Decided on my main commuter, the 2015 Charge Plug. Rain was expected this afternoon so I took the big everything's-in-it commute bag with rain gear. Ran a street route with traffic lights at the big thoroughfare crossings which are safer in theory...but I almost got taken out in a cross walk by an SUV 3 seconds after his red light.

The rain came 90 minutes before quittin' time; and while I worked an extra 30 minutes things had tapered down to a light drizzle as I left. I covered my bag and phone in plastic, but decided not to wear the rain cape. In fact, I didn't even take it out of the bag and let the bungies hold it ready for use like I do. So often I have stopped and donned the rain cape only to take it back off 15 minutes later. And sure enough, a mile from the office the rain had intensified, but then let up and stopped another mile east.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d267707ca3.jpg
End of the ride.

The brewpub that hosted Turntable Tuesday closed for good, saying they were unable to be consistently profitable.

I went downtown anyway, and had a pint in a nearby pub. I still got another 6 miles on to the commute with the trip downtown and back home. Kind of windy, but I just take it slow on the folder. It was cold, so there was no point in going fast.

Today, it's also windy. 38 °F this morning, but supposed to get up to 61. Probably will be more like 65 or 68. It's hard to dress for that range! I took the "Be bold, dress cold" approach and just wore my vented cycling jacket over my long sleeve dress shirt. Was a bit cold, but mostly my hands. Deerskin work gloves were the wrong choice, at least as the ONLY choice. In hindsight, I should have packed those gloves, but worn my Green Bay Packers mittens or insulated work gloves for the morning leg.

I may get out tonight on the road bike for 20-30 miles and see about setting some Personal Records in Strava on the tailwind segments. :D It's supposed to be 18 mph later, which usually means gusts over 30. Or maybe I'll just take an eBike and not worry about the wind at all.

Before Covid there was an explosion of small breweries and brew pubs here in Colorado Springs. Of course Covid did many of them in. But just in the last year and a half many have closed or been bought out. Aside from economic "trends" and challenges, there is a gentrification and a building boom going on in select areas of the Springs including downtown which has made it difficult for small businesses that rent or lease space. The same goes for a lot of small local bike shops here as well.

Tough ride home yesterday night uphill into the wind, even if it was only 2 miles, it sure got my heart rate up. Probably mid-Zone 3.

The bike club board meeting was yesterday night too, and I opted for an eBike. On the way up north, it was mostly uphill, but I had the howling 20-30 mph tailwind, so I went with just my legs' power. The Vektron rolls impossibly easily, considering it's on 20" wheels with balloon tires and weighs 50 lbs. It was still quite a bit of work climbing the hills, even with the nice push. I was able to wear un-insulated tights and a short sleeved jersey; nice!

On the way back, I donned my wind jacket, set the Warp Drive to ECON to keep moving at double digit speeds into that same wind. I love this bike!

Gen Z is not drinking much. By the time they are old enough, lots of them are sorted into online communities that have no earthly presence, or smoking pot, which is not most places a bar activity

Not to mention eight to eleven bucks for a beer

Did some fun/chore riding over the weekend, and then on Monday had an appointment out in the Valley. If you're familiar with LA, you might know what this can entail, especially without a car. I ended up going multi-modal - rode to Union Station and took a subway to Studio City. Various planners suggested taking it another stop and hitting the Gold Line bikeway, but that seemed out of the way. I don't mind riding in traffic, so I rode the 7 miles from Studio City to Encino on Ventura Boulevard. I've ridden lots worse roads.

So Monday was a 30-mile day instead of my regular 18, and combined with Sunday's excursion - REI and fishing! - I feel like I'm feeling the additional miles. So yesterday I figured I wouldn't push anything, just do a mellow pace ... and ended up with one of my fastest times. Must have made some lights or something :) (The REI visit for tubes was funny. I walked up with four tubes, and they must have to do some kind of training, as she asks me, "Do you know you have different sizes of tubes?" Heh, yeah, and I think I even skipped a bike. They did have a nice looking Salsa Confluence with 10- or 11-speed SRAM on it, used. Nice bike if anyone needs a gravel e-bike in SoCal.)

Today I was following a kid on a Specialized who kept up a good pace. Wasn't trying to catch him, really, but caught up on an incline. I did my usual "good morning!" as I passed, then shifted up ... and dropped a chain. This is the third or fourth time it's happened on this bike, and I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I must have some muscle-memory from decades of friction and thumb-shifters that causes me to do that. Or, I need a new chain after ~1000 miles ... ?

I've had a chain or two crap out way early for no apparent reason over the years. And then there was my old MTB commuter that had just the right (or wrong) clearance between the big front chain ring and the chain stay. If a chain fell off the biggest two rings it would get wedged between the outer ring and the chain stay and suffer damage. In short order it would start skipping or break. I don't miss that.

This morning was a beautiful commute except for halfway to work the rear felt wobbly in a weird way. For 25 years I have been running bungee cords from the seat frame to rear of the back rack and sliding my backpack in there. Tee original backpack had "shoulders" and would stay put. When I switched to the type of backpack I have now I added D-clips to clip to the bungees for extra security. This morning I forgot to clip the bag in and while it wasn't in immediate danger of slipping out, it was working its way off the bike. My smaller "light" bag has straps on each side with clasps on each side and I use those to secure it to the bungees.

It was drizzling rain when I got ready to leave work so I put a plastic bag on my bag and on my phone holster and slid my yellow rain cape under the bungees to be ready incase the rain increased. But by the time I changed and left it was sunny and dry. Ahhh, Colorado!

As I was merging onto the trail by the office a guy on a gravel bike (drop-bars, 45mm to 55mm tires?) flew by on the trail at what looked like at least 25 mph into the wind. He was coming down a 50 yard descent from traffic level to the underpass, so I thought it might be an e-bike but I couldn't tell. It shouldn't have felt demoralizing but it did. He pulled a hard left onto the northbound trail and out of view. When I turned north I could see him way up ahead. Musta been an e-bike.

Then as I was a little further up the northbound trail another bike blew past on my left. No bell, no audible warning. I wear a glasses-mount mirror but I never saw him coming. I was goin g 12 mph. and he must have been doing 18-20. I could see it was definitely not an ebike, just some late-model road bike. I lost sight of himn, but then up ahead where the trail takes a more pronounced uphill I saw him riding briskly, but more slowly, and I was gaining on him. As we entered a park he was flying towards pedestrians without a bell or warning. Stupid kid. He did have a rear light. Finally, where the trail cleared out I caught up to him and saw his big white bushy beard. I recognized him as a fellow year-round commuter, roughly in his mid 60s like me, possibly older. We usually converge by my office in the morning, with him coming from the other direction. Since I have only seen him riding on the sidewalk or the bike lane by an intersection I had never seen him at speed. Impressive for as long as it lasted.

I was against the wind for most of the ride and found I was comfortable staying in the drops longer than I usually can muster. You'd think that would be something to celebrate. But at my age, any change in how my body feels, good or bad seems suspicious and warrants looking int
It was a physically tough day at work. My younger, bigger, stronger video production partner was sick and I had to set up a video shoot myself, carrying all the lighting and video equipment a few hundred feet to where we were shooting and setting it up myself.* The shoot itself is easy. Then I broke everything down and carried it back. Being older and more cautious I carry less than my partner and make more trips, so my back and shoulders stay pain free. And yet, like Marty McFly being called "chicken", if I am passed on a bike commute I take it as a challenge and ride a little harder.

I can't believe that at 64 I have the stamina I had at 34, even if I don't have quite the physical strength. It still feels good to be active.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...667b7e4dc9.jpg

*One key light, two fills, two hair lights two accent lights, all the stands including the heaviest C-stands I've ever encountered, camera, tripod, monitor and stand, audio equipment backdrops, extension cord and my thermos of Yerba Mate.

BobbyG remind us how long your typical commuting route is.

This is spring break week so no commuting. I rode to a doctor's appointment today, and I thought I was late so I rode really hard through midtown traffic. I make it a point to notice nice things that happen so here are two.

I passed a giant articulated bus, and then it caught up with me and passed me. Then the driver wanted to pull in to the bus stop and expected me to pass on the right. I don't do that because I'm smarter than typical cyclists. I stopped. He waited, and I waited and made two gestures for him to go ahead. It took him a while to understand me, but that's OK.

Coming back, I was on an avenue with a left-side bike lane protected by a row of parked cars. A car driver in the leftmost travel lane was making a left turn across the bike lane, and as I was inhaling in case I needed to yell really loud (one of my tools), he stopped and looked down the bike lane before proceeding. I don't expect everyone to be perfect, but I see a lot of people with good habits that respond to the newer infrastructure. Cycling in this city is far from heaven, but it's better than it used to be in many ways.

Six miles on the most direct east-west street routes. Eight miles on the northern trail-to-trail route. And 7 miles on the more seldom used southern streets to trail route. All take about the same 30 to 35 min ride time in to work, and 35 to 45 back.

It had rained overnight. I thought it was supposed to clear up and I would take a day off and go for a nice ride up to Milwaukee or something, but no, it was still misting in the morning, and supposed to be cloudy the rest of the day, so it'll probably just stay wet. I decided to go to work. I took the ZiZZO Forte; that seems to be my favorite foul weather bike. I have a few other bikes with fenders:

• My eFatty. But it has the studded tires on it. I should switch them back to the regular knobbies and sell it. I don't ride it enough to justify the space it takes up.
• My old 1977 Schwinn, but I don't really want to ride it in the rain and let it get rustier. The fenders are already a bit rusty.
• My Aventon Level.2 eBike. This is a great commuter of course, but it's damned heavy to pedal uphill for the home commute if I want to go unpowered, which I do. I need full credit for miles to qualify for the "Ride 5,000 miles in 2026" club in Strava. I was SO close last year; just need to replace some eBike rides with muggle bike rides.
• My Tern Vektron, but this one is "too nice" to intentionally ride in the wet when I have other options.

The ride in was fine. I dressed just right, the fenders did their job so only my commuting shoes were dirty.

Took 16 inch folder today on the trail-to trail route. Average speed was 13.9 mph vs about 15.5 for my main commuter, plus the 20-inch folder and the MTB-based commuter on a good day. I started the GPS about 3 minutes late so my time was about 36 minutes total ride time vs about 31-32 for the other bikes. An extra 4-minutes is no big deal in the greater scheme of commuting. I had the GPS call out my speed every 2 minutes (no speedo on the bike), and where I expect 18 mph on the main commuter, 20-incher and MTB, it told me 14.5 mph. On the two lightest bikes I'm usually doing 22-24mph.

It's a very entertaining ride and fairly comfortable. The biggest downside is that it is the only bike I have that won't trigger the security gate to leave work. Unless some one is leaving at the same time, I have to bring it through the building.

Earlier in the week I showed my coworker how laying down her bike on the induction sensor will trigger the gate. She said she had rolled her bike over earlier it without triggering the gate, and it never occured to her to lay it down. It's a trick I learned here on bikeforums way back when.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bfde5428f9.jpg

Left hooked on Thursday evening on the way home. Doing maybe 22mph in the cycle lane, car in front I was about to overtake (20mph zone) decided it didn't like the look of the road ahead and just turned left, indicating JUST as they turned. I just about managed to slow, stay upright, turning into the junction with it, and somehow didn't fall right against the car. I let them know I was displeased with their driving skills.

Yikes! Are you and the bike OK?

Glad you're okay.

Boy, you folks are fast! Maybe I used to be fast, but now I'm not. And maybe I never was. :lol:

And now that I'm officially slow, maybe it's time to put fenders on my racing bike and my lightweight street fixie. The extra weight won't slow me down much at this point. I love fenders. Funny how I resisted them when I was young. And then I saw the light.

Good to hear you are ok.

No bike today...I have an afternoon engagement with my wife up north. So I made sure I biked this past weekend.

I failed to bike Saturday due to lack of motivation. When faced with the same motivation crisis during the 18-months I worked from home I adopted the mantra, "The motivation is out THERE!" Meaning just start riding, the "motivation" for the ride will make itself known.

So Sunday I employed my motivational trick. I suited up, and well, as long as I had my biking clothes on I should just walk out to the shed and see what bike appeals to me. THat turned out to be the '84 Nishiki 12-speed. In the few yards walk to the shed I decided part of a plan. Why not start with the 2.5 miles beyond my ride home that was ridden by my co-worker whose rear brakes I repaired/adjusted after her first bike-to-work last week.

Those 2.5 miles rely on what is called the "Canal Path" MUP, which extends south from the Rock Island Trail and ends abruptly at Galley Road where there are no bike lanes, just sidewalks. This is a much neglected path with sand an silt built up over the pavement under two overpasses where the trail dips down to creek level with no barrier between the water and sidewalk, a "feature" of a couple other older paths.

For the first time I can remember the trail was mostly trash-free, although sidewalk graffiti remained. Vegetation had been pruned, but the sand and silt was still an issue. And when I got to Galley Road a street-level crossing with near instantaneous crossing lights had been put in, like all the other new and upgraded crossings the city has been implementing.

The trail still ends there, but I could see where preliminary work was being done to allow for a future extension.

After that I decided to see if this would be a good or better route to use as a leg of the 24-mile central loop I was going to use for my birthday ride last January. It was. (Because of snow I only used the paved trail portions of the loop for the birthday ride doing three laps of a 20-mile out and back). Another mile of residential street riding put me on the Sand Creek Trail, which eventually hooks up with the Greenway Trail, and back up to the Rock Island Trail with a couple miles of gravel where the GW and RI trails meet.

The Greenway trail is officially closed for the dozen yards it passes under the new Circle Street Bridge. The last two times I took the official detour. This time I went to look at the underpass and see if it was passable and safe. I encountered a handful of pedestrians walking through the loose dirt and sand, and two MTB riders who rode it. My 700x28 tires precluded my riding it, but like the silty, sandy underpasses I just walked the bike a few yards, thus avoiding the traffic a detour would entail.

The rest of the ride was a piece of cake, although I seemed to have a headwind for all legs of the journey.

The only other thing I'll mention was that I stepped funny in a parking lot Saturday afternoon and hurt my right ankle. It was stiff and sore yesterday morning along with my lower back, but cycling didn't seem to bother either, which was a worry I had, Still sore this morning, but possibly less.

I know this wasn't an actual commute, but it was a ride specifically in lieu of today's commute and it did incorporate my co-worker's route and finally my trail-to-trail route for the last 8 miles.

Yes, 13.9 mph is quite rapid on a 16" folder! Of course, it depends on the commute too, if it trends downhill and there aren't a lot of stops. I'd be a sweaty mess if I hit it hard enough to average 13.9 mph on my folder. 15.5 is pretty fast too if there are any stops on the way! 22-24 average on a commute is insanely fast, even on a fast bike. Even a pro would be proud of that. (unless you're not talking averages any more) I bet our man BobbyG here has to carry that big bag because he has to shower and change from making his commute hammerfests, hehehe.

Tangent: If you haven't watched the Extended Highlights for the Paris-Roubaix on YouTube, I recommend it. These guys were dropping like flies. Slipping out on dusty cobblestones and I would say the timing and # of flats wound up having a huge effect on the race. It was not uncommon for a fellow to need 3 bikes on this one day race. The Extended Highlights are about an hour and are here:
There are many shorter videos, but there really were a lot of highlights from this year's race.

Today's bike commute was nice! It helped that I rode a little bit yesterday, and it was so nice being out in the genuine spring-like weather. At a certain point, a man about my age on a hybrid was on my route. We leapfrogged each other a bit, and then we hit the upward incline on the bridge. I passed him there. On the downward slope, I normally pick up a lot of speed, over 20 mph, and I was surprised when he passed me. I'm sure it's fun.

It's amusing to me how wherever I work, my commute gets a tiny bit shorter over the first few months. I think it started out at 3.8 miles, then 3.7, and today it was 3.6 miles. I guess I cut corners here and there, but I'm not conscious of any of it.

My fastest average speeds are on the slight overall downhill to work, 17.5 on the lightest bike. The over 20mph speeds are for specific slightly more downhill segments. My bikes are all geared "up" so I'm more of a masher than a spinner. And a great thing about Colorado Springs for cycling is that it's a high desert...very dry, so less schvitzing.

No ride, had to drop off and pick up kids in threatening forecast (that may amount to nothing, oh well)

My bent French bike and my tubeless-trouble C-3po bike both got left out in the last week of rain. I am feeling guilty.

I rode the scooter in yesterday; finally got in insured for the season. My legs needed a break after the 100 km ride Sunday.

Yesterday, I led my club's moderate pace ride, 16.7 mph average, but from my eBike, which made that into a high Zone 1 / low Zone 2 ride. It was nice.

Today, I took the eBike to work, as it has full fenders and it looks like I'm likely to get soaked on the return trip. I brought my rain gear. Didn't want to drive the car, as we're supposed to get large hail this evening. Unpowered for the trip to work, and I'll probably engage the warp drive for the ride home, which is more uphill. I'm likely going to have to cancel the club ride tonight because of the weather. Booo.

I think bike commuting on alternate days is good for me for now. Last week I did Tuesday and Thursday. This week, I rode on Monday so I'm skipping today. Tuesday is my long day anyway. I'm thinking to myself if I can get in a long walk somehow as I'll be between work which ends before 4:00 and my rehearsal which begins at 7:00. I think it's possible. My watch seems to think my bike commutes are signifiicant exercise but all the walking I do on non-bike days amounts to no significant exercise. It might be true, but let's see what it makes of a walk of 2 or 3 miles.

Consecutive bicycle work commute 2330:

I made it home yesterday just in time. Shortly after I got inside the house it started to rain, which wouldn't have been so bad. But then it started to hail marble and penny sized hail. It sounded ferocious just hitting the roof. That would have hurt, even with a helmet.

Today is day 14 since I came down with the creeping crud. I'm on the mend, but it's a slow recovery. I'm still getting more winded than I'm used to getting when going up hills, and the nagging cough decides to return for a visit occasionally. I'm definitely better than I was a week ago. After 11 days straight of taking Nyquil, the last three nights I've been going without. That hasn't helped my sleep quality, but at least now I'm not spending the first half of the day with a hangover. I only take 1/2 a shot, but that stuff hits me hard. If I take a full shot I'm worthless for at least 18 hours.

Today the temp was 47°F and there was just a hint of a wind. Despite my exhaustion, I was riding at a good pace. I even managed to successfully get my road bike into the big ring three times. I hadn't even tried in the last six months as a majority of time it would fail to get the chain onto the ring, then would drop around the bottom bracket. This would cause me to have to pull over and get it back on the sprocket, negating any speed benefit of the taller gears. I was trying to get it adjusted without much success, then when winter hit and it got cold I just resigned myself to only use the little ring.

I'm going to try and ride the whole 22 mile loop today, which I haven't done since before I got sick.