Rain. 30% chance predicted all day, every hour. In other words, the weather dudes have no idea what’s going to happen. I’ve been locking my bike up downstairs for a couple days now, and it seems to work okay. They’d have to get through the door and saw through the stair railing to get the bikes. I may devise a way to tuck them more under the stairwell and hide them, if someone moves into the first floor unit, but until then, only us and Jose on 2 uses that exit (the other 6 units have the back-back stairwell, we have the back-side one).
I found out I broke my chain guard! It’s plastic, so no big shocker that it broke. But still. I called up the shop to ask about it and danger and what not and he told me it was superficial and that he took his off to save weight. I agree, it’s not a big deal, since I’ve clocked about 8 miles since I noticed it, and it doesn’t affect my biking at all. Still, I’m keeping it on to keep oil off my pant legs (too late, alas, I have a stain today). I also took the time to install a new rear light on my bike, but I’m keeping my clip-on, since I can attach that to my bag or helmet, which is higher up and probably easier for the drivers to notice.
Today was puff ball day. The weather in Chicago has been very odd, at 10 to 20 degrees below normal. I don’t have AC right now, so I’m not exactly fussed about it. The chance of rain, this morning, was 30% all day. By the time I got to work, it was up to 70% this afternoon, which all but promised I was going to get wet. Still, in this momentary lack of rain, the puff balls are out in force, piling up along side the road like snow drifts. I don’t know what they actually are called, but they coat the sky and ground, floating around like lost aliens. Of all the things that make my non-allergies act up, these are not on the list, so my only concern with the things is that I get about a dozen in my bag while waiting for the train.
There was no convenient rally station for me to hit up today, but I wished my fellow pedalists a happy Bike to Work Week! as I zipped around. I almost got doored, when someone kicked her door open without looking, but my fast reactions and a subdued ‘Ack!’ from me saved everyone the trouble of a 6:30am 911 call. “Hi, I creamed a bicyclist with my door…” Yesterday I was given an issue of Momentum, which was too world-wide to be of great use for me, except in the back there were ads for the kind of bicycle clothing I want to wear. Regular clothes! In fact, they had a whole blog post about post plastic clothing. Huzzah!
The two cycle shops I advocate, Rapid Transit Cycles and the ‘only 4 blocks from my office’ Kozy’s Cyclery, carry some of the gear, but I’ve found Kozy’s to be more about the whole zippy biking culture (gortex, spandex, and other words that end in ex). Mostly I use them for lights and pumps and my bike gloves. When I want to get gear (like a new helmet or something I’m particular about or need advice on), I go to RTC. This means when it comes time to gear up for cold weather, I’ll be headed down there for winter gloves, a merino wool underlayer, and some pants.
For now, though, I’m concerned with locks. Our bikes are locked up under the stairs, but really what I want is something metal to hook them up to. I’ve yet to sort it out, but it started me on the adventure of learning about locks. We have two mid-sized Kryptonite U-Locks (keys registered) and tote them everywhere. I strap mine to my luggage rack, but rarely use it, since I can tuck my bike under my desk at work where it is safe and sound. I saw the Bordo Granit X-Plus (by ABUS) and it really interests me, though I probably won’t buy one unless my brother ends up leaving a bike with us while he’s away from school.
My parking woes are nothing compared with the Parking Meter Debacle in Chicago, and coincidentally, I’ve lost the ability to chain up the bike to meters all around the city. The guy down at theexpiredmeter.com tells is all way better than I could, but the part that I (we?) care about is that they’re replacing the meters (thick metal base, fat metal head, well firmly bolted to the ground, one per car) with ‘Pay to Park’ boxes (one fat, square box for 10 to 20 cars). 36,000 parking meters have been (or will be) removed. That’s 36,000 bike parking spots (more if you bike with a buddy and chain up together).
I know that the meters weren’t meant for bikes, but Mayor Daley’s always been a big bike advocate (he wants to bring over the rental system from France, which I think would be awesome). Among all the other changes wrought from the parking meter debacle, this is the one that surprised me. We’re paying more for parking, so people want to bike or walk more, but there’s no where to park the bike safely. Oh, and don’t ever chain your bikes to road signs. The metal used for stop signs and bus stops and such are really easy to cut through. Not secure at all.
The title of this post also comes from Overheard in New York:
Credit: Overheard in New York