a call for a used bike lock

In 18 years I have never had someone call looking for a used bike lock.  Sign of the times….

Bionx – 1 year later

I rode about 2500 miles this past year on my various cargo bike/bionx combinations.   This includes riding through one of the nastiest winters I can remember.  For 6 weeks this winter my route to work was completely ice covered – with the exception of 6 blocks of pavement.   The bionx system has been 99.9% flawless.  A handful of times I have had the computer freeze up which requires me to unplug the computer from the battery to reset it.   Microsoft seems to have the same issue.  I think this issue is a software glitch.  Bionx has a new programming language for 2009.

I am looking forward to some warm weather riding.  I have a new “fast” commuter set up.  It is a Specialized road bike that comes in under 18lbs including a tubus rack!  I have both ends of the spectrum covered now.  75lb cargo bike and a 18lb commuter road bike.  I still will put the bulk of my miles on the Big Dummy but I hope to get more road miles in this year.   Since I hardly rode my road bike last year this should not be too hard.

The new pig

“Stripey”

Big Dummy commuting

When you have a big dummy with an electric assist it is easy to get lazy about what you carry.  My inner side bags always carry 2 locks, pump, spare light, misc tools, and numerous sized tubes to help others on the road.  On my way home tonight I carried in the freeloader bags the following: Hitachi Grinder in a case, office bag, spare winter clothes bag, a sleeping bag, spare clothes, one can of unopened tuna, one can of unopened spaghetti o’s.

Most of the shop guys went camping tonight.  I thought about joining them – that is why I had the sleeping bag.  In the end I decided that camping in 30 deg rain/snow seemed unpleasant.   Plus, my sleeping bag is only good to about 35 deg.  I admire them for going.  Not one of them backed out despite the impending weather.

The Cage and murder.

My direct route to work starts off in a nice neighborhood with a mix of middle class and upper income homes.  A mile into my commute I pass by the governors mansion and several million dollar homes that surround it.  Like most cities it just takes a few blocks to watch the value of houses decrease by $100k or more per block.   As I approach the covered pedestrian walkway over the interstate the neighborhoods are sketchy to say the least.  In the summer I almost never take the short way home at night because I am uncomfortable with the surroundings.  In the 17 years I have taken this route I have read about 15 shootings that have taken place on the street I ride on.  I almost never get the paper so there have probably been a lot more incidents.  Last night there was another murder a few feet from the end of this walkway.  Now my choices are:  ride the long way home and deal with 3000 lb cars and the ice filled bike lane or take the short way and deal with these neighborhoods – depressing.

Update: 10 minutes after passing the murder scene I have to cross over 2 sets of railroad tracks.  Lugging the big dummy over the tracks is always a little awkward because the wheelbase on the big d matches the width of the railroad tracks.  I violated another one of my sketchy neighborhood rules today.  I met a guy coming across the tracks from the other direction – he was on foot.  His first question is “have you seen the godfather?”  I say yes and keep moving.  His next question is “what is the name of the guy that gets murdered on the railroad tracks?”  Now my mind is really working – it didn’t help that I just rode by a real murder scene.   At this point a loose and large dog runs up.  Normally I would have been apprehensive about the dog but he seemed liked a welcome diversion to my current situation.  The guy on the tracks asks if the dog is mine – I am now about 20′ past him.  As I get up the small embankment the guy is still standing on the railroad tracks.  Now he is yelling  “whats the guys name that got murdered”.  Strange…..

We had a very warm day here (46 deg).  The warm day helped clear off the roads so now my long way home is much safer from the car traffic.

from bikes belong

If the number of kids who walk and bike to school was restored to 1969 levels, our nation would cut 3.2 billion vehicle miles, 1.5 million tons of CO2, and 89,000 tons of other pollutants annually. This is the equivalent of keeping more than 250,000 cars off the road for a year.
–Pedroso, M., 2008, Safe Routes to School: Steps to a Greener Future

Approaching my limit -15 deg F (or so)

When I turned into the wind tonight it felt like someone was sucking the heat right out of my body.  It is a unique sensation.  After 2 miles I was starting to question my choice of transportation.  I do have a car after all.  We have had a series of small snow falls followed by very cold conditions.  The combination has turned the side streets into icy rutted messes.  There are city long blocks where the road is complete ice.  In 17 years of commuting (not every winter) I have never seen our roads this bad.  But by mile 4 I was warming up and getting quite comfortable.  By the time I got home I was ready to do it again.

This is what keeps me riding in the winter:

1.  The fitness.  After taking care of my kids in the morning and then working the rest of the day the chances that I would come home and work out is zero.

2.  No one else at the bike shop owns a car so they have to bike.  Nothing like peer pressure.

3.  How do the Iditabikers do it?  Its one thing to spend 45min riding at -19 deg.  I start warm and walk into a warm building.  My clothes start out dry and I can go to the bathroom without fear of freezing something off.  Biking, cooking, drinking, going potty, and sleeping when it is -19 deg is something altogether different.   At these temperatures it seems like the moisture your body produces freezes on your outer layer.   I often wonder how iditabikers – or other winter adventurers – deal with the condensation and moisture.

My bike has been working flawlessly.  My Avid code brakes have been doing well.  I have had some rubbing on the back but I had a hard time adjusting the disk brake in the summer too.  These brakes are much better than the shimano disks I ran last year.  The shimano brakes hardly work at 32 deg.  That is almost 50 degrees warmer than it was on my ride today.  My Bionx mileage is terrible at these temperatures.  Cars get horrible mileage too.  I am getting about 12 miles on a charge (it does not seem to matter what level I set it at).

Bionx Pl-350 update:  I have about 2100 miles on the Bionx since April.   This has been a harsh winter and I have had no issues so far.  As Alex pointed out to me tonight: maybe I am done “testing” the Bionx.   He tells me that I now “own” a Bionx.

Big Dummy nightmare

I had a dream last night that someone ran over my Big Dummy with a car.   My bike was twisted into a mangled mess of steel.

-8 Deg F windchill -24

frosty

 I’m still riding the Bionx electric assist on my surly big dummy.  My coworkers new I would keep using the Bionx through the winter.  Product testing they would say.  So far so good except my bike is a mess.  It seems our city has forgone plowing in favor of dumping chemicals onto the roads.  This may work for the cars but it is terrible for the bike lanes.

Weather.com said it was -8 deg F when I got home tonight.   Everything seems so sluggish when it is this cold.  My Avid Code brakes work pretty well but the rear seems to always drag.  Shifting is terrible – not that one can hear well with three layers over the ears.  Our roads are completely covered in snow.  We had several inches of snow last night and the chemicals the city dumps do not work when it is this cold.  One nice thing about the cold is that the snow is not slippery like it is at 15 deg +.  My rear planet bike super flash worked only part of the time – the switch to turn it on was stuck.  My Bionx display looked like it was in slow motion.  I did not turn on the Bionx for a mile or two so I can warm up.   Bionx battery mileage is terrible at these temps.  Once I warmed up it was a comfortable ride home.

Real or not

I just added the Onion to my reader page.  The onion headlines now sit above the “most popular” headlines from Yahoo.  This is going to get confusing.  Here are two headlines I just read:

1.  Teacher sorry for binding girls in slavery lesson.

2.  How can we make the Iraq war more handicap accessible ?