Friday, March 30, 2007

Ride into work for Friday, 30 March

The wind finally stopped, and it was a sunny day, so I decided to take the road bike in. I'd forgotten just how much easier it was to pedal, and how much faster it was, so I took great pleasure in cruising along at relatively high speeds. The brake cables had stretched a bit, but I was able to haul them in with the barrel adjuster on the cyclocross brake handles (although this rendered the main brake handles pretty much useless), and the brake pads seemed a bit off. Other than that, everything seemed fine.

I took the bike into IdealBikes at lunchtime to get a tuneup and the brakes tightened up, and Mike, evil tempter that he is, showed me a new bike that just came in. It looks like it's bigger than my Nishiki, and would be perfect as a commuter for the new office. All I have to do is figure out a way to sneak it past my wife...

Distance logged: 15.975km
Time: 38:17
Average speed: 25km/hr
Max speed: 60.1 km/hr
Temperature: -2C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 2033.622km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 749.605km
Monthly cost per km: $0.07

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Ride home for Thursday, 29 March

Another really windy ride home, at points I was leaning over into the wind while pedalling straight ahead due to the crosswinds. Quite a few nasty tailwinds as well, but the worst was the changing direction - gusts coming from all directions one after another at random. It looks like it should calm down for tomorrow, though, just in time for Critical Mass.

Distance logged: 13.725km
Time: 49:48
Average speed: 16.5km/hr
Max speed: 40.9 km/hr
Temperature: 0C, windy
Cumulative distance: 2017.647km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 733.630km
Monthly cost per km: $0.07

Ride into work for Thursday, 29 March

It was snowing when I left, so I took the mountain bike in in case the roads got salted - it just looks like flurries, though. Windy ride in, and although it was roughly in the direction I was going for some of the way, I hit some ferocious headwinds at points - riding downhill on Brunswick I had to pedal hard to stop from being blown backwards!

Should clear up for Critical Mass tomorrow, although it's now saying 40% chance of showers late in the day...

Distance logged: 12.612km
Time: 36:40
Average speed: 20.6km/hr
Max speed: 53.7 km/hr
Temperature: -4C, light snow, windy
Cumulative distance: 2003.922km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 719.905km
Monthly cost per km: $0.07

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Bike route for Bar B Biker

I just created a copy of my commute downtown from Clayton Park; it's a bit circuitous, but the general idea is no left turns unless there's a traffic light or 3 way stop, or it's a residential street. Hopefully this will help Bar B Biker a bit, as Dunbrack and Bedford Highway aren't the most fun roads to ride on at rush hour!

Ride home for Wednesday, 28 March

Windy ride home, according to the Environment Canada past 24 hours there were 40-50km/hr winds blowing from the north west. As my direction of travel is essentially north west this was not a fun ride.

Distance logged: 15.043km
Time: 53:56
Average speed: 16.7km/hr
Max speed: 42.6 km/hr
Temperature: 3C, cloudy, windy
Cumulative distance: 1991.310km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 707.293km
Monthly cost per km: $0.08

Ride into work for Wednesday, 28 March

Rode the hybrid in as I was curious to see if the creaking was fixed. It was definitely quieter, so I'm fairly sure it's something in the saddle. Reading around on the net, it would appear that the tension nut may need tightening, as a creaking noise is a sign the leather has loosened enough to require tightening. I guess that'll be my task for tonight...

Distance logged: 15.938km
Time: 45:43
Average speed: 20.9km/hr
Max speed: 55.9 km/hr
Temperature: 4C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1976.267km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 692.250km
Monthly cost per km: $0.08

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Ride home for Tuesday, 27 March

Got my stem swapped over for a single piece stem, but there's still creaking... I now have a suspicion it may be the seat post or the saddle, as there's no creaking when I pedal standing up or sit down and don't pedal. I greased the seat sandwich and the saddle springs when I got home, hopefully that'll do the trick.

Saw Peter on the way home and he gave me a couple of sheets of stickers for Halifax Critical Mass (this Friday!) so I'll be giving those out to any cyclists I pass this week.

Distance logged: 11.489km
Time: 39:23
Average speed: 17.5km/hr
Max speed: 54.2 km/hr
Temperature: 9C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1960.329km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.17
Monthly distance: 676.312km
Monthly cost per km: $0.08

Ride into work for Tuesday, 27 March

Ended up taking the hybrid in, the stem is still squeaking so I took it to Ideal at lunchtime. Went over to MEC and picked up a 700x28-47cc tube (all I had in my pile was 20-25c tubes for the new rear wheel, which was a bit... stretched...) and grabbed a couple more turtle lights while I was there, since mine corroded out over winter.

Distance logged: 13.119km
Time: 38:02
Average speed: 20.6km/hr
Max speed: 52.2 km/hr
Temperature: 0C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1948.840km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.17
Monthly distance: 664.823km
Monthly cost per km: $0.08

Monday, March 26, 2007

Ride home for Monday, 26 March

Picked up my bike on the way home, nothing needed replacing on it. The stem got greased, front brake pads needed alignment and the cables tightened and realigned and that was it. If the weather's nice again tomorrow I'll take the road bike in...

Distance logged: 12.730km
Time: 40:19
Average speed: 18.9km/hr
Max speed: 45.8 km/hr
Temperature: 6C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1935.721km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 651.704km
Monthly cost per km: $0.06

Ride into work for Monday, 26 March

Rode in on the hybrid, as I wanted to take it in to get tuned up for the year, and it was a fairly nice day. After helping Mr and Mrs Spanky move house over the weekend, I was definitely grateful for the easy touring gears, as my legs were rather tired.

Peter caught up with me at the lights and promised to drop off some stickers for Critical Mass for me at Ideal, so I'll have a few to hand out to cyclists I see around the way.

I talked to one of the guys from the data centre at head office about the impending move when I got in, figuring out power requirements, and he mentioned off-handedly that he was looking for a bike. I told him to have a look at Ideal Bikes, and he walked in right after me when I took my bike in - bit of a surprise! With any luck, if enough people start commuting in then there will be a dedicated bike shed built - there's already vague mutterings of something going on.

Distance logged: 15.575km
Time: 45:59
Average speed: 20.3km/hr
Max speed: 49.2 km/hr
Temperature: -6C to -4C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1922.991km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 638.974km
Monthly cost per km: $0.06

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Ride for Saturday, 24 March

Rode downtown to the market, then went to help a friend move house. We managed it in two runs, then had a barbeque out back - according to Environment Canada it was only 3C, but it felt much warmer than that, several people sat out most of the afternoon after moving in just shorts and T-shirts.

Finally managed to finish building my wheel. I'll give it a test run outside tomorrow if the weather permits, then go down to IdealBikes some time during the week to get the bike tuned up and build checked out. Got quite a nice high tension out of it in the end, so it'll be interesting to see how it rides.

Distance logged: 27.259km
Time: 90:02
Average speed: 18.1km/hr
Max speed: 50.7 km/hr
Temperature: 1C-3C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1907.416km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 623.399km
Monthly cost per km: $0.06

Ride home for Friday, 23 March

Went into MEC at lunch and picked up a new horn.

Nice warm spring afternoon on the ride home, I saw quite a few people out in shorts and T-shirts.

Distance logged: 13.689km
Time: 47:53
Average speed: 17.2km/hr
Max speed: 42.6 km/hr
Temperature: 13C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1880.157km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 596.140km
Monthly cost per km: $0.06

Friday, March 23, 2007

Ride into work for Friday, 23 March

Had another encounter at the exact same spot as yesterday; this time I took the entire lane and still had a driver try to overtake me coming up to the lights. I think I'm going to have to velcro a hammer onto my handlebars to use to attract drivers' attention, beating on their car isn't doing my hand any good...

Distance logged: 15.114km
Time: 47:39
Average speed: 19km/hr
Max speed: 58.5 km/hr
Temperature: 7C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1866.468km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.15
Monthly distance: 582.451km
Monthly cost per km: $0.03

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Ride home for Thursday, 22 March

Windy ride home again, can't wait for it to calm down a bit!

Distance logged: 15.075km
Time: 51:39
Average speed: 17.5km/hr
Max speed: 38.4 km/hr
Temperature: 1C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1851.354km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 567.337km
Monthly cost per km: $0.03

Ride into work for Thursday, 22 March

Windy ride in, but for a change it was mostly tailwinds. Had a muppet beep his horn at me and shout that I should signal to turn left if I was going to turn left; shame I was going straight ahead...

Distance logged: 13.563km
Time: 40:20
Average speed: 20.2km/hr
Max speed: 58.5 km/hr
Temperature: -5C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1836.279km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 552.262km
Monthly cost per km: $0.03

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Ride home for Wednesday, 21 March

Stopped off at IdealBikes to see if I could swap some spokes; for some reason the last 8 spokes (going heads-in on the off side) were all sticking out 1-2mm beyond the nipples. I managed to find 4 spokes that would fit in my collection of assorted spare spokes, but didn't quite have enough to finish off the job, Dave was kind enough to swap out my (lightly bent) spokes for slightly shorter ones. Whilst I was there I noticed the handlebar mount of my Air Zound horn had fatigued and broken off; slightly surprising as I was expecting the metal fasteners to go first as they had almost completely rusted through. I think I've had my money's worth off the horn, as I've had it for almost 2 years, so it's about time to get a new one.

I also found out that Mike the Courier is a courier no more, and he's now working at Ideal - apparently he got fed up of the frequent accidents with cars, can't say I blame him...

Distance logged: 13.853km
Time: 51:12
Average speed: 16.2km/hr
Max speed: 41.2 km/hr
Temperature: -2C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1822.716km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 538.699km
Monthly cost per km: $0.03

The bikes I ride

Eric asked what sort of bikes I ride, and my opinion of them, so here goes:

Giant Iguana Mountain Bike: This is my beater bike, fully fendered, with racks front and rear. I have a custom 7 speed rear cassette I've put together out of a mix of SRAM and Shimano cassettes, starting with a Megarange (34t?) sprocket and going down to, I think, an 11t sprocket. Multiple lights on it for winter use (it's known as the "Starship Enterprise" down at the bike shop). Tyres depend on the season, I currently have Schwalbe Snow Studs on there, I'll soon (hopefully) be switching over to some 1.75" (ish) cyclocross semi-slick tyres, then when the good weather hits I'll be on 1.5" slicks. It's not a particularly comfortable bike for me, but no 26" wheel based bike is - I'm a shade under 6 foot 5, so all mountain bikes need a long stem and seatpost. I found some extra wide riser bars helped, too.

Giant Cypress: 700c based hybrid bike that I use for long distance touring. It's built up with extra low gears at the front and rear, handlebars and bar-ends are double-wrapped with cork tape, fenders and racks front and rear, and a fully sprung Brooks saddle. This bike will take a massive load; I did a trip up to Truro last year where the final weight on the tyres was 375lbs. It's usually overkill for commuting as it's geared so low, but it's good for going shopping with, especially pulling all the groceries up through Fairview. It's a very comfortable bike for me to ride, and I've done some pretty long distances on it; I think the furthest was just under 200km in a day.

Nishiki Olympic: This is a sport touring style steel road bike that I rescued from the trash. It was in pretty rough shape when I got it as it had obviously been sat in a garage for several years. I managed to restore over winter, and it came out pretty well. It started off with 27" wheels that got trashed when a driver pulled out of her driveway in front of me, and now it has 700c wheels. It's got cyclocross brakes on the top of the handlebar, and a mountain cassette on the back. No fenders or racks, but it has a handlebar bag on the front to carry stuff in when I'm riding longer distances. It's a fast bike, I can pretty easily keep up with traffic at around 50km/hr going along Barrington.

My general recommendations would be, primarily, to have more than one bike. Designate one of the bikes as a beater bike that can be used in all weathers, and have another bike for nicer weather. If you're riding hills (and at 12km a day, I would guess Eric is) a geared bike is pretty much required - at least if you want to keep your knees through the next decade, or avoid walking up all the hills. I found road cassettes to be too narrow on my road bike (since it has a compact crank set and I ride a lot of hills) so a mountain bike cassette did the trick - note that a long reach derailleur is probably required, though. The age of a bike doesn't have much bearing on the quality, and (for commuting purposes, at least) I'd say the older the better; newer bikes tend to be more lightweight and, as a result, more flimsy, whereas older bikes (especially steel bikes) are a lot harder wearing. The flip side is steel is heavier and rusts more easily.

My recommendation would be to go to your local bike shop and try out a few bikes to see what feels best; I'd definitely recommend trying out different types (mountain, hybrid, road). I know IdealBikes are happy to rent out most of the bikes they have for sale, and I'm sure if you find one you like and you take it out for the day they'd be happy to take the cost of the rental off the purchase price of the bike.

Ride into work for Wednesday, 21 March

Windy ride in. Rode some extra streets for the map, but when I got into work found that next to nothing had been mapped. Went digging around and found a handy site that calculated the GPS satellite constellation for me; there's currently only 5 satellites in view, and 4 of them are anywhere near optimum, so the GPS was constantly losing contact with the satellites. I vaguely recall reading that the satellites were being moved around to bring a new set in service, with any luck that should happen soon...

Distance logged: 13.011km
Time: 41:09
Average speed: 19km/hr
Max speed: 50.7 km/hr
Temperature: -8C, sunny, windy
Cumulative distance: 1808.863km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 524.846km
Monthly cost per km: $0.03

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Ride home for Tuesday, 20 March

Sunny ride home, although the brief shower of hail halfway home was a bit of a surprise. It was nice not to have to have the overmittens and winter gloves on, I managed to get away with full finger gloves and liner gloves.

Distance logged: 13.821km
Time: 53:08
Average speed: 15.6km/hr
Max speed: 39.7 km/hr
Temperature: 3C, windy, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1795.852km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 511.835km
Monthly cost per km: $0.03

Ride into work for Tuesday, 20 March

Windy ride in with snow pelting down. Only saw one other cyclist on the way in, I guess the brief blast of spring from yesterday was it till the weather turns again...

Distance logged: 12.730km
Time: 47:34
Average speed: 16.1km/hr
Max speed: 43.6 km/hr
Temperature: -1C, snowing, windy
Cumulative distance: 1782.031km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 498.014km
Monthly cost per km: $0.03

Ride home for Monday, 19 March

Plenty of cyclists out on the road today, I counted 26 on the way home...

Distance logged: 12.405km
Time: 47:22
Average speed: 15.7km/hr
Max speed: 45.2 km/hr
Temperature: 2C, sunny, windy
Cumulative distance: 1769.301km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 485.284km
Monthly cost per km: $0.03

Ride into work for Monday, 19 March

Late ride in as I slept in after working late. Took a short ride in as I was hauling a bunch of stuff back to the office.

Distance logged: 12.39km
Time: 39:28
Average speed: 18.8km/hr
Max speed: 58.4 km/hr
Temperature: -3C, sunny, windy
Cumulative distance: 1756.896km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 472.879km
Monthly cost per km: $0.04

Monday, March 19, 2007

Ride for Sunday, 18 March

Ride downtown and back to do the VPN upgrade that got postponed.

Distance logged: 25.782km
Time: 93:47
Average speed: 16.5km/hr
Max speed: 56.7 km/hr
Temperature: 3C to -3C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1744.506km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.16
Monthly distance: 460.489km
Monthly cost per km: $0.04

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Ride for Saturday, 17 March

The storm had finished up with freezing rain, which left a layer of ice on everything. The trucks had been out ploughing the roads and covering them with salt, the sidewalks were pretty much untouched. Went into IdealBikes after I went to the farmer's market as my front brake was sticking on the left side as some dirt had got into it. Mike was there looking very much the worse for wear after the Alley Cat the night before, but he managed to get my brake cleaned out and good to go.

It was tough riding back along the fire trail as it was sheet ice, but the 20kg or so of groceries in my front panniers did a pretty good job of weighting my wheel down enough to break through the ice and get a grip. I was glad to get home, though...

Distance logged: 26.475km
Time: 106:34
Average speed: 14.9km/hr
Max speed: 47.7 km/hr
Temperature: 0C to 3C, foggy
Cumulative distance: 1718.724km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.17
Monthly distance: 434.707km
Monthly cost per km: $0.04

Ride home for Friday, 16 March

My out of hours gig ended up getting postponed to Sunday due to the storm warning, unfortunately too late for me to attend the Alley Cat. It was a windy ride home, not helped by carrying a load of gear...

Distance logged: 10.744km
Time: 40:45
Average speed: 15.8km/hr
Max speed: 45.7 km/hr
Temperature: -3C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1692.249km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.17
Monthly distance: 408.232km
Monthly cost per km: $0.04

Friday, March 16, 2007

Ride into work for Friday, 16 March

Late ride in as I slept in due to having a late night scheduled for tonight. Storm warning is still on though so it's looking questionable whether it'll go ahead...

Distance logged: 19.170km
Time: 64:28
Average speed: 17.8km/hr
Max speed: 43.6 km/hr
Temperature: -6C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1681.505km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.17
Monthly distance: 397.488km
Monthly cost per km: $0.04

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Ride home for Thursday, 15 March

Wet and windy ride home. Stopped off at IdealBikes with my hub and got the right spokes this time (I hope!) - it looks like the hub that Dave measured off had different sized flanges to my hub, even though they're the same model.

There's a storm warning on for tomorrow (10-20cm of snow) which should make the Alley Cat (7:30pm at Gus' Pub) interesting. I'm supposed to be doing an out of hours upgrade on a bunch of VPN servers, I don't know if that's going to go ahead now...

Distance logged: 13.891km
Time: 51:23
Average speed: 16.2km/hr
Max speed: 37.2 km/hr
Temperature: 6C, cloudy, windy, rainy
Cumulative distance: 1662.335km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.17
Monthly distance: 378.318km
Monthly cost per km: $0.04

Ride into work for Thursday, 15 March

Rode into work via Bedford for a doctor's appointment. Had a tailwind there, which was nice, but it meant a headwind on the way back. Ended up riding via home as that was a bit more sheltered than riding along Bedford Highway.

In a rather binarily satisfying way, Blogger tells me this is my 1010th post.

Distance logged: 33.57km
Time: 118:56
Average speed: 16.9km/hr
Max speed: 58.64 km/hr
Temperature: 6C, cloudy, windy
Cumulative distance: 1648.444km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.17
Monthly distance: 364.427km
Monthly cost per km: $0.05

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Ride home for Wednesday, 14 March

Windy ride home, which was nice when I had a tailwind but sucked in the headwinds. Saw quite a few cyclists out, though - I guess the season has started now. I ended up in a mini-mass with 3 other cyclists along Pepperell, which was a first.

Distance logged: 15.89km
Time: 53:52
Average speed: 17.7km/hr
Max speed: 56.2 km/hr
Temperature: 11C, cloudy, windy
Cumulative distance: 1614.874km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.18
Monthly distance: 330.857km
Monthly cost per km: $0.05

Ride into work for Wednesday, 14 March

Spring seems to be showing its head, which means rain on the way rather than snow. Picked up some more streets for the map since the lack of traffic on the roads made travel a bit easier, went round some of the residential areas of the South End - which meant up and down some extraordinarily steep hills...

Distance logged: 18.37km
Time: 65:37
Average speed: 16.8km/hr
Max speed: 64.4 km/hr
Temperature: 4C, cloudy, breezy
Cumulative distance: 1598.984km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.18
Monthly distance: 314.967km
Monthly cost per km: $0.05

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Ride home for Tuesday, 13 March

Took advantage of the warm spell to do a bit of mapping.

Muppet of the day was the driver who came up behind me when I was stopped behind another vehicle at a red light on Veterans Memorial crossing Robie. The muppet decided to start leaning on his horn despite the fact the light was red, presumably because I had the temerity to be in front of him. He then sat behind me revving his engine and when the light turned green and I followed behind the car in front he leaned on his horn again. When I slowed down and looked behind me to see exactly what was going on the muppet had to lean on his brakes as he was way to close. He then tried to overtake me on the inside but was unable because of the road divider in the way. An incredulous pedestrian who was watching this shouted at the muppet something along the lines of "hey, what're you doing, he has as much right to the road as you do!" After overtaking me on Jubilee (narrowly missing the oncoming traffic while I was riding round a parked car) he pulled over and parked between Henry Street and Edward Street. His (female) passenger did not look happy with him at all...

Distance logged: 21.296km
Time: 70:18
Average speed: 18.2km/hr
Max speed: 49.8 km/hr
Temperature: 8C to 7C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1580.614km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.18
Monthly distance: 296.597km
Monthly cost per km: $0.06

Ride into work for Tuesday, 13 March

Lighter than usual traffic (thanks to March Break) meant I had an easier ride than normal. Saw my first "racer cyclist" of the year, all dressed up with a nice carbon fibre type bike. Shame about all the salt still on the roads...

Distance logged: 14.550km
Time: 49:01
Average speed: 17.8km/hr
Max speed: 52.1 km/hr
Temperature: -2C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1559.318km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.18
Monthly distance: 275.301km
Monthly cost per km: $0.06

Monday, March 12, 2007

Ride for Saturday, 10 March

Rode down to the farmer's market for my weekly shop and ran into Kayte; as it turned out it wasn't Mr Pants I saw, so Mr Pants' unwitting clone is probably wondering why he was shouted at by a cyclist on Friday. I also saw a couple of Massers there; I saw Angela as soon as I got in, she was there with her friend Kate (I'm guessing she was a Kate not a Kayte!), and promised she would be at this month's Critical Mass.

Stopped off at IdealBikes on the way home and picked up a set of pedal straps and traps for the sprog's bike. I also picked up an old set of Power Grips equipped pedals, in case they would do a better job, but it turned out they wouldn't - at least I got a spare set of pedals out of it, anyway. I headed home, dropped off the groceries and bike stuff, then went over to the new NSLC location on Kearney Lake Road. It is still being built, so there wasn't a huge selection, and I wasn't overly impressed at the complete lack of bike parking facilities - I ended up locking my bike to a drainpipe, but in the future I might end up taking my bike into the store with me...

I put the straps and traps on the sprog's bike and got him all set up with the stem raised way up and flipped around for easier reach - plus, note hipster fixie brakeless setup:



He rode the bike so much over the weekend that he managed to snap one of the straps, so I ended up replacing it with a piece of string as an interim measure.

After all this fun... I started coming down with something Saturday night, then started feeling worse and worse as Sunday went on, and ended up with the throat infection that my wife brought home. Somehow the sprog managed to avoid catching it, but the wife and I have been feeling pretty awful; I took the day off work today (Monday) and it wasn't until late this afternoon that I could stand up without having a dizzy spell...

Distance logged: 31.764km
Time: 113:53
Average speed: 16.7km/hr
Max speed: 52.5 km/hr
Temperature:
Cumulative distance: 1544.768km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.19
Monthly distance: 260.751km
Monthly cost per km: $0.06

Friday, March 09, 2007

Ride home for Friday, 09 March

I think I saw Mr Pants (other half of Kayte) on my way out of the car park, but his response to "hey! Is that you, Mr Pants?" as he rolled his truck to the card exit was understandably "hubloah?!" as he drove away...

Went into IdealBikes as I realised all the spokes I had were the same length. Dave had misunderstood me and thought I was building a front wheel, so he figured out the right length for the drive side spokes (only a couple of mm off, so I would probably have been OK anyway) and gave me some of the right length. He also commented that I just missed one of the readers of my blog; apparently she came in as she'd read about Ideal on my blog and wanted to see what it was about. Dave said that was because I was in so often, (go figure!), she left around 3 minutes before I came in though - so hello to the mystery shopper out there!

Dave Nauss came by and dropped off the sprog's new bike, which he had fun trying out but really needs straps to keep his feet in (since he has Cerebral Palsy his coordination isn't the greatest). I'll drop into IdealBikes in the morning (it's turning into a daily affair now!) and see if I can find an appropriately sized strap - I don't think clipless pedals will quite do the trick! The sprog has a full on hipster fixed gear trike, and his favourite manoeuvre is already the trackstand... He had his bike helmet on most of the evening, and it took some persuading to get him to take it off for (a very late) supper!

Distance logged: 12.701km
Time: 49:24
Average speed: 15.4km/hr
Max speed: 44 km/hr
Temperature: -6C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1513.004km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.19
Monthly distance: 228.987km
Monthly cost per km: $0.07

Ride into work for Friday, 09 March

Late ride in as I got an early morning page again (looks like Telus are having real problems on one of their edge routers). Took the opportunity to ride around the North End/Hydrostone area to fill in a few more streets on the map.

Gas jumped up again today to 112.5 - should be interesting to see if that affects the number of cyclists on the road, and how drivers treat cyclists. Based on past experience I'm guessing there will probably be a bunch of stroppy drivers on the road over the next week or so...

Distance logged: 19.023km
Time: 58:27
Average speed: 19.5km/hr
Max speed: 53.3 km/hr
Temperature: -15C to -13C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1500.303km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.19
Monthly distance: 216.286km
Monthly cost per km: $0.08

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Ride home for Thursday, 08 March

Stopped off at IdealBikes to see Dave to help out with an email problem he was having, and surprisingly enough my Rhyte Lite rim had arrived! I wasn't expecting that, it looks like I have something to do this weekend now. We figured out the spoke lengths required (or, more accurately, Dave measured it out and said things like "so, I reckon that's 610mm, what do you reckon?" and I nodded and agreed with him) and got all the bits together. I put the rim on over one shoulder and cable tied it on to by backpack and headed home in a slightly contorted fashion to avoid getting bumped on the back of my head every time my left leg pushed the rim up...

Distance logged: 13.265km
Time: 51:15
Average speed: 15.5km/hr
Max speed: 41.9 km/hr
Temperature: -12C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1481.280km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.19
Monthly distance: 197.263km
Monthly cost per km: $0.08

Ride into work for Thursday, 08 March

Got complimented by a pedestrian after walking my bike across the crosswalk on Connaught - "First time I've seen a guy on a bike walk his bike across that crosswalk!"; presumably the girls have no problem walking their bikes, or don't want a ticket.

Rode down Gottingen past the ruins of the North End Pub that caught fire yesterday; apparently members of a Slayer tribute band lived in the apartment above and lost all their gear. There was an excavating truck parked outside digging through the rubble that caused a massive tailback as far as Young; I just rode my way around it (although I had to swerve around a Clean Nova Scotia car that tried to jump out from a side street and cut me off).

Distance logged: 14.399km
Time: 46:25
Average speed: 18.6km/hr
Max speed: 52 km/hr
Temperature: -18C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1468.015km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 183.998km
Monthly cost per km: $0.09

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Ride home for Wednesday, 07 March

Pretty cold ride home, I had my laptop in my backpack doing some warbiking and it decided to shut itself down - first time that's happened!

Distance logged: 14.951km
Time: 56:02
Average speed: 15.9km/hr
Max speed: 40.6 km/hr
Temperature: -12C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1453.616km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 169.599km
Monthly cost per km: $0.1

Ride into work for Wednesday, 07 March

Chilly ride in, the cold snap is back in force - it was cold enough after the past few warm days I decided to wimp out and use some chemical hand and foot warmers.

Distance logged: 13.085km
Time: 43:39
Average speed: 18km/hr
Max speed: 59.1 km/hr
Temperature: -18C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1438.665km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 154.648km
Monthly cost per km: $0.11

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Ride home for Tuesday, 06 March

Took a short ride home as the cold was quite a shock to the system after the balmy temperatures we've had of late, plus the headwind on top didn't help matters.

Counted 12 cyclists on the way home thought, including Scott who was at Critical Mass last month.

Distance logged: 12.936km
Time: 49:38
Average speed: 15.6km/hr
Max speed: 36.9 km/hr
Temperature: -12C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1425.580km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 141.563km
Monthly cost per km: $0.12

Ride into work for Tuesday, 06 March

There was a light snow early this morning that was too late for the snow plough drivers to catch. It was rather enjoyable riding through 5cm or so of snow, although it sucked on the fire trail as I couldn't see where the divots from the ploughs were.

Rode down around the Hydrostone to pick up a few more roads, on my way back along Agricola I pulled up next to Dan (one of the IdealBikes mechanics as he was trackstanding at the lights. He mentioned he saw me and was wondering who could be riding with "so much stuff on their bike" and that he should have realised it was me. I peeled off down Kaye onto Gottingen as he continued off down Agricola.

Looks like we're in for another cold snap, the low over the next few days is -21C (-6F for imperially based readers).

Distance logged: 15.740km
Time: 54:46
Average speed: 17.2km/hr
Max speed: 46.1 km/hr
Temperature: -7C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1412.644km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 128.627km
Monthly cost per km: $0.13

Monday, March 05, 2007

Ride home for Monday, 05 March

Went into MEC at lunch to get a warranty replacement on my mirror, as mine fell apart. Picked up some more Tenacious Lube while I was there as mine was starting to run out (after almost two years of winter use - not bad!)

Dropped by IdealBikes after work to see about getting a new rim and spokes for my hybrid bike. I stripped the hub out of the wheel over the weekend and it doesn't look too worn, so I'm going to recycle that into the wheel. I've ordered a Sun Rhyno Lite, which (from what I read) is one of the strongest rims out there. Seeing how I managed to trash two wheels last year (admittedly one was from hitting a pothole going somewhere north of 50km/hr) I'm hoping this should keep me going for a while.

Distance logged: 14.760km
Time: 50:53
Average speed: 17.4km/hr
Max speed: 46.8 km/hr
Temperature: -1C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1396.904km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.21
Monthly distance: 112.887km
Monthly cost per km: $0.15

Ride into work for Monday, 05 March

Late ride in as I got paged last night. Stopped off at Nauss to see how the sprog's bike is coming along, the welded hub came back from the machine shop last week so it should be finished off this week; Dave was talking about delivering the bike towards the end of the week. Should be fun to see how to sprog takes to it!

Distance logged: 13.387km
Time: 43:28
Average speed: 18.5km/hr
Max speed: 53.3 km/hr
Temperature: -1C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1382.144km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 98.127km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Ride for Saturday, 03 March

Nice warm day after the snowstorm meant it was a pleasant ride down to the farmer's market, although the melting snow made a bit of a mess of the roads. Muppet of the day was the woman stopped in front of me at the red light at the intersection of Oxford and Quinpool and decided it was a good time to start rummaging through her handbag. After waiting behind her for 5 seconds or so after the light turned green, I beeped my horn at her to draw her attention to the fact that everyone was waiting for her. Without even looking up from her handbag she drove straight through the intersection. Her insurance company must love her.

The ride back was a bit rough going along the fire trail, I thought I'd try it just to see what it was like. Someone had been through before me on a bike and they didn't seem to have much fun either, veering from side to side. The worst parts were the clear spots where there was nothing but mud - it was faster to ride through the 5cm of slushy snow! I rode most of the way in the small ring in a mix of 1st and 2nd gear, not much fun at all.

Distance logged: 25.983km
Time: 92:09
Average speed: 16.9km/hr
Max speed: 59.5 km/hr
Temperature: 4C-7C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1368.757km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 84.740km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Ride home for Friday, 02 March

Did some riding around after work and hit the front of the snowstorm, I had a tail wind almost all the way back which made a pleasant change. The threatened 15-20cm of snow ended up being more like 5-10cm, although it was rather wet and heavy...

Distance logged: 16.920km
Time: 56:30
Average speed: 18km/hr
Max speed: 42.6 km/hr
Temperature: -1C, light snow turning to heavy snow
Cumulative distance: 1342.774km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 58.757km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Friday, March 02, 2007

Ride into work for Friday, 02 March

Late ride in as I got paged last night, so I took the opportunity to ride around a bit as I was trying to avoid the rush-hour traffic.

Muppet of the day was the cyclist riding on the pavement who thought that since I was also on a bike it was fine for him to ride straight across in front of me as if he was going across a pedestrian crossing. Since I was tooling along at around 30km/hr at the time, I had to swerve around him, and I just saw a pale white face with dropped jaw as I whipped past...

Heavy snowstorm forecast for this evening with 15-20cm of snow and ice pellets forecast followed by rain overnight, with another 2-4mm of rain forecast for tomorrow. Should make things interesting...

Distance logged: 19.08km
Time: 65:04
Average speed: 17.5km/hr
Max speed: 41.5 km/hr
Temperature: -6C to -4C
Cumulative distance: 1325.854km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 41.837km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Ride home for Wednesday, 28 February

Went riding down around the South End to pick up some more streets for the maps. Lots of joggers around, I think the various college sports teams are starting their outdoor training now.

No ride for Thursday as I stayed home to study for an exam. Despite the scary bug-eyed presenter on the Novell videos whose eyes followed me around the room doing her best to put me off, I managed to pass after 15 minutes of furious grepping through the course materials with a score of 90%. Hurrah for open book exams is all I can say. Since this is a salesdroid exam it's not quite as good a score as it sounds, if I'd concentrated a bit more (and, er, not eaten an entire bar of "Espresso Escape" heavily caffeinated dark chocolate while prepping for the exam) I could probably have got 100%. Oh well...

Heavy storm warning for Friday with 15-20cm of snow predicted. Not sure if the scheduled outage to upgrade a bunch of firewalls I have planned for a client during the evening is going to go ahead now. I don't particularly fancy sitting in a car with him going up to New Glasgow in a vicious snowstorm if the remote upgrade there goes horribly wrong...

Distance logged: 22.757km
Time: 80:26
Average speed: 17km/hr
Max speed: 48.7 km/hr
Temperature: 0C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1306.774km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.21
Monthly distance: 22.757km
Monthly cost per km: $0