Thursday, September 9, 2010

weekly tallies #11 and #12 and weekly ramblings

Okay, so I've been busy with end of summer stuff and haven't written down my logs.  Not that anyone necessarily cares, but it's a good way for me to keep track.  Numbers make me happy.  Here are the numbers for the past two weeks:

August 23-29
walking:  23.6 miles
biking:  16.4 miles
subway: 4.5 miles

This week started with three days of rain, and also Noah had a friend over to play during the days, and we didn't have a bike for him, so we rarely went anywhere by bike this week.


August 30-September 5
walking:  20 miles
biking:  40.2 miles
subway: 14 miles
car:  64  (60 by zipcar--we had to drive Saugus and beyond, 4 by cab--we bought a new vacuum cleaner in Cambridge and there was no way we were going to haul it home on the T.  The trains on Sunday were PACKED, because it was a beautiful day and 100,000 college kids just moved back to Boston last weekend, with nothing to do (no homework or exams yet)).


Now that school is back in session, my miles will continue to shift more towards walking (I put in 4 miles a day just from walking Noah to and from school and walking the dog).  Though tomorrow, I'm working a handyman gig for a friend, and that'll be a 12 mile ride (round trip), with heavy tools in tow.


Summer is officially over--car rental rates have dipped back down to normal levels.  We have to drive to Connecticut to visit family this weekend, and our two-day rental will only cost $80 (not including gas), so it's now cheaper to rent a car for excursions from the airport rather than using Zipcar.  (Too bad, because I like Zipcar better.)


Did some renovations on our bikes this week.  The cargo racks on Tracy and my bikes were broken, and the collapsible metal baskets that attach to the racks were all busted, too.  So last night and today, I replaced the racks and baskets.  Not complex, but a lot of futzing.  I'm glad to have two baskets in the back, where before I only had one (which made me very unbalanced with gallons of OJ on just one side).  All that extra metal in the back is heavy, though--that's my excuse for going so slow, I'm hauling all those pounds of steel with me.

I also replaced my bike chain, which my new chain wear gauge told me was worn out.  The bike runs a lot better now.  (I initially misthreaded it, so it was making odd noises.  Kudos to the woman at the REI bike shop (at Landmark in the Fenway) who did NOT make me feel stupid when I took it in to figure out what was wrong.  They're my favorite bike shop (tied with Broadway Bicycle School), because they are always polite and never intimidating.  The last thing I need from a bike shop is attitude.