I rode to work all five days this week. My new year of riding didn’t start out too well. I got five miles from home Monday morning and flatted on the rear tire. There’s nothing more fun than fixing a flat on a January morning in the dark.

I didn’t find anything in the tire, replaced the tube and rode on to work. I got there two minutes before starting time. The tire stayed up all day, but when I started for home, it went down again, slowly this time. I pumped it up three times to get home, got the tire off in better light at home, and found a sliver of glass.

I bought a new tool box for work last week, and and have been wanting to drive to work to haul it in, but with next week’s dire forecasts, I figured I’d better ride while I can.

Commute route

This morning, for the 170th time this year, I rode to work. It was a chilly 26 degrees on that ride to work. On the ride home, just after turning south onto Crowley Road from Sycamore School Road, I reached my 2010 riding mileage goal, 7,500 miles. 4,768 of those miles were from commuting to work.

It became the first year of my adult life that I rode more miles on bicycles than I drove in motor vehicles. It’s a trend I want to continue.

I love my Bebop pedals. It seems unlikely that I’ll ever use anything else. And Bebop pedals are durable. I’ve used them for over five years and never had to replace a single set.

But, with Bebops, all the moving parts are in the cleats. And they do wear. They eventually get to where they won’t stay clipped in. A straight pull away from the pedal will unclip them. And it’s 50 bucks a pair to replace them!

The cleats use spring loaded dogs, front and rear, to clip into the pedals. It turns out, these springs fatigue, and that’s what makes them stop holding. You can take a screwdriver, put it against the cleat dogs from outside, and push hard enough against the dogs to bend the springs, opposite of the direction they usually bend, and the cleat will work perfectly again.

I ran across that technique in this old forum thread. I had a cleat on my commuting sandals stop holding this week, so I tried out that technique today, and the cleat is now working perfectly again. I don’t know how long it will last, but as expensive as those cleats are, it seems well worthwhile. I’m glad I saved the last pair of Bebop cleats I replaced.

I rode to work all five days again this week. I have ridden to work my last 21 work days. It was a windy week, especially tough riding home Wednesday evening against a 30 mph south wind, then turning around and riding to work Thursday morning against a 25 mph north wind.

I stopped by the Fort Worth Bicycles Inc on the way home Thursday to pick up some bar tape. With City Cyclist closed, Bicycles Inc is now the closest shop to my commute route, a little over a mile west of it. It’s not a very recumbent friendly place, but they do keep the place well stocked with bicycle parts.

I finally finished rigging the XStream today and did my first ride on it this afternoon. I rode 11.8 miles. I would have ridden further if the right bottom bracket bearing hadn’t migrated south for the winter. I’m used to seeing q-rings wobble up and down as I ride, but seeing them wobble back and forth was a bit disconcerting.

The XStream looks a bit different than when it arrived.

It followed me home from Greg’s place.

I rode to work all three work days this week. We’re not having our Thanksgiving feast until early this afternoon, so I wanted to get in a few miles this morning before the cold front and rain arrived. It was 70 degrees when I let the dogs out at 6:00 am. weather.com showed the front getting here at 8:00 and the rain around 10:00, so I figured I’d just leave at 7:00 and ride north until I met the front, then ride back with it.

Of course, the front came in shortly after 6:00, and by the time I opened the garage door to leave at 7:00, it was 48 degrees. The temperature had fallen 22 degrees in one hour. By the time I had ridden 6 miles, a steady light rain was falling. I settled for 26 miles. By the time I got back home, it was 41 degrees. So much for the shorts and short sleeves I wore to ride all week.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I rode to work four days this week. Thursday and Friday became the first two days this fall that I put the handlebar mitts on the Stratus XP.

This morning, I took off from home, exploring to find a way from home to the Trinity Trail. I had laid out the route in bikely, but you never know about roads and paths on google maps until you ride them. I took an old commute route the first miles north, then at around eleven and a half miles, I hit a MUP in Foster Park that took me on to the Trinity Trail. I rode it west, got on Bellaire and rode out to the next trail, and on to Benbrook, then back.

There were too many trail zombies for me to ever make a regular route out of this, but it was fun, different from what I usually ride, and it showed me how to get to Trinity. I ended up with 51.1 miles.

Crowley to Trinity Trail route

I rode to work all 5 days this week. Yesterday’s ride was my 135th ride to work this year.

This morning, I rode to the start and did the FWBA Muddy Doggy Stinky club ride, which started just 7 miles from me in Burleson. It was a small turnout, only 20 riders or so. I guess most club members were at Leakey or other rides. I did most of the ride with the lead group of 12 riders. I fell a bit behind on the rise coming into Alvarado, and watched the group miss the turn at Sparks Street. I made the turn, stayed on the route, and never saw the group again. I ended up with 64.6 miles at a 17.7 mph average.

You can see on the route image below where we got some bonus miles after having to turn around for a closed bridge.

FWBA Muddy Doggy Stinky route

I rode to work every day this week except Tuesday, when I had an appointment with my regular doctor for my 4,000 mile (six month) checkup. Yesterday morning, I was blocked by a train that stopped at a Sycamore School Road crossing. It was still stopped 15 minutes later, when I turned around and took an alternate route, down Crowley Road and then Altamesa Road. I can’t seem to get anywhere for trains these days. That’s the first time I’ve been held up on Sycamore School Road in the morning.