Bike crash news as discussion springboard

This morning, near Columbus, Ohio, a cyclist was hit by a person driving a motor vehicle. The cyclist's injuries were reported as "non-life-threatening," which is one of very few good things about the linked report, a key other being that the motorist called police rather than drive away.

Grammar problems aside, there is a line in the article that "Police say the driver will not be charges because the person on the bike was not wearing a reflective vest."

Really? That is why the driver is not being charged? Over a non-standard talisman that probably wouldn't have mattered in the first place?

One wonders whether the cyclist was wearing a helmet, as the "news" article doesn't say...

Was the motorist wearing a seat belt? Talking on his/her cell phone? Eating breakfast? Spilling coffee? Otherwise being generally inattentive to his/her surroundings, to include other legitimate road users? Did the bike have lights? Reflectors as (maybe) required by Ohio law?

The problem I have with this "driver was not charged because..." nonsense is that now drivers will start saying inane things like, "You're not wearing a reflective vest! I can't see you! Lalalala if you are hit it's your fault!"

I happen to prefer bright-colored clothing for my cycling wear. I figure that if I'm going to wear wicking fabric stuff, it may as well be easier to see rather than dark and harder to see. I have a wind shell of Illuminite that is probably eight years old, and looks the part. The back has lost some of its reflectivity, after I've worn it while riding the Vanguard for so many miles. I have reflective vinyl on some pedals I own (Shimano "dual use" pedals that allow riding in cleated shoes or regular shoes are on two of my bikes). I have reflectors (some are homemade) on my bicycles, and reflective tape here and there on some bikes and all three trailers. I also have lights on every bike that is likely to be ridden when it's not light out, and I use those lights.

I have no idea what lights, if any, the cyclist in this news report had in service. I would think lights more noteworthy than a reflective vest in any event.

Brief chuckle

I looked at my view counter today, and noted that the number is now 12666.

Tee hee!

Witness this!

Jenn received a piece of mail today. Or, perhaps I should say a piece of mail came to our mailbox today, addressed to Jenn or "current resident." Inside was a single-page, hand-written note, inviting her to read and respond to the enclosed bible tract, which had been carefully cut from a booklet of similar tracts published by the Jehovah's Witnesses.

As you realize, if you've been reading my blog for a while, both Jenn and I are atheist. We eschew religion. Indeed, we find religion to be all but evil in many ways, but that is beside the point at the moment.

I cannot but wonder whether this is a new tactic being employed by the Witlesses, er, Jehovah's Witnesses, mindful of the quip often attributed to George Carlin that the USPS should hand over final delivery duties to the Jehovah's Witnesses to save time and money.

It also reminds me of a story from my early days in my apartment in Old Louisville:

I had recently moved in to the apartment building, called "The Cavalier," on Fourth just north of Ormsby. One sunny Saturday morning, about nine, my doorbell rang. Despite having gotten home only a couple hours before (I was working for UPS as a ramp rat at the time, loading airplanes, and got off work around six on Saturday mornings), I tumbled out of bed, found some sweat pants and a t-shirt, and was putting them on as I stumbled down the stairs to see who had come to visit me in my then fairly-new-to-me digs (there was one exterior door where the doorbell buttons were, serving six apartments on three floors--I was on the second floor, meaning I had to descend three half-flights of stairs).

When I reached the exterior door, I found a man and a woman wishing to chat. "Hi! I'm Fred, and this is Ethel, and we are from the Kingdom Hall a few blocks down Fourth Street. We'd like to discuss..."

"NO, I'm not interested in your god!" I interrupted, as I turned around and stalked back up the stairs to resume my slumber.

I hadn't learned my lesson, though. A couple weeks later, around the same time on a Saturday morning, my doorbell rang again. Again, I tumbled out of bed, pulled on the same pair of sweat pants, and stumbled down the stairs while pulling on a t-shirt, to find...

"Hi! I'm Barney, and this is Betty, and we're from Kingdom Hall a few blocks down Fourth Street."

Before they could continue, I interrupted them, saying, "Is this the first doorbell anyone has answered this morning? I heard that one of my neighbors is into the occult. I read up on the cult he's rumored to follow, and they do human sacrifice-like stuff. They are supposedly VERY fond of using Jehovah's Witnesses for their ritual sacrifices."

"Barney" and "Betty" were looking at me with, between them, one eye, as one sees in cartoons. Yep, one great big eye, with four little tiny dots in the middle that would have been their pupils.

I lived in that apartment for another ten or twelve years, and never once got another doorbell ring from Jehovah's Witnesses.

yet another birthday

I recently had another birthday. After the larger hubbub surrounding the last two, I opted for a low-key approach this year. Several factors are present and affecting this, not the least of which is that I just didn't feel like having a big to-do.

I did get to visit with some friends that evening over a dinner and a few beers--the Louisville Atheist and Freethinkers group had another of their periodic get togethers at O'Shea's on Baxter Avenue to enjoy Pint Night (buy the beer of the night and get to keep the glass). I'll be going out to dinner with family this evening, I think.

I might even get to ride a bike for a while today, just to ride the thing. THAT would be a change of pace.

In other news of my life (not that anyone really cares): I have been wanting to bring Cycling Savvy to Louisville for some time, now. I am hoping I get to take the Cycling Savvy Instructor course when it is next offered, even though that would mean another expensive trip to Florida.

Along with that desire, though, is a desire to spread the concepts in I am Traffic to cyclists in the Louisville area. I like the site layout better than that of many such sites, and like that Cycling Savvy, I am Traffic, and Commute Orlando (and Commute St Louis) have consistent messaging (this is not by accident...).
 
Eventually, Louisville (indeed, Kentucky) will be listed in the Cycling Savvy "Where we are" section. In the mean time, though, I am preparing to launch Commute Louisville:

 As I get things going, I will be looking for guest posts that share cycling community events, positive encouragement for driving our bicycles, and the like. As the new national organization developing from the I am Traffic Colloquium comes about, I will work toward a solid affiliation here in town and for the region.

Conflicting feelings

I've gotten spoiled, I guess. I've not had any run-ins with law encroachment officers (ahem) over my lane position in over a dozen years and well over thirty thousand miles.

Until yesterday.

I'm not even sure how much I want to say about this publicly, as I really want a couple things to come out of this experience--namely that the department and especially the officer in question quit harassing cyclists for taking control over our own safety.

At issue is the perception by this law enforcement (encroachment?) officer that bicyclists are supposed to stay very close to the white line (fog line, if one prefers), presumably under KRS 189.300. That statute reads (with apologies for kerning issues):

189.300

Vehicles to keep to right.

(1) The operator of any vehicle when upon a highway shall travel upon the right side of

the highway whenever possible, and unless the left side of the highway is clear of

all other traffic or obstructions for a sufficient distance ahead to permit the

overtaking and passing of another vehicle to be completed without interfering with

the operation of any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction or any vehicle

being overtaken. The overtaking vehicle shall return to the proper traffic lane as

soon as practicable and, if the passing vehicle enters the oncoming traffic lane,

before coming within two hundred (200) feet of any approaching vehicle.

(2) The operator of any vehicle moving slowly upon a highway shall keep his vehicle as

closely as practicable to the right-hand boundary of the highway, allowing more

swiftly moving vehicles reasonably free passage to the left.

 On its face, this statute clearly shows a willingness to subvert the safety of a slower-moving road user to the perceived convenience of a faster-moving road user, as there is no specificity of vehicle type. This is wrong at its core.

Never mind that by taking the center of the lane, as I was doing at the time of initial contact, I am far more visible at greater distance, allowing an overtaking road user to adjust to my presence with less drama (and greater safety). Never mind that by taking the lane, I am also communicating with said overtaking road user that it really is NOT safe to pass at the moment, either in my (too narrow for such things) lane or due to possible oncoming traffic.

The cop declared that HE was the one who determined what is practicable, although in states where practicable is mentioned the cyclist has numerous caveats for conditions not readily visible from a motor vehicle being driven at 35+ miles an hour (debris in the roadway, surface defects), or that the lane is too narrow for side-by-side passing, or that the rider is preparing for a left turn, or passing an even slower rider.

The cop gave me a verbal warning, and did not look at my driver's license. I have his badge number and name. Nonetheless, he did warn that if he saw me again, he would cite me and have it go to court. My concern here is that the judges in Oldham County are not over-friendly to cyclists, given the hue and cry from the anti-bicycle-biased citizens of that county we see peak every year about Ironman time (late August, after a summer of triathletes training on US42 all the time). This threatens my freedom to move within the county, which certainly has a deterring element. I don't wish to waste time in court defending my right to drive defensively according to current best practices as recognized on a national level by folks a lot smarter than this law encroachment officious, er, well, police officer.

Now to construct a presentation to the officer's commanders that will help ALL who cycle in Oldham County...

I am Traffic, and a new organization

I am home from a weekend away. I attended the I am Traffic Colloquium in Orlando, along with forty-some of my best internet friends, sentient cyclists all.

I Am Traffic, which I will use as a working name for the group in the short term (the formal name has not been determined), is based on several principles, many of which are summed in discussion of the Six Es:

There are SIX Es, not the traditional five, and the most important of them is Equality. Indeed, I personally feel (and some seem to agree, although we haven't pushed for formal adoption of this belief) that Equality is the "Super-E" of the group. By this, I mean that equality in education and enforcement, and equity (not exactly equality, but related) in engineering and encouragement, along with equality and equity in evaluation, reach paramount importance. Nothing less is acceptable.

Some years ago, when the "Five-Es" list was promulgated by the League of American Bicyclists, there was a push for the sixth E to be Equality. The League has not done well at keeping to that concept, that since the laws in every state of the Union say that a bicycle operator is a driver of a vehicle (or device, in some states), such cyclist has the full right and responsibility of movement on the public roads. Of course, other laws go on to restrict cyclists' rights to use the roads as elements of traffic, and in all cases, such laws put cyclists at risk to enhance the perceived convenience of faster (and thus presumed more legitimate) traffic.

The traditional "Five Es," with some annotation:

Education: Teaching folks how to use the shared public space called our road system is all but nonexistent, at least in a formal sense. People learn bad habits from parents or friends or society at large, and those lessons lead to a LOT of prejudicial behaviors and myths. Educating cyclists is important, but we cannot forget that educating law enforcement officers, motorists, jurists, and policy-makers is also important.

Enforcement: I will not defend blatant lawbreaking by cyclists. At the same time, I read many accounts from riders who experience biases against cyclists behaving as defensive drivers of their vehicles when dealing with law enforcement officers who are, at best, badly trained in traffic law. That judges also fail to recognize that cyclists are operators of vehicles with stunning frequency is deplorable.

Engineering: We are happy to endorse well-designed bike-focused infrastructure. Sadly, there is little out there that meets this level of quality. Well-designed infrastructure does NOT violate safe movement principles. A through bike lane to the right of a lane from which a motorist may make a right turn is in direct violation of safe movement principles. Such a "bike lane" in proximity to a line of parallel-parked cars is doubly so. It really is that simple.

Encouragement: Too many folks think cycling is some combination of: hard, exhausting, ludicrously hazardous, rude to other road users, inconvenient...the list goes on and on. We aim to help folks see how easy it can be, how being part of traffic is NOT rude, but actually more polite than "hugging the curb," how safe it is when one controls one's own actions, and so on. It's amazing what can be done with a bicycle!

Evaluation: Too much of the evaluation we have so far is looking to the wrong data set. Simply counting bike users going through an intersection doesn't tell us much, and is too subject to error (inadvertent or otherwise). To evaluate either a policy or a facility, we need to know things like, "How was this intersection navigated before, by cyclists exhibiting edge, driver, or pedestrian behavior?" and "How are edge-, driver-, or pedestrian-behaving cyclists using it after it's built?"

We had presentations about Cycling Savvy and its origins and philosophy, law enforcement and bicycle use, a program that teaches engineers about how bicycles operate as part of traffic and how to design accordingly, and a program for kids called "Journeys from Home" that is absolutely top-notch in how it teaches movement as communication.

On the second day, we did some brainstorming on a vision statement and a mission statement. The original vision statement is quite good (Our Vision: That drivers of human-powered vehicles are Expected and Respected as a normal part of traffic.), but is it good enough?  What mission statement do we want? Many ideas were floated about, and the word-smithing is yet to be done. Creating a lasting organization with the goals we have in mind is not a simple task, and putting forward the right messages in our vision and mission statements helps others see what we are on about. We discussed high-altitude views on what sort of business model we wish to adopt and some of the nuances between a couple of choices open to us, what our goals as an organization are, what our name should be, how our governance will be structured, and how we will get the details sorted. A board was chosen to assemble Articles of Incorporation and a draft of the bylaws for membership approval. There has been some discussion over who is or is not a member at this point, with incomplete resolution (I am confident that some ideas on this will come out of the board's efforts).

We even get some local input via that formation board: Jenn is one of the five members!

visit counter

A while back, I made a couple of posts regarding the number of visits counted here. Some time today, the number should be 12345.

I probably won't see that number on the counter, as I have more important things to do than watch it.

Louisville's Bridge to (India)Noplace.

For over twenty years, Louisville has been working at improving its "front door" image along the riverfront. We have Waterfront Park, that has replaced numerous scrap yards, warehouses, gravel pits, and other eyesores.

The crown jewel of this park, to many people, opened to the public today: The Big Four Bridge, named after the railroad company that had it built over a hundred years ago, had gone out of favor some time in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and the approaches were removed. There were some ideas of using it for condos at one point, and it had held lights for various charity campaigns over the years, but it was otherwise just sitting there.

In the mean time, "powers that be" in and around Louisville were working on the Ohio River Bridges Project, to add two interstate-level bridges between Kentucky and Indiana (a 1950s solution to a 2013 problem, but that's another rant). Since this is an interstate-grade project, the federal government requires a percentage of the total cost to be dedicated to adjacent bike and pedestrian infrastructure. This would normally take shape as bike lanes built on to or under or otherwise in conjunction with a cross-river bridge, but it was decided that it would be quicker and cheaper to divert some money to rehabbing the Big Four.

$25 or $50 million or so later, we have a gorgeous spiral ramp that leads to the bridge. The bridge has a nice shiny new concrete deck and spiffy new railings, lights, benches, and signage.

The ramp to ground at the Indiana side isn't ready, yet, and there is probably a Hoosier joke in there some place, relating to Kentucky's reputation for being twenty years behind the times.

As excited as I am about this bridge and what it means for transportation by bicycle or by walking, I have some reservations about the overall execution.

Instead of being a transportation bridge, it's become a linear park. I guess that's to be expected, given that it's part of the Waterfront Park complex, but to call it mainly a transportation piece is a bit deceiving.

As this image shows, the surface is marked with two faux rails. These are to evoke memories (as if anyone under forty would remember) of the bridge as a rail bridge, but they also serve in the current incarnation of the "bridge rules" as lane markings: walkers on either side of the rails, cyclists in the middle.

There isn't enough room between those lines for a fast oncoming pass for to cyclists.

I suppose I may be worrying about something that won't be a big deal--there is little enough bicycle traffic going across the river now that when cyclists do meet, there will likely be plenty of room for them to get outside the rails long enough to pass safely. Still, if this is successful in increasing cross-river bicycle traffic, it will become self-limiting. There is little room for growth in use beyond a handful of cyclists per five-minute period.

On the plus side, the concrete is nicely done, the railings are attractive, the light fixtures, well, I'll have to wait for an evening to ride down and have a look. The fixtures themselves are innocuous enough.

The folks in Indiana haven't quite caught up with us with regard to bridge access. They are working on it, and promise opening their ramp in a few months. They certainly have made progress:

I need to go back and get some pictures of the entryway. There are concerns with how that was done that I want to discuss at some point, and it will be easier with pictures.

Twitterpated motorists

A reader asked if a certain Twitter post referred to me the other day. The person who made the tweet (as I think such things are called) encountered me as I rode to Whole Foods near Mall (Maul) St. Matthews, along Shelbyville Road. As I was getting ready to turn left, I was--wait for it!!--in the left lane.

Before I type any more, I want to put this out: There is no reason to find that tweet and give the person a hard time. The tweet-poster and I have had private exchanges, and I have received and accepted what seems to be an apology. My primary goal in that exchange is that we both gain better understanding of how traffic works and should work, and I'm quite capable of stating my own case in that discussion (citing references as I see fit, of course).

In essence, the driver in question was also in the left lane, and felt it necessary to slow sharply and wait for a hole in traffic in the next lane to avoid hitting me from behind. I remember seeing a few cars lined up at the light where I joined Shelbyville Road (incidentally, the same stretch covered in one of my test videos from a few weeks back and shown on this blog). I remember getting under the Watterson overpasses before any cars that had not been in the queue with me coming out of New LaGrange Road became an issue (or I for them). I haven't paced it, but it's at least a tenth of a mile (520.8 feet, or 176 yards, or...) from the light to that overpass, and I was essentially the only thing moving on that piece of road for several seconds.

Again, I don't feel a need to hammer on this particular driver. I admit that when I first read the tweet in question, I let my dander rise a bit. Well over 99% of the motorists I encounter figure it out well enough, even if less than two thirds of them change lanes two hundred yards or more before overtaking me on multi-lane roads. When I was riding to Crestwood all the time, I would encounter thousands of motorists a week. To have one per week act an ass would come out to far less than a tenth of a percent of that group of motorists, even though one jerk a week seemed like a really high jerk quotient.

However, I think it points to a couple of things that many of us take for granted. Many drivers fail to recognize that streets like Shelbyville Road are NOT limited-access throughways, and as such have "interrupted flow." It is perfectly reasonable--indeed, self-preservation requires--that we expect traffic in front of us to perhaps be going slower than we would otherwise go, and sometimes MUCH slower.

This is one of the lessons I've learned from being a transportation cyclist that has made me a much better driver. It is such lessons that have led me to posit that part of maintaining a driver's license should include some number of documented bicycle miles per year as "continuing education" for drivers. I recognize that implementation and monitoring would seem cost-prohibitive and politically all but impossible, but I firmly believe that having folks ride more (with reasonable exceptions for those with physical impairments) would help folks recognize their limitations as drivers of cars.

I happen to hold as an adjunct to this that people should spend time in a simulator so that they could understand truck drivers' challenges, but that's another rant.

CYCLOCROSS

What a crazy couple of weeks!!

Two weeks ago, I figured out that I couldn't not help assemble the UCI World Championship Cyclocross courses. Since then, I've spent thirty or forty or fifty hours (I didn't fill out a time card) helping with course construction, and another twenty or thirty in race-days helping out here and there. The Tuesday of Masters' Worlds, I found myself assigned to pressure-washing detail, and was there for the remainder of the event.

A few hours into my first day doing that, a SRAM Neutral Tech Support guy offered a lesson in how to make bikes cleaner during a race. I took his advice to heart, and concentrated on getting the bike rideable before making it look pretty, especially when there was a race on. My proof that I learned something came in the form of what was probably my favorite moment of Friday: I encountered two people who appeared to be a couple walking in the vendor area, and the man nudged the woman, pointed at me, and said, "That's the guy who washed your bikes six times during your race yesterday."

Jenn and I volunteered for the Elite races, as well. Due to the rising river level, the four races were held on one day instead of being spread over two days. Our assignment had us controlling access to a photographers' pit at the end of the start-finish straightaway, and while people were nice and brought us food, we felt "locked down" because no relief came until the last race, and by then most of the reasons for going to the expo area at the other end of the facility had gone (I mean, of course, the time-honored tradition of gathering free stuff from vendors advertising their products).

I came to realize, however, that my assigned position had some really great perks. The view of the start/finish line, for one:

Jenn's post wasn't much worse. I was with her at the start of the Elite Men's race, and got this shot of the racers going around the first turn:

Now for some rest and relaxation! Since the Stupor Bowl is later today, I'll take the opportunity to go get some groceries.

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...

Annual mileage

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bikes as part of traffic

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

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

Blogs and comments can lead to good things

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

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

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

John Brooking, for example.

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

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

Cargo bike fun

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

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

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

11,500 views

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

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

Camera test

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Business isn't booming, but...

...it's looking a little better.

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

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

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

Over the rivers...

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

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

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

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

More Class

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

voting day

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

blinders

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

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

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

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

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

Referral, and bike polo!

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

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

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

Long view of the court:

 

The goal:

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

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

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

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

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

11,000!

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


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

"Blog worthy?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

political involvement

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

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

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

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

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

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

seeming hypocrisies

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

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

I've been ignoring the blog of late

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who would have thought THAT would happen?

Why I ride where I ride

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

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

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

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

Ironman Louisville volunteering

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

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

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

More about my Ironman adventures after the break.

Water tune-up, part II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

water tune up

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

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

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

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

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

It's amazing to be part of this.

Today has gone to the dogs

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

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

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

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