Bay City Brewery

Bay City Brewery’s 3rd Anniversary Party was an opportunity to see old friends. Bob had shaved his beard and moustache and looked 10 years younger. Ginger, his wife, is ageless.  Jen brought Henry along. Henry is all “thumbs up”, “High Five”, and “Fist Bumps”.  Marty’s taught him well.  Bay City has a new master brewer and their beer has improved significantly.  I tried quite a few.  Paul, Scott’s dad, dropped by with his new squeeze.  They pretty much avoided Chanda, Kirsten, and their friends. Perhaps not intentionally, but who knows really. Chanda left early.  I had some smoked brisket that was cooked perfectly and spent some time talking to the owner.  He’s headed back to Minnesota with his wife, returning to her roots.  Later in the evening,  Ellen and I took Uber back home.

Yesterday we drove from San Diego to home near Berkeley in our 2014 Tesla Model S.  We make this drive once and sometimes twice a year.  The last time we drove, we left “early” on a weekday and were snarled in LA traffic in spite of our car pool “advantage”.  LA typically adds an hour travel time.  Yesterday we actually left around 4:10 AM.

It is a long drive, but with stops to charge up along the way it was not monotonous.  A navigation update in the past year now calculates optimal stops to minimize charge time for an entire long distance route.  In our case we were directed to stop at Burbank, Button Willow, Harris Ranch, and Gustine on our way home. We prefer San Juan Capistrano and Tejon Ranch.  I adjusted our trip accordingly and we arrived at San Juan Capistrano quickly.  There were two other Model S’s charging.  I thought we’d be alone.  The San Juan Capistrano site has six superchargers.  That’s it. Our charge rate was 146 mi/hr charge. Disappointed we continued on to Burbank after adding a very few miles to our battery.

Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano Superchargers

Burbank is to the north of the LA basin, almost to the grapevine.  There were cars on HW 5 though traffic was minimal and practically never slowed down. We cruised at +/- 75 mph most of the way.  That’s the way to avoid LA traffic!

Supercharger Lineup, Burbank Ca

The Burbank chargers are at the top of a parking structure adjacent to an indoor shopping mall.  The  Burbank site has 20 chargers. Surprisingly, the top level of the parking structure was full of brand new Teslas: model X, S, and 3.  There were at least 50 of them awaiting delivery or pickup.  Here we were rewarded with 250 mi/hour charging.  We plugged in and headed of for some morning coffee.  A local Starbucks was open.  We opted for “The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf”.

I continued driving up and over the grapevine.  We considered stopping at Tejon Ranch, but easily had charge left to reach Button Willow, which we did. We arrived Button Willow around 8:45 with all chargers available. We plugged in, walked a loop, browsed a TA “truck stop”, and played a few hands of Phase 10.  The hop to Harris Ranch is short, about 75 miles.  The car charged quickly.

Button Willow TA across from Starbucks

Ellen drove from Button Willow to Harris Ranch.  I took cat naps.  For me the drive seemed over before it started.   We arrived around 10:15.  The restaurant was lively.  We had a 15 minute wait to be seated.  Harris ranch is one of two sites I’ve had to wait to charge.  That was before Tesla doubled the number of chargers.  Today there were two other cars charging: an X and a model 3.

The Main Dining Room, Harris Ranch

Superchargers at the Ranch

Harris Ranch serves a Chipotle Chicken Tostada that I had ordered on the drip to San Diego.  The combination of the crunch of a crispy tortilla, the chipotle chicken, and over easy eggs with the salsa is really appealing.  I ordered it again and was not disappointed.

The drive from Harris Ranch to Gustine, the next supercharger en-route, was uneventful.  We had a brief charge to get us home.  Before the Gustine and Danville chargers went in, we had to drive the 176 miles between home and Harris Ranch direct with only ~200 miles of charge at 55-60 mph.  There had never been doubt that we’d make it, but we had to drive 55 and sometimes 50 to conserve charge. Now that’s not an issue.  We can comfortably drive anywhere along HW 5 with no problem.  We spoke with a model 3 owner who drove the coast and said there are superchargers all along that route.  He was coming down from Vancouver headed to LA.

Andersen’s Restaurant

The Gustine superchargers are located behind Andersen’s Split Pea Soup Restaurant.  Like most superchargers, it is conveniently located just off the highway.  Unlike most superchargers, this one is located at an awful restaurant.  Andersen’s is what highway restaurants were in the ‘60’s.  Their split pea soup is like thick wallpaper paste.  The building is quaint and they have a large curio shop replete with junk for the hoards of visiting tourists.  I tried eating there twice and will not make a third attempt.

Tesla Model 3

We saw more model 3 on the road than model S or model X between San Diego and Berkeley. Their production ramp-up is real, based on our “one trip” sample.

It felt good to be home again.  We enjoy visiting Chanda and Le Roi, but home is “home”.

Sasha Barron Cohen

So Sasha Barron Cohen is pretty disgusting.  His sense of humor has never appealed to me.  It is so far beyond what I would consider funny, it’s sick.  That said I have to admit that “Who Is America” is strangely appealing.  I cringe, squirm, and I am disgusted by the show.  I don’t watch, well mostly.  I’ve seen clips and I know people who think it’s hilarious.  For me the most amazing thing is that people can be so thoroughly sucked in by the sham.  I mean how long would it take a rational human being to recognize the buffoonery?  That is what make the who idea mesmerizing.  How could these people be so insipid?  Part of the show’s draw is “what will he do next, how will he top his last episode”.  It helps that the folks he’s trapped thus far are right wing loonies. Go get ‘em!  I notice that Bernie Sanders didn’t fall for it.

Jess King, Peloton Instructor

Peloton

I took two 30 minute rides this morning.  The first was a Hanna Marie Corbin Interval ride.  The second was a Jess King low impact ride.  Low impact was a good idea after the interval class. Hanna’s class was a personal best and Jess’ ride came close.  At 30 minutes my power output profile was higher than my output for the past year on average, at least on the first ride.  Power on the second ride dropped as I’d expect.  Chalk up another 20 miles to my Trans-America challenge.

Bay City Brewery

Bay City Brewery is having their third anniversary party today.   Scott works at Bay City. We’ve visited him at the brewery a few times.  We’ll for sure head over for the party.  Through a marketing coup, Bay City was heralded as “Bay City Official Beer”.  Apparently Bay City contacted the San Diego Tourism Authority and there you go.  The “Official Beer” of San Diego!  Other craft brewers were none to happy about this.  So I’ll head out to the party and raise a pint to SDTA and BCB! Cheers.

I took an on demand 80’s class, meaning all the music played is from the 80’s.  There were 120+ people taking this canned class at the same time.  I finished well in the top 20%, though two guys in their 40’s blew by me.  I did not attempt to keep up.  This was a fun ride for me; one that I intended to take as an easy mostly moderate ride.  Even so my output was just 13 kj shy of my best 45 minute effort. I don’t know how that happened.

I now have 53 fellow Peloton riders following me and 73 riders I’m following.  20 riders are not following me back for whatever reason.  It’s fun starting a live ride and having a message pop up that so-and-so just joined the class.  This only happens for those riders you are following.  It contributes to building a community.  It should also make it more fun to be on the leaderboard with “friends”.  One problem I have with that?  I’m either much stronger or much weaker than most people I’m following.  Never once has someone I’m following kept pace with me (or have I kept pace with them).

What I like most about this Peloton cycle is the metrics.  I download full statistics for each ride I’ve taken, log them in a spread sheet, and plot performance over time.  This is a great tool, though having long plateaus can be a counter motivator.  Some days I’ll take 3-5 rides back to back.  Overall performance for any ride drops as I get tired and that brings my plots down.  Plots of 60 minute rides in the last year are down and to the right, not up!  I never take multiple 45 minute rides in a day.  That plot is up and to the right, as expected.

There are just a few riders active on Stage 1 of the Trans-America challenge.  There is a way to trace them back through Strava to their Peloton handle and follow them.  Perhaps we’ll be on a ride together sometime.

Link To Space Force

This morning I drove back to O’Gara to meet with Charlie and Mike.  Mike is one of AAA’s claims adjusters.  It’s a short 15 minute drive.  On the way I thought I’d be in for some arm-twisting, or that Charlie might be.  Mike was in the waiting room when I arrived, about 5 minutes early.  After exchanging pleasantries Mike said, “I don’t have a problem with O’Gara’s estimate.  It’s reasonable to me.”  We walked out to the car so he could take some photographs and that was it. As Mike left he said, “I’ll send the check for repairs directly to O’Gara.”  “OK, that’s perfect”

I dropped back in to talk to Charlie, verify my appointment on the 27th, and generally thank him for his time.  I had hoped they could do the interior wooden trim repair, but he deferred to Porsche.  He would prefer not doing that work.

Aside from the shock of the accident and knowing that E Favola has been in one, this was a painless experience.  It helps that I’m retired and do not have to schedule meetings around work.

II am impressed with AAA.  Though we’ve been with State Farm for years, I was shocked when Cheryl, our agent, said we might not get our deductible back if we went through state farm, even after AAA reimbursed them!  I may just swap insurance companies.  We’ll see.

Today there were three Rolls, two Bentleys, a Lamborghini, and two Ferraris sitting in O’Gara’s lot behind a massive wrought iron fence and gate. I have no doubt that O’Gara will do a great job with the body work and painting.

New Features

Peloton has added four new features to their stationary cycling experience.  The one that most interests me is the “most popular right now” for On Demand classes.  This means these classes can be taken somewhat like a live ride.  If there are a few hundred people taking an on demand class, many of them will have started close enough to be “catchable”.   There will be more incentive to work harder on demand.

New Feature, note the “Members Here Now” count.

Peloton:

Stage 1, Trans-America Challenge “Award”

I just missed breaking 500 kj by 15 kj and missed surpassing my last PR by 1 kj.  ONE!  All in all Jenn Sherman’s live low impact ride was a blast. Jenn has a flock of youngish riders who regularly take her classes.  It was a lark working through the leaderboard from number 120 to number 65 and passing 30 and 40 somethings, but it was much harder maintaining my place in the mid 60’s.  There were five of us jockeying for “the lead” (#62 is the lead??) in the last 15 minutes.  High Fives all around at the end.  I’m off and running on the Trans-America virtual challenge with 15 virtual miles added today.

Rear Ender:

 

License Plate Holder Demolished

Center Bumper Cover Scratched and Creased

Another Angle

Crease on Left Read Bumper Cover

Scratch on Retractable Spoiler

The sound of the BANG when I was hit belies the seemingly insignificant damage to E-Favola.  Still the repairs will be in excess of $2,000.00.

After visiting O’Gara yesterday, I made contact with Alec of AAA.  He recommended I get an appraisal for the repair at a local Pensky Automotive Repair shop.  I could take the car anywhere for repair, but they would use Pensky’s estimate to cut me a check.  I can see that could be a problem, but I figured first I’d see how far off the two estimates were.  I’d much rather have the insurance company cut the repair shop the check.  That way any “short fall” is the repair shop’s loss, not mine.

I called Pensky right away.  They deal in Mercedes, BMW, and Audi, but they are not an authorized Porsche repair shop!  I called Alec back and we’ve arranged to have O’Gara make the repair, with the stipulation that AAA’s adjuster meet with O’Gara and me and agree on the repair costs.  That sounds reasonable, but again Alec suggested that I pay for the work and AAA will reimburse me.  I can imagine paying $2K for the repair and getting a check for $1,500.  I’ll ask for everything in writing and/or have the check go directly to O’gara.  Maybe I’m just over cautious, I do not trust insurance adjusters and by extension insurance companies.

There are a few cosmetic issues I’ll ask O’Gara to address while E-Favola is in the shop.  In any event, I expect the workmanship on my Porsche’s repair will be outstanding.

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I just finished Jenn Sherman’s 60 minute 80’s ride.  I have been trying to break 600 k joule output for months. Today I did it. 612 kj total output.  That is more than my last best output for 75 minutes and better than my first 90 minute ride nearly a year ago.  It feels like cheating to have done this on Chanda’s cycle. 612 is roughly the equivalent of 570 on my cycle.  Some fellow in the 40 year group went flying by me on the leader board.  He finished with an output of 800+.   “I’ll get him next time”, NOT! I didn’t even try to keep up. With regular improvement perhaps I’ll catch him “one day”. 

What do you after reaching a goal?  Set another one, of course.  I’ll try to break 900 for 90 minutes.  That is significantly harder than 600 for 60.

At home my next goal will be to break 600 for 60 minutes and 500 for 45 minutes on our Peloton.

Jenn Sherman’s rides are fun.  She tends to sing often during songs.  That’s alternately cool strange, irritating, or fun.  It does take the mind off that heavy feeling in one’s legs.

 

O’Gara’s Service Page

Boxster Repair

With minimal research I found a San Diego Porsche Forum and by extension a well regarded body shop for my Boxster repair.  I called and unfortunately since 2014 that shop has been dealing exclusively with aluminum body work, read Teslas.  “Call Charlie at O’Gara.  They’re just up the street from us.  Charlie can help you out.”  O’Gara.

I called O’Gara, the receptionist forwarded me to Service, and Charlie answered.  “Bring it in anytime tomorrow and I’ll check it out and give you an extimate.”  Ok, sure.  I checked the web for distance and driving directions to O’Gara and they are close.  However, they specialize in high end automobiles; think Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini.  I’m sure they will do a fantastic job.

Peloton

Something is going on at Peloton’s studio.  All yesterday’s and today’s classes are “On Demand” meaning they’re all canned classes.  Nothing is being broadcast from their studio. Perhaps it is being expanded or the equipment upgraded.  In any event, with no live classes I was not motivated to climb on the cycle yesterday. I plan to make up for that with a double effort today.  We’ll see how that goes.

Mission Impossible

So, Yeah, Tom Cruise.  I’m not a big fan; more so as he is a Scientology Nazi. Still “The Edge Of Tomorrow” was a great Sci-Fi film.  I’ve enjoyed watching it a few times.  I’ll probably watch it again. 

The reviews for the latest Mission Impossible film, Fallout, are good.  It has mostly 4 or 5 star ratings, which is no indicator that it is a good film but rather shows that people enjoyed watching it.  Over time it will probably fall back to a solid 3 star “everyday” action flick.  We went to the local theater yesterday and took it in.  Or more accurately were relentlessly subjected to one rollercoaster chase scene after another threaded together with a somewhat credible plot line.  It is a massive adrenaline rush.  It does elevate “The Chase” to the next level of insanity, and not just once.  The first chase scene is airborne and sets the stage going forward.  I’ll most likely watch this one again when it makes it to streaming or pay TV.  This is a solid 3 star action movie that in no way addresses “the human condition”.

Smart911

A new blurb about the 11 year old who died trapped in a van flew by on the TV.  This child called 911 twice with Siri, but could not be located.  Unfortunately, he died.

The 911 system is 50 years old and has not been upgraded.  Since smart phones have GPS built in, there is no reason the GPS location of a 911 caller cannot be forwarded to the 911 dispatcher.  No reason, except the infrastructure to do so is not built out! Smart 911 was mentioned.  It is a free service.  I just signed up mostly because I’m curious about what service Smart911 provides.  It has the “usual” saved information: Emergency Contacts, Preferred Providers, Vehicles, and Animals.  However it does not mention geo-location at all.  Still having the other information available to a 911 dispatcher could be critical, except in cases where the emergency vehicles are dispatched to your home on record and not to the location of the emergency.  It seems to me that the most crucial bit of information is still missing!  “Where are you?”.  I’ve contacted Smart911 to ask why they have not included GPS smart phone location in their service.

In cases where your phone is nowhere near you, geo-location will fail.  It is not universally going to solve the question “Where are you”.  It will in most cases.  The 911 system needs an upgrade.

Yesterday on the way to Scott & Kirsten our 2000 Boxster S was rear ended.  The car in front of me stopped abruptly for the light. I stopped.  The fellow behind me didn’t.  The impact was a shock.  BANG. In an instant while being thrown forward and restrained by the seat belt, I glanced in the rear view mirror, saw nothing but Lexus hood and bumper, then glanced forward and braked hard to avoid hitting the car in front.  I usually sit at a light with my foot lightly on the brake.  I think most of the momentum from the Lexus was transferred to the Boxster which may have reduced the damage.

The fellow who hit me was a good guy.  He was insured and stated that the accident was his fault.  Good Stuff.  I was a bit concerned that the insurance card he had was expired, though his attitude made it pretty clear he was insured.  I took photos of both his insurance card and registration.

It’s interesting how insurance works.  I have not been in an accident in 40 years.  How does this insurance thing work?  I called my agent who said since I was not at fault “his” insurance will pay for the repair.  I could either go through my insurance company, pay the deductible, and have my insurance go after his company for payment or I could contact his insurance company directly.  The kicker?  If I went through my insurance company I might not get the deductible back.  That’s good to know.  I called his insurance company and will have an adjuster contact me.

My lower back is a bit stiff.  The damage to the Boxster is noticeable, but you have to look for it. The Lexus’ front end was pretty bashed up.  I hope the engine compartment was not compromised.  It looks like it should be fine.  I am sure glad I’m not paying for this repair (hope not).  Porsche parts are notoriously expensive.

I’ll post photos later.