Monday, December 3, 2012

47°

-O2 Jacket
-Bike shorts
-full fingered gloves

Was comfortable.

Friday, November 30, 2012

29°

-O2 Jacket
-polartech vest
-bike shorts (lycra)
-bike pants
-wool socks
-wrist warmers
-insulated gloves
-beanie

Was comfortable.

Monday, November 26, 2012

31.6°, wind chill 29°

-O2 jacket
-beanie
-polortech vest
-wool socks
-bike shorts
-wind proof bike pants
-wrist warmers
-insulated gloves

Was comfortable.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

34°, wind chill 29

-O2 jacket
-fleece vest
-bike shorts
-cotton ankle socks
-cotton shirt
-wrist warmers
-insulated gloves
-beanie

Legs were a little cold at first, and toes stayed a bit cold.

Monday, November 12, 2012

42°

-O2 Jacket
-Shorts
-Cotton socks
-full fingered gloves
-cotton shirt

Was slightly cold on my ears at first, but then okay. I rode with all vents closed the first third of my ride.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

30°, feels like 24°

-O2 Jacket
-Polortech fleece vest
-windproof pants
-lycra
-cotton socks
-beanie
-insulated gloves
-wrist sweat bands

Was comfortable, although toes were a bit cold.

Monday, November 5, 2012

38°, feels like 33°

-O2 jacket
-long-sleeved fleece shirt
-full fingered gloves
-wind proof pants
-cycling shorts

Ears were cold first half of the ride, then comfortable, with chest leaning towards warm near the end.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

51 Degrees

-O2 Jacket
-Shorts
-Socks & shoes
-Full fingered gloves
-cotton shirt

Was a little warm.

Monday, October 22, 2012

47°, wind chill 45°

-O2 jacket
-bike shorts
-bike shoes & socks
-quick dry shirt
-full fingered gloves

Was comfortable, although my finger tips were a bit cold at first.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

45 degrees

-O2 jacket
-shorts
-socks & shoes
-short-fingered bike gloves

Fingers were really cold most of the ride. Chest was comfortable. Had to close vents for the first half.

Friday, October 5, 2012

New Brakes

This morning on my ride into work, I kept on thinking how loud the brakes were on the car next to me, but then later on when I stopped at a light, and there were no cars next to me, I realized that it was actually me. Thinking back, I had been noticing that my braking performance on my rear brakes had been deteriorating. So today at lunch I rode my bike over to my local bike shop here at work, and replaced the brake pads. They were pretty worn, where little metal fragments were showing in the pads.

Riding back to the office, with the new brake pads, made me realize how much of a difference new pads will make, feel like I can actually stop on a dime (or maybe a quarter....).

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

50°

-O2 jacket
-bike shorts
-socks
-full fingered gloves
-cotton shirt

Was comfortable, maybe a bit warm on the climbs.

Flat

Friday afternoon I was doing well, and actually testing out a different route home. So I left work as normal and jumped on Spring Garden, took a slight detour to pick up cranberries for the baby shower we were hosting, and then went along the Schuylkill River trail. I was enjoying the ride, and cruising along, until I at one point was trying to decide if I should move onto the road, as it was pretty open, or stay on the paved off-street trail. At the last minute I decided to stay on the off-street trail, and of course at that point, I hit a pothole straight on, and immediately heard my front tire squealing at me. I called my wife to give her a heads up that I was going to take longer, as I was supposed to grill dinner once I got home. I then took the tire off, and found the flat cleaned it off a bit, and glued on a patch. As soon as I started pumping air into the tube, I started to hear the hiss of air escaping as the pinch flats I got from my rim were longer than I thought. They continued to open up vertically, stretching the tear past the patch. At this point, (thankfully only 5 minutes later) I had to admit defeat, and called my wife to ask if she can pack up all three kids into the car, and come and pick me up.

I thought to myself, at least I am in the middle of a nice park instead of a questionable neighborhood in West Philly.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Philadelphia Bike Commuting

So, I've been absent for a few months, lots has happened. But I am finally back on my bike (well, was a few weeks ago, but that was a temporary setup).

I have just moved to Drexel Hill and have been working since mid-July in Northern Liberties. So now I live about 10 miles from the office. At first 10 miles sounded a bit daunting, but I was biking 8 1/2 miles in the mornings and 6 1/2 miles in the evening and riding for about an hour bus ride in between. So 10 miles is not to much more than I was doing before, but that would be it, not bus ride, I'd be at the office (or at home).

Yesterday was my first day of trying the ride. I had to wait until I had some free time to install the shower curtain before riding, so I can shower at work, but I installed it on Friday, so all was ready.

I enjoyed the bike ride, I did miss one turn that ended up adding about 10 minutes to the total ride in the morning. But even with that unintended detour, it still only took me about an hour. Which is great, doing the commute using mass transit takes me an hour, so it wasn't any longer. On the way home, I avoided missing any turns, so rode the 10.4 miles in 45 minutes. Not too bad, definitely faster than taking mass transit, a whole lot cheaper (if I manage to bike the whole month that's $102 I save), and am on my own schedule, don't end up just missing the train or bus, only to have to wait 20 minutes for the next one.

Friday, May 11, 2012

50°


-o2 jacket

-bike shorts

-socks & bike shoes

-short fingered bike gloves

Was comfortable.

Posted via Blogaway

Monday, April 23, 2012

43° wind chill 35°


-FirstAscent fleece

-bike pants

-beanie

-socks & bike shoes

-insulated gloves

Was comfortable, just slightly warm on my head and chest when I got onto the bus.

Posted via Blogaway

Thursday, April 12, 2012

38°


-o2 jacket

-fleece vest

-bike shorts

-wrist warmers

-insulated gloves

-skull cap

-socks & bike shoes

Was comfortable.

Posted via Blogaway

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

33° wind chill 28°


-o2 jacket

-fleece vest

-windproof bike pants

-wrist warmers

-insulated gloves

-skull cap

Was comfortable.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

48°


-o2 jacket

-fleece vest

-shorts

-full fingered gloves

Was a bit warm in the chest.

Monday, February 27, 2012

43°, wind chill 40° drizzle


-o2 jacket

-fleece vest

-shorts

-full fingered gloves

Was comfortable other than glasses constantly being hard to see through.

Friday, February 24, 2012

66°


-shorts

-cotton shirt

-bike shoes

Was comfortable, then slightly hot in he chest.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

58°


-o2 jacket

-shorts

-cotton shirt

-bike shoes

Was comfortable, then slightly hot in he chest.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

39°


-o2 jacket

-fleece vest

-bike shorts

-cotton socks

-insulated bike gloves

-skull cap

Was comfortable.

Monday, February 20, 2012

34° wind chill 30°


-o2 jacket

-fleece vest

-bike pants

-cotton socks

-insulated bike gloves

Was comfortable.

Friday, February 17, 2012

42°

-o2 jacket
-fleece vest
-bike shorts
-full fingered gloves

Was comfortable. Road most of the way with o2 jacket unzipped.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Bike Maintenance Lubricants

Typically lubrication falls into two groups:

oil - for high-speed, low-load parts
grease - for low-speed, high-load parts


Ran across the above reference for knowing which type of lubricant to use when looking through a forum, and figured this is good advice to share.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

35°, 29° wind chill


-o2 jacket

-polartech fleece vest

-bike pants

-insulated skull cap

-wrist warmer

-insulated bike gloves

Was comfortable.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Road Bike

This past week was not a good one for my commute bike. I got a flat last week, first one in about two years, then Tuesday got another flat. This time, I had just about made it to my bus, so I just got on and road into town. I didn't get a chance to try to fix it while at work, so Julia came and picked me up from the bus stop. On our way home we were just talking and totally forgot, and tried to drive the car into the garage with the bike on top. So, the house is okay, the car is okay, my bike... not so much. Well, it actually did pretty fine, the only damage was to the brake bosses on the fork, which makes it unrideable (at least with front brakes). I had been playing with the idea of trying to get myself a road bike, to have a more efficient bike to do the 15 miles a day I now do to get to work and back.


So we decided to go ahead and take the plunge instead of replacing the fork. I couldn't have asked for better timing, God must have been helping me out. The first day I started looking, I came across at a bike shop that the guy working there had just been thinking of selling his bike, and it happened to be my size, as well as one of my dream picks if money weren't an issue. So I ended up getting myself a '99 Specialized Allez Comp. Brought it home today, and will hopefully be riding it to work tomorrow. One thing that I couldn't believe about it is how light it is. It weighed in at 21.5 lbs, and I thought  my hard tail was a light bike.


I'll have to post an update once I've put a few miles on the road with it.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Flat Tire


So this morning I was actually doing really well with time, I wasn't rushing at all. I ate my breakfast, walked the dogs, and even gave them a longer walk than normal. Got ob my bike and thought to myself how nice it was. Then not even 5 minutes out I feel a pop and start hearing a sharp hiss. So I turn around and get half way home when before there's not enough air in my rear tire to ride on. Then walk the rest of the way. After patching the flat (after seriously contemplating just working from home) and then riding my 6 miles, I am now on my bus and was only set back about 40 minutes.

Friday, January 20, 2012

42°, 39° wind chill


-o2 jacket

-polartech fleece vest

-shorts

-insulated skull cap

-bike gloves

Fingers were cold, but rest of body was fine.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

32°


-o2 jacket

-polartech vest

-bike pants

-cotton socks

-wrist warmer

-insulated gloves

Was comfortable.

Monday, January 16, 2012

34°, 30° wind chill


-o2 jacket

-polartech vest

-bike pants

-cotton socks

-wrist warmer

-insulated gloves

Was comfortable, although toes were slightly cold.

Friday, January 13, 2012

26°, 14° wind chill


-o2 jacket

-polartech vest

-long sleeve thermal

-bike pants

-thermal pants

-skull cap

-insulated gloves

-wrist warmers

-face mask 

Was warm in the chest & arms. Wrists were nice and cozy. Smaller fingers were cold and went numb.

Monday, January 9, 2012

1,554.11 miles

My total mileage on my bicycle for last year was 1,554.11 miles.  When my bike commute bumped up from 8 miles a day to 15 miles a day, it felt like a drastic change at first, but now not so bad now that I am used to it. I just wish that it didn't take as long. I am hoping to invest in a road bike in the near future, and hopefully that will help me cut a bit of time off the commute. (And hopefully it not just me convincing myself that I could use a road bike...)

54°


-O2 jacket

-t shirt

-shorts

-cotton socks

-shoes

Was quite comfortable.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

35°, 30° wind chill


-o2 jacket

-polartech vest

-long sleeve thermal

-bike pants

-skull cap

-insulated gloves

Was warm in the chest.


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

22° wind chill 9°


-o2 jacket

-fleece vest

-quick dry thermal top & bottom

-wind proof bike pants

-wool socks

Was slightly warm in the chest. Smaller fingers & wrists were cold. Legs were comfortable but warm on the bus with the thermal pants.