Thursday Movie at the Library Night: Ulee's Gold

Tonight!  Don't forget!

A Glimpse into What's Going On at the ARRL

Over at KB6NU's blog.  It's bad.

Here are my earlier thoughts on the matter, to provide some context.

Yep, Definitely the Equinox

Today, and the exact moment is 10:46 EDT.  Can't you just feel it?  Nah, me neither, but there it is.

No picture here, but APOD usually has something interesting up on these astronomically interesting dates.

A Look at the Science Behind 'Project Hail Mary'

By no coincidence at all, it's this week's topic at Big Picture Science podcast.  Go & download & listen.

I'd put in an image, but just click through and you'll get all the image I'd put here.

Really looking forward to this movie.

Tent Trauma(s)

As mentioned previously, Friday evening at the Santos Fat Tire Fest had an intense storm that resulted in a wet tent interior.  I'd more or less shrugged and mentally planned on a new tent – it's 25 years old after all, and I'd just Nikwaxed it a couple of years ago and had only used it once in the meantime, and here it was leaking again.  Then two things happened.

First up, while taking the tent down, I noticed a trash line on the outside of the fly.  A little closer examination (see inset) and it appeared that the source of the wet tent was rising rather than falling water.

Even so, I was still open to buying a new tent.  Twenty five years is a good run for any piece of camping gear.  Straight-up replacement, incoming!  Then I went looking for a shiny new Eureka Apex 2XT or something comparable and... wait, Eureka's gone?  Whisky Tango?  I mean, they're one of those great companies that... No, gone, just gone.  More on this in a minute.

So I set the tent up in the back yard and hit it with a hose, and you know what?  Pretty damn watertight.  Oh, I've got the older straight-zipper rainfly model, that zipper's always leaked a little, but it's clear that the water problem wasn't the tent's fault, it's where I pitched it (and that astonishing deluge).  The tent was already up and wetted down for testing, so I just gave it another coating of Nikwax and called it a day.

Now back to the demise of Eureka Tents.  Reading between the lines on what happened, it seems that their 2023 Q3 revenues were way down compared to Q3 2022, and so as an underperforming division of Johnson Outdoor products, it had to go.  Never mind that everybody and his brother had taken up car camping during the covid-19 scare and that of course sales of durable items like tents would be down for a few years after a big boost like what happened in 2020-2022, and that this whole cycle was completely foreseeable and could have been ridden out.  Nope, burn down Yet Another great brand, move on.  For what it's worth, the same thing is happening all over the bike industry as well, and I'm sure it's happening with many other "pandemic safe" outdoor equipment manufacturers as well.  Freekin' bean counters.  For a fairly gentle take on what was going on inside Johnson Outdoors, read this short article about Eureka's demise.

Now, as for the rest of Johnson Outdoor's lines, Wikipedia has the complete brand roll; that makes for a handy no-buy list.  I just have no patience for bean counters anymore.

Anyway, I've still got several good tents – a 9x9 funhouse, the 2XT discussed here, and a dinky 1-man Spitfire, and no good reason now to replace any of them.  Good, because I just had to replace a water heater and my mountain bike shoes.  Things were stacking up a little around here.

Damp Camp

Happy 'They Tried to Preserve the Republic' Day

And you might also note that doing it this way really didn't work out in the long run.

ps: One more Caesar gag over at Foxtrot today.

A Brief Rant on Electric Mountain Bikes

As promised earlier this week, here it is, but first the tldr: not for me, perhaps for thee, but only for good reason.  Even so, there's a very good reason to test ride one, so read on.

Last Saturday after finishing the 50 mile Epic (see yesterday's post), a mechanic from Tallahassee, another rider, and I were discussing e-bikes.  The other rider had just finished the Epic also, but additionally had just wrapped up chemotherapy the previous week.  Now that's a legit use for an e-bike.  A couple of tents over in the campsite there was a guy who'd had heart surgery in October, and he'd ridden the half-Epic as well on an e-bike.  Yep, legit.  A friend here in town has trashed-out knees from a lifetime in motion, and he too rides an e-bike.  Totally legit.  What's more, I can see other valid uses as well, such as a pro working on handling skills while giving the legs a rest day, as part of a structured training schedule.  I'm sure the list goes on.

So I got talked into a test ride on Sunday.  Showed up with my driver's license and a credit card (no charge, just as hostages to ensure return of the bike), one of the mechanics tuned it to my parameters, and said "Go!" so I went.  And I must say, it was a pleasant experience.  Rode a mile out on the Cowbone Trail, a mass of small-to-moderate limestone rocks, over which its 47 pounds performed beautifully.  Paused briefly at the bottom of the long slope to chat with a friend, then pointed it upward on the Dr. Ruth Trail; not a bad path, but with a few easy technical climbs.

And that's when it occurred to me why e-bikes have such allure.  At the top of each climb, I felt great!  It's a feeling I remember, from some time ago.  That's the real question e-bikes present:

If someone offered you a pill that would instantly make you 30 years younger and 20 pounds lighter, would you accept it?

And at what price?

(read on – answers below!)

I turned the bike in at the Specialized tent, said my thanks, and went back to camp for my pedals-only bike, and went on for another eight or so miles before calling it day.  Still a little tired from Saturday's 50, yes, and I didn't want to push it and injure something before the drive back on Monday.

Returning to camp after the ride, I talked with a couple from North Carolina who were packing out.  The husband had bought an e-bike a couple of years ago to supplement his regular bike and said that choosing it for a ride was akin to opening the refrigerator and choosing the healthy keto drink or the chocolate milk.  It's chocolate milk every time baby, and after a year, that new 20 pounds around the middle showed.  So he's back to his bike, and getting the weight back off.

Anyway, that's the real value of taking an e-bike for a test ride.  It showed me that I really do need to lose that 20 pounds and how much better life could be if I will do it.  (Sorry, can't do anything about the 30 years.  Or the lung damage.)  That bike held up a magic mirror and said "This is what you can get back, if you'll just get to it" and for that I am most grateful to the folks at the Specialized tent.

If you've read this far, I'm guessing you're thinking "Nice, but exactly how much would that magic pill cost?  Asking for a friend."  $15,649.99  S-Works Turbo Levo R; click through and show some proper bike lust.  I have to hand it to the Specialized reps, they hooked me up with the best damn ride they had.