James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

taylor185

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I later get on Zwift and ride for 2 hours. I felt good enough to push the whole time and my jaw only hurt a little bit. In the @taylor185 scale of "how stupid is this?" the answer was, not that stupid. I think I am almost healed. On that note, I only took Advil this morning when I got up and then after the ride. I did not need it to survive the day.

trending in the right directions. That's good news.

to throw gas on the fire...have you tried another tire? I had one wheel/tire combo that gave me all sorts of issues. Switch the tire and no problem.
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I had two recent experiences similar with tires.

After anger and frustration, both ended up in the dumpster. The cost of a good tire is worth the improvement in your mental well being. Move on.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I don't want to belabor the RIP point much more than I already did yesterday. If you have been paying super-careful attention to this blog over the past 3 years (as apparently @UtahJoe has since he remembers I have been futzing with this for all this time) you will know that in 3 years, the rear tire has never been able to seal 100% effectively - this is maybe 3 or 4 different kinds of tires now, each of them new. This is not just in my dungeon, but in bike shops as well. Nobody can get it to work. This is a brand new tire, never used. This leads me to 1 very clear, very obvious conclusion:

1. The rim is shot.

Moving on. I slept 7.5 hours last night, and I did not need Advil to sleep. Again I took some upon waking, then after my ride. Ride details below.

I feel like this 2 week Tooth Hiatus (Toothaitus?) has totally derailed my whole cross season. Don't tell me it hasn't, because I know really it hasn't. But my motivation/drive has plummeted in these 2 weeks. I think at some level, this was happening this past weekend, and was amplified on Sunday with my total lack of mojo and/or confidence and/or something-I-cannot-put-my-finger-on and/or feeling like crap. I have realigned my whole cross plan to take into account these 2 dead weeks. I'll roll out of it, but right now I am not feeling super great about "stuff" - in the words of lots of people: This too shall pass. In the words of lots of other people: Fine, but when?

@jmanic - upon further investigation, The Four is not strictly a sequel. It's more of a "here is another show by this same guy that actually has nothing to do with the first one but we'll use the title to generate momentum." We'll see how long it takes to come into production.

I got a letter from the Vermont Land Trust (VLT) yesterday asking me for money for a specific project. I donated a bunch when they were trying to save Sidewinder (SOS) so I am on the mailing lists and I am 100% in for helping keep Vermont awesome. However, in this case, they are asking to cover a $30,000 gap in raising $1.2 million to build 7 miles of trail along some lake in the state. Now, I admit I don't know the details here. But $1.2 million for 7 miles? What is going on there? Just randomly searching, I found 1 state estimate that says a paved lane-mile of road costs $120k. So you could build a trail that is paved, the width of a car, for $840k at 7 miles. I don't understand this math.

I was tempted to call one of the contact numbers to explain why there was no way I was going to help fund that. But I didn't have the energy. To me, it seems like we are encroaching on the "someone is making a killing off this deal" territory.

Despite my lack of cross mojo right now, I may sign up for Town Hall this Saturday. If I don't, my maiden race on the year will be KMC and I think that may be a bad idea. I need to shake things out at a local race first. Town Hall is a great candidate, as is Bridgeton, but I think Town Hall makes more sense because it is about 9 hours closer. Yeah, I know there's a gravity issue at play here but it's just a bike/self shakedown race. I mean you gotta get some work in at some point. Call it a litmus test.

Rained cats & dogs again today. So no Bubble Cross practice for me. Got on Zwift instead. Decided to do a WBR race - 4 laps of the flat Innsbruck course. The course is a 5+ mile loop with 1 hill of about 200 vertical feet. So the recipe is pretty much this:

1. Start race, try to hang on to The Selection
2. Every lap just manage your output in the group of people you are with
3. When you hit the hill, try to survive
4. Repeat #2 and #3 four times

Here is how today went. Mind you, yesterday was 2 hours of tempo so the tank wasn't full:

1. Selection goes, I am not in it
2. I hook up with a group of ~8 people, we work well together
3. We ride as a unit for 2 full laps, which includes 2 hill climbs
4. When we form this group, we are in the 35-42 realm out of 78 racers
5. We form a giant Pac Man, gobbling up people for 2 laps
6. Eventually we are still 8, but we have moved up to the 25-32 realm
7. Hill #3 gets me, like it does every time I do this course
8. I end up riding with 1 other Canadian guy for the final 1.5 laps
9. I pull for 1.4999999 of the laps, and he drafts me
10. At the end he tries to outsprint me. I don't let him

After the race, I feel better about the cross season. Finally linked up my Zwift account to ZwiftPower and it says I was 5th in the Cs. So not too bad. I admit I am addicted to these Zwift races. They are fun & challenging as heck.

Finished the Vietnam documentary yesterday. It was good, but don't watch it. Our country was a disaster back then. The whole thing, the whole war, is just so very sad to take in.

I started watching Black Mirror today. I don't know what sort of statement this makes, but I watched an episode about the Prime Minister of the UK fucking a pig, and thought this was far less depressing than what I was watching yesterday.
 

jmanic

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
Staff member
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
A) F that Canadian guy.
2) is there drafting benefit to the groups in the Zwift realm?
&) Let us know about the Black Mirror. I did not make it past the first episode, but my understanding is it remains just as thought-provoking but less shock after that.
 

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@Norm,

since you seem to like the historical movies shows how do you feel about historical fiction? i just finished catching up on season 2 of the man in the high castle and season 3 comes out next month, you may like (you may not and im just way off base, in which case ignore me). Its an amazon original series so you do need prime to watch it
 

MissJR

not in the mood for your shenanigans
Team MTBNJ Halter's
That first episode of Black Mirror almost did me in. Pretty sure it was written by a British 13 year old boy and his friends. No rational adult would think that and say "hey. Let's start my television writing career with an episode about a world leader fucking a pig"

I haven't seen many (we've tossed various episodes on for random reasons) but there's other good ones like the "star trek" one (S4 E1).
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@Norm which race you register for? I reg’d last night for the 3/4 (B) race at noon. Not seeing you on the list. So see you Saturday?

**EDIT**
I read that as you registered not as may register which is clearly what you actually wrote..... FWIW..... the Open 40+ is a 60 minute race.
 
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JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
However, in this case, they are asking to cover a $30,000 gap in raising $1.2 million to build 7 miles of trail along some lake in the state. Now, I admit I don't know the details here. But $1.2 million for 7 miles? What is going on there? Just randomly searching, I found 1 state estimate that says a paved lane-mile of road costs $120k. So you could build a trail that is paved, the width of a car, for $840k at 7 miles. I don't understand this math.

"The total cost of the trail through the farm, which will involve construction of a pedestrian bridge, will be $1.2 million. Over 90% of this has been committed through federal, state, and private funding, but contributions from the community are critical to receiving these funds and beginning work on the trail."

I guess they are planning to build one really nice pedestrian bridge.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
The total cost of the trail through the farm, which will involve construction of a pedestrian bridge, will be $1.2 million.
I'm going to guess 1.2 mil involves buying the land to build the 7 mile trail. The land acquisition is probably about 1mil, trail/bridge construction .2 mil.
If they are spending 1.2 mil for trail/bridge construction, Iggy Contracting will be submitting a bid.
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I'm going to guess 1.2 mil involves buying the land to build the 7 mile trail. The land acquisition is probably about 1mil, trail/bridge construction .2 mil.

That was my first thought, but apparently they bought the land back in 2015. They got the grant in 2017 to build the trails and bridge.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
I'm going to guess 1.2 mil involves buying the land to build the 7 mile trail. The land acquisition is probably about 1mil, trail/bridge construction .2 mil.

@rlb or @stb222 - Can we get a cost on that new bridge at CR ?

My internetting has been thwarted.
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I started watching Black Mirror today. I don't know what sort of statement this makes, but I watched an episode about the Prime Minister of the UK fucking a pig, and thought this was far less depressing than what I was watching yesterday.

I think the show came into it's own later on. We watched that episode and the next one, thought it was Meh.

Was told to watch two episodes from Season Four and they were really good. Never really thought to watch others. I'd say the two episodes are do-not-misses.
"USS Callister"
"Metalhead"

Both are very different than each other. But pretty much are a modern day Twilight Zone episode.
 
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