Dan on Bike

It looks like it will be a dry week, so I should get in plenty of commuting.

For the first day, I rode in a little earlier than usual, and it was pretty busy on the highway. After work, I headed to Purdue West for a haircut, changed clothes in a out of the way restroom at ‘Down Under’, rode down to the Levee to drop off my shirts at the cleaners, and then returned to Purdue West to pickup some sandwiches for family Subway night. I still got home before six.

After supper, I talked my son into a quick ride around the ‘block’ by the Fort to try out his bike. He wants to ride to friends’ houses during the day, so I wanted to make sure that his ride was ready to go.

Miles Ridden: 13.0

My wife needed something from the drug store, and I needed an excuse for a quick ride that didn’t involve going to my office, so I was Walgreens bound.

On the way, I took my normal work commute and passed this recent road work area. I don’t understand why this is done. Whenever, a new road or driveway meets the existing pavement, they cut a piece of the road out, and then have the new road come in to meet it. This ends up putting a seam in the middle of the bike lane (or bike area in this case). I hate seams. Are there any Civil Engineers reading that can explain this?

Of course, in this case they apparently cut in too far, and the new road couldn’t make it all the way in. Instead, they did a quickie patch job to fill the hole. Nice!

Miles Ridden: 11.7

I didn’t think I would be able to ride today, but the rain waited until almost noon to arrive. The ride in was quite humid and warm.

I came home on the South Work Route with a little extra jaunt around Wabash Landing in order to try out the new Tapawingo Drive extension which opened on Tuesday. It was smooth and not very crowded.

There were several incidents of unsafe passing today. I just know that one of these days, the unsafe passer is going to be surprised by the oncoming traffic and fly back to the right – slamming me into the fence row in the process. I suppose I should expect that kind of driving on Friday (everyone HAS to get their weekend started as quickly as possible), but I’ll never get used to it.

Miles Ridden: 9.1

Morning ride to Granville: 9.2 Miles
Commute to and from work: 7.0 Miles

I took the morning off, but I rode in for the afternoon. Coming home, I headed up past the stadium and through a subdivision to get to Lindberg Road. The subdivision cut through between Cherry and Lindberg is a suggested detour for the still unfinished portion of the Cattail Trail.

On Lindberg, I found that the County Highway crews had apparently mowed the grass along the road, leaving big piles of grass clippings in the ‘bike lane’. (It’s not really a bike lane, but an area to the right of the white line that varies in width from 8 inches to 2 feet – depending on the skills of the pavement machine operator and the paint guy to drive in a straight line.) I didn’t feel comfortable riding in the clippings, since I couldn’t see what was underneath. There could have been glass, metal, or other debris thrown about by the mowers (maybe even a pillow). (Click the photo for a larger view.)

Miles Ridden: 11.9

This morning at 5:40, the local TV weathercaster showed a storm moving into the area. She showed the predicted path and the precise time it would hit each little town along the way. Pine Village, which isn’t too far from Granville Bridge, was scheduled for a 6:24 drenching.

The neighbor was a no show at 6:00, so I headed out solo. I kept one eye on the odometer and one on the skies. I wanted to get at least 2.5 miles out before the rain forced me to turn back, so that I could hit my minimum of 5 miles for a ride to count. I ended up making it all the way to the bridge and back without getting wet.

The rain started falling at my house about 2 minutes after I returned.

I wish I would have taken my camera along today. The sunrise over the river was worthy of submission as the weather picture of the day.

Miles Ridden: 9.1

I decided to put some time in at the office this morning, so I hopped on the Trek 820 and took the South Work Route – in reverse. The inbound route followed River Road, while I came home directly on State Street/SR26/Newman Road. There was a slight detour as I tried out the paved bike trail along the new section of Tapawingo Blvd.

Yes, this was the one I complained about back in January. The path is on the north side of the street as promised. The interesting thing is that along its approximately 2 block length, there are only two driveway cuts. I have no idea how all of that prime GB-zoned property will be served with just two ways in and out. Another surprising feature is that these driveways already boast signage prohibiting left turns. This should help keep the cars moving – but not without causing much frustration amongst the more stressed drivers.

While at the office today, I waited out a rain shower which added about 45 minutes to my visit. With around a half an hour of drying time, it wasn’t too wet riding home.

Miles Ridden: 9.5

Today I was able to head into the the north part of Tippecanoe County, visiting Battleground and getting close to Brookston. I basically followed this route in a counter-clockwise fashion, except the starting and ending point was my house.

I rode for almost 8 miles on apparently unsanctioned roads to get to the ‘Bike Route’. Unfortunately, it ended 3/10 of a mile later.

Actually, those signs refer to the paved bike path on the northbound side of Ninth Street Road at the Duncan Road intersection. The path continues south for around 3/4 of a mile on the south side of the street where it crosses countless commercial driveways. The entire length is strewn with glass, metal, and other trash. I’ve probably complained about this before, but I think it is pretty worthless, and I don’t use it.

The ride north through Battleground and on up to Tyler Road was wonderful. I had a slight tailwind, and I was feeling very strong. I even caught and passed a ‘bunny’ – two nervous looking riders that were hugging the white line. (I know that I could never catch a real cyclist, but I still get some satisfaction passing the noobs.)

Down in West Lafayette, I came upon a street closure on Grant Street because of the soap box derby competition being held today. I detoured through the Hills and Dales neighborhood.

It took me 2:45 to complete the route, so my average was a little higher than usual. I’m feeling it in my legs already.

Miles Ridden: 37.9

Miles Ridden: 12.0