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.