Aww!

Progress on the new Barnes & Noble is coming along nicely. A big bookstore with a big selection is one of the few things that's missing from the 2-mile radius of my dwelling. This will be a welcome addition. Too bad it's gotta be at The Maul.


Lorin and I spotted this baby bat cowering (and quivering) between our bicycles this morning after coffee. It was just a little over an inch in length. I'd be quivering, too, if someone was holding something 20 times my size 3 inches away from my face.

I've never seen a bat up close before. Cute little creatures, but I know better than to provoke it.

I got a cute fortune with my meal last night. In keeping true to posting my various (mis?)fortunes, I give you another spoonful of "Awwww"


I saw three fixed gear riders today around the City Center Square building. Usually, I only see geary-bike commuters this far north in the morning. The Art Institute kids must have woken up early. No photos of them, I had the camera tucked away already.

With the exception of the rain yesterday, the weather's still great for riding in Kansas City. For those who care about bike racing, this weekend is the official start of KC Cyclocross season. Plenty of my pals from the Monday Night Ride are going to be racing.

Maybe one of these days I'll get a 'cross bike and join in the fun. I'm not much for bicycle or auto racing, but I like WRC and Cyclocross seems pretty close to the same thing on bikes. It looks like fun and a 'Cross bike would probably make a worthy year-round commuter even if I never raced it.

Random Tunage:
Madonna - Ray of Light
Hybrid - I'm Still Awake

Kinda busy

Between work, family life, and other hobbies, I've been kind of busy lately. I don't have time to write as much or take as many photos as I'd like.

I got this funny fortune with my lunch yesterday:


I found a pair of crushed wiper blades on my way home, which is strange, because I was actually in NEED of a few old wiper blades and had planned on rummaging through some trashcans at car parts stores to find them. Don't ask.


Today, we had Lorin, Bob, JR and I at coffee again.


I had the WarCycle setup going, too. It's always fun to look for wireless networks when you're going somewhere.


Random Tunage:
Corona - Baby Baby
Gorillaz - Feel Good, Inc.

Lunch

This bike belongs to one of the Downtown patrol workers. He eschews the crappy bike the city provides and patrols on his Fisher Fast City. My kinda guy.


I ate at Red Dragon House for lunch.

This evil little fortune cookie has NO FREAKING IDEA what I'm going through.

Fun weekend

I have gotten back into the habit of weighing in weekly on Saturday mornings. I'm not riding specifically to lose weight anymore, but I am losing it again and I finally slipped back out of the clydesdale club. Barely.



I had to drive out to Kansas City yesterday morning, but after that, it was all bike.


I pedaled through Santa Fe Trail Drive to Pflumm, one of the few bike-friendly arterials around. It's quite hilly, but it lacks any highway access, reaching pretty far north and south way into the boonies. Very few places of interest are located alongside Pflumm save for a few little strip malls here and there. Mostly, it's surrounded by residential land and farmland as you travel further south.

I rode through some roadblocks and through a yet-to-be-built development of some kind. I haven't looked at the zoning, but my money is that apartments will go in. There are already 3 substantial shopping centers within a one-mile radius.


Wind, construction machinery or perhaps a rogue car has already knocked one streetlight over.


First stop on the list: Lunch at Fortune Wok -- one of the tastiest westernized Chinese joints in town that I've found.

... in bed! Eeh. It works better with some fortunes than others.


z0mg 1337n355!!1! - It was 1:37PM when I got done fooding.

Sorry, I had to.

Next was the KC PHP User's Group at Daily Dose. While there, I saw the sun reflecting some light off of a windshield in the parking lot, projecting Daily Dose's address onto the wall. I thought it was cool.


Also, while on the topic of 1337n355 I saw this, which I took in December 2005 -- 10 months before I started bike commuting. I thought I was awesome, making sure that the trip meter would read 133.7 miles at the same time that I turned over 100,000.


Why'd I upload a photo of my car's dash? Because, I just looked at it today, and I've only put 18,000 miles on it in two and a half years. Consider the fact that I was still driving the car daily for my 24-mile round trip commute at the start-up company, then daily for a month or so when I started working downtown (45 mile round trip) before I finally started driving to the bus stop instead, which led into my bike/bus commuting days. I could only wish I made note of my odometer more often. It would be interesting to put my two vehicles together and see how many miles my wife and I collectively drive. I'm betting it's somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 miles per year (mostly my wife's driving to work), if that.

Today, I'm paying for about 100 miles in two days. I know, people who do MS-150, RAGBRAI, Biking Across Kansas not to mention those crazy Randonneur types have no problem with this. I broke a new personal record this week, piling on 248 miles in one seven-day period, and I'm more than on-target for a 750-mile month assuming I ride the full round trip for the remainder of my work days.

Forecasts are varying much between meteorologists, but it doesn't look like this coming week will present many reasons to take the bus, aside from an errand I'll be running Wednesday after work. Depending how I feel, that errand just may be an excuse to pile more miles on. Should I shoot for 800 miles this month? I know I can do it, but I don't know if I want to. I just need 237 more miles, and I have 8 days ahead of me... That would get me within 320 miles of being back on target for 5,000 miles this year, a big chunk taken from the 520-mile deficit I carried into June from miles missed in early Spring. I may actually hit 5,000 miles like I wanted to; it was looking pretty bleak 3 months ago.

Random Tunage:
POB - Boiler (Humate Remix)
Ben Folds Five - Brick

Morning Photos. Evening Storm Racing.

This morning's commute in photos


























Jon! Look! I got Megan's Fortune at lunch today!


With an isolated cell making its way toward downtown and a more powerful storm looming to the west, I decided hammering it on the way home would be a good idea. Ed might like to chase Kansas City Weather on occasion. I'd rather race the storms, if you will. But only if the odds are somewhat stacked in my favor. I'm zealous, not retarded.


Karen and I did encounter some rain, but mostly just sprinkles and wet pavement.


Random Tunage:
Pacific Link - Once Upon A Time
Dave Matthews Band - Crash