Week 10 (January 26-31)

The combination of cold temps early in the week, exhaustion, and mechanical issues kept me from logging more than one commute. I suppose I'm at least happy I was able to get out there once though.

Monday - Car & LRT (AM carpool)
Tuesday - Car & LRT (AM carpool)
Wednesday - Car & LRT (AM carpool)
Thursday - Bicycle
Friday - LRT

Monday and Tuesday mornings both had negative temperatures, so I didn't feel up to braving it. Plus, both of them were late work nights, so by Wednesday morning my need for extra sleep trumped my desire to ride in. I was well rested for Thursday morning though, and happy to ride in without incident.

I probably would have tried to bike on Friday as well, but on my way home my front fender came off. The nut from the bolt that attaches the fender to the fork came off right at the Metrodome, so I pulled off the street by Hubert's and pushed the fender under the fork to rig a temporary mount from the front (maybe that's the way it's supposed to go anyway?) so at least it would be held on by the bolt.

This lead to a non-stop rattle for the remainder of the ride, and I constantly had my eye on it to make sure the bolt didn't fly out and send the fender crashing down again. Being inattentive to the road ahead of me likely contributed to my demise on 34th Avenue. I think I hit a rough spot in the road covered by road sludge which got me sliding a bit to my left, and when my internal camera started recording in slow-motion, I knew I'd end up on the ground.

I landed with my left arm and shoulder sprawled out, and slid down the icy street a yard or so, definitely a more forgiving surface than the pavement would have been. I had some brief pain which I worried could be shoulder damage, but after walking the bike for about a half block, I got back on and limped home. So far, there have been no delayed after effects, so hopefully I'm in the clear.

Since it was late when I got home and I was a bit disheartened by these events, I decided not to fix the fender and didn't ride on Friday. I have one week left on my downtown client, and the weather looks like it might be cooperative, so hopefully week 11 is more productive than week 10 was.