Mushpots » biking

Happy New Year! And a new goal

Maren — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:25:30 +0000

Last year I made a goal around the end of May to ride 1,000 miles by my birthday. The idea was that I would give myself permission to buy a nice road bike if I accomplished that. I blasted through my goal, but I never bought the bike because, well, journalism isn’t really a high-paying profession, so I haven’t scraped up enough money yet. Anyway, I’ve decided to put a set amount of money into a savings account for every mile I ride this year. I haven’t decided how much yet, but my goal is to ride at least 3,000 miles. If anyone wants to pledge money to the cause, I’d be more than happy to set up a PayPal account for it. o^-^o You can check on my miles here (starting from nothing again, sob!).

Physics problem

Maren — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:44:12 +0000

A bird rests on a telephone wire 25 feet above the road after feasting on juicy bugs all morning. At precisely 9 a.m. the bird sees a bicyclist a mile away approaching at 15 mph, enjoying the level road and lack of wind. What time should the bird poop in order to hit the cyclist’s shoulder 5 feet above the ground?

I haven’t figured out the answer yet, but the bird got it right on.

I did it!

Maren — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:57:05 +0000

If you frequent this blog, then you know that at the end of May I made a goal to ride 1,000 miles on my bike before my birthday. Well, last Wednesday I did it — with a week and a half to spare! Which means that I have formally given myself permission to buy a nice road bike. I think I’ll take my time choosing one and put some more miles on my faithful old velo in the meantime. You can check out my mileage and pictures I’ve taken on some of my rides right here.

My poor little bike

Maren — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:23:43 +0000

The past couple of weeks haven’t been good for my bike. Last Wednesday I was riding home from work in a downpour and had a little accident. A few blocks away from my house railroad tracks cross the road at a diagonal — if you look closely at this picture you can see them. I learned the hard way that you should never, ever cross wet railroad tracks at anything other than an absolute perpendicular. You can probably guess what happened: My front tire slipped, so my bike decided to follow the tracks’ course. I, being bound by the laws of physics, continued to move in a straight line. I think I landed about five feet away from my bike. Fortunately, there were no cars right behind me, so I checked for broken bones (none — just a few scrapes and bruises), fixed the chain on my bike and rode the last few blocks home, uphill in the rain. I have to admit I cried a tiny bit.

The next day, a pickup truck came flying out of a driveway as I was riding past and clipped my rear wheel. I kind of bounced a little bit, but I stayed up so I just kept riding. I didn’t think at the time that any damage had been done.

And then there was yesterday. On my way home from work, I noticed my rear wheel felt really wobbly, so I got off to take a look. The tire was completely flat and all of the spokes were super loose. I had to get the wheel completely retensioned and replace the tire. My poor little bike. I hope it’s done having bad things happen to it for a long while.

Happiness is …

Maren — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:54:30 +0000

A hot shower and dry pajamas after riding home 12 miles home in the rain. Add a steaming mug of chamomile tea — ahhh, pure bliss. Yes, it’s usually only a 5.5-mile ride from work to my house, but since I was soaked after the first two miles, I thought I might as well take the long way home. It made my shower ever so much more rewarding.

Some observations …

Maren — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:05:59 +0000

… and a progress update: I passed the 50-mile mark today, woohoo! One of the nice things about riding a bike is noticing all of the things you’re totally oblivious to when you’re driving a car. Here are a few:

Other cyclists are really friendly, except the super serious people who ride professional racing bikes and wear spandex. They never say “hi” back because they’re too busy being serious. Maybe it’s just carrying over from their accounting jobs.
Pedestrians, on the other hand, aren’t friendly at all, with one exception — the guy who called out “Bye, beautiful!” as I rode past him.
Goslings are really cute and fluffy-looking, but their parents are pretty darn scary. I think my mph went up by 10 miles when the mama (or papa) goose came flapping and hissing at me when I rode past the goose family.
For all the talk about people in SUVs driving like they own the road, I’ve noticed they give me more space than the Prius drivers. They drive like they’re trying to murder me because they’re angry that I emit fewer greenhouse gases than they do.
Long, gradual hills are waaaay harder than short, steep hills. If you have warning for the short ones, you can get up enough speed to make it most of the way up and then pedal like crazy for a few seconds to get to the top. The long slopes just make you pedal and pedal and pedal, and they really lower your average mph.

That’s it for now. There are some really beautiful spots along my ride, so I’ll post some pics as soon as I get a bike bag that leaves my camera more accessible than it is in my backpack that I strap down onto my rack with bungie cords.

1,000 miles

Maren — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:29:19 +0000

After years of talking about it, I’ve finally started riding my bike to work. It’s only about five miles from my house, and I figured it would give me some exercise. Plus, I expect it to save me lots of pista because I won’t have to pay for parking or buy as much gas. OK, so I’ve only done it twice so far, and Meg picked me up from work the second time so we could go shopping together, but at least it’s a start.

I take a shower at work so I won’t get too malodorous during the day, and I have to admit it’s a bit weird being naked at my workplace. I guess I’ll eventually get used to it, but never enough to be comfortable being a stripper.

After seeing some of the nice bikes people were riding for Tour de Lopez, I’ve decided that I want to get myself a road bike. But to make sure I won’t get a nice bike and never ride it, I made a rule for myself: I have to ride my bike 1,000 miles before I’ll give myself permission to buy a new one. If I ride my bike to work every day from now until my birthday, I should be able to do it. You can check on my progress here.

Tour de Lopez

Maren — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 02:45:46 +0000

Several weeks ago Todd talked me into signing up for the Tour de Lopez. He assured me that it would be an easy ride with very few hills. My co-workers Dan and Joe also signed up, along with Dan’s wife, Jo. I kept telling myself that I’d start riding my bike to get ready for it — after all, I had several weeks’ notice. But the day of the bike ride rolled around and my bike hadn’t even made an appearance outside the shed. Furthermore, I hadn’t exercised in any form for months. Yeah, bad news.

There were three routes as options for the tour, and I figured the 10-mile ride wouldn’t be too bad even for a chubby, out-of-shape girl like me. But when we got to the turning point, everyone else wanted to try the 17-mile route. I didn’t want to be a party pooper, so I went along.

Even the 17-mile route wasn’t too bad, but sitting down for lunch allowed the fatigue to set in, and the ride back to the ferry felt pretty grueling. I think we rode about 24 miles total. And Todd was wrong; there were some pretty taxing hills. I’d definitely do it again, but I think I’ll try to get in better shape next time.

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