I am Traffic

I am making plans to attend the I am Traffic colloquium in a few weeks. Part of the goal of this event is to create a new national organization to help educate cyclists and other road users. There are several folks following the "I am Traffic" site on Facebook, and many in that group have created profile images of themselves riding as part of traffic.

I haven't added the text to my images, but have had Jenn take a few. I took a few of her as well, and I'll show a couple of the results here:

 

 I had Jenn approach New LaGrange Road on Lyndon Lane, planning to cross New LaGrange. I have other images of her from this approach, but her lane position here rocks! She's in the left tire track, easy to see from greater distances. She has her left turn signal "on" in the image above, as she is moving into the lane that feeds Lyndon Lane and eastbound New LaGrange Road.

Once the light changed, she went through the intersection without any problem. Confident, safe, sure of where she is going.

I had her take pictures of me as I approached the same intersection, and again as I approached it from the west on New LaGrange Road. I have my long trailer carrying a mock load (four bins and two ladders) behind the Big Dummy. Sometimes I wonder whether the trailer gives motorists incentive to give me more room. I am sure that some motorists wonder why I don't just use a truck to haul all that stuff.

Here are a couple images taken on Shelbyville Road near the Watterson Expressway. Many cyclists cringe at the very thought of cycling through this intersection, but I transit it regularly without problems. One key is to use some understanding of how traffic clusters in platoons as controlled by traffic lights to have the road to myself. I don't always take the time to go in to the Mall St Matthews lot to make use of the signal, but did so for this image set. I spent a LOT of time by myself as I pedaled through the interchange.

I have had the experience of using the outbound light from Mall St Matthews, and catching a car that was waiting for that light at the left turn light I use to get on to New LaGrange Road. Indeed, it's not uncommon, depending on how I catch the light that controls traffic coming from the expressway onto Shelbyville Road.

 I was riding westbound on Shelbyville Road approaching Oxmoor Center here. Shelbyville changes quite a bit in that few blocks, from having a lot of residential development on either side to having the car dealerships to my right in this picture, and lots of commercial development ahead of me on either side of the road. As long as one drives the bicycle instead of hugging the edge, it's pretty easy to manage. I lived in Douglass Hills for several years, and rode to club rides that started in St Matthews fairly often, almost always using this stretch of Shelbyville Road.

Forty years ago

the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision on Roe v. Wade. In that decision, the court found in favor of a woman's right to privacy in the matter of whether she sought an abortion, putting what may be only a temporary end to the era of women dying of botched illegal abortions in back alleys or in other unclean places. Prior to that time, many of the women who had abortions died or were maimed such that future childbirth was impossible.

Today, there are clinics in larger cities where women can see specialists who know how to do this while maintaining the woman's integrity.

There remains a battle, however. Religious zealots have found an outlet for their inner bullies, and swarm around anyone seeking family planning services that don't follow their own dogmatic ideologies. These bullies hurl invective designed to demean and verbally bludgeon women who already know their options. These bullies have no real knowledge of the women's situations, and don't really care. The bullies would tell me that they are trying to "save the babies," when their deeper goal--even deeper than they themselves often realize--is to wrest control over the less fortunate.

I have no right to make the choice for any woman. My government has no right to make that choice in my name. The anti-choice bullies certainly have no right to impose their religious-based zealotry on any woman.

Today's Courier-Journal has several editorials and op-ed pieces regarding the anniversary of Roe v Wade. Some of the positions are frankly scary in their misogyny and patriarchy.

The World is coming! The World is coming!

Well, folks from other countries are coming to Louisville, at any rate, and there will probably be a few British among them!

For the first time in more than sixty years, the UCI Cyclocross World Championship races are being held outside Europe. Here in Louisville KY! At least a few hundred folks in Louisville are quite excited about this, and a few more are learning of the event and its significance (finally), now that the CeeJ published an article about it. Of course, an event this big comes with some challenges for the locals, along with folks who would use River Road by the event venue. With all the equipment, team trailers, vendor booths, and various other excitement, a section of River Road will be closed for several days.

Small and temporary inconvenience, although I recognize that some will be really put out by it. It won't be as bad as what my mother and stepfather had to deal with some years ago, when the bridge over Floyds Fork on Aiken Road was closed to traffic. They had to drive MILES out of their way to get to town, for well over a year.

There has been a lot of news coverage recently regarding some other famous bike racer, but I've largely ignored it. It seemed odd to customers during the early part of this century that I was working in a bike shop and was not just beside myself with excitement that a man who shares my surname was going so fast on his bicycles. I get that people are excited about the sport of bicycle racing. It has little to do with how I ride a bicycle, and less to do with how I ride as part of traffic. Indeed, people who like to think of themselves as racers are often cited by those who would ban cycling from the roads as a big part of the problem (I know--attitudes about entitlement of faster-moving vehicles are the bigger problem).

On a separate note, my page view count has topped 12,100. No idea what I'm saying that is so popular that people want to read it. I'm wondering whether people's blog list updates are counted as hits.

Seasonal weather returns

After a few days of odd-for-the-season temperatures, seasonal-normal temperatures have returned. As a result, the likelihood of severe storms has dropped sharply.

I don't mind temperatures in the thirties, now. I don't really even mind when the temperature is in the twenties, now that I have better cool- and cold-weather cycling clothing. Nice, thin layers of warmth are good, as they trap air between them (even warmer), and allow for modifying while out and about (to keep from getting too warm).

Of course, I'm also putting out some heat when I ride a bicycle from place to place, so I don't need as much insulation as someone who is standing still or walking slowly on a sidewalk. I'm not out for long, these days, as my trips are usually less than five miles for errand-running, compared with the hour or so I would be on the bike getting to work this time last year.

Jenn, for example, does some volunteer work three days a week, and it involves being on a sidewalk for an hour or more early in the day, sometimes walking, but never walking fast for long. As a result, she finds it useful to wear much warmer clothing than I need when I'm pedaling my bicycle in similar weather.

On the event horizon, there is a colloquium in Florida I'm trying to attend. Its title is "I am Traffic," and its focus is on how to educate cyclists to ride as part of traffic. I am online friends with some of the folks organizing this event, and I'm looking forward to it. Several online friends plan to attend, and I am eager to meet them face-to-face.

Lures, withdrawn

I mentioned recently that there is a guy in town who was trying to lure me back into the bike business. That lure has been withdrawn. Apparently some of the discussions he and I had led him to think very differently about his business. Change is going to happen, of course. Some for the better, some not so much so. I can't really say that this path of change will be worse for me, or better--I really don't know. Since it's not clearly for my better interest, it's time to explore other avenues of change for myself.

On the brighter side, I've been on one bike or another four days in a row, with travels ranging to downtown or near downtown every day, rather than just short hops around Lyndon or St Matthews for errand-running.

I've even received an invitation to participate in the Louisville Bicycle Club's "Trainer Tours," with the suggestion that I bring out the Bacchetta to do so! What intrigued me about this is that after I got past the idea of "I haven't been involved in any club stuff in a year" was that I immediately starting thinking on how to use my trailer to haul that bike and trainer to the "Trainer Tours," since the bike in question is the only one I have that doesn't have lights for night use. Somehow, it figures.

And, as I ponder it a bit more, I could more readily toss the trainer into one of the kid trailers we have, haul it with my Vanguard (which already has lights), and use the Vanguard in the Trainer Tour.

Getting in a few miles

Too many days have passed without bicycle miles over the last several months. December's mileage total was one of the worst since I started logging my miles almost three years ago.

I had errands yesterday and today, and the locations were such that I got my weekly mileage total over forty miles in two days. This is still short of what I was doing riding to work in Crestwood, at almost twenty-six miles a day, but it's over a third of my December 2012 total. In two days.

One of my stops yesterday was to talk with the guy who is trying to lure me back into the bike business. Negotiations are ongoing, and have taken a turn that gives me more bargaining power for, among other things, more money than I originally thought. I've discussed some things privately with a few friends, but don't want to broadcast too much at this point. I have some thorny issues to address in the negotiations, and may still turn down the offer. I just don't know at the moment.

Obligatory New Year's Day post

Stoker, the most senior of the three cats for which Jenn and I provide a home, has been telling me how he needs some pets. This is not a different thing for the new year.

I have looked at a few numbers before typing this post. Apparently a fair number of folks have looked to see whether I have posted today--there was a spike of some nineteen visits a couple hours ago (and I keep wondering whether those visits are actual people or spambots).

So here it is, New Year's Day. Societal custom dictates comparisons with past years and discussion of coming goals. Being known as something of an iconoclast, I'm not but so keen on such an exercise, but I'll make a nod to custom anyway.

2012 saw a sharp reduction in bike miles compared to 2011's personal best. As noted before, there were a couple of changes early in the year such that I knew 2012 would not be a banner year for my cycling. Still, I rode a bit over 4400 miles, almost all of them utilitarian in nature. A bit over a thousand of those miles involved one or another of my three trailers and Andy Dyson's first-generation Bikes at Work trailer. Only a little over 1200 of those miles were "feet first," on recumbent bikes, which is a HUGE departure for me (I couldn't have imagined such a ratio five or six years ago). The upright bikes are just easier to use for much of my utility cycling, whether it's load capacity, ease of locking, or some other lesser-known feature, although I also think that trip length is a factor--much of my riding is done within a five- or eight-mile radius right now.

Other notable events in life, new toys department: New-to-me Bikes at Work Trailer, and hitches to connect it to two of my bikes; the Big Dummy, a bike I expected to enjoy although I didn't realize how much I would enjoy it; an assortment of tools, battery-driven and non-powered; my first bike-mounted video camera (which will probably lead to a nicer one at some point, and my having to learn how to edit video).

Other notable events of 2012 for good or not-as-good: Bluegrass Bicycle closed the doors for good, leaving holes in the lives of all involved. I put out my shingle as a handyman, with little fanfare and not much more notice (an advertising budget would help, I'm sure...). BOTH of my stepdaughters earned their Bachelors' Degrees!! Cisco the Dog left our lives after thirteen years of being a sweet, enjoyable companion to Jenn, Rachel, and Sarah, and almost five years with me. I bought a car from my mother, making me the owner of record for three gas-powered vehicles despite that I try to be car-free-light.

Stuff on the horizon for 2013: I'm being recruited for a position in the bicycle business (details are confidential at the moment, and are in the negotiation phase). I'll be doing some more teaching with Bicycling for Louisville and elsewhere. I'm considering attending a symposium in Florida focused on bicycle education, with discussions probably to include getting folks to take the excellent classes we can provide.

What else will happen? Stay tuned...