April Biking

14 days commuting
Longest ride-55 miles on 4/22
Estimated April miles-380.0
Miles for 2007=425+380=805
Total miles (since June 2006)=2455

My commute days increased as I thought they might. My bike needs a good cleaning. I hear a bothersome crackling noise as I ride that I believe is my bottom bracket telling me it's time for some attention. I'm back to dreaming of converting the Trek 950 mountain bike to a touring bike. I've been considering the virtues of drop bars verses trekking bars to the replace the straight bars on the bike now. Steve and I talked a bit about a trip around Lake Michigan like these guys took. This is a discussion that's been ongoing for several years.

Iron Horse Heritage Trail

It looks like the City of Portage will start constructing a second multi-use trail across the city. See where it will go here. Now the town of Porter needs to get it together to build their small section of trail (labeled the Porter Brickyard Trail on the map)! Apparently homeowners near where the trail is planned to go can't see the value of having the trail near their property. IMHO some people just don't get it...hey, build it near my house...please!

My Route to Work

Bike route to work

Not a fit day for man nor beast...

If I had another way to work, I really wouldn't have ridden my bike today. I left my car at work last night and Cathy had already left for work by the time I got up. I just got my new bike clothes from Lou at Foxwear-this would be a good test. It snowed overnight and the roads looked slushy when I looked out. No clipless ride today! The temperatures were just below freezing. The wind was out of the east-never a good sign around here. (When I got to work and checked the weather on the internet, it said 23 mph, with gusts higher!) The only positive in this was that at least I would not have a headwind the entire way as my ride is mainly south to work. As I headed out I was wearing my sunglasses (don't ask!)but the combination of fogging and rain quickly made them worthless. I was worried about traction but the roads were primarily wet so this wasn't a problem. The wind WAS a problem. As I mentioned above it was out of the east and gusting. Several gusts pushed me towards the edge of the road. Not having my feet attached to the pedals added to the challenge since my feet slipped off of the pedals. I have upgraded my commuter with Performance Campus pedals (one side cliplees, the other side platform) just for this occasion, but hadn't really ridden the bike without toe clips or clipless for quite awhile. Once while looking down to flip the pedal so I didn't clip in by mistake, the wind nearly blew me off the road and into the ditch. (note to self-don't wear the shoes with cleats if you don't plan to use them!) The Foxwear rain pants seemed to be working like a charm, and, they're cut long enough so they don't expose my boot tops to run off when I'm riding. The jacket-well, Lou never said it was water proof. It worked well to shed the wind but the wetness began to seep through. This was uncomfortable but not cold. My hands and feet were my real problem areas. The lobster mittens I was wearing were soaked and were sucking heat from my hands instead of keeping them warm. The mud flap on my front fender neatly diverted spray from the road onto my right foot. I have a pair of Stormsocks on but, they're not waterproof either. My feet were soaked. Wiggle my fingers, wiggle my toes, wiggle my fingers...you get the routine. Miraculously, I didn't take much longer than usual to get to work. When I got there my fingers couldn't manipulate the fastener on my bike helmet. After I warmed up I promised myself never to do this again...until I get some waterproof socks and gloves!

bike commuting #6

I didn't do a lot of commuting over the winter but I did get my first lessons on how to stay warm:

hand and foot warmers
Col d'Lizárd Icebike tights
Stuff from Foxwear

I used my studded tires a few times and they worked great. Now that the temperatures have warmed a bit, I figure I'll get more into a commuting routine again. For now I'm focusing on commuting on Mondays and Fridays. I may transport my bike to work by car a few times too since I sometimes need to car to get to appointments. I'm running the remaining days in preparation for my trip to the Michigan Trail Marathon.



2007 Miles=425
Total miles=2075

Illiana Expressway

The Illiana Expressway debate has swirled around our area for awhile now. I find it interesting that the Save the Dunes Council is opposed to the road. The Borman Expressway (I80 & I94)passes close to the dunes and noise from the road can be heard in the state park. Personally I'd like to see more interest in public transportation and commuter rail lines instead of creating more roads. At a time when our dependence upon Middle Eastern oil is never far from the front page, it seems counterproductive to spend money on any project destined to increase that dependence. I'd be fine with the county income tax proposed to fund the South Shore extension. We need regional bus lines and the Marquette Plan (there's an Illinois state line to Michigan state line bike trail proposed in the Marquette Plan by the way). Illinois has a commission in place to improve rail transportation across their portion of the bottleneck that makes it cost-effective to off load freight on the west side of the City and then truck it to our side of the city because transporting by rail is too slow. What is Indiana doing about this-nothing that I can see!

Spring!?

I figured I'd better post something. Meteorological Spring began a few days ago and since then we've had record highs in the 70's and more snow (not much more). I've commuted by bike three times in the last week. I'd commute more often but haven't figured out how to get around while at work. I got a bike rack thrown in with the Trek 950 I bought last fall and I've attached it to my old car. It seems to work but I haven't actually transported my bike with it yet. Here's a sunset picture from over the weekend. As you can see there were small icebergs just off shore.