Author: The Brompton Diarist

Errand 8 — Category (2nd; second use):  Bike shop.  Ahh, much nicer than the experience earlier in the week.  I got a friendly greeting here, and so did others who came into the shop.

Sadly, though, no high-vis gloves, so Basil just checked out his non-folding compatriots, and we were on our way.  (Look at that guy — so compact!  So portable!  Not to diss big bikes; I’m sure they have their place.)

Learned/Observed:  Staff of this independent bike store is a lot more invested in being in this shop than was Mr. Chainstore Rep from the other day.

Errand 9 — Category (6th):  Personal Care (or possibly “Wild Card” if it comes to that).  This may be a bit of a fudge.  I actually made a “personal care” stop during Errandonnee: Part 1, trying to buy bath salts, but the store was so stinky, I had to leave, and didn’t write it up.

I avoid hair salons, manicures and so on like the plague, and our (excellent, non-bank) financial institution is a 70 mile/112.6 km round trip on highways, so all of those were out as options.  Nonetheless, MG has allowed “personal finance” errands in this category, and I hope I’m not pushing the limits too much here:   I cycled to the post office to mail our bills.

Learned/Observed:  It was weirdly tricky to pose Basil next to anything that represented the post office while at the same time allowing a glimpse of him.  I’d never noticed how bare this lobby is.

Errand 10 — Category (4th 5th, second use):  Lunch.  Spring! Rolls!  (Spring . . . rolls!  Why yes, it will, as soon as these Arctic storms depart .  .  . .)

A woman stopped as she passed Basil.  “It that a Brompton?” she said.  I was impressed; an accurate identification here in the hinterlands is unusual.  A great conversation ensued, covering folding bicycles, Minis (the cars, also British), and Bromptons in general.

Learned/Observed:  I’m kind of backward in the socializing department, but I’ll talk Bromptons forever!

Errand 11 — Category (6th 7th):  Grocery Store.  We stopped in for a few items at our organic market.  That’s just about 50% of the produce available — but quite a lot of it is from local sources.

Learned/Observed:  I bought a bit of produce, but wasn’t tempted by anything else.  The store, like just about every other organic/health food market I see these days, doesn’t exactly sell health(y) food. The aisles are full of processed foods (or, one might say, junk food) made with organic ingredients.  I guess it’s a step forward?  (Are chemical-free Cheeto-like “foods” really an advance?)

Errand 12 — Category (7th 8th): Dinner.  Basil and I went home and suggested that Dr. Diarist and Argyll join us for dinner at a local Mexican joint.

Argyll and Basil, with us, waiting to be sorted by the hostess.

I forgot to forgot to take a photograph of our actual dinner; these were starters.  The salsa was fine, but those tortillas were fried to perfection and the guacamole which followed was excellent, with diced, not smashed, fresh avocado.

Learned/Observed: Crispy tortillas and avocados, how I love thee.

Mileage:  12.00/19.3 km  Errands: 5   Total Categories:  7

Cumulative Totals for Errandonnee:

Total Mileage: 20.12 miles/30 miles  (32.38 km/48.2 km)

Total Errands:  12/12

Total Categories:  7/7  8/7

Edit 20 March:  While finalizing the control card, I realized I’d messed up my categories.  (Well, while finalizing the third attempt at a control card.) Counting and categorizing are proving a wee bit too challenging right now; perhaps my brain is in deep-freeze as a result of this past ferocious winter?  Corrections noted above.

And double whoops . . . I thought I’d planned this so that my next ride — to the market  for a more substantial grocery stop — would be errand 12, and would polish off the remaining miles.  This carelessness — wrapping up the categories and errand count before finishing the mileage — is impugning my geek cred.  I’m miffed, but shall persevere.

Errandonnee 2014 is underway, and Basil and I undertook our first errand run of the year a few days ago.  For each stop,  documentation is required:  a photo and an observation.  Here’s how the first run went.

Errand 1 — Category (1st):  Coffee/Dessert.   It was another brisk day, so we stopped for coffee first.

Learned/Observed:   A hot latte is an inefficient method of warming extremely cold fingers.  Also: don’t take gloves off and expose fingers during a very, very cold ride, no matter how much adjustment your goggles need.

Errand 2 — Category (2nd):  Bike Shop.  Then we trundled over to a bike shop —  a chain/franchise with “support your LBS” sign. Their stock selection is OK, though jerseys, etc., are mostly in men’s sizes, but, sad to say, something is always just a little off at this particular store.

It is today, too.  They don’t have much selection in women’s biking gloves, so the guy wants me to order the florescent gloves I’m looking for.  He explains that the manufacturer will exchange them if they’re the wrong size (not that his shop will!). Then he tells me three times, too defensively, that he is just trying to save me the trouble of going around to “fifteen different bike shops”.

OT Rant, feel free to skip:  Why does this fellow think I mind going to bike shops? Why is this poor guy so defensive?  Why does he think I want  to order unseen gloves from him when I can do that myself, at home, and deal directly with whomever will exchange them, if necessary?  (Not that I would go that route anyway; gloves really need to be tried on, if they’re going to be satisfactory.  I may not mind going to fifteen different bike shops, but I would mind buying and exchanging fifteen different pair of gloves.)

Learned/Observed: This is not the experience I have at my own LBS, where the guys know and love bikes, and don’t have to be defensive about anything.

Errand 3 — Category (3rd):  Library.  Moving on, we headed to the library to return various items and to pick up the newly-mandated re-registration sheet.

Learned/Observed:  Re-registering a library card every three years is going to be a pain and seems like a silly bureaucratic expense. Why not just prevent check-outs when media is overdue?  I’m getting cranky; it’s time to move on and find some food.

Errand 4 — Category (4th):  Not A Grocery Store.  Then we went to a book store to buy magazine to read at lunch.  Dr. Diarist met us there, his schedule not permitting Errandonnee participation.

He ordered coffee (I’d already had mine) and proceeded to exhibit an unfortunately irreverent attitude toward Basil, saying  “I see you brought along a hat rack” and tossing his Tilley on top of my noble Brompton!  He followed this up by stuffing his tablet on top of Basil at a dangerous angle, fully aware that I am appalled by his techie reckless attitude toward his computer equipment.

Sadly, I gasped in horror at both transgressions, which he found most gratifying.  After all these years, you’d think I’d know better than to take the bait, but noooooo.

Learned/Observed:  I’m a slow learner.

Errand 5 — Category (5th):  Lunch.   Dr. D decides to accompany me and my beleaguered Brompton to lunch.  I eat a piece of pizza bigger than my head.

Learned/Observed:  Eggplant is perfectly edible if unrecognisable; also goat cheese makes anything tasty.  Dr. Diarist goes for chicken and bacon.  We leave fatter, but happy.

Errand 6 — Category (4th, second use):  Not A Grocery Store.  Onward:  I am  looking for featherweight packing cubes to use in Basil’s T-Bag.  Score!  (I bought then in a citrusy-green, though, since they are more consonant with Basil’s colors and his T bag, and also less likely to look grubby.)  We have a conversation with a multi-bike-owning employee, who has never heard of Bromptons, but is quite taken with Basil.

Learned/Observed:  The clerk at sporting goods store more engaged and interested in discussing bicycles in general than the one at the bike store.  That’s kind of sad — but fun at the sports store!

Rode around a bit just for fun; mileage for this set of errands is going to be unfortunately low.

Errand 7 — Category (1st, second use):  Cofffee/Dessert.

Then, craving cannoli, I stopped at Italian place, unsurprisingly empty in mid-afternoon.  There are no humans in sight, and no one appears.  Eventually I notice a sign:

The hallway in question is the full width of a huge building, narrow and dark.  (It’s the passageway to the left, there.)  Decide that this particular place doesn’t want to be bothered.  Decide I don’t either.

We cross the street and enjoy a cannoli elsewhere, which proves highly satisfactory.  I take most of it home; it’s too much to eat all at once, after a pizza lunch.

Learned/Observed:  Cannoli at the non-Italian place was excellent, the atmosphere warm and friendly.  Note to self:  Don’t plan to consume two rarely-eaten, marginally unhealthy, foods on the same day.

Basil and I took a train to an area where we could run these errands:  That’s totally legitimate, according to MG, though, of course, we can’t count train miles as miles cycled.  Multi-modal!  We had never stopped at this station before; this was a great opportunity to check it out.

Total miles:  8.12/30   Total Errands:  7/12   Total Categories:  5/7

So much to catch up on — and I haven’t even yet posted about Basil’s first ride since the end of our cycling hiatus!  That will come shortly, but in the meantime I’ll be writing about a couple of timely events others might be interested in.

First up is MG’s annual Errandonnee, in which participants run errands on their cycles, in the cold, bleak, final (or so we hope) days of winter, and report back.

There are categories!  There are rules! There are challenges!

Check it all out here, and let the errandonneuring begin!

Barring another week of Snomageddeon-like events, Basil and I will be participating.   Curious about this excellent event?  Here’s what Basil and I did last year:

Errandonneuring On A Brompton Bicycle, Part 1

Errandonneuring On A Brompton Bicycle, Part 2

Basil might have been the only Brompton participating in 2013, but according to MG’s note, that’s @MrTinDC on the official Errandonnee image above, on his Brompton.  Will it be a Brompton sweep this year??