Bike Salmon and Headwind

The breeze picked up even more this afternoon, gusting close to 30, northwest. Perfect headwind for the early ride home. Noteworthy moment of the ride: Two helmetless 20-somethings on cartoonishly tiny BMX bikes with saddles all the way down, salmoning very slowly against traffic on Santa Fe Trail Drive. I wanted to get a picture, but even with the headwind, I was going too fast (as in, 9 miles per hour, if that) to get my phone out of my pocket in time. Plus, derping with my phone while trying to hold a straight line is probably just as dumb as riding against traffic without a helmet. c'Dude rocked a 200k permanent today. I can only imagine how the north-bound half of that trip went. I had half an hour of wind torture. He probably had more than 5 hours of it. Egad.

Random Tunage:
Margot Meets The Music Maker - Torch (Extrawelt Remix Redux)
Way Out West - Sequoia

Crosswind

On this particular stretch of road, I had a nearly perfect crosswind. About a mile before this, it was the dreaded cross-headwind, which offers the worst of both worlds. I was going to stop a bit closer to the old train depot to capture the full flag of wind, but the big cumulonimbus cloud in the background made me change my mind.



Random Tunage:
Touane - Bassic
General Fuzz - Smiling Perspective

Springtime!

Wait. What?



Temperatures have been fluctuating wildly this month. We've had some beautiful warm weather, several little snow storms, and a whole bunch of bland, overcast days between them. This weekend, it seemed to never stop snowing, but it was all very light snow for the most part, and with temperatures so close to freezing that nothing ever really stuck to the roads. In fact, the road was mostly dry on the way in. It was almost surreal seeing yesterday's snowfall sticking to cars, grass and trees.

The thermometer on my bike computer pegged the temperature in the mid-30s, not even freezing. A hoodie over my normal long-sleeve get-up was just about perfect. 

Supposedly, we're in for another multi-inch snow storm tomorrow.

Dear Winter,
Just give up. We're ready for springtime.

Sincerely,
Bicycle Commuters in the Midwest.

Ah, weekend.

I had my (great) 90-day review at work and it totally doesn't feel like I've been at my new job for three whole months!

From mid-2006 to the first week of 2010, I was a tiny cog in a mega-corporation and my primary job responsibility was to make the red piece of a pie graph look smaller for some guys in big, cushy offices. I was told four times per year that I was exceeding management's expectations and was rarely ever given much more feedback than that. These days, I love what I do and who I work with. I'm constantly challenged with new aspects of the things I'm passionate about: security, systems administration and helping people understand technology in their own terms. I genuinely feel appreciated, too. My team is efficient and forthcoming with very short feedback cycles. That makes all the difference in the world.

Last week was one of the hottest weeks on record. It makes me really glad I live so close to work these days. The weekend brought sweet relief. Many of my pals put in a lot of bike miles today. It feels really strange to say that 89 degrees with 45% relative humidity feels mild, but it really was a nice break from the heat. After church, my wife and I met some friends at a local fishing lake, where I finally got to test out my new baitcasting reel. It took a few casts to get the hang of it, but now I can see why this style of reel is so popular. It casts far if you want it to, very precisely and operates much smoother than my other closed-face and spin-casting reels. My wife and friends caught a few bluegill. I ended up feeding the fish.


Argiope Aurantia (So-called "Garden Spiders") have always been my favorite spiders. When I was growing up in Nebraska, they were everywhere. They're very tame, don't bite and make zig-zag silk inserts into their webs. They're also some of the biggest spiders you'll find native to this part of the country. This female specimen has a leg-span of nearly four inches!


Random Tunage:
Barlow Girl - Enough (excellent Chris Tomlin cover)
Burn In Noise - ERT

Face-melting heat, Park Street, brine and coconut sunscreen

A new personal heat record: 118*F heat index. Ouch.

I had a good tailwind, and I think I'd have preferred a headwind in this heat. On the flat stretches of road, I could easily go fast enough to get some breeze, and it wasn't too bad. Going up hills, my speed would often match the wind's. Combined with 50% relative humidity and triple-digit ambient temperatures, that's no good. I really did feel like my face was melting off. A few times, I squirted my eyes with water to drive the stinging brine away from them. And all this on a relatively short commute.

I had some errands to run on the way home, and I'd usually take Pflumm. Pflumm is an arterial road that doesn't have any highway interchanges. If you count the small curvy northernmost section labeled "Quivira Drive", Pflumm cuts through all of Johnson County and the biggest intersection you'll ever have to deal with is Shawnee Mission Parkway. It's a decent road to ride on, but it's still an arterial road with hurried motorists. Today, I opted for Park Street instead. Park is a short road that runs parallel to Pflumm two blocks to the west and only for a little ways near Old Town Lenexa. It's very residential. It's got tree coverage. People sit out on their front porches and wave.

It reminds me how vitally important a good route is for us bicycle commuters, and how often finding a good route involves riding just a block or two away from the big roads you normally think of when planning your trips.

Finally, a few blocks from home I rode past a small, private pool for one of the nearby neighborhoods. I caught a very strong whiff of coconut-scented suntan lotion. I might not have air conditioning for my commute, but motorists miss a lot of little things in their hermetically-sealed transportation bubbles.

Random Tunage:
Dresden & Johnston feat. Nadia Ali - That Day (Tritonal Air Up There Mix)
New Order - True Faith (The Morning Sun Extended Remix)

Fear.

I like storms. I even like riding in storms. It's not often that I fear the weather; Your chances of getting sucked up into a Swirling Vortex of Doom or getting struck by lightning are pretty slim.

Last night, I got scared.

The skies were ominous when I left, and there was a strong wind out of the north. I didn't have my waterproof backpack with me, so I'd wrapped my phone up in a plastic bag. I was ready for rain and headwind. Some co-workers offered me a ride home, but their sedans wouldn't accommodate my bike, and I didn't feel like messing with the bolted front axle to remove the wheel so it'd fit in a trunk. They wished me good luck. That made my day, at least.

Riding across 113th, there were a few times I was nearly blown straight off the road by crosswind. Once I got myself into a headwind situation on Santa Fe Trail Drive, I was okay. I had to put my sunglasses on because the wind was blowing debris at me with stinging force. Then came the first few sprinkles and even more wind, clawing at my forearms and calves. All while trying to hold a straight, assertive line on the road. A kind man in a pickup drove next to me for a while and asked if I needed a ride. I thanked him and waved him on. I'd later regret that.

After a few miles, the deluge set in, and it was like riding into a sandblaster nozzle. There was zero visibility and the driving rain caused burning pain on all my exposed skin, even my scalp as it drove its way through the vents in my helmet. Lightning strikes were landing way too close for comfort and finally drove me to find the nearest overpass to wait under for a while. It's easy to write off a lightning strike as a one-in-a-million probability until you've heard the sharp sound of arcing electricity right before you feel the thunder a few times in a row.

Shortly after getting back out on the road, I would find myself being passed far-too-closely by a lane-straddling semi as I tried to go over one of the gnarlier railroad crossings. Despite my assertive lane position, I didn't get nearly enough room, and I couldn't make a perpendicular cross like I usually do. The rear tire hit the second rail, lost traction, and tried sliding right out from under me. I managed to stay shiny side up without stopping, thanks to fixed gears' natural tendency to be easier to control in low-traction conditions. I would have looked for the plate number of the truck, but it had stopped to wait for a left turn and I didn't feel like waiting around.

The rest of the trip was uneventful as can be when you're dealing with storms. At least I felt refreshed when I got home, even if I did have to wring three gallons of water out of my backpack, clothes and shoes.

Early commute

Server maintenance this morning. Wet roads. Took The Twelve.


Random Tunage:
Energy 52 - Cafe del Mar (Kenny Hayes Remix)
Coldplay - Talk (Junkie XL Remix)

Weather Rage

Back in late July 2008, I rode home from downtown KC to Lenexa with an ambient temperature of 101°F, relative humidity of 37% and a heat index of 108*F. That was my hottest day on the bike of all time.

Today's ambient temperature wasn't nearly as hot, but at nearly 60% relative humidity, the heat index blew my previous record out of the water.

Let's ask Rage Guy what he has to say about this.

Rage Guy?


Yeah. That's about how I feel, too.

Random Tunage:
Orbital - Desert Storm
Libra - Anomaly

I thought monsoon season was over...

I shoe-horned this 32mm tire onto my rear wheel last week (Thanks, Karen!) but I had to ditch the fender on the back. It just wasn't going to fit.




It'll be nice to get a front fork that can take something wider than 28mm, too. Next thing you know, I'll be year-rounding this bike with cyclocross tires. Of course, just as soon as I got rid of my rear fender, the rain picks up again. I rigged up my mountain bike's old mudflap a different way this time. Photos coming soon. It keeps the road grime off my back, but does very little to keep the backsplash off of my calves. I do like the way the wider rear tire rides, though.

Operation: Squall Line

At quittin' time, the radar looked something like this:


Operation: Squall Line was in full effect. I put the raincover on my lone pannier and hit the road, hoping -- no, knowing -- I could beat it. I darted up Renner, slogged the rolling hills of 113th street, and started northeast on Santa Fe Trail Drive with a strong sidewind and storms approaching from the west. Immediately ahead of me, a cyclist I hadn't seen before. Just pulling out of Southlake business park a few blocks to the north, I saw Jim's retina-searing jacket.

It didn't take me long to blow past both of them. Not that I was being a dick about it. I greeted them both upon passing. I don't usually ride hard, but this was personal. This was a race. Me against the dark, growling beast. Keep in mind that my skinny tires, tall gears, and drop bars gave me an advantage. In reality, I wasn't going that fast. This is me we're talking about.

About 2 minutes after I took this, the downpour started.


Random Tunage:
The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar
Underworld - Born Slippy (Original)

Muggy commute

Humidity defined:

As I wheeled my Trek 1200 out the front door of my apartment, I got hit with air that was at first blush cooler than the air inside, but gooey with moisture. I carried my bike down the stairs, straddled it, and glanced down at the clock on my cyclometer, already beginning to fog up. I looked around: drops of dew were glistening in the trees and creeping down the sides of parked cars. The recently-sealed pavement was sweating, with tracks of recently-departed vehicles laid all over the parking lot. As I pedaled through the still morning air, dew was forming on the tips of the hairs on my forearms and creating a frosty-looking haze on the smooth, painted surfaces of my bike.

Welcome to early summer in the Midwest.

Deluge!

When I got out today, it was still raining hard as ever -- in fact, probably harder than anything I've ridden in before. I rode to my sister-in-law's place to meet my wife. Once again, I was totally drenched, but the stuff in my waterproof backpack was dry as a bone. In fact, the water droplets I've noticed before (which I attributed to opening the bag in the rain) weren't present.

Here are some cameraphone pics of my nieces at Chatlain Park a few weeks ago. I just stumbled across them when clearing out my memory card. My sister in law and her daughters stayed with us for a couple of weeks in May while they transitioned to her new apartment (which I'm writing this from)

Bike Week Thursday: National swim home from work day.

I probably got more rain in the 30-minute ride home than I got in the 90-minute wetfest yesterday. I mean, once you're completely soaked like I was yesterday, you really can't get any more wet. But today was different. Wetter, even though both yesterday and today I arrived home looking like I should have been carrying a snorkel and flippers up from the parking lot, rather than a bicycle.

I got a bike rack at work. Just in time for Bike Week, the maintenance guys installed this 8-foot-long section of guard rail, now re-purposed "to accommodate up to four bicycles." It'll work, and it's certainly better than those awkward wave-shaped racks, but not by much. When I mentioned my bicycling habit, the HR rep I was talking to during the interview phase told me that there would be a bike rack installed soon. Lo and behold, here it is:


After I showed up for work, I noticed a bunch of people talking in the break room about bicycle stuff. Many of my new co-workers have expressed an interest in it. Apparently, many people haven't even considered bicycling for transportation since they left college. No one has seen a bicycle parked here, ever, from what I can tell. Hopefully this new bicycle rack benefits the company as a whole, not just me. Several of my new colleagues live nearby.

For what it's worth, I went through a very similar process at my last job when I first started riding to work. That included a new bike rack going in, and other people using the rack. Of course, the first commuter to "share" was riding a motor scooter. It took a while, but other bikes eventually filled the rack up. We'll see if anyone else jumps on board. Judging from all the questions I'm getting, there will be some other bikes on the rack this summer, at least once monsoon season is over.

Bike Week Wednesday: OP City Hall, Rainy Errands

I went to Overland Park City Hall this morning for their Wednesday BTWW Breakfast, since it's not too far from home. I ran into lots of friends. Myself, Warren, and Mark cheese for the camera. Good lord, I'm fat. Still a lot less than I was when I started riding, but I can see this is going to be an ongoing battle.


Warren (with coffee) and Bucephalus, his trusty steed.


John Schnake showed up a few minutes later. He lives just a few blocks away.


Not sure whose Schwinn cruiser this is. I think one of the volunteers rode it to city hall.


Remember the tire with 8,500+ miles on it? Well, today, I couldn't put it off any longer.


That meant a few things. First off, it meant I got to rack up some "errand" miles with a trip to the bike store to buy a new tire. But, as predicted, it was raining cats and dogs all day long, and into the evening. More than 20 miles were ridden in a torrential downpour. Therefore, it also meant I got to put my waterproof backpack to the ultimate test, whether I liked it or not.


More than 90 minutes in the rain, and everything was perfectly dry and safe inside. And the backpack? Well, I rode more than 35 miles with it today. As far as backpacks go, it wasn't too bad. Waterproof panniers would have been appreciated, but the backpack was pretty cheap. Expect a full review on BikeCommuters.com later.

Omni-wind

Generally speaking, my commute is southwest in the morning and northeast in the evening. Riding in this morning was refreshing. Sunny, 53 degrees, and a good wind out of the southwest. This time of year, the wind generally tends to be out of the southwest, so that didn't surprise me.

When I got out of work, it was as beautiful as you could imagine. Fluffy clouds, bright sun, and 67 degrees... with a northeast wind. Ah, omni-directional headwind.

While there are a lot of siding track crossings along my route that can be dicey with traffic, I really do like looking at all the railroad scenery that adorns Santa Fe Trail Drive. If you see the tracks from the highway, or you drive along SFTD, you might think that the same railcars have been sitting there for the past decade. The truth is that a lot of those cars get moved hither and yon by small locomotive engines.

Pardon my grainy, tilted photos.




Random Tunage:
MGMT - Kids
Bloc Party - I Still Remember

First Day

I opted to take the bus this morning, just so I was certain I'd show up fresh and on-time. It's nice to have a Plan B.

I had a great first day at work. Officially, my title is Linux/Windows Administrator. Practically, I am helping a relatively small IT group wherever they need it. After a brief orientation, I went up to my new office, caught up with my new boss, got Windows 7* installed, and started familiarizing myself with my surroundings.

I've got a great team to work with, and they've each got a unique and complementary set of skills. The pile of stuff I was handed this morning is almost entirely related to bolstering the company's security stance. A cursory look, however, shows that the team has managed to really stay on top of things. Over the coming months, I'll be streamlining all kinds of security-related processes when I'm not helping the team with system administration duties. Basically: this is a dream come true.

I took a bit of a pay cut, but when you consider all the benefits of having a job this close to home (and without interstate taxes) it's worthwhile. The small size of this group and the growth speed of the company means that this is a genuine career opportunity, not just a paycheck.

For those of you not in the Greater Kansas City Area: today was filled with cold temperatures, massive rain and biting winds gusting over 30 MPH. In the morning, the bus schedule agrees merrily with my work schedule. It stops running homeward around 4:00 or so, well before the end of my work day. Due to her medical issues, my wife needs her car. My car is currently out of commission in more ways than one. Homeward, there is no Plan B, and this photo doesn't do any justice to my aqueous, breezy journey. I was way under-dressed for this evening. It felt like a blustery, October day. I was, as you might imagine, dressed for the average May rainstorm, which usually doesn't call for any special gear.


* Windows 7 is one of the slickest operating systems I've ever used. I'm anything but a Microsoft fanboy, so that's saying something.

Thoughts on snow road biking

I posted that photo yesterday of riding my bike in the snow. You know what? Aside from the initial part of getting moving, riding my 25mm road tires (in my case, Bontrager hard-case) really wasn't too bad at all, in fact, it didn't feel much different than the Baxter's OEM Vittoria Randonneur tires.

I know the folks on BikeForums.net told me years ago that a road bike does just fine in light snow, but I never really put it to the test. Last night, nothing had really frozen yet and it was a genuinely pleasant ride. That's a good thing, I suppose, because my mountain bike needs a LOT of work to be road-worthy again.

When you would want studded tires

Tell me this doesn't look like fun. And yes, they are using studs. Via Cyclelicious.

It's official:

Well, more than one thing is official.

The first thing is that the Vittoria Randonneur tires on the Swobo Baxter test mule are awesome. I played in the snow a few days after I took delivery of it, but today was the first true test of a commute on bad roads that had been preliminarily cleared a bit.

Saturday, I took the Baxter out to play in an abandoned parking lot, where snow was a good foot deep on average, and 18" in some spots. I thought it'd be cool to get some snowy action photos, but the Baxter would not move. I'll see if I can find some pics in the mess that show how bad it was. The tire would just spin.

I've had The Goat out in 8" deep snow before, and it worked alright, but I'm betting the really knobby tires and 1.95" width had something to do with it. Still, I don't know how well it would've fared in stuff twice as deep. If the tires sink to the ground (likely when it's powdery snow), the wheel is more than half buried, and one's feet will barely clear the snow AT THE TOP of the pedal stroke. That's when you probably would be better off on those 4-inch Surly Endomorphs.

So it's also official: This is the most snow I've ever seen come down without a melt cycle here in Kansas City, and I've lived here for 22 years and change now. The winter of '91-92 is the closest thing in memory, but I think this winter trumps even that one from nearly two decades past.

Lastly, it's official: It's freakin' COLD. 6*F this morning, but it dropped to -1 yesterday morning. I've ridden a short distance at -4F once, and the whole commute at 0F last winter. They're predicting -6 ambient later this week, and at least one local forecaster thinks that it could get into the double-digits below zero.

Therefore, this winter with its cold and snow reminds me of the good old days: growing up in rural Nebraska where 20-inch blizzards were not unheard-of and there were two snow plows for every 1,000 residents.

The morning commute
As I'd stated, the 28mm Vittoria Randonneur tires held up great this morning. On them, I encountered glare ice beneath packed snow, powder, slush, chemical-melted grime and all things in between. The ice required me to be seated in order to progress forward (it was also on an uphill) but the Randos held tough, much to my surprise. This winter does have me pondering the use of commercially available studded tires for my Mountain bike, but that will have to wait for a bit. Two fellow year-rounders I know of have made the jump to studs. I'm betting after FIVE crashes this winter, another friend of mine might be ready to do the same. Me? I'm doing alright with what I have, but this winter is one where I can see a real benefit to studded tires, unlike years past where it was mostly slush, and a really good melt-off happened every 2-3 days.

Christmas
The brunt of the snow happened almost two weeks ago, Christmas eve into Christmas day. We were to pick up my grandmother in Overland Park, then drive to Stilwell on Christmas morning for breakfast and Christmas festivities. The roads were horrible. 119th Street had barely been cleared, my grandmother's parking lot was untouched, with an average snow depth of 18-24" everywhere, thanks to the wind and the layout of the buildings. It was one of the first times I've ever had a genuine need for full-on 4x4 mode in our Explorer. My brother-in-law's RWD-only Explorer had all kinds of problems. I ended up delivering Christmas presents to them through the un-plowed streets of Olathe, KS.

Here are some of the simple things I did for Christmas this year.

In 1993 or so, I kind of home-schooled for a year. I say kind-of, because I had most of the facts and skills expected of kids older than me, so the reality is, I took a year off from school due to some medical things. I didn't do much traditional course work. I studied under my grandfather, who taught my vocational skills in hopes, I think, that I'd take over his business for him when I came of age. Unfortunately, he passed away before I could do that. That year, however, one of the things we worked on together was this ArcherKit thermometer thing that he'd packratted away in 1977, two whole years before I was even born. Some 16 years later, we worked on it, and got it almost fully functional, but then it got put away before we got to adjusting it and putting the finishing touches on. I found it recently, and finished this project that Grandpa and I had started 13 years ago, and gave it to my mother. Not only is it a RadioShack classic from a completely different era of do-it-yourselfers, but it's of immense sentimental value. I had no qualms leaving the $17.95 price tag sticker intact.







When I was learning to play bass guitar (okay, I'm probably still learning), Dad gave me his practice amplifier. He doesn't really have a practice amp anymore, and I thought I'd build one for him. This one is small enough to fit in a gig bag, and can run off a 9V battery or a power cord that I included. I soldered the circuit inside together myself, modifying some plans I saw online. It's all built into an old satellite speaker for a home theater system. It's not terribly loud, but it's a great little practice amp with a nice tone to it. I also added a headphone jack, which is nice for when you want to clearly hear what you're playing on an electric guitar without disturbing anyone else. Most of the parts for this were salvaged from piles of stuff I had laying around at home. Many of the components were removed from old, broken gadgets and soldered into place.








The device I tried to build for my sister didn't go too well, so I ended up buying a kit that you solder together yourself at the last minute. I decided that instead of soldering it together quickly (I could have pulled it off in about 3 minutes), that I'd give it to my sister in its original packaging, and teach her how to solder. She did great, and now she knows how to solder things.


I also got some cool stuff for Christmas as well, but none of it compares to the real meaning of Christmas, not to mention the gift of seeing my family smile.

Merry Christmas!

I'm still biking and bussing all over town. As of noon today, I punched out of the office for the rest of the decade. I head back to work on January 4th, so I've got a much-needed 10-day weekend. I've been a little scarce because I've been slammed at work, and on the home front I've been busy building Christmas presents and working on my not-so-bikey hobbies. In the coming days, I'll show you the things I made. They're all geeky, and not terribly impressive. We're going small this Christmas.

On the way home from the bus stop this afternoon, all my clothes froze. It was 28*F and raining with a headwind gusting to 20 MPH. I had a shell of ice on my shoes and helmet, and frozen beads of rain stuck to my jacket, gloves and pants. Fortunately, the ground was warm enough to keep the pavement from freezing. I got the old "You aren't actually going to ride your bike in this, are you?" as I left the office. I responded with my typical "You aren't actually going to DRIVE in this, are you?" remark. Honestly, today is as bad as it gets, save for had the pavement been frozen. And it really isn't that bad if you're used to outdoor winter sports.

Anyhow, we're hunkered down, enduring a record-breaking Christmas snow storm, drinking hot cocoa by the fire with our kitties. It's been a rough year, but a good one in many ways.



Merry Christmas, all, and keep the shiny side up.
--Noah