Beware of the Dirt Bike

Leave a reply

It’s good to have friends with different toys.

I rode a dirt bike for the first time today. Its similarity to a motorcycle, which I associate with suicide, made the thought of trying it out in the nearby field intimidating, but my curiosity got the best of me.

This was nothing like riding my mountain bike, except for having two wheels and changing gears. It felt odd to be on a bike so heavy, with a clutch on the left hand where I’m used to a front brake and the front brake on the right where I’m used to a rear brake. Gears shift with a pedal on the left, and the right pedal was the rear brake. The right hand grip twisted for throttle. It took some instruction to get me moving (stopping was easy, staying standing with a heavy bike less so), but after 5 minutes I was comfortable, providing I remained in the soft empty field. Balancing was as easy with any bike, and the shifting felt barely different than with driving, which made the dirt bike mechanics almost natural after a few circles in the field. It wasn’t long before I was increasing my speed to find out how much faster I could go.

If you thought I rarely posted before…

Leave a reply

Now I’ve got another distraction…
SSX3 came out today, so I had to inturrupt my work day to get my giddy self to GameStop. Returning to the office, I was able to be disctracted by a few tasks, so productivity was relatively safe. After coming home and playing some however, productivity is the farthest thing from my mind.

I’m not currently playing because I’m supposed to work during the day, requiring some sleep at night. Stepping away from the console seemed like a good start. Unfortunately, the game’s grip is too strong, and I crave more.

I logged in here to let anyone know that I wont be at the office or online for a while… I’m with Kaori and her mad-skillz on the slopes.

St. Louis Blues Hockey Home Opener

Leave a reply

Hockey is officially back in town tonight! We’re going, and I almost forgot.

I’ve got to dig up the jersey.

Blues Face Capitals In Home Opener Tonight At 7 p.m.
J. Buck’s Restaurants Team Calendar night.
St. Louis, MO, Oct. 17, 2003 – Tonight’s game marks the 2003-04 home opener for St. Louis at the Savvis Center and all paid fans in attendance will receive the 2003-04 Blues Team Calendar, courtesy of J. Buck’s Restaurants.

The Blues are 19-15-2-0 all-time in home openers. This will be the first time in franchise history the Blues will play Washington in their home opener. The Blues defeated the Capitals 5-3 in Washington in the teams only meeting last season. St. Louis holds a 34-33-12-0 all-time advantage over Washington, including a 19-13-8-0 edge on home ice.

St. Louis completed a three-game road to begin the season, recording 1-1-0-1 record. The Blues will play four of their next five games on the road, while playing Western Conference teams in their next eight contests.

I missed hockey. The pace of the game is fast and exciting; there is no other sport I’d rather see. It’s so much more interesting than the baseball season.

Flat as a Pancake, Cold as your Fridge, and Windy as a Tornado

Leave a reply

2003.09.27 “Flat as a Pancake” Century

See, when they say flat, they’re playing on your fear of hills to get you to take advantage of this special ride they’ve offered just for you. Flat sounds easy, right? Sure! Except the wind thinks that sounds easy too, and joined us for the ride. Since I checked the weather the night before and that morning, I tried to mentally prepare (mentally, because I had no cold weather riding clothes,) for the forecasted 15mph winds and cold temperature. Phobia later shared that the forecast he saw simply said “F**K you Ryan”. Had he shared that with me prior to us heading out to New Baden, IL to be overwhelmed by the cold winds, I probably would have gone back to bed.

I would have also warned him and Heather that the wind has something against me (possibly previous cursing I’ve done on its behalf), is not very accurate, and they likely would also feel its wrath.

We all suffered. I’m still trying to decide if this qualifies as my most hated ride of the year, it’s close.

The route was 100 miles. First, a 66 mile loop, then lunch, then a 40mi loop to complete the century.

We were hoping to ride as Team Backdraft as we did in the MS-150, and this time with Heather! Unfortunately, Heather, Phobia, Jim (not Jimski), and myself were the only attendees of the team. The rest, who said they’d come, chickened out, because they’re a bunch of pansies.

A problem with riding in the cold, without clothes to keep you warm, is that your muscles don’t get a chance to warm up and flex, even during the exercise. They stay tight and stiff. They don’t like that, and they yell at you. Get clothes to cover up once it gets cooler.

But if you are not fully prepared for the weather, well, even if you are… If you find yourself in winds between 15 and 25 mph, causing you to constantly lean into a crosswind such that you are no longer perpendicular to the ground, or to suffer to maintain a forward motion in a headwind, it is quite respectable to call it a day after 66 miles. Wise even. And you should be commended for lasting that long.

If you didn’t bother trying, you’re still a pansy.

I cleared my computer’s details for this ride, thinking I already posted this, so I’ll have to get Phobia‘s metrics – I rode close enough to him to let that count.

Computer:

  • Distance 65 mi
  • AvgSpeed 16.4 mph
  • MaxSpeed 34.5 mph

You thought it was a good day to ride.

Leave a reply

2003.09.27

It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. Hans had wanted to get a little riding in before the century we’re participating in tomorrow morning, and I wanted to ride the Page Extension again, so this sounded like a good plan.

Hills, wind, rain, contruction workers, mud, and traffic disagreed, but it was still a fun ride.

Unfortunately, I didn’t start this post sooner and I need to wake up early tomorrow for the 100 mile ride, so I’m off to bed for now. I’ll post more details later.

Computer:

  • BikeTime 2:08:26
  • Distance 24.69mi
  • AvgSpeed 11.5mph
  • MaxSpeed 36.5

Feeling unmotivated, what to do?

Leave a reply

Suggestions from my encouraging wife:

  • put up the light outside
  • go to home depot and get glidden paint samples for the living room, the cabinets, the bathroom
  • rip off the walls/tile in our bathroom to see what’s underneath and/or motivate us to fix everything
  • call your dad over and come up with a front porch plan
  • unlock all the racers in fzero
  • laundry
  • clean out the fridge and/or freezer

I was putting a mental plan together to address the porch light, but I just found out that Neal Stephenson‘s Quicksilver is out! Cryptonomicon may lose it’s place as favorite book. We shall soon find out.

My most productive evening in a while

Leave a reply

Last night I found motivation, if only for the sake of doing something, and found I can be pretty productive, though sometimes absent-minded.

Replaced porch light. The original light was installed by the previous owners, and suffered from rust, an ugly style, and missing the bulb canopy. Nothing screams class like an exposed bulb on a decaying lamp. Our newly installed porch light is clean, attractive, and functional. I’m no longer embarrassed call attention to it by leaving the light on for evening guests. So they don’t trip on our crumbling front step. It’s on the list.

Laundry. I laundered like 2 or 3 loads. And folded. And put away. I’m a machine.

Switched Insurance Companies. OK, so that wasn’t on the list. But I was pretty certain we’ve been overpaying, and tonight I got around to checking that out. Which I should have done so much sooner. For one, Progressive’s online quote system is easy. And accurate. I also ran through their comparison with other companies, and then checked them out individually. Progressive won. The Geico policy cancellation was pretty amusing (paraphrased for the impatient)…

“Hi, I’d like to cancel my policy.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. (insert brief attempts to convince me to stay while my information is gathered)“
“I’ve actually already signed up with another company, so I’m pretty sure I’d like to cancel, but Thank You.”
“I understand. Please hold. … I’ve got Mike on the line to help you complete this policy change.”
“Hi Mike, how are you? (anticipating smooth-Mike’s jump into his own keep-the-customer flowchart)“
“Well, I’m sad to hear that you’ve chosen to leave Geico…”
“Yea, Progressive wants to save me almost 100 bucks a month.”
“… Oh… Really? Uh… Well, do they know about the accident in February… or the one in June of 01?”
“Yes they do.”
“… Wow. Well… you can’t really argue with that, then, huh?”
“No sir.”
“Well… Thanks for being a customer with Geico! We’ll have check sent to you with your balance.”
“Thank YOU, and have a great evening!”

I’d say it went pretty well.

Nuclearated Dinner. And left it in the nuclearator.
I’ve still have not eaten since lunch yesterday. I need to fix that now.