Just Landed at Petries

The Surly Moonlander, snow bike, fat bike. 4" tires are massive. It uses a modified version of the frame that Lisbeth is. They have two built and sold and a couple more on order.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Long Way Home

Last Sunday I rode the 52km home from my parents place on Bonnie. Normally I ride out and most often stop at the beginning of the 'bumpy' road as the kids used to call it. With a fresh layer of oil now covering the entire 16.5 km I wanted to try it with skinny tires. I had rolled around the intersection while waiting for Sal earlier in the summer and it seemed smooth enough. Driving out it felt ride-able. Five minutes into the ride home I knew that I had been wrong, the new section had not been traveled over enough to flatten it and there was lots of loose gravel on the edges. Dad had mentioned that it was still rough on the edges. If I got forced too far right I was going to be in trouble. I couldn't just roll freely down the hills so it would be slow going. And there are a lot more hills on the way out, or so it seemed. Once I got to the section oiled last year it was much safer as there was no gravel to worry about and much smoother.

I took nearly an hour to cover the distance to the highway. I had to walk 100 yards up one hill as my right calve was teetering on a cramp. Better to avoid those with 40 km to go. I stretched it out and never had any further problems. The wind which had been helping the hills slow me down was now a crosswind on the highway. Once I made the turn to the east it was a tailwind and I hit 50 kmph a few times on the flat sections. There's nothing more exhilarating for me than getting Bonnie through the gears, putting my hands in the drops and pushing hard. It just feels so fast. It took just over two hours to make it home so I made great time once on the highway.

The Northwood season opens up on Sunday and as usual I will have to endure the first round of games while we see how the teams match up. Not my favourite time of year. I'm seriously thinking about ending my full time involvement.

Sal is off to Calgary then Vancouver for 9 days on Sunday so I hope to get caught up on a few things around the house.

In Search of the Perfect Cup of Coffee

In ten years I've probably had as many coffee makers. Black & Decker makes hot water. Keurig made a luke warm brew that had great aroma and was on the expensive side. A second higher scale model was better but still not what I was looking for, there's no control of the flavor beyond what you select in the k cup.

I read a lot of the online gurus featured in the 'this is how i work" series on Lifehacker used an Aero-Press to make great coffee so I focused my search there. In Calgary I found one small coffee shop that carried them and then Mike ordered me one so I have one at home and one at work. My search is over.

This Might Be It

I know there's a point in every hockey season when I feel like what I'm doing and have been doing for nearly 20 years is time wasted. I don't remember that feeling ever creeping in this early. People just don't seem to care about anything, commitment is not in their vocabulary. I'm tired of it already. Maybe I'm just too far removed from what makes the modern family tick but what I need from them, and what I'm getting are miles apart.

A month from now when teams are all over the place in the standings because we have no full set of evaluations to base a draft on, they will care. They will email, complain and talk about how bad things are in the league. But right now they are just expecting everything to fall in to place.

AJ's Dodgers are one win from another championship. In a battle of the top pitchers they came out on top 3-1 last night. It was actually a great night for baseball, not even cold.

Cullen...the Big Brother

Mel's post about Cullen being a great big brother had me thinking.
"Ollie want a cookie? No? Gordon want a cookie? No? Little brother (or sister) want a cookie? Sure you do."
"It's ok little brother (or sister), just take another plateful. I've got your back"
"Hey little brother (or sister) are you going to eat that? "
"Hey little brother (or sister) what does a lion say? "
Stay tuned...this is going to be a wild ride.