Tow Away Zone

As usual on Mondays, Benjamin and I rode our bikes to Grandma's place after picking up Alta at pre-school. What was unusual was leaving Grandma's early to go to a bike advocacy meeting. This meant leaving both kids at Grandma's with Carol to finish up the evening. But how to get Benjamin's bike home while pulling the trailer? I collapsed the trailer and put the front wheel and fork into the left hand sling/bag of the Xtracycle and secured it with the straps from the FreeRadical and one bungee cord. The rear wheel sat in the middle of the trailer. It worked out quite well!

Heckled with Jive

Today was the first time I can ever recall being heckled while riding my bike. I couldn't make out what was being yelled the first time, but I clearly heard, "Why don't you ride on the sidewalks!" the second time. Both times I was riding appropriately and legally with traffic. The second time around I wanted to yell back something like, "Cause they're sideWALKS not sideROADS!" Fortunately, I wasn't that miffed at the time - I was, after all, waiting for a green light in the Left turn lane of a busy intersection in Goshen (yes, there are such things here). Other factors: both happened on my way home this afternoon sometime between 4:00 and 4:14 p.m. That means more teen drivers were out, more folks were getting off work, more folks had had daylight hours to get drunk, high, or peeved about other things in their lives, etc. Dunno why, but it did bug me a bit. Nonetheless, I'll keep riding safely and riding on the street when possible and "safe" to do so.

Class

Please excuse this rambling.

I just got back from volunteering time at Community CycleWorks, where I allowed some well-heeled folks to take test rides on my X. That was fun and I'm glad others got to have that experience. Then came reality of helping folks with their bikes. I'm not much of a mechanic yet, but I have a good sense of how things work and can do some basic maintenance. I ended up spending 2 hours there. While there I helped do such simple repairs as properly setting a kickstand and feeding a chain through a derailleure. I also worked on diagnosing some derailleure problems, doing a complicated repair on a tandem's rear wheel (flat tire, messy cable ends, poor wheel alignment) owned by some developmentally disabled friends, and more. At one point, a person helping out came up to me and started talking about volunteering as a way to stay clean and sober. He was spending time there to be of service until he can find work and reasonable housing for his family. When he found out I was a social worker he asked me for a referral to a mental health program. Later, I walked out of the shop in time to overhear a well-heeled couple walking by and snickering to themselves about the used bikes and the concept of such an effort. I kept my mouth shut, though I had a few choice thoughts.

So, right here and right now I'm grateful for all the resources I've had in my life that allow me to compose this message on a state-of-the-art home computer and have the perspective to recognize socioeconomic disparities as something very real - not something that happens "out there," but right here in front of my eyes. I'm grateful for my X and grateful I have a choice of whether to ride it or drive my pretty well functioning car down pretty well maintained roads.

More power to all of you who spend time volunteering in places where many need help with their bicycles, where ever you may be.

-Phil

Tail Wind

Yesterday I had the luxury of tail winds on the way in to work and on the way home from work. The morning ride was very humid, cool, and windy. I couldn't believe how the tail wind helped on my ride to work. While the big climb was still big, it was easier. I usually stick to sidewalk along the last section of major roadway, but chose to ride in the street instead. Acceleration was very quick and I wound up accelerating in my top gear while going ascending the last rise. I could almost keep pace with traffic for the last 100 yards or so.

Riding home was not so wild, but was a very nice change, since I've often had head winds and lose the benefit of descending into town. I later picked up the kids and took both home. That was more challenging as I was carrying/pulling both while heading into the wind.

Mileage: 5 miles commuting. 1.25 to pick up the kids. 1.25 with the kids. Total of about 7.5.

Ask for the sky

Yesterday I asked if someone in housekeeping could sweep out the bike shed or point me to a broom I could use to do the task. This afternoon I found the shed well swept out. Wow... that's a great response time. I'm glad to be working in such a place. I also asked if someone could put in a plexiglass window to allow for more light into the space, thus leaving the bikes less vulnerable to someone pilfering/stealing from property in the shed. I'll be astounded if that actually happens. 

Rode to and from work today with a small side detour to pick up son at afterschool childcare. Total riding, maybe 3.25 miles.

Of Bikes and Balloons

Did absolutely no riding yesterday - felt strange. It was a very wet and chilly day.

Chose not to bike commute this morning due to a variety of afternoon errands. Did bike to pick up my daughter from childcare and took her to Monday night at Grandma's. My wife also rode over. Going home, we swapped the trailer from the X to the "red bike" and my son rode home on the back of the X. Earlier, we bought and delivered balloons for a birthday gathering, not thinking that my wife would also be biking. So, we simply put the balloon weight in the trailer and had the balloons bounce around behind. So, we had a small, two person bike parade on the way home. :-)

Total riding today: maybe 3 miles.

Off to bed!