I rode a bike. To go somewhere.

[errantember]

On my quest to repair my second-most-fuel-efficient vehicle, I rode to the Home Despot on my most efficient vehicle, my burner bike. Despite not having been cleaned or worked on since Burning Man, and despite being coated in a highly corrosive alkali dust, it got me to and from my destination without excessive amounts of "exercise." My friend Adam Rice just accomplished the Major Miracle of bicycling solo from coast-to-coast, which got me to thinking that it might not just be rumor and innuendo that you can *go* places using bicyclic transportation. I turns out that worldmegan took one of her first bicycle trips in years the same beautiful day. Coincidence, or great minds thinking alike?

El Scooter, Rupert, has been down for a few months due to dead batteries. I have now purchased new batteries, and in addition to simply re-wiring them back into the bike, I will also be adding extra terminals that will allow me to check the voltage of and charge each individual 12V battery separately. Previously it was only possible to check and charge the whole pack at once. According to trippedbreaker, this can cause the batteries, which are never exactly the same, to become more unbalanced over time, which shortens their life and the range of the vehicle. Previous plans to replace the 34Ah batteries with 50Ah batteries were dashed due to size and weight constraints. This was a bummer, since that extra capacity would be enough to go anywhere in Austin and back, even on a cold day, on a single charge. Now I will occasionally still have to plug in while out, so the great Outlet Hunt will continue.

Comments

[worldmegan.livejournal.com]

My next bike trip, I think, will be to go back to Newflower Market again -- except this time, I want to have the rack from the other bike moved to my bike so that I can (!!??) carry a single bag of groceries home with me.

I think I probably also should have one of those helmet mirror things. And I won't ride on William Cannon this time. ^_^