090626

added a blog for my (almost former) job today [link]. i think the students will offer a better live dimension to the otherwise somewhat static nigh stodgy site (as such sites must usually be).

sears, or in particular craftsman tools, rocks my world. a set of metric allen wrenches (hex keys) had worn down over the years. the 6mm and 4mm in particular, since both my motorcycle and bicycle used these sizes frequently. the edges beveled after so much use, and as a result they began to strip out new nuts. i took the whole set in, really only expecting two new wrenches at best. instead, and in a matter of moments, the sales guy gave me a whole new set. fancy.

it’s been a week of cloudbursts and thunderstorms. i write this by way of a story about eugene, oregon. after signing and faxing the lease in (a fabulous house on college hill!), i had to call and transfer all of the utilities over. when setting up the trash and recycling services, the woman asked me for a drivers license (standard procedure for all home services); when i told her it was a california license, she exclaimed “oh, you’re one of those!” i quickly reassured her “no, no, we’re coming from new york,” as though that was somehow more acceptable. i need to change my license right away after we move there, because if i ever get pulled over with a california drivers license, the cop will undoubtedly give me extra fines and tickets.

rain also means less riding. not because i fear water, but because i can’t really take саша out in the downpour and slippery drivers. tomorrow we’re going on a group ride with the flcc (с and i). a nice little 24-mile loop. the weather promises to be more compliant.

lastly, the new tyres i wrote about do make me faster. i noticed somewhat more measurable comparisons while riding on wednesday: prior to this, on downhill coast-only, on the old tyres i ran about the same speed (@100psi); on the new tyres i couldn’t help but pass people—everyone—on a downhill coast, i usually had to ride my brakes a bit. i wonder if it’s because the old tyres had squared on the center, and thus had more rolling resistance; the pressure is more or less the same, the riding conditions (drafting, temperature, etc.) also seem somewhat average. boomski plans on coming out to eugene, so now i need to get some real cross tyres so i can ride hilly hills with them. fun!

090623

i had a bent tyre. i didn’t know tyres could be crooked like that; that is, when my front wheel was rolling, it appeared as though one portion of the rim was out of true. i had just assumed it was the rim, but when my new tyres came, and i took the old tyre of the rim and proceeded to check the rim for the wobble, the rim spun true. i took a chance and mounted the new tyre on the rim, and everything is still perfect; so i’m left believing that the tyre somehow had a wobble at just one small point (mind you, the beads had all properly seated—i’d checked this numerous times, and i re-used the same tube and same rim tape job).

my previous tyres, continental 4-seasons (700×28), ran about 2200 miles. the tread was still good, but there were several cuts in the center, and the sidewalls were un-threading; the center cuts contributed to a weaker tread section, and made the tyre bulge ever so slightly. the interior had no cuts, so the exterior tread and guard was successful. i feel fortunate to have made it over two-thousand miles without a single flat. not to mention, these tyres grip the good earth like my life depended on it (and it does, at times), and roll fast (well, i don’t have troubles keeping pace with the big boyz). at a pricey $50-60 per tyre it stings a bit, but considering their relative importance and their stellar performance, it’s worth it for a yearly tyre change. in any event, on my motorcycle i’d have to change tyres at the same (or faster) rate, at even more per tyre (usually $150-200 per tyre, granted, i got more tyre for the money, too).

one other modification i’ve made if installing a shorter stem on my bicycle. the stem i replaced was a cheap-o used stem—the only one my local bike store had at the time, and the only part i needed to completely assemble my bike. when i bought the old stem i also wasn’t sure what kind of fit i would need, so the stem provided me with a cheap ($10) control. over the last two-thousand miles, i’ve decided that i was a little too spread out. i went with a surly SUL, which has had good reviews and comes in almost any size and shape you need. i chose a 15° angle on an 80mm stem, about 2cm shorter than the used stem, and about 5° more inclined. the ride is more or less identical—which is good because the previous stem worked pretty well, given how many miles i logged on it—but where i really notice it is in the climbs, when my body tends to tense and pull inward; before i would have to slide my butt back at the top of the hill to get back on my sits-bones; now i am more or less perfectly seated throughout the entire climb and at the top (there’s always a little adjustment to make, just to keep things fresh).

the oddest thing is, the new tyres really make the bicycle feel faster and smoother. i’m certainly in favor of psychosomatic rationales here, but i’m really convinced that the difference is real. obviously not having a front-wheel wobble makes a huge difference.

as for other gear faux-reviews, our yakima skybox (16) is utterly brilliant, and now becoming a receptacle for local stickers. yes, we have a gimme sticker; and no, we don’t yet have our dinosaur-crossing/museum of the earth sticker. the best part, aside from the massive addition in capacity, is that it has made only the slightest dent in our driving mileage. in ideal highway driving we get about 35mpg; as of my last test, with mixed city and highway driving we get about 30mpg. that’s a hit of 15%, but given the scale of efficiency i am more than satisfied. keep in mind that city driving without the skybox is about 31-32mpg, so we’ve lost somewhere between a minimum of 3% to a maximum of 15%; and given that the car is paid for and low maintenance (a toyota!), it is unquestionably better than buying a new (or used car). just for kicks, the difference in gas consumption between this current set up, and a prius getting 50mpg, over 100,000 miles at a cost of $2.75/gallon, is roughly $3,700. keep in mind that my technical cargo-carrying capacity is now slightly higher than a stock prius. factor in the additional $25,000 for the cost of the prius (remember, the car is paid for, currently), and a bad karma for that massive battery you’ll have to dispose of someday, and i’m a veritable angel! never mind that most of my urban miles (as such) are presently on bicycle. just for kicks, i’d have to drive roughly 670,000 miles to break even on gas-only cost-per-mile with a prius. but, i admit, 恺宁 would much rather have a more adult-like car, and move past the (grad) student vehicle.

finally, car issues, i did have to sink $600 to replace a rear wheel bearing and the drum brakes. oh well; when it’s your turn to pay, you have to do it. but every car has these, so there’s no escaping the axe.

final car issue, we’ve bought into the gps revolution. home hunting in oregon made it abundantly clear that gps in a new locale is a no-brainer. we’ve never had it so easy when looking for a new home—just enter address and go! even when we first moved to little, sleepy ithaca, we poured over the paper map and expended stress running from one location to another. this time, gps in charge, we arrived early with no stress, and spent valuable minutes checking out the neighborhood like proper over-protective-selective parents. on the other hand, at least i know how to, and can still read a paper map! ps: the new home in oregon is amazing—near the top of college hill, if you know the area.

so now to the important stuff: саша is walking and running; she never crawls anymore, except to pass under something (like my leg propped on a table). she talks frequently, often singing out sounds. she knows many words, and responds to our commands as well as a mercurial twelve-month old will do. she also exhibits a kind of abstract reasoning—if we begin one of her various favorite rhymes (she has about four of them at the moment), she will leave the room and bring back the corresponding book; she also brought me my shoes today, one at a time (a kind of set completeness); additionally, besides taking things out, she’s figured out how to put things back (not to say that she does so with any consideration for our rules of order); this also means she squirrels things away, like cookies and crackers. and in light of this endless litany of proud parenthood, she stacks objects, can walk up and down stairs using only the stair railing (as i shadow her every move, of course), control descents from our 2.5′ foot bed to the floor, and scale up objects (the tallest being her crib’s bars, at about 30″—now lowered to a presently un-scalable 36″). she’s a joy to be with, and wickedly perceptive.

oh, and i’m a year older now. life is good.

20090604

so it’s a big day in 中国 today, though today there is almost tomorrow here, the day’s not lost on the rest of the world the way it has been officially lost there. trying to forget is virtually the same as always remembering, in a dishonest mendacious way. bright shining future—we are blinded by choice yet once again.

last sunday i rode a scant sixty miles, hit the wall of bonk, a 20mph head wind, and made the call to the sad wagon to come fetch me at a gas station just a few miles from my end point. but i was so low blood sugar that i could not ride in a straight line, could barely focus beyond about five feet in front of me. my ass and my ego were summarily handed to me; it was a good lesson to learn. i averaged 18.6mph, leading the pack on and off until mile forty-five, when i hit the wall of no energy, whereupon i faded from the peloton (who were breaking apart anyway) and ended the ride at mile sixty with a total average of just over 16mph.

so on monday i took a short recovery ride of some fifteen miles through some lovely country, just beyond my back door. it was twilight and i was alone on the road. i climbed one of the steeper hills in ithaca (mt. pleasant; a nice 8% grade) and then followed the road until it turned south through some magritte-like lanes; the air was cool and there was no push, no rush, just the hum of my wheels in the evening.

on wednesday it was another club ride with the flcc. i know all of the guys there now, and get along well with the ride leader, gary. there’s some good banter with the group; we keep the mood light, and pedal as swiftly as we can without breaking ourselves. we hustled a nice ithaca-flat (i.e., rolling hills) of forty miles at an average of 17.3mph. we rode past the local’s landmark of the VW bug made from flagstones. i love being local, but sad that as soon as i have this status, we re-locale.

20090525

things Саша has received thus far for her birthday: fancy purple shoes, duck walker (these first two: yes, she walks now), blue and white dress, t-bill, крокодил, 狮子, bicycle trailer in the parade and chocolate pots de crème (these last two forthcoming).

other things ventured: drive-in movie theatre with p & t, scary average-america amusement park, substantially less-amusing whole wheat pizza, too many belgian ales consumed, rosé wines and champagnes, more red valpolicella, satay chicken, dry hard cider, cottage cheese buttermilk pancakes with NY maple syrup,… still counting.