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LHTMF!

We drove over to the Pedal Pusher yesterday afternoon to pick up my new bike.  After about a half an hour, some new bottle cages, rack hardware and a couple handshakes we loaded it up on the rack and went to dinner with the girlies.  Christie took some pictures when we got home.  This one is my favorite.

From LHTMF

Of course, one of the reasons I chose the Trucker over a handful of other tourers is due to its accommodating nature.

From LHTMF

Thank the gods for that, huh?

15 or so easy miles rolled out behind us last night.  No one honked a stupid horn or shouted sidewalk curses.  I guess those same gods were looking out for us on our maiden voyage.

LHTMF!  You can figure it out.  You really can.  But for what it’s worth, it’s not mine.  The fine folks over at Point 83 apparently have a few in their group and came up with the phrase and some rules.  Credit where credit is due and all that.

The wife type person has declared herself to be the LHT Widow.

Posted 16 June 2009 † the Sloth § Bicycle ‡ Comments (2)

Sunday morning ramblings

Rolled out at 6:45 or so on the Collegiate and ambled over to the island for the Sunday morning bike club ride.  The pot hole parade explored a bit of Harrisburg and I got to trade bikes with Bill for a little while and try out his very snazzy Traveler’s Check.  14 miles plus the 10 I did last night.  Slow and easy.  I don’t like being out of breath.

The Spotmatic got a workout this morning.  I exposed a few frames on the island before the ride started.  It figures that the kitchen needs to be cleaned before any film gets developed.  The light meter is acting kinda wonky, so it may take a trip to Tennessee for a CLA while I use the K1000 for my little project.

I’ll be 34 next month.  I guess I’m officially into my mid-30s.  Whoever decided to notate time needs an ass whoopin.

Flickr has quite a few groups dedicated to manual cameras and film photography. This one has the best group name.

Posted 07 June 2009 † the Sloth § Photography § Pentax § Bicycle ‡ Comments (0)

Name your axe

A few years back a fellow by the name of Mike Johnston used to write a weekly/monthly/occasional column called “The Sunday Morning Photographer”, and sometimes he wrote about some really interesting stuff.  Like how the Pentax Limited lenses are the best autofocus lenses on the market right now and how the photo industry hasn’t figured out that some of us want a digital camera that doesn’t try to do things a camera shouldn’t do.  He would also write columns about improving our photography, like this one.  I did something very similar after reading that article with a K1000 and an M28/3.5.  By the time I finished that little exercise I felt like my photos weren’t half bad.

The last couple years I haven’t liked my pictures very much.  Perhaps I’m taking them too seriously or not seriously enough.  Or maybe I’m just a bad photographer.  Really, though, I just need to focus and pay attention to what I’m doing, which means I’m going to limit the distractions, photographically speaking.

It sure looks like Mike is up to his old tricks.  He went and wrote a few more articles about using a Leica and one lens for a year.  Here and here and here.  Read them in that order.  In my opinion, the Leica isn’t necessary.  Mike wrote that from his point of view because he did it with a Leica and that’s what he knows (at least, that’s what I got from his articles).  You could say basically the same things about spending a year with Hasselblad or a Spotmatic or whatever.  Each of those cameras is going to impart a different way of seeing, of working, of taking pictures.  Also, there is the Leica tax, which is the thousand dollars you’re going to have to spend, minimum, to get a functional double-stroke M3 and a 50/2.8 Elmar.  Lots of folks say the tax doesn’t really exist, because once you spend your year with the camera you can sell it for at least what you paid for it.  I think that’s true, but I don’t have a thousand dollars right now to dump into a camera and I want to get started, which means the Leica is out.  Not that I need it, but Mike was generous enough in that third article to give us permission to use whatever we have on hand, so long as it’s MMM (metal, manual, mechanical).

Name your axe.

I picked the Pentax SP500 with an SMC 55/1.8.  I’ll be shooting Arista Premium, which, by most accounts, is rebranded Tri-X for half the price.  Since I don’t have any at the moment I ran over to the drug store and overpaid for a couple rolls of 24 exposure 400TX. There’s a new pouch of Xtol around here somewhere and I’ll soup it in that.  Negatives will be scanned and prints made using Nicholas Hartman’s methods for “single black ink”.  Christie says I should get off my ass and build the damn darkroom already, or something like that.

And that’s that.  One year with a Spotmatic and Tri-X.  A few rolls a week and more printing than I’ve done in my whole life.  This is gonna be fun.

Posted 06 June 2009 † the Sloth § Photography § Pentax ‡ Comments (2)

In the bag

Grant Petersen over at Rivendell Bicycle Works has a lot to say.  If you’ve never heard of GP or Rivendell or the iBOB mail list you’d do yourself a great disservice to continue on in ignorance.  I don’t always agree with everything the big man says, and neither should anyone else for that matter, but he’s been around the cycling industry for a long time and his words carry some weight.  He’s worth listening to, in my opinion, even if you don’t like what he has to say.

That said, I’ve been mulling the idea of responding to some of GP’s writings here on the blog.  I’m not out to agree or disagree, or to start flame wars or get under anyone’s skin.  Just to compare and contrast and maybe learn a little. There’s a new “GP” tag for this post and I’ll use it in the future when it’s called for.

“In the bag”, the title of this little entry, is a reference to the article about bag contents in issue 41 of the Rivendell Reader.  Page 40 is where it all begins.  Those guys carry some interesting stuff, from the normal tube and multi-tool to rubber gloves and what appears to be one of those little sacks that hold tent stakes.  Here’s mine:

Spiraling Clockwise from the top left.  Yellow tire levers.  A tube still in the box.  Notepad with pencil from the last club ride where they decided I should lead so I wrote down everyone’s name just in case I led them over a cliff and someone needed to identify the bodies.  Park multi-tool (with it’s own tire levers).  Two spoke wrenches (I doubt either fits).  A sliced-apart Hannah Montana free download card next to the carabiner it was attached to when I found it on the road.  Super glue (still sticky, as I so gracefully found out).  A Brooks saddle spanner (the saddle is on a different bike).  A little baggy with random odd nuts and bolts and a brake cable.  A Clif Bar wrapper.  And a patch kit.

Holy batflaps!  Ironically, the bike these were on has a solid rear axle, but I haven’t been carrying around the wrench that will actually let me drop the wheel if I get a flat.  Go figure.   My little Nashbar front rack bag has become my bicycle’s glove box.  Going back in are the multi-tool, tube, patch kit, tire levers, spoke wrench (if one of them fits) and a 15mm box end for the rear wheel.

What’s the moral of this story, you ask?  That Scott is a pack rat, that’s what.  De-cluttering now.

Now I just have to figure out which Hanna Montana song I want.

Posted 19 May 2009 † the Sloth § GP § Bicycle ‡ Comments (0)

Protect us from the swine flu

Somebody skipped middle school health class the day they talked about communicable diseases.

Photo courtesy of my dear cousin Darrick.  Taken on Smiley Road in Maryland Heights, MO.

Posted 18 May 2009 † the Sloth § Cult classic ‡ Comments (0)

Get to know me, or something worse.

Cog, over at Driving the Flies, tagged me.  It’s one of those meme things where you answer a bunch of questions and then you tag a bunch of people and they’re supposed to answer them, too.  So, theoretically, in 45.287 days the whole world will have been tagged and everyone will know absolutely everything about all there is to know about anything at all.  I think.  Maybe.  Anyway, this is the very first time I’ve been tagged and I’m giddy as a freshman cheerleader on a date with the varsity quarterback.  (That always ends well.)

What are your current obsessions?

Right now, bicycles.  A year ago it might have been photography and bicycles, but I haven’t taken very many pictures lately.  As it turns out, most of the shutter snapping I’ve done recently has involved a bicycle at the business end of the glass.

What’s for dinner?

Pasta.  Probably some frozen veggies to go with it.  Red sauce for the grown-ups, white for the little ones who have a better grasp on reality.

What is your greatest fear at the moment?

Death.  I’m simply not ready to go, and there’s a lot yet that needs doing.

I worry that the girls will have the same problems I had as a child - picked last, picked on, picked over.  So far, they’re showing no signs of such rejection by their peers, but if they turn out to be the popular kids I just hope I can teach them not to be dicks about it.

What are you listening to?

Lots and lots of new grass and some alt country.  Abigail Washburn and Crooked Still are always welcome.  Pieta Brown is a new favorite.  I prefer a woman’s voice.  It stirs something primal.

If you were a mythological character, what would you be?

Beowulf.  Or maybe Grendel.  One of the two.  Sure, Grendel gets the pointy end of the stick in that deal, but he has a lot of fun before it’s over.

What are your favorite holiday spots?

Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina.  Pine Creek in northern Pennsylvania.  I dearly miss canoes and the Gasconade and the Ozarks.

What are you reading right now?

There’s a stack of books on the back of the can that I flip through once a day or so - a couple Linux technical references, 3 issues of Lenswork, Horenstein’s Black and White Photography, and a book about bicycle touring that mostly fluff.  I just picked up “The Boy Mechanic”, a collection of hundred-year-old articles from Popular Mechanics.  I’ll be digging in shortly.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Hulu. Having too many bicycles and nowhere to put them.  (I’m sure my wife would like to put them in a particular place.)  I haven’t had a smoke in 5 months, so I guess tobacco is out.

Who or what makes you laugh?

The girls make me laugh.  About 99% of what’s in the mainstream media loop does not make me laugh.  I used to love stand-up, but the genre isn’t funny anymore.  Even the stuff I used to laugh at isn’t funny.

A first ride on a new bike usually elicits a giggle or two.

Wheatfield makes me laugh.

What is your favorite Spring thing to do?

I like opening the windows and letting the wind blow through the house.  Evening bike rides without a headlight, since the sun’s up a bit longer, are quite nice.

Where are you planning to travel next?

Grandfather Mountain, NC at the end of the month.  Pine Creek for a week this summer, I hope.

What is the best thing you ate or drank lately?

Those crepes at the farmer’s market were heaven on a plate.

When was the last time you were tipsy?

Saturday.  Our anniversary.

What is your favorite ever film?

I’ve been rediscovering the 80s lately.  Not the leg warmers and bad music, but the stuff I liked when I was a child.  Goonies is on the list.  And some TV shows - Taxi, Cheers, Night Court.

More recent - Road to Perdition, despite the weak and shallow anti-gun sentiments.   I liked that Steve Jackson trilogy about those old books, what was it called?

What is the biggest life lesson you’ve learned from your kids?

That brutal, innocent honesty doesn’t hurt as much as we adults like to pretend.

What book do you know you should read but refuse to?

They keep telling me I need to read Shakespeare, but Hamlet was enough and I’m not going near that crap again.

What is your physical abnormity/abnormal physical ability?

I sweat way more than anyone else I know.

What is your favorite color?

Orange is the fastest color.

Can the people outside your car hear the music playing inside your car?

Not generally.  I’m very conscious of this since I despise those nincompoops in the lowered Honda Civics who insist on making me listen to their noise.

My addition:  What’s your most recent acquisition?

A 2nd generation Green Machine.  I had one, I think, as a child.  Like the ones they made back in the late 70s.  If it wasn’t mine I had a friend who let me ride his, I guess, because there are some damn fine memories upstairs of getting that thing going down a big hill and trying not to wipe out at the bottom when I jambed the levers and put it into a spin.

The rules of this meme are as follows:
- Respond to and rework the meme.
- Answer the questions on your own blog.
- Replace one question and add one question.
- Tag 8 people.

Bone, Doc, Apertome, Tarik, Jason, the Wife, Bob and Josh.  You’re it.

Posted 18 May 2009 † the Sloth § Memes § Bloggity ‡ Comments (2)

Yard Sale Find of the Millenium!

Bring out your old school and try not to drool.  I spotted her from across 4 lanes of traffic at 40mph.  She was sitting in about a foot of grass and tagged at $5.  Five (count ‘em, f-i-v-e) dollars.  And that’s worthless Americanos.  All she needs is a tube, a brake cable and some TLC.

From Extra crap
Posted 16 May 2009 † the Sloth § Bicycle ‡ Comments (1)

Karate Monkey

The little one is the real Karate Monkey.  Somebody tell Surly.

Posted 13 May 2009 † the Sloth § Wife § Molly § Bicycle ‡ Comments (0)

I feel the need, the need for tweed.

Posted 09 May 2009 † the Sloth § Bicycle ‡ Comments (0)

Ride report - Rausch Gap S24O

It’s been a week and a half.  Apertome, who is a much better writer than yrs trly, has a wonderful recap here.  I haven’t written jack.  So before I forget it all…

The engineer and I met Mike at the Gold Mine Run end of the Stony Valley rail trail.  We were only an hour late, what with getting started when we should have been there and pulling over for Arby’s on the way.  (Sorry, Mike.  We’re running a bit late…here’s your change sir…shit.)  Geoff, the engineer, has photos here.  I took these photos:

Raush Gap S24O

The ride to Rausch Gap was only about 3.5 miles, at which point we located the AT shelter, claimed a camp site and then turned our eyes and wheels toward the gap itself.  Well, we made it all the way through, but connecting with the Horseshoe trail proved fruitless.  We rode back down to Rausch Gap and hit the railroad siding back toward Gold Mine.  After picking our way around the nastiest bog in the history of nasty bogs we encountered a stream.  Coming toward us.  On the rail bed.  We picked our way back around the bog and headed down a very rocky pipeline right-of-way to get back to the main rail trail.  Geoff turned back toward Gold Mine while Mike and I went back to the gap to set up camp.

I couldn’t find my own POS tent, and since Geoff wasn’t camping he was gracious enough to loan me his.  It’s an REI Half Dome 2 and I can’t recommend it highly enough.  I’ll be getting my very own.  (Sorry, Geoff, I’ll give it back real soon.  I promise.)

As you can probably see from the photos, Mike brought along an alcohol stove and I brought my Esbit and homemade wind screen.  We learned that a wind screen is essential, Esbit stoves get hot fast but don’t last long (remind you of anyone?) and alcohol stoves take a bit longer but offer more control.  As light as the Esbit is, I wouldn’t have a problem carrying one along with another stove, just for a little flexibility in food preparation.  e.g.  One pot for coffee and another for ramen noodles.  Mmm, mmm.

Night time wasn’t too bad.  I never sleep well on the ground and this night was no exception, but the dose of Soma certainly didn’t hurt.  Since I can’t seem to fall asleep on my back I spent a good deal of time rolling back and forth, depending on which arm had no feeling in it.

We were both up before the sun and a spring sunrise on a cool morning is absolutely heaven.  We cooked breakfast, ambled over to the AT shelter to chat with some hikers, sign the log book and refill our bottles.  Then we rolled west on the rail trail, had a look at Cold Springs and then finally stopped for a break a few miles later.  Mike headed back to Gold Mine and I continued on to Dauphin and finally Ft. Hunter where Christie and the girls performed a flawless extraction.

In all I rode about 31-ish miles, had a fantastic time, got some oval bicycle glove sun burns and made a new friend.  A better weekend could not have been had.  (Except for the heat.  It was unseasonably hot at 90F.)

Next up - something in June with more pavement and fewer rocks.

Posted 07 May 2009 † the Sloth § Bicycle ‡ Comments (2)