A few places to visit

In a few weeks my bike rides will start to stretch out the mileage so I can start training for the Longest Day (and possibly a new Princeton Freewheeler Double Century ride). In the mean time I still need to lead winter rides, a time for building a base. My friend Mark suggested that I keep it to less than 50 miles as I hadn't been riding for the last three weeks, I just got over the flu and my chest is pretty much congested. So I came up with a Mid-Winter's Ride (54 miles). It includes sections I normally do when I do lunch time rides or late night rides. Seeing how I'm going to start commuting to work I won't get much time for those and still get what I need to do for the day. I chose the route just so I can visit some different places. Now I probably should have listened to Mark's advice on the ride length but I wanted to ride. I knew it would push me past my limits (0 miles for the past 3 weeks, a jump to 80+ miles this week, and not so good lungs). Every thing felt fine until the last few miles where my lungs were sore (that's not good). It didn't help that my cable snapped for my rear derailleur (early in the ride) and I was stuck with a two speed. Still it was a nice ride and my lungs feel much better today (as long as I don't laugh ;-).

The weather for the week looks like I'll be able to commute to work on Tuesday (20 miles each way) but I'll probably only be able to do a late night ride on Thursday night. Next Saturday looks to be more of the same , cold, possible snow. I may plan out a metric but I'm not sure. If I can't lead Saturday I'll do another group ride on Sunday. Possibly ride to and from the group ride to get my additional miles. So next week I hope to have more than 100 miles for the week. Not bad for February! :-)

It's February and it's 68F in NJ!

I managed to get out and ride today at lunch time. The weather was beautiful! It's been 3 weeks since my last ride. Last week I was in Houston for training so no riding there. Here it was as low as 8F (at night). So I took this day as one of those little gifts you get from time to time. It was only slightly windy, but it was a warm wind. I rode in shorts and it felt great! The rest of the week looks to be less nice but much better than 8F. :-) I may sneak out for a few more ride before Saturday's club ride.

For those that are curious this was my router: Old Bridge - Jamesburg - State Home.

Some items of note. I'm seeing that some of the general public has forgotten how to share the road (pass and leave 3 ft between your vehicle and the cyclist, pass only when it's safe and you have a clear view of the road ahead). A number of folks in those large high end vehicles seem incapable of crossing the yellow line when passing a cyclist (hence leaving less than 3ft.) with no traffic approaching. The folks with smaller vehicles and 18 wheelers have no trouble (???). I want to thank the person in the black Corvette for the polite double honk before passing (no really) and the appropriate room as they passed (nice!). Technically nothing unusual other than the polite and correct motorist. Still it was a good day to ride.

Random babblings ...

I'm currently in the middle of training to learn how to install AT&T's U-verse TV, Telephone and Internet service. There's a lot of hard work that goes into putting this service in and a lot to remember. Though I may never actually have to install anything (I'm training as U-verse Technician as part of a strike contingency plan) I have found a new respect for the amount of work these tech's have to do. I took an online test where I had to replace the existing cable providers equipment and I was terribly confused as my cable installation consists of nothing more than a drop wire, a splitter, the set top box and my cable modem. The installation lacked a proper ground wire (I hooked one up to my incoming water pipe). Having learned what it takes to install the service properly I'll be taking care cleaning up the DeMarc in my home. I also happen to need to clean the connectors because the transmit power my cable modem is using is 54db (3db too high). That can't be good.

So far I've learned a lot and I've enjoyed the class. I was also payed an indirect comment when the instructor commented that I'm 'an engineer, aren't you?'. Well four more training classes and I'll be back home. I'm looking forward to picking up some new tools (I'm buying them) that I've used while in training.

And, finally, I'm training in the Houston area and I've found the people to be friendly they tend to drive a bit less aggressive than they do in NJ (though I've seen a few nuts, fewer than in NJ). Also the traffic is a bit heavier than where I live with lot of new construction going on. The weather has been very nice, usually hitting the high 70's. The other night I saw a 'boomer' (thunderstorm clouds) that were bigger than anything I saw back in NJ. In NJ those would have sent me to hide in the basement. The light show (lightening) was impressive. My wife tells me that she just got 4 inches of slushy snow. The weather prediction for Saturday, in NJ, is a high in the low 50's. Anyway it will be nice to be back home. :-)

Whither the librarians ...

This semester I have a course on 'Mass Media' and I'm learning a little about the Internet, social sites, blogs and other other topics related to Media and Mass Media. One of the things that the Internet has brought us is information. Huge amounts of it.Heck, we're drowning in it. It's a conspiracy junkies delight as now they have 'proof' that we never reached the moon, the earth is flat and many other topics that they (loosely) keep under their tin hats. Within a few minutes, using any search engine, I can probably get a dozen different pages that say a dozen different things about any particular topic. When all is said and done how do I know what is right and what is wrong? In the past you could generally trust books in the library because they were a bit expensive and difficult to produce (try writing a book some time and you'll know what I mean). Today anyone can, and will, write on any topic, without fact checking and declare themselves a fountain of useful information. It used to be that when we wanted to research material we went to the research librarian (not the lady behind the main desk sorting books) to get help doing research. Not today, we now have Google and a dozen different search engines but we basically can't trust the information that's presented to us. From my class I've learned that librarians want to come up with a new system. One that will again put the librarians' talent to use and hopefully bring some renewed level of trust back to the information we need. Hopefully my class will go into further detail. Maybe, when I have to write a term paper, that can be the topic of my paper. Outside this class I don't have time to look up such information as my interests lie with other topics that need as much of my attention as does this class. Someone has to help rebuild the level of trust in the information we use to make decisions on a daily basis. Lets face it information is the new currency.

Testing out my new MiNewt.X2 Dual lights

Last night (Jan. 23, 2009) I finally got a chance to use my new lights. :-) It was warm (40F) and it was dark. I decided to ride over to a road that is hideously potholed, no street or house lights, and the forest on either side is far enough away that it can't be use as a reference. So I took off, rode this section road in both directions and found a reasonable smooth path to ride on (good to know for my commute home). The pair of lights, set as I have them, worked great! I'm very pleased with the lights.

For Christmas I received these new lights. I was looking for something that would last at least an hour (hi: 1:45, Lo: 3:30) and recharge in less than 8 hours (my work day). This would allow me to ride my bike to work before dawn and ride home after sunset. It will also allow me to take my older sets of lights and modify the setup to use newer halogen bulbs and an over voltage battery setup (more on that at a later date). I did a little searching on the 'net and found that the overall review of the Nite Rider MiNewt.X2 Dual setup was favorable. So that's what I got.

Back to last night, So I rush to get out, I got dressed, put water in the Camelbak and I'm outside with my bike and I put the lights on, I push and hold the button and the lights barely get any light. I turn them off and I push and hold the button longer, it now blinks but barely lights, I fidget with the lights for 15 - 20 minutes, Nada! So I take the lights in the house and fidget some more. What I've found since I first received these lights was that I had to push and hold the button for about 3 seconds, then the lights begin to flash brightly (I feel that I'm about to have a seizure when it first starts) once they start blinking I can release the button and push it a second time to get it stay on high and steady. Push it again and it drops to low and steady. Any more button pushing toggles between high and low. Today I tried simply hitting the button and releasing it quickly and it works. Tomorrow I'll try it out in the cold again to see if it was me or the lights (I suspect it was me).

Once I got over the initial problem I had to adjust the lights to put down a nice beam on the road. I chose to put the left beam center and closer to the tire (about 10 - 15 feet). The right beam was aimed a little further forward and slightly left. This worked out nicely. Some of the roads in my area suffer greatly from potholes, cracks and some would make the cobble stone roads of Belgium and France seem smooth. The lights did a real nice job of lighting these surfaces. I was available to avoid the potholes without slowing down.

Update: Jan 25, 2009 - Looks like the battery I have has some kind of problem. I have a second one (don't ask) and it works properly. I'll send the bad unit back to Performance and get it replaced.