Veg garden is going ham -

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b4466a0cb3.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...aa2e266323.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...77ef0ec589.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4798500cfb.jpg

I know they exist, but it seems so strange to think of that sort as cyclists.

Grrrrr. LPLO even though I already posted?! :notamused:

The median age of Sun City AZ is 75, so we get a ton of them in the shop,

“That off-putting smell—sometimes described as rotten garbage or tequila-like—is the natural byproduct of ethanol being made from corn, sugar cane, beets, and other organic sources,” explained Zlotnik. “[Ethyl alcohol] production is highly regulated. It stinks because these new brands—many made by distillers who’ve pivoted from producing drinking alcohol to meet public demand for hand sanitizer—are making and using denatured ethanol. This ethanol costs significantly less than ethanol filtered using activated carbon filtration, which would typically remove almost all contaminants and the malodor with it.”

Those organic contaminants aren’t the only reason unfiltered and denatured ethanol smells downright foul. According to Zlotnik, denatured ethanol is also intentionally tainted with an unpalatable cocktail of chemicals (denaturants) such as methanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, and denatonium to make it undrinkable. In other words: The base material is intentionally stinky.------Wirecutter

My bike club has unveiled a new "policy" for restarting group rides:

1. Only members allowed. No guests.
2. Max 10 riders.
3. Every rider must sign a usual ride waiver and a covid-waiver (that says they don't have any symptoms, will contact ride leader if symptoms develop, yadda yadda)
4. Must sign up on signup genius so we have a paper trail for contact tracing
5. Must maintain 20+ foot distance from other riders

I think all of those are reasonable, but the 20 foot distance is going to kinda ruin the group ride dynamic and benefit, so although I respect club leadership in coming up with a policy, I am going to do non-club private rides with 1-3 other friends as I have been doing, for now. They say the 20 foot distance came from USA Cycling.

I told them that determining "safe following distance" is a fool's errand, and there is no good answer.

"We stopped the world for you and your at-risk group, so the least you can do is respect those actions, and put a mask on. Now get the **** away from me before I punch you in the throat."

I figure a kind and gentle approach works the best.

Back to work tomorrow(from self-quarantine), and I have 1 bike that needs a tuneup, no new bikes to build, and only 6 bikes to sell(2 year old E-bikes).

It's gonna be a long 6 hour day.

:roflmao2:
I need to memorize that phrase.

Nice!

We currently have a cherry tomato plant attempting to take over the balcony.

What's the draft like at 20'?

Seriously, though, the thing that stands out to me in this is that maintaining a 20' gap is going to make passing really difficult for drivers. Like, obnoxiously and dangerously so.

OMG my club president is devout. I know we're not supposed to get political here but that dude is extreme, as in nothing could change his mind, ever.

I do have to admit, I’d find it a lot harder to do the right thing if I had lost my job to save people who mostly vilified me anyway.

I will probably venture back to COTA when it starts up again in September, so I can get some time on the P2 again before winter. I will be closer than 20’ to people, but briefly. Hopefully I manage to not catch it.

When we went to the arboretum the other day, we saw some grapes growing up a trellis. It made us briefly consider uprooting our pergola wisteria to plant grapes, instead. I think that they were wine grapes, though - I don't know if we could grow any eatin' varieties here. I'd certainly be interested, if we could.

My club just posted a full schedule for this coming weekend with 4 rides to choose from on Saturday. No rules except to carry a mask , as far as I can see.

They let you ride on COTA? That's pretty cool.

Yeah. Agree. It's like a group solo ride at that point and may be more dangerous with drivers. Apparently USA Cycling has made that recommendation and that's why the club picked it.

Some of my friends went on a small group ride and agreed to try to keep 20 feet apart. They found it more difficult than staying on someone's wheel.

Proud moment this week.

Back in December my CEO, our Chief Innovation Officer, one of my staff and I went to Baltimore to meet with some folks at the Medicare Innovation Center regarding how they are payment bundles for lower joint replacement. Without getting into the sausage making, my team had put together an analysis that demonstrated how a payment policy change at the start of 2019 made the initial assumptions and methodology understate the actual cost of the bundles. During the meeting, they pretty much pushed us off, but stated they would look into it and send our analysis to their analytics vendor. Their own internal analytics people later said what we were demonstrating didn't have any impact nationally, but our analysis was still with the vendor.

This week their analytics vendor came out with an analysis that essentially mirrored ours and drew the same conclusions. They admitted that the methodology was incomplete and they will likely be taking action to make changes. They may be retroactive and if so, it will net us a lot of additional revenue (10M+). If it goes through - they should buy me a boat. I celebrated last night with palomas and paid the price on my ride this AM. Totally worth it.

Yeah at that point I’d rather just agree that everyone is riding in the same vicinity and so you have some closer support in an emergency.

Our policy seems to be no officially announced group rides, just informal ones. I have seen no rides larger than 6. No rules for them. At least the exposure risk is low because the club draws from a wealthy population who are working from home and observing the protocols. There is certainly no good answer.

We have a grape vine, or vines, or something along a fence, which seems to work well. (I don't know exactly, but Mrs. LAJ would) We also have a golden raspberry thing going on. (Defer to Mrs. LAJ again) The grapes are absolutely delicious, as are the raspberries. The problem would be racing the raccoons to the ripe grapes, though I think we have figured it out. Having motion sensor activated lights seems to have done the trick. A few years ago, we were waiting for just the right time to pick them, and literally a day or two before that weekend, the wildlife came in and stripped them bare. We stood there and just shook our head, and vowed to defeat those rascals.

These day's I'm motivated to do my share at the front to limit my exposure and make sure I get my chance to dose anyone behind me if I have it.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3693529268

It so is. That Turn 1 hill is legit. The surface is rougher than you think though.

Clever little bastards. We had a similar problem with our (meager) blueberry crop and birds each of the last two years.

I'll have to look in to the grapes sometime. Plenty of the honey-do list at the moment, though. :twitchy: