Commute... Hottest day of 2016 (DFW)

I am becoming a little more efficient by the ride. That shackle lock I wanted to ditch? It is my primary lock now. I still carry the combination cable lock, but only for occasions that the shackle cannot be used (see photo), or as overkill while on errands.
So far, nobody had messed with the bike at any of my lock-up locations. I am reminded almost daily by facebook reports and by yesterdays break-in of the neighbor's construction trailer, that thieves are everywhere. It my be more of a "when" my bike is stolen or picked apart rather than "if". The best protection though seems to be to not park it out overnight or at any of Denton's hipster bars. Many of the FB reports I see are of $1K bikes stolen off of the Denton square from a ten dollar lock. I used to think that the chameleon nature of the old Trek would not catch the attention of the bike thief, however these guys seem to be stealing for components as much as whole bikes. I think this topic deserves a separate post.
The 20-ish year old bike seems to be holding up. There is a lot of frame flex when I power up-hills, which is normal for chrome-moly chassis. However, I seem to be getting some play in the head-tube and am wondering if the bearing cups are stretching or cracking the tubing there? Regardless, there is a head tube tear-down in my near future. Perhaps once the weather turns long enough for a complete overhaul.
This does have me thinking of new and shiny things... I would like a little more aggressive road style geometry, and I am starting to wonder about a gravel/cross style road bike. Basically a road bike with a touring style frame and more robust wheels for the crappy roads and trail. Also, I may even justify this based on
How am I holding up? I'm doing okay, nay I am doing well! A 33 mile heat ride this week has me generally tired, but feeling well prepared for the Hotter N' Hell Hundred race on the 27th of this month. As mentioned, for DFW, this is predicted to be the hottest day of 2016, a predicted 103/104 degrees with a 111-ish heat index. Overall my biggest physical concern is related to the sun. It is hot, but that is obvious. But the sun's rays are cooking my flesh, and this is compounded by regularly forgetting sunscreen. Today I brought a spray on 70SPF to leave at the office with the hope that convenience of the spray will outweigh the perceived shortcoming of  the product over the cremes, especially if used daily.
I have added errands or a little extra distance to my rides, as I try to push the exercise benefits and to see what is really practical. I did make a grocery stop for produce on the way home one day last week. I was a bit rankled at the thought of locking the bike up at a grocery store, eventually choosing target over wal mart. I'm not sure if one is any better than the other, but I really do not want to ever mutter the words "My bike was stolen at wal mart yesterday." I will likely ride the extra half mile to a Kroger going forward. I am working on a pannier liner made from one of the cold food grocery bags you see at the grocery store to help keep the food acclimatized for the 30 minutes remaining on the commute. Between that and my lunch box, I should do okay.

Yes, this was too long. I'll keep it shorter going forward.

Next topics: Security, Seasons, Nutrition in no particular order.

Bike Commuting Update

As I ride more to the office I am slowly refining my gear and processes. I am still lugging the shackle, but no longer in the bags, but mini-bungied to the rack.

Secure but still rattles

Rather than haul both bags in to the locker room on campus, I am parking at the back door, locking the bike to a post and only removing the bag with clothing. The other bag is secured to the bike with one of those free gun-locks you get at the local PD. It is not terribly secure, and taking the bag would essentially destroy it. 



However, in this location I feel comfortable for the 10 minutes I am inside showering. I gave up on the hassle of trying to drop the bike and gear at the office, transfer cloths to another bag, then walk the .5 miles RT to the shower and back. It became too much of a process. Otherwise, with some local road work done, the trip from the end of the bike trail to campus has been nice. I will post up some pics of the refined rig/kit asap.

Tomorrow, another set of two wheels… First motorcycle commute to work. I blew out a spoke on the road bike yesterday and will haul the wheel in to Velo for a repair. This ought to be easy right?  

On Bike Commuting and Blog Names

First a little housekeeping... “My Life on Two Wheels” seems to be quite popular, but it fits me so I will go with this until I get a cease and desist J. I am open to a re-naming contest.  Winner  will get a 6 pack of fine Denton brewed craft beer made by Audacity Brewing.

Week 2.5 of bike commuting. So far I am on pace to average a least two days of riding per week, but once I work out the hiccups and streamline a few things, perhaps three days rain or shine?

First, although I like and need the added security of the big shackle lock with my cable, it is becoming a huge PITA. It is heavy, it rattles, it has a key, its big, its heavy, and it always finds its way to the bottom of the pannier. My bike is parked directly below my office window and this has me wondering if I can go with just the small cable?

View from the office window

Another logistics issue is that I am struggling with; is better to go straight to the office and  unload the bike and panniers, then walk to the showers? Or, continue to ride to the showers, unload, shower, reload, and walk the bike back to my office? The .2 mile walk is only about an added 5 or six minutes and would not really cause me to leave early since some of the walk time would be mitigated by not repeatedly unloading and loading the bike. I will try dropping the bike off tomorrow and walking to the showers. Perhaps the short walk will be a nice cool down.

Finally, from a fitness perspective I wonder about the benefits or non-benefits of riding two separate 10.5-12 mile rides on a heavily loaded bike in one day versus a 25-28 mile single ride on my light road bike? On a heavy day, the load alone carried on the commuter comes close to the 21 pound total weight of the road bike. Add the 30+ pound weight of the Trek, and I am peddling 45-50 plus pounds of bike each way.

I have effectively replaced 2-3 long rides per week with 4-6 shorter rides. Actually, this may not be 100 percent accurate as I will likely skip a spinning session or two for my commute and still engage in at least one long ride per week. I will watch my Strava feed for an overall change in my weekly average. I have averaged about 116 miles per week of riding over the last year or so, so this should be easy to verify. Last week was 110 miles, but I took an extra rest day after a bad ride in the heat. By the time I get home Wednesday I will be at about 65 miles of commuting/riding with 4 days (-1 rest day) of training riding to finish the week.  

Cheers, Glenn

A Blank Canvas

A blank canvas... Yep, all old posts were deleted today. I had not posted for a coupe of years. What has happen? Well, in a sentence: I lost 135 pounds, divorce, single parenting, layoff, financial ruin, two subsequent job changes, and several quasi-yet-failed "awakenings".

Perhaps not a grammatically correct sentence, but a pretty good rundown of my life these last few years. I will cover the list above as time permits.

I have evolved beyond the convention that my two wheels requires a tank full of gas. As evidenced by my weight loss, I no log more miles on two wheels and pedals than on my motorcycle. The big bike is still important to me, but my collection of bicycles has a greater daily impact on my life these days.

I will attempt to amend the name of the blog accordingly. Something about My Life on Two Wheels. I saw a friends FB post yesterday that got me thinking about resurrecting this space, based on my feeling that I am missing too many things, and that they may be worth sharing if I actually did these things.

So, what is the difference between this space and FB? I already share most if this there. And the same of some adventures over at the forum Two Wheeled Texans. Both spaces with built in audiences that already know me. Why do this in a place that people need to seek out?  I guess I can share the link in these places and the people that care can seek out my sharing in greater detail.

here is a teaser of things yet to come... (try to imagine this as a theater preview)

Weight loss:  320+  


And now... 185-ish



Yeah, the cake...
I will talk a lot about this journey here. Many people have asked about this transformation. I will share recipies, and advice, and (a lot) of missteps.

Riding:
AJ finally aged into a co-pilot!



And we do go places...







Hope these teasers work. And I will work on the blog name.

Cheers, Glenn