Brent’s Blog

I’ve received several questions on the 4theweb forums, Open Source Community, and this blog about the status of porting BSQ Sitestats to Joomla 1.5.

I have no current plans to port BSQ Sitestats to Joomla 1.5 at this time. This is the result of several factors, the first being that I have not been involved in the Joomla community since late 2006, when I thought a 1.5 RC release was imminent.

The second factor is time.  I have been given more privileges and responsibilities in my career, and I plan to follow and fulfill to the best of my abilities. Also, we are now finally in spring at the 45th parallel, and I will be biking at least 5 days a week until October (when I’m not working on my career).

A third factor is lack of help. Maintaining a popular extension is a very time consuming task. PHP applications have the misfortune of being M x N x O x P complex where M is the CMS version, N is the PHP version, O is the database version, and P is the extension version.  System programming is much easier: you either have POSIX, Linux, or Win32. Doing all of these complexities requires several very educated users running some of the combinations of M X N x O x P. While a lot of extensions have this kind of help, I never have, making remotely debugging the simplest problem difficult.

If somebody wants to take over the port of BSQ Sitestats to Joomla 1.5, I’d be glad to help, but I cannot lead this effort. Thanks for all of the usage on Joomla 1.0.

As if biking in Minneapolis wasn’t already awesome with our many lakes and hundreds of miles of trail system in just 40 square miles, there is even more being done to make biking more friendly. As it is now, only 4% of Minneapolis residents commute by bike, and a lot of that is because of the limited access to mail biking thoughroughfares.

If you live in Hale-Paige like I do, you’ve got Portland/Park for north/south and Minnehaha Parkway for east and west, but there really isn’t a way to get to edina or the U of Minnesota. without going on major streets. That’s just one example from one of the 400,000 residents of the actual city of Minneapolis (no…living in the suburbs is not living in Minneapolis).

This project seeks to make biking more friendly, encouraging more people to commute by bike. Through this, we can continue to lead our top-5 healthiest state in the country (since 1990), reduce traffic congestion on busy roads, and reduce our overall fossil fuel consumption.

Here’s an article with more information.

Happy memorial weekend, everyone. It’s been sunny and cool outside (low 80s), perfect for the grand opening of a brand new trail.

Murphy-Hanrehan is a park reserve in Burnsville, MN where previously, an unmaintainable several-mile loop existed. The old trail basically consisted of ruts from the bulldozer that cleared its path every year. The hills were so steep that you’d often have to brake to keep your speed under 30 MPH, only to switch to first gear for the next hundred foot climb.

The new trail is completely different, built professionally and sustainably by contractors hired by the Three Rivers Park District.  The new single track is as resiliant as Lebanon Hills or Theodore Wirth.

Here is the trail map as a reference. 

The course starts off with about a mile of single track through an open field (green on the map).  At the end of this you can loop back to the parking lot or take the intermediate loop onward.

The intermediate loop is actually closer to expert than intermediate. You immediately descend into tight S-turns with little embankment, making you lean and sometimes brake to avoid washing out. Following the descent (from marker 53), there is a LONG sustained climb from marker 54 to 57, similar to the big climb before the expert loop at lebanon. Warning: you need to keep a pace of at least7-8 mph on the climb due to the grade. If you don’t, your front tire will come up on you. Lean forward to compensate. The intermediate loop is more work than fun, but don’t worry. The reward is coming up in the expert loop.

At the end of the intermediate (where blue meets gray), there is an obstacle that you can simply walk over (see picture). This is supposed to be a qualifier, but it really qualifies you for something else than what you are about to ride on the expert section.

The expert section is epic. I haven’t done the Mah da Hey or other epic rides outside Minnesota, so my statement is qualified by the courses I’ve ridden around the Twin Cities. Be prepared for steep rolling climbs between tight trees while hugging the hillside, sharp descents around turns, and a few blind obstacles that could end your summer.

Speaking of obstacles, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there weren’t many, most of which had ride-arounds. Some of the trail segments have become obstacles though, but I’m sure that will change after opening weekend. From the looks of the trail today, there were a lot of rolling descents where people had slipped off the sides of the hills, which is understandable. Don’t be afraid to go slower. You definitely don’t want to go down the side of a hill there.

You might start feeling dead around mile 5.5. Don’t worry though; you’ve reached the top of the course. Check out the elevation map John Lundell made for an idea of the terrain you are facing. You can see that the entire first half of the trip is one long ascent with lots of ups and downs throughout. Be prepared to white knuckle and climb. Unfortunately, all of that elevation you worked for comes out pretty quick between mile 5.5 and 7.0. Make sure to stay behind your seat to not go over your handlebars.

My favorite part was somewhere around mile 7 where we did at least a half mile of cruising through open fields. It was great to actually be able to do >10mph uphill for once in the course after all of that arduous climbing.

It’s hard to describe what you feel like after 7 miles of expert with 683 feet of climbing/descent. It’s a different sort of tired. If you get back to the expert loop junction and are considering another lap, consider that you are committing to another 9 miles of riding. That’s over two intermediate/expert laps at lebanon, not even accounting for the insane terrain of Murphy.

Overall, it was a really fun ride. I’ll probably save this ride for weekends and when I have lots of steam to blow. I’ll definitely be chuggging a gatorade and a cliff bar before next time.

Since even the intermediate is very tough climbing, don’t go to Murphy when you just feel like cruising. That’s not what you’ll get.  For now, I’ll keep doing my lunch rides at Lebanon Hills, Salem Hills, and Terrace Oaks.

Thanks to the Minnesota Off-road Cyclists for putting together such a great trail.

Other links to check out:
Official MORC trail review with photos.
Other Twin Cities Metro Trails

My first bike crash of 2007 was bound to happen. I’ve already gone 150 miles since April, so it’s just a numbers game. The funny part is that I was actually riding cautiously when I crashed, inspecting a trail for rain damage after a big thunderstorm we got earlier this week.

Sure enough, there were a few hidden slick spots, one of which I ate. I was able to clip out in time to not get stuck under the right side of my bike as it washed out from under me. Unfortunately, my front wheel landed on a tree, breaking my right front brake.

So, here I am, bikeless for the weekend (beautiful out btw) and staring at my scraped up knee. Hmmmm…maybe I can get a rollerblade injury in before this weekend

Every so often, I get a really funny incoming google search string. Today’s was will I get to date brent? I hope the searcher wasn’t too disappointed to find out I’m married. Sorry, ms. doe.