Al's Blog-o-Sphere

This is a followup to two earlier posts I made about bicycle taillights. Bike lighting is something I’ve been interested in because it’s become a fascinating area of the application of new technology to an old problem. That and I guess I’m obsessed with bright lights!

I received an email today from the developer of the LucidBrake Bike Tailight. They had found my post that mentioned their prototype and wanted to let me know that they have begun a Kickstarter project to get it up and running.

The light has evolved quite a bit since the video I showed in the post two years ago. It is now a octagonal PC board with the LEDs arranged in the corners. It is completely automatic, sensing motion and turning itself off when parked. It flashes while riding, but the big feature is that when it senses you coming to a stop, it flashes all the LEDS together brightly signalling a stop. It also has a different mode when it senses a sudden stop vs. a normal stop. Both should enhance a cyclists safety greatly. Continue Reading…

Last summer, I went on a ride with my friends the Recumbenteers. Rich has a camera that takes 3D photos and he often posts them online. He took this photo of me and put it on The Recumbenteers website.

To really appreciate the effect, you have to view it through a set of those 3D glasses, the kind with the red and blue lenses like what come in comic books or some movies. I didn’t have a set until recently, so I was missing out.

I saw some recently at the FIRST Robotics Championships in St. Louis, so I picked up a set. I have no idea what they were using them for, probably some promotional movie. But at least I can now enjoy Rich’s photos.

Just setting up my cyclecomputer and putting new batteries in it. Before I erase last year’s data, I just want to record that the total milage from last year was 955.3 miles. FWIW.

So, you ask, what am I planning now that Spring 2013 is here and it’s time to get out and get riding again? Is there a new tour in the works?

The answer is, at this point, I don’t know. There are many ideas running around that I’d like to try. I hope to settle on one or two soon.

These are just ideas at this point.

I planned out a trip last year to Dayton OH to coincide with the Dayton Hamvention. It would be nice to get there by bike and meet up with the BMHA group for their ride. I wanted to do it last year, but didn’t. When I saw the weather, I was glad I decided not to go. It poured rain the entire week and it would have been miserable.

The Hamvention is May 17-19 this year. My rough estimate of a leisurely route to Dayton would take 9 days, so I’d be leaving home around the 6th. Three days at the hamfest and another week or more to get home. That would make quite an ambitious first trip out. Continue Reading…