Folding Bike Jedi Mind Tricks

The folks at Bike Friday say this about the stealth capabilities of their commuter-oriented folding bike the Tikit:

"The bus driver or office building manager will never know it's not a French horn."

While I don't own a Tikit, I do have a similarly compact folding bike, the Dahon D3. Like my Tikit owning friends, I've learned the value of a bit of strategic misdirection. Once the proper techniques are mastered, a folding bike does not have to be left outside, prey to the scum and villainy of the street with only a u-lock for protection. Your bike can stay with you, handy as a general purpose droid, ready for the next adventure. The folder can go with you into the cantina, cloaked to wait patiently under the table. A folding bike can speed with you in the big transport units of the city, provided of course, that you can get past the storm troopers at the door.

Folding bikes exist in two worlds. Fully deployed as a bicycle, this small machine is bright, quick and clever. It is often the object of comment and question. But in its folded state, the machine endeavors to be ignored or at least misconstrued. Some buildings and transportation systems are prejudiced against bicycles and they have rules made by bureaucrats who fear grease or tracked in dirt or maybe just machines they do not understand. The gatekeepers at the doorways did not make the rules and have no power to change them. The doorway is not the place to debate the fairness of the world. Doorways exist to be passed through quickly, with a minimum of fuss.

This is where a bit of nylon and Jedi skills come in handy. You don't have to make the gatekeeper think your bike is a French horn, you only have to make him not think about it or at least not think that your bundle is a bike.

A thin bag of nylon weighs only a few ounces and folds into a perfectly portable package. Unfurled it can cloak the entire machine in a layer of ambiguity. The bike is no longer a bike, it's a sack of something. Cloak your machine before the encounter and if you have a helmet for gosh sakes have the sense to hide it.

Step boldly through the door. Your bundle is so minor, so incidental you can't imagine why it would be questioned. You don't have to say anything about the bundle. Let the storm trooper work out his own scenario. It's often handy to ask your would-be interrogator some minor question about the bus route or the nearest coffee shop while thinking, "Move along, please. There's nothing to see here. These aren't the droids you're looking for..."

Nineteen times out of twenty you'll pass by without incident. If you get an unusually persistent inquisitor the phrase "folding exercise machine" may prove handy.

Conspicuity and Crashes

A study of bicycle crashes here:

http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/14/1/11

and one of motorcycle crashes here:

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/328/7444/857

both show that riders who wear high visibility clothing have much lower crash rates than their more subtly-dressed peers. One problem with such studies is that human beings are complicated creatures. For example, the cycling study states:

Risk-taking behavior is a potential confounder in all observational studies of injury and is difficult to measure reliably because of the likelihood that participants will provide socially desirable responses. "Reverse causation" can also complicate cross-sectional analyses, if outcomes influence exposures. In this study, such a mechanism would be expected to reduce associations rather than inflate them—for example, a bicycle crash may prompt a participant to use fluorescent clothing.

In other words, if you're prone to be a risky rider you probably won't identify yourself as such and if you've had an accident you might load up on safety gear. And I personally think one huge confounder might be this: folks who think a lot about safe riding will probably be far more prone to be swayed by safety considerations in the purchase the fluorescent gear. Riders may not be safer because they are wearing the bright colors, they may be wearing bright colors because they are more safety conscious riders.

While it is very hard to allow for all the confounding factors, both studies suggest that brightly dressed riders have lower crash rates. In any case, I figure my habbit of wearing a bright yellow vest while riding can't hurt.

Why Elvis had to stop commuting by bike

It's hard to build up any speed when you have to keep stopping to sign autographs.

Bike Noob: Smoked By An Old Guy

I certainly enjoy a good, well-told cycling story. Just today I had the pleasure of stumbling onto a site called Bike Noob where I found this lovely bit of prose:

http://bikenoob.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/smoked-by-an-old-guy/

Old Wheels Rolling In New Ways

Starting Monday I'm going to be the Shop Manager at Bike Works down in Columbia City. I don't claim to be psychic, but this is what I wrote back on December 1st on my blog:

If I wasn't so darn well suited for my job at the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, it's a pretty safe bet that I'd be working at Bike Works. Dara and her crew not only do terrific work, they consistently demonstrate just how much fun it can be to change people's lives through bicycles. Every time I volunteer at Bike Works or work with them on a project, I'm reminded that the velorution is happening right now. Whether it's teaching kids to fix stuff or getting people rolling on rigs that cost less than what most folks spend on a monthly car payment, the lessons are the same: this is what's possible, this is what's practical and this is how you do it.

Well folks, that velorution is still rolling on and my place in it is now at:

Bike Works 3709 S. Ferdinand Seattle, WA 98118 206 - 725 - 9408

Stop on by if you're in the neighborhood. By the way, next Friday and Saturday we'll be loading another container with bikes for the Village Bicycle Project. Details are here:

http://www.bikeworks.org/btg.htm

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Still More Dahon D3 Musings

First off, if I was really smart, I'd figure out some way to get a kickback from Dahon. I'm not that smart.

My friends have figured out that I really like my Dahon D3. I think the fact that I ride so many places on this bike tips them off. Now you have to understand, I have bikey friends and they are used to seeing me show up at places on a bike, but somehow they are still surprised when I show up on the Dahon instead of one of my bigger bikes. Especially when the places I show up at are miles from my home. "You rode here? On that?" they say. It's like they think I'm making some kind of sacrifice. Surely my bigger bikes are better?

I think my ongoing interest in the sufficient, as opposed to the optimal, is part of what explains my preference for the Dahon, but the simpler answer is that the bike is fun. The little wheels are zippy; they spin up to speed quickly but by the same token, they don't tend to hold speed as well. The bike feels quick, it is quick, but it doesn't seem fast like a racing bike. It just seems fun.

It is impossible to have Lance Armstrong fantasies on a Dahon D3. You are sitting more upright and you look too big for the bike. On some forum I read that riders on folding bikes look like they "rode out of a Dr. Seuss book." That writer has a point, but it's a point I gladly embrace. Dr. Seuss would understand.

I ride my red bike here and there,
I ride my red bike everywhere.

I take my red bike on a bus,
On the street folks question us.

"How fast does that red bike go?"
"As fast as I pedal, don't you know."

"Does it have the gears you need?"
"I've found three give needed speed.

"One for up and one for down,
One for riding in the town."

"Can you ride it in the night?"
"Yes, I have a little light."

"Do you ride it near and far?"
"Yes, every place you'd take a car."

"Can you take things on your bike?"
"A rack and sack hold all I like."

"My bike goes with me on the train,
I ride in sun, I ride in rain."

"I ride to the store and to the bank,
I never put gas in a tank."

"I fuel at the grocery store,
I ride and eat then ride some more."

"I have a red bike that I like,
I'm glad I have this folding bike."

Tour de Donut

Wow is this a great idea! I can't quite convince my wife that it's worth a trip to Utah to do this ride (and besides The Fat Cyclist is probably right that he will win it) but by golly we have donut shops in the Pacific Northwest too. Maybe we could talk the Black Diamond Bakery into sponsorship for a Puget Sound version of this race?

The Rights and Duties of Cyclists

Dan Gutierrez recently put this video up on YouTube. I think this video does a very good job of presenting a lot of key concepts of safe cycling in under five minutes. The League of American Bicyclists has been doing some very good, multi-day safe cycling courses for years, but short bits like this one can wind up reaching a lot more people.

Pictures from the 4/1/08 Seattle Sheldon Brown Ride

We had a great group of riders, great weather and a great time on the Sheldon Brown Memorial ride in Seattle last night. Thanks so much to everyone for showing up.

April 1st 2008 is Energy Wasting Day!

Too, too often I get asked, "gee Kent, what can I do to change the planet?" This video gives plenty of handy tips:

It Seemed Like a Bright Idea...

Here in the US, we count on the Onion or the Fat Cyclist for stories like this. In the UK, they have NewsBisuit. Check this out:

http://tinyurl.com/3aj786

Sheldon Brown Memorial Ride - April 1, 2008

To celebrate the life, spirit and enduring wisdom of Sheldon Brown, a bunch of us are gathering in Seattle for a ride on Tuesday April 1st, 2008. We will meet at 6:00 PM at the Seattle Bikestation at 311 3rd Avenue South. From the Bikestation we'll ride through the International District, up Dearborn to Hiawatha, connect to the trail for the climb up the hill and ride a cool, twisty descent through Coleman Park to Lake Washington Blvd. From there we'll ride over on Genese, etc to Bike Works. Tuesday nights are volunteer repair nights at Bike Works and they are busy prepping bikes for the annual Kids Bike Swap in May, so there will be opportunities for those mechanically inclined individuals to work on getting kids bikes into safe shape after the ride. Bring yourself, your bike, your helmet decorated in whatever way you like and your enthusiasm. This ride will be socially paced and if we manage to get slightly organized between now and next Tuesday, we have some kind of refreshments and munchies at the end. We'll definitely have fun.

A Lightweight Helmet With Lights

I use my bikes for transportation and that often involves riding around in the hours of darkness. I find it handy to have lights not just on my bike, but on my helmet as well. A helmet light shines where I'm looking so it can be handy for making eye-contact with drivers, spotting street signs, illuminating maps and generally putting a bit of light just where I need it. I don't need a super-powerful light on my helmet and I like to keep the weight low. Over the years, my system of helmet lights has evolved. The helmet shown here is the lightest configuration I've worked out to date. Other systems can be set-up that are brighter or that use more environmentally friendly batteries, but this set-up works pretty well.

The Lazer Magma Helmet is one I got a great deal on a few weeks ago. It's light weight and has a lot of well-placed vents. I added a few bits of reflective tape and removed the helmet's visor.

The front light is a Petzl E+Lite. The E+Lite only weighs an ounce and has a couple of different brightness and blink settings. The downside is that it uses a couple of non-rechargeable CR2032 batteries. I've been using the light for weeks and pretty much just use the low setting and I have yet to change the batteries. It would easily work as a cue-sheet & sign-spotting light for an entire 1200K brevet and would probably work for an entire year's worth of brevets without a battery change. And CR2032 batteries are lightweight and fairly commonly available.

The Planet Bike Blinky 3H Tail Light runs off a single AAA cell and it is fairly bright, although not as blinding as the 2AA Superflash. The 3H comes with a little helmet pivot mount, but I found a single zip-tie lets me attach the light without the pivot.

Jan Heine on the Virtues of Friction Shifting

Over on the Randon list a discussion of some upcoming electronic shifters has spawned some interesting posts. I personally am not one of those people waiting for electronic shifting nirvana. I happily run friction shifters on all my derailler bikes, while my hub-geared Dahon has rock-solid Sturmey-Archer indexed hub 3-speed shifting. Indexed shifting for derailler systems, which is now the industry norm, has never been very useful for me. Actually, that isn't quite true, it served up a steady stream of customers for tune-ups back when I worked as a bicycle mechanic. For reasons I don't understand, people who normally seem quite intelligent are baffled by a simple barrel-adjuster or cable housings that compress over time. I know how to work on indexed shifters but like Jan Heine, I prefer the simplicity, elegance and reliability of friction shifting.

Note that in this thread Jim and Jan use the common term "cable stretch" for the phenomena that really should be more accurately identified as "cable housing compression." You can read the full thread here but I've quoted Jan Heine as he makes the case thusly:

From: Jan Heine
Date: Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 7:45 AM
To: randon@googlegroups.com

From: "Jim Bronson"

What you fail to mention is that the electronic system has the capability to eliminate the need for mecanical cables, which would be an increase in reliability from my standpoint. If it wasn't for cable stretch, we'd never have to fiddle with our derailleurs.

The problem you describe is not inherent with cables, but inherent with indexing in the shift levers. Moving the indexing to the derailleurs would solve the problem. The cables could stretch all they want, but the indexing adjustment would not change. However, indexing in the derailleur also would mean that you could use any shift lever. And Shimano invented indexed shifting specifically to make you buy a group, including their shift levers (and freewheel). Then they combined freewheel and hub into a cassette hub, so you had to buy their hub, too. Then they combined their brake and shift levers, so you had to buy their brakes, too. Then they combined their cranks and BB, so you had to buy the set as well.

The obvious solution is to forego indexed shifting altogether and use friction shifting. I employ it on my bikes, and I don't ever worry about cable stretch, nor do I fiddle with my derailleurs. And I can combine any components I want (Maxi-Car hubs with Shimano freewheel, Huret derailleur, Simplex shift levers, Mafac brakes - no problem at all on my PBP bike).

In addition, downtube shift levers give you a warning when the cable frays at the shift lever (where it usually frays) - the sharp ends poke your hands. (In case you ignore the warning, or the cable fails elsewhere, replacing a shifter cable in the field is easy with downtube shifters, too.)

Finally, downtube shifters let you move your hands around every time you shift, thus preventing hand pain and numbness on long rides.

Maybe, once all the problems with electronic shifting have been worked out, and the system works off my generator hub (I think Shimano is working on that, their latest generator hubs provide more power at low speeds to make this possible), I will consider it. Then I'd want voice activation, too. Just like I say on a tandem to warn my stoker: "Shift" and the new gear comes in. Based on my cadence, the system will know whether I want an upshift or downshift.

In the mean time, the old Alex Singer will have to do.

Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
www.bikequarterly.com

---------------------------

From: Russ Loomis
Date: Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 8:23 AM
To: randon@googlegroups.com, Jan Heine

Bravo!!! Jan Heine! I could not have said it better myself. I also use down tube friction shifters on all my bikes ( after having tried STI for over 5 years ) and thus eliminated all the shifting problems of index shifting. They are cheap, reliable, and last a lifetime but the best feature is that I can use any cassette or freewheel combination from 5 spd - 10 spd. It also puts the riding experience back into riding. Like driving a stick instead of an automatic. Fun.

I have become so put off with the bike industry pushing "newer and better" down our throats when they are the only benefactors. Put friction back on your bike; you could even save almost a pound in weight ( for all you weight weenies ) and ride worry free of having a bike fail during an event.

Russ

Tell Olympic National Park to remove the proposed ban on bicyclists

(This is from my pals at the Bicycle Alliance of Washington)

Hurricane Ridge Road inside Olympic National Park is a popular summer destination for bicyclists who like the challenge of a 17-mile road rising from virtually sea level to 5420-feet. Park managers have been planning to repave the road for several years and Congress has provided $12.7 Million to repave and repair 12 miles. The road recently sustained storm damage.

Citing “safety,” the park is planning to ban bicyclists for the entire two year duration of the road repairs. The road will remain open to all other vehicle traffic, including motorcycles.

We believe that this is an unnecessary exclusion of bicyclists on what is a federally funded road open to all other forms of traffic. Write to your members of Congress and interim park superintendent Sue McGill and let them know that the proposed ban is totally unacceptable. Request that McGill meet directly with the Bicycle Alliance and other bicycle groups to reach an improved solution.

Key points to raise:

• Hurricane Ridge Road is a popular destination for bicyclists
• Bicyclists who ride this road tend to be very experienced, fit riders
• The road will remain open to all other vehicle traffic
• State, county and city governments in Washington manage to accommodate bicyclists during reconstruction projects without any problems
• No construction work will take place at weekends, but the ban is to remain in place then too
• Olympic National Park did not contact a single bicycle group in its out-reach efforts, even though bicyclists are the most affected users
• Contractors routinely deal with bicyclists on other road projects – this project is no more a safety issue than other road works.

Enter your zip code to obtain the name of your member of Congress: http://www.house.gov/htbin/zipfind

Washington’s two senators can be reached by email or by calling a local office:

Senator Patty Murray: http://murray.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Maria Cantwell: http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/office_locations.cfm

Olympic National Park
Sue McGill, Superintendent
Olympic National Park
600 E. Park Avenue
Port Angeles, WA 98362
sue_mcgill@nps.gov

Background on the issue is available at: http://peninsuladailynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080216/NEWS/802160303&template=printart

Information on recent storm damage to Hurricane Ridge Road:
http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/current-closures.htm

Veloquent

I'm starting a new venture with some of my pals. It's a multi-authored blog called Veloquent and you can see it here:

http://veloquent.blogspot.com/

Awareness Test

My pal Rob sent me the link to this. Check it out, it's amazing:

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Space Monkey = Me

Just over a week ago, I wrote about people zoning out. Among other things I wrote:

Be careful out there. Pay attention. You can be certain that somebody isn't. They may be jogging, they may be driving, they may be riding a bike.

All I can do is try to remember to be here now.

I really should take my own advice.

Maybe the time change had a bit to do with it but this morning as I was riding to work my mind was elsewhere. I was the space monkey I warn other folks to watch out for.

I prefer riding on the road instead of the trail, so once I cross the bridge onto Mercer Island, I turn onto North Mercer Way. And as I ride along instead of being here now, I was thinking too far ahead about a project waiting for me at work.

Just how spaced out can one person be? So spaced out that I didn't see the GIANT YELLOW SCHOOL BUS with the FLASHING STOP ARM parked and loading up kids. The bus was parked pointed eastbound, ready to make the right turn up Shorewood Drive. I was headed westbound on North Mercer Way.

I'm a guy who stops for stop signs. I sure would have stopped for this one if I'd seen it but I didn't see it because I was totally zoned out.

I was so zoned out I not only didn't see the bus and the stop arm, I hadn't been checking my rear view mirror either. So I didn't see the police car that was right behind me either.

I don't think the bus driver could quite believe how zoned out I was, but he hit his horn as he saw that I wasn't slowing down. That snapped me out of my stupor just in time for me to be aware that I blew past the stop sign.

And of course the police officer hit his lights and pulled me over.

The bus driver and the police officer were totally right. I was totally wrong.

The officer was very professional and nice about things. I deservedly felt like an idiot. The officer was a bit surprised when I explained that I don't have a driver's license but he was perfectly happy to run my passport through the system. He also explained my options with the ticket. I can either pay the fine, schedule a mitigation hearing or contest the ticket. I'd only contest the ticket if I felt the officer was wrong for issuing me the ticket. He wasn't wrong, I was.

The fine is a hefty one, designed to impress on one the importance of driving safely around school children. It's a $394 ticket.

I'm going for a mitigation hearing. The hearing will at least give me more than fifteen days to come up with 394 dollars. And both the police officer and my lawyer friends tell me the judge may reduce the fine if I'm truly sorry and keep a clean record going forward.

I really do try to be here now but sometimes I forget. I feel I got off easy. If I was zoned out enough to space out on both a school bus and a police car, I could just as easily have been in an accident that would keep me from learning this or any other lessons.

With luck we get to live and learn.

I'm still learning.

Be careful out there.

Kent

Bike Folks at the Seattle Bike Expo

Val Kleitz summed it up best when asked if he minded being "stuck" in the SBS booth at the Seattle Bike Expo, "spending all day chatting about bikes with folks? That's not stuck! Where else would I want to be?"

While wandering around the Expo yesterday I was struck by the fact that while it's fun to see all the shiny new bikes, the lovely old bikes and the various bits of clever innovation, a show like this is at least as much about bike folks as it is about bikes.

My camera was still flaking out and I'm sure other people have great shots of shiny bikes. I spent most of my time chatting with my buddies, plotting some new adventures and mostly taking pictures of people. I'm a little bummed my shot of Leo didn't turn out and that I just plain spaced out on getting a photo of the lovely editorial staff of Momentum Magazine. The good news is that this will give me an excuse to head up to Vancouver sometime soon.


Jacquie Phelan and I finally managed to be in the same place at the same time. My pal Matt Newlin took the photo documenting this happy event.


Matt checks out some of the wonderful old bikes in Bob Freeman's amazing vintage collection.

Jacquie Phelan, the Queen Wombat.

Coach Tammy almost convinced me to weight train until pal Matt pointed out that our entire lives are spent basically in the "base" and "taper" phases. "Go out easy, then back off" that's our motto. Tammy had all kinds of great advice for those of you who actually want to compete and do things like run and swim as well as bike and maybe do these things with something like speed and grace. Her main advice is that the advantage of weight training isn't strength, it's that it's a great tool to train the opposing muscle groups to prevent injury. Many of Tammy's clients have the problem of working too hard. Matt pointed out that I don't seem to have that problem.


Val really looks like he's coping quite well with being "trapped" at the SBS booth. In addition to being a top notch mechanic and a super nice guy, Val won the award for "best facial hair" at last month's Handmade Bicycle Show.


Mark Vande Kamp, famous writer for Bicycle Quarterly, contemplates the reasonable price tag on the lovely wool Seattle Bicycle Club jerseys.


If Joe "Metal Cowboy" Kurmaskie could write half as well as he talks, he'd be a best-selling author. In fact, he writes about twice as well as he talks, so he is a best-selling author. If you haven't read any of Joe's books, stop reading this blog now and go buy one of his books.


Jan Heine explains the advantages of the classic French-designed randonneuring bicycles. Jan is not a person who blindly believes that the old ways were better but he is very interested in what works. He learns things on the roads of today and from the riders and builders who have gone before us. Every issue of his magazine, Bicycle Quarterly, is packed with interesting,useful and beautiful stuff. Of course, I may be somewhat biased since everyone working on that magazine is a pal of mine and my words sometimes show up on Jan's pages, but the man does know what he's talking about. He can write and talk and RIDE. This year Jan was the first American across the finish line at Paris-Brest-Paris. He seemed a bit embarrassed when asked about that at the end of his talk and sounded almost like Yogi Berra when he explained "I wasn't really that fast, it's just that the others were slower."




I mostly resisted geeking out on the equipment side of the Expo, but I love my Ergon grips, so I had to stop by to see Jeff Kerkove at the Ergon booth. Last year Jeff hooked me up with a free set of grips for my green bike and I liked those so much that I actually went out and paid full retail for a second set for my M2 Stumpjumper. This year Jeff is showing off Ergon's new backpack which has an astounding harness system that really changes the way you think about weight on your back. Matt, John and I all had to try the pack, which Jeff loaded up with Ergon brochures. The dang thing feels lighter on your back than it does when you lift it and because the pack pivots in the harness as you move, it almost feels like you're not wearing a pack. My wife will tell you I'm a sucker for a neat pack and only my thin wallet and the thought of explaining to her why I bought yet another pack kept me from walking out of the Expo with one of these babies.

This year's Expo was a lot of fun. I could have spent much more time talking to folks and easily could have spent a ton of cash on some very cool things. The Expo is still going on today and if you're in Seattle and haven't been to the Expo yet, it's worth the trip.

Mindfulness In Motion

I ride up to Redmond to chat with my friend Mark Thomas. We meet up at Victor's Coffee, discuss weighty matters of the world and then each go our separate ways on the various errands that will fill our day.

Redmond is north of Issaquah and I usually traverse the dozen miles which separate the two towns on via the eastern side of Lake Sammamish. On this side of the lake I have the option of either taking the paved, mostly well-shouldered Sammamish River Parkway or the more scenic, unpaved Lake Sammamish Trail. I'd taken the Parkway on my trip north, so I opt to take in the slower scenery of the trail for my southbound journey.

I ride down the trail which runs along an old rail corridor. Over the past few decades almost every bit of land that either overlooks the lake or has direct waterfront access has sprouted a multi-million dollar home. Despite the fears of some local residents that the creation of this public trail on public land would create a corridor of crime allowing roving pedestrian and biker gangs to spend their free time bashing Bentleys and lobbing Molotovs at Mercedes, no such crime-wave has been forthcoming. Instead the trail crimes tend to be more aesthetic in nature, tiny dogs whose tiny running suits match their owner's perfect Polarfleece, software executives jogging while under the influence of Bluetooth, middle-aged men riding bicycles while wearing clothing far too fluorescent for decent decorum...

That last character, of course, would be me.

So I'm riding down the trail minding not only my own business but the business of others, because I've learned, over the years, that fortune favors the vigilant. I go slow. I click my brake levers, ding my bell, clear my voice whenever I get even remotely close to other trail users. I look for the telltale white earbuds that warn me that their wearer may be paying more attention to Britney or Bono than anything as mundane and dangerous as the actual real world.

And even so, for all my vigilance, my attention isn't always perfect and sometimes I can be surprised.

I'm surprised today, but not by my inattention. Today I'm surprised by how far a person's mind can be from their body.

I see them jogging towards me. This is a straight section of trail and they came into my field of vision at a distance of at least 200 yards. I'm rolling towards them, they are running towards me. They are two young women, running side by side. As the distance between us closes, I can see them clearly. No earphones are visible, they are not conversing. They are jogging, looking straight ahead.

Straight at me. The guy on the red bike, with the bright yellow vest. In what I believe is called "broad daylight."

My spidey-sense is tingling. I slow way down. I click my levers and ring my bell.

I'm now going at just about walking speed. Neither woman seems to have the slightest awareness of my existence. And one of them is in my lane, running straight for me.

"Hey!" I shout as we are about 15 feet from each other and I basically track-stand on the trail. The woman's eyes flip into focus and go wide. She slows, slips in behind her companion and says, "sorry, I didn't see you" as she jogs past me.

I don't have a response.

There is little I can do but tell this story and note that I've kicked the paranoia level on my clue-less meter up one more notch.

We all have distractions in our lives. My friend David Smith pointed out to me the other night that even something like a rear-view mirror, which generally increases your safety and situational awareness, can be detrimental if you are looking back at the particular moment you need to be looking forward.

The best advice I ever got on this subject came from a zen master: "Be here now."

Be careful out there. Pay attention. You can be certain that somebody isn't. They may be jogging, they may be driving, they may be riding a bike.

All I can do is try to remember to be here now.

Cleaning Up This Town

We've had some of those warm, clear days we seem to get every February in Issaquah, the days that sucker you into thinking spring is just around the corner and then the cold rain returns for many more weeks. But for now, it's wonderful. I'm out running a bunch of small errands on my bike when I see her. She's walking her dog, but stopping every few feet to pick up trash and shove it in a big plastic bag. She's got one yellow plastic glove on her garbage hand. This is obviously not some random action. This is pre-meditated.

I'm the kind of guy who talks to strangers and I guess a forty-eight year old dude on a tiny bright red Dahon folding bike isn't too threatening a figure to a woman walking a large, friendly dog. At least she doesn't pull out any mace or anything when I ride up and say "Hey, are you picking up garbage because you're a cool person or...?" I kind of let the thought fizzle out as I realize I don't quite know how to end that sentence. I said I'm a guy who talks to strangers, I didn't say I was any good at it.

The woman laughs and says she has to walk the dog anyway, she might as well pick up some trash as long as she's out. "That's awesome," I gush. I introduce myself and she introduces herself and the dog. I have a mind like a steel sieve and manage to forget both names while I rummage through my pockets for the pen that is usually there but today is back home on the kitchen table. "Can I take your picture?" I ask while doing a bad job of explaining about GAIT and my blog. Somehow she decides that this penless blogger on the funny little bike is probably mostly harmless and agrees. I give her my card and if she emails me, I'll point her to this blog entry.

It doesn't matter what her name is, what matters is that she's doing something to make her town a little nicer. And if she can do it, heck I can do it too. Not every day perhaps but maybe a bit now and then.

The next day is another sunny day and I have to run some more errands. I grab a bag on my way out the door. It doesn't take long to fill it up.

Gandhi said we should be the change we want to see in the world. I'm glad the lady with the garbage bag and the yellow glove and the big black dog reminded me of that.

Why Don't You Commute By Bicycle?

Over the years I've learned some interesting things from the comments folks leave on this blog, so I figured I might as well ask a couple of questions here and see what answers you come up with.

In this post the question is:

Why Don't You Commute By Bicycle?

Use the comment section to post as much or as little as you'd like about why you don't commute by bicycle. If you do commute by bike, please go to the companion post Why Do You Commute By Bicycle? and comment there. If you sometimes commute by bicycle and sometimes don't, feel free to comment on both posts.

Thanks.

Why Do You Commute By Bicycle?

Over the years I've learned some interesting things from the comments folks leave on this blog, so I figured I might as well ask a couple of questions here and see what answers you come up with.

In this post the question is:

Why Do You Commute By Bicycle?

Use the comment section to post as much or as little as you'd like about why you commute by bicycle. If you don't commute by bike, please go to the companion post Why Don't You Commute By Bicycle? and comment there. If you sometimes commute by bicycle and sometimes don't, feel free to comment on both posts.

Thanks.

Ernesto Bike Lube

What a cyclist uses for chain lubrication is one topic that can lead to lively debate. You'll find folks who swear by (or swear at) White Lightning, Boeshield, ProLink, TriFlow, Pedro's, etc. Ultra-distance legend Lon Haldeman is more casual about such things, lubing his bike's chain with whatever leftover oil he finds in discarded gas station oil cans. My own preference is for a lube that holds up well in the wet, isn't excessively messy and ideally isn't adding to Exxon's morbidly obese bottom line.

A couple of months ago I noticed that some guy called Ernesto is sponsoring nice guy Dave Nice. Ernesto and a couple of his buddies have a little company that makes chain lube from soybeans. I needed some lube, so I took a chance and ordered a four ounce bottle of the stuff.

It works. I've been using the stuff for the past couple of months (about 2,000 miles) of commuting and other on-road and off-road adventures in the Pacific Northwest. I've used less than an ounce of the lube in those two months. I use just enough lube to keep the squeaks away and wipe off the excess with a rag. That seems to be the recipe for keeping things reasonably clean and reasonably quiet.

And I like supporting Ernesto and his buddies instead of the guys whose business is built on sucking the remains of dead dinosaurs from the every corner of the globe. It makes me feel like I'm doing my bit to live up to the slogan on my t-shirt.

DNA trail led cops to unlikely bike theft suspect

The Seattle Times has a fascinating story today about a guy who would test ride high-end bicycles and then never return. The guy managed to steal a lot of bikes this way. Read all about it here:

http://tinyurl.com/2oge7s

The big break in the case came from DNA the police extracted from the disposable coffee cup the suspect left behind at one of the bike shops.

Two Motivational Videos

I really like both of these short videos because they both stress the same basic message, ordinary people can make a difference. The first video, produced by the CTC, does feature a very attractive young model on a bike but I think the real power of the message comes from all the ordinary and not so ordinary people who join her. The guy in the suit on the folding bike, the speedy old lady and the fun jumping BMX bloke all add to the "we can do this" feeling. My favorite has to be the snaggle-toothed fellow on the recumbent with the peace sign on his army helmet. I totally relate to that dopey grin of his.



The second video is maybe even better than the CTC video. It wasn't even made to sell bicycling, Miller made it to sell beer. This is a such a beautiful image.



Those of us who love cycling have all the motivation we need. We know life is better outside the box. Videos like these two do a great job of getting that message out to a wider audience.

Do I Contradict Myself?

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

The words are Walt Whitman's from Song of Myself, but they could just as well apply to a Humvee with a Share The Road License Plate. Note, this picture is real. It was sent to us at the Bicycle Alliance by one of our members who snapped the picture while driving on one of the local roads. The only image manipulation I did was to obscure the plate number to protect the Humvee owner's privacy.


And I'm not posting this to mock the Humvee owner. The Humvee owner is probably also a member of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington and even if they aren't, a portion of that license plate money goes to the Bicycle Alliance. And it has always struck me as ironic that my work, which is basically helping people figure out ways to get around without using a motor vehicle, is funded, in part, by license plates on motor vehicles. Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself.

Now I have often said that I am not anti-car, I'm pro-bike. That said, I have been known to go into a good, foaming "SUVs suck" rant now and then. And they do suck, you know. I mean, really, look at the safety stats. But what they really suck is resources. Don't kid yourself. SUVs take a lot of energy to build and run and they spew a lot of stuff into the atmosphere.

But if you need one for, whatever the heck you need one for, there is something you can do. Drive it less. Drive is less by yourself. Maybe you can ride your bike to the store. Maybe you can carpool. Or walk. Or take the bus.

The folks over at the Sightline Institute think about things like this a lot and they published this handy chart:


We're not just sharing the road, we're sharing a planet. My big beef with SUVs is that, as my wife observed "they share the way Eric (our son) shares donuts." Eric makes sure he's got all the donuts he wants and if any are left over, he shares those.

I like bikes because they're fun, but also because they are a very efficient way to get around. These days there is a lot of talk about bio-fuel but a lot of that seems to come down to making choices of growing food or growing fuel. When you bicycle, food is your fuel.

We all make choices every day and those choices add up. My friend Chris commented, "We're not saving the planet, the planet will get along fine with or without us. We're saving ourselves." And while he's right in one way, geologically the planet will do fine, in terms of the biosphere we have a damn big impact. And that big impact is as the result of a lot us doing a lot of little things, over and over again.

Is this trip necessary? Do I need that widget? Can we keep doing this? I think these are questions that are worth asking.

And often times I find I contradict myself but I continue to try to do what I can. Little things can add up. A few more bikes on the road. A few trips not taken. A few more filled passenger seats.

We do what we can.

Bike More. Drive Less. Share the Road. Share the Planet.

Wisconsin College to Give Bikes to Freshmen

A nice Associated Press story here:

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_8259646

One Watt Planet Bike Blaze (and some other lights) Reviewed

OK, first off, here's the disclaimer. For quite a while I've said that I'm just an ordinary guy who bikes around and writes some stuff. But by riding more than a lot of folks and writing more than a lot of folks, I find myself, more and more these days, in situations that don't happen to normal folks. I call this the Jerry Pournelle Syndrome.

Back in the early days of personal computers, Byte magazine was the magazine for computer nerds. A guy named Jerry Pournelle (yeah the same Jerry Pournelle who writes science fiction novels) wrote this column that was supposed to represent the "normal" user's view of computers. But his column became popular, people sent him stuff and when he'd have a problem, he could make phone calls that "normal" people couldn't. I remember one instance where he had a problem with some Microsoft product and Jerry's solution was something like "so I called up my buddy Bill Gates and he flew a couple of techs down from Redmond to look at my system..." OK, maybe it wasn't quite that extreme, but it was close.

Anyhow, these days if you have a blog and a point of view and a reasonable set of eyeballs that show up on your web pages, folks will send you stuff. I turn down a lot of stuff that doesn't interest me and I sometimes do spend my own money on some stuff I review. And, as the folks at Accelerade will tell you, freebies don't guarantee a good review. It really helps if you actually have a product that the reviewer likes.

Another factor that adds to the moral fog of the blog review process is that some bloggers, like me, make some money off sales that come via blog links. So if I say good things about Planet Bike and the link goes to Amazon and you buy a Planet Bike light there, I do get some money. Which I then spend on still more bike stuff and the cycle repeats.

So, as I've said many times, I may be biased. Let the buyer beware.

Which brings me to Planet Bike. They make good stuff. They donate 25% of their profits to Bicycle Advocacy. For example, they donate to my employer, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington and have helped us out with programs like Get Lit. And sometimes they send me stuff. For free. Sometimes being a blogger is pretty dang cool. The freebies (along with red cape and goggles and getting to hang out with Xeni and Cory in the Boing Boing hot air balloon) are definitely up there on the list of blog perks.

Monday I wind up signing for a package at the Bikestation. Inside the box was a nifty "Global Cooling Machine" t-shirt from Planet Bike and their brand new, first sample batch off the boat, not availiable is stores yet, One Watt Planet Bike Blaze Headlight.

Initial reaction among the folks at the Bikestation was "Wow!"

The Blaze One-Watt is bright. Low beam is brighter than what is put out by its half-watt sibling. I've been happily commuting with two of the half-watt lights this winter. At 6:00 PM, I set off for my 18 mile commute home in the 48 degree rain. The new light uses the same mounting bracket as both the Beamer and the half-watt Blaze but the light itself is about a centimeter longer.

I played with the light on the commute home. This is a very nice light. I have good night vision, so I mostly ran it on low. Low beam doesn't seem much lower than high, but the difference is noticeable. The flash rate is rapid. I have mixed feelings about flashing lights, they help drivers notice you, but it's hard to gauge the location of a flashing light. Because of my mixed feelings and an appreciation for the value of redundancy, I'll probably stick to a dual light set-up, but the one-watt Blaze would really be all the headlight I'd need. Still, I think a Blaze as the main light and a slightly lower powered Planet Bike light, possibly set to flash, makes for a real nice commuting set-up.

The new one-watt Blaze uses a very efficient Cree XRE Power LED and when I got home at the end of my hour and half commute, the light was still cool to the touch. The extra centimeter of length on the light is taken up by an aluminum ring which seems to do a fine job as a heat-sink.

As you can see from the pictures, the new light is iMac white. I'm not wild about the color scheme, but the light works well enough I'd use it even if the case were purple with green polka-dots. And, since the back part of the light is identical to the grey half-watt light, I can swap back portions to make a couple of unique white/grey and grey/white lights.

I haven't ridden with the one-watt Blaze enough to test the battery life claims, but in general Planet Bike seems to be in the right ballpark with their claimed battery life. The light works fine with NiMH rechargeable batteries.

Planet Bike lists the battery life (probably assuming alkaline cells) as:

High beam -- 7 hours
Low beam -- 14 hours
Flashing -- 20 hours

The suggested retail price of the one-watt Blaze is $39.99 to $44.99

And Planet Bike is also coming out with a two-watt version (Even I don't have one of those yet!) They tell me the specs on that light will be:

High beam -- 4 hours
Low beam -- 8 hours
Flashing -- 15 hours

The suggested retail price of the two-watt Blaze will be $49.99 to $54.99

From left to right: Planet Bike Beamer 3, Planet Bike Blaze Half-Watt, Planet Bike Blaze One-Watt. All three lights are powered by 2 AA batteries and can run on NiMH rechargeable batteries. Note in this picture, I used the flash on the camera. This picture probably most accurately reflects the relative brightness of the lights.

The same shot, but with the camera's flash suppressed. You can see a bit more of the side light spill from the Beamer 3 and the Blaze One-Watt.

The light added to this picture is the Princeton Tec EOS. The EOS has been on the market for several years and is still a very good light. My original review of the EOS is here. The EOS is still quite a good helmet light, but in terms of a light to have on the bike, the new Planet Bike One-Watt Blaze with it's Cree XRE LED beats the EOS. The beam is better, the flash rate is better for cycling and I much prefer having 2 AA batteries instead of three AAA cells.

Finally, here's a fuzzy picture of some tail lights. Here's the short story, if your current tail light is more than a couple of years old, you owe it to yourself to check out the recent LED tail lights. LED lights have gotten much brighter and more efficient in the past couple of years and even the cheapest lights of today may be brighter and run longer on a set of batteries than an expensive light from a few years ago.

In the above picture, the light on the left is an under-$10 Bell light that I blogged about over a year ago. That cheap light is still working fine, although the cheaper lights are often prone to problems in the wet weather.

The second light from the left, the light that makes all others pale in comparison, is the Planet Bike Superflash. This is a very bright, some might say obnoxiously bright, light. Some folks, including me, have had problems with water leaking past the seal on the Superflash, causing the light to shut off. Dan at Planet Bike tells me they did have gasket problems with some of the Superflash lights and they've now changed the durometer of the rubber on the gasket. Planet Bike has a good warranty and will replace lights that have a problem or you can do what I did, which is wrap a bit of electrical tape around the outside of the light. Since I did that, I haven't had any problem with water getting inside my Superflash.

The other two lights are also Planet Bike products. The kidney-shaped light is my favorite tail light, the Planet Bike Blinky 3. The Blinky 3 is inexpensive and plenty bright. I've never had a problem with one and I have them on various bikes and clipped to my backpack. The final light is a little Planet Bike tail light with a pivoting bracket designed to go on the back of a helmet. I uses a single AAA cell as it's power source. The pivoting bracket is nice in theory and the single cell keeps the weight low, but the light may or may not work on your helmet.

Finally, about that green shirt the Planet Bike folks sent me. It's green, it's cotton and it's something I can wear to all those planet-saving eco fairs I wind up going to as part of my job. Of course, the green clashes with my red blogger's cape, but I usually don't wear the cape out in public!

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

The Politics of Human Power

Politics effects public policy and those policies effect the places we live and how we travel through the world. This post expresses some of my views on the current political situation and does not necessarily represent those views of my employer, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington. There are many people, many cyclists, who hold a wide range of views and I have friends (and family) whose politics run across a wide range of political thought. Whatever your views, I appreciate the time you take to read my blog.

Saturday, February 9th 2008, political caucuses were held across Washington state. Unlike primaries, where people simply vote (and in many places can vote by mail), in a caucus you actually show up. In a primary vote, your ballot is secret. In a caucus, you are physically in a room with your neighbors, making your preference known, discussing candidates and issues and possibly swaying others to your point of view.

Mark Thomas, Kevin Humphreys, Matt Newlin and I skipped the Seattle International Randonneurs ride on Vashon Island, opting instead for a more local morning ride that would get us back to our respective homes in time to attend our local caucuses. My precinct caucus was at a school on up on the Issaquah Plateau, about three miles from my home.

My wife and I live human-powered, human-sized lives and have opted not to own an automobile. We get around mostly by foot or bicycle and sometimes use various forms of mass transit. Christine is predominantly a walker, she walks to her job as a shopper for Safeway.com about a mile from our home and at work she walks up and down the grocery aisles, filling home delivery orders that customers have placed on the internet. Even though I'm a professional bike commuter, Christine and I often walk around Issaquah together rather than bike. It's simpler, more conducive to conversation and we're in no rush. We hold hands like young lovers.

Naturally, we walked up to our caucus.

The area east of Seattle, including the Cascade foothill town of Issaquah where I live, has grown tremendously over the past several decades. The downtown core of Issaquah is boxed in by low mountains to the south, Lake Sammamish to the north and the Issaquah Plateau to the northwest. The Issaquah Highlands, up on the Plateau, is where many of the new homes, businesses and schools have been constructed in the past few years.

Traffic is a problem here, but Issaquah's mayor (herself a walker) and city council recognize that cycling and walking are part of the transportation solution, so we have things like sidewalks and trails and we're working on getting more. A local group called Getting Around Issaquah Together (GAIT) works at the grassroots level to keep our city walkable, bikeable and liveable.

Christine and I walk from our home in downtown, along streets with sidewalks, complete streets, and up the Plateau via a pedestrian and cycling path. The last half mile, along the busy Issaquah-Fall City Road, has a narrow shoulder and a thin strip of grass where we walk, but this could be better.

As we walk to our caucus, Christine notes that the Republican caucus is happening over at Clark Elementary school, a much closer walk. Our family is fairly diverse politically, our 22 year old son Peter, who is currently attending Eastern Washington University in Cheney, has explained to me "I don't ride a bicycle because I'm a damn hippie like you, Dad. I ride a bike because I'm fiscally conservative." His 19 year old brother Eric, who is attending Bellevue Community College and working as an office manager for AOA Dental Lab in Seattle, is similarly more right-leaning than Christine and I and he gets exasperated with our low-consumption lifestyle. "You always say things like 'money can't buy happiness', Dad but how do you know? It can buy some pretty cool stuff! Maybe if you made more of it you'd see that." Christine and I are just happy that we've raised a couple of boys who can think for themselves, fend for themselves, figure things out and make the choices that they think are best.

Despite Eric's close following of the presidential election process, he's not going to his caucus. Things seem to be more settled on that side of things and he seems confident that Senator McCain will get the Republican nomination whether or not Eric Peterson of Issaquah Washington attends his caucus.

On the Democratic side, things are not so settled. Although I have a great affinity for Congressman Dennis Kucinich since, like me, he is short, carries a lot of stuff in his pockets and has a gorgeous wife. But even the quixotic Mr. Kuchinich has determined at this date that he cannot win the presidency. Christine and I are attending our caucus to have our say, to advance the cause of the candidate we feel best represents our views and has the best chance of winning the election.

The school cafeteria is packed when we get there and becomes more even more packed as the time approaches 1:00 PM. The Democratic caucus organizer truthfully jokes that George Bush has been the most effective person for Democratic recruitment ever. Christine and I find our precinct table and settle in.

The turnout is huge. Families with young kids, a hunched and wrinkled old woman with a walker, teachers, software engineers, retired folks, moms, dads, singles, couples, veterans, Americans.

We get instructions, a lot of us are new to this process. At 1:30 PM we sign in. We fill out our names, addresses, contact information and finally initial presidential preference. There is a second blank, one that we can fill in if we wish to change our selection after discussion. There are more people than blank sign-in sheets but tablet paper can be used.

Almost every on in our precinct votes initially for Senator Clinton or Senator Obama. One person cast a vote of Mr. Kucinich and a couple listed as undecided but the bulk of the votes went to the two Senators. And of the forty or so people gathered around our precinct's couple of tables more than thirty voted for Senator Obama initially.

We could speak to make our case for the candidates we chose. A young school teacher introduced herself and said why she was supporting Senator Clinton. She talked about Clinton's health-plan, how it would cover more people. I spoke after her and I spoke in support of Senator Obama.

I talked about my sister who lives back in the midwest, my sister whose son is currently on active duty in Iraq. I recounted a conversation I had with my sister where she stated flatly that she'd never vote for Senator Clinton. My sister is not alone in that sentiment. It may or may not be fair. While there are many folks who support Senator Clinton and her policies, there are many others who are steadfast in their dislike of her. Just as George Bush can mobilize the Democrats and independents against him, Senator Clinton can move the Republicans and independents against her.

And Senator Obama is bringing more people in. In terms of policy there is very little difference between Obama's and Clinton's positions. Earlier in the campaign Senator Obama filled a stadium in Boise with people eager to hear him speak. Boise, Idaho, a state not known for it's Democratic leanings. On Friday, Senator Obama over-filled the Key Arena in Seattle. He took time outside the arena to speak to those who could not get in. Senator Obama is bringing more people in, people anxious to change this country for the better. I don't think the large caucus turnout is just anti-Bush, there are a large number of people out to support Senator Obama.

A few members of our precinct caucus changed their initial votes. I believe one vote changed to Clinton and two changed to Obama. In the end when the ratios were calculated and the delegates assigned, our precinct allocated three delagates to Senator Obama and one to Senator Clinton.

Now, hours later, the caucus results for Washington are in. Democratic turnout was high state-wide. The radio tells me that in Kirkland the caucus was too big for the school cafeteria and overflowed into the parking lot. Senator Obama won Washington by a factor of about two to one.

I believe Senator Obama is good man and I think he has the best chance of any Democrat running to win the presidency this fall. I also believe in a lot of his positions and what he stands for. I like that he reaches out to work with others, a trait that also is apparent in his likely opponent Senator McCain. I'll also restate what I have often said about the job of President of the United States. Mr. T said it best, "I pity the fool" who gets that job.

Of course there is more to life than bicycles, but I do feel good about supporting a candidate who recognizes human power as a valid component of human life. Over on the Bicycle Diaries Blog I found this from Senator Obama's response to a letter asking for his support of Senate Bill 858: the Bicycle Commuters Benefits Act of 2007:

The benefits of commuting by bicycle is almost an endless list — reducing harmful emissions, reducing congestion, reducing petroleum consumption, promoting personal health — but our public policies have evolved to where smart and sustainable transportation uses are discouraged.
Roads are designed without pedestrian or bike paths, office and shopping parks are designed around the automobile, and even the best transit systems may be incompatible with bike use. It is time to revisit all federal policies to better accommodate the energy and environmental health priorities of the 21st century.
Also on that site I found this picture of a young Barack Obama on a trike. Even today, he looks like a man who still remembers what it was like to be that smiling kid. A man who hopes for a better world and tries to make the world be that better place.

David Sylvester: Doing his best each moment

David Sylvester describes himself as "A man, just a regular guy." David's story, no make that David's life, is an example of what can be done by choosing a vehicle, choosing a direction and doing your best.

David's life is out there on the road. His story is here:

http://tinyurl.com/2crt32

Dave Kannas: View From The Saddle

Dave Kannas recently started writing a cycling column for the West Seattle Herald. His piece yesterday, Can't we all just get along? is wonderful. You can read it here:

http://tinyurl.com/3yfpwv

Sheldon Brown

A wise, gentle, witty, caring, thoughtful and generous man has left the world of the living, but he leaves behind a great example of what one man can do with a passionate life, freely shared. In the past few hours, the internet has bloomed with tributes to Sheldon, folks telling how he touched their lives, how he was always generous with his time and patient with his answers.

Sheldon lived an astoundingly full life and somehow found time to log his discoveries in rich detail. He certainly knew bikes but he also laid down some of the first tracks in a wilderness called the internet and he taught a lot of people how to homestead here. How to homestead and how to behave. Share what you know, do what you love, live life beyond the computer screen and report back. Sign your work. Laugh often. Read. Sing. Rejoice.

Sheldon was so encyclopedic in his knowledge, so prolific in his postings that some of us wondered sometimes if perhaps he'd actually joined with his computer, his email filters and databases of arcane facts welded together with home-brew scripts that of course he'd freely share. And now they tell us Sheldon is gone, his mighty heart has beat its last.

His cyber opus will live on, of course. Google's spiders will tell you how deeply wound the man's knowlege is woven into the world's web. But no more postings from the man himself? No more delightful bikes? No more reports of his lovely family, the books he's read, the songs he's sung? Our world is poorer for his passing, but so rich for his having been here with us, showing us a wonderful way to live.

Sheldon Brown had perhaps the richest home page on the internet, a page that gave the reader perhaps the truest sense of the man. Sheldon is gone, but in a way he's not. He gave us so much, so freely and because of that we can still go here:

http://sheldonbrown.com/home.html

Thank you Sheldon. Thank you for everything.

Danger In The Bike Lane

I'd mentioned a while back that I'd gone riding around the city with Mike Lindblom of the Seattle Times. Mike's article, Danger in the Bike Lane, is the Time's front page story today. You can read it here:

http://tinyurl.com/2lwc62

An Update On Louise

Louise is out of the hospital now and is recovering at home. She's in very good spirits and she's strong as a bear. I think the doctors weren't used to seeing somebody as fit as Louise, they'd been concerned about her low pulse rate but that seems to be a function of her big cyclist's heart. And BTW, the other cyclist whose name I didn't get (sorry), was a seventy year old guy who was on his way to the Y to work out. And it sounds like he is going to be fixed up OK as well. Louise's comment, when she was told she was being discharged and it was OK for her to walk around a bit was "can I ski?" She was told that isn't a good idea yet.

BTW, for those folks who say cyclists NEVER stop at lights, both Louise and this fellow stopped at this red light. The crane driver stopped at this red light. The truck that was supposed to be attached to the crane just kept rolling. I'm pretty sure it was the crane driver who called 911. As far as Louise and the other cyclist's injuries and bike damages being covered, I sure can't say for 100% certainty but I can tell you that the folks from the crane company are expressing extreme concern and nervousness. If I was in their shoes, I'd be feeling the same way and I wouldn't be hesitant to write a couple of checks once the investigation is done and the extent of all the injuries is known. And Louise and the Bicycle Alliance have some pretty good cycling friends who also happen to have some pretty good legal credentials that will be working to make sure things balance out.

I've worked with Louise for a couple of years, her desk is right next to mine. She keeps track of what happens with the Bicycle Alliance money but more importantly, she makes things happen for cyclists. And even though she has to spend a lot of time sitting in meetings and lobbying folks, and sending emails and all that other not-very-exciting bike advocacy stuff, she also gets out there. She rides, she hikes, she gets things done. A couple of months ago I was out at the opening of the High-Point Trail Connector in Issaquah. I was representing the Bicycle Alliance there and I was walking along the trail chatting with one of the Issaquah City Councilmen. As we hiked along the trail, this guy says to me "Do you know Louise?" "Sure," I replied. "She and I were the first ones to hack our way through the blackberry thorns and map out this route years ago," the fellow tells me. That didn't surprise me. And I wasn't surprise that Louise hadn't told me this. She's one of those people who knows what matters is working together to get things done and she's too busy doing the work to spend much time talking about it.

That's what I know right now. Louise will be back working to make cycling better in our town and our state soon. Thanks to everybody for all their concern.

Be careful out there.

Kent

Low Probability Crash

Yesterday morning, just about the time I was starting to wonder "where's Louise?", we got the call at the Bicycle Alliance. Louise McGrody, our friend and colleague, had been struck by a truck as she was riding her bike to work. At first, details were sketchy. Louise and another cyclist had been hit from behind while they were stopped at a red light. Both Louise and the other cyclist (a 70 year old fellow) had been taken to the hospital. It turned out Louise had four broken ribs and the other rider had a fractured shoulder and hip.

Once we went through the initial "is Louise OK?" concern and got the "she's not, but she will be" we moved onto the "how's her bike?" discussion. But even before we extended our concern to Louise's battered Trek, we each remarked, in the way that only bike safety wonks can remark, "you know, that's a really low probability crash!"

It's true, even though it's human nature to fear being struck from behind, statistically it's a very rare type of bike crash. We speculated about the driver being distracted by a cell phone or tuning the radio. We never guessed how strange the real story would be.

Louise was struck by a truck with no driver. The story is here:

http://www.komotv.com/news/local/15073291.html

Be careful out there.