Stupid Hurts….trust me I know!

I have always had insomnia. You can work it to your advantage and I have learned to work with it over the years. When you learn to sleep only when your body allows you, and fight through that plastic wrapped feeling you develop after being awake for a few days. You can get a lot more done. Now I was reading the side effects of the medicine I started taking last week Zonegran. It causes insomnia and drowsiness in most people, what a combination.

Sunday when I woke up midday and stretched I decided to lie there for a bit. I felt good, that usually doesn’t happen when I first wake up. So I thought about my situation for a little as I relaxed. Then something struck me as odd. I realized I wasn’t at home, I was lying on the side of the road in heap with my bicycle. Unfortunately I didn’t know how long I had been there. That meant I had another seizure, I had crashed, and my memory was screwed up again, but I did get a good nap, there is always a bright side.

Technorati Tags: insomnia, Zonegran, bicycle

The weather was perfect so and I attended the Birmingham Bicycle club group ride. I have been looking forward to riding with them for several weeks partially because I rode with them most of the winter and I miss some of those guys.

When I got there, there was about 50 people in attendance. Several familiar faces, but lots of people I didn’t know. I was still stoked about getting to ride to ride with new people but there is always an inherent risk. Eventually we took off and kept a fairly healthy pace through several tight neighborhoods. Considering the size of the crowd and the width of the turns I was hoping everyone was paying attention and ended up riding a bit more cautiously than normally. There is another group ride I have heard of on Tuesday night that leaves from somewhere else that apparently has a surprisingly high incident of crashes.

Well about 17 miles or so in I was passing a guy on the left when he stands up to sprint. When he does he loses his back tire and the bike gets wiggly underneath him. I dropped my shoulder sat on my seat and pulled up close next to him and he just leaned on me for a few seconds until he got steady.

Unfortunately that was just enough stress to put me over my seizure threshold. So I quickly pulled my bike over into the grass and had a seizure and passed out. I woke up thirty minutes or so later in the back of an ambulance without my bicycle and an I.V. in my arm…..again.

John leans across the bar to say, “what do you call and bouncer at a gay bar?” “A flame thrower, get it?” I was more than a little surprised he had just told me that, but I was more busy trying to wrangle the angry under age girl out of the door.

It is easy to ignore where I work most of the time, but I do get savagely reminded every now and now then. I was stressed out, in a bad mood, and really busy. When I see a guy cleaning off his shoes. He told me that someone has pissed on him and gave me a description. I had a lot on my plate already and really didn’t want to handle that so I figured I would just tell John for telling me that stupid joke earlier.

Unfortunately when I got I to my destination I found my culprit still at his antics. I was going to ignore him because I still had several things to do, but as I was unlocking a door. He leans into me and said, “Sex me up!” He got way into my personal space, I also notice at this point his paints are around his knees. Suddenly I am not too busy to ignore that. I have to throw him out. I throw him to the cop that works with me and he gets a public indecency and a public intoxication.

My bar tape was actually so bad to the point I had taken it off and re-wrapped it backwards to cover up some of the holes. Since I was replacing my tires and adjusting every thing else it seemed like time to replace the bar tape. I have been putting off new tires on my road bike for some time, because while it gets tires are 1/12th a often as my fixed gear. Spending $100-150 bucks every blue moon vs. $20-40 dollars every other month still sucks.

But, I got my road bike taken care of, and just when I thought I was done working on it for it a bit. I realized pretty much the entire drive train needs to be replaced. The chain rings are bent, the cassette is just old and replacing all that will necessitate a new chain.

I guess that’s just whats happens when you play with your toys hard

	The tape on my allez was really ratty and it was time for new tires

So I am done with the Mark8 bag for now ,and odds are it will be a bit before I make a new bag. The unfortunate thing about bag making is you really don’t know what you did wrong as far as ergonomics go until you are done with the bag and have weight in it. There are some things that just work and some things that just don’t and those you can tell on paper. But when you are trying new things, well, you takes your chances.

Well 8 generations and somewhere around 17 bags later I am coming up on a concrete design I finally like. The Mark8 has the shape of my all time favorite bag, but it is built like the 1 of the most durable bags I ever made. Plus I tried a few new tricks.

In the end I combined this shape.

	the outer flap of the twin arrows bag

But I built it like this one. That shape is also a lot easier to embroider, but a bit harder to assemble. But bags made from this shape tend to last longer

	the stripped bag laid out

So I ended up with this

	the flap on the mark8

	the inside of the mark8

This time I also tried a fabric that I haven’t used before called Sunbrella. It is a waterproof canvas that’s worlds cheaper than Cordura. But it lacks that nice shine Cordura has. It was a just a little hard on the knuckles to, but over all I am a pleased with the results over all.

I also made shoulder pads for this bag that where separate. That was a new thing for me.

	all the pieces before I put it together

	Two completed shoulder straps

My Letter to VirginAmerica Airlines Regarding Bicycles as Baggage. I have sent it to a few other airlines to.

Hello,

It seems that you all are trying to create a different kind of airline that exceeds customers’ expectations. For all the folks out there that are trying to live a green lifestyle and minimize their use of cars, bringing your bike with you when you travel is ideal. However, most airlines — yours included — charge $50-60 each way to check a bicycle. In contrast, checking oversized ski equipment is often free. Bicycles are primary modes of transportation for many people particularly people with limited means, whereas skis are a luxury item.

Please consider allowing cyclists to check bicycles onto your planes for free, or for a reduced price such as $10 each way, which would be comparable to what trains and buses charge. You would immediately win the loyalty of all the cyclists and green-living folks out there and would likely get a lot more money in ticket sales from those types of travelers.

Thanks for listening!

…I encourage every cyclist to write a similar letter to any and all airlines. Email VirginAmerica about this, you can copy and paste my text if that helps.

virgin customer service

Flying with any of my bikes has always been a hassle. Since I almost never check any other baggage. and I have to assume they bent my wheels.

I would like to say it has been a slow news week and that’s why I haven’t updated the site, but honestly it hasn’t. Most of the time I have just been juggling more things than usual. Mostly lawyers, case workers, and medical issues right now.

Last night I walked into a bar where I used to work but I still drink for free so I could eat dinner and hang out for a bit and speak to a few people I knew. The owner saw me and asked me if I was working tonight. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and pointed out the fact I don’t work there anymore. He looked at me unphased and asked if I wanted a new job. I had been trying to figure out how to repair my bicycles so I went ahead and took it.

Lets see how that goes.

Well, today I am helping mom getting prepared for Play-on con She found today that she is teaching a class on costuming in only a few hours. She is pretty exciting about it and, through that we were both offered work positions at Dragon*con. Looks like I get to go for free this year.

For the second time I had a seizure while diving into a swimming pool. I managed to get myself out of the water both times which is fortunate I guess.