Nov 20 - some deliveries

I'm starting this blog right after I posted the other ...

I forgot to mention that there were some deliveries yesterday -- the Newegg order of the SATA disk and external housing + the cablesnmore firewire cables. It only took a few minutes to assemble the SATA disk and housing and attach them to the PC. I then copied the VMWare Windows XP environment (40 gb) onto that disk and brought it up, no problem. I'm back running on the original disk right now, will do some other read/write activities on that disk before committing myself. I may want to partition it into two -- a Linux EXT3 and a Windows NTFS -- have not decided yet.

More later ... still have not had my breakfast !

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Hard disk troubles -- is this coincidental or fortuitous ? Anyway, I was uploading some stuff to my website, full sized pictures -- not the ones you see -- and Windows froze. After some rebooting I found that one hard disk was not spinning up. I turned on the new external disk and all was well -- my yesterday full copy of the Windows environment was functioning properly. This pc has 3 internal drives and the new external SATA drive and an external USB/Firewire drive. It was one of the two 500gb internal drives that had failed -- these were purchased last Spring when I built this machine. The other drive, much older, is a small 40gb drive that has been partitioned into 4 -- a couple of Linux partitions (64 bit and 32 bit) and 2 Windows partitions. There is also a Windows partition (these are all bootable) on the other new 500gb drive. I booted to that partition and it couldn't see the drive either. I could hear the occasional clicking as the drive was trying to start. Anyway, after some more off & on cycles it did spin up. I'm now going to copy the remaining stuff from that 500gb drive (note that it's already backed up on the Firewire drive) onto the external SATA so that if worst comes to worst and it doesn't spin up again, I can pull it out and send it to WDC for a replacement without a lot of recovery time.

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It's morning again. I'm late getting to my blog update. I've been researching lighting systems for the last couple of hours, for my bike. There are too many options ... more on this later.

What else happened yesterday ? I went for the planned ride. It was an almost glorious day. A glorious day would be one where the temperature was a few degrees warmer so I did not have to wear a long-sleeved jersey. But ... I'm not complaining !! As I said, it was a glorious day.

I pushed it harder yesterday, finishing my 70 miles in 4:19, average rolling speed 16.3. That's not too bad considering that most rides up north take 5 hours -- that's the difference that smooth pavement makes. Hills up north also make a small difference, but not as much as the constant stopping for traffic lights do on US 1. On the way out, into the wind, I was doing 14-16 mph and seldom stopped. On the way back, 19-21 and it seemed that this was bad timing for the traffic lights. It was comical because there was this guy riding a mountain bike that was consistently riding 2-3 mph slower than me and he caught up with me, passed me at every traffic light and then as I accelerated again, I passed him. He was trying to draft, but couldn't keep up. He was probably 50 pounds heavier than me, with a bike that was probably 50% heavier -- in that sense he was doing better than I ... and since I really wasn't getting ahead, who was the smarter rider ??

I really didn't do anything else.

On the computer -- I'm running on the external SATA drive right now without any problems. The internal disk is also working ... for now. I spent a lot of time in the a.m. yesterday fiddling with that. The external drive stays nice and cool -- the reason that I bought a separate enclosure and drive is that I wanted an enclosure with a fan. I have experience with two other external fanless drives that get quite warm/hot with heavy use. Hot=Bad for any computer parts other than the case itself. Perhaps rubber feet can get hot ... no, then they smoke.

Dinner -- salmon, leftover rice, green beans. We don't often have salmon down here -- perhaps once per season. It's about the only fish that is not local. Sandy wasn't inspired by any of the other fish at the store yesterday.

Back to lighting systems -- for the long brevets I'm going to need a decent headlight. I have a couple of LED headlights that will satisfy the organizers that I've followed the rules but they are not really bright enough for at-speed riding in the dark outside of a city. With the upcoming brevets -- 300km will likely run past dusk. 400km will mean riding most of the night. 600km will be most of the night, a short sleep, and more riding. If you figure 15mph / 24kph average speed, I'll be riding 12.5, 16.7 and 25 hours respectively. Add more time to that for stops. Assuming a 6am start, you get the idea. Many people do the 600km straight through. I'll have to see how I feel doing the 400km.

So -- lighting systems -- battery power, for a bright headlight (think car-like) only lasts a couple of hours. Some people get away with two lights -- a long-lived dim light for most use and a bright light when necessary or one light with a dim/bright switch. For instance, climbing a hill at 7mph does not require a bright long-distance light. 25 mph down a hill, though, requires a light that doesn't make you feel that you're riding in a tunnel.

Wheels ... now how did I get to wheels ? Well, my current array of wheels is being stretched as far as longevity goes. Wheels fail in two ways -- rims and hubs. On the Rolf wheels I've replaced the bearings in the hubs so they'll last a long time. The rims, however, are what the brakes rub against and, you guessed it, rubber+sand=sandpaper against those rims. They're still holding out, but this will probably be the last season. The Mavic Helium rims that I have as a backup are even older and you can feel the wear on the rims. Eventually those braking surfaces thin out and they simply get weak and distort. The process is gradual enough that you are not likely to have catastrophic failure, just a very out-of-true wheel after some bump.

Riding at night has additional hazards. You cannot avoid everything. You hit more potholes, go over more rocks etc. You want bomb-proof wheels. Also, the longer brevet rides are not about speed, they're about getting there without a major mechanical problem that makes you a DNF (Did Not Finish).

So ... wheels and headlights ? Well, one option is a front hub that is a generator. They are heavier than regular hubs, naturally, but these generators are quite efficient not consuming too many watts of your energy to put out wattage for the bulb. There's a fellow in NH who builds wheels with these hubs -- or of course I could also build my own wheels, but for the $35 that he charges to build a wheel ... well, I'll just work with him. $35 does not include parts ... naturally ... hubs, spokes, rims ... but his prices are just as good as pre-built wheels from Performance. These wheels would be a lot cheaper than my Rolfs, but would be bomb-proof, relatively speaking. The Rolfs are really racing wheels -- light, aerodynamic, and wouldn't be the wheel of choice for someone, say, riding across the country if he/she weighed much more than me. I was lucky that they stood up. It's not what they are designed for. It made the job easier though !!

I'm still researching. I don't know what his lead time is on building wheels -- I'll have to call and check. At this time of year he may be more available than in April :).

Today ... don't know. I may ride again, since Bill and Collette arrive tomorrow afternoon. I'll check the weather forecast and decide on whether I should ride today or tomorrow.

That's it ...