Riding Journal, July 9, 2004.

[gridlore]

Meant to post this yesterday, but things happened.

Distance: 3.416 miles
Maximum Speed: 17.6 mph
Average Speed: 9.4 mph
Time: 21 minutes, 53 seconds

Holy crap. Between heavy winds, idiotic drivers, and a slow leak, yesterday was not a fun ride. I had to go pick up my paycheck and head over to AAA so they could get a copy of my interim DL. Along the way I stopped a Pacific Cycle to see about getting puncture-resistant tubes. Which they don't carry. WTF? Considering the riding conditions around here, both on-road and off (we have a lot of plants that produce spiky seed pods) I'd think that would be a natural. Since we should have the car back today, We'll head down to another store to get them installed correctly. I'm still not comfortable messing with the rear deraliuer assembly.

Rant the second. Trying to park a bike. It's impossible. The mall down the street has an amazing total of seven slots in its sole bike rack. And that's the only commercial place within miles that bothers to have a rack! I've had to lock up to light poles, stair hand rails, no parking signs.. none of which make me feel secure. I'm going to call Oakridge and see if they'd add a few more racks around the building. I may call my city council person and see if we can add an ordinance requiring a certain number of bike rack spaces per so many parking spaces.. I'm not sure what a good ratio would be, by 1:50 sounds like a place to start.

Comments

[karmabreeze.livejournal.com]

RE: locking your bike to poles and whatnot - Make sure the poles are actually cemented into the pavement. It was a big theft scam in Chicago a couple years back that all a thief had to do was lift the pole and ride off with your supposedly locked-up bike.