Turning Two into Twenty...

Hello, friends! 
Confession, I have never lived in a city with a spectacular public transportation system.  In Orange County, everything was far too spread out to be useful.  In Saint Louis they have the Metro, which is great for going to the airport, but not too much else.  In Columbia, the busses run, but not for very long, and not to anywhere west of downtown.  That is one of the reasons why I love biking so much.  I can go pretty much anywhere on Sulu.  There is one downside to biking instead of driving.  It sometimes takes me a touch longer to get places.  Sometimes that touch longer can lead to a big difference. 

Yesterday I had to head up to Staples to make some copies so I could bring them to campus.  It was a simple, 5 minute job.  All I needed was 20 copies of a flyer on cardstock then cut into quarters.  Simple enough, right?  Since I would be heading straight to campus from Staples for a meeting, it made sense for me to bike there then bike straight to Mizzou.  All said and done, it's probably about 2 minutes faster to drive than to bike, which is usually worth it. 

EXCEPT, when getting there two minutes later means you end up BEHIND the guy with the really long order instead of BEFORE him.  Oy. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not faulting the guy for having a large and complicated order.  He got there before I did and he had every right to ask for his photos to be copied on a certain type of paper.  It is not wrong for him to have multiple sheets that needed to be copied in different quantities.  Please understand that he did nothing wrong.  Nor did the gal behind the desk.  She was attentive to the customer and making sure she got the order right.  Everyone did exactly as they should have done. 

But understanding the situation doesn't mean I get to cut in line.  So, as a 5 minute job turned into 20 minutes of waiting for a 5 minute job, I started to freak out a bit.  Should I say something?  No, I don't want to be THAT guy, right?  Do I go without the copies so I can make it to my meeting on time?  No, I need those copies to give to students so they can promote our upcoming event.  I was stuck. 

Fear not, dear reader.  I eventually got my copies done and my student was very gracious in my being late (I texted her beforehand) so everything worked out ok.  It just made me think about how two minutes can turn into twenty.  It's like missing the subway or bus (here's the public transportation tie in.  I'll bet you were wondering what that first paragraph had to do with anything, right?).  Another one will come along soon enough, so there's no need to worry.  But, it'll be a bit, so a small miscalculation leads to big(ger) ramifications. 

Stats:
Places traveled: Staples, Campus, Home, Campus, Downtown, and back Home
Distance traveled: 10.5 miles ($.88)
Meters: Campus 4 hours ($4.00) + Downtown 2 hours ($1.20) + Campus 1 hour ($1.00)

Total: $8.08
Grand Total: $103.03
Left to Save: $471.60

Happy Biking!

~Adam

If you give a bike a fender...

Hello, friends!

First of all, it is GREAT to be back and riding again.  While I was traveling the world (ok, so it was Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and California) I very much missed riding my bike as well as blogging about it!  I'm sure you, my faithful 10 readers are glad to see me back too.  (Here's hoping 10 isn't too generous).  =0).

Greedy mouse probably wants a bike too!

Do y'all remember the children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"?  I can't say that it was one of my favorites (that would be reserved for "I'll Love You Forever") but it's a solid kids book.  The basic premise is that this kid gives a mouse a cookie, which leads to the mouse wanting milk, then something else, then something else, until it leads to this big ordeal that was much bigger than just a cookie.  Honestly, whenever I read the book I got a little bit miffed at the mouse because I thought he was being greedy and also at the kid because he was being pushed around by a mouse. 

Anyway, I think the moral of the story is about incidentals.  Nothing is ever just what you think it is.  It is sort of like the second part of Murphy's Law: everything will cost more and take longer. 

The reason I started thinking about this is because I broke down and bought the fenders for my bike.  The weather is great now, but I know it will be turning nasty at some point and I'd like to keep myself clean.  I figured $30 was worth not being ridiculed by students for muddy clothes. 

I took Sulu down to Josh at Walt's, my friendly neighborhood bike shop and he did a great job putting the fenders on.  He was a little backed up when I dropped it off so I picked it up the next day on my way to something else. 

Here's where it starts to get into mouse-cookie territory.  I toss my bike into the back seat of my car like I normally do, but now the fender sticks out so the car door won't shut comfortably!  I do a little adjusting, eventually get it in there, slam the door, and I'm on my way.  Later, I take the bike out to go for a ride, but the fender was bent by the car door!  Thankfully, it was an easy fix, but now I have a situation.

What I really should do is get a bike rack for my car so I can transport the bike without messing up the fender.  But if I get the bike rack then I need to get more gas because the wind resistance caused by having a bike hanging off my trunk will hurt my fuel efficiency.  And so the story goes...

You see where this is going right?  I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems, but right now I am a bit perplexed.  Here's hoping I don't end up with too many more steps in this conundrum.

Stats:
Places traveled: None
Meters: None
Cost of Fender: $32.19

Total: $32.19
Grand Total: $94.95
Left to save: $479.68

Happy Biking!

~Adam

Hibernation...

Hello, friends! 

Well, the end of the semester is here and I am up in Iowa for Regional Staff Conference with coworkers from Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.  From here I will be heading to South Dakota to spend a week with my (extremely beautiful and wondeful) girlfriend's family before heading to California for Christmas, New Years, and the start of 2012! 

All this means that I will not be pedaling anytime soon.  So, I will be on a bit of a hibernation.  Fear not, friends!  Penny Peddling will be back before you know it!  Until then, take solice in these last few stats:

Places traveled last week: Campus a few times, Home, Bread Co. and Plasma. 
Distance traveled:  12.1 miles ($1.03)
Meters: Downtown 6 hours ($3.60) + Campus 3 hours ($3.00)

Total: $7.63
Grand Total: $127.14
Left to Save: $447.49

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and, as always, happy biking! 

~Adam

Ah, my kingdom for a cap!!!

Hello, friends! 

I am in  no way a Shakespeare buff but I know a few things here and there.  One phrase that I have heard time and time again is "My kingdom for a horse!"  You can watch Al Pacino nail the line here.  (Start at the 4:00 mark).  The line is from Richard III.  From what I understand, Richard is in battle and loses his horse.  Well, no horse means you have to walk.  And walking means it's harder to get away.  Meaning you're more likely to get killed in battle.  This may be interpretation, seeing as how I've never actually seen the play, but that sounds about right, doesn't it? 

So what does Richard III have to do with my bike?  Was I in battle and couldn't get away because my bike was off somewhere?  No, not quite. 

One of the things that I like about Sulu is that he has a quick release front tire.  This makes it much easier for me to take the front tire off and fit him into my car so I can take him to Saint Louis.  Actually, when I was looking to first buy a bike, I was first looking at folding bikes for this very reason.  I'm glad I didn't overspend on something I didn't need.  Anyway, the way that the tire works is that it has this bad boy running through the tire.  The hook looking thing is a lever that allows me to tighten and untighten the screw.  The cap on the end acts like a nut, keeping the screw from falling out of the tire.  It's a pretty simple contraption, but quite handy. 

A few weeks ago I was in Saint Louis with Sulu and getting ready to go on a ride, except I wasn't.  MY TIRE HAD LOST ITS CAP!  There was no way that I was going to ride with a front tire that was not fastened properly.  This was a very bad thing.  The cap could have been anywhere.  The day before I had taken the front tire out of the car (but not fastened it) so I could move some things around so I could have dropped it then.  It could have been somewhere in my trunk, but with all the junk I have in there, trying to find it would have been a lost cause. 

This all happened the day before I left on a trip to the East Coast so there wasn't anything really I could do about it.  I enjoyed my Thanksgiving with the fam (including my adorable niece), came back to Missouri, and drove home. 

Guess what I found in my driveway when I returned.  My cap!!!  My guess is that when I first unscrewed the thing to put the tire in the car it fell off then.  Thankfully, there was no rain or high winds to wash it away.  Hooray! 

Here are the stats for today.  It's been a while since I've riden due to some traveling, so today felt great! 

Places traveled: Subway, campus
Distance traveled: 3.5 miles ($.29)
Meters: None

Total for the day: $.29
Grand Total: $119.51
Left to save: $455.12

Happy biking!

~Adam

Stat Check!!!

Hello, friends!

I said a few weeks ago that I knew the math I had done thus far had gone awry at some point, so I resolved to go back and count everything so that things were proper.  Boy am I glad that I did! 

As of yesterday's post, I had written that I have saved $93.38 to date and that I have $489.25 left to save.  Apparently, I cannot add in my head as well as I thought I could.  According to the auto addition feature of Microsoft Excel, here are the actual stats, not counting today:

$ Saved to date: $116.42
$ Left to save: $458.21

I was off by over TWENTY DOLLARS!  Man, that certainly changes things, doesn't it?  We are moving along quite nicely.  We'll see if we can't get this whole debt canceled by the end of the school year, yeah? 

Here are today's stats:
Places traveled: Campus
Distance traveled: 3.4 miles ($.30)
Meters: 2.5 hours on campus ($2.50)

Total: $2.80
Grand Total: $119.22
Left to Save: $455.41

Happy Biking! 

~Adam

Banners are not my friend...

Hello, friends!
You guys, fair readers, are my friends.  Would you like to know what are not my friends?  Banners.  Banners are not my friends.  I don't mean the banner ads that are right next to this blog post.  No, those banners do not bother me and can actually be beneficial in many ways. 

The banners I am talking about are the physical banners than one puts up when one wants to draw attention to something.  For example, let's suppose that you were a campus staff worker who wanted to draw attention to the table he set up in the student center.  What would be a great way to bring eyes to that table?  A snappy banner, of course!  Why yes, a banner would do just the job of telling everyone that you were there. 

Here's the problem.  Let's suppose that said campus staff worker wanted to bring the banner to campus by riding his bike.  Ah, now we have ourselves a problem.  See, because banners are not condusive to being toted via bike.  The dimensions are all wrong.  If our dear staff worker tries to use his bike rack and set the banner in securely, it will jut out 3 feet from the back, upsetting the balance and ensuring that it will fall onto the side of the road.  To put the banner horizontally across the rack would mean that while biking, the banner would stick out from both sides, possibly hitting pedestrians or getting hit by cars. 

So what does our staff worker do?  He puts it vertically on the rack, but slides it forward as far as he possibly can, such that the banner is sticking between his legs.  This would not be a problem if the banner was directly parallel with the crossbar, but doing that would mean that the banner would no longer be on the rack and would fall off to the side.  So, the banner has to be at a slight angle, meaning our poor biking staff worker has to pedal bow-legged to campus.  Friends, this is not a fun situation. 

In conclusion, biking with a banner is hard work.  Next time I'm using the baby jogger. 

Places Traveled: Campus, Plasma, Bengals
Distance Traveled: 6.0 miles ($.51)
Meters: 3 hours on campus ($3.00) + 2 hours downtown ($1.20)

Total: $4.71
Grand Total: $93.38
Left to Save: $489.25

Happy Biking! 

~Adam

To Fender, or Not to Fender... THAT is the question!

Hello, friends! 
Sorry it has been a bit since I have posted.  Apparently when I am not constantly reminded that I have been riding Sulu, I forget to post about it.  I'll try to do better.  (Hmm, doesn't that sound familiar...).

It's raining today.  It rained yesterday.  There's a chance that it will rain tomorrow.  This brings up a very interesting question that I need to consider.  Should I throw down the money for some fenders? 

Yesterday, even though it was raining, I decided to bike to Staples to get some copies done.  It was a light rain so I figured it wouldn't be too dangerous.  I got to campus ok from a safety standpoint, but from a fashion standpoint, things were looking bleak.  My pants and backpack were definitely splattered with rain and mud from Sulu's tires.  I'm not the most fashion conscious guy in the world (Meg will tell you the same) but from a business standpoint, it seems to me like it is more likely folk will take me seriously if I don't look like I need a hot shower and some wet wipes.

So, I have 3 options.  The first option is to get over myself, save the $, and just deal with the rain... and the snow when it comes... and the rain again in the Spring...  The second option is for me to buy some fenders for Sulu.  My friend Josh says that they'll run me about $30, which isn't terrible, just more than I'd like to spend given that the whole idea of me biking everywhere is so that I can save money... My third option is to buy one of these.  It still won't solve the problem of my pants getting muddy, but I sure would look cool, wouldn't I?!  =0). 

Here are yesterday's stats:
Places traveled: Staples, Bengals for Monday Night Football
Distance traveled:  7.0 miles ($.64)
Meters: None

Total for the day: $.64
Grand Total: $88.67
Left to Save: $493.96

Happy biking!

~Adam