The Blaſphemous Bicycler

I got a tiny bit more work done on the winter bike today.

I got the shifter pods installed on the handlebars. The only bar-end shifters the LBS has were Dura-Ace 9 speed (fancy pants) ones. More than I needed for this bike, (it’s only a 7-speed, and I want to use friction shifting) but it’ll do.

This bike has wierd cabling arrangements, so I need to go back for more deraileur cable housing. No matter, I’m still waiting for the brake levers, anyways.

I’m trying to justify the expense of those shifters in my head, so I’m thinking that come springtime, I’ll swap out the frame for a Karate Monkey. Then I’ll have a bad-ass mountain bike with Dura-Ace bar-ends. This plan also makes it easy to justify overspending on other parts, too

Here we go again

I don’t really like to talk about political stuff on my blog, but this horseshit has landed in my backyard, and I can’t take it anymore.

The theory, as I understand it, is this:

“The universe is so complicated, that it must have been designed by an intelligent being.”

In order for this to be an assertion of science, I think we need some stuff:

1. An objective way to measure the complexity of things
2. X = “An objective measure of the complexity of the Universe “
3. Y = “A measure of complexity such that things less complicated than Y can be accounted for by natural processes. “

If we had all those things, we could do an experiment. If X is greater than Y, the intelligent design theory is correct.

Otherwise, your theory is crap. Sit down, shut up, and leave the science to the scientists.

I have returned from the 27^th annual Falmouth Goat Races. Here are a few pictures.
This “alien abduction” themed goat won “best dressed” honors.

I thought this goat-drawn chariot was pretty cool. Thor was smiling down on this girl and her goat.

This little boy’s goat was not very interested in racing.

Here is the obligatory action shot of some actual racing.

A butterly thought my sister’s purse was good camouflage. If you look at the bigger version of this pic, the color match is more evident.

Some of the proceeds of today’s festivities went to help goat farmers in Louisianna. I thought that was pretty nice.

I had just thrown a leg over the Trek for today’s afternoon commute, when my cell phone rang. Brandi wanted me to get a few things at the store. No problem. I had a pretty small load in the Camper today, anyhow, so I stopped off at the grocery store. I got a few wierd looks from the other shoppers, since I was walking around in my cleats and jersey.Anyhow, I got everything (about 20 pounds of stuff) crammed into the Camper and made my way home. The bike felt really wierd with that much weight up so high. Very topheavy. Since I got my rack, I think it’s time for some panniers.

Now, there’s only a little over a month until my birthday, so it would be imprudent to actually go and buy something right now. In case you need some gift ideas (in addition to the stuff on my Amazon List :-)), the Carradice Bike Bureau looks very snazzy. It would make a very nice way to get my laptop and cubical-drone regalia into the office.

Sadly, it looks like the place that needs the business the most (Wallingford) is in a bit of a jam, being located in New Orleans. Maybe Sheldon has one.

For grocery hauling duty, the Arkel Utility Basket looks like it would do the trick.

Of the two, the Utility Basket is probably the more useful, and the cheaper.
Of course, it would be easier to balance on the bike if I had both