Interesting Commutes

I've been commuting mostly on the Ti Muk 2 as pictured here of late.

My commute to the bike shop where I work hasn't changed much at all for 17 years. You'd think by now I'd have seen a lot of stuff, but really, besides seeing LeRoy from time to time, things are fairly boring. LeRoy is a guy that walks in the area of my commute everyday. I don't see him all the time, as our timing varies, but when I do, he gives me a hearty, "Hello!", and we often high-five each other, and even chat once in a while. But yeah, that is about the extent of my "excitement". That's changed dramatically this year, for whatever reason.

I guess it started last year when I saw the guy on a motorcycle blasting down a part of the paved bike path, but this year it has been pretty much non-stop weirdness. From strangers on the bike path doing unmentionable things to seeing a car on the side of the bike path just the other day with two lost people aboard. Why that car ended up there, I've no idea, but later on I saw how they exited and got back to the highway by climbing an embankment and cutting across a grassy field. Don't ask. I have no idea what was up with that.

Then my route has been disrupted as well. University Avenue in Waterloo is under construction. About a good quarter mile of my route is unrideable now so I have to detour around the mayhem of construction vehicles, piping, and other flotsam and jetsam created by the wave of construction going on. Just yesterday I had to dodge a big D9 Cat which was pulling out a stuck dump truck from a dirt hole it sank into. Several days I have had to bunny hop one foot diameter plastic pipe laying across my path which is being used as part of the new infrastructure for the new road being put in.

With all the wet weather we have had and the uncertainty of my route from day to day, the Ti Muk 2 has been pressed into commuter duty. No matter what I'm up against, the big, fat wheels can handle it. Mud, dirt, cutting across rough construction areas, or just cruising new bike path. It all is done capably and calmly on the Ti Muk 2. The new Terrene Cake Eaters roll really smoothly too.

The Rohloff drive train is pretty interesting. I have learned that thinking of this bike as having a clutch has made shifting easier. I spin the bike up, stop pedaling, shift two higher gears up, pedal, and so forth. Downshifts are similarly done and just hesitating a hair makes those shifts come easy as well. Just like pushing in a clutch on a manual shifted car. Anyway, that's how I think of it. Now I can zoom right along and shift willy-nilly whenever I want. It took a while to get the hang of it, but it works great.

At least the commuting rides have become interesting and fun. I never know what I might see, (and some of it I haven't wanted to!), plus the constant change along University Avenue is keeping me on my toes.