I Should Really Ride To the Pub More Often

The winter bike at CabCo

Another awful week.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I did not ride to work.  Too damn cold and windy.  I can handle -5*F if there is not a 24 mph headwind all the way to work.  So I opted to drive.  Wednesday after work Court Avenue Brewery had a Mug Club party.  Well, I can handle a 3 mile round trip.  Four mugs later I enjoyed a tailwind home.  But despite seeing friends and enjoying the fruits of the brew master arriving home was the best part.

Right to left: Sam, Randy and me.  There was a strange woman at the bar who offered to take our photo out of the blue.  Something about memories she said.  At first we thought she was going to use her phone but she clarified and used Randy's iPhone albeit backwards until he explained how to work it.  An odd experience of kindness.  Before she did that when I was at the bar placing my order she looked at me and smiled like we knew each other but I have never seen her before.  I will refrain from judgement because I do not know what was going through her mind or her state of mental health.  We all thought it was a bit weird. 

BOOTY!!!

Mark Reeder: Mauerstadt.  Walled City for English speakers.  Mark is from Manchester UK and got stranded in Berlin about 1979 and was in various German bands at the time and Shark Vegas.  later he made a name for himself remixing tracks for other bands.  His association with the band New Order has led to some incredible music.  Two New Order tracks appear on Mauerstadt, Academic and the Game.

Technique by New Order.  The band took 1988 off and flew to Ibiza to record this lp in a shitty studio that had a swimming pool and a 24 hour bar.  Instead of working on the lp they discovered ecstasy and partied every night for 6 months before packing it in (only a demo for Fine Time and 16 drum tracks to show for their effort) and returned to England and finishing the lp at Peter Gabriel's brand new state of the art Real World Studio.  Needless to say they tore the studio up when they had two busloads of Manchester's finest acid house ravers come celebrate the completion of the record.  Technique brings the warm Ibiza sun into the stereo.  Hooky mentions in his book, The Hacienda How not to Run a Club, that they last saw Nico (Velvet Underground) alive in Ibiza.  A day or two later she died from a head injury caused by a bicycle crash.  No helmet.

Two packages arrived on my doorstep while I was hoisting the mug.  Both were vinyl records.  One I ordered from Germany way back in December, Mark Reeder's Mauerstadt, his 2017 lp of electronic dance mixes and collaborations with other bands.  The other was New Order's Technique, the Ibiza classic missing from my rebuilding of the vinyl collection.  Damn, go for a beer and come home to prizes!  I have one more package somewhere between here and the UK.  I should go to the pub again!

More importantly, this really motivated me to ride to work again.  Well, maybe the fact that Thursday morning it was to be like 22*F with less of a interfering wind.  One of my theories is that riding on cold mornings with a slight hangover is good because my body is usually warmer when I am hungover.  However, I was not hungover.  I feel like such a damn slacker.  This is my worst January since I became a full time commuter.  I've missed 7 commutes to work this month.  Then again so have a lot of my hardcore friends.  Life goes on.

My regular commuter aka the Single Speed

Thursday.s ride was good.  The strong southwest wind hindered my progress but I left early enough to get there in time to enjoy coffee before having to become productive.  I should have not ridden the winter bike.  It is really slow thanks to its studded tires that have additional flat protection added to them.  I meant to replace them this season but never pulled the trigger.  But it was a good work out that I needed.  On the way home I took a shortcut, University to 109th and then got on the trail at 107th.  As I got on the trail between two houses I spotted a red fox in the woods across Walnut Creek.  Unfortunately, it ran off before I could get close enough for a photo.  So I have seen three species of canine on the Clive Greenbelt: fox, coyote and domesticated dogs.  Later not too far away I ran into a herd of deer.  Must have been 20 of them.  Never seen that many on the Greenbelt before.  Oddly enough, when I was on the Walnut Creek Trail after N Valley Dr I saw another large herd of deer, perhaps 20+.  Deer on the move in large numbers.  Maybe they drank beer last night!

I stopped at Windsor Heights Hy Vee.  Needed a large bag of dog food for Fritz and a carton of half and half for Saturday's and Sunday's coffee.  I was supposed to pick up something for dinner but was uninspired and came home with no food in my panniers.  Send Mary out for pizza.

Friday I threw caution to the wind and rode my regular commuter.  My average speed improved greatly.  Since I saw all the trouble spots the day before I knew where to use discretion.  Good Lord it felt great!  Amazing how a different set of tires can make a difference.  Remarkably, the winter bike is lighter.  Goes to show that wheel weight and rolling resistance affect speed the most.  Unremarkable ride to work except for the bonus of speed.  On the way how the temp had risen to 47*F and the reduction of snow was very apparent.  Ice and snow on the trails was greatly eliminated and road bikers were seen.  Once again I stopped at Windsor Heights Hy Vee for groceries.  Fritz should work for TSA or law enforcement because he spent a lot of time sniffing my panniers.  I had sausages and a whole chicken in them.

The forecast for the rest of the month looks good.  I'm only 180 miles behind last year.  I think I can make that up if I so desire.  I am considering transferring to downtown which would reduce my commute to less than 5 miles per day.  That would free up a lot of time for other things or better rides.  It also would kill any chance of reaching 10,000 miles in a year again.  Is there room for one more go?