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A little over two years ago, I discovered that if I had a wide tired bicycle (think mountain bike), I could ride it off the pavement. I obtained said bicycle (by resurrecting an old rusted one that Dave Ellis gave AJ [both of them deny it happened, but that's my story I'm sticking to]), and at that point, discovered that the area around San Manuel is riddled with roads and trails. Many places on these trails are washed out and traversing them astride a bicycle is a challenge. Contrary to what I first thought, riding up and down a slope is usually not as difficult as riding parallel to that slope. Though somewhat rough, it is an adventure that I have come to enjoy during my "enforced" lunch breaks at work, and it occurred to me that making a movie of such a ride might be a way to share that passion with others.
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It turned out to be a really great idea, but one that just didn't work. I purchased a digital movie camera ($125.00, new in the box on Craigslist). That was the easy part. Attaching it to a solid support that would allow it to function while I was riding took a bit more work. A thrift store provided a hard hat for $1.50, and after attempting to mount the camera on a "tray" bolted to the front of the hat produced a world class neck exerciser, I mounted it to the top. The moment arm there was longer, resulting in increased lateral movement, but I couldn't see any other choice.
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The camera has a tripod mount on the bottom, but after discovering the hard way that it is fastened to the body by a single short screw having a diameter less than that of a pencil lead, I fashioned velcro lined straps to hold it in place. The mounts for the straps are made from welding rod that I threaded then bent into the desired shape. It looks funny, but I thought it was rather ingenious. But alas, the movement of the bicycle and the swaying inherent in the design produce a picture that is best described as, "bumpy." Further, the steepness of the slopes, while visible if you know what you are looking at, are not readily evident to the casual viewer, even if he or she were willing to sit through footage that one of my critics described as, "unremarkable." Oh well, I knew it was a long shot when I under took the project.
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Barbara's doctors have again instituted a change in her pain medications, and we are struggling to adjust. Initially, She slept for long periods (18 to 24 hours), but has gradually shifted out of that. As you get older, life becomes an adventure, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
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Water drainage has become problematic in the front yard, with portions of Barbara's "garden" starting to wash away. The problem is that the cement pad we poured in front of the trailer door has caused the natural drainage are to fill in. One of my next projects has to be hauling in some gravel to create a small ditch, and rerouting the drainage to its original path. Here is the first step... Can you tell I don't care for yard work?
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Carrying a camera on a bicycle trip has proved somewhat problematic, and here is an attempt to circumvent that difficulty. The straps were salvaged from a couple of packs I found abandoned along the road on my trip from Superior to Winkleman. My memory being somewhat porous, I have yet to test this contraption on an actual ride. But, I think the idea is sound...
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Elliot Simons, a member of our Ward who went by "Bud," was killed in a head-on car crash on the back road to San Manuel. I don't know how many of you knew him, but he was in the the Young Men's Presidency, and provided equipment and support for AJ's Eagle Project. This is a little memorial erected by by his family (I think). I am a bit surprised that the county has tolerated this, as it sits on the highway right-of-way. The gloves, hat, and wooden tool handles won't last long in the weather, but I thought it was an interesting tribute.
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The X-ray technician with whom I work thinks that riding old bicycles such as mine borders on criminal behavior. He has taken it on himself to upgrade my equipment, and purchased this for me ($10 at a thrift store). It was manufactured in Korea, and the brand (Fila) is no longer available here in the US, but it appears to be of reasonable quality. It is 6 to 8 pounds lighter than anything I own, and the derailleurs are better than those of the mountain bike and Peugeot. Unfortunately, it is just slightly too small for me, and I just can't seem to get comfortable riding it. I don't know exactly what to do with it... Maybe I could talk Barbara into riding with me?
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It has been stormy and raining here for much of the last two weeks. We even had three inches of snow on two occasions, but thankfully it melted relatively quickly. The temperature Saturday was in the high 50's, so I took a ride. A biannual financial audit was scheduled for Sunday, so I cycled to San Manuel (on the back road that is now paved), and after verifying that all was in order, I returned home via dirt roads and trails. Until I looked at the map, I didn't realized that reaching the Mt. Lemon Highway (the right angle in the green pathway and the lowest point on the map), was just slightly past the halfway point. Trails sure seem longer than paved roads, but I really enjoy riding them. Anyone up for a jaunt from the top of Mt. Lemon, down the Oracle Ridge Trail?
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My brother Mark has been (and perhaps still is) in the hospital in Flagstaff where he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer. Cancer is classified into four types, based on the tissue from which it arises, as follows:
Carcinomas: epithelial cells that form linings,
Sarcomas: connective tissue,
Lymphomas: blood forming cells (hematopoietic tissue, if you like big words),
Germ cell tumors: cells that have not yet become specialized.
His physicians think Mark has a lymphoma, involving the proliferation of plasma cells. These cells are the part of the immune system that produce antibodies. Antibodies are usually a good thing, but in living systems, too much of any good thing is a bad thing. More information on this malady is available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_myeloma.
I don't yet know the specifics of his prognosis, but in general this cancer is thought to be incurable, but readily forced into remission for some number of years. Some say that wearing a beard exacerbates the condition... Stay tuned for late breaking news.
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