Beware the Ides of March

This morning had me itching to get on the bike since it's been warming up here and I haven't ridden to work for a few weeks. In my excitement I didn't bother to check the calendar. I doubt Julius Caesar realized he was halfway through March, either.

A soothsayer's warning had even come to me over the weekend as I cracked open the latest edition of Adventure Cyclist magazine:

Nevertheless, I wasn't the least bit concerned with applying too much front break or going over the handlebars this morning. I mainly focused on spotting areas of refreeze since I had recently swapped out the studded tires in favor of normal tread. Perhaps this distraction, or my blinding ambition to get to work as quickly as possible, kept me from exercising proper braking form.

To be honest, I don't know what caused me to fly over the handlebars, but it was likely more than neglecting to lock my elbows. All I remember is riding upright one second, and being catapulted face-first to the ground the next.

As I shook off the confusion, I sensed a looming threat: my bicycle, a trusted traveling companion, hovered above me ready to strike, moved to act by gravitational force. I didn't even have time to muster an "Et tu, Brute?" before it came crashing down on my back and sent me crumpling to the ground.

Thankfully, nothing was seriously injured on me or the bike and I got back in the saddle and completed my commute, which is more than Julius Caesar can say.

Will it ever stop? Snow? I don't know...

But I will be excited when it does stop. I will also be very excited when le weekend no longer means spending a day in the office and only one day at home.

I've always fancied myself a youthful looking chap, but after six busy seasons, I'm finally starting to look my age. I got home last night and tried rubbing the exhaustion out of my eyes, but all I saw was a tired old man with dark circles under his eyes staring back at me in the mirror.

As you can imagine, the "counting" to "cyling" ratio has been extremely high for the first two months of 2011. Even though I started off the busy season with a client downtown, I only logged three bike commutes in January. I was out of town for 2 1/2 weeks in February and only added one in that month. But after November's lack of bicycle commutes, the current streak sits at three straight months, and if a we get some decent snow melt, there's no reason to think I can't keep it going in March.

Wanna know what it's like to snow-bike in Minneapolis? Check it out, you'll even see some of my south Minneapolis haunts. Enjoy the illegible winter biking tips, brought to you Star Wars style at the at end!

If I Had Done It, Here's How

Remember when I promised this write-up during the account of my first RAGBRAI experience?

Probably not, so go back and refresh your memory (see part I and part II)

In any event, I wanted to figure out how successful I would have been had I needed to slap together some make-shift fenders to keep myself free of road grease and debris.

I grabbed the supplies I had accumulated and set to work.

I found it quite easy to cut-out fender patterns from the empty 24 pack, and using the scissors I had snatched from my friend's place, I was able to trim them to size. In no time at all, I had both the front and rear fenders in place:

Front Fender

Rear Fender

While the rear fender easily held itself connected to the rack via zip ties, I found the real challenge was fashioning front stays to give the fender some support. I found some small twigs and snapped them to size to gain some clearance between the tire and front fender, and the bread ties connected the sticks to the front eyelet. I punched the other end of the twig through the cardboard fender, and voila:

I tweaked the fit after a quick spin around the block, and once I was confident everything was secure, I really put the fenders to the test. It rained the day before so puddles abounded. I spent 10 minutes sloshing through every body of water I could find in south Minneapolis to see how well they would hold up. The gleaming white t-shirt I wore remained completely unspoiled, and the fenders were a little damp, but still held their form.

Altogether, it took me right at one hour from start to finish. Although it was a fun project, I hope I don't have to do this for RAGBRAI 2011. Speaking of which, the route gets announced this month, who's riding with me this year?

100th Blog Post - Busy Season Soundtrack Gadget

Note: If you're viewing this post in Facebook, the Gadget probably won't work. You'll want to go straight to the blog to check it out:
cyclingpublicaccountant.blogspot.com


If my footing is mathematically accurate, this marks the 100th post since hitting cyberspace in November of 2008. To celebrate, I've added a Playlist.com gadget and populated a playlist with songs that I heard on the Current (89.3 FM) last year while my client's cleaning crews made their rounds. A public accountant's "busy season" typically lasts from early January to mid to late April, with mine being no exception. Listening to the Current has been a way to finish strong during those 10-12 hour days.

For many years of my life, the music I discovered and listened to served as better mile posts to mark my life's events than did birthday celebrations, or even new school years. Every time I hear a song from Weezer's blue album I remember myself sitting in my friend Jeff's Pontiac Bonneville, trekking to Des Moines the summer after we got our driver's licenses. For me, music is an effective portal to access the memory. However, somewhere in my college years the radio faded into the background, and it wasn't until we moved to Minneapolis that I started listening again.

For your listening pleasure, I've tried my best to follow Rob Gordon's (yes, THE Rob Gordon) philosophy for building a mix-tape to compile my top five (or 13) songs from the 2010 busy season, along with a little MD&A:

1) Song Away - Hockey. Probably a one-hit wonder band, but catchy

2) Fader - The Temper Trap. I still regret not grabbing $10 tickets to see them at the Varsity

3) O.N.E. - Yeasayer. I love the bizarre video for this one (see link below)

4) Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons. These guys are good, I don't care how scraggly their beards are.

5) Strange Overtones - David Byrne & Brian Eno. That's fellow cyclist, David Byrne.

6) Flume - Bon Iver. It was the Peter Gabriel cover that I heard, but the original is better.

7) Stylo - Gorillaz. I know nothing about this band.

8) The Mystery Zone - Spoon. I was impressed by the live version, too.

9) Do-Wah-Doo - Kate Nash. Kate Nash has had a few during the years.

10) 40 Day Dream - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes. Great song and band names.

11) Shark in the Water - V Brown. Could be another one-hit wonder.

12) Dominos - The Big Pink. Misogynists perhaps?

13) Girlfriend - Phoenix. I was so impressed by this band I bought the album.

There are several versions of the Yeasayer video, but here's the one I was talking about:
O.N.E. video

Any guesses as to what will be on the 2011 soundtrack?

The Streak Is Over

"What streak," you might ask. The streak of consecutive weeks without a post?  That, too.  But I meant my streak of 24 consecutive months logging at least one bicycle commute came to a halt without me realizing it was in jeopardy.  The snow came relatively early (and often) this year, and I dragged my feet preparing the winter bike.  So I guess I can empathize with old Graybeard, but at least I'll have the chance to start another one which is more than Fahv-ruh can say.

So here are the stats to bring the weekly summary up to speed:

Week 105 (Nov 22-26)
Mon-Tues: Carpool
Wed - Friday: No commute, Thanksgiving break

Week 106 (Nov 29-Dec 3)
Mon - Tues: Walk (in training in St. Louis)
Wed - Friday: Carpool

Week 107 (Dec 6 - 10)
Mon - Friday: Carpool

Week 108 (Dec 13 - 17)
Mon - Wed: Carpool
Thurs - Bicycle
Friday - Carpool

Week 109 (Dec 20 - 24)
Mon - Tues: Car
Wed - Friday: No Commute, Christmas break

Week 110 (Dec 27 - 31)
Mon - Friday: Christmas break.

Hanging up the fob

November has arrived, bringing with it the first snow to the twin cities and the unofficial beginning of winter. Unfortunately, this also signals the end of the NiceRideMN bikeshare program.  The bikes were pulled from the streets on November 7, but the program is calling the inaugural year a success as it surpassed its initial goal of 100,000 rides:

NiceRide Year End Statistics

I would be very interested to know how their financial results stack up to their goals.  Some quick math shows me their program revenues from subscriptions were about $225k for the year.  This seems low, but is unsurprising since the bulk of the funding likely comes from sponsors like Blue Cross Blue Shield.  In any event, I'm glad to hear that program management was pleased with the performance.

What about my own $60 membership, was it worth it?  Here are my own stats pulled from the NiceRide website:

Trips - 88
Usage time - 7 hours

Admittedly, most of the trips and hours (65 and 4, respectively) were logged doing the Nice Ride 65 Challenge, leaving 23 trips for the remainder of the season.  Many of those trips saved me from having to park in the heart of downtown, or even catch the bus or light rail back home, even though I had to walk a mile or so from the closest bikeshare station.  Using a conservative estimate, the bikeshare probably saved four downtown parks, and four one-way transit fares:

Parking - $6 x 4 parks = $24
Transit Fare - $2.25 x 4 = $9

Adding to those tangible benefits, I also received a t-shirt, which I'll call a $5 value, plus a coupon book that saved me $23 (two bike shop coupons for $10 each, plus a Lucia's coupon that scored me a free breakfast item).

My riding certainly wasn't as prolific as this guy, but these items got me pretty close to break even, so I would say the membership was worth it:

$ 60  - initial outlay
($56) - total savings ($33 park/transit, $23 in coupons)
 $ 4 net cost

Does this mean I'm also hanging up my cycling habit for the winter?  Hardly, though I have been searching for bicycle storage options, which could potentially result in hanging up some bikes in the new garage.  What it does mean, though, is that I'll be transitioning from the Long Haul Trucker to a winter steed with studded tires to brave the ice and snow. I hope I get my gear in shape soon so the last four weeks aren't indicative of the next four weeks:

Summary
Week 101 (October 25 - 29)
Mon - Thurs - Car
Friday - Carpool

Week 102 (Nov 1 - 5)
Mon - Tues - No commute (vacation)

Week 103 (Nov 8 - 12)
Mon - Thurs - Car
Friday - Carpool

Week 104 (Nov 15 - 19)
Monday - Carpool
Tues - Friday - Car

Things I Didn't Do Over The Weekend - Ode to Joseph Heller

Of all the things I didn't do this past weekend, there are two that I feel especially compelled to share with you.

I usually plan my trips to visit family in the Des Moines area to coincide with my need for a haircut, since my hometown barber far exceeds any barber I have ever visited in every category (quality, thoroughness at trimming my crazy bristly-spiky hair, price, etc).  But this past weekend was an exception as I just wasn't able to fit everything in and get my ears lowered.

Haircuts had been on my mind ever since I noticed that Vodka Alley had gotten a mullet: 

If you've ridden through the alley at all this summer or fall, you would notice a significant change from the near canopy jungle that it had been.  The picture above clearly shows the transformation to "business up front", and if my camera phone were better quality, you would also see the "party in the back."  Maybe there were a few empty bottles the mowers didn't want to pick up, so they continued to let the vegetation run wild...

Speaking of geography along my commute, the votes are in from the quiz on my Public Art post, and there was so much disinterest in the quiz that it was hard to tally them up.  My neighbor Brendan wins the participation ribbon for actually guessing (via my Facebook feed), but unfortunately he missed the mark.  The correct fill in the blank answer was "C" (There is no ladder to climb).

Back to other things I didn't do...

The wife and I were in downtown Des Moines for the Saturday farmers' market, and didn't find any B-Cycle stations to check out.  Because I didn't see any stations, I wondered if the bikeshare pilot program had ended.  Sure enough, after a quick scan of the website's map, the stations were all in locations where we hadn't looked.  Sadly, this wasn't the first time that I had visited a city without trying out its bikeshare.  My visit to Washington, DC in the fall of 2008 claims that distinction, unless you count cities that don't even have bikeshare programs.  If that's the case, I actually didn't ride the bikeshare in Des Moines well before not riding the bikeshare in DC.

Interested in having a B-Cycle station in your city that you can not ride on the weekend, too?  Go to the website and vote:

B-Cycle

What didn't you do this weekend?

Summary
Week 98
Monday - Car (AM & PM Carpool)
Tuesday - Bicycle
Wednesday - Car
Thurs & Fri - Bicycle

Week 99
Monday - Car (AM & PM Carpool)
Tuesday - Friday - Bicycle

Week 100
Monday-Friday - Car

Mileage
10/22/2010 - 603.1

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