Day Before Memorial Day

Rode down to the dam and back today, on a nice cloudy day. Wore the blue jersey for a bit of color.

I observed that The Project in Santee is coming along. Prospect Ave. has been striped. But no bike lanes! I should have know something was up when I talked to that engineer so many months ago and he said there would be a bike path for bicyclists. I guess he doesn't know that most bicyclists don't care for bike paths, as they really are multi-use paths, with dog walkers and strollers and such. And the bike path in question doesn't really go where I want to go, along Prospect, which is quite a busy road during the working day, although not so much on Sunday morning! I think a bike lane reminds the drivers there are other people on the road, and when I'm driving it lets me gauge the safe passing margin. Surely I'm not the only one with bad eyesight! Prospect Ave. is the main cross-city bicycling route for Santee. Mission Gorge Road is very dangerous, in my opinion.

Weekly Mileage:

Schwinn -- 22.82 miles
Jamis -- 36.10 miles

Saturday Online

Everybody is sticking this video on their website, so I will too1



Tips For Cyclists - video powered by Metacafe

I saw it first on Bike Lane Diary. It's pretty funny. I didn't realize that was a pedal powered vehicle at first!

Another Day

Rode to the work today, no surprises.

Steve the L. wove such a fascinating tale of blood, sweat, and beer at the San Diego Velodrome that I am almost tempted to make the trek down there some evening to observe Tuesday Night Racing! Or even an un-Tuesday night, I don't know!

I put forth the opinion that since the El Cajon Speedway is no more, the frustrated oval-racing fans could experience a kind of paradigm shift and embrace bike racing at the Velodrome. Fun for the whole family! Thrills, chills and Beer!

I have to drive tomorrow, waaa!

I changed the template on this blog tonight, lost all the links. I shall have to find them again and stick them back in. This template will allow me to add things without having to "hack the code". Ohh, lost the counter, too! Whoopsie!

Wednesday Sprinkles

Didn't ride the bike this morning (or afternoon). I suited up, went outside, felt a drop of water on my face, came back inside, changed my clothes, took the vehicle. I'm NOT getting the bike wet, if I can help it! And it was wet, I had the windshield wipers flapping away on oh, 30 second delay. It was brutal. Saw one commuter bicyclist today, over on Lake Shore Drive.

I had my first PT this afternoon, so it was just as well, I guess.

Also found I had to ferry someone to the doctor on Friday, so I'll miss that day, too. How's a fella supposed to get any miles?

Steve the L. promises he will put his epic adventure down in writing, soon, and I can post it here. I'm desperate for content!

Zooomr is still down, so I can't post any pics. It will be soon, they promise...

Garbage Day

I feeling kinda yuck yesterday, but today is a bit better. I still managed to commute 12 miles each date, though.

This morning I passed a street sweeper on Fletcher Parkway. I can't imagine anyone going slower than me, but there he was, tootling along!

Found large screwdriver on Jackson, picked it UP!!



Steve the L. had a great story of how he nearly died last week biking up to Julian. I wish he would type it up for you-all, it was scintillating!

The other day I noticed how faded one of my panniers is. Can you guess which one rides to work every ride, and which one stays home, sleeping in and goofing off?

Bike To Work Day 2007

A kid said to me the other day, "Why do you bike to work?"

I said, "Kid, I didn't have a vehicle for many years, so I sorta had to. Now, I've got a vehicle, but I ride to save gas and to lower my blood sugar level." I could have added, but didn't, "It give me something to complain about, and sometimes it's actually fun!"

Biked four days to work this week, I managed to accumilate 48.87 miles on the possibly overly optimistic Jamis odometer.

The ride to work was ok, but I only saw three people on bicycles.

But...

I was going down a hill, preparing to turn right. I was in the right turn lane. Naturally. Because I'm turning right, right? Picture this, now. Ms. (For the sake of argument) Aggressive-Black-Car-Who-Works-At-Babies-R-Us-On-Fletcher-Parkway comes up behind me, they wanna turn right, but, you know, I'M in the way. So they stay in the go-straight lane, with their turn signal on (?!?). They start to turn right, I give them THE LOOK™ and turn right. THE LOOK™ that says, "I'm SO SORRY I'm delaying you for FIVE SECONDS"...

I've seen this car many times, they are always in a BIG HURRY.

Today I wore my 2002 Bike To Work shirt.

After a very pleasant ride home I posed in the back yard for this memorable pic, just for you!

I found a big rock for the garden, you can see it in the basket. My theory of gardening, if there's a rock there, weeks can't grow there

Bike To Work Week

So far, it's been ALL bike to work. I even rode on Grocery Day, picking up the vehicle at home after communting forth and back to work. I find today that I have to go to an instructional-type thing across town tomorrow, so I guess I will drive to work.

I dropped off a couple Lost'n'Found books at the local P.L. on the way home this afternoon, having taken a different route so as for to do.

I guess I didn't win a Bike To Work shirt again this year.

I was going to put the link to a story/video of Paris Hilton riding her bike without a helmet, but honestly, who cares? (If YOU do, there's a link on the Bike Riding Donut Guy blog.)

Typing practice: ™ Cool!

Still Mother's Day

Decided to go for a short jaunt to, as I needed to be home by two (Turns out, I didn't.), so I went up Mt. Helix. Took a picture for posterity.

There's a 1024 x 768 view on my zooomr page...

A solid marine layer blocks view of the Pacific Ocean. Maybe next time!

Trip Stats:

8.58 miles in 53:09 minutes.

Week Stats:

Schwinn -- 8.58 miles
Jamies -- 45.90 miles

Total -- 54.48 miles

Odometer Readings:

Schwinn -- 6,371 miles
Jamis -- 2,678 miles

Totally Friday

Well, I completed 46 miles commuting this week, not too shabby for 4 days of riding.

While wandering around Gooble, I mean Google, Google Book Search, that is, I ran across a reference to a book by Jerome K. Jerome. Now, I've read the fabulous Three Men In A Boat, like any good Heinlein fan (I hope you have too!), but this book was Three Men On The Bummel. The same three adventurers go on a bicycle trip in Germany. Looks pretty good, now I shall have to locate a copy, or maybe print one from Project Gutenberg.

Asleep At The Wheel

I find, by actually LOOKING at my new helmet, that it is in fact NOT a Furio, but an Alchera.

What's an alchera, you ask? You well might, I did!

Here's the definition from Babylon (whatever thst is)

Alchera

[Aboriginal] Literally, 'dream time.' It is the remote period in time in which the ancestral spirits of aboriginal tribes walked the earth. These ancestors are believed to have returned to their abode underground.

So there you have it.

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Commuting mileage so far this week is 35 miles. Nice and cloudy, rather, FOGGY this morning. A pleasant ride. Yesterday morning I pass a lady cyclist who was weaving in and out of parked cars as she went along. It was quite remarkable to observe. There is a perfectly wide bike lane clearly marked, and zip traffic at sixish in the morning. I wished her a cheery "Good morning" and gave her a wide berth as I passed. That was remarkable too, actually PASSING someone!

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Sorta nearly had a problem with a lady doing a three-way in someone's driveway. She apparantly didn't see ME coming along, she backed right out in front of me. I tailgated her for fifty feet or so to the stop sign, then passed her on the right as she waited for a traffic light, and I turned right and away. Did not even give her a frowny face.

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Remember that video I linked to yesterday? Turns out the motorist was a cop. His superiors are not too happy with him, I bet! Let that be a lesson to the rest of us (ME!), to calm down a bit.

New Helmet

UPDATE: Video of Toronto cyclist assaulted. (Saw link on fark.com)

Students Accidentally Catch Cyclist Assault On Tape

What's up with this crap? I hope this doesn't happen to me, I still have a year on my probation, and my temper has been mighty short lately! Haha, just kidding!!

Those Canadians talk English just like we do! Amazing!

Ok, I'll stop now...

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Voila, the new helmet is revealed!!

It's a "new" 2006 Bell Furio (At least, that's what it says at the Bell website, I threw the box away!!) that I got at Performance last Sunday. So stylish, but no flames!"Alas!

The mirror is just stuck on with double-sided tape. The mirror is really made for those old foam helmets, so it doesn't really fit the curve of the helmet edge. I may have to buy something with a bigger stance.

And for comparision, the old helmet:

And here is what I favor for a quick carbo lift:

Nutrionally, what's in it?

It's probably not all that good for you, but it's easily portable.

A Tisket, A Tasket

Here's pic of the new basket!

I think it needs some flowers.

When I came out of Ye Olde Bicycle Shoppe the other day, having purchased the basket, I found an older gentleman, fully suited up, gazing upon my steed, Blue Jamis. I inquired as to the object of his fascination, whether I was parked in his spot, or what, bud! It seems he was interested in my method of parking the bike, leaning the pedal on the curb, in the manner I learned on an AYH ride, oh so many years ago. As it was quite windy, he remarked with his luck, if he tried that, the wind would blow it over.

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Sunday, after I posted to the blog, I took apart the rear wheel to see if I could find the source of the squeak. I thought I might have trouble with taking the freewheel off, but a MIGHTY KICK to the wrench did the job. I finally found the correct cone wrench (note to self: get dups of correct cone wrenches!) and got the axle out of the wheel. I have Specialized hubs with sealed bearings. I installed them (the bearings) before 1998. I know, as Bob L. helped me, and he died in 1998. So I haven't done any maintenance WHATSOEVER to them.

So what did I find? Well, one bearing looked ok, nice and greasy. I squirted some more Phil's green grease in there. The other bearing...not so much. Is the grease supposed to be dry, crumbly, and reddish? I think not! I tried to clean out as much as I could, and squirted some Phil's in there and worked it around. The Phil's turned un-green. I put the whole thing back together, as it's GOT to be better than it was. But it seriously needs replacing.

Now, I actually HAVE a set of bearings to put in! Wowsers! But I remember the last time it was REALLY hard to get the old ones out. And Bob L. was a machinist, so he KNEW about these things. So this will be REALLY SCARY. I don't want to mess it up, like that headset fiasco!

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I did not ride the bike today, Monday, as I had a doctor visit.

Just so we're straight, here!

It's Sunday, Again

I watched the first 10 minutes of Sunday Morning this Sunday morning, also a bit of Clive James on book channel, and decided to hit the road, IN SPITE of the sun blazing through the living room window.

And it was quite sunny, without any clouds in the sky. I greased up my face and wore the old long-sleeve t-shirt from the San Diego Holiday Bowl Bicycle Safari 1993, my first pretty-darn-close-to-a-hundered-miles century.

The Forester Creek construction project is showing some progress. Some of the sidwalks are in!

See bigger image version at my zooomr page, just click the images!

This shed look strange, what's with the two wind turbines? Not to mention the satellite antenna?

I saw this pretty ball along Prospect Ave., too.

The air was warm and smelled dusty. There were tons of people at the Padre Dam area, including a little boy on a bike wearing a blue helmet. He name was Ethan. When he passed people he would call out in warning, "Look out for me!! Hello!! Look out for me!!" As I came up behind his running mother I yelled, "Look out for me!!" We laughed and laughed. I said, "Nice helment" to Ethan as I passed him.

I stopped at the watering hole to rest a bit, refill the water bottle, and eat a granola bar (Albertsons Granola Bars Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip). I had been feeling a little shaky on the ride. While resting I observed a photo shoot, poosibly for some kind of shirt/clothing small business, and a group of man and women were doing warmup exercises.

After leaving the rest stop and turning down Mission Gorge road I saw two ladies cyclist on the side of the road fixing a flat. I yelled out, "You guys all set?" They said they were, so I proceeded on my way.

I went up the Jackson Drive hill, but I took a little detour to see about using the "secret path" I found the other day on Google Earth. The pic is Geotagged on zooomer if you want ot see exactly where the path is.

There were many, many people at the lake, to be expected on a bright and sunny day. I went very slowly around the lake, at about ten miles per hour, which, oddly enough, is the speed limit!

I headed over University Avenue to see if I could get a picture of the Mazda with the BIG WHEELS I saw yesteday. Of course it was not there, but I got an artistic pic of this, what ever it is, behind the upholstry shop.

Ain't that interesting?

I noted that the squeaking is back NOW it sounds like it is coming from the wheel bearings! If you recall, I dismantled (DESTROYED) the headset trying to fix the squeak before...

Oh, well, I guess that's why I'm The Squeakycyclist!!

I put about 29 miles on the Schwinn today.

Weekly Statistics

Jamis -- 39.90 miles
Schwinn --39.04

That would total 78.94 miles, would it not?

Odometer Readings

Jamis -- 2,632
Schwinn -- 6,362

Not Round

I went out to the garage this morning, intending to hop on Blue Jamis and head off to work.

Zorks! Blue Jamis had a flat. On the front, oddly enough.

So I lifted Red Schwinn of the bike rack (racking my arm in the process), checked ITS tires, and headed off to work.

Red Schwinn has no lights, but it's actually pretty un-dark by the time I get going at this time of the year.

No problems until I was passing in front of the video rental place near Navajo and Lake Murray. A big delivery truck (no company logo) kinda didn't stop on HIS side of of bike lane so I had to SWERVE a whole lane to avoid hitting him. I mean, it was so quick I couldn't stop!

I gave him "the look".

After work I put Blue Jamis on the rack and patched the hole in the tube. It looks like a single "snake bite".
Odd.

I also adjusted the brakes.

I need some more flat-fixin' supplies. Some more Rema patches, fer sure!

I'm thinking about buying a new helmet. Performance is having a sale. A match made in heaven!

I bought my current helmet for the Tecate To Ensenada ride way back in, well, I don't know, it predates my current log book which starts in 1995. So it's more than 10 years old. I think when the pads rot away, it's a sure sign you need a new helmet. Plus, there's a dent in the top that I don't remember getting...

Yesterday's News

I rode the bike yesterday, Monday, and was nearly kabonged by an old guy coming out a driveway as I was signaling a left to turn into MY driveway!

How outrageous THAT would have been, to die within 50 feet of safety!

I went to the doctor (nurse practioner, actually) today. He says I need physical therapy for my shoulder. That's better than surgery! He also said my "more personal" complaint seems to be doing well. He says I need more fiber. Yech!

I scored a May parking pass from the cancer clinic, rationalizing that since I was getting a PSA test after the doctor visit, I was acting as a legitimate cancer clinic patient. Not some scofflaw. Not some cheap-o who doesnt want to pay for parking. No, not me!

I went to the lab for the PSA, only had to wait about ten minutes. I went in, the lady stabbed me, but couldn't get anything out. While they were discussing the problem I felt an little woozy, and said so. They gave me a drink of water and a cold compress on the back of my neck. I felt better, but when they suggested I might want to lay down while they tried the other arm, I took them up on it. The table was covered in papers, form, and other stuff which they had to clear off. I was a bit embaressed, but they were very nice and reassuring. So I laid down on the table and a guy stuck me and told a Tarzan joke and an elephant joke to distract me. It worked. I felt ok afterwards and headed back to work.