Sui generis intersection
andy| February 8, 2010 4:27 pmSometimes, I think civil engineers are out there making fun of everybody…
I wonder what they were thinking when they designed this marvel…
Archive for the 'Outdorsy' category
Panacea Backpack
andy| February 4, 2010 4:29 pmI need a new backpack. Boring… What I need is one backpack to rule them all. I am talking about the bike-commuting, laptop carrying backpack beast. Oh, and I want everything… I bike commute 100+ miles a week, usually I carry a laptop with me, and I almost always carry change of clothing, books, and other things. And I want a backpack to accommodate all that and more.
So, what are my requirements?
- Comfortable ~ none of that messenger stuff. I want something I can bike century rides (100 miles) at speeds over 30MPH and not feel bad afterwards. It has to have shoulder and hip straps that are comfortable and breathable. and include a padded mesh back. It should be light, but the general comfort is more important.
- Functional ~ it should be small enough to carry it on the plane as a second carry on, but at the same time big enough to fit everything I need. Furthermore it has to have pockets and compartments to easily access stuff.
- Durable ~ obviously, I don’t want it to fall apart.
Here is what I want to carry inside
- Laptop ~ currently this is 15″ MacBook Pro, but perhaps at some point somebody (hint hint) will buy me MacBook Air. I would like my laptop to be accessible even if the backpack is full of stuff. In other words, I want to be able to pull my laptop out without having to take anything else out and without anything else spilling out.
- Books ~ well, you cannot travel without those, can you. Again, easy access is crucial.
- Clothing ~ and by clothing, I mean everything: shirt, pants, underwear, socks, and sometimes even shoes and jacket. Here the access is not as important, as I usually have time to change.
- Paperwork ~ yeah, you know, the regular A4/letter type stuff. Has to fit a folder type thing to put the paperwork in. I assume a laptop pocket would fit this.
- Other stuff ~ such as bike tools, keys, wallets, lights, etc. Those things should be in a separate pockets, so I can access them without taking anything out of the bag.
So, what is the problem? Well, it turns out that you can either get a functional bag or a comfortable bag, but not both. Most bag manufacturers will give you pockets, laptop compartments, but their bags will be uncomfortable or only comfortable for short rides. Example of these kind of bags is: Timbuk2 – Q. Functionality wise, it has everything I want. But, a quick look at its back side reveals that is would be completely useless, unless your commute is 4 miles or less.
Alternatively there are day-backpacks from reputable backpack companies, which have a great back support and feel good even on longer rides. However, these backpack are never designed to carry anything similar to a laptop. Even worse, they usually have a curved back, so you cannot fit easily flat things without loosing space. An example of those bags is: Deuter ACLite. It has a nice back support, but you can see that there is no easy access for the laptop:
This one looks promising, but I got to check it out:
Perhaps what I really need to do is get a nice backpack and fit a good laptop insert in. Well, that is what I have now, and trust me, it is not optimal.
So, what do you think? Is there such a beast?
Ostracize the Healthy
andy| October 18, 2009 4:46 pmI have some non-PC comments, but I will let you have your own…
Sedulous Hours on the Bike
andy| August 3, 2009 10:47 pmOn Saturday, I did it… I completed my third double century. This one was Mt Tam Double in Marin county. Check out its route. Unfortunately because of California’s budget problems, they closed Mt. Tam, so we rode around it, but it was just as fun.
Here are some stats:
* 200 miles
* 14:20 hours
* 14,500 feet of climbing
* Over 10000 calories lost
* 12 hours of huge grin on my face
* About 8000 calories lost by running my mouth
* Spending gorgeous Sunday outside… priceless!!
This was by far my favorite double century. The roads were nice, scenery was outstanding, and provided food was exactly what I needed. The only drawback that I can imagine was the wind. There was a lot of head wind.
But, just for the record, with this one I completed California Triple Crown. California Triple Crown is an award given to every rider who completes three qualified 200 mile bike rides (double centuries) in one calendar year. I did the following three double centuries:
* 3/28/2009 ~ Solvang Spring Double ~ 7,200 feet of climbing
* 5/16/2009 ~ Davis Double ~ 8,400 feet of climbing (at 100 F)
* 8/1/2009 ~ Mt Tam Duble ~ 14,500 feet of climbing
Solvang was fairly easy. Davis was hard because of the high temperatures. The interesting thing is that last year it was supposedly even more hot. The high heat makes sure that water you are drinking is warm and not refreshing.
So, what next? Well, there are still several double centuries before the end of the year. Perhaps I could get 1000 miles in. Or, maybe I will focus on something else. So many things to do, but so little time. No matter what, I think I will do some biking.
Doughty Descents
andy| 10:29 pmOne more year, one more Death Ride. This time JC and I came to Tahoe area a bit early and camp on top of Ebbetts Pass. There is a lot of things to do there. Like most people we did some riding, but in addition to that, we did some other fun stuff. On top of Ebbetts Pass, there is a little lake and I did take a medium sized log for a joy-ride around that lake. I had to build an oar, but a little duct tape and some sticks and I had a great oar.
One funny story about the tent. The first night we came at 3 AM, so we quickly put the tent up and start getting ready to sleep. But, when we came back to the tent site, the tent was gone. Turns out there was a gust of wind that rolled the tent into the bushes. So, the tent was placed back and some extra stakes were placed to hold it in place.
But what I wanted to talk about is Death Ride. Last year I did not complete. But this year… I guess all those double centuries payed off. Not only that I finished, but I finished in style. The whole thing started in the middle of the night (3:30 AM), when the alarm went off and soon afterwards the marching band started making a huge noise around the campground. Where do you find a marching band these days?
We started riding not that long after and got in the middle of Monitor Pass when the sun came up. Bombing down the back of the Monitor pass was fun as always. I got speeds of close to 52 miles per hour there. Climbing back up was not a problem either. Especially with a bunch of volunteers running and refilling people’s water bottles. Of course I also got speeds of over 50 miles per hour on the front side of Monitor.
Ebetts Pass was more fun for climbing and we also completed it with no problem. On the back side of Ebbetts, some beginner rider pretty much stopped in front of me, as I was flying down at 45 miles per hour, so I had to break. My bike fishtailed, but fortunately I was able to regain control without accident. After completing the back side of Ebbetts, we stopped at the lunch stop. At lunch, there were some racers that were previously bragging about how they will dominate the ride, but now they were sitting there complaining about how hard the ride is. Karma…
Finally after Ebbetts Pass, we continued pass the start to climb Carson Pass. This one is the easiest and hardest depending on how you look. It is the last one, so you are pretty tired by then. But, it is also fairly easy slope, so it is easy. Then again, there was a head wind most of the way, so it is hard. However, there was a rest stop half the way, so you can take a break. And so on. In any case, we completed Carson Pass and got the deserved icecream. Oh, and we signed the 2009 Death Ride poster.
After hanging out at the top of Carson Pass for some time, we rode down towards the finish. The good thing about the Carson descent is that it is about 15 miles long and steep enough, so you actually gain enormous speed. We were flying down this thing at over 50 miles per hour, passing cars, other cyclists, and time itself. The ride finished with a little bit of rolling hills with some refreshing rain. We completed the day with some long deserved dinner, where we met some other friends that also did the ride.
So, Death Ride? Well, took me two tries, but I got it. I think camping on Ebbetts Pass helped. Also, eating proper food and being with friends added to a overall fantastic experience. I am looking forward to the next year’s Death Ride.
