Monday, January 31, 2011

TD stats/projections, sewing, winter riding and Ride the Divide.


I'm a nerd. I calculated this from the 2008, 2009, and 2010 grand departs. I didn't do ITTD. I calculated the 2009 and 2010 scratch state based on the last time in the split charts; unless I personally remembered. For 2008 I went through the call ins.
As I thought most people didn't make it out of Montana. Idaho is a low number due to the short time spent there.

I swear it was 58 this morning, now it's 68!

I'm not quite sure how I feel about the large number. I'm pretty sure an event like the TD will not attract schmucks. Sure someone might rub people the wrong way, but I doubt it will be like some of the people one could run into on the AT.

I remember a literature teacher telling me to write a poem in the style of some poet(not Shakespeare). I argued with him about that, saying that poet didn't have anyone to inspire him/copy, and we should just learn on our own. Well....he may have been onto something. I will try and emulate the frame bag Eric made for me. That might be a better way to learn. His bag is incredible, I can now appreciate the work he put into it.

I skipped the second weekend of Harbin Park Riding Dirty Winter Time Trials which was a damn good idea. -4 degrees, no thanks.
This past weekend's was fun, I improved my time by 6 minutes even with the icy permafrost on the second lap.

I went to the Ride the Divide screening in Dayton OH last week. Great crowd, lots of people and they cheered and clapped during the movie. Mostly for Mary. The Q&A was fun too, lots of good questions. I am scheduled to show up at the Louisville KY screening, but with the icy weather coming in; I may have to pass.

I have been working with Garry though to bring it to Cincinnati and Knoxville. So far a venue has been picked for Knoxville; just need to make arrangements. I'm waiting to hear about a venue in Cincinnati.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sewing is hard

I am a long ways off from the quality of the pros.
But I enjoyed it(until the last seam) and I will continue to practice.

It's official. My manager is ok with me taking a leave of absence. I have started the process with HR and I'll probably have it all squared away this week.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Harbin Park Riding Dirty Winter Time Trials

Fantastic time out in the cold Ohio tundra.
There were 50 riders out for this.
The course was just a hair shorter than the summer time trial.
I love riding familiar trails in the snow, it's other worldly.
I was tripoding around most corners; riding single track in the snow takes a little bit of finesse, and a lot of rear brake.
The second lap felt a bit faster than the first, since the trail was flattened out, but the turns were torn up.


Butch's expression says it all.

Sewing

Woooo! 2nd best Christmas present(after my brother's).
I'll have to get some cheap fabric and start making some frame bags for practice.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Snow Tires Fail

Well I gave the homemade snow tires a try and failed.
I hit a small patch of Ice I guess and fell over, nothing major.
I'll be bussing it tomorrow. I'm sure I'd be fine riding on the major roads down the stripe cleared by all the cars, but I don't want to risk that.
People are bad enough when it's not snowing.