Fail.

I give up.  I can't make it to and from work without bending the shit out of the wheel.  I'm done trying.

Mileage: ???

Contraption!

So I've had a big problem with bending rear wheels on my bicycle.  So last night, I had an epiphany.  With a little help from Kev, I rigged up a way to true the wheel that is pretty damn accurate.  I got my wheel down to 0.01 inches of variance.  Total cost so far was about $40.  I'll post the actual dollar amount once I finish version 2, which we'll get to in a minute.
Flaws in version 1 were pretty minimal.  First and foremost is that the blasted thing is too accurate.  The needle on the dial moves way too much for my liking, so I keep refining and refining until it is so close to perfect.  Then I remember that a tenth of an inch is a full rotation on the dial, so that little swing it has is nothing by comparison.  The other flaw is more of a design flaw, in that there isn't really a way to tell if the hoop is off-center of the hub.  The idea I have to further the design is to attach an L shaped piece of aluminum (wrapped in duck tape so it won't mar up the frame), that will hopefully let me mark out a uniform place on the chain-stays to mount the clamp.  Once I have this uniform mark, I should be able to tell how far off to one side or the other the wheel is.
While this rig sounds somewhat inaccurate, I think it will serve its purpose.  Save me money and trips to the bike shop.  I may even invest in a cheap front fork and make it into a work-bench type solution, but we'll see on that one.

Mileage:  0

Water!

So some people didn't believe that I found actual running water on my rides. Here I prove them wrong!
On a side note, I had a really long ride today. 25 miles total. And the strange part was that I felt pretty good after the long ride. Tired, but not exhausted like when I started the 18 mile rides. I was impressed.

Mileage: 25

Hot

I know that most people think of scorching heat when they think of Arizona, but Flagstaff is a little different. This weekend the high temperatures was in the mid-80's, but it always manages to feel much hotter in the sun. Between the extreme heat of hauling my big self up hills and the hot black-top, it felt like nearly 140 degrees on the bicycle.
I also was reminded of how badly I despise tap-water. I normally filter my drinking water through a faucet-based filter, and then through a pitcher-based filter. In preparing for my ride, I realized that I had not refilled the pitcher all the way, and I had to top off my camelback with tap water. About half way through my ride, I hit that water and nearly blew chunks on the side of the road. Stomach churning nastiness in the Flagstaff water system. This may be just me, though, as several of my friends think it is the best water they've ever tasted. Freaks.

Mileage: 18

Life!

Had a pretty good ride today, found actual running water and actual life!
I also got my second car up and running, it is one kick-ass Jiggady. After over a year of sitting, it cranked right up! Had to replace the battery, but that was my fault. There was a paper-towel stuck in the rear hatch keeping the dome light on.

Mileage: 19

Hobbies

Another George Carlin quote for today:  "I have interests, not hobbies.  Hobbies cost money, interests are free."
So the question is, do I want a new bicycle?  At current I'm going through rear wheels like most people go through underwear.  I've also got what sounds like one DEAD bottom bracket, and though it may actually be a symptom of the BB dying, it sounds like the frame is now screaming in pain when I ride.  It is vexing.  And even more so is the lack of steal-framed bikes at my favorite shop in town.
But I did get a nice ride in yesterday.  Changing my route to include the climbs going to the community college, should help my endurance some, I hope.

Mileage:18

Hills.

Ok, most people from near Flagstaff know that we have hills.  Not gigantic hills, but certainly not Iowa.  I had to go over to the community college, and it is on top of the worst hill I know.  I hurt.
On the plus side, I got registered for classes and got books and stuff.  Crap, no turning back.

Mileage: 3.5

Scooter Trash

"I don't have pet peeves; I have major psychotic fucking hatreds, okay. And it makes the world a lot easier to sort out. " -- George Carlin

I really love the phrase "Scooter Trash", but with the massive amount of idiots on scooters now-a-days, it has lost its charm and turned into a complete and utter insult.

On Saturday, riding to Best Buy, I had someone on a scooter pass me on the bike path. Now, for those not familiar with Flagstaff, the bike path is a double-width side walk intended for bicycles. I was so aghast at this man's audacity, that I yelled at him. How can you fathom this to be a good idea? Mixing bicycles, pedestrians, and scooters on the same path? Why not make pedestrians walk in the street while we're at it?
This morning I found another of these morons sitting in the bike lane (diamond line along side car traffic lanes) waiting for a light to change. He yelled at me when I passed him and sat in front of him for the light, and took my sweet time riding off.

One last thing, why does scooter trash think that a bicycle helmet is enough to protect their brain? Though, I guess they're already brain-dead to make that decision...

Mileage:3.5

Weekend of riding!

Did a couple nice rides this weekend.  One over to Best Buy to get some DVD's (I <3 Stargate SG1), and then my normal 18 mile ride.  I felt accomplished.  I do, however, need to get the back of my hands tan.  They look horridly out of place.

Mileage: 38

Jack Off...

So funny little story today. Went to look at one of my coworkers' calendar to see when she wasn't working, and on August 1st I saw this entry (click for more detail). Epic.

Mileage: 7

Mondays...

Nice comfortable day, with a nice long ride after work.

Mileage: 18

Wet ending.

Had a great ride. Felt really strong for the third day in a row on the ride. Got pretty rainy right before I got home, so it was nice and cool.

Mileage: 18

Ketchup.

So I did a LOT of riding this week, but didn't post it all. So today we catch up on it all (get it, ketchup? I so funny).

Tuesday: 18 miles.
Wednesday: Took the day off work, and didn't ride. Slacker.
Thursday: Drove. I fail.
Friday: 18 miles.
Saturday: 18 miles.

I'm impressed with myself because this puts me at 90 miles for the last 7 days. I really hope I can keep this up.

Mileage: 54 (total of above).

New wheel!

WTB DX23. We'll see how this one stands up. Nice long ride in the rail on the way home. Good times.

Mileage: 15