Darth Lefty 

Not sure if I mentioned it but I finally put gears on my commuter bike. This bike is a terrific versatile frame but they chose to sell it as a single speed gravel racing bike. With flat bars, hydro brakes, and a big MTB 11-speed cassette and RD, it doesn't look much any more like it did in the bumf

jaxy357

Got to campus a little early today from the train, wasn't paying attention and put my helmet on that had been connected to my bike lock. Look who jumped out!

lil froggy

locolobo13 

We've got a lot of grasshoppers here too. They fly clumsily for a bit after jumping. Parting the Red Sea is a good description.

Darth Lefty 

No commutes for me this week. I took the whole week off because I had Tuesday and Friday off… “three for nine,” pay only three vacation days for nine consecutive days off.

The way our vacation plan works, we get the week from Christmas Eve to New Year’s observed, Memorial, July 4, and Labor Day off. This is in contrast to the federal plan that has lots of Mondays off but no full weeks. In combination with “9/80” schedule with every other Friday off, we will get a few years with 4-day summer holiday weekends, then a few with “three for nine”

We are camping in South Lake Tahoe for the week. I was supposed to go for a long mountain bike ride today. Today would be the minimum crowd day between the holiday and the following weekend. I really wasn’t feeling strong, confident, or eager. Not sure why.

Darth Lefty 

Oooh, better check your hair for tadpoles

groovestew

On the road again for the first and, since it's Friday, last time this week. I should have rode more, it was a pretty nice week weather-wise, but errands, appointments, excuses, blah blah blah. Beautiful day today. Might have to leave work early and take the long way home. Have a nice weekend, everyone.

gooseneck34

I sometimes cycle my commute and I find it very enjoyable, more so if there is bike lanes about, which in Manchester there is many. However, I dont know if anyone else has noticed this but I tend to see a lot of people not even using the bike lanes, they either use the pavement or the roads! I just feel that the bike lanes are there for a good reason

pdlamb

Probably need to move this to A&S.

groovestew

No rain, but the threat is certainly there. I kept imagining feeling drops as I rode. I'm not fond of riding in the rain, but my lawn could use the moisture, so I do hope we get some, after I get home this evening.

I've been seeing a lot of new graffiti this year. This particular piece wasn't there on Friday, and in fact, it was fresh enough this morning for the paint to still have an odour. Sure, it's a nice friendly sentiment that drivers can see from the nearby freeway, but it's still a blight.

groovestew

It's a beautiful day for a bike commute, clear skies and 15C. Had to dodge several piles of doo-doo on the dirt trail portion of my route. I also stopped to remove a large stick from the trail, which I'm guessing was left by a dog or its owner. Likewise with some of the doo-doo.

jaxy357

Cool neon bike

I've been meaning to take a pic of this...not my bike but I love it and it always makes me smile! Leaving early today to pick up my home bike from the shop, service cost more than 3x what I paid for it, which admittedly was less than $100. Someday I'll be an expert at doing my own repairs but I was getting frustrated over the shifting issues I kept having.

Darth Lefty 

oh man is that a 15 year flashback

No rides so far this week. 9yo got suspended from summer camp two days (seriously, how?) so I'm WFH again

groovestew

Feeling good, the weather is good, albeit a little hazy - a bit of an orange tinge to the daylight today.

I've mentioned a dirt trail that's part of my route. There's a short section where the trail is slanted both vertically and laterally, and I don't much care for it because I've lost grip and slipped sideways a few times. This morning I decided to try a trail that branched off the one I usually take, to see if I could get around that problematic section. Well, it's definitely much more of a mountain bike trail. Lots of roots, curvy, hilly, had to stop to lift my bike over some logs and duck under others. I did come across a pond created by a beaver dam, so I took a picture. Didn't see any beavers though.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1690:

A few weeks ago I went on my annual motorcycle trip. Seeing as I wasn't going to be riding my road bike during that week, I dropped the wheels off at my LBS to have the bearings replaced. The front bearing was making an occasional grinding noise that was obnoxious enough to draw stares from anyone in the vicinity. When it happened I would have to slow to a stop, then when I would take off again it would be OK for a little while. The rear bearings weren't making any noise, but I figured they had the same mileage on them as the front so they were probably due to be replaced as well.

While I was on my trip the LBS mechanic called. He said that my rear rim had cracks at nearly every spoke nipple, so that wheel wasn't worth repairing. Based on the braking surface wear, he estimated that the front wheel was probably about 60% worn out. He quoted me a brand new wheel set at $600, or if I didn't mind mismatching wheels I could buy just the rear wheel for $350 and he could replace the front wheel bearings. I went that route.

It's really nice not having those front bearings howling. And the new rear wheel doesn't make the creaking noise that I had apparently gotten used to, and I suspect was caused by the spokes moving in the cracked rims.

This morning I broke my front derailleur cable. I went to shift into the big ring and heard a loud "POP" that startled me. So until I get that fixed my road bike is effectively an 11 speed. I have a spare cable at home, but I don't have any replacement bar tape on hand so I needed to order that.

pdlamb

Came in to the office yesterday. Nice ride in the morning, caught up with one of the few other bike commuters and rode the last half of my trip with him.

The afternoon ride started with a flurry of activity after looking at the radar. Expected 45 minutes more clear, with showers picking up for another hour before the main line of thunderstorms arrived. No problem for a 45 minute ride, right?

Wrong.

25 minutes after I left, it hit. Instead of an hour between the first drops and the main event, I may have got a minute to adjust. The next half a mile through a wooded neighborhood was spent watching tree limbs and swerving wide to avoid any that might fall down, dodging debris on the road, and sloshing through puddles and streams on the road. I'd say it was one of the top three of worst thunderstorms I've ridden in. Finally got to a gas station, where I stayed on the west side of the building under the south side of the awning for 20 minutes or so.

Afterward, the rain stopped pretty quickly, so I finished the commute. At least parts of four trees down blocking one or more lanes of traffic, including one big tree that blocked all four lanes. Arrived home with no problems, though, so another safe (?) bike commute completed!

Darth Lefty 

Heat wave, plus WFH because kid expelled from summer camp (really! he's nine! wth ), means no rides since vacation in Tahoe two weeks ago

groovestew

It's been one week since my last commute. Coolish, but very humid for the ride in.

I'm gonna talk about my dirt trail a bit more. Another problem with it is that there are sections where the trail is quite narrow and deeply rutted. A picture is worth a thousand words:



Last Thursday, there was rain in the forecast, and drizzling lightly as I left the office, so I tried (unsuccessfully) to beat the rain* home. I was booting down the dirt trail around a gentle curve when my front tire got caught on the left side of a rut. My center of gravity kept moving left, but the tire stayed steadfastly in the rut, like a Hot Wheels car on an orange track. So down I went. There was a brief moment of terror when I realized what was happening, which quickly morphed into peaceful acceptance when I realized there was nothing I could do to stop it. Due to the grassy landing, my injuries were limited to a grass stain on one knee, and my left hip was a little sore to the touch for a while, but it didn't affect my gait, so I got off easy. Regardless, I'm glad there were no children around to hear me opine about the situation. I got back on and rode home without further incident, besides getting thoroughly soaked.

I guess I could ride on the grass, but that would be slower. I have paved options, but thanks to construction, I would need to take a significant detour. This stupid trail is my best option for now. Maybe I need a mountain bike. Or, this bike has clearance for 35mm knobbies, I could look into that. With a bit of grip on the side of the tires, maybe there's a better chance they would climb out of the rut.

No significant incidents this morning. In the mornings, the trail is mostly uphill, so I can't go very fast, so less chance of something catastrophic happening. In the afternoons, I'm riding my brakes.

*After I got home, I found out that it was impossible to beat the rain, since I was riding straight into it.

pdlamb

Couple unusual things on this morning's commute. First, our municipal railroad had parked a locomotive perhaps a foot into the street. It would have blocked the bike lane if there was one there. That was enough to trigger the lights at that intersection to turn red, stopping traffic and creating a massive (for our downtown) snarl. Being the rebellious sort, I rode the last block up the sidewalk to see what the problem was. Then, since (1) there was no one in the locomotive cab, and (2) all five lanes were passable, I ran the red light, crossed the tracks, and kept on going. I was 2-3 blocks up the road when an engineer made it back to the cab, tooted the whistle, and revved up the engine. I doubt I'll find out why he was (presumably) looking over the brakeman's shoulder somewhere down the track.

Second, almost to work, there were four bright bluebirds sitting around the corner of a fence. This is unusual, because bluebirds in around here normally fledge in May, and I'm lucky to see one or two after that, usually well separated, sitting on a branch or fence, or flying overhead.

groovestew

Neat! I wish we had more bluebirds around here. The only blue birds we see in these parts are bluejays, which are visually quite beautiful, but being part of the Corvidae family, they sound awful and they're kinda jerks. Sometimes it seems like the only birds we see in Edmonton are crows, magpies, and the occasional bluejay. And sparrows.

groovestew

This morning, as I was climbing out of a ravine in the first part of my route, I caught sight of someone on a road bike ahead, just about to crest the hill. Heck yeah I gave chase! When I used to work downtown, I would occasionally get into these little silly commuter races, but since the office moved to the 'burbs, I don't encounter these opportunities much anymore, so I take advantage when I can. In the end, I never did catch up before our paths diverged, but I did manage to pass an older lady on an e-bike.

Have a great weekend everyone!

macattack71

It cooled off a little overnight and was a veritable swamp to ride in this morning. 11.6 miles each way. Ride home was warmer, dodged some rain that passed thru the area a couple of hours previous. I need to target at least once per week to commute, now that my knee seems to have healed after an injury.

Darth Lefty 

Here the agapanthus are blooming. The city has a ton of them planted in the medians, light blue or on the purplish side of lavender

groovestew, I have my commuter bike set up with a slick in the rear and a light knobby in the front. Both gravel bike tires. Knobs would help with the grass. Compliance (bigger tire or a bike with suspension) would probably help more with a rut. Although I can't see buying that for one little section.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1697:

Very nice morning with a temp at 67°F, the sun shining, a light tailwind and sparse traffic.

After 11 days without a front derailleur, this weekend I finally got a chance to fix my broken cable. As usual, what should have been a 1/2 hour job turned into 3 hours. The cable snapped up inside the brifter mechanism, requiring me to partially disassemble it to fish the ball end with shredded bits of cable hanging from it. Then when I tried to push the cable through the frame down by the bottom bracket, it wouldn't go through. I pulled the old cable out without any trouble, but after that there seemed to be some sort of blockage in the middle preventing the new cable from passing. After a lot of head scratching and aggravation, I finally cut a piece of the old cable about 6" long, threaded it through the frame until it hit the blockage, then applied pressure as I spun the cable. It took some time but eventually I dislodged a chunk of dirt that was stuck in there. Somehow I must have pulled the dirt into the passage when I pulled the old cable through. Ugh.

After I had all of that done, I replaced the bar tape. When the bike was new, and during my previous replacements, it had white tape. This looked great when new, but would quickly start to look gross. I guess it was a good reminder that I should always wash my hands after riding my bike, but other than that the grungy white tape wasn't appealing. This time around I went with black tape. That should hide the dirt longer. It certainly does change the look of the bike, though.

Every time I replace bar tape I always wish the tape was one or two wraps longer. It would be nice if they gave you a little extra. It's easy enough to cut a few inches off if it's too long, but when you get to the end and find yourself a bit short it's a pain to unwrap and redo everything and hope that this time you got the wrap overlap correct.

noglider 

I have a new job therefore a new commute. This commute is fantastic. I’m working at a summer school program in Queens. I live in Manhattan. It’s 9 miles each way. Cycling in NYC is very far from ideal in many ways. The street designs are crap, and a lot of drivers are jerks. I’m inured to this to a degree. Well, this new route is pretty nice overall. The bridges are often annoying but one nice thing about the Ed Koch Bridge (aka the Queensborough Bridge aka the 59th Street Bridge) is that the steepness decreases as you get to the summit. It’s steepest at the far ends of the ramps. That suits me very well. The view is pretty cool. And 34 Ave in Queens was closed to motor traffic in May of 2020, and they made it permanent. The whole avenue is like a 7-day-a-week party. The city even has events there. I love it.

I’ll post pictures later. My lunch time is over now.

Darth Lefty 

You are reminding me how fortunate I've been not to have to do any serious job searching in 16 years except once in caution