Bike Commuting #2

Eleven more round trips to work. That's another 275 miles and another $33.00 saved. By the way the cost of gas is up to about $3.10 a gallon. So my totals so far:

$63.00 saved
575 miles

I bought a rigid front fork to replace the suspension fork the bike had on it. When I swapped forks I also overhauled the threadless headset-my first time! I've ridden in the pouring rain, got my first flat tire, and ridden home from work in complete darkness. It's been an interesting experience so far.

L'Alpe d'Huez

Tomorrow (Tuesday, July 18, 2006) the Tour de France stage climbs the most famous route in cycling, L'Alpe d'Huez. The last time the race included the mountain, in 2004, Lance Armstrong won an individual time trial there. There were an estimated 900,000 spectators watching him from the sides of the road. That's a bit misleading because the spectators are actually IN the road. In some places there's barely enough room for one rider to get through. One year an eager camera-toting fan actually knocked the eventual winner of the stage off his bike because he didn't get out of the way in time. Several riders from the 2004 tour are in the current race. If your a fan of cycling, or even if you're not, this stage is worth watching.

Delicate Balance

As we were beginning our Saturday run, my friend Steve asked me, "Did you see the coke on the beach?" I had not. No, this is not a sugary caffeinated drink nor is it a drug of abuse. It's a black substance that looks a lot like coal. Coke is a main ingrediant in the steel-making process. Steve has worked at "the mills" for much of his adult life. As we ran on the beach and I observed the coke littering the shoreline, Steve provided me with a basic lesson on coke. At one point we passed where someone had spelled "COAL" out of the pieces of coke. "Wrong," he shouted, "It's coke!" Even running along the lakeshore, we're never far from reminders of how endangered this area really is. The Dunes State Park and Dunes National Lakeshore are surrounded by symbols of industry-the steel mills, interstates, and power plants. Information at the National Lakeshore Visitor Center details the compromise that was struck in 1966 in order to create the park in the first place. Industry got the Port of Indiana and money for the park was appropriated. As the coke on the shoreline and the recent push to build a hotel on state park property illustrates, this wonderful natural area is still not secure.