Twin Peaks Road

January 22, 2025

Checklist, Protocols, Ruies, and Behaviors

Our first shot at organizing ourselves better produced what was more or less our first beta checklist, our first attempt to continuing to live in the chaos of one Good Story Day after another. Today’s ride nearly ended unpleasantly, but tomorrows had the potential for ending in a truly Good Story day, of the worst kind - one with the potential to trash our whole stay here in Tucson.

A nice start, but definitely Beta. Plenty of improvement needed.

It apparent that we need more sophistication here, so we’re going to try treating it like a software design problem (not surprisingly, since we both spent most of our working careers doing this). We’re classifying the typesof outings we do into one of several scripts, or use cases as the language evolved to when we finally retired, for each we’ll have a checklist at the door reform that specific activity type, and a separate document consisting of rules, reminders, behaviors to follow when we’re on the other side of the door that will be sent to our cellphones for consultation at the appropriate time.

And they’re all really beta software specifications,subject tpmpeer review, refinement based on best ideas, addition of new use cases as needed, and so on. It’s the continuous improvement model, and really the only way modern technology works. You build on the model, you turn on the car, it starts, the backup camera pops up when you put it into reverse, and once you have the rules and protocols and behaviors down you can get on with life and just enjoy the drive, all the time being conscious that others have their own scripts, agendas, human failings and the like.

So let’s start with today’s use case: Daytime Bike Ride, with a birding stop. We’re just starting, so these are my first cut inside and outside documents. And these are just my documents, not Rachael’s - because she has her own refinements specific to her.

Also, a comment on tomorrow’s ride, which has a different Use Case: Daytime Bike Ride, with. Time Box. This almost went totally off the road when an unanticipated incident left me bicycling off through the college campus with Rachael behind me and my rucksack (with damn near everything important to us byput our passports) sitting on a bench on busy University Boulevard. Not a best practice, that’s for sure.

Scott’s Use Case for Bike Ride with a Birding Stop

Description: an outing that is primarily a bicycle ride, but one in which I plan to include a stop with a birding stop tacked on somewhere, either at the end or somewhere on the way home. When biking we’ll ride together until one or the other of us is ready to turn back; after which one can continue on further while the other returns home (more miles, the planned bird stop, etc) or both will ride together. The general model for myself is that I will ride with Rachael, rather than stopping for a zillion fantastic shots along the way. The Canon will be along for the bird stop to tack on, but will stay in the rucksack until then. The post for the day will primarily consist of Rachael’s GoPro, when she’s along of course.

My indoor checklist:

Always take with you in the rucksack: prescription glasses (encased), wallet, first anid equipment, sun screen, paper and pen, multitool, clickstand, spare tube, patch kit, outer layers and bike lock in the rucksack.
Put the Garmin, gloves, helmet, liner and Ray-Bans (unencased) on the bike.
Keys go in the bike jersey. If wearing the outer layer, keep the keys on the inside layer. Don’t put them in the outer layer, where they might fall out on the road and get left behind.
Reminders: establish a departure lead time and other constraints; check the weather; extra layers needed for warmth? Is the route loaded to the Garmin? are all devices (Garmin, Varia, phone, camera) sufficiently charged. Any potential for being out after dark?
Step out the door with your bike and everything else at the same time.
Double check that you have all items with you.
Lock the door behind you.

My outdoor rules,behaviors, etc: (very incomplete, and just illustrative here:

The container(s) for your outdoor objects never hit the ground. If it’s a pannier or handlebar bag, it remains on the bike unless unattended. If it’s the rucksack, it remains on my back. Always.
Always wear eye protection, because I’ve just got the one. If I’m biking, wear the Ray-Bans and keep the prescription glasses encased (the reason for only taking one case for two pair of glasses). If I’m birding, swap glasses for better visibility but encase the sunglasses.
If leaving the bike unattended, always lock it. Always keep with you anything of value: Garmin, Varia light, etc.
If you’re on the bike, always have the Garmin on so I’m locatable to Rachael.
Reminders for the road: if you leave your helmet on the bike when you’re walking around for comfort, put the gloves and the helmet liner in the rucksack. If you silence or turn off the Garmin, restart it when you return to the bike.
When you return home, the bicycle and all belongings go in together before closing the door behind you.

My indoor return task list:

Bring the bicycle and everything on your person inside, and close the door behind you.
Lean the bike against a wall.
Put the house keys in their designated spot.
Unload all ‘home items from the rucksack, set them on the table, and then place the rucksack in its designated spot.
Bike gear goes in the bike storage spot
Wallet, phone remain on the table
Encase prescription glasses; if they’re Rachael’s, put them on her side of the table.
Change into street clothes.
Reminders: take your afternoon vitamins and calcium? Recharge the phone, Garmin, or camera batteries?
Put the camera in the camera drawer.
Relax, go to the bathroom, have a nonalcoholic beer, celebrate, whatever. I’m off the case.

_____________

Today’s ride

So today’s plan is a joint bike ride, a roughly thirty miler down then Santa Cruz out to Ina Road and back. I’m taking the Canon because I might see birds from the Ina Road bridge - I even saw a Jacana there two years back - and I plan on the way home to stop off at Silverbell Lake again and look for the night heron while Rachael heads for home alone.

The ride is a success, in that we both make it out and back fully successfully, although it turns out that neither of the birding stops was worthwhile. And we end up going further than either of us expected - 37 miles, just a few miles south of El Rio, my goal for my next ride out this direction. A great day.

It almost doesn’t happen though because an essential item got left on the wrong side of the door: the GoPro, or maybe my rucksack, I forget now, because we’re still shaking out ourselves and our scripts. We remember it just as we come to the east side of the Santa Cruz, because if we’re missing either of them, what’s the point?

So we go back, retrieve whatever it was, and start over. This time though we’re unlucky because we’re stopped at the tracks and can’t get to the river this way until it passes. If it’s westbound it’s no problem because the train is screaming full speed as it flies out of town. As long as it is, it passes I like two minutes.

If you’re unlucky and it’s eastbound, you could be here for days as the train gradually slows down as it enters town, sometimes actually stopping and blocking Granada completely. By then there’s a long line of cars queued up frustrated and waiting, and one by one they make a uturn and find an alternate route to their destination.

As do we. We turn back north and cross over on Speedway, which we hate badly enough that it’s worth taking the risk on the train for the one time in five or ten crossings that you get unlucky.

Waiting for the accursed eastbound train.

Bathroom stop north of Ina Road. Rachael’s first roadrunner, and our first good shot with the Canon!

Looking north at our turnback spot. Ina Road is a temptation, only about three miles further. This is a great place to stop though.

Going home, blown by about a 10 mph tailwind. 17 miles like this. What could be better?

Sound track: It’s a Raggy Waltz, by Dave Brubeck

As planned, I stop off at Silverbell Lake to walk the bike around it. It’s nice enough and I pick up three new birds, but was it worth it? Probably not. I doubt I’ll do this as part of a Bike Ride again.

Nice to have the Canon along and the bird up close today for a better shot of a white fronted goose.

But especially for this, to show both how fast the Canon’s burst speed is (I’ll look it up, but I think it’s roughly ten frames per second); and how fast the bird is. These two frames are adjacent, so he’s top one from inert to gone in a tenth of a second.

#70: Say’s phoebe, seen from the loop and shot with a Canon.

Red-tailed Hawk, also Canonized from the loop.

It’s around 3:30 when I finally make it home: too late to want to go downtown for another quest run, but just in time for the short walk to the Time Market.

It’s time for another slice and brew at the Time Market.

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Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 186 miles (299 km)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesGlad to see that you are taking steps to ensure less losing or leaving stuff behind. Dodie has always been a list maker/double checker and she packs for planned next day excursions the night before. Steve tends to wander around with his head in the clouds but is the only one who can repair bikes or deal with technology. As always, we are better together.
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1 week ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI’ve got/had a good head in the past that served well enough, but between the vision issues and prednisone we need more sophistication.
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1 week ago

Janice BranhamUse cases - brilliant! The apparel and stuff we need to bring along depends on the type of ride - gravel, road, singletrack. A list for each flavor ought to help us deal better with the memory lapses and distractions that leave us out there on the trail missing something.
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1 week ago