Bicycling

Top Count Placeholder

The top went up on Monday because of a threat of rain and stayed up ever since due to the cold. That same cold didn’t prevent us from riding the tandem to work on Tuesday though because there is a remarkable difference in windchill factor between 15 MPH and 55 MPH. Plus at fifteen you are working, as opposed to just sitting still at fifty-five. Tomorrow it will go down for the way home from work as it is supposed to be back in the low 80’s.

The top is starting to look a little ragged in a couple spots. The tan fabric is worn enough that the black under layer is showing through. Where that is happening is a double layer of material anyway because that is where the top shop repaired it when it was wearing through on the inside a while back. With the advent of Purple Whale ownership the rate of top transitions has decreased to a trickle, so I’m sure we can get a couple more years use out of it, if we can stand the unkempt look that long.

I don’t know if it is that particular Robbins top or the installation of the top or a little of both that is to blame, but the top count stands at about half of the OEM top before it needed replacing. But, I guess you get what you pay for, because the Robbins top was about half the cost of a official Mazda unit…

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Tran­si­tions since 10/24/08: 1173

Sunday in Aiken

A short bike 10 mile ride. Breakfast at DD. Grocery shopping at Kroger.

Lunch. Wash the Purple Whale.

Afternoon spent watching the Weather Channel and listening to the FRS on the internet. Which is more related than you think in that they are both like rubbernecking at a car accident on the Interstate, horrible to see, but you just can’t turn away.*

Evening spent blogging and surfing the web.

Try and reel in your jealousy.

*On a related note, I just got an email that offered MLB.TV on my Roku for the rest of the season for a measly $10, so that if I actually wanted to see that wreck…

‘Le Tour Est Termin?

We were up early this morning to get in a short bike ride, so we could be home in time to see the finish of the Tour de France.

Next year we probably won’t do the cable upgrade to watch the race. There isn’t any tension or suspense any more, the guy who wins is **SPOILER ALERT** always the guy wearing the yellow shirt.

20,000 Miles Of French Roads

Actually the tour only covers a little more than a tenth of that figure at 2,173 miles, but on yesterday’s short flat stage from the Provence of Kroger to the department of Boardman the Purple Whale crossed the 20k mile figure.

As we do every year we’ve upgraded our cable package so we can watch the bike race. What started as the Outdoor Life Network and morphed into VS (later they spelled it out, Versus) is now this year the NBC Sports Network. NBCSN doesn’t show as many repeats as Versus did, so it is not as convenient for us to watch the weekday stages. Last year Versus had a 2 hour show be tween 5 & 7PM, but this year we have to wait until 8:00PM.

We were tempted to try their live streaming, but try as I might I could not find any information if I could replay the stage when ever I wanted, Like 5:00PM…

Hey! Four Eyes!

Three of the pairs of glasses I’m thinking of trying from Warby Parker on the 5 pairs, 5 day deal, I could mock up using their Virtual Try On service. I had to layout the Percy and the Reynolds myself using Paint Shop Pro. I’m still waiting on our local eyeglass place to get me the ones I picked out from them. If I haven’t from them in another week I’ll go online and try these.

We missed out on the usual Friday bike ride to work this morning because when we started loading up the bike I noticed the rear tire was flat, like no air at all. We either picked up something on the way home or I didn’t get the tube in right the other week and it finally failed.

Speaking of failure, the left fog light of the Emperor has burned out. Sounds like a Sunday afternoon project.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1155

Radio Paradise HD

My favorite internet radio station has it own channel on the Roku box. It is called Radio Paradise HD and it streams the same music as the radio stream, but with the addition of photos that compliment the title, artist or lyrics.

Tonight I decided to upload a few of my photos to see if they might use them. The submission form had room for eight files, so that is how many I uploaded for now. Maybe next time I do a few Enchanted Ceiling shots. One of the one tonight was the above image of Carhenge from our 2009 trip out west.

For the first time in about 3 weeks we rode the tandem to work. This is a great time of year for this because now that school is out for the summer traffic on the way to work is almost non-existent and not much more on the way home.

This is going to leave a hour long hole in my Saturday morning – Click & Clack Hang Up Their Microphones

Close Encounter Of The Google Kind

It’s Friday, so, as usual, Donna and I rode the tandem to work. As we parked the bike in the rack Donna noticed something hanging from the back tire. On closer inspection it turned out to be a section of the tire about the size of 2 quarters side by side that had separated from the kevlar belts. It was still holding air so we opted to ride it home, but agreed not to bomb down the hills and take it easy on the corners in case of sudden air containment failure.

A little more than half way home we came to a halt at a stop sign we usually don’t have to stop at. Not because our tire blew out, but because there was a car coming from the left. It looked a little weird, there were some odd stripes and it had green doors, so I knew it was vinyl wrapped to advertise some business. I was so intent on trying to figure out what they were advertising for for that it took a while to register that there was something very weird about the car.

It had a 3′ stalk sticking out of the roof with a red disco ball on top – it was a Google Street View Car! I waved meekly as it passed. Because it was going the way we were going, we turned right and followed. The Google car got stopped at the light at the next block and I pulled up right behind it to wait. The light turned green and the car pulled off. I gave another wave as Donna and I turned left to continue on the way home.

I don’t know when they will update the Street View for that intersection and stretch of road, the current images are from December 2007, but when they do, we’ll be famous.

The Emperor got a bath this afternoon because tomorrow is the MMC Tech Day and heaven forbid I show up with a dirty car.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1135