Lots and lots of Errandonnee

Errandonnee #1 (Wildcard)
I set out to take care of something that I'd wanted to do for a long time. This was inspired by Mark Pomocki's work, I decided to try and find the exact spot this photo of Exposition Park was taken in 1913

The location is what was once called "Cemetery Hill" and what is now Community College of Allegheny County. I really hope CCAC isn't resting on hallowed ground and we have angry dead people below the parking lot!

Unfortunately, the hill is now lined in trees and my shot was ruined.

Errandonnee #2 (Wild card #2)

Eagles!

I went out to Hays to see the nesting bald eagles. The last time I was out there was Christmas Day, they estimate the 3 eggs that are now in the nest were conceived around December 25th. I did see some lovely aerial courtship displays that day.

The birders behind me were kind enough to point out the nest's exact location for me.

Errandonnee #3 (Shopping!)

On today's ride, I was experiencing yet more pants creepage. It was a new, maddening and physically irritating phenomenon. I tried scooting around in the saddle, stopping to adjust, sitting differently, but nothing worked.

I stopped at REI to use the bathrooms, and was drawn in by a clearance on chamois shorts... maybe that's what I needed to alleviate my issues. I've never owned a pair. I found a deeply discounted pair and was on the road before I realized I should have worn them out of the store. I wasn't going to go back, re-lock the bike... so I just dealt with my creepy drawers.

I encountered Yale on the Hot Metal bridge, and waved hello, but I don't think he recognized me in my dark jacket, face-covering hood and sunglasses (it was a bright, sun-drenched day).

Errandonnee #4 (Lunch!)

They were filming something in the Market

I had a nice chat with the owner of the bike with the killer
front rack parked behind me,
we wished each other a good ride.

Riding back to base I encountered throngs of teenage girls waiting at Stage AE for a concert. Just as I rode past, apparently, the young heartthrob fellow they were waiting to see poked his head out of the building and girls went absolutely ape. Squealing and screaming and climbing the fence, running out in front of me and moving cars to get at the fence, pushing the other girls out of the way, it was insanity! I and the other adults in the vicinity just laughed at the maniacal girls. What a sight.

I learned later with a quick Google that the kid they wanted to get at was Austin Mahone.




22 miles on a gorgeous day.

The Oblivious Ones return and Creepy Pants

Ah, Spring! It ushers away the cold and the snow... the trails open back up and... oh... The Oblivious Ones are back on the trail again. Great. Maybe I'll stick to riding with traffic... I actually feel safer out there.

Watch as Noob Jogger passes on the right and Mister Oblivious Giant nearly konks him in the head with his gesticulations.

Cat-6 'ed again. He's a messenger, so he *should* being going faster than an old crippled woman.


 

I worked most of today and only got a short ride in, but I made sure to hit the sale Thick Bikes was having on clothing. I picked up an Endura softshell hooded jacket.

My new jacket's not hi-viz!? Wha?

It was so warm that I only needed ONE layer. I can't remember what's that's like. While I was taking a short ride, I felt a breeze on my calves... I look down and I'm suddenly wearing shorts. My pants had crept up so far that my calves were exposed. I have a wicked case of Winter Fur, so this was distressing. I stopped, pulled the pants down, but they kept creeping back up... everywhere... with each pedal stroke. Normally, a second layer underneath would be keeping the pants in place.

Busch und Müller Toplight Permanent rear light

Being fond of my Busch und Müller headlamp, I decided to try one of their rear lights. This one was a large, permanently attached red LED light. This will alleviate the hassle of removing one more light every time I parked the bike. It's as wide as the rear rack. I like this.
There is a version available that automatically turns on when it's dark and the bike is moving and then turns off when the bike is idle. Those versions are called 'Senso' and 'Senso Multi'. I like to run mine in daylight so those versions aren't for me.
It attached easily to the rear rack with an adapter available at Peter White Cycles 
I needed to re-tighten the nuts with my best effort at 'man-strength' when they loosened after the first ride.

DOWNSIDE: You have to unscrew the reflector plate and
expose the delicate guts to perform a battery change.

There's 4 LEDs: 2 in the middle and 2 off to each side.
It's equivalent to 3 lights!

They're supposed to get 40 hours of battery life. I haven't run it that many hours yet.

UPDATE: 3/13/14

The screw holding the reflector plate came off and any attempt to screw it back in is useless as the backing threads are sheared out. I now have to keep the plate held on with tape or some other ramshackle device. I went with asparagus rubber bands. This makes the obsessive compulsive side of me twitch. I can't stand it. Rubber bands from the asparagus we bought last week? Ugh. It looks like crap.

Busch und Müller IXON IQ headlamp

One of my credos is "Don't be a dick". I try my best to live by it. When I learned there were bike headlamps available with a 'cutoff' so you don't blind oncoming cyclists and drivers, I perked up. This is one of those headlamps, made in Germany where it's Das Regel. All headlamps are required to have a cutoff aus Deutchland.

Bitte nicht blenden mich mit dem Fahrrad Scheinwerfer!

So, I found them at Peter White Cycles thanks to a discussion post at BikePGH!

I can carry recharged NiHMs with me, or...

...I can charge the NiMHs right in the lamp.

I bought one at first, but found that like many batteries, they hate the cold and they drained quickly in freezing weather. I found myself without a headlamp on dark rides twice. I bought a second one and made sure I would carry charged NiHM AA batteries as a backup.

Low setting, the beam on the left is from the lamp with drained batteries.

High setting, the beam on the left is from the lamp with drained batteries

Loaded fresh batteries into the left lamp.

Gawking at crashes and more Viking prep

On the Fort Pitt bridge, a morning rush hour incident left a truck on its side and a car smooshed by it. I travel this bridge frequently (both by car and the pedestrian path) so I was curious to see if the crash was cleared and went to gawk on my lunch hour bike ride.

A worker (nice outfit, buddy!) warns me that they're about to flip the truck back to its upright position and I should wait before proceeding in case it would tip over again.

Whenever I come across a scene like this, the empathetic part of me places me in the mind of the people involved. I ask myself, how would I react if a giant tanker truck tipped over onto my car? What would I do if it happened right in front of me? Would I get out and help the people trapped in their cars?

I wrapped up the final touches on my Viking Biking outfit.

Today's anxieties: bike parking, anemia, flab.

Today, I rode down to PNC Park after work to attempt to donate blood. Upon arrival, there's no bike racks on the street... the closest one is way around the corner near the river. A remote, dark place. I can't leave Ruby there!

Where are the bike racks?

I'm not going to hook up to a tree, being a treehugger and all. I attempted to lock to this fence and it took a great deal of grunting and pushing to get the u-lock hooked up.

Hooking to this fence was a battle.

The blood donation was just as frustrating: again, I came up short on the iron count by one point. They sent me packing. Oh, time to go for a ride! I went to the edge of the Strip trail to see if it was open yet and it's still closed. For all my minor frustrations on this evening ride, this absolutely breathtaking sunset was my reward.

Today, Fatcycyclist announced the start of the Beeminder contest.
I've done nothing in the way of weight loss in the past month... noth-ing. I need to ramp it up.

The non-fixed flat, part two.

Today was a day before another Snowmageddon. I wanted to get out and about before it got ugly. I set out to meet Hubby at his favorite restaurant in Oakland. I took the route through the Strip and up Gold way again. That hill is quite a workout... I hope I'll be able to do it when it gets warmer.

On Morewood, I turned onto Centre and felt the thud. Thankfully, I was close to the restaurant, I was early and the restaurant's lot had room for me to work on the flat.

Pump= broken. When Hubby arrived, I decided to just stow the bike in the car and take it back to base after lunch where my floor pump was.

Hubby dropped me off and I set about getting a new tube in.

Wrong size again. This time it was too big.

Not only is your humble blogger stymied and perplexed by tire sizes, but so is the shop that has sold me incorrect tubes: twice.

Oddly, the hole in the tube wasn't on the ground-side, but up the walls, almost near the spokes. I inspected the tire many times over, trying to figure out what had cause the puncture, I didn't feel anything in there.

So, I tried to patch it. It stayed inflated until I got the wheel back on and then it just went soft again.

It was still early, so I called Thick to see if they could fit me in.

Getting back on the road!

Adam kindly obliged... they fixed my flat quickly, sold me some tubes and a new pump. Note: Thick Bikes was NOT the shop that sold me the wrong tubes.


Hopefully, my third flat will be the charm... the one that I can fix quickly and on my own! If that day's in the distant future, that will be fine.

Today= 6 miles, a huge hill and much learned.