Halloween Post: Zombie Planets!

From a series of NASA/JPL posters:

You can find the rest over at CNN.  Happy Halloween y'all.

Favorite MTB Accessories

There's a new series of articles at the Dirt Rag site where they ask prominent bikers "What's your favorite MTB accessory?"  So far, three articles up:

• a spork – she's a bikepacker
• tubeless tire plug kit – completely makes sense, and it's good to see Innovations is still innovating
• a dropper post – good for technical riding

Me?  Easy: a hydration pack with a liter or two of cargo space (here's my current one).  In addition to water, these can haul all kinds of useful things down the trail: hand saws; and, on a related note, first aid kit; mini pump, lunch, dig-dig tool & TP, etc.  Pfft, I've even biked with a complete shortwave station, just to prove it could be done.

So what's your favorite bike accessory?  And what's the most unusual thing you've carried in a hydration pack?

Today: The Internet Turns 50

Fifty years ago today, the first information was passed on what would eventually grow into today's internet.  Article at Fast Company.

That is all.  Back to your regular web surfing.

Red Bull Rampage at Dirt Rag

Article and video here: https://dirtragmag.com/articles/red-bull-rampage-brandon-semenuks-winning-run

Woo.  Makes my palms sweat just watching that.

I'm going to take a moment to remind all my family and friends that this kind of "mountain biking" has about as much to do with my woods-riding as tight-rope walking has to do with me going for a trail hike.

Anyway, it's an impressive performance.  Not really my cup of coffee though.

Coffeneuring Stop #5: Bethel Bike Trails

A simple coffee break in the middle of a mountain bike ride.  The details:
1. where: Bethel Bike Trails in Desoto N.F., north of Biloxi MS.  Specifically, on the Couch Trail where it turns to follow Tuxachanie Creek.
2. date: 10/27/19
3. what: black Community Columbian, fresh brewed & hauled in a thermos
4. ride details: a beautiful, cool, slightly cloudy late-October morning for a MTB ride
5. mileage: 2.1 (trailhead-creek-&-back); 24 total for the day.

Met up at the trailhead with a friend from work at 8, rode S. Bethel, N. Pine Lizard, Couch, Bailout, and S. Pine Lizard.  Swapped out pack at the truck – hydration to caffeination – for a quick side-track back on Couch Trail again, but just to where it meets Tuxachanie Creek.  We polished off two mugs each by the creek, then pedaled back to the trailhead to re-swap out pack, then were off for caffeine-fueled runs through Briar Patch, Badlands, Bailout, then back to the trailhead again via S. Pine Lizard.  A full morning's ride!

  

Quasi-panoramic view.  Brown water in the creek, brown water in the mug.  The downed log on the right made a good coffee bench.  Dig that Coffeneuring 2018 patch on the pack.

Coffeeneuring Stop #4: Buttercup Cafe

An easy stop for lunch and coffee.  The particulars:
1. where: The Buttercup on Second Street, Bay St. Louis MS
2. date: 10/26/19
3. what: plain ol' black coffee, 3x refills over the course of lunch
4. details: cooling weather just after a cold front cleared through; 69F and cloudy; CX bike (head tube and handlebars can be seen through the porch railing)
5. distance: 4.6 miles round-trip

It's a nice, damp fall day here on the Coast with the weather cooling quickly in the wake of a cold front merged with the remnants of just-barely-rates tropical storm Olga.  A good day for coffee(!), a reuben, sliced grilled tomatoes, and cinnamon roll bread pudding.  That last is about to put me down for a nap, worth every carbo-gram of the thing.

With #4 in the bag, we're over the half-way mark.  The next three coffee stops are charted out, subject to the whims of weather and social visits of course.  Should be an easy spin from here to completion of the 2019 Coffeeneuring Challenge.

T.S. Nestor and the Popham Building

Tropical Storm Nestor slung past the Apalachicola area last weekend, and while there wasn't a lot of damage, the results do give some food for thought on how a proposed project should proceed.  Here are three articles from The Times covering the issue:

• Nestor a Washout – Scroll around on the carousel for a pic of the Popham building, barely above water. It's the one with the bridge in the background.  That was only a tropical storm.
• City Moves Forward with Popham Application – The Monday before the storm, the City decided to go ahead and request $600,000 from the State to begin restoration.
• What Became of Popham's "Oyster Factory" – Some deeper background in an article from last May.

I'm not saying what to do here.  My mind is not made up, nor do I (yet) vote there, nor have I heard all sides of the issue.  However, I do know that the Popham building is very low, has flooded repeatedly, and has been a commercial flail-about for at least the last 40 years.  Sometimes, it is time to stop pouring good money after bad and just let go.  On the other hand, the building is extremely picturesque, still might be put to good use (if anybody can figure that part out), and is right there at the eastern gateway to the town.  Sometimes, it is time to go to the mat to save a historic building.

Anyway, food for thought.
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Edit, sometime much later: Those carousel pictures tend to go away, so here's the pic of the Popham from the first linked article:

Better wear your hip boots if you're doing business in the Popham.