RidingMatthew

It is considered essential. Finance sector.

phtomita

WA got 'Stay Home, Stay Healthy' order from our governor yesterday.
It is ok to go out for groceries, food pick up on restaurants and do exercise outdoors if you keep a 6 feet distance.
Today morning was a bit cloud and went for a quick 10 miles 'commute' and noticed less people outside than before around 8 am in the morning.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 923:

40F this morning with a light headwind. Humidity was high and it looked like it had rained during the night. But overall it was a pretty easy ride to the client's office.

They're doing work on a portion of the MUP that I usually take every day. Thankfully, there's a sister spur on the other side of the river, so I crossed the bridge and rode on that side. That route gives me a little more street to ride on which is why I normally don't take it, but with everyone else staying home right now the traffic wasn't bad.

Heard two woodpeckers and saw a cardinal. Signs of spring!

madpogue 

Yeah, they're calling it "Safer at Home" here. What, are the states having a "name that lockdown" contest? Pretty-much the same conditions.

RidingMatthew

Didn't ride today because we had a lot of rain last night and I was concerned it would still be raining on the way in.

Still cloudy but hope to ride tomorrow.

phtomita

Since today morning was wet, I planned my commute at the end of the day.
On middle of the ride got a rear flat. After removing the tube tried to inflate it to figure out where it was ..... Pump pump pump and nothing....????
Gosh... pump broken? Tried to inflate the spare tube and ohhh, not a pump issue. Looked closely the flat tube and couldn't figure out what was going on.
Did a visual and touch inspection of the tire and since couldn't find anything installed the spare tube and inflated.
All good, lets move on. After some half mile I now notice the front one seems losing pressure ....
Maybe time to call home for a ride...
Stopped and inflated the front one and waited a bit and seems ok.
Ended up riding some 10 miles home and was fine
Floor pump and is at 70 and rear 80 psi. Lets see tomorrow how the front one will be.
As for the rear tube, try to inflate and same. then I noticed two big cuts that looks pinch cuts since I pedaled to a safer place while flat.
I noticed a small on outer side of the tube that should be where it started.
For the front one, no idea why lost pressure...

arsprod 

Apparently Indiana isn't part of that contest or has no creativity, Indiana Stay-At-Home Order. I've been reading other's posts about riding to work and living vicariously. This day 10 at home for me. I keep telling myself I'm going to take a ride but without a destination I find it hard to get motivated.

esmith2039

3 close calls this week.. cars/trucks passing within inches. For traffic supposedly only essential people it's 10x worse. I've had more close calls in one week than all last year. Other than that liking the warmer temps!

phtomita

Verified today morning that my front wheel is deflated and leaking slowly. Hope is a small hole and I can patch

esmith2039

50's and NE wind. Went another route and no incidents on that one. Tend to have issues on bridges, there's a bike lane on it but always littered with trash. Did 5 miles with the boys last night so a bit tired today. Being out of school have to get them some exercise and they seem to like it.

RidingMatthew

warmer today almost over dressed i think i could have worn less especially since it will close to 80F on the way home.

locolobo13 

Rain!? My phone warned me of rain in 5 min when I left the park and ride. I looked up, "Naw!" Well it came. So hard I had to wipe 3 drops off the bike computer.

mgw4jc

I have not ridden in two weeks now. Last week they still had us coming into the office, but I drove each day either because of rain or I had a feeling they would be sending us home with computers. And so that happened last Friday. I don't know if my work would be essential or not, but the company decided we can and should work from home regardless. State of NC hasn't issued a stay-at-home, the county my office is in did.

I've worked from my bedroom all this week. I have been running in the mornings, but no riding yet. May just have to do some though as the weather is great for doing so right now. As other have seen, there are families taking walks, getting the dog out, etc. I haven't been to any parks, well, not during the day, to see if people are keeping distance or not. I'm in a pretty rural area though, so it's easy to keep 6, or even 26 feet away from others.

Groceries, cleaning supplies and of course, toilet paper are the next biggest challenge. Limits on things like butter and milk are one per family. I understand, but if you really wanted to, it's fairly easily subverted. Wife buys one, I buy one, 18 yr old son buys one, etc. But I told the family shoppers to not be greedy and only get what they allow or what we need.

My family is staying busy with games, movies, and yard work. We moved houses just before this all went down, so that first week we were still unpacking and cleaning up the rental house we moved out of. Kids' activities are all suspended, so evenings are the biggest change with no drop off / pick up trips. And I'm home from work (errr, available?) an hour earlier with no commute, so lots of extra time!

phtomita

Rain is back on PNZ so had a lazy Friday with not 'commute' ride. I think I will adventure tomorrow for a short ride even if some drops so I do some exercise or I get crazy for only staying indoors.
Luckily or unluckily, I have a flat tire waiting to be fixed and some maintenance on other bike that is hanging on the wall - it is a bit small for me and wanted to part ways but now can wait until all this has calmed down.

Still thinking how I got the two tires flat in one shot - something sharp on the road? I was riding on the side or a road that has like 3 to 5 feet for bike + pedestrian and while on a light climb I see my rear is going flat.
I rode to a place with more clearance for safety (bad idea because I got the tube pinched with big cuts - probably). Fixed it and started riding and noticed front losing pressure.

Tire fix time since today's work day is over

Update: Just finish fixing the front flat. It was a tiny wire an a supper tiny leak. Rubber cement and patch done Also untangled a cable on other bike that was odd and was thinking on fixing for a long while.

RidingMatthew

Rode to work this morning after cleaning the drivetrain and still felt slow but I think the wind was working against me. warm enough for bibs, jersey and long sleeve jersey. Supposedly cooler weather and rain coming tomorrow. [I tempted to drive.]

mgw4jc My work is working to send us home with desktops and monitors etc someday. I figure I will ask my wife to come with a car the bike rack if I have to take stuff home. I have surpassed my goal for the month which is a good turn around from February's fail.


I got honked at by some jerk in a BMW. I am not sure what his problem was. i was climbing a hill and he could not pass so he got his knickers in a bunch.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 926:

Got up early this morning because I decided it was time to get back into the habit of walking/running in the morning, which I haven't done hardly at all since last August. I decided to ease into it slowly and planned a 2 mile walk, not pushing the pace too hard. It was 28F, but there wasn't any wind so the temp wasn't too bad once I got warmed up. About 1.25 miles into the walk my right heel blistered and became really painful. My old shoes had worn through and a chunk of plastic was poking out of the back side where there used to be padding. I had to slowly hobble the rest of the way home. I even walked a portion of it without a shoe until the concrete made my foot too cold. So it looks like I need to replace my shoes and let my heel heal. I'm guessing my heel will be better before I find a shoe store that's open.

Because the walk wound up taking longer than I had anticipated, I wound up leaving the house 15 minutes late. Traffic was pretty quiet and the ride was uneventful.

I'm still working at the client's office for the time being. I sit by myself in the corner and don't interact much with people, so I feel like I'm satisfactorily isolated.

Here's my latest video I posted of my various commuting exploits:

pdlamb

Not much motivation to get out today.

But Friday was glorious. I'd gone in to pick up a corporate laptop from the social isolation IT setup (there's a laptop over there, here's how to log in to the VPN, close it, take it out with a power cord, goodbye!) on Thursday. Power cord didn't match the brick. Oops!

So Friday morning, I put the cord and brick an a pannier and rode in to swap them out. From there, it was only a few more miles down to see the river (it was high!). Sunny and warm all the way. Tail wind pushed me home, but I needed to make a short detour (another couple miles each way) to pick up a headset. So three hours and 17 extra miles later, I got back in time for lunch and a telecon -- and it was all work related! Sign me up for telework, I'll get paid to go for a bike ride!

esmith2039

Perfect temp this morning and little wind. Traffic is a pain but also no traffic is also a pain. Have to treat most red lights in KCMO as stop signs. Also I don't know what the deal with lights that change to the opposite direction when you pull up, alot in KCK that way. I think they crossed the wires just for laughs. And 50% of sidewalk buttons don't work. With all this light traffic they could make repairs with small crew but that's just IMO.

pdlamb

Well, there's lights that are supposed to be activated by a loop in the pavement; there are lights that work off TV cameras; there's lights that just run off a timer. Supposedly.

Darn near every traffic light I know of has a "foot down" sensor for bicyclists. No matter how slow or fast I go, or how close to a track stand I can get, I've got to stop and put a foot down to make the light turn. As soon as the foot goes down, Blam! and the light turns green. Evil things, I tell you!

Darth Lefty 

I got a round trip in... and broke a spoke. Guess I'm joining Matthew and warning Tundra Man he's next. I really thought the i40 rims and plus tires would spread out the load enough this would never happen even though I knew the build was pretty cheap. Someday I'm replacing all this with a cartridge bearing TA hub and DB spokes but I've got to save money and tow a trailer a few more years first so I'll just fix it.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 930:

20F this morning with a 20+ mph headwind and a layer of fresh ice on everything. Felt like winter.

I had prepared to ride my hybrid. After looking out the window at the pavement conditions, I decided to ride the fat bike. I aired up the tires and got it ready, then rolled it out of the garage. After looking at the sheet ice on my driveway I rolled it back into the garage and grabbed the old winter bike with studded tires.

Glad I did, as there was some treacherous spots. One car slid through an intersection in front of me, but thankfully I heard their ABS clicking in plenty of time for me to stop so it wasn't close.

phtomita

Today on my 'commute' bed to front door I have a nice company - Keeper!
The owner had the leash off and were walking to the mup. I was going on my nice ride and Keeper started running towards me and started running in front the bike.
After a while, owner calling "keeper, Keeper!!", but it seems he wanted to race.
After some 100 feet he backed off, but soon was back and he ran for another 100 feet. I went on my way.

RidingMatthew

Commute from the kitchen to bedroom office was pretty easy just a little elevation gain since it is on the second floor. 😉😄

mgw4jc

No riding for me still. I do get some running in and a couple of dog walks per day. But I think the weight is creeping up some. The two 50 or so minute rides per day are missed.

esmith2039

Cooler in the 40's and no wind.. perfect.