September 27, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

First I would like to state that my ears still aren’t back to normal from a week ago.  Seriously, this is ridiculous.

Now here is the photo post I promised a little while back.  I had a bit of a time of it editing these because my RAW converter is very lame.  Seriously need to get Lightroom so I can edit my work properly.  Anyway these are pretty good evidence that skill matters more than gear.  (I have very good gear.  Just so you know which angle I’m coming at that statement from.  I think all of these images were from my 17-70 f/4 DA lens on the K20D.  I did use the Pentax 28 f/2.8 and the Kiron 80-200 f/4 a bit, but happened not to get anything (more) worthwhile from those.)

We were in the woods so I decided to take pictures of trees.  Click to enlarge.

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September 20, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

The big story this week was that after (large quantity) years, I finally got my scuba certification.

Now my ears hurt.

However; since I just got back a little while ago from the lake and I’m that tired that I don’t even fully know myself how tired I am, a full post on this will have to wait.  Not long though!  I’ll also see if I can get some photos and maybe even video out of Paul.

Off for zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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September 17, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

The wonderful thing about art is that it is always new.  This is because a work of art is not merely the sculpture in marble, the print on paper, the notes on the staff; the truth and essence of it is in the interaction between the artist and the audience.  And while seeing something for the first time is perhaps the strongest experience one can have with it, with a really good work one can appreciate new nuances and a fuller flavour over years and years of familiarity.  Perhaps the trick of it is simply to see it for the first time every time you look at it.

Mike Johnston, as usual, says it better than I can.

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September 13, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

12:05, I’m late!

I was going to post some pictures from today’s expedition to Bird’s Hill Park, but I got home latish and have not had an opportunity to process them.  Sometime this week that should happen.  I do think I’m starting to get the hang of photography again.  It’s 95% seeing and 5% technique, and the seeing gets rusty just as much as the technique does.  At any rate shooting with a DSLR for the first time now, my technique is experiencing a steep learning curve again, so that bit of rust is almost irrelevant.  But the seeing - yes, that will take a little time to come back.  I don’t really expect great results this year, maybe a few lucky shots but nothing consistent.  Next year perhaps, all depending on how regularly I get out there of course.  Anyway it was a good little stroll through the woods today, and the mosquitos got fed nicely as well so everyone was happy (?).

This next week will be a tad nuts as I am at long last taking my scuba training.   So that’ll be two evenings in Winnipeg and the weekend at West Hawk Lake.  Sleep is for the weak!

It’s odd, as much as I feel this summer has largely been a failure, with serious lack of guitar study, very irregular Japanese study, and an exercise regime best described as “sporadic”, by the time it’ll be over I will have acheived two goals that I’ve had in my sights for most of my life - namely, scuba and motorcycling.

Well then, past my bedtime so I’ll zip it for now.  Look forward to a big photo post soon.

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September 6, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

Despite the fact that I will still be very, very far from the limits of my current motobike, I will most likely sell it and buy another. Here’s the general train of thought I keep looping over.

What I need and what I want have uncomfortably large differences.  What I need is determined by what I want to do - namely sport-touring.  But what I want … mmm red …

In my opinion, the greatest design ever executed in two-wheeled form.  Also high maintenance, expensive parts, only one shop in Manitoba that works on them, way too much bike for me (in fairness that applies to most of these), laughably unsuitable for anything other than track riding or twisty backroad blasting.  Touring? that’s where you fly to a trackday in Italy right?  Oh, it’s expensive too.

A bit more realistic:

The last generation of the supersport series is a classic design too, all curves and swoops and perfect proportions.  The half-faired version looks if anything even better, where the mechanicals are a much more prominent feature of the design:

Of all the bikes listed here this is actually the one most suited to my limited skills.  Not too much power, but plenty of torque from the two-valve twin, and excellent handling.  In fact it has a bit of a reputation as a bike that will help a rider improve.  Maintenance is a lot lower than the 999/749, and it’s simple enough a machine that I could work on it myself.  Plus you can get them for pretty cheap, although finding the right one might be a bit of a task as they are not that common (why buy a 70hp bike for $12k when you can get a 110hp Japanese 600 for $9k … or something like that).  The only real downside is that they are famously uncomfortable.  Bar risers and a good aftermarket seat would help.  Enough to cross Canada on?  I don’t know …

One of these would cross Canada without anything so uncivilized as breaking a sweat though:

I’ve always liked these.  The first generation of the Daytona doesn’t look that great, but the second does and this third generation is classically handsome.  The sound of the triple engine is wonderful too.  And they’re all-day comfortable in spite of being a very capable sportbike.  It’s a big bike though.  Similar power and weight to the 999.  The biggest problem with it is that the nearest Triumph dealer is in Saskatoon.  Still, a contender.

Back to a big thumping V-twin with the advantage of Japanese reliability and easy parts sourcing:

and with the aftermarket fairing lowers:

This bike pushes a lot of the right buttons for me.  Almost all of them in fact.  Styling is more anime-robot and less classically sculptural than the Ducati Supersports, but it fits and I like it.  Otherwise it’s much of a Japanese analogue to those Ducatis.  The 650 version is a bit famous as a do-it-all bike that can tour or race or commute or anything else you please (I even saw a guy running supermoto on one!) but oddly this very similar 1000 is usually ignored, despite having more power and higher-spec suspension.   Unfortunately the Supersport comparison carries over to the uncomfortable riding position.  That can be fixed though.

However here’s one that needs no fixing of any kind:

The last generation of the Interceptor is very highly regarded as a sport tourer, but it remains enough of a sportbike that one well-known school even uses them for their race training.  Very comfortable, reliable, sounds great (with aftermarket exhaust), factory hard bags available, some of the best styling out of Japan.  Downsides: it’s extremely complex, with a unique VTEC variable valve system which is of course doubled since it’s a V4.  No way on earth I’d work on this engine myself.  Valve checks and adjustments are very expensive too.  Also, fuel mileage is not the best.  Still, this one is at the top of the list.  Ask me tomorrow though and this order could be completely different!

This is of course all aside the cafe racer project, of which more anon (perhaps).

Oh and on a note of actually doing stuff:  today I rode out west with the intention of visiting St. Lupicin, the art gallery and the old brick kiln.  I was rather dissappointed though in that as far as I can tell none of the roads there are paved.  So I didn’t get there after all.  Maybe I should be looking at a dual-sport instead!  Also yesterday went to Winnipeg mostly just to go for a ride but also to pick up what’s most likely the last roll of slides I’ll ever shoot.  They actually seem to have turned out okay too.  So this weekend I’ve put on almost 400km.  Not bad for a noob I think!

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September 1, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

Dan Empfield at Slowtwitch has it figured that at age 45 the average man should be able to run his age for a 10k, minus 20 seconds for every year under 45.  So I should be able to do it in 41:40 (no prizes for guessing my age, now).

By comparison, the last time I timed a 5k I did it in 42:40.  I’ve never even run 10k at once.  Ouch.

This summer, for one reason and another, has been pretty bad as far as training goes.  Cycling has been minimal, running has been a bit more but rather irregular, swimming nonexistent.  At present I am in the throes of a full-on push to get back in shape, for two reasons: firstly, after I hit 35 my metabolism hit a brick wall and I gained over 20lb since; and secondly, X-C ski season is approaching (yeah, yeah, I know) and I wish for it not to suck.

September, I have a goal to run every weekday.  As long as my feet don’t give me trouble - which they might - I see no issues following through on this and it should drastically improve my running, which goes to pot very quickly when untrained but also improves at a reasonable rate when working hard at it.

Then after that I mean to get a set of rollerblades which should prepare the legs nicely for skiing.

No more fat & lazy, that’s the motto!  And now off to the gym.

Posted in C'est la vie, Velo life | No Comments »