Rare, Beautiful and Fleeting

Those of you who know me and those of you who read this blog you know that I enjoy the occasional astronomical event. A total eclipse of the sun is one of the hardest events to see and less than 2% of the people on earth see one live. There have been two total solar eclipses visible in the US over the last 7 years and I was fortunate enough to be able to see both. The last one was in 2017 and I traveled out west just north of Boise Idaho to see it. I described the last eclipse I saw as "rare, beautiful and fleeting" and it is one of those things that once you see one all you want to do is you to see it another one so I wanted to make sure I did whatever I could the see the this one as it would be relatively easy to see with a little effort and planning.

In order to see an total solar eclipse you have to be in an narrow window of around 100 miles wide along the path of the eclipse. The path of totality for April 2024 eclipse went from San Antonio Texas all the way up into Canada so there were a lot of large cities in the path like Dallas, Cleveland, Buffalo and Montreal. Reservations for most of the cities in south along the path of the eclipse were sold out a year in advance since the weather was expected to be better there. However a week before the actual eclipse the best weather was expected to be in the north east in upstate New York, Vermont and Maine. My plan was to look at the weather 4 or 5 days before the eclipse and drive to where ever the clearest weather was going to be. About a week and a half before the eclipse I had a reservation in Syracuse NY for the Sunday before the eclipse since that would allow be to get between Cleveland, OH and Sherbrook Canada on the day of the eclipse depending on the weather forecast. 

As the eclipse got closer it appeared that the further east you went the better the weather was going to be. On the Saturday evening before the eclipse I changed my plans and got a reservation in Montreal and canceled my hotel in Syracuse. I was surprised how easy it was to get a hotel reservation in Montreal. I guess nobody expected the weather to be good up that way. 

On Sunday my wife and I drove up to Montreal. It wasn't a bad drive and we got to the hotel around dinner time. When I checked in the person at the desk said they were no vacancies as I guess other people had the same idea as I did and made some last minute reservations. The  holiday inn express wasn't bad and there was a restaurant across the parking lot so we won't have to get in the car again. Which was good because Waze on my phone stopped getting updates right after we crossed into Canada. Luckily Waze had downloaded the map so we were able to navigate to the hotel without have to revert to a paper map. 

The Sunday before we left to go to Montreal I made a reservation for a hotel in Magog Canada. Again I was a little surprised to be able to get a hotel that was in the path of the eclipse at the last minute. This was a nice hotel on a golf course with a restaurant and the plan was to go there after the eclipse and have a nice dinner. 

On Monday morning we made an hour drive to Magog. I had chose Magog because it was close to the center line of the eclipse and had a large park on a lake that would make a good place to view the eclipse. We didn't hit much traffic getting to Magog until we got close to the center of town. There were two parks in town and by the time we got there the first park was full so we went to my second choice. There was no problem parking in the parking lot. It was a little muddy because of recent rain and melting snow that they had got a few days ago. In fact there was still snow on the ground in parts of the park. However it was a warm and sunny day with temperature close to 60 degrees. We parked then walk a few hundred feet to the edge of the lake on one of the walk ways next to a number of other people with telescopes and photography equipment. Here was our view of the lake. 

The clear blue sky made me happen and once we got there I knew we would see the eclipse. It took about a half hour to set up my equipment. The last total eclipse I had bought a telescope and was able to attach a phone to the eye piece to get some decent pictures. This time I upped my game and created a setup to be able to attach a DLSR camera with a telephoto lens to my telescope drive so I could get some even better photos this time.

I spent some time over the last couple of months putting this rig together and testing it out. It basically has my Canon R10 with a 100mm-400mm telephoto lens on it. I actually rented a 1.4 teleconverter to get more magnification. Besides the camera I also had my 70 mm telescope attached to my telescope drive. The advantage to being able to attach everything to the telescope drive meant that I didn't have to keep adjusting the camera and telescope as the sun moved. Once I set everything up and got it align all I had to do was to turn the camera on and take the pictures. 

This rig worked well. With the solar filter on my camera and telescope I was easily able to see the eclipse start as the moon started to cover the sun. I took picture every 10 mins or so up until the totality started. Where we were we would have 3 minutes and 30 seconds of totality. It goes by so fast so you have to be very efficient in taking pictures. I had a plan about what pictures I wanted to take and how to take them. The problem is there is no way to practice taking picture of a total eclipse so you have to guess at the best setting. 

As totality was approached the sky got dimmer and the temperature probably dropped about 10 degrees. I could see the moon was close to covering the sun looking through my telescope so I took the solar filter off my camera and telescope and waited for totality. 

When totality came the sky went suddenly dark for a second then the corona appeared behind the sun. I took a few moments to enjoy it before taking some pictures. I ended up taking about 20 pictures at different shutter speeds and magnifications. I didn't get all the shots I wanted but I didn't want to spend all my time playing with the camera because that would have taken time away from enjoying the moment. I did have time for my wife to take a selfie of me and the eclipse. It was a cool as last time and also different. 

This time there was a solar flare that was easily visible with the naked eye at the 7 o'clock position. The sky did not get as dark as the last time. I was able to see Venus and Jupiter but didn't see Mercury or the comet that might have been visible. Here is a wide angle picture I took

The bright spot in the middle bottom of the photo is Venus. This picture or any other picture I have seen doesn't really show the details of the corona. There was a clear black circle of the moon in the middle with a bright light of the solar flare at the bottom. It looked like the flame of the blow torch coming out of the sun. The white corona around the sun was smaller and denser than last time but had a lot of wispy points especially at the top and right side. As you have seen already I got some good pictures of the solar flares and corona but in person there were more details and colors were more intense. I was glad I had the telescope because that let me see the eclipse in ever more details than the pictures I took. As the total eclipse was about to end I took one last look through the telescope to try and burn the image into my brain then tried to get a few last picture. I was trying to get the diamond shot showing the Sun coming through the valleys of the moon as the eclipse ends. I got a good shot last time. This time I wasn't as lucky in my timing. 

I did get sun coming out from behind the moon but got a much bigger starburst this time. Either my timing was off or that is the way it was because I have seen similar picture from professional photographers. 

Once the totality was over I put the solar filters back on and took picture every 10 mins until the end of the eclipse. The partial eclipse has started around 2:15 pm and totality was a 3:27pm. By the time the eclipse was over it was 4:45pm. It was a long day to be standing outside but it was fun not only seeing the eclipse but talking to the people around us and exchanging stories. We met a number of people who had reservations in Texas but at the last minute flew to Montreal and then drove to Magog. 

People had started to leave the park right after to totality so by the time we packed up everything and got back in the car it was 5:30pm. There was some traffic in town that took us about a half hour to get through but once we got out of town it only took us a few minutes to drive the 4 miles to our hotel. 

The hotel was nice and even higher end than I thought although it did need some maintenance in spots. After we checked in we walked by the restaurant and were told we need a reservation for dinner. The earliest reservation was 8pm and looking at the menu it was very expensive and there wasn't a lot on it I wanted to eat. I would have gladly spent the money if they had something that appealed to me but I didn't want to spend a lot for a meal I didn't like so we passed on the restaurant. Luckily we had brought a lot of food with us expecting it to be hard to find places to eat with all the crowds. It wasn't the gourmet meal I was hoping for but it was still good. We had a balcony overlooking the mountains which was perfect. 

We hung out on the balcony. I had a few beers with me which tasted great after a long day. Of course they were Blue moons after the eclipse. After the sun went down we moved inside and relaxed the rest of the night. The drive home the next day was almost 8 hours so we were tired when we got back. We drove over 1000 miles in 3 days. We would had made more of a vacation out of this trip but it is the in between season in Canada and upstate NY and VT so there was nothing really open that we wanted to see. Still we got to see the eclipse and had some fun along the way. I don't know if I will see another total eclipse. The next one in the US will be on 2044. There are other ones between now and then but they will be in Europe, Africa and Australia so would require a lot of travel. Although the eclipse I saw this time and 2017 were definitely one of the more memorable moments in my life I don't know if the travel involved to see another one would be worth it. We'll see...

 

Pictures of the Eclipse

I still have some stories to share about the eclipse but haven't had time to write it up yet as I have been working on editing the photos. The photos came out better than expected so wanted to share a few of them with you. The one up top shows the full sequence of the eclipse from start to finish. You can click on it or any other picture to see the picture at full size. 

My camera worked well. I had it hooked up to telescope drive to tracked the sun. During the 3 minutes and 30 seconds of the eclipse I took about 20 shots. There were a lot of solar flares coming out of the sun and as you can see below. 

This picture was taken at the start of totality. The moon moved over the sun from the bottom right to the upper left so at the beginning we saw the solar flare at the top. At the end of totality we saw the solar flares at the bottom. 

I also managed to get a good shot of the corona.

I ended up combining a few photos together to show the corona and flares together. 

I still have some interesting stories and facts to share about the eclipse so will post that in a few days. For those of you who want to see a few more picture here is a link to a photo album of all my photos so far

In the Path of Totality

 Success!!! With a last-minute change in plans we were able to see the total eclipse. I have a lot of more pictures and stories about the eclipse but will share those in a later post. The short story is that we ended up on a lake in Magog Quebec Canada because that is where the weather was the clearest. We were able to get a hotel on Sunday night the south of Montreal at the last minute and then headed to Magog on Monday morning. It was a beautiful and warm day, so it was a very enjoyable day by the lake as we waited for the totality. When it finally happened, it was better than expected. The sky went suddenly dark, and not only could you see the corona around the sun but there was a large solar fare that was easily visible with the naked eye. It was phenomena. The picture posted above, (which is a good picture) doesn't even come close to what we saw. It was well worth the trip to see the eclipse. We're now in a hotel in Magog and will be driving home tomorrow am glad we made the trip. I can't wait to get back home to so I can go through all photos in detail and share them with you. 

Putting in the Miles

Springtime means longer rides as the weather warms up. My fitness wanes in the winter because it is harder to do long or hilly rides in the cold and dark of winter. This past winter my mileage count was pretty low so now I'm trying to put in the miles to start building a base for this season. 

The weather has made getting out a bit harder this year. We have had a lot of rain on the weekends and on my Wednesdays off. However I did get two good rides in this week. This past Wednesday was a raw cloudy day in the mid 40s but there was not much wind and no rain in the forecast so I did a 34 mile ride from home to the roads around the Manasquan Reservoir. The route has about 1000 ft of climbing. There are no real hills but some rollers to test out my climbing legs a little. This raw weather made the ride less enjoyable than normal but these are the rides you have to do to try and get in shape for the season. I came in at a decent pace, faster than I did a few weeks ago so I am happy I'm getting better.

This past Saturday the hilly ride that was on the PFW calendar was beyond my current ability so I did my own ride and invited Jim and Jack to come along. It was a windy day in the mid 50s. My goal for the day was to do at least 40 miles. I put a route together that started in Etra Park to Jamesburg and back. I wanted to do a more north-south route since the wind was mostly coming from the west. The first few miles were tough as we headed directly into the wind for the first 7 miles or so. After that it wasn't too bad as we made our way through Plainsoro and on towards Dayton. 

On Riva Rd I changed the route to go a little farther along the river. This also put us on better roads to go through Hemetta an on to Jamesburg. In Jamesburg we stopped at a coffee shop for a break and then headed back. We went through Thomson Park which has one short but steep little hill through the park to up to the main road to head back to Etra. My legs were tired at the end of the ride but I was able to do a 43 mile ride at a decent pace. I still need to put a lot more miles in to be back to full strength but am improving which is all the matters. 

I Feel Good

Spring is only a couple of days away which means an increase in my rides and miles. I do try to ride as much as I can in winter but it was a cold and rainy winter and I had some health issues that prevented me from doing long rides. I never know how my fitness fared over the winter until I get out and do some longer rides with my posse. 

This Saturday I decided to lead a ride. I only wanted to do around 35 miles but some in the group wanted a few more. Over the winter there were a couple of rides that had cutoffs so those who were not up for the full ride could bail early but still do most of the ride with the group. I liked this option so I created two routes for Saturday one that left from Allentown and another that left from Bordentown. The people that wanted more miles left from Allentown and met me and a few others in Bordentown.  I then lead a ride to Robling and back. Since I did not have a lot of miles this year I was concerned about the pace but I felt good and didn't feel like I had to push myself to keep up. 

We stopped at the Jacksonville Deli which strangely enough is not in or remotely close to Jacksonville (it's actually in Fieldsboro). It's a really crappy rest stop as Eric pointed out as he ate his "staler than shit" donuts but there aren't many other places to stop on this route. 

It was a good sunny day with temperatures close to 60 degrees and a gentle tail wind part of the way. At the end of the ride I had 36 miles and felt as I could have done a few more. I was concerned that my lack of miles this winter would make it harder to get back to my normal miles and speed but after the way I felt today I think I should be able to get back to my normal 40-50 miles rides quicker than I thought.

Winter is Ending

Some where in the middle to end of February I really become sick of winter. I do explore some different areas and do some different activities in the winter so it can be a nice change of pace. The landscape can have a certain desolation to it that is beautiful and interesting in its own way. Take this picture of a pond in Allaire with the leafless trees against the winter sky for example.

 

However winter is cold. I have to wear so many layers that it is hard move. Although I can stay warm while riding there are always parts that are sweating and other parts that are cold so rides have to be shorter. It's just not as fun to ride in the winter.

This winter has been a little colder and rainier than normal which has made it even harder to get out for a ride. Today however was a beautiful day. It was mid 50s when I started a ride out of Allentown with Jack, Bob, and Ricky. We did a relatively flat 30 miles as I try build my mileage for the year. The pace was faster than I have done for few months and I still felt good at the end of the ride. I hope I can continue rides like this to improve my fitness. We just need the winter to end so we will have more warm and sunny days like today.

The Ride of the Broken, Unhealthy and Morally Bankrupt

 

I'm still working my way back from some health issues. The good news is the treatment that I'm on is working and I am riding better than I did a few weeks ago. I still don't know when I will be back to 100% but at least things are going in the right direction. 

This week I had planned on just doing a local ride by myself but got an invite to an off the books ride from Pete. He had planned the first 20 or so miles to be relatively flat before heading into the hills so that I might join the group for part of the ride which I appreciated. I was a little nervous about being able keep up with them but figured I could always bail if I wasn't up to it. 

At the start of the ride almost all of the insane posse showed up. We even had an appearance from Bob who had his own health issues and like me is working his way back to being 100%. Unfortunately as we started the ride Bob found that his bike would not shift so he had to bail on the ride. So although Bob may not be broken any more his bike which had been ignored for 4 months was. 

He wrote later that is was a problem with dead batteries in his shifters. I know some people might take a problem like this to point out that there is no reason to use electronic shifting as the old system using cables work just fine. However everybody that I know that has electronic shifting says how much better it is. The real problem is that people just have to get use to adding a few extra checks to their pre ride routine to make sure the electronic shifters are charged and working. It's not like cable shifters are immune from problems. I can think of a number of times when cable shifters or derailleurs have broken at the beginning or during a ride. 

Back to the actual ride. I felt good for the first 15 miles of the ride and didn't really struggle to keep up although to be honest it was a relatively slow pace. I think it was just because we were all just catching up with each other and so we took our time. I will say Pete put a interesting route together through with a lot of neighborhood roads and we even had to go on some dirt to get between streets that weren't connected. The only thing the route was missing was the normal bridge out otherwise it was a perfect ride for me. At mile 15 I still felt okay but needed to slow down a little so I let the group go and did another 7 miles on my own. I ended up with 22 miles, 800 ft of climbing at a 13.3 mph pace. Not my longest, fastest or hilliest ride but it was more then I was able to do a couple of months ago so it felt good and makes me believe that I should be able to get back to my normal rides in another month or so. 

This weeks ride also gave me a chance to try out the new bike rack. I actually haven't had to use my bike rack since the end of November as I have only been doing rides from my house. 21 year ago when I got the Baja I made a custom bike rack to fit into the bed.

The rack is just a piece of cherry wood with some a couple of fork mounts and wheel carriers bolted to it. It has served me well over 21 years and taken me and others on my rides and bike trips. About 7 years ago I had to add a 15mm thru axle mount for my mountain bike. Bike technology is constantly evolving not only do most new bikes have electronic shifting but most now have thru axles. And unlike the old standard skewers there is difference sizes of thru axles. This isn't a problem for me at the moment as both my road bikes still have skewers. However some other people that I ride with have thru axle bikes that I might need to carry in the Baja. For this reason I decided to upgrade my rack. 

I took the same piece of cherry wood and made a few changes. The first one to create a dado and add a T-Track to the rack. This would allow me to adjust the positions of the fork and wheel mounts on the rack.

The next changes was the addition of a new fork mount from 

MUQZI. This fork mount comes with different adapters so it can handle the old skewer mount bikes as well as most thru axle bikes. After that all I did was just put a new finish on the rack and put the old wheel and fork mounts back on.

The rack may not look that much different but it is now a lot more functional as I can easily change and move the position of the fork and wheel mounts and should be able to fit any bike in there no matter what type of fork they have. I'm not sure what changes they will make to bikes in the future but I should be able to better adapt to them with the new rack.