Monthly Archives: August 2003

But, it’s a good pain!

Okay my legs still hurt a bit from yesterday’s ride. I basically cut the mileage down to 20 miles, but added a rather steep climb in the middle. Here’s this route output from Klimb:

  • Start at Canada Rd & Edgewood Rd proceed on Canada Rd and go 1.7 miles, climbing 130′ and descending 50′ to Canada Rd & Jefferson St (520′). [1.7 mi, 130', 50']
  • Go onto Canada Rd and go 0.9 miles, descending 90′ to Canada Rd & Olive Hill Lane (430′). [2.6 mi, 130', 140']
  • Go onto Canada Rd and go 0.9 miles, descending 70′ to Woodside Town Center (360′). [3.5 mi, 130', 210']
  • Go through Woodside Town Center and go 2.2 miles, climbing 80′ and descending 80′ to Portola Rd & Sand Hill Rd (360′). [5.7 mi, 210', 290']
  • Go onto Portola Rd and go 0.5 miles, climbing 20′ to Portola Rd & Old La Honda Rd (380′). [6.2 mi, 230', 290']
  • Go onto Old La Honda Rd and go 3.3 miles, climbing 1,320′ to Skyline Blvd (CA Hwy 35) & Old La Honda Rd (1,700′). [9.5 mi, 1,550', 290']
  • Go onto Skyline Blvd (CA Hwy 35) and go 1.6 miles, climbing 60′ and descending 300′ to CA Hwy 84 & Sklyline Blvd (1,460′). [11.1 mi, 1,610', 590']
  • Go onto CA Hwy 84 and go 3.3 miles, descending 1,020′ to CA Hwy 84 & Portola Rd (440′). [14.4 mi, 1,610', 1,610']
  • Go onto CA Hwy 84 and go 1.5 miles, climbing 70′ and descending 120′
    to CA Hwy 84 & Kings Mountain Rd (390′). [15.9 mi, 1,680', 1,730']
  • Go through CA Hwy 84 & Kings Mountain Rd and go 1.4 miles, climbing 100′ and descending 60′ to Canada Rd & Olive Hill Lane (430′). [17.3 mi, 1,780', 1,790']
  • Go onto Canada Rd and go 0.9 miles, climbing 90′ to Canada Rd & Jefferson St (520′). [18.2 mi, 1,870', 1,790']
  • Go onto Canada Rd and go 1.7 miles, climbing 50′ and descending 130′
    ending at Canada Rd & Edgewood Rd (440′). [19.9 mi, 1,920', 1,920']

For a total of 19.9 miles, 1,920 feet climbing and 1,920 feet descending.

You may notice that most of the climbing is on Old La Honda Rd, it actually took me quite a while to get up that hill. But, the trip back down was wonderful! You bet I’m going to put that one into rotation…

And my vespa dies…

Well I just went out to pick up a couple of random things and on my way back my vespa stalled out 3 times. It took a few kicks each time to get it back up and running, but when I reached Fulton and Stanyan it just quit!

It sounds to me that gas stopped making it way to the engine. There could be a bunch of problem which lead up to this, but I am guessing it may have to deal with my carburetor. Now it’s time to fix the little bugger, because I have my road test on tuesday and need something to ride!

Matthew Sperry Tribute Concert

Excellent show! It opened up with Operasperry, a collection of musicians Matthew had worked with over the years. The music is a rather bizarre free form improvisation. It’s wild how alien the sounds can be made from conventional instruments. The best part was watching people’s faces who bought tickets to primarily see Tom Waits and didn’t realize what they were in for…

Second up was the Pauline Oliveros Quartet. Apparently Oliveros is well known for her advante-garde compositions, which the MC claimed that even Sonic Youth has recorded. They played a couple of nice arangements. Plus how often do you get to see someone playing a koto?

On third was the Red Hot Chachkas. Sperry had these guys play at his wedding, which at the time he was a member of. The first time I heard them play was at Matthew’s memorial service, it was nice to hear them in more upbeat setting.

Tom Waits came on solo around 10:30. He mixed up the set with new and old tunes, while moving between his using his acoustic and electric guitar and the upright piano. Once I heard Matthew was recording with Waits I was hoping that they would go on tour and He would be my ticket into the show. But, once the albums were released I found out that Waits doesn’t really go on tour anymore. So this show was truly a treat! Waits was a cool as I expected…

Last but not least was the Hedwig and the Angry Inch. They ran though a bunch of songs from the show and sounded wonderful. It was sort of strange seeing them out of costume.

It always amazed me how much depth Matthew had playing music. Tonight really brought that together and made very enjoyable show.