Fast commute :)

Late start… but not so late that I didn’t try to catch up, and I did, with a lot of help from traffic.  8:00 arrival days are easier.

Tooted at teh backhoe boys again, but again, it was early so they weren’t really digging yet. any luck they’ll be done soon.

Yesterday I was like a driver, and not in a good way. Made the right from Peabody to oh, Gregory? and a cyclist was coming at me on the crosswalk – definitely his right of way, even if it is Against Expectations to have oncoming traffic to my right.  He dodged me… and I didn’t even think fast enough to say “my bad.”  It wasn’t a close call, and yes, it reinforces the validity of the inherent problems of riding against the direction of traffic period… but note to self: ya gotta keep your eyes open.  Those gorillas are *always* sneaking across the basketball courts…

bike sticker of the day

bike gears ahead of its time

Horns…

… The backhoe was out ther,e but since I was an hour earlier, they were still setting up.  I did inflate my horn, though, and give it regular toots as I went through.

Hoping to be able to rise early tomorrow – the long way should be open… but will I have the energy to get outta the house?

Cranksgiving

Okay, we’ll try this again… this will be a “sticky” ’til it happens, and new posts will show up below.

From Lucas Thompson – remember I posted a food contribution scavenger hunt… and said I could get into that? Welp, it’s happening here Okay, Xtracycle isn’t a sponsor… but other folks are and it’s got live music, dudes!

On Sunday Novermber 16th there is going to be a scavenger hunt/alleycat fund raiser that will benefit the Eastern Illinois Food Bank. This event will both start and end at the Bike Co-Op and afterwards there will be a show at the IMC main space with live music(World’s First Flying Machine will be playing). The entry fee will be used as you ride your bike to a number of grocery stores scattered throughout the Chamabana area and buy food items that will subsequently be donated to the food bank.
This will happen regardless of weather so come prepared. You will need Money, a bike, a lock, a bag (to carry food), and lastly helmets and lights are strongly encouraged. There will be prizes but they will not be strictly determined by the fastest person and there will be plenty of bonus prizes for those that go above and beyond the minimum food amount.

Think I’ll go!

See the blog at http://chambanacranksgiving.blogspot.com/

Those anarchist cyclists

… I was feeling in solidarity with ‘em today.

Yesterday the backhoe on White just before first was just minding its own digging business, tho’ its back end was jutting into the road, and I was a tad nervous. The whole construction crew was acting as if they were on private property, not an open road.

Today, as I approached, it was much the same, *and* the backhoe  was crossing back and forth and throwing that huge shovel around while another truck moved around on White… as in, a street open for traffic.  No cones, no people looking for traffic, nuthin.  There was also a lot of disruption of the ground and who knows what, that meant ducking to the sidewalk might or might not be a safe option.

I’m afraid I simply called out to the air about the lack of communication – oh, the *bus* merited a guy hollering to the backhoe to hold off for a few seconds (as in hollering, not using some kind of anticipated communication, not acting as if anybody *expected* traffic on, you know, a road).

Dudes.  If we’re supposed to figure things out for ourselves, then kindly don’t get all annoyed if cyclists… figure things out for ourselves.  I did use the sidewalk.  I d on’t know what theassorted cyclists Is aw approaching did.

Tomorrow, though, is another day.  I think I shall inflate my horn.  I think I shall stop and toot that thing like unto a backhoe backing up and call out in my best Monty Python:  “Good day, kind sirs!  Do you mind if I traverse what I had obviously confused with a public roadway??? I do hope you shall be mindful of the safety of others…”

Snork…  then I shall be sounding much as that fellow on the underpass not a quarter mile from that spot whereupon the fellow greeted me with “thank you for your kindness and courtesy” comments…

I was even donning my new funky tasselled hat with the looong scarf ends attached – beanie sticking out of the top of the helmet, scarfy things gaily flailing.   Tomorrow, dudes, I’ll do my best to look… oh, I haven’t decided   It is getting on towards teh Costume Day.  I’d just rather not have to consider how close it is to the Day of the Dead.

No takers?

http://www.streetsblog.org/ – it seems there was a contest to make fun of Car-Free Day… and nobody came.  INteresting that just after showing a picture of a bicycle in the snow, the video claims that all the car-free promotions show bicycling in good weather.

Which of course reminds one of:

what if they gave a war and nobody came?

OnStar

I was reading over at Cycle-licious about the “bike design for the masses” competition, which seems to me to be one of those “we don’t think it’s worth having this professionally done, so we’ll ask the amateurs” ploys.  A person could win a free Cannondale bicycle (tho’ if I’m remembering right, not one “for the masses,” since I remember from a down-time extensive-surf last winter that their website gave strong preference to fast road bikes – I was checking to see if Trek’s “Women who Ride” was an industry trend).

I tried a little brainstorming, and the following comment just sort of happened:
I want “OnStar” for my bicycle. Just like those ads, I want my wristband to tell me “Your bicycle has just been moved, and you have it in ‘park’ status. Would you like ONStar to activate the Stinky Squirtseat now?” at which point the seat would spew the contents of the little optional bag for riders who have issues with bladder control upon sudden stops.

Hey, we *have* the technology.

Oh, and from the comments over there (from “jack” who posted as anonymous) – a warning label for cars:

“As the licensed owner of this vehicle, I’m fully aware that driving such causes air pollution, noise, traffic and increases the likelihood of injuries to others, possibly death and property destruction. In addition, many of the dollars spent to propel this vehicle will be used by terrorist organizations with stated desires to inflict harm and possibly death to my fellow citizens and family members.”

Hmmm….

Hungry :)

I’ve heard   you’re supposed to eat RIGHT AWAY for recovery…  all I know is I’ve got that post-long-ride hyperphagy.  I want to eat it all… that Clif Bar I have had for N months…

…. but NOT the veggie sandwich in its swimming pool of juices, so I haven’t lost my mind   That’s goin’ out with the trash in the morning…

12 hours on the bike …

… not counting a few pauses for nourishment.

202 KM, roughly – just because! Set the alarm for 4:30, which meant I slept lightly and woke up at 1 and salted my itchy throat, at 3:00 and then at 5:15, *knowing* more than an hour had passed… ’cause I;d unset the alarm when I was setting it.

Still, out by six, tolono by 7. Sadorus just after 7:30, and then TAILWINDS.

What unjustifiably popular poet coined the phrase “break of dawn?” It doesn’t break. It warms up slowly… oh, I guess if it weren’t so cloudy, that sun just *might* break over the horizon like unto a chick peckin’ out of its egg. This morning, the ceiling was so low that I could see the bounce back light against the clouds from any farmer who’d left the bathroom light on.

Equipment worked: The huge amber blinkie’s magnet held it on, with a little help from elastic shoe laces.  The laces didn’t crawl down, which is how the other magnet light kept losing its grip.

Then out on the Trek ’cause the sun is up to Meadowbrook at 9, where there were a good dozen or more Fast Dudes. Happily, Don was there from the Saunter group too We went to Tolono into the wind… out to DUncan… and sailed back. Went a little further east to make a metric ’cause I told Don I wanted to do “at least a metric.”

Went home and scarfed a few bites of the veggie sandwich in the baggie that was very, very wet. I was hungry

Back out with the goal of 100 miles: 38 to go. Wind is from the west. I considered Pesotum… Philo… went South and then East on 1200 all the way to 600, and ducked west South of TOlono… got to 19 miles *somewhere* west of Sadorus and turned around and SAILED back becasue yea, the winds were steady and strong from the SW.

It was so easy that I decided to at least curl around for an extra five – so that if HOward does 100 miles I’ll have done 5 more – and the headwind made me decide  to just turn back and be happy with 102, but there was this harvesting at the turnaround point and you don’t want to *turn around* in FRONT of somebody so I did the whole five miles.  I was still hungry.  (I’d also had a king size PayDay bar… but I don’t eat much when I’m riding.)

I decided to swing by the new Meijer, since I haven’t darkened its doors.  Duly noted that the bikes using the “wave” bike parking were parked perpendicularly to how the design would have indicated… but, of course, the design doens’t actually *work* but so well.  I’d heard Meijer had PowerBars, making it a better store than WalMart.  Went in and the first aisle had “sports nutrition,” but no PowerBars… but there was gel.  Grabbed a strawberry banana with caffeine and a bag of combos and failed miserably at the automatic checkout. The dang thing had wanted me to put my stuff in a bag.  I deserted it and got in the human line, hearing the machine repeat “put your stuff in the bag” every 8 seconds, and hoped the human on board over there didn’t feel compelled to seek out and remonstrate the helmeted lady…

I must say that it lived up to its claim of “instant energy.”   By the time I got to McHenry and Anderson – less than half a mile away – I was full of vim. I just kept going west on McHenry… and back Out, and gosh I was going by the harvesting again and doing *another* five mile loop that had taken me ten miles to get there.

SO… by the time I got home I had, somehow, done 125 miles. 200K

*And* then out to the porch to log miles… and shiver… and go back inside -  turn the heat up to 64 ’cause I realized chill would be the hazard … but I got warmed up so that the return trip to blog wasn’t deep.

Time to find the covers …

Smart-Tex :)

Okay, I left the pockets open.  And I didn’t figure out how to close the gap between the pants and the shoes.  Welp, it wasn’t raining when I left… and spontaneously decided to go home the long way. Got wet, but not very