Dry, dark roads.

So the riding this year has been extended greatly as a result of the lack of snow fall. Which is really making me enjoy the whole global warming concept. Anyway, my riding is way down from the summer peak months but I am still getting out. Though the rides are shorter. Last night I took the Rans in to town to return rental movies.

~11 miles. 46 minutes. 15.3 avg.

I am convinced there is no better way to see the Christmas decorations that people put up this time of year, than to bike by them slowly. The night sky was great from the seat of the 'bent too.

I think in all the ride was very good. But the benefits were far greater. I completely de-stressed. Have re-newed my energy and feel GREAT!

today I feel like...."BRING IT ON!"

Riding is getting cold.

So i managed to do well over 100 miles in November. Im quite happy about that.
This past Sunday I got in 37 on the 'bent. Tonight after getting home from work wife was complaning that I was grumpy. So I said well Im going for a short ride then.

I had all the lights hooked up to the 'bent and with the front fairing breaks a lot of wind and makes the spin more enjoyable. So I took it out for a dark, 24 deg. F, 8+ mile spin around the block.

I arrived home in a much better mood.

I did have one casuality....my backup front light. I was stopped to let a car pass before a made a left hand turn. I started to get going again...my foot popped off and kicked the light right off the mount. While the light still works I now must come up with a way to re-attach it.

Im thinking a large amount of duct tape will take care of it nicely.

Useless commuting statistics

Cycled in from Yarmouth today via Route 1 for the whole length. I thought the 30 degree temps. would be a problem but, no. I chose the right clothing.

0:46.48 minutes
14.28 miles
18.2 mph average speed

on the ride home:

0:41:41 minutes
14.15 miles
20.3 mph avb. S.

and that's on a Trek 520 with rack, panniner full of clothes, tool kit, water and light system. How fast would I be on a Felt?

Cycle-commuting

I live 50 miles from where i work. The driving can be...well, long.
But this year I finally figured out a way to get some extra riding in and bike commute to work. So what I did was first remove the passenger seat in myToyota Tercel to get my bike to fit. This does two things: First, removing the four bolts to the seat was easy and WAY cheaper than buying a rack for the car. Second, if i take Trek to work, it is inside the car and safer from possible bicycle-theives.

Now with that done and lost of drive time to think about it, I realized that I could park my car in Yarmouth at a 'Park n Ride' commuter spot, and ride in from there. 14+ miles, about 45 minutes.

While the logistics are a bit more complicated than being able to go directly from home to work, it is very doable. The only things I must account for are extra time in the lot, getting the bike in, out, wheel on, bags and day stuff organized and the 45 minutes to get in, plus the 15 in the shower. But i got the parking lot time to about 10-15 minutes.

I also cant do this everday, because of equipment I frequently must haul for work. So one day at a job site would gobble up 3 days of ride time. That is a bummer but acceptable.

Anyway, last night was my first commute home in the dark. I have lit my self up with two rear blinky lights(Mars 3.0's) , two white foward lights: a Blackburn X3 as the main and a 3 led 'headlamp' attached to the fork (which lights the spokes up wonderfully) , and a tire fly on the rear valve cap. I also added a small blinking light on the rear of my helmet. As christmas tree like as possible.

It appeard to me that all the cars last night saw me and gave me my due space. The only thing i really worried about was flatting. and my concerns were amplified after mile 5 when i heard this glassy-clang sound under both wheels. Luckily though nothing happend. I made it in 46 minutes last night at 18.2 mph average. A decent speed. I have done it faster, I have done it slower. Im happy, plus i got in 29 miles in for the day.

Cool.

One morning last week I came across this misty potato field in Houlton. 

On a recent trip to ' the County' I took a pic of my car interior. Its a 3.5 hr drive, you gotta keep your self entertained somehow. 

One reason I love living where I do is that you can get 14 of these bad boys for under 100$. Yeah baby! 

Here is this years crop of gourds. All grew from the gourds I tossed into the compost pile. No work necessary. Cool, eh? 

Last year I tossed some gourds into my compost pile. This year the seeds took. and took well. This vine and gourd managed to climb a tree, take hold and grow IN the tree. Two gourds grew like this. It was the coolest/ weirdest thing.  

Burnin' the pile.  

Out of 12 seeds i planted, i got two. Oh well, the seeds were free anyway. 

Wife's new addition to the stable. 

Mt. Katahdin

Mt. Katahdin on leaving day. I took this pic from the window of the float plane on the return trip from Rainbow to Millenockett.

Fishermans Warf

Dont Deport 'em...Deploy 'em

Here's a crazy idea. For any of these Mexican immigrants caught illegally crossing the border into the US; instead of processing their information and shipping them home, the US should start processing them right into the Army. They are looking for work, right? Well, here's a job. The Army recruiting goals would exceede expectations. There would be additional troops to rotate into Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else.

It could also drastically cut the # of illegals attempting to cross. There would now be a REAL RISK if they were caught. None of this manmsy-pamsy BS of sending them back, only for them to try again and again and again.

The reward to the new solider is of course the salary, but to sweeten the deal -full citizenship at the end of their 4 year duty. We already know that they can walk endless hours across the hot desert. Its a win-win.

It of course could morph into a whole basic policy change....Fast track to citizenship...join the army.

CAWD

Wensday was Commute Another Way Day and I decided to do something to participate. So Tuesay night I loaded the Turtle (Toyota Tercel) with my bike, put on the panniers and rear rack bag and prepared for the commute the next day. I started watching the weather closely at weatherunderground.com and saw that rain was forcasted. Damn!. But "to hell with it" I said.
"Im am MAN! A man who invented the wheel, and built the Eiffel Tower out of steel...and brawn!" So surely I could ride in the rain, plus it was going to be warm out.

I commute about 50 miles each way daily and frankly biking that far to get to work and back just isnt happening. So I drive my self to a Park n' Ride location a reasonable distacne to ride in from. I got my shit together and started in....it was a nice ride in. The weather was cloudy and rain was looming in the distance but I made it in...14.5 miles at 18.8 avg. mph. Pretty good actually.

Work was work, and it rained all day.

At 4pm, after seeing that a heavy batch of rain was comming, I decided to make a break for it while the rain was still somewhat light. No need to get caught in a downpour. I packed up, duct taped my riding shoes for some additional weather protection, donned my trusty LL Bean goretex jacket and headed out. The first 3 miles was pretty good. Feet were basically dry, and the going was good. At abour 4 miles my shoes started to fill with water. It seems the rain was comming down from my ankle and in. "There's no stopping now" I say to myself. At miles 5 I pass another group of riders but I just blow past them and keep on going....there is no time to chitchat today. The miles roll by.... I can tell im going much slower in the rain. But the ride was good. No complaints, the jacket kept the rain out, thou I got wet from sweat, the rain was warmish, so there were no numb fingers or toes and I learned that rain be damned I can ride anyday I choose. It just that the fine sand that gets EVERYWHERE could really be a problem for the bike. So CLEARLY I need another bike. Avg. speed returning was 15.5 mph.

I reached the car, changed back into my dry work clothes and drove home. What a good mini-during the week-adventure. I definately plan on doing this much more often, only Ill avoid the wet weather.

Terrorism and the Media

Watching the news today (6.1.06) the thought occured to me about how, or more accruately, theTATIC, OBL and the network of terrorism may plan on winning for their cause. If I'm remembering correctly, and I have little intention here to research all this info but, didn't OBL basically state that we would never see it comming? or some words to that effect?

Anyway, could the plan be to defeat the USA by using our own freedoms against us? Use the media to create and inflate the scandls that ultimately occur during war. The two I'm thinking of are AubGrab Prision and the current Marine massacare scandal in Haditha. Kind of a like propaganda messages, but masking it into OUR news. the world news. the Iraqi news.

But dont let me miss lead you, if they (Marines ex.) broke our laws they they should do the time. But lets assume the benefit of doubt for a moment.

One other thing that still bothers me is I still dont have a sense that the general Iraqi people are standing up to the 'insurgents'. Dont they...in the famous words of Rodney King...want to all just get along?

I understand the religion aspect of this to some point but...shit, its 2006! Im starting to rant here but what if Jesus were to come back and say "yeah, i just saw god and it turns out Mohamad was just some carzy guy." Would they be pissed, or what? Ha.

And the same could happen I suppose if Mohamad came back from where ever her went to. "Yeah, that Jesus guy...turns out he was a preacher hippie with a good eye for a curve ball."

To bad the solution cant be to just put them under glass to live there own existance without the intrusion of the rest of the modern world.

done.

but as i have said before in this blog. if it comes down to religion, I side with the pope. ooo-another rant... Where is Pope Beneditict in all of this? Wouldnt have the old school popes from the middle ages have dispatched soldiers to wipe out all extremist muslims. Right now, he's just hanin' with the homies inside the Vatican...what does he do anymore? Its not the position it once was, that for sure.

ok now im done.

Vigilante Justice

Got this in an email from an acquantice today...

"and on the subject of revolting...I actually had a situation today. A punk asian/black kid on a backroad intersection who tailgaited me then ended up kissin' my bumper with the front grill of his Accord (no damage)...he was tailgaiting and couldn't control his vehicle at the stop sign. I got out to assess the damage and gave him an ominous finger gesture saying (get the fuck out of your car kid) but he didn't. I walked up to his window and again invited him to see the damage (although there was none but I wanted his information). He still didn't move but then threatened me saying he was gonna kick my ass and leave me in the ditch as he put it "like a total bitch." He then said "get the fuck out of the way before I run your punk ass over." He stepped on the gas and almost ran over my foot.

That was enough for me. I reached in his window and maced the ever living shit out of him. All I heard was freakish screaming, punching noises, the horn getting pounded and some disturbing lung busting cries as I walked back to my truck with a grin on my face. As I pulled away I looked in the rear view mirror and watched his car roll into the stop sign.

I called the po-po and filed a complaint. They ran his plates for me and said he was a recognized 'troublemaker.' I told them not to press any charges and let the situation go as there was no real damage to my truck. I totally "forgot" to mention the mace part to them. On my way home I swung by the same intersection - he was gone except for the tire tracks and his t-shirt along with a few other clothing items. Heck his face is probably still melting off.

Fox Labs 5.3 - powerful shit man....very powerful shit. I recommend you keep a canister in the vehicle at all times. Seriously - it's awesome. Use cautiously but it's safe, biodegradable, and drops shitstain assholes like a loaf of bread soaked in tobasco sauce. "

YES!!

Wedding and Wood

So on saturday wife and I attened a wedding. An old fraternity buddy. It was a pretty good time. I saw a few other of 'the brothers' whom I also haven't seen in quite a while. Guys I like, but just dont get to seeing anymore. Perhaps that will change. Anyway, the wedding was nice and short.
There was a fairly good live band, Dirty McGurdy. Ive never heard of them. All guys in their late 40's plus. The lead wore a full scottish kilted outfit.

The recorded music was comprised of what seemed to mostly be Neil Diamond. But I remember hearing Metallica and that wedding classic...Short Dick Man. Ya. Seemed out of place to me too, but hey, whatever.

The following day I was too hungover to ride. So I did yard work instead, which has been suffering at the expense of my riding. Oh well, you must have priorities. So I got the lawn mowed and started splitting and stacking some cord wood for the upcomming winter. Sometimes it seems like every spring, summer and fall is all preparation for the next winter. Like Im some demented squirrel, gathering wood so I can keep the house at 80 degrees from November to March.

Only about a cord to go and Ill be done for this year.

Mt. Passaconway May 6, 2006

Saturday turned into a one heck of a hike for the Half-Ork, his wife theHalf-Orc Queen (HOQ) and my self. Our plan was to yo-yo up Mt. Passaconway (4060') and back.

We made it to the peak in about 3 hrs. (5.1 miles). Then during lunch I was looking at the map and saw that we could loop around the lower south side of the peak and reconnect with the trail we came up. Which we did just fine. Then we reached a second trail jct. and turned, thinking we were turning at a different spot. And actually we all agreed because the trail went up at this point so we were all like "lets just turn down". Well it turns out that was our mistake (if you want to call it that). We ended up adding about 4 miles to the day by doing that, thus making the trip more memorable.

But Ill tell you this trip had it all....The first 1.9 miles are very flat (and actually the final 4.5). There are very steep ups', very steep downs, we had sun, we had rain, we had muddy trail, snowy trail, icy trail and nice clean trail. There were at least 4 stream crossings. We found a supreme camp site which we will return to this winter. Crazy big and deformed trees. Craggy in some sections. Zen like in others.

By the end of the day you feet were sore. We knew that our legs would surely suffer tommrow. We ran out of water, hiked for 7-ish hours (9:30am-6:15pm) not included stop time (1.5 hrs) and really pushed it the whole way. We tested out selves physically and mentaly this day. I would say we all passed with an A.

Once I got home I reviewed the trail map and book to calculate the mileage and it turns out we did just about 14 miles +/- 0.5

Not bad, not bad at all.

BTW the Camp Rich shelter....either isnt there or we didnt find it. We found a nice big open place with lots of chared wood but no shelter.

The Fleet

1998 Rans Stratus

First riding of the season

March 26, 2006 Sunday bike ride. it was very cool and windy.
On Saturday I rode and my feet got very cold from the wind blowing through my riding shoe. As it is designed this way. So instead of paying 40-someodd bucks for the neoprene overboot I just slapped on two pieces of duct tape to block the wind. and it worked great.

Is there anything duct tape can't fix?

Mt. Meader (2782'). Seemed taller. But this was a fun hike. a good easy trail day. thou, the upper 0.7 mi of the trail was pretty icy. 

Bear Track 

How To Draw Mohammed

Stretched Andalusite

This pic I took shows an andalusite crystal that had been stretched (extension) then recrystalized. D1--> M1 (well in this stand alone frame). The yellow oultine in figure B highlights the exterior white muscotive and andalusite cores.

Masters Thesis

In 2004 I completed my Masters Degree from SUNY Albany in Geology.
This is the map I made. I made it by converting the topo quad of some type of GIS file to a CAD file. Then I was able to add all kinds of overlay info. I figure I have at LEAST 100 hours into it. The quad is skewed about 3 degress clockwise because it was a bum scan and I didnt fix it when I did the map. Whatever.
To read my abstract click HERE.
I plan on posting more of the thesis here in the future. I have many cool photos (PPL and Cross Polar Photomicrographs) and diagams that'd make for entertaining viewing. Next Ill post a larger version of the slanted center inset graphic on this map. It shows some real cool deformed quarts veining, strong foliation and a granite dike.

The basic concept I belive I discoverd is that this section of the Norumbega Fault Zone shows evidence of sinistral (left lateral) deformation. As opposed to dextral (right lateral, like the San Andreas) motion.

Mt. Field

Mt. Field (4340'). For this hike myslef, the Halforc, his wife and Mugsy left from the Crawford Notch Visitor Center up the Avalon Trail, over Mt. Avalon (3442'), to Mt. Field. We decended the loop via Mt. Willey trail to A-Z trail and out on Avalon. It was a 5.9 mile day. Temps at the peak of Field were ZERO deg. F. with a -30 wind chill.

Then there was the ride home. Just as we got on to 302, I started to snap in to my Slim Jim. I drifted out of the car tracks and into the snow, on a bend in the road. THe ass end of my Tercel went right, I counter steered. Then we started left...and left and left. We were now in a 360 death spin. Mugsy is saying "WE'RE FUCKED!, WE'RE FUCKED!, WE'RE FUCKED!" I slamed on the breakes. We came full circle...the guard rail was approacing...and we stopped. *ting* inches from the guardrail, in a small snow bank. No damage, other than shitting in my pants. I backed off the side of the road and continued with no problems. No harm, No foul.

Jan. 25, 2006

On Friday (1.20.06) I decided to skip work and go hiking. Solo, as i was unable to coerce any of my friends from doing the same. Oh well. Thier loss. The day was beautiful for hiking. Mild temps (mid 30's) some sun. So, anyway, i took my self to Crawford Nocth and took the Webster Cliff Trail to Mt. Webster (3910'). I could have gone over to Jackson ( Visible in the background of the peak photo), but decided to back because of timing reasons.

6mil round trip. 2.75-hrs. up, 1.75-hrs down