🚴 After some deliberation, I ordered the Zwift Ride. With a straightforward setup, I’m ready for tomorrow’s long ride in Watopia!

Five boxes of various sizes are stacked in a corner, featuring branding for Zwift and Wahoo.A stationary exercise bike with a "Zwift" logo stands in a room, accompanied by a pair of black shoes on the floor.

We’re back. This time for provincial championships. So many amazing swimmers!

A bustling indoor swimming pool features multiple lanes with swimmers competing as spectators watch from the sides.

Days like today, I wouldn’t mind being like George for a few minutes: unaware and content

A golden retriever puppy on his back, eyes closed and paws in the air

Finished reading: Waves in an Impossible Sea by Matt Strassler is a fascinating, comprehensive, and clear book about field theory in physics. I’ve read a few books on this topic and this is the best one. If you’re curious about particle physics and want to avoid math, you’ll like this one πŸ“š

πŸ–– Finished the final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. Lots of fun, though you need to be at least a moderate Trekkie to get most of the jokes

I already boosted this, but I want to add more emphasis. I think every Canadian citizen of the Fediverse ought to sign this petition to get the Government of Canada off Xitter: ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Pet

Could anyone who has any Canadian followers please boost or just re-post it yourself? This matters.

#cnpoli #fediverse

This is important!

πŸŠβ€β™‚οΈ Rare treat of having a lane to myself on today’s swim

πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ Regardless of if any of the proposals are adopted (though I think several should be carefully considered), I’m glad to see Build Canada is offering bold ideas. We need more of this, especially these days

At the pool for high school city championships. Lots of excitement!

A busy indoor swimming pool hosts a swim meet, with swimmers in action and spectators in the stands.

❄️ Running out of room for the snow

A large pile of snow is seen in front of houses with red garage doors in a residential area.

πŸ“ A new season for my notes

The sun rises, seasons change, and I reconsider my note-taking system. Some things are endlessly cyclical.

These days I use a split system: personal notes in Apple Notes (using a simplified Forever Notes structure) and work notes in OneNote, following the PARA method. My daily logs feed into ChatGPT for a summarized weekly note. It’s efficient, structured, and searchableβ€”but also sterile and fleeting.

This week, after a nudge from Lee Peterson in the Hemispheric Views Discord, I dusted off a Field Notes notebook I last used in 2015 and started writing again.

A hand holds a brown Field Notes memo book with a blue pen clipped to it.

Each day gets a fresh page. I list my two or three most important tasks, then jot down whatever comes up. I’ve even revived Patrick Rhone’s Dash/Plus system.

As plenty of folks will tell you, paper is nice. I also like how it keeps my phone on the charger instead of in my pocket, waiting for me to type something.

I’ve stopped being precious about my note-taking. My needs evolve, and so should my system.

πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ The Sutherland Quarterly

For my fellow, like-to-be-informed Canadians, I recommend the Sutherland Quarterly. As a subscriber, each quarter you get a short book (around 100 pages) on a current, important topic.

Four books with distinct titles and colorful covers are arranged on a marble surface.

So far, I’ve read:

And I’m about to start Jasper on Fire by Matthew Scace. Each has been really good: informative, well written, and relevant to Canadians.

Subscriptions are available for both print and digital, while each book is also available separately.

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Sidewalks were mostly clear on today’s recovery run

A snowy residential street is shown with a cleared pathway, lined with snow-covered cars and bare trees, accompanied by running data overlaid on the image.

Micro.blog for iOS

Added new screen to manage your muted users, keywords, and blocks.

A nice addition to make it easier to quiet down the timeline, especially these days. Good to see this synchronizes across to Greg Morris' micro.social app too.

πŸ”— Matt Gurney: I hereby propose the Ice Bucket Challenge for National Survival

The premiers can and must break the stifling complacency that is such a hallmark of modern Canadian politics and use the power of social media, and simple shame, to get the ball rolling.Β To do something. And then do another thing, and another thing, and another thing.

Bad day for a broken shovel ❄️

🚴 Updating my indoor bike setup

Over the past three years, I’ve traveled more than 7,600 km through the virtual worlds of Zwift (adds up to a ridiculous 11 days and 11 hours on the saddle). This has all been on my main racing bike in a somewhat awkward setup that I described earlier:

I don’t have enough space in my house for a spot fully dedicated to cycling. So, I’ve got the bike trainer tucked in a corner of the basement and then I slide our basement couch out of the way and move the bike in front of the TV when I’m riding.

Auto-generated description: A black dog is lying on a couch next to a stationary bicycle, with a Zwift cycling app displayed on a TV.

The whole setup is a nuisance, especially for some of those really early morning starts. Moving furniture around while in the dark and only half awake isn’t great. So, I’m considering the new Zwift Ride.

I think the pros are (in order):

  1. Always ready without any setup required
  2. Stays inside, so stays clean
  3. Preserves the racing bike, avoiding all the indoor sweat (so much sweat πŸ₯΅) and wear and tear
  4. Optimized for indoor riding and for Zwift specifically

While the cons are:

  1. Only works with Zwift. What do I do with it if Zwift goes away or I want to switch to a different platform? (Although, there are developments)
  2. Riding it doesn’t build up comfort and familiarity on my actual racing bike (although after close to 12 cumulative days on the bike, how much of this could be left?)

Given all of this, I’m leaning towards getting the Zwift Ride. There’s a spot in the basement with enough room for it and I like the idea of just getting on and riding. However, the recent tariff nonsense seems to have cleared out the Canadian inventory. So, I have some time to think this over, before making the investment.

For more on the Zwift Ride, DC Rainmaker has a good video.

Finished reading: Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern is a lot of fun πŸ“š

George had a busy day

A golden retriever is comfortably sprawled on a leather couch, lying on its back with its paws in the air.

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Winter wonderland on today’s run. Slippery and uneven conditions helped keep the easy pace on target while adding in extra ankle and calf work.

Snow-covered branches are shown with overlay text detailing a running workout: 15.82 km in 1 hour and 38 minutes, with an average pace of 6'10"/km.