Friday ride

Fun to get back in the saddle for a Friday ride, after being away for awhile. l had a chance encounter with a squirrel running through my front wheel, or maybe just behind it. It happened so fast, I barely caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my left eye, then heard/felt some frantic activity underneath me, before everything quieted down and I continued with my ride. I’ve heard of this kind of thing resulting in serious injury and worse, so I’m feeling pretty lucky. 🤷‍♂️ 

Sharing a few photos from today…

Fall colors have arrived in our view from the breakfast table. 

Snowy Egret on a rock in the South Platte River. 

Cormorant on a rock by rapids in the South Platte River. 

Cycling event organizers taking down some of their signs after an event. 

Railroad tracks curving toward Denver, with the Rocky Mountains in the background. 

I’m seeing more red leaves along my bike rides. 

Purple and green colors along the Highline Canal Trail. 

Pleasant view of fence and fall color along the Lee Gulch trail. 

A little flash of red beside the Highline Canal Trail. 

Pretty reflections on the lake at Sterne Park during an after-dinner walk with our neighbors. 

Crested Butte

We drove to the little town of Crested Butte this week, and did a little exploring and fall color viewing. 

The town is nestled in the shadow of Mt Crested Butte, 

A photo from our delightful Monday scenic Colorado drive through Kenosha Pass…

Spectacular view from Cottonwood Pass. 

We tried a shortcut that put us on a rutted dirt road for a dozen or so miles. Not expected, but also not too bad. 

Saw some more colorful flora and some striking mountain peaks. 

Finished our Monday with a short walk to Secret Stash Pizza for a pesto pizza for dinner, and a great sunset.

Cool 35° Tuesday morning walk in Crested Butte

Tuesday afternoon drive over Kebler Pass to Paonia, for some great views and a delicious late lunch at Rio Brava.

Wednesday afternoon hike on Mt Crested Butte — we got some exercise, checked out the ski area, and saw lots of the Colorado Fall color!

Sunday ride

I got buzzed by a C-130 Hercules at the beginning of my warm 87° Sunday bike ride, then they kept coming around in circles, so I finally stopped to take some photos. 

I caught a few pics of sailboats and storm clouds, as I was making my way around the lake. 

More sailboats on Chatfield lake. I heard a series of warning horn blasts about this time, I’m guessing they were warning the boaters about some approaching storm cells.

At my midpoint hydration stop, I encountered a young man with a disabled bicycle and a bike trailer with two pug dogs in it, that were looking and sounding very thirsty. He’d already used up all of the water he was carrying, and was hoping to find a water fountain, with no luck so far, so I volunteered my water bottle to fill up their dog bowl. They were very happy. 

There were some dark looking storm clouds moving around the area, and on my final mile, I realized that one of those cells was racing me to my house, so I went into sprint mode, and I made it home about a minute before the rain hit.

After I got home, I used FlightAware to show me the track of that C-130. Presumably they were loitering over Littleton, until their moment to do a flyby of the Broncos game.

Trying Fedora 40

Every once in awhile, I boot my laptop computer into a different operating system - Fedora Linux. I miss my many work years of developing on a Linux system, with the command line terminals, the programming shells, and the VIM text editor, so I find it fun to step into a tiny version of that world, and see how things are going. 

I started messing with Linux at home in 2020, struggling a little with USB flash drives, trying to set one up with a bootable Linux image, and I eventually succeeded, but it was unbearably slow. It wasn't until later, that I discovered that some USB flash drives (including mine) don't support simultaneous reading and writing of data, which is an impossible constraint in a bootable disk. 

 

I resolved that issue completely, by setting up an external USB hard drive with a Fedora Linux boot image. I think back then, Fedora was at version 31, and I've been updating it occasionally, as they release a new version twice a year. My original installation, and the first few updates, were relatively complicated, but with clear instructions, and some helpful ISO boot image management programs like Rufus, I got through it. 

 

Last week, I updated my system to Fedora 40. Wow, what a difference. The update was pretty much painless, and the user experience is smooth and polished.

Freaky Friday

I hope you have a safe and fun Friday the 13th! It’s the first Friday the 13th of 2024, seen as one of the most unlucky days of the calendar year, a “spooky” reputation it earned centuries ago, although I had a positive experience on this day during my childhood, so I've always thought of it as a lucky day for me. This year will see the date occur twice, with the next one in December.

Thursday ride and repair

Hot and head-windy conditions for my Thursday bike ride. I was handling it ok, but then just to test my mettle a little more, my rear derailleur suddenly couldn’t access its two highest gears. While troubleshooting that in motion, I discovered that the front derailleur couldn’t shift out of its lowest gear. Hmm… 

I finally came upon a shady spot to continue my sleuthing, whereupon I found that the front derailleur shifter cable had pulled through its clamp. It was an easy fix, thanks to the compact multi-tool that I carry under my seat. 

After I got moving again, I encountered yet another rider who was having difficulty finding his way through the various trail discontinuities, and helped get him back on track a few times.

Remembering 9/11

The attack on New York's World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was such a horrific event. In some ways it seems like forever ago, but it also feels like yesterday… I was on my way to work when I heard on the radio of the first aircraft impacting the North tower, but then the succeeding events of the attack played out in the news over the rest of the morning. My heart still races in protest, just thinking about it.

I haven’t been to the September 11th memorial and museum in New York, but I’m pretty sure I’d be too choked up to fully appreciate the experience.

We lit an all-day candle this morning, in memory of those who didn’t make it past that day, 23 years ago…

55th HS Reunion

My High School classmates got together today for a 55th reunion, at a local park a short distance up in the foothills from my home town. I rode my bike up to that park when I was a teenager, and it felt like an unbelievably long trip, a climb for superhumans, and my first experience with riding a street bike on offroad trails -- fun memories. However, I couldn't see myself traveling 1,000 miles for that event, as I still have memories of feeling like mostly an outsider from the numerous tight-knit cliques at our school. I realize now, that it was just everyone's way of fitting in, to find some kids with shared interests, and hang with them, but that feeling of being excluded still hurts. It was nice to receive a photo from a friend who attended, of a few of those classmates who have later become my Facebook friends over the years.

Flash Bang Smoke!

An intense storm cell just moved through here, leaving some shock and awe in its wake. I was gazing out my window, looking away from my Flight Simulator DC-3 flight, and watching my next door neighbor’s construction materials blowing around, when my window suddenly got so bright I couldn’t see, and at the same time I was surprised by the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard. The first thing I did, is check on Jennefer and the kitties, who were fine, but the cats were on the floor looking up at me with a questioning tilt to their heads. I tried to assure them that all was OK, when my phone rang, and my neighbor across the street told me they thought my house was on fire, as they could see and smell smoke. I hurried outside while calling 911, and walked around my house, smelling a strong smoke smell, but didn’t see anything on fire, or even any concentrated smoke, although there was definitely a light smoke haze drifting around. The Emergency operator transferred me to the Fire department, who said that someone in the next neighborhood over had reported a fire, and they were responding. They asked me if I saw smoke or flames, and I had to say no. They said call back if you do, otherwise you’re probably smelling the neighbor’s house on fire. It’s been quite a while now, and still no sign of smoke or flames here, so I guess we’re good! It appears they got the neighbor’s house put out right away, as I’m not smelling smoke any more. Wow. So much for a quiet afternoon! 🤷‍♂️

Recovering

I'm slowly recovering from my bike crash endo on 8/8. My sternum and rib cage in front are still pretty sore. There are some quite painful moments when I'm riding, when I pick one hand up off the handlebars, and my body compensates to handle the weight on the other hand. Also, in the gym, pretty much all the upper body exercises hurt like hell. And that's what I'm focusing on there, as I'm assuming the cycling is enough for my lower body. Coincidentally, I had my annual physical this week. The PA said there's a lot of connective tissue in there, and I may have torn some. Not much to be done, except just let it heal slowly... and be on the lookout for anything worsening. 

Saturday ride

Pleasant Saturday bike ride. Not so many other riders out there today. I saw some pretty clouds over the hills...

 

Boaters having fun with what looks like a big tube in tow...

A relatively rare coyote sighting, as they crossed the trail in front of me, and headed off across the golf course. I do love our wild critters, even the ones that would’ve eaten Mandy in a second. I got this one to look back at me for a moment, so I could catch a better photo. I know… my bad… then I waved, and headed off down the trail. Sheepish face…

I’m seeing more foliage changing colors out there. Another hint of why it’s time for pumpkin spice lattes again.

Keep cycling

Someone on a cycling group I follow recently posted a meme, which said something to the effect of, 

 

"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch." 

 

This needs to become my motto… It really struck a responsive cord in me, as I'm usually the one being passed on the trails, and there's a part of me that is quite discouraged by that fact.

Oops

My Thursday afternoon started out pleasantly, 75° and overcast, pretty much perfect for a bike ride. This time I waited three days after giving blood, having learned my lesson. A couple of deer crossed the Chatfield interior trail just in front of me, which was a real treat.

A large thunderstorm rolled through when I was a few miles from home, and I ended up pretty soaked. I thought of that as a good thing, as it helped clean off the blood and grime from the spill I took about halfway around.

 

I had a misadventure after crossing the railroad tracks, when trying to coast down the rocky grade that had a new deep track in it, probably from a maintenance truck. 

 I’m now regretfully declaring myself as earning the “endo” badge, having gone over the handlebars when my front wheel came to a complete stop. I still find it somewhat unbelievable, that such a small discontinuity could have such a disastrous effect.

 I’m mostly fine, with a few scrapes on knees and elbows, and a some sore spots where my chest and lower rib cage took the brunt of my fall on the rocks. I suspect my sternum will be developing additional soreness, as the days go by. 

My right brake/shifter handle got bent over about 45 degrees, and I couldn’t force it back, so I had some relearning to do, to get home, but I was glad it still worked. This might be my painful opportunity to disassemble the beautiful job the bike shop did on my handlebar tape and brake hood and cables, and see if it’s a simple task to get everything back where it belongs. Oh well, it was mostly fun… 🤷‍♂️