Bike-commute day 87—to home

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Very easy ride tonight because of the wet pavement. The bikeway beside the Miami River was still flooded.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 57 to 59°F at 16:45
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the south and west
Clothing: Skinsuit, longsleeve undershirt, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00: 47:57 for 11.99 miles
Heart rate: 113 bpm HRave, 138 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 7 cyclists, 7 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 86—to work

Tuesday, 27 September 2011

After a weekend of rain, some heavy, the lower bikeway was flooded to a depth of a few inches. I guessed it might be clear as I headed down the ramp from the Monument Avenue bridge, but the flooding started just below the YMCA. I took the ramp up to the gravel path under the Y, and continued across to Riverscape and the Bike Hub.

The bikeway from the confluence of the Mad and Miami rivers was passable. Only one small stretch of 20 feet had been flooded earlier in the night.

The rest of the commute was usual, with few others on the path to allow a fairly fast passage.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 51 to 55°F at 07:15
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 10 mph from the southeast
Clothing: Skinsuit, longsleeve undershirt, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:44:54 for 12.11 miles
Heart rate: 135 bpm HRave, 151 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 1 cyclists, 6 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride

Bike-commute day 31—to gym and home

I needed to make the ride and gym work quick today, so I would have time to feed Howard-the-dog, shower, and make it to the 8 p.m. screening of In a Better World.

It seemed fine by the online radar and by feel on the road to Cardinal Fitness. But it had started to sprinkle after my 20-minute power shoulders workout. By the time I approached Linden, it had turned to real rain, though a light rain. It continued so for about a mile before tapering off. The roads were still wet, though, and I cautiously navigated corners and stops.

The ick factor was how much road splash my ankle-high cycling shoes caught and retained. The shoes were soaked through by the time the rain stopped. —The shoes and socks were still wet the next morning.

At the concrete bank of the Mad River, which is my gauge of whether the river is flooded as it joins the Great Miami, the water churned and roiled from the recent increase of flow.

• The Mad River's normal depth allows all of the concrete and its bottom horizontal edge to show, and a ribbon of mud embankment below the concrete is visible. 
• As the Mad River rises, the water covers the western end of the horizontal edge first. 
• Usually when half the length of the horizontal edge is covered, at least the depression in the bikeway west of the Webster Avenue bridge will be flooded. 
• If all the horizontal edge is covered, then at least another depression east of Webster Avenue is also flooded. 

This evening, the full horizontal edge was covered, and it looked to be at least two feet deep at the eastern end. So clearly only Monument Avenue was the viable way toward downtown. At the traffic signal on Findlay Street, I saw Tom Helbig stopped from the opposite direction. He was headed home, on the bike that he used to visit the Research Park bike to work event this morning.

You and Ohio law
I found an excellent summary of Ohio traffic laws that relate to cycling.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 65 to 68°F at 17:10
Precipitation: none, then a lot
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the south
Clothing: Skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 01:03:04 for 14.90+ miles
Heart rate: 125 bpm average, 138 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 4 cyclists, 7 pedestrians, 1 dog
Here is a playback of the ride. 15th Garmin day.

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 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 3, to work

Temperatures: 34°F at 07:10, 36°F at 09:10
Clothing: Top with 3 layers (longsleeve poly-Spandex Reebok shirt, longsleeve skinsuit, closely-woven wool-acrylic cycling jacket); Bottom with 2 layers (skinsuit, Lycra tights); ankle socks; quilted gloves. (Cool, but comfortable body.)
Time: 0:53:xx for 12.5 miles

I opened this posting at 07:10 or 07:15, knowing I need to speed up my preparations to get out the door and on the bike. I had awakened this morning still tired, from a weird dream where my family doctor Barry was encouraging me to compete in the Gay Games coming up, in raquetball or swimming, and Chuck to compete in cycling. Still groggy, I struggled to slip off the wrist supports that I sleep with and shushed Howard from his snuffing and sneezing at my bare legs. Then up to tap off the alarm and pee, followed by my daily weigh-in. "Damn! 169 pounds, it says." So I pick up the 10-pound dumbbell beside the scale, step on again, let it register, step off and set down the weight, and step on again to see that the reading is now 168.0. I take that as the most accuracy I can get—"gotta get a more reliable scale," I think, write it on the weight record, and pull on some gym shorts and a tee. After I let Howard out of the bedroom and turn on the poster light over the stairs, I accompany him downstairs and to the kitchen. It's 05:39, time enough for the routine of turn on WYSO for Morning Edition, make a double latte, let Howard out, cut a slice of bread for toast, let Howard in, let Howard get the Wall Street Journal, sit and read the paper and take my daily pills and feed Howard in four portions of kibble, make another double latte, take Howard out to poop, bring him in and treat his ears with a fungus cleanser-preventer, treat him to a chondroitin, sit at the computer to check my email and record the morning temperature in the draft my blog. And today's routine has an added trip upstairs to place a bill on the printer-scanner, back downstairs to scan it to a file, enter the bill information in my spreadsheet, send the bill's due date and amount and scan to Chuck, and check for any recent payments that Chuck has made. That's why I sat writing at ten minutes after 7, "I've gotta hurry up if I wanna ride today. I still need to poop and dress for the ride. I've been tired this morning, not enough to keep from riding today, since it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow." So I pushed out of the chair, headed upstairs for—as they said in the 18th Century—"my toilette" that includes putting in my contact lenses, the poop, flossing and brushing teeth, applying D+T ointment, and trading the gym clothes for the riding kit. Downstairs, I assemble any stray items and cash into my backpack, decide what layers I need to wear and which to pack with, roll the bike out to the stoop, and close the door. Whew! finally ready, at 07:34 today, about 15 minutes later than what I think is optimal and about 10 minutes earlier than what I think is a point of baling out on the ride.


The clock times given are about 20 minutes off, as given on my bike computer.

07:55—departing from home. At my corner, a school bus was stopped to pick up students. I entered the intersection and turned to continue on Princeton, but stopped for the school bus. The driver waved me on, and pulled in his stop sign, which he realized was my reason for stopping. What a nice gesture.


From the Monument Avenue bridge, the Miami River level was a bit lower than yesterday. The forms of the flanks of the low dam were discernable underneath the flowing water. This has become a usual path during the flooding: the gravel path under the YMCA, sidewalk to the Main Street-Monument intersection, through Riverscape Park. The railing down to the river was flooded only to 2 feet above the bikeway.

08:08—passing the zig-zag up from the Mad River Bikeway. This is a notable minute less than yesterday—but an approximate time, since I noticed the computer only after about a quarter mile past the checkpoint. The Mad River bikeway was flooded again, but only to a point where the bikeway was just visible under the muddy water. Of course, still nothing to bike through. The Monument Avenue route had moments of disgusting truck exhaust, where diesel engines were idling at the Rumpke plant and other places. About a quarter mile after Findlay Avenue, after I signaled to turn onto the grass that leads to the above-river bikeway, a chugging hatchback driver ignored or misunderstood my signal and passed me. No big deal, since I noticed he had been on the left side of the road most of the long block, to avoid the big divots that Winter had taken out of the road.

08:22—passing the west gate to Eastwood Park. A minute more than yesterday. Run-off from the hills above the transition at Smithville and Springfield was completely fluid across the bikeway. No cross traffic at  Airway, and extremely light traffic at Burkhardt.

08:35—passing the trestle remains at Linden. A minute faster than yesterday. No traffic at Linden. Beyond the graffiti wall, I saw one of the regulars that I've come to know over several years of bike commuting. We've never stopped to talk, but I call him Double-Dog-Jason. This dark-haired man in his late 30s always has two dogs towing him along, and he always has a pair of flightline headphones that usually don't prevent him from saying hello. I've seen him walking south on Woodman, in part of the same circuit, and he is relatively exact in the timing of his walk. His return to a routine reminded me of others who should be again on this part of the bikeway soon: Millie and ...Ethel, Eunice? (two women in their 70s or 80s whose husbands have various health issues; at the moment the one who is more easily brought to visualization is withholding her name in my memory banks), Becky (an owner and walker of a pack of rescue dogs, including an old Lab and a St. Bernard), Gary and Amy (a father and daughter who make a daily tandem out-and-back to the Riverscape from this area). My thoughts have stayed with me to my crossing at Woodman, which had no traffic, and brought me to remember other unnamed regulars who I have frequently seen in the quarter mile from Woodman to Founders. The section seems easier, quicker, almost downhill, and I think that the ease comes from having had 40 minutes of warm-up riding. Something that I never learned to use while I was competing in my early 40s.

08:48—arriving at  work. Two minutes earlier than yesterday, and a minute less through the overall route. I've taken the ride up a bit in intensity, and still feel good, not drained.