To every thing, turn, turn, turn...

Ah, the winds of change are blowing. The tide cannot be stopped. The mercury is rising. And my phone is, dare I say it... ready to pass into silicon heaven. That's right, after four years, thousands of conversations, several disassemble/reassemble attempts, and two laundry cycles... my phone is hacking it's way through the final moments of existence.


Time to buy a new phone.


Now, buying a new phone is not something I take lightly. I don't do it very often. In fact, I've only ever had two cell phones in my life. Of course, I believe that using a phone from 2004... is roughly equivalent to having bought your television in the Eisenhower administration.


Sniff. I loved that old RCA.




Now, one of the reasons I selected this phone in 2004 was that it could connect with your computer, backing up data, synchronizing schedules... believe me, this was quite the ticket back in the day. It came in handy, because, I must say, four years and two laundry cycles tends to blank out some memory.

So as I was entering in some phone numbers - into the new phone, mind you - from the computer backup, I got a glimpse into exactly how long I've had the phone.

* Total phone calls: way too many.
* Total text messages sent: wait, this phone can't send text messages
* Total phone calls, speakerphone: they have speakerphones on cell phones?
* My home address: Virginia Beach, VA
* My Mother's work phone number: 412-***-0470.
* Random phone listing: some girl named Jessica



So, the new phone I've bought?




Motorola Razor V9m. Yes, I know Motorola spells it Razr. My blog, my rules; I will not kow-tow to Motorola's marketing department.

Why?

* It's thin. It fits in my pocket without me realizing it's there.
* You can record your own ringtones. What will those wacky telephone designers think of next... being able to use pre-recorded MP3's for ringtones?!
* You can assign a ringtone to certain users. What a concept.

So far, I'm using the second and third for an added benefit - I recorded 'nothing' and assigned it to anyone not in my contact list, and set the phone to vibrate + music.

Bwah ha ha. Try to get in touch with me *now*, people I don't know.


As an aside... both times I bought a phone in the past was immediately prior to me moving. Is this a harbinger of things to come?


Dah da da...

Auctionsniper

Auctionsniper.

Now, let me tell you all, I am not a shill. I am not being paid by Auctionsniper to endorse it's services. They are not giving items or services for free in order to endorse their products.

Oh wait - crudola - they *are* giving me free stuff. And I'm hoping that this will bring me more ad revenue. But even if my motives weren't completely selfish, and believe me they very well may be, I'd still be endorsing Auctionsniper. So I've come up with an Auctionsniper FAQ.


What is Auctionsniper?

Auctionsniper is a third-party companion site to eBay. It bids on auctions for you, up to a pre-set amount that you input before the auctions end. It bids in the last seconds of the auction.





Why should I bid in the last seconds of the auction? Why not put in a bid *now*, five days before it ends, and see if that's good enough?

Two reasons.
1. Unscrupulous sellers, seeing that you're bidding on an item, will try to exact the maximum amount of money out of you. They will use another bidder - some companies that sell on eBay are almost legendary for these shenanigans - and bid against you, raising the price.

2. Other bidders, if they see a widget, with a starting bid of $10, might put in a max bid of $20. If, on the other hand, you've already bid said widget up to $28, the same person will, generally, bid $35 or so for the same widget, just so they can purchase it.

You might think I'm wrong; but I'm not. And I can prove it to you using only three words: People are idiots.

So now I've convinced you to bid only in the last seconds of an auction.





Why pay to use Auctionsniper? Can't I bid in the last seconds manually?

Sure you can. You like setting your alarm so that you can bid eBay at three in the morning, right? Or perhaps you'd prefer to be glued to the computer, instead of watching the end of the Milan-San Remo, right? (I know you all watch it, don't lie to me).

Of course not. Auctionsniper has *very* reasonable prices - for auctions under $25, you only pay $0.25. I would compare it to the price of a cup of coffee but I'm pretty sure your coffee costs more than my lunch. If the auction goes for more than that; you pay only 1% of the final bid… up to a maximum of $10.


And here's the best part: you only pay if you win.


Why Auctionsniper? Aren't there dozens of similar programs available online?

Well, I'm betting there are. But I haven't tried them - I happened to try Auctionsniper first, and I'm too lazy to try anything else.

If that isn't a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is. I'll say this, though - they're legitimate, haven't tried to steal my eBay account, and, like I said, I tried them first, so they must be the best.




How do I get started?

1. Send me your e-mail address.
2. Ensure your eBay password is unique from all others, ESPECIALLY your paypal password. You should already be doing this, by the way.
3. Put in the Auction ID in Auctionsniper, put in your max bid…
4. Burn the roof of your mouth with the french bread pizza you overcooked in the new-to-you 1972 toaster oven (the rare chartreuse model, no less), knowing that you're getting the best possible price, with a minimum of hassle.

And speaking of hassle, please don't tell me stories about how your toaster oven overcooks french bread pizza.


Why do you keep typing 'Auctionsniper'?

Auctionsniper? You don't like it when I type Auctionsniper? How about 'I love Auctionsniper'? How about you stop complaining, and start clicking on some Google ads? High-value content like this doesn't grow on trees.


In conclusion - Auctionsniper.

(auctionsniper).

Why Tubulars are faster than Clinchers.

If you don't understand what that title means, stop here.

Circling the web (primarily from biketechreview.com) is some data that, at first glance, might give the impression that Clincher tires are faster than Tubulars.


Of course this interpretation is wrong. Here's why.




OK, this first chart shows the rolling resistance (lower better) of a bunch of tires - around 100 - separated into two groups, clincher and tubular. The tubular tires are shown in blue. The clincher tires are shown in pink. Make no mistake, these colors are not chosen randomly: if you ride clinchers, you're a girl.

"But, ElJamoquio, this chart shows that many clinchers have rolling resistances that are quite low!




Here's where I pick apart your argument.




In this photo, we add the data - given by the same test - of the effect of tire pressure (shown on the x-axis) on rolling resistance. I've fit a linear regression to the data. Note that for every 10 psi that we inflate the tires, the power required to drive the tires to that speed is decreased by 0.34 watts. By inflating an extra 30 psi or so, an extra watt - per wheel - is saved.





Finally (and I know you've been hoping I'd type that word), here I project the effect of increasing tire pressure on all the tubular tire data.

But ElJamoquio, why don't you apply the same theory to the clinchers?

Because those levels of pressure - 200 psi - your expensive shiny rims would be turned into expensive shiny shards. Tubular rims can handle these pressure levels without a problem.

Got it? Good.

Riding through Hail

108 miles. Hail. Ouchie.

Tour of Kensington Valley

At least, it used to be a Tour, this year it was just a Road Race.

I felt really strong today. We were on the second lap of a nine-lap affair, and someone got a gap off the front... I bridged up, and we started pacelining. Unfortunately we were caught after about another lap or so.

My shifter cable broke; I was limited to my 36 tooth chainring; and as such couldn't push more than about 30 MPH, which hurt me on the downhills and sprints.

Then, another breakaway started... I was bridging up, and twenty yards or so ahead of me, another team pushed their man up to the break. Of course this is completely illegal; so instead of bridging, I attempted to pull the pack up to the breakaway - for once in my life, I wanted the breakaway to fail. Of course, 'attempted' was the operative word in that sentence, and I failed - but at least it was a very slow failure. Or something like that.

Of course I couldn't sprint well with the 36 tooth chainring, and ended up 'placing' eighteenth out of fifty.

Oh well. Next week: Frankenmuth.


Stats:

Duration: 2:35:01
Work: 2117 kJ
TSS: 239.8 (intensity factor 0.963)
Norm Power: 279
VI: 1.23
Distance: 58.294 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1002 228 watts
Cadence: 29 141 87 rpm
Speed: 8 44.1 22.6 mph
Pace 1:22 7:33 2:40 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 376 75 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1253 227 lb-in

Don't Blink.

I'll make you famous.

Or, Ford will make me famous. Several months ago, a large - fifty plus - camera crew came into my Hydrogen-engine dynamometer cell to film some background footage for Ford's 'Drive One' campaign.

It was a zoo.

But on the plus side, it was catered. And apparently the commercial started airing this past weekend, during the NASCAR race. As I don't really watch TV, you'll have to tell me how I look. You'll know me from the back of my head. Or something like that.

Those of you with TiVo... you know what you need to do.

Pessimism

Click me.
Don't expect this to last long.