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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Yesterday's windstorm (with Xtracycle pictures)

I have ridden my bike in countless thunderstorms, in a blizzard, and now, in hurricane force winds. I was lucky. Nothing bad happened to me other than a mess of tree limbs and leaves in my back yard. We only lost power for a few minutes.

Here are some pictures of yesterday's storm.

This is the fountain in the neighborhood pond. Usually it sprays about ten feet straight up. Not yesterday. It sprayed about ten feet to the side.

This is one of countless trees that were snapped.

A street sign was also destroyed.

Another tree cut down by the wind.

My neighbor's tree and playset.


















What is one to do after a storm like that? Go out and help the people who need it. The Xtracycle was the perfect tool for helping neighbors. The yard sweeper (I took off the bag because it was like a sail!) fit perfectly on the wide loader. The snapdeck was the perfect place for a rake. The other freeloader held the sweeper's bag, a small saw and yard waste bags.

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More on lights

Earlier today, I had to refill a propane tank. So, of course, I took the Xtracycle. After grilling a nice meal of kabobs, I decided to take the kids to the park. So, of course, I hooked up the bike train. After riding around for a while, it was time to bring the kids in and get them ready for bed. After reading Knuffle Bunny, I had to head back outside to put away the bikes. I was looking at the bikes lined up on my driveway and had the brilliant thought... Let's take a picture of all of the lights.

So here are the bikes...On the far left is the Trek with the trail-a-bike attached. The Trek has a Superflash on the seatpost and rear rack. The trail-a-bike has a Superflash on the chainstay.

In the middle is the bike trailer. I have the generic Performance Bike Flashpoints on that. Inbetween the Flashpoints is my helmet. I have Blackburn's Mars 3.0 attached to the back.

Finally is the Xtracycle. There are two Superflashes on the back of that.

Here is the picture....
(You know, I took drafting in high school. The only thing I remember from that class is that lines pointing at things should not cross. I'm glad I am not an architect right now.)

So I have the lights... Let's kick on the flash and see what we get. The piles of reflective tape really show up under the flash. Take a look...

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Latest load on the Xtracycle

Sorry that I have not updated in a while. I spent the Fourth away from technology.

Last Thursday, some guy stopped his car to ask me about the Xtracycle. As we were talking, he told me that recognized the bike. Of course, he thought I was Jamie from Bike Commuting in Columbus.

Here is the load I carried. Three things made the trip home great. First, the car seat made people think there was a kid on the back of the bike, so I had plenty of space on the road. The second was the the car seat acted like a sail in the tail wind.

The last great part of this trip was that I ran into the Safelite guy who repaired my wife's windshield earlier that week. While he waited for the epoxy to cure, we talked bikes. As he drove past, I saw a big thumbs up. It made that last stretch home a little bit easier.

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Crazy Guy at Kroger

Don't get me wrong. I am used to crazy people yelling things at me. I heard "Get a car!" and various other comments questioning my sexuality in the past week. Usually people yell at me from their car and quickly drive away. Today's crazy guy yelling at me was totally different. He came up to me in person.

"Hey! Hey, hey!"

I looked up from loading my bike. Usually when I hear that tone, someone is about to back into someone. Not this time. Instead, he is coming right at me.

"You," he yells, "on the bike!"

"Aw crap." I think to myself. This guy does not look normal. Still, I hope that he is going to ask me about the Xtracycle (which is carrying Lindsay's fishing pole, the girls' birthday presents, 22 pounds of ice and a 20 pack of Coors Light). Hope as I might, I don't think this is going to be a friendly meeting.

He is next to me now. "America was built on the car. The car is what made America great. You young kids today don't know what it is like to sacrifice." Really? O.K.

"When I was your age, I would have been happy to have a car. No, you have to ride some toy around. What's next? Are you going back to the tricycle?Maybe you want a horse and buggy! Gas may be expensive, but you can afford it. You know what the terrorists want? They want Americans to give up their way of life. If you give up your car, the terrorists have won. But people your age don't really care about that, do you?"

I am wondering why I lock my bike up so securely. If I would have just done the cable lock, I would have been riding off by now. Nope, I had to do the U-Lock and the cable lock.

"All you care about is whether you get something right now."

Don't worry about following his logic. I was there and I had no idea where he was going.

"Once you abandon America, the terrorists have won. We might as well have a 9/11 every day and you wouldn't even notice. It's all about you, isn't it!?"

At this point I started to ride away.

"Get on your bike you drunk! Don't think I don't see all that beer!"

Wow. This was a different type of crazy than I am used to.

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On a totally unrelated note, I found this while searching for the Grandpa Simpson yelling at a cloud. I thought it was funnier than the whole cloud thing, but it did not really fit in with the post.

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Xtracycle propaganda

I had family in last weekend. They saw my car and asked, "Why do you have that sticker?" My reply? "Xtracycle was out of these:"

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Xtracycle upgrades and pictures

To the left, you will see my most recent upgrade (?) to the Xtracycle.  It's not the GPS, look lower.  It's those fancy 1980s friction shifters.  

The original bike had no rear brake.  I had forgotten why I had done that.  It turned out that the wheel was so out of true that I could not get the brake to fit.  I bought a rear brake, trued the wheel, and go ready to hook the cables up.  Then I found out I was missing a nut that kept the cable from popping out.  I guess that sort of thing was important.

So, I went searching for another set.  The bike originally had the integrated index shifter and brake lever.  The problems was that I could not find what I needed (7-speed rear) in my price range.  Then, I looked through my box of various bike parts.  I found an old friction shifter.  I installed it and went for a ride.  The 20-year-old shift lever crumbled in my hand while I shifted.  But, it worked.  I went to Jenson USA and ordered the friction shifters and cheapest brake levers I could find.  

It took about about a day to get used to them.  "Do I push up to upshift or downshift?" But now I can find the gear I want without too much thinking.

A while back, I bragged about what the Xtracycle carried on its maiden voyage.  Sunday is shopping day, so I loaded it up once again.  This time, I took pictures.  

I won't give the entire list of what was carried, but it was a lot.  Both sides looked like this.  

Forgive the plastic bags.  Item number 5 on my to-do list was to change the filter on the fish tank.  Number 7 was clean up the dog crap in the back yard.  I hate the plastic bags as much as anyone else, but occasionally, they serve a purpose.  

Money not spent on gas:  $38.43

CO2 not released into the atmosphere:  241.56 pounds

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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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The Xtracycle Rolls

Wow...  this thing is everything people say and more.  I took it to church, the hardware store and the grocery store.  Here is what I carried on my first trip:

• 24 pack of CFL lightbulbs
• a whole house humidifier filter
• 1 dozen eggs
• 26 pack of diapers
• 1 pound of green beans
• 5 pounds of bird seed
• 2 packets of beef stew seasoning
• 1 pound of Reame's  noodles
• 1 pound of frozen dinner rolls
• 5 frozen loaves of bread
• 2 pounds of pork tenderloin
• 6 packages of shredded cheese
• cake mix with frosting
• 3 red delicious apples
• 1 onion
• 1 pound of carrots
• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 bunch of celery
• 12 chicken breasts
• 6 bratwurst
• package of butter
• box of cheerios
• 1 pound of bacon (Thick cut)
• 1 six-pack of beer

Amazing.  Simply amazing.

Money not spent on gas:  $23.63

CO2 not released into the atmosphere: 148.50 pounds

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The Xtracycle

I finally broke down and did it.  I bought the Xtracycle.  I have been eyeballing one of these for almost a year now.  I first saw it at the Trek Store here in Columbus.  I guess no one really wanted it because it was boxed up at the end of summer.  I went back into the Trek Store a month ago and saw the parts in a corner.  Just out of curiosity, I asked what they would ask for it.  The guy shrugged his shoulders and said $250.  I should have bought it then, but I did not have the cash.

Today, I had the cash.  I bought it and was told they would be able to get my bike in on Wednesday.  I told them I would do it myself, and took the box home.

The Xtracycle was easy to get together.  I think it was three bolts.  The chain was another story.  I have never put a chain on a bike.  I struggled for about 20 minutes, but it is working now.  All in all, it took a shade over 90 minutes from start to finish.  There are still a few things that need to get done, but this thing is ready to roll.  I can't wait for tomorrow.

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