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Battery + Power Supply: Go

Published March 20, 2010

Today I received the voltage regulators to be used in the aforementioned power supply for the Bicycle Video Recorder that I’m working on. They fit perfectly in the PCB that I’d made, and worked exactly as expected. As the battery had a slight charge when received from All-Battery.com I was able to use it to test out the assembled power supply — as seen above — and I’m getting a proper 5V and 12V out of it. This is good.

Tomorrow I’ll give the battery a full charge, as I want to do the first charge in a relatively safe area, just in case something bad happens. I’m also hoping to finish up the routing and assembly of cables that will hold it all together. After this is done the setup should be ready to record video, and I should then be able to take it for a test ride and get on with battery life tests.

Figuring out where to run all the wires (out which sides of what) and how to bundle it all up in the bag will be a bit of a challenge. I’ve got an assortment of foam to use for padding things, but I’m not yet sure how I’ll arrange it all. The SanDisk V-Mate needs open access on the top during use, and the battery has to remain easily removable / unpluggable after use.

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Jacket Potato: Part Deux

Published March 19, 2010

Here’s a second take on a jacket potato, much larger than the previous go 14 months back. This was consumed with a bottle of North Peak Brewing Company’s Majestic Wheat Ale, a not-that-wheaty-but-still-decent almost-pale ale. While eating this Danielle had her own baked potato, with a steak and a small pile of the same mushrooms.

The mushrooms were washed and quartered, then sauteed in olive oil and butter along with garlic, onion, salt, black pepper, and a bit of white wine. It was quite good, but probably would have been better with more butter and less cheese.

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Danielle Rides Trails!

Published March 19, 2010

Today after work Danielle and I headed out to Stony Creek so she could try out her new 29er on some trails. Prior to today she hadn’t ridden a bike off road, and despite some initial (but quickly alleviated) fears about how a bike feels when it’s on loose gravel she did great. We rode most of the easy two-track; following the route P-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-17-18-19-5-4-3-2-1-P as seen on this map.

Here is another photo of Danielle, this time riding her bike and approaching marker #6 just before the entrance to The Pines.

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Macomb Orchard Trail in March

Published March 15, 2010

Since the trails are still thawing and thus generally unridable, a group of us got together tonight to ride the Macomb Orchard Trail from Onyx Ice Arena to the bridge over M-53 and back. Instead of driving up Jon and I decided to leave from my house to add a few more miles on it. The result ended up being 2:41:45 of moving time to cover 37.2 miles, for an average of 13.7 MPH. Peak speed was 24.6 MPH, likely achieved on the hill down from the bridge over M-53, even though there are times when I knew I was above 20 MPH on flat ground with the wind at my back.

Despite being a bit cold and with a 15 MPH headwind on the way out, with particularly chilly spots near the still-frozen low-laying swampy areas, it was a really nice ride. I didn’t eat enough and ran out of energy a few times, but small handfuls of granola and a bottle of double-strength HEED helped with that.

I also gave the aforementioned sample contact lenses a try tonight with some clear-lens protective glasses and they worked out very well. Without astigmatism-correcting lenses my vision wasn’t as perfect as it could be, my eyes weren’t dry and I could see quite well. I’ll wear another pair some other time this week and be sure that it’s not a fluke, but I’m pretty sure that these worked out well.

Now, off to get some more to eat, but only after figuring out why my furnace won’t light.

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Contact Lenses

Published March 12, 2010

Today I made a stop at Costco and visited the eye doctor inside to get some contact lenses. I’d tried getting them back in 2002 or so, but found that I didn’t really care for them at the time with my eyes feeling dry almost all the time. Now that I’ve been biking a lot I find myself wanting sunglasses, but it’s both difficult and rather expensive to get them in prescription models, and even if I do it’s necessary to carry a pair of clear lenses if I’m out late enough that it becomes dark.

This eye exam was much different than the last, with a device being used to determine how much correction my eye needs then the results of this confirmed with the old fashioned lens-based eye exam tool. This is much nicer than the old “This or That”, “One or Two”, “A or B” method. This was followed up with a puff-less glaucoma test, inspection of my retina, and then application of a fluorescent dye and close-up inspection of the surface of my eye and tears.

The device which automatically determined my prescription displayed an image of a hot air balloon with three colored stripes, which I suspect is really the image it looks for on my retina, with the three colors being used so it can compensate for chromatic aberration. It also measured my pupillary distance, which the doctor noted on the prescription after I asked for it so that I can use said prescription to order glasses online.

Hopefully I’ll have some time this weekend and throughout this week to try out the daily disposable contacts that I was given. This type was suggested to me by the doctor after I told him that I only plan on wearing them on days when I’ll be riding my bike, and that otherwise I’ll probably just wear my glasses. He told me that he uses this type as well when playing softball and is quite happy with them.

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Peter’s Brand Classics Imported Lager Beer, A Dutch Style Pilsner

Published March 10, 2010

The low quality can look and amusing labeling of Peter’s Brand Classics Imported Lager Beer (A Dutch Style Pilsner) prompted me to spend the US$6.99 to try a six-pack of it from Trader Joe’s. It’s not bad, but it’s not really great. This wouldn’t be bad to keep around for summer days and eating with random spicy food and pizza, but it’s nothing great. Still, it’s not bad.

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Stuffed Shells

Published March 8, 2010

Last night someone very special made stuffed shells for dinner, and now I’m eating leftover ones for dinner tonight at work. This is very, very tasty. I only wish I had some of the super-awesome garlic bread that was also made by said super-special person.

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Black Singles?!?

Published March 7, 2010

There is an unexpected preauthorization for $14.99 from Black Singles on my HSBC credit card. It was just over a year ago that there were other unexpected charges on this card resulting in it being cancelled and a new number issued. I’ll be calling HSBC in the morning.

At least this time it didn’t happen just as I was leaving on vacation.

UPDATE: HSBC is waiting until the charge posts or not. This worries me slightly, as a preauth shouldn’t happen without card number and expiration date, which is a mighty hard combination to guess.

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Spring Has Sprung!

Published March 7, 2010

Setting out for a ride from Mt. Clemens at roughly 12:30pm today we headed out to Metro Beach and back along the pavement. The spring thaw has made the trails sloppy and unridable, so pavement is the only current option. The excellent weather that we’ve been having was perfect for riding a springtime paved weather bike ride, exactly the kind of shakedown the Titus needed so I could get a good feel for the bike geometry, shifting, new bar, etc. I logged roughly 22.2 miles over 1:34:04, making for a moving average of 14.2 MPH.

Such a nice day. :)

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