Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. Ergo, drink wine and be saved.
Posted On Friday, November 30th, 2007 By David Veatch
I admit it, I fall more into the Road Weanie categorie of cyclists than anything. I like my bikes light and fast, sharp and quick to respond. But even so, even were I NOT just this side of obsessing about weight, this would *still* seem ridiculous to me.
Posted On Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 By David Veatch
I imagine “terrorists” the world over to be sitting back in their easy chairs, laughing their asses off as they feast on news like this: An ambulance carrying a heart attack victim, twice defibrillated was stopped by overzealous customs agents, going so far as to open the ambulance and asking him to identify himself. “Sure, let me take this oxygen mask off, and thank God you’re here! Could you tell these pesky paramedics to quit poking me with those paddles? They hurt!” Said the man’s girlfriend “”I’m irate. I can’t figure it out. He could have died, and I would have blamed that person for murder.” There is a well-established protocol allowing emergency vehicles to cross the border with a police escort. This was completely ignored by the agents, risking a man’s life in the process. The terrorists don’t have to do a damn thing anymore! They’ve got us so terrified that we’re killing ourselves to protect ourselves.
Posted On Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 By David Veatch
Still cold, but not nearly as bad as this morning.
Posted On Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 By David Veatch
Last night as I pondered the cold ride into work, I had to admit, to myself then as to you now, that part of me dreaded it. It was going to be cold. It was going to be bitter. Looking back on it (all of 10 hours ago), it was that dread that kept me up. I didn’t focus on it, but it was the anticipation of the ride that kept me just a touch too excited to sleep. That was before I realized that I didn’t have my winter gloves, and had only a pair of thin BG Gel Glove Long Finger between my fingers and sub freezing air. The kicker is, having made it safely to work, all I can do is think about getting back out there in the cold and riding. ~8 miles just isn’t enough… I want more! I’m sure my employer wouldn’t appreciate the fact that I’m obsessing about cycling and weather and winter gear while I’m supposed to be running data retention reports, and setting up foundations for a switch to role based vs. individual access rights, but whuddareyagonnado? The reports run in the background and the foundation is pretty much laid. I’m more »
Posted On Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 By David Veatch
Cold. 32 degrees without the wind. Thin gloves because I left my winter gloves in Amanda’s car and no shoe protectors make for chilly fingers and toes. Did I say chilly? I meant freakishly and painfully cold. On another note, I continue to be impressed by the drivers I share the road with. Thus far, the worse interaction I’ve had is someone honking their horn at me while going the other way on Lamar. Lamar is a wide road between College and 75th, so I’m sure they were just honking to honk and be honkish, but honestly, that’s not so bad. I expected worse. I prepared for worse. I prejudiced myself for worse. I’m happily being proven wrong.
Posted On Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 By David Veatch
I didn’t ride in today. It’s not b/c it was misting heavily, or that it was cold, it’s that I was tired after two days. How sad is that? Pushing 40lbs of bike on knobbies is a lot harder than pushing 17lbs of bike on road slicks, but still, two days? I am so not hardcore. I’ve read that now, as the weather turns cold, and the rain turns to snow and the roads turn to ice, that the vast majority of bike commuters drop out of the game, opting for their cars or public transportation. I won’t make any bold boasts of riding to work every day. Some days it’s just not feasible b/c I have to be in various places around the city during the day, but most days, I will still ride. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone, even those of you who don’t call the third Thursday of November “Thanksgiving”, have a great day all the same!
Posted On Monday, November 19th, 2007 By David Veatch
… went completely, and absolutely without incident, which is to say, fantastic. Every car gave me a wide berth, with only one exception at 95th and Lamar, where the driver didn’t seem to think I needed any room aside from the four inches next to the curb. I credit my traffic yellow-green windbreaker, four blinking red LEDs and 1 hella-bright headlight. The biggest problem is the hills. They make it damn near impossible to keep my HR down to 145-150 the whole time.
Posted On Friday, November 16th, 2007 By David Veatch
The birthday celebrations continue, so let’s just say I was in no shape this morning to ride. I didn’t have time to get the final touches on the bike last night anyway, so I couldn’t have ridden this morning, right?
Posted On Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 By David Veatch
I’ll have pictures soon, but for now, you’ll just have to take my word for it that the commuter is almost ready for the road. Built around a 1993 Kona Fire Mountain frame, technically it’s road ready now, but I just didn’t feel safe without proper lighting. Furthermore, I didn’t feel like riding “blind” w/o my Edge. Finally, without something to hold the bag that holds my work clothes, I thought I should hold off before riding into work. For the lighting, I’ve equipped the Kona with four (count ‘em *four*) Cateye TL-LD600 tail lights and a Cateye EL-700RC Triple Shot Rechargeable LED head light. There are two tail lights pointing towards the rear, and one pointing toward either side mounted on the front fork. The headlight, mounted on the handlebar will serve both for visibility and lighting. Some might say I’ve gone overboard with the lighting, but if it makes for a more visible me to the inattentive drivers out there during rush hour, then I’m all for it. For the toting, I’ve picked up a standard bike rack and went with the Nashbar Commuter Garment pannier to help keep the clothes wrinkle-free. We’ll see how it really works. more »
Posted On Friday, November 9th, 2007 By David Veatch
An Independence teen was killed last night (2007.11.08) around 10:30 in a hit-and-run by two men fleeing from the police. Near 39th and Lee’s Summit Road, the men struck him and fled the scene, to be apprehended later having abandoned their car in a wooded field. All my talk of driver and cyclist responsibility lately amounts to nothing in the face of something like this. My heart goes out to his family, and the family of the two brothers that killed him. All are in dreadful pain right now.