Statrix Redux

Something had been bothering me lately, ever since I got my saddle to a height I consider comfortable. I decided the next adjustment would be to move it back just a wee bit. So last night I did. Not a good idea, at least at first.
It seems in addition to moving the seat back, I accidentally angled the saddle a wee bit more up in the front. Now instead of pressing me a little too much, it was way too much. Vlad the Impaler might have gotten ideas. So…
I readjusted the saddle during a quick pit stop and made it at least usable, but now it was back the way it had started. Ah me…
Then on the way back from my errand the skies opened up for few minutes and while I don’ t mind rain, I decided to duck under cover. While waiting the rain out I decided to learn about my saddle and took it apart. It all made sense in just a couple of minutes. There’s a little wedge that can be moved a bit changing the angle. It was short work and when the rain stopped I was ready to go.
Wrong. Now I had the seat in the right place, but it tilted a bit too far forward causing me to slip forward.
In any case, I got home took it apart again and got the seat where I want it, back far enough and level. Today my ride to work was much more comfortable.
Here’s a lovely diagram of seat from Beaudaniels.com. Mostly likely it’s copyrighted, but I’ll claim fair use here…

Mine doesn’t have two bolts, is made for bigger, older folks, but is more or less the same idea.
For more on saddles I like the late Sheldon Brown’s page on saddles. It’s chock full of information. There’s more at Jim Langley’s page as well.
Aloha!

Last night I had to go out again after doing the laundry and took my bike. On the way home I realized I needed to get a few items and did. It may not seem like much, but since I bought the bike I haven’t been using for errands. Yes I’ve commuted to work. Yes I’ve done some weekend adventuring (defined as riding around town slowly, seeing things I’ve never noticed). Yes I’ve used it to go to meetings. But no, until the last couple of days I hadn’t used it for shopping (other than for more bike stuff).
What have I learned?
1. It’s easy and doesn’t affect the bike much at all.
2. Bike racks in Honolulu simply suck. The grocery store I was at last night didn’t even have a bike rack (even a bad one). I had to lock up to the cart storage area.
3. It’s hard to lock and unlock a bike at night when you have melting Popsicles®.
Aloha!

Last night I finally stopped at the store and picked up something up to ferry home. Admittedly it was only a 12-pack of soda, but those are generally annoying and tending to heaverier rather than lighter. I picked up the Safeway brand diet cola (Go2Cola) which comes in the “old style” 12 pack instead of the newer “fridge packs.”
It fit neatly into my Nashbar Townie Basket with room left over for my lock and such – that way I didn’t have to spend time using a bungee cord to put it on the rack. I’m sure glad I bought a couple of them as they don’t currently seem to be available at Nashbar. The item still comes up, but no prices or way of ordering. Hmmm….

Of course my bag wasn’t that full with only the 12-pack.
On the other side of my bike I had the Nashbar Euro Compact Pannier with my laptop, a book, and some paperwork. I’d been at a late meeting and needed all of that. I’d carried the laptop before, but never quite as last night.
The verdict…?
I could haul more around pretty easily. I will admit the handling was different. Not bad, just different and really not all that different. It certainly wasn’t harder to pedal, though I will admit I took it very easy so as not to shake up the soda – I wanted one when I got home.
Now I’m up for trying to do some “real” shopping, though I have to say, I never buy that much at one time. I’m used to shopping on the moped which doesn’t really let me get much home. It’s entirely possible I could carry more on the bicycle than the moped in it’s current configuration. The bike might even be easier because I have to park the moped some distance away and carry the bags whereas with the bike, it goes up the elevator with me.
Today my commute was on the slower than slow side. I didn’t really feel like I had much energy and I’m beginning to wonder about my diet. Yes, I realize food and energy have at least a passing relationship, so maybe it’s time to start thinking about that as well. I stopped drinking several years ago, stopped smoking at the end of 2006, quite eating most sugar last Thanksgiving, started biking recently, and just cut up my credit cards – is diet (and I don’t mean dieting) next? Stay tuned!
Aloha!

Yesterday I went over the bridge and rode out to Sand Island itself. The ride cut through some very industrial areas though it’s not altogether unpleasant. The road is well maintained, though there is quite a bit of broken glass so it’s best to keep a weather eye out.
The park itself starts about a mile and half from the bridge, so it takes a bit longer to get there than one thinks it should, but it’s certainly pleasant once you get there. I rode to the end of the road, another mile or so, then cut back along the path paralleling the shore. The bunkers are a bit disconcerting, a reminder of WWII. It turns out, Sand Island was an internment camp during the war. Our own shameful little Guantanamo.

In any case it’s certainly worth a ride and I do plan on going back next weekend, perhaps with a lunch (breakfast really when I’m doing it) and a camera? We’ll see.
All in all I biked just over 50 miles this weekend, very evenly split between Saturday and Sunday. I’m not feeling any pain today so I guess I’m getting stronger. I’m not sure when I’ll do 50 miles in one day, but they time will come I’m sure. I do think I’m going to try around Diamond Head soon as that will open up the route out to Hawaii Kai. Here’s what I’d like to do someday (soon)…

Of course once I do, I’ll have to figure out something even longer. 🙂
In other news, E-sense’s Statrix WordPress Plugin is up on WordPress.org. I’ve installed it here, naturally enough, and it confirms that I’m about the only person who visits. 🙂 I’m trying to figure out how to exclude myself from the stats, but while the option is there, I can’t seem to get it to work yet. In any case it looks very interesting and I’m going to keep it around! Thanks E-sense. So far so good. [Disclaimer: I have nothing whatsoever to do with the Statrix Plugin, I didn’t write it, name it, help with it, suggest it, or even know anything about it until a few days go. Actually I do have something to do with it…I use it. :-)]
Aloha!

Sigh.
Another little bit of my life has been chipped away by the Statrix Plugin. It appears I was right and the author has no intention of changing the name of the darn thing just to please me even given all the hot air I was blowing into the void. 🙂 I probably wouldn’t either as Statrix is just such a damn cool name.
Ultimately…? I guess I’m flattered. ‘Nuff said.
As soon as there is a real release of her plugin I plan on installing it her and creating a link so you can too. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Stay tuned for the link. In the meantime, go check out her blog at E-sense’tial topics.
I really should have demanded a tour of Sofia if I ever get there. Maybe I can still ask for that, how about it E-Sense? Free tour if I ever make it to Bulgaria?
Actually I think we’d get along, at least politically…you go girl!

Freedom not Fear indeed!!!
In the meantime, here’s a video I didn’t create that uses Statrix as well. I do hope her plugin is at least this cool. If you can’t get see it here, go to YouTube and see the credits for this as well. Again, I had nothing to do with this, no credit due. None.

Aloha! Bob

It’s definitely been one of those days and it’s only 9:15 A.M. Actually most of this stuff went on before 7:00 A.M. HST. 🙂
When I woke this morning I checked my email as I usually do and noticed a Google Alert for ‘statrix’ – my domain and the name for a business I’ve had. (Statistical Tricks – Statrix). It turns out there’s a new WordPress Plugin for accumulating site statistics named, Statrix. I have to admit this didn’t overjoy me as I own statrix.com, statrix.org, go by statrixbob, etc. etc.
I wrote a letter to the young lady who wrote the plugin, a 21 year old living in Sofia, Bulgaria. I doubt anything will come of it, but I’d prefer he didn’t use that name and I certainly won’t be able to provide technical support for it. 🙂 Sofia, on the other hand, looks lovely – at least the Alexander Nevski Cathedral does.

If that were all, it really wouldn’t have that kind of day. However, when I hit ‘send’ to email the letter I got back…nothing, then nothing, then a logout.
Trying to get into my site I discovered the dread “Account Suspended” notice! What!? Was it the Bulgarians! 🙂
As it turns out, another WordPress Plugin, Postie, seems to have gone mad and eaten up all the shared CPU cycles triggering a shutdown. Sigh. It seems the host company sent the message to the shutdown email and not to my alternate contact address, so I hadn’t yet seen the notice.
In any case I opened a ticket, found out the problem, requested they let me back in to fix it, and things seem fine. Except, of course, that I can’t use Postie. It’s okay though as I never really used it anyway.
So that’s the kind of morning it’s been.
Well I guess I should mention that things went swimmingly before I got to work. 🙂 I had a lovely ride to work and probably will have to add a bit more distance to keep the time at 45 minutes. The most natural addition will be to circle Magic Island…

It’s kind of hard to tell in that shot, but the palm trees are on Magic Island, Diamond Head is well past that in the background. I took the shot before sunrise one day.
Here’s one showing a fellow fishing from Magic Island…

And the bicyclist at the top of this blog was taken there too, though I’ll admit the moon wasn’t quite that big at the time…

Finally, let you think Magic Island is all magic, here’s a rather sad commentary on how well we treat some folks around here. This is out on the edge of the island…

Aloha!

My bike, locked.
Originally uploaded by StatrixBob

Here’s a picture of the not so great racks we have at work. As you can see there is absolutely no frame support on these things so they can be very hard to use if you want to lock the frame and a wheel with the U-lock.
On the good side the fencing in the back of the image is part of an area that is completely locked and requires a passcode to enter. To get that code you must be an employee and submit documentation on your bike and such.
In addition, it’s free, so I can’t complain too much, but boy I’d love a rack that was a bit more usable.
In other news my morning commute was great today. I must be getting stronger because even though I’m not pushing it, definitely going slow, my normal route only took 39 minutes. It used to take 45. If it ever gets down to 35 minutes I’m going to have to add a little bit to it so I don’t get to work too early. In truth I expect that I hit the lights well today and not so well on other days – that would account for some of the difference.
Aloha!

In the last two days I’ve closed almost all of my credit accounts and in the process of paying them off in full. I am not in trouble and was not in more debt than I could handle…yet. It became clear that if my current habits continued I’d be joining the millions who are in trouble. Maybe not today or even tomorrow, but sooner or later it would happen.
It’s embarrassing to admit I never really learned money management, but better late than never. The truth of the matter is that by clearing this up the way I am (though my credit union), I’ll have more money in my pocket each week, lessening the need for credit to begin with! Yippee!
I’ve also opted out of prescreened offers for more credit, something I don’t really need. I’m pretty sure if I ever need another credit card, I’ll be able to find one. It seems that OptOutPrescreen.com is legit, so I went through that service. I’m always a bit leery of sending my SSN, but since it’s pretty easy to find anyway and the FTC says it’s okay (like they are always so honest and right), I guess it’s okay.

At least I’ll know if credit charges are legit in the future as I shouldn’t have any at all.
Aloha1

Today was the most painless ride yet – well almost. I raised my seat yet another 1/2 inch and I think, just think mind you, that I might finally have it. My right foot was actually “in line” instead of slightly splayed out protecting my knee.
The weather was cooperative this morning so the streets were mostly dry and I didn’t have to contend with any rain which is always nice, even though we need the rain. I’m okay with the light rain we often have, but it’s a lot nicer when I don’t have ride through it. If it were daytime and raining I still wouldn’t like it, but it would be a lot easier. In the dark every spot of water can be a challenge – is it just a bit of water or is it a pothole filled to the brim?

I also bought a bright reflective mesh vest to wear in the dark as well as reflective stickers which I put all over my helmet and the bike’s fenders. It may not do much good, but at least I feel safer. Perhaps, of course, I’m simply making myself an easier target! 🙂

Unlike yesterday I had no trouble getting up the 15 minutes earlier than I had been previously. I didn’t actually make it out of the apartment any quicker, but I wasn’t as harried when I did leave which made everything seem more pleasant.
That feeling didn’t last though as once I got to work I had to contend with our bike racks again. They are terrible. It is almost, but not quite, impossible to use a U-lock on the frame and rear wheel at the same time and the rack offers absolutely no frame support at all. While I applaud my employers for having a locked bike area, I do wish a little more thought had gone into the actual racks. Today my bike feel over twice as I tried to lock it and that simply can’t be good for my bike, nor, it would seem, for my mood.
Aloha!