Not really a commute report, but an update on my main commuter, the 2015 Charge Plug, on which the rear derailleur cable broke inside the 8-speed Shimano Claris shifter and became jammed in there.

Yesterday, after 45 minutes of cajoling with a needle nose pliers I managed to free the cable.

This morning I put on a new shifter cable, but it became immediately apparent something was wrong. The shifter would pull the cable up three shifts and then no further cable movement and the shifter would become jammed.

What is evident to even an modestly competent bike mechanic like myself is that a plastic cable guide has worn-down and partially disintegrated. I don't know if that was the cause of the cable snap, a result of the cable snap, or happened while I was fishing the cable out. However, there were some black "crumbs" that tumbled out when I unscrewed the plastic sheath that sits on top of the unit and holds the cable-exit routing. The sheath looks fine, but the plastic guides under it look worn away.

A new 8-speed Claris shifter is about $55 on Amazon, I can get a new compatible 2x8 Microshift setup for $58. But first I will wait until Tuesday when the bike Co-op re-opens to see what they have, which will probably be $25, if that.

Fortunately I have 5 other bikes.

I have some travel coming up this week...plus the holidays, then out of town guests...all the while we are moving my wife's mother to assisted living. And there's more spring yard work, so I don;t know when I'll get to this replacement. It may be worth the cost of having a shop do it. Also I wanted to put drop bars on the Mountain bike. I guess I just have to be patient.

I enjoy riding my two bikes with brifters, but the simpler, cheaper and more reliable thumbies and down tube shifters seem pretty appealing right now. My new 1997 Specialized Rockhopper has rapid fire trigger shifters like the old NIshiki Blazer it replaced, and that setup wore-out twice over 25 years.

If I was back to commuting with just one bike, it would not have cable brifters...well, maybe.

Attempted to bike commute to a flag-drop over I-5 this afternoon. Well, actually I did make the commute (in the rain), but the event was either cancelled, or I was at the wrong overpass. Went to a couple other likely locations but no luck ... so home to dry out. In all a nice ride - temp in the mid-50s (13C), light rain, and about 1/2 of the ride on a local rail-trail route.

Any commute by bike is always successful since it includes a bike ride. I have biked to stores that were out of the items I wanted. I have bIked to stores that were unexpectedly closed. Ironically, even though it takes more effort than driving it is never as frustrating as driving somewhere unsuccessfully because... cycling!

I agree! Friday, I rode 4 miles to the NYC Department of Education headquarters to find out why my application was stuck for weeks in the background check stage. Apparently there is a several-month backlog, but I hope to move it along somehow. Well, I got there, and walk-in hours are only certain hours of the week. Ah well. I'm going back Monday morning. But hey, I got a few miles in. Bureaucracy is one of my big irritations, but now I have to deal with a lot more than ever, and I'm growing a sense of humor about it.

For sure! A short stint in town on the way out and back, but mostly a quiet ride through the conifers in a light rain.

This reminded me of an event 7-8 years ago where we had an April blizzard. It was a Saturday morning and there was about 10" of snow on the ground, with more still falling. I had a craving for fresh bagels, so I rode my bike the 1.5 miles through the snow to my favorite bagel shop. It was a lot of effort to pedal through that mess and took 40 minutes to get there, but I justified it with the thought of the delicious food waiting for me.

When I arrived, there was a handwritten sign on the door that said, "Closed for blizzard." So I had to ride back home with no bagels. I have since learned in these situations to call first to make sure they're open. LOL

A pretty easy eBike commute this morning, except heading north into the 15 mph headwind, which slowed me down some. It's fine, because I rode 68 miles Saturday on my gravel bike and 25 miles more on my commuter eBike yesterday.

I'm going home for lunch, and will have left-over tacos with my wife, who's working from home today.

Yesterday was an interesting eBike riding day:

• A trip to the grocery store for taco fixins
• A trip to a new friend's parents' house to help her get her eBike out of the basement after two years of not being ridden. Amazingly, the battery charged up and held the charge well.
• I brought the friend back to our house, where we had coffee and a snack. Wife was just finishing up basement organizing she wanted to do, so she joined us on a 12 mile eBike ride.
• The new friend's butt was hurting badly by the end of the ride. I recommended the YLG wide saddle from Amazon for her.
• I escorted her back to her parents house, where she retrieved a rack, mounted the eBike up and brought it back to our house
• Wife made us taco dinner and we watched Dead Poets Society while we washed the tacos down with a few beers.
• The eBike is too heavy for her to load or unload from the rack, so I escorted her back to her apartment to unload it. Her landlord said she can lock it to the railing in the mail area; it's a tight fit.
• On that ride escorting her (in the dark, after 10 PM) some dog lit out after me; I didn't even see him, but she did, following in her SUV. She said it looked like a lab, and chased me for about 5 seconds before giving up. (I was going about 25 mph at the time)
• On the ride back from her place, I went slower to look for the dog, ready to take off if it gave chase. I saw the dog just wandering down a roadside MUP. Yellow lab.
• Labs are usually friendly and I could see a collar, so I turn around to see about getting him back to his home. As I approached him, I noticed the owner was WITH him, right behind him, but wearing all black. We just didn't see him in the dark!

Tonight, I'm to lead my club's Moderate Monday ride. Not looking forward to it, but I don't want to do a late cancellation, so I'll probably take an eBike to the starting spot, and if no one else shows up, I'll just turn around and head back home. It's supposed to be 36° with 20-30 mph winds. I can do it, but it doesn't sound like fun and I'd rather let my legs and neck recover more from Saturday's Gran Fondo.

Rides from the past few days:

• Saturday Gran Fondo: https://www.strava.com/activities/14090510205
• Saturday, meeting new eBike friend at her parents house, grocery stop, then back home: https://www.strava.com/activities/14101292154
• Saturday, ride with new eBike friend & wife: https://www.strava.com/activities/14102216099
• Saturday night, escort new eBike friend home, help her unload eBike: https://www.strava.com/activities/14103266291
• This morning's commute: https://www.strava.com/activities/14106320239

I guess even in Sioux Falls, you have stuff that people consider to be extreme weather.

Today I once again trekked to the DOE to get my background check past the logjam. The bureaucrats were surprisingly pleasant and efficient. They did it quickly. I have a feeling the background check was done long ago, and someone had to press an APPROVE button or something. And this is what people are waiting months for? Ah well.

The weather forecast said it would rain lightly, but the rain soon became moderate. It's a bit nerve racking to ride in rain in heavy traffic. Half of the 4-mile course is on bike paths, so thank you. I didn't get cold, so thank you. I should have taken my glasses off, because they made my vision worse with all of the rain. My rim brakes require more planning (early braking) in the rain.

I got home and hosed my bike off. It didn't look that dirty, but when I pointed the hose at the rims, I was surprised at how much black water ran off. Wiped the chain with a rag, oiled the chain, wiped again. I'm so glad I can do this living in an apartment building.

weather is great on the southern coast of England ... three helmets these days with the two children ... and getting used to the excellent secured bicycle parking at work.

I wound up canceling the ride last night. Somehow I hurt my neck looking at the computer screen at an angle for 20 minutes. It's killing me today.

Today, I took the folding bike for the commute; nice and upright. only 11 mph average with a downhill/flat commute with tailwind. It's going to be 9 mph on the way home, I think, hehehe.

Rode today.

There was a roadkill coyote near work in an odd spot - just after an intersection, where no car would be going fast enough yet that it could startle a coyote. No roadrunners seen nearby, much less roller skates or expended munitions. We are within the range of both species here in California's elbow

man, oh, man, I thought I had a flat on the way home as the bike was sluggish the corners and off the line for acceleration.

but that was not the case.

















































just a 15-20kg sack of potatoes on the back

Two fast rides yesterday...14.2 mph average on the 8 mile non-stop trail route plus lots of stairs at work and carrying equipment up and down stairs at a TV commercial shoot. Still I felt great and even this morning.

But I took the shortest 5.8 mile route this morning and I took it easy. Not so many steps at work. Then the ride home. 65F but a strong, unrelenting head wind from the east. I took the shortest route again but averaged only 10.1 mph... that's what i do in the snow... plus it's slightly .

The legs feel a a little more tired like i expeced yesterday.... and i was exhausted... thought i might bonk despite trying to take it easy.

The wife had prepared tamales with green chili...it really hit the spot.

I want to ride tomorrow since I'm heading out of town Thurs...but if I don't feel really peppy I'll pass.

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They outgrow it and then you miss it

acidfast - It was the same with my daughter when she was a tiny tot. Even if she was raring to go, a ride on the bike seat knocked her out in minutes.

My commute wound up being 2 miles in, 8 mile tour at lunch, 3 miles uptown to a couple brewpubs, then 5 miles home, for 18 miles on the folder. 10-11 mph pace.

Want to ride along on my lunchtime tour? There are some captioned photos in this post:
ZiZZO Forte Review

Looks nice. I was born in the states but original family was half-German and half-Norwegian (live in both places now). Sadly, I've never been to WI or anywhere near the Great Lakes and there is a ton of similarity with Scandiland/northern Germany. Nice photos.

Meh.
No bike commuting yesterday (rained all day) or today. (I have to drive right from work to get my daughter 20 miles away)
I miss it.
It's trivia night tonight at the brewpub uptown; if it's not raining, I'll bike to that after spending the evening with my daughter. That'll be good for 6-8 miles. My wife comes to it too, so I may take the folder, in case I want a ride back after having a couple too many. ;-)

You'd like it here ... we have lost quite a few pubs in recent years but still have around 150 or so on our small island. When I walk into work (30 mins) ... I walk by at least 15-20 different pubs. All with their own character and clientele. If I walk a different route, but the same distance, it's a different 15-20 pubs.

I can't even say that I've seen more than a fraction of them (between 10 and 20 of them).

I usually stop with the kids and the sun is out or they want to see the skeleton in one or play some games in another one.

DMV early but had to stop by the house after so got the bike.

Going home early due to kiddo chemo clinic. Kiddo is doing a little too fine on chemo - when they check his blood work he still has too many antibodies, so the chemo is not having enough effect. What a weird circumstance! So he's likely getting more pills, but at least it's not an infusion day, and labs were done last week, so it's just a checkup.

We are going on his make-a-wish trip next week, so likely disruptions tomorrow as SWMBO packs and remembers things she needs. Taking the bike will prevent me from having to rush home to deal with not-really-emergencies so I'll probably have a 4-lap week

Brief scare today. SWMBO picked up SWMBO Jr from the school, for an appointment, but only remembered the bike about four hours after school got out. I know she just leans it on the rack and doesn't lock it. It was still there, fortunately. The now-11yo had his bike stolen when he was in kindergarten and the neighbors across the street lost one the same way this year.

Commuted 3 of 4 days this week. Only 1 day of serious rain. Temps still a little cool, but occasionally getting into the low 60s. Lusting after a new bike ... well, new to me. I haven't purchased a "new" bike since buying matching Gary Fisher Marlins for me and my daughter nearly 20 years ago. That being said, think I'll check out the refurbished rides at The Hub, our community bike shop.

I've been visiting family north of Chicago and made plans to visit friends downtown by taking the train to Union Station, then walking the 1.2 miles to the restaurant. As soon as I exited the train station I saw the Divvy bike shares everywhere which I had seen on previous visits, but forgot about. I thought about noglider and his bike share rides in NYC, but the train was late and I had started the process of renting a bike. Despite the immediate bike lane I couldn't figure if the route was safe beyond what I could see, plus some of the bikes seemed to have a phone holders, but I wasn't sure if they were secure. So I walked. Turned out it was pretty safe.

I lost track of time at the get together and had a friend give me a lift back to the station.

I wish I would have planned better, as I could have possibly ridden, even for just 1.2 miles.

The original big plan was to bike to the Colorado Springs airport (7 miles) fly to Chicago with my folding bike in its suitcase trailer, bike 14 miles to Northbrook, then on the day of the get together bike downtown (27 miles) and take the train back north and finally biking back to the airport. With an alternate plan being biking to and from the train in Northbrook.

Well, none of that happened.

Maybe next time.

Addendum: I did talk with my nephew who has written from Northbrook to Wrigley Field and gave me some routing advice and I did see upgrades to buy claims along Sheridan Avenue if I wanted to take an extended lake front route and he said that he has done that but not all the way down to the city. Maybe next time I'll just go riding with my nephew that would be awesome.

Didn't commute Friday; stayed home sick. Since I've started cycling, I rarely get sick any more, so when I do, I take a sick day and try to really relish it. (sore throat/cold)

I took it easy this weekend; didn't get any riding in.

I charged up the Lectric XP Lite, which has been sitting all winter and needs a battery cycling to stay in top shape. I really like this little bike; just a single speed, but the boost gets me up to the 15 mph range where it's comfortable to pedal.

Edit: Went for a 6.6 mile joyride on it over lunch today. I'm leading the Moderate Monday club ride this evening. Might take an eBike for that as well, wind's supposed to be 21 mph gusting to 40+.

BobbyG and everyone else: In some areas, the bike routes that google maps provides are quite good, and that includes NYC and environs. I'd be surprised if it isn't also true in Chicago. Not only that, when I ask for a bike route, I can specify my own bike or Citi Bike, because the routes will be slightly different. I just did a test and asked how to get from my home to a place about 3 miles away. The Citi Bike route tells me where to pick up a bike and where to drop it off. I wonder if it is using the available real time data on how many bikes are available at the first station and how many open docks are available at the second one. Chances are that it does. Interestingly, the route for my own bike runs along the river path while the Citi Bike route runs through the streets. It's shorter that way, but I can only guess the reason it has that difference. Anyway, even if you're pressed for time and don't know the streets, putting trust in google maps isn't the worst idea. I don't know about Divvy, but checking a bike out for the first time with Citi Bike can be a stumbling block. I've seen a visitor from a foreign country fail and give up because payment systems and texting are still not transparent enough.

great to be back in the saddle ... over the weekend had to walk over the New Forest to get to the pub in Canada

my daughter fell into the river but it was on the walk back from Canada, thankfully she only got swept away a little ways

real Oregon Trail type stuff