Nice Ride in Boulder, CO

We went to Boulder, CO for the weekend, thanks to Amex and hotel points. When there the wife said, "Say Jerkstore, what you say we do a little mountain biking while in Boulder?" What, are you kidding me? Yeah! So we went to Boulder Bikesmith to rent some bikes. Unfortunately, as the mutton-chopped Bikesmith explained, they had received tons of rain and the trails were washed out. (You know it's a good bike shop when the guy waiting on you is out of the mainstream but is super eager to help you, even though you don't look like a bike messenger.)

Bless me father for I have sinned. It's been 3 weeks since my last ride

Just like I said, I've been slacking. In mid-june we lost our dog Parker to cancer, which made it hard to get out. Then I had 2 weeks of travel for work. I spent a lot of time these past few weeks eating and feeling sorry for myself.

Last week I went on a trip to London which took the entire week. One thing I noticed was all the people commuting to work by bike. In central London, the cyclists were dodging cars that I was sure were trying to run them over. It was

Tingling Penis

Haven't been riding much. Dog took sick. As he got worse I spent more time with him. The wife suggested I bring the bike in and put it on the trainer. I don't want to do that. You see I have a little problem with the trainer. Not that it's boring sitting on a trainer, in the basement, riding to nowhere. No, that's the good part. Trainer sessions have been leaving me with a bit of a problem. See

Let's Face It - I Don't Fit In Anywhere

I have come to terms with not getting a single speed bike for city riding and commuting... BUT I WANT ONE! Yeah, this whole adventure isn't about bike commuting to work. Hey, it could be worse. A mid-life crisis usually involves expensive cars, buying clothes from "Len," (because that is the place where middle-aged men buy 20-something clothes) and thinking about young women. Notice how I said "thinking about." My wife copy-edits all these posts. I don't have any of that. I have a unique problem with my mid-life.  I want to recapture

Tragedy and Epiphany

Cycling was going well. I rode 4 times in one week. I found a nice rhythm.  Hard to do with work, travel, kid's softball and meetings.  Last week the weather forecast was spectacular, and I was planning on getting in 100 miles.  An ambitious plan, but a plan none the less.  The dog Parker wasn't feeling well so I took him to the vet. We took him in a few days before but the vet couldn't find anything. This time she found a growth in his lung.  All cycling stopped.  We spent the week going from vet to specialist to try to find a solution.  There isn't one.  He is a good dog, and I will miss him terribly.  We don't know how long he has.  We are doing everything we can to make his last bit of time full of delicious treats and couch naps.  When the time comes we will have a vet visit the house to help him pass in the comfort of his home.  Until then someone has to be with him most of the time.  We are taking turns working from home.  

Before Parker got sick, I only had Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and every other weekend to squeeze in an hour or 2 on the bike.  Not a whole lot of time for a guy to change his life.  The question is, how does one ride under these conditions?  I don't know.  I do know I have a desire to get on my bike.  I do know I'm catching myself thinking about the time I have free, and wondering if I could get in a quick 20 .  I do know I don't care if it's raining.  Or if its windy, or I only have an hour of light left.  Something has changed.  The thing I have realized is that through this tragedy, I have gotten closer to the thing I have been wanting.  The desire to be active.  Normally I would give up at the first sign of inconvenience.  This whole cycling debacle has been a comedy of errors.  You would have thought I would have gotten the "f**k-its" after a while.  I think because I set a goal and involved my friends by writing on this blog, it has done for me what I have not been able to do for myself.  It has gotten me from the couch to the really uncomfortable seat that lately has made my junk numb.  If anybody has any thoughts on that, let me know. 

The moral of this story is... I don't know what the moral of the story is.  I do know that now that I have less time available, I am anxious to get out and be active.  Besides, the way my life is, the more I ride, the more stupid shit I do, the more stories I have to tell. 


 

Bike Culture... A Culture of Change?

It is a good week for riding.  Even though I postponed the idea of riding to work, because equipment and accoutrement makes it an extravagant proposition, I remain committed to riding.  The riding-to-work guy is a subculture to an existing biking culture.  His creed is preparation for any eventuality.  He's like the iPhone guy everyone knows.  You know, the guy who for every conversation says, "I have an app for that." The question came up of what to do when it rains.  Rain gear, right?  That, I discovered includes shoes, or neoprene booties for my shoes.  Are you kidding me!?  Let's look at the necessary items for a regular bike to work guy:

• Fenders
• Rack
• Panniers (waterproof)
• Waterproof booties
• Rain coat
• Rain pants

These items are necessary unless you work at Jimmy Johns, in which case a good rain is your only opportunity to shower that week.

All this for a 6 mile commute.  I don't want to ride to work to accomplish a noble goal like lower emissions. Or be thrifty and save money on parking.  I want to ride to work to ingrain a sense of the bike culture in my thought process.  Not the bike commuting, or the quit-bathing-and-get-tattoos subcultures.  I need a completely different thought process.  For me, cycling is an exercise event.  Like going to the gym.  The problem with going to the gym is that I never go to the gym.  I'm not sure I know where one is.  The point is, I ride because I need to exercise.  I have to figure out how to fit exercise into my life as a husband, father, dog owner, traveling salesman and couch potato.  It doesn't work.  I guess what I'm looking for is to have an active life. Live an active lifestyle rather than try a regimented program of pain and suffering. I want to enjoy my time on the bike. So far I haven't enjoyed this project at all.

Antibiotics and Preperation H

Bless me father for I have sinned. It's been 2 weeks since my last post. After the frozen tundra ride, my cold developed into so much more. I didn't wait for it to go away on its own. I went to the doc and got some antibiotics and cough meds. I also developed a nice case of the big H. With the meds, half of my problems went away real quickly. The one that requires ointment has lingered. This sucks! Seriously. I just want to ride my bike.

Despite the obstacles (pun intended) I've managed to get on the bike 3 times this week. I have been staying off the roads because the potholes and general disrepair of the pavement is jarring for both my new friends and the bike. Props to the socialist utopia for having so many bike paths. I'm able to ride in relative comfort and safety. I hope to get in one more this weekend. I just hope my ass lets me.

I'm not Iron Man

Today is the 40th-something Minnesota Ironman bike ride. It's a ride through a suburban / rural area south of the metro. I'm sure back when these crazies started this thing, it was an entirely rural ride. So this is part of my project to be on my bike this year. Also my now ex-friend Joe Eykyn, wants to get some folks together for the fun of doing the Ironman.

It's May 1st. In most of the country that means sunny days, blooming flowers and mild temps. In Minnesota it just means the snow has melted. It's still cold, cloudy and windy. The crazies that dreamed up this ride are the same nuts that cut holes in the ice on lakes and jump in. So as I said, it's May 1st and temp at ride time is 34 degrees. The wind is blowing steady at 21 mph, with gusts to 35 mph. The wind chill is 20 something. Oh yeah, it is sneeting. Sneet is that unidentifiable hard round white beanbag sized ice ball. It's not sneeting a lot, but enough to have the unpleasant sensation of being stung in the face by wind whipped sneet. Our goal today is for a 30 mile ride. This is the option that allows families and middle aged overweight guys to buy a shirt so they can say they road the Ironman. Very quickly into the first head wind, a new course is set. Joe and I opt for the granny 17 mile ride. The other more intrepid members of the team remained determined.

My feet hurt so badly. They are so cold I can't take it. Cyclists around me have expensive and unattractive cold weather gear. The goofiest items are neoprene foot covers. I bet their feet are not frozen. I'm beginning to understand why they wear that stuff. I have on a soft shell, jeans and tennis shoes. Joe's a real nut. He's wearing shorts. I'm getting colder by the minute. "Joe, My feet are frozen. I'm riding to the warning house. I'll see you later." Warm as promised. With hot coffee too. I still have 10 miles to ride. I don't want to leave. After 45 minutes of sitting eating muffins and drinking coffee, it's time to leave. I ride like hell to get to the car, and warmth. A man's got to know his limitations. I have found mine.

The search for bikes - not strippers

No riding last week due to travel for work and SNOW! So I took this time to find another bike that would work better than the fat guy fancy bike. I need a bike with fenders, cross tires and few or no gears at all. And because of the potential for theft and the probability of getting flattened by a taxi in Little Mogadishu. I'm looking for an inexpensive ride.

Now begins the search for a bike or parts. Drew and I go over to One On One bikes to look through the beaters they keep down in their basement. What happens next is pretty weird. The basement is a sea of parts, piles of frames and old beater bikes. Thinking I hit the mother load, I roll up the sleeves and say to Drew, "We have a man's work ahead of us today, buddy". Then this old dude appears out of some hole in the wall, I believe it is his hermit cave, and starts an unpleasant conversation full of non sequiturs and profane stories about strippers from Sex World next door. I didn't mind the stripper stories, but it just gets weirder.

I spot some Bianchi frames which he advises me are off limits. He is planning on welding them together... "This one time I welded a shopping cart to the front of a bike... That little stripper would ride in the front..." Dude, can you focus for a minute? So I move to the next section of old beaters. These apparently are off limits too. I'm not sure why because he starts telling us about what he did to this old racer from Belgium, back in Eddy Merckx's day, then breaks off into a story about, you guessed it, a stripper. The only sections left are the real expensive rebuilds and a pile of twisted metal that looks like a rack of bikes that went through a tornado. I don't want to ask, I'm sure half of a stripper story will come out. So we decide to leave. Easier said than done. First we have to hear about his buddy and this woman he married and how the old dude renovated their house.

The search continues.

It's Thursday and it's rush hour... And it's sleeting

WTF! When I rode in this morning, it was sunny.  It was cold, but sunny.  Now it's cold and it's sleeting on me.  My beautiful and always correct wife, told me not to ride to work today, because it might rain.  I looked at the weather and it looked fine.  My thought this morning was, if I'm going to do this, I have to put up with cold days.  I really want to be serious about this.  She reminded me I don't have rain gear.  She said, "Dan has rain gear."  Well isn't Dan special.  Also, fancy fat guy bike doesn't have panniers to carry gear.  I rode in anyway.

So, now, I'm sitting here outside the building thinking about my ride down Portland Avenue in rush hour getting totally soaked.  And there is still all that sand in the bike lane.  Wet sand spewing up from my tire onto my khaki pants and dress shirt.  That's right, fancy fat guy bike doesn't have fenders either.  I need to minimize the damage.  I get on the train and take it to the parkway and ride the bike trail to the house. 

More adjustments need to be made.  Fancy fat guy bike does not work for commuting.  It's too sensitive.  It doesn't have panniers.  And there are no fenders.  This is turning out to be harder than I thought.  Riding to work is easy.  Riding to work and meeting the dress code requirements is hard.  If I worked at Jimmy Johns, I could come to work filthy, and not bother with all that gear for my bike.

Sand, potholes and cars! Oh my

The day of truth arrived last week. It was time to ride to work. But what to ride. I'm a middle age guy with a little disposable income. I don't have the type of bike you leave locked up outside the building downtown. It would be minutes before all tha was left would be the handlebar tape and the clipless peddles. The building I work in has a room to lock your bike in. $65 per year. Per year, that's funny. Any reasonable or sane person will only see the window for riding as 4 months. The rest of the time is a whole new kind of experience. So I pay my $65 and get a key to the room.

I'm totally geeked. I have a place to put my fancy, middle age fat guy bike. I'm ok with wearing business casual on the bike. And I changed out my peddles so I can wear dress shoes. Nothing else to do. It's time to ride in. Wait a second. One more thing. My laptop, phone, blackberry, notebook and other shit I carry in my briefcase. What is amazing is how much crap in my briefcase I don't need. So, I just take my computer and my phone. Now I get to use that messenger bag my wife and daughter bought me last year.

Two paragraphs in and I still haven't turned a crank. Ok it game day. I get on my bike an ride. Shit. I forgot my lock, and a rubber band for my pants leg. Ok stop by the bike shop. Yes it's 10:00 am. I'm not riding in at rush hour on my fist day. So, I stop by Bikes & Pieces, a local bike shop. Pick up a lock and leg thingy.

Holy shit! The roads are full of sand and mega potholes! Normally I ride in the summer when potholes are fixed and the sand is gone. Fancy fat guy bike is not made for this abuse. Too many whistles and bells to get out of whack. There is the cycle computer with the many functions like cadence, average speed and timer. There's the cool 105 component package. And let's not forget the skinny little tires with no tread.

Well that took an hour to ride 6 miles. If I'm going to do this, I need to make some changes.

Made a decision to ride my bike to work

Winter came and went with me adding another 15 lbs. It seems every winter since moving to Minnesota, I add on 10 or 15 lbs, then only take off a portion of what I did to myself over the winters. This leaves me with an annual net gain. Every winter I dutifully get out the trainer, put the bike on it, and let it sit there collecting dust. Here it is mid April 2011. I'm 47 years old. I weigh 216 lbs. I have an arthritic knee. And I've just decided to cycle to work. Yikes!

I live 6 miles from the office. The office is in downtown Minneapolis. The commute is on city streets which have lanes for bicycles. Now, what to wear? Do I wear my work clothes? Do I wear bike clothes, carry my work stuff and change at work? NO! I can just see me riding the elevator in bike clothes. So, it's decided, I'm wearing work clothes. New questions come up. If I'm dressed for work, I shouldn't get sweaty. How the hell am I going to not get sweaty? I have some time before I have to worry about that, it's April in Minnesota. My second commute was in driving sleet. But i'll save that for another entry.