Log 2015031801

I purchased a Roughneck plastic container for my truing stand.  It's twice as big for what I need it for and I'm not sure about where I'm store it yet?

Recently, I've had my lower back problem reemerge.  But I've noticed that it gets better when I hike or workout.  It's bizarre that this is the effect considering the stress that I have to put on it to do this.   My guess is that that my entire body has not been getting adequate exercise when I'm at home and I'm loosing muscle mass unevenly, causing some of the lessening strands to stretch around others that have yet to compensate.  All I know is that it works better than 800mg Tylenol.

On the 15th & 16th, I made my initial inspection of Whipple Section - Buckeye Trail's off-road (North Country National Scenic Trail concurrent).  I wanted to do it early next month, but I monitor the severe weather conditions from the desk and weeks of areal flood watches and warnings, coupled with National Forest Service (NFS) campground closures prompted me to do it early.

Whipple's low point is at 604ft along the Little Muskingum River at a position that is roughly 7 miles north of the Ohio River.  The river's level near the SE tip of Buckley Island is 584ft above sea level there and at the mouth of the Little Muskingum in Marietta of Washington County as well.  I wish that I knew how many miles upstream our low point it, but it could be about 7 or 8?  Considering how far in land the Little Muskingum goes before it reaches BT/ NCT, I'm surprised at just how little it gains in that short amount of distance.

The good news is that while along the Little Muskingum, Whipple's sand surface was on a top of a ledge, some 5 to 7ft from the bloated river.  And it would really take a lot for a flooded river to overtake it, like a 200 year flood or more.

Whipple is passable at the moment, in fact, most people can reach average speeds on it.  With that being said, I accounted for 145 deficiencies in Whipple's 13.59 miles of off-road in the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest.  Most of them are downed trees of 18" of less that are resting entirely on the trail's surface.  We have a sawyer course coming up in May and I intend to be there.  But without a sawyer, it would take over 24 days per person to clear those obstructions with a hand saw.  However, my experience with a chainsaw suggests that it won't get much faster.

Log 2015031201

Some financial matters got "squared away" today.  I'm pleased to report that "the books" are in good shape so far.  Yesterday, I got the desk assembled.  Today, I worked on the laptop's arm, which clamps to the opposite end of the desk and elevates it off of the surface.  When the laptop is on the platform, I usually remove the battery so it doesn't keep charging (constant charging diminishes their life).  Then I used zip ties to mount a surge strip, seven port USB hub, the AC/DC box and power cables to the platform's arm.  I use a second set of AC/DC power cables when I take the laptop out of my dwelling.

At the moment, there's a pile of laundry on the floor that needs to get done and my old laptop tray on wheels needs to be taken out to storage.  A message was sent to NiteRider requesting an electronic copy of their user guide for my Lumina 750 bicycle headlights.  As of last week, I invested in a second unit that will mount opposite of the one already on there on the bicycle extension bars that I mounted.  I'm looking forward to seeing how those two work in concert with the 250 lumen unit that I mount to my helmet.  It also comes with a powerful rear taillight that I'm quite fond of and will match one that is already on there.  They have a pretty powerful "pulsing" mode, that when set to alternate from each other, seems to send a pretty clear signal that I'm unusual and don't belong there, or there's something definitely artificial happening ahead.

- I'm unsure if the documentation for my Acer laptop is in my tablet's "library" folder?  If it's not, I should download it to that directory in the event that it's needed when I'm off-line.

- And I still have yet to read my smartphone's manual.  It may contain things that I don't know about it yet.

- Updated GIS/GPS files for the Buckeye Trail still need to be uploaded to the smartphone, tablet and laptop.

- I need to perform electrical diagnostics on my 2008 Chevy HHR's tailgate wiring.  It just doesn't sound like it has enough power to pop the tailgate?  If it were a short, it would be blowing fuses (and it's not)  So, I think that I'm looking a wire that is partially breached, but not coming in contact with anything metal.  With the backseats taken out, there are some harnesses that are exposed there and I think that the problem is probably there.  But proper diagnostics dictate that I start with a multimeter at the plastic plug on the tailgate release motor and measure the amperage along the wire going towards the fuse block.

Another way that I can do is with the HHR's rear battery.  Using an inline fuse, I can hard wire a positive lead to the corresponding wire just before and leading to the tailgate release's touch pad.  If the motor promptly releases the latch, then my problem is elsewhere.  If it doesn't, my problem is confined to the tailgate itself.

- Last week, I received a new truing stand for the bicycle's wheels.  My previous one is still in good shape, but one of it's knobs fell off when it was getting stuffed into the trailer and I've been unable to find a replacement.  This time, I need to procure some kind of tough container for it.  If it's knobs do fall off, I don't want them to go very far, like some unknown mile on Interstate 77.

- two adjustable lanyards were purchased at Staples in Mentor of Lake County two days ago.  I cut the mesh on one of them so that it only fits around my hand.  That lanyard will also tie down the digital camera and keep it from falling out of my car windshield mount and hitting the floor.

I have about 40% of the intersection's photographed and geotagged for the Whipple Section - Buckeye Trail.  And I have about 20% of it on video.  The digital camera can geotag, but only if it's connected via Wi-Fi to the smartphone.  The plan is to install a second goose neck windshield mount inside of my Chevy.  Then use the digital camera to record the videos and the smartphone to take the geotagged photographs.  I'm not so sure about the video, but the geotagged photos will be uploaded into the Google application Picasa, which will sense the geotags.  From there, I'll use the option to upload them to Google Earth and incorporate them into my administration and maintenance folder for Whipple Section.  Once done, I plan on giving a copy to the Trail Management Team and the Buckeye Trail Association's Headquarters for their records.  Since their from various parts of the state, if they ever need to do anything on Whipple, they can study the sites that they're going to.  As for me, I would like to study these myself on occasion.

Trail Angel on Old Man's Cave Section

-I hosted Greg K. at Basecamp D for a few days

We hiked Old Man's Cave Section from Pt. 19 - S to 26 - W, which I've designated as the ST Lawn in the Pretty Run property.

I took a waypoint for Pt. 26. The one that I had was an approximate location.

Afterwards, we met a friend there who is known to many in the BTA. Instead of riding back, I was grateful that he gave me a ride back to Basecamp D.

Correction regarding the name of the campground for Basecamp D. It is the "Old Man's Cave Campground" at Hocking Hills State Park in Benton Twp of Hocking County. 

Axles on my mountain bike need to be calibrated again. I have a quick releases on both wheels with disc braking system. The true on the rear wheel has been holding up, but I'm not sure how much longer?

The bicycle's tires have been deflated to 44psi to put more rubber down and handle more aggressive dirt roads. But when i came down hill around a turn at high speed on a paved road, the rear wheel folded over and i almost wiped out.

The USB generator as mounted on the bicycle's right rear fork was moved back about 1". This was done so that it would no longer knock into the right crank in gears 5 - 7 on the high sprocket. 

Nonetheless,  shifting into gears 5 & 6 high require that I over shift, then down shift into them. 6 high still requires that some torque be applied before it shifts at all. From what I'm told, it's probably a problem with the rear detailer, but it's nothing that needs fixed imeadately.  With all that being said, the gear cassette was just recently changed in Zanesville by a mechanic that i trust and have used in the past. And I'm confident that it's my bike and not their work. Frankly, they are some of the only two people who have ever got my bike right. The way i see it, you have to stick to what work.

My Minora truing stand lost a piece that secures a bicycle axle when the spokes are being serviced. I'm convinced that i might be able to use the other parts of the stand which might bend and reach up to the rim if i attempt to true it as still mounted to the bike using my double kickstand? It could work on both wheels if I place a load on the rear rack to bring up the front tire.

The accuracy of my Garmin eTrex 20 seems to be very good for a hand held GPS.

Some of my NiMH battery cells are bad. They'll have to be charged up one, or two at a time to weed out the bad ones.

The Cramper's awning is showing signs of stress.  During a hard rain, water will pelt through. This piece of canvas was waterproofed in July.