Still life with lunch

Starting the week off right

Fan Art

No apologies! Bikes forever! Yeah!

Morning bike ride - not a win

I tried to do a dry run for next years commute this morning. I did not make it.

But, on the upside I ended up riding approximately the same mileage as one way of the commute will be, and while I was winded and sweaty and generally smelly, I am confident that I will be able to do it within a couple of more tries. I mostly turned back because of dangerous roads, but with better planning it's going to be a lot of fun.

Taking a break

More then ever, though, I'm going to have to acknowledge that the Casseroll is not a speed demon. It's real purty and is a nice comfortable set of wheels to have under you, but I got passed by a stripped down road bike which whizzed on by while I was peddling around with my pannier and girly helmet. That was a pretty definitive end to feeling like a badass.

Reflecting

I haven't written much in the past two months. I was on a good roll for a while; I don't have much of an audience, but it's nice to write to an unseen crowd anyways. Right at the beginning of May I finished my first year of classes, then immediately took off and went home for a couple of weeks to see my family and friends. I was feeling very overwhelmed and homesick, and it was nice to be back in the Northwest for a little while.

It was an okay trip overall, it was nice to see my mom, although my trip to see my friends actually turned out to be a disaster; I lost what I thought was my boyfriend (it's a slow motion train wreck, I'm still dealing with it now) and my visit with my friends was a little underwhelming. This is a hard year, I think, but I'm learning a lot even though I'm resisting it.

Getting back to work was actually a relief in some ways. Now that I'm strictly focused on the research aspect of my work I'm a lot happier, and even more so now that I'm working with my hands and getting really into the instrument work. I love making things and teasing things apart, and there is plenty of that to do right now. In the next couple of weeks I'll be joining my field campaign, and will have plenty of work to do as well as the added benefit of shaking up my life a little bit and getting me out of my routine. Lots of variety is the secret to a satisfying life, so yay?

Bike Update

Well, it's about time that I did a little review of my Salsa Casseroll. I bought my bike on April 1, and I've ridden it nearly every day since I brought it home, excluding the couple of weeks I flew home. I love biking, but I am so not dedicated enough to take a bike on a plane.

When I started looking for a bike, I had a very specific plan in mind. I wanted a steel frame with a classic look, lots of room and flexibility to add on accessories, drop bars, and a build that I would be comfortable taking over reasonable rough terrain. When I move in August I'll be about 15 miles away from work, so I needed to upgrade if I wanted to keep commuting by bike; in any case I needed something a little more comfortable and tough for the kind of riding that I'm interested in. My choice really ended up being narrowed down to the Surly Cross-check and the Salsa Casseroll (2011 versions of each).

The Casseroll!

I won't lie, these bikes are very similar. They vary a little bit in components and geometry, but for that I was looking for in a bike either would have been a bulletproof choice. I ended up going with the Casseroll for a couple of simple reasons - the slightly higher quality of steel, the triple gears in the front, and the integrated front rack were worth the small price bump, and when taken together these perks made it a better bike for me. I would still like a Cross-check very much, but I would keep it as a cross bike, not the commuter and go getter that the Casseroll has become.

All put together and looking Awesome

I bought the bike from a local place as a pre-built bike, because I am so not good enough to build a bike from the ground up yet. We added a couple of components right away - Velo Orange hammered fenders, a Brooks saddle and a Bontrager rack (in silver!), and swapped out the stock integrated shifters for bar end shifters (I'm picky). The final bike was a dream realized, we nailed exactly what I was looking for.

After riding it for a couple of months, I'm still very pleased with the bike. Because it's so much more comfortable to ride then my previous bike I've gotten a lot more fit! The Casseroll is a great bike, its completely solid and it can handle a load with no problems. I haven't put much on the front rack yet, but with some panniers on the back it's pretty great; I can't say it improves anything, other then that I don't have anything on my back.

Not a great photo, but isn't she pretty.

The only I don't love about my setup relates to my fenders. I have a lot of toe overlap with my front wheel. There wasn't really a way around this; I'm a smallish lady so I have the smallest of the frames, and with toeclips on my pedals it's pretty much inevitable. Normally this is fine, it's whatever. But the Velo Orange fenders are a little touchy, and they get out of alignment pretty easily - any little bump will do it, and I seem to do this ALL THE TIME. It's awful. We've actually had to readjust their position a couple of times and I've finally reached an uneasy truce with the fenders. I think if I was going to do it again I would spend a little extra money and get a more solid set. This and the light rattling will probably lead to a fender upgrade with in the year.

Problem fenders

Outside of that, I'm well pleased with this bike. It's pretty much the perfect bike for what I wanted, and I can't wait for my long autumn commutes. I'm slowly working on cutting down how much I use my car (I'm to a bimonthly fillup!) and I would like to keep up the momentum once I move further away from my work.

Bikes make everything better, including looking at flowers

Updates and all that

It's been an interesting couple of weeks! I finished up my first year of classes at the beginning of May, then went home immediately afterwards to unwind and visit my friends and family. It was a good trip overall, although it started on an emotional roller coaster. Not my favorite, and I'm still sorting out my feelings about the whole thing, but overall I feel lot better. And it was nice seeing my friends, although I wish I could have had more Fun with them, rather then the abbreviated visit that we had.

After a few brief days with my friends I went south and met up with my mom, and we spent about a week together. We went from Port Townsend to Portland, and it was a great visit. We didn't do a lot of adventurous stuff, but it was a delightful time. I got a lot of reading done, and caught on my sleep and we had a lot of great meals. My mom has a fantastic new place which is evocative of the place we had when I was in high school, so it's out in the woods and extremely serene. I was sad to leave at the end, both for personal and cultural reasons; Personally, love and family and all that; culturally, I miss the weirdness and the familiarity of the west. The east seems so boring and tame after being home.

Other then that, I'm back to work and feeling a lot better about that whole science thing I'm involved in. While I'm involved in environmental and technological research, a lot of it feels like arts and crafts, which I love. I learned how to use power tools yesterday morning, I feel like such a badass! I'm going to be well rounded after all this training. I'll be all, high heels and table saws yo.

I have also discovered honey whiskey, with the expected results. I woke up yesterday bruised and muddy, with a vague idea about where I crashed my bike. Which I need to put up some more photos of, if my stats are to be trusted. I wish I could make this into a biking-lifestyle blog, but unfortunately I'm just not that active an adventurer yet. Someday :)