Ride for Monday, 31 October

Went out on runs to pick up pillowcases full of candy. Shocked a bunch of kids sitting in the street eating candy by blasting my horn at them as I went past at 40km/hr - isn't scaring the little ones part of the fun of Halloween?

Distance logged: 3.058km
Time: 7:45
Average speed: 23.7km/hr
Max speed: 47.2 km/hr
Temperature: 9, clear
Cumulative distance: 5993.109km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 309.524km
Monthly cost per km: $0.46

Ride home for Monday, 31 October

Managed to catch sunlight for most of the way home, despite the fact that sunset was nominally half an hour before I arrived. Had an odd conversation with a taxi driver while I was waiting at the lights; he asked, "would you object to riding on the sidewalk?", and he seemed to think my answer of "at 40km/hr on the flat it's too difficult to dodge pedestrians" something of a joke. Oh well...

Distance logged: 14.321km
Time: 40:13
Average speed: 21.4km/hr
Max speed: 47.3 km/hr
Temperature: 14C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5990.051km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 306.466km
Monthly cost per km: $0.46

Ride into work for Monday, 31 October

First ride after daylight saving kicked in, which means I have 4 months or so of having the sun hanging just over the horizon blazing into my eyes on sunny days. Tonight is going to be my first ride home where it gets dark during my ride, too, so it'll be interesting to see how the battery copes running the lights full blast for a while...

Distance logged: 17.018km
Time: 44:21
Average speed: 23km/hr
Max speed: 55 km/hr
Temperature: 7C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5975.730km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 292.145km
Monthly cost per km: $0.49

Ride home for Friday, 28 October

No ride in for this morning as my bike computer fell off and bounced under the wheels of a truck. I didn't feel like stopping in the middle of a busy intersection to try and retrieve it, so I had to go to MEC and get another one. I picked up the next model up from the one I had and I got lucky as the new one fits the mount for the old one fine, which saved me fiddling about tying sensors on and what not.

My roll of reflective black tape arrived today from a friend of mine in Calgary who runs his own signage workshop. I think my bike is going to be glowing in the dark...

Distance logged: 14.302km
Time: 41:58
Average speed: 20.5km/hr
Max speed: 46.9 km/hr
Temperature: 8C, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5958.712km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.23
Monthly distance: 275.127km
Monthly cost per km: $0.52

Ride home for Thursday, 27 October

Breezy ride home, and I think I saw the first sleet of the season, too - just a short shower, but it's a preview of what's to come...

Distance logged: 14.504km
Time: 42:01
Average speed: 20.7km/hr
Temperature: 6C, breezy, intermittent showers
Cumulative distance: 5944.410km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 260.825km
Monthly cost per km: $0.48

Ride into work for Thursday, 27 October

Took the mountain bike in and Roger took a look. He could see exactly where the tyre was rubbing and trimmed out the offending bit of the fender with an angle grinder. He reckons my slick tyre (which is, admittedly, about the widest slick you can get) is bigger than my studded tyre, so it should be OK now. I guess I'll find out when the snow starts flying...

Tweaked my ridelog script so it calculates monthly costs and totals. It's not looking too great this month because I only started doing it halfway through the month. Hopefully next month's totals will look rather better.

Distance logged: 12.962km
Time: 35:01
Average speed: 22.2km/hr
Temperature: 4C, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5929.906km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 246.321km
Monthly cost per km: $0.51

Ride home for Wednesday, 26 October

Took the mountain bike in for a tuneup this morning as I figured there'd be no other customers wanting their bikes fixed today. While I was there I was tempted by a set of fenders, and got Roger to throw them on while he was doing the tuneup. I was a bit leery as on the rear, I have U brakes which, while pretty good for braking, don't leave much room for fenders. Roger reckoned he could get it in and, while he managed it, I don't think it's going to work... Every now and then the tyre rubs on the fender, so when I replace the slick that's on there with winter studs either the fender or the tyre is going to get all chewed up. I'll take it back in tomorrow to see what can be done, anyway.

Other than that, the front hub needed work - the cones had pretty much rotted away, so Roger replaced everything that looked a bit iffy, and he replaced the cables. Final cost was $95, which has upped my cost per km by a cent.

The ride home was a bit tiring, the remnants of Hurricane Wilma were still hanging around. Unfortunately tonight it was all headwinds.

Distance logged: 12.873km
Time: 39:24
Average speed: 19.6km/hr
Temperature: 9C, windy
Cumulative distance: 5929.906km
Cost per km: $0.22

Ride into work for Wednesday, 26 October

The weather this morning was even worse than it was yesterday, with the added bonus of heavier rain. Fortunately the dehumidifier in the server room is drying out my clothes quite nicely...

Distance logged: 12.958km
Time: 36:59
Average speed: 21km/hr
Temperature: 9C, post tropical storm
Cumulative distance: 5917.033km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride home for Tuesday, 25 October

Windy ride home, but surprisingly I caught a few tailwinds - it was quite a novelty to have the wind push me up Main Avenue...

Distance logged: 13.444km
Time: 39:23
Average speed: 20.5km/hr
Temperature: 7C, post-tropical storm
Cumulative distance: 5904.075km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride into work for Tuesday, 25 October

Tried to take a short route into work today but got foiled by an accident at an intersection by the CBC building, so I ended up diverting all the way around the Citadel.

My other space grip finally arrived, I picked that up and I'll be attaching it this evening...

Distance logged: 12.716km
Time: 35:44
Average speed: 21.4km/hr
Temperature: 5C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 5890.631km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride home for Monday, 24 October

I don't know what was going on but I could constantly hear ambulance sirens pretty much all the way home. The traffic wasn't too great either, fortunately I was able to whip by most of it...

Distance logged: 14.566km
Time: 43:51
Average speed: 19.9km/hr
Temperature: 9C, breezy, overcast
Cumulative distance: 5877.915km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride into work for Monday, 24 October

Had an attack of the muppets today.

• As soon as I came out of my street I had someone try to turn in front of me into the school. Did I say "in front of me"? I meant, of course, "right next to me". To add insult to injury, I think it was a neighbour from across the street.
  
• Riding down along by the QE Hospital, I had a taxi driver haul over in front of me and stop right in front of me to drop off his fare.
  
• Riding along Brunswick, I had another taxi driver stop in the bike lane right in front of me to (presumably) drop off his fare. I had to swerve around him so hard I scraped his back bumper with my pedal.
  
• A pedestrian coming to the sidewalk saw the pedestrian signal start flashing the red hand (ie, don't walk) and ran out in front of me to catch the light. And when I saw "ran out in front of me", I mean if I hadn't hauled on the anchors it would have been handlebar in the ribs time, and deservedly so.
  

Hopefully the ride home tonight will be less eventful. Hurricane Wilma is supposed to hit us tomorrow afternoon with winds of up to 110km/hr, which should make the ride home interesting...

Distance logged: 14.286km
Time: 37:10
Average speed: 23.1km/hr
Temperature: 6C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 5863.349km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride into work for Monday, 24 October

Had an attack of the muppets today.

• As soon as I came out of my street I had someone try to turn in front of me into the school. Did I say "in front of me"? I meant, of course, "right next to me". To add insult to injury, I think it was a neighbour from across the street.
  
• Riding down along by the QE Hospital, I had a taxi driver haul over in front of me and stop right in front of me to drop off his fare.
  
• Riding along Brunswick, I had another taxi driver stop in the bike lane right in front of me to (presumably) drop off his fare. I had to swerve around him so hard I scraped his back bumper with my pedal.
  
• A pedestrian coming to the sidewalk saw the pedestrian signal start flashing the red hand (ie, don't walk) and ran out in front of me to catch the light. And when I saw "ran out in front of me", I mean if I hadn't hauled on the anchors it would have been handlebar in the ribs time, and deservedly so.
  

Hopefully the ride home tonight will be less eventful. Hurricane Wilma is supposed to hit us tomorrow afternoon with winds of up to 110km/hr, which should make the ride home interesting...

Distance logged: 14.286km
Time: 37:10
Average speed: 23.1km/hr
Temperature: 6C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 5863.349km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride for Saturday, 22 October

Went out to try Geocaching with Rowan. We didn't manage to find anything (both the caches we were looking for were off in the woods, unreachable by bike trailer) but we certainly had fun. We had quite a route, which (without showing all the doubling back) looked something like this:



Distance logged: 10.202km
Time: 50:35
Average speed: 12.1km/hr
Temperature: 6C-9C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5849.063km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride home for Friday, 21 October

Had a hospital appointment for an MRI so did some riding around downtown. Getting bombarded with large amounts of magnetism seems to have increased my average speed despite the fact I was carrying a bunch of stuff home. Hmmm, perhaps I've discovered something...

Distance logged: 15.261km
Time: 44:48
Average speed: 20.4km/hr
Temperature: 10C, sunny, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5838.861km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride into work for Friday, 21 October

Rode into Bedford for a chiropractor's appointment, then from there into work. Had a non-muppet today, unusually; at the crosswalk where I walk across I pressed the button and saw a minivan coming at speed, so I waited for him to go past. He hauled on the brakes, ended up half into the crosswalk, reverse back so he was behind the crosswalk, then waved at me and said "sorry". I waved back, grinned, and said "don't worry" - I think that's the first time that's ever happened, most people just zoom on past...

Cold start this morning, time to get the winter clothing out this weekend and check it's ready to go...

Distance logged: 40.007km
Time: 1:33:30
Average speed: 25.7km/hr
Temperature: 3C-6C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5823.600km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride home for Thursday, 20 October

Very windy ride home, Environment Canada were forecasting windows of 30km/hr with gusts of up to 50km/hr and they weren't wrong. One day I will have reason to ride home in the morning and back to work in the afternoon and those winds will be tailwinds instead of headwinds.

Distance logged: 14.426km
Time: 43:32
Average speed: 19.9km/hr
Temperature: 9C, windy
Cumulative distance: 5783.593km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride into work for Thursday, 20 October

Had an encounter with another muppet this morning. Waiting to turn right at the lights onto a busy road, I had a minivan (no surprise) pull up next to me blocking my view. I rolled forward so I could see the traffic again, and the driver started bouncing around in his seat and waving at me. It's amazing how little it takes to disturb some people. He was so adamant he wanted to go he sped out in front of a garbage truck, which had to haul on the brakes to avoid hitting him. I suspect Darwin's theory will out in the end, though.

Went out to MEC at lunch and picked up some more grease (a 1lb tub of Park Tool grease, only $2 more than the tiny tube of Phil's grease) and a new forward deflector shield to replace my old one that isn't sticking any more. I also picked up the latest Terry Pratchett book, which should occupy me quite nicely for a couple of hours this evening...

Distance logged: 17km
Time: 42:22
Average speed: 24.1km/hr
Temperature: 11C, sunny, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5769.167km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride home for Wednesday, 19 October

My distances seem to be slightly off since I changed the tyres last weekend; I've been taking the slightly longer route but even so it's about 500m over. According to the manual it shouldn't make a difference, I can only assume that the semi-slick tyre is slightly smaller than the slick tyre, which I suppose is possible - the centre tread may be thinner as there's more support from the knobbies on the side. Not what I was really expecting, though...

The wrong way riders have returned, I saw two on the way home. One of them was weaving around on the road in front of me and nearly hit another cyclist who was coming the other way (on the right side of the road). He looked at me and shook his head, echoing my sentiments exactly. Oh well, another month or so and the snow should be here, which usually does a nice job of clearing the dilettantes off the road.

Distance logged: 14.437km
Time: 40:55
Average speed: 21.2km/hr
Temperature: 14C, sunny, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5752.167km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride into work for Wednesday, 19 October

The temperature is starting to drop quite precipitously, at this rate it'll be below freezing by the end of the month. Hopefully it'll zoom straight past freezing and stick at a nice cool -5 to -10, it sucks when it's right around the freezing point and everything gets slushy and slick...

Distance logged: 17.006km
Time: 44:02
Average speed: 23km/hr
Temperature: 6C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5737.730km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride home for Tuesday, 18 October

No ride home yesterday as I was on site till really late and took up the client's offer of a ride home. My wife drove me into my on-site this morning, then I walked across Halifax to the office this afternoon when I was done.

Almost hit a dog on the fire trail; it was about 20 metres behind its owner, who was not watching it, and the dog zipped across the trail in front of me. As best as I can recall, here is the conversation we had after I slammed on my brakes and skidded off to one side to avoid the dog:

Me: "Hey, lady, you're supposed to keep your dog on a leash, did you not see all the signs stating the by-law?"
Gormless Dog Lady: "This is a walking trail! It's not for riding bikes on! You shouldn't be riding bikes on here scaring people like that!"
Me: "No, this is a multi-use trail, as listed on the government's trails site."
GDL: "You bikers ought to be ashamed of yourselves! Every time one of you passes my poor dog you slam on your brakes because you aren't in control of your bikes!"
Me: "Well, if every bike rider has to slam on their brakes perhaps your dog shouldn't be running wild and should be on a leash?"
GDL: "He's not running wild! He's with me!"
Me: "No, he's not, he's running wild out of control behind you. There's clearly marked signs on this trail that you are legally required to have your dog on a leash at all times, does that law not apply to you?"
GDL: Salutes me, saying "yes sir!"
Me: "Whatever. Smarten up, lady. Next time you might find a biker that won't bother stopping for your dog."

She said something else but I was riding off at that point and didn't really feel like wasting any more of my life talking to her (although I just realised I wasted 5 minutes of my life typing all this up). I think next time I'll use my horn to "warn" the dog out of the way. Perhaps some dog repellent spray might be an idea, too...

Distance logged: 14.422km
Time: 42:16
Average speed: 20.5km/hr
Temperature: 11C, cloudy, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5720.724km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride into work for Monday, 17 October

A wet ride in on my mountain bike. I think I'll take the panniers off, as they make the back end really heavy, which I think is going to be a bit of a problem on the way home tonight...

Distance logged: 13.714km
Time: 36:20
Average speed: 22.6km/hr
Temperature: 8C, raining
Cumulative distance: 5706.302km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride home for Friday, 14 October

Rode home all the way to the railway crossing on Bayers Road when my chain snapped in the middle of the intersection. Not really wanting to risk running across the intersection to retrieve it to try to hack it back together after it had been driven over a few times, I decided discretion was the better part of valour and called home for a lift. I checked the chainrings later and the middle ring is completely sharktoothed, so I've racked the bike for winter and come the spring I'll get a complete new drivetrain.

I've decided to keep track of costs to try and figure out the cost per km, using a little Perl script I whipped up to store the results in a Mysql database. I've started out with an initial cost of $1200; this covers the new bike ($350), bike trailer ($300), wheels ($260) and handlebar ($70), plus I guessed at around another $200 for clothes and miscellaneous parts, consumables and tools. With the distance I've done so far this year that works out to 21c/km, which compares most favourably with car ownership; last time I did the numbers it would cost me $9500/year for car ownership, which works out at $1.67/km. I believe the quoted figure for depreciation from Revenue Canada is currently something like 33c/km, so even on that rating I'm ahead.

Distance logged: 9.003km
Time: 23:49
Average speed: 22.8km/hr
Max speed: 48 km/hr
Temperature: 14C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 5692.588km
Cost per km: $0.21

Ride into work for Friday, 14 October

Late ride in this morning as I was working late last night, so I got to miss all the rushhour traffic. Instead, I had grannies in SUVs to contend with, usually stuck behind them waiting for them to make a turn onto a busy road. Patience is a virtue, so I must be extremely virtuous today...

Distance logged: 16.602km
Time: 41:55
Average speed: 23.8km/hr
Max speed: 54.2km/hr
Temperature: 5C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5683.585km

Ride home for Thursday, 13 October

Late ride home (9pm) as I had to work late. That meant I got to see all the muppets riding bikes without lights. I started counting after a while, I saw 2 riders with functioning and visible lights, and 12 with no visible lights at all. I'm really rather surprised the cyclist mortality rate isn't higher in Halifax...

Had my lights going full blast the whole way home, they started fading around on the fire trail about 2km from home. I switched to the 5W light only and it was enough to get me home without having to pull out the emergency light, but I can see that come winter I'm going to have to use only one light when it's relatively light out in the morning - that or carry two battery packs! Since the packs are only rated for 2 hours max with both lights going I can't really complain...

Distance logged: 13.177km
Time: 41:28
Average speed: 19.1km/hr
Max speed: 48.2km/hr
Temperature: 8C, clear
Cumulative distance: 5666.983km

Ride into work for Thursday, 13 October

Pretty cold this morning, winter is starting to make itself known - Halifax is under a frost warning, I saw quite a few cars this morning with portholes driving around. Still quite a few cyclists around, saw someone today riding the wrong way on Robie, which is a major artery. I also nearly got hit by another cyclist who decided that the way to turn left was to hug the right-hand side of the road, not signal, and dart out in front of me as I turned left (after signalling from the left-hand side of the road). Oh well...

Distance logged: 16.610km
Time: 42:47
Average speed: 23.3km/hr
Max speed: 54.3km/hr
Temperature: 1C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5653.806km

Ride home for Wednesday, 12 October

Picked up my bike from the bike shop as I took it in this morning to get a broken spoke fixed and the wheel trued. Apparently I'd managed to ding the wheel in two separate places, and pretty much all the spokes had worked loose. Perhaps I need to squirt some superglue into the spoke nipples or something?

Also my Minoura Space Grip broke; the metal strap that holds it onto the handlebars broke. I replaced it with a couple of cable ties and a bit of inner tube for an extra thick shim; that seems to have done a pretty nice job.

Distance logged: 12.307km
Time: 36:57
Average speed: 20.0km/hr
Max speed: 50.4km/hr
Temperature: 13C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5637.196km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 12 October

Cold ride in, so cold I took my headband in just in case.

Got hit by a car, he was coming up behind me as I was coming up to a parked car, so I signalled left, swung out and he hit my hand as he passed. Then he stopped and started shouting that I shouldn't hit his car. He wouldn't listen to anything I'd say until I offered to call the police and explain how he'd been driving so close to me that either he hit me or I hit him. Suddenly he decided it was more important to drive off - or at least, drive up to the stationary queue of traffic ahead. Oh, for an EMP gun.

Distance logged: 16.940km
Time: 44:40
Average speed: 22.8km/hr
Max speed: 47.7km/hr
Temperature: 6C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5624.889km

Ride home for Tuesday, 11 October

Bit of a chilly ride home, winter's getting closer and closer. I did it without wearing a jacket and was fairly warm, though I could have done with full finger gloves on (I didn't feel like putting the neoprene gloves on again, though). It might even soon be time to get the great big winter boots out...

Distance logged: 13.905km
Time: 42:39
Average speed: 19.6km/hr
Max speed: 46.1km/hr
Temperature: 11C, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5607.949km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 11 October

A wet ride in today, which seemed to keep most of the other cyclists off the road. I saw one other cyclist with a rain cape, after sweating for most of the ride in my waterproofs (remember, waterproof means no water out just as well as no water in!) I was quite envious.

I also picked up some new gaiters from MEC; my old ones were starting to rust and were the short version so I figured I'd go with the longer version for better coverage. I noticed with the short gaiters that my waterproof pants got tugged out quite easily and started flapping around, with the longer ones I shouldn't have that problem.

Distance logged: 16.571km
Time: 44:30
Average speed: 22.3km/hr
Max speed: 55.6km/hr
Temperature: 16C, drizzle, humid
Cumulative distance: 5594.044km

Ride home for Friday, 07 October

Distance logged: 12.800km
Time: 39:10
Average speed: 19.6km/hr
Max speed: 46.6km/hr
Temperature: 19C
Cumulative distance: 5577.473km

Ride into work for Friday, 07 October

I don't know if it was the weather or the impending holiday, but today was attack of the muppets.

* Crossing Quinpool from Oxford I have to be in the left hand lane to get onto Pepperell Street immediately after. Muppet number 1 decided he was going to be in the same lane as me after crossing Quinpool; obviously he didn't see my two flashing lights, my solid rear light, the reflective tape on my backpack, the reflective tape on my bike, and my 15W headlights, and ended up forcing me into the lefthand lane into oncoming traffic. I think perhaps a subtly palmed emergency hammer beating on the side window might communicate how dangerously the driver is behaving.

* Coming to the end of Studley Avenue (that really is its name) to turn onto Oakland Road I was signalling left when an SUV on Oakland Road approaching from the right decided to turn left onto Studley without indicating, and also without any lane control, cutting the corner so much I don't think he was anywhere near his side of the road. The problem with this is I was on the lefthand side of the road indicating left, fortunately he saw me at the last minute (possibly me braking so hard my back wheel came off the ground might have made him notice something awry) and stopped and looked at me with a "what, me?" expression. I waved him around and gave him a slow clap.

* Turning off Point Pleasant Drive (a steep downhill) onto Young Avenue I had a jogger jogging straight towards me in the middle of the lane. Obviously the sidewalk is only for pedestrians, and joggers don't go on the sidewalk because they're not... oh.

* Joining in the fun was the usual woman who "power walks" on Young Avenue. Today she was particularly impressive; on the grey road in the fog, she was wearing dark grey sweatpants, dark grey top and a grey cap, and decided to walk out from behind an SUV without stopping to look for oncoming traffic. I don't mind pedestrians looking to commit suicide, but I'd rather the didn't do it in front of me; if she continues doing this into winter I would be unsurprised if I ended up riding into her, since she likes to camouflage herself like a piece of road.

Still, at least the CBC lockout seems to be over, which means I won't have motorists deciding to use their horn to show their support, nor will there be locked out employees loitering by the side of the road or sidewalk, which means my horn will be taking as a warning sign as opposed to a sign of support, leading to said employees to wave at me when I'd rather they just get out of the road...

Distance logged: 16.595km
Time: 41:06
Average speed: 24.3km/hr
Max speed: 60.2km/hr
Temperature: 17C, foggy
Cumulative distance: 5564.673km

Ride home for Thursday, 06 October

Stopped off at the bike shop and spent some time taking pictures of the bikes to go up on the web site. It looks like the last round of pictures that got taken involved riding around downtown - for example there's one or two down by the waterfront, the Citadel, St. Mary's University (I think), outside in the snow (looks like a really old photo there), and for some reason my bike is still listed - I suspect there may be some other models like it built up. I think perhaps next week I might follow the lead and find some interesting places to photograph the bikes...

Bit of a drizzly ride home, but it didn't rain hard enough to soak me - I was wetter from the sweat from the humidity, I think. Still surprisingly warm for October, though...

Distance logged: 14.996km
Time: 46:12
Average speed: 19.5km/hr
Max speed: 48.2km/hr
Temperature: 19C, drizzly
Cumulative distance: 5548.078km

Ride into work for Thursday, 06 October

The surprisingly warm weather continues, although this might be because of the fog keeping the heat from escaping overnight. The long term forecast is showing rain or chances of rain all next week, so I'll be getting the mountain bike ready for fall this weekend, I think.

Distance logged: 16.546km
Time: 41:36
Average speed: 23.9km/hr
Max speed: 58.6km/hr
Temperature: 17C, foggy
Cumulative distance: 5533.082km

Ride home for Wednesday, 05 October

A surprisingly warm day for the start of October, considering it's not uncommon for snow to hit before Halloween (and almost always by Remembrance Day).

Distance logged: 13.815km
Time: 40:20
Average speed: 20.5km/hr
Max speed: 46.9km/hr
Temperature: 25C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5516.536km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 05 October

Nice sunny day today, rode in wearing just a t-shirt and armwarmers instead of putting the jacket on. I could probably have used kneewarmers instead of my cycling pants too, but I'd rather take extra care with my knees so they last longer...

Found an interesting site, "bicycle speed and power calculator" which lets you calculate stats on power generated while cycling. Using my admittedly ballpark figures, it was interesting to see that on one of my centuries, I used over 6000 calories at a rate of 290 watts. To look at it another way... that's about 10 and a half Big Macs.

Distance logged: 16.543km
Time: 40:42
Average speed: 24.4km/hr
Max speed: 58.6km/hr
Temperature: 14C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5502.721km

Ride home for Tuesday, 04 October

The good thing about riding a bike with a cold is the riding loosens everything up so I can breathe again. It also provides plenty of (for lack of a better term) ammo for use while riding.

Another day of hitting the red lights, I wonder if it's a coincidence or if something is triggering the lights?

Distance logged: 13.813km
Time: 40:14
Average speed: 20.6km/hr
Max speed: 44.8km/hr
Temperature: 21C, sunny, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5486.178km

Fame at last!

I am now the number one result for "halifax, nova scotia, bike shop" on Yahoo. I'm sure my fame can only spread from here.

Ride into work for Tuesday, 04 October

Surprisingly fast ride in seeing as my cough and cold seem to be coming back. Still seeing a lot of commuters on the road, most of them seem to be "first timers" too - lots of less than entirely appropriate gear choices. Oddly enough, I haven't seen any wrongway riders in a long time, I would have expected to have seen more...

Distance logged: 16.556km
Time: 41:00
Average speed: 24.2km/hr
Max speed: 59.3km/hr
Temperature: 11C, misty
Cumulative distance: 5472.365km

Ride home for Monday, 03 October

Don't know what was happening today but it seemed like every light was green until I rode up to it, at which point it turned red. The upside was that when I was waiting I was at the front of the line so there were no exhaust fumes - quite an enjoyable silver lining.

Surprisingly warm, too, after the chilliness of the morning. Checking the MRTG temperature graphs from my machine room at home it looks like I have another 3 weeks or so before it starts getting cold in the afternoon as well.

Distance logged: 12.800km
Time: 38:13
Average speed: 20.1km/hr
Max speed: 45.5km/hr
Temperature: 22C, sunny, breezy
Cumulative distance: 5455.809km

Ride into work for Monday, 03 October

It was really cold out this morning when I set off, and it didn't warm up until after the halfway point. It's also starting to take me longer to get ready in the morning; instead of arriving at work around 8am, I'm now getting in around 8:15, and it's only going to get later... I'm going to have to take a look and see what else I can get done the night before to increase the amount of riding time in the morning. I definitely don't want to get up any earlier, that's for sure...

Distance logged: 16.563km
Time: 43:38
Average speed: 22.8km/hr
Max speed: 57.0km/hr
Temperature: 11C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5443.009km

Ride for Sunday, 02 October

Took Rowan out for a ride in the bike trailer, we went down to the far end of the fire trail and back, around the pond, up to the farmer's market, across the road to the Holiday Inn and got onto the fire trail behind there that runs parallel to the highway for a while to see where it went. After climbing up a seriously steep hill (and being reduced to pushing the bike up, the slick tyres weren't getting any grip on the gravel) and riding along for a couple of km, we came to a dead end. Really not sure what the point is, but it looks like eventually it might be a route through to Sackville, which might be handy. We headed back and stopped off at the farmer's market for lunch and supplies for supper. After that we headed home as it was getting really hot and I didn't have any sunblock on me...

Distance logged: 15.140km
Time: 1:02:10
Average speed: 14.6km/hr
Temperature: 18C-21C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5426.446km

Ride home for Friday, 30 September

Picked up my bike after work to find out that there was no charge for the wheel truing ("but we both really like the ginger beer from the cafe next door" so I picked up a couple of bottles). Rode out and found the front wheel was on the wrong way round, took it back and Roger whipped out a spanner and put it on the right way round.

Slow ride home, there was a fairground set up off Bayer's Road that was slowing up traffic for blocks around. Another one of those days where only cyclists got anywhere quickly...

Distance logged: 13.287km
Time: 40:31
Average speed: 19.7km/hr
Max speed: 45.5km/hr
Temperature: 12C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 5411.306km