Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bicyclists, bike, Bike Commuting, BPM, cars, commuting, crowded, measure, measurement, mile, road, traffic, transportation
Wow… it was almost crowded on my ride in to work this morning! I saw eleven other bicyclists on the road, over the five miles that I ride from home to work. I have never really kept track of how many I see, but I’m sure that is a new record!
I have been bike commuting for almost two months now, and I’m sure the number of bicyclists on my route has at least doubled, if not tripled. I remember the first couple of days it seemed like I was lucky if I saw two or three other cyclists on the road.
All this got me thinking that it might be fun to actually start tracking that number to see if I can put some data behind the trend. So… I propose a new unit of measurement: BPM or “Bicyclists Per Mile”. Coming up with that figure is relatively simple… Count the bicyclists you see on your commute, add one for yourself, then divide that total by the number of miles in your commute.
So for today I would have 11 + 1 = 12, 12 divided by 5 = 2.4 Bicyclists Per Mile (BPM)
So, I would ask all of you who read this blog to start tracking BPM when you ride. I’m going to do this, and see how things change over the next few weeks. Is this scientific?… Are you kidding? We’re having fun here, remember?
Now go figure out the BPM for your next ride! 🙂
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bike, Bike Commuting, burnout, commute, commuting, fun, race, relax, speed, success, time, transportation
When I started bike commuting I had no idea that it would put me on such interesting psychological journeys. Allow me to explain… I’m a pretty driven individual, and I push myself a lot. I push myself to grow. I push myself to succeed. I push myself to learn. I guess that is not all bad, except that I am learning that there is a dark side to all of that. I have discovered that when I am not pushing myself I begin to feel like a slacker. In fact, I think I actually have a fear of not pushing myself. The result of this is that I don’t think I ever really relax and enjoy the now. I’m so busy worrying about “the next thing” that the present goes right by and I miss it. The cool part of this is that my bike riding has helped me see this about myself.
Several times recently I have felt kind of burned out with my riding, and I have really had to force myself to go for that next ride. I have also started to notice some mild discomfort in my knees after some of my rides, usually when I have pushed myself harder up a hill, or tried to better my route times. In response to these problems I decided that I was probably pushing myself too hard, and I needed to slow down and let my body catch up a bit. I also began to realize that even though I had ridden my daily route quite a few times now, I had barely noticed the surroundings on the way. I was always so focused on getting to my destination, and pushing harder and faster, that I didn’t really enjoy the ride.
So… I have officially given myself permission to slow down, and I have really been working on focusing on enjoying the ride, rather than how fast I was getting there. I have to say that it has been difficult! I have started out a ride at a slower pace… but then… within a mile or so I convinced myself that I was fine… and was back to pushing myself as usual, often ending with the “burned out, sore knee” feeling from before. It also seems like every time I commit to slowing down I encounter another biker on the road, usually on a speedy road bike, and I am compelled to try to keep up with that person, even though their bike is geared faster and weighs less than a third of what I am riding! But, all is not lost, as I have had several rides recently where I was able to really let go and just enjoy the ride, and it was great. Ironically, most of them have been my night rides, which is kind of funny because my first night ride was probably one of the most difficult rides I’ve had since I started bike commuting. But my last couple of night rides have been a bit cooler, and yes, I was tired when I got finished, but it was a good kind of tired, and my knees were stressed, but not really painful. Best of all, I actually took the time on the ride to notice things around me. I remember now, I really like riding my bike!
So, I’m still pushing myself, only now I’m pushing myself to not push myself.
Permission to slow down, Captain? Aye, that’s an order!
Do any of you relate to this? If so, leave a comment and let me know.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: alternative, bicycle, bike, Bike Commuting, cars, commuting, consumer, conversion, electric, gas prices, transportation
A friend of mine recently met a consumer who had enough of the rising gas prices and decided to take matters into his own hands. This guy bought a cheap bicycle and did his own conversion to electric drive. Apparently this unorthodox bicycle drew quite a crowd at the local grocery store, and my friend was able to chat with him and get some pictures.
If necessity really is the mother of invention, then as gas prices continue to rise I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg! If you would like to know more, there are more details in this wiki article. 
Have you seen other examples of consumers getting fed up and coming up with creative solutions to their transportation needs? If you are still commuting completely by car do you have a “tipping point” in mind where you will have to find an alternative? What will you do?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: adventure, bicycle, bike, Bike Commuting, cars, commute, commuting, distance, mileage, miles
I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner last night, at a fast food place about 10 miles away. Normally, I would have driven this distance, but I decided that I would take the leap and ride my bike for the 20 mile round trip. My family looked at me like I was crazy when I announced my intentions. The best reaction I got was when I came riding up to the restaurant and my friend looked at me in disbelief as he exclaimed “You rode your bike?”
I have to admit that I was quite intimidated by that distance, and actually was trying to convince myself that I wasn’t crazy. Prior to this ride the farthest I had gone was a little over 8 miles each way, for a total of 16 miles round trip. Now that is nothing to a lot of you riders out there, and I know that guys like Tom do more than that every day on their commute to work, but for me it was a new adventure.
Overall, the ride went well, and I felt quite strong on the way there. The ride home was more difficult, and I was awfully glad when I pulled onto my street and could see my house up the block. Not only did I survive, but I did it! Even though I was tired, 20 miles really didn’t seem like 20 miles, and I would definitely do it again.
What about you? I know that some readers are just starting to ride, while some readers have been riding for years. What are your longest commutes? How far is too far for a commute?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bike, Bike Commuting, cars, commuting, news, portland, road rage, safety, traffic, video
Wow… I saw this on the news last night, and it’s a good reminder to all of us that spend time in traffic on our bikes. In Portland, a bicyclist and a motorist exchanged words, and the situation escalated into the motorist ramming the cyclist, with the cyclist ending up hanging onto the hood of the car. The motorist then drove off with the cyclist still on the hood of the car, and continued to drive wildly trying to throw the cyclist off of the hood. A witness got some shocking video as the car sped by with the cyclist on the hood. The motorist was later arrested.
Remember that a car is much bigger than you are, and it will always win versus your bike. Even if you are in the right, it is not worth dying to try to save face, or advance the cause of cycling. Ride safely. Watch your temper in traffic. Be careful out there!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bike, HowTo, maintenance, training, video
I just found an incredibly helpful bike related web site and wanted to share it with you. The site is BicycleTutor.com, and the guy has put together a whole bunch of great videos showing how to do all kinds of bike maintenance. I learned some great tips just watching his V-Brake tutorial, and look forward to watching the other videos on the site. The videos are free to watch, and are done very well. Thanks BicycleTutor man!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bike, Bike Commuting, cars, commuting, dark, evening, night, night time, riding, struggle
Last night I had an evening obligation after work, so I ended up doing a 6 mile commute home in the dark.
If you read this blog, you may remember that my first night ride was very difficult and left me discouraged and dragging. I’m happy to say that the night time riding thing is getting much better. I believe that last night was the third night ride I have done since I started bike commuting, and it is growing on me. There are elements of it I still find a bit creepy, like being on a dark stretch of road with nobody else around except for that one car coming up behind you that seems to be awfully close to your side of the road, but I have had safe rides and have enjoyed the cooler night air. I think that most of my night riding phobias are just in my head, as I really haven’t had any problems with drivers, and the traffic is actually much lighter than during my normal daytime rides. The night time traffic is completely different, and last night it seemed that people were a lot more relaxed, out enjoying an evening drive with their windows down and their music playing. One thing I have noticed about night riding is that I have to play the mental game with myself a bit differently. I have noticed that when I start out at night I am fighting lots of inner objections as to why riding home in the dark is a bad idea. Of course, one of the best arguments with myself is that the only other option at that point is to walk, so of course the bike ride wins. I have also noticed that I am usually more tired than when starting my daytime rides, but if I allow myself to slow the pace a good bit and just enjoy the cool night air, and the night experience, then things begin to shape up and the ride actually becomes a rather pleasant experience.
How about you? Do you do much riding at night? Has it been something you enjoy, or something you have struggled with?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bike Commuting, Costco, extender, fixing, flat, HowTo, inner tube, maintenance, Midtown, pressure, psi, pump, repair, schrader, Schwinn, tires, tube, valve, valve stem
If you’ve read my previous posts, then you probably realize that when I started commuting with my Schwinn Midtown I had some problems with flats on the rear tire. Based on recent comments from readers, it seems that many of you out there also have had flats on your Midtown, and you have struggled to repair those flats so that you can get back to your riding. With that in mind, I figured I would discuss some more of the things I’ve learned as I’ve worked on my Midtown, and what I’ve done to deal with my tire issues.
The Basics
I’m not going to go into the details of actually fixing a flat tire because there are plenty of other places that will do a much better job of teaching you than I ever could. I would recommend that you check with your local bike shops and see if any of them offer a free bike maintenance clinic. I attended such a clinic at my local REI store, and it was a great help. You can also find plenty of great videos on YouTube that will give you some good advice.
When you are dealing with a flat tire, one of the first things you need to do is to figure out what caused the flat. Did you run over some kind of road hazard, like glass, or a thorn, or a piece of sharp metal? Did you have your tire pressure too low and hit a bump, like a curb, so that the inner tube got pinched against the rim, which caused a “pinch flat”? Or is your tire just flat and you have no idea what caused it?
In my case, the rear flats were not caused by a road hazard, and did not seem to be pinch flats, which are usually on the sides of the tube. In both cases the leak in my tubes was on the inside edge of the tube, where the tube is against the rim, a few inches from the valve stem. I am still not sure what caused those leaks, but I think it might have been similar to a pinch flat, but caused by the tube going against the spoke holes in the rim ,which was enough to rub a hole in the tube.
One of the next things to think about when dealing with flat tires is whether you can repair the inner tube, or if you need to replace the old tube with a new one. In my case, I tried to repair the tube twice, but the hole was in a spot where the rubber had a bump in it, and I also used the new press-on patches, instead of the old glue-on kind. As soon as I put the tire back on and pumped it up, I heard the sound of air leaking and realized my patch wasn’t holding. Argh!
My Solutions
So here is what I did to remedy my problems…
1) I replaced the rear tube with a heavy duty tube with Slime in it. I have read mixed reviews of Slime, and it seems like people either like it or hate it. I was pretty desperate to find a solution, so I tried it, and I have not had issues. I don’t know if it is the Slime, or the heavy duty tube, but I haven’t even had to add air to the tire at all since I replaced it a couple of weeks ago. If you don’t like Slime, then there are plenty of other tubes out there. Just be sure you get a 26 inch tube that’s about 2 inches in diameter and has a Schrader valve. The tires on the Midtown are 26×2.00 so a 26×1.75-2.25 Schrader valve tube will work just fine.
2) I made sure that all of the spoke holes on the rim were nice and smooth. There is a rubber strip, like a big rubber band, that goes around the rim, and sits between the metal rim and the inner tube. It is there to cover up the holes and protect the tube. I removed that strip, and then checked each of the spoke holes and cleaned them up with a file to make sure they were nice and smooth, then replaced the strip, and put everything back together. That took a bit of work, and I’m not sure if it made a difference, but as I said, I was desperate. Reader Jon Grinder, an experienced bike mechanic, also recommend replacing the rubber rim strip with rim tape which is thicker and tends to stay in place better than the rubber strip. I have not done this yet, but it sounds like a good idea, and I’ll probably do so at some point.
3) I make sure that my tires are at the proper pressure every single time I ride. The recommend pressure for the tires on the Midtown is 40-65 PSI. I actually fill my rear tire a bit more than that to make up for the extra weight that I have over the rear tire when I carry stuff on the rack. Do this at your own risk, since you are exceeding the rated pressure once you pass 65 PSI. The other important part of keeping the tires at the right pressure is to have a good pump with an accurate pressure gauge. I have an air compressor and it was easy and fast to fill my tires with it, but I found that I was having a hard time keeping the pressure consistent. I went to REI and got a Serfas floor pump and it was a great investment. Now I hook the pump up and check the pressure before I ride, topping the tires off if needed. It only takes an extra minute or two, and the peace of mind is worth it.
Extra Long Valve Stem
If you replace the original tubes on the Midtown, you will quickly realize that the stock tubes have an extra long valve stem. The picture on the left is the stock Midtown tube, and the picture on the right is a normal tube.
When you install the standard tube in the Midtown rim you will notice that the valve stem just barely sticks out of the hole in the rim. Again, the picture on top is the stock tube, and the picture on the bottom is a replacement tube.
Getting the shorter valve stem to go all the way through the rim is a bit of a challenge, and the best way I found to make it work was to pinch the SIDES of the tube and tire, which helps push the valve through the hole. My first instinct was to push directly behind the valve stem, but this was difficult, and didn’t accomplish much. Instead, squeezing the sides of the tube seems to extend the valve stem farther into the hole. Once you get the valve stem through the hole then you can put the cap on to hold it in place while you finish installing the tire, or better yet, put a valve extender on the valve stem.
Getting the pump to grab on to the short valve stem can be a challenge, especially when the tube is completely empty, so I picked up a set of valve stem extenders from a local auto parts store, and now filling the tube is easy again.
I did look around a bit to try to find tubes with a long valve stem, and I haven’t been able to find them anywhere. At this point, I don’t really consider it to be a problem, because I’m confident I can make a regular tube work.
It has been at least two weeks, and probably 75 miles of riding, since I took the actions described above, and I haven’t had any more issues with flat tires on my Schwinn Midtown. Hopefully this information will help those of you that have experienced similar challenges, and get you back on the road again.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bike, Bike Commuting, cars, commuting, discouraged, stronger, success, traffic
Yesterday was one of those mornings when I just did not want to ride. I’m not sure why, but when I woke up I was coming up with all kinds of excuses not to ride my bike to work. It was helpful that I had prepared the night before, and I had my bag packed and everything ready to go, so I just went into autopilot and started preparing to ride… grumbling to myself most of the way.
Now, I did a lot of running in high school, both cross country and track & field, so I should remember that sometimes it seems like I feel the worst right before some kind of performance breakthrough. Well, yesterday was also one of those days.
I didn’t really notice it until I got to the mild hill that is near the end of my ride in to work. Usually I have to drop down 3-4 gears and lose a bunch of speed to make it up that hill, but yesterday it just seemed like I was able to keep going. I eventually did drop 2 gears by the time I hit the top, but I had never felt that strong before.
The ride home was even better, as I have to face the other side of that hill on my way home. This time I was able to make it over the top dropping only one gear, and it felt so great to crest that little hill with a good head of steam. It also helped that the vehicle traffic was backed up for blocks due to some road construction, so I was passing all the cars that were stuck in the stop and go situation.
Yesterday turned out alright after all… it was a good day to be on a bike!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: attention, awareness, bicycle, bike, Bike Commuting, cars, commuting, cycling, cyclist, road, traffic
I just saw this video, and it does a great job of making a point. It is only about a minute long, so take a minute out of your life and watch it right now…
There, now you have a much better idea of how you, as a cyclist, can blend into the surroundings so that motorists just don’t see you.
I found that video from reading this great blog post about riding your bike with cars. I think the author makes some great points, and gives some good advice. The question of where to ride in the road is a touchy subject, especially if you ask a non-cyclist driver. Be prepared for some lively conversation!
Are cyclists better off in the middle of the road, the side of the road, or the sidewalk? (Sorry, “not on the road at all” is not a valid answer)
What do you think?
Drive My Bike 