fixed impressions

I’ve missed the chance to capture a bunch of non-migrating (sic) fix around B-ton. We had a blizzard a week or so back and I was very surprised to see quite a few winter fix the following week. What with suicidal 5 foot snow banks that create ice in the “bike-lane” and car drivers who will drive where they know there is a lane in good weather (which is now the bike lane!) Somehow my little capture the world cam has been sitting in my bedroom or missing altogether (found after a week…hiding in the glove box of the car.)

This one guy has a bob that he pulls too….forces him way out into the road. He cuts a wide enough swath that the cars leave him alone, mostly he tells me. He’s even got stickers that say winter-fixers-guild. I want one. Course I’m not walking the walk these days. My commute is about twice as long now as before and the blizzard has yet to be cleared away enough to make the bikemute less than suicidal. Anyway, some hardened VT fixers are out there continuing to not burn fossil fuels (they burn carbs and fats, obviously.) Cheers mates!

I went up to Sleepy Hollow yesterday for a solid two hours of skate skiing. I also call this interval training, since at my current fitness level, there are just two levels of intensity: running the redline and stopping to catch my breath. Wow. I’m a bit heavy after intentionally eating everything in sight after my pneumonia last fall. That said, I skied with only a half dozen quick breaks for the whole 2 hours. About 12 miles I think. Great conditions and my technique has made it back to the “I’m not embarrassing myself anymore” point. Big smile. I’ve always found that skate skiing gets the cardio going like no other activity (rowing maybe, which I’ve never done.)

Last nite I pulled the trigger and bought my plane ticket and my Burning Man ticket. I’ll be in Oregon for about 4 or 5 days before the festival. Lookout Bend, I’m coming to visit. Yo Vulture, you reading this? Got to get some record cases for the trip. I’d like to play some gigs while on the Playa. Anybody know any club organizers out there?

Over and Out, but back online.

G:5

My home internet is down for a bit. No way to get it back any faster than the big cog of bureaucracy. I should have some hip-slapping tasty bits in a few days for ya.

G:5

Over and Out.

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G:5

Not one to work much on Saturday’s, or any time beyond my normal 45-50, I’ve taken today to attend a conference of the New England Organic Farmer’s Association. Here in Vermont there are hundreds of members. There are over 900 attendees at the conference! Clearly sustainability and security of food are real issues. Here in VT it obvious how seriously people take this stuff. I’ve got free time at the moment because the seminar I chose to attend has over 30 people standing and sitting on the floor, not to mention it’s on policy in the VT state legislature. There are 12 other seminars running at the same time and most of them are over-flowing like this one is. I’m just amazed. If America could generate the same type of interest at the national level in organics and sustainability, we might see the type of groundswell interest that the US needs to improve and secure its food supply. Possibly other types of resource over-consumption would be positively impacted as well. I’ll just keep coming to these events and sharing the knowledge and resource of this great group.

For the record, I managed to fill my car for the 58 mile (one-way) trip. That made me feel quite a bit better about coming out. The trip is also underwritten by my employer, a fact that I can’t easily overlook and am very thankful for. Thank you, NGA! I’ve made a few contacts so far, spoken to many interesting and earth-friendly folk and I’ve learned quite a bit. I hope my chosen seminar for the last session of the day is not quite so crowded. I’ll be sure to be early for this one . I even got to meet and chat with our newest VT State Senator: Bernie Sanders. That did not hurt . We at NGA are trying to get him to back one of our programs. Serendipity, I guess.

Winter has eased enough for me to think about shifting my Uniscorcher into winter commuter mode. I removed the lighting during the darker/colder period last month. Looks like the cold is going to ease up for a bit the next few weeks and I’m going to make a specific effort to keep my petrol-pot in the driveway and the Uni-muter on the road. Check back with me at the end of next week for the ‘mute stats.

There is no rust on my chain so far this winter. That is maybe not such a good sign. Last winter I rusted/lubed/rusted/lubed for quite a few cycles. This year has been more than a disappointment. Since my pneumonia in November, I’ve felt the cold more than ever, lost some weight and likely lost some circulation in my orbital parts that doesn’t seem to be recovering. My mom says I told you so with respect to “getting older” and how things just don’t work as well or stay as warm as they once did. VT is mostly too cold and snowy for that.

Kind of missing the ability to go ride trails in the winter like we could back in the Bend, Oregon days. Though it was cold there too, it was often possibly to drive 30 minutes or so out into the desert and get some good riding in. In fact, Bend and the surrounding area is home to some great riding that is realistically only usable in winter due to extreme dryness and dust in the “normal” riding season.

I have skied and snowboarded more than most folk will have the chance to in their lifetimes and decided a few years ago that enough was enough and came to the realization that I should focus more on work and ugh…”retirement”…settle down and make some money, ya know? I’ve been very successful at that. My wintersports motivation has suffered. I’ve been logging some good miles on the skinny skis, but haven’t ripped any tele turns. I’ve been up on the snowboard for a grand total of 10 runs for the year. Not quite like the beyond-my-wildest-dreams-100-plus day years of old. But it’s all part of the plan.

I figure if I can just save about 3 million, I can go back to my old 200 days of sport a year ideology and live healthily and happily ever after. I only need about $2.99 million more and I’ll be going back to the dream for sure. (laughing)….

A couple of big hit songs or movie scores would do a lot to help my cause. Let’s just say I’m continuing to pursue that dream. I really don’t expect any major windfalls to jumpstart my climb to retirement, but a couple of big checks certainly wouldn’t hurt. More on that later.

OK…time for my next seminar.

Catch you later.

G:5

Fixed gear provides the ultimate in control on snow and ice. Though there are techniques that can be lifesaving on snow and ice that can only be practiced on a coaster, I prefer fixed: instantaneous traction control. When there is little or no traction, you want every bit of traction control possible. Also, locking either wheel on snow or ice is the fastest imaginable way to go down. As we fixers surely have figured out by now, there is no accidental locking of the rear. The front on the other hand must not be locked. If you run a front brake on your fix, you’ve likely become used to grabbing a handful occasionally. DO NOT DO THIS ON SNOW/ICE. I won’t even bother to expand on that. With a little practice you’ll get the touch. One other possible advantage is that you can only go as fast as your legs and gear will allow….likely protecting you from any long grinding slides on your face or ass (hopefully.) Be forewarned that high-cadence downhilling on fix on snow/ice is a very bad idea. A very bad idea it is indeed. Don’t ask me how I know, just trust me when I tell you.

I’m going to do some video of reverse-ice-skids-to-regular. I also hopefully will be able to repeat some reverse I’ve tried in the snow. It’s pretty hysterical involving many falls…cold wet cotton Carhartt pants…and lots of bruises: my hips and my ego!

Winter came to VT in earnest a while back. I’m a slack on commuting again. Somehow I’ve rationalized it through: I’ve been moving. I’ve been ill. I’ve been buried at work. I’ve been doing yoga. I wasn’t able to work on my bikes at the old place. It is all uphill to work and getting sweaty and cold on the way in is….well, not so good for a guy getting over pneumonia, right? The whole rationale holds up ok. The problem is the large number of dedicated bike-o-muters I see cranking out the ‘muter miles here on those sick ass cold mornings. I guess they ride home in the dark too. Damn VT’ers are really tough (well some of them—I slack.) I vow here publicly to get out on the studs for a good dozen ‘mutes before spring solstice. And if I don’t live up to it…I’ll admit it. I’ll even turn comments back on so you can torture me about it if you want.

Let’s see. I’ve moved no closer to putting out the CD than my last post. Well, that’s not really true if you consider all the stuff I’ve taken care of with moving and work and recovering from pneumonia. The mastering is half done, the art is done and I have enough cash saved to get the project accepted by my manufacturer in Canada. The key is to finish the mastering, stay focused and make sure that I have enough money to pay off the bill when they’re ready. Truth be told, I’ve had half the amount (1/2 to start production, 1/2 before delivery) for quite a while. Each time I think I’ll have the other half, I move or get ill or break something. I think I’m going to have a good tax year and that’ll take care of it—if nothing else breaks or whatever.

So that’s enough for now. I’m out for some live rock music tonite. You might think that that’s a little out of character for G5 and you’re right. But I like to try “new” things—this week that means alt-rock.

Peace out.

G