Non-Commute Morning Rides

Temperature at departure = 58° F (14° C)

Although I'm a work at home guy again, I am still getting out and riding. I find excuses to ride my bike on errands during my lunch hour, or I simply hop on and take a ten mile ride on the trail before I have to sign in for work. I'm getting over the fact that those rides aren't officially bicycle commutes. So what? There, I've grown.

This morning's ride was rife with detours. There is so much mud under some of the bridges that it would be unwise to ride through it. Take the 103rd street bridge just west of Metcalf for example:


I decided to take an alternate route. We're looking at Flash Flood Warnings later in the day, so this isn't going to clear up soon.


And, yes, I've stopped complaining about there not being any color in the landscape during my morning rides.

Finally, I'm a fan of The System and just saw this one from a few days ago. He's channeling me again...

Still trying to catch my breath

I'm still trying to adjust to working from home and the additional work load that has been given to those of us who remain in support. Be that as it may, I just noticed that YouTube has movies, much like Hulu. I've been trying to find Quicksilver at the library for ages and now I can just relax and watch it on my computer.

For Quicksilver and more, go to http://www.youtube.com/movies

Disclaimer: I still work for Google for the time being, but am not connected with the YouTube folk at all.

Stop III

Temperature at departure = 51° F (11° C)

Why not? Writers and filmmakers do trilogies, why not me? I present to you Stop III. Same intersection as the other two...



Unfortunately, it is true. This morning I set out on my last official commute by bicycle. Tomorrow we have to have everything out of the office and moved home. It's been a few years since I've worked for home and I used to like it. What I haven't been able to get used to is the idea that I'll no longer be a bike commuter. I'll ride on errands and for fun in the morning before work -- but that won't really count as a commute.

Anyway, in the spirit of last day of elementary school pictures, here are a couple shots of a cloudy ride in this morning.





I'm toying with the idea of doing something a little different here that will still be bike related. Give me a week or two to get that organized...

Conservation

Temperature at departure = 29° F (-2° C)

Cold and windy this morning and, to be honest, I was tempted to just drive today. Wind gusts up to 40 mph forecast for today ... but I only have two weeks left to be an official bike commuter. I rode my bicycle and was glad I did.

A quick note of thanks for all the people who volunteered and helped clean up the trash that has been accumulating along the creek since last summer. Most of the trash has been plastic grocery bags and plastic water bottles. I'm just sayin'. This is a shot from a couple weeks ago:



Sure, there is still more that can be done to clean the creek up, but thanks to a few people who were willing to give up part of their Saturday a lot of that trash plastic is now bagged and ready to head off to the land fill -- along with three kid's bikes from the short section of creek around the park on 103rd, just west of Metcalf.


The swimming pool has been stuck under the 103rd street bridge since the big storm we got on March 8th. Glad to see it's going away.

I don't want to get all environmentally on you, but if you have seven minutes and twenty seconds, this is worth a view; it has changed my answer to the question "paper or plastic..."

April Fools

Temperature at departure = 31° F (-1° C)



Created using the Bus Slogan Generator.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Times Change

Temperature at departure = 35° F (2° C)

Season change as well. Two weekends ago Peter and I rode 25 miles on the Indian Creek, Mahaffie Creek and Gary Haller Trails to Shawnee Mission Park and then 25 miles home again ... in shorts and tee shirts.



This last weekend I chose not to ride.



The nice thing about these early spring snow storms is they melt off pretty quickly. I had to dodge some big piles that snow plows placed at the enterance of just about every bike path access point yesterday morning, but all the snow was gone by the time I rode home.

Anyway, getting to the point of this post; my how times have changed! I was looking into some of the bicycle games that Sir Robert Baden-Powell came up with for the Boy Scouts of his day. There is no way I could get away with suggesting our guys do these...

Cyclists' Games

...but I'm thinking that a group of adults could possibly set up a match of Brigand Hunting. The idea is to map out an area aproximately 9 square miles and let the "brigand" have a 10 minute head start. That person would have to stay within the prescribed area for two hours while the other players try to corner them.

You can see how parents might be concerned that little Johnny might get run over by a car. Perhaps I can get some other adults interested in giving this a try later this spring.

That's Entertainment

Temperature at departure = 33° F (1° C)

Man, I've got to get a few moments to download a couple pictures and tell you about the 50 mile ride that Peter and I went on this last weekend. In the mean time, the Huffington Post has a nice story up highlighting music videos that include bikes.

I'd completely forgotten about Ray Parker & Helen Terry's music video from Quicksilver.

Culture Clash

Temperature at departure = 44° F (7° C)

Having prepared and fed my brood an amazing first attempt at vegetable risotto, one of my sons asked me to drive him over to a friends house to watch basketball last night. On the way home I signaled for a right turn, pulled onto 103rd and realized that the driver behind me probably didn't see me hold out my hand...

Momentum and Gravity, not Video

Temperature at departure = 48° F (9° C)

Spring Break week, but I couldn't take it off because I'm on call. Bummer. One thing I could do, however, is take the opportunity to ride my bike the long way to work; twenty miles on the Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek trails. A bicycle ride of an hour and twenty minutes, mostly through the woods, gives you plenty of time to let your mind wander.


I've seen this trashed radio at the corner of 103rd and Metcalf for a week now. Since I first spotted it I started thinking about how it could be a metaphore for the radio industry. Or, it could just be a broken radio. Regardless, it has sparked several chains of thought about my work and the industry as a whole. Someone should pick this thing up and fix it. Me? Great, do I mean the actual radio, or the industry? Oh, look, a puppy. (Good thing I'm slightly ADD...)

Slightly out of Breath

Temperature at departure = 43° F (6° C)

I noticed that I was coasting down hills that I normally pedal down this morning as I rode my bike to work. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. I stretched the four mile direct route out to eleven miles and was surprised to find that my average MPH was 2.5 MPH higher than normal. Why?

This was on the MP3 Player:


I must have been really hammering. Bucephalus was pleased.

Public Service Announcement

Temperature at departure = 30° F (-1° C)

Do not smoke while riding a bicycle. Have a nice weekend.

Stolen Identities

Temperature at departure = 17° F (-8° C)

Even if they didn't know my name:

People in my building, in my neighborhood and at my kid's schools knew me as the guy that rides his bike to work all year long.

People at church knew me as the guy that plays saxophone in the worship band, the guy that organizes the annual bike ride and some even knew that I was the mysterious "Mr. Voice."

Last Friday's meeting was to tell us that our office in Overland Park will be closed on April 20th and we'll be working from home. Sunday we found out that as of the first of April, our church will be "merging" with a church that, to be honest, is too far away to be practical.

Still, it could be worse; I could be at home NOT working...

Hello old Friend

Temperature at departure = 52° F (11° C)

I'd planned on taking the day off, but was told to come into the office at ten this morning for a special meeting. Sounded kind of ominous considering how things have been going recently. It was a beautiful morning and I had a couple hours to make it to the office so I took the long way. 20 miles of stress relief.

The phrase "What can brown do for you?" kept running through my mind...



It can turn green, that is what it can do.

Spring Preview

Temperature at departure = 58° F (14° C)

The forecast calls for high temperatures around 78° this afternoon. I will not be sitting in my office looking at my screen during lunch. I'll be riding along the creek...

The Waters Of March

And the riverbank sings of the waters of March
It's the promise of spring
It's the joy in your heart

And the riverbank sings of the waters of March
It's the end of despair
It's the joy in your heart

-- Antonio Carlos Jobim

It is probably way too soon to post about another bumper sticker encounter, but I have to share. While riding down the nearly empty, school zone, road this morning I felt a rush of air as the rear view mirror on the pickup truck missed me by around 8 inches. Probably trying to school me on the supremacy of motorized vehicles. As he pulled ahead I had the opportunity to read his bumper sticker:

"Are you an organ donor?"

Almost. Jerk.

Yeah, you and every one else...

I don't normally like to post work related stuff (other than the ride to and from), but one of this morning's e-mail messages to support was too wonderful to pass up.


Yeah, I don't think anything we can do is going to help...

I should know better

Temperature at departure = 52° F (11° C)

When heading out on the bike after the TV weatherman said "The rain in the metro is over for the day" -- I will regret not having a front fender.

Coasting

Temperature at departure = 42° F (6° C)

I have decided
My commute would be better
Downhill all the way


I'll admit, this looks like a very cool way to commute; but I still think riding my bike to work is more fun. I can bicycle to work in Overland Park all year round -- the water slide would freeze up in the winter. Still, it would be nice to have a route that was all down hill...


[I know, I know. This one has been making the rounds in bike blogs quite a bit lately -- but what a fun concept.]

Smokey Seems Sad

Temperature at departure = 36° F (2° C)

As I pulled up to the stop sign behind the Honda with the obvious oil leak, I had an opportunity to pause and read his bumper stickers.

1) Tree hugging dirt worshiper
2) The earth is our mother, treat her with respect

...and then he threw a lit cigarette butt out the window. I had to laugh. I enjoy the irony.

I came up with this later in the trip (Fritz, no need to link):

I'm one of the few
I commute by bicycle
In Overland Park.

Solitude

Temperature at departure = 24° F (-4° C)

It was an uneventful commute into the office this morning. That isn't a bad thing... Still, I'm looking forward to warmer temperatures and some green. The landscape has been the same dull yellow/brown for way too long.

Saturday's ride was a bit strange. The temperature hovered around freezing and since CAT and the kids were all off doing other things, my 6 mile roundtrip ride to the library turned into a 20 mile ride to check out the Leawood side of the Indian Creek Trail.


It was nice to see that they're clearing out a lot of the scrub brush along the creek.


The most surreal part of the trip was my loop around Leawood Park. This place is normally packed with people in nice weather and you would expect to see some people out even when it is cold. There was no one else there. Weird.


Heading back towards home I decided to see how serious they were about the trail being closed the the north of I-435. Yep, they're still serious.

It was nice to have the trail to myself. Spring, with its dog walkers, joggers and other cyclists will come soon enough. Until then I will keep bundling up and blazing trails.

Think PSA

I am a huge fan of Tom Vanderbilt's book, Traffic, and How We Drive blog and am honored that he used one of my posts as an example in one of his recent posts. His latest post (as of a few minutes ago) has a video of a Think UK PSA that is powerfull. After watching, I had to see more so clicked on some of the associated links to find this:



As someone who rides a non-motorized bike, I truely wish that we could get these PSA's run in the states. "Think. Take longer to look for bikes."