@ascentale @wesley @bikenite
#BikeNite A5a:
The most I have ever ridden in a year is 11,117 miles and that was 2020. I was newly retired and in a pandemic, what else was there to do all day?
I have a friend who rode 13,000 one year. That seems impossible to me as it is over 35 miles/day.
My best month was July 2020 when I rode 1462 miles.
Once my wife retired (she is younger than me) our joint travel plans have limited my riding somewhat, and visiting grandchildren lowers the amount too.

@natematias @ascentale @pete @bikenite
I have a Zoleo satellite communicator, and I carry it whenever I am biking or camping where cell service might not be available.
I've never used it for an emergency (thank goodness), but it does allow me to text my wife to check in, usually from a remote campground.
#bikenite

@meganL @ascentale @pete @bikenite
I'm a USA AAA member, but you are correct about the enshitification. You are supposed to get bike service, but their app doesn't accept those requests, and if you call the 800 number you may wait hours to get a real person to accept the bike request. I tried once when I was stranded 10 miles from my car in the middle of Wisconsin, and ended up getting a ride from a kind stranger.
#bikenite

@ascentale @atrombone @bikenite
#BikeNite A8:
I've had good luck with Topeak racks; I've had three, on different bikes, fat, gravel, hybrid.

@ascentale @pete @bikenite
#BikeNite A7:
It depends how far and whether my wife is in town and not busy with volunteer activity. The last time I was stranded 13 miles away after a rock sliced both tires, my wife came to the rescue. A couple times I got a flat about a mile away and then chose to walk home to change the flat in a warm, dry garage instead of on the side of the road.

@ascentale @bikenite
#BikeNite A6:
I prefer a helmet with a visor and one that is highly rated with MIPS protection.

@ascentale @wesley @bikenite
#BikeNite A5
I've averaged over 9000 miles over the prior 5 years, and am on track to get close to that again this year, barring illness or injury.

The biggest limiting factor is long cold Minnesota winters.

@ascentale @cpm @bikenite
#BikeNite A3:
I have a GoPro Hero 4 (smallest form factor), and had a helmet mount. However on several occasions I got very hostile reactions from folks nearby, so I instead now use a handlebar mount on the rare occasions I video my rides.

@ascentale @bikenite
#BikeNite A1:
I'm posting from home in Rochester Minnesota while watching some Stanley Cup playoffs.
Since retiring and due to the pandemic, I had taken to riding alone, and that still predominates. Prior, the majority of my rides were group road rides. I still do occasional group social rides, and am a ride leader for many of those. The group road rides start at 6pm to accommodate working folks, but I prefer riding earlier in the day.

#BikeStreak Day 32:
We have house guests coming in the afternoon, so I had to ride in the morning. It was yukky, cold (for May), cloudy and windy. So I rode my road #bicycle on the #RochMN city trails for 34 miles. The Zumbro South Trail now has the copious Virginia Bluebells blooming, and it will probably peak in a couple days. I'm using the Seek app by iNaturalist to record the flowers I see, but now also the fungi because I am such a fun guy! Better weather is coming! Yeah!
#BikeTooter

When I ride my #bicycle in or near traffic, I regularly encounter drivers going way too fast. And it just seems to be getting worse.
Q: Do you know where I encounter drivers going too slowly?
A: On the acceleration entrance ramps to freeways.
I can't understand why drivers who have a quarter of a mile to accelerate up to freeway speed are still going 30 mph less than the speed limit when they get to the merge point. It is so painful, difficult, and unsafe when you're stuck behind them. Sheesh

#BikeStreak Day 31:
It is a busy day and a rainy day. But I managed to mostly miss the rain as I rode my #ebike to have coffee with my hockey team as usual. But getting there wasn't usual. Due to utility construction, park construction and road construction, I was forced to take three separate detours to what is normally a simple, mostly multiuse path route. The detours add one busy road crossing, while making another very safe as the busy road is closed just past the crossing.
#BikeTooter

@ianrbuck
Well I should have checked the website before I rode. It says they are closed November 1 through April 30 to protect the hibernating bats. So I came 1 day too soon! :(
I did see a bat fly through a side crack in the door, so hibernating was done.

@jerzone I've only ever ridden a short section, Hill City to Crazy Horse and back, but it should be a great way to see the hills without worrying about dealing with cars.

#30DaysOfBiking Day 30:
I am training for a trip to ride the entire Mickelson Trail in South Dakota in a few weeks, so for today's ride, I tried to emulate that ride as best I could locally. I hauled my gravel bike to La Crosse Wisconsin and rode the La Crosse River and Elroy-Sparta State Trails for 60 miles. The tunnels on the Elroy-Sparta are still closed for the season, so I just rode to the entrance of Tunnel 3. It turned out to be a nicer day than the forecast; that was nice.
#BikeTooter

#30DaysOfBiking Day 29:
It was cloudy, cool and windy this morning, so I waited for the sun after lunch and was rewarded with a pleasant spring ride. I rode my road bike on the Douglas Trail to Pine Island and back for 45 miles. The ephemeral woodland wildflowers were all in bloom: Marsh Marigold, White Trout Lily, False Rue Anemone, Bloodroot and Virginia Spring Beauty. The American Plum trees are now blossoming and the crabapples will be very soon.
#spring
#BloomScrolling
#BikeTooter

#PowerOutage
But a couple decades ago, I lived outside the city limits on a rural power cooperative with above ground infrastructure and we encountered multiple hour outages every few years. Being also on well water and having a disabled child, our contingencies were: 5 gallon filled water container and a small generator (for some lights, gas furnace fan and ignition and refrigerator).
With our climate crisis and possible deathly heat waves, air conditioning contingency may prove critical. 2/2

#PowerOutage
Reading about the Spain/Portugal widespread and lengthy power outage got me thinking again about contingencies. I live in a city with a large medical center and multiple tech industries, and robust electric power infrastructure. I cannot recall a power outage lasting more than a few minutes in multiple decades. So our contingencies are just battery backups for computer, Wi-Fi, and TV so a 5 minute outage does not even disrupt anything we're doing. 1/x

A discussion I had recently has me thinking about the role of enforcement in #SafeStreets, and the short answer is: I don't like it*. What? Why? We want our streets to be safe! We need enforcement!

Sure. But by the time enforcement happens, the dangerous thing has already occurred. Safe infrastructure needs to be designed to prevent dangerous behaviors from occurring.

1/

#30DaysOfBiking Day 28: Now back at home, I took two rides on a cloudy and very windy day, with rain and storms in the forecast. The first was a 7 mile ride to the grocery store and back on my e-bike for a few essentials. I was surprised by a rain squall that got me wet on the way home. The second ride was on my road bike which I got back from the LBS this morning after a shifter repair. I did a checkout ride on the Chester Woods Trail, 21 miles. I spotted some blooming Bloodroot.
#BikeTooter