The Friday 10/12 Run

Yeah.. I know I'm blogging about this a little late; however, I figured I needed some time to reflect on it. I finally wound up taking a commute run this past Friday as I found myself awake at 4am and everything close to ready (Or so I thought). I kept forgetting small items so I kept bouncing back into the house to make sure I had everything.

Finally, at 5am sharp I rolled out of the driveway and wound up only going 50 yards as I was greeted with an annoying grating sound as the wheels spun.. No Joy.. I had to stop and figure out what was rubbing. Much to my dismay my U-lock which is usually tucked in through the top of my rear rack and on the outside of the racks' back stay was on the inside. Translation: all bags on the left and top of the rack had to be removed and the lock reseated; however, even under the street light it was too dark to see where I had to tuck it so I wound up pulling it and shoving it into my left hand pannier. I then strapped everyting back down as best I could and continued on. The bike still creaked a little as my tool bag put pressure on the rear fender.. (Something that even when I have everything perfect is never a completely happy situation.)

Things were working well enough that I felt that it would not be a deterrent, so I pressed onward. It was a clear and warm predawn morning and I was making good time even heavily laden with panniers full of clothes and computer tools. I was seeing an average speed of 13 to 14 MPH and a cumulative average of 12 mph. In short order I bumped into Brian the-Memorial-Park-Horticulturist and we rode single file down Antione to Memorial Drive. As we reached the light I saw a road biker cross the intersection so that when we turned we were an 800 yard petalon of 3 cyclists. Which is by far the greatest number of cyclists passing through that section of Memorial Drive at that time of the morning I've seen to date. It gave me a minor thrill. I continued on through the park and on down to Westhiemer in record time. As it turns out I made it to work in an hour and eighteen minutes, a new record for this leg.

Usually, when I commute I start counting my work hours at 7am which is usually the time I'm dressed and ready to take cases; consequently my end time is 4pm. However, I usually begin winding things down by 3pm as I begin packing and getting ready by to get on the road and step off the campus at 4pm. The reason is that the section of my homeward route from Shepherd to Memorial drive and also running through Memorial Park to the 610 Loop becomes extremely hazardous from the rush hour traffic coming out of downtown. I found that the best and safest time to ge through this area is to be past the 610 loop before 4:30pm and to definitely be past it by 5pm. Otherwise I can gaurantee to be passed every three seconds by ignorant sheeple who don't have a clue to yield the far right lane to cyclists.. Something that can be most disconcerting.

Now, there is a second window of egress, but it doesn't occur untill after 6pm. On this day I planned to stay later and use this second window as I had a backlog of cases that I wanted to try to clear. However, I got caught on a case and rather perversly I didn't get on the road untill 10:30pm and home by 12am. The ride home wasn't too bad; however, it was a little disconcerting as it was one, Friday night and two I had to pass a number of bars in Houston's gay quarter. I was afraid that some gay lush was going to pull out and T-bone me; however, once cleared the gay zone and I made it past the Irish Bar on Shepherd I began to relax a little. Once, I made it past the 610 loop onto a familiar section of Memorial the ride became relaxing.

The only fly in the ointment on the ride was that my tool bag had flopped to one side and my griding noise was back.. My though at the time was "I have to rethink this" as I can't rely on picture perfect rigging to have a good ride. All in all despite being caught at work for too damn long it was a good day and one of the better rides I averaged an hour and 21 minutese there and back which is a new record..

Another Short Rant.

Another thing that you should never do is use cycling underware in place of cycling shorts. If it's got a flap fly on it you should take the hint that it should be under some other item of clothing.

There is a park rider who is always in blue Cycling underware that is so tight his flabby body is extruded from all it's openings. To make it worse it's often the only thing he's got on and this land whale has a tatt0o of his waterborne cousin tattooed above his ass. He's got a dolphin (which in some circles is a synonymous symbol to the gay rainbow) tattooed on the small of his back. He either doesn't have a clue as to what the apparel he's wearing is for or he just doesn't give a damn that he's effctively riding around nearly naked. Simply sickening.

A Short Rant.

I'll say it again. Solid white spandex cycling shorts don't belong on a man. A woman might be able to pull it off; however, even that may be an "Iffy" proposition. White tends to become see through as it gets wet with perspiration. If you're a guy and you reading this.. PLEASE PLEASE for the love of God/Allah/Vishnu/Kali don't wear all white cycling shorts. No one wants to see either your ass crack or your cigar track. Shorts with white color blocks on the leg or on the sides are okay, but you can't go wrong with basic black.

Along with this leave the foofoo water off too! No guy wants to have to swim in your cheap cologne/aftershave aroma as you pass by.. It's disgusting!

Bicycle lingo... a growing primer.

Peach: A female biker with a great figure. More specifically her posterior. "She's got a great peach" Or "She's a real peach."


Major Taylor or Nelson Vails: An extremely talented Male African American cyclist. "He's a real Major Taylor/Nelson Vails"

Puppy Dog: A male rider who perpetually drafts off an attractive female rider. "Oh it looks like she's picked up a puppy dog."

Bajoran: A Cyclist who is constantly on his cell phone and is a danger to himself, traffic and other cyclists. "What a Bajoran"

Bajoran Jewelery: A Cell phone hands free device such as a corded head set, ear plug, or a blue tooth headset. "He though he was shot hot with he Bajoran Jewelry on"

A Grocery Run.. By Trike!

Yes, you read right! I rode to my local Krogers on a Trike! Where did this queer steed originate from? I picked up a new Schwinn Town & Country from Performance bike. The reason for taking this plunge is I need a non-motorized vehicle at work for lugging my tools between buildings and across the campus . Our Company/Department has two golf carts to share among 6 Techs; however, one is perpetually broken and our supervisor refuses to authorize the expense to get it repaired. The second, newer, and visually more appealing cart is usually attached to said supervisor's rotund bottom or his toady/pet Chihuahua who drives him around as if he were the pope himself. So, I took matters in my own hands and got something so odd that no one but me would be willing to ride. I wanted a good quality trike; however, the realities of the situation hit me. One, the trike is going to spend a lot of time out in the elements. Secondly, the university I work for is situated in a high crime area and the monetary value of any vehicle needs to be low. Consequently I didn't want to spend much money ergo I went with the Schwinn. Now there are adult trikes out there that are cheaper on E-bay in the $200 to $300 range (The Schwinn was $400); however, The Schwinn was aluminum and will probably weather the corrosive effects of the weather a little better. I would have loved a classic '60's to '80's Town and Country, but I couldn't bring myself to subjecting a rare and classic bike to possible theft and weather. The sad fact though is it's although the new production Schwinn has these good features it is still a product of Pacific Bicycle and the Red Chinese. Overall workmanship and construction leaves much to be desired. It has only one really good part and that is the Sturmey Archer 3-speed transmission. (I can't call it a hub as it isn't at the center of a wheel.) It's night and day compared to the one on the Raleigh twenty as the latter tends to be a little "fiddly" to keep working. To be honest I'm not even sure if the frame is built all that true as I find riding it rather "Twitchy" If I don't consciously make subtle corrections to the left to offset thrust from peddling it will pull right and jump the the curb (and these are the round, abrupt curbs, not the gentle "ramped" ones!) I'm thinking that my riding technique could also be at fault as I may be attempting to course correct with my balance. I have noticed I get a feel of "vertigo" just before the trike makes it's departure. If I had to make a comparison as to the ease of use between a bike and a Trike I would say the bike is easier to ride, not that the trike is not without it's own unique benefits. No need to rest a foot at stop signs or traffic lights you see; however, I found it doesn't take lightly to changes in grade. It's also BIG! It is running on 26X2.0 tires and it dwarfs all the other bikes.

Other than these issues, the trike worked wonderfully as a grocery getter. I didn't need much from the store I was mainly after a steak so I wouldn't have to wait for one that I had on hand to defrost and some sodas. I just threw a cooler in the back basket with some ice packs in it to carry the steak and off I went! One thing I did notice is that it is painfully slow. I averaged around 8 mph on the way out and for giggles on the way home I put it in high and attempted to spin briskly. The end result is I saw 12 Mph indicated and I hardly noticed the weight of the Sodas or the cooler. On my commuter I would be running around 14 mph and road bike 14.5 plus (higher depending on if I'm having a good or a bad day).

Now the problem I have is I'm now tempted to keep the Trike at home instead of taking it to the office. If I stay the course and take it to work I still have to figure out how to get it there. The thing is huge and won't fit in either the cabin or the trunk of my Honda Accord. As I metioned riding it for great distances is out of the question. I'd say it max range at one sitting is 3 miles and seeing that at certain places in my commute I need to be north of 10MPH and contend with a fair amount of traffic it would be hazrdouse to ride it there.


Incidentally the following pic is the whole stable. The bike in the background past the trike is the brown Raleigh Twenty which is the only one that is inoperable at the momment and is undergoing resto-improvement.

The Dog Days of Summer

I've been under the radar for a while now mainly as a consequence of being completely knocked off routine. Typically I proceed any commuting with a training ride the day before or if it happens to be a Monday that I would be commuting, a good 25 mile ride on the road bike the Sunday before. Unfortunately, this summer has turned out to be the wettest on record for Houston so most of August I was waiting out thunderstorms. The second half of August I was contending with an artificial emergency at work. Although it was not necessary, my employer insisted that all hands stay late for the last two weeks of August to assist with registration ( as I probably mentioned I work at a university); however, the truth of the matter was it was more about breaking my personal routine rather than registration. The only real emergencies for registration occurred the first day and although it was technically true that registration went on till September, computer support was only needed for the first day for set up and nothing more than that. What other "work" that was worked on during that time period was more a product of people returning than from registration itself. The whole rationale for staying late was a crock. It really had more to do with a particular supervisor knowing that I typically lit out 15 minutes early to go ride. By forcing the whole staff and myself to stay to 6 p.m. it meant that by leaving at six o'clock I had no time to go ride my nightly training ride in Memorial Park.
No training ride equals no commute . The latter is something that was a sore point with this particular supervisor as the permission had not come through him but through his superior and he would be hopping madbecause he couldn't do anything about it when I would leave early after being there for eight hours from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to beat the traffic through Memorial Park.

I'm hoping that with cooler weather I'll be able to return to commuting.

Packin' the Panniers

One of the most important skills for cyclocommuting is knowing what to take along and how to take it. During the summer months which is the most active part of the cyclocommuting year it's a given that for long commutes (over 5 miles) will likely require a shower or some sort of clean up at the destination. The temperature during the summer in Houston averages in the upper 90's to lower 100's with equally high humidity so sweaty is the norm even when standing still.; consequently, half my load is wash up materials the other half clothes for work.

Over time I figured that the right hand pannier was best for clothes and the left for clean up gear. Why?? I don't know.. It worked out that way, but I think in part it's because I park my bike on the left side of my desk which put the clothes and shoes close to hand, but your results may vary and you may want to experiment to see what works best for you

Like anything else, the best way to pack for cyclecommuting is to plan ahead. I typically leave the bike pre-packed with as much gear as I'm able which saves at least a half hour of prep time on the morning of departure.

I pack my panniers so that everthing is modular and can be removed and re-inserted easily. My clothes are folded so that they are as narrow as possible and then rolled up.

The first step is to fold my slacks in half at the knee as if I were hanging them on a hanger:















The next step is to flip it over so the now folded legs face upward:
















Next fold them longitudally so that it resembels a length of 2 by 4:


















Next move on to folding the shirt. I usually start out folding it similar to how it came out of it's original package like so:
















Then fold this package longitudinally:
















Then present the shirt on top of the folded pants. It's best to match the widest part of the shirt (Usually the collar end) with the widest part of the pants (the folded waistband).
















The next step is to roll up the shirt and pants like a sleeping bag starting from the widest end and ending with the narrowest:

















Then using the belt (I have more than one of the same type so I don't need to break things apart when I need this particular style of belt for other functions.) cinch up the bundle.















Typically I would then put the bundle in a plastic grocery bag. Why? For starters, the bundle bulges out of the pannier a bit and once prior to taking this step I was caught in a thunderstorm that thoroughly saturated this pack of outerwear. Secondly, it helps keep the extra loose end of the belt from flopping out of the pannier and getting caught in the spokes or dragging.














Here is a pictoral overview of everything that is pre-packed the night before in my right hand panniers:


Left shoe, T-shirt, Underwear, sock bundle, cargo web bungee, Outerwear bundle, right shoe.


The T-shirt is folded like the outerwear shirt and rolled up. It's then stuffed in the left shoe. The sock and the underwear are stuffed in the right shoe.

(Not Shown) I pack the pannier-hood pocket just prior to departure and in it I keep my glasses in a rigd case as well as alternate sunglass lenses in my sunglass case and the spare cargo web bungee .

The packing

The first step is to insert the shoes into the pannier. I usually insert them so the soles are facing towards the wheels. It's mainly to keep any loose clothes clean that I might shove into it in the future.

The outerwear roll is then pushed down over the shoes.
















Here is the now loaded pannier mounted on the bike:

The rolled up T-shirt in the pannier bungee is used as a rag for cleaning rain smudged eye glasses










The left pannier carries toiletries and a towel for showering. The towel is folded in thirds so that it is narrow enough to fit in the pannier. The shaving kit is placed in the pannier-hood pocket along with my electric razor. I found a typical shaving kit to be a little large for the pannier-hood pocket; however, a case for a blood pressure cuff turns out to be just the right size. I imagine that there are shaving kit bags of similar size available and that's what I'd recommend.
One of the last things that gets packed and is usually laid right on top of the towel is the charger for my niterider Digital Evolution headlight. During spring and summer I only need the headlight in the morning; however, to cover contingencies I tend to charge the battery that I used to get to work immediately upon arrival. The reason being that if on the way home I make a stop either scheduled or unscheduled (like for a beer at Kennally's Irish pub) the light is ready for use if I don't leave until after the sun goes down.

The shaving kit contains a bar of soap in a traveling soap dish, toothbrush, toothpaste, a comb, a small hotel size bottle of shampoo, and a can of deodorant. I suppose if you're into it you could include a small bottle of foo foo/Colóne/ aftershave, but I've never been into that sort of thing.