G35 versus 328i

Cars. Which one? It's a battle between the Infiniti G35 sedan and the BMW 328i coupe. A weird battle in some ways because they are quite different cars. I've driven incarnations of both; see previous post for comments about an extended test drive of the G. But let's start at the beginning.

Let's consider only cars, because I don't want an SUV. I want a compact or midsize sedan, powerful, quiet and pleasant (= luxury). How doth one judge a car? Looks nearly always come first. Reliability a near second (for me). Power, efficiency, handling. Value figures in prominently.

Of all new cars, which is the most beautiful? I think that honor currently goes to the Lexus ES350, which is a strikingly gorgeous car, only spoiled ever-so-slightly but its little bit of Camry-ness.

Lexus gets the sheet metal right, and they really get the paint right. All the colors are great, but the white is particularly pearly and by far the nicest paint I've seen on a car. Problems: even Consumer Reports calls this car boring to drive. Also, it lists for around $32k but is only available as a $39k incarnation. On top of that I found the dashboard to be downright old-person-ish. A polished slab of wood with controls sticking through holes drilled by someone in shop class.

Where to from here? Who else has offerings in the $35 car entry-level lux sedan market? Almost everyone, so here goes. Audi? Nice interiors (I hear) but they're refined VWs, with the coarse engines to match. Acura? No way with the new chrome fronts, and they just never appealed to me.. fancy Hondas. Lexus IS? The 250 is underpowered, the 350 is expensive and both also rank as not-too-fun-to-drive and also have very small back seats.

I'm left with the Infiniti G and the BMW 3-series. I can't stand the rear end on bimmer's 3-series sedan, so it'd have to be the 328i coupe. First, the looks. The bimmer is a gorgeous car, simply astounding. Especially on the screen or the page. In person they can be a bit baffling, lovely one moment and funny and squashed-looking in another or from a different angle. Up close they have some details marring the perfection, such as the cutouts for the headlight sprayers. Putting those things aside, though, the 328i coupe is a car I drool over.
I stopped writing right there, because it's so obvious the 328i coupe is the car for me. Right? The problem is that the G35 has a bunch of little advantages that start to add up. First off, it looks good as a 4-door, and it's even a mid-size, with acceptable rear seat room. Four doors are handy, especially when there's usually a kid and a dog around. Second, it's got lots more power and is nearly 1.5 seconds faster to 60 mph (5.4 vs. 6.8 seconds, automatic transmissions). Third in the big-deal department, it's 6 or 8 thousand dollars cheaper when similarly equipped. Another way to say that is you get lots more for $33k in the G versus the BMW. To stay below $35k in the BMW coupe you get basically just leather as an option. Not even an automatic transmission. In the G for around $33k you get fun stuff like a 6-disc changer, XM radio, bluetooth, fancy auto-dim mirrors with compass and garage door opener, a spare tire, power front seats and a proper ipod connector. There are scads of the Gs sitting around on the dealer lot, whereas good luck finding the BMW you want, and good luck getting a price much below sticker.
I don't think you can call the G an ugly car. It's nice. But what it lacks, I think, is refinement. Car and Driver said it first, and it's a good way to differentiate the 3 from the G. It's an Infiniti, sure, but it's a Nissan. The 328 is the latest iteration in a long chain of car evolution from a company very much focused on the driving experience. Supposedly. But I think there is a lot to say for that. BMWs aren't gussied-up Minis. They are their own car. I visited the BMW dealer recently and their cars are something to behold. Sit in a G35 for a while and your impression is that they tried but they didn't quite make it. Still the darn car tugs at me. As a complete package it seems to offer a lot of value. Look at the ultimate "value" sedan: the Honda Accord. The top-end model, EX-L, retails above $28k. The G35 Journey with Premium is less than $5k more. And that makes sense because the G35 sits right there between nice econo-cars and real intro lux.

1000 miles by bike, 2500 miles by car

Yah! I did it! Kind of...

Mileage: 1000.2
Days: 90+1
Remaining: 0
Average Daily Mileage: 11.1

I had planned to go to Colorado last week, or somewhere with Debi and Mary. But circumstances brought me to Arizona. Was it absolutely necessary? Not sure, but I got to see some old friends, hike some old trails, and take care of the old house for one last week. Got things (green yard things) whipped into shape for the closing this Saturday. As of the Friday before the trip, the 1000 miles riding was not complete. Sunday was the last day, and I'd be in Tucson. So I packed up the bike, drove to Tucson. Sunday the temp reached 106 F, followed immediately by an amazing monsoonal windstorm. No ride. So I took a mulligan and did it the next day. Rode out the old Rillito pathway to Craycroft then back the other way to wherever it goes west, then home and around the "block" five times to make it to 28 miles. I thought it a bit odd that I had driven my car 1000 miles in the previous one day, but ridden my bike 1000 miles in the previous 90 days!

It was good to be back in AZ, although I couldn't get over what a dump central Tucson is. Still, it has that special magic that tugs at the heart. The smell of palo verde or creosote or whatever that is in the air (*sneeze*)... the wonderful cool nights... the beautiful mountains. We (Sabkha and me and various friends) made the trip "up the mountain" four times for hiking. Sab was tired and got tenderpaw. But you could tell she was home again. Got to see Erik and Sara and their place -- very homey and tidy and nice. Russ and Sab rekindled their friendship.

What's the new challenge? I don't know. I'm taking a little time off. Probably something like another 1000 mile challenge. Right now I'm facing "clean and fix up the house" challenge. The downed pear tree (see previous post) still is not cleaned up. I'm unpacking from AZ. Also have various sell-house-related chores. Oh yes, and there is the small matter of getting a new bike or some reward for my mileage. This post is rambling a bit, but I need to wrap up a few things and get them down on paper / on screen.

I've been obsessing over two main things: 1) whether to buy a new car, and which one; and 2) whether to move out to Katy and to which house. I'm suspecting posts on these will follow, especially on the car, because I need to clear out my mind. It's full of car.

Chop chop

Mileage: 889
Days: 83
Remaining: 7
Average Daily Mileage: 10.7

Still behind, but the goal is easily within reach. I've got seven days left and 111 miles to go. I have the day off work tomorrow and I think it's time to beat my daily maximum, so far set at 23 miles. What is next? I think maybe the 1200 Mile Challenge. It helps pace the months as they go by. Hard to believe it's been three months since the start of this challenge... in some ways seems much longer and in some ways shorter. Anyhow, I'm going to add the Twice a Week Gym Challenge to my next mileage challenge.

We had some weird storms here on the west side of Houston last week. On Thursday one storm whipped up a bunch of scary wind and hail. Sabkha and I dove for the closet as I imagined my plate glass windows imploding. A few minutes later things seemed to calm down. I went to the slider door and saw this:

Uh-oh! My Bradford Pear was on the ground, and it took out my legume tree too. Sad day. A bit of cutting later (with help from Debi and Mary) and we had this:

Not sure what to do with it now. Bit by bit I'll put it out by the trash. In other news, Debi had a garage sale and brought in about $250. It's hot as heck in Houston and we had a mostly inside-weekend, watched a movie and bummed around the houses (east side -- west side). All in all a nice time.

Catching up is hard to do

Mileage: 725
Days: 70
Remaining: 20
Average Daily Mileage: 10.35

It's been hot lately, but it's still pleasant out on the bike with the wind in your face. Who knew? Houston weather has definitely taken a turn toward the hot and humid, but after 7 PM the harsh sunlight softens a bit and the temps begin to tumble. I've been riding regularly from my house to Fry Road in Katy, and back, for a 22.4 mile round trip. 20 more days to do. I'll need to average 14 miles per day from here on to make the 1,000 miles.

In some ways it's not that far. Only 11 miles per day. But in other ways it is: that's nearly from Houston to Tucson! Or from Houston to Michigan!

This weekend was fun. Debi and Mary were out my way, ostensibly to visit me but I think really for the neighborhood pool. On Friday I went to work only to find everyone gathered outside on the lawn. Some type of explosion had occurred near the building. An hour or so later we were all released for the day. D, M and I went car shopping, first to Honda where we looked at and drove a new V6 Accord. Nice, fine, ok interior (EX), ok power but not like the G35. The CR-V seemed more fun. Debi liked the Element, which I think is the car for her (but not enough power). Next we went to the rather stuffy Lexus dealership where I looked at the ES 350 and Debi at the RX. Lovely paint, huge rear seat, nice leather, nice details. But the most basic available package was $39k. We skipped the test drive.

Sunday we parked along Highway 6 in the Bear Creek Park area and followed the paved path through the swamplands to the west. The trail ends in Cullen Park, but we didn't make it that far. It was hot and humid, but not horrible. We saw an armadillo clan and lots of medium-sized banana spiders. Mary got an Astros hat at the game on Friday.

It was a long and satisfying weekend. We capped it off by driving around in Katy and looking at houses. That doesn't sound fun, but it is. Trust me. And remember, this is Houston, people.

Bayou of Pigs

Mileage: 556
Days: 58
Remaining: 32
Average Daily Mileage: 9.6

Uh-oh, I've fallen behind. Over my four-day Memorial Day weekend I went out to northwest Texas with some colleagues from work. Blog post to follow. Today was my first ride since last Wednesday -- by far my longest ride hiatus in the Thousand Mile Challenge. I now need to average about 15 miles per day to reach my mileage goal. No snakes sighted on my ride today, but I did see three deer, three armadillos and a number of spiders. When you can see spiders from your bike at 18 mph, that's a bad sign. Two weeks ago was pig day in the bayou -- I saw about twenty pigs on one ride, including two that lumbered across the path in front of me after paralleling me for about 500 feet -- a bit scary. A mile later I saw Mr. and Mrs. Pig with family -- a bunch of adolescent pigs. All the kid-pigs ran off into the woods while Mr. Pig held his ground and snort/oinked menacingly at me as I breezed past.

I've given up on a new bike at the end -- in part because my Tucson house is reverting to caretaker status. That means much less free cash to work with. Even if I had the extra money, I'd likely divert it to paying off my short-term debts. This is a new obsession of mine, and I long to be "short-term" debt-free which means nothing but a mortgage and student loan. No car payment, no credit card debt, no money owed to parents... and I'm very nearly there. If I could sell my pesky house in Tucson I'd instantly be there.

My second paper was accepted today in final form, and will be appearing sometime soonish in American Mineralogist, after I review the proofs and polish up the final figures. Then it's on to paper #3. I wonder if I can summon the gumption to write that one up. All things pyroxene are slipping from my mind.

On the West Texas trip I read most of Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent. Rediscovering this book was fun, and it had me laughing out loud at times. However after a while I got frustrated with the way Bryson dismisses huge chunks of America without ever leaving his car. Yeah, lots of places look dumpy from the road... to discover the real nature of a place you need to leave the car and the roads and hike at least a few miles. Jump around in a canyon, climb up on some rocks. Before TLC I tried The Pearl Diver on CD and couldn't get into it. Not recommended. A colleague on the West Texas trip recommended Worst Hard Time, which is next on my list.

Humidity Spectrum

Mileage: 446
Days: 44
Remaining: 46
Average Daily Mileage: 10.1

I've fallen behind. Today I rode out to the parking lot by the shooting range. No wildlife to be seen. The last two days I was in west Texas on a well site. Returned this morning, much too early for my taste. It was hot out there, around 95. Tuesday afternoon a bunch of desert thunderclouds began to whip up, dotting the sky. So different from Tucson but from the group up it was familiar -- and I mean both the sky and the run-down and dirty city. Midland-Odessa is not shining city on a hill (but I like the place). I got my Rosa's Cafe fix -- gotta have #55, the sour cream enchiladas, although if you're hungry you'll need a second helping.

I like to drive through oil country. Strong-smelling wafts of hydrogen sulfide. Pumping units dot the landscape, some nodding and some deep asleep or decrepit. The well we were on is about 6600' deep, over a mile. I had a map of the oilfield so I'd pick out a well a mile away -- that's pretty far away -- and imagine the hole in the ground at my feet going down that far, and then some. And 6600' is not a deep well nowadays -- it's quite average.

The light is different in the desert. It's brighter, yes, but it's whiter too. It brings out contrasts. The desert light seems clean and well-scrubbed.

Back in Houston, here are some office views outta my office windder:

Middle Ring Sandbag Contest

Mileage: 388
Days: 35
Remaining: 55
Average Daily Mileage: 11.1

This weekend I raced in GHORBA's "Big Ring Challenge" at Double Lake. I wasn't ever in my big ring. It was my first race in 11 years. Debi and Mary came along, lured by promises of paddling around the lake in a canoe. That didn't happen, but they hung out and did their best to become bike hippie-groupies. Here I am at the start line. I wore a normalish shirt (light blue) since I think bike jerseys look horrible.

The race was two laps of an 8-mile course. I raced men's beginner 30-39. It turned out that the most important part of the race was done on the computer. Those who pre-registered got to line up in the order in which they registered. Those poor slobs (like me) who registered same-day got to line up behind them. The first 700 feet were on pavement where you could in theory sprint for position. In reality there were 38 riders starting in my group so we mostly just tried to avoid hitting each other. Once on the trail it was like a giant paceline. I just ate the dust from the guy in front of me for 4-5 miles. It was a slowish pace, but I could see about 20 riders ahead of me so I wasn't in a hurry to pass. The trail was tight and there were few passing opportunities for the casual racer. After about 5 miles people began to spread out and faster riders began to come up from behind. Finally I finished my first lap, where I sprinted to pass two slower riders in the huge sand pit. They got bogged down but I shot right through (left).

The second lap was more fun. I followed some people, but it was much easier to pass and the course was less crowded. In the end I placed 19th out of 38. Not bad considering I've been riding for about 35 days!

Mary was convinced I had won the race. She told everyone I won, and I wasn't about to correct her. She was pretty heartbroken, though, when we didn't win a prize during the after-race raffle.

A very blustery day

Mileage: 314
Days: 28
Remaining: 62
Average Daily Mileage: 11.2

It's hard to ride in Terry Hershey Park.

Sunday morning a cold front blew through. I rode on Sunday afternoon out west almost to Fry Road. The wind from the NNW was so strong I could barely ride. It was a wild and gusty wind, whipping my handlebars back and forth. Running south along Barker-Clodine I was easily going 30 mph at times. I could see the gusts in the trees, and much like when sailing I could "catch" the gusts, when all became silent as my speed matched that of the wind and the endless noise became silent, swoooosh, flying along... I think the coolness and dryness explains the glut of people out in the park today. After my recent crash I'm consistent with my vocalizing as I approach pedestrians, but many don't listen. I'm really terrified. Sometimes it looks like they hear but then when I pass them they let out an exclamation of surprise. I'm really sorry, but I said "rider back!" at least three times as I came up. I prefer to ride the high road, the dirt roads north of the paved path, but there the peds are almost as bad, maybe worse. They're militant about holding their ground. Oncoming walkers stride side-by-side and they don't give an inch. It seems to be a battle sometimes, walkers vs. riders, and I've been on both sides, and I know many riders are very inconsiderate.

I'm planning to race this Sunday, for the first time in 11 years. The race is at Double Lake, north of Houston near Coldspring. D and M and I went there recently for some Burley trailer single track riding. It'll be just for fun, and miles. There is an upcoming geology field trip to the Amarillo area, they have a 50-mile trail run there. Perhaps I'll alternate running with riding. 20 miles ride, 7 mile run. I went and looked at a patch of land for sale a few miles from my house, $60k for 1/4 acre. In a subrural area, surrounded by cows. That's a big city lot but a small country one. I'm passing on that one.

I recently finished reading the book "A Thread Across the Ocean" -- highly recommended. Not a long book, but a compulsive read, and a true story. The thread in question is the first transatlantic telegraph cable.

So I've ridden 314 miles in 28 days. That's not any great feat. My brother once road about 250 miles in a single day.

Thousand Mile Update

Mileage: 244
Days: 22
Remaining: 68
Average Daily Mileage: 11.1

My new "standard ride" is from home out to Fry Road in Katy and return, for a total of 22.4 miles. It's much more open and straight, with two major straight-aways. Thus it's more annoying to ride in high winds, and a bit less interesting, but it does allow for steady effortful riding. Also, they are few or no pedestrians. The old standard ride was home out to the Beltway and back, which was just over 15 miles with a detour on the spur up towards I-10. That ride was no longer challenging, although it's fun especially when I take the "high road" dirt detours. On today's three armadillo, five snake ride I was thinking that this is the most constant riding I've done in a long time. The first year in Tucson I commuted by bike, about six miles each way. 12 miles a day, but I certainly didn't ride every day. Living on Weymouth St I commuted regularly to the U of A for about five years, but that was only a seven mile round trip. As a teen I rode a lot, and I probably beat my current averages, especially in the summertime. The conclusion is that the Thousand Mile Challenge is working for me although I didn't expect it to. Not this well. Riding is still fun -- this just gives me that boost I need to get out on the bike. It makes it feel urgent and not something I can put off until tomorrow. If I do that, I have to make up today's mileage. It works well. And it's not related to the "carrot" of a new bike. I rarely think about a new bike, and in fact I cannot find one I'd want to buy. New semi-custom steel bikes in bike shops sport price tags around $3000 and up. Mass market steel bikes are generally down-market and not to my liking. Plus they gotta stick a carbon fork or stays or something on every one. So it's not the carrot. Perhaps it's the "spiral upward". I ride each day and I can see the quite tangible improvement: the first few days I could barely ride six or eight miles, and I felt terrible after. Now I can ride 22 miles (in 1:25, tonight) and feel good. Before I started riding I was starting to run out of holes in my belts. Now that problem is well under control and I've started to lose whatever little bit of white-collar belly I was gaining. I don't know where I'll spiral up to. I've already considered the next challenge -- what will it be? 20 miles a day? That's tough to maintain seven days a week. It means that most days I'll need to log 25 or even 30 miles. At some point the riding starts to take up a significant part of my free time, at which point I'd need to decide: hobby or sport of choice? But that is a long way off! I'm only 22 days into the challenge!

2 out of 7

As I write this blog entry I'm sitting outside on my patio. It's nice to see the sky, and it's relaxing to be outside. I just returned from my longest bike ride of the 1,000 Mile Challenge -- out to Fry Road and back, somewhere around 20 miles. It's been a good and long-feeling weekend, partially due to the half-day on Friday. Friday night I met D and M at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park. Houston does have some great institutions. I'm starting to like the place again -- especially with this great 80-degree, 50% humidity weather. Ahhhh. Not so desert-dry as Tucson, and not so nasty humid as summertime here. The show on Friday was Peter Pan, and we were a bit far away to see much. I brought Sabkha, which was a mistake, especially after I went to the snack bar and tried to carry back nachos and a soda. She's gotta pull every which way and sniff every other dog. Returning home Friday night, I jacked up the front end of my Subaru and removed the front wheels in preparation for replacing the brake pads. Saturday morning I stated the job and it went really quickly. The Subaru has 53,000 miles on it, mostly desert miles, so most all the bits are clean and pristine. I didn't bother servicing the caliper slides, just popped off the anti-rattle clips and popped in the brake pads (after spraying them with silly-string like anti-squeal compound). By the time my helpers (D and M) arrived, I was done. Well, M did help me put the wheels back on and tighter to spec with a torque wrench. A few spins around the 'hood and the brakes felt good as new.

Today we had the typical Sunday Morning Breakfast of yummy toast, eggs and cereal. Then we hung about a bit indecisively and finally went off to a playground in Terry Hershey Park. After that we hit the Hobby and Garden superstore out by Katy. Hmm, Sunday is sounding boring but I assure you it hasn't been. It was just a nice relaxing day. D and M headed home but first we stopped at La Madeline's inside the Beltway for a late lunch. They have an excellent tomato basil soup, and all kinds of yummy morsels.

Since I didn't ride yesterday I decided to rack up some miles today, and headed west on TH Park and down Barker-Clodine. Pretty strong wind from the SSE. Kept going past the parking lot all the way out to Fry Road. Saw five snakes, two deer, two armadillos, a rabbit and a huge black wild hog which lumbered across the pathway! 700 feet down the trail I passed a couple with their dog off leash. Yikes!

Owies

Mileage: 184
Days: 18
Remaining: 72
Average Daily Mileage: 10.2

I crashed yesterday. It was the most spectacular and injurious crash of my riding career.
The scene of the accident was Terry Hershey Park. I was returning from the Beltway, heading west. I passed a family group with a mom, dad, kids, dog. I slowed wayyyy down. Then I sped up, and ahead I saw a girl on a pivot skateboard. As I approached her, she went to the left side of the path and seemed to be steady as I twice said "rider", as I typically do when overtaking pedestrians. At the last millisecond before I passed her, she suddenly initiated a 180-degree turn. The next split second is seared into my brain: as she turned in front of me, she saw that someone was passed her and she jumped off the skateboard (or she fortuitously fell off at just the right moment). At the same time, I jerked the bike to the right to avoid her. I think what happened next is that my front wheel hopped up on the skateboard and, since I was leaning into a right turn/veer, the front wheel just rolled sideways away from me, like it was on ice. I hit the ground on my right side like a ton of bricks. Most of the damage was to my right forearm and hip. My arm bled a lot. The family I had passed belonged to the skateboard girl, and they were nice and insisted I go back to their house (on TH Park). The dad gave me a ride back to my car. I wasn't sure I'd be riding anytime soon, but today I went out for a 15 mile ride. Any day now, barring accidents, etc., I should be up to my 11 miles per day goal. Finally.

In other news, my office move day arrived. Today I packed up my final boxes and bid farewell. to my office. Monday will bring me to the adjacent building and the 13th floor. We got let out early today and I had a productive afternoon mowing the lawn and fixing the Rivendell. Both my wheels are damaged but otherwise the bike damage is cosmetic.

Oh G

In 2004 I bought what I thought was my "dream car" -- a Subaru Forester 2.5XS. It has been a good car, and a good compromise, but its all-wheel drive and ground clearance don't do much for me in Houston. It is handy for hauling the dog, and for trips to Ikea. But lately I've gotten the performance car bug. I've grown particularly fond of the Infiniti G35. So much so that I've even thought about buying one, maybe even trading in (or selling) the trusty Forester. What holds me back from doing so it that I'm currently in debt-paydown maniac mode. Nearly ever cent I make goes to paying off debt -- and I'm making good progress. But bumping up from a $400 car payment (Forester) that is due to end in one year, to a $600 payment for five more years... Well, I'm quite looking forward to ending my car payment next year. The debts will fall that much faster, and the 401k groweth. Anyhow, Debi recently suggested I try renting a G35. Hertz has them in their "Prestige" collection. What a great idea! So earlier this week I signed up for 24 hours of Infiniti.
Here are a few impressions. Overall I liked the G35. It rides nicely and is quiet inside, even at high speeds -- at least on smooth pavement. It is a bit tricky to drive because it has too much power! The approx. 300 hp 3.5L V6 is just too powerful. Combined with a tricky throttle, it made the car hard to drive smoothly. Push the gas, and nothing happened. So you push it harder until suddenly VROOM!!, the rear tires screech and the car lurches forward. Not great if you're trying to merge into traffic and you need some speed. A car like this could really use (and is available with) AWD. I was really surprised that what I liked most about this car was its 1) nice, smooth ride, and 2) quiet interior. Since these things impressed me more than the power of the engine, I think I might consider a more sedate but quieter and perhaps more refined sedan such as a Lexus ES350, which is a lovely vehicle. I didn't do any aggressive cornering. The car felt very low (of course, compared to the Subaru) and wide and heavy. It made it a bit uncomfortable to drive at first.
The interior was so-so, and got better after dark when you couldn't see all the bits of various colors. It was assembled ok but had not held up well to 21,000 miles of rental car use -- lots of dirt, smudges, etc. The seats were nice, leather, supportive. The plastics were ok but I felt my $22,000 Subaru overall had nicer cabin materials. Or at least they were put together in a more pleasing way.

Again, though, the main problem (for me) with so much power is that you can't use it -- not legally on the road. You punch it for some passing power on the highway and suddenly you're going way too fast. Accelerate from a stop sign and you'll get wheelspin and suddenly you'll be at 60 mph... watch it in those 30 mph zones. We observed 0-60 times of just over 5 seconds.
Back in the Subaru, I was happy. You can gun it and there's no way the 178 hp 2.5-liter 4-cylinder is going to spin those wheels unless you're on glare ice. It could use a little more power, but all the power that is there is 100% usable all the time. (Yep, I probably should have opted for the 225 hp turbo version). You're higher up, and visibility is better. I like the cabin better and think it looks good -- simpler than the G35. However, the suspension in the Subaru is not as good, and after 52,000 miles (many on 4x4 roads) the poor Subie has plenty of squeaks and dashboard clicks. Driving, the Subaru has a light feeling, in a mostly good way. In normal cornering it feels planted, and, well... normal. That might be because I drive it everyday. But when you turn sharply, you get a little body lean... it seems natural to me, and it gives you some feedback.

Renting the G35 has changed my entire car outlook. I'm still thinking about sedans, but I'm more interested in less power. Despite not loving the new Accord, I know it's available with a manual transmission and a slightly peppy 4-cylinder: 190 hp-ish, if I recall? The V6 is now up near 270, pretty close to G35 land... Some reviewers somewhere even said (of the new V6 Accord) -- might this be too much power for a family sedan? The G35 seems to have that problem. Get the AWD version.

1,000 Mile Challenge Update:
Mileage: 126
Days: 13
Remaining: 77
Average Daily Mileage: 9.7

Busy Elves have wrought it

Mileage: 71
Days: 8
Remaining: 82
Average Daily Mileage: 8.9

My Schwinn road bike has a terminal squeak. The "carbon fiber" (plastic) fork is contacting the aluminum head tube and making a horrible, unending squeak. I tried pouring a bunch of oil onto the affected region. It helps for about five minutes, then the squeak is back. So after work today I put together the 'ole Rivendell for the daily ride. When I say put together, I mean: play musical pedals and saddle. I have a single pair of Speedplay mountain bike pedals, which I love (total free outward heel rotation = happy knees). Those get swapped around every time I ride. And whichever bike I want to ride, it's pretty much guaranteed to be lacking a saddle. I have four bikes and three Brooks B.52 saddles. Musical saddles, except there's an extra bike, so there goes the analogy.
On the bike and down the road, the stark differences between Rivendell and Schwinn were immediately obvious (Ironical aside here: this is a Waterford-build Rivendell, and Waterford is run by Richard Schwinn, and they used to build the high-end Schwinn Paramounts). The Schwinn is twitchy. The first thing I do after hopping on is nearly fall off. The thing must have angles for crit riding. Another sad/bad thing about biking: all this racing crap coming over into the recreational biking world where is has no place, and makes recreational riders miserable, and at worst hate their bikes and maybe stop riding. After some miles I get used to the crazy nature of the geometry of the bike, and it's not bad to ride. Of course, in Houston riding is mostly in a flat, straight line. On the Rivendell, I notice several things. Stability. I can immediately (and indefinitely) ride no-hands, whereas on the Schwinn I can't ride no-hands for more than a second or two. On the Riv, from the cockpit, I can see a big fat front wheel in front of my handlebars. At first it seems like that wheel is wayyy out there. No doubt part of the secret of the stability. The Riv felt a bit slow too, but then I realized it has real road gearing, with race-inspired 42/52 up front and a pretty small 8-spd Campy cassette. This adds up to spending more time in the bottom 3-4 gears. The Schwinn has mountain-bike inspired gearing, with a triple and probably a 36-ish middle ring. Tonight I turned right and rode TH Park to the beltway. This bike path has several tight turns and swoops. On the first one I noticed that the bottom bracket felt rather low (Rivs are known for this). Through corners I'd pedal on the Schwinn, I was coasting on the Riv with the inside crank up. But that is probably a matter of my comfort level, not anything wrong with the bike. Last year when I rode out at the velodrome in Cullen Park, the alarm bells were clanging inside my head the entire time, letting me know that my outside pedal was quite close to the cement. It's amazing to me how that becomes ingrained and automatic to the point of feeling like an instinct. One last comment about Riv: I shifted way less, as it has down-tube full-friction shifters.

A map of my area with my two main rides. Click on the image for a much larger view. The pinkish line = Terry Hershey Park ride. The blue line (which was orange in AI...) = the Barker-Clodine ride. I-10 is along the top of the image, Beltway 8 is along the right side, and the Westpark Tollway along the bottom. Any guess which ride is more fun?

Ride

...a giant nuclear furnace

Mileage: 55.5
Remaining: 944.5
Days: 7
Remaining: 83
Average Daily Mileage: 7.9

Today was a two-snake ride out on the normal "route". 15 miles. My mileage isn't going so well...

This weekend Debi and I parked out at the turn-around point on Barker-Clodine and road out toward Katy. A nice trail, and a nice day -- but the sun is getting hot. You can tell summer is approaching when it's only 75 F but the sun makes it feel like 90. We rode around some neighborhoods looking at houses and watching how the neighborhoods change.

That's all the riding I got in this weekend. Hopefully a few consecutive 15-mile evening rides will bring me back up to my daily average. I feel like a kid procrastinating on his reading homework, each day thinking "well, I can finish the book if I can read 300 pages each day...".

During the day at work I think of all these things to blog about, but then I sit down here at night and nothing comes to mind. Work is work, I don't want to blog too much about that, might get in trouble.

Sunday late afternoon Debi and Mary left and I went into super yard mode. I mowed, edged, blew the clippings into the street, fertilized the grass, watered, trimmed, and vacuumed. It felt good. The yard looks pretty good except under the magnolia tree (too much shade?) and in the places where I chopped down into the turf with the mower. Interesting how something that doesn't really matter, and doesn't last (a mowed lawn) is so satisfying to accomplish...

Nausicaa

King of the bike path

Mileage: 30
Remaining: 970
Days: 3
Remaining: 87
Average Daily Mileage: 10

On the second ride, it almost seemed routine. I did the "fifteen miler" out along the north side of Barker Reservoir. The wind was strong and from the south. The entire way, the headset on my bike squeaked horribly. It was soooo annoying. I put some oil on it after my last ride to try and fix the problem. Took me about an hour, but no where near as fun as the first time. Still, I feel like my world has expanded... a little more grey is filled in with roads and trails on that map in my mind. The map that all geologists (and adventurers, and probably map-makers) have in their heads.
This here first picture is looking due east, back the way I'd come. The buildings in the distance are those of West Lake, where I work. In a few weeks I'm moving from the building on the right (West Lake 3) to the short building in the middle with the pinkish windows (West Lake 2). I'll be on the 13th floor and have a view to the south, of WL3, the pond, and the various roads. Should be much better than my current view of the A/C units atop the parking garage.
Lookin' west out toward Katy. One could like in Katy and commute to work, but it's quite a haul, and it rains a lot in Houston.
Heading south on Barker-Clodine. Much more wooded than I had expected. No snakes tonight -- instead, hundreds of caterpiller worm things.

In other (and more important) news, Debi became a citizen yesterday! After hours of grueling interviews and force-feeding of cheeseburgers and fries, then more hours of waiting, she took her oath on Wednesday morning. Now she can vote! To celebrate we went to the 59 Diner (American) at our favorite little area in Montrose, then went over to Empire Cafe for coffee.

The Thousand-Mile Challenge

It's getting Houston-y out there. About 80 degrees and foggy-misty humid. It feels really beautiful -- reminiscent of a summer day in Michigan, early.. when it's not too warm but it's humid and dewing. Last week I began riding my bike after work, now that we have some light after work. The first day hurt. My knees and butt, it felt like I was falling apart. I felt all awkward and weird on the bike. I went about eight miles. The next day I rode ten miles and felt much better. The third day I went from my house all the way to the Beltway along Terry Hershey Park. That's about 12 miles. But while TH Park isn't boring, it's become a bit routine. So on Sunday Debi and I went on an adventure ride. We rode under I-10 and along the Katy Freeway frontage road, then past ConocoPhillips and along the levee. Then back atop the levee. It's fun to explore these unknown places so close to home. Today (Tuesday) I set off on a ride as it was getting dark. I didn't have a destination, but when I hit TH Park I turned left toward Katy. I rode along the north side of the reservoir, past Subaru and then down Barker Clopine Road. It was quite a surprise, very wooded and lovely alongside the path. A dilapidated bridge crosses over Buffalo Bayou. I turned around at a parking lot that is very close to the shooting range where I was on Friday and Saturday for the COP sporting clays contest. The weather was weird and wonderful, with big threatening clouds and the setting sun poking through moodily. At the turn-around point it was getting quite dark and I flipped on my flashy headlight. On B-C road I passed three snakes! I also saw a deer along the path. Suddenly the trail was deserted (previously I was seeing riders every few minutes) and the rain started. I high-tailed it home.

Too bad my bike is a piece of junk. It's a $500 Schwinn that I bought to replace my stolen Tirreno. It's familiar to me now: I go out on a ride and have a blast, and I want to buy a lovely new bike. Classic geometry, steel road bike... maybe one of Rivendell's new creations. But it's too easy to just go buy one. And there are too many things I want to go and buy. So I thought up the Thousand-Mile Challenge. Rules: ride 1,000 miles and I get to buy a new road bike. The 1,000 miles must be done in 90 days (so just over 11 miles per day average). The Challenge began today. I'm at 15 miles.

Era of the Forgotten Camera

I've had a number of adventures lately, but few pics to prove it. Today Debi, Mary and I went to Double Lake Recreation Area, up near Coldspring, TX and Lake Livingston. It rained like crazy yesterday, but the ghorba website said this place was sandy and actually improves with some rain. Double Lake is a nice little place, almost deserted on this Sunday afternoon. Sabkha stayed at home because I thought it would be hot and didn't want to leave her in the car while we rode. We took two mountain bikes and the Burly-esque trailer of Debi's. Then we bombed down singletrack with Mary in tow in the trailer! It was great fun. I only clipped a tree once. Most of the time Mary was yelling "faster, faster!". We rode maybe 7 or 8 miles of singletrack and Debi commented on how fun it was. It reminded me of Michigan. Slightly sandy singletrack with some roots but few other obstacles. There were some really muddy sections. The mud sprayed off my rear wheel and covered the front of the trailer so Mary could barely see. After 8 miles I was pretty beat. We drove past L. Livingston, which is quite large to the point of being somewhat impressive. It felt like a long drive back, but this place deserves a camping weekend sometime soon. And I only rode through two small spider webs!

Some links to more exciting blogs

It's been a long time. I moved back to Arizona in April. I finished my PhD in August. With my dad's help, I moved all my stuff to Houston. I started work in September. I finally found an acceptable house and bought it in October. My first scientific paper was published in January (link to pdf).

Hey, look at that garage!

There are others in Houston who are longing for adventure.

There are others longing for the sky. (Ok, a little poetic license there, I'm not really longing for the sky, although I'm planning to start for my private pilot's license soon).

Today I rode my bike out along the levee of the Barker Reservoir, just 2000' west of my house. I'll post some pictures of the swamp here sometime. Excited?

Tomorrow I go to a ranch near Bandera, TX for a business meeting. I'm excited to see a little topography!

Yesterday I discovered a pipe was leaking water into my attic. (No link for that).

This blog needs a new name... ok, now it's got one.