Going Underground

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Brandi and I both had the day off today, so we decided to go check out Indian Echo Caverns. Sadly, my feeble photography skills were no match for the lighting conditions in the cave. So, I took the shotgun approach. I took a billion picutes, and about 5 of them were actually worth a damn.

A big ass cow

A cow with cool looking horns

Trees from the cave entrance

Looking up from the cave entrance

The cave entrance

>The entrance to the cave

A rock formation
A rock formation in the cave

Another rock formation

Another rock formation in the cave

Another rock formation

Another rock formation in the cave

Another rock formation

Another rock formation in the cave
The sunset

There was a pretty bad-ass sunset tonight.

This Blog Needs a Name

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I’m getting tired of using my domain name as a blog title. I’m trying some new ideas.

Let me know what you think of “The Blasphemous Bicycler”

If you have any suggestions, leave a comment.

Wool and Feathers

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Today was my first sub-freezing commute for the season. It was 25F on the way in. I have pretty much forgotten which clothing combinations work best at which temperatures, so I’m working on re-figuring that stuff out.

Many of the people on the iBob list sing the praises of wool bicycling clothes. I kind of thought it was all a bunch of eccentric iBob wierdness, but I’ve been wearing a Ktena merino wool top for a few weeks now, and I really like it.

The main advantage is that wool feels more comfortable over a larger temperature range than the synthetics. The downside is that it’s way more expensive, and you have to be careful about how you wash it.

On the way home today, a big hawk was sittting in a field along the road. As I rode up, he took off and flew maybe 2 feet over my head. I was able to get a real close look at his belly feathers. It was awesome. Those poor bastards in cars don’t know what they’re missing.

Highlander

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Here’s a news item that I missed when it was actually newsworthy. Nevertheless….

It seems the federal government has approved $110 million dollars to conserve the highland areas of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania!

Hurrah!

There are already some areas around Harrisburg where the McMansions are starting to scale the mountains and are fucking up the horizon. Hopefully, this will help put a stop to that.

In related news, the folks in South Middleton township are drawing battle lines over a proposal to raise taxes to preserve open space.

This is the area that is basically the border line between Harrisburg’s sprawl and rural farmland. It’s a damn nice place to go bicycling, too.

Bicycling to Escape the Undead Legions

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In his book “The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead,” Max Brooks has dedicated a section to the pros and cons of several different types of vehicles that can be used to evade zombies. I was quite happy to see that the bicycle ranked as the hands-down favorite land-based vehicle (only the hot-air balloon was a better choice overall.)

Book Cover

The relevant verbiage:

The Bicycle
In a class by itself, this vehicle offers the best of both worlds [the silence of the horse, and the mobility of the dirt bike]. The common bicycle is fast, quiet, muscle-powered, and easy to maintain. Add to this the additional advantage that it is the only vehicle you can pick up and carry if the terrain gets too rough. People using bicycles to escape from [zombie] infested areas have almost always fared better than those on foot.

I got this book in the buy-one-get-one-free rack at the bookstore, and it is actually surprisingly good, despite the silly subject matter.

Time is Linear, Mr. Wrightstone.

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Time is linear
Memory is a stranger
History is for fools
Man is a tool in the hands
Of the great God Almighty
– Roger Waters

It was about 70F today, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I had been spending all my attention on the Diamondback for the past two weeks, so it was time to take out the trek for a ride.


Ain't she a beauty?

I headed out for Carlisle, I think it was about a 20 mile loop. On the way back, I took a shortcut through the Mechanicsburg Cemetery. I know I’m not the only one who does this. I know I see a lot of cyclers cutting through the St. John’s Cemetery, too.

Anyways, as I was riding through the cemetery, I was thinking about how much the pathways in the cemetery resemble those on the greenbelt.

See?

The cemetery paths sure do look like bike paths

This got me thinking about my last trip to New Orleans. While I was there, I took a tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1. The tour guide told us that back in the day, people treated cemeteries as parks. They would even have picnics in them.

I know that a lot of the Rails-to Trails people refer to their trails as “linear parks.”

While I was riding, I stopped to get some pictures of a tree whose leaves had turned a bright red. I came upon the grave of a Mr. Wrightstone. Actually, there were two Mr. Wrightstones on the grave marker. It seems that they were father and son. Sadly, Mr. Wrightstone Jr. died before his father. They were buried in an old part of the cemetery. I think Jr. was buried in 1933.


Pretty Leaves, No?

I don’t know whether there are any remaining Wrightstones who come to visit the graves of their ancestors. I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t.

Today, at least, they had a visitor.

I wonder if people might be willing to pay a bit more for a plot in a cemetery where large numbers of people are likely to happen by.

I wonder if there isn’t a better way to build cemeteries without using up lots of open land.

I think you can see where I’m going with this.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we built linear cemeteries?

The living get a usable park/multi-use path. The dead get a steady stream of visitors. The whole apparatus can be maintained by some wierd consortium of Churches, Funeral Directors, and Rails-Trails type organizations.

The cost of the grave plots can help offset the costs of right-of-way aquisition.

Why not?


Yggdrasil

Goat Race Redux

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

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

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

The Running of the Goats!
Here is the obligatory action shot of some actual racing.

Butterfly
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.

New Route Ideas

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Since gas prices are getting more and more realistic, I am trying to be more regular in my bicycle commuting. I broke the piggy bank, and ordered a rear rack for the Trek, so I can carry all the crap I need to lug into the office (laptop, lunch, change of clothes, books, etc). I also want to find a more pleasant, less trafficed way to get home.

In the morning, my normal route works just fine, as most of the car people are still in bed at 6:00AM. When I leave the office at 4:00 however, Simpson St. gets pretty busy. I’d like to avoid it if I can. I can’t avoid it entirely, because my office is on Simpson St.

This is what I’ve been able to come up with. It’s kind of convoluted, and it’s a mile longer than usual, but I think I’ll give it a go tommorow afternoon.

A better way to get home

It keeps me off the collectors (in yellow) as much as possible, and it keeps me off Simpson Street for all but about 100 yards.

Corridor One: Not dead yet

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Even though the website has been near silent for almost a year, it seems there is still some interest in regional rail in the Harrisburg area.The MTP is going to be having a breakfast on Sept. 21st to pimp the idea.

I can’t say I’m fully versed in all the political shenanigans involved in getting such a thing off the ground, but I do think that it would be very cool to be able to ride the train to commute to York or Lancaster. Check out the proposed route.

Proposed map

Of course, it would probably be a whole lot cheaper to improve the bus service around here first. (Dreadful website design aside) as far as I’m aware, there are no bike racks on any of the busses, and the busses stop running around 7:00PM. This makes them pretty much useless to those of us taking night classes at Penn State Harrisburg.

I wonder how many drunks could be kept off the streets by having the busses make a 2:00AM run along 2nd street.