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.