Critical Exponent

I picked up the bike from the shop this afternoon. They put on the fenders and the racks. I’m not too happy with the front rack: it’s supposed to be a low-rider (an Axiom Journey), but it sits awfully high. They screwed it on to the brazon, but apparently there’s a lower fastening necessary for the racks to not swing around: that, it turns out, was not big enough to go around my fork. They had to jury-rig something (which is why I had to leave the bike overnight) and it doesn’t look too pretty. The rack also interferes with sharp turns; luckily, those only happen when I carry my bike, not when I’m riding.

I wonder if my frame cross section really is inordinately big, though that would be surprising for such a classic touring bike as the 520. What’s interesting is that the bell I had on my old bike won’t go onto my new handlebars: they’re too large!

Some good is definitely coming out of the front racks, though. On top of the horizontal metal bar they used to stabilize the two racks together, I set up a little platform for my front light using parts I bought at the hardware store. Now the light does not take up valuable handlebar space, it is centered along the axis of the bike, and, most importantly, it is not blocked by my handlebar bag. Surely I win points for practicality, if not aesthetics…

Overall, I’m pleased with my experience at International Bicycle Centers, but this front rack issue makes me very uneasy. I think maybe they ordered the wrong rack for my bike. They should have known better. We’ll see how it pans out.

UPDATE Ahh, I Googled the racks. This is what they are supposed to look like. Looks like the bike store screwed it up. They put on the top brazon what should go on the bottom brazon, jury-rigged a support on the bottom of the rack (which now lies above the bottom brazon), and put the horizontal metal strip on top. Oh, and they switched they left and right sides to boot! I wonder why the did that. They said something about the fork being too wide, but all I can see is that there is only one bottom brazon on each side, and that’s being used by the fender. Still, it seems that by using a long enough bolt, it should be possible to attach both the fender and the rack to the bottom brazon. If that’s the case, it will really make me mad. How dare they pass off their slapdash job as the real deal? I’m going to try doing it properly Monday or Tuesday; maybe I’ll be able to understand why they couldn’t do it.

NEW UPDATE Here’s the instruction sheet for a rack similar to mine. Not too complicated. Piecing together what they told me, it sounds like the fork was too wide for the metal plates to fit behind the top brazon. But given that I do have a top brazon and the schematic doesn’t, why not simply screw the rack onto the brazon?

Scientific rigor is giving way to personal agendas. This is disturbing.

Love in Action co-founder John Evans speaks out against the movement he helped form.

..is just an “orgasm.” Read about the marketing power of unexpected names.

I’m trying to get as much riding in as I can to prepare for the Newfoundland trip. Unfortunately, given all the other stuff in my life that I “need” to do (you know, like work, errands, and such), my training has consisted solely of biking the 30 miles round trip to work everyday.

Today, though, I did manage to get an extra ride in. Karl had emailed me earlier in the week wondering how my training and new bike were coming along, and asking me whether I’d like to join him for a “Lobster Ride” of Cape Anne. I jumped at the chance: I think going on a tour with other people can often make it a lot more fun, and I’d been desparing about getting any of my friends to join me.

We drove to Manchester-by-the-sea, and from there biked through Gloucester (”Gloustah” to you) to Rockport: me in my shiny new, halfway set-up Trek 520, Karl on his recumbent. The ride was perfect— much easier than months ago when I tried it on my old bike with Knox. The weather was sunny, gorgeous. Once in Rockport, we stopped for freshly-boiled lobster and ice cream, before pedaling around the peninsula back to Gloucester.

The evening turned out just as perfect: after droppping the bike off at the shop, I met up with Bill to have a picnic dinner on the Common and watch the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Hamlet. It was excellent!

I stumbled across a nicknaming contest for Judge roberts in Slate, and that led me to this February 12, 2001 article by Garry Trudeau on GWB’s use of nicknames as a means to establish his dominance over subordinates:

Moreover, the nicknaming transaction is unilateral, thereby maintaining hierarchical order. Despite the ubiquity of his own countrified nickname in the media, Dubya has never been commonly used in Bush’s presence. Even calling the President by his first name seems an unlikely response from Freddy Boy or Big George, who have no choice but to either endure the folksy nomenclature or, putting the best face on it, play into the implied closeness, as if the President and they go way, way back to the sandlots of Midland.

AMERICAblog has an analysis of “Paula Zahn Now”’s second story on “conversion therapy[sic]“:

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blockquote>But the heart of the segment was a live one-on-one interview between Zahn and another “graduate” Gerard Wellman, who now works for LIARs. (Another Dickensian and ironic name for a clean-cut nice young guy — dude, you are a well man AND a gay man; it’s a pity you think you have to be ashamed of yourself).

Zahn was polite but pretty darn on target. She emphasized how he is and always will be gay and that the best the program can hope is to get Wellman and others to SUPPRESS themselves. She emphasized how it’s one thing for an adult like Wellman to choose to go through this and a very different thing for a minor to be forced into it. LIAR’s line is that the parents have the right to raise their children any way they choose. But the response is that you have no right to assist a parent in shaming and emotionally damaging a child by telling them to be ashamed of their skin color or gender or sexual orientation. Zahn talked a lot about the vulnerability of the children being pushed through LIARs. When Wellman tried to compare this program to a parent’s right to have their children take music lessons, Zahn shot him down and said that music lessons never lead to suicide attempts.

My favorite moment:

Zahn: But in a way, aren’t you denying who you are?
Wellman: Aren’t we all?

Uh, no. We’re not. Only people abused by their parents and their misguided religious leaders try to deny who they are.

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blockquote>

Here’s a column by David S. Broder at The Washington Post on our increasing ignorance of history.

I’m getting ready for the trip to Newfoundland (”the Rock”), where Knox and I will be biking and biking for three weeks. Here are some facts:

This, this, and this is why we’re doing it. Take a look at some of the sights we hope to behold first hand.

Look at this topographic map to see the hills we’ll be up against.

Here’s information from Atlantic Cycle Canada’s 2005 Newfoundland Tour Info (all emphasis in quotes has been added by me):

• Seven full days and one partial day of cycling from Deer Lake to St. Anthony, at 73 km (45 miles) per day, which they estimate at 5 hours or less. Biking to work from Boston to the suburbs in traffic, I cover 15 miles in an hour, so given the hillier terrain in NF, this sounds reasonable
• “Terrain on the western part of Newfoundland ranges from flat to rolling. Our days in Gros Morne National Park have several small mountains. These are challenging, but feasible, even for moderate cyclists.”
• Their tour goes through Gros Morne National Park and visits L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Park, which has an original Viking settlement.
• St. Anthony is the only real town on this route
• They note that all their campgrounds will have warm showers. I would like to find out what their campgrounds are; I need running water for my contacts.
• ‘Known as “the rock”, Newfoundland is forested in its interior, but quite rocky and barren along the coast. Often there are barrens, with vegetation and conditions resembling Canada’s north. Winds can be strong. The prevailing direction is from the south, and strong tailwinds are expected for almost every day.‘ Although we were thinking of taking the ferry from Sydney, Nova Scotia to St. Johns, NF, and return from Channel-Port-aux-Basques, it seems better to take the ferry to Channel-Port-aux-Basques, do the northward tour with a tailwind, catch a ferry back to St. John, and bike West across the forested part of NF.
• Archeological sites along the way
• Here’s their itinerary (more details here). We should be able to match this:

  Monday, July 4 - Deer Lake to Trout River Tuesday, July 5 - Trout River to Rocky Harbour Wednesday, July 6 - Activity Day in Gros Morne National Park Thursday, July 7 - Rocky Harbour to Cow Head Friday, July 8 - Cow Head to Hawke’s Bay Saturday, July 9 - Hawke’s Bay to St. Barbe Sunday, July 10 - Optional day ride to Labrador Monday, July 11 - St. Barbe to Pistolet Bay Tuesday, July 12 - Pistolet Bay to St. Lunaire Wednesday, July 13 - St. Lunaire to St. Anthony

• Mostly camping: “A limited number of Bed and Breakfasts and motels are along our route.”

From Eric Praetzel’s vacation diary:

• Prevailing winds are from the South; they let up later in the day
• This, I think, refers to the bus: “When the bus driver dropped me off I was told that they do not take bicycles that are not in a box.” Need to investigate bus line policies
• “Ferry Terminals in Nova Scotia have showers”

From Great Canadian Cycling Adventure:

• These guys mention winds from the NW(!) in the segment from Argentia to St. Johns

Accommodations:

• Campgrounds in the Western Region, Central Region, Eastern Region
• There’s more info on accommodations here

Sights to see:

• Cape Spear National Historic Site, just south of St. John: the easternmost point in North America
• Viking village at L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Park
• Signal hill
• Western Brook Pond looks spectacular. Where is it?

I just sent a letter to the Montgomery County Board of Education concerning the controversy over the sex-ed curriculum (my previous posts on the subject are here and here). Get involved! Send your letters to MCPS at boe@fc.mcps.k12.md.us or at:

Montgomery County Board of Education
850 Hungerford Drive
Rockville, MD 20850.

Here is the text of my letter:

Esteemed members of the Board of Education,

As a gay MCPS alum, I would like to weigh in on the current sex-ed debate in Montgomery County. I believe it is imperative that young people get solid information about their emerging sexuality without the burden of a dogmatic agenda borne of prejudice.

It is a fact that a fraction of the population has same-sex desire; that this fraction is small does not make it abnormal. It is a fact that we long for and form emotionally meaningful relationships; that most jurisdictions in America refuse to recognize our families does not make them vanish. It is a fact that sexually active people, whatever their age or orientation, need to be educated about the health risks of sexual activity; that we wish young people to be chaste has not and will not make them so.

Groups like CRC and PFOX are trying to strong-arm you into being mouthpieces for their dogma: that being gay is abnormal and that it is “fixable.” While these groups are certainly free to believe what they want, public schools should not be in the business of propagating unfounded and disproven assertions. Indeed, one of the aims of K-12 education is to teach critical thinking skills; this implies drawing logical conclusions from the observed evidence. It just so happens that the psychiatric and medical establishment is in the business of doing this, and it has found over the past few decades that homosexuality is neither dysfunctional nor “fixable.” The so-called studies cited by groups preaching “conversion therapy” have been discredited by professional groups.

I have read that PFOX, in particular, vows to keep suing the county until so-called “ex-gays” are included in the curriculum. Please bear in mind the numerous reports that these “ex-gays” still have same-sex desire during and after their “conversion,” and many, indeed, finally find the peace of mind that they sought for so long when they come to terms with their homosexuality.

This, in fact, highlights why this curriculum debate is so important: the guilt and worthlessness that many gay youth feel when told that their sexual feelings are “unnatural” or “sinful,” a “doom” they can escape if only they were “trying hard enough,” can create scars that last for a lifetime. Do we really want our public schools to be complicit in this? Do we want to instill self-loathing for the sake of unfounded dogma?

I can tell you first-hand that being a gay teenager in the late eighties and nineties was an isolating experience: in spite of the good friends I made and the fun I had in high school, I always felt I had to keep this part of myself hidden, lest people not understand. Would a sex-ed curriculum that was frank and honest about homosexuality have helped? Yes! At the very least, it would have made me feel safer; perhaps, just perhaps, it would have helped me and my friends broach a difficult subject.

Please consider the effects that your actions will have on the youth of Montgomery County. You have the choice to promote self-acceptance and mutual understanding, or self-loathing and bigotry. I trust you will do the right thing.

Sincerely,

Victor Chudnovsky
Richard Montgomery High School Class of 1992