Today’s ride: 12 miles.  A pretty sad distance for the day, but basically it got dark and I don’t have a headlight.  I’m not actually sure what the system of trails over there is called, I always call it the Lake Lansing trail, not because it is near the actual lake, but because it crosses Lake Lansing Road.  Its not really an ideal biking trail since its not very long and is not continuous.  Rather it consists of multiple branches that connect a number of EL parks.  Still, its a very nice little setup, very smooth asphalt and very useful to the locals as an alternate means of getting to such destinations as the water park, soccer complex, and it ends right at the “northern tier” apartments along Abbott road.  Its always well used by bikers, joggers, bladers, and walkers.  People with out of control dogs are also well represented, and its made all the worse since you invariably end up passing the same people a half dozen times as you criss-cross back and forth to make some decent distance.

Today’s ride: 22 miles on the excellent Lansing Rivertrail. Weather was quite nice, about 40 degrees and very low winds. Can’t complain about that in late December. I was still overdressed, with a jersey, fleece layer, and windbreaker I was sweating pretty well into the ride. My fingers got a little numb, I really need some better windproof gloves. Feet got a little numb as well, although not 100 percent sure if this was a result of still wearing thin running shoes or the fact that my unpadded pants were causing my legs to go numb late in the ride.

This is the first time I’ve been out on this trail since they joined up the Red Cedar section to the Grand River section downtown. The trail is great, especially for Lansing, but still has some rough sections. Near the intersection of the two rivers there are several spots where the mud has actually covered the paved trail. There are also a number of bumps that had little effect on my MTB, but I could easily see someone riding a delicate road bike having some trouble. Also odd - right downtown there is a section that says “No Bikes” but there is no detour and no obvious reason why bikes shouldn’t be allowed on this one particular sections. Weird.

All was going well and I rushed home to take Sarah out to lunch (delicious Thai Kitchen, I recommend number ten). Then upon my return I noticed my front tire had gone completely flat. Bugger! So a quick trip to Denny’s for some tubes and tire levers and I was on my way. Turns out my tires are a royal pain in the ass to get back on the rims however, but it was good practice anyway.  Re-inflated the bad tube and quickly discovered a pinhole prick.  I don’t have a lot of faith in patching tubes, especially when I can get a new one for about three bucks.

[cribbed and refined from the MMBA forums]  Still proud to say most of these do not apply to me, and if they ever do, feel free to smack me:

• You have stopped even trying to explain to your spouse why you need two bikes…you just go buy another one and figure it will all work out in the divorce settlement.
• You hear someone had a crash and your first question is “How’s the bike?”
  
• The purpose of each of your bikes takes longer than 10 minutes to explain.
• You work in a bike shop because it’s a good way to get into the industry.
• You tell other people you have chased down mailboxes thinking they were other riders.
• You have more water bottles than glassware in the kitchen cabinet.
• You often just sit and admire your bike(s).
• You convert your car’s brake & gas pedals to clipless.
• You see nothing wrong with discussing the connection between hydration and urine color.
• You find your Shimano touring shoes to be more comfortable and stylish than your gunboat sneakers.
• Your one good pair of cycling shoes cost more than all of your other shoes…combined.
• You refuse to buy a couch because that patch of wall space is taken up by the bike.
• You have more money invested in your bike clothes than in the rest of your combined wardrobe.
• Biker chick means black spandex, not leather, and a Trek, not a Harley.
• You see a fit, tanned, Lycra-clad young woman ride by, and the first thing you check out is her bicycle.
• When it gets really windy outside, all you think is “great, more deadfall.
• More than half of your pants have tears, all in the same place.
  
• You’ve ever had a “glove tan”
• There’s no skin left on your elbows that isn’t scar tissue.
• Your climate has two seasons- biking season, and wish I was biking season.
• When you have more money invested in bikes than your car.

I work at an engine plant, and an important lesson I learned today is try to avoid leaving work at the same time as the hourly people at shift change. Walking through the parking lot you need to maintain a level of alertness on par with a GI patrolling an alleyway in Baghdad lest you be either (1) backed over by a pickup truck tires squealing as it exists the lot at 90 mph or (2) have your car crushed in a multi-car pileup by a similarly speeding pickup truck. They could care less if you worked together 30 seconds ago, at quitting time you’re a speed bump.

As a consumer, I’ve come to despise Best Buy for their idiotic retail workforce.  Sure I’ll still stop in on occasion for a good deal, trying my best to avoid eye contact with their glassy eyed sales staff.  But you have to respect this move by their corporate staff to do away with traditional work hours and focus on results instead, however they are achieved.  MSNBC - Best Buy smashes the clock:

But arguably no big business has smashed the clock quite so resolutely as Best Buy. The official policy for this post-face-time, location-agnostic way of working is that people are free to work wherever they want, whenever they want, as long as they get their work done. “This is like TiVo  for your work,” says the program’s co-founder, Jody Thompson. By the end of 2007, all 4,000 staffers working at corporate will be on ROWE. Starting in February, the new work environment will become an official part of Best Buy’s recruiting pitch as well as its orientation for new hires. And the company plans to take its clockless campaign to its stores — a high-stakes challenge that no company has tried before in a retail environment.

It’s an excellent article, worth the full read.  For the corporate staff this is a no-brainer in my opinion, ultimately the way of the future that will leave most companies who fail to follow it in the dust.  But for the retail side of things, I simply have no idea how they plan to make this work.  At most, I could see creating an employee controlled store wide scheduling system that allows employees to work out shifts amongst themselves as long as the stores hours and departments are covered adequately.  But the store hours are the store hours, you have to have a minimum number of people there in order to provide the service.

Either way, this will be an interesting experiment to follow.

Got suckered into going to the Fox Theater for a showing of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas musical tonight with Sarah, Eric and Lauri.  As broadway style musicals go it was pretty typical, and anyone who knows me knows I don’t care for them.  I’ll just leave it at that.  The highlight of the night was dinner at Andiamo Dearborn, so delicious.  The place just has great ambiance, and more importantly excellent service.  And really the prices are relatively reasonable, you can easily get out for $20 a plate, just go on the cheap and drink water and skip appetizers and desert.  Not that we did, but hey it was a special occasion.  I’m just saying you could easily spend $15 for some Applebee’s dreck, or for a few dollars more eat at this place.  Its pretty amazing the way its grown, from one location in 1993 to now having 10 locations as of 2005!

Got out to the mighty Mt. Brighton tonight to test out our new skis. The weather was frigid, with nasty gusting winds that took the perceived temp down to the single digits. Still, it was a pile o fun, I love my new shaped skis, they carve the snow like a hot knife through butter. Even Brighton’s icy slopes were no match for them.