Tag Archives: Advocacy

Potential New Commuter and a Bonk

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As I was leaving work yesterday, preparing to ride home, I encountered a coworker in the hallway. He asked me about my bike and riding to work. Standard stuff… “How far do you ride?” “How long does it take?” “How much did you spend?” etc. By the end of the conversation, he was psyched to ride to work himself! He’s only 4 miles and change away, so it was easy to convince him to bite the bullet. I assured him that bike transportation can be gotten for *much* cheaper than what I spent (and will continue to spend) on mine, and suggested (rather strongly) that he stay away from department store bikes, and spend a little more money at an LBS to get well fitted and a bike that won’t fall apart on him.

That makes two people who have expressed serious interest in biking to work. The other lives slightly closer than I do, and the majority of our route would overlap. That would be fantastic!

After that uplifting conversation, I went about my way. About halfway home, I got really hungry, and soon lost nearly all the power in my legs. I could go, but I just didn’t have any ooomph. I don’t think it was a full fledged bonk, but it sure didn’t feel great. I was hungry, tired, and even felt a little feverish by the time I got home. Clearly I didn’t have enough to eat yesterday before I left, though I’m sure I was well hydrated… two full water bottles throughout the day, and less coffee than usual. 9.41 miles and I nearly bonk. How pathetic is that?

There’s no fear of bonking today, as I drove in so as to not waste my legs before the (my first) time trial this evening. Given the storms in the area, however, it may be postponed yet again. If it’s not rescheduled, and it’s raining, I won’t be racing. It’s not worth it to me, having just spent all that money getting the bike ready for the TBP. I’m not risking those components now.

Commutes, Injuries, Geekery and Naked Riding

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This morning’s ride was a touch on the damp side. It rained last night, and I debated swapping the ‘Relli (I’m still looking for a good name for it…) for the Kona, but decided that the dry spots in the driveway were indicative enough of rain-past vs. rain-current that I’d risk it. It wasn’t too bad. A little damper than I’d like, but the spray wasn’t bad, and the frame had only a few spots on it when I was done. A little water and some paper towels took care of it nicely.

Last night’s ride was phenomenal. A slamhammafest, I hit an average of 18 MPH on my long ride home, coming in at 51 minutes and 1 second, beating my previous best by 6 minutes and 4 seconds. Of course, that previous best was on the Kona, so I would expect a much better time on the Torelli, even laden with heavy frame bags and lighting. I was tired when I got home, but nowhere near as tired as I was when I first started this back in November ’07. I’d be so beat after riding almost 8 miles that I didn’t even feel like taking the panniers off the bike and upstairs. Hammering it solid for 50 minutes now has me tired and soaked with perspiration, but a shower and a drink and I’m ready to go.

Chalk one up in the Health->Endurance column under Benefits of Regular Exercising…

There were some interest things coming across the intarwebs this morning, so I thought I’d share some of them. I don’t plan to make linklists a regular thing, but for some reason, it felt right this morning…

Serious injury results from an allegedly improperly assembled Walmart bicycle. The family is suing the retail giant. Story here. On the first ride for the 13-year-old boy, the handlebars “detached from the steering stem, causing Plaintiff to lose control of the bicycle, flip over the handle bars, and strike the ground, hitting his right shoulder on the curb, and causing Plaintiff severe and permanent injuries.” Don’t trust department store bikes. Spend the extra money and go to your LBS. Your health and mobility is just too important.

Noah has some fantastic tips for reducing fuel consumption here. It all boils down to planning ahead, and realizing that most of what you need is within easy biking distance. The comments section on his post led me to the Twike. It ain’t cheap, but how freakishly cool! It reminds me of the go-one3.

Warren-T says he rides because it’s fun. Honestly, it’s really as simple as that, no matter what fancy frilly reasons you lay on top of it. We wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t fun. Someone else, isn’t having nearly as good a time. He’s mad as hell and ain’t gonna take it no mo’. Can’t say I blame him.

Breaking news… people are immature! One of my favorite reads is the Tuscon Bike Lawyer. Today he laments about immature people responding to the natural state of the human body. Ok, maybe it’s not the natural state to be nude on a bicycle, but it is the natural state to be on a bike. Unfortunately, via Recumbum, there are no naked rides for Kansas. However, if you’re of the mind, half naked little people in Australia will pour copious amounts of booze down your gullet. Duder looks a little like a tiny Arnold.

Bike Noob has a new toy. He lost his other bike computer, and picked up one with cadence. He’s having some problems getting the magnet to register with the cadence sensor, and one of the comments has the out-of-the-box idea of putting a rare earth magnet directly in the pedal spindle. It’s tough to see, but that little nubbin sticking out along the axis of the pedal is a magnet. So simple, and yet brilliant.

Tangentially related to cycling, in that cycling makes use of terrain which can, in turn, be mapped, and which also typically takes place in some sort of weather, fans of Google Maps, Map Mashups and weather tracking may appreciate efforts put towards mapping the 2008 US storm season.

On a completely unrelated note, our lead IT tech just sent out an e’mail telling everyone that the Exchange server was down. Seriously.

A Week’s Worth of Clothes

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I’m going to try something different this week. I think part of my burnout of late has been on account of missing the road bike. I like the Kona, mind you, and think it’s a fine bike, but I miss my Torelli. Spending 108 miles on it last week, and then another 75 in yesterday’s high winds (yeah, that was a treat ;) got me thinking.

So tonight after dinner (spaghetti with meatballs… yummy the frak yum – happy spheres of cow), I’m going to drive (yes… drive) a weeks worth of clothing up to work so that I can take whatever bike I want to work and back this week. If it’s raining, I’ll go ahead and take the Kona. But if it’s not, you can damn well bet the farm I’ll take the Torelli.

Instead of packing my panniers every evening before bed, I gather what I’ll need for the week and take it up there all at once.

Pants, check.
Shirts, check.
T-shirts, check.
Socks, check.
Underwear, check.
Belt, check.
Shoes, check.

In addition, I’m taking a (scentless) garbage bag for dirty laundry, and am keeping my unmentionables (which I’ve already so brazenly mentioned) in a backpack. I’m hanging my clothes in a communal closet, and it would be rude to throw private or dirty stuff all willy nilly in there with the rest. So I tuck them away a bit.

Phone, badge, access cards, and the like will still accompany me on my daily rides.

It all comes down to finding whatever method works. In the grand scheme, I want to ride to work. I want the exercise. I want the miles (nod to Noah), and I want the feeling that I’m doing a little bit to reduce my carbon footprint. Granted, this method still involves at least one trip by car to work and back per week in order to drop off and pick up laundry, but it’s better than 5, no?

I’ve been commuting for a little over 6 months now. I’m still a relative n00b, and as such, am sill working it into my life to ensure it’s more than just a passing fancy. This week’s worth of clothes idea is something I’ve toyed with for a while, and it’s time to put it into action to see how it goes. I’ll let you know how it works out (as if there were any doubt about that), but I can tell you right now I’ll enjoy the lack of daily packing, and the lighter load regardless of which set of tires sees the asphalt.

Public Transportation in Mobile Google Maps

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Over on the Google Mobile blog, they’ve a post about public transportation on the mobile Google Maps app.

I’m not one to use public transportation, for no other reasons than I fell out of the habit after college. Routes may very well run near or to where I need to be, but I’ve just not looked.

So, check it out if it’s for you. It’s one more spoke in the wheel, and one less gallon in the tank, if nothing else…

Gas Cards vs. Alternate Methods of Transportation

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My workplace recently decided to give everyone gas cards as a way to show their appreciation for what we do. While I certainly appreciate the gesture (honestly), I have other thoughts on how that appreciation might be better shown… here was my response to the director of HR, who originally sent the note:

What would be far more beneficial in the long run would be facilities to encourage alternate modes of transportation to work (bicycling, obviously, comes to mind). We (I) can certainly make do by taking it easy on the way in, and cooling off a bit before changing, but the lack of facilities is a prohibitive obstacle for the vast majority of people who, otherwise, are well within reasonable distances to ride… and I consider my 9-10 mile ride on the lengthy side when it comes to riding to work.

I realize, with an almost 100% certainty, getting showers installed is not going to happen, but I also believe that this is true because the demand isn’t there. If enough people need them, then perhaps it would be considered. As gas prices pass $4, I can easily imagine more and more people making use of them. My fellow cyclists, both commuters and not, believe that $7 is the cutoff. Once prices reach that level, the number of bicycle commuters will explode. I’m just the first, and so far, the only bike commuter. I don’t believe that will be the case as gas prices continue their climb upwards.

It’s not just facilities, either, but promotion and education that could use attention and money. Promoting the idea of alternate modes of transportation, including bike commuting, but also carpooling, and public transit could go a long way towards making them more viable options. I believe many people continue to drive simply because they don’t know any different.

Educating people to other options, once those options are presented is the obvious next step. It doesn’t take much to ride to work, especially during nicer weather, and with some care, even the lack of showers isn’t the obstacle many believe it to be. There are downsides, to be sure. Not having a car means eating lunch here for the most part, and being unable to run certain errands on the way home from work. Those with children they have to pick up might find it prohibitively difficult as well. There are times when the benefits of having a car at the ready outweigh the cost. However, there are upsides, not the least of which is making exercise part of your daily routine in a way that out-of-band visits to the gym simply can’t be.

Personally, I’ve found the time to and from work valuable as a way of reducing stress, spending a little more time being outside and enjoying things that I would miss being stuck in a car.

Additional benefits, though they be less immediate and personal, are just as real. These include reducing reliance on gas, reducing pollution, reducing the gross number of cars on the roads (gross as in “total,” rather than “nasty” – though it’s a thin line).

Riding into work just one day a week means a 20% reduction in commuting fuel used. If everyone did that, it would be 20% fewer people on the roads, and 20% fewer people throwing money into their gas tanks. Factor in the reduced pollution, and everybody wins.

Don’t get me wrong, gas cards are most certainly appreciated. However, I can think of more beneficial ways that money might be spent. Beneficial to the body, to the pocketbook, and (last but not least) to the environment.

Too much?

Some timely links…

Want to start riding your bike to work? We have tips for ya!
The Perfect Storm: Understanding the Bike Boom

Burnout

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My brother wrote me this morning to tell me he’s feeling burnt out. He rode the Tour of the Unknown Coast and Larch Mountain (Holy Elevation Gains, Batman!) over the last couple of weeks, and is feeling it now. He’s a mountain biker at heart. Single track. Mud. Loves it. Riding the roads isn’t his choice, but he’s doing it for us and being able to say we rode the TBP together. Still, he’s burning out.

I had a little burnout this morning, myself. In fact, I drove to work today. I know… I know… I’m not proud of it, but that’s burnout for you. The steady hefty northerly yesterday on the (northerly) way home just sapped me mentally and physically. I didn’t have it in me to ride. I’ve been tired all week from my ride on Sunday, and was up late last night at the pool hall playing (any guesses… ?) pool (FTW!) and boozing it up. Between the wind, the tired, and the boozy pool, I needed a break.

I’ve burned out from working out at the gym, and just quit going. But that’s not an option here. I have real and difficult goals to achieve, and there’s no backing out now. I have to keep it up. I have to find a way to deal. We both do.

Some of my ideas are:

I need move my weekend training rides to Saturday, and rest on Sunday. Riding on Sunday only to get up and ride into work is tougher, I think, than getting up on Saturday after working all week. It’s worth a shot.

I’m keeping my route variety up. I rarely take exactly the same route anymore. I switch things up, even just a little, with a side road here, or a parking lot there. Just enough to help keep the spice in the relationship.

I’m listening to my body. When it’s tired, I take it slower, and when I have the energy, I use it. The risk is falling into complacency and becoming lazy. Have to watch that.

I’m enjoying other interests, aside from cycling, and I’m not making training the central most part of my life. Keeping things in perspective is important.

Any other ideas? What do you do to stay alive and well in the saddle?

Wired Magazine Chimes in on Commuting by Bicycle

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In an article entitled “Five Ways to Make Bike Commuting Easier,” Wired Magazine tackles the idea of commuting by bicycle in a positive way. They touch on the following concerns:

If I ride to work, I’ll get hot and sweaty
Not if you ride slow, choose a route w/o many hills, and wear the right clothing.
What about my music?
Huh… see below.
I have too much stuff to carry
That’s certainly possible, but for all but the most hefty loads, there are ways.
Is cycling safe?
Yes. Safer than driving when you look at it from an “hours spent on the road” perspective.
Get out more
Yes. Please do.

Good stuff, though it does err a bit on the brief and easy-to-digest side. It’s a good starting point, but don’t expect it to take you the distance.

What is most interesting about this article, at least to me, is this: If Wired is covering it, then commuting by bike is leaving the fringe and hitting the mainstream. Locally, in many areas, it already is, but nationally, it’s still something “those other people do.” I like that Wired ran this story. The more positive exposure, the better! I just wish they’d avoided the “…until an SUV mows you down…” quip. Just couldn’t let it go, could you, Charlie?

The one thing, honestly, I really miss about driving to work is my music. Has anyone heard anything, or had any experience with the iHome? Are there other options? I have a Nano, and would like something to go along with that.

Drivers Ed. … or, Streets of the Ideal World

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Understanding. Empathy. More than skill, I think that’s what’s lacking on the roads. People don’t understand the rules and laws, and (to the point of this post), more importantly, they don’t understand what it’s like for other drivers of different vehicles. Bear in mind that I include myself wholeheartedly in this group, which also, I propose, includes each and every one of you.

The typical car driver doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a bicyclist on the road. The typical bicyclist doesn’t understand what it’s like to drive a semi. How many of us understand what it’s like to drive a bus? Some, to be sure, but not most. What about a garbage truck? 30′ moving vans? Fully laden cement mixers?

As I spend more time as one of the smaller, more vulnerable users of the road, I spend more time thinking about such things. I’m coming to believe that in order to operate a vehicle on todays roads, we should be required to have a deeper understanding of what it’s like to operate a wide variety of vehicles. That means licensing.

What prompted this line of thinking was the many times drivers, in vehicles of all sizes, display an obvious lack of understanding of what it’s like to be me, on a bicycle, sharing the road with them, in their much larger enclosed vehicle. They wait for me to pass when I’m hundreds of feet away (not a horrible thing), or they perceive me going slower than I am and pull out right in front of me – even when it’s clear they see me. They pass without giving me adequate room, or endanger themselves by giving me too much room. These experiences and many more tell me that many drivers just don’t understand what it’s like to take a bike to the roads.

Then I took this logic to the next step. Sure, they don’t understand what it’s like to be me, but do we understand what it’s like to be high up in a semi, or dragging a heavy garbage truck or cement mixer around the city streets, or a school bus full of children? Wouldn’t it help us all to really *know* what it’s like for the rest of the drivers on our shared roads?

Though I doubt it will ever come to pass, in the ideal world, I think we should all be licensed to operate all legally operational vehicles that share the roads with us. Maybe that would go somewhere towards giving us the understanding and empathy that is so lacking on the roads today. Probably not, but it can’t hurt, and it may just make people take driving a little less for granted, and a little more seriously.

KC Bike Week Day 3 and Still Few Bike Commuters

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I’m chalking it up to the route, but I only saw three bike riders on the way home yesterday, and two this morning. I’m not going to an area of concentrated offices, like downtown, where there are a lot more people working in a smaller area, and fewer bicycle friendly routes to get there (assuming the latter… I’ve never been downtown by bike myself). The general area where I work has as many inroads as there are… well… roads, and while there are plenty of offices, they’re far more spread out. The chances of meeting up with someone going my way on the road I’m on are pretty slim. Those odds will change as more people begin using their bikes as transportation, but while it would be nice to have company on the ride, and safer too, I’m sure I’ll manage just fine.

As I approach my first fair weather bike commuting season, I’m curious to see how many people actually get out and ride. It’s a safe assumption that more people ride to work as the weather gets warmer, but without any bike commuting experience from previous warm seasons, I can’t make any observations regarding the relative number of us out there. This season is unique in that gas prices may force more people than normal out from behind the wheel, and onto a saddle. Throw in a heightening environmental awareness, and we have another factor that may increase our numbers. Frankly, I don’t think that many will start biking to work at current gas prices, much less any vague and distant environmental concerns. It won’t be until San Francisco is flooding and gas prices reach $10.00/gallon that people will really feel the crunch, and by then, it’ll be too late. They’ll wish they reduced their addiction to petroleum, but as they say… “coulda shoulda woulda.”

I predict only a very slight increase over previous years. More of us will ride, but not that many more. The *vast* majority of bike commuters will be returning to the road, rather than just entering it. Technically, I’m returning to the scene as well, having ridden to work and class for 6 years in the early 90′s.

Then again, I am new to the KC bike-to-work scene this year. That’s one, and where there’s one, there are likely more…

Get Thee Behind Me, Negativity!

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Dave Moulton speaks wisdom…

I see it on the various bike forums and blogs, where cyclists recall the near misses, and their run-ins with aggressive drivers. The problem is, the person posting is re-living the event, and causing others to re-live their bad experiences. We cannot erase bad events that have happened in the past, but we can learn from them and move on.

I like the bit about re-living. That is of the truth for me.

Henceforth, while I may offer a note about negative experiences with motorists, I will not detail, nor dwell on them, and will do my best to spin it positively.

I shall not interpret those that stop unnecessarily at intersections as having little comprehension of the Way of the Bicycle (though this may, in fact, be the case), rather I will see it as a kindness that they chose to let me through, or an opportunity to show them a considerate and attentive cyclist. I will spend more time and energy focusing on the good aspects of my rides, and let the bad slough off like water off a ducks feathers.

I’ll let you know how this works out for me…