5600!!

I took another look at my page on mycyclinglog.com the other day, to see whether it would make sense to change my mind on correcting the mileages on my commutes from the rental house. I had been listing that commute round trip at twenty-four miles, instead of whatever it really is (I've not measured it since correcting the calibration on the Vanguard). It's bound to be more than the 25.7 miles I usually log from the new house, and the correction could put me over 5700 miles for the year.

As it stands, my ride to work this morning tipped me to the 5600 mark, or would if I was tracking the ride to work and the ride home as separate trips. I'll log it when I'm home, and be satisfied with that.

I may change to logging each side of the work commute for next year, as the Louisville Bicycle Club is adding a commuting program for 2011, and counting trips as well as miles. The program is in its infancy, so we are not sure what we'll do with the data we gather. I doubt I'll win any jerseys through that program, as I don't ride as much as some others who are already likely to participate.

I do want to track use of all the bikes in the garage this year, plus keep track of how much we use any car or cars. Again, I'm not sure what if anything I will do with the knowledge I gain from doing so, but I am curious enough that I want to see what we find. I'm fairly sure I've ridden more than I've driven this year--certainly have made more trips by bike than by car--but it would be nice to know for sure.

Back to riding

The weekend weather was warm enough to get the last of the ice that was keeping me from riding to melt away. I got to ride to work today!

Of course, one of the roads I usually use was blocked for tree work, so I had to reroute a bit. Oddly enough, it was the one road that was still icy enough that I figured I would be walking a few yards here and there. The reroute had me riding on KY22 for a mile or so, but since only fifteen cars passed me in that mile (about the same number as used to pass me going across the Clark Bridge in the mornings), it wasn't horrible at all.

Indeed, I've ridden KY22 from Hurstbourne Parkway out a couple times, and despite that 22 is not my favorite road, it is not as horrible as it might be. It helps that I'm going the opposite direction compared to most of the traffic that time of day, of course. I see no reason to make a habit of going that way instead of my regular route, but once in a while it's not bad.

GAA!

The Commonwealth of Kentucky, in its infinite lack of wisdom, has chosen to offer the upper plate as an option--at no additional charge--to theocrats and other viral victims who want to flout their religion to the rest of us. Never mind that my tax dollars are going to support this nonsense, and in so doing, lend some credence to the hypochristians who think their god rules all.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution holds that the Country shall not establish a religion, or favor any one religion above any others. Kentucky's Constitution is even more strongly worded. But Governor Beshear seems to not care about this, as long as he can pander to the reactionary religionistas (some call them the Tealiban, as so many of the more vocal among them are also part of the tea party movement that is sweeping up so much enthusiasm among the lower-minded).

At least they are not desecrating my license plate option. Speaking of which, I've learned that I can get a Share the Road plate personalized! The link I cited shows you how yours would look if you personalized it.

At least I can think of a positive way to end a blog post--I can order a personalized STR plate!

That was the week that was...icy

I've driven to work all week. I missed the Car-Free Happy Hour last night, mostly because I didn't feel up to riding on what I expected would be hard-to-see ice spots on my way home, with the inevitable motorist right behind me following too close to avoid running right over top of me should I lose lateral traction and fall.

I've driven over a good portion of my usual cycling route (and looked at some I've chosen not to drive, since I don't have tire chains or studded tires on my truck), and found that at least a mile of it remains ice-covered. I don't have a bike with ice studs in the tires.

The temperatures haven't been that bad for riding--mostly above my last-season threshold of 20F--but I've chosen to not risk riding on ice. I only need two more round trips to work and back to break that 5600-mile mark, anyway. Maybe I can get those rides in next week if things melt off some over the weekend.

To soothe my psyche, Jenn and I ate at Taj Palace on Goose Creek Road last night. YUM. We had a chance to talk over some family stuff, and that was good.

The icy roads in our neighborhood have prompted me to wonder whether I could find YakTrax to fit the dog. I bought a pair for Jenn and a pair for myself a few years ago, and find them indispensable at times like these, when the precipitation melts and refreezes, leaving a nice, smooth layer of glare ice on top of whatever is already on streets, driveways, sidewalks and such. The poor dog couldn't walk on some of the driveways we normally encounter on our walks. This morning, his sense that he could walk on snow got challenged as the ice layer was strong enough that he wasn't crunching through easily. I would really prefer that he NOT hurt himself trying to walk on ice. The UltraPaws Traction boots we got him earlier in the week are not much good on glare ice.

A fellow whose name I like so well I let other folks call me by it came in this morning and ordered three bikes for his daughters. That also helps my day!

Yeah, I drove

It doesn't take but so much for me to rationalize driving to work: In today's case, a sheet of ice on the street in front of my house, roughly a quarter-inch thick, did the trick. I don't have any bicycles equipped with ice-savvy treads.

I think my friend David has studded tires on his LHT, and I'm going to watch his blog to see whether he rode today and how other traffic managed around him.

Given the condition of my own street *, I figured that Rollington Road and Houston Lane would be dicey for two-wheel travel. I drove Jenn to work, then traveled LaGrange Road to Crestwood, so I haven't seen Westport Road today. Considering the condition of LaGrange Road in and near Anchorage, I would have had to allow an extra half-hour for dealing with slick spots.

*The City of Lyndon, to whom I pay property taxes as a homeowner, saw fit to send a snowplow of some sort down our street (even though it's a dead-end), judging from the "footy prints" and plow spoor I saw beside the roadway. If the snow had been deeper, I would have been okay with this. As it is, I think doing so only exposed the sheet of ice that had developed as the road surface cooled to below-freezing temperatures after the rain we had before it got cold enough to snow. When I walked the dog this morning, I was skating around quite a bit (so was the dog, which was a form of entertainment for both of us judging from his activity level). When Jenn and I left the house, we saw a car in a ditch a block or so away, at the outside of a curve in the road. It looked as if the driver had misjudged his ability to manage his car on the slick road. I would have stopped to help him--I even have a towing strap in my truck--but I knew I wouldn't have enough traction to pull his car out of the ditch.

Whew! An assortment of mile markers!

Yesterday's ride to work nudged me over the 5500 mile mark for the year! Since I rode the Raleigh to work a couple days this week, the YTD mileage on that bike is now over 1000. By the time I get home tonight, the Vanguard will have over 3300 miles on it for the year. I got over the 3500 mark for riding to and from work last week some time. Based on the tags I use in mycyclinglog.com's system, I have used bicycles instead of cars for over 4000 miles this year.

Wowsers! That's pretty cool. I'm not car-free, but I've sure had a good time riding instead of driving!

All this has led me to think about how much driving the typical American does in a year. For a couple years in the 1990s, I was driving over twenty-five thousand miles a year, mostly getting to and from two or three jobs a week in far-flung areas (I lived in Old Louisville, worked as a ramp-rat at UPS at night and doing construction work in Oldham County, eastern Jefferson County and parts of Shelby County during the day, plus odd-jobs here and there all over town). In those days, I probably put two or three thousand miles a year on whatever car I had in out-of-town travels (vacations and such), so twenty-two thousand local miles a year--a LOT of miles.

Many folks drive because they have far-flung activities they need to manage--either their own or of their kids. Or, perhaps, they have far-flung activities because they drive to them, instead of choosing to create activities closer to home (say, within cycling distance). Many homes are in subdivisions with one exit (or maybe two, depending on zoning issues). Some of these subdivisions are way outside the Watterson Expressway, and the residents work downtown, and get to "enjoy" clogging the Interstates every morning and afternoon, losing more time to each other than any of them do to me in months of passing me out on the roads I ride. People drive to work, drive home, then drive to a restaurant, or to shop, or to a movie, or whatever. They seem to think nothing of driving.

I wonder whether that's part of their problem with me as a cyclist. They just don't really think about cycling as an alternative to their habitual driving everywhere for everything. They see bikes (or more accurately, bicycle-shaped objects) sold in stores like Mal-Wart's toy section, and think of bikes as toys or at best fitness gear like a home gym (and think bikes should be used in narrowly-defined places, OUT OF THE WAY of their own travels). They don't think of what the authors of blogs like Copenhagenize call "citizen cyclists," those who ride because it's quicker, easier, safer and more enjoyable than motoring within a given radius, and who don't dress just for riding, but ride in whatever clothes they are wearing for work, shopping, socializing and such.

It is all about one's choices.

Part of my choice in where I bought a house was "can I ride to what I want to do, and can we ride to our jobs readily from here?" Part of my choice in my line of work is that I can use my job as a bully pulpit to encourage others to ride instead of driving. Part of choosing where I shop for groceries is how easy it is to get there from home by bike.

I am pretty sure we will track truck miles, but I haven't decided how I'm going to track the miles we put on the truck this coming year. I'm thinking that it would be interesting to have that information, and then figure out what to do with it, and how it compares to the bike mileages. I may see about getting Jenn to track her miles, too, just to see where that goes.

Car Free Happy Hour this coming Thursday!

It's that time again!

Smoketown, USA has decent barbecue, although there are some who prefer the meat be basted with sauce during the smoking process. At least this way, one gets to choose which sauce gets more attention. All the sides are vegetarian, so folks who don't eat meat can still find edible food there! Smoketown often has a good assortment of brewed adult beverages, as well.

I get to go this time, too, so I look forward to seeing you there!

Almost there

I almost feel like going out and riding another five miles just for the heck of it. My ride home from work tonight got me within three miles of logging 5500 miles for the year. It also got me over the 1000 mile mark for miles recorded on my Raleigh for the year.

The heck of it is that if I corrected the mileages for April, May and June to reflect the cyclometer calibration problem I had a few months ago, I'd probably be closer to 5600 miles already. Be that as it may, I'm going to leave those numbers alone. I corrected the numbers for trips from the house we own, and I've decided that any shortage of miles logged from the rental house will be offset by the occasional mistake in logging miles on the Raleigh--I don't have a computer on that bike, and estimate miles on it based on miles recorded on similar trips on the Vanguard. It's just a number, anyway. My legs are not calibrated in miles.

Who knew that I would record almost a fifth of my annual mileage on a wedgie bike?

New temperature threshold

I don't know why I had been such a wimp on temperatures the last few years. I really don't. When I was a teenager, I all but didn't GET cold--the band director my freshman year in high school nicknamed me "Old Anti-Freeze" after I showed up for school in a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled above my elbows, and no coat anywhere in sight. I had ridden the bus to school, which involved waiting for said bus at the stop down the street from the house.

It was something like 6F that morning.

Of course, part of what was fueling my ability to stay warm in sub-freezing temperatures was that I was a teenager. I was known for my appetite among friends who were also teens and who also had large appetites, since they were teens. Even into my late thirties, I could eat more than some fairly active teenagers.

Maybe that's why I've always been a stocky person. I've not been reed-thin. Ever. Oh, I was thinner--in my mid-twenties, I wore pants with size 32 waist. Most of the jeans I have now are size 36, although I can sometimes get into a size 34 pair. I have some "insulation" to spare.

Since I turned thirty, though, I had noticed a steady upward trend to my low threshold. I started getting cold sooner and sooner in a same-length period outing in sub-freezing temperatures. I started finding coats useful.

In my cycling, I had determined some years ago that my low threshold was 30F. This was mostly a function of two factors--gloves and footwear--although I also found that I didn't like wearing enough layers of clothing to ride in colder weather.

Two winters ago, I was riding to work from St Matthews to N'Awb'ny, and struggled a bit with the few 30F mornings I rode. My blog entries from that period discuss some of my reluctance to ride in weather below that threshold (have I REALLY been keeping a blog that long?). Toward the end of that season, I found some good gloves, and that helped a LOT. My feet were still cold enough often enough that I was still not quite "there," though.

I've found that keeping my legs warmer helps keep my feet warmer, so last season I bought some warmer tights. I don't like having lots of layers on, but multiple thin layers usually work better for me than one thick layer. Even so, this pair of tights was of such better quality than the tights I had been using that my temperature threshold dropped ten degrees right away. I've been saying for almost a year that 20F was my new low threshold for commuting by bike.

I'm still not but so interested in riding for pleasure at such temps, but will on occasion.

Then came this morning. I was getting out of bed to feed cats and dress for walking the dog when Jenn mentioned that the outside temperature was fifteen degrees. Oh, and she will be taking the truck because she has an assortment of errands in several parts of town today. Did I want her to take me to work?

I figured that I was doing well enough with twenty degrees that I would try fifteen. All I should need is one more thin layer, right?

I changed my base layer to a thermal jersey I've owned for a few years, and added one wind shell (for a total of two). I added one very thin base layer under the jersey at the last minute.

My hands and feet were cooler than I like within a third of my trip, but never got cold enough that they were painful. My face had some cold spots where I couldn't cover skin with my balaclava, but it was tolerable. My mustache iced up, of course, but thawed out almost instantly once I got inside.

I will have a headwind on the way home, though. And the temperature won't be appreciably warmer.

Should be fun.

Mileage update

Some days ago, I mentioned that I expect to top 5500 miles for the year 2010. That will probably happen in the coming week, as my YTD mileage is now at 5438. Of the five bikes I'm tracking in my log, the most mileage is on my Vanguard, at 3250. Second-highest is my Raleigh, at 976, third is the tandem, at 720 or so (actually, this reflects miles ridden on two tandems, but since the one we own is the same model as the one we had been borrowing, it seemed a reasonable short-cut in bookkeeping). My "fast bike," the Bacchetta Strada, has less than 350 miles on it for the year, and I've put a bit less than 150 on Jenn's Giro 26 (we keep it out at the shop to allow for recumbent demonstrations, and I'll ride it on the shop club ride if Jenn doesn't bring the tandem out, as it's a sight faster than my Vanguard on that route).

So, less than five hundred miles on fast bikes in the stable for the year. According to the Louisville Bicycle Club's stats page, I have a bit less than 1500 club miles for the year. Given that about 275 of those club miles related to the New Rider Clinics, I've ridden FAR more transportation miles than "fast" miles--roughly twenty-two percent of my riding has been performance-oriented, and even less if I consider that I was ride captain a few times and wasn't riding as hard as I could have on those days.

It might be interesting to track the mileage on my truck next year--we didn't do so this year. I know I've ridden more than I've driven in terms of days and trips. I probably have put more miles on bikes than I have on the truck, as well, but I've also driven the truck over a thousand miles this month in my recent trip to Virginia. I've not tracked Jenn's riding vs. driving, so I don't know what her ratio is.

The return home and an assortment of random thoughts

After figuring I'd accept a ride home from work Saturday, I  rode the bike home instead. The roads were merely wet. It was still precipitating--that "winter mix" we so enjoy--but there had been enough traffic on the roads that their surfaces were warm enough (and perhaps salted/brined enough) that there was less ice and slush buildup than I dealt with in the morning. Aside from that I've never been over-fond of riding in rain, and especially not wet weather combined with near-freezing temperatures, it was not a bad ride. I even got to see four or five deer rushing through the woods beside Rollington Road (I apparently surprised one, and her departure startled a few more...).

One passenger in a passing SUV yelled something at me, and it sounded like he was asking whether it was too cold to ride. Of course, the SUV was going fast enough that there was no opportunity for anything like a dialog.

Motorists don't seem to WANT any dialog. They mostly want to be on their way, I suppose, just as I do. Few seem to wish me personal harm, although there are a few who would rather I be out of their way and who are quite vocal about it.

Those seem to feel an inflated sense of self-importance, especially compared to some lonely figure pedaling a bike on a snowy afternoon. I have news for them. I'm just as important as they are. My time is just as important to me as theirs is to them. By riding a bike, I get to multi-task with a different set of tasks than theirs. I get to exercise while getting where I'm going. I get to save money on transportation so that I can use that money on something I'd rather buy--like nicer food, or more appropriate clothing for me, or a more comfortable house than I might have had if I was strapped into a monthly car payment that is half my take-home pay.

I could be as smug about riding instead of driving as many anti-bicycle folks accuse me of being. Sometimes I probably am, just as they are ridiculously smug about their inflated self-importance enough to assume that because they are willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for the privilege of operating a motor vehicle they should have priority over me when it comes to road lane allocation.

I prefer to ride my bike instead of driving for many reasons. Not just that it's cheaper. Not just that it has become part of my persona. Not just that I'm getting exercise by doing so. Not just that I'm setting an example by showing it can be done. Not just these reasons alone or in combination.

On my way home yesterday afternoon, I stopped by The Trail Store to see what was happening there. I really like this store for several reasons: It's close--less than a mile and a half from my house, it's locally-owned, the staff are great folks who are encouraged by the store owners to be up to date on their gear knowledge, they carry Vibram Five Fingers shoes in a wide assortment of styles and colors, and so on. When I walked in, I was greeted by another reason I like the store, their current CCO (Chief Canine Officer), Murphy.

Murphy is a year-old Great Dane, and his coloring is a striking blue brindle (or perhaps merle with no white). Murphy is not yet full-grown, and only weighs about 120#. His head is larger than several Great Dane heads I've seen over the years, and is high enough from the floor at normal posture than I can pet him with my elbow at a ninety-degree angle. I suspect that Murphy will fill out to between 150 and160 pounds at some point. He clearly likes coming to work with his person, as he gets lots of attention and pets from customers. Despite his puppy-ish energy levels, he seems to get that he's inside and he doesn't romp around tearing down clothing displays.

Sloppy commute

I don't live in Copenhagen. I am thus not as ready to ride when it's snowing.

Of course, as my commute is a bit more rural than urban, the roads I ride are also not as clear as urban roads in Copenhagen (I've read that they have equipment dedicated to clearing the bike ways AND that they typically do those first--BEFORE clearing roads used by cars!).

Still in all, when I awoke this morning to the sight of snow on the neighbor's roof, I knew I was in for a sloppy ride. When I walked the dog (third on my to-do list on getting out of bed, right after feeding the cats), I was glad to see that the temperature was warm enough that the roads wouldn't be horribly slick--I could ride to work! Jenn has some stuff going today and will need the truck, so getting to work on my own made her morning a bit easier.

The only real problems I had, other than a bit of "pucker factor" changing tire tracks on Westport Road (through a ridge of slush) and a brief moment of "do I really want to ride down the slope on Rollington Road?" was at the rail crossing going from Mt Mercy Drive in Pewee Valley to LaGrange Road. That rail was SLICK! So was the stuff alongside it that makes it a smoother transition for wheels crossing the track! I kept it upright, though, and got onto LaGrange Road just fine.

A few motorists started to act impatient, but it was easy to imagine them thinking, "That guy is CRAZY! I'm giving him some room--he might act even crazier if I don't!" A couple passed me close enough that their tires were spraying the slush ridge at me, so my left leg got a bit damp, but overall things went well enough.

The trip home looks to be a different challenge. I may accept a ride from someone instead of cycling it.

Lazer Urbanize helmet--an update

I have a couple of these helmets now. I started with a white one that has red stripes, and added one like this picture a month or so ago. Jenn has a brown one.

I started to worry about future availability of this one when I saw size/color combinations  being discontinued by QBP, one of the wholesalers we use at the shop. I felt better when I saw the 2011 colors introduced. I've not found a way to show the catalog on here, but I'll keep looking. In the mean time, if you are interested in an Urbanize helmet, drop me a line and we'll talk color/size availability. The helmet is $100, or $80 without the $30 light set. I may be able to get a deal on a close-out size/color combination as well.

I really like the fit of this helmet. The RollSys is a neat method for adjusting the internal shape and size of the retention system, and the helmet breathes well at fairly low speeds. While the integrated lights (front and rear) are dim compared to things like the Planet Bike SuperFlash and the DiNotte taillights some friends have, they are far less likely to get knocked off the helmet in the course of regular handling. They are powered by coin batteries (CR2032 size), but they do make a difference. I was riding with Jenn one night several weeks ago, and let her get well ahead of me to get a sense of how visible she is to other road users (and since her light/reflector/clothing plan is similar to my own, I figure I can also get a sense of how visible I am). I could see the light in the back of her helmet, and how it helps other road users figure out what that UFO-looking thing up the road really is.

For winter wear (and one reason I now have two of this helmet), Lazer has introduced a $20 liner for this helmet.

To install this liner, one removes the existing padding (held in place with Velcro), and places the pads sewn into this liner in their places. The ear flaps have elastic bands affixed through which go the main helmet straps.

I finally got a chance to test this liner a few times last week. I like it, overall: It's comfy, and it keeps my forehead and ears warm on a fairly cool commute (low 30s F). I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did NOT need my usual silk balaclava to be tolerant of, if not completely comfortable at, that temperature. I'll be looking forward to seeing how this liner feels at my current temperature minimum of 20F for the hour or so commute.

The ear flaps have a curious feature that is apparently intended to allow sound through without the severe noise attenuation that would impede noticing traffic cues. My largest complaint with the liner is that it increases the wind noise ALL the time. It's not horrible, but it is noticeable.

To my knowledge, the only US distributor for Lazer Helmets is QBP. However, MANY bike shops buy from QBP, so it's easy enough to find a local bike shop that can order this for you. As may seem obvious, the shop where I work buys from QBP, and I can get you this helmet and liner if you like.

I'm back!

I consider myself a very lucky man. How many folks in my age group can go visit a living grandparent? How many of my high-school classmates knew any of their great-grandparents?

I've known three of my biological grandparents fairly well. My mother's father died when I was a youngster--I was probably five at the time--and had had health problems for over ten years before that, so I really didn't get to know him at all. I only remember having seen him once or twice. On the other hand, my paternal grandmother's mother (my great-grandmother) lived until I was eight, and I got to spend a lot of time with her.

My mother's mother passed away ten years ago, and had been dealing with some form of dementia for a few years before that. She knew who I was the last times I saw her, but it always surprised her that I was an adult--she remembered me as a child, never mind having seen me as an adult before her dementia took over.

My father's father died early in 2006, a few months before what would have been his ninety-fifth birthday. He and my grandmother had been married a few months over seventy-two YEARS. Shortly after he died, I posted a brief reflection on but one facet of him to the kycyclist list server.

Anyway, my surviving grandmother recently had some heart problems. She now has a pacemaker, and her doctors have been fine-tuning her medications so that she can enjoy a few more months (or years--who knows?) with us. Things were a bit "sketchy" for a week or two, but she has rebounded in fine form. She is in good spirits, enjoys a laugh or three an hour, and although her hearing and vision are not what they once were, she still figures out what's happening in her world and enjoys being with folks.

Jenn and I got to go visit her for a few days.


We took the tandem, figuring on getting out on it a bit. We rode it a total of about nine miles. It just seemed more productive to spend the time we could visiting. My grandmother had been one to take a few naps a day, but she has been more alert the last few days, enjoying the world again now that her heart is pumping more as it should. It was a great visit. I'm very glad we went.

It's "Buy Nothing Day" for many folks--a day to resist the urge to spend time and too-much money at big box stores buying stuff intended as seasonal gifts for people who won't really appreciate them, but who would be insulted if they DIDN'T get something from you during the December Gift-Hoarding Season.

Yeah, I'm resisting the urge to shop today. I'm at work, hoping people WILL shop today--for bikes, for bike accessories, for gift certificates, or even for your own stuff!

Anyway, a couple days ago I mentioned that I will likely get over 5500 bicycle miles logged for the year. As it happens, I am closer to that goal than I thought. My ride to work this morning, when logged, will put me over 5300. I still need to log my ride from this past Sunday--ride to the ride, ride the club ride, then ride home from the ride, with Jenn on the tandem--and with that and my return trip, I'll be close to 5350 miles for the year to date.

Plus whatever tandem miles we do over the next few days, plus whatever commuting miles I'm able to log during the next month...

Heck, I might even reach 5600 miles!

As the Holly-daze approaches

This time of year, it's popular in some families to generate "wish lists" for the upcoming holly-dazed gift-giving season. While not quite on scale with such things (I don't have any family members that are able to simply "gift" me one), I poked around looking at velomobiles a bit today.

You've heard of them, surely! Velomobiles are, essentially, recumbent trikes with full enclosures to keep the weather off the rider. Some are really zoomy-looking, like the WAW. Some look a bit more practical, like the Cab-Bike, seen above.

I think they rock! I would LOVE to see a bunch of these in Louisville. Or anywhere, for that matter. There are thousands of them in Europe, and a few scattered about North America.

The hurdle to getting one, for me, is multi-fold: I can buy a car for the price of a decent velomobile (although the car would carry with it MUCH greater operating expenses), I don't currently have a place to keep one (my garage is pretty full, although that could change in a year or two as we get truly moved in to the house) and several of the more visually-alluring models are made for people with MUCH narrower frames than my own.

In reading about them a bit today, I reacquainted myself with the Alleweder, that originated in Holland a couple decades ago. There are two primary variants, with lots of room for customization. The most accessible one here in America is probably the Flevobike Alleweder, as available through Velomobile USA. I've read comments from several owners that claim it to be fairly comfortable in hot weather as well as cool. It addresses most of my issues regarding rain, despite having an open top (fabric roof kits are out there, apparently). It's hard to not see, as the skin is slick aluminum (with a composite nose cone that presumably would contain headlights--taillights can be mounted to the vertical panel in the tail, and turn signals are available to mount on the skin). As VMs go, they aren't as pricey (Velomobile USA lists the kit price at $3700 or $3800, plus accessories and job-specific tools. Complete vehicle is about $6K, plus options).

As I said, I can buy a cheap car for that money. Still, with the price of gas, insurance and operating expenses like oil changes, tires and other repairs, I have to wonder.

Jenn still wants us to have a car of some sort. I get that. There are times when we would like to socialize with another couple who don't ride, or travel farther than we want to pedal or faster than pedaling a velomobile would get us there. At the moment, a velomobile is a few points down the list from several other things in the needs department.

I've also entertained the fantasy of starting a velomobile shop in Louisville, based in part on the business model of Velomobile USA in Midland, Texas. There is a former gas station in the Clifton area of Frankfort Avenue that I think would be really cool as a site for this sort of business--I can imagine encasing the existing building and lot in a low-e glass shell, and displaying an assortment of velomobiles around "pumps" on the former pump islands, with the pumps labeled "Coffee," "Gatorade" or "Perpetuem." While I'm being goofy about such fantasies, the old service bays of the gas station building would be the assembly/repair/tuning area, and automobile parking is out back instead of up front.

Maybe if I hit the Powerball Jackpot next time...except that I'd have to buy a ticket, and I rarely do that. I figure I can't lose at Powerball if I don't play.

It's almost turkey day!

I got to ride the tandem with Jenn yesterday, and we enjoyed the ride as always. The Club ride for the day started at Baptist East/Milestone Fitness, so we rode over, did the ride, stayed for the club meeting, then rode home. I was prepared for the meeting to run until dark, which means I rigged the headlight from my Raleigh so that I could see to ride home, as the bike already has dedicated rear flashers.

My headlight mount for the tandem is a work in progress. I fashioned the basic mount some time back, when we were still riding the Micou's tandem. My original thought was to attach the mount to the bike with Velcro straps, including the battery mounting strap, but I found that a bit less than secure on rough roads. I didn't have a huge selection of PVC fittings at first, but was able to get some stuff from the hardware store so that I could create a rough draft piece.

I keep finding stuff I want it to do better, so I continue to experiment with this PVC one until I have all the design flaws figured out. I'll then make one out of new fittings so that I can have it look better--I have to agree with Jenn when she says the PVC white with Oatey PVC Primer Purple splotches on it isn't all that attractive.

In any case, we now have a bit over seven hundred miles on tandems this year, split between the bike we borrowed and the bike we now own. I have more miles on my Raleigh than I do on the tandem this year, but only by a couple hundred, and I ride the Raleigh at least once a week. Jenn and I don't get on the tandem every week, but I hope to put more miles on it next year.

The bikes that get the least miles are the "fast" bikes--the Strada and the Giro.

I'm touched. Or is it "tetched?"

I'll blow my own horn for a moment:

A recent topic on 'bent rider online started with the query, "Who is your favorite bike mechanic?" Of the first eighteen or thirty responses, most people claimed that they themselves were their favorites, usually elaborating with comments along the lines of "he's cheap, readily-available, I can get him to work on my bike to my satisfaction for a couple beers and some pizza," and so on.

I was surprised to see my own name listed, although the people listing me were of no surprise. One lives here in town (he listed me as his second choice, I presume after himself...), another used to live here, and the third was one of the racers on the Team Type 2 RAAM effort last summer (and a long-time web pal).

I have to admit it was pretty cool to see myself listed as their favorite mechanic, and that I'm more popular among those responding to the thread than any other single wrench-puller. *shucks!*

I know I'm a decent mechanic--even a fairly good one. I know guys who are probably better than I am, too. I know OF folks who certainly are better.

But I try to be better. It's part of my attitude about professionalism: I figure I can always improve at the skill set, so why not do a better job each time than the time before?

RIP, Johnathan Williams

I didn't know Johnathan Williams, or don't remember meeting him. He died this morning as a result of being hit by a car as he cycled on Hurstbourne Parkway near Seaton Springs Parkway. He was apparently in the left lane when an overtaking motorist came over a rise in the road and, not seeing him in time to keep from doing so, hit him.

According to the article in the C-J, Mr. Williams was wearing dark clothing, and his bicycle lacked reflectors (and, presumably, lights, although the article doesn't address this point). The crash happened a bit before 5 AM, well before it was light enough that I would ride without lights (and my commuting bikes have reflectors, as both of my regular readers know).

I am not able to speculate on whether Mr. Williams was working toward a left turn, or had just joined the road and was working toward the right lane, or just what was happening. He has paid, and his family and friends are paying, an exorbitant price for his mistake.

I'm not sure about absolving the motorist of blame, though. Even recognizing that a) Mr. Williams would have been very hard to see, b) one typically wouldn't expect a vehicle moving that slow on that part of the road at that time of morning, and c) I have no idea what mental condition the motorist was in at the time of the crash (still drowsy from leaving the house too soon after getting out of bed? Tired from working too much? Fully alert and aware of what was happening? All are possible), I also firmly believe that driving so fast you cannot react to information "brought to light" with one's own headlights is "too fast for conditions." While I must concede that the majority of the fault lies with Mr. Williams, the driver (who is not named in the paper's site) is not totally without guilt, and will live with that for a long time.

I feel bad for all involved.

Tool School for November 2010 is done!

Seven folks earned their completion certificates for their participation in our latest Tool School class. These folks were great! They asked excellent questions, which showed that, among other things, they were paying attention (meaning that I had not bored them to sleep...).

It was a good class. I always enjoy seeing folks reach their "ah-HA!" moments when figuring out the mysteries of bike repair. I'm fond of telling them that it's exceedingly difficult for them to foul something beyond their capabilities to fix it, and if they get beyond their own capabilities, I'm willing to help them come up with a better solution.

Thanks to all of my students over the last couple years, I keep finding more ways to show folks what is happening with their bikes. I learn stuff when I teach these classes, so it's good for me as well.