Government-Issued Foil

I had to renew my passport finally, and evidently the age of Electronic Passports came while I wasn't paying attention (Wikipedia tells me it was 5 years ago now). I imagine that there was a big privacy brouhaha about the introduction of little chips that contain government database information on the passport holder.

And I'm trying to imagine the meeting that all of the State Department folks had about getting the privacy people to shut up, because apparently "But, NINE ELEVEN!!!" wasn't doing enough of a job of that anymore... And I'm picturing that maybe after about two weeks of sitting there, eating crappy generic take-out sandwiches and mediocre chinese that had been brought in...maybe that's when somebody threw up his hands and implored "why don't we just give everybody a piece of foil to wrap it in?! Can I go home now?! I'm not sure that my children remember who I am."

And I think that's exactly how it went, because now, when you apply for a passport card, you are issued a little foil sleeve to store it in.

It's not that I want a giant metal chicken...

Because I really, really don't. But the image in this blog entry is going in my file of Things To Look At When The World Starts Acting Like it Should Be Punched in the Face. That image may very well save the world's life, or at least preclude the need for reconstructive nose surgery on the part of the world.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for whimsy.

Musings on my fourth MS 150

Two of my teammates and I on the ride (Kim Morris Photography)

I spent June 11-12 riding my bike from Proctor to White Bear Lake. A good time was had.

The Seafoam Green Machine
This was a test of sorts for my bike, which I still consider to be new. I bought it last July, after declaring that, Lo! That would be the last MS 150 that I did on a hybrid. And indeed, it will be, for the SFGM has proven itself worthy of remaining a part of my household. It currently has a place of honor in the living/dining room. I was able to keep up with a group of my teammates this year and biked with people for the entire distance. In the previous years, I biked the whole thing alone. Sometimes I would go 15 minutes without seeing another cyclist, despite there being 3500 of them on the trails. The only modification to my bike is that I replaced the stock saddle with my Brooks at the last minute due to concerns about numbness. That worked out pretty well, I think. Butt soreness is at a [relative] minimum today.

Socialist Biking
The biggest benefit of the SFGM is that I was able to go about 2 mph faster than I was on my previous bike with no additional effort. This meant that I was able to keep up with a group of people and take advantage of the wonderful world of pacelines. There was a stupid, stupid headwind on Sunday, but thanks to being in a paceline, I only had to deal with it head-on for 2 out of every 10 miles. Saturday was pretty amazing. We were keeping about a 16.5 mph pace for some pretty good-sized chunks of time (keep in mind that my general average pace on my training rides was about 13.5 mph). Occasionally we would pick up some strays traveling about our pace, which I welcomed because that means more people to rotate into the leader position! I think the most we had going at any given time was 11 people. It's kind of exhilarating being the leader, responsible for all of those people. But it's also nice to give it up and float to the back so that all of those people can break the wind for you. :^) By the last two segments on Sunday, we were having to switch off every mile.

I need a bell
I'd never passed so many people in previous years. I went hoarse from yelling "on your left" for 5 hours on Saturday. I have a bell on my other bike that I should switch over to this one, now that it has proven itself worthy of the Compass Bell.

Number-y things
From the Garmin--
First day: 72.7 miles, with an average speed of 15.6 mph.
Second day: 74.7 miles, with an average speed of 14.3 mph. <--headwind :^(
Just shy of 10 hours total time on the saddle.
I guess I ate exactly the right amount of food, even though it felt like I was eating constantly. My weight Friday morning was the same, down to the fifth of a pound, as it was on Monday morning.

Leave no cyclist behind
A contributing factor in the lower average speed for the second day is that my group of four took a really slow cyclist with us on the final segment-- a coworker of mine who was riding for his first time (he actually just bought a bike 2 months before the ride). He had taken the SAG to the final rest stop, but we convinced him that he could ride the final segment because it was really short. The worst hill of the entire ride is a one block section just before the finish line, which he walked up. Another coworker and I waited at the top of the hill so that we could cross the finish line together.

The morning after
My neck is sore and my quads kind of feel like I've been biking for two days. My left knee hurts, which I think might be due to the sup-par bike posture that I developed after my butt started hurting (fortunately didn't really happen in earnest until after lunch on Sunday). Oh, yeah, my butt hurts. :^P My upper back and shoulders are kind of sore, along with my arms. I am going to schedule a massage for very soon.

ZZZZZZZZ
For the first time ever, I didn't camp out either night. It was kind of nice to not have to worry about setting up my tent, keeping warm at night, and trudging afar to the bathroom in the morning in order to wait in line to brush my teeth. A non-riding coworker of mine's wife has a brother-in-law with an extra house (was his parents), and they invited four of us to stay up there on Friday night. It was actually located in the town that is our first rest stop on Saturday. It was a little surreal to see the rest stop with no people. We ate dinner in Duluth with the people whose house we were staying in-- that was really nice. The brother-in-law used to be a ship captain on Lake Superior. We went to the house and played Boggle and had some drinks before going to bed at a semi-reasonable hour. It was nice and relaxing.

Strange Addiction
I registered for my 5th ride at the finish line. Can't wait for next year. :^)

Tom JoCo Cruise Crazy

The Baths at Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

It's official! I have a spot on the second iteration of JoCo Cruise Crazy, featuring the geekily handsome stylings of one Mr. Jonathan Coulton himself. And some other guys, like John Hodgman ::slightly reservéd squee::. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be one of the few people wearing regular clothing, which I guess makes me a weirdo among weirdos. :^) But there will be fezzes, that much is a certainty.

Holland America will be a new experience for me, though I imagine that being surrounded by 600 JoCo fans will temper the effect not insubstantially. We (I'm going with a good friend of mine) have a verandAH stateroom, a slightly pompous spelling, which I pronounce in the same fashion as DakotAH. The alottment of those rooms was booked within half an hour, to give an indication of how many are itching to be Sea Monkeys. :^)

It's been almost six years since I've been to the Caribbean, which I pronounce with the optional more lackadaisical emphasis that I find more befitting of this particular sea, and I'm itching to go back. The water there is a breathtaking blue-green and it suddenly makes sense that there is a color called aquamarine. It's very unlike all of the water here and in the bits of Pacific and north Atlantic that I've seen, all of which are a deep, dark blue that betrays their cutting chill. The Caribbean is like being in a really fantastic bathtub, if bathtubs had fancy fish and a surplus of rum-based beverages.

So, yeah. Excited. And I have to wait 8 months!