RAGBRAI 7: Epilogue

I am now in the car coming back from Iowa (I’m actually posting this while going 70MPH of I-80 … Zach is driving). Ironically we are following a route fairly similar to the second half of the ride just in the other direction. And 5 or 6 times faster.

Zach and I did ride down to the river and dipped our tired as is traditional for RAGBRAI. It was 9 miles each way, but 18 miles is not that bad for me at this point.

My hands hurt most of the riding. They are just really tired and sore. The numbness in my right hand did not get worse that I could tell and the rest of the hand pain is just muscles and some bruising I think so it will all heal up. My legs also hurt but that took a long time to develop. I only started having leg pain like the 4 day riding. My butt kinda hurts from the seat, but I managed to avoid to much chaffing by using “Chamois Butter” which is basically lube to apply your crouch to prevent chaffing against the seat (no need to share the dirty jokes I’ve already thought of them all). So at this point it doesn’t hurt unless I sit on a bike saddle.

I don’t expect to do RAGBRAI again, but I said that about Burning man after the first time too and I’ve been back 3 times. So who knows. Riding that far sucks, but drafting is awesome. Camping in the hot and the rain is no fun but the people along the route are really nice and helpful. So who knows maybe in 3 or 10 years I’ll get the urge and go back.

RAGBRAI 6: The final reckoning

So I woke up this morning in a hotel. Yesterday I rode the last day of RAGBRAI: 65 miles with plenty of hills and a hell of a head wind. Then Zach and I rode another 9 miles to the hotel. We hung out for a while. Got clean and then both fell asleep around 9. I slept until 8am. It’s really nice to wake up clean and not have any major ride in my plan for the day.

Today Zach and I are gonna hang out and go down to the river. But that will be a 20 mile or less and at this point that is nothing at all.

I already spent a couple of hours looking for apartments in portland. I have 8 places to inquire about. I think it will go well.

RAGBRAI 5

I rode 75 miles (actually maybe a bit more) today in around 8 hours. It was hilly for some of the route but not too awful. We had a head wind for the middle part.

I learned to draft today (ride my bike close enough behind another rider to be in the pocket of air they are pulling along). It was fun and not nearly as dangerous as it sounds. I was usually 2 to 3 feet behind the rider in front so it wasn’t that different from normal riding when the road is full. It made riding into the head wind WAY easier. This is because instead of riding into a head wind you are actually being pulled along a little by the pocket of low pressure behind the rider in front.

I talked to various people while on the road. It was fun. Overall the day went as follows (very roughly):

• Bagel and peanut butter and cream cheese.
• Ride 10 miles.
• French toast.
• Ride a few miles.
• Trail mix.
• Ride 15 miles.
• Burrito.
• Ride 5 miles.
• Ice cream.
• Ride 10 miles.
• Key-lime Pie.
• Ride 10 miles.
• Lime-aid.
• Ride 20 miles.

So you can see why RAGBRAI can be though of as “eating you way across Iowa”.

RAGBRAI 4

I finished my 4th (the 5th for most people) day riding RAGBRAI. Today was like the very first day but the lite version. Lots of hills but a bit less than the first day and it was cloudy most of the day so it was much cooler and more comfortable. It went well I was able to fight my way up most of the hills powered by ice cream and Dutch pastries (Rasberry and cream cheese and flaky dough).

I am much happier with things. It’s going well. Only 2 more days of riding. Time to deal with other things. And sleep. Lots of sleep. God riding is tiring.

RAGBRAI 3

This is the 4th day of RAGBRAI. I have ridden 3 days so far for a total of around 185 miles. Today went well. I think I will be able to finish fine.

The pie is good. The people are nice. Overall things are going well.

RAGBRAI 2

Sunday was awful. But I made it through. I decided not too ride today (Mon) because I hate being miserable. I plan on riding the rest of the week. It should be easier than the last couple of day. I think taking a rest day was wise.

Tomorrow will be around 70 so yet another day riding farther than I ever have before in a day. But it will be mostly flat.

I think I may buy a bike computer tomorrow evening. I’ve been wanted one and I think this may be the time. $25 dollars is reasonable.

RAGBRAI 1

I’m at the first camping site in Iowa. we ride out tomorrow for the long ride. wish me lucck.

its cooler here than in kansas. but just as humid.

PS: zach says hi.

“Sex and the Holy Land”: a FRINGE show

The FRINGE show I have been working on is finally moving towards completion. It’s been quite a ride, but I feel like I’ve done well. However the show overall has not got the greatest reviews and I wouldn’t agrue at all. It feels like a college student directed show.

However the one review that I have read (from nytheatre.com) said good things about the set and never mentioned the lights and sound, which means I did well. I cannot take the whole credit because the director designed the forms that that benches where set-up in. But I’m fairly proud of the benches. They have held up very well to all the abuse.

Real Rain

NYC got some real rain today. Not the weak crap is usually gets. Real pouring drenching rain. It makes me happy and a bit home sick. KS gets this kind of rain much more often.

Problems in the future of google streetview

I was thinking about the future of Google street view and I realized something. One of the really nice things about the street view is that the images are pretty recent. However that will change. They are spending a lot of money to capture all these images, but I doubt they will want to spend that again to recapture them in 2 years.

So: will Google street view decline in usefulness as the images age? Or will Google update them? Or will the old images still be just as useful?

I wonder if Google might keep track of construction projects and reimage area based on how much they have been changed.

PS: They get some odd pictures too: Top 10 Moments Caught on Google Maps Street View