Driving the Truck

So, like I said earlier, I got the Schwinn down off its hooks yesterday and got it rideable again. I decided to take a ride on it this morning. As it turned out, we needed some items for a bon fire at a friends tonight, so that gave me a destination. But first I needed to set up the Schwinn to haul a load of groceries. I remebered I had a good ol' milk crate in the garage, so I went old school. 4 hose clamps later, and I had bonafide grocery getter. Below is a quick photo I snapped of my vintage 1997 Schwinn Moab 1 with a vintage 1989 milk crate from Borden's in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Too bad it's not one of the old wooden one's, huh?

I geared up and headed off to Trader Joe's in Park Ridge, the town just to the north and west of us.

And, I have to say, the bike felt really, really good. It still has a mirror on it from my previous attempts to make it a commuter bike. That, combined with the more upright riding position and maybe the higher ride height, made me more comfortable riding in traffic. I found I was keeping a higher cadence to overcome the added drag of the fat knobby tires, but aside from that, it was really no harder to ride than the roadie.

I Got to Trader Joe's and picked up all the fixin's for s'mores - Trader Joe's has some really tastey alternatives to traditional s'mores, such as cool, perfectly square vanilla marshmallows, and dark chocolate bars, rather than just Hershey's. And they have some really good cinnamon graham crackers too. I picked up all of these items and a 6-pack of Liberty Ale to bring to the shindig. I chose this brand as bit of a nod to my cycling mentor in San Francisco, not to mention that it is quite tasty.

Took a route home that was just a bit longer, but kept me on more side streets, under the trees and provided a view of some of the beautiful homes that populate Park Ridge. As I got close to home I noticed something interesting. The left side of my left foot was getting numb again. Not sore and numb, like with the crazy shoes, but still, I had pretty much lost feeling in my pinky toe and along the side of my foot. So, maybe it isn't the shoes that are bothering my foot when I ride at all. Maybe it is something else? A pinched nerve somewhere? Very odd to be sure, bup maybe it is just a matter of continuing to ride. Maybe all my parts will start to loosen up with time., and this business with my left foot will subside. Anyway. I had another nice ride, none the less, and I think the Schwinn will make a good errand runner and ORV.

• approx. 10.5 miles
• some quality amount of time breathing deeply
• a decent clip
• no records set

LSD Trip

Well, with getting back to my regular schedule at work, and getting busy there as well, I didn't ride for a couple of days.

However, yesterday I loaded the Fuji into the Suby and drove over to a buddy's house and then the two of us rode down to the lake. Then we took a nice ride from downtown south. A casual ride where conversation and enjoying the amazing views of our skyline and the absolutely perfect weather were the main focus of the ride, rather than how efficiently I was riding. He was on a mountain bike, and we were riding the prettiest path in Chicago on a Saturday morning. Had I tried to ride fast, I would have quickly lost my friend on his mountain bike, missed the views, and then I would have likely crashed into a tourist anyway. The Lake Shore Drive path is not the place to try to set speed records on a bike. I must make a point of getting over there more frequently. I live in the far northwest corner of the city, and work in the suburbs, so I don't make it downtown as often as I used to. What a beautiful, beautiful city. I think it is important that every resident of Chicago make it down to the lakefront a couple times a year. It makes it little easier to pay the taxes.

We finished up our ride back and my pals house with a couple of ice cold, locally brewed, Goose Island beers, enjoyed out on his balcony. No personal records were broken, and no goals were met on this ride. But to be sure, this was the best rides I have taken on the Fuji since I started riding it.

Riding through the heart of the city in fairly heavy vehicle traffic to get to the lake front, and then riding the lake front in fairly heavy pedestrian traffic, the crazy shoes became a bit of a nuisance. It wasn't the kind of ride that required that much efficiency, or even that efficient a bike. So, as soon as I got home, the Schwinn (MTB) came down from its ceiling hooks. I spent the afternoon cleaning it up and lubricating all its parts. At one time I had put a set of road tires on the bike, in attempt to make it more streetable. I removed those and put its nice OEM knobby tires back on. No sense in trying to make this bike something it isn't. I installed a rear rack that I had in the rafters as well. I took some time to adjust the seat on the bike using what I have learned adjusting the road bike for a comfortable fit, and in an hour or so, I was riding it around the driveway. After riding the Fuji for all this time, the Schwinn feels like an SUV. My intention is to use this bike for these "casual" rides as well as for short trips to the store and other errands. Also, the Cook county forest preserve has more unpaved bike paths than it does paved. At one time I was pretty involved in Jeeps and off roading, so I do enjoy the dirt as much as the pavement. I figure as long as I'm pedalling something, I'm still getting a good workout, and still building my ability to spend time on a bike saddle. I have a great old mountain bike, and many available dirt paths to ride in this area. I may as well take advantage of them as a way of still reaching my eventual goal to ride a century in 2009. If anything, maybe pedaling against the resistance of wide knobby tires on dirt will do more to improve my stamina then gliding along on ultra narrow high psi tires on smooth pavement. Spending some time on the MTB should make riding the road bike feel positively effortless. A cross training, of sorts.

I also ordered bike racks for the Subaru Friday. Those should be here next week, so I can start taking the bikes to some new places to ride. I'm looking forward to seeing some new places.

16.41 miles (closer to 18. I forgot to reset the computer)
1'28"
max speed unknown, I didn't reset from the last trip, but no records were shattered to be certain.
11.8 mph avg.

Baiku

I am an old man.

I puff and sweat profusely.

Children pass me by.

Hooky

Stayed home from work today to celebrate the last day of my kids summer vacation. I have been promising and promising and promising to go to a water park with her and things just kept getting in the way. So this morning I looked at the weather and decided that today was the day.

Little did we know that almost all the parks have started closing up during the week, since most public schools are back in session.

But we found one near the house, although it didn't open until 4pm. That left me time for a quick ride between games of Crazy 8's and Clue Jr. Just a quick run today though. An uneventful, beautiful Chicago day.

I seriously need to go try some new routes though. I've started shopping for roof racks for the Subaru. Lots of paths in the area to try. Paved and unpaved, so that Moab is going to have to come down off the hooks and get cleaned up too.

9.89 miles
0'48"
12.9 mph avg.
28.4 mph max.

buzzzzzzz...

Nice ride, although the trail is definitely the most crowded on Sundays. Lots of packs of women jogging who feel they are entitled to the whole path. But the sun was shining and I was on my bike. I just said good morning to them and moved on. Since I was wearing "the shorts" I wasn't able carry the Ipod. Turn out to be no big deal, really. And it seems that people tend to say good morning to you more often when you don't have wires sticking out of your ears. So, instead of having a sound track to enhance my ride, I was alone. Nothing but the sound of my breathing, the quiet zmmm zmmm zmmm of road tires on asphalt, and the subtle mechanical clatter of chain against sprockets. Alone with my thoughts. This gave me some good quality time to work on my baiku, hahaha... It was actually very nice, and I may just continue leaving the music at home most of the time. The shorts are pretty nice. However, it was a little chilly this morning and I have to say that this made for an interesting start to the ride. The sensation of actually feeling the morning air temperature in my nether regions at first made it feel as if I had left the house without my pants, which sort of made me feel like I was in the middle of one of those dreams everyone seems to have had at some point. The one where you find yourself at work or school or some other public place and suddenly realize that you have forgotten to dress yourself. I'm glad it was early, and there was not a lot of traffic on the roads. By the time I hit the bike path, I was warmed up and becoming accustomed to the pants. I decided that since most everyone else I passed on a bike was wearing them too, we were all in the same boat - Riding in our underwear.

At about 20 miles, I felt something fly down my shirt. I sat up on the bike and fluffed my shirt a couple of times and didn't notice anything, so I went about my business. Minutes later I felt a pinch right next to my bellybutton. Fluffed my shirt again and out fell a bee. That is the first time in my life that I have been stung by a bee.

"Hmm.... I always thought it would hurt worse than that."

And then a couple minutes later, it did. And then it went away. And then it hurt again, this cycle repeating itself for the duration of my ride and most of the morning for that matter.

Little bastard.

Well, tomorrow I go back to my regular work schedule, so I'm not sure when I'll fit in these same rides. I may have to stick to shorter rides during the week, and leave the longer ride for the weekend. We'll see.

26.19 miles
1' 59"
13.3 mph avg.
22.7 mph max