The little videos just got a whole lot larger. Tweeking the finished size this morning, I figured out that I can increase the size by about 35% Sweet!
Maybe some day I will figure out how to do them in 3D!
Enjoy the show.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Wheels on Ice
Wheels on Ice is a 64 page magazine sized book about bicycle travel in Alaska from 1898-1908. The book is a collection of stories by people that used bicycles rather then dog sled to explore and prospect the Alaskan frontier.The book has been out of print for some time, but can be found on Amazon.com,
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0882402722/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1263124926&sr=1-3&condition=all
The book is one of my favorite. Simple and sweet about rugged riders in a very cold world. Reading the stories you realize how good we have it and a how an 8 degree day seems warm.
One of my favorite parts was the protocol of the Alaskan Traveler when arriving at a Road House.
The book tells the story about how road houses would have a Oil Tank Stove in the center of the room, with a 100 gallon oil tank. The stove was also burning wood. All around the stove pipe was a rack made of poles and wires over which wet socks, shoes and jackets were set by patrions to dry. One can only amagin how bad the room must have smelled. Its no wonder everyone smoked!
A traveler would come through the door, find a box or a log to sit on, take off his wet boots and socks and put on dry. He than would hang his wet socks, boots and jacket on the rack, find his pipe and light it. Only after that, he might speak. Hundreds of travelers were said to follow the ritual and while taking care of business, was not spoken to by guests around the stove. Each mans business was own, and unless he choose to take others into his confidence, he was let strictly alone.
The little book is filled with great tid bits like that and is one of my favorite cycling books and will be cherished for years.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
What all the Fashionable Cyclists will be Wearing this Winter
Remember when the roads were clean?
There are many ideas as to what works right as well as what looks good. There are as many different fashions as there are riders. One persons "good look" is another riders idea of a "Clown Suit" I can hear my friend Chris saying, "This jacket comes with the big shoes and the red rubber nose!"
The one thing that every cyclist has in common and will be wearing if they ride at this time of year is that thing as cyclists we love as well as hate.
Road Salt is something you cant avoid at this time of year and as I lay in bed and hear the first truck of the Winter Season dump the first load that hits the wall of the house, I know its time to park the good bikes and roll out my Winter Ride.
Road Salt ruins Ice. It also ruins Lycra, Rubber, Ponds, Streams, Rivers, Trees and Bicycles. Road salt gets everywhere. It gets on your bike, shoes, tights, jacket, it Even gets in your mouth.
I found that a 10% salt solution to ice will cause water to freeze at 20 degrees, and a 20% solution at 2 degrees. We dump 11 million tons of salt on the roads here in the US each year and usage has increased 8 fold since 1960. That was when everything was closed on Sunday.
I found out that Salt is neather an Acid or a Base. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) + Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) = Sodium chloride (NaCl) + Water (H2O) Hmmmmmm,,?
Highly soluble, Sodium Chloride will run into ground water and over the year leach into streams and cause problems with fish and plant life. If you look, you can see tree damage on the sides of the road that dosent show up in old photos of New England.
There are safer ways of melting ice on the road like calcium Chloride and Magnesium Chloride, but are both cost prohibitive.
Although salt is an important part of our diet, as Americans we consume 10 times whats needed for our body's to work right.
The problems of salt on clothing can be solved by rinsing with water. This is hard when water freezes and bicycles don't work well frozen. Winter cycling boots can be washed but take days to dry correctly. Its important to have at least two pair.
With a little time this will all be over and we will enjoy warm days and ice free roads again. We will just need to deal or get on the trainer
That not going to happen!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Beyond the Box
I have always had a serious attraction to people who think and live outside the box.
The folks that ether stand out or are hardly noticed in there way of doing things differently. Not for any other reason but "There has got to be a better way." Understanding themselves and not being comfortable with whats normal. Going out on a limb to live there life to its fullest, with the true understanding that "life is too short" and if there not going to do it, it might just never get done.
Because of my attraction to the different, I have met some pretty incredible folk, from all walks of life.
People who know me know I love to be outside the box, and when ever I see an "Odd Ball" I'm an drawn closer then as in most people, away. I tend to ask questions of the "Beyond the Box Thinkers" as to how and why. Its amazing the minds of people I have met by seeking out and simply, asking. The surface eccentricities usually run deep and what you see is never what you get. The interests of the folks that stand out are usually as wide and deep as any ocean.
Everybody has there story, But for most of the people I meet, are afraid to do anything different for what others might think. Of course it's fun to have a secret life, but there are if fact people all around us that are forced into living someone els's life for the sake of looking good and fitting in. I think money plays a big roll in that one.
As in the case of the Recumbent Cyclists. I have met a fair share of "self proclaimed wacko's" that are proud to flaunt there weirdness. (Takes one to know one) But when you check them out, there always into something far deeper and wider then you might ever expect. For the most part, they really don't care what other people think about them and because of it have excelled into finding answers to questions on there own that no one has ever bothered to ask.
I like to take the time to meet people like that. Its a far cut above dealing with the SUV driving Rolex and multi diamond wearing housewife that think she knows it all. The tired business man that has all his ducks in a row. Or the Doctor that thinks that most people are way below him, and for him, nothing to learn. People that think there above anybody on this planet, are not. Closed mindedness is a crippling disease. Do you know that there actully are people who hate Blu Cheese that have never tried it?
I told a friend that I feel sorry for people like them. He said, "I don't feel sorry at all, I just pray."
Life as we know it would not exist if it wasn't for the People beyond the Box. "We would still be living in caves", I can hear a good friend say.
Step up and meet an Odd Ball today. You just might learn something.
The folks that ether stand out or are hardly noticed in there way of doing things differently. Not for any other reason but "There has got to be a better way." Understanding themselves and not being comfortable with whats normal. Going out on a limb to live there life to its fullest, with the true understanding that "life is too short" and if there not going to do it, it might just never get done.
Because of my attraction to the different, I have met some pretty incredible folk, from all walks of life.
People who know me know I love to be outside the box, and when ever I see an "Odd Ball" I'm an drawn closer then as in most people, away. I tend to ask questions of the "Beyond the Box Thinkers" as to how and why. Its amazing the minds of people I have met by seeking out and simply, asking. The surface eccentricities usually run deep and what you see is never what you get. The interests of the folks that stand out are usually as wide and deep as any ocean.
Everybody has there story, But for most of the people I meet, are afraid to do anything different for what others might think. Of course it's fun to have a secret life, but there are if fact people all around us that are forced into living someone els's life for the sake of looking good and fitting in. I think money plays a big roll in that one.
As in the case of the Recumbent Cyclists. I have met a fair share of "self proclaimed wacko's" that are proud to flaunt there weirdness. (Takes one to know one) But when you check them out, there always into something far deeper and wider then you might ever expect. For the most part, they really don't care what other people think about them and because of it have excelled into finding answers to questions on there own that no one has ever bothered to ask.
I like to take the time to meet people like that. Its a far cut above dealing with the SUV driving Rolex and multi diamond wearing housewife that think she knows it all. The tired business man that has all his ducks in a row. Or the Doctor that thinks that most people are way below him, and for him, nothing to learn. People that think there above anybody on this planet, are not. Closed mindedness is a crippling disease. Do you know that there actully are people who hate Blu Cheese that have never tried it?
I told a friend that I feel sorry for people like them. He said, "I don't feel sorry at all, I just pray."
Life as we know it would not exist if it wasn't for the People beyond the Box. "We would still be living in caves", I can hear a good friend say.
Step up and meet an Odd Ball today. You just might learn something.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
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