Autumn Color

It's started.



Dan, Michael and I rode somewhere near Fairplay, Colorado on Sunday. It was amazing since we were the only people on the trail.

The color and scenery were fantastic.


Crossing hills,



Crossing valleys,



Crossing beaver dams,



Crossing creeks,



Crossing meadows,





And finally, crossing over my handle bars and breaking my shifter with my knee..Ouch!

Grays Peak

On friday, September 12, four of us hiked up Grays Peak, Colorado. A 14'er 14,270 feet high. Our intent was to do the neighboring 14'er, Torreys peak, but there was unexpected snow. We decided to just stay with the one peak. It was an amazing climb in all the snow.

Grays looking up.




Torreys peak looking up.




Nearby Terrain.




View from the top.



Torreys from near the top of Grays



Mountan Goat.



The four of us on Grays with Torreys in the background.

Nerd Rap on Youtube

The buzz on youtube is this large Hadron science Rap video. What amazed me is the accuracy and detail of the physics. Click and learn about some particle physics and the reasons behind the research.

Searle Pass

It's a nice hard climb, bike or hike....but worth it. 12,062 feet. Colorado, start at Copper mountain ski resort and crank.

Some Mountains this day...Yay!

Off to the high country...To Mt Evans.



Goats....





Looking east, can you see the entrainment layer (of the boundary layer) here trapping in pollution from the front range? Nasty, but cool from an science point-of-view to see it so clearly at 14,000 feet.



Sorry to be negative, back to those gorgeous goats--they seem to like the fresh air.

More Peak Oil

Even as oil prices plummet, I have ramped up my buy-in to the peak-oil theory and the consequences. Based solely on the price of oil decreasing lately, maybe I should be skeptical, but, sadly, I think the decrease in prices is temporary.

The term peak-oil is debatable and can either be what is meant as half the oil extracted from the earth or that the ability to produce more is peaked. I believe in the latter and the latter also includes that crazy theory of Abiogenic oil. Abiogenic, if exists, doesn't mean there are no worries. The theory seems refuted by most geologists but if say it does exist, it's so slow that effectively oil production will still peak.

The problem with peak oil production is a simple economics problem. You reach the limit to where you can produce it. If the demand increases, then the price will rise due to the limited supply. Fine, that is basic economics. But the problem is that oil has been taken for granted and very necessary in modern society. It is expected that oil be cheap to live the lifestyle that people have lived for the past 50 years. If people have to spend more of their income to get to work and get food, and then food prices rise due to the same effect, the economy has to necessarily shrink due to money reallocation to fuels and inflation factors.

Money allocation is what determines prosperity. When you have lots to spend on fun, you are prosperous. When it's spent just to survive (and you have to work more to get it), you are not so prosperous. Peak oil seems to very well define prosperity in some sense unless alternatives are found that are just as cheap. The question is whether that is possible and whether if it can be done in time before some huge economic crisis occurs.

I have to recommend a great lecture by David Goodstein, vice provost at Caltech University. He is a terrific lecturer, who did a great series of basic physics called the 'Mechanical Universe.' The lecture is definitely directed toward a person with college science background but still can be understood for the most part by most people.

It's based on his book, 'Out of Gas.' I have learned a lot of physics from Dr Goodstein that helps my career, but I feel it's one of the most important lectures I have seen in my lifetime.



Watch it here in Cable or dsl , Modem, Broadband Requires RealPlayer

I have watched 'A Crude Awakening,' 'The End of Suburbia, 'Escape from Suburbia' and 'End of Oil,' They are all excellent documentaries, But unlike them, this lecture doesn't have the dramatic music and editing they do. It's a straight lecture by a scientist like you would see at a science conference.

Keen Should Owe Me...

But will they even notice my rave review? Freebie for you... I know the Keens CEO is going LOL..Idiot.

My wife got me these for commuting. But they are so comfortable and useful, they are my main bike shoe. I'm not kidding. The feel and comfort make them a great bike shoe. Sure they don't have the solid attachment of some shoes like Sidi, but wow, when riding normally, they are spectacular--Cool and comfortable. Heck they work well on killer technical rides too.

And you don't have to worry about walking on water, you can walk through it.



I pretty sure I have 1000 miles plus on them since I got them in May..and have ridden all but two rides in them.

Sights in North Boulder County (via bike)

...On a 50 mile ride to Hall Ranch and back. Pix of Hall Ranch, if that is what you are looking for, can be found somewhere in my archives.

Classic Colorado farm grain elevators. This was interesting because the trees are growing in the elevator.


Radio telescopes at Table Mountain test facility.


"true Grit" north 63rd and Hwy 66.


A rotten wooden fence on North 63rd

The wheels continue to spin

What a great summer it is. I have been riding and riding and riding.... I was worried that these high temps in the upper 90s would dampen my riding opportunities but after a few rides in them, I love it. I have hit some fitness threshold that makes it hard for me not to have fun.

For the first part of the year I struggled to get below 184 pounds, then suddenly a breakthrough. Now my scale typically reads 178 and it even hits 175 after a hard ride.

But the best part is I have obtained a level of fitness that allows me to keep my body temp regulated better. Part might be lower body fat allowing faster cooling, but part is probably more efficient energy use in not having the weight to carry.

Another odd thing that has happened in that I like riding my hardtail more again. I felt before like it beat me up, even though before I had a full-suspension bike, it was all I knew. But I have started to get my arms back and am finding the snappiness of my hardtail exciting again--especially out of the saddle. Sure, I'm not going to be riding it on all the rocky trails up in the mountains but it's sure fun to ride it on the local area trails that I would normally take a bike with a little more travel on.

Sole Searching In Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park

Back-country Crocs.

My hiking boots sole failed while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park to Boulder Brook campsite. Hiking the last 1.5 miles with a fully loaded pack in Crocs was not too bad actually--it was better than bare-footed.

The Lidarman Adventure

Putting lidar on a plane.

The NOAA Twin Otter aircraft is here in town for deployment. In the wonderful NCAR hanger. The plane in the background if you can see it, is a G-V.



The lidar after hours of sweating to install it, it's ready to fly.



Props...feathered.



..and Navy P-3 visitation.

Some Steamboat

Good camping and mountain bike riding over the 4th of July.

Amazing to look back at this

Bust my gut project

195 lbs when I started.

This morning I weighed in at 178 lbs.

17 lbs less--nearly 10%.

Yes, it's been a long time and a lot of frustration but it's paying off and I feel good. I had ambitious goals then and didn't achieve them but I kept pushing and tweaking my routine.

Notable is that is was harder than I thought. I recall when I was younger, this was easy and everyone reads all these plans on how easy it is to lose pounds a week. It's not that easy once we get older. This is the most important thing I have learned based on my lifestyle.

The 10 pound in ten days plan is for suckers sending money to temporarily dehydrate themselves while making a salesperson rich.

The two pound a week plan is for dreamers or extreme and lucky people.

The one pound a month plan is for real people devoted to it.

Like I said, you also need to realize if you have lost weight successfully in the past, it's not that easy now--you need to up your game now that you are older. It's harder. You are older and slower and the hill is steeper and longer. Sorry for the bad news, but you cannot live in fantasyland. Reality is painful and unavoidable.

I seemed to be at 184 lbs for the last six months but suddenly had a breakthrough. Part was keeping my bike mileage at 100+ miles a week but other things were making unsweetened iced tea at work and keeping moving when I was not riding. They key I found was keeping happy...for many people food is happiness under stress and if you can find a zero calorie substitute, you win.

What is really important here is that not only have I lost the mass, I have increased my endurance and fitness to achieve a long term goal or riding the white rim in a day without killing myself. Long term goals are very effective and important.

I still have a goal of 170 lbs and I plan to achieve it by August.

White rim is in October.

Sorry Sandisk

I love my 8GB sansa and was excited about the new 32 GB Sansa View for more expandable storage.

Adventures of Lidarman: What I have been waiting for.

But I did some research and found that there is no way to change the battery. Sad. Other players like the Zen are less expensive and yes, you can change the battery. I use mine every day and wind up killing the battery in about a year. I have changed the battery in my iriver and feel close to needing to change it on my Sansa 8GB.

Thus, I have changed my opinion on Sandisk so much, I am looking at other players and I sold my 100 shares of stock (SNDK--luckily I sold a while back and didn't lose my azz but now it's so cheap maybe I will buy it back :P ).

Of course this is a moot point if I wind up buying a new player before I kill the battery every time. Most people probably do this.

I still like your cheapo and reliable compact flash cards though....the ones I use for all my photos.

Bike Week Begins in Boulder

To kick it off, the cruiser swap was happening at the Farmers Market on Saturday.



It was so exciting to see all the wonderful bikes.



A couple of were adopted by this household. Here is one of them.



Wednesday is Bike to Work day with breakfast stations everywhere. For more information go here. Some call it the "Tour de Breakfast." whereas we hit as many as possible on the way to work. One of my favorites is the Premier Credit Union at 55th and Arapahoe, which has great breakfast burritos. Rumor has it that there is an excellent one (at least it was last year) on Gunpark Drive in Gunbarrel.

Owls

There is a family of great horned owls at Twin Lakes, Boulder, CO. An owl has been seen at twin lakes in the past, but recently there is a nesting owl, along with it's apparent mate--with babies as well.

One of the owls caught here.




The other proud parent



One of the babies



The other one