It's been a few days

...and I haven't seen any comments on my last post. Figured there would be, given the nature of the news, but that's the way it goes some days.

Since that day, I've had a few other things happen--some good, some not as much. Rather than focus on the not-good, I'll mention a few good things.

I have stepped down as VP education with the Louisville Bicycle Club. I don't begrudge the time and energy I spent educating cyclists--quite the contrary! It was a lot of fun, and I got to learn stuff along the way. Some of the Ex-Comm meetings got to be tiring, some of the club politics got bizarre, but that's the way things go in an organization like this. David Wittry is the new VP Education, and I am sure he'll do well. I'll give what help I am able.

I'm still logging bike miles as part of my "ride instead of drive" transportation plan. As I type this, I'm in the lead in utility miles logged by Louisville Bicycle Club members by forty miles or so. The current second-place rider logged about as many miles last year as I logged in 2010, and a few more than I logged just commuting last year. Like several of us, he all but doesn't drive (I've not seen him drive a car).

Jenn and I have made some progress on the house--mostly reorganizing and making rooms more livable so far. The big project--shelving in the "office"--is waiting on me to overcome some inertia and buy wood and paint. Oh, yeah, cash would be good--the job situation is making me a bit more careful about cash outlay. At least I can do most of the labor on this shelving project myself, reducing the overall cost to easier-to-manage levels.

I really don't know what the coming year holds in terms of total bike miles. I'm not going to stress over it, and have adjusted my goal to simply be ride more than drive. If work opportunities that totally preclude bicycle commuting present themselves, I would have to think carefully about such gigs. I can't refuse a job offer simply based on that, but having to pay for a car for such use would offset quite a bit of the potential earnings.

I hear a change a-comin', comin' round the bend...

Ending some period of speculation by several folks in the local cycling community, Bob announced yesterday that Bluegrass Bicycle, LLC is for sale. In answer to the obvious questions, "I don't know how much money," "I don't have a definite answer for number of days or weeks," and "I don't know whether any future owner would get along with me or I with that person or persons."

In other words, I'm now looking for work, both short- and long-term. Part-time and full-time positions will be considered, mindful that any part-time position would have to be coordinated with other part-time positions.

I'm fortunate, in some respects. Jenn is employed, and has benefits that cover me. Indeed, those benefits were one of the reasons we married when we did, which was almost two months ahead of our planned 09/09/09 date (flip it over and remove the zeros for the sardonic anti-religious message).

I don't expect to find work in the bike biz for a while. I don't know. It's certainly possible that one of the local bike shops wants to deal with my ego to get the motley bunch of occasional customers I would bring in their doors, but would I be able to deal with the people in such a store?

*sigh*

tiny ironies

One of life's little ironies: I bought a new bike in March of 2011, primarily because it would accept off-the-shelf studded snow tires. Ten months later, I have not had need for those tires. The bike is out of service for the nonce, as its rear rim has some cracks at the spoke nipple holes (new wheel coming from Specialized, due to arrive next week).

My bike miles total since the start of the year has already exceeded my January 2010 mileage. I was living in the rental house at that time, griping about cold weather that I've since found I could tolerate more easily than I thought at the time, and thinking about using the TARC Bikes on Board program to lessen my weather exposure a bit.

Now, I'm thinking more and more about getting a velomobile for much of my transportation. I have read of folks who, once they got one, all but abandoned their bicycles as utility vehicles. I honestly don't know how I'd go on that--I like to think I'd still ride two-wheels a fair bit for fun and utility, but I can also see myself choosing the velomobile on a daily basis as a default mode, just as I found myself doing with the new bike this year (result: new upright bike got three hundred miles more use than the long-cherished Vanguard).

With that new bike, much of the increase in use over the Vanguard was that the new bike has brakes that are MUCH nicer. Some of the difference had to do with anticipated parking places--I can comfortably lock the new bike places I am less comfortable locking the Vanguard. Some of it was that I was using my bike as a teaching tool, and I figure that students will find it easier to relate to a bike more like their own than my recumbent. Some of this feels like rationalizing not riding a favorite bike, as if I was somehow betraying the Vanguard or something within myself by riding the Globe.

In the end, though, it comes down to one of the lines on that old list of "Why bicycles are better than women" (see also: Why bicycles are better than men): the bike doesn't care if I ride other bikes.