Weekly Summary #3 – A down week

The non-resettable odometer on the bike is up to 97 km!  And it feels to me like I have hardly ridden at all, I’m itching to get out more.

I think some of my success of the previous two weeks was due to integrating the bike into my very busy lifestyle and responsibilities.  In reality I like this new bike and my new sport of “riding” or “cycling” so much that I’d often just like to go out for no reason and ride.  However for now, I’m limited to riding when it serves some other purpose, like getting me to work, or helping me be “doing something” with the kids.

Monday June 21: 13 km.  Commuted to work and back.  Stopped at UW Optometry on the way in.
Tue, Wed, and Fri: Took younger child to preschool.  My wife needed an extra day to work on Masters assignments this week.
Thu: Needed car to pick up older child from ballet recital rehearsal in the evening.
Saturday: Ballet recital and spending time with out of town family the rest of the day
Sunday: Almost got out with the kids, but it kept raining off and on.

I did stop at the Kaleidoscope multicultural festival at Waterloo Towne Square.  The weather was keeping the crowds away, but the musical acts I saw were fantastic.

TIP: Watch out for low pedal clearance

Low pedal - side view

As I was first leaving work Monday, I almost had a wipeout!  I was acting as a car (as is your right – a bicycle is defined as a road vehicle), waiting to turn left from the RIM parking lot onto Phillip St.  An antsy car was close behind me, so I was waiting for the last car on the far side of the road to pass our driveway, and I started pedaling early, before it passed.  That car had not signalled until the last minute, but suddenly turned INTO my driveway instead of continuing to drive past.  Probably a student illegally parking at RIM.  Anyway, I turned a bit right to easily avoid the car, but then I needed to swerve a tight turn left to get back into the far lane and go the right direction.

Low pedal - rear view (bike angled gently as if turning)

The problem was, on my XL Cannondale Quick4, the pedals do not have much clearance from the ground, and if you make a moderately strong turn, the natural angling of the bike will cause the inside pedal to scrape or catch on the ground, if it happens to be the low pedal at that time.  I was pedaling to gain speed and get out of that situation at the time, so I was quite shocked when the pedal hit and my whole bike rotated around it as I spun out and barely caught myself with my outer leg.  I’m hoping my brain will catch on that it always needs to keep the inside pedal high on any medium-tight turns… This part is harder than “learning to ride a bike”, as I’ve never had to worry about it before, when I used to have a bike  along time ago.

Does anyone know if it’s just me, or have you noticed the low pedal to ground clearance?  I’m certainly no expert, and maybe the bike is not really designed for a quick turn, but it still surprises me, because I love everything else about it.

D

Monday, Monday

Today (Monday) I woke up with a knife in my eye…. or so it felt.  If you’re interested, click the link, but I hope you never get to experience Recurrent Corneal Erosion.

However, I had planned to ride my bike to work today, and since it was a rare Monday when my wife could drive our youngest into daycare, I rode anyway.

Weekly summary #2 – got the kids involved!

Week will now be Monday-Sunday:

Saturday June 12
No riding. Took my 6 year old to the City of Waterloo Service Centre Open House, where we got a free cycling map, and met John Hill from the Region who was interested in improving bike routes and safety.
Sunday – Wednesday
Wife out of town. Needed to bring 2 year old to day-care near my work, every day.

Thursday

• 6.09 km to work. 14:28!!! New P.B.
• 5.14 km to Ziggy’s for bike inspection. About 15 minutes (minus stops).
• 8.83 km home. 25:19

Saturday

• 3.02 km ride with kids!. About 18 minutes of moving time.

Totals:  2 days of riding,  23k put on bike.

The best development this week was trying out the bike trailer with my 2½ year old, and with my 6¾ year old on her bike.  This is what it’s all about, this is why I entered this contest – I want to get my kids “out there”.

We rode a bike path past the little patch of forest, around the new school under construction, and to a playground by a RIM park baseball diamond.  They whined at first that they didn’t want to go, but of course after we got going, they had fun and were happy about it

First ride with both daughters