May 30 - riding and wiring

It turned out to be a great day for a ride.  At about the 69.5 mile mark, my legs finally warmed up.  Was that due to the proximity of the end (70 miles) or finally loosening up ?  I don't know.

All this squatting, crouching and kneeling really stiffens up my legs.  I think that I'm in for a rough first day at the Shenandoah.  It also looks like it will be a wet 1200k with varying predictions of "rain" and "isolated thunderstorms" and "scattered thunderstorms" every day.  Sheesh.  I'll be well prepared for London-Edinburgh-London !

The ride out of Davis CA, however, will be another thing altogether.  I expect cold nights < 50F and hot days > 90F.  That will be interesting !  It's a long way off though.  At just over 3 weeks away, it would seem close but with the Shen in between, it's secondary.

I continued my wiring, or, rather, connector-ing.  I've now got the patch panel in place and all the Cat5 and Coax cables plugged into it.  There doesn't seem to be any way of really making it neat, however, since those Cat5 cables are so stiff.  I'd have to box it in, which is always a possibility of course.

The telephone wires are another thing.  Easy to work with but haven't decided whether to terminate them all in the block or not.  I might try that but that might also introduce additional hum into what is already a noisy line. 

We had chicken breasts with sweet potatoes, fiddleheads and roasted mini-carrots.  The carrots came out of the garden, last year's planting, believe it or not.  Obviously the frost didn't get very deep in the ground with all the leaves piled up to provide insulation. 

Sandy has just about finished up the garden work.  There's one more row to apply the rototiller and lettuce to plant, that's it.  She's done quite well, taking much less time this year due to the leaf cover.

Our new washer and dryer are supposed to arrive today.  That will occupy some time, i.e. getting the old ones out of the way.  I'm going to store them in the barn and am giving them to Mike and Jill Davies who are looking for a house at the moment. 

Friday.   We're likely leaving Monday for Reading PA.  I've got packing to do but that's getting to be pretty routine for these bike rides.  I just bring everything and end up decided at the last moment what goes into my drop bags :).

Onward !