Bicycling

It’s All Over Now

The Constant

The Other Woman

We watched Episodes 74 & 75 of 82 tonight, so technically we’ve watched this whole week’s worth of shows already and the rate of two a night we will be through with Season 4 by Friday and Season 5 doesn’t start until almost 3 weeks after that.

Episode #74, The Constant, took place on Christmas Eve in Lost time, missed it by 5 days. When we started rewatching them from the beginning, I started on a Monday with the shows spaced so that we would finish up a couple days before the next season started, maybe I should have scheduled them to line up with island time, Season 1 started on September 22, 2004 and Season 4 ends on New Year’s Eve 2004. Maybe next year (as long as when Ben moved the island in time he just jumped exactly in years and didn’t shift days.)

It is almost a good thing because I have really wanted to stop writing the little episode synopsizes, because Season 4 is where the show got far out there (if that was even possible for this show that has been water skiing around a school of sharks looking for a ramp ever since the get go.) The season’s arc was intriguing, we find out that six people got rescued and we find out early on who five of them are (turns out we knew the sixth, but the producers were being cagey) and through out the episodes we see those 5 people scattered amongst several separate locations and circumstances and they are only brought together in the season finale. But several of the goings on leading up to the rescue are like jigsaw puzzle pieces that look like they came from a different puzzle.

We took the tandem out for a couple three miles as a sort of a shakedown cruise for it and us. Things worked well, mechanical and physical, and if the helmet mounted lamp arrives tomorrow as planned we are going to ride the bike to work on New Year’s Eve.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 87

Merry Christmas

I thought I was through with my Christmas gifts, but after yesterday morning, turns out I needed 2 more.

The Cateye LED headlight we bought a couple months ago does a decent job of lighting the road in a 4 foot diameter circle about 20 yards ahead of the bicycle. That, along with the ailing Nite Hawk incandescent headlight filling in the gap between the front tire and the LED spot, forward travel is pretty well illuminated. But turning corners is tricky because the lights are on the handlebars, they only see what’s around the corner once the bike is actually turned.

Yesterday morning about two miles into our 6-1/4 trip to work I turned onto a street that turned out to to be covered with leaves. Because of the lighting setup I didn’t know there were leaves there until we were crossing over them. Coasting at about 10-12 miles an hour the front tire slipped out from under me. Before I could even get out the O in OH SHIT, we were down and skidding to a stop on the ground. What took the brunt of the impact was the right front pannier that was loaded with my clothes and I think that saved both of us from a rougher landing. We got up, checked for any serious damage to us or the bike, I reattached the pannier and we pedaled slowly up the street. Because we less than half way to work we opted to turn around, pedal home and then drive the car in.

The bike appears fine except for scrapes on the right pedals and the tape on the right side of the handlebars where they skidded on the pavement. The attachment hook on that right front pannier needed to be rebent back into its natural shape. The captain has some road rash on the right knee that makes wearing pants uncomfortable, a sore left thigh that probably got poked with the handlebar and a tender right wrist from hitting who knows what. The stoker got a small cut on her right leg and a fairly sore shoulder. Both probably have bruises that will materialize in a couple days.

The right knee of my tights was shredded in the fall so I had to order a set online today. I also ordered another LED headlight, but this one has a helmet light so that I can aim it around corners by looking that way so as to avoid nasty surprises like yesterday.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 81

I Led You Here, Sir, For I Am Spartacus

While we were riding the tandem to work this morning I saw something or thought of something that I should blog about tonight. Of course I didn’t write it down. On the way home from work the same idea reoccurred, once again I didn’t write it down, so you won’t get to read about it.

It’s holiday time, so there are goodies around practically every corner at work and because I have no self control, I eat something each time I pass something. On Tuesday I started keeping track of all the handfuls of whatnot I consumed, retroactive to Monday, with the though of blogging about that today, but after writing it all down the totals weren’t nearly as spectacular sounding as I imagined, so I scratched that idea.

Even though they play the song That Thing You Do about 10 times in the 1-3/4 hours the movie runs, I still like watching it. And I did again tonight.

One of Ron White’s bits contains this quote: “…once you’ve seen one woman naked, you… wanna see the rest of ’em naked.” I’m not sure what he’d think of these women, or these…

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 73

Creepy Nutcracker

If you have small children it may be best if you don’t let them check the mail for the next few weeks, unless of course, unlike me, you don’t think this year’s Christmas Nutcrackers Stamps are creepy.

We went out this afternoon and cleaned the rest of the leaves off the driveway and sidewalks and such. Afterward I pulled the car out of the garage and gave it a washing. It was pretty dirty from the rains of a couple weeks ago and the drenching it got last Saturday on the trip back from HHI. Maybe tomorrow I’ll pull it back out and give it a wax.

For the first time in a while we went for a bike ride today. At first we were going to ride our single bikes this afternoon, but changed it to the tandem tonight. We went out around 7 PM when it was fully dark and cruised a couple neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 54

Exodus – Part 1

Episode 23’s off island flashbacks feature a lot of the main characters in the Sydney Airport getting ready to depart while on island we see the last frantic construction on the raft as it gets ready to depart. Meanwhile the crazy French Chick arrives with a warning that the “Others” are coming. Jack thinks they should all hide in the hatch, but it still can’t be opened prompting a French Chick lead trip to the black rock to get some dynamite.

We rode the tandem to work today and it was chilly enough (low 50s) that I wore tights and we both wore some light knit gloves. We have been using a NiteHawk Pro Dual for commuting that we have had for what seems like ages (maybe 10 years?) It is starting to show its age as the light output is nearly non existent when we pull into the parking lot after just under a half hours worth of riding. You can buy a replacement battery for $55, but even when brand new it was only good for an hour and a half (plus the battery weighs about 2 lbs.) Instead I decided to try one of the newer LED lights, after a bit of internet research I opted to try a Cateye EL-530 which I found at Nashbar for forty bucks.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 388

Confidence Man

Show eight and that finishes up the second DVD. This one was about Saywer mostly, both on and off island. And after several shows that included scenes where the attractive female cast members showed some skin (as much as you can get away with on network TV), this episode featured the ex model Josh Holloway looking good in a suit and totally out of it.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and today’s Augusta Chronicle was printed on pink paper. I thought maybe I’d get in on the fun too and changed the background to pink for the next 31 days. Ladies, get a mammogram, it may be uncomfortable (OK, maybe even painful), but early detection can literally save your life.

The top on the car didn’t transition today because it spent it in the garage.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 372

Pilot – Part 2

Show 2 of 82. Does this photo look familiar? I think it does. Just six days ago I posted a photo I had taken of the Shannon Rutherford “Action” Figure that was based on the scene from this episode.

After Sunday’ games the FRS had a magic number of 1 for clinching a wild card playoff spot. They were also only 1-1/2 games out of first place and winning the division was once again in play. But last night they lost and Tampa Bay won dropping them back to 2-1/2 games behind. Because the Yankees had the night off the playoff clinching magic number remained at one. Tonight the Yanks are winning and Tampa Bay has won the first game of their doubleheader and although the FRS are winning, they are making it look hard, they are up by only one run and the Indians have loaded the bases the last two innings. Update: The FRS managed to stave off defeat and are going to the playoffs.

The weather has turned positively March like all of a sudden here, High near 80, low in the upper 50s and 20 MPH winds. Even though it is our long days and 1 hour earlier start, we got up even earlier so we could ride the tandem to work. The good thing about the extra hour early start, there is nobody, and I mean nobody, on the road at that time. The good thing about the wind is it is coming from a direction that makes it a tailwind on the way home.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 360