Trapped? I think not.

This weekend I dropped some bills on bike lights, a helmet, and some reflective tape: the result. There may be more tape in it’s future.

Then today, while sitting at my desk, I felt trapped. The in-house cafeteria is overpriced and everything else seems far away….. Then I realized: “WAIT A MINUTE! I have a bicycle, I have independence!” So I biked around until I found a place that looked nice. Yay, choices!

Yes! I biked to work yesterday and today, but tomorrow Boston is expecting rain. Where is that fender? Where is my umbrella, for that matter?

No, I don’t know what I’ll do, but it’s good to be back, regardless.

Serve Chilled

Foggy, temperature in the 30ºs.  Chill, humid, and dark but for a nearly invisible spot of blue-white light.  I’ve covered every inch of skin with some kind of odd thin black stretchy stuff.  Helmet, headphones, a facemask, and the inherent clumsiness of gloves.  Breathe carefully, don’t fog the glasses.  Climb over, stretch, clip in, wobble.  Breathe.

Release!

—

You know what happens after that:  the long glide.

I’d like to pretend it was like flying, but it wasn’t.  Not really.  True, at one point in my ride I felt perfectly comfortable: my pedaling was effortless and my body — weightless.

The number machine completely failed.  My cyclometer no longer functions.  The components on my bike are slowly wearing down to dust.  New bike next year?  Not likely.  It’s a good frame, though.  We’ll see.

Frosty!

I’ve had a cold all week, and I’ve scraped frost off my windshield all week, too. If I didn’t have a cold, and had been getting enough sleep and hydration…. I would still be in bed at 6am. It’s dark and cold and 40 minutes and bleh. I never have time to ride anymore. Too much commuting. Really, an hour a day? Gah.

Maybe it’s just that I’m exhausted from the cold. Or exhausted from lack of sleep. Or exhausted from lack of free time. Which leads to another thought:

I live for karate, really enjoy cello, and need to work. If I’m going to bike at all, it’s got to be the commute. I can barely find time for my cello.

The big question is: can I afford the extra time commuting by bike?  The only day I can bike in is Tuesday.

Today it snowed.  Though it was beautiful, I’m still fighting this cold.  Let’s see  how Tuesday works out.

New Route

I’m still alive!  Really this time!

OK maybe not.  But I did bike in on Tuesday.  Now I’m on vacation!  If the rain stops I’ll bike again on Wednesday.  We’ll see.

Long commute

My new, long, commute was a bit of a workout, I’ll admit.  I started feeling tired about 10 miles in.

It was nice to wake up so much later than normal (8am as opposed to 6) but leaving at twilight is going to stink.  I managed to stick my tail-light to one of my jersey pockets.  I never understood how awesome those pockets were.  For some reason, I imagined they would catch wind and create lots of drag.  Today I carried two sandwiches, my phone, and keys/ID, and all without a backpack.

As soon as I got to work I dropped my Odo.  Ugh!  Here’s what I remember of the numbers:

48min, 14.9mi
avg 18.4mph, max 32mph
78ºF, Odo 1000mi!
Cadence: 85

Yay!

Bike to Work, day 37

First day back.  I usually don’t expect much when I’ve been off the bike this long.  In spite of this, I pushed for speed:

0:20′41, 6.75mi
avg 19.6mph, max 29.5mph
68ºF, Odo 982.2mi
Cadence: 90

Beautiful results!

—

I made a new friend on the ride home: Ian.  He thought I was someone else, heh.  We raced about and drafted eachother.  Fun!

0:21′05, 6.75mi
avg 19.2mph, max 33.0mph
87ºF, Odo 989.0mi
Cadence: 90

Too bad about that stop at the intersection, and that I bonked myself racing Ian.  Good day!

I likely won’t be biking next week, since I’m moving.

Bike to Work, day 36: Monsoon Season?

I’m hoping the monsoon season is over.

0:22′18, 6.67mi
avg 18.0mph, max 27.2mph
55ºF, Odo 968.5mi
Cadence: 90

It was nice to bike in, but keeping cadence at 90rpm is just not fun. Beats knee pain, sure, but it feels like needless work!

—

0:21′47, 6.98mi
avg 19.2mph, max 33.2mph
82ºF, Odo 975.4mi
Cadence: 90

So nice out!

Bike to Work, day 35

Zzz.

0:22′12, 6.45mi
avg 17.4mph, max 28.1mph
50ºF, Odo 951.0mi
Cadence: meh
*humid and cold

As you can probably tell, I didn’t have much gusto for sweating today. I was tired and didn’t feel like showering twice in one morning. When I arrived I realized I’d forgotten my towel again. Oh well.

Today will be a good day.

—

0:21′56, 6.67mi
avg 18.3mph, max 31.2mph
75ºF, Odo 957.7mi
Cadence: 90rpm

Much improvement, actually.  Maybe I am getting used to pushing at 90rpm.  Or maybe I don’t care.

Took abnormal routes today, less knee pain.

Bike to Work, day 34: Back!

This morning I hit my snooze button but didn’t go back to sleep; I couldn’t.  Today’s the day I get off my butt and bike to work!

It would have been yesterday, but I forgot to set the alarm back.  I woke up eager to ride, but it was already too late to leave.  Still, this allowed me to carry a larger quantity of clothes into the office.

I still forgot some essentials, for example: a towel, and some clothing I’d rather not mention.  Oh well.

0:21′40, 6.94mi
avg 19.2mph, max 28.6mph
54ºF, Odo 933.2mi
Cadence: 90rpm!
*Damp conditions, very humid

By ‘very humid’ I mean some of the time it felt like it was raining, except no water was falling, it just hung there in the air.

I took the bridge over the big intersection.  It took more time but I didn’t have to worry about traffic.

I keept my cadence at 85-100rpm the whole time.  A couple times I dropped below 80 but shifted right away.  Knee problems be gone!

It feels great to be back.

—

Biked lunch, too.

0:19′46, 6.76mi
avg 20.5mph, max 31.1mph
71ºF, Odo 944.6mi
Cadence: 90rpm!

Phew!

Bike to work, day 33

Good Morning!

Today’s ride was cold and slow.  I carried a full bag of clothes, forgot my lunch, and left late.  My butt hurts, my knee hurts, I wasn’t fast, my cold lingers as a hacking cough.  I don’t care.

0:23’39, 6.75mi
avg 17.1mph, max 29.7mph
43ºF, Odo 919.5mi
Cadence: meh

I gave that cold a week to vacate.  I’m worried about doing leg locks at the karate studio, they might aggrevate my knee even more.  Maybe it just hurts from the heavy lifting this weekend.

I still don’t care, I’m overjoyed: I have a new cello!  Yay!

—

0:20′56, 6.76mi
avg 19.4mph, max 34.0mph
72ºF, Odo 926.2mi
Cadence: meh

Max speed while chasing a truck.  I won’t call it drafting because I failed to keep up.  Maybe it started as drafting, but I certainly slipped out of that slip stream before I reached 30mph.