An Interesting Ride

Well... The swapping on of the slicks didn't cause a major ice storm here... yet. Here is the promised story of yesterday's ride. I had just about reached the Government Bridge when I came up on a guy walking his bike. In his left hand was a rather large beer in a paper bag. I asked if he was having bike problems and then we got to talking...

"No... I ain't having bike problems. Just thinking about problems with my old lady. She hit me with a lamp right here (point to his head) and now she's in jail. I don't got no money to bail her out. I need like $500 to get her out. I just got out of the Scott County jail myself. (I didn't ask) That's a nice light you got you your bike. Where'd you get it?" I said it came from Europe and suggested that a light like my backup would be easy to get at a bike shop for around $20. "I got this ticket in Rock Island last year for riding my bike without a light at night. It was $75! Man... I didn't got no $75, so I did community service. I been riding my bike cause I can't afford gas. It's all that Bush's fault." I allowed that he's a bit of a problem. "Yeah... I don't like him at all. Hell, I'd vote for Hillary before I'd vote for him. I was driving my car to where I work, I work construction, so I got to get to all sorts of places. Man... I'd be buying $5 of gas to get there, then $5 worth to get home. It was costing me, like, $15 a day to drive my car." I said that I really had to be getting home. We shook hands, said our goodbyes, and I head off to home.


The other thing of note about the ride yesterday were the birds. The bald eagles have moved on to be replaced by the American Pelican. I saw about a dozen of them flying and then landing over by the lock. Man... those things are big!

From Stud-ly To Slick

Well... I may have just played the biggest April Fool's joke ever. I decided it was time to switch from the studded tires to the slick tires. I am hoping that we don't get any more snow and the temperatures stay up over freezing when we have water on the roads.

I run the Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106's in the winter. I get these from Peter White Cycles. I have no connection to them other than being a very happy customer. The only downside to these is that they weigh a ton and have a very high rolling resistance. But then... what do you expect when there are 106 tungsten carbide steel studs per tire.

I've been using the Continental Contact Sport tires when the roads are free of ice and snow. These roll really nice. They also can be run up to 80psi. I also get the version that have the reflective sidewalls. I figure every little bit helps to be seen. I should be somewhere between five and ten minutes faster into, and more importantly, out of work.

I met an interesting character on the ride home today, but that is a post for tomorrow and I won't be making any of it up.

Not Exactly Like Belgium

Well... There weren't anywhere close to this many people out riding today. I think I was basically the only nutter out there. It was very early season Belgium like conditions today. Rain... 40... head wind... A very lovely day. I managed to get a few "bonus miles" in this morning. The only part of the ride home that truly sucked was getting to wait for a train. Not more that 40 feet from work. Just standing in the rain watching it roll on by. The only goodness there is that it had nothing but metal towers for wind turbines.

Happy Pi Day!

Have a most irrational day!

RAGBY To Visit Argo Corners - Don't Blink

Well... The DSM Register has released the detailed RABGY route. It can be found here. They are making good use of Google Maps. Nice to see that folks are taking to this. It's a great bit of technology. Not quite as good a use as the Beer Mapping Project, but hey... you have to start somewhere.

There is one interesting things about the last day aside from the fact that I'll be within five miles of the house. That is that it passes through the faux town of Argo Corners. It is not much more than an intersection with a couple of houses. When I told my wife about it, she replied, "Don't Blink". There is an old tavern than has been converted into a lunch stop/low budget Quicky Mart. I haven't been out that way in awhile, so I'm hoping that it is still there. I'll have to ride out that way and see.

Most of the last day is pretty boring from my perspective. I ride on those roads a fair amount, so it doesn't have the "new" factor. At least it will be easy to get home.

I Was Just Riding Along And...

Well... It was an "interesting" finish to today's ride home from work. I was going up this serious steep little pitch behind the house. I was a bit tired from yesterday's lifting session, yoga, and second night of poor sleep. As a result, I didn't quite have as much speed as I usually carry right there. I was just about stalled and thinking.... clip out? punch it? clip out?? punch it?? clip out??? PUNCH IT!!! So... I yanked super hard on the bars and ~snap~ my left crank arm goes from one piece to two pieces. I wind up checking out the ground up close. No big deal, just scuffed the right knee a bit and walk 200 meters to the house. Went to the spin class and then a stop at the bike shop. I have a used crank back on the bike and it should suffice for awhile. I'm seriously considering steel at this point. Time to surf for alternatives. Any suggestions for my Surly 1x1?

It's Back...

Well... I rode the bike into work this morning. It was a balmy 18F in bound and right about freezing on the way home. This morning was pretty uneventful. Just lots of craters in the road and a fair amount of black ice here and there. The ride home was a bit more interesting. There were maybe half a dozen bald eagles hanging out. I took a couple of pictures, but I don't have enough a zoom on the camera to get much of a picture. They are pretty nervous and won't let you get close.

The ice next to the bike path behind the house was pretty interesting. Some of the pieces were close to a foot thick. Then it was recover for an hour or so and off to abuse myself at yoga. All things considered, a good day. Now if I can just keep stringing the commute days together. They have a bit of snow in the forecast, but I'm hoping that it manages to miss us.