Camera phone experiments

For a cell phone, I find that my lil' toy takes pretty okay-to-below average pictures. However, my unholy command of Photoshop allows me to doctor them enough so's I can upload them and share. So, submitted for your approval, are my latest camerphonepics.

It's barely legible, but I couldn't pass up snapping a pic of a bus with "666" emblazoned on its ass end.

Kiera, my tortoiseshell tabby, resplendent in the midst of my computer room's filth.

Duff, the insanely enormous "classic" tabby sitting in my lap.

Finally, I stopped at the Northern leg of today's jaunt to document the skyline that greets Lake Michigan and the Lakefront trail/Ohio Beach.

The winds off the lake were brutal (go figure), but since our forecast is calling for for days of typically assholish erratic weather, I wanted to be on the bike as long as possible this afternoon. So I rode up to Evanston and dicked about for awhile after I got off the Lakefront trail.

And I also wanted to clear my mind and wrap my head around the fact that I have a blind date tomorrow.....

Camera phone pics

I had to get a new cell phone not long ago--my first camera phone--but had no way to transfer the images from the phone, other than undergoing an esoteric gauntlet by some third-party vendor. Anyway, the new Macbook has some bluetooth technology that picked up the phone and its contents, so I was able to grab the pics, do some Photoshoppery, and post them here in all of their half-baked glory.

This was taken after I got home from work, fighting what I hope is the last blizzard of the season. This ride was...interesting. Also, this is the state of the 500 before I tweaked it and put a new saddle and other goodies on it.

This is taken on the Lakeshore Path, about 6 miles South of the city. It was difficult to see what I was actually taken a photo of, because the sun glares over the phone's viewscreen.

The new rb-1 on the same route as above. I'm still dialing in/tweaking my position on this one, and loving the hell out of it!

Beseiged by bullshit

Wow. The last couple of weeks has handed me an extraordinary heaping of nonsense. Between the schitzo weather and various failures/outages of my lifeline-electronic equipment, I WAS just about at my wit's end.

Apparently I have offended the Heavens, because I have been handed the trifecta of bullshit! ;)

First, it was the Comcast outage; it turned out that they had erroneously shut me down, requiring a technician to head out and flip a switch! BUT...then my building decided to have a "No Electricity" day on last Friday--the very day said tech person was slated to come to my apt. AND...when I tried to turn my computer on to get it ready for the appointment....NOTHING. My old G4 had decided to give up the ghost--which I found quite suspicious as it was working fine in the morning. Power surge, maybe? Oh GOOD LORD. What next?

So, I decided to forego good sense and just buy a new Mac on saturday--all signs have actually been pointing to getting a new computer--but I still had no Internet
connection. After getting home with the macbook, I waited from 1 until 6PM, and then when I contacted Comacast, they said the tech had the wrong number and I'd have to reschedule for the next Tuesday. Holy shit!!!!

Well, the Comcast guy came out right on time on Tuesday. Apparently the Company had felt my ire and waived any fees for Internet installation. And the connection came up again, right as rain.

So a week went by, and then, this last Wednesday, I started feeling the pangs of sickness. And over the course of the next several days (and even now on the Sunday) I was bowled over by the worst Goddamned cold I have ever had. I was blowing my nose so much that my entire face was unholy chafed and raw by Friday; i had to find an expendable cotton t-shirt to fill the bill afterwards. So couple that with the wet, grey days Chicago had last week, I crept into a funky, oh-woe-is-me depression.

Yesterday was the first day I felt remotely human so I decided to grab the cold and "ride it off" (think quasi-soccer coach speak). It felt great for the first mile; but there was a palpable wall of frigidity that I rode into, not far from the Lake. I saw another rider at Ardmore and Sheridan and we were marvelling over the ridiculous 10 degree drop. But after acclimating to it, it truly wasn't all that bad.

After I got about 15 miles south of home, I decided to turn around. BUT the winds decided to shift to the NE, and kicked up the densest freaking fog I have ever ridden through. My latent chest congestion was not amused with the wet cold air, so I broke off from the Lake and rode through town for a pretty uneventful trek back North.

It was a pretty miserable crawl--I was physically not quite up for a 30 miler, I guess--but still glad I ws able to grab some 2-wheeled reverie for more than a 20 minute commute to work.

Tickle my ass with a feather, why dontcha?

I already wrote about my quasi-cyclocross (HARDLY!!) morning freakout, but I have more on my mind than icy paths.

I watched the mercury climb all day long, reaching an exciting apex of 55 degrees Fahrenfuckinheit!! Positively sweltering. So I decided I was gonna leave work early and grab some road around town. I walked to Popeye's for lunch to soak a little of the nice weather in (and I had the crave for some red beans and rice), and to reaffirm my need to leave work early. I went to the bike rack in the work building, saw my bike, and ominously declared, "patience, my pet...."

It didn't help that there wasn't much to do at work, either. We through out a big-assed web site update yesterday, so the bulk of my load had been spent. So I had a lot of time to prowl the 'net, and monitor the weather. Well, the forecast pretty quickly changed from a semi-sunny, early Spring paradise scenario, to 80% chance of rain! The radar showed that Chicago was already under the "mean green" of precipitation bands, so I decided that I might as well leave. I hate riding in the rain, especially during rush hour...especially during rush hour on a Friday!

I am going to ask the Weather Channel to upgrade their equipment. They got the rain part right, but how was I to know that the forecast also called for a 99% chance of assholery on the road? Goddamn. I saw drivers almost cleave pedestrians in two, trying to squeeze every iota out of the short green lights. And some woman yelled at me in the Jewel parking lot, after WALKING IN FRONT OF ME, ALMOST HITTING ME, and NOT LOOKING ANYWHERE AROUND HER. These factors didn't help my frustration, let alone the behind-one-eyeball headachey pressure I've been cultivating all day. And my bike, lovingly cleaned off after a couple of days of filth, is again road-spattered by filth. So it goes.

Jesus H. Christ. Just give me one dry, above freezing day, Chicago. I promise I'll stop adding curse words into the lexicon if you grant me this small, painless boon.

Or stop tickling my ass with a feather and stay consistent, ye gods of weather!!!

(Which is about as unlikely as me stoppin' cussin'.)

Morning cyclocross

I am writing this after the fact, and a lot of my ire has simmered down. But in any event, I feel compelled to chronicle.

Today's forecast called for an seemingly improbable mid-50's day (55 at this writing) after a prolonged, wet, turbulent winter. At last! So I decided I was going to rise relatively early and grab some miles on the Lakefront Trail. I hadn't been on it in a while; the last visit to the trail was marred by sheets of ice and vast, impassable (by bike, at least) stretches. Well, the path was actually WORSE between Ardmore and Foster, no thanks, I imagine, to the constant, wet/thaw/refreeze nightmare that has characterized the last couple of months. After fishtailing on a seemingly inocuous swath of ice last time on the trail, I decided to play it safe on thee areas. However, when I was walking myself and the bike over a perilous stretch (I am imaging myself as Admiral Byrd...this might help you visualize), I completely ate shit and spilled out sideways! Luckily neither the bike nor I were damaged much, so I was able to continue.

I guess I was getting so frustrated this morning because I wanted a nice, easy reverie with the new bike. I wasn't in to dodging frozen weather and such nonsense. But in the grand scheme of things, a stilted, awkward ride is always better than no ride at all.

Where the hell did time go??

Damn! I knew I've been putting off writing for a bit, but when I saw that my last entry into ye olde blogue was in the last week of February, it all sunk in. I've been pretty captivated by the new bike. I was able to put it together at work--I brought some tools and lube--and ride it back home. From the get-go, the ride was pretty damned sweet; it seemed effortless, not twitchy, yet was able to feel spry under my ample load.

With the exception of the Brooks I threw on (replacing the white Avocet), the RB appears to be totally stock. And in better condition than I thought an 18 year old bike from eBay would be in. The GPX componentry is pretty slick, and the downtube accushifts still "click." It's novel, I suppose, but I am actually NOT used to indexing any more. I guess I'll let the levers click until they eventually wear out (familiar syndrome on all my bikes since the mid-'90's). So I have been trying to ride the bike as much as possible, despite this lingering asshole fucking wet shit winter, so I can get a feel for it and make tweaks where appropriate.

One off-putting item that came with the bike was (my best estimation) a 150mm stem; the head tube and stack height is pretty decent with the bike, and at max. height, the stem is a little under an inch from the saddle. After riding it for a while, I was feeling telltale signs of a too-long stem. I ended up buying a Kalloy stem from a place in Evanston during one of my "getting acquainted" jaunts. However, when I got home, it seemed that the stem had TOO MUCH rise/angle, so I looked for more options.

THEN I realized I had my Ritchey Force stem from my XO-1. So after work on Monday, uber stoked and ready to get my hands dirty, I took the old wrap off the RB's handlebars, removed the rear brake lever, slipped the bars out, then placed the Ritchey into the head tube....then realized I was missing the binder bolt!!! GODDAMN. Luckily I had some extra bar tape lying around, so I put the old stem back on, re-rewrapped the bars, and resigned myself to taking care of the stem conundrum the next day.

Long story short: the new stem is in place, the fore/aft of the saddle is still being tweaked, and I am re-evaluating my seat height. But along the way, I am loving like crazy the new addition to the flock. And the yellow bar tape along with the red frame finish has a kinda ironic McPaint scheme going. And I better finalize my tweaking and positioning soon, lest the other bikes feel I am cheating on 'em!