About my new bike lighting system

Problem: I wanted a really nice lighting system for my bike but didn't want to have to pay a lot for it.

Solution: I bought a pair of inexpensive bike lights and replaced the 6 volt, 5 watt bulbs with a 12 volt 20 watt bulb and a 12 volt 12 watt bulb. Back in '01 when I was working on the Intel Web Tablet, the battery design was changed, so hundreds of four cell (7.4 volt, 3Ah) Lithium Ion battery packs were thrown away. These scrap batteries were offered to the engineering folks, so I took 10 of them. I took the packs apart and made a 6 cell (12 volt 3Ah) pack for the 20 watt lamp, and a 3 cell (12 volt 1.5Ah) pack for the 12 watt lamp.

I've used the 20 watt lamp, mounted on the recumbent's fairing, for a couple weeks now. It's great! I had to buy a special charger to charge these Lithium Ion cells. I finished building the 3 cell pack yesterday, and mounted the 12 watt lamp on my helmet. We'll see how it goes (assuming I can fix my front tire).

I'm waiting for my front and rear xenon strobes to arrive - they're much brighter than the LED blinkers most bikers use. There's no such thing as "too safe"!

This week's ride to work

On the way to work, I take the Old Western Highway south through the village of Blauvelt. I found out last week that the Joseph B. Clarke Rail Trail leaves Blauvelt and heads south towards my work.

The trail was pretty rough, especially for a recumbent with one inch wide, 100psi tires (see the last photo on this page). I punctured my front tire, and when I tried using the tire irons built into my Topeak Alien tool, I broke one of them. So, I called someone from work who picked me up. I'll have to go down to the local bike shop to pick up some real tire irons so I can fix the tire for the ride home.

I rode a little over 10 miles before the flat, so at least I got some exercise out of it. I doubt I'll ride the trail again on the recumbent, but I have a feeling I'll be back on my mountain bike.

Poor Fishy!

Our Dwarf Gourami died Friday afternoon:

It was in the hospital tank twice in the past with the same disease that killed Baxter, our Siamese Fighting Fish.

The Dwarf Gourami was almost DOA from the pet shop. They pack each fish in a plastic bag, then put the bags into a paper bag. The paper bag had gotten wet, and when I stepped out of the car, the bottom of the bag broke through. The three plastic bags hit the ground, and two of them held, but the bag with the Dwarf Gourami broke open. There I was, at night, with this fish flopping around on the pavement, about 50 yards from our apartment. I picked it up and ran all the way to the apartment, and threw it into a glass of water. It wasn't moving at all, but after about 30 seconds it started wiggling a bit. I then realized I had left the other two fish in their bags back on the pavement, so I ran back out and got them. That was back in late January, so its pretty amazing it lasted this long, I guess.

This week's ride to work

Looks like I may have had some brake rubbing issues. There were also traffic problems - I had to wait 10 minutes in Tappan while the train lumbered by.

AM Climate: 58 degrees, somewhat muggy
Distance: 14.98 Miles
Ride (moving) Time: 49:46
Total Time:
Avg Speed: 18.05 MPH
Max Speed: 42.5 MPH

On the way home, it was raining, and I got pretty wet from road spray. Guess I'll have to install fenders on the bike.

The bulb I have for the bike light has a very wide beam, so it disperses too quickly. I failed to see a storm drain grate, and went over it. My front wheel went between the grate bars, and I started to fall over before clearing the grate. I ordered new bulbs today, so hopefully it won't be a problem next week.

PM Climate: 60ish degrees and raining lightly
Distance: 14.84
Ride (moving) Time: 58:11
Total Time:
Avg Speed: 15.30 MPH
Max Speed: 35.0 MPH

Last week at the Homowack

My parents took us to The Homowack for Chol Hamoed Sukkos (this past Monday through Friday). I hope to create an adventure page for the trip shortly. We played mini-golf, did some bowling, rowed around on the lake, found the Homowack water tower, and explored the Shawangunk mountain range. The food was great, as was the evening entertainment - we got to hear Ira Heller and Yossi Goldstein, as well as see magicians, contortionists, etc.

Hey, there's our house!

Just found our house using GlobeXplorer:

July 2nd, 2001

The image on the right shows our approximate property lines. Note the car in the driveway for scale. The grey building in the lower center is the detached garage, and the white building next to it is one of the two 8'x12' sheds on the property. The other one is immediately to the right of the first, and is mostly obscured by the trees.

Since the GlobeXplorer logo is always in the same location relative to the picture frame, I screen-captured three different images with slightly different locations (so that the position of the house relative to the logo changed), then used PhotoImapct's Clone tool to copy the logo-less sections from the other images over the logo-ed sections of my master image.

Never mind.

Here's a broader view - the field to the left of our house is where the new house is currently being built. The road is on the far left.

This week's ride to work

Mounted my new bike light (more on that later) and a 2nd waterbottle cage.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that average speed doesn't tell the whole story. The cycle-computer only factors in time that the bike is moving (to eliminate traffic stops as a factor in the result), but that means that two identical rides, except where in the middle or the 2nd ride I took a 10-minute break, would yield the same result. Today, I had to wait through three or four traffic light cycles at the corner of Germond and Route 304 - while that stopped time doesn't detract from the average, the break it affords certainly improved my later performance.

I don't think there's necessarily a way to solve the problem, but it's something to consider, especially with my overall average speeds being so close to each other now.

AM Climate: 62 degrees, somewhat muggy
Distance: 14.96 Miles
Ride (moving) Time: 48:27
Total Time:
Avg Speed: 18.53 MPH
Max Speed: 40.2 MPH

PM Climate: 70ish, somewhat muggy
Distance: 14.96
Ride (moving) Time: 58:35
Total Time:
Avg Speed: 15.32 MPH
Max Speed: 36.2 MPH

Latest on the Aquarium

Baxter, our Siamese Fighting Fish, died today:

Baxter was our only named fish - Trish bought him back in February for "fish week" when she was the director of The Goddard School. Hopefully we can find a similarly colored one before Mechel wisens up....

Check out our Aquarium page for more on the aquarium (I created the page today). We currently have three Siamese Algae Eaters, a Bushy Nosed Placo, three Red Eye Tetras, two Praecox Rainbows, two Pearl Gouramis, a Dwarf Gourami, and a Bosemani Rainbow.

This Week's Ride to Work

Yesterday, Bill at Piermont Bicycle replaced my broken spoke, so I'm back in action!

AM Climate: 57 degrees (summer is over!)
Distance: 14.95 Miles
Ride (moving) Time: 49:13
Total Time: 56:20
Avg Speed: 18.23 MPH
Max Speed: 39.4 MPH

The ride home was a little slow, mostly because it was in the dark. I was going down streetlight-less hills at 35+ MPH with a little AA battery headlamp on, just hoping the road kept going straight.

PM Climate: 60ish
Distance: 14.82
Ride (moving) Time: 57:54
Total Time:
Avg Speed: 15.36 MPH
Max Speed: 37.3 MPH