I’ve now been off work for over a month. It looks like I’ll be off a lot longer. My orthopedic evaluation appointment isn’t until May 1st, and there will likely be surgery and rehab after that before I can return to work. I only ended up with 400 miles ridden for the month of February. It’s plainly going to be harder to get my mileage in, not commuting by bike to work all the time like I was.

It’s still too early in the year for any of the pay rides I do, and I don’t much like rando riding when it’s cold, so I’ve mainly just been doing short rides from home. Rose and I have done quite a few rides on the tandem. A ride from home to, and back from, the Avoca Coffee Shop in a historic neighborhood just south of downtown Fort Worth has been a favorite route lately.

On the way back, Trail Lake Drive has a nice bike lane for a couple of miles. The only problem with that is that there always seem to be cars illegally parked in the bike lane. Even this google maps satellite photo shows cars illegally parked in the bike lane. That makes it pretty obvious that they park there every day.
Google Maps Satellite Photo

I took photos of three of the parked cars today, and reported the license plate numbers to the FWPD when I got home. Do you suppose that, plus posting the vehicle photos here and on facebook will make any difference in this, the most car-centric place on the planet?

As I arrived home from my ride, I once again noticed what a jungle has grown up in the lot across the street. Our HOA is picky about everyone keeping their lawns mowed, yet this lot always looks like a jungle. What’s up with that? Is the landowner on the HOA board or what? I complained about this to the HOA after I got in the house. I guess I’m just in snitch mode today…

I ended up with 33.3 miles on the XStream this morning.

The Avoca Coffee Shop.

The Avoca route.

Bike lane illegally parked car #1.

Bike lane illegally parked car #2.

Bike lane illegally parked car #3.

Bike lane illegally parked cars.

The jungle lot across the street from home.

I rode to work all four days this week. My ride home today was early, just a couple of hours after my ride to work.

Funny how something as simple as an MRI can change your life. Yesterday’s results show that I have a cratered rotator cuff in my left shoulder. There are three tears, surgery is likely. My shoulder has been hurting for a couple of years, and gradually reached the point where the heavy and physical machine shop maintenance work I do had become very difficult.

My employer has maintained its no “light duty” policy, and put me on medical leave. It will likely take me a couple of months to get to see a VA orthopedic doctor, more time before the surgery, then rehab time afterwards. For the foreseeable future, my bike commuting is over.

At this point, I’m glad I ride recumbents. If I had to lean on the handlebar of an upright, I’d likely be off the bike for a while. As it is, I’ll be riding, just not commuting. Guess I’ll take the fenders off the Xstream tomorrow and install my speed wheels.

2012 days ridden to work: 22
2012 commuting mileage: 545.1

Work commute route

I rode to work all five days this week. I ended up with 542 miles in January, not a bad winter month total for me. This morning, I rode to work in shorts, a bit hard to believe for a February morning ride before daylight. I ran into a bit of drizzle for a short stretch of that ride in, but stayed dry on the ride home, glad to have gotten home before the storms.

2012 days ridden to work: 18
2012 commuting mileage: 446.3

Work commute route

I only rode to work three days this week. By the Tuesday afternoon ride home, a light rain was already falling, and I settled for driving to work the next two days as the heavy rain caused flooding. I rode to work today and fought a stout south wind on the ride home.

Last Sunday, Rose and I climbed onto the tandem for the first time in over two years, and rode just over 19 miles. I’m hoping to do a lot more miles on the tandem once my work commuting days are done.

2012 days ridden to work: 13
2012 commuting mileage: 323.8

Work commute route

I rode the Venus to Elm Mott 200k today. It’s an out and back route that’s not too terrible on hills. I figure since I hadn’t ridden a 200k since last fall, it would be a easy route to try.

But is wasn’t that easy. The wind was brutal. It was a good turnout. I rode with the last group for a while, but they kept stopping too much to suit me, so I rode on ahead, and caught Mark M and Michelle at a control, and took off with them. I stayed with them quite a while, but when they decided to ratchet up the pace, they were long gone, and I finished alone. I ended up with 127.8 miles and finished in 9:30.

Venus to Elm Mott 200k route.
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Last week, I was off for the holiday on Monday, but rode to work the next four days. The weather was dry all week, but with a wide range of temperatures. It was 26 degrees as I rode to work Tuesday morning and 73 degrees as I rode home Friday afternoon.

This week, I conceded Monday to the wind, rain, and cold, but rode to work the rest of the week. Yesterday morning, it was 32 degrees with a 30 mph north wind. My ride in is 12 miles straight north, so it was the toughest commute I’ve done in a while. It took me over an hour to get to work. It was barely over 40 degrees in the afternoon, and the wind was gusting close to 40 mph, but at least it was a tailwind for the ride home.

2012 days ridden to work: 8
2012 commuting mileage: 196

Work commute route

I rode to work all five days this week. It was a dark and cloudy week all week long until this afternoon. Monday and Tuesday were pretty chilly, but the south wind returned Tuesday afternoon, and it warmed up. That’s also when the rain showed up. I rode in the rain that afternoon, and both ways on Wednesday and Thursday. Fortunately, it was only a light rain for all those rides. I managed to get home before the storms hit on Wednesday.

2011 days ridden to work: 213
2011 commuting mileage: 5207.6

Work commute route.

It was a chilly week, by Texas standards. The combination of wind and rain and cold was more than I was willing to battle on Monday, and I drove to work. I rode to work the remaining four work days, and did an extra 10 miles each day.

It was 32 degrees with snow flurries and a 20 mph north wind as I rode to work Tuesday morning. I ride 12 miles pretty much straight north to work, so it was a chilly ride. It was still 32 degrees as I rode home, but at least it was a tailwind. Wednesday morning was 23 degrees, but at least the wind had quit. It was a little warmer the rest of the week, but still chilly.

This week, I passed 5,000 miles of commuting for the year.

2011 days ridden to work: 208
2011 commuting mileage: 5085.1

34.5 mile work commute plus route map.

I rode to work all five days this week. Between not riding much on the weekends and the days I took off because of bronchitis, my mileage in November wasn’t very good at all. I was on a pace to end up with less than 500 miles for the month, which would leave me more than 500 miles to ride in December to make my mileage goal for the year. That could have been challenging if the weather doesn’t cooperate. So I decided to take the long way home from work this week, adding an extra 10 miles to my ride, for a round trip total of 34.5 miles. I added the miles on quiet neighborhood roads, and on rural roads near Crowley. I did the extra miles all five days.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings were cold, just below freezing, and it was still pretty cool in the afternoons. Thursday was warmer, and this morning was in the 40’s, but it felt cooler than that with a strong north wind and heavy mist. It just got colder throughout the day, a thick fog rolled in, and it misted on and off all day. I had already decided not to do the extra miles today, but by time to ride home, the mist had quit, the roads were in good shape, so I still did the extra 10 miles.

Monday was my 200th ride to work this year.

2011 days ridden to work: 204
2011 commuting mileage: 4987.1

34.5 mile work commute plus route map.