I spoke too soon

The crap hit the preverbal fan weather-wise here in DC and I haven't biked in almost 2 weeks. Ice and snow are the issue. The temperatures have never really gotten above freezing so the Capital Crescent Trail is mostly (I assume) an ice-rink.

An update and some stats

I'm getting close to a month of riding and everything is going fairly well so far. The seat cushion I bought has been very helpful, but I lost it during one of the rides so I had to purchase a new one. I'll make sure it has a tighter fit.

I was noticed I was more hunched over riding the Prox than I had been with the rental bike, and I was starting to feel it a bit in my lower back. It never occurred to me that I could adjust the height of the handlebars. So I finally did and its made a world of difference.

The back break is still very mushy, and gets looser and looser by the day. I've had to restring the cable break a number of times on the back calipers, but after a few days of riding the back brake becomes almost useless. I'm probably doing something wrong; I'll have to do a little research into setting up brakes. It looks like the frame is set up to use disk brakes, so I may investigate upgrading to those sometime in the future.

Some stats: 

Since January the 19th I've done 16 round trips with the Prox, saving ~$122 (assuming I would have metroed instead) or ~$100 assuming I would have metroed to work and rental biked home) and have traveled ~360 miles.

Some new gear

I'm not used to actually maintaining a bike so its time I started purchasing some items:

• In case of flats: Genuine Innovations G2628 Ultraflate Plus Tire Inflator and XLC Tire Repair Patch Kit.
• A nice case to sit on the back rack (the rack is a little smaller than a "normal" bike): Axiom Robson LX Trunk Bag (with neat fold-down panniers).
• Black soft gel relief bike saddle seat cushion pad cover (because when compared to the rental bike seats, the one on the Prox leave certain body parts numb).

Error 13

Back on the Metro today due to an Error 13. Essentially on the computer screen everything goes black and you see "13". Now, Hybrid Pedals told me that you sometimes see an Error 5, which is when communication between various components gets disrupted. I'd seen this a couple of times and usually you just flick the brakes quickly and it goes away. Not so this time. Each time I'd flick the brakes the computer would reset, all would seem well for a pedal or two, then back to Error 13. I didn't have much time to futz with stuff at that moment so I pedaled back around the block, put the bike back in the house then hustled off to the Metro.

While at work I did a little googling and it turns out Error 13 is also a communications issue. Apparently the grommets connecting the various electrical wires to the computer can come lose. When I got home I checked tightened them up and took the bike out. Still errors. I then pulled the computer screen off (its removable) and looked at the contacts. There was an oily, vasaline like substance over a couple of the contacts. Cleaned those up and the problem went away. Back on the bike tomorrow.