Well... a media feeding frenzy called Lance

Thursday August 23rd 2012 will be noted on a lot of calendars for years to come. Some will call it the coming out party of Lance Armstrong, others will mourn the loss of a hero.

I spent the evening and following morning trying to get a handle on what was actually happening and now more than 24 hours later I'm still not sure what landed and exploded in the middle of the sport of cycling. There are certainly lots of opinions about it. From lots of very reliable sources. It just feels like there a real shortage of facts and everyone's going over the same limited material to try to get something more out of it.

And that includes me.
I was on a BC radio station early in the day commenting about how the USADA hadn't released facts about their case and that Armstrong hasn't been stripped of his wins despite the statements USADA has made. That's still to be decided.
Around noon I was on CTV TV and the opening line was about how Armstrong had been stripped of his TdF titles. I resisted the urge to correct the anchor (my nerves told me to behave) but I did try to make the point again that the facts aren't on the table yet. There is no asterisk beside his name as of today (although I did suggest that there has always been an asterisk there... the controversy has been there as long as his TdF streak).

I've been unhappy with what I've read and heard so far so I decided to write my own opinions down and share them. You can find them on PedalMag.com along with a second opinion piece by John Connors. Let me know what you think...

 PedalMag: Two opinions on Lance Armstrong vs USADA

2004 Paris

Babe 101: Monitoring and Supporting

Owning my VW camper has been exactly what I expected it would be... a learning experience. And I'm enjoying it.

I've gone through some surprise learning curves as well as some I was prepared for and actually capable of dealing with in an informed way. Over the past month or two I've been trying to take that up a level and see if I'm a little more capable. I'm sure some of the gurus will see these as baby steps and I think they're right. Have to start somewhere though.

So baby step 1 is to learn more about what's actually going on. The problem I had with the house battery came to be a bigger problem that it should have been because I didn't have a way to see what was happening easily. A simple solution was to get a couple of plug-in volt meters... a better solution would be to get some permanent gauges and I likely will. For now the socket version do nicely, I'm spending the money on real gauges for things that are even more important. More on that later!
Update: Thanks to Jim (who also got these same voltmeters) I learned how to adjust them both to be more accurate. They both read lower than my "good" voltmeter and they weren't the same. Now they read the same and are within .01 volts of my baseline reading. As long as they're consistent I'm happy!

In addition to monitoring things I found that there was a shortcoming in the configuration of the awning I have. It's a Shady Boy and I love having it. Compact, easy to set up and pack up and it's a great size. I've had it out in some strong winds though and it's been wreaking havoc on the mount points (front in particular). I'll have to figure out how to make that more secure and as a start I decided to order the down-draft poles that Wolfgang (shadyboy.com) has. These are the version with the male clips to mate with the fly poles (the design has changed over the years and he made sure to get me the right version). I'll be testing them out at Shelter Valley, the poles will fit into the awning case no problem, I need to add some pegs since the lines will no longer go to the side of the bus (am I right in thinking I now have to peg them down?). Anyhow, that's baby step 2.

The first serious change I'm making is adding oil pressure and temperature gauges so I can really see what's going on. This involves installing new senders (ones that will work with the existing gauges plus the new ones). I've been able to source those from a place that ships to Canada without extra charges (CIP1.ca) so that's looking good.

Next up are EGT (measuring the exhaust temp) and boost (how the turbocharger is working). I haven't found a source for those that I'm happy with yet though. More research required, stay tuned for photos from both of these upgrades as they evolve.

I'm also about to try doing my first oil change on the camper... not sure why I didn't do this a year ago but it is what it is. I picked up an Mann oil filter from Dave (my go-to mechanic) and have the right 15W40 oil on hand (I like Rotella T) so I'll see how to sort out that process. Shouldn't be hard, just another small first.

What it's all about though: using the camper to get to places and do things. Today's "do" was a visit with my mom that included a nice lunch stop. Yay for Balm Beach!

A year ago today... Jack Layton

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

Jack Layton, Aug 20, 2011

 

 

It has been a year since this great man passed away. He is still remembered, still missed.

A good workout

It's been a while since I've had a reason to use a sledgehammer, my body is reminding me of that fact today. The occasion was the start of my volunteer time for the Shelter Valley Folk Festival that I mentioned in the previous blog entry. The grass has all been cut so the field looks like a large empty canvas waiting for something to happen.

The Henkel Family Lavender Farm

One of the early steps in the setup is to get the big-top tent setup. This is where the volunteer kitchen and dining area goes and next to it is the dish-washing station (another tent but much simpler to set up).  There are hundreds of volunteers so this is an important part of the overall setup.

At about 80 feet long, it's no small task. The tent is made up of 5 large sections, about 30 side poles (each with a 3 foot anchor stake and tie-down) and three huge poles in the middle. Measuring it all out was a challenge and it took the team a few tries to get it right. This led to stakes being hammered in only to be pulled out and moved and hammered back in. Definitely hard work. Erecting the large center poles is also a challenge as they need to lift the heavy tent and get the poles centered correctly based on the sides and ends. All in all it was about 5 hours from start to finish. I didn't have much time to photograph the process but here's an early photo and the end result.

Twenty more hours of volunteer time to go :-)

An abandoned truck

Volunteer time: SVFF

Last year some VW friends went on about how great the Shelter Valley Folk Festival was and I thought it would be worth checking out. Early bird tickets were gone and camping spots weren't available any more in the main area so I decided to volunteer. Andrea and our friend Liz bought tickets and came up a little later on the first day.

Turned out to be a good choice: it got us into a spot with the rest of the group, got me in free, and I got to meet lots of great people as I did my volunteer time in the parking crew. The one downside to it was that my volunteer time took place while the event was on so I missed seeing some of the performers. Still, I got to enjoy a bunch of amazing performances and took lots of photos plus a few videos last year. Here's one of Vance Gilbert singing "My Bad" (as Billy Holiday).

There are a few more videos on YT that I put up, it was shortly after I got my Rode mic for the DSLR and I was testing it out. The one of Luke Doucet singing Sundown is pretty good (I think). I thought I'd written a blog entry about it but seems I didn't. No gallery on my website, no photos on Picasa either... odd.

Anyhow, that was last year. The 2012 edition of SVFF will be happening the last weekend of August and this year I signed up early to arrange my volunteer time. I bought Andrea an earlybird ticket as a birthday present so she's all set as well.

I expect to have my volunteer time all done as part of the advance crew so I will get to enjoy the full time at the festival. It does mean I'll be driving to the Henkel Family Lavender Farm "in the heart of Northumberland County" Wednesday to do my first bit. I will also be there the week before the event to see what I can do to help. And look for the town of VW-land if you're going to be there :-)

Looking forward to it! I'll definitely be bring all my camera gear to see what gems I come up with this year. And I'll be sure to post something here.

Camping, a little more camping, and a few bike races in between

I'm recently back from the Tour of Elk Grove, or I should say I was home and am already on the road again. This time it's a VW campout (Buses of the Corn) and the Buckwallow MTB O-Cup race.

ToEG was great, and I'm glad I extended the trip for a couple of nights of camping before the race as they were quite relaxing. Everything went well except for the problem I had with the interior electrical setup. I have that fixed now, cost me all of $5 in parts but a lot of time fussing and testing and then rewiring.

One of the highlights of ToEG was the GC win by Francois Parisien of the Spidertech team. In 2011 it was the Canadian women who lit up the race but this year it was the mens race. Here are a few photos, I put a bunch up on my Facebook page and a full gallery on my website.

The CyclingNews galleries are all here, while the one on PedalMag.com are here.

Parisien

The drive home was split up with a short visit to another Westy owner who lives in South Bend. Pete and I know each other through facebook activities but have never met. My third driveway campout. Here's a shot of the door to Pete's man-cave...

I love that coexist sticker

So that brings me up to Monday... Tuesday was sleeping in, a shower and laundry. Wednesday was a visit with my mom up in Midland (Babe got a rest as I took the Jetta) and then Thursday was fix-the-wiring day. David B from the Vanagon list was incredibly helpful and patient. I still have a little more testing I want to do but it's working great. I have been monitoring the voltage on both batteries carefully and after two days it's behaving as it should.

I removed the silver relay to the right (it's the original 30 year old one that controlled the fridge, etc)

I had intended to head to Buses of The Corn on Thursday but I ran out of time and energy. So I spent the evening getting organized for the weekend and getting a good sleep (I've been feeling tired all week, ToEG is a demanding event). So BOTC on Friday afternoon with a bunch of friends. Jerry brought some of his smoked cheese (this one has a balsamic wash... tasty!) and much drinking ensued. And of course there was a bonfire, it's not a Potts camp-out without a proper fire.

This is the same spot that I parked in 2010... the first time campout for us in Babe

The 2012 sticker is reflective

A bunch of us are talking about going to Burning Man 2013

I only got to stay the one night though, I packed up the camper early and headed up to pick up Andrea behore heading up to Gravenhurst to get ready for the Buckwallow MTB O-Cup race. We're now camped in Port Carling relaxing and listening to the sound of rain.

Buckwallow race course... it's been raining a little

Buckwallow is known to be a dusty and rocky course...

Yet another pretty picture

While I'm working on getting my Tour of Elk Grove photos uploaded to my website, Facebook and write a wrap-up blog entry, here's a photo you're welcome to download as a desktop background (resolution is 1600 pixels). It was taken at Van Buren State Park on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Officially a non-resident

Michigan state parks require a "passport" to use them, a fee they charge on top of the campsite fee and it applies even if you just want to have a picnic it seems. The one day rate isn't bad, it makes the price about the same as camping in Ontario. They have an annual passport too, and I think if you camp more than 4 days (as a non-resident, it's much cheaper for residents) it pays to go that route. I knew I'd be camping at least twice in Michigan on this trip so I gambled and got the sticker for the year.

In any case it's now official, I'm a non-resident and my camper proudly displays that. I wonder how many of those I'll end up collecting. There certainly are lots of places I don't reside (for more than a day or so).

The drive across Michigan was nice, I took a route I haven't been on before and went by Grand Rapids before getting to Zeeland/Holland and then heading south. I made a note to get some more VirginMobile top-up cards for future trips. I'm set for this excursion but it's always handy to have some extras in the glove box. A very small detour to a Best Buy in Holland and I was all set. Next stop, Van Buren State Park.

Holland, not that one

On the way I passed some pick-your-own fields that I have known exist but haven't seen before... blueberries. Not the same as picking wild but still good. I don't need a big bunch of berries though so I just took a photo and carried on.

Blueberry fields, pick your own

The park will be full on the weekend, lots of room for me to stay this one Thurs. night though. It's an interesting spot, very sandy (huge dunes, nice beach, going to be cleaning sand out of Babe for weeks!) and lots of options for where to camp. I picked a site right by the path down to the beach even though I knew it would have more traffic. The sites aren't large enough to have a real sense of privacy so I wasn't too concerned about that.

Site 11 @ Van Buren SP

Last time I swam it was in salt water (New Zealand)

Set up, plugged in (all the sites have power) and then it was a swim and a ride. Next up is a shower and what may be my last shave until I get home!

One thing I hadn't expected was cactus. Last time I rode through them (well, beside them since I was on the road and they weren't) was in 2003 in Colorado. Never seen them up in Michigan before, live and learn.

Stop right there!

 Tomorrow I get back to work... cameras are ready, computer is set up, mifi network is configured. Should be a good weekend of racing.

On the road, headed west to Elk Grove

I decided to pack up a day early so I would have time to enjoy the trip and avoid "camping" in rest stops all the way. I didn't get an early start though, having gotten caught up watching the women's and men's time trials in London. But it's a beautiful day and it felt great to pack up and point Babe west. Around 5 hours of driving has gotten me into Michigan, to a campsite I was at in the spring of 2011 when I was on my way back from Arkansas (Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area). Then I had the campsite to myself, this time it's fairly busy (but far from full). Here are a couple of photos to compare.

May 2011

August 2012

I asked another Westy owner for camping spot suggestions somewhere close to Chicago and Pete (who lives in South Bend) suggested Van Buren State Park so that's where I'll head tomorrow. I should be able to get there around lunch time so I'll have an entire day to play in the dunes, on the beach and on my bike before getting down to work on Friday. 

Of course since Pete's also a westy guy he gave me a second suggestion which was to camp at his place He has 5 acres so more than enough room. Plus he also loves good scotch! So if I can I hope to do both and camp on the beach tomorrow and at his place on Sunday when I'm on my way back.
Update: Just got an email back, looks like I'll be camping in South Bend on Sunday... the trip and the weekend are shaping up nicely. Now I should grab a camera and see how the full moon looks over the lake.

For now though, it's late and I'm hungry. Time to get cookin!