Ruminations

Since I've only been at this for a couple of months, and not so seriously/regularly at that, I'm not going the standard "Best of" route. Instead, I just have a couple of random thoughts that I'm going to lump into a post.

1. For being a government organization dedicated to public health, the Baltimore City Health Dept (where I work) sure doesn't go out of its way to make bike commuters feel welcome. There are two of us who bike regularly. I usually get in about three days a week, and Caroline is a five day rider. Where do we lock up? On a couple of old police barricades (one apparently "borrowed" from the NYPD) and an air conditioner stand. Now, I'm not saying that nicer facilities would mean more bikers, but a token actual bike rack would be fantastic.

2. Reflective tape is great. The picture is a before/after using the flash to show how brightly the tape shows up. In this case it is made evident with the camera flash, but from experience I can say that car headlights have a similar effect. A great, passive (in other words, no batteries or bulbs to die on you) way to make extra sure you're visible during a night commute in traffic. Note: passive is fine as a backup to active lighting, not as a replacement.

3. Convertible gloves, also great. First saw mittens similar to these a few years back. Those were wool, like the hobo gloves in a previous post, and when I moved to Baltimore I picked up these fleece ones from REI. They've got the windstopper stuff, so they don't let in the breeze and being able to flip the flaps down while riding (they're teeth-friendly) means I can head out with my fingers free to work the brakes and cover them up if it's too cold for exposed extremities.

That's about it for now. I'll end the year with a shot of the parking lot at work when I headed out this afternoon. If you look really carefully in the upper right corner, by the exit, you can see the bike area.

New toys, part 1

So the trainer came in yesterday and I was a little too lazy to put it together. Well, not exactly. The trainer is all put together and ready to go, but I haven't replaced the rear skewer on the Raleigh to get it ready to use. Hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow, so I can start playing. Still waiting on the rest of the order (rollers, balancer for the front wheel for the trainer, different balancer for the rollers) to show up, which might be tomorrow. We'll see.

Rain

Ignoring the threats of rain from both the iGoogle weather tool and the WUG prediction I rode to work this morning with none of my rain gear. That, of course, guaranteed that it would rain for my ride home, which it did. In my defense, it was a 30% chance, and I was willing to gamble.

I don't normally carry a lot of rain gear. I have a reflective jacket/vest from PI that I use for night or rain riding, usually without the sleeves, and a pair of motorcycle goggles that I keep in the pocket of the vest. If I'm expecting heavy rain I'll toss in my snow-camping rain pants. Today, I had my do-rag, hobo gloves (see pic if you're unfamiliar), and pea coat because of the cold, but nothing for wetness. Thankfully the ride home is short and it wasn't raining too hard. I did learn a few things though.

First - wool is great. I rode, as I usually do, in my work clothes. This meant wool slacks, long sleeved cotton/poly shirt, and a tie. My legs got wet (thighs primarily) but didn't get very cold even though it was all of about 35F. I also discovered that ties make decent rain protection. The hobo gloves (also wool) kept my hands warm although again, wet.

Second - the drum brake on the front hub was a fantastic investment. The rear brake slipped, as it always does because of the stainless rim, but the front worked like a champ. Add to that the fact that I had full lighting from the generator on a day I probably wouldn't have carried lights with me and you have the reason I laid out more money for the front hub and lights than for the rest of the bike.

All in all, I was glad to be riding but more glad to get home.

Catching up, again

It's been a little while since I've written, mostly because nothing much has been going on. More commuting, finally got the Schwinn almost complete (have a tire liner for the rear to put in this weekend) and the weather has not been friendly to long rides. On the plus side - I just ordered both (yeah, I'm indecisive) rollers and a trainer. Hopefully they'll get here soon and I'll get to start playing. Expect a post on each when I try them out, and probably some pictures of damage when I try the rollers and crash.

Three in a row

Today, for the first time I can remember in a long time I have made three consecutive days of bike commuting. We're in the middle of some sort of freakish almost heat wave (low 50s) so last night and this morning I rode with my coat in the left basket.

Last night I took a longish detour from my normal ride to have dinner with some friends at Kooper's in Fell's Point. The place was a weekly destination for many of the people in my MPH program last year because of their half-price burgers on Tuesday nights. The other bit of significance for fans of Homicide (the show, not act) is that Kooper's is across the street from the Homicide station house and now houses the case board from the show. After dinner we had some gelato at a nifty little place and then I rode home. It was my first opportunity to test out the new lights in actual darkness rather than just dim.

The first part of the ride was extremely dark, since I had parked at a friend's house and headed right up the alley (unlit) rather than going out to the street. I now know that the lights I have work great into very low light, but if I was having to do any distance in a totally unlit area, like I used to in CA when I rode along the edge of a shipping company lot in Alameda at 4:30 AM, I would probably need a second front light to get better visibility. I might be able to change out the light I have for something with more punch. If I move somewhere that I am either commuting significantly earlier/later or on unlit trails I'll have to look into it.

Commuting again

The last three weeks have been sparse for riding. Too many commitments away from work to commute by bike, time off for Thanksgiving, a friend from college visiting...you get the picture. On top of that I haven't ridden for three weekends because of Thanksgiving, the friend, and a house party this past weekend. Added up, it has been far too long and I was glad to be back on the Schwinn this morning.

I had a meeting in the afternoon, but the state health department is only 1.3 miles from my office and a friend lives right next to it, making it easier to bike and park the bike than drive. Total distance today was about five and a half miles and it was chilly (visible breath) but not too cold. I was glad to get home and get the pea coat off. I did have to spend a few minutes in the garage before heading home to strip and rewire one of the wires for the taillight, which had come disconnected. The way the lights work with the hub generator there is a little leeway in the front light to handle running without a taillight, meant to tide you over if the bulb blows, but I didn't want to chance it. Before I go to sleep tonight I'll have to wrap it with duct tape since I don't have anymore heat shrink tubing for it.