Christmas Eve Bike Ride!

This afternoon, with no snow to be seen and a temperature right around 8 C, I was able to make the bike ride to the comic store probably as late in the year as I ever have: Dec 24th!  I could've done without the 50 km/hr wind gusts that slowed me down at various points along the way, but overall it was a beautiful day for it.

December Biking

Somehow the original post about this got deleted today, so I'm just putting a Reader's Digest version back out here for my own personal records:

I got a bike ride in on Thursday this week, heading downtown for lunch with an old Canada Trust friend.  The temperature was just above freezing but it was sunny and clear, and it doesn't get much better than that in December.  I may even get another ride in this week coming up, as it's supposed to be slightly warmer still.

Last Bike Ride Of The Year?

Today I did the 25-km round trip downtown to the comic store, picking up 3 weeks' worth of comics (5 books) and getting in a substantial bike ride for the first time over that 3-week stretch.  Now that I'm no longer doing a weekly spin class, I really feel it when I get back onto the road after a layoff like that.  I can only imagine what it's going to be like in the spring when I've had several months off...

Anyway, today was a beautiful day for it: 10 C, sunny with a moderate amount of wind to cool me down whenever I needed it.  I don't know if I'll get any more opportunities before the snow comes for good, but if today was the final ride of 2015, at least it was a really good one.

Still Biking At 52

I got my first bike ride of the year in today, pedaling my 2-year-old Rideau downtown to drop off my income tax return while it was -4 C (-8 C with the wind chill).  I had worried that too much of the way there would still be under ice or snow, but really the only portion like that was the final little park before the King Street bridge (right downtown).  I took a side street off Wharncliffe to bypass that section and made it to the bridge just fine.

I expect that every subsequent ride I'll make over the next 7 or 8 months will be warmer than today's, but it's still good to get that first one out of the way.  Or, as I always think to myself, "Not bad for an old guy." 

December Biking

I couldn't resist the 1° C (or -1° C with windchill) temperature today and so I biked downtown to get comics.  This was actually a much easier ride than last week's, thanks to the wind being nearly non-existent.  I also took more than enough Kleenexes with me today, unlike last week, which made for a nicer experience, too!

This means I did at least 9 months of biking in 2014, as I'm uncertain as to whether I got one in during March but I know April through December are now in the bag.  Not bad for a guy pushing 52!

Still Biking In Late November

I did the bike ride downtown today for a comic (that's right, it was for one comic this week: Lazarus) and that was in 0° C (-4° C with the windchill) weather, recognizing that this may be my last chance before March of next year.  We've already had one big snowfall this month, though warm temperatures over the past weekend and earlier this week took care of all that.  It's still possible I'll get one more ride in next week if it's not too wet, but I'm not holding out much hope that I'll actually make it into December.

Oh well, as it is today's trip was strenuous (and cold) enough that I feel pretty good about being able to get this late into the year at my age. 

A Five Bike-Ride Week!

Three round trips downtown (Mon, Fri & today), a lunchtime ride to Westmount Mall and back (Wed), and an hour-long spin class (Tue night) all add up to my busiest biking week since I retired back in 2008.  The best part?  I wasn't feeling all that tired as I pedaled the last few kilometres home today, mostly uphill and into the wind.  It's been years since I've tested myself like this, but it's nice to know that even at 51 I can still handle this much exercise over a six day period.

Another Biking Season Draws To A Close

I biked downtown to get comics today, and it was a beautiful late-fall day for a ride.  I think the temperature was around 4 or 5 degrees, though the windchill made it feel closer to 0, according to the Weather Network site.  Most importantly, the roads and bike paths were clear and the sun was shining.

Unfortunately, snow is in the forecast and I think today may have been my last ride of the year.  It's certainly one of the final trips I'll be able to make in 2013, as late November is usually as long into the season as I can go before the snow and ice arrives.  My days of long biking streaks or simply saying "Screw it" and biking in the snow are over, I think.  There's something about entering my 50s that's just made that sort of thing seem impractical now.  But even so, I'm proud to have stretched the biking season to (at least) November 20th this year, as that's nothing to sneeze at.

Scary Article About The Realities Of Cycling

I mean, the title says it all: Is it OK to kill cyclists?  You should definitely give it a read, whether you're a cyclist or not, but especially if you're a driver who resents cyclists.

Thanks to the Man from Mars for the link.

2013 Biking Season Is On!

I've been itching to get on the bike ever since we got back from summer-in-Australia in the middle of February, but today was the first real chance I've had to do so.  There had been a bit of snow recently, but not enough to stick.  And the 3 degree temperature just after noon today was more than warm enough for me with several layers on.  So off I went to the comic store to pick up three weeks' haul.

I do love riding my bike when it's so cool out that it's just about impossible to overheat, even on a 20-km round trip!

Car Horn For Bicycles

I've railed before about the way some car owners abuse their vehicle's horn by pressing their door lock button repeatedly until the horn honks... because, you know, that's easier than just pressing it once and not bothering everyone around you!

Well, maybe I'll soon be able to get a car horn for my bike that will allow me to use that device for the sole purpose it was intended - to prevent accidents and near-misses from happening!  And if I do put one on my bicycle, I promise not to use it to say "Bye" to people standing on their front porch waving at me as I'm leaving or to assure myself that I've locked up my bike as I walk away from it.  Because I actually try to avoid bothering other people.

Yet Another American Debate

It's not quite at the same level as the Health Care Reform or Finance Reform bruhahas, but I still find these developments around biking in the U.S. interesting. It's nice to see Obama's Transportation Secretary "walking the walk" as well as his boss has been doing lately.

I guess we have to give American conservatives points - in this case - for consistency: they don't believe in climate change, and therefore anything done to encourage or support cycling probably makes no sense to them at all. And besides, the more they obstruct changes that facilitate more biking, the more they can argue that Americans will never commute on two wheels anyway! (Lovely circular logic, that!)

I wonder if any politician in my lifetime will ever come along to put the "conserve" back into "conservative"?

Mystery Solved Exactly One Year Later??

I swear it's a total coincidence!

One year ago today, I blogged about my iPod and how it would fail on me shortly into a bike ride sometimes despite having a full charge. Well, today it happened again!

I was biking downtown in -4° C weather this morning with my freshly charged device and it stopped playing about 10 minutes in! I'd had it in my hoodie's pocket, as I always do, so I decided to switch it from there to my pants pocket. My theory was that it was the cold temperature that was causing the malfunction. Over lunch, I was in a warm restaurant for about an hour and a half (with no option to charge the device up). Once I was ready to bike home (still about -1° C) I started my iPod playing again but then put it back in the pants pocket, where it would be considerably warmer than in my hoodie (less cold air around it, closer to my body and with hard-working leg muscles to insulate it). Sure enough, it continued to play music for me the whole way home!

Therefore, I think the problem is the ambient temperature. If the iPod is in a very cold environment, it seems to shut down. I don't know if that's by design or not, but it definitely appears to be happening. (Funny that I'd solve the mystery exactly one year after posing it, though!)

Signs Of Spring

I walked a student home from a tutoring session over the weekend, and she had a sleeveless vest on, instead of a winter coat.

Kids were out on the street playing road hockey this afternoon, dressed in T-shirts, jeans and running shoes.

The Man from Mars just tweeted that he's prepping his bike for a ride into work tomorrow for the first time in 3 months.

There's no two ways about it: Spring is just around the corner, and I, for one, can hardly wait. And maybe I'll even have copies of a certain Math book to sell by then!

This One's For Tim

He nagged me, he berated me, and he sometimes made me want to kick him in the --- But in the final analysis, he was probably right, the bastard.

Today, Vicki and I went to our first ever Yoga class as a couple (she'd gone to a few before, but always without me). Although I couldn't do some of the moves at all, and others just barely, I liked it and think it'll do me a lot of good in the long run.

Tomorrow we go to a Cycling class together, as another first!

Brutally Hot Day

Today was not the day to have to do anything strenuous outside in this neck of the woods, and yet somehow I ended up going on a long bike trip that included stops at the chiropractor, comic store and bike repair shop (to pick up a fixed flat tire from last week). By the time I got home from all of that, I was soaked in sweat and particularly appreciative of the fact that there was a nice, refreshing pool in the backyard to jump into!

I feel great sympathy for anyone who was working outside today and didn't have any similar way to cool down easily. It was just nasty out there today!

Triathlete

I always like the days when I:

1. Get a significant bike ride in
2. Go for a long walk somewhere
3. Complete my laps in the pool

That's my version of a triathlon (sad, I know) and today was my first one of the year. Despite the pool temperature being a brisk 23 C, I still enjoyed my half hour or so in the water. Vicki did a great job hosing away all of the accumulated bird droppings that we always have to deal with this time of the year, and the pool actually looked picturesque for the first time since late last summer.

And now we're off to visit friends for dinner and possibly watch a movie.

I Miss My Bike!

My current routine, while I'm on this contract at a location that's impractical to bike to, has become: get no biking in all week, then make a trip to the comic store on the weekend as my sole two-wheel experience. It's certainly better than nothing, but I really miss the feeling that I'd get after five straight days of nearly an hour of exercise per day. I can also see that my weight's starting to go up (again) as a result of having so few opportunities to either walk or bike off some calories.

Oh well, at the moment it's only for four more weeks. If my contract ends up getting extended beyond that, I guess then I'll have to figure out some way to get more exercise. It's possible that my Math Tutoring will be down to one night a week (instead of two) once school's done, and that would give me at least a little more of an opening after work to do something... physically active!

It's Funny

In the car tonight as Vicki and I went out for dinner, we both remarked on how windy it was. For her, I think it was just an observation; as for me, I just kept thinking, "Boy, am I ever glad I'm not biking into that mother-*&^%ing gale!"

I've had enough of that kind of trip already this year, and it's only the first of April!

One For The Whiz Kids

So, this week I've biked three times. On two of those three trips, my freshly-recharged iPod has run out of juice before I got home (therefore, after less than an hour of usage). On each of those occasions, when I got home I recharged the device fully, and then started it playing to see how long it would go before it ran dry. The first time, after it was still going an hour and a half later, I stopped the experiment and assumed that my sad biking experience earlier that day had just been a fluke. After it wimped out on me again today while biking home, though, I repeated the controlled, home version of the process... which is now halfway through its 3rd hour of continuous playing, with no signs of giving up the ghost yet.

So who has any ideas as to what the difference is between the two scenarios in question? In all cases, the iPod had been fully recharged not too much prior to me using it, although in the two bike examples I may have unplugged it a few hours before, whereas with my tests it's been just minutes before. Is that likely to be a significant difference? Also, the bike rides were both in very cold weather (close to freezing, although the iPod was inside a pocket and thus at least a little warmer than that) whereas my experiments have been at room temperature (22 C in our house). Does running in a cooler environment use up battery life more quickly? I can't think of any other differences, unless the somewhat jarring motion of being on a bicycle somehow affects it (which seems unlikely to me).

I may repeat the experiment tomorrow, but recharging it tonight and then running the test tomorrow (to see if the battery's losing strength during the time between charge and usage, even though the iPod isn't on). Can anyone suggest any other things to try, or provide insight into why this might be happening?

Update 1: I did just think of another, possibly significant difference in my scenarios, though it's purely unintentional. Since both of my experiments were done when I got home after the iPod had failed me, the battery had run out completely in those cases. The rest of the time I'm usually starting it charging when it - theoretically, at least - still has some charge left in it. Maybe that's the difference? Thoughts?

Update 2: It's still going, after 4 hours!! Where was that joie de vie when I needed it out of the stupid thing on the bike ride home today?!

Update 3: My repeat of the experiment the next day, with a longer waiting period after the recharge, yielded the same result: a little over 5 hours of running time. So I have no idea. We'll see what happens next time I bike somewhere.