Yesterday’s “rain free” afternoon provided the opportunity for me and the Big J to get out and have a good ride checking out the proposed bike path through our local town of Waynesville. (I’m using a new find, MapMyRide, to provide the link to this route.) Big J, a former century rider, is getting back into shape after some significant time off the bike. Our recent weather has included very humid, hot weather resulting in significant thunderstorms and heavy rains in the afternoons so after work riding has been at a premium. Yesterday’s upper 80’s to low 90’s enjoyed lower humidity so the storms didn’t materialize. We took the opportunity to review again my suggestion for a route through our fair town with the goal of being as accessible as possible for the widest range of ages and abilities. Living in the mountains certainly provides some challenges in devising a mostly flat course but I think we’ve gotten about as close as we’re going to on this particular project. I’ll have to check with Big J. later today and get his post ride impressions as he broke off from our route early to head home and we didn’t do the post-ride Gatorade debrief.
Ecovelo, in a June 22nd posting, referenced a comprehensive 2008 report published by the Rails to Trails Conservancy and Bikes Belong that addresses “active transportation” issues. The report is a significant effort at bringing the many sides of multi-modal/active transportation together. It is full of important useful information for cycling advocates to use in working to improve the cycling/pedestrian infrastructures of their home communities. It is a long read but definitely a recommended one. I found it to be an inspirational piece that included numerous examples of how improvements can and do work.
New Laptop Brings Challenges
A great deal of my time recently has been spent in making the transition from XP-Pro OS to Vista OS as I bring my new Dell Studio 17 on-line. Thus far, I’m surviving the change. Making all the tweaks and changes involved with moving data, programs, etc. from one platform to another is never fun but to add the learning curve of adjusting to Vista, Office 2007, and other new programs has been a bit much to chew off. I’m actually typing this post rather than using my newly acquired Dragon dictating software.
I’m looking forward to using the enhanced features associated with this model’s multi-media capabilities. Now, if I can just find the time to learn that new video editing software that I added…
Heading For The Woods!
My “better half”, Kathy, and I are intending to head into the woods for along weekend tomorrow. We’ve not had an opportunity yet this year for some “quiet, contemplative, restful, good eating, good sleeping, great reading” camping. We hope to fix that tomorrow by taking Zeke and Orla (our two Labs) and heading into a “no cell phone, no data connection” national park for some “get away” time. I do plan on taking the Fuji with me and am hopeful of some riding time on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I will be taking my Sony camcorder and will hopefully get some footage for a later post of the ride.
Until later,
- Zeke
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1 comment:
Enjoy your time away.
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