Tuesday 31 March

It's hard to believe that the year is a quarter over already! March has been a month of surprises for me--some good, some not as much.

The not as much usually involved weather, although there was a small matter at work that still has me aggravated.

There have been some good surprises as well, though. Again, some of those good surprises involved weather--I've enjoyed some pretty sunrises during my treks to work, and have had pleasant afternoon rides home in short sleeves (and a couple in short pants!). Decorative fruit trees are in bloom all around us, and it's been fun to see almost bare trees one day and realize that overnight it burst into bloom. It's almost as if a switch had been thrown--spring is indeed here.

I have lots to do in the coming months--both at work and with various bicycle organizations. I also want to ride a lot more.

But not tonight. There is a birthday celebration I must help make happen. Jenn's oldest daughter is a year older today. It should be fun!

Again, we do this!

It's another work week. Yee hah!

Actually, the weekend was pretty exciting. Talking about planning the day Saturday, Jenn told me she was ready to get a new bike. I had planned to go to the bike shop on Friday to pick up parts for David's wheel, on my way to a social event I wanted to attend in LaGrange. When I got to the house to get my truck (I had ridden to work, as you may recall), Jenn told me she wasn't in much of a socializing mood, things were going weird around the house, and so on, so I stayed home.

She went with me Saturday morning, and I built the wheel at the store instead of at home. While there, she test-rode the Bacchetta Giro 26 on the sales floor, as it was one of the target bikes for her next mount. We now have a sixth bike in our stable. Over the next week or so, we'll be rigging this bike to be her primary commuter (saving the Peugeot for rainy days), with fenders, rack(s), lights and what-not, as well as having it be her club-ride bike as she gains comfort and speed on it.

On the way home, we stopped at my folks' house for some much-needed family time, a bit to eat, and general enjoyment of good vibes.

I brought David's wheel home with me, so he could pick it up at the house instead of having to drive all the way to Crestwood (not that he hasn't been driving a lot of late already...).

Yesterday was to be a ride the bike day, but the weather was below "fun ride" minima. It's one thing to commute thirteen miles (or a couple miles while using the bus for the bulk of the distance, as Jenn can do) in rainy, windy conditions, but it's another entirely to ride for fun in such weather. Instead, we worked on the house a while. Jenn wants to have a dressing room in the basement, to make it easier for her to keep the bedroom looking as she wants it. I roughed in and connected some lights for one area of the space in question as the younger daughter started hanging the old doors that will be the room partition (her "bedroom"--by her choice when we took the house--is in the basement, and she had been given the choice of making the "walls" out of old doors. We finally made some headway on the project, and she was eager to participate in making it happen).

It was a rush-around project getting going this morning, and I was late enough that I drove to work. I have a work-related court appearance later today, so dressing at the house was not a bad thing.

The court thing won't be fun--eviction proceedings never are, regardless of the outcome. I feel bad for my tenant, but I've done all I could to stave off the inevitable.

Five days, four rides, and some random thoughts

For the fourth time in five days, I rode to work this morning. I've ridden the Vanguard to work three times this week, the Raleigh once, and driven once. While I'd prefer to not drive, riding four days a week beats heck out of driving four days a week.

I was talking to my mother about my teaching experience of last Sunday, and it occurred to me that I was teaching some folks who had years--decades, even--of cycling experience, yet who did not know some basic tenets of intersection safety that every road user should know. I was surprised a bit to think about how much there is to do if we as bicycle educators are to overcome these hurdles. However, part of it is the dearth of proper driving education in general and part of it is the lack of retraining or periodic testing of knowledge of road use law. There are probably other factors, as well.

Trying to do my part, I've thought about it a bit and have added an item or two to my personal checklist for teaching intersection safety and lane choice criteria.

If I can find a diagram somewhere, or figure out how to create one that I can link here, I'll come back and edit this to include it. I'll attempt to describe my primary beef, though: When turning left onto a one-way street, many folks want to almost go straight until they reach the rightmost lane of the destination street, THEN turn left. The proper way (taught in driver education programs, as well as bike ed classes) is to turn left into the lane corresponding with the lane where you were, i.e. if you were in the right of two left-turn lanes, you would be in the second lane from the left side of the new street. THEN you begin the process of scan/merge, scan/merge, etc. to reach the rightmost lane. This allows for folks who disobey the traffic control device to have room to pass you (un)safely, and gives other road users following you into and through the intersection time to respond to you more safely. It also give YOU time to deal with other road users and their actions more safely, as a general rule. As always, be prepared to do other things as situations dictate.

I'll also use this as another excuse to link to Bicyclesafe.com, Michael Bluejay's site discussing ways to avoid doing a helmet test. I've mentioned before that I agree with almost all of Bluejay's points, although I would have put some of them in different order to imply more stress by primacy. He has some differences of opinion with Effective Cycling "dogma," too, which are fairly interesting. I guess I take EC with a grain of salt, figuring that real-world experience had already shown me that some things trump the mantra of, "Bicyclists fare best when we act and are treated as drivers of vehicles," as I don't seem to respond as vehemently as some who have emailed him. I wonder sometimes if it isn't so much ado over small details, and if the energy would not be better directed toward riding our bikes. Maybe the debating is the entertainment.

Rain, rain, go away

It's springtime in the Ohio River Valley, thus we have frequent rainy days. I bought a rain cape to wear when on the bike, and it works reasonably well, but it does not change the fact that I'm not over-fond of riding in the rain. I rode yesterday, and the rain was probably worse Wednesday morning than it is this morning--especially with the wind--but I wasn't interested in coping with two days in a row of riding in the rain. I drove today.

It was dry for my ride home yesterday, and supposedly will be dry this afternoon.

When I got home yesterday, Jenn had been making good things happen in the house. Even before I unlocked the garage to put away my bike, I heard the dog wimpering in his excitement that I was home--Jenn knew I was home before she saw me, as the dog rushed past her getting to the back of the house. It was pretty funny.

We were out of cat food, so Jenn and I rode to the nearest Feeders Supply to restock. While there, we got a new tag so that if the dog gets loose again, someone can get in touch with more people to enable his return home. I like to ride with Jenn when we do errands--and it sure beats driving for errands when within a mile or two of the house.

wet ride, windy ride

I woke this morning to weather reports of fifteen knot winds, with gusts to thirty. Oh, yeah, it was raining as well. I thought about driving. Thought about riding the Raleigh, since I could use the rain cape. Thought about riding the Ryan, and just dealing with being wet when I arrive at work.

I rode the Raleigh.

There is something even more challenging about riding in rain when it's dark out as well. Several somethings, in fact: Rainy weather seems to absorb more of one's headlight output. Road imperfections are harder to see, coupled with the reduction in light, making one's lane positioning more a matter of road memory (and being willing/able to deal with imperfections without always having room or enough warning to perform "rock dodge" avoidance tactics). I must slow down quite a bit rather than "out-ride" my headlight. Motorists seem to give even less room for error rather than more room. I tend to crouch my head more, making it harder to use my mirror as well (and tense my arms more, causing more hand numbness). My rain cape is not as reflective as my Illuminite jacket, so I don't feel as visible (despite that I have my decent-sized reflector and flashing light/steady on light mounted).

On the other hand, I also imagine the thoughts of some of the motorists: "Poor guy can't drive, and he's out in THIS weather on a bike," or "He must be insane to ride a bike in this mess," or "He must be pretty confident--I'd better give him more room."

Jenn is home taking some vacation time (she has tons). Her younger daughter has the car in Georgetown for the week, as she has some tight time scheduling or something (I didn't press on the details). Jenn has been doing stuff around the house (and it does show), and I figured she may need to haul something today.

One good thing about my ride today is that it has reinforced that I can ride in rain. I still am not fond of doing so, but I deal with it. Another is that, the wind direction being what it was as I crossed the bridge, my ride across the bridge was one of the more comfortable ones in that direction I've had--tailwinds are nice. Of course, I'm hoping the wind direction and strength will change significantly before I head home, or I'll be walking across the dumb thing tonight.

More review on the cape, for those interested: I need to have good rain pants to make the whole ensemble work. The cape is nice--I wore a long-sleeve zip-t base layer under it, to keep from feeling clammy, and the temperature range was just right (weather.com reported 62F when I left the house). I had some sweat moisture near the open zipper, and the cuffs were wet where the cape didn't cover them. In some wind gusts, I found that the rear of the cape would blow up enough to have some air cool my back a bit.

I got close to work, and realized that I had left my work key ring on the Vanguard. Fortunately, I had secreted a spare key to my building in one of the Raleigh's packs.

When I got to work, I found that one of my small panniers is tearing at a support. I'm surprised they have lasted as long as they have (I bought them in 1992), so I should not mind replacing them too much. I don't want to spend the money (nor the time to research my choice), but they will still be cheaper than gas.

Tuesday

Yay! Rode to work two days in a row! On the Vanguard, no less.

I've been meaning to mention that, over the recent weekend, many fruit trees along my commute route have all-but exploded into bloom. It's fun to see the trees white with blossoms as harbingers of spring. I've been enjoying the Daffodils for a week or two as well.

It's also been fun to consider that some of my riding (at least homeward-bound) has been in short pants instead of tights. More and more of my afternoon trips home are done wearing short-sleeve jerseys instead of jersey plus arm warmers plus wind shell. It's getting warmer! My morning rides are still best done with a wind shell, but this morning I was only wearing a short-sleeved jersey under the Illuminite jacket, instead of another wind shell and a zip-neck long sleeve base layer.

On a sad note: FedEx lost two pilots and an MD-11 full of packages Monday morning, when the plane crash-landed at Narita airport outside Tokyo. Security camera footage leaked out early in the day, and can be seen if one wants to click here. I must warn, though, it's pretty grisly. At least one version of this video (of course, the cleanest one I've seen) has already been removed.

anger management

I try to be a peaceful sort. I don't typically consider violent consequences to others' actions as a first resort.

However, there are exceptions. One came to the forefront of my consciousness a few months ago, when a not-very-polite motorist cut me off, causing me to fall on the railroad crossing on Frankfort Avenue.

Another was this afternoon. The target of my ire is another cyclist.

As a cycling instructor, I repeatedly and pointedly stress the importance of not "threading the needle" between lines of cars waiting for a traffic light. I also strongly discourage blowing such traffic lights, especially when there are numerous cars around with their operators as witnesses. The one thing such a maneuver is most effective at doing is antagonizing motorists so that they wish ill on cyclists as a class of road users.

As I was waiting, third in line, for the light to change at Stilz Avenue (eastbound on Frankfort Avenue), I was passed by a person misusing a bicycle (I refuse to call such a person a cyclist) in exactly that manner.

I wanted to toss a pump through the guy's wheel. While he was moving. Fast. And have the pump not break when the spokes caught it against the frame. As he was being tailgated by an angry motorist (assuming I could break off to a safe travel path of my own).

As I realized what the twit was doing, I hollered out, "Dude, UNCOOL!!" partially hoping that other motorists would hear me and recognize that cyclists decry such behavior as much as they do. The twit (again, I refuse to consider him a cyclist) did what any coward would do--he sped up in such a way that I, trapped behind cars waiting for a green light, could not catch him and discuss his errant ways, probably smiling to himself, smug in the certainty that the minute he saved by running the next four traffic lights made HIS the superior position in our discussion.

My mood was not helped any when, as the anger was dissipating, I approached the intersection at Chenoweth Lane to witness a Rural Metro Ambulance, number 23 (I think), turn right onto Breckenridge Lane, across my path, from the left lane. This without the driver first (or ever, for that matter) turning on the siren or emergency lights. They may be getting a phone call in a minute, too...

The Vanguard returns

Last week, I got to ride to work four out of five days, which feels like a record for the season to date. Two of those days were on the Vanguard, two on the Raleigh, one of those due to my errant ABC Quick Check of Thursday night.

As noted yesterday, I was teaching all day, or at least helping teach. David Morse and I were the lead instructors, and Barry Zalph helped us with the afternoon sessions. I had, of course, ridden the Vanguard to do this rather than drive, as the class met at my employer's main office in the Phoenix Hill area.

I rode the Vanguard to work this morning, and plan to ride as much as I can this week. I have to have my truck at some point tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, as I have some stuff at the office that I need to haul home. I'll also have to drive out to Crestwood at some point, once parts are in hand to rebuild a client's wheel.

I don't think it will be a car-free week, but I'm aiming for close to it.

Long day, good day

As I may have mentioned here, I have a certificate as a League Cycling Instructor (LCI), through the League of American Bicyclists. I do some bike-ed teaching through the LBC (Louisville Bicycle Club), and some through Bicycling for Louisville.

Much of the focus of earning the LCI is learning to teach the Cycling Skills 101 course, as it is the backbone of the education programs for the League. It is typically taught in four meetings of roughly three hours each.

Barry at Bicycling for Louisville asked me to help teach a one-day class covering the Cycling Skills 101 curriculum for a group of upcoming LCI candidates. One-day, since these folks were already fairly skilled riders, and would be able to both deal with the longer day and absorb the information we were there to impart.

The worst part was that I didn't get a ton of riding in today--and it's been a beautiful day for riding. The best part was that despite their experience, each attendee felt like he or she learned something new about cycling, and learned some things about their own opportunities to teach others in turn.

As it happened, there were several points on which my involvement made things go better. One was that the venue chosen is the main office for my employer, and as I already have keys and an alarm code, other arrangements did not have to be made for this class. I already knew some of the attendees through my involvement in the cycling community (indeed, two of the folks there were Greg and Marty Scheller, for whom I used to work as a bike shop guy). It was kind of weird being the one teaching a former boss, but all were quite professional about the day. It was clear that they respected what I was there to do, and it seemed they learned more than they expected to learn.

One thing I keep finding is that I, too, learn from the students when I teach these classes.

And the teaching fee won't hurt my wallet a bit.

When I got home, BOTH of Jenn's daughters were at the house. It can be a lot of fun watching the two of them together. The older one had ridden her bike to the house. She doesn't have a helmet at this time, but will soon. I asked her about a helmet, and she says she'd wear one. Jenn and I offered to help her get one, and I added that I would help her get lights so that she could be safer on the roads. I encouraged her to look into one or another of the cycling classes available as well. She seemed to take the advice in the spirit intended, which does not surprise me with her. She's a sharp one.

Cool morning

It's Friday again. I've been able to ride to work four days this week (I presume I'll ride home this afternoon, since my bike is here and my car is not). I had a training day at the Liberty Street office on Wednesday, so my commute wasn't as far that day.

It was a mild surprise to awaken to temps in the mid-30s this morning, after a series of fairly warm days. It's only March, though, and it can (and has) snowed on Derby Day in May. It's not supposed to get very warm today, either, with predicted highs around 50F.

I had been hearing an odd noise from the rear wheel of the Vanguard lately. Wednesday afternoon, I bought some thin threadlocker compound (LocTite is a common trade name), figuring on using a trick I'd learned of when in the bike shop years ago. I'm hoping that the noise was coming from the rim joint, as all the spokes were sound and tight when I inspected the wheel. A drop or six of threadlocker in the joint, which is not welded on this rim, should do the trick, so I applied that theory Wednesday evening. I reassembled things last night, figuring on riding the Ryan to work today.

When I got on the bike this morning, I did not do my full pre-trip ABC Quick Check, assuming (and we all know the dangers of assuming) that since I had not had trouble with the tube and had just inflated the tube to operating pressure last night, it would be tight. Found out within the first block or so that it was very low on air, so I walked it back to the house and traded bikes for my ride to work. A quick, but more thorough, ABC Quick Check on the Raleigh, and away I went.

I had a small amount of paperwork to do at Liberty Street, and was surprised for the second time today. This surprise was that I was the only person in the building, and it was after 7:00 AM. Usually there are other people in the building by then. When I left, I reset the alarm, as I was still the only person in the building. Odd, that.

The time spent at that office allowed me the luxury of getting to see the morning sky get lighter. It was pretty. It's a pretty, clear day, if a bit cool outside right now.

Oh, well. Back to work. I have some inspections to perform in a few minutes.

teaching day again

I'm teaching again tonight: my short thing on basic bike care. I'm also teaching this weekend: Bicycling for Louisville is hosting Confident Cycling classes (based on LAB's Traffic Skills 101) again this season. One of the first classes is this weekend, and it will be an intense, one-day session (ten hours or so). Most of the attendees are members of the Mayor's bike task force, but a few others will be there solely to earn the pre-requisite for their own LCI certifications. It should be an interesting group.

The overhaul goes on apace. However, when I ordered a replacement chainring, I didn't think about the tooth count on that ring, and that it would not be compatible with the front derailleur I also found in need of replacement. I have a replacement ring on order that will resolve the issue. Thinking forward, I'm going to suggest that this owner consider modernizing his front drive system, even though I just replaced the spindle and bearings of his old bottom bracket. I'm pleased that I was able to get both brakes working--the rear has always had its problems, and the current front brake wouldn't release correctly, despite being fairly new. The bike is over twenty years old, and was built with parts that are now obsolete (and thus hard to find, should they wear to un-usable condition). It's neat to keep an old bike on the road, but sometimes it gets expensive. I found that out for myself getting my Raleigh in better shape--I've replaced the rims, spokes, tires, tubes, brake pads (three times or more), brake cables, gear cable (twice now), stem and handlebar, brake levers, grips...that $25 bike has cost me a good bit more than that, even though I get most of my parts at wholesale prices.

Oh, well, I couldn't have bought a new commuter rig for that money, and I got to enjoy building the wheels!

It's a great day for a bike ride, but I drove. Too much stuff to haul, what with having bike stands and my show-and-tell bike for the class tonight. The work papers could have been hauled on the bike.

That was the week that was

Well, not entirely. The title I've used is not original--there was a news review show by that name in the 1960s. Some of the music for the American version was written by Tom Lehrer. Some of the writing for the original show (on BBC) was done by chaps that went on to join Monty Python's Flying Circus.

In any event, it was a hectic, confusing week for me. I got to ride to work a few days--Monday, Wednesday and Friday, all on the Ryan. On Monday, I was still feeling the after-effects of my recent cold, but as noted, it felt good to ride. Tuesday was the second of my four classes I'm teaching, on most basic bike maintenance (same thing happening tomorrow night and next Tuesday night). I went out to Crestwood Thursday, Friday and Saturday to work on various projects--two rear wheels and a major overhaul for three different customers.

The major overhaul is one that has been needed for some time. If I'd done this a year ago, I might not have had to replace as many parts, but who knows? I'm sure the owner of this bike will enjoy the results--riding the bike will be much more enjoyable with all the systems working to the best of their capabilities. It needed parts that we didn't have on hand, and I lost the weekend to shipping schedules (can't order parts after 8:00 PM Thursday for Friday delivery). Hopefully those parts will arrive later today, and I will be able to make progress on the bike this evening.

I enjoy building wheels, and especially enjoy building wheels that I know will be ridden. Both of the wheels I built focused on durability, although the respective owners came up with different ways to get similar results. To be honest, their needs differed a bit as well. I was pleased with each wheel in all stages of assembly and truing. I think each will serve its owner well.

I finally got the handlebar issue on the Raleigh resolved. However, I had been concerned that I would have to replace my brake cables, due to the different placement (taller and longer stem). The brake cables were fine, but the shift cable is too short. I've not been able to find cables for Sturmey-Archer 3-speed stuff in either of my main sources for such things. The current cable was purchased at a bike shop that will for the moment remain nameless, and the owner of that shop has accused me of speaking ill of his shop, so I figure I'm persona non grata there and will have to find another source for my gear cable. Oh, well, they are out of my way anyway. I'll stop at Clarksville Schwinn later today and see if they have any.

The shift cable is not short enough that I can't ride the bike, but I'd be happier if it had a bit more length. After riding the RCCS ride yesterday on the Vanguard, I felt like a change of pace for today's ride to work, and brought out the Raleigh. My legs felt pretty good, despite their joy at arriving at the car after the 48 miles or so of "gently rolling" terrain with a few steep hills tossed in for fun.

Jenn started the ride yesterday, but quickly found that a) she's not up to riding lots of hills yet this season and b) her BikeE doesn't climb as well as she'd like. She stopped to rest under a tree for a bit, and rode back to the starting point on her own. She then went out to explore a couple of places near the starting point (she loves to shop at thrift stores, and there was one close by), and found a couple of nifty things to get. After the ride, we enjoyed socializing at Charlestown Pizza Company.

I have to give a tip o' the helmet to Charlestown Pizza Company. I'd heard that they served beer instead of swill, and was far from disappointed. They don't seem to offer anything from the mass swill producers. At all. I had a couple of fine brews that I'd never seen prior to yesterday, and will be seeking said brews on my own in the future. Their pizza was pretty tasty, too.

ups and downs weekend

The weekend got off to a great start, as Friday was my birthday. Dinner was at Mom's (not the restaurant--the house), with roast prime rib, great vegetables, and birthday cake! I got an assortment of cool things from my family--books to read, a new kilt, a set of prints from Williamsburg VA to hang on the wall, a desk clock in a block of wood my stepfather made and finished, some board games, and of course, birthday cake. Did I mention the cake?

I mentioned that Jenn and I both had colds last week. Friday, Jenn got tired of not being able to sleep, and got her doctor to prescribe something to help her. Jenn got some sleep Friday night, thus improving HER weekend tremendously (and mine, as I want her to be able to sleep well...).

Saturday was something of a chores day--neither of us had been up to doing much around the house recently, so we got some cleaning and reorganizing done. The place looks MUCH better now. Work spilled over into Sunday, but was done enough by the afternoon that I got to ride the short (25-mile) club ride before hosting a meeting of education volunteers to discuss plans for the upcoming season. Afterward, I went out (on the Ryan) to do some errands--hit the post office box, stop at Whole Foods and Kroger for some foodstuffs--and enjoy being home for a bit before going to bed.

The Raleigh is out of service for the moment, so I'm riding the Ryan most of the week. I bought a different stem to try on the Raleigh, and found (in the tradition of Raleighs from its era) that the handlebar doesn't fit modern stems. I have a new handlebar coming later this week, and opted for a similar shape to keep things simple. My goal is to have the bar higher and a bit further forward, to make the bike a bit more comfortable. I already have a LOT of seat post out on this bike, making it seem small for me. The standover height is pretty tall, but the crank is high, too, so traditional fit rules are not entirely appropriate.

The big downer this weekend is that one of Jenn's coworkers lost her husband Saturday. We don't know whether it was a heart attack or something else, but he collapsed at some point and never reawakened. I had met him once, at a holiday party, and liked him to the extent that I knew him. I feel bad for Jenn's coworker.

I'm now under orders to not die, which I find oddly comforting, somehow.

I got to ride to work this morning! After not riding all last week, due to the effects and aftereffects of my cold, it was good to ride. The bike performed without flaw, as I've gotten rid of some of the problems that were pestering me in the fall. It's time to buy some more batteries for the flashing lights, though. I installed my last spares in the flashing front light on my way to work today.

Fried-day once more

Today is Friday, or Fried-day as I am wont to spell it at times. I have not ridden my bike to work all week due to the lingering effects of a head cold that kept me home Monday and should have kept me home Tuesday (and perhaps even Wednesday). I am at least able to breathe most of the time, although sometimes I'll have a coughing fit such that I have a hard time inhaling past whatever sense of obstruction (nothing really there but irritated membranes) is tickling the cough reflex.

I also did not ride today because I have a time constraint after work--Jenn and I are going to my mother's house to celebrate the four-dozenth year of my rambling thought processes. In other words, it's my birthday. I'm thirty-one, with seventeen years of extra practice.

It seems popular to ruminate on these occasions. I may, later in the day, or after another day or two, but today I have work to do. I'm hosting a meeting Sunday afternoon of volunteers comprising the education committee that will help me with the upcoming courses I am leading, so I need to clean the house a bit tomorrow. Hopefully, I will get to ride a bit this weekend, even if it's utilitarian in nature rather than "for fun."

Back to the desk work...

A week with no riding

After battling a head cold for a few days, I have now returned to the land of the living. I went to work Tuesday morning, only to go home a couple hours later. I hosted my new bike owner maintenance class Tuesday evening, but spent much of my time coughing instead of being able to talk.

I of course offered full refund on the attendance fees and free attendance for next week's session if any were dissatisfied.

I returned to work Wednesday, and lasted all day. I was glad I didn't have any big plans for after work. What did happen was that when Jenn got home from some errands she had, I mentored her a bit as she did some upgrades on her commuter bike (thumb shifters instead of down-tube shifters, new shift cables, finish mounting the fenders, check ride her work, etc.). She was fighting a cold as well, and despite not sleeping well, she planned to use her bike for her multi-mode commute this morning.

I wasn't quite ready to ride the thirteen miles this morning, and wound up leaving too late to do a partial-commute. I have a time constraint on the homeward bound commute tomorrow, so won't get to ride at all for the work week.

Drat.

Next week, though...

Oh good grief!

Jenn was off work Thursday and Friday of last week with a cold. Since we live together, she was primed to have to deal with the double-ended open sluice problem I'd had a couple weeks ago, but it turned out to be a mother of a cold instead.

Of course, since we live together, I now have a similar cold. At the first inkling that I was going to be sick, I loaded up on Zicam, which has helped a bit in the past. Even so, I feel rotten, and look almost as bad.

I can't afford to take time off from work right now, either. I am behind on some stuff that needs to be done.

We'll see, but tomorrow morning is likely to be ugly. And I don't think I'll be riding to work, either.