what I saw was cross rails, which I have from the current stuff I’ve got. I finally found something on-line that looked like adequate side rails on a Chrysler dealer’s web site from somewhere in Mississippi, so I assumed that I’d find that at the local dealer. We went to the local dealer this morning.

I walked into the parts department and told the guy behind the counter what I was looking for. I explained that I didn’t need cross rails, but instead wanted side rails. “Yup, I’ve got that in stock.” So I paid the cashier and off we went.

We spent most of the rest of the day just goofing off and avoiding the malls. We visited friends who work in a modernistic furniture store where I sat in a positively evil reclining chair. It was like a succubus. It drew me in. It didn’t want to give me up. Mrs. Guy had to threaten me to get me out of it. I think I hear its siren call even now. But I digress.

We dropped by the Bike Zoo to say “Hi” and then grabbed lunch at the Chinese/Thai place nearby. Mrs. Guy did some shopping in some of the other nearby stores, so I headed back to the Bike Zoo. We left there and continued to just drive around (avoiding the malls) until about 3:30 when we got home. We pulled the stuff we’d acquired out of the car and I decided to go ahead and see if I could install the side rails on the roof of the car.

What was in the box? Cross rails.

We drove back to the dealership. Then we drove back home to get the receipt that I left in the garage. Then we went back to the dealership. The guy at the parts counter was at least nice about it, and explained that he’d thought the box had the part I wanted, but that there was no picture in his database and the description was misleading. He then proceeded to try to look up the side rails again. He finally asked me if it was possible that what I’d seen was aftermarket stuff, and I had to admit that it was. He didn’t have it or anything like it in his system, and they had no way to order it. It seems that Chrysler calls what is on the car “integrated side rails”, meaning they don’t stick up above the roof and are therefore somewhat useless without buying the Chrysler-specific cross rails and bike rack. Figures. Also, they don’t have anything to accommodate a tandem. Double figures.

We were close to another LBS (local bike shop) and since the Bike Zoo doesn't sell Yakima anyway, I decided to check there for whatever Yakima might have to go on the roof parts we do have. Well, not exactly, it seems. They do show having something. Something that attaches to the Chrysler cross rails. Which I had just taken back. Sigh.

So I decided to look into the other major brand of roof rack systems (Thule, if you must know that too). They do have a system that will supposedly attach to the existing parts. The bad part about that is that I’d have to buy a whole bunch of stuff similar to but not compatible with most of what I already have from Yakima. Well, I’ve got about a week to decide, given that I might have to have some of the stuff special ordered either way I choose to go.

I’m beginning to think it would be less of a hassle to just buy a tandem when we get there and sell it again before we head back.
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Trivia Answers for 11/9

1. Name the characters on the front of a box of Rice Krispiestm. That would be Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Mom still makes the best Rice Krispie treats.

2. Where is the U.S. Naval Academy located? It is in Annapolis, Maryland.

3. What archipelago was made famous at the onset of US involvement in World War II? Most people don't readily think of the Sandwich Islands as an archipelago, but it is. Did I say Sandwich Islands? I mean to refer to them by their modern name as our 50th state, Hawaii.

4. What is the name of the location that serves as the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail? The southern terminus, which is the place where most Appalachian Trail though-hikers start out, is Springer Mountain near Amicalola Falls in north Georgia.

5. Before the Euro came along, what was the major unit of currency in Switzerland (e.g., US=Dollar, UK=Pound, et cetera)? GeekCyclist corrected me on this one. Switzerland never actually went over to the Euro, so they are still using the Swiss Franc. Good catch, GC.
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Trivia Answers from 11/16

1. Name at least three of the four original members of KISS. There have been a few members that have come and gone (including one who died of heart disease), but the original four were Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss.

2. The newspaper cartoon “Snuffy Smith” started out with a different name and a different lead character (it slowly changed over time). Who was that original title character? I still vaguely remember the comic being title "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith", but in my memory it was almost all Snuffy and friends and little or no Barney Google.

3. (fill in the blank) Gropius, Jeanneret, and Mies van der Rohe are often considered to be the fathers of modern _______________. Architecture. I almost included Frank Lloyd Wright, but many consider Walter Gropius, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (AKA, Le Corbusier), and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to be the more important from an international perspective.

4. (One from Mrs. Guy) Who narrated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”? Boris Karloff was the narrator, though he wasn't the one singing the songs. Anyone know who that was for a bonus point?

5. (Also from Mrs. Guy) What platform at King’s Cross does the Hogwart’s Express depart from? 9 and 3/4's. There's even a plaque in King Cross station today for the tourists to see, complete with a luggage cart apparently stuck halfway into the wall.

There and Back Again...

2006-11-23T23:19:00.000-05:00

Well, that's another Thanksgiving Day in the books. We started out this morning by driving the 120 or so miles to Kingsport and started off by visiting Mrs. Guy's grandparents. We had a nice visit with her grandfather, but her grandmother barely stirred from napping in her recliner. She has fairly advanced Alzheimer's, so we decided it would be best not to wake her when she wouldn't likely know who we are.

We then drove to my parent's house only a few miles away. She-mom showed up a little later with the corn pudding, so we sat down to lunch. Dinner and conversation carried us until about 5pm or so (well, to be honest I did take a 45 minute to an hour nap in there too - have to keep up the American tradition). She-mom left then and we left about an hour later.

We finished up in Kingsport at Mrs. Guy's aunt's house. We ended up staying there about twice as long as we'd originally thought, but that was OK. All in all it was a good day. And now we're back home and Mrs. Guy is flipping through channels as I sit here next to her on the sofa.
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Trivia
You know there are Rules. You know to send answers to bgoab at mindspring dot com. So let's get started already.

1. Who were the Four Horesemen of the Apocalypse?

2. What are the Seven Deadly Sins (name at least six)?

3. Name the Three Musketeers plus one.

4. What was the Fifth Element (from the movie of the same name - you find out near the end)

5. What is the distinguishing feature of Hemingway Cats?

Green

2006-11-22T20:28:00.000-05:00

Sung to the tune of "Dream" by the Everly Brothers

I know that there’s no chance that I’ll get to do a Thanksgiving ride tomorrow. Mrs. Guy and I are driving the 120 or so miles to the town we both grew up in. We’ll leave in the morning and go see her grandparents first, and then head to my parent’s house for lunch (and She-Mom will be coming over there as well). But instead of staying overnight, we’ll be driving back home sometime tomorrow evening. So no ride on the old routes tomorrow – no reason to even think about taking a bike.

But as it worked out I only had to work four hours today (I worked ten each on Monday and yesterday), so I went in a little earlier than normal at six and left at ten. After running some errands, I loaded up the bike and headed toward the Bike Zoo.

Knoxville has never really been known as a very cycling-friendly town, but there are several people working to turn that around. One of the notable improvements in the last several years has been the extension of the existing greenway trails (there weren’t many) into something that may one day stretch all the way across Knox County. While there’s still a long way to go, there has been some good progress.

I’d hoped to ride with John B. this afternoon, but he’s feeling a good bit under the weather, so I went on my own (I did also try to reach John H., but without success). One of the major stretches of greenway trail is only about ¼ mile from the Bike Zoo, so I just parked there. The closest point on the trail is at the old Bi-Lo supermarket (now out of business), and there’s a new section that goes east about a mile to an elementary school, so I decided to go ahead and try that first.

Interesting sighting #1 – There’s a sale on plots at the cemetery along that road (about mile 1). I guess it strikes me as odd to see a sale at a cemetery. Are they expecting a rush of business? Is there something they know that I don’t?

Interesting sighting #2 – A kid (maybe 6 or 7 years old) saw me coming and pulled his cell phone-bound oblivious dad out of the middle of the path (somewhere in the second mile). That sort of thing usually happens the other way around.

I hit the end and turned back toward the Ex-Bi-Lo. On the way I about got run over twice by the same Volvo. Luckily I saw her first and had a feeling her driving wasn’t to be trusted by bicycle riders, so I adjusted accordingly. At the Ex-Bi-Lo I got onto a section of trail that’s been around for a while. It runs from a set of the University’s graduate student housing apartments(where Mrs. Guy lived while she was in Vet School) about three miles to the back parking lot of the Vet School (Mrs. Guy never used the trail herself, but I did quite a bit back then).

Interesting sighting #3 – Squirrel fight at about mile 4.

Interesting sighting #4 – The young lady jogging in bike-type shorts with the hole in the back of them that she probably didn’t know about. ‘Nuff said. Mile 6 or so.

The greenway goes on eastward along the Tennessee River past the cement plant and the sewage treatment plant, but then the scenery improves as it goes through Volunteer Landing which has been built up in the past five to ten years to be a rather pleasant place, especially in the summer when the fountains are going and the kids of all ages are playing in them.

Interesting sighting #5 – I noticed a new set of condominiums on the other side of the river at about mile 7. They look pretty nice, I guess. Too bad they are located directly across from the sewage treatment plant. I guess they aren’t using the view as a selling point…or the smell, for that matter.

Once past the Landing you can ride to the end of the greenway in a less than scenic area, or you can turn near the brick manufacturer (part of that “scenic” thing) and get up on the bridge that crosses the river. This is not greenway by any stretch of the imagination, but it gets you over near another greenway trail that John B. and I had been on part of last Friday. Today I decided to follow that trail all the way to the end.

Interesting sighting #6 – The lady walking on the greenway carrying her dog (mile 13-ish). I think she doesn’t understand the concept of “taking the dog for a walk”. We’re talking about a 20 to 25 pound dog here; not one of those toy breeds.

The trail goes past “the castle” and then through part of the Ijams Nature Center. [There’s disagreement on how to pronounce “Ijams”. Some pronounce the ‘j’, and some leave it silent. I’m one of the second set.] Once on the other side, the trail goes past an asphalt plant (the second place of questionable smell, though not as pungent as the first) and into the “Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area”. I didn’t see any wildlife. I did see a bunch of dirt clods all over the trail from somebody’s tractor. I guess the tractor chased the animals away?

It was while I was riding through this area that I started thinking that I might want to turn back soon. I had committed myself to riding the entire trail, but was starting to wonder if I really wanted to push it. Just when I decided to ride about another ½ mile before turning back, the trail abruptly ended at a park bench. This was…

Interesting sighting #7 – The park bench faces out to look over the place where the French Broad and Holston Rivers come together to form the Tennessee River (hence the name “Forks of the River”. It was really a beautiful area. I hope to be able to spend a little more time there next time I go out.

I returned all the way to the Ex-Bi-Lo pretty much the same way I had ridden out. I did make one or two small route changes between the two greenway sections, but nothing of significance. I was glad I was getting back when I did, though, because the temperature started dropping steadily from about mile 19 onward to the end at mile (just under) 28.

Interesting sighting #8 – A jogger tripped and nearly fell off of the landing and into the water at mile 22, but she was pulled back by a lady with really fast reflexes. I saw it happen from about 50 yards away. The jogger was shaking like a Chihuahua going through Detox when I rode past. “Good catch”, I said to her savior on the way by.

Interesting sighting #9 – A squirrel ran between my wheels at about mile 26. I was expecting to feel the ‘thump’ when he darted through, but he made it without incident. It about freaked me out, though.
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Will I post something tomorrow? I hope to, but we’ll have to see how the day goes. I do want to at least get trivia out. No promises.

Cafe Meme

2006-11-21T22:39:00.000-05:00

The inspiration for this came from Kelly.

1. Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 - in the book closest to you right now, what does it say?
I’ll skip over the dictionary here next to my desk and go to the next book. “David asked a passing man where we might find some food. He stared at us for a moment, then waved us toward a passageway which led inside the market. The four of us followed David in dumb procession. I kept a hand on my beltpack. We stopped at a few kiosks while David asked if there was any food available. They all shook their heads, so we turned back and wandered down a narrow rutted street, a single weak streetlamp making it seem all the darker.” (from Neil Peart’s The Masked Rider).

2. If you stretch out your left arm as far as possible, what are you touching?
My dictionary.

3. What’s the last program you watched on TV?
House, with Mrs. Guy, and it just ended a few minutes ago. I don’t watch much TV anymore, but she wanted me to watch with her.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
10:15 pm (It was 10:13, so I was pretty doggone close)

5. Aside from the computer, what can you hear right now?
The TV, faintly, in the other room, though I don’t know what she’s watching now.

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do?
I went outside at 10 pm to walk two of the dogs before putting them up for the night. So I guess I stood there getting cold while they sniffed out the ‘perfect spots’.

7. What are you wearing?
Carpenter’s pants, a blue UnderArmor shirt, and a pair of socks from Mast General Store. And underwear. And a watch. And my RoadID necklace. Do you have one? You should.

8. Did you dream last night? If you did, what about?
I don’t remember dreaming, but I might have. I just don’t know.

9. When was the last time you laughed?
There were a few good one-liners during House a little while ago.

10. What’s on the walls, in the room you’re in right now?
One photo I took, one photo a friend’s husband took, a Grace Kelly vintage ad poster, a “Night Scotsman” vintage ad poster, a poster from the 1986 Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, and a magnetic dry-erase calendar board. There’s also a CD rack attached to one wall.

11. Have you seen anything strange lately?
As a matter of fact, I watched a squirrel jump over me as I was walking from one building to another at work today. I went over my head and into a tree (and then further up the tree. I wonder if the other squirrels dared him to do it?

12. What do you think about this meme?
Well, I think it’s a meme. That’s about it. Let's not overanalyze these things.

13. What’s the last film you saw?
“Local Hero”. It’s a movie that a friend left here the other night for us to watch. It had Burt Lancaster in a supporting role.

14. If you became a multimillionaire, what would you do with the money?
Buy a car. Buy a house in Blowing Rock, NC (Mrs. Guy would insist). Go to culinary school just for fun. Become a travel photographer (who can also cook well).

15. Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know.
I vacationed for a week in Bulgaria once. Not exactly a hot travel spot for most Americans.

16. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regarding politics or bad guilt, what would it be?
Everyone would take better care of the world around us. Starting with the guy who emptied his ashtray in the parking lot at the Post Office this afternoon.

17. Do you like dancing?
I used to. I danced all the time at college parties. I just haven’t done it in a long time. At least not in public.

18. George Bush?
Which one? What about him? Oh, and I don't wear my politics on my sleeve.

19. What do you want your children’s names to be, girl/boy?
Not having children (nor being likely to at this point), I don’t really have an answer to that precisely. We have named our animals though. Oldest to youngest there’s Lindsay, Claire, Moira, and then the twins, Alice and Judy.

20. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Oh, yes. Though I think it would be better to go to a country were English is the native language. If I did the multi-millions thing I would probably buy a small place in Scotland as well.

21. What do you want God to tell you, when you come to heaven?
“Come on in Big Guy, there’s folks here waiting to see you.”

22. Who should do this meme?
Anyone who really wants to. I don’t feel I should challenge anyone to do it. Stuff like this should be voluntary.

Back In The Saddle

2006-11-20T22:34:00.000-05:00

I got back out and rode again on Friday. John B. and I decided to go do an easy 25 miles. The problem is that what I would ordinarily consider to be an ‘easy’ 25 miles quite simply wasn’t so easy on me. Then again, this was only my third ride on a bike since the Labor Day Debacle, and my first since then of more than fifteen miles (and both previous rides were on relatively flat roads as well).

We started out at John’s, which as a good place to start for any number of good looping rides. The plan was to get out there and then decide whether to do 20 or 25 miles. We headed east at a leisurely pace out toward the Island Home community. We had gone maybe five miles when John saw that one of his musician buddies (someone who is starting to get into cycling) was at home, so we stopped to see if he wanted to join us. He couldn’t, but we stood and talked to him a few minutes before heading out again. I’d gotten a little tight, but was able to loosen up again fairly quickly.

We rode down a greenway trail I’d never been on, saw a ‘castle’ (quite literally – the home is built like a 18th Century castle), and avoided several dogs with nothing better to do than noisily investigate the pair of two-wheeled intruders into their respective domains. At about eleven miles into the ride, John turned and asked if I felt like doing the 20 or the 25 mile route. I was feeling OK, so I said “Let’s go 25. I probably need to push myself a little anyway…though I may regret having said that later.” The good news is that I didn’t regret it…much.

I didn’t really know where I was exactly for a large part of that ride (I think I’d been on those roads maybe once a good while back) until we crossed Chapman Highway. At that point I knew exactly what to expect for the rest of the ride. That was also the point at which I realized that we would have to climb up Neubert Springs Road. At somewhere around ¾ to one mile it isn’t a super long climb, but it certainly is steep enough. I didn’t even try to keep up with John on the way up. We were over twenty miles into our ride and I was already feeling the effects of my cycling sabbatical, so I just settled into the pace I could go and just tried to grind it out.

John had to wait at the top for me, and I wanted to stop at the top for a few moments as well to recover a bit. We started talking about other stuff and before we realized it we’d been standing there for about four or five minutes. Ordinarily that would be fine, but it was a cool day on Friday. We had stood there long enough to cool down a little. This is a bad thing when it comes right before a long, somewhat fast descent. I don’t think either of us warmed back up for the rest of the ride back to John’s house, even with the two shorter but steeper climbs we still had to go up (one being his driveway).

I was sore most of the weekend after that ride, but not in my legs as I expected. No, I was – and still am – sore mostly in my upper back. I guess all of the climbs we did caused me to use muscles I haven’t been using for a while. That’s OK. I really don’t mind being a little sore right now. But it does make me wish that I could go get a massage (which I can’t really do with the plates in my shoulders).

The Hour

2006-11-16T22:29:00.000-05:00

Just to reinforce the ‘Irony’ theme, this morning I was listening to NPR on the way to work. If you’ve ever listened to “Morning Edition”, you know that frequently they will play a brief portion of a song between news stories. One of those songs this morning was a string quartet playing their cover of KISS’s “I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night (and Party Every Day)”. Well, I think the title is actually “Rock and Roll All Nite”, but regardless, string quartets do not, as a general rule, rock.
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Tonight I went to a program hosted by my bike club (Southern Cycling Operations, or SCO). Dr. Bassett, who is a professor over at the University of Tennessee’s Sports Physiology (or something like that) department, gave a talk on the hour record in cycling. He started out by going over the history of the hour record, pointing out that there was a real change in the approach to the record in 1983. That was the year that Francisco Moser broke Eddy Merckx’s 1972 record. The difference was that Moser was the first to use aero equipment.

Following Moser, everybody used specialized gear in an attempt to develop an aerodynamic advantage. The strangest looking of these was Graeme Obree’s “Praying Mantis” style riding position. He built his bike himself using scrounged parts, but he did break the record. And then the UCI (the main international governing body for all things cycling) banned the “Obree Position”. Undaunted, Graeme came up with a new style and riding position (the “Superman Position”, so called because of the outstretched arms) and again set the record. Chris Boardman also used the same position to break Graeme’s record, but then the UCI decided to ban that one too. So much for encouraging the innovative spirit, eh?

Sometime around the turn of the 21st Century, the UCI stated that the official hour record would apply only to those who rode equipped as Eddy had been equipped. Out with the aero gear entirely, though they did decide to recognize a second “Best Human Performance” record which does allow for the weird gear, but the hour record is the one with all the romance (and potential lucrative endorsement deals) attached.

So, Dr. Bassett and his colleague Dr. Kyle did a study to evaluate just how each of the ‘Moser and after’ record attempts stood up to Eddy’s. They evaluated the drag of the clothing used (high-tech skinsuits versus Eddy’s cotton jersey and wool shorts). They looked at the drag from aero positions versus Eddy’s ‘riding in the drops’ position. To be fair, they also considered the altitude differences as to how they would affect performance (and Eddy did have that small advantage). They also looked at peak wattage outputs and applied all of the above correction and correlation factors.

What they found out was that Eddy would have been beaten for the record, for not for a longer time and not by nearly as much. Eddy rules anyway.

This was the perfect presentation for a cyclist-engineer geek like me.
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Trivia Time
Rules here. Email to bgoab at mindspring dot com like always. Okay class, you may turn your papers over and begin.

Name at least three of the four original members of KISS.
The newspaper cartoon “Snuffy Smith” started out with a different name and a different lead character (it slowly changed over time). Who was that original title character?
(fill in the blank) Gropius, Jeanneret, and Mies van der Rohe are often considered to be the fathers of modern _______________.
(One from Mrs. Guy) Who narrated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”?
(Also from Mrs. Guy) What platform at King’s Cross does the Hogwart’s Express depart from?