2008 - A review

The original purpose of this blog was to highlight my utilitarian trips by bicycle. I have always enjoying bicycling, but I did it more as a sport or pleasure. It was occasionally a mode of transportation. If it was a really nice day or my car broke down, there was always the bike.

In 2008, I changed that. I looked at my bike as the first vechicle and my car became what I used when I could not use the bike. The only thing I miss about driving is listening to the radio at ungodly loud volumes.

I really began slowly. It was a trip to the grocery store or church. Then I would try school every once in a while. Eventually, I began riding to school every day. There were times in 2008 that my car sat in the driveway for more than two weeks.

By the end of 2008, I had ridden a hair more than 3000 commuting miles. (I did not count pleasure rides.) That is more than 1000 more miles than my original goal. To put that into some sort of perspective, I put roughly 6000 miles on my car during 2008.

There are a number of things that I learned throughout the year...

• Those white lines that are painted on the road to tell the cars where to stop get very slippery in rain.
• There is nothing better than riding in a snowstorm.
• Riding with kids is awesome.
  
• There is an art to dressing for the rain. I have tried more than once to create a post about it, but I have a hard time putting it into words.
• After a while, the cars really do begin to get used to you being on the road.
• The worst thing about doing a blog is the guilty feeling about not updating it.
• The second worst thing the shamelessly promoting it.
• I really need to take better care of my bike chain.
• Other than my email, the only website I check every day is Yehuda Moon.
• There is a certain peacefulness to riding everyday.
• If I do not ride, I start to get crabby.
• Golf courses have a funny smell.
• Beer tastes better after a long ride.
• Beer tastes better during a long ride.
• I can carry anything I want on the Xtracycle.
• Secretly, I like it when people are amazed that I rode on a bike.
• I really need to get my backspace key fixed on my keyboard.

2009 has the potential to banner year for me. I have some great plans. I hope to share them with you all as they happen.

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One ba-jillion words for snow

I once heard that the Eskimos have something like a ba-jillion different words for snow. If you look around on the internet, you will find that "wa-ter" is the Eskimo word for melted snow.

Today I rode through what the Eskimos call feelslikeyouarebeinghitwithfrozenmarbleslata.

A more detailed cold weather write-up is coming soon.

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White Death

I woke up around 3:00 this morning. There was a light dusting of snow outside. I did not even think about it. After all, the weather people have been calling for snow for a few days now. This little bit of snow wasn't really any cause for concern. After falling back asleep, the alarm clock went off around 6:00.

At 6:00, there was maybe 1/32 of an inch of snow on the ground. I did not think much of it until I turned on the television. Oh boy, it was only then I realized the peril we were all facing. Slippery roads, low visibility... Please leave early to make sure you don't die on your way to work.

Despite the warnings of certain death, I still go on the bike this morning. I rode in the weather that causes normal people to hoard bread and eggs. It was cold. There was a short period where the snow fell pretty heavily. I escaped unscathed.

The best part? Riding over the Route 70 overpass and seeing traffic backed up. I know that when traffic is backed up at the Wilson Road overpass, I am actually making it to school faster than I would if I were driving.

All this over a light dusting of snow...

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Ohio weather, you gotta love it

Yesterday  I had to run some errands.  I think I was out of the house for a tad over an hour.  While I was on the bike, I rode through rain, hail and snow.  I love this stuff.  

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Do you want to be my friend?

I found this during some random googling last night.

65%

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Biking in a blizzard

As a Boy Scout I learned a very important phrase. "Be Prepared." My friends and family all laughed when I would diligently put one bottle from every six pack into storage. It took a while, but I ended up with more than 150 bottles of beer. (The two other boxes also contain beer.) My family may be out of milk and lunch meat, but I have plenty of beer.Even so, I felt the need to go out today. Getting milk and lunch meat would have been nice, but the real reason I wanted to head to the store was so that in 50 years, I can say, "You kids have it easy today. Fifty years ago, I rode my bike in a blizzard." This ranked among the top 50 stupid things I have done.
The snow is about knee deep. I figured if I was in the tire tracks left by the cars, I would be fine. Wrong. Even though the cars made a decent path, the snow was still about 3 inches deep. I was sliding all over the place. I fell more than once.

My wife snapped another picture as I slid down the street. She liked it because she likes to see people fall down. I liked it because the guy in the background watched me as I rode past and just shook his head.

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Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter

Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter

Robert Bly

It is a cold and snowy night. The main street is deserted.
The only things moving are swirls of snow.
As I lift the mailbox door, I feel its cold iron.
There is a privacy I love in this snowy night.
Driving around, I will waste more time.

Each year, I hold a poetry contest in my classroom. I throw about 200 poems at the kids and have them narrow it down to 32. Then, we have a little march madness type of tournament. Every year, this poem has made it to the final four. It's never won, but it is always one of the favorites. There is often a strong debate about whether this poem is about the beauty of a snow storm or the quietness of privacy.

I thought about this poem last night. It started snowing last night and I wanted to be out in it. I hopped on the bike and just rode around the neighborhood for an hour. I took one of the paths that led to a field and stood there. I rode the path around the pond and watched the ducks. I sat down on the park's bench and saw the snow pile up.

Sometimes one has to sit in the middle of nature in order to enjoy it.

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Snow Days

Today's trip was more of a "I have to get out of the house" trip. School was canceled on Tuesday because it was cold and snowy. It was probably to treacherous to be out. It may have been a good thing to call off school. Today, it was... well... it was just a tad bit worse than it was when they called off school because the roads were too wet.

Still, I went out. It was not as bad as I would have thought. In fact, I would have ridden a little further if I would have been able to shift gears. I took the Univega out and the derailleur and the rear cog ended up frozen solid. This was the only time I wished I owned a fixed gear bicycle.

Rides like this are what grounds me in cycling. It was cold, but not unpleasant. In fact, I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be out in the weather. Really. I was on the bike in 20 degree weather and snow covered roads. But it was fun. The lady who yelled "You're crazy!" was right on target.

A while back, another blog asked "why do you commute?" When an overwhelming majority answered, "Because it is fun." Someone had the nerve to complain. Waaahhh.... you should ride because it is good for the environment. You should ride because the evil oil companies will suffer. Nope. I do it simply because I enjoy it.

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