Coffee to go - part two

A while back, I did a write-up on a coffee mug I was using for commuting. A year later, I am on my second mug.

The first one broke because I never did get around to making it fit tighter in the bottle cage. I was coming down a hill and hit a rather bumpy area. The original bottle bounced around and popped out of the cage. The stainless steel part was intact, but the plastic lid was in pieces.

If fixed that problem. Version 2.0 is fixed up with an old bicycle tube and electrical tape. Surprisingly, all the mug needed was the little bit of thickness under the rubber grip. I added the tube down the sides so that the rattle would not drive me bonkers.

So far, this setup has held up very well. I have used it every day since the weather has turned cold without a problem.

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Riding a penny farthing around the world

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to ride an authentic penny farthing bicycle. It was an embarrassing train wreck from start to finish. Getting on and off the bike was a mess. Bouncing around on solid rubber tires was painful. A quick trip around the parking lot was more than enough for me.

One of my favorite trip journals has been Joff Summerfield's journal detailing his trip around the world on a penny farthing bicycle. Give yourself plenty of time to read this. It is very much worth the time it will take.

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All hail the Superflash

There probably only a few commuters who have not heard of Planet Bike's Superflash. This is one amazing light. I have had mine since last spring and cannot imagine riding without them. I ride with one on my seatpost and another on my rear rack.

At night, this light will light up the neighborhood. I cannot tell you how many times I have been stopped at a stoplight and car will pull up to me to say I look like a police car.

At night it is easy. Bright lights are obvious. The real test came this week. Wednesday brought us the remnants of hurricane Faye. A pretty good rain was pouring down on me. It was overcast and gray. You probably know the creepy not quite light, not quite dark scenario. I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but I think this is when I am least visible.

At a stoplight, a driver commented on how visible I was. She told me, "I could see you as soon as I pulled out of Panera." I figured that was somewhere between a half mile to three-quarters of a mile.

Another driver asked me about the lights because he also rode. He said he had never seen anything like it.

This morning was another test. The two days of rain left Columbus with a heavy fog. When I got to school, my neighbor emailed me. He wanted to let me know that my bike was more visible than all other cars on the road.

If the brightness on this light is not enough to convince you to get one, keep this in mind... Planet Bike donates 25% of its profits to bicycling advocacy. That's not enough? How about free shipping on all replacement parts? Still not enough? How about free shipping if you are a member of any bicycling advocacy group? Planet Bike doesn't just have a great product, they also have a great company.

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Bike to Work Week -- part four

Earlier this week, Columbus's mayor Mike Coleman introduced the city's bike plan. I haven't commented yet because I wanted to read all 287 pages. Now that I have read it, I think this is a great project that I am excited to see put into action.

Here are the current bicycling accommodations on my end of Columbus:

If you are trying to figure out where I live, I live just north of Galloway Road.

The streets marked in yellow are the ones that have a wide, paved shoulder. That's it. I'm not sure what is considered a wide shoulder. On Galloway road the shoulder goes from three feet to six inches back to three feet, then back to six inches several times.

This does not mean this area is a dangerous place to be. I feel like I can hold my own on almost any road in the area. There are couple of hairy spots, but they are portions, not an entire trip.

Now I am as selfish as anyone. While I think the plan is a good one, what I really want to know is how will it affect me?

The map below is the proposed improvements. The green dotted lines are proposed paths. The blue dotted lines are where bike lanes are to be added to the road.

I have been joking with people that this plan should be renamed "Rick's personal bike routes." Every road I ride is being improved in some way. Trabue Road, the main road on my commute is getting a path. West Broad, which I use for almost all shopping, is getting bike lanes. The death trap called Hilliard-Rome Road is even getting some bike lanes.

While I joke that this is great for me, it is really great for the west side. These paths are being placed right in the main arteries of this side of town.

Please Columbus, make this happen.

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Road ID Review

About a week ago, my wife called me and asked that I pick up some milk on my way home.  When arrived home without the milk, she went through the roof.  Not because of the milk, but because of my reason.  I had left my wallet at home.  

She "strongly suggested" that I find some sort of ID to wear while I am on the bike.  (If you are married, you already know that there is very little difference between something being strongly suggested and being forced to do something.)  I have seen the link to Road ID on several sites, so I decided to check it out.

I looked around and ended up ordering one.  It showed up in the mail today.  I have to say that it is everything it claims to be.  I ordered the Fixx ID, which is the dog tag version. 

The nice thing about this is you can order a picture on the opposite side of the ID.  I looked at all of the biking ones, and they were all racers.  I'm not a racer, so I was not interested in that.  I would have loved to see a touring cyclist loaded with panniers humping it up a hill.  

Instead, I picked this graphic, titled "Location Earth."  I guess this is supposed to help me find my way back home if I am ever abducted by little green men.  

I'll be honest, I am a little worried about wearing this around my neck.  If an alien knows that we have kicked Pluto out of the list of planets and misreads this, I may end up on a different planet.  

One of the nice things about Road ID is that they offer coupons to whoever orders from them.  Here's my Road ID coupon:

ThanksRick366267

It's only good for 20 uses until 5/23/08.  I cannot promise that it will work for you.

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Review of Hot Shot Aqua Gloves

I was looking for fishing gear at Dick's a while back when I came across these gloves. It was a few days after deer gun season ended in Ohio, so these were in the clearance bin. I thought these would make perfect cool weather cycling gloves.

The tag said they were waterproof and windproof. They were the obnoxious blaze orange that help prevent hunters from shooting each other. The finger tips have a trigger grip that would be useful for picking up small things while wearing the gloves. They sounded perfect.

I have been wearing these for a while now. They have been great for being seen. In fact, if I have to deal with one more, "Them bright enough for you?" comment, someone might get hurt.
These gloves are also very warm. I have worn these with no other gloves on 25-30 degree rides with no complaints.

The palms are covered with some sort of fake leather. While it was not exactly bike glove padding, it did help with the "grippiness" on the handlebars.

I like these gloves, but they really need some work before I would recommend them to anyone.

First, they are neither waterproof nor windproof. I think they would easily fall into the the water resistant category. I do not want water resistant when I am riding in below freezing temperatures. The windproof claim is also false. In between each of the fingers is a nylon/spandex type material. The orange part and the fake leather parts are completely windproof. Imagine yourself on the drops of a bike. Those areas between your fingers are taking the brunt of the wind. Now imagine it is 30 degrees and your fingers are damp. That could lead to an uncomfortable situation real fast.



This picture shows my big issue with these gloves. After a few weeks of normal use, the cuffs began to separate from the rest of the glove. I will sew the back together before too long, but this is not an acceptable defect in the gloves. I might have overlooked the waterproof/windproof claim, but I should not be sewing them back together after less than a single season of use.

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Coffee to go

One of the more important things about commuting is finding a way to drink coffee on the way. Coffee warms the soul and gives me a little extra boost. No, not really. At this point, it merely prevents the headaches and the shakes.

There are a couple of places that specialize in carrying coffee on a bike, such as Bicycle Coffee Systems, or Soma's bike specific mug and mount. But, I tried to find many of the mugs on the Bicycle Coffee Systems website, but they always seemed to be out of stock. My handlebars are already cluttered with a GPS, light, and a bell, so I have no room for Soma's mug.

After a while of searching, I found this mug from Thermos. It has worked pretty well, so I am ready to write up a review of it.

One of the best things about this mug is that it has a cover for the spout. Commuting can be dirty business. I do not want to be drinking road grime with my coffee. The spout is completely covered. Although it has a little latch to prevent it from unexpectedly popping open, I have found the lid to be quite secure while being easy to open. It can even be opened with full gloves on my hand.

The other amazing thing about this mug is its insulation. This keeps my coffee hot -- not warm -- throughout any commute so far. This mug has even kept my coffee hot when I left it on the bike during church. It was outside in 20-25 degree weather for about an hour and a half. I walked out to hot coffee.

That does not mean this is perfect. The bottle is just a little smaller than my bottle cage so it rattles around like crazy. I have not exactly gotten used to it, but it is better than the alternative -- no coffee. I have been able to reduce the noise by taking the rubber grip and sliding it up just a bit. I have debated with wrapping the bottle with cork wrap to make the fit tighter, but I haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

I also worry about it popping out of the cage because it is not a tight fit. I would have to hit a heck of a bump to make it jump out. It does not mean it is impossible.

This is also designed for cold beverages. That means it has a wide mouth. You will have to be very careful with hot beverages. Crazy hot coffee will burn you. Since I brew my own, I can fix it by dropping in two ice cubes.

You will also have to be careful when washing it. Inside the lid is a blue o-ring. This can fall out. If that happens and you do not notice, you will end up with coffee all over the front of you.

Overall, this mug has worked out great. The downfalls are there, but not enough to make me want to stop using it.

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