Commute to work

[Mark B]

Tragedy... As I was adding air to my tires for the commute ride this morning, I noticed my front rim has some issues. I have one eyelet that is pulling through the rim and another crack in the rim. I rode it today, but may have to break out the Silvio for the rest of the week. It was a free wheel, so if I get it rehooped, it's still a cheap wheel. I have another wheel that just needs a spoke put in it, so I may opt for that wheel and rehoop this one later. Oh well, I was looking for an excuse to ride the Silvio to work, anyway!

Mark

 

[Mark B]

For today's commute ride, I decided to ride easy, peasey and just enjoy the ride. I must say, it was glorious!

I'm the kind that likes to push hard, go fast, set better times and all that junk. I fully well realize this can be counter productive and seeing that I rode pretty hard Tuesday and Wednesday, I was feeling it. This morning, I made a point to be on the road early (more like on time), so I could not feel rush and just enjoy the ride. Boy, was it worth it.

The air was cool, though not chilly. A sleeveless jersey and my Shimano sandals were perfect. I eased on down the road, taking in the calm and quiet as a new day was dawning. When I got to the places where I usually like to push hard, I reined myself in and kept myself at an easy pace, spinning easy. Despite my tired legs, I found the ride relaxing and enjoyable.

There was a bit of excitement as I neared work. I came up to a corner and saw police cars and their "crisis management" truck parked in the parking lot of a corner market. Farther down the street there were policemen decked out in full body armor lurking in the shadows, police dogs and police cars getting ready to cut off the area. Something was getting ready to go down and here I was, just toodling along right through the middle of it! I suspect somebody was in for a rough morning.

Mark

 

[Mark B]

Todays words: Adversity and adaptation

Let me preface this post by saying last night there was a lot of teenage drama at my house. I was kind of late getting to bed and did not sleep all that well. The alarm went off and I gave serious consideration to calling off on riding. Then, I thought riding is probably just what the doctor ordered. So, I got on the bike a few minutes later than I would like, but within reason and headed off to work. Ahhh, this is just right; the air was crisp and clean. It felt good coursing through my lungs as I pedaled down the street. All was well with the world, now.

Then I got a flat. :cry: I had started my trek to the north and the climbing was starting. I thought I was struggling a little to maintain pace, then the wobbliness came. I knew one tire or the other was going as I approached a light that was turning red. I reached back and yep, the back tire was getting soft pretty quickly. The light turned green and I rode across the intersection where there was better street light available. I grumbled as I took the wheel off, then removed the tire. I quickly found the problem, a piece of plastic was impaled into my tire. I picked a thorn and a small piece of glass out, as well, but I am sure the plastic was what made me stop. It didn't appear to cut the casing, so I put the tire back on, mounted the good tube inside and pumped it up to pressure. I was underway in pretty good time, but now I knew I would probably have to shorten up my hygiene somewhere so I could clock in on time. I decided before I even got there that shaving would be the thing that would go if I was short on time. Sure enough, I had to pass on shaving, but got myself in reasonably sanitary condition to report to my desk.

It was still a good ride and probably just what I needed. That's only the third flat I've had commuting on the conversion bike and the first coming TO work. One was after I had gotten to work and the other on the way home. I can't really complain too much about that, except I have to patch a tube over lunch. :evil:

Mark

 

[Peder Torgersen]

I have been on a trip to northern Norway visiting some relatives. It was good to ride my Sofrider again to work. My wife and I were away for just over a week. I borrowed an upright lady city bike to get some exercise. The bike was alright but not very comfortable when compared to my Sofrider. I was able to fish and take some of them home. They have much more fish and bigger fish in the north. It took 2 of us an hour to fill a barrel!
Now I have to use lights in the morning. That’s one advantage of living so far north you don’t need to use lights on a bike before this time of year.

Peder

 

[Mark B]

Peder Torgersen wrote: I have been on a trip to northern Norway visiting some relatives. It was good to ride my Sofrider again to work. My wife and I were away for just over a week. I borrowed an upright lady city bike to get some exercise. The bike was alright but not very comfortable when compared to my Sofrider. I was able to fish and take some of them home. They have much more fish and bigger fish in the north. It took 2 of us an hour to fill a barrel!
Now I have to use lights in the morning. That’s one advantage of living so far north you don’t need to use lights on a bike before this time of year.

Peder

Welcome back, Peder. I thought something was "fishy" around here! :lol: :lol: I have to burn my headlight the entire way to work right now.

Mark

 

[Mark B]

I have to tell you, this morning was one of those mornings you live for. I knew the second I opened the garage door, this was going to be a great ride. The weather was perfect! In fact, I was so excited to get on the bike, I rode off without realizing I was without my mirror! I noticed very quickly, so it was only a matter of circling around the block to get it. Back on the road, I had one of the most enjoyable morning commutes in a long time. It surely made up for yesterday morning. Besides the flat tire, all day I felt like I had "something" coming on. I was kind of achey and felt like I was running a little rough.

Yesterday afternoon, on the commute ride home, I hooked up with a friend of mine. He works in San Bernardino and has been cycle-commuting for awhile, too. I had previously altered my commute route to go past his place of work, hoping to make the connection some day. The problem is; he's halfway home for me and we get off of work at about the exact same time. Ordinarily, when I get to his place, he's already home, or almost. We planned in advance that he would take his time getting off work and changed for the ride, then he would back track until we met up. I should say that my friend is a longtime cyclist, previously owned his own shop and was, in fact, who I bought my first recumbent from. He's primarily a mountain biker, but is known to ride road bikes and loves fixed gear bikes. We met up as planned and had a nice ride. When we got to where the road climbed a little, he began to make me work a little harder than I ordinarily do on this stretch. I hung on just fine on my 40 pound commuter, but began running out of gas after awhile. I backed off and dropped back a little as we neared our turn south. I caught my second wind at some point and hung on for the rest of the ride. I was feeling pretty spent when I got home, but mixed up my jungle juice recovery drink, cooled off a little and felt pretty good again. It occured to me that going harder than I really wanted to must have cleared my pipes and whatever was ailing me seems to have gone away. I rode strong this morning and when we hooked up again this afternoon, I had no problem keeping pace and in fact, pulled most of the way. What a difference a day makes and what a difference a good, hard ride makes.

Mark

 

[GRR]

Quote:

Quote: Now I have to use lights in the morning. That’s one advantage of living so far north you don’t need to use lights on a bike before this time of year.

Welcome back, Peder. I thought something was "fishy" around here! :lol: :lol: I have to burn my headlight the entire way to work right now.

For me it's the evening ride...but then, I have to do that pretty much all year around, so I don't even notice anymore.

I was hoping that by tomorrow I'd be well underway at getting a fairing attached to my Sofrider for rainy-season riding (and really fast commuting), but it seems that HP Velotechnik borked the order. Hopefully I'll find out more tomorrow, but the bike shop through which I ordered it received only the bike portion of the order today. If I have to wait for the next joint order, it's another five weeks. And patience has never been one of my virtues, sigh...

 

[Mark B]

I rode my Silvio to work this morning. Just for something different and depending on how I feel on the way home, I may take the long way home and get some climbing in.

I noticed something the last time I rode the Silvio and it became apparent again today. The seatback angle and lower riding position are not as condusive to spotting bad spots in the road as my conversion is. Not a big deal, just an observation.

Another beautiful morning ride. I love fall.

Mark

 

[Peder Torgersen]

Yesterday everyone at work got a fire extinguisher my problem was taking it home with me on my Sofrider. It weighed 10 kilos so I left it at work and today I took my trailer which I use on my Sofrider. The trailer has only one wheel without a load you can hold a good speed. On the way home I have hills to climb so the speed is slower with a trailer but more exersize. Almost home I passed an Iceland pony taking it easy with a young lady riding.

Peder

 

[Mark B]

Peder Torgersen wrote: Yesterday everyone at work got a fire extinguisher my problem was taking it home with me on my Sofrider. It weighed 10 kilos so I left it at work and today I took my trailer which I use on my Sofrider. The trailer has only one wheel without a load you can hold a good speed. On the way home I have hills to climb so the speed is slower with a trailer but more exersize. Almost home I passed an Iceland pony taking it easy with a young lady riding.

Peder

And to think; had you encountered a fire along the way, you were prepared! You laugh, but here in SoCal these days, that's a distinct possibility!

Mark

 

[JonB]

Peder Torgersen wrote: Yesterday everyone at work got a fire extinguisher my problem was taking it home with me on my Sofrider. It weighed 10 kilos so I left it at work and today I took my trailer which I use on my Sofrider. The trailer has only one wheel without a load you can hold a good speed. On the way home I have hills to climb so the speed is slower with a trailer but more exersize. Almost home I passed an Iceland pony taking it easy with a young lady riding.

At least you werent passed by the pony. Some weeks ago i was out riding with a friend on his HP Velotechnik Speedmachine, and the only ones that werent overtaking us was an electric wheelchair. But i guess thats what you get for biking on along a path very often used by roadracers. Maybe i should get a Silvio.

 

[Mark B]

JonB wrote: Maybe i should get a Silvio.

IMHO, there's no "maybe" about it. Just don't put a kickstand on it.... PLEASE!!! :lol: :lol:

Mark

 

[Peder Torgersen]

Mark[/QUOTE]
And to think; had you encountered a fire along the way, you were prepared! You laugh, but here in SoCal these days, that's a distinct possibility!

Mark[/QUOTE]

I have seen the fires on the news. The wind is the problem. With the wind the fires are almost impossible to stop. We normally don’t have much wind in the summer but we did have wind when we had a forest fire close to where I live. You need rain for a long period?

Peder

 

[Mark B]

Peder Torgersen wrote: I have seen the fires on the news. The wind is the problem. With the wind the fires are almost impossible to stop. We normally don’t have much wind in the summer but we did have wind when we had a forest fire close to where I live. You need rain for a long period?

Peder

That's part of the problem; it won't really rain much around here for another month, or so. By then, the hillsides that are burning now will slide because the ground cover has burned off.

Most of the fire problems are arson. Copycat arson, to tell the truth and the news conglomorates can't get it through their heads that they are a big part of the problem. If they would cut way back on the news coverage, these rat bastards would quit lighting the fires every time the wind blows.

Mark

 

[Peder Torgersen]

JonB wrote:

Peder Torgersen wrote: Yesterday everyone at work got a fire extinguisher my problem was taking it home with me on my Sofrider. It weighed 10 kilos so I left it at work and today I took my trailer which I use on my Sofrider. The trailer has only one wheel without a load you can hold a good speed. On the way home I have hills to climb so the speed is slower with a trailer but more exersize. Almost home I passed an Iceland pony taking it easy with a young lady riding.

At least you werent passed by the pony. Some weeks ago i was out riding with a friend on his HP Velotechnik Speedmachine, and the only ones that werent overtaking us was an electric wheelchair. But i guess thats what you get for biking on along a path very often used by roadracers. Maybe i should get a Silvio.

Some racers are very fast many of them have trained hard for years. Among racers there are also different fitness levels. The main objective for ordinary riders is to get some exercise. Some of the ordinary riders become very fast when they increase their training. Speed is fun but exercising is better then sitting on a sofa!

Peder

 

[Mark B]

Peder Torgersen wrote: Speed is fun but exercising is better then sitting on a sofa!

Peder

Depends..... Is there beer? :lol: :lol:

Mark

 

[Mark B]

For the second time in just over a month, I rode through another police escapade. This one was about three or four blocks, as the crow flies, from the last one, but in a much more upscale neighborhood. There were S.W.A.T. vehicles, armored transport vehicles, unmarked black cars.... It was kind of freaky. I think the thing had already gone down, as I could see officers were inside one home and everybody seemed to be standing down. Man, I gotta find better streets to ride!

Mark

 

[JonB]

Mark B wrote: For the second time in just over a month, I rode through another police escapade. This one was about three or four blocks, as the crow flies, from the last one, but in a much more upscale neighborhood. There were S.W.A.T. vehicles, armored transport vehicles, unmarked black cars.... It was kind of freaky. I think the thing had already gone down, as I could see officers were inside one home and everybody seemed to be standing down. Man, I gotta find better streets to ride!

Just get something like this and they can see you comming a mile away. You'd look like a hippie, but they are not dangerous, and not rich either, so noone would bother you. Except maybe the rednecks.
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/07/29/review-a-month-with.html

 

[John Tolhurst]

Wow, a brilliantly written article about a piece of junk. Outstanding.

 

[Mark B]

johntolhurst wrote: Wow, a brilliantly written article about a piece of junk. Outstanding.

Article wrote: The MonkeyLectrics do paint my bicycle an impossible color. And it does seem to drive some people quite mad.

:lol: :lol: Yep, seemed to work on John! :lol: :lol:

Mark