No bike again…what's up with that?

Yes, I’ll admit it – I didn’t ride my bicycle again today. Do keep in mind, gentle reader, that biking isn’t supposed to be torture, and even if my government seems to think it’s peachy-keen, I don’t – most especially when it’s applied to me. I do have my reasons (read “excuses”) and for today, they sufficed…
1. My knee is still problematic and I wanted to rest it another day
2. My rear wheel still needs to be trued. I had no time yesterday, seriously
3. I wanted another hour of sleep which truing the wheel and riding would have precluded
4. I have a haircut scheduled shortly after work and don’t want to be all sweaty
I’m hoping that the extra day off will allow me to ride tomorrow, even if I don’t put in my now normal 20+ miles on a weekend day.
Interestingly though my knee does bother me a bit, riding is easier than walking, especially when I remember to keep the gearing such that I put very little pressure on my knee. The late Sheldon Brown says this:

A principal cause of knee problems is over-stress as the result of using too high a gear.

It’s possible that I’ve been guilty, especially in a couple places on the road that I’ve got to go through to get home and want to get through quickly because I hate the traffic there. The worst for me is corner of Punahou and Bingham where traffic is heavy, there is a freeway off ramp coming into the mix, there’s no shoulder, and folks don’t seem to give the leeway they do even a block or two away.

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If I could avoid this intersection easily, I would, but it’s the main freeway crossing near my home. The next closest isn’t really any better and has the disadvantage of being even longer. I can keep my passage through here to just a couple of blocks before turning off, either to Clark St. or by…Ouch…riding on the sidewalk through Punahou Square before getting back on the road.
Mostly I suspect this is all in my head, no one has come close to hitting me except one kid in his hopped up Toyota and he probably would have come that close were the only vehicles on an 8 lane highway – he got some pleasure out of seeing how close he could come as far as I could tell.
All of that just to say I didn’t ride to work today. Hmmmm…. 🙂
The bike plan for the rest of the day is pretty simple. After I get back from my hair appointment I’ll try truing the rear wheel and go from there. I may try a couple of miles to a meeting tonight just to move a bit, but I’ll keep it very low key.
Tomorrow will be a different story. I’ve got to decide if I’m going to ride at all and if so, how far do I go? I’d hate to go out Sand Island and discover I can’t ride back. On the other hand, I don’t want to ride around my block 200 hundred times. 🙂
I guess I’ll just have to play it by ear though it’s clear I do not have perfect pitch!
Still this article from today’s New York Times really, really, really makes me want hop on my bike.

Thanks to Drunk and in Charge of a Bicycle where I first saw a note about the article!
Aloha!