Ride home for Tuesday, 28 February

Bit of a dull and gloomy ride home after the past few days of sunshine. Muppet of the day was the van driver (towing a trailer) who decided he wanted to change lanes, regardless of the fact I was already in the lane. Beating on his passenger side mirror a few times got his attention. I'm starting to wonder if I should perhaps carry a nice hefty U-lock in a strategic position ready for use in situations like these...

The new saddle seems to be doing the trick, too - I managed to get home in comfort, although I think I still have a few bruises remaining from the other saddle...

Distance logged: 14.210km
Time: 44:34
Average speed: 19.1km/hr
Max speed: 40.9 km/hr
Temperature: -6C, cloudy, windy
Cumulative distance: 1149.753km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.38
Monthly distance: 629.349km
Monthly cost per km: $0.34

Ride into work for Tuesday, 28 February

It snowed a little overnight, maybe a couple of cm or so. It's odd how cars refuse to drive on snow when there's tracks already made on the road, even when the tracks are dangerously close to the middle of the road. I think the word "lemming" applies...

Distance logged: 12.709km
Time: 37:49
Average speed: 20.2km/hr
Max speed: 58.5 km/hr
Temperature: -13C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1135.543km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.39
Monthly distance: 615.139km
Monthly cost per km: $0.35

Ride home for Monday, 27 February

Went into Idealbikes to see if they had an alternative saddle. The hints I dropped about how a leather saddle would be nice elicited a comment of "but wouldn't it be a shame to ruin it in this weather with all the salt on the roads", at least I tried! The guy behind the counter went digging through the box of saddles looking for ones that looked reasonably close to the other seat, but flat instead of rounded. He came back with 3, one wasn't long enough, one wasn't wide enough, but the third, a Selle Royal, looked about right, so I put that on this evening and I'll try it tomorrow. The mechanic told me to come back if it doesn't do the trick and he'll have another dig through. If I don't get any luck at all, Knox has generously offered to send up a Serfas he has spare.

It was never this much of a problem finding a saddle when I was a kid, any old junk would do! Unfortunately now I'm hovering around the 6 foot 5 mark, things tend not to be built to my scale...

Distance logged: 14.222km
Time: 45:45
Average speed: 18.7km/hr
Max speed: 41.2 km/hr
Temperature: -11C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1122.834km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.39
Monthly distance: 602.430km
Monthly cost per km: $0.35

Ride into work for Monday, 27 February

Nice cool ride in, though I had to stop at the halfway point and swap my ski goggles for glasses as I was overheating. Saw two other cyclists, both of them wearing jeans, windbreaker and toque - I can't help feeling they were perhaps a teensy bit underdressed for the weather...

Distance logged: 12.678km
Time: 38:55
Average speed: 19.5km/hr
Max speed: 55.2 km/hr
Temperature: -18C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1108.612km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.39
Monthly distance: 588.208km
Monthly cost per km: $0.36

Ride home for Friday, 24 February

Crappy day at work, so I stopped at the liquor store before heading home and brought a 6 pack of beer home with me. And a couple of bottles of wine. Oh, and I took my laptop home, too. Needless to say, I was not a speed demon, apart from on a couple of downhill sections...

Distance logged: 14.225km
Time: 55:00
Average speed: 15.5km/hr
Max speed: 40.5 km/hr
Temperature: -1C, light snow
Cumulative distance: 1095.934km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.4
Monthly distance: 575.530km
Monthly cost per km: $0.37

Ride into work for Friday, 24 February

Distance logged: 12.673km
Time: 35:55
Average speed: 21.2km/hr
Max speed: 53.3 km/hr
Temperature: -8C, clear
Cumulative distance: 1081.709km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.40
Monthly distance: 561.305km
Monthly cost per km: $0.38

Ride home for Thursday, 23 February

Took my bike in at lunchtime to see if I could get a new wheel for it. All Roger had in built wheels was a rather junky looking 32 hole wheel, which he said probably wouldn't last me (and I agreed with him). He did, however, have a lightly used Rigida 36 hole rim, and said he could build it up for me with heavy duty DT spokes. I asked if he could get it done today and he ummed and aaahed and said he would do his best but couldn't promise it - which is fair enough. He said he'd give me a call by 4 to let me know if it would be ready in time, and at 4:01 on my phone I got a call from Roger saying it was ready. It cost me $60, and I gave another $20 to Roger to buy him self lunch with tomorrow for doing such a great job and pushing so hard to get it ready for me - seeing as I'd be looking at a $30 cab ride tomorrow if it wasn't ready it looked like a deal to me!

I got a new seat in the deal too, unfortunately it didn't cut the mustard - instead of being supportive, it's more in the way of being (to put it delicately) penetrative. I've taken it off and put the leather Nishiki saddle back on for now, I'll take the saddle back tomorrow if I get the chance and see what else there is. The problem is since I'm around 195cm tall, it's difficult to find saddles that are scaled big enough for me. I'm hoping there will be something tucked away in the back at Idealbikes that will do the trick for me... If I'm really lucky there might be a junker leather saddle I can take, but I won't hold my breath on that one.

Distance logged: 13.599km
Time: 42:54
Average speed: 19km/hr
Max speed: 41.9 km/hr
Temperature: 0C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 1069.036km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.41
Monthly distance: 548.632km
Monthly cost per km: $0.39

Ride into work for Thursday, 23 February

Had a chiropractor's appointment today, so I was riding in via Bedford. The clip on the Beamer light broke, this is the second one so it's going back and I'm going to get a different model of light. The leather saddle took a bit of breaking in, it was just starting to get comfortable when I arrived at work, so it should be pretty good for summer.

Distance logged: 35.853km
Time: 87:58
Average speed: 24.5km/hr
Max speed: 52.5 km/hr
Temperature: -7C to -4C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1055.437km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.34
Monthly distance: 535.033km
Monthly cost per km: $0.25

Ride home for Wednesday, 22 February

Bit of a tough ride home, I appear to have worn out the gel seat I put on as insulation - it's sheared in two places, right under my thighs, so I have a nasty lump under each thigh that really doesn't help pedalling. I switched it out for the leather saddle off my Nishiki, but I'm going to have to find a saddle to replace it - I don't want to subject a leather saddle to the vicissitudes of the salty wet roads. I need to get a new rim for the rear, too, as the one on there is now distinctly concave. I foresee dropping a chunk of change at IdealBikes tomorrow...

Distance logged: 14.216km
Time: 45:47
Average speed: 18.6km/hr
Max speed: 42.7 km/hr
Temperature: -2C, clear, breezy
Cumulative distance: 1019.584km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.35
Monthly distance: 499.180km
Monthly cost per km: $0.27

Ride into work for Wednesday, 22 February

So much for the promised 5cm of snow, it was barely a centimetre - maybe two in the "drifts".

Distance logged: 12.707km
Time: 38:10
Average speed: 20km/hr
Max speed: 53.3 km/hr
Temperature: -6C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 1005.368km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.36
Monthly distance: 484.964km
Monthly cost per km: $0.28

Ride home for Tuesday, 21 February

A surprisingly fast ride home, considering I ate far too much sushi at lunch. Hamachi House make some of the best sushi in Halifax, and I was on someone else's expenses tab, and after pushing so hard at the weekend I was really craving protein. 20 pieces of sushi and 3 pieces of sashimi may have possibly been overdoing it a weensy bit, though - embarrassingly enough, I was still hungry after all that. And the ginger icecream, too.

Distance logged: 14.235km
Time: 42:32
Average speed: 20.1km/hr
Max speed: 55 km/hr
Temperature: -2C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 992.661km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.36
Monthly distance: 472.257km
Monthly cost per km: $0.28

Ride into work for Tuesday, 21 February

I was berated by the admin assistant this morning for taking the corner at Brunswick and Cogswell too wide - she felt that I should have been closer to the curb. I explained that there was snow and ice in the way making it too dangerous, and in any case if I was too close to the curb cars would try to overtake me going round the corner, so it was safer for me to go wider anyway.

I don't think she was convinced.

Distance logged: 12.730km
Time: 37:19
Average speed: 20.5km/hr
Max speed: 55 km/hr
Temperature: -9C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 978.426km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.37
Monthly distance: 458.022km
Monthly cost per km: $0.29

Ride home for Monday, 20 February

It snowed for most of the afternoon, not much but enough to settle on the roads. Our temp receptionist didn't seem to believe I was going to ride home in the snow until I walked out the door in my bike gear. The ride home was pretty good, the snow was little enough that I had no problems, but cars were dawdling along - I overtook several, including a BMW that seemed to be spinning its wheels in the snow.

The snow eased off around halfway, and going up Central Avenue I had to stop to take off my ski goggles and put my glasses on, it was so warm.

I saw 6 cyclists out there, and saw tracks from several more. It seems like the milder weather brings out the cyclists even in the snow...

Distance logged: 14.357km
Time: 47:02
Average speed: 18.2km/hr
Max speed: 45.9 km/hr
Temperature: -4C, snowing, clearing to sunny
Cumulative distance: 965.696km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.37
Monthly distance: 445.292km
Monthly cost per km: $0.30

Ride into work for Monday, 20 February

Much better ride than yesterday, there was no wind today. For some reason a lot of drivers were staring at me, one almost ran himself off the road. It's not that cold, after all... By the time I hit downtown I was warm enough to take off the goggles and put my glasses on!

Distance logged: 12.724km
Time: 36:54
Average speed: 20.7km/hr
Max speed: 58.5 km/hr
Temperature: -17C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 951.339km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.33
Monthly distance: 430.935km
Monthly cost per km: $0.21

Ride for Sunday, 19 February

Went for a ride to Tantallon. I started out on the trail, but it was just too rutted from ATV tracks and people walking - even with studded tyres I kept bouncing around, and ended up back on the road as soon as I could. As soon as I got back on the road, I hit a headwind, according the Environment Canada the wind was supposed to die off in the afternoon but it never did. It was a pretty constant headwind of about 30-40km/hr, giving a wind chill of -21C to -24C. Shortly before Hubley I jumped back on the trail as it looked fairly clear, I stayed on the trail until getting close to Tantallon. I decided to turn back as I was starting to feel a bit hypothermic, as soon as I did my speed picked up. After going at a fairly steady 15km/hr on the trail (apart from the rutted sections, where I was limited to around 10km/hr) it was quite a difference to be bombing along at 25-30km/hr. When I started hitting ice again I got back on the road, where I went along at a fairly steady clip between 30 and 40km/hr. Once I hit Bayer's Lake I effectively doubled back on myself back into the headwind, and had a really nasty last 5km or so fighting the headwind. I was exhausted by the time I got home, and didn't go up to the Farmer's Market like I was intending to. I was wearing my rain pants as an outer vapour barrier, I wasn't entirely surprised when I took them off to find a shower of frozen sweat fall out.

I wasn't overly inclined to take pictures, but the few I took are uploaded on my website.

Distance logged: 45.510km
Time: 132:001
Average speed: 20.7km/hr
Max speed: 47.6 km/hr
Temperature: -13C to -11C, windy, sunny, windy, clouds, windy, windy, windy
Cumulative distance: 938.615km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.33
Monthly distance: 418.211km
Monthly cost per km: $0.21

Maintenance day

I cleaned up my bike today on the off-chance that the wind will die down enough for me to get out for a ride tomorrow. The accumulated gunk from the past week of snow, salt, rain, mud and sand made an absolute mess of my bike, I went through 10 cotton buds cleaning out between the cogs on my drivetrain. I also went through 4 ice-cream tubs of dirty water between cleaning my frame, cleaning the wheels, cleaning the brakepads, cleaning the rings and cleaning the chain. It took several applications of WD40 before the chain was clean enough to put into storage, I thought I was going to have to soak it for the week in alcohol to get it clean!

Ride home for Friday, 17 February

Left work early as it was getting really windy out (and it just got windier as the day went on). Not much of a fun ride home, it seemed I was almost constantly hitting headwinds no matter which way I went; at one point I was riding into a headwind, made a 90 degree left turn into a headwind, then made another 90 degree left turn, and was still hitting a headwind - despite the fact I'd just doubled back on myself! Some days, you just can't win...

Distance logged: 14.248km
Time: 45:56
Average speed: 18.6km/hr
Max speed: 39 km/hr
Temperature: 7C, overcast, windy
Cumulative distance: 893.105km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.35
Monthly distance: 372.701km
Monthly cost per km: $0.24

Ride into work for Friday, 17 February

Bit of a nasty ride in today with freezing fog the whole way in causing my glasses to mist up pretty constantly. The fire trail was a mess, my tyres kept sinking into the mud and sticking and carrying clumps up into my fenders. A pretty crappy ride in, but (to drop into cliche mode) any ride is better than no ride, after all...

Time: 37:18
Average speed: 20.5km/hr
Max speed: 53.7 km/hr
Temperature: 1C, freezing fog
Cumulative distance: 878.857km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.36
Monthly distance: 358.453km
Monthly cost per km: $0.25

Ride home for Thursday, 16 February

An insanely warm ride home for this time of year - I don't ever recall it being this warm, according to Environment Canada the record temperature for today was 8.20C in 1984 - I think there's a good chance today may have beaten that, I'll be interested to see tomorrow. I was sweating buckets by the time I got home even though I was only wearing cycling shorts, cycling pants, a t-shirt and windbreaker! Tomorrow's supposed to be more of the same with added rain, then Saturday's back to more seasonal weather with a high of -9 - hopefully I'll be able to get out for a ride then...

Distance logged: 14.174km
Time: 42:15
Average speed: 20.1km/hr
Max speed: 48 km/hr
Temperature: 7C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 866.135km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.36
Monthly distance: 345.731km
Monthly cost per km: $0.26

Ride into work for Thursday, 16 February

Still seeing more cyclists on the road, the warmer weather must be bringing them all out - and this despite gas prices going down, too!

Distance logged: 12.726km
Time: 35:28
Average speed: 21.5km/hr
Max speed: 55 km/hr
Temperature: 1C, breezy
Cumulative distance: 851.961km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.37
Monthly distance: 331.557km
Monthly cost per km: $0.27

Ride home for Wednesday, 15 February

Had an encounter with a driver who possibly won the muppet of the month award. He overtook me as I was turning onto Federal from St Andrews, and turned on to Romans Ave in front of me. As I rode along Romans Avenue I could see that the light ahead was red, and it was a long queue of traffic, and oddly enough the minivan driver behind me wasn't overtaking me, but was instead pacing me - I think he saw what happened and he wanted to see what happened next. I stopped behind MOTM (a dented, battered, rusted blue Honda Civic, registration plate CPZ 975) and spat out a few times. With the wind coming from behind me, I guess my spit must have hit his window (not that I was particularly trying to avoid hitting his car, I must admit), and he put his car into reverse and nudged his bumper back against my front wheel. I fairly easily bunny hopped my way around him and came up by his side, at which point he jumped out of his car and we had (to the best of my recollection) the following conversation:

MOTM: "Don't spit on my car! I don't spit on you, what are you playing at spitting on me?"
Me: "Actually, you are spitting on me. Look at all that crap spewing out of the back of your car."
MOTM: "You shouldn't be on the road! I pay insurance, you don't! You people are all the same, you ride up the inside, you pass at red lights, you shouldn't be on the road"
Me: "I was waiting behind you, I wasn't passing you. Did you see me try to pass you? You're the one that hit me."
MOTM: "Maybe not this time, but I know what you lot are like! I had a bike hit me when I was turning, and he wasn't insured! I had to pay for repairs! You shouldn't be on the road"
Me: "Buddy, I'm a vehicle on the road just like you, and judging by the state of your car I pay more in taxes than you gross, and it's the taxes that pay for the roads. I have every right to be on the road."
MOTM: "You don't pay insurance! You shouldn't be on the road! You reckon you're allowed on the road, huh? You just wait and see what I can do!"

At that point, the muppet jumped back in his car and fumbled with his seatbelt, trying to get it on. I looked back, and the guy in the minivan was grinning and shaking his head. I grinned back at him and shrugged my shoulders. The light then changed, and muppet screamed forward in first, and... fumbled the gear change into second, leaving his engine roaring in neutral. I had to stop pedalling at that point because I was laughing so hard at him, which may have been a little unfair, for he was truly a muppet of very little brain. He crunched into second gear and roared away, then I saw him roll down his window. In the piece de resistance, he threw out a half full cup of coffee with his left hand, obviously assuming it would spin up in the air and drench me with scalding hot coffee. Unfortunately for him, as he threw it... the lid came off and the coffee sprayed all over his car. Boy,was I glad I waited to see what he would do!

Distance logged: 14.189km
Time: 44:23
Average speed: 19.2km/hr
Max speed: 42.9 km/hr
Temperature: 4C, windy
Cumulative distance: 839.235km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.37
Monthly distance: 318.831km
Monthly cost per km: $0.28

Ride into work for Wednesday, 15 February

Saw a surprisingly large number of cyclists on the road today; at one point I was in a train of 5 cyclists, which was quite the novelty - I don't think that's ever happened before, not even in summer!

Distance logged: 12.730km
Time: 36:24
Average speed: 21km/hr
Max speed: 57.1 km/hr
Temperature: -4C, clear
Cumulative distance: 825.046km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.38
Monthly distance: 304.642km
Monthly cost per km: $0.29

Ride home for Tuesday, 14 February

Took a fast route home since I was running late due to working at a client's site, and today is, after all, Valentine's day. I had a romantic dinner of home-made.. burger and fries. The joy of wedded bliss... I also got given (amongst other things) a USB lava lamp with blinky LEDs, and some caffeinated extra hot chili sauce. My wife knows my addictions too, too well.

On a side note, talking of Valentine's day... In the UK, Valentine's cards are given to people that, essentially, one would like to take to bed. Here in Canada, I still find it deeply, deeply odd to get a Valentine's day card from my mother-in-law. Even odder, it's addressed to the whole family.

Distance logged: 13.030km
Time: 40:49
Average speed: 19.2km/hr
Max speed: 52.4 km/hr
Temperature: 1C, breezy
Cumulative distance: 812.316km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.39
Monthly distance: 291.912km
Monthly cost per km: $0.3

Ride into work for Tuesday, 14 February

Not quite as much fun this morning as it was yesterday, the sides of the roads are now covered in car snot so I was taking the lane most of the way in.

I also tried experimenting with produce bags as vapour barriers; produce bags over a pair of wool socks, underneath another pair of wool socks. It worked surprisingly well, my feet were toasty warm all the way in without a hint of chill!

Distance logged: 12.724km
Time: 37:11
Average speed: 20.5km/hr
Max speed: 56.2 km/hr
Temperature: -7C, breezy, clear
Cumulative distance: 799.286km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.39
Monthly distance: 278.882km
Monthly cost per km: $0.32

Ride home for Monday, 13 February

A windy ride home, it seems like all the wind that was supposed to happen this morning got saved for this afternoon. On the plus side, it was sunny the whole ride home, I even had to wear my dark lenses - and I needed them, too, the sun was really bright in some places...

Distance logged: 14.214km
Time: 46:51
Average speed: 18.2km/hr
Max speed: 42.2 km/hr
Temperature: -4C, windy. sunny
Cumulative distance: 786.562km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.4
Monthly distance: 266.158km
Monthly cost per km: $0.33

Ride into work for Monday, 13 February

A really enjoyable ride in today, we had about 5cm of snow last night that was mostly cleared up, but enough was left behind to give a bit of a challenge riding in. Apparently it was a real bear for anyone driving a car, but I didn't have any real issues. There was a wind warning last night but it faded away by the time I left, I think it was about 40km/hr - nothing too major.

Distance logged: 12.717km
Time: 38:13
Average speed: 20km/hr
Max speed: 47.6 km/hr
Temperature: -7C, light snow, breezy
Cumulative distance: 772.348km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.41
Monthly distance: 251.944km
Monthly cost per km: $0.35

Ride for Saturday, 11 February

Went for a ride to Tantallon as the weather was forecast to be good. It was a bit breezy on the road so I hopped onto the BLT trail as soon as I could. The trail had been partially cleared of snow in places, but a lot of it was still snow covered, and iced over where ATVs had been driving. That made for some interesting riding, as I went bouncing over the ruts.

I was the only person on the trail for the way out to Tantallon, but on the way back I saw 4 groups, all of them walking dogs, none of which were on a leash. None of the owners seemed overly concerned that their dogs weren't under control, no doubt if I ran over their dogs they wouldn't be to blame at all...

I decided to take a look to see how close to Halifax the trail went. It hadn't been builtup any further than last year, but I noticed another rider had already continued on alongside the rails. I followed the rails, and found they came out on the road by Bayer's Lake, which quite nicely cut off a rather busy stretch of road.

I took some pictures on the way, which came out fairly well.

Distance logged: 51.001km
Time: 157:46
Average speed: 19.4km/hr
Max speed: 37.2 km/hr
Temperature: -11C to -8C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 759.631km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.41
Monthly distance: 239.227km
Monthly cost per km: $0.37

Ride home for Thursday, 09 February

Found the puncture repair I did on my hydration pack didn't quite do the trick and leaked today. It's right on the edge where the tube attaches, so it sees a lot of stress, and has simply worn out, and unfortunately the lifetime warranty excludes "normal wear" and abrasion. MEC no longer carry Platypus products (I suspect I see why), and instead carry hydration packs from Source Vagabonds Systems (an impressively meaningless company name). I picked up the 3 litre version which looked to be the closest fit for the hydration pouch in my backpack. It just about fits if I curl it at the edges, so I can't fill it all the way, but there's enough there to get me home. It looks like it should fit perfectly in the minipack I wear in summer, though, so at least that's a point in its favour. I also stopped off at IdealBikes and picked up a new chain tool - Roger commented on how he was surprised he hadn't seen me lately, but was amused to hear my tale of woe with the melting chain tool.

Took a shorter ride home as I was running late, carrying a bunch of extra stuff (since I'm taking tomorrow off as a TOIL day) meant I wasn't as fast as I could have been - that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

Distance logged: 13.001km
Time: 41:37
Average speed: 18.7km/hr
Max speed: 46.8 km/hr
Temperature: -4C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 708.630km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.44
Monthly distance: 188.226km
Monthly cost per km: $0.47

Ride into work for Thursday, 09 February

Pretty good ride, started off quite cold (cold enough that I had to wear my ski goggles), but it warmed up enough at the halfway point that I had to swap the goggles for regular glasses, and my skullcap for the headband. Since the sprog decided 6am was a good time to get up (and also announce this loudly enough that I had to get up too) I was running 15 minutes early, so I took the long way into work.

Muppet of the day was the guy who crossed the bike lane to turn right whilst I was still in it. It's amazing how scared passengers in cars look when I beat on the window a couple of times hard enough to make sure the driver notices me - he certainly didn't when he was doing his maneouvre since I had to swerve out of his way to avoid being hit, since I was taking the lane.

Distance logged: 16.758km
Time: 46:40
Average speed: 21.5km/hr
Max speed: 57.1 km/hr
Temperature: -10C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 695.629km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.37
Monthly distance: 175.225km
Monthly cost per km: $0.20

Ride home for Wednesday, 08 February

Nice sunny ride home, marred only by a couple of muppets, both on the same road. The first muppet was as I was coming down Roslyn Road, and I could see a car at the stop sign on Connolly; I suspected that the driver was going to "ignore" me and zoom across the (two way) stop sign so I hovered on the brakes. The driver didn't start until I was about 15 metres away, and then zoomed out, realised she wasn't going to make it, and stopped in the middle of the road. In the meantime, I'd slammed on the brakes and skidded along and stopped just in front of her. I stared at her and said, "you realise you nearly hit me?"; her response was to look at me and say (I think) "but I'm in a car!" - a true muppet.

The second muppet I encountered was when I was turning right off Roslyn onto Connaught; I approached the junction, signalled right, and heard an SUV zoom up behind me, and then come abreast of me with a right turn signal on. I don't think the driver even saw me, although her passenger (presumably her daughter) was staring out of the window at me with an expression that can only be described as "vacant". The driver then veered off to the right in front of me into the lane I was entering, forcing me to swerve out of the way. Some days I really feel tempted to pick up an attention seeking device to rap on the window of careless drivers to attract their notice.

Distance logged: 14.149km
Time: 44:17
Average speed: 19.2km/hr
Max speed: 41.6 km/hr
Temperature: -4C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 678.871km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.38
Monthly distance: 158.467km
Monthly cost per km: $0.22

Ride into work for Wednesday, 08 February

Great ride in, although I overdressed a touch and had to stand outside the building entrance to vent off some heat - I got quite a few odd looks standing there with steam roiling off me. Sunny all the way in, the first hint of spring...

Distance logged: 12.686km
Time: 34:51
Average speed: 21.8km/hr
Max speed: 55.8 km/hr
Temperature: -9C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 664.722km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.39
Monthly distance: 144.318km
Monthly cost per km: $0.24

Ride home for Tuesday, 07 February

Windy ride home today. The high cadence spinning also seems to have tired my legs out a bit, although it's certainly helped my knee - I've had next to no twinges at all from it. As a result, I had real difficulty getting up to speed, and keeping speed once I was there.

The erosion on the fire trail from the heavy rain we had a few days ago attracted the attention of the council; they've responded by putting barriers across the fire trail, but thoughtfully the barriers are just wide enough for a person (or a person on a bike) to squeeze past on one side. With any luck it'll get filled in before we get too much snow.

It looks like it might be around -7 or so tomorrow morning, so it should be a fairly pleasant ride in.

Distance logged: 14.161km
Time: 46:35
Average speed: 18.2km/hr
Max speed: 43.6 km/hr
Temperature: 0C, windy
Cumulative distance: 652.036km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.4
Monthly distance: 131.632km
Monthly cost per km: $0.26

Ride into work for Tuesday, 07 February

Another ride where I was in a bit of a rush, this time because I had to be in to continue rescuing the system I was working on yesterday. It looks like the weather might be starting to cool off again, too - not before time!

Distance logged: 12.694km
Time: 34:34
Average speed: 22km/hr
Max speed: 56.2 km/hr
Temperature: -2C, clear, light snow
Cumulative distance: 637.875km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.41
Monthly distance: 117.471km
Monthly cost per km: $0.29

Ride home for Monday, 06 February

I took a short route home today as I was late leaving a client's site and wanted to get home. Even so, it was windy enough that it didn't make a whole lot of difference - although I suppose if it were calmer I'd have been home 5-10 minutes earlier. I was still late for supper, though...

Distance logged: 12.050km
Time: 38:34
Average speed: 18.8km/hr
Max speed: 46.1 km/hr
Temperature: 3C, windy
Cumulative distance: 625.181km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.41
Monthly distance: 104.777km
Monthly cost per km: $0.33

Ride into work for Monday, 06 February

Experimenting with some high RPM spinning after reading some comments on bikeforums.net about how to avoid knee pain. Surprisingly enough, it seems to have made me a bit quicker, even with all the headwinds...

Distance logged: 12.675km
Time: 33:41
Average speed: 22.6km/hr
Max speed: 59.1 km/hr
Temperature: 4C, windy
Cumulative distance: 613.131km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.42
Monthly distance: 92.727km
Monthly cost per km: $0.37

Maintenance day

Replaced the chain today, as a month's worth of winter wear had stretched it out. I was able to recycle it as the sprog needed 100 items to pin up as part of a maths project; over the course of an hour or so I sat and disassembled the chain into its component parts while reading Bike Forums. I disassembled so many links that my chain tool overheated (it actually became hot to the touch) and one of the guide rails bent off and snapped! I cleaned the links in some MEC dry lube (which is great for cleaning, but bloody awful as a lubricant) and washed them off in some hot water, and voila, a bunch of slightly rusted yet well-worn links to pin onto a piece of bristol board.

Other than replacing the chain, there was surprisingly little to do; the brake pads still have plenty of wear in them, everything else seems well lubricated, all I had to do was clean off the rims. Going through the other stuff on my bike I found the battery connector for my lights had come a bit loose, so I reassembled it and sealed it back together with some silicone sealant - that should do the trick.

Ride home for Friday, 03 Feb

Catching up on posting after blogger outages...

Distance logged: 14.218km
Time: 44:19
Average speed: 19.3km/hr
Max speed: 49.5 km/hr
Temperature: 0C
Cumulative distance: 600.456km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.43
Monthly distance: 80.052km
Monthly cost per km: $0.43

Ride into work for Friday, 03 February

Pretty uneventful ride in.

The forecast for this afternoon is "light snow mixed with ice pellets changing to rain later in the afternoon". Then it's going to be warming up over the weekend, and back to a chance of flurries on Monday and Tuesday. The weird weather is back...

Distance logged: 12.650km
Time: 35:28
Average speed: 21.4km/hr
Max speed: 45.3 km/hr
Temperature: -7C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 586.238km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.44
Monthly distance: 65.834km
Monthly cost per km: $0.52

Ride home for Thursday, 02 February

A messy ride home, there were still several side streets that had yet to be ploughed. The fire trail was interesting, too - just enough snow on there to make it bumpy, and under that a layer of ice. I think tomorrow I might be taking the roads rather than the fire trail...

Went into MEC at lunch to return the light I bought last week as the clip broke. While I was there I picked up a Rackpack Backpack, as the seat bag I got was rubbing against the back of my legs in a rather irritating fashion, plus I have nowhere to stow my pump except in my backpack (which tends to eat pumps and spit out the bits). I can now offload a whole bunch of stuff into the rackpack off my back, which is a bonus. The seatbag should fit quite nicely on the Nishiki, as that has a larger saddle, so that all works out rather well.

Distance logged: 14.206km
Time: 48:10
Average speed: 17.7km/hr
Max speed: 44.3 km/hr
Temperature: -3C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 573.588km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.45
Monthly distance: 53.184km
Monthly cost per km: $0.65

Ride into work for Thursday, 02 February

No ride in yesterday as we had a blizzard hit and it was too windy.

Had a Dr's appointment today, so I rode in via Bedford. The roads were still a bit on the messy side from the snow storm yesterday, although the amount of salt was incredible - the front of my bike is encrusted with salt crystals!

Muppet of the day award goes to the pedestrians gormlessly wandering around the streets looking to get hit. First one was a pedestrian who leaped out into the road without looking, I managed to haul on my brake and skid around him while shouting at him to look out. Second was a pedestrian who ran across the road and looked bemused to see a bus parked where he wanted to get onto the sidewalk, he then looked at me, ducked to his left, span around, then ran back across the street to where he came from. This was a student at Dalhousie, so nominally he should have been at least somewhat intelligent. However, since common sense isn't, I guess intelligence and common sense have no real relation.

Distance logged: 38.978km
Time: 100:55
Average speed: 23.2km/hr
Temperature: -4C, cloudy
Cumulative distance: 559.382km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.4
Monthly distance: 38.978km
Monthly cost per km: $0