Tuesday, November 30, 2004

 

Trike Episode 5: Rise of the DoomSled!

I just got a response from Greenspeed they said that making an extra long boom should work fine. Now I will buy the crossmember, get Kustomcycles here in town to bend the seat tubes, print up the necessary templates for tube mitering. The x-mas goal to finishing the Doomsled's frame may not happen. But we should be finished by 1st quarter 2005.

Monday, November 29, 2004

 

Today's Ride

I rode 9.3 miles today. It took a while to get in the "groove" after 7 miles or so my body just seemed to coorperate. I felt I could have ridden more like 12 miles. I still have a log way to go. I need to be in shape to perform a Metric Century (62 miles or 100 kilometers) daily for touring.

 

Hope 2

Hoping against hope is hard. But how can you hope in something already seen? I ran into an interesting story this weekend that gave me that little spark of hope. Just enough to get up and try again.

----
There were once 3 little trees on top a long, steep hill. The first tree said, "One day, I'm gonna be a great treasure chest filled with diamonds and gold and precious jewels."

The second tree replied, "Well, I'm gonna be a mighty battleship. I will brave the raging seas and carry mighty kings to the far places of the world."

"Wow, that's great. I would gather stay right here on this hillside and grow to become the tallest tree in the world so that when people look at me they would remind them of God," the 3rd tree said with great pride and passion.

Then one day when they were all grown up, there came 3 lumberjacks climbing the old hill with their hugh axes. The first lumber jack said, "Wow this tree is exactly what I've been looking for." And with a mighty blow of his axe, the first tree came tumbling down. "Hurray," thought the first tree, "I'm gonna be made into a treasure chest just like I always wanted!"

The 2nd lumberjack took a look around and said, "This is what I'm looking for, right here." And with one might swoop of his blade the second tree came tumbling down. Grandios visions of sea battles and far off travels with kings and queens occupied the third tree's mind.

The 3rd lumberjack said, "Well, any old tree will do for me." "Surely he wont choose me," said the 3rd tree. But with one mighty stroke the lumberjack cut all the dreams this tree had away.

Each tree lost hope. One tree was never made into a treasure chest. She was instead made into a feeding troph for donkeys and other animals. Filled only with hay. A mighty battleship never became of our other friend. He was made into a tiny fishing boat. Not even fit to sail a river. Day after day he had to ride around the lake with dead, stinky, smelly fish. As for our last friend she was cut into logs and was thrown on a self. No hope. No vision. No life worth living.

But then one day a young mother gave birth to a child. A beautiul child. "I wish I had a precious treasure chest to put you in. But all I have is the little feeding trophe filled with hay." When the baby was placed our friend finally our first friend knew that she was now holding the most precious treasure of all.

A few years later a few men got on a boat to cross the lake. One man seemed tired and fell asleep. A great storm came upon them. A storm too great for our little friend. Sleeping man got up and rebuked the storm. The little fishing boat with great amazment knew that he carrying the King of all Kings.

As for our last friend, remember the one that was cut into logs/ Well, oneday a man came and grabbed the logs. She was perplexed because she was placed on the back of a beaten and bloodied man. She was in horror when they nailed him to her. She felt misused, dirty, and ashamed. But 3 days after that man died, throughout all eternity when people thought of her they were all reminded of God

So, you see in the end they all had their dreams fulfilled: Our precious chest realized that thing are not what they seem, our little fishing boat was made strong , and our last friend understood that all she endured was far greater than being the tallest trees in the world.

Friday, November 26, 2004

 

Trike Update 4

I hope everyone had a nice Thankgiving. I made sure not to eat to much. Almost every year my dad eats until he gets sick. There is just so much food to eat. It looks good, tastes good, etc.

Anyway, I measured my x-seam last week. That's opposite of the inseam. It measures from your hip to the bottom of your foot. To get an accurate measure you must sit with your back against the wall and keeping your legs straight, then measurements are taken from the wall to the bottom of your foot. My x-seam was 51.5 inches. However, the large Greenspeed GTR plans only allow for a 48 inch x-seam. I'm not sure if I just need to build a longer boom or if all dimensions would have to change. I contacted Greenspeed via email for a solution but they haven't got back in touch yet.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

 

It's Thanksgiving!!!

Hey, it's Thanksgiving Day, the beginning of the holiday season. I'm about to leave and east to the land of Birmingamites (Birmingham, AL). My gran'ma lives there. This will be the last Thanksgiving in that house. They will be moving in January. They've been there since 1963.

A bit of history. Below is a copy of President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation. This was written during the middle of the Civil War and yet he was still able to give thanks to God Almighty. I have never read/heard this until yesterday. Giving thanks for what we have and for who we are, giving that credit to God is what Thanksgiving is all about. Also, this is just good writing. People don't write like this anymore. I guess it makes a difference when the primary for of communication was the letter as opposed to quick, fast emails and faxes and telephones of today.




By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State


Happy Thanksgiving folks. Eat well and be blessed!

--funbun


Wednesday, November 24, 2004

 

Today's Ride

I'm here at the Moody Music Building in good old T-town, USA. I just found out that we don't have classes today. Man! That's cool because it give me more time to ride. The weather has been bad for the past week and things are just now beginning to clear. The campus is dead. Not many brain dead cagers (car drivers). Not all car drivers are brain dead. In fact, most aren't. But some care more about their convenience than my life.

I'm about to leave now. I'm not sure where I want to ride next. I'm gonna watch the Incredibles with some friends today at 3pm so I got about 3 hours 'til then.

Another surprise on today's ride. Bryce put up a gate to the trail. Actually, they've had the gate up for a while but now they've decided to lock it. The only thing on those trails are graveyard. I guess they are scared of grave robbers or something.

 

NASA's X-43 Hits Mach 10!!!

Slick. Only NASA. Now we only need personal hover vehicles and teleportation devices! Posted by Hello

 
Mach 10 Babiieee!! Posted by Hello


This is cool. NASA has built a jet engine that can do Mach 10. That 10 times the speed of sound. With jet engines!! There was a rocket engine boost but the SCRAM jet engies did sustain the Mach 9.8 speed. I think the old SR-71 Blackbird used the same type engines. Only the X-43's engines are more powerful.

Scramjets burn fuel in a stream of supersonic air compressed by the forward speed of the aircraft. Conventional jet engines draw in air and burn it with fuel so it expands in a combustion chamber. The hot air is then forced out the exhaust nozzle to produce thrust. Credit: NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

 

Commy Liberal Hacks Push for Bicycle Licenses

Okay, this is too much. Just another instance of how liberal elites have gone
completely out of touch with the general public here in the U.S. In the Bronx (New York City), Councilwoman Madeline Provenzano, Democrat, introduced a bill that calls for fines up to $300 and up to 15 days in jail for anyone over 16 years old who rides an unregistered bike or flouts traffic laws (newsdaily.com). Ms. Provenzano also suggests a $25 registration fee.

I see this as another attempt at pushing the liberal agenda: take away
peoples rights and let the government control everything. The"liberty for security/safety" argument strikes again. You know, Communist Manifesto stuff. I haven't talked much about politics on my blog but this I had to publish. The problem is, Ms. Provenzano is pushing this as a safety issue, which it is not. I understand I am in Alabama an she is in New York and the traffic up there is in a perpetual gridlock, but to put the same restrictions on cyclist that you put on a car driver is ludicrous. Is placing more laws and more bureaucracy going to encourage cycling? Okay, so a few pizza delivery cyclists and message delivery guys break the traffic laws, but why punish the entire population for a few irresponsible riders? New York cyclists are much more law abiding than your average cyclist around the U.S., at least from what I've seen. Why not crack down on those businesses?

Here is a biblical principle: Eye for an Eye, tooth for a tooth. That the time should be proportionate to the crime. In other words, don't give a guy the electric chair for stealing a bag to Fritos!!! Throwing a guy in jail for 15 days for riding an unregistered bicycle? Come on. Ms. Provenzano has obviously never been in jail. How do people like that get elected? This is one reason I'm glad the 2004 Presidential election turned out as it did. Hopefully, the liberals will be out of power for the next 25 years or so.

I mean when a guy can't even ride a bicycle without having to cut through all kinds of bureaucratic red tape then what's the difference between us and come communist nation? That's doesn't sound like freedom to me. If Ms. Provenzano really wants to improve the safety of cyclists then she should push for training cyclists on how to ride bicycles effectively in traffic and also push a propaganda campaign to educate car drivers how to interact with and treat cyclists on the road way. That would make more since but she doesn't seem truly interested in safety. As an avid cyclist I see training/education as much more important that slapping a bunch of fines and registration fees on the cyclists.

 

Buckets of Doom: Wet Weather Report

As some of you know I built my own set of bicycle panniers from square 5 gallon buckets(U.S. Plastics) and Arkel's Hooks system. I christened these panniers the Buckets of Doom.

I have about 200+ miles on them both on and off road. They have held up quite well. Better than expected, in fact. However, I have not had a chance to test them during wet weather. Well, this week has been raining planets! I left my panniers on the back of my truck because I was too lazy to take them off. Also, I did not seal them all the way. I only shut 2 out the four corners and one pannier laid on its side. The verdict? After 2 days of rain they held up well. Because they were not completely shut moisture definantly got in but there were only a few drops of water. Had they been completely seal up there would not have been any water on the inside. More test are needsed. However, this good showing bodes well for a long tour.

Monday, November 22, 2004

 

Life

Last week was a hard week. However, I do have one life question.
Does God use people as a example of how to live life wrongly. I mean,
take Jacob Marley, for instance. He live a life of greed and power
lust. In death he is serving an eternal sentence for a "self- first"
lifestyle. Yet, even in his sin Dickens' gives this character at
least some redentive quality: look at how I screwed up my life and
your headed down the same path. Change now!

However, I find great joy in helping men recovery from sexual
addictions. I know this is why I am alive. This is my mission. I
can give testimony to this because of the Hell I have indured through
out my life. I cannot think of a time in my life where I was not
addicted to sex until 2 years ago. In fact, I been clean for 2 years
and 5 months. Not to boast but there are not many men who can say
that. This is God's work, not mine. Yet I do feel like Jacob Marley.
I feel that I have many chains to bare, a heavy cross to take up
daily. I do hope people will look at my life: who I was, who I am,
and who I aspire to be, and see the mighty work God has done in my
life so that they would know that God is real and that he changes
lives.

 

Trike Update 3

DoomSled's frame should be completed by Christmas 2004. If not, then, it will be soon after. I talked to the welder Friday. I says he can do it but I need to by the crossmember and pre-bent seat tubes from Greenspeed. The crossmember is the most diffcult part to build because it has to be weld at the correct angle, kingpin tubes mube be in the same plane. Also, seat tubes need to be bent. Bending 4130 steel is not for the faint of heart. So, I need to buy these 2 parts, then he can/will begin welding up the frame.

He could have built the crossmember but he felt more comfortable if I bought the part already built. My dad agreed. I guess steaming down Mt. Cheaha at 50 mph is not the time to figure out that the crossmember was misaligned!!! Also, the pre-bent seat tubes from Greenspeed have lumbar bends that would be much better for my back than the old seat tube design they had. Here's a link to Greenspeed's Ergo Seat Design.

He also has an air powered painter. I guess I could let him paint the thing also. I'm leaning toward some kind of black. However, white would be better for visibility. The Buckets of Doom are white, therefore, a matching white DoomSled would be cool.



Thursday, November 18, 2004

 

Trike Update 2

I am supossed to meet meet a guy that owns a machine shop tomorrow. Hopefuly, we can setup a time to begin building the frame. My goal is to build the frame by December.

 

Hope

What is hope? A dream? Itry but eveytime I see a spark of it, it gets blown away. How long will the locusts devour? How vast are their numbers? My hope is but a mustard seed. They threaten to eat even that. Without hope how can a man be a man? What is life without hope?

I feel quite, umm, discouraged. I feel beaten like my ancestors. Beaten, whipped, spat upon, despised without regard for who I am or will be. I feel as if a thousand raging bull are trampling over me.

Each day that passes I understand more of how Cain must have felt, roaming the earth, yeilding no crops no matter how hard he worked. An object of mercy and wrath. Yet, even Cain found a wife and built a city.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

 

Trike Update

As some of you know I'm plannig to build a trike this winter. My dad knows a fellow who owns a machine shop. Hopefully that will work out fine. I have all the tubes I need to build the frame.

It wiil be made from 4130 steel aircraft tubing most commonly called chromoly. It's a very dark colored steel. It has approx. 3 times the yield strength of mild steel. For instance, tubing with .o35 inch (0.9mm) wall thickness is stronger than .065 inch (1.6mm) wall thickness. Thus making lighter and stronger frame.

My goal is to have the frame built by Christmas 2004. To complete the trike I still need to build wheels, buy steering linkages, build a custom front chainring. The trike will have drum brakes on the front 2 wheels. There is no need for a brake on the back wheel because most of the wieght is transfered to the front wheel while braking. Therefore, a brake on the back would have a tendency to lock up and increase the possibility of losing control of the trike.

Gearing will be difficult since I will use 20 inch BMX style wheels. Mountain bikes (MTB), for instance, have 26 inch wheel whereby smaller gear/spockets can be used. Using the gears off a MTB would mean the gear inches would be far too small. Remember your old 10 speed! The "easy" make it easy to pedal, giving you more leverage to get uphill or easy starts. The "hard" gears give you more distance per pedal stroke, thus attaining higher speeds. Well, because of the 20 inch wheel gear would be too easy and I would be able to pedal more than about 14mph or so.

Greenspeeds has great way of dealing to that problem. They come with a triple chainring, 8/9 speed cassette cog, and a 3 speed interal geared hub in the rear wheel. In effect it's like having 6 chainrings. This makes 72 or 81 speeed machine! The draw back is that I can't afford the rear hub. However, I found a guy that makes custom front chainring that use quad or quint chainrings as opposed to the standard triple. I plan to use a Quad chainring with a 8 speed cassette cog, which would yield 32 speed. Gear inches are from 14 to 94 inches. Plenty of gear.

I will post pictures once I get some work done on the frame. Any of you want to suggest a name and color for the trike? I was thinking of a silver frame color with blue seat fabric and calling it PrimeOne.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

 

Hammock Camping

Hennessy Hammock Posted by Hello


I've been looking for equipment for touring/bicycle camping and I ran across this cool invention on a newsgroup. It's a hammock. The model above is made by Tom Hennessy, a Canadian, who based this design on Ancient Mayan Hammocks.

At first I thought this was this was somekind of joke, but then I saw the "Recommended by Eco Challenge" logo on his website. That got my attention. Eco Challenge is the world's most grueling adveture race. U.S. Navy Seal Teams have entered this race and lost!!! Anyway, it just hangs between trees. I rode along the bike trail yesterday and tried to spot suitable tent campsites (i.e. level groun, no roots, rocks, run off water, etc.). I found that for every traditional campsite I found 10 that would suffice with a Hammock system.

Check out Sgt. Rock's website. He is basically the hammock camping guru.

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