Photo courtesy of bikeportland.org

Ironically I am incapable of biking to work today. The inguinal hernia repair is healing nicely though. I have of course biked to work many many days, through rain, sleet, snow. This day isn’t so much for the cycle commuters as it is for advocacy. If you haven’t biked today, every day is a new opportunity to start!

Ironically I saw this article on Boing Boing. The question was raised that it may actually take more energy in food to fuel the cyclist than it would to fuel a car.

I, just like Mr. Green from the Sierra Club call bullshit on this car vs bike argument.

Even if cyclists consumed %20 percent more calories each. The oil and gas each cyclist would use in driving themselves alone, not to mention repairs, all of the oil needed to make the plastic and tires for new cars, the emissions of those cars far outweighs food shipments to centralized distribution on trucks, planes, ships, and trains.

It may sound like an emotional argument, but it seems pretty plain to see when even in a small city like Kalamazoo. All of my co-workers drive to work alone, burning gas in new cars.

If you look at the numbers at the US Department of Labor Site you will see the total percentage of the population that is employed. Of course this doesn’t even count all of the non-documented immigrant workers in the US who are possibly driving to work alone too. We are consuming 9,253,000 barrels of oil a day for cars.

If we were to cut that even in half from a consumer standpoint it would put a serious dent in the amount of oil consumed. If everyone needed say %20 percent more calories based on a higher activity level could this really even equal the amount of oil needed to drive a car for a year on a daily commute? I don’t think so.

If I had to pick a future, I would pick one where suburban sprawl is eliminated, open spaces are preserved, people cycle and walk to work, buses and trains are used for longer distances, cars are run on alternative energy (non-fossil fuel), and Newcastle wins the FA Cup, The Smiths get back together and I Kayak Surf full time.

Cycling to work has so many advantages. US Oil Consumption is a big part of it, but, at this point Oil Prices are predicted to rise to $200.00 USD a barrel for the next year making gas over $4.00 a gallon. I know I will be able to weather that easily by cycling. But this has been a lifestyle choice. Living close to work, being physically active, and also very into cycling has been a good thing for me. Why not give it a shot!

tags: Bike commuting   cycle commuting   inguenal hernia surgery   inguinal hernia   oil consumption   reduction of fossil fuels.   urban bike culture   us oil consumption  

Cycle Commuting Comicstrip

Yehuda Moon & the Kickstand Cyclery is a daily comic for cyclists everywhere. The comic is geared for the commuting audience. But is a little for everyone on two wheels. The comic is drawn by Rick Smith.

I’ve been reading with delight since it’s inception. I’ve wanted to do this about one hundred times myself. It seems urban bike culture is coming into it’s own. The comic depicts two cyclists. Yehuda is the steel frame/single speed/ simplicity bike guy who works at the shop the Kickstand. Then there is the bike shop owner Joe. Joe is more of a high technology fan and is a perfect foil to Yehuda.

Today’s comic is a gem.

Another favorite of mine is where Yehuda paints his own Bike lanes. Peruse the archives and enjoy.

tags: bianchi san jose   bike commuter in traffic   Bike commuting   bike commuting safety   comic strips   Cycling   urban bike culture  

I find myself becoming more and more irritable on my morning bike commute. Drivers who use cell-phones, that do not look where they are going are trying my patience. This morning I made a critical mistake. I think if I had changed my position in the lane to be more direct and visible, this situation might have been negated.

I had my modified Bianchi San Jose with pannier bags loaded this morning. Laptop and clothes for the day in the bags, and I am heading downhill to a stop light. The stop light has some construction going on in the middle lane. I rolled up in the right lane first at the light. I was off to the right of the lane, which was my first mistake. I should have been in the middle of the lane. A woman from the center lane under construction started edging her SUV into the right lane. She rolled forward but needed me to move to turn right at the red light.

She actually rolled down the window and tried to sweetly ask me to move so she could turn right at the red light. “No!”, I told her. She could wait for the light to turn green like everybody else. If I had been a car she could/would never have done this.

My mistake was in being off to the right if I intended to go straight through the light. I was asking for it. Lesson learned occupy the center of the lane when you intend to go straight.

Bad Bike Commuter Positioning Diagram for going Straight in an Intersection

Good Position for a Bike in Traffic going straight

Certainly the second diagram is more aggressive in terms of the positioning in traffic, but hopefully safer. The object is not necessarily to be in the center to let the car through on the right, but to clearly occupy the middle to let the car know you are going straight.

tags: bianchi san jose   bike commuter in traffic   Bike commuting   bike commuting safety   Cycling   rules of the road for bikes  

Is there a Road Bike in My Future

Road Cycling in My future? Is road cycling too scientific for a low-tech runner and kayaker? Road cycling is reknown for over complicating a very simple sport.

I am beginning to do some thinking about Road Bikes. Since my introduction to cycling was really through cyclocross, I had a moderate disdain for roadies. Road cyclists seem to be overly scientific with everything. My perception is that road cyclists are uber-anal about training and equipment. My eyes glaze over when I begin to hear about saving 20 grams of weight when switching to a carbon bottle cage, or about increasing V02 max, or lactate threshold. A discussion of Polar Heart rate monitors actually make me want to strangle someone.

I sort of had an inkling that eventually a road bike might be in my future. But this really has more to do with my body revolting at running. I am essentially starting over with my running after April 30th when I have surgery for my inguenal hernia. I am considering trying to put more effort into distance cycling as my body doesn’t seem to revolt quite as much to the cycling.

Despite my body crying yes, my soul is crying no to all of the leg shaving, heart rate monitors, and the carbon bottle cages. Certainly I could go with some sort of cheapie steel bike, not where spandex and pedal my heart out, but I am after all somewhat of a gear head, and not a complete Luddite. I want to be able to compete a little, but not go overboard.

Kayaking has some of the same issues. The GPS carbon fiber everything, racing boat guys who have no interest in the beauty of the sport, and only care about going fast. I like going fast too, I like surf-skis and wing paddles, but I also like skin on frame kayaks, greenland paddles, and the beauty of a really traditional kayak. I admire the guys who can go 8 miles an hour in an epic kayak all day. But can they carve a sweet bottom turn on a wave? Can they elegantly bow-rudder into the wind? Probably not.

I don’t want to be that guy who has a complete carbon bicycle, but who can’t even jump a stump, or hit the sand at full speed and climb over muddy hills on a cross bike.

Simply put, I am drawn to cycling for the fun of it, but the price is a killer.

This Carbon Soloist from Cervelo has caught my eye:

But I may be living in a tent if I even whisper the thought of buying one to the wife!

tags: C ycling   carbon bikes   cervelo   cervelo carbon soloist   Cycling   lactate threshold   polar heart rate monitors   road cycling   v02 max  

Knowing the names of things is half the problem when you are trying to understand a new universe. Remember the old testament in the Bible where Adam is responsible for naming every thing on earth, well almost everything except your carbon steerer tube.

This new video does a great job of explaining all of the various parts of your bicycle.

Bicycle Anatomy for Beginners from Quickrelease.tv on Vimeo.

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I’ve been a sort of lazy mechanic since birth. I’ve usually allowed other people to take care of mechanical problems that I found challenging.

This spring, an unnamed local bike shop, (lbs) sort of hosed me. At the time I was pretty upset about it, but in retrospect I think it was ninety percent my responsibility and ten percent the local bike shop.

I brought my Felt F1X in for a creaky noise on the non-drive side of the crank. I told the mechanic, a good kid who has been super helpful in the past, that my cyclocross bike was making some creaking noises. I wasn’t sure if it was the crank, the pedal, or something else. I left it there for the day, and picked it up at five. The kid said he couldn’t replicate it, but that I might think about replacing the cranks. We talked about a Shimano Dura-Ace upgrade, and a few other ideas, and then I biked home. I took the back way up Westnedge Hill and over some grass through Crane Park. In the tough part of the climb I was head over handlebars pumping uphill when the non-drive side of the crank snapped off the bottom bracket. I went down hitting my man business, (yes the pods) on the seat and then went down in the dirt. I walked the bike home sort of fuming along the way.

I was pretty pissed. I had just brought the bike in to the LBS to have this exact problem looked over. The kid probably didn’t ride it, tried to sell me a dura-ace crank set, ($650) and then sent me on me way. I brought it back to them and explained what happened. They replaced the crank at half cost and then sent me on my way again.

I knew what was wrong with the bike, I ride the bike every day, and my inability to articulate the problem and even attempt a repair had led to the problem. Of course when this happened in October that was not how I felt. But hindsight and all that usual stuff…

I was determined after this to become more self-reliant when it came to my bike maintenance. I attended a bike maintenance class at Breakaway Bikes in Portage Michigan. I’ve tried to pick up a few more tools. Unfortunately I keep putting off buying a real bike stand. I think I can’t put that off any longer.

Tonight with only the Park Tools website , one video I found on Expert Village., and a borrowed pedal wrench I managed to swap out two sets of SPD style pedals. Editor’s Note: both of those sites could use some SEO friendly URLs.

Once I figured out how to get the best mechanical advantage I took a nicer set of Shimano SPD clipless pedals off of my Vintage Trek Elance, and put them on my commuter bike, my Bianchi San Jose. I also attached my pannier rack which has been sitting in the trunk of my Volvo all winter.

All in all this left me with a bike I fixed myself, one scraped knuckle, and a generally manly and satisfied feeling.

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Finally a channel just for the rest of us: The Bicyclist

The acting isn’t bad. The writing is pretty good, maybe better than Friends. And Steve may be hotter than Jennifer Aniston. (Steve is a girl!)

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Had my first sub twenties commute of the year. I felt much warmer than last year. Ninjaclava from Outdoor Research was a plus, as were the Cyclone Booties from Pearl Izumi.

However as I had some new gear on that seems to be working out, I thought I would point out a few losers from last year that I thought would work out well but ended up failing miserably.

The Bad and the Ugly

1. The EKG Base layer from Pearl Izumi
I bought two of these as base layers. They were comfy and next to skin good for about two days. Both of them developed holes in the armpits that grew in size. Either I have acid in my sweat like a Geiger alien, or Pearl Izumi needs some QC/QA.
2. Thermafleece Tights Pearl Izumi discontinued. These started out warm, snug, and terrific. They now have developed a hole in the arse and in the crotch. Again is it acid eating sweat, or poor QC/QA? Do the people that rave about Pearl Izumi all the time actually use their gear at all? For the price, almost double HIND or Sugoi gear; they better last more than a season.
3. Louis Garneau Cycling Gloves-these things suck as cycling gloves. They do not block wind in anything below 45 degrees, and they are not water resistant.

1. Lendal Paddle Kinetic XTI White Water paddle-Previously posted

   Editorial note, they are shipping me a new paddle that has as of yet not arrived.

   The Good

2. CW-X Lite-fit Top
I bought two of these to replace the Pearl Izumi tops. One year on, they are still taking the abuse of my acidic alien armpit sweat. I’ve worn them under drysuits, ski jackets, and cycling jerseys. No rips no runs, still like new.
3. NRS Toaster Mitts

Great 30 dollar investment.

1. Mega Maverick

Great carving machine, many many fun rides in this downwave maniac. I can’t say enough good things about Mega’s surf boats. More fun than I am legally allowed to have.

1. IR Custom Drydeck

Great heavy duty rubber randed sprayskirt custom made to my kayak. No more cold water ejections. No Tag

Headed down the backside of Westnedge hill this morning all suited up and raring to go on my morning commute. I got to my big scary downhill run and began riding the brakes to slow down before the descent. I unfortunately immediately locked out and slid on to the side of my bike and then proceeded to slide all the way down the hill on my side. It felt sort of cool actually like a dirt track racer, skidding down the entire hill on my side. After all the rain we had yesterday, and then the following cold temperatures, I decided that today it was ok to drive. If you crash less than a mile from your home on ice on Dec 12th, I’d say you toughed it out right. Or am I a giant weenie for driving?

Problem is- Westnedge hill is indeed a hill at all four points of the compass in Kalamazoo. You have to descend the hill at some point to get anywhere. The streets to use off the hill where there is little traffic ironically also have the issue of no salt, and no traffic to keep them clear. So my morning commute in winter consists of a white knuckled descent into a hairpin turn onto Burdick. In summer it’s sweet. I cruise down the hill, hit the turn at full speed; balls out to the wind, slow for traffic and then high tail it to work. In winter it’s a technical descent on a sheet of ice. Once you make it off the hill the streets are usually clear. I suppose I could walk my bike to the bottom. But that just seems silly.

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Jill Homer plans to ride the Iditarod by Bike! I like the way this woman thinks!
Riding this legendary trail typically run by dog sleds seems like an epic ride. She plans to do 350 miles of the trail. She is training now, but is really going to up her miles now that the race is drawing near.

I would love to Cross Country Ski this trail, or bike it!

Good Luck Jill

Check out Jill’s NPR Audio Story

You can also check out Jill’s Blog Arctic Glass

Also on a usability note, NPR finally went to a flash player for their stories. No more crappy real audio. Next is the embed object copy and paste option for NPR content, then their official web 2.0 status can be invoked.

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