Rounds 39 and 40, on off days

Normally, I work Monday to Friday.  Meaning, I bike to work Monday to Friday, and destroy the environment on the weekends only using my Honda CRV which my girlfriend drives 99% of the time.  This week, things are a little different.  I had Thursday and Friday off, and work today and tomorrow.  This begs the question, “do I have to ride my bike to work on the weekend?”

Initially, I would say YES, because they are technically work days,  however, I’m going to go easy on myself, because yesterday and Thursday I put at least 3 or 4 times as many miles on my bike riding to the gym, to the mall, to the other mall, and to a downtown errand than I would have simply riding my bike to and from work.  I may be in the gray area here, but I’m still giving myself the victories.

Thursday was a very ugly day.  I had to wear all the rain gear everywhere I went.  On one stop, at Sears in the Hillside mall (I was shopping for a heated mattress pad) you could literally hear my shoes/pants/jacked sloshing and squeaking up and down each and every isle.  Because I couldn’t find what I wanted at Sears, I stopped in at The Bay downtown.  Another swing-and-a-miss.  Add 2 squash matches in there, and yea…my quads are sore.

Dave: 40

Global Warming: 0

Round 38 Light my FIRE!

Both my lights are essentially dead.  My front white “lantern” style light, and my rear red “flashing” light don’t cast enough light to scare off a vampire.  I’m at a crossroads, do I replace the batteries, or buy better lights altogether?

When I bought these lights in the first place, I didn’t know much about commuting everyday on a bike.  To me, all lights were essentially the same, so I did what I figure most people would do:  I bought the cheapest thing I could find.  At the time, I didn’t understand the importance of being seen, at a much higher rate than not-seen.  I haven’t had any close calls, thank goodness, but I’m not feeling too confident about my current lights.

I’ve see other cyclists with front “beam” style lights that are so big and bright,  from a distance, you’d think their ten speed was a chevy cavalier.  A month ago or so, I saw one cyclist with a strip of lights, that ran in the spokes of his bike, that flashed 4 or 5 different colors!  As much as I’ve praised Mountain Equipment Co-Op in the past, they fall short when it comes to bike lights.

At MEC they’ve got the basics, and a few lights I’d consider a “step up” but nothing really high-end.  I figure if I’m gonna splurge on 2 things, it should be lights and a helmet.  After all, aren’t they the most important safety features on your bike?  My shopping starts tomorrow.

Because I have to be in Oak Bay for a dentists appointment at 4 tomorrow afternoon, I think a stop in at Oak Bay Bikes would be prudent.

Dave: 38

Global Warming: 0

Round 37

Yesterday was a win for me.  37-0 is the running score (in case your wondering)  Longer blog coming later today!

Round 36

Today was a piece of cake, but tomorrow and Wednesday will be challenges.  A 4:00 am wake up call, for a 5:00 am start at work.  I’m again filling in for Zone Morning Show co-host, and news man, Jason Lamb.  The motivation will be the same as last week:  a thermos of hot coffee in the saddle bags.

Earlier in the summer I had my bike tuned up at Oak Bay Bikes. I could feel the difference right away.  The gears shifted easier, the pedal strokes were smoother, and there were no more “rubbing” or “clicking” sounds coming from my chain, wheels or shifters.  Those days are over, and I’m experiencing some problems again.  It’s strange, with my car, I only ever took it to the shop every 5,000 km for an oil change, or when the “Service” light came on.  With my bike, I’m much more in tune with its performance issues.  I have promised myself a new bike after 1 year of riding to work everyday.  I’m starting to think the “Prairie Bullet” won’t make it that long.

My plan at this point is to “ride it into the ground” and spend as little as possible to keep it on the road.  If new wheels, or other parts become necessary , it’ll be time to splurge on a new bike.  My man at Oak Bay Bikes, Nathan, told me the time to buy is November or January anyway.

Dave: 36

Global Warming: 0

Round 35 The Olympic Torch is Important

This morning the majority of my neighborhood was blocked off, reduced to one lane, or was an overall blocked off mess as t.v. trucks, police cars, and other Olympic vehicles and people locked down the 2 block radius around the BC Legislature grounds.  The torch arrived in Canada, and its first visit was 2 blocks from where I live.  Just take a second to imagine how difficult that must have made driving in and out of our small village of James Bay…

Now that you’ve pictured the worst, and all but felt your own internal temperature increase, and bloop pressure spike as you imagine yourself caught up in that gigantic traffic snafu, imagine this…

Riding a bike.

On my bike, the entire production was nothing more than something to look at.  No extra stops, no detours, just business as usual.

Dave:  35

Global Warming: 0

Round 34

Wow.  4:00 am wake up call, and a bike to work in the rain.  As Jeremy pointed out, the idea drinking a thermos of coffee when I got to work, kept me going.

Dave:  34

Global Warming: 0

Round 33

I win.  What else is new?

Dave:  33

Global Warming: 0

(pretend I wrote this yesterday, caus in reality I forgot)

Round 32 The first true test

I knew the day would come, in fact I’ve known for a while that the day would be:  TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd

But it’s been moved up. Now the day is:  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29th.

It’ll be a real test, biking to work at 4:30 am.  That’s right, 4:30 am.  I’m filling in at work for everybody’s favorite local news voice, Jason Lamb.  I can’t imagine I’ll get out of bed early enough to actually DRINK coffee before I go, so the plan is to make a big thermos of coffee to pack away for the road, and use that “reward” as an incentive to bike to work for 5:00 am.

Dave:  32

Global Warming: 0

Round 31..High Five M.E.C

I cycled to work and back today, no big deal.  I win again, Global Warming.  Ok, to the point.  Customer Service.

Is it just me, or do you rarely feel fulfilled after a run in with a businesses customer service representative?  Normally, when I try to return something, or exchange something, or ask for help, etc. etc. etc.  I’m left with the impression that the company doesn’t really care about me.  For example:  I spent over 45 minutes on the phone (long distance) with Shaw Cable a few weeks back, to straighten out my cable package.  In the end, I changed my package (from what I was told should make me happy) and bought NHL center Ice.  After the experience I thought:  “hold on.  I’ve just had my time wasted, and in the end gave MORE money to the company that did it to me.  Something is not right here”

Well, at Mountain Equipment Co-op on Friday, I was treated like a king.  I accidently bought 2 left rain booties back in August.  They were also a size too small.  I *might* have been in MEC for 10 minutes returning them, and when I left I had 2 new booties (the right size, 1 right and 1 left) and a smile on my face.  They took back the old gear (I did have my receipt) and even apologized for perhaps “confusing me” the day I bought the first set of booties because they may not have been attached together in a pair (1 right and 1 left)  Imagine that, a company APOLOGIZING because one of their customers (me) wasn’t paying attention in the isle and at the till.  That’s customer service to the power of 10.

Dave:  31

Global Warming: 0

Left Rain Booties: 1

Right Rain Booties: 1

Round 30…two left feet?

Months ago, Literally…months (September 12th to be exact)  I bought rain gear at Mountain Equipment Co-op.  I had no idea our summer would extend into mid October, I was hoping for the best, and planning for the worst (my dad would be so proud) Religiously, I packed the rain gear in my saddle bags to work and home each day, knowing the rain could be just around the corner.

Now the rain is here, and finally I got to slip on my ” over shoe booties” this morning for the ride to work.  At 6 am is was raining BUCKETS.  By 8:30 am things had died down, but there was still enough precipitation to warrant my full cache of rain gear.  I pulled out my rain booties, and realized:  I bought TWO left booties.

So not only did I carry the things around for months, I carried around the technically wrong gear.  Bummer.

I’m off to MEC tonight to exchange them. I can’t wait for this conversation:

Me:  Yea, so I’ve got 2 left booties.  Can I exchange one?

MEC Guy:  Sure.  But why did it take you over 60 days to figure out you had bought the wrong equipment?

Me: I got nothing.

Dave:  30

Global Warming: 0