biking bits

[jazzfish]

As of yesterday I've developed a sore spot on the inside/back of my right hip, at a contact point for the bike seat. Excuse me, saddle. I'm not sure whether it's a bruise or a stretched muscle. I'd been thinking "bruise" but this morning it started out sore and felt much more neutral after a five-minute walk. I can't figure out a work-appropriate way to stretch it, unfortunately. Ibuprofen it is. I'm not sure whether the saddle needs adjusting, or if I just need to adjust to it.

I'm taking the bike in tomorrow anyway to get a rear fender attached. I rode home yesterday through a pretty good rain. That's still a surprisingly pleasant experience: the rain keeps me from overheating, and not having glasses means I can see in the rain, which is neat. But the pannier and the back of my jacket are both mildly mudspattered, and I'm told a fender will help with the worst of that.

The other thing about biking in rush hour in the rain is that it feels ... unsafe? Unpredictable? Impossible? I get a sense that there's no way I can possibly be sufficiently alert to account for all the cars and the pavement and the weather conditions and whatever else. That it's only a matter of time before something unpleasant inevitably happens. That part is less thrilling.

Comments

[graydon]

I don't know what tyres you've got. MEC probably put something decent on there, but I don't know what it is. The question for hydroplaning purposes is "mountain bike" (transient hard surfaces only, otherwise dirt) versus "commuter" (many hard surfaces, often sheeting with water because Vancouver). You could probably ask the folks at MEC about this.

(Schwalbe is Very Good for tyres, especially very tough tyres. Living somewhere the streets sparkle with glass fragments makes me indifferent to tyre price if the tyres don't get flats.)