Worth writing home about – I saw Stan on his first day in his shorts today! I recognized his calves from half a mile back on his preprandial constitutional. I’d departed work early because the radar is ripe and red and so is my face because I have this stupid cold and it is just too hot. Jumping from 58 to 88 does not suit my system, especially when the temperature regulators are amok.

It’s nice to be fit enough to be actually cold-ridden (or something viral… methinks something novel since a: *I* actually caught it and b: it has a different symptom profile htan most colds) and still enjoy a nice ride between naps. (IT’s also nice that I sounded disgusting enough at work so that even if I were seen out riding and apparently enjoying myself, it would simply be noted that this was, indeed, the depths of my devotion/addiction to pedaling and not playing hookey.)

Amusing was seeing the bumper sticker where we gathered to ride that said “Consciousness: that annoying time between naps” especially since it so applied to the day, though only the occasional hacking and sore throat were annoying.

Coming back home we were passed by other riders goin’ fast… and then I heard outcries ahead. So, when we approached a much slower rider, I said “good afternoon” and that we were the last for a bit… he said, “Thank God!” … good people, there are lots more folks out riding. Let’s announce our presence. It made me think of that article in Momentum that asked “why the hate?” as far as reg’lar folks dissing the lycra-clad – welp, today I saw a justifiable reason for negative categorization, and all it required was streaking by too closely, too quickly.

Now it’s time for another nap

My legs were speaking to me this morning on the commute in – guess that string of four-minute miles in the wind on the Dahon yesterday were a workout Seems like a looong way to a 1000 mile month (198 miles) but who knows?

Saw what would have made a great “how not to ride” training clip in front of Christie (corner of Neil and Clark). I’m Westbound at Walnut and I see this couple crossing the pavement to go N on Neil – as in, against traffic. Hmm…. they’re aiming for the sidewalk. Oh, no… they’re aiming for the *crosswalk* – to my right, coming at me, whereupon the lead rider simply keeps on rolling out in front of traffic. The woman riding behind him stopped, at least… and I don’t know if they continued east against traffic, hopped the downtown sidewalk to dodge pedestrians going the wrong way or what, but the lady didn’t look particularly happy. I did my best “No… I don’t see *why* anybody would do that!” head shake at her and proceeded on.

aRrived at the rack and… the Schwinn Mirada is gone – the one I affixed a lock to. Haven’t checked my email yet – Friday I let public safety know I’d locked it and p’raps that was a reminder. I hope so ’cause *somebody* bought it from Durst.

Hmmm… Saturday.

We were going to Saunter to Philo, but an intelligence report indicated that a half mile of road was completely torn up. Okay, SIDNEY!!!

We ride to Sidney. Casey’s. Oh. BOTH bathrooms are out of order. We send in another person just in case Stan inspired that reaction… we are invited to try the Sidney Saloon as the Only Other Possible Place With Bathroom.
we ride there (sorry Frank! who tried to find us going Back the Way We Came…) and sigh, the door tells us they open at 11 and it’s 10:30.
Wait! the door opens… we are invited in.
We facilitize and dine (tho’ we don’t indulge in the margarita special) and go back by way of Philo… and indeed, we’ll call ahead if the wind is from the East. Hmmm… time to revisit the Pub Crawl Ride

Today is Monday, though!
The forecast is grim… the radar is grim… but still six of us meet at Pages for all Ages and go for 20 miles. Then, since it’s still all bark an dno bite, I cranked out a metric. Not the double metric I’d speculated… mebbe next week. And not a cleated pedal among us Toe clips and my platforms on the Dahon.

And then a bikejournal post about the song about “plant a watermelon on my grave” has me googling youtube and finding Petey Greene. Talk about your flashbacks… that hottest summer on record with the ash from Mount Saint Helen’s getting all the way to the D.C. suburbs… the man was preaching to “be yourself.” And to eat watermelon the way you wanted to. The google link said “bizarre,” but I don’t think so.

Amen.

Welp, the site was back within the hour.

Today is byootiful so we rode to Sidney and Philo. Now it’s time for some SHOPPING. The Xtra was making odd sounds like unto something dragging on a spoke, except nothing could be seen dragging on a spoke, and then it sounded like a spoke was dangling, except one isn’t, and then it stopped. So… p’raps a spoke is off but wedged somehow in the magic of disc brakes. It’s still going ot be the ride of choice for this shopping trip tho’ subsequent rides will be on other steeds.

Here’s an article about a car almost taking out riders in the ride of silence in the Spartanburg SC vicinity (so when I get back from shopping I”ll send an email that way ) … cop gave chase and broke it off and then the driver went off the road and flipped. C’mon, people, STFD. (Slow Down.)

Must be my day for online dead ends. The Prairie Cycle Club website is inaccessible. Welp, folks who are up for a 50 mile ride can gather at Pages for all Ages – cue sheet is here as a gif and here as a pdf. (Yes, I’m using Fireworks and it’s not even the Fourth of July )

Duly remember, folks, that holidays like Fourth of July and Memorial Day end up with more drunk driving accidents than New Year’s Eve, since people start earlier and there’s even less in the culture about Making ARrangements for Being Schnokkered. So be extra careful out there! (Here’s hoping I’m thinking of this not as an evil portent.)

Snork of the day: I was asked about the Mahomet bike path. I figured I’d search online for a map. Welp, no luck yet – and here’s a clue: “Mahomet, IL – our hometown plugged-in, online community!” Duly note taht the most recent post is from 2006. (Of course, it’s not set up for comments either.)

Oh… dear… I’ve addeed Xtracycle to my “feed me blogs that say this” list. Going to have to spend some time on the next solo ride figuring out how to manage this concept with the available technology.

At any rate, here’s blogness about Xtracycle Vs. Geo and “go from carless to coolness” as an ad campaign.

Be your own cool

I un-stole a bike yesterday. I picked the chain up off the ground beside it, hoisted it up over the rack and wrapped said chain around frame and rack and affixed a lock (combination 26 ……) to it.
I put a little oil on the chain and rolled it around a few times. I figure that will keep it from totally freezing in place. Perhaps I should recycle a few plastic grocery bags and wrap teh chain up… maybe the brakes to keep cables from rusting? Perhaps selectively mummify sections in ductape?
The semester is over and summer session has started. I’d love to know why somebody would acquire a nice bicycle (looks like a very recent Durst acquisition) and then take it out and leave it as folks leave puppies on the highway. It’s not as if it needs to be paper-trained!

Ride of silence 2night. S’pose I should figure out my camera by then

http://www.parkandvine.com/?p=372

THis little hot-spot is raffling off a Dahon in the name o’ green. It’s not as if I think ’sustainability’ when you say Cincinatti, but clearly there’s at least an effort at a community about that there. Inspiration?