Top things I miss when biking to work

So the top things I miss when I bike into work on a day like today (temperature at 6:30am was 36F) are in no particular order:

• Heated seats, the Mazda has wonderful heated seats, the bike not so much
• No wind on my hands. I had anticipated this, so I bought these fancy new wind stopper bike gloves, which are not nearly substantial enough. My hands were frozen by the Falls River Bridge. Time to break out the snowboard mittens
• Being able to enjoy my travel mug of coffee on the way into work

For balance I guess I should also have a list of the things I miss when I drive to work:

• The great scenery along the Wissahickon, I could technically glance at it while on Lincoln drive but taking your eyes off the road for even a second there is a death defying act
• Stopping at the Valley Green Inn to have a "breakfast" of a frozen Clif bar from my pocket and some very cold water, is really quite enjoyable

The real test is going to come on the way home tonight, it will be much darker than it was this morning and I will be much more tired. The break I took for the couple of weeks before the wedding to avoid the possibility of road rash at the wedding has left me pretty out of shape. Maybe tonight I test the Regional Rail option? You will all have to wait with great suspense to find out my choice.

Advertising in Atlanta airport

While I did not order these they did look delicious.

Impactful store helmet advertising

Some very creative in-store advertising in a local bike shop I saw yesterday. I am a big fan of zombie movies and books so while I did not need a new helmet if I did this might have convinced me to buy. I think there is an employee there that could be a copy writer at an agency. That is better than a lot of the print headlines I have seen from agencies over the years.

Best haircut ever

Saw this little guy while walking from West Philly today. I wonder how much nagging it took to get his Mom to agree to that. You go little Mr. T.

Ecuador Pictures

So below is a link to a select few of the pictures from Ecuador. Check them out, I put all the effort into the captions, so I am not going to repeat that effort here...

From Ecuador

Also in case you are wondering it will be 3-4 more weeks until we have the professional pictures from the wedding. They have lots of shots to go through and process, but the photographer says there are great ones.

Wedding Drama - *&%* Delta

So the latest wedding drama is that we got a panicked email from our travel agent yesterday. She told us that the flight we were taking home was canceled by Delta. And as you might imagine there are not multiple flight home from Quito, Ecuador. Turns out we will have to stay one more day (darn) and even though Delta will not cover the hotel, Starwood comes through. The Sheraton in Quito is only 4000 points for a night, one stay closer to platinum status.

Survey

Check out the survey I added to the right.

Job I wish I had...

So I totally wish I was Alton Brown. Mostly because I am watching his new series of the "feasting" shows Feasting on Waves. I am totally jealous that he gets to sail around the Caribbean and eat amazing food. Totally jealous.

Now that is targeting

Amy and I were at the liquor stores today getting booze for the weeding. And while we were looking at wines I saw the wine below, now that is what I call a targeted product that knows it's audience.

On a separate note, I just tuned into the Michigan - Notre Dame game and was happy to see that only 4 minutes into the game Michigan is down by 14. While not a final that is a pretty telling start. I hope my Bucs fair better in California this evening.

Birthdays and Reflections

So I turn 30 today and so far it has been a great day and I am happy to get all the well wishes, cards and calls. And being a major milestone birthday I am more reflective especially on Lew's smugness comment from yesterday's post. I have to admit that I do not want to be condescending to my suburban friends, as increasingly that is most of them. To each his own and who knows maybe Amy and I will end up in the 'burbs someday. I doubt it but anything is possible. But I will still continue to extol the virtues I see in urban living, and will leave out the digs against the suburban lifestyle.

Speaking of virtues, if it is not pouring rain tonight Amy and I will be walking to Osteria, and great Italian restaurant just up the street from our house. Delicious. I will be having a small salad for lunch today.

What's your walkable score?

So there was a great article in the Ideal Bite from today that showed a website that ranks the "walkability" of your neighborhood. And Philadelphia was #5 (just behind Chi-town). Check it out, that is unless you live in the car dependant suburbs, well off to bike home.

Philly's Walk Score

How big is Hanna?

Oh no the Hurricane is coming...aggghhhh. While we are expected to get a pretty good rain storm and 20-30mph gusts today from the way they are talking on the news you would think we were going to have 100mph winds and massive flooding. I am planning on using this a great excuse to spend nearly the entire day watching football. And while I did decide that going camping in the Poconos was probably not a good idea I think the local sports bar will be just fine.

59 minutes

So I did it, I always had it as a goal in the back of my mind but I was not sure I would ever be able to do it on the mountain bike. 59 minutes from the first pedal in the McNeil parking lot to pulling into City View. The key was that I had other bikers to chase down for a good part of the Wissahickon and Schuylkill trails. My competitive spirit gets the best of me and I love to pass and hate to be passed. Not sure I could do that time every day but it was fun today.

down the 'shore

So Amy and I made our annual trip down the 'shore (for non-Philadelphia people that means we went to the beach in New Jersey) today. We left at 9 this morning and drove down to Cape May, the southern most town in Jersey. Not a bad ride and the weather was perfect, 90 sunny and not to humid. Of course I forgot my camera so no pics, but the trip was a good one, take my word for it. I ate some seafood advertised as "fresh" but I am pretty sure it was frozen until right before it went in the fryer, but with a healthy serving of tartar sauce it was delicious.

However as is the case every year when we do this we realized that we are not 'shore people. While a trip or two is great fun (we still welcome invites to shore houses...) the thought of going down there every weekend in the summer is just a little much. Happy to be back in Philly tonight and enjoying the mostly empty city.

Welcome Back Football Saturdays

A #2 in the AP ranking out of the gate and an easy win today over Youngstown State ( I know a 16-0 lead early in the 2nd is not the end of the game - but come on only Michigan loses to a Div 1-A in the season opener). Now to plan my smoked meat schedule for the rest of the fall, delicious smoked meats and football, throw in a little beer and all is right with the world.


Also just to keep up with the trend and mention the bike in every post REI was great about adjusting all of the derailleur and brake cables to get the bike back to full functionality, and even scheduled a full tune up 2 weeks from now all gratis.

Road Side Repairs

On the way into work today my front derailleur jammed, and as luck would have it stuck on the big ring. For you non-bikers that makes it very had to pedal up hills. And I was still 4.5 miles from the office. So it was time to break out the alien tool and see what I could do to fix it, turns out the cable had just slipped and after a few trys I was able to get it to work, well mostly. I can shift between two of the front rings without chain rub. Looks like tomorrow I will be collecting the 100 mile tune up that REI gives you for free with a new bike purchase. I am sure that is easier than me playing with that cable for an hour to get it adjusted correctly so I can shift to all three rings and not have chain rub.

Biking certainly makes for more interesting commute than by car.

New toys for the bike

For those that do not know I have not been riding to work recently for two reasons, one being I have been traveling quite a bit for work and I had a bit of an accident two weeks ago on the way home. Turns out that taking a turn from pavement to gravel at 20-25mph on city slick tires is a bad idea, so while I did not have any serious injury I did have a pretty bad case of road rash on my arm, shoulder and leg. But that is all better now, so back on the bike.

So I rode into the office again today and had a couple new toys for the bike. Performance Bike was having a summer clearance sale on gear, so I was able to pick-up a pair of panniers so I can carry my clothes with me vs. having to bring them the day before (and forget my pants) as well I got a wireless computer so I can really see what my speed and distance is. Big surprise is that my trip is 15.5 miles each way not 13. So in a round trip day I am doing 31 miles, not to shabby.

Riding Back to Back Days

So I did not spill anything on my pants yesterday so I took on riding in again today. I do have to admit I was a little slower this morning. And I choose to believe it was not that my legs were tired but that I was taking in the scenery. Check out some of the pictures I took with the blackberry on the the way home last night and the way in this morning.

This is from the trail along the Wissahickon creek, in the afternoon the trail is much more crowded with other folks getting in a little exercise.
This is the Vally Green Inn, a nice nearly mid point stop on the ride. Due to the heat today I will be stopping at the water fountain there to fill up my water bottle.

And this one is from the way in this morning. I get to ride past the only covered bridge in Philadelphia county. Very scenic, how's it compare to your daily commute?

Getting Faster on the Bike

So ride number three this morning was faster than previous rides by about 8 minutes or so. And while that does not seem like a lot it is a 10% improvement over my initial trip which took an hour 20. And this time I remembered to bring my pants into the office the day before so I was all set once I arrived.

I will have to take some pictures with the blackberry on a trip to give a sense of the natural setting I ride through. Maybe on the way home tonight? Also as long as I do not spill anything on these pants today (a higher probability than you might think) I may try back to back days, by riding in tomorrow. I can pack a golf shirt that will not get to wrinkled.

Wind Turbine on the move

On a recent trip back from a meeting in Skillman, NJ the J&J office I used to work at, I was on the PA turnpike and saw an pretty unique over sized load. Now I have seen wind turbines in the desert in CA and there are even a couple you can see from the PA turnpike and yes they look big but seeing just one of the blades on it's side going down the highway was pretty impressive.