< kencox design >

Dear Dirt Rag,

I’d like to point out an error that must have slipped through your normally thorough fact-checking department.

For the second month in a row, a photograph in your Rider’s Eye section was labeled as being taken in Delaware. It is laughable to think that any serious mountain biking could take place in a state that is so urbanized and only inches above sea level. Obviously misrepresented photos such as this only serve to perpetuate ridiculous rumors of an extensive trail system in northern Delaware, which was supposedly built by an IMBA Trail Crew and a shadowy group known as the Trailspinners (or possibly chainsaw and shovel-wielding elves, depending on who you ask). The last thing we need here in the land of big banks and old DuPont money are bunch of fancy-bike-riding out-of-towner’s clogging our busy roadways looking in vain for imaginary log rides. Delaware is nothing but a toll booth on the way to somewhere better, so please go back to paying no attention to the First State whatsoever - there’s nothing to see here, kindly move along.

Sincerely, Ken Cox
Middle Run, DE

As you can see by the spartan decor, there have been issues with my site. I had been putting off upgrading the installation of WordPress that I use to manage the site, and got burned when a hacker used a well-known (but subsequently patched) WP exploit to plaster my site with link spam. After briefly hanging my head in shame, I rolled up my sleeves and undid the damage, which was mostly in the form of code added to the site’s footer template. I also upgraded to the latest WordPress release, but there I ran into another problem. It seems my old site theme has some issues with the new-fangled WordPress engine, so I’ve got the plain-jane default theme running so that the site is at least accessible. UPDATE: I got my old theme installed back in again, but I just noticed that my image gallery is broken. Cover me, I’m going in.
UPDATE2: Ok, the gallery is back up. I had to update it as well to mesh with WP 2.6. The site should be fully-functional now.

<kencox design> is moving! As the crow flies, it’s less than a mile from our old ’stuffed to the gills’ townhouse to our new splendid accommodations, but the logistics are disproportionately complex. I’ll probably be down for a few days until FIOS gets installed and the home office gets re-assembled, but I should be able to handle any site updates and time-sensitive requests using my mobile command unit (aka MacBook Pro).

The move itself is progressing slowly but inevitably toward this townhouse being empty. I’ve got cardboard boxes of every shape and size filled with many things I didn’t even know I had. I swear I’ve thrown out at least a house-worth of stuff already, and there always seems to be more hiding in the dark unexplored corners of closets. For instance, last night I turned up a cache of vintage computer hardware while tunneling through the office closet. By vintage, I mean a PowerBook 100 laptop, complete with external floppy drive (circa 1991), and also a whole box of scsi peripherals including a 250MB hard drive, a couple of zip drives, and three 56K modems! I tend to hold on to things like that way too long, but the modems were still a bit of a surprise.

A friend of mine had found that PowerBook 100 in a dumpster and gave it to me back in the late 90’s. I actually got it to boot for a while (off its 20MB hard drive) and used Lynx and an old modem to surf the internet “old-school.” I also got it to run Spectre Supreme and networked it via old phone-net cables to another Mac for some retro tank battling fun. I still think it was cool to have a working computer that’s over 17 years old, but alas, it was time to say goodbye.

I also retired my old PowerBook 1400, which I used before I got my Pismo Powerbook (which Zoe is still “using”, and aside from one missing key, has yet to destroy). There’s also a PowerMac 7600 which is going to the recyclers. That box was upgraded so much, it barely has any original parts left in it. Its final incarnation sported a G3/400Mhz processor, and a fast server-quality SCSI drive. All that extra umph required some more cooling, so I drilled a bunch of vent holes in the case and sawed a big hole in the top for an auxiliary fan. To keep things from falling into the fan blades, I added a plastic shroud which had more than a passing resemblance to a hood scoop.

In the new house, <kencox design> will have a snazzy 1st floor office, complete with new workstation furniture from Biomorph. Photos soon!

Ever since Middle Run received a bunch of shiny new signposts, I’ve been mulling how to include the trail names in the map without adding any additional clutter. The solution ended up requiring a pretty complete overhaul of the map’s graphics, so please allow me introduce The Unofficial WCC & Middle Run Trail Map Version 2.0.

To address the trail names, I’ve given each trail a 1 or 2 letter code, such as “PC”, which is much easier to fit on the map than “Possum Hollow Connector”. I’m also differentiating between looping, non-looping and cutoff trails by the shape of the box the code is in. With new trail construction now slowing, I did away with some things such as showing closed trails. I’ve added arrow heads to show where trails start & end, and bolded up the trails which loop to make them stand out.

I also cleaned up the display of expert trails, which I still consider: any trail which requires advanced skills to ride, for which there is no “chicken-out”, and for which rider error would have serious consequences. Included in that are the sections of the Chestnut Hill and Possum Hollow trails which have drop-offs on the side of the trail. This is mainly so that beginner riders don’t get caught by surprise on these sections. When in doubt, please walk it!

I spoke briefly about the map to a member of the park staff, and one of his comments took me a bit by surprise. He said my map showed “too much” and that I wasn’t leaving anything to explore. I can agree with him in that it’s really nice to turn the bend in a trail and find an unexpected new stunt, or sweet new section of trail, but I still believe that with 30+ miles of twisting trails, a good comprehensive map is an absolute necessity. As a compromise, I’m not including comments in the PDF this time. I’ve added one major new stunt to the map, and there’s a nice new section of re-routed trail too, but I’ll leave it up to you to find them