t-de-f pics

OK, some pics from today's ride. First, here's that truck bike I referred to. I forgot to mention the front AND rear disk brakes, and the internal, seven-speed rear hub. He also had this odd, no-nose saddle, which may be comfortable, but it limits leaning, so it makes the bike harder to steer:

Laura, and her bike, Kermit, in the parking lot:

Dave H & Ron S at the Griggstown Causeway:

Joe M, Dave H, Ron, Laura, and May at the Causeway:

After the ride - Me, Shawn, part of Mike C, Rich, Dave H, and Ron:

Joe, Dave H, Me (with Rich B's head growing out of my right shoulder), Laura, Ron:

Shawn removing Mike's number tag. Dave H, Joe M, Rich, and I are awed by their coordination, or something.

Most of the gang: Shawn, Mike, Dave C, Joe, Rich, some guy, Laura, Dave H, Ron.

Photographer Ed C.

tour de franklin

Because I'm a complete nutball, I have been sweating this for weeks.


Today was the 2012 Tour de Franklin. Some of you have checked the post on my Charity Rides blog, and some of those who did came along. We had ten Freewheelers along today, and picked up a stray from the Mid-State Riders who got his times wrong (and who appeared to enjoy our somewhat more spirited pace; more on that later).

It can't really be said that I LED this ride, since the route was set out for me, and since there were cue sheets for all and painted road markers... but I did CONVENE the ride, and I have been worrying about the weather, the route, outbreaks of cholera that might interfere, and all manner of similar jazz for a couple of weeks. And yet the day was great: cooler than I would have liked when we had to leave (7:30 am? We nearly had a mutiny about THAT; one rider referred to me as "Captain Bligh" after my crew had given me such a hard time), but warm, clear, and bright later. The route had enough hills to be interesting, but not so many that our riders were complaining (although a couple went up Servis Road, which paralleled part of the route, because they weren't getting enough hills), and I brought it in at 15.6 mph, which means that the slow riders were at about that pace. One of the faster guys said his GPS reported 16.5.

Well, I'm impressed.

Some of the guys were the group of Pennsylvanians, some of whom had been complaining on the Chocolate Bunny Ride. One of those was a guy who's had lung problems last year, ahd who was riding with four broken ribs today. His goals (which he apparently made handily) were to keep with the group for the first 20 miles, to keep the group in sight for the next 20 miles, and to finish the ride.

He got in before I did.

Another was a younger rider (WAY younger than I) who had finshed near the back of the pack on the Chocolate Bunny Ride, who came in with no problem today. I told him I want a urine sample and a blood test; I suspect a Central Jersey doping scandal in the making.

I had a great time. We got t-shirts and goodie bags (my wife has already hooked the fancy body wash), we got lunch. Ed got some pictures, which I'll post when he sends 'em to me. And I didn't get lost. I have a preliminary answer to the question, "How many Freewheelers does it take to keep Jim from turning off the course?" The temporary answer is, "No more than eleven."

(There's another important Freewheeler question: "How many Freewheelers does it take to change a tire?" The answer seems to be, "Well... how many do you got?" Unfortunately, as the number of available Freewheelers increases arithmetically, the number of false starts and random opinions, and the amounts of noise and wasted time, increase geometrically. We're really much more efficient letting one person who's really good at it change the tire, and the rest of us, ideally, should not even know that the process has begun.)

We saw a number of beautiful bikes, some cool things, and one working bike that looked like a truck: heavy frame with integrated rear-basket mount, internal seven-speed rear hub, dual disk brakes, and a modified Sting-Ray handlebar to bring the controls back to the rider. The guy on it could ride the pants off that thing, too. I hope Ed's picture of it comes out; I want to post it.

Edit: See Laura's post for today to see the pics. Go ahead. Do it now: the post will open in a new tab, and I'll wait.

Also: on that Chocolate Bunny Ride, I wrote about having problems with the front brake. I think I found the problem: I noticed that the right control had slipped down the handlebar (because of the extra in-line brake levers I have on the Road Bike, the slipping of the shifter control would make the brake tighter). I've fixed it, and it seems to be better now.

Only one complaint: little good food at the stops. Two riders complained about the lack of food (the committee member said they had not counted on the number of same-day registrations), and, while there were some bagels, cream cheese, butter, water, and Gatorade, the was not much fruit, and no peanut butter was in evidence (which is like not having adequate heroin in an inner-city neighborhood). Other than that (and knowing that, we might plan for it if we go again), I think we had a good time. My thanks to Dave C, Dave H, Ed, Joe, Laura OLPH, May, Mike, Rich, Ron, Shawn, and an unnamed hanger-on from the Mid-State club, for making my first pseudo-leading experience as good as it was.

birthday coming

I've got a birthday in a bit over a week. It's my Heinz birthday; I'll have as many years as Heinz (used to have) varieties.

(I guess you've gotta be d'un certain age to get this, because the current Heinz logo (available on this page) is one of those boring new streamlined could-be-anything corporate logos - but when I was growing up, "Heinz: 57 Varieties" was all over everything they sold... which at one point, according to at least one not-too-reliable source, included over 1300 varieties.)

Sheesh. I hope I never get that old.

spring fling

Today was the Princeton Freewheelers' "Spring Fling", the annual April all-paces ride and lunch where they distribute jerseys to last year's leaders of over ten rides and make other announcements. It leaves from (and the lunch is served at) the Princeton Masonic Lodge, which is one of the few ride starts to which I can ride from my house, so I did. It was a bit cold this morning, and I knew it would warm up (some) later, so I was a bit cold when I left, and a bit warm when I got back.

If you check out the route, you'll see that there's a two-loops to the southwest of the start/end. I started and ended near my house, and rode down the the lodge (there's a little jiggit about halfway down river road where the lodge is; the other one, a bit northwest of there, was where I pulled into a driveway to put my mirror back and adjust my headgear). I went in the expectation that Ira S, a popular ride leader, would have a huge group, and I would sweep for him, but his group of fourteen was smaller than I expected - whether the cold temps kept people away, or people were put off by his short course, I don't know. Although pretty (we went by some very classy real estate - more places I won't be able to retire), the course was short; only 20 miles; some of us added an extra four by going around the block for some more miles (that's the narrow rectangular bit to the east of the main loop). I waited at he top of a hill for some riders, and one got ahead; I tried to catch him, but got stuck behind some traffic and couldn't. The traffic is my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Early on, one of the riders with whom I'm not acquainted had a flat. How many Freewheelers does it take to change a tube? Well, how many do you have? Of course, the more of us there are, the more opinions and suggestions there are - which don't actually speed up the process. The tire in question was exceptionally tight, so I'm glad I didn't have to actually change it. I don't claim any particular expertise in that process, so I stayed back and waved the traffic by .

Ira was also responsible for the lunch (which may be why he made his ride short). We were first back, and some of us tried to be polite, but politeness gave way to hunger, and we got into the meatball sandwiches and the desserts before the rest of the food arrived, or before the other riders got back. I did not hear complaints about lack of food, so perhaps we were kind enough to the comparative latecomers.

There was a woman from BikingThings.com who was there selling print overruns and overstocks cheap - $5 for jerseys. Most of them were in Dumbo sizes, but I got one in medium, which I have given to The Excellent Wife (TEW); she'll need one (more later). I also got a pulls-down-low-over-your-eyes cycling cap, which I put on under my helmet, and then had to adjust on the way home... because the bill is SO low, I couldn't see ahead! And I'm too d-mn old to give up visibility for style.

The Excellent Wife will need the jersey, doncha see, because she's actually going to try to come out on some rides. In this month's ride list, there's a beginner ride scheduled, to be led by an instructor for the League of American Bicyclists. I talked to him about bringing her, and he said "No couples"... and he's right. TEW can learn stuff better from almost anybody than from me; between my teaching style, and all the other water that's gone under the dam with us, me-the-teacher-and-she-the-student is just not a reliable recipe for success. She should do this thing herself. I hope she will.

Tomorrow I take the team on the Tour de Franklin. The team may be getting bigger; a few riders today asked about it. We almost had a mutiny over the early start... we'll see how things go. In the meantime, as I write this, the bike laundry is in the dryer, the non-laundry bike stuff is laid out for putting in the car, and TEW and I are eying the local Five Guys like wolves circling the wounded moose.

police would be liable for arresting citizens recording them

The state senate in Connecticut has approved a bill which would make police liable for arresting people for recording them. The bill, introduced by State Senator Coleman, above, states the following:

This bill makes peace officers potentially liable for damages for interfering with a person taking a photograph, digital still, or video image of either the officer or a colleague performing his or her job duties. Under the bill, officers cannot be found liable if they reasonably believed that the interference was necessary to (1) lawfully enforce a criminal law or municipal ordinance; (2) protect public safety; (3) preserve the integrity of a crime scene or criminal investigation; (4) safeguard the privacy of a crime victim or other person; or (5) enforce Judicial Branch rules and policies that limit taking photographs, videotaping, or otherwise recording images in branch facilities.

Officers found liable of this offense are entitled, under existing law, to indemnification (repayment) from their state or municipal employer if they were acting within their scope of authority and the conduct was not willful, wanton, or reckless.

See the original article on Pixiq.com.

parts missing

Yes, I do spend too much time on that site where I found this.

they picked the wrong gal

That friendly-lookin' gal in the picture is my newest hero. She won a $10,000,000 judgment against a bill-collection agency who were using illegal harassment tactics.

Admittedly, she was not just your average bill-collection-harassment-call-recipient:

"He picked the wrong person," Mey said.

You see, Diana Mey has battled big companies over intrusive phone calls before. In 1999, she won a class action lawsuit against a major telemarketer whose salesmen kept calling people, even when asked to stop. People magazine named her one of the "Most Intriguing People of the Year." That's why Mey has recorded her phone calls ever since.

See the original article here.

I wish I could ever be that heroic.

back from pittsburgh

The Excellent Wife and I visited friends who live in a suburb of Pittsburgh this weekend. Through a combination of hard work and good luck, they will be able to retire in a few months (on a full pension, a thing few people of my age will have), and they will be leaving that area, so they, and TEW and I, decided that it would be a good time to visit, as we could benefit from their local knowledge.

These friends had lived on a cute little farm in the Albany-Schenectady area for years until the job moved to a Pittsburgh suburb about five years ago, and it's only with reluctance that they moved, and they are leaving at the first opportunity; they've already bought the retirement house. They do not love Pittsburgh, for a number of reasons, one of which is that they are not sports people.

It's not useful to talk about Pittsburgh without talking about sports. A Google image search for "Pittsburgh logo" this morning showed seven of the first eight results, and twelve of the first 16, are clearly sports team logos, either professional or college (a similar search for New York logo shows four of eight and nine of 16). The Penguins, the Pittsburgh hockey team, was in the playoffs and lost the first three games, but won the fourth; the fifth was to be played the night of the first day we were there, and we could not escape the Penguins jerseys and t-shirts that were being worn in support. The editorial that day was about a retro jersey that the Steelers would wear later in the year, and, as we were touring the city, I was surprised at the amount of sports logo gear for sale, and the number of vendors who sold only sports logo gear. I don't remember as much sports logo clothing being worn anywhere else as I saw there.

Pittsburgh was a steel city, and there are reminders all around, in the empty steel mills (many of which have been reclaimed for other purposes), in the huge number of train tracks, in some of the nifty historical areas. The Pittsburgh three rivers area was important during the French and Indian Wars (which, in the rest of the world, was the Seven Year's War, largely between Britain and France), but my friends tell me that the locals think of history as being largely about steel. And steel is fascinating: huge machines, railroads dedicated solely to a single steel plant, and huge amounts of money, as evidenced by the excellent period architecture in many parts of the city, as well as the number of bridges. There are bridges everywhere. They need them, with three rivers, and countless creeks, streams, brooks, and ravines.

We saw the Heinz History Center, a monument to local pride, and walked the strip (originally a warehouse area, now nifty food and arts vendors, and plenty of places to get sports logo gear). We tried to do the art museum, but we had a dispute about opening time; an online resource said it opened at 10am,, but the sign in front said noon on Sundays, and, with weather threatening our timely return home, we decided to go to the Phipps Conservatory prior to our return home.

We're home now, working on losing the weight we gained and planning what to do when we return to work. Our thanks to our hosts, gracious and informative. And I'm hoping for nice weather next weekend, for the bike club spring fling and the Tour de Franklin.

apology

Thank you for your consideration.
From Oddman.ca, which, I'm sorry to say, I enjoy way too much.

In other news:

1. In my head, I refer to my bike as the yellow Maserati, because it it neither yellow, nor a Maserati. When someone compliments me at work (an occurrence of distressing rarity), I have for years said something to the effect of, "That's why I make the big money; you can tell by that yellow Maserati that's parked outside. Didja see it? That's mine." Since I spend way too much time, effort, and money on my bike, it's become my yellow Maserati.
2. Have you found the Easter Eggs yet? I've been putting them in for a month or so.

gps art

Laura OLPH forwarded this piece from Grist about a bicyclist who's using his GPS tracks to draw pictures:

I've heard of people doing it elsewhere, but now Laura is interested. She suggested the Hill Slugs do a slug, but I protest that a slug is too amorphous to be recognizable (would you recognize a slug?). I think seasonal designs might be fun: a bunny at Easter, a witch at Halloween. (If we were really bein' true to the Hill Slugs, we'd have a bunch of riders gossiping & joking over coffee... but that might require more detail than the GPS would permit.)

unbreakable distance record

I got an email from a fellow rider, Dave H, about this guy. In the days when cycling was the rage, Tommy Godwin set a distance record of 75,065 miles in a year, according to this article from the BBC online.

From the article:

"It's those statistics that make the record virtually unbreakable," said Dave Barter, a keen cyclist who is writing a book about the Year Record. Sometimes he survived on four hours' sleep and there were probably days when he didn't even bother and just carried on and kipped in a field for an hour. He pushed it [the record] beyond the limit of any mere mortal. I worked with a guy who tried it again this year - he lasted about a month and a half. The essence of it is that for a year you have to completely give up your whole life.... When I tell other cyclists about the record, they simply don't believe it's possible."

Not satisfied with that, he went on for another several months, to set the record for the fastest 100,000 miles.

It makes my 1200 miles since January 1 look piddling. Even the guys with all the free time, who are coming up on 4,000 miles for the year, aren't close to this.

lucky & goofy

There are about three posts linked into one here; bear with me.

I didn't expect to get a ride at all today, as I said in my last post, but ours was the only delivery on the truck, and the truck was in our condo association before The Excellent Wife left for work. So I threw the stuff in the car and headed off to Hightstown, hoping to get in on the Ride to the Ride that Erich, Bob w, and Al L do. But traffic, construction, and whatnot conspired agains me, so I changed plans, and drove stright to thw Allentown start (and barely got there in time!). Eleven guys, all regulars except for me, and we took this route to Pemberton and back. There's an excellent bakery there that I'm sure I'll never find again! Almost 41 miles, ar over 15mph! Some were proud (although tired); others complaining.

I got to talking with one rider about the last time I'd ridden with them, and we spoke about how tough it is when there are a number of riders along, with whose styles you're not familiar... and then I made a couple of boneheaded, terrfying mistakes. It was not my best day; I hope those guys know that I'm not always like that, and I promise to behave next time!

I'm leading a team of Freewheelers on the Tour de Franklin at the end of the month, and I heard that on Monday, a woman who is planning to ride with me was asking for a description to see if she knew me. The usual, "Fifty-something and thin" could be about half of the male membership fo the club. so that wasn't helpful! I heard that another rider described me as "goofy-looking"... and if you check the pictures below, you'll see that a case could be made.

See, fellow rider Ed C, who goes on the Sunday rides with me, has started packing his camera. I didn't ride on Easter, but he did, and got a few pictures:

That's Mark H on the left, Laura OLPH next, Matt (an occasional rider with us), and photographer Ed C. in the white top and green hat.

 

I don't know the rider... but I LOVE those pink and black Pinarellos!

 

Winter Larry, the Sunday leader. He won't continue leading into the spring and summer, but he's been great all winter.

Below are some pics from last Sunday's ride to Jackson:

 

That's Winter Larry up there, leadin' us all.

 

That guy leanin' over his handlebars in the long sleeves and tights is Alf. I've referred to him in a couple of posts this week; he's been showing me what it means to be good on the hills. The guy in the "Old Guys who get Fat in Winter" jersey, on the left..., well, YOU'd describe him as "goofy-looking", too, wouldn't you? Anyway, that's me.

And here's a good pic of the lake in Cranbury, the town we leave from on Sundays: