Category: things I have broken

So today I rode all the way to work and back (as I have been doing since my train pass ran out on Dec 31) in record time and record average speed. I took the flat route in to downtown along Marginal and 1st in a moderate 57 minutes. On my return I chose not to cross 2 lanes of oncoming traffic and tried a different return route, Rainier.

Rainier has one major rise but I was still able to maintain mid teens nearly all the way up. Once I got to a known checkpoint I could tell I was about 10 minutes faster than my normal route along the lake.
So, long story to say that my full 31 mile round trip came to 2 hours and 1 minute and an average of 15.3 mph; a new record.

Along that route I also broke a streak of which I have recently boasted: consecutive days, without falling, since I began using my clip-less pedals DUE to the fact that I couldn’t unclip.

Yes there was that time near the Arboretum; but that was slickery mud and a cliff-like road shoulder and didn’t have anything to do with my pedals. Tonight was different; I stalled on a wheelchair ramp to the road-island on the NW corner of Rainier and Airport and did a somewhat slow, and definite kerploppety, sit-fall onto the meaty part of my left gluteus. My mistake was speed, attention, and pulling when I should have twisted.

The only thing that wasn’t broken tonight was my ego, pretty healthy that one. Well that and all the bones in my body and all (known) parts of my bike.

UPDATE in the form of a question:
Why do *they* call them wheelchair ramps anyway? I bet there are perhaps 10,000 bikes and strollers using that particular ramp for every wheelchair or other wheelchair-like device. That would make for an interesting study.

As noted in recent comments, the item which was recently broken is a footstool.

And as I am usually comment silent (I have my say in the main piece and with the rest; come what may.) I am inclined to break my silence this time in the form of another post. Careful though, I am not defending myself, I learned long ago to break – fix – and move on.

This is just for fun.

This item and it’s common usage is for assistance in gaining the proper elevation into our vertically inflated sleeping platform for the older mermaid, so it is commonly and adequately used as a stepstool.

I have often, based on the heft of the decorated legs, judged it a worthy opponent to my downward force largely due to it’s history of violent opposition to my peace-loving pinky toe.

That said, stepstool, footstool, ladder, end-table, vault?…What does one thing have to do with another? It will be fixed, and this time it will be over-engineered (as so many things in my house are) with 3/4 inch plywood in order to become all of these things.

Then I will move on.

At least I was using it as a step stool to get onto (the side dresser and then) the bed. I could have been using it as an anvil.

This definitely falls into the category of Obtuse as defined in my original ‘things I have broken‘ post:

Obtuse. Sometimes things just “explode”…

It was only snow fer cryin’ out loud.

Nishi and Agirlbunny have taken up residence in the only free space available in our garage, namely where Ace used to sit. Oh that…let us divert a second.
Ace is what Abby named our new Toyota Sienna van. She really digs on the buttons that activate the sliding side-doors. Her sister does too and in fact, that is how she defines the vehicle.

The one that has the buttons.

When we asked her if she wanted what she wanted to name the van she thought for a second and settled quickly on Ace, after the character in the most recent Chicken Little movie.
She isn’t old enough to know the original Ace, the 1965 red Chevy truck that BopOp sold years ago. I wonder if the age-old moniker will stick on this new van that seems to lack a personality as yet?

Anyway, Nishi and Agirlbunny have displaced Ace for the time being…until The Daddy finishes the Rabbit tractor for the back yard. I am shooting for this weekend. I am going to split it into at least two phases so that the little rodents can be outside, sooner, during the day. I don’t want to hinge their exit from the dark* on finishing the entire structure. I will deliver something usable, as a pen, this weekend at least and then construct the sleeping quarters separately and connect the modules together at a later date as necessary. Iterative development. Oh yeah, and agile as well since I only have a rough idea how the structure will look at the end, my requirements are fluid to say the least.

* I say the dark because we sorta forgot that the garage is a cave and for the first week of their stay with us they may as well have been in the Antarctic for the amount of time the sun was up in their world. We have established a good family habit of turning off lights and I am loathe to fell-swoop that habit simply because a couple of rodents need light. I don’t want to leave the lights on all day (and inevitably all night on accident) nor do I want possessed little pink-eyed antarctic bunnies. I have motivation for my phased approach.

Endnote: I wrote this last night and I am posting it this AM at about 20% complete on the tractor/hutch/pen. I have already broken one drill bit. I now feel assured of success.

Much like gambling I only report the fast times…but this time I earned it through persistent semi-fast times rather than lucking into a good result with a roll of the dice.

This morning I awoke late (alarm clock usability + up till 2AM + up again at 5:30AM with a crying mermaid) so I took off on my ‘bent with a mission: Try to make my 9:30 meeting.
I could do it, undoubtedly, going normal break-neck speed. I was, after all, leaving at 7:45 but considering the way I snapped out of bed when I heard the time…I was instantly in the mood for some abnormal break-neck speed. I still didn’t run stop-signs, that’s the third rule, right after “no women, no kids“.
So I pushed the whole way…only checking on my average and rolling time once (at the Mt Baker Tunnel). It was looking good, 41 minutes rolling time and something over 18 mph average. The true test would be how much sprint I had left in me for the stop-n-go through Seattle.
In the end I needn’t worry, I beat my best time (59:46) by over four minutes with a time of 55:38 and I rolled in at 8:55.
My average speed was a whopping (for me) 17.8 over the 16.8 mile distance which included the freakish cliff of a hill at Massachusets.
I was/am tired but I am recovering nicely.

If I ever get a Silvio I will have a pretty healthy benchmark to beat.

P.S. My meeting was canceled before I arrived.

Well not broken I confess, but it sure hurts like it.

I separated my shoulder (low grade) in a soccer game 10 days ago. As goalie, I met with a six-foot-four striker, in full stride, whilst saving a weak goal attempt. Since I was firmly planted, with a 5 inch head start on the race to a lower center of gravity, I pancaked him. He got up relatively quickly, I mostly got his soft bits (maybe a diaphragm or two), while I escaped standing up with a slightly lower shoulder.

The good news: it is only pain. There isn’t likely to be any long term damage and in fact, I can even continue to use it without further medical attention or risk…of anything…other than the excruciating, stabbing, excoriation of the nerves on the distal end of my clavicle.

So, I ah, I got that goin’ for me