bcp fall foliage weekend

 Well, Regina and I thought it was great. It's true that there was not enough masking going on, but we found that easy enough to avoid. We decided to forego most of the group events; Tom H, who had more-or-less convened us, had rides for us to do, and the four of us - Tom, Laura OLPH, Jack H, and I did those. They were beautiful rides on new (to us) roads, and Tom's done this event enough to know where much of the coolness is.

The rides we did were not especially long, but they were hilly, and they were certainly challenge enough for each day.

From Friday's ride:

I really liked this stop... as well as the circle it was on. More below.

Tom said we'd see the elephant. It was way off the road, and I had to depend on the camera zoom to get it... but we did.

Saturday, there were a number of groups (some quite large) going out early.

The four of us took a ride to Gettysburg.

Above, the view from Little Round Top, held by Union soldiers, down to a rocky bit called Devil's Den by the traitors who had such a bad time there.

We got a bit of rain, and took refuge inside the bridge.

I find the battlefield sobering. 

Later that day, Regina and I had dinner on our own, and then met up with Tom and Laura later.

Sunday, a similar shape-up to the previous morning for the various rides going out.

 

We went to Lake Marburg (?).

Regina did her own rides, at her own pace, and was apparently happy with that. We're already planning to go back. (Although we hope the pandemic lifts, and we can do some of the group stuff next time!)

phone contacts

 Among my phone contacts, I have:

• At least two who are deceased,;
• The estranged boyfriend of a coworker; 
• Several contacts from a volunteer service I haven't done in four or five years;
• Coworkers from previous jobs, whom I have not seen or heard from since;
• Staff who have since departed from my condo management company;
• A dentist I went to once, who I think I read has since lost his license to practice;
• A housekeeper who fired us;
• The guy who did my mother's taxes. He has since retired;
• The guy who moved my mother into her assisted-living facility, like, four years ago;
• The Philadelphia Parking Commissioner, who offered me a parking space for a day in Philadelphia three or four years ago. Is he still in office?
• Two old bosses, who, together, fired me from my previous job;
• A guy I haven't ridden bikes with in maybe ten years. He had a child, who's probably in fourth or fifth grade now;
• A contact that's simply a number I don't recognize.

I can't bring myself to delete any of them.

sweet talk

One of the staff I "supervise" at my job (from which I'm retiring in 29 days) left yesterday to take another job. We both happened to work at the office yesterday, and when I got in this morning, I found this sticky on my monitor:

She felt like a daughter to me. I am so touched.

hard for me to read

 It's in English, and, except for proper names, I don't think there have been any words in it I didn't recognize, but this is the hardest book for me to read that I've seen in a long time.

It's a little about the universe, and a lot about white male privilege and protections, barriers in science to those who are NOT white and male (and how this affects the science they do), justice and injustice, sexism and sexual assault. It's hard for me to read because it shows, yet again, how deeply rooted those protections and privileges are, and the damage that we've done, and the damage that's been done for us, usually without our ever knowing about it.

I read for a bit every day. Sometimes I can only read for about ten minutes; yesterday I managed about 35.

update to yesterday's post

 I forget to post this about yesterday's ride, and it's too good to miss: at some point along the way yesterday, I was riding next to John K when I shouted something, probably (for example) "Car Back!". Immediately, John got a warning beep from his ride software.

It was telling him that he was in a hazardous noise zone and the ambient noise was at 95 decibels.

That was my shout. Evidently, I am a self-contained, traveling hazardous noise source.

You have been warned.

the rain never came

Early in the week, the predictions for rain for today were dire, so Laura OLPH planned a route with places where we could shorten and return if the weather proved uncooperative. Nine of use showed up for the ride. But at the start, we had a pleasant surprise:

Andrew A was in town for a day for something-or-other, off from his sabbatical at Cornell. He's rented out the house and was staying in a hotel, and had an hour or so before he had to check out, so he rode in to see who was going to be at the start of Laura's ride!

(My uncooperative camera didn't catch the others.)

Laura's route led us up into the Sourlands and then back to the Boro Bean. 

John K had brought his lovely Yasujiro, with all the Campagnolo doodads. (Is putting Campy parts on a Japanese frame inappropriate cultural appropriation of some kind or other?)

Below, John went for the whole kit, including hat and gloves.

I'd be jealous, except I know I'd never have the guts to actually ride such a beautiful thing. 

Of course, Ricky had his Cinelli...

(So much excellence in one picture!)

There may be no such thing as a bad bike.

On the way back, we were looking to add miles, and then the wind kicked up, so the ride page shows our loopy peregrinations.

And, of course, the threatened rain never did come.

I've got a shorter one for tomorrow. Y'wanna come?

not a political difference

I can have a political difference with a libertarian. We disagree on the proper extent of government involvement. That's a political difference.

I can't have a political difference with most conservatives. They want to deny dignity, remove protections, and (in some cases) end the lives of people with whom they disagree. This is not a political distinction; it is an ethical one. What is the point of a discussion with someone who is so ethically bankrupt?

vanity purchase

My Topeak Road Morph has seen better days, and while I'd cast the eye of prurient desire on the Lezyne Micro Floor Drive with Gauge, the price seemed a bit high. But then Tom H showed up with the Acacia pump, and it looked good enough that I decided to look more into it. It's available on Amazon, but I decided not to make Mr Bezos any wealthier if I didn't have to, and I found it on Ebay for under $30.

It's got a gauge, which is accurate enough for a road fill, and I like the look of it on the bike. It's got a short throw, which translates to a LOT of strokes to get a tire up to pressure... but it got my gravel tires up to 40psi, and it's rated to 130 psi (and the short stroke means that you won't be working too hard to get those last few pumps into the tire).

It's Presta/Schrader reversible, and the screw-on collar rotates on the hose easily, so the hose detaches from the valve before you've lost all the air you just pumped in. The collar snaps into the handle top, making a trim fit on the bike. I like it. 

It's too soon to say that it's "stuff that works", but I have hopes.