The project starts

The project starts
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley.

To keep me out of trouble, and numerous other reasons that I'll detail later, I've decide to build myself a single speed bike. It's a bit odd really because it was cool to have a bike with loads of gears when I was a kid. I remember having a sturmey archer three speed and being jealous of my friends who had ten and even twelve speeds leat alone the unheard of twenty-seven speed road bike I have now.

I bought some essential components in Boston last week from an awesome shop specializing in single speeds and track bikes:

- a pair of wheels - These don't have a quick release skewer like normal wheels as the rear wheel needs to be held firmly to keep tension as there is no rear derailleur. The rear wheel is what is known as a flip flop as it allows you to have a fixed gear one side and a freewheel on the other; you just lip the wheel around to change over.

- chain ring and cranks - only one ring needed as I only want one gear. This saves modifying a normal one; and it's nice and shiny!

- rear cog - this is fixed to the wheel so it rotates at the same rate so I cannot coast. This makes cornering and downhills interesting!

- rear freewheel cog - a single gear but able to freewheel so I can coast down big hills if I get tired.

- chain - rear gears are packed tightly onto a cassette to save space for the rest of the wheel and this requires a narrow chain. My chain can be wider as I only have one gear; this extra strength is useful for braking when using the fixed gear.

- bottom bracket - the cranks fit onto this and it contains nice sealed bearings. They threw this in for free considering how much the rest cost me.

I bought the bike for $40 from Fernando, a pre-law student currently studying for his finals. It was advertised on "craigs list" which is a local listing classified, which turned out a lot cheaper than ebay. His mum drove him and the bike to me at work which even saved me from navigating across Arlington. Most of the components are ropey, but I was planning to replace most of them anyway. The frame is in pretty good nick considering it is about twenty five years old, but importantly it does have diagonal rear dropouts which will allow me to tension the rear chain by moving the rear wheel.

Boston

Boston 02
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley.

This week I was mostly in Boston Thankfully the rain stopped and the weather warmed up so it was quite pleasant. Unfortunately it started raining again by the time I got to Pittsfield, which meant I had to run inside instead of around the woods :o(

The flight back from Albany was cancelled and I had to catch a later flight, but at least the roads were stil quiet.

I wussed out cycling on Friday because thunderstorms with golf ball size hail was forecast, but most of the storms held off until early Saturday morning.

Sunny (San) D

Sunny (San) D
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley.

I flew out to San Diego on Sunday for a meeting and the timing couldn't have been better. The weather in the East is abysmal; torrential rain in DC and snow in New England. As you can see it's nice and sunny here in southern California, although it is a bit cool in the evening without a jumper.

Being so close to Mexico, I've managed to have Mexican food for dinner almost every night; bliss.

The place we were working at this week trains dolphins and seals, the Navy seals (our version of the SBS) trained across the water, but I doubt they were as interesting or cute. We weren't able to get right next to the pens, but we saw the dolphins breaching and jumping; I think the seals were on their break.

I managed to get running again, it's easier when it's sunny, but the route given by the hotel was mainly on concrete pavements and roads. It's not fun running in a cycle lane on a 45mph road! Stupidly I ran the full six miles so I could get to the park and paid for it with aching thighs and calvesfor the next two days. Tonight I drove to the park and ran four miles on the grass - bliss!

I've brought myself a few presents including a new SD card for the camera. I've gone from 16meg to 2gig which means I can go from six high resolution photos to over 1000, so you may see some better photographs.

I'm off to have my cookies and milk, which the hotel delivered as a leaving present, before I ring Helen (8 hours ahead of me).

Posing
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley.

We woke up to a snow covered vista this morning and got out of the house nice and early and up to the National Zoo to check out the wildlife. It was well worth it and although we had planned to spend an hour or two there we didn't leave until well in the afternoon. The star of the show was Tai Shan the two year old Giant Panda romping around in the snow, but there were loads of other good exhibits; check out the rest of the photographs on Flickr (just click on a picture in any posting). Some of the animals were in insufficient environments and others a day in the DC snow wasn't appealing, certainly the African exhibits. But there were also some excellent exhibits including the Amazon environment complete with steam room; sorry rain forest, fully equiped with hidden macaws and poison arrow frogs.

Despite the freezing weather we made it to the ball game.

Nats Vs Diamondbacks
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley.

Having applied a little thought we bought a fleece throw to snuggle under and were relieved to see there were many duvets and blankets in evidence around the stadium.
As you can see we were seated right behind home plate which gave us an awesome view. Luckily there were also TV screens so we could keep track of the game and see why a strike had been given or not.
We picked up some of the rules and some of the tactics although a lot seemed to rest on whether you could hit the ball or not. The only downside of the evening was that we lost big time; our only score was a single, disputed, home run.

Free throw
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley.

We don't have any pictures from Titus Andronicus because of copyright issues and it would have annoyed the actors. It's probably a good thing anyway because, although it's not the bloodiest, it's probably the most violent of Shakespeares plays. The baseball was manic with loads of dancing, jumping, t-shirts, burritos and, course, some sport. We got free t-shirts and fan towels (you twirl them above your head to encourage your team). I think we needed more towels as the Wizards lost again :o(

Holy and Kitty spent yesterday afternoon being Mall Rats while I whiled away the time in a nice quiet bookshop.

Believe it or not there were snow flurries this morning and snow showers are forecast tomorrow, just in time for the baseball.

Weeping Cherry
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley.

Catherine arrived late last night and after a leisurely breakfast of home made blueberry pancakes we drove up to Crystal City and caught the Metro to DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival. We overheard somebody compain about everybody admiring and photographing the blossoms in one place as there were "plenty of apple blossoms on the other side of the lake".

The weather was a bit overcast, and the crowds (near the car parks) were big but the blossoms have hit their peak and were breathtaking. We're now both tired and have aching legs from all the working, so were sat downstairs reading the Sunday paper and watching the squirrels running around.

We're having a quiet evening on Monday and then it's a busy week: Titus Andronicus on Tuesday, Basketball on Wednesday, Washington Zoo on Friday and Baseball and Mount Vernon on Saturday. I should have an easy night on Thursday as Kitty should be going shopping with Holly.