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| Author |
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| 25 new of 291 responses total. |
jmsaul
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response 89 of 291:
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Jul 9 15:14 UTC 2002 |
Ah. I didn't know that.
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scg
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response 90 of 291:
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Jul 9 20:31 UTC 2002 |
re 83:
I generally take averages for the whole ride, but I tend not to do too
much city riding. While I live in what is in effect a big city (from a
non-political, non-legal standpoint -- the official city I live in is not that
big, but flows right into other cities with no noticable borders), it's a
dense urban area that's about 60 miles long and three miles wide. If I'm
riding from home, I'll start the milage and average stuff at home, but I tend
to head straight for the hills and not spend much time riding in the city.
If I'm starting the ride from somewhere else, I'll start counting wherever
I get the bike out of the car, which is often somewhere reasonably empty.
Sometimes I'll take a train to the start of a ride, in which case I'll count
both the rides between home and the station, and the ride itself (but not,
of course, the time spent on the train).
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jep
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response 91 of 291:
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Jul 10 00:33 UTC 2002 |
John and I rode quite a ways tonight; across Tecumseh, to the Kiwanis
bike trail on the far side, and then down it as far as M-52, and back.
It must have been at least 15 miles. I don't feel bad at all that it
took us nearly 2 hours.
The bike trail is amazing; it goes through the edge of farmland,
through woods and alongside running streams; really beautiful
countryside. It's paved, and flat as little else is outside of Lenawee
County. The trail goes all the way to the north side of Adrian. I'd
never been on it before today. We'll be taking it all the way to the
end when we have a weekend day to spend some day. Very nice ride.
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bru
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response 92 of 291:
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Jul 10 04:01 UTC 2002 |
that track used to be a railroad right-of-way adn comes out by the Adrian
school board.
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keesan
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response 93 of 291:
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Jul 10 12:16 UTC 2002 |
After you have worked up to 15 miles each way, we can go to the lake together
on gravel roads. Our pace is about 15 miles in two hours.
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jaklumen
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response 94 of 291:
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Jul 10 16:51 UTC 2002 |
resp:87 besides, it's old technology. The unleaded engine/electric
hybrid is the same tech as the diesel/electric for trains.
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jep
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response 95 of 291:
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Jul 10 17:22 UTC 2002 |
re #93: I think we might be too casual of riders, Sindi. I'm
envisioning John and I being fine going one way, but then I've imagined
what it would be like if he decided he didn't want to ride back. It
could turn into a long and miserable trip for him. He is, after all,
only 6.
Maybe there are some shorter rides we could try out?
BTW, I believe it's cherry picking season in Tecumseh. I'll be gone
this weekend, but will be around at least part of next weekend.
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gull
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response 96 of 291:
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Jul 10 19:53 UTC 2002 |
Re #94: No, actually, it's quite different. The *concept* is the same, but
diesel-electric locomotives don't have any energy storage. Having to manage
the state of charge of a battery, and make good choices as to when to charge
and when to boost, makes the control electronics a lot more complicated.
Also, all the commercially available hybrids so far have been *parallel*
hybrids, meaning the gas engine and electric motor are both physically
coupled to the wheels. That makes for a more complex mechanical design. A
diesel-electric locomotive would be more analogous to a series hybrid, where
the gasoline engine only generates power and the electric motor is the only
thing connected to the wheels.
The goals are also a bit different. Diesel-electric locomotives make sense
for a few reasons:
- No need to have a mechansim for shifting gears while under heavy torque
loads.
- Accurate and fast-acting speed control to prevent wheelspin.
- Ability to use the electric motors as braking devices, to reduce heating
of the wheel brakes ("dynamic braking"). In locomotives that energy isn't
stored, it's dumped as heat in resistor grids.
Hybrid cars make sense for two basic reasons:
- You can have a smaller, more efficient engine while still having brisk
accelleration. The amount of power required to hold a car at 80 mph is
small compared to the amount required to accellerate it from 0 to 60 in 8
seconds, but gasoline engines are inefficient at small throttle openings.
- You can recover kinetic energy from braking, instead of dumping it as
heat in the brake rotors.
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keesan
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response 97 of 291:
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Jul 10 21:35 UTC 2002 |
John, I checked and the orchard is not doing U-pick this year because the crop
is so small. They even ran out of cherries to sell at the market. We will
find some other excuse to bike south, later this summer.
If John III gets tired of biking, he only has to sit while you pedal, right?
Coming back is slightly easier as it is a bit downhill, and cooler. We can
just bike out into the country somewhere, not all the way to the lake. There
is no place closer than I know of to swim than Independence Lake, except
chlorinated pools. The gravel pit 6 miles away used to be swimmable but the
new owner did not allow trespassing any more. The river is not clean enough
downstream from Dexter. There are some metroparks but I don't know of any
way to bike to them without having to go on bad roads part of the way, such
as Huron River Driver or Miller.
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slynne
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response 98 of 291:
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Jul 10 21:42 UTC 2002 |
Yeah, what is UP with the cherries this year. There are no Michigan
cherries in the grocery store. Was the weather bad for them or
something?
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mcnally
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response 99 of 291:
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Jul 10 21:59 UTC 2002 |
There was a severe late-season frost which decimated the cherry crop.
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mcnally
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response 100 of 291:
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Jul 10 22:00 UTC 2002 |
(re #99: actually, I suppose "decimated" would be a substantial
understatement, as far more than 10% of the crop was lost..)
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jep
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response 101 of 291:
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Jul 11 01:15 UTC 2002 |
There's a former gravel pit in Tecumseh which is run by the city now as
a pool, complete with lifeguards and a floating dock. Would you and
Jim be interested in coming out for a swim there?
Another alternative would be for us to just drive to Independence Lake
and join you.'
You know, we should move that discussion to e-mail, unless anyone else
here would be interested in joining Jim, Sindi, John and I one of these
weekends.
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bru
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response 102 of 291:
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Jul 11 04:18 UTC 2002 |
Over 90% of the cherry crop was lost this year in michigan.
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jep
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response 103 of 291:
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Jul 11 13:12 UTC 2002 |
My goodness. I hadn't realized that. That's pretty awful!
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slynne
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response 104 of 291:
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Jul 11 13:37 UTC 2002 |
Oh yeah, I remember that frost. It ruined some seedlings of mine.
Over 90% of the cherry crop was lost? Holey smokes.
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keesan
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response 105 of 291:
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Jul 11 14:51 UTC 2002 |
Fifty percent of our apricot trees died this spring due to the stressful
winter weather and early spring. (One of the two leafed out then died).
The Tecumseh gravel pit sounds fantastic! If only it were not 35 miles away,
but that would be a nice vacation, a day to nearby and camp, a day with you,
maybe a bike ride to Adrian and back along the trail. Since other people
might find it interesting to know about the gravel pit and other things to
see in the area, no reason to take it to email yet. We will have more time
in August - just heard from some friends who want to visit for a few days in
late July and it will be a challenge to make space for them in my place.
What is interesting to see between Ann Arbor and Tecumseh, by bike?
There is a nice trail along the river here from the Broadway Bridge to Parker
Mill, flat, that should not overtax your abilities to bike it, and a pool not
far from the trail, if you want to plan that for some weekend in July or
August. Perhaps Bruce and Rhiannon could join us.
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anderyn
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response 106 of 291:
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Jul 11 14:54 UTC 2002 |
I don't know about by bike between A2 and Tecumseh, but there are lots of
cool houses along the road and some really cool graveyards from the early
1800s. Which orchard were you thinking of using for your u-pick? (We always
use Kapnick's orchards, for anything orchard-related.)
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keesan
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response 107 of 291:
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Jul 11 15:44 UTC 2002 |
Are there other orchards south of Ann Arbor?
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russ
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response 108 of 291:
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Jul 11 15:45 UTC 2002 |
Re #82 re #81: The problem was that I was plowing deep dust with my
front wheel, at too high a speed (I'd just come off pavement) to be
able to keep the bike upright; the wheel was planing on the dust and
had no lateral traction. Lost my water-bottle holder as well as skin.
Re #84: That's pedal-pushin', meat-eatin', ecology-lovin', gun-promotin'
libertarian to you, but you can call me MISTER Asshole. ;-)
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scott
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response 109 of 291:
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Jul 11 16:26 UTC 2002 |
Re 108: You for "motor-cycle outlawin' libertarian", Russ. :P
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jep
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response 110 of 291:
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Jul 11 18:27 UTC 2002 |
re #106: Twila, I live right down the road from Kapnick's. I'm at
Conklin Estates apartments.
re #105: I've never biked that way, and am not sure what route I would
recommend. I'm not sure what you'd want to see. The area between
Saline/Milan and Clinton/Tecumseh is almost entirely farmland, and
almost entirely flat. So, there's lots of farms.
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bru
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response 111 of 291:
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Jul 11 18:52 UTC 2002 |
Kapnicks is a fine orchard. Only the tart cherries were hurt, sweet black
cherries are fine. I was able to get some red tart cherries to try again at
making cherry bounce.
Rhiannons front tire is flat, so I think there must be a problem with the
inner tube. I hope the spare tube here will fit.
spent 15 minutes cycling around the parking lot this morning and that
pretty much tired me out. Our Doctor yelled at me that we have to get helmets
for everybody.
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keesan
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response 112 of 291:
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Jul 12 00:53 UTC 2002 |
We have at least one spare helmet - I thought you promised us that you would
wear one that was in the basement. I fell off my bike once at two miles an
hour and don't know how I landed but my cheek was scratched and after half
an hour I picked myself up with lots of scrapes but no concussion. Do you
have a tube patch kit? We can stop by some time and look at the tube - easier
to patch it than replace it usually. You should check the tire for glass or
other sharp objects in it.
We biked south for a few days once, on flat farmland, mostly corn and beans
but I think one patch of onions or cabbage. Leonard of the farmer's market
had a small fruit and vegetable operation south of Kapnick's, and there was
a girl with a pet pig who we visited when she waved us down. She had biked
across Michigan. They showed us a rare weed in their fields. I forget just
how Milan, Adrian, Clinton and Tecumseh are situated relative to each other.
We found untrafficked roads until Saline, when it got bad and also sort of
boring - nothing but fields full of new large houses going up.
Bruce, keep it up and add five minutes a day if you can. John is a model of
what you can do if you keep trying.
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glenda
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response 113 of 291:
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Jul 12 02:00 UTC 2002 |
Can someone tell me why when we bought tubes according to the size on the
tire, they don't fit. Staci got an older bike from my sister. It had been
sitting in the garage for several years. There seemed to be a slow leak in
both tires. Since the tubes were so old we bought new ones. They don't fit
into the tires, I think STeve said they were too big. I thought that bike
tubes were more or less standard sizes. She needs the bike to get to her
babysitting job. It takes her 45 minutes to walk and would take 15-20 minutes
by bike.
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