Ride home for Wednesday, 31 January

Rode around the places I rode this morning that got missed due to flat batteries in the GPS. After all that, the batteries in the PDA extender went flat, so the Treo didn't actually log anything in the end. I've dug out some rechargeable batteries that run at 1.25V (instead of the usual 1.2V); I'm hoping that'll be enough extra boost the make it run (since the battery pack seems to prefer regular non-rechargeable batteries that run at 1.5V).

Had an interesting conversation while I was on site with a woman from Ireland. We were talking about differences between Nova Scotia and Europe, and something she pointed out was that people here are significantly less hardy when it comes to indoor temperatures than in Europe. She keeps her thermostat set to 17C (as do I), which she finds just right, and is around the temperature people keep their houses set to in the UK, from what I recall. Visiting other peoples' houses here in Nova Scotia tends to be like walking into a wall of heat, as the temperatures are quite often at least 25C! Of course, people are wandering around inside in T-shirts because it's so warm, when they could quite easily drop the heat and put on a sweater - and they wouldn't be complaining so much about the price of heating oil!

Distance logged: 20.343km
Time: 77:30
Average speed: 15.7km/hr
Max speed: 37.8 km/hr
Temperature: -8C to -9C
Cumulative distance: 623.253km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 623.253km
Monthly cost per km: $0.22

Ride into work for Wednesday, 31 January

Nice ride in to work, and I decided to do a bit more mapping since I had some time. However... When I got into work I found that the cold seems to have killed the rechargeable batteries in my GPS. They were registering 75% charge last night, now when I turn the GPS on it shuts off within seconds. I think I have some Alkaline batteries fully charged up in my rack trunk, with any luck they haven't self-discharged!

Distance logged: 13.481km
Time: 45:24
Average speed: 17.8km/hr
Max speed: 55 km/hr
Temperature: -18C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 602.910km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 602.910km
Monthly cost per km: $0.22

Ride home for Tuesday, 30 January

Rode around the suburbs in Clayton Park and filled in a few more blank bits.

Distance logged: 19.537km
Time: 72:32
Average speed: 16.2km/hr
Max speed: 35.7 km/hr
Temperature: -11C
Cumulative distance: 589.429km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.23
Monthly distance: 589.429km
Monthly cost per km: $0.23

Ride into work for Tuesday, 30 January

Nice sunny ride in, and I managed to get the GPS running perfectly with the Palm. Did some riding around the North End to try to fill in some of the blank bits.

Found out that a couple of friends of mine are part of a team starting up a new online TV company, untv.ca. There's some interesting stuff on there that's worth a look, even though they only launched a couple of weeks ago!

Distance logged: 11.664km
Time: 37:22
Average speed: 18.7km/hr
Max speed: 46.8 km/hr
Temperature: -15C, -22C wind chill, sunny
Cumulative distance: 569.892km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.24
Monthly distance: 569.892km
Monthly cost per km: $0.24

Ride home for Monday, 29 January

Took my bike in to IdealBikes, it turned out the creaking noise was from salt accumulated in one of the brake bosses making the ferrule creak as the handlebar turned round! A small amount of grease fixed that...

Distance logged: 19.615km
Time: 73:07
Average speed: 16.1km/hr
Max speed: 45.3 km/hr
Temperature: -6C to -7C, light snow
Cumulative distance: 558.228km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.24
Monthly distance: 558.228km
Monthly cost per km: $0.24

Ride into work for Monday, 29 January

Late ride in as I was paged overnight as one of our providers had a scheduled outage.

Managed to get the Treo / GPS / battery hookup all working with a judicious usage of rubber bands from broccoli holding the cables in to the GPS and Palm to stop them coming out when jolted in my backpack. Managed to get a pretty good capture from the NMEA output, which I was pleased about - that's the first time I've got it to work consistently.

Distance logged: 15.601km
Time: 52:17
Average speed: 17.9km/hr
Max speed: 45.3 km/hr
Temperature: -10C to -8C, -17C wind chill
Cumulative distance: 538.613km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.25
Monthly distance: 538.613km
Monthly cost per km: $0.25

Maintenance day

Had some squeaking somewhere in the headset. Cleaned up the stem and that wasn't it (and the stem usually creaks rather than squeaks), so I figured it was somewhere in the headset and took it apart. It was definitely due for a cleaning as the grease was heavily contaminated with salt and dirt, but even after reassembly the squeaking was still there, although not quite so loud. I thought I greased everything I could so I'm guessing something may be due for replacement, a trip to IdealBikes is in my future.

Ride for Saturday, 27 January

Rode down to the Farmer's Market to do my weekly shopping. Started off cold but warmed up quite a bit, my fleece pants were noticeably damp by the time I got to the market. I ended up taking off my fleece pullover before I headed home, even so I overheated a bit on some of the uphills.

Distance logged: 22.383km
Time: 82:36
Average speed: 16.3km/hr
Max speed: 57.6 km/hr
Temperature: -16C to -9C, wind chill -25C to -21C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 523.012km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.26
Monthly distance: 523.012km
Monthly cost per km: $0.26

Critical mass ride for Friday, 26 January

Went into MEC at lunch and picked up some Tenacious Tape to repair my rain pants - I figure it's better to try to repair them than to throw out $55 on another pair. While I was there I picked up a pair of pannier covers and (to satisfy my lust for flashing LEDs) a set of Tiresparx.

Critical Mass ride was a bit earlier this month at 5pm. Peter explained that this was for safety reasons more than anything else - where it was at 6pm last month it was too dark and some motorists weren't paying attention well enough - plus at 5pm with more traffic on the roads the traffic would be slower, and hence safer. He also mentioned that the police chief in New York who had been the driving force behind persecuting Critical Mass there retired yesterday, which can only be a good thing...

10 people showed up in total. Peter's secret plan was to call the ride off and go down the pub if the numbers didn't hit double digits, so we just made it. There was no planned route, just the one in front leading the way. I tried to make a break for the bridge but for some reason no-one else wanted to risk the wind there, so we took a ride around Gottingen, which was handy for me as I managed to get a few streets I haven't mapped yet. We ended up going across the Commons and on to Quinpool, where the ride broke up; most people who lived downtown headed off to the pub, I opted to head home following a couple of others. They headed off up Connaught, which I continued on down Quinpool across the rotary onto Joseph Howe as I wanted to map out some more residential roads around that area. Heading up Central I saw two cyclists up ahead, and it was the same two! We rode up to Main where we lost one, and I rode with the other and showed her the fire trail as a short cut - she'd been riding on Lacewood, which isn't always the most enjoyable route...

Pretty short ride all in all, and I imagine next month's will be about the same, but things should start warming up after that!

Distance logged: 16.298km
Time: 67:23
Average speed: 14.5km/hr
Max speed: 46.1 km/hr
Temperature: -16C, -29C wind chill, clear
Cumulative distance: 500.629km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.27
Monthly distance: 500.629km
Monthly cost per km: $0.27

Ride into work for Friday, 26 January

Finished at head office yesterday so I'm back in the office today. Ride in wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, I ended up taking off my balaclava and ski goggles after only a couple of km and switching them for skull cap, neck gaiter and glasses.

Critical Mass tonight (probably), should be interesting to see how many turn up...

Distance logged: 11.372km
Time: 37:21
Average speed: 18.3km/hr
Max speed: 52.9 km/hr
Temperature: -18C, -27C wind chill, sunny
Cumulative distance: 484.331km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 484.331km
Monthly cost per km: $0.2

Had to go downtown to pick up the PSU for my laptop since I'm at head office all next week (which means no riding, swizz) so I decided to do some mapping whilst I was downtown. Managed to get most of the Hydrostone done apart from the back lanes - I thought they were actually private driveways! I guess I'll be back there at some point and I'll grab them then.

Chilly ride, I had ice that had formed from my sweat fall out when I took my rainpants off. My cycling pants had a few ice patches on them, but my leg warmers were fine.

Distance logged: 30.693km
Time: 110:01
Average speed: 16.7km/hr
Max speed: 50.3 km/hr
Temperature: -14C, -27C wind chill, snowing, windy
Cumulative distance: 472.959km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.2
Monthly distance: 472.959km
Monthly cost per km: $0.2

Ride for Saturday, 20 January

No ride yesterday as the weather was too warm and windy, with the rain and snow mix making the roads a slick mess that I really didn't want to be out in, so I worked from home writing up a report instead.

Rode downtown to the Farmer's Market to do the shopping for the week. Ran into (almost literally) the muppets of the day pretty soon. Riding along the fire trail I could see a couple wandering along taking up the whole trail with two yappy little dogs running around them (Yorkshire Terriers, I think, but they'd been dressed up with some "clothing"). As I came up behind them I slowed down and rang my bell a couple of times, and the two dogs came racing to my wheel with the muppets walking ahead, still oblivious. I gave my horn a couple of blasts to scare the dogs away, and the female muppet whirled around and we had the following conversation:

FM: "Hey! What was that for! You shouldn't be scaring people like that!"
Me: "Your dogs were running loose and were going to run under my wheel. They're required to be on a leash on this trail."
FM: "No they're not! You shouldn't be racing on this path! It's not for you people!"
Me: "If you read that sign straight in front of you it states quite clearly that dogs must be on a leash."
FM: "Oh! Well! Where's there a sign saying that you're allowed to ride a bike on here?"
Me: "On the www.trails.gov.ns.ca web site this is listed as a shared use trail with bicycle use permitted." (If I'd have been a bit sharper I would have asked where there was a sign allowing her to walk on the trail).
FM: "You shouldn't be racing on this trail! It's not for you people!"

At this point I could see that there was no point wasting any more of my life on this muppet and rode on. Rather predictably, the yappy little dogs tried to attack my tyre again. This time I didn't bother getting out of there way and just carried on riding. Fortunately (or perhaps not) the yappy little dogs at least had the sense to get out of the way, although female muppet behind me yelled something unintelligible.

Otherwise an uneventful ride, although rather windy on the way back - headwinds most of the way.

Distance logged: 22.610km
Time: 81:28
Average speed: 16.7km/hr
Max speed: 55.8 km/hr
Temperature: -3C, sunny, windy
Cumulative distance: 442.266km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 442.266km
Monthly cost per km: $0.22

Ride home for Thursday, 18 January

Went into MEC at lunchtime and picked up a new mirror as my old one snapped off; I don't know if it was the cold or what, but I bonked it slightly as I was putting my bike away and the mirror just fell off.

Switched over to the new version of Blogger this evening as it seems like bits are going wrong with the old version (archives not updating, messages not getting posted, etc). Hopefully things will all be working now?

Distance logged: 13.828km
Time: 49:48
Average speed: 16.7km/hr
Max speed: 40.3 km/hr
Temperature: -10C
Cumulative distance: 419.656km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.23
Monthly distance: 419.656km
Monthly cost per km: $0.23

Ride into work for Thursday, 18 January

Rode in via Bedford this morning for a Dr's appointment. Was extremely hungry by the time I got in, in addition to my normal food intake I went through a cinnamon bun, a cinnamon crunchie, two granola bars and a power bar. And I'm still hungry now...

Distance logged: 32.578km
Time: 94:54
Average speed: 20.6km/hr
Max speed: 52.9 km/hr
Temperature: -20C to -12C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 405.828km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 405.828km
Monthly cost per km: $0.22

Ride home for Wednesday, 17 January

Stopped off at IdealBikes on the way home and picked up a MegaRange sprocket for the low end - I now have sprockets from 3 different cassettes on there. It's now set up as 34-28-23-20-17-13-12, I'm not sure about the jump from 17 to 13 but I'll see how it goes. Could have done with the MegaRange sprocket mounted on there on the ride home as riding up through Fairview into a strong wind was pretty sucky.

Distance logged: 13.977km
Time: 61:03
Average speed: 13.6km/hr
Max speed: 35.1 km/hr
Temperature: -18C, -30C wind chill, windy, snowing
Cumulative distance: 373.250km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.24
Monthly distance: 373.250km
Monthly cost per km: $0.24

Ride into work for Wednesday, 17 January

No ride yesterday as I worked from home - it was warm enough that the roads were slick with water-coated ice, and a stiff wind on top of that made it too dodgy to ride.

The weather this morning was just about right, and the roads had been well cleared. The only trouble I had was on the fire trail which was a bit rutted from people walking on it.

Muppet of the day was the Otis mechanic driving an Otis van behind me going down Cogswell, revving his engine and beeping his horn, who decided to overtake me on the inside as he was coming up to the lights and managed to slide out of control. He then hung on his brakes and skidded to a stop gliding to a right turn and turned to look at me with a sour expression on his face. Me laughing at him as I carried on down probably didn't improve his mood any...

Distance logged: 11.368km
Time: 42:58
Average speed: 15.9km/hr
Max speed: 47.6 km/hr
Temperature: -20C, -34C wind chill
Cumulative distance: 359.273km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.25
Monthly distance: 359.273km
Monthly cost per km: $0.25

Ride home for Monday, 15 January

Left early as the snow was getting heavy and I wanted to avoid getting stuck in all the traffic like last time. Stopped off at Idealbikes as 7th gear on my new cassette was slipping. The lockring turned out to be a bit wonky, it looked like it cracked on the inside. Dave replace both the sprocket and the lockring and that seemed to do the trick. I also got him to separate out the old cassette so I could reuse the bottom two gears - the SRAM cassette is a little more speed oriented, and in the weather we're due to have I'd like something nice and low I can drop into...

Distance logged: 13.381km
Time: 58:54
Average speed: 13.6km/hr
Max speed: 37.8 km/hr
Temperature: -7C, snowing
Cumulative distance: 347.905km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.25
Monthly distance: 347.905km
Monthly cost per km: $0.25

Ride into work for Monday, 15 January

Chilly ride in, with storm clouds massing in the distance...

Distance logged: 11.361km
Time: 39:32
Average speed: 17.2km/hr
Max speed: 48.4 km/hr
Temperature: -8C
Cumulative distance: 334.524km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.24
Monthly distance: 334.524km
Monthly cost per km: $0.24

Ride for Saturday, 13 January

Rode downtown to go to the Farmer's Market and back. Muppet of the day was encountered when I was riding back, just after the Cogswell Street intersection by the Commons; I noticed a maroon car slowly roll up from North Park Street and stop in a hesitant fashion, which made me somewhat suspicious. As I rode past him he decided to jackrabbit out and try to pass me on the inside, I swerved off to the left as I was anticipating this manoeuvre anyway and he stopped. I had to stop to get my bike lined back up (bearing in mind I was carrying around 25 pounds of groceries in the front panniers), the driver leaned out of his window and shouted, "hey, what are you doing!"; the conversation carried on as follows:

Me: "I was riding through, didn't you see me?"
MOTD: "Yeah, didn't you see me?"
Me: "Yes, but seeing as I had right of way you were supposed to yield to me."
MOTD: "No I'm not, I had priority!"
Me: "If you look behind you there you can see the yield sign and the markings on the road, that means you have to yield to oncoming traffic."
MOTD: "Yeah, whatever, I'm sorry, OK, drive on."
Me: "Do you realise that if you hit me I'd probably be going to hospital because of you, and you'd only have some minor damage to your car?"
MOTD: "I said I'm sorry, what more do you want?"
Me: "I'd like you to give way when you don't have priority and to look before you drive out in such a dangerous fashion."
MOTD: "Yeah, OK, I will."
Me: "Riiiiight."

With that, I carried on, since didn't really expect to get much back from my time investment there. Maybe next time he might yield at a yield sign, though...

After I got home I had to go to the post office to pick up my latest parcel from Probikekit. Just for kicks I stripped off all the excess weight from my bike - lights, batteries, rack trunk, everything I could quickly remove. I was surprised by two things; firstly, just how fast the bike was, and secondly, how wobbly the steering felt - without all the weight at the front to counterbalance any of my input the front wheel was wobbling quite a bit before I got the hang of it...

Winter seems to have started, it's currently snowing with 5cm predicted for tonight, and a winter storm watch on for tomorrow evening with up to 15cm of snow and ice pellets forecast. Wednesday is now predicted to have a low of -20C, which should be interesting...

Distance logged: 24.850km
Time: 87:25
Average speed: 17.1km/hr
Max speed: 55 km/hr
Temperature: 4C-5C
Cumulative distance: 323.163km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.08
Monthly distance: 323.163km
Monthly cost per km: $0.08

Ride home for Friday, 12 January

Distance logged: 14.151km
Time: 52:18
Average speed: 16.2km/hr
Max speed: 40.3 km/hr
Temperature: 4C
Cumulative distance: 298.313km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.09
Monthly distance: 298.313km
Monthly cost per km: $0.09

Ride into work for Friday, 12 January

Short ride in, as a certain sprog didn't want to get up this morning and therefore took up more of my time getting him ready then I otherwise would. As a result I saw a lot more cyclists; I'm not sure if that was because it was warmer today, or because I set off 20 minutes later than normal...

The Weather Network long term forecast for Halifax is currently showing a forecasted low of -21C for next Thursday, which should be interesting...

Distance logged: 12.577km
Time: 37:01
Average speed: 20.3km/hr
Max speed: 59.5 km/hr
Temperature: 1C
Cumulative distance: 284.162km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.09
Monthly distance: 284.162km
Monthly cost per km: $0.09

Ride home for Thursday, 11 January

Took a detour on the way home to finish off a few streets I missed yesterday for the OSM.

Distance logged: 21.027km
Time: 71:45
Average speed: 17.6km/hr
Max speed: 41.8 km/hr
Temperature: -7C
Cumulative distance: 271.585km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.09
Monthly distance: 271.585km
Monthly cost per km: $0.09

Ride into work for Thursday, 11 January

Pleasantly cool ride in, with intermittent flurries ending in a full-on blast of snow. It didn't last, about an hour after I got in it was blazing sunshine outside.

Distance logged: 16.804km
Time: 54:47
Average speed: 18.4km/hr
Max speed: 52.6 km/hr
Temperature: -7C
Cumulative distance: 250.558km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.1
Monthly distance: 250.558km
Monthly cost per km: $0.1

Ride home for Wednesday, 10 January

Came home via Lacewood and logged some roads off Lincoln Cross for OSM.

Distance logged: 18.930km
Time: 64:17
Average speed: 17.7km/hr
Max speed: 40.6 km/hr
Temperature: -1C
Cumulative distance: 233.754km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.11
Monthly distance: 233.754km
Monthly cost per km: $0.11

Ride into work for Wednesday, 10 January

Pleasant ride in, interrupted only by the muppet who tried to overtake me less than a car length from the car in front at the stop sign. I assumed he was placing his vehicle there so I had something to lean on, but he seemed quite affronted when I rested against his wing mirror. Most odd.

Distance logged: 16.592km
Time: 51:39
Average speed: 19.3km/hr
Max speed: 58.6 km/hr
Temperature: -4C
Cumulative distance: 214.824km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.12
Monthly distance: 214.824km
Monthly cost per km: $0.12

Ride home for Tuesday, 09 January

Went into MEC at lunch and picked up my new bike light that just came in. There was a demonstration going on outside Province House that appeared to be farmers complaining about (I think) lack of subsidies. The number of police there was overkill; I walked past two vans parked a block away that I counted 8 uniformed officers apiece in, then there were another 8 either side of Province House - including two bike police, I'm not sure what the idea there was! I also saw police patrolling for a 3 block radius on foot, and multiple police cars. Considering th crowd was mostly made of late middle-aged to elderly farmers and young families and children (with most people wearing wellies and similar farm gear) I don't think such a show of force was really required...

Managed to fit the AL-X light on my spacesaver bar with the two other lights, so I now have a total of 4 lights on the front plus two blinkies for a total of around 30 watts of light (or equivalence thereof). It definitely helped on the fire trail, I could see for quite a ways in front of me.

Muppet of the day was the driver who decided to accelerate and change lanes as I was crossing the crosswalk, only to come screaming to a halt as I stood with my bike in front of me waiting for her to stop. As I walked across, she wound down her window and said "oh, I'm so sorry for scaring you half to death there!" She didn't quite seem to know how to handle my response of "no you're not" that I threw over my shoulder as I carried on walking.

Got home just before it started snowing, too...

Distance logged: 15.339km
Time: 53:18
Average speed: 17.3km/hr
Max speed: 41.9 km/hr
Temperature: 5C-3C
Cumulative distance: 198.232km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.13
Monthly distance: 198.232km
Monthly cost per km: $0.13

Ride into work for Tuesday, 09 January

Had to go to Home Depot and pick up some metal tape for some ducting work, so I went there at 8:30 then did some mapping of the back roads in Fairview to while away 20 minutes till rush hour died down. Quite a nice ride in, sunny and not too windy for a change.

Distance logged: 22.044km
Time: 70:35
Average speed: 18.7km/hr
Max speed: 53.9 km/hr
Temperature: 2C-4C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 182.893km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.14
Monthly distance: 182.893km
Monthly cost per km: $0.14

Ride home for Monday, 08 January

Went to MEC at lunch and picked up some more brake pads, replacement turtle lights and batteries.

Rainy ride home with lots of wind that changed, I managed to catch quite a few tailwinds though. It was fun riding down the fire trail through mud and water at 20km/hr without having to put a whole lot of effort into it... This was counterbalanced by the struggle uphill into Fairview in the teeth of 70km/hr gusts.

Distance logged: 12.182km
Time: 44:11
Average speed: 16.5km/hr
Max speed: 53.7 km/hr
Temperature: 3C, windy, heavy rain
Cumulative distance: 160.849km
Cumulative cost per km: $-0.33
Monthly distance: 160.849km
Monthly cost per km: $-52.86

Ride into work for Monday, 08 January

Had some fun on the way in when my front brake failed to work. Looks like the nut on the cable wasn't quite tight enough to hold against the force of braking (even though it was fine when I tested it before setting off). Ended up stopping and spending a few minutes fiddling to make sure it was on as tight as I could make it with an adjustable spanner, which meant I had to push it to get to work on time.

Distance logged: 11.191km
Time: 35:10
Average speed: 19.1km/hr
Max speed: 49.9 km/hr
Temperature: -1C, damp
Cumulative distance: 148.667km
Cumulative cost per km: $-0.69
Monthly distance: 148.667km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Maintenance day

Cleaned off the wheel and found that a couple of spokes on the rear wheel had worked loose, so I dropped it out and tensioned the whole wheel uniformly then trued it. Then I noticed it wasn't spinning too well, so I disassembled the hub and cleaned it out, and while I was at it I flushed it out with oil then repacked the bearings. The grease in one side of the hub had coagulated, and the other side had let in a load of dirt, so it was due for an overhaul anyway. While I was at it I replaced the bearings in the front wheel as well, now that's spinning pretty smoothly - or as well as wheels with big heavy snow tyres will spin. It was also time to change the chain, so I did that too. Some of the cables were starting to get a bit squeaky so I ran oil over all the exposed cables.

Next thing to change is going to be the brake pads on the rear, I'll have to pick some more up from MEC as it looks like I used up my last set without replacing them.

Ride for Saturday, 06 January

Rode down to the Farmer's Market to pick up food for the week. It was drizzly and breezy on the way in but nothing too bad, the ride back home wasn't much fun with torrential rain as a thunderstorm passed by about 10 miles away.

Distance logged: 23.653km
Time: 85:49
Average speed: 16.5km/hr
Max speed: 54.2 km/hr
Temperature: 8C-10C, drizzle, windy, torrential rain
Cumulative distance: 137.476km
Cumulative cost per km: $-0.74
Monthly distance: 137.476km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Ride home for Friday, 05 January

Another damp ride home, definitely not seasonal weather for this time of year...

Distance logged: 15.247km
Time: 52:56
Average speed: 17.3km/hr
Max speed: 40.9 km/hr
Temperature: 8C, breezy, damp
Cumulative distance: 113.823km
Cumulative cost per km: $-0.9
Monthly distance: 113.823km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Ride into work for Friday, 05 January

Another damp and slightly icy ride in, though not as bad as yesterday. Racked up some more streets for OpenStreetMap. Metacarta updated their dump, too, showing where I cocked up a couple of areas in Dartmouth. Halifax is starting to look quite nicely detailed, though.

Distance logged: 16.370km
Time: 52:32
Average speed: 18.7km/hr
Max speed: 53.7 km/hr
Temperature: 4C
Cumulative distance: 98.576km
Cumulative cost per km: $-1.04
Monthly distance: 98.576km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Ride home for Thursday, 04 January

The roads were fortunately back to normal by the time I headed home. Environment Canada are once again alleging that Sunday will be sunny. I'm not going to hold my breath...

Distance logged: 15.555km
Time: 52:49
Average speed: 17.7km/hr
Max speed: 49.1 km/hr
Temperature: 6C
Cumulative distance: 82.206km
Cumulative cost per km: $-1.24
Monthly distance: 82.206km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Ride into work for Thursday, 04 January

A slightly easier ride in, as I realised I've been carting a nice heavy U-lock around with me as well as my cable lock. This was counterbalanced by black ice on the road, my studded tyres paid for themselves this morning several times when I heard the studs scratching on the road stopping my wheels from sliding further sideways - though they couldn't do much for me when the rear wheel was spinning on ice.

Distance logged: 14.615km
Time: 45:31
Average speed: 19.3km/hr
Max speed: 63.2 km/hr
Temperature: 1C, icy
Cumulative distance: 66.651km
Cumulative cost per km: $-1.53
Monthly distance: 66.651km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Ride home for Wednesday, 03 January

Left early to go put down the deposit on the sprog's new trailer. Took the opportunity after that to do some mapping, where I almost hit the muppet of the day - a guy who stepped out from his truck without looking right in front of me. His reaction was, unsurprisingly, "you shouldn't be on the road!" - yet again I'm reminded that some people are put on this earth solely to be a warning to other people (in his case, the warning is driving too much and not getting any exercise can make one extremely overweight...)

Distance logged: 14.684km
Time: 51:21
Average speed: 17.2km/hr
Max speed: 42.9 km/hr
Temperature: 4C
Cumulative distance: 52.036km
Cumulative cost per km: $-1.97
Monthly distance: 52.036km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Ride into work for Wednesday, 03 January

Quiet ride in this morning after the chaos of yesterday, even with all the traffic from the school run back on the roads. The weather forecast is looking extremely wonky, Sunday is forecast to have a high of 13C and a low of 11C, so I'm tempted to get the road bike out - Saturday is calling for rain which should wash the salt off the roads. It's supposed to be windy as well, though, so I'm not too sure...

Distance logged: 14.669km
Time: 44:10
Average speed: 19.9km/hr
Max speed: 62.3 km/hr
Temperature: -5C
Cumulative distance: 37.352km
Cumulative cost per km: $-2.74
Monthly distance: 37.352km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Ride home for Tuesday, 02 January

Went to MEC at lunch and returned the Emitter light. I wanted to get an Emitter AL-X but they weren't in stock, they guy there found that a couple of the other stores had them and my best bet would be to order it by phone and it would be shipped to the Halifax store for free. I called the sales line when I got back to the office and it's going to be a week. The AL-X is pretty much the same as the Emitter I had before except the battery pack is a separate unit (so there's nothing to fall off), and the AL-X only has two levels of brightness instead of the 6 that the Emitter had - bit of a rip, as I quite liked being able to set the Emitter at level 3, giving me 30 hours or so of light.

Another crappy ride home, with a headwind most of the way. My mirror decided to fall off as I was bombing down Roslyn Road, it looks like the stem cracked this morning when I laid my bike down to hunt for the parts of the light on the road, and then finally gave out from vibration. It's only a cheap Canadian Tyre one, so I'm mildly surprised it's lasted me this long (it's actually cannibalised from a couple of others that I've killed over the years). I haven't found any other mirrors that I like that'll fit on my (extra wide and non-standard diameter) handlebars, though

Distance logged: 11.240km
Time: 45:49
Average speed: 14.7km/hr
Max speed: 42.5 km/hr
Temperature: -1C, 40km/hr winds gusting to 70km/hr, rain turning to snow
Cumulative distance: 22.683km
Cumulative cost per km: $-4.51
Monthly distance: 22.683km
Monthly cost per km: $-102.28

Ride into work for Tuesday, 02 January

A ride in that could only be described as "utter arse". First I neglected to zip up the handlebar bag that I keep my SLA battery in, so that fell out after a while. Then, going down Sunnybrae Avenue my Digital Emitter LED light decided to part company from its clips, and despite me clipping it back twice it ended up flying off (whilst I was going downhill at around 40km/hr). I managed to stop, and walked back up the hill where I could see the Emitter in the middle of the road with two cars coming up on it. The first car drove straight past it, the second car deliberately swerved out to run over it. Rather surprisingly this didn't do any damage at all to the Emitter and it worked fine once I reassembled it - though I tied it back together with rubber bands to stop it falling apart again.

Distance logged: 11.443km
Time: 37:36
Average speed: 18.3km/hr
Max speed: 46.9 km/hr
Temperature: 8C, light rain
Cumulative distance: 11.443km
Cumulative cost per km: $0
Monthly distance: 11.443km
Monthly cost per km: $0