Quick coffee in quiet Vrijthof

I like my terrace view: The Vrijthof -- Sint Janskerk, Sint Servaasbasiliek and the Hoofdwacht.




Nowadays I drive to all 4 corners of the
Netherlands. Each week I burn between 700 and 1000+ kilometres and that makes
me the queen of the road =)





Last week I was in Maastricht which is
200+ kilometres from Amsterdam. Maastricht is located at the southern tip of the Netherlands bordering Germany and Belgium. I have a business partner here and we finished
the meeting earlier than expected. I saw that I have a few
missed calls, as well as I can see continuous emails coming in to my phone so I decided to work a bit before driving back to the Randstad. A quick swing by at Vrijthof(the main big square of Maastricht)for some coffee while I check and answer my emails and call back people would be the best scenario.




While sitting at a café terrace on
Vrijthof and sipping my coffee it dawned on me that I really liked my job. Even if it is stressful.
Even if sometimes I feel the heavy weight of the responsibility. Even if I have to juggle, find out, search and justify things on my own.




Vrijthof before 12 noon is very quiet. I
have never seen Maastricht this still. However, I noticed people trickling into the square when I left about half past 12. Many of them with cameras hanging from their necks.



It was nice to have seen the quieter side of Maastricht.

Shifter Placement on a Mixte: an Aesthetic and Functional Challenge

I've been asked to describe how the shifters are set up on my mixte, but I hesitate to write about it, because I don't necessarily recommend this method. My handlebar setup consists of inverse brake levers, elk hide grips covering the entire handlebar, and bar-end friction shifters mounted upon "thumbies" up toward the front. The rationale here was to leave as much of the handlebar area uninterrupted as possible, allowing for a variety of hand positions. It works nicely in that context, but it is not for everyone - which brings me to the issue so many have written to me about: There seem to be few options for mounting gear shifters on a mixte with upright handlebars that are both elegant and convenient. Personally, I find my own setup not entirely elegant: Too many cables up front. And it's not entirely convenient either: The levers can only be reached when the hands are in the aggressive forward position on the bars. But what other possibilities are there?



One alternative is to move the shifters closer to the edges of the handlebars, so that they are near the brake levers. This placement is more convenient if that is the position where you tend to hold your hands the most, and since I've been using my own mixte more and more as a city bike I am considering switching to something like this. The problem, however, is that placing the shifters here interrupts the handlebars and limits potential hand positions: It will not be possible to slide my hands back and forth along the bars the way it's possible on my current mixte set-up. Also, it's essential to get the angle of the shifters just right, and doing so does not always result in attractive placement. Finally, both with my current set-up and with the set-up pictured above, there is something messy-looking to my eye in having so many cables sprouting from the handlebars. I have not been able to find a way to make handlebar-mounted shifters look attractive.



A potential way to clean up the handlebar setup from the "messy cables" look while keeping the shifters within reach is to opt for bar-ends. I tried this prior to my current setup, but quickly discovered that this works well only with the wide Nitto Albatross bars used by Rivendell, and ideally on a bike with a long virtual top tube and/or with the handlebars raised high. Otherwise, you may discover that the bar-end shifters will poke you in the knees to the point where it could interfere with pedaling on turns. That is exactly what happened when I tried them on my small sized mixte with narrow Porteur bars.



If none of these methods appeal to you, you can go the vintage route - one possibility being to mount the shifters on the stem. However, generally this is not recommended for a number of reasons. Some claim that mounting the shifters in this spot is dangerous, because they could potentially "impale" you if you fall forward on your bike. To me this seems rather far-fetched: After all, it's common to have bruises on your thighs from bumping into bar-end shifters, yet no one claims they are dangerous. I think the real reason stem shifters are disliked is that they are considered to be a symbol of lower-end bikes: In the '70s, stem shifters meant that a bike was marketed for amateurs who held their hands mostly on top of the handlebars and were unable to reach downtube shifters.



But while downtube shifters offer elegance and simplicity, removing the second set of cables from the handlebars entirely, most cyclists who are looking for an upright mixte find them difficult to use. In order to shift gears, you have to remove you hand from the handlebars are reach quite a ways down. Particularly if you are sitting upright, this is inconvenient - not to mention beyond the skill level of some cyclists.

As far as aesthetics go, a mixte frame is a challenge to set up, because the twin lateral stays already add a degree of visual complexity to the looks. If you add a cluttered handlebar set-up to that, it can get pretty messy. In vintage photos and in handmade bicycle shows, the cleanest looking mixtes tend to be set up either as single speeds, with hub gearing, or with single chinrings - ensuring that there is, at most, only one shifter to deal with. But in practice, most mixtes today are set up with derailleur gearing and either double or triple chainrings - presenting an aesthetic and functional challenge.

While I cannot offer a solution that would suit everyone's tastes, I wanted to share the methods I know of and the pros and cons of each, as I see them. How have you set up the shifters on your mixte, and are you happy with them in terms of user-friendliness and looks?

The 9th Regiment at Shiloh :: The Photo

This is the first of two photographs from the display at the visitor center at Shiloh National Battlefield.

The caption under this picture in the display reads: “Men of the 9th Indiana, a regiment of Hazen's brigade in the Army of the Ohio, in camp before the battle.”

Perhaps, partially due to the size of the photo on display (about 30x36 inches), it is out of focus.

The close-ups below begin from the left hand side of the above photograph. There is some overlap in the close-ups so some men will appear on more than one of the pictures.

Though out of focus, it is interesting to see the different stances and postures of the men. How some of them seem to be paying attention, and others, well not so much.

Bull Skull Nest

Last year I found an abandoned nest in the eye socket of my bull's skull but didn't know if they actually used the nest. This year in the other eye socket I saw a nest the other day. There was a pair of what we call red headed finchs going in and out. Some books call them house finchs. When I saw them leave the nest I stuck my hand in and felt a nice, tight little nest made mostly out of horse hair and grass. It is a much better nest than the local sparrows make out of hay, tumbleweeds and the neighbors chickens feathers. I hoped they would come back even though I had put my hand in their home. I was glad when I saw them again in a few days and was able to get a couple of photos of the nest and one of the male finch.

Brownwood Paddock Town Square

After line dancing yesterday, Donna and I grabbed some lunch. Then we headed down to Brownwood Paddock Town Square. Just as the recreation centers are all themed, so are the town squares here. There are three of them and Brownwood Paddock is the newest one.



In fact it is so new, that it is still in the process of being built. There is a movie theater and a few restaurants and stores that are open. Other than that, it is pretty quiet.




That worked out great for us, because that allowed us to take lots of pictures. Just like the recreation centers, the details in the decorations of this place are just incredible.







I'm so glad we got down here and finally I have some pictures. It really is a neat place!

Beavers

Hairy Beastie

Time to brush the horses. First I did the bay mare, Nita, then on to the old paint, Sunny. But Nita really likes to be brushed and tells me she wants more by shoving her nose in against Sunny. But Sunny is the worst of my Hairy Beasties so he gets the most. The hair comes off in swirls that almost look like big hairy worms. then it is all in a pile at his feet. Hate to say it but I know I will have to do it all over in a day or so.