Mo' bicyclin'

I bade the MAX farewell this week, thanks partly to the cyclometer-facilitated realization that it only cuts the ride roughly in half, and takes no less time than riding the whole way. Monday and Tuesday I rode, tagging along with a couple of coworkers some of the time. More painful, but good to have impetus to keep going, and go faster, as they're in better shape than I. I was developing this habit of stopping when things got difficult. Took a break and drove Wednesday, and rode again Thursday (I have Fridays off in the summer. This only slightly mitigates my job's sucking.). 18-19.5 miles all three days, avg. speed 12 mph (it doesn't count time spent not moving toward avg speed or trip time), max. speed 25.71 (riding the brakes down the Alameda ridge), total odometer 78 miles, which doesn't include, obviously, distance traveled before I got the thing. Whee, geeking out with basic telemetry!
Syd rode some too, but was stymied by insufficient panniery, so I'm gonna slap a basket on the front of her bike today.

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Woo Bicyclin'!

So here's this week:

• Monday: MAX in the morning, rode back from work via 33rd.
• Tuesday: MAX in the morning, rode back via Vancouver.
• Wednesday: Legs were not interested in bicycling. So very not interested.
• Wednesday night: went to REI, got super-cushy seat for Syd, water bottle holders, and a cyclometer for me, since I needed a clock, and it tracks a bunch of other interesting stuff, like current, average and max speed, distance traveled, time traveled, and odometer and total time.
• Today: MAX in the morning, turns out I still bike about 4 miles with MAX, so it cuts the biking in half. Rode back via Vancouver, stopped to get a little Allen key kit because it turns out I didn't tighten Syd's new seat enough and it shifted angle quite significantly halfway through her morning commute, rode to Syd's work, fixed her seat, and we rode home. Total distance almost 16 miles, how crazy is that? My legs felt a lot better, too. I still had to stop a couple of times partway up some hills, but I think that's partly 'cause I wasn't picking a good gear, 'cause when I started back up it went much more easily.

Things I still suck at:

• riding with weight off my arms, or hands off the handlebar, which is to say:
• signaling, and the faster I'm going the harder it is. I would like to be one of those cool people who can ride with their arms at their sides all cool-like.
• Inclines. You win again, gravity!
  

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Vegas! Sorta.

So, I was gonna post my impressions of the Summer League games, for the benefit of Beau and Ben and anyone else without Comcast, and who might be desperate enough for information to rely on my uninformed meanderings. But you are all deprived of said ramblings, as I only watched the first quarter (conclusion: the Blazers can't shoot!) and then S and I went on a bike ride to try out her new bicycle. She likes that it's green, and has swept-back handlebars for the upright-sittin', and I like that it's assembled and sold by godless communists. Also, I rode all the way back from work today! It's 8.5 miles! It took an hour! I carried my bike up a hill to avoid an uphill cloverleaf and almost fell back down it! It is probably not the best idea I have ever had!

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Support local business

I heartily recommend the dude with the big beard selling cherries out of his pickup. $3 a pound for those pinky yellow ones, $5 for bing, and he welcomes bartering, and his truck broke down today so AAA towed him here, and that sucks, so anyway, if you need some tasty organic cherries, and you're in SE, I'm assuming in the afternoon/early evening, you might could buy some from him.
Also, I'm riding that bike I've been trucking around for the last few years! How about that. It's a lot easier than last time I tried to start. In retrospect, that's probably because NW is not the best place to break oneself in, what with the living a little way up a hill. So I've ridden down to and around the waterfront a couple of times, and the ambition is to commute once school starts up again next week, which is around nine miles each way. And then maybe one day I'll be as cool as Katie and Joseph.

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