Bike-commute day 31—to work

Today is bike to work day for Research Park, so I'd not taken more than coffee for breakfast at home. Despite the lack of carbs, I had more than enough energy for the ride—maybe I should resume carrying a bagel for a breakfast at work instead of taking time to eat before the commute.

The storms from last evening continued intermittently through the night, with one lightning and wind event around 02:30 that woke me up from dreams about a whole-world epidemic of the Spanish flu. However, the skies had light clouds in the morning, the radar showed no approaching rain storms, and the street was dry down the block. So I set off to work.

As I crossed the Monument Avenue bridge, I could see the river was up, but not close to the bikeway. So I dropped down to the bikeway at the Monument Ramp and headed north and east. Within 50 feet of the ramp up to the YMCA, water covered the bikeway. I slowed, and entered the water to test its depth. It was clearly more than hub deep, so I turned around and ascended the Monument Ramp to take the crushed-gravel path that parallels the river to Main Street.

Across Main Street and into Riverscape, I could see the bikeway under the gazebo was flooded to about a foot, though the way was clear a bit upstream at the zig-zag ramp below the Green Bridge. So I took it down.

Before the Webster Street bridge, the path was flooded except for a two-foot portion, but beyond the bridge, the path was fully flooded to bottom bracket depth. I slowed to avoid much splash, and did a few flutter pedals to impel my "craft" and avoid getting my feet wet. The rest of the bikeway route was mostly dry, with a few areas under the tree canopy still damp or wet.

I saw Tom Helbig, the outdoor recreation and special events coordinator of Five Rivers MetroParks, and Dan Sahli, the new FRMP cycling coordinator, waiting for traffic to pull out as I turned to the Research Park training center. It was an opportunity for a quick introduction of Dan and some jabber about the weather and the development of the ZooBomb event and Sprockettes troop. Tom laughed when I suggested that he, Andy W, Kevin T, and I would make a great gender-fuck version of the Sprockettes. When I suggested it could be a mixed-sex group, he said there were some women who likely could be interested in it. ...All we need are the kids' bikes and costumes.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 61 to 64°F at 06:50
Precipitation: none, after very heavy rains overnnight
Winds: calm to 10 mph from the south
Clothing: Skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:49:52 for 12.45 miles
Heart rate: 131 bpm average, 149 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 6 cyclists, 4 pedestrians, 0 dogs, 0 goslings
Here is a playback of the ride. 15th Garmin day.

Bike-commute day 28—to Bike to Work pancake breakfast and Cycling Summit

Today was a gloriously sunny and warm day. Perfect for the 400+ hungry cyclists to have pancakes before heading to work.

As for me, I went to work as a volunteer to register participants in the Cycling Summit.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 66 to 71°F at 07:20
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the southwest
Clothing: Skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:38:20 for 9.06 miles
Heart rate: 126 bpm average, 149 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: not recorded

Here is a playback of the ride., which includes the full day, with stops at Riverscape for pancakes, a short hop to the Cycling Summit, a return hop to Brixx for an after-summit social, and a return home. 12th Garmin day.

Bike-commute day 27—to work

Another gentle ride today. The roads were dry as I started out, but the Mad River had flooded one area of the bikeway to a depth of a couple inches. The bikeway was damp, almost wet, underneath the tree cover near Parklane Road and from Burkhardt south to Founders Drive.

The Garmin device conked out once during the ride, for about two blocks between Broadway and Salem. Otherwise, it performed well.

I spent some time thinking about what I need to bring with for tomorrow's Bike to Work Day and Cycling Summit. Here's my notated list:

• Skinsuit to wear for the ride to Riverscape
• Gym shorts, t-shirt, flip-flops to change into at the pancake breakfast
• A+D cream
• Skinsuit—wear the same one to the Kroc Center
• Sport towel and non-sudsying soap to clean and dry off at the Kroc Center—change into the gym shorts and t-shirt
• Spare sweatshirt—in case it's too air-conditioned
• Skinsuit, a fresh one for the ride home and maybe a 10-30 mile exercise ride
• Basics of course: cash, wallet with driver's license and credit card, RoadID, charged cellphone

Ride conditions
Temperature: 54 to 55°F at 06:21 and 58 to 63°F at 09:30
Precipitation: none, but bikeway was almost wet in some parts
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the north and northeast
Clothing: 2 layers top, skinsuit, ankle socks, full-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:48:32 for 11.92 miles
Heart rate: 128 bpm average, 151 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 2 cyclist, 3 pedestrians, 0 dogs, 12 goslings
Here is a playback of the ride. 11th Garmin day.