Annual mileage

Some little stuff going on in my life, but seemingly not enough to warrant blog posts.

I got to musing on the annual mileage thing, though, seeing as how I have about a week before my bike riding shuts down for the year due to travel plans. I looked at the YTD totals on mycyclinglog.com, and had a couple of surprises. The first, and largest, was that I've already logged over a thousand miles on my Big Dummy. The last time I thought about its odometer, it was showing something in the seven hundred mile range. That bike accounts for roughly a quarter of my 4400 or so miles YTD. I've been acknowledging some level of surprise at how much I like riding that bike--it's darned useful in so many ways. I rarely have to wonder if I'll have room to haul this or that item I find in my travels.

Yeah that total is just over half last year's total, and aside from acknowledging that fact, I'm not worried about it. There were a couple of changes made early in the year that I knew would have a downward effect on the miles I would be riding this year--one was that I was stepping back from my involvement in the Louisville Bicycle Club, both by stepping down as VP Education and by having lost interest in doing club rides. The other, of course, was that I knew in January that Bluegrass Bicycle was not going to be in operation the entire year, and that daily commute was a big part of my mileage accumulation in 2011 (5500 of the 8000, in round numbers). Riding to the store in 2012 still accounted for 2000 miles or so in 2012.

I suppose that if I wanted to do club rides on some terms other than what I had been, it would be fine, but the reality is that I'm just not interested in that aspect of riding at the moment. Part of that is that I'm a bit different as a rider than I was a few years ago. I have gotten to the point that unless I have a destination in mind, I'm not over-interested in just getting on the bike and riding. I did a pleasure ride in Campbellsville a month or so back, and enjoyed it, but there is some inertia when I'm at home that I haven't been interested in overcoming.

I haven't taken the trouble to log the miles I've driven this year, so I have no idea whether I'm actually riding more than driving. The truck was out of service for a month this past summer, so it's not like I am terribly dependent on it. However, I own three gas powered vehicles, even though I'm the primary driver on only one of those.

Yeah, three cars in the driveway. My truck, bought second-hand at the end of 1999; the Toyota, bought a bit more than a year ago for $1500; and the Volvo wagon, bought from my mother over the summer. Rachel drives the Toyota, mostly just back and forth to work (a mile or so away...). Jenn drives the Volvo most of the time, although I drive it a little bit. I usually ride a bike to get anywhere, unless it's raining out and I need to not look (or feel) like a sewer rat upon arrival at my destination.

Bikes as part of traffic

As all four or five of my regular readers know, and as most of the rest of you have probably surmised, I don't like what many cycling educators refer to as "edge behavior." There are many reasons why taking the lane is safer, more efficient for me, and more efficient for other elements of traffic. Of course, my own safety is my first priority. Yes, my safety trumps the perceived convenience of other road users, just as their safety trumps my own perceived convenience.

Some recent discussions among the online communities of cyclists to which I belong have triggered memories of discussions I've heard or been part of here in Louisville over the last decade or so. A sampling after the break:

Blogs and comments can lead to good things

Via the magic known as the web, I get to interact with a LOT of folks I would probably not otherwise know. Big surprise, right?

Some of those folks are active as cycling instructors, of course. Some of those instructors are versed in the techniques championed by CyclingSavvy.

Some of the bike-related blogs miss points I would have them get, too. Thankfully, there are folks who are better than I when it comes to helping those folks see things from our perspective.

John Brooking, for example.

John made some comments on a Chicago-based blog, Easy as Riding a Bike, a week or two or three ago, challenging some opinions held by that writer. The discussion led to John making three guest posts on the blog, here, here, and here.

I sincerely hope that John's posts in that blog can improve things, in Chicago and elsewhere.

Cargo bike fun

Part of the joy of driving a bicycle instead of driving a car for work is that sometimes I get to hit roads I haven't seen in a while. I've been across the Clark Bridge four times in the last week or so (two trips to Indiana, so two trips across northbound and two southbound). Traffic was different than when I was working in N'Awb'ny, since I was going to Indiana later in the morning (or early afternoon) and coming home earlier than I did when I was crossing the bridge on a daily basis.

Today's trip to KY over the span differed a bit from my prior norm in another way: There was a crew working on the lighting mounted in the bridge superstructure, and they had one southbound lane blocked with traffic cones from the end of the bridge until just after where they were working--a bit more than two-thirds of the bridge was effectively one-lane. Rather than slow that one lane, I opted to take the blocked-off lane, figuring that I could choose a good point to reenter the open lane once I needed to do so. "Easy-peasy" as the expression goes.

I like that Big Dummy more than I expected I would. It's a neat bike--versatile and fairly comfortable. It's no speed demon, but it gets there with minimal fuss.

11,500 views

It was just over a month ago that I expressed amazement that I'd gotten over 11,000 views. In the five weeks since, I've gotten another five hundred views.

Yet there are rarely any comments. I must not be provoking enough thoughts or outrage or excitement.

Camera test

Yep, I'm dabbling in the video camera department.

I bought a cheap camera--sold under the Vivitar brand at Tarjay for $60 or so (plus a few shekels for the memory card...). I just couldn't bring myself to spring for the GoPro, at $200 plus bike handlebar mount and other accessories--yet.

During its first outing, I drove my bicycle through an intersection that seems to terrify many local cyclists, due to the varying ways motor vehicles approach one's path. I speak of Shelbyville Road westbound under the Watterson "Distressway" (or Expressway, although with its frequent traffic tie-ups, "express" doesn't really seem a valid term). Since I live off New LaGrange Road, and travel to do errands in the Saint Matthews area pretty often, it's a corridor that sees a fair bit of use for me. Whole Foods, Feeder's Supply, and, eventually, a new movie theater complex are just the other side of the Watterson from us.

It really is pretty easy most of the time, though. Follow a few basic guidelines, ride as if you own the road (you do, after all), and folks will give you ample room.

These are raw videos, with no editing (save for time). My camera records in five-minute segments and saves the segments sequentially for later review. It also seems to rattle around in its case while the bike is moving, hence the constant noise. Since there is no dialog, feel free to mute the sound if you like:

Here's another segment of US60, this one from Sage Road to Heimerdinger Cutlery near Hubbards Lane:

Note that even on a weekday afternoon I have a LOT of time when there is no other road user affected by me (or I by them). Part of this is due to my road position--well out in the lane and easy to see at greater distance. Folks don't often try to squeeze by me if I'm occupying the lane in a safe manner. They have plenty of time to adjust their speeds to get around me using other lanes.

Business isn't booming, but...

...it's looking a little better.

On the advice of a friend, I supplied a stack of my cards to Brownsboro Hardware Store. I've already gotten a few calls from folks who got my name from that store, so it was clearly a good thing to do.

One woman owns some apartments off Brownsboro Road a bit west of Zorn Avenue. I visited her last week, just to let her associate a face with my name and voice (she had called me a day or two before).

Another woman has already had me do some work for her, and we have made plans for more work as is seasonally appropriate. While not enough to sustain me, contacts such as these are vital to my business plan (such as it is), as having a network of happy small-job customers will hopefully lead to a broader network of such customers.

Over the rivers...

...and through the woods, as the saying goes.

Tuesday of last week, my sister was talking to a friend of hers, and learned that the friend was driving to Williamsburg Virginia for Thanksgiving. The friend's brother lives there, a whole three or four blocks from my grandmother's house.

My sister immediately called my grandmother's house to see if there was anything she could send along to my grandmother, and learned that my father (who lives with his mother most of the time to make sure she is cared for adequately) planned to be with his wife, their daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren for a few days.

In the space of a few hours, plans were made for Ella and me to drive to Williamsburg so that my grandmother would not be alone over the holiday.

More Class

Jenn and I had an opportunity to teach another TS101 class together, this time in Campbellsville, Kentucky.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Jim Moore, affectionately known by many in the Louisville Bicycle Club as Grizzly Dog (a Mad Dog nickname). He is a professor at Campbellsville University, and the most-recognized cyclist in that town.

Campbellsville is working to become a Trail Town, in effort to draw in more tourism dollars. Conflating, as often is the case, cycling with walking, the Task Force for this effort contacted Jim, who then contacted me. Despite having to address some unrealistic expectations (does Campbellsville REALLY need nine LCIs?), plans were made for a couple of Traffic Skills 101 classes, to be held on consecutive weekends. Partly due to the aforementioned expectations, one of the classes had to be postponed until spring, but the other went as intended. Another of those expectations had to do with the number of students involved, and I bought more materials than were needed. As I don't expect the materials to go out of date before next summer, I'm not too worried, but I'll be watching.

At any rate, we went from expecting twelve or fourteen students each of two weekends to having nine students one weekend. It was a great group, though--all were attentive, and some asked great questions.

Late last week, I learned that I would have two police officers as students. There was a bit of trepidation regarding this, as I have several colleagues who have reported unpleasant dealings with law enforcement officers, and especially with small-town officers. I decided that I would just keep an open mind, though, as these two could be quite pleasant to have in class. These two officers were quite pleasant. They were interested in my viewpoint, had had no real training regarding how bicycling in traffic follows traffic law, and despite that they had more athleticism than the other students, tried hard to do well during the on-bike sessions. Lunch-time conversation with them revealed that much of their job is public relations rather than lots of crime reporting. One reported that he rarely sees cyclists other than Jim (or Mister Moore, as the officer referred to him), and that he was glad to learn what the law says about cycling. I found their professionalism quite refreshing, and told them so.

The class went very well. Jenn and I had a good time working with the students.

Since we were in town, Jim took us out on a bike ride Sunday morning. We rambled along for about twenty miles, taking in a bridge over the Green River that was built in 1905 or so, near the site of a small battle that took place in the summer of 1863 (Tebbs Bend). Jim showed us a graveyard where several Confederate soldiers were buried (although some were apparently removed and reburied nearer their homes after the war). We got to enjoy some countryside that we don't get to see on a regular basis (having to drive two hours each way has that effect on frequency of riding a bike in the area).

It was the first recreational ride of that seemingly-paltry distance I have done in almost a year. I have taken much of this year off from doing club rides for an assortment of reasons, but now find myself more interested in doing some rides with the RCCS bunch. We'll see if that happens.

voting day

If you haven't voted yet today, why not? If it's already too late to vote, why did you not vote?

blinders

Over the years, I've posted my opinion that there are two reasons why a motorist would not see me on my bicycle. Those two are that either a) the motorist wasn't paying enough attention to his or her surroundings, or b) has a vision impairment such that it is not legal for him or her to operate a motor vehicle. No other option presents itself to me without there being a hint or more of dishonesty on the part of the motorist.

A friend or two have suggested that there is a legitimate third option. I am embarrassed that I don't remember the gist of their claims, but it could have been what is discussed in this article from a Royal Air Force pilot, in which much of the discussion focuses on Saccadian masking.

In short, when we move our focus, our eyes move. Our brains don't process the neuro stimuli that land on our retinas during this motion. We only process what is seen during an ocular fixation, however brief that fixation is. Our brains gloss over what is between two points of fixation (or focus, if you will), completely missing any detail in that angle of our potential vista. Please read the entire article, as I don't wish to copy it here. It's worth a few minutes.

The lesson, in short, is to do things to minimize Siccadic masking. Move your head around. Look more than once in each direction. Don't be in such a big hurry to get through an intersection. Know that others you want to see you may not be looking as closely as you would have them look, be aware of their Saccadian masking.

On an unrelated note: I looked at the visit counter yesterday, and noted that it was shy of 11,100. today it is at 11,130, a large jump for this site. From whence does all this traffic come?

Referral, and bike polo!

I want to pass along this gem from Andy Cline. It's a brief essay on courtesy and sociopathy, and worth a few minutes of your time.

Last night was Car-Free Happy Hour, Marco Polo edition. It was held at Barret Bar, which has a fenced-in court in the parking lot. It was fenced in to be a half-length (actually shorter) basketball court, but has since been repurposed as a bike polo court. There is a bike polo club that frequents the bar (of course necessitating that the bar keep a large supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon in 16 ounce cans in stock for the bike polo crowd and the assorted hipsters that are attracted to the "scene"), and several members were there last night. They invited neophytes to try, and a few friends did. I opted out--with my recent back issue not fully-resolved, my coordination and flexibility are not quite to my preference for trying it yet. Maybe another time.

Still, it was fun to watch. The rules are pretty simple. Players who touch the ground with their feet must go to mid-court and "tap in" by touching their mallet head to the side fence. There is a line painted on the court near the goal, and if the ball is closer to the goal than that line, and in motion toward the goal, defenders cannot strike it (I suppose it would be goal tending, although I'm not sure of their formal term). If the ball is inside that marker, an offensive player must get it out of that area before hitting it toward the goal.

Long view of the court:

 

The goal:

While I was there, some of the polo club members replaced the old goals with nicer ones, the picture above being one. There is some aluminum behind the opening that makes some bit of noise when the ball enters hard enough, and routs the ball back out to the court to enable faster return to play.

The old goals looked like this. You can see the goal-tending line here (in pink):

Some of the games I saw were one-on-one. Some were teams of two players. There is a LOT to keep up on when doing this, but I'm told that it becomes habit once one plays a while.

David Crowell was there, and had ridden his Big Dummy. A couple of the more experienced players took it out to see how it would do.

The Big Dummy is great at its intended purpose, but it's a challenge to get that long thing around in a tight polo court. I can see it being an entirely different game for two teams on Big Dummy or Kona Ute or Yuba Mundo bikes.

11,000!

I went to look at my blog "dashboard," to see what new posts have been made on the blogs I watch, and noticed that there have been 11,000 views of my mental dribblings.


I sometimes wonder what I have to say that is so interesting to others. I largely use this as an online diary of sorts, so that I can at some point go back and see what I was thinking.

"Blog worthy?"

It hasn't seemed like much has been "blog-worthy" of late. A few points, though:

I've not been posting my miles on the Mycyclinglog site for four or five weeks. I've mostly gotten them written down in my notebook, figuring to eventually get them recorded online, but it's been hard to motivate myself to logging miles after the dropoff at the end of May.

I tweaked my back a couple weeks ago, and that put me out of commission for work much of the said last two weeks. I'm doing better now, so should be at semi-normal ability to move and earn money soon.

In spite of all that, I got to enjoy several live music opportunities over the last two weeks. Garvin Gate Blues Festival is a long-time favorite venue for me, and Jenn and I had a great time digging the tunes again this year. Nora Jean was impressive as the headline act for Saturday night--the general sense is that we want to hear her when she's healthy, now (she came despite a cold that was hard on her voice, and was good enough sick that she's bound to be absolutely marvelous when healthy!).

CycLOUvia happened the same weekend. It was an eerie feeling being on Bardstown Road just after it was closed to motor traffic--almost like being in a Twilight Zone episode. Ten minutes later, it was getting crowded as folks figured out that it was, indeed, closed to motorized mayhem and human mayhem ensued. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I had made plans to attend another live music event.

Kiya Heartwood was a friend when we were in high school--she was a year ahead of me when I was at Eastern. Since then, she has gone on to form the band Stealin Horses, and has continued with that and other singing and songwriting projects. Another friend of hers from our teen years hosted a living room concert at her house near Buckner. I got to see some folks I hadn't seen in decades, a couple with whom I've reconnected over the last year or two, and of course, got to chat with Kiya. Jenn had no idea how much she would enjoy Kiya's music.

Here Come the Mummies played in Lexington Thursday night. If they are coming to a venue near you, check them out!

By this weekend, I was feeling flexible enough to get on the bike a bit more. Some friends were having a little bike ride to celebrate that River City Fashion Week had some bicycle-themed stuff, so Jenn and I dressed up far more than usual and joined in the fun. Pictures courtesy of Mary Beth Brown.

political involvement

I attended the constituent meeting hosted by the Metro Council member representing the 7th district (where I live) last night. It was good to finally get around to meeting Ken Fleming, after having lived in this district for two years. I think he'd had public meetings prior to this, but I hadn't tuned my metaphorical radar to catch word of them.

I got to entertain several of the attendees when I commented on the I-264 bridge over Westport Road, and how the downspouts are arranged so that they empty onto folks using the sidewalks under that bridge. I characterized it as Kentucky Transportation Cabinet relieving itself on the pedestrians, a metaphor that I find apt.

Quite a few of the attendees had questions about the plans for the new VA hospital site and attendant traffic woes. Many residents who live within the immediate area of the new site are upset at how things have been handled, and rightly so. Many people feel that this has been rammed through without heeding input from people whose lives will be affected by the construction noise, the additional traffic snarls due to the construction and due to the normal flow of the eventual facility, the light and noise pollution due to the facility, and more.

Regardless of whether this is indeed the best site for the new facility, public information and dialog could have gone better. It could go better than it likely will. Residents complained that they won't have any say in the arrangement of the buildings in the new facility (and they still likely will not, although the VA official stressed repeatedly that the plans will respect neighbors as much as can be done).

Somewhere in all this, another gem got dropped. Never mind that there is a LOT of construction around the I-264/US42 interchange, they are considering a total reworking of that interchange in the not-distant future. Interestingly, one possible rework they are considering would be to make it a SPUI (Single Point Urban Interchange), in this case looking similar to the I-264/Poplar Level Road interchange. This has some merit, as it would remove one traffic light from a fairly short stretch than now has four lights. Synchronizing would be a bit easier, so as to reduce traffic delays at peak travel times. There is a new ramp under construction already that will allow eastbound I-264 (also called the Watterson Distressway) traffic to get to the new VA facility without using US42, which will take some of the heat off the US42 lights.

Other little snippets that were not the big focus of the presentation (the big focus being the VA hospital): There are plans afoot to install sidewalks and possibly a bike lane (ugh) alongside LaGrange Road from Lyndon Lane to just beyond the Central State Hospital complex (Lakeland Drive). I will be contacting KYTC about this, to be sure, as I am not so sure bike lanes are needed there (wider pavement would be nice, to be sure, but putting a line of "magic paint" outside which bicyclists must ride is not a great idea). Sidewalks, though, would be very good to have.

seeming hypocrisies

I ride bicycles to get where I'm going more often than not. I do so for a variety of reasons, but one perceived reason runs counter to a long-time interest of mine. On a semi-related-for-the-purposes-of-this-blog-entry note, I've long said that we are defined by our apparent double-standards and how we deal with them.

I have enjoyed watching auto racing since I could understand the concept, about the time I entered second grade (if not before). A not-so-brief list of tracks I've visited after the jump.

I've been ignoring the blog of late

...to the point that I didn't even mention a couple of timeline milestones!

My last post, made on 9 September, was made on what was at one point planned to be my third wedding anniversary. Events surrounding my somewhat sudden departure from New Directions in July of 2009 led to my legal wedding day being the 17th of that month, but our original plan was that our wedding would be on September 9th of that year (09/09/09, or if inverted, 6/6/6/).

My last post was also made five days after another anniversary: On September 7th of 2007, Jenn and I met face-to-face for the first time.

Some would call me an incurable romantic for remembering these bits of trivia. I've been accused of holding romantic notions before, of course, and admit to a subset of such. I find it easy to remember a couple of dates like these for assorted reasons, including in no particular order: a) in just about every history class I've had to take over the last forty-several years, dates of events have been given importance such that I learned to pay attention to dates of events, b) I've managed to attach alternate significances to the dates in question to make it easier for me to access that information in what passes for my brain.

In the case of meeting Jenn that first time, I suggested the date planning for a time limit for myself, since I was riding the Old Kentucky Home Tour the next morning. The following year, I rode the century--again--on Saturday, and Jenn and I rode home on Sunday on a borrowed tandem. In 2009, we rode both days on a different borrowed tandem to celebrate our wedding--a brief honeymoon, if you will. 9 September 2009 was on a Wednesday, as I recall, and Jenn and I took time out to have a private celebration of our marriage and exchange rings that actually fit (in my case...).

Here I am, over three years into my first marriage. I have two stepdaughters and enjoy my relationship with each of them. Every day I set a new record for consecutive days happily married.

Who would have thought THAT would happen?

Why I ride where I ride

From time to time, I'm asked why I choose my lane position as I do. Many motorists simply don't understand my reasoning. Too many are not interested in dialog--one presumes they are afraid they will have to learn something that will change their outlook and cause them to change their behavior, but they are mostly just in a hurry.

I occasionally have discussions on the topic online. I have a couple of links I like to provide when that happens. One is on the Commute Orlando site, and is titled "Helping Motorists With Lane Positioning." Another is on a related site, Cycling Savvy, and it titled, "Why do you ride like that?" If I need to expand on either essay, I might toss out links to the Commute Orlando post titled "Widths and Buffers," or the Cycling Savvy post titled "You Lead the Dance."

A more recent post was published by Ian Brett Cooper, who blogs as "The Desegregated Cyclist." His post, "Why do Cyclist Behave in Ways that Anger Motorists?" has some gentle rejoinders addressing misconceptions held by many in society.

I sometimes use the term "anti-cyclist" to describe folks who seem almost violent in their insistence that cyclists don't belong on the roadway. Such folks would likely not let their anti-cyclist attitudes be swayed by the writings linked above, but some will--at least begrudgingly--acknowledge some points made in these links with regard to how the law treats us currently.

Ironman Louisville volunteering

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted on this blog--a week or so before Ironman.

I enjoyed being a volunteer for the Ironman event. I was there for two sessions--both involved using my kayak. They held a practice swim session for those who wanted/needed some open water time the morning before the big event. I used my trailer to get there, and doing so gained me some small notoriety and a few positive comments. I encountered a few friends there, and made myself known in the paddling community.

Jenn did a lot of volunteer work with Ironman as well--more than I did, to be honest. She helped event security manage the areas where racers moved through transitions and prior to the swim.

More about my Ironman adventures after the break.

Water tune-up, part II

As with any big event, preparation is important. As noted previously, I am an on-water volunteer for the Ironman(tm) event scheduled for next weekend. At some point, I decided that I would haul my boat to the river with my Bikes at Work trailer rather than depend on my aging truck. I tested the system today--well, one could call it an excuse for a bike ride, I suppose--and had only very minor tweaks to make along the way.

Before I could haul the boat, though, I had to reconfigure the trailer a bit. In my usual configuration, the trailer axle is in the fourth of six possible positions (with some of those positions requiring that the trailer only be one of the three modules). The axle module is usually the middle of the three modules, and the axle is aft of center by a foot or so. Since the boat is a bit over twelve feet long and the trailer only eight feet long, this was not going to work--the center of gravity was too far aft of the axle for safe transport. I broke down the modules and set the axle at its rearmost position.

I then loaded the boat to the trailer, securing it with a quartet of elastic straps (two bungee cords that came with the trailer section I ordered from Bikes at Work, and two straps made with old inner tubes and It-Clips--see prior entries or this link for It-Clip information).

Mindful that the way to Waterfront Park is mostly down hill from home, I rode what seemed the most direct route--Frankfort Avenue to River Road.

For Sunday's Ironman event, I am to meet the other boaters at the UofL Rowing Center parking lot, just west of the River Road intersection with Frankfort Avenue. For the Saturday practice swim, I'm to meet the other boaters near Joe's Crab Shack, a bit further down-river. I wanted to time my trip, so that I wouldn't be late. I found that I can get there in forty-five minutes or so, and plan on giving myself an hour so that I have time to unload and lock up before needing to be ready to hit the water.

Since I was at the river, I took the opportunity to do a little paddling. I stopped in the parking lot for the amphitheater between the Tumbleweed restaurant and the Rowing Center, and encountered a police officer arriving for his shift as a river patrolman. We had a cordial conversation (he's clearly been chosen in part for his willingness to be a good PR guy for the LMPD), during which he offered that I can use the LMPD slips for launching my kayak AND lock my bike and trailer by the LMPD river station for better security than I would have leaving my rig in the Yellow Parking Lot. I took him up on the offer, and had an enjoyable time on the river in my boat.

When I got back to the slip and prepared to get out of my boat, my phone was ringing. I realized that I still had it AND my small camera in my shorts pocket (good thing I didn't go for an intentional or unintentional swim!) instead of it my dry bag!

After the phone conversation, I got out of the boat and reloaded it on my trailer. A couple of passers-by commented quite favorably on my rig, then moved on to look at the police boats (the aforementioned officer seemed quite happy to discuss things with them, further supporting my assertion that he's a good PR guy).

Astute observers will recognize that the bike pulling the trailer is my Globe instead of the Big Dummy. Both bikes are equipped with Bikes at Work hitches, of course. The Globe has the dyno-powered headlight, though, and that will be important come Sunday morning! The boat is heavier than I would like, but not terrible given what I paid for it when I bought it ten years ago. I didn't need the little chainring getting up the steepest part of Frankfort Avenue during the return trip, so I figure this bike is fine for pulling loads like this (I've pulled a 250# load using this bike in the past, before I bought the Dummy, so the weight was not a concern anyway).

water tune up

 I spent my morning paddling my kayak on the Ohio River, in support of the open water swim put on by North Oldham County. Many of those participating in the event use it as a tune-up for their Ironman effort (Ironman Louisville returns for its sixth year in two weeks). Kayakers are no exception to this--we (at least I) learn from every time we are on the water doing this sort of thing.

I've been on the water for two Ironman Louisville events--my third is coming up in two weeks. I paddle my kayak to watch for swimmers who are having trouble, or who get off course, or who just need to hang on to the bow of my boat for a moment to catch a breather.

People who volunteer for such events speak of all manner of reasons. Some talk of how inspiring the athletes are as they complete various stages of the event. Some speak of the camaraderie working with other volunteers. I recognize those motivations. There are others, too.

All of us, though, are a bit selfish. We do it for the pleasure of making a difference. We do it for our own unrelated-to-the-event reasons, as well. One of my such reasons for being on the river is that, for the Ironman swim, I am on the river before the race, and it's quiet (save for car/truck noise on the I-65 bridge), and very peaceful for the Ohio. It's a chance to enjoy the river in a way not often possible in this day of frequent barge traffic. We see and hear herons and other waterfowl. The water sometimes emits a light fog. It's almost ethereal to be on the water that early on a quiet morning.

Then, of course, we get to experience the spectacle of over two thousand swimmers coming down the river. There will be the first couple of leaders, then a few more folks, eventually a steady stream of swimmers, then a thousand folks all at once, all arms and breathing and kicking and splashing and making a hell of a lot of racket. Once the huge tide passes, the numbers dwindle bit by bit, until there are only a few swimmers. By that time, each swimmer will have his or her own kayak paddler as an escort. We cheer them on, encouraging them to finish within the allotted time (if they are not out of the water by a specified time, they are removed from the event).

It's amazing to be part of this.

Today has gone to the dogs

I spoke of how I will miss Cisco a while ago.

There is never a "good" time for euthanasia of a pet. This time was no different. However, there ARE often complications in the timing. As noted before, my stepdaughters are out of town with their grandparents for a week, and we didn't want them to be dreading a coming euthanasia during their trip, or worrying about him, or dreading coming home to find he is no longer here. Letting him go before they left town seemed the lesser of the two evils.

Anyway, so that we are not lonesome for dog company, Jenn suggested that we dog sit for her parents while they are out of town. Dixie has spent time with us before, although not recently due to Cisco's advancing age and various infirmities. She is another sweet dog, so we'll have some fun with her during the week. She is far more energetic than Cisco has been, which will have some benefits as well.

Maybe I'll get some pictures of her up soon.

Requiem for a faithful dog

Cisco came into my life as part of the family I gained when Jenn and I started dating. At the time, he was eight years old or so.

Since I'm a pets person, I couldn't help but like him. He was a sweet dog--gentle, friendly with people and other dogs. He wasn't a fetch dog; indeed, let him off his leash and he would run away, eventually make a new friend or two, and let them find the tag on his collar so that he could be reunited with his people (and show off his new friend).

When Jenn and her daughters adopted Cisco from the Humane Society, they also adopted a second dog, Lilu. Lilu and Cisco were great friends, but Lilu got loose one time and was hit by a car. I never met her. I mention her as background--in many families, each pet "belongs" to one member of the family more than the others. Cisco was Rachel's dog (Lilu was Sarah's).

With Rachel away at college for much of the last four years, she was not around to do daily care for Cisco. I assumed most of the "make sure the dog gets fed/gets his meds/gets his walks" duties. I didn't mind, really. I enjoyed being out walking with him, in part just seeing him enjoy checking his "p-mail" forums and making his contributions to the "discussions" around the various shrubs, fire hydrants, mailbox posts, and so on. He helped me meet many of our neighbors, too. I feel that neighbors walking dogs helps a neighborhood be a neighborhood. It's almost a block-watch group.

Cisco had been having a rougher time over the last couple of years. One thing we found as we moved into this house was that he was doing poorly at remembering that his bathroom was outside. Our Veterinarian helped us with a canine senility drug. Eventually, the pill became a couple of pills, as liver troubles came into the picture last year. With two or sometimes three pills, we moved to putting the pills in a glob of peanut butter to make things easier for all of us. I have it on good authority that dogs like peanut butter--at least every dog I've seen express an opinion has been fond of it.

The days of lolling in his bed came to and end at some point. He apparently found it hard to get on or off it. Or the floor felt better because it was cooler. Or something. He wasn't the most vocal dog I've known.

Toward the end, though, it was clear he was suffering a bit. He was on pain medication, but at times the pain was more than the medication could control for him. He wasn't having a good time being a dog. None of us could make him suffer any more. His last treats were the dried sweet potato things we found at Feeder's. He would do anything he was able to do for one of those.

I'll miss seeing his joy at knowing he was about to get one.

bike lane rant

As some folks know, I am not generally in favor of bike lanes as they have been painted here in town. I have been getting some push back from some engineers on this, based on some vague perception that bike lanes are safer and that studies show this, or that studies show that bike lanes lead to more bike usage. Or something. There is much belief in magic paint.

I've been saying that bike lanes are a detriment to safety. Yeah, I get that folks who don't know any better think they make things safer--they don't. Just like wider lanes with huge zones of no solid obstacles don't make for safer traffic (such places encourage speeding, for example, as opposed to narrower lanes with trees closer to the roadway that tend to slow motorists and make them pay closer attention to their surroundings), bike lanes that take cyclists out of motorists' consciousness diminish safety.

I've been reminded of the Lusk study recently, as supposed proof that bike lanes are a good idea. It has some VERY big holes in the methodology that a first-term statistics student would recognize, with a horribly biased result.

I'm also reminded of all the bike infrastructure in Copenhagen or Amsterdam--two cities in countries that, by law, assume any car-vs-bike crash to be the motorist's fault unless some fairly strong contrary evidence is presented, with the result that motorists have been socialized over a long time to keep their heads out of their rectal canals. I would also offer this video of how things are perceived by a tourist in Holland. It isn't all rosy, there, for certain.

Statistics can be useful, but correlation does not imply causality: a textbook example of this is the correlation between ice cream sales and boating emergencies. When ice cream sales are high, more folks drown. Should we then ban ice cream sales? Ban boating as a way to reduce ice cream sales? The Lusk study has other, larger, problems than the correlation/causality issue, of course. It also ignores the problems created by bike lanes, as shown in analysis of this crash (ironically, this crash was in Montreal, where the Lusk research--such as it was--was done).

Anyway, here's a list of studies that supposedly prove that bike lanes are a good idea, with annotations regarding the poor statistical analyses.

I know that one big concern in Public Works is pedestrian safety. I understand that improving our numbers (reducing pedestrian injuries and deaths) is hoped to have the additional benefit of reducing car crashes in general, and car-vs-bike crashes in proportion to reducing car-vs-pedestrian incidents. I'm in favor of that goal, of course (who wouldn't be?).

I would prefer, however, that we put more emphasis on addressing the cause of the perceived danger--poor operation of those big hunks of metal--rather than making the rest of us pay by reducing our mobility. I've too often gotten the "stay in the effing bike lane" motorist harassment when the bike lane is not usable for any of several reasons, and paying money for poorly-designed bike lanes that less-confident cyclists than I will feel compelled to use despite that they put those same cyclists in greater danger is a bad thing.

 

Them's the brakes!

About a month ago, my stepdaughter borrowed my truck to help a friend of hers move some furniture into storage. The next day, she reported that the brake pedal was going very low and that the truck wasn't stopping well. I declared the truck out of service until such time as I could get around to fixing it.

Of course, being able to bicycle to jobs meant that I was not in a big hurry to fix it. Over the course of a couple weeks, I tinkered with it, and found that a brake line had rusted to the point that it had a pinhole. Of course, it was the longest line in the system, going from the distribution block under the master cylinder to the rear axle (or at least the fitting where the flex hose to the rear axle attaches). That brake line is installed to the frame rail before the wire loom and fuel tank are added to the chassis, so it doesn't come out. A replacement line is routed differently as well.

I bought ten feet of replacement brake line, a junction to connect the two segments, and an adapter to connect this line to the distribution block. Of course, replacing brake lines leads to bleeding the air from the system. In strict accordance with Murphy's Law, both rear bleed screws sheared off when I tried to open them. Next trip to the parts house was for a rear wheel cylinder, to enable bleeding the rear system.

A neighbor arrived at his home about the time I was ready to bleed the brakes, so he helped me do that. The brake pedal never seemed to build pressure, however, so I let him go home and poked around a bit more. Sure enough, the union fittings were not quite tight enough--there was a small ring of brake fluid on the driveway. That wasn't the larger problem, though: there was a much bigger puddle of brake fluid by the right front wheel!

There is a flex hose that connects at the frame and at the brake caliper. It had sprung a leak, and a fairly bad one, judging from the amount of fluid on the underside of the car and on the driveway. No wonder the brake pedal wasn't giving any feedback. I had the hose, having bought it when I put new brakes on the truck a few years ago. I dug around in the garage for a few minutes and found it, then set to installing it. The frame-end fitting was in an awkward enough place that it took a while to change out, but it eventually went back together. By this time, of course, I had to go get more brake fluid...

After a number of trips to the parts supplier, a couple of trips to a different store for brake fluid (the parts house is only open until 7:00), and a fair bit of cussing and fussing, I now have brakes! The truck is more-or-less drivable once again.

Oh, except for that when I got the report about the brakes, I also got a report that a rock had hit the windshield, causing a crack. Once I'm confident that the truck is indeed operational, I'll call the insurance company and arrange to have a new windshield installed.

...and people wonder why I prefer to ride a bicycle!

Rain barrel experiment, stage one

Well, maybe stage 1.1.

After getting half a dozen barrels, some with fittings that connect to the collection pieces, I installed two diverters in separate downspouts the other day.

One of those downspouts handles at least a third of the rainwater runoff from my roof. That gutter, like most of the gutters on my house, is equipped with one of the leaf guard things. During a moderate or heavier rain, though, the sheer volume of water is enough that much of it simply flows over the edge and never hits the gutter, let alone the downspout.

To modify this a bit, I removed a couple small sections of the gutter guard, closest to what I imagine the heaviest water flow off the roof would be. I then added the diverter in the downspout, and connected a length of hose from it to the first rain barrel.

I connected a second diverter to another downspout, and to the same barrel. I figure that this represents about forty percent of the rainwater coming from the roof.

It rained last night. The rain was pretty heavy at times. I was not home, and couldn't see how my modifications to the gutter helped or if they helped. The one barrel had filled to overflowing, and I have no idea how much water flowed out of the barrel.

Now to connect more barrels to that collection point...

Three years!

Today marks three years that I've been happily married! Who'd a thunk it?

Also, it marks three years since my last official day of employment at New Directions as a property (mis)manager. I had scheduled the day as  personal time a few weeks before, in preparation for doing RAIN that year. As it turned out, my last day on site was that Thursday--I was notified that Wednesday that Friday was to be my last day with the agency, and the wedding--planned for that September--happened earlier to avoid having to mess with COBRA for insurance coverage.

We held the ceremony at my mother and stepfather's house. Despite that Mom was sick at the time, they managed to pull together a nice place for a wedding. My sister officiated (she is ordained as a minister and recognized by Kentucky, although I'm not certain in what religion or sect her ordination occurs), so she will sometimes tell folks she married her brother. Then, after a pause, she will add, "To his wife."

Within days after my termination from New Directions, I started spending a lot more time at Bluegrass Bicycle. That was a good ride, but it has since ended.

Now I need to generate more business for my handyman service.

rain and barrels

Too late for the rain we got Saturday and this morning, I bought a few barrels fitted to be used for collecting rain water from our gutter system. I got them home, installed a couple of diverters in downspouts, connected them to a barrel, pondered placements for other diverters and barrels, poked around on facebook, and learned that a friend can get me as many more barrels as I need for the price of going to get them.

So, figuring to make use of a few more barrels, I went and collected a few.

The two or three of you who have read this blog for a while already know I hauled these barrels by bike trailer:

I really enjoyed seeing the looks on motorists' faces as they tried to figure out what I was hauling! 165 gallons of dehydrated DiHydrogen MonOxide doesn't weigh much more than the barrels to contain it, until one adds water...

Now we'll be able to collect rain water from our roof for additional supply to a few trees and other important-to-us plants in the yard, and for next year's garden project.

Hard to turn away work, but...

I had a call from a potential customer yesterday, and even before going to see the site I had reservations about how it would go. This fellow had hired a landscape designer for a fairly large project, and construction had begun. However, there were quality issues being discussed, and I was asked to come consider reworking things to the homeowners' satisfaction.

Work being something for which I would anticipate reward, I went to see what was what. On arrival a minute or three early, I found the landscape designer's truck in the driveway. When the homeowner arrived, I got more of the story.

Standing inside the house, examining the unfinished work through a patio door so as to be semi-discrete with regard to the current contractor, I was shown some of the details of why the existing work did not meet the homeowners' expectations. It became clear to me pretty early on that I had to finesse a way to politely decline the job. I figured that the size of the project was an easy enough out for me, as a sole proprietorship, and simply said that I was not equipped or staffed to do the work they wanted done (I was only speaking to the husband--the wife was not in at the moment--but it was clear that the homeowners were united regarding their problems with the contractor's work to date). I suggested a friend who has a crew that does such work as perhaps being a better fit, only to learn that this friend had visited the site, speaking with the wife instead of with the husband, a few days prior.

During the entire discussion, it was apparent to me that the homeowners were desirous of fine cabinetry-level carpentry for terracing and fencing using lumber treated for outdoor exposure. Some of their complaints regarding cuts to posts (35 degree angle instead of, say, 40 degree, makes for a bad fit for the railing being nailed to the post) were valid, to be sure. There was a joint in a handrail that looked pretty rough from forty feet away, as well. That some of the 4X4 treated posts lying on their sides as part of a terracing wall had bowed a bit was, to my eye, to be expected. It's treated lumber. It "moves around," as my friend put it.

There is little good that can come of being in the middle of a dispute between the homeowners and an existing contractor (a point on which I was a bit uneasy before I arrived at the house). Also, even if I were able to get it looking "fine furniture good" at the time I completed the project, the appearance would degrade within a year--there is simply no good way to keep treated wood from warping in some direction in response to weather.

CyclingSavvy

CyclingSavvy is a relatively new education program that has its roots in central Florida. Some of us in the bicycle education community have been noticing the results the CS folks get, along with dribs and drabs about their teaching philosophies and how the classes work to empower cyclists. I keep hearing and reading good things about the program, and how it teaches people to be part of traffic instead of being afraid of traffic.

A month or so ago, I learned that there was to be a CyclingSavvy class close enough to home to make the logistics of taking it workable. Four of us went to take this class to experience for ourselves what makes it so much better than the TS101 class we have all been teaching.

While I consider the experience as being overall positive, I have mixed emotions about the weekend.

It comes down to thinking in terms of a) what I learned from the class itself, b) what a relative neophyte student would learn from such a class, c) what I learned about the teaching methodologies, and d) how I feel about the instructors' personal styles.

What did I learn about cycling from this class? As far as class content, not much. This was as I expected, although I was hoping to find more tools for that toolbox. I did have some long-time training challenged with regard to lane choice as exiting intersections, and need to do a bit more research along that line (it's possible that what I had been taught is in error, for example, although there were things said by instructors that I also challenge as exhibitions of selective revisionism).

What would a prospective student that lacks my teaching experience learn? TONS. I know long-time cyclists who would benefit greatly from taking this class. Of course, I know a lot of long-time cyclists who think they already know all they need to know, and who would refuse to learn anything from this class if they did take it. Compared to the TS101 curriculum, it's decidedly better. The stepped success into more challenging or complex situations works quite well. Many of us learn to deal with new hurdles best when we feel good about the last hurdle we jumped, and this class is structured with that in mind.

What did I learn about the teaching methods? This was my major reason for taking this class. I really wanted to think about how this material--much of which is already familiar ground for me--is taught differently than I have been teaching it, the better to evaluate whether I want to bring Cycling Savvy to Louisville. I had to consider some of this carefully, as teaching styles vary from person to person enough that it was tough to see what differences were core to the course and which were more personal in nature. CyclingSavvy as a class is somewhat proprietary, despite that much of the curriculum is based on best practices that are widely known in segments of the cycling community. The CS folks don't post their electronic presentation online, for an assortment of good reasons, although the Truth and Techniques session includes a lot of video that is already available online. I knew something of the strategy employed for the "Tour of (insert city name)," but wanted to see how it worked in practice. I like it. I think the extra time involved compared to other methods is inevitable if the goal is to get folks to ride a featured trip segment for themselves rather than just having them "follow the leader" without thinking about it. In many ways, I think this is (for me, at least) the core positive difference from TS101, and much of the rest of the class is a build-up for success in the road segment by necessity.

As for instructors' personal styles, there were some troubling points. I believe both to be competent instructors, despite that one has far less experience teaching this class. I am sure that, with some practice, the less-experienced instructor will do quite well. Having to practice my own teaching spiels has led to great improvement for me over the last few years--I'm a far better teacher than I once was, although still no "SuperDuck" teacher. The more experienced teacher must have been having a bad weekend. There was some egregious rudeness to students and her co-instructor that raised quite a few eyebrows during the weekend. There was a demonstration that was, in the opinions of several, poorly-conceived and poorly explained beforehand.

None of this, of course, addresses the weather we experienced in Columbus, as that was clearly not the doings of CyclingSavvy. If you had not heard, Columbus had some severe weather Friday evening (the storm also affected folks farther east, including a relative in Richmond Virginia), and tens or hundreds of thousands are without electricity as I type this. Many are being told to not expect electrical power to be restored until late this week or some time next week. A lot of trees broke, not a few fell, and there was much damage to the electrical grid. We saw dozens of trucks from out-of-state utility companies heading north, presumably being driven by folks going to help rebuild the power system. Aside from a bit of time spent in the shelter of a convenience store, the storm had little effect on our weekend--we were quite fortunate.

We also missed the worst of the traffic nightmare that was loosed on I-71 once the NASCAR Sprint Cup race was over!

The "Way-Back Machine," again

...but not as far back this time. In the early 1980s, I worked for a couple years as a pump attendant in a full-service gas station (remember those?), and became friends with the assortment of coworkers. Louisville is a small enough town that I would encounter one or another of those guys--or a wife of one--from time to time in my getting around town, but I didn't keep up with them on a daily, weekly, or even annual basis.

One of that crew died a few days ago. I hadn't seen John in five or ten years, and regret not keeping up with him. I was glad to go to the visitation and funeral--well, glad is not the right word, as it implies, well... I was glad to see some of John's friends and family--his first wife, who remembered me immediately, although it had been thirty years since I had seen her, the gang from my time at the gas station, and a few new connections as well. I would not have not gone, as I told some of the folks there.

The focus of the gathering was not as much fun as the last time I cranked up the way back machine, but I'm glad I went. There are some good folks who have influenced my life, and it's worth paying homage to those influences from time to time.

500th post!

Five hundred times, I've posted thoughts here. Some pertinent, some more like mental flatulence.

I think the colloquialism is, "Meh." It's another number...

Anyway...I had a phone conversation the other morning that keeps coming back to what some would call my mind. Glenn and I knew each other in high school, in the time I misspent at "Louisville Central State High School at Twelfth and Chestnut, not to be confused with Central State Hospital." Yes, it was the alma mater of one Cassius Clay AND Greg Page. I even saw Greg Page in the hallways a few times while I was a student there.

Glenn and I reconnected a bit via that common social networking site. We've had some interesting conversations by way of catching up on thirty years of not having seen each other. A segment of the phone conversation we had the other day keeps coming back to me, though.

It seems I'm a source of inspiration for Glenn, in that I'm doing things by bicycle that most folks won't do. Apparently I'm one of very few people who are willing to, for example, do handyman services and get to job sites by bicycle.

Glenn asked me what led to my decision to do things this way, as if it was a sole moment in life. I don't think there was a single moment that led me to this point--extreme as it may seem to folks who drive by default. It's been a process. I've always enjoyed using a bicycle--I was three when I got my first one, and the training wheels fell off soon after (since I apparently didn't need them, Mom decided she wasn't going to fix them). My first job was as an apprentice bike mechanic, and since I wasn't old enough to drive legally, I rode to work. I rode to work when I was at a grocery store in my late teens--usually because one or the other car was out of service, but I rode.

I was thinking about my conversation with Glenn, and realized that I've worked very few places that I couldn't get to by bicycle. I even ended a job interview fifteen years ago in part by recognizing that I would not be able to ride to work, and that was but one reason I didn't feel the job under discussion would not be a good fit for me. When I started this blog, about five hundred posts ago, I even stated that it was in part a way for me to hold myself accountable and ride to work more, despite that my commute route went over a bridge that is considered terrifying by many in the cycling community.

When Jenn and I bought our house, we had been looking in areas that allowed each of us the ability to get to work by bicycle. Now that we are in this house (two years, already??), I am keeping my primary service area close to home (although I'm willing to cover more territory...).

It's been a process. I have made refinements over time, and came upon the idea of biking to work sites as part of that process. I mostly like where I am, I like where I think I'm going.

For someone who doesn't feel as confident as I am, I encourage trying things like the Clif 2-mile Challenge. Or, if that seems daunting, a 1-mile version of it. Take a class on how to ride as part of traffic--safely and intelligently. Just like doing an ultra-distance event like RAIN, it's one pedal stroke at a time. Build on small successes, learn from setbacks.

And keep riding!

way-back machine

A couple months ago, I caught wind of a gathering scheduled for today, in honor of the band director under whom I played and marched in junior high school and part of high school, Dennis Anderson. It took until today for me to decide to go.

Not that I didn't want to see Mr. Anderson, as I still address him sometimes--he was definitely one of those teachers that had a highly positive influence on my high school years.

To backtrack a bit, I'll mention that I have attended exactly one class reunion since leaving high school--the fifth. The invitation I received--later than most--showed that the organizers of the reunion had difficulty finding me (this in spite of the fact that at twenty-three I was still living in my mother's house, and had my name in the telephone book!). I spent much of that event getting drunk with people I didn't really like five years before. When the ten-year reunion was announced, I figured I could get drunk with people I hadn't liked ten years prior any night of any given week in any of several local taverns, without having to pay a then-exorbitant cover charge for the privilege.

I eventually decided that this reunion had potential to be different (in that the filters of "band members" and "band members likely to show for this sort of thing" made the above scenario far less likely, plus I didn't have to drink), and that if things weren't going to my satisfaction, I was free to leave. I figured I'd go and have a good time, or, if not, I'd leave.

There were a couple of lists going through my mind as I went to the hostess's house: The first one was of folks I hoped I'd see there, the second was of folks whose presence was of little consequence to me either way. There was a short list of folks whose presence would have had me leaving pretty soon after arriving, but I doubted any of those folks would have gone, anyway. The first two lists changed almost by the minute, with some folks moving from list to list, some joining a list and staying there, and a sizable number of folks who were out of mind altogether for one reason or another (the party was open to any who had been in the band during a ten- or twenty-year period, so I figured there were a lot of potential invitees I would have not met).

I had a good time. I saw a few folks I had no prior expectation of seeing. We chuckled about all manner of memories from that era of our lives. We felt bad that some of the folks we knew then are no longer alive to join in this sort of fun--a sobering thought to me given that I'm only fifty-one, and given that the average life expectancy is supposedly over seventy, and that some of those who have passed away have been gone for over two decades.

All in all, though, I'm glad I went. Whether having re-met some of these folks will broaden my social circle again is unclear at the moment, and I'm not really concerned about that. I may get some more work out of having had some of my business cards on hand, which is not a bad thing at all.

bike lanes and filtering

I had a conversation with a customer from the bike shop the other day, in which he told me of his recent bike crash.

It seems he was in a designated bike lane, moving at a pretty good clip, alongside a line of cars stopped for some reason. As he approached an intersection, one of the cars in the line opted for a right turn, with predictable results: a right-hook crash that led to a cyclist who has a broken clavicle (five pieces!). He is going to be healing and undergoing rehabilitation for some months before he knows whether he can ride a bicycle again.

I feel bad for the guy. Cycling is an important component of his physical and mental health maintenance plan. Summer is almost here--a time when a lot of cyclists do most of their riding.

How could this have been prevented? It won't surprise either of my two readers that I have some opinions.

He was, despite the presence of the magic-paint bike lane, clearly at risk for right-hook crash (any motorist can turn right into any driveway or side street and likely won't even THINK to look for someone in the bike lane). It's almost the same thing as "filtering," or moving up past a line of cars waiting at a stop light. Yes, he had a bike lane in this case, but the dangers involved in filtering are still all too present. If there is a hard curb outside the bike lane, even more so. Once a motorist starts to turn right from the lane to the rider's left, there is no place to go but into the car. If someone had opened a door at an inopportune moment, the rider would have faced injury as well. To some degree, my customer contributed mightily to the crash factor list by putting himself in a dangerous position--partly by letting the paint think for him.

Then, of course, there was the motorist, who failed to check over (presumed) his right shoulder for overtaking traffic in the marked bike lane before turning into the path of a fast-moving bicycle rider. Given that this motorist was in the right travel lane of the roadway (except for that magic-paint bike lane that contains folks moving slower than "regular traffic"), he was (I suspect) not accustomed to having to look for overtaking traffic from that quarter. Should he have been? Yes--the lane was probably marked about as well as bike lanes often are(n't).

Yeah, I have a problem with right-edge-of-roadway bike lanes. They make cyclists an "out of sight, out of mind" non-issue for motorists. They give cyclists the false sense of security that comes with having their own lane. The "magic paint" does NOT protect anyone, except for perhaps when there is a line of parked cars just to the right of the door-zone bike lane, and there is no cyclist in that lane when the car door gets opened--the bike lane serves as a buffer between the parked cars and the moving-too-fast-for-conditions cars.

When operating in these bike lanes (and I understand that there is social pressure to use them if they are available), be just as vigilant. You are often in the blind spots of motorists who want to turn right. Don't go so fast that you cannot keep from crashing in such situations. Better yet, know that there is an "out" for not using the bike lane when it puts you in greater danger than taking the lane in the wider lane.

Assorted thoughts

In the nine or ten days since my last post, I've gone to a couple of job sites with the new operation, done some revenue work (although I haven't billed for it--yet), completed a couple of smaller jobs (for which I HAVE been paid), and wondered how I'm going to find enough gumption to really chase after enough work to keep me busy and be profitable.

I needed a mental break, after the shop closed, and still find need for one, but don't have the money for an extended vacation. I must get some work and do it.

I had need of some tools and supplies for a job I'm doing tomorrow, so I rode the Dummy to Lowe's. My route to the nearest Lowe's store goes south on Lyndon Lane, crossing Shelbyville Road, east on Nottingham Parkway through the City of Hurstbourne (in defiance against the "no through traffic" signs, figuring that a bicycle guy isn't the main target of the objection). As I rode east on Nottingham Parkway, I noticed a something ahead. As I neared this something, I wondered whether it was a cyclist pulling a child trailer, or a recumbent trike rider, or just what. I got closer, and realized that it was a young teenager driving a riding lawn mower, as if for transportation. She had traveled BLOCKS from where I first saw her, and didn't seem to be riding to get the mower to her next lawn-mowing gig.

I had to wonder what she thought when I passed her--on my bicycle. If she was using the mower for transportation, I thought, she was being ridiculously lazy. There was no weed whacker in evidence to suggest that she was mowing lawns for teenager money. I wonder what her parents think of her use of the gas and mower? Do they encourage such waste of resources (well, it IS Hurstbourne, after all...).

One of the items I bought was an extension pole for use with either a paint roller or (as I plan to use it tomorrow) a scrub brush (I'm cleaning some mildew off some siding for a customer). It's about six feet long. I used bungee cords to secure it to the deck of the Big Dummy, then went to the Contractors' Sales area to snag a flag and some twine to make the end of the pole a bit more visible for following road users. I'm sure I got some folks wondering what I was doing as they saw me working my way home.

I got it built Friday evening, and rode it up and down the block to be sure everything worked. Jenn rode it briefly, made a comment about having trouble staying on the saddle, and I rode it again to see why that would be. I moved the saddle back a bit, and that helped. In total, the bike had about two miles on it--until today.

For its first foray out of the neighborhood, I chose to use it for a grocery run. The nearest, easiest to get to grocery is a Kroger (Hubbards and Westport, if it matters). It is a bit over two miles each way.

For the one or two of you interested, I've changed a couple of key details from the stock parts list. First to go was the Wilderness Trails Bikes saddle--its shape is all wrong for too many folks, myself included. I've been pleased with the Brooks B66 that is on my Raleigh, so opted for a B67 for this bike (same saddle top, same suspension, but single rails to work on this seat post). I bought a Surly handlebar with an almost-beach-cruiser profile (if inverted, it would be pretty close to a mustache bar), and had initially chosen a shorter stem. I found an adjustable-angle stem that we had taken off a bike sold through the store some time back, and kept it in reserve if the stock stem doesn't suit me. I recently upgraded the Ergon grips on my Globe to some with bar-ends, and moved the older Ergon grips to this bike.

First impressions on the Big Dummy: Wow! I can feel the extra rear length on this thing. It pretty much feels like riding a tandem bike solo, with less noodle-ness. The handlebars feel big and wide, adding to the substantial feel of the bike overall. With a modest-weight load, the bike feels quite stable (I didn't take time to weigh the grocery load seen below, but there is about $140 worth of food and stuff in the bags). It didn't feel heavier, the way a trailer similarly-loaded feels behind my Globe.

I'm not quite done dialing in the fit adjustments. I built this bike thinking that Jenn will be able to use it from time to time, but it will mostly be my bike for use in hauling job site stuff to and fro (the insurance guys have been bemused when I told them that I intended to do what hauling I can by bicycle, naturally). I may eventually letter it to reflect that it's a work bike used by a tradesman, not just a goofball's toy.

Another bike in this category that caught my eye was the Yuba Mundo. The folks at Joe Bike, in Oregon, claim that their staff has a Mundo ownership ratio of 1:1.5 or something, suggesting that several of their staff have two or more Mundos. None of their staff have Big Dummy bikes, and the implication is that the Mundo is more stable under heavy loads. As I was a bit pinched for time at purchase, I opted for the Big Dummy for a couple of reasons--the larger of which was timeliness of delivery, and the other was the component package on the stock bike.

I'm not normally one to worry a whole lot about component packages. My Globe has an Acera 8-speed rear derailleur, for example, and I see no reason to upgrade it. I tend to value the overall ride of the bike, and the frame is the single biggest factor in how a bike rides (well-built wheels tend to be wheels, a given tire tends to be that same tire regardless of what bike it's being used on, and so forth). If I were to get a Mundo, I would have to start with a frame set (which doesn't appear to be currently available...), as the stock configuration confuses me. The stock rear wheel is a freewheel-type using a seven-speed drivetrain (well, it DOES have triple chainrings, but a freewheel hub? Really? Move the drive-side wheel bearings away from the frame another inch--the axle won't bend?). Rather than fight all those headaches of piecing together a custom-spec bike, I went with the Surly.

This is not to say that I won't, at some point, trade up for a Mundo. I like that their front carrier is frame-mounted instead of fork-mounted. I like several things about the accessories that Yuba offers (and that Joe Bike offers), when compared to the Xtracycle options that the Big Dummy is made to accept. I'm not in a hurry to change bikes at the moment, though. I'm happy with what I've experienced so far with this Big Dummy.

One door closes...

and another opens. That's the saying, anyway.

Bluegrass Bicycle, LLC has, for all purposes, closed the doors. There is still some inventory to sell off, but I also need to move on and get started on my new sole proprietorship thing.

Also sadly, I drove to work the last three days at the store. This was due to several factors: heavy weather Tuesday morning (rain, wind, thunder, lightning, did I mention lightning?), the need to haul stuff to Red House Bicycle for staging and future sales, and having Jenn ride with me all three days for moral support and her invaluable assistance in packing and tracking the inventory so that Bob could figure out what he has in which box going forward.

Oh, and, that Thursday saw the arrival of a fairly large box, containing one size 18" Surly Big Dummy, to be used by Tom Armstrong Handyman Service for house calls involving estimates and sometimes actual work. The cardboard got wet on the way home (the rain was borderline torrential), but it seems dry enough to leave alone overnight. I'll build it Friday or Saturday.

On Friday, I will be conducting a "Lunch and Learn" at a health-care company's office building, in part to encourage the folks there to ride bicycles for utility. I am not expecting a large group at this point, but who knows what folks will decide at the last minute?

Saturday, I am teaching part two of "Bicycle Superhero Basics," essentially a TS101 class. I won't take the new bike, as I will not have had time to learn to do the parking lot drills on the longer wheelbase it has. I expect to take a few days to sort out the handling on that bike before using it to actually haul heavy loads.

By Monday, I will have decided on which insurance company will get my premium payments to get liability insurance as a handyman. I plan to be conscientious enough that there won't be any claims on me, but insurance is about protecting one's own assets, and I do not wish to risk what assets I would be deemed to have by some court without some coverage. It's a business expense, just like paying myself or consumable supplies.

Listening to the thunder outside, glad I was not riding in that rain.

Memorial Day weekend activities

This post really belongs ahead of the last post if one is going to be a stickler about chronology, but I needed to write the depression post first to get some of that out of my system so that I could write this one. I didn't feel like going through the metaphorical hoops to rearrange them. I trust that both of my readers can deal with it.

About a week ago, I stopped at my mother's house to fetch my canoe, which had been in her yard for some years, unused. Jenn and I had decided to use it for the Mayor's Hike, Bike, and Paddle event this Memorial Day weekend, in order to take a break from participating in the bike ride after several years of that event. As I drove home with it on my truck, I encountered my stepdaughter as she left the neighborhood on her way to a friend's house. She and I talked for a moment, and she expressed interest in participating in the paddling event.

I have a kayak in addition to my canoe, so we figured that she could use it while Jenn and I used the larger boat. It was decided that spending some time on Long Run Park lake the day before would be a good idea, as it would give Rachel a chance to learn the basics of operating the kayak before having to deal with doing so on the river around other folks (safety being a big thing for me...).

So, Sunday afternoon, the three of us drove to Long Run Park to spend some time on the water. Rachel opted to jump in the water a couple of times, mostly for fun, and I figured it would be good for her to learn how to reenter the boat from the water in case she ever needed that for self-rescue. Jenn and I enjoyed watching her have fun with this exercise, but opted out of doing so ourselves. As we loaded the boats to go home, a fellow approached us, asking whether we had scissors or a knife, as the goose he was carrying had what appeared to be some fishing line wrapped tightly around its leg. The goose's foot was swollen due to the poor circulation, and had to be in some discomfort. However, it was surprisingly docile for being held still by a person. After some deliberation, attempts at explaining where the nearest twenty-four-hour veterinary clinic was, and seeing what tools were available on site, Jenn decided that the best thing for the goose was for us to take it (I'm not good at determining the gender of a goose. I assume geese can tell...) ourselves.

We spread a tarp over Jenn's lap to contain goose poop and help keep the goose from getting too active in the cab of my truck, and off we went. Again, the goose was amazingly calm about things, never making any noise and not really fighting Jenn's efforts to keep it from biting either of us. The Veterinarian was quite nice about things as well, and came out to the truck rather than having us come inside with the bird. One or two snips of the scissors and the fishing line was gone, and we drove back to Long Run Park so that the bird would be returned to familiar territory.

When we got the goose out of the truck at the park, it waddled away as if it had no foot pain, then jumped in the lake and swam around to get a drink and go on with its life. The family who had brought our attention to the bird's plight was glad to see us and the goose return, and thanked us for our kindness. We thanked them for their good deed of helping the bird get help.

It was a goose of who-knows what mix of varieties--it wasn't a Canada Goose, for example. But it certainly didn't deserve to lose a foot to some lazy person who didn't remove fishing lines after snagging a lure on a pond that contains fish that should not be eaten. I'm glad we were able to help, even if it meant that the tarp needed a good scrubbing afterward.

depressing day

How does one make a small fortune while owning a bike shop?

First, one will need a large fortune.

This has been axiomatic since I first started watching the bike shop "biz" as a teen. It was an old joke then. I've heard it applied to many other types of business as well--horse farms among them.

I mention this because Bluegrass Bicycle is closing. Thursday, May 31, is the last day we will be in the space we've occupied for over four years. Unsold inventory is staged at Red House Bicycle, in Buckner, until such time as it can be sold--potentially at a loss, but hopefully at something that will at least offset the expense of having it so far. I will be ending my involvement with that process Thursday evening, as I must move on to the next phase of my life.

Today was an exceptionally depressing day. All the tools and much of the store fixture stuff was sold to Mike's Hike and Bike in Richmond, as they prepare for opening a second location in London, Kentucky. Mike rued that I live so far from London, as he would love to have someone with my skill set to run his new location, but a three-hour commute each way is beyond what I'm willing to do. I treasure my time at home too much. Part of the reason I stepped down from my activities with the Louisville Bicycle Club was that I want to spend more time with Jenn.

Despite the depressing--nay, heartbreaking--day, good things are on the horizon. I will be doing the self-employed thing soon. My handyman business has potential, if the expressions on friends' faces when they hear of my plans are any indication. I will probably take a few days to get reoriented, do start-up things like get the insurance going, get my name registered, get an ad or two to show up in local print media, and so on. I hope to do at least some of my work-related transportation by bicycle, using my Bikes at Work trailer as necessary to haul tools, equipment, and supplies to job sites.

This, of course, reminds me that I need to do some sort of web site, along with some social media time (like that facebook thing). I haven't explored twitter, and am disinclined to do so, despite its apparent popularity.

I have business cards, which will help. I'll spend some time figuring just what other stuff I need to do to get the word out about what I'm able to do. Word of mouth will be a key component of my business plan--a sign in the first bike shop to employ my services proclaimed that word of mouth can be one's best advertising or one's worst, and that it was up to me to decide which. Several folks seem to trust me based on who I am and how I treat the people around me, which I must say is gratifying. To those of you who feel similarly, thank you. I really appreciate it. It means a great deal to me.

That was a busy weekend...

This past weekend, my younger stepdaughter graduated from Georgetown College. In four years, no less--something that is becoming more and more remarkable. My own four-year degree took me over twenty years to earn, if one includes the various false starts.

I struggle with saying I'm proud of her, as I have had little real influence on who she is or on her work ethic that helped her earn the degree. I am excited for her. I want her to have due credit for what she has done--I don't want any of the credit that is rightfully hers.

Getting ready for this event, though, involved a few hurdles. There are hurdles yet to be overcome, and that are tied in ways to my own job hurdles of the coming weeks and months.

Wednesday evening, Jenn came to the store with the truck so that we could haul a load of stuff from Rachel's dorm room. I rode to work that morning, and left the Vanguard at the store overnight. I pulled the long trailer to work with me Thursday so that I could haul it home. It made quite a sight for some passing motorists, based on the looks I got! I thought I had taken a picture, but the camera doesn't seem to have it for some reason.

Friday was Bike to Work Day. I (ironically) took the day off from work to participate in the celebrations. I had thought it would be fun to pull my trailer, carrying a ladder and some tools, to show that a tradesperson could get to a job site by bike, even hauling such tools and gear. A couple weeks before the event, email traffic within the committee (of which I'm part) indicated that coffee for the event being donated by Heine Brothers' Coffee would be available at their Douglas Loop location. I wondered in response whether the coffee could be collected along my route to Seneca Park, so that it could get to the event by bicycle instead of by car, and was pleasantly surprised when the Heine Brothers' representative agreed to change the location to Westport Village! So, yes, I hauled nine or ten gallons of coffee to Fourth Street Live for the event on my trailer. I hauled the portable containers back to Heine Brothers' afterward, as they needed them for another event the next day.

I had to do this earlier than originally hoped because Rachel wanted Jenn and me to attend her Senior Banquet Friday evening. I was glad to be included, to say the least. It made for a bit of a rush to get cleaned up after all the riding and get to Georgetown in time, but we made it. Christian colleges like Georgetown make a big deal of their Baccalaureate rituals, and while the religious aspect of such services is a focus of derision for me, we attended. We did sit in the back row, so as not to offend as many folks when we sat instead of standing for prayers.

Graduation itself was Saturday morning. Much of what was said was reasonably ecumenical for a Christian college, and the keynote speaker was pretty good.

Rachel's father and stepmother held a party in her honor Saturday after the ceremonies, and since Jenn and I were not invited, we used the time to get a nap and start getting ready for our own such party on Sunday.


After all that, I got to ride to work again yesterday. I have errands to accomplish today, so will be riding some more shortly.

file cleaning

Until fairly recently, I had not paid much attention to all the features offered by blogger.com. It seems there is a stats page that shows me how many people look at this blog on a daily basis. It also tells me how many posts I've made, how many I've started but not "published," where visitors were before they came to see my blabberings, and so on. Apparently, I've posted about 490 times since starting this blog in 2008.

Apparently, nothing I've posted has warranted comment in a while, either, despite that people are seeing my blabberings.