Dude, where's your bike?

The weather is perfect for cycling and I'm commuting in my rolling steel and glass cage this week. I have a number of rule 11 violations keeping me off the bike. I even missed Crit Practice tonight.

Not all is lost: The end of the week involves a trip to Spearfish Canyon Lodge with my wife, where there will be half a day of mountain biking on unfamiliar singletrack with a rental. Success means coming home with:

1. ...awesome pictures of waterfalls, granite spires and blue spruce forest
2. ...all teeth and bones intact

Don't worry, I will be commuting again next week.

I took a slight detour to scope out the construction progress of the new at-grade intersection of Randolph near Capital Parkway. It connects the "trail to nowhere" from the J-street underpass with the Capitol Parkway trail south of Randolph about four car-lengths back from the intersection. This eliminates stopping for cars at J street and reduces the chances of an inconsiderate motorist blocking the bikeway across Randolph. Winning all the way around!

When they finish re-grading the underpass at 27th and Capitol Parkway, my 7 mile one-way commute should once again be a leisurely 28 minutes, as opposed to a 28 minute hammerfest. The underpass is slated to be completed in November, just in time for Nokians.

In the absence of riding my bike, I searched the google news machine for some good bike-friendly news to keep my spirits up:

1. End of the road for motormania (New Scientist)
2. Bicycles can mean a cheap commute (Kansas City Star)
3. Commuter Bike Traffic Sets Record in NYC (Bicycle Retailer and Industry News)