kelseybacon.com

ODO: 547

Have hardly been able to ride due to hail stones the past few days. Every time I go outside it seems that hail is falling, or starts to fall soon after. The truth is that I am glad it is not snow. The mornings are getting lighter and brighter, and the evenings are getting longer. It is coming up to my favorite time of year. My sister sent me a “You Know You Are From Seattle When…” page a couple of weeks back, and one was when you leave for work in the dark, and work an eight hour shift, then come home in the dark. Seattle has nothing on England..!! I can only imagine what it must be like in Olso! Summers are great because daylight rears its head come three in the morning and the day sees the last of sunlight go dim over the horizon around eleven in the evening. Now THOSE are the days I love..!!!

ODO: 540

Today I was on the way to the school to get the boys and when a driver waved me across the road, I gave it a good downstroke to get across the road, and the rear derailure tried to shift gears, dropping me forward rather hard. I lost it, and my right knee went into the spokes of the front wheel as my arms came down on the handlebar, turning it to the left very hard while my knee on the spokes kept the steering straight. I ended up having to straighten the wheel about 85 degrees, straighten a bent gear shifter, and straighten the bent rim after I fell on it. I messed up my speedometer sensor too.

It snowed again today too, but this had nothing to do with my accident. I got some pictures of the weather for you.

This shot was taken facing North from the top of the Gorse Hill.

I took this shot out the bedroom window facing South while it was snowing today. My Neighbor did not seem to know the weather forecast, but then, neither did I.

ODO: 527

Dropped the kids off at school this morning, and will be picking them up tonight and taking them to the Police Station to pick up a lost bag that the younger one left in town on Monday.

Right now I am carrying someone else’s digital camera and giving that a try. It is nowhere near the Hass, but it is very nice to take a photo and just have it to look at. I will try to put anything interesting up on the blog in the future. The younger boy’s camera is a Canon, and the one I am going to try today and on is a Nikon. The Nikon is a bit more expensive, so I expect better results right off. We’ll see how it goes. This is not about me switching over to a Digital camera, but more about taking the plunge and buying a digital back for the Hass. That takes serious consideration since they range from £6,000 to £29,000. Not to be taken lightly.

ODO: 518

Dropped the kids off at school today, then rode around with the younger child’s new digi-cam and shot some pictures of Worcester with it. All went pretty well with it, but the screen is not too reliable for reviewing the shots as some came out a bit blurry. Today’s light was not conducive to photography without a tripod.

Mechanically the bike is sound. I have the road tires back on as of this morning so I can go faster and easier. I am still not pleased with the rear derailure, but I have to admit it is a minor inconvenience. I have to overshift a gear then shift back down one to get in the gear I want.

ODO: 497

Back and forth to the school is something like 3.4 miles, and I do it every weekday with the kids. Oops! But the youngest got a flat tire on the way in this morning. Also, it was snowing. He needs a better bike. He only has front brakes working on his little golden gremlin, and with his definite skill in using it, I have nick-named him “crash” for his acrobatics. Anyway, I might have to fix that tire rather than making him push the bike home. Not fun under the school bike shed!

I put my enduro tires on this morning before heading out the door. I set them at 40 psi for the sake of better traction, but in the end tat roads were no longer covered when we left for the school, so they turned out to be unnecessary. I am going to go ahead and crank them up to 80 psi before I leave to get the kids, and enjoy a little easier peddling. The street tires can stay off for the weekend. I don’t have extra rims, and changing out means fully dismounting the tires from my rims. The streets are like motorcycle tires, and they grip the road like a hooker on a millionaire.

Got to run!

Today is Thursday. I have not been doing a lot of riding as such, but I have had to take the kids to and from school each day this week. I took the bus into town this morning on business, only because it was snowing, and I did not want to risk it piling up while I was down the hill. Besides, I am not comfortable with the idea of locking my bike up in the City Centre, as it is obviously not that secure there.

I do want to post where I am at on my Odometer (ODO) so I can track my progress and average out the miles I do per week.

ODO: 490

No other information to record at this time.

I believe that is calibrated correctly as I use a GPS along with it at times, and though I have not yet checked measurements, I get a pretty accurate speed measurement with it.

I could stand to have my rear derailure adjusted again as it is taking a while to hop the chain into the proper gear. Aside from that, the 2005 Specialized Hardrock Sport is holding up just nicely at the time. It needs a good cleaning, but apart from that I cannot think of any maintenance issues to report. Having said that, knock on wood… ;o)

Now that we are officially tracking the miles, let’s see how it goes. Mind you, I do not always get out, and when I do, I have never been one of those ultra-fit blokes that pumps out a 60 mile ride for his Saturday work-out. You should expect more like 10 miles in the week and if I can get out, maybe 10 more on the weekend. Finding out is why the idea of mileage posts on the internet. Let’s see how it goes, and let’s see if I can avoid carrying an extra tire around my waist.

Cheers..!!!

Hi there,

This is a post that spills over from my MSN blog because for some reason the ADD PHOTOS link is not working over there for me. It just doesn’t like me, or maybe Microsoft are aware of the latest Bill Gates joke I have been telling. Whatever the cause, this post has been added here.
I was out one morning to take the kids to school, and the rain had been falling all morning, but on my way home the sky suddenly went through a dramatic change unlike any I had seen over the Severn Valley before. Mind you that this is overhead lighting rather than the kind of light you normally get from the sun being low on the horizon. I had to get pictures. When the photos came back from the lab they just did not have the colours in them that I had seen that morning. Then, the other day I popped them in to Photoshop and adjusted the contrast and brightness, and suddenly the colors I had seen that morning came flying out at me, so I decided they were in a condition to publish.

It is Saturday, and I am not out on my bike today. In fact, I tend to ride more in the weekdays because nobody is at home, and I like to spend time with the family when they are at home… Don’t I?

But today, the thing is, it is too foggy. I do not have lights, and it is foggy enough to die out there today. So, no great rides… Oh well. Soon though, soon.

Kelsey J Bacon

kjbacon@kelseyphoto.com
www.kelseyphoto.com

Hi there,

I am Kelsey Bacon, a full time dad, part time house husband, part time self employed photographer, and a fully car free cyclist who lives in Worcester, England. I love to ride, and I love to photograph. I love to travel and see new and exciting places so much that I find it difficult to turn round to go home for fear that I may be missing the next great adventure just around the next hill or over the next horizon. But, the kids get out of school each day, and I have to be there to pick them up and take them home, or on a small adventure with me on the way home. I am lucky enough to have a very career focused wife who is happy as can be to be at work, and who is capable of earning twice what I could, so we have decided to have me stay at home with the kids and start my own business with my camera. Believe it or not, here in England, between meals, transportation, and child care, we spent the whole of my earnings in my last job on the previously mentioned necessities. So it was easy to see what to do when the kids came to needing more help at home with their schoolwork. Dad to the rescue!

Please visit my older blog at:
http://spaces.msn.com/kjbacon/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c=

This blog is intended to be a place for logging my cycling adventures. Don’t get me wrong and look here for thousands of miles in millions of locations. I ride around locally. I am not now, nor have I ever been a super jock. I am just a bloke that loves to ride and loves to see.

I hope that you enjoy, and maybe this will in time become my primary blog…
We will see how it goes.

Kelsey J Bacon

kjbacon@kelseyphoto.com
www.kelseyphoto.com