Ride for Tuesday, 31 May

Took Rowan out for a ride in the bike trailer since it was so nice. Unfortunately it seemed like everyone in the area had the same idea, so the fire trail was filled with families walking 4 or 5 abreast, cyclists with no helmet or untied helmet ambling from one side of the trail to the other, and dogs jumping about all over the place. At least the dope smokers were sat off the trail!

Distance logged: 8.092km
Time: 34:28
Average speed: 14.1km/hr
Temperature: 15C
Cumulative distance: 2445.650km

Ride home for Tuesday, 31 May

Summer finally arrived this afternoon! Rode home in glorious sunshine, with hardly any wind. If only I had my dark lenses with me - I had my clear lenses in my glasses this morning due to all the fog. Oh well. Tomorrow's supposed to be sunny too, so I'll be riding the road bike in for the first time in two and a half weeks.

Distance logged: 11.449km
Time: 34:15
Average speed: 20.1km/hr
Temperature: 18C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 2437.558km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 31 May

Very foggy, but fortunately not raining so I could leave my rain pants off. Environment Canada is so unsure what is happening with the weather that there is no forecast available after tomorrow. The icons say sunny, we'll see what happens. It's supposed to be sunny later on today, too. Looking out the window, I'm not totally convinced...

Distance logged: 13.000km
Time: 35:11
Average speed: 22.2km/hr
Temperature: 6C, foggy
Cumulative distance: 2426.109km

Ride home for Monday, 30 May

Nearly got hit by a taxi driver who decided he had enough time to shoot out in front of me at a crossroads, despite the fact I had the right of way. So much for "professional" drivers - the only drivers I've seen that are at all professional are long distance hauliers, I always get plenty of space from them (and there's quite a few on the roads, since Halifax is a port town).

Allegedly, the weather is supposed to get better soon. I'll believe it when I see it.

Distance logged: 12.282km
Time: 36:49
Average speed: 20.0km/hr
Temperature: 8C, overcast, intermittent drizzle
Cumulative distance: 2413.109km

Ride into work for Monday, 30 May

Another foggy ride in. I also took it fairly easy since I was carrying a great big heavy laptop in my bag. It seems to have sped me up on the downhill bit, though, as my average speed wasn't as low as I expected...

Distance logged: 12.278km
Time: 34:47
Average speed: 21.2km/hr
Temperature: 6C, foggy
Cumulative distance: 2400.827km

Ride home for Friday, 27 May

Had to work late on site tonight. Rode over to the site, did 4 hours' work, then rode home at around 10:30pm. It was chucking it down raining (there was a state of emergency called in Lunenburg, about 150km away), but fortunately by the time I headed home it had subsided.

Distance logged: 15.844km
Time: 50:10
Average speed: 19.0km/hr
Temperature: 14C, foggy
Cumulative distance: 2388.549km

Ride into work for Friday, 27 May

Really foggy ride in, so I took it slow (or so I thought, according to the average speed I wasn't as slow as I thought I was going). Had real problems with condensate on my glasses, I had to keep wiping them off at every stop. Saw some people driving waaay too fast for the conditions, too...

Distance logged: 12.822km
Time: 36:14
Average speed: 21.2km/hr
Temperature: 9C, foggy
Cumulative distance: 2372.705km

Ride home for Thursday, 26 May

Left work early, as the hard drive in my laptop died, so there wasn't much I could do. Stopped off at the bike shop as the rear gears seem to be slipping a bit, but I'm not sure if it's just me not used to a 7 speed gear set or if there's something actually up with it. Roger took a look at the rear derailleur assembly is a bit loose, but he didn't think it was loose enough to cause the problem (and therefore need replacing). He told me to keep going with it as-is for a while until I got used to a 7 speed (as opposed to the 6 speed I had, so I need to be a bit more precise in shifting). Apparently it's really difficult to get 6 speed gears now, but he said he could get some if needs be. I think I'll stick with it and see how it goes for a while.

I took the GPS with me, I've stitched together an image of the trip from the chiropractor to work and back home (the trip from work to home is the line with red dots). The image is too big to display on blogger without throwing the page alignment out of whack, but you can see by clicking on this link right here.

Distance logged: 11.388km
Time: 33:49
Average speed: 20.2km/hr
Temperature: 10C, windy, drizzle
Cumulative distance: 2244.483km

Ride into work for Thursday, 26 May

Rode in from the chiropractor's today. I was going to do a tour of Aliant locations in honour of the person at Aliant who's spent the last couple of days reading through the site (come on, it's not *that* exciting!) but I decided not to as it was too windy. I took the back roads, which were a bit more sheltered due to the trees on either side for most of the way.

Had another collision with a car today. I was waiting to turn right at a right light, when a car behind me decided to overtake me and hit my mirror. I banged on the roof of his car as he didn't seem to have noticed me, he continued on and then slowed down as I pulled out behind him and he started shouting at me and threw a piece of gum at me. I rode past him, he pulled in front of me and tried to stop me, so I just kept riding around him. I think he realised how stupid he was being as he turned off. What was really heartwarming was at the next set of lights, a guy pulled up in his car and asked if I was OK, said he'd seen the whole thing and was willing to be a witness if I caught the guy's plate. I thanked him and said not to worry, it was a regular occurrence, but it was nice to see that not all drivers get their license out of a cereal packet...

Distance logged: 28.695km
Time: 1:22:00
Average speed: 21.0km/hr
Temperature: 8C, windy, drizzle
Cumulative distance: 2233.095km

Ride home for Wednesday, 25 May

Did the fast route back twinned with a bit of riding downtown. It was surprisingly warm, even though it was drizzling. Definitely enjoying the back street route - some of the roads are completely deserted, while roads that run parallel have traffic backed up and stopped all the way, not that I'm complaining or anything...

The weather tomorrow is looking a bit iffy:

Rain at times heavy with the risk of a thundershower. Amount 40 to 50 mm. Fog patches. Wind east 40 km/h gusting to 80. High 11.

I also have a chiropractor's appointment tomorrow, so I'll be doing a nice long ride from Bedford. I think the appropriate word is "bugger". If the wind is really that bad I think I'll take a backroads detour up past home and then pick up the regular route, I don't fancy riding on Bedford Highway if it's excessively windy with traffic doing 60 or so...

Distance logged: 14.186km
Time: 40:57
Average speed: 20.8km/hr
Temperature: 13C, windy, intermittent drizzle
Cumulative distance: 2204.400km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 25 May

Really windy ride in this morning, probably something to do with the heavy rainfall warning we're under at the moment. Tried the fast ride in again and managed to get it right this time, skipping out a lot of traffic. I think I've spotted where I can continue on for a ride around downtown Halifax, too. It's definitely a route that makes me spend less time sat at traffic lights - I was in work 10 minutes before I usually get in!

Distance logged: 10.848km
Time: 31:01
Average speed: 21.0km/hr
Temperature: 5C, windy
Cumulative distance: 2190.214km

Ride home for Tuesday, 24 May

Picked up the bike this afternoon at the bike shop with much sniggering from the mechanics at how big the bike is getting - there were comparisons to a Mack truck. That said, it's significantly more comfortable (though a little too high, which I fixed this evening), and I don't know what Roger did but it goes like a rocket - I was having problems starting from traffic lights as the rear wheel was skidding until I figured out not to put so much effort into it! The bike also seemed a lot lighter, I didn't realise the handlebar was so heavy. This translated into one of my fastest average speeds home ever!

Distance logged: 10.863km
Time: 30:26
Average speed: 21.4km/hr
Temperature: 8C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 2179.366km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 24 May

Took a slightly different route in that I plotted last night that uses a lot more sideroads. Big difference, it was much more peaceful, plus I get the chance not to get hit by cars so much, which is always nice. Didn't quite manage to stick to the planned route as I had a car decide to pull out in front of me, so I had to swerve over to the next lane around her. I'll give it another try tomorrow and see if I can do it right this time. The only real downside is there's a few more traffic lights, and one in particular that takes quite a while to change.

Took the bike into Ideal Bikes. Roger (the mechanic) said it was probably the bottom bracket that was having problems, but he thought it just needed repacking, which saves quite a bit! Since I took the bike in for a service last month he's going to do it for no charge, can't complain there. I also asked him to change the cassette (or is it a freewheel on there? I can't remember) and chain, as they're due for replacement soon anyway, and wondered if he had any wider handlebars that would take bar-ends - I really like the longer reach on the road bike, and the hand positions that bar-ends give me. He dug around and found a downhill riser bar that would work - 4 inches longer, and because it's downhill it's solid enough to be able to take bar ends, plus it gives me a bit more height on the handlebars to play around with. The total bill for all this is probably going to be $80 + tax (if the bottom bracket needs replacing instead of just repacking it'll be more, though) and Roger's going to try and get it ready for me to ride home tonight - excellent!

Distance logged: 11.736km
Time: 34:02
Average speed: 20.7km/hr
Temperature: 3C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 2168.503km

Maintenance day

Took the chain off the mountain bike and soaked it in chain cleaner for a while as it was starting to get really dirty again. Something's loose at the front, I can wobble the pedals from side to side by about half a centimetre. Took the pedals off, crank arms were still wobbling, tightened the crank arms, still wobbling, so I'm guessing it's time for a visit to the bike shop. I'm guessing it's something in the bottom bracket, but I don't have the tools to take it apart and see, and even if I did I don't think I'd want to take it apart and find it was so worn I couldn't put it back together in usable form!

Ride home for Friday, 20 May

Windy ride home, but fortunately pretty dry.

Distance logged: 11.580km
Time: 39:23
Average speed: 17.6km/hr
Temperature: 7C, windy
Cumulative distance: 2156.767km

Ride into work for Friday, 20 May

The weather couldn't decide whether to rain or not, so I started off on my regular route, then when the rain started I hit a shortcut, then it started so I decided to try a different route in. After all that I got one of my highest average speeds ever on the mountain bike, go figure!

Distance logged: 11.077km
Time: 28:46
Average speed: 23.1km/hr
Temperature: 5C, intermittent rain
Cumulative distance: 2145.187km

Ride home for Thursday, 19 May

In a surprising turn of events, I hit a car today (instead of a car hitting me). Coming down the (steep) hill just after leaving work, a car decided to pull out in front of me. I didn't quite manage to stop in time and used my foot to stop myself by bouncing off the back of the car. No damage to me, but a pretty impressive dent in the back of the car.

Otherwise, a fairly uneventful ride home, albeit slightly slow due to traffic (students are starting to go home, I think).

Distance logged: 11.844km
Time: 37:46
Average speed: 18.8km/hr
Temperature: 12C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 2134.110km

Ride into work for Thursday, 19 May

Another humid ride in, hopefully the rain that's due to hit today will clear it up a bit. Almost got hit by a car but managed to avoid it; a Mercedes in the right hand lane cunningly decided to do a left turn while I was overtaking in the left hand lane. At least now I know my slicks have plenty of grip on the road still.

Distance logged: 13.407km
Time: 36:48
Average speed: 21.9km/hr
Temperature: 7C
Cumulative distance: 2122.266km

Ride home for Wednesday, 18 May

Another humid ride home, I suspect because of all the rainclouds that are massing around Nova Scotia. It looks like we're going to have rain until Sunday, I don't think I'll be riding down to the valley this weekend. Maybe I'll do the run down to Chester instead, depending on how the weather pans out...

Distance logged: 11.509km
Time: 36:12
Average speed: 19.1km/hr
Temperature: 15C, overcast, humid
Cumulative distance: 2108.859km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 18 May

Another humid day, but not as warm as I would like, which meant I was in the odd situation at traffic lights of dripping sweat but being a little chilled. Ah well, summer should be here next month...

Distance logged: 13.396km
Time: 36:11
Average speed: 22.2km/hr
Temperature: 7C, overcast, humid
Cumulative distance: 2097.350km

Ride home for Tuesday, 17 May

The humidity is really starting to kick in, even though it wasn't particularly warm I was dripping sweat by the time I got home. 95% humidity, apparently...

Distance logged: 11.801km
Time: 36:53
Average speed: 19.2km/hr
Temperature: 10C, overcast, humid
Cumulative distance: 2083.954km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 17 May

Roads were still wet on the way in but fortunately no rain. Also managed to make it in without incident, although I nearly hit a driver who decided to park in front of me in the bike lane.

Distance logged: 13.270km
Time: 34:40
Average speed: 22.9km/hr
Temperature: 4C, overcast, damp
Cumulative distance: 2072.153km

Ride home for Monday, 16 May

A rainy ride home, pretty chilly. On the upside I managed to make it without getting hit by a car. Glad I polished my shoes at the weekend, too - they were waterproof all the way home.

Distance logged: 11.472km
Time: 35:09
Average speed: 19.6km/hr
Temperature: 6C, rainy
Cumulative distance: 2058.883km

Ride into work for Monday, 16 May

Had a weird feeling in the first couple of km or so that the bike was slowing down, as if the rear brakes were coming on. I stopped a couple of times and took a look but couldn't find anything obvious; the tyre was a bit close to the stay on the left hand side, which might be it. It stopped after a couple of km, so I guess it must have been something just settling in.

Got hit by a car again, I seem to be making a habit of this. I was going uphill over a railway bridge at around 35km/hr, and had a car pass so close that I either got nudged by his bumper or mirror, or his slipstream threw me off-balance, causing me to swerve and hit his car (with my fist) so I wouldn't go under his wheels. The driver's response was to squeal his brakes to a stop in front of me, forcing me to swerve around him, and then (as I was passing) shout at me, "Stop! Stop right there! You don't hit my car!" I carried on to the lights after the hill and he stopped behind me and got out, and we had this amazingly intelligent conversation:

"Why did you hit my car? You don't hit my car!"
It was that or go under your wheels, do you realise you hit me?
"That's no excuse for hitting my cars, I may have cut you off but that doesn't give you an excuse to hit my car!"
If you didn't hit me I wouldn't have gone off-balance and wouldn't have needed to balance myself off your car.
"You should pay more attention to where you're going!"

At this point the lights changed and I really didn't feel like talking to this guy, so I set off. His parting shot was "and you should be on the sidewalk anyway". Realistically I should have called the police, since he admitted to driving without due care and attention. Maybe next time.

Distance logged: 11.721km
Time: 33:49
Average speed: 20.8km/hr
Temperature: 4C, overcast, damp
Cumulative distance: 2047.411km

Ride for Sunday, 15 May

Another ride around the fire trails with the bike trailer. Not as windy as yesterday, reflected in the blistering speed increase of 0.3km/hr.

Distance logged: 10.466km
Time: 50:04
Average speed: 12.6km/hr
Temperature: 14C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 2035.690km

Maintenance day

Switched the tyres on the mountain bike over to slicks, and replaced the brakes on the road bike. I managed to fit some regular Kool Stop Eagle 2 pads on the rear, but the front would only take the Kool Stop Thinline pads - last time I tried those (admittedly on the mountain bike) they were worn out in around 3 weeks. Maybe I'll have better luck on V-brakes instead of canti's, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one.

Ride for Saturday, 15 May

Spent the afternoon riding around with the bike trailer again. It was nice around the pond where the trees provide a bit of a windbreak, but out on the fire trail there was a bit of a wind tunnel effect, so it was fine riding out, but riding back sucked.

Distance logged: 18.006km
Time: 1:28:34
Average speed: 12.3km/hr
Temperature: 9C-10C, sunny, intermittently windy
Cumulative distance: 2025.224km

Ride home for Friday, 13 May

Got hit by a car that tried to overtake me about 10 feet from a line of traffic stopped at a red light. The driver's excuse was that he didn't see me, even though he swung around me. The speed was low enough that I didn't get any injuries, though I suspect my dragging my front wheel across the back end of the car to extricate it probably lost the driver his Enterprise car rental deposit.

Distance logged: 13.068km
Time: 44:27
Average speed: 17.7km/hr
Max speed: 67.2km/hr
Temperature: 4C
Cumulative distance: 2007.218km

Ride into work for Friday, 13 May

Bit of a cold snap hitting at the moment, hopefully it'll clear out before I go to the valley next weekend...

Distance logged: 14.341km
Time: 44:27
Average speed: 22.6km/hr
Max speed: 54.0km/hr
Temperature: -1C
Cumulative distance: 1994.150km

Ride home for Thursday, 12 May

Distance logged: 11.995km
Time: 39:49
Average speed: 18.1km/hr
Temperature: 5C
Cumulative distance: 1979.809km

Ride into work for Thursday, 12 May

Distance logged: 13.421km
Time: 39:02
Average speed: 20.6km/hr
Temperature: 5C
Cumulative distance: 1967.814km

Ride for Wednesday, May 11

Went out for a ride with the bike trailer and thought I'd log the figures. It's not exactly a speed demon...

Distance logged: 8.075km
Time: 40:57
Average speed: 11.8km/hr
Temperature: 18C-14C
Cumulative distance: 1954.393km

Ride home for Wednesday, 11 May

No ride in figures as I left the bike computer on top of my laptop when I got changed and came back to find the speedo pegged at 99.9km/hr...

Distance logged: 12.636km
Time: 38:16
Average speed: 19.8km/hr
Max speed: 50.8km/hr
Temperature: 19C
Cumulative distance: 1946.318km

Ride home for Tuesday, 10 May

Distance logged: 12.946km
Time: 41:36
Average speed: 18.7km/hr
Temperature: 18C
Cumulative distance: 1933.682km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 10 May

Nice ride in, took the mountain bike as it was looking a bit iffy weather-wise but ended up rain free.

Distance logged: 14.662km
Time: 40:11
Average speed: 21.9km/hr
Temperature: 6C
Cumulative distance: 1920.736km

Ride home for Monday, 09 May

Busy ride home with lots of traffic, which I rode around and avoided. Watched two cyclists almost get hit, in two separate incidents - in both cases the cyclists were at fault. One of them was a cyclist all dolled up in bike commuting gear (mirror, panniers, etc) - just shows you never can tell.

Distance logged: 11.539km
Time: 35:29
Average speed: 19.5km/hr
Temperature: 10C
Cumulative distance: 1906.074km

Ride into work for Monday, 09 May

Drizzly day in, wore all my wet weather gear and overheated a bit. Hopefully the rain will clear off this afternoon and it'll all be nice and dry in time for me to head off home...

Distance logged: 11.846km
Time: 37:22
Average speed: 19.0km/hr
Temperature: 6C, drizzle
Cumulative distance: 1894.535km

Ride home for Friday, 06 May

Catching up...

Distance logged: 11.539km
Time: 35:41
Average speed: 19.4km/hr
Temperature: 16C-15C
Cumulative distance: 1882.689km

Ride into work for Friday, 06 May

Catching up...

Distance logged: 16.928km
Time: 45:09
Average speed: 22.5km/hr
Temperature: 6C-8C
Cumulative distance: 1871.150km

Ride home for Thursday, 05 May

Distance logged: 11.568km
Time: 34:29
Average speed: 21.0km/hr
Temperature: 14C
Cumulative distance: 1854.222km

Ride into work for Thursday, 05 May

Catching up...

Distance logged: 23.777km
Time: 58:52
Average speed: km/hr
Temperature: 5-7C
Cumulative distance: 1842.654km

Ride home for Wednesday, 04 May

Catching up on old postings. New speed record today!

Distance logged: 12.536km
Time: 37:26
Average speed: 20.1km/hr
Max speed: 70.1km/hr
Temperature: 14C
Cumulative distance: 1818.877km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 04 May

Another nice ride in, I took a long detour through downtown Halifax and did quite a few hills for some training. Got into work slightly late, oh well. Seeing more and more cyclists around, didn't have any cycling on the wrong side of the road today but I do wonder about people riding on the sidewalk - the false sense of security is going to cause problems, especially for the people riding past driveways.

Distance logged: 18.837km
Time: 47:53
Average speed: 23.6km/hr
Max speed: 63.4km/hr
Temperature: 4C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1806.341km

Ride home for Tuesday, 03 May

Nice ride home, apart from through the city, which for some reason was choked with traffic. Spaced out again and took the fire trail, I'm starting to wonder if I have a subconscious dislike for Lacewood, which is kinda busy... time to break out the map book and look for an alternative route, I guess.

No gps map because the gps cables got "tidied" away somewhere...

Distance logged: 12.567km
Time: 37:16
Average speed: 20.3km/hr
Max speed: 59.0km/hr
Temperature: 14C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1787.504km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 03 May

Nice ride in, took the road bike without any mishaps. Brought in the GPS, so I'll offload the data tonight and see how twisty turny my route *really* is, and whether I can explore some more...

Distance logged: 14.486km
Time: 37:02
Average speed: 23.5km/hr
Max speed: 62.0km/hr
Temperature: 5C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1774.937km

Ride home for Monday, 02 May

Nice ride home. Lots more cyclists starting to come out now. Unfortunately, it means that when I ride back on the fire trail, I get to tangle with a lot of them that barely have control over their bike. Oh well...

Distance logged: 11.488km
Time: 36:33
Average speed: 18.6km/hr
Temperature: 14C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1760.451km

Ride into work for Monday, 02 May

I was going to ride in on the road bike, and then I found I'd cocked up putting the chain back on, as it was wound over the chain guard on the rear derailleur instead of under, which basically meant it wasn't going anywhere. I ended up taking the mountain bike, but because of the delay twiddling with the road bike I didn't get to ride as much as I hoped...

Distance logged: 14.631km
Time: 37:45
Average speed: 23.25km/hr
Temperature: 7C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1748.963km

Maintenance day

Just worked on the mountain bike, as I didn't ride the road bike all that much. Stripped down the rear brakes as they were really caked up with dirt. I also took out and cleaned the jockey wheels, just as well as all the grease had coagulated with the dirt and turned into sludge. Re-aligned the front brakes as the right-hand pad had drifted out of alignment and the back end of the brake wasn't even touching the rim. Cleaned off the chain. Cleaned off the frame then waxed it off. It looks like I'm going to have to apply some more touch-ups to the frame with nail polish, so it's going to end up looking even more scabrous. Oh well, this is my beater bike, after all...