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.