Tag Archives: Cycling

I cycle only to get somewhere on my ultimate commuter bike. Click here for The Ultimate Commuter Bike, my first post, that I personally still reference.

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Day 105 Without a Job, Time for a Bicycle Tour!

I missed writing last week because I was so busy remodeling and stuff. Driving now leads biking 1080 miles to 626 miles, so quite a deficit for the bike to make up. However, I’m about to go on my first bicycle tour and the bike will do some catching up.

I am riding for fun, but also to visit Art Drentlau of the Responsibility Movement and to bring attention to the movement itself. I believe in the movement and the people who are putting their efforts towards it. Please support! The best way to support is to read about it, understand it, decide what it means to you, and spread the word. To learn more, click below:

http://www.statueofresponsibility.com/story/

Or, read the book. This is how I found out about it:


Tomorrow morning, I ride east until I can’t ride anymore, then camp for the night. I’ve spent the past 2 days routing and printing maps in preparation and to do my best to stay on back roads without getting too lost. The general itinerary is to make a counter-clockwise loop around northeast Ohio especially including the towpath that runs 100 miles from Dover to Cleveland. I packed my gear and weighed it today and it weighs 30 pounds including my “hotel room in a bag,” but not including food and water. Follow me on Strava!

Answer to last week’s trivia: Thomas Edison started a power company in 1882 that used DC electricity. George Westinghouse started a competing company in 1886 that used AC electricity. Westinghouse’s AC technology won because the voltage could be stepped up using transformers. This made for cheaper transmission over long distances compared to DC.

For further explanation, click here.

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Apartment Building: A Black Hole of Time

This week, I got sucked into doing my own handyman work on my apartments. On the one hand, it has taken up all of my time. On the other hand, I have learned a lot and the building continues to progress. In two years, our rent has increased from just under $500 to over $600. We have 8 / 9 units rented now, most importantly with quality tenants who reliably pay rent, and I am upgrading the empty unit with potential renters awaiting showing at $625 per month.

I drove 187 miles and biked 80 miles this week, putting driving up 820 miles to 529 miles. It was not a good week for the bike!

What is the “ecliptic,” and how does it relate to the signs of the zodiac? Answer. The ecliptic is the plane defined by our orbit around the sun. It also refers to the path the sun appears to take on the celestial background. The signs of the zodiac are based on which constellation the sun is passing through during the period. Ironically, it is during your birth month that you are least able to see your associated constellation in the night sky because it rises and sets with the sun during that time.

In one sentence, why do we use AC electricity instead of DC electricity for our power grid?

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Autumn is Here

On Saturday, the heat broke and the air was just cool enough to justify jeans and long sleeves–well, maybe just one or the other. Either way, this weather is the reason fall is my favorite season. The cool air makes the sun feel good and the warm sun makes the cool air feel good. It feels like football season and family gatherings. Glad to be home!

My truck odometer reads 82199, and my Strava bicycle tracking all-time mileage is 1556. That means I rode 86 miles this week compared to driving 102 miles. This is going to be a difficult challenge. Using my truck to do contracting work at Riverview Drive is not helping. Driving adds up so much faster than biking. It’s so easy and convenient!

Trivia question of the week: what is the “ecliptic,” and how does it relate to the signs of the zodiac? Answer next week.

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Keeping the Truck, but Keeping Track

This week, I decided to keep my truck and not sell it for now. It is simply too convenient. While I would love to have the challenge of being forced to bicycle everywhere, it doesn’t work with reality. So the compromise: new goal is to put more miles on my bike than on my truck. The challenge starts when I returned to Ohio. At that time, my truck had 81,566 miles on it. I track all my bike rides on Strava and my all-time miles were at 1,107 when I returned. My miles are at 82,097 and 1,470 currently. So, driving is ahead of biking 531 miles to 363 miles.

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Moonlight Bike Ride

Day 69 Without a Job

In the last 100 years, we have added extreme convenience to our lives. Cars drive us to just a few feet from every destination we can think of. We are climate-controlled the whole way. When we arrive we have climate control. People have actually come to believe that they need it. Do we need it? Is it really even better? No! We are missing out!

I’m not saying I want to go back to the stone age, but don’t be afraid to add some difficulty to your life! We’re designed for it! It makes us better! I haven’t had my truck (or any vehicle) with me for about a week. It’s been great. I feel great! I’m in better shape, and I get to eat twice as much food. I rode home from downtown Friday night 1AM. My headlight broke, but fortunately there was a full moon overhead to light the way. I’d have missed this with my truck to make the trip easy.

Link to the ride on Strava.

Ostrander to downtown for free outdoor ballet.

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Scottsdale, Commuter Cyclocross

5 July 2015, Day 14 Without a Job

It’s the day after the 4th of July. I’m here in Scottsdale with Andrew Haines. We rode our bikes to breakfast yesterday and I’ve been inspired to write about something I’ve been meaning to for a while. Scottsdale has some great dedicated bike paths, especially along the canals.

I’m working on an idea–that might already exist–and I’m calling it “commuter cyclocross.” If it does already exist, great, but it is not widespread enough. It should be mainstream. It solves so many problems for so many normal people!

How many working professionals want to bicycle, but say, “I don’t have time,” or “The roads are too dangerous.” A lot of people use these 2 excuses to not ride the expensive bikes that are in their garages with tires that have slowly deflated since they last rode several months ago.

The opposite end of the spectrum is hard-core cyclists who claim to enjoy sitting for hours on a seat made of carbon fiber that’s barely larger than the end of the post it’s attached to. They ride 60+ miles at a time, often in a big circle, and often on two-lane highways ignoring the fact that there are cars and trucks whizzing by at 55+ miles per hour. Let’s not forget the weeny little tires that go flat from gravel or a little broken glass. Last, but not least, the spandex shorts. Really? Wind resistance is a big deal, I understand, I’ve experienced it, but aren’t you trying to get a work-out anyway? You are just alienating regular people who are now in their cars sending text messages, swearing at you, and almost hitting you. Put on some regular shorts and be an ambassador for the activity!

Neither of the above situations appeals to me. I consider myself a “cyclocross commuter.” Cyclocross commuting entails the full end of the spectrum from beginning to end of using your bike as a tool to travel from point A to point B. That is, after all, the purpose of a bike! Your goal as a cyclocross commuter is to replace your automobile as much as possible with your bike. The advantages are many. You simultaneously:

Advantages

  1. Save fuel.
  2. Transform driving, traffic, and road rage–often the most stressful part of a typical office worker’s day–into light aerobic exercise that makes you feel good.
  3. Eliminate the daily trip to the gym goal that is another stress-causing item on your daily checklist.
  4. Learn your area from a totally different perspective than from the confining seat of your car.
  5. There are more. What are they?

There are challenges, but that’s all part of the fun.

Challenges

  1. You show up to work all sweaty. True, but your employer would rather you show up sweaty and happy than out of shape and stressed! Bring a full change of clothes (including your wet, nasty underwear of course) and get yourself a locker at work. You can put on those nasty clothes for your ride home. Who cares what you smell like then.
  2. You’ll have to eat significantly more food. Eating enough can become a challenge. If your workplace is far enough away, you can forget about dieting. Your new problem will be eating enough to keep weight on! You’ll spend more on food, but that’s alright, you saved that money on gas.
  3. It’s dangerous. I agree, it can be. That’s why I go to great lengths to avoid highways, two-lane roads, and especially those BS bike paths made of only paint that just entice cyclists out into dangerous traffic. Are they trying to kill people? Paint is not going to protect me from a car. Oh, but there are signs that tell motorists to watch for cyclists! No thanks. I’m not getting getting someone’s radiator jammed up my rear over a text message. Cities are competing with each other like Pepsi vs. Coke to build dedicated bike paths. Use them!
  4. You have to travel at night. There’s less traffic, it’s cooler, and with all the money you save on your gym membership and gas, you can get some pretty cool lights. You can’t have too many blinky red lights on your back. One on your helmet, one on your shirt, one on your bike and one on your bag. Redundancy!
  5. There are more challenges. What are they?

Cyclocross Commuting, The Checklist

  1. Get a versatile bike. I recommend starting by clicking here for the Ultimate Commuter Bike.
  2. Pick your most common trips of the day / week / month that are under about 15 miles one-way.
  3. Get on Google Earth or Google Maps and make your route. In the comfort of your home, find a way around the most dangerous parts. Where there aren’t dedicated bike paths, learn neighborhood streets. Find good places to stop for food and water.
  4. Pick a day when you have time and can afford to be late when you run into issues along the route. Expect the first ride to be frustrating.
  5. After your first ride, learn from it. Adjust your route. Go shopping for gear that will make it easier. Bags, lights, rain gear, you name it: you aren’t the first person to have the problem and somebody has already made a product to deal with it.
  6. Try again next week. The logistics get easier each time!

Alright, I’ve convinced Andrew to go riding in the July Arizona heat. I don’t want to disappoint! Our mission: grocery shopping, church, and get pictures for this post!

Great cyclocross commuter products:

Expensive shorts, but worth it. Find them on sale somewhere:

Carry your stuff without wearing a back-pack:

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The Ultimate Commuter Bike

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Bike to work, because driving cars everywhere makes us soft and weak.

This is the Ultimate Commuter Bike. The bike and accessories are tried and true by me for over 1400 miles and counting. Build one with the links in this post.

In order to set yourself up for commuter success, the right accessories are the key. Flat tires, you can’t have them. Theft, it might happen, but it can’t break the bank if it does. The sun is down half the time. You are going to have to ride in the dark.

It is simple and reliable. The bike is a single speed. The single speed chain never comes off and rarely needs adjusted. The bike itself, the Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno costs $399.

The “egg beater” pedal clips are great for beginners. They are designed for mountain biking, making them easy to get in and out of and impervious to dirt.

I have never had a single flat on the tires. The bike pump is portable and effective for keeping those tires hard and ready to ride.

Inexpensive: A simple, lightweight cable that you can wrap around the frame prevents crimes of opportunity, but short of carrying a U-Lock everywhere, theft can happen. $400 for the bike is the least you will pay for a legitimate bike. If it does get stolen–like mine did in 2012–hopefully you’ve gotten a few hundred miles out of it first.

Versatile: the cyclocross bike is good on the road, and still able to go off road when necessary unlike sissy pure road bikes with tiny tires.

Day and night: with the bright rechargeable AA battery powered headlight and AAA battery powered tail light, day and night riding is safe. With the single speed bike, you won’t go too fast for your light at night.

Other items that make your ride more enjoyable on the good days and bearable on the bad are a good pair of gloves. A good bike tool that is light and versatile is useful for on-the-road and at-home repair. Back sweat from a back pack is no fun, a good messenger bag eliminates this and gives you lots of compartments for little items you want for every ride. A water bottle with a removable bottom makes cleaning easy.

None of these accessories will make the ride easy. It will still be cold, dark, wet, and scary on your ride at times. Your success will always depend on your own fortitude, but these will remove any excuses you might have. I personally own and use each of these accessories and each is worth every penny I paid after hundreds of miles. The total accessories I purchased cost about $400.

Biking makes us lean and strong.