Zero Energy

I am really revving up on this green building idea. I saw this article about Austin today and thought it was great. Check it out here. Cool people in Austin...

Come On Apple, I want my Macbook

I have to rant. I have been waiting for Leopard now for 6 weeks in order to buy a new computer. Leopard release 10/26...Hooray. BUT, now the word on the street is that the Macbook will get a major redesign in the next few weeks after the release. This means I have to wait even longer now. I am happy if they upgrade the Macbook, so I am not complaining there. I just want a new computer already. Were is the instant gratification? This money is burning a hole in my pocket.

Thanks.

It is Fall!

Well, we are waking up to crisp mornings here in Colorado. The leaves are changing and the days are getting shorter. Gone are the days or riding the bike until 9pm. Now, if the ride is not done by 6:15pm you are pushing your luck.

I have been trying to get the tandem back on the road. It needs new tires and I just have not ponied up the money for a new set of Armadillos. The old ones lasted for a very long time but now the tread is starting to split from the casing (not sure if I said that right). Oh well, these things happen.

The latest thing out here is this whole "Dam the Poudre" controversy. Long story short is that about 14 communities along the Front Range want more water. Their answer is to put 2 big reservoirs on our local river, The Cache La Poudre, prounounced like Pooh-der. Local opposition is really mounting and being led by two really good guys, Gary Wockner and Mark Easter. If you get a chance, throw your support behind these guys and there effort. Not too many good things have come out of water projects this size (I hate to make generalizations like this, so if you want to argue with me, come to Fort Collins and buy the first 3 pitchers of beer and we can talk about it). The only good thing to come out of dams is usually tailwater fisheries. My guess is that if they build these dams, so Adios to the Poudre.

It's a lame post.....

but I have not written in forever. All the usual reasons. Life is crazy, school is crazy, I am crazy, but I have to do better. Spokes is giving me some inspiration.

So with that, the quick and dirty. Vacation to Italy and England. Great. New MBA program, good but really busy. Work....its work. Life is very good. Planning to get a new computer as soon as Mr. Jobs and the rest of the Apple Geeks roll out Leopard. Release it already, and now I hear that they may roll out an upgraded Macbook hot on the heels. I guess I will have to wait an extra month or two just to see what the new Macbook is like. Heck, if I keep waiting for the newest thing, I guess I will never have to buy a computer.

The Republic of Boulder

I know, the title of this report is such a cliché but it is very fitting. Maybe it was the fact that we rode our bike to Boulder, a brilliant experience, had two great meals in fine Boulder eating establishments, spent a number of hours watching, walking, and enjoying the Pearl Street Mall, and slept in a historic hotel, but Boulder truly does feel like a different world.

We left Fort Collins around 9am Saturday morning and began our journey. We happened upon a triathalon just south of Fort Collins on Taft Hill Road and enjoyed zero traffic all the way to Loveland courtesy of the race. It was great. As a side, when we first saw the road closed with a race official waving cars away The “don’t rock the boat, follow all the rules” part of me just wanted to go east and head down Shields. My stoker (person on the back of the tandem), my beautiful wife, thought we should at least ask to see if we could follow the race course. The race official said, “Absolutely, have a great time” and we had a fantastic, car free, care free ride to Loveland. The moral of the story would be that sometimes all you have to do is ask.

Upon reaching Loveland, we wound our way south through rural land and ranchettes to the town of Hygiene. Our legs felt good, the scenery was great and all was well. In hindsight, we should have stopped for some lunch and Gatorade in Hygiene. Instead, we pressed on towards Boulder. It was around 11:30am and it was starting to heat up a bit and we had some climbing to do to get to Highway 36. Our initial plan was to reach Highway 36 and back track a few miles to Lyons for lunch. After reaching 36 around noon, we pressed on towards Boulder.

Christi and I both agree that Highway 36 was our least enjoyable part of the ride. There is a large bike lane and the views to the east keep your eyes occupied, but there is a lot of traffic and the cars pass you at 65 mph. I also think that we were starting to feel pretty dehydrated at this point and it really drained some energy. When you begin the day with 3 full water bottles and a 1.5 liter Camelback it seems like a decent amount of water. Let me tell you that this is not nearly enough water for 3.5 hours of cycling. We were planning to refill the bottles in Lyons, but since we decided to head for Boulder, we didn’t have a chance. This was our biggest mistake of the trip. Never the less, we made it to Boulder at 1pm and began the rehydrating process.

The Boulderado, a historic landmark hotel, was our home while in Boulder. It is a grand style hotel with lots of dark wood, big staircases, and a 3 story lobby with a stained glass roof. Well worth a visit. Just as we were about to lock up our bike and head to the room for a shower, we realized that I had packed the wrong bike lock. In my late night packing haste I had grabbed the lock requiring a key (said key was in Fort Collins) instead of the combo lock. Since Christi and I were both dehydrated and fighting a headache and hunger pains this was not our happiest moment, but it was quickly remedied with a 3 block trip to a local hardware store and a $5 combo lock. Twenty minutes later we locked up the bike and headed for a cool shower.

Around 2:00pm we made the 2 block stroll to the Boulder Café on Pearl Street for a late lunch, which we were really treating as an appetizer for dinner. Our “appetizer” turned out to be a large salad and a salmon melt with fries. Normally this would have been more than enough for the rest of the day, but on this day, it really was just an appetizer. After lunch, we strolled Pearl Street for an hour, then when back to the Boulderado and took a short nap.

By 5:30pm we were back at our favorite Boulder restaurant, Jax, for more fuel. It was fantastic. After dinner we watched street performers, checked out some art galleries and topped of the evening with a beer sampler tray from Redfish Brewery.

At 8am the next morning we checked out of the hotel and were back on the bike. After stopping for breakfast at Moe’s bagels we headed for Fort Collins around 9am. This time we stopped in Hygiene and bought two large Gatorades and refilled water bottles. We both felt much better on the return trip and have realized that hydration is critical and that Gatorade really helps. We made it home around 12:45. It was a great trip and we are both already looking forward to our next tandem adventure.

Chasing Daylight...

We are at the time of year when you just never know how much daylight you have left. It was a beautiful day here in Fort Collins and even though the wind had blown most of the day the flags were barely moving on my ride home. I came home, changed clothes and was on roadie by 4:20. I took measure of the height of the sun above the foothills. It was just over a fist at arms length. Since this was the first post work road ride of the year, I was just guessing about how far I could make it. I thought I had about an hour.

I road part of the Bingham hill loop in reverse but left off a bit out of concern for darkness. I finished by doing a short up and back to the top of Bingham off of Overland Trail. The sun was just starting to set and Bingham Hill actually has two hills, the first shorter and the second larger and longer. In between the two hills is a small valley. I crested the first hill in sun, dropped into the shady valley and had a temporary sunset, and then made it to the top of Bingham hill and back into the sun. It was like cheating the inevitability of sunset, if only for a short time.

I made it back to Overland Trail and then saw the last, and real sunset of my ride. I often wonder how many people actually see the moment the sun sets behind the hills. I got to enjoy this moment today and I think I will try and make a habit of it.

Chores...

Well, no bike ride today, but I did have a great Sunday. I rode my fixed gear with Christi for about 7 miles. We have great bike trails here in Fort Collins. The trail we took Sunday is paved all the way to Laporte. It has a great wooden bridge, well wood layed over steel supports and concrete pylons, but still wood under the tires. I rode the Le Tour with new bars and a fresh set of tires. I enjoyed the ride but still have my concerns with the amount of frame flex. I think I still have residual concerns about the flexing because of the catastrophic fracture of the crank on Mad Max. Still a bit gun shy.

After the fixie ride a friend called to ask if I would like to go road riding, so I changed clothes, hoped on the bike and took off. We road the Bingham Hill-Laporte-Cement plant loop and it was great. Any time you get to ride 22 miles in February and not freeze your butt off it is great. We road at a nice, leisurely pace and enjoyed the day.

Today was filled with chores that I have been putting off. I wrote a letter regarding a legal issue that I have been hesitant to write. It is good to have that done. After I finish this post I am planning to send a DVD to my buddy in Trinidad. I created the DVD from photos and footage from our trip to some 10th Mountain Division Huts last March. A year late is better than never. I also got a jump on our taxes this year. If I have them done before April 1st it will be a record. My biggest accomplishment was installing a new water heater. I actually watched and played gopher while my buddy who is a plumber installed the heater. However, I did decide to install the new heater before the other heater actually rusted out. Lets hope we do not spring any leaks over night.

I did see that Jill in Alaska finished the Sustina 100. That is an amazing accomplishment.

Ah...The Ephemeral Colorado Sun

My part of Colorado has been in the throws of winter for nearly 8 weeks now. I have only been here since January of 2000, but this is much colder than normal for us. We had 2 major snow storms about 1 week apart in late December, early January and the snow is still lingering. As I sit typing this entry it is in the teens with snow flying once again. As a person who enjoys riding I am getting tired of the snow. I used to like snow but I think everyone here in town is getting pretty disgruntled with this particular batch. Usually snow falls, sticks around for a day or two then we have beautiful 50 degree weather and blazing sun. We are all back in a light fleece in no time. Not this year.

However, this weekend we had 2 glorius days of typical Colorado weather. We have had just enough time for 95 percent of the snow to melt of the roads and all that is left to contend with is the occasional wet patch. Saturday morning by about 11am it felt like it was in the low 50's and the sun was only getting warmer. I freed roadie from the hook in the garage and proceeded to ride, not my typical cruiser bike ride to work, but honest to goodness wind blowing in the hair riding. It felt fantastic and there was no complaining about the usual beginning of the season saddle pains or stiff arms, I was just happy to be on roadie again.

I only road about 17 miles as I had forgetten my water bottle and my gloves, but it was great. I returned home and gave my bike a sponge bath to dislodge all of the accumulated grime from the ride. The garden house is rolled up in the shed and it did not seem worth it to drag the hose out with snow still on the ground. If I pulled it out now I would be dealing with a frozen coil of green strewn across my yard for the remainder of the winter. My wife made fun of me for giving my bike a sponge bath, but a man has to do what a man has to do.

Sunday proved another extraordinary day so I sprung roadie from the confines of the shed once again. We covered 22 miles. Now snow swirls outside my window and roadie hangs on the hook in the shed.

Luckily Mad Max, my cruiser, is not afraid of the snow!

The Heron Trip

The weather here in Colorado had been really cold until this past week. We actually had a few days in the 50's. Now we are back to highs in the 30's and it looks like this next week is supposed to be cold as well. Last weekend Christi and I decided to take advantage of a sunny Saturday afternoon and go for a bike ride on some trails around town. We have probably 20 miles or more of dedicated paved ped/bike trails here in town and they actually plow the trails here before most of the streets. Since I often read Up in Alaska , Oil is for Sissies, and Spokes of a Wheel, I decided to take my camera with me on this little ride. Tim at Spokes was recently on a hike on the C&O canal and had an encounter with herons. I myself had a great little run in with a heron and got as close to a heron as I ever have. We saw the bird on the Spring Creek trail on our way back west after reaching the eastern junction between the Poudre River Trail and the Spring Creek Trail. The heron was in Spring Creek just enjoying life and did not seem bothered by me until I got fairly close. Urban wildlife is amazing and you really can see some great things right in town if you just take the time to look.

Moustache Bars

I have been eyeing some moustache bars for a time now. I converted a 1973 Schwinn Le Tour that I got from the local bike co-op, Bike Against, here in Fort Collins. Incidentally, Bike Against is a great group that is hooking up folks with bikes at no cost, just donations. Now donations to them are things like old parts, bike grease, any spare junk you may have laying around not big money donations. Raphael, the bloke who started it all is a great guy and should be commended. But I digress.

Anyway, I have been coveting these moustache bars on Rivendell's site for a number of weeks. Of course I priced them at Nashbar and they have a set that is much cheaper but a completely different geometry. The bars on the Riv site are based on a copper mock up that one of the guys there tested and re-designed, re-tested, etc. That seems like the way to make things, so I went with them. I just talked to John at Riv and he let me know that the bars were in stock and should be to me by next Thursday. Something to look forward to.

I am also testing these because they say some folks really like to use them on a tandem. We currently have a tandem that is a tad small for me and I am thinking I may be able to use a set of moustache bars to make it more comfortable. For now we will just check them out on the fixie and go from there.

Testing out this blogging thing...

Well, here it is. The first post ever. Not sure what this will all become but the fun is the journey. The plan is to use this blog to explore whatever may be happening in life. Birdhouses, bikes, boats and critters, all of these will come up. My interests are pretty diverse, so I am sure this blog will be all over the place. So, what is my first exciting topic du jour? I thought a catchy name, something that incorporates my interests "Naked Cyclist Join Blue Grass Jam at Timber Framed Tree House on the Banks of the Madison River"

It's my first post, what did you expect?