Scoplaw

Kevlar - Bullet/Road Proof Easters are Needed

Don't ride in Miami without Kevlar - I blew out a tire/tube cornering on Sheldon Bike.  Looks like I got some glass clean through the tire and tube this time. Took about a second - Ffft Ffft Ffft grumble grumble grind.  Thankfully I was upright and stayed so.

I was on a local library/pre-work set of errands so I walked home in short order.  On the way back I was tooted by a latino scooter-posse, replete with girlfriends in bikinis.  Such is life in Miami.  So I gave them the two fingers to the helmet salute and two of them cheered.  Are cyclists so unusual here?  Perhaps in these neighborhoods. 

I mean, my philosophy has always been, "Ride it like it's stolen."  But the number of tires/tubes I've been through is getting silly.  I run Kevlar on the Little Red Rocket and I've had two flats (snakebites in the Keys).  Hush, with her old touring Weinmanns and touring Kevlars hasn't had a single flat.  The Lotus (and now also Sheldon Bike) have more generic tires - and I've blown out the rear tube on the Lotus 2xs and now Sheldon Bike 1x. 

OK.  Off to change a tire, then change into trial prep mode.

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate it.  All in all, a much better holiday than Christmas, if only because it hasn't been commercialized.  Although I'm more of an Equinox-er than an Easter-er, I ate two eggs today in honor of Genesius of Rome and Columbkille.  And so the wheel of the seasons turns.

Sheldon Bike

This is how you recycle a Peugeot wanna-be-fixed gear.  First of all you take off the wheels with the beach cruiser hub (which can't brake for a damn).  Then you hammer apart all the stuck components, imagining you are wielding said hammer against your least favorite prosecutor.  Soon, you'll be down to a bare frame, well - a frame wrapped up in electrical tape, because, that's like, you know, cool.      

Sheldon Bike's been crashed once before - the handlebars are a loss.  Probably someone wanted "fixed cool" without knowing how to ride one, then promptly rode their sluggishly breaking looks-like-a-fixed bike into something.  These are the kind of people who buy fixed gears off craig's list then start talking about their "fixies," as though they even knew the word a few months prior.

The hardest part was getting the electrical tape off, then the goo the tape left, then sanding down the bike so that it didn't look ridged from where the paint had been eaten away by said tape goo.  Simple Green and steel wool answered nicely.  I should have taken pictures, but I was cursing.

Instead of refinishing Sheldon Bike, I decided to let all the chips and scrapes stand for themselves.  I hit the entire frame with a coat of clear spray paint.  And then thought of taking pictures for the blog. Clicking on any of these will get you a larger picture.

I'm always amazed at the beauty of frame geometry.  This particular Peugeot is an 80s model - middle of the line, I think, judging from the frame features.  It's welded, not brazed, so there are no external lugs, and the seat post is some weird non-standard Frenchified 24mm thing.  Shims, be with me.  All in all, it's a clean looking bike, and, because I'm not doing any elite level racing, I'm sure as hell not going to be bothered by a few extra grams.

Here are some of the stripped and scraped bits on the tubes.  The blue lion decals survived though, which is nice (and personally amusing, as anyone who has seen my tattoos can attest to.)  I'm not sure what kind of person put her together in her older mode, but I'm sure she came by these scars honorably, as only French bikes can.  Note the ridges from the dipshit tape job: 

The next step was stripping the paint off the chrome fork and fitting the headset. 

A junked Fuji, found at the Miami Rescue Mission for $10, donated some bearings, a quill stem, some nice retro 1970s steel handlebars, and a pair of diacompe breaks with secondary levers. 

Next, the cranks, wheels, and chain.  I kept the cranks I found on Sheldon Bike - midlevel Suntour.  I added some fixed wheels I have around (came across a set for next to nothing awhile ago - and I'm relative good at picking up stuff I know I'll later use.  Want creates awareness.)  I did a ghetto fixed version with this guy, shifting around the big and small rings and essentially using the small ring as a spacer.  The chain-line is perfect, both in terms of angle and tension and chain fit into these old rings.  At this point all the hard work is done.

Last step is all the small stuff: seatpost (shims!) a saddle, a front brake, pedals, removing the unwanted break lever, and a final cleaning.   I tend to grease liberally as I build, so it's always a good idea to revisit the bike with the cleaner again after everything else is done. 

I had to get out some esoteric tools on this one, plus do a bit of filing to get the quill stem to fit the fork.  Chewed up about 6 hours of my time and $50 for odds and ends.  It's a good occupation for the hands - frankly I'd go nuts if I wasn't able to make/fix something and had to do book/brain work all the time.  And it keeps me from infecting my friends with my gruesomeness.  Which is getting better.

I took her out for a test spin - she handles beautifully.  She rides big and smooth like Hush, but is snappy on the corners.  The short Suntour cranks make me a bit less paranoid about pedal-strike, which is still a problem on the Lotus.  If it wasn't so wet, and if I weren't so weary, I'd go for a longer break-in ride, because I'm curious about how'd she do on my Miami Beach cycling circle.  While I'm feeling better, I'd rather not risk a setback by pushing myself too hard right now.

I particularly like the small steel handlebars.  They make her a bit front-heavy for a fixed, but with the Miami roadways I'm not going to be hitting many hills.  (I miss Lumina (she's in CT) for her lightness and all around ease in hillier terrain.)

The "Final" Sheldon Bike, with headlamp, posing in front of the Mighty Sage (and rock garden).

And this is a very tired, greasy, but hopefully healing Scoplaw, on said Scoplaw's very comfy couch, the other end of which is being held down by El Gato Perfecto, who provided bike building supervising efforts:

I think I'm going to finish cleaning the apt., open a bottle of wine, resume a conversation with Riposte, finish off my latest book (Joseph Campbell) and then maybe watch an 80s film.  I was listening to the Psychedelic Furs live version of Pretty in Pink at some point when I was working.   Hence the desire for some 80s high school drama - but not my own.   I also have Howl's Moving Castle from netflix, so it's a tossup.

Reason #1342 in my Dislike of Fossil Fuel Driven Transportation

Alternative titles to this post could have been:

Another Day, Another Grease Tat

Why I Shave My Legs

Pavement Surfing 101

But, anyway, reason 1342 would be oil, on the road, literally.  Which'd result in a drop-'n-slide and yet another grease tat for the Scoplaw.  Ouch.

All in all it wasn't too bad, but the ride endorphins are fading out and the pain's coming in.  And of course, the one thing that I don't have in the office (stopped by to get some folders on the way home) is a bottle of pain killers.  I *do* have Neosporin here though, thankfully, and I had water to clean it on site. 

What happened was this: I was cornering at a reasonable rate of speed on smooth pavement, pavement that featured an oil slick, created by some oblivious motorist, no doubt.  Front wheel shot out from under me, and since I corner by leaning, I went down pretty fast, but caught a lot of weight on my gloved hands.  (Thank you reflexive brain! though shoulder may complain to you later.)  It was basically one of those classic grating slides, which I much prefer to sudden stops by (or into) immobile objects, or worse, getting hit by perpendicularly mobile objects with more mass than I. 

Hush lost some aluminum off her brake handles, I lost some skin off my legs and elbow.  Oddly (or not), the new road patch on my elbow overlays my old scars there, which, I think, protected me somewhat.  (I've been building this one up for over 15 years.)  My right hip flexors, bad shoulder, and both my palms are just now informing me they were involved as well, but I think only moderately.  My cycling gloves protected my hands, my shorts protected my hip, The top of my shoe caught a lot of friction instead of my leg, and so, all in all it wasn't that bad, also due to the smoothness of the roadway and lack of sand.  I'm actually most worried about the shoulder. 

While there wasn't much blood, there were some glass bits which reminded me of just when the inconvenience of leg-shaving pays off.  It's *so* much easier to tweezer out glass, pebbles, and dirt if there's not a mat of hair and blood to get through first.  Sorry for the image kids, but from the non-bicycling middle Americana I find myself amongst, I endure a lot of random comments.

It's just another one to walk away from.  And if you squint, it sort of looks like Jesus:

 

Calm

On another note, this has been a truly bizarre and interesting series between the Cleveland Indians and the Red Sox. Both teams had strong seasons, surprising performances (Pedroia, Carmona), less than monster seasons from their stars (Ramirez, Haffner), reanimated playing for every-penny-of-their-contract performances (Lowell, Lofton) and finished tied for the best record in baseball with 96 wins each. As of today, the ALCS stands at 3-2, Cleveland, with the possible-elimination game to be played tonight at Fenway. 

It’s simply been great baseball.

So far the Sox have eaten up two of the best starters in the American League, but despite putting 70 men on base, they only plated 27 of them. Meanwhile, the Indians have had 62 baserunners, with 26 crossing the plate. Each team has hit 7 home runs. (Thus far the most valuable player for the Indians has been Eric Gange.)

Tonight, it will be the very experienced Curt Schilling going against the much younger and harder-throwing Carmona, in the lion’s den of Fenway. Neither did very well the last time out when they faced each other in game 2 of the series – and all bets are off for tonight. Will Schilling’s legendary preparation, coupled with his poor outing in Cleveland during Game 2, result in his finding the key to the Indian’s line-up? Will the relatively inexperienced Carmona be able to focus in and throw the kind of game that made him one of the better pitchers in the league this year?

And, fellow members of Red Sox Nation, is this the only day of the year that Mr. Scoplaw is railing against his pre-commitment of not having a television about to distract him from the various shit he needs must get done in, quite possibly, not enough time? I can tell you it probably is.

**

Court stuff has gone well enough, viewed through the “do no harm to thy clients” lens. We left a lovely little trial on the launch pad the other day. It started poorly (well, only moderately poorly, really, but those who know me understand that unless I’ve had a year to work on a case, I’m going to consider it under-developed) but we quickly gained ground. Information was obtained, caselaw fell into place, we created a good record re: pre-trial issues, and the lovely ladies of my division got things rolling. One performed the best voir dire I’ve seen in 3 years –honestly, it was simply brilliant. It was a glorious few hours of everything being in overdrive – wolfing down a bagel as I listened to a witness in the hallway, while another PD (not from my division – so super-thanks are owed) followed a new lead and ran off to do some research.  I walked back into the courtroom to relay some new information (some points of which were going into my opening). The ladies and the client were actually selecting the jury, and I really felt, at that moment, our trial elements/arguments were not only fully crystallizing, but had been extended, and that we were going to have a good fight with a hell of a lot to say in front of what was sure to be a good jury. However, it was at that moment, just as I came down the very short length of the gallery and stood next to the defense table, that the State stood up and announced a nolle pros.  I think this is actually on the record - I turned to the prosecutor and asked, “Are you kidding me?”

Turns out there was a valid, non-gamesmanship reason, but man – what to do with all that racehorse-in-the-gate energy?  

**

Also in work-news, we get training up the wazoo. If anyone knows what a wazoo is, I’d appreciate a note on the subject. Anyway, we’re too busy to make it to every training class we have, but every single one I’ve been to has really given me something to think about (structurally) and something to use (practically). I’m trying to think if I’ve ever had this kind of experience before in terms of getting solid, applicable parallel-to-the-job training. I don’t think I have. 

**

Also, JK Rowling recently announced that her character Dumbledore is gay. 

Sigh. Much of "the Harry Potter thing" seems not to happen in the books, but in the extra-textual knowledge of the global fandom that surrounds the books.  Which is interesting to me.  There's this cultural phenomena of Potter-dom which is quite powerful, however, if you look at the text itself in a vacuum, it's a moderately bland read.  (Not horrible or anything, just not the best writing out there.)

I used to bitch about this to poetry-students.  It's great to have a sophisticated dialog about what you're doing (or trying to do, or what you wish you had done), but, additionally and much more importantly, you have to put "it" in the poem itself.  Which is hard, yes.  But that's the challenge.  Anyway, Rowling gets about 25% of a Kudo for this one.  Had she the balls to actually put Dumbledore's sexuality in the book itself, you know, where that global readership could have actually read it, that would have been 8 Kudos or so, on the Scoplawic scale. 

Such a missed opportunity.  Still, I agree with Seth, insofar as something is better than nothing, and clearly, this is a very good something.

**

Lastly, ladies and gents, I’m heading toward slug-land. Not enough exercise through my errand rides has shown itself in general energy level, leg-shape, and via a relatively poor fast-as-I-can ride out to South Beach – hence I’m making a resolution to do something about it. Someday. Soon. 

 

 

Typically Glorious Scoplawic Mis-Adventure

Libations must be made to whatever god or goddess I’ve offended. More on that in a bit.

The theme for this weekend seems to be revisiting the past in odd emblematic ways. Last night I met an interesting blonde school teacher whom I’ll dub the Straight Shooter. We had donuts and Vietnamese food while talking about education and the law – a Manchester evening if ever there was one.

Today I decided to go for a longish ride. I walked out my door and saw the quasi-stray rooster of my neighborhood scuffing at the ground in front of a silver Honda Civic and crowing at the overhead train. That’d take too long to explain, but it’s a confusing personal omen.

The ride started well. I seemed to have good legs so I just went south. Then south some more. I had planned on stopping at bike shops for a few odds and ends and directions, but they were all closed (early Sunday). I saw some cool things on my meanderings, including a kind of Latino trading post/farmers market where I gorged on mangos and took a few bananas for the next part of the ride. I discovered a great new bakery, and found some stores I need to return to for apartment outfitting. I think I rode by every strip club in FL, or there are just a lot of them on and about US1. They all have incredibly bad names and they’re all painted pink. Get it? Pink.

In any event I found myself pretty far south, looking at the end of Miami and the beginning of the 20 mile US 1 highway stretch down to the Keys. I’ve never seen the Keys, so I figured, why not? I was told later there’s some kind of bike path, which I’ll look for next time out.

I’d not recommend the US1 route (for the final bit of FL between Miami and the Keys) to anyone. US1 is narrow shouldered, broken shouldered, and under construction, which means there’s all kinds of debris in what little bit of the road you can claim. Apart from the debris, there are those elevated shoulder reflectors (each about the size of a cigarette carton) which provide an extra obstacle to navigate while 50+mph traffic is at your elbow. Actually, the road detritus was more of an issue than the car proximity. The parts of the road that are under construction are kind of cool – in some areas there’s a new roadway, shut off to cars, which I had all to myself. In fact, I actually saw only 4 other bicyclists the entire day – 2 headed north on 1 in a more built up area, and 2 headed north on the deserted bit.

Even though the road was bad, the drivers were fine. I actually got a handful of people yelling encouragement to me as I rode (traffic got thick at points so people were pacing me or just pulling slightly ahead).  That’s pretty cool.  I kept it above 20 for long stretches on that bit.

I feel like I’m getting the hang of FL riding. I’m certainly getting more sensitive to the *very* slight changes in elevation on the apparently flat terrain. I’m not burning myself out too fast anymore, and I feel very solid on the roads. The wind can still be a killer though, and it’s nearly always humid as hell. I decided to use a seatpost-rack and bag (not panniers) instead of the camelback I usually use. The difference was amazing. I stayed so much cooler on the ride. I don’t care how dorky it looks – I gotta have my stuff.

Even with the increased cooling and the better pacing, I got very hot at one point on the flat/swamp stretch. I pulled off into a marina and found some shade while I looked at the map. At this point, due to the chalky white dust on the shoulder and a few puddles, I was looking pretty well travelled.  As in, like I’d been off-roading with a road bike. When I looked up from the map, a 7 year old girl, astride her Sting-ray, had stopped in the middle of the street and was looking at me kind of quizzically. “Hello,” I said, “Do you know if there’s a gas station or somewhere I can get a Gatorade around here?” Turns out the next gas station was about 6 miles on, in Key Largo. I smiled and said, “Awesome, thank you,” because I knew I had more than enough physical/mental/liquid reserves to make it there and restock. The girl furrowed her brow at me and observed, “You’re very serious about this you know.” I said I tried, and off she rode after her brother.

All through the trip I had trouble finding running water, and at points (such as the marina break) I  desperately wanted someone with a hose to take care of all the salt that had accumulated on me and my gear. Usually I pass someone watering their flowers and ask for a quick soak down; nearly everyone whom I’ve asked  has humored me in this – there’s just something about spraying a human with a hose than no one can resist. No luck today though.

At one point I saw rain over the water – the sky here is *amazing,* you can just watch the weather build and move toward or away from you. I said many a silent prayer for rain. It was answered.  I got my downpour and then some, which was good because in addition to cooling me off, it cleaned some of the sand and salt off both myself and the Little Red Rocket.

After having tooled around Key Largo for a bit, I’d considered just pushing on to Key West and riding back up on Monday (or taking a bus or something if my legs were toast). That would have eaten my weekend though, plus it was labor day, so who knew if I could find a place to crash easily? So I turned around, figuring I’d still have a nice long ride on the weekend and would have given myself the chance to take care of a few domestic things.  It had been, at that point, omens aside, a pretty damn good day.

On the way back north, at mile (personal trip mile) 78, I hit a stone. The constant jarring had lessened the pressure in the tires and I ended up snakebiting the tube. (The softer tire gives before the stone, which pinches the tube between itself and the rim of the wheel. The rim is shaped like an upside-down “U,” and the points of that U end up cutting the tube in two parallel spots – it looks like a snake bit it. 

Changing the tube was a disaster. There was no shade and the levers that I had just weren’t up to the job of dealing with the Kevlar tires I’m running on LRR. I may well have been using plastic take out spoons. (I have no idea why these tires are so over-designed. I blew out a few tubes on my old 27inch wheels, but changing them was always only a matter of minutes. And needless to say I have NEVER lost a tire while riding.)  When I finally got the replacement tube on, it turned out that I either had a defective tube, or I must have pinched it while installing. So, with much cursing, I patched the first tube, changed the tire yet again, and pumped  up the new rig, laboriously, with my ridiculous racing pump.

I had been there for 40 minutes. 40 minutes spent on the side of a road in a swamp doing something that should take you five minutes makes that subjectively like 8 years or something. At this point, a nice couple in an SUV pull over to ask if I’m OK. They really were concerned and interested and made sure I was OK before driving on. (Perhaps I looked a little sun-addled?) Needless to say, they look *exactly* like a couple I know, right down to the personal accessories.

Once I’d finished reloaded the bike, I started riding again. Two minutes later – blam. Another stone, another snakebite.

At this point I call it quits. Some greater force *clearly* does not want me riding the last leg of this trip, although what they’re trying to tell me, I’m pretty much lost on.

I start hitching with the bike, figuring no one will stop. Of course, the second truck I thumb pulls over. We throw the bike in back and, amid a 30 min diatribe about what’s wrong with the country (namely the poor asking for handouts) he drops me off at a metro-stop, from whence I ride home. Political views aside, that guy is my hero of the day.

And now, grumpy, endorphin-less, and stinky, I’m home with a bike to clean and a flat to fix (hopefully for the last time).

Although I did find good things, meet some interesting people, had a good ride (up from last time) and continued to perfect my biker-tan.

El Gato Perfecto is also happy to see me – we’ve been gardening together as I attempt to create yet another small-container garden on my balcony. Sage, Thyme, Cuban Basil, Catnip, Mint, Cilantro, and Chili Peppers. I’ll let y’all know how they do.  I'm thinking tomatoes must be added.

Speaking of basil, I think it's time to have a snack, do the bills, read some poetry, open a bottle of red and get fluthered.

If I don't post before then, Happy Labor Day everyone!

And on Sunday, there was no rest at all. Sorta.

This is sort of a mixed post, dealing with blogging, odds and ends, and headwinds.  If bored, scroll down.

Blogging

Now that I’m in a new environment, people are starting to discover the blog. First off, as I’ve written elsewhere, the blog isn’t a dirty little secret. Please feel free to tell me you read it, even if you only know me from the hallway in work or the courthouse. If you want to discuss anything on the blog, I’d be happy to hear it.

As far as posting on the blog, and what I use it for, The Ground Rules for the blog are linked to on very top of the right sidebar.

Basically:

1. There are confidentiality issues.  Please do not use anyone else's real name without their express permission or, like my friend Seth Abramson for example, they also blog and comment under their real name.  If you violate this rule, I’ll be deleting your comment or at least editing out the name.
2. I’m not going to write salacious things about my clients (in fact, due to ground rule 1, I’ll probably write little or nothing about them specifically, although I may comment on “types” of situations we see, in an effort to let people know what this job is like, and how the legal system “is” for the indigent).  I will not salacious things about the office, or the judges I’m in front of, or the court personnel.  I'm unsure about the prosecutors.  (Just kidding.)  If *you* want to see those things in print, by all means blog about them, but don’t use my comment fields to do so.  If you do, I’ll be deleting your comment or, at least editing out the name.  I may banyour access to the blog as well.
3. Please feel free to raise any factual issues or counter-points that do not implicate rules 1 or 2.  Disagreement is cool.  I like it. 
4. Feel free to use any amount strong language on those issues you feel passionately about; however profane and/or substances diatribes directed at myself or other non-public figures will be  most likely deleted prior to my banning you from commenting.  Or I could just make fun of them before banning you.  I do that sometimes.
5. As you may have guessed from the above, the blog is a private publication.  I have (and will) restricted access to those who can’t play nice. 
6. Because "we write what we know," if you’re reading the blog there’s a chance you may see "yourself" (disguised via moniker, hopefully indiscoverable as yourself, distorted by point 7 below) on these pages.  If you're uncomfortable with your moniker, or if you want to be CATEGORICALLY UNBLOGABLE simply write me at scoplaw@gmail.com (or any other valid email address you may have for me) and LET ME KNOW.  I will not take offense, and I will delete any reference to you.  That brings me to the issue of truthfulness.
7. The easiest way to say this is: I lie on the blog.  It’s more in the realm of literature.  It is not UNMEDIATED FACTUAL OR BIOGRAPHIC REPORTING.  If reference to anything appears on the blog, IT MAY NOT BE TRUE.  Do not rely on anything you read here.
8. Deal with number 7.  This gets it own number.
9. To explain number 7, I’m a writer as well as a (some-J.D.-post-bar/pre-oath-limbo-something).  What I’d like to do with the blog is to create a record of my experiences and tell a few stories along the way.  Often those stories here, like all stories, are distorted for various reasons.  However, given the nature of blogging, I also deliberately distort things.  I may want to protect someone’s identity, I may want to skip extraneous details and get to the heart of something, I may combine several stories or scenarios to give readers a flavor for what some sort of “typical” experience is, so on, so forth.  Poets lie to tell the truth.  Which is why Plato gave us the boot from the Republic.
10. As kind of a PS, the blog is about 80% first draft posts, and I don't obsessively edit them.  Feel free to point out misspellings and improper punctuation and so forth, but don't expect me to hop to correct them.

If anyone is curious, I wrote about why I blog awhile ago.  http://scoplaw.blogs.com/scoplaw/2005/02/what_it_means_t.html

I think most of that still holds true.

Odds ‘n Ends, Space and Visitation

The James Bond Watch (former roommate, now snazzy lawyer) is hopefully coming down to Miami to do some clerkship interviewing. Irish Bars beware!

I’ll have to buy that air mattress tonight after all. And wouldn’t you know it, but there’s a Cuban bakery I really like next to the air mattress place. Guess it’s time for another coffee and pastry/donut.  Donuts - round power bars.

I may opt for the futon/couch though, instead of the air mattress. Hmm.

That’d be a big step for me. I’m used to moving often, sometimes with minimal help.  (Thank You! All who have helped, wanted to help, or will help the next time around!) As I’ve told some people here, I got so sick of moving my big stuff that I pared everything down to a couple of car loads – furniture, books, things-seldom-used were sold or given away.  And even now, I’m still a bit nervous when it comes to getting heavy/bulky stuff for my place.

But I know I’m not thinking rationally. Assuming I pass the FL Bar (knock wood), where would I ever move to in FL to practice law? Tallahassee? No, I’ll be staying right here in Greater Miami. And, on top of that, I could always sell my stuff again if for some reason I move out of state. Still – the non-big-acquisition-reflex keeps engaging. The thought of adding a piece of furniture like a futon makes my palms a bit sweaty.  But I need something for house-guests.

**

Although JBW’s visit is more of a social/get-together thing, it’s very important for me to be able to have the space to accommodate other people if the need arises. When I was younger, I didn’t have a place for my friends to stay when they really needed it. I often wonder how things might have turned out differently if I could have simply let someone crash for a few weeks. I know there have been times in my life when I hugely benefited from someone telling me, “stay as often and for as long as you need to.” Sometimes just hearing it is enough – knowing you have a place to go. But it’s been awhile since I’ve really had a place entirely of my own (well, excepting El Gato Perfecto’s non-legal but basically co-tenantship).  In some ways it seems too little too late – most of my friends now have stable, sustainable lives and are not being buffeted about by the powers-that-be. Some were buffeted out of my life, and some out of their own. Regardless of how it might have affected ultimate outcomes, I wish I’d been able to offer them more than what I could.

And even if it’s unnecessary, still, it’s just cool to be able to say it without negotiation – “You can stay over. You can use my place. Stay as long as you need to.” I like that. Not that I hope anyone needs it, but I like that I can say it if they do. (And that’s the pure truth.)

**

I’ve been out to dinner/happy-hour a few times with the new crew. We had Haitian and Middle-Eastern. Both were excellent. The PDs office is awash with good info about affordable and impressive places to go and try. I have a feeling I’ll be eating very well here. (I also finally found a farmer’s market that was just built – I’m eager to see what they have.)

Headwinds

One of my cool new colleagues is training for an Iron Man, which I think is just damn impressive. I mean, I’m training myself to iron my pants correctly and find supermarkets (which I’m sure she *also* has to do.)

While I swim (sorta, my last attempt was weak) and run, I do my best swimming if I’m heading for the shore and away from something that’s sinking. Also, running tends to gain special interest for me if I’m being chased by dogs or something. Other than that I’m afraid I’m too indifferent to compete. However, I can chip in on 1/3^rd of her training activities via biking.

This morning, she introduced me to a cool group ride that heads out of SW, over the bridge to Key Biscayne, around a bit and then comes back. Because she’s training and wanted more miles, we did another leg around a golf course (then I took a cool-down breather while she did a second), before we headed back to the shop. My goal for the day was to stay with her – that seemed to work out OK, with the exception of the one break. The scenery was gorgeous and the riders were pretty funny (in a good way). There was one perfect moment when we were all riding slightly downgrade, in sunlight, when the lightest of rainshowers hit – it was more like a mist.

The FL riding experience is weird for me. It’s flat and there are a lot of steady winds that can drop you to a crawl in certain conditions. You’ll literally be cruising at 18, the winds will cause you to expend more energy as they drop you down to 15. That may not sound like a lot, but it seems like you’re riding through molasses.

I’m generally a lighter rider, so I get pushed around by the wind in a way the heavier riders don’t.  Well, the pushing of the wind against our surface areas is roughly the same but I don't have the extra muscle to turn the cranks and power through the wind.  Conversely, I’m (was – my recent sloth has manifested itself) good at hills, because I only have to power my lighter self up the hill.

There’s one “hill” in Miami – that’s the bridge span over to Key Biscayne itself. I tried to zip up it, made it to the crest with decent speed, but ended up sucking wind badly, so badly, that post bridge I thought I had over-taxed myself and was completely gassed. I recovered though and kept going for the rest of the morning. Sometimes the body is like that.  As far as the heavier/lighter rider thing goes, I was out today with one guy who outweighed me by (not kidding) literally 100 pounds.  The wind came and he just pushed harder, but he had to really struggle to lift himself up the bridge.  (Dude's a wall though - it was like drafting a dump truck.)

Other than that, the traffic seemed fine compared to some places, and the roads were decent enough to ride on. There were a lot of puddles about, so I ended the day looking as though I’d been mountain biking.  And, of course, when there is no wind, or when you have a tail wind, flat is just fun.

As much as it pains me to say it, I see a gear purchase on the horizon. I need to get a camelback that won’t lie on me like a wet blanket. I could go with the wedgie bag and water bottles, but, the problem is I like to take stuff with me on rides. I usually go alone from the house instead of a car, so while out on my own I like to have: map, compass, bike tool, pump, patch kit, mp3 player, cell-phone, ID, credit card, cash, keys, sunblock, aspirin, Neosporin, bandaids. Sometimes a camera. And of course, food and water. That gets heavy. But I do, and have used, these things. I’ve also been caught without them 40 miles from home, which is no fun.

Final tale of the tape was about 56 miles and change at an average of 17+mph. The average was probably raised somewhat by riding in a group, some of it was depressed by fighting headwinds alone in the afternoon. I got the Little Red Rocket up to 40mph on the bridge descent. And I wasn’t even pedaling.

 

Happiness Is

Tomatoes:

 

And Biking, nowadays. 

AND – I totally rocked a sample bar/bri m/c exam, getting  100%! So there! And even if it was only 5 questions long, it still was a sample exam, and I feel pretty damn overconfident based on it. No need to study now. Yeah.

But back to Biking - I just finished up a new beater bike to have as a lender. I need a few hours hand-work time each day during bar study lest I go mad. (No jokes here Scott). So I built up a $25 Raleigh Record into a single speed freewheeler using spare parts.

Compared to the fixed Lotus, the new Raleigh is quite different.

Things I don’t like:

She’s less twitchy than the Lotus.

The narrow 70s drop handlebars mean I can’t climb with the same power (although there’s free/fixed clipped/unclipped problem confusing that).

The brakes, as is, are more, em. . .suggestive than authoritative, limiting downhill speed.

The rear axle is just whacked in that the skewer slips under high stress, pulling the tire sideways into the frame and acting as a break – means I can’t push from a dead stop across an intersection to beat traffic since I could unexpectedly brake in front of it. (I’m running at 53x16 rig).

But most of these can be repaired with little effort.

Things I like:

The narrow 70s drop handlebars mean that I’m able thread through tighter spaces between cars.

There’s a lot of chrome going on.

I go downhill very fast.

She’s not quite theft worthy, although she is cool and well, probably actually expensive now.

I now have a guest bike that does not require special skill to operate.

 
As to Jay’s bike commuting to GW/shoes comment below:

1 [facetiousness] Well, the ladies, they love the spandex, ya know what I'm sayin? [/facetiousness]    Personally, I just don’t really care;  so someone gets offended that I commute by bike and dress for it – big deal.  However, in the interest of civility and not wishing to inflict any kind of emotional distress upon even the unknown phobic, I often bring (or wear, depending on the heat) a very light set of nylon knee length hiking shorts, plus a light wool sweater (super breathable) for the cold cold lecture rooms. Both roll up into very light compact bundles I can easily fit in a daybag or my larger courier bag.  Add to that a light cap to deal with helmet-hair and you’re all set for yet another scintillating Real Property lecture. 

I don't really have to change, even in this humid heat, because the spandex dries so quickly while riding.  A spandex shirt (loose options are available) and bike shorts will be dry within a few minutes unless you trap perspiration under something like a backpack or a cotton shirt/over-shorts. 

Most commuters have a bagable (and waterproof) system that has 1) far-end clothing, 2) tools, 3) personal essentials, 4) extra space for trip-specific stuff. There’s a lot of advice out there: panniers, courier bags, backpacks, change, no change, etc.  Basically the thing to do is just experiment with different configurations and see what works for you.

For general bicycle commuting tips I totally recommend browsing through this guy’s blog.

As to shoes/pedals, you have several options.

1 - get "mountain bike" "clipless" spd shoes. The main difference is less flex, perhaps a tad warmer (though you can get well vented shoes) *and* regular rubber treads that surround the cleat, enabling you to walk normally enough in the shoe. You can even get SPD sandals.

 

2 - get a different pedal system (which you may need to anyway if you were considering shifting to MTB SPD shoes).

2a - clips and no-clips flat pedals in one: Performance Bikes has a nice "campus" pedal - spd clip on one side, flat pedal on the other.

2b - flat pedals and "power grips" : ride regular pedals, your fav shoe (or sandal, sometimes, depending) and use the power grip to secure your foot in place. I like power grips – they give you some ‘lifting’ stroke and keep your feet in place during any maneuvers, like hopping the bike. Only big problem is the dangle factor – when dangling they can snag stuff. This is different from:

2c – toe-clips and straps: I hate toe clips. Sorta. You have to have the right pedals, toe clips, straps, and shoes (easy to slide out) to make them work without being kinda dangerous because of a) difficult foot extraction and b) the aforementioned dangle. Of all these options, I like them least.

2d – Dimension makes an odd thing – a kind of toe-clip adapter you can put on clipless pedals to wear your regular shoes with. NO idea how it works, and no desire to try it.

2e – flat pedals. Nothing keeping your feet on, but you can wear any shoe that grips, including most athletic shoes. Watch out for wide heeled sneakers (some running shoes) scraping the cranks. It’ll act like a mini brake.

Big Ring Madness

Well, this is a general kind of whodowhatnotupdate post.

**

Barandallthingsbar proceeds apace. Papers, phonecalls, lectures, study, questions, etc.

**

“My Thing One and Two” project seems to be working. For the thing one and two project, I make a huge list of shit I need to do before FL. It’s overwhelming and keeps being added to. But each day my goal is to cross two things off the list. Sometimes I kind of cheat and add something like “buy toothpaste” which I know I can do easily. Sometimes I give myself credit for significant advancement (1-2hrs) on a large multi-day project. Still, it’s a nice way to make sure I’m making some headway on all this crap.

As a nod to my usual type of balancing counter list, I have also added another list to the refrigerator.  It reads “Be a Miami Public Defender by 7/28.” Studying for 5 classes is one thing – bar prep, plus out-of-state-move, plus personal life requires something to remind me of all the small stuff. Like paying rent.

**

NPR addresses Public Defending. While it’s good to see stories on high profile cases, from what I’ve read of the excerpt, it makes PDs seem kind of whacky, useless, and cavalier egomaniacs. It’s also kind of interesting how the author dismisses misdemeanor cases – like they don’t matter or something. But the vast majority of defendants churned through the criminal justice system are misdemeanor defendants caught on a variety of petty charges which nearly always implicate poverty, mental illness, personal drug use, or alcoholism.  None of them make an appearance even anecdotally – just those wacky lawyers and their guilty as hell drug-dealing, baby dismembering clients.  Hmm.

**

I swapped out the chainring on my fixed-gear in a fit of must-do-something-tangible-ness.

My 40 was swapped out for a 52 I had lying around. I have a 17 tooth cog on the back which gives me a new gear ratio of 3.1, a gain ratio of 6.0, and 83.1 gear-inches  (for you older school types).

The old 40/17 setup was on shorter Pugeot cranks (lighter but my 52 didn’t fit on them) and thus worked out to a 2.4 gear ratio, a 4.9 gain ratio, and 63.9 gear-inches.

Subjectively, this is a huge jump. It means that I am no longer sitting and spinning up hills, down hills, and through Dupont Circle, moving at a near-completely consistent but not breathtaking rate of speed; I am now standing and powering up hills at (what I think is) a higher rate of speed (the inclines aren’t that drastic here in DC).  I can also (obviously) get up to a faster cruising pace, and thus I’m going downhill faster as well.

However it’s now hella-hard to resist the cranks and slow down without using the front brake. I think that’s because I’m pushing a bigger ring on longer cranks. You’d think that it’s just a matter of force – you’re rolling forward at X speed, you push “back” against the roll with X pounds per leg, and it all evens out. However, the shorter cranks and lower gear means you have more revolutions per foot traveled to strip off some of your speed. Bigger cranks and a higher gear means you have less, and therefore (or so I suspect) if your braking is not evenly distributed across the entire crank stroke, then it means you’ve got less time to break optimally. Another way of saying that is if there’s a 2 inch span where your tensed leg is best at killing off some forward momentum, then with the short ring you’re looking at 3 of those spans (at 3 turns per tire length) as opposed to just 2 of those spans on a bigger ring, even though, theoretically, you have the same amount of time in those inches. Weird.

And the longer cranks means my legs are turning bigger circles – which I think is good in the you’re-getting-nearly-no exercise-so-shake-it-up sense. However, it may have implications for my fixed braking/slowing stroke.

I’m also acutely conscious of cornering on the 175s as opposed to the 165s. Seems like there shouldn’t be any problem, but I’m absurdly worried about pedal strike.

I have not yet tried to skid on the new rig. Perhaps a midnight experiment is in order. . .

One reason for the lack of skidding is that I’ve been riding rat traps. So I should switch back to clipless shoes for a bit and see what that does for overall control.

For those of you interested in such things, you can find extensive bicycle calculators at MachineHead Software, or simple on-line ones like Rabbit. 

**

Also, bombing about looking for those calculators, I found an I-restored-an-old-bike site.  Awesome work by this guy. I think it’s great, largely because it shows you what you can do with older non-super vintage/collectible bikes (i.e., how great they once were in the day before the paint faded and the chrome/aluminum spotted or oxidized.) 

I don’t fall into the serious/quasi-professional restorer class this guy clearly works in, largely due to lack of time, money, and tools.  However, as a casual restorer and builder I will say there’s a *lot* of things you can do to net you a cool looking bike, if you're willing to put in the time and do some taking-aparting, detailed cleaning/painting, and some putting-togethering, which this guy obviously did.  The work *itself* isn’t all that difficult or complicated once you try, and while I'm glad to note that even he balks at powder painting, it's still nice to see someone with more than casual resources do it right, with attention paid to all the small details. And the best part is he *rides* it.  Even if only to the coffee shop.  Some people drive SUVs there. 

I have to confess, I’m not in the “do it right or not at all” camp for many things. I *am* in that camp for such things as: legal representation of a client, bombing intersections on a bike, and skydiving. But for most other things a Vast Majority approach works pretty well. Is it better to have a hardcore 10% of the population who are All The Time Vegetarian Bike Riders or to have the Vast Majority of people eat sustainable foods and ride bicycles for the Vast Majority of the time? And on the individual level, I think a lot of people, based on that all-or-nothing idea of perfection get discouraged from breaking with the American LCD car-driving, meat-eating, shut away in a/c offices life.  Hence my dislike of biker elitism, jargon, parts-as-grams comparisons, and general mystery which excludes people from getting on bikes and starting to pedal them around as part of their life.

Some problems (like FL sinking into the ocean via global warming) are ours to fix.  And if we get the slightest gain by people doing one errand per week via bike, that's a gain.

I'd love to see supermarkets and such give discounts to people who a) bring their own bags and b) ride their bikes to the store.  Again, it's a small step, but anything to get people out of cars whenever possible is a good thing.

OK - back to it.

Meh. Cursed. Body.

So I've had a minor recurring pain in my foot.  But I'm really busy so I just keep doing what I'm doing and getting a shiver of pain now and then.  It's not every time I step, but happens a lot on the bike.  It goes on for a week and I'm thinking about shoe pinching, a tweaking nerve, bad chi, something like that, but nothing major. 

So tonight I have a few moments post-supervisor drinking gossip socializing time (yea!).  And I decide to poke at the foot and see if I notice anything.  Sure enough, there's a lump and when I manipulate it, there's a sub-skin discoloration - blood.  So, out comes the small knife and tweezers and 30 seconds later I am looking at a small hunk of glass, about the size of a pencil lead tip. 

How/when did it get there?  How did I not notice it?  Why did it not actually bother me more? 

Not so Bad

Well, that wasn't so bad.  This morning the only thing that's bothering me is a slight sunburn on my shoulder and a crampy indexfinger-thumb-webbing area on my left hand  The knees and calf are just fine.

Thinking on it, it's been quite awhile since I've actually done a century.  After a long ride last march, I had worked my way up to the easy century stage during the course of last summer, but due to a number of crashing plans and last minute scrambles, didn't have enough free time to put aside a complete day.  Still, I had been doing 50-80mile rides in the CT hIlls, rides which far exceeded what I did yesterday, in terms of speed/effort, so one was in easy reach - I just didn't do it.  I had then planned to do one in Charlottesville in Sept. but that also fell through. 

Prior to last summer you have to go back to last winter for a serious century bid. While that one was a disaster, if I'd toughed it out a bit longer, I'd have had a super easy ride back.  There were other long rides, but the last century I'm sure I rode was back in 2004, and it was much stronger than this past one. 

If I did one somewhere in there, I haven't blogged about it and have forgotten about it.

* *
 

In other news, I finished King Dork by Frank Portman of MTE/Dr.Frank.  It's good to know my people are still out there, in a Who, Kinks, Ramones kind of way.  Sometimes being here, I forget they exist.

Photo from yesterday -
Borged out Scoplaw hits the road.