In a Fog
Some days, riding a bike can make it the best day ever. This was not one of those days.
My daughter had an after school thing, so I needed to pick her up at 5:30 - no time to ride home and get my car. Instead, I tried the trick from last year where I drive my car to her school, ride the bike from there to work, and then back to school to pick her up for the ride home. Not a bad plan.
I was surprised at the amount of fog today. Sure, I had my lights on, but my reflective vest was accidentally left home. For some reason, I felt very conspicuous today - riding around in my office wear in the fog. The worst part was my bike was not cooperating. Apparently, the bottom bracket problem the mechanic mentioned the other day decided to re-appear this morning. It was constantly slipping, so I must have looked like some sort of idiot - pedaling fast, then slow, then fast. At the intersection of Klondike and Lindberg, I almost fell off the bike!
I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it back after work, but I kind of got into a rhythm. If I never pedaled hard, it didn't slip very much, so I decided that I could probably limp back to the school.
(Unrelated to the bike rides today, I took the bus to get my shirts at the cleaners. About 10 seconds after I sat down, I could feel moisture on my pants. I jumped up and felt the soaked seat. No idea what it was, but at least it didn't smell. I told myself it was someone's Sprite and not homeless guy urine. Keep believing!)
At 4:30, I walked by a window between meetings to notice that it was raining. Great! At 5:00, I started changing clothes to head out when my wife called. It didn't take too much convincing for me to eschew
the rain soaked ride on a barely operational bike and instead accept her offer of a ride. I guess I really am a fair weather cyclist.
On a lighter note, I found another walnut on my bike today - this time in the bottle cage. I wonder where the next one will be.
Miles Ridden: 5.6 (estimated)
My daughter had an after school thing, so I needed to pick her up at 5:30 - no time to ride home and get my car. Instead, I tried the trick from last year where I drive my car to her school, ride the bike from there to work, and then back to school to pick her up for the ride home. Not a bad plan.
I was surprised at the amount of fog today. Sure, I had my lights on, but my reflective vest was accidentally left home. For some reason, I felt very conspicuous today - riding around in my office wear in the fog. The worst part was my bike was not cooperating. Apparently, the bottom bracket problem the mechanic mentioned the other day decided to re-appear this morning. It was constantly slipping, so I must have looked like some sort of idiot - pedaling fast, then slow, then fast. At the intersection of Klondike and Lindberg, I almost fell off the bike!
I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it back after work, but I kind of got into a rhythm. If I never pedaled hard, it didn't slip very much, so I decided that I could probably limp back to the school.
(Unrelated to the bike rides today, I took the bus to get my shirts at the cleaners. About 10 seconds after I sat down, I could feel moisture on my pants. I jumped up and felt the soaked seat. No idea what it was, but at least it didn't smell. I told myself it was someone's Sprite and not homeless guy urine. Keep believing!)
At 4:30, I walked by a window between meetings to notice that it was raining. Great! At 5:00, I started changing clothes to head out when my wife called. It didn't take too much convincing for me to eschew
the rain soaked ride on a barely operational bike and instead accept her offer of a ride. I guess I really am a fair weather cyclist.On a lighter note, I found another walnut on my bike today - this time in the bottle cage. I wonder where the next one will be.
Miles Ridden: 5.6 (estimated)
posted by Dan at 9:19 PM
1 Comments:
Hey thats awesome that you're riding your bike all over! I ride mine all the time. I see you're using flat pedals. Toe straps would be a great idea. Ask your mechanic. Also, if you're enjoying riding at all, you should look into a road bike. Granted, they're more expensive, but they are finely tuned, faster, and more power-efficient. And quite a lot of fun to ride. Grocery shopping on a bike isn't bad either. You can get a rack on the back of your bike and put panniers on it. They can hold a lot of weight and surprisingly the only times I really feel it is if I stand up to pedal. Anyway keep it up!
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