Bicycling

How To Bike Ride Home In 42 Easy Steps

Even though it was Thursday, it was the last day of our work week, so we rode the tandem in. Because it was our nine hour day we needed to be into work an hour earlier, so the alarm went off at 4:45AM. FYI, even though the days are still quite long because of the season it is very dark at half past five in the morning, but we have a red strobing tail light and a nice bright battery powered headlight so we can see and be seen.

After work I mounted the camera in the Photojojo BikeCam Mount and documented our 6-1/2 mile ride home. I took 42 pictures and uploaded them to Flickr. You can watch a slideshow by clicking HERE. Once it opens up, click on the i in the circle so you can read along. If you are not from around here most of the comments won’t mean anything, but hey, reading them might distract you from the fact that they might be tilted or blurry. (Did I mention that they are totally unedited in any way?) Tomorrow I’ll work on placing them on a google map so you can see the route. (Can’t hardly wait, can you?)

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 261

Bike Cam II

Tried out Version 1.1 my Photojojo BikeCam tonight. The lock washer helped because the clamp around the handlebar didn’t come loose at all during our nearly 12 mile neighborhood jaunt. But, you just knew a but was coming didn’t ya, the camera still had a tendency to rotate from facing straight forward. My guess is because this doesn’t work like a real tripod, i.e. the screw doesn’t bottom out in the camera’s tripod socket, no matter how much you tighten it, it is still going to rotate.

Because the camera is off center on the handlebars, the tripod mount is off center, the camera is sticking up at the end of a 2″ long screw, the tires have 90p.s.i. in them and the roads are not real smooth, 90% of the images I’ve taken so far have been blurry. Even the un-blurry ones aren’t what you’d call photographs (snapshots maybe), so what is going to let the world know you are taking these pictures on a moving bicycle and are not just snapped by someone from another planet who has never even heard of photography?

You include the bicycle. If you look at the very bottom of the first picture you can see a shadow of my helmeted head. Not real obvious. When life hands you lemons, you should make some Mike’s Hard Lemonade. When the camera kept rotating bit by bit, an idea popped into my head, why not rotate it nearly 90° and include some of my hand/arm. I think ideally I should figure out how mount the camera in a vertical manner and using the widest angle available include just a bit of the front tire. Maybe I can work that out with my Gorilla Pod.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 259

Bike Cam

My first attempt with Version 1.0 my new Photojojo BikeCam. They advertise it as all it takes is $10 + 10 minutes to make a camera mount for your bike. The cost was free because I actually had all the bits and pieces laying around, but it took about 15 minutes to find all the bits in my *20-year draw.

Half way through the ride I found a bug that I will have to fix for Version 1.1, the camera started to rotate because the vibration of the ride had loosened the nut on the clamp. The fix should be a simple matter of swapping out of the plain washer for a locking kind.

I want to take a sort of strobe movie of our commute to work, you know take a picture every couple of minutes and make a little animation out of it. May have to do it on the way home though because the ride in is on the ragged edge of dawn.

Changed the oil and rotated the tires on the Emperor tonight about 800 miles past my usual maintenance point (oh well, better late than never) in preparation for a possible trip to Charleston. We were going to leave in the morning right after the MMC July breakfast, but we are now going to wait to make a decision until after the Tour de France coverage around lunchtime. It is going to depend on what happens with a storm that is just off the coast.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 256

Goo Goo Eyes

Today we rode the tandem into work and our arrival time was around 15 minutes before the opening bell, so to speak, for most of the hourly employees, so quite a few of them were sitting under the break area awning getting in one last smoke before going to work. Unfortunately the bike rack where we are supposed to park is like 15 feet from the awning, so Donna and I have to unload our lunches and change of clothes right in front of the crowd.

Now a person on a bicycle is a rare enough sight as it is, but put two people on a long ass bike and we are talking parade level attention. One of the engineers was arriving at the same time and as he walked up to the building he noticed us unloading, but what he found most eye-catching was not us, but the looks of all the other employees openly gawking at Donna and I. He said nearly everyone was looking in our direction with sort of an incredulous look, as if they were thinking to themselves that no sane person would ride that thing.

Yesterday we had a very busy day, so instead of coming home and cooking something we dined out at what used to be one of our favorite southside eateries, Wing Place (why it “used to be” is the subject of another post.) When we were finished eating and heading for the door there was also a mom leaving with her daughter just in front of us. The girl was somewhere between to ages of seven and ten, very cute, with long curly light colored hair, a big ol’ smile and the largeest eyes you ever saw. I really noticed the eyes because they were aimed directly at me. This girl was staring at me like I was a movie star or a pony.

As it turned out, mom and daughter were parked next to us in the parking lot, so we were more or less following them. About half way towards the cars I got another look from the little girl. Donna wondered if I dripped a bunch of ranch dipping sauce down the front of my shirt and she hadn’t noticed. Mom loaded the little girl in the back of their Jeep Wrangler as we got into the Miata. The girl was looking over at me, with an almost wistful expression, like maybe she was wishing it was her getting into the Miata instead of Donna. As the mom was going around to the driver’s side of their vehicle we put the top down. The girl was still looking our way with her big eyes and her chin in her hands with her elbows on the side of the Jeep and I could swear she let out a sigh of regret, it was almost creepy.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 252

The End of G.A.B.B.

G.A.B.B. 7 in 1998 was the last time we did it. What started as a fun thing to do for a few fellow co-workers had turned into a chore. What was one day a year turned into 4 different days for the four different start times. There was all the arranging for t-shirts and breakfast, finding someone to ferry in the goodies and other people’s clothing, arranging to borrow bikes for people who didn’t have one of their own, etc. so I was looking for an excuse to stop doing it when the perfect one dropped in my lap.

Willie worked in the back of the plant and on a slightly earlier start and end time because of his job, so at quitting time for him, the rest of the plant was still hard at work. Maybe someone took exception to Willie rolling his bicycle through the plant on his way home and complained to HR. Or maybe it was an office person from up front complained about Donna and my bicycles parked in our respective cubicles, we never got the full story, but in the fall of 1998 a bike rack was placed outside near the entrance and bicycles were no longer allowed in the building. Having had my fair share of bicycles stolen from racks in my lifetime I refused to ride to work and take a chance on it happening again.

When I informed HR in the spring of 1999 that I wouldn’t be doing the ride that year because their rack wasn’t big enough to hold the 12-15 bicycles of the riders and I didn’t want to have to round up that many bicycle locks, they offered an exception for the event. I declined the offer.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 232

Gabby

Another thing I stuffed in people’s mailboxes was my version of the Get to ASCO By Bike FAQ in the model of a Dear Abby column:

Gabby: When is this GABB thing?
Dear Inquiring Mind: This year it is Friday, May 19th, for the 8 o’clock people and Friday, June 23rd, for the 7 o’clock crowd. As in the past, we will leave from the driveway of Brian & Donna Bogardus’s home one hour subsequent to work starting.

Gabby: I live a long way from the there. Do I have to ride my bike all the way there, and then turn around and ride 6-1/2 more miles to work?
Dear Farout: No, your best bet is to toss the bike in the trunk and drive over to 778 Boardman Road. If you ride the extra miles you will burn enough calories to eat an extra doughnut guilt free upon arrival at ASCO, but you will probably be the subject of scorn and ridicule from the other riders. Jealousy is an ugly thing.

Gabby: What if I get to work and decide that 6-1/2 miles of bike riding is all any sane person should attempt in one day? How do I get home?
Dear One-way: We will have a Star Trek style transporter available to beam you and your bike back to Boardman Road. Technology is not cheap though. Even with the company subsidizing 50% of the cost, you will still need a cool half-a-million bucks to take advantage of this service. There is a cheaper solution though, bum a ride after work with a co-worker to Boardman Road where you get in your car, drive back to ASCO and get your bike. Or find someone with a pickup truck to take you and your bike back to the start. Or get to work and sell the bike to some sucker and use the money for cab fare.

Gabby: What clothes should I wear when riding the bike?
Dear Fashionable: Skin tight shiny lycra stuff is not needed, but the padding that comes with bike specific shorts will be entirely welcome on the ride home. Comfortable shorts and a T-shirt are just fine. The usual shoes, socks and skivvies are optional but would be a nice touch. I would love to see everyone wearing a bicycle helmet. But if you don’t have one and want one, no big deal, we’ve got a couple of extra 2 quart saucepans that can be duct taped to your noggin.

Gabby: Will I get all sweaty and stinky?
Dear Dainty: Yes, you will probably perspire a small amount. As for being stinky… Not really, unless you subscribe to the bathing once a month is enough theory and normal shower day is the 20th. Wait at least 15 minutes after you have arrived at work, this gives the body a chance to stop sweating, then wet one half of a hand towel and take it into a stall in the appropriate gender’s rest room and wipe down with the wet end and dry off with the other.

Gabby: Combining the above 2 questions I have concluded that I will have to spend my workday attired in sweaty shorts ensemble. Ewwww!
Dear Fashionably Dainty: You could buy a $35 rack for your bike and spend another $50 on fancy bike bags so that you could carry a change of clothing. Or you could tie your work pants and shirt to the seat tube and tape your tie and belt to the ends of the handlebars . Just bring your work clothes and/or lunch in a bag because we will have a vehicle to carry your stuff to the plant.

Gabby: You ride your bike to work all the time and I hear it takes you less than a half an hour to get there. With me being a novice at this cycling thing it will probably take me a lot longer. You’re not going to take off at the halfway mark and leave me cycling alone in an unfamiliar part of town are you?
Dear Neophyte: No, this is only an exhibition, not a competition, so please no wagering. We are doing this for the fun of it, so we will ride as slow as the slowest rider. But if you are so slow that it jeopardizes our arrival to ASCO on time you will be asked to grab hold of the bumper of a passing vehicle to help speed things along.

Gabby: As Templeton the Rat from Charlotte’s Web would say, “What’s in it for me?”
Dear Curious: Aside from the camaraderie of huffing and puffing up a hill with your fellow cyclists? For one the there is the 2 course breakfast (1. coffee 2. doughnuts.) For another you will get a spiffy T-shirt that can be worn with pride and not too much embarrassment. Most importantly you can recapture your long lost youth, the joy of traveling under your own power, the wind in your thinning hair, and the sound of baseball cards hitting the spokes.

Gabby: When will I get my GABB T-shirt?
Dear Anxious: The shirts will be passed out the morning of the ride. You can wear it while you bike ride to ASCO, or you could save it and wear it at work, or you could just hide it your closet if you don’t like the color purple.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 232