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.