Katy Flatland Centry

I rode the KFC for the second year. Did not finished the 100 mile route for two main reasons.
1) I was too damn slow resulting a rate of ~15mi
2) Bad weather forced everyone off the course.
Next year I will prepare.

Here is my other feedback about the ride:
- Registration/packet pickup was located beyond the start gate. This
resulted in som e confusion and cross traffic during the 7am -> 715am
starts
- the route was much better than last year. However, 36 was an
extraordinary bump road for a few long time.
- The route signs could be better. From a distance it was not possible
to tell which way the arrow was pointing as it looked like a simple
maroon rectangle.

Finished Red Hat Training - Raleigh NC

I just spent a week in Raleigh NC at the Red Hat facility. I was there for training on their new(ly purchased) virtualization server product. The RH318 Red Hat Virtualization Administration. It covered their management server, hypervisor node and how to use a regular RHEL node. The management server is a MS Windows based .NET application. It handles the creation and management of new virtual machines. The node is a super stripped down Red Hat installation with some client software added. The 2.1 version of the software is useful but has is missing some depth of options. The 2.2 version will offer more functionality improvements, added features and a new desktop virtualization client. Eventually, the .NET/Windows application will be ported to JBoss.

To attend the class one does not need extensive Red Hat experience. Too much RH experience can result in the over thinking of the class. My lack of Windows experience slowed me on some of the labs.

The HHR LT is anemic and a huge blind spots.

The roads in Raleigh seem to have been designed by throwing wet spaghetti on the map.

Completed 62 miles

I completed the 62 mile distance on the Katy Ram Challenge. It was a ride of two styles. The first two thirds of the distance was cold, wet and rainy. I made very good time especially for my slow self. The last third of the ride was all head wind, either direct to the face or on the right. I made great time and the NashBar bike performed well. I am thinking of putting my older seat on the bike. The current seat is wider than the old one and may be causing some of my hip pain problems.

Bikes arrived and assembled

The bikes arrived very quickly. They shipped in two flat pack boxes. The wheels, peddles, handle bars and seat post needed to be attached. Both needed the front breaks adjusted. I am very satisfied with both bikes. The wife's bike is lighter than my old bike. My new one looks good. The only complaint is the lack of cleaning of the frame welds.
Here is her bike.
Here is mine.
Here is an example how the welds look.

Two new bikes

I ordered a new bike for myself and the wife. By bike frame from the '90s was just not cutting it anymore. Both were ordered from Nashbar.com (bike 1, bike 2) when they offered a 25% off coupon. We will see what the quality of the bikes are and how much assembly is required. Both should be here on December 19th.

The next step will be getting back on the bike.

Registered for my next ride

I registered for my next bike ride. I signed up for the 85 mile route for they Katy Flatland Century. I see this being a very long and hot ride. I have three weeks to work on my rates and getting used to the heat.