Notes from James

Bike to Work #37 - Still Rolling

Still rolling! Got stopped by a train, but tried a few new minor route changes. Wore my jacket for the first time today, but took it off after about 20 minutes.

Bike to Work #36 - Money for Nothing

On my way back home, I spied a credit card lying near the curb of Sterrettania, near the Giant Eagle on 26th Street. I looked through various internet directories and the phone book trying to track the person down, but I didn't feel like paying $9.95 to get their phone number. So, I called the number on the back of the card. They were surprised that I had called to let them know I had found it, and promptly cancelled it. "Most people aren't as honest as you are," said the fellow on the phone. It's a shame that it's probably true. In fact, I was debating on calling it in because of the very real threat of being sued or under suspicion for stealing a card. I'm glad I did, though - I would hope that someone would do the same for me.

Bike to Work #35 - Summer Draws to a Close

Nice rides both ways. It was hot and humid - and my seat was wet - but it was a decent ride. I need to enjoy the rides now, especially before it gets too dark in the mornings. This morning was a bit sunny, but the sun had just peeked over the horizon when I started. It's going to be peeking later and later as winter nears.

Bike to Work #34 - Misty Morning

This morning was a bit misty, but the back taillight performed wonderfully. The evening ride was much better...mid 70s and sunny.

Bike to Work #33 - Getting Darker

A bit rainy today. The roads were damp, but nothing to stop me from a fast bike to work. I used my taillight on the way in to provide a bit of warning to the other drivers. It was pretty dim, and I'm expecting it to keep getting dimmer and dimmer as the days get shorter. For me, it's to brave the weather and keep going as long as possible before the night or snow stops me. We'll see how long it goes. My hope is at least to the end of September.

Fry Road Course Map

Here is a map that Joe Orinko drew up for the Fry Road biking course, a "medium" course of 14 miles from Walnut Creek Middle School up to Fry Road, Bearcreek Road, and back again via Heidler Road. Do not be fooled by the little triangle and try to cut it short - that is the most difficult (and most rewarding) part of the entire course. The numbers are elevations, so be forewarned!

Bike to Work #32 - Celebrate Erie

10th street is paved now. Smooth as silk. If you need to bike town, I heartily recommend it. In combination with various "alternate" bike paths, I made it to work in a hair under 44 minutes. A record for me. Time to change out the back tire.

I needed to pick up a rental car afterward. Surprisingly enough, people didn't seem to mind that I wheeled my bike into the Erie International Airport (Tom Ridge Field, if you're nasty). I was waiting for someone to brand me a terrorist. Only got one smart ass remark ("is that our rental car?"). I had to laugh.

Bike to Work #31 - Free Baby

I forgot to mention: on my way to work about two days ago, I spotted a baby in a stroller looking back at me. I didn't see anybody else around, so I got a bit nervous. However, as I passed the house that the baby was parked in front of, the mother came out of the side door. No free baby today.

Hot and windy, but made it to work in about 46:30, an extremely good time. Not sure how I did that one. The days I feel slow, I'm actually fast, and vice versa.

Bike to Work #30 - Thirty Days!

Amazing that I've completed 30 days on the bike. Still got more in me, but it's amazing. If I multiply my trip, around 20 miles round trip (actually, a bit more, but I'll play it conservatively), this comes out to 600 miles! If my car gets 10 miles to the gallon, and gas is about $2.60 now, that comes out to $156 saved. Now that I write it down, it doesn't sound that great, does it? But think of the health benefits! Plus the lack of wear and tear on my vehicle.

It's really hard for me to go back to the car these days. I used it yesterday, and I felt guilty.

Bike to Work #29 - No Sushi

I was going to stop for sushi on the way home, but the parking lot was full.

Bike to Work #28 - Mixed Tires

I got a pair of slick (treadless) tires for my bike. After some screwing around, I ended up with one in the front, and my regular, knobby, mountain bike tire in the back. It performed a lot better than it did with the knobby tire in front, and was much smoother with vibrations. I could really feel the water on the ground, and only had trouble when I turned too hard on a sandy patch. Otherwise, the one in front works wonderfully. I'm still going to change out the back one eventually, but after blowing a tube within 5 minutes of changing the tire, I'm still a bit leery. I got the el-cheapo slicks from Performance Bike - About $5 a piece. I know, I know...big spender. Works for me, though!

Hats off to Tom J., Darren G., and others at work who are starting bike commuting as well! Spread the word!

Visit to Axe Murder Hollow

Went on a bike ride today, and met a fellow and his wife who were looking for Axe Murder Hollow. I've never found it myself, but here is my best guess where it's supposed to be, by using the limitless power of the internet!

Map

For my money, the spooky abandoned house at the corner of Pinetree and Thomas Road is much more thrilling.

Bike to Work #27 - Roar on the Shore

On the way back home along the bayfront, I noted a high number of people sitting for no apparent reason. I asked an older couple what was up, and they let me know the Roar on the Shore motorcycle rally was taking place. I parked on the side and waited, and got to see Peter Fonda bike past, plus several hundred motorcycles, mostly hogs. My favorites were the Indians and the one fellow who had an inflatable doll (you know the type) as his biker chick. Biked down to Saras for a burger, then back home.

Got some slick tires, but I can't get the thorn resistant tube in the back tire -- it's just too thick. I may try riding with one slick up front, and leaving the knobby mountain bike tire in the back. I figure I'd rather play it safe with the thorn resistant tube in the back - those have saved me far too many times - rather than get a minute bit of speed increase with a thinner tube and tire.

Now to put everything back together again.

Bike to Work #25-26 - Rainstorm

Got caught in the rainstorm on Tuesday. It actually wasn't all that bad...I biked 7 minutes, then it was sunny out again. I had plenty of time to dry off. As long as it's not raining when it's time for me to commute to work, I'll definitely consider the ride.

Well, I made my goal of 25 rides for the year. Now to see how far I can go before it gets too dark or too cold.

Thorn Resistant Tubes

I replaced my son's back tube with a thorn resistant tube after the patch repairs (with Slime patches) didn't take...they still leaked out air. Not sure what I did wrong, but it obviously wasn't working, even after I tried fixing it a second time. His tube had two small holes from rose bush thorns, so hopefully this will stop that kind of stuff in the future. After I changed out my wife's back tube and my own, I haven't had the same troubles.

Bike to Work #24 - One Week!

Well, I completed 5 days in a row to work. I think 3 days would be nicer, with breaks in between to let myself recover. Definately not a bad experience. Plus, I only have one more day to meeting my goal of 25 rides to work. Of course, I'm going to keep biking as much as possible. Yes, it takes a bit longer, but it's more like fun, and something to look forward to at the end of the day.

I'm thinking about starting another website devoted to bicycle commuting, but there are plenty of those around already. I just don't really like them. ☺

Erie Bayfront Commute Made Nicer Thanks to the Convention Center

Not being a supporter of the new Erie (PA) convention center, I did find one thing in its construction that made my life easier: the path along the bayfront has been paved across the train tracks! No more getting my teeth jarred when crossing the two sets of train tracks by the old GAF plant during my bike commute. Go Erie!

Bike to Work #23 - Four Days This Week and Counting...

Awfully rough this morning, but it was a decent ride overall. I got kind of lost on the way home on 16th street, but survived the experience. The desolation made me a bit nervous. The oil on my chain is holding nicely. I think it's making a good difference.

I think the ladies in Frontier Park do yoga on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but I didn't see them on Monday.

Bike to Work #22 - Exhausted

Three days this week. And the ride home was hot and humid, and I felt totally exhausted. The only thing going for it was that I oiled my chain and it is a lot smoother.

Don't know if I'll bike in tomorrow or not...too tired.

Bike to Work #21 - Kebab

Picked up kebab (gyros) at New York Lunch on the way home. Unfortunately, they leaked a bit. Next time, bring extra plastic bags.

Four more rides until my goal is reached! (Then what?) Not sure if I'm going to bike tomorrow...tired from today.

Bike to Work #20 and a Snake

No big deal. A beautiful day; biking is often easier than driving. Did some biking yesterday...saw an Eastern Massasauga snake on a road near Asbury Elementary while on an excursion to Axe Murder Hollow, or that vicinity. Evidentally, the snake is poisonous. However, due to it striking at us while we were a comfortable 4 to 5 feet away, we were never in harms way.

Looks like I'll make my goal of 25 rides pretty soon. I'm interested in knowing what the final number is going to be.

Bike to Work #19

I'm tired. After getting out of work late, it was sunset and I had just missed the thunderstorm that rolled in through Erie. The ride back was fairly uneventful, but now I know it's time for me to purchase some lights. I just need to be more visible.

At least I'm not that soaked from the rain.

Bike to Work #18 - Rain, Lessons Learned

I braved the weather and made it to work with only a spattering of raindrops on me. Unfortunately, the rain on the road (not puddles, just the damp) sprayed up and thoroughly soaked my butt. Worse yet, when I got to work, I found out that my backpack was not as water resistant as I hoped, and I had a couple of large wet areas on my pants. Luckily enough they dried out soo enough, but the moral of the story is:

Put your clothes in a waterproof (plastic?) bag

I already do that for my lunch, time to do that for the clothes as well.

By the way, I thought I was much further along in my goal for 25 rides for the year. I'm confident that I can make it. For some reason, I thought I had hit #20 already.

Bike to Work #17 - Almost Rain

A cloudy day, a bit of rain in the air. Nothing to stop me, though.

Bike to Work #16 - Wind

Pretty windy.

Investigated the clothes a bit closer. Here's what I found:

• Leather jacket, maybe sheepskin
• Winter coat with Killington ski lift pass
• 2 pairs of shoes, one strange, the other wing tips
• One pair of underwear
• Did not appear to have anything in the pockets
• Lots of flies
• Still no body

I'm really not obsessing over this! It just kind of makes me wonder what happened.

Also saw a groundhog on the way back. It wasn't happy to see me.

Bike to Work #15 - Strange Clothes But No Body

Ten more bike rides to meet my goal. Need to set the goal higher next year, I suspect.

Sneakatron asked me if I ever see anything unusual on the way to work. I replied that no, I didn't. Usually it's roadkill, bunnies, and such. Today, by the library downtown, I spied a bunch of clothes strewn around an unused railroad spur. The clothes looked mostly like a businessman stripped down and threw them around. I circled back to take a look and to see if there was a body or anything else near there. Nothing but clothes. I can't help but wonder how they got there.

Bike To Work #14 - Back To Work

Met a fellow named Tom who bikes 8 1/2 miles to work. Seems like everybody has a road bike and is faster than me - I have a Swedish Crescent Lodur mountain bike, with knobby tires and lots of drag. However, I don't let it stop me, so don't let it stop you!

Greets to Rachel, who bikes a mile and a half to work! If I had that distance, I'd consider the wintertime too. I wonder how that's going to turn up.

My odometer, which I set in kilometers (part of the Swedish thing) should hit 1000 fairly soon. Looking forward to that one.

Bicycle Commuting - Reboot

Planning to do the bicycle commute tomorrow (Erie PA, for the search engines). This will be ride #14, but I realize that I haven't ridden the long commute in over two weeks! It's a bit daunting again, trying to remember how long the trip is. It's really not that bad, but a bit scary to think about after such a long time off. I did do quite a bit of biking while on vacation (Cape Cod has wonderful bike trails), so I don't feel out of shape. Not sure, but I'm getting butterflies in my stomach again.

If anybody else out there is bike commuting in Erie, PA, I'd love to hear from you! Or just even riding for fun.

Back From the Outdoors

Back from camping vacation to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Cape Cod. Did quite a bit of biking along the Cape Cod Rail Trail from Eastham, Massachusetts. It was very nice to base out of one location and just do lots of biking back and forth.

Back to reality...soon!

Bike to Work #13 - Half of My Goal

No big deal on the bike to work again today. However, I am now half of my goal for the year! Maybe I set my goal too low?

Say, for example, I work 52 weeks in a year. Maybe high, but good for our purposes. That's 52 x 5 trips to work. That's 260 trips. 25 rides to work is about 9% of my trips. Reducing it by 10% isn't really that much. Well, I'm going to keep going as long as I can, see how it works out. It will be interesting to see what happens.

The other day, I drove my car to work after biking and a weekend. Felt strange, and I longed for the bike again.

Bike to Work #12 - Back on the Road

Nothing special today. Just hot, sweaty, but things performed as expected. Met another fellow biking to his work at the wastewater treatment plant. Always good to meet new people!

Fixing the Rear Derailleur Cable

While changing my tube in the flat I got last week, I noticed that the the cable guide under the bottom bracket (pedals) was broken. I picked up the part and a new cable, and replaced it (the first time). I didn't have any problems doing that, and even adjusting the derailleur settings afterward went smoothly. There was only one problem that I had that I didn't anticipate: cutting the cable short. Originally, I had hoped to solder the end so it wouldn't fray as I do not own one of the cable end covers or the tools needed to put it on. However, the solder didn't stick to the cable. I looked for some shrink tubing but, lacking that, settled for some of the edge molding that you use to hold the screens in on screen doors and windows. It had a hole in the center, and fit quite snugly. I tried to melt the end a bit, but that didn't work that well. We'll see how well it holds up. At least it looks better than just wrapping it in tape, which is what I did last time.

Bike to work #11 - No big deal

Biked to work - no problems this time. After Monday's pains, including some jerk who was blowing his horn at me for no apparent reason and a flat tire, today's ride was a breeze. I put in a thorn resistant tube in the back tire (where I got the flat), and realized that the cable guide under the cranks was broken. Yay -- yet another thing to fix. At least it appears to be holding on for the short term.

Bike to Work #10 - Disaster Strikes

Biking home from work today with a friend of mine, I got about 1/4 of the way home when my back tire lost pressure. I took it off and tried to find a hole, but it still held the pressure in. We started again and the rest of the pressure went out. He cut ahead of me with the intention of picking me up, but I beat him back. I ended up calling my wife to pick me up, somewhere near the halfway mark after trying to make a stop at Wheels Bike Shop. Closed, unfortunately, by a few minutes.

After getting home, I found the problem rather quickly: a small shard of glass had penetrated my tire and gashed the tube. If I had seen that on the road, I could have fixed it. However, I might have punctured a new tube in the process.

The plan is to get some thicker tubes - the thorn resistant tubes like the ones I put on my wife's bike. I previously blew out 2 of them running across rose bushes (don't ask) until I switched. No problems since. Maybe put some tire liners in as well.

The plan also included taking a spare tube - just in case.

Bike to Work #9

One of the best things I like about the bike ride in the morning are the rabbits. They are usually running away from me, but they always give me a smile.

Stopped and picked up Taco Bell on the way home (about 20 minutes from destination). Put them in my backpack. The ride was still pretty grueling afterward, and I didn't come anywhere near the 52:30 time I did yesterday (two days in a row...woohoo!!). However, dinner was still warm when I arrived. I was warm too.

Almost 2/5 toward my goal of 25 rides before summer is out. Pretty confident I can beat that. Wondering what the real number is going to be.

Knobby tires make more work, though.

Bike to Work #8

Uneventful bike to work...just nice and relaxing. Of course, I crashed out later this evening. May even bike again tomorrow...two days in a row?!

Bike to Work #7

Much better than #6. Time to home: under an hour. Nice and sweaty! Still think the goal of 25 rides this year is doable.

Bike to Work #6 - Pain

Biked to work on Thursday, June 7th. There was tremendous heat, but wasn't too bad really. However, on the way home, there was a steady breeze in my face, and taking so much time off from the last ride didn't help much. By the time I got home, I was really burned out, and passed out on the couch shortly after dinner. I think I got good exercise, though.

Stopped on the way home at Dobbins Landing and checked out the Niña, a replica of the Christopher Columbus ship. Tiny - amazing that people would sail across the ocean on such a small and sluggish looking vessel.

Anyway, the plan is to ride in again on Monday or Tuesday next week, and try to get a few more rides in. I was hoping to ride twice a week in, but I don't know if I can do that. I'd like to try to do at least 25 rides in to work by the end of the year. Whether or not this goal is attainable remains to be seen.

Bike to Work #5

Easy bike to work today. The weather said it was going to be thunderstorms but, as is typical Erie, nothing happened. Legs are a bit tired, but no big deal! Twice this week. Hope to do the same next week. Met yet another biker, who did from Frontier Park to Lawrence Park. He had a lot better equipment than I do, but a shorter commute. Equipment isn't everything, obviously.

Bike to Work #4

I'm going to have to add a biking category. Biked to work again, this time along the Bayfront. The weather was beautiful, but I got a bit twisted up at Frontier Park and had to cut across the lawn a bit. It was a great, fast ride, and home was pretty good as well. Lawrence Park to State Street in about 20 minutes -- pretty good for me. I thought I'd be home a lot faster, but the uphill along Sterrettania is pretty brutal on me, especially after a mile long ride.

Support HR 1498

Support HR 1498, the transportation fringe benefit to bicycle commuters! Read the full text and details here. Tax breaks for cyclists!

`(F) BICYCLE COMMUTING ALLOWANCE- The term `bicycle commuting allowance' means an amount provided to an employee for transportation on a bicycle if such transportation is in connection with travel between the employee's residence and place of employment.'.

Too late for this year, though:

(d) Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2007.

Bike to Work #3

Third trip to work today. With every trip, the riding gets easier. I biked back on the Bayfront highway, which passes through downtown Erie PA. Nice, easy trail, no worries about traffic, and a beautiful view. My goal now is biking to work at least once a week. Maybe twice if I can get a friend to join me.

I did bike with a friend in. He has a road bike, and I had a difficult time keeping pace. However, I cut my time to work by 10 minutes! Hopefully I can keep that pace in the future.

Things To Remember While Biking

A friend of mine and I biked to work last week (ride #2, 12 miles each way for me). He got a flat along the way to work, but luckily enough, he had slime filled tires that sealed the hole. Here's a few obvious things that would have come in handy:

• Money. I had to load him a buck or so to fill up his tire with air since his pump wasn't working.
• Pump. Better than money to fill a flat. My friend's pump didn't seem to work at all, though. The other big problem is that after starting back home after filling up with gas station air, the slime broke out of the hole and the tire lost some pressure. It did stop the leak again, though.
• Patch kit. Unfortunately, this wouldn't have helped much in this case, as the slime self sealant really is slimy. I'm not sure if a tire patch would have helped as the patch glue would have to have something to stick to.
• Tool kit. Well, maybe this wouldn't have helped, but it would have been good if we had a patch kit.

For people who live in Erie PA: I live in Millcreek, and bike to Lawrence Park. It's really not that bad: an hour from end to end, and quite scenic at points. Please consider the alternatives to driving. Think green! And save green!

Biking to Work in Erie PA

Today marks the first day I biked to work. Yay! Normally it takes me a half an hour to drive the 12 miles to work, but I biked it in slightly under an hour. I'm feeling a bit tired (surprise!), and I'm sure I can't do this everyday. However, if I can keep doing this occasionally, I'll be doing a small part to help the planet, and a big part to help my health.

The biggest surprise I had is how many people stopped on by to talk to me, and were inspired by my ride. It actually took less time to bike the distance than riding the bus would take, and it takes me from point A to point B pretty quickly. If a few more people ride their bikes, I'm sure that even more would be inspired.

Note that I'm definitely not in tip top health, but keeping a steady pace works wonders. There were a few hills that I wonder if I was putting more CO2 out than the cars next to me.

Maybe I should add a "Green" category to this blog.