Posts filed under 'General'
Well Meredith has blazed across California and is now in Arizona. When I spoke with him the other day the temperature was creeping into the 90s but he pressed on. He left me a message last night saying he went 122 miles yesterday!
One serious issue his group ran into near Palm Springs was strong winds. Of 40 riders 8 went down. Luckily Meredith stayed upright throughout.
Meredith sent a few pictures for us. The first shows him putting his bike in the Pacific Ocean, the second shows the group he’s pedaling with, the third shows what their lunch stops look like, and the last is Meredith in Arizona.
May 15th, 2008
Twice, in just two days, I have encountered someone wearing their bike helmet backwards. I had heard of this happening, but thought it was an outdoor legend. Like Yeti, Sasquatch, or the Chupacabra. The first girl I tried to warn, pointing out that it’s much safer when worn correctly. In return I got a very Pee Wee Hermanesqe, “I meant to do that!” So the second time I saw it, I just stared in awe and thought best to keep my thoughts to myself.
Is this the new fashion? This isn’t a regionally isolated incident either, they happened almost 200 miles apart! I remember how funny my dad thought it was to tell me my hat was on backwards when I was in high school. Man was that annoying. Like he knows what cool is. No wonder that girl snapped at me.
Maybe this is just the first in a whole wave of Backwards Bike Fashions. (BBF’s for short) Wearing your jersey backwards not only looks cooler, but makes the pockets that much more accesable. These guys had it right.
So my recommendation, be the first in your bike gang to get with the new style that is sweeping the nation. Out with the old! Who cares about function? Backwards sun-visors even give you a sporty TT helmet feel too!
* Outdoorzy does not endorse this blog post. Not only will you be openly ridiculed, riding with your helmet may cause impaired vision. In the event of accident your steezy helmet could lead to injury, paralysis, and death by fashion.
May 13th, 2008
The Rolling hitch is a knot used to attach a rope to a rod, pole, or other rope. A simple friction hitch, it is used for lengthwise pull along an object rather than at right angles. The Rolling hitch is designed to resist lengthwise movement for only a single direction of pull.
The following image is from Pro-Knots which produces plastic, easy to use knot cards. I have one of these for fishing knots and carry it with me in my boat bag just in case I need a quick reference.
May 13th, 2008
Meredith Johnson recently made a decision to go into semi retirement. But he won’t be planting flowers in his garden or heading to Florida to relax anytime soon. Meredith opted to cycle from Los Angeles to Boston instead of a typical retirement plan. He’s been prepping for his trip using yoga and, and of course, cycling A LOT!
We’ll be following Meredith here on the Outdoorzy Blog as he makes his cross-country trip this summer. I’ve asked him to tell us a little about himself. Here’s what he said…
My name is Meredith Johnson from Bowling Green, KY. I am 60 years old and have been a businessman throughout my career.
My plan now is to take a few years off and I MIGHT go back to work. I am hopefully cycling to find the next challenge.
I started a Yoga practice two years ago and with the additional cycling training for our tour, my wife says that I am never home to help her… She just doesn’t understand!
On my bucket list was to ride my bike across America. I have been cycling for 15 years. I have completed the RAGBRAI ride across Iowa and the California section of Highway 1, but this is my first long distance tour.
I am part of a 100 member cycling club in Bowling Green, Ky. One of our group trips is to the Three State Three Mountains in Chattanooga, TN. About 2,000 cyclists were in attendance this past weekend. If you are looking for some hill training this is the spot.
Meredith starts his journey today in Los Angeles and will arrive in Boston on June 28th. Many of us have considered a long distance trip like this at some point, but Meredith has taken it on without looking back. We look forward to following along and learning a bit about what it’s like to cycle cross country!
Good luck Meredith!
May 10th, 2008
Most of my dealings with this knot have been in rock climbing but this knot can be used anytime there is a need for a stopper knot or to splice to ropes together.. There two types of figure eight knots.
Double figure-of-eight knot is used like an overhand loop knot. This type of knot can be used in prusik climbing when used in conjunction with a Swiss seat, a climbing rope, and locking carabineer designed for climbing.
Figure-of-eight splice knot is used to quickly and effectively splice two ropes of equal, or unequal diameter together. This knot consists of a loose figure-of-eight knot made in one rope, and feeding the lesser diameter of the two back through the figure eight starting from the original knot’s running end and retracing the rope through the figure eight until the second ropes running end is parallel with the first’s ropes standing end, essentially creating a figure-of-eight within a figure-of-eight. This can be a permanent or temporary approach to splicing ropes together and the anatomy of this knot allows two ropes to be spliced without slipping, however, it causes strength loss as with most knots.
The following image is from Pro-Knots which produces plastic, easy to use knot cards. I have one of these for fishing knots and carry it with me in my boat bag just in case I need a quick reference.
May 6th, 2008
Change is hard. Today I left a job I’ve been at for 10 years. I know it is the right thing to do. Everything in my life for the past year or more has been steering me in this direction. But it’s still a difficult thing to leave people you care about and to leave a secure, familiar environment.
I learned quite a bit from this career I’m leaving behind. Quite a bit about what you should do in business, and what not to do. I’ve also found my “professional persona.” I know what I believe in and I definitely know more about how a business operates.
What will I do now you ask? Well, I’m actually busier for the next few months than I have been for the past year. I’m traveling, doing some remodeling projects on my house, writing, working more on Outdoorzy, launching an online magazine, consulting, sleeping in, doing a week on the AT, several multi-day paddling trips, spending more time with my wife, heading down to the Bahamas, and hopefully doing a bit of relaxing along the way.
Thanks to everyone who has supported me through this transition period. I promise I’m not going crazy.
..well, no crazier than I already am.
Sweet image taken by Fir002 on Wikipedia.
April 30th, 2008
The half hitch is simple knot and is basically a variation of the overhand knot. If the half hitch is tied by itself, it slips very easily and cannot hold anything. However, the half hitch occurs as a component in many more complicated knots to bind the standing part of the rope to the opposite end. This knot was used twice in the standing end of the Trucker’s Hitch to bind the knot to prevent the rope from slipping.
April 29th, 2008
You gotta give the guy props, but… our buddy Lance Armstrong got an entry in Dickipedia I saw via The Piton.
If you hate Lance, this is a must read.
If you like Lance, avert your eyes.
My favorite line is the closer….
“By the way, he hangs out with Matthew McConaughey. All the time. They go jogging together, shirtless.”
April 25th, 2008
Cycling is a very enjoyable but demanding sport. I am extremely short and small so I have a 13 inch frame and it still doesn’t quite fit me. I have to keep my seat completely lowered so that I don’t fall over when we stop:) After an all day trail ride, this arrangement (and the fact that I am too cheap to buy a custom bike) causes my body to shift and become unbalanced. In other words, I need some serious deep stretching to cope.
Yoga for Cyclists DVD and book is exactly what the doctor ordered especially if I’m trying to avoid injury. The book is lightweight enough to put in my camelback and use during breaks and the DVD has a warm-up/cool-down session and a training session for when I can’t make it to the trail or road.
The two sessions featured on the DVD are designed to cultivate strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance and of course these are all things cyclists need to enjoy their sport. I am always on the hunt to strengthen my wrists and keep the numbness out of my seat.
Here are some of the muscles and benefits focused on during the two sessions:
leg strength; hips; butt; abdominals and lower back; arms; chest expansions; shoulders and wrist strength; forearms; increasing lung capacity; increasing circulation to the pelvic area
The poses are designed to give us something to work toward so there is a nice challenge and they work to strengthen muscles so when we do crash, we can take the impact better and recover faster.
As with all of Andria Baldovin’s specialized yoga programs, there is a wonderful meditation sequence and breathing exercise. Most of all however, I really liked that there was a strong connection drawn, before each session, between what muscles the poses work and how those muscles relate to biking.
April 24th, 2008
Several weeks ago, I posted “Knot Today” which discussed seven outdoor knots that everyone should know. With the summer coming, many of us are going to be breaking out the canoes and kayaks and floating or padding our favorite waters. I don’t know how others travel with their favorite water craft, but mine in on top of my truck shell tied down with ratchet straps. Before ratchet straps and cam straps, many had to use just regular rope and the trucker’s hitch.
“The trucker’s hitch, also known as the power cinch, is a self-binding knot commonly used for securing loads on trucks or trailers. There are several variations of the knot, all of which use a loop in the standing part of the rope as a make-shift pulley in order to obtain a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage. The version depicted here has the advantage that it can be tied anywhere in the rope (without access to an end). Once tight, the knot is secured with a half hitch, usually slipped for easy releasing.” – Wikipedia
The following image is from Pro-Knots which produces plastic, easy to use knot cards. I have one of these for fishing knots and carry it with me in my boat bag just in case I need a quick reference.
April 23rd, 2008
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