Dennis B Murphy >>>>>>>>>>

Blog: Thoughts and Commentary

October 2007

10.31.07 I tried to do a ride tonight, but it rained while I was out there and the cold rain made me decide to cut the ride short at 12 miles. Jeez was i freezing. I had a base layer and long sleeve jersey as well as leggings, but it wasn't enough. I am going to have to dig out all the cold weather gear (shoe covers, full finger gloves, balaclava, etc).

10.28.07 It was an MMBA weekend- Thursday we met with the IMBA trail crew for a "club care" presentation. Saturday and Sunday we did a trail build at Cannonsburg Ski Area which involved cutting some new trail in a trough so it had banked and bermed turns. The new trail isn't completely finished though.

Curious juxtaposition of two other events occurred on Saturday though. Saturday, as I went to my car after trail work to put my work jacket and gloves in the truck, I noticed a guy sitting in a car behind mine. He was reading something and likely waiting to go to the wedding reception that was to begin soon at the Ski Lodge. He glanced up at me as I looked back at him. I got in the car and made a u-turn to leave the lot and just happened to glance over at him as I left- and he was FLIPPING ME the finger! UH?

Either he's flipping off all the mountain bikers in the lot- or... he's flipping off the only obvious atheist in the lot. Aside from the fact that I doubt flipping the finger at someone is a really Christian act- there's also the curious nature of "dissing" someone without them knowing it. He flipped at me basically with my back turned and only a happenstance glance made me aware of this. Can you imagine?

Wife "Hi honey, how was your day?" Husband "great dear, I flipped of an atheist today behind his back" Wife "good for you dear, that's wonderful" So I suppose SOME satisfaction can be gained by such acts...

Then I drove home but had to stop at the mall for a quick purchase. As I departed the mall lot, there was a guy on the corner with a cardboard sign- "HUNGRY" written on it. I didn't stop but made a decision as soon as I turned the corner. I went to a nearby Walgreens, went in and bought a loaf of bread, package of salami and a half gallon of SunnyD. I zoomed back around the block to the corner. As I approached the guy, the car in front of me handed him some money out of their window. I then pulled up and rolled my window down and handed him the bag of food. I told him to take care and hoped things would get better for him.

I then caught up to the car that handed money. It was a 30-ish couple with a young teen daughter/girl in the back seat. The driver had a huge gaged pierced ear and wore his ball cap backwards- not the type one thinks of, perhaps, when one things of caring, charitable types- at least not visually (though I also perhaps am guilty of stereotyping). I have a hard time thinking the guy flipping me off would have given the homeless fellow money or food... more likely he'd say the homeless deserve their fate.

Yep, interesting juxtaposition.

10.22.07 I had a good trail day yesterday at Ionia- Guy B. has the planning and organization down for that trail and should now be the trail coordinator officially. I was too tired to ride- the past week was exhausting- so I went home and vegetated. I will probably go for a road ride this evening before the rain hits.

Mario sent his GPS log of our Chihuahua ride. Sweet- I gotta get one of these. Below is a map of Cuidad Chihuahua- the "H" is where the Hampton Inn is located (the Westin is the "W").

10.18.07 Well, it was a productive day. At work, visiting my supplier in Mexico, we got several items on my agenda covered to be completed soon. Then I went BIKING!

The business unit manager, Mario, is an avid cyclist and had a spare mountain bike to lend me. So after work hours at the plant we went to his house, changed into bike gear and headed toward the trails outside Chihuahua. The bike he lent me was a Specialized FSR. It was just on the tall side for me as the seat post would not drop any farther- so I was just at the maximum pedal stroke I could handle. The bike was also dimensionally different than my Cannondale Rush, of course, feeling shorter in the wheel base and higher off the ground. I was also getting used to the standard grips- since I use the Ergon grips on my bike- so throughout our ride I was frequently shaking my hands to eliminate numbness.

The trail here was nearly 100% rough two-track and only a little bit of the trail actually could be called single-track. Part of what we rode was also included in a mountain bike race here a month or so ago, and white painted direcional marks were still evident on various portions of the trail. The two track trail is used by dirt-motorcycles, four-wheel trucks as well as local farmers and ranchers. Picture the roughest portions of rocky, loose terrain on Ore-to-Shore and you can picture this trail for nearly the whole ride. The climbs were not long or steep but tough due to loose stones. Much of the flat portions were filled with imbedded rocks and loose rocks, making much of the ride an obstacle ride and making the ride tougher. Mario kept out in front a good 30-40 yard most of the time as I was unsure of the terrain on the downhills and slow on the uphills. We passed open range grazing cattle and horses and portions of the trail went through private land. I asked about this and he said most people didn't object so long as passers-through did not damage things and closed any gates behind them. We came to one such gate and he translated the sign for me: "close the gate motherfu%$#r!" hahahahaha.

On one section, Mario was out in front and mostly stayed to the right of the two track- I rode the left side and came around a curve and before I realized it I passed within 6-8 inches of a rattlesnake sunning itself on the last of the days light! It didn't move, luckily. Much of the roadway was rutted and eroded. These eroded ruts had no regularity- some were perpendicular to the trail, others diagonal, or even ran with the trail, so maneuvering was an ongoing task.

Mario suffered two flats on the ride- one about 14 kilometers into the trip, the other a half mile from the finish. We rode out just over 20 kilometers before turning around. we basically did a long loop out and rode back the same trail for a bit then took a side trail shortcut to the car. Our total ride was about 36 kilometers at 14 KPH average for just over two hours of riding. I had wished I'd remembered my camera,but in hindsight, it was good I didn't take it and stop for photos- we ended up riding the last half hour in decreasing light. The half moon cast a very faint shadow and the fading light over the western mountains provided some illumination, though both were insufficient as we descended down into gullies before climbing again. The last half mile was in a complete night time lighting as we walked to the car due to Mario's second flat tire.

Mario drove me back to the Hampton Inn where I missed their standard happy hour, but I grabbed a wine and made did some emails, then went to dinner again at Raices. I enjoyed their Pesto Pasta and had some Negro Modelo beers as I watched the last three innings of the American League championship series game where the Red Sox trounced the Indians.

I have a 600am flight and a wake up call at 400am- UGH I will NOT do that again. Three morning flights this week-Monday, Tuesday and Friday- each necessitating 400-430am wakeups... tiring.

10.16.07 Ah- the marketplace... in the Houston airport I saw a "quickcharge" kiosk- a stand with about 20 different cord attachments protruding for every type of phone. You plug your phone in, pay the $3.00 and it quickcharges your phone... cool.

NYTimes today- article on Nobel Prize for Economics for study in Mechanism Design- a process which accounts for a desired outcome that is not taken into account in so-called "free market" theories. A goal such as clean air, the acheivement of which is an externalized cost and not considered in products and services, is considered in Mechanism Design.

NYTimes today- Frank Stronach of Magna International has said his employees SHOULD unionize! Wow. "Society needs checks and balances. Business has one mandate- make a profit. But that has to be tempered."

Got to the hotel by mid-day, checked in and went online to catch up on email from work. By 500pm, I decided to take a walk and go check out a bike shop. I have my Chihuahua map. The brisk walk took me an hour so it was perhaps five or six miles. The bike shop was not what we would expect in Michigan from a Village Bike, Alger or RBS. The line of bikes was much lower in level than we would see with the prevalent bike in the $200 range, though there was one Trek 3700, two Trek 4300s and one Gary Fisher Sugar-4 (which was hanging up from a cable).

Interestingly, Chihuahua is a sprawling growing city of more than one million people and in this whole hour of walking I saw only two police cars. The walk was primarily through commercial districts though the first 15-20 minutes was through residential neighborhoods. Architecture here is positively secure.. aka- gated houses! Nearly all houses have gated courtyards, gated open garages and gates in front of windows and doors. So I am not sure of the crime rate here- perhaps the prevalent offense is breaking&entering? After visiting the bike shop, I took a cab back to the hotel- the cab drivers are positively wild drivers here- driving in general is rather chaotic and people surely honk their horns frequently. One car made a U-turn and in doing so, held up a couple other cars which then caught the red light. The second car beeped his horn and craned his neck around to give the offending driver an evil look- though that car was long gone. Guess it made the guy feel better.

Eating dinner here is difficult- the restaurants here are not quite yet tuned to vegetarian dishes. This city has had quite a bit of growth since I was last here in November 2005. Then, there is an Applebees next door, a couple other local restaurants, Chilis a half-mile away. There's a mall with Penny's and Sears, Cinemark Theater, Walmart, Home Depot. But in 2005, there was still quite a bit of open dusty spots- now.. the lot across the highway from the Hampton Inn in front of Home Depot is now a bustling plaza with a Mailbox Etc., three restaurants, young people's clothing stores, an ice cream shop (comparable to a Baskin-Robbins) and a really good coffee shop on par with any Starbucks. I want to Alitas restaurant and checked the menu- all burgers. As I left to go look elsewhere the manager asked why I was leaving and I told him I was vegetarian and there wasn't anything on the menu. He suggested a new restaurant up behind this plaza in an even newer plaza. I walked through some construction to get to it. That plaza is empty except for a bank and the restaurant, Raices (which means "roots" in spanish). I had a great pesto linguine! The price was $13, comparable to an Olive Garden dish. I will probably eat there all week.

10.15.07 In Brownsville and McAllen (Texas) today for visit to a supplier. The weather was over 80 degrees!! Jeez- SUMMER!. The terrain here is high-desert. I took the expressway from Brownsville to McAllen, but took state highway 281 back- a slower, more scenic two-lane highway running near the Rio Grande, peppered with Border Patrol vehicles and historic plaques such as the Longoria Cemetary and Thornton's Skirmish, which started the Mexican-American War.

10.13.07 Couple of down weeks on the bike- I had no time to change the tires until today- It's been a busy morning and not even noon yet. I skipped a trail day to get all my tasks completed since I will be out of town for work all next week. Grocery run this morning, then back to rewire the rear lights on the car.

I had no brake lights for a long time. I tried rewiring a couple weeks ago and got the wrong line so had to cut the lines. The highmount brake lamp worked but the two rear lights did not. I had rear running lights all along until the rewiring, which then knocked the rear passenger tail-light. So I wired power to that light first, then figured which wires went to the brake lights. I then powered to them via the high mount light. The only thing lacking now is turn signals- a more complex investigation. Not having turn signals is really only an issue in heavy traffic when I am turning and there's no turn lane- at which point I usually put on the hazard flashers to warn drivers behind me before a turn.

Then I brought the bike in and changed the tires- I pulled the quite-well-worn Maxxi's off the wheels and put on a decent set of Kenda Karma tires along with completely new tubes. I think I should hit a trail today!!

Update- rode one lap at Yankee- got there too late to do two laps since it gets dark earlier.

10.8.07 Two years... We miss you, Dad. Bud Murphy born Sept 1937, passed away 6:00am Oct 8, 2005

......... .........
.......Dad & me (1960)............................ Dad, Patrick and me (1988)....................................Dad & Brenden 1989

10.6.07 Lazy morning Saturday, didn't get up until after 9am, then breakfast, coffee and the paper. We decided to go ride. Joni and I went to Bass River to do a couple laps. The trail is fairly flat, but technical, and short at 5.5 miles. We did two laps (11 miles). Joni then headed home in the car and I rode home on the bike. My objective was to reach 40 miles today, but this was cut short by a flat at mile 29, which I repaired. I rode over a piece of metal or glass. No sooner than I repaired and got going... FLAT again.. I really think I need new tires.. the tread on my Maxxis tires is pretty thin now after hundreds of miles of riding this year. So I ended up calling for a ride home as I had no more repair materials available.

I was planning on the Endurance Series award dinner at Boyne, but Brent put out a notice that not enough people were going to attend to make the dinner financially feasible, so that trip was cancelled.

10.4.07 Couple good days of riding this week on Tuesday and tonight. I wanted to ride Wednesday, but our cable was acting up so I ended up spending $80 on a new cable modem. Put my ride log into effect today though... here's my ride route.. various combinations of these roads, sometimes going farther north to Lake Michigan Drive and beyond. During the winter, I can get 15-30 miles just staying on the roads and trails between home, John Ball Park and Johnson Park with a couple laps.