My Bikes

I suppose I should provide a bit of info regarding what I'm riding.

My "mountain bike", that I am using to commute right now, is actually a circa 1990 Huffy "Canyon" model. Nothing spectacular about it. The derailleur has H.I.S. stamped on it (I thought that was a clothing company?), and I can't find much info about it. It's pretty crappy, but it works for me. The brakes are OK, and it seems pretty solid. I've replaced the inner tubes with the "no-more-flats" solid tubes, so the ride is not as smooth as it could be, but at least I don't have to worry about flats.

I have a Centurian Accordo road bike (circa 1980's) that is actually a pretty good bike. But, I hesitate to ride it on the Greenbelt because of all the root damage along certain sections of my route.

Last night I ordered some small panniers from Amazon with the intent of replacing the backpack I'm currently using. The lower part of my back gets sore, and I'm blaming the backpack at this point. We'll see if the panniers (Sunlite Travellers) will help.

Other than that, all I'm outfitted with is a pair of gloves and a sweatband. I wear a t-shirt during the ride and change into other shirts at the office. Since I'm lucky enough to not have to "dress for success", I can wear shorts almost all the time. (I wear shorts from early April to late October anyway).

Thursday and Friday

Thursday morning I arrived at the parking lot and started prepping myself and my bike for the morning ride. As I was putting on my gloves a young woman roller skated past me. As it turns out - she was flying! Once I started out it took me a good five minutes to catch up with her and pass her. I really hadn't thought about using skates for transportation, but I guess you could.

Friday morning the Greenbelt was packed! It took me about 5 minutes longer than normal because I had to slow down so many times. This is getting interesting.

Alternate Route

Wednesday night I took my bike with me to Alive After Five to grab a beer and check out the band. It was packed! So much so that I decided to leave before the show was over.

While I was loitering there I had a wild idea. Instead of using the Greenbelt, I decided to try out Hill Road instead. I headed up 8th street, cut over to 13th via Lemp, and got on Hill Road.

Once I passed Harrison Blvd I noticed that the bike lane was actually pretty wide - wide enough that 2 or 3 bikes could fit side-by-side on it. I also discovered that Hill Road must be where all the road racers train (or at least keep in shape) because there were quite a few road bikes. And, they were flying. I think I was passed about 3 times during my trek.

Hill Road has very few stops. The only light I encountered was at 36th street, and the rest are all 4-ways. Once I passed the Collister intersection I used Castle Drive to get back to State Street. From there I just followed Plantation (Drive?) around until I could get back to my parking spot by the Glenwood Bridge.

I figure I added 2-3 miles to the distance, but it was kinda fun.