Bike Stuff, River Stuff, Rain Stuff
Jun. 11th, 2014 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogI just adjusted my bike's brakes, oiled the chain after my ride in the rain today, and centered the fender that's been kind of off-kilter for some time. It feels so good to feel competent! The next big project is going to be replacing the brake cables. I also very much need new panniers; the ones I've got now were some of the cheapest I could find on Amazon. With the help of some duct tape, they've gotten me through two thousand miles of sun, rain, and snow, but I half expect them to give up the ghost and fall off at some point in the near future.
I woke to a text from my adviser saying that with all the rain, Pike Creek (where it's exposed north of 43rd Street anyway) was flooding. Since it's basically on my way to the archives, I met here there and walked around with her a bit. The creek was really moving fast, and was only a foot and a half or so under the pedestrian bridges. After we explored, she offered me a ride, which I took her up on only so I wouldn't be late to work. As I got my bike into her trunk, I noticed that somehow I'd ridden the four miles to the park and spent fifteen minutes walking around with her before realizing that I'd somehow forgotten to put my helmet on that morning. That's very strange for me.
I spent some time today looking at very nice, expensive rain capes for bicycling. Things in the one to two hundred dollar range. My plastic rain pants had a big tear in the crotch that kept getting worse, and I finally threw them out today. I think what I'm going to end up going with for now, though, is tying plastic shopping bags over my feet and above my ankles when I ride in the rain, because I am a cheapskate and can live with mildly damp thighs. It's the wet shoes and socks that are really annoying.
I woke to a text from my adviser saying that with all the rain, Pike Creek (where it's exposed north of 43rd Street anyway) was flooding. Since it's basically on my way to the archives, I met here there and walked around with her a bit. The creek was really moving fast, and was only a foot and a half or so under the pedestrian bridges. After we explored, she offered me a ride, which I took her up on only so I wouldn't be late to work. As I got my bike into her trunk, I noticed that somehow I'd ridden the four miles to the park and spent fifteen minutes walking around with her before realizing that I'd somehow forgotten to put my helmet on that morning. That's very strange for me.
I spent some time today looking at very nice, expensive rain capes for bicycling. Things in the one to two hundred dollar range. My plastic rain pants had a big tear in the crotch that kept getting worse, and I finally threw them out today. I think what I'm going to end up going with for now, though, is tying plastic shopping bags over my feet and above my ankles when I ride in the rain, because I am a cheapskate and can live with mildly damp thighs. It's the wet shoes and socks that are really annoying.
