good moments and bad moments

Yesterday morning, I was pleasantly surprised when Jenn informed me she was riding to work. I was elated. She'd been driving to work too much of late, for a variety of reasons.

I was teaching the last session of the March installment of our store's Tool School classes when Jenn called to check on something--I'm not really sure what--and was reminded that I was teaching still, and would have to get back to her. I called her after my students left to find that she was still at her office. I rode there to ride home with her--something I enjoy.

For an assortment of reasons, though, I was unable to get my morning routine done in time that I could ride to work. I missed my departure window by ten minutes or so, and opted to drive on this gorgeous spring-like morning rather than be late to work.

Bah!

Oh, well. I get to build a bicycle wheel today. Things will improve.

Or not. One of my mother's dogs has been having trouble with a tooth, and is going in today for some more diagnostic examination. The tooth damage may (or hopefully may not) be severe enough that dealing with it would be a major (as in, over $1000) expense and still not greatly improve his quality of life. It's hard to justify doing that much work when on a limited budget, and still leave the dog with ongoing problems. He's a sweet-natured dog, and I'd hate like heck for Mom to have to euthanize him over this, but I also understand not being willing to go to heroic measures that have little chance of really helping. I'm hoping for the absolute best results for all.

Car-Free Happy Hour

Another Car-Free Happy Hour is behind us. There was some competition for attendees, as the Urban Design Studio of University of Louisville had a presentation conflicting with the CFHH, but that just meant that those of us at Sol Aztecas on Fourth Street (just up from Theater Square and just down from Fourth Street Live) got more food and beer.

The food was great, and portion sizes were HUGE.

Even so, the main point is socializing with folks who don't always use cars for transportation. The highlights of CFHH are the speakers Katie McBride manages to find and the social time after their presentations.

Presenters this time were David Burman (I hope I got the spelling right...) and Chef Ian.

David Burman has been a plumber for a couple decades, and got to thinking about all the time he was spending on the road in his van full of tools and supplies instead of actually doing revenue-generating work. His ponderings eventually led to considering a bicycle as his vehicle of choice. He's working up a box bike from Joe Bike, with the idea of riding a quick bike to the job site (in his chosen service area), figuring out what he'll need to do the job, and going back to his office/workshop to collect the necessary tools and supplies, using his "Box Bike" to haul the stuff to the job site.

For the time being, he's limiting his service area to a couple of ZIP codes in the Highlands area, but envisions a time when he can have several plumbers working for him based in other neighborhoods to expand his customer base even more.

In other words, he's thinking locally!

Chef Ian, on the other hand, is set up to deliver over much of the metro area (at least within the confines of the Watterson "Distressway"). Ian operates Soup Bycycle (web site not yet launched--send an email to soupbycycle@gmail.com for menus and delivery schedule). Order before midnight Friday, and one day the following week he'll ride his bike to your house (or office) and drop off your soup (and Blue Dog bread), collect your money, and wish you good eating! It reminds me of the days when the milk delivery person put the twice-weekly delivery in the box on my front porch--you can leave a check taped to the inside of a cooler if you won't be home at delivery time.

After each presented on his business model, we wandered outside to ogle their bikes. David's plumbing bike isn't done yet, but is well on its way to becoming a great rig for the job. Ian uses a Surly Big Dummy, with a modified Trek kids' trailer to haul his cooler. There was discussion of minute details of each others' bikes, of course, even among the rest of us. Folks at these gatherings love seeing rebuilt old bikes, relatively new bikes that are set up as commuting rigs--the whole gamut.

In honor of the event, I did all my errand-running on a bike instead of in a car. The Raleigh still does a good job of pulling the trailer, especially now that I have the larger cog on the rear hub.

Bad driving, celebrated?!?!?!

Maybe I'm missing something, here. There is a new show on The Travel Channel (which I don't get, BTW, since I don't have a television), called "America's Worst Drivers." The web site claims it to be a reality-show elimination (a good metaphor?) challenge with the worst driver's car eventually going to the crusher (and the worst driver gets a bicycle to ride instead of driving--now THERE is a positive message for cycling as transportation!).

My computer won't even let me see the "sneak peek" video to see if there is anything of merit in t he show, so it must be bad.

From what I can tell, they are trying to find a humorous way to say, "get the really bad drivers off the streets." I hope so, anyway. What I see so far is that they are putting the contestants, nominated by friends/family as bad drivers, through obstacle courses designed to humiliate them into becoming more aware as drivers. The whole concept sounds a bit like a Jerry Springer stereotype, to me. I mean, who is going to set themselves up to be ridiculed like this, and for how much money?

On a rainy Sunday, with what little hopes I had of riding a century washed away, I was poking around online for a while. A discussion on bentrideronline's forum regarding traffic lights led me to a slide show presented here, most notably, here.

With due credit to Dual Chase Productions, LLC, I'll present one of their slides.




I really like this one for many reasons. It shows how a cyclist should situate himself/herself in an intersection to be "seen" by the sensors that operate the traffic light. Coincidentally, such intersection placement also serves the function of making the cyclist FAR more visible to other traffic in and around the intersection, aiding in the eventual safe passage of the cyclist through the intersection once it's legal to proceed.

Their slide shows could be some nice teaching tools. I may have to invest in them.

internal conversations

As I rode to work today, I had several internal conversations going. An assortment of things went wrong before leaving the house, distracting me to the point that I was almost too late to ride (driving is quicker by ten or twenty minutes). As a result, I was not in the best of moods when I got on the bike.

I figured that riding to work would improve my mood--it usually does, even when my mood is already positive. It did, despite the driver that cut me off approaching a traffic light.

One of the internal conversations was yet another review of anti-cyclists' argument that bikes should not be on the roads (I had a brief real conversation on this with a motorist a couple days ago...). The details aren't so important here, but ran to thinking that it's a shame we don't educate motorists better before we allow them the privilege of driving. The few questions on the test now are hardly enough to suggest that driving is a big deal, not a given.

Of course, society largely considers driving an unassailable right, unless one is found guilty of pretty heinous crimes at the wheel (and even then...). It's taken a long time to educate folks that driving while inebriated rises to that level, and will take another long time to convince them that cell-phone use while driving is similarly problematic.

A shorter, but more entertaining, internal conversation regarded a license plate I saw on my way to work. The plate read: 1XY 4XX I can only presume it to mean that the family consisted of the father, the mother and their three daughters, although it could have meant that the man has four wives/girlfriends (I think it was the former rather than the latter). A friend of mine has three daughters, and referred to life in his house as being "full of Estrogen." His daughters have grown and, with maybe one exception, have moved out of the house (I think), but some of the stories he shared...

Anyway, there were a couple of other moments when other road users seemed to conspire to slow me down, adding to my frustration at running behind schedule. It was tight, but I got to work on time (I like to have a few extra minutes before work to shift my mental gears).

As I type this, it's raining. Hard. Gulley-washing hard. I hear thunder. The sky is very dark. The satellite radio is playing Texas Flood, the tune Stevie Ray Vaughn made famous twenty years ago. I'm hoping the coincidence is not an omen.

We need the rain. It will be good to wash the salt off the roads, and dilute it a bit so as to ease its effect on the plant life alongside the roads. I hope it doesn't shut off the electricity...

Edit: Not five minutes after hitting "publish post," the electricity went off for a fraction of a second--long enough to reboot the computer. I also got to see that the roof has a leak under severe weather--something that will be brought to the landlord's attention.

Documentary of note

I've been seeing some forum and blog traffic about Bicycle Dreams. I finally got around to checking out the film's web site, including the trailer for the movie:



The film was shot during the 2005 RAAM, and focused on several of the solo racers. Aside from being of interest to me as a cyclist, it's especially interesting to me at the moment due to my involvement in the 2010 Race. I've not seen the entire movie yet, but will be ordering the DVD from the web site so that I can digest it in chunks (and perhaps watch it multiple times or share it with others).

While the motivations that drive solo RAAM competitors fascinate me, I have no desire to attempt such a thing. It's simply too far outside my personal physical fitness/mental toughness envelope. However, I'm looking forward to being on the crew for Team Type 2 as they compete this year, knowing that at the end, I'll be almost as exhausted as they are from lack of sleep, almost continuous adrenaline surges, and the rest of the excitement of making it happen.

Club ride for a change

I managed to work out the details so that I could ride one of Larry Preble's WINGS rides this morning. WINGS denotes Westport Incremental New Goals Series, and is a group of progressively harder rides of various lengths, all starting in Westport KY, right against the Ohio River.

As I was doing this one solo, I took the Strada out for the first time in at least a month or two. It was good to get back on that bike, and enjoy its capabilities for speed (which far outstrip my own) and crisp handling. Oh, and it climbs faster than my other bikes, too.

Climbing is important for any ride starting in Westport, as anyone familiar with the area knows. KY524 loops into Westport, with each end reaching US42. Of course, since it's a Larry Preble ride, it's scenic as he can make it. We got to climb a few grades, and I got to use my small ring a few times over the course of the thirty miles I enjoyed today.

I felt VERY slow for much of the ride, but I found that by the time I was halfway done, my legs were warmed up and spinning comfortably. I was still slower than I like to be on the climbs (who isn't slower than he or she would prefer on EVERY climb?), but overall I felt good to be on the Strada, and I was wishing I'd had time to ride that far again.

Since I did the club ride, I didn't ride to work. I drove, so that I could make it to the club ride with the fast bike, and I'll haul it home tonight after showing some folks how to do things to their own bikes.

Blogging and logging--more online toys

A friend of mine posted on one of the local list servers recently, asking that folks log their bicycle miles on My Cycling Log. His idea was that there is no good way to gather statistics on how much folks are riding, and it would be cool to have some more concrete numbers than we have.

The drawback, of course, is that not everyone who bikes for utility a) has web access, b) internet savvy enough to use the site, c) cares to do so. Any benefit to the community based on cycling rather than driving would thus be under-reported by an unknown percentage.

Still, it's yet another way to spend time online, so I created a user account and joined in the fun.

I was able to use cues from this blog to figure out when I rode, where I rode, and will plug in rides as far back as the first of the year over the next few weeks. After entering the data for the last two weeks of my own riding, I played around on the rest of the site a bit, to see what it does. It's kind of fun to see how my friends are doing with their riding, all in one easy-to-find place.

For my own part, I've ridden to work twice this week (and tonight will mark twice that I've ridden home from work...). I wandered around a bit on Monday, after meeting with some bike education folks over lunch to discuss topics including the upcoming Bike to Work celebrations. All that got duly logged as above.


There is some buzz about Google making an option in their Google Maps directions for bicycle friendly routing. OF course, as with any on-line tool, it helps to know the tool's limitations and prepare accordingly. One person commented that it suggested a route from Lexington to Somerset that spends FAR too much time on US27.

However, Google admits that the system needs input. There is a method for giving them suggestions on roads that are safer or less safe than the routes the system devises (I've not toyed with it enough to figure out that process as yet, but will probably do so soon). It will take time for their algorithm to get sorted to the point that it's more useful, but it's a great start.

Yet more challenges

The few of you who have read this for a while know that Jenn got bitten by the century bug last year. Her first hundred-mile bicycle day was on the Pottershop Century that is part of the Old Kentucky Home Tour. A couple weeks later, there was the Louisville Bicycle Club's "Pretty good first century" ride, which we also did.

Interest piqued by those experiences, and perhaps some interest in getting me on the bike more, led her to suggest that we go play with the Mad Dogs yesterday morning--despite that it meant her getting out of bed before 8:00 on a Sunday morning, which is often a challenge.

Yesterday's ride wasn't a century--good thing--but rather a time trial that serves as the prologue for the Tour de Mad Dog, a series of twenty-some-odd century rides through the LBC Touring season.

While the contest of Tour de Mad Dog depends on things other than how fast one rides ("stage winners" are selected by a drawing at the end of the ride), contestants still have to ride a fair number of century rides to stay in the game. We'll see how our cycling year goes, but apparently our goal is, in part, to complete the Tour de Mad Dog challenge at some level.

The time trial was short--less than six miles, which didn't even reach the standard of a 10K. It was billed as challenging, but given the terrain, it was one of those "it's as challenging as you make it" time trial courses. Neither of us were in top form for such an effort, but we didn't do badly, either. Our time--16:56--put us in the middle range of riders. Our legs feel good this morning, suggesting to me that we didn't put every ounce of effort we could have into the race. That's okay--I'm happy that my legs feel good this morning.

During our race, I admittedly wasn't as focused on racing as I might have been. My mind kept wandering over to the place where I pondered putting forth an effort like what I was doing, for about that length of time, then doing it again three-quarters of an hour later, repeating that cycle for eight or ten hours, then sleeping while my other four teammates did that for their shift. That's how the Team Type 2 and Team Type 1 racers will do RAAM, while I drive one of the RVs the team and crew will use as portable sleeping quarters during the race.

I'd have to train myself quite a bit to do that...

Random thoughts on a Friday morning

Tomorrow, I will celebrate the anniversary of my arrival in this world. I am twenty-five, with almost that many years' practice. As is seemingly common in our society, ruminations happen at such junctures. Where am I, where am I going, and why am I in this handbasket?

We had some discussion over age at dinner with a friend the other night. I had been saying for some time that I had more fun between thirty and forty than in the fifteen or twenty years prior to turning thirty. Since turning forty several years ago, I've had a fair bit of fun as well. I don't mind that I'm going to be fifty in another year, although I may change my mind by then. Life is good.

During that discussion, I recalled hearing a radio station advertise that they played the music of "the best years of your life." Regardless of when the music they played was recorded (I think it was WRKA, when they played mostly music from the 1960-1975 era), I took exception to their claim--the music from the best years of my life has yet to be recorded. Life keeps getting better for me.

It's gotten better in increments, of course. Sometimes the increments are subtle. Sometimes they seem to be measured in negative values, but only momentarily--the overall trend remains in the "improvement" realm of the gauge.

One of the improvements over the last few years has been being with Jenn. With some prior girlfriends, there was hesitation on my part--I wasn't sure enough of her, myself, or the relationship between us to commit to lifetime partnership. Each former partner has affected who I am, to be sure. I cannot deny that, nor would I--it would demean myself and each of them.

But I feel more stable with Jenn. I'm more willing to be interdependent with her--helping her when stuff goes awry for her, and accepting help from her when my own stuff goes haywire. Celebrating the good that happens with and for us.

Each of us came into this with the explicit goal of having a healthy positive relationship. Neither of us was willing to spend time on something that would be detrimental to our health or well-being. I have my mother's marriage to my stepfather as a far better example than her marriage to my biological father (among others I've observed), and my stepfather's example of what it means to be a man in society and in close relationships, as proof that good can happen, and that I can be an agent of good happening.


Now that I've wandering far afield for a moment, I want to type out some other thoughts while they are in mind.

Jenn and I have been, perhaps simply by accident, tinkering with a "car-free lite" type of lifestyle. Her work has been pretty hectic of late, to the point that she feels it prudent to drive to work instead of cycling (she has hinted that there is more to it than energy levels, but I haven't pushed it). Her car goes a week or more at a time without being used--she prefers driving my truck in general (again, I have been willing to accept this as apparent reality without asking for elaboration). I've been riding to work more reliably (and the absence of ice on the roadways has been a factor in this).

I've been saying for some time that my ride to work is between thirteen and fourteen miles. Out of curiosity, I reset my trip odometer for the first time in over seven hundred miles yesterday, so that I could tell just how far it is. When I got to work, the odometer showed 11.8 miles, a good mile and a half less than I thought it would. The thing has had gaps in readings before, but once it's reading it usually continues for the day, so I think the number is valid. The average speed I saw before resetting the trip distance was consistent with my sense that it takes me about an hour to get to work or back--I'm no speed demon on this bike!

But it still puts the lie to the sense that Crestwood is "way out there" from Louisville. It's twelve freaking miles from Trinity High School, for crying out loud, not twenty or forty. The round trip is about as far as the Sunday Afternoon ride from Heine Brothers' Coffee shop purports to be (although there is more variation in terrain and traffic). It's not a difficult ride by most standards (well, by club ride standards, anyway--I'd figure it an honest 2 on the 1-4 difficulty rating system, although that system doesn't really have a traffic component to it).

People who learn that I ride to Crestwood from St Matthews for the "get to work" thing seem astounded--even some cyclists think it's a long way to ride (What? You just rode fifty miles on this morning's club ride, and you think twelve miles is a long commute on a bike?).

Preparations continue for RAAM. We have our flight reservations in place. Jenn is helping recruit more crew members (she recruited a friend of ours recently, and our friend has made the crew!).

The last Tool School session for the season (unless we get a group that wants to do one) will begin this Sunday. As I type this, there are a couple slots open for folks to join in the fun. We'll see how it goes.

Saturday again

Try as I may, I couldn't get up the gumption to ride to work in the morning snow flurries. They stopped by the time I got to work, of course, in strict accordance with Murphy's Law.

It's been a quiet week as far as riding. Little of significance went on for me with regard to bike riding. Even the ride to work on Wednesday was low on the drama scale. Well, mostly. It was a slightly different route, which made for some fun.

I needed to make a side trip to make a deposit. The bank in question has a branch across SR 22 from the Summit shopping megaplex, so instead of continuing out Westport Road as is my wont, I went north-ish on Hurstbourne Parkway to KY22, stopped at the Kroger there for a few (I was early for the bank, which opened at 9:00), and waited for the bank folks to open their doors. It seemed they decided to humor the bike rider waiting in the snow flurries and open thirty or forty-five seconds early!

After taking care of that bit of business, I opted to take KY22 out to Crestwood instead of going back south to Westport Road and coming into Crestwood from the south/west. I typically avoid riding KY22 anywhere west of Crestwood (and for some miles east of Crestwood, save for a few short patches), as it's narrower than KY146, and the speed limit is higher (45 instead of 35 on a narrower road?!?!). I figured that one time would be okay, given that a) it was daylight, b) I was going the opposite direction of any heavy morning traffic, c) I am EASY to see from a long way away, d) since it was snowing a bit (although nothing was really sticking), people seeing a bicyclist would figure the rider was either pitiable or crazy enough to hurt them if they tried anything aggressive and e) I didn't feel like going out of my way to get where I was going.

As it happened, things went quite well. Sight lines are pretty good on KY22, so folks could see me WELL before they came up to me (I had both flashers going). I could tell when folks noticed me, in the main, as they would slow dramatically or change lanes (!!!) well before they got to me. I never felt concerned that a motorist didn't see me in time. It's still not a road I will travel often (it's out of my way most days), but the occasional trip that way won't bother me as much as I thought it would.

Saturday turned out to be a surprisingly busy day for this time of year. Not necessarily profitable, but busy. Lots of folks came in the store to get various small items or start their research on more expensive ones.

Sunday hot Sunday

Well, hot by February standards, that is. The afternoon high temperature was in the upper fifties Fahrenheit. In keeping with my occasional observance of seasonal milestones, it was my first ride of the year in short sleeves.

I rode the LBC 2:00 ride today. Once a month, this ride starts at the Baptist East/Milestone Fitness Center parking lot, and this was the day for February. Just to be different, I rode the Raleigh.

I've ridden the Raleigh on a couple of these Sunday afternoon jaunts over the last year and a half or so. I usually find that I'm tired of the saddle by the time I'm done, having spent so many years doing my long miles on 'bents. Today was no exception--I was ready to go back to my Vanguard or my Strada by the time I got up the small hill on Glenview.

I was pleased, however, at how much faster I was on that bike than the last time I did a club ride on it. As mentioned before, I recently changed the rear cog to a twenty-tooth one, from the seventeen-tooth one originally on the bike. The resulting increase in my pedaling cadence has made me a bit faster on the bike--better take-off acceleration, and better use of the three gear choices are more comfortable for my legs. I still wasn't fast by my standards--I fell behind the top two clusters of riders, and should have been able to stay in one or the other of those clusters had I been on the Strada--but the bike moves far better with the larger cog. Not bad for a fifteen-dollar investment in cog and a few chain half-links (retail).

Even better, I get to ride to work tomorrow! YAY! Tomorrow will be the final session for the February Tool School, so I'll be a bit late getting home. I'll enjoy the lighter traffic, I'm sure.

More blog crawling

In my wanderings through the various blogs I watch, I found a link to a Los Angeles-based blog called Neighborhood Pride (Thanks, Branden!). The link I followed went to the post on "Ten ideas to boost block spirit." There are some fun ideas in her post!

I walk Cisco, Jenn's dog that she adopted from the Humane Society eleven years ago, just about every day. Cisco gets to walk his rounds two or three times a day, inspecting his "dog newspapers" (aka sniffing every tall blade of grass, tree, shrub, and garbage can within range of his leash), and whichever of us is walking him stops to talk to whatever neighbors are out and have time to chat a moment. During the power outage following Hurricane Ike a year and a half ago, we got to talk with neighbors quite a bit, and have made a point of continuing dialogs with them. In most cases, the response has been something along the lines of, "I'm glad we're talking--it feels more like a neighborhood this way!"

Other ideas that would be less likely in Good.is contributor Kyla Fullenwider's home of Los Angeles: Shovel the snow off your elderly neighbor's sidewalk and driveway. Shovel the snow off your own sidewalk, so those walking instead of driving aren't struggling through the ice and snow left after a partial melt. I admit to some enlightened self-interest here, of course. I take it the next step, so to speak, and clear a path for our mail carrier, who covers our neighborhood on foot.


Following another link in the Good.is listings, I found this discussion of a new traffic sign idea. I've not yet read all the commentary on it, nor all of the underlying thoughts going into its creation, but on the surface it makes too much sense for it to ever get into the MUTCD. Of course, the same was once said about the Sharrow, which IS in the 2009 MUTCD. As one who is interested in roundabouts as a way to smooth and calm traffic flow in our suburbs, I read this as an alternative when the immediate topography won't allow the space a roundabout requires, and it will receive more of my attention soon.


Yet another Good.is link led me to musings on whether we need to limit car advertising, much as we do with tobacco and alcohol advertising (expanded upon here). Of course, this one really grabbed my attention. I'm not sure how well the concept would work, given the human tendency to ignore reason and follow emotional stimuli, but it's worth trying. There would be the usual knee-jerk reactions from the anti-cyclist crowd--mostly the same crowd that gripes about "business owners' rights" when smoking bans are discussed (a "smoke screen" meant to obscure the real issue if ever there was one).

I want to read more, but have stuff to do. I'll have to come back to my reading. Ah, the magic of bookmarks!

radar camera thoughts

After a celebration of Car Free Happy Hour last night, I wound up driving to work today. Blah!

It wasn't the temperature--that is above my threshold. It wasn't the roads, I don't think--I haven't scouted the one section that usually gives me trouble when the roads are snowed-over, but the rest of my route was clear enough.

Both of us were running late, though, so I dropped Jenn off at her office on my way to work. Her task load at the moment is such that I may be picking her up on my way home tonight. Since her office isn't far out of my way, we are at least taking one car off the road.

As I drove to work this morning, though I had WFPL playing on the radio. They were broadcasting the NPR story over the angry folks in Arizona griping about traffic ticket cameras.

As I listened to the report, which gave some views from folks who decry the system as invasive to their privacy, illegal, and so on along with those who have found great benefit from the camera's placement, I thought about my own progression as regards traffic law.

You see, once upon a time I was one of those hot-headed motorists (still have a bit of that, sad to say) who felt that traffic enforcement wasn't "real" police work--their time (and thus my taxpayer dollars) would be better spent catching robbers, burglars, murderers, and so on.

I didn't think about motorists being murderers, despite that motor vehicle crashes cost our nation more than 40,000 deaths annually. I didn't think about motorists being terrorists, despite that society seems bent on terrorizing vulnerable road users into staying off the roads, lest we be run down by some clueless twit herding his car along while paying greater attention to his GPS, cell phone, the brat in the back seat hitting his sibling, and his breakfast than to the road around him. I like to think I've matured a bit since then, despite having a short temper when I'm in the car. I have re-calibrated my private rantings a bit, though. I fuss about folks blowing stop lights--regardless of their vehicle choice. I fuss about people following too closely (I've been known to "brake check" on such folks, usually after a warning taking the form of several rapid taps on my brake lights).

It has always been thus, or so it seems. At least since the dawn of the Automobile Age. The Copenhagenize blog had a post the other day on a poster from London in 1908. Despite that we knew this about cars a hundred years ago, we still kowtow to the addiction of using them.

I also thought about our societal attitudes about traffic law a bit. I've often observed that those most insistent on "law and order" are the most cavalier about their own obeyance to the law, especially as regards their driving. It's as if the law's main purpose is to get folks out of the one person's way so that one person can disobey the speed limit at will.

I won't say there is no valid point against traffic cameras used for law enforcement. I'm sure there is potential for misuse and simple error. If someone borrows your car, speeds, and you get the ticket/fine/points, you have incentive to not lend your car to that person ever again, and use the resulting tiff between friends as argument against the camera system. If Jefferson County or Kentucky were to consider doing such a thing, I'd want to see measures in place to guard against misuse and a way to deal with the "borrowed car" phenomenon. I don't see it happening here for a while, though, simply because most such systems depend on the car having a front license plate, which neither Kentucky nor Indiana have.

One possible by-product of the cameras' presence is that there has been a sharp reduction in traffic fatalities near them. Causality is unclear--the statistics don't support anything beyond a correlation--but it seems reasonable to think that motorists near those cameras are paying better attention to the road and how they are using it, reducing at the very least one of the largest causes of death in our society--inattentive motor vehicle drivers.

Those who claim the cameras are an invasion of privacy would do well to remember that if you have such an objection to getting a ticket from such a system, don't speed/run the traffic light/pass illegally/whatever. Some of the loudest protesters are ready to protest that the police department isn't proactively preventing burglaries/muggings/murders, and would be happy to invade the privacy of others to prevent such things. See my comment above about motor vehicle mis-use as causes of death.

More snow? So what?

More snow. Something like another three to seven inches expected from onset last night until it finally quits dumping on us later today. Of course, a lot of locals are already weary of snow--good thing they don't live in, say, Minnesota, where a friend commented he hadn't seen grass since before the holly-daze season. Or, perhaps they'd like to trade places with a relative of mine a bit north of Baltimore, who got out of her house the other day for the first time in over a week, and is expecting lots more snow that they don't need this week. It's a shame we can't redirect the snow storms and get them to unload on the Winter Olympic Games--they've had to truck in snow for some events.

Getting to work today was done with four wheels rather than two--too many non-drivers herding their cars between the ditches (sometimes without success...). There were a few intersections where the remains of the snow created very slick slushy spots making it hard to get moving, but overall it was one of those "take your time, don't rush, be SMOOOOOOOTH" drives. Apparently, even those who should know how to drive in snow don't always--I saw one truck--with City of Anchorage logos on the doors and a plow on its front end--in a ditch alongside LaGrange Road. There was a picture on the Courier-Journal's web site of an Oldham County road department truck on its side in another ditch, along KY393 near Buckner.

We have our last class of the February Tool School this evening, unless the roads get really bad and I have to reschedule it. Two of the students have already called me to check, and both want to be in class rather than reschedule.

The March Tool School schedule has been set, and should be on the news page in http://www.bluegrassbicycle.com/ tonight.


Don't forget! Tuesday, 16 February, starting at 5:30 or so, it's Car Free Happy Hour at The Bodega at Felice! The Bodega is on East Market Street, between Shelby and Campbell Streets. It's becoming a happening thing to do. Jenn and I plan to be there.

Saturday wrap up

I got to ride to work today! The roads were clear enough, I was up early enough, and the air was warm enough to meet my weather minima, so I enjoyed a bike ride getting to work.

My feet were cold by the time I was halfway there, but I still enjoyed the ride!

After store hours, we had the third of four classes in this month's Park Tool School series (Oh, by the way, we have decided on one more series for this winter--a Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday Wednesday set starting on March 7th! More on that in a moment). As we were waiting for the last student to arrive (not remembering that he'd told me he wouldn't be there...), the topic of the letter that prompted my post "Riding at Night" was raised. I was asked about the exchanges, and what I had been doing since. It was cool that I had the bike in question there to do a brief "show and tell," as well.

I've been giving some thought to this whole thing. I do appreciate the perspective that Mr Tucker gave me. His statement boils down to that if I am between two motorists, one behind me traveling in the same direction and one coming the other way, the oncoming car's headlights make it hard for the motorist behind me to see me. As difficult as it is for me to believe that, I'll accept it at face value for the nonce, and play with the concept for a bit.

Having ridden that section of Westport Road a few dozen times, it's now almost indelibly burned into my brain's metaphorical DVD player. Riding it on the way home tonight didn't change my thoughts, but rather confirmed what I'd been thinking: If someone is likely to be blinded to my presence by oncoming traffic, they have already been dealing with my presence for at least a few seconds, and are well aware (or should be) of the fact of my being there. My bike is hard to ignore, especially at night.

In comments on my first post about this, Timothy mentioned that since I'm at about car headlight level, there may be something to the idea that car headlights overpower my blinkers and reflectors. One suggestion was to add lights higher up, say, on top of my helmet (or on a flag pole, by someone else). Given that motorists are (hopefully) spending at least part of their time looking at where their headlights are shining (road surface, for clues on where the road is, including painted lines on the road ahead of them), having most of my reflectors and lights in that area rather than where motorists are NOT looking (above their eye level) makes sense to me. In other words, I don't see a lot of value in putting lights where folks are not looking. That is not to say I'm against having a light on my helmet (indeed, I have a helmet with integrated lights). I would say that without a LOT of effort, it's hard to have a helmet light aimed in such a way as to help make me easier to see. Reflective stuff on the helmet makes a lot of sense to me, though, as it's easy to put there and low-maintenance (and low weight).

The pictures below were taken with a digital camera, using its built-in flash unit that I have previously described as being far weaker than electronic flash units built for amateur photography twenty-five years (or more) ago. I have a couple of Vivitar flashes programmed to work with my Canon film cameras (A-1, AT-1) of late 1970s or early 1980s manufacture that will reach into the drum kit that is upstage of the act currently entertaining the nightclub crowd from ten feet AWAY from the fifteen-foot deep stage. The current flash might reach the stage from the same chair. If there is nothing the camera's sensors figure is more important in the foreground. I've seen the side reflectors on my bikes with light from the back porch when I opened the back door to walk the dog, and they show up better than they do here.

Side view, obviously enough. One thing that comes to mind looking at this one is that it's time for a new front tire with the snazzy reflective sidewall. I can see it being difficult for folks who know nothing of recumbent bicycles to figure out what this apparition really is, aside from that it's clearly moving when they see it. Headlights were not turned on for this shot:


Front view, again obviously enough. This is the opposite side of what oncoming motorists would see (right instead of left), but it's clear enough (at least to me) that SOMETHING is moving here, or at least worthy of a second or two to see what the heck it is. This is pretty much what the clown SHOULD have seen, had he been looking, from Northumberland Drive as he pulled out almost into my right side a few weeks ago. I shouted him down, he stopped and lowered his window and listened as I told him he didn't stop for the stop sign, let alone look to see if there was anything coming before he blew the stop. He drove behind me until the road widened to four lanes! Anyway, here's the front view:


And, again, the rear view, this time with a left turn signal extended. The picture is a little blurry, despite the tripod use, possibly a function of the camera's difficulties in finding the bike before setting its auto focus. I may have moved at just the wrong moment, too. Anyway, this is the view Mr Tucker says would be washed out by the lights of an oncoming car, if the angles are just "wrong." Again, my real-world experience suggests that by the time a car is close enough to me that oncoming headlights would make me hard to see, the driver of said overtaking car has had ample time to realize I'm there. Indeed, he (or she) has been driving behind me for a few seconds at slower than the posted 25 MPH speed limit.


I didn't get to participate in the Bicycling for Louisville moving day extravaganza. Jenn did, however, and used the trailer to help haul stuff. Kirk Kandle has put a bunch of pictures up on his Flickr pages. Frequent readers will recognize my trailer (it's one of the smaller ones in use). Jenn is wearing the blue and yellow Kucharik jacket with the recumbent rider centered on her torso. Jenn told me she had a good time and got to meet and talk with some great folks. She also got to experience pulling a loaded bike trailer!

More from the blogosphere

Another blog had a link to this study, done in Oregon. They started with an advert titled, "Should cyclists pay a road tax?"

Despite an assortment of misgivings I (and others) have over the way the "study" was designed and implemented, it suggests a couple of glaring points of ignorance among the motoring public: that roads are fully funded through vehicle-specific taxes (like those associated with fuel purchases and license plate renewal) and that cyclists pay no road taxes (I think the tired old expression is something like "as if"). Yet again, it's clear that many people have no idea how road work is funded, nor that folks who cycle instead of driving, who have payroll taxes withheld by their employers and who pay sales tax on things they buy, underwrite road construction and maintenance costs in large measure.

I've mentioned this point of ignorance before. It would be really cool to see some analysis on a local basis, detailing how much money comes from vehicle-specific taxes and comparing it to how much is spent on road work.

Recall drivers?

From the "blogosphere," one of several interesting concepts: Recall drivers.

There has been much news coverage over the Toyota recall of many of their popular car models, the focus being on unintended acceleration (remember the Audi 4000?) due to sticky throttle systems, and faulty brake algorithms (what happened to direct-action hydraulic brake systems like the one on my 1972 Cutlass?). In short, nineteen deaths over a decade or so have been attributed to these problems, and eight million vehicles are perhaps going to be recalled as a result.

Counter this with over 400,000 deaths due to automobile crashes (from FHWA), in which anywhere from forty-five to seventy-five percent have as a major factor "driver inattention."

Los Alamos Bikes author Khal is now suggesting that, if Toyota is to face big-league excoriation over those nineteen deaths, the US Department of Transportation should also show outrage over the far more serious "faulty drivers" threat evinced by the huge number of crash fatalities.

I don't know to what degree this is "tongue in cheek," but it is being said to bring home the point--that finding mechanical solutions for inherent human problems is not addressing the problem.

Big moves afoot (or a-cycle!)

Looking for something to do Saturday? Help the folks at Bicycling for Louisville move their stuff from their old office to their new office--by bicycle!

From the Bicycling for Louisville web site:

When: Saturday, February 13, 10 am -1pm

Where: Starting at 425 S. Second St, in the basement, and ending at our new office-- We'll be renting office space at 2132 Frankfort Ave., adjacent to the Bike Couriers Bike Shop.

How: by Bike, Trike, or other human powered vehicle

Who: YOU and your friends

Why: Because it's fun, and we'll have coffee and snacks!

Please come and be prepared to haul cargo on your bike, even just a small box. The more the merrier! Please bring trailers, baskets, rope, bungee cords, even empty boxes if you have them. You get the idea. And be prepared to smile for the TV cameras.

If you can't join us Saturday the 13th for the move, you can help us a couple other ways:

1) Be a bike-powered box-packer--Monday 2/8, Tuesday 2/9, or Friday 2/12, from 2-5pm at 425 S. Second St, in the basement

2) Be a Bike-powered box UNpacker at our new office on Frankfort Avenue, Monday 2/15 from 6-8, or Tuesday Feb 16 2-5pm (before Car-Free Happy Hour)

As noted, there will be some sort of video recording of the process, in order to show the world that it can be done.

Sadly, I'm scheduled to work that day, in Crestwood, and am teaching that afternoon, so I won't be able to be there.

I got out on the Raleigh for a few minutes yesterday, to try the new lower gear. I wasn't able to really test it in depth, as I was busy navigating the left-over crud on the road, but the fifteen-percent lower gear is going to be nice. Just enough to take the edge off, without being a shock to my system. I have a twenty-two tooth cog that I may try at some point, but I think the twenty will be fine.

Yeah, we got some snow, but so what?

It's snowing as I type this. A little while ago, I shoveled six inches or so of accumulated snow off the driveway, sidewalk, and street-side parking pad. I had "dog help," though, so it wasn't bad.

It certainly was not anything comparable to what the folks within a couple hundred miles of Washington D. C. are fighting. Believe me, I am NOT complaining about the "heavy flurry" we got.

I used to tell folks that "snowfall is measured in feet, not in inches. Anything less than a foot is a heavy flurry." I said so partly in jest, as I fully recognize the difficulty many have with snowfall of more than a few inches. Heck, even my little truck has its problems, partly due to the lousy tires that are on it nowadays.

But I learned to drive in snow during the early part of 1978, when the Louisville area had something like two feet of snow on the ground after one storm went through, and that snow stayed on the ground for weeks afterward. The car I had at the time was a 1967 Pontiac Tempest that I had bought from the original owner. The only upgrade on the car from the base model was the two-speed automatic transmission (base transmission for that car having been the old "three on the tree"). It had inexpensive bias-ply tires--not even cheap snow tires, let alone radials (which were becoming popular about that time). I got around, got to work and back, got stuck a few times, dug myself out as many times, and learned from my mistakes (and successes).

I also drove tow trucks later in life, and learned a heck of a lot about dealing with less-than-adequate traction situations doing so.

I don't always keep from getting stuck, and it's been partly a function of luck, partly a function of being careful about what I'm doing that I've not needed a tow truck myself. I've learned, though, that I don't have to get wound up over a little sideways action if I'm leaving myself enough of a safety margin.

The biggest thing is to leave oneself that larger safety margin, expect to take a bit longer to get from point a to point b, remain calm when stuff isn't quite to one's liking, and above all BE CAREFUL.


On the bicycling front, I ordered a larger cog for the back of the Raleigh, based on information from Sheldon Brown suggesting that I likely had an 18-tooth cog on the bike. I tried counting the teeth on the existing cog without taking the wheel out of the bike, which is always a hassle, and apparently mis-counted, as I found it has seventeen teeth instead of eighteen. No big deal, I suppose, as the cog I installed today has twenty teeth. It's a bigger step down than I thought it would be, but fifteen percent drop instead of ten percent will actually be more to my liking.

My Raleigh, like many of its kin, was originally geared a bit high "by modern standards," as Sheldon put it. I prefer a fairly high cadence, compared to the folks for whom this bike was made thirty-five years ago. The lower range will allow me to better utilize the overdrive gear, AND make for easier climbing and better acceleration from stop signs. I'm looking forward to testing it soon. Since I'm off work tomorrow, and have a couple errands to run, I may see whether folks are paying attention to their surroundings and ride to the grocery.

riding at night

From a post to kycyclist, the local bicycle-focused list server:

Just an FYI to anyone on this list who may be riding regularly down
Westport road at night.

For the last several weeks on Monday and Tuesday nights while I have
been Driving West on Westport Road, under I-264 in the construction
zone, I have come up behind a recumbent rider (sometimes alone or
sometimes with another cyclist) between 6:15 and 7:40 p.m. (I don't
recall the exact times)

The rider(s) are lit-up pretty well with red lights in the back and very
bright headlights in the front. For the Most Part, they "Take the
Lane."

HOWEVER, THE RIDERS ARE STILL VERY VERY HARD TO SEE FROM BEHIND. I have
come up behind the rider(s) several times in my car and it's a little
surprising. I worry that those that are less attentive to cyclists may
not see them at all.

As you know, it is very dark on that section of road. There are no lane
markings and with cars coming the other direction, the red lights on the
bikes blend in.

I cycle pretty regularly down Westport in the daytime and at dusk and
dawn when I commute to work. I also know that there are really no other
alternatives to get from the East End inside I-264.

But, and some of you may be annoyed by this comment, Please Consider
whether you really need to be riding on this stretch of Road at Night.
I understand that if you are commuting you may have no choice. Is there
a way to become more visible?

I also know that every lane is a bike lane and we cyclists have the
right to be on the road, but ... I also have the right to smoke 4 packs
of cigarettes a day and eat fast food every meal, but I don't do it
because I know its bad for me (and its disgusting- but you understand my
point).

Frequent readers of my blog have seen images of my bike, including the one I linked for Mr Tucker (the author of the missive). Given the lights and reflectors mounted on my bike, I find it hard to believe that anyone who is not legally sight-impaired would have trouble seeing me or picking me out of the (scarce) light points on that section of roadway.

However, perhaps he's right. Perhaps I need a bit more light back there. Like, for example, a 100-watt driving lamp from a race car. With a flash mode. Or a Xenon strobe! Yeah! Make road users behind me TRULY blind! THAT sounds like a winning idea.

How about, instead, we address the root cause of the danger? Why not some better enforcement of the 25 MPH speed limit on that stretch of road? It's a construction zone, so fines are doubled--the police department could generate a windfall profit there in no time (said knowing full well that traffic tickets are not a good revenue source).

driving it home

Branden Klayko made mention the other day of the Disney cartoon Motor Mania. I've linked to it before, David Crowell linked to it some months before that, and Copenhagenize linked to it a week or two ago.

It's a popular video in my circle of online friends, to be sure.

It also illustrates one of the reasons I am leaning more and more toward riding a bike instead of driving: I dislike who I become when I'm at the wheel of a car. I find myself far less patient with the world and the road users around me. In my own defense, I don't get upset at cyclists for slowing traffic, but I am frequently frustrated by the zoned-out inattention I sense in other drivers, and can see where many of those drivers fail to differentiate between cyclists and slow-moving motorists in terms of "get the F*@$ out of MY way!"

Jenn and I were talking about bikes as transport mode the other night, and how far toward or whether I wanted to go car-free. I keep coming back to, "I prefer to ride," as a simple statement.

Sure, the money-saving part is nice. The exercise part is good, too--I get over a hundred miles in each week just by riding to work instead of driving, not counting any other utility bike uses I find on days off. "Doing my small part" for the environment is probably offset by the goofball in his outsized Suburban Assault Vehicle with the monster tires, loud exhaust, louder stereo, and various ego problems, but I figure I'm also showing that it can be done, and it's the example I like to set.

But at the end of the day, as the expression goes, the bottom line is that I simply enjoy cycling more than I do driving.

Numbers games and driving competence

In my reading, attending bike-related meetings, and generally being who I am, I come across a BUNCH of numbers. Some of them mean something, some are simply indicators of how well I'm sleeping (my CPAP machine records my Apnea/Hypopnea Index...).

A couple of numbers related to transportation drew my attention, though. Here are some scary ones:

• According to studies cited by Liberty Mutual Insurance in the Winter 2010 issue of LibertyLines, 5870 people were killed by distracted drivers in the United States in 2008. 515,000 others were injured in crashes caused by distracted drivers. That's almost twice as many lives lost to distracted drivers than to the terrorist-driven debacle of 11 September 2001. Per year. Is there any wonder some people refer to the automobile and our dependence on it as a war on ourselves? And that's just distracted drivers--it doesn't count things like the stupid twits who think they can beat the train, or the folks who simply fall asleep at the wheel because they didn't get enough sleep the night before.
  
  
• Texting drivers have their eyes off the road to send their all-important messages for an average time of 4.6 seconds--enough time to travel the length of a football field at 55mph. And to think that people send text messages to one-another, knowing that the other party would be driving at the time, and expecting someone to read it and respond.
  
  
• Embroiled in a cellphone conversation? The distraction fouls up your reaction time as badly as having a Blood Alcohol Content of .08...and a .08 BAC will get you arrested for DUI.
  
  

Distracted cyclists don't have enough mass to do that kind of damage--except to themselves. I've not tried texting while riding, and have no intent to try it in the foreseeable future. I've tried talking on a cell phone, and even then only on very low-traffic streets without any other cyclists around. In general, I won't even answer the thing if it rings (although if I'm expecting a call I might pull over and call the person back, while sitting still).

In a meeting a couple weeks ago, I heard another number that was pretty astonishing: the cost to build a parking lot or parking garage. Similar numbers are on WikiAnswers.com: Surface parking lots cost, on average, $4,000 PER SPACE. Multi-layer parking garages? $20,000 PER SPACE. Below-ground garages? $30,000-40,000 PER SPACE!!

A few months ago, Kirk cited a statistic claiming that there are roughly three times as many parking spaces as there are automobiles in our country. Even if that number is off by half--say, one and a half times as many spaces as cars, our parking spaces may be worth more than our cars! I've asked before about the ecological effects of all this parking space--storm water management, chemicals dripped from parked cars leeching into our groundwater, the asphalt itself breaking down over time and that oil seeping into the water. It numbs the mind.

It's easy to see how bike parking spaces would cost more than the bikes--let's face it, many utility cyclists get around on machines that cost them less than a week's pay, and dedicating six or eight square feet of space to parking a bike could cost a couple thousand dollars or more (based on the square footage used in the car space figures above), especially if bike security is part of the equation (cars typically having their own mobile security systems, even if they are so rudimentary as simple door locks). Still, it doesn't take long to see how bike riding is much cheaper for society when compared to motor vehicle use. We can build a LOT of bike parking for the cost of a few car spaces in an underground parking garage, and take up a lot less space. Remember the video I found for my post of 12 January?


I found myself driving somewhere last night. I was coming up on a traffic-light-controlled intersection, and the person opposing me but waiting to turn left had her brights on. I flashed my brights at her (saw her in the car as I went by), but she never seemed to have a clue why I was flashing my headlights. I guess she was too wrapped up in her cellphone conversation (her cell phone was attached to both her head and her left hand). Even if I hadn't been coming along, her left turn was blocked by the fact that a train was moving along the tracks parallel to the roadway.

Do people not notice the little blue (or in some older cars, red) light in their instrument cluster that tells them their headlights are on bright, potentially spot-blinding other road users? Have they quit teaching that someone flashing brights at you means your lights are probably on high beam? Do some of these folks even know what "high beam" means?

Or are the cars figuring that since the drivers aren't bright, the headlights might as well be?

RAAM update

I've had an email exchange with the Team Type II manager, confirming my spot on the crew. It's a mild change from what I'd been expecting--I'm now slated to drive one of the RVs instead of the team car. This is fine with me--I'll have more time to do transition point stuff, including but not limited to fixing bikes (although I doubt there will be much to do on that score most of the time).

As before, I have just a small idea of what I've signed up to do. I won't fully "get it" until some time after the event. It will interrupt my riding preparation for RAIN, but I expect I'll do well enough on that ride.

On the "keeping up with when I rode to work" scale, I didn't get to ride today--I have a large sociable tandem trike to haul home this evening. I rode the Vanguard to work and back Monday. On the way home, I met Jenn at her work place so that we could ride home together--something I always enjoy doing.

Sunday thoughts

At some point, this blog was to be a way for me to hold myself accountable in keeping the "car-reduced" thing going.

Over the last month or so, however, I've not been very good at leaving the car at home. Much of it has been weather-related--my commute is such that I don't care to be outside for an hour-plus bike ride in sub-threshold conditions that I wouldn't mind if a) my commute was more urban in nature or b) my commute was less than ten miles instead of thirteen or fourteen or c) I wasn't so concerned about other road users crushing me as they lost what little traction they had on the ice we had this past Tuesday morning.

I took the Raleigh to work a few weeks ago, to test the bus/bike multi-modal thing, and found that much more time-consuming than simply riding. I also found a broken fulcrum sleeve on my way home that evening. I was able to tighten the fulcrum clamp enough to ride the bike, and have gotten a replacement sleeve to install later today.

If the temperature will stay above 20F overnight, I'll ride tomorrow morning.

The second round of Tool School starts Saturday evening. It's not full yet--there are two spaces available as I type this. Drop me a line if you are interested.

Hawk sighting

I was off work today, and had some errands to run. While getting ready to go, I heard a hawk calling near the house. VERY near the house. I looked for her, and saw another hawk getting ready to light onto a tree over my driveway. About then, I heard the first hawk scream again, and sure enough, there she was (I'm assuming gender, here, as a) I can't tell whether it's a male or female just by looking at that distance, and b) it could have just as easily been male--I don't know their calling habits well enough to say). Both were sitting in the neighbor's tree, on a branch above my driveway.

Sadly, my cell phone's camera memory was full. By the time I got a picture deleted, both hawks had flown away.

I've been hearing them calling in the neighborhood for a while, but rarely get to see them. Their call is more of a scream than the calls of songbirds--it's quite distinctive. I love seeing the big raptors around. They are quite attractive birds (well, the carrion fowl are not so pretty, but they serve an important function in nature).

Hawks are pretty timid, apparently. I often see them being chased by crows, despite that a hawk could easily turn on a crow and take it out of the sky if it wanted. Hawks are opportunistic feeders, too. I once saw a youtube video of a kid playing with his pet rodent on the backyard picnic table, only to have his pet taken by a hawk that was quick on the draw. The video may or may not have been staged, depending on which of the attached comments you choose to believe, but it looks pretty much like what I've seen them do.

My errands took me to Home Depot, then on to Hikes Point for some CPAP supplies, then a stop at Feeder's Supply for dog food, then a search for a replacement for the mattress foam inside the dog's bed. The latter is proving to be hard to replicate--I measured the thickness at 2 1/2", but 3" "eggcrate" foam found at Gould's Discount Medical supply was not as thick. The search continues...

He's seen a light

...if not THE light.

My friend Kirk had a nice chat with David Osborne the other day, mostly centered on the latters HB255, mentioned here previously. It seems that Mr. Osborne had encountered a cyclist, who was making a u-turn on the back side of a blind curve, and barely had enough room to avoid a collision with the cyclist. There was a child in a trailer attached to the bike.

The two of them, Mr Osborne and our mystery cyclist, exchanged a few words at the scene. Apparently the cyclist expressed that it was legal for her to be on the state road (although the wisdom of making a u-turn that close to a blind curve is debatable). Mr. Osborne claimed to have contacted the two larger bike clubs in the area for clarification, and got no response (I can vouch for the education@louisvillebicycleclub.org not getting anything from him...). He went to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and got no results (they would say "enact a law..."). So he (or his staff) wrote the bill as presented.

Mr. Osborne heard from several cyclists--local and national--who expressed shock that he wasn't being mindful of KRS himself. Reading the Kentucky Driver's Manual, one will find several admonitions regarding looking ten to fifteen seconds ahead, not driving any faster than your visibility allows (including slowing for curves, in case there is a stalled vehicle just out of sight...), and so on.

I forwarded him a link to Copenhagenize blog entry regarding the Sacred Bull loose in the china shop (or shoppe). While there are valid criticisms of the entry, it does serve to make a point for politicians with their limited ability to focus on one topic for long.

The upshot is that Mr. Osborne has no plans to carry forward with this poorly-written bill. My only problem with this is that it's still there for some other misguided lawmaker to revisit at some later time--blaming the victims yet again for something that would be the motorist's fault.

Merchant of the week

Here's a jersey even an atheist like me can find humorous. It's from ElevenGear, who also bring you the kit from the Republic of Anaerobia National Cycling Team:

What you can't see in the image is the citation, "Revolutions 53:12" on the sleeves...


They have posters, too. Ah, 'tis a shame I cannot make this image my new email signature...

What in the world is up with this guy?

Kentucky House District 59 Representative David Osborne needs to hear from you. He has introduced House Bill 255, a curious piece of regression if ever there was one. It reads:

AN ACT relating to bicycles.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 189 to prohibit the operation of a bicycle on a state-maintained highway while transporting a person under the age of 18 years in an attached trailer or other apparatus.

The reasons for such a prohibition are unstated, but are probably related to some constituent feeling put out that he rounded a curve on Covered Bridge Road to find a cyclist in his path, tooling along enjoying the day at ten or fifteen miles an hour in a thirty-five zone forcing said motorist to slow from fifty-five in said thirty-five zone. The motorist, like many not-so-well-meaning motorists, decided that the parent hauling his child in a child trailer was endangering the child by doing so, ignoring that speeding into a blind curve so fast as not to be able to properly deal with foreseeable road conditions presents a far larger danger to everyone.

Yeah, that's one of the arguments anti-cyclist cagers use for prohibiting cycling: they come around a curve and suddenly find themselves behind a cyclist going a third as fast as they are. This ignores--pointedly--the reality that there are few if any curves where a motorist traveling at a sane speed would not be able to know well in advance that they will overtake a cyclist--if the motorist would bother to look more than ten feet ahead, and travel at a reasonable and safe speed instead of ten (or more) over the posted limit.

It's easy for me to see folks in Mr. Osborne's district using this spurious argument to support a prohibition of cycling on the roadway. In my own cycling, I've found motorists to behave differently toward cyclists in correlation to where I am in town, and that area is one of the worst for ugly attitudes from motorists (sure, there are ugly attitudes all over town, but I get more concentration of such ugliness in the Prospect/Goshen/Skylight corridor than most).

I'm not the only one worked up over this. There has been a busy thread on the topic on the League Cycling Instructors' list server. Kirk has made a blog entry on the topic (to nobody's surprise), and in it, he quotes a contributor to the kycyclist list server.

In various ways, all are pointing out that Mr. Osborne is ignoring what Copenhagenize calls "Ignoring the sacred bull in society's china shop." Rather than leash or contain the bull, he wants to isolate people from each other.

Make sure you contact your own representative as well, and alert her or him to how you feel about HB255.

Now I've gone and done it...

Folks who have read this blog for a while know that my wife, Jenn, volunteered for a RAAM (Race Across America) team last year. The team, Team Type II, is of bicycle racers who all have Type II Diabetes, and is a companion team to Team Type I, who are all insulin-dependent Type I diabetics. One need not have Diabetes to be on a support crew, and while Diabetes is a part of the qualification for being on the race team, there is competition for slots on the race roster.

At any rate, the team and crew are organizing for the upcoming RAAM, which will start on June 12th or so. They've been having a series of phone conference calls to deal with team needs, and it was brought up that Team Type II needs a few folks, including a team car driver/mechanic. Jenn piped up and reported that she and I had been discussing whether I would volunteer this year, with one factor being whether I was needed.

I am now penciled in as a team van driver/bike mechanic. I get to take two weeks off from work in the height of our busy season to fly to California, assemble a few bikes, drive halfway across the country (in shifts with someone driving the same vehicle the remaining half) at speeds from stop to race in support of a rolling relay of bicycle riders, get a little bit of sleep here and there between stints at the wheel, eat when I can and make magic happen for bike racers and their machines whenever needed.

The support team for an eight-man race team is pretty big--twenty folks in addition to the eight racers. We'll be using five vehicles--two RVs, one each for crew and team for shift sleeping, and three vans--one to follow the racer of the moment as a safety precaution, one to carry the other three racers in current rotation to their respective relay points and a third to function as a utility vehicle for backup in case one of the other vehicles breaks down, run errands like grocery shopping and laundry details or find parts for broken bicycles.

Jenn drove the utility van last time, partnered with David. They made a great team, and enjoyed working together immensely. A friend of mine is trying to make the team roster for his second year.

Jenn had a great time last year, despite getting little to no sleep for the week. I do better on short hours rack time than she does, but since I use a CPAP machine, I don't know how the machine will fit into the program on the RV. With almost twenty folks "hot bunking" in an RV made to sleep eight folks, luggage space will be at a premium.

Thankfully, I don't have to invent anything. The team has functioned for a couple years, now, and the guy running the show knows what he's doing. All I have to do is show up, work hard, smile, be creative if something goes awry, and drive with some sense as we cross the country at a bit more than the speed of smell (we expect to make the crossing in something like seven days).

I can't wait.

stoplights

Yeah, I do a fair bit of urban cycling. I also do a little bit of blog reading, often focusing on other urban cyclists and cycling issues.

I do some group riding as well. I'm always surprised at the number of riders who are not aware of what I consider easily-accessible general information on some issues important to anyone riding (or even driving, for that matter) in an urban setting.

Take stop light technology, for example. I'm not talking about understanding all the science and programming inside their control boxes, nor that we've moved most of our signals to LEDs instead of incandescent bulbs (saving energy AND making the lights more visible). I'm talking about how those signals recognize our presence.

In the downtown grid, many of the lights are set on timers, and those timers are coordinated to allow traffic to move at a certain speed. Jefferson Street is an example--one can stand at the east end of Jefferson Street and watch the lights change in sequence over the course of a couple minutes.

Away from the "grid," though, many lights are triggered by sensors. Some of us remember the old weight-sensitive plates placed in the pavement a few feet or yards before the stop line (that wide white painted strip at the intersection). Those were not as reliable as the current (pardon the pun) system that uses properties of electromagnetism to detect vehicles waiting for the light to change (no moving parts in the newer system, for example).

Many of these traffic lights have quadripole sensors. I'm not an engineer, so I am not able to fully explain what makes them quadripole, but I know that they are easy to spot--they are the ones with the squared-off figure eight cuts in the pavement, as the following diagram shows.






The picture shows that the Public Works folks have painted a bicycle with rider on the sensor loops. This shows where the sensor is tuned to be more sensitive to the wheels of a bicycle. A cyclist can trigger the stop light to change at this spot on the pavement.

Barry did some blog posts on this topic some months ago, when he went out with Dirk Gowin and some Public Works folks to test a few traffic lights.

Cyclists are not the only ones who don't know this about traffic lights, though. I have often seen motorists sitting in an intersection, with their rear bumper over the stop line, wondering why the left turn light won't turn green for them... It's the sensor, dude. If you are not on it, the light doesn't know you're waiting!

I'm still a club officer

It was almost a foregone conclusion, but I always allow for surprises. I was unopposed running for the VP Education slot again this year. It's always possible that someone would nominate from the floor in one of these elections, but the VP Education post is pretty low on the scale of likelihood for that to happen.

In any case, now I can set to my plans for the upcoming season in earnest. I have a lot I want to do, including re-working the education program from top to bottom, to closely follow the LAB TS101 course outline and have the certificate hold the same value. Folks who earn this certificate may go on to earn their own League Cycling Instructor license at a later date.

Indeed, I have at least one assistant instructor who is eager to earn his LCI. He'd been working with me over the summer, and when I asked him about helping teach another session at another location, his only reluctance was that he didn't have the formal training to be the teacher. I'm working on that, too, but in the mean time, I surprised him by naming him my Volunteer of the Year in the Education Program at last night's club banquet.

The only changes in the officer listings were to President, Vice President for Racing and Vice President for Advocacy. Laura stepped up to join the Executive Committee as VP Advocacy, and Andy, the prior VP Advocacy has stepped up to the President's position, allowing Earl to step down after eleven or twelve years in charge. Mark stepped down from the VP Racing post, and Travis has taken his place. I look forward to working with these folks this coming year--I know all of them well enough to expect good things from them.

Amanda Fuller, the interim Executive Director of Bicycling for Louisville, came to the soiree with her husband. Both were a bit blown away by the size of the gathering and the amount of stuff happening in our club. We also had a member who lives in Alabama (but who is in town quite often and used to live here) join us, so that she could compare our meeting to her club in Alabama. She expressed surprise at how many people were there, and what sort of craziness happens at our annual business meeting.


In other news, my first Tool School class of the season is going well. I have seven excellent students this time around, and all are learning about as fast as I can teach them. They ask good questions, and absorb information quickly. They've had fun getting their hands dirty working on their bikes, too, including replacing brake cables, removing and re-installing their cranks and bottom brackets, truing wheels and adjusting bearings. They get to learn about adjusting derailleurs on the last night of the school this coming Wednesday, and they are excited about it.

Car-Free Happy Hour fun

Car-Free Happy Hour has apparently grown. I got to attend last night's "incarlessnation," and it was a good time by all accounts.

Of course, I got there by bicycle. I opted for the Raleigh, simply because I could. I pulled the trailer along--empty--again because I could (although I also used the rationalization that it would make me more "un-ignorable" on the trip home). When I arrived, David and Manton were outside, discussing the cool bikes already locked to the railings. David said something along the lines of, "When I saw the trailer, I should have recognized it as yours."

Katie's cargo-bike was already locked to the fence, as was her husband's LHT with its bright blue fenders. There were a couple more bikes of various makes and models, but none that I recognized as belonging to particular people (I'm a bike guy, okay? I can look at many bikes and say, "oh, that's so-and-so's bike.").

David, Manton and I exchanged greetings and entered the Monkey Wrench to meet the rest of the folks. Rick, Allison and Eric were talking together at one end of the group of tables; Amanda, the interim director at Bicycling for Louisville, was there, eventually joined by her husband Justin; Nina, Bryan, Dominic, Kirk, Ron and quite a few others whose names I either didn't catch or cannot remember showed up as well.

Kirk showed up in grand style, as one would expect if one knows Kirk. Eric was talking to me about my Raleigh--he even made a mock offer to buy it from me--and he said something to Rick along the lines of, "You have to see this bike." They went outside to have a look at it, and when they returned to the table, Eric was excited that Kirk had arrived while they were outside.

Kirk, of course, was riding his Pashley Roadster Sovereign--a most elegant commuter rig--and in Kirk style, he was wearing a business suit and tie.

Katie opened the event with a few thank-yous, then introduced the speakers for the gathering. We got to hear about Ticket to Ride, and their van pools, car pools and bike pools (yes, bike pools). Amanda spoke briefly aboutBic ycling for Louisville's goals for the coming year as well. Katie mentioned the Louisville Bicycle Club's upcoming Mayoral Forum, and asked that I say a few words about that event. After all that discussion, folks went to socializing for a while.

As the party wound down, folks drifted off in ones and twos, and several of us stood around in the parking lot oohing and aahing over Kirk's bike and Katie's cargo bike. I got to take Katie's bike for a loop in the lot, and found it to be easy to ride (not that I was expecting it to be a problem). Eventually, we all had to head home, so Kirk, Manton, Dominic and I headed east. The four of us made for a sight cruising along Grinstead Drive, with all the reflective clothing, bright lights, and--"wow, those guys are actually riding bicycles in this weather!"

Kirk and Manton split from my path at Grinstead and Lexington, continuing on Grinstead. Dominic and I went out Lexington Road together, as he lives near me and I had offered him some reflective vinyl from my stash. As we were standing at the light, waiting our turn to turn left on St Matthews Avenue, Manton rode up with a horn-honk greeting, before heading on his way to Middletown.

What a day--I didn't have to drive at all!

As for today, I'm going to work a bit late this morning, as I'm teaching Tool School tonight. It's warm enough that I get to ride to work, so I'm riding the Vanguard.

Periodically, someone "gets it" with respect to bicycle transportation issues on a large scale. Of course, those folks are rarely here in town.

A recent post on Copenhagenize.com reminded me of some folks in Japan who most certainly "get it." Oh, to have the problem here that they are solving there! They are parking hundreds of bikes in secure, weather-proof underground silos through the magic of robotics (at the risk of perpetuating a stereotype, is it any wonder that the Japanese would be at the forefront on this?).

Have a look at the video on the design and construction. One thing I really liked about the voice-over script is that, not once but several times, bicycles are referred to as vehicles. Simply vehicles, with no drama about the use of that word.

Multi-modal trip

It's been a while since I used TARC much. I used to ride TARC when I was a student at Spalding College in the early 1980s, but rarely since. I rode TARC partway home one day last spring, due to a bit of rain, and that was my first "real world" use of the TARC bus bike racks. Aside from the bus trip, it was a "vacuum day." When the bus trip, soggy as it was, served as the high point...

Anyway, I've mentioned using the "Bikes on Board" program to alter my commute a bit before. As mentioned, and as tested today, it takes about ten minutes longer than I usually do on the Vanguard, and requires that I ride the Raleigh (the Vanguard will NOT fit the bike rack on the bus). Aside from a few intersections near the Jefferson Freeway and the construction zone near the Watterson Distressway, the most challenging segments of my route are well outside the range of the TARC route.

Sure, there are express routes that get to Crestwood and LaGrange, but they are simply not feasible for me. They don't go when I want to go, and don't stop where I need to be. All in the fun of working in the hinterlands.

As I started to say, I found that while it's okay to be on the bus in foul weather, to get one's feet warm or get out of a thunderstorm, it's even slower than being on a bike.

All the more reason to ride, in other words.

Oh, yeah, I rode from the end of the bus route to Crestwood, a distance of something like five miles. I rode back from Crestwood, braving the ice patches on Houston Lane, got to the bus stop ten minutes or better before the bus was due, and simply rode the bike the rest of the way home. It didn't make sense to me to wait ten minutes to sit on the bus and get home fifteen minutes or more later.

From time to time, I encounter motorists who seem to be genuinely nice folks. I assume that the vast majority of motorists would prefer to not hit me, they just want to get where they are going without a lot of drama, and want to know what I plan to do as I interact with them. Sometimes, though, someone goes out of his or her way to be nice. Last spring, a motorist followed me across the Clark Bridge, at a polite distance, blocking overtaking traffic from my lane during a rain storm. A month or so back, I mentioned the woman who apologized to me for her inattentiveness and the resulting dangerous pass she performed.

Today's "Polite motorist" award goes to the person who was driving that big honkin' Suburban Assault Vehicle, but who nevertheless let me go down Houston Lane ahead of him or her, following at a polite distance yet providing more light than the SOTA circa 1995 headlights on the Raleigh can create as I navigated the various ice patches on that stretch of pavement.

I'm hoping that ice goes away tomorrow and Wednesday. I may have to drive to work Wednesday, despite the warmer weather in the forecast. I may be able to ride--I'll see how things go Wednesday morning.

I'm off work Tuesday, though. I have some errands to run (by bike), some work to do around the house, and am scheduled to attend the Car Free Happy Hour at The Monkey Wrench in the evening. Jenn won't make it this time, however, as she is hosting this month's edition of Bunco at the house.

Which to attend--Bunco, or Car-Free Happy Hour? Decisions, decisions...

See you at The Monkey Wrench!

blah title

We had a busy day at the store, surprisingly enough.

Most days have gone by slowly. I have stuff to do, mostly in preparation for the coming season, but sales are off this time of year. The recent cold snap hasn't helped much. Small stores like ours have to set aside operating funds for winter.

Nonetheless, we had some great activity today. We filled the last two slots for the Tool School I'm teaching this month (starts tomorrow), and had at least one more guy commit to the one in February. At this rate, we'll have to schedule a third session, in addition to the "advanced" modules I plan to offer in the next month or three. In any case, the group for this session should be a good one. I know most of the folks (big surprise), and like them.

No riding since Wednesday, due to lack of interest in playing in the snow, interest in riding to work in sub-20F temps and lack of interest in dealing with motorists sliding around on slick roads.

I keep thinking about using TARC to "go multi-modal" for some of my trips to work. It really wouldn't save me any time, judging by the schedules posted on their site, but it could get me out of some weather time. If it's snowing, riding TARC gets me out of riding the easier part of my trip, rather than the part I'd prefer to avoid in snowy weather. Using TARC to haul a bike also makes it necessary that I use the Raleigh, as the Ryan won't fit the bus rack AT ALL. The Raleigh is probably a tad bit more reliable in snow (simpler systems), but I'm more comfortable on slicker roads with the Vanguard--something about being closer to the ground.

I drove today, and I didn't think to drive my side roads to see how they look. I don't know whether I'll ride or drive to the store for Sunday's Tool School class. I should be able to ride to work after Monday, though.

This Tuesday is the monthly Car-Free Happy Hour, held from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at The Monkey Wrench, located at Barret and Winter Avenues, not far from Bardstown Road. I've not attended any of these to date, having been at work for the last several, but I'm making an effort to go this time. It could be lots of fun--usually is, judging from the posts I have seen after the parties in prior months. Ride on by!

Okay, I'm jealous

My friend Kirk, who has been conducting his own car-free experiment of late, got a new vehicle.

He'd been building up the suspense for several days, asking folks for their opinions on what sort of vehicle to get. Of course, many (to some degree, myself included, embarrassingly enough) thought he was talking about getting a car (in my defense, he did indulge in a bit of misdirection). My suggestion? Get a velomobile. I wasn't even thinking in terms of his purchase of yet another bike. However, the Pashley Roadster Sovereign he bought (and had already chosen, in all likelihood) is a marvelous machine. It's a purpose-built commuter, from a company that has been building such works of utility art since 1926. It has all the esoteric stuff--Brooks B33 saddle, Brooks stacked-leather grips, and smooth-riding 28" (635 ETRTO)Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, er, TYRES, the fully enclosed drivetrain, and a proper Brooks saddle bag. I can already see some green on my own jealous brown Raleigh--another purpose-built commuter (albeit a less-sophisticated one). Did I mention that Kirk got an awesome bike?


In the course of Kirk's blog entry on his new bike, he inserted a link about Walk Score--a way to see how an address fares when it comes to stuff to do within walking distance. I tried it, even though I already knew the score for my home would be fairly good. My score? 78/100. There are LOTS of restaurants, pharmacies, shops, taverns, and other places to get what I might want within a mile or so, and many more within the two mile radius I've mentioned before as part of the Clif Two-Mile Challenge.

Still, I am in a better mood this morning, and not entirely jealous. I awoke to an ambient temperature of a balmy 20F outdoors, meaning I can do my errand-running by bike today! Yay!

I'd better get busy...

B-r-r-r-r

I have a couple of friends who are still riding their bikes to work this week.

I have not. Probably won't, either, for a few more days.

It's just too darned cold for my tastes.

I didn't used to be a cold-weather-wimp. In younger days, I was able to deal with temperatures down into the single digits wearing little more than a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled. I was a high-strung kid, burning hundreds of calories just standing still (well, as still as I could stand at the time). I'm still more tolerant of cold than many folks I know--to a point.

As I get closer to fifty, my tolerance for cold decreases. It's a fact of life.

I pressed my temperature minimum down a bit this year, with better gear. If the low temperature would stay above twenty or so, I'd be fine. Spending an hour on a bike in ten-degree weather (not counting wind chill index) doesn't appeal to me.

If my commute was fifteen or twenty minutes, or half an hour, I'd probably go ahead and ride. I don't know what it is about that extra half hour that buffaloes me into driving, but I just don't enjoy the prospect.

I mean, the bike is plenty reliable. It's not like I am using a crappy bike that breaks down all the time, and flats have been thankfully rare on this route. The headlights don't much like the cold, but the biggest problem coming from that is a short stretch behind Pewee Valley (Of course, my sense on the headlights could be left over from times using the SOTA Circa 1995 Vista Light set that's now on the Raleigh. The new lights on the Vanguard may be more cold-tolerant--I haven't tried them yet).

I could go multi-modal, I suppose--TARC has a line that would get me about halfway there--I just need to get organized a bit to use it...and use the Raleigh, since the Vanguard won't fit on a bus-mounted bike rack. After all, that's one reason I bought the Raleigh--to make it possible for me to go multi-modal.

At the time I bought the Raleigh, I was working in the urban area of N'Awb'ny. I was riding through the urban area, not out in the 'burbs. "See me" lights were far more important than "see where I'm going" lights. The multi-modal route now would have me riding the more challenging part on the Raleigh--the darkest segments, the hilliest segments, the narrowest roads--and that is taking the fun out of the idea.

I'm off work tomorrow, and will spend most of the day working on some last-minute weatherization chores around the house. Maybe I can tinker around with the bikes a bit--move the light set over on a short-term basis, re-install the small panniers that I took off since I use the trailer with that bike so often, and set up the Raleigh to be my multi-modal commuter for a while.

We'll see.