Posted On Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 By David Veatch
My last commute was in October. Early October. It was relatively warm out in the 50′s and 60′s. It took nearly two months for the Dew Drop to arrive, and in that time, I only rode the Torelli twice. Both of those rides were in October. Kansas is notorious for having about two weeks of Autumn. It’s hot for months. Then it’s fantastically nice for two weeks. Then it’s bitter cold for months. Spring comes, and it’s fantastically nice for two weeks before it starts raining, and then it’s hot again. I missed Autumn. I missed the fantastically nice days. Honestly, I could have gotten out, but my motivation was quite low, and I opted to get back into pool again instead. But the new bike is here, and while it’s just in time to head off the expanding waist line, it’s too late to enjoy the last few really good days of the year. Sure, we may have more mild days coming up in the next few weeks, but I’m not counting on it. So both yesterday and today, I faced cross/headwinds on every ride. Plus it was cold. Kansas is up to it’s old tricks… Back to the more »
Posted On Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 By David Veatch
As much as the last couple of weeks has been characterized by increasingly aggressive and downright rude cohabitants of the roadways, yesterday was characterized by increasingly accommodating and pleasantly polite cohabitants. No less than four times a driver at a four way stop gave up his or her rightful turn in line (at no risk to myself or anyone else) to allow me to go first. Each time was given with a smile and a friendly wave. In spite of an eroding trust in my drivetrain, it was one of my more enjoyable rides home. This morning, while not unpleasant, was cold. I can’t speak for others, but for me, the mid 40′s is the cut off for my thin gloves and feet without wind breaking plastic bags. I made it fine, and without major difficulty, but I could have been warmer. I did have the presence of mind to wear long sleeves under my wind breaker, which kept my upper half warm, without being too toasty, however, I think I could have also done with some sweats to keep the legs warmer. As easy as I take it in the mornings (to avoid getting too swampy by the time more »
Posted On Monday, September 29th, 2008 By David Veatch
Is it just me, or have more and more people gotten up on the wrong side of the bed lately? Last week and today, I’ve had more people honk at me, yell at me, drive within inches of me, or otherwise try to levy some measure of aggression against me while on my commute than in the previous 9 months combined. I really don’t get it. I’ve not been doing anything different. I ride the same line. I ride the same speed. I do nothing different, except perhaps to do it with more confidence, yet it’s a fact that the flak I receive for it is on a dramatic incline. Are people irritable because of the economy, and the impending election? You know what? That’s not my fault. Don’t take it out on me. Are people irritable b/c their kids aren’t around anymore having one off to college? You know what? That’s not my fault. It’s what you’ve been raising them for. Don’t take it out on me. Did they not get that raise? Not my fault. Did they get chewed out by their boss? Not my fault? Did they lose money in some ill conceived investment? Not my fault. more »
Posted On Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 By David Veatch
While the Torelli is in the shop… or rather, while the wheel is in the shop getting straightened out, I’ve been on the Kona. It’s only been two days, but I’m already missing the tight handling and faster speeds. Then again, it’s the faster speeds that landed the wheel in the shop to begin with, so maybe it’s for the best. I took the Kona out yesterday for an long ride home by way of the Indian Creek Trail and the Gary Haller Trail. I ended up with just shy of 33 miles, and that because I ended up missing the turn into Shawnee Mission Park, and doubled back to grab it. It would have been a perfect time to have the camera with me. Lots of stuff to take pictures of. Beneath a bridge, there was a little boy playing in a bucket by the water. Standing guard was his little Jack Russel Terrier. It was very Norman Rockwell. I wish I’d had a camera. Though, these days, I would have had to have him sign a release to post his picture. Later, on the trail was a group of suburban white guys in gangsta gear. They actually flashed more »
Posted On Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 By David Veatch
It was actually a little chilly this morning, and a mist had settled in places as I made my way slowly to work. Slowly b/c last night was a bit of a late night. The sky is getting progressively darker every morning. Slowly, but surely, it’s getting closer to the day I’ll need to mount the light back on the Torelli. I know, I know… I’ve been running without a headlight for a while now. I’ll mount it soon, I’m sure. Once I do that, I’ll lose my front frame bag to the battery, so I’m going to have to get a fanny pack to carry the gear that the Kona carried effortlessly, yet the Torelli struggles with. On the way in, amidst admiring the sunrise, and the mist crawling the yards, I saw about a dozen cyclists. This is more in one day than I’ve seen all month. In one case, three were riding side by side in nearly full team racing gear, completely with derblinkenlights and backpacks, northbound on Lamar. In every case, the observed cyclists were going the opposite way. I’m weird, I guess, heading south when everyone else heads north. There are no pictures this morning, more »
Posted On Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 By David Veatch
There have been many articles lately about the rising tension between motorists and cyclists. You can read about it in the New York Times, Reuters newswire, The Wall Street Journal, the Austin Cycling News, Newsweek, and a wide variety of other sources. Frankly, I’ve just not seen it. I’ve been out nearly every day riding my route, peacefully and almost entirely without incident. In fact, I can count on one hand the times I’ve been “harassed”, and both times it was very easy to chalk it up to idiocy. The first was a (pardon my stereotypes here) three toothed, chew spittin’ redneck on a country road yelling “Dip Ass!“, and the second was a pair of know-it-all high school jocks in daddy’s pick up. Aside from that, I’ve had numerous men and women offer admiration and encouragement. Two quite attractive young women even offered me a ride. Stupid me, I didn’t think to ask where we were going to ride to. ;) Just the other day, I got into a brief exchange with a fellow at an intersection who good-naturedly told me I was crazy, and then said how he wished he could do the same. I talked about how more »
Posted On Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 By David Veatch
I hit my long ride home last night. Not the standard long ride, but the hellishly hilly (at least for Kansas) long ride. It’s the last map there on my routes page, and is also up on mapmyride.com. Unfortunately, in the chaos that yet remains my Monday morning routine, I left my Edge 705 at home, so I wasn’t able to record the ride. It felt a little like going commando, but without the fun. The ride itself was a focused ride. I forced myself to pay attention to my cadence and heart rate. Since I didn’t know exactly what they were, I went by gut feel. Who knows how well I did, but I was pretty wasted when I got home. I’m not sure how much of that was effort and how much was not eating enough through the day. Around 20 miles, I was feeling a little beat, so I stopped to get a Gatorade. That brought me out of my funk, and I was able to head into the winds without much difficulty. There were quite a few fellow cyclists out, but not a one of them was going my way. This morning I opted for the more »
Posted On Thursday, June 26th, 2008 By David Veatch
It’s been well documented that whenever two or more commuters meet on the road, it is necessary that they race. It’s unspoken, and rarely even acknowledged, but accepted without question. I hear that runners have the same rules. This morning was supposed to be a relaxing ride in. It was supposed to see me arrive at work relatively low on the sweat meter. In case you’re not paying attention, it didn’t end up that way. Russ and I hit the intersection of 91st and Lamar at the same time. I was heading east and turning right, while he was heading west and turning left. He hails from Brookside, and I from Shawnee. Honestly, this morning I was that guy that doesn’t stop to chat. I was that guy who just rides on with only a nod, anti-social and distant even though you’re going the same direction. I was feeling solitary and withdrawn due to some general life stresses that have been getting the best of me. I turned right and rode on, pulling a pretty good pace down the hill from 91st to 95th. He apparently kept up pretty well, because the light at 95th stopped us both. We introduced more »
Posted On Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 By David Veatch
This morning, our hero finds himself racing against manicured lawns everywhere. Turning east on 91st, he notices what appears to be a street cleaner in the distance. He up shifts and increases his tempo just a bit to try and catch up. Unfortunately, stop signs and passing traffic keep him at a distance. He makes quick work of the 69 Highway overpass, and enters the rolling hills of Elmhurst. More stop signs and traffic continue to keep him at bay, but he finally catches his quarry at 91st and Grant. Unfortunately, there are still two cars between himself and what turned out to be an industrial size riding lawnmower. One car, impatient with the slow and steady pace of the mower, guns it and passes, leaving just one car in between our hero and certain victory! The last obstacle guns her engine as well, but seeing oncoming traffic, stays put, forcing our spry pedalist to do the same. At about that time, a car comes up from behind and tries to squeeze him to the curb, but he puts a hand out and holds firm. The driver backs off, perhaps knowing what is at stake. At the stoplight at Antioch, more »
Posted On Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 By David Veatch
Friday night I participated in my first June Moon ride. It was fantastic. I met Noah (who has some great, as always, pics from the ride up on his site) and Chris at their apartment complex, from where we made our way down to the Wendy’s parking lot at K10 and Woodland. There were 9 of us all told. I felt more than a little like a noob, there amongst the likes of CommuterDude, Noah and BadgerLand, all of whom have been commuting for far longer than I. But cyclists are, by and large, a very friendly bunch, and we all got on great. We hung out there for a while, showing off our bikes and drooling over other bikes. There were all manner of rides, from beater mountains, to beater roadies, to fully decked out commuters (yum!) and racing bikes. We took off at 21:00 sharp for parts unknown (at least to me). My trusty 705 recorded the ride, and you can see the results on motionbased.com. It’s been a long time since I’ve ridden in the dark, and though my light hadn’t been charged in a few days, there was plenty of light from the rest of the more »