Random Things in Raleigh

After our wonderful trip to see our granddaughter, we flew back in to Raleigh. Nathan had a meeting, so we had to spend the night there and stay in a hotel until he was done with his meeting. We stopped at a few stores before heading home, so Nathan could buy some things he needed. I was driving and noticed something odd at a stop light. Really odd.



An abandoned lawnmower, just sitting in the middle of the intersection.We laughed so hard. You know there is a good story behind that!

Welding and Brazing: a Visual

When I wrote about fillet brazing (a lugless form of brazing) earlier, some wanted to know what was the difference between that process and welding. The quick and simplified answer is like this: welding involves heating up and joining two pieces of metal to one another directly; brazing involves using another material (one with a lower melting point) to join them, sort of like a hot glue. Last week I photographed an unpainted frame made for Josh of Bike Safe Boston that shows the two methods alongside.






Here is a shot of the underside of the frame, by the bottom bracket area. On the right is a welded kickstand plate, and next to it on the left are two little braze-ons that are (I think) cable guides. Notice the pools of golden liquid (melted brass) that surround the braze-ons, but not the welded plate. Instead, the welded plate and the chainstays it is attached to are a sort of rainbow colour, from the weld pool that is formed when joining the two pieces.






Similarly, here you can see that the seat cluster joint is welded (weld pool rainbow), but the little rack attachment point on the chainstay is brazed on (brassy border).






My description is simplistic and leaves a great deal out, but it's an easy visual for a layperson to identify brazing vs welding on a "raw" or unpainted frame. I love the colourful look the juxtaposition of both techniques creates on this one - built by Ted Wojcik and designed by DBC City Bikes. More pictures here.

The Cliffs of Shore Acres

On this blustery winter's day with snow falling from the sky I find my thoughts wandering back to our mid-November trip to the Oregon coast and the beautiful weather that we encountered. Yes, it did rain as it so often does on the Oregon coast this time of year. But, we did also have some beautiful weather, as shown here at Shore Acres State Park near Coos Bay. Shore Acres is known for the massive ocean waves that frequently hammer the cliffs shown in this photo. On the day we visited, however, the ocean was about as calm as it gets. We would have loved to hang around into the evening to experience the amazing christmas light display that the park is also known for, but unfortunately we were a little too early in the season for that.

This Is the Day...

We've been talking about doing something like this for a while, and now we finally are! Didn't want to write about it earlier lest I jinx it; details to follow. Have a good weekend!

Arisaig Cave revisited

Getting a full body workout on the project, Arisaig Cave




In I last visited the Arisaig Cave and kind of felt I’d run out of things to do there. There was one big line left for me to do, a fantastic line following undercuts up a big diagonal flange in the middle of the cave. However, after a play I just couldn’t figure out how to make the feature work as a hold and gave up. It was just too hard for me.




It was only when I showed the palce to Flo last month I had another look and had an idea for a sequence that could work. I’m glad I gave it another chance. On that day I couldn’t try it as I’d just injured my knee , but yesterday, I had a good session on it and did all the individual moves. There are no ‘low percentage’ move on it for me, but about 9 or 10 in a row that are all powerful on burly undercuts and pinches. So I have a feeling that trying to link them together will be a good workout.




The nice thing is, the normal start should go at something between 8A and 8B, but climbing into it from the cave entrance (about 30 moves of 8A+) will make a very fine climbing challenge indeed to keep me busy, and fit.









Short Side Traverse, low version F8a




Today, I feel like I’ve been dragged along a cobbled street on my back. But looking forward to getting back on it. While I was there I also did a great variation to the short side traverse. The original version (about F7c+ since it’s 15m long) goes quite high along a slopey break near the start. There was an obvious low version on fantastically shaped edges, rounded by the sea washing in winter storms of aeons ago. It sussed it out pretty quickly for my warm-up at about F8a. I’ll make up a proper topo for the place shortly.

Busch Gardens, Williamsburg VA

Today we headed over to Busch Gardens. I've been here before, but it's been years since then. None of the guys have ever been here.

I thought this was pretty fitting:

We had a lot of fun together! It was a great day!

Kayaking Devilfish Lake

Today was our Saturday and it was forecast to be a beautiful day, so we loaded the kayaks on to the car and headed up the Arrowhead Trail to do some paddling. Our destination was Devilfish Lake. I have photographed the northern lights several times from the public landing on Devilfish and been intrigued for a while to see what the rest of the lake looked like. The shoreline of the lake is spectacular, with giant white pine trees lining the banks. Several of the trees are leaning quite a ways out over the water, like this one that I photographed Jessica paddling under. As she glided under the tree she raised her arms to feel the pine needles brush against her fingertips. We were hoping to see Loons during our paddle, but sadly we did not. Still, it was a beautiful day to be out in the kayaks!