Hope for a Comparatively Mild Hurricane Season

No guarantees, ever, but overall conditions seem unfavorable for Atlantic basin hurricanes this year.

We shall see.  Hurricane season starts tomorrow.

Mountain Bikers & Insurance

Mostly this is a problem for the pros, but it can be for the rest of us as well.  Article at Singletracks.

Also note, there's a world of difference between the people doing exhibition downhill stuff like the Red Bull Rampage and people like me doing what is best described as hiking on wheels.  However, I don't think that any insurance company can discern between these activities; I know that some of my family certainly can't.

As a side note, I see that BCBS has dumped their Live Fearless advertising campaign of a decade ago.

Book Mention: Recursion by Blake Crouch

Going from a recommendation by Andy Weir to a fan who's read Project Hail Mary 58 times (!, and yeah, that is kind of strange), I picked up a copy of Recursion, and expected science fiction.  However, the core technology of the story – a memory enhancing device that turns out to induce time travel – I just didn't buy into.  I mean, how could a single person's subjective experience warp objective reality for the rest of us?  "Oh, but you see, it's technology-enhanced, so it's more intense."  Well, some psychotic patients have pretty intense visions too, but they don't get to re-define reality on a whim either.  No, I'm not having any of the premise here.  Calling this book science fiction makes zero sense.  It's more of "a science-flavored substance" fiction, to recycle a phrase from hack TV comedy writing.

As a side note, this book might have worked if Crouch had skipped the sci-fi angle altogether and just used a woo-woo meditation method one of the characters discovers, say, deep in the Himalayas or on late-night paranormal talk radio.  Yeah, that would have been much better than bothering with force-wedging matters into sci-fi.

So, why did I bother finishing?  First off, a recommendation from Andy Weir is hard to ignore.  Secondly, and this may have a lot to do with Weir's high regards for this book, the page-to-page writing really is top-notch.  Definitely a pleasurable read, in its own "look at my skilled wordsmithing" way.  However and returning to my previous themes, this is ultimately a hollow shell of a book.

Two out of Five Stars, but only for the writing that kept the story rolling and the skill required for keeping timelines sorted out.  Not recommended.  In fact, this one exposure is enough to put me off of Blake Crouch's books altogether.

ps: If you want a real sci-fi story about time travel that results in tragedy, timeline patches, and various resulting nosebleeds, just go watch the classic movie Primer.  It has a much better treatment of time travel, explores the same themes, and won't waste your time on beautiful, empty prose.  In fact, thinking back on it, Crouch just might have borrowed the whole time-shock-nosebleed thing from Primer.  That one is a little, well, too on the nose to be otherwise.

More on E-Bikes

Article at CNN: What ER doctors, prosecutors, and parents want you to know about e-bikes

As is usual with these sorts of mainstream articles, it's kind of fear-up-y.  Even so, worth the read.

About all the content I can add is that brain damage to an unprotected skull starts a little below 15 mph, and your brain doesn't care if that's your 15 mph, the car's 15 mph, or 15 mph from your 7 foot fall.  A helmet more or less doubles your head's crashworthiness, but don't count on too much even there because things like neckbones can start breaking too.  (And then it's hello motorized wheelchair for your new e-mobility.)  See previous discussion of bike helmets.

E-bikes have their place off-road, as I've discussed previously (tldr: for a few medical reasons, or for very specific race training purposes).  What's more, they have a place on-road as cargo bikes (example 1, example 2).  Commuting?  Nah, can't really see the need.  If you can't do the distance, you likely don't have the skill set to navigate the traffic.  Get a bike and build both endurance and skill, together, and then start bike commuting.

Look man, these things are motorcycles.  What kind of moron turns a tweenager loose to ride a motorcycle in traffic?

Good Night, and Good Luck

CBS News Radio signs off, forever, in about a half-hour.  End of an era.  Two stories & Wiki link:

• At (where else?) CBS
• At NPR
• Wikipedia

Hrm.  This feels so... wrong.  Almost like watching a Roman road get dug up to be re-used as fill dirt for a strip mall.

ps: The final few minutes recording with a corresponding stills slideshow over at youtube.

In My Former Professional Life

However, not by choice, and certainly not for fun.  These awkward units are always an easy route to unforced errors.

<permalink to xkcd>  click through for mouse-over bonus punchline

That New Chain Feel, Part 2

Last week, the gravel bike; this week the mountain bike.  Surprisingly, the cassette's still running strong now on a fourth chain.  Usually they only last for three, and that third one can be dodgy.  What's more, the latest third chain lasted for eight hundred miles.  I tell you, I had my doubts about 12-speed drivetrains initially, but wow they are tough.  For comparison, back in the day an 8-speed chain would last right at three hundred miles, and a cassette nine hundred.

BTW & note to future self, the previous chain was a SRAM GX and the new chain is the slightly less expensive NX.  It'll be interesting to see if it holds up as well.

Onward.  I've got miles to ride this morning.

Hurricane Season Kick-Off Recap

And today's event (mentioned previously) went pretty well.  Perfect weather, blue skies, and an enthusiastic crew putting it on all made it come together.  At the radio tent, we had HF & VHF/UHF radios, field-worthy antennas, and solar power.  Here are some pics:

Yaesu FT-450D HF & FT-7250D VHF/UHF radios, along with solar controller and a few other do-dads

leftmost: VHF/UHF vertical; two other poles: HF W3EDP antenna

60 watt solar panel; easy up, easy down

As usual, there was a good bit more interest in the solar than in the radios.  That's OK, emergency preparedness info got passed along in all ways at hand.

Hurricane Season Kick-Off

Details on poster below.  For more info, check at the Franklin County Emergency Management site.

Hey!  That's it's Saturday!  If you're going, don't forget!

Ah, That New Chain Feel

When the gravel bike's transmission starts treating shifter input as a suggestion for eventual action rather than as an immediate command, that's an indicator that it's time for a new chain.  A quick check with a chain stretch gauge confirmed it – not in the red zone yet, but edging onto it – and the change went smoothly.  No need to swap the cassette or chainrings yet, not if you change out a chain in time.  Usually get about three chains to the rest of the drivetrain components, before those need swaps too.  One down, two to go.  And yes, I do keep a log book of these things, because keeping track of multiple bikes would be impossible  otherwise.

The ride today was noticeably more snappy.  Funny how these little wear items creep up on you.

It's Getting Better

My last couple of months:

As spring winds down and (finally!) a few rains have come, it's getting better.  I've been living on zirtec, claritin, and flonase (spelllings... who cares; made up words anyway), but that's winding down too.

Last Friday's Historical Cemetery Tour

Lightly attended, but it was a good test-run for future events.  In a repeat of a tour two years ago, I stood at my great-grandfather's grave and told his story.  Here's a pic a friend snapped of me after it was over, while I was walking home in a very light rain.  As usual, embiggen for full effect.

And yes, I edited out the glaring red gas station sign as well as the two safety yellow crosswalk signs.  Unneeded distractions.

Blogging's been light of late, but not a lot worth mentioning going on.  Re-reading the X-15 engineering test flights portion of Always Another Dawn, and enjoying the fine cool spring weather.