Camera Obscura Magica

It's another beautiful day on the mountain. The temperature peaked out at 55.7 degrees, and it was sunny all day. It was breezy at times, but nice.

I managed to get 29 more miles and 3000' of climbing in the break-in cycle on the Brooks. Still works/feels great, though still slick. I wore a much thinner pair of tights today, so it was a good test. Test sat.

I haven't taken many pinhole pictures lately, so I took a couple this morning. The first is another sunrise:





The second is me on the deck. It is a 10 second exposure so I turned my head in different directions and held it there during the exposure. I look blurry, but if you concentrate on one part of my head, you can actually see my face looking in a certain direction, left, right, or center. Kind of interesting.

Home on the Mountain

I made it home from the Great White North this morning at about 12:15 a.m. It was a balmy 48 degrees and moonlit on the Mountain. The valleys were full of fog and cold, but we were relatively warm. This morning the sunrise looked like this:



I worked from home to save the commute time. That meant I had time to do the work and get a run in on my favorite trail, Old Mine. At the top (on a non-foggy day) you can see the City to the southeast and the Farallon Islands to the west. It was clear today.

The sun was right over the Farallons so I took my picture with San Francisco in the background. It was a great 11 miles on the trail. The day after a day off is usually fun, and today was no exception.



My bro', Hal, is coming to San Francisco! He is coming for ERP training in February. I'm not sure why you need training to erp. I usually find I can erp just by taking a big swig of Diet Pepsi, or as we do in California, Crystal Geyser flavored water.

Anyway, it will be a good chance to compare notes on our OKFree training. Today was a Dipsea training day, but tomorrow I will get on the bike and break that Brooks saddle in some more. It's supposed to be a nice day, so it should be good.

The Boardroom

10 Minutes before my meeting. There was quite a nice, but cold, view from the boardroom today.



Driving by a snow mountain. It's a snow dump that is built up using snow hauled from roads and parking lots. They survive into July. Kind of Winnipeg's version of a glacier.

Just Another January Day

According to our pilot, it is -26C here in Winnipeg. That is -15F. I plugged the car’s block heater in. The roads are frozen, though not too slick as long as it stays this cold. It is amazing how many people I saw outside as I drove to the hotel.

Traveling to Winnipeg is surprisingly easy since I connect through Denver. Usually I can get through with an hour layover so I can leave at about 12:45 pm and get here by about 9pm. That means I don’t have to leave for the airport until 10:45 am. So, I had time for a run this morning. That is good because tomorrow is all work and travel home again.



I took this picture on my run. It was mostly sunny with some thin fog. A great time to run, for sure. Oh yeah, and 42 degrees. Very warm...

That’s it for tonight. I need to get some sleep for tomorrow.

Winter Runs

Around here a winter run usually means about 45 degrees F and rain. It's been dry this year; maybe 6" of rain during our rainy season so far -- we need another 30" by mid-March. Today it was only foggy, no wind, and, er, 45 degrees F. So, it was a pretty nice day.

I made it to the trail by about 4:35 p.m., with my Petzl and camera in hand -- I was ready to take some photos (can't forget the 365 Project) and finish in the dark. On the way up the Matt Davis trail this looked like this:



This was good news because it is not unusual to have clear skies above dreary fog... if you can just get high enough. Well, the above picture shows that it was possible. When I topped out at the West Point Inn it was clear and foggy all around below. Here's a picture at the end of Nora just before the inn. It was a very beautiful evening so I snapped some quick photos and took off for home.



Unfortunately, the excellent sunset at WPI meant that I would finish in the dark for sure. Oh yeah, and the fog. Anyway, it was almost dark when I made it home. I used the headlamp for the last 2 miles -- especially important in the redwood groves -- without incident.

So, my 6 miles tonight count towards Dipsea training. Gotta get back to that OKFree training though. But first, it's off to Winnipeg tomorrow. I think the highs are supposed to be -5 degrees F. I confident my runs in our 45 degree weather will have me ready, aren't you?

Night, night!

A Good Cuppa Joe

This morning I finished off the first batch of coffee I roasted over the weekend. It was Sumatra Gr.1 Mandheling from Sweet Maria's. I started with this coffee because it is supposed to have a full body. We have been drinking Starbucks French Roast for so long, I didn't want to jump too far off that trail with the first roast. Since I roasted the beans to "Full City" instead of French Roast, the flavor was not as dark as we were used to, but it was full-bodied and very good. So, the roaster is a hit so far.

Yesterday afternoon I roasted some Ethiopia Kembata Grade 4 Dry-Process beans. The roaster can handle 150 grams of coffee at a time -- enough for about two 32oz pots. I went for a Full City+ roast this time; just a little bit darker. Here is a picture of the beans:



I like the "garden grown" aspect of this coffee. I can just imagine the small plots that these beans must come from -- 20 trees here, 15 trees there, 150 trees over here. Sounds like a recipe for "character" to me. I hope it is good character. Tom at Sweet Maria's sure sounds like he knows a lot, and he gives the coffee high, though uneven marks. Tomorrow will tell the story I guess. I am looking forward to it.


One thing about roasting your own coffee: It's pretty smokey. Yesterday I set off the smoke detector on the other side of the house going for my darker roast. That was with the doors open. I think I will have start ducting the smoke outside with the optional hose attachment. That will probably cut down on the "Should I call the fire department yet?" comments I get from the coffee bean gallery too. (That Cookie doesn't mind telling you what is on her mind!)

It is cold and foggy here this evening. No OKFree training today. Instead, I ran a bit. The fog and cold kept it to a short 4.75 miles on the mountain. I also started late and didn't want to finish on a rough trail after dark even with my headlamp. The fog makes visibility too difficult even with my very bright Petzl headlamp.

Night night!

Hi Amber! You Can Be My Friend Too!

This afternoon my niece, Amber, called to see if I would be having any friends join me during the OKFree. Well, since her papa, my brother, is planning to ride with me, and my papa, er, my dad, is planning to ride with me, I figured they could be my friends. Hopefully though, Amber will be my friend too before, during, and/or after the ride! Please, please, please Amber??!!

The jury is still out on whether Lori will ride with us. She hasn't asked her coach yet. Go figure!?

!!NEWS FLASH!! After talking with Amber, I talked with my brother Hal for a few minutes. He has ridden 65+ miles in the last 4 days. That's about what I have done too. Sounds like we are on track, as long as we keep at it, to have a fine time riding through scenic OK. I don't know if my Dad has started training yet. He is a natural athlete, so he probably won't need as many miles in the bank as me. I think he has a carbon bike too. That makes all the difference... Of course, I do have a triple if needed.



Lori and I went on a long hike for her training today. She is injured, so she can't run. Duane has booked her for hikes where she needs to run, so that is what we did. This picture is of us after our hike. I'm really tired here, and I will explain that in a sec.

We hiked for about 2.5 hours on Mt. Tam. We went up Hogback to Railroad, then the Fern Creek trail to the top. From there we went back down Fern Creek to Tavern Pump, back across to Railroad, down Miller back to Railroad, and then back down Hogback to finish up. Here is a picture from Fern Creek.



It was a beautiful day, even warming up to about 50 degrees.

So, why was I tired? Well, yesterday I received my new bike seat. It's a Brooks "Swift" leather seat. I have always wanted one, but they are heavy and expensive. I'm finally old enough to realize that a few grams isn't going to make much difference, so I pulled the trigger. So today, I had to give the new seat a test ride. I rode the 28 mile loop through Muir Beach (see the photo of the hawk cruising the Muir Beach ridge line below), Stinson Beach and then back up over Mt. Tamalpais to home.



Brooks seats are notorious for being very hard until they are broken in. I don't know, I didn't find that to be the case. Aside from being slick, the seat felt fine to me. Of course, I was wearing my long De Marche tights, with the diaper pad (my name) in them. I couldn't feel a steel rod in those things. I'm more a fan of the mid-to-low-range Castelli shorts with much thinner pads. They just feel right to me. I'll give a report on those when I have one.

Anyway, I have plenty of time to break the seat in before OKFree, and right now I am looking forward to the miles.

And tomorrow, it's back to work! Can't wait. Hmm, Winnipeg on Wednesday. Isn't it January? Do you think it is 50 degrees there?