Saturday, May 10, 2008

bike buckets on the bike

Here are a few photos of the bike buckets mounted to my commuter bike...





a new superhero

From the Monty Python British comedy TV show...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

first bike commute for 2008

My first bike commute for this year was uneventful.

I left home for work between 6:00 and 6:10 this morning and I was at work before 6:30... probably by 6:20 or 6:25. Being downhill on the way to work, it goes fast, but I keep it pretty sane. No wild speed or risky moves. My normal schedule doesn't have me start until at least 7:00 in the morning. (I have to be in Seattle tomorrow very early for an awards presentation so I will be driving to work and into Seattle).

In the early morning today, I was photographed with my bicycle at our transit center with my boss in a vanpool van for a local business newspaper article about employees' commute options in our county.

I got off work around 4:30 and headed home (uphill ride and some walking... OK, about a third of the trip was walking). I got home just after 5:00 to the cheers of the kids and my wife, Christie, who were waiting for me in our driveway.

Today I did also try out my homespun version of a "bike bucket" I made last weekend. It's shown in the photo below mounted to the bike rack.


Here's a look at what the hooks and mounting look like. Pretty simple and easy to find parts if you know your way around a hardware store and can use simple tools. I think I did this in 30 minutes or less.


The item in the lower portion of the bucket side is a bungee cord used to keep the bucket on the bike when empty/nearly empty. If I were to modify this trial version, I would likely add another bungee or elastic straps to connect the sides of the bucket to the rack and prevent forward-back sliding. Perhaps if the hanging hooks were dipped/painted in plasticote type rubberized material this too could prevent the sliding that can occur on a hill due to the lack of friction between metal-to-metal.

Monday, May 5, 2008

year 2

Tomorrow, I plan on doing my first bike commute for 2008. It's Bike to Work month again and I'm a team captain again. Our team is the Cedar River Riders (CR2).

We have two teams of ten riders already established and hopefully, we might develop at least one more team of at least 4 riders to participate.

Winter hung on into spring for us, so it has been cold (snow a few weeks ago with hail storms the following week!) I'm eager to get out of hibernation.