Back in it, sorta

Email exchange with my wife today went something like this:

Her: Lunch?

Me: I biked in, so you'd have to pick me up

Her: Nevermind...time constraints. PS - Let me know if I need to pick you up [meaning after work]

Of course I declined...

So as you might have guessed, I resumed my bike commute today. Last time I rode to work was August 27, and I explained what happened in my last post. I briefly thought about reverting to my old drive half/bike half commute for today. I decided against that partly because I thought I could deal with the 30 mile round trip, and partly just because I'm lazy and loading the bike into the car was something I didn't want to deal with. So that was that.

It felt great to be out there riding again. The morning was cool & foggy. The fog was probably not ideal as far as visibility goes (cars seeing me, that is), but I was thankful it wasn't hot. I made a conscious effort not to push myself and I'd even managed to leave with enough extra time so I could take a slower pace and not worry about being late to work.

I only packed a few apple slices to snack on once I got to work and a turkey sandwich for lunch. My legs started to feel tired as the day wore on and by the afternoon I was getting really hungry for a snack. I kept hydrated hoping that would quell some of the hunger. I was looking forward to the ride home, though.

Anyway, 5:00 pm hit and I was on my way. I was expecting it to be clear, sunny & warm for the ride home but the clouds were making their way in. As usual Kearny Villa Rd had a headwind ready for me as I headed north, but otherwise the conditions were like the morning so I couldn't really complain.

I hit the first climb and I could tell I'd lost some strength after not riding for awhile. I wouldn't say it was a painful climb but I was going painfully slow, geared down (unfortunately) as low as I could go. I thought about stopping at the shopping center atop the hill (there's a Starbucks there after all) but kept at it. The next part of the hill wasn't bad, but again I just kept it slow & steady. A right turn to crest up to the peak of the road traversing the north side of Black Mountain and I was nearly home free. I only had about 2 miles to go. From there it is a longish downhill, but unfortunately one more climb to reach home. As I crawled up the crest my quads were starting to burn, then cramp a little. I thought again about the email, the chance for a ride home. I thought about the last hill and possibly hurting myself again. I thought of not being able to ride for another month.

I pulled over and called home. I'll be back again soon enough.

Missing. Inaction.

These two words certainly describe both this blog and my bike commuting as of late.

If you're curious I'll offer up a brief explanation. In August we spent both a week in Chicago and a week in Lake Tahoe. My bike came with to Tahoe and I rode it only a little (I'll get around to finishing that post eventually).

Upon returning to non-vacation mode I rode to work the very next Friday. I ended up sustaining a strained calf injury that morning, though I didn't fully realize this until the next day. This wouldn't have been so bad had I not been training for my first half-marathon, which was conveniently a week away. I know. I was potentially screwed.

I sought treatment at a sports chiropractor for the week leading up to the race and was able to complete the race within my previously estimated time, despite the injury.

So that was all well and good, but I've been taking it easy on my road back to recovery. I've taken a couple short rides and was considering riding to work this week, but then rain happened.

Anyway, hopefully I will ride in at least once next week.

Bike 21 in Chicago

Bikes. Bikes. Bikes. Old bikes. New bikes. Steel bikes. Teal bikes. Bikes with racks. Bikes with sacks. Bikes pulling kids with snacks. Bikes with fenders. Bikes as lenders. Bikes. Bikes. Bikes. 

Bench mural at the Chicago Children's Museum

For the second summer in a row, we took the family out to Chicago. During our trip last year we only spent half the time in the downtown area and I was certainly looking forward to the return trip to experience more of the city. I was astounded by the amount of cyclists out on the Lakeshore bike path. Even back in the city proper I saw cyclists on the street and bikes just locked up everywhere you could lock up a bike, block after block. This year was more of the same.

Maybe I just don't spend enough time in the more cycling-friendly areas of San Diego, but it certainly seems like the Windy City is more of a bike town than America's Finest City. Well, there really is no speculating because, in fact, it IS. Chicago was once named the #1 Bicycle-Friendly City in America by Bicycle Magazine, though it ranked 10th in the most recent list for 2010. San Diego? Nowhere in the Top 50. Anyway, my real point is to not belittle San Diego. Our city does have a lot of things going for it. We've got the weather and the beaches, and, you know, other stuff. I love Chicago in the summer, but I don't really have any immediate plans to go there in the winter.

Anyway, my point is...what IS my point? Oh yeah.

In Chicago I saw a lot of bikes. And it is not just seeing a lot of roadies cruising in packs, like you do see in San Diego, but just regular people riding bikes. Folks just out for a cruise. Folks commuting to/from work. Folks riding their bikes just going...somewhere.

And it was all over Chicago: The downtown Loop? Bikes. Lakeshore? Bikes. Lakeview? Bikes. Lincoln Park? Bikes. On the train, passing by Evanston? Bikes. Ravinia Park? Bikes. So you see, practically every place we went I saw people on bikes.

Cyclist in Oz Park.

I would also like to mention that I saw a plethora of old, lugged steel Schwinn bikes around the city. I know these bikes were actually built in Chicago for a long time, which certainly explains their abundance. It was just cool to see all of them still in regular use.

So, here's a few of my favorite snapshots of the bikes I saw this year. You can see more in my Flickr feed.

Cool vintage Motebecane fixed gear. One of my favorites.

Brooks saddle outfitted with a bunch of bells.
Would love to hear this bike go down the road.

Classy commuter rig.

A Breezer Uptown 8.
I'd never seen a Breezer Bike in person before.

Schwinn World Tourist. This things almost looks new.
Love the matching fenders.

More bike lanes!

So I was driving around today and noticed these dashed white lines on the side of Ruffin Road in Kearny Mesa (Sorry, no pics!). It didn't take me long to figure that Ruffin Road (between Kearny Villa Rd & Aero Drive) is being prepared for new bike lanes.


View Larger Map

Preliminary bike lane striping is down and I noticed in some areas around Balboa Ave that the motor vehicle lanes are being re-aligned slightly. From how it looks, my guess is that some street parking on Ruffin Rd is being removed. I'm sure those people will be pissed off, but it's great to see that the City is implementing more bike facilities.

You can see more about this project in the City of San Diego Bike Master Plan. This improvement is listed as Project 23 (page 123) in the document.