0 comment Thursday, August 14, 2014 | admin
On Wednesday evening, I pulled into Washington D.C. after an 1850 mile drive in over the course of five days. It was a sad farewell to my house, sister Erin, and her dog Barkeley, to say nothing of the genuinely kind and numerous farewells from all of my friends and fellow commuters in Denver (hey everyone, thanks for not letting me pay for any meals last week =)
The journey itself was great, and the entire time I was outrunning a cold front, so when I called the people I stayed with the prior day, they were always bracing for cold and rain, while I had great weather. This was a great luxury, as I happened to have five bikes on the exterior of my car to deal with
I had to reinforce the rear on the advice of my dad with a bike lock cable supporting it from the roof rack when I pulled into Wichita. There was so much torque, the Yakima rack was twisting some of the steel that made up my trailer hitch. I was lucky to get to DC with everything intact, some of the plastic on the rack had already broken halfway through, and the bolts holding the tandem securely were pretty loose by the time I stopped. I think I'll have to find an REI out here and trade in the old Yakima rack, I don't think it passed my ultimate test.
Aside from equipment failure, it was a pleasant haul. Here's what Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas look like from I-70
Eastern Kansas has a bit more to offer. My dad and I had the idea that we'd go to the Flint Hills tall grass prairie reserve and pedal around, but unfortunately, no bikes allowed. Dogs are OK, though, so we brought Cosita the Dachsund on a bit of a walk. Apparently this is the time of year where Coyotes fatten up on the now wingless locusts that are everywhere
Also interesting, in Kansas, these are called hills
A little different from the Front Range "foothills", but compared to the absolute flatness of everything else, I suppose this counts.
Missouri had some beautiful cow pastures, and this gem, Camo-Flame paint work
Leaving the great state of Missouri behind, I realized I was bound to end up near Louisville Kentucky by the end of the day. Scrolling through my mental rollodex, I thought I'd call up some of my friends I made from Humana during the Freewheelin' project. I was going to meet up with Chris for dinner, but blew it when I forgot I go through another time zone change. Chris instead put me up at his house, and graciously showed me around the Humana offices the next morning. Here's the original Freewheelin' station at Humana's HQ
Upon arrival, I had to put most of my bikes in storage for the time being. It's times like these where you really find out what you need, rather than what you simply like. I kept my Trek out, and took it on a 22 mile spin this morning with Karen on the Capital Crescent trail through DC and Maryland. We're having great weather right now, and it's pretty neat riding in a place with a big time leaf color shift.
I've been giving a lot of thought to continuing my blogging now that I'm not a Denver boy. For the time being, I think I'll keep it going, and we'll see how it evolves (spin-off blog?). There's a few random pictures from Denver I still need to post up here for your viewing enjoyment. Until next time, I've landed safely, and miss you guys. I'll eagerly await all your future posts.
The journey itself was great, and the entire time I was outrunning a cold front, so when I called the people I stayed with the prior day, they were always bracing for cold and rain, while I had great weather. This was a great luxury, as I happened to have five bikes on the exterior of my car to deal with
I had to reinforce the rear on the advice of my dad with a bike lock cable supporting it from the roof rack when I pulled into Wichita. There was so much torque, the Yakima rack was twisting some of the steel that made up my trailer hitch. I was lucky to get to DC with everything intact, some of the plastic on the rack had already broken halfway through, and the bolts holding the tandem securely were pretty loose by the time I stopped. I think I'll have to find an REI out here and trade in the old Yakima rack, I don't think it passed my ultimate test.
Aside from equipment failure, it was a pleasant haul. Here's what Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas look like from I-70
Eastern Kansas has a bit more to offer. My dad and I had the idea that we'd go to the Flint Hills tall grass prairie reserve and pedal around, but unfortunately, no bikes allowed. Dogs are OK, though, so we brought Cosita the Dachsund on a bit of a walk. Apparently this is the time of year where Coyotes fatten up on the now wingless locusts that are everywhere
Also interesting, in Kansas, these are called hills
A little different from the Front Range "foothills", but compared to the absolute flatness of everything else, I suppose this counts.
Missouri had some beautiful cow pastures, and this gem, Camo-Flame paint work
Leaving the great state of Missouri behind, I realized I was bound to end up near Louisville Kentucky by the end of the day. Scrolling through my mental rollodex, I thought I'd call up some of my friends I made from Humana during the Freewheelin' project. I was going to meet up with Chris for dinner, but blew it when I forgot I go through another time zone change. Chris instead put me up at his house, and graciously showed me around the Humana offices the next morning. Here's the original Freewheelin' station at Humana's HQ
Upon arrival, I had to put most of my bikes in storage for the time being. It's times like these where you really find out what you need, rather than what you simply like. I kept my Trek out, and took it on a 22 mile spin this morning with Karen on the Capital Crescent trail through DC and Maryland. We're having great weather right now, and it's pretty neat riding in a place with a big time leaf color shift.
I've been giving a lot of thought to continuing my blogging now that I'm not a Denver boy. For the time being, I think I'll keep it going, and we'll see how it evolves (spin-off blog?). There's a few random pictures from Denver I still need to post up here for your viewing enjoyment. Until next time, I've landed safely, and miss you guys. I'll eagerly await all your future posts.
0 comment Thursday, June 12, 2014 | admin
It's that time of year again, when the weather gets nice, people start spending more time outside, and bike-bloggers everywhere start posts with "It's that time of year again..." and promptly proceed to complain/gush about all of the new riders out on the road.
I must confess that I haven't been Mr. Awesome McCommuter this past week. I took some time off work to get moved (Geographically, not emotionally. It takes way less than four days to move me emotionally.) and it drained my body and my mind. I even called out of work for an extra day to try and unpack boxes and rest up. I say this just in case my dream has finally come true and someone is stalking me and posts some kind of angry comment like, "You haven't even ridden to work all week!" I hate to say it, but I was just too damn tired.
That being said, I'm already getting annoyed at all the new people riding bikes in my area. Driving home yesterday along my normal route I saw no less than five people on bikes. I've been riding that same route at different times for about eight months now and have maybe seen four cyclists total. Which is pretty much how I like it. New riders mean potential new obstacles (like the guy who wanted to play chicken in the bike lane of a busy road), and a higher probability of someone riding on the wrong side of the street or some other mess and pissing off motorists even more than I do now. And then when the weather turns "bad" guess who's still out there with the drivers who have negative past experiences with annoying cyclists? That's right.
Also, I'm not welcoming the wave of trendy kids on fixed-gears who either won't know how to ride, won't have brakes, or won't use their noble machines for anything other than track stands and other bike-trickery. And being subjected to lycra-ed anatomy isn't much better.
On the way home I was talking to my lady on this very subject and she told me that I complain about every season. Which I guess is sorta true. But for the most part I don't really mean it. I'm like an crotchety old man, and biking is like my yard. I'm out front in one sock, dirty bathrobe in danger of falling open, brandishing a rolled up newspaper and yelling at people to get off my lawn, even though they're on the sidewalk. No one really pays attentions, besides shaking their heads and laughing good-naturedly at the crazy man.
I think what it boils down to is a sense of snobbery and superiority. Whenever I see a new commuter during the spring months my first thought is, "Hmph, where have you been all winter? This is my city cuz I'm out here every day! You got nothing on me!" Sure my arms and legs are just as pasty as theirs, but my smug self-satisfaction is already tanned to a nice deep bronze.
But at my core I'm a softy and a glass-half-full kinda guy, so really I'm looking forward to the warm days and sunny weather. It will be a big change to go for the least amount of layers instead of the most when I get ready in the morning, and more riders means bigger and funner Critical Masses and turnouts at our little races.
Plus, I was a beginner at one point, and I started during the summer, so I've been there. I just hope no hobos or college kids take me out on my way home.
I must confess that I haven't been Mr. Awesome McCommuter this past week. I took some time off work to get moved (Geographically, not emotionally. It takes way less than four days to move me emotionally.) and it drained my body and my mind. I even called out of work for an extra day to try and unpack boxes and rest up. I say this just in case my dream has finally come true and someone is stalking me and posts some kind of angry comment like, "You haven't even ridden to work all week!" I hate to say it, but I was just too damn tired.
That being said, I'm already getting annoyed at all the new people riding bikes in my area. Driving home yesterday along my normal route I saw no less than five people on bikes. I've been riding that same route at different times for about eight months now and have maybe seen four cyclists total. Which is pretty much how I like it. New riders mean potential new obstacles (like the guy who wanted to play chicken in the bike lane of a busy road), and a higher probability of someone riding on the wrong side of the street or some other mess and pissing off motorists even more than I do now. And then when the weather turns "bad" guess who's still out there with the drivers who have negative past experiences with annoying cyclists? That's right.
Also, I'm not welcoming the wave of trendy kids on fixed-gears who either won't know how to ride, won't have brakes, or won't use their noble machines for anything other than track stands and other bike-trickery. And being subjected to lycra-ed anatomy isn't much better.
On the way home I was talking to my lady on this very subject and she told me that I complain about every season. Which I guess is sorta true. But for the most part I don't really mean it. I'm like an crotchety old man, and biking is like my yard. I'm out front in one sock, dirty bathrobe in danger of falling open, brandishing a rolled up newspaper and yelling at people to get off my lawn, even though they're on the sidewalk. No one really pays attentions, besides shaking their heads and laughing good-naturedly at the crazy man.
I think what it boils down to is a sense of snobbery and superiority. Whenever I see a new commuter during the spring months my first thought is, "Hmph, where have you been all winter? This is my city cuz I'm out here every day! You got nothing on me!" Sure my arms and legs are just as pasty as theirs, but my smug self-satisfaction is already tanned to a nice deep bronze.
But at my core I'm a softy and a glass-half-full kinda guy, so really I'm looking forward to the warm days and sunny weather. It will be a big change to go for the least amount of layers instead of the most when I get ready in the morning, and more riders means bigger and funner Critical Masses and turnouts at our little races.
Plus, I was a beginner at one point, and I started during the summer, so I've been there. I just hope no hobos or college kids take me out on my way home.
Labels: Complaining, Moving, Weather