Last year upon finishing the short course in the Rock Cobbler in Bakersfield I thought to myself “I’m feeling pretty good. I bet if I do a little more training next year I could do the longer course (about 80 miles)”. So this year I signed up for the longer course and started training. I watched nervously as PineappleRiverAtmosphericExpressClimateChange hit Southern California worrying that the course would turn to mud, but Bakesfield only got about an inch of rain so I figured the mud shouldn’t be too bad. Then the course came out. 90 miles with over 9000 feet of climbing. Much more than I expected. I started to get nervous, but I’ve done longer rides, and I’ve done more climbing, so I was cautiously optimistic that I could complete the ride.
Lumpy profile
Heading to the start I picked up about a dozen massive thorns in my tires just in the parking lot. The tire sealant did its job and plugged the holes, but it was a bad omen to start the day. My wave started about 8:15 and we headed up the Kern River Bike Path through some oil fields. At about mile 6 we turned off the road and straight into the first hill which started out with a 100 yard stretch of about 20% grade before climbing 750 vertical feet over the next 4 miles. There were patches of peanut butter mud that stuck to my tires making them heavier and harder to pedal, but it never got to the point that the wheels got so gummed up that they wouldn’t turn like last year. Once on top of the hills we had a number of steep ups and downs along the ridge before hitting a 3 mile downhill. The road had holes big enough to swallow a wheel requiring careful line choice. Before long we were at the first rest stop.
Riding on the ridges
After the first rest stop it was straight back up about 450 feet over 1.5 miles, and then straight back down again onto another climb of 750 feet over 3.5 miles. This climb had rather sticky mud causing me to lose energy as the tires had to move the mud aside as they rolled through, and then losing more energy again as the tire disengaged from the mud, which sounded a little like opening Velcro. I feared that I was being pursued by Cankles Smith, perhaps the most feared of the Smith clan.
Once on the top of the climb we rode along the spine of a ridge with large drops on either side. It was like riding the narrow part of Angel’s Landing but with less open air and a softer landing if things went wrong. I wanted to stop and take a picture, but there really was no safe place to do so as I would have blocked traffic, and besides it was probably best to not think about it too much.
Don’t stop. Don’t look down.
From the ridge we descended into a boggy area by a creek. We had been warned that there would be a section where “there’s not really a trail, but you should be able to figure it out.” This was probably it. The trail was easily visible in the mud by the time I got to it, but there was a lot of fallen wood just waiting to get stuck in my spokes and a barbed wire fence waiting to grab my arm. My legs were already getting tired from all the climbing and now slogging through thick mud was taxing them even more. I started heading to the dark place earlier than expected. On my bike computer I could see that there was a road nearby. “There’s a road just over there, and you send us through this mud! Eff you, Sam!”
Mud
Sam is the race organizer with a bit of a sadistic streak. It’s a tradition to curse at him, call him names and flip him the bird. There’s even a photo gallery at the start of people giving the finger. It doesn’t bother him. It just motivates him. The fact is, we all know what we are getting ourselves into, and we pay good money to do it, so we really only have ourselves to blame.
As I put down a little extra power to get the bike out of the mire and up onto the road my legs started to cramp. This was a bad sign as there were many miles to go, but at least I was on pavement. Surely this must be where we descend down to the river for the second half of the course. But Sam is no Shirley, so after about half a mile we turned on to yet another climb, about 500 feet of vertical up to some oil rigs and then some shorter, steeper uphills which put more nails in my legs.
Rollercoaster
The second rest stop was at about 40 miles in and not a minute too soon as I was out of water. I had not even ridden halfway, and it was already about 1 PM. We had already done about 5000 feet of climbing and my legs were beat and on the verge of cramping badly. We had another 50 miles and 4000 feet of climbing to go including the biggest climb of the day, about 1400 feet with a section that had terrible peanut butter mud last year. I started looking for others doing the long route, identifiable by the color of their number plates, in order to find out what they were going to do and to give myself permission to cut it short. All whom I talked to had the same doubts about finishing, but none wanted to make a decision yet, at least not out loud.
Out of the rest stop there was a nice long descent on an asphalt road. It was a nice bit of recovery and I started feeling a little more optimistic about finishing. After crossing the Kern River we got to the split in the road where the short and long courses diverged. A volunteer dressed like a Basque sheepherder said “If you go left, it’s another 6 hours. If you go to the right, it’s 2.” 6 hours? OK, time to face reality. I’m cutting it short.
I followed the short course through some orange groves out to an asphalt road, and then onto some singletrack along the Kern River where the leaders of the long course passed me. We went under the highway and into some sandy bits, which were about the only thing made easier by the recent rains. Before long we were at the base of “the” hike-a-bike section, which was kind of a joke because we had already had about 5 or 6 hike-a-bike sections. This one though was a real bastard, about 150 feet straight up, roughly the equivalent of a 15 story building. Nothing to do but shoulder the bike and get climbing. A guy next to me was entering his dark place and grumbled, “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done on a bike”. I thought to myself, “Well technically the bike is on you”.
In Soviet Bakersfield bike on you.
Once on top of the hike-a-bike we had some sweet, twisty, swoopy singletrack where my summer’s training at the BMX track paid off. We descended down to a paved highway for the last climb before exiting the road to ride through a bar for a shot of beer. After the bar we were onto the bike trail where we had started the day for about a four mile ride to the finish. There was one last obstacle at the finish as a volleyball pit had been turned into the Pit of Despair with the sand formed into a series of massive speed bumps. I got halfway through before having to unclip and walk the rest of the way through. Luckily I didn’t fall in front of all the people gathered at the finish. I was glad to be done. Of the 500 or so people that started the long course about 140 either did not finish at all or switched to the shorter course, so I was in good company.
Miller Time. Or maybe it was Bud Light.
Initially I felt like I didn’t want to see my bike again for a long time, but within about 30 minutes I was already thinking of what I can do better for next year. I massively underestimated the training I needed to do. I probably need easier gearing so I don’t blow out my legs on the steep climbs. Rides like this are often described as eating contests so I need to figure out a way to get enough calories during the ride. I have a carbohydrate and electrolyte mix in my water bottles, and I supplement it with Clif Bars, but it’s hard to chew when breathing hard so I end up not eating enough. Maybe I need to eat more gels which are quick calories, but they don’t sound very healthy. On the other hand, these kinds of rides shouldn’t be confused with healthy physical activity. Also large amounts of carbs can cause stomach issues. Some people would claim that there’s a feedlot to blame, but I know it’s my own damn farts. Maybe I need to accept that perhaps I’ve hit my limit. Will I give the full ride a go next year? I don’t know. I have another 9 months to contemplate it before registration opens up. What comes after Electric Boogaloo?
For full action video from someone who finished the whole ride see below. Not responsible for goofy narration.
Nope.
JaimeRoberto, I’m starting to doubt your sanity.
Starting?
It just makes me feel like a slacker for having a long ride of ~75 miles, and the biggest climb day of only ~2,800 feet (completely different rides, although the 75 mile ride hit ~2,300 feet).
My longest ride is 125 miles. I just joined the local Randonneurs group which does crazy long rides culminating in the Paris Brest Paris ride which is about 1200 km. I doubt I’ll be doing that one though, but I might try a 300 km ride. Biggest day of climbing for me was about 9500 feet and my biggest single climb is about 3900 feet.
You’re kinda crazy, in a good way.
I believe that same Paris/Brest/Paris ride had some qualifiers for it here last year. You had to complete a century plus ride in a set duration to even be able to move up to the next level of qualifiers.
I didn’t even bother. I’m not a speed rider.
I think you need to do 200, 300, 400 and 600 km in the same year. The time cuts aren’t too bad. You have to ride an average of about 15 km/hr. But those distances are more of a commitment than I’m willing to make.
Things I could have done easily in my 20s and now hit a wall in my 50s…
From the Caplan/Richman article on the ded-thread:
We’ve found Winston’s spirit animal.
“a better version of libertarian theory also does not entail restrictions on people’s nonaggressive freedom of movement”
So they’re opposed to laws against trespassing? Try squaring that with, you know, property rights.
And illegal immigration often involves trespassing (not to mention damaging and dumping garbage on) people’s private property. Laws requiring immigration only if approved in advance or through designated ports of entry are easily justified as a form of law against trespassing, as entering the country without approval or anywhere other than a port of entry involves trespassing on somebody’s property.
Entering a country illegally and without permission is by definition aggression.
This pops up all the time, but is that not based on legal immigration and not immigration regardless of legality?
New York and Denver’s budgets are trashed by the illegal alien influx already. Who knows how many other cities are struggling with budgets due to a surge in benefits to jobless.
All those stats are meaningless. We’ve never seen this number of unvetted people crossing the border. Time will tell.
we all know what we are getting ourselves into, and we pay good money to do it
[Winston’s Mom nods approvingly]
Over in Joemala world…
I wonder if Joe is in some kind of cryo chamber right now while the docs are prepping the series of shots that may keep him lucid for an hour tonight.
They can’t over-stimulate him or else he’ll get mad and start screaming about Xi or something else (that wouldn’t make a same person angry).
Meh, that’s what’s been said for the past three years, and he’s been dosed appropriately each time.
He’s had his meltdowns in other situations, sooner or later he’ll malfunction badly on the big stage.
I can’t bring myself to watch this level of elder abuse.
I’m sure a series of at least two naps will be involved.
I used to valet park cars and do some light bouncing. Never could get enough to eat. It helps you to keep moving if there is a wad of cash at the end of the day.
Chile ex-president Sebastian Pinera dies in helicopter crash.
I didn’t know he was a communist.
Gosh, that sounds like a good time.
Ban kkkorporations
Krissy Ferguson, 49, has not been able to return to her home that sits on top of one of the creeks that was contaminated since the derailment. She said she was heartbroken to hear the latest updates from the NTSB.
“Is our government going to allow a corporation to get away with it or are they going to act on it? Or is it going to be swept down the polluted creek like everything else is?” Ferguson said.
Misti Allison, who lives with her family about a mile away from the derailment site, said the findings reaffirm what she believed to be true all along: that the vent and burn did not need to happen.
“The only justification was greed, and that Norfolk Southern was putting profits over people to get the train tracks up and running as fast as possible and to destroy whatever evidence was left,” Allison said.
——-
Norfolk Southern has said that its response to the disaster and the aid it has offered the town has cost it more than $1.1 billion. Now an investor group that’s critical of the railroad’s response and the disappointing profits it has reported over the past several years is pushing to fire CEO Alan Shaw and take control of the railroad.
None of this would have happened if the government owned the railroads.
Sounds legit.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/02/05/thousands-more-military-family-members-and-civilians-sue-navy-over-water-tainted-red-hill-spill.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gold-king-mine-spill-colorado-rivers-epa-claims/
I haven’t talked to my brother about that, I’ll have to see what he says. He used to be in charge of safety at a railroad tank car company. He’d know all about those procedures.
If you really want to get fucked good Krissy, just have the govt nationalize all of the railroads. In such a system govt accepts no liability whatsoever…and fucks everything up 1000X as much.
True, there would be no KKKorporachuns trying to cover up evidence, there would only be govt thugs from some secret agency shutting you up at midnight with a couple of shovels by torchlight.
So they are blaming the government’s decision to vent and burn on Norfolk Southern’s greed? Even assuming the government was doing Norfolk Southern’s bidding, how would vent-and-burn help their bottom line?
Fun fact, when Andrew Carnegie was a railroad manager, he figured out it was faster and cheaper to burn derailed cars to clear the rails and get the trains going again than to try to move them. So that became the standard procedure at the time.
Though the economics of an 19th century railroad doesn’t reflect those of a 21st century line.
Experts from the company that made the vinyl chloride inside those tank cars, Oxy Vinyls, were telling contractors hired by Norfolk Southern railroad that they believed that no dangerous chemical reaction was happening, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said. But Oxy Vinyls was left out of the command center.
“They informed them that polymerization, they believed polymerization was not occurring, and there was no justification to do a vent and burn,” Homendy said. “There was another option: let it cool down.”
However, that information was never relayed to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the first responders in charge, she said.
“Wait and see” is never a viable option.
They had to do something.
“Something must be done. This is something. Therefore, it must be done.”
Sums up most reactionary law and regulatory making.
You can bet the woman bitching about what was done would’ve been complaining if everyone had just stood around waiting. “Why aren’t you doing anything!?!?”
Never change CNN. I didn’t read the article as the headline was enough.
Opinion: I’m a climate scientist. If you knew what I know, you’d be terrified too
I’m glad my knowledge is not so limited.
If you
knewbelieved what Iknowbelieve“Know” implies a factual basis.
Nothing like being the adult in the room. Why don’t you just stand on the street corner with a sign saying the end is near.
If you knew what I know, you’d be terrified too
You keep using that word (know); I do not think it means what you think it means.
I have a model, do you?
Dozens.
Meh, that’s what’s been said for the past three years, and he’s been dosed appropriately each time.
He’ll be spooled up and ready for action.
I haven’t talked to my brother about that, I’ll have to see what he says. He used to be in charge of safety at a railroad tank car company. He’d know all about those procedures.
Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems as if talking to the people most likely to have the best information about the substance in those tank cars would be worthwhile. Ask the people who make it what they would do.
He’d probably know. His company made the cars and then rented them out. They had to clean out those cars so they had to know how to deal with whatever was in them and how to deal with any leaks or spills.
So, Brandon Hererra has a chance on making it to Congress. Here’s how NBC chose to report on this event:
For NBC I’d call the relatively even handed.
Lazy! Almost five hundred videos and the best they can come up with is Nazis, killing Lincoln and Infamous Russians? This must be intern-work.
I’ve never watched his videos. I wouldn’t put it past plenty of YouTubers to come with some click bait titles.
For example – “Testing The Gun That Killed Abraham Lincoln.” was the title he used.
You should, they’re fun. He’s like a more charismatic Mark Serbu.
NBC is more commie than a Russian news station.
3.2 million subscribers, 557 million views. Did they use the word “fringe”?
I should probably link the actual article:
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/gun-youtuber-brandon-herrera-tony-runoff-uvalde-texas-gonzales-rcna142129
So… he does about a video a week?
For NBC I’d call the relatively even handed.
They didn’t (in the quote, anyway) even directly call for him to be deplatformed and locked up.
What could go wrong?
Biden Orders US Military to Build Port in Gaza to Facilitate Aid
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-orders-us-military-to-build-port-in-gaza-to-facilitate-aid/7518026.html
It is Biden, so take the worst case scenario and multiply by six.
*has flashback to Beirut Marine barracks bombing*
Lucky SeeBee’s.
That was my uncle in Vietnam.
We kid him that he spent four years in the Navy and never set foot on a boat.
The sacks of shit are still using Hamas as one of the belligerents.
He’d probably know. His company made the cars and then rented them out.
I met a guy a long time ago who worked or a tank car company. He said they were desperate for welders. They had a huge backlog of orders and couldn’t find enough people. But the world needs sociologists.
Off to the store and various other mischief.
Just wanna say before I go….Mrs. Suthenboy is watching the worst TV show ever made – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7491982/
Sometimes I wish the TV would spontaneously catch fire.
It turns out the FBI is not a political organization composed of henchmen for the political class. They actually are concerned with crime. Their staff is carefully chosen by a DEI expert making them extra competent. They run around all day resolving kidnappings, foiling terrorist attacks, and so on….while the real villains are who I have been repeatedly told all straight white MAGA dudes. In the course of their duties the FBI must constantly be in great danger and are constantly having to menace people at gun point often shooting villains dead. Thank God we have them to have our backs.
Finally, a TV show to make the scales fall from my eyes.
The X-Files is more realistic.
lol
Needz moar nudity.
And they all look like underwear models.
From that clip with the ATF Director and “gun expert” – those that don’t make the FBI cut end up there.
Do you ever worry about, you know,…. ass problems? I have an acquaintance who recently had some pretty significant ass problems – I didn’t inquire too, uh, deeply, because, you know, another man’s ass and stuff, but required surgery and a fairly long convalescence. Apparently the Drs. ascribed the root cause as excessive bike riding – and while he rode every day, nothing as intense as what your riding appears to be. I don’t know, maybe he was riding the IT
No problems so far, but I put a seat on the seat post.
Most of us don’t use Mac’s exercise bike. (NSFW).
Hey… I just had a thought
That reporter who got arrested for Jan 6…. they said a NYT reporter was like one of the first people to enter the capital, crawling through the broken window.
Question nobody asked…
The riot began before Trump stopped speaking. Who told that NYT reporter to position himself at the fence to the capital so he could be at the front of the capital breach? Why would a NYT reporter be so far away from where the action was… where Trump was speaking?
Could have pulled the short straw to be the beat reporter on the capitol grounds?
So… I have a buddy in the Miami-Dade PD. He sent me a video of a brazen, broad daylight robbery of an elderly dude walking in Los Olas in the middle of the day. Here is his text description:
_____________
May have sent you this. This is mid day on Las Olas.
Targeting older man for Rolex.
We arrested 4 of this crew after they shot at police the following day during another robbery.
Gun we got was used 2 days earlier in a shooting in NY jewelry store robbery.
We are currently investigating another one.
It’s so much worse than even what Fox is reporting.
I just got permission from the bosses to begin an extensive investigation targeting these criminal gangs.
They are not all members of the prison gang, but rather most are just thieves who have hit the open border lottery, and are exploiting our idiocy.
_______________
Venezuelan gangs run out of new york…. we have heard that before. Then I saw this on X
https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/1765709918403793160?s=19
We have a friend in the border patrol. He has been telling us for years that the border is way worse than even the Fox News reports. The cartels are running the show down there.
Meh, I can see that happening organically. Trump’s talking and then a large group peels off during the speech. The reporter follows said large group and goes to the front when they arrive at the Capitol to see what is happening. It is weird that he entered through the broken window but weird things happen in a chaotic situation.
For those wanting a timeline. You’ll probably be put on another list just for watching this.
https://rumble.com/v45dfol-j6-a-true-timeline.html
Look it takes a while for the Feds to wrangle that many people.
Was it ever established that Epps was at Trump’s speech at all, or was he direct to the Capitol?
His commanding officer could give us the most accurate answer.
He is on video at the capital long before Trump finishes talking. He is also on video as people are walking to the speech telling them they are going to raid the capital… so I would bet he was in the pathway between the entire time and never went all the way to the speech.
He couldn’t go all the way to the speech. It was out of range for his ear-piece.
Keeping it real for the young people.
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/verona-astrolabe
Smartphones….. Holy crap….
Having seen Fani Willis and her team in action…. does anyone believe that this is the group of legal scholars who came up with this unique legal scheme using RICO in a way it has never been used?
Nathan Wade probably billed for the time he spent watching The Godfather and Godfather II as “research.”
His billing was highly sus.
Biller only in vaguely defined blocks… several hours at a time. And magically they added up to pretty much exactly his cap.
I think Fani was the approver for his invoices and said she didn’t review them in detail. That alone should be enough to get them in serious trouble.
I can actually believe they did come up with it
Probably out a lawyer BS session – “oh, so you could indict a ham sandwich could you?” “yeah, I can do better than that”
Don’t forget…if we do RICO we can time this perfectly with election season
The trial turned on its head Saturday, when defense attorneys suddenly received thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents, including attorney-client communications, Bach said. They were belatedly released after Henley abruptly revoked his attorney-client privilege before the testimony of one of his attorneys. Henley had previously invoked his attorney-client privilege to withhold information when the defense cross-examined two other attorneys, before he changed tack.
That led to the sudden release of a slew of material that contradicted the testimony of the first two attorneys, said Stacey Richman, an attorney for Inciardi. She said the scenario was like something out of a crime drama.
And no mention why Henley waived privilege. Although the the Manhattan DA gets to be embarrassed so that’s a win.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/07/hotel-california-lyrics-lawsuit-eagles/
Maybe he was desperado for the trial to finally end.
Now it’s all just wasted time.
You can be sure the DA is gonna have a heartache tonight.
All this airing of Dirty Laundry…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwgJgTL5JmE
I’m sure knowing that they had to go through all those new documents in a matter of days did not give them a peaceful easy feeling.
I Can’t Tell You Why
I read a story a little while ago about the 325.000 refugees flown into the country. It wasn’t a secret, if you knew whom to ask, and they were all thoroughly vetted in accordance to the rules. So STFU about it.
What I’ve seen is that they gave these people the fancy new asylum app, and after they filled out an asylum request they gave them a flight and a court date 2 years into the future. So technically, they just made it really easy to fill out paperwork and then high-tech rubber stamped it. Probably not illegal.
But to me, this is even worse than just opening the border, because they are actively seeking out and assisting people into the country. And I would imagine there’s some master plan to locate them in strategic areas.
Those “refugees” didn’t fly for free.
Single issue voters
Environmental groups have mixed feelings about Rep. Adam Schiff‘s success in elevating Republican Steve Garvey to face off in November’s Senate election.
On the one hand, they’re breathing a sigh of relief that instead of having to parse the differences between two closely aligned candidates on climate, they can save their time and resources for swing seat House races in California and other Senate races across the country.
“We are relieved in a way that there won’t be a competitive race for the Senate,” said California Environmental Voters deputy campaigns director Matt Abularach-Macias. “Now we get to really turn our attention to focus on the House races that are going to be incredibly competitive for California.”
At the same time, the falling away of Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee could be a missed opportunity for a more robust climate debate between Democrats who largely steered clear of it in the primary.
I’m sure they’ll find a way to justify months of tedious monomaniacal screeching about environmental doom.
And- they are “relieved in a way” to see a completely uncompetitive race for that Senate seat? Give me a fucking break. They want every race to be an utterly foregone conclusion. That’s what democracy means.
What I’ve seen is that they gave these people the fancy new asylum app, and after they filled out an asylum request they gave them a flight and a court date 2 years into the future. So technically, they just made it really easy to fill out paperwork and then high-tech rubber stamped it. Probably not illegal.
There was also mention of a requirement that they “pay their own way”. This undoubtedly involves being handed a ticket and cash card by an NGO funded by the US government and/or the UN.
They also need a “sponsor”. I’m wracking mt brain trying to think of who might be sponsoring these Haitian and Cuban and Venezuelan “refugees”.
This is a far cry from “People just keep showing up at the border and we can’t seem to stop them.”
Sponsor is probably some NGO getting money from feds or locals to “deal” with illegals.
12 people. 25 foot boat. Small Craft Advisory. What could go wrong?
https://nypost.com/2024/03/07/us-news/richard-cruz-and-jaime-pinilla-gomez-charged-in-capsizing/
2 girls, 1 life jacket?