50F this am, and dry-went for the CF roadbike & backpack vs steel cross bike & panniers - also, skipped coat but stuck w/ 2 shirts tights & full gloves - expect one shirt fingerless gloves just shorts going home mid-70s

supposed to be back to 50s and raining rest of the week so nice to get one awesome day...

CF ride 2mph faster than crossbike was last week, which itself was 2mph faster than the same setup in December/January (is the air denser then???)

I thought I might be late to work today. But I wasn't. I rode almost as hard as I could on the upslope of the bridge. Colder weather but nice.

We spent the weekend upstate. My spouse stayed an extra day so I got back to the City on an evening bus. After getting off, I decided to take Citi Bike home. It was colder and windier than it's been, but I thought, how bad can it be? I did get a bit cold, but not wintry cold, so it was fine.

It felt good to ride the eBike in this morning. My legs are still cooked from the Dairy Roubaix I rode on Saturday. (114 miles, with 10,400' of climbing, half of it into a 15-25 mph wind) More on that in the "How fer did you ride" thread in the General subforum.

Consecutive bicycle work commuter number 2334:

Blew another hole in a "bombproof" rim on my road bike. I had the same thing happen roughly a year ago and the rim was replaced under warranty. Somehow I doubt they're going to cover it a second time, as the first warranty claim was 18 months in on my original purchase date.

Oddly enough, for the moment the rim is still holding true. Hopefully it will remain so for the ride home.

I ordered a more robust replacement rear wheel from a different manufacturer, which will hopefully stop this from happening. Unfortunately the ship date is estimated to be a month out, so I'm probably not going to be riding my road bike in the near future.

They should cover it if it failed again. However I would go with a nice Astral or Velocity rim.

… to be honest I don’t pay attention to Denver weather but my sense is that it’s similar to Boulder/Denver.

Nice street ride in. The city began repairs of a 90 year old art deco bridge just west of Colorado College. I only use it on one route but I'm afraid I'll forget and have to add an extra half mile if I do. It'll be closed till late fall. It really needed work and at in least it's not part of the the trail route or my two shortest routes.

I had a fairly light workday and yet to I began to bonk on the way home. I kept thinking of all the recent commute where I felt so strong and young... Not this afternoon. I kept checking to see if a disk brake was rubbing...but no.I had taken my commuter and a light bag plus I had the of wind in my favor and yet I felt powerless, annoyed and agitated. I hope I'm not coming down with something.

The new wheel that I ordered is a Velocity Chukker. Very heavy duty rim that will hopefully hold up well to a clydesdale like me.

I'll probably check with my LBS to see if they'll fix my old wheel a second time. I think it had a two year warranty when new. I originally bought the first rim in July of 2023, and it failed at about 20 months. DT Swiss sent my LBS a replacement rim, and the LBS reused my original hub and spokes. This second rim failed in almost the exact same way as the first after 12 months. I wouldn't be surprised if they say I'm now almost three years in on a two year warranty, so I'm on my own.

If they cover it, great. I'll keep it as a backup.

I left this morning thinking I'd eBike in and nurse my legs until the "Turtle Tuesday" ride tonight, but it's downhill for half a mile leaving my house, so I most often talk myself into just pedaling the beast up part of one small hill, then if the wind isn't terrible, I just pedal it unpowered the whole commute in. That's what I wound up doing this morning.

Yesterday, it only got up to maybe 48°, today it's supposed to hit 70. Nice.

I'll eBike home, then clean off the Checkpoint after the big gravel ride this past weekend and lead the club ride on it.

If they sent you a new rim then the warranty should extend to that rim if it has failed. If you are say 5 years out and it breaks that is different but if your warranty item fails then it should be covered.

Why is it called "Turtle Tuesday"?

After bonking on the ride home yesterday I tempted fate by taking the big, heavy (but fast and fun) '97 Specialized Rockhopper (AKA the DropHopper).

I consciously made an effort to not take the route where the bridge is closed for rehab. I decided to roll through the heart of downtown on Pikes Peak Avenue. However, it was closed at Tejon Street for the resurfacing of Tejon (tay-HONE). But it looked like one of the pedestrian crosswalks was open, so I transmogrified myself into a pedestrian and Calvin-balled myself across and then changed back into a street vehicle on the other side.

I left an hour early for a change. It was sunny with the bike's thermometer reading an even 80F but with an insistent and impolite headwind. However, I managed not to bonk and had plenty of oomph despite riding my heaviest bike.

I still found myself feeling annoyed and agitated, so I dropped into the "99% Invisible" podcast which didn't really help as much since this particular episode was more about people than public architecture or the design of systems.

So I can end this entry on a bike-related note I'll say that I'm happier with the toe clips than the flats on the RockHopper.

I did it! My first commute on the Zizzo was a success.

Welcome to the "fold".

50F, raining hard enough that clothes not likely to be dry for going home this evening

The ride home was even better! Tomorrow is a new day

Funny how something so simple can elevate your mood so well, isn't it?

My 96-year-old mother-in-law had a sudden medical issue that needed taking care of last night so we got to bed very late. I slept in an extra hour. I wasn't feeling motivated for the bike ride in so I took a hodgepodge of lesser used segments to make it more interesting. And it did. I found myself enjoying the rediscovery of side streets and other places. I don't usually ride.

I went through downtown where they have construction but this morning unlike the other day the intersection was now completely closed even to foot traffic. So I had to go half a block down. No big deal.

I left work a few minutes early. The wind had picked up from the north Northeast so basically in my face the whole ride home. I decided to take the trail to trail route but as I approached the trail I found myself dealing with more and more unhoused people having mental crises on the trail. So I went up my short route that cuts through the college and I can rejoin the trail there where I would normally take the bridge across the creek. The bridge being closed for repairs for the rest of the summer and most likely the fall as well.

The trail was busy with cyclists joggers walkers and more homesteaders but everything thinned out the further I got from downtown. And then I had basically the trail to myself for the last 3 or 4 miles. However, right where I turn off the trail they are doing some sort of utility or pipe repair and the trail and the sidewalk that it spills on to at that intersection. We're just blocked off with nothing but fresh dirt everywhere.

So a little frustrating and a little difficult with the wind but still better than driving.

Because it's one of the club's slower group rides, 12-14 mph average.

That's either a long commute, or you're hitting it pretty hard, for a commute!

Well-done! I bet you can already tell that you're going to feel cheated when you don't get to bike commute, from now on...

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No bike commute yesterday; had to take the car to get the child after work yesterday. She declined to come and her grandparents declined to send her against her will (no discipline in that house!) so I drove around in rush hour for 1.5 hours for nothing. Called the non-emergency police for obstruction of parenting time. Documented it with an email. Can't decide if I should go to court and force the issue, or just try to pretend I'm childless until she comes around.

This morning, it was 67 °F and 70% humidity. I felt good riding the slow gravel bike in, but I sweat more than I wanted to when I stopped here at work. I'm going to try to slow down a bit more even, but if not, I may switch to an eBike or scooter for the rest of the season for commuting.

BobbyG, it's such a shame that there on the eastern range cities, you have that great bike infrastructure, but the bums took it over, so you can't even really use it properly. I don't understand why they would want to camp RIGHT ON or adjacent to the bike path, instead of on some relatively softer, more concealed area...

40F this am, foggy. Supposed to top out at 60F and sunny all day so I went for roadbike again (no fenders, no lights(could have put a blinky on backpack loop but they bounce out of that a disconcerting amount of time)). Computer at home croaking, considered driving on the off-chance I could get parts at work that wouldn't fit into my backpack (like a whole desktop tower), but decided to ride anyway. Riding on a great day always better than fixing the computer in the cellar...

Sorry about your mother in law, BobbyG. We're dealing with my mother in law, also 96, who has dementia. There is a lot to do.

Will end up with about 120 miles this week: Chores on the weekend, five days of commuting including some offsite training that added a few miles. Only one run-in with an auto, and that was partially my fault as I jumped to a conclusion that the guy pulling over into the bike lane was going to park there in front of the auto mechanic (which happens a lot). I just said, "Can't park there, mate!" but I guess he didn't get the joke, as he then pulled up alongside me while I was still riding to emphasize that he had the right to pull over. And he did use a signal. I will admit I was a little on edge because I had had an earlier episode of getting squeezed into a parked car on a not-that-narrow street where most cars let me run in front of them at 15 mph for 10 seconds or so. But this guy couldn't be bothered with that.

At least I didn't drop a chain! I've come to the conclusion that this groupset (Essa 8) is not as forgiving as my old Stumpy with gear changes under load. I really have to ease up more.

On work travel most of this week and sick to boot. No riding

Jeez...that should have occured to me.

I like to keep a quick pace. Actually, I can't help it. I'm a quick walker, too.

The indigent population tends to congregate on the infrastructure near social services. Downtown Colorado Springs is bookended north and south by major soup kitchens with the trail system connecting the two. Unfortunately for me, my office is just off the intersection of two major highways, so the trail goes under the highways, plus the on and off ramps. In the winter the underpasses shield the wind, and in the summer they block the sun. The on and off ramps provide prime panhandling locations, and the creek that runs alongside the trail provides washing and bathroom opportunities, and probably hydration, also. Further from downtown where the trails diverge from the waterways you can see camps down near at the waterline. The trails often follow old rail lines because they've been flattened and graded, and the old rail lines followed the water sources for the steam locomotives. I have finally come to terms with the brief inconveniences of homeless camps on or near the trails, the exception being when the trail is completely blocked, or people are congregating in locations where they are obfuscated by darkness or infrastructure.