I was a little bored and a lot procrastinating this afternoon, so I wandered around with the DSLR. These shots were all done with the Canon 17-85mm zoom lens and warm UV filter.

This shot is far more impressive in the full 3504×2336 resolution. The detail in the spider is really cool and the wood fence texture nice too. The narrow depth of focus makes it a great background (wallpaper to you Windows people); it is a little blurry on both the left and the right side so it can be used in either OS:

Here are a couple of our favorite singlespeed bike, or more precisely, the drivetrain:

I’m not sure why, but all of the photos of the singlespeed that I like are of the drivetrain only. Oh well.

This is what I should have been (and should be) working on, among other things:

I’ll continue rambling; I found a “proverb” that I thought I’d share:
Build a man a fire, he’s warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he’s warm for the rest of his life.”

I sold my last VW yesterday. Of all of the VWs I’ve owned, this was my favorite. To see all of my VWs check out my other site: 251.org. So far I have owned six VWs (listed in chronological order):

• 1987 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg
• 1988 Fox GL
• 1961 Bus
• 1988 GTI 16V
• 1995 Jetta III GLX VR6
• 1983.5 Vanagon GL Sunroof

The Vanagon I sold had been in the family since it was new. After nearly 20 years and 197,900 miles, three engines, two transmissions, and hundreds of gallons of coolant, it is gone. This Vanagon was the first VW I owned, and the last to be sold. However, I did keep the Vanagon service manual; maybe some day I’ll get another one. As a parting gift the alternator decided to die. So, on the last day that I owned it I replaced the alternator and still can’t get the grease off of my hands. Not a bad way to go.

That was two automotive posts in a row. Don’t worry, I have a large order of bike parts coming in next week so things will be back to normal soon…

Team 86753O9 made a great showing at the 2006 Gateway MS 150. Rachel, Eric, Amber, Dave C, Joe, Amy and I all made it, but I still need to find out if everyone had a good time. I know that Eric had some knee issues, and Rachel had a problem with one of her elbows. I made it though ok, just some cramps in my left calf on the first day and some sore knees on the second. The weather was very nice with 70s, overcast, and a few sprinkles on Saturday, and 80s and a clear sky on Sunday. I don’t have a fund raising total yet, but I’ll post results after the October deadline. However, I think we beat our original goal and will have a great result.

So, I did my first ever century on Saturday, and my second on Sunday. I understand now why the century route was much less crowded the second day. That does not matter though. I only did the century to get the patches, and now I have them. Here are my results:

Total riding time: 11 hours, 34 minutes
Total distance: 206.43 miles
Overall max speed: 44.3 mph
Overall average speed: 17.80 mph

Having ridden my first century, I can say that they are fun, and I hope to do more. Road riding is much easier than gravel; maintaining 24-27mph on the flats was not uncommon. Commuting on the singlespeed definitely helped with the hills, and the long Katy Trail rides helped with my stamina.

Product Reviews: I lost track of the number of Gu packs and Jelly-Belly Energy Beans (which are really good) I used, but they were well worth the price. The Powerbar brand lemon/lime energy drink was ok, I prefer my blue (whatever flavor that is) Power-Aid. My Gunnar Crosshairs is an excellent touring bike. Despite the chunky rims, cantilever brakes and 28mm tires, the Gunnar easily accelerated up hills past the matching spandex clad teams, which was very satisfying. I was in non-matching retina-burning safety green and black spandex. Oh wait, this was a tour, not a race. Anyway, the frame handled great, felt great over the rough stuff, and was very comfortable. The wheelset did better than expected. I actually gained on most riders coasting down hills, and I had no problem plowing through gravel and getting air over bridge at 40+ mph (that was fun). I am very happy with the bike and look forward to more road tours.

I would also like to thank the MS 150 volunteers, especially whoever set up station two on the day two 75/100 route; the coffee cake and coffee were great! Now, if you will excuse me I need to find some ice.