Half Baked Bike Commute

Bike Commute #22 started out like every other ride to work, leaving the house at 5:30 AM, I couldn't see nautical twilight as I pedaled out of the Housatonic River Valley towards the center of town, that's how dark it was this morning.  I met up with the Newtown LunArtics for a little ride along down Route 302.

Dawn Patrol with the Newtown LunArtics from Mark on Vimeo.

Gabby's selfie actually came out with me in the background!  The reflection from his blinky really makes things look eerie!

Photo Credit:  Gavin Arneth

After I left the guys on Hattertown Road I took my usual route down to Norwalk via Newtown Turnpike.  In Wilton, after passing my childhood home, I stopped to chat with the new owner of Whitney Darrow's home.  Whitney was a famous cartoonist for the New Yorker Magazine who died in 1999.  All I remember of him is trick or treating his place for Holloween,  The new owner seemed to know few of his neighbors so there wasn't much catch up there.

 

I got down to the office early and it was an awesome day.  At noon, the office complex had a big BBQ for all the tenets and the food was awesome.  Then I was heads down, working on various things, when at 4 o'clock I looked up and out across the office floor to the windows and saw it was dark outside and pouring rain.  Quite a few people knew I had ridden in that day and asked what I was going to do.  I said what choice do I have, got to ride home.  

The one think I did notice on the radar was that it wasn't raining at home but then a colleague of mine, with a pickup truck offered me a ride home which I accepted.  Wouldn't you know, 10 miles north of the office it's bone dry and it never rained the rest of the evening either.  Getting home early did have a benefit, I could now replace my worn out tires on the road bike.  A couple of weeks ago I got a punture in Southbury while riding back from Ovens of France and to protect the new tube I lined the tire with a dollar bill.

Because of that dollar bill, I was able to get 2235 miles out of my Serfas SECA Survivor series tires. Not as good as the original set of Schwalbe Luganos, which I got 3200 miles out of. I had a little credit on Amazon so I purchased another set of Serfas SECA tires and these have a blue stripe in them making them kind of matchy, matchy with the Cannondale.  Well, at least they are blue.

Same Car, Different Day

After making my report on the CloseCallDatabase something jogged my memory to go back and take a look at the footage from last Tuesday's Bike commute and lo and behold it was the same car that passed way to close on Cedar Road in Wilton, CT. 

Another inattentive driver on my Bike Commute

Why all of a sudden am I having more close calls while riding to work? I have ridden this stretch all spring and summer and there were a few who passed kind of close but not to the extent to which I have seen on the last three rides?

Near miss on Rt 53 in Weston, CT from Mark on Vimeo.

Later in the video a silver Honda Element with Florida plates, passes a bit close, too.  I made another report to the CloseCallDatabase.

The car looks like a Hyundai Sonata, either grey or a dark gold, with Thule racks on top. Unfortunately, I can't get the plate from the video. I might have to try Ralph Pruitt's suggestion and mount a stick 3 feet out from my bike to show drivers how much clearance they are supposed to give me.  

Bike to Work Update: 1000 miles in 18 rides.

Today was my 18th Bike Commute and I hit my goal of a 1000 miles of riding to work! The ride in was a bit nippy in which I hit a low point of 45 degrees 10 miles into the ride.  I knew it was going to be chilly so I wore arm warmers and gloves. I have also added to my commute my helmet cam because last week I had a blue Dodge Pickup intentionally swerve at me while on Newtown Turnpike in Weston.  I got his plate, CT License 2543-CE combination ironically the car was from Newtown (Rooster Sticker on the back of the car)!  I filed a report on the CloseCall Data base, too. 

This week in Bike Commuting: More bikes in the rack

Spring seemed to have return to Southwestern Connecticut and the morning temperature was 55 degrees - that's shorts riding weather.  After being in Florida most of the past week it wasn't such a shock.  This week I was trying a a twofer, bike commuting Tuesday & Thursday in order to prepare for my upcoming Gravel Grinder, D2G2, so I needed the miles.  

Another cold bike commute

OK, perhaps not as cold as my first bike commute, in fact it was 10 degrees warmer than last week but it was still cold.  The only questionable wardrobe decision was the gloves.  My hands eventually warmed up but I was kicking myself the first hour on my decision to go with lighter gloves.

Bike Commuting Again!

My new job is located in Norwalk, CT, which approximately 35 miles from where I live. If I take back roads, the distance is more like 26 or 27 miles.  This commute will be the longest point to point, bike commute in my entire cycling life.  To shower, I had to join the office park gym which is $50 for your lifetime with a company at the office park.  With the price of gas around $2, I figure my break even on the gym is somewhere between 9 and 10 rides, based on the amount of gas that I am saving by not driving to work.