Beautiful Fall ride on the 1984 Nishiki International.

Uneventful commutes. It's getting gloomy, but since we're right on Lake Michigan, it's not as cold as inland. Temps are hovering in the 60s during the day and 40s-50s at night. I'm having a hard time motivating myself to ride a bicycle in. Been riding the eBike instead. It's cool enough that I don't need to to not arrive sweaty, but I don't have any of my muggle bikes set up properly with luggage, so in the morning rush, I just take the Aventon Level.2, with its nice, convenient Topeak trunk bag.

Today though, I had a good excuse. My legs are a bit sore from yesterday's mixed surface ride of 25 miles on my gravel bike. Tonight, I lead the club's Moderate ride, which is supposed to be 15-17 mph average, but which they like to push to about 18 when they can. I'm still thinking about whether I'll take my road bike and make it my Zone 5 ride for the week (and be sore for the next three days) or take the Level.2 and make it a Zone 2-3 ride.

This morning, it was partly sunny, then was supposed to be cloudy the rest of the day, with < 5% chance of rain. By the time I left for work, it was 40-60% chance of rain for the next three hours, but not raining at the moment. Should be done by the time I knock off for the day, so I went for it. Bike got a shower already. The Boeshield T-9 on the chain is working great. It's dry to the touch and not making noise. Almost as quiet as when it's oiled. I haven't found time to change the derailleur hanger and see if that fixes the minor shifting issue I'm having with the bike.

These little bike maintenance issues remind me of just how low maintenance modern cars are. We can drive them for thousands of miles at a time without anything but putting gas in them. Belt drive and an IGH on a bike goes a long way to making a bike like that, but we're not quite there yet, despite bikes being a more mature technology than cars.

Sharing a fun Saturday with my daughter (13): In the morning, I had her pick out a recipe. Then, I dragged her grocery shopping with me on eBikes. Then, I left her alone for awhile, while I did some work on the bike fleet. She's starting to become self-aware that she's spending too much time on her phone, scrolling through YouTube Shorts. Saturday, she was bored and she came to hang out with me in the garage. I had her help me change the stem on my gravel bike to a taller one and taught her about torque wrenches. I had the stem off and the bar hanging by its cables, and the bike fell off its kickstand. Spacers everywhere. She helped me find the tapered one that goes right on top of the tube. I braced myself on her shoulder as I sat in the saddle to get the angles of the bar right. Then, she helped me with some preparatory work on my eFatty, which is destined to be my winter commuter. We cleaned the chain and put some Boeshield on it as well. Next time she's over, I think we'll do some work on her eBike, just so she feels attached to it a bit. We've customized it a bit over the past couple years to her liking and I daresay she's grown attached to it: Orange tires, cushy seat, suspension seatpost, fenders & rack (which she installed) and some luggage. A month or so ago, I asked her if she still liked that bike or if I should sell it and get a bit nicer one. She said she likes it, she's used to it and wants to keep it. I hope the battery holds up until she's ready for college in 5 years. (wants to be a neurologist at the moment)

I'm determined to have her pretty self-sufficient by the time she fledges. Only a couple more years until she's driving. Her mom said she's going to buy her a modest car when she turns 16 (not a great idea, I think, but I don't have a say in that) I can at least teach her basic things like changing a spare, checking/inflating tires, checking engine oil, etc. She's looking forward to learning to drive manual when she turns 14 on my old Miata. (it's a family tradition to start learning stick at 14 on Sunday mornings in empty parking lots, then we're ready for the permit at 15.)

Rain was starting as I drove. I saw two only riders, wearing neon rain shells. The amount of rain forecast has swung widely and is right now about half my Saturday screenshot. That's still plenty to keep my driving. Wed-Fri is work travel, no riding there either. Looks like a whole week off.

The steady rain has so far failed to materialize. Forecast says no really, any hour now. I'm feeling swindled out of my morning lap. WFH this afternoon is not going that great, kids are taking more attention than they really merit.

But in good news, I picked this up for SWMBO Junior. It's not as nice as her Yama Jama. But it was twenty bucks, which is much more in line with our budget this year. Typical bike-store kid model with grip shifters and V brakes, steel handlebars and steel hubs with a Megarange freewheel. The matching seat and the blue wheels are a nice touch. When elder kiddo finally relinquishes his Cleary some parts may come over, but maybe not. There's no provision on this frame for a rear disc and it would look funny with black rims. I can at least put the Snypers on it, wipe it down and tune it up.

@smaug1, you are teaching your daughter well. Good for you. My spouse and I went to our kids' house for dinner, and our granddaughter helped with shopping and cooking. She's about to 4 years old. My kid is a great teacher, and it warmed my heart to see it.

I think you could gently say to daughter's mother that a car at 16 is premature. She'll take that for what it's worth. And teaching daughter simple car jobs is a gift. A friend of mine grew up in Mexico. Her father taught to change a tire. When she was done, he told her to change into dress, panty hose and high heels, and he made her change the tire again. He said that's what you'll be wearing when you get your flat tire.

I'm glad that your daughter sees the value in doing things not on her phone. Screen addiction is getting some attention. New York State just passed a law about phones in school. No phones "from bell to bell." My school's (high school) solution is to mandate the use of pouches. Students carry the pouches, and only staff can unlock them. The system has been working pretty well. Some kids have broken the pouches already, and sometimes a kid sneaks a phone in, but it's a big improvement over last year.

I was going to pack a light bag and ride my lightest bike, the 2006 carbon/aluminum Felt, but there was a chance for rain. So I decided to take my full commute bag and my heaviest bike, the 42-pound 1997 drop-bar 26" Rockhopper.

Riding in to work is slightly downhill so the extra weight is not an issue. It was a cool 41F when I left with an expected high of only 50F. I wore a long-sleeve poly-shirt between my base T and the outer shell, long pants and long-fingered gloves. No balaclava yet...that usually comes into play in the lower 30s.

The big (for me) 26x 2.125 Fincci smoothies make the bike practically glide, especially now that they're broken in a bit. Being as the bike is my snow bike and gets studded tires in the winter, and riding is shared among 5 other bikes, these tires took almost two years to really wear in (transfered over from the previous 26" bike, of blessed memory). It was still only 42F when I arrived at work, barely breaking a sweat. I had upped the gearing when I bought the bike last year

I was expecting a slight uphill slog on the way home, so before leaving work I made a few V-brake adjustments to make sure they weren't rubbing the rear wheel in the least. It had dropped back down to 47F by the time I left, and it was blustery with the wind coming from seemingly all directions. But the bike required less effort than anticipated.

The 5.8 mile ride home took 37 minutes vs the usual 34 for this route going home...the bike computer showing only 2 minutes not rolling with an average speed of 9.9. That's pretty slow for a dry-weather commute, but perhaps it was because I was enjoying a podcast in one ear, something I don't do much anymore. Since starting the new job three years ago I have not been listening so I end up concentrating more on the riding which seems to yield an extra mph average in speed.

I took the gravel bike in this morning. That leather hammock-style seat feels pretty hard at first when I'm not wearing biker shorts, but I forgot about it by the time I got to work.

I had a heavy backpack full of stuff: smoothie in a food jar for breakfast, left-overs in a disposable plastic container for lunch, and my bike chain. I'm going to miss riding this bike in a month or two, when it gets too cold for the IGH to function properly.

BobbyG, consider leveling that saddle a bit, and you may not need the pipe insulation on the bar.

This doesn't technically count as a commute, but I wanted to share the story here:

A bike club buddy and I were riding home from the group ride last night, in late dusk. We noted an approaching pick-up in our mirrors and went single file on the shoulder.

He passed us with plenty of room and shouted out the window: "I like your lights!"

I was on my Level.2 eBike, which has three tail lights built in and I have two on the back of my Lumos helmet as well. My buddy had his Bontrager Flare strobing. It is blindingly bright; too much so at night.

It felt good.


Here's what my Level.2 looks like from behind at night. The bright one is on the rear fender, and the dimmer ones are on the seat stays. They're even visible with the panniers deployed, at least as seen from directly behind. Having more than one light going helps the motorist determine distance.

Thanks, but I don't believe it's a fit-related issue, per se. In my 40s I developed crampy, sensitive hands. This coincided with a doctor prescribing a high dose of statins for my cholesterol which may or may not have been a contributing cause. I played softball for three summers back then and my hands were miserable hitting and catching. I padded my mitt and batting gloves as well. I eventually put pipe insulation on my bike bars and had one gel seat on my MTB and two on my 12-speed.

Then, due to some turmoil in my life I was off the statins for a year, with no improvement to my hands and butt sensitivity. I went back on statins, but a very low dose, with no worsening effects. In 2015 I bought my Charge Plug (non-electric) and tried riding it with no additional bar padding...that lasted a week.

Eight years ago, due to acid reflux and heartburn, I stopped drinking coffee and started drinking Yerba Mate. It has anti-inflammatory properties, antihistamine properties and lowers cholesterol and triglycerides. I still take a low dose of statins, although my doctor says I really don't need to. My hands and butt are less sensitive than in my 40s and now, none of my bike seats have gel covers, just light internal padding. My hands are better, and when I bought the Felt in 2022 I left the bars un-padded for a couple of weeks, but ultimately I padded them as well. The only bike I have (out of 6) without bar padding is my 20-inch Dahon Boardwalk folder with bull-bars, although the bar-tape is cushy and may be double wrapped (I forget).

My sensitive hand issue seems unaffected by tire cushiness as well.

When I acquired my 1984 Nishiki 12-speed in 2009 it was sporting 700x23 tires which I pumped up to 100psi, I spent hours adjusting the seat and bars to get the fit just right, but at the beginning I remember feeling the differences in pressure between my hands and butt with different heights and angles.

Anyhow, nowadays the extra bar-padding gets pretty compressed before I change it, unlike 15 years ago when I needed it to be really cushy. And now that I think of it, I can't remember the last time typing all day bothered my hands.

Before drinking yerba mate, I'd wake up with a stiff back and stiff knees. But hardly ever since I started with mate. I'm not diabetic, or even close, but since hitting 60 I've noticed that refined sugar makes my joints hurt. Normally, I dont feel my knees or back, but if I eat ice cream, cake or gourmet popcorn, candy, or drink a sugary soda, I will feel it in my knees, hands, feet and neck. My back rarely bothers me these days, so I am not eager to change my riding positions if I can help it.

At 63 my modus operandi is "If it doesn't hurt, don't change it."

+100!

With no rain in the forecast I packed light today and rode my lightest bike, the 2006 Felt F65. 700x25 tires @90psi. It was a cool 43F on the way in, which caused a problem with the shifting. When I bought the bike in 2022 the Shimano Ultegra 2x10 accesories worked flawlessly until the first cold snap. Then the shift levers would twist and click but not catch to allow upshifting or downshifting, except occasionally. I read up on the issue and found that this is a common problem with the Shimano Ultegras from that era. It's the factory grease. After so many years it begins to gunk up in cold weather. More research pointed me towards 3-In-One Lock Dry-lube aerosol which is safe for plastic and rated for -50F to 500F. It supposedly cleans out the old grease and re-lubes with graphite or whatever they're using. I spritzed some in the Ultegra brifters and they were good all that winter. In the middle of the winter of 2023 the brifters began to "slip" again. So another application. Last winter (2024-2025) I didn't need to do anything. But this morning they were missing most of the shifts for the first few minutes. by the time I got to work they were almost normal.

The ride in was good. I caught up to an e-bike rider, although he was riding casually no-handed, and it's not a race if the other party doesn't know it. But it did keep my pace way up until he was out of sight behind me.


At 5pm the temp was a warm 71F and the shifters were fine. My average speed was 13.5 mph vs. 9.9 mph for the same route yesterday on my heaviest bike, the 26" Rockhopper. But I'd say the effort was the same. It reminded me of Greg Lemond's quote "It doesn't get easier, you just go faster". I know that's not an accurate use of the phrase...but that's what came to mind.

I appreciate and respect the Felt, but it doesn't engender fondness and love like the '84 Nishiki International 12-speed or the '97 "DropHopper". I really like my other bikes as well, but they also don't elicit a strong emotional attachment like those two,

When I arrived home I Spritzed some of the 3-in-One Dry Lube in the Ultegra Brifters and the front derailler of the Rockhopper which was a little stubborn into the small ring up front.

Oh, yeah...tried sprinting again...no big speed increase.

I checked the weather this morning, rain for the first two hours. Cloudy but drier later. I looked outside and it was wet, but I didn't see rain.

I got to the garage, opened it and stepped out and it's misting. I decided to go for it as my commuter eBike has full fenders. There's a certain nerdy satisfaction to be had by looking down and seeing water dripping off the back of the front fender, but shoes & pants keeping pretty clean, right?

My jacket's a bit damp and I had to dry off my helmet & glasses when I got here, but it'll all be good for the ride home. It's upper 50s now, will be lower 60s for the ride home. Still nice riding weather, though the rest of my "Goldilocks Club" has gone underground already.

Slept very poorly. Woke up late and had to rush to make it out in time. I have several stops to make, so I thought I might not be in the best shape to ride everywhere. I took the subway. Maybe I'll take Citi Bike on some legs of my routes.

I’m at SMF where the parking is screwed up for some reason but I made it on time… but they stopped boarding the flight due to a mechanical issue. Which actually turned out to be a paperwork typo. My layover in DFW is hours so I should be ok

Yes, there is indeed!

Back to five?

I usually drive on Wednesdays due to improv 'rehearsal' an hour after work, 12 miles north, uphill. It takes me a little over an hour to bike it, and I have to allow time to cool down and dry off, so I only do that rarely. But traffic continues to slow and no matter what route I drive it now averages 35-45 minutes.

About two months ago one of my afternoon duties at work shifted to another department, so I started leaving an hour early on Wednesdays to give me time to drive and get a kid's meal at Wendy's and read the news before rehearsal.

Yesterday morning I pictured the day ahead and saw myself sitting in stop-and-go-traffic on the highway again and decided to bike to work. Bike home at 4, shower and drive the 20-25 minutes to rehearsal from the house. And if I pick up a smaller snack from a convenience store or Wal-Mart and skip the news I have plenty of time.

So I biked yesterday and it was terrific! A cool 42F on the way in, 81F on the way home, but feeling cool. Quick shower, much less stressfull non-highway drive up to rehearsal.

My day's always better with biking.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2218:

As Snoopy would always begin his stories: "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Woke up during the night to see flashes of lighting. I didn't think we were supposed to get rain, but alas it was falling. This morning when I rose, the rain had stopped but the roads were still very wet. I opted to take the road bike simply because I'm going to wind up riding 24 miles today and I really didn't want to do that on my slow hybrid.

The temp was a balmy 63°F, which is crazy warm for a late October morning in South Dakota. The humidity was right at 100%, and there was a light fog. It felt really sticky. The fog would probably been a lot thicker, but there also was a 15 mph wind.

About 1/4 mile from the house I had the closest call with a deer in my riding history, at least so far. It was still quite dark as I was pedaling down a medium sized hill, which allowed me to get some decent speed. There was a "T" intersection through which I was going straight. I had been looking to the left to watch for any cars coming off the side street. When I turned my head back forward, suddenly there was a deer in front of me.

I heard its hooves scraping on the pavement as it tried to get traction to run. I didn't have time to hit the brakes, swerve, or even make much of a yelp. I just mentally braced for impact, as it looked like I would certainly hit it. Somehow, I didn't. My front wheel couldn't have been more than a couple of inches from its rear hooves. That got the heart pumping. I kept riding in a mild state of shock.

I saw two more herds of deer in the next 1/2 mile. Thankfully they stayed well into the front yards of people's houses, and away from me.

Outside of dropping my chain twice when I tried to shift from the small to big ring, the remainder of the ride was pretty uneventful. My front derailleur has been shifting better as of late and rarely dropping a chain. It was working fine the first 3/4 of today's commute, then I guess it decided it had enough and started dropping the chain when I tried to shift. After the second time I gave up and just used the small ring the remainder of the ride.

Arrived at the office with a big old skunk stripe from my lack of fenders.

BobbyG : I have an audition tonight for a theater production. This will be my third show I've done with this particular theater group, so hopefully the audition is mostly a formality and to help the director figure out which role would fit me best. I'm not going to ride my bicycle to their rehearsal space, however. It's in a nearby suburb that's only three miles from our company office, which makes it a very rideable distance. Unfortunately, there are no good paved roads to get there without riding on extremely busy and narrow highways. The remaining routes are unpaved and I don't feel like riding my road bike on gravel, so I'm going to ride home after work and then drive to the audition.

I know, we can think of lots of reasons not to bike commute, but there are also lots of reasons to do it. I rarely regret doing it on any day. With that said, the only day I've bike commuted so far this week was Tuesday. (Monday was a holiday.) Gotta kick my own butt back into this.

All right, one more commute. I felt like I needed to dust of my geared bike and ride it one more time this year. It's a bit weird switching to a geared bike after riding nothing but a fixie the last 3 months. It's like switching back to a guitar after playing nothing but bass for a while. There was once on the ride where I was approaching an intersection and instinctively tried to use my legs to slow down. I was startled to not feel the pedals pushing back, and it took a half second to figure out what was wrong and grab the brakes. Not that I skid-stop on my fixie anymore - I got two brakes and I use them, but I still use my legs to modulate my speed. Not on a free hub!

Dang chilly this morning, at about -5C/23F. The low sun made it hard to see at times, and once I had to do some quick braking to avoid hitting a pedestrian that I couldn't see soon enough. No real close calls though, cervidae or otherwise.

Have a good day, everyone.

After riding for so many years, I believe it is a self-correcting problem. I mean, you'll start jonesin' for a ride sooner or later.

Rode the big, heavy Rockhopper again yesterday, and my average speed home was up .9 mph to 10.8 mph...can it be because I wasn't listening to a podcast and concentrating on riding?

Although it weighs about as much as my 2-lightest bikes together, with tires as wide as the two lightest bike tires put together, it's comfortable and pedals easy.

I had envisioned a variation of my southernmost route to work, but keep forgetting to ride it. Perhaps today. I my have to tape a reminder to the handlebars.

I was ready to leave for work early and had two coffees instead of one. The weather looked promising. There were no excuses not to ride, so I rode. I had a tailwind for most of the trip, elevating my speed. Upon reaching the steepest uphill portion of the Brooklyn Bridge, I faced a headwind, but only briefly. It was about 50º. My hands got a little cold, so I will try to remember that I'll need gloves below 50º.

That just sounds so cool. For all the times I have been to New York I've never been on the Brooklyn Bridge. I've taken the Circle Line Tour boat under it.

Rode the 16" Dahon Getaway today. It was in better shape than I remembered. Cosmeticaly it's a mess, but it rides nice. Shifting is much easier since I replaced the thumbie with a MTB-style rapid fire.

It was 36F when I left and remembered I wanted to take a new route variation and headed down Weber Street, which I haven't used much since the old job/commute. Downtown. a stoplight held me at Pikes Peak Avenue just long enough for me to figure that if I turned onto Pikes Peak, I'd be cutting almost 2-miles off my intended route. My sense of adventure and thirst for variety did not prevail, and I turned onto the shorter, usual route.

My speed was pretty good, averaging 14.5 mph.

It was a long, frustrating day at work and the wind was against me, so I took an even shorter route home. I averaged 9.9 MPH like the other day on the bigger, heavier 26" Rockhopper. The novelty of the small folding bike and the scenic leafy fall streets didn't assuage my frustration, and that's unusual.

The Brookllyn Bridge is super cool, and it's one of the many NYC landmarks I feel honored to see frequently. Next time you come, WALK over it, don't ride a bike. They made a two way bike lane by taking out a lane of vehicular traffic. It's functional and ugly. I don't mind, because it was the right thing to do. Bikes and pedestrians were mixed on the path, and it got too dangerous.