STELLAAAAAAA

I have recently been having some issues with my Light and Motion Stella 120, it would only last about 25 minutes before it would start to flash and then power down to the low setting. Since I only had the light for about a year and the website says that it should last at least 2.5 hours on high I started to do a little research. Apparently in the box there were some pieces of dead, flattened trees bound together with bent metal; on these pieces of trees were words... I think they called it an instruction (IN STRUCK SHUN) manual. Apparently they put these weird things in everything you buy, I am not sure I'm buying that though, I am sure I would have seen one before now if they actually did such silly things. Any way I peeled back the tiny pieces of flattened trees only to find a whole world of informative gibberish and mumbo jumbo.

Whoa... did I just buy a lighting system for my bike or did I agree to adopt a small child?!?! 

Exercise your battery every 3 months, it rides along with me isn't that exercise enough or do I need to hire a battery walking service? 

Charge your battery immediately after your ride, fully charge it but not too much... anywhere between 0-24 hours depending on if it's the first use or subsequent uses and then dependent on how long it's been sitting, whether it recently went for a jog and is fully exercised and of course it also depends on how long you used it because then you just charge it for that amount of time, sort of because the charging time is not 1 to 1 but more a 1 to 5 ratio; you almost need a chart or some sort of mathematical degree to figure out how long you are supposed to charge the thing without over charging it. There is not however any sort of battery level indicator or even a yellow, green and red light indicator to help you know the state of the battery so you pretty much just guess. I do like that you pay over $100 for the light system and their solution is to buy a $3 egg timer to safely charge your battery... seriously?!?! To me that sounds like you're being setup for failure, that and they put all this information in the instruction (IN STRUCK SHUN) manual that they hide right there inside the box. I of course tossed this IN STRUCK SHUN manual aside when I opened the box because I figured it was just paper to keep the light safe, I mean really don't they know that the male genome doesn't allow us to read anything contained inside a box that might shed some sort of light (no pun intended) on how to use, assemble or care for whatever shiny bauble is in the box? I seriously thought those things were written in secret code, and the only people who possessed the decoder rings were female... who knew the male of the species could access the instructions so easily. 

So after careful (that is to say I skimmed it and read the larger gray "Warning" or "Caution" boxes) reading of the IN STRUCK SHUN manual I came to the conclusion that perhaps, maybe I might have conceivably contributed to the problems the light was having... perchance. So I decided to run the light all the way down and then charge it a full 10 hours and only 10 hours, not one minute longer so as to not inadvertently damage the battery as per the IN STRUCK SHUN manual. As it turns out in the confines of my house while attached to the kitchen chair after already running for 25 minutes of high, 45 minutes on low and sitting uncharged for two day the damn thing ran on full for another 1:45 minutes... so in theory, I could totally ride safely in the kitchen for well over the 2.5 hours as described in the manual. I was going to need to get a much bigger kitchen!! 

After discharging the battery and then re-charging it for ONLY 10 hours I let the battery sit for a day before I used it tonight, I am not sure if it's fixed or not but it totally ran for an hour and a half without issue... and this was outside, without the kitchen chair attached to the light! Then when I got back I made sure I only charged it for the one and a half hours I used it, IMMEDIATELY after I was done riding, also as per the IN STRUCK SHUN manual. I am not sure that it's completely "fixed" but if I follow the set of instructions more in-depth than the care of a Mogwai perhaps I can actually use the light to ride in the dark for a longer period of time than it takes to get out of the driveway. 

If they wanted us to read the manual they should have made it more interesting to us, perhaps title it differently or put this picture on the cover and say it is the steps necessary to meet her... then I wouldn't have tossed the thing so quickly. 

 

Lovely weather for a sleigh ride...

It is lovely weather we are having right now but maybe not for a sleigh ride in the traditional sense but I did get out on my "sleigh" for a ride. Lincoln was like a ghost town today, it is kind of amazing how the one holiday that generates so many retail dollars is also the one that makes the retail machine almost completely grind to a halt for one day. Other than movie theaters, some gas stations and a few restaurants or other eating/drinking establishments pretty much everything else is closed. For someone like myself with no family in the immediate area you either stay home and watch the NBA (PUKE!) or you find other things to occupy your time, I opted for option B. I figured the roads would be mostly devoid of traffic so I opted to have a little bit of company, even if it was the electronic kind, via the iPod shuffle. There are worse ways to spend Christmas than having Pink whispering in your ear, yes whispering all you need to do is turn the volume down. Hey it's my Christmas story, I'll tell it how I want. 

 

Where should I park, sure hope I can find a decent spot. 

 

 

Not a single car in the entire Haymarket area, I reckon that this is what it will look like after the zombies come... minus the zombies, fires and chewed up corpses of course. 

 

It's a cog-o-saurus... personally I think it was the lack of helmets that killed off the dinosaurs, sometimes being cool is not just dangerous but deadly even if your brain is the size of a walnut. 

 

I'm guessing this is about 78th and Pioneers Blvd looking west... or I could have just looked at the street sign... did I mention that there weren't many people out and about today?

 

The cog taking a refueling break at the possible/potential/maybe halfway point... might or might not have technically been halfway but it was where my fat butt let me know I either needed to get some water/drink and something to snack on or it was going to stop pedaling.  

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, whether that meant sharing it with your far off relatives, your dysfunctional immediate family or all by yourself naked, in a bean bag chair, lights out, with a jar of Vaseline, some wet naps and a personalized copy of HOES HOES HOES; The Unauthorized Story of Santa!

Freezing warm

Bank clock said it was 21, weather man said 20 but that it felt like it was 13 with the wind chill... I am guessing since I made my own wind I might have lost a few more degrees. It amazes me sometimes how cold it can be anymore and I still consider it a good night for a ride as long as it's dry. The weird thing is once I am layered up and on the bike it doesn't seem that cold at all anymore, there used to be a time when I'd hang the bike up once it got below 40. Having warm gear and a light has really helped me to extend the riding season to where I can pretty much ride year round, that's not to say I don't miss the year round warmth of California but I'm adjusting. Now if I could just convince the water in my bottle it wasn't cold out maybe it would stay more liquid and less ice.







Saw this billboard tonight while out riding, not sure Santa would trade in reindeer power for a gas powered sleigh; even with food and boarding reindeer are probably cheaper than gas.







I know she's a sweet ride boys but no need to fight over her, she's all mine so you'll have to get your own.

Temps are looking up for the next four days, two of them potentially as high as 50. I'm definitely getting out on the bike this holiday weekend, I might even be able to forego the layers.

In the lane, snow is... missing

Fives days before Christmas and not much in the way of snow, kind of looking like a brown Christmas for Lincolnites. I am a bit torn, on one hand it would nice to have a little white stuff on the ground to make it seem more like Christmas but on the other hand the lack of snow has enabled me to get out for a few rides as of late, which I am loving. Got out again tonight for what turned out to be chilly ride, started out fairly warm but turned cold fairly quickly which gave me a chance to try out both my face mask and the Pearl Izumi shoe covers I picked up recently. 

Either my face is on crooked or the mask is I think it definitely would have been better with the goggles, there was a bit of a fogging problem whenever I stopped or started breathing hard. The face mask was more than warm enough but wasn't very breathable, I noticed post ride that there was a ring of moisture on my jacket from where my breath would exit out the bottom of the mask, it was a bit of an odd experience. 

Shoe covers worked awesome, it was nice for once to not have my feet be the coldest part of me.

Best part about Christmas time is all the lights, I'd hate to see this guys electric bill come January but it's definitely pretty. 

If the dry weather holds out there just might be a Christmas day ride in my future... hopefully the fat dude in the red suit brings me what I want. 

Two for two

Managed to make it out again today for an earlier and chillier ride, I can tell that missing the last month of riding really has put a cramp in my endurance... I felt physically tired after the ride today then I should have. I am kind of glad I didn't make it out on Friday night after all or I might not be able to walk today. I had/have hopes of trying to get out again tomorrow night but right now the forecast calls for crazy winds so it's going to be touch and go for sure. It would mean that I finally get to try out my skull face-mask on a ride, ever since I've got it it's  been too warm to wear it on a ride... maybe tomorrow night will be the night. I did wear it once to shovel so it should be plenty warm enough and I even managed to pick up some warm looking shoe covers at Scheels as well so hopefully those will help with my feet getting cold/numb.




I am thinking I should have gotten the black and white or all black goggles now, live and learn I guess... but the blue ones just sort of "pop".




Look ma, I'm a "snow bike". I think I managed to find one of the few non-brownish/grayish snow piles left in Lincoln... until Tuesday when it's supposed to snow again. I hope everyone had a great weekend and managed to get out and enjoy the great weather we had because it looks like it's not sticking around for long.

Jesus Geese

Temps were great in Lincoln today to get out on the bike, didn't even need to dress up in the full winter gear. Light/Medium jacket, under armor shirt, light gloves, leg warmers and a thermal cap is all that was necessary. Had thoughts of trying to get out to Wilderness but figured with temps in the high 30s to low 40s it would be nothing but mud, so cement paths were on the menu today.




New "Pinnacle Arena" is coming along, seems to be moving at a snails pace but what do I know... I can count the number of arenas I've built on one hand by making a big fat zero.




Sun was shining, not a drop, uh, flake of snow in sight and nobody on the trails; maybe I died and went to heaven.




My ride took me behind SouthPointe mall, judging from the number of cars in the parking lot this recession that they say we are in isn't keeping people from spending money around Christmas time. It it better to give than to receive they say... especially after you receive that credit card bill in January. That could explain the slight lingering odor of burnt plastic that seems to permeate the air around shopping malls.




Religious or not most people have heard that Jesus could part seas and walk on water, I have to admit I was  a little skeptical just like most people would be if they hadn't seen it for themselves but then I saw these Jesus geese today... ICE... that's how you walk on water you wait for it to freeze. Oh that Jesus, such the prankster.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Went for a short walk with my daughter today along the Rock Island trail and took a few pics. It's odd because the foot was acting up again, not sure if it's the shoes or what but I ran 3.25 miles on Tuesday and it didn't bother me at all but for some reason every time I walk this section of trail it starts to bother me. Maybe I am allergic to walking.





Look at all the snow, what a difference a week makes... would have been a great picture if I had gotten out early this morning when the trees were all covered in the heavy frost.





Despite looking so desolate there were plenty of tell tale signs that bikes, joggers and walkers.





Stopped to build a mini-snowman, dude could use a haircut.





Waiting for spring to come along and the warmer temps to return.





Looked like fun... should have brought the sleds.




Technically not from the walk but it is a huge icicle.