Off to Paris!

http://www.audax-club-parisien.com/ Here's the Paris-Brest-Paris web site. Dear family, friends, neighbors, associates, and others; This August I will travel to France to participate in Paris-Brest-Paris. Check out the link for more info... it is the oldest bicycle "race" in the world - held every four years. It starts outside of Paris, goes 600k to Brest and then back to Paris. An utra-cycling marathon of 1200k ( 746 miles) that must be completed in 90 hours or less. This will be my first trip to Paris. As many of you who know me - I hate being a tourist. I will be wearing a jersey that says "Ne se dispute pas je, je suis local." ( Don't hassle me, I'm local) In order to get the most out of this trip I'm am reaching out to you, my worldly knowledgeable friends, for any thing French: tips on food, places to see, free couches to sleep on, catchy phrases, - anything to make me an immediate citizen of France. Or - if you are one of my un-worldly friends - I can try to fulfill you requests by bringing you back a souvenir of something French, a part for a Renault, or a photo of the basement of the Eiffel Tower or anything else you've always been curious about. thanks for your input, David.

A stone in the wall will cry out. A beam in the roof will answer it.

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Stick the level on top and hammer in a little wedge of rock underneath to bring it to level. Put the wedge of rock in the spot that rocks - like putting a napkin under a wobbly table in a restaurant. If you don't have any wedges - you gotta make them - which should be doable with a rock/ brick laying hammer and the Rose Sandstone. Or you and Cathal can go on a wedge hunting trip at the local stream. cut into the slope where wall is parallel and stair case the wall down the slope. Backfill space between wall and slope. Generally looks weird when attempt to follow slope with wall. - although it can be done.

http://www.amazon.com/Vaughan-BL24-24-Ounce-Bricklayers-Treated/dp/B0002IGHAW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1259936638&sr=1-3-spell

Stone Wall Building 2007

Stone Wall Building














Hey there; When asked what he was planning on doing in his retirement, Lance Armstrong said he has been dreaming about building a stonewall on is Austin Texas property. these are the rules I have discovered: Move the rocks as few times as possible. Keep a good selection on hand so you have good shapes from which to choose. Keep a good selection of wedge pieces to level the tops of stones Use the lumpy - mis-shapen stones and wrong sizes as fill. Keep em tight - stones should be sturdy after placement. If it looks wrong from a distance - it is wrong. Try to tie two stones or three together by overlapping with another. you must do this in both directions in a free standing wall. Watch your back. I like to mix in old bricks I find and interesting rocks. The retaining wall I built around the garden is not my best work. Originally I was going to have a retaining wall that was strictly built ruble style. But I started manipulating the pile and before you knew it I had my level out then I got the hammer and started putting in wedges. In this wall there are only about a dozen wedges. In my tighter walls nearly every stone is wedged - often with more than one wedge. I started on the right and worked left. This wall was built very quickly and with virtually no planning or design. The last section I did I worked back from the right corner... this ended in a nice pile of small ruble stones which got covered when I tilled the garden. The wood serves two purposes: It keeps the dirt off the wall and it allows me to weed whack the bottom of the wire fence. I probably would not have used the wood if it hadn't been given to me free and it weas already sitting in the garden having been used two years ago for our hockey rink. I tried to tie the 8' cedar posts into the wall. Originally the posts (set at 94" apart) marked where the top of each 3' roller of my bmx-pump track was to be located - now I hate to hide the wall with unsightly mounds of dirt ... but I am going to try to do it anyway. I changed several things as I went along. I adjusted the sizes of rocks - this was because I was digging rocks out of my foundation excavation pile as I dug them... generally two big ones and the rest small flatter... but I went more with how they came out of the pile. I should have stacked them all before I began but some were too big to move twice and it was a lot faster to work right out of the bucket of my tractor. Some of the bigger ones I pryed out of the bucket and let them lay right where they dropped and worked with it. On the going back wall - I layed a big flat then put in table legs of support stones and then covered with big flat again and repeated - kinda liked this look and wanted to keep working with it. Note that the garden stock tank tub is sitting on a pile of ruble stones from the garden. let me know if you have questions.. i try to send a shot of my culvert wall if I can get the weeds out of the way.. David.

Quebec 300k

Quebec 300k

Trans Canada Trail

The rain behind me - .Petit Temis Trail - Quebec, Canada.

I just completed 5 days of riding on dirt, fully loaded - tour divide
style (without the elevation gain.) It was an amazing adventure and for
that reason alone I am going ahead with Tour Divide plans!
But it was a lot slower than I thought it would be, hard to maintain more
than a 12mph average with speeds around 6mph on the rougher stuff. (note- computer was mis-calibrated)
riding flat for me is tough as climbing though I need to do more loaded
climbing to work out kinks and mabe shed some pounds.
It was a stunning trip - very beautiful. I rode 84 miles from Moretown
crossed the border in Beebbe Plains and got right on a little rail
trail... had to do a little go around Lake Massawippi but then right on
the Route Vert - off road almost entirely to Quebec City... then about a
hundred on road/bike lane up the St Lawrence to Riviere du Loup,
then up over the watershed on the Petit Temis Trail - pretty cool - right
into NewBrnswick where the trail kind ended. After 25 miles of
pavement I founda fourwheeler track that I rode 70 miles along the st john
river to woodstock NB (where I-95 ends in Maine) where I now must get on
bus to be with family. about 600 miles ? in two half days and three ful
days of riding. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
would be great training pulling trailer with child(ren)
photos to follow
so technical questions:
bivy vs tent ... i used tent to organize and pack and mosquito fre map
reading.

how do you dry stuff if you are racing? Never had this issue hiking.

food turned out not to be a big deal every gas station here has good
yogurht and egg salad sandwiches

giardia - I used to fork mounted water bottles but they got so much road
dirt on them... camel backs take more time and fuss to deal with but seem
to stay cleaner. I used a uv light to sterilize questionabe water.

packing - took me four days to get it right on the bike - but takes so
much time in the morning to sort through - re-organize and to get
evrything on the bike!

Rohloff idea made a lot of sense here too as last 70 miles was very wet...
chain was in constant need of lube and why not with that lower derailleur
pulley just inches off the ground. I am thinking hammerschimdt my self.
(note: went with Alfine)

My chain needs 30 min wiorth of maintenance - really should pull the cogs
and empty the bb. pedals are trashed to - no more Crank bros for me! had
to buy onesided wellgo brand at gunshop/snowmachine/chainsaw/oh bikes too
store
goto go.... at this crazy hostel in new brunswick
david

see all photos here:  

Funny slushes in Quebec. From the Wiki:

Sloche is a frozen beverage sold by the convenience store chain Couche-Tard, mostly in the province of Quebec, Canada. While it is similar in concept to the traditional Slush Puppie, Sloche has gathered much publicity through an aggressive (and sometimes controversial) marketing campaign. The oversized Sloche plastic cups are covered with humorous slogans such as: "No animal has tasted this product before you", "A good source of crushed ice". Couche-Tard also sells gummy candies under the Sloche brand. Some of these candies had to be removed from the shelves after allegations that their concept art was racist.It is also Quebec's equivalent to Icee, which is only sold in the United States, English Canada and Mexico.
Flavors
All Sloche flavor names are humorous and often gross, a marketing decision aimed at pleasing a mostly teenager crowd. The brand mission was described as: "To satisfy their need for sensory gratification and protest against authority, parents and society." The beverage's colors are vivid and the taste is said to be much sweeter than that of Slush Puppie and slightly more acidic. The following is an incomplete list of current and discontinued flavors:

* Rose Beef (Rosbeef)
* Sang Froid (Cold Blood)
* Gomme Balloune (Bubble Gum)
* Swompe (Swamp)
* Poussin Frappé (Slammed Chick)
* Liposuccion (Liposuction)
* Winchire Wacheur (Windshield Washer), formerly: Schtroumpf Écrasé (Crushed Smurf)
* Goudron Sauvage (Wild Tar)
* Cheddar Tropical (Tropical Cheddar)
* Gadoue (Dirty melted snow)
* Wontong (Wonton Soup)
* Full Zinzin (Full Zinzin)

The Schtroumpf Écrasé flavor was renamed because of copyright infringement concerns.

New Bike

Oh yeah - I got a new road bike... Here she is for all who haven't seen her! 2005 Litespeed Sienna.
No wonder I'm dreaming of PBP! but then look at the unfinished electrical project in the background!

Paris Brest?

Unaswered questions - why am I writing a blog and should I ride Paris - Brest - Paris? First - I love reading others peoples blogs - so here's mine oh well - So far I have only one reader - Hello you!

Paris - Brest? should I do it? 750 miles in 90hrs... or would I rather race a normal season? Perhaps do a solo 750 mile ride to PEI on the trans canada trail?

I'll keep you posted here... so far I am maintaining fitness through the winter but am getting a bit burnt already!

A scary warm January - with plenty of riding and now indoors on the rollers. A little x-c skiing and some base building.

The best day.

There were two really ... both friday afternoons this fall - when kindergarten got done. One we went to the Stowe bike path and the other to Lake Champlain with Brad Powell. Brad took this picture on our way back from riding the causeway then a little apple tour, birdhouse land, miniture castles and the winery. Where Hazel said "they're not gonna give me wine are they?.. How about if I drink it outside?" Oh and we went to the fish hatchery but only saw a brown bunny. And the bike has brought such magic for being such a clunker. A Columbia Twosome from Westfield, Massachusetts. After debating a tag-a-long trailer then looking for kids tandem remote bottom bracket - I just took the hacksaw to the rear triangle on this soft-steel monster. In no time I had a 54cm compatible tandem with a 12" mini stoker. I replaced her cranks with some from a kids bmx bike - drilled holes for the extra chain ring and mounted them on the bmx bottom braket adapters ( a gift from Brad's bike box many years ago.) I flipped her bars - really need something different now that I look at the picture -and we were ready to roll. I lost the rim brake and was thinking I'd solder on some new v-brake mounts but the drum brake is working good enough for now. I need to run the tandem brake line from my bars cause as it is now I operate the front brake and she has the rear. It took a hundred miles or so before that Sturmey-Archer 3spd Drum brake finally broke-in. The cranks are set so that the stoker powers through my deadspot. This bike has always been a bear on climbs but with the increased power to weight ratio of my beautiful stoker chik - I have been surprised by the power surges on the hills. Two days after this photo I raced the Maple-Onion race at Morse Farm... I felt similar power surges in my reserves and blasted through to a surprise first place!
I'm still thinking about building a real tandem for the two of us... hmmmn - Might try Sheldon Brown's method.

Meat

To be or not to be... a vegetarian. Yes it is a chore... but even free moose meat comes at a cost (The moose had been hit by a truck) The apples, however, were delicious! A crime you can't buy a local apple . Doug and I made some suggestions about a new addition to the "right to farm law" called " a duty to farm law" If you buy land with apple trees on them you gotta farm 'em!

Middlebury Gap = 12%

biking Middlebury Gap = 12% = 54 mph (going east) surface bumpy but doable.

live to ride

Riding with brother J in NYC on way to central park.

5 - boro bike tour traffic jam

Seems like there was more traffic than ever this year... Still a fun day.

T -Trail Groomer

I gotta build one of these next fall!

How to fish a cable through a bike frame.

Never pull a cable out of a frame - leave a sleeve or something in there! Oh too late? I watched my shifter fall to the floor pulling the cable out of my Klein Palomino.
Here's how I got it back.

14g or 16g electric fence wire
mark the length where it just reaches the opposite hole.
insert (this is hard part) and twist until you see the tip - a strong light helps
push through hole - voila! (this step should only take about 20 minutes)
solder small wire - 24gauge? or brake cable? tip to tip to this wire.
easiest step... metalurgy - it worked. Only took 40 years to get some good soldering tips out of my dad... sand paper and a sponge are key in keeping tip hot enough.
pull through - put plastic sleeve on cable and you are back where you were an hour ago:
more simple time traveling!

What is this all about?

This is what I am up to lately when it comes to bicycles and other fun stuff.

Don't Read This.

Not sure if I like this idea of web log but perhaps more reliable than this lame computer hardrive. So sistemato... for my Italian friends who finally get a job like mine where you've been at it so long you no longer have to work hard and it is all guaranteed to be there. Ok - I wish my job was like that - but it only sometime is and now is not the time as I must go and do it!

It isn't snowing in May but this is last decent (not of manure) work photo I took on April 5, 2006 at Dean Conant's farm in Randolph, Vermont.

Puffin Project

Actually working on Atlantic Tern project - Puffins long gone.
I am holding the anti-puffin. Early 90's on Seal Island @ Matinicus Rock off Vinalhaven, Maine.
Working with world famous ornithologist and chick specialist Jonathan Rosenthal.