Charlie has been suffering from cabin fever, he's been stuck in the basement for almost an entire month because of all this snow. I haven't gotten him a bicycle plow yet so he's not exactly equipped for the blizzard ride...
Anyway as of sometime tomorrow Charlie will no longer be a resident of the city of Waltham (as delightfully post-apocalyptic as it may be...) he will instead be another snazzy cycle resident of Somerville. He's very excited about the move because no longer will he be a freak in the night in a town that doesn't know what the hell a bicycle is- he will be, at last, amongst his own kind, his people. Although I think the part of him that's a show-off will miss the notoriety. The commute will only be half the length it was before, but I've promised him that he'll still get to strut his stuff. (Can bicycles strut?)
Well next time will be broadcasting from a new home...here we go!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
Its snowing...
Its snowing and I don't know if it will stick or not, but the goal remains! I hope it doesn't accumulate over the next few days, I would like to finish before New Year's, but I'd also like snow for Christmas, what is a girl to do?
So as a further effort to inform and amuse, here are a few of the extra curricular stats from this journey so far:
5: the number of times I have witnessed public urination-(3 by senior citizens)
3: the incidents of hypothermia -(1 was truly heat stroke but that is classified with hypothermia, so I read)
1: the times I was propositioned by a dude in an Escalade full of unsavory characters as I was biking down Comm Ave... after which I promptly did one of those annoying and life-saving cyclist things of going onto the sidewalk in the wrong direction to escape
2: number of falls
3: number of pants ruined by holes by either falling, getting caught on my pedals, etc
2: sets of tires
6: number of tubes (for my rear tire) I have popped in one way or another
13: total number of layers of clothing overall I have to wear when the temperature is below 30
4: number of times my bicycle has been hit on (as in someone I don't know said something suggestive about how mad sexy Charlie is)
Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10
Miles ridden to date: 2,072
Miles left to goal: 128
Days left: +87 over
So as a further effort to inform and amuse, here are a few of the extra curricular stats from this journey so far:
5: the number of times I have witnessed public urination-(3 by senior citizens)
3: the incidents of hypothermia -(1 was truly heat stroke but that is classified with hypothermia, so I read)
1: the times I was propositioned by a dude in an Escalade full of unsavory characters as I was biking down Comm Ave... after which I promptly did one of those annoying and life-saving cyclist things of going onto the sidewalk in the wrong direction to escape
2: number of falls
3: number of pants ruined by holes by either falling, getting caught on my pedals, etc
2: sets of tires
6: number of tubes (for my rear tire) I have popped in one way or another
13: total number of layers of clothing overall I have to wear when the temperature is below 30
4: number of times my bicycle has been hit on (as in someone I don't know said something suggestive about how mad sexy Charlie is)
Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10
Miles ridden to date: 2,072
Miles left to goal: 128
Days left: +87 over
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Past and passed two thousand...
After so long, finally past 2,000 miles?
Its 2,010 to be exact, and its the end of 2010....
Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10
Miles ridden to date: 2,010
Miles left to goal: 190
Days left: +81 over
Its 2,010 to be exact, and its the end of 2010....
Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10Miles ridden to date: 2,010
Miles left to goal: 190
Days left: +81 over
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
I finished the 1904 Tour de France?
In different years the Tour de France is different lengths, about 500 miles ago I finished the 1904 Tour de France (the shortest), and if I continue past my goal I will at some point finish the 1924 Tour at 3,570 miles (the longest)...
Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10
Miles ridden to date: 1,935
Miles left to goal: 265
Days left: +73 over
Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10
Miles ridden to date: 1,935
Miles left to goal: 265
Days left: +73 over
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
please refrain from snowing
Charlie is back in action!
In other news, to battle the persistent flat tire issue (which of course had been more to do with my stubborn ignorance about high pressure tires then anything else), I purchased (a few weeks ago) both a floor pump (better than the sad one I had already) and a hand pump by Lezyne. The floor pump is not only efficient but its also pretty, but the best part is it has this lovely screw on system rather than the annoying lever situation most pumps seem to have. (And right now with a sprained wrist I am exceptionally glad of not having to deal with a lever at the valve stem.) The screw section flips for either shrader or presta valves, in other words, hurray!
but now we enter snow season, just a few hundred more miles, then it can snow!
Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10
Miles ridden to date: 1,867
Miles left to goal: 333
Days left: +67 over
In other news, to battle the persistent flat tire issue (which of course had been more to do with my stubborn ignorance about high pressure tires then anything else), I purchased (a few weeks ago) both a floor pump (better than the sad one I had already) and a hand pump by Lezyne. The floor pump is not only efficient but its also pretty, but the best part is it has this lovely screw on system rather than the annoying lever situation most pumps seem to have. (And right now with a sprained wrist I am exceptionally glad of not having to deal with a lever at the valve stem.) The screw section flips for either shrader or presta valves, in other words, hurray!
but now we enter snow season, just a few hundred more miles, then it can snow!
Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10
Miles ridden to date: 1,867
Miles left to goal: 333
Days left: +67 over
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Broken Spoke and Unexpected Goodies
I went to get Charlie and look what we find? Broken spoke, which I do not yet possess the knowledge to fix, so back to Cambridge Bicycle we went, and Charlie got to spend Thanksgiving with his bicycle buddies.
In other news this Thanksgiving was a little different this year at homestead. When we (these siblings of mine) asked our mother the usual question, i.e. what do you want for Christmas this year? (or some similar wording); the reply we received was, "A dumpster." After being taken aback for a few moments she elaborated that she would like us to sift through all those old boxes and forgotten furniture that are covered with dust and live in the attic. Boxes that sensible, normal people leave there and forget about for ages, until say they have a midlife crisis and want to wear their old leather jacket and listen to genuine LPs again... but that's beside the point.
Besides the dumpster and filling the dumpster and sorting and stacking and throwing; generally breaking the laws of physics and figuring, "Does that all really fit in there?" There was a box of bicycle stuff.
Unbeknownst to me my father was quite the cyclist in the years before my birth. All sorts of bicycle goodies! (And almost contemporaneous with Charlie!) I rescued them before they were flung into the abyss of no return, the dumpster. Thusly have I acquired a few things which I cannot at present utilize, but perhaps the fine folks at the shop can? We shall see... But more is that I have found an unexpected something in common with the father I barely got the chance to know before he was taken from me.
And a tool kit.
Happy Thanksgiving!
In other news this Thanksgiving was a little different this year at homestead. When we (these siblings of mine) asked our mother the usual question, i.e. what do you want for Christmas this year? (or some similar wording); the reply we received was, "A dumpster." After being taken aback for a few moments she elaborated that she would like us to sift through all those old boxes and forgotten furniture that are covered with dust and live in the attic. Boxes that sensible, normal people leave there and forget about for ages, until say they have a midlife crisis and want to wear their old leather jacket and listen to genuine LPs again... but that's beside the point.
Besides the dumpster and filling the dumpster and sorting and stacking and throwing; generally breaking the laws of physics and figuring, "Does that all really fit in there?" There was a box of bicycle stuff.
Unbeknownst to me my father was quite the cyclist in the years before my birth. All sorts of bicycle goodies! (And almost contemporaneous with Charlie!) I rescued them before they were flung into the abyss of no return, the dumpster. Thusly have I acquired a few things which I cannot at present utilize, but perhaps the fine folks at the shop can? We shall see... But more is that I have found an unexpected something in common with the father I barely got the chance to know before he was taken from me.
And a tool kit.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
