Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Random Numbers and Tired Relationships

After not feeling like blogging for a while, I seem to have a big backblog of things I wanted to blog. I'm a wee bit obsessive about numbers so here's some random ones:
2007 mileage so far: 6447 km
3413 km on the touring bike,
2844 km on the "beater" bike,
104 km on Raleigh Twenty (great for short rides on sunny days, picking up pansies and carting things like a big bowl of chili around in the milkcrate)
86 km on borrowed bikes.

I biked more kms in chilly March (533) than in August (448). Go figure. July was the best month with 1017, and February the lowest with 182 (I was hibernating from the deep freeze).

Commute to work: 12 km round trip (the direct way)
Commuting methods since starting my new job in late June:
96 days by bicycle
1 day by transit (made it easier to take a train for after work plans)
1 day telecommuting
0.25 days walking (the half a return trip with a flat and no spare)

Average one way time:
45 min by streetcar (based on a sample size of 1)
25 min by bike

TTC fare saved (based on 2.25/one way): $432
MSRP of a 2008 Kona Dew: $399

Random conversations with myself:
After coming back to my bike after an evening out: Damn, its still here. (a 17-year-old speckled mountain bike locked with a $50 lock.)

After getting cut off by a car gunning for a street parking spot, while trying to brake hard: Hmm with a new Dew I could definitely do an emergency stop in this amount of space, but ain't going to happen with my minimalist brake tuning on ker-clunky (do they stop the wheel? YES good. do they rub the wheel? NO good.) So I probably need to figure out where to go as the chances of this guy being fully into the parking spot in the split second before I crash into him are slim to none. I'll swerve over the streetcar track. (but was not certain what was behind me, always a bad idea)

After realizing my brakes no longer met my minimalist criteria: ARGH stoopid old cantilevers that adjust themselves a bazillion directions while trying to set the pads. Ah dreaming of modern brakes.

But thanks to Brad at the Bike Joint who cleaned thousands of kms of gunk out of the freehub, I can longer call the bike ker-clunky. No longer random slams into the seat in the middle of the intersection where I stall with an impatient road rager right behind me.

But somehow I am still not feeling the love. Maybe before it gets nasty we should stop seeing each other every day and just have a winter thing. It was only supposed to be a short summer fling where I would leave you in California. Somehow you followed me to Toronto and I got hooked.

Is it wrong for me to look around at others?

I think this post is now titled Help Crazy Biker Chick find a new commuter.

You must have it all. Cute, fun, sexy, and look great in a wicker basket. Zippy yet comfortable. Please be low maintenance, and use protection to keep me free from CTDs (chain transmitted diseases) and mud. Open to diversity, but partial to bright green Gliders and little red folders.

P.S. Don't tell Ker-Clunky about it but I've already been on a few trial dates.
Little red folders.

Recumbents - for touring and distance rides though, not the commuter.

P.P.S. For ogling some pretty fun looking rides check out our recent human-powered vehicle get together on the Leslie Spit.

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