Ouch

This past Sunday I competed in the LA Triathlon Championship Series #1. Even though I'm in Baltimore, I did a SoCal event so I could run it with my older brother. He was "kind" enough to email the results sheet to me, and commented that "at least you weren't DFL (Dead F---ing Last)." That's because he was (and given that he competed in the Panama City Beach Iron Man last year, I don't think he was last because that was as good as he could do).

Sure, I didn't do it to compete, I did it to see if I could. Well, I couldn't. I ended up having to walk the entire run, except for maybe 50 yards across the lawn to the finish.

Time to hit the streets again...

Spring must be here

Today is one of the days I have to go up to Hopkins for a class. I'm not actually enrolled, but I'm sitting in on it because it (theoretically) will help me do my job better. The fact that I'm also in the process of applying for other jobs probably should have been a bigger issue in deciding to start with this, but oh well.

Today I conveniently had my camera with me as I parked my bike. The SPH has a pretty nice bike parking area, hidden away in a semi-secret garage and supervised by a security guard. Today it was pretty much full. In bad weather there are only a few bikes, today on the other hand...


The banana yellow 3 speed (hiding behind the cement post) is mine.

Sprawl reversing?

This is a post that falls somewhere in between cycling and politics, as will become clear as it progresses. I have to go out and check on my touring bike this afternoon, so I drove to work. On the way I heard this story on NPR, discussing what looks like a movement away from sprawl. The short version is that homes with a shorter commute distance have seen less of a decrease (and in some cases and increase) in price during the current housing market melt-down. One of the reasons that is mentioned in the piece is the idea that people are beginning to weigh the "costs" associated with a 1-2 hour commute (one way) more heavily.

The story doesn't specifically mention if the costs are the literal costs (fuel, vehicle maintenance) or philosophical (environment, time away from family) or a mix. I tend to think it's a mix. I know that when I finished school and took my current job I made a firm decision that I would not live too far away to bike to work. (Unfortunately that meant I would be living in Baltimore, because I don't like multi-modal commuting any more than long drive commuting, but that's me being picky.)

What I do find interesting is that this movement back into cities is happening without the cities first being redeveloped. There is a long running desire in sustainable living circles to remake cities, cut down on vehicle space, increase walking/biking space, add public transit, that sort of thing. In general I agree with these things but feel strongly that they will only be successful if they are done by demand rather than imposed. (See any number of anti-light rail arguments for the reasons light rail and other mass transit projects are often not cost-effective.)

What I see in this story (assuming it represents a true trend and not a short-term isolated incident) is that demand may soon come. The combination of desiring more family/recreation time and rising costs of fuel are making long commutes unattractive. That, in turn, will cause former suburbanites to reverse the trend of "drive until you can afford" that has been the mantra for the last 20+ years, and head back in to the cities where they work. That movement may lead to improvements in infrastructure, schools, and other things that fell into disrepair as a result of the tax base moving out of the cities.

Another, final, though. I do not doubt that the middle class families moving back into the cities will want some of the quality of life things (parks, playgrounds, good schools) that they had in the suburbs. Maybe, just maybe, this is the time to really look at how cities are organized and make some smart, sustainable changes to them.

Portland pics

Because nobody asked for them some random pics from my Portland trip:Bikes at the Men's Wearhouse

Pizza-delivery bike

Bar/bowling alley with a dress code

Random thoughts

The weather seems to be getting a little nicer and I'm back in Baltimore. A mixed bag. Last week I was in Portland for work. My first time there and it was great. I have to take back most of the snarky thoughts I've had every time I see another "Portland = cyclist heaven" article or post. I don't think I've seen that many people on bikes outside of an organized ride before. An interesting mix of kitted out "racers" (a group of three went past me one afternoon) and more normal looking commuters/utility riders. I also had a chance to watch the road crew painting a crosswalk and section of bike lane green, part of a new campaign there. It wasn't the section from the article, but looked the same when they were done.


That's about it. I'm back to semi-regularly commuting. I'll only get in two days this week by bike because of distant meetings on Mon and Thurs and a need to boogie right after work on Fri to get out to Mt. Airy and check out the build on the Trucker. It should be just about done by now and I can't wait.

Pictures from Portland later today.

The best reason to be a cyclist

This April Fool's Day seemed a little light on good jokes, at least on the blogs I read. There were some that I missed the best part of (see: Fatty's post "Yesterday") because I usually only go to the blog page if the full story is 1) interesting and 2) doesn't appear in the Google Reader. One that caught my eye was less a joke and more a departure from norm.

The WashCycle did a post on the Top Ten Zombie Movies of all Time. I dig zombie movies, so I liked the post to begin with. Also, the post includes the mostly unknown but great "Cemetery Man" which I first saw back in college, in the days when Bravo actually was an "Arts and Entertainment" channel. But the end of the piece presented the single best reason to be a cyclist, or at least have a usable bike somewhere at home:

Last week, by coincidence (I've been planning this post for months), Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z was in town and I got to see him speak. World War Z is a fantastic book and may be the ultimate zombie apocalypse story - so well thought out that a zombie fan wonders what they've been doing with their time. It could be made into the best zombie movie of all time - the rights were purchased by Brad Pitt, but probably not, since what it should be is an HBO mini-series. Among the ten rules for surviving the zombie plague he lists

7 . Get out of the car, get on a bike

He further expands in the" On the Run" chapter, after dismissing cars, buses and horses;

The Bicycle: In a class by itself, this vehicle offers the best of both worlds. The common bicycle is fast, quiet, muscle-powered and easy to maintain. Add to this it is the additional advantage that it is the only vehicle you can pick up and carry if the terrain gets too rough. People using bicycles to escape infested areas have almost always fared better than those on foot. Don't let your speed go to your head however. Wear standard safety gear and choose caution over speed. The last thing you want is to end up in a ditch, legs broken, bike trashed, with the shuffling of undead feet growing louder with each step.

So true, I've totally got my bike anti-zombie tricked out.

Ah, avoiding slowly rampaging legions of the undead by bike. I suppose it wouldn't be all that different than dodging people stumbling from their cars into their offices on a normal commute.

Wind

It is rare that I'll take the time to gripe about the wind. One of the frequent posters on Bike Forums has as signature that reads (para): There is no tailwind, it is either against you or you're having a good day. I think it is a quote, but I'm not sure.

Today though, I am going to whine about the wind. About 2/3 of the way through my commute (actually, at the same point my rear wheel locked up on Monday) just as I got across the giant street (which becomes I-83 a couple of blocks north of my route) I got smacked by a wall of wind that just about stopped me still. I had to fight it for a few blocks and the only thing that saved me is that it was slightly angled, not head on. Weather Underground is listing Baltimore with 12 mph wind and gusts of 28 mph. I'm guessing it was a gust.

All I know is somehow it will have pulled a 180 by the time I need to ride home, so I can look forward to climbing into it.

Selecting rain gear

I am not creative or funny enough to write a decent 4/1 post, so instead I'm going to gripe about my rain gear.

I will admit that I am a mostly fair-weather commuter. I don't mind the cold or heat and snow is fun (excluding icy roads, more out of fear of the cars than anything I might do) but I rarely bike in serious rain on purpose. I've done it before, usually on the way home from work, but not often. Today though I didn't really have a choice.

I am trying to jump start my training, since I have a triathlon at the end of the month. On top of that, I have a class tonight at Hopkins so driving would have meant $18.00 in parking charges, and I have to stop by a friend's house to look in on her cat. All in all, cycling is the easiest way to take care of all of this.

It's not raining too heavily, so there really isn't a good reason to wimp out. It is raining enough that I didn't want to wear my work clothes (which I normally commute in) because I would have been wet most of the day. I decided to grab my camping rain gear - pants and a jacket.

They work great, not a drop of rain on me. Unfortunately, they don't breathe, so I made up for the rain by sweating. It just shows that you really need to think about exertion and use when getting rain gear. Thankfully, my commute is so short that it really doesn't matter.