67° and dead routine.

Shooting for a minimum of three rides this week, today (Mon), Wednesday, and Friday. This morning was rather cool at 67°, but I didn't mind because it kept the sweat down. I also made a rare stop on my way in. I didn't really have anything at the house for breakfast or lunch so I stopped at Kroger's at Wirt and Westview and picked up two Antone's Po'boys and Cokes. Unfortunately, I discovered later that compared to the genuine article the ones I picked up were incredibly dry and tough to chew on; however, they are better than going hungry.

I didn't really come across anyone while transiting Memorial Park; however, just before making my turn on West Alabama I crossed paths with a young female bike ninja who went East onto West Alabama. The rest of the ride was pretty routine and enjoyed the sun rising and not needing to run lights.

The ride home was uneventful also until I got back to the 610 loop and Memorial Drive. I discovered there that as I made a left onto Memorial I had turned into a very extended pace line as I could see a commuter about 3 blocks ahead of me and just beyond him by another 3 blocks I could make out yet another cyclist. I never caught either one as I exited onto Antoine and both were well beyond that intersection.

The First 15 of '09

Houston has had some mild weather for the start of the year. It was 64 Degrees when I left my house this morning. It was a thoroughly delightful ride to TSU. The only glitch (if you can call it that) is I believe I forgot to take my morning meds so I might not be very wakeful for the rest of the day. The ride itself could not be any better. Granted, it wasn't record time as I got to the back door of Hannah hall in an hour 20 minutes, but the senstations of the morning were worth the trade off.

Either we had some morning showers or a lot of sprinkler systems had run long, but the last portion of Westview and the north portion of Antoine were well soaked and I enjoyed the wet earthy smell of the wet street and felt very grateful the I speced out the '07 Sirrus with Planet Bike Cascadias as I would have been well striped without them. I also kept hitting chuck holes or seeing road irregularities that just turnd out to be shadows. Other that that, I came across a bike ninja on Hazard St. just after crossing Westhiemer and after Greeting him I warned him, "Dude! Get some lights!" I didn't hear any replies, but I found myself annoyed at him for his unsafe practice. Hell Even if he road with a flashlight in hand would be better than nothing.

The 12/19/08 Report (A pure gravy Commute)

I know this report is a day or two late; however,
I spend the greater part of every day behind keyboard so when I got home on Friday I did not feel like doing any writing.

Friday's commute was wonderful with extremely mild weather I think the morning temperature was 68° which was perfect. Thursday night I was having one of those restless nights where I really couldn't sleep. So I wound up leaving an hour early (4:15 a.m.) which meant I'd basically owned the road from my house all the way to Texas Southern University. For the morning leg I posted a scorching one hour and 15 minute transit time this is nearly equal to my car commute in traffic it was really an amazing morning.

The ride home was also pretty good because I left closer to five o'clock I chose my southerly route which basically has become my standard way home. As I was passing Main Street I felt a distinct "thunk" and my feet spun until the chain caught again and it became apparent that I was suffering a chain slip.

For the past couple rides I have experienced one to two chain slips. Knowing that I was rapidly coming up to the 850 mile point on my odometer and I had no knowledge of how many miles the previous owner had put on the Sirrus (for all I know it could've been an additional 150 miles putting me right at a 1,000) I decided at about the halfway point to make a dogleg by Sun and Ski Sports to have the chain gauged for wear. The remainder of the ride was uneventful and I made it to Sun and Ski around 6:15 p.m. They checked my chain and sure enough I had worn it out. I also had done a fair amount of damage to gears three and four on my rear cassette; however, my front chain wheels were fine.

Unfortunately, they did not have any 12-25T cassettes in stock which would have kept the bike in stock configuration; however, they did have a 12-21T which would work acceptably well in Houston's nearly flat terrain. So the '07 Sirrus is now tighter geared then even its '88 granddaddy and for a heavily laden 700c hybrid it moves like a scalded cat.

Saturday I did my usual Raleigh Twenty commute to my weekend job which gave me another 4 miles and then Sunday I stopped by Performance Bicycle and much to my surprise my Schwinn Town & Country was finally ready for pickup! My best guess is they sent that replacement axel key by Windjammer because I had brought the trike in shortly before hurricane Ike struck in late August. So now I have my grocery/TFW commuter back in the fold. I might lighten it's duty a little bit as I've enjoyed the in store maneuverability of the Raleigh Twenty. (The Schwinn Town & Country tends to take over whatever space it resides in. It's the equivalent of a 55 Cadillac trunk in square footage.)

My work at Texas Southern for Christmas shuts down after two o'clock on Monday 12/22 so whatever riding occurs prior to the new year will be utility/TFW commuting, or pleasure/fitness riding. As it stands I've ridden 2, 119 miles for the year which is 82 miles over my yearly goal so far.

The Monday 11/3 Ride Report

Every once in awhile you get a morning that makes up for every single pre-commute flat tire and a late start and reminds you of the better aspects of cycling. This morning was one of these as I got my tires aired up without ripping any stems and I actually managed to get out of the house a full 30 minutes early. The temperature was around 55° which was rather cold; however, I have been in worse. Although I am a warm weather person I recognize there's an inherent advantage to exercising in a cool environment. Once you warm up and get used to it the temperature is a little bit like having an entire body ice bag so you actually wind up slightly enhancing performance. This was quite true this morning as for most of the way I was averaging around 12.9 mph until I made my turn off onto hazard street. Because the hazard street is such a rabbit warren of intersecting streets I usually have to slow down while passing down it.

I only saw two other cyclists this morning. I saw a recreational rider as I transited through Memorial Park and once I got on the west Alabama I had to do a hard blink as at that point I crossed paths with somebody who was kitted out similarly to myself, a bona fide cycle commuter. The rest of the morning ride was fairly routine.

Breezed in.

It's amazing how 15 minutes can change the nature of a early morning commute. I managed to get out of the house about eight minutes before 5 a.m.; consequently, there was no traffic at all. I basically owned the roads between Conrad Sauer and Texas Southern and it was reflected in the total time of the ride as I made it to work in an hour and 16 minutes and averaged 12.31 miles an hour. Weatherwise it was a beautiful morning it was 58° which was a touch chilly, but not unbearably so. After about 3 miles the temperature was ideal because it kept perspiration to a minimum. I did keep my leg warmers handy to either use as they are intended or as makeshift arm warmers, but they were unneeded.

Quite surprisingly there was a lot of cycling activity this morning. As I made my turn onto Memorial Drive I observed a westbound recreational rider who was using excellent lighting. As I proceeded down Memorial Drive I was buzzed by yet another recreational rider who rapidly took the lead down Shepherd. oddly enough the only thing I remember of him is his tail lights I don't remember seeing if he had a headlight or not. The last cyclist I saw crossed my path as a going down West Alabama. Cyclist was a female and she was riding a mountain bike and she is wearing a backpack. my guess is she was headed towards the medical center.