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Two Fish Bikeblocks
I’m finishing up October with 14 rides, tying with July and April. In keeping with this somewhat off-year of riding, it’s fewer rides in October than I had in 2008, 2009 or 2010. I’m at 130 rides on the year. My goal for the year is 150, which should be doable. A couple weeks ago,…
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Sub 40
Today was my first sub-40° ride of the season, and my first ride since last spring where I had to wear something to keep my head warm. Usually I’m good without anything extra on my head (other than my helmet) down to around 45°, give or take a couple of degrees depending on wind, precipitation,…
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New Bike Swag for Winter
Normally, I’m all about getting rid of “stuff.” However, my one weakness is stuff for my bikes. I get a strange thrill out of buying stuff that promises to make my year-round, all-weather bike rides safer and more enjoyable. I’m sure it secretly drives my wife nuts. Just over a week to go before “dark…
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Rain Gear
First ride in full rain gear in awhile this morning. It was nice and mild, so I took the opportunity to ride for 11.5 miles, including a loop through Patapsco State Park. Most of my rain gear is the same as last year, including Novara rain pants (REI house brand), Patagonia TorrentShell rain jacket, and…
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Text Effects with GIMP
As part of my fledgling hobby/future side career doing game development for the iPhone, I’m becoming sort of an inadvertent GIMP expert. I’m not a graphic artist, and I don’t do any original artwork for the games I code. However, I often need to edit and re-touch existing artwork, which is where GIMP really shines.…
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Cage Rocket
I was in the bike section of my local REI the other day and noticed they were stocking a gadget called a Cage Rocket. The Cage Rocket is a water bottle-sized pod with a hinged opening, meant for carrying gear and designed to fit in a bottle cage. There’s a standard version and a slightly-more-expensive…
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Farewell 2011 Pool Season
The weather is finally starting to turn fall-like. Yesterday evening, under the lights, Andrew and I took the ceremonial final swim of the 2011 season. We beat last year’s date, September 26, by 3 days. The kids’ first swim was on May 22, the same day we uncovered the pool. That made for a swim…
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Montgomery Road Jukeage
When I originally started bike commuting, I’m glad the weather was better than it has been for the past couple of weeks. I might not have kept riding. Not only has the weather been bad, but traffic also seems to be on the uptick on some of the back roads in Howard. I’m hoping it’s…
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Grout Removal Finally Finished
So yesterday, about a year after starting, I finally finished grinding the grout out around the master bathroom tub. This is not a job I’d recommend doing with older tile, unless it is really valuable and/or has historical significance. It’s boring, dusty, tedious, and time consuming. Did I mention that it’s dusty? That cannot be…
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Sloppiest ride ever.
First things first. Today I got out of the house around 7:45am, and took Montgomery Rd. west to Bonnie Branch Rd. I did the same thing Monday, except I left 10 minutes later, at 7:55. That 10 minutes makes a big difference. At 7:55, there are tons of school buses on Montgomery Rd, leaving the…