It’s been raining every day for — I don’t know, the past week? We’ve had some strong storms and inches upon inches of rain. It’s getting really old. Our basement almost flooded on a couple of different occasions. No fun.

Yesterday was actually pretty nice most of the day, and today is good so far. But, I’ve been taking the bus a lot in the past week or so. Actually, now that I think about it, I guess the longest riding gap was two rainy days on the bus, surrounding a weekend with no riding. But, four days felt like a long time off the bike.

In my classes, I’m mired in final projects right now, and next week I have finals. Actually I think this week will be the worst, though, and it’s halfway over, so I’m really looking forward to getting these projects done.

Hopefully, I’ll have time to write some more posts soon. I’ve got a lot more photos I’d like to share, as well as something a bit different.

Maybe I’ll even ride my bike this weekend?!? I can only hope!

Note: this post may or may not be work safe, depending on your work environment. This post contains partial nudity. If you’re offended, please don’t read it. Otherwise … enjoy!

Here’s a rather safe image to give you a chance to close the window if need be.

(more…)

I’ve got a few disjointed cycling thoughts swimming around in my head. I might as well get them out there.

• Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I reached 1,000 miles of cycling for the year. This feels odd because from January through March, I actually rode more miles than in any previous year. But, nearly all of it is commuting and other utility cycling. Very few recreational rides. So, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been riding as much. I tend to not count commutes when I’m thinking about the riding I’ve done, but truthfully at 11-12 miles per day, it adds up to a lot.
• That said, I don’t anticipate the huge upswing in mileage in April/May this year that I had last year.
• I commute on the fixed-gear bicycle on Monday. I found it a lot of fun riding around campus, and town, on the fixed-gear bike. The biggest downside was, I worked up much more of a sweat than I normally would, on a geared bike. Also, I had to carry my backpack on my back instead of in my milk crate. Not very comfortable.
• On my way home that day, I thought I felt more play in the chain than I should. On closer inspection, I noticed my chainring is coming loose. I’ll have to fix that before I ride the fixed-gear bike again.
• That made three fixed rides in a row (or four, if you count morning/evening commutes separately). The next day, I commuted on the Trucker. Coasting felt really VERY odd. I was a little surprised at how tricky it was to switch back.
• Yesterday I found time for a brief evening ride on the Bianchi. After riding the slow Trucker and pedaling harder on the fixed bike, the Bianchi felt even faster and smoother than usual. And, I managed to push up the hills in a bigger gear, too. It just felt GREAT riding such an efficient bicycle. This was the most refreshing ride I’ve had in a while.