End o' the Week

It sprinkled a bit last night and this morning, and I slept in until nine! Unbelievable!

And THAT'S why I didn't go for a ride today.

I worked a bit last evening and this morning on the Jamis headlight. And oiling the chain.

Here is what I came up with:

A piece of PVC pipe hose-clamped to the front rack, with the wooden light-holder clamped to that.



Needs some paint, at least!





I like not having the light in my eyes, reflecting off the basket, but it sure looks dorky and unbalanced!

We shall see if the clamp is tight enough around the PVC to keep the light from rotating, I may have to put a little double-sided tape in there, or maybe some of that cork.

Later!

In The Dark Again

Not that it is REALLY this bad, but there is way too much light on the basket, that should be on the ground. REALLY need to remount that headlight under the basket.



Camera has serious dark-photography issues... Can you see the bike lane stripes?

So far, 61.86 miles commuting on Jamis this week, and it is bit overdue for a chain lubing.
The average speed was 11.14 mph, so that holds with my 12 mph kind-of-guy self-image.
The odometer reading this Friday evening is 4,714 miles.

Just for the record, I hold that Steve the L. (The BIG Swede) and R.M. are either twins, or the same person.

Seven cans collected this week while commuting. Seems to be less cans, more plastic vodak bottles out there.

Recycling Tuesday

It's also garbage day, but who's counting?

So far I've got 25 miles on Jamis commuting, so this week is going well. 

Picked up three cans today.

Comparatively warm in the morning, compared to last month, but a tiny bit cooler than the past few days.

It's nice riding to work in the dark, though. Reminds me of my newspaper route in my youth.

Later!

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Easter Sunday

It was not a dark and stormy night, it was a clear and warmer-than-one-would-think morning when I headed off on the Schwinn. I decided to wander over to Spring Valley and see if the Quarry Road bike path is open. Yet.

The Spring Valley Swap Meet is open for business on Easter. Seems wrong, somehow.



I can't tell if that is a black cloud or a fingerprint smudge on the lens.

Here is the entrance to the bike path/road. Seems to be still closed. How many years now? Three, four? Who can one ask when it will be ready?



By the way, are these bigger pictures better? Is anyone still on dialup?

Since it was closed, and I didn't want to deal with hills, I headed north again. In downtown La Mesa I stopped to take a picture of a skateboarder banging his board around in front of the Methodist church while people were gathering for service. But first I decided to have a shot of water. When I reached down, I saw...



NADA! I forgot my water bottle! I was so shaken, I forgot to take the picture of the annoying skateboarder!

I noodled around the Grossmont area for a while, piling on the tenths of miles. One thing, at an intersection, Mr. Car Driver, when I put my foot down, YOU get to go. Especially if you were there first. And on the right. That's why I PUT my foot down. To let you KNOW I'm not going to run the stop sign on you.

Also, to that guy in Spring Valley, my bad.

Someone apparently thought it might be fun to drive up this hill, possibly to vandalize the Grossmont High School "G".



I like how the arrow points to the spot!



Dirt and little rocks all over the bike lane! Yikes!

Across the street someone has pried open one of these boxes (Probably the yahoos who drove up the hill!), now we can see what is inside. Very electrical!



Cute car for the day is this possibly Meyers Manx.



Pet Peeve of the day is: Cars with no front license plate.



It doesn't deserve a big picture.

Lens flare!

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Ride Stats:

20.04 miles (32.26 km) in 1 hour 39 minutes 04 seconds riding time, but two hours even away-time. That makes for an average speed of 12.15 mph (19.55 km/h);. End of ride odometer reading: 6,955 miles (11,197.55 km)

Saturday Before Easter

I got off my butt, woke up sorta early, ate the flakes, and went for a bike ride.

Journeyed out Greenfield to the far side of El Cajohn, turned around at 9.5 miles, drank some water, and headed back, going down Main through the heart of the city, as it were.

Saw something shiny in the bike lane, a tool!! A socket!! I double backed through a 99¢ Store parking lot. A socket, a socket, I need another socket like I need...well, of course it wasn't a socket at all. I was FAKED OUT by a broken-off locking lug nut. And not for the first time, either!

Took a side-trip past a house I used to rent, for old-times sake. I wonder if it flooded for THEM in the recent rains. Saw a jacked-up car on possibly a four-wheel drive mechanism. Words fail me, and I didn't take a picture.

Headed back up through the Grossmont, decided to detour through the Harry Griffen.

A sign advertised the Spring Harp Fest. I thought, hey, that would be cool, a bunch of harps! I would have taken a picture of a harp, but I didn't see any. (On returning home and searching the intarwebs, I find it is a HARMONICA fest. Fest, indeed!!)

I DID see the Easter Bunny had been laying eggs in the grass.

View to the north

View to the south

(Certain maps show this as "Grassmont Reservoir", which I find funny!)

I saw one cheerfull little tyke with his mom and a basket in hand, approaching the park as I left.

Going down Water to Amaya I saw this interesting truck.



What make and model is, do you suppose? It looks like it may have been a bread van at one time.

I was cruising quite nicely down the Parkway when I spotted another license plate. Not one to waste ANOTHER photo op, I turned around (Discovered I had had a tailwind, and decidedly did NOT, now!), went up the frontage road, and approached the location again.

(DISCLAIMER: I propped it up for the photo)

FAKED OUT! I was faked out for the second time today!

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RIDE STATS

21.2 miles in 1 hour 43 minutes 58 seconds.
Odometer at end of ride: 6,935 miles (In case I erase THIS ONE changing to (from?) Daylight Saving Time.)

Easter Friday

This weekend is Easter, in case you were not paying attention. Here's a link to Peep Research at Staley Library at Millikin University.

It's not bicycles, but it's cute!

Speaking of, I so NO obvious bicycle-related Peeps pages. What is up with that? An idea, I need an idea... Tour de Peep? Seattle-Tacoma-Peep? Peep-Roubaix?

I got nuthin'.

Checked the tyre pressure on the Schwinn today, as it hanged from the garage ceiling. It occurred to me that if my tyre pump hose was just a couple feet longer I could pump comfortably while it (the Schwinn) hanged, instead of perching it (the pump, which BTW, is also a Schwinn!) on a stool and causing grievous bodily harm to my gut.

A picture would be worth...

Anyway, I have NO excuse for not going on a little ride tomorrow.

Except sloth...

Later!

Spring Break Tuesday

No riding this week so far, but here are the Bike Nashbar Osprey sunglasses.



They're brown!

THINGS TO DO:

• Earl Chain
• Reset Odometer

Later!

Connected

Finally got the internet back!

But, since the tooth-thing last Tuesday, I haven't ridden a bit.

So, I got nothing to say...

Yes, I do! I found squirreled away a pair of Nashbar Osprey sunglasses that no one will admit purchasing. I shall have to model them, sometime!

And Jill reports her chain is rusty in PA.

Time and Time Again

Since the time change is upon us again, I changed the clock on Jamis' odometer. I also reset the odometer to zero...

Slick.

Did I reset the circumference to the default? I don't know, I shall have to look into it.

The Big Swede, Steve the L., brought me a present yesterday. A new t-shirt from the Fatcyclist via Twin-Six. Do not I look fabulous?



No idea why it is slight blurry, the picture I took just before it was totally warshed out.

Can't ride Tuesday, have to get the crowns in.

Later!

Friday

Today had some tremendous ups and downs, work-wise, which I am not going into here. Maybe tomorrow, over on the Rantings blog.

Bicycling to work was lovely this week, it's not TOO chilly in the morning, the sky is so pretty, and there were no flats!

Found three cans today, and finished up the commuting this week with 60.4 miles.

Tuesday Turning

I feel so much better today since I got the tax stuff in the mail and balanced the checkbook. There was a bit of an incident in the reconciliation process, but I started over and it worked fine the second time around. I SWEAR there is a glitch in Quicken, surely Mister One-Semester-Of-Accounting couldn't make a misteak...

I was sitting second in the line to turn left, you KNOW the one, it's where the wierd stuff is always happening. The first car in the go-straight lane was making kissy-lips at her outside rear-view mirror. Just after I passed her I heard a honk behind me, did a mirror-check, sure enough, she was easing over into the turn lane behind me. Good think she didn't pull that with me, I got's me a stick for larning folks the rules of the road. It's the handle from a squeegee I found one day, just so you know.

Speaking of cans, I picked up four today. They make quite the racket on certain roads. Some asphalt is very smooth and quiet, some is rather rough and noisy. As I rattle along in the morning I'm sure some folks wish I wasn't. But the pedestrians sure notice I'm coming!

Twenty-five miles this week, so far.

Weak End

Didn't go for a ride this weekend. Did not stay inside ALL week-end, just most of the time. Drove the vehicle to the library, Wall-Mart (Didn't buy anything, M.!), Radio Shack (Got to share with them my anti-cell phone neurosis), and finally, the grocery store.

Sunday I was FORCED to get up by the incipient (wrong word, but it sounds good!) arrival of company. When they didn't show for a half-hour, I headed out to the garage to change the tire on Jamis and earl the chain. Now I'm all ready for next week's commuting.

Between the Schwinn and Jamis, I gog 50-odd miles of riding in this last week.