Be careful what you wish for…
Today was perfect bike weather; a couple of degrees either side of 70, brilliant sunshine and not enough wind to flutter the leaves.
I got to work 45 minutes early, thinking as I walked in, Geeze, on a day like today, it would be nice if the ride was just a bit longer.
I parked my bike, reached into my bag and discovered the ride would three times longer. I’d left my tri-focals on the desk at home. My old sunglasses with the prescription from teh 90s in frames from the 80s were not going to get me through the night.
I hopped back on the bike and spun along home. Inbound, traffic was much lighter, and the back-up I wanted to avoid by leaving for work early was backed-up on University Ave about a half-mile.
I’d toyed with the idea of using Main St to get to work, but I’d wanted to measure my regular route. (2.5 miles each way.) I used the return trip to try out Main St. It couldn’t be more backed-up than University, I thought.
It wasn’t. Traffic flowed freely and except for the big ass (read: steep) hill at Goodman and Main for the railyard overpass, it’s mostly downhill all the way to the library, with a few level stretches thrown in. It’s 0.35 miles longer (big whoop!), but a much nicer ride in 5:30 traffic.
Oh, and I made it back to work with 10 minutes to spare, even after taking a few minutes at home to pee then drink a half-liter of water. And several stops along the way back because I’d kicked the cyclometer sensor. The speed sensor was clicking on the magnet and wheel reflector and the cadence was registering zero.
On the way home tonight, (via the regular route which gets all the uphill portions out of the way in the first third or so) it was 55°. Wearing only my t-shirt, initially I was chilled. I thought about stopping to put on my jacket, then decided to see how it was after I’d warmed up. I completely forgot about it within a half-mile.
Starting off from the light at Blossom Rd and University Ave, a kid on a bike recognized me from the library. “Hey, it’s the library guy!”, he shouted. That felt good. And it felt good that here I was, setting a good example by having my lights on and stopping for a red light when no cars were coming.
After doing some reading on the bike forums, I’ve decided that I’ll work on increasing my cadence this week. All reports from commuters have said that, while one may get a bit more winded, it’s far easier on the legs than mashing a higher gear at lower cadence.
I rode all four legs today one gear lower than usual and increased my cadence to maintain about the same speed as usual. I never did get the cadence sensor working tonight, so I’m only guessing that I averaged around 75 as compared to yesterday’s 65–70. That’s a good start and my legs do feel better tonight. We’ll see how they feel in the morning.
Another thing I noticed during and after yesterday’s ride is that I’m doing most of the pedaling with my right leg. I’m working on evening that out too. That one takes a lot of conscious effort.
Conflict resolution
The Corner Store has no place to lock a bike. Nothing at all. Can’t even lock it to the dumpster. I’d wanted to be able to stop on the way home, rather than make a separate trip walking. This has bothered me and I’d planned to ask the owner about it next time I see him.
Once I started working at the library tonight I was thinking about how it really is true that there’s much less muscle pain after a ride if I have some cool-down walking right after. And early in my shift on Mondays, I do some tasks that are more walking than the usual sitting, putting a cart in order, and shelving it.
Aha, I thought. If I get home, lock the bike, dump my bag in the kitchen and walk over to The Corner Store right after my ride, that can be a cool-down walk. It seems to have worked. And it resolved the slowly-building resentment (an AA term, not quite the dictionary definition) I’d had towards the absence of a bike rack there.
