commute

I'm cross-registered at two additional universities this fall, and one of them meets three day each week. I'm doing a lot of running around between campuses. There is temptation to drive, just to make things "easier", but I'm always glad that I rode. Even that day last week when I got caught in the rain midway, it was worth it. I will admit to wussing out and driving if it is actually raining when I am supposed to leave-- I just don't have the right gear to face the flood. But on days like today, perfectly brilliant fallish days with a crispness to the air but some warmth from the sun, it is grand.
And besides, with a ride like this, why on earth would I drive?

the perils of big hair

I won't tell you how often I lose my pen in my hair; only that it is embarrassingly frequent.

I often find it up there after I get home.

I ride a bike home.

With a helmet on my head.

natty

I'm in the market for a new helmet for moped-ing, and ohhhhh do I wish I had $200 to spend on one of these. (see more here)

welcome home present!

If this were China, I could fit a family of four on this thing!

bike to work day FAIL

I know that I ride to school quite regularly, and in the grander scheme of things that means more than a token ride in on Bike To Work Day, but the fact that it is said Biking Day makes it all the more annoying that ALL THREE of my bicycles are currently non-functional.  

My old red cruiser has been stuck in one gear for over a year, and is not built for commuting, even if it is only 4 miles each way.  That cute little bike is only meant for riding a few blocks to the corner store, or up the street to the park for a softball game.  Not for haggling with traffic on Grand Ave with 20 pounds of stuff on my back. 

My commuter bike, an ancient Trek with its glorious panniers and rugged frame is also currently stuck in one gear.  My twist-shifter twisted right off the other day, as I was going up a large hill, and is hence stuck in the going-up-large-hill gear, which translates to pedaling furiously and going nowhere on the flat and downhills.  Rideable, but annoying.  Also, the derailuer is funky and even the best mechanics can't fix it, so I'm waffling between dumping more cash into this beater or finding myself another commuter bike...

Which brings me to bike #3, my road bike.  Also an ancient Trek, but lightweight and zippy and I loooove it.  This is what I planned to ride today, but somehow somewhere something has gone awry with the back end, and the frame refuses to stay connected to the wheel.  Which is sort of crucial.  I was once involved in a very awkward slow motion bike crash in the middle of an intersection in front of 8 lanes of traffic when my frame came off my wheel while I was clipped in..... tiiiiimber.  Anyway, not wishing to re-enact that scene I messed around with it for a while, covering myself in grease before I threw in the towel and grabbed my car keys, already almost an hour late for work.

Grumblegrumblegrumble.

I'll be back on the bike soon, though. I promise!

product placement

I put my birthday money from my in-laws toward a new set of panniers. (Thanks D &D!)

I LOVE THEM.
They are amazing. The only time I was ever driving to school was on days when I had too much to carry, and now I can fit it all, plus some extra stuff just for kicks.

Anyway, they are amazing enough just for the fact that they carry so much while still being streamlined and not bulky, and they also load on and off of my rack really easily, but I hadn't tested their supposedly great water-proofness until today.

I snuck out of school early during a break in the torrent, in an attempt to make it home without getting drenched. No such luck. Not sure how well you can see it in this pic:


... but lets just say that my sneakers were making that squish-squish noise with every step.


But my stuff? My precious laptop & papers, without which I would be stranded and alone?
Bone dry. I am not even kidding you. This bag is amazing.
Go. Buy some now. I don't even care that you don't own a bike, these bags will make you want one, just so you can experience the wonder that comes from riding through a downpour for 20 minutes and then taking dry papers out of your bag.

In other exciting bike news, I also recently discovered that my fancy black boots fit perfectly into my toe clips!



Now I can ride to school looking like a bizarre combo between Dorothy & the Wicked Witch.

I was so content on my ride that I wasn't flustered one bit by the jackass in the conversion van honking at me to get off the road. I just caught up to him at the next light, flipped him off and rolled on my way.

storms a brewin'

No bike ride for me this morning.
The wild stripey morning sky quickly gave way to menacing clouds and then a torrential downpour.

one crazy block

In general, riding a bike slows down your pace enough to let you notice things you might speed right by in a car. But this is mostly true in areas where you would be driving kind of fast. In the city, you have to pay more attention to cars and traffic lights than potential interesting sights, at least along my busy route.

Today, the weather forecast called for a 80% chance of rain allll day long, and the sky looked so foreboding that I completely chickened out and drove to school. Then it didn't rain. At all. I was feeling like a total slacker on my way home, until, stuck in traffic, watching the bikes speed by in the bike lane, I looked over to the sidewalk and saw a seemingly normal looking woman with a cat on a leash. The cat was on her shoulder. Like a parrot. I looked left, across three lanes of traffic and saw a man on a large John Deere tractor. Making a left hand turn in six lanes of traffic.

And then, I SWEAR on my puppy, a flock of pigeons flew across the sky in the shape of Lenin's head.


Maybe I should drive more often.

transportation

DefectiveYeti had a funny post once about how commuting by bike fills him with his three favorite substances: endorphins, adrenaline and self-righteousness. At the time I was a daily bike commuter and could totally understand what he was talking about, but I have been driving to school a lot lately, since it has been so terribly gross out; cold, slick, and windy. I feel pretty guilty about this fact, as I live just 3 miles from school.

Back when I didn't have a car I took the bus every day that I didn't ride, so at least I could still keep up my sense of superiority. But now that I have car access for a few months this winter, and I discovered a street with free parking near campus, my resolve has gone out the window. That and the $3.50 round trip seems a bit more steep when its not my only option.

Today I caught a ride to school from Adam and took the bus home, which seemed like a nice, earth-friendly compromise, and my smugness was returning until we passed a biker on the way. Argh! Mocking me, in my not-yet-warm-prob.-won't-be-by-the-time-I-get-to-where-I'm-going car! ... Except:

And here's where I get on my high horse:

Except for the fact that it was way-way super icy slick out today, this guy was riding on Grand Ave., the busiest street in the neighborhood, and (most importantly) was NOT wearing a helmet.

If you ever want to raise my biker-ire, ride by with a baseball cap on. I'll yell at you from the sidewalk.

I mean, really, even if this oh-so intrepid biker had no other option to get to work on this treacherous morning <cough-bus-cough>, and hates riding the side streets (me too, I understand, it's out of the way), at least put a helmet on so that when the crazy Missouri driver next to you hits that patch of black ice and freaks out all over the road and right into you, there is something between your skull and the curb. I'm just saying.

Wow. Ok, so now I, my opinions, and my plethora of hyphens are going to bed.