Something About Thursday

I first began to notice when I worked at my last place of employment that it seemed like every Thursday was the day that I would wake up with a diminished level of general excitement.  That’s putting it mildly.  Really, I would seldom describe my ability to get up in the morning as “excitement” unless somehow it falls on the weekend with a plan to ride early.  Only then would I say that I can wake up to hear the little click sound that the alarm clock makes before it starts making the real annoying alarm sound.

It was easy back then… Back when I had the luxury of working from home.  I would roll out of bed, make a pot of coffee and sit down at the ‘puter where I could work a full 8 hour day, productively and without interruption before 2 in the afternoon would roll around.

Life is different now.  Unable to convince the powers that be that there is actually a lot to be said (and gained) by offering, rewarding, encouraging, empowering people to work from home on occasion.  By the time that Thursday rolls around, I feel like I am just wiped out.

Thunderstorms rolled though overnight.  Sleeping with the windows open, one lightning strike and subsequent thunder made me literally JUMP out of bed in a panic.  I looked at the clock with hopes that since I was awake and it was raining I could get ready and head off to work.  Sadly, it was only midnight.  Any later than say 2am and I would have considered heading off to work, but only surviving on a little more than an hour of sleep would have made me REALLY tired.

Thursdays would be an easy day to drive.  When I first started on my “see how long I can pull this riding my bike every day thing off”, I’d make sure that my cycling stuff was packed on Wednesday night.   I would park my bike in front of the car. Now that I really have no choice other than to ride, riding is a bit easier.  I do head off down the driveway a bit slower and I do find myself thinking more about the destination than the journey.

Not long into my rides, I find myself entertained by the sounds and sights of the ride.  Cooler darker mornings as of late get my mind stirring with thoughts of preparations for fall riding and even winter!  Last week on Thursday, I was equally excited to get to work and I reset the trip meter on my bike computer when I arrived at work.  Today made 10 trips counting both back and forth, 5 days, a variety of different routes.  153.38 miles. 

I mention this only because I have been keeping track of mileage since the first of the year.  I have been rounding numbers off to 30 miles per day for commutes.  Other recreational rides have been rounding (generally down) to the nearest whole mile.  It is certainly not 100% accurate, but I do feel better that my estimates are in the ball-park and that I am not artificially inflating my mileage totals. 

Tomorrow looks like a possible Ferrari Friday and may conclude with an off-road adventure.  Hoping to squeeze in an August century ride early Sunday morning.

Twisted

Dragged my sorry rear out of bed after only giving in to the allure of the “snooze” button once.  I know that the energy to actually get on with the day came from the fact that I could hear a few rain drops hit the leaves on the tree outside the window.

Set off out the door at 5:25 in regular clothing.  Though not raining, I was super excited about the prospect.  Completely dark now in the mornings the lightning made for an exciting show.  Not far at all from the house the rain started falling at a rate where I decided to pull over and put on my Showers Pass rain jacket.

For the remaining balance of my ride (approximately another 14 miles) I was treated to a spectacular light show from the lightning and the joy of getting to ride in a thunderstorm.  There’s something child-like, refreshing, and entertaining about getting to ride in the rain.  I really do love it.  I guess I am one twisted individual?

Quiet

Life moves at a blistering pace sometimes leaving me precious little time to reflect in an effort to gain perspective.  The opportunity to write forces me to think through things, though the coherence of my thoughts may not indicate it.

I have continued my streak of riding to/from work.  Haven't missed a day in well over a year now. (July 20th, 2007)  Mileage continues to accumulate.  Recreational riding has suffered somewhat due to trying to somehow manage the many directions that life sometimes warrants other attention.

We had some new neighbors move in next door.  They seem like your average SUV-lovin' Americans based on my observation of the fact that they are young with no dependents yet own 3 full-sized trucks; two GM and a Jeep.  Not that this really matters, simply my observation.  I laughed to myself at my own "preconceptions based on mode of transit."  Got myself thinking again that I wonder if they think I'm DUI-Man since all I ever do is ride my bike?

I consider this thought (not that I really care what people think) when I meet people. I have a feeling that many people must look at me and think that I must not have a license.  I mean, why else would one ride their bike all the time?

Cure-All

Back from a wonderful weekend, sore, tired, worn out. Determined on the way into work this morning on the bike that this is the way things should be. One should not use the weekend for recovery from the week, but instead use the week of work to recover from the weekend!

Saturday I took my youngest daughter Alison out for a ride on the back of the tandem. It was so fun to go for a ride and have conversation while riding around town. She is so content to be on a bike, it's amazing. At every turn I'd ask if she was doing okay and if she wanted to continue. Always wanting to keep going, we toured the midtown greenway, around Lake Calhoun, up around Cedar Lake, a trip right through downtown Minneapolis on the Hennepin Ave bike lane and then back home.

Nary a complaint in the 30 miles. We returned home and spent the afternoon swimming, then went bowling.

Sunday the whole family went up to visit some friends in Stacy, MN. I left a bit early on my bike to meet them there. Took a nice scenic 45 or 50 mile route to get there. We then spend the entire afternoon swimming in the lake, playing, did some "tubing," and tried our hands at knee-boarding. I stayed on the knee board as long as my legs and arms could take it. Feeling adventurous I was trying to jump the wake, but managed to take a couple of good diggers.

I woke up this morning tired, sore, and sunburned. Yet, amazingly, it felt wonderful to ride my bike. By the time I arrived at work, I had loosened up and felt great. Once again, proving to myself that riding a bike is the cure-all for all that ails me.

Maintenance Pays Off

 I couldn't wait to ride my bike, I was actually up on time this morning.  The results of some work on the bike rewarded in a stunning ride to work this morning.

On my free Friday night, I dropped by Hiawatha Cyclery on my way home from work where I was able to pick up a replacement Velocity Dyad rim.  On Saturday night I rebuilt the rear wheel, and on Sunday did some much needed maintenance on my bike.  I remounted fenders, front rack, and lights, replaced brake shoes, and replaced the pedals.

Funny how having neglected a few things on the bike had affected my attitude about riding.  The "crunching"  sound of the failed bearings and the shuddering of the failed rim in back made both pedaling and stopping annoying.

Mornings are dark enough now to require a light and it was chilly enough that I was glad that I selected a wool top.  The ride was silent and the bike felt wonderful.  

 

TransIowa Version 5.0 is on the Calendar

Happened to notice that Guitar Ted had a customized status on his gmail account that TransIowa Version 5.0 is on!  Yippee... http://www.transiowa.blogspot.com/ I think I am going for it!

Words to Avoid

I have decided to avoid any instruction that starts with:

"all you have to do..."

I've come to the conclusion that someone who doesn't really understand what they are talking about is about to give you advice.

Bicycle Maintenance

I have always feared the words: "mechanic owned."  It is one of those things that people boast about when trying to sell something.  Well, I'm a believer that what this really means is that any form of maintenance has been neglected until the last conceivable moment. Same sort of principle in play when you see the nurses and doctors outside of the hospital or clinic smoking.  I believe the rationale is that "I'll fix it later."

Having been professionally (under-)employed at a bike shop for more than a decade, and earning my certificate of completion from the Barnett Bicycle Institute, I consider myself a pretty-good mechanic.  From this personal experience, I can tell you that there are bikes that I own that "neglect" is the only form of maintenance.  Chief among these would be my Quickbeam commuter.

I had spun by Hiawatha Cyclery to pick up the part for my fender that I broke sometime better than a week ago.  When I got home last night I took after the bike with a bucket of hot soapy water and a scrub brush.  I had to resort to using acetone to remove much of the congealed grease from months of abuse.  (The last time I did any form of cleaning was in April.)  It was time to remount the fenders and lights since it is dark in the mornings when I leave.  For the last month-plus the rear wheel has had an awful vibration to it when braking.  I figured that I had dented the rim or something somewhere along the line and I would do my best to fix it.

Said a few colorful words and remounted the fenders (having misplaced much of my original hardware.)  Before going much further, I test-fit my rear wheel to see if my tires were going to clear the fenders.  Clearance was worse than I had recalled, but the tires were not very consistent in width.  Running out of patience, I decided that I would see what I could do about truing up the rear wheel.

I found that the wheel was nearly perfectly true, but there was significant wobbling of the sides of the rim?  Both sides of the sidewalls were striking the calipers on the truing stand!?  I stopped the wheel in the stand and inspected for dents.  No luck.  I dismounted the tire and put the wheel back in stand and found now that the wheel was both true, round, and no variation in sidewalls?

I removed the rim tape to find that the center of the rim is cracked, almost all the way around the wheel.  When the tire is mounted, it seems that the air pressure is enough to force the crack to open up.

This wheel was built in March with a Velocity Dyad rim.  It has only lasted about 4,000 miles.  Wondering what's the deal?  Combination of the rigors of commuting, carrying a lot of weight, wide tires, neglect?  

Wrapped up July with my lowest number of miles per month all year only 560?  

Much of my month of near silence has been spent contemplating one of the largest decisions of my life.  An opportunity to relocate to probably the most appealing place I have visited working for a company that I have had a relationship with for 7+ years.  An attractive chance to go work for an interesting company, with great people, and in a beautiful part of the country.

We took the family to Vermont to look around as a quasi-mini-vacation in late June.  We visited pretty-much the entire Rutland County area in Vermont looking for the right combination of community and school for our daughters within a bikeable distance from where I would be working.  It wasn't until we were on our way back north to the airport in Burlington that we made a pass at Middlebury.  Even though it was outside my initial "bicycle commutable distance" requirement, my wife and I went back a couple of weeks later on our own to look for a house.  Though we were discouraged with what we found for housing choice, we did find a place to rent.

We spent almost the whole month of July wrapping up home projects with the expectation we might sell the house.  Almost every night's discussion included wondering whether we thought we would move or not.  Looking around, we knew we would both much rather live in a small town.  The community of Middlebury seems to have the right idea in my mind; emphasis on keeping things local and very progressive with education.  With a strong desire to move, an attraction to Middlebury, and a general desire to get the heck out of here... The plan was put into play to move. Once wheels were in motion to move; the emotional reality of our decision put the brakes on.

It's made for a rough month mentally during my favorite time of year to ride a bike.  I like it hot, I like it humid.  Normally, July is the month when I do most of my long rides.  I've missed out on long weekend rides, missed having not done the ride across Iowa.  Having blown a bunch of money on home improvements and travel, the budget calls for some serious cost cutting for next several months.  This is going to mean no 24 Hours of Afton either :(

Oh well... 

July Miles: 560

Year to Date: 5,917