Quickie
Yikes! It’s been weeks already without an entry. Tonight Von IM’d while I was at the meeting, so when I got home, I called. She reminded me it’s been a while, then we caught up for nearly an hour.
So, in brief, the server upgrade weekend went well enough. I expected some glitches, but I didn’t know where they’d be. They appeared. Some I fixed myself and others I threw money at. In the end it turned out about like I’d expected. And I never freaked, nor did any of my clients. It was good.
Next, I’m working on two new sites for two new clients. One is a real stretch for me, so I’ve been spending a lot of time—most of which won’t be billable—on that.
Two of my co-workers at the library are out for most of the month and into next month. That’s 50%, BTW. So I’ve been picking up extra shifts at the library too.
The sleep study is turning out to be more study than treatment. I got frustrated this week and talked about that with the doc. When she ran the numbers from my sleep diary, she started getting concerned too. We’re going to see how it goes this week.
Meanwhile, the weather’s slowly turning. We had a few 70° teaser days, then back to March. Even so, we’ve had a lot more sun that we usually get. It’s been sunny most of this week. Highs in the mid 30s, but the wind—right off the lake—carries considerable bite. It feels weird to be waiting for the bus in the sun next to a time-temperature clock that says 37° in my heavy winter coat with my hood up and pulled tight against the wind.
Several small things have come together that caused me to start thinking about buying a bicycle. I’m spending a lot more time lately going around town, and waiting for the bus, then traveling around slowly on it, are starting to get in the way. After all these years of riding it, I’m starting to feel that it uses up too much of my time.
Plus, they’re doing this whole overhaul of the fare system to encourage suburban riders to use it. At a cost to those of us in the city. I could support a fare increase. But they’re taking away transfers and per-ride passes.
If it takes two (or three) buses to get someplace, you now have to pay full-fare each time you board, instead of one full-fare and a 15¢ transfer. (Same goes for the ride back.) Meanwhile, all the suburban fares have been dropped from as high as $5.50 to the same $1.25 we pay in the city.
As for the passes, there are no more 10-ride and 20-ride passes. Everything’s time-limited. There’s an all-day pass (which drops 50¢ in price) which is supposed to work out for those of us in the city who used to use transfers. There are new 3-day and 5-day passes which join the 31-day passes for regular commuters. Trouble is, I use the bus three or four days a week, and only two of those days are consecutive.
Any way you slice it, my costs go up.
Sorry. I’m a big fan of the bus, and as I said, I don’t mind a fare increase, but I’m not about to subsidize commuters from the Park-and-Ride runs in the suburbs.
And I’m thinking that maybe if I get some exercise, it’ll tire my body out enough that I could sleep.
So a month or so ago I started thinking about a bike. Thursday I stopped at the bike shop down the street. I’d done some research, but kept an open mind. I went in and laid out the facts as I knew them:
- I’m pushing 50.
- I have one bum knee.
- I’ve been a smoker for about 35 years.
- I haven’t been on a bike in about 35 years. (Funny how that’s the same as the smoking.)
- I want something to commute with in place of the bus.
- My typical commute is 10 to 12 miles round-trip, done in three legs.
- One hill big enough to have a name (and a reservoir on top) is in the middle of two legs of the commute.
- I need to be able to carry the bike up the fire escape when I get home.
- It will live outside on the fire escape.
- I don’t want to have to tinker and fuss with it.
- I’m not sure the whole idea will work out for me.
The guy asked a few questions while we talked. Took maybe 20 minutes before he walked over to one of the hundreds and hundreds of bikes in the shop and pulled one out into the aisle.
“I think you should start looking at one like this,” he said. “We have some that cost less, and a lot that are more. This one’s about midway.”
Then he went on about it. While there are many names, this manufacturer calls this type of bike a hybrid. It’s a cross between a mountain bike and a road bike, and generally suited to commuters, occasional users and novices. It has the suspension, frame and handlebars of a mountain bike, but with the tires and gears of a road bike.
It’s actually the same model I’d figured would be the best compromise for me when I was looking at the web site.
They lent me a helmet and I took it for a test ride. The parking lot is several acres and even includes a pretty steep hill. I tooled around for a good 15 or 20 minutes checking the ride, the brakes, the shifting and the hill.
The aluminum frame and alloy everything else make it light enough I was doing one-armed curls with the thing—after my test ride. My backpack is frequently heavier, loaded with either books or groceries.
At this point I should interject that the reason I chose yesterday is because I was exhausted from too many nights of too little sleep and my knee was really, really bothering me. Like, I was limping badly and begged a ride to the bike shop.
I figured it should be an acid test. If I get tired or hurt my knee at work, I still need to able to get home, right?
Plus, I won’t have all the money until next month.
Anyway, the test ride went so well, that I would have bought it right then and there. I suppose I could have too, but money would have been really, really tight the week after next.
And I’m not sure what happened, but my knee felt fine after the ride and I walked the mile or so home with no limp and it hasn’t bothered me since.
This is the bike. (Only I’m getting the alternate silver fade paint job.) With a helmet, lock, some blinky lights and tax, it comes in at just under the $500 I budgeted.
I’ll be sure to alert the media in a couple of weeks when I actually buy it.
March 22nd, 2006 at 5:57 pm EST
Looks a little like mine, but I have forest green. Maybe I’ll look at the make/model of it. I think mine is a Scwinn, tho.