Day: April 1, 2024

In the tapestry of my digital existence, woven through the years, the story of my adventures unfolds, beginning in the year 2004, a time of digital pioneering and innovation. It was a year marked by the birth of Gmail, as I mused in “Google Launches Free Email With 1GB”, pondering the vastness of 1 gigabyte of storage space, a veritable digital expanse in those days.

My journey continued, touching upon the marvels of technology in “High-tech Glass”, a reflection on the advancements that were shaping our future.

As years cascaded like the pages of a well-thumbed book, I found myself in 2005, embarking on a physical and metaphorical journey in “Lolo Pass Bike Trip This Weekend”, where the lure of the road and the promise of adventure coaxed my spirit into the wild. It was a time of simplicity and discovery, of challenging one’s limits on the precipice of the unknown.

This spirit of exploration was echoed in my recounting of feeling rejuvenated after a brief respite in “Feeling Tired”, a testament to the restorative power of nature and the resilience of the human spirit.

Fast forward to 2008, a year that teased with the false hope of spring in “Spring Time is Here!”, a playful reminder of nature’s unpredictability and the joy found in life’s little jests.

This period was a mosaic of moments, each a brushstroke in the broader picture of life, leading up to the serene triumphs and personal milestones celebrated in “Successful Weekend”, a narrative punctuated by the simple pleasures and sunshine that define our existence.

The narrative arc of my digital odyssey reached a pivotal moment in 2010, with the reflective contemplation found in “Devils Slide History”, a homage to tradition, perseverance, and the communal spirit of competitive camaraderie. This introspection laid the groundwork for the stories that would unfold in the subsequent years, each entry a stitch in the fabric of my digital memoir.

By 2020, the world found itself grappling with unprecedented challenges, as encapsulated in “Shelter in {place}”, a reflection on finding solace and identity in the midst of global upheaval. This chapter, marked by introspection and the redefinition of ‘place,’ served as a poignant reminder of the resilience and adaptability inherent within us all.

As I look back on this journey, a mosaic of experiences and reflections, the tapestry of my digital existence weaves a narrative of growth, discovery, and the inexorable march of time. Each entry, from the pioneering days of 2004 to the reflective solitude of 2020, serves as a reminder that in the grand story of life, it is the journey that shapes us, not the destination. And perhaps, the greatest lesson gleaned from this odyssey is that in every challenge lies an opportunity, in every ending a new beginning, and in every moment, a story waiting to be told.

Define “place”. Anyone? For me, it is on a bike. What is it for you?

New images at https://photos.app.goo.gl/NbvTXTi6a8uSdu7x6

So yea, the gig is up. All the secrecy and weird posts on twitter a couple days ago should of led everyone to believe we visited Las Vegas. And we did. And yes it sucked and I would not recommend it. And I was not in my element. So we took a day and rode our bikes that we carefully packed and sent to ourselves in the desert. We rode just out of town a tad. Forgot what it was called.

It was good to be together alone. In Vegas you are never alone. Sifting through huge crowds. Trying to sleep while a party rages next door. Trying to not get ran over by traffic. No this was just us out on the trails all alone.

In places the trail was narrow with some decent cliff exposure. But with smiles instead of fear. There are plenty of places in Vegas to get exposed. From the hot sun to wild rides that take you to places of extreme exposure and terror. But here in the dirt we are right at home.

I rode my fatty because it was her 1,000th mile birthday party. I felt even better then expected. Lots of traction meant lots of fun and cushy speed. In Vegas one would say there is lots of speedy cars and fun “joints” to party. But not for me. Out here I find all the fun, grin inducing speed I need.

I linked together some nice corners and stopped. I wanted to see if my partner could do them as fast as I could. The beautiful curves of dirt … so sexy. Back in the “city of sexy” I wondered how many realized they were missing out on real beauty. My partner arrived in a cloud of dust and ripped by me. Oh, that’s sexy too.

I followed her down the remaining single-track until I found a line around her. I zipped by with a “wahooo” and she latched onto my rear wheel. A little competition developed as we snaked our way down a washout.

What is that? Why does the sign in the image say Jefferson River Canyon?

April Fools! We are at the Lewis and Clark Caverns. Had you fooled … right?

By the time I got the rear wheel fixed the sun was low on the horizon. The rest of the ride I was super nervous that my injured tire would explode. It all happened on a rocky decent at Pipestone Sunday. I hit a sharp rock head on and it shredded my rear tire immediately  I used an Action Wipe and it’s package to cover the holes. The tube seemed to stay inside the tire and up the climb I went.

My last stop was Ringing Rocks a big pile of big rocks that sound like bells when you hit them with a solid object. The cruise back to the car topped off a much-needed ride … alone. Even with all the exhaustion my time on the dusty trails was refreshing.  I came to vistas that brought me back to a place I remember   Hours of spinning along did something as well. Healed maybe. I am not sure. There is so much you can still do … even with a big hole in your life.

I am currently planning on returning with friends maybe next this upcoming weekend.

My birthday is the 3rd, on a Tuesday. I am planning on working remotely so that I can be home to accept a package. So yeah, all my hubbub about giving up photography is all smoke and mirrors. I have decided upon the Sony Nex-5 – http://store.sony.com/p/Black-Alpha-Digital-Camera-Body-NEX-Interchangeable-Lens-Digital-Camera-Body-18-55mm-Zoom-Lens/en/p/NEX5NK/B -. It’s cheap compared to DSLRs, and the best part is that they finally make a small packable camera that has a big sensor.

So my big question is what the hell are the mirrors for anyway…just for the viewfinder. No matter, who cares about the details. I don’t need no sticking mirror.

This little bugger is like #5 in DPReview’s list – http://www.dpreview.com/camerareviews/?category=cameras&order=rating – and Gold Award. Only cameras like the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV – http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos1dmarkIV/ – or the Nikon D3S – http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond3s/ – make that level. All in a compact body. And its big brother, the Sony Alpha NEX-7 – http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonynex7/ – is #4, although $1,400.00. This little beast… $700.00. Yeah… sold.

My usual research sites:

• Digital Preview (my fav) http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonynex5n
• Camera Labs http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Alpha_NEX_5N/
• Imaging Resources http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/NEX5N/NEX5NA.HTM

Yeah, I know. I have always been a Canon man. But times have changed. The new big sensor mirrorless compacts are looking decent. Gotta try one.

This is my final piece of 4 posts in a tiny series, or stages. My recollection of last weekend’s trip to Lewiston for the Devils Slide Mountain Bike Race. This race has a long tradition. The Brown’s and I have been there from the beginning. The 2010 movie.

2006 : My first race since I had given racing up back in New England.

I finally got USA Cycling to downgrade me to expert so I could race. I was really overweight as far as strength to weigh ratio goes.

I went to Lewiston early on to pre-ride the course. I would meet up with some new friends I met through the Thursday Night Ride group.

When I got there I couldn’t find the course and it was raining hard. It had rained all the way down there and I didn’t even realize what a beautiful trip it was. I decided to camp out at the campground and put up my tent. I had Marcy with me at the time and she just figured we were on another car camping trip. When I went to put my sleeping bag and pillows in the tent I couldn’t find them. I had forgotten my sleeping bag … that was the last straw.

I packed everything up and headed home to Missoula. I started to feel bad that I told my friends that I would meet them so I stopped in at the place they made reservations to leave them a note. Something came over me and I decided to use a credit card and stay in the same motel. I just needed to dry out and get some sleep. I was a wreck.

My friends “The Browns” were excited when they arrived and I got caught up in their energy. The next day it was nice and the trails were drying. So I signed up and raced.

I suffered greatly upon my old K2 full suspension bike but I was hooked from that moment on … or re-hooked anyway.

2007 : The previous year we noted little cabins along the Snake River. Nancy looked into it and booked one for our 2007 journey.

Marcy and I arrived early once again but this time the weather was great. I put together my bike and wet riding. I noticed immediately my fitness had greatly improved. This was the first race for my new Leader mountain bike. A great season was at hand.

My friends arrived and we all stayed in the cabin. We loved it and have done it ever sense (well kind of). I think I got first for the expert group that year and the girls raced as well. I started my tradition of pushing hard to try and lap my friend Ross.

In 2007 we stopped in at a pizza shop in Kamiah ID, another tradition had started.

2008 : I was in serious shape and the entire spring lead up to the slide. We were all excited to be traveling via white van and we all went together instead of meeting up at the venue. I took my tent and stayed just beside the cabin.

The race went very well and I won expert again. the difference this year is that I kept up with the pros and was edged out by two of them and got 3rd overall.

Again we hit the Pizza Factory in Kamiah ID for our traditional post race feast

2009 : This is my world championship year so Ross and I traveled Saturday morning so that I could ride the slide for 6 hours. It was just the two of us and I rode the slide so much that day I had it nailed for the next day at the race. I went exploring under the bluffs along the snake river and found a great little trail. I took quite a bunch of photos documenting the weird rock formation.

The next day I raced in the smallest field ever and it seemed that the Slide was about to fade out. It was a good race and I won overall for the first time.

Again Ross and I hit the Pizza Factory for post race recovery.

2010 : Thankfully a lot of people showed up this year and I think the Devils Slide is here to stay.

This year was also great with the Brown family in strong attendance. Emily and Nancy were in cheering mode as Ross and I posted our best efforts at the slide to date. Ross getting second in his age category and I winning outright for the second year in a row.

The difference this time along was our early departure time so we could enjoy Saturday in great temperatures. We strolled around the campgrounds and really did the camping thing very well. Even had a fireside reading of a Tail of 2 Cities (homework for Emily).

The best year so far has kicked off what is promising to be a great summer.

APRIL FOOLS … Spring is NOT here! Good morning from Missoula Montana. We just got hit by another snow squall and it is cold enough that it isn’t melting any more.  The parking lot is getting coated as I blog. Last nights hike with Marcy afforded me a great view of white nothing. Were have all the flowers gone ??? On top of all that I am getting a back log of bikes to clean, repair, and ready to ride.  The weather is killing the parts.

I plan to leave work today and go snow biking (yes, snow biking) to Blue Mountain Rec. Area.  I plan to explore what will be doable for Thursday.  Anyone want to go … contact me!

On a cool note I have posted some Google Gadgets on my site, sort of like a health dashboard.  Check it out!

Picture it: April 1, 2007, in Missoula, Montana. Instead of the usual April Fool’s pranks, we got a sunny surprise. The sun broke through, promising an early taste of summer. It felt like nature’s way of saying, “Enjoy the sunshine, forget the jokes for a day.”

Sunny days, especially unexpected ones, feel like the universe’s kindest trick, hinting at summer’s warmth. With my sunscreen ready, I embraced the great outdoors, beating the last of winter’s chill.

So here’s to April 1, 2007 – a day of pure sunlight and no pranks. It reminded us to find joy in simple things, like the warm sun on our faces, proving that the best surprises often come from nature’s own script.

So, tonight’s run was almost a DNF (Did Not Finish) thanks to a post-work chocolate binge and some serious couch potato vibes. But hey, even heroes have cheat days, right? After dozing off for what felt like an eternity, I finally dragged myself out the door, determined to get some blood pumping.

Originally, Mount Sentinel via Hellgate Canyon Trail was the plan. But let’s face it, after a nap and indulging in my sweet tooth, even a squirrel could outrun me. So, I downshifted my ambition and opted for the more manageable Kim Williams Trail, with a promise to myself to conquer Hellgate Canyon on Monday (rain or shine!).

Made it to the end, lungs burning, sweat dripping, and feeling pretty good… until it came time to turn around. Running back felt like pushing a boulder uphill, so I surrendered to a walk, forcing myself to run the last mile just for some semblance of a workout.

Now, back home, I’m a puddle of exhaustion, hoping tomorrow brings better energy and banishes this scratchy throat. Birthday weekend is upon me, and the plan is epic: a bike ride into Idaho with the Deer Creek Ride crew, followed by a kayak adventure film night at the Pipestone Store. Sounds perfect, right?

But there’s one snag – the weather gods. Please, universe, no birthday rain! All I want is to celebrate by exploring Idaho on two wheels. So, weather gods, I’m begging you, be kind to this birthday biker!

Here’s to hoping for a healthy, adventurous, and weather-blessed birthday weekend!

Well, it is Friday, and this weekend I start getting into shape for the upcoming summer season of fun in the sun on a bike. I have selected Lolo Pass because of its vicinity (just up the road … have you checked the gas prices lately?) and it has a pass. I have taken the week off to recover from my “mountain run a day for 31 days straight” campaign and I feel out of shape as usual.

The weather is a different story. Our spring-like weather has left, and a more seasonal briskness has returned. I am hoping to have warmer temps visit us as I begin to go road biking.

So tomorrow off I go on my first road bike ride in Montana. Last year I did not have a chance to do a real long ride anywhere since I was new to the area and succumbed to the mountain biking season.

• BIKELOG 2005
• Total Miles This Month: 108.56 miles
• Total Miles This Year: 236.00 miles
• Total Climb This Month: 1,368.5 feet
• Total Climb This Year: 2,490 feet

The content reflects a deep passion for cycling, endurance challenges, and the spirit of adventure. It’s inspiring to see individuals push their limits and embark on such extraordinary journeys. The dedication and determination of the participants shine through in these engaging narratives.

If you’re a cycling enthusiast, these links will provide you with a wealth of information about challenging biking routes, personal achievements, and the incredible spirit behind these adventures.

Citations:
[1] https://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/blog/one-big-circle-the-first-90-degrees/
[2] https://www.komoot.com/guide/44269/road-cycling-routes-in-montana
[3] https://williammartin.com/mountain-biking/2013-rmvq
[4] https://williammartin.com/mountain-biking/the-rmvq/
[5] https://www.ridethehiawatha.com/the-trail

In a press release titled April 1, Google has announced that it is providing a free email service to customers called Gmail which includes 1 gigabyte of free email storage space and a search facility. The content of the emails would be automatically scanned for keywords in order to deliver targeted, content-based advertising to users.

Google has claimed the move is not a joke – its competitors, including Microsoft and Yahoo!, will surely be hoping that it is. After all, Microsoft’s free Hotmail service only provides people with 2 MB of storage space. Gmail’s capacity allows for 500 times that amount. Inevitably, people will have privacy concerns if Google is to be scanning the content of emails for keywords. But if users click on the text ads, advertisers will not be able to uniquely identify them, Google said, and email contents will remain private. The whole thing is still in test mode, but Google hopes Gmail will be available to the mainstream soon.

Internet Magazine

gmail.com

An experiment originally designed to fly on the International Space Station (ISS) led a team of researchers to develop a completely new type of glass, a material formed while floating in mid-air in a NASA laboratory on Earth. Using static electricity fields to levitate the material, scientists were able to construct a pure glass, free of any contamination typically associated with containers. It could serve as the centerpiece for new medical and industrial lasers, as well as have broadband Internet applications. “I think there”s a lot of potential for this glass,” said Rick Weber, director of the Glass Products Division of Containerless Research, Inc., which invented a whole family of the new transparent material. “We”ve got a wide composition field, so one [glass] can be tuned for a particular use.” Weber told SPACE.com that new the glass is currently being put through its paces in several validation projects for applications in high-density lasers, and as the glass components for low-cost, compact broadband devices. Levitating glass The new material, known as REAl glass — short for Rare Earth Aluminum oxide — was first developed at NASA”s Electrostatic Levitator (ESL) laboratory at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Scientists there routinely use static electricity to allow their experiments to defy gravity inside a vacuum chamber, then zap them with lasers to turn them into floating molten balls of material that can later cool without any interference from a crucible or container. “The ESL is a very pure way to look at what a material does,” said Jan Rogers, a facility scientist for the ESL. “In an oven or container of any sort you have contact with the container wall, and at high temperatures a sample can interact with those walls, absorbing specks of dust and having a chemical reaction with the container.” By melting and cooling a levitated material, scientists can understand not just its formation, but its inherent physical properties. Surface tensions keeps molten samples together which, when cool, coalesce into tiny spheres. At the most fundamental level, making REAl glass uses the same method used by glass-makers for centuries, namely mixing materials together, melting them, then cooling them into a solid. But it’s the levitation that gives REAl glass its kick. The process allowed researchers to imbue their glass with a number of attractive properties, such as chemical stability, infrared transmission and laser activity. “Other glasses tend to have just one of those properties, and at least one weakness,” Weber said. “They could be really good at infrared transmission, but dissolve in water so you wouldn”t want a window made out of it.” Laser applications are key for REAl glass, since the material could serve as the “gain medium,” a component that amplifies light into a concentrated beam capable of cutting metal for car assembly or human tissue during surgery. REAl glass laser gain mediums could provide a range of available wavelengths to give surgeons more control of beam intensity, depending on tissue type and surgery, he added. Consumer glass Once Containerless Research scientists understood the basics of REAl glass formation, they were able to adapt the technology away from its dependency on electrostatic levitation. The step was a crucial one for commercial purposes, since NASA”s ESL facility is only powerful enough to levitate tiny sample materials up to three millimeters wide and 70 milligrams in weight. “So we”re not talking about golf balls and pineapples here,” Weber said of the ESL”s production capabilities. “For commercial purposes, we needed at least rods and plates of the glass.” Weber”s team was able to devise a small-scale production plan that uses platinum crucibles to melt REAl glass and cooling forms that shape into commercial rods and plates, all without taking away the materials positive properties. A glassy side project Containerless Research scientists did not originally seek to develop REAl glass outright when they approached NASA with a proposed space station experiment. That proposal, which used the Marshall lab as a proving ground before reaching the orbiting outpost, sought to explore the properties of molten oxides and aluminates. “Most of my customers are space flight candidates,” said Rogers of the researchers who use the ESL facility. “Some of them have experiments for the ISS, where they would be using the next generation levitator.” That instrument, an electromagnetic levitator for space-based material science studies, is being developed for the European Space Agency”s Material Science Laboratory aboard the Columbis module of the ISS. The module was scheduled to be launched via space shuttle in October 2004, though NASA does not expect another shuttle flight until at least March 2005. “When the appropriate instrumentation is available, we still hope to conduct that flight experiment,” Weber said. Other scientists have used some form of levitation, though not exactly Weber”s approach, for glass making, both on Earth and in space. Delbert Day, a NASA-funded researcher at the University of Missouri-Rolla, for example, used sound waves to levitate glass samples in order to study higher-quality glasses. He also designed microgravity experiments for the space shuttle.

Tariq Malik, SPACE.com