Yesterday I volunteered to serve as a course monitor (on my bicycle) at the Knoxville Marathon. From time to time I participate in similar cycling events and this is one way I can “give back” to the event volunteer community. Plus, it’s interesting watching people competing.
This year I was assigned to ride along with the five hand cyclists. Essentially I ended up serving as a “sweeper”–i.e, riding along with the last guy.
That turned out to be an older guy (50-something?) who claimed to be out of shape, but who did pretty well. He had to pause briefly on a some of the hills to catch his breath, but no longer than 10 seconds. He finished in under 3 hours.
I don’t know if I would last 10 miles on a hand cycle. They look like they require more arm strength than I have. Climbing hills is bad enough on a bicycle where you can use your body weight. Those look much tougher.
A few photos:
Starting at twilight
On the course
Finish line in Neyland Stadium
Stadium shots
Fortunately, I was off the course and en route to my car when the rains hit. I’m somewhat wimpy when it comes to wet cycling.
Overall, it looked like another great event. Kudos to everyone who made it possible.
March 2010
Why Are People Such Shills For The Health Insurance Industry Status Quo?
As I see it the financing mechanism that is health care insurance adds exactly zero to the quality of health care that I get. If I knew of a better option, I could walk away from Blue Cross today and not feel the slightest loss.
And yet some people act as if the sky is falling over the fact that insurance companies are now subject to more regulations (which promote equality).
What are people so attached to? I don’t get it.
Baking Bread
For months I’ve been baking bread, or trying to. I went through quite a bit of trial and error and had a lot of problems getting it to rise correctly.
Finally, I’ve adopted a method that’s been turning out consistently good. I use the bread machine to mix and knead the dough, then I transfer it to the oven to rise and bake.
I add the following ingredients to the bread machine (in this order):
1 cup + 2 or 3 tablespoons of hot tap water
1 1/3 teaspoon margarine (thinly sliced)
1 1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoon of yeast
I manually mix up the dry ingredients (flour and yeast) on top of the water before I turn the machine on.
The bread machine mixes for 10 minutes, rests for 10 or 15 minutes, and then kneads for another 15 minutes. While it is running I frequently monitor it to make sure it is mixing/kneading the dough and not just spinning it around and around. I add a little extra flour while it is kneading until the dough reaches the proper consistency (just slightly sticky).
After it finishes kneading, I remove it from the machine, put it in a greased pan, and let it rise in the warmed oven for about an hour.
Finally, I bake for 30 minutes at 350F.
