Thursday, April 27

Morning:
Around 50 degrees. I had to get another picture of the jacket. You can tell that the camera can barely handle the glow - it sort of looks like I can't handle it either - I look like I'm in pain (I'm not, really. I had just finished battling the wind down Mem Drive). The camera doesn't know what to do with the blistering rays - look at my face - it looks red.

Monday, April 24

Morning:
Beautiful Spring day! about 45, raw, slight drizzle, wind, cloudy. Just beautiful! Anyway, see photo for the fruits of my weekend labors. Yes, that smart looking front tire is brand new. Check out the red stripes. I spent a good deal of Sunday wrestling with bike tires. I had to move the good front tire to the rear wheel and put the new tire on the front. My thumbs are in casts now.

Evening:
I received an interesting suggestion on my ride home. While I was crossing the Mass Ave bridge, a woman riding in the passenger seat of a white mini-van shouted to me "why don't you get on the damn f***ing pavement!". I was going to try to catch up to her to point out that I was already on the "damn f***ing" pavement, but then I figured out that what she meant to say was "the damn f***ing sidewalk!" Anway, this kind of thing doesn't really bother me - I take it as a good thing, actually, because it means that they are seeing me. Being seen, being visible is 80% of the battle when riding a bike. I've had pedestrians and drivers look directly at me seconds before stepping/driving directly into my path. My newest riding-related aquisition (a gift for my 21st birthday) goes a long way toward stacking the deck in my favor. See photo - this jacket is freakishly bright - you cannot possibly miss anyone wearing this jacket. I was wearing it at work earlier and someone begged me to remove it because it was giving her a headache. In light of that, I can only surmise that it was my jacket that promted the woman in the mini-van to make her crude suggestion.

Friday, April 21

See photo: No, this is not some springtime tableau. This is not a petit dejeuner au printemps. This is not jonquilles avec la bicyclette. This is not a picnic. This is not Dejeuner sur l'herbe. Nope. This is a flat tire. Five minutes after I had been on the road home, my rear tire went flat. No warning. One minute I was flying along, I had just navigated the Sinkhole, and the next minute the tire was dead-flat. I had a spare tube with me, but changing a bike tire is not pleasant. It usually takes me about 10 hours to change one and the effect it has on my thumbs is very unpleasant. Changing a bike tire requires super-human thumb strength. At the end of a tire changing session, my thumbs are usually black as coal and all the layers of skin except one have been rubbed off. So I walked the bike home.

Wednesday, April 19

Morning:
Nice gray, overcast and slightly nippy morning. Nice blast of wind coming over the Mass Ave bridge. Nice dead birds on Mem Drive. See photos for more proof that Mem Drive is hazardous to our avian friends. This particular fellow is either a) dead , or b) has been forced into a life of bipedalism. No way to tell, really, since there is no body in sight - just the two wings. This startling sight is at the Sinkhole outbound, right near Betty, the canoe.

Thursday, April 13

Morning:

Very nice out, 50s, light drizzle. As you can see in the photo, Betty has been launched for the season.

Evening:

Still very nice, although overcast and spitting rain a little. But does it matter any more? No. The temperature is nice, it's still light when I leave work (rode the Grater of course), so I have nothing to complain about. Photo is of Mass Ave bridge - it gets like this when there's a game - gets backed up to at least half way across.

Tuesday, April 11

Morning:
Winter Is Over - the Hanes t-shirt is the proof! 56 degrees on the morning ride - it's going to reach 65. Plenty of traffic and chaos due to opening day at Fenway.

Monday, April 10

Morning:
We are definitely out of the woods. April 15th is this Saturday, the marathon is Monday, and I know that we will not see any more snow. Just look at this morning - brilliant skies, not a cloud.

Friday, April 7

Morning:
I haven't had a photo of Like A Virgin for a while, so here it is in all it's ugly, terrifying glory. Pretty good ride this morning, quick, no issues.

Evening:
A torrential downpour began just in time for the evening commute. Here's another photo of Like a Virgin in all its rain-soaked glory.

Thursday, April 6

Morning:
Check out the picture of Kenmore this morning vs Kenmore yesterday morning. Quite a difference although the temperature today was only 3 degrees higher at 38 than yesterday. Fast ride, minimal crap.


Evening:
Took Memorial Drive out to MicroCenter to buy some computer headaches. Still cold, seems the wind has kicked up a bit more. Red, wind-chaffed hands on the handlebars, cursing at the headwind. The sidewalk on the part of Memorial Drive close to MicroCenter/Trader Joe's degenerates into something akin to a dirt road (see exhibit B). My fine, crud-encrusted Italian touring bike is now forced into mountain bike-like service. I rarely ride the sidewalks, but this stretch of Mem is too ridiculous to do otherwise.

Wednesday, April 5

Morning:
As Stanley, the janitor at my work, says "It's New England, what do you expect?". I don't know, Stanley, but I don't expect 35 degrees and snow on April 5. So the black mask and gloves are back on, as is the scowl of misery. My pipe insulation rear fender failed to keep me dry and even my socks got wet.












Evening:
Snow in April? Who cares.

Tuesday, April 4

Well, I just couldn't do it today. The forecast was for rain, and after almost two years of this, my rain pants are held together with duct tape and they leak. I didn't feel like sitting around in damp pants all day, so I took the T.
Friends, what a delight it was. I was able to read a book. I didn't have to watch the road, or watch any pedestrians, or watch out for opening car doors, or watch for potholes or dead birds, or broken glass, or any slick or sandy parts of the road.

Monday, April 3

The morning ride was insanely quick - I don't think I hit one single light. No time for photos, no time for griping, complaining or whining.

The evening ride was a different story. Cold, windy, 45 degrees, raw, spitting rain. One bright spot, though - the State Troopers were on the Cheese Grater pulling people over for speeding. This warms my heart because NOBODY is doing the speed limit on Memorial Drive, and that's not good for us cry-cyclists. In fact, there isn't much that's good for cyclists in Boston. When I saw the cops, I stopped and waited to see if they'd snag anybody. I hadn't been waiting 30 seconds before they pulled over the white car in the photo. You can see the officer returning to the white car to give the driver a ticket. In the vernacular of our youth, "Psych!".

Wednesday, March 29

Morning:
Another beautiful morning, cloudless sky, about 45 degrees. So I was crossing the Mass Ave bridge and got behind this well-dressed cyclist - don't know if you can see it in the photo but she's wearing heels. I thought that at the end of the bridge she would definitely keep on going down Mass Ave, but imagine my surprise when she turned right on to Memorial Drive (2nd photo)! Well dressed and courageous! The warmer weather is bringing out more riders, which is a very good thing - strength in numbers, etc. I definitley get a boost riding with other people.


Evening:
Beautiful evening - great ride - nice on the fly view of The Dragon - it was practically empty.

Tuesday, March 28

Morning:
Another great, sunny morning. Temp in the mid-40s. Nothing to report. The ride happened. It was over. I was at work. Hmmm....maybe things are going to get boring now that it seems winter is over and I have nothing to complain about. Photo is of the Mem Drive outcrop on the fly.


Evening:
46 degrees, a little windy which put a bite in the air. The mask, as you can see, has been retired. Too bad, though, because NO bicycle helmet looks cool, and the mask ameliorated the dorky look just a little. Anyway, next photos is at the beginning of Mass Ave bridge. I got this on the fly as I took advantage of the Mass Ave red light. Next is the bike rack at Trader Joe's. They have the screwiest bike rack around. It's all bent to hell and jammed up against the wall. Makes parking it a little chaotic.

Monday, March 27

Morning:
Finally. A beautiful and glorious morning. Temp in the 40s, blazing sun and not a cloud in the sky. I had several very close calls on the way in, but nothing could ruin the mood that the sun has put me in. No mask, no gloves, just a t-shirt and a windbreaker. March, you're a gonner.

Evening:
So, on the ride home I found myself right behind the guy who I wrote about last Thursday night, right at the very same spot as last Thursday. Friends, I was presented with another opportunity to triumph. This time, however, I took the the Mem Drive outcrop. I caught up to Old Yellow (see photo) about mid-way through the outcrop and tailed him until he bailed for the sidewalk at Ames St. I took the Grater, of course.

Friday, March 24

Morning:
Temp in the 40s, overcast. Probably one of the best rides I've had - I blew through Kenmore, went through all of the lights. I didn't stop until the Mem Drive outcrop where the headwind picked up a little and my thighs started to burn. Didn't even stop for a photo.

Evening:
Friends, I must apologize for the lack of pictures. It was just one of those days. It came, it went. Next thing I knew I was home from Mars, and Friday, March 24 was an hour and ten minutes away from the history books. The ride home was good - same route as last Friday - Cambridge to Allston.. Then home to some Vietnamese take-out. I hear that next week is going to bring nicer weather. I suppose that I should be glad of that after all of my complaining. But I will be loath to part with the black face mask. It's light enough, though, that I might continue to wear it. In fact, I'm wearing it now.

Thursday, March 23

Morning:
Temp around 37 - pretty good ride on the crycycle. Very fast ride, but tons of speeding traffic on Mem Drive. Glad the sun is out. Check out the dude in the photo - I came up behind him in The Dragon and blew past him - but as I went by, I saw that he was wearing a full-face Shoei motorcycle helmet. Preposterous! I had to stop and wait till he passed by so I could snap a pic.

Evening:
Great ride on the crycycle tonight. I ruled the Cheese Grater. With the promise of Spring in the air, I put aside my childish fears of being doored and blazed the Grater! I have to admit to being goaded into it by my competitive spirit. A fellow crycyclist just behind me outdid me at the Sinkhole by taking the Outcrop, while I chose my usual route. Right at the confluence of the two routes I found that he was ahead of me! Not Happening! I put a little pep in my step and caught up to him just as he was bailing to the sidewalk at Wadsworth Street for his trip up Mem Drive. The sidewalk?!! Not me, not Uneasy Rider - tonight it's the Cheese Grater. Well, gentle readers, I blazed. I left him in his sidewalk-riding dust. At the end of the Victory Ride section of the Grater I even caught the Mass Ave walk sign which meant my momentum went unchecked till I hit the lights at Beacon St. Anyway, any good part of a ride is always ultimately spoiled by the unavoidable, and in tonight's spotlight is what I call "Hammer Time" (see photo). This is at the outlet of the Dragon, crossing Comm Ave to Beacon - the roadway becomes so rough for about 75 yards that you've got to either post on your cranks, or suffer the 4,000 blows to a rather sensitive area. The reward for all this courage and fortitude?

Wednesday, March 22

Morning:
Ah, it was OK, I guess. Around 35 degrees, overcast. Fast ride. The photo is on Mem drive right after crossing under Longfellow. The canoe lives permanently at this dock. You can't see it in the photo, but the bow is stenciled with "BETTY" in big, black letters.


Evening:
Until the weather improves I'm going to drop 'bicycle' and adopt 'cry-cycle'. So anyway, the crycycle ride home was cold and gray - gray because a bunch of clouds have moved into the area and are expected to stay for a few days. We might even be treated to some snow showers Thursday. Photo is of a bridge in a city called Boston, in a province of Siberia.

Tuesday, March 21

Morning:
I'd say Spring is really on its way! It was about 32 this morning. Still windy. Great ride though. I did Kenmore in about 4.5 seconds. Photo is of the sign that welcomes you to the Land Blvd smack-down.


Evening:
Decidedly better. Temp in the mid-40s. Nothing of note to report. Photo is of the view as I exit my place of employment. It's a small company located, as you can see, on Mars.

Monday, March 20

Morning:
Jeez, what is it with this March? What is it with the first day of Spring? It was 26 degrees this morning with a biting NW wind!! Unbelievable. By far the coldest ride of the whole year. The only photo I had time for was this standard issue Mass Ave/Comm Ave. Too cold to stop.



Evening:
Better than the morning by far. The bridge wasn't so bad as the wind was a little to my back instead of this morning's aero-dermabrasion experience. First photo is of the grand entrance, the foyer, if you will, of Kenmore (I think they call this Charlesgate East?). Here you get just a little taste of what lies ahead. Second photo is more evidence that Lights Out is now Lights On. Why, in the dead of winter, you couldn't see a thing during this part of the commute. Now look. Just in time for daylight savings! And finally, the reward for those who brave the cold winds: this martini is made 3:1 gin/vermouth with bitters and 3 olives. Let the winds blow, I say.