Blue Heat

 Yesterday and today, I took morning rides ahead of the most intense heat and humidity we’ve had so far.

At Fort Totten Park, I thought about something I learned a long time ago in a science class:  Blue stars are hotter than red, orange or yellow ones. As I have never been outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, I had a hard time imagining that.  Gazing out to the Long Island Sound, it was a little bit easier:  I could practically feel steam rising from the water.

Oh, I was wearing a blue top. The after-ride shower felt really good!

Fabulous Fourth

Happy American Independence Day!

Of course, if you're in the USA, you simply say, "Happy Fourth!"

With that in mind, I am sharing what has to be one of the best annoncements of a 4th of July ride I've ever seen.

The ride was actually scheduled for the First, which was Saturday.  There were really two rides:  a "long" loop of 68 miles (a bit more than a "metric century") and a "short" one of 35 miles.  Both  took riders through the environs of Tryon, North Carolina.

I am going for a ride:  I haven't decided to where, or how long or on which bike.   With that in mind, I'll let you on another part of my journey--if you can keep a secret. (So why am I mentioning it on a blog that's had a couple million views? you ask.  Fair enough.)  You see, today, I'm celebrating something else:  my birthday.  It's not a round-number birthday, but it's significant in another way.  I'll let you guess at what it is.  All I'll say is that I am still in the middle of my life, i.e., in midlife, as long as I don't know when it will end.

Will This Bicycle Ever Gain Traction?

When (mostly) young people with self-taught computer skills have too much time on their hands, they...hack, steal identities and scam people.

When engineers (again, mostly young)have too much time on their hands, they create technically sophisticated and completely impractical things.  At least they're doing it for fun, at least sometimes.

A case in point is a bicycle without wheels.

Now, this bicycle could, at least in theory, move across certain kinds of terrain and roadways. 

Here, however, the term "move" is somewhat elastic.  Yes, they can traverse said real estate but, as one commenter said, "Finally, some one made a mode of transportation that's as fast as walking with ten times the effort."

Just what the world was waiting for, right?