The Blaſphemous Bicycler

The new Trek arrived from Ebay, but I haven’t had a chance to ride it yet. It came all torn apart, and I was unable to re-assemble it myself, so I took it to the bike store to let them do it for me.I rode 17.46 miles this week. I would have ridden more, but I’m having some lower back problems. I think I may have the saddle adjusted too high on the Lemond. I’m going to lower it before I ride again.Yesterday was the official 6 month anniversary of me starting to keep track of my bike rides and attempts to quit smoking. I declared my intentions and went for a 14 mile ride to Mechanicburg on July 30, 2004.“But 23 weeks isn’t 6 months!” you say. No, indeed not. The weekly update numbers are the number of weeks since I last had a cigarette, not since I first started blogging. The numbers don’t match up, because I had a few relapses with the smokes in the early days.

Jihad Update:

According to my calculations, I have commuted to work 11 times so far, and I have ridden 20.4 miles doing errands.

This means that I have saved 88+20.4=100.4 miles

100.4 / 28 = 3.59 gallons saved!
Take that, jackass!

Just a quick ride between work and school.

Elapsed Time: 00:25:53
Max Speed: 25.7mph
Average Speed: 14.9mph
Distance: 6.43 miles

I just got the first Season of Star Trek (the original) on DVD

I watched “The Man Trap” while I rode. So, it was Star Trek today, Star Wars the other day, and Farscape before that.

I am geek; hear me roar.

Elapsed Time: 00:44:16
Max Speed: 24.3mph
Average Speed: 14.9mph
Distance: 11.03 miles

I only got one big ride in this week, and I hurt my back pretty bad. I am going to have to start incorporating ab/lower back work into my ‘routine.’

We got a lame excuse for a blizzard this weekend. The news was prediciting Fimbulwinter, but we only got 6″ of snow. It is evil cold outside though. I don’t know if this happens in other parts of the world or not, but around here, when a big snowstorn is forecasted, people run to the grocery store to buy:

1. Milk
2. Eggs
3. Bread
4. Toilet Paper

My theory is that people sit around in thier houses feasting on French toast.

The other big news for this week is that I won a bicycle on Ebay. It’s a 1987 Trek 520. It has a lugged steel frame, clearance for fenders and big tires, and a place to mount a rack. I think it will become my primary commuter. The FedEx man should be dropping it off this Thursday!

16.13 miles this week.

My bike got covered in sludge on my last ride. When I got the bike home and everything started to melt on the floor, it looked like this:

No good at all.

I had read Alex Wetmore’s directions on making a mudflap out of rubber. Alex’s method meant I had to get off my lazy butt and go to the hardware store.

Then, I was looking at the Berthoud pre-fab leather ones , when I had an idea…

I had just recieved a Dremel Tool as a Christmas gift, and I had an old pair of leather shoes laying around gathering dust.

After the dust cleared, I had this:

The toungue of the shoe is zip-tied to the fender, and I think it’s long enough to keep slop off the bottom bracket and chain.

Cringer seems to like it.