yuck... Monday again... Jul 27th, '26...

[ST1100Y]

OCD...
Obsessive Coffee Disorder...



G'Day...

24°/28°C, soggy with close to 60% RH, currently sunny , possible rain early afternoon , more and after that...
some brisk gusts of wind, media issuing a "medium storm warning", so beware of 's ...

Nespresso at ze GF's...

thus a southbound commute via the busy tangentiale across town on the ol' '94 ST... (there is no B/W ST1100 smiley?! )
some holdups but hitting it early enough they haven't yet managed any collisions with the obligatory gridlock aftermath...

office... Nescafé...

Boss-man has changed his regular behavior pattern (hippopotamus management style: surface, big mouth, vanish),
with crow-tactics (flutter around, $h!t on everything, disappear)... neither are mood-raisers nor proof very effective

and on this bombshell:



try to survive your start into the week...

 

[STooRay]

Thx Martin!
You need a new boss-man, or maybe no boss at all is better.

We’re down to one guest now, so things will settle down a bit.
Picking up Peter in the kindergarten later, he’s got three weeks until he starts school, and a new life is beginning.

Weather is shite.
13˚c/55f, showers, gale from west.
So far, NO days with temp above 20˚c/68f in July.

Have a fair one!
Stu

Grey and Gloomy ( another great lawfirm name)..

 

[ibike2havefun]

Good morning everyone

Thanks for the coffee, Martin.

It's 69°F and mostly clear in Rockville as we start the week. The expected high of 87 is warmer than for any day the rest of the week, but it'll feel like it's a dozen or more degrees warmer. I was surprised by how much lower the humidity seemed to be in Iowa last week: we had several mornings with little or no dew and the days (except for Sunday and Monday) never felt like saunas.

The ride went pretty well, though I cut two days short. One of those was planned- there was a bus option at the halfway point on the day that would otherwise have been over 90 miles, which I didn't care to try- and the other was a response to what might otherwise have been heat exhaustion or possibly worse. It was, without doubt, the right decision for me.

A couple photos...

My charter support, "Pork Belly ventures", really gets into the theme... they use 13 semi tractors to shuffle 26 custom semi trailers between host sites every day.


The local towns we passed through went all-out to decorate, and support us.


This guy rode a 1962 Schwinn one-speed "newsboy" style bike with several modifications (including, I think, motor-assist). The trailer holds a boom box and several extra speakers, so he was blasting music for all to hear. He had great taste in music.


They lie.


Escaped convict. Many riders sported outlandish costumes that flouted convention.


So did some of the locals.


This guy is riding from Minnesota to New Mexico on that thing. All of his riding outfits (there may be only one or two) are start-spangled red, white, and blue. You can't see it in this photo, but the rim of his big wheel also has an intricate decoration, as does the "frame".


Comfortable in his own skin. The patch on the back of his vest reads "Hill's Angels".


I found Waldo.


More than one person had found a way to share the experience with their canine companion. This was the most interesting, to me:


The Iowa Craft Beer tent was a very popular roadside attraction each day, and they were open by 6:00 every morning.


Several people asked me if I am Santa Claus. I met the real one in one of the towns.


Those are Fireball bottles stuck on his helmet. I believe this was the week's collection.


In the end, RAGBRAI is about the experience not the riding.

Stay safe and well everyone and tell your dear ones you love them. Do it today, NOW, for tomorrow may be too late.

 

[Obo]

Morning all, thanks thanks Martin for getting us started.

Keith, looks like you had a good time. Approaching things as an experience often makes them better than as a task.

Weather wise locally, it was a crisp 10C for the ride into work under a sunny sky. It's supposed to head upward to 26/29 for the ride home, while remaining sunny.

We didn't get out for yesterday's ride due to more home maintenance, but Mrs. O said she wished she could have mid afternoon. Guess I was partially right with yesterday morning's guestimate of the day's plans.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Obo.

 

[steve3b3]

Good morning, and thanks for the coffee start, Martin.
Our alarm cat woke me at around 5:45, so SOMEONE could feed her.
Coffee, now...

It's 50 and sunny in MA this morning, rising to 83, later.

I wrote yesterday's post piecemeal, between races, and things were going pretty good, then. Almost as soon as I pressed "Post reply", things blew up behind me. The next race, actually.
One of the racers clipped a peg on the curb on the inside of Turn 9 and went down, across the track, into the air fence, sand filled barrels and tire wall. He was buried under the air fence and couldn't be seen, initially. Of course we stopped, and 6 of us spent an urgent few minutes moving air fence to get to the rider. Once we got to him, the EMTs took over and eventually took him away, and I think he took a ride to the hospital in Concord.
In the course of the crash the bike sprayed fuel which happend to land on the photographer who was standing on the concrete barrier that the other softer barriers protected. He was shaken, and it will be quite a while until he shoots from there, again. Up until then, he was getting some great shots.
We had a few more incidents in adjacent corners, but nothing so memorable.

The cats were waiting for us when we arrived, but I think it was mainly because they don't have opposable thumbs. Our neighbor friend says that she only got a glimpse of one during her visits.
Brenda was tired after the full day and drive home, so dinner at our local Chines place was jus appetizers

Today, we'll regroup from our trip to the track, and I'll try for a gym visit and/or walk.
Brenda spoke with our son in OR, and made plans for an August trip, there, so I can let the track in Thompson know of my August availability. I'll speak with my neighbor to see if she can feed the cats during that time. We need to think of a plan-B, in case we're both busy during our travel times. That almost happened this past weekend and I had our son Joe lined up to feed them on Saturday and load the feeders for Sunday morning, but our neighbors let us know that they weren't going away on Saturday and could feed our ladies. There will come a time, though, and we don't want to take advantage of our neighbors.

Keith, I saw your blog about mid-week into your ride, and enjoyed what I saw. It looked like a fun time.

Enjoy the day,
Steve

 

[Sadlsor]

Thanks for the coffee and office foibles Martin.
Congrats on reaching your biking goal, Keith. I can just imagine the added warmth provided by the beard, during exercise in this heat. My beard only comes out for winter riding, I would be even more of a sweatball with my face covered thusly in the southern summers.
I'm looking at storms this morning for my ride to work, but it should (?) be dry for the trip home.
To recap the weekend, I cut the grass Saturday morning in about 2 and a half hours (walking, not riding), took a shower, and fell into a 3-hour nap until Roz woke me up.
Yesterday I successfully removed the upper and lower radiator hoses on the Element, after first removing a handful of guards, covers, and associated fluff that was in the way.
I was unsuccessful in finding replacement hoses at Auto Zone, so I ordered them online from Honda Parts Now.
Now I need to get a new battery, due to my negligence in exercising the previous one for 7 months. Ouch.
Same story likely for the 1300, as the Big BMW Mule has seen daily duties. I didn't get around to checking his battery this weekend, and I suspect I'm already much too late.
In retrospect, as anyone knows, it would have been wiser and more prudent to rotate the vehicles on a regular basis.
Nearly every challenge in my life is ...self-inflicted.
Meanwhile, my first cup of Black Rifle is really, really good.
The thunder is telling me I'll be wearing rain gear to work, as I'm not ready to leave just yet.
"Strong to severe" is what they're calling it.
Oh well.
Everyone has storms in their life, right?
Endeavor to persevere...

 

[SupraSabre]

Morning Martin & All, from clear skies, so far, in Southern Utah.

Currently it is 69F, going for 94F. Possible thunderstorms... we'll see. The winds are already out there, blowing from the SE @ 6mph. Later the winds will be blowing from the SW @ 14 to 24mph.

Chris and I have a bunch to do to get our house back in shape, after the grandkids visit. Things to put away and laundry. I might try to get something else done, but I won't count on it.

My body decided it was time to wake up @ 5:30am, which means, with only 4.5 hours of sleep, I'm going to be a zombie today!

We'll get something to eat, once Chris gets up. Pepsi(s) will be on the menu at some point.

Anyone , have a great day on the roads!

 

[ibike2havefun]

The cats were waiting for us when we arrived, but I think it was mainly because they don't have opposable thumbs. Our neighbor friend says that she only got a glimpse of one during her visits.

Mrs. Fun left home the same day I did. Her sister, our usual house / cat sitter when we're away, wasn't available and we didn't want to leave Brie all alone for all that while (neighbors would have fed her but that's not really enough companionship). We were fortunate than an old family friend, our one-time house keeper, agreed to come live in the house. She and Brie quickly became good friends.

Keith. I can just imagine the added warmth provided by the beard, during exercise in this heat. My beard only comes out for winter riding, I would be even more of a sweatball with my face covered thusly in the southern summers.

It actually acts as a radiator. I've worn a beard continuously since December 1979 so I'm used to it.

 

[Weaselinsuit]

Morning all! Overcast and grey here with the threat of rain, though the forecast is for it to clear up a bit by end of day. 13C now, 19C later.

I pulled out of the cul de sac this morning to ride to work only to discover that the rear tire on the ST had gone flat. So turned around and headed home to switch it out with my daughter's ancient Honda Pilot. (she took our car to a music festival down near Nelson BC). Not nearly as much fun as the bike but it did the job and am now trying to decide which pile of fish files to ignore first.

Keith, very impressive accomplishment, well done. I have been following your blog and it sounds like a great time....even with that nasty exercise component.

Hope everyone has a great day and lots of fin!

 

[St-Gerard]

Good High Noon, gun fight anyone? Okay I have worked on a few Westerns as a background Performer ( Legends of Tomorrow). Long story, but it's my hand moving my coat out of the way of my gun, just before the good guy draws and fires. Anyway back to reality. 66 F high 72 when the Sun comes out. Today's agenda, help someone repair spark plug threads on a engine. Talk to my doctor about refill of meds. Help Wife pack , she going to Birch Bay for a week, me Solo , yeah! Weekend was a bit more exciting than I would have wanted, did manage to bring in the J 3 cub that suffered a landing gear failure. Bessy(tractor )and my Bike trailer to the rescue. Y'all have a safe day, G

 

[TipSTer]

Good High Noon, gun fight anyone? Okay I have worked on a few Westerns as a background Performer ( Legends of Tomorrow). Long story, but it's my hand moving my coat out of the way of my gun, just before the good guy draws and fires. Anyway back to reality. 66 F high 72 when the Sun comes out. Today's agenda, help someone repair spark plug threads on a engine. Talk to my doctor about refill of meds. Help Wife pack , she going to Birch Bay for a week, me Solo , yeah! Weekend was a bit more exciting than I would have wanted, did manage to bring in the J 3 cub that suffered a landing gear failure. Bessy(tractor )and my Bike trailer to the rescue. Y'all have a safe day, G

Thank goodness you're ok. Glad you were able to haul it away. Hope it will fly again soon!

 

[St-Gerard]

Just a note, not my airplane, and me not the Pilot. Pilot was shaken, and cut on his left hand that needed 7 stitches, G