23 Consecutive Bike Commute Days, Still Tryin' Out Gear

Funny how day to day the weather "predictions" change and, often, have no resemblance to the previous day's 7 day forecast. So much for our super sunny days to close out the week. As you can see, lot's of clouds for the afternoon ride home. That's the Burnside Bridge in the picture.

This morning was mostly foggy and another pleasant ride in with Evan. Mostly low gear spinning again.

Today, I used a new backpack and it actually felt good weight wise and the space between my back and the bag part of the backpack did leave the back non-sweaty. Will have to use it a few more times to be sure. Still need to work out a likable way to carry my cell phone and camera. That is one of the nice things about my messenger bag is the strap is ideal for attaching the phone and camera pouches. For now, I'm attaching the pouches to the waist strap of the backpack. (Backpack is a Lowe Alpine Active ND25 Women's). Plus, the Sea Blue color is pretty cute, don't ya think?

I think I need to do some minor adjusting to my cleats, shoe to pedal feels a little off. I'm not sure why I struggle with this adjustment so much, but it takes a lot for me to get the combination to be just right. I wish they could invent a really good fit tool. I'm glad my pedals are the dual platform style, Shimano cleat on one side and a platform style on the other. This allows me to use any shoe, as well as, I can clip out and just use the platform side. That helps when I am trying to figure out where my foot feels right on the pedal.

Monday will be 100% commute by bike for January. My total miles will be just under or near 290 miles. Equating that to driving, that is almost a full tank of gas saved because I biked. Plus I do less short trips and less midday driving, so I think my savings is up even more. Have to be sure to drive on weekends to keep the battery charged up, though.

The ride home was a bit more tiring, as I rode my solo route which has a bit more steep sections than the longer round-about route when I go to Evan's school first. Definitely could feel Harrison St climb today. What was fun was there was another cyclist who jammed the flats through the Ladd district and certainly rode faster down the few descents. But, yippee, skippee I caught and passed him on the climbing sections. Yay for being smaller, so likely lighter.

If I keep using the road bike I should get stronger faster getting up Harrison St. (from 21st to 60th) for those 2 miles.