Snow vehicle choices

As I mentioned the other day, Jenn and I are considering replacing my aging pickup truck, or adding a gas-powered something, or otherwise augmenting my ability to get to work when it snows. As also mentioned, I'm considering just buying a bike that I can outfit with studded snow tires for days when there is ice on the roadways.

One bike I'm contemplating is a Specialized Crosstrail Disc. I like that it has the 700c wheels and will accept wider tires like the 40mm Schwalbe Marathon Winter. I can get off the side of the road if traffic gets really stupid. It doesn't have the fanciest brakes or fork, but I don't figure it makes sense to buy a more expensive rig for the little bit of mileage I'm likely to put on a winter bike. The rear drive is seven-speed, rather than the higher-end nine- or ten-speed drivetrains I maintain for customers, but I also ride a '74 three-speed, for cryin' out loud!

A very similar bike that is also in the running is the Specialized Hardrock 29 Disc. Aside from some minor differences in geometry, these seem similar enough that the choice comes down to color. Since the Crosstrail's wheelbase is longer, it would probably serve me better on the road (the primary use for this bike being transportation).

In either case, I can use the Ergon goodies I'm scheduled to receive soon as part of my being on the Ergon Commuter Team on either bike. 

Part of my interest in Specialized bikes at this point is that I work for a Specialized dealer, and can get better pricing on their products as a result. As it happens, if one is going to get a wedgie bike, as I sometimes refer to non-recumbent bicycles, Specialized makes a wide variety of very good ones, suitable for many applications.

First post for me this year

The Holly-daze is more or less over, now, and it's back to work! And, of course, I rode to work this morning.

Discussions over the weekend included whether to buy a different gas-powered vehicle, given the realities of our commuting and other wants/needs. My truck now has something like 225,000 miles on it, and will not last forever. The other car has been out of service since April. We've done reasonably well on one car and a bunch of bikes, but we haven't tried it in winter. Yet. At least, not a full winter.

One alternative idea was that I could get a bike better suited for winter roads, so that I could ride to the store from the end of TARC service lines if things are icy (using yards beside the roads if need be...). I have a set of grips and pedals coming from Ergon in the next few weeks, and this would be a great way to put them to use--enabling me to wear footwear that would be warmer than my usual cycling shoes or sandals, even WITH the Planet Bike shoe covers I recently purchased (more on those in a bit). I could get a really nice mountain bike with larger wheels and disc brakes, and that has room for some manner of fenders and ways to attach cargo racks (or use that Ergon backpack I'm about to receive), for well under a thousand dollars. And that's buying high-end new stuff. If I look around for something used, I could do for less money still. A car would cost several thousand dollars the first year of ownership. I'm kind of attached to the idea of not adding a monthly car payment to the outgoing budget lines!

Oh, those Planet Bike Blitzen shoe covers: NICE! They are warmer than the ones they replaced, AND more comfortable. I'm glad I got them. They are easier to put on over my big shoes than the old ones, too. I haven't tried them with my sandals yet, but will soon (a favorite way to deal with cold weather being to wear two pairs of warm socks with Gore-Tex socks in my sandals, to avoid constricting blood flow in my feet, then put shoe covers over all that for additional warmth). The sandal outsole is wider than that on my mountain bike shoes (Lake MX250 Wides, circa 2002).

Last post of the year in this blog

A couple of final blog thoughts for the year, in no particular order:

I am now listed on Ergon's blog as being part of the 2011 Ergon Commuter Team! I'm looking forward to seeing the new gear I'm getting, and testing it so that I can tell folks about it.

My final total for bicycle miles logged for 2010 is 5744. I could go out and ride another six miles to round it up, or I could change correct a few log entries from before we moved, or I could leave it as is.

It is now 12:3-something somewhere in the world. It will soon be midnight somewhere else in the world.

See you next year!

End of year thoughts

A few random thoughts:

I've logged a bit over 5700 miles for the year. If I went back and corrected my log entries from the time I was at the rental house, I'd probably get over 5900, if not 6000. However, I decided a couple months ago that it wasn't worth the effort. I'll just shoot for the 6K for 2011 by riding a bit more. Jenn and I will probably do some more club riding on the tandem this year, as well.

My 5700 miles is short of the mileages that some folks I know are putting down. Some of my friends and others I know are showing 8000, 8500 and 9000 miles for the year. Wow. Maybe when I grow up and don't have to work for a living (ha!) I can log miles like that. On the other hand, riding that much would take time away from other stuff I really like to do.

Gas prices are a hot topic in the news these days. The current price per gallon for regular as I type this is somewhere in the $3.15 range in Jefferson County. There have been predictions that we'll see $5/gallon prices in another year or so. I hate to see it, since so many people feel compelled to drive EVERYWHERE they go and it will have an effect on their budgets (and on the overall economy). However, high gas prices get a few more folks thinking about human-powered transportation, and once folks find ways to meet their transportation needs with bicycles (or by walking, or using public transit...), some will keep with it. Hopefully, some of those folks will come to classes presented by the Louisville Bicycle Club or by Bicycling for Louisville, so that they will know how to ride according to the rules of the road (and know when the rules may not apply to a situation).

Of course, some folks ask why I ride, implying that gas prices are a primary reason. Gas prices--or, more accurately, reduction in budgetary outflow buying gasoline--is one factor, of course. I've enjoyed riding to work for many years, though, even when gas was relatively much cheaper, so it is not just about saving money on gas. Saving money on car insurance is a smaller factor, but it's there. Same for making my car last longer by not using it as much (and thus not having to replace brake pads or other wear items as often).

I also save money on things like gym memberships by not needing a gym for aerobic exercise. Cycling doesn't give me much in the way of weight training exercise, but I lift stuff around quite a bit at work, and in the course of doing work around the house. I will probably add some weight work this year to maintain some muscle tone and mass this year.

Another thing I'm thinking about incorporating into my goals for the coming year is rock climbing. I used to climb a fair bit at Rocksport, but got out of the habit after a back injury some years ago. I enjoy the challenge rock climbing presents--I often refer to it as three-dimensional and not only in the x- y- and z-axes sense. It is a mental challenge--figuring out how to use the holds that are there. It's a physical challenge, of course. It's also an emotional challenge--"Do I trust myself and my gear?" Climbing in a gym is a great way to exercise, so that may be a big part of my workout routine in the coming year. It's not difficult for me to get to Rocksport from work by bike, so we'll see how that goes.

Gym climbing prepares a person for climbing on real rock--at least physically. It doesn't teach as much about how real rock challenges the climber mentally, though. On real rock, the holds are not bolted to a plywood wall, so they are not as obvious. Sometimes, real rock holds are inside cracks in the rock--something not many gyms replicate a lot. The last time I climbed on real rock (many refer to gym climbing as "climbing on plastic"), I was with a now-former girlfriend who had a VERY hard time with the transition from plastic to sandstone. I don't know how I could have done a better job of preparing her for the change, or that it mattered in the long run. I want to spend more time on real rock this year, if I can manage it. It would be good to have more time on the "sharp end of the rope," as the expression goes, as it would build my confidence a bit.

Jenn, her daughters and I are going to Rocksport this afternoon to play on the wall a while. We'll see how the experience goes, and see if it will be a part of our schedule going forward.

New shoe covers

On yesterday's ride to work, I noticed that my left shoe cover was coming apart. Actually, I had noticed that the fabric under the toe was failing some days ago, but there were some strands holding it together until yesterday morning. They gave up in the cold, such as it was.

Figuring that there is more sub-freezing weather to be dealt with between now and spring, I ordered a replacement pair of shoe covers yesterday. I had thought about getting some from Pearl Izumi, since my newest tights came from them and are quite good. No luck--their XL won't fit on my shoes, and the two cold-weather models that will be available in XXL won't be available for another month or more (what's the point of stocking them in February, gang?). Few of our suppliers have Craft shoe covers in stock at the moment, surprisingly. However, both QBP and J&B Importers stock Planet Bike's shoe covers, and J&B ships next day via UPS Ground sort!

I wound up buying a pair of Planet Bike Blitzen shoe covers instead of their Comet model, as they seem to have better wind resistance and insulation. I ordered the XXL size, which they indicate fits US shoe sizes from 11 1/2 up (but not far up...I don't think these would fit size 14 shoes, for example, but they might).

Ian Ritchie, aka The Soup Guy was by the store yesterday, and I mentioned to him that I had ordered these. He'll be interested in my eventual review of their suitability (or is that soupability?) for temps in the <20F range.

They arrived a while ago, and I'm pleased to say that they fit over my shoes with ease! I'm looking forward to seeing how they do in colder riding weather (I didn't really need them today, since the low this morning was over 30F).

Weather problems for folks "up east"

Boy, am I glad I haven't been caught up in the snow problems being "enjoyed" by folks east and north of us! Flights canceled or delayed by days, roads blocked, hotels full to over-flowing, and such cannot be any fun for the folks affected.

Of course, there are folks who really don't understand weather, climate or what causes weather to change or dump feet of snow on us. Pat Robertson is one such person. The link goes to a Huffington Post article that details Robertson's contention that the blizzard is his god's way of delaying "gay" activities (by punishing millions of people?).

I'm trying to find some way to rationalize his viewpoint. He wants people to believe that he believes it, and I presume he wants gay people to eschew their true selves and "be straight."

A couple months ago, I enjoyed reading Darrel W. Ray's The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture. The book begins with a chapter on how viruses work, to show why the analogy of describing religions in viral terms works so well. In later chapters, Dr. Ray discusses how religions (not specifically christianity, but also Islam and others) and the people who lead them (pastors, priests and other vectors, in consistency with the metaphor) use sexuality, guilt and fear to control religious people (hosts, to carry the metaphor).

Pat Robertson is one serious viral vector. Those who wish to not take him seriously fail to see the damage he can do to society with his heartfelt idiocy.

Holly-Dazed, and a new team membership for me

It's the week between christmas and New Year's Day. It's sunny today, but kind of cold (upper teens when I left the house this morning). One of my neoprene shoe covers failed on the way to work today, so that foot was a bit colder than the other when I arrived at the store. I've had Jenn fix them before, but there doesn't appear to be enough fabric left for another repair. Given that these were $45 (retail) covers some eight years ago, and that I paid wholesale for them, I figure they have served their useful life span. I've ordered a replacement pair, and should have them tomorrow. My rides home tonight and to work tomorrow will be marked with cold toes, but I'll survive.

I know folks who use flat pedals and warm shoes for riding this time of year. I'm fond of using shoes with SPD cleats for the 12.8-mile ride each way, and haven't tried using boots other than my mountain bike shoes or sandals with good socks as it typical for me. Soon, however, I will have some almost-flat pedals to test.

Several weeks ago, I learned of a contest for blog writers who cycle-commute sponsored by the folks at Ergon-USA. I made mention of it in a post to the local utility-bike list server, in case any other locals wanted to enter. I also entered, just to see what happened. The other day, I got email informing me that I've been chosen to be on the Ergon Commuter Team for 2011!

For being on this team, I get to talk about the goodies I get from Ergon. I get to put their logo here and on my Facebook profile. I get to (shamelessly) see how many times I can link to their web site in the text of a blog post.

And, of course, to type about their products, I get to have some samples of their products to enjoy! I get a pair of grips (I've chosen their BioKork), a pair of their gloves, and one of their cool backpacks to use for hauling stuff. I even get a pair of their new pedals to try out on my Raleigh! I'm looking forward to seeing how this stuff works for me, and sharing my opinions with all three or four of the folks who read my rabbiting-on-about-stuff here.

The backpack thing will be a different deal for me. I'm not usually one to use backpacks, mostly because I've been a recumbent guy for so long (nineteen years this coming March!). Since I wear a reflective jacket most of the time I'm riding in cold weather, I'm concerned that a backpack would block the view of it from overtaking road users' perspective. A friend asked me about backpack-vs.-on the bike bags, and my opinion is that the bike is hauling the weight regardless, so why should the weight also be on me?

That said, I see the value in having a backpack for many folks, some of whom lack the ability to park their bikes inside while at work (I work in a bike shop--my riding to work is part of my public image). A backpack makes it easy to ride up to an anchor, lock one's bike to said anchor, and walk away without having to remove panniers from the bike's racks. I have a couple of small packs that I've not used for utility cycling, so having a cycling-focused one should be interesting.

I'll be typing more about these goodies once I have them "in hand" and in use. Keep your eyes peeled--all however many there are of you!

5600!!

I took another look at my page on mycyclinglog.com the other day, to see whether it would make sense to change my mind on correcting the mileages on my commutes from the rental house. I had been listing that commute round trip at twenty-four miles, instead of whatever it really is (I've not measured it since correcting the calibration on the Vanguard). It's bound to be more than the 25.7 miles I usually log from the new house, and the correction could put me over 5700 miles for the year.

As it stands, my ride to work this morning tipped me to the 5600 mark, or would if I was tracking the ride to work and the ride home as separate trips. I'll log it when I'm home, and be satisfied with that.

I may change to logging each side of the work commute for next year, as the Louisville Bicycle Club is adding a commuting program for 2011, and counting trips as well as miles. The program is in its infancy, so we are not sure what we'll do with the data we gather. I doubt I'll win any jerseys through that program, as I don't ride as much as some others who are already likely to participate.

I do want to track use of all the bikes in the garage this year, plus keep track of how much we use any car or cars. Again, I'm not sure what if anything I will do with the knowledge I gain from doing so, but I am curious enough that I want to see what we find. I'm fairly sure I've ridden more than I've driven this year--certainly have made more trips by bike than by car--but it would be nice to know for sure.

Back to riding

The weekend weather was warm enough to get the last of the ice that was keeping me from riding to melt away. I got to ride to work today!

Of course, one of the roads I usually use was blocked for tree work, so I had to reroute a bit. Oddly enough, it was the one road that was still icy enough that I figured I would be walking a few yards here and there. The reroute had me riding on KY22 for a mile or so, but since only fifteen cars passed me in that mile (about the same number as used to pass me going across the Clark Bridge in the mornings), it wasn't horrible at all.

Indeed, I've ridden KY22 from Hurstbourne Parkway out a couple times, and despite that 22 is not my favorite road, it is not as horrible as it might be. It helps that I'm going the opposite direction compared to most of the traffic that time of day, of course. I see no reason to make a habit of going that way instead of my regular route, but once in a while it's not bad.

GAA!

The Commonwealth of Kentucky, in its infinite lack of wisdom, has chosen to offer the upper plate as an option--at no additional charge--to theocrats and other viral victims who want to flout their religion to the rest of us. Never mind that my tax dollars are going to support this nonsense, and in so doing, lend some credence to the hypochristians who think their god rules all.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution holds that the Country shall not establish a religion, or favor any one religion above any others. Kentucky's Constitution is even more strongly worded. But Governor Beshear seems to not care about this, as long as he can pander to the reactionary religionistas (some call them the Tealiban, as so many of the more vocal among them are also part of the tea party movement that is sweeping up so much enthusiasm among the lower-minded).

At least they are not desecrating my license plate option. Speaking of which, I've learned that I can get a Share the Road plate personalized! The link I cited shows you how yours would look if you personalized it.

At least I can think of a positive way to end a blog post--I can order a personalized STR plate!

That was the week that was...icy

I've driven to work all week. I missed the Car-Free Happy Hour last night, mostly because I didn't feel up to riding on what I expected would be hard-to-see ice spots on my way home, with the inevitable motorist right behind me following too close to avoid running right over top of me should I lose lateral traction and fall.

I've driven over a good portion of my usual cycling route (and looked at some I've chosen not to drive, since I don't have tire chains or studded tires on my truck), and found that at least a mile of it remains ice-covered. I don't have a bike with ice studs in the tires.

The temperatures haven't been that bad for riding--mostly above my last-season threshold of 20F--but I've chosen to not risk riding on ice. I only need two more round trips to work and back to break that 5600-mile mark, anyway. Maybe I can get those rides in next week if things melt off some over the weekend.

To soothe my psyche, Jenn and I ate at Taj Palace on Goose Creek Road last night. YUM. We had a chance to talk over some family stuff, and that was good.

The icy roads in our neighborhood have prompted me to wonder whether I could find YakTrax to fit the dog. I bought a pair for Jenn and a pair for myself a few years ago, and find them indispensable at times like these, when the precipitation melts and refreezes, leaving a nice, smooth layer of glare ice on top of whatever is already on streets, driveways, sidewalks and such. The poor dog couldn't walk on some of the driveways we normally encounter on our walks. This morning, his sense that he could walk on snow got challenged as the ice layer was strong enough that he wasn't crunching through easily. I would really prefer that he NOT hurt himself trying to walk on ice. The UltraPaws Traction boots we got him earlier in the week are not much good on glare ice.

A fellow whose name I like so well I let other folks call me by it came in this morning and ordered three bikes for his daughters. That also helps my day!

Yeah, I drove

It doesn't take but so much for me to rationalize driving to work: In today's case, a sheet of ice on the street in front of my house, roughly a quarter-inch thick, did the trick. I don't have any bicycles equipped with ice-savvy treads.

I think my friend David has studded tires on his LHT, and I'm going to watch his blog to see whether he rode today and how other traffic managed around him.

Given the condition of my own street *, I figured that Rollington Road and Houston Lane would be dicey for two-wheel travel. I drove Jenn to work, then traveled LaGrange Road to Crestwood, so I haven't seen Westport Road today. Considering the condition of LaGrange Road in and near Anchorage, I would have had to allow an extra half-hour for dealing with slick spots.

*The City of Lyndon, to whom I pay property taxes as a homeowner, saw fit to send a snowplow of some sort down our street (even though it's a dead-end), judging from the "footy prints" and plow spoor I saw beside the roadway. If the snow had been deeper, I would have been okay with this. As it is, I think doing so only exposed the sheet of ice that had developed as the road surface cooled to below-freezing temperatures after the rain we had before it got cold enough to snow. When I walked the dog this morning, I was skating around quite a bit (so was the dog, which was a form of entertainment for both of us judging from his activity level). When Jenn and I left the house, we saw a car in a ditch a block or so away, at the outside of a curve in the road. It looked as if the driver had misjudged his ability to manage his car on the slick road. I would have stopped to help him--I even have a towing strap in my truck--but I knew I wouldn't have enough traction to pull his car out of the ditch.

Whew! An assortment of mile markers!

Yesterday's ride to work nudged me over the 5500 mile mark for the year! Since I rode the Raleigh to work a couple days this week, the YTD mileage on that bike is now over 1000. By the time I get home tonight, the Vanguard will have over 3300 miles on it for the year. I got over the 3500 mark for riding to and from work last week some time. Based on the tags I use in mycyclinglog.com's system, I have used bicycles instead of cars for over 4000 miles this year.

Wowsers! That's pretty cool. I'm not car-free, but I've sure had a good time riding instead of driving!

All this has led me to think about how much driving the typical American does in a year. For a couple years in the 1990s, I was driving over twenty-five thousand miles a year, mostly getting to and from two or three jobs a week in far-flung areas (I lived in Old Louisville, worked as a ramp-rat at UPS at night and doing construction work in Oldham County, eastern Jefferson County and parts of Shelby County during the day, plus odd-jobs here and there all over town). In those days, I probably put two or three thousand miles a year on whatever car I had in out-of-town travels (vacations and such), so twenty-two thousand local miles a year--a LOT of miles.

Many folks drive because they have far-flung activities they need to manage--either their own or of their kids. Or, perhaps, they have far-flung activities because they drive to them, instead of choosing to create activities closer to home (say, within cycling distance). Many homes are in subdivisions with one exit (or maybe two, depending on zoning issues). Some of these subdivisions are way outside the Watterson Expressway, and the residents work downtown, and get to "enjoy" clogging the Interstates every morning and afternoon, losing more time to each other than any of them do to me in months of passing me out on the roads I ride. People drive to work, drive home, then drive to a restaurant, or to shop, or to a movie, or whatever. They seem to think nothing of driving.

I wonder whether that's part of their problem with me as a cyclist. They just don't really think about cycling as an alternative to their habitual driving everywhere for everything. They see bikes (or more accurately, bicycle-shaped objects) sold in stores like Mal-Wart's toy section, and think of bikes as toys or at best fitness gear like a home gym (and think bikes should be used in narrowly-defined places, OUT OF THE WAY of their own travels). They don't think of what the authors of blogs like Copenhagenize call "citizen cyclists," those who ride because it's quicker, easier, safer and more enjoyable than motoring within a given radius, and who don't dress just for riding, but ride in whatever clothes they are wearing for work, shopping, socializing and such.

It is all about one's choices.

Part of my choice in where I bought a house was "can I ride to what I want to do, and can we ride to our jobs readily from here?" Part of my choice in my line of work is that I can use my job as a bully pulpit to encourage others to ride instead of driving. Part of choosing where I shop for groceries is how easy it is to get there from home by bike.

I am pretty sure we will track truck miles, but I haven't decided how I'm going to track the miles we put on the truck this coming year. I'm thinking that it would be interesting to have that information, and then figure out what to do with it, and how it compares to the bike mileages. I may see about getting Jenn to track her miles, too, just to see where that goes.

Car Free Happy Hour this coming Thursday!

It's that time again!

Smoketown, USA has decent barbecue, although there are some who prefer the meat be basted with sauce during the smoking process. At least this way, one gets to choose which sauce gets more attention. All the sides are vegetarian, so folks who don't eat meat can still find edible food there! Smoketown often has a good assortment of brewed adult beverages, as well.

I get to go this time, too, so I look forward to seeing you there!

Almost there

I almost feel like going out and riding another five miles just for the heck of it. My ride home from work tonight got me within three miles of logging 5500 miles for the year. It also got me over the 1000 mile mark for miles recorded on my Raleigh for the year.

The heck of it is that if I corrected the mileages for April, May and June to reflect the cyclometer calibration problem I had a few months ago, I'd probably be closer to 5600 miles already. Be that as it may, I'm going to leave those numbers alone. I corrected the numbers for trips from the house we own, and I've decided that any shortage of miles logged from the rental house will be offset by the occasional mistake in logging miles on the Raleigh--I don't have a computer on that bike, and estimate miles on it based on miles recorded on similar trips on the Vanguard. It's just a number, anyway. My legs are not calibrated in miles.

Who knew that I would record almost a fifth of my annual mileage on a wedgie bike?

New temperature threshold

I don't know why I had been such a wimp on temperatures the last few years. I really don't. When I was a teenager, I all but didn't GET cold--the band director my freshman year in high school nicknamed me "Old Anti-Freeze" after I showed up for school in a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled above my elbows, and no coat anywhere in sight. I had ridden the bus to school, which involved waiting for said bus at the stop down the street from the house.

It was something like 6F that morning.

Of course, part of what was fueling my ability to stay warm in sub-freezing temperatures was that I was a teenager. I was known for my appetite among friends who were also teens and who also had large appetites, since they were teens. Even into my late thirties, I could eat more than some fairly active teenagers.

Maybe that's why I've always been a stocky person. I've not been reed-thin. Ever. Oh, I was thinner--in my mid-twenties, I wore pants with size 32 waist. Most of the jeans I have now are size 36, although I can sometimes get into a size 34 pair. I have some "insulation" to spare.

Since I turned thirty, though, I had noticed a steady upward trend to my low threshold. I started getting cold sooner and sooner in a same-length period outing in sub-freezing temperatures. I started finding coats useful.

In my cycling, I had determined some years ago that my low threshold was 30F. This was mostly a function of two factors--gloves and footwear--although I also found that I didn't like wearing enough layers of clothing to ride in colder weather.

Two winters ago, I was riding to work from St Matthews to N'Awb'ny, and struggled a bit with the few 30F mornings I rode. My blog entries from that period discuss some of my reluctance to ride in weather below that threshold (have I REALLY been keeping a blog that long?). Toward the end of that season, I found some good gloves, and that helped a LOT. My feet were still cold enough often enough that I was still not quite "there," though.

I've found that keeping my legs warmer helps keep my feet warmer, so last season I bought some warmer tights. I don't like having lots of layers on, but multiple thin layers usually work better for me than one thick layer. Even so, this pair of tights was of such better quality than the tights I had been using that my temperature threshold dropped ten degrees right away. I've been saying for almost a year that 20F was my new low threshold for commuting by bike.

I'm still not but so interested in riding for pleasure at such temps, but will on occasion.

Then came this morning. I was getting out of bed to feed cats and dress for walking the dog when Jenn mentioned that the outside temperature was fifteen degrees. Oh, and she will be taking the truck because she has an assortment of errands in several parts of town today. Did I want her to take me to work?

I figured that I was doing well enough with twenty degrees that I would try fifteen. All I should need is one more thin layer, right?

I changed my base layer to a thermal jersey I've owned for a few years, and added one wind shell (for a total of two). I added one very thin base layer under the jersey at the last minute.

My hands and feet were cooler than I like within a third of my trip, but never got cold enough that they were painful. My face had some cold spots where I couldn't cover skin with my balaclava, but it was tolerable. My mustache iced up, of course, but thawed out almost instantly once I got inside.

I will have a headwind on the way home, though. And the temperature won't be appreciably warmer.

Should be fun.

Mileage update

Some days ago, I mentioned that I expect to top 5500 miles for the year 2010. That will probably happen in the coming week, as my YTD mileage is now at 5438. Of the five bikes I'm tracking in my log, the most mileage is on my Vanguard, at 3250. Second-highest is my Raleigh, at 976, third is the tandem, at 720 or so (actually, this reflects miles ridden on two tandems, but since the one we own is the same model as the one we had been borrowing, it seemed a reasonable short-cut in bookkeeping). My "fast bike," the Bacchetta Strada, has less than 350 miles on it for the year, and I've put a bit less than 150 on Jenn's Giro 26 (we keep it out at the shop to allow for recumbent demonstrations, and I'll ride it on the shop club ride if Jenn doesn't bring the tandem out, as it's a sight faster than my Vanguard on that route).

So, less than five hundred miles on fast bikes in the stable for the year. According to the Louisville Bicycle Club's stats page, I have a bit less than 1500 club miles for the year. Given that about 275 of those club miles related to the New Rider Clinics, I've ridden FAR more transportation miles than "fast" miles--roughly twenty-two percent of my riding has been performance-oriented, and even less if I consider that I was ride captain a few times and wasn't riding as hard as I could have on those days.

It might be interesting to track the mileage on my truck next year--we didn't do so this year. I know I've ridden more than I've driven in terms of days and trips. I probably have put more miles on bikes than I have on the truck, as well, but I've also driven the truck over a thousand miles this month in my recent trip to Virginia. I've not tracked Jenn's riding vs. driving, so I don't know what her ratio is.

The return home and an assortment of random thoughts

After figuring I'd accept a ride home from work Saturday, I  rode the bike home instead. The roads were merely wet. It was still precipitating--that "winter mix" we so enjoy--but there had been enough traffic on the roads that their surfaces were warm enough (and perhaps salted/brined enough) that there was less ice and slush buildup than I dealt with in the morning. Aside from that I've never been over-fond of riding in rain, and especially not wet weather combined with near-freezing temperatures, it was not a bad ride. I even got to see four or five deer rushing through the woods beside Rollington Road (I apparently surprised one, and her departure startled a few more...).

One passenger in a passing SUV yelled something at me, and it sounded like he was asking whether it was too cold to ride. Of course, the SUV was going fast enough that there was no opportunity for anything like a dialog.

Motorists don't seem to WANT any dialog. They mostly want to be on their way, I suppose, just as I do. Few seem to wish me personal harm, although there are a few who would rather I be out of their way and who are quite vocal about it.

Those seem to feel an inflated sense of self-importance, especially compared to some lonely figure pedaling a bike on a snowy afternoon. I have news for them. I'm just as important as they are. My time is just as important to me as theirs is to them. By riding a bike, I get to multi-task with a different set of tasks than theirs. I get to exercise while getting where I'm going. I get to save money on transportation so that I can use that money on something I'd rather buy--like nicer food, or more appropriate clothing for me, or a more comfortable house than I might have had if I was strapped into a monthly car payment that is half my take-home pay.

I could be as smug about riding instead of driving as many anti-bicycle folks accuse me of being. Sometimes I probably am, just as they are ridiculously smug about their inflated self-importance enough to assume that because they are willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for the privilege of operating a motor vehicle they should have priority over me when it comes to road lane allocation.

I prefer to ride my bike instead of driving for many reasons. Not just that it's cheaper. Not just that it has become part of my persona. Not just that I'm getting exercise by doing so. Not just that I'm setting an example by showing it can be done. Not just these reasons alone or in combination.

On my way home yesterday afternoon, I stopped by The Trail Store to see what was happening there. I really like this store for several reasons: It's close--less than a mile and a half from my house, it's locally-owned, the staff are great folks who are encouraged by the store owners to be up to date on their gear knowledge, they carry Vibram Five Fingers shoes in a wide assortment of styles and colors, and so on. When I walked in, I was greeted by another reason I like the store, their current CCO (Chief Canine Officer), Murphy.

Murphy is a year-old Great Dane, and his coloring is a striking blue brindle (or perhaps merle with no white). Murphy is not yet full-grown, and only weighs about 120#. His head is larger than several Great Dane heads I've seen over the years, and is high enough from the floor at normal posture than I can pet him with my elbow at a ninety-degree angle. I suspect that Murphy will fill out to between 150 and160 pounds at some point. He clearly likes coming to work with his person, as he gets lots of attention and pets from customers. Despite his puppy-ish energy levels, he seems to get that he's inside and he doesn't romp around tearing down clothing displays.

Sloppy commute

I don't live in Copenhagen. I am thus not as ready to ride when it's snowing.

Of course, as my commute is a bit more rural than urban, the roads I ride are also not as clear as urban roads in Copenhagen (I've read that they have equipment dedicated to clearing the bike ways AND that they typically do those first--BEFORE clearing roads used by cars!).

Still in all, when I awoke this morning to the sight of snow on the neighbor's roof, I knew I was in for a sloppy ride. When I walked the dog (third on my to-do list on getting out of bed, right after feeding the cats), I was glad to see that the temperature was warm enough that the roads wouldn't be horribly slick--I could ride to work! Jenn has some stuff going today and will need the truck, so getting to work on my own made her morning a bit easier.

The only real problems I had, other than a bit of "pucker factor" changing tire tracks on Westport Road (through a ridge of slush) and a brief moment of "do I really want to ride down the slope on Rollington Road?" was at the rail crossing going from Mt Mercy Drive in Pewee Valley to LaGrange Road. That rail was SLICK! So was the stuff alongside it that makes it a smoother transition for wheels crossing the track! I kept it upright, though, and got onto LaGrange Road just fine.

A few motorists started to act impatient, but it was easy to imagine them thinking, "That guy is CRAZY! I'm giving him some room--he might act even crazier if I don't!" A couple passed me close enough that their tires were spraying the slush ridge at me, so my left leg got a bit damp, but overall things went well enough.

The trip home looks to be a different challenge. I may accept a ride from someone instead of cycling it.

Lazer Urbanize helmet--an update

I have a couple of these helmets now. I started with a white one that has red stripes, and added one like this picture a month or so ago. Jenn has a brown one.

I started to worry about future availability of this one when I saw size/color combinations  being discontinued by QBP, one of the wholesalers we use at the shop. I felt better when I saw the 2011 colors introduced. I've not found a way to show the catalog on here, but I'll keep looking. In the mean time, if you are interested in an Urbanize helmet, drop me a line and we'll talk color/size availability. The helmet is $100, or $80 without the $30 light set. I may be able to get a deal on a close-out size/color combination as well.

I really like the fit of this helmet. The RollSys is a neat method for adjusting the internal shape and size of the retention system, and the helmet breathes well at fairly low speeds. While the integrated lights (front and rear) are dim compared to things like the Planet Bike SuperFlash and the DiNotte taillights some friends have, they are far less likely to get knocked off the helmet in the course of regular handling. They are powered by coin batteries (CR2032 size), but they do make a difference. I was riding with Jenn one night several weeks ago, and let her get well ahead of me to get a sense of how visible she is to other road users (and since her light/reflector/clothing plan is similar to my own, I figure I can also get a sense of how visible I am). I could see the light in the back of her helmet, and how it helps other road users figure out what that UFO-looking thing up the road really is.

For winter wear (and one reason I now have two of this helmet), Lazer has introduced a $20 liner for this helmet.

To install this liner, one removes the existing padding (held in place with Velcro), and places the pads sewn into this liner in their places. The ear flaps have elastic bands affixed through which go the main helmet straps.

I finally got a chance to test this liner a few times last week. I like it, overall: It's comfy, and it keeps my forehead and ears warm on a fairly cool commute (low 30s F). I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did NOT need my usual silk balaclava to be tolerant of, if not completely comfortable at, that temperature. I'll be looking forward to seeing how this liner feels at my current temperature minimum of 20F for the hour or so commute.

The ear flaps have a curious feature that is apparently intended to allow sound through without the severe noise attenuation that would impede noticing traffic cues. My largest complaint with the liner is that it increases the wind noise ALL the time. It's not horrible, but it is noticeable.

To my knowledge, the only US distributor for Lazer Helmets is QBP. However, MANY bike shops buy from QBP, so it's easy enough to find a local bike shop that can order this for you. As may seem obvious, the shop where I work buys from QBP, and I can get you this helmet and liner if you like.

I'm back!

I consider myself a very lucky man. How many folks in my age group can go visit a living grandparent? How many of my high-school classmates knew any of their great-grandparents?

I've known three of my biological grandparents fairly well. My mother's father died when I was a youngster--I was probably five at the time--and had had health problems for over ten years before that, so I really didn't get to know him at all. I only remember having seen him once or twice. On the other hand, my paternal grandmother's mother (my great-grandmother) lived until I was eight, and I got to spend a lot of time with her.

My mother's mother passed away ten years ago, and had been dealing with some form of dementia for a few years before that. She knew who I was the last times I saw her, but it always surprised her that I was an adult--she remembered me as a child, never mind having seen me as an adult before her dementia took over.

My father's father died early in 2006, a few months before what would have been his ninety-fifth birthday. He and my grandmother had been married a few months over seventy-two YEARS. Shortly after he died, I posted a brief reflection on but one facet of him to the kycyclist list server.

Anyway, my surviving grandmother recently had some heart problems. She now has a pacemaker, and her doctors have been fine-tuning her medications so that she can enjoy a few more months (or years--who knows?) with us. Things were a bit "sketchy" for a week or two, but she has rebounded in fine form. She is in good spirits, enjoys a laugh or three an hour, and although her hearing and vision are not what they once were, she still figures out what's happening in her world and enjoys being with folks.

Jenn and I got to go visit her for a few days.


We took the tandem, figuring on getting out on it a bit. We rode it a total of about nine miles. It just seemed more productive to spend the time we could visiting. My grandmother had been one to take a few naps a day, but she has been more alert the last few days, enjoying the world again now that her heart is pumping more as it should. It was a great visit. I'm very glad we went.

It's "Buy Nothing Day" for many folks--a day to resist the urge to spend time and too-much money at big box stores buying stuff intended as seasonal gifts for people who won't really appreciate them, but who would be insulted if they DIDN'T get something from you during the December Gift-Hoarding Season.

Yeah, I'm resisting the urge to shop today. I'm at work, hoping people WILL shop today--for bikes, for bike accessories, for gift certificates, or even for your own stuff!

Anyway, a couple days ago I mentioned that I will likely get over 5500 bicycle miles logged for the year. As it happens, I am closer to that goal than I thought. My ride to work this morning, when logged, will put me over 5300. I still need to log my ride from this past Sunday--ride to the ride, ride the club ride, then ride home from the ride, with Jenn on the tandem--and with that and my return trip, I'll be close to 5350 miles for the year to date.

Plus whatever tandem miles we do over the next few days, plus whatever commuting miles I'm able to log during the next month...

Heck, I might even reach 5600 miles!

As the Holly-daze approaches

This time of year, it's popular in some families to generate "wish lists" for the upcoming holly-dazed gift-giving season. While not quite on scale with such things (I don't have any family members that are able to simply "gift" me one), I poked around looking at velomobiles a bit today.

You've heard of them, surely! Velomobiles are, essentially, recumbent trikes with full enclosures to keep the weather off the rider. Some are really zoomy-looking, like the WAW. Some look a bit more practical, like the Cab-Bike, seen above.

I think they rock! I would LOVE to see a bunch of these in Louisville. Or anywhere, for that matter. There are thousands of them in Europe, and a few scattered about North America.

The hurdle to getting one, for me, is multi-fold: I can buy a car for the price of a decent velomobile (although the car would carry with it MUCH greater operating expenses), I don't currently have a place to keep one (my garage is pretty full, although that could change in a year or two as we get truly moved in to the house) and several of the more visually-alluring models are made for people with MUCH narrower frames than my own.

In reading about them a bit today, I reacquainted myself with the Alleweder, that originated in Holland a couple decades ago. There are two primary variants, with lots of room for customization. The most accessible one here in America is probably the Flevobike Alleweder, as available through Velomobile USA. I've read comments from several owners that claim it to be fairly comfortable in hot weather as well as cool. It addresses most of my issues regarding rain, despite having an open top (fabric roof kits are out there, apparently). It's hard to not see, as the skin is slick aluminum (with a composite nose cone that presumably would contain headlights--taillights can be mounted to the vertical panel in the tail, and turn signals are available to mount on the skin). As VMs go, they aren't as pricey (Velomobile USA lists the kit price at $3700 or $3800, plus accessories and job-specific tools. Complete vehicle is about $6K, plus options).

As I said, I can buy a cheap car for that money. Still, with the price of gas, insurance and operating expenses like oil changes, tires and other repairs, I have to wonder.

Jenn still wants us to have a car of some sort. I get that. There are times when we would like to socialize with another couple who don't ride, or travel farther than we want to pedal or faster than pedaling a velomobile would get us there. At the moment, a velomobile is a few points down the list from several other things in the needs department.

I've also entertained the fantasy of starting a velomobile shop in Louisville, based in part on the business model of Velomobile USA in Midland, Texas. There is a former gas station in the Clifton area of Frankfort Avenue that I think would be really cool as a site for this sort of business--I can imagine encasing the existing building and lot in a low-e glass shell, and displaying an assortment of velomobiles around "pumps" on the former pump islands, with the pumps labeled "Coffee," "Gatorade" or "Perpetuem." While I'm being goofy about such fantasies, the old service bays of the gas station building would be the assembly/repair/tuning area, and automobile parking is out back instead of up front.

Maybe if I hit the Powerball Jackpot next time...except that I'd have to buy a ticket, and I rarely do that. I figure I can't lose at Powerball if I don't play.

It's almost turkey day!

I got to ride the tandem with Jenn yesterday, and we enjoyed the ride as always. The Club ride for the day started at Baptist East/Milestone Fitness, so we rode over, did the ride, stayed for the club meeting, then rode home. I was prepared for the meeting to run until dark, which means I rigged the headlight from my Raleigh so that I could see to ride home, as the bike already has dedicated rear flashers.

My headlight mount for the tandem is a work in progress. I fashioned the basic mount some time back, when we were still riding the Micou's tandem. My original thought was to attach the mount to the bike with Velcro straps, including the battery mounting strap, but I found that a bit less than secure on rough roads. I didn't have a huge selection of PVC fittings at first, but was able to get some stuff from the hardware store so that I could create a rough draft piece.

I keep finding stuff I want it to do better, so I continue to experiment with this PVC one until I have all the design flaws figured out. I'll then make one out of new fittings so that I can have it look better--I have to agree with Jenn when she says the PVC white with Oatey PVC Primer Purple splotches on it isn't all that attractive.

In any case, we now have a bit over seven hundred miles on tandems this year, split between the bike we borrowed and the bike we now own. I have more miles on my Raleigh than I do on the tandem this year, but only by a couple hundred, and I ride the Raleigh at least once a week. Jenn and I don't get on the tandem every week, but I hope to put more miles on it next year.

The bikes that get the least miles are the "fast" bikes--the Strada and the Giro.

I'm touched. Or is it "tetched?"

I'll blow my own horn for a moment:

A recent topic on 'bent rider online started with the query, "Who is your favorite bike mechanic?" Of the first eighteen or thirty responses, most people claimed that they themselves were their favorites, usually elaborating with comments along the lines of "he's cheap, readily-available, I can get him to work on my bike to my satisfaction for a couple beers and some pizza," and so on.

I was surprised to see my own name listed, although the people listing me were of no surprise. One lives here in town (he listed me as his second choice, I presume after himself...), another used to live here, and the third was one of the racers on the Team Type 2 RAAM effort last summer (and a long-time web pal).

I have to admit it was pretty cool to see myself listed as their favorite mechanic, and that I'm more popular among those responding to the thread than any other single wrench-puller. *shucks!*

I know I'm a decent mechanic--even a fairly good one. I know guys who are probably better than I am, too. I know OF folks who certainly are better.

But I try to be better. It's part of my attitude about professionalism: I figure I can always improve at the skill set, so why not do a better job each time than the time before?

RIP, Johnathan Williams

I didn't know Johnathan Williams, or don't remember meeting him. He died this morning as a result of being hit by a car as he cycled on Hurstbourne Parkway near Seaton Springs Parkway. He was apparently in the left lane when an overtaking motorist came over a rise in the road and, not seeing him in time to keep from doing so, hit him.

According to the article in the C-J, Mr. Williams was wearing dark clothing, and his bicycle lacked reflectors (and, presumably, lights, although the article doesn't address this point). The crash happened a bit before 5 AM, well before it was light enough that I would ride without lights (and my commuting bikes have reflectors, as both of my regular readers know).

I am not able to speculate on whether Mr. Williams was working toward a left turn, or had just joined the road and was working toward the right lane, or just what was happening. He has paid, and his family and friends are paying, an exorbitant price for his mistake.

I'm not sure about absolving the motorist of blame, though. Even recognizing that a) Mr. Williams would have been very hard to see, b) one typically wouldn't expect a vehicle moving that slow on that part of the road at that time of morning, and c) I have no idea what mental condition the motorist was in at the time of the crash (still drowsy from leaving the house too soon after getting out of bed? Tired from working too much? Fully alert and aware of what was happening? All are possible), I also firmly believe that driving so fast you cannot react to information "brought to light" with one's own headlights is "too fast for conditions." While I must concede that the majority of the fault lies with Mr. Williams, the driver (who is not named in the paper's site) is not totally without guilt, and will live with that for a long time.

I feel bad for all involved.

Tool School for November 2010 is done!

Seven folks earned their completion certificates for their participation in our latest Tool School class. These folks were great! They asked excellent questions, which showed that, among other things, they were paying attention (meaning that I had not bored them to sleep...).

It was a good class. I always enjoy seeing folks reach their "ah-HA!" moments when figuring out the mysteries of bike repair. I'm fond of telling them that it's exceedingly difficult for them to foul something beyond their capabilities to fix it, and if they get beyond their own capabilities, I'm willing to help them come up with a better solution.

Thanks to all of my students over the last couple years, I keep finding more ways to show folks what is happening with their bikes. I learn stuff when I teach these classes, so it's good for me as well.

Look where the @#$% you are going, motorist!

A friend of mine was hit by a car yesterday afternoon. 4 PM, so not dark at all (a bit sunny, in fact), semi-clear skies (dry road), and stopped for a red light. The two (or more) flashers mounted to his cargo trailer were on blinky mode. I'll quote Ian's post to a local list server:

So I guess I'm not as lucky as the bike ninja ......around 4pm I was hit from behind while sitting at a red light. (Ewing & Frankfort) The 20something driver stuck her head out and asked if I was ok and what I needed, I said I was not okay and needed her info.....
I turned to get my note pad and she took off!  I got the plate, made a report (was told by LMPD it would be available in 10 days), chatted with EMS ( who was trying to convince me that he just saw me 1.5 weeks ago on an emergency run....
I still think he was messing with me, kinda pissed me off)  and now I'm at the ER getting checked out. While at the light, I was sitting on the top tube with on foot on the ground and when hit the saddle jabbed my lower back pretty good. So, no soup the rest of the week while things get sorted.  -Ian.   PS, I had all my blinkies on, too.

"Hit and run" like this is a misdemeanor crime. The motorist could be fined up to $2000 and jailed for up to a year, although realistically, she'll likely get a lesser sentence, and that's IF she is successfully prosecuted (or charged at all) by Louisville Metro Government.

Motorists need to be held accountable for their actions. This one clearly was not willing to be an adult and accept that there are consequences for inattentive "operation" of a motor vehicle.

Edit: This has even made the web site of the Courier-Journal.

Sheesh!

Mileage updated

After I made my post about nearing five thousand miles for the year, it occurred to me that I had not gotten around to editing my logs for July, August and September after my recalibration episode in late September. A couple of things changed when I corrected the entries I could justify fixing, but the two that stand out were that my July mileage went over eight hundred and my YTD mileage is now over 5100!

With a month and a half to go, I can reasonably expect to exceed 5500 miles for the calendar year, unless the weather turns to absolute junk in December.

Wowsers!

The third of four nights of the November Tool School is tonight. I'm looking forward to working with these folks on what for many is the meat of the class--working on shifting systems! After spending an hour and a half or so on derailleurs, cables, and the like, we'll go on to discuss other fun things about their bikes. Everybody is going to replace at least one shift cable tonight!

Lots o' miles

As of my return home today, I'm three round trips to work shy of five thousand miles for this year. That's 5000 miles. That, dear readers (both of you), is a personal record.

My prior personal record was about three thousand, in a "fiscal year" instead of a calendar year, that being the time from May or so of 1999, when I moved into my mother's house to reduce my commute to my then-new job at a bike shop in Middletown to late April of the following year, a time that saw me commuting by bike more often than not (plus riding a fair bit with my friend, Harry on most Wednesdays).

I didn't track the miles well enough over the time I worked for New Directions to get even a semi-accurate count, so I don't really know how much I rode in the year between the time I was assigned the property manager position in N'Awb'ny and the time I left New Directions in July of 2009. I rode to work fairly often during the four months or so prior to my title change at that agency, but it was typically a "drive to work on Monday, hauling the bike in the process, then drive home on Friday so I could have my truck for the weekend" thing. I raised a few eyebrows with my willingness to bicycle much of the time while I worked as a property manager, as I recall. It was during that time that I started keeping this blog, too. I could probably go back through those posts and figure out a rough estimate of how many times I rode to work and what sort of miles I compiled, but it isn't really worth my time right now.

It's kind of neat to be setting new personal records with every mile I ride. Knowing that I've been doing so for a couple weeks (if I had to guess, I'd say I rode 4K miles in the year before I started working at the bike shop as my primary job) is kind of neat, too.

It fits with the other personal record I set daily: Every day, I set a new record for the number of days I've been happily married. Of course, given that I'm in the second year of my first marriage, well...

Evil Deity and other readings

The Copenhagenize blog for the other day was titled, Evil Deity. You probably already know why Mikael would post a quote with such a title, but it's worth a read. Some of the comments are illuminating, too.

After about a month of studying cases, I put to my first term torts students a couple of hypothetical questions. The first concerns an ‘evil deity.’ ‘Suppose,’ I ask my students, ‘such a deity were to appear to you, as president of this country or as controller of our legal system, and offer a gift, a boon, which would make life more pleasant, more enjoyable than it is today. The gift can be anything you want — be as idealistic, or as obscene, or as greedy as you wish — except that it cannot save lives.’ Later I will drop even that requirement. ‘The evil deity suggests that he can deliver this gift in exchange for one thing … the lives of one thousand young men and women picked by him at random who will each year die horrible deaths.’

When I ask, ‘Would you accept?’ my students almost uniformly answer, ‘No.’ Indeed, they are shocked that one could even ask the question. I then ask, quietly, what the difference is between this gift and the automobile, which takes some fifty-five thousand lives each year.

– Guido Calabresi, Ideals, Beliefs, Attitudes, and the Law, 1985

 I could go on and on about evil deities that people worship--or evil done in the name of someone's deity of choice. I make no secret that I'm an atheist, and have been for many years.

I recently enjoyed reading The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture, by Darrel M. Ray, Ed.D.  If you are even a little bit skeptical of what the church of the day is teaching you, this book is worth a read. If you have left organized religion behind, or are contemplating doing so, this book is a good read, as it gives some thoughts on how to deal with religious folks who cannot fathom your choice, why they cannot, and more.

Having enjoyed that book, my curiosity was piqued when Jenn brought home Why People Believe Weird Things by Micheal Shermer. I read the foreword by Stephen Jay Gould last night, and the introduction to the paperback edition by the author, and have begun reading the first chapter. It looks to be another promising read, discussing skepticism as a method rather than as a position.

From the time I first saw the book, though, the author's name jumped out at me. Having had some involvement with Race Across America, I had encountered descriptions of a condition experienced by RAAM racers called "Shermer's Neck," in which the neck muscles are so fatigued that the rider literally cannot hold his or her head up to see the road ahead. The condition is named after a guy who raced in the first years of RAAM, one Micheal Shermer, who is indeed the author of this book.

Small world, eh?

Tool School has begun

I wound up driving to work Monday, in order to haul my two repair stands for use during the Park Tool School class I'm teaching. The first of four sessions was Monday night, with the second evening later today. It's going to be another great group of folks, from all indications, but I was still grateful to see that one of my students posted about her experience in her blog. I will, of course, strive to live up to the expectations that have been set so far, and exceed them if I can.

Since I drove Monday, it was Tuesday before I got to do my first post-time-change commute. Leaving an hour later by solar time made for a brighter morning ride, to be sure. The ride home was in darkness from the time I walked out the door, meaning I didn't leave the lights off for the first couple of miles of my trip, as I had been doing last week. One result is that I will have to keep closer tabs on my headlight run time between charges, as it's more like an hour of use every day, and I supposedly have a bit more than four hours' burn time per charge.

I had ridden the Raleigh to work one day last week, and got part-way home before the battery charge indicator started flashing its twenty-minute warning. I reduced the light intensity, knowing that doing so would extend my run time a fair bit, and it was more than enough to get me home before the lights went out--literally--which they have done before when I lost track of use times. Fortunately, at 3/4 power I still have plenty of light to see where I'm going, what with the ambient light along the more populated stretches of Westport Road. I could ride on 3/4 light intensity most, if not all, of the time, but like the extra brightness to help other road users see where I am.

stuck horn

On this morning's ride to work--on the Raleigh, just to be different and weird--I had a guy behind me as I approached the underpass for I-265 (proper name: The Jefferson Freeway, although its current name is Shameless Political Hack, er, Gene Snyder Freeway) who chose to express something by hitting his horn. It apparently got stuck, as it continued sounding for at least ten seconds before he got it to stop, right before passing me too closely. I don't know what his problem was--I was in the slow lane, and if he wanted to go faster, he could have, especially given that he was driving a Porsche 928. Of course, he turned in to do business at the body shop just three hundred yards farther along the road, and had to wait for the traffic light at Chamberlain Lane before he got there (as did I).

Shortly before reaching the Collins Lane light, a twit in a Mazda Miata chose to pass me while oncoming traffic was RIGHT THERE. He passed IN MY LANE, mere inches from me. Had I needed to swerve for a pothole, he would have been defending his choices to a police officer while he received a ticket for illegal passing.

I keep wishing I had something like Wolverine fingernails for such jerks, so that I can endanger their danger machines in self-defense. I'm about to make a side flag for my bikes, with a sharp, barbed tip on the end of the pole, barely hidden in the end of the flag...

Flag update

On my ride to work this morning, I noted that the Sad Flag has been removed. I can't take credit for bringing it to the owner's attention, as I do not have contact information with which to do so. However, I must say that a bare pole is far less depressing than the tattered flag that was there.

I sincerely hope that the owner doesn't let the next flag get that torn before replacing it.

Sad Flag

 

I've been thinking about this flag a lot lately. I pass it every day on my way to and from work. It's looked bad since it was installed, to replace an also-far-beyond-worn-out flag. When it was first put up there, the bottom third of the flag was unsecured to the halyard--suggesting to me that the flag was larger than should be flown from this pole. It is never lit at night--something strictly against all flag display protocols I've ever read.

I see a lot of flags that are torn, faded, or otherwise flown incorrectly. I can only imagine that the people responsible for displaying said flags consider themselves patriots. I'm not here to question their patriotism--I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that. Leaving a beat-up, torn, faded flag aloft is terribly disrespectful, in my opinion, and far from patriotic. A quick dip into the pool of google yielded a short list of rules regarding flag display, and this one is wrong on several counts.

Yet, I find this one a bit symbolic for our time. As we reach election day 2010, we have a society divided by rhetoric and vitriol--rent, if you will, by discord. Much of the angry verbiage seems to come from folks who mistake angry diatribes from giving enough of a shit to do something productive about their gripes, or perhaps who at some level realize that doing something productive would mean that they could no longer gripe.

If you have a flag aloft, please have a look at it. If it's worn, frayed, torn or faded, please replace it. Offer it to a VFW post or Scout troop for proper retirement.

Speaking of proper retirement, I find it ironic that "proper retirement" typically involves a ritual burning of worn-out flags. Far more flags are burned in this manner than are burned in protest of our country and its principles, yet mention burning a flag and see what kind of vitriol spews from self-proclaimed patriots sitting near you.

VOTE

I just got back to the house from voting. It took me longer to vote than it did to ride my bicycle to the polling place.

Of course, part of what took so long there was that the machine that counts the votes was not functioning properly. To some degree, it reminded me of the Stalinesque quote: He who votes decides nothing. He who counts the votes decides everything.

Here's to hoping your vote gets counted properly.

Facebook "EEEEEK!!"

Well, not much of one.

Those of you on facebook know how it suggests friends, based on whatever algorithm it follows. Usually, the suggested friends have friends in common, and it will say something like "4 friends in common."

Other times, though, it simply suggests people, with no indication that there are friends in common or why I would want to befriend that person.

One such occasion came about over the weekend. The person suggested was a former girlfriend, with whom I've not had contact in over two years. When I ended the dating relationship, I was willing to be platonic friends. However, that was not to be--there was much rancor from her and her family over the split.

I don't know why facebook would suggest her to me. It didn't mention any friends in common.

I don't wish her ill--I wish her all the best. However, I'm glad to have moved on. If I hadn't, I would not have met Jenn (I wouldn't have been looking, in other words). My relationship with Jenn is far healthier. I'm happier. Life is good, except for those times when it's even better.

Still, it's a weird feeling to see facebook suggest that she and I be friends.

VOTE

As I type this, it is Monday morning, the first of November. We have had to listen to a season of ugliness in campaigns ranging from School Board to US Senator, with candidates ranging from out-of-touch to outright looney. I'm sick to death of having to vote against an even more idiotic candidate, but vote I will.

I would like very much to be able to vote FOR someone instead of against someone else. I've only been able to do that once or twice in my life. It's axiomatic that the folks who would do the best job in elected positions are not willing to do what it takes to get to those positions.

Even so, and even though I will have to hold my metaphorical nose while in the confines of the voting booth, I will vote. I have to do my patriotic duty to try to keep the more severe nutcases out of office.

Dinking around online in a slow moment at the store, I found a pretty cool blog called Free Range Kids. Having read a few of her posts, I encourage you to do likewise.

I don't have any kids of my own, and my stepdaughters are both over eighteen. Still, I see folks being "helicopter parents," and wonder what they are teaching their children, aside from fear of "different."

And I think that fear of "different" is one of the more severe problems we face in our society right now.

Fear, and how it is allowed to run people's lives, has broken up relationships. For me. It was a major factor in why I broke up with a woman I had figured I would be marrying. She was afraid of life in too many ways.

I understand taking reasonable precautions. I also realize that the balance point of reasonable/outrageous varies from person to person. I'm comfortable with riding a bike instead of driving most of the time. I do take measures to make my riding safer, like riding where I will be seen by other road users and making my bike easier to see than most. Some think it nuts that I'd expose myself to as much danger as they perceive me facing on a daily basis.

I've looked at a fair number of statistical analysis exercises, and riding is safer than driving in many ways. I'm certainly less of a threat to the pedestrians, other road users and inanimate objects near my path than a car would be.

In any event, have a look at Free Range Kids. Drop Ms. Skenazy a line, or leave me your thoughts.

Back on the bike

After three days of driving to work, I got to ride this morning.

I keep having to justify driving. Saturday, I drove to maximize time after work with a friend who was scheduled to come to town. I was miffed at myself when I realized that I could have hauled the tandem then instead of driving on Monday. I was also disappointed when I talked to my friend and learned that he had a sinus infection and was staying home instead of coming to town.

So, I drove Monday to haul the tandem out so that I could have my machinist friend examine it, as mentioned previously. I drove Tuesday to haul the bike home (and to avoid riding in near-gale-force winds).

Tuesday's high note was that I got to eat dinner with Jenn and her oldest daughter. I think the shorthand for it is IMMD.

I got to ride today, though. It felt good. I'm looking forward to my ride home as well.

The Screamer is atilt

When we bought our Screamer in August, I figured I had enough "hours in type" that I didn't need to do a pre-purchase test-ride. Over the first several times Jenn and I rode it, I worked on tweaking the seat position and handlebar position to get them where I was most comfortable, but I always felt things were a little "off."

For one thing, the captain's seat had a peculiar and disquieting ability to move on the roll-axis. I made a temporary fix for this with some folded aluminum foil in the form of a shim between the RANS Rad-Lok seat clamp and its centering rail, and went on our merry way.

The thing still felt a bit "off," though. My right knee would rub the front brake cable once in a while, and the handlebar felt as if it was off-center to the right. If I centered myself on the handlebar riser, I was off-center in the seat, but the bike felt a bit better otherwise. It took me a few rides to zero in on this, but there it was--my seat was following my political bent by leaning to the left.

I removed the seat and figured out a primitive, if effective, way to measure whether the Rad-Lok rail was centered on the frame, using a couple of carpenters' squares (the top and bottom tubes of the frame are of differing diameters). The rail was off-center by a thirty-second of an inch.

1/32" doesn't seem like much. However, at one inch from the axis of rotation, that 1/32" translates to over 3/4" at the top of a 22" tall seat--enough to be awkward for any length of time.

Of course, as we are the third owners of the bike, RANS was not about to do any warranty service work. To their credit, however, their staff was willing to brainstorm with me a bit, which led me to consider making or having made a new rail to center the seat--this time with the screw holes offset enough to have things more in alignment.

I spoke with a friend and customer who is a machinist by trade, figuring that he'd have access to better milling equipment than anything I have, and hoping that he'd have a way of getting a more accurate measurement of the problem.

He didn't have a ready improvement on my measuring trick, but was willing to help me with the rail. I picked up the new rail from him a while ago. I plan to install it on the bike tonight and see how it works. I won't be able to ride the bike for a few days, yet, though. While he and I were measuring and figuring out how things go together, the struts supporting the seat back broke.

I'd rather they break in the shop than during a ride. They can't be but so expensive, so having a new set won't hurt the wallet as much as having them break during a ride would hurt other parts of me.

CX mania

Last Thursday was a busy day off work for me. I had a stop in Hikes Point for some CPAP supplies, then wanted to be at the dedication ceremony for the new Cyclocross facility at Eva Bandman Park on River Road.

I'm not historically a 'cross racer kind of guy, but I'm quite impressed by this facility. The racers I've heard discuss the course give it high marks for being tough, challenging, and creative. That we are getting the Masters' World Championships here in 2012 and the World Championships here in 2013 says a lot about where this site rates for the cyclocross racers.

I only hope they work out something for those auto-centric folks so they have a closer place to keep their cars, only to improve spectator attendance. Most of us would ride there and find a place to lock our bikes.

After the dedication and unveiling of the new sign, I went to do some shopping in town. Jenn wanted me to get some stuff for her howloween costume (she won the contest at the party we attended Saturday evening), and I needed some lunch. Sol Aztecas was a good choice for lunch!

Then it was out to beyond Iroquois Park a bit for some new shoes at Swag's. I've been a periodic Swag's customer for fifteen years or so, and enjoy the quality of service and knowledge Swag has his staff exhibit. After choosing and buying the shoes, I opted to enjoy some solitude in Iroquois Park.

When I lived in Old Louisville twelve years ago, I had a Wednesday afternoon ritual I enjoyed. I would get the latest issue of LEO on my way home from my day job, get on my bike and ride to the top of Iroquois Park. I'd find a quiet place on the upper meadow, sit and read the LEO, maybe read a chapter of whatever book I was enjoying at the time, and ride home. I sometimes stayed up there until dark (I had lights on the Ryan even then), and got to see owls seeking their evening meals, deer grazing in the meadow, and other dusk-time wildlife. It was good to revisit that simple pleasure, if only for a little while.

Then it was on to the First Birthday Party for Car-Free Happy Hour, held at Vernon Lanes that evening. It was good to see the friends old and new that were there. I even tried bowling again--scored something like 89 for the game! I have a bowling ball at home, but hadn't thought to bring it with me on the bike. It needs some redrilling before I want to use it much, though, as the thumb hole has gotten small over the twenty or thirty years since it was drilled. I didn't know that bowling balls could "heal" by making a hole smaller--or did my thumb get larger in diameter since I was twenty-three?

The USGP Cyclocross races were held at the new park over the weekend. I didn't get to go Saturday (someone had to mind the store while the boss raced...), and Jenn and I had stuff to do around the house Sunday, but all accounts I've read say it was a great course and a grand weekend of racing. Sounds like a lot of pain to me, but some folks seem to enjoy it.

Visibility

I've discussed visibility a fair bit lately. One thing I haven't mentioned in the "motorist claims (s)he didn't see me" bit is that as I travel Westport Road, I am able to notice how far back people pay attention to my presence. When they see me, some even use their turn signals to indicate to others their intention to change lanes. Many motorists see me far enough back that they are able to integrate into the left-lane traffic as far as a couple hundred yards behind me.

Rhetorical question time: If they can see me that far away, why can't the rest?

To play with that question a bit, one possible answer is that so many motorists simply don't think that far ahead. They are too busy fiddling with the doo-dad of the moment, whether it be their cell phone, their fast-(urp!)food, their GPS navigation, radio, electric razor, makeup or what-the-hell-ever to pay attention to their surroundings in a meaningful way. As a result, they are surprised to see a slower road user, and their surprise leads to their anger, which in turn becomes a tirade at me when the real problem is their own inattention.

Think they are mad at themselves? I doubt they would admit it. They are too busy blaming "that d@#$%! cyclist" for making them pay attention to their driving.

One of the reasons I like my Vanguard is that visibility from the bike is wonderful. I'm in a fairly natural seated position, with my head upright--much like the position of an automobile driver. I have good lateral vision, and excellent long-range sight lines without neck strain. My view to the rear is a bit different than what someone on a conventional bike would have, but I'm also pretty adept at using a helmet-mounted rear view mirror. Since I'm not wrapped in a glass, steel and plastic coccoon, I can hear other traffic from far enough away to tell something about the intentions of the operators.

Given that folks so often change lanes so far back from me, I have to believe I'm fairly easy to see as well. I've made it easier, certainly, with the large reflectors I made and my habitual choice of brightly-colored shirts, not to mention the various "be seen" active lights I use (I counted the Planet Bike Superflash lights in my garage the other day--not counting the two on Jenn's Peugeot that are now in Sarah's keeping, we have about a dozen). All of the bikes used for commuting have reflective stripes on the tires (the lone exception being the front tire on my Vanguard, and if that tire ever wears out...). All of the utility bikes have extra reflectors in addition to the CPSC stuff. And Jenn's bike has those Halo rims...

In short, anyone who cannot see me is either a) not looking, b) is vision-impaired enough that they shouldn't be driving or c) lying about it. I've had reports that I was hard to see in certain situations, even from a fairly astute driver. Those situations included a fair number of reflective barrels lining the roadway (construction zone) on which the speed limit was 25 (and was not enforced, but that's a separate issue), and where motorists are supposed to be going slower and watching for unusual things to happen. What do I need to add there? A Xenon strobe? How irritating is THAT for a motorist who gets stuck behind me at a long traffic light?

How well do YOU know the rules?

During the hour and a half to two hours I spend getting to and from work most days, I have a bit of time to ruminate on the state of drivers' education--and several opportunities to see just how poor that state is.

I frequently think that we don't retest enough (ONCE being more than we do...). I'm sure that many folks would have trouble passing the same test they took at the age of sixteen (or whenever they take it now--I've lost track since I don't have any kids who are just learning to drive).

Imagine how pleased I was to find this online test, then. It's a "written" test put out by GMAC Insurance, as a way of bringing attention to the need for more knowledge about driving.GMAC reports an over-20% failure rate (defined as score less than 70%). Kentucky ranks 42nd in the country at passing this test, with state average score of 74.9%. It's appalling to me that drivers don't know any better than this, but not terribly surprising.

When I am driving, I sometimes think along the lines of "would I pass a driving test today?" I'm not always so sure. I know I do things that would cost me points (one hand on the wheel, protocol issues regarding my use of the clutch and shifter, I'm not always good about using my turn signals (although I do use them more than the average motorist in this town, I don't use them all the time), and who knows what else. Given my score on the written test (90%), I suspect I would do well enough--especially if I would be aware of being tested.

As a League Cycling Instructor, I have reason to say that I know the traffic rules better than many motorists. Indeed, I frequently encounter motorists who I am SURE would flunk this written test, and who I'm equally sure would not care that they flunk it unless they would lose their current driving privileges by failing. Of course, some of them probably know this at some level, and would refuse to take the test out of fear of what they would see quantified.

I think the same thing about vision testing. I get the occasional motorist telling me I'm hard to see. Mine is the one on the left, but neither of these bikes are hard to see:

I have to think that a person who cannot see me on this bike is either a) vision-impaired to the point that it would be illegal for him or her to drive or b) needs to scan for smaller other road users. There is no third option that does not challenge the honesty of the person claiming to have not seen me. Given the number of crash reports where the at-fault party has said, "I just didn't see that car/bike/pedestrian," I think people are showing criminal neglect when driving. Paying attention to one's surroundings is of paramount importance when using the roads. Knowing the rules of the road--and following them--is part of the contractual obligation of a driver's license.

News Flash: Red Pickup dude found

I'm admittedly short on the details, but rumor has it that the Oldham County Police have found the owner of the red Dodge pickup that has been harassing cyclists. The OCPD asks that if you have LEGITIMATE information about incidents you have had or experienced others having with this guy that you please contact them with that information. I don't think they want speculation or second-hand stuff so much as first-hand accounts with time and date at this point.

My hopes are that they will find a way to use him as an object lesson on traffic safety. Perhaps this series of events will aid efforts to get HB88 passed in some legislative session SOON.

I'm for public service work for this guy, partnered with a few hours of instruction and a requirement that he ride a bike for a couple thousand miles over the next year.

It rained last night

Yes, it's newsworthy that we had rain last night. We had more rain from that storm system than we had experienced in over a month, mostly as a function of drought conditions from the latter part of August until, well, last night.

The official (or officious) weather service report called it at a bit more than a third of an inch, with a total for October of .44 inches. I've fired pistols with wider bullets (I was in ROTC in high school, and during summer camp got to fire a total of six rounds of .45 caliber ammunition--haven't fired a pistol or rifle since about that time in my life).

Of course, the weather was coming my way as I was heading home. There is an observation involving my old pal Murphy and his law somewhere in all this...

As I was getting ready to leave the store, Jenn called to see if I needed a ride. I told her I'd be fine for a while, and would call her if I changed my mind at some point. Three minutes later, as I was spooling up the revs on the pedals, I heard my cell phone ringing. I'm not in the habit of answering the thing when I'm pedaling, so I left it be.

As I was working through Crestwood and toward Pewee Valley, I decided that instead of going via Westport Road as is my usual route, I would go through Anchorage and follow LaGrange Road home from there, to put me closer to Jenn's workplace should I need to get her assistance (she had driven the truck to work). I was seeing lightning off to my north, but it wasn't close enough that I felt threatened. I got to Lucas Lane in Anchorage before I started getting rained on, but it went from sprinkle to hard rain in moments. Visibility was getting worse, but was still manageable--until I got in front of Central State Hospital (not to be confused with Central (state) High School at 12th and Chestnut in Louisville, my alma mater).

I stopped for a few seconds under the Hurstbourne Parkway bridge to clear my eyes a bit--salt from my helmet was washing down into them causing part of my visibility problems. Deciding my stopping place was not as safe as I'd prefer, I got moving again and went to the "stop and rob" at the corner of LaGrange Road and UPS Drive.

I called Jenn, to find that she was out looking for me, and had gotten off my usual course by a mile or more. I told her where I was, and she was amazed that I'd gotten that far without being concerned over lightning strikes. She came to where I was, and as there was still a fair bit of lightning in the area, took me the rest of the way home.

An hour later, the rain lessened enough that the visibility was again tolerable, but I'm just as glad I wasn't waiting out that hour in front of a Circle K "stop and rob" store. I could find edible food at home, for example...

The episode will, I'm sure, lead to some discussion over how I deal with weather when I'm on a bike. I apparently have a different idea of what is manageable from the bike seat than Jenn, even setting aside my well-known dislike for riding in rain. Of course, rain and night mixed are even less fun than either alone, but can still be managed with reasonable care. I have no desire to get hit by lightning, but haven't done any deep research to tell me how much of a problem that is likely to be when cycling on a thirty-pound steel bike with an additional ten or fifteen pounds of stuff hanging on it.

Christian rudeness

I was riding home from work the other day, and near the intersection of Westport Road and Indian Springs Drive, a motorist honked his horn at me just before passing me too closely. I caught up to him at the Freys Hill Road intersection, and challenged him on his horn use. He claimed it was to let me know he was passing me. I told him I could hear his car from more than a hundred yards away, and blowing his horn was viewed as more of an "in your face" statement--sort of a "get the F&$^ off the road" thing. He replied that he'd blow his horn any time he wanted.

It was no real surprise to me that there was one of those little icthus things on the rear of his car--no doubt put there to proclaim that he's a good Christian. The overwhelming majority of the people who are rude to me on the road has either one of those little fishy things, a license plate with "In God We Trust," or some other broadcast of "I'm a christian!"

If they have to tell the world that they're Christian, instead of letting us figure it out by their acts and attitudes, are they really? Or are they, as a friend of mine quipped a couple decades ago, "hypocristians?"

In other words, I found this motorist's behavior decidedly un-Christian, or decidedly christian in its hypocrisy--you decide.