20130228
Feb 2013 stats
Feb was another gorgeous month. And somehow I haven't let the cold deter me from riding in the mornings, could it be the Eclair Rule? If the temp is below 50 & I ride I get to eat an eclair at MiV. So how will I eat an eclair when it warms up? If it's my second commute in for the week, I can have one, otherwise, I'll be eating my mini quiches and smoothies.
The poor road bike was neglected in Feb. It only took one trip, sadness. But the cross bike is doing its duty as a commuter bike, ran 2 errands and used it instead of the car to get to 2 places
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February 2013 Stats:
Total miles for the month of February: 138.08 (ahead of last year by 28)
Total miles for 2013: 268.92 (ahead 13.5 miles when compared to 2012 I keep finding errors in 2012's data, trying to be more careful with 2013's)
Miles to go: 1744.08
One way commutes in February:7
Miles commuted: 61.16
Total one way commutes:12
Trip2:
Road: 124.7
Cross: totally screwed up. actual is 51.95 spreadsheet says 154.81,
but when you add the road & cross you get 279, which is 10 off of the miles for the year, I'll have tpo look at it on a computer later...
Odometer
Road: 13303
Cross: 1637.2
20130227
Bag ban not soon enough
I had jury duty Monday afternoon. We ended up being dismissed at 2:00. So, I sent a text to my boss & let him know I was taking the rest of the day off, he agreed.
If you recall, it was windy as $h!it on Monday, 50 mph gusts, and for some reason I decided to go to the library & HEB on my bike.
I was riding on Hancock minding my own business when all of a sudden a big gust of wind came at me. With it can a plastic bag that some disrespectful person had littered. I thought nothing of the bag that was blowing towards my bike. That bag being pissed that it had been disposed of improperly landed in my chain, and got sucked up into the derailleur. I had no idea where it ended up, until about 5 pedal strokes later when I couldn't pedal. I come to a stop, turn my bike over & tried to pull it out, but it was a really pissed off bag and it twisted its way all around the 2 gears in the derailleur. So, I walked the bike to the corner store & bought a lighter hoping to burn it out.
Well, remember those 50 mph gusts? , it was too windy to get a flame with the lighter. So I set off to CVS to buy an Aim n Flame & get out of the wind. Aim n Flames are quite pricey at CVS.
I burned quite about off & was able to pedal better. My hands were all black and I had on khacki shorts, so I went inside CVS to wash them. While washing my hands, I looked in the mirror and I had black marks all over my face! I looked like I went to an Ash Weds. Mass and I got the blind priest!
On my way home to get my car & forfeit the bike ride, all of a sudden I could pedal normally, so I went to the library to pick up a DVD & return the others. Then I went grocery shopping at HEB only to find out HEB didn't have that one important product (or shall I say brand) I was looking for!!
Once home, I put the bike on my handy dandy bike holder I created using pvc pipe & galvanized pipe.
I took the Aim & Flame to the bag & it burned off nicely, I was then able to use needle nose pliers and a utility knife to cut off the rest of it. The derailleur was turning nicely. I was a happy biker.
Later that night after bootcamp, I took a closer look and noticed more bag, so out came the Aim n Flame. After I turned of the AnF, there was still a flame & it was one of the gears on the derailleur. Great, they are plastic and it is on fire!! I blew it out, gave the pedal a spin and the chain imprinted into the gear. In hindsight I should have licked my fingers & molded the plastic. So, now to figure out if I need a new derailleur ($$) or can I replace the plastic disks. Iput on the readers & looking closely at the disks, there was a bolt, so, you can remove the disks. Now just to find new disks...how I remembered I had a random Shimano derailleur in my shed, I don't know, but I did, so one of these days I can replace them, until then, it doesn't seem to be causing too much harm.
Other wind damage that personally affected me: fence slat was blow off, just a slat that I had previously nailed back, screws better keep it up now.
And this:
 | ||||
| Both Chris the Rooster & Pschye were blown off their stump, some nice neighbor righted them. |
And I lost 2 wheels off the back porch cover:
 | |||
| Only 1 is missing in this photo, the one on the far right also fell. |
**************************************************************
Miles for this ride: 4.5 & 10.28
Total miles for the month of February: 119.29
Total miles for 2013: 250.13
Miles til 2013: 1762.87 (got a long way to go)
One way commutes in February so far: 5 uh oh, hope to be at 7 by the end of the month 1 more day
Total one way commutes in 2013: 8
Odometer
Road: 13303poor thing is being neglected
Cross: 1628
Trip2:
Road: 124.70
Cross: 137.14 (accidentally reset it again, darn it...now I get to add 104 each time....I think)
20130219
Urban Adventure Weekend
It was a weekend for urban adventures. First adventure was Saturday afternoon. About a month ago I received a copy of "Hypocrites on Parade" George Bradford's most recent CD. Now what impresses me about this CD is Mr. Bradford wrote all the songs, then played all the instruments for each song, recorded them, then compiled it all into a CD and I think he did this all within one week. When I received my copy, there was a note asking me to photograph the CD in famous places around Austin and if I could get a pic of someone famous holding it , more points. So the challenge was on.
First stop:
Second stop:
Third stop:
Fourth stop:
Fifth stop:
Sixth stop:
Seventh & final stop:
I think the owners of Springdale Underground Studio were impressed with the photos.I sure had fun navigating thru downtown to take them.
Then on Sunday it was time for the 2013 Austin Marathon adventure. Rode down to where the 1/2 marathon & full marathon split. Carried 10 pounds of bananas, a pound of jelly beans and a gorilla outfit 4 miles to the split. We were late in getting there, (bunnies don't ride bikes in the cold). Did make it in time to see Yvonne & Yungie, but we missed those that run way too fast.
Once we saw Yungie & distributed all of the jelly beans & bananas, it was time to go to the marathon party at Lori's up at mile 21. Only a 4 mile ride, but with some hills. I wasn't wearing my clip in shoes, so that meant I was using different muscles to ride & boy did I feel that on Monday, I might as well have ridden 30 miles instead of 10. So interesting how the body works.
**************************************************************
Miles for this ride: 14.95 & 10.18
Total miles for the month of February: 86.38
Total miles for 2013: 217.22
Miles til 2013: 1795.78 (got a long way to go)
One way commutes in February so far:3 uh oh, hope to be at 7 by the end of the month,
Total one way commutes in 2013:6
Odometer
Road: 13303
Cross: 1585.3
Trip2:
Road: 124.70
Cross: 104.23 (accidentally reset it again, darn it...now I get to add 79 each time....I think)
First stop:
Second stop:
Third stop:
Then on Sunday it was time for the 2013 Austin Marathon adventure. Rode down to where the 1/2 marathon & full marathon split. Carried 10 pounds of bananas, a pound of jelly beans and a gorilla outfit 4 miles to the split. We were late in getting there, (bunnies don't ride bikes in the cold). Did make it in time to see Yvonne & Yungie, but we missed those that run way too fast.
Once we saw Yungie & distributed all of the jelly beans & bananas, it was time to go to the marathon party at Lori's up at mile 21. Only a 4 mile ride, but with some hills. I wasn't wearing my clip in shoes, so that meant I was using different muscles to ride & boy did I feel that on Monday, I might as well have ridden 30 miles instead of 10. So interesting how the body works.
**************************************************************
Miles for this ride: 14.95 & 10.18
Total miles for the month of February: 86.38
Total miles for 2013: 217.22
Miles til 2013: 1795.78 (got a long way to go)
One way commutes in February so far:3 uh oh, hope to be at 7 by the end of the month,
Total one way commutes in 2013:6
Odometer
Road: 13303
Cross: 1585.3
Trip2:
Road: 124.70
Cross: 104.23 (accidentally reset it again, darn it...now I get to add 79 each time....I think)
20130208
like a hipster
ok, not really, but kinda sorta so I'm saying I did...
A typical Austin Hipster wears skinny jeans, rides a single speed bike. So, how was I riding like a hipster? Simple, I rode in jeans (my baggy jeans, not skinny jeans) on my partial ride home (I was only going to Mellow Johnny's and it was mostly downhill).
So for 5.98 miles I was Pseudo Hipster Kim.
In all honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been until about mile 5, thus proving my theory that if I had a job downtown, I could commute in normal clothes, hopefully daily! But what was weird is riding in shoes that aren't clipped to the pedals.
At Mellow Johnny's Ladies night, Lauren was asking me about my commute & I explained to her that it was 9,5 to work and 8.5 coming home. Of course she asked why it was a mile longer to work & I explained the hills from hell on Rollingwood.
On my way back to work this morning, I started questioning myself as to why I didn't take that route. It first started out that I had to stop at Rudy's to pick up breakfast, but I had breakfast with me, then it was the heavy panniers, mine today wasn't too heavy, and finally I tried to use the excuse that I didn't get enough sleep last night and I'll be super exhausted, well it's been a while since I exhausted myself, so i decided that the worse that can happen was I fell off y bike, was taken to the hospital & thus missed work, with that in mind, I accepted the challenge & rode Rollingwood.
Amazingly, I made it up the first gear and wasn't in the granny gear!!! Of course once I realized that I switched to the easiest gear cuz I had 3 more hills to go. Made it to work in 3 mins less than normal and averaged 11.5 mph, so I ust have been doing something right. Either way, I'm going to take this route more often so my legs will get stronger!
**************************************************************
Miles for this ride: 5.98 & 8.35
Total miles for the month of February: 58.38
Total miles for 2013: 189.22 (ahead of 2012 by 7 miles)
Miles til 2013: 1823.78 (got a long way to go)
One way commutes in February so far:3
Total one way commutes in 2013:6
Odometer
Road: 13303
Cross: 1557.00
Trip2:
Road: 124.70
Cross:76.31 (accidentally reset it again, darn it...now I get to add 67.86 each time....
A typical Austin Hipster wears skinny jeans, rides a single speed bike. So, how was I riding like a hipster? Simple, I rode in jeans (my baggy jeans, not skinny jeans) on my partial ride home (I was only going to Mellow Johnny's and it was mostly downhill).
So for 5.98 miles I was Pseudo Hipster Kim.
In all honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been until about mile 5, thus proving my theory that if I had a job downtown, I could commute in normal clothes, hopefully daily! But what was weird is riding in shoes that aren't clipped to the pedals.
At Mellow Johnny's Ladies night, Lauren was asking me about my commute & I explained to her that it was 9,5 to work and 8.5 coming home. Of course she asked why it was a mile longer to work & I explained the hills from hell on Rollingwood.
On my way back to work this morning, I started questioning myself as to why I didn't take that route. It first started out that I had to stop at Rudy's to pick up breakfast, but I had breakfast with me, then it was the heavy panniers, mine today wasn't too heavy, and finally I tried to use the excuse that I didn't get enough sleep last night and I'll be super exhausted, well it's been a while since I exhausted myself, so i decided that the worse that can happen was I fell off y bike, was taken to the hospital & thus missed work, with that in mind, I accepted the challenge & rode Rollingwood.
Amazingly, I made it up the first gear and wasn't in the granny gear!!! Of course once I realized that I switched to the easiest gear cuz I had 3 more hills to go. Made it to work in 3 mins less than normal and averaged 11.5 mph, so I ust have been doing something right. Either way, I'm going to take this route more often so my legs will get stronger!
**************************************************************
Miles for this ride: 5.98 & 8.35
Total miles for the month of February: 58.38
Total miles for 2013: 189.22 (ahead of 2012 by 7 miles)
Miles til 2013: 1823.78 (got a long way to go)
One way commutes in February so far:3
Total one way commutes in 2013:6
Odometer
Road: 13303
Cross: 1557.00
Trip2:
Road: 124.70
Cross:76.31 (accidentally reset it again, darn it...now I get to add 67.86 each time....
20130207
Church of the Skinny Tire
Sunday's Church of the Skinny Tire's service was incredible. We went out east of town. Wind wasn't too bad as we headed north, but once we turned east we received a faceful of it. At mile 7 I realized we missed a turn so we had an extra 4 mile adventure. During that adventure we saw a cool old stone bridge and two pigs that went wee wee wee all the way home when we said "hey Piggies" Also saw some sheep and donkeys, along w a fishing pond.
The next junction we stopped to look at the map & cue sheet. Map My Ride needs so many improvements or maybe I don't use it how it's supposed to be used. Could be that when I switch to the camera it kills the current location?
Along one road we saw something hanging off the phone line, gotta turn around & take a pic of that.
Turns out it was a phone, like the ones the phone repair guys use, why & how it got up there, it was tied pretty good? Who knows? Make up your own story & let me know & I'll tell you the ones we came up with.
Kellie got a closer view...
We looked at the cue sheet at the next intersection, good thing cuz I wanted to go right but we were supposed to go left. I swear I didn't get this lost when riding w/ Diane. Is it the map my ride maps that print out so awful & have the wordiest turn directions or is it cuz I don't study the map over & over again, or is it because I don't put the map into the gps and use that...either way it's kinda funny how I seem to make wrong turns when I have a mini computer with me....Think I"ll stick to ACA maps and google maps on the phone. ;-)
Each time we stopped all you could hear was the wind or birds, very quiet & quite a blessing.
The sky had some really cool clouds.
Once we made it to Copeland, we took a break at the convenience store, had my first coke in a long time, possibly of the year, need to cut out the coffee at work, too. Coming back from Copeland we had the wind at our backs, made for a speedy trip. Really enjoyed the ride back, pushing yourself & felt like you were getting somewhere fast.
**************************************************************
Miles for this ride: 34.12 (4 more than predicted...oops)
Total miles for the month of February: 44.05
Total miles for 2013: 174.81 (ahead 2012 by 10 miles, so not too bad)
Miles til 2013: 1838.19 (got a long way to go)
One way commutes in February so far: 1
Total one way commutes in 2013: 5
Odometer
Road: 13303
Cross: 1524.1
Trip2:
Road: 124.70
Cross: 60.78
The next junction we stopped to look at the map & cue sheet. Map My Ride needs so many improvements or maybe I don't use it how it's supposed to be used. Could be that when I switch to the camera it kills the current location?
Along one road we saw something hanging off the phone line, gotta turn around & take a pic of that.
Turns out it was a phone, like the ones the phone repair guys use, why & how it got up there, it was tied pretty good? Who knows? Make up your own story & let me know & I'll tell you the ones we came up with.
 | ||||
| love the blue sky & yellow grasses and the fellow riders |
We looked at the cue sheet at the next intersection, good thing cuz I wanted to go right but we were supposed to go left. I swear I didn't get this lost when riding w/ Diane. Is it the map my ride maps that print out so awful & have the wordiest turn directions or is it cuz I don't study the map over & over again, or is it because I don't put the map into the gps and use that...either way it's kinda funny how I seem to make wrong turns when I have a mini computer with me....Think I"ll stick to ACA maps and google maps on the phone. ;-)
Each time we stopped all you could hear was the wind or birds, very quiet & quite a blessing.
The sky had some really cool clouds.
Once we made it to Copeland, we took a break at the convenience store, had my first coke in a long time, possibly of the year, need to cut out the coffee at work, too. Coming back from Copeland we had the wind at our backs, made for a speedy trip. Really enjoyed the ride back, pushing yourself & felt like you were getting somewhere fast.
**************************************************************
Miles for this ride: 34.12 (4 more than predicted...oops)
Total miles for the month of February: 44.05
Total miles for 2013: 174.81 (ahead 2012 by 10 miles, so not too bad)
Miles til 2013: 1838.19 (got a long way to go)
One way commutes in February so far: 1
Total one way commutes in 2013: 5
Odometer
Road: 13303
Cross: 1524.1
Trip2:
Road: 124.70
Cross: 60.78
20130201
January 2013 Stats
What a gorgeous month for bike riding in Central Texas! Most days were in the 70's the mornings not frigid like where Lisa K. lives, so I did manage to commute several times. Does a body & mind good! Can you imagine how much better things would be if everyone rode a bike daily, heck even weekly.? For some reason that reminded me of when my 80 something year old grandfather hopped on my mountain bike! It was so cute! Hope I'm riding more than a circle when I'm 80, or will that be the time I'm sitting in my assisted living center catching up on all the TV I'm missing now?
Nothing too exciting went on in the rides this week. Went back to Buda & then Beyond, increased our mph & miles! And commuted home on Thursday, then back on Friday.
On a sad note, I accidentally reset Trip2 on the cross bike, I'll be really good at adding 42.44 by then end of the year.
************************************************************************************
January 2013 Stats:
Total miles for the month of January: 140.77
Total miles for 2013: 140.77 (behind 10 miles when compared to 2012)
Miles to go: 1872.23
One way commutes in January: 5
Miles commuted: 43.76
Total one way commutes: 5
Trip2:
Road: 90.12
Cross: 50.88
Odometer
Road: 13269
Cross:1542.5
Nothing too exciting went on in the rides this week. Went back to Buda & then Beyond, increased our mph & miles! And commuted home on Thursday, then back on Friday.
On a sad note, I accidentally reset Trip2 on the cross bike, I'll be really good at adding 42.44 by then end of the year.
************************************************************************************
January 2013 Stats:
Total miles for the month of January: 140.77
Total miles for 2013: 140.77 (behind 10 miles when compared to 2012)
Miles to go: 1872.23
One way commutes in January: 5
Miles commuted: 43.76
Total one way commutes: 5
Trip2:
Road: 90.12
Cross: 50.88
Odometer
Road: 13269
Cross:1542.5
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