Bike Commute to work costs $39.99

Horray! i finally did it.
After almost 3 months of being injured I finaly bit the bullet and rode to work on Tues of this week.

My hip injury has been feeling a little bit better and the surrounding muscles have not been feeling too bad. There has been a constant "ache" in my hip for the last 3 months tho. I took it easy on the ride and didn't push too hard, didn't try to race the cars and put the bike in a granny gear to slowly climb the small hills on my route..I got to work just fine. I did almost see an accident about 2.5km into my ride...here is my version. (see above Photo for reference)

I pulled up to the intersection of Sandford and Cheapside (behind Fanshawe College)The light was red and i pulled up to the back of a SUV that was turning left. The light changed to green and the SUV pulled into the intersection. The traffic comming in the opposite direction was neverending and the light went back to red with the SUV (and me behind it) in the middle of the intersection. The SUV started to make the turn and get out of the intersection..A car that was at the front of the line in the opposite direction decided to not notice the red light and felt it was also a good time to turn right. This car did not stop at the red at all, just turned right without looking. The SUV blared on the horn and the pilot of the car looked to her left and seemed shocked that there was a SUV approx 1 foot from T-boning her drivers door... The SUV stopped, The car stopped, and i pulled up to the passenger side of the SUV (to get out of the MIDDLE of the intersection) The car driver did not know what to do. She put the car into reverse and started to back up!!! The lane she was trying to back up into was full right to the front of the intersection so the car at the front of the line started to Honk (or get backed into) at this point the car driver stopped backing up and threw up her hands, she was still blocking the SUV from continuing into the eastbound lane of cheapside. No one could go anywhere, i was now standing beside the SUV with nowhere to go either.. I yelled at the car driver to just GO! and pointed the direction that she should go. She reluctantly put the car in drive and proceeded along her way.. The SUV and i also finished making our left turns and everything was fine after that... I said to my self "welcome to the land of idiots" and got back into my riding groove. i guess Technically i should not have tried to turn left after the light was red but I feel in no way was this incident the result of a bike being on the road, I would have followed the SUV regardless of being on my bike or in my car. The oncoming car should have stopped at the red and then made her turn when it was clear to do so..All was well until i got to work.

I got to work in approx 35 min (my record in the summer is 19min) Rode over to my bike box (picture is from the summer Duh!)and saw that it was basically under a snowbank. My glasses started to fog up from just standing around trying to figure out how i was going to get into it. i took them off and put them on top of the snow on top of the bike box. After some foot shoveling and extra force i was able to get the door open enough to get my bike in. I quickly gathered my stuff and rushed off the the showers..I forgot to pick up my sunglasses!!! I didnt notice until I started to get my bike out of the box for the ride home. I looked up to the spot I left my glasses and noticed footprints in the snow leading up to that spot and leaving in the opposite direction. NO GLASSES!! Grrrr i was very upset with myself for forgeting to bring them inside with me.. I proceeded to ride home with no glasses while verbally abusing myself for this stupid mistake.
I bought these glasses at the Toronto Bike show last March for 60% off. $39.99 was now what i would hope to pay again at this years Bike show March 6th. Grrr i am still upset about this and had my mind set to buy somthing new for my bike this year instead of buying the same thing i got last year...
On a Good note the ache in my hip has gone away from my hip and moved itself into my head. I could not ride on Thurs. as i had planned, due to me being home in bed wishing my head didnt hurt so much..

My plan is to ride my bike on Monday , Wed, and Fri. of next week. Hopefully all will go well, i will make due with my UWO issued saftey glasses untill I can get some replacements..

It feels good to be back on the bike even if it cost me 40 bucks.

SS Out

Family Day Ride

Went for a 12km round trip ride to my grandmothers.

I took it easy and stopped once to stretch out my groin. Got to grandmas and did a few quick stretches before knocking. The ride home was about the same, maybe a bit more wind but non eventfull.

Physio seems stumped about my injury, now they think it may be a couple bulging discs in my back pressing on my leg nerves. I do have slight back pain when I wake up but it seems to go away after I walk around a bit, Anyway I have been trying to sleep on my back and it seems to be working. I guess if I ever purchase a Hennesy Hammok for any long distance touring I will have to learn to sleep on my back anyway.

I had a comment posted on my previous posting asking about the shoes in the picture.
here is the story on them....

They are Nike skate shoes that are approx 2 yrs old. They were pretty trashed and about to go into the trash. I had to ride in the rain late last fall and my feet got soaked. I spent the rest of that day trying to figure out a solution.. I did not want to shell out $$ for waterproof shoes so I thought I would make my old shoes waterproof.. I put them on then layered white duct tape onto them. I then took some of my reflective tape (DOT Reflective Saftey Tape) and cut a large red patch for the backs and a small stripe at the toe. I think that a moving reflector is much more visible then a stationary one. I look like a dork when I'm walking across the parking lot at work but I'm not too concerened about that. I have rode in the rain with them and the Tape seems to be very effective at keeping out the water and the cold. In colder temps ( below -7) my toes start to get cold my remidy to this is I have cut rectangles of Kraft paper (the stuff packages are shipped in) and I fold it over my toes and jam my foot into the shoe..It works awesome. I also doesent leave any ink stains like newspaper does.

Thats it for now. I expect to ride to work at least once this week. in the mean time I will continue stretching and iceing my leg...

SS out

1st Ride of 2010

Finally.....The bike is back in motion.
I decided to test myself today by going for an easy 5km ride. I am happy to say I did not re-injure myself, however I do still have a lingering issue. Today at physio it was decided that I may have at least 1-2 bulging discs in my lower back, this is causing the leg nerves (right leg) to become irritated and cause the Hip / Thigh / Groin / pain I have been feeling. I was given new stretches and told to keep my spine as upright as I can.. So far so good.
I did just over 5km and it felt great to be back on the bike. I tried to take it easy and not push to hard, this was harder than I thought. I wanted to go fast, flow around the corners fight the wind and pass the cars that were going slow.
I got home and promptly did 10min of stretching. My leg felt weak and the muscles felt tight. The pain went away after the stretching and I was happy. I still have some pain on my sit bone and along the muscle that attaches to it running down the inner thigh but I Think with stretching an correcting my posture I should be ok.
I will take my change of clothes and shower items to work tommorow so I am prepared at work when I do commute to work again.
The bike seemed fine and had no issues to speak of.
The weather here for the rest of the week is calling for a large amount of snow, I won't be riding while the roads are snow covered for a few reasons....

1 Traction issues with the bike and the cars on the road...

2 I am pretty sure riding in the snow is much slower than the bare road so i dont think I will get to work on time..and

Finally I really dont want to rush during my ride and hammer on the pedals too hard because I think this will re-injure myself again.

So There you have it.. I am back to riding, Wooohooo!
As soon as the snow clears off the roads again I will be out there with the rest of you riders...keep it up!
SS Out.