I was going to just do the 100k but I made the mistake of following the people in front of me. I missed the turn off to the 100k route and ended up doing the 100 mile route. By the time I realized it, it was too late.

Ah well.
So I'm pretty beat.
It was raining for about the first 20 miles. Well drizzling really. It was quite wet and cold. In fact I never really warmed up until the last 20 miles or so.

We then hopped over to Vertex for the climbing comp. Missy took photos and I shot some video. I'll post 'em once I get 'em off the camera (prob. not tonight)...

*yawn*
--B--

So I'm off to ride.
I don't know how far I will go yet. It's just letting up on the rain right now. And it looks like there isn't any rain for a while. But it sure was poring when I woke up.

Santa Rosa Century -- here I come!

*yawn*
--B--

I wish I was like certain people. We call them idols. I was bored today and took a quick run by Wendy Carlos' website (http://www.wendycarlos.com). Her call to fame? Switched on Bach. The first recording using the Moog Synthesizer. Ever since I heard the first notes of the album (played on an LP in grade school) I was hooked. So I currently own all her albums in their fancy HI-D CD releases (and most in their original CD releases as well). In her news page she mentioned working on a new studio layout for her home studio.

She had certain requirements. She needed easy access to four keyboards and wanted a pedal board (like those you find on Pipe Organs). Plus she needed to have a computer (or two) close by. Since nobody made any sort of rack like she was looking for, she decided to design her own.

The resulting unit, which she named Wurlitzer II, is WAY impressive. I've only made it through the first page of how she did it. The first page being why, influences, and how she made the pedal board and I'm way impressed. In fact whenever she writes up anything on her website I'm always way impressed. It's always written very techincally but I still manage to follow it. Like her article on how to bake tapes of recordings from the early 70's (since dampness makes them stick together after many moons).

So check out the site above -- and check out her new layout -- it's truly a dream setup.

--B--

So today is another build day for me. This one has been a bit more stressfull -- more then normal at least. Ah well -- such goes my life.

I put in the second HD and 7.1 surround sound card into my system last night. It went smoothly until I noticed that the firewire device controller wasn't working ("Windows failed to start the device" is the message I get). I'll probably just scrap it and reload again. Not that big of a deal really. It loads the os SUPER fast (20 minutes or so). I also put on the left side panel to see if it would get too hot but it ran just fine. So I unplugged two of the three fans I had plugged in while trying to figure out my problem last time and everything was just fine -- no crashes at all. So now I just have the fan that sits right above the CPU heatsink. I've got a variable knob for that guy so I can slow it down as well if needed. I might try it unplugged but not just yet.

We went and saw They Might Be Giants on Monday. The show kicked ass. They performed as a "cover" band the entire album, Flood (released in 1990). After a short break they came back on stage and performed another "regular" set of their other hits. If I had more energy I would've gone again last night but I was rather low on it.

The weather around here has really been odd. Heavy showers for 10-20 minutes and then clearing up. Of course, since I bike, I always get caught in them no matter when I leave. They are also the type of showers that can be pouring on one side of the street while the other side is dry. It's crazy.

It's supposed to rain on Saturday. Saturday is the day I'm supposed to ride in the Santa Rosa Century. Not sure if I'm going to do it yet or not. I really dislike biking in the rain and getting wet and cold. We'll see tho. That afternoon is the climbing comp at Vertex so I have to be back by 3pm to get over there and take pictures/video.

*ugh*
Busy week.
--B--

So yesterday I head over to the Cambria Bike store as they were having a semi-organized road ride. I figured it would be a good warmup for the century this coming weekend.

I was told it would be around 55 to 60 miles with moderate climbs. No problem -- or so I thought. It quickly turned into a 70 mile epic road eventure. I'm just lucky it didn't start raining until *after* I got home!

The ride went from Rohnert Park, down several back roads, and ended up in Occidental before looping back around. There were some very serious climbs along the way. In fact the entire second section of the ride was basically one long climb split up by short (but steep) downhills. It was very nice outside so it was a fun ride overall.

Would I do that exact route again? Maybe with more time at a slower pace. Oh -- and if I had taken a little more food with me. They provided bannanas and apples at the second stop but it was too little too late for me. I should have planned it out better and had some Gu20 or some other re-energizing drink on me as well. Water goes a long ways towards rehydrating you but it just doesn't do a great job when you are depleted of energy.

I'm going to have to go out with the directions and actually drive the route so I can memorize it. There were lots of twists and turns on country roads that I don't think I'd quite remember 100%. Once I get the directions updated (along with distances) I'll post 'em all for everyone to see so you can all participate in the pain that I now feel (the next day).

Lucky for me, I was told that the century ride this weekend should be quite a bit easier without nearly the same amount of hill climbing that we had on the ride yesterday.

Thanks to Paul, Jeff, and Dave from Cambria Bike for putting it together. Your store kicks ass and you guys are great riding companions! Oh -- and thanks to Paul for hanging towards the back for us slower peoples. I was up towards the front for the first third of the ride and then when we started hitting super steep and long stuff I started dragging. But I'll work on it!

--B--