... Back on the Road

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been riding my bike all that much. Some things have changed ... My job, for example. I have a somewhat nasty 12 mile bike ride to get to work plus a 45 minute train ride -- meaning 3-4 hours of commute everyday ... If I drive it's only 35 minutes.

My bike bag has been gone. For quite awhile. Which means a backpack (umm ... no), or the crap bag made by timbuktu&trade (again no). Or not being able to carry anything on my road bike. Despite having a couple of mountain bikes ... as soon as I had a decent messenger bag I took the racks off my bikes and gave them away. They never were all that good at carrying my stuff -- a computer, a stack of groceries, and so on.

SO today I bought a new Chrome Citizen, just like my old one. It has some new features, like the insertable laptop cozy, keyring loop, light attachment point, and new phone and Ipod carrier. Generally it's the same awesome bag, but strictly for righties (left shoulder?) ... never mind us goofy footed bastards. I bought one anyway, figuring it would be good to try it on the dark side. It could take awhile to grab my bag, swing it on, clip the buckle, stick my left foot in and cowboy it all up on to my steed, but I'll get the hang of it. C'est le vie.

Yesterday, at the gym ... I was doing the fly with like a 12 on the weight scale markings and I surprised something in my chest and it responded with a popping sound and some pain ... And I noticed the weather outside was suprisingly good. Like 70 degrees, sun, slight breeze, you know ... the barefoot me in shorts everywhere weather. Pass me a whine cooler. Winter, it seems, is fading. And so is weight lifting. I tried to row a thousand meters on the machine in my typical 5 minutes ... and I looked outside again. I went down stairs and got into the hot tub.

SO today I rolled my road bike out of it's winter hiding place. Added new stuff to it's bike bag, watered up the drinking bottle. Put my bike bag stuff in the new bike bag. Called up my bike riding buddy. "I think it's time for a ride," I said stupidly.

We rode 13 miles, and stopped for sushi in the middle. We rode back in the dark ... and it was really dark. Not too bad for the first ride in a while. A good start to the Spring.

Cyclist Riding in Snowy Flagstaff

A Fork in the Trail

... I took the road less traveled. That's pretty cliché. Cliché is a French word that means snapshot. The French maybe don't quite have it right. What makes a cliché is that the image is effective, so it is subject to a bunch of agreeable use. It's widely understood and oft used, and we all know what it means.

Yawn. Now that I am free, I am going to run out to Arizona, for a few days. I'll spend the New Year Holiday in the Superstitions with the Happy Hiker Guy, and our friend Dale. We are going to Reavis Ranch for two days and I'll be in the Phoenix Metro for a few days. currently temps in Mesa are about like the are here, but promising to drop0 to freezing over the next few days. It will be cold at night in the superstitions at 3-4000 feet.

After a few days in Phoenix (looking for a job.) I'll spend about 10 days in Flagstaff, where it's snowing and the temps are ranging from 4 degrees F. to 25 degrees over the next couple of days. I am taking my bikes and gear and plan to try to ride a bit around Flagstaff while I am there. So I developed a little checklist for my gear for riding in winter with snow. Since I'll be a rodie in Mesa and a Snow Biker in Flagstaff, I'll have 2 bikes. The Trek mountain bike and the Marin San Marino.

• Spare platform pedals (so I can wear my boots).
• Gloves (2 pair)
• Cycling shoes (2 pair)
• neoprene booties
• rain pants
• long underwear (capilene or merino wool)
• Wool shirt
• Scarf
• Jacket
• Raincoat
• Socks
• helmet
• balaclava
• Pump
• Toolkit
• Spare tires
• Water bottle
• patch kit
• tights
• bike bag

I'll be getting ready.

Hey ... where's Shawn?

Well ... I've been busy ... I learned to do an Eskimo Roll (no, that's not a sushi roll). I am trying to buy a kayak. I want to learn how to read nautical charts and learn how to navigate surf with a kayak. Ummm ... guess where I am going ...

I got my kids back in college. I have a new mountain bike. I have been shooting my bow. I still have a job. I want a real vacation.

Eco-Credits for sale

1 megawatt hour equals 859845.227859 nutritional calories. At 500 calories an hour, that eqauls 1719.690455718 hours of riding. I think that represents about 20000 miles of riding (at 12 miles an hour) ... which is about what I've probably done in my life. This is equal to 1 eco-credit. I think I should be able to sell this eco credit. If you'd like to buy it, please let me know and I'll tell you where to send the $9.95.

Oh wait. One megawatt hour equals 3412141.63313 BTU's. If I divide that by 125,000 (BTU's in a gallon of gas) I get around 27, or the amount of gas I buy in a week when I drive. If I always ride that means that about 1 eco-credit a week -- what I saved. Over 3 years (not including the rest of my life), that's about 150 credits. Times ~$10 = $1500. Not bad.

Feel free to start buying eco-credits.

A Mountain Bike ...

My son's Giant™. It is about 987% aluminum. so it must be light. It has a shock that works and two empty tires. Rumour has it that it came from Wal-Mart. No wonder it has empty tires ... and loose bits, like the crank and the headset. Otherwise it looks pretty fair. It will need a bit of adjustment here and there. I have to hand over my commuter next time I see him and we have a swap for the summer.

Now, I need some one to teach me how and where to ride it ... I hear that there are trails at waterdog lake.

One of those Days

It was with absolute and complete amazement that I found myself still intact and on my bike, just a split second after noticing a vehicle bumber just inches from me and approaching quickly. I've never been so close to being hit.

Then I got a flat during dinner at my mother's. And another on the way home. I think I may need to walk for a few days.

Hmmm, Trouble in Paradise

This is a fancy-butt 4 battery Cat-Eye headlamp for my bicycle. Nice big beam, lots of light. Lasts a long time. Trouble is, it doesn't turn off. Fortunately, I have another one just like it.

Maybe I should send it back to Cat-eye.

Oh Yeah

I thought you said you had a bike. I said I had a broken computer on my bike. The car has a broken speedometer. My daughter borrowed the car. I had to try and register it. My daughter came home from college and she borrowed the car so now I am back on my bike. I have to get my truck on the road again, so I can drive too. My son is learning to drive. I get scared easily.

I miss the new Jane -- I saw her last week and that made me want to move. I have a brand new job, I work where music lives, and I listen to music for a living (not really, but sometimes I am actually supposed to listen to music). It's a good job if you can get it. It's a cool place where people juggle and wear headphones, and ride scooters around in the office, and there's free organic fruit, organic beer, and organic granola. It is less than a block from my old job. The company provides us with free copies of Rolling Stone Magazine. If you're my friend and I recommend you to work there -- they will give me money and I will buy you lunch. Then you can listen to music too, forget to shave, look like Peter Falk, threaten to grow your hair out again, and get paid with organic money. Unfortunately, I can't move right now. I have a new job.

But -- I thought you said you had a bike. Well, it's busy where music lives, and so I don't get to play on the blog quite as much. But, hey -- I still get to ride my bike.

400+ March

Date: 31 March 2007
Mileage for the week: 82.37
March total: 407.84
On the Ipod: Nothing

I was a Bit Bored on the Train, and I said ...

There's that little freeway crossing at 18th and it's just a few blocks to work from there and HowBadCanItBe?, after all. And I got off the train at 22nd street, which is basically a hole in the ground. From there I looked up at a sign that said steep grade ahead, so I turned right on Pennsylvania, and proceeded to climb a fairly steep grade for a long block or two.

It wasn't too bad. Coast all downhill from there to 15th and Utah. 1.4 miles, with a short, but steep hill.

If you can find a better route, I'd be glad to here about it, the start and end points are marked with a green dot. Notice that the route map is marked in three kinds of red to indicate how (incredibly ^&%#ing) steep the hills are.

Yeah, It's Raining, So What ...

Well, it is.

http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/showsat.php?wfo=mtr&area=nw&type=vis&size=4

Date: 24 March 2007
Mileage for the week: 80.24
March total: 325.47
On the Ipod: Nothing

Sobriety Checkpoint

Last night at about 10:50, I spun through the Burlingame PD's sobriety checkpoint on California Ave. at about 18 miles an hour. It was strange and odd. They didn't stop me or even seem to notice me.





This afternoon I rode out to San Carlos Airport and back on the Bay Trail and it was about 30 miles round trip. On the way back we took the frontage road from the Airport to Oracle and my Red-Headed Riding Buddy blew a tire. I had a spare that was not right, that bought him an additional 10 miles. At the bridge my Presta tube on his Schrader rim gave out at the valve, leaving him on foot. I rode to get a car and came back for him, cutting his trip down to about 23 for the day, and leaving me with about 28 all day.


Site of the Blowout.


The interesting bit is this; from my house the bridge is five miles, Oracle is ten, Holly street is fifteen, and where is twenty? Round trip, these are 10, 20, and 30 miles respectively.

Date: 17 March 2007
Mileage for the week: 85.54
March total: 245.23
Max: 29.8
On the Ipod: Neil Young: Rockin' the Free World

Showtime

I set the alarm for 6 AM, and I laid out the riding clothes for the morning. Padded shorts, tights, a jersey, and some warmers.

I went to the doctor today to tell her that I was coughing in unbelievable fits at night like I had Pertussis (whooping cough), and that I was afraid I was going to break my ribs or something, and that I usually wanted to vomit after I was done turning blue, and she said, oh -- I think you have post nasal drip, take this phergain (sp -- an anti-nausea medication) with codiene (a pint of it, no less), that should help. Sure, narcotics usually help. "You'll be fine."

As long as I don't choke to death on my own phlegm while unable to wake up, cough, or puke.

I said, "Really?, I'll never take it."

I'll be up in the morning, on my bike, trying to navigate 16 miles of unknown urban paradise. Sans codiene. Paroxysms or not.

A long way ...

I am somewhat inspired by Lauren's post describing her commute to work. Did I mention I was jealous, too. It's a very nice ride. For some time now I have been contemplating riding (all the way) to work one day morning a week, in an effort to get my weekly base up to about 125 miles. Currently, if I push it, I can break 100 a week, but even if I am busy, I usually end up at about 75. Adding 15-20 miles will help.

I washed all my riding clothes, especially the padded ones. I never wear the ride specific clothing, but rising temps combined with longer rides seem to imply occasional showers and a change of clothes, and my saddle has been asking me for a little cushioning against my sit bones. So tomorrow I will pack up a shower bag and haul it into work. I have a shower at work.

In trying to plan a route through 17 miles of the SF Peninsula, I discovered several things.

1. There's a bike route map of San Francisco from the SF Bike Coalition
2. San Mateo County has this, which looks like a scary route. I don't like two lane roads with street parking and no bike lane.
3. There are other maps, too, here.
4. It ain't easy to get there from here
5. This is a very nice article (dated) about the progress made in San Francisco for cyclists in recent years.

Maybe this week I will try the full commute. I have something that looks like a route, thanks to mapquest's (thanks fritz, for sharing) "avoid freeways" option. I run the Bay Front trail out to the Airport and then ride Bayshore into South City, and on past Potrero Hill. With an occasional deviation that I'll need to navigate when I get there.

If I can get to work it will mean I can get across the GG bridge which will mean I can get to Alaska... it's all in the journey ...Wish me luck.

Date: 11 March 2007
Mileage for the week: 112.43
March total: 159.69
Max: 29.2
Time in the Saddle: 10:15
On the Ipod: Jackson Browne, Farther On

Behind the Scenes

A bike race seems to leave spectators standing around looking at each other as much as watching the race. Here are a few shots from behind the scenes at the Velogirls Menlo Park Grand Prix . Enjoy.

Velogirls Menlo Park Grand Prix

Is that the leader? I never know.

I started out today with a crazy idea I was going to go get coffee, photograph a womens bike race, have dinner with my folks and be in bed by ten. It all workd out ok except for turning the clock forward. Which meant it was 11:00.

That's Mount Diablo, which I think is about 35 miles away. It was definitely a nice day for a ride so I rode home to an ice pack and a hot tub. The extra ten pounds of camera gear made the long ride more fun.

I took about 100 photos during the CAT 5 mens race, the only race I saw. I'll be looking those over for the next few days to cultivate out a few more good shots, but for now, enjoy these. If you recognise anyone -- I'd like to know so I can add their name to the credit.

Date: 25 February 2007
Mileage for the week: 82.68
February total: 286.30
March total: 47.26
Max: 28.3
On the Ipod: The Gypsy Kings, Un Amor

bzzzzzzz, click whirr ...