26 and partly sunny this morning. I got up early, so had some time to have a big mug of coffee and listen to some music on the home HiFi, and take a route to work which was twice as long as usual.

I broke out of Default Mode by doing that and also I took the belt drive gravel bike, on which I do the commute 3 mph faster on average.

I'll likely go home for lunch, but take the car back to work, as this is the night I get my daughter right from work, 20 miles away.

Priority Gemini gravel bike per chance?

Yep.

Lakefront bike path just north of town. Kenosha, WI on Lake Michigan.

Very cool. I have a Pinion gearbox as well and love it, albeit on a heavy touring frame. SORRY to go off topic!

Oh, I think we may have had this conversation elsewhere.

My Apollo hasn't got the Pinion gearbox in the bottom bracket, it has a regular old internal Shimano Alfine 11 gearhub for the rear hub.

It's the Gemini that has the Pinion gearbox. At $3600, that one's for the rich cats. Literally twice as much as the Apollo.

Ah, thanks for clarifying!

Nice, nothing special commutes today, except...

...I left work on time, right at 5pm and when arrived home 40 minutes later it was still light enough that I hadn't turned on my headlight!

38F and gray today. 'winter bike-to-work day' my email tells me, but I didn't see any other bikes at all this am...

Rain supposed to start in an hour or so and end a week or 2 later

Today might have been the last chance to see a sunrise (maybe until daylight savings...) but it was grayed out

Getting a lap in today. The only one this week, I think. I might have ridden Monday, I can't remember

Settling into the groove of riding in four times a week. Wife thinks she's doing me a favor to let me use the car, when by this time I kind of miss it if I don't ride. But I use it to ferry stuff that I don't want to carry back and forth.

(Actually, I got to use the Greg Lemond quote, organically, when she asked me if it was getting any easier since I was now riding a lot more.)

Of course, the day that I did drive it was typically beautiful Southern California weather, whereas on Wednesday when I rode, there was actual rain (drizzle). It wasn't horrible, and I had enough gear to make it semi-comfortable. Luckily I hit a window between bands of rain, I think, and the temp was only in the lower 50s.

I was going to try an alternate route home that avoids a sidewalk stretch, but looking at the Maps suggested route, it doesn't look much better. Instead of a seven-lane street going down hill as fast as possible, the possible route includes a high-speed 2-lane street that merges with traffic exactly where it wants me to cross ... to get back on the bike path I would take anyway. Hrm.

"It doesn't get easier; you just go faster."

That makes sense to those of us who like the exercise from cycling because we like to put in a certain level of effort into it.

I had decided to ride to work yesterday but chickened out. I needed to be there early and didn't want that to slip. Looking back, I would have been just fine.

But I rode today! I was going so crazy from not riding for so long. I said no matter what, I'll ride. I wore lots of clothes to keep me warm, and it worked. I had a great time, and it boosts my sense of competence, not just in riding but in everything in life.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2290:

It's been an extremely warm week, with highs in the upper 40s to low 50s. Mornings are still below freezing, but overall extremely pleasant for February. Most all of the snow is now gone, just a little bit of ice lurking here and there. The wind has been remarkably calm as well.

The big story is, I was interviewed by a local news station yesterday. They contacted me on Wednesday, and came out to our office yesterday morning. The reporter filmed about 5 minutes of interview, then had me ride my bike around while she filmed me. Had I realized the bike was going to be on camera so much, I would have cleaned it.

Here's the link to the story. Pardon my scruffy face; I'm growing a beard for a theater production at the end of March, and right now it's in the "soup kitchen" stage: https://www.keloland.com/news/local-...iding-to-work/

Congrats on your anniversary and interview

Next week my kids have the whole week off, which the district does if Easter is sufficiently late. Officially it's for the two Presidents holidays but it's known as "ski week." The Tahoe resorts are wise to it, season passes have blackouts. I don't think we have the dollars to do any skiing much less with all of them. But it will be nice to have a week off.

Tundra_Man Nice story! When I was between jobs and worked for my self for 18 months from 2020-2022 I was finding it hard to get out and ride, especially in the winter. I did ride at least twice a week, and averaged three, but I wish I would have thought of riding to the old office. The problem was I would wake up to free-lance projects in my email and get started on them right away hoping to ride later in the day, but usually staying busy all day. My go-to route was a ten-mile loop I plotted out where thanks to a rail line and a creek it was difficult to cut it short, other than just stopping and turning around.

Today was winter bike to work day. I saw that the bike co-op was sponsoring a stop on my trail-to-trail route, so I took that route. I decided to take the '89 Dahon Getaway V 16" folder since I had the back rack on it and in a lower position since figuring out how to make that work last weekend. It was a fast run on a clear, sunny morning about 36F. About 7 cyclists at the stop. I stopped and said hi and started off when one of the guys asked about the folder. I stopped and fielded questions for a few minutes. It felt nice to have my weird bodge bike appreciated.

The bike felt more stable with the weight of the backpack down lower than it's been on the rack when it was 5 inches higher, and higher still on my back.

And it was a fast ride in (for me) averaging 14.2 mph, same as my main commuter. The ride home was cooler, gray, uphill-ish and against a stiff wind for an average of 9.6...same as the big, heavy MTB in the same conditions.

Tundra_Man You've had your 15 minutes of fame; congratulations!

BobbyG 14.2 mph avg. is FAST for a 16" wheeled folder! Wow.

For my part, I'm just enjoying the warmer weather we're getting. It's not even supposed to freeze at night again until Friday. I've been putting in some extended commutes and extra grocery trips for just a few small items that I wouldn't normally make.

I finally opened up the garden sprayer bottle, assembled it, and washed three bikes with it on Saturday. It was so gratifying to see all the salt spray just running off and into the storm drain:



Cyclami BR-1000 headlight, on High. It has great optics, so it's usable even on Low, if I'm not going too fast. In this pic, it's on my single speed road bike on last night's ride.

No riding today here in the elbow. Steady rain, with a gap tonight but more tomorrow. Might be possible to ride Wednesday but might not. Kids holiday all week means early-to-lunch in-office hours, then WFH. Nanny is coming on her usual hours but that's only any real help on Thursday.

We are taking a square hit from Santa Rosa all the way down to LA. The powder for the holiday should be epic if you can get to it. Looking out for news stories of bay area tech bros wrecking their AWD Lamborghinis on the way to Sugar Bowl

I'm not working this week. School is out for break. My spouse and I are spending the week touring around Mexico City. It's exciting for me, as it's my first time in Mexico.

Here is a very old and very well preserved Philips locked up on the street. The rod brakes caught my eye. I wonder what stories it would tell.

Those axle extensions are wild. They are like BMX footpegs. They seem like a liability on a gentler bike

I hadn't really noticed. Clearly they, along with the rack, are for a passenger.

Ever since I was a kid I'd wear an old pair of glasses to play ball, or bike,or anything that might scratch or ruin my main pair of glasses. I also keep an old pair in the car. I used to keep an old pair at the office, but if I'm there I've biked or drove so there's always an extra pair of glasses around.

Anyway, I got new glasses with a new prescription last week and instead of the car, I put the previous pair on bike duty. The old strap didn't work with them, so I didn't wear them until today...

...and boy was everything clear! The old bike pair was 5 years old and my eyes has changed a lot. The eye doctor said with them I had 20/20 vision (with the new prescription I have even better 20/10 vision).

Not only is everything sharper, but the frames are bigger so my field of vision is wider, taller and lower.

For years and years I have had trifocals with the mid and close-up sections set low and as smaller insert sections, so that everything off to the sides is distance. This is a big help when biking and driving. I tried progressive lenses when they became available, but I didn't like the way they compromised my peripheral vision.

Since it hasn't snowed in a while I was going to swap the studded tires wheelset on the Rockhopper with the summer smoothies, but I was running late. It usually takes just under 10 minutes complete with pumping (if necessary). I have time tomorrow morning so even if I'm running late I'm planning to swap and ride.

As I was drifting off to sleep last night I was feeling myself on the bike with its drop bars thrown forward a little bit much, and the big, grippy 26x2.125 smoothies. I felt the extra heft of the bike, and I felt the seat springs soaking up the big bumps...except the seat with springs was on the old MTB it replaced winter before this one.

I guess I'm gonna have to get a sprung seat for it.

For years, I've been switching back and forth between bifocals and progressives. The bad peripheral vision with progressives annoyed me. Bifocals felt clearer. But I couldn't get the mid range, and that's a pretty serious deficiency while driving a car since I need to read the dashboard. And neither kind of lenses worked for me on the computer so I wouldn't wear my glasses.

I recently got new glasses, and I decided to try the Varilux (brand) of progressives. They cost extra which is why I avoided them. I should not have avoided them. They are much better. The peripheral vision is not great but it's not crap. I think I'm still learning how to use them by aiming my head optimally. But I can keep them on pretty much all day. So consider them next time.

I tried trifocals once, and the sections required too much aiming.

Mexico City, that's exciting! Have you rented bikes, or is it too risky? (I see that old Phillips has 5 locks on it!)

I'm not sure I understand why it has two top tubes, or if the bike is precious enough for 5 locks, that he has bare chains just eating through the paint.

I was thinking I'd take the Apollo gravel bike for the commute today, but I just didn't feel like hassling with the small things that are not optimized:

• The lock I carry for it is heavy
• I carry the lock in the trunk bag, which is itself heavy. (I should just carry it around my waist, as it is sized perfectly for that)
• The bike falls off its kickstand when the trunk bag is mounted and anything is inside it. I cut the kickstand a bit too short and the trunk bag's weight is too far back. Now I know why so many modern city bikes have kickstands back on the chain stay instead of just behind the bottom bracket.
• I don't really like the leaned-over riding position for my short commute in. (but I like it coming home, as it helps provide "free power" for climbing)
• It doesn't accommodate full fenders very well; they have to be clamp-on type, which tend to migrate until they're rubbing.

Finding a clamp-on chain stay kickstand would also solve some.

When I do ride it solo, I do enjoy the ride. It's too slow to keep up with my bike club buddies.

I think I may sell that bike this year. I love the belt drive and the colors, but that's about it.

We haven't rented bikes. I'll ask my spouse, but I expect she won't feel up to it. Her recent health is limiting her a bit, and being out of practice on the bike, she has lost some sense of balance on the bike.

Some bikes have two top tubes, and I don't really know the story. I think it's collision protection, i.e. the bike will survive and probably not bend, either.

Great observation. Yeah, this last part is a key aspect of commuting, and maybe cycling in general. It can veer into arrogance (!), but I do feel better about myself when I ride.

Yesterday was a holiday for us, so I was able to avoid riding in the rain. Made it in between storms, but they say another one is coming this evening. I may leave work a bit early to avoid it, if I can.