This week seems to be a mile-fest. Since The Twelve seems to be holding up quite well, I've been enjoying the nice weather and almost finding excuses to run errands on the bike. I skipped lunch today and knew I wouldn't make it home on an empty tank. First stop after work: Sammich! These Guys at Jimmy John's make a sandwich almost as quick as I can order it, and they know what I want and how I like it. (Vito with peppers, no sauces)
Karen and I saw a fire truck and ambulance near Southwest and Rainbow. They ended up here in Rosedale. No idea what happened, but there was a train stopped at the intersection just out of frame to the right, and the white car next to the ambulance is just kind of there... not parked. Not damaged.
Approaching Antioch, a landscaping truck was obviously burning engine oil. It smoked us as it drove by. In this picture, it's idling at the stop light.
I saw these odd items, just as shown, where Turkey Creek Trail meets the ramp connecting Merriam Drive to Shawnee Mission Parkway. It's a water bottle and a damagedTV/VCR Remote.
After spending some time at home cooling off and recovering a bit from the humidity, I decided to ride to BikeSource, as I had some business to conduct with c'Dude (he's a part-time bike wrench at BikeSource). As Quivira's the only logical way to cross I-435 on my way there, I opted to take Quivira, but I took the pedestrian bridge to get over the viaduct.
Not sure what's up with emergency vehicles today. There was also some kind of a crash on the northbound side of the viaduct, but I didn't get pictures of that.
c'Dude hooked me up with his old CatEye halogen light (the white one on the opposite side of my bike computer), which is an order of magnitude brighter on the road than my NiteRider's current configuration, and more focused as well. This will save me from having to worry about buying a better headlight (or a new 15W bulb) as the days get shorter. And they ARE getting shorter.
All The Twelve really needs to be complete is a decent new rear wheel, and that's something easy to come up with on my own in due time. The one that's on there is functioning well enough, obviously. I already have 300 miles on this bike in the last two weeks. The rim is permanently trashed, though, with a nasty flat-spot and flange. When I buy my new wheel, this one is definitely hanging around as my backup unless it falls to pieces.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Mile-fest
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4 comments:
I love Jimmy John's. I should go there more often.
I'm glad you're getting the Twelve into good commuting shape. Hopefully you can replace that wheel before long. With all the broken spokes you've had, maybe you should get an extra-solid new wheel.
It started as a joke, but I'm actually considering a rear wheel designed for a Tandem. You know... 48 spokes or something ridiculous like that. It's not like I'm counting pounds (much less grams) when I throw stuff in the panniers... my laptop, a change of clothes or TWO changes as fall gets here, and then there's lunch...
While my weight is finally starting to fall a little and I'm clearly back out of the "Clydesdale club" again, I can't help but think it's not a bad idea to go with a wheel built to withstand long, loaded touring adventures and the weight of two people and all their gear.
You need a semi truck wheel back there. Half a 'duallie,' from teh sound of it.
*grabbing belly* I already have a "spare tire" though.
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