Skip to content

Tag Archives: commute

Changes…

Sunday, September 23, 2007

When I began commuting by bike this summer it had little impact on my schedule. I had to leave earlier to get to work, but since my work hours are very flexible even that was of minor consequence.

Now that school has started and has been going for almost a month things are a bit, shall we say, different. The choice to by bike has led to many more changes (and will lead to even more) than I originally predicted.

One thing it has highlighted quite well for me is my proclivity to procrastinate. Procrastination used to be a way of life for me. I used to (and to some degree still do) operate mostly, and generally quite well, in “Crisis” mode. Jumping from one frying pan to another, many of them of my own making through poor scheduling and procrastination.

Last fall I often pulled all-nighters to finish major papers, because I failed to schedule (or adhere to a schedule) to get the paper done early and over several days of moderate effort. Presentations were quite often pulled together in the last hour before I had to be on the podium presenting. This semester I am finding myself behind the 8 ball because I started to do the same thing, only with a bit less time, and too tired by 10pm to think about pulling all nighters.

The doubles as my exercise time and I am finding myself in far better shape physically and mentally than I have been in quite a while, so I can not really afford to lose that time. I guess at long last I have no choice but to become better at both the planning and execution of a schedule.

Guess it’s also time to really look into the whole “Getting Things Done” camp and find a way of making it work for me.

Last Ride

Date: September 21
Distance: 14.0 km ( 8.7 miles)
Ride type/Bike: Cyclocross / Tri-Cross
September Distance: 258.9 km (160.9 miles)
Year To Date Distance: 720.7 km (447.8 miles)
Weight Lost/Gained: -1.13 kg (-2.5 pounds)

Filed in Cycling, Education | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Only to Church on Sundays

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Well, maybe we drive it a hair more than that, and it’s not to church, but unfortunately to an Environmental Law class. Still at this point, the bike has twice as many miles as the car! I just wish we could find an insurer who would bill us appropriately! No matter though, I feel good knowing that we have only driven 49 miles so far this month.

I have taken the bike in 3-4 days a week now, and generally feel great, though my thighs and quads are still yelling at each other and me. My times are getting shorter (dropped 6 minutes off the longer route in one month) and my fitness is increasing (measured by resting heart rate, max heart rate going up the 1km long, 8-11% grade out of Groton, and generally improving times at lower average heart rates).

Tammy and Johann walk everywhere they need to in town, and only require the car for groceries and to get to the Stonington Library.

Last Ride

Date: September 17
Distance: 23.5 km ( 14.6 miles)
Ride type/Bike: / Tri-Cross
September Distance: 191.7 km (119.1 miles)
Year To Date Distance: 653.4 km (406.0 miles)
Weight Lost/Gained: -0.45 kg (-1.0 pounds)

Filed in Cycling | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Gearing Up for Winter

Saturday, September 8, 2007

In new England my favorite months are April and May and September and October. These are the months when the weather is near ideal. I really love Spetember because the beaches are nearly empty, yet the water is as warm as it will get. Unfortunately now that it is September the storms are just around the corner (hopefully for our poor garden) and dark moonlit hours begin to intrude into the morning and evening commutes.

Fortunately Tammy will be knitting me some wool gloves for the inner layer for winter riding, over which I’ll pull some GloGlovs for increased visibility on those grey winter days.

I was looking at lighting systems and rain gear and had just read a review of the Rainlegs at UltaCycling and follwed their link to the manufacturer (in England). Fortunately they do have one American dealer, Wallingford Bicycle Parts in New Orleans.

Right as Tammy walked in their Odds and Ends page came up with the rainlegs on it. Just below that though was an item no cyclist should be without….

The one piece of safety gear (next to a helmet) no cyclist should ever be without!

Tammy, of course, did not know what I was researching or looking at and immediately had, er… questions.

Tammy “Is that to protect your…?”
Me:“Yep. Nothing worse than a crushed..”
Tammy:“But wouldn’t it be uncomfortable when you’re riding?”
Me:“No not really, just throw it in the bag or in your back pocket.”
Tammy: !!?

From the Banana Guard site…

Q: “Not all bananas are the same size or shape, so how can the Banana Guard fit them all?”

A: The Banana Guard was specially designed to accommodate the majority of banana sizes. Our testing indicates that over 90% of commercially available bananas will fit into the Banana Guard. Highly curved bananas can be straightened ever-so-slightly without harm to fit the Banana Guard shape. The opposite holds true of very straight bananas.

Uhm…yeah.

I can’t wait to see what she thinks of the glow in the dark one when it comes out though!

Last Ride

Date: September 7
Distance: 12.2 km ( 7.6 miles)
Ride type/Bike: / Tri-Cross
September Distance: 64.2 km (39.9 miles)
Year To Date Distance: 525.9 km (326.8 miles)
Weight Lost/Gained: +0.91 kg (+2.0 pounds)

Filed in Cycling | Also tagged | Comments (0)

My Specialized Ride

Sunday, September 10, 2006

While I had no desire to, I looked into trading my road bike in towards a bike more geared to commuting (a cyclocross bike, basically) but that I could still go out for some nice road rides on. I had no dreams of the road bike trade-in completely covering the new bike, but thought it would knock a good amount off, and the balance I could make up with selling my Computrainer (again not desired, but a solid daily commuter that can double for road training is more needed now than the road racer + indoor trainer). Unfortunately the “trade-in” value for the road bike is virtually nill. Granted it’s a 14-year-old bike, but it’s a sweet 14-year-old.

I got my road bike when I was in Arizona in the Army. Doing lots of riding year ’round and getting into doing regular centuries and tackling Mule Mountain. The old Cannondale with it’s super stiff ride was great, but the aluminum transmitted every single crack and bump in the southern Arizona roads straight to my bum. The local bike shop had just built up a road bike from one of Specialized’s new Metal Matix M2 frames. After riding that bike, I knew it was the bike for me. Still stiff and very responsive, but the ceramics in the Matrix dampened the small bumps down really well. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a bike in prebuilt configuration, so I had them build one up custom. I decided to go for the — at the time — new 8 speed Shimano 600 (later called Ultegra) STI indexed shifting. Actually I went with all Shimano 600 groupo except pedals and pads.

All told it came in at 19lbs and a hair under $2000. And it’s been a beautiful bike. Still is. Almost all the good qualities of my Cannondale, but few of the downsides. It’s not perfect, still a harsher ride than good steel or (now) carbon, but much better than oversized aluminum. In the intervening years I have had periods of active riding, trainer-only riding, and a few (but all too long) periods of no riding. My understated gunmetal grey road bike has been with me through Arizona, Virginia, Texas, Idaho and now Connecticut with never a problem worse than a flat tire. Now though, for economy, etc… I was ready to let it go, for a good cause. Of course that was before they told me my old friend was essentially worthless to them (while looking at it nostalgically and drooling over it mind you.)

It may be worthless to them as a business, but to me, it still has future, as well as historical, value. So it stays. Better that way…now I have no excuse to sell the Computrainer, so even when the is not realistic because of snow and time of day (I’m not commuting with a foot of fresh snow for a 7 am class!! Go ahead, call me a wimp…), I can still get some time spinning on the Computrainer and maybe even training for some centuries in the spring. The commuter will have to wait, but hey, that just means I will be able to replace the rear cogset with a 9 speed Ultegra set since they need replacing anyways.

Filed in Cycling | Also tagged | Comments (0)