Class

Please excuse this rambling.

I just got back from volunteering time at Community CycleWorks, where I allowed some well-heeled folks to take test rides on my X. That was fun and I'm glad others got to have that experience. Then came reality of helping folks with their bikes. I'm not much of a mechanic yet, but I have a good sense of how things work and can do some basic maintenance. I ended up spending 2 hours there. While there I helped do such simple repairs as properly setting a kickstand and feeding a chain through a derailleure. I also worked on diagnosing some derailleure problems, doing a complicated repair on a tandem's rear wheel (flat tire, messy cable ends, poor wheel alignment) owned by some developmentally disabled friends, and more. At one point, a person helping out came up to me and started talking about volunteering as a way to stay clean and sober. He was spending time there to be of service until he can find work and reasonable housing for his family. When he found out I was a social worker he asked me for a referral to a mental health program. Later, I walked out of the shop in time to overhear a well-heeled couple walking by and snickering to themselves about the used bikes and the concept of such an effort. I kept my mouth shut, though I had a few choice thoughts.

So, right here and right now I'm grateful for all the resources I've had in my life that allow me to compose this message on a state-of-the-art home computer and have the perspective to recognize socioeconomic disparities as something very real - not something that happens "out there," but right here in front of my eyes. I'm grateful for my X and grateful I have a choice of whether to ride it or drive my pretty well functioning car down pretty well maintained roads.

More power to all of you who spend time volunteering in places where many need help with their bicycles, where ever you may be.

-Phil

Tail Wind

Yesterday I had the luxury of tail winds on the way in to work and on the way home from work. The morning ride was very humid, cool, and windy. I couldn't believe how the tail wind helped on my ride to work. While the big climb was still big, it was easier. I usually stick to sidewalk along the last section of major roadway, but chose to ride in the street instead. Acceleration was very quick and I wound up accelerating in my top gear while going ascending the last rise. I could almost keep pace with traffic for the last 100 yards or so.

Riding home was not so wild, but was a very nice change, since I've often had head winds and lose the benefit of descending into town. I later picked up the kids and took both home. That was more challenging as I was carrying/pulling both while heading into the wind.

Mileage: 5 miles commuting. 1.25 to pick up the kids. 1.25 with the kids. Total of about 7.5.

Ask for the sky

Yesterday I asked if someone in housekeeping could sweep out the bike shed or point me to a broom I could use to do the task. This afternoon I found the shed well swept out. Wow... that's a great response time. I'm glad to be working in such a place. I also asked if someone could put in a plexiglass window to allow for more light into the space, thus leaving the bikes less vulnerable to someone pilfering/stealing from property in the shed. I'll be astounded if that actually happens. 

Rode to and from work today with a small side detour to pick up son at afterschool childcare. Total riding, maybe 3.25 miles.

Of Bikes and Balloons

Did absolutely no riding yesterday - felt strange. It was a very wet and chilly day.

Chose not to bike commute this morning due to a variety of afternoon errands. Did bike to pick up my daughter from childcare and took her to Monday night at Grandma's. My wife also rode over. Going home, we swapped the trailer from the X to the "red bike" and my son rode home on the back of the X. Earlier, we bought and delivered balloons for a birthday gathering, not thinking that my wife would also be biking. So, we simply put the balloon weight in the trailer and had the balloons bounce around behind. So, we had a small, two person bike parade on the way home. :-)

Total riding today: maybe 3 miles.

Off to bed!

Social biking

I hitched up the child trailer to the back of the X this morning and took both kids to the birthday party for a now 3 year old friend. It's a nice feeling to not feel winded or overly hot after about a mile. I did not bring enough layers for after I arrived - the party was outside - and was getting a bit chilly until I put on my biking vest and a borrowed hat.

Another discovery, I can flatten our child trailer quite easily while still leaving it very roadworthy. This makes it a lot easier to pull when our daughter is not riding in the back. When she is in the trailer, her weight adds momentum which helps push the trailer through headwind. When she's not in it, it sometimes feels like I'm pulling a parachute. I guess that could be useful for strength training, but it's really not helpful when I'm simply going to pick her up or after I drop her off. I did this trick for the second time this afternoon after my wife took our daughter home by car after she returned from a bird count this morning.

Last, my wife and I went out for dinner after dropping off our kids. It was really quite pleasant to bike together on a date without the kids literally in tow. 

Total riding today: about 3 to 4 miles.

Interesting development

Yesterday was spent, in part, at a pig roast, where I got to help de-bone the meat after roasting. I enjoyed the company of friends as we prepared to celebrate one friend's 40th birthday and graduation from college. It's always inspiring to me when folks go back to school and further themselves. This friend dropped out of high school and never thought he'd amount to much in his life. He was inspired by service with Mennonite Voluntary Service and eventually went to college. He was voted student of the year in his discipline this year and his field instructor patiently waited for him to make other job decisions before hiring him with a few years experience credits and multilingual capacity. What a great story! Did I mention he's the first person in his family of origin to graduate from college?

What was amusing/interesting to me: I took my bongo board along to the roast. I've been using a homemade bongo board (1" x 12" x 30" shelf quality board with grip tape and a 4" OD PVC pipe about 18" long) to work on my balance and core strength. I also bought a wobble and balance board for use inside with my kids a couple of months ago. Along with all the biking I've been doing, my legs are getting pretty strong and my sense of balance is getting pretty good.

Back to the roast: I broke out the bongo board and invited some friends to try it out. I demonstrated for a while, not realizing I was keeping the board off the ground for an extended period of time. I also shuffled my feet in to center myself while I had my hands in my pockets (I was a bit chilly). My friends joked I was making it look easy. I wasn't trying to - I was simply doing what I do. Well, just about everyone else wound up see-sawing side-to-side, banging the board hard on the sidewalk. One friend took quite a flyer and, thankfully, didn't get hurt. I had no idea I'd gained that strength/capacity. I later took the bongo board to the real party (many guests and lots of great food). The board was great entertainment for kids and a few adults.

Total mileage yesterday: maybe 2 miles. The weather was very blustery and colder later in the afternoon. We would up using the cars in the evening.

Purpose

This blog will be a way of tracking my bike related activities. I don't really anticipate a lot of traffic here, but if so, you're welcome.

Today, I commuted by bike to work. It's a 5 mile round trip. There's one big hill on the way in and a few scary spots along the way (rural highway with little or no shoulder).

There was heavy dew and mist at times. It was hard to stay comfortable in that cool super humid weather.

Rode home with a nice tail wind and really flew along, kept pace with some traffic. Fun to do on my X.

Got home, attached the child trailer, then went to pick up my kids. Daughter rode in the trailer and son rode on the back of the X. That was another 2.5 or so miles. Rode back later to help my mother-in-law - another 2.5 miles. Picked up my son after kid's group at church - another mile.

Got to play with the new Ultimate Sport Mechanic workstand that arrived today. Great tool! (thanks for the referral, Devian). Figuring out how to use it with the X is fun. So much easier to work on the X. Also learning to use a few other tools. Scraping the rust off old memories of bike maintenance. How satisfying to easily adjust brake cables and derailleure and immediately feel the improvement. Hooray!

So, a total of about 11 miles riding today - and that's all for work and chores. Nice to know that saved about a third of a gallon of gas or so. Fantastic weather, too.