November 2006 Total

Miles This Month: 119.5

Miles November 2005: 52.9

2006 Total So Far: 1,475.3

Another Reprive From the Cold

The rain held off another day, so I rode to work again using the South Work Route.

Miles Ridden: 8.4

My Vehicle is Powered by Tacos and Ice Cream

Sorry for the post title. I was waiting at a light behind a Toyota hybrid car sporting a bumper sticker with an environmentally sensitive message, and it just popped into my head.

I thought that yesterday would be my last ride of the month, but as long as my favorite weather caster Kelly Greene keeps pushing the rain and cold further into the week, I'm going to keep riding.

Today, I rode to work, to lunch, and to two meetings, including one up at the Ross building. I came home on the South Work Route.

Miles Ridden: 19.6

Back Home

While working on the post about yesterday's ride. I almost missed my chance to ride today.

I was able to get in a quick jaunt to Granville Bridge, plus a little extra south on 700W.

Miles Ridden: 10.9

Rawhide!

My wife's extended family spent the weekend at the Rawhide Ranch in Nashville, IN. It is a small horse ranch that hosts family gatherings and corporate retreats. With over 60 people in our party, we filled the entire place. (My only complaint was that there was a never-drying mud hole at the base of the steps leading to the bunk house - the Buck Inn. We tracked watered down horse manure and urine all over the building!)


I've spend the last few weeks hoping for great weather this weekend, and I was not disappointed. The Pilot 1.0 joined us in the van for the trip down.

West Lookout Tower
Brown County State Park
Brown County is a great scenic area of southern Indiana. I've been there a few times before (the annual family gathering once took place at the Abe Martin Lodge at the Brown County State Park), and I took a bike along on a camping trip long ago. However, I seem to have forgotten how hilly this part of the state is - nothing like the prairie back in Tippecanoe County. I was riding through the state park when I came upon a hill that I thought would kill me. You know the feeling when you are in an easy gear, but the cadence gets slower and slower as the hill gets steeper. Then, when you reach for the shifter to go down one more, you realize that you are already in 1st. I got the top panting like ... well, like something that pants a lot. I hit two more of those climbs in the park. (I'm sure that most readers of this little journal must think that I'm a wimp and horribly out of shape for having trouble on these little bumps in the road as they tackle much tougher mountains in places like Colorado and California. All I can say is - you're right!)

It's tough to capture the rolling hills in a photo, but I tried

Riding back to Nashville from the west gate was mostly downhill, and fairly level roads led back to the ranch. However, the worst climb of the day was the driveway at Rawhide. I can't estimate slopes, but I know that I have never hit anything this steep in my life. I tried a serpentine path to minimize the slope, and I had to stop halfway to get my breathing back to normal. However, I'm happy to announce that I did not walk up any hills on this ride!

A father and son from another branch of the family went on a 12 mile mountain bike trail somewhere near Story, IN at the same time I hit the pavement. They came back muddy and happy.

Miles Ridden: 15.8

Click Here for Gmaps Pedometer route.

Vacation Day

My wife was off work today, so I took it as well. We shopped all morning, and I was able to get a ride in the late afternoon on the Wabash Avenue Route. The temps were in the low 50s, and the wind was light. A nice day for a ride.

You can see in this picture, that there is an unbroken wall in the median on US231 between River Road and SR25. Today as I was heading southbound I saw what I thought to be a nice photo op on my left, but I would have had to cross four busy lanes of traffic and jump over the wall to get it. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm noticing that I'm having a tough time finding new things to photograph on my rides. I need to find some new roads!

The Future of Freight

Miles Ridden: 12.4

Cold, Wind, ... and Goats

The neighbor and I were able to get a late ride in today. It was in the low 40s with a wind near 10 MPH. Still, we bundled up and took off. To avoid post football game traffic, we pretty much followed the llama route.

Two goats found on Jackson Highway
By the time we returned home, our ears and fingers were quite cold. Still, it felt good to get out.

Miles Ridden: 12.7

New Blog Roll

This isn't really bicycle related, but I wanted to point out that I have finally updated my blogroll. I switched to NewsGator months ago, but the blogroll has been pointing to my now-dormant Bloglines account. The list you see on the right is now up to date.

Visit http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/001896.html to get the instructions for this. The only problem with this solution is that I have to explicitly add new sites to the blogroll. They don't just jump in when I add a feed to my Cycling category.

Michael Isn't Happy

You've probably seen this post discussed on other biking blogs. I found it on Bike Year.

A young man named Michael is upset with cyclists on the roads 'blocking' his way. The post doesn't seem to allow comments, so I'll put mine here.

Each of us has responsibility for our own actions. Is the cyclist being passed creating the danger, or is it the driver straddling the center line in the face of oncoming traffic? It's easy, Mike. You control the safety of your drive. You can pass, or you can wait until it is safe to do so. Your choice.

Your post describes some pretty dangerous behavior. If the cyclist is riding at 45 MPH below the limit, then the limit must be at least 55 MPH. So apparently, you take difficult curves at 55 MPH or greater. You dream of using your Honda to maim or kill bike riders. There are obviously some anger management issues that you need to address before you do something serious.

By the way, I use my bike to ride to work, not only for fun. How about you limit your driving to work related trips only?

Pink Shoes

Greg over at Geese Aplenty doesn't like my outfits. Read it here.

Cash Cab

Do you ever watch "Cash Cab" on the Discovery Channel? You know, the game show that takes place right in his taxi?

Anyway, almost every shot has a cyclist riding around Manhattan. I've seen roadies, commuters, messengers, all kinds. Look on the left side of this shot.

At the Heart of Healthcare

I was able to squeeze in a ride to Home Hospital and back this afternoon.

At the Train Station
(Why are the Christmas decorations up already?)
Porting the Bike Down the Stairs
Rail Corridor
Apparently, vintage means "Trash"
Miles Ridden: 12.9

Post Election Enthusiasm

Foggy Sunrise
All the stars aligned today and let me ride. I rode to work, to meetings, to lunch, and back home, and I met with great weather all day. It got a little dark while coming home on the North Work Route. Luckily, I packed the headlight.

Two Years After the Bush vs. Kerry Election
Miles Ridden: 20.0

Stupid Impediments!

Life got in the way of a good ride once again. While I was able to ride to work, and run some errands on the Levee during lunch, I ended up not riding home.

Anyway, I got some saddle time in, and that's a good thing.

I think I need to learn some basic bike maintenance. One of my errands was to stop by the bike shop. I had just had some work done to the rear derailleur, but 3rd was slipping into 4th quite a bit. The mechanic spent less than five minutes adjusting the slightly stretched new cable, and all was good again. I should be able to do that kind of stuff on my own.

Miles Ridden: 6.8

Finally!

All of my usual impediments cooperated today, so I was able to ride to work. Even the fog couldn't stop me.



Full report with miles at the end of the day.