Albert's travel blog - a rider's view

Soon after I bought my first "real" camera 11 years ago, I read somewhere that I could take photos of the Milky Way. My early attempts were sad, smeary blurs. But I soon acquired the technique, experience, and gear to take "astro landscapes" of the Milky Way so long as conditions cooperated. While I brought the right equipment photograph the Milky Way in Sardinia, I have been foiled in turns by the weather, a full moon in the middle of the night, light pollution and a brief stomach bug. But after being here for nearly a month, all the necessary elements came together to enable me to capture the image below above Spiaggia di Tuerredda. After nearly a month - a proper Milky Way shot in Sardinia But I'm beginning with the conclusion to the story. The journey made this satisfying, and it began well before I even arrived. It really started when that sneaky enemy, hubris, and I became fast friends earlier this year we'll before I boarded my flight to Italy. My fir...

It's been twenty seven years since my last new road bike, so I bought myself a new road one for my birthday. When I worked in tech, products, technology and business models changed on a seemingly monthly basis. Road bike evolution happens much more slowly. But it does evolve.  I'll let the photos do the talking instead of writing many paragraphs of bike-nerd prose.  

Although the centerpiece of my trip to Sardinia was to ride my bike and take photographs while on bike rides, my research consisted of understanding that the Giro d'Italia had passed through Sardinia, so the cycling must be decent. I didn't have a clue regarding the quality of the roads, whether the hills were long or short, or even where should I get lunch on a longer ride. To add to my ignorance, I was pretty unfamiliar with the new-to-me computational aids I had, including my Wahoo bike computer and the RideWithGPS app. And of course, I didn't know what I didn't know. As I set off, I quickly realized that my bike computer - purchased back in Massachusetts at  Belmont Wheelworks  - was NOT loaded with maps from Italy. But the app on my phone had maps that I could see, and instructions seemed specific enough, including directives such as "turn left in 600 feet." This was not enough. I went off course quite a few times in the first couple miles and the Wahoo...