On A Cold Morning, Chasing His Shadow.

This morning's commute to work was a chilly one -- 52 degrees Fahrenheit at 7 a.m. However, it was still warmer than the 49 degrees I had to trek out in, last week. What's up, Summer?

We had a very late spring and now it feels like summer is pretty much over and done. We still have August ahead of us! Don't be like that, Summer.

As you can tell, I like to turn up the heat a bit. I didn't even mind the heat wave we had a few weeks ago; I just kept on riding my bike and loving every minute of it. Can we have that back, please?

At any rate, here's me, chasing my shadow with the sun at my back.

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Day 22 of 30 Days of Biking: Making Headlines

It's Earth Day! It's also Monday, and that's why I rode my bike to work, today. I really had no idea it was Earth Day, but I feel a lot better knowing that I was doing something ecologically responsible as part of my daily grind.

Speaking of doing the daily grind, good friend and a former editor of mine, Chris Hughes, was looking for stories about bike commuters in Luzerne County for the Times Leader. Because I love attention, I just had to toot my own horn. Here's the story, which was published on April 21: "It just feels like freedom."

Me, Riding South on 309,
trying to get home before the storm.
Photo credit: Pete G. Wilcox/The Times Leader

Long time readers might remember Chris from this blog post I wrote after I learned that his blue Haro mountain bike was stolen from his garage. I've known Chris through Twitter for a number of years, but I also had the pleasure of writing a column about video games for him when he briefly ran Go Lackawanna. That was like a lifetime ago, so it was great to get a chance to catch up and talk about what's been going on in my life -- namely, road cycling and mountain biking, which, I'm glad to say, has largely replaced the space in my heart that used to be for video games. I'm much happier for it, and that was one of the points that I was hoping to make when he asked to interview me.

The quote used for the headline, "It just feels like freedom," was something I couldn't help but blurt out when Chris asked why I love riding. I was stuck for words and wanted to convey how much I love that I can go at my own pace and enjoy nature. When driving, I feel like I'm trapped. I'm always going too slow for the car behind me and too fast for the car in front of me. That leads to mental fatigue, and pretty soon, I hate driving. I feel worn down and burnt out. When traveling by bike, that simply can't happen. It's easier to get out of traffic and avoid the gridlock when you encounter it. To put it another way, "It just feels like freedom."

I took a picture of the photographer taking my picture.

Aside from that, Chris has been killing it on the biking in NEPA stories.

Here's a story on bike lanes in NEPA - NEPA Lagging in bicyclist-friendly roadways

A story on local bike shops - Shop Owners Help Take the Lead

Finally, a story from Steve Mocarsky on a bikeshare in Wilkes-Barre, PA - BikeShare on roll but needs to pick up speed.

I didn't even know there was a bikeshare in Wilkes-Barre! This is great news!

So, big thanks to Chris and the Times Leader for helping to shed light on the state of biking in North-East Pennsylvania.

Ride on.

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Day 19 of 30 Days of Biking: Failure to Negotiate Curve

"Failure to negotiate a curve;" that's what they call it when a biker loses control and spills it on a curve. At least, that's how the accident report gets written up when a motorcycle rider, essentially, crashes into himself. I might not have been on a motorbike, but that's the scenario I rode into on my commute to work, this morning.

You might recall a photo I posted about 3 weeks ago, "Here comes the sick drop:"

Well, here's the hill about halfway down, looking back at the curve:

Notice the black stripe, going off road? That's where I lost control and almost ended up in pretty bad shape.

Here's what happened: Usually, I take it pretty easy down this hill. The first drop is extremely steep and ends abruptly as it dumps you into a nearly 90 degree curve to the left. I've done it about a dozen times, and it's scary as hell every single time I do it. Today, though, I let my confidence get the better of me.

Long before going into the curve, I could already tell I was going too fast. I pulled on the brakes, but it wasn't slowing me down enough to safely get through the curve. That's when I hit a patch of gravel and locked up the rear wheel. The situation was quickly going from bad to worse.

If mountain biking in the muck and mud has taught me anything, it's how to stay upright when the rear wheel decides to go rogue. I felt the rear sliding and loosened up, but the line I was riding was too tight. A better rider might have been able to drift through the curve, and I'm sure it would have made for a great YouTube video, followed by a group of fixie riders blowing through red lights and running down pedestrians while some indie/hipster anthem blares in the background. I'm not that rider, though. The best I could hope for was to keep from grating my face across the pavement.

As much as I wanted to avoid sliding off the road and crashing into big rocks and tree branches, I couldn't. I gripped the brakes for all my worth, just hoping I wouldn't go over my handlebars when I eventually hit something solid enough. And then... I stopped. No Superman impression, no pain, no breakage. I threw down a foot to keep myself from falling over sideways and counted my blessings. Everything went better than I expected.

So, how was your morning commute?

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Day 6 of 30 Days of Biking: Sorting Hats, Punctured Tubes and Losing Weight (without losing your mind)

First, an update on Day 5. The Sorting Hat has gone. Sometime between 8 pm last night and 8 am this morning, he up and buggered off. There were other Sorting Hats up and down the street, and the hole in the road is certainly still there, but the Sorting Hat is gone. Much luck to him! I sure hope some crafty teenagers haven't stolen him and turned him into some kind of bong, or something.

Meanwhile, I've been having a lot of bad luck with flats, lately. I noticed that my back tube had developed a small leak on Thursday, and after attempts at patching it up, it was still leaking. There seemed to be a string of cracks around the section of tube -- as though it were rotting apart -- so I just went ahead and replaced it with a brand new tube. Of course, on my way home last night, I swerved to avoid a ruby red piece of someone's brake light but still managed to clip it with the rear tire. Inevitably, the brand new tube now had a sizable puncture. My leisurely ride home suddenly became a race to see how far I could go before I'd have to stop and pump the tube back up. In all, I had to stop about 4 or 5 times in 7 miles. I think my arms got as much of a workout as my legs did. (I had a spare tube, but decided to gamble riding home versus patching/changing at the side of the road.)

Taking a break to pump the rear tube up.
I like the crazy way this road bends as you reach the summit.

The good news is, the patch I applied when I got home is still holding, some 10 hours later. I made sure to go over every inch of the tire, pulling out tiny slivers of glass and sharp gravel stones, just to be sure.
The bad news is, I decided not to ride in to work, today. Nature has gone back to playing cruel tricks, and this morning was particularly bitter and cold. Since my boss has the day off and asked me to come in on a Saturday, I figured I'd just drive in and get the day over with. I can always go for a short spin, later on. Well, we'll see if I actually do.

On a more personal level, I've dropped about 2 pounds since last week. I haven't made any major changes to my diet, aside from eating fewer carbs on days when I don't ride to work, so I'm feeling quite satisfied instead of starving at the end of the day. If this keeps up, I should be at my goal weight in about a month, successfully burning off the weight I put on over the Winter.

UPDATE: I made good on my promise to go for a ride today. Took a 16 mile turn down into Drums and then across the valley in Conyngham. It was a beautiful ride; I felt better than I have in weeks.

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Welcome to Mountain Top. Here, have a flat tire.

First ride of the year, and the first significant ride in weeks. The predicted temperature was supposed to be in the 60s, but after weeks of freezing in the 20s, I decided to take what I could get. Upper 30s/lower 40s? Sure, why not?! And so began a 50 mile ride. Or so I had hoped.

I work for a computer repair shop in Mountain Top, PA called NEPA Geeks, which is just under 20 miles from where I live. My plan was to do a trial ride and see what it would be like to commute by bike. Also, to pop in and say, "Hi!" to my boss, Jason Percival, who was working today. And then there was the Dunkin' Donuts a few blocks from work... Hey, you need to restore glucose if you don't want to bonk, right? So, off I went.

Being a bit out of shape, and carrying a few extra holiday pounds, I certainly wasn't charging up hills like I was a month ago. Even then, I was hardly one of those guys who'd shift it into the big ring and stand out of the saddle. I honestly don't know how those guys do it... I'm fine with just sitting down and peddling a little faster in the granny gears, especially since this is supposed to be a commute to work, not an intense, 4 hour workout. As long as I get where I'm going, I'm happy. And I was going pretty good, until I heard the dreaded hiss of an inner-tube, rapidly deflating.

12.7 miles into my effort, just as I was rolling past the "Welcome to Mountain Top" sign, as seen at the top of this post, it happened; another inner-tube bites the dust. I blame gravel. Well, I blame myself for not inserting something to cover the hole in the front tire from the last time I had a blowout, but I blame the gravel for getting into the hole and cutting the tube. That is, if that's what happened. I didn't really inspect the damage, I just started walking as I texted my boss.

As luck would have it, he wasn't even at the office -- he'd left an hour early this week. D'oh! The next part of the tale is pretty amazing, though, because after texting Jason to let him know I was a bit stranded at the side of the road, he came all the way back from getting pizza at Maroni's in Scranton just to give me a ride back to Hazleton. Can this guy get any more awesome?

One day, I will make my goal and commute to work by bike. Just not today. Also, invest in a patch kit and frame pump. Let this be my lesson to you.

Hey, look! I figured out how to embed Strava results in a blog post!

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