Home again

Over the weekend, I became an unofficial member of the RAAM Team Type 2 crew. This is no surprise to me, as I had been contributing from afar from time to time during the race--Jenn would call me to get my perspective on this or that problem, figuring that I was not as tired and thus (or so the hope had it) more able to think the problem through clearly. Hey, some of my input actually helped!

After the fun of meeting many of the crew members and racers Friday morning in Bloomington, I flew to Maryland (via Southwest Airlines) to witness the finish of the team's ride and the joy of their accomplishment.

There were folks who didn't think the team would finish the event. Psh! These guys planned on finishing, and did. They didn't plan on being the first team across the line--their companion squad, Team Type 1, had that plan, however, and executed it nicely--they hold the new RAAM record for 8-man team time! Team Type 2 planned to finish. Their finish was better than they planned--they beat another team. Through it all, however, the ethos of the event is that all teams encourage all other teams.

I was at the finish line for the finish of a couple other teams' rides, and in keeping with this ethos, made lots of noise to congratulate them. It's a hell of an accomplishment to ride 3000 miles in one stage, regardless of how many are on the team.

Jenn repeatedly says she wants to crew again for them next year (when she is awake, that is--sleep deprivation is a hallmark of RAAM). She has quite a few stories from the event, and even more pictures. When we get them online, I'll provide a link on this blog as well.

RAAM heats up

Solo RAAM leader board

Team RAAM leader board

Jenn's parents and I drove up to Bloomington to surprise her during the team's squad changeover. We arrived around 0330, and the team RVs were on site, as was the utility van Jenn has been co-driving a good part of the week. Crew members were moving around, doing their thing, save for a few who were getting some much-needed shut-eye. Jenn was part of that last little group.

A few minutes after we arrived, the team rotation van arrived. Five or ten minutes later, the racer of the moment and the chase car arrived, to much applause. His family was gathered on the sidewalk near the entrance to the time station, which had to be a morale booster for him.

The applause woke Jenn, and I was ready. I watched her stirring around, and moved so that I was partly hidden by the front roof pillar of her van. By the time she opened the door, I was almost in the door zone and greeted her with a big hug--a surprise for her, especially since she had just awakened. She introduced her parents and me to everyone on the team and crew--some more than once in her excitement that we were there.

As one would expect, they have become a very tightly-knit crew over the last several days. This is to be expected, given the intensity and duration of the event, but it's still fun to see, even from the outside. It was also fun to watch the coreography in the set-up and break-down of the equipment used for feeding the team, allowing them to shower a bit, and so on (They don't want to use the lavatory in the RV, as they would then have to dump the tank, which takes too much time).

Jenn's teammates and crewmates appreciated our visit. I'm glad we went.

And I'm flying up to watch their finish tomorrow. Their ETA was something like 0400 Sunday at one point, but has moved up to 0100 Sunday, then 2100 Saturday, after a few fast legs of the journey. They may even beat that ETA, although I suspect the mountainous terrain of western Maryland will make that difficult.

Here it is, Thursday!

I rode the Vanguard to work today, after driving yesterday due to time constraints on the after-work side. I rode the Raleigh Monday, took off Tuesday to ride the Strada, and intend to ride the Vanguard again tomorrow.

I felt faster on the Vanguard than I usually do. I'm not sure why, but I'll take it. The bike felt smoother, somehow. Maybe it's simply that much more comfortable than the Raleigh...

Last night was the fourth and final meeting of the Confident Cycling class I've been teaching. The group started out as twelve folks, a couple couldn't make the last two meetings for various reasons, a few simply dropped out without telling us why, and one had some work issues get in the way, with the result that I signed four certificates last night. I enjoy teaching these classes, but it's also good to be done with it for a little while.

I will be out at my folks' house for a while this evening and tomorrow evening, doing some yard work in preparation for the September festivities being held there. I generally dislike yard work--while it's far more natural than working on bikes or cars, it just isn't me. However, it's worth doing sometimes, and this is such a time.
Edit: change of plans...Jenn is going to be at the RAAM time station in Bloomington Indiana about 0400 Friday. I talked to her today, and she said something along the lines of inviting her folks to come up and watch what she's been doing for the last several days as a crew member. When I mentioned that their ETA in Bloomington was 0445 or so, she figured that neither her folks nor I will make it to see them while they are there. Hehehehehe Of course, it means leaving the house at something like 0100 to meet her folks at 0130, drop off my truck at the office, and drive up to Bloomington, visit for a few minutes or a couple hours, then drive back down.

I'm flying up to Annapolis Saturday morning, to watch the arrival of some of the RAAM teams. I can't wait. It will be my first flight since getting my CPAP machine that helps me manage my apnea, and dealing with that ought to be fun.

Played hookey

I have ridden RAIN for five of the last six years, and had been planning to do so again this year. I've been worried about my long mileage legs, though, as it seems all my riding is commuting--lower speed, lower cadence work on fairly flat terrain (my biggest climb in my commute is Payne Street) for few miles (and less than an hour each trip), compared to 160 miles of flat to gently-rolling terrain at high output for nine hours (well, eight and a piece, plus breaks).

In an effort to get some long miles in, to see if I can do RAIN without pain, I took a personal day today and went for a club ride out of Vettiner Park. The schedule showed a sixty mile ride, but the captain opted to shorten it a bit due to the heat. We went fifty miles.

The route had some good rollers, and a couple of medium- to stout climbs (the largest two being on 1633 just north of Taylorsville and on Seatonville Road just southeast of the end of Billtown Road). My usual RAIN ride partner, Larry Preble, was on hand today, on his *gasp* Trek 2000. He rides the Trek on Tuesdays, usually considering Tuesday his recovery ride day--he doesn't plan on riding hard.

Larry and I have ridden together for several years. One thing that always happens when we ride together is that one or both of us will plan and state intention to ride slower than normal, but we get caught up in trying to keep up with each other, and we end up going fast. One wouldn't know that from my average speed, which was something like 16 or 17 miles an hour, unless one were to look at the grade profile and see all the times I was going five or ten miles an hour instead of twenty-five or my maximum speed of 44.

I went in to this ride looking for information on myself. I wanted to see how my "burn" felt--how my fuel is working for me these days, as I haven't used Perpetuem this year (haven't ridden far enough). I wanted to see how my legs would perform. I wanted to see if I remembered how to pace myself.

It's sort of like riding a bike. You don't truly forget. I'm a bit rusty, but things felt quite smooth today. I sometimes express how my body does during a long or hard ride in terms of fuel burn. I feel a clean burn, or a dirty burn, depending on several factors--what I've eaten that day and for a couple days before, how much I'm drinking and of what during the ride, how clogged I feel--it's a sense that I cannot quite quantify. My burn today felt almost clean, but not quite. It was good, given my time off that bike. Riding to work is surely helping, and more than I thought it would.

If I can work it out, I will take off a few more days between now and RAIN to get some long miles on the bike. My riding partners for RAIN this year, Larry Preble and Ed Scharfenburger, are both very strong riders. It's good that we are on closely matched bikes (Larry has a Bacchetta Corsa, Ed a stock Strada).

Last year, we played leapfrog with a group in matching jerseys, and they were clearly upset that we would take longer breaks than they did and pass them out on the road (darned recumbents aren't supposed to be faster than a wedgie pace line!). We had our own pace line going much of the time, and now that Ed has a full year on his bike (he had had it three or four weeks when we rode RAIN last year), we ought to be able to keep tighter formations for better advantage.

I can't wait!

Seasonal milestones again

I noted another seasonal milestone the other night: Monday or Tuesday evening, I saw my first lightning bugs of the season. In the course of walking the dog, I saw probably fifteen or twenty.

Last night, I had to have seen a hundred of them. It was neat to see.

I was reminded of a couple nights one summer ten or fifteen years ago. I was working for UPS, unloading airplanes for the Next Day operation. When I got off work, I would often go wander in one or another of the local parks for a while to unwind before going home to bed.

One such night, I was in George Rogers Clark Park, across Poplar Level Road from Audobon Hospital. The park has some lovely slopes on both sides of a small creek. I was near the top of one slope, and looking across the creek, there was a veritable wall of trees. In front of that wall of trees, from my perspective, was a shimmering curtain of lightning bugs. It was a wonderful sight.

I rode the Vanguard to work Monday, and the Raleigh Tuesday. The rain Monday left the roads wet enough and the parking lot wet enough that I opted out of having the students do the emergency stop parking lot drill and subsequent bike ride. We did talk about the drills a bit, though, so that the students could at least tinker with the ideas at home.

I was watching the weather forecast Tuesday, but not quite well enough. I had in mind to leave the office early, to beat the heavy weather coming our way, but people kept coming by to see me over one thing or another, and it was after four by the time I left. I got out of New Albany before the rain started hitting me. By the time I crossed 131 from Providence Way to N Clark Boulevard, I was hearing thunder, and seeing an occasional lightning flash. By the time I got to Jeffersonville, I was seeing frequent flashes of lightning, closer than I really like (but not so close I felt endangered). The rain was also falling much harder. By the time I got to the bridge, visibility was hampered.

As I crossed the bridge, a motorist (in a small SUV, no less) kindly kept traffic off my back by driving behind me at a good distance with her four-way flashers going. I'm normally a little put-off by this--I feel I'm pretty visible most of the time. However, I also realize that she was doing so because she was not in such a hurry that she couldn't do an extra bit to improve road safety for all of us. I, of course, waved happily with all five fingers in a clear "thank you!" gesture when I neared the traffic light at the Kentucky end of the bridge and she went past me.

I had to stop a couple times on my way home to get the sweaty rainwater out of my eyes. By the time I got to Payne Street, though, the rain had eased off, and I started making better progress.

Of course, by the time I got home, the next band of heavy rain was arriving. It quit raining soon after I got home.

Yesterday, I had to drive to work--I had a bunch of stuff to haul. I also was on a tight time line after work, as I am teaching one of the Confident Cycling classes this month. I'm on a tight time line this evening as well, as I am presenting a session at the Bon Air branch of the Louisville Free Public Library this evening.

As I type this, Jenn is at the airport, getting ready to fly out to Oceanside California. She is on a support crew for RAAM riders (Team Type 2) who are riding to bring attention to the fact that folks with Type 2 Diabetes CAN be active and healthy--indeed, being active helps one be healthy, a truth that seems to escape too many in our society. Anyway, it means that I'll be following their progress with a bit more interest than I have in prior years--I have more friends in the race this time.

Friends and family have been half-jokingly wondering how I'll get along without Jenn at the house. I think I will manage, somehow. =-)

Hardly rode over the weekend

It's getting to be a bad trend. Here it is, well into June, and I haven't done any LONG miles since last year (long miles being bike rides over 50 miles in length).

This past weekend, for example, included a day at the stock car races (and tailgating near the speedway before race time). Jenn's father takes her and her two brothers to the Nationwide Series Meijer 300 at Sparta as a family get-together thing, and I was invited.

It was fun, I suppose. I've not quite caught the bug for the game "Corn Hole," although I tossed a few bags of seed corn at the boards that day. We socialized over a beer or two, or tea, or sodas, depending on the person. We wandered up to the main gate at the track, and the vendor area spread out in front of that. There were a couple booths offering samples of tobacco products, one selling what I presume to be a male-enlargement product (of what I also presume to be spurious value with a bikini model in a cute suit that, even if were not engaged/involved, I probably wouldn't find interesting on a date), various "collectible" trinkets (like anyone is going to buy these things ten years from now? How much for a 1980 Cabbage Patch Doll?).

It was fun to see a big-league race again. The last race of this caliber for me was the Southern 500 at Darlington S.C. on Labor Day weekend of 1978. I don't remember tons of what happened at that race, but I think that somewhere in my various stashes of keepsakes I have a spark plug I picked up in the pit area after the race. "Those were the days," to borrow the title from All in the Family.

While it was fun to see a super-speedway race, when it comes to auto racing, I'm still a short-track guy. Watching cars travel a mile and a half per lap is tough to do--that is a LOT of territory to watch. On the other hand, short tracks present their own challenges--often the track management does not seem as big on safety at smaller tracks, for example.

Before I even learned to ride a bike, I loved cars. By the time I was eight, my father realized the value in taking me to the speedway not far from where we lived at the time for father/son stuff. I knew who the drivers were, and had favorites. I vividly remember one car rolling over in a crash there, and seeing the guy with another similar car the following week. He apparently lived around the corner from us, as the wrecked racer was in front of a house near our subdivision for a couple days later that week (for what it's worth, the cars were 1958 or '59 Chrysler products, probably Plymouths).

When I was a kid, my heroes were race car drivers. Race car drivers wore seat belts. When I was eight or nine, we as a family got a newer car for Mom, to replace the 1956 Chevrolet she had been driving. That car had shoulder belts, relatively new to mainstream cars. There was a tag on the belt that included something along the lines of, "Do NOT use if wearer is less than 4'8" tall."

I couldn't WAIT to grow that last two inches!

I fully realize that there is some sort of double-standard in my fondness for auto racing. I don't get to indulge myself in the enjoyment of watching good short-track racing often, though, as I have so many other interests these days.

Anyway...

Yesterday was time for an early celebration of Jenn's birthday. Her birthday is later this week, but she will be out of town, working on a crew supporting Team Type 2 on Race Across America.

After the celebrations, I had to attend a Club officers' meeting, so I at least rode the few blocks to that from the house. Once that was done, I could then get geared up for another exciting week at the job with no glory.

Hey, at least I rode to work today.

Not enough cycling

It's been tough to really get on the bike of late.

After a month of rarely getting to ride to work, I'm out of the habit of doing so as much. Add to that that I'm teaching two days a week this month, with the time constraints of those schedules, and I've not ridden enough to warrant any kind of good mojo.

I rode to work today, and got to ride to work Tuesday, but drove Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (that last due to oversleeping/having trouble motivating myself to get up and ride in the rain). EDIT: David reminded me that I did, indeed, ride to work Monday. I rode the Vanguard, loaded as it was with teaching stuff, so that I could go directly to the Monday evening class at Waterfront Park after work instead of going home and then back downtown. Note to self: Do my blog entries more often so that I don't forget stupid stuff like this.

The Vanguard is loaded with teaching stuff--a stack of halved tennis balls for parking lot drills, sign-up sheets, clipboards, hand-outs of various sorts, and a small pile of tubes in case students get flats while in class. Rather than switch the load every other day, I rode the Raleigh Tuesday and today.

At this rate, I'm not sure I'll be able to enjoy doing RAIN, which is coming up in four or five weeks. I also need to get with the other folks who want to ride it, and see who is ready or who is unable to go this time.

I finally got to ride again

After three or four weeks of work life being in upheaval over a "must-pass" inspection, life is hopefully returning to normal, meaning I get to ride to work at one work site, with stops at the main office on my way to or from my own office. The main office is a couple blocks off my commute route, so stopping there is not an imposition.

Repair Affair is this weekend and next, though. I'll be part of that tomorrow, helping support volunteer teams that are working on houses for the beneficiaries of the program. Repair Affair is a neat program. Volunteer teams from various places (church groups, clubs, groups of folks who work together, neighborhood associations, and so on) do handyman "neighbor helping neighbor" stuff for low-income elderly or disabled homeowners--paint the house, clear brush from the yard, build ramps, install grab bars or handrails, make other minor repairs to the house with an eye toward "safe, warm and dry." Magnificent things happen for the homeowners.

My part of it this year is to drive a one-ton flat bed truck to haul stuff from place to place. To prepare for this, I'll have to fetch the truck this afternoon, and park it closer to where I can use it tomorrow morning.

To make that easier, I rode my bike to work today (ain't it great that I can say that!). I don't have to get a ride to where the truck is--I can toss my bike in the cargo area of the truck.

Since it was a cool morning, I rode wearing my office clothing--a kilt and a shirt--and I don't have to change clothes in the course of my day.

Jenn's doing the MS Bike the Bluegrass tomorrow and Sunday. If you haven't donated toward this cause, she could use some donations to get her to her fund-raising goal. I didn't do anything with the ride this year (too many other obligations), although I've captained some preparatory rides for it in years past, and worked the ride as a roving bike mechanic a couple years when I was working for one of the ride sponsors. It is a great cause, and a great ride.

Fried-day evening

I haven't much felt like putting any words here this week. Despite the short week, it's felt long. I've felt compelled to drive to work, as my assigned starting point for the day is well west of my usual path and I don't have much time to get from place to place.

It's been an interesting week at work, too. At the end of last week, I learned that a close friend of one of my tenants had been a sex offender, and that he had failed to register as is required of such folks. Knowledge of his past upset other tenants who, like me, learned by way of anonymous "flier under the door" means.

I took my concerns to the police department, of course. I didn't know how to handle such a thing, but figured someone there would help me. I made a phone call, was told to call someone else. Left a message for him, and he called back. After getting some information from me, he quit the call to make other calls.

Long story short, the fellow was led from the building in cuffs.

I don't feel guilty about it at all. He did what he did, was sentenced, and didn't follow the rules given him in his sentencing. I don't know any details regarding his initial offense, other than that he was required to register and inform some office of his whereabouts on a regular basis, and he failed to do so. Had he done his part, there may not have been any problem for him.

In the course of checking the security camera memory bank (hard to not use the word "film," here, as the memory is digitized), I saw images of another tenant walking the halls, about midnight, wearing nothing but his shoes.

I don't get spun up about nudity. It's not a big thing to me. I look at it as a contextual thing, in the main. In some contexts, there is absolutely nothing wrong with what some call "skyclad" as a clothing option. It's not about my personal opinion, though. In an apartment building where one could, at any moment, encounter a neighbor who is not so understanding is not such a place or agreeable context. This fellow is now looking for another place to live, as his actions are a material breach of the lease he signed.

The inspection that has had my organization in such an uproar for the last three weeks is next week. My part of the preparation is basically done, so I might get to ride to work next week.

However, I also start another teaching gig next week. The four Wednesday evenings in June, I will teach a Confident Cycling class through Bicycling for Louisville.

I also have some wedding-related projects that are far behind schedule. Back to them, and more words here at a later time.

property inspections and riding extra work routes

I was out of sorts over not riding to work of late, especially with the nice weather we've had. I finagled a way to ride on Friday of last week, and found ways to ride a few days this week as well.

I drove on Monday and Tuesday, as my 8:00 stop is way out of the way on my usual commute. Tuesday morning, I was reminded that I was to attend a conference at the Galt House that day, Wednesday and Thursday. I drove to the conference on Tuesday, but during the long lunch break found a place I could stow my bike for Wednesday's sessions. I was thus able to ride to work Wednesday--in a kilt no less--on my Raleigh (the place where I locked my bike was not suitable for the Ryan--if I had to ride the Raleigh, I was going to at least be comfortable while in the sessions).

After I got home from work Wednesday, Jenn reminded me that the Ride of Silence was that evening, so we hustled downtown (on bikes, of course) for that ride. After the ride, I wanted to go across the bridge with a group, but realized I wouldn't have time with available daylight (I was on my Strada for the evening, and it doesn't have enough lights for nighttime use), so home we went--again at a good hustle. I had a flat tire a mile from home, and it was a tire failure, so we stopped to fix it. I keep a spare tire in that bike's bag most of the time, and it was a good thing it was there that evening.

Yesterday, I rode to the Galt House again. The conference only went until shortly before lunch, at which time I realized I had left my wallet at home. I rode home to get it, and decided that I didn't really have time to ride to N'Awb'ny, so I drove over.

However, I rode to work again today--again in a kilt, again on the Raleigh. I had to attend a meeting at the Liberty Street office at 8:00, and go from there to Old Louisville to inspect some work being done before heading for N'Awb'ny for the afternoon.

Riding is much more fun than driving...

Tonight, I get to assemble at least one of the new RANS Sequoia Crank-Forward bikes. A friend custom-ordered one, and is one of those folks who prefers to trust me when it comes to finer details of bike final assembly and tuning. He also gets to combine his trip to me with a trip to a favored grocery store. It's nice to be so convenient for my friends.

Sunday riding

I held a session of Bicycling Safely, for Bicycling for Louisville, Saturday afternoon. I had four attendees (not enough to suit me, but better than the Sharing the Road I was supposed to present a few weeks ago, when NOBODY showed), and all were quite interested.

Jenn and I rode to the Louisville Bicycle Club's Ice Cream Ride today. There was a club meeting afterward, and an officers' meeting after that. All told, I got in about thirty-five miles, on the Gasato (my custom-built Bacchetta Strada). Jenn was on her Giro. On the way home, Jenn was hustling along Frankfort Avenue, and was able to get going at twenty miles an hour or better for short periods. David was at the ride, having ridden some with Tim earlier in the day.

I was glad to get out for some longer miles. I felt good at the end of the day, and was able to roll pretty well during my ride, telling me that my commuting miles are indeed helping me on the fast bike.

BIKE TO WORK DAY

Yep, today is Bike to Work Day, as observed in Louisville KY and other places.

I had to drive. I had to be in the west end by 8:00, and in Phoenix Hill by 9:00, with not enough time between commitments to ride.

I've been frustrated about this all week. Having to be at a west-end site at 8:00, then having to go WAY out of my way to get to N'Awb'ny, then having to go way out of my way for a 3:30 commitment before going home each day really stinks.

Heck with it, today, though! I tossed the Raleigh in the back of the truck, figuring I'd at least do SOME of my work-related transit by bike. I left the truck in Phoenix Hill, and once that meeting was done, rode by Fourth Street Live to say hello to Scott Render before riding on to N'Awb'ny.

It felt quite nice to ride across the bridge again. I enjoyed the ride, despite the extra stuff I was hauling (free stuff from Bike to Work celebration, my lunch, my work papers that I need to haul...).

I even got to ride to work wearing a kilt--something I wouldn't try on the Vanguard.

Bike to Work Week

Here it is, Bike to Work Week. There are observances all over the place, including some stuff happening here in Louisville.

I don't get to go to the party.

Last week, I learned that a couple of properties owned by my employer are up for inspection early next month. The properties in question MUST pass muster this time. We are in an "all hands on deck" mode to get any repairs and maintenance bugs out of the way on these properties before inspection time.

One thing coming of this is that I have to be several places during the day, with very little time to get from one to the next. In other words, I need to drive for work this week. And next week. And probably the week after.

YUCK.

I want a real job. One with real pay, real benefits, and real recognition of outside-of-job real life.

That was the week that...sucked

Yeah, I drove to work Tuesday. Wednesday, I rode the Raleigh (in office clothing) to the main office for a meeting, figuring on dealing with a little rain, but in riding clothing, for the trip across the bridge to the usual work site and for the trip home.

Got to the office in time to learn that I had gotten a voice mail telling me to be there almost an hour earlier. Got to the meeting (an hour late) and learned that we have an "all hands on deck" pre-inspection thing happening for two of our properties.

After the meeting, I had to wait for my copy of a key I would need to do my next task--placing notices in tenants' doors alerting them that I would be doing the pre-inspection in a couple days (today). Got the key, had the notices already printed, so I hopped on the bike and headed down the street.

Rain started getting a bit heavier the further I went. By the time I got to the apartment in question, it was starting to reach "shower" levels of rainfall. Naturally, the master key I was given was NOT the right one. I called my supervisor to inform him of such (politely as I could, given my frustration level at the moment), and got back on the bike to head back to the office.

On the way to the office, I changed course to go home and get dry clothing. The rain cape is not much good in heavy showers, frankly, and may be abandoned for hard commuter use. I MAY consider another one, or talking to the makers of the one I have to see if I got one that didn't get coated, for example. It is clearly NOT waterproof as I understand the term.

In any case, I got partway out on Frankfort Avenue and decided to hit a bus shelter for a break from the water pouring down my neck. I looked at the schedule, and thought I might see a bus going my way shortly to make the trip home a bit more tolerable. Sure enough, the bus arrived. I loaded my bike on the rack and got inside the bus.

While I was on the bus, my supervisor called, asking me where I was. I told him I was on my way home to get dry clothing and my car, and he said he didn't blame me. He then told me he had the correct key, that my call had made a few folks scramble a bit, and that my copy of the correct key would be where I could get it shortly afterward.

I've not been on a bike since getting home about noon Wednesday.

Yesterday and today, my travel schedule has been uncertain enough and the weather lousy enough that I felt it best to drive.

With the weird stuff happening at work, I may or may not get to ride next week. If I don't get to ride, I'll be ticked. It is Bike to Work Week, after all.

Bollocks.

Drove today

I drove my truck last night, for the first time in over a week. Jenn drove her car for our travels over the weekend--a Derby party with some friends of hers in Simpsonville on Saturday, and a family gathering at her favorite uncle's house on Sunday.

Last night, though, it was a "drive to haul bikes" situation. I was just about ready to leave the house for the New Rider clinic, and called Jenn to remind her where I'd be and let her know the dog had been for his after-work walk. She asked me if I minded hauling her bike along, so that she could meet me at the class site. As a result, I drove to the class instead of riding there.

I drove to work today, too, ending my streak at fourteen days riding to work (and there was a day in there that I didn't work--Earth Day--but rode the bike to all my activities). I have an excuse, lame though it sounds: I'm getting some tires mounted today, as the ones currently there are worn badly and are also out of balance enough that driving is unpleasant at several common speed ranges. For the times I need to use my truck, it will be a good thing to have balanced, not-so-badly worn tires.

Now I need to clear my schedule to allow fifteen or more days in a row! It will be challenging, as I am teaching on Monday nights for the rest of the summer. We'll see how it goes, though.

Oaks Day

It's almost the end of Derby Week--something of a misnomer, now, since the Derby Festival now begins two weeks before Derby Day with Thunder(ous wretched excess) Over Louisville, and has for the last fifteen or twenty years. Today is the day they hold the Kentucky Oaks, a horse race of slightly smaller stature than the Derby.

I'm old enough to remember it being simply Derby Week, however. Each day of the week had its stable events--the Mini Marathon on Saturday a week before the Derby (and the balloon race the same morning), the Bed Race on Monday, the Boat Race on Wednesday, the Pegasus Parade on Thursday, and so on. Not much business gets done in Louisville during Derby Week, although many folks try to buck the trend.

I've switched bikes every day this week--Monday, Wednesday and today I rode the Vanguard, and the Raleigh on Tuesday and Thursday. I don't know that this is some sort of trend, but who knows (or cares?). The big thing is that I haven't driven to work all week (WOOHOO!). It seems that this is the first five-days on the bike week in a LONG time.

Sadly, it may not continue. I will be teaching on Monday evenings from next week through the summer, and may need to drive just to get where I need to be by the time I need to be there with what I'll need to carry. I may be back down to four days a week on the bikes.

Wet day again

I had a meeting to attend at the main office this morning, and there is rain forecast for much of the day, so I rode the Raleigh. I'm more comfortable wearing office clothes on the Raleigh, for some reason, although I could easily do so on the Vanguard. I'm certainly more comfortable riding the Raleigh if I'm wearing regular shoes, as it has Shimano dual-use pedals (sometimes called campus pedals) that are flat on one side and have the SPD cleat system on the other. I also consider the Raleigh my rain bike, as I have a rain cape (more on that in a moment), and the cape is simply not functional on the Vanguard.

I'm a recumbent guy. I have to justify riding a wedgie bike. I don't have to justify riding a 'bent.

I've mixed feelings about the cape. In cooler weather, I think it's fairly nice to have. On a fairly warm day like today (temperatures in the upper 60s F), it gets quite warm inside that tent.

I brought a change of cycling clothes, but wore office clothing to get to Liberty Street and to N'Awb'ny from that meeting. My shirt was pretty wet, from a combination of sweat and water coming through the cape. Of course, I keep several changes of clothing at the office, so a clean dry shirt was ready at hand. I'll wear a cycling jersey and shorts for my ride home, just to be a bit more comfortable.

About the rain cape: It is billed as being waterproof material. That description is something of a moving target, in my experience. Even fairly waterproof fabrics can allow water to leach through if there is something water-absorbing against the inside of the fabric--in this case, my shirt. The object on the inside of the fabric doesn't even have to really absorb lots of water--skin can do the trick, for example--as much as simply provide a way for water to move by capillary action between it and the fabric, and it will "pull" water through the cape.

That said, my tr*^$er$ were almost totally dry when I got to the apartment building. The cape had kept rain from falling on the legs of my p@nt$. All I had to do was change shirt and footwear when I arrived.

Flat out funny

At least this title made itself.

On my way home from work, at the corner of Market and Johnson (at the main entrance to the Home of the Innocents), I entered the corner and felt my rear tire move sideways. Without falling, I wrenched the bike back upright and got out of the traffic lane, certain that I had a low tire.

Since I had done my ABC Quick Check before leaving the office, I knew that whatever had caused my tire to go down was a new problem. Rather than take the time to repair it on site, I pumped the tire up to an approximation of operating pressure and rode on, figuring I'd get at least halfway home before having to inflate it again.

I got about as far as Clifton Center, and stopped again. As I was pumping it this time, Barry stopped by to chat (saying as he stopped that he clearly didn't need to offer repair help on the level of some cyclists he has encountered). We chatted as I finished pumping my tire, then rode together as our homes are along the same route.

I had to stop again, just before reaching the Water Company's facility on Frankfort Avenue. This leak was larger than I thought, and was perhaps getting bigger.

I got home on that gush of air, though. I put the bike in a repair stand (always a good idea if one is available) and dismantled the rear tire.

Lo and behold! The shard of glass was a quarter-inch from where the last glass shard had punctured the same tube! At first, seeing the hole in the tube so close to the edge of the existing patch, I wondered whether I had, indeed, gotten the old sharp out of the tire. When I looked at the tire, I found a shard of glass in a new hole, and felt a bit better. I patched the tube, and while I had the patching stuff out patched a tube set aside for repairs and stowed it in the bike bag.


When I was at the shop, we simply changed tubes. It isn't worth shop time (at $50/hour) to try to patch tubes and have them not seal well.

When I am working on my own bike, though, I don't see a big reason to throw a tube away if it has a minor hole in it. That is why patch kits are made, after all. If I can do the repair at home, I'll patch the tube. If I have to fix one on the road, I'll usually replace the tube and patch it another time, although there are exceptions to this rule (on the Raleigh, for example, the front wheel is a pain to remove due to Raleigh-specific fork ends, so I'd probably patch it more or less in situ). I generally keep one or two tubes (or one or two for each wheel size on the Vanguard) in the on-bike repair kit along with a patch kit, in case I have a third flat.

As mentioned, the new hole was very close to the last repair I had made to this tube. I'll be interested to see how the new patch holds, given that roughly a quarter of it is on a prior patch.

I'll find out when I do my ABC Quick Check in the morning. The Raleigh is, or should be, ready to go as a back-up option should I be short on time.

Ah, the luxury of having two commuter bikes.

Another shorts to work day

It seems as if my blog is bogged down in "what did I ride to work today" posts--at least, it seems hard to generate a different title for each post. I guess part of the point of doing this blog, for me, was to create something of a diary of riding to work. I envision the ability to look back on posts and figure out how much I'm riding if I want. Or not.


Got some curiosity-based flack from a co-worker today, as I was loading my stuff into my packs. I had to attend what will be a weekly meeting at the main office, and had to change clothes for this meeting (I get fussed at for wearing "bikers' clothes, ect." (sic) to the office for meetings). I had brought some foodstuffs for lunch and snacks, and had put them in the fridge for the duration of the meeting. It took me a couple of trips from the staff break room to the area where I park my bike to get everything ready.

I park my bike in what the staff calls the "butt hutt," or the smoking area. It is outdoors, but under a roof, so the bike is protected from rain (especially helpfull when the bags are open). The co-worker in question was on a smoke break (reminding me once again how glad I am to have quit that nasty habit over twenty years ago), and opined that my trips (and changing clothes twice for a half-hour meeting) seemed a lot of trouble for riding to work. I chose to not be nasty about her colleague (my supervisor) or her manager and their unfortunate views on meeting wear (in a meeting that is not likely to be observed by tenants).

I suppose I could segue into a rant about how people who drive instead of ride for transport just don't "get it" when it comes to the different ways bicycle commuters do things. It is not an imposition for me to change clothes when I get to work, nor to do so when I prepare to leave the office. I am becoming more comfortable for the upcoming stage of my day.

As far as stopping at a grocery for snacks on my way to work being an oddity, well, I just don't know what to say. I suppose I could stock such things at home, and get them the night before (or the weekend before), and I often do just that. It just so happened that we were out of what I wanted, and my timing worked out in such a way that I could stop easily.


My "take-away" from this is that it takes a different sort of planning to ride a bike to work instead of driving. It seems to me that people don't often think about the planning they have invested in driving instead of cycling, so they think in terms of planning for cycling as being an insurmountable task for themselves. Planning for driving to work involves buying the car, insuring the car, paying taxes on the car, fueling the car, finding a place to park the car and so on. Planning for cycling involves acquiring the bike(s) and gear, finding a place to haul and/or store clothes for work, arranging a place to clean up once at (or near) the work place, and so on.

Not harder, not easier, just different. I find the cycling to work much more fun.

Rainy day again

April Showers are here. I got to work just ahead of them.

As I crossed the bridge, I enjoyed the colors in the eastern sky. This is becoming a favorite regular part of my ride to work. The quartering tailwind didn't hurt my feelings, either, although it did bode poorly for my ride home this afternoon--especially given the forecast for rain. Also as I crossed the bridge, I realized I had crossed another seasonal threshold: Today was my first day this season that I rode to work in shorts.

I stopped to grab a snack on my way to work, and while I was away from my bike, it fell over. I went outside to pick it up, and was doing so when I saw a pickup truck heading for the drive-through lane crush my front flasher that had fallen from the bike and rolled into the lane. He could easily have missed it, but I suppose the driver didn't bother to look.

Oh, well, it's an opportunity to upgrade that flasher.

I didn't want to ride the Raleigh today, but my rain gear is set up for it more than for the Vanguard. Of course, I'll get wet no matter which bike I ride, but the cape doesn't work at all on the Vanguard. My hands are still a bit tired from the yard work I did on Sunday, suggesting that my upper body muscles are out of shape. I'll have opportunity to remedy that over the summer, I'm sure.

Unlike some friends, I've not been one to keep tight records of my weight (or miles, or lots of other things). It's simply not my style to do that, although I see the value others find in doing so. I tend instead to make a mental note of the general trend, and if I like the trend, try to do things I know will continue it. It's not a terribly effective weight-loss strategy, but I've never felt strongly enough about my weight to get that serious about changing my habits to that degree.

Still, it's nice to notice a drop in weight that seems to be maintainable. Since I started casually weighing myself a few months ago, I've seen several days when my weight was under 230#, but only for a day or two. Over the last week, however, it has remained about 227#, instead of tending to be about 235#.

As I don't keep fastidious records, I cannot ascribe credit to specific changes in habit. I have reduced the amount of beer I consume by some bit, and have been riding to work more often with the better weather, and have probably eaten fewer candy bars--all of which are certainly contributing factors.

I've not done any long miles, though. I miss them. Life may keep me from riding as many of them as I'd like for a while.

...or not.