“Monkey up the works”, Ron DeSantis; Violence; Peloton

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This Guy

Said, “The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda…” on Fox News

To This Guy

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I’d avoid references to monkeys in this instance.

And then there are these two gems.

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Inciting Violence

 An Explanation

Image: Donald Trump

During a Dinner for Evangelicals

Changed Tax Law

Peloton

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Heart Rate Zones, Today’s Ride

Ride #300!

My first year on the Peloton is past.  It’s time to update my PeloPhoto.

Today and for the first time Peloton screwed up their class schedule.  I took a 45 minute class that, for me, abruptly ended at 30 minutes into the class.  The audio/video stream from the class continued, Jess King kept on keepin’ on, but for me the leaderboard and my statistics froze as if the class was 30 minutes! Bang, done.  This was a very competitive live class. I was enjoying bouncing between #112 and #96.  I hoped to get down into the 80’s or 70’s.  Then the “music stopped”, well the music continued; my statistics stopped.  Bummer.

Interestingly my output for the 30 minutes was a few marks off my best 30 minute output, nearly matching output on Chanda’s go-get ‘em cycle.  After yesterday’s less than stellar performance, today felt really good once I stopped.

I think I’m getting acclimatized and I’m too focused on the numbers.  I need to shake things up somehow.  The graph above shows percentage of time on the ride spent in my various heart rate zones.  Spending a lots of time in Threshold indicates a hard ride; my heart was working hard.  Ventures into Anaerobic are healthy, provided they are brief.  This was a hard ride.

For what it’s worth, our overall price per class (including the price of the cycle, the accessories, and a prepaid year of class) is now below $10.00.  Consider that a single SoulCycle in studio class is priced at $34.00 and a Peloton in studio class is $32.00.

CatWoman

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Black Panther Inspired Suit, Mais Non!

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TuTu? C’est bon! (really?)

 

Serena Williams

The French banned Serena’s catsuit going forward?  Her response? A tutu!

More info at the link below.

No CatSuit No Problem

Bikes & Trikes

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Today’s Very Mediocre Power Curve

The Bike that Goes Nowhere

I was not feeling it today.  I suppose a few days “off” does that to me.  I did have the incentive of a 20 year old woman dogging me on the leader board, which was exhilarating.  I did pull away and finish #4 of 77 live riders, Yay.  Still, I was not feeling strong; it felt like work.  Today’s output data agreed.  Every point of data (aside from finishing #4) was average,  Ho Hum.

I’ll have to chalk this one up to “one of those days” and move on.  No sense overthinking it.

 

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Catrike Dumont

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Dumont Folded

Trikes

Our good friend Jim, who is a meticulous gadget nut, has been electrifying tricycles for a number of years now.  He has experimented with different tricycles, motors and battery setups. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of driving his latest creation and it was zippy.  It was fun to drive.  I’d say ride, but with a motor and a throttle, it’s as much a vehicle as a cycle.  The idea of tooling around in a tricycle has been growing on my wife.  She never rode as a child and just does not feel stable on a bicycle.  I’m sure she is thinking it would be fun to keep up with me easily at whatever pace and even to zoom by from time to time.   I’m not sold on recumbents or tricycles for myself, but for Ellen?  Score 1 for a trike.

Jim and I have a similar problem to solve: we have motorhomes and do not want to tow a vehicle. What is the best alternative to towing a car that lets us and our wives tool around once the motorhome is parked?  Electric trikes fit the bill.  They are easily charged, many models fold, and they can go on trails that cars just cannot.   I could put a rack at the back of our RV for my bicycle and a trike for Ellen, no problem.  Jim has been researching tandem trikes and found a fellow in Germany who makes a tandem in low volume production.  He actually flew to Germany to test ride one before ordering.  It comes with a motor, though Jim declined that option and will build his own!

Yesterday, Jim & Cyn visited a local tricycle dealer to test drive a few and I tagged along.  I know next to nothing about tricycles and I have not kept up with bicycle components/accessories since I got my Trek in 1996.  ( I love my Trek.) I must say I was impressed with Catrike’s designs.  I chose not to test ride one; it would be for Ellen and it’s her opinion that would matter.  Then too, I might actually like it! (then what?) The way the Catrike folds makes it easy to transport and perfect for our RV.  It might even fit in the under bed compartment or in the shower! That would be awesome.  In any event carrying a trike and my bicycle would solve our local travel/toad problem.  Score another for a trike.

A portion of the bay trail, a paved path that winds around San Francisco Bay, that connects Hercules with Pinole and Richmond is nearing completion.   When completed, this will give us a beautiful, long bicycle path and an alternative to the Peloton for exercise.  With Ellen on an electric assisted tricycle, she will be able to keep up if I power through a few miles of hard cycling.  That will be great for her and for me.  Score another.

All four of us will go back to “our” Catrike dealer this Thursday to do some more test riding and (I suspect) color selection.   I only see one drawback with my Trek vs Ellen’s soon to be trike: dirt and gravel roads.  I have narrow Kevlar belted racing tires that are virtually indestructible, but they do not do well on gravel and with no suspension I’d be rattled to death at speed on dirt.  If we stick to paved paths I

Peloton

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Ally Love

Today’s Pop Ride with Alley Love was hard for me. My output was close to but below the trend line.  As a manager once said, “Some days are diamonds, some days stones.”  Reminds me of a GW Bush bumper sticker, “Like A Rock, but dumber”.  I had fun chasing GingersnapLJ who started this on demand ride about 2 minutes ahead of me.  We matched pace pretty much, though I gained on her slowly then we passed each other a few times being at slightly different points in the ride with varying intensity.  She passed me and finished her ride ahead.  With two minutes to go, I finished ahead by maybe 17 kj.  I put in a request to follow. Her profile is private.  Perhaps she’s open to followers, we’ll see.

I’m an equal opportunity follower.  I have both guys and gals of all ages in my queue.  I’ve been followed by a number of people who I’ve met (passed) on rides.  It’s a community.  Some women take exception to being “followed”,  which I fully understand though no personal data is available on a profile.  Hence my request to follow Ginger.

This ride’s cadence was remarkable.  There were long stretches at over 100 cadence with long pushes above 115 to 120.  It’s a challenge to sustain with moderate resistance; fun in a masochistic way (?!?) Today’s output was 380 kj, today’s trend line is at 385kj.  Oh well.   Another 14 virtual miles toward Tierra Del Fuego!

Why I Enjoy Quora.com, two examples.

Crows

My cat injured a crow while playing and they want revenge now. They’ve peed on the house and put a crow outside. They’ve also showed us the injured crow so that we give them the cat. What can I do? by Fran Wisniowski

QuoraCrows

 

Trump

Why do people assume that all Trump voters are deplorables? Don’t they understand that some of them voted for Trump for business reasons? by Andy Simmons

QuoraTrump

Covert Affairs, AAA Insurance, Peloton

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Covert Affairs

We finished the last episode of season 5.  Ellen was actually in tears a few times.  This is a fun DC based spy thriller romp.  It is escapism at its finest.  This series starts out very campy with a cartoon like intro after a few minutes intro to the episode.   The dialog was ok the first season and grew more compelling with each subsequent season.  We often found ourselves thinking or often saying, “no, don’t do that” or “disguise yourself” or “watch out!”.  Funny, we really were sucked in. What do we squander our time on next?

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AAA Insurance

Today I received a letter from AAA Insurance, the company paying for repairs on my Boxster.  As I opened it, I recognized it was a check. We had agreed that the check would go directly to O’Gara for the repair.  “This is strange” I thought.  Still stranger was the amount of the check, $450.00.  What?  That’s a far cry from the amount we had settled on for the repairs.  I quickly scanned the text to find that AAA had issued a check for the six days of non-use of the Boxster!  This was totally unexpected and a credit to AAA.  I guess I never made it clear to them that she is a garage queen.  She spends most of her time hidden away.

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Peloton

Today I took one of Matt’s 60 minute Power Zone Endurance rides “on demand”.  There were 11 other riders.  I quickly passed the few slower and found myself gaining on a <20 female.  She had started thirty minutes ahead of me and though I gained steadily, I never did catch up.  I gave her a high five as she neared finishing with no high five back.  I’m not sure about the etiquette of a >60 yr old guy congratulating a teenager on her accomplishment.  I’d think no big deal, but that’s me.

At the 20 minute mark, I noticed two >40 yr males behind and closing.  I had two choices: stay in my lane and follow the class queues or “blast away” and try to stay ahead.  I kept to the class program and maintained my zones without approaching lactic threshold.  The first of the two guys passed me about 20 minutes later. He slowly and methodically chipped away at my lead.  The other guy never caught up.

A power zone endurance ride is not designed to produce high output. It is meant to condition the body to holding a moderate output for extended periods of time.  It builds a base for extended power output later.  Even so, my output was above the trend line and an overall good workout.  Add another 18.5 miles to my Trans-America challenge.

You Can Be a Russian Bot Hunter!

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Josh Russelll, Systems Analyst Indiana University

There is a growing network of Russian Bot hunters.  If you have the inclination and free time you can join the hunt.  I’ll post more about the network as I learn more.  Here’s the article/video that piqued my interest.

Josh Russell CNN

Ellen, Hilton Head, JJ, Peloton, minor “win”

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Hilton Head Marina, SC

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Palmetto Bluff, SC

Hilton Head

Jess asked Ellen if she was free to visit for a week in early September.  Ryan is taking a week’s trip and Jess would love the company.  Ellen loves Jess, Ryan, and Ariana, their daughter and would love to visit Hilton Head for a week.

We have plans for a North West US RV  trip this fall.  A trip to Hilton Head could complicate our travels by pushing our travel dates out another week or two.  Typical of us, we do not make hard plan when we travel by RV.  There are no reservations to cancel.  Ellen asked if it was OK for her to go, “Of course you can go if you want.”

The last time we visited Ryan was ecstatic about a trip to Tampa to look at and perhaps purchase another boat.  He is a master a taking a good looking working boat and making it “special” by adding functional details that enhance a boat. Jess was somewhat disappointed when he sold the first boat he rebuilt and more aggravated when he talked about selling his current boat, which he also modified.  He plans to bring “the perfect” boat back from Tampa and no doubt make it “more perfect”.  Practically everything Ryan touches turns into money.  It is not luck, he has an eye for turning a profit.

There’s a nervous truce between sailors and power boaters.  I love the quiet of a sailboat running afore the wind and the feeling that the entire world is accessible by sail.  That is anathema to most power boaters and Hilton Head has more than its share, Ryan among them.  I do love being on the water and offshore fishing.  For me power boating is just fine.  I’d probably be happy bobbing around in a 50 gallon drum.    

So while Ryan is on his adventure, Ellen will be on her adventure with Jessica and Ari-NaNa.  I’d go too (I enjoy Hilton Head), but it’s a girl’s thing really.  I’d much rather go after Ryan returns with his next project.  Each of his boats has been a few feet longer than the last.  I wonder what he will return with.

Peloton

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Pretty Great 15-18 Second Output

 

Today’s live classes were either short (20 or 30 min) or with a “Live DJ”, with the commensurate bopping around, bike dancing, care-free free wheelin’.  Live DJ rides are not for me.  I took a 45 min JJ On Demand 80’s ride that had 53 live riders when I started.  When I finished there were 111 of us.  As usual I climbed the leader board slowly catching and passing a bevy of 30 and 50 year olds, a mix of women and men.  It’s odd, but the 40 year olds are harder riders.   Two of them passed me in the 45 minutes.  One hauled ass by and kept going.  The other slowly crept up as I passed people, he gained.  Eventually he was gone too.  They both motivated me. Surprisingly I gained on one of them, but gave up catching him as he sped off.  Funny all this dynamic catching and passing is taking place on a stationary cycle!

I did not feel like today’s ride was exemplary.  JJ had us do six 15 to 20 second pushes at a high resistance and cadence.  I hit 124 rpm at over 55 resistance, but could not maintain  497 kj for long.  The ride statistics bore this out, nothing special: not average cadence, resistance, speed, or output.  However the power curve showed just how hard those short pushes were. This ride had the best 15-18 second output of all of 2018 including rides on Chanda’s “magic bike”.

The graph above shows today’s ride in purple and the best output for all rides in 2018 in light gray.  The two intersect at the 15-20 second interval which means that today’s ride had the best output for that timespan this year.  Yay.