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Upgrading The Trucker

I’m stuck here. I’m debating on what to upgrade on the Beast of Burden. It has to be sturdy, reliable, inexpensive, and functional.

My Surly LHT is currently using Tektro V-brakes and Tektro R520 levers (which work well). It has 7-sp downtube shifters which are problematic for shifting while sprinting through intersections. It has a custom built (by me) dynohub front wheel and a 7-sp cassette rear wheel (still rolling well). Cheap Shimano Deore/Tourney derailleurs (which work well).

I guess my real dilemma is that I want to get the bike lighter, and modernize it somewhat, but without having to buy a whole new drivetrain. I don’t really need more gears. I want to be able to commute on it, and use it for group rides. This will require me to get a separate wheelset… keep the dynohub for commuting, and a lightweight set for charity group weekend rides. I can just strip off the rack and lights, and ride it with light wheels.

Do I just upgrade shifters and keep it 3×7? Future wheels can use a cassette spacer. I’m okay with that. But that requires going to mini-V brakes, which rules out fenders and fat tires in the future. (I won’t do cantis or Travel Agents… they just suck. Too complicated.) Continue reading “Upgrading The Trucker”

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Blood Pressure Check

After a month of riding my bike to work, my blood pressure has dropped from 140/90 to 110/80, and I think it will keep going lower.

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While riding mountain bikes with my Scout troop this past weekend, I did manage to drop my bike’s chain, causing me to smash my left knee into the handlebar. I’ve got a nice fat knot the size of a golf ball just above my kneecap!

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Perfection Is The Enemy Of Creativity

For a lot of people, the desire to be creative has been stamped out of their daily thinking. It never crosses their mind that they have the time or the ability to create something.

For me, the realization of this happened when I wrote my first book, during NaNoWriMo. One of the tips they give is to “lock away your inner editor” and just write whatever comes to your mind. And for people like me who have high standards of quality, that works, surprisingly.

Why is this? It’s because of the fear of our output being “not good enough” from only the first draft. We look at our incomplete musical or graphical or literary first drafts, and think “this really sucks.” But if you stop there, that’s the end of the story (pun intended), and nothing gets created.

Freedom to create comes when you lock away your inner editor long enough to get past the initial aversion. Even if it’s bad, a written book is closer to publication than an incomplete one. A song with all the parts there is closer to being “finished” than one with a well-mixed intro and nothing else.

You can’t edit or polish something that isn’t there. Worry about perfection after you’ve actually completed something. In some cases, you’ll realize that the end result probably doesn’t need that much fixing anyway. You get better with it over time.

So quit double-guessing yourself, put aside the fear, and finish something. Anything, even if it’s bad, is better than not creating at all.

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Corporate Emo Poetry

There comes a time in every man’s life
When he grows tired of all the strife
But soldiers on, despite the pain
To keep the paychecks flowing like rain

The mental fog occludes the will
And quenches man’s desire to fill
His mind with passionate joys of love
With corporate idiocy from above

But one day, friend, he will be free
Retirement ends the misery
Only to find there’s no more drive
He sits resolutely;
American Idol’s on at five.

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Commuting Weight Loss

I’ve been commuting to work by bike for the last 4 weeks, and during that time, I learned something interesting.

In my goal to get closer to my ideal weight/fat ratio, I’ve been putting in some miles on the bike, and increasing the intensity of my riding, in an effort to help burn calories. But after almost 2 weeks of riding and watching my diet, I hadn’t lost anything!

Continue reading “Commuting Weight Loss”

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New Laptop Considerations

I’m getting close to replacing my aging (but still perfectly functional) HP 625 laptop. The kids have been using it heavily for school, along with the handful of other laptops (two Dells and an HP). My requirements for a laptop are a bit different than most people’s, though… I need mine to be Linux compatible.

I’m looking at getting an HP laptop/tablet with a rotating screen, for a couple of reasons. First, the tablet function would be very handy for using it on a music stand, or as an e-reader. Second, I write a lot, so it needs to have a decent keyboard. Third, I don’t like devices that separate the screen from the keyboard.

Possible candidates are the HP Elitebook 2760p, or the HP Elitebook Revolve 810 G1. Both come with an Intel i5/i7 and comparable hardware, but the Revolve is thinner, lighter, and more expensive. The only thing that doesn’t work with Ubuntu is the fingerprint scanner (yet).

One thing I want to be able to do with it is use it as a mobile recording studio/performance laptop with Ubuntu Studio.