John's new bike (part deux). I initially intended to get the '06 model, but when I was ready to buy, there were none left. So, the benevolent Joe at Joe's Pro Bikes offered to sell me the '07 model for the same price. Here it is, in all it's beautiful glory!!!
I am way proud. Last week, from Monday to Sunday, I rode my bike approximately 143 miles. Here's the breakdown:
M: 16 (to work and back)
T: 16 (to work and back)
W: 16 (to work and back)
H: 16 (to work and back)
F: 32 (to work and back and at lunch)
S: 47 (Saturday morning ride)
This marks several memorable occasions. First, it is the first week that I rode my bike to work every day, even thought it rained on the way home on Thursday and Friday. I also had a great ride on Saturday, staying at the front of the group with which I ride, the SwRI Roadrunners. The Roadrunners are training for the MS150, which I may or may not ride in. When all was said and done, we had completed the ride with an average speed of 20 mph!!! I was just searching my archives and remembering when I thought 10mph was fast. How times have changed...
Anyway, that's pretty cool, eh?
I swear, I get something new and cool off of this site every time I look.
So, who among you are sharing a home computer. This is fine and good, but then you end up sharing a web browser. Then, certain of your browsing buddies likes to add MILLIONS of UNORGANIZED bookmarks that make you, as an engineer, berzonkers. Then, you have all these cool firefox extensions at work that you want to bring home, but how annoying is it to re-install all your Extensions on a million machines. And your significant other absolutely HATES your RSS reader, which is of course a Firefox extension. Anyone who thinks Microsoft is the answer to this conundrum hasn't, well, used Windows. Finally, what happens when your oldest children aren't quite old enough to speak in complete sentences but are browsing the web with the best of them? All in all, sharing a browser does not make for a happy marriage. This post is the answer.
I'm totally installing MozBackup, saving my profile, and installing it at home as a new browser. FREEDOM!!!
I had gotten around this for a while using the new and improved IE, but nobody likes IE. It is not NEARLY so customizable.
So excited!!!
Okay, folks. Lately I've been reading Lifehacker.com, a very cool site that gives a lot of good tips on how to be more productive. I know that sounds boring, but to an engineer, that is totally internet gold. This is the latest really cool article:
In this article, he talks about "GmailThis!", which presents several concepts I didn't know existed. First, javascript embedded in the URL bar. Second, a quick way to email/blog internet content. Vox just came up with their own bookmarklet, so you can "VoxThis!" as well (without having to visit vox, copy links, blah de blah, boring and time consuming).
The great thing about Lifehacker is that I feel like I'm being productive, even during the times when I have nothing to be productive on. This way, I can still browse ... personal sites at work, and say I'm just improving my work productivity. I LIKE IT!!! Who knows, maybe it will improve my blogging output:). We'll see.
(Come on, Nikki - even though it is incredibly nerdy and "engineer", you have to admit, you are a bit interested...:)
The reason behind the increased use of my bike:
Today is a big day for me. Take a look at my new bike:
I should post pictures of my old bike to highlight the disparety.
This past Saturday, I had a pretty bad ride. It all started when one of the guys in our group stopped because his chain fell off. I was riding with the leader in the back at the time, and he was slowing down to stop. Because I don't like everyone to have to wait up for me, I try to get ahead in the pack whenever I can. I took the opportunity to try to catch up with the rest of the main group. As I did, I was rather destracted by both the rider missing a chain behind me and the pack busting butt ahead of me. I was distracted enough that I missed the turn (and lost site of the pack ahead).
I went down the wrong road about a mile before I realized. By the time I was headed the correct way, I was way behind everyone.
Then, I started having trouble with my crank (the part of the bike with the pedals). The crank was catching. I had to slow down and eventually stopped briefly. I thought I probably got some dirt in the crank shaft, and was grinding my bike away as I road. It was not a pleasant feeling. I would have given my teeth for some WD40. I thought for sure I would be marooned in the middle of nowhere with a broken bike. Again, not a pleasant feeling. After spinning the crank backwards a few times, it seemed to go away, so I hauled butt to catch up.
Amazingly, I was able to catch up with the pack behind the main group at a gas station. While I was at the gas station, I picked up a HUGE can of WD40, which I continued to haul around for the remainder of the ride. I squirted the WD40 on my crank with my water bottles still in place, and took off with the rest of the group. I was just able to squirt some WD40-tasting water before we were hauling butt again.
I somehow had the energy to stay up in the draft and even tow a little bit all the way to the half-way point of the ride (it was a there-and-back route). We grabbed some more water, and headed back.
By the time we got to the gas station, I was not feeling so well - I was just so tired. I thought maybe it was because I had only eaten a banana that morning (about 1.5 hrs ago), so I kicked back my banana and some gatorade. We got back on the bikes, and headed out. I felt much better for a while. I was able to hold a draft for another 6 or 7 miles.
Which brings us to the last 2 miles of the ride, at which point I felt like death. I don't remember being so tired on my bike before. My legs and hands were totally numb all of a sudden, and I fell way behind. Thankfully, the leader of the ride waited for me at the last turn. I wasn't even winded, but totally tired to the point of being sick.
I finally got back to the car and was able to avoid puking all the way home. I was able to just finish my shower before I lost my few bananas of the morning in the toilet. All in all, it was the most unpleasant ride I have done so far - and it was no where near the longest.
So, for the record, if your water bottle tastes at all like WD40, just don't drink it. It's not worth the digestional turmoil.
Here's some pictures of my bike computer. About 34.5 miles in 2hrs 3mins - not bad at all (this time does not include breaks, although I don't think we breaked for more than 20 minutes). Also, my total time on the bike since I got my computer (about three months ago) is 558 - yeah. Just to toot my horn a little more, I didn't ride for about 2 of those 3 months - work was crazy busy. Anyway, go me!!!
Recent Comments
-
ClamouringChampion said:
Yeah, she was totally nursing at the time. We were trying to keep [Madeline] quite.We shouldn't have stopped it -... read more
on My Little Tea Pot -
Nikki said:
Well, that's just too cute to be allowed.I like Madeline's accompaniment at the end, too. read more
on My Little Tea Pot -
Thad Manning said:
[this is good]Thanks for posting this. I passed along the info on my Vox and credited you. I have been using Internet... read more
on His and Hers Firefox -
Nikki said:
yesssss Busted Tees.This is the latest one I covet:http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/finderskeepers/femaleWe need to have a phone call with y'all soon. Maybe Friday?... read more
on Land of Enchantment
on My Little Tea Pot