...like little metal bunnies

Multiplying that is.

When I started working my current job there were two of us who rode. The other person rides 5 days a week. Only time her bike isn't in the garage is when she's off-site. I'm not quite as regular, but I average 3 days a week. A few weeks back a nice look orange Cinelli single showed up, and then today there was a red Trek with the "I've been in the back of the garage for a long time" look.

Soon we're gonna run out of room to park, not that that's an entirely bad thing mind you.

(The banana is mine, then the Cinelli, the Trek, and the other original - also a Trek)

Horn-y morning

As in lots of horns. I don't know if it was because I got a slightly later than normal start today, leaving the house about 8:15 instead of 7:45, or because it was just nasty out this morning (hot and muggy) but I was honked at more than any other single morning since I've been commuting. Perhaps even more annoying than the presence of so many honky cars is the fact that most of them were the "I'm here" honk that drivers seem to think is a helpful thing.

It would be an exaggeration to say that I wouldn't have been aggravated by long "get the @#$#$ off the road" honks, but at least then you know what you're dealing with. All I got this morning (including from an MTA bus) were timid "hey there" honks that come from a driver tapping the horn because they feel they should be doing something.

As much as my libertarian soul rebels against it, the Parisians may have it right with their "no horn in non-emergency situations" laws. Of course, even if we had laws like that in Baltimore it's not like anyone would pay attention...

Edit 8/01/08 - BikeSnobNYC has a much more entertaining take on the excess of horns and heat making people insane here.

It happens to everyone

Having your bike stolen really bites. I had my super-solid Trek 930 commuter bike stolen from my pick-up because I figured it was secure enough under the locked camper shell. Today I saw this - the British Conservative Party leader David Cameron had his bike stolen when he headed into a grocery store to pick up some food. From the article it sounds like he had locked up, but to a post that was short enough for the thief to just lift the bike off. I've heard of this happening to people when they lock up to gumball machine style parking meters as well.

A couple of interesting things for me in this. The first is that this serves as yet another reminder that locking up right is always important. The second appeals to the libertarian in me and involves the nearly ubiquitous CCTV cameras that the UK is known for:

Asked if there was CCTV in the area, (a police spokesman) said: "That's not something we would discuss on the theft of a bike."

So they won't even look at the cameras (if there were any there)? One more reason for me to dislike 'em.

One of those days

I started three different posts on three different topics and dumped all of 'em. It's one of those mornings for writing. Hopefully I'll be able to make a coherent argument this afternoon. Until then, enjoy this:


All three pics are from the web, image links to where I found 'em

Go-By-Bike

I've added the "Go-By-Bike" widget to the sidebar. This is a nifty challenge that has emerged from the 1 world, 2 wheels program Trek is running. Basically, you go to the website and it helps you calculate your weekly mileage based on the different places you can bike. You're then asked to pledge to bike that, and you get a fancy little certificate. Finally, you can enter to win spiffy prizes. (My briefness is not to be dismissive, but because the website for the program has much better information, and you're better served by getting it directly from them.)

Commuting "kit"

Not "kit" as in gear (or "KITT") but cycling kit - clothing.

I've been thinking about commuting clothing for a little while now. Mainly because Baltimore has entered the "do people actually enjoy living in this kind of weather?" part of the year, where it's unpleasant to walk outside in the morning and gets worse all day long. I'll admit it - I'm a wimp when it comes to humidity. I come from the semi-desert North/Central California (east of Berkeley) originally, and when it gets hot there it gets dry. I love that feeling. Walking out at the end of the day into a 95 degree oven and being baked. This whole parboiled thing is for eggs.

During the cooler months here I commuted in my work clothes. I ride an upright bike with a chain guard, so riding in slacks isn't a problem. Since I use full platform pedals, the shoes aren't an issue either. Finally, the ride is a whopping 1.5 miles each way, so it's not like I need the padding of bike shorts to preserve my derriere.

Back in CA, before I moved, I was a spandex warrior. It took some getting used to because while I think I can honestly say I have the lower body for bike shorts I certainly DO NOT have the upper body for a jersey. Snug and gut are a bad combo. But I was also doing 20-30 miles a day on my ride home, much of it in mid to high heat (85-105F) so semi-technical clothing was in order.

Now I ride in normal shorts and a t-shirt. The shirts I use most of the time are the old (now) "HHCMF" (Happy Hardcore Commuting MFs) that I got years back on Bike Forums. They're handy, being ANSI lime, and bike friendly with the "Ride to work/Work to live/Live to ride" triangle on the back. On a commute as short as mine, with an upright bike like mine, and going the pace I go (average around 11 MPH) I just don't see the need for anything else.

Missed opportunity

Some days I commute with my camera, yesterday I did not and I'm saddened by it. On my way home I go right through the strip club district in Baltimore (right next to police headquarters, if you're looking). Yesterday, as is often the case in this city, a delivery truck was double parked, tweaking traffic. What caught my eye was that it was a uniform delivery company. A uniform delivery truck parked in front of a strip club. I'm going to regret missing that picture for a while...

When traffic patterns attack

I've commented before about the major intersection near the end of my commute. I have to cross the Jones Falls Expressway at the point it ends/begins in downtown Baltimore. This means lots of cars, long back-ups, and dodging tetchy people in a hurry. Up until recently it wasn't too bad. The right turn lane (cars heading my direction waiting to get onto the JFX) starts a couple of blocks back which made it pretty easy for me to take the middle lane and avoid the mess. Then Baltimore DOT in its infinite wisdom decided to wee in my cornflakes.

At some point in the last couple of weeks they switched up the lanes. I suppose in response to complaints about having to sit in the traffic for a long time, I don't really know and I don't care. Before, there was one "left turn only" lane, two "straight only" lanes, and one "right turn only" lane. As I approached the intersection I would slide out from the curb and take the line between the right turn lane and the straight lane, and life was good. Occasionally I would use the right arrow to slide to the median, to make it easier to get across. The new arrangement turned my lane into a straight/right turn lane and has really tweaked my mojo.

Now I have to be super-extra-hyper careful about what the cars to my left are doing, since things like turn indicators are unheard of in Baltimore. The best way to avoid the potential right hooks is to take the lane, but since I try to be courteous to the cars and the intersection is a slight uphill I'm not a huge fan of that. I will give it a few more days and see how many times I have to dodge a hooking. So far it's once out of close to ten trips, and I can deal with that ratio. If it gets much worse, as much as I dislike it, I'll be sliding to the left and taking the lane.

Odd fellow traveler

I try not to be a preachy cyclist. I ride because I enjoy it and I bike commute because it seems crazy for me to drive 1.5 miles and blow $8.00 a day on parking. I don't consider myself an activist, an environmentalist, or really any other "-ist". Sometimes though, I encounter someone that makes me want to holler at them until they "get it". When this unvoiced-tirade is directed at a fellow cyclist it is usually because that person is poisoning the well (so to speak) for me.

My commute to work is a simple thing. I head out my door and make a left and head north (admittedly, on the wrong side of the street) a half a block. I cross a semi-major (2 lanes each way) street, hang another left and head west on the semi-major street about a mile. Then a few jags and jogs and I'm at the office. I tell you that, not because I think anyone cares what my commute is like, but in the hopes that it makes the following story a little clearer.

This morning I was waiting to cross the semi-major street when I saw another cyclist. He was on a clean little silver folder, in street clothes, with a shoulder bag and no helmet. (NOTE - this rant has NOTHING to do with the lack of helmet. I wear one because I've collected a few too many concussions over my lifetime and am now epileptic. I fall into the camp that safe, intelligent city-style riding does not require a helmet.) As I watched he slid across my street, more or less in the crosswalk and with the light, and headed up the semi-major street angling across the lanes without looking around. This kind of move is one I've long associated with messengers (or at least riders who look like they're probably messengers), not semi-newbie looking commuters. He did the same thing at a red light a few blocks later, where the view of oncoming traffic was completely blocked by cars waiting for the light to change.

Why do I find his light-running odd? Because the man was SLOW. He wasn't blasting down the road and running reds because he was in a hurry, he was creeping (something I'll be generous and attribute to the gearing on the folder since he was spinning like nobody's business) along the road and even my ~ 10 mph commute speed easily left him in the dust. Additionally, his body language was giving off a distinctive laid back vibe with no hurry about it.

So why do I care? Because this type of riding is what leads to the "scofflaw cyclist" image. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but there is a difference in my mind between the so-called California-roll at a light or stop sign (pulling up, braking to a slow roll to looks for cars, proceeding) and hitting the intersection at full speed a la my friend this morning. All I really know is that drivers who see that sort of behavior are more likely to believe the "all cyclists ignore traffic laws" stereotype when it shows up in news reports or opinion pieces, and that just makes it harder for the rest of us on the road.

(Final note - I wrote this on Tuesday afternoon, with plans to post it Wed morning. When I was breezing through my subscriptions this morning I saw this post by CycleDog, discussing the same WashCyle post I mention above.)

Obligatory le Tour post

So it should come as no shock, but I'm not going to post about the Tour. This is for one major and a few minor reasons. The major one? No cable. I'm sure that with very little work I could find somewhere online to watch it, but that leads into one of the minor points. I will freely admit to being a bandwagon fan of the Tour. I watched (along with 95% of Americans who paid any attention) to see how long Lance could keep winning. I don't normally follow racing, and outside of the fantastic updates from the Fredcast and Spoksemen podcasts I don't know anything about it. Any posts I did write would be uninformed and pretty much just opinion or BikeSnobNYC-style snark, but not as funny. The last of the minor reasons is that there are bloggers out there who know what they're talking about and give great info about the Tour, so check them out. If I was trying to follow it I'd probably start with Tim Jackson, at the least I know he's been doing daily updates.

Returning soon

June was a brutal month at work, and the clean-up trailed into July. I'm off work this week to get a little rest and start writing again. More to come.