... And Wet Here

January 05, 2008 by Eric Richardson

L.A. River after Rain Eric Richardson

We got back into town Wednesday afternoon. Yesterday evening it started raining. It's been dry this morning, so I rode over to the river to take a few photos. You can see them as a set here.

Shot taken from the 7th street bridge, with the shutter at 1/4 sec to get the silky water. And, yes, it really was that brown.

It's Cold Here

January 01, 2008 by Eric Richardson

Kathy in the Snow Eric Richardson

Tomorrow morning Kathy and I head back to L.A. after a little over a week here in Michigan. We arrived to a snow storm and despite a little warming in between it's been pretty consistently cold with two good snowfalls. While it's always nice to see family, I'm good and ready to get back to California warmth.

Looking Ahead: Rails and Bicycling

December 27, 2007 by Eric Richardson

Obviously I'm still not much back into this "writing on my own blog" thing. Kathy and I are back in Michigan for the holidays, and I've been digging into a work project in the free moments between family things.

Agathon has never deployed a Ruby on Rails project before, and I talked them into that being the correct way to go for a fairly hefty job with a big deadline three weeks into January. Right now I'm plugging at the foundation myself, and then after the new years I get to show off where things are and we'll bring some other people up to speed on how to jump into Rails and help get it all going.

January looks to basically be Rails and bicycling, which is all I could ask for. I'm having a blast on the new fixie, and have basically been making excuses to ride it whenever possible.

Bicycle Shots

December 16, 2007 by Eric Richardson

Bicycle at Radio Hill

I said I wouldn't take any full-bike photos indoors. This afternoon I took the bike up Radio Hill to find a suitable spot for shots. I'll admit to not making it the entire way up the hill on my 48/15 gearing, but I made it close enough the the last bit of walk wasn't bad.

After a few days of riding fixie my legs are killing me, but I'm having a blast other than that. Friday I rode down to USC and back, and then did maybe 20 miles for Midnight Ridazz (I don't have a computer on, so just a guess). No bicycling yesterday, but then the couple miles to Radio Hill and back today.

Two more shots after the jump. — Continue Reading...

Two More Wheels

December 14, 2007 by Eric Richardson

New Bicycle Eric Richardson

Tuesday afternoon I walked into Hollywood Pro looking for bar tape. One thing led to another, and yesterday I walked out with a new fixed-gear bicycle.

Even back when I bought my road bike in 2005, I had already been fighting the little bug in my head telling me that a fixie for around Downtown riding would be a lot of fun. I had thought before about getting an older frame and building one up from parts, but had never shown the follow-through to actually act on that desire. In the end a confluence of a couple different bits of good timing led to this being the perfect time to go ahead and buy one.

A couple relevant bits of info: The frame is a Soma Rush. The bike's running a front brake and 48/15 gearing (relatively high and fast).

Yesterday evening I took the bike out to the Fashion District and practiced on completely empty streets. I think I represented myself adequately, though I have to say that I can't think of anything so jarring as when you forget you're on a fixie and decide to coast. The bicycle will remind you of how impossible that is very quickly.

I took some up close shots yesterday, but don't think it's particularly cool to take a full bike shot inside. My goal is to ride up to Elysian Park -- my favorite spot for bicycle shots -- and take my photos up there, but those hills are going to present quite the challenge.