30 days of biking

With a whimper, I finished my 30 days of biking for April. I've been sick with a cold the last four days, and each of those days' riding entailed only a short cruise around the neighborhood in the evening. Quite a few other days this month also entailed no more than a short cruise. But at least I met my core commitment to ride everyday this month.

Though, the point of the streak wasn't so much the continuity of riding as it was the going new places and blogging about it. That was my intention, anyway. And that part I didn't do as well as I could have. Even now I still have yet to organize my photos from my Four Peaks adventure four weekends ago. Once again I proved to myself that I enjoy biking more than I enjoy sorting my thoughts about it afterward. Once I finish a ride I tend to look forward to the next one.

And with that, I think I'll close my thoughts of April and instead look forward to May.

Wedge pack cruise kit

Today's ride was a short streak extender around the neighborhood this evening. Palm trees silhouetted against the soft pink of the sky, and the air had cooled enough for children to pause their video games and go outside. Near the AC–DC path, I found some goathead plants growing in a public space rock bed and yanked out of the ground as many as I could.

So much for today's ride. In this post I'm instead going to write about some of the stuff I lug around with me on rides.

Wedge pack attached to bike, below saddle. Rear blinky attached to wedge pack.

Through the years, I changed my on-the-ride tool kit countless times. My current kit is only a couple of months old, but so far it's my best and favorite kit. I based it off Kent Peterson's kit. I figure if Kent's kit is good enough to ride the Tour Divide, it's good enough for my around-town riding.

Here's what I cram inside my wedge pack.

Clockwise from top-left: cable lock, patch kit, Topeak multi-tool, tire levers, tubes, pump, Park multi-tool.

(Note this is my utility riding kit. For competitive, recreational riding, I carry a much smaller and much lighter kit.)

My utility riding kit is, among other things, a complete flat fix-it kit, without CO₂ cartridges, all tucked beneath my saddle. I like being able to stuff everything beneath my saddle because it means I can devote my backpack or panniers to carrying other stuff. The key for making this work is the super small Topeak mini pump, a fully working pump that weighs less than three servings of Grape Nuts.

As for the tubes, I've carried two with me since shortly after moving to Phoenix and flatting multiple times on one ride because of goatheads. Phoenix has a lot of goatheads, mostly because of its abundance of landscaping rock beds devoid of native plants. Native plants choke out goatheads, but goatheads win against nearly everything else here in Phoenix. Cyclists suffer as a result, another testament that people generally suck at distinguishing between pretty and functional. But that's a rant for a different day.

Flats are by far the most common bike problem. Probably the second most common problem is the occasional loose screw. Most screws on a bike are metric Allen, and either of my multi-tools is suitable for tightening or loosening those. I can also handle flat heads, Phillips head, Torx, and spokes. Lots of capability for tightening and loosening things. And the Park tool also has 8mm, 9mm, and 10mm socket wrenches. I got this tool for adjusting my fenders, which require a 10mm wrench.

Besides fixing flats and tightening and loosening things, the next-most common catastrophic bike problem is a broken chain. The Topeak multi-tool can handle this because one of its 16 functions is a chain tool. I was skeptical about such a dinky chain tool before buying the multi-tool, but I changed my last chain with it, and it works well.

The Topeak tool also includes a pair of tire levers, but they're also dinky, and I don't trust dinky tire levers, so I carry another, more rugged pair. It's also good to have tire levers that are brightly colored—useful for those cold, dark winter morning flats.

That's my kit. May I use it as little as possible.

Saturday utility: trail run, library–REI–library

Early morning today I rode my bar bike to the nearby Phoenix Mountain Preserve trailhead at Peoria and 7th Ave to practice trail running in preparation of my upcoming sub-1hr challenge with faithful reader Bobby and the Presidents.

Then, after returning home and waiting a few hours for the temperature to rise to about 100°F, I set out on my touring bike to do the rest of the day's errands. First I returned a couple DVDs to the local library branch, Cholla. Then I biked to REI to return a pair of shoes. Yes, this is the second pair of shoes I've returned this month.

My last errand was to pick up a book I had reserved at the Desert Broom library branch, which is on Cave Creek Rd north of Dynamite. It turns out there's a bike path that runs from Sweetwater and the 51, which is one mile west of the REI in Paradise Valley, to Cave Creek just north of Pinnacle Peak, which is a few miles south of the Desert Broom library branch. I hadn't ever taken this path the whole way, so this last errand entailed me doing some exploring.

On the way back I stopped to eat a pair of burritos and tried to reconcile myself to the fact that Phoenix still has three months to go of increasing temperatures, statistically.

Today was especially clear. Given a good enough vantage point, you could see all the mountains surrounding the valley. Pictured here: Piestewa Peak, as seen from the AC–DC path.

The Desert Broom library branch is a handsome, though small, facility. Like all other Phoenix library branches, excluding the central branch, Desert Broom is named after a native desert plant.

Unlike other library branches, Desert Broom is part of a rattlesnake crossing.

90km for the day, 4 tasks completed.

Hour of Power

5:16AM: Cruising on Camelback Rd towards the ride's start. From this side of the mountain, the Camel's head is huge.

5:27AM: The Camel's two humps loom large. I'm a little late and risk missing the start by dawdling to take this photo.

5:32AM: Made it! Barely. And it's a good thing I stuffed my camera in my jersey pocket soon after taking this photo because the ride got fast fast.

These days, because of living in the Avenues side of Phoenix, riding HOP involves me waking up at 4:00AM. I breakfast and shower and depart on my bike at 4:45AM, not to return home until after work thirteen hours later. It's a big commitment for something that involves so much suffering. And today's ride didn't disappoint with the suffering; the group kept it in the mid-20s to low-30s, starting with the warm-up and pushing through all the way until the Mummy climb.

Mailing taxes

Not one to wait till the last minute to do these types of things, I mailed my taxes on the way home from work today. Phew. One day early.

I mailed them at the downtown Phoenix post office. Though I ride by the downtown post office every morning on the way to work, I've never stopped to look at the building. From the outside it's a handsome facility—ancient by Phoenix standards.

Don't let the tree fool you. It's a post office.

But outside is as far as I went. I dropped my two envelopes in the mail drop in front of the building. To the right, just across Fillmore, is the Westward Ho building, another ancient Phoenix building.

According to Wikipedia, this was the tallest building in Arizona from 1928 to 1960. It's so tall it doesn't fit in my camera lens.

And completing my bike-around tour of the downtown post office is Civic Space Park, adjacent to the PO just south between the YMCA and the ASU downtown campus. I had to look up the name of this park on Google Maps, for in my mind it's called Big Fish Net Thing Park.

Weird for the sake of weird—where is this? Bisbee?

A diversion on my way to Squaw Peak

Today I rode my carbon fiber bike to work. Sometimes one tires of driving the pickup truck to work everyday and opts for the sports car instead. That was me today.

On the way home I opted to climb the Squaw Peak Drive hill to take advantage of all that lightweight plastic I was sitting on. But before I got to the hill my attention was diverted by some drama going on in the AZ Canal.

Mom leads her ducklings towards rough water. Dad looks on.

Mom discovers the water is calmest in the middle. Dad loses patience and makes a break.

It's just a small rise, says Mom. The ducklings disagree.

Unable to swim up the rise, the ducklings are again joined with Mom. Dad whooshes down the water slide. Whee!

Today on the way home I stopped at Margaret T. Hance Park to read under a tree.

Not pictured: dozens of flies. I soon moved to read atop a nearby hill.

Tuesday fast slow-ride home

Since installing fat tires on my bike two weekends ago, I've kept my afternoon commute short by taking 3rd Ave from downtown to the AZ Canal. It's a direct route that cuts through quiet neighborhoods and is free of heavy traffic. I wonder why this isn't my usual route.

Where I biked today:

• Work

All that pollution and inelegance, and he wasn't even going faster than if he were pedaling.

Monday commute and errands

This morning outside my apartment I hopped on my bike to discover my bike had the squishy feeling of a tire gone flat. But neither tire looked flat, and squeezing each tire confirmed both to be inflated as normal. So I disregarded the squishiness and headed off to work.

It wasn't until I had made it most of the way to the office and was stopped at a red light that I remembered the squishiness and thought to check the saddle. While straddling the frame, I reached behind me and pushed down on the saddle with my palm. Yep, my saddle is finally becoming soft and pliable. I know from experience the end result of breaking in a leather saddle is a delight—and a well deserved one. My saddle has around 3,000 to 4,000 miles on it.

Where I biked today:

1. Work, to do work
2. Grocery store, to buy groceries
3. Running store, to return some shoes

Runner's Den: Celebrating the singular possessive use of an apostrophe since 1978.

Sunday evening cruise around Metro

After Friday's and Saturday's mucho riding, today I took it easy with a streak extender that entailed riding around the neighborhood. My mission was to return a few books and a DVD to the library, which I accomplished with full success. Then I scouted the location of the nefarious hotel that, according to the police officer at the block watch meeting last Monday, accounts for most crime in the Metro area. Not that I seek out hotels of ill repute, but neither Laura nor I could remember such a hotel existing, which shows how poorly we know our own small clod of the Earth.

Where's Waldo in Castles N' Coasters? Find the guy riding a zip-line in this picture. (Click to enlarge.)

And yes, I'm working on blogging about my Friday–Saturday bike adventure.

Two commuters, five wheels

When in a car, other people around you are traffic. When on a bike, they're potential companions for the ride home from work.

I counted eleven lights on the trike. Recumbent riders tend to be clutter bugs.

Work-to-home—3rd Ave version

Kokopelli, a fertility deity who's common in artwork in the Southwest US.

Neighborhood block watch meeting

Awhile back Laura made it a goal for us to attend a meeting of our neighborhood's block watch. Such a meeting took place today at a nearby hotel. I biked straight from work.

I arrived early and got a great parking spot.

Shaw Butte

I began my 30 days of biking by fixing a flat tire. But the rest of day was better. I installed some new fatty tires on my touring bike and rode to the top of Shaw Butte.

Parked at the top amidst the radio towers.

I had never before been up Shaw Butte on a bike, mostly owing to the fact that I've never owned a mountain bike. As I pedaled up the steep grades, with my drop handlebars and my knob-less tires, I thought I was doing something heroic and maybe foolish. But after arriving at the top and striking up a conversation with a hiker, I was told a guy once rode to the top on a unicycle. So never mind on the heroism.

View on the way down. The radio towers of North Mountain, the finish of the LMI last weekend, are visible in the center background.

The descent didn't prove as technically challenging as I anticipated. The hardest part was preventing my hands from cramping, for I braked hard nearly the whole way down. You can't tell from the photo, but parts of the trail reach grades around 20%, and the terrain is sandy with largish, jagged rocks.

Once back on the desert floor, I rode to the North Mountain Visitor Center to refill my water bottle; then I rode trail 100 back to the safety and comfort of asphalt and rode home uneventfully.