Keya's Blog

Pagosa Springs, over Wolf Creek Pass, through South Fork, Monte Vista (with the most delicious potato I’ve ever eaten!) to Alamosa – 91.5 miles

Riding past fields of sunflowers

At this point, riding over mountain passes is starting to take its toll.  I realize that it is called Ride the Rockies, and we have definitely ridden over many roads in the Rocky Mountains. I’m fairly exhausted. My butt hurts. I forgot to put on sunblock one morning (it was dark outside when we started) and now have intense sun burn lines on some parts of my limbs which makes for strange blotchy cycling tan lines. Everyone that knows I’m riding a mountain bike has asked if I have slicks on it. I don’t, but figure that it’s only a few days left of riding, so it’s not a problem, but it kind of does make the Ride a much longer, tougher riding experience. My Dad lent me a backpack, which I’ve been wearing as I ride, and now both my hands are numb.

Yet amazingly, I and a couple thousand other people, that also likely have their own aches and pains, push onward. We are riding through really beautiful country.

Switchbacks up Wolf Creek Pass

After a rolling start of about 16 miles, we soon hit Wolf Creek Pass.  The Pass was brutally switch-backed and continuous for about 10 miles. As I climbed, I appreciated the extra granny gears that are on the mountain bike. (Actually, I shouldn’t call them that, because I do recall being passed by many strong, older women in the flats after descending down Wolf Creek Pass.)

The orange spray paint - "What were you thinking?"

All along the route, somebody has sprayed painted messages that have been a source of great amusement for me. One that I found particularly amusing was the one that said “Indian Jones does not carry a purse, he carries a satchel.” Probably not that funny now, but at the time, I thought it was really funny. On the climb up Wolf Creek Pass was the message, “What were you thinking?”

Well, when Dad first asked if I wanted to Ride the Rockies, I thought “Sure, we can try the lottery. We likely will not get in.” But we did get in. Then I thought, “Well, it will be a good, cleansing, borderline – religious experience. I’ll have good deep thoughts and can work out certain design principles.” But no, I don’t seem to be capable of complex thought processes during this week. Instead, when I ride, I think about how close or far I am from an aid station, I think about how much time it might take to get there, I look around at rocks, plants and other riders, and think about how long it has been since I last drank from the water bottle. I think about pulling up on my pedals as I ride, and I wonder if I’m doing permanent damage to my body by riding so much at once without properly training. (I did ride at least 100 miles before Ride the Rockies as friends warned me about how much I would hurt if I did not at least try to train. Duly noted.)

Back to the climb up Wolf Creek Pass.  There was a semi that had overturned on the first switchback on the climb. Amazingly, we had a tail wind up most of Wolf Creek Pass!

At the top of Wolf Creek Pass

Ride the Rockies is a tough, extreme thing to do. A person rides up passes where snow has not yet melted and it’s quite cold, then after descending down a pass, is back in temperatures around 90 degrees. I highly recommend it as a challenging and humbling exercise in humility.

The descent coming off of Wolf Creek Pass was a lot of fun.  My old Barracuda mountain bike is actually more stable than my Mom’s bike (that’s too small for me).  Then we hit the flats and luckily, for yet another day, we had a tailwind.    Yet for all its great stability, for about a 25 mile section, everyone – everyone passed me as I toiled away on the knobby tires.  I passed no one.  It was quite humbling.  I was really, really tired of hearing, “On your left.”

Everyone passed me. So I thought I would at least rest and take a picture.

“Left.”

“Coming on your left.”

“Hello.  On your left.”

“Do you realize you’re on a mountain bike?”

“Passing on your left.”

But then I started thinking about a Monte Vista potato!  The thought of a delicious steamy baked potato dominated my thoughts for miles.  The Colorado Potato Growers Association helped to sponsor an aid station in Monte Vista.  I almost ran over to them, thanked them profusely and told them about how I had been thinking about it for the past 15 miles.  I even got a Colorado potato sticker.  There were topping choices of butter, sour cream, cheese and green chile.  I had cheese and green chile on top of my potato, and instantly devoured it.  It was delicious.  The potato itself had a buttery, creamy texture, and I didn’t even have butter on mine.  (Sorry, no picture. It totally slipped my mind as my concentration was focused on eating a delectable potato.  Since getting home I went to the grocery store and purchased a sack of Monte Vista, Colorado, organic potatoes.)

Alamosa's evening entertainment

I somehow made it to Alamosa.  Gene, a guy from Salida helped to pull me in part of the way to Alamosa, but eventually dropped me.  Upon arrival, there was good music, as there almost always is music in the beer garden, but this evening’s music was particularly good.

Oh, it’s been so humbling, but I really have a deep appreciation for a majority of the people that have surrounded me, and for all of the staff and volunteers during Ride the Rockies.

One more day!  Alamosa to Salida!

From Ouray, over Red Mountain Pass to Silverton, over Molas Divide and Coal Bank Pass to Durango – then up to Fort Lewis, the “Campus in the Sky” – 75 miles

The ascent up Red Mountain Pass

With 3 passes ahead, the morning alarm was set for 4:30am. All riders had received the warning that this would be a long day, and if we weren’t past Box Canyon Falls by 8am, we would be sagged to the first aid station.

I think most people were wanting to ride this part of the ride and got up early. This created long lines at the porta potties, but I have come to realize that this is part of the experience. My hope is that I have pleasant people around me while I wait in line.

The Million Dollar Highway, without guardrails

This was the part of the Ride that I was most excited about riding. We started in a beautiful, still morning. Cyclists were on the road in massive numbers while was still pretty dark. Because I was expecting a long climb, it wasn’t so bad. I also had a bit of adrenalin, simply because there was a big drop off on the side of the road that we were riding on.

The Million Dollar Highway is named as such because it is said that it took about one million dollars per mile to construct the highway on the precipitous edge of the mountain. There aren’t guardrails on a lot of the route because in order for the narrow roads to be snow plowed to create passable roads in the winter, there simply can not be guard rails. It was a little freaky and I didn’t look down over the edge while riding.

The back shifter stopped working

I made it up and over Red Mountain Pass. During the descent, the back shifter stopped working. During the climb, the back cassette was in the largest cog and during the descent, I could not shift into a smaller one. As I pushed the shifters inward, the shifters simply stayed in an inward position – stuck, but no shifting occurred. The wind was gusting, and while it was nice not to have to pedal, it was also somewhat frustrating since I couldn’t shift, and couldn’t pedal to get any purchase or momentum, thus, my top speed was 12 mph – going down Red Mountain Pass. I pulled over and a sag wagon stopped to pick me up. Let me be clear that this was a mechanical sag – going downhill. (Although I must also admit that was somewhat ecstatic to be off of the bike and in a motorized vehicle.)

Purgatory, with Engineer Mountain in the background

The good bike mechanics looked at it and sprayed stuff inside of it to try and clean it out, but it didn’t help. I felt like I was receiving a doctor’s note to (skip school) and ride the sag wagon. (“Yes!” I wanted to shout out and dance.) I got sagged to Coal Bank, then checked the shifters with different mechanics who even took it all apart to see if it was gummed up and instead determined that it was shot, worn out, and needed to be replaced. I could, however, use the front chain ring to shift (3 in front) and if I kept the back one in a gear in the middle, I would be able to make it okay. Feeling lame using the sag wagon when I was pretty much able, I rode down from Coal Bank using only the front chainring shifter.

Wondering what I was going to do to finish out the ride, since there were still 3 long days left, I rationalized that if I could get my mountain bike (in Montrose) it would be better since it fit me better than my Mom’s small bike. I called my good friend Gunnar, who picked me up and drove me back to Montrose that evening to get my Barracuda mountain bike.  We returned to a quiet, sleepy camp at Fort Lewis College a little after midnight.

The tree trimmers from the electric company came by to do some spring tree trimming and in the process cut down a deserted wasp hive.  The sight of the hive, with its catacomb/spaceship like structure kinda gives me the creeps, while at the same time I find it fascinating and beautiful. 

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I did some reading on wikipedia and found out that a wasp is an insect that is neither a bee nor an ant. Apparently, when the queen comes out of hibernation after the winter, she constructs the first part of the wood fiber hive and lays the eggs that she has stored from mating during the previous fall. The queen nurtures and raises the little ‘wasp-lings’ which grow into infertile female worker wasps that will continue to build the hive as the queen then focuses on laying eggs. During the fall, the eggs morph into fertile female and male ‘wasp-lings’ some of which will become the next spring’s queens, where the cycle will be carried on. Amazing!



Here you are in the NYC subway.

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!

-Dr. Suess

Isn’t it true that you really decide where you will go?

Here’s a rather interesting concept: an air powered motorbike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8WkBaiEHc4&feature=player_embedded

Although it makes one wonder, is it safe? Remember the old stories of the Pinto (was it the Pinto?) that exploded upon the unfortunate rear impact? It is a brave and novel concept. Minus the possible explosion, I’d really like one!

Ice and the interplay of the sun as it warms an object’s mass and its resulting release of radiant heat, is an amazingly beautiful sculptor. It’s a brilliant principle to use when building houses, but I’ll get into that later. I went hiking last weekend and took pictures of these ice patterns.

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Two fun events have occurred! I had time to go out hiking with a camera and WordPress 2.9 was just released.  There is a new photo editor within WordPress 2.9 that I’m going to play with and report back.  Here are some images of ice in the meantime.

Close up of snow - ice crystals

I’m used to resizing images before I upload, so this is a somewhat new concept to me.  Is it truly resizing the image or showing it in different dimensions?  Some of the ways that it is currently displaying has to do with the current theme and how css is playing on the images.

How Heat, Snow and Objects Interact

It does resize images – as they exist on the web, yet can still able to access the original – which would be on the server.  Very cool!  So the photos must be stored in different formats on the server, yet will show the re-edited version (now done within wordpress2.9) for faster page loads.  It will, however, rescale them to show images as they are formatted to show.  So, for example, an image of 800px x 600px can be scaled to say, 560px × 420px.  Or, the picture can be resized to the latter size.

The image can also be rotated and flipped.  The new image editor appears in the first window as the new image is being uploaded, but can still be accessed by clicking on the picture, then clicking on the picture icon.  It’s a pretty cool new feature.

Here’s a weird glitch with how WordPress 2.9 interacts with the NextGen Gallery.  I have the NextGen plugin installed, and while the picture in the post has properties that have been resized, the the same picture, when accessed through the viewer in the NextGen gallery, accesses the original (over 2,000 px across) and is quite close-up and does not conform to the resized one.  Huh.  And with the beauty of Open Source, I think to myself, “Huh.  Maybe I can change that.”  Ahh, code.  How it is quickly becoming a source of never – ending fascination and a little bit of the other f-word.  But it still is overwhelmingly, positively fascinating.

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?

Stop. Go.

No. Yes.

What to do if both signals contradict each other?  Stand there?  Run?  Crawl?

Sandhill Cranes, From Wikipedia and birdphotos.com

The Sandhill Cranes are migrating through the Montrose, Colorado area. I was up on the roof shoveling off snow last week and heard strange, chirping sounds. As I looked up to the sky, I noticed large birds riding the thermals. At first I thought they were strange geese, as other flocks flew into join the circling thermal riders, they flew in the common ‘drafting’ position that geese usually fly in.

It’s a cheerful noise that they make, and it’s fairly loud, so other people in the neighborhood were also outside and looking up. It think I may have said something like, “Hey, weird geese huh.” But they informed me that they are Sandhill Cranes. “Look at the long legs on the birds,” they said. A full grown Sandhill Crane has a wingspan of 6-8 feet.  I’m going to try to get video of them.  It’s like being in Gotham City, but instead of being dark and somewhat gloomy with bats, the sky is a brilliant blue, the sun is shining, and the large birds make a joyful, loud, chirping sound.

Here’s the picture that I took, but a little imagination has to be used.

Ahh, yes.  I’m in Las Vegas for BlogWorld. The feel here is one that is at the cutting edge of the Wild West of the internet.  There is a nice, slightly geeky, yet creative buzz in the air; that people have the ability to create, report on and engage using audio, video and words.

Blog World, Las Vegas 2009

I’m trying get a feel for the pulse of where documentary filmmaking can go.  It think that the ability to engage audiences and the traditional form of screening within a theater is changing for the independent.  Where is it going?  As I stated, I’m trying to get a feel for it.  (I’m talking about going beyond youtube and comments, DVDs and screening on various surfaces, moving more toward continual audience interaction – and action within a documentary type – topic format.)

Word Camp was fabulous and was one of my more favorite parts of Blog World. I loved Word Camp because of my continuing relationship and fascination with code. Code development moves quickly, is constantly being built upon and plugged into as new aps are constantly being built. It’s lovely. My other favorite part was seeing and learning about new technology on the exhibit floor. There is something definitely different (and way more fun) about meeting people and talking to them directly about new technologies rather than finding them on the internet. We are still human beings, and the interaction is valuable.

Here are some technologies (that were new to me) that I found to be really, really cool.

Techsmith is a company operating out of Lansing, Michigan that makes a whole suite of different creative manipulation software. Jing allows the ability to modify pictures by adding font, shapes, and is a great tool in our image laden world. I’m going to get started using it to explain different passive – active solar systems that are tied to the grid. (I’m fascinated by building passive solar buildings and am creating a website to share information at greenpassivesolar.com. It’s currently under construction on MAMP.) They also create camtasia, a screen and audio recording software. I’ve watched all the tutorials and am playing with it to see what it can do. (While I was at VidExpo in Colorado, I did a quick demo with a new mic that Sennheiser was coming out with – that records data within the microphone, which then is transferred or downloaded onto a computer,  which we then pulled into camtasia to edit and compare quality.  The audio with the Sennheiser was warmer and potentially delivered much cleaner, while the recorder on the mac pulled surprisingly good audio into the timeline as well.)

Another thing that I’m interested in following is redlasso.com although, while I’ve created an account, I haven’t been able to log in yet, so this little section is based on what their people told me. It is a video – what to call it? – snagging place that allows bloggers to embed recently broadcasted news video. Bloggers can create exactly the clip that they want to embed, in relatively good quality, then can embed that specific clip into his or her blog or website. Redlasso.com currently captures only two weeks of recent content across a variety of broadcast media outlets, and if someone has created a clip from the content, redlasso preserves that digital content on their servers. Otherwise, they only archive up to two weeks of content. The interesting thing is that they have already been through the lawsuit process (because the broadcast media outlets weren’t exactly sure what to do with them – do they serve them a cease and desist? Would that instead hurt the broadcasters?  Is this internet tie into the blogging world actually better for broadcasters? Etc…..) and thus, redlasso has entered into a symbiotic relationship with the broadcasters and now actually provide an internet service for the broadcasters. Since it has been over three months, and I still have not received any login information, and since after recently checking out their website, it appears that they don’t have that much use. Maybe it is all happening internally in the RedLasso world, but here’s a screen shot off of their front page where you can see that a handful – only one or two views have been logged. What is going on with RedLasso?

I do think woopra.com, a live web analytics company is also something that I want to learn more about. They just came out of beta, stopped their free accounts, then decided to restart it, so you too can check it out.  Before embedding, I want to learn more about it. I’ll play, and you can too. Let me know what you find, and I’ll do the same.