for tonight's run, i took both panniers, empty. it was a test mission. removing them from my rack (a.k.a. 'carrier' -- the thing over the rear wheel) was completely effortless. no struggling, now grownup mad-words. easy.
i bought:
two 1/2-gallon cartons of oj
a gallon of milk
an 8-lb bag of ice
a green pepper
a plastic thingy of clover sprouts
6 or 8 roma tomatoes (hope there's no salmonella!)
a cucumber
two lemons
a head of garlic
two gi-normous portabello mushrooms
two 1-1/2-lb loaves of 7-grain bread
and two packages of multi-grain english muffins.
i could barely lift the panniers to get them out to my bike. as i headed out the door, i was thinking, "good thing my bike has wheels." even despite the large amount of stuff i bought, and the bags' enormous weight, one of them did have room to spare, even after i'd added my kryptonite lock and my cable & padlock.
getting the panniers onto the bike was a little trickier than removing them had been, but not because of the bags; it was just a balance issue. i'd bought a huge amount of heavy stuff, and had to attach the bags one at a time. a couple of grownup mad-words were spoken, but not bad. really not bad. you would not have believed how horrific my old panniers were. i should have replaced those the instant i had a chance. can't believe i never thought to do it before.
when i got on my bike (which i still managed to do by swinging my right leg up over the back of the saddle), i realized that it had been a seriously long time since i'd carried that kind of weight on the back wheel of my bike. moving slowly was pretty dicey. that much weight over the back wheel makes the front wheel quite squirrelly. so i sped up. when you're that weighed down, you really can't change direction very quickly. (this was a colossal experiment, remember. i plan to plan better in the future. we didn't even really need ice this run -- i just wanted to see if i could get it home before it melted. i could.) saratoga headed south from ogden had a fair number of cars at first; but the drivers made plenty of room for my red & yellow glory.
i got home fine. i probably expended more effort in doing so, but i didn't notice. once i got home, i wondered whether the weight of the bags would make any difference in how they would be to remove from the bike, but i needn't have worried. the mechanism worked as well as when they were empty. no hooks snagging on spokes, clothing, the rack, or anything.
i love 'my' new panniers.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
on the fine art of bagging groceries, and a few words of groceries-by-bicycle philosophy.
one learns when one starts bringing one's own bags to the grocery store, that present-day grocery baggers are trained to bag groceries... for the present day. presently, most people say "plastic, please." in fact, at jewel, i'm not sure 'paper' is even an option. and those plastic bags are cheaper than air. way cheaper than a broken dozen eggs; cheaper even than a tomato that's had a run-in with a can of pineapple. because those bags are so cheap, grocery baggers are trained in the opposite of conservation. that's why you so often get home to find that you have several bags that contain only one item each.
in our area, there really aren't any 'bag your own groceries' stores. i moved here from the twin cities. with a couple of schmancy exceptions (marvelously schmancy, i must say -- byerly's i love your doughnuts!! lund's i love your cubed steaks!!), the twin cities are a bag-your-own kind of place, and have been for over 25 years. so bagging groceries is second nature to me. once in a while i still forget, head down to the end of the conveyor to start filling bags, then say, "oops" and look sheepish.
what i'm getting at, is that this getting the groceries into the panniers-thing might turn out to be tricky. meaning, socially awkward. i'm all for educating folks on stuff like, that some people ride their bikes to the grocery store (ok, for now it's just me, but maybe some of you guys will start, too). but that's not the point. it's not why i do it. i don't want to be all, "ooh. look how awesome and virtuous i am, and look how you totally suck for driving to the grocery store." not. i just don't feel that way. always driving to the store just bugged me, personally, because i love my bike, and i love the fact that this groovy piece of 'recreational' equipment is also excellent transportation. i've been fascinated by that fact ove bicycles ever since i was six years old -- and i didn't even get to learn to ride a bike until i was 7 or 8. what i'm getting at, is i can see a day, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, when i might just cave and let the grocery bagger person put all of my groceries in jewel bags, and then re-bagging them myself outside.
crazy, right? but you didn't see the baffled look on the bagger's face as he looked from me, to my gallon of milk, and back to me. and you didn't hear him ask, "do you want this in there, too?" of course the answer is yes, but geez. i can be a little impatient. i didn't just say, "yes." i said, "i'm on my bike. it's not like i have a car."
i could have kicked myself.
because while i don't want to attract a huge amount of attention and be a complete asshole about the whole thing, i truly would like to convey the impression (to anyone who might notice me on my metallic red mountain bike with the bright yellow panniers) that the bicycle really isn't a bad way to make a grocery run. i would like to convey the impression that some grownups ride bicycles to get places and do stuff. and i would like to be one more bicycle on the roads, just a little more often. because it makes the roads safer for all cyclists. kids included.
i do not want to piss people off, or make them feel stupid.
in our area, there really aren't any 'bag your own groceries' stores. i moved here from the twin cities. with a couple of schmancy exceptions (marvelously schmancy, i must say -- byerly's i love your doughnuts!! lund's i love your cubed steaks!!), the twin cities are a bag-your-own kind of place, and have been for over 25 years. so bagging groceries is second nature to me. once in a while i still forget, head down to the end of the conveyor to start filling bags, then say, "oops" and look sheepish.
what i'm getting at, is that this getting the groceries into the panniers-thing might turn out to be tricky. meaning, socially awkward. i'm all for educating folks on stuff like, that some people ride their bikes to the grocery store (ok, for now it's just me, but maybe some of you guys will start, too). but that's not the point. it's not why i do it. i don't want to be all, "ooh. look how awesome and virtuous i am, and look how you totally suck for driving to the grocery store." not. i just don't feel that way. always driving to the store just bugged me, personally, because i love my bike, and i love the fact that this groovy piece of 'recreational' equipment is also excellent transportation. i've been fascinated by that fact ove bicycles ever since i was six years old -- and i didn't even get to learn to ride a bike until i was 7 or 8. what i'm getting at, is i can see a day, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, when i might just cave and let the grocery bagger person put all of my groceries in jewel bags, and then re-bagging them myself outside.
crazy, right? but you didn't see the baffled look on the bagger's face as he looked from me, to my gallon of milk, and back to me. and you didn't hear him ask, "do you want this in there, too?" of course the answer is yes, but geez. i can be a little impatient. i didn't just say, "yes." i said, "i'm on my bike. it's not like i have a car."
i could have kicked myself.
because while i don't want to attract a huge amount of attention and be a complete asshole about the whole thing, i truly would like to convey the impression (to anyone who might notice me on my metallic red mountain bike with the bright yellow panniers) that the bicycle really isn't a bad way to make a grocery run. i would like to convey the impression that some grownups ride bicycles to get places and do stuff. and i would like to be one more bicycle on the roads, just a little more often. because it makes the roads safer for all cyclists. kids included.
i do not want to piss people off, or make them feel stupid.
jewel at ogden and saratoga.
nice bike rack. small, but newer, and decently bolted to the pavement. it's on the west (saratoga) side of the store. which is the 'osco' end.
from downtown downers grove, cross to the north side of the tracks. saratoga is two blocks west of main st. between the tracks and franklin st. -- between franklin & ogden it's 3 blocks; head west until you get there. then go north on saratoga. at franklin st, saratoga jogs about 1/2 block west -- just follow the bike route signs. the street sign for saratoga is visible in plenty of time to make the turn. continue north to ogden.
cross at the light, and you're there. (yes! there's a light!)
the bagger at jewel was extremely confused by my panniers, my lack of a need for other bags of any kind, and did not know how to bag my stuff. this was not his fault. he asked, astutely, i thought, whether i'd ridden my bike to the store on account of the high gas prices. i told him, "no, i rode my bike because i can." he didn't really get that, so i explained, "i'm not too old, and i'm not injured -- and i can use the exercise!"
i think i was his 'story' for the day.
from downtown downers grove, cross to the north side of the tracks. saratoga is two blocks west of main st. between the tracks and franklin st. -- between franklin & ogden it's 3 blocks; head west until you get there. then go north on saratoga. at franklin st, saratoga jogs about 1/2 block west -- just follow the bike route signs. the street sign for saratoga is visible in plenty of time to make the turn. continue north to ogden.
cross at the light, and you're there. (yes! there's a light!)
the bagger at jewel was extremely confused by my panniers, my lack of a need for other bags of any kind, and did not know how to bag my stuff. this was not his fault. he asked, astutely, i thought, whether i'd ridden my bike to the store on account of the high gas prices. i told him, "no, i rode my bike because i can." he didn't really get that, so i explained, "i'm not too old, and i'm not injured -- and i can use the exercise!"
i think i was his 'story' for the day.
Monday, June 23, 2008
another great thing about bike vs. car.. !
if it's dark in the garage, or too cold, you can bring your bike into your dining room to work on it. not so feasible to bring the car into the dining room. *someone* would get annoyed for sure. and if someone gets annoyed about the bike in the dining room, you can always say, "it could be worse. i could have brought in the car!"
well, i *was* going to bike for groceries tonight..
but. my new ortlieb panniers had never yet been mounted to my bicycle. i somehow assumed that this would take but a few minutes.
i was wrong.
ok. now, it may help to know -- just to put things in perspective -- that i'm in general fairly well able to visualize how things are supposed to fit together. i can do pretty decent tech drawings, query a database, and if i ever needed to again, i could program and set the clock on my vcr. and i had that one old, crappy set of panniers for 15 years or so and knew how they went on the bike, and what about them drove me half off my nut.
so i'm not clueless. even so. ortlieb's 'instructions' are .. um .. wanting. and it was hard to find any information on the web. but i finally did. h/t to karen lipkow. the forum where i found her instructions omitted her e-mail address, so i can't thank her directly; and the date was also removed, so i don't even freaking know how *old* her post was.
anyway. the panniers have some movable parts that should be moved until they fit your rack, then tightened down so they don't move anymore. the point (*this* would have helped me, ortlieb), is to set the hooks so they are between cross-braces on the top of the rack. the hooks are not a super-tight fit (although the panniers come with some spacers that snap into the hooks to take up most of the extra space). but freakishly, the hooks don't really need to fit super tightly. this is counterintuitive; but their front-to-back placement keeps the bags from sliding forward or backward. there's also a movable, rigid plastic tab/hook thing on the bags themselves. the hooks should be set with the open sides toward the rider, so that if you brake suddenly and the bag has a bunch of stuff in it, the bottom of the bag won't swing toward you.
once these facts are known, you stil need tools. you need (for my model of pannier, but probably for all) a 3mm allen wrench; and if you need to move the female end of the threaded bit for the hook part, a thin, not-too-broad-bladed (get that?) slotted screwdriver (it seems to really want a star screwdriver -- i couldn't find one), and a wrench to hold the hex nuts on the inside of the bag. i used a small ratchet with the 12mm hex socket, which worked extremely well.
then i futzed with it, until the bags appeared to be going *nowhere*. of course, right now they're empty, and by the time i'd finished the process it was too dark to run my actual errand. grrr.
this would not have taken long at all, had i not futzed with it for a rather long time before i managed to locate karen's lovely instructions.
so shopping by bicycle will happen tomorrow. which is when i will begin training myself to make sure that the hooks are truly locked onto the bag before i start riding.
until then, we are foodless, and critically lacking orange juice. but i think i'm going to like these bags.
i was wrong.
ok. now, it may help to know -- just to put things in perspective -- that i'm in general fairly well able to visualize how things are supposed to fit together. i can do pretty decent tech drawings, query a database, and if i ever needed to again, i could program and set the clock on my vcr. and i had that one old, crappy set of panniers for 15 years or so and knew how they went on the bike, and what about them drove me half off my nut.
so i'm not clueless. even so. ortlieb's 'instructions' are .. um .. wanting. and it was hard to find any information on the web. but i finally did. h/t to karen lipkow. the forum where i found her instructions omitted her e-mail address, so i can't thank her directly; and the date was also removed, so i don't even freaking know how *old* her post was.
anyway. the panniers have some movable parts that should be moved until they fit your rack, then tightened down so they don't move anymore. the point (*this* would have helped me, ortlieb), is to set the hooks so they are between cross-braces on the top of the rack. the hooks are not a super-tight fit (although the panniers come with some spacers that snap into the hooks to take up most of the extra space). but freakishly, the hooks don't really need to fit super tightly. this is counterintuitive; but their front-to-back placement keeps the bags from sliding forward or backward. there's also a movable, rigid plastic tab/hook thing on the bags themselves. the hooks should be set with the open sides toward the rider, so that if you brake suddenly and the bag has a bunch of stuff in it, the bottom of the bag won't swing toward you.
once these facts are known, you stil need tools. you need (for my model of pannier, but probably for all) a 3mm allen wrench; and if you need to move the female end of the threaded bit for the hook part, a thin, not-too-broad-bladed (get that?) slotted screwdriver (it seems to really want a star screwdriver -- i couldn't find one), and a wrench to hold the hex nuts on the inside of the bag. i used a small ratchet with the 12mm hex socket, which worked extremely well.
then i futzed with it, until the bags appeared to be going *nowhere*. of course, right now they're empty, and by the time i'd finished the process it was too dark to run my actual errand. grrr.
this would not have taken long at all, had i not futzed with it for a rather long time before i managed to locate karen's lovely instructions.
so shopping by bicycle will happen tomorrow. which is when i will begin training myself to make sure that the hooks are truly locked onto the bag before i start riding.
until then, we are foodless, and critically lacking orange juice. but i think i'm going to like these bags.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
ow! i got something in my eye!!
so, i'm on some ride, in the middle of nowhere. on the illinois prairie path, or whatever that path is that runs into new glarus, wisconsin, or somewhere else. and i get a piece of grit in my eye. there's no pharmacy to buy eyedrops. this happens to me a lot. i have crud-catcher on my down-tube, which works quite well for preventing a lot of this. but sometimes i'm riding on a dry, windy day. and my prescription sunglasses seem designed to just funnel grit up into my eyes. i never wear contacts cycling. not sure anyone else should, either, but i wouldn't know about that because i've never tried it.
aside: carrying eyedrops with me might not be a bad idea, but it's not something i do. the quality would deteriorate in the heat even more, i fear, than that of that one chocolate/raspberry 40/30/30 bar that spent 4 seasons in my rack trunk. (yeah, i would keep eyedrops in my rack trunk for four seasons. i'm that kind of slacker.) i did ultimately eat the 40/30/30 bar; but after all that time i would never have stuck it in my eye.
ok.. back to my evil eye-grit. i'm not a health-care professional, but since i've been a cyclist for ages, i have had a bit of experience with sudden, painful, scary eye-grit. here's what i do.
i close the affected eye, but leave the other eye open so i can find a place off the path to stop as soon as possible.
then i relax.
i especially relax my eyes. it's hard, 'cause one eye hurts and i'm a little freaked out. but once i'm standing still, i take a deep breath and allow both eyes to gently close. then i stand there for a bit, allowing tears to form. the thing is, when i'm freaked out, still riding & trying not to crash, my eye with the grit just twitches, which keeps the grit moving, which just makes things worse. my eyes are really good at dealing with the grit-thing, if i'll just stop and let them. eyes fill with tears. i've even been known to think of something sad on purpose, to encourage more tears.. (but don't think of anything funny. giggling makes it worse.) either the grit gets washed out by the tears, or it will get covered with eye mucus, which also takes the edge off. which i figure is good enough to get me home, or back to the car, if i'm injured.
to date, i've never had to end a ride early 'cause of eye-grit.
but if something really bad should happen to one of my eyes on a bike-ride, i expect to do the same thing; then get to urgent care as soon as i can.
my own personal reasoning is: whether a grit-hit is serious, or just ouchy, being freaked out and letting my eye twitch away with grit under the lid can't possibly improve the situation.
aside: carrying eyedrops with me might not be a bad idea, but it's not something i do. the quality would deteriorate in the heat even more, i fear, than that of that one chocolate/raspberry 40/30/30 bar that spent 4 seasons in my rack trunk. (yeah, i would keep eyedrops in my rack trunk for four seasons. i'm that kind of slacker.) i did ultimately eat the 40/30/30 bar; but after all that time i would never have stuck it in my eye.
ok.. back to my evil eye-grit. i'm not a health-care professional, but since i've been a cyclist for ages, i have had a bit of experience with sudden, painful, scary eye-grit. here's what i do.
i close the affected eye, but leave the other eye open so i can find a place off the path to stop as soon as possible.
then i relax.
i especially relax my eyes. it's hard, 'cause one eye hurts and i'm a little freaked out. but once i'm standing still, i take a deep breath and allow both eyes to gently close. then i stand there for a bit, allowing tears to form. the thing is, when i'm freaked out, still riding & trying not to crash, my eye with the grit just twitches, which keeps the grit moving, which just makes things worse. my eyes are really good at dealing with the grit-thing, if i'll just stop and let them. eyes fill with tears. i've even been known to think of something sad on purpose, to encourage more tears.. (but don't think of anything funny. giggling makes it worse.) either the grit gets washed out by the tears, or it will get covered with eye mucus, which also takes the edge off. which i figure is good enough to get me home, or back to the car, if i'm injured.
to date, i've never had to end a ride early 'cause of eye-grit.
but if something really bad should happen to one of my eyes on a bike-ride, i expect to do the same thing; then get to urgent care as soon as i can.
my own personal reasoning is: whether a grit-hit is serious, or just ouchy, being freaked out and letting my eye twitch away with grit under the lid can't possibly improve the situation.
there's only so much to write about getting stuff done by bike, i find..
i've not exhausted the subject of nice routes for errand completion yet. i've been working weekends quite a bit, so my time for exploring & experimenting with different routes has been limited. but the day will come, probably before thanksgiving, when i'll run out of things to say about that. except for the occasional update about, i don't know... street work; and whining about the weather.
so i'll be writing about any other bikey stuff that pops into my head: near-death experiences on, and in the proximity of, my two wheels, etc.
which i've been doing anyway. but there'll likely be a fair amount of that, overall.
so i'll be writing about any other bikey stuff that pops into my head: near-death experiences on, and in the proximity of, my two wheels, etc.
which i've been doing anyway. but there'll likely be a fair amount of that, overall.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
the little rides count. (which is good. 'cause they're all i do, these days.)
there's this little loop we do. it's not very far. it's *depressingly* not very far. from home, to belmont train station in downers grove, generally to hinsdale -- either to the west hinsdale train stop, or continuing past the center of town and crossing the tracks at hinsdale hospital. to the hospital is about a 12.5 mile round trip. kramer foods, where i buy bell & evans chicken, is central - about halfway between that train station and the hospital. if i go to whole foods, it's a little farther. it's a liiiiiittle uppy-downy. which is good. i like to ride uphill.
tonight we had stuff to do at home -- so no grocery shopping -- and i was leading, so we just went to the west hinsdale train stop. (hinsdale's streets are pretty hard on the tush and internal organs, but we ride there a lot anyway. if we only go as far as the west train stop, we skip a lot of the rough stuff.)
it was totally warm out. that's part of why it was so important to me to go. the thing is, even if a ride is depressingly short, you still get something out of doing it. what i got tonight, was sweaty. this is good. i have an amazing tendency to overheat, and to trigger migraines that way. the closest thing i've found to a cure for that, is to get super acclimated to the weather, to the point where any water i drink becomes sweat immediately.
the weather has been flaky this year, but so what. i ride anyway. because the other thing about short rides, is that there's still a conditioning benefit to be had from doing them. the *very* short rides, like to the library & back, i try to do fast-ish. that's good, & fun, to try now & then. riding is always better than not riding. i have a story about how i learned this.
one summer in the early 90's, when i lived in washington state, i had the opportunity to go with a bunch of people to bike up the back of crystal mountain -- a ski mountain in the cascade range with a fairly significant elevation gain. there was only one other woman along. it was august, and she had gone off-road cycling with this same group of people every weekend all summer, but drove her car to work every day. i had never been off-road before, but biked about 7.5 miles to & from the university of washington pretty much every day. i had no technique to speak of, and struggled in the mud. one of the guys and the young woman gave me a couple of pointers*, but to little avail. the bike i had at the time just wasn't up to it. so i shouldered it and schlepped it up the mountain, figuring i'd learn a little about riding down a mountain, after i'd made it to the top.
so here's the thing. the other woman who was with us had lots more off-road experience than i did, and a way better bike, so she had the capability of riding up the mountain, which i lacked. but she didn't have enough endurance to ride more than a few yards at a time before she had to dismount. i made it to the top *far* ahead of her, carrying my bike, because those little 7.5 mileses twice a day (rain or shine, 'cause otherwise it would have been never in seattle..) had somehow given me some decent stamina, without my ever noticing it. i never had to stop and rest. that young woman knew i rode a lot just getting around. i have since wondered whether she started riding to work after that. she really did love cycling, so i'd bet yes.
*the pointers: 1. raise your saddle a bit (for ascending; lower for descending). 2. in mud, keep your butt on the saddle. scootch your butt further back if you have to, which you might. the point is to keep your weight over your back wheel for traction. then pedal hard. if you stand in the pedals, not only do you not have traction, you're top-heavy and the whole bike can go out from under you.
tonight we had stuff to do at home -- so no grocery shopping -- and i was leading, so we just went to the west hinsdale train stop. (hinsdale's streets are pretty hard on the tush and internal organs, but we ride there a lot anyway. if we only go as far as the west train stop, we skip a lot of the rough stuff.)
it was totally warm out. that's part of why it was so important to me to go. the thing is, even if a ride is depressingly short, you still get something out of doing it. what i got tonight, was sweaty. this is good. i have an amazing tendency to overheat, and to trigger migraines that way. the closest thing i've found to a cure for that, is to get super acclimated to the weather, to the point where any water i drink becomes sweat immediately.
the weather has been flaky this year, but so what. i ride anyway. because the other thing about short rides, is that there's still a conditioning benefit to be had from doing them. the *very* short rides, like to the library & back, i try to do fast-ish. that's good, & fun, to try now & then. riding is always better than not riding. i have a story about how i learned this.
one summer in the early 90's, when i lived in washington state, i had the opportunity to go with a bunch of people to bike up the back of crystal mountain -- a ski mountain in the cascade range with a fairly significant elevation gain. there was only one other woman along. it was august, and she had gone off-road cycling with this same group of people every weekend all summer, but drove her car to work every day. i had never been off-road before, but biked about 7.5 miles to & from the university of washington pretty much every day. i had no technique to speak of, and struggled in the mud. one of the guys and the young woman gave me a couple of pointers*, but to little avail. the bike i had at the time just wasn't up to it. so i shouldered it and schlepped it up the mountain, figuring i'd learn a little about riding down a mountain, after i'd made it to the top.
so here's the thing. the other woman who was with us had lots more off-road experience than i did, and a way better bike, so she had the capability of riding up the mountain, which i lacked. but she didn't have enough endurance to ride more than a few yards at a time before she had to dismount. i made it to the top *far* ahead of her, carrying my bike, because those little 7.5 mileses twice a day (rain or shine, 'cause otherwise it would have been never in seattle..) had somehow given me some decent stamina, without my ever noticing it. i never had to stop and rest. that young woman knew i rode a lot just getting around. i have since wondered whether she started riding to work after that. she really did love cycling, so i'd bet yes.
*the pointers: 1. raise your saddle a bit (for ascending; lower for descending). 2. in mud, keep your butt on the saddle. scootch your butt further back if you have to, which you might. the point is to keep your weight over your back wheel for traction. then pedal hard. if you stand in the pedals, not only do you not have traction, you're top-heavy and the whole bike can go out from under you.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
ode to the pearson's salted nut roll.
o salty-sweet nut roll
you contain no
eye-watering
taste-bud-shriveling
soy.
soy belongs in sauce.
edamame.
tofu.
how much petroleum can it take
to metamorphose soy into
powder?
or -- (tasty!) milk?!
much. too. much.
o nut roll.
precious.
gem-like.
you replace electrolytes.
you carry protein and healthy oil
and simple carbohydrates
to quickly end the bonk
and offer fuel to the engine
that spins my crank.
you are economical.
delicious.
i never tire of you.
you contain no
eye-watering
taste-bud-shriveling
soy.
soy belongs in sauce.
edamame.
tofu.
how much petroleum can it take
to metamorphose soy into
powder?
or -- (tasty!) milk?!
much. too. much.
o nut roll.
precious.
gem-like.
you replace electrolytes.
you carry protein and healthy oil
and simple carbohydrates
to quickly end the bonk
and offer fuel to the engine
that spins my crank.
you are economical.
delicious.
i never tire of you.
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