I Love a Parade!

Well, actually, I've generally just liked them, not loved them. That is, until a couple of years ago when I got to actually participate in one. You see, the town of Vienna, Virginia, has a big Halloween parade every year, and it's been going on for over 50 years now. Bikes@Vienna participates, and staff and customers alike ride a pretty fun array of bikes in big looping circles as we go down the main drag of Vienna, Maple Avenue.

Last night was the night, and we had a pretty good turn out, in spite of it being pretty chilly with a chance of rain. There were some pretty good costumes as well... one of our customers as the Grim Reaper on a trike, another riding a Kidz Tandem, in ghoulish makeup with a child sized skeleton in the child seat in front. Me, I was at a lost what to wear, until digging in a closet for something else, and discovering a set of ram's horns, a la Monty Python's Great Enchanter, that a friend had given me a few years ago. Why would someone give me that? Think back to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Knights of the Round Table are seeking the Great Enchanter, and when they encounter a bizarre figure with ram's horn headgear, they ask "Are you the great and mighty Enchanter?"... to which John Cleese responds "There are those who call me... Tim!" :-)

Anyway, a good time was had by all. I rode one of our Brompton folding bikes from England, and periodically hopped off, folded it up, and carried it a short distance... then unfolded and remounted it. I only managed to go through it three times I think, but it did show off the bike a bit, and even got me a few cheers and some applause. I learned the hard way that while it was good to practice the folding at the shop, I should have tried it with bad lighting and gloves too. Out there on the parade route, with gloves, it was trickier than I thought. I had an assist from Al, another staffer, who pulled up behind me on his trike-of-many-lights, which helped me see a bit better. After the ride we had refreshments back at the shop... beer, cider, and "walking tacos", a concoction made with a small bag of Doritos, crushed and covered with chili, cheese, and other taco fillings. Yummy and filling.

A Sad End to a Fine Bike?

Some of you may remember my post on the bikes@vienna blog back in February about a customer's fine old Alpine road bike, that I did a major overhaul of, wrote about here:

http://bikesatvienna.blogspot.com/2008/02/fun-in-service-area.html

Well, the story has taken a sad turn. Shortly before I headed to Vegas for the Interbike trade show, he brought the bike back in, because the front derailleur was behaving very strangely, seeming to wiggle side to side a great deal. When I first put the bike in the repair stand, I couldn't make the derailleur do anything odd at all, which puzzled me. I was thinking I needed to take it out for a test ride, when something caught my eye... something didn't quite look right around the bottom bracket area. On closer examination, I discovered something that both bike owners and mechanics dread... a crack in the frame. In this case, the bottom end of the seat tube was nearly completely split, all the way around the circumference of the tube, through the bottom bracket shell. I hated to do it, but I called the owner over and explained that the bike's days of riding were over.

You can see the crack in the two photos below:





















It pained me to have to give him the news. He's a really great guy, and the excitement and joy he showed a few months ago when he rode his beloved old bike again for the first time in a long time was enormous... so I knew his disappointment would be great. He took it well, but was clearly bummed, both for the loss of the bike and for the misfortune of having this happen so soon after the overhaul.

It's hard to say exactly what caused the break. The bike was built sometime around 1975, and had seen a lot of miles in the past, and perhaps it was simply a case of metal fatigue that chose this time to rear it's ugly head. It's also possible rust might have had a hand in it, but as I recall, the bottom bracket area didn't really show large amounts of rust when I had it opened up. Whatever the cause, there's really no good cost-effective repair, so the bike must be retired from riding, perhaps to find a place as a display item to remind the owner of happier times.

And from what he tells me, there were a lot of those, hardly surprising since the bike logged somewhere around 100,000 miles! She was ridden as a very stylish commuter in DC, Charlottesville, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A., and Memphis. In a more recreational vein, Ms. Alpine (as the owner calls her) toured extensively in California, Oregon, Washington, New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Mid-South. There were also apparently jaunts in Montana, Wyoming, Iowa, and South Dakota. This bike has seen more of the country than many people I know!

Perhaps the greatest thing about this bike though is the place it occupies in the owner's mind and heart. Some people probably don't understand such connections, but it was easy to see it in the eyes of the owner as he told me tales of past adventures with Ms. Alpine. I could relate, as I have a similar connection with my beloved old Trek, which passed its 29th "birthday" this past spring. As for Ms. Alpine, despite coming to the end of the road, so to speak, she will live on in the memory of the owner, and this mechanic who considers himself lucky to have been a small part of a very long adventure.

A picture of Ms. Alpine in happier times:

Zion National Park

Woo hoo! What a great, fantastic, amazing place!

I was in Las Vegas for a Interbike, the big bicycle trade show in the US, and had managed to get a little extra time off, so I could rent a car and drive on up to Zion National Park in Utah. Why didn't I stay in Vegas, one of the major vacation destinations in the country? Well, I'll write a more detailed post with my thoughts on that city, but for now, let's just say it's one of my least favorite places to be. I'm just not a Vegas kinda guy.

So off I went last Friday to Zion. The drive was fun, and I marvelled at how the landscape changed from Nevada to Arizona (you pass through a tiny corner of AZ) to Utah. Particularly the transition from Nevada to Arizona... you can almost see the border in the land. No offense to Nevadans, but I really find the AZ/UT scenery prettier.

I arrived At Zion about noon, which gave me just enough time to get a taste for the park. Enough of a taste to say I really want to come back some time when I have a week or so to spend. I had been to the park once before, but it was dark by the time I got there, and I never really saw much of anything. This time, I climbed on the shuttle bus (cars are not allowed on the main road in season) and looked at the park literature, trying to figure out which trail to explore, since I wanted to do some hiking. I stopped at the Zion Lodge for lunch, and considered the popular Emerald Pools trails... but their very popularity made me shy away. A friend had suggested the Angel's Landing Trail, if I felt up to it. Looking at the park materials, it sounded challenging, but also really cool. So I decided to try it out, figuring I could always turn around if it proved too much for that day.

If you look at the picture at the top, you'll see a high peak there in the middle of the picture. I didn't realize it at the time, but that's where I was headed... right to the top of that! It's about a 2.5 mile hike up there, with a lot of altitude gain, as you might guess. And there are parts of it where they've installed chains on the trickier bits so you have something to grab onto when you're faced with a sheer dropoff of over 800 feet! It's actually not as scary as it sounds... or at least I didn't think so, but I have zero fear of heights, so your experience may be very different. I have to imagine that fear of heights would really change one's perception of this hike. For me, it was fun, challenging and spectacularly beautiful.

I did reach one spot where I thought about turning back and not completing the whole hike. There's a lovely spot about a half mile from the top where you can sit and admire the views... and watch folks navigating the last strenuous and tricky bit! There's a couple of signs up there at that point....
The "oh crap" stick figure sign didn't really deter me. The smaller brown sign however did specifically mention the hazard of lightning... and I had heard thunder on the way up. It was pretty clear by the time got to these signs, but I overheard a few folks on the way down talking about near lightning strikes at the top. Heights, as I said, don't bother me... getting hit by big bolts of electricity is another matter. So I sat a few minutes, watching others scramble up or down the last half mile, and enjoying the view where I was, and pondered. Here's a shot of one of the steep bits to the right there, complete with chains.







Anyway, after a few minutes of thought and just soaking in a beautiful day, I thought "when the heck am I going to be here again?" That cinched it for me, and I headed up to the top. Sure, it was challenging, but not unreasonably so. And the view from the top was just amazing. Along the way, I encountered a bunch of chipmunks and lizards, more than I would have expected that high up.

One of the first things I encountered in the last stretch was a ridge about 30 inches wide, with a chain down the middle as a handhold, with sheer dropoffs to either side to rock at least 800 feet below. Wow! That's the spot where I think a person afraid of heights might just "freeze" and not be able to make it. For me it was fun. You can see what it looks like from above to the left here.




The next part was basically a scramble up steep rock faces with and without chains for help. At the top you find a large, flat rock surface, with a wide open view all around. Amazing, beautiful, incredible place! And well worth the effort to get there.

The hike down was less eventful, but lovely. I took the opportunity to look at some of the plant life, and stopped at one point to listen to the singing of tree frogs, a sound you don't expect to hear in a desert climate.


Finally, just as I was reaching the canyon floor, I came upon a gentleman with his friends, who proceeded to introduce me to Farnsworth, the tarantula he'd found and picked up on the trail. Now, in general I like spiders, and I know that US tarantula bites are typically not serious, but I don't think I'd be so bold as to scoop one up and let it crawl on me for a while. But that's just me. Here's a shot of Farnworth, just for grins:










All in all, an amazing hike, and a beautiful day. I'm so glad I decided to try that trail and push on to the top. You can see how glad I am by the goofy grin on my face here in a picture I took at the top, with the Great White Throne behind me:More pictures at:

http://flickr.com/photos/43828356@N00/sets/72157607609912383/

Finally Tried Hang Gliding!

Yep, that's me, on one of my first hang gliding flights!

Apologies to my faithful readers for the long gap in posting... life's been busy and I haven't been very inspired to write lately. But hopefully I'll get back in the swing here.

Anyway, this past Sunday I got a chance to try something I've wanted to do since I was an adolescent... hang gliding! Thanks to Annie, who bought me a couple of gift certificates to BlueSky Hang Gliding near Richmond, one of which was for a half day of beginner's lessons.

The day started early, with Annie and me getting on the road to Richmond at about 5 am, to make sure we got there in time for the 8 am class. As it turned out, we got there about an hour early, and the other folks signed up for the class got there late. Argh. Ah well, it was an easy drive and a pretty location once we got there.

The class consisted of three of us...me and two younger folks from Richmond, Justin and Jo. Nice people, and fun to have a class with.

We started out by getting "suited up" in a flight harness and helmet. I never knew something could make a bike helmet seem elegant and a pleasure to wear, but the generic rental hang gliding helmets did just that... really, really basic and not very comfortable at all. I have to imagine when you invest in one for yourself, there are better options. The harness was interesting... first because you put it on exactly the opposite of how you would think! The basic idea is that it's what hold you to the glider, so it has to encase you pretty darned well, and be pretty strong. Again, I'm guessing a rental harness is different from what you'd buy yourself if you're getting outfitted to fly.

Once we were all in our gear, it was time for "ground school." This was kept pretty brief. The owner/instructor of BlueSky, Steve, explained that while some folks really liked a lot of classroom time discussing the physics of flight, he believes it's more important to get you into a glider and experiencing things in real life. I'm inclined to agree, although it might have been nice if we had each taken a turn in the "simulator" you see in the photo to the right.


Then it was time to go out to the field and actually try flying the thing! BlueSky has an ingenious towing system that allows them to launch a glider from flat ground with no wind, using a modified motor scooter of all things. The scooter is stationary, and just acts as a motorized winch essentially. The rope is brought down the field and around a pulley, and back to a spot adjacent to the scooter, where it's hooked to the glider. This allows Steve to give you tips as you begin your run, and it also makes for a really efficient launch system. You can check it out here: http://www.blueskyhg.com/ Anyway, there I am, with Steve giving me some final tips, getting ready for my first flight! I was surprised at how calm I was, this being my first time. I guess having always wanted to try it, and having a good teacher, really helped. It doesn't hurt that I have a fair understanding of aerodynamics and flight, and at one time built kites and flew them a lot. (More on that in another post)

One thing became apparent as we each took our turns at flying... every one of us had a unique challenge to overcome. The first one for me was recognizing the difference between the glider having enough lift to lift itself off my shoulders and having enough lift to actually lift me! I got past that pretty easily though, with Steve's simple tip "keep running!" What do you know... it worked! And by the end of the day, I had several good flights I'm really proud and happy to have done. I never did really get the "graceful landing" thing worked out though. In fact, two of us made the majority of our landings like the picture to the right... "landing gear up" so to speak. It's not as unpleasant as it might look, aside from the grass being really, really wet.

One of my other challenges was figuring out the whole steering thing. Funny thing is, Steve warned us about this... he explained that many folks instinctively try to steer by turning their head in the direction they want to go, when what you really want to so is swing your hips that way. Sure enough, on one of my first flights, that's exactly what I did... you can see on the left here my glider starting to bank to the right. Just as Steve had warned, I turned my head and upper body to the left, which pushed my hips... and center of gravity... to the right... which made the bank steeper... which made the turn tighter... which...

... got me better acquainted with soybeans than I ever expected to be! You can see in this last picture that the flying field is flanked by soybean plants... BlueSky rents from a farmer, you see, and has carved out two perpendicular landing strips out of his fields, to allow for different wind directions. Well, let me tell you, soybeans are pretty solid plants when you run into a bunch of them. And they do retain the morning dew quite nicely, thank you. Oh, and by the way, they apparently have a purple blossom... I know because I stopped with my nose about 6 inches from one! The other folks couldn't tell, because the glider blocked the view and I was pretty far away, but my first reaction was to laugh about it. It must have looked pretty funny from the ground to see me inexorably drawn to the beanfield! The great thing was, no matter how a flight ended, I finished up with a big grin on my face. It was just so darned fun! And what a feeling, to lift off the ground and fly! Wow! As wonderful as I'd always imagined.

We each got in about 7 or 8 flights, and we all improved tremendously as the day went on. Jo was clearly the closest to a "natural" in the group... she just seemed to "get it" faster than Justin and I did. But we all made great progress, learned a ton, and smiled and laughed a lot. And Annie enjoyed watching us and taking all these pictures. Most of all, I think she wanted to watch me enjoy the gift she'd given me... and boy did I! Truly one of the best Christmas prestents I've ever gotten. And Christmas 2007 isn't over yet... I still have another BlueSky certificate for a tandem glider ride, towed up to 2000 feet! Woo hoo!


For more pictures and commentary, check out my flickr album:
http://flickr.com/photos/43828356@N00/sets/72157607428662686/

My Left Foot

No, not the amazing movie with the spectacular performance by Daniel Day Lewis... I'm referring to my actual left foot. Ordinarily I wouldn't share photos of my feet... they're not my best feature, being generally big and bony. But today the left one is rather impressively swollen and red, due to a bee sting on Sunday. And it got me to thinking about my history with stinging insects, as this is the worst reaction I've yet had.

I was stung by yellowjackets on two different occasions as a small child, both times before I had reached my sixth birthday. Those two stings left a powerful impression on me, giving me a pretty strong fear of all stinging insects for all of my childhood, through adolescence and on into my adult life. Among other things the incidents persuaded me that the "don't bother them and they won't bother you" theory was, well, hooey. In the first case, I was performing the highly provocative act of carrying a stick of firewood (okay, maybe the little beast was on the stick and I disturbed it, but to my four year old mind I was innocent), and in the second I was stung while eating breakfast during my family's "summer of perpetual camping" that I will write about soon.


(The photo to the right is me with my big brother, Stephen, near the site of the first sting, no doubt before it occurred, because I think I look pretty happy in this shot... as near as I can tell from an old photo)


Anyway, I slowly got over my fear, helped in part by being stung a couple of times as an adult and realizing that some of the perceived agony was filtered through a child's mind. Not that being stung in the armpit while driving my VW bus at 70mph (yes, they can go that fast, on a good day) in North Dakota was fun... it just wasn't as traumatic as my childhood stings.

Then an exciting new development appeared... in my late 20s, I was stung in the leg by a yellowjacket on my honeymoon (ironically, this paled in comparison to the winch accident that put me in the emergency room on my wedding day, but I digress). It hurt like heck, but after a half an hour or so, the pain subsided and I went about enjoying a wonderful trip with my new wife (now ex-wife). The weird part was when my leg began to puff up and get very sore and red a couple of days later. I was told at the time that in dry seasons like we were having, wasp venom often is more potent, and that was probably why I had this reaction. It sounded reasonable to me, and I wasn't stung again for quite some time, so I didn't dwell on it.

Well, in the last 5+ years since I've moved back to the east coast, I've been stung a number of times by both honeybees and yellowjackets, and the pattern of owie!-pain subsides-swelling/red/itch appears began to reliably repeat itself. I didn't really think to hard about it, but I did notice that generally the yellowjackets cause the most severe reactions, and honeybees just caused minor swelling and itching a day or so after the sting. My sister's a nurse, and said it was just a mild allergic reaction, but to keep an eye on it and if it got worse, talk to a doctor.

So, this time around, I got stung on Sunday morning, and went through the usual swearing and swatting phase, then the dang-this-hurts phase, followed by the now-it's-not-so-bad phase followed by the huh-it's-swelling-a-little-sooner-than-usual phase.... followed by they damn-I-would-swear-I'm-running-a-fever phase... WHOA! Now that was a new one for me! My teeth were literally chattering from chills on a warm summer night, a sure fired sign I have a fever, along with the general aches and oogy feelings.

Which prompted me to take my first ever sting-induced trip to a doctor today. Where, after the absolute minimum of time and attention (gotta love American health care), I was told it was probably just a more severe, but still not serious (as in Epi-Pen serious) allergy. With maybe a tiny infection too. So I was prescribed prednisone and an anti-biotic I'm not even going to try to spell. And told to take Zyrtec as an antihistamine and ibuprofen as a pain killer in the future, both of which I knew already. I'm going to get a physical soon and discuss this further with a doctor who spends more time with me, but maybe it's just no big deal. But take a look at that foot... kinda scary if you saw that at the end of your leg, from a tiny little insect sting, no?

Anyway, I'll be just as happy to not have a yard with so much clover in it in the future. :-)

Twins!

Well, tonight they were both there on the deck... two little baby possums, chowing down on cat food and apples.

Amazing little critters.

She's a Mom!

We kind of suspected it, since our little possum friend (now known as Pearl... don't ask me, ask Annie) looked to be a little chunky when we first saw her. She must have been carrying babies in her pouch, because a couple of nights ago, Annie excitedly called me over to the back door... where I saw Pearl and two little baby possums chowing down on the snacks Annie had laid out on our porch. We're soft touches when it comes to animals, and the theory is also that it will keep her outside and not exploring in the house for food. Who knows?

Anyway, there they were! Just hanging out on our deck and chowing down. We've seen the trio once or twice since then, but last night and tonight (Sunday) we've only seen one little one at a time, and no sign of Pearl. Not sure if it's the same baby each time or if they might be taking turns, or if mom is keeping watch somewhere while they eat, or what. We're hoping nothing bad has happened to her. In a residential neighborhood, there are a lot of hazards to wildlife, so who knows. We'll keep an eye out for her.

That's one of the little fellas in the pic above. I think his name is Elmo.