Lollygagging

I'm still in love with my bike. Hurray, and big surprise, eh? Still don't have a picture with Lucky to post, but soon enough, soon enough. (Right, who am I kidding, I'm the biggest procrastinating putter-offer I know...)

I've been conciously putting more miles on the bike lately. I signed up for the Lazyman's Triathalon, a 5 week promotion through the YMCA. It's called the Lazyman's Triathalon because the goal is to complete a full Ironman's Triathalon in those 5 weeks. Their mantra is Swim. Run. Bike. Rest. It's pretty cute, if I do say so myself. This whole ordeal kicked off on July 1st. True to my usual style, I'll probably end up packing most of the distance in the last two weeks. Oh, well, at least I'm aware of how I operate, right? So here I go, determined to Swim 2.5 miles, Run 26.2 miles, and Bike 112 miles all in a 5 weeks. I will do this. There are people who do this in a 24 hour period. I can certainly polish it off in 5 weeks. Fingers crossed that I don't slack-off too much. :)

Distances completed as of Thursday, July 12, 2007:
Swim: 0 miles
Run: 10.6 miles
Bike: 24.77 miles

Not too shabby, all things considered!

Wish List, Ball Game, and Bus-tration

I've been riding around A LOT in the last couple of weeks. Riding to work, running errands, for fun, and to get to fun summer events, and where I need to go generally. In doing all of these things there are a few pieces of bicycle gear that I believe would be helpful:

1. Fenders
- I've already checked these out. Planet bike has a nice set to fit 700CCs that would suit the bike pretty well. They only cost around $20 for the pair.

2. Flat rack
- I need one of these, in black as well (have to coordinated with the six-pack rack on front, duh). This will allow me to attach...

3. Grocery bag baskets/panniers
- These will be black as well. :) I hope. This would make running errands and transporting groceries MUCH easier than it was the other day...Just lucky I didn't tip over and break everything open that I was trying to get home. Not too smart.

4. Bicycle Odometer
- Also known as a bicycle computer. Really I don't need anything as fancy as a bicycle computer, but I would like something that tells me how far I'm riding.

Last week Jon and I thought it would be fun to hit up a St. Paul Saints game. We decided to bike there. We rode along the U of M transit way for most of our trip, then jumped onto Energy Park Drive over to Midway Stadium. The transit way was nice and quiet, just us and our bikes. Energy Park Drive was busy busy busy, but we managed to stay over on the right shoulder and the conditions were smooth, and not debris filled. It was lovely.

Now, onto the frustration. I no longer have a car. This is not the part that frustrates me. I have an Metropass fully subsidized by work, this allows me to get where I need to go, when I am unable to bike there. Metro Transit has bike racks on the front of their buses. I've used them many, many times before. They are wonderful. I just have one problem, and haven't yet decided if I should blame my bike or the bus bike racks. MY BIKE DOES NOT FIT IN THE RACK! Sad. :(

There are ways around this, and it's not the end of the world, but I was pretty bummed out, just the same. The wheels on my bike are 29ers, with 700cc tires. Apparently this combined with the length of my frame has resulted in a bicycle that's a little too long for the wheels to properly set in the bus bike racks. Looks like I'll be parking and locking it up, when I need to take the bus. Maybe Metro Transit's next line of bus bike racks will be large enough to accommodate my mutant bike...though I won't hold my breath.

I will still ride the bus, and I still love my bike to death. That's all for now. Down to the BP I go for the holiday, with my bike in tow! WHEEE!