Catch Up

I haven't written in a while. That's because nothing significant has really happened to me.

Fall season has come on full storm. And by the word storm, I mean that almost literally! Tuesday and Wednesday morning I was unable to ride my bike. You see, it was raining. Now, rain doesn't bother me. Really. All I have to do to adapt is wear some clothes that I don't mind getting a little wet. But, when there's cold WIND to go along with cold RAIN, that's where we have the problem. Cold wind/rain mix bugs me because there's a risk of catching a cold and/or pneumonia. Not only that, but I've heard that hypothermia sucks and I'm not really looking to try it out myself :)

I was finally able to ride to places yesterday afternoon. I rode everywhere, including my chiropractor's appointment. He thought I was crazy when I told him I rode my bike there, but that's probably because of his location at one of the busiest intersections in town. I'd like to reiterate that I never ride on busy streets, just side streets and bike paths only :)

Today was a fun experience, too. We are on fall break at our school, but I had to report for work. I had to report at 8:00 this morning, and I wanted to ride my bike. So guess what I did? I got the bike out at 7:00 this morning! It was freezing cold, with no rain, but I got there safe and sound. Riding at sunup is so different from riding during the normal daylight hours. There's a significantly smaller amount of traffic than there is during the normal daylight hours, therefore I am not as nervous when I'm riding.

Unlubricated Bike Chains

One thing that really sucks about riding a bike everywhere is this: having to lubricate my chain at least once a week or so. And if I forget to do it, I will surely pay with a more difficult-riding bike and a noisy chain.

That happened to me today. The crazy winds from yesterday died down quite a bit, which was a big yay for me. I set off around 8:30 or so feeling confident that nothing out of the ordinary would happen to me today.

About a half-mile into my journey I heard it, the sound that almost sounded like a train moving on the tracks with the occasional bird chirping noise. And I felt it, too, as it was become difficult to pedal in my bike's 2nd and 5th gear. It dawned on me that I hadn't relubed it in about a week and half!

And so it was. I only got a 10.2 mph average because I really couldn't pedal any faster than 13 mph when I was at my best. That sucked, mainly because I was hyper and needed to get off some excess energy.

I guess the moral of today's post is this: make sure your bike chain is well-lubricated. The guy at the bike store told me that it should probably be lubed every 150 miles or so with the brand of lube that I use. If you don't lube your chain, you'll have noisy rides, it will be more difficult to shift, and you risk chain breakage in the most extreme cases.