Shaken Faith

Last Thursday I drove to work because I was going fishing for the afternoon.  The fishing was great, and the weather was decent despite a 30% likelihood of rain.  Driving means I can sleep in an extra 15 minutes.  I was 30 minutes late for work that day.  Hmmmm.  That worked well.
Friday I woke up and laid in bed listening to the rain falling and the cars spraying as they drove by.  I could not muster myself out of my warm cacoon.  Not with the thought of catching spray in the face and pulling spotty-wet clothes out of my satchel to get dressed for work.  Even the bus ride did not appeal to me, so I drove again.  At least I made it on time that day.
As darkness seeps into my commute, I have to be careful about letting myself drive.  Last year it was October.  I didn't ride my bike once in October.  There were extra-carricular reasons, but blahhhh!  I hated it! 
I really need to get my commuter bike up and running again.  That's my bomb-proof old, Miyata, steel-framed steed with one speed, fenders, and a plastic-covered seat.  Mustache handlebars round out the package with bar-end brakes.  I put about $150 into building that bike up a few years back, and it eats through tires like I do peanut butter sandwiches.  Seriously.  The wheels are a mismatch to the frame, so the brakes rub through the sidewalls of the tires.  The fix?  New long-reach brakes and new tires.  I'm thinking about some CX tires to give a little traction in the winter this year.  The damage will be less than $100, and that should get me through another couple of years.
I've gotta do what I can to get through this sap-sucking fall and break me in for the winter riding season.

Winds of Imagination

Riding home last night, as I changed direction of travel I felt a great wind in my face.  I thought that for sure I was losing efficiency, and thus had no chance of competing with my best times.  Then I saw a flag up ahead...hanging limply...not even a flutter.  I kept my eye on it, but it didn't even indicate any gusts or even wisps.

The good news is that the wind I felt was self created...which means I am stinking fast!  The bad news is I, being so fast, have no excuse for not posting a good time.

Clear Minded

I love to get on my bike and ride and not worry about anything else.  Except cars.  And traffic lights.  And shifting gears (when I'm on a multi-geared steed). 

Every work day I look forward to the ride home because it is a chance to clear my mind in preparation for being home.  I leave everything at my desk and go change clothes and get on the bike with nothing trailing me.  I start pedaling and exert myself to my limits and sometimes beyond them, and by that excercise whatever remained is purged from my mind. 

When I reach the house I sometimes find myself gasping for air.  My entire thoughts are to recover my voice.  When the weather is hot, I end up laying on the floor in front of the AC vent.  Now that the weather is cooling again I find myself refreshed rather quickly and able to talk to the kids as they play on the porch while I take off my shoes. 

I haven't spent much more time on the bike this year than on my commute, but it is enough, and it is not too much.  This sustains me. 

Creak...Pop! What was that!?

Owning a carbon fiber bicycle was never really high on my to-do list.  However, when shopping to replace my injured steed I was overcome by the fact that I could, actually afford that super-light, shiny woven frame.  The first time I picked it up, I realized that is what I was going to shoot for.  I'm an emotional buyer...it's not always healthy.

So now I've been riding that uber-light bike for a few months and I still love it.  When I first started riding it I decided that I would not treat it like an origami creation.  I didn't want to change the way I rode.  I have ridden that bike over curbs and washboards, and have had little trouble.  I say "little" because there has been one little thing...

After a few weeks, the bike began to pop and crack when I hit bumps in the road.  I could not locate the source of the noise.  I'd hit a bump and I would analyze the sound.  It wasn't always consistent with bump type and size either.  This drove me batty.  How was I to describe it when/if I took it to the shop?  To replicate the sound...think of PVC pipe with a moderately tight fitting slid onto it...now twist that fitting.  Hear it snap and pop as it releases, slides, and stops again as friction rebuilds?  That's the snap-crackle-pop sound I have been hearing.  But where is it happening?

I think I have found it.  It was such a slow transition that it made little difference at first, but last week I finally realized that my legs are not quite getting to the almost-fully-extended point that I prefer.  I think the seatpost has been slipping down millimeter by millimeter as I hit bumps...popping and cracking as it slid.

Here's my newest fear.  I do not dare touch my new bike with tools.  Crap.

2nd Avenue Quandary

Soooo...I occasionally go through a bout of doubt.  I doubt anyone cares.  Mostly this means that I don't have much I care to say.  Thus the break.  I'm back though...for today.

Despite my lack of writing, my mind has not been blank.  In fact, I've been mulling over the quandary that Spokane has drummed up...proposed bike lanes on a major one-way, 3-lane arterial street.  The bike lane has been proposed by the bicycle activists.  The City Councilmen that love cycling have latched onto it with a death grip.  They really really really want a dedicated bicycle lane on this major street despite the facts that have been placed before them. 

The facts are: 

1. 2nd Avenue is a congested route to travel.  Based on an engineering study conducted by the City of Spokane, the current level of service of the street as it stands rates from A to C level. (Think school grading system here.)  When you take away a lane to dedicate it to bicycles, the predicted level of service drops to the range from C to F.  That's failing, by the way.  That's not the general goal here.
2. 2nd Avenue is a dangerous route to travel.  From the same engineering study, it was reported that the accident rate is at 10.5 accidents per million vehicles.  Compare that to this:  the most dangerous streets in the big cities of America have accident rates around 3 accidents per million vehicles. 

And yet when the engineer recommended not removing a vehicle travel lane based on the result of this study...the councilmen immediately responded that we should definately NOT walk away from this idea.

That's when the issue turned to the social networks of Twitter and Facebook through our friends at Bike to Work Spokane.  No doubt flamed on by some of the City Councilmen. 

I am flummoxed by the blind eye and deaf ear of these councilmen.  It kills me.  I have ridden on 2nd Avenue and I generally try to avoid it.  I've driven on 2nd Avenue...in fact I used to drive it daily.  It's not a street that needs a diet.  It is a mover and a shaker.  A lot of drivers depend on that street, and it should not be cut back to serve a few bicycles.

I am a cyclist.  I don't want to ride on 2nd Avenue.