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.

busy days

Busy couple of days, so little time for posting blogs.

Wrapped up the second session of our Park Tool School program last night. If comments during the class were any indication, folks felt they got their value from the courses. I've gotten a couple of emails supporting this, and saw at least one on our local cycling list server "giving the shout out." I had fun doing it, and look forward to doing some more. Now, however, it's time to get my stands home and use one so that Jenn can install fenders and big home-made reflectors on her bike.

I rode Tuesday and today, and drove Monday and Wednesday. I will quite likely ride tomorrow.

Today's ride to work was wet. When I left the house, it was drizzling a little, despite that the last forecast I had seen was for cloudy skies with low chances of rain. As I worked my way to work, the rain came down a bit harder, so that I found myself riding through a shower at least part of the time. Since it was drizzling when I left the house, I donned the rain cape I got several weeks ago (before the ice storm) to give it a try. I found myself a bit over-warm; I was wearing a jersey and my Illuminite jacket underneath the cape. Otherwise, it seems to work as advertised. My rain pants, however, were a total failure. They simply do not work. I suppose they could have been mislabled, though, and they've been in my stash of stuff for over a decade, so who knows?

Anyway, the afternoon weather is balmy, so my ride home will be another warm one. I have pack space to stuff the cape and rain pants, and may not need the jacket either.

On the way home, I will have to stop and buy a couple odds and ends for my bike and for Jenn's. She needs a tube or three, and some hardware to mount her fenders. I need a cotter pin, probably (hopefully) for the right crank arm this time, as I just mounted a new one on the left side a couple weeks ago.

It's supposed to be wet in the morning, but I may ride anyway. Just to keep from driving.

Finally, an answer

I've been puzzling over my truck woes for a few days. Sunday evening, I removed the thermostat and the outlet pipe that holds it in place, having narrowed the likely source of my water leak to that site. I took the parts to the shop with me Monday evening, to use the wire wheel on the grinder to clean the old gasket material and some rust and scale off the thing before I put it back together. While inspecting it, I found a place that had rusted through! It had been too long since I last flushed and refilled the radiator, and the truck only has 210K miles on it, so it's my own fault it failed.

I figured that such a part would be a "dealer-only" thing, so I called the Ford dealer by Oxmoor, as their parts department used to be open late. Since those days, the dealership has changed ownership, and they are only open until five or so. Still expecting to be disappointed, I called AutoZone to see if they had it. Fortunately, they had one in stock, at a store I would be passing on my way home from Tool School. I get to reassemble the thing tonight, and maybe even take it to the Instant Oil Change place for a flush and fill before bed time tonight.

It will be good to have my truck on line again. I need to haul my bike repair stands home from the bike shop tomorrow night, so that we can do some more stuff to Jenn's bike (we now have the fenders that need to be mounted, I need to make some more reflectors for her, etc.).

Oh, and I got to ride to work today! Morning temperature was 25F or so, and my gear issues are mostly resolved for that range. The ride was fairly pleasant, and included the opportunity to enjoy the morning "pre-sunrise" sky as I crossed the bridge. Traffic on the bridge was pretty light, too, at least northbound just before 7:00.

Monday again

I spent a fair bit of time working on bike stuff this weekend.

Friday evening, I went out to the bike shop to prepare for two sets of wheels I've been needing to get built for a while. I cut all the spokes, and had time to lace one set and true its front wheel. I finished truing the rear wheel Saturday morning, then laced the other set and started truing them. Another customer came by to get some pointers on the new Bacchetta Bellandare she had purchased the day before, so I spoke with her a while. One wheel set went home Saturday, and the other customer came by to see her wheels later in the day. Her bike is being built over time, and her fork is not yet in hand. She's excited about the bike, though. It looks pretty good so far.

After shop hours, we had the second class of Park Tool School for a few hours. It's a good group, in the main, and we had fun removing bottom brackets from bikes as an exercise. We talked a bit about brake pads, and tonight we will change some brake and gear cables for practice.

A week or two ago, I had been given the name of a woman who was putting on a health fair for her church. I finally got in contact with her late last week, to find that what she was doing was much longer in hours and on a different date than I'd been led to believe. As notice was too short to do anything else, I went to her health fair and talked to folks about bicycle safety myself. Many of the attendees were kids, so I got to stress the importance of learning and following the rules of the road. Some adults asked me questions about the Bicycle Club, Bicycling for Louisville, and cycling in general. I encouraged all to seek out classes held by Bicycling for Louisville and the Club, and to come ride with us. I even got to "walk the walk," as I had ridden the Raleigh to the event.

When I got home, I did a few odds and ends around the house, then dove back into trying to get my truck running. It had developed a water leak recently, so I haven't been driving it for a while (I've been using Jenn's car when I needed to drive). Saturday morning, I changed the upper hose and one of the heater hoses, based on noise of pressure escaping when I pumped the system with a pressure tester. When I finished replacing the hoses, I pumped the tester a few times, and was rewarded with the sound of pressure dropping again. The sound was still coming from near the ends of the two hoses I had just replaced, but tightening the hoses didn't fix the problem. It looked like it was time for a new water pump, as there were stains from escaping anti-freeze leading to the front seal. I had purchased a water pump Saturday morning before going to the bike shop, so Jenn and I took things apart to install the new pump.

That went well enough, except that the OTHER heater hose looked a bit worse for wear, and that when I went to show Jenn the residue from the anti-freeze on the inside of the water pump pulley I lost one of the screws that holds it in place. A trip to the parts store, and I had the new hose. Got home to discover I had forgotten to get a replacement screw, so we went to another parts store (the one had closed for the day) and got hardware and anti-freeze.

We got home, I finished installing the pump, belt, fan clutch, radiator shroud and such so I could pressure test the system again. Sure enough, it leaked. I have removed the thermostat housing, hoping that the seal was bad. I hope that there are no other problems to find.

Jenn reminded me that when I removed the pump, the pipe on which the heater hose mounts came out of the pump housing with too little effort. The stains on the inside of the pulley were new enough that there was probably some leakage there as well, so replacing the pump was not in vain. I'm not sure why I didn't go ahead and get a new thermostat while I was doing all the other work (and am right there, with some of the stuff out of the way), aside from a vague memory that it was a hassle to get the thermostat in place and I had replaced it when I last replaced the water pump a few years ago.

I hope that this seal fixes my problem. I'd hate to think that something else is damaged--the only other things that could be leaking at this point are hideously expensive to repair.

Third class of this session of Tool School is tonight, so I'll be at the shop where there is a bench grinder with a wire brush wheel. I can clean the thermostat housing to more closely inspect for pitting or a rust hole. I'll do that before installing anything, so that if I need to buy a new housing I won't sacrifice the thermostat gaskets this time. If all goes well, the truck will be back to useable condition Tuesday night. I'll then take it to some place that does a flush and fill service, so that I don't have to deal with dumping anti-freeze on the driveway.

Maybe when I move the truck I'll find that missing screw, too.

Call to Action

My friend Barry Zalph is one of several folks working VERY hard to push HB88 into the Legislative Session. HB88 addresses one of the major problems the cycling community sees with current law. Quoting from the Bicycling for Louisville site:


As in many other states, Kentucky law generally does not allow law enforcement officers to issue citations or make arrests for non-felony traffic violations not witnessed by the officer. Even when physical evidence and eyewitness testimony shows the driver at fault, officers typically cannot press any charges. Because most crashes occur when no officer is on hand to witness them, criminal charges are rarely filed in connection with the crashes. When a law-abiding bicyclist or pedestrian gets hit by a car, the news accounts say, "No charges will be filed," giving the impression of a tragic accident for which nobody is at fault. The lack of enforceable criminal penalties sends the message that these crash-causing driving violations are of no concern to the Commonwealth, and that it is merely a private (civil) matter for the involved parties to resolve among themselves. This helps to perpetuate the false belief that bicycling and walking are dangerous, and that drivers need not do anything to reduce those dangers.

Barry has also posted a call to action for this week! Make some calls, if you have not already done so! Send emails. Send snail mail. Let the legislators know this needs to happen.

I have already sent mine.

on again, off again

With the Tool School schedule, I find it necessary to drive to work too often. Getting out to Crestwood within an hour and a half of leaving my desk is not possible by bicycle (at least not under MY power). As a result, I'm savoring every chance I get to ride to work. Today is such a day, despite the wind (and the snow I saw on the neighbor's roof when I woke up this morning). I left the house a few minutes early, figuring on a slow ride over the bridge. The temperature will probably not improve appreciably today, so I will likely be wearing as many layers home as I did this morning. I see flurries outside as I type this, so the ride home may open the eyes of a motorist or two (that poor sob [or nutcase] riding a bike in THIS!).

I'll have to drive again tomorrow, as I have at least two sets of wheels to build this weekend. One customer wants to watch at least part of the process, so the appointment for that is Saturday morning. I'll be at the shop all day Saturday, between the wheel building and the second class of the current Tool School session. On Sunday, I will get to fix the water leak in my truck's engine (I hope).

Back to the world of the living, back on two wheels, back on the 'bent

I'm alive again. I feel like a human being again after my illness of last week. I can eat my regular foods. I can even ride a bicycle again! YAY!

An entire ten days after David gently chided me for not riding my Ryan by asking when I would again do so, I rode the Ryan to work today. It was a good thing. I enjoyed the ride--the first ride to work since my illness of last week--despite the temperature in the mid-20s. My new gloves were almost too warm, so my hands were moist with sweat by the time I got off the bike in New Albany (pronounced: N'Awb'ny).

Of course, with the forecast high closer to fifty degrees, I won't have to wear all that stuff going home. I have a neighborhood association meeting to attend this evening before going home, so I get to ride home in the dark--kind of reminds me of riding to work and back in late December.


Onto other thoughts: One of my tenants has a frequent visitor who seems sure that "Parking for Maintenance and Staff Only, Towing Enforced" does not apply to her. Today will be the second time in a bit more than a month this car will have been removed at her expense. I'm sure the tenant will object--again--and he will be told--again--that it is not my responsibility to come get her to move the car if she insists on parking it where she knows it could be towed away. We have a delivery scheduled for today and need both the parking space and the ability to get beyond that space into the courtyard of the building. I used to drive a wrecker in a prior life, and am also aware of the need for access by emergency teams should an emergency arise.

And on to better thoughts: I wrapped up my first session of Park Tool School last night. We had a fine group--seven students--who were kind enough to pay attention to the ramblings of a well-known mechanic who likes to talk too much. Or is too fond of talking. Or both. All seven participants had some cycling experience; some had done a fair bit of their own work but wanted more knowledge on details they had missed, some were farther behind in their skill acquisition, but I hope that all felt they got their money and time worth in some exposure to how stuff works so that they can be more confident of their bikes and thus more confident of themselves out in the world. My next group starts Wednesday night, and I'm looking forward to it. We may have to start planning for a third session soon.

periodic safety comment

Folks who know me well know that I'm fairly safety-conscious. This plays out in my interest in bicycle-related education, just to name a quick example.

As such, I've found some neat links over the years regarding bicycle safety. One I'd like to highlight again, as I think I've mentioned it before, is here. It bears a rerun, of sorts, simply because Michael Bluejay has written a good piece. I've mentioned somewhere that I mostly agree with his points, although I think in one or two cases I would rearrange a couple of his tips on how to avoid X problem to infer more primacy. For example: His "Collision type 3, Crosswalk Slam" section has as the first way to avoid getting hit to install and use a headlight. He finally gets around to mentioning riding on the road as part of traffic as his third suggestion. I would put that first.

In a couple of his examples, he allows for riders to ride along the right side of motorists at stoplights. I would advise against doing this at all, partly because of the dangers he cautions us to keep in mind, and partly because it so infuriates motorists who might otherwise be our allies in the "polite road users vs. impolite road users" discussions.

Near the bottom of the page, he puts forth a very well worded comment on "ride as if invisible." He opens the topic with, "It's often helpful to ride in such a way that motorists won't hit you even if they don't see you. You're not trying to BE invisible, you're trying to make it irrelevant whether cars see you or not."

Think about that for a moment.

After expanding on that thought a bit, Mr. Bluejay comes back with, "Remember, you're not trying to BE invisible, you're just riding with the assumption that cars can't see you."

On another page of his site, Bluejay discusses arguments posed by folks who believe firmly in John Forester's "Effective Cycling" doctrine. As a slight aside, I'll mention that while I sometimes feel that Forester is a pedantic self-proclaimed high priest of cycling, he has some very good thoughts on bicycle safety. Most of the classes I've taken or teach are based heavily in Forester's works.

On Bluejay's objections to EC, I would have to opine that I agree with Bluejay, in the main. I see his points as addressing some who are too rigid in their interpretation of Forester's opinions, though. Some of the disagreements seem to be in semantics.

One example of the disagreements would be bike lanes. Forester is very much opposed to them, and supports his position with pretty sound logic. What Forester doesn't consider, though, is that bike lanes can be a stepping stone for someone who is less confident about his or her cycling, and are therefor useful--IF users recognize the limitations of bike lanes and account for them. Therein lies the key. Be aware. Ride as if the motorist won't see you. You will be far safer that way.

I feel almost human

...which is a huge improvement over how I felt Thursday afternoon!

I'm normally not big on "Hallmark Holidays," and got a small bit of a pass this time due to my illness. Still, I went with Jenn to a couples' Bunco gathering yesterday, and was able to eat decent food for the first time since Thursday morning.

If you are not familiar with Bunco, my prior observations still hold: It's a game that involves dice, byzantine rules, occasional shouts of "BUNCO!" and much shrill laughter, played typically as a focus of socializing among females of the species. As such, men are rarely involved, so we have to relearn the rules every time there is a couples' Bunco tournament. As it was my first time participating, it took me a while to "get it," but eventually I started to understand the structure of the thing.

For this particular event, there were fourteen couples on hand. Prizes were awarded for first through fifth places, plus a prize for last place and one for last Bunco. Jenn and I got the last place prize, snatched from a three-way tie by a roll-off of one die per team (I threw a two, a four and a six were also thrown). I happened to have the last Bunco (all three dice showing the number in play), so in addition to winning back our entry fee, I got gas money to boot. Not a bad deal for losing some games of dice...

I'm teaching again this afternoon. Once the class is done, Jenn and I will rush downtown to the Palace Theatre to enjoy the BB King/Buddy Guy show, for which Jenn got me tickets for the December Gift Giving Ceremonies.

Then it's back to work tomorrow. Since I'm teaching again tomorrow night, I will drive to work instead of riding. It's okay, I'm not but so sure I should ride tomorrow anyway. Hopefully I'll get to ride Tuesday and Thursday. Second course of Tool School starts Wednesday night.

Urrrp

It seems there is a stomach virus going around. It caught me, and my first symptoms arrived during the Bike Summit II on Thursday. I won't gross you out with the details--we'll just say it takes a LOT out of a person.

Needless to say, I didn't ride HOME from the Summit, although Jenn and rode to it. One of the students in my Park Tool School class was kind enough to haul us back to the house. After staying in bed for a few hours, I roused myself enough to go to a "doc in a box," where I was given a scrip for Phenergan, and advice to follow for the next day or three.

I already feel much better, and have been able to eat limited amounts of easily-digested foods. I'm to avoid milk or milk products for a few days, which will be tough to do given my fondness for cheeses.

As I've barely been able to get out of bed until noon today, I took a personal day from work. It sucks to be sick, but I'll get over it, and be back to the grind in a day or two.

And the verdict is... four-cross day

not yet decided. When I left the office, it was barely drizzling. I opted for the Illuminite jacket instead of the rain cape. Of course, by the time I was halfway to the bridge, I was pretty damp to the skin, so when the rain intensified on me, it didn't make much sense to stop and open packs to get out the cape (and risk getting everything in the pack wet).

It seems a corollary to Murphy's Law: If I drive, I don't get called at 10:00AM to be informed I have a meeting in Louisville at 11:00AM. If I ride, I rarely get such a call, but it happened today. I got to ride to Liberty Street from my New Albany office and back in the middle of my work day. Four trips across the bridge in one day, yet again. Good thing I like to ride!

On the way to Liberty Street, I realized that my left crank cotter pin was loose. When I got to the main office, I had a few minutes before my meeting so I scrounged a hammer and tightened the pin. That lasted until I got back on the bike on my way to New Albany, so I stopped at Bicycle Couriers for a replacement pin. I tightened the old pin rather than spend the time replacing it, and had better luck this time: It lasted until I was on my way home from New Albany. When I got home, I replaced the pin. Fortune was with me this time, the pin was trashed but the crank arm and spindle were fine. Not only that, the pin I bought from Couriers was the right size (there are three different sizes, and I'm not sure the guy who helped me realized that). Now to get a replacement pin for the other side, as I'm sure it will fail before long.

On other topics: My friend Barry made an entry in his blog that started a firestorm of unpleasant language. It was appalling--bicycle riders calling other bicycle riders obnoxious names for being in favor of obeying the law. While there were several folks who used unpleasant words, one in particular seems to relish being a large part of the problem rather than the solution. His crude blog name says much about him, and I consider him one of the rude road users rather than a polite road user.

A bit damp, but not bad

I rode today. I figured that I had bought rain gear just so I could ride on days like this (or wetter), I ought to go on and use the stuff.

Of course, when I got outside, it wasn't raining. As I loaded the bike, I was wearing my Illuminite jacket and tights (runners' wear is great for utility cycling), and put the rain pants and cape in my bag "just in case it rained hard." Once I got on the bike, it started a minor drizzle--just enough to dampen the front of my tights. It never rained hard on me this morning, and I was only splashed by an oncoming car once on my way to work. As a result, I have yet to really test the new rain cape. Oh, well. I have it in the pack, ready to use if it gets wet for my trip home. It's supposed to be windy tomorrow, and as I'm driving anyway (have to go teach tomorrow evening, too), my next ride to work day would be Thursday anyway.

Last night was the first class of Park Tool School for this session. It's a great group of students, some of whom already have some experience repairing their own bikes. I've heard the expression, "a plan never survives through its execution," or some such, meaning that plans get altered in mid-use. Such was the case last night--we went through much more material than I expected. That's okay, it gives us more time for the coming work, that is a bit more "hands on," and more time consuming. Part of the reason is that everyone in the class had changed tires before, and I didn't have to spend as much time on that as the course outline allotted.

The whole thing about teaching is that it's a learning process. If I don't learn something, I'm not doing a good job teaching.

Tool School starts today

I am teaching the Park Tool School hosted by Bluegrass Bicycle in Crestwood this month. We are doing two sessions, limited to six students the first time and perhaps eight the second time. The first session starts tonight.

As a result, I will be going directly from work to the store (with a side trip to collect Jenn from her workplace). Drat that I will need my truck to make the time work, and didn't get to ride to work today. I should get to ride tomorrow, however, so I brought some freshly-laundered clothes to wear on ride-to-work days.


Apparently my average speed for the weekend's rides made someone jealous. My commuting speeds have not been stellar at all, and the nature of my riding over the last couple months (almost exclusively commuting) has been short, slow rides rather than long fast rides. It was no surprise that I was unable to keep a pace I used to maintain with relative ease, but it remained frustrating. I also observed that my stamina has gone away--I can go hard for a mile or so, but then I'm done for a few miles, instead of being able to go well for lots of miles. Hopefully this will come back as the season gets going. I plan to do RAIN again this year and want to do well.


In yet other news, a friend in Pennsylvania earned a spot on an eight-person team to compete in Race Across America this summer. He sent me (among others) an email, inviting folks who want to crew for this event. I am not able to do so, but Jenn jumped at the chance. She did the telephone interview with the team manager last night, and is now listed as one of the utility people on the crew. Her responsibilities will include team laundry, off-route support (grocery shopping, parts chasing, etc), and fill-in for other team members as needed--one of those "other duties as assigned and needed" spots. She is excited and apprehensive about it. It's very cool for her to be part of something like this. It's also cool for me, as I'll have an inside scoop on some of the goings-on of RAAM this year. I will try to get up to Annapolis for the finish, at the very least.

Two days in a row

Two days in a row! I've done two club rides this weekend on the blue flame Strada. It feels good to be out on the bike, even though my average speed was only 16.3 for the fifty or sixty club miles I rode.

I won't get to ride to work Monday. I'm typing this taking a break from preparing for a class I'm teaching. I also have an essay for the club newsletter that I need to finish. As it stands, it's terribly disjointed--there is no flow from one point to the next, much like my blog posts.

And one of the cats is glowering at me from her perch on the monitor...I'd better get back to work.

Club riding

I finally have gotten back on the blue bike for a club ride, after too long away from it.

It seems that I am no longer ready to ride all the time the way I once was--I have to plan to ride a club ride and work other stuff around it. My cycling gear that is at the top of the drawer is more for commuting--although the clothing works well for club rides, I don't have the club ride bike specific stuff as ready to go as I once did.

I miss that.

In any case, I rode to the Yellow parking lot for Waterfront Park for the club's Saturday morning staple "slow and easy (my ass)" ride. Some take the title seriously without the parentheses, some add the parenthetical comment and use the stoplight to stoplight tango for sprint work.

I found myself riding much faster than I expected, and a tad bit faster than my legs were comfortable pedaling. Such is the point of a good workout, I suppose. I was whipped by the time I got home.

Since the ride start is almost downtown, I saw no reason to drive there.

I'm off to Crestwood to prepare for Monday evening's Park Tool School class. I don't have the energy to ride it, so I'll drive.

work to eat, eat to live, live to ride, ride to work

WooHoo! I finally got to ride to work again!

Enough ice has been removed (by natural and other means) and enough tree branches have been removed from the traffic lanes (thank you! to the crews who cleared Frankfort Avenue on Thursday!) that I could confidently ride to work this morning. The temperature at 0645 was in the upper 20sF, and the high today should get into the upper 40sF.

I have two layers of cycling clothes for getting to work, and cargo room to haul one of those layers home without having to wear it.

I rode the Raleigh today. Aside from some mild discomfort in my right hand and some "reluctance to cooperate" from my legs, I was fine. Made good time, despite the leg lethargy. The right hand soreness is from spending time chipping ice around the apartment building yesterday. It will go away when it goes away.

Jenn rode to her bus stop this morning, for the second day in a row. I may have to get her a rain cape like mine soon, as she will go rain or shine with her multi-modal commute.

Uh-oh

Although it is too cold at the moment for me to consider riding my bike to work today, I got another reminder of why I'm always glad my commute goes the opposite direction of the suburb-to-downtown rush in the mornings.

A tug pushing fifteen barges loaded with coal hit the I-64 bridge linking Indiana and Kentucky this morning. Appropriately, the Coast Guard had the police departments of both states close the bridge to all motor traffic until an inspection can be made to verify that the bridge will remain intact. We don't need to see another bridge collapse under heavy traffic. We'd rather not see the bridge closed at all, but it's much easier to pay the bill for repairs if there are no lives lost, to say nothing of the impact such a disaster would have on our neighbors.

Seeing the traffic backed up on I-65 beyond sight lines made it clear to me just how much we depend on our bridges. It reinforces the justification for building another bridge on the east end of our metro area. Even if we had that bridge in service now, we would have a huge traffic problem, but it would be slightly less problematic than it is now.

With a forecast low tonight in the mid-20s, I may be able to ride to work tomorrow. I would like to ride, but am wary of the inconsistent ice clearing that has been done so far, among other things (salt, cinders, tree debris...) that I will have to dodge. We'll see.

I try to keep work stuff out of here, but this time, I need to vent a bit.

I "manage" an apartment building that is occupied mostly by folks with lower incomes. Some are on housing assistance (among other aid programs), some getting by "by the skin of their teeth."

It's tough to talk about the tenant I have in mind right now, as I have to honor his privacy rights.

Sometimes, though, being a property manager includes being a bit of a social worker. I have no social work training, as such, although I am and try to be human and humane. I've been through some rough spots myself, so I know a little of what my tenant feels. I won't claim to know his whole situation, of course, but it saddened me to see him feeling so bad. He's terribly afraid.

Hopefully he can get to a better mood soon. I hate to see him in bad shape. He's a good guy, and deserves some help from the world.

Officiousness

I had my first "Ex-Com" meeting yesterday, a five-plus hour marathon session that I'm told will be the only long meeting of the year. Most of the rest of the meetings are likely to be ten to twenty minutes in duration. Half will be after club general meetings.

On the agenda were things like the club budget for the coming year, what external events the club will support and how, what shape my education program will take, budgets and policies for various efforts within the club and what other agencies and groups are doing to promote cycling in the area.

As a result, I didn't get to ride any yesterday, although I know of a few folks who did.

I had to haul 250# of ice-removal salt from the main warehouse this morning, so I drove. Since I was less distant than usual from the appliance parts supplier, I picked up a couple orders that were waiting for us there as well. The forecast lows are such that I doubt I'll want to ride again until at least Wednesday, but it looks like Thursday and Friday show some promise. Hopefully some of the snowmelt will have a place to go rather than remain on the driving surfaces.

Forecast for today is cloudy weather, but I see sunshine at the moment. Hopefully it will last a while. This is much more conducive to getting rid of the ice than the forecast we were given late last week, which predicted four to five inches of snow on top of the mess we have.

The current number of folks without electricity has dropped to 56,000, from over 600,000 at some point last week. The problems remaining still involve a lot of downed trees, to say nothing of the tree limbs that fell on private property, where landowners will have to arrange for removal. Lots of folks cannot afford having such work done, so dangers will persist for months in some places. Yikes.

No cycling for a while

With the snowfall we've had, and the ice buildup, and the snowfall on top of that, and the freeze-thaw cycle making the surfaces hard and slick, and the...you get the picture.

In other words, no cycling for a while. There are too many icy spots and fallen-tree-induced bottlenecks in the travel paths.

At least I have electricity, unlike too many other folks around here. The number of people without power set a new record, on top of the record number of folks without power after the remnants of Hurricane Ike came through on September 14th.

I saw a comment online about how we had worse blizzards in 1976 and 1977, yet very few if any folks lost electricity. What that commenter failed to remember is that the snow those years was much colder, and never got above freezing. The freezing rain we had this time accumulated on things like power lines and tree branches much more heavily, breaking limbs which in turn took down power lines. Heavier snowfall, but totally different storms.

Oh, well, January is almost over. Hard to believe how fast it has seemed to go by.

Weather or not, here we go again

I'm very fortunate. I have electricity at home. We have heat.

It is not so good for many of my neighbors. Along my street, we have power. The street parallel to ours and a block north does not. They are among something like 75000 without power tonight, due to the ice and snow storm we've had over the last couple days.

The trees around here are really taking it hard. My next-door neighbor's Water Maple lost several branches today. Most of them fell in their back yard, but one landed on their roof and slid down the front face of their garage roof to the driveway. A car is in the garage, unharmed, but it won't go anywhere until someone removes the branch.

It's not that big a branch, though. When he comes home I may help him remove it. It won't take much. He didn't have time to deal with it before leaving for work this morning, and she is either off work today or got a ride to work (I didn't watch to see which).

Another couple of branches landed on their fence that borders my driveway. I heard the thump as it landed, but didn't recognize the sound. Immediately after I heard the noise, my cat rushed into the room where I was sitting at nearly full speed, having been startled by the ruckus.

I cleared that branch out of the driveway this afternoon. It didn't take long--probably ten or fifteen not-so-rushed minutes of work with a bow saw and a snow shovel. We cleared enough of the driveway to suit us, cleared the walkways, cleaned off the cars, and took some pictures of the neighborhood just for fun.

At this point, I expect I will be going to work tomorrow. I hope New Albany City offices are open, as I need some documents from them to facilitate moving a tenant into the apartments I manage, and that in turn needs to happen for this weekend if it can.

I must be getting old or something

Historically, I've been dismissive of folks who couldn't get around in snow. It isn't rocket science to drive a bit more carefully (although it seems to be, judging from the number of wrecks that happen), give a bit more room for one's own errors and the errors of others, and so on. I even made part of my living hauling folks' cars out of ditches and hauling their bent or broken cars to repair shops for a while.

Getting to work yesterday was mostly an exercise in patience--with folks who had trouble driving in a little bit of snow. Getting home had more to do with patience with poor surfaces, although dealing with incautious drivers was a factor for both trips.

By this morning, however, the snow is covered in ice. There is snow falling as I type this, and it is landing on ice. The combination is making travel treacherous at best. I spoke with my supervisor this morning, and he plans to stay home until at least lunch time. He suggested I stay home as well.

He's right--I don't want to go across either of those bridges in this. I'll call it as one of those, "discretion is the better part of valor" moments.

A couple of branches have fallen from a neighbor's tree. Neither branch seems to have effected any damage, although the noise from one caused a minor panic in one of my cats. He raced into my home "office" at roughly warp factor nine a few nanoseconds after I heard the noise. I didn't know what made the noise at first, but looked outside and saw the tree limb on the neighbor's fence. The cat is fine, now. He's purring as I type this.

safety thoughts

My friend Barry has a clear discussion of why red means stop, and why the "as soon as safe" practice advocated by some is detrimental to the safety of cyclists.

The ASAS philosophy says, among other things, that cyclists can treat a traffic light as a stop sign. If there is no other traffic affected by doing so, once the cyclists stops, he or she is free to go through the intersection. In the case of a stop sign, the cyclist is free to consider it a yield sign, not stopping, but at least being prepared to stop if there is other traffic present. Some proponents of the ASAS idea consider it quite acceptable to "thread the needle," or ride up the right side of stopped traffic. I will not do it myself, and strongly discourage the practice. It does NOTHING good for cyclists as a group. Indeed, it only serves to irritate other road users and further the notion that "all cyclists are scofflaws."

Some would say it's human nature to decide what the law should be, according to one's own interests, and obey what one thinks the law should be rather than obey the actual law. Whether it is human nature is debatable, but the effect remains, and many motorists think the law should be for bicycles to stay off the roadways, or if bicyclists insist on being on the roadway, they, the cyclists, should ALWAYS yield to motorists--motorists, in their opinion, being the ultimate road users. Some cyclists, on the other hand, take a much more militant stance than my own. I don't think I need to weigh in on this debate at the moment, but it is helpful for us as cyclists to consider their position in the interest of developing defensive cycling skills.

When I did a google search on "as soon as safe bicycle," the first link in the resulting list was this one from Bicycle Safe on how to not get hit by cars. On reading the page, I find a couple places where I would change the order of strategies they offer, but I agree with most of what is said there. I encourage readers to follow that link and have a read.


There has been some discussion among local bike safety folks over the tactic of riding "invisible." The Bicycle Safe site cited above echos my thoughts on this closely. Quoting that site: "It's often helpful to ride in such a way that motorists won't hit you even if they don't see you. You're not trying to BE invisible, you're trying to make it irrelevant whether or not drivers see you." In addition, I make myself easy to see, by a) wearing brightly colored shirts or outer layers, b) having good passive reflectors on all sides, c) having good "be seen" lights front and rear, with spare batteries aboard for each, d) riding where I'm supposed to be riding, to more easily be seen by other road users and e) having a decent "see where I'm going" light up front. Some suggest what they call "controlled erratic cycling," as a way to keep motorists from being complacent about their interactions with us. Perhaps there is some validity to this, if done in moderation. However, some are quite immoderate in such things, which again incites motorists who think that one or two examples of bicyclist behavior is the norm and therefore all cyclists should be punished over the one or two who ran a stop sign in front of them a month ago (and if you can find the logic in their position, your logical patterns are more flexible than mine).


There are a couple of caveats: I sometimes act as if a stop sign is in fact a yield sign. I am prepared to stop if there is other traffic to witness my presence. If I am second to arrive at a four-way stop, I am at least second (if not third) to leave the intersection. I stop at traffic lights. However, there is one traffic light that does not recognize bicycles where I will sometimes follow the ASAS principle. I fully realize that I'm being something of a hypocrite here. The alternatives are a) sitting at a light waiting for a motorist to trigger the left-turn light--which could take several cycles of the rest of the light--or b) going some distance out of my way. Given that the light in question is part of the one legal place to cross the Ohio River for something like fifty miles in either direction, and that it ignores my presence as not having enough metal to trigger the light, I consider this case to be one of civil disobedience--I know I could be fined over it, but am prepared to defend myself by saying the signal is faulty as it does not recognize a valid road user and needs to be repaired.

Let it snow, let it snow...

It isn't as if we could stop it from snowing.

With snow on the ground, my haul to work (in the car) was even slower than my ride to work usually is. When I arrived at my office, my supervisor was sitting at my desk, and was genuinely surprised to see me. I told him it was just a little snow, and that snowfall is measured in feet rather than inches.

He has reason to dislike driving in snow. He's been in two wrecks due to snow, and both involved injuries.

The snowfall has disrupted other things as well. UPS has some of their salaried staff on call to work at the air sort, to pick up slack caused by folks not being able to get to work. Schools are not in session today.

And all over a little snow flurry. As I mentioned, snowfall is measured in feet not in inches. Anything less than a foot is a mere flurry, and the greater inconvenience is that folks don't know how to drive in it.

That and the fact that I needed new tires for my truck a month ago.

Gloves!

Having been a weather wimp of sorts because I don't like to suit up for sub-28F temperatures, I ordered a pair of better gloves. They finally arrived today. With the threat of winter precipitation being screamed at us by the local weatherliars, what is a guy to do but the only sane option--take the gloves for a test-ride!

I took out the Raleigh, just because. Although I'm mainly a recumbent guy, I'm strangely attracted to the simplicity of the Raleigh (although anyone who has been inside a three speed hub knows they are not but so simple). I guess one thing I like about it is that it only has three speeds, and the shifter is easy to operate with heavy gloves. The gloves made a big difference over what I'd been using, and coupled with some minor strategy differences will get my threshold down to about 20F.

I'm still beset by brake gremlins, however. After years of recommending Kool Stop Salmon brake pads for all sorts of applications, I'm about done with them. They are stupidly noisy on my Ryan. The compound was, or so I heard somewhere, based on the compound used on the Scott Matthauser Superbrakes of the early 1990s. I found a few sets of the Scott Superbrake pads in my parts bins recently and figured I'd try them on the Raleigh. Yep, they stop better, even though they are fifteen years old or more. However, and especially in the cold, they are NOISY! I think I'll have to go back to the old pads on this bike for winter.

My ride was cut shorter than I'd like by my headlight. It's a 1996-vintage Vista Lite 6W Halogen set, with a lead-gel battery pack that weighs about sixty pounds (or maybe it just seems that heavy). I replaced the battery early this season, rather than buy a new light set ($24 vs $150+). Last week, I got a bit more than halfway to work and realized that a) my battery was about dead for the day and b) I had left the charger at home. I switched the flasher light to steady beam and turned off the headlight. It was getting enough lighter that I could see the road fairly well, but still needed to be seen by other road users.

Anyway, I charged the battery for a few hours that night, and again while at work the next day, totaling less than a full charge session suggested by the manufacturer so as not to over-charge the battery (it doesn't have over-fill-protection as do some of the newer batteries). Sure enough, it started going dim on me tonight, taking away some of the fun of a night ride. I suppose the temperature is a factor, but it shouldn't be dead yet!

I'll disconnect it from the charger before going to bed tonight. If the roads aren't totally fouled in the morning, I may ride to work just to do so.

Invasion of kilted guys

As I've noted before, when I'm not on a bicycle or getting ready to ride a bicycle or just have gotten off a bicycle, I'm probably wearing a kilt instead of trews. After having a sense for some years that there was something wrong with a society that won't let men wear a manly analog to a skirt without having to invest tons of money in formal Scottish hand-tailored outfits, I encountered an image of a guy wearing a Utilikilt a bit more than a year and a half ago.

I bought one, and dug around online to find out more about contemporary kilts. There is a ton of information on the web--some of which is even useful--so sure enough, I encountered a number of forums where folks who like kilts discuss things. My favorite of these is the Brotherhood of the Kilt, although I also post on the forum at XMarkstheScot.

A common thing on these forums is for members to get together for a "kilt night," which can be as simple as folks getting together for dinner and a few brews at a restaurant of someone's choosing. Some of these things run to formal wear, but I'm not a formal wear kind of guy, and BBC in St Matthews is not a formal kind of place.

We were getting ready for a group shot when Jenn took this picture:



Jenn took the group shot with another fellow's camera. Good thing, too, as it has a much stronger flash than mine.

In the course of doing weekend chores and recovering from being out too late for the gathering, I didn't get to ride on Sunday. I would have enjoyed riding with the RCCS folks, but will have to work on doing so next time.

Saturday morning

It's cloudy and cool...not cold enough to not ride, but I need to get other things done this morning. Jenn's car is making noises that we need to diagnose and perhaps fix (It's probably time for brake pads).

Another person has joined the very small list of folks who are reading this (thanks, Tex, for the shout out Friday afternoon--sorry I didn't recognize you at the time).

Tim (Tex), David and others have formed the River City Cycling Society. Their mission is to ride their rides regardless of weather, but with what appears to be an ethos similar to the one we had when the Louisville Recumbent Riders' Group was active--slowest rider sets the pace. I may ride with them from time to time, but as I'm a club officer, and doing a fair bit of teaching over the next six months or so, my fun cycling will likely be with more of a speed focus.

Their formation coincides with a recent round of unrelated commentary on the Louisville Bicycle Club's forum regarding the perception that the club riders are mostly "hammerheads." I may share some expanded thoughts on this perception and its causes at some point.

I wish these folks well, and look forward to riding with them some. My own experience was that folks had a great deal of fun, for a while, but eventually moved on to other interests. Some of our riders opted to ride LBC rides at faster paces, some have all but disappeared after following newer interests. The core of RCCS is folks who ride almost daily and who are dedicated year-round riders, so I expect their results will differ from mine.

TWO DAYS IN A ROW!

It's a sign of the season (and general mood) that I find getting to ride to work two days in a row something to celebrate. My self-imposed weather minimums have prevented my riding too often of late.

I guess it means I'm not a "hard core" utility cyclist, at least by some standards, but that's okay. My commute is longer than some, shorter than others, but I ride when I'm comfortable doing so and when my time constraints allow.

I'll have several days in February that I'll almost have to drive, simply because I have places to be soon after the day gig. I'm teaching a bike maintenance class in Crestwood (actually there will be two sessions of this class). In March, I will be teaching an introductory course on four occasions. In May, I will begin teaching the LBC's "New Rider Clinics, which will go all summer.

Hopefully I will get to ride some this year...

Good day to ride!

I got to ride to work today! YAY!

I was even a few minutes early, despite rolling out a few minutes later than I like. I rode the Raleigh today, and was pleased at the amount of time I spent in direct gear (as opposed to indirect or overdrive, the other two options on a Sturmey-Archer hub). I've been thinking about getting a slightly larger cog for this hub, as I rarely use top gear with the current gearing and find indirect a bit high for my preferences (I like to pedal at 85-95 rpm most of the time). The morning low temperature of 25F didn't feel as cold today for some reason, and didn't sap my strength as is usually does. While not speedy, I did not feel sluggish. I don't have a speedometer on this bike, and don't have plans to install one, so I don't have a handle on just how fast or slow I'm going.

As I rode toward downtown from home, I encountered another cyclist. Dana works at one of the hospitals in the medical district and was on her way to work. She had not heard of Bicycling for Louisville or the Utility Bike list server, but was interested in the resources and shared ideas she could find. She also sounded interested in the upcoming Bike Summit once I made her aware of it.

That she hadn't heard about the Summit already pointed out to me that the efforts to include more folks haven't been as successful as I'd like. I'll have to make some noise with the powers that be to let them know of gaps in the media coverage.

The day after...

...and the nation is still abuzz over the new President. I got to watch the Inauguration at a friend's house, among several friends. The Inaugural Address was suitably somber, without taking a lot of cheap shots at prior administrations (though there were many that could have been taken, and a few that WERE taken). It is pretty amazing to think of 1.5 MILLION people being there for the events of the day, not to mention the millions more watching from afar.

Regardless of one's personal political leanings (and I think mine are pretty clear), it was an impressive spectacle.

But otherwise, life goes on. I'm not set up to ride in sub-25F weather, so I've not been on a bike much of late. As noted in prior post, I am officially the VP Education of the Louisville Bicycle Club, and my first Ex-Com meeting will be next weekend (yay! I think...).

As a member of the Executive Committee, I am already aware of some of the planning for local cycling events. I attended a meeting on one such event today, and am excited about the opportunity it presents the community. I am not sure how much has been made public, and I don't want to speak out of turn on the plans, so I'll simply leave it at suggesting you leave your calendar open for the weekend two weeks after the Mayor's Ride on Memorial Day. Also keep in mind that the Masters' Nationals bicycle racing events will be in Louisville a couple weeks later.

On a more personal note, Jenn did her first multi-modal trip to and from work today. We did a fair bit of work to her bike over the long weekend, and I mentioned to her that it's a good idea to test-ride a bike after doing so much work to it. We never made the test-ride happen, and she got to learn the value of the check ride when she got off the bus this morning. No injuries, but we had to replace the quick release skewer for the rear wheel.

And it looks like I'll get to ride to work Thursday!

snow what?

My employer considers today a holiday, so I'm at home instead of at work. Jenn has to work today, but is off tomorrow to help her daughter with some things and go to a lunch celebrating the Inauguration of our President.

Part of me wants to come up with some sort of deep thoughtful comments on the pairing of today and tomorrow--the day we celebrate the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. and the day we inaugurate our first President of African-American heritage. Through the campaign process, I didn't think about Mr. Obama as African-American. I thought of him as human first, as I was raised and continue to believe that we are of but one race--human. The color of our skin should not matter, although it does to some folks. Our names matter greatly--it is our identity, after all--but that his name is not one found in WASP name lists should not matter at all. It doesn't to me. It certainly doesn't imply that he's a terrorist, as some would have us believe.

In any event, he has a tough job ahead of him--convincing those who voted against him that we ALL need to work hard to overcome the legacy of his predecessor. World opinion of the US DOES matter--we must trade with global partners after all. Isolationism is not an option, although it seems some who clamor for ignoring what the world thinks of us also rush to buy the latest imported trash at Mal-Wart.

It's a mess. I can't fix it alone, so I do what I can to make my life and the lives of those around me a little better than they might otherwise be. I try to buy locally, I use less gasoline than I might, I encourage kindness.

While it is not a significant accumulation, there is snow on the ground. It's the first time I've seen snow since moving to this house I so enjoy. It's time to go take some pictures. Later on I might go for a bike ride.

Annual Club Banquet

It is now official: I have been elected as the Louisville Bicycle Club Vice President for Education.

I simply have to not be officious.

I ran unopposed for the slot. It's a volunteer position, meaning I don't get money but get to work a LOT for the good of cycling in our community. I've done a lot of the "nuts and bolts" work before--I am a League Cycling Instructor, and have been involved in the Club's education programs for several years in one capacity or another. Now I get to be "behind the scenes" more, and participate in Club Executive Committee meetings, receive email through the Club web site, be privy to all sorts of scandalous information on what the club is doing--in short, an enviable position. Yeah, right. If it's so enviable, how come nobody else ran?

The guys who had held the post before me did very good jobs. I hope I can honor their work by continuing it, and do well on my own scale.

Otherwise, the banquet was fun. We got to socialize a good bit before and after. The food was banquet fare--nothing to cause excitement, but nothing poisonous, either. They didn't have beer (although they had a couple of options of canned swill masquerading as beer).

It was the first time for me to wear my latest kilt. My mother made me one for the recent gift-giving holiday, and it's just too nice to wear to work on a daily basis as I do with most of my contemporary kilts. It turned out nicely, and I'm happy to have it.

Jenn also spent some time today modifying a sport coat I'd found at a thrift store to make it a kilt jacket. It's now a couple inches shorter overall, and the hem approaching the placket (if a jacket has a placket, or if that's the right term) curves more to accommodate the sporran. She did a great job, and the jacket looks good with the new kilt. If folks are eager to see pictures, I'll add one in here somehow.

Since I've gotten a vote for pictures, I'll show one:

Here's to today's heroes!

We have several heroes to thank today.

First, the pilot and copilot of the airliner in New York. You've no doubt seen the reports--Airbus took off, encountered a double bird strike and lost power in both engines, pilots landed the thing on the river in a manner that allowed all souls aboard to exit the plane in a semi-orderly fashion with no loss of life (save for the birds that had the horrible luck to fly into the path of the jet).

Second (through, I don't know--a bunch), the firefighters who are busy as I type this clearing up not one but two very bad fires on opposite sides of town this morning. Pictures on the Courier-Journal's site show them with visors coated with ice to the point that vision is not possible without risk of eye damage. The fires were both so severe that by the time crews arrived, they had to fight both from outside the buildings rather than stay inside. From what I've read so far, most of the damage is limited to the involved building on each site--the crews were able to protect surrounding buildings from severe damage.

Oh, and did I mention that the ambient temperature was about 0? Fahrenheit, that is. Darned cold to be throwing water at a fire.

...and too darned cold for me to ride a bike today.

Too cold to ride

Since the weather (a topic on everyone's mind) is too cold for me to ride, I've not had much to say about riding this week. One friend rode to work yesterday, and part way home, only to find that the combination of weather and idiot motorists was more than he was willing to tolerate. I certainly don't hold that against him--I didn't even get on my bike.

On the other hand, I drove out to Crestwood to work on a customer's bike, and picked up more parts for Jenn's commuter rig. Next thing to do is move it and some tools inside so that she can work on it in the relative comfort of the house--my garage is not heated.

I don't expect to ride my bike for a few days yet. I don't have the right cycling gear for sub-zero wind chill ratings.

Jenn's mother expressed some concern over my habit of wearing kilts when I'm not cycling or doing other cycling-related stuff, especially in the cold weather we're experiencing. I tried to be polite when I mentioned that my job at the bike shop was the first one I'd had as an adult that didn't involve extended periods of time outdoors in all manner of weather--I worked for a bit more than nine years at UPS as a ramp rat, driving Tugs, fueling aircraft for two of those years, loading and unloading aircraft cargo decks and the like. I know how to dress for weather when I need do so. I choose to not dress for the combination of sub-25F temps and cycling, but am quite capable of dealing with sub-zero temps for hours at a time if I need to be.

Cold morning

...but not as bad as what's on the horizon for later this week.

I was having trouble getting motivated for work this week. Some days, I come to work to have an excuse to ride my bicycle a while. I had some stuff to do at the Liberty Street office, which made my timing such that I got to enjoy the colorful morning sky as a crossed the bridge.

Weather is supposed to turn foul again tonight and for the rest of the week. I hope to ride some, but I'll have to make the calls on a daily basis. Barry's blog entry for Friday is a nice outline of the decision tree.

On the "Jenn's commuter bike" front: I'm using this bike to teach her how to do her own repairs and tuning. In time, I want to teach her how to teach the stuff, with an eye toward having her able to teach some intro to intermediate courses for women. For now, she's doing an overhaul on her "new" 1980s-vintage Peugeot commuter rig. She cleaned and repacked the crank and headset bearings Sunday. She will repack the wheel bearings this week some time, install a replacement derailleur and shifters, and mount the rack, lights and fenders over the coming week or so. She is excited, as she will then be able to get to work using one bus instead of doing a transfer (that takes a lot of time unless the planets align perfectly), and have the ability to ride the bike home instead of the bus when weather permits.

Another week has come and gone

It was not the best week for cycling to work. I did get to ride to work twice, though. My hopes for riding Friday were dashed by a lunch meeting that was announced on Thursday--I wasn't really ready for an extra round trip over the bridge that day, and as I mentioned, the low Friday morning was a bit below my usual minimum.

I wound up driving out to the bike shop after work to work on a bike that had been damaged in the owner's garage. It's amazing what a slight bump from a car can do to a bicycle frame. The bike needs a new wheel in addition to the cold-re-forging of the rear frame triangle. I also collected parts for a wheel set ordered by another customer. I found out today that the customer had intended to build the wheels himself, but was discouraged from doing so by the shop owner--who himself has not mastered the technique--in favor of having me build them. I got them laced at home this morning, only to find that the spoke nipples are an odd size for which I do not have the correct wrench. Took them to the shop and did what needed doing there in the afternoon, and while at the shop, started buying parts and accessories for Jenn's commuter rig.

I mentioned her "new/old" bike in another post here. She bought an early-1980s Peugeot mixte frame ten-speed bike that frankly looks like the ancestor to today's hybrid bikes. Like me, Jenn loves her recumbent bike, but also like my 'bents, her 'bent won't fit on the TARC bus bike racks, and she wants that "multi-modal" option for her commute. Today's haul included a scrapped derailleur for pulleys for her existing one, a rear rack, some fenders, a light set, dual-use pedals, and a few cold-weather clothing items. She'll do a guided tune-up on the bike tomorrow and we'll install the rack and fenders so that if weather permits, she can start biking to the TARC route this week. She is excited about this--if the weather is decent, she can ride all the way home from work, and use the "Bikes on Board" feature of TARC buses to get to work clean and fresh. Very cool, indeed.

One of those days

I woke up more-or-less on time this morning, but simply could not get motivated to get out of bed and start on the morning pre-work rituals. I did most of them, but slowly. My legs were telling me that they would not relish the ride to work today, so I drove.

David posted last night under the title "Commuting by bicycle-a love/hate relationship." He didn't delve deeply into the topic, mentioning that he doesn't hate anything about the cycling part of commuting, but allowing that he dislikes "closed-minded idiots." He's right: closed-minded idiots can ruin anything (if we let them).

Like David, I enjoy (or at least try to enjoy) my bike rides to and from work (and most of my errand-running bike riding is enjoyable, to boot). Sometimes, I have to work to find the fun part--during yesterday's ride, part of the fun was imagining the reactions I was getting from motorists seeing some guy on a bike in the blowing snow. Sometimes it's even harder.

On my ride home from work yesterday, I was almost blown over by a gust of wind. This has not happened to such a degree in several years, and was all the more surprising because the wind gusts were forecast to only be twenty-five knots or so. On the other hand, I was on my Raleigh, and as I may be a bit large for that bike (judging from how far the seat post is out of the frame), I sometimes feel a bit more precarious atop it than I ever feel on my 'bents. As I approached the Clark Bridge, I noted that the flags by the Southern Indiana Tourism agency at the foot of the bridge were almost straight out from their poles, and opted to walk my bike (on the sidewalk) rather than ride across. I spent more time getting across this way, but felt far safer doing so. At times, gusts were pushing me around more than I like as I walked, so I don't feel bad about my decision. I was not in the mood to get blown over by a gust of wind just as a car came along.

The rest of my ride home was almost uneventful, the event of note being that for the second time this week, I've turned off Shelbyville Road onto St Matthews Avenue to find Jenn walking home from her bus stop at the corner. We get a chance to talk outside of the home this way, and it's fun.

Wet weather again

It wasn't precipitating when I left the house this morning. The forecast was for 30% chance of snow. I was only mildly surprised, then, when I was partway to the main office and it started snowing. I decided that by the time I turned around, went home, changed clothes, and drove to work, it would take too long, and I wasn't doing bad as it was, so I kept riding.

It was just flurries at first, of course, and the temperature felt warm enough that it would only get the streets damp instead of icy. I stopped at the Liberty Street office for my agency to process some paperwork, then got back on the bike for the rest of my trip to my New Albany office. The mild discomfort of riding the Raleigh instead of the Ryan was offset by imagining the thoughts of motorists--"There goes some nutcase on a bicycle! In THIS weather!"

I may have mentioned before that I don't mind riding in snow flurries. The water involved doesn't seem to get me as wet as rain does at the same ambient temperature. Still, my experience this morning was encouraging, as I now have less fear of hypothermia for my commute. I have to remind myself sometimes that with my body mass, it takes a while to have that sharp a drop in core temperature. As long as I don't have a problem that keeps me still for a long time, I should do fine.

I tend to wear thin light layers for riding. One of my reasons for not riding in temperatures below 25F or so is that I don't want to put on that many layers to have a bike ride. I have some thicker layers at home, but am reluctant to use them because I sweat freely in the thin layers I already use, and I don't want to deal with thicker layers saturated with sweat if I can get the thinner layers to evaporate the sweat. It seems that I just need to do some more experimentation so that I can determine how what I have works, and follow the advice of the Nike commercials.

Just do it.

The weather for the next couple days looks better, precipitation-wise. It's supposed to get chilly tonight, making me less excited about riding tomorrow morning, but we'll see. Maybe I can find a pair of gloves at the house that are warmer than what I have been using.

Rationalizing things

I drove to work today. The rain gave me reason to rethink riding for one day. My commute is a bit less than an hour, and with temperatures in the low to mid-thirties, rain brings a threat of hypothermia that I wasn't willing to face down. This time.

We all have our weather minimums--some won't ride if it's below 60 outside, some will ride in sub-zero weather. I don't know why I'm fussing at myself for having my own limits and knowing them and working within them. At some levels, it feels like I wimped out on riding today.

On the other hand, I would NOT have enjoyed the ride to work today, nor the cleanup once arriving at work. I got to enjoy an extra few minutes of solitude before leaving the house, and an extra minute in the morning shower. I still got to work a bit early. I won't be tired from hurrying home on the bike when I go to trainer tour tonight.

I'll be fine.

I may even get to ride tomorrow. Weather permitting.

following blogs

I have followed a couple blogs for a while, and added another today. The first two I put on my list are local folks--one I've known for several years, and one I met through an email list server for local utility cyclists. Through reading comments on these blogs, I've encountered a few other bloggers (if that's the term--I'm woefully behind on the lingo). One such person is rebuilding an old Fuji, and is relating some of the fun being had on that project. As the owner of an older bike, and the partner to a woman with an almost-as-old bike, AND as a former bike shop service manager, such projects always intrigue me. I really enjoy seeing people willing to put effort into getting on bikes.

When I worked in the shop, I often discouraged people who wanted to revitalize such bikes, or at least who wanted to pay me to do so. The expression I often used was along the lines of, "If you went to sell this at a garage sale, you could get $15. If you put $125 into fixing it, including tuning, tires, tubes, cables and brake pads, you could get $50 for it at a garage sale."

It's different, though, when one does the work instead of hiring it done by a shop. It becomes a much more satisfying experience--one that builds self-confidence, even, especially if it's the first time one does such a thing. Most of that $125 figure I mentioned was labor, too, so the cost comes down a bit. Another factor is that the bike is not likely to be sold right away--if one puts that sort of time and energy into it, the bike will probably get used more or there is an emotional attachment to the bike for some other reason (equally valid, I must add). I reaquainted myself with this phenomenon as I reworked and modified my Raleigh over the last few months. I figure on using Jenn's new-to-her old bike as a teaching tool to help her learn about fixing bikes. I know from experience that she will enjoy that opportunity to learn and do stuff.

Monday, Monday

Looking at the forecasts, I may or may not get to ride later this week. I am not quite set up for riding in rain at near-freezing temperatures. I ordered a rain cape the other day, so that may change in the not-too-distant future. I'll have to do some experimenting with it once it arrives to judge my willingness to use it.

Given that I've ridden in slightly colder weather than we have this morning, I had no excuse for not riding today. Jenn left shortly before I did, as she was catching the bus for her return to work (she was off work the whole of last week). It felt good to ride, too.

I'm finding it interesting that while my Ryan is faster than the Raleigh, I enjoy something about riding the Raleigh. This is weird for me, as I've been a hard-core recumbent enthusaist for a long time. The Raleigh has been an interesting experience for me, to be sure. The rain cape mentioned above will only work for me on the Raleigh, for example. It's one of the few bike-specific accessories I've bought (not counting bike-specific parts like saddle and rims). Almost all of my other gear is utile on either commuter bike.

On other topics:

Jenn bought a commuter bike Friday. She found a Peugeot at Goodwill for $50 or so. On inspection, the tires, tubes, brake pads, and cables seem sound. The largest repair issue is that both jockey pulleys are broken. Since it is a 1980s-vintage Simplex derailleur, I don't know whether the easily-available Shimano pulleys will work. If not, a replacement derailleur won't be hard to install. Over the coming month or three, we'll get fenders, a rack, lights and better pedals to upgrade the bike from its current state to commuter rig. I'll probably mount a different set of shifters as well, as the current down-tube shifters are less-than-ideal and thumb shifters are easier to use and easy to obtain.

We got the LG&E bill over the weekend, and almost took the bike back. $50 or so for the electric portion, but over $250 for the gas to heat the house for a month. Wow. We now have some ceramic heaters to warm areas we are using without having to heat the whole house as much. I'm willing to take the trade of doubling the electric bill if we can halve the gas bill.

Back to town, back to work, back on the bike

I managed to get away for a few days over the holly-daze. It was good to see my grandmother, good to share some of my home-state haunts with my girlfriend and good to be home.

I rode the Bicycle Club's Polar Bear ride on the 1st, so was on my bike for the first time in about two weeks. I rode the Bacchetta, just in case I needed to keep up with a few folks. I got to ride with Earl Jones, the club president, and talked with him about my goals as VP Education, a post to which I expect to be elected in a couple weeks.

I have a busy year ahead of me. In addition to being the presumptive (although hopefully not presumptuous) VP Education for the Louisville Bicycle Club, I will be teaching some classes at Bluegrass Bicycle based on the Park Tool School curriculum. Another shop in the area is offering some free clinics, but I suspect the instruction will be cursory at best. We plan to offer an Intermediate course developed by Park Tools, and will offer more detailed modules from the Advanced course as staff timing permits. The schedule is not yet finalized, but will be posted soon. The LBC is involved in the Bike Summit II coming up in February, and I will be part of that process. I will be primary instructor for the LBC "New Rider" clinics from early May until the end of August.

But I've also had a chance to start the new year off right: I rode the Vanguard to work today. I finally took the time to correct a noisy brake issue that had been frustrating me, and the bike is once again a joy to ride. While I was in bike-fixing mode, I installed a different batch of brake pads on the Raleigh in hopes of gaining some stopping power on that bike. It stops better, but I need to tweak the pad alignment a bit to reduce noise from THAT bike now. In any event, the Vanguard has more load capacity, and I needed to carry some clothing items and other odds and ends to work after having been away for a week.

It's good to be back on the bike.

Despite the recent record-high temperatures, I've been off my bike recently. Why? I've been out of town for a few days, visiting my grandmother. She and my grandfather (my father's parents) have been a source of stability in my life. They bought their house in 1947, and she lives there still (my grandfather died in February of 2006). My trips east have been too few of late--a function of lack of resources and lack of vacation time--but it was good to get back. I plan to attend the Louisville Bicycle Club's New Year's Day ride tomorrow, and if weather cooperates ride to work for my return to the working world Friday.

traffic lights

A friend's blog had comments a few weeks ago about stop light timing and its effect on average traffic speeds in the downtown area. I was thinking about this post during some recent travels downtown, as some of the streets I travel on a regular basis are within the grid of the timed lights. However, while many of the one-way streets are synchronized, some of the intersecting two-way streets are not so well-organized. Perhaps a better way to put it would be that they are, indeed, synchronized, but in such a way that guarantees one has to stop for each light.

I'm referring more to streets in the eastern section of the grid--Campbell, Wenzel and Shelby come to mind--on which I travel fairly often, but on which I must stop for almost every light and wait a LONG time for a green. It's also hard to do the "as soon as safe" departure from a traffic light, as motorists almost willfully misunderstand the maneuver and rail at that cyclist who just blew the light. Or, as has happened, I start out to follow another motorist through the intersection, only to have that motorist stop suddenly to offer me safe passage!

Examples

In an earlier post, I mentioned that keeping a blog has been viewed by some as egocentric behavior--why does anyone else care what I'm writing about my own life? I've been thinking about this in conjunction with why I write about my bike to work efforts as well. I mentioned accountability in that same post as one factor--seeing my own efforts described online later on encourages me to continue, and knowing I'm keeping track of my own efforts and having that record where others can see it...well, it starts getting fuzzy from there.

A bit less than three years ago, my grandfather passed away, after gracing us with ninety-four years of his company (well, I only got to enjoy forty-five years of that, but...). A few weeks later, I typed out some thoughts relative to one of the many lessons I learned from him. Here is a link to that piece. The gist of the thing still holds. I'm making my point about riding by riding. Writing (or blogging) about it is beside the point, but it helps me want to ride more, and is therefore a good thing for me to do.

Even I admit that it's cold

Historically, I have been one of those disgusting people who didn't get cold. In high school, my band director nicknamed me, "Old Anti-Freeze" after I arrived at school one morning wearing a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, no coat, and not complaining about the cold at all. It was about 6 degrees Fahrenheit that morning.

However, in one of what I suppose is one of those "as we get older" things, my metabolism hasn't supported that ability as much. I'm noticing a much more pronounced dislike for cold weather than has been my norm this year.

One result of this is that I'm not even a little bit interested in riding a bicycle if the temperature is below freezing. I've worked on it a bit this year, and managed with temperatures in the mid-twenties, but once it's below 25, I'm done with riding outdoors. I don't want to put on enough layers of clothing to be able to ride. It's that simple.

Small wonder that I didn't ride to work today, with the morning low about 5F and wind chill readings in the -8 or -10F range. Tomorrow's weather doesn't look to be an improvement, as it is supposed to snow early in the day, with the snow turning to rain as the temperature gets above freezing.

The holly-daze season is also going to be a factor for me. Holiday family gatherings will dominate my off-work focus for this week. Scheduling gatherings has been nightmarish--with all the split families and attendant obligations, it's hard to get everyone in one place at one time. It kind of makes me wish I didn't have so much family, but then I wouldn't have the support system I now have (nor would I be in a place to offer such support to others within the system). Add to this that I'm planning to visit relatives in Virginia soon, and my non-work time is busy.

Thursday again

Yet another day I didn't ride to work. Since I was driving, I gave my s/o a ride downtown for an appointment she had this morning. Got to work early, looked at the C-J web site, and found that a small plane had crashed this morning. The pilot died in the crash, sadly. On the positive side, the only real estate showing any damage was the golf course on which the pilot tried to land--no houses were hit. I feel bad for the pilot's friends and family.

The Holly-daze season is, of course, upon us. The holiday party at work is Friday, and I may or may not get to ride my bike tomorrow (I've been a weather wimp about riding this week--something about ice on the roads...). It's an "on the clock" thing, so I will go, and likely have a bite to eat while there, but I don't feel like I'm really a big part of the work experience for most of my coworkers, as I'm off in my own little hamlet most of the time.

Winter Storm Warning

Since folks around here have so little skill at driving on winter-weather-affected surfaces, and since I have a corporate function to attend after work this evening that requires more stuff than I'm ready to haul on my bicycle, I drove to work today. Big deal, right? Why am I putting this on my blog?

Frankly, I'm using this as a diary. I'll be able to look back on it and work toward managing my self more effectively (or not--new habits are hard to get started some times). There seems to be a lot of introspection, perhaps it's fashionable this time of year or something. Gee. Me, being fashionable. THAT's odd.

Wet Monday

What with the prognostication from the weatherliars saying something to the effect that the sky will indeed fall (or at least drop ice on us), I opted for the cage today. No need to be a target for ice-aided directionally-challenged folks on my ride home.

I will need to drive tomorrow as well, as the agency annual meeting is tomorrow evening. This event, while not overtly mandatory, is hard to not attend if I want to stay employed. The dress code is such that I am not outfitted to carry all I'll need on the bike, so I'll drive. This event will also preclude my attending the Trainer Tour, which is the last one of the month. The church where Trainer Tours are held has other plans for the room--something to do with an upcoming holiday or some such.

Fried-day again

Was able to ride to work again today. I've ridden the Raleigh quite a bit more than I expected I would, and I keep wondering why, since I've been such an avid recumbent guy for so long. Some reasons include: I haven't taken the time to completely rid the Vanguard of its rear brake squeal, and that squeal ruins much of the calm I get from riding; the Raleigh is a bit easier to get into and out of the office; it's simply different.

It has its own idiosyncratic traits, however. It has developed a noise that I have tracked to the saddle springs. The leather saddle is tearing at a couple of the rivets anyway, so I got another saddle for the bike (Yippee! I get to break in a Brooks saddle!). I'm not fully satisfied with the brakes, but given that the original brakes are center-pivot, properly-sized replacement brake sets are going to be hard to find. I have a set of the old Scott Matthauser brake pads saved from another bike I used to have and I may try them this weekend and see if they grab better.

All this working on bikes stuff makes me wonder if I need to get back into the bike shop biz full time...

Narcissism

A post on another blog got me to thinking about this topic, the sentiment being "why does the rest of the world need to know what I'm thinking?" I've given it some thought, recently and a week or six ago, and I'm still not sure I know the answer. Perhaps it's partly an online diary, so that I can go back at some point and see what I was thinking at a particular time in my life. It's partly a way to celebrate one's successes and commiserate when things don't go well, especially in our somewhat more insular society (compared to a few decades ago, or at least what we like to remember from those years). As far as my bike commuting, writing about it helps me hold myself accountable for riding instead of driving--it's a motivator toward doing what I want to do anyway.


...and I get to show off a bit.

Short work week almost over

Wow. Two articles about cycling in the C-J in three or four days--one an op-ed from Jackie Green and another an article about a new bill giving police an accountability path that is being pushed for by Bicycling for Louisville among others. Predictably, the vehement anti-bicycle chest thumpers are all over the C-J online forums, hammering on a few cycling advocates who are mostly presenting calm, reasoned, intelligent discourse.
After letting the rain convince me to not ride yesterday, I rode today. Rode to the agency office on East Liberty, then to my own office in New Albany, only to find an email, sent about the time I left the agency office, telling me to be at the agency office at 9:30 (It was about 8:55 when I saw this). Oh, and it's about a 40-minute ride from one office to the other. For the day, I will have four bridge crossings instead of my customary two.
I rode the Raleigh today, just because. It has developed a new noise that seems to be coming from the saddle--an old abused neglected Brooks B-66 that was originally worth much more than I paid for the bike. I have another saddle in reserve (another B-66, of course), and will likely install it in the next few days so that I can ask whether the old one can be repaired.
I intend to do the Trainer Tour this evening, although I don't know that I'll feel very strong.

Day off

I'm taking a couple days off work, partly to use some vacation time that I'd lose otherwise. I get to do some stuff around the house, ride a little bit, do some reading, go for another bike ride...a great day, in other words.

There is a piece in the C-J's Forum by Jackie Green today, suggesting a crackdown on irresponsible use of the roadways and encouraging folks to visit the website: www.safestreetslouisville.org. Of course, the usual hue and cry from the anti-cyclist twits is in evidence, along with some reasoned responses to the vitriol by folks who "get it." It's a shame we cannot levy extra taxation on "being a jerk." It would pay off the national debt in no time.

A bit nippy out there

I had to drive to work yesterday (well, maybe I didn't have to, but it worked out best to do so), as I needed to pick up some plumbing parts for the apartment building where I work--the parts were at a place on Bishop Lane, which is way out of my way, and I didn't have time to ride that far out of my way. I drove today, too, as I have a personal weather limit for cycling that is several degrees warmer than the temperature at the moment. I'm bummed, but I'll be okay. I at least got to ride a couple days.

I've gone to two of the LBC's Trainer Tours so far this year. Last night's session found me not ready to spin that hard. It was a tough workout, and I was lazy for too much of it. When I got home, I was tired and a bit sore, so I got some benefit from it, but it was not a fun time. I suppose it really isn't supposed to be fun, though, and I know that doing these workouts will help me when I do more club riding in the spring (and when weather and time permit over the winter). It WILL get better.

Trainer Tours

Last night was the first Trainer Tour of the season. The Louisville Bicycle Club offers 20 club miles credit for participation in this. The set-up is that folks bring their bicycles and stationary trainers for said bicycles (some folks use rollers--more on that some other time), set them up in a large room and do a cycling-specific workout to one or another in a series of videos. It's much less boring that doing such workouts alone, as there is some opportunity to socialize before, during and after the workout.

I plan to use these for "speed work," and use my regular commuting time to maintain general fitness. What I found last night was that my speed strength is way down from what it has been, despite the mileage I'm getting on my commutes. I was pondering this instead of concentrating on the workout part of the time, which may have been a factor. Oh, well, I have to start somewhere, I suppose.

Trainer Tours are Tuesday and Thursday evenings (with a few holiday exceptions) from now until the end of February (and there may be a few in March). Go to www.louisvillebicycleclub.org for details.

On another front, relating to my spill of a few weeks ago: Since I know people who know other people, my expression of outrage reached ears of folks who want to make that crossing safer for all cyclists. Ideas are bouncing around as I type this, with an eye toward painting something close enough to Uniform Traffic standards to help motorists realize that cyclists need to follow a certain path to cross the tracks safely, and help cyclists navigate that crossing safely by giving them room to do so apart from motor vehicles. More as it develops.

back to the bike

After wimping out yesterday due to wet weather and having to haul stuff, I rode this morning. I have to rush home this afternoon, so that I can participate in the LBC's "Trainer Tours" tonight. This will be my speed work for the winter time, with my commuting being my general maintenance work. At least that's the plan.

On my way to work, I sometimes count the cars that pass me on the bridge. This morning, the twenty cars that passed me waited until AFTER I had passed the mid-point (approximate--I'll call the middle expansion joint the mid-point for ease of use). Some mornings, I'll be passed by thirty or so cars, some mornings as few as fifteen. Afternoon pass counts (from pillar to pillar) usually range from thirty to fifty, with some well beyond (I don't count them on days I'm too busy riding safely in heavy traffic). I sometimes catch sight of an unusual truck as I approach the bridge and look for it when I get to the KY side to see how my speed compares to the interstate speed. Often as not, I beat folks who are in the right lane to use the exit at the end of the Kennedy bridge. Some weeks ago, I mentioned elsewhere that I got to Mellwood Avenue at Spring Street east of the old Stock Yards in time to see a truck cross the bridge over Mellwood on I-64 that I had noted as I pulled away from the old Colgate plant. I'd had to stop for no telling how many lights, but still made as good of a time for a slightly longer distance than someone using the interstate!

wet weather

I admit to not being fond of riding in wet weather. I just don't like it. At all. Coupled with near-freezing temperatures, I REALLY don't like it. While I hate to drive over that, I'd rather not get out and have no cage around me if it gets icy this afternoon, as it could if the snow in the forecast comes as predicted. Besides, I had more stuff to haul to the office than I had room for on either bike.