First commute day for 2012

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

The weekend's snows have passed, leaving only a thin layer that dissipated by evening yesterday. The weather is supposed to clear today and then bring in rain tonight. I decided to make use of the full day of daylight, which is one that stretches to nearly eleven hours and leaves me plenty of time for a commute before and after a work day of 8.5 hours.

Early in the season, as I return to commuting by bike, I expect each way to take up to an hour. So I prepared my departure in anticipation of sunrise at 7:30, and I left as soon as it was well lit, by 7:20.

The bikeway was clean for the most part. Some light mud remained on the path underneath I-75; muddy tractor tracks documented some recent work removing trees near the firemen's training station; very light frost clung to the bridges west and south of Eastwood Park. Otherwise, the way was free of fallen branches and broken glass. This year's light touch of Winter has been easy on the bikeway, which allowed me to begin bike-commuting almost a month earlier than any year that I've kept records.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 34 to 35°F at 07:15
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the southwest
Clothing: Skinsuit, longsleeve undershirt, quilted tights, Gore-tex jacket, ankle socks, quilted  gloves
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:49:39 for 11.86 miles
Heart rate: 142 bpm HRave, 159 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 1 cyclist, 1 pedestrian
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 19—to work

Recently the City of Dayton released its 2025 Bicycle Action Plan, and it asked for comments to be sent to Andrew Rodney. Among my suggestions, I asked that the city establish alternative, designated routes that are parallel to the bikeways and can be used during river flooding or bridge construction. I would hope, in implementing this suggestion, that the street department would install facilities that make the alternate routes safer than they already are.

For the most part, these routes already exist, though they are not designated or in much use by cyclists. For example, these parallel routes already exist near the bikeway that typically is flooded during high water:

• East Monument Avenue parallels the Mad River Bikeway from Irwin Street west to North Patterson Boulevard.
• The Riverwalk and a gravel path parallel the Great Miami River from North Patterson Boulevard to the Monument Avenue Bridge.
• An unnamed delivery street parallels the Great Miami River south from Washington Street to Veterans' Park near Stewart Street.
• East River Road in Moraine parallels the Great Miami River south from Carillon Boulevard to the point where the river-level bikeway rises to join East River Road.
• North Alex Road parallels the Great Miami River in West Carrollton.
• North Miami Street parallels the Great Miami River in Miamisburg.

Not all of these are contiguous, and some construction is needed to make them so. But the existing routing needs little more than a marking system or curbing system that makes sharing the road safe.


My energy level on today's ride was fairly low. The 705 device worked well until 38:08 into the ride, when the 705 went to autopause for no reason. (I remember that just prior to the shift to autopause, a loose twig got picked up in the rear wheel, at the cadence sensor, and that I looked town to check that it was clearing from the wheel.) I lost data from just south of Linden Avenue through just south of Woodbine. I turned off the device, waited 10 seconds, turned it on, and waited for acquisition of satellite information before resuming. This restart caused an additional lap time (split 4).

Ride conditions
Temperature: 34 to 41°F at 06:45
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the east
Clothing: 2-layer top, 2-layer bottom; ankle socks. Full-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: between 00:46:25 and 0:57:00 for 12.00 miles
Heart rate:124 bpm average, 142 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 2 pedestrians, 2 cyclists
Here is a playback of the ride. 4th 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 17—gym and home

The shining, bright sky outside my cube window beckoned. Fleecy cumulus suggested a cool breeze. How much I wished work ends at 4 p.m. My co-worker Kay slipped on her jacket, said, "It's five o'clock somewhere," and headed off to her weekend

This afternoon ride was a test of how the Garmin Edge 705 treats a long period of quiet in the middle of a ride. I left the 'puter live in my bag, unable to receive GPS connections, while I worked out at the Cardinal Fitness gym.The result was OK, but it could have been better. This technique keeps all the information together in one ride, of course. The details of speed, elevation, heart rate, and cadence seem fine—without indication of the pause—when viewed with an x-axis of moving time or distance. But using the x-axis of time reveals the pause with a calm portion of a sinewave that shows a curving rise from the stopping point to resuming the ride.

This break fails to record the weight training as a contributor to the period of exercise, and, while the 705 is on but inactive with a heart monitor alarm on, the 'puter makes a frequent alert to its presence. I think for now I will create a break in the ride, and allow it to record as two separate activities.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 57 to 66°F at 15:57
Precipitation: none
Winds: 0 to 5 mph from the west
Clothing: 2-layer top, skinsuit; ankle socks. open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850 hybrid
Time: 00:44:50 for 10.74 miles
Bikeway users: TBD
2nd Garmin day. Playback.