Whew

Although it wasn't my intention I ended up riding 20+ miles today kind of without even trying,  all unfortunately during the hottest part of the day, on a very hot (97 degree) day.

My day started early with a 7am meeting in the suburbs (via Zipcar, although I may look into taking the T in the future)  By the time I got back into the city at 10, it was probably in the mid 80's.  I took the bike path, and rode slowly and helmetless until I had to get back on the streets for the last miles through the city.

As I was shutting down at 3:30, I remembered that I had forgotten to mail in my architectural license renewal. The late fee is pretty steep, and they don't accept a "postmarked by" date.  More painfully, although the state office that manages such things is only a mile from my office, the form was at home, 6 miles from work. and they couldn't accept the fee without the paperwork.

So I rode home, picked up the papers,  changed into a floaty skirt (had worn pants to the jobsite in case I had to climb up on anything)  and headed back into the city.  Because I was a bit pressed for time, I took the shortcut  (5 miles) directly through the city,  but tried to ride as slowly as I felt comfortable doing in traffic.

Back to my office to pick up something I needed to work on tonight,  and then back to Cambridge,  by the river again so I could dawdle, and stop at Trader Joe's for some well deserved lemonaide.
The bike parked next to mine was secured in an interesting way:

2 bottles of wine, a bottle of seltzer and a bottle of lemonaide in the pannier, I decided to stop and get a lobster at the funny little lobster pound stuck in a residential neighborhood.  I'd seen it on my way home f a couple of times, but never stopped.  It was nice, the lobsters were reasonably priced, and according to the owner, had been in the ocean 24 hours ago.  For my final errand, we had bought a new carpet for the basement floor, but it was a floor sample, and we couldn't have it until they changed the display today.  Rolled it up, and on the back of Gilbert it went!  Although it was only a couple of blocks, I thought it was too unwieldy, so I walked it home, and cracked open the lemonaide

WHOA! Scary

Universal Hub,  a local news aggregator here, is reporting that the Cambridge police arrested a man last night for "Armed Assault with Intent to Murder " for trying to run down a biker with his car.
Anyone know where or what happened?

On one hand, I am very happy that the Cambridge police are taking this extremely seriously,  as anyone on the street knows that a car can be a lethal weapon.

On the other, it's terrifying that someone could be so crazy with (presumably) road rage that they would actually try to run someone over with their car.  While I'm very careful with my middle finger, and am not going to try to get into arguments or fights, I've been known to use my vocal cords as a horn and yell at people who aren't respecting my space on the road. This is my worst nightmare, about riding vehicularly, that someone controlling a huge steel vehicle is riding behind you, and if they go crazy and act sociopathically, there's not a lot of protection.  It is at least a relief that the police in Cambridge are treating it with gravity.  Makes me even more curious what happened.

If anyone knows any details, or sees them reported, please share, and I'll post any updates I find.

Happy Monday

I guess that's one way to lock your bike

Bike the Hub

Anyone interested in doing the Hub on Wheels?
I've done it twice, once with the Scientist, and once, mainly alone.  Again this year the Scientist is at a "retreat" that weekend,  but it's much more fun to do it with someone to talk to.
It's a fun ride through parts of Boston that I don't see very often (Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Southie).

When I've done it  in the past, I've always thought it was kind of odd that so many people, even those signed up for the shortest ride, and those obviously not really sport riders did it in full lycra "kit".
I'd love to do it with a group of "citizen cyclists"  dressed in normal clothes.  Not a tweed ride or anything fancy, just whatever you might normally wear on the weekend, on whatever bike you happen to be riding that day..

Anyone interested, please comment or drop me a line at bikinginheels@yahoo.com, and we'll set up a time and place to meet, and figure out which length ride to do!

In which I play MacGyver

After all that rain, Thursday was a lovely early fall day,   78 and dry and breezy.

I celebrated by taking Minerva to enjoy the nice dry pavement!

I had the unexpected pleasure of not only biking TO work, but biking FOR work, as I had to meet a subcontractor at a client's house in Beacon hill.  I biked there, let him in,  went back to the office,  and he called me when he was done.  It took less than 10 minutes each way- would have taken 25 or more each way on the T.   I didn't complain at all about an excuse to ride around in the lovely weather.

I also picked up the CSA share at lunch- and it was enormous- my big pannier was overfilled in such a way that I didn't think it would stay closed on the way home.  I realized that I was going to need additional storage, so I went to Boston Adventours,  the bike rental/ tour place that runs a small shop in the North End (the only bike shop in downtown) and bought a cheapo flat rack strap set.  Unfortunately the hooks didn't have anywhere to attach on the drive side (they hooked around the left chainstay OK)  So I played my first round of  MacGyver for the day-  I figured that the SA indicator nut stuck out enough to hold the strap, so I removed the spindle and the nut and looped the strap over the axle end,  then put the nut and spindle back on.  Worked OK, but I really need a rack strap like the one I have on Gilbert that attaches on the axle for real. 

When I got back to the office, I found a leftover basket that Christmas goodies had come in, and cut a pair of holes in the bottom to allow the strap to pass through and hold it on the rack.

At the end of the day I transferred enough veggies into the basket that I could close the pannier,  and headed off, only to find that my skirt was really blowing up pretty badly.  It had been a bit frisky earlier, but now I had 20 pounds of stuff on the back in rush hour traffic.  I needed a solution.

Luckily I saw a couple of giant rubber bands on the side of the road- big enough to fit more or less comfortably on my upper thigh.  How to attach them to my skirt however?  I unbuttoned the lowest button on my dress, and slid the rubber band through, and buttoned it back up.  It worked great!

I was still showing a good deal of leg, but it prevented flashimus maximus.

Over the Longfellow I ran into the owner of the lovely and mysterious Cecil Mixtie.  We had a nice chat heading across the bridge!

Had to stop at the grocery on the way home to get whole milk for the visiting kiddo, and of course my eyes were bigger than my basket, and I ended up with a 6 pack of beer, two bottles of wine, grapes, bread, almond butter, yogurt and olives.  When I told the bagger that it needed to all fit in one bag, he was very skeptical.    I was close to home, so I managed to put the "surplus" veggies back into the big pannier, removed the basket and strapped the brown bag onto the rack.  I think I probably had 35+ pounds of stuff on the back by this point.  I continue to be amazed at what I've managed to carry home on a bike- even if I have to be a bit innovative to make it work out OK.

I didn't move very fast (had a bit of a scare with just the 20 pounds going fast downhill where I thought the rod brakes weren't up to the task) , but I got home fine, and all was well.  It's so good to see far away family, even for a brief evening!

Slipping towards fall

Boy, you go away for a couple of days, and when you come back it's fall!
Not many bikes on my vacation- saw a cool pedal powered pontoon thingee, but didn't have my camera in the canoe to document it- sorry!  Have also been hosting houseguests, and preparing for more houseguests (including semi- babyproofing things for my 2 YO nephew)  so haven't had much to post.

It's funny how sometimes after a couple of days off my legs are full of stored energy, and sometimes I feel completely out of shape.  Today unfortunately was one of the latter, and coupled with the headwind and cool mist trying to become rain, it wasn't much fun riding.   And unfortunately my commute was one of the better parts of the day.

On a happier note,  my generator hub is in, and I hope to go pick it up and start thinking about a new wheel for Minerva.
Steve A, since you're being nosy about money :) the hub was $85,  and I'm going to get a consult about re-using the rim, and I expect spokes to be about $30......  I'm going to build a truing stand out of Robert's old fork,  and need to buy a spoke wrench....

Before I get too far on that, I need to give Gilbert a bit of love and a tune up before the winter really sets in!

I'm going to edit it this to add:
1) Steve, you know I'm only teasing, and it's a SA hub- only combo generator/ hub on the market AFAIK.
2) The mist had made up its mind by the time I left work, and was really coming down.  I discovered that a normal plastic grocery bag makes a pretty darn good pannier cover for my leather pannier bag.

3)  I saw another person doing "pass me once" coming down Cambridge street.  It was coming down pretty good, and we were both taking the whole right lane (of 2 going downhill).  He was waiting patiently 2 cars ahead of me in a queue at a light, and a girl in a red mini was honking at him and yelling at him.  There was of course no one in the left lane.  As soon as the light changed, she zoomed around him, and immediately had to stop at the next light.  The other car between us turned right, and I pulled up next to him and we discussed whether the Massholes come out more in the rain, or if it just drives more of the normal people inside, and therefore skews the sample.

4) While my jeans got pretty soaked the rest of me was fine, and walking around the grocery store, I was not the wettest person there.

Minerva in the garden

It's been a while since Minerva was out and about.  The Scientist are semi-on vacation (finishing up some house projects), and we went for a little spin out for breakfast.  She really does ride like a dream.

My current plan (still pretty unformed) is to rebuild a front wheel for her with a generator hub/hub brake to get some better braking.  Although,  after carefully adjusting these brakes, they're working WAY better than the Dawn Tourists' are.  Need to do more on her, but that's another post.