2007 Recap-o-rama (with shoutouts)

I'm going to be too busy to make a proper post tonight because my wife and I are having friends over, but I already know I'll end up with somewhere between 4.4 and 6 miles for the day. By now, it's pretty obvious what 2007 will bring me.

With that, I'll recap now.

My goal for December? To ride 3 singletrack rides. That's it. I failed and rode none of them. What I did do is ride in some awesome snow that was probably more than enough fun on its own, but I really wish I could have hit the trails too. Oh well.

For the past few years, my new year resolution is to take life as it comes and try to enjoy the trip. It's almost like resolving to not have a new years' resolution, but without the irony. It also reinforces my typically temperate temperament towards turmoil. So how 'bout them apples?

That said, in the back of my mind, I was really shooting to avoid using my car -- at least for getting to and from work -- as much as possible. The result of this experiment:

25 days behind the wheel of my car to or from work or bus stop. Some of those days were illness or injury. Others were sloth, and a few were errands that I absolutely had to do on my way to or from work that I couldn't feasibly do with the bike and the bus.

214 days of commuting by bicycle. Most of those involved the assistance of the bus, but dozens of full round trips took place. Commuting accounted for more than 2800 miles of my riding this year, a vast majority of my riding.

Although I typically enjoy every mile I ride, more than 730 miles were ridden only for the sake of getting out there and riding for fun, with no real destination in mind other than to return to the place I started.

Errands accounted for Almost 670 miles. In general, I count errands run on my way to or from work (even if they're out of my way) as commuting miles, so this is a little skewed. These are trips where I left one place to run a quick errand and came back: lunches while I'm at work, trips to the grocery store, pharmacy or post office, and things like that.

My grand total will be more than 4230 miles for 2007. If you would have told me on January 1, 2007 that I'd have more than 2,000 miles for the year, I probably would have dismissed you with a chuckle.

Favorite Bikey-things of 2K7:

• Shaking some new hands and meeting some new faces thanks to the blogosphere: Chuck, Warren, Chris from BadgerLand, Chris from Olathe, Eric, Jeff, Jason, Keith the Commuter Dude (who still has a picture of my fat arse at the top of his website), Andrew, Mark and probably a ton of others that I can't think of in my pre-caffeinated case-of-the-Mondaze. This also includes all of you who have greeted me off-line in person. I have no clue who most of you are, but I guess you know me. Thanks for saying hi!
• A few new people in my sphere of e-friends (also thanks to the blogosphere), including but certainly not limited to Richard, Michael, Dan, Doug, and pretty much everyone else who frequently checks in and comments or links to me.
• Favorite bike errand I ran in 2007: Paying for my cars' license plates on my way to work.
  
• Favorite KC local bike information/news sites: KCBike.info and Localcycling.com
• Favorite Bike/Industry news and resource sites: Industry Outsider, Cycle-Licious and The Cycle People
• Favorite Bike Commuting resource sites: Bike Commuters, Commute By Bike, and Bike Commute Tips Blog

Finally, this morning 2007 decided to go out with a bang. Insane gusts of frigid wind hindered my progress to the bus stop while penetrating my layers of clothes, chilling me to the bone. While I rode, I thought of this baiku:

Arctic headwind of despair
Your breeze chills my core
Gusting twenty miles per hour

More snowy fun and errands

I wanted to get home a little early today, and took a different bus that runs earlier but drops me off a bit further from home. I had to run to the pharmacy, too. I opted for the sidewalk on 87th Street. The snow was infrequently disturbed by footprints and for the most part was wind-blown drift snow interrupted by large mounds of plowed snow at parking lot entrances. The mounds were sometimes 2 feet high or more, but loosely packed enough that I could charge through them. In fact, I actually kicked it up to 400 watts on approach to one of the larger mounds and proclaimed "RAMMING SPEED!" before my collision resulted in pieces of snowpack flying every which way.

The drifted snow was almost as deep as my bottom bracket, so at times I was pushing my feet through the snow just by pedaling.

My errands didn't give me a whole lot of time for goofing off, but I did take my favorite off-road detour on my way back from the pharmacy, and found a bunch of kids playing in the snow. I wrapped up the day with about 8 fun, snowy miles.

Random Tunage:
Massive Attack - Angel
The Killers - Smile Like You Mean It

Funnest ride in recent memory

... of course, that's not saying much given that I've barely broken into 3 digits for my miles this month...

Photo: obligatory timed shot in the snow, taken while waiting for the bus.

I knew it would likely be snowing. Although my little slice of the troposphere was nowhere near as rimy as some of the days we've already had, I opted for the ski goggles to keep the snow out of my eyeballs, and for that I was thankful.

When I got out of my apartment, a fresh, clean layer of powder awaited me. The parking lot was loaded with a few inches of powder: pristine, unplowed, untrodden. What have you. On my way up the Quivira viaduct, I got myself into the zone, spinning away and climbing at a stone-solid 10 miles per hour. I was huffing and puffing through my balaclava, but I wasn't getting fatigued. What's funny is that the cars were having a rough go of it as well, often not going much faster than I before their wheels spun freely against the snowpack.

Once at the maul, I rode around and around until the bus showed up. I made bizarre patterns in the snow. I tried to ride as fast as I could. I tried locking my brakes up and sliding around. I really do love playing in the snow this time of year! It even looks like Warren has seen the light of snow biking.

Random Tunage:
Information Society - What's on your mind (Pure Energy)
Crystal Method - Born too slow

Slush into snow, playing with Christmas goodies

It's been snowing off and on most of the week. For a change, the white stuff didn't get a chance to burn off all the way, despite temps in the 50s yesterday. They slipped down a bit below freezing overnight, resulting in a gooey, slushy mess on the way to the bus.

I tried out my Specialized Deflect gloves and my new semi-balaclava this morning. The Deflects are apparently made of a kind of thin neoprene or something. They do a great job of blocking the cold wind. I'm going to guess they'll be good into the teens, when I'll have to retreat to thick snow-ski gloves. The balaclava I got is basically a flannel stocking cap with a flip-down scarf that covers your mouth, chin and cheeks. It does little to protect your neck. In the high 20's like it was this morning, this was ample.

By the time the bus had arrived downtown, there was already a nice layer of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. Lorin and I had fun zipping around in the white stuff. I'll take snow over messy slush any day.

In other news, I got my LG Chocolate all figured out. I had to take a rather hackish route to get my contacts moved over from my old phone, fudging around with iSync and BitPIM. In the end, it all worked smoothly. I also picked up the music kit which comes with a data cable. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the data cable will charge my phone without the actual charger brick. The cable itself has a port for plugging in the power cord, so I assumed that it wouldn't charge my phone. This means I don't need to buy a second charger for my office.

Although I woke up early enough to make b-fast for my wife and I while still having time to press a fresh batch of bold, redolent brew, I really needed an extra kick this morning. I redeemed my free drink coupon from Monday to get an uber-ginormous mocha, and it was a welcome addition to my belly.

Random Tunage:
Freeloaders - So much love to give
Lisa Loeb - Stay

Christmas...n' stuff

Well, Monday was crazy. Tuesday was crazier. Today's wild. Let's recap!

Monday: You all know I fell. Go me. Monday afternoon, I grabbed a bite to eat with Jeff at Cheesehead, a kind of boutique grilled cheese shop. I had the Pizza Grilled Cheese; The Matrix told my brain that it was juicy and delicious -- or, not so much juicy as delicious. I took off from there to catch the Mid-Day bus, which ended up being the absolute slowest piece of motorized transportation I've ever used. I would have been better on a lawn tractor -- or possibly on foot. I was tuckered out from a late night, though, so riding all the way home was out of the question. Christmas eve, I had to take my wife to work at 11:00PM: Mega Lame!

Christmas: I picked my wife up from work at 7:00, then we drove to my parents' place about 20 miles from where we live. My sister, her husband (and their dog, Winston) as well as my maternal grandmother showed up as well. We opened presents, ate our traditional Thanksgiving-esque Christmas lunch, then parted ways. Gift recap in a bit.

Today: My wife had to undergo surgery. We knew it was coming, but I've been kind of mute about it. I took the day off. Without going into details, I'll say that she's recovering nicely right now (taking it easy and sleeping the anesthesia off) but it could be up to two months before we know how well this whole thing worked and about a week before preliminary results come back from the surgery.

So, on with the goodies:
My wife and I got each other new cell phones (LG VX8550s a.k.a. second-gen "Verizon Chocolate"). Mine's black, hers is a dark red. We started dating almost 11 years ago, and this is the first time we've ever had the same model of phone. I hope we don't keep confusing each other's phones, as they're very similar in color. Now I need to figure out how to get it to work like my current Moto e815 for all the bluetoothy stuff I do. I really didn't outwardly ask for any bike stuff. I'm sure to most, it looks like I have all the bike stuff a person could want. As such, I got quite a few non-cycling things. It's not that I don't want or need anything bicycle related, but I made away with some new Specialized full-finger gloves and (yet) another balaclava. At the rate my balas get funky and sweaty, I can't ever have too many. Well, 6 would be more than I could put to good use. This makes 3, and there's a 4th one buried somewhere in the abyss of stuff I packed back in June when we moved.

I'm back to work Tomorrow, and I have a bunch of stuff to do -- with two major deadlines looming heavily on me. I'll probably have to skip the holiday meal at the casino on Friday, which isn't a huge deal in my opinion. I'd have been likely to skip it even without the 2 days I took off this week. There's just too much to get done, and not much time to do it. I work very well under pressure, though.

In other news, I am changing the navigation of the site around a bit. Namely, I took out the list of labels from the side, and I'm replacing them with a very abbreviated list of relevant links. I also changed the color scheme just a little bit so the polls look better (i.e. readable). Look for another poll coming later this week.

Random Tunage:
Regina Spektor - Fidelity
Sarah McLachlan - World on Fire

Initiated to the ice commuter clan

Finally. It took God knows how many days of riding on ice and snow, but I had my first real slip-n-fall. Fortunately, it was a notch before six in the morning and I was in the relative privacy of my apartment complex, not out and about where I'd have to use one of these tricks.

There have been a handful of times when the bike kind of slipped sideways and I was able to just put my feet down and catch myself. Maybe more than a handful, but not more than 20 or so such incidents.

The one time I did manage to bite it last winter, I succeeded in doing an awesome sideways skid in the snow to throw some powder on a cow-orker. The skid progressed a bit more horizontal than I'd intended, resulting in me sliding on my side for a few feet in the snow, before using BSNYC's "Did you SEE THAT?!" line. That was a fall due to goofing off, though, so I don't think it really counts.

This morning, the concrete walkways were moist but not frozen. I'd assumed too much, though. The tarmac parking lot was littered with the kind of crunchy re-frozen slush that gives way under the pressure of your weight. That stuff is quite easy to navigate. The seemingly clear parts weren't clear, though. They were made of the best kind of black ice that sneaks up on you like the tasty burn of a great Thai dish.

Without warning nor expectation, as I turned a corner in my parking lot to hit the road, the bike flew sideways. There wasn't any kind of The Matrix slow motion scene or anything, but an edited-in audio clip of a slide whistle would have been perfect. Mmmph. I rode the rest of the trip as if on a sheet of ice, which means going a bit slower than usual, and making my turns very wide and upright.

A whopping five people were on the bus this morning. I guess most people either got the day off from their employer or took vacation time. Not me. It's another half-day, though. I'll likely end up taking the mid-day bus home, which is kind of like taking the Dreaded bus, but a little bit faster.

Here's a bonus picture. The Maul parking lot has dozens upon dozens of these awesome snow piles all over the place. Unfortunately, they are too loosely packed to conquer on bike or on foot without being Doug or wearing snowshoes.



Random Tunage:
Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People
Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes

The snow hath returned!

I had to drive in it, too. The first time around, it was in my front-wheel-drive Focus with less-than-ideal tires. They're all-season but showing their age. It wasn't terrible, as it had just been sleeting. A while ago, I had to go back out for some last-minute Christmas stuff and there were several inches of snow on top of glare ice. You'd better believe I took the Explorer 4x4 for that. As much as I love my bike, 4 wheel drive on snow and ice is a blast. There were countless vehicles littering the side of the road, some of which had been very recent.

You're not here to read about my gas-guzzling SUV, though, are ya?

I couldn't resist the temptation to head out and play in the snow. Given that it was also supper time, I made a stop by Taco Bell. Hey, it's close, what can I say?

Beautiful ride tonight

The view as I leave my office


With temperatures squarely in the low 50's this afternoon, I decided to put a few extra miles on and rode down to Union Station -- one of the last stops in KCMO before heading back out to the suburbs.

I took pictures aplenty. I'll just rifle them off here. There's not much to say about the ride, other than it was very pleasant. Enjoy the scenery. I sure did!

Descending 10th street


Truman Rd. and Main St.


Train yard between the Freight House and Union Station, featuring the shortest commuter train ever (probably headed toward St. Louis)


Loading the train


The Freight House shops


2345 Grand, The Hyatt (with Skies revolving restaurant on top) and the Assurant Building


Reflection of the Olde Western Auto building through the Union Station windows.


Liberty WWI Memorial


The name of this one escapes me, and it's pissing me off. It's right on the tip of my tongue, too.


A Metro Area Express bus. MAX. Soooo Cheesy.


One of the ubiquitous parking structures found in KCMO.


Christmas stuff, and water fountains. WTF?


More fountains, and a kid considering playing in them. More WTF?


KC Skyline through the front window of a grimy bus

Two Free Mochas!

... well, not exactly free, because time is money. More on that in a bit.

I did something today that I don't usually do: I had a nice, relaxing ride to the bus. It took 12 minutes for an average speed of 10 miles per hour. But hey, I left on time and could afford to just enjoy the sights and sounds of my short morning ride.

The manager was late getting to the coffee shop this morning. As such, Lorin, JR and I (among others) had a choice: Wait for this manager to show up, or walk a block to the other Starbucks. We all decided to be lazy -- mostly for the prospect of getting our caffeine fix on-the-house. After the manager finally showed up, we did -- indeed -- get our drinks gratis plus a courtesy card for a free drink next time. At least they know where their bread is buttered.

I'd better get crack-a-lackin'. I'm in the middle of two projects with short deadlines, and the caffeine buzz is finally starting to take hold. I'd better ride the wave while it lasts!

Random Tunage:
INXS - Need You Tonight
Das Ich - Destillat (VNV Nation Remix)

Product Review: Headland CMT Seat Pack

I'd been meaning to write a review of this for quite some time, but I keep on forgetting. Today, a reader submitted the following quandary, which finally got my butt into gear (thanks, Alan!):

Noah,
Can you tell me what type of bike seat bag you have on this bike: (link to my profile) I liked the looks of it, and would like to get one for one of my bikes.

Thanks,
Alan

The seat pack in question is the Headland CMT (Compression Molding Technique) as seen in my profile photo:


I don't have a better photo of it on my bike, and I can't get a good indoor shot that gives it justice. The one I have is the medium-sized model, which is pretty big for a seat pack -- ample for an urban-assault commuter's flat kit, for example.

Exterior
The Compression Molding Technique results in a rugged, dense foam pack that's got a durable outer rubberized coating. After almost a year of use, the CMT looks as good as new. The outer coating doesn't absorb water, either. While it's not water-proof, what's inside will probably stay dry in all but the most torrential of deluges, barring complete immersion in water.

On the back of the pack, a plastic strap is riveted, which can be used to hold a belt-clip tail light. This plastic strap, with my Mars 3.0 blinky, broke off on a group ride. I'm not sure I'd recommend mounting a tail light on the CMT seat pack. I replaced the broken strap with a pair of zip ties, which seem to be working quite nicely.



Attachment
Highland eschews the traditional Velcro rail and seatpost straps for some more intuitive attachment methods. A plastic clip with a rubber strap firmly grasps almost any size of seatpost effectively, while a spring-loaded clip snaps onto the saddle rails. There are other manufacturers using similar methods, but all the other seat packs I own attach with velcro.





Interior
The inside of the CMT is lined with a soft padded fabric, and you can see the release mechanism for the seat rail clip. The CMT comes off in mere seconds, just as easily as installing it. If you're locking up your bike in a high-crime area, this is a benefit, as you can simply take the pack with you.



A total perimeter double-zipper and Faux-leather hinge at the front of the pack gives it the ability to open all the way up for easy access to all your goodies:



Capacity
If you carry a lot of goodies like I do, then you'll appreciate the CMT's cavernous payload capacity. I keep my emergency lighting, presta/schrader adapter, CO2 inflater with 3 Cartridges, a spare tube, tire levers and glueless patches inside. There's still room for some spare AA batteries or my Park Tool MTB-3 in there, but I simply don't have the need to carry anything else in my seat pack. Keep in mind, there's another model even larger than this!



See Also:

• More KC Bike Commuting product reviews
• KC Bike Commuting tricks of the trade
• Headland Bicycle Accessories (Warning: Audio)
  

Ho Ho Ho!

Photo: Checking my rear-view mirror for those pesky reindeer that just got dropped by a fat guy on a mountain bike. Blitzen just kicked it up to 400 Watts.

This was a balmy morning. No wind, lots of humidity, temperatures above freezing. I had a nice, pleasant ride to the bus, and got a friendly honk from a passing motorist who was ostensibly entertained by my apparel choice this morning. As was mentioned in the Parts & Crafts post, I got lots of comments all the way around.

Next Friday, my whole department is heading out to Ameristar Casino's buffet for our Annual Christmas "Holiday" Banquet. There's already talk of carpooling, but I'm thinking of trying to drum up a bunch of people to ride the bus out there instead of driving, since there are so many of us. There's a pretty good express schedule just for the casinos, and one of its stops is 2 blocks from my office. Wish me luck as I try to initiate the affluent masses to the joys of mass transit. I'd venture to say only a handfull of my cow-orkers have set foot on a bus since grade school.

Random Tunage:
The Postal Service - District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Kevin Saunderson - Powerbass

Parts & Crafts: Santa Helmet

This is the final huzzah for the 2007 Christmas season for me. There will likely be more Parts & Crafts later, though. Don't you worry!

Unfortunately, there aren't many Santa hats made large enough to fully fit over a bicycle helmet. I used small bungee cords passed through the helmet vents to grip the fabric of the hat and hold it firmly to the helmet. Other options are thread/yarn or velcro. It was a big hit on the road close to home and here downtown, as well as on the bus.

Changed things a bit

Adult on-set ADD. I'm sure I have it. Warren's sure he has it, too. Maybe it's not that uncommon. Whatever the case, my incessant quest for a better way to do things has reared its ugly head once again. My profile on the right has a very condensed version of my personal motto. If something is broken, I can almost always fix it. If something works, I can usually make it faster, better, or easier to use... or I can always break it!

So, my adult on-set ADD led me to strip the road bike of its rack and throw the panniers, rack and all onto the Sorrento. Since ice can mean both very rough riding or fallovers, I decided to keep my laptop and gadgets in the backpack, while using the panniers for my clothing, bike tools and whatnot.

There's a little bit of heel-strike with my usual foot position, but since the MTB has platforms, I just scooted my feet forward a bit. I'll have to deal with that issue later. Also, you can see that I got some reflectivity for my bacpack. They're actually LED-illuminated, but alone they're quite reflective as well. In fact, sometimes after I get home at night, I think they're still on because of how the light hits them.

Anyways, it's nice to have a (relatively) light backpack again. We'll see if I keep this configuration around for long, or if it gets on my nerves.

Random Tunage:
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffany's
Crystal Method - Busy Child

Got my panniers back!

... and this heat wave has me chomping at the bit to ride my road bike (nom nom nom.)

The air's been above freezing since yesterday morning. There was lot of melting yesterday, and today the last of the slush has burned off. There are some plow piles laying around, but the roads and walkways seem to be mostly clear.

I had to chase the bus down this afternoon because the driver didn't stop. Once on the bus, someone elusively mentioned this blog. It's not the first time it's happened, but I'm still not used to people recognizing me while I'm out and about. I'm not exactly famous (and have the site stats to prove it) so it's odd to find out people -- real ones -- actually read the stuff I write for fun.

Almost a month ago, I took my panniers to a tailor to get some seams stitched up and reinforced. I figured that I'd get a call from them when they were done, but didn't. Today, I swung by to check on it. I guess they don't call customers, even though they had my number. The shop did a great job, and didn't charge me much for the repairs.

I'll probably resist the temptation to break out the Trek, so it might be a while before I get to see how well the seams hold.

Random Tunage:
Eclipse - Drummer Boy
Orbital - Nothing Left (Breeder Remix)

Advocacy: Bring the Katy Trail to Kansas City!

For those of you who are in the region, please take a moment to add your voice to the petition. From Brent Hugh, director of MO Bike Federation:

KC area bicyclists and trail supporters,

The Taum Sauk settlement, which includes the provision for the Katy Trail connection to KC, has a 30-day public comment period.

Some opposition to the Katy Trail portion of the settlement has surfaced--so if we'd like to see the KC connection to the Katy happen, we'd better spend a couple of minutes voicing our support.

We've made it dead easy--and this is a case where no long letter is needed, but just adding your voice to the chorus of "We support the Katy Trail".

Do it in two minutes flat:
http://mobikefed.org/CompleteTheKaty

The comment period ends December 27th.

We'd like to get a few hundred comments. With Christmas coming up and only 10 days to do it, that won't be easy . . . so I'd really appreciate it if you'd spend a couple of minutes and also invite your friends to do the same.

...

====================================================
Dr. Brent Hugh, LCI #1335 Director@MoBikeFed.org
Executive Director --- Missouri Bicycle Federation
www.MoBikeFed.org 816-695-6736
====================================================

Poll: What kind of winter riding do you do?

Well, results are in for First Tracks 2008. 18 of you brave year-rounders have put dibs on riding to work your first work day in 2008. That's better than I'd thought! Two of you are ambivalent, and that's okay!

About once per week, I try to publish a new poll for readers to take. It gives you guys something to do, and helps me figure out what kind of people actually take the time to read my ramblings. Everyone loves a poll!

Now, let's see what you've got in store for winter. I hope I didn't miss any of the obvious choices. Winter seems to be popular only for year-round commuters, cyclocross racers, off-roaders and occasionally obsessive-compulsive riders who will take the bike out on the road whenever it's safe to do so. A few of you guys are lucky enough to live where it doesn't get too bad during the winter. If you're south of the equator, no cheating by telling us what you're doing right now. Tell us what you do in July!

Most riders just put the bike up for winter, which is fine. Some choose to cross-train at the gym. Others choose to take spin classes or put their bike on rollers. And then there are those of us who just like to indulge. (Mmmm, Pie!)

So let's see what you're up to this winter.

As usual, to take the poll, you have to visit my site if you're going through RSS. The poll will be in the upper right-hand corner.

Be sure to check out the previous polls.

Results:

Pedestrian zig-zag of doom, and shakedown ride

It warmed up nicely today. A freak heat wave kicked us up to 43 degrees this afternoon. Everyone, get ready to go swimming!

The walkways were melting a bit, too, so instead of trying to ride the craptastic gutter of Quivira, I took the pedestrian zig-zag of doom. First, you slog up the south side of the viaduct, then you apex it. And on your way down, you cross a funky intersection and then you run into this thing shown to the left, which as you can see is still covered in slush.

You can also see the switchbacks are pretty tight. They're navigable on a bike without dismounting, but only just.

Once you get through the first level, most of the path is clear. As you weave your way back and forth down (or up) this huge ramp, you feel like you're in some kind of a rat maze. A swath of concrete forty-eight inches wide sits between cyclone fence; As you look down the ramp it seems to get narrower. The harsh electrical hiss of the sodium light ballasts grabs your attention.

It's hard to tell from here, but from top to bottom is about 40 feet of elevation. Back and forth, back and forth. Occasionally, you'll get to look in awe at the tops of train cars as they pass almost directly adjacent this ramp. The deplorable din of 12,000 horsepower worth of generators, gnashing box-car couplings, and flat-spotted steel wheels clunking and shrieking on iron rails echoes and resounds in the concrete chamber, shaking your very soul. But not today, thankfully.

The monday night ride was of small turnout. Vivek brought his singlespeed Fetish CX bike, and his friend brought a similar one. Another guy (sorry, I'm forgetting names) was on a mountain bike. I was on the trusty Sorrento.

I had some tweaks to make before I could take off. The rear brake needed tightening. The stem was just a teeny bit off-center resulting in slightly crooked handlebars, and I wanted to pump my knobbies up very firmly before embarking on a ride on plain old clean pavement. Vivek's friend was shaking down the CX bike on its maiden voyage as well. We rode a few miles, mostly just to see a little neighborhood that decorates the hell out of everything (they call it Candy Cane Lane) and then around some other neighborhoods.

Sorry for the light pollution. I had the camera on my saddle in timed mode. It took a picture just as a car approached with its lights shining right at me.

We logged a mere 4 miles by the time we got back, but that's okay. It was fun. Mark (our usual ride leader) was inside the restaurant we usually meet at, having a business meeting. I grabbed a plate of nachos and talked with Mark for a bit after he was done with business. Mostly about the epic Cyclocross nationals.

Next Monday is Christmas eve. The one following that is NYE. There won't be another official Monday night ride until January 7th. That said, it sounds like there might be a pretty serious showing on that first ride to kick off the new year. I'll have details as they become available.

That's what I get...

... for not preparing last night!

I cooked some breakfast for the misses and I, while catching up on news, weather, and all the latest drama on some forums and mailing lists I'm on. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, I started gathering my things for work. I usually don't forget anything, as I've been doing this pretty much every work day since January 1st, and quite often but not daily before then.

The problem is, remembering what you want to take with you does no good if you can't find those things, and with a temperature of 15 Fahrenheit upon departure, things like thick gloves are somewhat important. I couldn't find them for the life of me. I had trouble finding my good balaclava, too. It's only been a few days! What gives?!

Well, I found my not-so-warm knit balaclava, and my mechanic's gloves. Better than nothing, I suppose. As I went to grab an extra layer of socks (I wear 2 layers on my feet below 20 degrees), I found my good balaclava. I got stuck riding to the bus in my mechanic's gloves, though. They were better than nothing, but not by much. They're meant to keep your hands from getting insanely greasy, and there's padding on the palms to absorb the impact and vibration from using tools all day long. Above freezing, they work pretty well, though.

Various weather forecasts are calling for temperatures to climb to the mid 30's, if not 40 degrees today. I guess my mechanic's gloves will be fine tonight. I'm not sure if I'm going to the Monday night ride or not. The park will likely be slushy. Riding on the trails would cause excess erosion and damage. I'll figure something out, though. My miles are lacking severely. I've put on 65 miles or so this month. None of them are recreation miles. I wanted to hit the trails a few times in December, but I don't even know if I'll make that goal.

It's not even about my desire to ride at this point. It's just that I've been busy as hell. 2 weeks ago, the Monday ride was canceled. Last week, there was an ice storm brewing and I was busy making ice tires. Work is crazy. The holiday season is crazy. I have other goals and projects (non-cycling related) that I'm working on as well. I might write a lot about my cycling adventures here, but I'm still a nerd at heart -- with all the "lab-or-a-tory" experimentation and other quirks that come with it.

So, it looks like December is going to be a bare-bones riding month, with very few miles aside from the daily trips to and from the bus stop.

Random Tunage:
The Killers - When you were young
Blank & Jones - Desire (Accuface Remix)

The Dreaded Bus

I took the first northbound D (Quivira) Bus this morning, in the interest of not further agitating my lungs. My apartment is almost halfway between the second and third bus stop on the schedule, and it will stop right there in my apartment complex if I am standing on the sidewalk. Basically, I have the option to use this bus door-to-door from home to work and back, but as you can tell, it's ridiculously slow, landing me at my office near the 10th and Main stop almost an hour after picking me up.

I've said it before, but if I'm on my hybrid or road bike, I can actually race the bus to work and beat it by a pretty good margin. That certainly wasn't the plan this morning. I woke up with a tight chest. The wheezing had subsided, though. My usual mantra is "If I'm too sick to ride, I'm too sick to work" however I could have ridden, I just didn't want to make matters any worse.

I brought my bike with me and still did my morning coffee. That netted me about a mile on the bike. If I feel better by the end of the day, I'll probably take one of my two usual bus routes home. If I still feel like I do right now, I'll use the Dreaded bus and get home late.

The headset refurb worked pretty well. I bought two new crown bearings (caged ball bearings) for a grand total of $8. The head tube cups and fork races were a little bit eroded and pitted. I'll probably need to spring for a brand new headset here in the next year. For the time being, I cleaned all of the races up with my dremel and a wire brush attachment, and liberally applied marine-grade boat trailer axle grease into the bearings. Everything went back together nicely. Steering is smooth as glass once again, and the slop I was feeling in my headset (which I couldn't tighten out without binding) is gone. Bike is happy. I am happy. Brand new headsets of higher quality (FSA, for example) are actually priced pretty reasonably, or cheaper than I'd expected. When this $8 fix bites the dust, I won't mind spending $40-$50 or so for something better.

I will say this, though: repairing or replacing a threadless headset is more complicated than doing a ball-bearing bottom bracket, which in its own right isn't a cakewalk. This side of lacing a new wheel, it may be the most laborious repair you can make to a run-of-the-mill bicycle. I'll wait for a pro like CRUM to confirm or deny this.

Even after not riding much this morning, catching almost 45 minutes of sleep on the bus, and having my mocha, I am still tired. I think I'm going to press a fresh, hot cup of black brew and see if I can get some work done today. *Yawn*

Random Tunage:
Steve Porter - Drama Queen
Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone (Jason Nevins Reprise)

Thanks again, Warren!

Quite a while ago, Warren linked to yes.com. I've never really needed it to find a song I heard, but I knew it would eventually come in handy. Today was the day. I was going to get my new headset bearings and a song popped onto a local radio station, a good song (well, to me, anyways) and I had to figure out what it was. Yes.com to the rescue!

It was "Shadow of the day" by Linkin Park, for the curious.

My bike is almost put back together. I shocked my lungs on my way home by not having the balaclava over my mouth, and then pumping out about 90% perceived effort for about a mile on Quivira in crazy traffic. I feel kind of like bronchitis is going to set in. That's NOT what I need right now.

I got nothing else. I need to quit goofing off and get my handlebars straightened up and my bike computer put back on.