Now that we are about 2/3 of the way through October I have started thinking more and more about the other annoyance of mixed mode commuting. This is the big one, cost.
Currently ITTET with gas prices moderately low, it costs me more to commute in by train as it would to drive. To break it down, if I were to drive it would be about 18.5 miles each way. We'll say 40 a day for simplicity. I have calculated my fuel mileage at between 27 and 29 MPG depending on my driving style. I have done this with every fill up and its fairly consistent but for the purpose of this exercise, we'll say I get 25. This means I use 1.6 gallons of fuel per day. At 2.30/gal that works out to 3.68/day to drive. If you figure that in the average work month you have about 20 days, that's about 73.60 per month.
DART, in their infinite wisdom decided that back on September 14th they would up their rates. Citing low ridership, the rate for a all zones "premium" pass went from $5/day to $7.50. The monthly version of this pass went from $80 to over $100. This is the only pass that includes TRE access there is no TRE only option. If I were to purchase a ticket on a per day basis it would actually cost me twice as much to ride the Train as it would to drive.
Now, I don't so much mind that it costs me more to ride the train, though I probably should. What really gets to me is that there is a. no TRE only option, and b. they raised the rates due to "low ridership". Perhaps there is some greater logic in there somewhere, but if you aren't able to get enough people to ride, how is a 50 percent increase in the rates going to help.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Departure from Protocol
When I started writing this blog, all of a week or two ago, I swore to myself that I would do everything I could to keep it about the bike. I wanted to keep work home and family issues off of it. Unfortunately the events of this morning have resulted in a situation where I feel compelled to put my feelings on paper, or in pixels as the case may be. I do this because I know however bad my day is, its going to be 10 times worse for my wife.
This morning the eldest of my three 1 year olds woke up screaming at about 5:15am. As any parent knows, it is not entirely uncommon a 1 year old to wake up in the middle of the night. On this morning, I had been up with the oldest (here fore C), and the middle (N) already. The youngest (Z) generally ends up in bed with my wife and I as he is the most consistent, getting up nightly only a few hours after being put down.
Generally if they wake up between 1 and 4, I'm not to concerned as I can take them into the living room and we'll crash out on the lay-z-boy for an hour or so. The problem with 5am is that I start getting ready for work at about 5:30. This gives me 50 minutes to do everything I need to do to get out the door with 20 min to catch the train. As previously mentioned, I can make it in 15, but that is at TT pace with a dead wind. 20 min affords me time to eat my 1/2 a bagel and factor in adverse weather conditions such as todays 10 kt head wind.
When someone wakes up after 5, I will usually grab my alarm clock and take it to the lay-z-boy with me in the hope that I can get them sufficiently back to sleep before my alarm goes off. Unfortunately, this morning C woke up N as well. This means that my wife is now in bed with two babies, while I'm in the comfy chair with C.
When 5:30 rolled around C was asleep. That is, until I laid him back down in bed. At that moment he awoke and again began to fuss. Having foregone getting everything ready to go the night before so that I could take Z to bed and give my wife some down time, I knew that I would be rushed. I checked in with my wife to see if N was asleep and if I could move him into Z's bed, which is in our room. He was asleep, up to the point where I tried to pick him up. This woke up Z.
As everyone was now awake, we decided to try N in Z's crib, and C in bed with mom and Z while dad gets dressed for work. This resulted in dad finding everyone still awake and N crying for Mommy when I got out. We then tried switching out N and C while dad got packed to no avail. I know of no worse feeling than walking out the door with my wife being left with one child crying in a crib and two others in bed with her 2 hours before they normally get up knowing full well that now matter how bad of a day I have, hers will be worse.
This morning the eldest of my three 1 year olds woke up screaming at about 5:15am. As any parent knows, it is not entirely uncommon a 1 year old to wake up in the middle of the night. On this morning, I had been up with the oldest (here fore C), and the middle (N) already. The youngest (Z) generally ends up in bed with my wife and I as he is the most consistent, getting up nightly only a few hours after being put down.
Generally if they wake up between 1 and 4, I'm not to concerned as I can take them into the living room and we'll crash out on the lay-z-boy for an hour or so. The problem with 5am is that I start getting ready for work at about 5:30. This gives me 50 minutes to do everything I need to do to get out the door with 20 min to catch the train. As previously mentioned, I can make it in 15, but that is at TT pace with a dead wind. 20 min affords me time to eat my 1/2 a bagel and factor in adverse weather conditions such as todays 10 kt head wind.
When someone wakes up after 5, I will usually grab my alarm clock and take it to the lay-z-boy with me in the hope that I can get them sufficiently back to sleep before my alarm goes off. Unfortunately, this morning C woke up N as well. This means that my wife is now in bed with two babies, while I'm in the comfy chair with C.
When 5:30 rolled around C was asleep. That is, until I laid him back down in bed. At that moment he awoke and again began to fuss. Having foregone getting everything ready to go the night before so that I could take Z to bed and give my wife some down time, I knew that I would be rushed. I checked in with my wife to see if N was asleep and if I could move him into Z's bed, which is in our room. He was asleep, up to the point where I tried to pick him up. This woke up Z.
As everyone was now awake, we decided to try N in Z's crib, and C in bed with mom and Z while dad gets dressed for work. This resulted in dad finding everyone still awake and N crying for Mommy when I got out. We then tried switching out N and C while dad got packed to no avail. I know of no worse feeling than walking out the door with my wife being left with one child crying in a crib and two others in bed with her 2 hours before they normally get up knowing full well that now matter how bad of a day I have, hers will be worse.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Colder Weather This Way Comes
There was a bit of a chill in the air this morning, it seems that autumn has arrived here in North Texas. This means its time to start pulling the warmer riding gear out of their summer storage. This got me thinking about a tech article I read on VeloNews not too long ago http://velonews.com/article/99202.
It seems that Campagnolo is now trying to muscle its way in to the high end (or more accurately high priced) clothing market currently dominated by the likes of Assos and Ralpha. I do not question Campy's place in the component market, some will argue that they make the best components available to the general populous. Personally, I wouldn't know as I've never had the luxury of riding a bike so equipped. I've always been a Shimano man myself, not necessarily because I'm a fan, more so because that's what the bike came with and I've never been able to afford replacing an entire groupo at the same time. Shimano's compatibility between different component levels was a big help in building a better group piece by piece. I will admit, 10 speed Dura-ace deraileurs with 9 speed Tiagra shifters were my running gear for a few months. But I digress, I was talking about high end cycling attire and more specifically, Campy's entrance into the market.
It seems that Campy has decided that if you are going to make an impact on the high fashion world of road cycling, you should start big. They now offer a cycling jacket that retails for the modest sum of $600. In addition they have also put out two jerseys and matching bibs for $400 and $380 respectively. At over $1300 for all three, this puts Campy easily on par with most offerings from Assos, and only a few steps below Ralpha on the "my kit costs more than your bike" scale.
While I can be as smug as the next guy when it comes to bike "culture" snobbery, I honestly can't see where a price like this comes from. High tech fabrics and R&D is expensive, but paying $1300 for a cycling kit, even a cold weather one is like putting 18" rims on your 1992 Geo Prism.
It seems that Campagnolo is now trying to muscle its way in to the high end (or more accurately high priced) clothing market currently dominated by the likes of Assos and Ralpha. I do not question Campy's place in the component market, some will argue that they make the best components available to the general populous. Personally, I wouldn't know as I've never had the luxury of riding a bike so equipped. I've always been a Shimano man myself, not necessarily because I'm a fan, more so because that's what the bike came with and I've never been able to afford replacing an entire groupo at the same time. Shimano's compatibility between different component levels was a big help in building a better group piece by piece. I will admit, 10 speed Dura-ace deraileurs with 9 speed Tiagra shifters were my running gear for a few months. But I digress, I was talking about high end cycling attire and more specifically, Campy's entrance into the market.
It seems that Campy has decided that if you are going to make an impact on the high fashion world of road cycling, you should start big. They now offer a cycling jacket that retails for the modest sum of $600. In addition they have also put out two jerseys and matching bibs for $400 and $380 respectively. At over $1300 for all three, this puts Campy easily on par with most offerings from Assos, and only a few steps below Ralpha on the "my kit costs more than your bike" scale.
While I can be as smug as the next guy when it comes to bike "culture" snobbery, I honestly can't see where a price like this comes from. High tech fabrics and R&D is expensive, but paying $1300 for a cycling kit, even a cold weather one is like putting 18" rims on your 1992 Geo Prism.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The IcyHot Incident
Today I made an interesting discovery on my way to the train stop. The menthol in IcyHot patches seems to be moisture activated. When you have one on and you start to sweat, they really start to go to work. A 10 lb messenger bag on top only intensifies the feeling.
By the time I arrived at my train stop I had to whip my bag around front to relieve the pressure and the feeling that I was receiving a mild chemical burn. Upon doing this I made another fascinating discovery. Some of the menthol seems to have seeped out from under the patch, I'm assuming due to the above mentioned sweating, and feels to have seeped into every wet square inch of clothing on my back. The IcyHot patch that was originally covering the small of my back now extends to my shoulders.
While the feeling of being lathered in a cold numbing gel from the bottom of my shoulders to the top of my crack is not all together unpleasant, I can't say that I want to go around with this feeling all day. In addition to the IcyHot seeping into my clothing and up my back, it has left me surrounded in the faint smell of Vics Vapor-Rub which I am assuming is also menthol and is doing wonders for my congestion.
This could be a new marketing tactic for IcyHot. Not only does it takes care of your muscle aches and pains, but if you get really sweaty it relieves your sinuses and leaves you smelling fresh and minty.
By the time I arrived at my train stop I had to whip my bag around front to relieve the pressure and the feeling that I was receiving a mild chemical burn. Upon doing this I made another fascinating discovery. Some of the menthol seems to have seeped out from under the patch, I'm assuming due to the above mentioned sweating, and feels to have seeped into every wet square inch of clothing on my back. The IcyHot patch that was originally covering the small of my back now extends to my shoulders.
While the feeling of being lathered in a cold numbing gel from the bottom of my shoulders to the top of my crack is not all together unpleasant, I can't say that I want to go around with this feeling all day. In addition to the IcyHot seeping into my clothing and up my back, it has left me surrounded in the faint smell of Vics Vapor-Rub which I am assuming is also menthol and is doing wonders for my congestion.
This could be a new marketing tactic for IcyHot. Not only does it takes care of your muscle aches and pains, but if you get really sweaty it relieves your sinuses and leaves you smelling fresh and minty.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Annoyances of Mixed-Mode Commuting
There are days when I enjoy the fact that I commute via multiple modes of transportation. And then there are days where I am indifferent. This day is neither of the two. This is one of those days where circumstances, whether within my control or beyond it, have left me feeling annoyed, nonplussed or otherwise dismayed.
First on the hit list today is the weather. While 58 degrees is by no means cold, it's not exactly warm. It's hovering in that range where you're not quite sure what to wear. As sunrise will be after I get to work there is no relying on the sun to add a bit of warmth. 5 degrees warmer and shorts and a wind breaker are I need, 5 degrees colder, and the arm and knee warmers come out as well. On this day, I opted for the wind breaker with knee warmers which would have been fine had I not missed my train.
This presents the second issue I have with mixed modes of travel. When you miss a connection, in my case a train, it occasionally leaves you standing around doing little more than thinking about what annoys you most about commuting. During the summer I don't much mind this. Usually its warm, but not hot, so I'll just ride around and explore the parking lot or cruise up and down the road a bit to waste some time. Other times I'll pull out my camera and see if I can find a good view of the sunrise or the city off in the distance. Today, it was sit and shiver or ride around to try to stay warm.
This I will admit was due to some bad decisions on my part. First, choice of attire. As mentioned above, just a wind breaker up top with a T shirt under. The issue with this is that cycling apparel tends to be designed to wick moisture away from you in an attempt to keep you cool and/or dry. In the case of top layers, usually the latter, and it works fairly well when moving. Once you get that buffer layer of warmth between you and the fabric there's usually no issue, that is until you stop. At that point, the moisture wicking properties of the fabric come into play and about 3 minutes later, 58 feels like 48. Normally, this would not have been a real issue as I generally try to take it easy on my 4 1/2 mile ride to the train station, but on this day, I got running late.
Enter bad decision number 2. When you see that you only have 15 minutes to make what, when in commuter mode, at your best is a 15 minute ride, either A. pocket the bagel and book it to the train station, or B. plan on catching the next train and eat the bagel on the road. What did I choose... eat the bagel and try to catch the train. This lead to a cascade of events that ultimately left me cold and sweaty, standing on a train platform.
The cascade goes like this: I chose to eat on the road. I'm pretty sure that over the mile and 1/2 of concentrating on chew, swallow, breathe, I probably lost 30 seconds versus what I probably could have done had I not been so encumbered. Upon realizing my error, I then went into time-trial commuter mode, as opposed to time-trial while eating 1/2 a bagel commuter mode that I had been in previously. Both of which contributed highly to the reason I was rather damp when I arrived at the platform. Now, I'm fairly confident that had I not lost that 30 seconds, I probably could have made the light that turned red about 200 meters in front of me 1/2 a mile from the train platform. Especially since the road was a false flat downhill, and I had a slight tailwind. In turn, had I made that light, I wouldn't have lost the 2 minutes I spent sitting waiting for it to turn green (or a unlikely sizable gap in traffic). When the light turned green, I went into commuter sprint mode, again contributing to the level of sogginess. And when all was said and done, I roll up to the platform to see the train I was trying to catch had left about 30 seconds prior to my arrival.
And thus, the cold, damp wait.
First on the hit list today is the weather. While 58 degrees is by no means cold, it's not exactly warm. It's hovering in that range where you're not quite sure what to wear. As sunrise will be after I get to work there is no relying on the sun to add a bit of warmth. 5 degrees warmer and shorts and a wind breaker are I need, 5 degrees colder, and the arm and knee warmers come out as well. On this day, I opted for the wind breaker with knee warmers which would have been fine had I not missed my train.
This presents the second issue I have with mixed modes of travel. When you miss a connection, in my case a train, it occasionally leaves you standing around doing little more than thinking about what annoys you most about commuting. During the summer I don't much mind this. Usually its warm, but not hot, so I'll just ride around and explore the parking lot or cruise up and down the road a bit to waste some time. Other times I'll pull out my camera and see if I can find a good view of the sunrise or the city off in the distance. Today, it was sit and shiver or ride around to try to stay warm.
This I will admit was due to some bad decisions on my part. First, choice of attire. As mentioned above, just a wind breaker up top with a T shirt under. The issue with this is that cycling apparel tends to be designed to wick moisture away from you in an attempt to keep you cool and/or dry. In the case of top layers, usually the latter, and it works fairly well when moving. Once you get that buffer layer of warmth between you and the fabric there's usually no issue, that is until you stop. At that point, the moisture wicking properties of the fabric come into play and about 3 minutes later, 58 feels like 48. Normally, this would not have been a real issue as I generally try to take it easy on my 4 1/2 mile ride to the train station, but on this day, I got running late.
Enter bad decision number 2. When you see that you only have 15 minutes to make what, when in commuter mode, at your best is a 15 minute ride, either A. pocket the bagel and book it to the train station, or B. plan on catching the next train and eat the bagel on the road. What did I choose... eat the bagel and try to catch the train. This lead to a cascade of events that ultimately left me cold and sweaty, standing on a train platform.
The cascade goes like this: I chose to eat on the road. I'm pretty sure that over the mile and 1/2 of concentrating on chew, swallow, breathe, I probably lost 30 seconds versus what I probably could have done had I not been so encumbered. Upon realizing my error, I then went into time-trial commuter mode, as opposed to time-trial while eating 1/2 a bagel commuter mode that I had been in previously. Both of which contributed highly to the reason I was rather damp when I arrived at the platform. Now, I'm fairly confident that had I not lost that 30 seconds, I probably could have made the light that turned red about 200 meters in front of me 1/2 a mile from the train platform. Especially since the road was a false flat downhill, and I had a slight tailwind. In turn, had I made that light, I wouldn't have lost the 2 minutes I spent sitting waiting for it to turn green (or a unlikely sizable gap in traffic). When the light turned green, I went into commuter sprint mode, again contributing to the level of sogginess. And when all was said and done, I roll up to the platform to see the train I was trying to catch had left about 30 seconds prior to my arrival.
And thus, the cold, damp wait.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Beginning
And so it begins. My first post.
I suppose I should start this thing out with something meaningful and profound, but that just wouldn't be me.
So where do I start? I guess a little background info. I am by all accounts a cycling "enthusiast". I love the sport, I love to ride, and while I may be a bit snobbish about some cycling trends and other facets of cycling as a means of recreation, I am genuinely glad to see people on bikes regardless of if they are fixters, wacky tall bike riders, Pro Tour wannabe Freds, or some dude on a Next mountain bike from Wal-Mart.
I am a born again cyclist. I rode extensively in my mid to late teens and early twenties. Then after a decade off the bike I went out and dropped a grand on a bike to win a $50 bet. What was this bet you may ask? It was a bet with my roommate to see who could loose 35 pounds the fastest. From 216, give or take, to 180. I won the bet, though it was partially by default. He gave up when he plateaued at about 200. I made it down to about 174 over about 18 months. Then managed to put it back on over the last 2 years.
I am a dedicated roadie. Not so much because I don't like other disciplines, more because I can't afford additional bikes. To be honest, even if I could, wouldn't have much time to ride them. I am not a racer. Not that I wouldn't like to race, I would. And I hope that someday I will and that by BSNYC's definition, I would pass. I think I would pass, at least in cat 5, but that first I'd like to get my weight back down under 180, oh, and that little matter of time. But that's a story for another day.
So why "The Irrelevant Cyclist"? One word... Content.
Most of the content will probably be off hand ramblings of some form or another being mostly about cycling. As I don't really take myself to seriously, I expect others not to take me seriously, and as such, irrelevant. Its also how I assume motorists see me when I'm commuting by bike. Just some Irrelevant cyclist.
So, now that we have our introductions out of the way, enjoy, share the road, don't fret the petty things and don't pet the fretty things.
I suppose I should start this thing out with something meaningful and profound, but that just wouldn't be me.
So where do I start? I guess a little background info. I am by all accounts a cycling "enthusiast". I love the sport, I love to ride, and while I may be a bit snobbish about some cycling trends and other facets of cycling as a means of recreation, I am genuinely glad to see people on bikes regardless of if they are fixters, wacky tall bike riders, Pro Tour wannabe Freds, or some dude on a Next mountain bike from Wal-Mart.
I am a born again cyclist. I rode extensively in my mid to late teens and early twenties. Then after a decade off the bike I went out and dropped a grand on a bike to win a $50 bet. What was this bet you may ask? It was a bet with my roommate to see who could loose 35 pounds the fastest. From 216, give or take, to 180. I won the bet, though it was partially by default. He gave up when he plateaued at about 200. I made it down to about 174 over about 18 months. Then managed to put it back on over the last 2 years.
I am a dedicated roadie. Not so much because I don't like other disciplines, more because I can't afford additional bikes. To be honest, even if I could, wouldn't have much time to ride them. I am not a racer. Not that I wouldn't like to race, I would. And I hope that someday I will and that by BSNYC's definition, I would pass. I think I would pass, at least in cat 5, but that first I'd like to get my weight back down under 180, oh, and that little matter of time. But that's a story for another day.
So why "The Irrelevant Cyclist"? One word... Content.
Most of the content will probably be off hand ramblings of some form or another being mostly about cycling. As I don't really take myself to seriously, I expect others not to take me seriously, and as such, irrelevant. Its also how I assume motorists see me when I'm commuting by bike. Just some Irrelevant cyclist.
So, now that we have our introductions out of the way, enjoy, share the road, don't fret the petty things and don't pet the fretty things.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)