James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I've been waking up to write some days, writing when I find time other days. I'm in this slog of an editing phase, which I imagine can take 2-3x longer than actually writing the damn thing. You don't realize the habits you fall into until you read your own words with a critical eye. I've always been kind of critical of myself when I write, but I just wrote something that bugs me. Writing out the words "kind of" in that last sentence. If I were to edit this, which I will, I'd remove it. But I'll leave it in for this exercise. I also realize that it is easy to fall into the overuse of pronouns. I've recently been working this out. It's a neat exercise, learning experience, and pain in my ass. Anyway, I am around halfway through editing, though I have now added a layer to the editing, which means I'll need to go back and re-edit many of the original chapters. I am not going to reread this paragraph until after I submit, which means I won't edit this one.

Today was a fairly mundane day in the life & times of Things That Happen to Norm. I'm happy to see @taylor185 hasn't dropped off the face of the Earth. Barriers have never been a big problem for me. I don't know why it is the case, but beyond barriers, running hasn't typically been a big part of my racing career, and hasn't been a huge deal. I did manage to upgrade to a cat 2 despite being shit at running. This year, I've found both of the races I've done to be bit more of an issue in this regard. That's probably a combination of things, but I do have a considerable unwillingness to run, which is in itself a problem (as a side note, a topic I don't want to delve into just yet, is that my back has been sore under these race efforts, a new phenomenon which I also need to adapt to & address). What I'm seeing happen is this. Let's take Hippo as an example. By the time I am mired to a stop, my HR is skyrocketing, and getting off then on the bike is Under a Code Red Sky, if you will. I need to be trying to get off the bike in Orange, then run, then get back on while not blowing out entirely. I need to get better at regulating my effort. Even if I am not running like Usain Bolt, just a moderate jog & efficient remount would have been a massive advantage over that weak sauce I brought to Frenchtown.

I need to work on being ok with a more moderate relationship with getting off the bike and placing myself back on it when it is more prudent to do so.

My cross bike is done & clean. I may take it to the park and start to address this relationship tomorrow. I'm not quite full-ON a build just yet. But I do want to get 2 hard workouts in the next 4 days, then maybe a volume day depending. Today was just Zwift easy-moderate again. Black Mirror, White Christmas, the end of season 2. Good enough, some interesting things. We're 2 seasons in now, still no home runs.

@jShort - the aero press is a daily usage item. More than once a day. I'm getting it dialed now. It makes a good, clean cup and it's great when I have 5 minutes until my next meeting is going to start.

Also, you replied to my thread while I was writing it. I'm not sure if I will go back to this paragraph and add more, or wait until tomorrow. I'm not feeling especially verbose tonight so I may pull a Ray Guy and punt this one to tomorrow.

I was going to try to outline what is in store for the weekend both on & off the bike, but it's too complicated right now. So I'll go day-by-day. Right now tomorrow looks like this:

* Start the day with 10 hours needed to hit 40 for the week. Will try to knock out as many as I can. My goal is to be done with work by 10:30am on Friday, when my daily call ends.
* Get on the cross bike and check out my East County loop potential. Maybe do some hard work. WORK!
* Pick up Julia & her friend Briana from the school newspaper meeting, then get Simon, or vice versa. Actually vice versa.
* Go watch Zac's soccer game, which is in Warren, across the street from East County.
* Drop Simon off at his soccer practice at 4:30. Go back to get Zac from the game.
* Try to finish up D's bike. I took hers apart today. Her left side BB was almost totally seized.
* Reply to @jShort at the very least

Also, based on @2Julianas I may need to drive out to Brew362 and hang out and work there one day in the not-too-distant future. Google says 30 minutes by car.
 

Robin

Well-Known Member
@2Julianas I was determined to find this coffee place after you told me. I put it into one of my rides and enjoyed an ice coffee. It was a nice day so I sat outside but very cozy place. I told @Norm about it and said if you approved it had to be decent.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@jShort - the aero press is a daily usage item.

Yea. It’s great for a single cup. It makes a keurig pointless in my house. Like said at the race, when using an electric kettle on a timer, a great cup of coffee is ready 3 minutes after you get out of bed. Very useful for early morning pre work workouts.

There are a ton of recipes online as well as different techniques for using it. I only do the inverted method. But I don’t pay too much attention to the water temp.
Black River actually has their own recipes for using one. I think they have them on cards in the store.
Also look into a metal filter. You may or may not like that. They’re only a few bucks from amazon so it’s worh trying if interested.
Anyway, I’m glad my wedding gift is being put to use. (Sorry @Dominique, hopefully a caffeinated @Norm is a happy @Norm?)

And I must give @soundz credit because I think he recommended it way back when.
 

taylor185

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Barriers have never been a big problem for me. I don't know why it is the case, but beyond barriers, running hasn't typically been a big part of my racing career, and hasn't been a huge deal.
imagine if you spent an equivalent amount of time refining these skills vs what you spend on microburst, starts, etc. at some point in the training/fitness continuum, we're chasing marginal gains. Refine cornering, dismount/remount, running and the gains per lap are potentially HUGE!. Just HUGE! (channeling my inner Donald).

great kettle. i target mid 190's for my pour over. while we're on the topic, i saw some chatter on the coffee tread that grinders don't matter. disagree. one of the key variables in making great, consistent coffee. get this one.

kudo's to @jShort for nailing the cliche. I wrote, deleted, rewrote the same line five or so times. didn't have the cahoonas to post it in a reply though. given very few of us are targeting the rainbow jersey, it's all about the journey.
 

StayHydrated

Swedish Chef
inverted method
metal filter
+1 on the above. Have had extensive Aeropress conversations with someone at work who is a large scale caffeine-provider to our hallway (he also deals in baked goods). I guess I should make the leap, they're cheap enough.

SmartSelect_20181009-184634_Instagram.jpg
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
What's the benefit to the metal filter as opposed to the Tyvek outside of less waste in the ground? I have a metal filter but never used it just because of the disposableness and cheapness of the plastic filters.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Haha, ok ok, Buddhist philosophy aside, I'm going to ask a question, then answer it before you have a chance to reply. You know who never said it's all about the journey? The guy who lost the race. I would hope that at some level, those of you who routinely read this blog know I don't put all my eggs in one basket. So sure, yes, I'm going to have the best time I can and do my best to separate the racing and non-racing. As I said to @seanrunnette weeks ago, my goal this season is to visit 2 of the 3 best espresso shops in Kentucky. These both happen to be in Louisville. I'm also sure we will eat decent food, and we're going to be stuffed in a car together for 12 hours, spending almost every minute of 4 days in the same physical space. We'll probably podcast (every day if it's up to me) and of course, we will do race things and have a good time.

But you can be damn sure I'm not going to paint the town red with sweat equity and be ok with losing this damn thing.

And on that note, I went to East County Reserve today to carve out a little ~5 minute loop to work on a few things at once. I explored a little and came up with this general outline:

* Start lap around the pond in the main area of the reserve. This is about a minute of tempo to get the legs moving
* Climb from the bottom alllllllll the way to the top, going into the woods, and riding along a dirt path that people have worn in
* At the end of this, we are about 3 minutes in, with the climb being 90+ seconds of it
* Go halfway down the hill and then turn into the woods where few people go
* Stay on the gas/moderate until I hit "the hill"
* Bang a >90 degree left, but dismount and run up it
* The run up is about 25 vertical feet according to the StravaBorg

In all I did 3 of these. Like I said yesterday, this is not a full-ON day of training so I wanted to shake off a little of the rust from the previous 4 days. I did that today. At the top of the run, I was able to maintain my composure enough to finish the run, put the bike down, continue running, clip in, and power up to get moving again. My max HR on each of these sets always came at the end of the run, and they were 179, 184, and 182. So the workout is legit. I felt pretty good about what I got done today.

This loop is not a keeper though, because the stretch which leads up to the run-up is littered with hidden rocks, and I bottomed out too much. As I am riding the primary bike with tubulars, I don't want to keep rocks in the routine like this. I also think I need to separate out a climb this long into specific intervals. It's really long, and I don't think it's that beneficial to work it like this. I will tweak the loop for next week's adventure but I like what I found today. I would try to string this together into longer 10-20 minute hot laps but the run-up is kind of a dead end, which means going down it, and it's loaded with rocks. Again, not ideal wear & tear on any bike. I'll think on this as being able to do laps here could be pretty useful.

@jShort -
Like this? I assume it's just for the sake of not having to buy more paper filters? At $10 this is a no-brainer. I just looked up recipes for aeropress and I'm kind of surprised at how many there are. I'll try the inverted method tomorrow and see how that goes. I do have a good grinder, since I follow the religion that @taylor185 subscribes to which says that one of the easiest ways to destroy your coffee is to grind it with a hammer. I think my grinder has 20-30 settings on it. Ok, this is fun, I'll have to make some of these tomorrow. Maybe I'll drink enough coffee to cause myself to levitate.

Assessment of my plans for today (4 PASS, 3 FAIL)

* I have 38 hours on the week. I stopped because I need to keep a few for tomorrow - PASS
* Got on cross bike, checked out East Country Reserve - PASS
* Pick up kids - (my car battery died and I had to call D to cover) - FAIL
* Watch Zac's soccer game - (they got slaughtered) - PASS
* Drop off Simon - (see above, D took him while I walked laps around the soccer field with Julia) - FAIL
* Try to finish D's bike - (I have 1 wheel to clean, almost done) - FAIL
* Reply to @jShort - PASS

So what does tomorrow bring?

* Figure out car battery situation
* Knock out the last 2 hours for work
* Ride bike, probably Zwift. I am not sure if I will put in saddle time or try to race
* Actually finish D's bike
* Put in some time editing my book
* Go to the Addams Family play at the Little Dover Theater with the kids
 

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
hmm that would be alot of podcasts, at least id have something to listen to on my commute.

So what does tomorrow bring?

* Figure out car battery situation
* Knock out the last 2 hours for work
* Ride bike, probably Zwift. I am not sure if I will put in saddle time or try to race
* Actually finish D's bike
* Put in some time editing my book
* Go to the Addams Family play at the Little Dover Theater with the kids

figured maybe i could be helpfull with item 1 above,

if the battery is 4 years old its time to replace it (thats the average life of a car battery, they can last longer if you do alot of longer drives that keep it fully charged but that woudl be like a daily commute thats 45+ minutes, i get the feeling you dont do that).

if the battery is less then that it could be fault or you could have a parasitic draw. need a clamp on ammeter to diagnose.


p.s. ti avoid getting stuck with a dead battery i would suggest getting one of these, we keep one in each car https://smile.amazon.com/NOCO-GB40-...F8&qid=1539947225&sr=8-3&keywords=jumper+pack
 

seanrunnette

Brain Damaged Ray Romano
Team MTBNJ Halter's
As I am riding the primary bike with tubulars
Tubulars are for racing. Tubeless are for whatever the hell else you're doing. For the love of Gahd cut that out!
Wait, you're going to DLT? Hmm... I'll be in the city watching the puppet version of a play I did with Mabou Mines 20 years ago in a final run-through before it gets put into a box and shipped to a festival in China. (That conversation sucked. MM: Animal Magnetism is going to China! Me: Yay! MM: yeah, as a puppet show! Me: umm... MM: We need you to go to a basement in Bed-Stuy on a workday to record all the dialogue and songs. Me: Yay.) Depending on how that goes, I may need a palate cleanser...
 

vlkslvr

Active Member
if the battery is 4 years old its time to replace it (thats the average life of a car battery, they can last longer if you do alot of longer drives that keep it fully charged but that woudl be like a daily commute thats 45+ minutes, i get the feeling you dont do that).

if the battery is less then that it could be fault or you could have a parasitic draw. need a clamp on ammeter to diagnose.


p.s. ti avoid getting stuck with a dead battery i would suggest getting one of these, we keep one in each car https://smile.amazon.com/NOCO-GB40-...F8&qid=1539947225&sr=8-3&keywords=jumper+pack

I have to second both of these recommendations -

1) Even if the car battery is <4yrs old I would recommend replacing it if it's >18months. Since you are already having a problem with it it's likely to raise it's head again even if you charge it and it works for a a couple of days/weeks.

Batteries have gotten expensive these days and they are an unplanned expense but I as we enter winter the cold weather adds extra demand and can leave you stranded right at the most inopportune time.

2) The Lithium Jump Packs are a life saver - Keep an eye out on the upcoming Black Friday sales and you can grab them cheap. Quick tip if you do get one -they need a load on them to provide full juice so after you hook them up turn your lights on for 30-60 seconds and then try and start your car.
 

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
You can get a good battery. for <$100 I don't consider that expensive. And if you do then maybe bikes is the wrong hobby for you? I mean we spend alot more than that on unnecessary bike stuff. (Just ftr our cars all use 750cca or greater batteries. Not the little tiny ones you see in a typical economy car)
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Due to my lackluster performance in getting-things-done the day before (4/7), I dialed down my list of tomorrow items and I started the day with just these 6. As expected, things transpire and here we are with more than 6 things. But let's go with numbers because numbers. Late post tonight. Just got home.

1. (PARTIAL/DEFER) The car battery situation played out as such. It started this morning with no issue and we think it may have been an interior light (which nobody remembers ever turning on or off). So we decided to let D take it to work because she can get a jump there and I have to get the kids at 2:45. We're going to take everyone's advice and just replace the battery. It's not a cash issue, it's more of a time/convenience issue. I'll try to get it done tomorrow as I should have a decent amount of time to do odds & ends. This one is a logically-decided deferment on the day, which is fine, because my "free day" ended before it started.

2. (PASS) I was done with my last 2 work hours by 10:30. The only reason I waited so long was because I have a 10:00 on Friday. My boss has 1 more week. After that I really don't know what will happen. Will his boss absorb me? Will I actually get moved over to Professional Services? Will I move into some orphan role where nobody bothers me much? I am not sure I'll be able to get away with the Fuck-It-Friday setup after next week.

3. (PASS) Ride bike, Zwift. They announced a new world today, NYC. @Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST mentioned it a week or 2 ago and I had no idea it was going to be available so soon. When @MissJR mentioned she got the email, that sealed my plan on the day. I had been wavering between a race or volume, and this made the decision for me. I spent 2 hours in Central Park and I have to say I love it, totally dig the world. I am really enjoying everything about the bike right now, cross races in Frenchtown notwithstanding. Life is good.

+(BONUS) Watched Battle of the Sexes on the ride. It was fairly appropriate for this week and it was a decent watch. Good movie for the trainer because it's long (2 hours) and frankly not a lot happens in there that I had to pay attention to. A lot of empty scenes which play well to the medium of riding a bike & watching. The story behind this movie is something I grew up with, but I was only 2 when this happened so it's not something I experienced. It's interesting now to watch, and to read up more about it after the fact. Solid watch, and despite the box office numbers, I think it's worth it.

4. (PASS) Finished up D's bike before the day really got started. Wasn't much to do here other than finish cleaning 1 wheel, put it back on, put the chain on, lube it, and make sure it shifts ok. All set here, ready for the next foray into the cross world. Right now that would appear to be HPCX next Saturday. Also popped the door off my Stages and no surprise, the battery was wet. Dried it off and let it sit in the sun in the hopes that it is not dead. I bought the battery new the week before Lucky. Update: nope, battery is dead. What a pain in my ass this thing can be. It's possible the whole thing is cooked with this much moisture.

5. (PASS) Put in some time editing. I had this delusion that I would have all sorts of time today, and that I'd get a massive amount of work done on it. But in reality, I worked 8:30-10:30 then I rode for 2 hours plus the shower and suddenly it's somehow 2:00, and I'm making a coffee to drink while I write much of this and I have to go get the kids at 2:30. I started on chapter 20 when I got back, but it is a monster at almost 4000 words. Again, I have said it before and I am sure I'll say it again, this is an interesting experience and the next time I do this, I'm sure I'll have some learned behaviors to make the next pass better. At least I hope as much.

6. (PASS) Went to see Addams Family at the Dover Little Theater where @seanrunnette played Uncle Hambone, or whatever that play was called. Since it was a Friday, it started at 8:00 (as opposed to 7:00 tomorrow) and it started late, so we just got the kids to bed at 11:30. Oops, tomorrow may hurt. Anyway, the play was good, and 2 of the actors from Hamlet were in it. First half was better than the second half. I have to say I'm a sucker for group singing. Really enjoy it. Well, assume the group is a collection of good singers. Like I mentioned last week, theater season has started!

IMG_2469.JPG

With those out of the way, we have additional conversation items that popped up:

+(BONUS) Aeropress, the Inversion (said in the voice one might say, 'Spaceballs, the Flamethrower'). Wow, ok so who knew that inverting your coffee press would make this much of a difference? It makes sense now, because the 'standard' way is to have the filter under the brew, and gravity pulls it through regardless of your being ready for it. The inverted method gives you more control. I tried it for 2 minutes, and the first cup with Black River Breakfast Blend was nothing short of wonderful. I tapped out that bag and next on tap is 1 of the 2 that @taylor185 sent us.

Each of the monthly shipments contains 2 bags of coffee. In this shipment was a Kenyan and an Ethiopian, the second of which I happen to think produces the best coffee beans in the world. While this is not a Yirgacheffe it's still the right country so this is the one I chose to open this afternoon after my ride/shower and when I had a few minutes to sit down and do nothing (or write this blog) and enjoy my coffee. Ok let me just say that the inverted Aeropress and this bean made the best single cup of coffee I have had in a damn long time. Wow. Just fantastic.

Also made an espresso with the same beans and it is very good. Maybe not as WOW-factor as the cup. But it was excellent.

+(BONUS) The Morgan discussion. I did my best to keep that thread on-point and fair. I'll admit that some of the discussion there did make me think. I don't want to bring the discussion to this thread, per se. But it is something that did take up a lot of attention this week and I think as a community, we did a really good job keeping the discussion fair, informative, and civil. I like to think we have a pretty good group of people here, at least mostly.

+ (COMMENT) On the tubulars, @seanrunnette. I know I have perhaps been a bit laissez faire regarding some aspects of cross but I have always been of the mind that when you practice you do it on the bike you want to race with. As I have carbon rims on this, I do not have an army of wheels which I can swap out as-needed. Right now the backup bike is setup for road/trainer but that should be remedied before HPCX. Before long I will have 2 fully functioning Death Stars. Wait, I mean cross bikes. I may have a set of rims kicking around that I can use on bike #2 for East County. I may also have a second set of carbon tubulars for the primary bike. Just need to find them.

+ (SORRY) Apologies if I overstated the Kentucky philosophy response. Let me start from the beginning and it will make more sense, maybe. Going into Hippo I was kinda like, "I'm just going to ride the fuck out of this bike and see what happens in December." After Hippo, it really struck me (struck me by kicking me in the nuts) that this approach was probably faulty. So in order to get the most out of this trip, I really needed to take stock and ensure that I do everything I can to best prepare myself for that race. If it comes time to race and there's a pop Latin quiz in the middle, ok well I'm just screwed but I did the best I could. I think my thought process after Hippo was the forming of this realization that maybe I need to prepare for something a bit more complex than, say, a Nittany-style course, where I can use the basic toolset to do well enough. I think I have adjusted my mental approach accordingly and will do my best to dress up this pig with lipstick. It is, after all, still Kentucky.

+ (MUSIC) Been listening to Fishbone a bit recently. Just randomly I'll toss that out there and say this. Goddamn they are good times. D got home and I was playing it, and she was basically like, "What the heck is this?!"

On Tap Tomorrow

* Zac & Simon have soccer games
* Julia has Chinese school
* I will do a NYC Zwift race in the morning
* Hoping to get some more editing in between all the stuff
* Going to take Julia to get some clothes
* The battery on the GMC, can't forget that
* Zac has a birthday party at night
* The 4 of us will go to Brite Nites which is a pumpkin carving thing at Wagner Farms, a few miles away
 

soundz

The Hat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
What's the benefit to the metal filter as opposed to the Tyvek outside of less waste in the ground? I have a metal filter but never used it just because of the disposableness and cheapness of the plastic filters.

I didn't know they made plastic filters? As far as I know it's paper, metal or gold. Anyway, paper filters out all the coffee oil and you have to keep buying them. I've been using my same metal filter for like 5yrs. All you do after you are done is run it under the water to wash it off. Takes 5 seconds.

I've pretty much stopped doing any kind of recipes for Aeropress. It doesn't make enough of a difference for me to care. Just pour the water, press and I'm done.
 

taylor185

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Ok let me just say that the inverted Aeropress and this bean made the best single cup of coffee I have had in a damn long time. Wow. Just fantastic.
Good.

Also made an espresso with the same beans and it is very good. Maybe not as WOW-factor as the cup. But it was excellent.
Think the espresso brew process just runs over the flavor nuances? It amazes me how different brew processes can impact a cup of coffee. After seven years of one pour over method, i switched to this recently and it changed my world:




note: changing norm's blog into a coffee thread one post at a time...
 

ChrisG

Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
Been listening to Fishbone a bit recently. Just randomly I'll toss that out there and say this. Goddamn they are good times
Mrs. G and I saw them many times, at many different venues, back in the day, and they never let us down. Everything up to and including The Reality of My Surroundings is hard to fault.
 

Magic

Formerly 1sh0t1b33r
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Good.

Think the espresso brew process just runs over the flavor nuances? It amazes me how different brew processes can impact a cup of coffee. After seven years of one pour over method, i switched to this recently and it changed my world:




note: changing norm's blog into a coffee thread one post at a time...

Who has 27 minutes to make a coffee?
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I didn't know they made plastic filters? As far as I know it's paper, metal or gold. Anyway, paper filters out all the coffee oil and you have to keep buying them. I've been using my same metal filter for like 5yrs. All you do after you are done is run it under the water to wash it off. Takes 5 seconds.

I've pretty much stopped doing any kind of recipes for Aeropress. It doesn't make enough of a difference for me to care. Just pour the water, press and I'm done.


I thought they were tyvek actually and not paper. I wonder if they changed them...
 
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