This is the place where I'll blabber about my commute. Mostly my bike commuting, since that's (slightly) more interesting than the bus. Feel free to contribute.
This thread idea inspired by and basically a rip-off of Davis' Virtual Tour of America. So sue me.
184.5 miles.
It's the C&O Canal Trail, gotta be one of the best bike trails in the country.

We "bikepack" and stay in these hiker/biker campsites, like the one pictured above, and carry our stuff on a BoB.

[Edited by on Sep 12, 2004 at 09:30am.]
184.5 miles? Makes my ass hurt to think about.
This is the same trail you were doing in July?
This is the same trail you were doing in July?
Yes, well, we did the last 80 miles in July, I went out and back for 160.
184.5 miles? Makes my ass hurt to think about.
Bike butt is a training thing, get a good seat, (not a big fat ass padded thing,) and ride a couple of hours three or four times a week for two weeks, and your bike butt is fixed.
[Edited by on Sep 12, 2004 at 06:50pm.]
Strong winds and a forecast for rain kept me off the bike and in traffic. And added fuel to my fantasy of veering off highway 55 and baja-ing through the ditch to my destination.
Nice commute times, I'll bet!
WABASHA, Minn. -- With a State Patrol airplane overhead, a Stillwater
motorcyclist hit the throttle and possibly set the informal record for
the fastest speeding ticket in Minnesota history: 205 mph.
On Saturday afternoon, State Patrol pilot Al Loney was flying near
Wabasha, in southeastern Minnesota on the Wisconsin border, watching two
motorcyclists racing along U.S. Highway 61.
When one of the riders shot forward, Loney was ready with his
stopwatch. He clicked it once when the motorcycle reached a white marker on the
road and again a quarter-mile later. The watch read 4.39 seconds, which
Loney calculated to be 205 mph.
``I was in total disbelief,'' Loney told the St. Paul Pioneer Press for
today's editions. ``I had to double-check my watch because in 27 years
I'd never seen anything move that fast.''
Several law enforcement sources told the newspaper that, although no
official records are kept, it was probably the fastest ticket ever
written in the state.
After about three-quarters of a mile, the biker slowed to about 100 mph
and let the other cycle catch up. By then Loney had radioed ahead to
another state trooper, who pulled the two over soon afterward.
The State Patrol officer arrested the faster rider, 20-year-old
Stillwater resident Samuel Armstrong Tilley, for reckless driving, driving
without a motorcycle license - and driving 140 miles per hour over the
posted speed limit of 65 mph.
A search of speeding tickets written by state troopers, who patrol most
of the state's highways, between 1990 and February 2004 shows the next
fastest ticket was for 150 mph in 1994 in Lake of the Woods County.
Tilley did not return calls from the newspaper to his home Monday. A
working number for him could not immediately be found by The Associated
Press today.
Only a handful of exotic sports cars can reach 200 mph, but many
high-performance motorcycles can top 175 mph. With minor modifications, they
can hit 200 mph. Tilley was riding a Honda 1000, Loney said.
Kathy Swanson of the state Office of Traffic Safety said unless Tilley
was wearing the kind of protective gear professional motorcycle racers
wear, he was courting death at 200 mph.
``I'm not entirely sure what would happen if you crashed at 200 miles
per hour,'' Swanson said. ``But it wouldn't be pretty, that's for
sure.''
Crash a motorcycle going 60mph, crash a motorcycle going 200mph, it's all the same, so why fuck around going 60?
and furthermore.......
I'm not sure I'm buying that 205, that's pretty fucking fast, even for a Moto GP, or a Superbike.
I'm gonna Goggle.
The fastest Moto Moto Gp speed I can find is 332 KPH= 206 MPH and change.
It seemed weird to me too, so I double-checked the numbers in the story here:
http://www.1728.com/velocity.htm
If the guy in the plane truly timed him at 4.39 seconds for a quarter mile, that does indeed translate to 205.
</mathgeek>
[Edited by on Sep 21, 2004 at 08:21pm.]
ya but its a stop watch that goes by the "hand" and your flying a plane......so
lets say you "stopped" it fast...now your "off" 196.08mph for 4.59
2 tenths of a sec. isn't much.
True, true - which is why I'm glad they use the freaking stopwatch - you can get off with much slower tickets typically. They refuse to believe just how fast you're going. Highway 10 from Moorhead to D.L. one summer, three of us - I was on the slowest bike, and had it topped out around 130 for much of the way - they got us with a plane, and I got the fastest ticket - at 76 MPH. Must have caught us in a slow quarter mile - that and we were passing back and forth all over, and with similar red/black paint/leather color schemes. :)
Ah, to be young and that insane again...
Wouldja really want to?
No.
yes...if i had the $$$ that I make now...
Update. I rode my bike today, and now it's raining. Grumble.
I'm leaving work in 5 minutes, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining. And that, friends, is the power of clean living.
Clean living?
Who are you and what did you do with the Frosti we know and love?
Out of season update over at the "One Lap" thread.
Ride home was beauty. About 15 km on the day, average speed of 22km/h.
I was bored this afternoon....so....went on the LightRail to check out the route for bar hopping in the future....
Â
sweet!!!!!!!
but I swear the bums are riding this sucker all day long!!!!
I got off on everystop just to check out the area and the if any bars in the local area....(did some geocaching as well).
but as I got back on the trains...you'd see the same people that you saw on a different train...this happened to me multi times.....
Â
heck looks like a good place to stay warm to me...and get a ride to boot.
They were test running it down here by the MOA yesterday. Soon you can add the bars up there to your list too.
I'm not sure if I could handle a full bar ride!!!
lets see...start at the bars in moa, bar at38th, bars at franklin station, bar at cedar and riverside station, bar at metrodom stop, bars at nicollet mall (i assume), and then warehouse district!!!!
Â
then round trip!!!
oh and a bar at fort snelling...
I think I like this Kitch guy. What ambition!
but I swear the bums are riding this sucker all day long!!!!
I swear, I was only on twice!
There's ambition, and then there's insanity. :)
That could be a fun idea though!Â
First Annual Get Lit on LRT! (I can make t-shirts!)
I kinda did a little on thurs nite...made 3 stops!!!
my favorite stop is the END of the LINE...you get out and hmmm  (RIGHT THERE!!!!).......I like this bar..but not today....I'll be back.....
clue... "Cover*****"
Oh, that end of the line. Yes, I know what you're referring to.
Do they serve booze there? I thought it was 18+ and no alcohol.
not sure if they do or not....didn't go in...and I don't recall..
So, all talk and no action Kitch? ;-)
ONE BIG PROBLEM the light rail only runs until like 1:05A.M. and I didn't realize that....
Is the reason I didn't go in.....I was running late!!!!
True dat.Â
On topic, my commute this morning was ugly. I believe it was due to all the people who voted and were encroaching on my regular commute time. It only took me about 10 minutes to vote.
I had the day off yesterday, so it's not a true commute. But I took our leaves to the recycling place and then made a stop at Home Despot. On the way back I ran out of gas, literally. I accepted a ride from a nice lady who saw me coast to a stop so I could eat my freshly purchased burrito while it was still warm. Then I rode my bike to the gas station with the Burley attached, filled the gas can and rode to the car, filled the tank and drove home.
Gas gauge not working again? :)
You know I came very close to running out of gas yesterday. Put 15.7 gallons in a 16 gallon tank.
When we lived in Utah, almost everyone carried full five gallon gas cans in the back of the vehicle. 3 hours to nearest town with a shopping mall, flashfloods that took out roads, 120 degree in the shade temperatures - not a good place to run out of gas.Â
Beautiful though.
Take off, the gas gauge never worked.
Really, it doesn't. I use the trip odometer to keep track. I had gone 330 miles since the last fill-up, and I figured I should have about 20 more to go. Whoops.
It's all those jack-rabbit starts, you hooligan. ha!
It's all the idling in morning traffic behind the numbskulls on the Mendota Bridge who can't read a "lane ends merge right" sign until they're 30 feet away from it.
they know it's going to end, they're just trying to get ahead of 3 extra cars - the same idiots drive up the 35W ramp until it parallels 77, and then try to cut over and get pissed when people won't let them in.Â
<sigh>Â some people's children.
They just make me so mad!
Try laughing hysterically at them as you let them merge in.  Works for me. :)
get outta the car...and beat them up!!!
Â
oh wait...not a good idea...hmmmm.......suck it up.
Well, it appears they have opened the other lane, so we'll see what tommorow brings. (I went in super early today and drove to downtown, so I didn't get to experience the full traffic cluster fuck that is the Mendota Bridge this morning)
This morning on LRT, I watched some guy stagger down the platform and almost fall onto the tracks in front of the train. He boarded sucessfully. He was later removed by the transit cop. It was 9am, and this guy was tanked.
sorry
No big deal. He didn't cause any trouble that I could see. I think the transit cop pulled him off because he didn't have a ticket. It gave me something to do while I was on the train. Other than covertly stare at the girl with the best ass in the world, that is.
the same idiots drive up the 35W ramp until it parallels 77
which ramp is that?
On northbound Cedar, before the MN River bridge.Â
Pagination