Wintry strength

Ridiculous dog.

Sun, 07 Aug 2005 16:11:57 GMT

This is how my dog sleeps (the pictures were taken an hour apart.)

Mon, 30 May 2005 03:04:23 GMT

More backyard and greyhound photos here.

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 21:03:08 GMT

Someone's seen an ivory billed woodpecker!

Oh yeah.

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 23:03:31 GMT

I heard my first spring peepers last Wednesday.

Sun, 10 Apr 2005 19:45:19 GMT

My brava (touring) bicycle is back to its old pre-fall bike trip self. No rack and smaller tires with higher pressure.

My initial plan was simply to true the wheels, something that hadn't be done since the trip (when I continually had one spoke that would come loose.) In the end the spoke nipples were too rounded off to really true the wheel very well, so with some effort two spokes were replaced! And with Simon's help, I trued up the wheel even though it seemed like the spokes I replaced couldn't get any tighter. (Simon thought to loosen the others, of course.) While the touring tires were off to true the wheel, I switched over to my old normal tires.

It looks good, though the tires somehow look tiny! I debated just keeping the rack on there in case I needed to transport anything large, but I realized it's easy enough to put back on and I always have my bag with me when I'm biking anyway (because my rear lights are attached to it.)

Bike updates.

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 04:36:53 GMT

I forgot to mention that last weekend I regreased the bearings in the front and rear wheels of my touring bike (with Simon's aid). The rear wheel was getting really wobbly during the last week of my trip, and I hadn't fixed it since then because I've been riding my winter bike (and my fixed for a little bit in November.) It's good to know how to do that, and it's my sort of thing since it involves cleaning small bits and pieces (plus green goo). I also put a seat on the poor thing (my fancy seat's on my fixed gear for now, just because it looks so good on a black bike) so it's back in action! And cleaned the chain and cleaned it in general and tightened up the brakes a bit. It looks pretty good, aside from the bar tape (which has faded to being definitely hot pink so maybe it's ok that it's a bit tattered?) Though of course it's been snowy or I've been sick since I did the work, so no recent test rides. I've left the rack on it for now, even the positioning isn't great for the rear brake cable.

I also cleaned up my winter bike some. The chain was falling off a bunch last Friday night (as it tends to do when it gets dirty), but I think this time it was because the deraileur hanger (which the chain tensioner hangs from) somehow got a little bent. I meant to look into getting a new one this week but this sickness I've barely left the house. (I never get sick like this!) My one trip into Amherst left me nauseous at the top of a not very large hill. Pretty pathetic. However, cleaning the chain has made the bike ridable in the short term.

The fixed gear currently has a flat. Easy enough to fix, so soon enough all three bikes will be in ridable shape! (This seemed particularly exciting last weekend, when it was warm and sunny. Tonight it is snowing again, so I'll probably be on my winter bike mostly, despite the fine conditions of the other bikes.) With this sickness though, I'll just be happy to be riding daily again.

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 21:44:42 GMT

I'm reading a great book called Towing Jehovah (by James Morrow). It's about the men and women aboard an oil tanker who are towing god's body to the Arctic after he has died.

(I'm also wicked sick. Not fun at all.)

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 20:06:46 GMT

I finally bought some Buckminster Fuller stamps today! I'm quite excited because I've been meaning to buy them since my bike trip (when I'd see posters in post offices of them), but whenever I was at the post office in the last few months I'd forget to ask or they'd be out of them. I also got some Native American art stamps and some boring flower stamps (because I didn't want to use the cool stamps I got on bills.)

It's sleeting out, which was fun to bike in for some reason. Simon's going to get soaked biking home without a front fender. But I enjoyed dashing around in my florescent rain jacket!

I also brought my bike bag in to a cobbler to get some new buckles put on it. Soon I won't have to tie the thing to my body! (I've had trouble with the plastic just snapping in very cold weather, so I finally bought new plastic buckles from an outdoor store.) Sadly I won't have it back until Monday, but when I get it back it will be in such good shape.

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 19:51:54 GMT

30 degrees feels so hot! (Running in short sleeves (and a jacket, but still!))

On a different note, I had a dream that I was working at a camp again and Lance Armstrong was running staff training. It included learning to swim uphill (whatever that means) as well as various bicycle races.

Fri, 28 Jan 2005 12:50:18 GMT

I dislike that standing for 8 hours a day makes my knee hurt. I thought I had outgrown my knee problems.

Snowshoeing.

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 23:14:28 GMT

We got a bunch of snow in Amherst, MA (somewhere between one and two feet.) It started yesterday afternoon and continued until around noon today. This afternoon I went for a walk (on snowshoes) around Wentworth Farm conservation area, which happens to be right around the corner from our new apartment. (I'm curious about the name, because though there are a bunch of fields, there isn't any obvious farm nearby. Perhaps the land used to be owned by someone named Wentworth.) It was a lot of fun and the few people I saw were really friendly. It seems like a nice area. I took some pictures.

Right as you enter Wentworth Farm, you walk over a cool bridge. The ice underneath the bridge had cool patterns in it.

I saw a lot of birds, including a whole flock of robins eating staghorn sumac. I thought robins went further south for the winter, but they seemed quite content.

I also saw this woodpecker, who was madly chipping away at the bark of this tree. He was moving very quickly and so it was hard to take pictures of him.

This picture shows what most of the area looks like. The trails seem to go in and out of groups of trees and around fields. It was really windy this afternoon, and so I tried to take some pictures showing the snow blowing everywhere, but those didn't turn out as well. (I took a bunch of pictures, but thought putting more than four up here would be a bit excessive.)

I think I should start wearing a more tightly knit hat.

Fri, 21 Jan 2005 22:12:38 GMT

While running, the sweat-soaked hair closest to my scalp froze.

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 19:20:28 GMT

A layer of ice developed between my raincoat and my fleece jacket after only about 20 minutes of biking. It's rather cold out! (And yes, presumably that ice was from my sweat.)

But as a result of that errand, I'm going to be working at the textbook annex for a few days at the beginning of the semester. Better than no job at all!

Running in snow.

Wed, 12 Jan 2005 22:44:54 GMT

Leaping over boulders of snow-sand combinations!

(Luckily once the sidewalk ended and I had to switch to the wide shoulder of the road it was much clearer.)

Our new apartment is great. It's been snowing a lot in Amherst. We've got a kitchen to cook in. Things are pretty good.

Sat, 11 Dec 2004 18:08:23 GMT

Ode to a two sandwich man.

(Now I just must write it.)

Pixies.

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 16:33:05 GMT

Simon and I went to see the Pixies last night. Lots of fun. An excellent birthday present.

(We didn't bike there, however, and it's not so good when Kate and cars meet.)

My pista.

Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:27:55 GMT

I rode my fixed gear bicycle today for the first time in about five months (this summer (where I was in one place and thus not biking at all) plus this fall (where I was riding my touring bike the whole time.)) It was so wonderful. I've really missed it. It felt like I was riding really fast (probably because I was, in comparison to my speed with forty pounds of stuff on the back of my bike.) And though it felt a bit wobbly between my legs as a result, it's also nice to ride to get places (and I don't mean Baton Rouge) again (I was riding to the library.) I realized it was the first time I've ridden in a week too, which is weird. It felt really good, though my elbows and wrists are a bit stiff.

Simon was right. I really did get back just in time for the perfect fall weather. I grabbed my gloves, thinking I'd need them at my racing speed, but no. It's the perfect temperature, where you wear an extra layer and your leg gets a bit chilly where you roll up your pants, but on the whole the air cools you just enough so you don't get sweaty.

As I was dashing down my street, the postman called out "have a good day Natalie!" which made me laugh. Close enough!

Celia and I were convinced that the colors of the leaves were just as amazing in the south, that the whole idea of New England having particularly "good leaves" (whatever that meant) was something in our heads or some sort of snobbery. But we left the northeast before the leaves had started to change, so we really had no recent basis of comparison. We realized upon our return that the leaves really are just more brilliant here. Fall is all the more dramatic as a result.

Photos.

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 22:30:41 GMT

So lots and lots of photos of my bicycle trip can be found here, arranged by state. Hopefully they are neither overwhelming in their number nor completely boring. (I tried to cut down the number of pictures of corn. We seemed to find it quite stunning, based on the number of photos we took of it.)

Bicycle trip.

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 04:45:05 GMT

I'm back from my bicycle trip. I spent the last seven weeks bicycling around the eastern half of the US with an old friend of mine. We started in Boston and biked mostly straight west until the Mississippi River, then crossed into Missouri and went through the Ozarks a bit, and then back east into Kentucky and Tennessee, then south through Mississippi and ending in Baton Rouge. We met a lot of incredibly kind people, saw lots of beautiful countryside, ate a lot of food and had a lot of fun. In all we biked about 2800 miles (with only four flats!) I'll have photos up some time soon.

Now to find a job and an apartment in Amherst, MA!

Tue, 04 May 2004 14:25:02 GMT

I forgot to mention. It makes me a little sad that the only news article I can find about the bike ride (the biggest bike ride in North America) is a sad article about how two people died from heart attacks (one of whom was only 29.)

Bike New York

Tue, 04 May 2004 05:58:41 GMT

So this weekend I rode in Bike New York's Five Borough Tour. It's a 42 mile ride with about 30,000 other bicyclists. We drove down Saturday night, did the ride Sunday, and then drove home.

I had a good time. It was pretty interesting and challenging riding with so many other people. There were all sorts of people riding: middle aged people who had dragged their bikes out of the garage, amazing racers with expensive fancy bicycles, hipsters on fixed gears without brakes, kids riding on their own or attached to their parents' bicycles, tandems, hand cycles, recumbants. Since there were so many people riding, the group didn't really split up into fast riders and slower riders. You were constantly passing people and getting passed, so you always had to pay attention in order not to be knocked over.

We had decent weather. There were a few showers which made the roads a bit slippery and it was somewhat cool. I rode in long sleeves the whole time.

We rode over a bunch of the bridges in New York City (and obviously through all five boroughs.) Mostly, it was incredible how many cyclists there were. My photos are somewhat deceiving because I was only able to take pictures at the rare moments we were in between clumps and the riders were more spread out. Most of the time I was too busy navigating to get a hand free and take a picture.

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 20:44:03 GMT

A beautiful, beautiful day! 77 degrees, which really should feel too hot but at the same time it's sort of nice. I got so sweaty biking up the hill for work.

I got a bunch of errands done this afternoon. First of all NEW BIKE SHOES. I had quite the debate and tried three different models on in two or three sizes. I'm so excited about them. I came home and put cleats in them and I told Simon I'd take him out to dinner and so now I'm just antsy to go! Because I can rush around in shoes with no laces and more solid bottoms and velcro straps. Plus they're a nice light blue/grey color. These are them. I'll take my own pictures soon. I'm excited. Perhaps not the sexiest, sportiest, most hardcore shoes in the world, but awesome.

(Also deposited paychecks for two jobs and state and federal tax return checks, so the money front is improving.)

I also got something to put around my neck to hold my camera on while biking around New York City. (I'm doing The Bike New York Five Borough Tour on Sunday.) I'm excited, because the only time I've spent in New York City has been the bus station.

Oh yeah.

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 19:13:36 GMT

I don't know how I forgot to write about this last night, but I made it all the way up Buffalo Street last night! (Something I've vaguely been working on since this summer, more seriously been attempting for the past month.) I was quite pleased (and ended up being early to the staff meeting as a result.)

(And today, my run was faster than usual. Wahoo.)

Mon, 19 Apr 2004 04:55:00 GMT

Two flats in twenty-four hours!

Fri, 16 Apr 2004 01:37:57 GMT

The bottom bracket and the bar tape on my brava have both been replaced! Installing the bottom bracket was close to effortless. I thought the bar tape I ordered was red, but it seems to be hot pink! Makes life exciting! It sort of clashes with the dark blue of my bicycle, but perhaps it's just dramatic. I'm just excited to have something beneath my hands again. Even if I didn't do a completely perfect job putting the bar tape on (it was my first time), it certainly looks better than the falling down bar tape I had before, with electrical tape holding it together in places. Plus my hands won't get cold in winter on the cold metal! Speaking of electrical tape, I think I'm going to replace the ugly 'profile designs' tape that came with the bar tape up near the stem with plain black electrical tape. I'm quite excited about all this. (I still need to switch the seats.)