Clothes make the ride?

I managed to get off my @$$ and ride into work this morning (well, ride to BART and plan to ride home). Most of the time when I've ridden in I've kitted up since that's what I wear to ride home (12 miles - bike shorts are nice). Today I just put on my work clothes since the morning ride is so short. I noticed something odd though - there's one major intersection between my house and BART, and I normally crosswalk it. Today though I just pulled over and turned with the traffic in the left hand turn lane.

I'm perfectly comfortable taking the lane, and traffic isn't so brutal that the crosswalk is safer, so I don't know why I took the lane today instead. My only thought is that most of the time when I kit up I'm doing back road or bike trail riding, and most of the time when I'm in street clothes I'm running errands and commuting. Either way, I was more vehicular in the my riding in my street clothes.

Anyone else find their riding style changed based on what they wear?

The self-perpetuating nature of car-light

One thing I have noticed since moving into my new house is that living car-light is a self-perpetuating thing. I chose a house that was close enough to transit (BART) that I would be able to take it without biking or driving to the station. When I was staying with my dad I was far enough away that I had to bike/drive, and various things meant I was driving most of the time. Now, I'm a short walk away, and the truck sits in the driveway five of seven days by default. What I've been noticing more though is that I avoid driving on the weekends. 

When I was in Baltimore I would avoid driving because of parking issues - I lived in neighborhoods with street-parking only and it was often a fight to get a place. Now, I have a driveway that could hold two or three cars without issue and I still avoid driving. As I was thinking about the around-the-house chores I need to take care of this past weekend I realized that I was avoiding some (yard work) because I need to go pick up a few things from the hardware store, and the distance/roads means that I have to drive there. I am actually excited about some of the work, but the idea of driving to get the implements (and it's not expensive stuff, brooms, dustpans, and a new ribbon for an edger) has me turned off.

Funny how something that most people think is the easiest way to get around, driving, is actually preventing me from going out.

I KNEW Twitter was a bad thing

Recently I went on a bit of tear about Twitter. I just don't get some of the excitement people seem to feel about it, and one of the podcasts I used to really enjoy (net@nite, part of Leo Laporte's Twit Network) has gotten almost impossible to listen to due to all of the rhapsodizing about the wonders of Twitter (I get it, it's a Web 2.0 thing, but there must be others). Anyway, imagine my surprise, after all my whining, to see a fellow cyclists and blogger (although I'm nowhere near the calibre) getting Twitterjacked...

Just days after I discovered that a certain online retailer is using this blog to market yet another inexpensive singlespeed road bike, I've now learned that somebody has taken the liberty of creating a Twitter account in my name

I'd like to take this opportunity to say, "Hey there! I am not using Twitter." If you're reading this blog you know I'm wordy, and there's absolutely no way I could restrict myself to 140 characters per post. And naturally, since it's not my Twitter account, I can't access it.

From BikeSnobNYC: The Indignity of the Internet: Twitterjacked!

So there you have another reason not to go within a mile of someone using Twitter - they may not be the person you think! I'm looking at you, Fritz...

Bike freedom

When I decided to stop annoying my friends with bike-related nonsense and start a blog I chose "Liberation Cycling" because it captures a number of things about me. I realized that I never really fulfilled a semi-promise from my first post, which was to explain the name, and since I've been thinking about it recently, why not?

This week I've had to drive to work. Yesterday specifically drove home the freedom that you lose driving (when you should/could be riding). I got stuck on a road where a delivery truck for a construction site had blocked off one of the two lanes of a major commute-direction street. This led to a significant back-up stretching through two lights. As I sat there all I could think about was that I could be dodging the whole thing on my bike. The freedom of cycling.

Another aspect of it for me is the clarity of mind that develops, primarily on longer rides, when you can settle into a cadence and ride. No shifting, little effort, just riding. I miss that here, since there aren't easy places to take longer rides that aren't crowded MUPs, and can't wait to get back to CA and have the backroads I know available practically at my door.

The last aspect of liberation that I get from a bike, or at least the last significant one, is the freedom of movement. Not just freedom in commuting, discussed above, but true freedom of movement. Bikes allow you to go anywhere, and with a little preparation (or a high-limit credit card) you can go everywhere. Getting around town is easier on a bike, taking a vacation (touring) isn't necessarily easier, but it is certainly more open to changes of whim. There are very few barriers that can stop a person with a bike.

Those are a few of the ways I see bikes as liberating. There may be others for you, and there are some other, smaller ones for me.

Another bike quote

This one, from the great Elden "Fatty" Nelson, is specifically bike-related (not like the previous, political, one) and is a little too close to home:

I was training very seriously, and was trying to get down to racing weight (i.e., the weight at which my knees no longer squoosh into my belly on the upstroke).

Ah, how well I know that feeling. In fact, one of the things I love about my Schwinn commuter is that the upright posture of it completely prevents the squooshing from happening. The last week plus that I've been doing the commute on the Trucker have forced me to acknowledge that the belly is still there, no matter how much I avoid looking at it.

Thank you Fatty, for giving me a great new term for the unpleasant (and occasionally painful) impact of knee to gut when riding in the drops, as well as a way to use "racing weight" without making myself laugh.

Gas tank doors

Today on my way in to work I was waiting for a light and noticed that the Jeep (Cherokee I think) next to me had its gas tank door open. I was tempted (as I always am when I see them open) to lean over and flip it closed. I can only imagine the negative repercussions that an action like that would have in a city like Baltimore. It did get me thinking about all the little things that are easily noticed on a bike, especially the ones that I want to do something about.

The obvious first is crap on the road. I know some other bloggers (and I'm too lazy to look for examples) as well as at least one thread on BikeForums have gone so far as to start listing the interesting items they see on the road, but I'm talking more about the just random garbage. The one type of item that always leaves me scratching my head is clothing. Jeans seem to be the most common around here, along with single shoes.

One thing I notice (which may be part of the reason I'm such a non-fan of Baltimore) is architecture. Not in a technical, expert way, but just in the look and "feel" of buildings as I roll past. I see so many places on my short (3.5 mi) commute that are great looking but have been left to rot and it frustrates me.

There are other, and as I said, many other blogs discussing the same.