Another Bike Commuting update

Well, I didn't realize how I would just stop blogging pretty much, then use this to track commuting.

Today was my first ride with a bike trunk bag instead of a backpack. It was great. My back wasn't all sweaty and the ride just felt better.

On Tuesday I bought a bike rack and bag from Tom's bicycle shop, but had trouble installing it my bike doesn't have any attachment points for a rack, and the p-clamps that came with it are too small for my frame. Ended up going for a walk with the family to ace hardware and bought some bigger p-clamps and some washers because the clamps had larger holes that the nuts could fit through. Went on well, took some work to get it level.

So now the problems I have with it. The bag doesn't fit on the rack if I have my saddle bag, not sure why, this seems unusual, though I haven't researched it. Also, the rack bag is much smaller than my back pack and my clothes arrived wrinkled. I read that I could roll them and that should help prevent wrinkles, but I'm tempted to upgrade to a larger bag. Currently I have the banjo brothers #01040, and I'm looking at upgrading to the #01070. The 1070 has bungee cords on top and side panniers, not too found of the side panniers, because I was thinking I may want to get real ones, and it requires more effort to attach and remove. But I do like the bungee cord on top to strap things down that don't fit in the bag.

My goal with the bag is to carry my lunch and clothes, so I want to be able to take it off and on the bike easily. But maybe that shouldn't be the solution. Maybe I should just take things out of the bag and leave the bag attached to the rack.

So many options.

Great Ride today

Had a great ride today. I'm learning just how much motorists influence my ride. Everyone was really polite, and there were some people out exercising that exchanged "good morning" and a smile.

A bit warm, I do think getting rid of the backpack will help, but it is a surprising amount of money needed to get a rack and bag. Should be under $100, but over $70.

Made some adjustments to fit on my bike because after some long rides I wasn't feeling great. Actually the only adjustment I made was to move my seat to the front after watching and reading some articles on bike fit. I can tell I'm getting better at working with a bike too.

Anyways, got to work this morning feeling wonderful so I thought I would share.

Bike Commuting Link

http://commuteorlando.com/ontheroad/animations/narrowlane/narrowlane.html

I know most are drivers, but please understand some of the challenges presented in this video.

True Knowledge

During my time in God's word this morning I read Colossians 3. Specifically what stuck out to me was verse 10, "and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-- ".

This stuck out because another memory verse is 2 Pet 1:2-4

So now I'm curious, and run a search for "true knowledge" on biblegateway.com

1. Colossians 2:2
   that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself,
   Colossians 2:1-3 (in Context) Colossians 2 (Whole Chapter)
2. Colossians 3:10
   and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--
   Colossians 3:9-11 (in Context) Colossians 3 (Whole Chapter)
3. 2 Peter 1:3
   seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
   2 Peter 1:2-4 (in Context) 2 Peter 1 (Whole Chapter)
4. 2 Peter 1:8
   For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   2 Peter 1:7-9 (in Context) 2 Peter 1 (Whole Chapter)

Interesting, so let's try a search of knowledge, this may be a bit long. 153 results found. A couple are from Genesis dealing with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But over all the Bible seems to be in favor of knowledge. So why is blind faith a term that is associated with Christians? This should not be the case.

On a completely different subject, had a great ride into work this morning. A bit foggy, but over all good. I over dressed for the temperature, but that is just because I'm out of practice I think. I pulled over after the first 2 miles and took off my jacket, I still had a long sleeve base layer with a t-shirt over it.

Hope everyone is having a good day and spending time reading God's word as well as talking with Him.

A Passion for Riding

I don't think I have this. I enjoy riding, and I really don't like driving, so it is a wonderful mode of transportation. But I don't think I really enjoy just getting out and riding by myself. If I went out to ride with friends/family that is different, because I enjoy spending time with them doing whatever.

Now someone with more passion for riding then me is Jason Kearney. I think my desire is more to avoid the car. If I was closer I think I'd prefer to run/walk, but a bike gives me speed. It has other advantages as I think about it. A disadvantage is cost and time. Besides the initial cost of the bike, you need equipment for it, such as a pump. As far as time go you need to maintain the bike. This wouldn't be a big deal if I actually got rid of the car, but with a car and bike, the bike is just another vehicle to take care of. But as I thought about that, if I ran then I would have to take better care of myself, I wouldn't want to damage my knees. With a bike my knees are pretty safe, if the bike fits properly.

I didn't have a lot to say, but felt I should post before it becomes foreign to me. Maybe I just need to ride with others more often to build the passion. My little girl is almost 1, so now I need to get some infant bike helmets and we can go riding as a family.

Good Link

http://www.bikingbis.com/blog/_archives/2009/8/2/4275318.html

Talks about bike fit.

On a different note: On Thursday my car had a problem. On my way home, I shifted from 3rd to 4th and the stick shift went loose. Pulled in to a neighborhood, and some guys that were standing outside a house talking ended up helping me out. Took off the center console and found the connection between the stick and the cable broke. Did lots of searching online and couldn't find anything. Called Saturn about the problem and finally found the part is called a "shifter bushing". Well, Saturn sells the part for $40, but the part is on back order, so they can sell me the cable too for $220, and they will install it for $500. I think this is because to replace the cable you have to get to the transmission which requires more labor. Did some more searching online and found NAPA has the part for $20. Called O'Rielly's because they are closer, and they sell it for $25 but the one nearby doesn't have it in stock, but a couple others farther away do. So I went to NAPA, bought the part, installed the part in about 5-10 minutes. Shifted the gears great, and drove to work this morning.

Lesson from this: DON'T USE A DEALER. Useful for information, but their pricing is wrong.

But really, the bike fit link is pretty cool. Now I want to go home and see how my bike fits.

Fair Weather

Well, it is raining pretty good this morning. No riding for me. I'm tempted to take commuting by bike more seriously, but there isn't much reason for it. I enjoy it, but I don't think I would enjoy it so much in the rain. I'm not really saving much money, I have a fuel efficient car and only go 10miles round trip.

On a different note, this weeks memory verse is Joshua 1:8. Memorizing scripture helps combat memory lose. So try to keep that mind active and exercised.

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

Beautiful I say. started out in the mid 60's, ended in the upper 60's. Calm winds. Low traffic. I even got to see David this morning. Not sure why he was crying, but he got up over an hour early, so we got to spend some time together.

But there is one minor problem. See, I grabbed a nice long sleeve collared shirt this morning. Well, I hadn't tried it on before. I got it from my dad when he went through his clothes to free up some space. Well, the sleeves are too short for me. I didn't realize we had different arm lengths, but it makes since. So now I have to figure out if I want to wear my riding shirt, which is a nice blue short sleeve t-shirt, or endure tight sleeves, or I could attempt to roll the sleeves up (which I'm not sure how that would look). The t-shirt isn't so bad, I can get away with wearing it at work, the issue is the date with my beautiful wife tonight. I could have her bring me a shirt to wear. Oh the possibilities.

Back to the good parts. I was able to maintain a cruising speed of about 20mph. This sounds better than it was, because I pretty much stop or slow at every light, so I only cruise for less than a mile at a time.

Commute Update

A beautiful morning today. Rode in this morning with a slight head wind, which dropped my speed some. I've been improving a lot. Before my average speed was around 16mph, this morning with the head wind I had 17.4mph. I can usually average 18-19mph now.

So on the way to work this morning I was thinking, should my goal be to get faster and use my commute for training, or to take it easy and enjoy the ride. I decided it should be both. I don't want to arrive at work really hot and needing several minutes to cool down, but at the same time I like getting faster. So I can push some, just not much. I think this is pretty good. I enjoy my commute, and it is only 5 minutes slower than the car. For those unaware, my commute is only 5 miles.

Also, Happy Birthday to my brother. Hope the Lord has given you peace on what activity to pursue.

Beautiful Morning

Beautiful is a good word for this morning. 63 degrees when I went out wearing my work clothes. Great ride, except for one stinky truck that I could smell when it was about 100 yards in front of me.

I really would like to do more biking than just commuting to work. But I think I need to tune up the other bikes so the whole family can go.

Now that I think about it, I have to do maintenance on all the vehicles. I think both cars need oil changes and could use an overall check up. Perhaps this weekend I'll have some time to handle that.

I'm thinking it is worth it to do the maintenance myself. I just need to get someone else to help out, it makes the work so much more enjoyable.

What about you? Do you maintain your own vehicles or take it in? Do you follow the recommended maintenance schedule or take longer between oil changes and other services?

So what has been happening

Not sure why I haven't had time to post anything, but I've been meaning to. The boat bed is done and looks great. I've been trying to get some pictures to post here, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Angie and Jason did a wonderful job painting a faux wood grain. David loves his new bed, I have some video of him on it, maybe I can try posting that too. Though that won't be till the weekend when I transfer the tape onto my hard drive.

Started riding my bike again. My annoying cough that has been lingering is finally gone, so I don't mind breathing in the cool morning air. Today it was about 48 degrees, and I over dressed. I'm thinking just my work pants and not the windbreaker over them. Also a lighter top layer, I wore my yellow long sleeve pull over.

Easter was a great time, but very exhausting. We have way too much chocolate too. David loved it, but I think we had too many eggs for the kids. He would pick one up and try to open it instead of gathering them all first.

DFL is going well, but I think I need to have my quiet time on top of doing my DFL. This will require a lot more time, but I think it is needed. I have really missed have a more relaxing QT.

Our house is still somewhat of a wreck. Especially the garage. I need to get it cleaned up from the boat bed project. We also need to get our house cleaned up from having company stay with us. But hopefully that can get done this weekend.

The kids have been doing really well. Katie is sitting up easily, David is talking more and more, you can now ask him if he wants water or milk. Katie rolls over, but doesn't seem to be that interested in crawling yet.

Things have been pretty busy at home, and I need to take advantage of the time available to get things done. We have been failing at doing any workouts which needs to change. Hopefully this weekend we will get the rest we need and be able to get the house in order.

New temptation

Well, maybe not what some expect. But for no good reason I am interested in this bike. Not sure why I want this, but it is a good price and looks to be a nice bike. For now my road bike is fine, but for some reason I'm interested in a new one. For the record, the bike is the allant

The Soho is also interesting. It is about twice the price, but has a belt drive system and internal gear hub on the rear.

So today I had some time during the kids naps to play with my bike. Noticed I had two teeth broken on the front middle gear. All the other gears were starting to show a little bit of wear. I lubed it and tuned the derailleurs. Not very good at it yet, it took me some time and I'm not sure if I even improved anything.

But back to the trek bike. Looks nice right? I think a lot of the temptation is fenders. I looked and asked around and it seems my bike won't fit any fenders. I'm not even sure if I need fenders. I don't really plan to ride in the rain. I also like the idea of having a rack on the back, but again I don't know if I would even use it. I think the only valid desire for it is a more comfortable ride.

Still learning

Eternal Perspective
This is what I've been looking at this week for DFL. Matthew 6:33 is the memory verse, but you need the verses before it to understand what "these things" are. Luke 6:20-24 I believe is the passage we are looking at. I think this has really helped me to endure the difficulty of getting a driver's license. I think without studying this so recently I would have been annoyed by the tag agency server crashing when I try to renew my license.

Bike Care
I do not maintain my bike properly. I need to invest in some cleaner/lubricant for my bike and be better about it. Probably should do something for my car too, it is more expensive though.

Bike clothing
I'm still trying to figure out why my arms get so hot and sweaty. my hands get cold, but that is fixed with heavy gloves, my torso has the wind to cool it off, but my arms just sit there being hot. Maybe I just need to not wear the long sleeve under the jacket. I think this stuff will be worked out over time.

Marriage
I can do better. It sounds better in my head. Let me try rephrasing that... "I can do more for my marriage." That sounds better right? My marriage is great, but it can still be improved. I think a lot of that requires the eternal perspective. I need to focus on what really counts. Let the little things go, but also do little things that help. Maybe a better way to say that is to deny myself. Luke 9:23-24

Blogging
Somewhat fun, but hard to fit into the schedule. I think doing themes is a good motivation to make posts, but just doing random things like this is harder. Hopefully I can pick a theme soon and get in a good routine. I like blogging because it provides an opportunity to think things out and reflect.

Time
So much time, yet it is so easily lost. Lost may not be the best word. Maybe wasted. Time is so easily wasted.

15 minutes makes a big difference

So I started meeting with Andy from church on Monday mornings as part of DFL. So I decided to wake up at 6 instead of 6:15. Monday was pretty rushed because we met at Starbuck's but we are thinking of meeting at IHOP instead so we can enjoy breakfast and not have to rush through it at home.

Well, today I get up with the plan of biking to work. Look at the weather forecast, it is already above freezing. Last night it was forcasted to be 26 degrees. So I was very happy to see it 8 degrees higher. I prepared everything last night so I wouldn't make a lot of noise and wake others up. That helped, because David woke up coughing at 6:05. I really think that extra 15minutes this morning helped make my morning calmer and more enjoyable. I was able to have my morning quiet time, eat breakfast, prepare my lunch and feed David. Things went pretty well. But now in order to get 8 hours of sleep I need to be asleep by 10pm. That is going to be pretty hard.

Now to leave you with this week's memory verse.
Luke 14:26
"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."
Luke 14:26

Random ramblings

Well, I biked in this morning. It was a struggle to bike or not. I have some work for a class tonight and I haven't done it all. Hopefully I can finish before the class after work. It is amazing how little time it feels like I have. I'm not sure how others have time for things. I don't work out, I don't watch TV. I think the kids just keep me busy.
Here is my week:
Sunday is church and clean house or do other choirs/projects
Monday evening I spend with friends, it is pretty much my day off from the kids. Though I help with feeding dinner and David is always interesting in whatever game we play, so he usually sits on my lap. So maybe not my day off, but Julie sure tries to make it that way, David just won't have any of that.
Tuesday evening is date night, but we are thinking of switching this with Thursday so Julie can do some exercise program at church.
Wednesday evening is the class at church that just started up last week. We have this evening available sometimes to do choirs and other things.
Thursday is Julie's night off, so I am with the kids that evening.
Friday is the weekend. There is actually time available here.
Saturday is time to relax or do projects.

So I'm thinking my blogging is boring, and I may try to put some real content in here. I may make it a good place to post my ramblings on the class I'm taking. It is a very challenging class, so it would be good to blog about I think.

Quick Bike review. About 35 degrees this morning, wore same as yesterday plus bike shorts under athletic pants, the padding was great. Also I wore a my coat shell to protect from the wind with my thinsulate gloves over my thin gloves. My upper body was very hot the last mile. I unzipped the coat shell and took off the thick gloves which helped a lot. The first three miles were very comfy. Oh, I forgot, I wore my ski goggles too which worked really well. Next time I should probably do without the shell at this temp. It was supposed to be mid 20's but wasn't.

Bike commuting update

Rode to work today. It has been a long time, so it was hard to get up and out so early. Left the house just after 7:00, arrived at work about 7:40. The temperature was about 40 degrees, started at 39, then ended at 41. It was dark for all but the last mile when it was gray.

Clothing:
feet: Polly-pro socks, regular socks, NB tennis shoes - comfortable
legs: new cycling base layer, wind breaker pants with insulation - comfy
torso: long sleeve wicking shirt, yellow long sleeve fleece - comfy
hands: new polar tec gloves - cold
head: borrowed balaclava pulled down to chin, glasses; tried goggles, but that fogged glasses, could have tried goggles no glasses. wind made eyes water, otherwise comfy

Bike Log

This morning was nice weather.  Started out just over 50 degrees, and warmed.  It was pretty dark.  Probably should replace the batteries in the back light because I really don't want them going dim.  

Wore 

insulated windbreaker pants

cotton undershirt and yellow fleece

insulated gloves.

Took a new route through the neighborhood.  Stopped before coming out on garnett and switched gloves out for bike cutoff gloves, and took off the fleece.  May have been too cold with just the undershirt, but too hot with the fleece.  Pants worked well.  Pushed too hard at 61st and Garnett, need to remember to not go so fast.

Also think of doing a different blog to track this info or something.  Put it somewhere else maybe.

Bike Log

Thought I was needing to start logging my bike conditions.  As it gets colder I want to know what works and what doesn't.  For those who don't know I've started biking to work a few times a week.  Well, now it is cold.  Temp this morning was about 46 degrees starting out.

This morning I wore 

nike long sleeve coolmax shirt and yellow fleece

snow gloves

North Face hat

kahki work ants and insulated windbreaker pants

cotton socks and New balance shoes.

My feet were cold, but everything else went pretty well.  I may need to try a face mask, because going at 20mph makes the air very cold against the face.  Probably should also tuck my shirt in, at the begining it was pretty cold.  Also I should probably wear some socks other than cotton.