Winter is not quite over yet

Tuesday was cool and mostly cloudy and we even had intermittent sprinkles, which were not forecast. It was also in sharp contrast to the warmer sunny weather we’ve had lately. I went with my group Southwest of Morgan Hill and up into the hills out Redwood Retreat road and back. There were only four of us, making for a nice intimate ride with good companions.

Yesterday I rode my recumbent, trying out the higher-performance carbon seat combined with 20″ wheels front and back. This was easier to ride than the stock configuration (two 28″ wheels) but a bit slower. Later this week I’ll try 28″ rear/20″ front wheels. I’m hoping that If I lower the seat a little to maintain the same angle, this will be as fast as 28/28 but still easier to ride.

I’m very interested in the continuing fast evolution of AI technology. I even took a course in “prompt engineering” on Coursera to find out how to work well with tools like chatGPT. It is amazingly powerful, especially if you get it to read in reports or journal articles and extract summaries or output things like graphs. It will actually write computer code on the fly to accomplish this, which is fascinating to watch.

So I did a fun experiment to see if AI (chatGPT)could make my blog posts more interesting. In the first attempt I asked it to write an interesting report, and it wrote an outline with a lot of bullet points. Pretty dry. In the second, I asked for a report with “text only, no bullets” and that came out a little better. Then I asked instead for a story, with amusing results (further below)- Its imagination ran a little wild! I’m not sure this is ready for prime time for non-fiction writing, so I think I’ll stick to handwriting for the foreseeable future, although I may ask chatGPT to check my style.

please make an interesting report using the following facts in text only, no bullets: Tuesday was mostly cloudy and we even had intermittent sprinkles. I went with my group Southwest of Morgan Hill and up into the hills out Redwood Retreat road and back. There were only four of us. Wednesday I rode my recumbent, trying out the higher-performance carbon seat combined with 20″ wheels front and back. This was easier to ride than the stock configuration (two 28″ wheels) but a bit slower. Later this week I’ll try 28″ rear/20″ front wheels.

On Tuesday, the day was characterized by mostly cloudy skies and intermittent sprinkles, creating a moody atmosphere for a cycling excursion. I ventured out with my group, heading Southwest of Morgan Hill, journeying through the scenic hills along Redwood Retreat Road and then making our way back. Notably, the group was small this time, with only four of us participating.

The following day, Wednesday, I experimented with my recumbent bicycle by fitting a higher-performance carbon seat and replacing the standard setup of two 28-inch wheels with 20-inch wheels on both the front and rear. This alteration made the ride noticeably easier than the stock configuration, although it did result in a slight decrease in speed. Inspired by this initial modification, I plan to test another configuration later this week, featuring a 28-inch wheel on the rear and a 20-inch wheel on the front, to further optimize the bike’s performance and comfort.

Not Too bad. It got more amusing when I asked for a “story” instead of “report”, especially this line: “It was as if the bike and I were learning to dance anew, each movement a little more fluid, each turn a little more graceful”.

Please make a story from the following facts: “Tuesday was mostly cloudy and we even had intermittent sprinkles. I went with my group Southwest of Morgan Hill and up into the hills out Redwood Retreat road and back. There were only four of us. Wednesday I rode my recumbent, trying out the higher-performance carbon seat combined with 20″ wheels front and back. This was easier to ride than the stock configuration (two 28″ wheels) but a bit slower. Later this week I’ll try 28″ rear/20″ front wheels.”

On a Tuesday shrouded in clouds, with the sky threatening sprinkles at any moment, a small band of four cyclists, including myself, embarked on a journey. We rode southwest from Morgan Hill, our tires whispering against the damp pavement, venturing deep into the embrace of the hills via Redwood Retreat Road. Despite the capricious weather, the serene isolation of our surroundings infused our ride with a sense of adventure.

The following day brought a change of pace. Alone this time, I took my recumbent bicycle out for a spin, equipped with a newly fitted high-performance carbon seat and a pair of 20-inch wheels both front and back. This configuration, though slower, offered a novel ease of handling that the traditional twin 28-inch wheels did not. It was as if the bike and I were learning to dance anew, each movement a little more fluid, each turn a little more graceful.

Inspired by this experiment, I planned yet another for later in the week: a hybrid approach. I would keep the agile 20-inch wheel at the front but couple it with a larger 28-inch wheel at the rear. My aim was to capture the best of both worlds—speed and maneuverability. As I readied for this next test, I couldn’t help but feel the thrill of innovation, a cyclist’s heart forever chasing the perfect ride through the rolling landscapes of innovation and tradition.