Friday

Well, this week I've driven all week because I'm sick. Monday is a new month and back on the bike to see if I can break 12 days in a row. Have a great weekend everyone and get out and enjoy the nice weather.

Monday

Left after 2 and the rain had already turned to snow. Decided to stay off the roads and take standing bear and neighborhood streets.

Went through some water a little to fast.



The ride home after 8 was quite icy. The traction was ok between the tire tracks. Wind and temps weren't as bad as a couple Saturdays ago when that cold front came through.

Monday

Mondays suck after taking a vacation. Seeing you desk with a mountian of work on it just makes me want to go home and crawl into bed. Drove to work today, we got home late last night and I didn't want to stay up getting everything ready. Weatherman says 1-3 inches of snow. It was 60 in Ft. Collins yesterday. I'm ready for spring.

Wed & Thurs

Since getting free parking for the rest of the month it makes it much easier to drive the car. Plus the below 0 temps help make the car sound more attractive. I feel I may be coming down with what ever is going around these days so it may be the car for the rest of the week:(

Tuesday

Quiet ride in this morning. Saw a very prudy sunrise out my window this morning but by the time I was on the road it was cloudy. I have to drive to Lincoln tomorrow morning to fix a printer so I might just say "screw it" and drive to work once I'm done. It's supposed to be cold as s#$t! Plus, the woman I sold my parking spot to dosen't like it so she said I could have my parking tag back for the rest of the month if I wanted since it's paid for. I don't know if the guilt of driving will eat me up inside or not. I've been debating it all day.

Week 3 Monday

So it's the start of week three of my commuting challange and it just keeps getting easier. It's funny now when I look back and think of all the excuses I used to make not to ride to work. All it takes is a little planning and effort. Spring is just around the corner. I can't wait!

This week will be a 4 day work week because I'm taking Friday off. Heading Colorado for some snowboarding.

Week 2 Friday pm

So Friday on my way home I swing by Rox's and Ryan's house to pick up some hockey tickets. I take Leavenworth from downtown all the way to Saddle Creek. To my suprise I see that Leavenworth Street is already wide enough for a bike lane and all that is needed is some paint. Ok city officials if your reading this, please paint some bike lanes on this road. How much easier could this be?

Week 2 Friday. Yes!

I feel like I'm now officially a commuter. Two weeks of riding and it feels great. Not one day missed. No excuses, I just get my stuff on and go. My only hope is that I can keep excited and stay with it. It's going to be tuff when spring gets here and I want to ride my motorcycle though.

Today I was able to put my belt on a tighter notch. Makes me think back to fall when I had to loosen it one. I hope spring gets here early because I'm ready to start riding more after work and on the weekends.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Week 2 Thursday

It was a very nice ride in today. I was having the "calm before the storm felling" though because I think the ride home will be much different today. It's supposed to get windy and COLD. Didn't get to see much of a sunrise because of all the clouds.

Happy Valentines Day.

People Power

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beF_gjnwU5E

Week 2 Wednesday

It's going to be a heat wave today. High of 32 before it gets cold again. Friday's low is -2, burr. Man I can't wait till the days when I can wear shorts and a t-shirt to work. I feel like a freak walking around my building all bundled up and carrying my snowboard helmet. Oh well, it beats scraping the windows on my car and letting it warm up for 5 minutes just so I can drive 3 miles to work. I haven't driven my car in three days. It's going to be great not having to fill up my tank every week. Now I'll have more gas $$ to take bike trips. Speaking of bike trips, the first Landahl race is only 18 days away.

There was a great sunrise this morning. I just love riding in with the sun warming me up. Threw and extra blinky light on the back of my helmet today. I want to be seen by the folks driving into the bright sunshine.

On a lighter note, I've lost 5 pounds since I started commuting. It's like loosing weight without even trying. Now if I can only stop drinking beer and eating junk I should be in good shape by summer.

Week 2 Tuesday

It was a few degrees warmer today so I ditched a layer since I was sweating like a pig yesterday when I got to work. Nothing exciting to report except when I got to work they wouldn't open the dock doors to let me in. I called security and they said they can only open them for delivery trucks. Humm, lets see. You will open them for a truck that could have a bomb in the back but you can't for someone who works here that's riding their bike to work. That makes a lot of sense. So I had to find the bike rack in the bottom level of the parking garage and take the public elevators to my office.

Before, I was able to come in through the dock doors and get on one of the freight elevators to my office. Now, I get to have all the suits stare at me with all my bike stuff in the elevator.

So after all the extra running around I had to do I was a little late for work today. I'm going to have a little talk with whoever is in charge of security and see if I can talk them into letting me in the dock doors.

Just when I get my routine running smoothly I run into this roadblock.

Week 2, Monday am

3 degrees when I left the house this morning. I wasn't looking forward to it but once I got out there and moving it felt like any other day. All I needed was an extra layer and I was fine. Oh, and grab my face mask. Can't have any exposed skin at those temps. I picked up some new insulated/windproof cycling pants at the Trek Store and that helped.

I've also noticed that I'm feeling more comfortable with everything and I can enjoy the ride more.

Day 5 pm

Week one is in the books. Had a nice ride home. Saw Shim in his car at one of the lights down town.

One thing I noticed after riding for a week is now riding to work feels normal. I don't miss scraping my windows, warming up my car, paying for gas/parking or walking from my parking spot to my building. I still have a few things to get more dialed in, but I'm really enjoying it:)

Day 5 am

I'm happy to report that I'm one ride away from completing my first week of commuting. I may have to celebrate tonight with a margarita or two. It's not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Once you get your route and routine down it's easy.

One thing I love about riding into work is seeing the sunrise. It just feels good when the sun is poking over the horizon and hits you with some rays.

Nothing exciting to report from the morning ride. I'm feeling more and more comfortable riding next to traffic. I still get a few close calls now and then but nothing too bad (knock on wood). Have a great weekend everyone.

Day 4 pm

I had a Dr. appointment yesterday afternoon so I left work early and was going to ride there. Get my bike out and notice the wheel is rubbing on the frame pretty bad now. Change of plans, ride home and drive to the Dr.

The ride is starting to get easier now that I have a good route. It's funny how in this town if you take a street that is over a block or two the hills can be much bigger or smaller. Anyway, I get home with no problems ditch my bike and drive my car to the Dr.

After I got home from the Dr. I took my rear wheel off and trued it up. I think it was the first time I've touched that wheel but it had a bunch of loose spokes and was badly out of true. I got it straight again and put it back on. Good as new and ready for the ride tomorrow.

Day 4 am

It was a little colder today so I decided to grab the snowboard helmet and goggles. It's nice having warm eyeballs in the morning. So my streets are still snow covered but I decide to ride the cross bike anyways. Made it to the Field Club trail and it was almost clear with a few ice patches. Tried Mundsons route suggestion and liked it so it will be go (Thanks Mike).

So I was going down Douglas Street just getting ready to turn onto 17th and go into my building when I decide to downshift into 1st. All of the sudden my chain goes into my rear wheel. I grab the rear brake and lock it up till I get to a stop (luckly no one was behind me). Look at my wheel and see it's now rubbing. I guess all those rear wheel curb contacts tweeked it a little. So tonight guess what I'll be doing. I'm also thinking of getting a commuter bike, one with a internal rear hub. All this road grime, snow and salt are not good for shifters and derailleurs. I was thinking about a Trek Soho 4.0.

So I get to work and my badge won't open the dock door. I call security and ask them to open it. Sit there for a few minutes and wait then a truck leaving opens the door and I ride in. Then some security guy comes up to me like I'm sort of terrorist asking me if he can help me. I'm like no, I work here. He says "let me see you badge". I show him and he lets me go. Thanks Mr. Security guy. That's the second time this week I've been stopped. Get used to seeing me.

Day 3 pm

Nothing too exciting to report on my ride home other than I had to swing by Walgreens and Hy-Vee so it added about 15 minutes to my ride. I didn't get to try the new route Mundson suggested so I will try it on Thursday.

Oh yea, I did almost get run over about three times. Twice in the parking lot at Hy-Vee. The other one when I was just riding down the street.

So I just turned off Center onto 45th street by McFly's and I'm riding past the apartments behind the bar and this car coming my was starts to veer straight towards me. I'm like WFT and grab my brakes. This dumb ass then locks up her brakes and slides into the curb about two feet in front of me. I stop and I'm yelling at her through her side window. WTF are you doing, trying to kill me? She just sits in there looking straight ahead. I didn't know what else to do so I just rode away.

Day 3 am

This morning I had to drive to Lincoln to do a laptop sweep and fix a printer so my ride to work was a bit later than normal. I left the house about 11:30 for a nice ride in.

Since my street wasn't plowed I had to fight my way to the Field Club trail before I could get any speed going. It was great seeing the trail already plowed and it was easy going till Woolworth where I get off the trail. Woolworth wasn't bad till I got going down the hill from 32nd ave to Park Ave. It is a very steep downhill with a very steep uphill. Cars always get stuck going up this and usually turns into ice from all the cars peeling out. Needless to say I hit a major ice spot at high speeds towards the bottom of the hill and I about shit myself when I got into a high speed tank slapper. I was able to keep it upright and barely squeezed by the car stuck on the hill.

Once I got past Park Ave I take 29th street to Leavenworth. 29th street was not very packed down so I was having a tough time getting through. I will know better next time we get this much snow and to ride my mountian bike. Leavenworth street was mostly clear so the rest of the way was easy. The last picture is a shot of the building I work in.

Day 2 pm

So there was a little bit more snow on the ground for the ride back to westroads to pick up my car.
The roads downtown were ok but some of the sidewalks were bad. I was having to ride on some of them and it was tricky not knowing where the curbs were.


I swear this town is either up hill or down. I left work and headed up Douglas till the top of the hill around 25th or so and cut over to Farnam. The hill up Farnam past Mutual was a bitch. Then when I got to Saddle Creek I hit the neighborhood up the next hill. That was a mistake, I should have just stayed on Farnam because the neighborhood was slippery and the snow was deep.


Once I was at the top of the hill at 50th I cut back over to Farman and took that to Dodge. Rode the sidewalks from Memorial Park to Westroads.

Most of the sidewalks were not cleared so it was slow going trying to keep moving with those skinny tires in that deep snow. The final climb from 84th and Dodge to just past 90th almost killed me. I was going through 2ft drifts at the top of the hill. By the time I got to Stan Olsen I was delirious. The people there were staring at me in disbelief when I walked in covered with snow. It's a great day for a ride is what I told them.

Day 2

Well todays commute was a little bit more of an adventure. To start with I had to take my car in for some work. So instead of riding from my house I got to ride from Stan Olsen Subaru at the Westroads. Right when I left the car stealership it started snowing. I decided to take Blondo to the Keystone. Once I got to the Keystone it was first tracks. Just around the corner from where this first picture was taken is where I had an unexpected surprise.
Bam, I'm down in an instant. If you look closely at the picture you can see how my back end started coming around on me. Then you can see my front tire start to slide, then my foot mark and finally my butt bounce into a 20 ft slide. I felt like I was sliding on a hockey rink.
Luckly nothing broke, my left shifter/brake lever was a little pushed in but that's an easy fix.
After taking a few shots I'm back on the bike and being more cautious this time. I'm heading over the bridge between 24hr fitness and Dodge and shortly after I go down again.
Damn, this is getting old. This time I went down on my rear der and broke off one of my blinky lights.
Now I'm starting to get mad. I was only hoping my shifting isn't all jacked up. Throw my broken light in my bag and check my shifting. All seems ok, so I get back on and tip-toe the rest of the way to Aksarben. I had to take a detour back home to get my snowboard helmet and goggles since my glasses were not working well in all the snow. Ended up riding 1hr 10 min and probably around 10 miles. The snow is still falling so the ride home should be another adventure.

Day 1 Commute

Well, I finally did it and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. When I stepped outside today to check the roads I all most fell on my butt. After that I started wondering if I should wait till tomorrow. Finally, I said screw it and got dressed.

I was amazed at how much grip I could get from my cross tires. I only hit one slick spot and the rest was fine. Took me a total of 23 minutes. Not sure about the mileage but I think it's around 3 miles. Now I just need to get my route and my routine more dialed in.

Only one close call to report. So I'm riding against traffic on the sidewalk on 20th between Farnam and Douglas when I come to an intersection crossing Douglas. It's a green light so I'm riding in the crosswalk and some A-Hole driving a Hampton Inn Van starts turing left onto Douglas street. I have my lights flashing and he finally stops a few feet before hitting me and honks. I should have stopped right there and put my bike in the cross-walk and went and had a talk with this guy. Oh well, next time. I continue across Douglas and get on the sidewalk and this jack ass is still honking and pointing. Next time I'll have my camera in my pocket so I can snap a picture and call his employer.

So overall day one was a good ride in. I'm still alive and feel good having done a little exercise first thing.