Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road

Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart

Neil Peart's only daughter died in a single-car crash while driving to college. This stressed his relationship with his common-law wife. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. Neil tried to recover from this by getting on his motorcycle and riding. Sometimes he would go fast. Other times it was slow. He would explore remote northern areas in Canada and Alaska, and continued down in the United States and Mexico. The book is primarily epistolary, with journal entries and letters. He is trying to come to terms with his life, while also exploring different areas. He travels "under cover" so he cannot be identified as a famous musician. (And he is not feeling up to making music at the time.) In the narrative, he quotes various lyrics that he wrote for Rush songs that tie together. He is not keen on religion, but seems open to spirituality and various ways of exploring. Eventually he explores other relationships and finally makes it back to his drums.

Biking and Walking everywhere

CityStrides - focusses exclusively on "foot" activities (runs and walks). Signing up with the referral link gets you a free 7 day trial of "reporter" feature. What I find most useful is the "node finder". This lets you zoom into areas of a map and quickly find areas you have not yet covered. When starting an area, this is of little value. However, when getting the last little bits, it can be extremely helpful.

CityStrides bases coverage on "nodes" extracted from Open Street Maps. These nodes are generally any place where there is an intersection or a curve in the street. With a tight grid pattern, the nodes are often just at the intersections. This means that you can get credit for a street just by doing half the grid. (e.g. you can run all the East-West and get "free" credit for the North-South ones.) Technically, you could be able to "see" the rest of the street, so I don't have a problem with it.

Your main goal is to get "streets" in a city. In normal mode, getting 90% of the nodes in a street gives you credit. (In supporter mode, you can also do "hard mode" to require 100%). You can also manually match streets if needed. A street is defined as something with the same name in the same city. Small cul-de-sacs count as a street as do 10 mile long arterials. In a city like Seattle with a strict cardinal naming system, the same "street" can start and end multiple times through the city in non-connected segments. You may think you completed the street, but didn't realize there was another chunk of it elsewhere. CityStrides does have the ability to "Go" to a street and see all the nodes included. CityStrides does include cardinal directions, so a street like "145th" will have separate streets for "North 145th", "Northeast 145th" and "Northwest 145th". In Seattle, 145th is also on city border, so you can get credit, there is credit for them on both Seattle and Shoreline (as well as a bit of Lake Forest Park.) 3.5 miles down that street gives you 7 streets, while 5.5 down 3rd Ave NW gives you 1 street. (You do get a Shoreline node at the end, but that street picks up again later in Shoreline.) Meanwhile, there are a few other isolated nodes that are a complete street for less than a tenth of a mile.

Premium can be purchased for $5/month with no commitment. I like this approach and have used it - primarily for the node finder. CityStrides is also strickly web based, but has a web "App" that can be installed on the phone, 

Wandrer - tracks both bike and foot events. It includes coverage for individual neighborhood units. Rather than track nodes, it tracks entire streets. The map allows you to explicitly call out roads that you have not seen. I like this approach for viewing neighborhood coverage. For regular users, when you sign up, it will only import the last 50 events. Premium membership ($30/year) gives you a complete import. (All new activities are added.) I held off on this for the simple challenge. I wanted the chance to try to cover areas that I have not covered recently. 

I find wandrer to be both slick and confusing. The map and the points system can be a little weird.

Activities Map - This is my github project for mapping all of my strava activities. It also lets me keep a complete local backup of all activities. I like using it to slice and dice versions of activities that I then upload to google my maps. Then I can have them appear on my regular google map display. I like to use it to look at my "range" of paths. I can see a long continuous path. I can also place all my activities on a map without any background which makes a nice view.

Strava - I record most activities on my Garmin watch, but upload them all to Strava. I have had a paid membership at times. It is nice to create a record of activities and respond. I have included activities recorded from my phone and other old tracks I had. This makes it much more complete than the Garmin activities. I also track shoes, names, etc. from Strava.

Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle

Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle by Dervla Murphy

In 1963, an Irish woman went a on a long solo bicycle trip to India. The world at that time was much different than it is now, yet many similarities remain. A long distance cyclist (especially a woman) is an oddity. She traveled the long distance on minimal expense. On many occasions, people would offer her a ride. She would often refuse. However, she did include trips on buses or planes as part of her journey. 

During the travel involved a journey through the soviet block. There were were challenges getting across borders as well as limited amenities. Afghanistan was something of its own. The roads were horrendously bad. Things happened when they happened without much regard for schedules. In Pakistan, the weather was perhaps the main enemy, with 100+ temperatures. There are a various observations of the culture and government of the countries as well as fond memories of the people. 

Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from behind the Handlebars

The early history of bicycling in Seattle can be quite depressing. There were a variety of early bike paths in the city. These took people out to the lakes and other areas. There were even plans for paths connecting Seattle and Tacoma. Then cars came and everything went to pot. The small bike paths were replaced by large boulevards. This was not necessarily bad. But then the boulevards became owned by cars. The freeway even took over some. Wouldn't it be nice if these small paths still existed?

Laws came to give preference to cars. Pedestrian was adopted as a derogatory term for people. Jaywalking was a spoof of jaydriving as a way to refer to incompetent walkers. (Even though the walkers were doing what they always did.) Rather than the joy of bicycling, people were stuck with the grind of driving and the ugliness of killing innocent people, all so they could move a little bit faster to travel longer distances.

Freeways came to produce a huge scar on Seattle. The initial freeway went right to downtown, cutting off nearby neighborhoods. There were plenty of angry people with means that mobilized against the freeway, but it was too late. However, the mobilization did eventually lead to the cancellation of other freeway projects. Seattle was lucky in that it was not so destroyed be freeways. Yet it was still heavily damaged.

Bicycling finally started to come back again in the post-freeway era. "Bicycle Sundays" on a closed Lake Washington Boulevard really kicked kicked things off. The freeway express lanes were also opened to cyclists on weekends. (Why don't we have that anymore?) The Burke-Gillman trail came to be. Some greenways and bike lanes appeared. Then there were law improvements. Planners actually respected the use of streets by people rather than two ton metal boxes.

However, even the positive had the depressing aspects. There were horrible misuses of infrastructure. (The Train tracks on westlake were initially turned into a giant parking lot. It took a lot of time and battling phony environmental complaints to finally get a bike path in place.) There were still too many people getting killed or injured by cars. "Complete street" work is often shortchanged. (Where are the bike lanes on Holman?) There has been progress, but there is still a long way to go. 

Crossing the ship canal on bicycle

 

Crossing the Ship Canal is a necessity in order to get from North Seattle to downtown.

From the west to east, here are the options:

1. BNSF railroad bridge 

- You can take a sounder train. The catch is that there are no stop between King Street Station (at the south end of Downtown) and Edmonds. There is space to bring your bike onboard.

• Bike, Pedestrian: on transit
• Transit: Sounder train is fast and scenic, but doesn't run often or to many places

2. The locks.

 The "orphan" section of the Burke Gilman trail goes right to the northern entrance. There are also many quiet Ballard streets. Then you need to walk your bike through. Due to locks being locks, there is almost always a path open. (Though you may find yourself walking back another way just as it changes.)   

On the north end, you can cross Commodore way to a wooden bike bridge over the railroad tracks into Magnolia. (This can be a little steep and slippery when wet.) Commodore way is a pretty lightly traveled street with ample blackberry picking opportunities in the summer. From there, 27th to Fort Street bridge over the tracks takes you to the Gillman cycle track. Keep going on 20th, then take the turn off onto the dead-end section of 20th to get to the Eliot Bay trail. This will continue down to the sculpture gardens and the water front. 

This is the best option looking for a quiet, low-traffic way to get across the ship canal, especially if coming from downtown.

One key limitation is that it is subject to closure. (It is typically open 7am-9pm, but may shut down for days for maintenance)

• Bike: Slow and easy, but requires walking
• Pedestrian: slow and easy
• Transit: N/A

3. Ballard Bridge

This is a long bridge at 15th Ave NW. It is the worst way to get across the ship canal, but it is in a convenient location for central Ballard access. Typically, cyclists will ride on the sidewalk on the "right" side. However, it is not uncommon to see a cyclists traveling the opposite way (especially if they are coming from a destination on that side.) The bridge has a long viaduct from the north that connects to a draw bridge. At times during the summer the bridge has been stuck in the up position. 

The sidewalk is not wide. It can fit one cyclist comfortably. When passing another cyclist or pedestrian, one will often move over to the side to help let the other person pass. (Don't by the person in headphones slowing people from behind.)

You can also ride your bike across the bridge itself, rather than use the sidewalk. The grating does not make for the nicest ride, but it is doable. It is a commitment, I've biked across comfortable at midday. It is a big commitment that I would not advise any time there is traffic. 

The most common way to access the bridge from the north is coming down Ballard Avenue from the west. When the street end, turn right and head up the sidewalk on the right side of the bridge. (It is pretty much in the middle of the street.) From the east, it is common to make a left turn from Leary. Go on the far right by the bus stop and just continue south to get to the bridge sidewalk.

I have also accessed the bridge from 15th Ave NW. Typically, I'll stay to the far right around 50th and go down to Leary and get on the sidewalk there. 

If I am feeling really bold, I'll ride down 15th Ave NW, then move over to go on the bridge over Leary. There is no sidewalk on this bridge and no easy way to get to the sidewalk over the main Ballard bridge. You are committed to biking the street the whole way over the Ballard bridge. The advantage of this is that you have a potential long stretch of no lights. The disadvantage is that you have to ride with traffic and deal with a few relatively high speed right side merges. It is not for the faint at heart, but it can be very fast.

If you do the sidewalk route, you can continue until you get to Emerson. There, there is is a cutout to the left that lets you get on 15th. The trickiest part about this is right turning cars (some of which actual use their signals.) Best bet is to wait until there is enough of a gap for you to get past the intersection before a car would turn right. (There is enough space for you to go next to a car going straight.) The cars merging onto 15th from Emerson seem to be much less of an issue.

Riding on 15th/Elliott is fairly nice if you like riding on busy roads. There is a wide bus lane that allows bikes. I've found myself more likely to be stuck behind a bus than to be blocking the progress of a bus. (Though I do like to move off to an empty sidewalk to let a bus pass me.) I typically take the Dravus underpass, though taking the Dravus exit and getting back on is a more comfortable option. 15th is a pretty nice route through uptown and downtown. Another option is to exit at Dravus and go over the railroad tracks and turn left to go down the Elliot Bay trail. Galer provides additional access, but the bridge is a little bit more painful.

If you are not into the whole riding with heavy traffic thing, you can go over the Ballard bridge and continue as it goes down Emerson. When you get to the bottom of the Emerson ramp, you can turn right to backtrack and go under the bridge and swing back around to the sidewalk on the left side, this trail will meet up with the Gilman Ave W Cycletrack that can take you to the Elliott Bay trail.  (I'll admit I am more likely to just keep going straight down Emerson and riding with traffic before turning left on Gillman. This is partially out of habit, because this is what you had to do before the cycletrack was there. It also feels bad to turn around.)

Going back north, things are not quite so easy. You can take the Emerson path under the Ballard bridge, then go up to Nickerson and follow it around to get on the bridge sidewalk going North. (There is a little bike shortcut, so you don't have to stick with traffic the whole way, but there is not much of bike space on that section of Nickerson.) You could also just go up the Emerson ramp and ride on the "left side" sidewalk heading north.

I would more commonly just ride on 15th. I was more likely to take the Dravus exit if I were headed north than south. (It is an easier merge.) But the fastest way is to stick with 15th. If there is heavy traffic, you could probably bike over the bridge at car speed - but you could bike over the sidewalk at faster than car speed. (I've seen buses exit at Leary, stop for the red light and bus stop and still end up in front of cars that were behind them.)

• Bike: fast and advanced with some easier options; not pleasant
• Pedestrian: A long unpleasant walk
• Transit: Frequent all day D line service with other express bus service

4. Fremont Bridge

The Fremont bridge is probably the most used ship canal crossing. It is also the lowest bridge and most likely to be raised. The ship canal trail/Westlake bike path connect to the south side, while the Burke Gilman connects to the north. Most cyclists use the sidewalks to ride across. However, it is common to see cyclists on the bridge grating itself (especially after the bridge has recently been lowered.) It can get crowded with many pedestrians and cyclists. 

A common way to access the bridge from the north is via Fremont Ave N. Just continue down Fremont and ride across the bridge. From the Burke Gillman, you will typically veer off to the 34th street bike path to connect to the bridge at Fremont. (You could also walk up the stairs to the bridge directly from the Burke Gilman, but that is best done while not carrying a bike.)

After crossing, you can continue straight to go on the Dexter bike lane that will continue to downtown. You can also cross left on the near-side crosswalk to go down the Westlake bike path. Turning right at Florentia and right on 3rd is another way down to the Westlake bike path (via ship canal trail). Taking a right turn on the path will take you under the Fremont bridge on a bumpy road that connects the two trails.

From the south, the Westlake Bike Path leads you directly to the right side sidewalk. You can also continue down Dexter and cross Westlake to directly access the trail. After crossing, you can join a large group of cyclists slogging up the Fremont hill, or you can head off in either direction down the Burke Gilman.

• Pedestrians: Join everyone else for a saunter across the bridge
• Bicyclists: It is crowded, but a nice connection
• Transit: A few local buses go over the bridge 

5. Aurora Bridge

This is the bridge sidewalk that I am least likely to see used. But, it is also one of the better commute bridges. The sidewalks are a little wider than Ballard and the bridge feels shorter. It is also the only "fixed" bridge that you can bike across. I have smirked when I look down from the Aurora bridge to see the Fremont bridge up.

You can ride on the bridge itself, but I would not recommend it. The lanes are narrow and metro buses routinely take up 2 lanes. I would love to see the bridge restriped to have two lanes in each direction and a bike lane. I have biked across the bridge deck when traffic was really low. (Uh, 2AM). It is much easier to manage headed north, due to the downhill slope. 

From north, you can access from Aurora Ave N. (Another secret route - there is a pretty wide bus/bike lane for most of the street. Most of the bus stops have arrival signs helping you to know when a bus will be coming. Even when parking is allowed, the lane is wide enough to allow plenty of bike space. Heading north, the new Green Lake cycle path took out what was a comfortable shoulder, but you can slip on to the path if need be.)

If you are cycling south down Aurora, you can access the bridge to the right, as Fremont Way merges on to Aurora. There is something resembling a crosswalk there, but your mileage may vary. You will need to lift your bike over the curb to get to the bridge before the railing blocks the way.

I like to use Aurora as the "lazy" alternative to the Fremont bridge. Instead of continuing down Fremont, I'll take a left at Fremont Way (near 39th). Then jump on the sidewalk near the bus stop to continue on the Aurora bridge sidewalk. There is now a curb cut at Raye street making it easy to get off. Watch for cars turning right and cross the street, continue on the Aurora should for a short bit and take the first exit (Dexter Way) which leads you to the top of Dexter hill. This lets you avoid the down and up of Fremont/Dexter along with the potential of the bridge going up.

If you are really into speed, just continue down Aurora. Just keep going to the right as if going to the tunnel. A bicycles must exit sign will let you exit right after you have crossed Mercer. This will bring you to 6th close to MoPop.  (This can be a fine to see on maps with all the spaghetti of multi-layered roads in the area.) You have now managed to get from the ship canal past Mercer without a single traffic light. You can feel like a car. 

Alas, WSDOT has made a mess of the northbound route. Aurora used to be a great way to avoid Mercer going north. However, they have made the tunnel merge on the right and even signed it as no bikes. (Though people have conveniently etched out the sign.) The right lane has more cars merging in, is uphill and allows general traffic. It is just not as great.

From the south, a common way to access the Aurora bridge is from 6th Ave (often from Dexter). Get on the bridge around Canlis. There are also ways to access from the Queen Anne side, as well as jumping on other places. (There is also a decent sidewalk for most of the stretch.) 

After crossing the Aurora bridge heading north, continuing on Aurora can be a pain. The road itself is nice. However, you need to jump off a pretty high curb and cross the Bridge Way exit ramp to get there. (There is a crosswalk. Good luck.) Once you do that, you have an uphill slog followed by a fast downhill. 

As another option, you can continue down the sidewalk and pick another way up. I like going up the wide Woodland Park Ave. You can also go under the Aurora Bridge and up to Fremont. (You have manage to avoid a good chunk of the climb.)

• Transit: Daily service (complete with entertainment) on the E line. Many other buses.
• Bike: Avoid hills! Fast and more advanced, mut missing some connections
• Pedestrian: Long, noisy walk with great views

6. I-5 Bridge

Uggh. This one goes nice and straight and "flattens" some of the hills. Yet bikes are prohibited. The least they can do is turn the express lanes into a bike path.

• Bike: on transit
• Pedestrian: on transit
• Transit: Some Sound Transit express busses, but those are dying away

7. University Bridge

The U-bridge is the one bridge with separate bike lanes and sidewalks. Access can be a little annoying. From the south, it is typically accessed via Eastlake. You just need to slog through a lot of lights. Maybe protected bike lanes will be coming soon? Cross the bridge and you can exit to go to University of Washington campus. Or you can continue up 11th. There is a "paint only" bike lane next to parking. It is also uphill with a lot of lights. There are also other options, including a greenway on 12th. There is also access to the Burke Gilman, but I seem to get lost every time I try.

I like to access via Fuhrman so that I can avoid the mess on Eastlake. However, I often do it wrong and end up going down some crazy steep hills. (There is one I keep manage to hit that is just an ugly combination of steepness and bad pavement that I end up walking my bike.) When I do it right, I end up on Boyer and then just cruise on over.

From the north, Roosevelt heads straight down. It has a nice protected bike lane. However, there are a lot of driveways and whatnot, making it a challenge. On the other side, you get Eastlake. You can also try to follow the signs to loop along next to Lake Union. (They can be a little sketchy. I've found myself trying to figure out which way to go out of an alley) 

• Pedestrian: Sidewalk without bikes!
• Bike: Bikelane without pedestrians
• Transit: some local busses

8. Mountlake Bridge

This feels like the shortest bridge and has a lot of pedestrian traffic.  There is a little bit of neighborhood between the bridge and 520. The streets are really beat up. You can go through the neighborhood to get to the 520 trail. Depending on the state of construction you may be able to go on a trail under the freeway or have to deal with a nasty intersection to get the Arboretum. 

On the north side, you can quickly connect to the light rail station and over to the Burke Gilman trail. Southwest of the bridge, you can connect through a park that has a path under the freeway.

The University Bridge will do a better job of getting you downtown. However, there are plenty of greenways and places to explore. You are likely to find a steep hill on a connection from the bridge to downtown.

• Pedestrian: Go for a walk from campus
• Bike: Access to the eastside
• Transit: Many buses connecting to light rail

9. Link Light-rail tunnel

The light rail has space for bikes. From Westlake to Roosevelt, the stations are all greatly situated with plenty of two-way walkable traffic. Then the light rail starts running next to the freeway at Northgate. It quickly pivots from "reasonable means of transit" to "lets get buses off the freeway"

• Bike, Pedestrian: N/A
• Transit: You won't see much underground, but it is fast.

10. All the way around

Rather than take a bridge, you could go all the way around lake washington. You still may end up going over a few bridges, but you avoid the ship canal bridge. You could head up the Burke Gilman near the UW campus. It turns into the Sammamish River Trail. You could exit at Juanita and hug Lake Washington. Or you could continue to Waynita (who named these?) It is a little more confusing of an exit (through a park), but less hilly. Continue down through downtown Kirkland, and then meet up with the 520 bridge. Cross it and you are south of the ship canal.

You can also continue on the trail until you reach downtown Redmond and then meet up with the 520 trail. It is supposedly "All trail". However, the 520 trail will often exit and have you slog through slow intersections. (And there is a part where it is on street for a while without very well signed street connections.

If you really want to go far, you could go all the way around Lake Washington. There is some signage and some trails. The part through Bellevue can be a bit confusing. The section of Renton at the bottom of Lake Washington takes you near a Boeing facility with just about every airline represented. But be careful not to hit some dead ends there.

11. Ferry

Now we are getting into the theoretical. You can take the Edmonds-Kingston ferry from Edmonds to Kingston. Then take the fast ferry from Kingston to Seattle. Total time is around two hours. (It could be a little faster with the right connection). Getting to Kingston costs around $10, while the ferry from Kingston is around $2. (Fares on both ferries are primarily charged when going to Kingston.) The Edmonds-Kingston ferry runs all day, while the fast ferry is primarily during rush hour. You could also bike from Kingston to Bainbridge and catch the all-day Bainbridge ferry. (Google maps shows it as about an hour and a half. Not sure how nice of a route that is.)

• Transit: ferry - a little more options than the train
• Bike: on transit
• pedestrian: on transit

12. Personal watercraft

As you go down 3rd Ave NW, you can see 3rd Ave W continue on. Old maps show plenty of streets going through what is now the ship canal. You can look up old street names to determine what the streets are in this map. Nye street is the current Phinney. Section street is now 3rd Ave NW. Both chugged along across what is now the ship canal. The ship canal is not that wide. While it doesn't look like thee is easy access right at 3rd NW, it does look like you can get to the water just a little bit west down the Burke Gilman. Why not use a watercraft to continue across? To be fully self-contained, you could strap an inflatable paddleboard to the back of your bike, then somehow balance the bike on the paddleboard as you go across. Or just go for an Amphibious cycle

• Transit: none
• Bike: amphibious? Or perhaps carry a paddleboard
• Carry some sort of watercraft

Re:cyclists: 200 Years on Two Wheels

Re:Cyclist goes over the history of the sport and pastime of bicycling over the last 200 years. While cycling throughout the world is covered, the focus is on Britain. Advancements in cycling technology are covered, but primarily in the context of how they changed cycling. Some of the first bicycles were "bone-crusher" bikes that were moved by pushing your feet on the ground (similar to kids' glide bikes today.) The penny-farthing "ordinary" helped to increase the speed that one could cycle. The chain allowed the "safety" bicycle and allowed bicycling to be opened to a much larger population. From there on, it was primarily marginal improvements.

There have been significant geographical differences in the growth of cycling. Britain had been dominated by individual time trials. Other parts of the world had taken to mass-start races. (There was a civil war within British cycling before support arose for mass-start races.) In the United States, a single company obtained patents and sought to influence bicycle manufacture everywhere.

Cycling has gone through ebbs and flows of popularity. It was initially dominated by the upper classes. Bicycles were expensive and they were a status symbol among the upper classes. People would go on leisurely rides in the park. Weekend bike tours were extremely popular. Later bicycles became more widely available. Motor cars took over as the upper class status symbol. Cycling went through some low points in popularity. There continued to be people that would use cycles for basic transportation, though these people rarely identified themselves as cyclists. 

Today, cycling has made a comeback. Racing has become popular. People make conscious decision to ride a bicycle for utility. Commuters identify themselves as "bicyclists" and are likely to dress in something resembling racing gear. Large group rides of various types have become popular. 

The Wheels of Chance

Wells describes Wheels of Chance as a "bicycling idyll". Reading it, I could not help but imagine it as a slapstick silent film. There was a silent film made (26 years later), which seems to still be around, but I have not found any way to watch it.

The book focuses on the escapades of Mr. Hoopdriver. He works in a menial job as an assistant draper. He is not too happy with his lot in life. He does get two weeks off of work, and decides to set off on a bicycle tour. It is the late 1800s and bicycles are in their heyday. What we would recognize as a modern bicycle is now widely available and capable of being ridden by just about anybody. They are not cheap, but they are accessible to those that desire. The roads have been improved, but cars have yet to appear. It is the dream time to cycle.

On his trip, Hoopdriver runs into a lady. She is waiting for somebody, so he moves on. He will later run into this same lady many more times, along with the man she was waiting for. The man is much older than her and is helping her escape from the regimented life of her mother in law. However, he does not have her best needs in mind. After a few days of coincidentally running into each other, Hoopdriver meets up with her, and helps rescue her from the man. He steals the man's bike and he and the lady make a daring getaway on bicycle in the night. 

He feels inadequate with his station in life, and makes up bigger and bigger lies. (She lets her "guess" about his background and then fills in the story to back it up.) Eventually, he decides to let out the truth. This does not hurt their relationship, and she even feels sympathy for the ruse that he felt he needed to pull due to his lower class.

Meanwhile, the mother-in-law and her friends set out to find them. There are plenty of slapstick escapades as this motley group bumble away. Eventually, she decides to go home, with conditions of her setting, and Hoopdriver returns to his life, with a promise to continue his studies.

The story is most often remembered for its portrayal of this particular point in history. I have found Google Maps online that show the route taken in the book. The book does a great job of bringing out the evolution of customs and bicycling culture. It is also a fun story.

Faster: The Obsession, Science and Luck Behind the World's Fastest Cyclists

During the doping era, cycling teams would spend money on drugs rather than training. This may have provided some quick fixes, but prevented long term gains. Separately, the British cycling team focussed on science to improve the team and win gold medals. The first step is find the athletes. There are some basic physiological capabilities needed. They must also have the desire and drive to succeed. On top of that, there is training. The training that is needed to separate the elite athletes is different than that needed for more casual athletes. There are minor little things such as diet, training details and bike improvements that can be the difference. While these may help the casual cyclist, some more simple things may produce a bigger bang. The work on the margins continues to evolve. Bike technology has also improved, but is often limited by the cycling governing body. Psychology is not very important to a sport like cycling that relies almost exclusively on cardiovascular strength. There will continue to be advancements and people with the drive to be faster.

Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential (Civil Society: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives)

The biggest takeaway from Uncharitable is that accountants make us do stupid things. Ok. There is more than that, but accounting mechanisms do seem to play an outsized role in what is good or bad with charities. Dan Pallotta had a successful company that organized major "active" charitable events, such as AIDS bicycle rides, and multi-day breast cancer walks. Then there was backlash and his company lost his contracts and went belly up. Some of his former employees went on to work directly for the charities to put on events. So, yeah. He has an axe to grind. The charities thought they would get more money by doing it on their own. Alas, they netted much less when they tried. Eventually they did ramp up to similar levels. Would they have been even higher if they kept with him?

The book rambles on for a long time about the Puritan ethic and the history of the separation of for-profit and non-profit distinction. 

The primary argument is that charities need to operate more like business. They should hire the best and compensate them appropriately. They should be willing to look to the long term. They should take risks and be willing to fail. Judging a charity merely on the percentage of funds that "go to the cause" encourages short-term behavior and creative accounting. It also penalizes smaller charities. He does give examples of some of the nonsense this behavior encourages. Having a company donate goods or services rather than donate money makes things look better, but is really just an accounting sleight of hand. 

There is some interesting discussion on advertising. Church goers tend to donate more to secular causes because they hear weekly propaganda on the benefits of charity. Similarly, charities receive large donations after a major catastrophe because of all the "free publicity" of the news. Corporations also spend money to advertise their products. Why shouldn't charities also advertise more? Aren't they providing a better service?

There are a number of good points in the book. There is also an underlying hurt that he felt from his past experiences. A lot of it boils down to what we think of a charity. The government provides favorable tax treatment and in return makes rules. We tend to follow through. While a charity does not need to be a non-profit organization, it is harder to convince people to donate. Higher education is its own separate beast. For profit colleges have been piloried and discredited. Yet colleges have been free to pay coaches millions of dollars - amounts that would not be tolerated at other non-profits. Would it be a problem if coach compensation were limited? Probably not. On the other hand, do we need to pay non-profit executives huge amounts? We could argue that for-profit executive compensation has become excessive. A more moderate non-profit salary could allow somebody to live comfortable at the 95% of income, and still earn a small fraction of a for-profit executive. No need to repeat the mistakes of the private sector. Would it be better to let the private sector executives make the big bucks and donate them to charity?

Other handcuffs of charities do need to be looked into. We should let charities focus more on innovation and long term development. It seems silly to require all donations received after a big event to be dedicated to that event. (Would this just encourage more creative accounting? Much of the work responding to the event was started before the donations flowed - using previous donations.) The difficulty remains in evaluating quality of charitable programs. Numbers are easy. 

Pronto Bike Share

I had a free day pass to use to try Pronto bike share. I had a couple errands to do that would take me around First Hill, Westlake, downtown and the Seattle Center. It was the core service area of the bike share, so it seemed like a good opportunity.

It seemed fairly straightforward. You used a credit card to validate yourself, though the day pass code meant nothing was charged. The terminal told me what I needed to do. Though did it really need to give me 90 pages of terms and conditions? Would anybody try to read that? And if they did, good look to anybody else trying to rent a bike.

At first, it took me a little while to figure out how to find a number of a bike to unlock. My session ended up expiring before I found my first bike. I had to go back and go through things again once I figured out where the bike number was.

Getting to Westlake was painless. There was a station across the street from the building I was going to. I was able to lock up and get on my way in a hurry.

First Hill was another story. There was a station at Seattle University, but a huge gap around the medical complex. (This in spite of a large amount of bike parking in the area.) I ended up riding a bike from Westlake to what looked like a close station downtown and then walking up to First Hill. It probably saved a little time. (Though it did give me the super long disclaimer again. Any time savings would have been eaten up trying to read that.)

After walking back down the hill to King Street Station, I found plenty of bikes nearby. At least the train station was covered. I also noticed a bunch of stations along the waterfront. I pedaled quickly to get up to the Seattle Center before the 30 minutes was up. The bikes are big and heavy, but they move pretty well. They had a basket-like thing on front, but there really wasn't room to store anything.

I made it to the Seattle Center with time to spare. Alas, while there were many bike share stations along the water front, Lower Queen Anne was pretty empty. The office buildings would be great candidates for bike share stations. A bike could easily get there faster than the slow prodding buses. But, alas, it appears the stations were situated primarily in tourist areas.

I can understand why the bike share stations did not do well. The station density was just not there to make it useful for running errands. Add in the overhead of checking out and returning a bike, and simply walking was a better option in many cases. The stations seemed to be placed primarily where it was "easy" to place them, primarily in tourist areas. However, the process to take a one-off trip was clunky, and you were supposed to have your own helmet.

I'm glad the city didn't go for the electric bike system. Hills may appear to be an issue. However, the bikes did seem to be able to handle the downtown hills without much of a problem. Without an adequate density of stations, even a hill climbing bike would not be much use.

I don't feel bad that Pronto has ceased to exist. However, it would be nice if the city returned the street-side stations into bike parking instead of car parking.

It's All About the Bike

Bicycles have a fascinating history. In the 1890s, the bicycle was the "thing". It sparked a massive increase in mobility. Companies were springing up all over to manufacture this revolutionary transportation device. Many athletic competitions were launched using the bicycle to showcase a human's speed. Even today, it remains the most efficient means for a person to propel themselves. It helped support women's suffrage movements. It also led to the adoption of good roads. Alas, the good roads and the speed ended up being commandeered by the automobile, allowing humans to travel faster, but at a much greater expense (to society, the environment, and people themselves.)

The bicycle also played a key role in industrialization and engineering. Ball bearings helped improve the efficiency of the rotating parts. Rubber tires and tubes helped allow for a smoother ride. The double-triangle frame supported weight efficiently. The spokes on the wheel provided a stronger, comfortable wheel. Chain drives and gears transferred power with minimal loss and allowed the wheels to be reduced in size. Assembly lines and large factories were developed to help meet the demand for bicycles. Most of the modern age owes its debt to the bicycle.

The bicycle also changed culture. The ease (and low cost) of travel enable people to live further away from crowded central cities. Sporting events also sprang up around the bicycle, with both long distance and sprint races having their following. Bicycle even led to its own downfall. Cars could exceed bike speeds. The manufacturing innovations could make cars faster and cheaper. The bike companies that survived often earned most of their revenue from non-bicycle lines. Bikes eventually were reduced to "toys" and not seen as serious transportation until they have had a renaissance today.

In It's All About the Bike, a serious cyclist goes about trying to build the best transportation bike. He travels the world to get the most durable, high quality components. These will not necessarily be the most expensive components. Carbon fiber dominates the world of bike racers. However, steel is still a much better choice for a "regular" bike. (It also has the benefit of being "moldable" and repairable.) A quality hand-built wheel will last longer than a machine built one. The "best" is sought out for each component, providing the author an opportunity to describe the evolution of the component as well as visit the artisans that are doing it best. In the end, he gets his bike, and we are enriched with a history and a knowledge that high quality workmanship still exists.

Oh Strava, why did you not start?

I turned on the Strava app and set out on a bike ride. Today, I went over the Aurora bridge. There were a couple cyclists and a jogger on the bridge today, but all gave way really well to make it work. At the end, I decided "what they hey!" I'll just continue on Aurora.

However, they do not make it easy to do so. While there is a crosswalk from the bridge sidewalk to the sidewalk on Aurora, there is a drop of almost a foot down. Not the easiest thing to do on bike.

I eventually made it down. Since it was after 7, the bus lane had "opened up". There were a few cars parked in it. (Love how it works. It takes just a couple cars to eliminate an entire travel lane.)

I saw a RapidRide bus go by. Since it was after rush our there would probably not be any more going by. (and there weren't) So, I just continued down Aurora. The bus lane made for a great bike lane, with cars also avoiding it.

I was cruising fast down Aurora. There were no lights until I got past Green Lake. The few red lights after there turned green quickly. It was a nice fast cruise. I couldn't wait to see how fast I'd gone.

Then I pulled out the GPS.

There was the Strava app, showing 0. Ok. That sometimes happen. It will quickly refresh and show the current time.

Only it didn't. It had never started.

Ugghh! It often takes a few seconds to "really start" after I press the button. I had gotten into the habit, and thought that it had started. Only this time, it never did.

I pieced together some other activity from the phone to guess when the start time was. But, it is just not the same to not be able to get personal records and see exactly how fast you are going. And it would have been nice to see the line down Aurora.

Oh well.

Maybe this means it is time to get a new (more powerful) phone.

Anatomy of a good bike commute

What makes a good bike commute? Here are a few of the key points that I can think of.

Weather

I've had great commutes with temperatures above 100 and high humidity. I've also had a great commutes in sub-zero temperatures. Snow can be a blast. Even rain can be fun. Strong winds can be great (as long as they are in the right direction.) Thunderstorms? I'll avoid those, but lightening in the distance looks nice.

A Danish friend once told me "there is no such thing as too cold, just not enough clothing." For bike commuting, that can be reworked to include "appropriate clothing". When I first started biking in sub-zero temperatures I boiled, then froze. I dressed so I was warm enough when I started. After pedaling a little, I was soon overheating in my warm gear. Then the sweat kicked in, and I started to freeze. The trick I learned was to start out a little cold, then the ride worked well. It was also good to make sure every part of the body was covered. The ski goggles looked weird, but they got the job done.

I used to hate getting stuck in warm summer downpours. I would try to pedal in it, then show up in my wet clothes, freezing in the indoor air conditioning. Then it dawned on me to bike in swimwear with sandals and bring a change of clothes (in a water-proof bag). Problem solved.

For hot weather, I like to load up on fluids beforehand. A place to shower afterwards is also really nice.

While there is no such thing as weather too poor to ride in, nice weather can make things very enjoyable. A nice warm ride with a pleasant breeze can't be beat.

Route options

A commute with one direct route, can get old quickly. I'm sure there are some people that enjoy going the same way every day, but I'm not one of them. I like to have multiple options that don't add significantly to the distance. The options may simply be alternate parallel streets. However, the ideal route will have different types of options. The scenic bike path can be nice for a gentle cruise at a consistent pace. The high traffic arterial provides the "fast" option. (I always seem to work myself faster when there is car traffic zooming along with me.) The quiet residential street can be the slow option. Different hill options are also useful. A steep hill with many traffic lights is great for going up, but not much fun for going down. The long, gently sloped downhill is great for going down (but may seem to take forever when going up).

On a bike route, there are often "choke points" You may be able to choose from many options, but everything will have to go through this point. The fewer the choke points, the better. Sometimes, I'll even take some crazy 20 mile detour just to "prove" I can avoid a certain choke point.

Traffic lights

Traffic lights are the bane of bike commuting. It seems they are always set to turn red right when I reach maximum velocity. The worst ones are those with an eternal cycle that sit at the bottom of a hill (especially when there is another hill to climb on the other side.) After commuting for a while, you get to know the timing of a traffic light. (I've found myself silently cursing the car that shows up just in time for the opposing left turn, thereby delaying my carefully plotted gradual slow down.)

Urban lights on timers are the lessor of evils. With a good sight path, you can see the change from a distance, and plan your approach so you hit it on green every time.

Lights that sense traffic can be more of a challenge. Occasionally, I've tried to time the approach based on the typical traffic pattern, only to be burned when it ran on a shorter cycle due to different traffic.

On my routes, I end up categorizing the traffic lights. The "evil" ones have ridiculously long cycles that often cause me to wait a long time. The "ok" ones tend to cycle quickly, thus not requiring me to worry about much. The "fako" ones are almost always green (though they'll probably pick my fastest day to decided to turn red.) The alternate fakos have an easy right turn option (or a one-way to one-way left turn option) if they happen to be red when I get to them.

Sometimes, I'll pick a route with a stop sign, rather than a light just because I want to be in control. It may mean a longer wait for a break in traffic, but the wait involves actively trying to find a slot to go, rather than passively waiting for a light change. The working brain cells seem to make a difference.

With lights, there is also the concept of "evil cars". Sometimes cars will block the bike lane turning right. Or they may simply crowd the intersection. It is the pits when you end up missing a perfectly timed light due to somebody else getting in the way.

Transit options

I love it when there are frequent, viable transit options connecting my home to my commute destination. (It is even better when my employer provides a free transit pass!) If my bike breaks down or I'm not feeling well, I can just hop on a train (or bus). I may rarely use it, but it comes in handy when I do. And the fact that it exists helps me to feel better about biking. Typically I've found biking to be a little faster than transit for different reasons. A train may be super fast, but add in getting to the station on both ends and it slows down. A bus may go directly from point A to point B, but meanders along at a slow pace. There is also the matter of adhering to a schedule. Transit just isn't as flexible as biking. But it provides a nice safety net.

Terrain

I like options in terrain. I can always seem to get my heart pumping when I'm going up or down hills. "Dips" provide the greatest motivation. I want to power down as fast as possible to make it up the other side. Short, steep hills are also a great motivation to get going. Sometimes, however, I just feel like the easy flat route. If I am forced to go up, then I'll get a workout no matter what. Otherwise, I might try the "easy way up". Options are nice, but sometimes a forced hill gives you a needed kick in the pants.

Facilities

Bike lanes are nice. A locker room and shower at the destination are extremely useful, especially for a long bike ride. A place to park your bike is also important. (A secure parking place is ideal - then you can feel comfortable bringing any type of bike.) Bike racks are a bit more of a gamble, depending on location. I once had a low-end bike that I parked daily at a bike rack. A coworker's nice bike was stolen the first day he parked it at the same rack. I also had a bike stolen from a bike rack the first day at a new job. Then I parked a new bike at the same place (with a better lock) for the next few years without a problem. It is also really nice to have a parking area indoors or otherwise sheltered from the elements.

Distance

I think somewhere around 10 miles is a good biking distance. I've had bike commutes that were under a mile. It is hard to justify something so short. (It was barely faster than walking once you added in the overhead of locking up the bike, etc.) Up to about 3 miles is a good distance for a "casual bike commute". Here you just bike in your regular clothes and don't need to shower or anything else. In this case, you are usually looking for the quiet, slow street. After about three miles, I find myself in the awkward range. I'll want to go faster, but that will cause me to work up a sweat and then I'll need to take a shower, slowing me down. There is also the matter of getting the "bicycle rip" in clothes.

Once you get up around 8 miles, you can easily justify putting on some bike clothing. I typically go with the padded mountain bike shorts and a t-shirt. Others may like "real" bike gear. This gives you the freedom to really pump it up as fast as you want. It is long enough to be a good workout.

Above 15 minutes, things start to be a drag. You are probably spending over an hour each way on the bike. While some people like it, I find that distance starts to get old quick. I've done 40 and 80 mile "commutes" a few times, but these are more "one off" things. It feels nice to provide that you can get somewhere on bike, but it is not something you would like to do every day.

Other bikers

It is fun when there are lots of cyclists on sections of a bike commute. Some days you just feel motivated to get in an impromptu race. Other times you see if you can try an alternate route that is faster than the one somebody else is taking. Other times, you may look back and see what looks like a pack of bicycle racers waiting with you for a bridge to go down. Other cyclists also help you to feel more confident about your route choices. It also increases safety and reduces obnoxious car behavior. (You are not likely to hear a "get on the sidewalk" yelled from a car when you are one of a dozen bikes on that street.)

Commuting by Bike Trail - Seattle Edition

Bike trails can be nice for a leisurely ride. Some can even be useful for commuting. An ideal commute route is flat, has few intersections and goes straight to where you want to go. Rail to trail conversions seem like they could be ideal here. Trains usually prefer the flat, straight route with minimal intersections. They also tend to connect old developed areas where people live and work. Alas, the most popular rail lines also tend to still be in use (or have been sold off before they had a chance to be made into a trail.)

Another great trail candidate is along a river or other body of water. There are often bridges to carry roads over. This minimizes intersections. They also tend to be fairly flat. Alas, they also tend to meander.

Seattle is filled with hills. Thus, one of the main benefits of trails is the flatness. Alas, you often pay for this in a meandering route.

The Burke Gilman is the most popular trail. For commuting purposes, it works pretty well coming from Fremont to the University of Washington. The trail is in decent condition. The path is fairly direct and has few intersections.

Coming from the west to the Fremont bridge the utility is not so great. There are a lot of road crossings. These are mostly in low traffic industrial areas with good sight lines, so you can usually keep going. However, the condition of the pavement at the crossings tends to be awful (and the rumble strips before the crossings don't help.) You also need to exit the trail to go a few blocks on low traffic local roads before getting to the Fremont bridge. Then there is the matter of the railroad track crossing. The trail smartly does a 90 degree bend so we can cross perpendicularly instead of parallel. (I've had a bad wipeout on parallel tracks in San Francisco. It is not fun.) However, the turn does slow you down. For speed, Leary is a great alternative. The pavement is new, it is straight and fairly flat. There are just a couple lights before the bridge - and you can easily take a quick right turn to get back to the trail if you get a red light. (The disadvantage is that Leary has two lanes of traffic in each direction without a bike lane.)

The section of the Burke Gilman trail north and east of the University of Washington campus is fairly flat. However, it meanders a lot. There are also currently plenty of detours through campus, as well as a lot of bike and pedestrian traffic in the area. The pavement condition can be described in two words "tree roots". The trail is filled with them. There is supposedly a 15 mph limit, but you would be hard pressed to reach it. The trail also has a bunch of "grade level" street intersections. Sand point is a road option near the trail. It has fairly heavy traffic, but not a whole lot of intersections. There are also plenty of roads options that can provide a more direct connection to various points. (I recall seeing a sign saying something like "fast cyclists go here")

Once you get north of Matthews Beach, the trail hugs Lake Washington and provides a direct route with minimal intersections. (The tree roots also seem to not be as bad.) Alas, there are not a whole lot of attractions up here. However, this section of the trail would be useful for commuters going down to Seattle. (An inertia may make it worth staying on the trail.)

Jumping to another trail, the Northern Interurban trail is fairly useful in spurts. From 110th to 128th it is a flat, smooth trail, with only significant intersection at 125th. Of course, Fremont, Dayton and Phinney also are good roads that meet that criteria nearby. The disadvantage is all of those end at 130th. The Interurban continues as a "cycle track" down Linden. The two way bike lane is pretty well done. However, you need to be cautious at the driveways. (Cars sometimes go through oblivious to any traffic - they have to get through the bike path and the parking row to see if anybody else is coming.)

South of 110th to just north of the zoo, Fremont is signed the Interurban street route. This is a good "bicycle boulevard", with plenty of traffic circles, stop signs on the side streets and stop lights on the major streets. The street is very quiet. Perhaps this is why I just seem to want to go it slow. Dayton is also a decent alternative here (though it has a little more traffic and a little hairier intersections.) Greenwood has lots of stop lights, but has a bike lane and can be really fast - as long is you don't get caught by the red at 85th. 3rd Ave NW and 8th Ave NW are great ones for descending south. (Though not so good for going uphill) However, we are diverging from bike paths.

North of 145th, the interurban trail turns into a trail. This is one of the best sections. It is flat, with the only real "hill" being the bridges over 155th and Aurora. Oh yeah, The bridges. It flies over the only major intersections. (The nearby alternative would be Greenwood/Dayoton, with a few big traffic lights and plenty of nasty hills.

North of 155th, however, the trail takes a turn for the worse. There are a number of street crossings. Most of these streets are low traffic residential streets. However, there is just about zero sight distance, with a stop sign on the trail (and not on the street.) So much for speed. The trail also jumps on a sidewalk (and can be difficult to follow.) The sidewalk is in good condition, but with small chunks it is almost a rumble strip.

The Mountain to Sound and I90 trails are great commuter trails - if only for the fact that they are the only alternative. The Mountain to Sound has a few road intersections with lights that can take some time. Once you pass those, it is a long trip through the tunnel and over the bridge to Mercer island. Straight, fast, long and with enough up and down to keep you going. This is a nice one.

Once in Mercer Island things get a little sketchy. There are trails forking off in a few different directions, and it is not clear which one is the direct one to take you to Bellevue. (They could use some better labeling.) The next bridge to Bellevue is shorter. The trail continues on for bit, but does a lot of turning and meandering. Eventually it becomes a bike lane towards eastgate and then disappears altogether. (Eastgate has a bizarre pedestrian/bike bridge over a freeway that just dumps you at a street corner. It is one huge massive interchange for what looks like only a moderately sized street. Oh well, if Seattle likes cars, Bellevue is madly in love.

The south ship canal bike path is a great commuter path from Magnolia to South Lake Union. Going along the water, it is flat, in good condition and does not intersect other streets. It continues on as the "westlake parking lot path".

The westlake path requires some vigilance to watch out for cars, and some slow down for a few raised sidewalks. However, it is a flat alternative to the Dexter bike lanes. (The Dexter lanes south of Mercer are really nice. However, there is a nice hill involved.) There are plans to make the westlake path "official". We'll see if that works out.

The Eliot Bay trail connects downtown to Magnolia. It is a flat alternative to getting there and avoids a lot of the intersection hassle. However, it seems to be really long. The big interbay loop to access Thorndyke and Magnolia can get fairly narrow (and can be subject to closure.) The trail also leaves you along the coast downtown - which could mean some distance through downtown traffic to get to a destination.

The verdict? Trails can be useful in commuting in Seattle, but usually they are the "quiet", rather than the fast option.

Bike and Fly

I've always wanted to ride my bike to the airport, park it there, catch a flight, and then return back home by bike. But I've never done it. I've biked to O'Hare and Midway in Chicago and to SJC and SFO. I've also taken the rental bike out to the Copenhagen airport (but I had to return to the downtown train station to return the bike.) The closest to a "real trip" was when I biked to the airport to pick up a bag I left on the plane.

Why haven't I ever done a bike and fly?

Many airports are bike accessible. In China and Japan, I've seen big bike racks near the airport. SFO has a page about biking to the airport, along with two week bike parking areas. SJC also has a bike/pedestrian page, though the crux of it is "we really didn't care about you when we remodeled the airport", but we have a couple racks available. That is really sad, because SJC was a great walking airport "back in the day". I once had a few hours to kill between an Amtrak train and a flight. Rather than take the light rail and sit around for a while, I did the first street walk. It was a pretty nice, easy walk. There is also a bike path that runs right through the airport. One time I ran in to some joggers in the airport terminal. There conversation was something like "well this is the airport. Uh, why did we come here?" That was also the time when you would walk off the plane in to the open skies of the tarmac before walking inside the terminal building. Since then, they have turned the road near the airport in to a freeway and built a big gleaming new terminal. But, they've also seen the dot com boom and the entire economic crash and the flight volumes at the airport plummet. But, I'm really digressing.

I've also left SFO on foot after arriving from one flight. (I only walked to the Millbrae train station. However, walking saved the huge cost of the short BART trip to the train station - and I ended up on the same Caltrain I would have been on had I taken BART. Much better to spend the time walking than waiting at a train station.)

I've also walked from the Las Vegas airport to a hotel on the strip. (There I had to watch out for the homeless guy.)

I've explored the area around Narita in Tokyo and LAX on foot during long layovers.

But, I still haven't done the bike trip.

In Chicago, I once purchased a folding bike for an attempt at doing the "carry the bike on the plane" trip. But the bike was junk and then came September 11th.... (I did carry a scooter on the plane.)

One day... One day... (I just hope the bike will be there when I return.)

The Cyclist's Manifesto: The Case for Riding on Two Wheels Instead of Four

[June 2009] From the title, I was expecting a brash "bikes rule" rant similar to an urban "critical mass" ride. Instead, I found a very balanced book that brings all aspects of cycling in to their historical context. From the cycling roots of Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers to oil crunches and government bailouts, the book covers a lot of ground in a short amount of space.
The authors style is very casual and somehow manages to wade through all sorts of heated while acknowledging the benefits of each side's arguments. It is a great book for getting background in bikes (and transportation in general) without having to subscribe to a particular idealogy.

If it can break...

Washing machine plastic pipe broke, then gasket broke. (See a couple recent blog posts.)

The dishwasher heating element broke. The dishwasher would start to go through a cycle, then stop with a flashing light. The manual didn't have much to say. However, after pulling off the service panel, I found the "secret" manual that described the code as meaning a "heating problem". I started looking for fixes online. Some described a jostled out element. So, I went to look, and lo and behold, there was a crack in the element. Amazon.com here we come. (Now why can't the dishwasher just be "dumb" and continue to wash without the element? Stupid smart machines.)

The laptop computer wont power up. It was acting flaky, and would need a few tries to finally get it to start. I finally pulled it open and found the vents were totally clogged. Cleaning these out greatly improved the fan performance. (Now we could leave it on without it turning in to an oven.) However, it did not do much to help the startup problem. It was especially bad on hibernation. The computer had recently complained about low disk space. I had finally connected the two and thought "hey, I should delete the hibernate file and just disable hibernation, and we could just leave it on." Alas, my wife shut the computer, and accidentally started the hibernation. It apparently went in to a deep sleep from which it will never recover. We decided to replace it with a chromebook for general use, and nettop for windows stuff.

Dental filling fell out. Again. These "front of teeth" feelings just do not stay in. It often seems to be after eating nuts or something then brushing my teeth. Off to the dentist. Again.

And the pipes clogged up. It seems a couple times each year we have to call the $15 sewer and drain guys out to snake the line. (It costs a lot more than $15... I think $15 is there "service fee". Then there is fuel surcharge and a fee to do the snaking. Adds up to somewhere around $90)

And the shower trap needs a good cleaning. The trap does prevent the gunk from getting stuck in the pipes. But, it still is a lot of work to clean out.

And the dryer is making weird sounds. Time to get a new one?

And I didn't mention the bikes. The triple has been to two bike shops to "tune up". It would be nice if the gears actually worked. (The high "hub gear" seems to work. Only it doesn't like to stay there, and I sometimes have to ride holding it in the gear. Not fun!) Neither seems to know much of what they were doing. The second one has not even returned my call. The Japanese bike has a flat. The attempts to repair it have not "taken". The bikes all need lights. The schwin, Trek and Giant bike are all in not-quite ridable condition. (Ugghh. Thank you bike doctor.)