Ride home for Friday, 29 April

Fairly nice ride home, but a bit breezy. Had to walk my bike up the steep hill as the pivot on the handlebars decided it really needed some grease, and felt (and sounded) like it was about to snap - people were giving me strange looks at the amount of creaking. I greased the bike when I got home and now it's a lot happier.

I also got the new bike trailer all setup, and after supper I went out towing sprog #2, with mywife cycling behind me, on a trip to drop off some movies at the video store and to pick up a video that had been lent to a friend. We rode back home, but sprog #2 decided he wanted to carry on, so I took him on a ride on the fire trail around the pond behind the house, which he really enjoyed. He still didn't want to come home, but his fingers were freezing cold so I brought him home regardless. I took off the bike computer for the ride, so I'm not sure how far we went - maybe 4 or 5km, not too much.

Distance logged: 12.498km
Time: 37:43
Average speed: 19.9km/hr
Temperature: 11C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1734.332km

Ride into work for Friday, 29 April

It rained overnight but cleared up by the time I set off. The roads were still wet, though, so I wore my wet weather gear. I took another detour exploring the south end, but hit some roadworks and spent some time sitting waiting so I didn't get to ride as far or as long as I was hoping.

Distance logged: 13.872km
Time: 39:35
Average speed: 21km/hr
Temperature: 5C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 1721.834km

Ride into work for Thursday, 28 April

Nasty ride into work as it was very windy. I don't mind snow, I don't mind sleet (not *that* much, anyway) but high wind I can really do without. Rain forecast for tonight, too.

Distance logged: 11.990km
Time: 36:43
Average speed: 19.6km/hr
Temperature: 3C, windy, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1707.962km

Ride home for Wednesday, 27 April

Really cold ride home, nominally it was supposed to be 11C but it didn't feel anything like that - probably because of all the fog in the air. It was cold enough I could see my breath! I put on a jersey within a few hundred metres of setting off, I didn't put my cycling pants on because I didn't want to fiddle about taking boots off and what not. I just rode home (in the wind, of course) as fast as I could. I spaced out and took the fire trail without thinking, then when I realised I cut off through the sports field and took the road the rest of the way.

Rain is forecast for the rest of the week, too - so much for my plans of taking a day off to use up some of my TOIL time...

Distance logged: 12.502km
Time: 35:38
Average speed: 21.1km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 11C, cloudy, intermittent fog, gusty
Cumulative distance: 1695.972km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 27 April

Another nice sunny morning, I went on an extended ride around the south end of Halifax again, discovering many one-way streets and dead ends (generally at the bottom of hills, of course). Next time I think I'll take the GPS along to see how twisty and turny I get...

Distance logged: 16.692km
Time: 44:36
Average speed: 22.5km/hr
Max speed: 54.9km/hr
Temperature: 4-5C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1683.470km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 27 April

Another nice sunny morning, I went on an extended ride around the south end of Halifax again, discovering many one-way streets and dead ends (generally at the bottom of hills, of course). Next time I think I'll take the GPS along to see how twisty and turny I get...

Distance logged: 16.692km
Time: 44:36
Average speed: 22.5km/hr
Max speed: 54.9km/hr
Temperature: 4-5C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1683.470km

Ride home for Tuesday, 26 April

Decided to leave work early (using up some TOIL) and go for a ride, as it was a really nice day out. I went out to Bedford and back, and hit some arrant stupidity from a driver. Coming up to a set of traffic lights, left two lanes going straight and right lane turning right into a supermarket, I noticed a minivan behind me that triggered off my "driver about to do something stupid" alert. I positioned myself into the right hand of the middle lane and was not surprised to have the minivan lean on the horn. I waved at them in my usual "you must be a friend of mine beeping at me!" fashion, and they continued on, stopping at the next set of lights in the middle lane. As I stopped in the right hand lane (still going straight - this is a two lane road) I had the following bizarre conversation with the passenger:

"You should smarten up, you shouldn't ride your bike like that, you're going to get killed!"
What do you mean?
"Zig-zagging all over the road, I nearly hit you!" (remember, this is the passenger talking)
I was going straight through in a straight line following the rules of the road, what are you talking about?
"How am I supposed to know which way you're going? Smarten up!"
How am I supposed to signal to go straight ahead?
"Yeah,you should signal!"
Yes, how should I signal to go straight ahead?
"Signal, eh? Smarten up, or you'll get killed!"

At this point the light changed and the driver set off. Both the driver and the passenger looked to be around 60 or so. Most odd.

Also, I picked up the cheap $20 panniers from Canadian Tyre, just to see what it's like. I'm not convinced by the strapping, it's relying on a rather fragile looking buckle to thread through to hold on. I've added some cable ties to the front and back and threaded bungee cords through to give it a bit more hold, but I think I'll be investigating something a little more solid to attach it onto the rack with.

Distance logged: 38.704km
Time: 1:36:47
Average speed: 24.0km/hr
Max speed: 55.1km/hr
Temperature: 15-13C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1666.778km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 26 April

Nice sunny day. The new chain I put on at the weekend isn't slipping at all, so I managed to catch it in time, which means a bit more wear on the cassette before it needs replacing, which means a nice saving, which means... well, probably money spent on other bike stuff instead, but at least I get more out of that than if I were buying petroleum...

Decided to go riding through the south end. It's quite hilly in parts, but a nice area of suburbia, and pretty low in traffic. Went surprisingly quickly for the amount of stop/start I did, but I think I need to find a longer route - I'm sure there's some longer roads I can take, and since I was in work at 7:50 (I don't start till 8:30, and breakfast/getting changed only takes 20 minutes) I think I can afford to explore a bit more.

Distance logged: 13.051km
Time: 31:51
Average speed: 24.6km/hr
Max speed: 63.2km/hr
Temperature: 3C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1628.074km

Ride home for Monday, 25 April

The rain had cleared by the time I left so it was a significantly more pleasant ride home. Therewas an accident blocking traffic on the way home though, so I took a big loop through South End, up round Dalhousie University. This was a surprisingly pleasant diversion, I may well work on figuring out how to optimise this route - it's slightly longer, but I think I can travel to avoid traffic and keep up speed - I managed to avoid traffic, but was navigating by dead reckoning, so I did a lot of zig-zagging and turning.

Distance logged: 13.016km
Time: 40:32
Average speed: 19.3km/hr
Temperature: 9C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1615.023km

Ride into work for Monday, 25 April

Heavy rainfall warning today, and it was raining pretty nastily on the way in - not "proper" droplets, but a constant heavy spray, which was rather weird. I took the short route in since I really didn't want to be out in that longer than I had too. That seemed a stellar idea, up until I hit the traffic jam due to a police van, police car and unmarked police car that seemed to be necessary to do a traffic stop. Even so I was faster than the vehicles around me as I could ride along by the gutter around the traffic.

Distance logged: 10.715km
Time: 34:28
Average speed: 18.6km/hr
Temperature: 10C, raining
Cumulative distance: 1602.007km

Maintenance day

Did a general cleaning of both bikes and took the chains off. The chain on the mountain bike is starting to have a divot worn out of the front corner of each link, scary stuff! The road bike's chain is starting to wear too, so I put the spare chain on there. Hopefully I've caught this one before the gears start slipping, unlike on the mountain bike.

I need to make a list of spare parts, too. Chains, brake pads, cables, all that fun stuff that's part of the consumable part of bike use...

Ride home for Friday, 22 April

Hmmm, blogger seems to have lost my post for my ride in. Oh well.

Another windy day, so I took the fire trail again. Took off behind the school, down the steep hill, and went through the traffic lights at around 60, weaving around a minivan driver who thought it was a good idea to pull out in front of me from the right, despite the fact I had the right of way. He kept trying to overtake but he couldn't get enough speed up. Well, that was my amusement for the afternoon, anyway...

Distance logged: 12.947km
Time: 39:34
Average speed: 19.7km/hr
Max speed: 66.9km/hr
Temperature: 12C, sunny, windy
Cumulative distance: 1591.292km

Ride home for Thursday, 22 April

Worked late tonight and ate out at a steak house, so (a) I was tired, full and slow, and (b) I took the short route home. Nice ride, though, with very little traffic.

Distance logged: 10.658km
Time: 41:22
Average speed: 15.5km/hr
Temperature: 4C, clear
Cumulative distance: 1578.345km

Ride into work for Thursday, 21 April

Sucky ride in. Started out raining, then it turned into sleet, then into wet snow. Should be interesting to see what the ride home is like...

Distance logged: 12.062km
Time: 35:33
Average speed: 20.4km/hr
Temperature: 1C-0C, rain, sleet, snow
Cumulative distance: 1567.687km

Ride home for Wednesday, 20 April

Nice warm ride home, but very windy. I tried taking a few side roads to avoid the wind, but I wasn't entirely successful. Forecast for tonight is rain followed by snow, which should make the ride in tomorrow interesting...

Distance logged: 15.151km
Time: 40:13
Average speed: 22.6km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 19C, sunny, windy
Cumulative distance: 1555.625km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 20 April

I've decided to sign up for the MS150 ride, so I started training for that today. I'm waiting for the documents to arrive to find out all the details, but it's a ride from Musquodoboit Harbour to Truro, which by my reckoning is about 90 miles by the route I think they're taking, so it's actually the MS180 (not that I'm complaining).

Nice ride in though, I started off by doing a loop around the industrial park up the road, then took my regular route in as I came back and passed home. I got in at the usual time (I skipped having anything to eat first) so I think I might add in a loop on the bridge once I get downtown.

Distance logged: 20.819km
Time: 51:03
Average speed: 24.5km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr (hit a traffic light stop with sensors)
Temperature: 7C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1540.474km

Ride home for Tuesday, 19 April

Worked late tonight, and left work tired, so I took it fairly easy on the ride home. Still got home surprisingly quick, though - I was anticipating being home 6:30-7pm, and actually got in at 6:15.

Distance logged: 12.647km
Time: 36:17
Average speed: 21.0km/hr
Max speed: 51.9km/hr
Temperature: 13C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1519.655km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 19 April

Nice sunny day, a step outside revealed it seemed fairly warm, so I set off in just a jersey and t-shirt, though I added cycling pants on top of the shorts as it didn't seem that warm. Once I got going... I realised it was actually quite cold. I stopped to put on my headband as my ears were getting really icy, but I decided to forge on and see how I did before I stop to fiddle about with my bag and get my windbreaker going. I kept warm by peddling faster, with the rather obvious result that I managed to get to work slightly faster than usual. I'm not sure if I'll keep following this method of increasing my speed, as it was really cold for the first 5km or so!

Broke 1500 logged kilometres for the year today, too.

Distance logged: 12.359km
Time: 30:23
Average speed: 24.4km/hr
Max speed: 60.9km/hr
Temperature: -3C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1507.008km

Ride home for Monday, 18 April

Nice warm ride home in just a jersey and shorts, but constant headwinds. I ended up taking the firetrail, just as well as I think I would have been blown all over the road. Still, at least things are definitely getting warmer!

Distance logged: 11.701km
Time: 37:32
Average speed: 18.7km/hr
Max speed: 44.3km/hr
Temperature: 13-14C, sunny, windy
Cumulative distance: 1494.649km

Ride into work for Monday, 18 April

Nice sunny morning, and in a daring move I decided to try coming in without wearing my windbreaker or cycling pants, replacing them with a set of armwarmers and kneewarmers. A good move, and I could probably have done without the sleeveless t-shirt on top of my jersey. Not bad, considering Saturday's forecast for today was snow!

Distance logged: 12.390km
Time: 30:54
Average speed: 24.1km/hr
Max speed: 74.9km/hr (hmmm)
Temperature: 5C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1482.948km

Maintenance day

I decided to true the front wheel on the mountain bike (the non-quick release one) as that was a bit iffy. I also stripped down the handlebar on the road bike, regreased the screws, and put it all back together again, making sure it was no longer loose. There was also some goop that had accumulated on the chain and jockey wheels (possibly dried oil from sitting in the bike shop so long?) so I cleaned that off using the chain cleaner and close scrubbing with a toothbrush.

Also... My wife got a bike yesterday for her birthday! Unfortunately, it turned out to be too big for her, so we took it back today and got a Norco "Bush Pilot" mountain bike. It's a 12.5" frame, which is pretty rare - this was the smallest adult sized bike in the shop, but it fit her perfectly. It meant dropping an extra $250, but since she's planning on riding it into work this summer I figure it should pay for itself in gas bills alone!

Ride home for Friday, 15 April

Took it easy going home as going up the first hill, my handlebars felt wobbly. A quick check showed that one of the screws was ever so slightly loose, but not so loose it was dangerous to keep riding. I decided to keep going and take the fire trail home rather than stop and fiddle with it and risk making it worse. I made it back home safely, so all was well.

Distance logged: 12.469km
Time: 39:18
Average speed: 19.1km/hr
Max speed: 55.4km/hr
Temperature: 6C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1470.558km

Ride into work for Friday, April 15

Nice sunny ride in. Nearly got hit by a driver who looked straight at me, I looked at him, then he pulled out right in front of me and hauled on his brakes with a shocked "where did you come from?" look. Then he had the nerve to beep at me as he drove past. Quebec plates, so he was upholding the French reputation for being bloody useless drivers quite well.

Fun ride in otherwise, I hit 65km/hr on the downhill into work. Had a rice car ("Kev car" for my English readers) try to keep up and fail, which always gives me a warm glow.

Distance logged: 12.442km
Time: 31:28
Average speed: 23.8km/hr
Max speed: 76.5km/hr (possible, but unlikely)
Temperature: -3C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1458.089km

Ride home for Thursday, 14 April

Another gusty ride. Oh well, at least it's not rain!

Distance logged: 11.592km
Time: 37:07
Average speed: 18.8km/hr
Temperature: 3C, sunny, windy
Cumulative distance: 1445.647km

Ride into work for Thursday, 14 April

Ride in from the chiropractor this morning, so I got a bit of extra distance in. It was pretty windy, Environment Canada says gusts of 54km/hr but I'm sure it was more than that. I managed to catch a few tailwinds, though, which was nice - it's always slightly odd to be cycling along at 25-30km/hr and not feel any wind against your face, though. Started out cloudy, but it cleared up after 15 minutes or so and I got some sun.

Distance logged: 19.183km
Time: 46:49
Average speed: 24.6km/hr
Temperature: 2C, windy
Cumulative distance: 1434.055km

Ride home for Wednesday, 13 April

Picked up my bike from the shop. Unfortunately it appears that I didn't change the chain in time, as I'm getting slipping in 4th gear (which I probably use the most). I put the original chain back on when I got home, I'll ride this until the freewheel is totally shot and then get a new one. I think next time I'll rotate between two chains to try to get a bit more life out of the drive train. Admittedly, when I got the freewheel replaced last time I got a cheap one just to last me out the winter anyway, so I can't complain too much.

Slow ride home because I had a large sushi lunch on someone else's corporate credit card. Mmm, sushi...

Distance logged: 11.129km
Time: 36:35
Average speed: 18.29km/hr
Temperature: 5C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1414.872km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 13 April

Quite a nice ride in, sunny, not too warm... up until the point I had something fly up off the road into my chain, knocking it off into the rear wheel and jam in there, taking out 8 spokes and locking the rear wheel solid. I went from around 25km/hr to 0km/hr in about 10 feet, fortunately there were no cars behind me. I ended up calling the wife for a pickup, she dropped me off at the bike shop on the way and they're going to fix it up (probably going to require a new wheel, unfortunately) and do a tune-up at the same time. They're going to drop some other customers so I get priority so I can ride it home if they get it fixed in time - yay for being a favoured customer!

Distance logged: 7.037km
Time: 19:46
Average speed: 21.4km/hr
Temperature: -3C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1403.743km

Ride home for Tuesday, 12 April

Quite a nice ride, the wind seems to have died down, no snow, and not too warm. Noticed my chain was slipping a bit, so I measured it when I got home and the Park Tool said it was past 0.75 (needs changing) but fortunately not at 1.00 (time for a new chain and cassette). Hopefully that'll do the trick, if not I've saved the old chain so I'll pop that back on and ride the chain and cassette until they're totally worn out then take the bike in for a service.

Distance logged: 11.644km
Time: 34:41
Average speed: 20.1km/hr
Temperature: 3C to 2C
Cumulative distance: 1396.706km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 12 April

Nice day apart from the snow/ice crystals. The snow had all melted off the road by the time I set off, but it was still there on the fire trail. I kept getting snow coming up under my glasses into my eyes, which was annoying. Environment Canada says with have another 2cm due today/this evening, then possibility of flurries tomorrow. After that it's supposed to be sunny. Well, we'll see...

Distance logged: 11.981km
Time: 34:20
Average speed: 21km/hr
Temperature: -2C, sunny, light snow
Cumulative distance: 1385.062km

Ride home for Monday, 11 April

I left a bit early as it started snowing. Straight away I hit the wind, I think there were gusts of around 60km/hr at one point. I didn't even try and take the road at the end of the ride, I took the fire trail home instead - the wind was so strong I was having difficulty getting out of first gear, I think if I'd have taken the road I would have been blown off course.

Put the snow tyre back on the front wheel of the mountain bike, we're currently running a forecast of 2cm of snow for tomorrow. Since we're right on the cusp of freezing, no doubt it'll end up as slush and then freeze overnight (if it lasts that long). So much for spring...

Distance logged: 12.066km
Time: 40:36
Average speed: 17.9km/hr
Max speed: 46.5km/hr
Temperature: 1C, cloudy, windy, occasional snow
Cumulative distance: 1373.081km

Ride into work for Monday, 11 April

Nice sunny day, although the temperature's dropped. Snow is forecast for this evening... oh, checking the Environment Canada forecast, now for this afternoon... bugger. Anyway, nice fast ride into work, it's looking like I'll soon be able to add an extra 15 minutes onto the alarm clock - or possibly ride for an extra 15 minutes (perhaps across the bridge and back or something).

Distance logged: 12.417km
Time: 31:43
Average speed: 23.5km/hr
Max speed: 84.0km/hr (if only)
Temperature: -3C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1361.015km

Ride for Sunday, 10 April - map

And what would a ride to Peggy's Cove be without a GPS map? And here it is, stunningly similar to the last ride to Peggy's Cove, but without the starting point in Bedford:

Ride for Sunday, 10 April

Another ride down to Peggy's Cove, this time on the new bike. It was fairly windy to start with, with a lot of headwinds and sidewinds. After I hit Peggy's Cove, either I was out of the wind or it died down, as there was not much wind. I decided to see how fast I could go, and was rather surprised to see I was able to hit 50-55km/hr without too much effort on the flat! This was on the middle ring with 6th gear, so I still have quite a way to go before I hit the top speed - on the mountain bike the best I can do is somewhere around 45km/hr.

I also tried the new bike shorts I picked up the other day. I usually find I have to break in bike shorts for a while, but these were fine the whole way. My only problem was the seat isn't as comfortable as it might be, but I have a Brooks B67 saddle that will arrive in the summer on the Parent Express, so I think I'll just grin and bear it till then unless the bike shop manage to find something.

Distance logged: 93.893km
Time: 3:43:43
Average speed: 25.2km/hr
Max speed: 57.8km/hr
Temperature: 9C-11C, sunny, initially windy
Cumulative distance: 1348.598km

Ride home for Friday, 08 April

I went to the pub after work and had a couple of pints of Guinness and a curry chicken and scallop pasta to celebrate a friend leaving his job. Then I rode home at a laughably slow rate.

Also, at lunchtime I went to Ideal Bikes to pick out a bike for my wife - she's decided to start cycling recreationally, so I'm going to have to find some gentle trails to start her out on.

Distance logged: 9.811km
Time: 33:49
Average speed: 17.4km/hr
Temperature: 4C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 1254.705km

Ride into work for Friday, 08 April

Took a different route in today, the route I used to use when I started commuting. It's a fairly dull route, but it's handy to know it's slightly quicker in case I'm running late or something.

Distance logged: 10.709km
Time: 29:53
Average speed: 21.4km/hr
Temperature: 7C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 1244.894km

Ride home for Thursday, 07 April

Still fairly warm, I cycled home in just a jersey and sleeveless t-shirt.

Distance logged: 12.254km
Time: 34:20
Average speed: 21.4km/hr
Max speed: 51.1km/hr
Temperature: 6C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1234.185km

Ride into work for Thursday, 07 April

Nice sunny ride in, although a bit cooler. I decided to ride in just a jersey and windbreaker after overheating yesterday. My ears were really cold to start with, but after 3km or so I warmed up and I was fine, and by the time I got to the office I was dripping sweat. I think I'm going to see if I can't find a headband or something that fits under my helmet to soak up the sweat, it's really annoying having sweat dripping down into my eyes, and it's difficult to wipe the sweat off without smearing up my glasses. I think perhaps a leather strip with an elasticated section at the back would do the trick, that way the sweat would run back to my ears and not be a problem. I don't know where I'd find something like that, though.

Distance logged: 12.388km
Time: 32:47
Average speed: 22.8km/hr
Max speed: 59.0km/hr
Temperature: 2C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1221.931km

Ride home for Wednesday, 06 April

It seems like I might possibly have found the magic spot for the bike computer, as it looked fine all the way home and registered realistic numbers. Unfortunately... it's not the best angle for viewing, so at some point I'm going to twiddle further. For now I'm going to leave it to see if the problem's really fixed or not.

Nice ride home, warm and sunny. A lot of very irritable drivers on the road, and (after almost being hit by another cyclist who was riding on the sidewalk and then rode straight across the road without looking and almost hit me) I think I might know why. The warm weather has brought out the idiot cyclists who don't pay attention to what's going on around them, ride on the sidewalk, and generally cause problems not onlyfor themselves but also for all other cyclists who get tarred with the same brush. Oh well...

I figured out where an annoying rattle was coming from on the road bike, too; the struts for the rear fenders are right up against the rack, so every time I hit a bump the struts would rattle against the rack. A few lengths of black electrical tape around the (fortunately, black) rack appears to have solved the problem; I'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Distance logged: 12.240km
Time: 37:01
Average speed: 19.9km/hr
Max speed: 49.9km/hr
Temperature: 14C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1209.543km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 06 April

Aaaand the ongoing saga of the flaky bike computer... ongoes. Moving it forward didn't do the trick, so I've moved it back, I'll see if that makes a difference tonight. It seemed to work better when I was downtown, I'm wondering if there's either wireless interference (there's a lot of wireless nodes in the suburbs, way more than downtown, oddly) or altitude - although I wouldn't have thought a hundred feet or so above sea level would have made that much difference...

The weather said 1C when I left, so I had a jersey and a t-shirt on under my windbreaker. By the time I hit the funeral home with the temperature gauge outside just over halfway through, it was 5C. By the time I hit the hotel with the temperature gauge a block up from the office, it was 9C (although I think either the gauge is off or there's a small microclimate round there). Needless to say, I was dripping sweat when I got into the office.

Distance logged: 6.840km
Time: 22:32
Average speed: 18.2km/hr
Max speed: 71.6km/hr (maybe, but probably not)
Temperature: 1C-6C (according to EC), cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1197.303km

Ride home for Tuesday, 05 April

Bike computer seems to be working a little better with the light moved, but it's still dropping out to zero intermittently. I'm going to try moving the bike computer forward, to see if that does the trick. If not, I think I'll have to look into picking up a wired bike computer.

Ride home was nice and warm again, I actually rolled up my sleeves on the way home!

Distance logged: 10.019km
Time: 31:23
Average speed: 19.2km/hr
Max speed: 54.3km/hr
Temperature: 9C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1190.463km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 05 April

Seems like the wireless bike computer is acting up, it kept dropping off to zero again. I think it might be the light I put on the handlebars interfering, I'll try moving it around and see if it does the trick.

Surprisingly warm ride, despite it nominally being 1C - I think the 100% humidity is what did it.

Distance logged: 9.279km
Time: 28:44
Average speed: 19.4km/hr
Max speed: 57.3km/hr
Temperature: 1C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1180.444km

Ride home for Monday, 04 April

First nice day of spring, I rode home without my windbreaker on.

Distance logged: 12.431km
Time: 38:40
Average speed: km/hr
Temperature: 8C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1171.165km

Ride into work for Monday, 04 April

Started out pretty iffy with fairly heavy fog, I thought it was going to rain after chucking it down all night, but then it suddenly cleared over the course of 5 minutes or so to sunshine. It got so warm I had to stop to take my t-shirt off, I might even have made it in just my jersey but I didn't want to push it too much. Skipped the fire trail and took the road the whole way, I didn't even bother trying it as I knew it would just be an absolute morass.

Took the beater bike in, I was a bit nervous to start as the spokes were creaking and making spanging noises (best description I can give!) but after 20-30 metres they stopped making any noise. Looking down at the wheel every now and then showed a fairly straight wheel - or at least, a pretty acceptably straight wheel for my first truing job.

Distance logged: 12.255km
Time: 34:20
Average speed: 21.6km/hr
Temperature: 7C, fog burning off to sunshine
Cumulative distance: 1158.734km

Maintenance day

After the ride to Tantallon, my rear wheel was way out of true, so far that I felt leery about riding it to the bike shop to get it trued. Not wanting to have to endure another car ride (and having another bike now anyway), I figured there was nothing to lose in doing it myself. I read a few web pages, and it seemed pretty straightforward; I took off the tyre, tube and rim tape (then cleaned out the accumulated chunks of salt), flipped the bike over, ran some electrical tape across the forks, and stuck a piece of cardboard either side of the rim. I then slowly spun the wheel and moved the pieces of cardboard closer until they were scraping against the rim where it was out of true. After that, it was just a matter of tightening the two spokes on the opposite side of the spoke that was closest to the point on the rim where it was out of true - much easier than all the sites that waffle on about the "art and science of wheel truing" and how mystical it all is. I found it all rather tedious, but I suppose I can see how with some appropriate painkillers it might be one way to pass some time. Hopefully the wheel won't implode next time I'm out riding as a result of my work, though!

After that, I took out the wheel and took the opportunity to clean off the rear derailleur and brakes, then reassembled everything, wiped all the dried mud off the frame and cleaned the chain. There was nothing much else that needed doing, surprisingly enough, so I left it at that.

Ride for Saturday, 02 Feb

Went out for a ride with Andrew, son of a friend who just got himself a new bike - unfortunately a department store bike, since someone bought it for him. I took the mountain bike, since we were planning on trying the rails to trails trail on the way to Tantallon. The trail was fine for about 8km or so, then we got to a section that was marked "rough section"... There were potholes, undulations, piles of loose pebbles, and the crowning glory was a shady section that was still covered in a 6 inch deep mixture of snow and slush. We got to Tantallon and stopped off at the gas station and got some food and more water, then headed back. We went back on the road all the way to the part where the trail crossed the road and became non-"rough section" again. We rode along there for a few km till we hit a slightly waterlogged section, then went back on the road and kept on the road all the way back. I had a bit of fun coming through the mall section, full of Saturday afternoon drone traffic stop-starting through the traffic lights, so I wove my way to the front of the line and out-accelerated the traffic when the light turned green. There was one minivan driver in particular that was edging forward, I think he was a bit surprised to see me get up to 45km/hr and take a bend at a near 45 degree angle (or so it felt).

A fun ride out, all in all. Our route looked something like this (modulo the sections where the GPS ran out of battery power and I didn't notice for a while):



Distance logged: 53.912km
Time: 2:33:37
Average speed: 21.14km/hr
Temperature: 7C, sunny but breezy
Cumulative distance: 1146.479km

Ride home for Friday, 01 Feb

Had a few drinks after work to celebrate end of financial year. Bailed at 6pm to get home before it got dark, I still need to put lights on the front of the bike - I also took a shortcut home which involved a bit of walking. Bit of an arduous ride home, definitely not helped by the Guinness.

Distance logged: 9.312km
Time: 30:02
Average speed: 18.6km/hr
Max speed: 53.2km/hr
Temperature: 4C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1092.567km

Ride into work for Friday, 01 April

Ride into work on the new road bike. Definitely felt a lot faster, even if the average speed isn't significantly higher.

Distance logged: 11.961km
Time: 32:45
Average speed: 22km/hr
Max speed: 51.5km/hr
Temperature: 0C to 1C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1083.255km

Ride home for Thursday, 31 March

No ride in to work today is it was too windy - I got to the end of the street and I was being blown from side to side, so I gave up, came home, and endured a car ride to work. I really hate stop-start traffic now.

So... if I didn't ride my bike into work, how could I have had a ride home? I had a ride home because I picked up my new bike! No bike computer so I don't know how fast I went (and it was still pretty windy anyway), but I could ride all the way up to the top of the steepest hill on my commute without a huge amount of effort. This may be partially because I haven't gussied up the bike with all the extras like handlebar bag, lights, extra fenders, etc, etc, etc. Picture is at http://www.idealbikes.ca/data/IM001134.JPG but will go away at some point since they've sold the bike.

My only niggles are the seat is a touch wide on the nose, and the front left brake ever so slightly rubs on the rim if I lean forward, giving an annoying "tsh... tsh... tsh" noise as I ride along. They're V brakes, which I've never worked on before, and when I tried fiddling with it myself I managed to reduce it a bit but the brake handle went a bit mushy, even after twiddling with the barrel adjuster. Oh well, I'll just pop into the bike shop tomorrow and get them to fix it up for me.

Distance logged: ?km
Time: ?
Average speed: ?km/hr
Temperature: 1C, cloudy, windy
Cumulative distance: 1071.294km