The past six months have been pretty good, health-wise. I'm recovered from the surgery, and I ride my bike 2-3 times a week. I started out getting winded and sore muscles at less than a mile of riding, and now I'm up to about 15 miles without much problem. I ride a cross country mountain bike, not a road bike, so that 15 miles is probably the equivalent of 35-30 road miles. I don't ride on city streets, there are too many people out there who drive like I do. :-)

I've found that the same sort of prejudices occur within the biking community as in other groups, except maybe a tad more extreme. If you don't spend a lot of money on a bike, then you aren't taken seriously. I have yet to find much difference between the Walmart bike I have and other, more expensive bikes, such as my Specialized Camber. I've looked, and there is no verifiable information on the net that would suggest that expensive bikes last longer than inexpensive ones, or that they are faster, more comfortable, or handle better.

About the only conclusion I could draw at the moment is that the people who buy less expensive bikes may be not as "into" biking, and thus don't keep the bikes maintained as well, or that they tend to lose interest after a while because of family, etc.

Yesterday I updated my IOS things to IOS 5 (the ones I could, I have some old stuff). I haven't decided if it's really worth it yet. It was a hassle doing the upgrade, the servers at Apple were hammered, and it took a while to get things done. The process timed out several times. But it all got done.

I thought Apple would do better at explaining how to do things, but the procedure for getting wireless sync from iThings to iTunes on a computer was obscure, and it was a "learn by trying everything" process. It finally works, but there are some misleading statements in various places. Much like other companies, they just don't give you enough information on what's going on for you to make an educated guess and how to proceed when something happens that's not expected.

This whole iCloud business continues to leave me mystified. I converted my MobileMe account over to it, since I'd have to do that anyway in a few months when MM goes away. I'm still not sure what the interaction between iCloud and the iTunes store is (if any). Again, they don't tell you enough for you to figure out what's going on.

My contacts seemed to have transferred OK, but I'm confused about what's going on with the Calendar. The iCloud and MM calendars ended up with different things in them. I just don't think Apple has put enough thought into explaining what is going on.

It finally rained today, after months of no rain. I'd almost forgotten what rain and thunder was like. Too bad it will be absorbed in the ground by nightfall. I can only hope it will help the dirt trails at Walnut Creek Park, they've been getting pretty unpleasant to ride on because of the large chunks coming loose. I'll gladly give up several days of riding to get a better surface. It's all too easy to have a wheel skid and the bike go out from under you with all that loose stuff out there.

More chances of rain tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Bike rides

I went out yesterday and rode 15 miles on my trail bike (bicycle). That's a full 50% further than my previous longest distance. The temps are finally dropping enough so that it's still fairly nice by noon... only about 80F. The route I took was the entire length of the Brushy Creek Trail. I started in the middle and rode to both ends, figuring that I could bail out easier by parking at the middle.

The trail is mixed concrete pavement, crushed granite, dirt, and some sandy sections. I really don't like the sand, but the rest is pretty nice. There is shade for a lot of the distance. It's a pretty popular path for the area, so it was moderately busy, but everyone is very pleasant and co-exists nicely. I'll likely hit this one three or four times a month. It's about a twenty minute drive from my house.

A whimper, not a bang

I waited six months to get a new iPod Touch so I could get the latest model (mine is two generations behind). Turns out the "new" iPod Touch has the same model number as the "old" one, so it's the same hardware with the new software. I think I'll be waiting a while longer, the am era in the current model is not very good, to be charitable about it.

This was the least exiting Apple announcement even in quite some time. There's just nothing there I'm very interested in. The recent Amazon product announcement last week was much more interesting.

Of course, this is of academic interest only, as I can't afford to buy any of these gadgets at the moment.

I feel like I've taken the step into the unknown recently. I've gotten both a Facebook and Twitter account. Not for the social aspects, particularly, but because I can automatically send my location information to both of them when I'm out bicycling around the various parks or geocaching. This leads me to a (possibly false) sense of security/safety that I didn't have before. I had some initial problems with the MiFi card (which I've had for a year or so), but I hope they've now been fixed after several calls to the provider.

In the past, I could never think of a reason why I would use either of those services, but the new capability changed that.

I went bicycle riding in one of the local parks a few days ago. It's a trail called a"singletrack", because it's mainly a single track through the trees, very narrow, with trees close in on the sides. It's quit possible to hit or clip a tree with only a moments distraction. There are plenty of scars on the trees to demonstrate this. Here's a bit of stream-of-consciousness dialogue from my last ride:

Yesterday morning I went for a ride on the singletrack path in my favorite city park, lots of trees on each side, you have to pay attention, very twisty trail. I'm normally thinking about what direction I'll dive off the trail into the trees if someone zooms up from the opposite direction (I don't have a history of dismounting gracefully in panic stops). That morning, my thoughts went something like this:

Oh, boy, there were a lot of cars with bike racks in the parking lot... maybe I should keep ringing the bell on the handlebars... nope, keep your hands on the bars, you wobble around enough as it is... this is nice, another half-hour and it will be too hot... whoa, nearly caught the handlebar end on that one... what's that in the middle of the path ahead... can’t quite make it out... it's a squirrel, why is he staring at me like that, get out of the way... GET OUT OF THE WAY... oh, great, now he's trying to outrun me down the twisty trail about two feet in front of me... I go right, he goes right... I go left, he goes left... I think he's toying with me... he looks back, I'm not sure if he is really trying to get away or checking to make sure he hasn't lost me... I'm beginning to suspect this wasn't an accidental meeting... wow, he sure can corner better than I can... he's got the whole forest to play in, why pick here and now... he dives right off the path... aaiieee, there's that nasty root drop, anchors out, pay attention... I come to a stop and swear I hear high-pitched squeaky laughing from back there.. maybe more than one.

Initiation rite? Maybe. For all I know, they even have a secret handshake. But if see a squirrel on this path next time I'm riding, I'm not slowing down.

Back after a while

It's been around two years since the last entry. Obviously no one is reading this, as there are no comments. In the interim, I've taken up mountain biking and had a car totaled (not my fault).

I go riding in Walnut Creek Park, a five minute drive from my house. I don't ride on the city streets, too much car traffic. Also, no shade.

I hiked this park for a few weeks and then decided to get a bike. I'm 68 and needed to do something for a higher level of exercise to recover from surgery, and this seemed to fit the bill. I find I like it a lot and will continue now that I'm recovered.

This park is interesting. It has 12 miles of trails, and the majority of the bike trails (the twisty parts with lots of shade) were constructed by a local mountain bike club, if I have my facts right. The city wanted some trails, and the biking community stepped up and designed and built the trails themselves, under the nominal supervision of the park staff. Two or three times a year, the club members get together and spend a day or so doing maintenance... drainage, trash removal, etc.

A fun place to ride.