Bicycle7's Journal

[Bicycle7]

June update:
The past month has felt like I’m inching closer to the balance I’m trying to strike between structured work with others versus myself and between progress with more physical skills versus writing and art projects.

Projects:
I’ve been volunteering to help fix bikes (a couple events I was paid a stipend for which was great as well) and along with that completing several repairs on my bike and my partner’s. I’m starting to feel the progress associated with being somewhere in the middle of the S-curve with bike mechanics. What this feels like for me is something approaching a flow state. I feel calm and in control, I can pull from past experiences to what I’m working on in the moment, I feel like I can self-direct, I don’t rely as heavily on strict scripts like youtube DIY videos. The confidence and rate of progress I’m perceiving is feeling empowering. Bike mechanics I think can be encouraging in regards to learning fixing skills as it has been noted that one can see all the moving parts on a bicycle and their respective functions are self-evident. At the beginning you’re mostly just cleaning and adjusting/replacing parts. This makes for perhaps a less painful S-Curve.

Contrast this to the timber framing project that I’m working on with someone else and this is certainly a case where I feel past my level. It’s mostly the other person making joinery cuts and me helping make measurements (holding the tape measure) and stuff. I’m sort of able to justify/conceptualize what they are doing, but not being able to explain it in my own words or not to mention come to the conclusions on my own. I keep thinking about the difference in degrees of freedom between woodworking and mechanics, or maybe the woodworking project requires being executed at a higher CCCCC stage. It’s easy to copy a youtube video on how to adjust a rear derailleur and mess with it long enough to get a decent adjustment whereas with timber framing and joinery it seems like there are too many variables to be able to follow an exact tutorial, there needs to be an ability to at least compare/compile different ideas or ways people have addressed the problem/project.

Although I’m being paid to help with the woodworking, it would mostly feel aligned with my goals even without the pay. I'm learning skills I’m interested in and I’m enjoying connecting with the person I’m working with.

I’d like to be writing more, particularly pieces that I share with others. I’m exploring ways to build this into my life more effectively.

Plotkin:
I went backpacking this past month by myself (I spoke briefly about it in the ecology MMG thread) and spent a few different days with an extended period of time wandering along park trails in town alone with just a notebook.

I keep on stumbling upon books at the Little Free Library near my house that are by authors Plotkin quotes at length in his books. I really enjoyed Good, Wild, Sacred by Gary Snyder and am currently working through What are People For? by Wendell Berry and Iron John by Robert Bly. My suspicion is that the same person is dropping these books off.

I went to the first Plotkin MMG meeting a week or so ago. This was the first time I spoke over zoom with ERE folks and it felt kind of surreal. It was really cool to have a conversation with people about ideas and topics that have always been confined to text on the forums. I’m looking forward to connecting more with ERE people and feel more motivated to engage on the forums (especially in light of the conversations around darknetting).

I’ve been getting back into the rhythm of going to a Buddhist temple Sunday mornings and that feels supportive of my general practice as well.

[Bicycle7]

Update:

Earlier this month, my partner and I went to ERE Fest and along the way went backpacking in the Sierras for 3 nights. This was my first time backpacking there, immediately I noticed the sheer scale of the landscape- 12-13000 foot peaks and water everywhere in large quantities- glaciers, lakes, streams. Almost all of my backpacking has been in the Cascade and Klamath Mountains. The mountains and lakes are on a smaller scale in these places, spectacular nonetheless. I noticed too just how harsh the environment in the South Sierras seemed, it doesn't seem like it supports the variety of life I've noticed elsewhere. I've explored some of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument (CSNM) which is especially known for its biodiversity. The CSNM is a great example of the edge effect, the Cascade and Siskiyou mountain ranges converging to support high biodiversity.

I posted a bit in the ERE Fest thread about my experience at Fest. To say again, the experience was great. It felt wonderful to connect with such interesting people, many of whom have similar personality types.

Work:

I started coaching middle school cross country for a 5 week period this fall. I'm generally enjoying it, I'm learning a lot and get freedom as to how we spend practice, I'm the only coach. It feels nice to have a positive savings rate for the first time since February.

I'm feeling lost as to what I want to be spending time doing after this and plan to explore this more in my journal in the next couple months. I feel like sharing my ideas on the forum will help me in part get unstuck that other outlets like paper journaling and meditation/contemplation aren't.

[Bicycle7]

Note the majority who occupies the middle will be able to do both. But they won't be able to do either as well as those who occupy the two extremes. Perhaps a better way to appreciate it is to see thinking and feeling as muscles (complete with a neurochemical mapping). Not everybody has equal development of these muscles. I think of these two muscles as the right arm and the left arm. Not the legs and the arms. Someone who has normal development in both arms can do some bridging. Someone who is super-strong either arm can comprehend things (see the world) in ways that most others miss, but on the other hand also easily miss things that most people consider obvious.

Add: I should also add that the ERE book is very much a Thinker-type book in its solutions. I am aware that it/I have paid scant attention to how someone might feel about the ERE-systems, especially when it comes to how "other people" might feel about one's systems (Fe). I suspect this is why we've have those unresolved threads over the years about aesthetics, selling, marketing, spousal/family-issues, etc. These were all issues that I personally didn't (and don't) feel (ha!) were all that important [to me]. I have therefore not thought/pondered them a lot. So it's good that someone (J+G) is doing this.
Add2: How I feel internally (Fi) is important, but this is also something I've left between the lines since part of my negating Fe is to considered Fi rather personal. IOW, I've left it to people to find their own motivations. Suffice to say, doing the right thing ecologically is very important to me. How I feel about e.g. generating waste is informed by what I know/think are the consequences of such waste. As such this also suggests that I don't think thoughts come from emotions as if it was a one-way street. I think they connect back and forth.

This discussion has been spurring some thoughts for me that I thought I'd post to my journal as it's a personally-related tangent.

As an iNfj, I find myself sometimes really caring what others think and in tune with other's emotions and sometimes not at all. I don't show a big preference between F and T (For instance, I'm a 5 in the enneagram). I care sometimes how my ERE system looks to others. At least the people I'm around mostly view my lifestyle choices positively or neutrally. The people I'm around see riding a bike everywhere, composting and reusing/DIY'ing as at least ok. Kind of like how Jacob has mentioned the fact that ERE simply does things "better" than what is considered acceptable by people/institutions on several levels. For instance a 75% savings rate instead of a 15% savings rate.

However, it also affects me to some amount say the SJ who I perceive judging my amount of service to the community when I work little. Or interacting with people that see my lifestyle choices as negative- these interactions I try to avoid.

Indeed, I think I have a better grasp on what others are feeling than myself. For me, having a good time is making sure others around me are happy, feel safe, etc. The side of me that is introverted and thinking loathes "group circles" and "check-ins". In fact, I think I'm the most boring person ever when it comes to sharing during a check-in.

When it comes to a group process like council or ZEGG Forum though, I can feel in my body empathy when people share their feelings/thoughts from their heart/mind. This feels rewarding to me, I also only have a limited amount of energy for it. Quickly, I want to retreat and go take in new perspectives by myself by reading a book or walk alone in nature.

[mountainFrugal]

How is the cross country coaching going?

[Bicycle7]

@MF:

The cross country (xc) season ended last week, overall I really enjoyed it! Some aspects of the job made it appealing from an ERE perspective, although the pay stipend was small, it came out to more than I've ever made per hour at a job and the school I worked at was half a mile away. It also fit into my WOG nicely of slowly getting back into running, rehabbing leg injuries and getting into better physical shape as I could join them for as much of the running and workouts as I liked.

I got to learn what work-outs and runs worked for middle school aged students and what didn't. Also what worked communication wise. I wanted to focus a lot on body weight strength training, but the students were a lot less into that. I struggled to differentiate training for all 20 runners being the only coach.

The last day of practice, a lot of the students wanted to know if I would coach track in the spring (probably won't) and shared how much they appreciated me coaching. All of this felt good to hear!

In the right work situation and when my running picks up more in the future, I could see coaching xc again.

[Bicycle7]

November Update

Intentional Community and ERE2

I've been giving a lot of thought lately about MBTI, intentional community and ERE2. Someone who I live with is from my perspective at WL6, so I see connecting with them and working on projects together as this small manifestation of ERE2 (even if I don't consider myself at WL6 or the fact that they aren't a forumite).

It's great because there are multiple ways we are sharing resources and teaching skills. There are small things like them reaching out to their friend to have us borrow a bear canister for a one-off backpacking trip in the Sierras instead of buying one. Or bigger things like working together on woodworking, beekeeping and gardening projects in a way that benefits us both- I'm learning a lot, making some money from some of the projects, connecting with people in the wider community doing that work and helping maintain the food systems/infrastructure where I currently live.

Maybe at its best intentional communities can be this place for higher WL people to connect quickly, build trust and do cool stuff together. I see as the challenge (and opportunity?) the fact that the vast majority of people I've lived with in community are maybe on average barely a wheaton level higher than the US average. Also, maybe this is specifically an ERE2 design for the Fe users and NFs/SJs that are most attracted to intentional community in the first place.

Projects

I replaced a bottom bracket (bb) for the first time on my partner's bike. She has a low-end commuter bike that came with a cup and cone bearing/sealed cartridge hybrid bb. I replaced it with a fully sealed cartridge bearing bb and it's pedaling much smoother now. After messing with cup and cone bearings a lot this summer on the wheels of our bikes, I can really appreciate the simplicity of sealed cartridge bearings, no need to adjust anything!

On my bike, I replaced a snapped spoke. I installed the new spoke and tightened it up until the wheel was more or less true. Feeling around the spokes, I'm wondering if the wheel isn't quite tensioned correctly, but the wheel is true enough to not rub on the rim brakes. Sheldon Brown said that best is the enemy of good when it comes to wheel truing, in that unless you are skilled at wheel building, you might throw off the wheel more by trying to get it perfect than by going for "good enough". I'll be interested to see how the wheel holds up after replacing the spoke and see if I need to make any minor adjustments to the tensioning.

I think we have finally eliminated the lice that our hens have been suffering from. After about 5 months of trying different treatments: some essential oil/garlic concoction we made and lots of diatomaceous earth, we tried a bacteria treatment that seems to have eliminated the lice in just one treatment! I hope the lice are gone for good!

[Bicycle7]

December Update:

Art

I've been trying to get in as many reps as I can lately with collaging and sketching. Collaging for me lives and dies by the inspiration of the images that I have on hand. Currently, I'm getting magazines from little free libraries in the neighborhood and from roommates. My partner and I might plan a collage night with some friends where people could share images.

After a few try's, I found an art lesson book at the library that I'm enjoying the lessons in. It's called: "You Can Draw in 30 Days" by Mark Kistler. The book really simplifies a lot of the principles of perception with drawing. I don't know enough/am not good enough at drawing yet to have an impression of how good of an approach this is to learning how to draw. I do know that I'm enjoying it which is motivating me to get more reps in and I'm not getting bogged down in a bunch of geometric perspective principles and ideas. I figure if nailing down an understanding on this stuff is important later, I can come back and learn it.

MBTI

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to MBTI. I find that it has been a fruitful framework for connections and going deeper and deeper down a rabbit-hole. In respect to web of goals, I'm using MBTI as a way to answer the question of what I'm talented at and passionate about. It doesn't answer necessarily the question of what is useful.

I've been considering spiritual growth too. Is growth from the lens of MBTI all about incorporating the lower conscious functions, like I interpret this quote from Carl Jung to mean on his portrait of the INFJ/INTJ:

"The moral problem comes into being when the intuitive tries to relate himself to his vision, when he is no longer satisfied with mere perception and its æsthetic shaping and estimation, but confronts the question: What does this mean for me and for the world? What emerges from this vision in the way of a duty or task, either for me or for the world?" - Carl Jung

From a function perspective, I translate the quote as converting visions (Ni) into action (Fe/Te and Se). I also relate this quote to Plotkin's descent to soul, in my own words, the descent looking like: recovering images of one's identity to go forward with delivering one's gifts to others.

Or is growth about incorporating the unconscious functions? I've read prescriptions of the INFJ's path to growth being towards the ENFP (the INFJ shadow type). Essentially the INFJ getting in touch with the possibilities around them (Ne) and how they feel (Fi).

Nature

This week, I found out that the bee colony at my house disappeared. They aren't dead in the bee boxes, rather they all left and went somewhere else, likely to die. I didn't realize how attached I felt to them until I found out they were all gone. No more bees swirling around the bee boxes. For me, it brought up a strong feeling of the pattern of abandonment in my life. I leaned into feeling these emotions, working through several layers of emotions to the abandonment I was feeling.

[delay]

Thanks for your journal update!

When I googled how bees survive the winter, I came across:

In winter, unlike other insects, honeybees don't go dormant. Instead, they stay awake all winter inside the hive, clustered together in a ball, eating honey, and shivering their flight muscles to generate heat. This is the job of the 'winter bees' - a special caste of bees, born in the fall, and responsible for keeping the colony alive until spring.

Interesting...

[Bicycle7]

Thanks delay, I'd never heard of winter bees! There's so many fascinating things to learn about bees and beekeeping.

[Bicycle7]

January Update:

Reading

I read in December, Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows and now I'm making my way through Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan. Both of these books I'm making connections with discussions on the forums. The Spiral Dynamics book is proving so applicable to my life right now and filled with wisdom that I want to just restart the book from page one when I finish it! We'll see if that happens.

The OG ERE book as compared to Thinking in Systems feels like a home/personal economic applied version of systems theory.

Donella Meadows talks about leverage points in changing systems. The strongest leverage points being changing the paradigm- the unspoken beliefs that people live by in a society. And the other leverage point being paradigm awareness or construct awareness. ERE is the rejection of the consumer-specialization paradigm, replacing that with post-consumer praxis. I also think that all of the spiral and personality talk is a way of gaining awareness of the water we are swimming in (context aware).

Project Sourdough

DW and I made a sourdough starter and have been loving the pancakes! We haven't tried making bread or anything else yet. I've been surprised how fun, easy and flexible making a sourdough starter is.

[jacob]

Reading

I read in December, Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows and now I'm making my way through Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan. Both of these books I'm making connections with discussions on the forums. The Spiral Dynamics book is proving so applicable to my life right now and filled with wisdom that I want to just restart the book from page one when I finish it! We'll see if that happens.

The OG ERE book as compared to Thinking in Systems feels like a home/personal economic applied version of systems theory.

Donella Meadows talks about leverage points in changing systems. The strongest leverage points being changing the paradigm- the unspoken beliefs that people live by in a society. And the other leverage point being paradigm awareness or construct awareness. ERE is the rejection of the consumer-specialization paradigm, replacing that with post-consumer praxis. I also think that all of the spiral and personality talk is a way of gaining awareness of the water we are swimming in (context aware).

Yup!

For more context, add https://www.amazon.com/Ego-Development- ... 0875892752 or http://onesystemonevoice.com/resources/ ... 5B1$5D.pdf ... also Stoa2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MGQgQZHx1Q

[Gadget]

Hi Bicycle7,
I also recently finished Thinking in Systems and found it to be a great introduction to the topic, digestible by "creative types" like me. It has helped me to begin to decode some of the conversations here, many of which are currently above my understanding. Thanks for the reminder, I think I'll reread it as a refresher to start the year. I look forward to following your Journal as we appear to share many interests.

[grundomatic]

I also enjoyed Thinking in Systems and Spiral Dynamics. I'd be interested in discussing SD with you, whether on a call with you or here in your journal.

[Bicycle7]

@jacob: Thanks for the recommendations!

@Gadget: Thinking in Systems sure is helpful context for understanding some of the conversations here! I took a class in college where we messed around with environmental computer models (in STELLA) and I was introduced a tiny bit to systems theory. I'm also pretty sure something written by Donella Meadows was assigned as reading at some point in that class. That class and an ecological economics course, where the benefits/possibility of continuous economic growth was questioned, helped prime me for ERE a year later.

@grundomatic: I'd love to talk Spiral with you on my journal and over call!

Spiral and Change

There's the equation of change talked about here: Dissatisfaction x Vision x Plan = Activation energy for change

In the Spiral book, the authors list 6 necessary conditions for change along the Spiral (changing values from one vmeme to another):

1. Potential in the mind/brain
2. Solutions to current problems
3. Dissonance and uncertainty
4. Insight and Alternatives
5. Barriers identified and resolved
6. Consolidation and support

So perhaps, #3 correlates with dissatisfaction

#1 and #4 correlate with vision

#2, #5, and #6 correlate with plan

I've been relating this in my own life to how DW and I are planning to embark on a more nomadic phase of our life this year. How can I be flexible to differing life conditions and respect/hold multiple value sets (or vmemes)?

I've been enjoying trying (and probably mostly failing) to ground in reality and practice MBTI and Spiral Dynamics. On a broad level, this has been compartmentalizing behavior, actions, thoughts and ideas into different cognitive functions and Spiral colors. If anything, it makes for some good laughs and jokes with myself and others!

[Bicycle7]

February Update:

My partner and I are planning to move out of our current place sometime early this spring to go travel. Moving and preparing for this next phase is largely where my mind has been at the past few months.

Ice Cream Truck!

I've been looking for a bike the last few months, the biggest impetus being my hope to go bikepacking with AxelHeyst and whomever else this spring (viewtopic.php?t=13011). I found on Craigslist last week a Surly Ice Cream Truck with a custom build towards bikepacking! The seller even threw in various extra parts including a frame bag and rear rack I'll use for the trip (and a 2nd pair of tires, etc.). I've been enjoying riding it around a bunch the last few days. With 2.8 inch tires you can kind of just ride through or over anything!

I was pretty shocked and appreciative of the generosity of the seller. After going on a test ride with him, he asked how much I wanted to pay for the bike, I replied, "the whole asking price, $950". Which was already a good deal. He replied that "you can't pay full asking price for a bike" and that he insisted on giving it to me for $900. He shared that "cycling has always been something fun for him" and that "he wanted to share that fun with others".

It's an example for me of a move towards a more relatable and personal economy that I appreciate.

Spiral Dynamics and other reading:

I finished reading Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan. Grundomatic went ahead and catalyzed a group chat about Spiral Dynamics that I joined in on. I learned a lot from others and had some good laughs. It's a reminder for me how great this community is!

I'm currently reading Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford. I'm appreciating the book's argument for becoming good at fixing and building things for in part frugality and more widely a way of life. A way of life where one understands how their stuff works and where a work ethic combining doing and thinking solves problems.

[AxelHeyst]

Ooooo nice!! I think you mean 4.8" tires? You're making me want to seriously consider going fat myself before our ride... although it would be really educational to have the ICT and LHT literally side by side on the same route to get a sense for the tradeoffs.

I love hearing about interactions like what you had with the owner. I know it happens but I've yet to have a bad experience with a private seller of a bike. They've always been above and beyond.

[Bicycle7]

Ooooo nice!! I think you mean 4.8" tires? You're making me want to seriously consider going fat myself before our ride... although it would be really educational to have the ICT and LHT literally side by side on the same route to get a sense for the tradeoffs.

The bike has 27.5" diameter 40 mm wide rim wheels (apparently stock on the Karate Monkey) with 2.8" tubeless tires (and he threw in a pair of 3.8" tires he swears you can run on the 40 mm rims).

Yeah, I was thinking it'd be fun to compare the ICT and LHT as well. Now that all my gear is (mostly) sorted out for the ride, it feels more real!

Now, I'm interested in route planning and learning as much as I can about repairing my bicycle, so I can fix stuff along the way.

[AxelHeyst]

Oh I see, I was just looking at the off the shelf specs. Right on, even more versatile. 2.8" shouldn't be bad at all on pavement, and with the option to go up to 3.8 on those rims plus frame ability to handle even fatter tire/rim combos, that's a great platform. I'm psyched to see it irl.

[jacob]

So top speed on such tires is like 7mph?

[theanimal]

On 4.5" tires I've gotten up to 13 mph at a sprint on concrete. The record holders on the nearby 100 mile winter race in the mountains are at a little over 8 hours, so roughly 12-13 mph constant pace. That's on snow, so a bit slower than it would be on a gravel road, but still, 6-8 mph as average pace is probably a realistic range.