When you want the dog in the family photo, but she is scared of the camera. Thankfully the camera took multiple photos, so we have one that is proper. This might be my favorite though.
I color between the lines. I drive the speed limit. I like to follow the rules. I am making a dog sweater with this old one as the general model, but no official pattern or measurements. I am excited and terrified to see how it turns out. 🧶
“Rivers of London” has been my best discovery of 2020. I got hung up, though as there are graphic novels in the middle that our library doesn’t have. Christmas gift to the rescue! Now I can find out what happens next 📚
As with most of the good ideas, it was hers. We save all of the gift bags and tissue and now use very little wrapping paper every year. It has become tradition that certain bags must make an appearance. Most of the bags have multiple to/from entries like this one.
Our silly family crèche includes some extra animals and, of course, Brian and his mum around the corner. The Wise Men always stop at Brian’s first.
It’s beginning to look hat like. Still a ways to go, and no more weekend. Fingers crossed I’m not pulling an all nighter this week.
First attempt at “Italian” bread. Used a razor blade to cut the stripes instead of a knife. That worked well. Hope it tastes good tonight with the lasagna. #covidbaking
Patiently she waits, as the latest batch of dog biscuits cool on the counter. Hamburger and parsley flavor this time.
We are getting a new driveway! I’ve asked them to leave a space in the middle where I can plant things, as this is one of the few sunny patches on our property. I hope it turns out as well as I am imagining.
They are “adults” now, but when the children are together, the old inside jokes reappear as does the silliness.
Breakfast! Latest attempt at scones. I’m slowly gaining the ability to cook things that taste as good or better than what we used to buy in the shops. Fewer dishes to wash at the shops though. So, someday I’ll enjoy going back I’m sure. I wonder how many of my new skills will persist after the pandemic restrictions are gone.
Family Memories Digitized
I just got this batch of old family slides, album pages and loose photos back from the scanning service. They are all supposedly on the little thumb drive. I’ll be honest, I was anxious the entire time they were being processed. I imagined a myriad of ways they could be lost forever.
The original idea was to get the ten or so boxes of photos we have from the time before the invention of digital cameras scanned. This was the first test run. I’m still waiting on a box of photos of my children that I sent to a different service. The next step will be to send the remaining boxes. Then I can store the physical items in a more compact way and load the digital items onto a remote backup.
Now I wonder what to do next. I can organize these and share them with the cousins. But, will we do anything further with them or will they just be forgotten again and gather virtual dust instead of physical?
Pecan pie is the traditional Thanksgiving dessert of my people. I don’t like them very much (too sweet) but I am good at making them. Now off to bed, much cooking to do tomorrow.
My old eyes can’t see what is happening on the screen of my Switch sometimes. First experience playing “Hades” was ruined because of the small graphics and tiny text. I might try it again, connected to the TV, but I’m not eager and excited about the game anymore.
Every Fall I bring her in before the first frost and every Fall she gives me a little flurry of blooms before she goes quiet for the Winter.
Looks like I have some sewing to do. The dog likes to dog in the couch to nest before her nap. Maybe time to trim her claws too.
USAC Series Race Bologna TT
The USAC Cycling Race Series added (two time trials)[https://usacycling.org/virtual-race-league-zwift] in August on the 12th and 26th. Today’s course is a recreation of the (Giro d’Italia 2019 Stage 1 TT)[https://www.cyclingstage.com/giro-2019/stage-1-start-times-italy-2019/]. The course is 8km and 240m of climbing. The kicker, though is that about 200m of the climb is the last 2km of the course. With recent workouts and rest days, I have gotten up to 2.6W/kg which puts me at the bottom of the C division (but not the very bottom). There were 20 riders in the C division (this was for the 2pm race, the 6:30am and 5pm races both had many more riders). It was about 94F on the porch as I started my warmup. Hopefully the ceiling fan and the wind from the approaching thunderstorms would offer some relief.
As the course began, we were mostly on flat roads through the city. I found myself in a small pack of about five riders. We all traded the lead in our group. The “drafting” mode of the simulation was turned off, but it was mentally helpful to have this group to stay with. As I moved back and forward in our group, the leader was tenth place and the trailer was fifteenth. The visuals of the town were interesting as well. We had knots of fans along the way cheering and multiple side streets packed with Vespas. Someday, maybe I’ll visit Italy and see for myself.
As we crossed the river and began the climb to San Luca our little group splintered. I vowed, yet again, to put the triple back on my bike as I couldn’t find a low enough gear during the initial 13.6% section (let alone the 16% section near the finish). The heat and the grade conspired to remind me that my maximum heart rate is still 175bpm. I slid as in slow motion off of the back of the little group as we climed up along the (famous ‘porticato’)[https://bolognauncovered.com/2019/01/18/walking-in-bologna-the-portico-and-the-sanctuary-of-san-luca/]. It was one of those climbs where when it’s only a 7% grade your legs rejoice.
A nice feature of this virtual riding is that you can see the times of other riders as you go. It’s comforting as you grind along to see that the lead rider in your group has finished and is only 4 minutes ahead of you. There is now a price on your pain and an end in sight to this madness. My cadence was slowly declining, to near 50rpm. Push, push, count the pedalstrokes to take your mind off of things. Stand, count more strokes. Question your life choices and why you’re on your porch instead of in the cool of the AC. About this time Mattie (my dog) came to the door and looked out at me, as if to say “what are you doing?”. I had to laugh a little.
Crossing under the ‘porticato’ the last time is just a few hundred meters from the finish. It is also relatively flat. I forced myself to put the bike in the big gear and spin to the finish line. Final time was 24:17 which put me in 11th place for the division and with an average of 2.7w/kg (which I didn’t think I was capable of).
After the finish, the route looped around. So, I happily rode back down the course. This virtual biking thing has its advantages as I was carving hairpin turns at 90kph on the downhill. A good way to spin out the legs and make it back to the starting line. Then off the bike and back into the air conditioning for a well needed shower.
FulGaz Race #2
After my first experience with FulGaz I didn’t have much excitement for doing it again. Still, trying to support USAC and let them know people still want to race, I forced myself to try another race in the USAC Invitational. The only one with “Race” in the title is the “Laguna Seca Circuit Race” so I gave it a go.
My first try with the FulGaz system was to do the loop near the Miller School in VA. I knew this course from an age-graded race years ago. It was nice that the chipseal was only virtual and that the UPS truck and the numerous pick-up trucks weren’t actually as close as they appear on screen, but just seeing what an individual rider sees while making the loop isn’t enough to trick me into putting in race-like efforts. I saw after my ride that my power and HR numbers were like a workout, not like a race.
On Wednesday morning (what is becoming our regular, virtual race day) I set up the trainer in the pre-dawn and magically transported out to California. The site was the Laguna Seca racetrack during some past version of the Sea Otter Classic. I’ve ridden a few races on dedicated racetracks now, and I’ll have to admit, they are my favorite. Each lap consists of a big climb (and descent) and a tiny, but noticable, bump before a sprint to the line. The video for the ride was ten laps or 22 miles. The person who originally made the recording is a Cat 1 rider I think it’s this guy which is probably something I should have paid attention to when I saw that the video was going to run for 57 minutes.
After I got on the bike and connected the various sensors, we were off! I wasn’t expecting that. If I continue to race on FulGaz I’m going to need to find a way actually to warm up. Laps one and two were not competitive. However, they immediately showed me the difference between riding on FulGaz and Zwift. On Zwift, when you’re not competitive, you get left behind; and the little button appears on the screen asking if you want to leave the race. On FulGaz, the video just changes speed. When you are riding as fast as the original rider, the speed will be 100% of their speed. When you are riding slower, everything will appear in slow motion.
Having things in slow motion is somewhat surreal, but not enough to kick my brain into race mode. It’s comical that the bird flying across the screen is at half speed or that the spectators are waving ever so slowly. The riders around you are pedaling and the fact that they are doing 50 rpm instead of 100 isn’t so odd.
The onscreen number to tell you that you’re going too slowly isn’t big enough or red enough to make a difference.
I don’t think the video was during an actual race, but perhaps on the course after the race or maybe a training warm up the day before. Everyone had a number pinned to them and a motorcycle would zoom around sometimes but there were a few times that the other riders would pull up and have a drink that would not have made sense during an actual race. Also, when our rider attacked, he was always successful.
This ride had other riders though. That made the video much more engaging. There is even a place where we almost get ridden into a ditch when trying to keep with the paceline. By lap four or so, I could keep the video speed at 75% or better on most of the course. I even made up time on the downhills if I pedaled.
The major climb had a pause in the middle, and that is where we would attack. Suddenly the video would sway wildly as the rider got up to pedal. I decided also to get up and pedal when he did in order to add some effort but also to minimize the sea sickness from watching the swaying of the screen. Usually, we could hold off the other riders over the hill and then up to and sometimes over the small bump.
Then they would swarm around and we were again in the little pack. Sometimes another rider would attack at the small bump and we followed, or sometimes we also attacked after the small bump and sprinted to the line.
Though the original video was 57 minutes, it took me about 86 minutes to complete the course. Not great, but also not last (and there are quite a few DNFs). Still, for racing I think I might go back to just Zwift, but for riding a great ride in the time of Covid, there is a place for FulGaz.
