A Photo A Day: September 2013

Sept. 29, 2013

On the way home, we stopped at a brand new cyclocross race (it's fall) called Rough-Cut Country CX in Summerfield, NC. It is also a brand new cut course and very twisty, tight and a ton of fun. Sam's picture of me at top shows my new socks for this year (matching)

My race report. Small field of 7 or 8 for my class and despite my legs feeling the hike yesterday, I decided to go hard from the start and fell into line in 4th and we pulled away from the field in about a half a lap, until my chain jumped up and onto large ring. But because I am running a short chain, it locked my drive train and I had to stop, pop the rear wheel off and reset everything. I was passed by my whole field and a couple from the field behind us. I was able to pick my way back through the field to finish 3rd. I can assure you, it will be my only podium this year, in two weeks start the 40-70 deep mass start races : 0

Sept. 28, 2013

It was time to get out of town. I have wanted to hike Stone Mountain State Park (NC) and see it's 600-foot granite dome. Of course once we got there and found out there were waterfalls, we also had to find those. Almost exactly 4 hours later we got back to the truck. The park was hosting "Old Fashion Days" and the campground was full, so we headed west to Doughton Park, MP 240, Blue Ridge Parkway, my favorite BRP quiet campground. I don't have pictures but the park is north of most "tourist" areas and never more than half full, but always has interesting campers. This time, a guy in a 1973 Volvo p1800 pulling a small teardrop all the way from Washington state on his way to Vermont, a couple on dual sport BMW GS bikes, another couple on a motorcycle sleeping under the stars and the odd part, after Sam and I went backpacking earlier this summer, we camped here on the way home, this time we camped next the the same woman who we camped next to last time. A very nice single 50ish woman who seems to escape as much as we do.

Sept. 27, 2013

Dinner at Magnolia 23 in Asheboro. My lemonade had ice made of lemonade and my baby flounder were awesome.

Sept. 26, 2013

The last Thursday night SECCA/MOB cyclocross race went great tonight! I shaved another 47 seconds off my PR, so over the past month I have cut my time by 5 minutes on the same course and conditions. Now the real CX season starts!

Last night laps were: 7:22, 7:23, 7:42 (my Garmin fell off and I had to stop and get it), 7:10 The last lap was a tight battle for position. The great thing about Sam shooting each race was I really got to see my position on the bike. Over the month I changed:

Handlebars: drop > short flat > wide with sweep
Gearing: 10sp > 9sp 12-34 >9sp 11-27
Saddle: Softer > harder/lighter and fore/aft (simple 3cm made my knees hurt)
Tires: Maxxis > Michelin Mud 2

I set Sam up for sunny pictures, so when she moved to the back of SECCA, she got to work on panning photos. ; )

Sept. 25, 2013 (Bonus Coverage)

The Randolph County Board of Education voted earlier in the month to remove Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man from the 11th grade reading list AND from all school libraries after ONE parent complained. It appeared they chose to ban the book without seeking guidance from the county's legal team or education representatives (teachers)

Needless to say, they reinstated the book at tonight's special meeting, but sadly there was more media than community folks!

Sept. 25, 2013

A new series. RCC Photography Students at Work.

Sept. 24, 2013

the note I left on my door after I locked my door.

Sept. 23, 2013

Doing her reading assignment.

Sept. 22, 2013

this is blowing all over the yard!

Sept. 21, 2013

The same face eating and yaking....

Sept. 20, 2013

The sunset after dropping Sam off for a dance.

Sept. 19, 2013

The fast A race.

Picture by Sam.
I was happy with my race. I have shaved over four minutes off my race time in the past 3 weeks. It is true, you can only get fast racing by racing.
Lap times compared to last week:
Lap     Last Week        Today
1         7:44                  7:29
2         7:43                  7:44 (opps)
3         8:41                  7:39 (no dropped chain x2)
4         7:47                  7:30

Finish in 30:24 or 1:33 faster, even without the dropped chain, I was over 30 seconds faster.

Sept. 18, 2013

Fun lab today. I took the class around the campus as we shot portraits for school's Report to teh Community magazine.

Sept. 17, 2013

Photographer Michael Traister photographs his Sock Monkey exhibit in the photo department. Michael started a self-project years ago setting up "portraits" of sock monkeys.

Sept. 16, 2013

At school.

Sept. 15, 2013

Evening light.

Sept. 14, 2013

When I got my Flippac, one of the things I lost was my net on the inside roof for small light items. So I built a free standing frame and attached wire shelving to it vertically. I used the lighter duty shelf so it has bigger openings. I can still get my fingers in to turn on lights and open the latch for the windows. Picture from iPhone 360 Pano.

Sept. 13, 2013

A change of plans. I had planned to go camping/hiking/off-roading this weekend but Sam came home and said she was sick. So instead, researching why this toilet runs sometimes....

Sept. 12, 2013

SECCA Weekday Series #2 - I had a better race this week and shaved 2:30 off last weeks time. The flat bars worked great but the 1x9 gearing gave me problems. I am running 1x9 only because I didn't have a spare front shifter and the conversion was all extra parts, and the chain jumped off twice and the last lap jumped up to the big chain ring. My lap times were really consistent:
Lap 1 - 7:44 Lap 2 - 7:43 Lap 3 8:41 (stopped twice to put chain back on) Lap 4 7:47 big chain ring.