Dan on Bike

I had to return a video to the grocery store located north and east of my house, so like any good cyclist with time to kill, I turned south. With the sun rising in the east, and a waning moon still high in the west, I headed into Lafayette.

South on US231 provides a nice wide shoulder (that I’ve mentioned before). However, today it seemed like a slalom course as I was trying dodge all of the debris. There was much broken glass, stay metal, and rocks and pebbles. Somehow I survived without a flat.

I turned east on 500S and then north on 100E – aka Ninth street.

Ninth is a pretty good place to ride. It is a straight thoroughfare with some wide sections and several stop lights to keep the traffic under control. Plus, it wasn’t very crowded on a Sunday morning at 9:45. All of the Christians were already in church, and most of the heathens still in bed.

The street passes by many great neighborhoods and landmarks, including Old Farm Road, Twychenham Estates (my old neighborhood), Central Catholic High School, the Lafayette Country Club, Highland Park, Historic Ninth Street Hill, downtown, Centennial Neighborhood, old Jeff High School (now a Senior apartment complex), and the County Jail before becoming North Ninth Street Road leading to Battleground.

There are only a few choices for crossing the Wabash River with a bicycle, and I’ve tried all but one of them. Today, I tackled Sagamore Parkway between Duncan Road and Soldiers Home Road in West Lafayette. The route for US52, this is a road I usually avoid because of the fast traffic, many driveways, and narrow shoulders. This stretch of road solves two of those problems, since there are no drives on the bridge, and a lane wide shoulder just for me. Still, it’s pretty steep – almost the same as Happy Hollow Road.

When I got to the top, auto traffic was still light, so I continued on to the grocery store. I opted against using the cheezy bike rack at Marsh, and just leaned the bike against the Blue Rhino case.

The ride home was uneventful.

Miles Ridden: 25.3

I rode around campus again today to observe the festivities leading up to the Purdue/Notre Dame game at noon. It’s always a big deal, and the game has been sold out for several weeks.

As I reached the edge of campus, I rode past the RV park area along SR26, and there were quite a few pre-game tailgates. I continued on to the village area to see the Breakfast Clubbers. The crowd there was large and loud, but pretty well behaved. The police that had sidewalk duty seemed to be having a good time watching all of the students looking and acting stupid.

Heading north, I stopped at the Circle K for a water and then on to Cherry Lane at the top of the stadium lot. This is where the action really was. Tailgaters here have earned their place through years of attendance and early morning line ups to get the primo parking spots. I rode down the west side of the stadium to visit my co-workers manning the tailgate tent. They were too busy to chat, but it looked like everyone was having a good time.

Next, it was over to University Street to watch the Notre Dame band march to the Stadium. After about 20 minutes, they came by with their full complement – no puny pep band for the Irish. The drums pounded out a cadence (including a couple of tempo changes – pretty cool), while the band chanted enthusiastically in call and response format. I wish they would have played a song, but it was still neat to watch.

As expected, Purdue won.

Even though the streets are crowded on game days, I feel pretty safe riding around because of the slow speeds and numerous police officers directing traffic. It’s a fun day.

Miles Ridden: 10.2

Both yesterday and today were both great days for a commute. The mornings were slightly cool, and the evenings warm with a light breeze.

It’s also apparently roadkill season. In a one mile stretch of River Road I passed 4 raccoons and an opossum. Today’s route along Lindberg Road saw two more recently departed woodland creatures. It’s a little grizzly.

I was able to perform a couple of errands on Thursday, including racing down State Street hill to get to the cleaners before they closed. I love riding State in traffic!

Miles Ridden Thursday: 9.0

Miles Ridden Friday: 11.8

Another pre-dawn ride to the west. We seem to have our headlight problems solved enough to get an hour or so in.

The weather was warm this morning, and that made for a very comfortable ride.

Miles Ridden: 11.5

There’s a route I’ve been taking when I need a quick trip to the North because of a NE or NNE wind that I need to document and name. Trouble is, I don’t want to just call it the North Route. We’ll see.

Anyway, I took the (North Route) today, which starts North on 400W. I often will cut over on 450N, but today I went the extra (half) mile to 500N. After going east for a short time, I can head South on Taft Road/300W/Klondike Road.

There was an article in the paper a few months ago talking about how that road needed a major overhaul to handle the fast traffic using it. I’ve been thinking that all it needs it sidewalks for the shoppers on foot to use, and a few traffic controls (stop signs or lights, speed bumps). Instead of making yet another speedway, let’s make this one a neighborhood street. Those that want to drive fast can use McCormick Road to the east or some ignored county road to the west. In reality, they will eventually build another Creasy Lane where the traffic goes way too fast for any traffic other than motorized to get around.

Anyway, I used Drury Lane to cut from Klondike Road to SR26, skipping a few thousand feet of state highway. About halfway into the subdivison, I came upon a man standing by him mailbox look intently at his neighbor’s yard across the street. His dog was 2/3 the way across the street looking just as serious about whatever they were watching. (It could have been the turkey said to live in the trees in this area.) I was just 10 feet from them when I noticed the thin cable of the retractable leash across the road at about 2 or 3 feet in the air. I executed a flawless turn around the dog to the right to miss the cable.

SR26, Sharon Chapel Road, and Newman Road take me back to Division Road and home.

Miles Ridden: 13.7

World Carfree Day is observed every September 22. This is the first year I’ve heard about it, so I thought I would give it a try. Plus, it could give me a chance to bump up my sorely lacking number of utility rides this year.

My family was surprised, and a little annoyed, when I answered requests for rides with “not on Saturday, it’s World Carfree Day”. My daughter had the best response with “Really?”, in an amazingly sarcastic tone.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to leave the Saturn in the driveway and bike on my errands. I hooked a couple of panniers onto the trusty Trek 820 and set out for the grocery store.

(Actually, the 820 is not entirely trustworthy. Mainly because of my lack of maintenance, it is having progressively worse transmission issues with weird pops and tings, and the the occasional gear slippage on hills (when I’m standing and don’t need to be caught on a strong down stroke when the chain slips). Plus, it has developed a wobble in the front tire this week. I promise to take it in to the shop tomorrow.)

With my shopping list in hand, I headed north to the store to pickup food for lunch this weekend and dinner tonight. (I made an interesting spicy Italian chicken dish.) The trip was pretty uneventful, and I even found that the Payless store in West Lafayette has a bike rack. Who knew?

Bike Rack at Payless – West Lafayette
With each item I considered throwing in the cart, I had additional criteria to weigh. Along with price and healthiness, I had to decide if it would fit in my grocery bag pannier and traditional model. The bottle of wine went back on the shelf after a call home to confirm a backup, and the gallon of milk was totally out of the question if I was to squeeze in the loaf of Italian bread. It turned out that everything had a space, but there wasn’t much room for anything else.

I’ll bet that if I had to ride to the store each day for supper, I would be pretty trim in a few months.

Trip 1 was a success!

Miles Ridden: 11.2

Purdue Fire Trucks Ready for Action
For the next run after lunch, I needed to go to the drugstore to pickup photo prints that I had ordered online early. This store is just a block from the grocery store, but my timing didn’t work out. Plus, what’s wrong with an additional ride?

To be a little adventurous, I decided to try the multi-modal route. Many of the busses here have bike racks on the front, but I’ve never used one. I biked into campus and found a bus stop that was served by the required route, and waited. Over the six minute wait, at least 20 other riders showed up for the same bus.

There was already one bike on the rack, and I took the 2nd spot. There were only a few seats left on what I expected to be an empty Saturday run. It was handy letting the bus do the work up the hill, although the route was pretty circuitous. I pulled the cord a few blocks from the store and hopped off.

I shopped and came home without incident.

Miles Ridden: 9.0 (plus a few more on the bus)

In the interest of full disclosure, I should add that I’ll be picking up my son from a party at 10:00 tonight, as my wife has refused to go out that late. Maybe after dark it doesn’t count? 🙂

Sunrise via Cell Phone Camera
Since I had to work about an hour late tonight, I just took the direct route home.

Miles Ridden: 6.8

Riding around the other day, I was noticing the different configurations for bike lanes, turn lanes, and intersections. Which do you prefer?

1. Bike Lane Straight Through

This is a new intersection on US231 with Tapawingo/Williams in West Lafayette. The bike lane continues straight with the turn lane appearing to the right. The sign says “BEGIN RIGHT TURN LANE – YIELD TO BIKES”. Motor vehicles must cross the bike lane to turn right, and those drivers are expected to watch for cyclists.

2. Bike Lane Around the Side

This is the next light north of the previous photo, where US231 intersects with SR26 (River Road and State Street). An older intersection, it has the bike lane following along the edge all the way to the stop light. The rider must change lanes to continue straight, and runs the risk of being ‘hooked’ by a right turning car. The same “YIELD TO BIKES” sign is posted here.

3. Bike Lane Disappears

I don’t have a picture of this one, but I see it all over. The bike lane just stops before the turn lane starts. The rider has to merge into his favorite lane with no special protection – just normal traffic rules.

4. Something Else

What else have you seen? Describe it, or post a photo.

Please leave your choices and thoughts in the comments, and I’ll summarize in a later post.

The neighbor and I took a pre-dawn ride to Martell Forest – again.

Miles Ridden: 11.1

I had a little extra load today, as I was carrying a bag of dirty shirts to the cleaners and a $45 bottle of wine to give to my former boss. I probably looked like a well better dressed version of the weird guy that picks up cans and odd trash for recycling.

On the way home, I took my time. As I rolled up to the house, my son was standing in the yard waving his arms. Apparently, his ride to marching band fell through, and he was late. We rushed to school, but didn’t make in time to avoid the wrath of the evil band director. I told him not to worry about it, but he still seemed pretty bugged by the whole thing (he takes after his dad).

Miles Ridden: 8.3