Welles & Ratboys Concert @ Dillon Amp ~ Great Show On A Nice Night 15Aug26

The bands were fabulous on a clear and beautiful evening in Summit. I started well as I was 5th in the queue to enter and met some fine folks while we waited. Very oddly though, once in early after grabbing a center seat in front of the sound man as typical, an older woman came and blasphemously berated me for a couple of minutes ~ she was tired of white guys seemingly. I looked to her team of a half doz who shook heads and shrugged. I moved away back a row and it didn't reoccur. 

The Ratboys appeared on time to open the show. They're an indie rock band from Chicago whom I've followed for a while. Plenty of touring live content from radio studios. They are fronted by Julia Steiner on lead vocals and flying V rhythm, with searing playing at lead from her partner, Dave Sagan. I bought tix to this show mainly to see the Ratboys. The entire band is rock solid and their set was excellent. They played a lot from the latest album, their 6th, 'Singing To An Empty Chair' ~ I especially wanted to hear their recent protest song "Burn It Down" and they played it, with some regular encouragement from me. I'm really glad I came out again to the Dillon Amp ~ sound and performance were great.

Jesse Welles was not known well to me but now I am a fan. The Ozark kid opened solo on acoustic and vocals with 5 great songs. Dylan/Prine-like social observations and protests... his voice is fine but his songwriting is next level. Then the entire Welles band came out and he continued the vein on rock & roll electric arrangements. It was very good.

I made some friends in the crowd... great show with new friends.

Nest Net Update ~ WiFi, Xfinity, And Cat5e 13Aug26

This is really an UPDATE to lame network performance musings HERE... While I was getting almost 1Gbps patched directly into the router, my WiFi experience in some parts of the Nest was not consistent. It seems time-of-day and day-of-week dependent. We know both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands are crowded, which slows down WiFi when the bands are "congested." Still, I don't know yet if it's that or Xfinity itself is congested and slowing, or even throttling me... they do have this problem and this capability. I do not use their gear and they do not control my WiFi, as they do some. I need to find a free scheme to regularly test on the wired and wireless sides to see who is slowing whom. That's not say I'm not much faster, I am. Just inconsistent on WiFi. Remote areas of the Nest now get >300Mbps and decent pings on 5GHz band and the macStudio is strong on WiFi 5GHz but varies with time ~ here's 6pm, 8pm, and 11pm. I plan to do even better.

Cat5e Wired Ethernet Build @ The Nest... So my first move was to terminate the existing Cat 6 cabling with Cat5e/RJ45 jacks and plugs to at least get wired Ethernet into the Nest study and to my macStudio. I don't know why it wasn't done prior here but at least the low voltage wiring was in place. It was painful and laborious to terminate some of the rooms' runs in jacks and add plugs to the like lines in the storage/wiring closet (if one can even call it a wiring closet). I'm gonna need to clean all that up someday but right now I want function. I have rug burns on knees and elbows, and sore hands, but it was worth it.

Network Termination Tools... I asked Kala to assemble the gear & tools and plugs & jacks into a kit that Bob could tote up aboard the BMW adventure bike (as he was inbound for Sierra Ferrell). I needed an impact punch down tool, a ratcheting plug clamper, a bunch of Cat5e jacks & plugs, and a network tester.

Terminations & Test... Since I was a once a product guy at FNET, I was thankfully presented a prototype of the NetTool, which I still use. I really only was using the wiremap function today... I placed a special dongle in the jacks I punched down, went to the "wiring closet" and inserted my new plug termination into the NetTool and it tested the wires for continuity and arrangement. Sometimes I got it right, many times I did not and had to redo (see the handful of spent RJ45 plugs).

Ethernet In The Study... This is the part where we say "it was worth it." I celebrated completion with Vail's Blur.

Blog updates are so much faster now. I just wished it'd help me hike faster and jump further.

Update 16Aug26 ~ Bump WiFi & 2.5Gb Switch... I took a look at WiFi results mid-day in remote areas of the Nest. I didn't isolate WiFi but I did do measurements and changes at the same time. I sense there's a mix of my router's hardware performance, WiFi congestion, and Xfinity variability at play and I want to sort it out. Positioned remote from the WiFi access point (AP) I ran a test with mediocre results.

I did a little WiFi dive and noticed everyone in the area is on channel 153 in 5GHz band (pretty sensible right in the middle). Still, I bumped my AP to run in 161 and ran another test with ~2X the bandwidth without loss of latency. Good update.

I also received a future-proofed 2.5Gb 5 port Ethernet switch I ordered and installed in the "wiring closet." This will give me high performance wired switched access in several rooms of the Nest. Of course I tested in the study again from the macStudio... good to the Internet but only to 100Mbps, though latency is improved, as expected. The run from garage wiring closet can't deliver above 100Mbps?! The link from the router to switch auto-negotiates to 1000BaseT (all the router can do) and delivers 1Gbps when I test directly connected to it. I forced the study link to be 2.5Gbps to the switch. But after the study run and it's patch cord (changed out - not an issue) all I get is 100Mbps. I am not splitting hairs here ~ while it is kindof a long run ~60ft, it should work at 1Gb. I guess I have to yet again review punch-downs and terminations. I expect if I ever add a server here in Summit, performance between local clients and that server needs to be 2.5Gbps. Hmmm... right now WiFi is appreciably better.

While there is still work to do I am much better off. Though, I will surely return the new NightHawk RS700S WiFi 7 router/AP as it's been discovered to have a backdoor from the NSA. Sheesh.

Sierra Ferrell Concert @ Dillon Amp ~ Stellar Despite The Rain 11Aug26

Steve, Bob, and I headed to Dillon Amp to queue early for the Sierra Ferrell concert; we wanted position A seats in front of the sound man. 90 min before doors maybe part of the price for GA these days but it's tougher in the rain. Nonetheless, we were 6th in line and nearly assured of great spots for this sold out show.

The VIP doors opened at 5pm and we entered @ 5:30, but our ticket was 1/3 the price of VIP... NP. We got the spot we wanted just in front of the sound man 10 rows above the mosh pit. We mostly prepared for rain and howdy did we get it. Bro Brown had to dispatch to buy a poncho though. We grabbed nosh & brews and settled in for the show.

Aurelia Anne Cohen... First up was Aurelia, a self-taught country and Irish singer/songwriter. She was good/interesting with Irish-derived tunes, despite the country gal outfit. Cool resonator & accordion artist. Not much rain yet, but it was threatening.

Brudi Brothers... Next to stage were the primary current touring partners with Sierra, the Brudi Bros. These guys were fine harmonizers, good instrumentalists, and a fun primarily country/Americana band from Seattle... far from grunge. As their set finished the rains came and rarely let up ~ Steve had to buy a poncho but Bob and I donned my raincoats.

Sierra Ferrell... We came to see Sierra and her band, and everyone else did too... it was SRO the rest of the concert. The crowd was filled with women in unusual garb, and flowers abounded. As always we expected a unique outfit from Sierra and she didn't disappoint in pretty white dress with feathers and sequins, with 6" white heels. The show and Dillon Amp sound was stellar start to finish ~ studio album hits had added transition and sections for the concert that were cool. She played stuff from across her repertoire including recent Grammy offers. For one she was joined for 4 part harmonies by the Brudi Bros. The band, as ever, played tight, and the lead & mandolin dealt nice callback and harmonies many times. Sierra herself was, also as always, a great showman and bandleader, with great songs and a powerful voice (for dB and for good in the world).

 

Great show enjoyed with great friends. Thanks for coming out in the inclement climes.

Brewery Bikery 2026 ~ Drinking & Riding Annual Was Fun With Some Noobs 08Aug26

Steve rolled down from Eagles Nest; Jim and I headed down in the Crusher; Dave drove the Subie; Kize with Kyle & Evan straggled in in the Jeep. We convened at Angry James @ 10am, and would finish back there tonight. A few technical eBike issues thwarted the start but we finally got every thing started well at the top of the serpentine on the dam. The Brewery Bikery is a mostly annual ride to every brewery in Summit Co with a pint or so enjoyed at each one. This years run was an "out & back" as Swan Mtn is closed. The core plan was a 1st ~20mi leg to the far end of Breck, to Breckenridge Brewing when they open at 11am, and then to trundle back the same way hitting each brewery as we passed by. It worked and the weather held but for an increasing headwind from Breck to Highside. 

We were somewhat challenged up the serpentine path to the top of the dam but ultimately convened and bounced Yo's bike to 'fix' it and put more air in Kyle's tires. We rode pretty quickly through Frisco and on to Breck, with a few stops for water or Gatorade.

We enjoyed Breck, and folks were noticing our efforts and team jerseys, but soon headed down to Broken Compass, excellent brewery on the other side of Breck. We were joined by Kelly, Scott's friend, who'd done her own enduro ride before joining us. Soon enough we left for Highside in Frisco, unfortunately with a headwind... easier with eBikes, less so for the regular troops... I broke wind for a bit for Bro Brown.

With a bit a delayed start, and some lollygagging, we lost our main stud Sheldon at Highside. He headed back to Denver for a visit with his kid there at 4pm. Thanks for coming out buddy. After a beer and some nosh at Highside, accompanied by tunes from a troubadour (again with shout outs), we headed to ORB for some IPAs, if you know how to order here. I think Scott is providing a running total. Again a band to boot, and a visit from Evan's friends Cole & Tiara, who were cool, and had just done Chihuahua Lk. Evan and Cole were brothers in guns... I see why Evan didn't wanna wear the long sleeve event shirt... "sun's out; guns out." Good repping us PA natives. Thanks for meeting up with us, youngsters.

We headed next across the dam to our Steep stop at the Tiki Bar on the lake. It was packed as there was a concert at the amp and we got caught in the crosswind. We ultimately scored some brews and I was able to get an update from the Dillon Marina GM ~ they are not too impacted by the low lake levels as the other marina is shuddered and Dillon is a deepwater spot. Good for them but still glad I flipped Mon Ami. Tiki only had pints so Evan got screwed on his credit card... heh heh. We rolled easily down to Dillon Dam Brewery for another pop.

Scott's (and Evan's) still counting but he and his tribe left us for a ride back to Keystone... whatever will we do now without the finger show. Thanks for coming out my friend, and brining the noobs. The core team made it to Syndicate and then back at AJ's for some good beers and ultimately very good enchiladas in green at the Old Dillon Inn. Too, we had to guarantee Brown a ride up the hill to get him to stay for dinner. NP, we engineered a solution atop the Crusher for the "slow" ride up Wildernest.

BB26 was another excellent version of drinking and biking with friends at altitude. Thanks all being game for another year.