I got a really nice 24" Norco rigid mountain bike, from a bike shop, for my younger kid a few years ago. The biggest problem was that she grew out of it so quickly, and for that reason, I think they have limited utility.

I took a day off yesterday to take my kids to the city's annual midway and exhibition, and spent most of the day outside without taking in enough liquid. I woke up this morning with a mild dehydration headache that got worse every time I went over a significant bump with my 80psi skinny tires. I tried to absorb the bumps with my arms and legs when I could, but I wasn't able to anticipate all of them. My day was brightened somewhat when I rode past a garbage truck, and the driver leaned out his window and said, "Good morning! And have a great day!" Put a big smile on my face, actually.

Have a good day, everyone.

I see those all over downtown Edmonton, but I still don't know how they work. I rarely go downtown anymore, and when I do, I almost always drive. Don't waste time explaining it; if I want to know, I'll look it up.

The Diamondback 2.5 years ago was a real monster truck and so it worked out pretty well to downsize it with a cut seat post, flipped swept handlebars, crank shorteners, smaller tires. I just undid the last of these. The fork was barely moving to begin with and taking a spring out was a change that will remain. It could still grow a bit, as it could take 26in tires as well as a riser bar and a longer stem in the 2000-2015 style, but there's a reasonable limit of course. I think we will make it to the end of next year at worst and possibly one more

I do have an idle MTB but it's a largish medium and the eldest kiddo is almost certainly not fitting on it yet. He's also a pretty timid rider and I've been considering getting him something more hybrid-cruiser-ish. But those kinds of bikes are just not cool, which is also important for kids (and anyone). I guess I could downsize it in a similar way.

2023 build after 2022 Christmas gift, recipient very large for his age but was still just turning six. He's 8.5 now and slowed a little by his leukemia bout but still above the line for percentile



OEM

You are a true mensch!

I will agree, Darth Lefty is a wonderful dad.

And yes, reverse trips can be surprising, particularly on scenic routes. There is a circular route in the countryside I've taken only a few times, and each direction is a different ride altogether. The vistas vary, and the elevation profile does, too, because one ascent is steeper and windier than the other.

Normal, nice commutes...one minor incident, and one dangerous discovery.

The gnats were out in force at the south end of Monument Valley Park, as were the geese. I saw two older women up ahead on the path walking side by side, carefully stepping around goose poop, but staying on their half of the wide pavement.

I rang my bell, thought I saw acknowledgment, and coasted, slowing slightly from my brisk pace to pass on the far right.

When I was about two seconds from passing, the woman closest to be began swatting about her head, spinning around and stepped directly in front of me.

I had my finger on the trigger and honked the AirZound Airhorn as I veered of onto the grass.

At the sound of the horn the woman lurched back away as if tugged (may have been).

Crisis averted.

Then, I heard one of them shout, "SLOW THE HELL DOWN!". In retrospect I should have slowed more, regardless. In the future I will now try to be cognizant that goose poop and gnats may cause unexpected movement in pedestrians, beyond the usual chances.

The "dangerous discovery" was at the mini roundabout where my tire slipped off onto the gravel earlier in the week.

I decided to take the trail straight where it turns to gravel and provides a slightly shorter link to the final paved portion of my commute (rather than turning left and crossing the river into America the Beautiful Park, and then back across the river after a few hundred yards). The drop-off from the paved roundabout to the gravel on the far side is about three inches due to erosion. So taking the roundabout as intended onto the gravel includes a pronounced drop-off. Could be dangerous if unexpected, and it will only get worse over time if not addressed.

On the way home I veered to the right at the roundabout and the drop there was only an inch or so...for now.

Other than those items it was another pleasant commute.

Those things should be illegal. 115dB is just ridiculous.

Bobby, that bum is sure infuriating, however, it sounds like your tantrum day may have had the desired effect.

If you see him there again, I think you've done your due diligence by talking to him and every other place that might help him. So, for a few days, may I suggest practicing your bunny hops and taking Rockhopper. Try to hop the guy, or at least pop a wheelie. If you come up short land on his ribs, it's his own damn fault. Bring your pepper spray, just in case.

I've been getting the Level.2 back into regular commuting service, as I'm getting plenty of miles on muggle bikes with the bike club rides and it's getting pretty regularly hot here now. Even so, with mid-90s heat indexes, I'm getting sweaty a bit more often than I'd like. Normally, it's not too hot yet in the morning that sweat is a problem, and in the afternoon it doesn't matter if I sweat because I'm heading home. But I've been going home for lunch most days lately to give my poor wife some company. She's still laid up with the hip problems after the car accident, and being a super-extrovert, it's torturous for her to be alone all day, every day. She feeds on social contact.

Today, I crashed just a few yards from my house. I lit out for work after lunch, and realized I'd left my lock key at home. I checked my mirror and went to execute a quick U-turn and something metal dragged and caused me to spin around 180°. I'd left my kickstand down. Awful experience. I wish I could see a 3rd person video of it happening. I skinned my elbow and I think bruised the bone. I somehow bruised the top of my left thigh, I think the mirror jammed into it as I went down, as the end of the mirror doesn't seem to have a mark. It bent the bolt holding my MirrCycle bar-end mirror inside the handle bar and knocked the front fender and headlight out of whack. The bike took it better than I did. It's such a dumb way to crash, for someone who has been riding bikes for 40 years.

Time for a sweaty commute back home, followed by a sweaty club ride tonight.

I don't think I would recommend cruelty like that. Even if someone deserves cruelty -- which is a stretch to believe -- I'm not the one to give it.

This morning, I made the mistake of having cold brewed coffee instead of my regular hot brew. That may have contributed to my sleepiness throughout the day. And I had never cold-brewed before. It tasted good, though.

My morning commute (the 2 miles) was much pleasanter than usual, though. I took a different route, and I was very surprised to see how much lighter the traffic is. I'll probably take it from now on.

My afternoon commute was in intense heat. My weather app said it was 92ºF outside, and it felt much hotter. Not so pleasant.

There was no rain in any of yesterday's forecasts when I got ready to leave, so I took the light backpack sans rain gear and rode my fenderless '84 Nishiki International. It was cool but humid, at least humid for Colorado Springs...about 15%. Rode one of the surface street routes through downtown, which has had very little traffic before 8am for almost a decade now...and that's okay by me.

By 5 pm it had cooled down from 92 to about 85 but slightly humid again (for Colo Spgs) and cloudy with rain visible over the mountains to the west. I took a different downtown routes home and was pretty comfortable. After my shower a brief, light rain flared up. I think I would have been okay riding in it.

Today and tomorrow I have to drive so I'll be itchin' for Thursday's commute, which may be wet on the ride home, but I'll be prepared for it. Even if it's raining Thursday morning I'll probably feel like biking to work.

Nice cool ride in. No wind, which made it feel like a headwind no matter which direction I was heading.

I wanted to briefly mention my last ride home, which was on Thursday. About mid-afternoon, I saw the skies darkening, and noticed the weather service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch (not a warning) for the next few hours. I decided to take off early to beat the potential storm and finish my work day from home. About 5 minutes from home, as I was coming up out of a ravine, the rain started, and there was a flash of lightning quickly followed by a loud crash of thunder, so I knew it was pretty close. Didn't really faze me, and I made it home okay, albeit a little wet. Later on, I was looking at the news online, and saw an article about a young woman who got hit by lightning, about the same time I saw that flash, mere blocks away from where I was. She went into cardiac arrest, but was quickly resuscitated and is expected to recover.

^^^ I grew up in Phoenix and we had thunderstorms exclusive of any other kind. There was always thunder before any rain. My wife grew up near the coast in Socal and she seems freaked out to ever hear thunder

I had a nice ride in. On my one block of roadside, I found a nice pruning saw, which I posted about in the other thread. This block of Folsom Rd. yields almost all of my roadside finds. It's a high-traffic, high-speed artery feeding/bypassing Folsom. People blazing along SW bound are caught short by the stoplight. People coming down the hill NW on Iron Point to make the left at the T intersection are often going too fast to beat the light rail gates, or just gassing it because they are frustrated from a long wait. All parties headed west are eager or dreading to duke it out going for the onramp. So high gees are common. I don't know statistics but I wouldn't be surprised to hear there's a small accident every day. So the potential for things falling off cars and trucks is pretty high. You can see I could totally avoid this section but the Natoma Station bike trail entrance has its own challenges, going down steep to stop hard for a left turn across fast blind downhill NE bound bike traffic, while the street is straight and level.

It's going to be pretty hot at home time. But not hundreds

This morning was again pleasant because my new route is lightly trafficked. It wasn't hot yet.

When I got out, it was about 100ºF. I got on Citi Bike and headed uptown to a shop called Kalustyan's. They sell all kinds of spices and exotic foods, mostly from Asia. It's owned by people from India, though with the name, you might think they're Armenian. It's in a neighborhood with several Indian restaurants. I was there to buy oolong tea (Chinese) and cumin. I got a couple of other things. I forgot to record that ride. Darn.

From there I rode home.

I'm pedaling very gently because it's so hot. I'm getting bolder about taking the lane. The bike lanes here are often very defective, right in the door zone for parked cars. Forget that! When I ride Citi Bike (which has been my preference this summer since my commute is short), I usually wear my helmet which has a rear view mirror on it. It helps. Drivers in Manhattan have become accustomed to cyclists taking the lane. Today, one taxi driver honked as he approached me from behind but not in an aggressive way. He I think he was trying to warn me he was there. Unnecessary, and I'd be happier if he didn't, but the sentiment is good.

Now I'm sitting still in the A/C with a cold drink, cooling off. Weird, yesterday and today, my blood pressure is lower. I've read it can raise it or lower it. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

I realized I made my town sound like an urban hellscape above. This is not a bad town, they try very hard and it's one of the country's best for cycling. It's also not a bad intersection. It's just large and complicated. I looked up the city traffic planning report. The city's data is seeing about 500 crashes a year city wide. This intersection is way down their list to worry about. Traffic is correctly controlled. The accident rate is normal, per their definition. The ones at the top of the list are the retail area at the town's eastern freeway exit, plausible, and the artery-intersection between the high school and Intel, which I wouldn't have guessed, but I wouldn't since I avoid it at rush hours

[/QUOTE]...there was a flash of lightning quickly followed by a loud crash of thunder, so I knew it was pretty close...a young woman who got hit by lightning, about the same time I saw that flash, mere blocks away from where I was. She went into cardiac arrest, but was quickly resuscitated and is expected to recover.[/QUOTE]

Here at 6500 feet in Colorado Springs lightning strikes are a big deal. Not so much in town, but in the wide open spaces and up in the foothills.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2165:

This was not the week I had planned. How many times do we say that, yet we're always surprised when a wrench gets thrown in the gearbox of life?

I've previously mentioned I've been fighting episodes of sciatica lately. On Saturday morning I was out in the yard doing some weeding. I bent down to pull some weeds from the landscaping, and (not unlike the previous few posts involving actual electricity) felt like I had been struck by lightning. My lower back exploded, and the pain shot down both of my legs. I managed to limp back inside the house, and spent the rest of the day an a futile attempt of finding a position I could sit/lay in that brought any bit of relief. I had a whole list of things I was supposed to do that day, and anything that hadn't been completed once this happened (which was most of them) were left undone.

By Sunday morning the pain hadn't noticeably subsided, so my wife took me to the acute care clinic. They think I might have ruptured a disc. The first priority for acute care was to get me to a state where the pain was down to a level where I can function. After that I can talk to my regular doctor(s) about a long-term plan. Due to my artificial heart valve, I'm not allowed to take the normal pain killers they prescribe for back pain. So they gave me a prescription for some muscle relaxers and some steroids to try to get the swelling down. I was to pair that with Tylenol.

After the clinic visit my wife drove me over to Wal-Mart to get my prescriptions filled. I thought about just waiting in the car while she went in, but the temp was in the mid-90s and her car's air conditioner doesn't put out much cold air while the engine idles. I opted to go inside with her. She dropped me off at the door, and I hobbled over to the row of mobility scooters they provide.

The prescription wasn't quite ready yet, so I rode the scooter around the store as my wife picked up some other things that we needed (unrelated to my back.) I must say I have a new empathy for people who need to use these scooters due to physical disability. I felt humiliated every time someone looked at me, like I was being judged. My mind was convincing me that they were thinking, "You don't look like you need a scooter. You must just be lazy." I know most people probably weren't actually thinking that, but it's the way I felt. It was a very humbling experience. Maybe God knew I needed to be humbled? In any event, I'm going to think twice in the future if I catch myself looking down at someone with a mobility scooter, even subconsciously.

After the prescription was filled my wife went and got the car, and pulled up to the door. I parked the scooter, and the 30 feet I had to walk to the car was difficult. A lady coming into the store saw me struggling and asked if I was OK. I smiled as much as I could and told her I was "fine." I'm not sure why we lie like that. It was pretty obvious I wasn't fine.

I spent the next three days mostly motionless letting the drugs do their thing. The muscle relaxers make me drowsy, and the steroids rev me up. Taking them at the same time is an interesting sensory experience. I skipped two days of work.

In an unrelated occurrence, the last two nights the southeastern portion of South Dakota has been hit with multiple derechos. If you're not familiar with a derecho, it's basically a storm with tornado strength winds, only in straight lines and over a much larger area. We had sustained winds in the 70 mph range, with gusts over 100 mph. Each of these storms dumped several inches of rain in a very short time. There was a lot of destruction, and thousands of people are still without power. The west side of Sioux Falls and towns to the south of us were hit particularly hard. I live on the east side of the city, so other than a few branches down from my trees we came through pretty well. That's good, as if there was major damage I'm not sure how I could have dealt with it in my incapacitated condition. Again, giving me new empathy for the elderly and disabled who did suffer destruction.

I didn't sleep well last night. I just had a hard time settling down. As a result I had less than five hours of sleep when the alarm went off this morning at 5:30 AM. So on top of the medications for my back, I was going to stack a bunch of caffeine to try and keep myself awake all day. Probably not the wisest decision I've ever made, but it is what it is.

By this morning I decided that my back had improved enough that I could try and return to work. My wife was skeptical about me trying to ride my bicycle, but I told her if I wasn't well enough to ride then I wasn't well enough to work. I figured if there was a physical issue with me riding I would discover it within a few blocks and I could limp back home. Getting on and off the bike is a bit precarious, but once I was sitting on the seat and pedaling it really didn't bother my back. A few times I instinctively stood up to keep up with traffic, and quickly discovered that was a bad idea. So I just pedaled along at an easy effort. There were lots of tree branches down on the MUP and the street as a result of the storm.

I was on the road bike. The temp was 68°F and the humidity was in the 90% range. There was no wind so I got pretty drenched with sweat even riding at a moderate pace. The wind is supposed to kick back up so I will have to fight it on the way home. There's a chance of more storms during the ride home as well, so that may make things exciting.

Normally on Wednesdays I work from the client's location which is only about 4.5 miles from my house. I arrived at their office to discover they had closed the building due to the HVAC system being down, which I suspect was a result of storm damage. I went up to my desk on the 3rd floor to retrieve my laptop computer so I could work remotely. It was already 85°F inside the office, so I'm glad they had the sense to send everyone home.

I then rode 10 miles from the client to our company office. By the time I had arrived my medications had kicked in making me feel pretty loopy. I showered and shaved, which hadn't been done since the previous Friday, and that helped me feel a little more human. As I type this, I'm feeling sleepy, jittery and buzzed all at the same time. It's an interesting experience to say the least.

For anyone interested, I posted my latest bicycle commuting video:

If they're anything like me, most people probably were thinking exactly that, sorry to say. For myself, I do try to temper my judgmental thoughts by understanding that there could be a million hidden reasons for a particular situation, and I know I'd feel just as humbled were I in your shoes. Hope you get your back trouble figured out! Keep that streak going!

Jeez, man

You can probably recognize that what you are afraid people think of the scooter, is probably the same as what your worse-er nature thinks. It's a familiar and easy stereotype to hate on

Tundra_Man, you have my sympathy. Many years ago, I had crippling sciatica. I was young, and I had surgery to correct it. We know more now, and maybe I wouldn't have had it, but I don't regret it. The pain lasted for months, and I couldn't think well enough to work. I hope you find whatever it is that will heal you.

Today's morning commute was nice. Rather than riding Citi Bike, I took one of my own bikes. Citi Bike makes sense most of the time for a 2-mile commute because I don't have to take care of lights, and I don't have to lock the bike up. I recently replaced the fork on my old 1975 Viscount. Years ago, I converted it to fixed gear. The bike is very light, and it's a great beater bike. I wanted to see how it handles since changing the fork can make it different. I think the geometry is close enough to the original so-called "death fork" so I'm happy about that.

I got to work in record time. 11 minutes from outside door to outside door. It also took less physical effort so I didn't get too hot.

Coming home was similar, but I made a bone-headed move, merging into traffic from one street to another while a big truck (who had right of way) was already in the intersection. He honked a few times to tell me how dumb my move was. I bet I scared him. If there had been an opportunity to apologize, I would have done so. I do that kind of thing. I can imagine how he might have felt.

Here's my beater bike inside my apartment.

Wishing you a speedy recovery Tundra Man. I had a bulging disk in my neck when I was 48. Kept me off the bike for a year. I don't usually suffer back pain, but when I do, riding a road bike with drop bars seems one of the few comfortable positions. (wish that was the case with the neck issue back then).

"Tikkun Olam"...one bike drive train at a time.

I think I should start posting in the evenings instead of the mornings like most of us do, because the afternoon commute is when interesting things happen.

On Tuesday’s ride home, while going downhill on a dirt singletrack, I encountered a group of four mountain bikers going up. Down yields to up, so I pulled over to let them by. I don’t think the guy in front was on an e-bike, but the second and third definitely were as they effortlessly ascended with nary a drop of perspiration on their brows. Also, I could hear the motors whining. The last guy, a somewhat portly fellow, breathing hard, drenched in sweat, spinning up in low gear, was definitely not on an e-bike. As he passed by, he commented, “Sometimes, I really wish I had an e-bike!”, to which I responded, “Good for you for not!” Yes, I still get a bit judgy when I see people (particularly those younger than me) on e-bikes (see also my reply to Tundra_Man’s recent post).

Shortly after, I merged onto a paved path just ahead of a (making some assumptions here) couple riding fancy new gravel bikes and wearing expensive cycling kits. When I see gravel bikes, I admit to rolling my eyes a bit at how people succumb to buying into the latest trend, but then I remind myself that I’m riding a fixed gear. Anyway, I merged onto the path at the bottom of a short hill, and the female of the duo quickly passed me on the uphill, then stopped at the top to wait for her male companion, so I passed her back. After crossing a bridge, there’s another hill that starts with a short climb, then a level bit, then a longer, steeper climb with a brief reprieve in the middle. Well, the duo passed me on the level bit after the first climb and got a little distance between us, but when we hit the second climb, I fairly easily caught up. I probably could have passed them, but I didn’t want to risk being “that guy” and do to them what they did to me. I did briefly consider heckling them for letting an old guy on a steel fixie carrying a backpack catch up, but I suppressed those intrusive thoughts. I stayed a few meters behind them until the next fork in the path, where they pulled over to get their bearings. I thought that was the last I’d see of them, but further down the road, I noticed they were following me again. Then we hit a ravine, and I was sure they would pass me on the downhill -- being on a fixie, I keep my descending speed in check to avoid spinning too fast -- but they did not. On the way back up the other side, I could hear some hard gear shifts right behind me, but nobody passed me, and then I guess they went another direction at the top because I never saw them again.

What’s the point of this long, boring story? Nothing much. The interaction seemed to me like someone thought they had something to prove, but either overestimated their abilities or underestimated mine. I’m not that fast (not anymore, if I ever was), so I’m a pretty easy target for people looking to beat someone in a race, and if you can’t beat me, well then, you’re just not that fast. Or maybe I'm the insecure one.

Close to home, I was riding on a residential road with cars parked on both sides and just enough room for a single lane of traffic in each direction. I was riding a safe distance away from the parked cars, but maybe not obviously “taking the lane”. A driver behind me wanted to get past (in a playground zone, where I was already travelling pretty close to the speed limit), but an oncoming car prevented them from moving over into the oncoming traffic lane, so instead, they pulled up so that their front bumper was inches to the left of my pedalling foot. Thankfully, they reconsidered their life choices and backed off a bit.

Despite what I said in my previous post, this morning’s commute was eventful. I thumb-checked my tires before heading out, and thought the front was a bit soft, but, “nah, it’ll be fine!”. Halfway to work, I rode onto a bridge over a metal expansion joint, and heard, and felt, a thunk. “Yup, that’s a pinch flat” I thought. Sure enough, by the time I was halfway across the bridge, the tire was almost flat. I’m prepared for this. I pulled over, got the wheel off, got the tire off, replaced the tube with a brand new one, put the tire back on, screwed on the mini pump, pumped up the tire part way, heard some hissing at the nozzle, unscrewed the pump to see what the problem was, except (and some of you already know where this is going) I unscrewed the core out of the tube stem. Who the %#$% thought removable cores were a good idea? What possible use case do they have? I know Darth will have a response, but it’s not valid here. Mountain bikers don’t pump their tires up to 90PSI. I don’t like compression-fit mini pumps for high-pressure tires. Yes, it’s my own fault for buying the blasted things, but to be fair, the fact that the core was removable was not printed on the box. Worse, the core was now jammed inside the pump nozzle and I couldn't get it out, so even if I patched the old tube, I wouldn’t be able to pump it up.

I called my wife and had her meet me at the closest access point to the trail I was on. It was a 10-minute drive for her, and a 15 minute walk for me, mostly uphill. My cycling shoes are supposedly walkable, but they rubbed my heels raw anyway. My wife brought me home, where I grabbed another bike and rode that in, uneventfully.

It’s a bit weird going from a fixed gear to a geared bike back to back like that. Firstly, because the handlebars on my geared bike are way wider than on the fixed gear. Secondly, because I can coast! What a novelty! The ability to shift gears is tertiary. I tend to ride my geared bike like a single-speed anyway and rarely shift.

And to the person who invented removable cores...

Nice bike, noglider . That looks like a monster of a chain ring. What's your gear ratio?

Hey Tundra_Man , what's your camera set-up for recording your commutes? It looks like you're recording from your sternum. Do you hang your phone from a lanyard or something? I'm genuinely curious.

lol what'd I do? I usually forget that I can continue to exist as a character in people's thoughts after they scroll past my post.

I think removable valve cores exist because they are wimpy little P'sOS that get bent by light finger-strength forces