Look up! Look down! LOOK OUT! Look around!

January 13, 2016

Although you may not be able to tell from this blurry photo, it was soggy out for awhile, then it was

cold, but now it's just right.

Here’s a great new light I got for Christmas!

I attached it to the back of my helmet so that people could see me sooner when they're cresting a hill I am toiling laboriously wheezingly over.

I also got a sweet wheel set!  

Thanks Mary and Amazon.com wishlist! Yes, as you may have previously discerned, I am a spoiled brat.

I also gave a sweet compass-bell to my uncle, based on the uncertain directions we travelled upon during last summer’s Heatstroke 100. 

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_173403_-1___

I hope you gave and or received some bicycle-related gifts over the holiday season.

Now that it has often been snowy and/or icy, some of my usual paths are a bit too snowy/icy for my taste.  I’ve had to modify my usual workplace commute to take advantage of less-trafficky and less-snowy/icy roads, sidewalks, and multi-use trails.  It is about ½ mile longer in each direction, but, now that I’ve adjusted to it, it’s kind of nice to be on some slightly different roads.  I feel that variety can be good for the palate.  

Some people have a bicycle or two that they prefer not to pedal in the cold.  Winter for bicycles, much like lawn mowers, can be a good time to get some maintenance work done on the trusty steed(s).    That reminds me that I should call the lawn mower people to get them to do a tune-up.  My mower is not bicycle-powered like these mowers, but I kind of wish it was. 

http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/the-cutting-edge-bicycle-lawnmowing.html

Maybe I’ll put one on my Amazon.com wishlist for next year.

Today the President was in town!  Our governor Peter Ricketts was a little pouty and was reluctant to come to see him.  That was probably because good ol’ PR and I usually try to get out for a nice spin around town on Wednesday afternoons.  

http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/private-donations-equip-troopers-to-ride-with-gov-pete-ricketts/article_65d6fcfd-33e6-5f65-863f-b04323f03b2d.html

I am the guy to the left of the governor guvnah' who was cropped out of the frame due to my too-bright Illuminite jacket and my typically sullen and disheveled demeanor.

I had been trying to get our Commander in Chief to join us for awhile, but he did not return any of my texts.  Too many emoticons, I imagine 8-(  Hence PR’s disgruntlement. 

I also was in danger of bumping into 1 pedestrian and 1 fellow bicycler this a.m.  8-0  That is because it was cold and I was keeping my head down to keep my face somewhat sheltered from the damp, chilly air.  Also because I normally encounter nary a soul outside a vehicle on my way to work at the aerodyne carbide refinery.  I should try to look up.  Another way to look at things is that things are looking up!  More pedestrians and bicyclers = better chance our fair to fairer city will merge into the fast lane to multi-modal transport paradise!

So, until next time, I am sorry I almost ran into you.  And, as Jack Horkheimer would say, “Keep looking up.”