Numbers yet again!

A bit of other stuff, but first, the numbers.

This morning, as I pedaled to work (and pondered the C-J editorial board using the word peddling instead of pedaling...), I broke a new record for myself. Well, to be honest, every time I swing a leg over a bike I seem to be setting a new personal record, but to have pedaled over five thousand miles instead of driving by this time in the year is something of a milestone.

Yes, that's right--five thousand miles of bicycling instead of driving. I've accumulated a bit over 5600 bicycle miles for 2011 YTD, which is almost a personal record in itself, let alone that there are still four months remaining for the year (last year's 5700 miles was a personal record for a full year). With four months to go, I suspect that 8000 miles for an annual total is possible.

I know folks who have ridden more, of course. Still, a personal record is a personal record.

I had set my goal for the year at 6000 miles. According to mycyclinglog.com, I need to ride about three miles a day to reach that goal. It has been fun to watch that number drop faster and faster as I approach the 5500 mile mark, but I'm going to overshoot that goal in a few weeks.

Thursday evening last week, Jenn called to tell me there was a puddle of anti-freeze under the front of the truck when she came out of the office. Having gone through some fair bit of cooling-system repairs a year and a half ago, I knew that the radiator had a pinhole leak and would eventually need to be replaced. Based on that, and on seeing the puddle once the truck got home, I bought a radiator for it, installed same, then dug out the pressure tester to make sure things were in order before filling the system with water. Ready, fire, aim. I should have done the pressure tester bit first. That hissing noise I heard as I watched the pressure reading drop wasn't coming from the radiator, of course, since it was new. It wasn't coming from the freeze plugs I hoped had failed. Oh, no. It was coming from the edge of the head gasket. Okay, do some math. Head gasket set, with intake gaskets and others needed for the change will cost about $150. It would probably take me four or five hours to change the gaskets. My Haynes manual for this truck is in a box of books packed before our move to the current house, and it would take me more time to find it than a replacement would cost ($15 or so).

Some other math: If I really want to make the truck road-worthy, the head gasket fix would probably be best replaced with a replacement engine. The transmission (the third one for this truck...) will probably last another twenty to forty thousand miles before its synchronizers give up--a common malady for this transmission. The truck needs tires by this winter. The air conditioning does not work--who knows how much that would cost to fix--and as a result, the defroster is far less effective than it might be. Those are the high points.

When I bought this truck, I had most recently owned a Thunderbird Super Coupe. THAT was a fun car. When I wrecked it, though, I had some time to think about its replacement, and found that I was driving far less than I had been when I bought the T-bird (I was riding to work pretty often by then). When I was driving, I was usually hauling a bike or three. I was usually alone or with one other person. I didn't want to futz with connecting my trailer every time I hauled a bike somewhere. The Ford Ranger I eventually bought was a good choice for me then, and it's remained a good choice in the eleven-plus years I've had it. Sure, it's had its problems--the transmission died in 2005, and its replacement died on me in Virginia the following spring. I've replaced three of the rear spring mounts in the last two years. The clutch installed when the first transmission died didn't last as long as it should have (I've had clutches last 150,000 miles on other vehicles). Still, though, it's been handy to have a small truck instead of, say, a sedan or microcar like the Smart (much as I am intrigued by the Smart).

I'm not able to go car-free. There are too many times I want to haul a kayak, or several bikes, or something. Jenn is not ready to go car-free, nor would I try to make her do so (despite that she likes riding to work much of the time).

We haven't decided what to get to replace the truck. A sedan is a likely option, given that I could also buy a Draftmaster rack for hauling the various bikes around. I still have the utility trailer I built to haul bikes when my car was a Toyota Celica Supra, and I could build sides for it easily enough (the better to move my younger stepdaughter to and from college). Jenn would be happier with a sedan than a truck, I suspect, based on conversations we've had to date.

Decisions, decisions.