My Number One Fan

One of the great things about biking is the community that surrounds it and binds all of us together. It is always enjoyable to talk to other bikers and share stories and advice. On Saturday I decided to forgo the PFW picnic to do a little hill training in the Sourlands. I did this loop towards Stanton with Jack. We stopped at the Wawa on 202 and met a biking couple there. They had done the Grand Fondo of NJ and we wanted to know if it was a good event to do(they liked it). As we talked about the different rides we do I had mentioned I had a done a series of county high point rides in the counties where the fondo is and I could send them some routes if they wanted to explore that area some more. The woman, Bobbi (on the left of the photo), asked if I had seen the Road Biking NJ book which they thought had a lot of good routes. I responded that not only have I seen the book but that I was actually the author.

At that Bobbi got real excited and starting jumping up and down. She said she loves the book and wanted a hug and a picture with me and made me feel like a celebrity. I occasionally meet people who have bought the book and have received mostly positive feedback. I want to know if they like the routes, are they easy to follow, what other type of information would you like to see. Bobbi was so enthusiastically positive about the book that she is definitely my number one fan.

It is good to know that people enjoy the book and find it useful. Part of the reason I started this blog was to continue to share routes and stories about the best places to ride and visit in NJ. I have collected a lot of good rides over the years about where to ride in NJ. I don't know if I will update the book or write another one anytime soon but I think over this winter one of my project will be to overhaul the website associated with the book to better share all the places to go and things to see so that it will be easier for people to find this information. 

High Tech Table

Since I work from most of the time I have been slowly updating my office to make it more comfortable and efficient. I have made a computer rack to better organize my multiple computers and built a charging station to charge my many devices. My latest project was to replace a 30 old end table next to my recliner.

I have hated the end table since I bought it as Service Merchandise for $25 for my first apartment and wanted to replace it but never found anything that I liked. I wanted a good looking end table to be next to my recliner to have a place to store the books I'm reading and hold a pad, pen and reading glasses.

After looking online and in furniture stores I couldn't find that perfect table so I decided to build one. Its a two tone piece built out of maple and some mahogany Formica to match the other furniture in the room. Its a simple box shape but has some cool hidden features.

Although it looks like a solid box from the front it has a shelf cut out of the sides.

This give me a place to keep my reading glasses and current book I am reading. This table may look like it doesn't have a lot of storage but this is where it goes high tech. I used a linear actuator to add a hidden vertical draw. There is a switch in the cut out shelf that uses a linear actuator to raise the top of the table...

...to revel two internal shelves where I can store a lots of stuff. I also added an internal plug strip that has two AC plugs and 3 USB ports where I can plug my laptop in or tablet in to recharge it.

Although the table is really nothing more than a box and vertical draw with some shelves it was a little complicated to build. Getting the maple and mahogany Formica to fit perfectly together took some precision cutting and patience to get it just right. I had never used a linear actuator before so fitting it and determining how to connect it to the table and wire it up took some trial and error. 

However all the work was worth it. I am really happy the way it turned out. It is not only looks good but is a cool combination of high tech and functionality that perfectly fits into my home office.

CHOWDAH !!!

After 3 years I'm finally back in Cape Cod. We usually come up here for a long weekend once a year but because of my vacations to Hawaii and Alaska the last 2 years we just didn't have the time. Although I like to explore new places its also good to have a go to vacation destination that you enjoy and know what to expect. My wife and I come to Cape Cod mostly to relax on the beach and enjoy the local fair. If you like beaches, there are some great ones here that have been the subject of many artistic photos and paintings. If you like seafood there is no better place to be. To be honest I don't really like seafood except for a good clam chowder. Although I have tried clam chowder at a number of different places around the country the only place where they make is right is Cape Cod. It must be New England clam chowder (none of that Manhattan shit), it must be thick almost stand up a spoon in, and it has to taste good.

After a hectic summer it was good to hang out at a beach and just relax. We rented a house in West Yarmouth on Hyannis bay. It was a small place with just enough room for the two of us with an amazing view of the bay. 

In front of the house was a small creek with some resident swans. Across the creek was a beach overlooking the bay. The view and quiet neighborhood made it one of the best places we ever stayed in Cape Cod. We were even able to see the sunsets. Of course pictures don't do the view justice not only because they can't capture how it actually looked but also because you can't smell the salt air, hear the water hitting the beach or feel the wind blowing across the bushes.

We lucked out with the weather. We had 4 days of mostly sunny skies and it was warm enough to sit on the beach. Besides hanging out at the beach and enjoying our view we did a little sightseeing and headed to some other parts of the Cape to check out our favorite scenic spots and do a little shopping. There are a lot of artists and craftsmen on Cape Cod especially towards Provincetown. There are many of galleries of original art and unique crafts that are interesting to walk through.   

There are also many scenic vistas and light houses along to way so it is easy to spend an enjoyable day visiting them while doing some shopping.

As usual when we come up here we eat way too much. Not only did we get lots of clam chowder but also a lot of other food that tastes great and is not entirely healthy. Our favorite breakfast is at Pancake Man which merges a cinnabon and pancake and is as sugary and delicious (and filling) as it sounds. Then of course there is home made ice cream at the many road side stands that you just have to stop at. We even managed to find a new version of clam chowder. Its called fried clam chowder and if you are thinking how the hell can you fry soup let me explain. Its like a crab cake only made clams, of course, but some how it is soaked in chowder and breaded so when you actually bite into it it tastes exactly like clam chowder. I still prefer the soup but it just proves you can fry anything.

It was a good trip and a relaxing vacation but I've had my quota of fat, sugar, and salt for the year. It is time to go home to detox and get back to my normal riding schedule.

Flat and Fast

I did a lot of hilly rides in July and August so as a break and to get a long ride in I scheduled a Pineland Cruise for today. I was hopping to attract a good crowd and maybe get a couple of the Florida flatlanders to join. Maybe it was the holiday weekend or the possibility of rain but I only get a few regulars for the ride (Laura, Chris and Jack).

It was a cool morning and was barely 60 degrees when we set out. The route I created was as flat and simple as I could make it. We went out at a good pace and got to the first rest stop in the Wawa in Browns Mill in quick order. There aren't many place to stop in the Pinelands so we had to stop a mile 18 because the next possible stop was in Vincetown at 45 miles.

We made a quick bathroom stop in Lebanon State forest where we I checked the radar and saw the rain just south of where we were. It was headed west but if it moved north a little we would get wet.

For the next 20 miles there was some spirits of rain then some light rain as we skirted the northern edge of the storm. We really didn't too wet at all and once we turned north to Smithville we left the rain behind us.

When we pulled into the Olde World Bakery we had a 17mph average. It was still below 70 degrees and felt a little cold. We had just over 50 miles in and I was feeling strong so I pushed the pace a little to see if we could maintain our average.

We cranked along as fast as we could and made quick work of the last 14 miles back to Bordentown. We slowed down a little through Bordentown but I still finished up with a 16.95 mph avg which is the fastest ride of the year for me.

Although we got a little wet the weather was really perfect for a fast flat ride and it felt good to get a long ride in at a fast pace.

Eclipse Photos

Click Here for All the Eclipse Photos

I finally had time to go through all my eclipse photos and post them up to a google photo album. I made a couple of composite pictures to try show the full eclipse from start to end.

I also got some pictures from one of the people that was with us at Smith's Ferry. Her son is in the Air Force and had a colleague who was flying a U2 during the eclipse. First to see pictures from a U2 at 70,000 feet is just plain cool. What the picture below shows is the shadow of the moon moving across the clouds from left to right.

There is also an interesting shot of the corona reflecting off the pilots helmet.

And a composite showing the different phases of the eclipse along with a picture of the shadow of the moon.

My favorite picture that I took was halfway through the totality

It shows all the cool things about the eclipse. The wisps of the corona, the black circle of the moon, and a solar flare. It was fun to go through all the photos and remember how it felt to see the eclipse but now it is time to get back to my normal life...

The Day of the Eclipse

After 2 days and 800 miles of driving it was finally eclipse day.  I checked the weather and astronomy forecast one final time to make sure we had 0% cloud cover for the rest of the day. The clouds predicted over night had dissipated as expected so everything was going according to plan.   Getting up a 4am is was not easy especially after a couple of days of hard travel. Our destination was Smith's Ferry 70 miles north of Boise. To get there it was a straight shot up country road 55. This road went straight north over a mountain and along the Payette river. It would have been a scenic drive expect for the fact that it was pitch black which made it a bit of white knuckle ride. There was some light traffic but we moved along at a good clip. At mile 40 we when over Horseshoe Bend which marked the southern edge of where the totality would be visible. So we were in the zone and would almost be guaranteed of seeing the full eclipse.

 Another 45 minutes of driving on dark winding roads we arrived at Smith's Ferry. The parking lot across the river had been sold out weeks ago but the grass parking lot between the road and river was first come first serve and was mostly empty at 6 am when we got there. One of the reasons we got up so early was to make sure we would get a spot.  I parked along the river which had a clear view of the eastern horizon where the eclipse would be. Cars were slowly filtering in to the parking lot and it wasn't long before the spots along the river filled up. A BMW SUV pulled to the right of us and two jaunty older gentlemen with bushy beards get out. They weren't talking in English. They come over and introduce themselves. They are from the Swedish astronomy society and are seasoned eclipse chasers and have seen over 12 eclipses.

The first thing they do is to take out a set of small Swedish flags and stake out the area they want to set their equipment up in. They announce that they claim this land in the name of Sweden. When I remind them that this is already sovereign US land they say they will give it back by the end of the day and we laughed.

I head to the lodge at the north side of the parking lot to see how to pay for parking and what kind of food and drink are available. At the lodge I find out that parking was just $5 which was cheap considering other places were charging $25 - $50. I guess what Kurt said about this spot not being as well known at others was true.

Now that we were parked there was nothing to do but wait for the eclipse to start. I spent the couple hours before the eclipse talking to the other people around me and setting up the my telescope. I also took a couple of test pictures of the Sun to make sure all my equipment was working. I notices a bunch of sunspots that would make for more interesting pictures.

The telescope I was using was a new telescope that I bought a few months ago since the drive assembly of my old telescope was becoming unreliable. The new scope is an ioptron Smartstar cube. It is a very compact telescope and has a wide field of view which makes it perfect for observing the Sun. It has a built in GPS and motor drive so once it is aligned to the sun the motor drive will keep it pointed at the Sun as it moves. To take pictures I have an adapter for my IPod touch that aligns it with the lens of the telescope. As a back up I had my good Canon 12x zoom camera on a tripod with a solar filter which I would also use for wide angle shots at the moment of totality. I spend many hours before the trip learning how to use the equipment and take it pictures of the sun. I will say the new telescope worked flawlessly and stayed perfectly pointed for the 3 hours or I was using it.

The excitement was building as the time approached for the partial eclipse to begin. At 10:16 am both the Swedes and I called out first contact as we saw the Moon start to cover the sun. As the eclipse progressed I had a constant stream of people coming over for a look through the telescope. By this point the people that had parked around us had become one big friendly group.

I took pictures every 10-15 mins to document the progress of the Moon passing in front of the Sun. As the totality approached I talked with the Swedes about what settings to use for taking the pictures since the light would be a lot different then. They gave me some pointers but said that each one is different so couldn't give me any specific.

About 20 mins before totality I noticed it getting colder and darker. It was really weird to see it getting darker as the Sun was rising. You might think it was like the twilight approaching before sun set but it felt different than that some how. Its really hard to explain unless you were there. In the next 15 minutes the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees and the sky when from sunny to a bright twilight.

As the totality approached I got both my IPod touch and Cannon camera set up for the 2 mins of totality. I wanted to get a least one good picture of the totality. I also set up my point and shoot Nikon on the roof of the car and started the video.

As my friend Fred said, who has seen an eclipse before, you want to take time to just enjoy the totality and not spend all you time taking pictures or you won't really appreciate it.

You can somehow feel when the totality is about to occur and as it approached the crowd started to yell and clap. When the Moon finally covered the Sun at 11:26 am everybody screamed and cheered. I quickly started taking pictures through the telescope which was easy as all I had to do was push the shutter button on the IPod touch. I took one picture with my Cannon camera then gave up on it as it didn't look like the exposure was set correctly and I didn't want to waste time working on. I stayed by the telescope just adjusting the exposure and a picture every 15 or 20 seconds. Since I had practiced so much before the trip I could do it with out really thinking about it. This let me just enjoy the moment and focus on looking at the totality with my naked eyes. It was a glorious 2 mins and 15 seconds that can't really be described.

Right before the totality ended I took a couple of quick shots with the IPod touch. I was shooting in burst mode which takes 10 quick photos. I was really lucky and got this shot right at the end of the totality showing the exact moment of the end of the totality.  If the video below doesn't work use this link to see it

After the totality there was more cheering and most of us where just in awe of what we saw and couldn't stop talking about it. Slowly people started leaving but we, the Swedes and some other people stayed to watch the last part of the eclipse. The temperature and light started increasing soon after totality as more of the Sun was being exposed. It felt as weird as when it was decreasing.  I kept taking pictures until the Sun was fully uncovered. At this point it was 1pm and time to leave as we had to get to Salt Lake City tonight for the flight home tomorrow. One of the people we were hanging around with came over with a beer in hand that she had gotten from the lodge. I wanted to do nothing more in that moment than go get a beer and just hang out there relaxing but we had a long drive ahead of us. So we exchanged emails and said good by to every one before heading out.

Although people had drove up to Smith's Ferry, Cascade and the other towns on route 55 slowly over the course of a few days and camped at various parking lots and schools that the town had open for them they all were leaving at the same time. When you put 50,000 extra people on a road that was meant for only a couple of hundred cars an hour its going to get a little backed up. The hour and a half drive to Smith's Ferry took 3 and a half hours to get back to Boise. This was expected and I didn't really care. We saw the eclipse and this was part of the price you pay for seeing it. Everybody on the road was well behaved and the police and towns along the way did their best to make it as painless as possible. What also made it bearable was the scenery that we did not have a chance to see on the way up.

Once it Boise and got on the highway there was no real traffic but we had 250 mile to go before we could sleep. It was a long drive but the adrenaline of the experience kept us going. We did manage to find the middle of nowhere.

The middle of nowhere is in Malta Idaho on Sublett Rd. The reason I know this is that there is a gas station there that states this on the start up screen of the gas pump. Besides the 3 alpacas and one very loud sheep (who live at the gas station for some reason) there is nothing around for 25 miles(not even a bathroom) so it felt like the middle of nowhere especially at 9:30 pm  

By the time we got to the hotel it was almost 12 pm. We have been up for 20 hours and were totally shot but still exhilarated from the experience. Fred went right to bed but I stayed up to repack the telescope and take a look at the pictures that I had taken. They turned out better than I expected even the wide angle shot taken with the Cannon camera. I made sure they all got uploaded to my google photos account to make sure they would be safe. I then send a couple to my wife and posted one on the blog at around 1:30 am before finally going to sleep.

I got about 5 hours of sleep before getting up to go to the airport the next morning. I was sleep deprived and happy to be going home. At the airport we ran into a lot of people who saw the eclipse and shared stories of where we were and how it felt. We were all still excited about it.

The flight home was uneventful and I was glad to get home and finally have a good nights sleep. It was a grueling trip with a lot of driving just to see the eclipse but we did see it and it was totally worth it. I also met some great people and had some adventures along the way.  I am still working on processing all the picture I took but have shared the best one I currently have. I will publish a link later with the full set....

...However the important thing is that I understand now why people travel around the world just to see an eclipse. Its not the just to look at it and photograph it but to experience that emotion that it produces that can't be duplicate any other way. I won't go to great lengths or expense to see every eclipse that happens in the next 20 years but there is another on in the US in 2024 and I'm going to be there so I can feel this way again.

Adventures Chasing the Eclipse

Seeing the eclipse was the sole and overriding goal of this trip but it didn't mean we didn't have fun along the way. On Friday night we landed in Denver. Although the eclipse, as shown in the map above, would stretch across the whole country the weather west of the Mississippi had a 20% higher probability of being clear. From Denver I could get a 1000 miles east or west along the eclipse track in 2 days so it gave me a lot of flexibility. Before the flight to Denver I checked the weather and astronomical forecast and focused on 3 cities Casper Wyoming. Rexburg Idaho, and Weiser Idaho which looked to have the highest probability of having clear skies. Anything east of there looked to be cloudy on Monday. I found Clear Outside tool and NOAA's digital forecast tool to be the best and most accurate tools for forecasting clear skies. For two weeks before the trip I had checked them against the actual local weather in the spots when I plan to see the eclipse. They weren't 100% accurate but when they were wrong they over predicted the cloud cover not under predicted it which I liked.

We stayed in Fort Collins on Friday night and a check of the weather showed that there was a 30% chance of light clouds in Casper on the day of the eclipse. That meant you would probably see the eclipse in Casper but there was still a 30% chance that a stray cloud could come along at the wrong time and block the Sun at the critical moment of the eclipse. Casper would have been logistically the easiest place to go since it was a 4 hour drive from Fort Collins. However to get the best shot at seeing the eclipse we headed west towards Idaho where the eclipse forecast showed between a 0%-15% of cloud cover.

So on Saturday we got up and started driving west with the goal of getting to Ogden Utah just above Salt Lake city by the end of the day. This would put us in reach of Rexburg Idaho, and Weiser Idaho where the weather was slightly better than Casper.

To get to Salt Lake City from Fort Collins you head north to Wyoming and then head west on Interstate 80. After reaching the border of Wyoming we saw the bull silhouette that Laura had mentioned on her trip out there last year.

The drive west on 80 was uneventful but enjoyable as the scenery was interesting along the way.  We went over the continental divide so we went up and down some pretty big hills and were some where between 6000 and 8000 ft for most of the time.

To break up the long drive to Salt Lake we decided to do a side trip. My friend Fred, who joined me for this trip,  likes to visit tri-points. This is where 3 states meet. The side trip was to the Utah, Wyoming, Colorado tri-point. According to the research Fred had done it should be possible to get there by car along some dirt and gravel roads. The attraction for me was that is was the highest tri-point in the country so it kind of fit with my high point theme of a couple of years ago.

About three quarters of the way along Interstate 80 in Wyoming we got off the highway and headed to the tri-point. The route there took us through the town of Podunk up the county highway to nowhere. Half way to nowhere just past the town of "Why the Fuck would anybody live here" we made a left on Devils Elbow Rd which took us to Bender Basin Rd then on to Road 4 and finally got to a dirt path that the GPS said should get us to the tri-point. For the most part the roads were packed dirt and gravel some better than others. When we got 4 miles from the tri-point the road turned to just two dirt ruts through the prairie grass. We had rented a Nissan Rogue which had 4 wheel drive so as long as the dirt was solid I was OK to keep going. However the road started having some deep gullies caused by rain water run off. Eventually we got to one that I thought was too deep for us to attempt to go over. If we got stuck or broke down at this point it would be a 10 mile hike to the nearest main road. I also didn't think phones would work around here with all the mountains in the way.

I was sad that I couldn't get Fred to the tri-point but we didn't want to do something stupid and spend the night in the wilderness. We turned around and headed back toward the highway. I will say that although this is a desolate area it does have a certain beauty to it and I stopped to take a couple of pictures.

About a mile before we got back to the county highway we saw a heard of elk. There had to be at least a hundred of them going across the road. I took a picture and had to wait 10 mins before we could continue. It was a really cool thing to see and made the tri-point detour worth it.

Saturday night was spend in Ogden Utah. It wasn't a bad place, we had a decent meal and a good nights sleep before continuing on to Boise Idaho on Sunday. The reason we decided to head to Boise is that the weather on the western side of Idaho by the Oregon border looked better than the eastern side for eclipse day. It was just under 300 miles to get there but with the speed limit at 80 mph it was a relatively quick drive.

Since I didn't know exactly where we would be staying each night I couldn't really make hotel reservations but was also afraid of all the hotels being sold out as we got closer to where the eclipse was going to be. My solution to the problem was to book multiple hotels for the same day at the different places that I might be. I would only book hotels that had a free cancellation policy where I could cancel a day before I got there. This worked out pretty well as every morning I would decide where would be going and cancel the hotel rooms I didn't need.

The hardest place to get a room was Boise Idaho as this was just 50 miles south of where you could see the total eclipse. I got really lucky and 4 days before I flew out to Denver and found one room in Boise for Sunday night on priceline.com (for $60). There were a few other rooms available but they were close to $1000 a night and I would rather sleep in the car than pay that price.

The room in Boise was in the Boise hotel which was a crap hole of a hotel but the staff was friendly and the room was clean. It was better than sleeping in the car.

When we checked in they told us our room wasn't ready and to come back in two hours. We decided to head out to a park to test out the telescope I brought along to make sure everything was working. We ended up in a park just about a mile from the hotel.

We had a few problems with powering the telescope off the cigarette lighter because the accessories won't stay on for more than 5 mins and some of the connections won't stay together. We worked out the problems and got a few good pictures of the Sun. I'm glad we got all the kinks worked out of the system before the big day.

While at the park we met a man (Kurt) walking his dog. Seeing the telescope he asked where we were headed to view the eclipse. We told him Weiser to which he said that he thought Smith's Ferry would be a better place. He has been listening to the news all week about the eclipse and said most people would head up to Weiser or Stanley and he had heard that theses towns were already overcrowded. We had talked to a couple of people at the hotel in Ogden this morning who were heading to Smiths Ferry to see the eclipse so the more Kurt talked about it the more sense it made to us to go there instead of Weiser. The piece of information that sealed the deal was that Kurt said that if we couldn't find a parking spot in Smith's Ferry all we had to do is go over the bridge by Cougar lodge and talk to his friend Janet who would let us park on her property. It is refreshing to me that you can meet a stranger and talk to him for a few minutes and have them trust you enough to give you some good advise and offer to help you with out wanting anything in return.

So after the talk with Kurt we decided to go to Smith's Ferry which ended up being a good decision I think. Smith's Ferry was actually on the center line of the eclipse so it would give us the most time in totality and if Kurt was right we would have an easier time getting a good parking spot because it was less crowded.

So Sunday night we are in a crappy hotel in Boise but we only have 70 miles to drive to get the a spot to see the eclipse.  The weather is looking perfect for Monday all the planning is working out and I will get to see the eclipse. I was almost too excited to sleep.