June Bug

Pedernales Falls is open Advance day pass reservations required: Online Phone: 512-389-8900

Donut Taco Palace I, 5446 W US Hwy 290 Service Rd, Austin, TX 78735

Using Maxxis Re-Fuse 700x 40c on Vuelta XRP 29er rims. The Re-Fuse is a textured slick that is considered a gravel/adventure tire and can be run tubeless. Maxxis Re-Fuse One flat or maybe two in over two years of use, including riding 3 x a week on Georgian Drive, the broken glass capital of Austin. How much do those weigh?

Microdroplets! How do they work?

Whole Foods has a 60+ geezer/geezette hour from 7-8 am. A drippy foggy morning, just right for a bike errand for groceries. Empty streets, almost empty store, all employees & customers wearing masks. The very cheerful morning person cashier suggested that I hold up each item & she scanned the bar code with her little gun for a contactless checkout. Somehow managed to get just the right amount of stuff to fill both panniers and the bag on the rack completely full, and still zip everything closed.

Link to the New England Journal of Medicine study discussed in the video posted by AustinBike: Universal Screening for SARS-CoV-2 in Women Admitted for Delivery The guy in AB's video is Dr. John Campbell. He's a retired professor of nursing, and worked as an A & E (Accident and Emergency) nurse and is a writer on a wide variety of topics. He has many youtube presentations and seems to be a bit of a treasure. His Amazon author's page is here.

Well yes. what are the chances that people got stuck in the conversation pit with a boring/obnoxious person with no easy escape? "The Death of the Pit" (Time Magazine, Feb 22, 1963) was quoted in this Curbed.com article Conversation pits make a comeback (Seeking social spaces in a tech heavy world), March 23, 2017, which has a great pic of the classic 1960s - 1970s conversation pit. Here's the torture aspect: "At cocktail parties, late-staying guests tended to fall in. Those in the pit found themselves bombarded with bits of hors d'oeuvres from up above, looked out on a field of trouser cuffs, ankles and shoes. Ladies shied away from the edges, fearing up-skirt exposure. Bars or fencing of sorts had to be constructed to keep dogs and children from daily concussions." Deep narrator voice: Conversation pits never made a comeback

By Governor Abbott's executive order, many Texas state park are reopening Monday, April 20. wear a mask social distance unless in a family group no group larger than five people

Abbott executive order: Reopen Texas parks April 20

Yeah, twitter: @Bry_Mac Don't be Phil! "Man, we've gotta open the gates." "We've been through this, Phil. The Mongols are still outside." "But I've gotta harvest my turnips" "MONGOLS" "Ugh. But we've been in here for WEEKS." "That's how sieges work, Phil." "But the Mongols have barely killed anyone in days." "That's because of the walls, Phil." "Are you sure? Maybe the Mongols aren't that dangerous." "..." "I'm just saying, how bad could it be. They can't kill ALL of us" "That is literally the thing they do." "But my turnips..."

Conversation pit with shag carpeting. Shag carpeting pulls the conversation pit together.

Nice! Looks like the afternoon monsoon thunderstorm has wrapped up; bluebird skies in the morning. Triggers some cabin fever, though. It's sad thinking about road trips but not really being able to plan.

I saw Devo in concert at the Armadillo. Spot on.

Update: I got a call from Fox this afternoon. They've received my fork and are rebuilding it tomorrow. Should be on my doorstep Wed. of next week, instead of a month or more. It turns out that a lot of people signed up for an RA (Request Authorization) number but weren't able to mail the fork/shock in because of stringent stay-at-home requirements in many areas, so they are way ahead of schedule. Many thanks for offers of assistance; no need to mess around with the commuter bike at the moment, but I'm trying to sort out compatibility issues around hubs, drive trains, skewers and thru axles. However, it's in the future and I'll transition any questions over to the Tech/Maintenance thread.

Big_papa_nuts and Manuels61 the problem is, for some reason, QR to thru axle adapters can't be used/not recommended with this fork. I'll contact MRP tomorrow and check with them for clarification. Their chat box responded to my first question in about 3 minutes.

Had forgotten. Hitting the ignore button now. If you disagree with me, I encourage you to do the same.

See, this is how conspiracy theories get their start. When you visit actual science web sites, with articles and posts by real scientists doing real, peer reviewed science, you know that studies by real scientists have been done that show the virus has a natural origin. Here's a link to an article on ScienceDaily.com, which is an amazing web site that serves as an aggregator for all types of science articles from peer reviewed journals. COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic has a natural origin Source: Scripps Research Institute Summary: An analysis of public genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered. The findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine on March 17, 2020, nearly a month ago. Figuring out the basic aspects of the virus, including the genome, was addressed very early on. I can't believe I've been sucked into this. I need to work on my will, medical powers of attorney and end of life directives, just in case.

It's linked in my post. Also, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck *applies Occam's Razor* it's a duck!

The situation: Fox fork should be arriving in Sparks, NV sometime today for its rebuild with a turnaround of up to a month. Ready to roll: hardtail Motobecane Ti Fly Team with an MRP Rock Solid Rigid Carbon fork, but running narrow (no tread) tires since it's currently doing duty as a commuter. MRP responded to me a few minutes ago that the fork will clear a 3.0 tire. The fork cannot be converted to thru axle, it's quick release only. I'm thinking about getting some wheels with wide internal diameter and trying out wide tires (2.6-2.8). This will allow me to get on some mellow trails with a rigid fork and also see if it will ultimately work for non-technical bike packing in areas that have some sand. Shot in the dark: Does anyone have some high quality light 29er wheels, quick release, wide internal rim for reasonable price? Something around 32-34 mm internal width looks about right, at least based on this chart: Tire Size Chart for Bicycle Rim Front tire will likely be 2.8"; back tire will be limited to 2.6", if that. Also, suggestions for new wheels that are the same?

Le Sigh.

From the WIKI for Epoch Times: "The Epoch Times is a multi-language newspaper. It was founded in 2000 by John Tang and a group of Chinese Americans associated with the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Though the newspaper is known for general interest topics with a focus on news about China and its human rights issues, it has become known for its support of U.S. President Donald Trump and favorable coverage of far-right politicians in Europe; a 2019 report showed it to be the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign...The group's news sites and YouTube channels have spread conspiracy theories such as QAnon and anti-vaccination propaganda." Lots more at the link. Falun Gong is a whole 'nother rabbit hole, as is European far-right populism/nationalism.

Is Walnut rideable? Why, yes, yes it is. Did a little snippy loppy on the flow trail closest to the detention dam yesterday evening and hiked a bit last week. The poison ivy is getting a full head of steam.

That's applicable to so, so many things. *sips tea, contemplates*

I read an exciting article yesterday about mucous! Anyway, the article touched on the concept of super spreaders, with 80% of viral infection caused by only about 20% of infected people, who apparently are inadvertently generous about emitting more virus particles than your average infected person. Utah Researchers Examining Mucous to Pave Way for Corona Virus Treatment

Haven't watched "Tiger Man" and even I get the reference.