Mar 27

United Bicycle Institute

Adventure, FeuchtBlog, Travel No Comments »


United Bicycle Institute- Ashland, Oregon 21-25MAR2011
Back to school! This time, it was bicycle repair school. The drive was 7 hours each way. I had heard about the UBI from the General during the Adventure Cycling Association Introduction to Touring class, and wanted to learn more about bicycle repair. This introduction was very well done, the instructors not only very knowledgeable, but very patient and superb at teaching. It was a most enjoyable week of not only getting away from work, but of actually learning something useful.
I drove down to Ashland from Puyallup on Sunday. I stayed about 3 km from the Institute at Cedarwood Inn, an inexpensive but nice motel. Monday was focused on wheels. We first learned how to change a tire, and the different types of tires. We learned about taking the hub apart, removing the gears, re-packing the bearings, and getting everything back together. A short discussion on truing wheels was made, but little hands on.

Nathan (instructor) tells a joke and Dan looses control!


Bryce works on his mountain bike


Tuesday was pedals, cranksets and bottom brackets. I completely disassembled my bottom bracket and put it back together. We also learned about removing, inspecting and changing chains.

Tom was my bench partner


Matt (instructor) helps Jose


Dan the Canadian, not laughing this time


Wednesday was derailleur day, starting with the rear derailleur, and then the front. Oddly, the front derailleur is more touchy to tune up than the rear derailleur. In the evening, I went for a bicycle ride. I went up route 66 headed for Klamath Falls, but got only about 14 km before the weather became a little concerning, and it started to get dark.

Route 66


More Route 66


Lake on Route 66
Gnarly trees on Route 66- Mirkwood
Thursday was brake day. We had to completely dis-assemble caliper brakes, and then re-install them on the bicycle correctly. The instructors were a bit fussy about doing things correctly, since a bad setting for brakes could have serious consequences on the road. The weather was horrible today, with a mixture of rain and snow, so no thought of riding was possible.

Rich helps Tom


Matt shows us how to really wash a bicycle


The framebuilding shop with Robert (student) on right


Friday entailed pulling off the handlebars, headset, and removing the stem from the bike. This was fairly straight forward. We learned the correct method of washing and oiling a bicycle. After getting a tour of the frame building shop, we were handed certificates of completion and “graduated”. There was no test, since the true measure of success was in how well the bicycle worked.Bryce needed a lift up to Portland which provided me a delightful companion to keep me awake on the road, and then I was able to get home by 2300 Friday night.
To Matt, Rich, and Nathan I say “Thank You”. To everybody else who enjoys riding bicycles, this is a class very much worth taking. It’s fun. Matt, Rich and Nate are delightful characters that add a tremendous enthusiasm to not only cycle repair, but to cycle riding in general. A class like this could someday save your life, if you are out and away, with a broken bicycle. It has my highest recommendation.

The workbench


Our class - from top left clockwise - Michael, Bryce, George, Ryan, Jordan, Rico, me, Bridget, Don, Tom, Rebecca and Dan.

Tagged with:
No Comments »
Mar 12

San Antonio SSO Meeting

Adventure, FeuchtBlog, Travel No Comments »


The Society of Surgical Oncology Meeting in San Antonio, 01-06MARCH2011
Dr. Tate is pictured in the photograph trying to remember the Alamo. We remembered it for several minutes, then paused to enjoy a cigar while sitting on park benches just across from the Alamo. We inquired of the status of PeeWee’s bicycle in the basement of the Alamo, and learned that the Alamo actually has two small basements, large enough to hold a bicycle. You can’t believe everything that you see in the movies. The meetings were long and arduous, but we were able to get 34 CME credits for this venture. The conference literally went from dawn until dusk, and so we did not have a lot of time to spend reflecting on the Alamo, but we did get around a little bit. The conference was at the large conference facility just next to the river walk. We’d go down to the river to eat our lunch.


You can see that we were dressed up to the hilt. This is sort of a snobby conference, as most surgical meetings usually occur in more casual attire. The pathologists were having their meeting next door to us, where I was able to encounter one of the Puyallup pathologists. Notice his more casual attire.

We were able to see the San Antonio imitation of the Seattle Space Needle.

It was one of the better conferences that I’ve gone to as of late. Most notably, it was announced that we must stop doing so many axillary dissections, and that while it would have been malpractice a week before to not complete an axillary dissection when the sentinel lymph node was grossly positive, we are now committing malpractice to do the same. The Surgical Oncology gods have spoken and we must obey. NCCN guidelines will be slow to correct the new change in practice recommendations, but we will be patient. So, I return to Puyallup full of vim and vigor, and will be plagiarizing one of the talks I heard in presenting to the other surgeons and oncology doctors the new revelations from the randomized trials.
p.s. too much academia becomes hard to endure…

Tagged with: •
No Comments »
Feb 16

Trip to Belize — 05-11FEB2011

Adventure, FeuchtBlog 2 Comments »

Saturday 05FEB.   Betsy woke up at 2am and I an hour later in order to catch a 6am plane to Houston and then on to Belize. The flight went well, and the only real abuse was in customs in Belize. It was actually the worst we have ever been treated in going through customs, and even Bangladesh and re-entry into the US were never so bad, with them insisting on looking through our bags and then charging us customs on “suspicious” items, as well as taking away several blocks of cheese that we had with us. We ultimately met Dennis and Jonny and drove in darkness to their home.

Sunday 06FEB.   Day of rest, Dennis gave us a tour of the “colony”. It is impressive to see somebody surviving without public electricity or water. There was a relative drought, and so we had to be careful about water usage.

Monday 07FEB. Today, we rode into Belmopan, which is the capitol of Belize, in order for Jonny to renew his visa. We then toured San Ignacio, which is the largest town close to Dennis and Dottie’s house.

Tuesday 08FEB. It rained, and so plans were changed. Betsy went visiting with Dottie to various neighbors and I stayed home. Betsy and I later had coffee with the Schiemanns, a Geman couple living on Dennis’ land.

Wednesday 09FEB. Dottie toom us to 5 Sisters rezort and waterfall. It was south of Dennis and Dottie’s home and on the way to Caracol. The waterfalls demanded a short hike. Afterwards we went to Blancaneux resort, owned by Francis Ford Coppola and had lunch. This was a truly impressive resort… One that Betsy and I wouldn’t mind returning to some day.

Thursday 10FEB. Today, Dennis drove us to Spanish Lookout, an area of Belize owned by the Mennonites and in appearance like Iowa, though with palm trees. The Mennonites, in trying to escape the world, brought the world with them. Dennis needed to stop at a few hardware stores. Ralf Schiemann was with us, and was able to give me instruction in the German language. I enjoyed him.

Friday 11FEB. This day was a leisurely trip back home, with our plane leaving Belize City at 12:30 and arrival back in Seattle at 8 pm.

So, what did we accomplish? These are NOT in order of importance or significance!

1. We were able to get the slide scanner working for Dottie.

2. We had a wonderful time with Jonny.

3. We had a wonderful time with Dennis and Dottie.

4. We learned a lot about Belize culture and land.

5. We had multiple lectures from Dennis regarding “what’s going on” in the world, as well as theology/history lectures on the virtues of British Israelism.

6. Betsy and I had a nice break together.

7. We explored the possibility of buying land in Belize.

8. We got to meet many wonderful Belizeans, both immigrants as well as native Mayans.

We appreciate all that Dennis and Dotie did to make our trip a comfortable success, and recommend considering making Belize a possible vacation destination. When we return, we’d like to explore more of Belize, perhaps staying on the coast for several days to do some scuba diving, and definitely try to see Corazol, the large Mayan temple at the end the road Dennis and Dottie live on, and much farther south.

Tagged with:
2 Comments »
Oct 15

Washington D.C. 02-07OCT2010

Adventure, Travel 4 Comments »

Washington D.C. 02-07 OCTOBER 2010 — American College of Surgeons Meetings

I don’t especially enjoy going to Washington D.C. It is a large dirty town, expensive, mediocre food, bad beer, and little that interests me. When you have seen the Capitol once, you’ve seen it enough. The building attempts to portray strength. Yet, I continually am befuddled as to which idiot decided on that silly statue on top–probably it’s the same fools that cogitate and ruminate inside. The building sitting behind the Capitol building was even more despairing. To climb the steps of this edifice would best state old Dante’s words “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”.

Correct. It is the Supreme Court building. Dennis, for your interest (and yours alone, since only you have read Tupper Saucey), notice the “mark of Cain” in the railing just off of the sidewalk. Needless to say, I did have one remarkably wonderful experience in D.C.

I went to church on Sunday morning to hear Mark Dever preach. This Sunday, Mark broke off from a series in Mark to speak specifically on the nature and doctrine of the church. The sermon was good, though Mark seemed to have a problem (like all Baptists) in seeing the importance of Old Testament in bringing light to the practices of the New Testament, especially in regard to the sacraments and the church. Oh well. It was a delight to hear solid preaching from a conservative scholar, only 3 blocks from the supreme court and capitol building.

Taking a walk to Barry’s house, I noticed that the Smithsonian Museum had a special on evolution. Those of you who know me realize that I contend that evolution is the greatest case of science in a state of dire confusion, just being wrong. I do take slight exception to that rule. While I believe that most people were created by God in God’s image, there are a few rare exceptions to the rule. If you look carefully at the pictures on this sign, you will notice that the “ape” in the lower right hand corner bears a striking resemblance to our current president. Perhaps BHO was a rare exception of the ape to man process?

Barry was a little stand-offish, and would not let me into his house. That’s okay, since I have no interest in visiting him anyway. Little does he know that there is more power in that church down the road (Capitol Hill Baptist) than all the might and military that old B. Hussain O. could ever muster up.

I did not take photos of the American College of Surgeons meeting. It was mostly a dog and pony show, though I learned a bit in the process. Much discussion related to the changing face of surgery. Sadly, most surgeons fail to see that we have brought much trouble on ourselves by letting medicine become a political process. We now are looking to people like BHO to solve our problems and he only makes them worse. Surprise, surprise.

There’s only one thing I really like about Washington, D.C. They have a great subway transportation system. It’s especially helpful when you wish to get out of Washington, D.C. The train takes you straight to the airport, without any hassle. Unfortunately, a moderate number of surgical meetings occur in D.C., meaning that in those years where the meetings take place in D.C., I will probably skip and look for meetings in Florida or Arizona, or Southern Cafilornia (no, that is NOT a mis-spelling!).

Tagged with:
4 Comments »
Sep 02

Im Vaterland mit Fahrrad

Adventure, Bicycling, FeuchtBlog, Travel No Comments »

It was time to go to Germany, and discover the world of bicycle riding in Europe. Dr. Peter Tate was to meet me in Berlin with his bicycle, and I was bringing my Novara Element with the intention of leaving the bicycle with Onkel Herbert. Daughter Diane was able to get away from work and go with us, and she seemed content to take care of herself when Peter and I were out riding. Our plan was for a Blitzreise, spending three days in Berlin, three days in Leipzig with Herr Doktor Kretschmar, and three days in Krefeld with der berühmte Herr Doktor Feucht. Diane left us after Berlin to go see a friend in Frankfurt, and we met again in Krefeld. The trip included much learning about how to survive with a bicycle. It was especially the case with learning how to travel on public transportation with a bicycle, like riding the Bahn. Once arriving in Berlin, the first order of attention was to assembling the bicycle, and then to going out to get some Döner. We were able to take Peter on a walk around Berlin in order to show him the main sites, like the Bandenburger Tor.

21 AUG 20 km ride around Berlin– riding a bicycle around Berlin was easier than expected. Bicycles need to observe the same rules as cars, though they usually have special bicycle paths for bicycles. The rest of the day was spent taking a long walk with all three of us together and Diane as Stadtführerin.

22 AUG 108 km ride to Potsdam from Berlin, with bypass to see Sans Soucci and to loop around several lakes in the Potsdam area. This was a long ride, and the weather was perfect. On this trip, we learned how confusing it could be to try to find your way around, and we often went in circles. Streets are not often clearly marked, and they frequently change name for no good reason. To make matters worse, I was depending on a gps card for my Garmin Edge that would give me streets in Europe. The gps unit refused to accept the card, and so was left without a reasonable means of orientation and poor maps. I couldn’t have been more upset. Needless to say, the ride was awesome, and the palaces around Sans Soucci were overwhelming in their size and grandeur.

24 AUG Dresden. 4:30, 81 km3500 cal, 120 m– Peter and I arrived in Leipzig on 23AUG, and was picked up at the Hauptbahnhof by Dr. Kretschmar, whom I met last year while in Cameroon. He arranged for us to stay at a Ferienwohnhausrun by one of his friends. We were able to meet his parents and to have supper with them. The home-made sauerkraut was awesome. They also took us on a quick tour of Leipzig. On 24 AUG, Karsten, Peter and I were able to take off on our bicycles to the Elberadweg. We drove about 1 hour to our planned start, and off we went. The route was unbelieveably well cared for, and many people were on the road. It was fascinating to see a very large number of quite elderly people out riding their bicycles. We passed through the towns of Meißen, where the famous porcelain comes from, Dresden, and on. As we rode up stream, the canyon walls got steeper, and more impressive. There were multiple castles and elegant palaces along the way…. Nothing like one would ever see in the US. We then stayed in a very large Herberge, which looked like an old castle with a Turm, and nestled on the side of the canyon wall.

Peter and Carsten

Meißen

Peter in Dresden

Frauenkirche

Semper Oper

Our hostel was the upper right white “castle”

25 AUG. Konigstein to Neuhirschstein 90.6 km 5:17  3593 cal, 215 m ascent– the next day, we first rode 10 km up the Elbe to Konigstein, making a fairly steep climb up to the largest fortress (Festungen) in all of Europe. It was overwhelming. The trip back along the Elbe attempted further variations in order to see different things. At the end of the trip, it was very sad for me to have to say goodbye to Carsten, as I really appreciated seeing him and family again. I’ll definitely want to see him again in Cameroon, as well as spend time with him again in Deutschland.

Königstein

Königstein

Summer palace in Dresden

End of the ride in Hirschstein

26-27 AUG — we took the Bahn from Leipzig to Krefeld, and then rode our bicycles from the Krefeld Hauptbahnhof to Herbert’s Haus. The next day, Diane, Peter and I rode the regional transport to Düsseldof. We also spent much time looking for a bicycle box in order to sent Peter’s bibcyle back to the US on the airplane with him. We finally found a box for him at the Rückenwind bicycle shop.

28 AUG Krefeld to Ossenberg and back.   5:42,  100.7 km     3673 cal, 127 m ascent. Today, Peter and I took off on our bicycles to ride up the Rhein. The bicycle path was reasonably well marked, but the road was not in nearly as good of shape as the route along the Elbe. Also, since we were in the  Ruhrgebiet, we saw a huge number of very large factories. At the end, the weather got us, and we were caught in a squall. Peter wanted to stop for a beer, but I just wanted a warm shower and dry clothes.

It’s been hard saying goodbye again to so many friends. Carsten, Herbert, Katja and Hannes and Peter. Having left a bicycle with panniers at Herberts Haus, I now have no excuse not to return to Deutschland for another ride. I’ll either do the upper Rhein, the Schwarzwald, or perhaps something over in the Franken/Spessart area, heading to Prague. Hopefully, the next trip might be a little longer, and focused on just one region, to prevent spending a lot of time just getting from one place to another.

Tagged with:
No Comments »
Previous Entries Next Entries
preload preload preload