Flat Sunday with ostriches

I was reading on another blog about "Cow Rides", where you ride untill you see a cow. So that's what I intended to do this morning. I earled up the Schwinn yesterday and inflated the tyres. All ready to go! Of course when I get out to the garage this morning the read tire is flat. So I ride the Jamis, with a pannier holding the camera, because I WANT a picture of the cow-at-the-end-of-the- ride!!

And I brought a map, the Ridelink bike map (note to self: sign up for bike to work day.)

Saw Steve at the donut shop. He was getting donuts for a gaggle of girls, and talking on the mobile phone to a friend who was biking up in the Laguna Mountains.

I head out to Santee, meandering around semi-not knowing where I'm going, checking the map. A lady in a car heading NORTH on Magnolia asks me if she is going the right direction to get to El Cajon. I kindly straighten her out.

I used El Nopal to get over to Lakeside. I saw an ostrich or two. Should have taken a picture, but was saving it for that cow!

Followed two other guys through Lakeside. Mistake. Followed them half way up Los Coches Road, not the way I wanted to go. Backtracked to Julian Ave., noticed tire getting soft. Rode it to Julian/Lake Jennings Park Road/El Monte Road intersection. Took tube out, couldn't locate hole. Went to put spare tube in, the tube, let me say, that the Performance guys gave me (well, not GAVE) when I bought the bike. Wrong size. WAY too small! Put old tube back in, pumped up (New pump works great, thanks Matt!!).

Wimped out, decided to go home. Helped a bicyclist out with my trusty map, he was looking for Woodside Ave. Had to pump up twice on the way back.

So, I never saw a cow, I DID see a ostrich or two.

I will go to Performance this afternoon and pick up TWO spare tubes!

Mileage for today: 30.03 (Had to go up and down the street a couple times to get 30...)

The weekly statistics are all goofed up because I didn't post them last week, but this is what I come up with:

Schwinn -- 21.89
James -- 38.00 estimate


Odometer readings:

Schwinn -- 5,275
Jamis -- 1,175

A better day today

I woke up at six thirty this morning and ate my bran flakes, and thought about yesterday and formulated scary scenarios of violence and persecution. I thought about when I was attacked on the city bus, and how I didnt' ride the bus for several years after that. I thought about how I am afraid to drive sometimes (for other reasons, mostly having to do with the onset of senility.), and then I decided if I don't go for a ride then the terrorists have won. So I went a Dam ride.

It was very overcast, just the way I like it! Keeps the proles away! The gate was still locked at the north end of the Mission Trails bike path when I got there at 8:07 and there were not too many people on the path. I saw some ducks at Lake Murray, very nice.

Going up the Baltimore hill a woman walking said to me, "B**** of a hill, eh?". I've often thought that, too. It's not a BIG hill, it's actually rather short. But it's nearly at the end of ride (depending), and it's steepish. Of course it was more steepish when I weighed fifty pounds more!!

The Schwinn has a odd squeak sound, but I only hear it when I'm not on it. It seems to be coming from the headset, which is not loose. I can't replicate it, it just happens sometimes!

Wierd!

Road rage

I finally rode the Jamis to work today after driving all week, due to the wacky weatherman's dire predictions of rain for three days, and being lazy Monday and Tuesday.

So I get through the day without freaking, and I'm riding home, almost there, and an SUV pulls past me and I get hit in the face with a bunch of little somethings, I don't know what! And this laughing little kid has his head out the window looking at me. So, par usual, I lose it, catch them at the light and scream curse words at mom, who is driving. The little freak claimed he was trying to through whatever-it-was OVER my head. Well, she told him not to do that any more, I suggested spanking him, and we parted ways. So much for anger management! I managed it alright, right into her face!

So I got home, and I'm cursing up a storm, and ashamed of losing it of course.

Meh...

What I spent my birthday money on...

Due to numerous requests for clarification, the following communique is issued:

The previous post, "Testing", was to see if the RSS reader would find the post. It didn't. For some reason it doesn't want to read this blog. Oh well!

I have procrastinated, and finally after a week of anquish I have made the decision to SPEND MONEY and purchase a new crank, chain, freewheel, and 24t granny cog for the Schwinn.

Whew!

My Bicycle Musings

This...is a test.

I've been looking at several bicycle blogs lately that use that funny temperature scale called "Celsius", so I plotted up this quick little temperature conversion chart (in Open Office) for the math-enfeebled (me!)

Nice cool Dam ride today. Took the lake route and didn't get in any disputes with anyone. Made a poor red light decision in Santee, but I was allowed to live. More people out than I would have thought, for Easter. Big noisy Easter service at Lake Murray.


Here are the site statistics to date:

My bicycle musings


-- Site Summary ---

Visits

Total .......................... 197

Average per Day .................. 2

Average Visit Length .......... 2:19

This Week ....................... 12


Page Views


Total .......................... 369

Average per Day .................. 5

Average per Visit .............. 3.0

This Week ....................... 36


Come on, people, you can do better than that! Tell your friends! Surely this blog is more entertaining than watching an Ex-Lax commerical on television! Surely!

Weekly Mileage Statistics:

Schwinn -- 25 miles
Jamis -- goose eggs

Got a new bike pump for my birthday. I thought you all might want to see my collection of pumps.





From top to bottom:

Rhode Gear Atmos (I think)
Zefal HP
Silca
Zefal HPx
Topeak RoadMorph

The Rhode Gear worked great until a joint separated and it shot 10 feet away while pumping...
The Zefal HP was great until it just plain wore out. Great whacking stick!
The Silca was put together from parts I found on the street and in a garbage can. Doesn't work too good.
The Zefal HPx is getting tired and hard to pump after many years.
The Topeak is the new one.

This week has been such a blur. Every day felt like Friday! And then, finally, it WAS Friday! I only biked to work three days because of the rain, or the threat of rain (thank you so much, Mr. John Coleman!), and cut those short too.

Did the Dam ride Sunday, nothing untoward happened, although I did not do the Lake Murray part of the loop, instead substituting going up Navajo Road to Fletcher Parkway and then to the West!!

Just for the record, the Schwinn odometer sets at 5,228 and the Jamis sets at 1,093.

Weekly Mileage Totals:

Schwinn -- 21.8
Jamis -- 25.44

Did not ride this weekend, but virtuously set the correct Daylight Time on the bike computers today. Also checked the Axiom A08 on the Jamis for the correct wheel size, as there was some confusion the other day, due to tiny buttons, holding said buttons down an INSTANT too long, and bad eyes, on just what-the-heck I was doing (trying to reset the trip odometer). I thought maybe I had messed up the wheel circumference setting. It DID seem like I was getting places a little too quickly, or rather they wuz closer than they wuz before.

So I printed out the manual at a place that had a laser printer, but I couldn't see the wheel size chart too good, so I downloaded the manual at home (AGAIN, since I STILL don't have all the files that were on my desktop back from my computer guy (But thanks again for the upgrade to XP!) yet), found Adobe Reader in the old programs folder, open the manual and blew it up to 200 percent so I could READ the darn thing!

After all that the wheel circumference was already set correctly...

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So, I am still confused about the time change, lo these many years.

The saying is: Spring Forward, Fall Back.

It's Spring, so what WAS six in the morning is now seven. So it's getting light even earlier. And getting dark earlier. So I don't need the mighty headlight till, like, Fall? Wait a minute, it WAS just getting light at six, which is now seven, so I'll be getting up at six, which was five. So I WILL need my light now.. My head hurts...

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Since this is our rainy season I haven't been riding too much, and it's goonna rain tomorrow, too. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it! So there!

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Weekly Mileage Statistics:

Schwinn -- Zero miles.
Jamis -- 30.19