Dan on Bike

I thought that yesterday would be my only ride of the week, but my schedule cleared enough for me to ride to work today and come home on the South Work Route.

I remembered my headband, so my ears and forehead were toasty warm on the way in, but my feet and fingers got very cold. I’m going to have to wear something besides argyle socks and deck shoes!

Sidewalk Grafitti
Miles Ridden: 8.3

The neighbor and I are both trying to ride at least once each month for an entire year. That can be difficult in the cold Indiana winter. Last year, I missed December, January and February. Regular readers may remember that I have been able to ride every month since, until this month. It has been cold, wet, dark, and windy, and I have been either warm in the house, or busy with life. Looking at the weather and my social calendar for the last week of February, I decided to ride to work on Wednesday (tomorrow). That would be my last chance where I have time to ride and the temperature is above freezing.

However, a last minute appointment dashed those plans, so I left work a little early to try to get a ride in. I made it!

Ice in Indian Creek
Sure, it was a little cold, and I should have worn my new headband to keep my ears and forehead warm, but overall, it was a good ride.

I traveled the Granville Bridge Route, with a short detour under the bridge for these photos. Traffic was light, and no one bothered me.

As Seen Under the Bridge
Miles Ridden: 9.8

Here’s a great article about alternatives to auto driving.

Via Urbana-Champaign Bicycle Commute

Total this month: 71.0 miles CORRECTION: 95.9 miles

Note the Hodson’s Bay sticker
I was faced with a very dirty bike this morning when I left to pick up my car at the shop. I’m going to have to clean it before taking it in for a spring tuneup. There is a slight wobble in the back wheel, and I’m having trouble again with the chain slipping when I’m standing up on the hills. For the past few years, they’ve been telling me that it might be time for a new cassette, but they never replace it. This could be the year.

As seen on River Road
The car was over on Sagamore Parkway on the east side of Lafayette, so I naturally headed south over the Branigin Bridge. I didn’t travel far on SR25 before turning SE onto Beck Lane. After I crossed Poland Hill Road, I saw the beginning of the Linear Park path. This is definitely a work in progress which current only stretches from Beck lane, across 9th street at Armstrong Park, to 18th street on the south side of the rail tracks near the Eagles lodge. The plan is to extend it NW to Powderhouse Lane, and possible farther SE. It was nice not having to bother with traffic for 9 blocks at a stretch.

I think that Lafayette is having a tough time keeping up with the taggers
I arrived at the Saturn Service center about 15 minutes before closing. I don’t like patronizing Bob Rohrman because of the horrible TV and radio commercials he bombards us with. Anyone in the TV and radio markets around Lafayette, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Chicago know about Santa Bob, the taxman, and his blooper reels. I will never buy a car from this man! The only reason I took the car there is because the other transmission shops in town didn’t want to mess with it. I’ve never heard of that before.

Anyway, $1,085.23 later and I was on my way.

Miles Ridden: 10.7

My car’s in the shop again, and instead of hitching a ride with my wife, I decided to pedal it.

I didn’t leave until after 8:00, after an unsuccessful turning upside down of the house to find biking shorts. Oh well, it’s boxer day! It was 32° Fahrenheit (0° Centipede), sunny, and calm, and I warmed up pretty quicky. A roadie passed me going west.

My trip home included a trip to the Marsh store for supper food, so I left all of my work clothes in my file cabinet to save room in the pannier. I used roads called Grant, Salisbury, Lindberg, Klondike, Sharon Chapel, and Newman. For details on the route, see any number of previous posts for descriptions of the same blank-i-ty blank roads I travel every time I ride!

Anyway, Lindberg offered great photo ops for a pinkish blue sunset. If I only had remembered my camera. By the time I hit Sharon Chapel Road, it was dark.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not comfortable riding in the dark on county roads. There are no street lamps, and even with my red blinky light in the back, I feel pretty vulnerable when a car passes. Because of poor planning on my part, I didn’t have the headlight with me. The traffic was light, and I got home fine.

The other day, I saw a guy riding on campus with a white strobe light in front. It wasn’t blinding, but it really got my attention. I may have to get one.

Since Indiana will be observing daylight saving time this year (first time in 30+ years), my 6:00am rides will start before sunrise a lot more than last year. I’m thinking of investing in an orange reflective vest and maybe some better lights to make myself more visible. By fall , I should be pretty comfortable in the dark.

Miles Ridden: 11.8

Oh! I almost forgot. The free bike is gone.

It was only after the Purdue/Indiana game today when I decided to ride. Since I didn’t leave until almost 5:00, I only had about an hour before sunset. I decided to take 400W up to Fat Ass Road*, and back on Klondike and Sharon Chapel Road. There was a little traffic on Klondike Road and on SR26, but they were all polite (as was I). I was going pretty slow and stopped for pictures several times, so it took about 45 minutes.

I like the way the setting sun lit up the cornstubble
*Did I ever tell the story about Fat Ass Road? The neighbor and I were riding along 400W about a quarter of a mile from 250N before work. A pickup type truck with a flatbed in back had to wait for about 5 seconds before it could pass. The driver gunned it when the road was clear, turned onto 250N and stopped. He leaned towards the passenger window and screamed “Get off the road, fat ass!” Now, the neighbor is pretty thin, so I’m guessing he was referring to my 240lb frame. Apparently, he doesn’t appreciate the sight of a gentleman of my size in spandex shorts.

Anyway, 250N has been “Fat Ass Road” ever since.

Miles Ridden: 8.0
Technorati Tags: sunset, cycling, fatass

I was trying to come up with a title that somehow tied into the MLK Holiday, but none sounded right. (It’s much easier to come up with something cute about Arbor Day or Labor Day.) Regardless, today was a nice day, and I was able to enjoy it.

On this ride I explored the newly defined Wabash Avenue Route. The sky was clear and sunny, the temperature was warm, and the wind was light.

On the Bridge, I noticed what looked kind of like broken safety glass particles, but it turned out to be road salt. The hill up to SR25 was surprisingly easy.

Here’s a question for you. At the US231/SR25 intersection, I had to cross 2 lanes of thru traffic to get to the left turn lane. After I got there, drivers started passing me on the left shoulder to get to the light first. Is there a better way to make a left here? I didn’t want to go all the way to the left shoulder because I would then have to cross the path of the left turning cars to get over to the right shoulder on SR25. Another option would be to continue straight on US231 until I reached the far side of SR25 and then make a 270˚ turn to enter the shoulder going east. It’s a little confusing to both me and any auto traffic trying to guess my path. Any suggestions?? The turn onto Old Romney Road has similar problems.

At the top of Wabash Avenue, I rode up into the parking lot of the concrete factory to an overlook to the west. Here is a panoramic view of the wastewater plant in the foreground and the Purdue campus in the back.

click to embiggen
When I reached Smith Street, I did a little backtracking to find the bottom of the pedestrian bridge wheelchair ramp. There was no doubt that there was broken glass in the alley.

Downtown, I saw the Trolley that I often take to lunch. It runs right past my office building.

The Myers Bridge offered some nice, sunny views.

As I was heading up the last hill on Newman Road, my son called to remind me that I was late to take him to a school function, so I tackled the last 10 minutes at a good clip.

Miles Ridden: 14

Technorati Tags: trolley, wabash, sundial

I haven’t added a new route in a while, but I was looking for something to ride to the south in about an hour. So, I present the Wabash Avenue Route.

Starting from the home base at Newman and Division Roads near West Lafayette, head south to River Road. Following it east towards the Levee, turn south again onto the Branigin Bridge.

Five years later, we still call this the “new bridge”
You can see in the picture that the wide shoulder makes a great bike lane – enough for two riders to ride abreast.

At the top of the hill, take a left (east) onto SR25. This can be a tricky maneuver in traffic, so be careful! After a short distance, the wide shoulder disappears, so we have to share the right turn lane with the car types. The very next left (another tricky one) heads north on Old Romney Road to the Elston area. I tried to get a picture of the neat church on Elston Road, but the sun was behind it and it didn’t work out. Maybe some other day. Old Romney Road, Beck Lane and Wabash Avenue all intersect at the top of the hill near the yard where concrete bridge members are cast.

Take another left to head down the hill on Wabash and cross under and over the various railroad tracks and pass the Lafayette Wastewater Treatment Plant. The smells bring back memories of my past career in a similar plant.

Down on “the Avenue”, there is a little neighborhood area boasting a meat packing plant, a Catholic church, an old fire station (now a government office), and a Christian-themed coffee shop in a building that used to host a strip club. Here at Smith street, there was much outcry when the Rail Relocation project closed the street as all of the downtown rail lines were consolidated into one corridor. The locals were (understandably) worried that the school children would have a tough time getting over to Miller Elementary. So, the project built a monstrous pedestrian walkway over the tracks. The wheelchair ramp on the west side is a block and a half long!

Continue north on Wabash to the downtown area. At Main Street, take a left onto the Myers Pedestrian Bridge over the Wabash. This is a nice, traffic-free way to get back to the West Side.

Sundial on the Myers Bridge
At the west end, turn left onto the Wabash River Heritage Trail. I’ve talked before about this paved trail through the woods that cuts behind the West Lafayette Wastewater Treatment Plant. (Hey! It’s the second treatment plant of the route! Maybe I should call this the tour of sewage.)

See the bike path in the lower right corner?
Back at River Road , a quick jaunt north leads to Williams Street. Power up the hill to Grant Street. A couple blocks up, turn west onto Harrison Street and pedal through the south campus area past the Vet School and Physical Plant buildings.

North on Intramural Drive passes the Purdue Police station and two Discovery Park buildings under construction. At State Street turn left (west) to head home.

State Street becomes SR 26. At Newman Road, turn left to head west-southwest and back to Division Road.

Not a bad way to spend an hour.

Last Sunday, I was driving to work around 9:00, and I saw a guy (presumably a student) park his 20″ bike in the middle of the sidewalk – far from the door – and run into Young Hall. I thought “What a strange place to leave a bike.”

When I left a little after 11:00, it was still there. (It’s tough to tell from the angle, but the door to which he ran is far to the right.)

It was gone by Monday morning.