Rain, Rain...Go Away

We have had a few days of solid rain with lots of wind, and here is the end result:



I know I said we were right on the water before, but I was speaking figuratively. It is about to become a literal statement:





Hopefully the rain has stopped...or we'll be switching sites!



Living the life in wet and cloudy Virginia!

Aquatica Water Park

Today we hit the water park. This is the warmest day we've had in some time, so we took full advantage of it.

Mystery Photo #1 Man and Woman

This is the first in a series of unidentified photographs from the Charles Wiseman Family Bible. See this post for background information.
Tintype. 2 ¼" x 3 ½" Note the tacks in the picture, one at the top and two below. This is a picture of a picture!
Could this be Samuel Bray, Sr. (1797-1885) and Susanna Ball (1797-1877), the parents of Naomi Bray Wiseman? Do you think the man and woman have similar facial features? Samuel and Susanna were first cousins, both born in Kentucky. Their parents moved to what would become Kentucky from Hampshire/Frederick County Maryland about 1785. What clues are there that might help date it? As always, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Weight Distribution Mysteries

One thing that continues to mystify me about frame design, is how different bicycles react to weight distribution. Over the years, I've really found this aspect of a bicycle's handling to be a wildcard. My Rivendell Sam Hillborne is built like a typical mid-trail touring bike, which, it is said, makes it optimal for carrying heavy loads in the rear but only moderate loads in the front. However, I prefer to ride this bike with an enormous handlebar bag, and it does very well with it. It also handles well with a saddlebag and panniers, but interestingly the handlebar bag - with the same amount of weight in it - does not appear to affect speed at all, whereas the saddlebag does a bit. If I am going on a fast ride, Iremove the saddlebag butdo not bother removing the handlebar bag. All of this is just fine with me, because I find it far more convenient to keep my stuff in the front for easy access. But it goes against my understanding of the way a bicycle like this is supposed to react to weight.





Then there is the Moser racing bike, which reacts badly to any weight I put on it at either end. The front gets twitchy with even a small bag attached. And with any saddlebag larger than a tiny wedge the bike feels distinctly rear-heavy. A few times I've affixed a mid-sized saddlebag so that I could carry my camera, and it felt like trudging through mud compared to the speed this bike is normally capable of. On the other hand, a full water bottle on the downtube (the bottle weighing about the same as my camera) has no effect, and neither does my own weight gain when I stuff my jersey pockets with all the things I would have otherwise kept in a bag.



Riding bikes like this has made me understand why some cyclists chose to ride with backpacks instead of baskets or panniers - some bicycles simply do not handle well with weight on either end, but do fine when the weight is part of the rider. This is one reason the argument "If you want to lighten your bike, lose some weight" does not make sense to me.You cannot simply take the combined weight of a bicycle, its accessories and its rider, and assume the handling and speed will be the same as long as the total remains the same.







My first city bicycle - a Pashley Princess - came with a huge front basket, but it did not handle well for me when I put things in the basket. Eventually I removed it and attached a set of rear folding panniers instead. With that configuration the bike handled much better, and faster. When I carried weight in the rear, I could detect no difference in speed, even with a full load of groceries.






On the other hand, the Bella Ciao city bike I now ride - while faster than the Pashley overall - is more sensitive to weight in the back. The handling doesn't change, but I can feel a difference in speed depending on how heavy the load I am carrying is.




With pretty much every bicycle I've ridden over an extended period of time so far, I've noticed some sort of relationship between weight distribution and handling, and it is not always a logical one - or at least not obviously so. I am sure there are lots of factors contributing to these effects, and these factors are just too nuanced to be obviously discernible. It's interesting to figure this stuff out in the process of getting to know a bike.

Ice Chandeliers

Anyone getting sick of ice abstracts yet? I know I certainly never tire of photographing them! Here's one from Saturday morning along the "Iceberg Coast", a section of the Lake Superior shoreline that has small "mountains" of ice sticking up out of the water along the beach right now. On the side of one of these "mountains" was this intriguing icicle-filled scene. Thanks to the incredibly calm conditions that morning the icicles were reflecting beautifully in the Lake Superior waters. As the morning light illuminated these icicles it reminded me of really ornate crystal chandeliers.

It Was A Dark, and Dirty Day

It was a dark, and dirty day but the ponies wanted to play, so even thou they were dirty from rolling in the mud, (it had rained a few drops the night before) I took some photos.

Wiley & the Angel

Wiley sitting up on the shelf that is over my kitchen sink and divides the kitchen from the living room. This shelf is about 10 feet long and 18 inches wide. Wiley likes to chase his tail up here while moving back and forth on the shelf. I don't know how he keeps from falling off. It is a long leap to get up there for such a young cat. Oh, and that is a griffin siting between Wiley and the Angel.