July 1st: Rosenlaui

I'd originally planned to start the ride in Sarnen, ride up to Flueli-Ranft and Melchsee-Frutt and then hike over to Engstlenalp to get to Rosenlaui. This would have mirrored the 2007 Tour, which this tour was promised to do. Since that didn't turn out, but the day was supposed to be beautiful, I elected to do this ride backwards. This actually had several advantages:

• We could do the ride unloaded.
• The ride up the Gental was actually less steep and an easier climb than the climb to Melchsee-Frutt. It also promised less traffic.
• The route-finding would be easier, since there aren't as many different trails from Englestalp as there are from Tannalp.

Balanced against this was that the descent from Tannalp would be much more challenging than the Gental descent, and that once in Sarnen, we would once again have to hop on a train or climb the Brunig pass to get back into the Meiringen valley.

I discovered after breakfast that I'd somehow lost one of my gloves yesterday, so I too, was going to be stuck buying gloves at exorbitant Swiss prices unless I recovered it. On the way down, I stopped by Hotel Zwirgi just in case I'd dropped it there the evening before, but no luck. We rode down to Lammi and turned right, heading to InnertKirchen, where we stopped at the intersection of the Grimsel and Sustens highways to use the restroom, fill up our water bottles, and then headed up the Sustens highway.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

The day was indeed gorgeous, and the climb up the Gental, while at 12%, was certainly much gentler than the climb up from Sarnen would be. Because it had been cold recently, the sun never warmed up the road very much, which meant that maximal effort riding still wouldn't over-heat you much, and water use was minimal. Nevertheless, by the end of the hanging valley, I was almost out of water, and it was time to put on sunscreen for the first time on the trip.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

We asked some descending cyclists if they saw water anywhere on the descent, and they said no, but that we weren't very far from the top. Nevertheless, they generously gave us some water, after which we climbed not more than 10m before we saw a water fountain, so we filled up our bottles and kept going. All through the trip Arturo would have trouble with post-buses, and once again, another one caught him just as he was climbing. We nevertheless all made it to the Hotel Engstlenalpl, where the bike path went on for about 50 meters before turning into a dirt trail. We rode on a little bit more, to the electrified cattle fence, undid the hook, and I immediately switched to running shoes for the hiking portion of the trip.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

To say that this route has haunted my memories since 2007 is an under-statement. The beauty of the surrounds, the excitement of doing a ridge crossing on foot while traversing terrain too difficult to ride, interrupted by gates, cattle fences, and steep climbs was overwhelming in 2007, and no less fun even when familiar, 7 years later. The joy of emerging into the Tannalp hostel fire road when done with the hiking portions is not to be under-stated.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

At the lake around Tannalp, we stopped for pictures. Arturo said, "Hey Piaw, I think I've been here before. I recognize that monstrosity!" There was a ginormous ski hotel that did look out of place. But after discussing it and pulling out a map, we realized that there was no way Arturo could have been here before. It's just that rich developers with bad taste all have similarly bad tastes, so one monstrous hotel looks very much like another.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

We stopped at the ski station, where there was a grocery store across the street and a water fountain. We ate at the same exact place 7 years ago, and had a passable supermarket lunch. The weather alternated between cool and cold, depending on whether the sun was behind clouds, and we ate quickly, put on everything we owned, and then started the descent down to Stockalp. The descent was steep enough that it made me glad that we didn't have to climb it this year. Past Stockalp, we found the bike path from 7 years ago, and then descended to Flueli-Ranft and then Sarnen just in time to see the train pull into the train station as I was trying to buy tickets.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

Doing the math, we realized that we would miss the last bus up to Rosenlaui by the time we got to Meiringen. That made getting rest more important than ever, so Hina and I ate ice cream while Arturo sat down and started posting photos onto Facebook. When I booked the lodging for Rosenlaui I did not anticipate that we would need to ride up the mountain 3 times on 3 days, but given that it would be unloaded I was unconcerned. Then I realized that Tuesday nights are the music nights at Rosenlaui, so we'd have to ride up to it in an hour to avoid missing the start. As a result, the ride up this last time would be a mad dash. Arturo said, "Do we have serious plans tomorrow?" "Well, the forecast is pretty awful, so I wouldn't be in a hurry." "That means I don't have to do any energy management, right?" "What? You've been holding back yourself?" "That means I'll see you folks at dinner after my shower," he smiled.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

We arrived in Meiringen and went back up the road towards Grosse Scheidegg. It was overcast and soon we could feel drops of rain on a day which otherwise had been perfectly dry. "You have got to be kidding me," yelled Arturo as he shifted into low gear and started up the road. Well, the ride back to Rosenlaui was a mad dash, but we all made it in time since the music event meant that dinner starts later than usual. We had an entertaining meal, and went to bed knowing that the next day wouldn't have any mad dashes in it.

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June 30th: Rosenlaui

I'd originally intended for 3 nights in Rosenlaui to enable some hiking as a break from cycling there. Air Canada had derailed those plans, leading me to want to use these nights at Rosenlaui to launch some bike rides. Secondarily, for whatever reason, the bike box did not contain the fenders I thought I'd packed in Sunnyvale, so I thought I'd use the bike ride to Grindelwald to get some fenders at a bike shop I knew there. Furthermore, Hina was missing long fingered gloves, and Arturo's jacket was so well-used that it was no longer waterproof, and both would benefit from a visit to Grindelwald.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

The bike ride over Grosse Scheidegg to Grindelwald is world famous for many reasons. First of all, it is gorgeous, even in the conditions we did it in. At the top on a clear day you would get superlative views of the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau. Secondarily, just up the road from Rosenlaui, the road becomes car-free, with only the post-bus and residents allowed to drive up the road and down the other side into Grindelwald. Finally, it is a relatively steep grade, though with unloaded bike not much of a challenge. We heard ice fall on the climb, which was surprising to me, as I'd previously only heard it on warm summer afternoons.

Unfortunately, views of the mountains were not to be had at the summit, as a low fog came in and we had rain. It was so cold that I ran into the restaurant at the top to put on my clothes and have a hot chocolate. The following chilly descent convinced Hina that the long fingered gloves she bought in Zurich were worth the exorbitant Swiss prices.

In Grindelwald, I bought a rear fender for my bike from a shop that serviced mountain bikes, while Arturo had his rear derailleur cable capped for free at the same shop. Hina bought some glove liners for her long fingered gloves. Arturo bought some long-fingered bike gloves, and then I took him to the Mont-Bell store where he tried on the same wind/rain jacket that Cynthia bought in the 2010 tour. He loved it, and bought it, while telling me, "Piaw, you're an evil evil salesperson, and you don't even work at the store!"

We zipped down to Interlaken on the fast descent, ignoring the side-trip to Lauterbrunnen valley, and arrived at the Interlaken Ost train station just as the sun was coming out. The huge Coop supermarket there had a dining area with hot food, so we ate a quick lunch before proceeding towards Isetwald in search of the bike path over to Meiringen. 

From Tour of the Alps 2014

I hadn't done the bike path for 7 years, having in recent years taken the route on the paved road along the Brienzersee instead, or eschewing the ride altogether. But I had fond memories of the ride from before, and the dirt path had several attractions that made up for the slower going than the paved road, not least of which was the Gleissbach falls.

The adventure was fun and lots of stops were made, but by the time we got back to Meiringen it was quite late and we had to choose between the Sherlock Holmes museum and Reichenbach falls. We chose the Reichenbach falls since we were sure we would take the post bus up to Rosenlaui the next day, and the most convenient way to see the falls was by bicycle. It had been sunny all the way to Meiringen but by the time we made it to Meiringen we were feeling the occasional drop of rain. The fun thing about traveling with Arturo is that he's very good at spotting hidden Swiss military emplacements, including pill boxes, hidden hangers, and other such devices. All through the trip he would point them out to us. It's amazing what a wealthy country manages to do when it decides that military installations like those are a major priority. Somewhere there's a mountain with launch hangers that wouldn't be out of place in a SHIELD story. After a grand tour of the military installations of Meiringen, we made a quick visit to the Reichenbach falls, which featured beautiful views of Meiringen valley.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

We returned to Rosenlaui valley to find that yes there was a short period during which there was sun in the valley, and Amy had taken advantage of that to do the Hornseeli route, which had all the features I described from my 2008 visit. She enjoyed it and I was glad that she got in a good day of hiking despite the awful fog and rain we had experienced at the top of Grosse Scheidegg. We ate well and took a short evening walk before turning in for what was supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

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Prologue: June 26-June 29, 2014

Hina Naseer, Arturo Crespo and I planned the Tour of the Alps to start well after the official start of summer in order to get better weather. To that end, Hina and I flew separately to Zurich on July 26th, arriving on the 27th. Arturo had gotten a cheap business class ticket to Amsterdam and planned to train from there to Sarnen on the 29th.

At the Zurich airport, I discovered that my luggage, along with the everyone else who had flown from San Francisco via Air Canada, had been left behind in Toronto at the transfer point. While an annoyance, I'd anticipated this in my trip planning, and so had not expected the tour to start until the 29th. I stayed with Shauna Eggers and Steve Moran, who joined me in 2012 on the BVI trip. Also staying there was Amy Platt, who was on sabbatical and traveling quite a bit.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

Amy happy volunteered to walk me around Zurich so I didn't fall asleep and then succumb to jet-lag. I went for a swim at the local pool, took Steve and Shauna out to dinner. The result was what I thought was the easiest jet-lag I recovery I ever had. I slept a full 7 hours, interrupted only by getting up to go to the bathroom halfway through the night. I even tested the HDM Z1, which I hadn't had a chance to do at home, and found it to be more than acceptable.

The 28th, however, was stressful, because I was waiting for the baggage to show up. What I should have done was to just go to the airport first thing in the morning to search for my baggage and pick it up. Instead, I stupidly believed the airport employee and waited for deliver. By 2, I was a bundle of nerves and after helping Hina with her bike, and headed off to the airport. However, at the train station, I checked the website and found that my bike had been picked up by the baggage service. I fatefully made the decision to turn back.

Unfortunately, despite promises of the baggage service, my bike never showed up. I had a disastrous sleep experience that night. Booth Hina and Arturo had their bikes, so Arturo decided to join us in Zurich  instead of Sarnen, which was looking very unlikely, and meet us in Zurich.

On the 29th, I woke up early, called the airport baggage service, and asked if there was any way they could deliver the bike by 10am. They said that it was impossible, but I could go pick up the bike myself. I went to the airport, grabbed the bike, and came back, which took about an hour and a half. At 9:30, I hurriedly reassmbled my bike, repacked my saddlebag, and headed off to the train station with Hina and Arturo, with a pack lunch graciously prepared by Shauna at the last minute.

At the train station, we bought train tickets, with me producing my passport to buy a half-tax card. When traveling with bicycles, the half-tax card gets paid off very quickly because the bicycle counts as another person for short trips, and costs 12CHF on long trips. I'd originally intended to avoid trains as much as possible, but starting with a Zurich to Meiringen trip effectively meant that just another couple of train journeys would pay it off. Since Arturo also had a half-tax card, having one myself would eliminate any hesitation on using trains to make the tour better. This would turn out to be a good decision later on in the trip.

We arrived in Meiringen at 1:00pm, and immediately rode off to the Lammi restaurant for a great meal to start the trip with.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

Arturo was skeptical that a restaurant could be as great, but when the soup arrived he took a sip and all skepticism vanished. I told him that there was a chance we could eat here again later in the trip on the return, as the return of the 2007 tour ended with a trip over Sustens pass.

We then visited the Aare Schlutz, something I'd ridden past several times in the past but never got around to visiting. Since it was rainy, the schlutz had lots of water, making conditions to visit it ideal.

By the time we were done with the schlutz, it was nearly 4:30, so we decided to ride up to Rosenlaui. I'd ridden up there several times and hence was familiar with the route. But fully loaded and unprepared for the climb, both Hina and Arturo had a harder time. Even worse, Arturo kept running into the post bus that owned the road and every time he had an encounter he would be forced to stop. His schedule had prevented him from extensively training in preparation for the trip, so he had not learned how to start on a hill. Each stop then forced him to walk to the next flat spot in order to start riding again.

From Tour of the Alps 2014

All was forgotten, however, once we reached Rosenlaui, where Amy was joining us for two nights. Lovely Rosenlaui is now the default starting point for many of my trips in Europe: we book the rooms at Rosenlaui before buying tickets based on availability at Rosenlaui. The descriptions at the hotel's website don't do the location justice, and most unadventurous types are turned away by the lack of en-suite bathrooms. Christine and Andreas turn away large tour groups and tourist buses. This suits me just fine: as a result, the place is devoid of all the usual tourist groups, and the food is superlative. You still need a reservation far in advance in order to secure a room, but nearly everyone is a serious hiker, as the hikes in the region are rugged and difficult, with no infrastructure other than the post bus. The net result is that Rosenlaui is one of the few places in Switzerland where you can hike for hours without seeing another person.

I slept well that night, having had exercise, great food, and other worries eliminated not just through the events of the day, but also because Rosenlaui has no cell signal and hence protects you from distractions.

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Long Term Review: Dell Venue 8 Pro

After field-testing the Dell Venue 8 Pro, I committed to it for this year's Tour of the Alps by buying a 64GB microSD card and bringing it as my only tablet/reading device for the tour. It was easy to justify because not only could it process photos, it could also upload rides to Strava, Garmin Connect, and Facebook.

Overall, the device was fast for most activities. Strava, Facebook, reading, and watching movies are all I/O bound activities, and the I/O available on the device is more than sufficient for those activities. Unfortunately, importing 25MB RAW files from the camera to the device is also an I/O bound activity, and writing to the microSD card is SLOW. The net result is that using Lightroom was unsatisfyingly slow. You would wait hours for the import to happen. That's OK, since you can leave the tablet on overnight and let it work.

The big problem happens when you try to edit the pictures. First of all, the atom processor is about 1/8th the power of my desktop, so you'd expect Lightroom to chug a bit. Well, a bit isn't a good description. It chugs a lot, and unfortunately, I think it has more to do with the I/O architecture than with the processor. Watching the task manager's monitoring output confirms that while the CPU does peg occasionally (especially during export), most of the time, the CPU is actually idle, leading me to believe that it's the reading and writing to the microSD card that's the real bottleneck. It could be that loading everything into onboard storage would work better, but unfortunately, I didn't buy enough onboard storage to test that scenario.

Nevertheless, I did manage at least one Facebook post a day, and the results of the photo manipulation demonstrate that even for Facebook posts, Lightroom is light-years ahead of its competition.

Now, the biggest disappointment is the active stylus. Being an old-fashioned desktop application, Lightroom is remarkably resistant to touch input for cropping and delicate manipulation such as my favorite ND grad filter tool. The hope was that the active stylus would help there. Unfortunately, this hope was dashed. First of all, the stylus uses a AAAA battery, which is impossible to replace anywhere in Europe while touring. This is exacerbated by a hardware bug: putting the stylus near the tablet would cause the battery to drain. This is an unacceptable bug. But even when the stylus was working, it wasn't very responsive, leading me to believe that the I/O problems plagued by low-end tablets swamp any technology Dell was able to apply. So while I dreamed of being able to write blog posts, etc while touring, it just didn't happen because I was too frustrated by the touch keyboard for more than the occasional Facebook status message.

Is this enough to get me to not recommend the Venue 8 Pro? No. It simply does everything else too well, and even my Lightroom frustrations weren't enough to keep me from using it, simply because the output is just so much better than anything else out there. What it does mean, however, is that I'm waiting for someone to package the Surface Pro's technology into an 8 inch tablet with a passive stylus (or even better, into a Phablet form factor --- I'm happy to trade off screen size to ditch an entire gadget on the trip and use the weight budget for a portable keyboard). If/when that happens, I'd be more than willing to pay a premium for the upgrade. Sadly, however, I'm guessing that it's going to be a long wait.

All in all, however, the technology is impressive. Just 3 years ago, I was happy to forgo any tablet solution in favor of having an honest to goodness Kindle for reading purposes. This year, the Kindle stayed home, and it looks like it will stay home for the foreseeable future in favor of this multi-purpose, useful device. I can see my frustrations disappearing with just a few more Moore's cycles.

Review: Super Powereds: Year 1

Super Powereds: Year 1 is Drew Hayes' novel about a college program for super heroes. You could think of it as being "Harry Potter" for super heroes, though having read a couple of Harry Potter novels I'd venture to say that the material here is more interesting and less cliched than the Harry Potter novels.

The premise of the novel is that the world of super-humans is divided into Supers, who have full control over their powers, and Powereds, who have no control over their powers and hence are victims of their powers, rather than super heroes. The result is that even the super-humans are divided into tiers, with some powers obviously more valuable than others.

The shtick behind this novel is that there was an experimental process that turns Powereds into Supers, and then enroll them into a college meant for training Super Heroes. A world where Super Heroes exists have been thought out, and much like The Incredibles, the need for hero licensing has much to do with insurance. I'm glad the rationale wasn't waved away, but I wished Hayes had spent more time thinking and come up with more interesting answers.

The novel started as a serialized web-series, so each chapter is short, and the book is easy reading in a breezy fashion. Character development suffers as a result, but nevertheless, the length of the material ensures that some of what Hayes throws at you will stick, so you do learn to care about the characters.

All in all, the novel is a fun summer read that's not too involved and technical, and definitely was what I needed while cycle touring. Recommended. I've checked out Year 2 from the Kindle Lending Library.

Review: HDM Z1 CPAP

Two weeks before my 2014 Tour of the Alps, my doctor told me about the HDM Z1. Now, I've been very happy with my ResMed S9. It's quiet, durable, and works well for sailing. However, even with the portable 30W power supply the entire package weighed 40oz, discounting the hose and the CPAP mask. For a cycle tour with big mountains, this was not ideal, and the HDM Z1 at half the weight of the ResMed S9 was very appealing.

There are a few issues with this machine compared with the S9:

• It is much louder. After comparing this machine with the S9, Arturo found that the S9 was almost silent in comparison. Subjectively, I rate the difference between the machines at 5dB. The HDM Z1 was so loud my wife refused to let me test it. One interesting thing is that adding the HME to the tube makes the machine quieter, which indicates that the increased noise isn't just due to the louder air pump, but also to do with the resonant frequency of the output into the hose.
• For at home use, there's no elegantly integrated humidifier like the S9. Instead, you buy a Fisher & Paykel humidifier, or you use a HME. HMEs are consumables, and each one is good for only 7 days, which at $6/pop is significant over the usual 2 year depreciation period of a CPAP machine. Since you'll almost certainly need to travel with HMEs, the HMEs add some bulk but not significant weight to the final package.
• The ResMed S9 is an auto-PAP, adjusting pressure according to how much you need to avoid apnea events. The Z1, however, is a fixed pressure CPAP, so you only get to set one setting, and live with it for the entire trip. My 95% pressure was 9, so that's what I used. I initially didn't think there was much difference for me, but at the end of the trip, I switched back to the S9 and immediately felt more refreshed after a night's sleep, indicating that the auto PAP algorithm on the ResMed is more effective and provides better sleep.
• There are reports as to the robustness of the machine, with some users reporting failure after 4 weeks of use. HDM offers a 2 year warranty, but that's of no use to you while you're traveling if your machine fails! My trip was only 3 weeks, so I decided it was worth the risk.

Was this enough to offset the 20oz difference between the ResMed and the HDM Z1? No, so if you've been hankering to an independent bicycle tour and the weight/bulk of carrying a CPAP was putting you off, stop reading and just buy it now.

The machine itself is interesting. it comes with the machine, which weighs in at 10oz, and a power supply, which also weighs in at 10oz. I was wondering why the power supply hadn't gone in for more weight reduction, but that's probably because the machine is rated for higher pressure than I use, and so the power supply has to handle that, rather than my relatively low pressure rating. It comes with an adapter for use with the standard CPAP hose. The adapter basically splits the hose so the pressure measuring system can be separated from the output of the pump. You could just leave the adapter in place all the time, but I wouldn't recommend it while traveling, since the tongue of the adapter is in a particularly highly leveraged place, which would cause it to break off.

The machine comes with a micro-SD slot, but I didn't have time to buy a micro SD card to put in the machine, so did not test the software or get details about my apnea events while using the machine. Given that the primary symptom of my apnea is incredibly loud snoring and my roommates did not kill me while I slept, however, I think we can safely say that the machine works.

You can buy a Powershell battery for the Z1, which is basically an integrated battery for camping and other off-the-grid uses. The battery is also incredibly light at 200g, with the downside being that you can only charge the battery with Powershell, so you can't charge multiple batteries at once, for instance. Since the Tour of the Alps is a hotel-based credit card tour, I opted out of buying one and did not test it.

The biggest feature of the machine, however, is the weight and size. It's truly remarkable, and done (as far as I can see) without exotic materials like carbon fiber, titanium, or magnesium, which means that there's ample room for even lighter, more premium versions. The cost of the machine is around $600, which is affordable and much cheaper than a planet ticket to Europe these days. The cost/weight reduction ratio is much better than the typical weight reduction measures on bicycles, so this represents an exceedingly good deal for cycle tourists who carry their own baggage.

All in all, I'm very impressed, and would highly recommend this product.

Startup Engineering Management Gets a 2nd Edition

Startup Engineering Management has been doing so well that I added what I learned over the last few years to it and gave it a 2nd Edition. It's a book that's attracted a surprising following, indicating that there's interest in the no-nonsense, non-political approach to management that I espouse for startups.

This new edition includes a whole new chapter on process analysis, sections on justifying hardware selection based on the great reception my Wharton talk got, and also a foreword by Harper Reed, who endorsed the book early in its life.

Along with the new edition, the price has gone up from $21.95 to $24.95 for the digital edition, and the paper version has also risen to match the price with An Engineer's Guide to Silicon Valley Startup. If you've bought Startup Engineering Management in digital edition since April 23rd, 2014, you've already received a free upgrade to the 2nd Edition in the mail.

If you bought a digital copy earlier, the upgrade price is $5, and what you need to do is e-mail me the original receipt from Paypal or Google checkout. Once I've verified the purchase, you'll get an invoice via paypal and an upgrade. Thank you all for your support!

Tour of the Alps 2014

This is the tour report for my 2014 Tour of the Alps. Hina Naseer and Arturo Crespo joined me for the trip, which took us through Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Lichtenstein.  The trip was 1687.12 km (1048 miles) and 32969. 6m (108168 feet) of climb in 22 riding days, of which we had 3 days interrupted by weather and 1 day interrupted by a crash. We had 1 flat tire and1 mechanical due to a derailleur cable coming loose. My bike got lost in transit on the way to Zurich costing us a full day and a half of riding.

We'll start with all the GPS tracks (in GPX format) for the tour.

• GPS Tracks

Photos

Trip Report

• Prologue: June 26-June 29, Zurich to Rosenlaui
• June 30th: Rosenlaui
• July 1st: Rosenlaui
• July 2nd: Rosenlaui to Handegg
• July 3rd: Handegg to Disentis
• July 4th: Disentis to Filisur
• July 5th: Filisur to Il Fourn
• July 6th: Il Fourn to Santa Caterina
• July 7th: Santa Caterina to Fondo
• July 8th: Fondo to Bolzano
• July 9th: Bolzano to Vigo di Fassa
• July 10th: Vigo di Fassa to Pescul
• July 11th: Pescul to Cortina D'Ampezzo
• July 12th: Cortina D'Ampezzo to Bruneck
• July 13th: Bruneck to Schlanders
• July 14th: Schlanders to Valdidentro
• July 15th: Valdidentro to Pontresina
• July 16th: Pontresina to Ramonsch
• July 17th: Ramosch to Bludenz
• July 18th: Bludenz to Hotel Posthaus, Urigen
• July 19th: Hotel Posthaus, Urigen to Reuti
• July 20th: Reuti to Zurich
• July 21st: Epilogue & Conclusion

Equipment Reviews

• HDM Z1 CPAP
• Motorrad ReiseKarten Alpen
• GSC 10
• Michelin Pro Race 3 (Tour Review)
• Garmin Edge 800 Review
• T-Mobile International Postpaid Plan
• New Trent C90 Charger
• DuraAce 7700 Freehub Review

Review: A Fighting Chance

A Fighting Chance is Elizabeth Warren's account of her life, from her humble beginnings to becoming a Harvard Professor and then United States Senator. The cynical would consider this the start of her bid for the 2016 presidential nomination, much like The Audacity of Hope was for Obama.

Here's the thing: I'm an unabashed Elizabeth Warren fan, ever since she wrote The Two Income Trap with her daughter. I would support her nomination for presidency, and I certainly think that she's a far better choice than Clinton would be, and I voted for Clinton during the primaries in 2008.

The book's well-written, as you would expect from a Harvard Professor. My wife, who doesn't usually read books that I checkout from the library, picked it up and kept reading despite herself. Warren is funny, self-deprecating, intelligent, and very good at writing for a general audience. For instance, she mentions how she won the home economics prize in high school, but leaves out the process she went through to get tenure. The latter would have been more interesting to me, but much less interesting for the general public.

The book also covers her work on the TARP oversight panel as well as all the hidden games that went on with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These were by far the most interesting parts of the book to me, exposing how bank lobbyists succeed in getting what's good for the financial industry passed by congress again and again, while ignoring the needs of people who aren't as well heeled. She estimates the amount of money the banks spent opposing first the CFPB, and then scuttling her appointment as the director at well over $500M, or half a billion. If it is true that you can best judge a person by the qualities of her enemies, then Elizabeth Warren is truly one of the best people you'll find anywhere.

The last third of the book is about her own run for senate, and while interesting, it's all relatively recent news, so you might already know it. In any case, it is fun to relive that election especially with Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" shenanigans. I definitely hope the GOP keep up the good work on that front this November.

Anyway, it's a surprisingly fun read, well written, humble, and very much worth your time. Elizabeth Warren for president!

Review: Frozen Planet

I picked up Frozen Planet because there was a deal, and someone told me that his kid couldn't stop watching it. As a parent, you never get to watch anything from start to finish, unless it's Blue's Clues, Curious George, or a video of trains, so I was intrigued by the idea that I could actually watch a BBC Nature Program with Bowen.

I'd love to say that Bowen watched all the episodes from start to finish with fascination, but the reality was, he fixated quickly on polar nears, and only wanted to watch the parts about Polar Bears. There's several very cute sequences where the mommy polar bear is leading her two cubs to the frozen ice, and Bowen asked, "Where's daddy polar bear?"

Series like Frozen Planet or Planet Earth frequently get mentioned as "nature porn." This utterly demeans the people who work on these shows, because not only are these shows much much harder to shoot than porn and require a much tougher budget, but the education value and the entertainment value is much denser. As a nature photographer, I'm far more appreciative of the effort it takes to capture the footage found in these shows than most people, and on top of that, video is an order of magnitude harder to capture and edit than even photographs.

What I love about the series is that while it covers all the usual photogenic species like Killer Whales, Polar Bears, Seals, and Penguins, it also doesn't neglect the less photogenic species like the 14 year Wolly bear moths. Many of the capture is done using time lapse photography and looks beautiful. The series also doesn't shy away from predator violence, though the cuts do frequently come after the prey is taken down and before the dining. It certainly wasn't overtly distressful to my toddler to watch those.

The last two episodes of the show cover people's lifestyles on the poles of the planet, as well as the impact humanity is having on the frigid landscape. Unfortunately, the BBC succumbs to their national origins and strongly depicts the British expeditions to the South Pole while sidelining Amundsen's and Nansen's much more successful bids.

Nevertheless, for sheer breath-taking beauty and amazing footage (the footage of baby cubs in a den with the mother blew me away), this is definitely a series to buy and watch in Blu-Ray 1080p video. Do not compromise on video quality. This is what you bought a high definition set for, and there's no reason to settle for less.

Highly recommended.

Review: God of War 3

If you're an old fogie like me and grew up with D&D in the mid-80s, you'll remember the publication (or your discovery) of Deities and Demigods. Now, purportedly the purpose of listing all the deities is to provide the DM with background for the mythos behind his game, rather than providing the deities as monsters to kill. But if so, why provide stats?

Anyway, God of War 3 does something very similar to Deities and Demigods. Many of the deities from the Greek mythos are lovingly brought to life and animated on a computer, precisely so you can hack and slash at them and kill them. The protagonist, Kratos, is amazingly one note, alternately growling and grunting, though he does get more than a few lines. In any case, you wouldn't be playing God of War (any of the series) for the story. It's a bare skeleton on which to hang set-pieces.

The mode of play in God of War is the brawler. You have a choice of 4 primary weapons with which to beat up your opponents. I write these words casually, but having played Devil May Cry, I'm amazed at how much more accessible God of War is. The controls are just right, and the complexity of the game is such that even a neophyte can pick this up and play. The same could not be said of Devil May Cry, which I gave up on pretty quickly.

I've come to the conclusion that the Sony LA studios (which includes Santa Monica as well as Naughty Dog) are delivering video games as an experience, rather than the "we'll make tough games" which is what my impression of the older-style video games are. The difficult part of doing these types of game well is pacing, variety, and player experience management. If you get pacing wrong, the game doesn't flow and feel like a cinematic experience. If you concentrate too much on one type of game play, then the game feels repetitive, and again doesn't feel cinematic. If you make the game so hard that the player dies often, then you frequently break flow for the player, and the game no longer provides a roller-coaster ride experience. That Sony Santa Monica and Naughty Dog both manage to deliver these experiences consistently is the main reason I think Sony's stock is under-rated.

What sort of variety does God of War grant you, other than the basic brawling game play? To begin with, the game grants you several set pieces that give you scale. It opens with a fight sequence on the back of a Titan, and the camera pans, zooms in and out all throughout the experience, which is exciting, cinematic, and very satisfying to play through. Not all the boss fights are so dramatic, but by and large they are very well done. The game provides several mini games in the form of finishing moves that are guided by Quick-Time events. These are much hated by game journalists and reviewers, but God of War does them correctly, and actually enjoyed them, as opposed to the ones found in Tomb Raider. And yes, there's a sex QTE mini-game (the camera pans away, so even though it's a rated M game, it doesn't venture into interactive porn). The environmental puzzles provided by the game are also fun, and interesting enough, scaling from the trivial to the intensely difficult by the end of the game. Finally, there are also several flight sequences where you navigate an asteroid field as the Millennium Falcon. Oops. Wait, no, Kratos sprouts wings and has to fly through obstacles. These aren't as much fun, but they do break up the sequences nicely.

The cut scenes are rendered beautifully and look like they're rendered by the game engine. So much so that during the first flight sequence I thought I was in a cut-scene rather than in-game, and died because I didn't realize I could control the character!

 What are my criticisms of the game? Well, it's rated M, which means lots of blood and gore. Definitely not for the pre-teen. The finale fight was kinda anti-climatic, after everything you'd been through. The story, as previously mentioned, serves merely as a justification for killing everything in sight. The use of Greek mythos, however, is fairly true to the source, though unfortunately with the M rating, you couldn't really use this game to introduce your child to it.

All in all, I think it's a fun game, though not for the faint of heart. I enjoyed it. For me, it came just a notch below the Tomb Raider Reboot, and just above Drake's Fortune. Recommended.

Vitamin D, Sunscreen, and Race

On my first bike tour, I went to Washington State, intending to cycle down to California. All through the tour through the rainy state, I got jokes about the weather, like "This isn't tan, this is rust!" But one piece of advice that came through consistently was the need to wear sunscreen. I even got advice such as, "You can get sun-burned even on a cloudy day in Washington." My recent review of Solbar SPF 30 sunscreen drew similar comments such as, "You need to reapply sunscreen no matter what."

Here's the deal. I'm Asian in origin, and was born and grew up in South East Asia. Most advice about sunscreen is based on research on white people. So very little of it applies if you're not white! For instance, when UK researchers exposed a group of South Asians to varying amounts of UV equivalent to peak summer sun exposure in Manchester UK, they concluded:

The authors noted that in this follow-up study, even with a three-fold increase in UV exposure, those of South Asian ethnicity are not able to make sufficient vitamin D at northern latitudes wearing casual clothing. Those receiving the larger doses of UV radiation were left with an average vitamin D blood level of only 15 ng/mL.

In case you're wondering, you're supposed to get 30ng/ml blood level to have "sufficient" vitamin D, and there's evidence that more is better, by quite a bit!

OK you think, that's Manchester England, not exactly famous for sunny times. But what about California? Surely you get sufficient sun exposure in California, right? Well, no. Not if you take the usual advice and wear sunscreen. In 2006, my doctor checked for vitamin D in my blood and concluded that I was suffering from vitamin D deficiency. This was despite being a cyclist and spending tons of time outside. The culprit: sunscreen. I took vitamin D supplements and stopped using sunscreen in the morning and evening hours.

OK, what if you're from more northern parts of the continent? My wife, who's northern Chinese and very pale, was also diagnosed last year with vitamin D deficiency. The same study concludes:

Based on the studies by these authors it will be difficult, if not impossible, for those with darker skin to achieve a natural vitamin D level from sun exposure alone, particularly if they do not commit to getting full-body sun exposure.

 So no, if you're Asian, or basically any color except white, ask your doctor for a vitamin D check the next time you have an annual. I bet you'll be shocked at the results. And no, if you're Asian you cannot possibly get sun burn on a cloudy day. No way, no how. That's white person talk.

Finally, if you're a whitey, you might want to take Mike Samuel's advice from the 2007 tour:

If you're the only fair-skinned whitey in the group, carry the sunscreen

Review: Sailing a Serious Ocean

Sailing a Serious Ocean is John Kretschmer's memoir about 30 years of sailing as a delivery boat captain and off-shore passage instructor. Along the way, Kretschmer tries to teach about not just passage making, but also how to evaluate and buy a boat for such an adventure, what to do when the ocean becomes "serious", and recommends other books for deeper reading about storm tactics and so forth. But the real reason to buy and read this book is the stories, because while Kretschmer's an experienced sailor and probably a good instructor, he's a lousy technical writer.

Every chapter of the book's anchored by one or several anecdotes or stories. These are really exciting and impressive. When you set out specifically to teach off-shore passage making, your intention is to expose your crew mates (and yourself) to heavy weather sailing. The net result is that you're intentionally making poor sailing decisions like leaving port as a storm is starting. While Krestchmer doesn't go out of the way to tell you how harrowing the passage is, the events that happen tell the story. In every case, there's at least one incident which causes a flooded cockpit. In some cases, the hatch into the cabin was left open so the living space gets a deluge of water as well. (Kretschmer provides good reason as to why this was the case, so he's not entirely an incompetent skipper)

In one story, he tells of a daughter whose father is swept off the boat by a massive wave, and she can do nothing but watch as he drowns as she is unable to pull him back aboard. With reasonable humility, Kretschmer observes that he was more lucky than good: the other boat simply was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's clear that Kreschmer has been everywhere, though this book focuses mostly on the Atlantic with a side-helping of the Mediterranean. While I'm unfamiliar with the Atlantic, I have sailed the Mediterranean, and I agree with his observations that you either get too little wind or too much wind, with nothing in between.

There's a significant bit of sailboat philosphy in the book, as Kretschmer tries to justify his love of off-shore passage making, which he knows is dangerous. Some of it is related to sailing:

Fear leads to inaction and then finally to panic, and that’s a deadly course to follow. The majority of sailing disasters result from boats and crews taking passive approaches to storm conditions. Staying engaged with the boat and the situation is the single most important heavy-weather tactic. You made the decision to go to sea and you own your decision. It’s your storm and you have to deal with it. You can’t just push the reset button.(Loc 2989-93)

Some of it is related to life, and why he deliberately chose a "career" that's fundamentally kept him relatively poor financially but rich in experience:

And time, the most precious commodity of all, far more valuable than gold, has been devalued as people are forced to squander it in a terribly backward equation—trading it for money. Just how crazy is that? Who, when their allotment of time is all but spent, would not trade every bit of gold for just a fraction more time?(Loc. 1755-57)

Kretschmer does note (and it's something that I've observed as well), that outdoor life and experience makes us all equal and honest. When you're on a sailboat with gale force winds coming down on you, it doesn't matter what your credentials or job title is, your life is on the line just as well as anybody else's is on the boat. You can't politically-maneuver out of storms, nor can you bluff your way down a mountain on a twisty windy descent. You either have the skills, mind-set, and ability to do so, or you don't. That's why those of us who regularly do outdoor activities have a more trusting and open mind-set than those who don't: when you regularly face natural disasters, more people are willing to help you with no agenda than when you're in the office facing the next performance review, and that can't help but spill over into the rest of your life as well.

The weakest part of the book is on the technical side. Kretschmer tries to teach you what kind of features to look for in a boat with blue-water aspirations, but with his many years of experience and hanging out with people familiar with technical jargon, he's not only unable to explain things clearly, he fails to start with engineering principles behind blue-water sailboats. For instance, he talks about how pretty a boat should look with its line and beam, but doesn't explain that a wide boat with spacious living quarters wouldn't handle well in a storm because the high waterline would provide too big a surface area for wind to catch and thereby hinder control in high winds. Instead, he praises the Contessa 32 as a submarine with a mast attached, leaving the reader to extract the principle of boat design from that metaphor.

Here's what I was able to extract from the book in that respect: you want a boat with the rudder amid-ships rather than at the end of the boat like performance cruisers have. The reason is when the boat's being pitched in steep seas, you'll end up with the rudder out of the water, which means you can't steer at precisely the most important time when steering is important. You want a boat with multiple sail plans, so sloops and cutters aren't that great, since roller furling head sails aren't very good when in a storm: chafing at the furling line could easily unfurl the sail at just the wrong time, and stay sails that are heavy and hank on are actually more reliable. Finally, you want as low a waterline as you can find to reduce windage. He claims that design is more important than construction, but really should have emphasized that design and construction are both incredibly important.

My biggest criticism of the book as such is that it appears Kretschmer has no experience sailing Catamarans, so he doesn't address that important topic. He also doesn't provide references to other books that would cover that gap. He addresses storm tactics in a fine and reasonable fashion, but again,  those are mostly restricted to the boats he's delivered and owned. The diagrams in the book are nice, but of course, next to useless on the Kindle version. (He does explain the The Perfect Storm was riddled with technical inaccuracies and was written by a landlubber, but fails to provide explanations of how you could tell)

All in all, the book's a fun read and enjoyable even if you're not a sailor, or even if you have no intention of ever making an off-shore passage. And if you do intend to make an off-shore passage, booking a passage with Kretschmer is probably a must-do.

My one caveat with this book is that if you do intend to make an off-shore passage at some point, by no means should you allow your spouse to read this book. You will absolutely not be allowed to go if that happens!

Recommended.

Review: Michelin Pro Race 3 Tire

The problem with reviewing bicycle tires is that they take a long time to wear out. For instance, after my review of the terrible Continental Gatorskin tires, it took at least another 4,000 miles to wear out my current stock and then another 2000 miles to wear out the replacement Michelin Pro Race 3 tire at my current riding rate. The net result is that in between Michelin retired the Pro Race 3 and has now introduced the Pro Race 4. If you think my tire wear rate seems excessively long, I weigh about 150 pounds, ride lots of hills, and ride 700x25mm tires, which are about 10% wider than the usual 700x23mm tires in use. As with all tires, the place to buy them is one of the UK vendors like Wiggle or Chain Reaction Cycles. All these vendors take US dollars, offer free shipping to the US, and charge much less than US vendors, beating even Amazon most of the time.

The Pro Race 3 is a folding kevlar bead tire, which means that they're significantly lighter than the Gatorskins they replaced. Those were 300g, while the Pro Race 3s are  245g. That loss of 18% weight is significant, and noticeable. The tires are stiff when first installed, requiring the use of a tire jack to get them mounted, but after you've ridden them for a while, they loosen up and can be mounted with just your hands. Interestingly enough, the Pro Race 4s are 215g per tire at the same nominal width, but apparently measure wider. That could mean that the Pro Race 4s could be better for touring.

These tires use a silica based compound rather than carbon black in order to get them in pretty colors to match your bike. The problem with silica rather than carbon black is two fold. First, the tires don't wear as long. While I could get 4000 miles per tire out of the Gatorskins, there's no way I exceeded 2000 miles in the Pro Race 3s. Note that I ride my tires in all conditions and nearly every ride has an off-road component, so if you're a road only rider, you might get better wear rates. On a long bike tour, however, you might have to rotate your tires to avoid riding into the treads, or carry a spare, which is a good idea anyway.

The other problem with silica is wet traction. Living in California, I don't see a lot of rain, but having tested them in wet conditions, I don't think the loss of traction is significant to most riders. I don't push my tires that hard any more though, since loss of traction does lead to loss of skin.

The tires don't puncture significantly more than the Gatorskins, but more importantly, they also don't wear out on the sidewalls the way the Gatorskin does. Now you might argue that's because they only stay on the bike for half as long, but while I've observed any number of Continental tire blowouts (some of which led to hospitalization), I've yet to observe a single Michelin tire blowout. I consider the Michelins much safer for a normal rider who doesn't push traction limits in wet conditions than any Continental tire.

Of course, they're not perfect. If I had a choice, I'd love to see a return of the 1990s Michelin Hi-lite Comps using a carbon black tread, and priced at $13 per tire. (I'd also love to be able to ride like I was 35 again as well :-) Those days aren't ever coming back, though, so for now I'm happy to stick with the Michelins for the forseeable future, especially now that I have a cheapish source for them.
Recommended.