Bike-commute day 93—to home

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Day 92, top, graph of cadence (orange) and
heart rate (red) compared to day 93, bottom.

After I was shown how to do it, it seems easy to keep a steady, high pace through the evening commute. Not that the pace equals that of two drafting each other, but there were fewer times of letting up the intensity, and the periods of lower intensity were shorter than on my previous solo rides.

The comparison is interesting in this regard. Yesterday (top) while drafting, my cadence was higher than today, averaging 95 rpm versus 85 rpm in the first leg for example. My heart rate was also higher yesterday, but not as markedly increased as the cadence, averaging 140 bpm versus 137 bpm. A couple spikes in the HR indicate where I took the lead yesterday from Burkhardt to Airway.

For the most part, both graphs fit well to my typical commute. The seven street crossings typically result in a sudden drop of cadence and slowing of heart rate. From Airway to the west gate of Eastwood Park, my cadence and heart rate fluctuate widely with the increased turns and shifts in elevation. Then on the Mad River bikeway, my effort evens out until I pass Riverscape and climb the ramp to Monument Avenue.The final portion, on residential streets with lots of stop signs, also typically has fluctuating cadence and heart rate.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 74 to 78°F at 18:00
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the south and east
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:40:06 for 11.96 miles
Heart rate: 135 bpm HRave, 147 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 20 cyclists, 31 pedestrians, 4 dogs
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 89—to home

Wednesday, 05 September 2011

For the first third of the commute this evening, I thought I was the only user of the bikeway. Then riders and walkers suddenly abounded in the two miles between Linden and Airway. Then again I was the lone user until I reached Riverscape, where another five users were waiting for the fountain to end its spray. As for me, I never wait for the fountain, but I speed through the curtain of water just below the zig-zag up to the Green Bridge..

Ride conditions
Temperature: 74 to 82°F at 17:30
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph, variable
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:41:04 for 11.95 miles
Heart rate: 133 bpm HRave, 152 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 20 cyclists, 17 pedestrians, 3 dogs
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 85—to gym and home

Thursday, 22 September 2011

On my way to and from a short workout at Cardinal Fitness, I saw Scott working in his yard.

At Cardinal, the workout consisted of bench presses, barbell curls, pec deck alternating with delt deck, and cable pushdowns. I talked with Brandon, who is goalie on the Wright State hockey team. He observed that the team lacks defensive skills and they can't pass or score, though they are fast on the ice.

As I left the Eastwood gate, I passed a male cyclist on a road bike who seemed to be on an acceleration up to a good speed. Immediately ahead of him was a pair of women who I had first thought he was chasing to catch. I pedaled on, gaining quite a nice speed tempo through the Findlay underpass. Then at the corner back to paralleling the river, I caught a peripheral glimpse of the rider in the red-yellow jersey. It was time for  a breather, and he caught me at the old bridge buttress. His name is Jim, and he bikes this path infrequently .

At my normal third checkpoint, I made a quick loop up to Brixx to see if the cycling group was meeting there, but I found that the meeting was Tuesday.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 71 to 76°F at 17:20
Precipitation: none
Winds: 5 to 10 mph from westerly
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 01:00:24 for 16.67 miles
Heart rate: 138 bpm HRave, 157 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 9 cyclists, 14 pedestrians, 2 dogs
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 84—to home

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

I must be out of practice. Though I had put on the HR monitor as I was changing for the commute, it still wasn't well seated for the first mile or so of the ride. During that time, its reading was often as low as 45 bpm. So today's HR readings are skewed.

Further down the road, I stopped at the Gulf station to buy a lottery ticket. PJ, the daytime cashier, was training a new cashier, and he had to go through the steps of placing a recurring entry by scanning the previous ticket. (And I didn't win a release from the work world.)

I had stopped my Garmin to buy the tickets—or so I thought. I tapped the stop/start button as I resumed my ride, but didn't verify that it was registering speed. But what actually happened: I failed to press the stop/start button before buying the lottery ticket, and my press to restart actually stopped the device. I noticed the mistake only shortly before the first checkpoint, so the recording lost about 4 minutes of riding time.

Even with a day of intermittent sun, the bikeway was still damp under the dense canopy between Linden and Burkhardt, but otherwise the way was dry and only lightly travelled..

Ride conditions
Temperature: 74 to 79°F at 17:35
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph variable
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:47:23 for 11.95 miles
Heart rate: 118 bpm HRave, 148 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 14 cyclists, 16 pedestrians, 3 dogs
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 79—to work

Friday, 2 September 2011

The commute by bike was going fine up to the bridge just west of Eastwood Park. A group of five runners, each in the same gray tee-shirt and blue shorts, rounded the corner ahead of me. Even as I called out, "Heads up!" they noticed me and jostled to their right. Then more clumps of runners came around the corner, perhaps as many as 50 total, all dressed alike. Some needed another "Heads up!" call, others were more aware of the course. As I reached the gate to the park, a few stragglers made me take the right outside of the way. I signaled my planned course as well as possible with my right arm curving toward full extension. As I slowed to round the corner inside the park, one final runner was also in the nook of the curve, and I said as clearly as possible, "Taking the inside of the corner, may be passing really close."

Was it a training group from the air base? As I picked up speed through the parking lot, I heard music off to the north, across the lagoon. But I didn't see the source of the sound nor any assemblage of people to register the runners.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 71 to 77°F at 07:05
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the north
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:41:24 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 126 bpm HRave, 147 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 19 cyclists, 11 pedestrians, 3 dogs
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 78—to work

Thursday, 1 September 2011

Pushed for speed from the first checkpoint on, aiming toward keeping my HR between 130 and 140. I also timed several of the areas that are most suitable for sprints. Then after checkpoint three, I saw Millie and Gladys on their walk and I slowed to talk with them as they walked toward their homes.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 70 to 74°F at 07:15
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the south
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:43:28 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 126 bpm HRave, 142 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 2 cyclists, 16 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 70—to work

Thursday, 18 August 2011

It was a slow, easy pace today, perhaps I need to recover from last night's ride of higher intensity. Overnight, I woke perhaps four times with cramps in my right calf, which is another sign of a higher level of performance yesterday. So I enjoyed the time on the bike without pressure to make a good time.

I stopped to introduce myself to one of the regulars, Paul (yet another Paul) and his dog Stinky. We talked a bit, and I found he's been using the bikeway to walk his dog ever since it was built. Back on my way, I saw Gladys and Millie on their way to Linden Avenue and Gene and his dog Patches under the Haverfield Canopy.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 73 to 77°F at 07:55
Precipitation: none
Winds: 5 to 10 mph from the north
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:42:35 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 123 bpm HRave, 144 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 32 cyclists, 8 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 60—to work

Wednesday, 27 July 2011.

Today is the 60th day of commuting this year, but I was in no shape for a celebratory ride. It was slow going this morning. I felt a bit of wooziness even as I started out. Is it from dehydration? I wondered, thinking then of the triple hands-cups of water just before bed and the frothy mix of orange juice and La Croix water this morning and deciding No, I don't think I've been lax in taking the fluids. Maybe from our low-carb salad dinner last night? Perhaps. But in any case, I had allowed myself a late start this morning, after hand-watering plants both in the back yard and the front. So the late start and a continued slow pace would mean no time for shaving during my shower.


At the Springfield Street crossing out of Eastwood Park, I caught up to a single cylist, a woman who I had never seen before. After navigating the crossings of Springfield Street and North Smithville, I decided to wait for her to catch up. Her pace was slower than my usual, but at 14 mph was well matched to the lower intensity I could muster today. Her name was Bonnie, and she typically rides a few days each week from her home in Beavercreek to Xenia and back. Today she wanted a change of scenery, and she was enjoying the canopied cover and occasional open areas of the ride into Dayton.

Bonnie is retired, as is her husband. They had often taken their bike rides together, until he had suffered a few bike crashes, one of which broke his hip and collarbone. Now his sense of balance is lower, and he's much more tentative, so Bonnie rides alone. We had reached the split of the Iron Horse Trail by the time I had offered my own crash stories, and she turned east toward Beavercreek and I headed south to work.

Mid-Season Summary
Looking back over the blog posts for the commuting season, I see I was anticipating the commute as early as February. But that month had no commutes and only a Saturday trial to check the viability of commuting. In March, I had 10 days of commuting; a few "rain days" are accounted for in the month. April had only 7 days of commuting by bike and 4 documented days of rain that prevented commuting. May had 16 commute days by bike, and some of these occurred with rain in the forecast or actually making my ride a wet one. I took 14 bike-commute days in June, and the same number so far in July.

So my average is commuting about 60% of the workdays from March through July. That's a bummer to me: I've often said that I commute by bike four days a week on the average, and the truth is more like three days a week.

Housekeeping
One of the FiveRivers staff was mowing the grass bank above the Mad River bikeway this morning. It seemed a strange choice to me that he had mowed over plastic bottles, shredding them into gnarled segments. If a cleanup detail is posted for the area, they'll have a bit more work because of the mowing activity.

Mowing always seems a strange choice to me. First, why not leave the river banks in their natural state, except for removing trees and shrubs as they begin to gain a hold? The uncut grasses would cut down the numbers of geese squatting on the bikeway, since the geese prefer to be within view of water and the safety it provides. Another benefit to leaving the grass uncut is financial: mowing costs are lowered and cleaning the debris on the bikeway is made unnecessary. Finally, leaving the grass uncut benefits the cyclist users too, since the mowing always kicks stones and rocks onto the bikeway, which offer a potential of flats or, in extreme cases, instability from gravel patches on the bikeway.

Glass still on the bikeway about 0.15 mile south of the Linden Avenue crossing. I'll call this in today to the Springfield Street shed.

Tree debris still littering the bikeways under the canopies.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 69 to 80°F at 07:55
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:45:31 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 121 bpm HRave, 140 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 9 cyclists, 7 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 58—to work

Monday, 25 July 2011.

Soon after I dropped down to the bikeway from Monument Avenue Bridge, I spied a group of three cyclists some half mile ahead of me, on the upstream side of Riverscape. A pack of rabbits! I thought as I increased my cadence to chase them down. As long as they don't take the zig-zag up to the Green Bridge, I'll catch them in a bit, I bet.

They went along the Mad River (Good, they're heading my way) as I passed under the pavillion at Riverscape, and further along crested the small rise at Keeowee as I passed below the zig-zag. I checked my time, to measure the distance between us when I reached the same point. (One minute, twelve seconds.) They held a 55-second lead at the curve before the dip below Findlay Avenue, and it seemed I had lost sight of them entirely at the plateau above that dip. But as I curved into the straightaway by the water pumping stations, I saw them again momentarily, dropping into the level above the concrete embankment below the firefighters' training camp. (Nice. Thirty-eight seconds.) As I entered Eastwood Park, I again caught a glimpse of one of the trio, before he slipped into the rockwork train trestle. (Twenty-three.)

I followed him through the trestle, and saw the same cyclist stepping out of the saddle at the FiveRivers maintenance shed. Probably ready to start work soon, and he could count the ride as an inspection of the bikeway. I continued along Springfield Street, crossed at the intersection with Smithville, and saw the remaining two cyclists crossing Smithville as I navigated the weaving bikeway along the creek.

Just after I also crossed Smithville, I reached close enough to hear them conversing, done for the moment with intensity in their ride. The rear rider noticed me as they slowed for the Park Row crossing, and he said "Clear" for my benefit.

As I passed, I said, "On your left. Thanks there, and good morning."

They made no attempt to match my speed, and the last I saw them was at the meadow around the former Multi-Service building, when they entered the clearing and I left it.

Housekeeping
Lots of fallen twigs and walnuts needed careful steering for the half mile between Airway and Burkhardt. About a mile further on, a fallen tree across the bikeway required a stop and step over the trunk.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 71 to 75°F at 07:20
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:41:06 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 132 bpm HRave, 148 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 9 cyclists, 17 pedestrians, 3 dogs
Playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 56—to work

Thursday, 21 July 2011.

I had already begun my commute before I remembered to start the Garmin device. So the time and distance under Ride conditions show a double entry, in which the first value is estimated, for the ride portion that occurred before I turned on the device and started recording on Bryn Mawr Drive.

Shortly after I started up the Mad River Bikeway, I saw a slowly moving person ahead. From a distance, I could see the person had some machine with wheels. But the rider was bobbing up and down for a few strokes, then holding upright, and then bobbing up and down again. I slowed as I approached, and noted the front wheel was smaller than a 26-inch wheel typical on mountain bikes and the back wheel was even smaller. Between the wheels was a low shelf that was long enough for a foot. I asked the rider about his scooter and how he used it in his routine.

He bought the scooter—the exact name is a kickbike—online from a Norwegian company, since he knows of no retailers in this area that sell them. He uses the kickbike for crosstraining, to build the hamstrings.

As I rode along with him, he kicked three times with his right foot, then swivelled his left foot on the shelf and landed his right foot alongside it, lifted his left foot and kicked with it as he pivoted the right foot fully onto the shelf. After three kicks from the left foot, he repeated the actions to shift again to kicking with the right foot. His speed ranged from about 9 to 12 mph. He was sweating as much as I was, so the work factor was evident.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 74 to 79°F at 07:15
Precipitation: none, humidity 100%
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the southwest
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:01:30 + 00:42:14 for 0.20 + 11.72 miles
Heart rate: 127 bpm HRave, 149 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 12 cyclists, 9 pedestrians
Playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 50—to work

Monday, 11 July 2011.

Last Friday was a drive day. You'd think it was a loss. But no, I drove across all the intersections with my commute over the bikeway. I had an amazing revelation: not one of the crossings was well-enough marked to make the crossing safe.

I had started my posting for the Thursday commute home as a well-modulated rant about the obstructions to viewing traffic from the bikeway or viewing cyclists from the approaching roadways. That was appropriate but also—at least now with the drive on Friday—off-target. So expect something more for the Thursday posting, still on its way.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 70 to 75°F at 07:15
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time:  00:43:43 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 121 bpm HRave, 140 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 2 cyclists, 7 pedestrians, 2 dogs
Here is a playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 41—to home

Tuesday, 21 June 2011.

Totally refreshed by a double-tall glass of liquids sipped throughout the afternoon and also benefiting from the cooler temperatures, my route home was swift, even along the Mad River with headwinds pushing back at my cadence.

After a short workday, which started at 14:00, I took advantage of the Summer Solstice by leaving work after 19:00, with enough sunlight to provide lots of visibility through my arrival home by 8 p.m..

Ride conditions
Temperature: 71 to 74°F at 16:45
Precipitation: moderate rainfall around 17:00, wet bikeway for about 20%
Winds: 5 to 10 from the southwest
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time:  00:41:53 for 12.01 miles
Heart rate: 134 bpm HRave, 162 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 13 cyclists, 11 pedestrians, 2 dogs
Here is a playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 39—to home

Friday, 17 June 2011.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 70 to 81°F at 17:05, 84°F at 18:55
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 10 mph, from the west
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:47:07 for 13.03 miles
Heart rate: 133 bpm average, 154 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 22 cyclists, 10 pedestrians,  1 dog
Here is a playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 39—to work

Friday, 17 June 2011.

I left home again later than usual—perhaps if I do so again, my usual will become today's later, then where will I be? But because of my departure time, I was again in need of a faster traverse time, which, I was happy to note at a few points in the middle of the ride, was entirely possible today. I noted several times that, at least from the Findlay Street bridge through my turn onto the Spaulding bikeway, my current HR was holding steadily above 146 and often holding above 150. For stretches much longer than the mere 60 seconds that I had attained on my first attempt at HR training.

What else contributed to my greater strength? Perhaps that I took a rest day yesterday and that the ride of the day before did not include a weight training period.

The number of fellow cyclists was relatively huge this morning. Among them were the tandem father-daughter team of Gary and Amy. And a shirtless runner with a white dog as a running companion, though I noticed much more the runner's superb back and arms. So much so that I took a long backward glance at his firm chest and gave him a wolf whistle.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 63 to 67°F at 07:15, 75°F at 09:30
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time:  00:41:22 for 11.97 miles
Heart rate: 136 bpm average, 160 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 19 cyclists, 5 pedestrians, 1 dog
Here is a playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 37—to gym and home

Tuesday, 14 June 2011.

Push push push, no matter how the body complains. The object: get home with enough time to make a quick dinner and be off to a film with Chuck. Oh, and stop at the gym for a very short abs workout.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 70 to 81°F at 17:05
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph, variable
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:57:03 for 15.86 miles
Heart rate: 129 bpm average, 144 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 36 cyclists, 18 pedestrians,  1 dog
Here is a playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 36—to gym and home

Monday, 13 June 2011

My ride didn't seem so special in the first leg to the gym: at one point when my heart seemed to strain, I noticed the HR was only at 120 bpm, and I worried momentarily that I was way too tired to push hard for the ride home. But that feeling lasted only a quarter mile, and I felt power and wholeness return.

I kept my weight training short, with just a focus on the shoulder exercises, and I was at full power when I was back on the bike. The hill beside the frisbee golf course added to my sense of being at high power, and I continued through to Smithville at an average of over 20 mph. Through Eastwood, the intensity matched the need for care at the crossings and on the turns, and then I applied full power as I passed the 3rd lap point. Around Findlay Street, I saw a rider in the distance and my goal was to catch him before the Green Bridge. He had a good speed and remained a challenge until the catch below the Webster Street bridge. From that point, the large numbers of pedestrians required careful, slower maneuvering until the Main Street bridge, and then I could apply full power again. As I approached the turn to the Monument Bridge ramp, another rider approached from the south. When he stopped short of the ramp, I called out "Oh com'on. Go for it." He laughed with some embarrassment, but still walked his hybrid up the gentler, double-backed ramps.

As I crossed the bridge, I noted that my time was a bit earlier than usual, maybe the day will be a year's record time.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 72 to 77°F at 16:55
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph variable
Clothing: Skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed-gear
Time: 00:57:33 for 15.84 miles
Heart rate: 129 bpm average, 155 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 19 cyclists, 13 pedestrians, 3 dogs
Here is a playback of the ride.

Bike-commute day 32—to work

With another warm day in Dayton—finally Summer may be here, and with the long biking day yesterday, I'm treating today as a recovery day. My aim during the commute in was to keep my HR around 120 bpm, which I suppose is 75% of my maximum. (More on this after the break.) Even with the relaxed pace, my time was only a couple minutes longer than my best time this year.

I heard a bit of Der Hirt auf dem Felsen on WDPR last evening, and as I passed under the Findaly Avenue bridge, the song came to me again, and I whistled parts that I remembered from my favorite performance by Elly Ameling (soprano), Hans Deinzer (clarinet), and Jörg Demus (piano). The quiet, plaintive melody expresses by paradox the exuberant, joyful experience of commuting on such a bright Summer day.

Whenever I stand on the highest rocks, gaze down into the deepest valley, and sing and sing, distantly from the dark vale rebounds back to me the echo, the echo of the cliffs. The further my voice reaches, the clearer it returns to me from below. From below. My love lives so far from me and I thus ache for him, across the distance.

I'm consumed by a deep grief, joy has left me, hope has left the Earth, and I am here lonesome. I am here, so lonesome. So longingly the song rang in the forest, so longingly it rang through the night, it draws the hears to the heavens with wonderful power.

 It is a sublime joy that closes the work, in which the voice, clarinet, and piano interplay motive after motive.

Spring wants to come, my joy the Spring, and now I'm making myself ready for wandering. The further my voice reaches, the clearer it returns to me from below.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 70 to 75°F at 07:05, 83 to 87°F at 09:55
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the southwest
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:47:20 for 11.98 miles
Heart rate: 112 bpm average, 130 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 4 cyclists, 8 pedestrians
Here is a playback of the ride.

More discussion about HRmax and HRrecovery...

Bike-commute day 24—to gym and home

Thursday. Short gym for abdominal core. Met cyclist Cliff at the trestle. Rode together to the stadium.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 74 to 77°F at 16:50
Precipitation: none
Winds: 5 to 10 mph from the southwest
Clothing: skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:58:17 for 16.55 miles
Heart rate: 133 bpm average, 148 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: not recorded
Here is a playback of the ride. 8th Garmin day.

Bike-commute day 23—to gym and home

Wednesday move.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 74 to 77°F at 16:50
Precipitation: none
Winds: 5 to 10 mph from the southwest
Clothing: skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 01:03:14 for 16.55 miles
Heart rate: 131 bpm average, 145 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 4 cyclists, 3 pedestrians, 1 dog
Here is a playback of the ride. 8th Garmin day.

Note about the illustration
The line drawings were published online and captured by me during the playback. The video provides stills from The Art of Frank Patterson by Horace F. Button, which was published 1952 by Temple Press, Ltd.

Bike-commute day 22—to home

It's been clouding up all afternoon. The radar shows heavy storms have passed through the Miami County areas already, and perhaps they will miss Dayton. But we have heavy skies nevertheless. It may well be an evening to bypass the gym, which I will decide on as I start out on the commute.

...So because of the still-threatening skies, I decided against stopping at the gym. And well decided. Sprinkles were falling as I started from Kodak, though they let up. Some portions of the bikeway were damp, some with run-off just cleared, some with steaming pavement. I got mud-spattered from the wet areas, but not rained on. A gentler pace kept me safe through to the still-flooded Great Miami River. From there, I took the zig-zag up to Riverscape and sidewalks through downtown to the street up from the Monument Avenue Bridge.

At the end of my commute, I stopped to say hello to two women who were gardening at a house on Euclid that had been for sale. One of them was the new owner—Justa, whose husband was still at his workplace. The other was her sister who helped with their move.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 74 to 77°F at 16:50
Precipitation: none
Winds: 5 to 10 mph from the southwest
Clothing: skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:51:04 for 16.55 miles
Heart rate:119 bpm average, 136 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 4 cyclists, 3 pedestrians, 1 dog
Here is a playback of the ride. 7th Garmin day.

Note about the illustration
The line drawings were published online and captured by me during the playback. The video provides stills from The Art of Frank Patterson by Horace F. Button, which was published 1952 by Temple Press, Ltd.