an extra quarter mile

It turns out I’ve been selling myself short: my route to work is actually almost exactly 2 miles, not the one and three-quarters I’ve thought it was.  So that takes me to 8 miles of biking a day.  Not a lot, but better than zero.

Over the weekend I stole the bike computer from my wife’s road bike and mounted it on mine.  I was curious what kind of  speed I tend to cruise at (about 11mph) and how far it really was to work.  Turns out it’s 2.02 miles, assuming I did a good job measuring the circumference of my wheel.   I suspect my average speed will be higher going home since that’s generally downhill and downwind.  Biking to work I have the landscape and the prevailing winds against me.

Just to doublecheck myself, I used Google Maps to map out my route, which is now possible thanks to their click-and-drag route function, and it gave me the same answer.  For a similar tool (which also uses Google Maps under the hood) you can try Map My Run, a utility site for runners that works just as well for biking.  Better, even, since you’re less likely to cut corners across unpaved areas on a road bike.

By the way, I used a trick to measure my bike wheel’s circumference.  The computer’s manual suggested using a measuring tape on the floor and the wheel’s valve stem as a marker while you roll the wheel along and then read off the distance covered.  I used the measuring tape on the floor – a metal tape so it would stay straight and stiff – but since I was looking for a measurement in millimeters, the it seemed the valve stem wouldn’t be a very good guide.  So I took a small strip of scotch tape and stuck it across the tire tread like a band-aid.  I used the edge of the tape as my guide next to the ruler.  It was much more precise since it had a well-defined edge and it was right against the floor and the tape.  I thought about marking the tire with chalk, but I had tape and didn’t have chalk.  Either way would likely give a better result than eyeballing the valve stem from an inch or two away from the measuring tape.

In other news: It’s going to be in the mid- to high-90′s all week, with relative temperatures over 100.  Biking home (and back to work) for lunch is gonna suck.

bike legs

They’re coming.

Today was the first day that I didn’t downshift climbing the hill up to the parking lot at work. So… hooray for me.

It’s slow going building strength for bicycling when I ride 1.7 miles four times a day, 4 days a week, not counting side trips to get groceries and whatnot. Plus my route (by design) is relatively flat. Yeah, I could push harder, pedal faster, stay in a higher gear, and find some much bigger hills if I wanted to, but as I look at the local weather right now it’s 91°F with 41% humidity, which means I’m a soggy mess when I get off the bike at work after lunch break. I can’t imagine what I’d look like if I’d done a hard workout to get here. And it’s not even August yet – we have yet to see a 100° day here, but it’ll come, and I won’t like it.

my bitchin ride

Finally: Pictures!

I haven’t posted anything in a while because there hasn’t been anything new worth mentioning. I’ve ridden to work every day, stopped at the grocery store several times, and things are generally going pretty well. Last weekend I took my bike in for its complimentary 30-day tune-up at the bike shop where I bought it, so it’s nice and clean and running great. It shifts smoothly, no extra noises… all’s good.

Yesterday my fenders arrived so I got them attached last night after Beatrix went to bed. Since I think I’m finished attaching extra crap to the bike, I thought I’d bust out the camera and show some of the things I’ve been talking about. First, here’s the finished product:

Sorry about the white-balance. I took the picture at night in my living room in low light and I hate using the flash. I corrected the white balance for all the other photos.

Unfortunately, it seems I’m suffering from Too Much Crap On My Bike syndrome. Check out this closer view of the rear wheel.

At the hub of the wheel, the Solobug trailer mount points to the rear. Just above it is the mountpoint where both the rack and the rear fender attach to the frame. At the top of the rack, notice the arms that reach to the mountpoint below the seat. I’m having trouble with that arrangement because the brakes on the bike are the newfangled kind that pull from one side, instead of the old center-pull version I was used to. Consequently, the brake cable has a stiff tube where it feeds into the brake itself, and that tube wants to be in the same spot as the rack mount. I don’t think any other kind of rack would be any better, and it makes it really tough to disengage the brake when removing the rear wheel. I may end up switching to a center-pull brake for the rear at some point just to clear up that problem.

Here’s a detail view of the rear hub so you can see how crowded it is. The tail end of the rack prong just barely fits past the bulky trailer mount. The first time I tried attaching both to the bike at once, there wasn’t room. I later realized the hole in the rack prong is an oblong one that allows the rack to move a couple of millimeters up and down – just barely enough to get clearance for the trailer mount, as it turned out. The bolt holding the rack and fender in place is just long enough to grab the threads in the frame hole, so I may try and find a slightly longer bolt at some point, especially if I plan to carry anything heavy on the rack.

This is the rear of the bike with a grocery pannier attached. I don’t know about other brands, but this one (by Sunlite) collapses flat against the side when not carrying any big cargo. This low-profile mode is just fine for most of my trips to work since a spare shirt and a U-lock fit without any trouble. The bag is tall, nearly as tall as a standard paper grocery bag, so the bungee cord and hook at the bottom won’t hook to the usual spot in the fork of the rear rack. Instead, it needs to stretch down to the rear hub and hook somewhere there. On this side of the bike, the quick-release handle makes a perfect hook mount.

When the pannier is opened out, it’s pretty roomy, and does hang out to the sides quite a bit. With one on each side, I take up a fair amount of horizontal space on the road. At least, it feels that way. Two bags opened out like this also catch a lot of wind, which is why they’re made to collapse flat when not needed.

If you’ve been reading along, you know I’ve been having trouble finding a good place to hook a bag on the right. Everywhere I tried, the hook threatened to interfere with the gears, which made me very nervous. Luckily, the Solobug trailer mount provided the solution. The mount comes with an extra skewer with a longer rod. The longer skewer is provided to account for the extra bulk added by the mount on the left side of the bike, and provides plenty of extra room. In my case, it was a lot of extra room. So much that the nut end of the skewer stuck out about half an inch more than it needed to. Suddenly, I had my pannier hook mount. I added a little nut to the tip of the skewer which accomplishes two things: it blunts the tip so I won’t accidentally rip a gouge in my leg; and it keeps the hook from sliding off the end. Now it nestles in the gap between the little nut and the skewer’s acorn nut. Here’s a closeup:

So that’s the bike. I’ll try and get some shots of the trailer sometime soon and throw those pictures up here, too.

rainy days

Today: Wet.

Yesterday, when I drove back to work after lunch, I brought my bike in the back of the station wagon so I could ride home after work. I stopped at the grocery store and had a chance to fill up those new panniers. It worked pretty well, though I think I’d like to find some kind of metal ring I can hook to my bike frame near the rear hub so I’ll have something easy I can hook the panniers’ elastic strap/hook thing to. On the right side, the gear side, the only place I can set the hook puts it very close to the spinning gears – close enough to make me nervous and to stay away from top gear.

Today I rode to work in a light drizzle, home for lunch in a steady shower, and back to work again in more drizzle. I’ve added a towel to my replacement-clothes pack in a plastic trashbag in the pannier, since it doesn’t close at the top. Boy, riding in a zipped-up raincoat is sweaty work.

In other news, I got the call – finally – that the trailer hitch has arrived at the bike shop, so I’ll get that over the weekend.

Next up: fenders. The cheapest good ones I can find are at REI. They’re selling decent road bike full fenders for about $30, which is about as cheap as I can find the ones of that type.

unused gear

On Tuesday afternoon, the bike racks finally arrived. “Finally” isn’t a dig at Nashbar, since I did opt for the cheapest US Post shipping option, though I’d be happy to dig at Nashbar over the literature they include in every package about some colon cleanser and its miraculous curative effects. It’s enough to put me off the company and send me elsewhere on the interweb for cheap bicycle gear.

So anyway, the racks came on Tuesday. That night I installed them on our two bikes. I wish mine had come with instructions as to which kind of bolt was intended to be used to attach what part to where, but for the time being the rack is bolted on and feels secure. I’ll put off being mad about it until it falls off because I used the wrong bolt for something.

I’m anticipating having to deal with a Too Much Crap On My Bike problem soon: The rack is made to bolt to the threaded hole near the rear wheel hub, but I can tell from looking at my wife’s bike that when the extra Solobug trailer hitch finally arrives, it will take up enough extra space that I’ll need to attach the rack to one of the other holes nearby instead. Problem is, there’s only one hole that’s threaded. Using one of the other holes will require a bolt and nut. Bleah. I’ll deal with it later if/when the hitch comes in.

With the rack in place and the panniers in the closet, I was ready to commute without my backpack and get some shopping done on the way home from work, right? Wrong. Wednesday is work-at-home day, so no commute for me. Today I’m back at work but actually drove to campus with my wife. There’s a soaking rain outside that’s been going since yesterday afternoon, and the big grocery panniers don’t offer any rain protection at all. Ordinarily I’d just wrap my things in plastic bags and get on with it, but today I was schlepping some borrowed books and didn’t want to risk the water damage. So… it’s a car day, today.

three years

Happy anniversary to me and Elinor today.

I’m still waiting for the bike racks to arrive from Nashbar. It’s frustrating: the weather is getting hotter and biking with a satchel strapped to my back is a sweatier proposition by the week. Meanwhile, the panniers are sitting in a closet at home, unused and unusable. Today I stopped at a local garden center, on my route home from work as luck would have it, and bought some flowers (a live plant in a pot) and had to bike it home hanging from my handlebars. Good thing they had bags with handles.

Today I’m a little sore, even though I took it easy over the weekend, walking around town instead of biking. Friday I was running behind and needed to be at work by a certain time, so I sprinted the whole way. I’m still paying for it.

I’m also sore partly from the gardening (aka “weeding”) work I did yesterday and over the weekend. Our tomatoes are on the verge of being choked out, so the weeds needed to be cleared pronto. It wasn’t all bad. The baby basil plants are doing just fine after I uprooted them, took them apart from the surrounding weeds, and re-planted them when they were still very tiny. They’re taller now and have several ranks of leaves, so I think they’ll make it. Over the last few days I’ve also discovered several second-generation tomato plants, seeded and grown up from fallen tomatoes in last year’s garden. This is a definite advantage to not having used the anti-seed-germination stuff early on – all these little seedlings would never have made it. Now the baby tomato plants will make a nice surprise for us later in the summer: Which kind are they?

panniers

The commute yesterday was a little wet. It was a classic midwest thunderstorm day with periods of bright sunshine on a wet, sparkly landscape interspersed with furious rain showers, nighttime gloom, and bone-rattling thunder. I used up my spare clothes at work so I wouldn’t spend the day with a stripe of street grime up the back of my shorts. Yes, I could still use some fenders.

Today has been gorgeous, though, and I finally decided to buy a bike rack and panniers online. I went for low-cost basics, so I hope everything fits and works well. At the time of purchase, the rack was about $15 and the grocery panniers (I got two) were $28 each. Those prices were about as good as I could find, including eBay, given that I wanted a strong, all-purpose rear rack and grocery panniers. The panniers should get me to the store and back while also having plenty of room for whatever stuff I need to haul to work and back. I’ll just keep a sturdy plastic bag in each one in case of rain.

I’m still coveting the laptop commuter pannier by Arkel, but can’t justify the money right now when it just wouldn’t be much use bringing home a gallon of milk from the store.

When everything arrives and I’ve had a chance to try it out, I’ll post some reviews.

another week down

Yesterday was (yet another) car day. I’m started to get frustrated by those, which I suppose is a good thing. The reason: Beatrix had a pediatrician checkup in the morning (all is good: healthy 9-month-old baby) and I don’t yet have the trailer hitch for my bicycle so I couldn’t take her in the trailer. The hitch has been on order for a couple of weeks now, but I’m told it was out of stock at the supplier, so I’m still waiting.

In other car news, today I went to the VW mechanic where our dead car is parked in the lot and handed over the paperwork Dave (the mechanic) will need to buy our car from us. It isn’t sold yet, but it’s very close. Probably early next week. I’ll most certainly post when it’s a done deal.

For now, I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Saturdays are good biking days (in nice weather) when we get to go to the farmer’s market and lounge around downtown all morning.

among the weeds

Elinor and I have had a tomato garden for the last two summers and we’re growing one again this year. We generally grow basil and some peppers and other things in the spaces between the tomatoes. Yesterday evening around dusk I was out weeding the garden. It was tough going – we haven’t been good about weeding lately and some grasses were taking over one end and along the edges. So I was on my knees prying up grass plants one at a time when I noticed a tiny, two-leaf basil plant trying to make it in the grass jungle. A second generation basil plant! I didn’t even know last year’s crop had gone to seed. We grew our basil from seed last year and it was really successful, making humongous plants with trunks bigger than my thumb at the base, so I guess I’m not surprised. A little later I discovered another little seedling.

I dug up huge clods of earth under and around the seedlings so I could pick out the grass as carefully as I could, trying not to damage the basil roots, then replanted the seedlings in clear, weed-free soil. Even though we have some purchased basil seedlings to add to the garden, I really hope these two little guys make it.

a weekend turtle

Saturday was a good day for biking. Elinor and Beatrix and I left the house in the morning with bikes and trailer to go to the local Farmer’s Market. We did a little shopping and left on foot to walk around downtown for a little while, ending up at Milton’s for brunch. We scored some seats on the patio and got to chat with several friends who happened by. After a stop at Sunflower Bike Shop for some knick-knacks we biked home to lounge a bit. It was Saturday, after all.

Through all the biking, Beatrix’s new helmet worked out great. It sometimes tipped forwards when she slouched in her trailer seat, but never covered her face, and I think she found it more comfortable to wear than the old one.

On our way home from the downtown bike trip we noticed a turtle crossing a busy road near our house so I hopped off the bike to move it before it got crushed. I have no idea what kind of turtle it was, but I think it was a plain old box turtle, in which case it was a big one. The shell alone was at least a foot long. All the turtles I ever caught near creeks as a kid were little things, maybe 5 or 6 inches at most. This guy must have been ancient.

For the afternoon, Elinor had places to be so I took Beatrix in our loaner car to visit my grandmom. Being on the far side of town already, I took the opportunity to stop at some of the big box stores in the commercial soul-sucking wasteland on the southern edge of town (we needed some curtains and they couldn’t be found downtown – we tried) and then back home for the evening.

Sunday saw us in the car again, out to my grandmom’s place once more and then out the other side of town to a park near a local lake.

Today I got back on the bike to ride in to work and Elinor and I got to ride to campus together. The weather is threatening storms at some point today, so I’m packing rain gear. I really want to find some kind of pannier I can hook to my bike to carry more sizable loads for grocery trips and books and stuff from the hardware store… So much of my time in the car, I realize now, was spent ferrying stuff from one place to another. Until I get some decent packs for the bike, I’m still forced to use the car for loads that are just slightly too large to stuff in a backpack or hang from a handlebar.