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!

A Blustery Day

The day started off much warmer than two days before, when I felt like the ice man by the time I got to work. Temps were in the upper 50's to low 60's. To top it off, the contractors building a car wash near my work finally got around to repairing the sidewalk they tore up to allow construction equipment access from the state route. I've been riding against traffic for about 100 yards along a somewhat perilous strip of that route - in the dark - and it's been rather anxiety provoking. The other side of the route is broken up somewhat due to water seeping onto/under the road - from what source I don't know. So, I choose to ride the sidewalks along that stretch - but couldn't do so much of the winter due to the missing sidewalk. I'm relieved it's finally in place and pedestrians as well as bicyclists can travel safely and without need to walk/ride through mud.

The blustery part: We once again had very strong southerly winds this afternoon - 25 mph average with stronger gusts. I was lucky enough to miss out on the thunderstorms from earlier in the day. After my last battle against the wind, I decided to simply go slow and steady and not exhaust myself trying to maintain any kind of speed. It was a much nicer ride home and I was able to enjoy the sensation of the wind this time around.

This evening, we rode over to our local ice cream shop and enjoyed some delicious cones. We decided to simply park out bikes and trailer in one car's space. Amusingly, we got lots of stares. Not amusingly, it amazed me how many people left their cars running while waiting for family members to pick up their orders. So many youth are still pouring tons of cash into tricked-out cars. Then again, my nehru-style "bike jacket" may have drawn a bit of attention, too... We bought this a few weeks ago at a boutique having a great sale. It's reversable, with the other side black with white bikes. Of course, I'm not going to wear something black while riding about, so the white side gets preferential treatment.

Total riding today: about 7 miles. 5 on the X with my typical workbag full of clothing and 2 toting my 50 lb son.

A forkful of haulers

So here's a photo of the X with the RST suspension swapped out for the Surly 1x1. The ride is much more stable than with the suspension fork. I can ride no-handed easily. Accelerating feels confident and strong. I'm very glad I made the switch. I rode by myself and with my son on the back today for a total of about 5 miles. We rode from his school to home, home to grandmother's, grandmother's to home, home to Krogers, Krogers to the Credit Union, then CU to home.

I skipped biking in to work today after waking up feeling like a truck ran over me. I'll bike commute tomorrow morning, despite the just at or below freezing temperatures forecast.

Here's another angle of the X.

good excuse

Spent little time on the bike today - needed to drive in so I could do a 20 mile round trip mid-day. Rode into town to pick up some tamales at Universal Tamale. Yum! Having folks over for daughter's belated birthday gathering, so don't expect any more biking/maintenance tonight.

Hope to bike commute tomorrow, though the forecast looks bleak/dreary. May be my first commute in the rain, who knows?

I had two co-workers ask me about bike commuting today. One noticed my high-visibility jerseys and another mentioned how she asked others "who is that person riding their bike to work?" This is good news, from a bike advocacy perspective. I hope this inspires others to bike to work as well. I've asked a co-worker to clean out a bunch of old/kids bikes that were left locked up in the bike rack all winter long. They're a mess and take up lots of usable space for other bike commuters to park in. The bike rack is located in a covered shed by the parking lot. It also serves as a horse and buggy shelter for Amish clients. There's a wall separating the two areas. It's fun to see the buggies and bikes side by side. I'll work on getting some photos of those to post later on.