Thursday, July 15, 2010

Mechanical Update

Last night, in the small amount of time between work and having to pick up my daughter from daycare, I shoved Mike into my trunk and brought him over to the good people in the service department at Revolution Cycle. I pointed out the broken spoke and gave the service guy an overview of the issues, and asked how much it might cost to give ol' Mike a tune-up. The service guy noticed a few issues with Mike that I hadn't: the crank shaft wiggles, the chain has become so loose that it's worn down the entire drive chain to the point that everything will need to be replaced, and the bike is generally dirty and loose and needs a major tune-up. This is on top of fixing the broken spoke and fixing those rear brakes that I so industriously put on all by myself - upside down. He estimated that the whole procedure would end up costing somewhere around how much I paid for the bike in the first place - in the range of $250. I wasn't willing to spend that much on a dying bike, so I asked them to fix the brakes and the broken spoke for $40 and then I'd just hope that Mike would survive til the end of the summer, when I can start walk-commuting instead of bike-commuting.

Mike was ready to pick up today after work, but I already had my daughter (who tends to keep me pretty busy) and I wasn't able to make it there today, so I'll have to pick it up tomorrow. That means I've only bike-commuted one day all week. Then I've got next week - which, by the way, is supposed to be mostly rainy again - and then I'm on vacation for two weeks. Then three weeks of work, then I'm done! Wow. Almost a year has gone by already.

I want to finish out the year with Mike, then retire him and let his creaky, used-up body rest in peace. Maybe I'll donate him to the Edmonton Bike Commuters Society, or keep him around as a beater winter bike. I don't know what I'll do. I just know that July is shaping up to be a remarkably bike-less month. Oh well. I guess there's always August.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Week 46 - Day Three: Rained Out/Mechanical Failure

Yesterday I didn't bike because of the rain. When I drove to work in the morning, I felt small pangs of guilt about leaving the bike at home as I saw a couple cyclists out braving the mild rain that was falling. Throughout the day, as the rain turned into overcast skies, I felt worse. Should I have just braved it myself? Then came the drive home: it was raining hard when I first left work, and torrential downpours came in fits and bursts. There were moments when the rain pelted my car sideways because the wind was so strong. There were moments when I could barely see beyond the hood of my car, even with my wipers going full-speed, because the rain was coming down so hard and fast. There were no cyclists out, no pedestrians. I didn't even see people waiting at bus stops. It was insane. That ride home made me feel perfectly justified in taking the car to work.

Yesterday evening, I spent some time on my bike preparing it for a bike-commute for today: I tightened the headset, filled up the tires, and lubricated the chain, as the last rainy ride washed off a lot of the lube. During this preparatory period, I noticed I had a loose spoke on the back tire. I wiggled it, and it came off - another broken spoke. That would be #7 on that rim. Out of 24 spokes. Now, I knew when I bought that bike that one comment in the reviews was "it's not a curb-jumper", and I've tried to go relatively easy on it as a result. A broken spoke here and there hasn't surprised me. But seven?? Come on!!

I'm right back to that point where I have a serious dilemma on my hands, just as I did a couple weeks ago that last time a spoke broke on me. Do I replace the spoke, as I eventually did last time? Do I refurbish the whole bike (i.e., replace the chain, replace the back rim, give it a tune-up and a thorough wash, etc.)? Do I replace the whole bike with a better, more expensive one, especially if I'm going to continue bike-commuting for the foreseeable future? Or do I give up on bike-commuting for the time being?

This dilemma is more complicated than it might seem. Starting in September, my internship will be over and my time will more flexible because I'll be exclusively working on my dissertation. Given that flexibility, I'm planning to walk-commute to school instead of bike-commuting because I no longer need the time-efficiency of the bike and I prefer walking as a form of exercise. Further, I *may* be moving to another city as soon as January 2011, and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to bike- or walk-commute wherever I end up. ALSO, I'm facing the expense of having to buy a laptop so I can work on my dissertation from a school-based office, so I'm not sure how feasible it is to buy an expensive bike and a laptop around the same time. After all, I'm still a student and a single parent, so money is always an issue.

I need to consider this more thoroughly. As much as I'd love a new bike, I don't think I can justify an expense like that at this time. Even good used bikes are not cheap. Should I repair my current bike and finish off my year of commuting with it, even if it might cost a couple hundred dollars to do that and I might not use it much anymore beyond the end of August? And what if I can bike-commute wherever I end up after I move, then shouldn't I wait and just invest in a better bike?

Any thoughts, my faithful readers?? Your input would be most helpful!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Week 46 - Day One: Rain, Rain, Go Away

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: a few clouds, 17C, no wind there; raining, 15C, 24 km/hr head/crosswinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (waterproof shell on the way home)
NOTES:

I woke up this morning and could barely keep my eyes open. They were grainy and red from a lack of sleep that accumulated over the weekend from two late nights in a row and no afternoon naps to compensate for them. Huzzah for having a social life! Jeers to the consequences!

All morning I forced myself through my morning routine as a nagging voice within me insisted that I drive instead of bike. The nagging voice was bolstered by the epic tantrums that were thrown by my over-tired daughter at every turn. I try to brush her hair - tantrum. I try to change her diaper - tantrum. I offer her some milk - tantrum. I offer her some cheese - she throws her milk on the ground, then tantrums. Come on!! All of this charming activity made us run late, and that voice in my head kept pushing me to take it easy today and just drive, right up to the last moment that I got on the bike and headed out.

During my ride home today I started regretting that decision. It rained on and off throughout the day. By the afternoon I kept taking every bathroom break as an opportunity to find a big window facing the outside world to see whether it was raining or just cloudy. It was just cloudy as of 3:00 pm, but by the time I left work at 4:00 it had started raining. Sigh. I reluctantly pulled on my waterproof shell and headed out into the wet and cold after a long, busy, tiring day. Somehow, this was easier in the winter.

I arrived home 26 minutes later, drenched and harbouring a chill deep within my bones that didn't leave my body until a hot shower scared it off three hours later. It has been raining ever since. It's supposed to rain up to 65 mm in the next 24 hours, with some crazy wind tomorrow. Methinks I will opt to drive.

I have to say, I preferred winter biking to all this rain biking. At least snow never trickled down the back of my neck and made my underwear wet!