GPS oddities and my commute

A little while back I switched from a wheel magnet based bike computer to a GPS one. This was mainly to make it easier to track my running and biking with a single device (read: toy). I had a couple of odd runs before I figured out that you have to wait until the signal is strong (correct number of blinks per minute) before starting off. Now though, I'm having a different issue.

Simply put, the GPS doesn't like my place of business. I can sit outside my building for 10 min (and I have) waiting for the signal and it won't come through. On multiple occasions I've given up waiting and ride the short distance (0.6 mi) from the building to Jack London Square and re-tried, only to get a connection in about 30 sec. Annoying, if not actually significant.

Did Bell make "British" versions of their city helmets?

Riding in this morning I found myself wondering that, are there "British" versions of the Bell city helmets (the Citi and Metro)? These helmets were great because they have little accessory kits that include a mirror, rain cover, and air vent plugs for cold weather. My morning commute it primarily through downtown Oakland on one way streets, most of the time on the left side of the road. That makes my (ordinarily very handy) mirror almost worthless, unless I want to check out the parked cars.

When I got to work I noticed that the visor has a slot on the right side for a mirror, but that the one I have is left-sided only (which makes me wonder if there really are left-handed smoke shifters, no matter what the people at the Wolfeboro Trading Post said). Are there right-sided ones for people who use the other side of the street?

On a less-whimsical note I could see this being handy for international touring, especially if there is just a second wee little mirror to pick up.

Two good pieces of kit

Despite the unpleasant weather (40s, drizzle) yesterday I set myself up to bike home. I had my new bags from Swift and loaded them onto the bike to test out.

The first thing I noticed when I got the box a couple of weeks ago was that the bags were beautiful. Swift lets you customize the bags and I couldn't be happier with how they cam out. The attachment is simple - I tossed in a little extra to have a bungie attachment with an S-hook for the bottom so all I did was hook the bungie on the bottom and pull up until I could hook the top bar on the rack. The two bags worked great for what I wanted to carry - my work clothes, computer, and some notebooks. With a second set of bags (which I have) I can easily load enough gear for a short trip (couple of days) without trouble. When the weather turns enough for me to test the bags out with a full tour, I'll let you know.

The other piece of kit I wanted to crow about is my Fat Cyclist woolie (sorry, it's a limited edition and there hasn't been any info on the next version). Like all FC gear it's made by Twin Six, and it's fantastic. Yesterday was the first time I really tested it in poor weather, I'd worn it on cool days before but not in the cold. I was wearing the jersey with a day-glo vest over it and shorts, and within a few minutes I was plenty warm. I will soon be ordering a few more wool jerseys for winter riding.

Getting ready

As I mentioned a little while ago, I've got a sprint tri coming up next weekend. I've done another race at this same location a few years ago, and that time I had to borrow my brother's old full suspension MTB to ride. The worst part (other than the fact that I don't like suspension to begin with) is that he hadn't used/maintained it for so long that the front fork lock-out wasn't working, so by the end of the bike section I was almost sea-sick from the bouncing every time I tried to really push on a climb. This time I'll be driving to his house instead of flying, so I can bring my own bike.

I thought about it a bit and decided to pull the Raleigh off of the trainer and use it. Sure, it's limited gear-wise (a straight 10, and not for climbing, compared to the 21 on the Trucker) but it weighs less, has no racks, and is easier to pack into my truck. I also decided to swap the pedals out. When I first bought it the Raleigh had what looked like original toe clip pedals on it and I pulled them off for clipless. In this case I want the toe clip so I can just wear my running shoes. Since I'm not going for speed the slight benefit of the clipless shoes is more than balanced by only having to put my shoes on once (I'm VERY slow at transitions.)


The only downside is that while I was pulling the non-driveside pedal off I wanged my thumb good - pinched it between the wrench and the crank. Darn thing is still tender. Oh, and the fact that the spare tube from the seat bag had spider webs on it.

An almost fully-loaded commute

I have avoided commuting to work on Mondays because I usually have my laptop and a big heap of papers that I've brought home to work on over the weekend. This week was no different, except that the heap was closer to two heaps because of the (work-related) trip to Carson City last week. But I also did some riding there that both 1) reminded me how much I luv my bike and 2) demonstrated conclusively (and emasculating-ly) how much more I need to be on it. So I loaded up last night to make sure I would ride this morning. The result:


The back end is my Two Wheel Gear garment pannier (that I luv almost as much as my bike) and the front end, strapped to the top of my Nice Rack is my backpack with many heaps of papers and my laptop. I'm not a fan of a high load like that, the front was a bit wobbly, which reinforces the need to get some normal panniers that will mount on the sides (and low, an advantage of the Nice Racks) in the near future.

I will post about the rides in Carson. One was on dirt and really fueled my desire to get my hands on a twenty-niner, the other was a solo trek around town. Both were great and both hurt (see note above on emasculation) in that good "this ride kicked my sorry @$$" way. But more on that soon.

Anit-cancer loot

I've mentioned before that I'm doing the LiveStrong ride in San Jose, as a member of Team Fatty (and again, feel free to GO HERE and donate to me). One of the things that our team captain passed on recently was a link to the Team Estrogen site to get a pair of "Cancer Sucks" socks. The idea is that the whole team will show up with the Team Fatty jersey and the Cancer Sucks socks and make a strong statement. Today when I got home from work this is what I found in the mail.

Nothing like having anti-cancer kit for riding. I am going to look like a bit of a frilly bike-ninja though, with my all-black-and-pink ensemble for the ride. Maybe I should find an old helmet to paint...

Training - a request

I haven't been updating my training lately because I haven't done any. I've been on the road for work and that's going to keep going for the next few months. That brings me to my request. 

Anyone who has followed this thing since I started should know that my primary ride, my Long Haul Trucker, has S and S couplers installed on it. In theory, they should allow me to pack the Trucker up and take it on the road with me. Since I've been and will be traveling to places like Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii I'd really like to have my bike with me. Unfortunately, things haven't worked out as well in practice as in theory.

I have tried exactly once to pack my bike into a case. It was a soft-side, rented from Mt. Airy. Problem was, I couldn't get the bike into the case. There are all sorts of guides on how to do it, but it seemed like the Trucker was just too long to fit. What I'm hoping for is that someone who reads this is familiar with S and S couplers and has packed a bike with them. Or, maybe that someone in the Bay Area can recommend a good shop that works with tourers primarily that might be able to help me out.

I'd really like to be able to use the Trucker as I intended, which means being able to pack it up. Any ideas?

Commuting mojo

In the months that I haven't ridden my commute I've lost my commuting mojo. Specifically, I have lost my red light mojo.

There was a time where I could drift through town without missing a light. Sure, I'd have to hustle through some yellows, but I didn't have to stop. These last few days I've had streaks where I've had to stop at every light, five or more in a row. And since I'm rolling through a town like Alameda, if those lights are turning it means there's cars coming.

On another note - when I wrote about the TwoWheel Gear bag I mentioned that there wasn't a blinkie loop. I was wrong. I found the loop when I was packing the bag up for another trip to work. The little bag on top has a blinkie loop on the back, which puts the light right up on top. The downside is that at least with the light I'm using (Cateye TL-LD1000) unless the pocket is full the light flops over on its back. For now I'm going to keep playing with the way I load the bag to see what I can do to keep that pouch full, but in the ling run I'll probably try and figure out a good way to attach the light to the rack directly. 

Product review (Initial Impressions) - TwoWheel Gear suit/pannier

A while back I mentioned that I had purchased one of the nifty suit bags/panniers from TwoWheel Gear. Until I started bike commuting again this week I hadn't used it. Now that I have, I can give my initial impressions.

I likes it.

The main compartment has a little velcro closure that goes over the hooks from hangers, which makes it easy to put the clothes in, a clipping strap that runs across the middle of the bag where it fold to go over the rack, and another strap near the bottom. All of which make sure your clothes  (in my case slacks and a long-sleeved dress shirt) stay in place.

On the outside are two pouches, one faces up when the bag is on the bike and the other faces up when the bag is hanging up. I don't know if it was what the designers intended, but the way I will be using this is to put things like my lunch in the "upright on bike" pouch, and things like shoes and toiletries in the "upright when hanging" one. Lastly, there is a small pocket that sits in the middle of those, which ends up on top of the rack with the opening facing the rear of the bike when the whole thing is mounted.

The bag held everything I needed to put in it, but I did have a few problems. First, the bag was tough to zip/unzip. I think it was probable because the material is stiff from being new. The other big issue is the lack of a loop for a blinkie. I used the clip for the shoulder strap, but it was sideways and the light came off on a bump. Maybe there's a loop that I missed, but I don't think so.

I'll write another review when I've used it a little more, but at this point I'm ready to say that if you commute more than a few miles and have to wear nice clothes at work this may be the bag for you.

New gear

Sometime in the next few days I'll be moving to a new house. My new place is on the west side of the hills, which means I'll be in a better place to ride into work. Instead of being about 30 miles away and on the wrong side of the Berkeley Hills I'll only be about 10 miles away on mostly flat roads. Additionally, there is a BART station about halfway between my house and the office which has a full service bike parking facility.

Since I'll be riding farther I won't be doing it on the upright, which means I won't be wearing my work clothes. To make transporting my duds a little easier I ordered the garment bag fromTwoWheel Gear. The short version is that the bag is a full length garment bag which hooks to bike racks like normal panniers. I don't need to carry much other than some papers with me, and the bag has plenty of pockets for various things.

In the upper picture you can see the non drive-side of the bag, which has most of the external zipped pockets on it. The bag also has a zipped pocket on the top in the section that sits on top of the rack. The bag has two types of handles with shorter carry handles as well as an adjustable shoulder strap. Also, clearly visible in the pic are the day/night-glo strips on the rear of the bag. The reflectiveness of the strips is more evident in the lower pic. Also visible there are the angled hooks for attaching to the bike rack.

I just got the bag and haven't been able to test it yet, but once I have I'll write it up.

Another bike/camera post

Rather than repeat the post, I direct you here to a post from mid November on Bike Hugger. The post is about a nifty little rig the author saw in Japan, where a cyclist had mounted a small camcorder (looks a little like a Flip but isn't) to the front axle on his bike. 

With the right angle adjustment and a sufficient record-time on the camera this could be a really cool way to record a tour. It would require either a remote on/off (like I discussed when I posted about mounting a still camera to the racks on my Trucker) to allow easy recording of fun stuff (crazy descents, great views and the like) or an amazing amount of time and patience allowing the rider to flip through a day's worth of riding to find the segments worth keeping.

Either way, I've been thinking that a camcorder like the Flip might be a nice addition to documenting a tour. Hopefully I'll be in the shape to start some S24O tours early in the new year and wills tart playing with some of the ideas I have.

More lighting, again

I've always been a bit of a gear snob when it comes to cycling, preferring to buy cool toys rather than DIY. Specifically, I've been of the "go big" school of lighting and have felt that the multi-tool option of using flashlights attached to the bike instead of a headlight was gauche. I'm beginning to change my mind, especially as more and more high quality, low cost flashlights come on the market.

The other night I was watching TV with my dad and saw a Home Depot ad for two sets of LED flashlights. I have no idea how bright these are (either set), but if they're any good they can at least be used as "to be seen" lights. A little work with some red plastic and you've got taillights to go with the headlights too, since the one set is 5 of the things.

Another interesting option for visibility was recently featured on Urban Velo - reflective lanyards. The post is about a company (Scott's Knots) that makes to-order lanyards, some of which are made from reflective cording. The site actually has a section specifically for bicycle use, which actually qualifies them for inclusion in the bike-spotting series, where they feature seat danglers and side markers (for handlebars). Reflectors are a secondary "look at me" (see Sheldon on the subject) and I put these in the same category as reflective tape - a great, passive way to draw extra attention to your ride at night while also adding some style.

Trucker, fully loaded

I've been riding the Trucker for my commute for a couple of weeks now. (I will repair the rear of the Schwinn, someday.) Over the weekend I decided to finally get off my duff and move some of the accessories over to it.

First I moved the OYB bag. It hangs on a nifty no-tool bag mount that Velo Orange had for sale as NOS for a little while. I thought it might not fit because of where the brake cables emerge from the bar tape, but there was no problem. I also transferred the Polar CS100 computer over. Unfortunately, in order to get the wireless cadence sensor to work, I have to put the computer on the top tube. I discovered on the first ride with this set up that the angle of the stem is such that it obscures the computer. This may be a good thing (no watching the time/distance on longer rides) but I doubt it. Finally, I moved the essentials - the pump (Topeak RoadMorph) and lock (Kryptonite Evolution).

Finally, after too many months, the Trucker is almost complete. Next come racks and bags, then an overnight.

Downsides to cycling in kit

I've mentioned before that I don't commute in a lot of bike-specific clothing. That has shifted a little as I have gone to the Trucker as my commuter of choice. I've had to go back to bike shorts (mountain shorts with a removable liner - keep me from looking to Fred) and wearing gloves.

The shorts are a necessity, not for comfort (Brooks B17, is there anything better?), but because the leather of the saddle was coloring my normal shorts. (Note - no lesser an authority than Sheldon Brown indicates that the reason cycling shorts are black has to do with leather saddles - 2/3 down, "Breaking in a leather saddle"). That means I'm back to having to remember all of the necessary underthings for when I change.

The gloves are more about comfort than the shorts. The bar tape is soft and padded and undoubtedly will be great when I start touring, but it can also be a little gummy in the humidity. Wearing gloves helps avoid this. The biggest problem with that is I end up with glove-funky hands, which for some reason even repeated washing doesn't seem to ease. Guess it's a good thing very few people come to visit me.

A final, not overly related issue with wearing cycling-specific clothes comes at the end of the work day. I hit leaving time and want to just go. I'm so brain-burned that even the effort of changing seems like more of a hassle than it's worth. Yeah, too lazy to change but looking forward to a ride home, how addicted am I?

Charity

I will admit that I can be overly generous or stingy when it comes to charities, all based on my mood at the moment. I focus on a few areas of personal interest (mostly outdoorsy stuff) and then give whatever feel right. The more solicitations I get, the less I tend to give because I get annoyed and feel like "punishing" the solicitor. There is one exception to this - Elden, AKA the Fat Cyclist.

I had been reading his blog for a little while before I realized the situation with his wife's battle with cancer. All I knew was that for some reason the really cool swag he sold came in the site colors of orange and black, and (at the time) what I thought was an oddly un-manly pink. The I read about Susan's fight with cancer and it all made sense.

Maybe it's because Fatty has done such an amazing job of personalizing his requests for help (no form letters in the mail), maybe it's because he is so open about what the funds are used for, maybe it's because he comes up with creative ways to ask (yes, the man did a century on rollers), or maybe it's just because he's so darn funny, but whatever the reason I never hesitate to toss my hard earned money his way.

The point of this? If you haven't seen his blog, go now. If you haven't helped out, please think about it.

(This was inspired by a reference at another site to making donations to LIVESTRONG, a group Fatty regularly champions)

Selecting rain gear

I am not creative or funny enough to write a decent 4/1 post, so instead I'm going to gripe about my rain gear.

I will admit that I am a mostly fair-weather commuter. I don't mind the cold or heat and snow is fun (excluding icy roads, more out of fear of the cars than anything I might do) but I rarely bike in serious rain on purpose. I've done it before, usually on the way home from work, but not often. Today though I didn't really have a choice.

I am trying to jump start my training, since I have a triathlon at the end of the month. On top of that, I have a class tonight at Hopkins so driving would have meant $18.00 in parking charges, and I have to stop by a friend's house to look in on her cat. All in all, cycling is the easiest way to take care of all of this.

It's not raining too heavily, so there really isn't a good reason to wimp out. It is raining enough that I didn't want to wear my work clothes (which I normally commute in) because I would have been wet most of the day. I decided to grab my camping rain gear - pants and a jacket.

They work great, not a drop of rain on me. Unfortunately, they don't breathe, so I made up for the rain by sweating. It just shows that you really need to think about exertion and use when getting rain gear. Thankfully, my commute is so short that it really doesn't matter.