Strange encounter on road this morning.

I am overtaken by a rider who greets me in an antipodean accent and notes my absence of water bottles. Our subsequent exchange was as follows:

Rider: Here, tyke wonna moyn!

Me: Like I would drink your water?

Rider: Ow royt, COW-VID. I got sow minny otha voyruses, one maw izzn gunna mike any difference!

Me: Well, let's not have sex today, then.

Rider: Good idea!

At which point we came to a crossing, I thanked him for his concern, and we went our separate ways. I have no doubt he would have kept chatting at barely arm's length if I'd chosen to stay with him.

Turns out to be a former pro and local cycling celeb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_P._Clark

Should I kudos him?

You should Strava-stalk him, for sure!

BTW I noticed there is a pro young woman Columbian on some of my Zwift rides, and I also see she sometimes has been riding in Knoxville.

Maybe we could fix her up with our own Velo Vol ?

Done.

My assumption when I saw that picture was that there was a lake or a fair sized, productive river nearby, because it would be exceptionally reckless for a pair of eagles to build a nest in the arid heart of the desert. Finding dead critters to scavenge now and then has got to be a crap shoot in the desert.

Going for a Flintstones vibe.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f5a40256e.jpeg

Conserving TP.

When I started up to Logan Pass in Glacier in 2017 most of the road was still closed to cars. Not long after I passed the closure point I started seeing piles of bear scat of various ages. One was quite fresh. They bears were obviously enjoying the absence of traffic. Shame the road opened to cars may an hour later.

It's the least we can do!

They are expensive. Fully custom if you want it, though, and very small operations. Waxwing is one guy, and I think Ruthworks might have two people.

I looked at the F104 a while ago. Looks like a nice bag, I just wanted the flap to open up on the other side.

I currently have a waxed canvas Acorn and a green Swift Industries Ozette

990' at my home.

I'm at 6 meters, and 24 km inland

Fixed

https://i.imgur.com/J58moqE.gif

We've reached the point where we're forced to drag out old material, because for these people only a facepalm will do.

:eek: Why do you hate that woman?

Finally, some good news:

Must have been a plastic tube failure.

Velo Vol doesn't Zwift.

Checked the topographical map. It's about 955' where I live.

You were not paying attention. She currently lives and rides in Knoxville.

She is quite cute based on her picture BTW.

Would love to watch that live with my boy...

...but then I remember watching the Challenger blow up when I was his age.

...but watching a delayed recording isn't as thrilling.

Hmmm.

poidh

Here is her Team pic. Prolly too young for Velo Vol


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1bb38c457d.png

fify

I posted several months ago about how the eagle population was wrecking the free-range chicken farming out west.

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/02/73826...es-vs-chickens

I am sorry you had to witness that. Were you in school at the time watching with a bunch of classmates?

I was in Texas when Columbia broke up overhead, but I was much too North for it to be seen. Glad my only memory of seeing the Shuttle was watching one re-enter one evening on a vacation to Galveston.

I'll be watching live if I can. I watched the first Falcon Heavy flight on a live-stream and it was so incredibly moving, and weirdly emotional.

If it helps ease some anxiety, Challenger STS-51-L was the 25th flight of the Shuttle, not including the 5 test flights. Falcon 9 has flown 86 times, and has only experienced one total vehicle loss.

Naturally, the pucker factor increases when you strap people to the top of any rocket, but SpaceX really seems to have their stuff together.

That said, it can be argued that the confidence inspired by the Shuttle's perfect track record previous to STS-51-L was a contributor to the eventual loss, SpaceX has never flown humans so it can be assumed that they are going to take no chances at all. They hopefully won't have any complacency in the system culture like what was going on before the Challenger disaster. I think we can assume that the booster will be brand-new, fresh out of the box, too :D