Getting ready to go off-air for a week, and the Feed

OK, here is what is going down. I have a gig/vacation coming up next week with zero Internet access from Monday on to next Sunday. I’ll try to get a post out Monday before getting packed, and I’ll be loading up early Tuesday for an extended camping trip. While I’m at the camp out I will be helping man a vending booth that will pay for my trip there. I will also be using Francis/es to demonstrate how a fleet of cargo bikes can replace a fleet of aging golf carts for moving “stuff” around 100 acres of camp grounds. I would like to also have a passenger box bike/trike to show how they can move people and cargo, but since my intentions were strictly cargo when I bought Francis/es I bought the cargo-only bed.

Good News! Thanks to the ACA (AKA Obamacare) I now have a BCBS insurance card in my wallet, and Mrs. the Poet has a nearly identical one with her name added as co-insured in her wallet. The difference in costs and coverage between the policy she had through her job and what I got both of us via the ACA is astounding. First Mrs. the Poet’s insurance, which had a $2K deductible and OOP and moderate levels of coverage that cost her $70/month after the payment from her employer. Now the ACA policy, which has a deductible and OOP of $500 per person, has many more treatments covered, and will cost me $17/month after subsidy. This policy did not exist prior to March 1 (that they are telling me) and was created as a reaction to the number of people that Gov. Goodhair dumped in the ditch when he rejected expanding Medicaid for TX. The fact that so many people are qualified for the expanded Medicaid and didn’t get it says something about wages and employment in TX. As in both of them pretty much suck especially if you have a less-than-perfect job history.

Since the Sprint Cup race was on last night while my Warlock was wreaking havoc on nasty plant creatures in an overgrown temperate rain forest, I have been watching the Indy Car race from Long Beach, and the NHRA Four Wide Nationals from Charlotte NC. The Indy Car race was pretty much a case of follow the leader except for a rare pass in the turns that didn’t result in a wreck, but those wrecks determined the outcome of the race, except for Scott Dixon running out of E85 three laps from the finish. Congrats to Ed Carpenter racing for getting the win with their street race/road course ringer from the World Endurance Championship over in Europe.

In other news, here’s the mayor of Dallas examining Francis/es.

The weather for this event and photo shoot was great, today’s is not so great. I walked to church from the transit station in a light rain, and back from the store sprinkling and windy. All that means is it is spring in North Texas. We have been switching back and forth between heat and AC at least three times in the last 4 weeks, but now we are pretty much set on either AC or nothing. The big thing that causes the AC to come on is running the dryer after doing the laundry, because that makes the inside humidity go way up and get way uncomfortable for Mrs. the Poet.

The broadcast for the drag race is still going on, but I’m cutting the post here because I don’t have anything else to say.

PSA, Opus

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It’s still hot, and tweaks to the home-made sprts drink

The trip home from church was made in 100°F heat while the trip to church was “only” 94°F. The humidity is low enough that those were the heat indexes as well as the actual temperatures, but to be honest once the actual temperature gets above normal body temperature I don’t think it really matters any more you’re going to suffer. And while I didn’t suffer much, it was definitely uncomfortable riding around in the heat, especially now that I’m back in training for the standing ¼ mile. I was pushing a 82 inch gear on what is basically a beach cruiser with a storage shed on the back. It’s a great workout, but in this heat it’s an effort. The interesting thing is my average speed only went up about a mile an hour, but my cruise speed went up by about 5 MPH, from 13 to 18 MPH.

With all that heat, I have had to tweak the recipe for the sports drink. I had to reduce the amount of the Lite Salt I used because there just was not enough sugar in the world to make tea drinkable with ¼tsp of salt per 8 fl. oz. By only putting ¼tsp per 24 fl. oz. I can drink the whole 24 oz. quickly and get the benefits of the fluid and the salt. The taste still isn’t the best, I think that I may have to make the tea extra strong and add extra sugar to make it taste like tea with the salt added, which will make it taste like poo without the salt. And I’m reconsidering my decision not to use the citric acid in the drink because it was supposed to cut the extreme saltiness of the drink when added with extra sugar. Most of the taste altering parts of the recipe are sugar to hide the salt or to hide the taste of the things that are supposed to hide the taste of the salt. I’m trying to avoid either too much sugar or artificial sweeteners. So I’m getting some electrolytes but not as much as I would from a commercial electrolyte drink.

I mentioned that I was training for the standing ¼ mile, although I’m looking more to next year now than this. What I have been doing is using a gear about equal to the low gear I’m going to use on the drag bike but with a heavier bike that has a bunch more aero drag. Now the trick will be what will happen when I go from low to high which is 2.090909091 times higher than low or about 165 gear inches. But for the moment riding Blue with the same gear as what my low gear will be will get my legs used to pushing a huge load at a low cadence. My normal way of riding is to spin a small gear ridiculously fast so this is way different than what I normally do. Because of the nature of the standing ¼ mile I will need to be able to do both, mash the big gear and spin at ridiculous cadences. The modelling software says I’ll need to spin that low gear to about 150 RPM and spin the top gear to about 120 if I want a chance at the IHPVA record, set back in the late 20^thCentury at 26.960 on 08/08/92 for a single rider or 20.642 on 10/02/82 for multiple riders. I might have a shot at both records if I train hard enough and build the bike light enough and stiff enough. The trick is to get the low speed part of the run done as quickly as possible, so that the vehicle is already moving fast for the early part of the run and still make it aero for the last half of the run. Track cyclists riding the 1000m time trial get close to or under 30 seconds for the ¼ mile without streamlining or the ability to change gears, so training, light-weight and stiff bike with decent aero, and just a bit of luck to make the attempt on a day when everything is going good for me physically and I might just be able to get a sub-27 second elapsed time.

Of course that pre-supposes that some clown on a cell phone doesn’t take me out while I’m waiting for a red light (you know, that thing that cyclists never do?).

PSA, Opus