Happy Winter Solstice!

Sven is dressed as a Druid in celebration of the winter solstice. Or not, it’s hard to be sure of authenticity. On the one hand, it is said by some that the Druid winter holiday was on February 1 celebrating the return of the light, rather than on the winter solstice itself. On the other hand, a lot of what's “known” about the Druids is a combination of 18th Century and New Age claptrap, so there's perhaps no harm in making up some claptrap of our own. (Ceasar's De Bello Gallico is the origin of the bulk of what was recorded, and since he was shooting at them at the time, he was not necessarily privy to the details of their holidays. Other writers like Pliny the Elder may also have been mixing fact and fiction in their descriptions.)



Next to Sven is a model of Stonehenge (Svenhenge!) made from dominoes covered with textured spray paint and glued to a pie plate. Not too awful a copy of the original, don’t you think?

The association of the Druids with Stonehenge is a bit dubious – they came along a couple thousand years later, but like many other peoples in the region were surely aware of the megaliths and perhaps incorporated structures like Stonehenge into their ceremonies. Anyhow, the interest of modern “Druids” in the ruins of Stonehenge is pretty strong. So here it is.

Please do not attempt to use Svenhenge for celestial timekeeping! It is calibrated only for wood(-land) creatures like Sven, not for bipedal mortals. And only Sven knows the deep numerology secrets embedded in the spatial arrangement of the dominoes.

Sven is wearing a wreath of real mistletoe, sacred to the Druids. Oak groves were also sacred to the Druids, which is appropriate to our location in the Michaux State Forest. Check out the Wikipeida entry on the “Ritual of Oak and Mistletoe.”

Mistletoe is also relevant to Norse mythology: “Baldr was a god of vegetation. His mother, Frigga, had a prophetic dream and made every plant, animal, and inanimate object promise not to harm Baldr. Frigga overlooked the mistletoe, and the mischievous god Loki took advantage of Frigga's oversight by tricking the blind god Hod into killing Baldr with a spear fashioned from mistletoe. Baldr's death brought winter into the world. When the gods restored Baldr to life, Frigga declared the mistletoe sacred, ordering that it should bring love rather than death into the world. Happily complying with Frigga's wishes, any two people passing under the plant from now on would celebrate Baldr's resurrection by kissing under the mistletoe.”

So, everyone give Sven a big kiss in celebration of Winter!

(Thank you, Diane and Andre!)

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

Who is Guy Fawkes?

Brett went outside this morning hoping to foil our neighbors and pull the costume out of the box and dress our little boy ourselves and lo and behold they beat us to it!!

Go check your gunpowder...

Halloween Trick or Treat

Think it was some of both! 15 inches of snow on October 29th? A trick and a treat!

The Adventures of Dr. McSvenja

Dr. McNinja: Could this boy's youthful innocence and exuberance be what I need to keep my dark and troubled soul in check? 
Dr. McNinja's Inner Voice: (You're not a dark and troubled soul. You're a doctor who wants to be Batman.)

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja an action-comedy webcomic by Chris Hastings and Anthony "Nedroid" Clark* , and the love child of the Rule Of Cool and the Rule of Funny. It is the most awesomely epic / epically awesome webcomic ever.

The story unofficially * begins with the eponymous omnidisciplinary doctor who is also a ninja discovering that the McDonald's restaurant chain has created a burger bearing his name. Naturally, he solves this copyright infringement by battling Ronald McDonald himself.

The next arc, "Meet The Doctor And His Friendly Staff" introduces Dr. McNinja's gorilla receptionist, as the two of them race against time to save a patient with Paul Bunyan's Disease (an illness which turns children into giant lumberjacks).

"So What IS A McNinja?'' introduces the Doctor's family, who are very disappointed with him for not becoming a professional ninja. The McNinjas' origins are revealed, and of course there are pirates.

The next morning, the Doctor finds a raptor in his office ("There is a Raptor in My Office"). This turns out to be the tip of the iceberg, said iceberg being a conspiracy involving paleontologists-turned-banditos, organic jetpacks, MySpace and NewsCorp. At least the Doctor gets a sidekick out of the deal: a gunslinging, mustachioed 12-year-old named Gordito.

"D.A.R.E. To Resist Ninja Drugs and Ninja Violence" begins with McNinja facing a hard choice: Will he help his father defeat 80's action movie star Frans Rayner and his army of drug-enhanced ninja mooks? Or will he help the clone of Benjamin Franklin create a medicine to cure death?

...And everything after that point simply must be seen to be believed.

What's interesting about the comic is Hastings' sheer commitment to the utter weirdness. Every bizarre twist gets a completely straight reaction from the cast, and can have repercussions that stretch over multiple chapters. The overall effect is like a geodesic dome of absurdity, where every time the authors throw in a killer weatherman or cyborg bears or zombie Ben Franklin re-enacting the "Thriller" music video with situationally-appropriate lyrics, the plot becomes that much more believable. In the words of Chris Hastings, "Dr. McNinja lives in a world that operates like a Mortal Kombat stage." (but Cumberland, Maryland is a real place), so if you're a stickler for scientific and historical plausibility and blow a gasket whenever you see Hollywood Physics, please stay far away from this webcomic.

And just to prove the series hasn't hit the peak of absurdly awesome yet, in Summer of 2010, Doctor McNinja took part in a crossover with Axe Cop.

Sventopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea

Sven is wearing the family crest of Cristoforo Colombo (1451-1506) with the added phrase "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" -- the title the endlessly arrogant explorer requested from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.

Sven's hat is inspired by the Ridolfo Ghirlandaio portrait (Google it!) -- but we don't know what C.C. actually looked like, much less what hats he wore. Since no contemporary portraits exist, I say Sven is as good a model for C.C. as anyone!

At his elbow is a copy of the 1490 map possibly created by C.C. and his brother in Lisbon -- the point being that there was nothing better to guide him on his voyage a couple years later (www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/LMwebpages/257.html). There's also a translation of his journal entry for the day he and his crew landed in the New World, though they didn't know where they actually were...

Yes, the little globe in a ball-and-chain in front of Sven is a political statement. Deal with it. See www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-kasum/columbus-day-a-bad-idea_b_742708.html or if you have the stomach for it, read more horrific detail at the bottom portion of www.thirdworldtraveler.com/History/Hero-making_LMTTM.html.

"Columbus's claim to fame isn't that he got there first, it's that he stayed." --historian Martin Dugard

   --Andre

Weekend Snapshot

More details when I get a bigger moment!



The moment apaprently isn't happening. Dora learned to ride a bike last weekend! And Owen got a new bike! Everyone had fun! It was great!

Mushrooms!

DISCLAIMER! If you use anything I post here as a guideline to go find mushrooms, you're not thinking it through. Go buy books, talk to someone who knows something about mushrooms, and be really freaking careful. If in doubt, chuck it out. I don't want to hear about you eating some awesome looking mushroom after briefly seeing it here and getting sick. You are responsible for your own actions. I'm still learning and in no way am I any kind of authority on this stuff.

As they say in Mall Rats:
"You're going to listen to me? To something I said? Jesus, man, haven't I made it abundantly clear during the tenure of our friendship that I don't know sh**? I mean, half the time I'm just talking out of my ass . . ."

Anyway, on to the fun stuff...

We've become interested in the world of wild mushrooms this year after attending a presentation at Greenwood Furnace SP in July. We knew about chicken mushrooms, which are quite tasty, and shaggy manes that my dad introduced us to, but the rest, not so much. That is changing ever since we started getting rain again. The woods are rife with a riot of mushrooms and we've been searching out some edible ones.

The first success was in our own driveway when we found and identified meadow mushrooms--quite tasty!

Of course, we needed to know the bad ones, too, and I'm pretty confident I can pick out the destroying angel with no problems now. This is good because it'll dissolve your liver and kill you within a week.

We've been pretty cautious about identifying what we find and if there's doubt, we throw them out. False chanterelles and uncertain puffballs have gone this route.

But this week? Jackpot! Been looking for these for a bit now and stumbled upon them quite by accident.

Horn of Plenty/Black Trumpets/Trumpets/Black Chanterelles!





We tried a couple last night, felt fine all night and so they went in the eggs this morning!



These have a great smoky flavor--very good. And we've read that they can be put in dry white wine to flavor it. We intend to try this. Great mushroom--hard to see against the forest floor, though.

And even better, on the way to pick the trumpets, nearly tripped over some true Chanterelles! Spore print matches, description matches...might have to try a bit tonight...



Once again, don't use anything here to identify a mushroom with no other checks!

Functional But Not Finished

As of 8-30-11, functional but not finished. Plan is to swap the bar and stem and post for silver, the seat collar for blue, the rear skewer for blue, and eventually rebuild the front wheel with a blue hub. The pink bottle cage will stay, natch. Fork: Reba RLT Ti 120mm 20mm TA. Rear Shock: Fox RP23 w/ Boost valve and Kashima. And try to control yourselves, but I moved to 9 speed with this build finally. Currently 2x9, might become 1x9 depending on the use the little ring sees. Trying to dial it in this week for Shenandoah.

I didn't do it.

Anyone else ever know of this happening?

I've never heard of it before. And my petite wife is the one who did it. After getting it out of the frame, I noticed the crack around the collar. And I pulled it apart with my bare hands. This is one King headset that has not outlasted several frames.

That's right, she's tougher than you.

First frackin', now the State Parks?

Corbett seems to have the best ideas. Best thing business ever got in PA...

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/harrisburg_politics/Corbett-mulls-privatizing-state-parks.html

It's a real shame that everyone disliked Rendell so much that the gubernatorial race was a done deal before it ever started just because of voter backlash against the idea of another Democrat Guvnuh.

Public lands in a commonwealth should remain managed by the people for the people, not managed by business for profit. Methinks Corbett has forgotten the meaning of the word "commonwealth."

First give away the environment and public lands to the gas companies and now consider letting them make money off more "public" lands?

Parts and Pieces

Most of the parts and pieces for the third iteration of the Kona Hei Hei are here. Would that be a Hei Hei Hei? Perhaps I could be mistaken for Fat Albert, dunno. The process is definitely going in fits and starts but I am trying to remain patient and put this together correct.

To prepare for parts cleaning, I attempted to pull the old cassette off the rear hub yesterday morning. Wasn't happening. The cassette and aluminum freehub body seem to be permanently entwined in a loving embrace. Ain't movin'. So, I'm ordering a replacement steel freehub body. Steel is real, right?

And of course a new cassette will be required.

I started cleaning drive train bits last night to prepare for installation in the new frame. And in the process realized I just needed to replace most of my drive train. New front rings, new rear derailleur, new front derailleur. Now on order, too.

So, I thought, hey, at least I can press the new Cane Creek headset into the new frame. I have a headset press, cool beans. Again, no go. I have to order the 1.5 headset press adapter.

I still have one more bit I can work on--installing the travel spacer in the Reba to knock it down to 120mm. I hope it goes well!

Now that I have the frame, shock, and fork in hand, of course I'm itching to build this thing and I'm finding all the little things that'll slow it down. Not that I should be upset about it. These are mostly items that I could have and should have taken care of in the month or so I was waiting for the new frame to show up. All the time in the world. All the time in the world to spare...and I spent it doing other things! My choice.

But I'm pretty stoked about how I want it to come together! And pretty stoked that Kona has replaced the frame a second time now with no hassle. And pretty stoked that I moved into the realm of tapered forks. And more rear travel. And more front travel.

I'll try to get off my duff this weekend and take a few pics. The new Fox RP23 shock with Kashima coat is pretty awesome. The Cane Creek 110 headset is a work of art. The redesigned Hei Hei frame has some nice touches--like a better aligned cable stop for the front derailleur and asymmetrical chainstays. The seat stays are beefier than the old frame as well.

As long as I can ride this thing at the Shenandoah 100, it'll be good!

111th anniversary of van Gogh’s death

Svencent van Gogh and "Starry Night"


Vincent van Gogh produced all of his work (some 900 paintings and 1100 drawings) during the ten year period before he committed suicide. Most of his best-known work was produced in the final two years of his life. In the two months before his death he painted 90 pictures.
On July 27, 1890 Vincent van Gogh set out, with his easel and painting materials, into the fields; he took out a revolver and shot himself in the chest. Van Gogh was able to make it back to the Ravoux Inn where he was cared for by Dr. Mazery and Dr. Gachet. The doctors decided not to remove the bullet, and they sent for Theo. Theo arrived the following afternoon. Comforted by Theo's presence, van Gogh told his brother, “I wish I could pass away like this.” Theo reported Vincent’s last words as “the sadness will last forever.” He died at 1:30 A.M. on July 29, aged 37.
A small group of friends and family attended his funeral, abundant with sunflowers. Among the mourners was Dr. Gachet, who spoke a few words. “He was an honest man... and a great artist,” Gachet eulogized. “He had only two goals, humanity and art.”

The Fourth; a fun time was had by ALL...

Sunday Hunting Bill Introduced in the House

This is no joke. HB 1760.

Check it out HERE. It's a short and sweet bill--two pages.

Excerpts from the text:

"Section 1. Section 2303 of Title 34 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is repealed:
[§ 2303. Hunting on Sunday prohibited.
(a) General rule.‑‑Except as otherwise provided in this title, it is unlawful for any person to hunt for any furbearer or game on Sunday."


"Section 2. Title 34 is amended by adding a section to read:
§ 2303.1. Hunting on Sunday.
(a) General rule.‑‑It shall be lawful for any person to hunt for any furbearer or game on Sunday as provided by regulations promulgated under subsection (b).
(b) Regulations.‑‑The commission shall institute Sunday hunting and shall promulgate appropriate regulations under section 2102 (relating to regulations) within one year of the effective date of this section."

Canaan MTB Fest

Canaan with no snow? Weird. Three days of riding with some good peeps in the highlands of Scotland, er, I mean West Virginia.

Moon Rockin':






Scottish Tea Water:


Carvin':


Dobbin House Loops:


Saturday Group Rides

A Nice Surprise:


View:


Greenery:


More Moon Rocks on Sunday:


Cruisin':

Summer Camp

I guess I need to write a race report for this one – need some sort of closure on this huge chunk of my life!

What started out as one of my goals to keep me in shape, healthy and out of trouble turned into an all consuming obsession. It was a fun one though…

I committed back in December, I think, and I knew I had some hard work to do just to finish this race in May. I followed a winter training plan that took me to March, then a 12 week TSE specific training plan that took me up until race day.

I followed the plan to a T – I think a little too well to a T because I felt tired and over trained most of the time, but I thought that’s what I needed to do to make it all work – home, work, social, and training time. I was really worried about completing this race and making all the time cutoffs.

So, I went into the race being tired and a bit sore…I had a fall on the 2 hour training ride that was prescribed the Thursday night before the race started on Saturday. I fell on my left arm (I had been having numbing issues already in my hand as a result of shoulder issues).

Jill and I got to TSE on Saturday; we pre-rode the 12.5 mile time trial course and I felt, well, tired. It was hot and I was just hoping I’d feel better on Sunday. The course wasn’t too difficult and I knew with a good night’s rest, I’d be fine.
Sunday we had some time to kill since our time trials didn’t start until after 4pm.

After a shopping jaunt into State College (to look for sandals other than flip flops because I had blisters between my toes and I didn’t have any other sandals along), we managed to relax and lay down for a bit. Donna and Sammy stopped by to visit, but left before the race started.

Stage 1 – Individual Time Trial

I think most of you heard the story, but as I was sitting on the concrete porch of our cabin, my chair shifted and I fell backwards, chair and all, 2-3 feet to the ground, hitting my head on a rock, splitting it open, and rolling over backwards. I was horrified. All my training! The race was ruined. Our first thought was not to go to the Dr. and just race….until Jill looked at my head and saw blood. So we went to race headquarters and had Dr. Todd look at it. I was pretty upset. I started hyperventilating when he told me about getting staples. After he put one staple in, I started sweating profusely, my hands got numb and my vision was blurry. I cried a lot. Dr. Todd said that I could race if I wanted to, so we walked back to the cabin and by the time I changed the vision and numbing cleared up. So I raced!
My head hurt for the next couple of days, but the worst of it was my shoulders and neck which were so stiff for the remainder of the week resulting in lots of hand numbing issues.

For everything that had just happened 45 minutes before the time trial started, I had a good ride. It was better than the pre-ride and I actually enjoyed it!

Stage 2 – Cooper’s Gap Cross Country

I was looking forward to this stage because we had pre-rode it earlier in May--- I knew what to expect so we thought it would be a piece of cake to make the cut off. It was a lot hotter on Monday than our pre-ride was. Chili and I were having fun until we got to the trail section that climbs a mountain. Parts of it were exposed and it was in the 90’s. Where we had ridden before, we were reduced to walking our bikes. We were a few miles from the checkpoint so we were trying to really push it and I think we both bonked hard a few times between there and the checkpoint. Nearing the checkpoint and thinking we were going to get cut, we were approached be a volunteer on a bike that told us that the cut off was extended due to the heat – YAY – We were so happy! After that checkpoint, we just kept moving but the mental struggle was over.

Stage 3 – Coburn Cross Country

This was the mostly road stage with very few trails and a tunnel, lots of CLIMBS and great vistas. There was confusion at the start of the stage and I got ahead of Jill, but then made a wrong turn. Until I got turned around and got back on course, she was ahead of me. Uh, oh…predicament. I was trying to catch her and she was trying to catch me! We rode like this for about 32 miles and at the checkpoint that was also the cutoff they told her that I was behind her and she waited for me! It was a beautiful stage but a bummer that we got separated like that. I did get a chance to chat with Laura early on in the stage.

Stage 4 – Raystown – Allegrippis Trails

This was my most favorite stage! I love these swoopy, hoop-dee-do, pump track style trails!! Your momentum and downward speed is what carries you up the next hill and I took full advantage of that. Unfortunately Jill did not like it as much. I ended up riding behind 11 year old Tanner for the 1st lap, who was part of one of the two Teams that were racing.

Stage 5 – RB Winter – Mini XCs

This was a format that not many people liked. I may have liked it better if I wasn’t hurting. I was pretty exhausted today and numbing issues were pretty bad. We group rode to the start of each of four time trials sections, so for the pros, it was about 6 hours total time with only 50 minutes of racing.

Stage 6 – Tussey Mountain/Queen Stage

This was supposed to be the best stage, but it wasn’t for me. I was still hurting. We hadn’t preridden the John Wert trail and because of fatigue, numbness and uncertainty, I didn’t ride a lot of it. I was also very worried about the cut off today because I knew how I felt. I tortured myself. It was bad. I was timing us from the “official” start and we had 3.5 or 4 hours to make the check point--I don’t remember. As we were starting the climb up the road to the checkpoint, it was beyond the time and I was just devastated. To come this far and not finish….I got to the checkpoint and Jill was waiting for me and was yelling, “WE MADE IT!” We really didn’t but I guess they decided to let us through since we were close. I bawled. So, we continued on to the Tussey Ridge Trail. I love this trail but I was really having issues by this time, so I told Jill to just go---she was feeling great!
So I carried on alone and my mind played tricks on me. As I was riding down off of the ridge I heard something behind me---it was HO! Aaron Hofelt was sweeping the course and pulling down arrows behind me! So, we rode together for most of the rest of the stage – that was just what I needed! Thank you, Ho!

Stage 7 – Poe Valley

Last stage – road mixed with some pretty sweet trail. Jill, Kerry and I were all near each other for most of the day. No time cut offs so no worries-- we were home free!

Highlights

-Spending the week with my best racing bud, Jill! Thank you for putting up with me---I tried to be as positive as I could!! That girl has LOTS of energy!!

-Being able to complete this race. It was very important to do this so all the training I endured was worth something!

-Brett being the best husband and putting up with me and my sometimes silly goals.

-What happens in camp stays in camp! Chili, you know what I’m talking about!

-Buttercup (Hard is Good!) and Blossom

-Raystown Stage!

-No rain all week!

-The big fan that showed up midway thru the week but sat there because I didn’t have the energy to put it together! Thank you Scot and Jen!

-The naked man that ran out of the woods during Stage 2 and gave me a little “push” from behind!

-Getting to talk to and mingle with the Pros – quite an honor!

-A very well put on event with great promoters! Thank you Mike and Ray – also, Zach, Chris, Dr. Todd, Justin from Freeze Thaw, Becky and John and all the others who helped me get through the week!

-The champagne victory fight at the end…

-The steak dinner that welcomed me home on Saturday - Thank you Jill, Sarah, Diane and Andre - you're the bestest!!

-ALL the well wishes and support from my family and friends before, during and after the event! Thank you!

Highlight of Stage 2 at TSE

It's a naked caboose, it's the Michaux Mofo!!!

That was the best! Stay tuned for a full race report in the next day or two...

Carnage

Hey, in the span of the past, oh, roughly 8 days...

I broke the spring in the fork on my SS,


I bent a Salsa Shaft seatpost,


And I cracked the Kona...again...




I think I can build one workable bike by combining parts from both until everything gets fixed and replaced.

On a good note, the wheels I built for my Kona roughly two and a half years ago are still pretty rock solid. Musta done something right.

TSE Pics and Link

Donna finished the whole thing! Here are a few pics from the week from our camera and the nightly slideshow of the day's stage have been posted to youtube so click on THIS to go there.

Dirt Puff Girls!


Day One Time Trial


Crossing the line Trainwreck Style


Day Seven (yeah, no pics in between really)




Jill being silly


Donna relaxing


Thanks to everyone who sent encouragement and well-wishes!