I sometimes wish the phrase “no sweat” were part of my vocabulary. Okay, I know that sweating is a natural process that serves a purpose, so perhaps I’d like to add “little sweat” to my vernacular.
Five minutes of pulling weeds on this 60°F morning had me in full sweat. Much more sweating and I will have to take another shower before I go in to work.
This morning I am waiting at home for the A/C company to come out and assess health of the ITP Estate’s A/C. I was pulling the weeds (ivy, mostly) from around the compressor outside in order to facilitate this process.
And In The End
I wound up suffering a lot yesterday afternoon, but by the time 6pm rolled around my nose mostly behaved. I even employed the Umbrella Principle — you know, bringing an umbrella to ensure that it won’t rain — by buying a small pack of tissues, Papiertaschentücher (paper handkerchiefs, which is funny given that “handkerchief” is itself a compound noun made from the words “hand” and “kerchief”) in German, to ensure that my nose wouldn’t run during class.
My scheme mostly worked. The wine may have also lent a hand in curing my running nose.
I’m a little sniffly right now, perhaps I should keep the tissues nearby all day today.
ITP Flickr Pic
“Old School” (Atlanta, GA)
While walking through the parking garage of Colony Square last night I saw this “old” bicycle.
This ride had all of ten gears, five in the back and two up front. Ah the days of having the gear shifters on the gooseneck. I don’t miss those days…
I Started The First Process Of What I Will Be Doing In Germany That’s Not Hashing
My Germany trip next month (next month?!?!) was predicated on doing German Nash Hash. I have also committed to staying in the Düsseldorf/Cologne area for one extra day to do the Full Moon Hash that will be hared by former-Atlanta-resident Colonel Clit.
Yesterday I started the booking process for a six-night bicycle trip from the city of Mainz to the city of Cologne. According to the Google this trip is 188km (116 miles) long. The route will follow the Rhine River (read “should be mostly flat”). Mainz is only a short train ride from Düsseldorf/Cologne, but it will apparently take me five days of riding to make it back. LOL. The first night of the trip is an overnight stay in Mainz.
I’m waiting for a callback from the travel agency to ensure that hotels can be secured for each leg of my journey, and to give me a final price for this trip. The base price is € 499, but then there are surcharges for me being a singleton, and for the category of hotel chosen. There are two hotel category — “A” which is defined as “3- and 4-star comfortable, middle-class hotels” and “B” which is defined as “Family-owned guesthouses and hotels”; I chose “B”, which sounded more challenging for my language skills. I probably should have inquired as to which of these categories were cheaper.
Goddamn You IPv6
Some people are telling me that my Google/YouTube woes at home are because of AT&T’s poor handling of IPv6. If you don’t have any idea what “IPv6” is, you are lucky.
Riding My Modern Again?
When I do head into the office this morning I will also be toting my bicycle with me in hopes of going out for the weekly Wednesday ride. This lack of rain may be allowing the temperatures to rise, but it also allows me to go out for much-needed bicycle rides.
I need to keep riding because the pants keep feeling tight…
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
There’s an interesting article in this month’s Atlanta Magazine about Colony Square and it’s origins and development. I don’t think I ever realized what it was before. There’s a food court? Residences? I just thought it was business office buildings. Huh. Is there anything in there worth checking out?
Good luck with the A/C surgeons! Let us know how it goes.
There is currently a food court with many available spaces. There was a gym inside Colony Square until just recently as well. I am told that the company doing the renovation of Colony Square is considering removing the glass ceiling, that was apparently added at a later time, making it an open-air food court again. I think this is an awful idea for Atlanta, but then again what do I know.
Is there anything worth checking out? No, not really.
One of my former German classmates lived in the condos that are a part of Colony Square.
I just got a call from the A/C company, supposedly their person will arrive by 9:30am.
Did I read that right? A 6 day trip that covers 116 miles? Sounds like fun but you can walk that far in that time.
I had a very zen like ride in to work this morning. I never turned on my music so just riding to the sound of the tires on the ground, the gears working, and the birds chirping made it very peaceful. I didn’t want it to end.
The trip is six nights, with five days of riding. So yeah, about 25 miles per day. I may enquire about take an offshoot or two as long as I get to the specified town in time for dinner, beer, and sleep. 🙂 It’s not a long/far trip, but given that it ends near the town from which I fly home it was far too convenient to pass up.
As an added bonus the tour company will figure out where I will stay each night. Less work for me!
There is also a new remodel design for CS floating around. I saw the teaser on FB then couldn’t get it to load. Did the gym close? The only notable food court service is the noodle place (that I can’t remember the name of) and whatever they put into the former “Shout” space. Also a “Tamarind Seed” Thai place that seems to do OK. I’m sure the rent is outrageous for those little food stalls. Got to be a tough market.
I managed almost 20 miles last night, and as I rolled down my gravel road towards home, I heard that distinct sound of a rock meeting my rim. I knew this was not good and sure enough, 50 yards from the driveway, I was off and walking my flat. Glad it wasn’t more of a walk than that.
I’m a little curious about this 6 day ride covering <120 miles. Surely there is some mis-translation or something?
-FP
A/C guy is here! 😀
Shout! is still empty. The food court, which is mostly open for lunch only, consists of Chick-fil-A, Tin Drum, Moe’s, Blimpie’s and a couple of non-chain (?) fast food places (a burger place, a Mediterranean place, etc).
The gym closed a month or so ago.
I don’t think anyone is “missing” anything, I really think this is a non-cyclist tourist trip. Apparently cycling road trips are quite popular in Germany (Europe?).
Here’s the itinerary:
Day 1: Mainz
From one of the metropolitan airports, it is possible to take a train to Mainz. Upon your arrival in Mainz, you should visit the Roman-Germanic Central Museum, Gutenberg Museum, Emperor’s Cathedral and Electors Castle. Your rental bikes will be at the hotel.
Overnight in Mainz.
Day 2: Mainz – Rüdesheim (19-31 mi/35-49 km)
The beautiful first stage leads through rolling vineyards and well-known wine villages. The Rhine flows unhurriedly, forming little islands and broadening its bed up to a width of 2600 ft/800 m. Before you reach Rüdesheim you may choose to ride an additional 9 mi/14 km to visit the half-timbered town of Eltville and Monastery Eberbach, which are both worth seeing.
Overnight in Rudesheim
Day 3: Rüdesheim – St. Goar (24 mi/38 km)
Grand castles line today’s route. You definitely should climb up to the Loreley! A hiking path leads up to this lovely spot and offers a beautiful view of the narrowest part of the romantic Rhine Valley.
Overnight in St. Goar
Day 4: St. Goar – Koblenz (22 mi/36 km)
Further on in the narrow Rhine Valley, the route first heads to Boppart. If you wish you can go to Vierseenblick, or Four Lake View, by cable car. Alternatively, you could choose to visit ‘Deutschen Eck’ in Koblenz to see the well-preserved Castle Marksburg and Castle Stolzenfels.
Overnight in Koblenz
Day 5: Koblenz – Bad Godesberg (36 mi/58 km)
You have so many options for stops along today’s route, like cozy health resorts, inviting wine villages, thermal baths and beer gardens. You can also choose to take a break from cycling and take an enjoyable boat trip on the Rhine. Between Koblenz and Bad Godesberg, anything is possible!
Overnight in Bad Godesberg
Day 6: Bad Godesberg – Cologne (27 mi/43 km)
Bonn is an inviting stop along today’s route and offers a view of Cologne Cathedral. Today’s stage is not very long, and you’ll have enough time to admire the many sights of Cologne.
Overnight in Cologne
Day 7: Cologne
Nobody wants to leave, but after a week in the beautiful Rhine Valley the tour ends in Cologne.
Most important info of the day – electrical & framing inspections have passed!!!!
I know this doesn’t mean much to you all – but damn – it is a great day. Framing inspector said if we do the siding we can get the final final & be done with this whole damn permit process. Allan wanted to do the inside walls first (so we can get the crap out of the basement) but plans may have changed.
Any of you ever installed siding?????
The Germany trip sounds interesting – if there are bars to stop at along the way, it will be good RAGBRAI training. Then – 25 miles a day could take all day.
We should have ridden last night, but did a little yard work & then just had a nice dinner out on the deck. Got a delivery of a case of white wine from a friend that joined a wine club while we were in CA (so I didn’t have to join). It was $5 shipping, just couldn’t pass up that deal. This is why I’m broke.
Hurray for Barb and Allan!
I’ve never done any siding work.
I think that bike trip is a really nice way to wind down the trip (it’s at the end, right?). It’s still over 20 miles a day, and not every bike ride has to be a monster ride. 20-30 is still pretty decent in my book and I’m guessing will be at a nice pace so you can enjoy the scenery and local flavor. Sounds perfect to me.
Paulie, PLEASE say you’re going to make every effort to take photos and blog this trip. Not necessarily blog in real time here but to do a travel blog on your return (might necessitate taking notes along the way, of course). I’d love to “follow you” through Germany!
The trip should end a day or two before I fly home. It’ll be near the airport from which I return, so the timing is perfect.
I will have two cameras with me, my iPhone, and my Nikon V1. Given that this is not a guided tour I get to go at my own pace, so I should have ample time to take photos and notes. I plan to upload photos and blog, when time and internet access permit.
And for the cycling nerds, this for this trip I will also bring my own shoes (mountain), pedals, and pedal wrench. Not that I will really need clipless pedals for this journey. I cleared that I could do this with the travel agency yesterday.
and- what kind of bike will you be riding?
I think it sounds like fun, you can stop wherever, for as long as you want.
Here are the bike options according to the website:
Hybrid touring bike, 27-speed
Hybrid touring bike, 7-speed, back pedal brakes
Electrically assisted bike, FLYER C-Series
Tandem bike, 24-speed
Children’s bikes
I assume that I will go with the first one.
Your own pedals and shoes are a good choice. Knee problems are not fun on vacation- and measure your saddle height on your road bike (and bring a little tape measure)!
I did siding work on the barn at the old house. Wasn’t Hardy Plank…
Good point about the tape measure. Oh, and I’ll also have to pack my own helmet.
When I go to Vermont in August I’ll be riding some fancy-pants Cannondale bike. I wanted to bring my bike, but don’t want to deal with the hassle of getting it there and back on Delta. If I’d known that I might have the “free” time that I may have in August I probably would have planned to drive to Vermont and back, taking the bicycle with me.
A/C verdict is that things look “ok” but the system needs about 1.5 pounds of the “old” (read “more expensive”) coolant. Looks as if I’ll be forking over another $125 for this visit. However, if it means the house will be comfortable all summer long then that’s money well spent.
You could ship it ahead, if there is a location to ship it to.
Also measure the seat to handlebars and see if you can get them close to normal. Depending on the frame, you may be able to get at least a similar ride as your normal bike.
Perhaps…
The other day I got an email offer to ride with Jens Voigt. It’s an official Trek Travel ride, Voigt’s doing them in a few places including near Greenville. It sounds fun, however.
1. I don’t have the extra time.
2. It is prohibitively expensive ($3999!).
3. I could never keep up with the hammerheads who’d pay to do this sort of ride.
Depending on how things go this year, I may line up a Ireland/Scotland trip/ride next year as well as another ride somewhere in the US/Canada.
Shipping a bike has gotten pretty expensive – if you deal with Delta its way too much, if you Fed Ex or UPS it, you need to pay someone (as in a bike shop) to assemble & then break it back down to ship home. Sometimes I think it is worth it to just use the rental bikes.
Looking at some of the prices at other Trek Travel trips, this industry has become HUGE! One can book a cross-country trip, Portland to Portland (Eastward), for $17,299. But when am I going to have this much money AND 45 consecutive days to spare — when I’m young enough to make such a journey? Who am I kidding, it’s far too late for me to consider a trip of this magnitude.
I don’t recall how much I am paying for the Vermont ride, around $2,200 if memory serves me (I’ve paid a deposit, the balance, some singleton fees, as well as for travel insurance).
That germany bike trip sounds fun! 25 miles a day means taking your time and really enjoying the countryside.
and holy shit! 17 grand for a bike trip? That is insane!
A friend once did the cross country trip with a family of 5 and him on 3 tandems. They took most of the summer, but it was certainly the trip of a lifetime. I think I would get pretty tired of riding after a few weeks…
Riding with Jens sounds like fun, except you’re with hundreds of others, all trying to get their selfies. If it was 20 people, for that price it might be worth it.
AHEM. No 5/26 blog yet? Come on….your people are waiting!
Preach on!!
It went up shortly after your outbursts of disgust. 😛