Bicycle Lights

As I was riding to work this morning, about 6:30 while it was still dark, I saw ahead of me the faint silhouette of a bicyclist crossing 3 lanes.  WOW.  They had no lights.  This was an area where cars speed by at 50 mph.
I have added lights over the years, first to be seen, then to be able to see the road ahead of me.
I now have a red rechargeable blinking light on the back of my helmet, and a rechargeable light on the top of my helmet strong enough to light up the road ahead of me.  I also have lights on the front, varying from two to three, battery powered,  And one light on the back of my seat, a red blinker, battery powered.
When I just had a single light for the rear, I did find at least once that the battery had died and I had ridden home with no shining light to warn people behind me.

My first solar cooker

I have been meaning to make a solar cooker for several years, and have been looking at designs and YouTube presentations of different styles.  Encouraged by an ad recently designating Father's Day weekend as solar cooking day, I started putting some things together.
My idea was to use an old charcoal grill and a Dutch oven somehow.

I made some sketches, and took some measurements, and this weekend, a week late for solar cooking day, I cooked my first items.
I decided to use the box within a box with insulation.  Having some cardboard around the house, I fashioned a 14" square, 12" high, around a 10" diameter Dutch oven.  I used a 14" square picture frame with glass for the lid.

Insulation tucked in around the outside of the box is some fiberglass insulation I had in the basement.
I found a picture frame, 14"x14" with glass, that went on top of the box.

My first attempt was to bake two apples, cored, for one hour.  That was not enough time.  We were out that afternoon, and my second attempt with a sliced cored apple was mildly successful.
Oven Temperature remained 150 deg.F throughout.
My next phase of cooking will to be improve the efficiency of this oven.  I read that I should be able to get 250 to 300 degrees in the oven.
Some improvements to make:
     -use a top with a more sealed connection to the box.  There are gaps in the present configuration.
     -Try to track the sun more.  The best heating was when the sun was high in the sky.

Lessons Learned:  Solar oven cooking has a different time frame, on the order of hours.
I have a lot to learn, and hopefully will be able to improve the product and/or build alternative designs every weekend from now until the end of the summer, on the weekends.

October 2015 Bicycling report.

October 30, 2015
BIKING TO WORK
The first week of this month I went over 1000 miles for the year commuting to work, based on an 8 mile round trip.  It the snow doesn't fly for another two months I should reach 1300 miles for the year.
We visited Portland Oregon this month to visit our daughter.  The back roads in our area of the city all had speed bumps with a narrow lane through for bicycles.  We learned to take the major through streets in our Prius to avoid them.  Our housing was a cottage in the Alberta Arts district that we had located through AirBNB.  The amenities we really liked were the clothes washer and dryer, and the full kitchen.
We walked alot around the area, but no bicycling.  While there, on tv they showed a horrific bike/pedestrian accident.  The light had changed, the lady started walking across, and a bicycle coming down a hill in the bike lane  hit her at full speed.  The lady went to the hospital with broken bones.  There is an ongoing investigation.  WATCH OUT when walking across bike lanes for high speed bikes that aren't looking.

Obstacles for Bicycles in my commute to work

JULY, 2015

I didn't see this one coming, Flat Tire

Oil and gravel on the road by work.  Slower travel on the side of the road for bicycles.

From June, 2014

Some items on the side of the road

Not a large obstacle

After a storm, down branches migrate to the side of the road

This drainage grate was hidden under a puddle on a rainy day when I hit it.  Fortunately I didn't get thrown from my bike, as there was traffic

On the Road Again

Tuesday, March 11, 2014 first bike ride to work this year.  Temperature was in the 40's.  Perhaps my last ride for at least a week, as the temperatures are lunging tomorrow.  Last year, 2013, I started on February 15.

Broken Glass

Flat tires on my bike.  What a pain.  This past October I had two flat tires.  Here is the culprit in my flat tires, broken glass.  Once it gets a hold on my tire, it works it's way up through the tire.  When it gets thru the inside of the tire, it punctures the inner tube and the tire goes flat.  This glass seems to be everywhere along the sides of the roads that I ride to work on.

A bicyclist died in Syracuse

This past weekend a bicyclist died.  According to the newspaper a 19 year man was killed when his bicycle veered off the shoulder into traffic.  The location was on South Bay Road under the route 81 bridge.   It was 8:30 at night.
I am familiar with the intersection.  At that location the road is a divided road with 4 lanes in each direction, including on and off ramps for route 81.  And it is the only road connection in that area between Mattydale and Syracuse to the south, and North Syracue and suburbs to the north.
I talked with a fellow bicyclist who had recently come thru this area in an effort to find a bike path from his house to work.  His experience was that is was very difficult to change lanes, and hard to cross the road.  Very difficult in that area to get thru.  We wonder if that 19 year old was trying to get across the road.
Earlier this summer another you bicyclist was killed across town, while crossing the street.
I know from my own experience how difficult it is to judge car speed relative to bike speed, especially if you are starting from a standstill.
I think the moral of this is to try to Minimize your road crossings.  Certainly we pay the utmost respect to any moving vehicle.
What are the rules?

In New York State see  New York Bicycle Laws.  This includes riding on the designated bike path or far right by the curb when a bike path is not available.
Perhaps a solution for the tragedy I started this blog with, would be signs directing the bicyclists to a safer route.  Though a quick glance at the map doesn't show me an easy route.  Or a new route could be manufactured just for pedestrians and bikes.  This area is not too far (1/2 mile or less) from the end of the bike path in a recent blog I had in Mattydale along Bear Trap Creek.

My Bike Path to work

 MY BIKE PATH TO WORK

Starting Out of the Driveway

A side road, parallel to Court Street

Court street, no room for Bikes, I ride
on the Sidewalk

Along Court Street on the Sidewalk, no room
on the road for a bike

Moved onto the street, waiting at the redlight

No Room along the road under the railroad bridge

Some bike Space along Military Circle

Swamp on the right

Approaching the thruway, the road narrows

Going Over the Thruway Bridge

A Side Road bypassing the traffic

Some Space along Molloy Road, but the
traffic is faster and heavier

A welcome parking lot along Molloy

Molloy Road carries a lot of trucks and cars at fairly high speeds

Parked at Work

Bicycling Wind Burn

I bike to work, I resumed in the middle of March.  I have had problems with my nose being sunburned so  wear a baseball cap under my helmet.  It keeps the sun off my beak.
So when I seemed to have the symptoms of sunburn, I was perplexed.  I was getting a scabbed up nose.
But then I thought about my ride, its been quite windy in March and April, and I was getting windburn.  A friend told me to try using vaseline before I ride, on my nose.  It worked.  Though I still have a windburned face, my nose has stopped blistering.

Bicycle Commuter

I have now been riding my bike to work from August, through September, now thru October.  How long will I be able to keep going in our climate.  I have added some accessories.  A bike light in front and back, that goes along with the blinking light on my backpack.  It is dark when I leave the house at 7, and twilight by the time I pull into the driveway.  Another addition is gloves.    If my hands are warm, then I am warm.  Though I do add a jacket and sweater.  I am experimenting with how many layers I need, because I heat up fast when riding a bike.  One day I put on my poncho because it was raining.  I ended the trip home very sweaty, as the poncho doesnt breathe well.
Mileage is 3.4 miles to work, and 4.6 miles back on back roads at rush hour.  A round trip of 8.  That is 40 miles per week, for 3 months, or about 480 miles so far.  Probably more like 450 as I have driven the car to work a couple of days.

Bicycling

After I was laid off at the beginning of the summer, my wife Ginny and I started going for bike rides on the Erie canal by Syracuse.  We started with just a 3 mile ride out and back.  after a couple of weeks of several rides a week, we went on a 12 mile bike ride to  Canastota, where we had lunch, then biked back.  I am now back to work with another company and I ride my bike 3 miles to work each day.  I feel much better health wise.  And we have a regular 6 mile trip out on the canal on Saturdays.  We have seen the seasons turn from late spring, and now into fall.  Often we see a great blue heron wading or slowly flying down the canal.  Early in the summer, there were geese families along the paths, with the parents hissing at us if we came close.  Ginny actually hit one by accident, as they refuesed to give us space on the canal.
We have had bikes in the past, but never did a lot of biking.  We both bought new schwinn bikes at WalMart last fall, for about $200 apiece.  And now we are in a biking phase.  So far only one  flat tire.