May, 2005 is Peak Oil Production Month

74, 298 barrels per day average. Time will tell if it is the all time peak, or a local maximum as we all should hope. Since I don't believe in fairy tale endings, I believe it is the peak peak... leaving us all in deep, deep yogurt. You get to guess the color! Interestingly, it took 3 years to identify 1971 as the peak in oil production in the US. Read Kevin Phillip's new book, Bad Money, for some thoughts on the political implications.

In Madison County, it has made farm planning much more difficult. Normally you use past history as a guide, but that has left some farmers this year without enough money to plant this year's crop. Farming costs are growing faster than grain prices, hard as that is to believe! Who knows what will happen next?

421 Miles for the month, 1400 for the Year

There is a small chance this will put me ahead of Gene Pass in yearly milage, but it won't last long. I'll be gone most of July and a week in August. Then comes fall harvest and two more trips. I should break 2000 for the year, but 2500 would only happen with a beautiful November. And what are the odds of that happening?

GOBA Awards

Best Town: Wellington for being the quinessential small town... worth a visit!

Best AM Snack Stop: Lexington by miles... thanks

Best Lunch Stop: Millersburg

Best PM Snack Stop (aka second lunch): Apple Valley

Best Camp Ground: Coshocton

Best Set of Signs:

EATING         MAKES YOU          ST JOHNS 
PASTA            FASTA            SPAGETTI
                                   DINNER

Best Ride: Orrville to Wellington... rolling countryside with no headwinds!

Goba Done - 272 Miles

is enough. Met a 6th cousin Friday night who teaches English in Tokyo, Japan. It is a funny old, small old world. Saturday was the best day with rolling countryside that you blast through in high range. And I was not forced into granny gear ONCE! 7 days of camping is enough for me. Sleeping in a bed will seem like such luxury!

One more example of GOBA humor from Grandma's GOBA Gang.

Holmes County Bicycling

There is nothing more to add.

Goba Friday...

and I am in Orrville, Ohio, home of the Smucker Company. Ride today was long and hilly, but I made it in one piece and reasonably on time. No rain yet, but tomorrow may be wet. I'll get up early to give myself the best chance to stay dry. No Amish farmers working hay today, but a lot is on the ground drying. Mostly they were feeding us today. 50 miles tomorrow (40 would be better) and the 20th GOBA will be over! About damn time! I'm ready to reacquaint myself with the wonders of flush toilets!

GOBA Wednesday

It is wonderfu to be whole again. No problem with the ride today. For the first time ever I arrived before the luggage trucks arrived. I did make my own way for the last 5 miles, bypassing some ugly hills. I wanted to stay in one piece! All is well except this part of the world does not gove me cell phone service... but then you can't have everything. One more day off and then the hard ride is on Friday. But I already know how to dodge the first set of hills... hey, every little bit helps.

View for My Front Door

6:48 PM, Monday, June 16, 2008

GOBA Humor

I laughed out loud!

Funny on so many levels

GOBA Prayer Flags

I dedicate this picture to my nephew Eric who will finish his long retreat in Mirik, India in September. I doubt me they have tie-dye prayer flags there!

GOBA Sunrise

GOBA Day Off

At least for the lazy ones like myself. For those with too much energy there is a tough 100 miles to Bolivar and back from Gobaville here in Mt. Vernon. My left leg didn't give me any pain last night... a good sign. I did have pain in my left leg Sunday night is I didn't keep it in a certain position. After yoga this morning, I worked over both calfs, and the left had a knot the size of a large lemon. I worked on it as best I could. There will be another session with a massuse today for sure!

Found a store that lets me print 4x6 photos from my compact flash card. So I can send my grandchildren pictures instead of my hideous drawings! Please let me know if and when your children receive any of these in the mail, Colin and Katie. I figure they will show up in Oregon about the time I get home... sigh!

I have carefully checked maps and tomorrow's ride will be fairly flat. So I have a good chance of getting thru that. If so, I can SAG it Friday and Saturday if need be. After the second SAG ride, you have to leave GOBA. That would be Saturday... and DUH! It's OVER! It is always good to have a backup plan.

Yoga felt really good today... gotta keep going with that!

GOBA Sunday and Monday

We started on Wellington, Ohio... the quinessential small town. Nice place. The ride to Galion, however, was a challenge. About halfway I took a spill. No real damage, just some road rash on my left knee and twisted handlebars. Both were repaired quickly, but it really knocked the stuffing out of me... or so I thought. Most of this ride was west, into a stiff wind. And it wore down everyone. One friend I met later that night was TOAST. It turned out I was no worse off than anyone else.

We camped in Hesse Park and it was perfect, minus the thunderstorm that knocked the tents around a bit. The good news was we did not have to evacuate to a shelter.

I have not been doing yoga on this GOBA because of my eye problems. With no place to eat breakfast, I just headed out of town ASAP. Bad idea as my left leg just was not working well. Middle gear range was all I could muster... bummer. Then when I hit a really tough hill, I got off the bike to walk... an even worse idea as I could not walk on my left leg. All I could do was lean on the bike and hobble up to the top. All I could think was "How long do I have to wait for a SAG wagon?" I gingerly made it to the AM snack stop where they had a great hot breakfast. Thank you, Lexington!

The next leg was a breeze... flat bike trail that I could ado without any problem. Things were looking up! After lunch, the hills started again and it was NOT GOOD. Very not good... so I went even slower. Thank God there is no reverse on a bike or I would have been using that! I managed to get to the edge of Mt Vernon gingerly, but the damned hill at the edge of town killed me. Near the top of it, the slightest change of position of my left leg was agony and this after I had taken two painkillers. That was the worst spot. I made it to camp and put up the tent... VERY important in thunderstorm territory... and hobbled over to the massage tent. 15 minutes later there was no pain and I could walk normally! Go figure! Apparently it was all tightness in my left leg whatevers... several words were thrown at me that didn't connect. In the final analysis, it seems my not doing yoga was the cause of all my pain. And as I was breaking camp I did get a big clue. One muscle in my left leg seized up so violently that I could not move! So yoga is back into my GOBA routine. And we shall see if all is well.

I did start drawing postcards for my grandchildren and sending them. They hopefully won't mind the cartoonish drawing!

GOBA Starts Today

and with any luck I will have a bike to ride. I had to switch to a mountain bike to be able to sit up straighter. All that junk in my left eye is vexing me, though the doc says it will go away and riding a bike is not a problem. I managed to trash one of the pedals on Thursday and have spent most of my time since then trying to get it fixed.

I have a new food plan this year, thanks to Patricia. She suggested using the 99 cent tuna fish snacks at Dollar Tree... great idea! Breakfast is a problem as most small towns we stay in don't have anywhere enough seats to feed 3000 people in a morning! and the bag breakfasts are very unfriendly to diabetics. I found reduced sugar instant oatmeal at Kroger... so I'm doing what the hikers on the Appalacian Trail do... eating a cold breakfast of instant oatmeal with milk in a plastic bag. YUM! It will get me on the road quickly and with luck I can have eggs somewhere down the road.

I'll post something when I can get to a computer over the next week. Patricia tells me the thunderstorms are over and the weather will be cool for a change. 100 degrees and 60 miles to go on a bike is not a beautiful thing. the other good news is the very dark glasses I wear on the bike make it impossible to see the crap floating around in my eye!

cheers,
40m

Bummed

While working on the soon to be art gallery this morning, I had a stranger floater appear as I was bending over. It was like a bit of black in poured on the surface of water. A call to my cousin with the most eye problem experience confirmed that it was probably leakage of blood somewhere in the eye. At least it is a small amount and it is not getting any worse. I already had an eye appointment for next Wednesday, so all I can do is wait. Does not appear to be a detached retina, but I wonder if GOBA is in my future this year. Time will tell.

UPDATE: Had my Wednesday appointment on Monday morning, first thing. The good news is that I don't have a detached retina as I thought from last night's light flashes. The bad news is it is just "old age" and with luck will go away in a while. Whatever a while is!

The Blessing of Rain

It was dry in Central Ohio before the rains came early this week. After 5 inches of rain, the dry has been fixed! Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. Cousin tells me we will need another rain for the soybeans to come up, as the 90 degree weather starting today will bake an inpenetrable layer on the surface. Still, rain is a blessing. Without it, nothing can grow!

I personally have seen water on roads where I have never seen it before.

1003 Miles on a Bicycle This Year

That was the good news. The bad news was one rock ruined both tires and tubes. In reality both needed replacing since GOBA starts in two weeks, so I"m trying to believe that rock did me a favor. The replacement tires are supposed to last 11000 miles... I sure hope so!