holiday off
Mon May 29 14:02:03 EDT 2017
Leaving work Thursday night, I noticed that I had a broken spoke on the rear wheel. I didn't have time to attend to it Friday, I slept through most of Saturday (until I got a call from work - he couldn't be asleep at 16:20, could he?), and worked much of Sunday as well. It was cool and cloudy this morning, but sunny and getting hot now (mid 80s°F/29°C forecast). I pulled off the rear wheel, tire, and tube. The disc-brake rotor was in the way, so I took that off. (A first for me; hadn't needed to do that on the first Grasshopper.) The sprocket cluster was in the way, so I took that off too. It took a while to find the special tool I needed, and the lock nut was on very tight. I might not have needed to remove the rotor after all, but the cluster was in the way, even though the spoke was for the other side of the hub. I've broken a spoke on each Grasshopper at this point, both on the non-drive side of the rear wheel.
I'm hoping to go for a ride this afternoon. Even with so much rain this month, I'm close to 400 miles. 2 more days of commuting would do it, but I'm over my hours for the pay period (2nd half of the month) and I may not be going in to the office the next 2 days (and today is a holiday).
As for the crazy hours, this (long, 3-day) weekend was the deployment of a new financial subsystem, replacing some software we've been using for years. The old software is not certified on current OS versions, so we have a set of servers running an old, unsupported (and largely unpatched) OS, which is a security and reliability problem. This project has taken forever, and it's finally happened. (There will no doubt be many details still to shake out.) The cut-over was deemed too complex for a 2-day weekend. (If things had not worked yesterday, we'd be spending today undoing what we did Friday/Saturday.)
This weekend was also the beginning of Ramadan, (27 May - 24 June, 2017) so it's more than the inconvenience of losing the holiday weekend.
Tuesday 16:18
After fixing the spoke, I went for a 28.7-mile (46.2km) ride yesterday afternoon. When anniemal lived in Silver Spring, MD I used to take the Capital Crescent Trail frequently, as far as it went - Jones Mill Rd. I also took the CCT back from Bethesda after contra dances at Glen Echo; we often had a group going to Booeymonger's or Pizzaria Uno Friday nights. Beyond Jones Mill Rd is Rock Creek Park. The trail now has a bridge over the park (80ft/24m below (link likely to be gone)), opened May 2003. This is the first time I've biked up up the CCT since the bridge was rebuilt.
Since I was coming from Arlington over Chain Bridge, the most convenient access was at Fletcher's Boathouse/Cove; I didn't go all the way in to Georgetown. The trail was very busy. (There are claims that this is the busiest rail-trail in the country.) It was a holiday, and the weather was good. I'm not accustomed to being on popular trails at popular times. (E.g. I commute home in the dark. Traffic then is sparse to non-existent on the CCT - and less on the C&O towpath.) The unpaved Georgetown Branch Trail (future CCT) was less busy, and occasionally muddy. ☹ The Silver-Spring end of the trail was on streets, and well signed. When I got to the Talbot Ave bridge things looked familiar, probably from earlier visits to this B&O Georgetown Branch site and others. When the trail ended and I turned around the signs were not as good and I lost the trail. I did eventually find my way back to it. I wasn't in a hurry, but I was getting urgent for a toilet.
East of Bethesda the trail is unpaved. There's been years of unsettled dispute about connecting Bethesda and Silver Spring with light rail (the Purple Line) on that route. Is the right-of-way wide enough for tracks and a bike/ped trail? Adjacent property owners don't want the rail traffic/noise. NIMBYs don't want the trail paved either.
I'm close to biking 400 miles (644km) this month. A couple of 20-mile commutes would do it. (There is a Challenge going on, so it does matter a bit.) But Saturday I was over my 96 hours for the pay period (May 16-31), so I probably won't be going in to the office the rest of the month. No commutes. Some free time to go biking, on the other hand. But today has been wet, raining or threatening rain. Tomorrow should be better.
Maybe tomorrow I'll ride into DC and find the Rock Creek Park trail and get a view of the Georgetown Branch trestle from below?
The Challenge also rewards days of riding, regardless of distance. 20 points per day, and 1 point per mile, so my typical days are about 40 points. Any day off the bike is 20 easy points lost.
Tuesday 20:00
We're getting more heavy rain. There's been a lot of rainy days this month.
I was on-line for work earlier long enough to catch up on email, answer a few questions, and document some work from the weekend. I'll be on again later to do some things that need to happen every evening. Some things will be a little different after the weekend's changes, so that will be more to document. (I may let the documenting wait until Thursday, when the next pay period starts.)
Tuesday 23:02
I found several photos of the Rock Creek Trestle in this Georgetown Branch gallery. (If you haven't encountered railroad fans before, you may be astounded by the extensive collections you can find online. Every rail trail had a vibrant life before its conversion.)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/891519.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Leaving work Thursday night, I noticed that I had a broken spoke on the rear wheel. I didn't have time to attend to it Friday, I slept through most of Saturday (until I got a call from work - he couldn't be asleep at 16:20, could he?), and worked much of Sunday as well. It was cool and cloudy this morning, but sunny and getting hot now (mid 80s°F/29°C forecast). I pulled off the rear wheel, tire, and tube. The disc-brake rotor was in the way, so I took that off. (A first for me; hadn't needed to do that on the first Grasshopper.) The sprocket cluster was in the way, so I took that off too. It took a while to find the special tool I needed, and the lock nut was on very tight. I might not have needed to remove the rotor after all, but the cluster was in the way, even though the spoke was for the other side of the hub. I've broken a spoke on each Grasshopper at this point, both on the non-drive side of the rear wheel.
I'm hoping to go for a ride this afternoon. Even with so much rain this month, I'm close to 400 miles. 2 more days of commuting would do it, but I'm over my hours for the pay period (2nd half of the month) and I may not be going in to the office the next 2 days (and today is a holiday).
As for the crazy hours, this (long, 3-day) weekend was the deployment of a new financial subsystem, replacing some software we've been using for years. The old software is not certified on current OS versions, so we have a set of servers running an old, unsupported (and largely unpatched) OS, which is a security and reliability problem. This project has taken forever, and it's finally happened. (There will no doubt be many details still to shake out.) The cut-over was deemed too complex for a 2-day weekend. (If things had not worked yesterday, we'd be spending today undoing what we did Friday/Saturday.)
This weekend was also the beginning of Ramadan, (27 May - 24 June, 2017) so it's more than the inconvenience of losing the holiday weekend.
Tuesday 16:18
After fixing the spoke, I went for a 28.7-mile (46.2km) ride yesterday afternoon. When anniemal lived in Silver Spring, MD I used to take the Capital Crescent Trail frequently, as far as it went - Jones Mill Rd. I also took the CCT back from Bethesda after contra dances at Glen Echo; we often had a group going to Booeymonger's or Pizzaria Uno Friday nights. Beyond Jones Mill Rd is Rock Creek Park. The trail now has a bridge over the park (80ft/24m below (link likely to be gone)), opened May 2003. This is the first time I've biked up up the CCT since the bridge was rebuilt.
Since I was coming from Arlington over Chain Bridge, the most convenient access was at Fletcher's Boathouse/Cove; I didn't go all the way in to Georgetown. The trail was very busy. (There are claims that this is the busiest rail-trail in the country.) It was a holiday, and the weather was good. I'm not accustomed to being on popular trails at popular times. (E.g. I commute home in the dark. Traffic then is sparse to non-existent on the CCT - and less on the C&O towpath.) The unpaved Georgetown Branch Trail (future CCT) was less busy, and occasionally muddy. ☹ The Silver-Spring end of the trail was on streets, and well signed. When I got to the Talbot Ave bridge things looked familiar, probably from earlier visits to this B&O Georgetown Branch site and others. When the trail ended and I turned around the signs were not as good and I lost the trail. I did eventually find my way back to it. I wasn't in a hurry, but I was getting urgent for a toilet.
East of Bethesda the trail is unpaved. There's been years of unsettled dispute about connecting Bethesda and Silver Spring with light rail (the Purple Line) on that route. Is the right-of-way wide enough for tracks and a bike/ped trail? Adjacent property owners don't want the rail traffic/noise. NIMBYs don't want the trail paved either.
I'm close to biking 400 miles (644km) this month. A couple of 20-mile commutes would do it. (There is a Challenge going on, so it does matter a bit.) But Saturday I was over my 96 hours for the pay period (May 16-31), so I probably won't be going in to the office the rest of the month. No commutes. Some free time to go biking, on the other hand. But today has been wet, raining or threatening rain. Tomorrow should be better.
Maybe tomorrow I'll ride into DC and find the Rock Creek Park trail and get a view of the Georgetown Branch trestle from below?
The Challenge also rewards days of riding, regardless of distance. 20 points per day, and 1 point per mile, so my typical days are about 40 points. Any day off the bike is 20 easy points lost.
Tuesday 20:00
We're getting more heavy rain. There's been a lot of rainy days this month.
I was on-line for work earlier long enough to catch up on email, answer a few questions, and document some work from the weekend. I'll be on again later to do some things that need to happen every evening. Some things will be a little different after the weekend's changes, so that will be more to document. (I may let the documenting wait until Thursday, when the next pay period starts.)
Tuesday 23:02
I found several photos of the Rock Creek Trestle in this Georgetown Branch gallery. (If you haven't encountered railroad fans before, you may be astounded by the extensive collections you can find online. Every rail trail had a vibrant life before its conversion.)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/891519.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]