Always an Excuse to be Lazy ...

So, I did not ride today.  BUT ... I have great excuses (plural!).  I need to go across town to the store and, the big excuse, I wasn't feeling great this morning.  Not sure if I am getting sick or not, but definitely felt like shit.

 

Yesterday, while reading BikeSnob's latest post, I came across a nice little sumation of feelings drivers project toward cyclists.

“…most drivers don't like you when you're on a bike because:

1) You are what you "own" (or, as is more often the case, lease from a bank);

2) The more money you spend on a vehicle the more human rights you have.

3) Anybody smaller and smarter than you deserves to be punished.”

I think he nailed it.  

Holy Cow! He's Back ...

So, I hope you all enjoyed the break. Back to business of the bicycle business.

What I did over my holiday break:

1. Drank a lot of good wine
2. Ate a lot of good food
3. Spent time with a lot of good people
4. Drank a lot of good wine
5. Replaced the drivetrain on the Bianchi.
6. Drank a lot of good wine

Not necessarily in that order.

Is this good news for Omaha?  Not sure how I feel about bike lanes separated from traffic. They are great on the stretches of road, but a nightmare at intersections.  And what about sharing them with walkers??  In Poland, the bike lanes were on broad sidewalks.  It was a constant problem dealing with pedestrians.  Bicycles are vehicles and need to be treated as such, not separated and kept with walkers.  

Anyway, it's now Tuesday (but feels like a Monday) and I am back to work. The legs were feeling it this morning on the hills.  I guess that's what 5 days out of the saddle and a lot of good wine will do.

Crash and Burn

Well, well, well ... guess who I saw heard on last night's commute home.  Yes, you guessed it.  Angry-three-lanes over-going the opposite direction-yelling-guy. You remember him ...

I use a sheet to hide my shame. 

I knew it was him as I looked back over my shoulder and saw his cute, little, baby blue SUV.  This time he shouted something like, "I want to screw you through a sheet."

Obviously, being the married guy I am, I continued on my journey home. 

That was then and this is now.  This morning I had the unfortunate privilege of slamming my body and bike into the ground at about 20 mph on a downhill curve.  Great way to start the morning.  Oh yeah, right in front of a bunch of construction workers. At least they asked if I was OK. 

I ended up with a few scrapes and soreness, and the bike came out better with only a small rip in the seat. 

Here's to popping aspirin all Holiday weekend. 

Coming around the pole on the wet pavement AND DOWN!

 

 

My God it's Monday

Late November and it's getting cold.  The temp hit the sub 20 mark this morning on the commute in.  Still, I saw two commuters.  That's only two less than the average I witnessed riding in the summer.  Also, I noticed the Activate Omaha Winter Commuter Challenge has 95 riders registered as winter commuters.  Pretty nice number.  We shall see how this number holds up over the coming weeks. 

Stay warm and ride safely.


 

Funtastic Friday ...

Yo! Not much to write or post about today.  I didn't ride to work today, I drove. I have a cross-town errand to run, and well, don't really feel like two-wheeling it to take care of them. 

Yesterday, on the commute home, I had a fun road-rager incident.  As I was riding EAST, a driver in an SUV heading WEST decided it was his public duty to shout, "GRAB A SHEET!" or at least that's what it sounded like. I quickly looked back over my left shoulder to see what he looked like, to file away for future reference.

I saw this:

I might be mistaken, after all, he was two lanes away and heading in the opposite direction. 

Ride safe and have a great weekend.

Tall Order

Below, you will find the longest head tube I have seen in person.  Add the stem and this person must measure in at 7 feet. Wow.

Anyway, good to see another bike at the rack this morning with temps hovering in the low 20s. 

Somethings You Just Know ...

... And one of those things is you don't run industrial strength sprinklers in November. Wasting water on this level is akin to slapping the face of those whom cannot obtain--or must fight for--fresh, potable water. 

This water pours out of the sprinklers while the temperature hovers at 24 F.  Ridiculous.