Biking to work (for real)
So I got everything ready last night to bike in today. I ended up leaving around 8am, and got in around 9:20. The first 3.5 miles were pretty rough, and by the time I managed to get up to the intersection of 7100 and 50, I wasn’t sure at all that I’d manage to make it the whole way. However, once I actually got going on the flatter parts of 7100, things went really smoothly. I ended up behind another biker for about 3-4 miles and initially I wanted to pass her, since she was going slightly slower than I was inclined to go. I thought about it a bit, and decided to give it a bit, since I’d have to work to pass her at more than a snail’s pace, and I’d feel kind of silly if she passed me again in another mile or so. That turned out to be a smart move. I think the pace she was setting was a lot smarter than I was inclined to do naturally, and I was moving at a good speed (14-16mph I think) without feeling like I had to work real hard for it. I got into work, took my shower and headed up to my cubical with my bike. All day long people came by and seemed to be amazed I road my bike into work. It was kind of funny though, most people seemed to think I was crazy, or no big deal, with no real in between. I get the impression from asking around that a fair number (10-20) people in the building bike into work on a semi-regular basis, but of the people I know, none of them are in the engineering or operations groups. I think the geeks are maybe just less likely to think about it as a viable option, plus more of us tend to be out of shape to start with probably. I left work and got home in about an hour and a half, just a bit slower. I felt much slower on my way home, and at least part of that was the headwind I had to put up with almost the entire way, but I think a lot of it was just being tired out. Unfortunately, it looks like I may not be able to pull GPS tracks of the GPS unit very easily any more. It appears that the little joystick you use for navigating around the ui has the right direction broken now, so when the dialog pops up to clear the current set of tracks, you’re unable to chose “Ok”. This is not much of a problem for most things, and I can still use it as a trip computer, but it’s not as nifty as I had hoped. I suppose I need to look into cycling computers and see what the pricing looks like for a decent one. Other things I need to look into are:
- New saddle - the one I have now I don’t think is wide enough, and I definitely think I need to get one of the ones with the space down the middle.
- Lighting system - I’m probably going to need some sort of headlight system before the weather gets too cold to bike. By the end of October the sun will be setting a bit after 5pm, which means it’ll be pretty dark by the time I get home, if it’s not too cold by then.
- New seatpost - The one I have now has a quick release on it, which is really totally worthless for me. I’m not going to carry around my seat if I park it outside, so this just makes it easier to steal the seat.
- Bike pump - I’m thinking I want a full size one for home, and a smaller travel one for fixing flats and such. I need to find out if I want to get one of the small CO2 based ones for the bike, or just a normal pump one.
- Spare tires and some tire levers - I figure it’s a matter of time before I have a flat, and I’m going to be stranded when it happens. I don’t think I even have a patch kit. I’m also not real sure how I get the rear wheel off.
