Roger Bikes

Category: News

News about bikes and riding.

  • Small town Colorado struggles to progress

    Great story on how difficult small Colorado towns are trying to grow. The struggle is that outside of Denver and Front Range cities Colorado is pretty conservative. Between ranchers and oil/gas industry the mindset is mostly that there’s no need to change things from how they’ve worked for decades.

    The problem with this is that their children leave for the city and the towns either away.

    “More than $150M has been invested in Trinidad. Has it worked? – The Colorado Sun”

    “Tension between Trinidad’s old guard and the new has stalled progress as the town looks for an economic renaissance.”
    — Read on coloradosun.com/2024/02/04/trinidad-investment-culture-business-stalls/

  • Steve Roberts: Computing Across America – BIKEPACKING.com

    What a crazy awesome story! I don’t know if I would be disciplined enough to actually do any work though.

    Steve Roberts may well have been the original digital nomad. Learn more about him and his fascinating computerized bicycles here…
    — Read on bikepacking.com/plog/steve-roberts-computing-across-america/

  • How Big Tech is Responding to Russia, with guest Nicole Perlroth — Pivot — Overcast

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causes trouble for Big Tech players. Kara and Scott discuss its effects on moderation, monetization, and cybersecurity with journalist Nicole Perlroth. Plus, the CDC says most of the country can go maskless, and Elon Musk has more trouble with the SEC.

    How Big Tech is Responding to Russia, with guest Nicole Perlroth — Pivot — Overcast

    Good discussion about cybersecurity and the whole Ukraine/Russia fiasco. Hopefully we don’t go all nuclear winter but who knows.

  • Recent media diet

    Pivot – Joe Rogan-Spotify-Anti-Vax, Canadian truckers, and the US Supreme Court

    Interesting discussion about the recent kerfuffle with Joe Rogan, Spotify, and a recent episode with anti-vax conspiracies. There is a freedom of speech aspect here but there are also consequences for spreading misinformation. Rogan can say whatever he wants but there will be consequences if people die because of what he says. Spotify cannot hide behind Section 230 here since they pay Rogan for exclusivity. One host plans to take his podcast off of Spotify. Relatedly Canadian truckers recently went to the capital to protest vaccine mandates. Even though 90% of Canadian truckers are vaccinated a vocal minority is getting outsized coverage and ended up getting a lot of people to show up and protest. Finally they talk about the US Supreme Court and the upcoming nomination from Biden. The court is very conservative at the moment and this nominee will be very important for balance in the decades to come.

    Fresh Air – Dir. Guillermo del Toro

    Excellent discussion about del Toro’s recent movie, Nightmare Alley, starring Bradley Cooper. The film centers around the Carnival and the cons run to separate people from their money. Cooper’s character escapes to the Carnival to hide from his past. The film sounds great and also has William DaFoe, which automatically means its entertaining. The conversation goes into del Toro’s childhood experiences and is a great listen. Terry Gross is a treasure and has been hosting this show for over 45 years!

    ReWork – Building to Flip is Building to Flop

    This episode discusses the concept of building a business with the intent to sell that business as soon as it makes sense. An analogy is made to spec homes, or a home that is built only with the intent of selling it. The builder does not consider this to be their home, nor is there anyone involved who will live in the home. Anecdotally the hosts bring up a spec home being built in their neighborhood and how the sub contractors mention how cheaply it is being built. The same happens with businesses where corners are cut because the builder/developer will not have to live with those decisions down the road. The hosts also draw from their experience of building Basecamp into the apps that is had today.

  • Stopping Doom Scrolling

    Doom scrolling
    “If it’s not helping you take action to make things better, what’s it for?”

    I would say that I started Doom Scrolling when Headline News came out with the 15 minute news cycle. Today we have Facebooks and Twitters and Reddits with endless scrolling of all the horrible news going on, and on, and on. While I do think it is important to be informed there is a limit at which the information is useful.

    My personal vice is Reddit’s Popular page. I can scroll on that page anytime of the day. While not all of it is Doom and Gloom enough of it is to keep me going for more. The problem is that apart from some funny gifs that I share with friends it is mostly a waste of time. I could spend that same time reading industry news or learning something technical.

    The solution is that I am updating my NetNewsWire to only have feeds that fit some sense of utility:

    • Industry related: WordPress, hosting, cloud computing, etc
    • Business related: Seth Godin’s site is a great example here
    • Focused posts: For the most part the sites should be talking about a specific topic(s). There can be some posts about personal life but unless I know them personally I am not as interested

    The internet and web are amazing. We can all easily publish anything anytime and anyone with access to the web can read it. This is also a problem as there is way more information than we can review in our lifetimes. Finding a balance of information versus entertainment is a challenge. Realizing when we are sucked into someone’s algorithim based on fury and rage is a skill we must learn and practice.

  • Goals for 2022

    Goals for 2022

    Here we go! 2022 a new year and new hope! Ok maybe not that dramatic but its a fun mental exercise to think about what I want to accomplish in the next 12 months. I did this last year and managed to meet a lot of them so maybe it will work this year too.

    In 2022 I want to exceed my biking mileage of 3,141 miles and go for 4000 miles. Thats an average of 333 miles a month, 77 miles a week, or 19 miles a day. This is a bike increase in mileage and will be a big goal to make.

    After returning my new bike, I opted for a rowing machine to keep my aerobic training going during the winter. My goal is to complete a Marathon in 2022. That is 42,194 meters. Besides finishing the distance I hope to complete it in under 4 hours.

    With a garage I should be able to get my woodworking hobby into full effect. I just need the price of wood to come down. My goal this year is to complete the Workshop projects from Weekend Woodworker and then get a coffee table and bookcase built for the house.

    Professionally I have some really big goals for 2022, but I cannot talk about them just yet.

    I want to do some big multiday bikepacking/touring trip but haven’t thought much more about it than that.

    I want to blog everyday and the 100 day challenge should give good motivation for starting the year off strong. After that I hope to keep using this as a type of workout but also push further into discussing personal and professional topics. I know if I was more organized about this site it would help encourage people to subscribe. That said, I already have a paying job and that is where most of my daily energy is focused.

  • 2021 Review

    2021 Review

    What a wild year. The sequel to 2020 ended up exceeding 2020 by a bit and it hasn’t slowed up as we head into 2022. The United States capitol building witnessed its largest physical attack since the War of 1812. The global pandemic of whatever COVID is now called continued to grow and mutate and keep on going.

    On the positive side a lot of good and great things happened in 2021. We built a house and moved in! Our jobs are going really well. The James Webb space telescope was launched after 20 years of development and avoiding pirates.

    On Jan 1 I wrote about my plans for the year. I hit a few and missed some others. I did not conquer the pull up, We did build a house. I did not quite achieve blogging everyday, but I did post in 10 of the 12 months! I only made two complete woodworking projects: a wall mounted lumber rack and some shelving for the garage. I exceeded my bike riding goal of 2600 miles with a total of 3141 miles! Finally I increased my volunteer time and effort with the Mancos Trails Group significantly.

    Overall I am really happy with how I did with my goals. The main one was the house and I think just completing that would have been more than enough to satisfy me. I am glad that I was able to get some of the other goals as that meant I was able to distract myself from that huge project. Building a house is a really big goal and I am happy that we don’t have to do it again.

  • 100 days of Blogging Challenge 2021

    Tomorrow begins a 100 days of Blogging Challenge and I am very excited about it. First of all its something I am organizing at my company, Kinsta, and second it means I am going to need to focus each day on writing to meet the challenge. This is kinda like having a workout buddy who helps motivate you to get to the gym. Instead there are a bunch of co-workers who will be writing about their lives and interests which will push me to do the same.

    Last year we did a similar challenge which you can read my posts here. It was a lot of fun and I got to know my co-workers much better. One of the motivators behind the challenges is that we are a remote company and there is a global pandemic going on. This means that we don’t get to hang out in person and learn silly non-work related things about each other.

    While it is not essential that we know these things to do our jobs; it can make doing our jobs easier if we have multiple points of reference for how someone else lives their life. Rather than only looking at each other transactionally in terms of work; we will see the other person as a person with similar and different issues as are own. This may help us be more clear in communicating with each other, and possibly have more patience with each other in stressful work situations.

    Here is what I learned about some of my colleagues from last years challenge:

    Jon is an avid runner and thinks a lot about getting organized. I used to run and can relate to what he is going through a little bit, though I never ran more than a Marathon distance. My organization skills can use as much help as possible so reading his posts have been very helpful.

    I know that Shelby loves technology and WordPress which does relate to our work and can be helpful in a practical manner. However it also expands our relationship beyond just work related discussions and again helps me to see what is important to him.

    Casba has a really strong interest in music and writes really well about what he hears. I love music too so its cool to see someone else with a lot of passion and intelligence.

    I learned that Grant is really into website technology and home automation. Most of what he is talking about is over my head but thats fine as it lets me know what he is passionate about.

    At the end of the day the goal of the challenge is a personal one to get me to write consistently and hopefully better. The group aspect of the challenge gives me motivation to show up everyday and also try to step up my writing skills. Finally being able to connect further with my co-workers makes working with them even more of a pleasure.

  • Technology Business Podcasts I am into currently

    A few weeks ago Ezra Klein did a podcast episode with Kara Swisher of “Sway.” and I remembered how much I enjoy Kara’s sharp tongue, quick wit, and deep knowledge of tech and business. Since then I have subscribed to the aforementioned podcast Sway:

    Power, unpacked. “Sway” is an interview show hosted by Kara Swisher, “Silicon Valley’s most feared and well liked journalist.” Now taking on Washington, Hollywood and the world, Kara investigates power: who has it, who’s been denied it, and who dares to defy it. Every Monday and Thursday, from New York Times Opinion Audio.

    Sway Podcast from the New York Times

    Her interviews on Sway are really well done. She is well researched and has expanded beyond Silicon Valley here. Great listen guaranteed.

    From there I learned about her team podcast with Scott Galloway called Pivot from Vox Media:

    Every Tuesday and Friday, Recode’s Kara Swisher and NYU Professor Scott Galloway offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics. They make bold predictions, pick winners and losers, and bicker and banter like no one else. After all, with great power comes great scrutiny. From New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

    Pivot from Vox Media

    These two are hilarious and interesting to listen to.

    Then found out that Scott has his own podcast called The Pod:

    A bi-weekly podcast offering Scott’s fresh and irreverent perspective on the news, plus a 45 minute interview with a ‘blue-flame thinker’ on Thursdays, and listener questions about the business world, big tech, and entrepreneurship answered on Mondays.

    The Pod from Prof G Media

    They cut through the BS, keep it fun, but also give some good insights into technology and business today. I cannot recommend them enough.

  • Adapt : 72/100

    The pandemic is causing a lot of change to happen. Even here in the US there are people taking this seriously and following the directions of medical professionals. Masks are becoming normalized. Social distancing is a thing.

    Is it convenient? Not at all but it is necessary. As with anything new and different we need to adapt. If it’s cold out you put on a jacket. It it’s hot you move to shade. If there’s an airborne pandemic you wear masks, socially distance, and avoid public indoor spaces. The more we learn about this thing called COVID-19 the more I know I don’t want to get it.

    The number of cases are very low in the area I’m in. Part of this is due to our remoteness, but also due to a lack of testing. We border Arizona which now has the fastest growing outbreak of any country in the world. I see Texas and California license plates all the time. I’m scared and nervous and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. The best I can do is follow the guidelines and hope everyone else does too.

    Until now I’ve avoided talking about the Pandemic as I was trying to stay positive. The reality is that silence about this isn’t going to make it better. There is a lot of misinformation going on right now and the best thing I can do is talk about what I have learned, this far.

    I had an electrician come over the other day and COVID-19 came up. He made a few comments that were dismissive of the virus. I mentioned the new studies about brain damage in patients. He mentioned that he hadn’t heard about that. From the few conversations he and I have had this summer I get the sense that he is listening to conservative news for all of his news. I will admit that I do not get much news from conservative news media. However I am aware of some of what they are saying, and for the most part it does not seem helpful.

    It seems like we need to talk about the Pandemic for at least 2 reasons: 1) to educate others and 2) to educate ourselves. Science isn’t perfection. Science is progress and progress requires an open mind. I guarantee that my biases are causing me to miss some detail about the Pandemic. One of the worst things I can do is be confident that I am right: Beware of Being “Right” | Psychology Today

    Never judge an interaction in a … relationship merely by who’s right. Instead, ask yourself how compassionate and kind you are in the interaction. Spend less effort trying to control [the other person’s] thinking and more trying to understand and appreciate differences in your perspectives

    The article there is referring more to romantic relationships, but it feels like this should be applied to everyone I interact with. We aren’t going to get through this Pandemic by winning an argument. We are going to get through it by showing compassion to each other and taking care of each other.

    Oh and by wearing masks. Please wear a mask.

    Workout detail

    Kate and I rode around town for a few hours today. The family left this morning headed back to the east cost. It was great having them here but it is also nice having the place back to ourselves. It hit 92F today which is pretty warm for us. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.