Author: Bob Harrison

I was having a hard time creating a map in Google Maps so that I could see what was what with RAGBRAI 2011. I ended up doing the map in MapMyRide. As it turns out I just renewed my membership, though I’d forgotten all about it. My credit card is taking a beating. Sigh.
Anyway this needs a lot of correction but it is, as far as it goes, close the actual ride. I will, of course, be fixing it as I get better information…



And if you’ve got the Google Earth plugin you can actually fly this route…wow!

Aloha

The RAGBRAI 2011 route map was put up this weekend. Since I have no real idea of what’s in Iowa I can’t really say much about it. I will, of course be checking it out as best I can.
You should really go to the RABRAI site and check it out…

The image isn’t great, but it does link to the real map.
I’m still looking around for a Google Maps copy. I’m working on one but it’ll be rough as I don’t know the “real route.” By that I mean the actual streets we’ll be navigating in towns. Between towns it should be good but…well I’m not from Iowa.
Aloha

Okay, it’s getting much closer to being official. I ended up buying a bunch of gear I didn’t have in preparation for RAGBRAI. Let’s see….

• Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro Sleeping Pad
• Therm-a-Rest Compressible Pillow
• Therm-a-Rest Trekker Lounge Chair
• Therm-a-Rest Fast And Light Repair Kit
• Marmot Mavericks 50 Semi Rec Sleeping Bag

You’ll note there’s sort of a theme going on there. The reason is that Therm-A-Rest comes recommended. Not by me of course, I have no clue. But here’s what the Porkers say:

Thermarest Pads
Rather than an air mattress, we strongly recommend that you bring a Thermarest pad. You’ve been there. First you’re in heaven, stretched out on your air mattress, and then your butt slowly eases onto the ground. Then your shoulder blades touch, then your whole back, and pretty soon the dang thing is flat. Not so with the Thermarest pad. It’s more compact than an air mattress, more durable, and it puts three cushy inches between you and the ground. By Tuesday of RAGBRAI, we start finding air mattresses stuffed into trash barrels. Save them to use on plush carpet for your houseguests. For the rigors of RAGBRAI, you need a Thermarest pad.

In truth it’s all sort of a gamble. I’m not a big camping guy, though I have enjoyed my time out at Malaekahana with my Hennessey Hammock, as when I rode the JBK Haleiwa Metric Century last year. It’s coming up again in April but sadly (or not depending on your perspective, I’ll be on Kauai).
I don’t have to worry about the tent or the towel as Pork Belly Ventures is taking care of that end of things. I’ll bring a towel anyway because…well you know why.
What’s left is to buy a duffel to put this all in along with some clothes. Clothing will be fairly minimal as well as it is, after all, July in Iowa. There shouldn’t be more than one or two snowstorms, though hail and tornadoes are always possible. Basically a couple of pairs of shorts, a few things for under that, a long sleeve shirt, a couple of short sleeve shirts, a pair of sandals, and a sweat shirt of the odd cool evening. All in all, not much. Actually the bulkiest stuff will probably be whatever I wear on the plane.
I’m thinking of getting a few things from RailRiders. I’ve already got a couple of their Eco-Mesh shirts, bought on sale I might add, not at their regularly scheduled price. The things a really are great. Their clothes aren’t natural fiber, but they do have the advantage of being quite indestructible, drying very quickly, being comfortable, and folding up into tiny little bundles. Perfect for this I should think.
Anyway, that’s where I am on the RAGBRAI planning.
Oh yeah, I guess I could add that Amazon wouldn’t ship a Therm-A-Rest bed pad to me here in Hawaii. They didn’t really give a reason save to say it could either be a security risk to ship “overseas” or it was just too big. I’m sort of hoping they really think I’ll use a bed bad to compromise security, but I suspect they measured it all laid out and decided it was too big. Of course if you fold it up, as one would carry it, it’s quite a bit smaller. Go figure.
Aloha!

It’s not so much the heat, it’s the stupidity!

Yes, it seems I’m going to RAGBRAI.
I’ll be using Pork Belly Ventures. It seems they are friends of friends. They’ll be toting my stuff and putting up the tent they’re renting me, but I still need a couple of things….
A sleeping bag, a pad, and a pillow, and a duffel bag to put it all in. Luckily I can get all this stuff. Unfortunately I’ve no real clue what I need. So…I’ll be writing the PBV folks and, yes, asking.
I’m thinking of some sort of Thermarest pad, a 40+ sleeping bag (hey, I live in Hawaii and really don’t use bags), and some soft of collapsible pillow because I deserve a decent pillow.

Well that’s it for the moment. I’ve got some shopping to do!
Aloha

It’s been a busy time here at Statrix. I am just winding up two years worth of volunteer work as the webmaster for a conference held here on Oahu this past weekend. Admittedly the first year wasn’t particularly daunting. But starting in January 2010 things started to pick up.

I’m not going to say much about the conference itself, but I will say that being part of the host committee and seeing all our work come to fruition was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life.

For the website I used a combination of Drupal and CiviCRM. For the most part everything worked beautifully. I will say that anything that did go wrong was probably my fault and not that of the software.

Drupal is a pretty well known CMS and I don’t have much to say about it other than it works great. CiviCRM on the other hand is a tool not everyone needs, unless you need a really good Open Source constituent management system.

We used CiviCRM to:

1. Sign up initial contacts
2. Sign up volunteers
3. Register attendees in conjunction with PayPal
4. Bulk mail attendees with monthly updates
5. Track mailings (opens/opt-outs/etc)
6. Create some reports (others were hand coded)

I’m probably missing something but even so it’s pretty obvious it did a lot and did it well.

Sadly I came down with a virus the week before the conference so I was pretty much out of it for most of last week. I could, thankfully, diddle the data when required: and it was. I also had to rouse myself and present a paper as well as lead a late night discussion. I managed both of those tasks on adrenalin.

I’m quite thankful I had the opportunity to participate and, though in some ways I’m sorry it’s over, quite glad I’m almost done. There’s still wrap-up work to do and that will continue for another month or so, but nothing on the order of what I’ve just been through.

I am, once all is said and one, quite done in!

Aloha.

The Hawaii Rainbow baseball team won their season opener this evening by beating the Oregon Ducks 4-3 in a great come from behind victory. Trailing the Ducks 1-3 in the eighth the Bows rebounded with three runs to take the game. It was a blast.
I kept score with iScore on my iPad which was turned out okay in the end but took a little relearning after such a long break.
Ah…back in the saddle again!
Go Bows!

I had to buy a new belt this morning. I’d love to say it’s because I’ve lost weight or have six-pack abs now but no, I simply forgot to bring one this morning.
Still, while I may not actually be thinner this does relate to my overall health goals in that I went to the gym this morning instead of skipping it. I started working out, if it can be called that, last week. Coming in today means I haven’t given up and perhaps and developing the habit.
Is the habit fully formed? Not by a long shot. But it’s nice to know I’m enjoying it enough to keep it up.
In a related note, I put up all the Presidential Champion Awards I’ve gotten by logging my biking at The President’s Challenge site. We are tracking exercise here at work so it seemed like a good fit and, while we never used it at work, I kept up with it.

Aloha!

I finally got around to changing the bar tape on my Rivendell Quickbeam today. The yellow tape, which looked great, had finally given up the ghost during the winter rains and was shredding and ugly. Time for a change.
Now I’ll admit that I hadn’t wrapped handlebars in…um…I don’t know that I’ve ever done it. I think I did once back in the 80’s, but that would have been it. So it was a new experience for all practical purposes.
I’d ordered some Newbaum’s Bar Tape from Rivendell and when it arrived I immediately went to work.
I did watch Riv’s video on bar tape first:

But frankly I’m an idiot so I goofed up by about 1/4″ on one side leaving just a bit of the end of piece of tape exposed at the hoods. It wasn’t perfect. The yellow tape looked great otherwise, but still…
So I decided I’d see if I could find more tape and give it another go. It turns out that McCully Bikes carries Newbaum’s so off I went. They didn’t have yellow.
NO YELLOW!
I decided, finally, on blue as my QB does, afterall, have a deep blue lettering. Good to go.

This time I didn’t leave a quarter-inch-of-hell.
I’m in the process putting on shellac as I write this, so I’ve got no photos yet, but they’ll be coming soon.
As for the shellac, I mixed my own and it seems to be working fine. I got the shellac from shellac.net. My personal choice this time, as it worked out so well, was Dewaxed SUPER BLONDE (VERY Light Pale).

Anyway, it’s almost time for another coat of shellac, so it back to business.
Aloha!

RAGBRAI or more precisely, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is coming up in just 163 days, 14 hours, 19 minutes, 40 seconds as I write this post. I bring it up because I’m seriously considering taking in Iowa for my vacation this year. Yes it sounds nuts, but one must do something. Moving West to East across Iowa here are the figures for each day: MILEAGE AND CLIMB Day 1 — 64.2 miles 4,946 climb Day 2 — 65.4 miles 4,798 climb Day 3 — 70.9 miles 1,784 climb Day 4 — 56.1 miles 1,246 climb Day 5 — 57.5 miles 3,294 climb Day 6 — 75.3 miles 2,800 climb Day 7 — 64.8 miles 2,338 climb Total — 454.2 miles 21,206 climb In case you are interested that as much climbing as it would take to scale Illimani in Bolivia. Wow. Actually I’m considering it for reasons other than that somewhat tenuous connection to Bolivia, however attractive that may be. Pork. How’s that? Did I say pork? Yep. A friend of mine highly recommends RAGBRAI and her friends at Pork Belly Ventures who run sort of a RAGBRAI catering service. They’ll feed you every so often, take you too and from the starting point, and rent you a tent every night. I like the idea. I’ve already been in contact with them and even if i don’t manage it this year (and I’d really like to do this), they seem like good folks. Check ’em out. Aloha!