Anticipation

The mango sport is at the shop today. I am getting the brakes tuned, bleed, etc. I can't wait for the Carrot to be ready. Anticipation is deadly.

Soon I will be back on the road:

A comparision of two incidents involving cyclists and motorists.

First up we have Portland, OR. Considered the front runner in the US for positive treatment of cyclists.

From: bikeportland.org

A Multnomah County Grand Jury decided today that 63-year old Candice Palmer — the woman who told police investigators she reached into her back seat to tend to her dog and then struck and seriously injured a man who was bicycling on SW Multnomah Blvd — should not face criminal charges.

Palmer's car swerved into 20-year old Reese Wilson while he rode home from work on the 6100 block of SW Multnomah Blvd on February 4th. Palmer had her dog in the car and reportedly looked into the rear seat where the dog was just prior to the collision. After hitting Wilson, Palmer's car ran through a fence and came to rest on the side of a house.

Note: the man (20-year-old Reese Wilson) who was injured died in the hospital.

So a elderly woman confessed that she drove with extreme negligence, then killed a man riding a bike and then drove into a house. The Grand Jury in Multnomah decided that this didn't rise to the level necessary to charge the woman with a crime. The comments on articles spent most of their time arguing about helmets for cyclists rather than any comments on the motorist responsibility.

Here is a sample of the first few comments posted on this story at KATU news

comment 2: They don't believe the rider was wearing a helmet. That's crazy these days. Thank GOD that I wear a helmet.
comment 3:It will be interesting to see what was the cause of this. Not faulting the cyclist at all..Could have been clipped when the car went out off the road.Of course not wearing a helmet wasn't the brightest thing either.
comment 4:Stupid Bikes! Stay off the street!

As you can see, all three put blame on the cyclist.
Here is the picture of the car post incident:


Now listen and view this video about an incident where a driver ran into 4 teens at an intersection and caused only minor injuries. Pay attention to the media and public reaction.


The difference is night and day.

No sympathy for Christian's who feel Christmas is cheapened

Matt Yglesias says he feels sympathy for Christians who feel that Christmas has been weakened by meaning so much to so many different groups. I on the other hand feel no such sympathy. Christmas only exists on Dec 25 in an attempt by the Catholic church to take over the pagan holidays celebrating the Winter Solstice. Most scholars pin Christ's birthday somewhere in September.

In other words the entire point of Christmas for the Catholic church was to muddy the waters and take over the celebrations of other religions. I feel no sympathy that this policy has come back to bite Christianity.

Republican's and Science

Dougj from Balloon Juice wants to kill the idea that Republican's are anti-science. Unfortunately for him this goes to one a series of simple empirical tests.

1- Which party reliably attacks science?
2- Which party funds scientific endeavors?
3- Which party support religion vs science?


1- Which party reliably attacks science?

Republican's have a long history of attacking science. In Texas they are trying to remove scientific discoveries from textbooks. There is an entire industry that is dedicated to attacking climate science. The history of pro-tobacco misinformation is very illustrating here as well. Some Democrats do have a history of falling for health cons and the anti-vaccine craze infected both Democrats and Republicans. This category is given to Republicans.


2- Which party funds scientific endeavors?

The race to the moon which JFK supported has paid dividends for the US. We have a large number of satellites that are vital to our communication technology today. Look at the funding history for NASA and physics in this country. You will see Democrats paying for the essential research that fuels our economy. Republicans sometimes appreciate engineers but only when the Republican in question is investing in a company that employs that engineer.

3- Which party support religion vs science?

Doug wanted to dodge this question.

First off, I’ll admit there is some real hostility to science from the fundies. But I don’t think that conservative opposition to stem cell research is rooted in hostility to science, it’s rooted in the (admittedly non-scientific belief) that Jeebus loves 5-celled blastocysts as much or more than he loves post-birth human beings

Christianity has been attacking science since Galileo. Astronomy, Cosmology, Biology, Climate Science, and Medicine have all been targets of Christianity. This isn't limited to the recent Catholic belief that all sperm are sacred, it is a full frontal assault on knowledge. Republicans are the political party of choice for the religious Christians in this country. It is one of the ways Republicans use to control the downtrodden.

To sum up, it is pretty obvious that Republicans are the enemies of science. Any professional scientist would shun Republican leadership out of simple self-preservation. Engineers are a different animal and at engineering schools you often hear the joke that business majors are just second year engineering majors. The joke is that when you fail at engineering there is always business school. But the meat behind it is that you go to school for engineering when you want money, you major in physics or math for a love of science. It is pretty clear why you might see engineers in the Republican party.

Optima Voyage

Optima Voyage, originally uploaded by Watson House.

The Optima Voyage is a version of the classic Baron lowracer that folds. There is an awesome video of this at recumbentblog.com

This is very cool and I am happy to see recumbent bikes finally coming up with a fast folder that is a decent bike as well. I would happily use this for either travel or urban mixed mode commuting.

Route-08Aug10

Route-08Aug10, originally uploaded by Watson House.

Today I did a bit of exploring and tried a new route (on ridewithgps here). It was pouring rain and I got lost a couple of times but the Mango was great.
Avg Speed: 14.7 (blech)
Distance: 42.3 miles
Elevation Gain: +1769ft

I ended up using both the foam cover and my STP jacket on this ride. I didn't expect it to be so wet and chilly.

Here is my slideshow of pictures from the ride:

New Routes

Tomorrow I am going to try a new route. The route above is a 60 miler that goes up to Snohomish, over to Monroe, through Duvall and then to Carnation and back to Woodinville.

I loaded it into my Garmin and will see how the navigation works out.

The Quest for Speed.

So I am getting used to the Mango Sport ("The Carrot"). I am now logging new speed records on my commute. My average speeds are going up which is making me quite happy. I think I will start doing Washington Lake loops on the weekends since that is the route I have the most recorded history on. If all goes well I can get some record times on my Lake loops. I want to get my century speeds up and do some 200K permanents without officially logging them with RUSA. So first I will train, then when I feel ready I can try a 200k permanent.

I might even be able to get some respectable times, which would be very nice. My eventual goal is to finish the STP one year BEFORE Jim Broadus (a co-worker). It would be nice to not be passed :)

Mango Sport on Week three.

My Mango Sport has 500 miles on it over three weeks of ownership, 215 miles or so of which was the STP. Most of last week I didn't ride at all. Today was my first day back commuting with the Mango.

My impressions remain great, I am faster, more comfortable and safer riding the Mango. It really is a joy to ride and it is very easy to carry stuff. I am considering what it would take to do a weekend camping trip. Lately I have been looking at Hennessy Hammocks. They are lightweight, pack small and would easily fit into my Mango Sport. Add a small sleeping bag, and some food, maybe a camp stove and I can tour.

I also want to train more for fast centuries. I can work on speed loops of the lake as well as some nice hilly loops in Redmond/Issaquah areas. The Mango feels nice and light, I am climbing hills well on it. In my reduced state I am as fast on hills as any of my other bikes. I suspect this will change as my power to weight ratio changes but I think in general my speeds can only go up. At the moment I am 10 lbs lighter than when the Mango Sport arrived. The uptick in riding and change in my eating habits paid off quickly. Only another 40 lbs to go :) All in all I think the increase in acceptable riding conditions that the Mango brings will pay off with a fitter, happier me this time next year.

The Mango Sport has been getting a lot of attention. I am enjoying that and learning how to deal with it. Lately I have found that a brief wave and keeping pedaling is a nice polite way to acknowledge the interest without losing too much time. I have noticed a number of other Mango Sports lately on the Internet. There are some really nice tips and videos out there that I am enjoying.

All in all my Mango Sport is wonderful and I expect to continue to grow into my velomobile. I do think I need a name for her, saying my Mango Sport is a bit cumbersome. I am considering calling her "the Carrot" since she is orange and faster than the "White Rabbit" my raptobike.

Prepping for the STP

So I am less than one week away from the STP. This year I plan on doing the one day version and start from my house. This means I will be riding 224 miles, my first double century, on my brand new Mango Sport.

I am nervous and have a bit of anxiety since I didn't train as much as last year and I will be riding a bike that I have only put 210 miles on. But putting that aside, I have the base miles from commuting to work with so I should be good.

I am not sure what my average speed will be but my hope is 16mph. Last year I averaged 16.9 mph on the Raptobike but I was in much better shape and weighed 14 lbs less than I do now. The Mango Sport has been faster than the raptobike at my current fitness level and the STP is well suited to speedy velomobile riding. My plans include a 14mph average speed. I have allocated 50 minutes to rest stops. Last year I spent a lot of time at rest stops but this year I am solo so plan on approximately five 10 minute stops. Given an average speed of 14 mph, the ride will take 16 hours from my house. Add in 50 minutes for rest and we are at 16:50. If I start at 0300 then I will get to the finish at 1950. That is my worst case and gives me 1:10 of buffer. If I average my target of 16mph then I will finish at 1750. That is a great time to finish. Keeping the rest time down is key, but I do have some buffer zone time.

The question is what to bring. Since I haven't trained with any new food solutions I will go with my tried and true.

• One 2L bladder of Cytomax, refilling as it empties
• 5 baggies of cytomax, sized for mixing with 1L of water
• two 500 mL water bottles, initially frozen. I will refill as necessary. I will also douse myself with water as needed.
• 1.5 lbs of dried cherries
• 6 packets of cliff shots gels (black cherry with caffeine)
  
• spare tube, spare tire, patch kit, pump, tire levers, towel
• sunscreen
• sunglasses
• camera
• gps
• gps battery extender
• phone
• hand cleaner
• 2 small towels to keep hands clean and wipe down the mango
• Imodium tablets
• Aspirin
• rain jacket

Since I will be riding the Mango my concerns about rain are nearly nill. I am more concerned about heat than wet. The jacket will be all I need if it rains and only for rest stops.