Commute 1/7/08

Time of Departure: 8:00
Temperature: 47F

It felt a lot warmer this morning than the thermometer said. If I hadn't been running about 15 minutes behind schedule (because I did not want to get out of bed) I would have taken my coat off and just strapped it to the rack. As it was I got to work a little warmer than I like. That will mean being hot most of the morning since the heat in the building seems to be set by the season. Since it's winter it must be cold outside which means the heat must be cranked up to make half of the building unlivable. But, since it's also an ancient building the heat only seems to work in about half of the offices, so some people melt and others freeze. A/C is the same way, and unfortunately for me my office is one that is warm/hot all of the time.

I finally got around to getting new tire levers to carry with me, and actually remembered to pack my pump. I still haven't figured out what I want to do as a permanent solution. I may try and get another hanger so I can use the same pump I use on my roadie (Topeak Road Morph) rather than buying a new one. For now, while the road bike is strapped to the trainer that makes the most sense.

Commute 1/4/08

Time of departure: 7:00
Temperature: 22F

About the same temperature as yesterday, but for some reason my ears didn't hurt as badly today. I remembered to adjust the front brake tension last night so it worked much better. I think I may have gone a little too far with it though, since I barely have to pull the handle to feel the braking. Oh well, it's a simple adjustment. I'll play a little more when I get home.

Somehow I killed my front tire, again, a few blocks from work. It dropped the way it has in the past - going from fine to flat in less than a block. The only part of this that is bothering me is that I have a liner in the tire and I didn't see anything on a quick inspection. Since I no longer have functional tire levers (had a plastic set, broke one of them trying to put a too-small whitewall tire on about a month ago) that means a trip to a bike shop of some sort over the weekend. I also don't have a pump with me (I bought a CO2 inflator and can't get it to work right, maybe I'm just dumb) so I'll have to hoof it a few blocks to the closest gas station with air and pump up there.

Commute 1/3/08

Time of departure: 6:50
Temperature: 22F

I knew the ride would be a little rough this morning when I headed out the door carrying the bike and the cold was a little painful. I'm going to have to figure out something for my ears. The do-rag and slight bit of hair that's grown back in since I stopped shaving kept my head from hurting, but my ears feel like they froze. Next ride I'll probably try to pull the do-rag over them just to see if it helps.

I need to check the brake adjustment. Coming down the one main hill that I have (which runs close to half of the wee little commute) I just was not slowing down, with both brakes applied full-tilt. It may be that the cable on the drum brake has stretched a little and just needs to be retightened. I'm not too surprised about the slip on the rear - that one never catches very well and with the cold, semi-moist air it was just about worthless. Either way I'll be playing with both of them tonight.

The ride home is going to be a little bit longer than normal. Instead of a straight shot like I normally take I have to make a detour to a package shipping place to send my little brothers' gifts out (yeah, I'm that late) and then up to Hopkins to have coffee with a former co-worker. If the temp is anything like now the coffee will be welcome.

New toys, part 2

Yesterday I finished hooking the Raleigh up to the trainer and took it for a spin. After a short test ride earlier in the day I took a slightly longer one later. Today, again, I did about an hour on it.

I can say that it's not quite as good as riding outside. For one thing, it feels like there's a slight angle to the thing, like the bike is tilted over to the right. Not enough that I can see it, it just feels a little odd. I keep twisting the handlebars over to the right to try and counter it, then straightening them back out. Maybe I'll get used to it. That or I'll figure out that it is indeed tilted and to something to fix it.


As part of getting the Raleigh hooked up to the trainer I moved the computer sensor to the rear wheel, That way I can still record "miles" ridden in addition to the cadence and kcal data that I'm getting. Because it's a wireless unit I've had to move the computer itself onto the top tube. Since the main thing I have it for is recording the full ride (as opposed to doing laps or watching time/speed/cadence for some sort of goal) it's okay. I may get tired of having it there, but for using the trainer at least it's either there or no mileage.

I am still waiting for the rollers and front wheel riser to arrive, so for now at least I'm getting some good use out of the Baltimore Yellow Book. Most use I've gotten out of the thing since it was dumped on my porch a few months back.

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.