this mornings commute

I was delayed this morning by first a flat tire, then by a freight train. The flat tire was not mine, but I wanted to stick around a few minutes to help Anne change her tire.
To be clear, she is perfectly competent at changing a bike tire, and did it just fine herself, I was only around for moral support.
The freight train was more of an adventure than the flat tire ever hoped to be.
I was stopped on McCausland, and there' s no easy way around when you're on a bike, so I waited. The train went more and more slowly, and finally stopped. Ugh! I could see the end, and my impatience defeated my better judgment, I thought I'd just go around. There was a nice path on each side of the tracks, after all. After becoming very muddy, nearly wiping out on the semi-frozen tire ruts, and making it nearly to the end of the train, it started moving again. D'oh!
I headed straight back to the road, and made it back only shortly after I would have managed to cross had I just waited. Except for the covered in mud bit. Thank god I've got fenders!

So, the moral of the story?
Don't be a dumbass. be patient instead.

In other news, last week was the first week of my new resolve at commuting. I rode in two of five days. This week, I hope to ride three out of four days. I need new shoes, my toes were cold this morning. Brr.

Christmas cheer

Due to work schedules and family schedules, Anne and I found ourselves at loose ends on Christmas day this year. That was okay. We slept in, went on a bike ride, watched movies, and went out for Chinese buffet. It was a good day.

What stuff! I absolutely decline to hear any more on the subject.

The Treadmill bike.
Actual Ad copy:
"When the weather's nice, the last place you want to be is cooped up in some stuffy gym. Imagine running through evergreen forests or strolling down country roads. All of this is possible thanks to the rugged design and all terrain tires on the revolutionary Treadmill Bike."

WTF? This is NO GOOD!

Why would a person buy this thing?

Protects your feet from dirt and other contaminants commonly found on the surface forsooth.

See the actual ad here

Back in the saddle!

To quote Laminator_X, that is.
Today was my first day at the store location which is a reasonable distance from my house. More to the point, the new store is not located in an area which can be reached without putting my life into the hands of west county duchebags in 8 ton SUVs they can barely control.

I was on a pretty good program back when I worked in Bridgeton, and I was doing allright when I could get a ride with Wendy (I would bike to her place) Unfortunately, I just never worked up to biking out to Ballwin. I'm not going to make an excuse now, I just didn't.

On the other hand, I biked into work today. I hope to do a lot more of that in the future. Go my team, getting off on the right foot! I think it's about 4 miles each way. The next time I'm driving in, I will try to drive my bike route and clock it.

It went well, but something should happen differently with my shoes. My toes got wet and very cold. brr.

Bill O'reilly bingo!

Put a marker on the squares when he does these things!

Yesterday's ride

Inspired by my friend, Gina,(who is a much better photographer than I) I went on a ride around the Central West End yesterday. It was really nice out when I left, and I was having such a good time riding around that I mostly forgot to get around to taking pictures. I posted what I did take on my flickr page. At one point, I watched yesterday's cold front coming in. I foolishly stood and looked and toop pictures when I should have been rushing for cover.
Needless to point out, I got teh soaked!1!
Once I was totally soaked, I sought refuge under a bank awning. When I thought the rain had let up a little, I decided to rush to the safety of home. I had been enjoying my ride, and wandering a bit, and I was in the "Fountain park" neighborhood which was quite a bit further north than I had really intended to go. (I was at about Boyle and Page)

But! As Bilbo Baggins famously pointed out, "Adventures can't all be spring time pony rides."

It was all in all a good time. It's good to be remided once in a while that a little rain and cold won't hurt anybody. Also, a little adversity makes you appreciate your post-ride coffee all the more.


Picture of me seeking shelter under a bank awning. the picture doesn't convey my cold misery very well, but I kind of like it anyway.

Feastday

Today is the feastday of Saint Eligius of Noyen.
He is the patron saint of Metal workers, farriers, and mechanics.
Cool, huh?
He was my patron saint back when I was armouring, and I can still claim him now that I'm a mechanic.
Cool.