This has been a few days of small bad things. I’ve been tracking #ThreeGoodThings every day and while it wasn’t hard to find good things this weekend, it also seemed to be a few days of ridiculous (and small) bad things. Don’t worry. No one was harmed in the making of this blog post.
First, as regular readers of the blog know my knees are happiest when I spend some time on my bike everyday. Friday wasn’t a good day for riding–I was going into Toronto after work–and so I hopped on the trainer early in the morning and did a Zwift work out.
All fine, except for the heat alert and lack of air conditioning in the living room. I was drenched when I got off the bike and grabbed the nearest towel. Sadly it was the dog towel and so I ended up covered in dog fur and had to have a serious shower. Not the best start to the day.
Second, I’ve transferred my PRESTO card (Toronto Transit and GO trains) to my phone, but now my card doesn’t work and I struggled to get my phone to successfully tap. And you have to tap on and off, and it was a struggle at both ends. And yes, I know I can use my credit card but I don’t like that idea. Also, new technology I don’t like makes me feel old.
Third, I got to Toronto’s Union Station just fine and switched to the subway where I promptly fell asleep and missed my stop. I jumped off and rather than switching trains and going back I walked in the heat back towards where I should have gotten off the train. Nothing too bad so far, just an extra couple of km’s walking in the warmth of the city.
Fourth, Saturday’s morning’s bike ride was going great until all of a sudden I couldn’t shift. I couldn’t shift because I hadn’t charged my fancy electronic shifters so far this year.
Here’s what I posted on social media:
“Beautiful but steamy Saturday morning, unexpectedly single-speed, ride. Two months seems like the middling wrong time for a charge to last. Not a whole cycling season but not a weekly charging habit like my Garmin and lights. #bikesky“
“If you’ve been riding since early spring, now is the time to charge your Di2 shifting. Ask me how I know. Oh, Watson Hil,l you’re not made for single speed riding.”
“Thanks to all the cyclists who said encouraging things but there was no way I was going to make it in the convenient middling gear Shimano dumps you in when your electronic shifting fails.”
Here’s the photo Google made to commemorate the ride:
Fifth, today’s ride was another heat alert road ride. We’re trying to ensure we get out there and ride short distances to acclimate to the warmer summers. This summer seems to be shaping up as just one heat wave after another. And of course that’s going to be true in years to come. I’m worried about it.
But on this morning’s ride I thought we were going super slow. Perhaps we were just tired from the heat and yesterday’s ride? 18 km/hr isn’t a very speedy speed. I pushed and tried to go faster, but it made me feel worse. Turns out it was miles per hour, and my Garmin had somehow swapped from metric to “statute” as the Garmin says.
Sixth was another technical bike issue. Sarah and I started the ride with identical heart rates. We were amused for a while until it occurred to Sarah that both of our bike commuters were synced with the same heart rate monitor. We tried riding separately to see whose heart rate dropped off the screen of her Garmin. Turns out that Sarah’s heart rate monitor strap needs its battery replaced.
Here is a photo from this morning’s ride:
OK, there were also lots of good things too. A friend’s work was part of an OCAD queer art show, good movies–I loved Sinners–lots of yummy food on the BBQ, beautiful time on the bike with the wind whooshing by and making the heat tolerable. Mostly good!
But we need to get our bike tech in order.