Hit the 3,000 km mark

My daily commute is 36 km (22.5 miles) and features a fairly brisk ride into Vancouver from our 200m mountain elevation down to sea level, during which I average about 23 km/hr over the 40 minute ride and considerably less on the return. On the ride home the 200m elevation is recovered via a very steep climb for about 1.2kms (that reclaims about 150m of elevation) followed by a gradual 2.5km that recovers the rest.

It doesn't compare at all to the 100km climbs in The Tour de France, and while I think most people my age would find it hard to do, a reasonably fit person could certainly match my time. I was regularly getting into work in about 40 minutes and back home in about 55, but I replaced the chain and rear cogset and this really slowed me down.  The "cogset" is the mass of teeth on the back wheel, and is the partner to the "chainring" at the center of the bike, which is powered by the cyclist's feet. When a cyclist changes gears, one gear shifter moves the chain up and down each "sprocket" in the cogset, and another moves the chain around the chainring. Competitive bikers adjust the cogset to suit the course, and for long, straight journeys they would go with a cogset with fewer teeth to generate speed, and for steep courses they would opt for many teeth to help them climb. For a course with varied terrain they need both, and for single track courses in a velodrome they probably just need a single speed.

The rear cogset is connected to the chainring by the chain and creates the "drivetrain."  I was given my bike for free, and after learning more about bike repair I saw that the chain was old and stretched out, and had whittled away the teeth on the cogset.  It's simple to understand because the chain and teeth work in unison, and and if the chain doesn't align with the teeth anymore then it grinds away at the teeth where there's friction. 

I bought a new chain and cogset (called a cassette if all the sprockets are together) but was erroneously given a 7-sprocket one to replace my 8-sprocket cogset. I installed it, and then attached the smallest sprocket from the old cogset so the chain wouldn't fall off.  That small sprocket has the fewest teeth, and is the one a cyclist uses to go really fast, but I had to disable it because it had been ground down by the old chain and didn't mesh with the new chain. So I can't use this sprocket to achieve high speeds and I wind up coasting a lot.

I'll have to replace the cogset , but ideally would like to wait for a few thousand kms so as to not waste the money I spent.  I'll wait and see if my time is being constrained a lot because of this.

Silent Friday

No podcasts on Friday because I need a better pair of headphones.  I can hear cars extemely well because I only listen to interviews, and not music, so I don't feel there's any danger in that.

The weather has been exceptional and today was an ideal day for biking: Blue sky, slight breeze and cool.  I normally take the coastal route through Stanley Park on Fridays, but didn't bother today. I always intend to leave a bit early on Friday, but as usual I wound up cycling out around 6pm and met my friend Cliff, who wanted to set my crab trap off the coast. We didn't get out until dark and had a great time on the water, but his motor had trouble due to a blocked fuel line so I rowed part of the way.

I picked up the trap a few hours ago (it's Saturday now) and had 3 large Dungeness crabs, and a couple of large starfish that were munching on the bait and keeping other crabs from being caught. I put in new bait and we'll retrieve it tomorrow. Wow, the Pacific northwest sure has its attractions.

Invented languages

A fascinating show on invented languages. J.R.R. Tolkien probably has the most widely known and inventive group of languages, which he created for his Middle Earth books like the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.  He was an interesting fellow, and if I recall correctly he was a professor of English at Oxford and became known for his work on Beowulf and Gawain And The Green Knight, written respectively in Old and Middle English. He was British, but was born and raised in South Africa, so I imagine his environment of multiple languages drove his career choice and influenced his writing.  Another famous invented language of course is Klingon from Star Trek.  The show gave me one piece of info I had never known: James "Scotty" Doohan (also a Canadian from Vancouver) was first asked to create the Klingon language for an early Star Trek movie. He did this, and its success contributed to its continued development for the movies and ultimately as a credit course in Californian universities.

I love language and languages and if I were again considering career choices as a young man, could have easily gone into linguistics.  My Chinese is okay, and I continue to find it useful. For some reason I run into Chinese speakers; for example while standing on our remote cul de sac here, have been asked twice by Mandarin speaking tourists for directions. Luckily I know "waterfall" in Chinese because they're often looking for the well known hiking trail to the local waterfall, and would love to hear the conversation in the car after the driver stumbled onto the one Chinese-speaking Caucasian in the area.  My Thai became passable after four years in Bangkok, and I worked on Italian and German for a few months prior to visits. And of course, growing up in Canada I took French from Grade 4, all the way through university.

Back to the podcasts

Woke to pouring rain, and found wind into my face at 13 km/hour on the bike ride to work. So, our nice summer is finishing and I missed most of it!  My grass is half dead so I'm glad for the watering. 

My memory is still not 100% and I'm just now grasping for what I listened to.  It's not just a memory lapse, it's mainly because my usual headphones are in one of the kids' rooms and I only heard portions of the NPR show. On...the planned New York "mosque" near the World Trade Center site.  I'm torn on that one because I don't think the local Muslims are in any way using this to commemorate 9/11 and in purely rational terms it shouldn't be an issue.  I think they simply want a local place to worship, and of all places in the world, New York City is likely the most multiculutral and accomodating environment one could find.  However, 9/11 is still too recent to be thought of in purely rational terms, and I completely understand the pushback.

The "mosque" is not a conventional mosque and is evidently a dedicated worship room in a local building. No minarets and no wailing mullahs etc. I have to side with the Muslim community because they are keeping their faith low key and I guess purposely hidden from public view.  I also think the opposition is from a small group of vocal individuals with an extremely negative message and point of view that I can't believe reflects the average person. However, the average person can't even voice a moderate opinion now because they rightly fear of being targeted in the same way the Muslims are.

Since it's now such a high profile and sensitive topic I would ask the Muslims to simply move farther away, and avoid the unavoidable fall out.  It's a no-win for all involved because it's also un-American and is counter to what the vocal extremists are fighting for and represent. 

2nd day back on the road

Weather here in Vancouver has been hot and dry since about May, and everyone's grass is generally brown. However, I biked in yesterday and again today, and was either rained on or threatened!  So what bad luck to have missed six great weeks, and to now enter the cooler, wetter and darker part of the year. I'll get my iPod going again and then will be 100% recoverd. Although on the ride home last night I definitely felt far more tired than I ever have been going home, and I guess my body is just taking its time to fully recover. 

A leisurely ride in today, taking 60 minutes and including Stanley Park, which I customarily do on Fridays now. Average pace was 21 km/hr versus my 27 km/hr pace just weeks ago, so I've got a lot of fitness to gain back.

2,800 kms YTD.

Exercised the demons (pun intended)

Six weeks after the crash, finally biked in again. Sans iPod and podcasts, but I was mainly staying focused on the bike to see if it contributed to the cause of the crash. I think not, and I must have hit something. So my "demon" is fully exorcized (exercized?), I hope.

Looking forward to biking again, as it contributes so much to a positive mental and physical state.

Recovering

Amost back to normal, but still a bit wobbly. I couldn't concentrate for a week after the crash, but now I can function at work and I have some energy.  Hand-eye coordination and control over my legs is good as long as I don't go too fast. Picture the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz, and that's probably who I run like.