Spoken

Posted by Daniel Mon, 29 Jan 2007 01:30:00 GMT

In the spring of last year someone was shooting a movie at the Lake. I spun by the first few times and the last time there was a van parked right in the middle of the path. I drove around but pinch flatted getting back on the path. Naturally, this happened when I was playing with my then new saddle and had neglected to put the seat bag back on, because I kept making little adjustments. So no spare tube or anything. . To further compound my stupidity, I had said to myself "ahh you pumped up the tires just yesterday, they feel fine, you're just spinning around the lake to get the saddle set... why bother?" So naturally... I wound up clumping around the lake in my road shoes back to the car.

Anyway, shifting forward to today, where the weather was lovely even early this morning. I'm riding my now filthy (from the birthday ride) cross bike, except I, ahem, cleaned (and I use the term loosely) the basic drivetrain stuff so that I wouldn't be saddened by the crunching sound of grit in every link of chain. It was wet on the roads this morning, so I wasn't going to dirty a second bike. I had my seatbag, and I pumped up the tires (you didn't think I am *that* stupid, did you?) However the film crew was back, now with giant blocks of ice to help out the already frozen lake... and, of course, blocking the path, so just after I make it past the path block I feel the rear tire getting flat.

I considerd changing it right in their way, in a spiteful fit of annoyance (though in truth it's not at all their fault) but decided that the tire looked marginal at best... so I rode out of the saddle until it was entirely deflated, and then, somewhat deflated myself, decided to walk the darn thing back to the car rather than hastle with changing a rear tire in the cold. At least I had mountain bike shoes on this time.

I'm now the owner of two new tires... figuring the other one wasn't long for the world either, one new tube, and a strong interest in dismounting the next time I see someone shooting a film at the lake.

The only really good thing to come out of all this, was that for the second ride in a row (short though this was) my knee didn't hurt. I'm sure it's not healed yet... but it feels like progress to me. Allez!

Posted by Daniel Mon, 15 Jan 2007 22:18:21 GMT

It’s very rare that my birthday falls during the week and I have off. This wouldn’t seem strange on the face of it, but my birthday happens to coincide with Martin Luther King day. So you’d think that I’d have off routinely, except this holiday has not been accepted into the pantheon of “important” holidays in many businesses. However the Oxygen Network is one of those places, and since I’m currently working on a project for them, I had the day off.

So I planned to ride quite a bit today, and did, but not as much as I wished because it was rainy and nasty. Sure, I did ~30 miles (I dunno exactly I had no comp on the bike – I’m being very conservative), but I was muddy and wet and the temps were dropping, and decided that it was getting unpleasant and not in the birthday spirit, plus my riding partner quit at 26 miles (having frozen her toes to cubes) taking her comp with her. Plus, she had the route we were supposed to take, but I was riding in front. So we wound up climbing a few hills that were not on the program. Not so bad. Worse, we set ourselves up for a very steep descent into town at the end. Short, trafficy, and steep. Wet roads, wet rims, etc. Not good. All was well however, and therefore all things considered, a great first birthday ride… even if the weather did not cooperate.

While I was riding I got a chance to consider the day and the importance of diversity in my life. Diversity is the answer to so many problems. Open the doors, your home, your mind. You’ll never be sorry.

Posted by Daniel Mon, 15 Jan 2007 22:03:00 GMT

Posted by Daniel Sun, 14 Jan 2007 15:08:37 GMT

Posted by Daniel Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:39:00 GMT

NYT: Michael Brecker, a saxophonist who won 11 Grammy Awards and was among the most influential musicians in jazz since the 1960s, died yesterday at a hospital in New York City. He was 57 and lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

The cause of death was leukemia, said Darryl Pitt, his manager.

Having taken a deep understanding of John Coltrane’s saxophone vocabulary and applied it to music that merged with mainstream culture — particularly jazz fusion and singer-songwriter pop of the 1970s and 80s — Mr. Brecker spread his sound all over the world.

For a time, Mr. Brecker seemed nearly ubiquitous. His discography — it contains more than 900 albums — started in 1969, playing on the record “Score,” with a band led by his brother, the trumpeter Randy Brecker. It continued in 1970 with an album by Dreams, the jazz-rock band he led with his brother and the drummer Billy Cobham.

Posted by Daniel Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:21:00 GMT

Here it is. The first annual Birthday Ride. Inspired by Seth’s “Solo Century”. As you can see I found a link going back to 2005, so he’s been doing this a while… and his birthday is in September. Anyway, I’ll probably finish up the last 7 miles to complete a half century, but I liked the symmetry of riding one mile for each year.

I rode 27 miles last Sunday and only had very minor soreness in my calves. I’m not used to riding these distances in January. No matter. A nice flat spin with biking friends will be a great way to spend a chunk of the day.

If you’re in the area, c’mon! I’m riding in anything short of a blizzard. Everyone else is excused in the case of inclement weather.

Thanks to my riding buddy Jenni for getting this together for me. A lovely gift!

Posted by Daniel Thu, 04 Jan 2007 02:11:00 GMT

Posted by Daniel Thu, 04 Jan 2007 02:05:00 GMT

Posted by Daniel Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:42:06 GMT

Yesterday was the first “back to work” day for a lot of people. And clearly, they’ve fogotten how to commute. Commuting is a dance in the Big City. Everyone has to move their feet in time, swing their bags at just the right moment, never zig when people expect a zag. The holidays, however, have a taken a toll, and the comute was a nightmare of miscues and timing yesterday. Amazing how quickly the fine edge of teamwork wears off.

Posted by Daniel Mon, 01 Jan 2007 16:51:05 GMT

Posted by Daniel Mon, 01 Jan 2007 01:54:00 GMT

I’m asked every year for technology predictions. I don’t see any major breakthroughs on the horizon. I think that it will be a year of incremental change. For whatever that’s worth. I’m almost certain to be wrong.