November 5, 2005 - End of e-blog for now.

Come one, come all.

Please visit my new bike blog found at http://dahon-speed8-commute.blogspot.com/

We will see you all soon

Thank you.

October 30th - no more ebike......(until it gets warmer)

I found during the last three weeks the temperature played a big role in available power from the battery, plus an aged battery pack doesn't go the distance in cooler (40's) weather. I also tested my charger last night, this is charger No. 2, well... it crapped out - 2 chargers in one spring/summer/fall season - this is not acceptable to me.

As you can see from my previous post, I am 55 pounds lighter now that I have removed the battery and motor, and the Canondale is once again a bicycle.

I was horrified this morning when I was at the bagel shop and realized I had only 5 minutes to get to work. I called the guy I was relieving and he had no problems with the delay (but it cost me a bagel he wanted). I couldn't figure out what happened, I was 1/2 hour off my normal pace and I didn't think the motor made that much difference. So I figure I was realy slow without the motor, it kind of made sense, but I still thought I had made really good time. Well, my wife calls me at work and explains to me how funny it was for her to find all the clocks in our bedroom 1/2 behind every other clock in the house. This finding says alot about this morning's ride, I actually did make good time without the motor.

Tonight on the ride home I was particular about timing myself. I hit the road at 5:40 and was home by 6:25. 45 minutes, 15 minutes longer than if I had a motor, but some of the time added was due to going slower because it was dark out.

Well, I am set to peddle tomorrow, Halloween.

Happy Halloween, and please be safe.

PS. I sold my pickup truck to a construction company! No more gas, no more insurance, no more associated car expense!

October 29th - My Birthday! (I lost 55 pounds today)

I had the misfortune of having to work on birthday. I also made the mistake of celebrating my birthday on the night of the eve, so getting up at 04:00 Hrs was not too pleasant. However, most unpleasant was finding my batteries just don't have the life left in them, especially on that big hill I go up to get home from work.

Getting to work was normal, dark. I am now riding with 4-red flashers on the back (3-on a homemade light bar, and 1-one the seat post), and I have a Cateye 300 plus 2-Trek white/green flashers in the front. I really need to spend some time figuring out how to upload photos, this setup is worthy of sharing. I have applied 3M reflective tape to my helmet and I am riding with a day-glo green DOT III approved reflective vest. I am sure I am a site to see, and that's the point - isn't it?

On the note of being seen. I have noticed a trend with the DF Wedgie crowd wearing dark tights, jerseys, and helmets. It may look stealth, if you can see it. My word to those wanting to "look cool", be bright! Bright colors that contrast the urban landscape (or country side) can save your life from those idiot drivers (I mean most drivers) who, at best, are concious of only what is in a 35 degree field of view in front of them. Be safe, not sorry.

Getting back to the batteries. I spent an hour last night removing the motor, control, throttle, and battery, and wrenching a little on my brakes. Well, I lost 50 pounds. When I was finished I got ready for work, set the clocks back an hour, and went to bed looking forward to a nice ride to work in the morning.

October 27 - near my birthday (the 29th)

I am still here. During the past 17 days, it has rained 14. New York has never had so much rain during the month of October.

Fortunately, for most of the last 17 days I have been on-call and I am being compensated by the company for driving as business travel - and it has been well earned because there were quite a few calls.

Stay-tunned in. There are a couple of things happening here. Like, the truck is being sold, a new bike and new job may be on the horizon, and I have to come to grips with replacing my ebike batteries.

October 9 and 10 - I nice ride (until the battery died)

It happened, finally... The batteries failed to get me up the last hill on my way home today. For the first time in months I had to drop into my granny gear - sorry Granny, I had too. With 50+ pounds of battery and motor now being dead weight, thank heavens I still had a granny gear.

Between a little grease on my bearings, the chain needing a good cleaning and lube, all the dead weight, and my largeness due to consuming to much c6h12o6, the ride home today was an awakening. But do note, it is 7:45 AM and I have just finished my second glass of wine - I worked the overnight and just got home - O.K.?

Decisions, decisions, etc.... I am leaning toward selling the e-bike as-is (it will need $40 of new batteries) for $400+ shipping, and I love PayPal, and buying a new bike. I have been eyeing the Dahon Speed TR because it folds (I can take it on a train to Manhattan) and it has the SRAM Daul Drive with an 8 cog gear cluster, plus 3 speed internal hub for a gear range of something linke 29 to 111 inches - you can't beat that on most road tandems!

I have also been playing with a couple of conceptual designs for a trailer/carrier for a folding bike that will allow the rider to haul a substaintial load in the trailer without compromising the foldability of the bike, and then once the bike is folded, the bike stores in the trailer that is then convereted to hand-truck stlyed wheeled lugage/carrier. The attempts I have seen at working this concept have seemed to lack the energy/input of anyone who would seriously use this type of system on a day-to-day basis. I hope my concept can reach the masses and revolutionize transportation as we know it.

On the revolutionarianism side of things, I have been thinking of a new business (in addition to the two I already have) that sells bicycles, bicycle accessories, and other items to caiter to bicycle commuters. What do you think? Is it a worthy business idea?

The Week of October 3

It's a blast running erands on the e-bike. Truely, this combination of bicycle and electric technologies is the most effiecent way of running to the store when you only need a few things.

Monday was a normal day, the kids were in school and Heidi (a/k/a Director of Finer Details, a/k/a Mrs. Jim) was working on her business. While the house was empty I ran packages to the Post Office and made a trip to the hardware store for some odds and ends. Well with a zoom and a huff, I was in town in a flash, parked in my usual parking spaces - "right in front of all the places I needed to go." Before I knew it, I was home without using any gasoline.

Tuesday and Wednesday were weird, these are the High Jewish Holidays - the holiday isn't weird (I'm Catholic, the Mrs. is Jewish - and do we know guilt...), but weird is the kids were only in school for one day, then they were off for two. Well at least we got to spend some quality time together at home (no one went Postal on anyone), but at lunch on Tuesday my 7-year old daughter explained to me how her classmate threatened her and told her he was going to have is brother shoot and kill her. THIS IS ONE TYPE OF INCIDENT EVERYONE SHOULD TAKE SERIOUSLY IN OUR POST-COLUMBINE WORLD. The next 48 hours were spent notifying the Teachers, getting the Principal involved, the kid's parents were dragged into this, and the bottom line was the kid just out of line make inappropriate juvenile-type remarks to impress my daughter - no one actually had a gun. Needless to say, the event made for an exciting few days.

Wednesday the truck got it's first workout it has had in a while. I needed a cubic yard of top soil, there were some awkward packages that needed to be mailed out, etc. Next week we pick up a cord of firewood.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I drove the truck to work (note: since early September I have only used 7 gallons of gasoline in the truck). Not only was I starting my rotation at work, but I was working nights and we were in the middle of a tropical depression that dumped 8 inches of rain across most of the area - it was wet, work was busy, and the luxury of the truck was well worth it.

Last night, Sunday night, I rode my e-bike, this was a welcome change. I have been noticing that I have not been getting a good connection between the charger and the charger's plug on the battery pack. I suspect road grime and poor manufacturing, and a summer of bike commuting have taken it's toll here. I plan on going to Radio Shack to get replacement pieces and do the repairs myself. I also notice that now that it is a little cooler and the batteries have been cycled 50+ times, they aren't keeping the charge they use to - or - this could be a function of a poor charger connection. After I see how the charger connection repairs work out, if I notice little or no improvement, I am going to remove the motor and battery from the bike until the spring and/or sell it to someone in a warmer climate who may get winter use out of it - I would also consider selling the complete bike for the right price ($400.00+ shipping).

The motor removal scheme came to me after I did some work on the bike last week. I removed the battery pack to attach a custom-made light bar to my rear rack that accomodates 3+ LED flashers - I am now very visible from behind! [note: I need to upload photos] The bike felt extremely light without 30+ pounds of lead acid battery, and I realized the bike will feel even lighter removing 20+ pounds of motor. After a summer of riding, I am in sufficient shape that I might not physically need the motor to keep my commute times where they are at now (30 minutes +/- 5 minutes). However, I do like the motor. Perhaps my next setup will be with a brushless (less drag) motor and NiMH batteries (less weight, but more $$$).

Thinking I might swap off the motor I grabbed the stock wheel and gave it a spin in my hands. Wow! The gyroscopic effect was cool, but the grinding of the bearings was unbearable. This made me realize that I really need to overhaul the Cannandale. This also made me think that if I overhaul the Cannondale, remove the motor and battery, I might just end up with a very low rolling resistant and light weight commuting bike.

Now here's my delema. If I over haul my bike, it will cost me about $100 in parts (new cables, I would switch my brakes to v-brakes at the same time, and I would replace the chain and tubes - the tires are still fine), and I would take me 8 hours to complete the job. I value my time at about $68/hour. So the actual cost of overhauling the bike is close to $650.00. Now because I have the highest credit rating in the world (I pay my bills and have no credit card debit), I can afford to lay out $650 for a new bike (hey, isn't that what credit cards are for?). So do I fix the old, or buy new? If I buy new, do I sell the old, or keep it as an e-beater? What would you do if your were in my position?

October 1 & 2 - Local errands

On Saturday the mini van got a good workout. Back and forth from the neighborhood across town to a softball clinic for the girls (wow they like softball!). I offered to car pool and ended up with 6 very energetic 8 and 10 year olds, and boy can they make a lot of noise - the ear drum splitting headache causing type. So I figure I transported 7 people, the mini van gets 25 MPG, then I must have gotten an honest 175 passenger miles per gallon? How does that work? Like a municiple bus gets like 6 miles per gallon of diesel, yet carrying 50 passengers the bus is getting 300 passenger miles per gallon. Is there actual efficency here?

Saturday I took the bike to the hardware store and picked up another 2-six pack of pumkin ale. A descent 3 mile round trip on the e-bike.

Today, Sunday I went for bagels, a good 2 mile round trip.

[Note: I need to contact Wilderness Energy, the charger seems to not be working well. The likely problem is road grime on the bike-side charger receptor. I am not too sure how agressive I can get cleaning out the charger receptor. Perhaps, this is a part I should wrap daily with fresh electric tape to keep the grime out.]

Monday, I start maintenance work on the bike. I should pick up another couple 6-packs of pumpkin ale, the last ones were short lived - neighbors, they like it too.

September 30th - New Pumpkin Ale

I love Pumpkin Ale. I actually just went and grabbed one out of the refrigerator. Boy it tastes good, almost like drinking the finest of pumpkin pies, but it quenches your thirst too. Amazing stuff. This particular brand is Smuttynose Brewing Company, and it is brewed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I only bought 1-six pack today, but it is so good I may just have to buy a whole case.

Today was my first true day off in a long time. I am starting to mop-up some loose ends that have been piling up over the past few days (daze) and weeks. One item was getting orders packed and shipped to customers (my wife and I have a side business, we buy and sell used books, the family started this business back in the late 1960's). I had 8 orders today, and one was shipped in a huge 16 inch by 12 inch by 12 inch box, this size is a little too large to strap on my bike rack, so I hitched up the Burley trailer. With the trailer loaded, I was off to the Post Office on my e-bike. When I arrived at the Post Office, one of the Clerk's was on a break and saw me roll up all encumbered with parcels and she said she was amazed one could do what I was doing. Actually, it isn't all that hard to do.

After finishing business at the Post Office, a rather tired looking new Mom with a double stroller packed with a set of twins and a 3 year old pulling at her shirt tail approached me and asked how safe the trailer was in traffic. [I started wondering, was this person about to do herself and her family in, or was this person looking for alternative transportation and a little excercise, fortunately I found out it was the exercise she was looking for.] I spent a good 20 minutes explaining how safe the Burley product was, how to find low traffic routes, to walk in cross walks and on sidewalks if traffic is too dangerous, and the benefits my family has had using a bike and trailer for more than recreation. The mom then looked at her husband after I explained a 3 year old and a couple days worth of groceries can fit into the trailer at the same time - I guess this guy now knows what is coming.

I left the Post Office and went to the local grocery store. This store is awesome, they have the largest selection of micro-brewed and imported beers, ales, ports, etc. A full 25 feet of refrigerator wall space is dedicated to their beer display, and no two of the same beers are next to each other on any shelf - this is not a Budweiser-only store. Wyck beer, pumpkin ale, Jamakin, Austrian, Norwiegn, beers with corks, bottles wrapped in paper, ....... just an awesome selection [and just 29 minutes from mid-town Manhattan]. Here is where I bought my six-pack of Pumpkin Ale (which I still continue to sip).

Well on the way home, I passed by a neighbor who had also just made a beer run, but in her mini van. Well she thought I had a child in the trailer, and was floored in wild hysteria to find out all I had was a 6-pack and bag of pretzles. She too hadn't realized that there is more than just children that can fit into a bicycle trailer.

I am almost finished with my Pumpkin Ale, boy it tastes darn good. Tomorrow, Friday, is likely the last day I will be riding my e-bike for a few days. I know I have one errand to run mid-day, round trip will be 14 miles. I really need to overhaul the bike. All the bearings need to be regreased. The cables are so stretched that no simple adjustment keeps set for any period of time. My derailuers need to be scrubbed clean of road grime, and it's about time I true my rear wheel. I also need to work up a solution for better mounting my flashers for riding in the dark.

Lots to do before returning to work next Thursday.

September 28 - Last day (in rotation).

What an interesting 6 weeks. I have returned from a nice vacation in San Francisco, my friend lost her house in Gulfport, locally gasoline has spiked to $3.65 per gallon, my monthly mortgage has increase by $500 per month to cover increases in taxes, my natural gas bill went up $100 per month, and I think I may have driven my car only a handfull of times. At work there were well over 200 incidents I was involved with that required regulatory compliance (acidents, spills, close-calls, employee issues, etc.). My time was sure filled with interesting events.

As for today, I drove. Seeing that I will be away from the office for more than a week, I needed to bring home a load of work clothes and reference materials I will need while I am not there. The load was too big for the bike trailer.

I still haven't count my bike commute days, this will wait until I get back to work (my spreadsheet) to figure it all out. I feel like I rode 40+ days. In the end I rode more than the begining. Gasoline prices did make a difference for me. Why should I pay high prices for gasoline when I really don't need it?

During my week off, I will do local commuting on my e-bike (groceries, beer, post office, bank, etc.). I also plan to get a load of fire wood and top soil so the truck will be used a little too. Of course there are ball games, play dates, etc. and the mini-van will get a good work out too. I hope to sell the truck, that will happen hopefully sooner rather than later.

I am also looking forward to breaking down my e-bike and doing an overhaul to get things tighter and smoother. I will need new cables, brake pads, grease, and elbow grease and I am sure the ride will be smooth and set for the fall and early winter.

A note on winter. I am thinking of taking the motor off the bike to keep the grime induced deterioration to a minimum.

Regardless, I will be peddling often during the next 7 days. The additions to the blog may be less timely, but keep the faith, I am out here peddling away.

September 27 - One more day to go.

Tomorrow, I finish my 6 week rotation. I rode more this time around than on any other rotation since June. I will now count the days to see if I met the goal I set in June, I feel I must be close to it.

The ride in today started about 6 AM. I encountered several motorist who didn't want to stop at STOP signs on small feeder streets, and only did so after I made my presense known with lights, bell, and shouts (don't shout too much, it doesn't pay to piss-off an idiot who is in semi-control of several thousands of pounds of steel - need I say more). I am thinking front-mounted clear/white flasher are in order to be more "Front" visible.

At lunch today with my Manager and Vice President, my manager started a conversation by asking me if I rode my "motor bike" to work today. Well now everyone (like my VP) knows I ride a hybrid ped-electric bike [REMINDER: I work for a (very) large electric utility], I set a goal and I am close to making it, I don't buy much gasoline, I support "green building" initiatives, and that "yes" I am a professional and yes the environment is something I know is important to protect, preserve, and repair if business is to succeed and if we want to continue living in the world as we know it, and finally, I have studied the environment, and I am an environmental scientist.

Oooh. It will be nice to off for a few days to catch up on my sanity (and ride a bit more).

Also, I am thinking of working on my old road bike and getting it back on the road for winter. What do you think?

Google News Alert: Bicycle - A really cool feature

If you haven't discovered by now, Google news has a great feature called New Alerts. This feature allows users, like me, to have a digest of articles - with links to full text news articles - emailed to me daily on subjects I choose. Here's the hyperlink to the feature: http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en.

I have chosen the topic "bicycle". Now daily, Google emails me a list of news articles with bicycle in the subject of the article. Every day, I open the email and click the hyperlink, and I have bicycle news [Note: so far the majority of the news is about fatalities and felonies where the perpetrators escape on bicycle, but there is some socio-political news too].

I advocate everyone try the Google news "Alert" feature, it is fun.

September 26th - Monday.....

I was due into work at 7:00 AM, not the usual 6:00 AM. So today I left the house at 6, not my usual 4:45 AM. The hour and fifteen minutes makes a world of difference in the amount of lunatics on the road. I would much rather rider earlier than wait for the rush hour to pick up.

On the reverse, I was riding home in school traffic. The Mom's in mini vans and SUVs are drivers of concern to cyclists. They made being visible and cautious a priority on my ride home. On a funny note, a New York State Trooper driving through town passed me and turned right, just yard in front of me. Perhaps "they" should add bicyclist awareness to the driver's education ciriculum at Trooper School. Had he hit me, there would be an interesting law suit, and some really great bad press. Yet, that is not the type of attention I want.

It is late (Parent's open house at the kid's school tonight), and I have a 4:30 AM wake up it I want to work 6 AM to 2 PM tomorrow. Good night.

September 25 - Bagel run!

Sunday, September 25th. Tradition continues, it is bagel day here at home. It felt good hopping on the bike and motoring to the bagel store, and then on to the grocery store for milk, eggs, and cold cuts. I spent most of Saturday chauffeuring the kids to ball games, play dates, and all sorts of places - the mini van got a good work out too.

September 22 - Jim's motor vehicles

Not only am I a bike junky, I am a reformed motorhead. My first “street legal” car was when at 17 years old in 1979, I owned a 1969 Plymouth Sport Satellite with a large enough V-8 motor with 3 sets of carburetors to generate power enough to now supply electricity to a small town for ever and ever. That car today, if still around, is worth a small fortune. I sold the car to pay college bills to get my degree in Environmental Science - there might be something to this? Since my MOPAR days (or daze) it has been VW's, bicycles, and small foot-print vehicles. Those days, a 20-gallon tank of high octane gasoline and a can of octane booster was $20.00 - yeh, like in the late 1970’s I had that much money to burn....., and as I recall, it wasn’t all that fun.

$44.10 today. A year ago $25.00. What will it be next month to fill up the minivan? I see $5.00 per gallon of regular on the horizon. When we get to $5.00 per gallon, I see us all on the edge of a socio-environmental revolution/evolution. Change is good. Pinching the pocketbook is bad. But seeing that I am very rich, yet perpetually poor, higher energy costs are just an added layer of expense to which I can borrow from the future to pay for today - good system, right? If for years deficit spending has been O.K. and working well for the government, it should work for me, right?...... [Note: The minivan has an 18 gallon fuel tank. It takes me about 4 weeks to burn through 3/4 of a tank. The vehicle gets used about every other day to move 4 or more people to here to there around town, and it is used on road trips which aren't being considered here. The VW Beatle (@31+ MPG) is used for moving groups of 4 or less around town, and many times a day on really nice sunny days - this is a convertible New Beatle, wouldn't you indulge a little here?]

I own (vehicle No. 3) a Ford F150 pickup truck. "The best selling vehicle in America!", or something like that according to one of those over paid consulting firms that benchmarks statistics of consumer over consumption. Also, with the amount of recall notices I have received from FORD, perhaps "best" is a term better left in the eye of the beholder/owner. Yes, there are a lot of F150's out there, and I suggest there are too many, especially the elevated, painted, testosterone inject behemoths that burst the boundary of utilitarianism by miles, if not light years. Usually, I drive mine when (1) I am saving the world and responding to environmental incidents and I need to carry Hazmat equipment, or when (2) my home business has a need to move large volumes of material, that it does often. Because my truck only has a V-6 engine (note: an engine smaller than most minivans), it is amazingly fuel thrifty. I drive the truck once, usually twice a week for load carrying missions, and when I feel like it, a third time on dates with my wife or when I want to feel competitive with SUV drivers. On the highway, with a 1,000 pound load, I get an honest 25 MPG – but I consider this is appropriate use of a motor vehicle (what do you think?). Here, I clearly do not have a single occupant vehicle on a daily commute. My F150 is a workhorse, and it is for sale - $14,000.00, 2002 F150 Supercab (4-door, 2-regular front and 2-small rear suicide), V-6, Automatic w/overdrive, A/C, cruise, AM/FM/CD, sprayed-on epoxy bed liner. I last filled up with gasoline in August costing $1.98 per gallon. I am still at 1/3 tank. This truck is awesome.

Regarding beer runs, this is work only for a bicycle. The bicycle applied for transportation beer is appropriate for many reasons, but mainly for the fact you can’t drink too much beer and then ride a bicycle – it just doesn’t work. This isn’t rocket scientist work, just recognition that too much coordination and sense of your surroundings are required to move a bicycle forward without falling over. Once coordination (3 or 5 beers later) is lost, the bicycle doesn’t go too far, the rider ends up upside down a few feet from the start point, and well, you paint that picture from here…..

September 20 - It's over!!!! (my rotation at work)

What a great ride home! Traffic at 6:30 PM in the suburbs of "Mega Metropolis Land" is so great! Bountiful is the warming exhaust of bus traffic, beautiful is the all too present sight of solo motorist wrapped in 7,000+ pounds of mind numbing steel, sweet is the odor of burnt hydrocarbons lingering at every intersection where jackrabbit starts are the norm. I only wish more humans would see and understand this absurdity.

Today, the ride to work was "so bad". The moon was full and provided more than ample light to justify a 3:45 AM wake-up. I had to be sure I was on the road by 4:30 AM to be at work on time. [Note: Night Sun, et.al., natural area lighting is the best, please work on “moon lighting”. Also note: All riders need to be real! Ride with a helmet, and front and rear lighting – it’s cheap, use it!] Going to work, I felt challenged to draft the one car that actually tried hard to pass me (foolishly, they stopped for every red light – At 4:45 in the morning, what were they thinking? Ooops, should I have done a track stand for 2-minutes when no one passed across my path?). Over a distance of 4 miles, I beat the car before they turned onto the highway and drove off to wherever their destination was. Besides the afore mentioned, when I passed the local Dunkin Donuts with all that gusto to draft that car, it was a bummer to see all the Police cruisers from the surrounding towns in that parking lot. Like, enforcement?

Bottom line, I need a few daze(s) to recover from the shift work. Today I just finished a 6-week rotation at work: 7-12-hour days 7-12 hour nights; a straight 40 hours thrown in to confuse the mix; well, my mind is mush.

Please be safe. Plan and ride for the worst, and enjoy all the moments that aren’t bad. I wish you all more good times than bad. Most important. Please keep peddling. Thanks.

September 19th - Dark ride.

3:45 AM actually turned out to be 4:15 AM - that snooze button is very dangerous. I was out of the house by 4:33 AM, at the coffee shop (for tea) at 5:00 AM, and I rolled up to the office at 5:15. By the time I took a baby-wipe bath and dressed in my "business attire", it was 5:35. I was well early for the start of my my 6:00 AM shift.

I believe the moon was full, or at least pretty full last night because it was still shining just before sunrise. The moon did a great job illuminating the road, but I still riode a little slower in the dark. After 3 months I know the road pretty well, but there are always some surprises (skunks, tree branches, McDonald bags, etc.).

The ride home was energizing, or at least enough so that now at 9:00 PM I am still awake enough to blog. On the ride home I passed one of my crews. I guess they are not use to seeing this big guy on a mountain bike with panniers barrelling down a hill, I took them by surprise. They are good guys, but they weren't wearing their proper safety equipment - not good.

Also not good was how I was riding in traffic - I have to watch myself. At traffic stops I found myself weaving through stopped traffic to get in front of the line. I probably shouldn't do that. For the traffic stops where I did stop at the side of the road, or in line with traffic, my ride definately slowed down a lot. So in heavy traffic tonight my ride was 45 minutes, it is usually 30. If I drove today, it probably would have taken the same amount of time to get home, but by riding I saved the gas, energy, and left a small foot-print.

I did something interesting over last weekend. Google News lets you subscribe to news alerts using search terms you define. I signed up for a daily digest of links to internet news articles that contain the word "bicycle" in their titles. It is rather interesting to see all the news about bicycles, there are a lot of fatalities listed, but some political, and activist stuff too. For example, today there was an article from an Austin Texas newspaper about one of their editors test riding a Tide Force 750x - there were quite a few references to Lance in that article. I subscribed to the same type of service about 15 years ago when I used CompuServe. I recomend doing it if you have the interest, time, and resources to read daily news involving bicycles, it is simple and dosen't cost anything.

Well, here I am 9:13 PM. Bed time. Tuesday is my last early wake up for 5 days. I have to make the best of it. Chow!

September 18th - Drove, top down....

There was so much rain, and the puddles were so deep last night on the ride home that my drailers got super gunked up with road grime, so much so that my derailers stopped working - not good.

With not enough time to work on the bike before work Sunday (another12-hour shift), I took the VW Beatle. I went top down - I think convertibles are as close as a car will ever get to being a bicycle.

I got home and wrenched around the bike for about an hour, lubed lubable parts, added air in airable parts, and polished (yes it now shines) the frame - there was way too much road grime. I could go on for hours about road grime - just don't get it on your work clothers - it never comes out.

Monday, it's tie day at work. My "dress" clothes are laid out and they'll go into the panniers.

3:45 is looking pretty early for a wake-up, but well worth it.

September 17th - Quack, quack, I am a duck - boy did it rain!

I am a three alarm kind of guy. Today, the first alarm went off at 3:45 AM, the send at 3:55, the third (the dangerous one) sounded at 4:00 AM - this is the one with the 7 minute snooze [who came up with 7 minutes? Is 7 minutes the standard for a snooze?]. 4:00 AM quickly became 4:21, I dashed out of bed, brushed my teethed, evacuated my bladder, ran three fingers through my hair, grabbed my gear, and peddled off to work.

This morning I made good time. 7.5 miles in 30 minutes, and I wasn't pushing it (thank you peddle assist). I was a little sweaty with a little more stink today, so I used some babby wipes to decontaminate the crutial parts.

The shift went o.k. but my relief overslept and was late by about 20 minutes, the minutes that made a 1 hour difference in my commute. Had my relief been on time, I would have been home before the heavens opened up. Because "he" was late, I got stuck halfway home with torrential rains resulting in up to 6 inches (and more) of local flooding. Luckly, I made it to the local train station before I got soaked and I waited out most of the storm, including hail and lightening (plus about 3 inches of rain). I hung out for an hour watching the storm pass - there is something kind of peaceful about that - but it would have been better if I watched the storm from home.

By the time I restarted my ride home I had my rain gear on, the roads were littered with branches, motorists were "extra" crazed, and power was out to signal lights in half the intersections I rode through.

I got home, I am sipping a glass of California wine, I am going to eat, shower, cutle my wife (we had to put the dog "down" yesterday - she had cancer, so the bed is more "open" now which is much better now for cuddling).

Dinner is on the table, I shall go. My gear is drying out. I need to get up earlier in the morning to regrease/lube the important parts of the bike since it got drench.

Goodnight for now.

September 15th - Cold Beer (in the morning)!!!!!!

What a night at work. A bag of popcorn in an unauthorized microwave caused the fire alarm to go off and the building had to be evacuated. The sirens were tested at the local nuke plant, but most people didn't know about the test and thought there was a meltdown in progress - I got those calls. Some member of the public shot a blow-gun dart into a sensative piece of equipment. And, I could go on, and on, and on, etc.

As I sit writing the blog, I am glad to say it is pouring rain outside. I made it home without getting rained on and soaked. At 5:55 AM it was dark and humid, but no rain. [I need to think about getting some serious rain gear if I am going to keep this up.]

Now for the beer part, when I got home (at 6:25 AM) I found the bottom shelf of the refridgerator fill with very cold Budwweiser! Awesome. It's now 7:13 AM and I am on my third! Catching a buz in the morning (after working all night long) is great! I guess today is a bad day to want to walk the kids to school - what will the other children's parents think? Ha! Who cares! The beer is ice cold!

September 14th - One more night to go.

Working nights is unnatural. My bio-clock will now be toppsie turrvie for the next 4 days. However, the exercise I am getting e-bike commuting to work really helps keep my energy level up.

The night before last I read the New York State Motor Vehicle Laws (it was a slow night). Much to my surprise, electric-assist bicycles are not allowed to be opperated on public roads in New York State. There is a bill the State Assemble passed and moved onto the State Senate that will change the definiation of an electric-assist bicycle (whose primary propulsion is human power) to be a bicycle that will in essence remove prohabition for their use on public roadways. What a bummer, it is no wonder why more people don't ride electric-assist bicycles - it's against the law. Go figure.

Well, my noncompliance with the law will willfully continue. I just hope the Assembly Bill dosen't die a misserable death in the Senate Transportation Committee.

I am already setting my sights on the spring and new batteries. I am thinking about swapping to NiMH and upping the voltage to 48 volts, this change shall add some pazzaz to the ride. I brushless motor would also be a good thing, but I need a big tax return, or higher gasoline prices to justify the payback period.

I am also thinking about new panniers, or other type of load carrying devices. I have corrugated plastic that I might try my own design. I also am thinking I can zip-tie a plastic crate, or small garbage can to my Blackburn rack - I could do the same with old picnic baskets for a cool retro-style look.

The ride to and from work was descent, however it was a little warm yesterday and a little humid this morning. Now that I am home, it is a good time to take a quick shower.

Still no Blogging from work.

September 13 - Working nights

Days are getting shorter! I left the office at 6:00 PM in the dark. The sun was up by the time I got home. I am begining to really enjoy early morning rides, the air is cleaner, and there are fewer people and cars on the road. It almost feels like I own the place.

I am off to bed. I will get up at about 3:00PM when the kids get home from school and get ready to ride back to work.

September 12 - $3.24 per gallon

I finally had to put some gasoline into my pick up truck. The last time I gassed up the truck was in mid-July when I cam back from a trip to Maine. $40.00 bought me a half tank of regular gas (about 13 gallons). Hopefully, this will last until winter time.

I counted bicycles on the rack at the local train station today. Total, 24 bikes, and much to my suprise were the 9 scooters mixed in with the bikes. Now, especially with the high gas prices and nice weather, there are clearly many more people on bicycles. This is a trend that if it contunies might defeat the oil giants at their own game. If less people drive, and those that do drive more economical model cars, then much less fuel will be consumed at whatever price the gas giants can through at us consumers. I am still comfortable and confident that I can continue to ride my bike for months, likely all year long.

I have been driving. There are just some trips where it makes more sense to drive, like if I have little time to go a long distance, or if I am car pooling, or if I am taking a bunch of people somewhere in the minivan, or I have a load to haul in the truck. This is what I consider appropriate use of transportation technologies.

I work nights this week, so the bike commute will be easy. There is some rain predicted, but I'll get wet and change into clean clothes at work.

September 2, 2005 - $3.77 per gallon and I haven't driven in days

Today, if I were to sell the 13 gallons of gasoline remaining in my pickup truck I would profit on the sale by more than 100%. This is a rather sick notion considering I only filled my truck up with gasoline 6 weeks ago.

On my e-bike ride home today, I observed the gasoline station that 48 hours ago posted gasoline at $2.44 per gallon is now selling it for $3.77 per gallon. A $1.33 per gallon more in 48 hours, and for what reason? It is likely the same gas has been in his tanks the entire time.

You be crazy, not me. I am sticking with the e-bike.

Note: this weekend I need to repack bottom bracket bearings on e-bike, at 15 years it has been too long and they don't sound too happy. Also, I need to start an inventory on Trek 400 replacement parts to rebuild that frame. If gas and electric gets too crazy, the Trek 400 frame makes a good and fast commuter/cycle-cross type bike good for all weather (i.e. winter) conditions.

I got the new fork for my delta trike. Soon, I'll be e-commuting on my trike.

Anyone want to buy an e-bike? I'll sell my electric C'dale for the first $700.

September's Somber Song, and more reflections on today's e-bike commute.

Just today, I read one of those "global" type emails from the "internet police" at work describing how a fellow employee abused their internet privileges and subsequently lost their job. [Actually, from the email it sounds like the person spent more time surfing than doing their job while at work] As such and here forth, my blogging will only be from home.

Considering the death, discomfort, and humiliation being felt by so many American's as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina, in today's work environment loosing your job over internet surfing seems too petite.

Here in New York, I pledge my support to do what ever I can for America to help American's recover from the Katrina tragedy. Mr. Bush, I have not heard you make this pledge, where are you?

TODAY'S COMMUTE
I left the house this morning at 4:45 in the dark, but it was humid and warm (remnants of Katrina). During my 7.5 mile commute, I was passed by only 1 automobile. It was actually a very pleasant ride. However, and refer to a past blog, there was this one little skunk in the same place I almost ran over it last time. Not that I want to run over a skunk (pew!), but this is definitely the type of landmark you want to be riding well clear of.

My head light worked well, even on the more dimmly lighted streets. I also wore a hi-vis DOT Class III reflective vest so anyone within a 1/2 mile using headlights saw me before they could ride me over. [google hi vis clothing for some cool stuff] My ride was about 40 minutes, I stopped at the bagel store, but they would not open for another 15 minutes - gerrrr. I also stopped at the bank to get cash for breakfa$t at the office cafeteria (way more than the bagel shop).

While riding to work today, I notice a local gas station was open and the board in front showed regular gas at $2.45 per gallon. I told Chris, the guy who relieved on our shift, about the cheap price thinking he might want to top off his tank (Ford F150 Super Crew V-8) on the way home. Well, on my way home I saw the price at the same gas station, and on the same price board being $3.65 - $1.20 more per gallon in less than 13 hours.

My energy cost for today's round trip commute was 1,200 calories (the equivalent of my lunch), plus $0.05 for the electric charge in my bicycle battery. Hybrid pedal-electric definitely is a winner in my book.

Hey, does anyone out there want to buy my pickup truck?

September 1: $3.10 per gallon - I rode.

Need I say more. Gasoline is up, and will keep going. I bet it will hit $4.00 by the end of next week. I keep riding my bicycle.

I am seeing more and more people riding, and riding baddly. Riders riding against traffic, and without helmets, hi vis clothing, or lights. A new disaster wieghting to happen.

August 28 - Rain, I drove.

Get this, $2.89 - 9/10 at another local gas station. Higher yet! With what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico with uricanne Katrina about to strike Louisianna, I am sure we will see $3.00+ per gallon next week.

It was raining today, and is suppose to rain through tomorrow's commute, so I drove today.

August 28 - Dark ride home.

I seem to have flown home. The trip seems more normal now, rather than a novelty. Unfortunately, days are getting shorter. I left the office in the dark, and I just got home to see the sun rise. My new Cat Eye headlamp works well.

For Bagel Day (Sunday's in my house) it started out at 72 degrees with 92% (ouch) humidity. My shirt was soaked through by the time I got home - a small price to pay.

Another local gas station I regularly pass is now chargine $2.82-9/10 for a gallon of regular gasoline.

August 27 - Overnight Shift: Biked

Great afternoon. Not too hot, not too cool, and not too humid. Of all the cars and trucks I shared the road with, there were only two notable boneheads - it is good to have a loud bell.

I am finding the more I bike commute, the more I want to bike commute, and the more I need to. When I don't ride, inside myself I get this burning feeling, a strong desire, almost like being caged and knowing that just on the other side is freedom, a potential for euphoria, this is very distracting and is occupying more of my mind than I can afford to allow it to.

Academically, I am an Environmental Scientist and clearly understand the cause and effect humans have on their environment, and I know bicycling with electric power-assist is one of the most efficient machines for personal transportation; this deserves a thesis on to itself. Now with gasoline prices being as high as they are (today I saw $2.89 9/10 at a gas station near the office) the economics are clear. I am avoiding hundreds of dollars of transportation costs by using an e-bike instead of my car, truck, or mini van (yes, I own 3 vehicles - 1 is for sale). These are easy justifications to satisfy my need to know by riding I am doing the right thing.

Hard is explaining the mental aspect associated with physically feeling better, but I do. My mind is clearer, I am more alert at work, my clothes fit better making me feel more comfortable, and I feel encouraged to do more now I have better endurance. My muscles ache, my wind is better (I am starting to you use stairs when previously I only used the elevator), and I feel good.

August 26 - Second day back to work.

We'll I've got it bad, a head cold. So even being the second day back to work, I drove. If I am feeling better, I'll ride tomorrow. We'll see then.

Nine days is San Francisco was a blast. We did all the touristy types of things like Muir Woods, Fisherman's Warf, China Town, Cliff House, Alcatraz, did a cable car ride, visited friends and family, and we did the thrift shops on Mission, Fillmore, and Haight Streets. Even though San Francisco has "mega" hills, it is an awesome bike city. I wish I had access to a ride while I was there, I probably could have covered the entire city in a day or two, and what a different perspective that would have been. Bike rentals were running between $40 and $75 per day, a little more than I would have enjoyed paying. I did seriously consider picking up an older 26 inch department-store type mountain bike while in a thrift store on Mission Street, but I would have had to wrench it a little to mike it rideable, and without my tools or helmet it started to look like a time consuming project and time was not something I had a lot of.

All the longing to ride in San Francisco has made me think seriously of picking up a folding bike like a Dahon or Downtube VII - inexpensive and compact!

I sold my Sun EZ3 SX Delta Trike. It was a great machine, I commuted some on it before buying the aluminum version, EZ3 AX, a totally different machine. I am going to take the proceeds from the sale of the SX and complete the project of electrifying the AX. I can't wait until I have an electric-assist delta trike with a full fairing - I won't ever need a car to commute.

On the topic of cars, I have placed my Ford F150 Pickup Truck for sale on Craigs List (for New York). It has been a great truck, but I just don't drive it enough to justify hanging on to it. [It's white 2002, automatic w/overdrive, v-6 = better than usual gas mileage, less then 20,000 miles, A/C, CD player, extended cab with "4-doors"].

August 12 - 21 San Francisco California

I have been reduce to chauffer and driving a rented mini van around San Francisco for the past 10 days - but, what a great way to move people quickly around town.

San Francisco is a great city. I am glad my sister has been renting a house all summer, otherwise I don't think we would have made the trip because I would never have been able to pay for a hotel room for 4 (wife and 2 kids).

The San Francisco bike world is amazing. It is clearly obvious more people depend on two-wheeled transportation in this city than in New York. From bike lanes, bus mounted bike racks, etc.

Well, dinner is ready, so more on this later.

August 8 - Drove (convertible)

I have one more wake-up to go before I start a 16-day vacation. The last two days I gave up the bike commute for an extra hour of sleep, likely I will do this tomorrow too - but we shall see.

When I work 12-hour day shifts it is really difficult waking up at 3:30 AM, get on the bike at 04:30 AM, arrive at work and dry off and change, and then take over the shift at 5:30 AM is really very early. After working a 12-hour rotating shift for the past 6 weeks, by the last 4-days I am burnt-out and the extra hour of sleep I get by driving is well worth costs associated with driving

luckily, I have been driving my wife's convertible VW Beetle, not quite a bike, but with the top down I still have the wind in my face. The car also gets about 32 miles per gallon of gasoline (or it only cost me $5.00 in gas to commute 4 days).

There was interesting article in the New York Times on Sunday, August 7, 2005, Section 14 - the "Westchester" section, commuters Journal, "The Ride Is Sweatier But a Lot More Fun", by Jack Kadden. The article is written about those commuters who bike commute to railroad stations.

Thinking about what I have observed at train stations in the New York metropolitan area, if you add up all the bicycles chained "willy-nilly to signpost and railings" you will find out there are a significant number of commuters who rely on bicycles for some, if not most of their commutes. I feel if the number of uncounted bike commuters are organized they could become a strong lobbying group for getting better bike commuting infrastructure. If you count the 47+/- railroad stations in Westchester County (http://ny.existingstations.com/counties/Westchester.html) and conservatively estimate an average of 10 bike commuters per station, that's almost 500 people using bicycles as part of their commutes, and this is likely underestimating the real number!

There is a lot information on bicycles as transportation system solutions and how to integrate bicycles into every day commuting. With the price of fuel and the nation being obese, now is a good time to start bike commuting.

Ebike as a vehicle, not a bicycle.

On my commute to work this morning, aside from dodging juvenile skunks along the side of the road, I was revisiting a series of thoughts I have been having relating to the feeling I have that my bicycle is no longer a bicycle, it is a motor vehicle. Kind of deep, kind of obvious, and really dangerous, isn't it.

Adding the power-assist to the bike has definitely increased my top speed and dramatically reduced the size of hills (it has also reduce the amount of ga$oline I would normally buy). The added speed must release some type of adrenaline because the faster I go, especially in traffic, the more invulnerable (numb) I feel as a cyclist. I sort of relate this feeling to how when motorists enter their vehicles they quickly become detached to their surrounding environments and act in ways that lead me to believe when people drive a car their IQs are lowered proportionately to how much the car cost.

The last thing I want to be doing is be riding fast in traffic and feeling invincible. I am vulnerable, and I could easily find myself on the ground with thousands of pounds of motor vehicles inches from my body. These thoughts leave me feeling very uncomfortable.

Too bad that because we live in an over-automobiled world cyclists can't feel comfortable on the road. I guess this is a reminder to myself to be vigalant, remain aware, and not get too cockie.

August 6 - Morning Commute

Today's a first. I left the house at 04:30 this morning, in the dark. Riding in the dark is a blast, totally different from daylight commuting.

First, I don't recomend night riding for the week hearted or unlight rider. I have been riding the same route for 2 months and I have a pretty good idea of what the road conditions are along the way (i.e. where the "mother...." potholes are, road breaks, ripples, broken pavement, etc.). But in the dark, you don't see the road blemishes very well. It's a good thing to know your route well before trying it in the dark. One benefit to my ride is, because there is so much light pollution, there really isn't any strech of roadway you can't see except perhaps the surfaces that are in shadows - again a good reason to know your route well.

For safety, I wore a reflective vest and used 3-blinking LED reflectors (of course, I always wear a helmet). I am going to pickup a Cateye headlight on the way home today.

Regarding helmet use. About 12 years ago, a mentor in the consulting firm I was working in was riding his old black Raliegh home from the railroad station. A person delivering newspapers from their car was driving on the wrong side of the street and looking for house numbers, not looking at the road like they should have. Well Peter was hit head-on, thrown over his handle bars, and landed on his head. Peter wasn't wearing a helmet and died of head injuries. Peter was 64, a recent cancer survior, and 6-months from his retirement date. The driver of the car was found not guilty of anything and probably is still driving on the wrong side of the street somewhere. According to Peter's son and based on the type of injury, Peter would likely have survived had he been wearing a helmet. I now always wear a helmet - no excuses.

August 4 - $2.70 per gallon

Yep, on my ride home this moring I finally saw gasoline has broken the $2.70 per gallon mark.

I am off for the next two days and will not be commuting anywhere, but I will be running erands on my ebike, elebike, pedelectric, etc.

Right now I am off to the bank and wine store.

It's almost 95 degrees out, its the late afternoon, so what do I have to loose taking a 5 mile ride to the store? It sure beats driving.

August 3 - Scooter Dude Sighted Again

I saw the e-scooter guy again today. As we pasted he pointed to my hub motor and said "I see it!".

It was very hot today on the ride in, the local bank thermometer was showing 92 degrees and it was humid. I stopped half way in to by a lemonade which quenched my thirst and gave me a quick sugar boost.

The ride home today was surprisingly pleasant despite the high humidity. Using the panniers, I was able to get home with a dry shirt.

August 2 - Back and Forth w/panniers

Panniers are the best! Yesterday, I had to bring some packages to the Post Office so I grabbed my 17 year old Eastpack panniers and clipped them on my rack to carry the load. I had too much stuff so I also wore my back pack. However, today on my ride in I lightened my load and only used the panniers. My back was more comfortable and my shirt didn't get soaked with sweat trapped between my back and the back pack.

My panniers will now remain on the bike.

I now need a headlight and a computer so I can see in low light, and see how well I am doing. Now that I have the bugs worked out on the bike (I still want a new rear wheel, I need to adjust the chainring derailer, and I need to lube the bike).

My wish also includes lighter batteries. Lighter means going the same distance with less energy and easier climbing. Note: Lance Armstrong's bikes in the Tour De France weigh 15 pounds and some cost as much as $25,000. Look, he has light bikes and he goes really fast. I am guessing but my bike with motor, batteries, panniers, fenders, etc. weighs 70 pounds - that's a lot. If I could keep the motor and shave 20 or 30 pounds, I would be very happy.

Even at 70 pounds, my bike is doing really well considering the average car (not all those SUVs on the road) weighs about 3,500 pounds and gets about 21 miles per gallon (that's about 1.5 million callories per mile or 2,560 Big Macs per mile). On a good day the average car is driven 35 miles with most trips being under 10 miles. Now my 7.5 mile commute takes about 30 minutes by bike, 20 minutes by car. By bike, I use about 120 calories per mile, or about 99.92 percent less energy than the average car to go the same distance (the bike gets an equivalent of about 12,500 miles per gallon, or about 4.8 miles per Big Mac). Based on recent $2.67 per gallon gasoline prices, my energy cost to bike to work (after rounding) is $0.02 per day. Driving (because I drive a pickup truck that averages 15 MPG) costs $3.56 per day.

Now, my bike commute takes 10 minutes longer per leg, or 20 minutes more per round trip than by car. By bike comuuting, I am getting a solid 1 hour of aerobic excerise per day including a good upper and lower body muscle workout. When I commute by car I sit 40 minutes per day. To drive and get the same excercise I get when I bike commute, after sitting for 40 minutes I would then need to workout for and additional hour taking up 1 hour 40 minutes per day. By bike commuting, the extra 20 minutes I spend commuting, I save 40 minutes that I would otherwise spend excercising. My time, based on my pay, is worth about $50 per hour. So each day I bike commute I save $33.00 in time value alone.

August 1 - Scooters, Commuters, and Post Office

Happy August!

Today's commute to work - 1 hour!!!

On my ride in today, I stopped at the Mamaroneck Post Office to mail some packages for my side business (I buy and sell used books). The Mamaroneck PO has extended hours, now I know why. It takes so long for the clerks to do anything that they must have had to extend the hours just to do their normal work load. There were two people in front of me on line and it took twenty minutes to process one money order and two letters, then it took ten minutes to process my four little packages. It took over 30 minutes for normally only takes 10 minutes. I am going back to the Larchmont Post Office from now on.

I have seen a lot more motor scooters on the road, mainly being ridden by older individuals. With gasoline costing as much as it is, I am not surprised to see more people riding scooters. I just hope the scooters, with fewer air pollution controls, don't start becoming more of a problem than a solution to high gas prices as has been seen in some countries where scooters replaced bicycles and increased air pollution has been linked to scooter use. Considering the normal scooter trip is short, perhaps electric scooters are the better choice when buying one.

There are more bike commuters on the road. I don't think it is the warm weather, because it is too hot and humid these days. I am suspecting the $1.00 increase in gasoline price during the past 12 months has more to do with the increase in bike riders. Part of my observation is actually seeing more and more bikes on the road. The other part of my observation is seeing more and more bikes chained to parking meters, lamp posts, and trees. There are all sorts of bikes out on the road. Chain-store specials with names I'd never seen before, old name brand mountain and road bikes. Today I saw an old Raleigh in great condition. Now is a case where more (bike commuters) is better.

$2.67 per gallon regular gasoline

Almost half way through the summer, and I have only reached 20% of my goal to bike commute to work 42 days this summer (that's from June through September, and not easy considering I am only working 62 days during this period). I'll just have to mount up more!

I noticed gasoline has reached $2.67 per gallon this past weekend. As such the pay back on the electric conversion kit will be even sooner. Based on the cost of gasoline and tolls only (what I call my variable costs), and not including savings from reduce wear and tear on my vehicles, the exercise benefit/health, or environmental benefits, I have avoid spending $40.00 in gasoline and $12.00 in tolls by bike commuting. I have bike commuted 12 days out of 38 days during the past 2 months (or 32% of the possible times I could bike commute). My average cost avoidance is $4.30 per day. Based on today's gasoline prices, I need to bike commute 80 more days to pay back my cost for the electric conversion kit I am using on my bicycle.

Over the weekend I bike commuted errands three times (this is not calculated in my bike commuting costs). The Post Office/bike store/hardware store on Saturday, the bagel store Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon the pharmacy and grocery store. The car, minivan, and truck stayed in the driveway.

Thank you Lance.

Way to go Lance!

Regardless of what the Monday morning Quarterbacks are now saying about how good, bad, and/or indifferent Lance Armstrong's 7th consecutive win of the Tour de France was, his achievement is something no other human has done, or will likely do for a long time to come.

I for one have had my spirts uplifted and my feeling for hope of a better future are at an all time high after seeing Lance's victory and knowing what he had overcome to get where he is today.

Lance, if you ever read this blog, I want you to know I am one of the millions of lives you have touched, and I hope you continue your meaningful ways of being part of millions of more lives. Thank you.

July 17th - PM Ride to Work

I have eBike commuted 3 out of 4 days this week.

I took one day off (yesterday). Saturday morning on my ride home I ended up getting violently ill before I was half way out of the parking lot at work - thank heavens it was Saturday morning and it was early - more of a spectical I need not be. I must of had a 24 hr bug. I slept all day Saturday until I had to get up and return to work. I was so out of it that I drove the truck (reminder: minivan needs an inspection).

Looking into next week, I have three work days and they fall within "normal" working hours. I am tempted to eBike commute, but it looks like those days will be the hottest, muggiest, nastiest, and highest energy demand days of the year - a busy time when, like me, you work for an energy utility. Time will tell.

Today my timing was off by 15 minutes. Had I left the house 15 minutes earlier I would have missed getting soaked by a rain shower. I would have left earlier, but my wife was still cooking food that I was taking for dinner (considering food at work is twice the price, half the quality, and nowhere near the taste of TLC prepared home cooking, it was worth the wait despite getting a little wet).

I must remember to service the eBike. I need to lube the pedals and bottom bracket. I have accumualted a lot of road grime - despite the grime streak that went up my back on tonights ride in the rain. I also need to adjust the brakes and chain ring shifter.

I need to give some serious thoughts to whether or not to upgrade the eBike or get a new bike and convert it. If I upgrade the bike I need new brakes and tires, I would upgrade the rear wheel with heavier spokes, and I could also use fenders and a descent lighting system. Oh, let me not forget about the time to tool all these changes. Now a new bike with a conversion kit may be a little pricey, but if I sell the conversion - as is -, the cost of a new bike may only be a few hundred dollars more than fixing up the existing 10 year old bike, but amortized over 10 years, overall the cost of a new bike may be negligable. Anybody want to by an e-converted Cannondale M400? Price: $450.00

As I keep on dreaming, my next e-bike will likely be a recumbent. Recumbents are just too comfortable and fast, and with a little extra power from a motor, you're rocking.

July 14 - ride to work (gasoline $2.60/gal)

Well, tonight is the first night back to work after 16 days of vacation. We did a couple of interesting things, we house sat for my sister-in-law in Bangor Maine (Maine is Vacation Land!) and visited some touristy sites, we ate a lot of lobster meat, saw two movies (movies are a lot cheaper in Maine than they are here near New York City - I paid $4.50 for Adult tickets!), we kayaked, swam, and on the way home we went to the antique fair in Brimfield MA.

While in Maine, one day the Bangor Daily News had an article on this guy who is eBike commuting on a converted mountain bike and using NiMH batteries - way cool.

Last night I charged up my battery pack, and today had a very pleasant 30 minute ride to work. Seeing I haven't eBike commuted since June 23rd there were a few creeks and growns from the bottom bracket that I haven't heard before. It looks like I might need to replace some bearings - I'll lube them first, but I don't have a good feeling about this.

I am still thinking that a new purpose-built eBike is better than a conversion because I now have to deal with all the little anoyances you have with a 10-year old bike in addition to making the conversion and keeping that running too.

Gasoline is $2.60 per gallon. I bet we will see $3.00 per gallon by the end of the year. As long as I keep riding the bike, I can go 2 months without filling up the truck, 1 month without filling the minivan, and 2 weeks without topping off the VW. Basically, my gasoline expenses remain the same but my miles drivin drops. If gasoline goes above $3.00 per gallon, I will convert my delta trike to be an eTrike.

June 21 - On ride to work, "E" passes "E"

It happened today! I was 2/10 of a mile from the office and I couldn't believe what I saw... an eScooter!

It took me a minute to understand what I was seeing, but as soon as I saw it I knew it was different. This guy was on a Razor-style scooter, he was an adult wearing a helmet, and he was coasting uphill. Uphill? Then I saw how thick the deck was on the thing. No way! An eScooter!

I was lost for words, here I was in the middle of an intersection less than 20 feet from the guy and all I could say was "wow, cool, your "E"". His reply was "I see your fat hub motor too". We continued our separate ways like two ships passing. Will this ever happen again? Will I ever see another "E"? Perhaps this is just the begining, and maybe I will start to see more? I hope so.

June 21 - Ride Home

A little chilly this morning. I made the trip in 35 minutes. I cranked up the last hill with no problem. I read somewhere the hub motor smooths the hills, well it does.

I am starting to think of how I would design an eBike if I were given a blank sheet of paper. The two criteria I think are most important are 1) light weight, and 2) bomb-proof. More on this later.

Why don't more people ride eBikes?

June 20 - Ride to work.

With the batteries newly charged and a mindset to peddle as much as possible in as high a gear as possible, I made the trip in 30 minutes include one stop at the post office. I am confident that I will make it home on a single charge so I left the charger at home (it saves weight and I found out the "hard" watt that it is fragile).

I need to focus on the front wheel. It sounds like the spokes aren't tight enough - probably sloppy construction - I suspect the wheel was machine laced, not hand-built. I also need to tighten up the brakes.

It is amazing how heavy the bike has become with the motor and batteries. I notice the handling doesn't suffer, but the ride is harder. My plan still includes swapping the rear wheel with a 26" tandem wheel with beefier spokes. I should also swap from knobby tires to high pressure slicks.

I want to lower the battery weight and I think mounting them in panniers would be better than having them on top of the rear rack. However, 36 volts is 3-12 volt batteries or 6-6 volt batteries. The 6-6 volts will be too much weight, and the 3-12 volts will cause an imbalance, so I think 48 volts (4-12 volts, 2 in each pannier) is the way to go, but now I need to start thinking about a new controller and charger ($$$$$). I may be better off just buying a new Tidalforce S-750 X and spend more time riding and less time tinkering.

Last Week

Last week the new charger arrived from Wilderness Energy. I was on-call so I had the Company truck all week so it really didn't matter much. Two days were above 105 with bad ozone so I didn't attempt to ride. One day I was in New York City first thing for a meeting, another day I reported to a service center too far away to ride (40 miles) to for a 7:00 AM presentation, and then one day I pulled an all-nighter cleaning up an oil spill from a lightening strike that took out an oil filled pole-mount transformer (what a mess).

There was little time for riding until Friday. I used the e-bike to run errands Friday afternoon. I hooked the Burley trailer to the e-bike to haul the groceries. The trip was under 4 miles so I motored most of the way.

Saturday, the girls had their softball championship playoff game (they won - undefeated all season) and due to some logistical issues I ended up riding my 7 year old to the game in the trailer. Most of the trip was downhill but the motor helped on the uphills. I don't think it took us any longer to go the 3 miles on the e-bike as it would have by car because we pretty much paced traffic the whole way. After the game we went to Dudley's, a local bar with some o.k. food on a pier in the harbor - the fries are good for feeding the seagulls. After a "barge burger" and a pitcher of beer I peddled home - mostly uphill. The motor really helped here, but I did notice the batteries were not putting out as much by the time we got home. I figure round trip was 7 miles and the total weight with me, bike w/motor and batter, and trailer with 7 year old was about 400+ pounds. So, considering the amount of uphill, less than sober condition of me, all the weight, and the amount of throttle I used, 7 miles is not too bad a range for the 12 Amp Hr 36 volt battery pack.

June 6 - Nice ride home.

Less than 45 minutes - nice ride home (I rode the EZ-3 AX Trike). The last hill has tough - I bonked - should have eaten something before riding home.

I slept all day and got up feeling like road kill. This early in the season, and considering in what horrible shape I am in, taking the day off is a good thing. I'll ride a few more times this week.

Now that it is lighter earlier in the day I am seeing more cyclists during my morning commute - it's nice to have company. I am really enjoying the fairing too. I hear more of the bike than I am use to, but that is good. Flying down hills is a blast.

$15.42

$15.42, the amount of money I did not spent this week because I commuted by bike/trike.

Because the charger pooped-out on the ebike, tonight I commuted on the EZ-3.

Because my commute is about 60% rolling coastal hills and 40% flat, 30% of the trip is down hill and awesome to fly down on a faired trike. I still get the "silly-bike" looks, but I know I am leaving a green tread mark.

Scary moment happened on the ride in. At a intersection in the middle of Larchmont, NY, between the Starbucks and the Gormet coffee shop that are next to the deli where the "real people" buy their coffee, a young women driving a larger than large SUV was trying to make an unlawful u-turn ("ill eagle" is a sick bird - so say my daughters). Well she saw me, let me pass, but as I was right in front of her - inches from her bumper - she hits the gas peddle! I shouted "hey lady", and in her cute little suburban voice said "oh, I would never hit you" - Yeh right! I guess perspective is every thing [she should be driving a twike].

I have set my bike-commute goals for the summer (through September). I am scheduled to work 60 days between now and then. My goal is to bike commute 70% of the time (or better), or 42+ days. I have already bike commuted 6 days. I am at 14.3% of my goal.

June 4 - Charger not working

Can't believe it.... The Wilderness Energy (WE) battery charger crapped out. I contacted WE and they are sending a new one, but it sidelines the e-bike for a week. Tommorrow I am back to the EZ-3 AL trike. I can't believe I know have to pull out the soldering iron and take the charger a part to fix it before the new one arrives.

I am pricing the difference between my conversion vs. a new Tidalforce S750x.

June 3 - Still working night shift.

The ride home at 6:00 AM today was quick, 35 minutes. I didn't peddle too hard and there weren't too many cars on the road. The battery kept powering all the way home (7.5 miles). The last hill I hit with full throttle and I still pushed a pretty high gear, it took about half the time to get up the hill - a great boost.

The thumb throttle really started to hurt my thumb. I cut a 3/4 inch length of stout dowel and taped it to the thumb pad on the throttle, in effect moving the lever closer to my thumb - this was easier than flopping it to the other side of the handle bar.

The ride to work tonight was a blast - 30 minutes. I spun fast and actually overspun the top gear on a couple of the flats and all down hills - I should replace my chain ring with a larger ring set it will improve my travel time. I am still trying to find the limits to the battery pack, but tonight didn't even come close to draining them - they still should full charge by the time I got to work. I am thinking if I get a bigger chain ring, replace the rear wheel with a 40 spoke tandem wheel, and reshod the wheels with high pressure low rolling resistant AirFree tires I will probably get my travel time to 25 minutes [it takes 20 minutes to drive]. With all the tinkering, I can see the value in the Wavecrest powered bikes http://www.tidalforce.com/.

I have to keep reminding myself, this is an e-bike, this bike has a motor, the bike has a battery pack, this bike is beefy (almost 75 pounds), and this bike is much better than the moped I use to ride in 1980's.

Today I heard gasoline prices are likely to rise another $0.08 per gallon because the EPA is demanding oxygenated gasoline still be sold in New York State. I'll keep peddling.

Adding the dowel to the thumb throttle lever took a lot of stress off my thumb. I am thinking I will try a little longer piece of dowling - but this seems to be the solution.

Day 1 - 7.5 miles in 35 minutes to work

I am working the overnight shift. I rode my hybrid ped-electric e-bike. The battery is charging as I work. Note: I need to flip the thumb throttle and place it on the other side of the handlebar to reduce stress on my thumb and carple tunnel.

Today's was a pleasant ride. I noticed I made better time going through down-town areas than did the cars and trucks I passed along my route. I noticed a little road rage when one driver expressed discussed that I passed her for a fourth time (slow and steady rules!).

Even thought today was humid, I peddled the entire way using the electric on flats and up hills, and with the electric assist I didn't break too much of a sweat. My motor is "brushed", meaning there is a mechanical contection between the motor and the axle which is a source of internal drag. The drag is quite noticeable on the flats and up hills, but I find sending a bit of current through the motor eliminates the sensation of drag, and it makes peddling way easy. Essentially, the motor is on continuously except for going down hills.

I am still trying to get a sense of how long/far a battery charge lasts. So far, the farthest between charge distance has been 10 miles and there has been plenty of charge to get me back up to the top of the hill I live on.

Hybrid ebikes are awesome. Mine started life 15 years ago as a Canandale mountain bike that was a raffle prize from a local beer distributor. The frame has "Bud-Lite" stickers all over it. The bike served as my station bike for years until last week when my Wilderness Electric conversion kit came with a 1000 Watt hub motor and 36 volt 12 amp hour battery pack. My commute time is back to where it was when I rode the same distance on my Trek 400 road bike (that was 60 pounds ago), and I was way-less sweaty.

Why ped-electric hybrid? 1) I can. 2) This week gasoline prices are $2.25 per gallon. 3) I believe it makes a difference.

A note on the conversion process: I have found most local bike shops (LBS) don't really care much for do it yourselfers (d-i-y) like myself, and none of the dozen or so local shops I went to was knowledgeable or helpful with my conversion. My conversion required some work on the fork. I had the work done at a local custom motorcycle shop - they can relate to motors and two wheels.

My wish list includes a beefier 40-spoke rear wheel - perhaps one built for a tandem, up the voltage to 48 volts, lower the batteries - to lower the center of gravity, changes the batteries from sealed lead-acid to NiMH to reduce weight, extend range, and increase the lifespan of the battery, and puncture-proof AirFree tires.

The blog starts - why

I am a forty-two year old Environmental Scientist, father of two, and husband to one. I have travelled far, but home has always been within a three mile radius of Pelham Manor, NY in southern Westchester County, approximately 20 miles from the center of New York City.

During the past 20 years I have worked in the port and highway construction, and utility industries assuring companies and workers be safe and comply with environmental regualtions.

(Trying) to practice what I preach and leave a green foot print on our planet, from 1987 to 1995 my primary mode of commuting was by bicycle. Children, work location, and many other stressors relating to getting older and being burdened with more responsibilities limited my bike commuting to a few cerimonious times a year. So, between mid-1995 until the spring of 2004 my bikes got dusty, my kids got older, I gained almost 60 pound, and grew 10 inches rounder.

2004 was a banner year, the price of gasoline rose past $2.00 per gallon and our nation was at war because of how our energy policies have comprimised our national security. In an act of civil disobedience, last summer I resumed bicycle commuting and averaged bicycling to work 1 day a week [There is a little more to this than meets the eye because I have an alternative schedule where I work a rotating 12 hour shift schedule reducing the number of days I work per year to about 180, or only 1/2 a year].

My Ambitions for 2005 are higher (as are gasoline prices - locally $2.25 per gallon). I have invested in a fairing for my recumbent to help on the not so nice days, and I have converted my mountain bike into a hybred urban commuting machine. I have 56 work days between now and October 1st where I can bike to work. My goal is to bike commute 75% of those days (42 days).

So, here starts my Google bike commuting blog to document (log) and share my bike commuting experience(s). A previous log can be found here: http://www.easyracers.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1160