It Gets Easier

Well...I rode in to work for the second time this year today! That's twice in three weeks. Considering how little I bike commuted in 2012, this is very promising.

It helped that I left after 7 am today whereas the last time I tried to get the jump around 6:30 am (more sun!). Also the weather in general was just warmer, too. I doubled up my socks, including some new wool socks I bought, but my poor little toes were still cold. Ah well, such is life. After dusting the cobwebs off last time, my day of riding went much easier. Sad to say, but my legs were pretty sore after the previous commute, and I needed a few days to recover. As I write this a few hours after getting home, I'm feeling pretty good.

Another amazing sunset

In case you're new to my blog and haven't read about the origin of the name Bike21, take a peek at the About page. I recently saw this article that tells a similar story to how I started bike commuting:

The 21 Day Challenge

 

Car-free for a Day Challenge

Kathleen, who blogs as TechnoEarthMama, put out a call last week for people to sign up for her Car-Free for a Day Challenge. For anyone who committed to one car-free day this week she would match by going car-free herself. She's well underway. Check her site for her progress.

Since I just started doing my once weekly bike commute car-free, she said to go ahead and sign up. So sign up I did.

Well, today is my bike commute day, the day I was committing to be car-free. Did all go as planned? Not exactly.

Update in the next an upcoming post.

Bike 21: Official!

This is sort of anti-climatic, but on April 14, 2010 I finally reached Bike Commute #21! Hooray!

At the outset of my venture into bike commuting, my goal was to ride to work 21 times. The reasoning being that it generally takes doing something for 21 days to really make it a habit. I'm stretching a bit since I knew I wouldn't be able to bike commute every work day for 21 days in a row. Still, 21 bike commutes seemed like a worthy goal. I started off in July 2009, and it was a rough start. I averaged one bike commute per month through the end of the year. Though my wife initially suggested that I could get a new bike upon reaching my goal, she let me get a new bike early on my birthday in December. You can see pics of my Masi Speciale CX here.

The new bike proved to be a jump starter, though, and as of today, I am averaging one bike commute per week for 2010. Another small motivator has been the friendly competition I've dubbed the Bike Commute Mileage Challenge that a co-worker started between us (or rather between fictional representations of ourselves, lest it get too personal, perhaps?). Initially I was hesitant to get into any kind of contest, friendly or not, since I was struggling to get started and my co-worker had been frequently riding his bike to work for awhile. Funny what a new bike and a new baby will do. Now the tables have turned. For me the new bike has been an effective stimulus for riding more, and getting the Wednesday commute routine down was also key. On the flip side, the joys and realities of fatherhood (and arranging day care) have slowed down my compadre substantially.

I've got close to 290 miles on my Masi now. That's great, but in terms of offsetting my automobile use, that 's not quite equivalent to a full tank of gas in my 2003 Saab 9-5 wagon, which averages about 22 mpg. That's a little disappointing to look at it that way, but it's better than if I was not bike commuting at all, right? You have to start somewhere.

So, what's next? If I stick to the once per week bike commute, I should be able to rack up at least 500 miles total for the year. Maybe my next goal will be to ride twice a week. I want to test the waters on some longer distance riding, but I also want to do a lot more utility cycling. I want to ride with my kids and get them excited about riding bikes. I need to get them off training wheels!

Part of my Twitter bio says: "(aspiring) part-time bike commuter." I think I'll take off the "aspiring" part now! I'm a full-fledged part-time bike commuter. Look out!

(Oh, by the way, today was Bike Commute #22. A post summarizing Bike Commutes #16-21 should be coming soon.)

Keep on keepin' on

It's been awhile since I've posted. Not that I haven't been riding. I have faithfully kept up with my once weekly bike commute. That's right. Not a typo. One whole time a week. Wow. I know.

Some semi-non-sequitur thoughts from today's bike commute: 

We "officially" started the 2010 season of the Bike Commute Mileage Challenge. We being my alter ego "Obi-Juan Kenobi" and my challenger, known only as "Cyclo-Cross." In the pre-season that ran in the closing months of 2009 the results were pretty much a wash. Since getting my new bike I have rejuvenated my commitment to my commuting pursuit. My opponent, on the other hand, has been confronted with some obstacles that have hindered his ability (or is it willingness?) to make the ride in to work. Thus the tally currently stands at 18-4 in my favor. 18 "points" equals 9 rides for me. For my personal goal all told, I'm at bike commute #15.

I was fortunate to catch most of the traffic lights on my ride in to work. I set a new commute time PR.

Today I got a few waves from passing riders. I've noticed much more friendliness from other cyclists in the past few weeks. Very encouraging. I also caught up to another rider at a traffic light on the way home. We actually even chatted it up for a minute. The guy was really nice and he was also a part-time bike commuter.

If you read my last post, you know I took a bit of a spill several weeks ago. My helmet saved me from a good knock on my noggin and I walked away with only minor scrapes on my hand and knee. I thought my helmet came away relatively unscathed as well, but I just discovered that the shell does have a crack.  Even though I've been riding with it for a few weeks now and have no plans on hitting my head again, it's better to be safe than sorry, so I've ordered a new helmet.

PS - I biked to work

I had an email from my co-worker this morning, reminding me of our "completely fictional race." Click on the image to read.

Competition, bike pumps, and kid seats

I had hoped to ride in today (Friday). Some things came up, but it just boils down to no bike commute today. I got to work to find out my co-worker (the eponymous "Cyclo-Cross") rode in today. Because of the furlough situation at work he has been taking Fridays off recently so I was surprised to see him there. That's two bike commutes for him this week and zero for me. I didn't intend to take this fabricated "competition" too seriously, but maybe my ego is not going to allow that.

BCMC Week 2 ends 3-2 in favor of CC. Boo!

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In other more mundane developments, I took advantage of the sale at REI to finally get myself a floor pump. Up until now I've just made do with a mini pump. This is obvious, but, damn, the floor pump is much easier and quicker for inflating tires!

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I was writing part of this post on my iPhone standing outside the local karate dojo, waiting for my kids inside. I saw a guy ride by with his son on the bike. Normally such a sight would make me smile. At first I thought the guy had his kid in an iBert child seat, but as I watched them go by I realized the kid was just sitting on the top tube and holding on to the handle bars. I can't even remember if the kid had a helmet or not. The dad did have a helmet, at least.

Worse than the carelessness which this parent displayed, is that this sight just reminded me how much I want an Xtracycle (how self-absorbed of me, I know). I have been flirting with the idea for quite a while now, but have been unable to pull the trigger. The Xtracycle folks finally released their purpose-designed child seat, the PeaPod LT, and they keep putting long tail kits on sale (how dare they). I do have my doubts about using an Xtracycle for my current drive-then-bike commute. Maybe after I get a second bike I can convert the current one to a long tail. Excuses, excuses.

Bike Salmon and Rules of the Road

I was driving in to work and witnessed one of the bolder moves I’ve seen by a cyclist in awhile. This gentleman was riding northbound on Ruffin Rd. approaching the connection to Kearny Villa Rd. Before reaching the light at the intersection, he crossed all the traffic lanes on Ruffin (it was briefly clear of cars) to make the left where Kearny Villa veers off to parallel Hwy-163. I didn’t see exactly what he did beyond that, but for sure he was doing the ‘bike salmoning’ thing for a stretch.

Not sure what bike salmoning is? As far as I know, the term was coined by (or at least, gained prominence from) renowned blogger Bike Snob NYC, and is defined as riding against traffic, just as salmon are known to swim upstream. Anyway, it was certainly bad form in my opinion. From my personal experiences left turns at signaled intersections are intimidating. Sometimes I just pull onto the corner and use the cross walk. Anybody consider than a no-no for a cyclist?

Bike Commute #4 in the bag

Despite the usual hiccups and delays in my morning prep, I made it out of the house in relatively good time and headed out for my multi-modal (car/bike) commute. I decided to break down my bike instead of trying to load it road-ready into the back of my car. This mainly means taking off the panniers and front wheel. While I fit my bike in last time fully loaded, I scuffed up my headliner a bit with my handle bar grips as well as broke off an adjustment handle on my son’s car seat. Oops. Loading went much easier with the front wheel off (duh!) and I managed not to forget anything.

The official Bike21 commute bike (for now)

At the park & ride lot, I got my bike ready. I had a minor lapse in remembering how to put my panniers back on. I hung the first bag on the opposite side from which I had originally fitted it, meaning it was too far forward on my rack. I switched it over and mounted the other bag; Now both panniers were in their position as far back on the rack as possible. I turned on my head and tail lights and headed off.

It was an uneventful ride down Black Mountain and Kearny Villa. This is not a complaint. I always get a little stressed when crossing over right turn lanes and exit ramps from the bike lane to move over into the through lane. Car traffic seemed lighter today, being a Friday, so I had no issues. I only saw two cyclists on the ride in. I always see cyclists heading north bound on Kearny Villa while I rarely encounter others heading south. I am not sure if I am just later than other riders or what, because I always get people passing me on the northbound ride in the afternoon.

A challenge?

My co-worker is also a sometimes bike commuter. He's been riding to work on and off since he was hired over a year ago. His commute is only about 3 miles each way. When I started riding my bike to work I guess he was feeling a little inadequate because he felt I was doing much more miles than he was. The truth is that I'm only doing about double the miles per trip. He doesn't ride every day, but he certainly rides more often than I do.

He has jokingly quipped that he will have to ride so much more in order to match my mileage. If you have read this blog thus far you can guess that he is probably not far behind, if he hasn't actually already surpassed me in mileage.

Well I guess he wants to keep track, because the other day I saw this posted outside his cubicle.

If you can't decipher the chart, there are two columns with two names: Obi-Juan Kenobi (pretty sure that refers to me) and Cyclo-Cross (his last name is Cross). The heading reads "2010 Pre-Season*". The sub-text at the bottom reads:

*A completely fictional race between two completely fictional people. Any likeness or similarities to actual people or an actual race are unintentional and purely coincidental. However if it were an actual race, 9 out of 10 scientists agree Cyclo-Cross would win and Obi-Juan Kenobi would die from pneumonia induced complications as a result of inhaling so much dust.

I guess the gauntlet has been thrown.