Monday, March 10, 2008

Bike commuting and weak-end miscellany

Hope you're all enjoying your lack of sleep extra evening daylight. I'm actually pretty well adjusted. I find it's easier if you shift gears to DST during the day on Saturday. When I'm done with the day's time-sensitive things like appointments, I change the clocks mid-day. I'm still robbing myself of an hour, but it isn't during sleepy time.

Despite the stellar weather this weekend, I didn't get out for a ride. Saturday, I had family visiting from out of town, and then I had to practice Bass Guitar for a bit. Oh, you didn't know I played bass? Neither did I. I played briefly about a year and a half ago -- maybe closer to two years. With our praise team's drummer out, my dad would have to eschew his guitar to play drums. I decided to fill in with the bass.

If you ever wonder where my passion for music comes from, you really don't have to look much further than my father. He's a mechanical engineer with a music degree. If I list all the musical instruments that I can think of off the top of my head, he can play more than half of them. I'm a no-talent hack on keyboards, clarinet and bass guitar, but I can make any of them work in a pinch. I can't read sheet music to save my life but I've got a good ear. I'm not a bad vocalist, but I'm shy performing in public.

Anyhow, Sunday I took the bass and performed at church without sucking too badly. It was my biggest audience ever (probably a smidge over 100) but it didn't bother me too much. I'm trying to get over my anxiety of public speaking and this is a small step.

I packed The Goat away again, switching to The Twelve for full-on commuter duty. Believe it or not, I'm actually thinking of splurging for fenders if I can save up for them. I'm still torn on whether to fender The Twelve or Hybridzilla though. 'Zilla really isn't any slower when I'm commuting. My average speed (round trip) is almost always spot on between the two of them. I'll think about this for a few weeks. My main reasons for not going to fenders so far:

  1. They will get in the way when I have to use the bus rack. It's almost a deal-breaker.
  2. I don't like the look. I can get over this.
  3. There are more not-rainy days than rainy ones here in KC, but if something is worth doing, it's worth over-doing. Kind of like the 500+ lumens I throw onto the road every day.
Temperatures were just at freezing as I left this morning. Still wrestling with some sinus stuff trying to invade my chest, I decided not to antagonize the monster. A quick trip to the bus stop was enough fun for the morning. There were lots of bikes downtown this morning, a sure sign that spring is upon us. I'm looking forward to temperatures in the 40s this afternoon. I brought everything I need to make the full ride home but it will depend on wind, temperatures, and how I feel. I'll likely make my Monday night ride, though.

We're headed for warmer stuff this week, and maybe some rain. We'll see how things play out.

Random Tunage:
Way Out West - The Fall
Fluke - Pulse (Trisco Remix)

3 comments:

Sirrus Rider said...

I must confess I'm conflicted about fenders on a race machine. I'm not sure about the frame geometry on your bike; however, everything back in the 80s when I bought my road bike was set up for road racing with extremely tight angles and no fender eyelets.

I will admit though the thought of keeping the slop off when the weather is less than optimal is quite tempting. Especially seeing that most modern fenders don't weigh very much.

Noah said...

The Trek 1200 has strikingly similar geometry to the Trek 520, a touring bike. The 520's a bit longer out back to give you more room for big panniers and a cushier ride, but all in all they're similar in geometry. This includes rack/fender eyelets fore and aft on the 2006 1000 and 1200, and forks/stays that appear to be able to handle 700x28s and still have room for fenders. Granted, I won't be running 34mm 'cross tires on it, but it looks like it'll handle fenders nicely. It's an entry level road bike, probably not race-worthy.

On the opposite end of the scale, though, is Hybridzilla. She's got a big, wide rigid front fork and a hole for center-pull brakes even though it's equipped with cantilevers. That'd be the perfect mounting point for fenders.

One reason I'm considering fenders is because it's not so much the raining that sucks, it's after it's done raining, I still seem to get totally soaked from the dampness on the road.

Dan said...

Hey! Fellow bass player!

I played in a wedding band, a party band, and a couple of bar bands in the 80s and early 90s. After the kids came along, however, my playing has been limited to my basement.

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