Hiya everyone =] Things have been going well, been busy busy with school, I've got less than two weeks left in this fall semester and so it's even busier now.
Well, my big news is that I've been accepted into the Computer Science: Computer Game Design program at UC Santa Cruz in Fall 2009! This is a selective major and it's taken a long time to get here, I'm up to 8 years of community college. (most of those years spent working) I've already looked at the curriculum and courses at UCSC, and I'll be in classes like: Game AI (artificial intelligence), interactive storytelling, game theory, many graphics/animation programming courses, and 3d/digital media art courses. My last three quarters will have game studios where the team based game development projects will happen. I should be finishing at the end of spring (June) of 2011 and will have my first graduation evar! (I accidentally dropped out of high school) After that I'll be considering graduate programs in computer science.
So yeah, fun stuff, as for what I'm up to currently:
Calculus 2 has proven to be my most difficult class evar. On ther other hand,
Physics: Mechanics has been the most fun class evar! We've had labs with ball shooters and fan cars and the stuff is all really interesting and useful for game programming. It helps to have a great physics teacher, she's really into it and gets us to exploring concepts in depth.
Economics online consists of three tests and two essays over 16 weeks, there's no discussion, no incremental progress, and no incentive for me to read the book, I just pop open the book for the tests and hardly learn anything from it. It's pretty boring stuff anyway. The final economics research paper is going to take up some good time soon.
Computer Science: Data Structures is a class I took in high school, and it's just 10 programs to write, no tests, so it's nice and easy. The final project coming up is to convert the midterm project into binary tree storage. The midterm is a contact book. Simple stuff.
Next semester I've got English 101 and 205 in 8 week sessions, and Discrete Math (for when you don't want people to know you're doing math i guess), and compsci: assembly programming, which will be new to me. I also need to take Linear Algebra in either Spring or Summer, it seems like it might be too much to add on to my spring schedule, but it'd be nice to have all my community college work done this spring. I've considered going to UCSC for a class in the summer, would help my schedule along, although it's costly. hmm.
This weekend (Dec 5-7) I've got a Ludum Dare 48 hour game development competition. Always a blast.
The garden is growing, many broccoli and cauliflower and swiss chard and peas and some nice looking winter squash have been vining up a tomato cage very quickly. There's other stuff too, will post about the winter crop soon.
Will write more later, ciao!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Burning man 2008 videos
Hiya =] Just uploaded two videos I took at the burn this year.
The Temple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53LRCU5OwFQ
A look around at night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0MBZxRvlAQ
The Temple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53LRCU5OwFQ
A look around at night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0MBZxRvlAQ
Burning Man 2008 photos
Hiya =] Guess what? The camera has been found! Yay! I've uploaded photos from our trip to Burning Man, including stops at Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. Ciao!
http://picasaweb.google.com/greencow/BurningMan2008?authkey=Ge44YOxrQPY#
http://picasaweb.google.com/greencow/BurningMan2008?authkey=Ge44YOxrQPY#
Friday, September 5, 2008
Burner back
Hiya =]
So, Maia and I made it to Burning Man and back again. We left friday evening, camped two nights on the way up, arrived in the line of cars at midnight as the event started, spent 6 hours waiting/sleeping before getting in, 6 days on the playa, left before dawn after the burn, and camped out one night on the way back.
We went straight up the 395. First night camped in Mojave. Next day, stopped by Lake Mono and dabbed our feet in this alkaline lake, it's a strange place, at lake's edge there is this carpet of flies, which range from buzzing near water, to corpses a couple feet inland. Seagulls would just walk along with their mouths open, taking in swarms of flies. Pillars of rock formation rise up to where the lake level was before the water that feeds the lake had been diverted for human use. Very strange place.
That night we detoured through monitor pass towards Lake Tahoe, we camped out at Grover hot springs. The next morning we went to the spring filled pools, but the hot pool was empty. They had found a dead bird in the water and had to sanitize the pool. We swam in the cold pool surrounded by mountains and pine trees, very nice. We drove to Lake Tahoe and walked in the lake for a while. Continuing to Reno for supplies, and finally arriving in sight of Black Rock City (our great city, built and burned in one week each year) at midnight when the gates opened.
We camped at burning man with some of Maia's fellow chemists from ucsd at Mad Flava. We were located right behind the pancake playhouse (sister camp) in the 9 o'clock plaza, a nice central location. The playa floor was very sandy this year, little rain through the year means no hard packed ground, which means very difficult to bike on. The city was laid out much larger this year too, so getting around was a trek. With almost no moon all week it was almost like some sort of Star Trek.
This was Maia's first burn, and my fourth. On the first day we arrived, Monday, there was a gnarly dust storm. Intense wind blowing dust so fast it seems to penetrate your skin. Everyone goggled and dust masked up like the apocalypse was upon us, which it was. I got a bad headache that day. Tuesday through Friday were all beautiful days, no dust, not too hot at day or cold at night. We explored the art projects, climbed the 4 story tower that held the Man and the 8 story steel tower of babylon farther out. The temple was a steampunk paradise of recycled scrap. We did yoga 4 afternoons, including a faux man chu'd kung fu yoga class before the burn. Each night someone from camp made dinner for everyone, Tuesday was our night, and we had Taco Tuesday, with glasses of our Ombrew organic pale ale for our campmates. It was superb. The burn was not the best part as it has been in years past for me. We were planning to leave pre-dawn so I wasn't going all out as usual. There was the marching band that I usually followed in circles around the man for the hours after the burn, but it seemed somehow more crowded and we weren't marching. The procession of music and fire spiraling ever closer to a shrinking flame has been the most purifying aspect to mark the end of another year. It was still fun though, I enjoyed myself all week (except the headache), so I've gotta say, best burningman ever!
Departing at 4am, the sun just beginning to cast hope over the horizon, we exodized without the usual line, a boon I would not exchange for a better burn in future years. We travelled to Lake June for some showers, and camped free at a nearby rest stop. Drove all the next day through the eastern sierra valley, sighting Mt Whitney, and finally arriving back in San Diego.
I wish I could share pictures now, as we took many pictures and videos, but it seems that we lost the camera. =[ It may yet turn up somewhere in the van, or on the lost & found forums. We'll just have to use our imagination!
So the day after arriving back from the burn I was right back to busy. Tuesday began the second week of classes, I missed the first, after some changes, I'm now taking: Physics 195: Mechanics, Math 151: Calculus 2, and Economics 120. These are all key classes for my plan to get into the UC Santa Cruz Computer Science/Game Design program next year. Physics is going to be fun, yesterday we were using fan powered cars with motion sensors and laptops to make lots of pretty graphs. The teacher and students are all excited to be here. Calc 2 isn't quite as exciting so far, but finding new ways to work with numbers is always interesting.
Speaking of which, I've got lots of homework to catch up on this weekend, so I'll just be getting back to it. Seeya soon =]
So, Maia and I made it to Burning Man and back again. We left friday evening, camped two nights on the way up, arrived in the line of cars at midnight as the event started, spent 6 hours waiting/sleeping before getting in, 6 days on the playa, left before dawn after the burn, and camped out one night on the way back.
We went straight up the 395. First night camped in Mojave. Next day, stopped by Lake Mono and dabbed our feet in this alkaline lake, it's a strange place, at lake's edge there is this carpet of flies, which range from buzzing near water, to corpses a couple feet inland. Seagulls would just walk along with their mouths open, taking in swarms of flies. Pillars of rock formation rise up to where the lake level was before the water that feeds the lake had been diverted for human use. Very strange place.
That night we detoured through monitor pass towards Lake Tahoe, we camped out at Grover hot springs. The next morning we went to the spring filled pools, but the hot pool was empty. They had found a dead bird in the water and had to sanitize the pool. We swam in the cold pool surrounded by mountains and pine trees, very nice. We drove to Lake Tahoe and walked in the lake for a while. Continuing to Reno for supplies, and finally arriving in sight of Black Rock City (our great city, built and burned in one week each year) at midnight when the gates opened.
We camped at burning man with some of Maia's fellow chemists from ucsd at Mad Flava. We were located right behind the pancake playhouse (sister camp) in the 9 o'clock plaza, a nice central location. The playa floor was very sandy this year, little rain through the year means no hard packed ground, which means very difficult to bike on. The city was laid out much larger this year too, so getting around was a trek. With almost no moon all week it was almost like some sort of Star Trek.
This was Maia's first burn, and my fourth. On the first day we arrived, Monday, there was a gnarly dust storm. Intense wind blowing dust so fast it seems to penetrate your skin. Everyone goggled and dust masked up like the apocalypse was upon us, which it was. I got a bad headache that day. Tuesday through Friday were all beautiful days, no dust, not too hot at day or cold at night. We explored the art projects, climbed the 4 story tower that held the Man and the 8 story steel tower of babylon farther out. The temple was a steampunk paradise of recycled scrap. We did yoga 4 afternoons, including a faux man chu'd kung fu yoga class before the burn. Each night someone from camp made dinner for everyone, Tuesday was our night, and we had Taco Tuesday, with glasses of our Ombrew organic pale ale for our campmates. It was superb. The burn was not the best part as it has been in years past for me. We were planning to leave pre-dawn so I wasn't going all out as usual. There was the marching band that I usually followed in circles around the man for the hours after the burn, but it seemed somehow more crowded and we weren't marching. The procession of music and fire spiraling ever closer to a shrinking flame has been the most purifying aspect to mark the end of another year. It was still fun though, I enjoyed myself all week (except the headache), so I've gotta say, best burningman ever!
Departing at 4am, the sun just beginning to cast hope over the horizon, we exodized without the usual line, a boon I would not exchange for a better burn in future years. We travelled to Lake June for some showers, and camped free at a nearby rest stop. Drove all the next day through the eastern sierra valley, sighting Mt Whitney, and finally arriving back in San Diego.
I wish I could share pictures now, as we took many pictures and videos, but it seems that we lost the camera. =[ It may yet turn up somewhere in the van, or on the lost & found forums. We'll just have to use our imagination!
So the day after arriving back from the burn I was right back to busy. Tuesday began the second week of classes, I missed the first, after some changes, I'm now taking: Physics 195: Mechanics, Math 151: Calculus 2, and Economics 120. These are all key classes for my plan to get into the UC Santa Cruz Computer Science/Game Design program next year. Physics is going to be fun, yesterday we were using fan powered cars with motion sensors and laptops to make lots of pretty graphs. The teacher and students are all excited to be here. Calc 2 isn't quite as exciting so far, but finding new ways to work with numbers is always interesting.
Speaking of which, I've got lots of homework to catch up on this weekend, so I'll just be getting back to it. Seeya soon =]
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Greetings
Hello =] Long time no post.
It's been a busy summer, I was taking two classes online: Environmental Biology, and Calculus 1. Last week I took the finals and I earned an A in both classes! Woot! Calculus is pretty neat, I've been using it to calculate rates of change, like if you're filling up a balloon with 100 cubic cm of air per second, how fast is the radius of the ballon changing at 5 seconds, and for calculating area and volume between curves, taking a curve on a 2d plane and revolving it around an axis to create a 3d object and finding it's volume was particularly fun. Drawing the objects and visualizing them made it a more creative task than most math can be.
Just a few hours after taking the finals, the Ludum Dare 48 hour game programming competition started. This was LD 12, and the theme was 'The Tower'. I wasn't too hot on the theme and was a bit mentally exhausted from the tests, so I didn't spend much time on it in the first half, and almost quit, but in the end I finished a game! This one is actually pretty challenging, it's a tetris clone with numbers and math operators in the blocks, so the object is to form equations. I posted the game here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2008/08/10/teenage-mathant-ninja-tower/
Well, I've got a couple weeks to relax now, I'll do some biking. Maia and I are going to Burning Man in a couple weeks, this is her first time and we're very excited, we're going to be camping with some other UCSD burners at Mad Flava.
After burning man, I'll be coming right back to classes, I've got calculus 2, physics:mechanics, economics, piano and yoga.
Oh, and I didn't mention this before, but a few weeks ago, Maia and I brewed up 5 gallons of beer! It's been fermenting, and two nights ago we had our first homebrew. It's good! This is the first of our Ombrew Organic, and is specifically a Pale Ale. It was a fun experience, and we'll be making a Red Ale in September.
The other growth in our lives, our garden of eating, is also doing well. We applied compost and mulch covering to the plants a couple weeks ago, and we've been getting many tomatoes, zuccini, jalapenos and kidney beans. We also got our first japanese eggplant (or ichiban) and some onions, which appeared quite randomly, are almost ready.
Alright, I've got 57 Ludum Dare games to judge (as all entrants do), back to the grind! Ciao!
It's been a busy summer, I was taking two classes online: Environmental Biology, and Calculus 1. Last week I took the finals and I earned an A in both classes! Woot! Calculus is pretty neat, I've been using it to calculate rates of change, like if you're filling up a balloon with 100 cubic cm of air per second, how fast is the radius of the ballon changing at 5 seconds, and for calculating area and volume between curves, taking a curve on a 2d plane and revolving it around an axis to create a 3d object and finding it's volume was particularly fun. Drawing the objects and visualizing them made it a more creative task than most math can be.
Just a few hours after taking the finals, the Ludum Dare 48 hour game programming competition started. This was LD 12, and the theme was 'The Tower'. I wasn't too hot on the theme and was a bit mentally exhausted from the tests, so I didn't spend much time on it in the first half, and almost quit, but in the end I finished a game! This one is actually pretty challenging, it's a tetris clone with numbers and math operators in the blocks, so the object is to form equations. I posted the game here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2008/08/10/teenage-mathant-ninja-tower/
Well, I've got a couple weeks to relax now, I'll do some biking. Maia and I are going to Burning Man in a couple weeks, this is her first time and we're very excited, we're going to be camping with some other UCSD burners at Mad Flava.
After burning man, I'll be coming right back to classes, I've got calculus 2, physics:mechanics, economics, piano and yoga.
Oh, and I didn't mention this before, but a few weeks ago, Maia and I brewed up 5 gallons of beer! It's been fermenting, and two nights ago we had our first homebrew. It's good! This is the first of our Ombrew Organic, and is specifically a Pale Ale. It was a fun experience, and we'll be making a Red Ale in September.
The other growth in our lives, our garden of eating, is also doing well. We applied compost and mulch covering to the plants a couple weeks ago, and we've been getting many tomatoes, zuccini, jalapenos and kidney beans. We also got our first japanese eggplant (or ichiban) and some onions, which appeared quite randomly, are almost ready.
Alright, I've got 57 Ludum Dare games to judge (as all entrants do), back to the grind! Ciao!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Semester is ova!
Hola, I have been quite busy for the past 5 weeks. 5 weeks ago is when I scored a 32% on my 2nd precalculus test and suddenly realized the value of doing homework. I was making up past homework while doing the current. I was getting my biking in by going to and from college through Penasquitos canyon.
So I got my grades for the semester:
whew! I was getting worried about passing precalc.
In 2 weeks I'll be back in college for 8 weeks of Calculus, Physical Geography, and an environmental biology class.
So I've got some time again, time to update the resume and work on some java programs of my own.
So I got my grades for the semester:
| MATH 141 | PRECALCULUS | 5.00 | C | Miramar |
| PSYC 101 | GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY | 3.00 | A | Miramar |
| CISC 190 | JAVA PROGRAMMING | 4.00 | A | Miramar |
In 2 weeks I'll be back in college for 8 weeks of Calculus, Physical Geography, and an environmental biology class.
So I've got some time again, time to update the resume and work on some java programs of my own.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Ciao
Ciao bella/bello's. Io sono Bryan. I've been learning bits of italian just by being near Maia, my roman girlfriend, and yesterday I started an online Italian course at www.livemocha.com It is free and has a good community and learning system. I need to be bilingual to transfer to a UC in a couple years so buona fortuna! That's good luck/fortune, which is actually bad to say in Italy. They say "In bocca al lupo":"In the mouth of the wolf", a sort of reversal where the recipient already has such good luck that bad wishes aren't even enough to stop them, the reply is "crepi il lupo":"may the wolf die", morbidly delightful!
Over the weekend I did quite a lot. Saturday morning I was up at 7:30 biking to Pro-Built Wheels by Penasquitos Canyon to get a ride with about 40 other volunteers for San Diego Mountain Bike Association trail work in PQ canyon. We hiked to a section of trail I hadn't been to before, above "the duck pond" on a rutted straight fireroad called 'the shitz'. We got the training, the plan, and started picking, shoveling, raking, hoeing, the fireroad into a swooping doubletrack with solid embankments to rail on and water drainage to prevent further rutting. We fit it all within the fireroad and it's deeply rutted sides, and there are plans to add a new more permanent trail near there as well, once the environmental and geological studies are done. It was a solid 4 hours of work and the trail is awesome now. I rode to it on Monday and rode up it, it's quite steep still, but I hardly had any skidding, which is bad for trails. Coming back down it was fast and fun and I had no skidding. The trail leading to there from the main canyon is great fun too.
[Link] PQ Corkscrew pictures
When I started into PQ canyon on Monday on my way to school, on the west end, about a half mile in the hillsides were blackened and there was a firetruck and people working on the edge of the scorched earth. I talked to a firemadame there and she said there had been a fire sunday afternoon and they were just making sure it was all out. 17 acres burned, which is about 3 hillsworth. It had been quite hot this weekend. Pix and vids to come.
[Link] PQ Burninated pictures
Maia and I also finished weeding the main garden area this weekend, to prepare to plant our seedlings. We've got 4 wittle squashes ready to plant and a dozen others that will be ready soon. Pixtures will come.
[Link] A good guide to starting a vegetable garden
After the trail work on Saturday, Maia and I went to Lake Hodges to demo some Santa Cruz bikes, but they were closing up early, so instead we walked down to the lake and rented a row boat for 8 bucks! What a steal! We rowed around the lake for a couple hours, unfortunately we didn't know we were going out here so no beer =[ but it was a nice workout and a new adventure for me! We'll try it again with an inflatable raft for comfort. I'd rather go on a cloudy day, even with sunscreen on I got burned out there.
Over the weekend we also saw two good movies: Juno and Wristcutters.
Ciao!
Over the weekend I did quite a lot. Saturday morning I was up at 7:30 biking to Pro-Built Wheels by Penasquitos Canyon to get a ride with about 40 other volunteers for San Diego Mountain Bike Association trail work in PQ canyon. We hiked to a section of trail I hadn't been to before, above "the duck pond" on a rutted straight fireroad called 'the shitz'. We got the training, the plan, and started picking, shoveling, raking, hoeing, the fireroad into a swooping doubletrack with solid embankments to rail on and water drainage to prevent further rutting. We fit it all within the fireroad and it's deeply rutted sides, and there are plans to add a new more permanent trail near there as well, once the environmental and geological studies are done. It was a solid 4 hours of work and the trail is awesome now. I rode to it on Monday and rode up it, it's quite steep still, but I hardly had any skidding, which is bad for trails. Coming back down it was fast and fun and I had no skidding. The trail leading to there from the main canyon is great fun too.
[Link] PQ Corkscrew pictures
When I started into PQ canyon on Monday on my way to school, on the west end, about a half mile in the hillsides were blackened and there was a firetruck and people working on the edge of the scorched earth. I talked to a firemadame there and she said there had been a fire sunday afternoon and they were just making sure it was all out. 17 acres burned, which is about 3 hillsworth. It had been quite hot this weekend. Pix and vids to come.
[Link] PQ Burninated pictures
Maia and I also finished weeding the main garden area this weekend, to prepare to plant our seedlings. We've got 4 wittle squashes ready to plant and a dozen others that will be ready soon. Pixtures will come.
[Link] A good guide to starting a vegetable garden
After the trail work on Saturday, Maia and I went to Lake Hodges to demo some Santa Cruz bikes, but they were closing up early, so instead we walked down to the lake and rented a row boat for 8 bucks! What a steal! We rowed around the lake for a couple hours, unfortunately we didn't know we were going out here so no beer =[ but it was a nice workout and a new adventure for me! We'll try it again with an inflatable raft for comfort. I'd rather go on a cloudy day, even with sunscreen on I got burned out there.
Over the weekend we also saw two good movies: Juno and Wristcutters.
Ciao!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sea Otter Photos
I've uploaded pictures I took at Sea Otter and pictures I screengrabbed from the website for the pro photographers they had out there.
[Link] Album
[Link] Album
Monday, April 21, 2008
sea udderly outclassic, part 1, the race
Alright enough procrastinating, it's time to write this. This is part 1, the race. I will post later with accounts of the sea otter expo, bikes I demoed, pictures, and movies.
I reached the starting line for my age group about 10 minutes before the race and did a bit of stretching. I felt good, I was wearing my synthetic long gel padded pants, a new long sleeve racing jersey, and a cotton jacket. I wasn't too cold resting among people and it would be even colder out on those windy hills.
Started at 7:55am around the racetrack. It was about a mile mostly uphill to get to the trail. By the time I reached the trail I was in last. I was really outclassed by these guys. I'm past beginner and well into intermediate for my trail riding skills, but racing is another level of strength and endurance, so I am a beginner class racer, not sport class. Beginner and sport race on the same loop, but beginner was at 3pm the previous afternoon, which would have a much easier time to ride, being warmed up and having all day to prepare. I checked the beginner times and would have placed slightly higher, but I think my time would have been much better riding at that time of day.
I rode on, it became obvious when I was passed by the next age group about 20 minutes into it that I wasn't going to catch up, but I wasn't going to give up. This was my baseline run. Besides, I paid about 80$ to take part in this race =P Ride on, I started taking breaks after a half hour. Getting passed by progressively older groups of riders. I got some visual pulsing from overexertion and went slow for the rest of the course. Towards the end I laid out in a field by the track for a bit, got some chuckles from riders. Women's groups passing me now, a nice change in scenery ;]
The track is 20 miles long with a cumulative ~6,800 feet of elevation gain. 20 miles flat I can do in 1.5 hours, but this track is mostly climbing. Fireroads up, winding tricky rollercoaster singletrack, and some fast white knuckle fireroad descents. The ground wasn't muddy at all, quite sandy in some sections, alot of dry loose dirt like San Diego. It's a really fun track, I enjoyed the race when I wasn't getting nauseated from all the climbing. I made it through so despite what went wrong, I've gained from the experience. And next year I'll try again.
That's not all, there are other races coming up, and I'll be continuing my regular riding to keep in shape if something else comes around. There's a 24-hour race in temecula in a few weeks, but I'll join a casual team if anything for that. Anyways, racing isn't why I ride, it's just a different way of experiencing my love of biking around trees.
On April 19, 2008, I woke up early to a cold morning in
[Link] Race Results
I reached the starting line for my age group about 10 minutes before the race and did a bit of stretching. I felt good, I was wearing my synthetic long gel padded pants, a new long sleeve racing jersey, and a cotton jacket. I wasn't too cold resting among people and it would be even colder out on those windy hills.
Started at 7:55am around the racetrack. It was about a mile mostly uphill to get to the trail. By the time I reached the trail I was in last. I was really outclassed by these guys. I'm past beginner and well into intermediate for my trail riding skills, but racing is another level of strength and endurance, so I am a beginner class racer, not sport class. Beginner and sport race on the same loop, but beginner was at 3pm the previous afternoon, which would have a much easier time to ride, being warmed up and having all day to prepare. I checked the beginner times and would have placed slightly higher, but I think my time would have been much better riding at that time of day.
I rode on, it became obvious when I was passed by the next age group about 20 minutes into it that I wasn't going to catch up, but I wasn't going to give up. This was my baseline run. Besides, I paid about 80$ to take part in this race =P Ride on, I started taking breaks after a half hour. Getting passed by progressively older groups of riders. I got some visual pulsing from overexertion and went slow for the rest of the course. Towards the end I laid out in a field by the track for a bit, got some chuckles from riders. Women's groups passing me now, a nice change in scenery ;]
The track is 20 miles long with a cumulative ~6,800 feet of elevation gain. 20 miles flat I can do in 1.5 hours, but this track is mostly climbing. Fireroads up, winding tricky rollercoaster singletrack, and some fast white knuckle fireroad descents. The ground wasn't muddy at all, quite sandy in some sections, alot of dry loose dirt like San Diego. It's a really fun track, I enjoyed the race when I wasn't getting nauseated from all the climbing. I made it through so despite what went wrong, I've gained from the experience. And next year I'll try again.
That's not all, there are other races coming up, and I'll be continuing my regular riding to keep in shape if something else comes around. There's a 24-hour race in temecula in a few weeks, but I'll join a casual team if anything for that. Anyways, racing isn't why I ride, it's just a different way of experiencing my love of biking around trees.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
long time no post
Hiya =]
I've got a big adventure coming up in a week, I'm going to be racing my mountain bike at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Ca. I'll be racing Saturday morning at 7:55 in the mens 25-29 sport class cross country. The course is 19 miles and last year my class had about 60 people taking 1.5-2 hours. This will be my first official mountain bike race and Sea Otter is a huge event, so I'm excited.
I've been biking hard for 2-5 hours per day in training, I found a path that is 90% off road to get from home to Miramar college, going through Los Penasquitos canyon. An infinitely nicer ride than Miramar road with an air base on one side and auto shops/furniture stores on the other. Miramar road takes about 10 minutes by car, 30 minutes by bus, 40 minutes by bike, and going through canyons takes 90 minutes.
On Friday (4/4) I woke up at 7am and went straight for an ultimate adventure, breakfast at Sombreros! Mm, potatoes. With a burrito in tow, I went to Mission Trails Regional Park at the Clairemont Mesa Blvd trailhead. MTRP is home to the highest peak in the city of San Diego (Cowles Peak) and many miles of excellent trails. This was my first time biking at this side, I have previously biked around the visitors center area.
Biking around the West side of the park has a mixture of long slow fireroad climbs, fast rugged descents, and steep traction hell on hilly singletrack. The ground here, like most of San Diego, is hard pack with large loose sand and rock cover, which gives a running on marbles effect when trying to climb steep hills. I rode for about 5 great hours here, with cloud cover keeping me cool. I returned to the van to the burrito which is just the thing to have after a long ride.
[Link] Pictures from my ride at mission trails.
[Link] Mission Trails map.
Visited dad and gramps and family on Saturday, that night we watched Sunshine (ok scifi thriller), No Country For Old Men (excellent action thriller, surprisingly pertinent metaphors), I am Legend (good), and The Machinist (great, mind trip) .
Monday, I took the Penasquitos trail to and from school.
The San Diego Sea-to-sea Trail is a 140 mile trail stretching from the Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines (La Jolla) to the Salton Sea. The trail includes Los Penasquitos Canyon and Sycamore Canyon, which I have ridden both and almost all of the trails between them. On Tuesday I decided to do the first part of the trail. I biked through UCSD and down to Torrey Pines Beach, it's quite nice to be biking among trees and then seeing waves crash in front of you. From there the trail runs along Carmel Valley road, detours for a burrito with Amanda, then continues under the 5 and along some boring horse road that follows the 56. I found a fun side trail that went over into Penasquitos Canyon, and had fun in there getting to school. Rode back home on Miramar road, after about 5 hours of biking I was pooped.
I'm planning to have a day that I'll start at the start of the sea-to-sea trail and ride it as far as I can in half a day, and then back. Probably not until after the race.
[Link] Map of San Diego sea-to-sea trail.
Today I got a new seatpost in the mail, a Thomson Elite Setback 31.6x410mm. Compare to my last seatpost (stock) it's longer, which is the crucial point because I had my last seatpost far above the max line, risking damage to the frame. The bit of setback expands the cockpit of the bike which is helpful for me because this bike is a size or two small for me. It's also one of the lightest and strongest seatposts on the market, and for $70 a great value. This is my forever seatpost.
Tonight I'll be taking Penasquitos to a school by black mountain to take a test. I'll be scoping out black mountain to possibly be riding miner's ridge tomorrow.
Thanks for reading, Ciao!
I've got a big adventure coming up in a week, I'm going to be racing my mountain bike at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Ca. I'll be racing Saturday morning at 7:55 in the mens 25-29 sport class cross country. The course is 19 miles and last year my class had about 60 people taking 1.5-2 hours. This will be my first official mountain bike race and Sea Otter is a huge event, so I'm excited.
I've been biking hard for 2-5 hours per day in training, I found a path that is 90% off road to get from home to Miramar college, going through Los Penasquitos canyon. An infinitely nicer ride than Miramar road with an air base on one side and auto shops/furniture stores on the other. Miramar road takes about 10 minutes by car, 30 minutes by bus, 40 minutes by bike, and going through canyons takes 90 minutes.
On Friday (4/4) I woke up at 7am and went straight for an ultimate adventure, breakfast at Sombreros! Mm, potatoes. With a burrito in tow, I went to Mission Trails Regional Park at the Clairemont Mesa Blvd trailhead. MTRP is home to the highest peak in the city of San Diego (Cowles Peak) and many miles of excellent trails. This was my first time biking at this side, I have previously biked around the visitors center area.
Biking around the West side of the park has a mixture of long slow fireroad climbs, fast rugged descents, and steep traction hell on hilly singletrack. The ground here, like most of San Diego, is hard pack with large loose sand and rock cover, which gives a running on marbles effect when trying to climb steep hills. I rode for about 5 great hours here, with cloud cover keeping me cool. I returned to the van to the burrito which is just the thing to have after a long ride.
[Link] Pictures from my ride at mission trails.
[Link] Mission Trails map.
Visited dad and gramps and family on Saturday, that night we watched Sunshine (ok scifi thriller), No Country For Old Men (excellent action thriller, surprisingly pertinent metaphors), I am Legend (good), and The Machinist (great, mind trip) .
Monday, I took the Penasquitos trail to and from school.
The San Diego Sea-to-sea Trail is a 140 mile trail stretching from the Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines (La Jolla) to the Salton Sea. The trail includes Los Penasquitos Canyon and Sycamore Canyon, which I have ridden both and almost all of the trails between them. On Tuesday I decided to do the first part of the trail. I biked through UCSD and down to Torrey Pines Beach, it's quite nice to be biking among trees and then seeing waves crash in front of you. From there the trail runs along Carmel Valley road, detours for a burrito with Amanda, then continues under the 5 and along some boring horse road that follows the 56. I found a fun side trail that went over into Penasquitos Canyon, and had fun in there getting to school. Rode back home on Miramar road, after about 5 hours of biking I was pooped.
I'm planning to have a day that I'll start at the start of the sea-to-sea trail and ride it as far as I can in half a day, and then back. Probably not until after the race.
[Link] Map of San Diego sea-to-sea trail.
Today I got a new seatpost in the mail, a Thomson Elite Setback 31.6x410mm. Compare to my last seatpost (stock) it's longer, which is the crucial point because I had my last seatpost far above the max line, risking damage to the frame. The bit of setback expands the cockpit of the bike which is helpful for me because this bike is a size or two small for me. It's also one of the lightest and strongest seatposts on the market, and for $70 a great value. This is my forever seatpost.
Tonight I'll be taking Penasquitos to a school by black mountain to take a test. I'll be scoping out black mountain to possibly be riding miner's ridge tomorrow.
Thanks for reading, Ciao!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
mojave pics
My adoration of rocks can be seen at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/greencow/MojaveSpringEquinox2008
Ciao!
http://picasaweb.google.com/greencow/MojaveSpringEquinox2008
Ciao!
Monday, March 24, 2008
spring break woo
mar 12-13: planted garden.
mar 13: left san diego, camped south of big sur at kirk creek.
mar 14: drove to santa cruz, had coffee at one of maia's old hangouts, camped at big basin.
mar 15: drove to maia's dad's house, played rock band and super smash bros brawl at rollie's pad just a couple miles away.
mar 16: hiked quicksilver with maia and her family (paulo, trilby, ryan), had my first home-made vegan birthday cake in years.
mar 17: my birthday! drove to san francisco in the morning, awesome breakfast at herbivore, walked around lower haight, then upper haight, then castro while maia was in a yoga class with her old yogi. met jerry back in the haight, had a few beers and pizza at escape from new york. camped out in the city.
mar 18: drove to cole valley and had bagel and coffee in another of maia's old hoods. took maia to the airport. drove to jerry's in daly city.
mar 19: late start to annadel state park in santa rosa, but we a good 2-3 hour loop, the most technically difficult climbs and fast descents i've ever been on. wonderful fun which my bike handled superbly. good but expensive burrito after. drove toward mendocino and camped out on the way.
mar 20: drove to mendocino and explored the blowhole, a hole in the ground that you have to repel into by a rope with a little beach and a tunnel to the ocean. scenic drive down the coast and back to sf.
mar 21: feeling a bit sick. mostly relaxed.
mar 22: drove 7 hours to mojave, coming from sf to mojave for my first time was different, the 58 east of bakersfield is a nice drive, big rolling green hills with big rock outcroppings sprouting from the hills. arrived a bit after sunset about the same time as rollie and herany. shasha and mark had been there all day. carl and amanda and dustin and tim and a few other people had come up from san diego, amanda had a nice shade structure setup with christmas lights, black light and glowy art bopping around. danced and felt the vibe. slept 2 hours.
mar 23: hanging out in mojave, biked around the desert for the first time. riding on the 'roads' wasn't too hard, but i was exploring dunes, where the landscape would be soft and you can see where the washes are where the sand is so soft the bike just sinks, so you've gotta go through those perpendicular. the softer the sand the more effort it takes, slower you go, and turning means sinking. drove home, ate yummy dinner and slept 14 hours.
mar 13: left san diego, camped south of big sur at kirk creek.
mar 14: drove to santa cruz, had coffee at one of maia's old hangouts, camped at big basin.
mar 15: drove to maia's dad's house, played rock band and super smash bros brawl at rollie's pad just a couple miles away.
mar 16: hiked quicksilver with maia and her family (paulo, trilby, ryan), had my first home-made vegan birthday cake in years.
mar 17: my birthday! drove to san francisco in the morning, awesome breakfast at herbivore, walked around lower haight, then upper haight, then castro while maia was in a yoga class with her old yogi. met jerry back in the haight, had a few beers and pizza at escape from new york. camped out in the city.
mar 18: drove to cole valley and had bagel and coffee in another of maia's old hoods. took maia to the airport. drove to jerry's in daly city.
mar 19: late start to annadel state park in santa rosa, but we a good 2-3 hour loop, the most technically difficult climbs and fast descents i've ever been on. wonderful fun which my bike handled superbly. good but expensive burrito after. drove toward mendocino and camped out on the way.
mar 20: drove to mendocino and explored the blowhole, a hole in the ground that you have to repel into by a rope with a little beach and a tunnel to the ocean. scenic drive down the coast and back to sf.
mar 21: feeling a bit sick. mostly relaxed.
mar 22: drove 7 hours to mojave, coming from sf to mojave for my first time was different, the 58 east of bakersfield is a nice drive, big rolling green hills with big rock outcroppings sprouting from the hills. arrived a bit after sunset about the same time as rollie and herany. shasha and mark had been there all day. carl and amanda and dustin and tim and a few other people had come up from san diego, amanda had a nice shade structure setup with christmas lights, black light and glowy art bopping around. danced and felt the vibe. slept 2 hours.
mar 23: hanging out in mojave, biked around the desert for the first time. riding on the 'roads' wasn't too hard, but i was exploring dunes, where the landscape would be soft and you can see where the washes are where the sand is so soft the bike just sinks, so you've gotta go through those perpendicular. the softer the sand the more effort it takes, slower you go, and turning means sinking. drove home, ate yummy dinner and slept 14 hours.
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