The last two days of riding have been great, I am riding on my Look pedals from the 80′s and an old pair of Lotto shoes.  My mph average is up to 18!

Since the dog ate my Sidi Genius 5 shoe I have been looking for a new pair of cycling shoes to replace the Sidi’s.  In the mean time, I had thought I could get by with my mountain bike shoes.  My mountain bike shoes are an old pair of blue leather Nikes that I have never been comfortable in.  When I bought them from a store I used to work at, the owner said, “If they don’t feel right out of the box, don’t worry, they’re leather and will form to your foot.”  Reluctantly I bought them.  He was totally wrong!  They never formed to my feet and feel just as bad now as the moment I first tried them on.  I have never truly enjoyed mountain biking simply because of these shoes that hurt my feet.  I should have just thrown these shoes out and bought a new pair.

Last week I had placed an older pair of SPD pedals on my road bike and used the old mountain bike shoes.  After two days of riding with them, a toe on my right foot was black and blue, and both feet hurt.  I vowed never to ride with them again.  The SPD pedals came off with nothing to take their place.  I hoped to pick up a pair last weekend in Madison and found a pair of Mavic Zxellium shoes in white.  I have always had black shoes and the white just seemed wrong to use with my black bike.  I also could not find the old package where I had the shims for my Speedplay cleats.

I ended up finding my old Lotto cycling shoes that I bought back in the 80′s.  The Lotto shoes are compatible with my old Look pedals of which I have three sets.  So I set up the shoes and put the pedals on the bike.

The shoes felt great from the moment I put them on.  The old Italian leather Lotto shoes fit as if I was 20 again.  I know, you loose a lot of power because the soles are not nearly as stiff as the Mavic shoes would be, but man, what a feeling to be riding on shoes and pedals that are 20 some years old.  I felt nostalgic and completely fulfilled riding with them.  Ah, Italy.

Well, I didn’t wimp out today, honestly.  A dog ate my shoe!

It’s no secret that cyclists and dogs don’t always get along.  If you are a cyclist you have undoubtedly been chased by a dog a few times, or perhaps too many times to count.  Generally, dogs are a nuisance and are sometimes downright dangerous to cyclists when biking, but, well this is a new one for me.

I came down stairs to go out and take a ride.  I walked out to our front porch to pump up my tires and put on my shoes, but where the previous evening I know I had my pare of cycling shoes I only saw one!

I had left them on our porch to dry off after a muddy and rainy ride the other day.  They had been too wet to just put in their normal spot, and I usually take my cycling shoes off on the porch so that the cleats don’t scratch our floors.  But there, where there had been two shoes was now only one.

I took a little glance around and saw a boot in my neighbor’s yard.  Uh oh!  Yes, it was a boot!  Immediately I suspected what had happened.  I walked out to our front walkway and over to our neighbor’s house.  Our neighbors had just moved in in the spring.  Their dog, part Blue Healer which is a very pretty dog, has a fenced in back yard, but has on numerous occasions escaped the fence and has roamed the neighborhood usually doing nothing more than running away from it’s owner and having doggy fun.  Today however my fears of actual property damage were realized when I walked up their front walk and saw the remains of my right Sidi Genius 5 cycling shoe lying in the grass inside the gated side and back yard.  I walked through the OPEN Gate of the fence and my heart sank as I approached the shoe and saw that part of the heal was gone and the strap that latches the shoe shut had been chewed off.

We had not seen the neighbors all weekend and they did not appear to be home at that point either.  I sighed and walked back to our porch soggy doggy drool infested shoe in hand.  I was angry that the dog had destroyed my shoe, but I was not angry at the dog.  In Lancaster, Wisconsin residents are responsible for their pets’ actions.  This means that because Asia (that’s the dog’s name) was left once again to easily escape her fenced in domain that I will have to confront my neighbors and let them know that they owe me a new pair of $250 cycling shoes.

More to come I am sure.

A Lesson for Cyclists in Visibility to Traffic for a Safe Bicycle Commute to Work

Well, I biked to work once so far in 2011. Yesterday I got up early, found what I thought was all my bicycling gear, and headed out the door only to turn around a block down the road and go back for my helmet.

My lights were on as I headed out of town.  Most cars came by at a good, safe distance including a co-worker of mine. To stay visible to traffic I usually use two lights, a headlight and a taillight and I try to wear as much visible-wear (cycling clothes that are either bright or have reflective elements on them) as I can.  A lot of cycling equipment and clothes come with reflective elements already on them.  My helmet has a reflective tape in the rear, my shoes also have reflective fabric in thee rear.  The Jackets I wear are bright and have reflective tape on them.  This morning I was using a Beamer 5 as my headlight and a blinking 3 LED taillight.  I had only a small amount of visible wear visible.  My helmet and jacket were both visible, but because of the cold I was wearing an old set of neoprene booties that covered the reflective fabric on my shoes.  I thought this was enough.

During the coarse of the day I met up with the coworker that had passed me on our way in. The conversation that ensued made me rethink my being visible on the road. He had passed me as it was just getting light out.  He hadn’t seen me until he was very close.  I couldn’t believe it.  I had the blinky light on and he hadn’t seen it from much of a distance.  We discussed the visibility of my Jacket which he said that during that hour of the morning blended in to the pre-dawn light.  Then we discussed the blinky light.

I had placed the light on the back pocket of my jacket thinking that it would be most visible there.  It seems that was not the case.  We discussed it’s position and that it may have been partially covered by the fabric of the jacked, or it may have been facing more “up and back” than just straight back.  I came away with a frightening conclusion.  I was not as visible as I should be.

The proposed solution I have?  I am going to place a bracket on the bike and mount the rear 3 LED light to the bike.  Then, I will position the light to cast it’s light straight back.  Hopefully this will increase my visibility to traffic and make my commute a safer one.  I’ll keep you informed.

Today was the first day I commuted to my new job.  The commute by bicycle to Fennimore (12 miles) was not too difficult, however, my new job is another 5 miles distance from my home, so the commute by bike now takes a little more effort.

I started out this morning at 6:40 while the sun was still coming up. It felt good to be back on the bicycle after so many weeks out of the saddle.  While biking to work, I try to take it easy, so it was not surprising when I later found that the trip took me an hour.  The route I decided to bicycle this morning was the most direct route, but it is also more challenging than my commute to Fennimore.  But I had my blinky LED lights and was off.

I had just picked up a new headlight from the shop last week.  I chose a Beamer 5 (5 LED light that mounts to your handle bars) because I had been using a Beamer (one LED light) in the past and found it very reliable.  The reason for going with the five and not one LED was, of coarse, the brightness.  The Beamer 5 is significantly brighter than the Beamer or Beamer 3.  I will use it a few more times and then report on it.

Only a couple miles out of Lancaster and I was passed by Brad, who helps out in his wife and daughter’s bakery and coffee shop in Fennimore.  He slowed, gave a little honk, waved a fond farewell and sped off towards Platteville.  I will miss many people in Fennimore and Brad and his family are definitely among them.  It was nice to see him and I pondered for a moment all those who i would not be seeing as often.

The bicycle ride went on and I finally came into Platteville. For the first time I carried my bike up the two flights of stares to my office and changed for the day.

The bicycle ride home was a rude awakening to my commuting to Platteville by bike.  By the time I left the office at nearly 4:30, the sun had set and the sky was already getting dark.  Pink clouds lingered in the western sky and I was ready for a commute home in the dark, or was I?

The first part of the ride went fine, I challenged myself on a few hills and found that I was not feeling as chipper as I had been just a month ago.  I eased up on the ride knowing full well I had a challenging ride home still ahead of me.  I had decided to take a county road home and knew full well that in order to get home I had to ride up quite a few small hills as well as a few not so small ones.  A few miles away from the turn off that would take me north to Lancaster I was struggling and felt more like diverting south to Potosi for a beer at the brewery, but I knew full well, that would only lend to my agony later.  I finally turned north and progressed slowly in an exhausted haze.  I climbed each hill slower than the one before, “How many hills were there on this road?” was the main thought that filled my mind followed by thoughts of the food I would eat when I arived.   It felt like I was pulling the bike up the hills not rolling up.  I had hit the wall.

I was shaking and the headlight from my bike lurched in a dance that would make Elaine Bennis proud (Seinfield fans know what I mean).  Lancaster seemed far away and i was not making much headway.  It took determination just to stay pedaling.  It seemed a long time before the lights and homes of town came into view.  Even then, I wanted to pull over and just stop.  When I reached home, I ate anything.  My hands were shaking violently for half an hour while I put a pizza in the oven and ate a tortilla with cheese.  Not the gourmet meal I dreamed of while riding home on the bike, in the dark, for two hours.

Biked to work every day this week!

Finnally, I have realized my short term goal of biking to work every day in a week.  After my failures of doing so during the National Bike to Work Week and the Wisconsin Bike to Work Week, I was more than a little disheartened.  However, this last week the weather helped, as we had no rain.  Every day seemed the perfect day to ride!  OK, not quite.  The last few days were quite windy coming home.  Winds out of the Southwest kept me from pushing it too hard on the bike ride home.

I have also not figured out what’s going on with my crankset, as it keeps creaking.  I’ve taken it apart on several occasions lately and will now have to take it apart again.  I thought I was tightening it up enough, but perhaps not.  Well it also could be worn out.  I’m not sure how long splined bottom brackets are supposed to last, but perhaps I should invest in a new one. A new bottom bracket, what a reward for biking to work for a week.

Commute by bicycle turns to Ride-share

I feel like I have let myself down. Yesterday I noticed an odd skipping that happened occasionally while riding the Trek 770 that I occasionally use to commute. So I made a derailleur adjustment and thought I would ride it today. Just outside of town, the chain started skipping again when I changed gears to go up a hill. I stopped, made an adjustment and road on. About two mile later it started happening again. I stopped, checked for a frozen link, found none, made another derailleur adjustment and road on. Less than a mile down the road it was happening again! I just continued to ride as at this point I was more than half way to work.

Three fourths to work and my chain breaks! I hadn’t thought of checking for a break. Rats!

Luckily a cycling friend had passed moments earlier on his way to work. He commutes by car three days a week. I called him on his cell phone and he turned around, came back and picked me up. We put the bike on the top of the car and we were off ride-sharing on our way to work.

Better still, he had fixed up the bike last year for his daughter to ride, and as she is spending a semester abroad, I borrowed the bike back and was using it occasionally. He had now wanted it back for his son to ride. I had been promising to give it back for a month, as I wanted to give it a thorough cleaning first, and now it is on his car. Sounds like I got out of a cleaning job.

What a beautiful week to bike to work! I started the week off Monday morning with a great ride into work and then a warm and sunny bike ride home from work.  Shedding my balaclava and tights on the bike ride home and letting the sun kiss my snow white legs (I know, not a pretty picture) felt great!

Tuesday I commuted with a friend as there was heavy fog in the morning, so no bicycling. By afternoon the fog had cleared up and it was bright, warm and sunny.  I felt terrible not biking home.

Wednesday started out with fog, but this time I asked my friend if I could take the bike with.  He agreed, and when the work day was done there I was, biking to Platteville.  I was headed that way to pick up our car that had some work done on it.  What a ride! Warm, sunny and I was on a Trek 770 (an old Reynolds frame with the Superbe Pro groupo) which made me think of cycling in the old days when I was young, had time, and was in far better shape.

Today, I rode to work on the old Trek 770 without booties over my shoes.  It was cold on my feet, but the ride home will be great I am sure.

So far, 67 miles for the week. To all those reading this, get out and enjoy the nice weather! There should be snow on Saturday.

If I am going to do this I would like to do it with some degree of realism.  I do not want to spend a lot on new equipment, but I do want to be safe and fairly comfortable while commuting.

The Bike:

OK, I am a little more comfortable with bicycles than most people.  I have six bikes.  Yes, six.  They are not all new.  In fact, I have only ever had five new bikes, four of which I still own the short list of which are a 1982 Schwinn Le Tour from my eighth grade graduation, a 1984 Trek 760 road bike I built when I was in highschool, a 2001 Trek 5200 road bike (my mid-life crisis bike), and a 2006 Gary Fisher Cake 2 mountain bike (won by a drawing, at the 24 at Nine Mile 24 hour race).  The other two are an early 90′s Trek 2100 road bike and a 2000 Schwinn Moab mountain bike.  I use them all!

I have mostly commuted on the road bikes and have lately favored the 5200 because it is so much fun.  The mountain bikes I use for around town or actually mountain biking and the Schwinn Le Tour is a strict around town bike.  However, upon the recent snow I am thinking hard about which bike I would like to use on snowy, icy days.  The Le Tour may work if I can get some studded tires for it.  Otherwise it will have to be the Schwinn mountain bike as the fisher is just too nice to subject to the salt and road grime.

Clothes:

Foot ware:

I mostly use my newer (both ten years old with hundreds of miles on them) road or mountain bike shoes, but will take out the old ones (twenty years old at least) when riding leisurely on one of the older road bikes.  The shoes correspond with the bikes because the pedals only fit with the respective cleats.  The older the bike, the older the pedal and corresponding shoe.

Closer to the skin are socks.  Get good socks!  I always use good socks made with material that will wick the moisture away from my feet.  I usually take it very easy on the way to work so my socks don’t get sweaty.  As such, once at work you want the socks to look good.  I have some very colorful cycling socks that are very comfortable, but when meeting with clients, wearing bright blue and yellow socks looks a little odd peaking out between your shoes and pants.  Get darker neutral colored socks like black or gray (without skulls or sperm on the side).  Or keep socks at work to change into.  You will always want clothes to change into at work so socks are an easy thing to keep at work along with pants and shirts.

As it is cold now, I also use booties.  Not baby type booties but neoprene shoe covers that help to keep your feet warm.  I have used them for years and they work great even in below zero weather.

Head Gear:

The helmet is always a must.  I don’t care if you fancy yourself to be a “Cyclist” or not, everyone should ware a helmet!

Under the helmet on cold days I use a hat or, better yet a balaclava.  I swear by my balaclava.  Gives you hat hair, but keeps me very warm and prevents frost bite!

I also use sunglasses on nearly every day.  Not just for the sun, as rain, snow and if you are going very fast, insects are deflected away from your eyes by the simplicity of a cool pair of shades.

Gloves:

I never used to use gloves, but ten years ago I started and it has made a huge difference.  When I was younger doing 75 miles on a summer day to visit a young woman whom I met camping and of whom I had a crush on was a good day! However, I would arrive home with my hands numb.  Even years later biking in the rain my hands would go numb from gripping the handlebars tightly.  Now, with the assistance of a good pair of gloves, I don’t have to grip the bars so tight because the leather of the glove assists in the gripping.  Gloves don’t have to have much padding, but a good pair of gloves will make you much more comfortable on the bike.

Layers:

Now for the real stuff.  Shorts make the commute easy, OK bearable.  I used to bike in running shorts.  How many hundred miles did I bike not knowing the luxury of a good pair of bicycle shorts.

Then the Jersey.  Any wicking material will do as long as it is fairly light.  In other words, it doesn’t need to be a tight multi-colored Tour De France want-a-be.

In cold weather I will wear a pair of tights. They keep your legs warm! They do fit like woman’s nylons I’m told, but they keep you warm. And in cool weather I ware a heavier layer on my upper body.  Usually this is a long sleeve jersey or another long sleeve active ware.  Wicking! Have I mentioned that your clothes should be wicking!

On very cold days a shell for your upper body is a welcome cover against the cold wind.  Until recently, I used a shell I bought for $15 when I was twenty.  Last year, the shell ripped as I passed through a wooden fence. It was faded and now had a foot long hole where no hole should have been. The shell worked fine for all those years of biking running and skiing, but after using the new shell twice I understand again why good clothes really do make a difference.

My short advice: always dress in layers and purchase the most comfortable clothing you can.

Road my bike to work today and it had just started to snow as I was coming into Fennimore. At 2 p.m. nature was telling me it would be an interesting ride home.

Left right at four and started the ride home. The ride started out very nice; not slippery, cold, but not to wet and my new shell was working great. Just out of town it started snowing much harder until there was about a quarter mile visibility. Sounds were very muffled from the snow and the sky was a beautiful gray with yellow and steal blue highlights. My sunglasses were doing a good job keeping the snow and slush out of my eyes.

In Wisconsin you never know what type of weather you are going to get. One morning I woke to find that fog had enveloped our fair town of Lancaster and there was no way I was going to be able to bike to work. When I went out on the porch where I keep my bike another surprise awaited me. The fog had left ice crystals everywhere, including on my bike. It looked beautiful, but I did have to clean my bike again.