The Fat Guy In The Back
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Posts: 2,532
Bikes: '81 Panasonic Sport, '02 Giant Boulder SE, '08 Felt S32, '10 Diamondback Insight RS, '10 Windsor Clockwork, '15 Kestrel Evoke 3.0, '19 Salsa Mukluk
Mentioned: 92 Post(s)
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Consecutive bicycle commute number 792:
Had a 21 mile route planned for today so I wanted to take the road bike. Forecast was for sunny skies and no rain. When I opened the garage door and wheeled the bike out I looked down and saw wet pavement. It was really warm and humid, and was drizzling. I checked the radar and it looked clear, so I took off down the road hoping the moisture would quickly pass.
About a 1/2 mile from home the drizzle seemed to be getting a little heavier. I was debating on whether or not to go back home and get the hybrid with fenders. I then remembered how much work I'd recently done on my road bike to get the bottom bracket fixed (BB30 - ugh) and that I really didn't want to get any moisture in the bearing if I could avoid it.
So I turned around and rode back home, transferred my clothes from the backpack to the waterproof panniers and then took the hybrid. The rain never really got heavier, but it drizzled constantly the whole way to work. Between that and the temp/humidity I arrived quite drenched. It turns out I probably made the right decision to switch bikes.
Yesterday I took a newly opened spur of the MUP that had been under reconstruction since early spring. It was very nice, especially when compared with how bad the old trail had gotten. The old trail was so bumpy and pot-holed that I pretty much avoided it even when it would have been more convenient. The repaved spur was smooth as silk. Until this morning when it was discovered that it was closed again because they tore up a chunk of it with a backhoe. Not sure why they had to do that.
Last night we had our monthly bicycle committee meeting. This is the second one I've attended since I was asked to join this advisory board for the city council. We gave our input on some future MUP expansion plans, along with offering ideas on improving cyclist/pedestrian access to some new schools that are being built. We also adopted a vision statement for cycling in our city: "Be the best city in the Midwest for bicyclists and pedestrians." I'm usually more of a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy and don't put a lot of weight on vision statements, but I actually thought that one was pretty good.