Life With No Net
Looks like I last posted on Thursday. Wow, my last three days have been very full, despite house chores not being part of that equation significantly. The fall I took on Tuesday still had me sore but not enough to prevent me from going out on my 10 mile ride on my road bike. I did it earlier in the day Friday to get it off my list as I still had a long list of One Wheel GT want to do’s.
One of those was doing a range test which I did Friday afternoon. I wanted to go to the DD that is roughly 10 miles away, something I did once on my OneWheel XR and barely made it, coasting home on fumes. I was confident I should be able to do the ride on the GT that has a bigger battery but I wasn’t certain. I titled the video a “No Net” range test.
Doing a range test on a PEV is a risky proposition. If for some reason the device gets less range than expected you are SOL unless you have a rescue vehicle available. With every range test I have done in the past of course Cindy was that safety net for me. This was the first time I was doing such a test with no backup plan. This no net principal is something I will talk about more later as it applies to other areas of my life.
Originally I thought I would need to go slow to ensure I had the juice to do the trip. Instead I found myself right up against the board speed limits, carrying 18-19mph for the majority of the ride. I had 65% battery left at DD. On the way back I had enough reserve that I went into the park and farted around for nearly a half hour trying to use up more of the battery. I timed it pretty well as I rolled back into the driveway with somewhere around 5% battery and covered 27 miles and change, a great performance.
During the day I also installed my orange bumpers, rail guards and carbon fiber fender. It was an easy swap that really changes the visual of the board, I was happy with the end result.
Friday night I went to see the new Batman movie. A friend of mine said her brother thought it was the best Batman yet so I had high expectations. I thought the movie was dark and well done but not the best Batman ever. I would give the Christian Bale/Heath Ledger edition that title still. There are also some things in the story that annoy me that I can’t really talk about without ruining things somewhat. I’d give it a B+ overall.
I got home late Friday night and it became much later. I saw an email about an error the office network was having. I remoted in and wound up spending a ton of time on it. I eventually got things ironed out but I went to bed at a ridiculous time, somewhere around 3AM.
On Saturday I spit out two more videos, one of them involved aerial footage from one of drones. I love the way aerial footage adds visual diversity and perspective, too bad most of the time I am in too much of a rush to do it.
Later in the afternoon I FORCED myself to drive down to the coast. My intent was to sit on the beach and read for an hour or two, like I promised myself I would. I figured at that time of day, a little before 5PM, most of the areas elderly residents would be swarming to early bird specials, not the beach. Boy was I wrong. The two spots I checked were both at capacity. I said F it and instead carried my beach chair to a small park near the beach. I found a shady spot and read a book. It was quiet and peaceful, even without sand and surf in front of me.
So before I knew it Sunday was here, the last day of my 9 day staycation. I filled it mostly with more of the same, riding the GT and shooting videos about it. I made something like 8 videos during my time off. The first one was a more cinematic short video of the aerial footage from Saturday.
For the second video I headed to the Indian Hill area of Marco Island. This is one of the steepest hills in our area. I thought it would be a good spot to test the GT’s improved power and compare it directly to the XR. I did a similar test on my EUC’s where I go back and forth over Indian Hill 10 times which adds up to 20 hills and 2.5 miles of stress testing.
I used the XR first. Very early on in the test I was getting weird surging sensations as I climbed. These surges became more frequent as I got deeper into the test, they were warning signs that I did not heed. In the middle of the 7th back and forth the board surged one final time and then suddenly shut off, launching me to the asphalt once again. I landed on the same spots that were already bruised and brush burned, it was not good. My equipment took damage in addition to my body. The mounting clip on my mic transmitter broke as well as the door on my camera. I was pissed.
After composing myself and carrying the XR to the top of the hill I rode it back to the car. Throwing me on the road is an instant disqualification. Once back at the car I searched for a way to rig my camera so I could film the GT doing the same test. I grabbed some velcro from the “steering wheel balancer” I had in the console and used it to half ass throw things back together.
I expected the GT would do better on the test but after eating asphalt on the XR I was worried that doing the full 10 back and forths would be too much. Luckily the GT was up to the task. Other than a couple real minor surges late in the test the board gave no signs of problem carrying my 190 pounds back and forth over the steep terrain with no breaks. It was the final gold star of many the board has earned since I received it. There is no doubt in my mind it is a considerable upgrade to the XR.
I left Marco battered and bruised. My hip really hurt, that pain intensified throughout the night. The no net feeling returned. One of the benefits of having a partner is ideally they are your net, if you fall they catch you. I feel like I have no net anymore and it isn’t a feeling that makes me feel good. If something bad happens I have no backup plan. Despite having a week filled with a lot of things I enjoy doing, at the end of it I still find myself stuck in negative thought loops that lead to nowhere good. I still feel a lot of sadness in my heart which I hoped would be less obtrusive by this point in time.
It felt unwelcome getting up at 5:35 AM once again. My body was quickly getting accustomed to sleeping in between 7:30 and 8, especially since the time change. I limped out to the chicken coop and hosed off chicken shit, like every other day. I need to get back on track, whatever that eventually means.