Busy weekend

Monday again... these seem to happen way too often.

Busy weekend with a 20 mile road ride on Saturday morning to run some errands. There's something really satisfying about doing errands by bike, it gives the ride a little extra purpose. I probably could have accomplished the errands in 8 miles of riding, but I took the long way around. I can't say I focused on Segments at all on this ride, with the exception of the Grant Hill descent. I really tried to go as fast as I could, I think I need to start pedaling hard earlier so I hit the start of it going faster, that said 47mph on a road bike is a rush.


In the late afternoon we were walking the dog and one of our neighbors told us that they had made a trail in the open space in the neighborhood. Dawn and I had a mile long loop back there for years, but we kind of let it go. It amazing how quickly a trail gets reclaimed if you don't maintain or use it. Anyway, these guys had cleared out a 5 foot wide trail that, more or less, followed our original trail. We got the bikes out and did four or five laps around the trails - not great by any stretch, but its close by and there are some really good obstacles out there. Doing laps creates interesting GPS splotches.

We had the big Lease Signing Event at Sacred Heart yesterday afternoon so I had to do my mountain bike early and get back. Its amazing how different things are between my son and daughter. My son emails us the documents, we sign and fax them to the realtor, we never see the place, never meet anyone. On the other hand yesterday we met all the parents of the girls that will be living with Emily next year, discussed every aspect of the rental. Both approaches have merit, its just funny how different they are. Anyway, I rode Middlesex, which along with Bigelow and Nathan Hale make up my top three favorite riding spots in CT. I'm always amazed that its only 9 miles of riding. The climbing is relentless with steep rocks around every turn. You couldn't ask for better weather and we had a pretty evenly matched group out there.

LIfe getting in the way

I haven't been riding as much as I like to. I guess I rode twice last weekend and once during the week, but it seems like barely enough. Gotta try harder to get out.

Aaron's last college tennis match

Yesterday we went to Salve to watch Aaron play his last tennis match of his college career. It was a bit of a mess due to expected bad weather for the original date for the match. They moved it up a day which left Dawn and I scrambling to get Friday afternoon off work so we could attend.

They had a short ceremony for the graduating seniors where the Athletic Director and the Coach said some really nice things about Aaron - I was glad we were there to see it and share in that moment with Aaron. I only wished I knew we were going to be asked to stand for pictures I would have dressed a bit nicer :-D.

There's a short write up here, I suspect they will update it with the pictures from the ceremony and match.

Unfortunately the rain didn't hold off and they stopped and started the match twice before finally saying they would have to move it indoors. This took an hour or so of phone calls to find a place, by then Dawn and I were out of time and had to drive home. Of course we feel terrible about that - Aaron insisted we just go home (he's such a nice guy).

Aaron lost his doubles match, but he won his final singles match, a fitting way to end his career. I was never much of a team sports guy, but its easy to see the positive impact of competition and being part of a team in both of the kids. I'm proud of Aaron for his commitment and the leadership he shows as the captain of the team.

Lunch Bank run

I made a bank run at lunch today, I didn't have the tight "one hour" time frame like I did a few weeks back so I took the scenic route down there - it was probably only another half mile longer than the shortest route, so no big deal. It did take me down Hatch Hill which is a famous hill repeat around here. Its got fresh asphalt from last fall, so it was a pretty good way to go, the other way down is Fish and Game Road, that road is a mess, full of potholes and nastiness. I got up to almost 43MPH on the hill going down. I can probably squeeze another 5MPH out of that descent, but being my first time down it I kind of took it easy. Considering the great weather today and the travel later in the week, it was really great to get out

Hale this morning

I was unable to meet up with John for a ride on Friday so we made plans to meet this morning for a ride at Hale - one of my favorite places to ride. Just on a whim I posted the ride up on Bikerag, no one responded so I figured it was going to be me and him. I got there and four others showed up so we ended up with a "real" group ride. We did the north side loop first and by the end of that section John was done and another guy had a problem with one of his pedals, so he was out. That left us with a group of four for the homestead side trails. It was a really good ride, good pace, pretty evenly matched riders, which is always nice. Great day, great conditions, great people, can't beat that.

Cold then warm

I rode with a couple of guys who also had the day off work yesterday. I woke up to cloudy skies and chilly temps. The weather guys said a high of over fifty, but it sure didn't look like it. It looked more like 40's and rain. I trusted them and headed out to the Comstock Bridge to meet up for our ride.

Back in the day this was a common ride because my brother lives nearby. It was fun to ride there again and see all the familiar spots along the way. One of the guys was just getting over and/or relapsing into a head cold, so we took it easy on the second half of the ride, but it was a good workout. I forgot to turn Strava on until we climbed the first hill, but I'm surprised there's only 1000' of climbing in this ride, it seems like one of the hillier rides. Anyway, great conditions, really nice to get out in the woods and crank it out. By the time we finished the clouds broke, the sun was bright, and the skies were blue.

There would be no KOMs today

Wow did I have a hard time getting out on the bike today. I just wasn't feeling it. I forced myself out the door and despite promises of 50 degrees, it was cold! I knew I wasn't going to be generating a lot of heat so I wore an extra layer, it was barely enough! I did the loop, it was great to get out, but I never got that burst of energy, I just kind of pedaled along. I don't mean that to be negative, it was a good ride and I'm so glad I got out. Sometimes just spinning along for an hour makes me feel good.


Oh and I won an ebay auction for a fretboard - curly maple. Its going to be nice!

More on the batar

I have been looking a lot of videos of people playing these eight string monstrosities. About 90% of the people who play these things are accomplished jazz musicians who have mastered the instrument to the point where if you listen without watching you would really think that there were two people playing. They are essentially playing chords with their left hand and plucking with their right. The chord includes the bass line, its hard to describe, but even harder to imagine actually being able to do.

Based on other videos of the same people they seem to mostly be guitarists who move over to the 8 string. I am, of course, coming from the other direction - a bass player who can kind of play guitar. I'm excited to try it out, but at the same time realistic that its going to be slow going and I expect to lose patience with the thing more than once.

I got my first shipment of parts this week, including the bridge, tuners, jacks and carbon fiber reinforcing rods.

I now have enough to start working on the neck, despite my best intentions I don't have the blank glued up yet. I'll try and get that done this week or weekend so I can start the build from there. I guess I'm only going to be able to go a certain distance here until I get a truss rod and fretboard. Now that I have the bridge I can work out the neck dimensions. I need to get my brother engaged to get the individual string pieces made.