commuting

Commuted in to the downtown office this morning..

What a windy day! With the wind out of the west (mostly), I either had a tailwind or a cross wind to get to work. With a tailwind, I found that I had to work hard to keep from being spun out as my cross bike only has a 48×12, but with a crosswind, I had to concentrate on staying upright….

profile from Chez Habib to CRE’s downtown office…

With a few exceptions, riding in denver tends to be relatively flat, especially in comparison to comparable miles back in Los Alamos. The fixie will soon be my steed of choice to go downtown…

small world.. I ran into my advisor, Doug Way and his wife at Whole Paycheck this past weekend. He mentioned that he had run across my blog, because he knows Tarik , and was browsing his blog and saw a link to mine. Tarik is a neighbor, and a singlespeeder extraordinaire. browse his site and look at the cool bikes he has…

the ride home was more interesting. I blew off my resolution that if the wind didn’t die down, I’d just take a bus home. Even when I was late getting out, my one-track mind was still locked on riding back to Chez Habib. And not only was I riding to Chez Habib, I was going via Golden, just to get in a few extra miles. in the wind. into the wind..

the wind was out of the west, probably about 30-40 mph, with stronger gusts…

and of course, there was more climbing into the wind

overall, it wasn’t too bad, just a little slow. so between leaving late, fighting the wind, a little mechanical, and a misunderestimation of the time before the sunset, I finished the last 15 minutes or so in the dark. I had a little rear blinkie light, but was still feeling pretty exposed without a front light. That, and I couldn’t see the potholes. Denver has a fair amount of light pollution, but the route that I took is not a contributer.

this is a pic of the mechanical 

of course, if you;re going to have a problem like this, it should occur in the worst possible place.. This one occurred as I was dropping off a curb, at speed to fit into the rush hour exodus from downtown. I rode about 2 blocks with it like this, looking for a safe place to pull off and fix it…

misunderestimate is a fave of GWB…

He also likes to set the pie higher

MAKE THE PIE HIGHER
by George W. Bush

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It’s a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the Internet become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?

They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope, where our wings take dream.

Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!

Today’s stats

2 rides

40.6 miles

2,269 feet of climbing

2 hours 52 minutes total time