Housekeeping: Still Not Down With The Clown (But There's A Cost)

Has this website been playing hard to get for you? The answer is simple, albeit annoying: This site isn't hosted on The Clown. I use a real "bare metal" physical server, hosted off the backbone in one of those rooms filled with endless server racks. My provider decided to close one of their locations and move the server image from the East Coast to Texas. I was told that this would be a short process, and it was. They even promised I could keep the same IP address. I suspected this would be a hassle, and it was. Twenty years ago, when your humble author first put computers on the public Internet, the routing tables were much simpler than they are now, and they were much better-known by the various bits of hardware between Points A and B. Nowadays, getting a single IP moved across the country had some serious FUBAR potential. Much of that was realized. In my case, I could browse my website via T-Mobile's network before Verizon's, and Verizon's before my own fiber connection at home.

As long as we are Housekeeping... a few notes. I was in Asia for two of the past three weeks, and I have plenty of stories to tell. I'm riding, and enjoying, a great new dirt-jumper bike, about which I've previously written. The above photo doesn't look like much but for a mildly crippled and way-past-mildly-overweight 47-year-old it's quite difficult, which speaks to the excellence of my Ordnance frame and the various USA-made parts in its construction, particularly the Velocity USA rims.

Last but not least, I'd like to congratulate my son for being named the Powerade Rider Of The Week at Camp Woodward. He destroyed a $400 titanium-spoked wheel on Day Two of his experience, courtesy of a risky pass in a practice race, but he borrowed a bike and managed to demonstrate both first-rate skills and exceptional dedication to task. Not bad for a ten-year-old who had never spent a night away from his family before. The great people at Powers Bike Shop had him back on a proper hoop within 48 hours.

Now that the site is up and running again, we will be putting up some great work from our usual suspects. Thank you for your patience, and for your readership.