Bicycle built for two!

In recognition of Valentine's Day (or "Clementine," as granddaughter Mackenzie calls it).

Dai-sy, Dai-sy, give me your ans-wer, do.
I'm half cra-zy, all for the love of you.
It won't be a sty-lish mar-riage - I can't af-ford a car-riage,
But you'll look sweet, on the seat, of a bi-cy-cle built for two!

My entire life's experience with tandems has been one ride around the block on an ancient Schwinn that felt so flimsy I didn't know if we'd complete the trip. I'd love to take a spin with an enthusiastic riding companion, and on a sweet, sturdy two-seater. Perhaps someday.

A week or so ago, this awesome Ellsworth Witness was parked in the bike room at the office. Wow-eee! Check it out... disc brakes, suspension at both ends, Brooks saddles. A quick web search suggested it's on the high side of $5000. (Ouch!)





I'm not sold on the concept of "mountain tandem" riding. I'd prefer to take my test ride on pavement. Riding a tandem on a smooth dirt road probably wouldn't be too disconcerting... but single-track? Or anything very technical? Can you imagine an independent and significant source of weight leaning (or not leaning) in an unexpected manner if you were trying to negotiate some challenging terrain? I dunno. Tandem enthusiasts would have to show me how great it works first.

Is the "3 feet to pass" law effective?

The Boise Weekly is reporting that two years after a new law was instituted, requiring motorists to clear a cyclist by at least three feet when passing, that law has only been enforced once.

So - does such a law make any difference?

The officers who issued the citation weren't aware of the law until they looked it up in the book. (Or however they look such things up these days.) The offender claimed he couldn't yield the three feet because "traffic prevented him from getting over." Which is totally bogus - if you can't safely move over on a public road, you slow down and wait until you can! (And the cyclist claimed he had plenty of room; he was just being a jerk.) The judge agreed, found the guy guilty, and fined him $80. (Sweeeet!)

Cyclists interviewed for the story don't think the law is working. I would agree... after the law was passed and publicized, it seemed to me like there was slightly more caution exercised by drivers. (Just like there was for a couple months after that deadly May when 3 Boise cyclists were killed on the roads.) But then it was back to Business as Usual. Which reinforces my notion that we need EDUCATION (publicity) and ENFORCEMENT if we want to have compliance.

(The key to getting somebody prosecuted, is to be able to positively identify 'em to the cops. A license number, and a description of the car and driver, and you're in business.)

83 year old guy rides 17K miles in a year!

Boy! And I thought I was motivated by my bike computer!

Mel Olsen, 83, of Moses Lake, WA, rode 17,088 miles last year. And apparently his main motivation was trying to stay near the top of of the list on a mileage-tracking website - bikejournal.com.

17,088 miles! That's averaging 46.5 miles per day! I don't know that I could do that, even if it was the only thing I had to do!

Obviously the guy loves riding - and his wife does too. That's awesome!

The Korean War veteran got started bicycling when a doctor advised him to take it up to help with his blood circulation in his legs. Obviously it "took."

Story HERE.

Let there be light.

In these parts, the sun is almost peeking over the horizon at ride-to-work time. And there's plenty of sunshine still, in the afternoon. So, the days of daily headlight usage are almost over for another season. (Bob T recommends year-round light usage for visibility... so far I've contented myself with "passive visibility" in the form of bright clothes, during the day.)

I had good enough luck with an effective and cheap lighting solution that I feel good about recommending it.

Over the winter I used a light and bracket purchased from DealExtreme.

The light is called a "TrustFire S-A2," DX SKU number 36358. $12.60 delivered. (NOTE: The stuff gets delivered from China, so expect delivery to take at least a couple weeks. I always get anxious... but it always eventually arrives.)

I've had mixed results with other lights I've ordered from these guys - always with the switch. (It's unnerving when riding at night, and you go over a bump and your light goes off... or switches from bright to "S-O-S" mode!) But this one has served me faithfully without problems, for the better part of a year. It has 3 modes - high, low, and high/strobe. I normally use the strobe on my commute route, for maximum visibility. It's rated at 230 lumens... I don't know about that, but I can see it lighting up reflective signs 1/2 mile up the road, and I've had motorists flash their bright lights at me from time to time. And that's with 1 AA-size battery! (I started using rechargeable NiMH batteries - either Eneloop or Sony, because they supposedly have a longer "charged-up shelf life" than most. A charged-up battery has typically been good for a couple weeks of commuting trips.)

A bonus feature of this light, for me, is that it also makes a bright and handy pocket-size flashlight, off the bike.

I've mounted it on the bike with a DX Universal Adjustable Mount, DX SKU number 31871, $2.39. (Bringing the total to about 15 bucks.) It's the model of simplicity - a rubber bracket that keeps everything in place, with a velcro strap to wrap around the handlebar, and another around the light.

Clancy has had good luck with bigger DX lights that use a more specialized battery... and they're handy because they're so bright you can peel paint with 'em, too! (grin) But I like the universal-battery feature. During the dark season, I typically carry spare batteries for headlight and taillight in my seat bag, just in case. (All year round I carry an AAA-size flashlight in the bag, and keep the taillight mounted... ya never know when you might get delayed on a trip, and end up needing a light for added night safety, even in the summer.)

'12 - off to a great start!

We were blessed with a mild and dry January. However, it's nice that in one four-day span our mountain snowpack went from about 50% of normal to 95%. Sweeeet! Despite that, there was only one day - the first of those four - on which I was dissuaded from bicycling to work... I took the bus. (That evening I braved the streets on my beater mountain bike and rode over to the library for awhile.)

Bus commuting - it was breathtakingly expensive! A dollar each way - imagine! But then I considered... lots of car commuter pay well over $2 for a parking space for the day. And at 60 cents per mile - a middle-of-the-road estimate of the total cost of operating a car - I'd be spending between $4 and $5, if I only drove between home and the office. Riding a bicycle really distorts one's perception of reality.

It's Leap Year - 29 days next month. Which begs the question... why does the 29th belong to my employer, rather than me? Seems to me that "Leap Day" should be a paid holiday. But I digress.

Happy and safe riding.

Daredevil freeway cyclist in Seattle

Seattle has a renegade bike rider who illegally operates on I-5, but disappears before he can be busted.

Story (and photo and video) HERE.

According to the story, bicycling on the freeway is a "jailable offense" up that way. And based on the video of this yokel, he'd be getting off lucky if all he got was some jail time! He's operating in a very narrow stretch of pavement, on the far left side of the traffic flow! It's amazing that somebody hasn't pasted him.

The Seattle area has become notorious for its rush-hour traffic jams. But even if the freeway is only going 11mph, it's still a dangerous place if your operational space and sight distance are compromised.

Many people don't know this, but it's legal to operate a bicycle on any freeway in Idaho.

Legal... but safe?

I've ridden on the Interstate around Boise. Eastbound out of town (toward Mountain Home) it's not too bad. I've ridden out to the Blacks Creek exit on several occasions. You can see for miles up the road, and the shoulder is as wide as a traffic lane. (The debris and junk is HUGE out there! Ya gotta watch out not to run into a chunk of tire tread or boulder or abandoned Geo Metro.) But I'd never dare to ride "the connecter" during rush hour... the equivalent to what this Bozo has been doing (and getting away with, at least so far).

On the other hand... it's unlikely he'll end up killing anybody but himself, and motorists are out there killing other people every day with their irresponsible and inattentive behavior.

Lessons from great cycling cities

Christine Grant of Seattle has written an interesting article after observing some of the world's most bicycle-friendly cities. These are the lessons she learned, about what many of them share in common:

1. It's the infrastructure, stupid!
If the available roadways and pathways aren't perceived as safe, they'll never enjoy widespread use by casual cyclists.

2. Bike Share! Bike Share!
This is probably most applicable in large urban places...citizens are more likely to ride, if they don't have to commit to ownership (and maintenance, storage, etc.) of a bicycle.

3. It's safer than a soda.
Citizens need to buy into the health aspects of regular transportation cycling. (An education issue?)

4. Say "thank you."
Rather than viewing bicycle infrastructure as a huge financial burden, some cities "thank" transportation cyclists in a very public way. (After all, cycling is much cheaper than motor transportation, both for the cyclist and for those who furnish the infrastructure.)

5. Forget speed bumps... turn streets into backyards.
Motorists tend to ignore signs and traffic calming devices... it's harder to ignore benches, planters, and even a ping-pong table. (I had to "steal" this photo from the article. Who wouldn't love to live on a street like this?!!)



6. Let prices tell the truth.
There's no such thing as "free parking," for example. That huge parking lot surrounding your favorite mall? You pay for it when you spend money at the mall.

7. You don't need "bike clothes."
Yeah, you can ride a bike while wearing a necktie or suit, or a dress and high heels.

8. Electrify it.
In hilly places or for people with compromised health, motorized assistance can supplement pedal power. (But not those noisy little 2-stroke chainsaw engines, please!!!)

9. Admit it - it's emotional.
People who sit in traffic every day can't appreciate how satisfying the bike-transportation alternative is. Grant: "I spoke with dozens of urban cyclists who talked about the curious happiness derived from activating your senses and connecting with your city on a bicycle. One Amsterdam father’s voice actually cracked with emotion as he reflected on his morning and afternoon rides with his son. His toddler sat in a front-mounted childseat. The father talked about how nice it was to smell his son’s head during the commute to day care."

10. It's a virtuous circle - or cycle.
"Better infrastructure recruits more people onto bikes, which creates more advocates for better infrastructure, which recruits more people onto bikes, and so on."

(Photo snapped by Christine Grant)