I'm resurrecting this blog, which has been silent for almost thirteen years

 In June my wife and I moved into a new David Weekley townhome community just on the western edge of the Energy Corridor. The place is called The Retreat at Oak Park, and it's on the SW corner of Addicks-Howell and Grisby, over by Lupe Tortilla and those other restaurants.

For the first time since moving away from Bellaire, TX in December 1992, our home is within the primary local bus footprint of Harris County METRO, and I couldn't be more pleased. The #162 goes right to the corner of Addicks-Howell and Grisby. It's $1.25 a ride, and it takes 30 min to get to Memorial City and 60 min to get Downtown, and no parking headache and cost once there. When I turn 65 next year, the cost will drop to $0.60. My bike goes into the luggage bay bike rack on the motorcoach-style buses used for the #162. 

I was NOT prepared to use luggage bay racks yesterday. I made a mess of it, but got the bike in eventually, with help from another passenger. I should have reviewed the METRO video beforehand, but METRO had it pretty well hidden. You can find manufacturer information at Sport Works, I would just read the PDF manual and you'll be an expert in five minutes.

I can ride my bike to work at the Kirkwood Tower (11757 Katy Freeway) from The Retreat at Oak Park. They have a bike rack and showers access! I do see one other bike parked in the rack sometimes, otherwise it's just me on my in-office days, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Here is my exact route from home to work:

Link to the public map on Komoot.

I'm on the sidewalk on Memorial and Tully. I'm OK with that. A more scenic alternative is to take the Terry Hershey Trail to Dairy-Ashford, then filter through the neighborhood, cross Memorial, and come up Tully. I don't recommend the I-10 sidewalks... too many driveways. 

I only expect to drive to work if the weather is severe (heavy rain, lightning or thunder or icing conditions). If I get caught at work by bad weather, I can always fold the bike up and take a regular Uber home. It's a seventeen year old Dahon folding bike.

Waiting for Uber in front of Kirkwood Tower

I'm putting only a few miles a week on my 2012 Kia, for which I paid a friend $12,600 cash back in 2015. That's a good thing, because it has excessive oil consumption, and I really don't want to have the engine rebuilt. I'm hoping it throws a knock-sensor check engine light, there is a Kia Theta II engine class action settlement which would entitle me to a free new engine. It's strange to think that since the car has only 130,000 miles on it, this may be the last car I ever purchase, if I baby it, and change the oil every six months regardless of mileage. Does that mean I'm permanently off of this unhappy merry-go-round? 

I certainly hope so, because I have far better and nobler plans for my money in retirement than paying a car note. $750 per month is a lot of money. Many people (large truck owners, I'm looking at you) pay more than $1000 per month. That's as much as my mortgage! This Generation Jones (late Boomer) just can't over get over how much inflation has ravaged incomes and budgets since I was aware of things and how much they cost. 

If you have questions or comments, write to me at:

bikecommute.think915@passmail.com 

I know, I know... the links on margins of this blog all need to be updated!

Bus came too close to bicycle rider today (Westchase)

6:58 AM, Briarforest eastbound at Seagler, 11/28/12.

No bus number or plate seen... the bus went by too fast for me

I was legally operating my bicycle eastbound in the Briarforest bike lane, with two red rear lights, a front light, and a rear-facing safety reflector.

The bus came too close to me. The Texas CDL Manual says buses, trucks and other large vehicles should give bicycles at least five feet of clearance. This was more like three feet, which is OK for a small vehicle like a car, but not safe for a school bus with it's strong wind draft.

Buses should at least give 1/2 a traffic lane of clearance.

The bus made a pick-up immediately after passing me. The fact that there was a pending pick-up should never encourage the bus driver to take the wrong lane position with respect to a bicycle or pedestrian. That's "get-there-itis", where getting there is more important than getting there safely.

If he had a pending pick-up / drop-off, the driver should have just waited behind me, I was moving at a good clip, close to 20 MPH.

We had a horrible bike / large truck fatality at Briarforest and Wilcrest a few years ago, let's NOT repeat it, and not with me, please. The bike in that case was overtaken too closely by a large truck, and she got pulled under the wheels, crushed to death, and she died in the street with bystanders holding her hand while she passed.

You can still see the memorial flowers and cross on the NE corner of that intersection.


Peter Wang

REPLY:

"Graf, Nathan J"

Good morning. Chester Glaude is our operations manager, he will review GPS for this area and see if any Houston ISD buses were there (all district buses are equipped with GPS).  Appropriate action will then be taken. If anything further occurs please feel free to communicate directly with Chester.

We apologize that this occurred. Thank you for sharing this information with us.

Sent from my iPhone

Review of the Best Bicycle Taillights in 2012

http://bicycles.blogoverflow.com/2012/03/tail-light-review/

Get Paid To Bicycle Commute! (not B.S.!)

You can get paid to bicycle commute... no, this is not a scam. This is real, and you can start today!

Register at NuRide.com, which is the site officially approved by the Houston-Galveston Area Council for rewarding and encouraging alternative commutes; not only bike, but ridesharing, walking, and transit.

You can log all of your bike rides on the ride calendar, and your earn points, which can be redeemed for discount coupons for many different businesses. It's real money; case in point, 20% off of dinner at Le Mistral French Restaurant on Eldridge. Given that dinner for two might run $100, that's a $20 value. I've enjoyed that one. Also free Kolache Factory, free Jamba Juice, Bike Barn coupons, HEB store credit, the list goes on.

They take pains to protect your privacy. This is a professionally and well-run site. Give it a try, there is nothing to lose and you will get free stuff of your choosing.

Check the batteries in your lights!

Now that it's going to get darker earlier in the evenings, you need to make sure that your bike lights are working fine.

Yes, I did say lights, plural. The law requires that we have a bright front white light and a rear red reflector, but a better practice is to have a red rear light and a red rear reflector. I mean... what if they guy behind you forgets to turn his headlights on? No light to reflect. And, if your light malfunctions, at least you've got a reflector as a back up.

Personally, here is what I use in the darker months; a bright front light, a low mounted red rear reflector & non-blinking light combo device, and a seat mounted blinking red light (PlanetBike SuperFlash). Also, I wear an ANSI-approved highway worker's vest from AlertShirt.com, and reflective ankle bands. One of my bikes has two red SuperFlashes and an amber reflector in addition to the red reflector. Amber reflectors are 2.5 brighter than red reflectors of the same size, according to John Forester, but are not recognized by the law, unfortunately. So mine is there to provide additional support, it's not the "legal" reflector.

Does this sound excessive? It all a lot less expensive than an MRI, emergency surgery, Life Flight ($25,000?) or a funeral.

At the end of the day, I look at my lights before I turn them off. If they look dim, I check the batteries. I also check every 60 days on a schedule.

By "checking" I mean I pull the batteries out and put them on a simple DC voltmeter. If the alkaline batteries are running below 1.4 volts, I replace them. The batteries are still good for non-critical uses, but I just don't like batteries lower than that on my bike. If they are 1.0 volt or below, they are too weak for anything, and get tossed out (new alkalines start out at 1.6 volts or so).

Often, when a light is going dim, one batt is fine, but the other is dog meat. No need to toss both out, just replace the bad one.

For my bright white front light, I run rechargeable batteries, which I top off every week or two. My reason for not running rechargeables all the way around is that I don't want to spend my life charging batteries, yet I want to do something to cut down on battery disposal, so this is a compromise. Charging 4 cells at a time is OK with me. My charger, a Maha conditioning charger, holds 4. I do have some extra rechargeables so I could run the whole bike on them if I had to.

Now you see why the "no batteries needed systems" like on the Breezer Bikes hold so much appeal. For the habitual night rider, they can be convenient. However... they are costly systems, if (when?) the dynamo hubs go bad, then you're out quite a lot of money. Also, you can't move the lights to another bike. Lights are getting better, and it's hard to upgrade a fixed system. Battery lights you can move from bike-to-bike, which I do all the time. I have matching mounts on different bikes, and I just unclip and reclip the lights.

Even with all the lights, though, I don't burn through many batteries. Maybe 8 a year? That's not a big load on the environment, not compared to impact of driving my car.

LED lights are the way to go for entry-level AA or AAA battery lights. Real "bulbs" are old, inefficient technology that will waste your battery money. Now, higher-end "HID" lights with dedicated batteries are not LED, but they are in another price category. They are very bright.

The brightest rear taillight in the world is the DiNotte 140. I don't think I need that one yet. Definitely if gas goes to $15 per gallon someday and I have to bike commute all the way down SH6 with 50 MPH traffic. This one will keep them off my a**.

Please show up for this photo opportunity!

We need ALL cyclists to show up at UH Downtown METRO train stop at 6:00 am on Monday 7/19 to take pictures in celebration of expanded bike hours on the train! METRO Board Member Christof Spieler will be there to meet us.

Looking back on '09

Another year is upon us and I'm reflecting. This time last year I had so much ambition for cycle commuting that I was looking forward to doubling my 2008 mileage. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. My milage for the past year was only 957.52 miles which is 1175.53 Miles short of 2008's total.

What happened? Three things: Health, weather, and work. In 2009 I lost my race with type 2 diabetes. As much as I rode and exercised I could not get control of my blood sugar. Not until I was put on medication and a radical change in diet did it approach normal levels so for a time I just had no energy to ride. As for weather, the last half of the year had to be the wettest and coldest on record. Cold I can almost handle at least into the mid 50's; however, below that I simply don't have warm enough clothing and in sufficient volume to ride consistently. Add rain into the mix and riding became an impossibility. At work, around June I was given additional duty that stationed me away from my office and far across campus from the Rec Center were I have shower privileges. Plus, in order to ride I need access to a changing area before 6:30 am where I'm close to my bike and my temporary station did not open until 7:30 am. So my '09 ride season effectively ended at the halfway point

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.

5/26 Warm Warm! 76 Degrees

It was a balmy 76 Degrees. A hot weather kit day. Ride was routine and observed 3 Rec riders on my way in. One smoked past me as I got to the Memorial Expressway.

The 5/20 ride 69 Degrees

I haven't been blogging much do to time constraints. Plus, compared to Noah in KC there just isn't much happening here in Houston. I can't really stop and take interesting photos and my bike handling skills in traffic requires two hands so so much for photos on the fly.

I road in this morning and when I left the temp was 69 degrees. It was just warm enough to wear summer wear (Sugoi shorts, Old style polyester Performance jersey, sweat cap, cotton socks, Fingerless gloves) but it was a little chilly starting out. By the time I got to the office the mercury hit 61. The ride in was routine. On Memorial Dr. I got passed by two rec riders who I could tell were marveling over all the gear I was hauling.

Safe Passing Bill At Risk

EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET ON THE HORN TO THEIR SENATORS AGAIN, BEFORE 11 AM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2009 !!!


From BikeTexas:

Safe Passing Bill At Risk
Contact Your Senator NOW!

Today, Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) introduced the 2009 Safe Passing Bill (CSSB 488 / CSHB 827) on the floor of the Texas State Senate.

In a dialogue with Senator Ellis, Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston) raised concerns about several aspects of the bill. Senator Ellis chose to withdraw the bill, pending additional discussion this evening with Senator Patrick to address these concerns.

BikeTexas had provided bill language and other information to all Senators' offices since the start of the session and had not been made aware of any concerns by Senator Patrick. BikeTexas staff are now preparing additional documents to submit to the offices of Senators Patrick and Ellis in preparation for tomorrow's session.

What you can do:

Please contact your State Senator no later that 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, April 8th!

Click here to find your senator, then:

* If you live in the district of an "Unconfirmed" Senator, including Senator Patrick: Call or email his office immediately to ask him to support Safe Passing. The list of senators is below.

* If you live in the district of a "Supporting" senator: Call or email his or her office immediately to express your thanks for his or her support for Safe Passing. The list of senators is below.

As always, please be sure to be polite and professional in your communications, whether your legislator supports or opposes CSSB 488.

Unconfirmed
Kip Averitt (R-Waco), Dist. 22
Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls), Dist. 30
Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay), Dist. 24
Chris Harris (R-Arlington), Dist. 9
Glenn Hegar (R-Katy), Dist. 18
Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D-Mission), Dist. 20
Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville), Dist. 3
Steve Ogden (R-Bryan), Dist. 5
Dan Patrick (R-Houston), Dist. 7

Support Safe Passing
John Carona (R-Dallas), Dist. 16
Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth), Dist. 10
Robert Deuell (R-Greenville), Dist. 2
Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), Dist. 28
Rodney Ellis (D-Houston), Dist. 13
Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler), Dist. 1
Mario Gallegos (D-Houston), Dist. 5
Joan Huffman (R-Houston), Dist. 17
Mike Jackson (R-La Porte), Dist. 11
Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville), Dist. 27
Jane Nelson (R-Lewisville), Dist. 12
Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), Dist. 31
Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), Dist. 8
Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso), Dist. 29
Carlos Uresti (D-San Antonio), Dist. 19
Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio), Dist. 26
Kirk Watson (D-Austin), Dist. 14
Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio), Dist. 25
Royce West (D-Dallas), Dist. 23
John Whitmire (D-Houston), Dist. 15
Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands), Dist. 3
Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), Dist. 21

March 30

Morning Temp: 53 degrees

Head: Headsweat skull cap & Helmet
Torso: Old style (Thick polyester) performance jersey and warm up jacket
Gloves: Fingerless (no liners)
Legs: Sugoi polyester shorts (heavier than normal lycra), leg warmers.
Feet: cotton socks

Overall comfort: warm to warm enough to unzip the warm up near the end of the run.

Ride was routine

Traffic Skills 101 coming up soon!

The Traffic Skills 101 course is only taught a few times per year. This is the course that teaches you how to mix it up safely with cars on everyday roads, not on the law-enforcement-controlled pay-ride routes.This is the one that you really need to have if you want to be a bicycle commuter, for example. Even if you are an experienced cyclist, you are guaranteed to learn something in this class which will make your investment worthwhile... and maybe save you from getting hurt! $60 is pretty cheap as opposed to hitting the pavement, or a car.



Peter


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Traffic Skills 101 (formerly Road I) / Willowbrook area

Date: Sat May 16 10 am and Sun May 17 8 am
Instructor: Peter Wang
Location: REI Willowbrook, 17717A Tomball Parkway, Houston, TX 77064
Fee: $60 class fee (waived if hardship; family discount)

Description: Do you want to learn to cycle confidently and safely in the Houston area? Then this class is a must! Learn to communicate effectively with motorists and enjoy the ride. We'll discuss proper lane positioning, basic rules of the road, how to avoid obstacles, scanning, changing a tire, emergency turns, emergency stops, basic maintenance, and much, much more! Saturday will be all lecture (no bicycle needed) and Sunday will include parking lot drills and a group ride.

To register for this course, contact:

David Sims
Phone: (832) 237-8833 x206
Contact Email: dsims@rei.com
Signup required in advance? Yes
Special signup instructions: Please call the REI store to sign up for this class. $60 class fee

Equipment required: SAT: paper, pen, lunch or $ SUN: pen, bike, helmet, water, lunch or $

Sustainable Living Houston kicks off National Bike Month 2009!

On Friday, May 1, 2009, residents of Cypress, Texas, will bicycle from the Coles Crossing subdivision to the nearby METRO Park & Ride and transit oriented development. By riding bikes to the Park & Ride, and then taking the #217 METRO bus to their work locations, the residents will complete a long-haul, suburb-to-city multi-modal commute without the use of private automobiles.

METRO has recently installed bike racks at the Cypress Park & Ride, and these will be used to secure the bicycles. There is also limited space for taking a few bikes in the sub-floor storage compartments of the # 217 buses.

Residents will assemble at 6:50 am on Friday, May 1, 2009 at the Coles Crossing Community Center parking lot and depart at 7:00 am sharp. Use of helmets, front & rear lights, red rear reflectors and articles of reflective clothing will be mandatory. Residents will ride on the sidewalk south on Barker-Cypress Rd. to Jarvis Rd., whereupon the group will transition to riding on Jarvis Rd. in a vehicular cycling mode. The total ride distance will be about a mile each way, and the time to the Park & Ride from the neighborhood will be about 6 minutes.

The rain date for this ride is May 15, 2009.

There will be a highly recommended pre-ride safety briefing at the Coles Crossing Community Center parking lot on April 25th at 8:00 a.m. where helmets, lighting, bike commuter clothing, and vehicular cycling will be discussed, as well as a test ride of the route. This briefing will be led by a League of American Bicyclist certified cycling instructor.




SLH:pw

The 1/27 Commute.

On Monday I saw that we were going to have one more warm afternoon with temperatures in the 70s so I decided to commute Tuesday morning. I almost hate saying it, but the morning run was routine there really wasn't anything to report. As a first leg of the ride though I was seven minutes off my "average" of an hour and 20 minutes. Like I said before though not bad for being out of practice. I was just glad to get some mileage in before the weather changed.

The ride home was truly wonderful as the temperature was right around 70 and I still had sufficient daylight left when I left the campus. This ride home was probably the most commuter filled I have ever seen to date. I know I saw at least three as I was coming down West Alabama. Two of those based on what they were riding in what they were carrying were true cycle commuters like myself. I even had the rare pleasure of bumping into a female cyclist as I was coming down Wesleyan; however, I did not have an opportunity to speak with her. As I arrived to Wesleyan I started noticing that the clouds were starting to build and the wind was starting to pick up. Consequently, I started picking up my own pace as the last thing I needed was to be caught out in the weather. By the time I got a third of the way down Tanglewood Road the cold front rolled in and announced itself with a nice hard gust against my front wheel and the temperature went from a nice balmy 70° down to 55 in the span of 15 minutes. Once I got onto Chimney Rock I started putting on the coal as it was then I started to lose daylight. I passed under I-10 and onto Wirt (same road as Chimney Rock, but gets renamed north of I-10)and somewhere around Wedgewood Lane I was passed by a southbound commuter who was riding on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, there was no time to really stop and chat, but we didacknowledge each other as we passed. I have no clue why he was on the sidewalk, but I'm guessing he was going to pull a left and did not want to contend with traffic. The remainder of the ride had nothing to report other than being a race against daylight. I did choose to use my NiteRider USB backup light instead of my primary Cyglolite for the ride down Westview. The Cyglolite is a bit of a pain to chargethat it has to be timed exactly to six hours due to a lack of power regulation/smart charging circuitry and I didn't feel like dealing with it when getting home. I found the NiteRider USB to put out sufficient light, but nothing to write home about. I definitely prefer the power of the Cyglolight; consequently that is why I use it as the primary headlight. I made it home right as it was getting completely dark and it felt good to have another 31 miles in for the year. The next couple mornings are to have morning lows in the mid 30s to upper 40s; consequently, I'm not feeling inclined to ride because I still lack good cold weather gear to contend with those temperatures comfortably.

The 1/23 ride report a couple days late

Yeah I know I'm late and I should have done this back on Friday or even Saturday; however, life tends to get in the way and I was still digesting a bit of insight from the ride. Anyhow, on Wednesday I saw the Thursday and Friday weather was going to be passable. Unfortunately I had a meeting on Thursday that I wasn't sure I would be able to ride to due to time and security constraints, but Friday was in the clear. So even though Thursday night I was half in the tank I gritted my teeth and got my gear together to ride.

The morning ride broke no records as I wasn't expecting to seeing that my last full on commute was over three weeks ago. It wasn't too bad though as I was about 7 minute off average and I saw some signs of cycling life as I made my way through Memorial Park. I saw a petalon of rec riders headed west as I had just cleared the park. Other than that the morning run in was dead routine.

The ride home was routine up untill the turn from W. Alabama onto Weslayan about a block from there I was passed by a mouthy little high school dropout/kid and his girlfriend who were absolutely convinced that all bikes belonged on the sidewalk. As they passed me this stupid kid flipped me the bird and yelled "dude, get on the sidewalk!" Unfortunately for them the light changed to red and I was able to catch up with them. When I looked in the window I told them, "under state law I am a vehicle;" however, it was wasted breath because no sooner than I had uttered it it occurred to me that these two kids were just brain-dead. Their only response to me was, "dude, get on the sidewalk." It then occurred to me that no matter what the law might be these kids just wouldn't care. The only thing that mattered to them is being inconvenienced by having to go around me and the only way that they would learn the lesson was if their provocation lead to a horrible accident. In a way I'm thankful to them because I made the realization that there's just some people that have no redeeming qualities and deserve whatever horrible outcome that these qualities bring upon them. Somehow, I shouldn't be surprised that I had this altercation. Every time I wear a blaze orange jersey as I was wearing one this day. I seem to have a conflict with a motorist. The rest of the ride was pretty much routine.

BikeHouston Annual Meeting Announcement

BikeHouston Annual Meeting-January 27, 2009

BikeHouston’s invites you to attend the Annual Meeting on Tuesday, January 27, 2009, at 6:30 p.m., in the Houston Environmental Center, 3015 Richmond, 1st floor conference room. Please join them in their efforts to make Houston safe and accessible for cyclists. Food and refreshments will be provided by El Meson from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM with a meeting start time of 7:00 PM. The guest speaker will be Dan Raine, AICP LCI, who currently serves as the City of Houston Bicyclist-Pedestrian Coordinator. Dan will be speaking about the Houston Bikeway Program and the measures that the City is undertaking to improve our on and off street bikeway network. Dan Raine is a Transportation Planner with 15 years experience, a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and a League Certified Instructor (LCI) with the League of American Bicyclists (LAB). Prior to joining the City of Houston, Dan was the former Pedestrian-Bicyclist Coordinator with the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC). In addition, Robin Stallings, Executive Director of Bike Texas/ Texas Bicycle Coalition, Austin, Texas will provide a legislative update on bicycling initiatives pending before the Texas Legislature.

BikeHouston is a local Houston organization promoting bike access, safe bicycling, education, and public awareness of the personal and community benefits of cycling.

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.

And so it begins.

For 2008 my total mileage was 2,133.05 miles. My plan for 2009 is to either equal it or double it to 4266.10. This is based on commuting three times a week to my work at Texas Southern and my 4 mile commute to my Saturday fun job. I think it may be achievable if I can tough out the cold of January February and March.

In other news, I accomplished my first human powered grocery run since I received my 07 Schwinn Town & Country trike back from the local Performance Bicycle back on the 27th of December. I originally took it in for repair just before hurricane Ike hit as I had succeeded in stripping out the axle for the second time; however, a lack of repair parts at Pacific bicycle's facilities in California prevented them from repairing it right away. With some irony they actually got the replacement axle fairly quickly, but prior to bringing the trike into them I had attempted to repair it myself losing the key (it's really a 1 inch by half inch rectangular cube of steel) to the rear sprocket keyway. So they had to get a new key to replace the one I lost. This part had to come from China (and my best guess is they either sent them by Windjammer or literally on a slow boat from China). The one major difference when I saw between the new and the old axle is the new one looks like it's all one piece and probably will not be subject to the same kind of breakage.

Anyhow, I had stopped at Kroger's while on my way back from my fun job on 12/31. I had brought into the store with me my commuter bag which was filled with my Niterider Digital Evolution and sweat jacket as I did not want to leave them attached to the trike. I also had left it unlatched and wide open so that it could clearly be seen that the bag was full. No sooner that I had walked through the door and started to shop I was harassed by a cashier. She was one of those typical blue haired busybody types and she came up to me with a, "Excuse me sir, but we don't allow bags to be brought in. You have to turn that in to our courtesy area before you can shop." I just looked at her and said, "Sure, just soon as all the women in the store put their purses over there as well." This of course caused her to bring the manager over for reinforcement; however, when I mentioned to her that for me to do so without all the women leaving their purses at the front desk would be very discriminatory. My argument completely took the wind out of her sails because without me even saying so it became clear. The only reason this cashier came over to me is I was still pretty much in full cycling regalia as I still had my helmet and gloves on, I was male, and I had a bag about the size of a large purse. For me to have put my bag over with customer service would've been discrimination based on sex, as the only reason I would be forced to put my bag over there is because I was male. All the females would still be running around with purses about the same size as my bag and just as capable of shoplifting.
Secondly, the idiocy became clear if I had been a shoplifter I would not have gone running around in fingerless gloves and a piece of beer cooler foam festooned with reflective stickers strapped to my head. I also would be in a much faster getaway vehicle than a human powered tri-wheeler only capable of 12 mph max. The fact of the matter is if I was there to shoplift I would have none of those things on me as I would try to blend in and look like the rest of the sheep and not a helmeted "goat." I also would not shoplift at a store that was literally at my back door that I frequent and would be recognized at readily. The manager de-escalated sheepishly saying, " Well, I know that you've been here before and were only trying to prevent shoplifting." After that they pretty much left me alone; however, I did notice the security guard loitering when I was packing the trike to leave.

Theoretically I could have complied with the nosy cashiers request; however, it just rubbed me wrong that because I was male and dressed as a cyclist I had to put my bag up with customer service when there were hundreds of women walking around the store with purses approximately the same size as my bag with more available space to hide something in them than what I happened to have. Plus, extending their rationale if they were out to prevent shoplifting then they should strip everyone who walks in of their clothes so that no one can hide anything in their pockets or in the clothes themselves. I guess the older I get the less I tolerate stupidity and this whole incident was both needless and stupid on the part of the store.

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.