It's been 3 months since I last wrote something on my first Iron Butt ride (1000+ miles in 24 hours or less). Time for the next chapter.
I had planned on getting up around 5am and leaving by 6am. I went to bed early (around 8pm) so I could be well rested, but was so excited that I couldn't get to sleep. I finally decided not to fight it anymore and got up at around 11pm. I quickly got ready, got on my bike, and went to the corner gas station to fill up. I made sure I kept the receipt for time validation and was on the road at 11:26pm on March 29, 2003. Here goes!
I took a CD player and headphones but quickly realized that it just wasn't going to work. I made a quick stop in Hood River at 12:22am and took off the headphones and stashed the CD player deep in my tank bag. This was the last time I ever tried to listen to music while riding. I really enjoy just listening to the sounds of my bike and the road. It might sound strange, but the sounds are reassuring and relaxing to me.
I made my first gas stop in Biggs about 45 minutes later. I started to get a little cold around 2am and stopped at a rest area just west of Boardman.
By 3 am I was starting to wonder if I had made a mistake. Driving at 70+mph on the freeway at 3 in the morning in late March is REALLY COLD!!! This was before I had any really good cold weather gear (I bought a heated vest shortly after this ride). I had a set of worn out winter gloves that didn't really do the job anymore. I stopped thinking about how many times I had to pull over to try and warm up. I was stopping about every 30-40 minutes and I started to worry about if I was going to be able to make the trip in under 24 hours. I wanted to go faster, but I knew that would be a bad idea and would probably make things worse. Between Boardman and Ontario (about 280 miles). I ended up stopping 4 times (once while getting gas at LaGrande) to try and warm up. I started taking my gloves off and shoving them in next to the engine to try and warm them up. That usually lasted only a few minutes, but it was so nice to have warm gloves even if it was only temporarily. I wasn't allowing myself any coffee because I didn't want to deal with the later energy crash that would inevitably happen.
I made my last warm-up stop at just after 5 am near Plano. I remember there was a cement plant there. I felt horrible and wanted to cry. Instead I ran around, jumping up and down, flapping my arms like an idiot trying to warm up. After about 10 minutes of this I noticed the sky getting lighter. This was encouraging. I decided to power on through to Ontario, my next scheduled gas stop, and not stop again before I got there.
I finally got to Ontario (on the OR/ID border) at about 5:50 am. I pulled into the first gas station I saw. They didn't open until 6am so I had to wait a few minutes for them to turn on the lights and the pumps. The guys inside were giving me funny looks, but I was too cold to even care. I just wanted to get my gas and get back on the road. I could barely feel my fingers by this time. This is likely the coldest I have ever been. My whole body was cold. That deep down kind of cold. The sun was just starting to come up over the mountains. I have never been so glad to see a sunrise. Even so, it took another 8 hours before I started to feel warm again.
Since this part of my trip was in darkness and I was on the highway, there really wasn't much to see. I'm glad I put the majority of my highway miles on at the beginning of this trip. Made it less boring. Like I would have been bored on my bike.
So, that's 370 miles down in the first 6 1/2 hours, only about 700 to go. I was amazed that I was able to average nearly 60mph with all of the unscheduled stops that I made. I really wasn't going all that fast. Honest. That part didn't come until later.
Here is a Google Map of my route for this part of the ride.
Portland to Ontario
Next: Bodily functions go wild!
Monday, July 26, 2010
My busy week
Tuesday morning I went back to Baggenstos Farms with my friend Mary Kate and picked about 14 pounds of blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries. I was disappointed that there were no more strawberries. That was what I really wanted. Oh well. I was able to freeze the majority of them and store them in the freezer in Erik and Mary Kate's garage. I should have bought some small freezer bags instead of using the gallon ones that they had. It will be interesting trying to use only part of the frozen bag at a time.
I finally went to the Portland Art Museum on Friday evening. I've been threatening to go for several years but never made it. They have a free day once a month and there was an R. Crumb exhibit so I decided to take the plunge. It was a fairly large exhibit and since it was a graphic depiction of the book of Genesis we stood in line and it took several hours just to get about 3/4 or the way through it. Robert Crumb's artwork is fascinating and seeing his original works, with white-out and pencil marks, was really cool and this took a HUGE effort to complete. The expressions and details were amazing. I have a new and greater respect for R. Crumb as an artist. I'm definitely going back next month. We really didn't have time to look at anything else while we were there and there is so much more to see. Here is the cover and a small example of his work in it.
Saturday morning I went to the Village Inn on 103rd and Stark to see some electric vehicles. It was an informal gathering of locals and their electric cars, motorcycles, and ATVs. There were some really interesting cars and very knowledgeable owners/builders. I kind of lost interest in converting my bike because of the costs and the lack of any real income. I still want to build one (several!) but it will probably be a while before I am able to do it. I took a whole bunch of pictures. Way too many to include all of them here, but I posted some of the more interesting ones. There were a couple of Tesla electric cars there also. Pretty cool, but a bit pricey at over $100,000 each.
We (Erik, Mary Kate, and I) also went to the drag races on Saturday night. They did have a few electric vehicles running, but it was mostly gas and diesel vehicles. I was a little disappointed. It was getting really late and they were still running but we decided to leave before the end. I probably would have stayed longer, but didn't want to lose my ride. The fastest run of the night was about 183 mph and the fastest electric car was about 110 mph. I think the fastest electric car (White Zombie - holds many records for the quickest and fastest street legal door-slammer, currently goes under 11.5 seconds in the quarter mile!) might have gone faster after we left. They had a brand new motor in the car (they blew up the old on the night before at the drags) and were working their way up. I'm sure I will have more opportunities to see it again though. It was still a good time and I hadn't been to any drag races for a long time.
If you didn't already know, you can left click on any picture to see a larger version.
This is White Zombie. The owner has been working with this same car for about 15 years constantly making improvements. Very cool.
Under the hood. The new siamese electric motors clearly visible.
Batteries with charge management system. Very impressive. And expensive. Good thing he has a battery sponsor.
Another electric racer. He was also at PIR drag races.
He also had a siamese motor setup, but not quite as advanced.
I really liked this one. It looked like a piece of junk, but he built it for under $1000 and it went over 100mph in the quarter mile at PIR. Very interesting owner.
A closer look at his old-school setup.
One of two 914 Porsche conversions. This one was very clean and professional looking.
Closeup of the float chargers and one of the battery enclosures.
Another low-buck build. The owner constructed it as a final college project.
Slightly goofy, but still fun.
Very clean conversion, but I like to see the important bits. The covers looked very heavy. Typical Harley!
I finally went to the Portland Art Museum on Friday evening. I've been threatening to go for several years but never made it. They have a free day once a month and there was an R. Crumb exhibit so I decided to take the plunge. It was a fairly large exhibit and since it was a graphic depiction of the book of Genesis we stood in line and it took several hours just to get about 3/4 or the way through it. Robert Crumb's artwork is fascinating and seeing his original works, with white-out and pencil marks, was really cool and this took a HUGE effort to complete. The expressions and details were amazing. I have a new and greater respect for R. Crumb as an artist. I'm definitely going back next month. We really didn't have time to look at anything else while we were there and there is so much more to see. Here is the cover and a small example of his work in it.
Saturday morning I went to the Village Inn on 103rd and Stark to see some electric vehicles. It was an informal gathering of locals and their electric cars, motorcycles, and ATVs. There were some really interesting cars and very knowledgeable owners/builders. I kind of lost interest in converting my bike because of the costs and the lack of any real income. I still want to build one (several!) but it will probably be a while before I am able to do it. I took a whole bunch of pictures. Way too many to include all of them here, but I posted some of the more interesting ones. There were a couple of Tesla electric cars there also. Pretty cool, but a bit pricey at over $100,000 each.
We (Erik, Mary Kate, and I) also went to the drag races on Saturday night. They did have a few electric vehicles running, but it was mostly gas and diesel vehicles. I was a little disappointed. It was getting really late and they were still running but we decided to leave before the end. I probably would have stayed longer, but didn't want to lose my ride. The fastest run of the night was about 183 mph and the fastest electric car was about 110 mph. I think the fastest electric car (White Zombie - holds many records for the quickest and fastest street legal door-slammer, currently goes under 11.5 seconds in the quarter mile!) might have gone faster after we left. They had a brand new motor in the car (they blew up the old on the night before at the drags) and were working their way up. I'm sure I will have more opportunities to see it again though. It was still a good time and I hadn't been to any drag races for a long time.
If you didn't already know, you can left click on any picture to see a larger version.
This is White Zombie. The owner has been working with this same car for about 15 years constantly making improvements. Very cool.
Under the hood. The new siamese electric motors clearly visible.
Batteries with charge management system. Very impressive. And expensive. Good thing he has a battery sponsor.
Another electric racer. He was also at PIR drag races.
He also had a siamese motor setup, but not quite as advanced.
I really liked this one. It looked like a piece of junk, but he built it for under $1000 and it went over 100mph in the quarter mile at PIR. Very interesting owner.
A closer look at his old-school setup.
One of two 914 Porsche conversions. This one was very clean and professional looking.
Closeup of the float chargers and one of the battery enclosures.
Another low-buck build. The owner constructed it as a final college project.
Slightly goofy, but still fun.
Very clean conversion, but I like to see the important bits. The covers looked very heavy. Typical Harley!
I like food
I have been doing pretty good on my "diet", which is actually just eating more fruit and less junk (somewhat) and trying to eat smaller portions. But yesterday I had a less than stellar day. I started out with eating two sausage, egg, and cheese muffins from McDonalds. That used up nearly half of my allowed calories for the entire day (2900 calories/day). I have been averaging about 85% a day in the last month, with a low of 51% and a high of 99%. I did manage to have a fruit smoothie for lunch and some tasty beans for dinner, but I went crazy on the carbs and ended up at 117% of my caloric limit. Surprisingly I didn't seem to gain any weight, but its been a couple of days since I weighed myself. I'm still walking and went out for almost an hour last night. I had not walked for exercise for the prior three days and felt guilty about it. But I stayed busy for these three days and managed to not gain any weight. I have currently lost 10 pounds in the last 6 weeks (now at 265) and want to lose AT LEAST another 25.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Another school update
I just finished my narrative report on Germany's economy for my international economics class. I have learned a lot about Germany and the other two countries in my group, Iceland and Greece, mostly from my own research. It has been frustrating because of the lack of communication on the class message boards. And the instructor has been on vacation for the last week has apparently had limited or no access to the internet. I am disappointed with this because this class is only 8 weeks long. I have learned a lot from the reading, but I could have done that on my own. Maybe things will pick up. The instructor seems to think so but I have my doubts.
Just like last time, I was worried way too much about my environmental science mid-term test. I had no problems with it and expect to get an "A" on it. This class continues to be enjoyable and educational. Last week was spent on pesticides. I passed on a bunch of literature from our field trip to Erik and Mary Kate. I am almost finished reading Silent Spring and am not looking forward to writing a paper on it and how it relates to what we learned this term.
My personal health class keeps rolling along. I tried to post a bunch more on the current discussion so I can get a better grade. I only had a couple of posts on the last one and got 80%. There are a lot of involved assignments for this class that are keeping me busy. I'm currently working on one concerning diet. I am about half done with it and have another week to work on it. I'm glad that I took this class. Its making me look at my health more objectively and is motivating me to make some changes. I know it will take a long time to change all of my bad habits, but I also know that it will be worth the effort.
Just like last time, I was worried way too much about my environmental science mid-term test. I had no problems with it and expect to get an "A" on it. This class continues to be enjoyable and educational. Last week was spent on pesticides. I passed on a bunch of literature from our field trip to Erik and Mary Kate. I am almost finished reading Silent Spring and am not looking forward to writing a paper on it and how it relates to what we learned this term.
My personal health class keeps rolling along. I tried to post a bunch more on the current discussion so I can get a better grade. I only had a couple of posts on the last one and got 80%. There are a lot of involved assignments for this class that are keeping me busy. I'm currently working on one concerning diet. I am about half done with it and have another week to work on it. I'm glad that I took this class. Its making me look at my health more objectively and is motivating me to make some changes. I know it will take a long time to change all of my bad habits, but I also know that it will be worth the effort.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Where has all the time gone?
I really thought I would have a lot more time on my hands this term. Homework is keeping me busier than I thought it would. These online classes are a lot more involved than I imagined. I could use some work on my time management.
I have been taking a few breaks from schoolwork though. My friend Justin has an X-Box 360 and he has been enticing me with two new racing simulation games. I really don't care about most video games, but racing games are another story. I spent about 3-1/2 hours over there tonight playing when I should have been studying for my environmental science mid-term test tomorrow morning (I can't believe it's midterm already). I did come up with at least one idea for my econ class, so it wasn't a total waste of time. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
I've been trying to ride the Sportster a little bit too, but I haven't gone very far yet. It's such a fun bike to ride and is a lot better around town than the Kawasaki was. I made my way out to Smith & Bybee Lakes a few days ago and went on a short hike. I was a little disappointed. There were tons of mosquitoes and the the main path was paved for pete's sake. I might go back again later in the year, but will look for other more inviting places than this.
I would like to go back to Tigard and pick more berries. It was SO cheap. I should have taken more while I was there, but wasn't sure how many I would eat. Brianna mentioned that she made a lot of fruit smoothies and I decided that I would try some. I really like them a lot and they are an easy way to get more fruit in my diet. So far my favorite is strawberry/banana with vanilla yogurt and vanilla soy milk. Yummy. So many combinations to try. I'm looking forward to trying strawberries with lemonade instead of soy milk.
I'm doing a little better at getting some exercise, but it's been hit or miss. I might go a week and never miss an evening walk and then only go every other day for a while. I didn't go tonight and I feel guilty because of it. I guess that's good (???). I want to incorporate stretching into my daily routine, but haven't made the move yet. I'm taking things slow, but am still having a hard time adding in new things. It's taken a long time to get so out of shape and have such a horrible diet. It won't change over-night.
I have been taking a few breaks from schoolwork though. My friend Justin has an X-Box 360 and he has been enticing me with two new racing simulation games. I really don't care about most video games, but racing games are another story. I spent about 3-1/2 hours over there tonight playing when I should have been studying for my environmental science mid-term test tomorrow morning (I can't believe it's midterm already). I did come up with at least one idea for my econ class, so it wasn't a total waste of time. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
I've been trying to ride the Sportster a little bit too, but I haven't gone very far yet. It's such a fun bike to ride and is a lot better around town than the Kawasaki was. I made my way out to Smith & Bybee Lakes a few days ago and went on a short hike. I was a little disappointed. There were tons of mosquitoes and the the main path was paved for pete's sake. I might go back again later in the year, but will look for other more inviting places than this.
I would like to go back to Tigard and pick more berries. It was SO cheap. I should have taken more while I was there, but wasn't sure how many I would eat. Brianna mentioned that she made a lot of fruit smoothies and I decided that I would try some. I really like them a lot and they are an easy way to get more fruit in my diet. So far my favorite is strawberry/banana with vanilla yogurt and vanilla soy milk. Yummy. So many combinations to try. I'm looking forward to trying strawberries with lemonade instead of soy milk.
I'm doing a little better at getting some exercise, but it's been hit or miss. I might go a week and never miss an evening walk and then only go every other day for a while. I didn't go tonight and I feel guilty because of it. I guess that's good (???). I want to incorporate stretching into my daily routine, but haven't made the move yet. I'm taking things slow, but am still having a hard time adding in new things. It's taken a long time to get so out of shape and have such a horrible diet. It won't change over-night.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Good News
Here are a few recent environmentally-related news stories that I found interesting and encouraging. This is the kind of stuff I like to hear.
Vegetable patches at work are a nice perk
Energy Efficiency: Twice the Impact of Renewables, Nuclear and Clean Coal Combined
Energy Star: Churches Now Receive EPA Lable for Efficiency
First electric highway in US to be from Canada to Oregon
Seattle Bans Single-use Restaurant Packaging From Landfills
Vegetable patches at work are a nice perk
Energy Efficiency: Twice the Impact of Renewables, Nuclear and Clean Coal Combined
Energy Star: Churches Now Receive EPA Lable for Efficiency
First electric highway in US to be from Canada to Oregon
Seattle Bans Single-use Restaurant Packaging From Landfills
Thursday, July 1, 2010
An Orgy of Economists
I saw these two sites yesterday. I really want to be able to go to these conferences, especially the one put on by the WCERE in Montreal. The number of papers being presented on exactly what I am interested in is insane. Take a look under "Scientific Program - Detailed Program" if you are interested in seeing for yourself. Both conferences are happening right now. Of course one of them is being held here in Portland by the WEAI.
Someday I might get paid to go to one of these. Or both!
Someday I might get paid to go to one of these. Or both!
School Update!
We went on our second field trip today to the Waste Water Treatment Plant. Oh boy. Not exactly exciting, but it still performs a very valuable function and it was interesting to walk around and see some of the processes. Disappointingly, the were filming some cable series I have never heard of called Leverage while we were there so we couldn't go down into the tunnels where they were shooting. Stupid TV shows. Our tour guide said that some of the scenes from The Hunted (a pretty crappy movie) were also filmed in the tunnels. Next week's trip is to the Storm Water Treatment Plant. Still not very exciting, but it should be interesting too. I am currently working on next week's homework, which isn't really much more than reading a National Geographic article about the Klamath River and answering some questions about it. I had heard about the controversy about the dams, the salmon, and water use before and the potential outcome could be very positive. Will they actually remove the dams by 2020?
Online classes are kind of weird. You never really know what you are going to get. The two I am taking couldn't be much different from each other. In Personal Health we are encouraged to post a lot on the message board and are required to do a certain number of posts on different subjects. I have never really been one to engage much in online conversations. I think most of the others in this class are much younger than I am and are used to doing this already. I'll get in the minimums, but probably not much more than that. The assignments have been eye-opening for me. I have known for a long time that I need to change my diet, get more exercise, and quit smoking. This course is making me look at all these, and more, all at the same time. The papers I have been writing have involved looking at my health objectively and reflecting on it. So far it has been motivating me to start making some changes. I have been walking every night for at least 30 minutes, I'm keeping track of what I eat and how much I smoke. I'm trying to make some better choices about what I eat (this might be the hardest one for me) and how much I eat. I hope I can stay motivated to change my behavior and start some new habits. And I'm trying to drink a glass of red wine every day but I keep forgetting about it. I should put the bottle some place where I can see it better. If you want a decent cheap of wine, you can't go wrong with the black cat.
International economics class is not so touchy-feely. We are reading about tariffs, quotas, VERs, and export subsidies this week. This is pretty hard and the assignment has some parts in it that are going to require a second reading of the text. Possibly a third. There isn't a whole lot of posting required, although we will have to start giving feedback on other students nation reports next week. I'm doing mine on Germany. I have already learned a lot about their economy just by looking up some numbers. I think that I am still the only one who has posted their data and statistics. It's not due until midnight Saturday but it really wasn't very difficult. I think that there are a lot of people who have or will drop this class. We started with about 30 registered and probably at least half will drop it. I still think it is interesting, although there are certainly parts that aren't. There is a lot of reading and writing for all three of my classes this term so I haven't been able to devote as much extra time as I wanted to this subject.
Online classes are kind of weird. You never really know what you are going to get. The two I am taking couldn't be much different from each other. In Personal Health we are encouraged to post a lot on the message board and are required to do a certain number of posts on different subjects. I have never really been one to engage much in online conversations. I think most of the others in this class are much younger than I am and are used to doing this already. I'll get in the minimums, but probably not much more than that. The assignments have been eye-opening for me. I have known for a long time that I need to change my diet, get more exercise, and quit smoking. This course is making me look at all these, and more, all at the same time. The papers I have been writing have involved looking at my health objectively and reflecting on it. So far it has been motivating me to start making some changes. I have been walking every night for at least 30 minutes, I'm keeping track of what I eat and how much I smoke. I'm trying to make some better choices about what I eat (this might be the hardest one for me) and how much I eat. I hope I can stay motivated to change my behavior and start some new habits. And I'm trying to drink a glass of red wine every day but I keep forgetting about it. I should put the bottle some place where I can see it better. If you want a decent cheap of wine, you can't go wrong with the black cat.
International economics class is not so touchy-feely. We are reading about tariffs, quotas, VERs, and export subsidies this week. This is pretty hard and the assignment has some parts in it that are going to require a second reading of the text. Possibly a third. There isn't a whole lot of posting required, although we will have to start giving feedback on other students nation reports next week. I'm doing mine on Germany. I have already learned a lot about their economy just by looking up some numbers. I think that I am still the only one who has posted their data and statistics. It's not due until midnight Saturday but it really wasn't very difficult. I think that there are a lot of people who have or will drop this class. We started with about 30 registered and probably at least half will drop it. I still think it is interesting, although there are certainly parts that aren't. There is a lot of reading and writing for all three of my classes this term so I haven't been able to devote as much extra time as I wanted to this subject.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)