Here are a few steps to keep you from having to “fix a flat”:

1. Keep your tires inflated to their correct PSI. Soft tires will get you a flat out on the road in no time. Soft tires compress to the road and and object they may pass over. Instead of repelling the object in question, the tire will welcome it into your tube.
2. Don’t run over garbage. Simple but effective. By reducing the amount of broken glass and gravel you traverse you limit the chances of receiving a flat. It is never possible to completely avoid debris in the road but you can certainly improve your chances.
3. Armadillo Tires. This brand of tire, made by Specialized, is great at resisting the urge to flat. They are heavy tires, they are difficult to get on your rims, and they are a bit on the pricey side, but these tires are spectacular at avoiding flats. If you’re going to purchase any single product to avoid a flat this is it. If you’re changing a few flats a week, or even a month, these tires will quickly pay for themselves, not to mention alleviate the aggrevation of changing a flat on the road.
4. Tire Slime. Placing liquid goo in your tires can add heal leaks as they occurr. This works great for smaller incisions and tears that would normally cause you to receive a slow leaking flat. This will not help much with a hard blow out. In fact, it may even leave you with a bit of a mess to clean up afterwards. It is however another reasonable solution.
5. Tire Liners. A piece of hard plastic that guards the area between your tire and your tube. These act as limited coverage protection against flats. Popular brands include SpinSkins and Mr. Tuffy.
6. Air free tubes or tires. I haven’t yet assessed this option myself as it is a bit out of my price range (and the Armadillo Tires have worked wonders), however tires such as GreenTyre, StopAFlat, and AirFreeTires. I’d be interested in hearing others opinions of these productions.

Today the excitement and anticipation had worn off and the fact that I’m actually commuting on a bike to work set in.  It wasn’t an overwhelming thought, but more of a happy one.

It took me about a mile to get into the ride and after that it was smooth sailing.  I think I’ve found a great route to start tweaking.  The base of the route is about 7-8 miles of bike lane along a relatively stoplight free road. The other two miles are either inner city traffic, slow but easily navigable, or through suburban areas which is relatively car free (although it has a few speed bumps — yuck).  Today I made the 9.7 miles in exactly 45 minutes. This includes stopping of course. That means I’ve averaged 13 MPH.  I’m looking to manage 15 MPH to work, which can happen if I suck it up on the hills.

Understanding hills seems very important to the commute since I have quite a few of varying grades. I’ve found some information online that seems to have some tips, however it does seem that practice and training is very important as well.

I definitely think that gloves are a necessity.  I’m going to try and take a look this weekend for a decent pair.  Fortunately they don’t cost much money so it should be a decision of what seems to work best, instead of what I can afford.

Things learned biking today:

1. Hills can make or break you. Assessing the hill and choosing the right gear and right approach is very important. Must try this out tomorrow.
2. Posture is not easy to fix. Continue to work on posture, it’s something to always try and be conscious of until you are able to do it without thinking.
3. Weight matters.  Carry what you need but nothing more.  Easier said than done it seems.

Yesterday after work I took a trip over to Two Wheel Tango to check out their street bikes. They have quite a nice selection of bikes and I was pleasantly surprised with the help I received. After approximately 1:30 hours and a bit lighter wallet I walked out the proud owner of a Trek 1200. It looks just like the picture.

I purchased a few necessary accessories, like a helmet, front and rear lights, and an odometer. Most of these are safety oriented, and the odometer is geared toward knowing when to get the bike tuned.

I’ve been looking at different routes to take into Ann Arbor for awhile now. The gmap-pedometer has been an invaluable tool in determining mileage estimates. Of course nothing beats actually driving the car around the routes and checking the roads out, which is what I proceeded to do to verify the course would be acceptable.

I haven’t settled on a specific route, however I’m working out the method of least resistance traffic wise. In other words, the less cars that pass me, the better.

Fortunately Ann Arbor has quite a few bike lanes on the roads so I’m matching up my route to best utilize those routes. This map, although rather general has been extremely helpful in determining bike routes as it outlines which roads have bike lanes, bike paths, sidewalks, etc.

Another useful resource for determining the Ann Arbor’s bicycling/commuting routes and benefits has been getDownTown. They have a nice list of resources, links, financial calculators (who knew you actually saved money riding a bike to work). They also have a list of events to hook you up with others of similar interests.

One things that I have been particularly interested in, paranoid about, and continue to strive to achieve is safety. I’ve learned the basic hand signals and have been learning how to avoid common accidents.

Some of the tips you receive are initially counter-intuitive. That is until you actually spend some time on the road. At that time you can see tips such as, “Take the lane when cars are passing you too close” makes quite a bit of sense. A car is much more likely to see you in slower moving situations when you are not hugged directly up against the shoulder.

I believe the best advice I’ve read is that although bikes have just as much right to the road as cars, it doesn’t do you any good if you’re dead. So in other words, be safe, be commanding, but above all, be smart. Just because you can do something on principle doesn’t make it a safe or intelligent thing to do.

The COMMUTE

The commute I have is approximately 9.2 – 10 miles depending on the route. Most of the route is covered with bike lanes, making me feel much safer. Since it’s only been a day, I will certainly be tweaking the route however I’m happy with the initial research I did, along with the advice of a coworker who is very familiar with the area and biking.

I managed to make it through torrential downpour for approximately 10 minutes. Good thing I have a water proof backpack. It was both exhilarating and exhausting. Quite an amazing first day of riding.

There are a few things I’m looking into to improve the ride, suggestions are more than welcome:

1. A waterproof biking backpack – Something like this, but significantly less expensive. I need something which isn’t as bulky as the current North Face day pack that I have. It looks something like this, but a bit bulkier up top.
2. Bike shorts – My ass can only take so much. After a ride, I’m starting to think the girl who suggested the bike shorts might be right. I’m going to stick it out for at least a week or two to see if the seat breaks in like others say however.
3. Lightweight Lock – You never know when you may need to lock the bike up. Unfortunately most lightweight locks are cables, which are crap. The decent locks are 5 pounds. That is a heck of a lot to carry around. Definitely need to look into this much more.
4. Sweet Peddles and Shoes – Sure I made it through the rain in running sneakers, but I’ll begin to drool over biking shoes and new peddles. Not a necessity by any means, but I nice upgrade when the time comes.

Some things I have learned on the 1st day of commuting to work via bike:

1. Don’t overdo it. You don’t want to feel like you’re going to vomit as you walk into work.
2. Bring a water bottle. You may not think you need one, but even a half full water bottle in your holder could be a nice refresher as you wait at a red light. Double so on the way back home after a long day of work!
3. Sidewalks suck. Sidewalks are dangerous, it hurts like hell with a street bike, and pedestrians feel uncomfortable as you fly by. You’re much better off, and safer riding in the road. I saw a statistic that said for every bike accident on the road there are 1.8 on the sidewalk. Scary, scary stuff if you’re a sidewalk rider.
4. Posture Matters. I haven’t had enough practice to get it quite right, but it definitely makes a difference the more miles you roll.
5. Ride where people can see you, but if they don’t see you, they don’t hit you.

Here’s hoping tomorrow brings more wisdom with the commute to work, along with a sunny day.