Roger Bikes

Category: Off the Bike

  • Building a forever home – 3/100

    Building a forever home – 3/100

    Kate and I moved into our new home almost 3 weeks ago. Awesome is the word that sums up the entire situation. We designed the home to be exactly what we wanted based on a few criteria: It will be our forever home, we wanted to highlight the views of the La Plata mountain range to the east, it should be highly efficient and follow Passive House design concepts, and we need to be able to work full time here.

    Forever Home

    How can we say that this is our forever home? We cannot but we went into the project with that mindset. We are not trying to build something that we flip in a few years and then move onto the next project. Instead we want to have a home that we can see ourselves aging into in various ways. The first design that this influenced is the guest bedroom.

    2020 made a lot of realities hit really hard. The idea that we will always be in good health and fully capable is much more fragile now. When we thought of our parents the reality felt even more immediate. This caused us to think of the guest bedroom as a place that needed to accommodate someone in almost any condition. So it follows the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines for making a bedroom and bathroom accessible. There is at least 30 inches of clearance throughout the room. The doors are 36 inch pocket doors which are easier to handle from a wheelchair. We have also added extra blocking in the walls around the shower and toilet for pull bars.

    We also built the guest bedroom with the same dimensions as our master bed upstairs. If at somepoint we get tired of climbing the stairs, we can move into the guest room on the main floor. It still has a great view of the mountains too.

    The kitchen was designed so that multiple people can operate in there at the same time without causing conflict. We put plenty of walking space between the counters and built a large pantry so someone can even work in there. We did not follow ADA guidelines with the countertop heights. Kate is 5’8″ and I am 6’2″ and most countertops are too low for us to work at comfortably. We had them built at 39.5 inches, about 3 inches taller than normal.

    Finally we wanted a home where we could host guests and have other people enjoy themselves. For this we have multiple guest rooms and plenty of restrooms. The dining room and living room allow us to bring a lot of people together and connect.

    Views of the La Platas

    One of the first things we recognized about this land when we bought it was the views of the La Plata mountain range to the east. We knew we wanted to see them from the new house but Kate took it to another level. We have 11 windows on the east side of the house, each giving us a different way of viewing the mountains.

    There is a lot of exposure to the morning sun which helps wake the house up really quickly. We built the eave of the eastern roof long enough to provide shade to these windows as the sun rises higher during the day. This should help prevent too much solar gain, and overheat the home. We will probably need to add some type of window coverings in summer, but right now in winter the solar gain is very nice.

    Passive House Design

    When we started designing and researching how to build our home we learned about the Passive Home(PH) design concept. In a nutshell PH design focuses on using as little energy to heat, cool, and power a building, and sealing the home tightly so that it does not lose the conditioned air.

    As we learned more about PH design we quickly realized that we were going to want to work with someone familiar with the concept. We weren’t necessarily interested in spending the money to be PH certified, but we still wanted to follow the concepts and practices involved. This was also the main reason we reached out to the builder who would eventually become our builder, they had build a number of PH homes and were well versed in the concepts.

    Since the home would be sealed very tight it needed a ventilation system, so that we get fresh air in the home. The solution to this issue is installing a Heating Recovery Ventilator(HRV) or Energy Recovery Ventilator(ERV) system. These systems pull air from places like bathrooms, the kitchen, and mudroom and sends fresh air into the bedrooms and living spaces. In the mid point of the system lies an exchanger that pulls heat from the exhaust air and adds it to the incoming fresh air. The difference between and HRV and ERV is that the ERV also pulls moisture to help keep humidity at a constant level.

    In addition to saving energy by keeping the heated air in the home these systems are designed to run on very little power. This helps keep the overall PH design principles in mind.

    We went with an ERV system since we live in a dry climate and want to keep as much moisture as possible. If you ask 9 people who work with HRV and ERV systems which one you should use, based on your climate, you will probably get 11 different answers.

    We will also have solar photovoltaic panels added to our southern facing roof. This will be grid tied and offset all of our power usage and then some. Eventually we will end up with an electric vehicle and have wiring setup for a Level 3 charger in the garage.

    Full Time Workspaces

    Kate and I both work remotely for our jobs. We needed spaces that allow us to focus and be on calls without interrupting each other. We knew early on that Kate would be using the Loft as her Loftice. It has all the views she wanted but is still a separate space from the main living area. Personally I do not like having natural light when I am working on my computer. So part of the purpose in building a basement was for my office.

    For internet we use Starlink since we are in a remote rural area. There are other options, but Starlink is far and away the fastest and most reliable connection. Dishy is mounted on the NorthWest corner of the Garage roof. This gives it plenty of sky with zero obstructions, and makes it easier to access versus putting it two floors up on the main roof.

    Dishy’s PoE Cat 6 cable runs through the garage attic to a centrally located closet by the Kitchen. From there we have Wifi to the above ground parts of the house, and a switch that carries Cat 6 to both offices and the theater room. A second Wifi Access Point is in the basement to give better signal down there. So far everything is great with all areas of the house getting full Starlink speeds wirelessly.

    How’d we do?

    Overall the builders hit all of the marks that we wanted, and we are enjoying our home immensely. We are incredibly fortunate to have been able to do this at any time in our lives. When we hit the road full time 7 years ago this was not on the roadmap, but things change and here we are. I cannot say if we will live here forever but right now I feel like we could.

  • Booster Blues – 2/100

    Booster Blues – 2/100

    Yesterday I mentioned getting the COVID booster shot and while I am not feeling awful today I am definitely not at the top of my game. So I am using it as an excuse to whine, complain, and be a bit lazy. According to CNBC I don’t get to complain too much though. Still I would rather spend a day or two feeling sluggish compared to the alternative.

    Mexico Multiday Rafting on the Usumacinta river

    Yesterday I mentioned that I will be spending 8 days in the Mexican jungle rafting the Usumacinta River. I am going to post about this trip leading up to it but have a slight delima: When I am on the river I will have no access to the Internet (oh the horror), so I am going to need to come up with scheduled posts for those days. My thinking is that I will have a post that mimics the itinerary of the guide website (warning 1990’s website) but we will see what I come up with.

    Here is a video of the trip:

    Video from the river guide of the Usumacinta multi-day rafting trip.

    We are going with a group of friends who are serious rafters. They did a 30 day trip down the entire Grand Canyon a few years ago and think that this river is a great one for us to get our feet wet. From watching this video they consider the biggest rapids on the Usumacinta to be fun but tame. Since I will be manning the oars of Kate and I’s boat I am slightly less nervous now, maybe.

    The trip takes us to a couple of Mayan ruins that are only accessible via the river. We will be guided through them by local Mayan descendants. I am really looking forward to that part of the trip too.

    We are just over a month out and have pretty much everything ready to go. I may be binge watching various rafting videos on Youtube to refresh my whitewater knowledge. Also trying to figure out if I want to get a new GoPro for filming the trip. I have one now but I think its a GP 3 and they have come a long way since then. If you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment.

    Challenge update

    We are up to 12 participants now with the addition of:

    Welcome aboard!

  • 100 days of blogging challenge 2021 1/100

    100 days of blogging challenge 2021 1/100

    Here we go again!

    Its the 2021 edition of the 100 days of blogging challenge and I am pretty excited. First of all I got up and am writing this morning which is a great start. Second I have a lot to share over the next 100 days: my birthday is in 13 days, we are going on an 8 day rafting trip in Mexico, we are still settling into our new home, I am getting my workshop setup and will be making a lot of woodworking projects, and everything else!

    Today I have to make this quick as I am scheduled to get my COVID booster shot and a bunch of other shots for the aforementioned Mexico trip. To all of my fellow blogging challengers I say hello and lets have fun with this.

    Here is a list of everyone signed up, so far:

    I think we are about double the amount of people who participated last year! Remember this is a challenge to write everyday for 100 days, not a command. Do your best and if you miss a day its ok try to make the next day.

    Todays coffee is:

    From our local roaster: Fahrenheit Coffee (Someone should get them a proper website)

  • Making Trails

    Making Trails

    In the last 2 years I have been working with the Mancos Trails Group (MTG) to maintain and build public use trails in our area. At first it was a selfish endeavor: I wanted to learn how to build and maintain trails on my land. There is little information online that I was able to find about trail building and maintenance. Especially the building part.

    By volunteering with the MTG I have learned a lot and increased my confidence in building and maintaining trails. While I have been working on the trails, I have also gotten to know the people in the group much better. They are from all walks of life but share one goal in common: building and maintaining trails that anyone can hike, bike, or horseback.

    There are a lot of benefits to having good trails near your home. Besides connecting with nature and appreciating the area you live in, they can also help attract people to your area for recreation. Those people end up staying at lodges and eating at restaurants. This creates economic diversity and benefits the entire community.

    Mancos and the surrounding county are relatively poor compared to the rest of the state of Colorado. We are at the far end of the state from Denver which means we don’t get a lot of people just stopping by to spend their money. Durango is about 30 minutes away and grabs the majority of tourist activity in the area.

    We have Mesa Verde National Park which is a big attraction, but you cannot mountain bike in the park, and one to two days is enough time to see all the sights. There are some other lesser known state parks in the area but those are mainly for hiking. Of the trails that are leftover we do have a good amount of biking friendly trails, but they are not in the town of Mancos. At the end of the day we need more trails here.

    This summer we made some amazing strides towards creating more trails in the Chicken Creek Nordic Center and at the Aqueduct. While these areas are located just a few miles from each other, they could not be more different. Since Chicken Creek it at a higher elevation, it has Ponderosa Pines that reach high into the sky, and create a lot of shade. There are also a number of creek crossings. The Aqueduct is lower in elevation and is considered high desert. The trees are Pinon and Juniper, and there is a little bit of cactus to keep you on your toes. There is no water and the terrain is a bit more challenging.

    In both areas we created new trails using a mixture of volunteers, paid trail workers, and a professional trail builder. The volunteer work was a lot of fun but the trail workers and builder made the most progress by a considerable amount. The money for these activities was generated by a combination of grants and cash donations.

    Next summer the goal is to finish the Aqueduct trails, which could be done if we can raise enough money. Currently we could probably increase our grant writing activity, but also look at expanding where we are getting donations from. It would be awesome to have another 8 miles of awesome trails in our area. This would help us appreciate what we have, and bring more people to visit and live in the area.

  • Recovering from Thanksgiving

    Recovering from Thanksgiving

    The start of a new week after a big holiday is always a tenuous situation. On one hand four days off of work is very helpful for relaxing and remembering what is important. On the other hand it makes it more difficult to come back to work the following Monday, because even when work is great it is still work. My thoughts are of food and conversation with friends. Making the shift back to work thinking takes time and effort.

    The Thanksgiving holiday in the USA is a complicated thing to celebrate. Traditionally most Americans think of Thanksgiving as celebrating when the Native Americans helped the first settlers get through their first winter, and of American Football.

    Reflecting on this tradition is conflicting because it celebrates cooperation, but the consequential treatment of the Native Americans by the European settlers makes one question how much cooperation there was. My life is directly descended from these activities so I am a byproduct of them. I am thankful for living in the country and try to understand both the privileges it grants me and the tragedies it created.

    When I was younger I rebelled against all of it and thought that by rejecting everything I would absolve myself somehow. As I have aged I recognize that life is utterly and completely complicated. I am far from settled on the matter of how we treated and continue to treat the Native Americans. I cannot change what has happened but I can change how I think, act, and handle situations moving forward.

    Thanksgiving is also conflicting because of my own memories of Thanksgivings gone by. As a child it meant either hosting family or travelling to visit family. Some of those memories are good and some are less than good. In almost all cases there was a great food and overconsumption. This year we had friends come over and help us celebrate our first Thanksgiving in our new home. The food was great and I ate way too much.

    My solution for bouncing back from vacation is routine. Getting up early and getting some type of workout in is key. First of all this is important for staying healthy and happy but also because it helps to clear the cobwebs of vacation from the mind. Once the blood is flowing its time to focus on the dogs and getting them some breakfast and their exercise.

    This morning I got up and did 30 minutes of yoga. At one point in my life yoga was pretty much everything and helped me get through some interesting times. Now it is a tool I have that helps me remember how my body is changing but still the same. Each pose has a benchmark that lets me measure how much I am improving or declining.

    The more I practice the more I can check the benchmark and see where things stand. If I am not able to do a pose that I once could I do not feel bad, instead I see it as reason to keep doing more yoga. If I am able to still do a post I am happy but try to remain humble and know that there are other places I can still improve. Yoga also creates a flow by linking poses together in a way that mimics natural movement. This helps me feel confident in my own body, which then extends into everything else.

    Having a morning routine is somewhat new to me. For most of my life I have treated the morning with dread. Instead of seeing it as the start to the day, I saw it as the end of sleep. Changing this attitude took over 40 years but when it happened it was more like a light switch: I simply make the decision each morning to get up and out of bed.

    Having a routine to follow once I am out of bed also helps me get out of bed. Rather than laying there thinking about what I could do if I got up, I already have a plan and just need to get up and follow it. There is no thinking more than what t-shirt I am going to put on.

    While the routine is very important, being flexible with the routine is also important. Sometimes things come up and I cannot get a full workout in. In those cases walking the dogs replaces my workout. I am at least getting up and moving around. Plus walking my dogs is always an adventure.

    They smell so many things that I do not and it is fascinating to watch them explore. We have a good amount of wildlife around our home, so there are lots of tracks and scat that I imagine creates a cornucopia of smells.

    By the time work comes around I have been up for a few hours, have some type of workout in, have reviewed the days plans with the dogs, and made a nice cup of coffee. My mind may still be in vacation mode a little bit but I have removed a lot of cobwebs and am ready to go.

  • Morning routine

    Morning routine

    For most of my life my morning routine was: get up and get to work. I would squeeze in a shower and coffee and maybe some breakfast but for the most part it was a scramble to get to work. This persisted up till about a year ago when I decided to make and change and start getting up earlier.

    At first I would get up and go for a walk. Sometimes I would take the dogs. Then I would get back home and make coffee and maybe go for a bike ride or exercise. Then we got a hot-tub.

    Having a hottub is kinda magical. I like to get up and after placing my contacts go for a 15 minute soak. This is before I look at my phone or even brush my teeth. I want to get into the water as soon as I can so that I can wake up while I relax.

    It’s a great way to start my day. I sit there and watch the sun come up and hit the landscape. I watch the birds on the feeders, but mostly I try to meditate and not think about anything except for my breathing. I also stretch my toes by crouching on them in the water.

    Once I am outta the tub I dry off and take the dogs for a walk or go for a bike ride. These times let me continue my meditation but with movement which I find to be an easier way for me to meditate. Sometimes I listed to music or podcasts or audiobooks but more and more I don’t put in headphones at all.

    Once that is done I might do some strength exercising for an hour or so. This is another newer thing for me and the benefits are both visible and invisible. I feel stronger but I also don’t feel as sore or achy. I try to mix it up and get all muscle groups. Lately I have been doing some hip hop dance classes. I am terrible but its fun and a workout.

    With all of that activity done I make a smoothie, shower up, and get ready for work.

  • Recent Reading/Listening Aug 2021

    Recent Reading/Listening Aug 2021

    Books

    Some coworkers started a company book club a few months ago and we just finished our 4th book. I have wanted to be part of a book club for a while and this has been a lot of fun. I am listening to all of them as Audio Books as I don’t have much space in our current living situation and I can listen while I ride my bike.

    So far we have read:

    • The Lost City of Z – About the life of Percy Fawcett, a British explorer from the early 20th century, and his pursuit of a mythical city of gold in South America. The author combines Fawcett’s story with his own expedition to South America in 2005 to find the city. Overall the book is entertaining and enlightening about mans pursuit of the unknown.
    • The Death of Vivek Oji – This book is an emotional roller coaster and handles the subject of personal relationships and sexual identity. It starts with the main characters death and then reads like a murder mystery unraveling the complicated lives. I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it.
    • Project Hail Mary – I recommended a science fiction book and this was proposed. Andy Weir, the author, wrote The Martian and this is a fun science adventure story about saving the planet and alien first contact. It is a fun read and a nice distraction from all the craziness happening in the world.
    • From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way – A memoir of and by Jesse Thistle about his life. This book is very intense and covers child abuse, addiction, homelessness, indigenous people abuse, racism, and redemption. It is based in Canada but could just as easily be set in most areas of the USA. I reminded me of a lot of people I grew up with in Colorado and makes me angry with our inability to take care of each other.

    Podcasts

    My podcast consumption has gone backup in the last month or so. I had taken a break due to the addition of the book club but recently I have been listening to less music while working.

    The Rich Roll Podcast

    My goto podcast has been the Rich Roll podcast. He is a really good conversationalist/interviewer and his subjects are interesting to me: veganism, endurance exercise, environmentalism, and inner discovery. Here are some episodes that hit me hard recently:

    • Impossible Foods founder & CEO Pat Brown – This is from last year but is as relevant as ever. The goal of Impossible Foods, maker of the Impossible Burger, is to replace all animal meat production by 2035. The purpose is to reduce global warming by meeting meat eaters where they eat instead of thinking we are going to change their habits. Pat is really intelligent and conveys his companies message very well.
    • ANNA LEMBKE, MD – THE NEUROSCIENCE OF ADDICTION – Eye opening discussion about addiction. They discuss what we commonly thing of about addiction, alcohol and drugs, but go further all the way to social media. This is a great conversation regardless of if you have issues with addiction because it talks about how addiction is just part of being human.
    • BRUCE FRIEDRICH – THE MOONSHOT FOR MEATLESS MEAT – Along the lines of the Impossible Foods podcast. Bruce is the Founder of the Good Food Institute which is focused on enabling more companies like Impossible Foods. Another fascinating discussion about the future of food and how capitalism is going to be key for making the changes we need.
    • HELLAH SIDIBE – RAN ACROSS AMERICA (ON PLANTS) AND KEPT GOING – I don’t run anymore cause I am missing my miniscus in my left knee, but I love reading and hearing about running feats like running across the USA. This conversation is even better because Hellah is hella awesome and his enthusiasm is infectious.

    How I built this podcast

    I have a love hate relationship with this podcast. A lot of the time I love the episodes and learning about how people started their businesses. However sometimes I am not a fan of the company being interviewed or of the person. Those ones tend to turn me off of the podcast all together for some time. Some recent episodes I enjoyed:

    Reverse Engineered podcast

    The company I work for, Kinsta.com, has been publishing a podcast since early this year. All of the episodes have been great listens and here are some of my favorites so far:

  • Getting Educated on Trails

    Getting Educated on Trails

    Last year I wrote about building Kiss of Cactus and Fenceline trail on our land. I learned how to build those from years of hiking and riding trails. I also read a lot of websites and watched some Youtube Videos talking about design and technique.

    In June I talked about how my local trail group, Mancos Trail Group, had organized a volunteer adopt a trail program on the Mancos Spur Trail for 2020. Last summer I spent a few days going out to pretty remote areas to work on the trails. It was very satisfying work and I had a great time. The problem was I had very little confidence in my trail building and maintenance skills.

    I know I did not harm the trails but my larger concern was how much wasn’t I doing? Without any real world training on how a trial should look and work I was probably doing a lot less work than the trail needed.

    This year the Mancos Trail Group announced a training program, in coordination with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, to help give the adopt a trail participants more confidence. The training was done in coordination with a community college so there was a decent online education portion.

    The culmination of the training was a 1 day in field seminar with highly experienced trail builders and maintainers. That day was today and I spent over 7 hours on trail asking questions and doing trail work that 1 year ago I would have passed up. It was a great experience.

    17 volunteers, 3 instructors, and Chris from the US Forest Service, social distancing was adhered to and it was pretty windy out.

    We did some safety talk covering how to handle an emergency with a plan, as well as how to use various tools for trail work. Once that was done we headed out on the trail and spent time just walking the trial and learning how to identify issues. After lunch we worked on a variety of features and even built some new ones.

    Learning how to maintain a water bar. Most of trail maintenance deals with getting water off the trail to prevent or reduce erosion.

    The biggest takeaway I had was that its ok to make an improvement to a trail. You just need to understand how to make that improvement correctly and with confidence. It was also nice meeting more locals in my area and seeing what drove them to be in the woods and working on our local trails.

    In person training is second to none and I was able to ask questions when I had doubts. It turned out that my instincts were pretty good about when a trail needed help. The online and real world training helped me feel confident about my decisions.

    This summer the adopt a trail program is back and I have my assigned segment. Its a new to me section of trail so I am excited to see a new area and also give the trail some lovin!

  • Looking Closely is Everything — by Craig Mod

    The question is: When the gears of society start moving again, will we carry the wisdom of this stillness forward? I hope so. Out the other side, back onto those transatlantic and transpacific flights, pressed against one another on our daily subway commutes, schedules full of dinner parties, brunch dates, weddings, funerals, brit milahs, concerts, pizza cook-offs, retreats, homecomings — back into libraries and classrooms and the homes of our grandparents and elders. Inspecting it all once again with our newly honed, ever-close-looking eyes.
    — Read on craigmod.com/essays/looking_closely/

  • Work From Home: Tech Companies Cut Pay of Workers Moving Out of Big Cities – Bloomberg

    Nice coverage of how work from home WFH is changing pay and diversity.

    White-collar workers are taking advantage of a newfound flexibility to leave expensive coastal cities, even as companies move to “localize” their pay.
    — Read on www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-12-17/work-from-home-tech-companies-cut-pay-of-workers-moving-out-of-big-cities