Other pictures

I've been meaning to get to taking these pictures for a week or three. A while back, Louisville got really excited about the "soft" opening of the Big Four Bridge. In my comments on that event, I alluded to some dissatisfaction with regard to its value as a transportation option.

Let me restate my opinion a bit: It's a GREAT "skinny park" that spans the Ohio River, and affords views of Louisville and Southern Indiana that have been denied to people for generations. It's a ten- or fifteen-foot wide multi-use path, in essence, in that walkers and bicycle riders are allowed, and many walkers bring their dogs, children, and other family members to enjoy their outings.

I remain a bit disaffected, however, as part of the "selling" of this bridge to the community was that by having it redone in this manner, Louisville, Kentucky, and Indiana could meet a federally-mandated requirement to include bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in the eventual new I-65 bridge over the Ohio River, to be built alongside the existing I-65 bridge over the Ohio River, as part of the Ohio River Bridges Project, a 1950s solution to a twenty-first century problem. Because it is a skinny park, it is NOT a viable transportation option for cyclists wishing to ride apace. My fear is that one result of this bridge being open to cyclists is that the current Clark Memorial Bridge, the only bicycle-legal bridge for some forty or fifty miles up- or downstream, will be repurposed as an off-ramp for I-65 Southbound into Louisville from Indiana, with zero bicycle access available. This is called "putting all the transportation eggs in too few baskets."

At any rate, another objection I have to the way the bridge is arranged is access to the ramp. If one parks in the lot nearest the bridge ramp entrance, and is using a wheelchair, one must be sure to get on the sidewalk exactly at the disabled-specific parking slots, and NOT the ones on the opposite side of the lot from the ramp. Otherwise, one would have to go to the end of the lot at the road to get on the sidewalk along River Road first.

A cyclist entering the lot from River Road must use the sidewalk--and riding on the sidewalk is strongly discouraged in most places, for a variety of reasons. That one must use the sidewalk here reinforces the notion that riding on the sidewalk is acceptable in other places, frankly. To make this a bit easier to understand, here's a link to a googlemaps image showing the ramp during one or another construction phase.

 
View Larger Map

Looking toward River Road from just west of the ramp:

Looking at the sidewalk from in the parking lot:

From deeper in the parking lot. Note the curb in front of my bicycle, which is standing in an area that used to be two parking places:

Looking sort-of east on River Road. Witherspoon Street enters River Road to the right. The ramp is partly visible to the left.

The ramp, as seen from the same vantage point:

Despite my misgivings about this bridge as a transportation option, I remain happy that it's open as a park. I am very happy to see that the community has repurposed this old rail bridge and made it useful again.

A couple of pictures

It seems I neglected to add some pictures to my recent post about working on a velomobile.

As it happens, I didn't get any pictures of myself in the thing, nor do I have any images of the owner in it.

I did, however, get a couple shots of it once I had loaded it on my trailer for delivery to its owner:

This is called the FAW+, short for Flevobike Alleweder Plus, as it's a modification of an early-1990s design. The kit (they offer assembly at additional cost) is available from Pedal Yourself Healthy in Texas.

I've been looking at this thing off and on for a couple of years, and remain mildly interested in owning something like it. It's fun to ride, despite the problems I have fitting in the thing. It can carry a fair bit of cargo--including groceries for several days, or luggage for a several-day tour.

Saturday morning entertainment, of sorts

If you've read much of my blog, you've picked up on enough little hints here and there to realize I don't believe in gods. I really don't mind if another person believes in some god or other, but a person's right to believe in and follow a god ends where it intersects my right to not believe. For this reason, our legal system is, or is supposed to be, secular in nature. I realize that in many circles this would be a controversial position to take, but it's who I am.

Another controversial issue in current society is abortion. In short, I consider abortion a private matter between the woman in question, her medical care provider, and others as SHE sees fit. Regardless of whether I know her, it's not my decision to make.

(more after the jump)

Velomobiles rock!!

It's long been a dream of mine: Owning a velomobile. I haven't had enough money to get serious about buying one, so haven't invested in going to Texas to test out factory demos of the FAW+ or a Quest. As I'm not close to buying, I'm reluctant to ask folks who have them for test-rides.

I have, however, been able to play with one that belongs to a friend for a day or two. He built his FAW+ from a kit, as many do, but lacked the patience to get the front end alignment right. We worked on it a bit last spring, and it was better, but his life was such that he wasn't able to ride it for a while, and so the story goes.

He and I talked a few days ago, and he wanted me to do some fine-tuning on the alignment and install his electrical system for him. As a result, I've taken the liberty of riding the thing a bit (test-riding my work, don't you know), and have a couple of observations:

My largest observation is that I'm a bit wide and heavy for this thing. I can make do, but it's not quite comfortable for me. The foot area isn't quite wide enough (I have big feet, which is part of the problem), and my feet rub the inside of the wheel wells. So do my calves.

One possible fix is a narrower bottom bracket, and perhaps a different crank with a narrower q-factor. I hesitate to do this, as a) it's not my machine, and b) if it was my machine, I'd wonder whether the narrower q-factor would be harmful on my hips or knees.

If I ride with my elbows at my sides, as I did when I had a V-Rex, I'm not moving side-to-side. I'm snug in there. I can ride with my elbows out, but that would probably not work if I'm using the cockpit cover.

Aside from those fit issues (that are most certainly NOT the machine's fault), it's a neat little ride.

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.