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.