Carrying things on a Bike, on a Bridge

If you want proof that engineers and designers who come up with bike routes are often not bike savvy, consider that 2nd Street is a designated bike route through Oakland's Jack London Square: It cuts right through the wholesale produce market, there are stop signs at virtually every intersection, and the street is lined or blocked with forklifts and delivery trucks. Even when a bike route is through a quiet residential neighborhood, what's with all the stop signs? The idea behind biking is to keep your momentum going, not to be forced to stop and start dozens of times. That's why I avoid designated bike routes and boulevards due to the greater amount of traffic and the preponderance of stop signs that seem to crop up at every intersection.

With the early part of today free, I spent time running errands and doing laundry before cycling to Sweet Maria's to pick up some green coffee. I threw one pannier on the rack and began winding my way through the back streets of Berkeley and Oakland. I won't tell you the route I took since, frankly, doing so might increase the number of bikes on my little bit of asphalt heaven. So stick to the bike lanes and the main thoroughfares or stay in your car and drive on the freeways, nothing to see here, move along ...

With three pounds of green beans loaded, I lamented the fact I'd be driving to the airport later. Since I'd be sitting in a car (undoubtedly in traffic), why not take the long way home on this bike ride? So I rode 7th Street to Maritime and cycled the eastern span of the Bay Bridge. I've cycled the bridge a half dozen times or so, but each time there seems to be something interesting going on with the deconstruction of the old cantilever section. This day was near perfect as the path was mostly empty. If you haven't cycled the bridge and gotten a close look at the old span, I suggest you do so before it's gone. At the rate they are going, it won't be long before the old bridge is history. And once the old span is gone, work will begin on completing the bridge path to Yerba Buena/Treasure Island.

TTCBCOAB, the Door Lane, and Seeing the Light

I work Saturdays, so weekends tend to be busy. Cramming all the chores into Sunday (and sometimes Monday) is a challenge, especially without using a car. Or is it? By riding a bike, parking is certainly easier. It's possible to (carefully) scoot past a long line of cars queued up at a stop sign or stop light. You arrive at your destination invigorated and in a better mood. And most importantly, you naturally avoid trying to do too much, getting in a rush, and becoming impatient with others. Perhaps life on a bike is generally better than life in a car.

TTCBCOAB #61, Four bags of groceries, new bike clothes

TTCBCOAB #62, Case of canned dog food, bag of kibble, biscuits

TTCBCOAB #63, Raised veggie bed fencing, donated by a friend

Bike Lane or Door Lane

Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and other East Bay cities continue to add new facilities for cyclists. One of the easiest things cities can do is add sharrows: Pavement markings that alert drivers to the presence of bikes. Sometimes signs are added to remind drivers that bicycles may use an entire lane of traffic. In Oakland, several bike lanes are being augmented with a green stripe painted on the pavement to make the bike area clearer. This is good stuff, but there are complications.

Often the "sharrows"  and the green stripes are positioned to the right of the center of the lane, putting cyclists close to a row of parallel-parked cars. How much distance is required for a cyclist to avoid hitting a car door that is suddenly thrown open? After watching these two videos, you may think twice about assuming 3 feet of separation from parked cars is sufficient to "avoid the door." A word of warning, the second video is pretty startling.

Seeing the Light

One strategy for avoiding car doors and accidents in general is to use a flashing headlight, even during daylight hours. My commuter bike's dynamo-powered front and rear lights are on anytime my bike's wheels are turning, day or night. I supplement these steady-burning lights with flashing lights, front and rear. Countless times, the flashing front light has alerted drivers who were about to open their car doors and saved me from certain harm. And at least once a week, a pedestrian, driver, or another cyclist informs me "Hey, your lights are on!" My response varies from day-to-day, usually just a polite "Thank you," unless the person pointing it out is another cyclist. In that case I point out, "Hey, you don't have any lights!"


It may be very un-hip, but wearing bright colors like a florescent green, orange, or pink vest or jacket when riding is an easy way to reduce the risks associated with cycling. NHTSA and CDC have some good information on cycling safely and they both emphasize the importance of being visible.

So reducing cycling risks really be boiled down to four basic principles:

1. Wear a helmet
2. Be visible by using flashing lights and wearing bright clothing
3. Ride predictably and courteously
4. Stay alert and expect the unexpected

TTCBCOAB #50, Cycling Goals, and Privacy

Here are some things that can be carried on a bicycle, from a recent Costco run. It's much easier to negotiate the parking lot on a bike rather than a car. I park right by the entrance and lock up my bike, which makes for a pleasant and quick escape. Plus, I can ride through the gaps in the parking lot speed bumps. Sweet!

Various odds and ends That Can Be Carried On A Bicycle...

Milestones

My stated goal for this year is to log 4500 commuting miles on my various bikes. Halfway through this year my running total stands at 2700 miles, which is well over the 2250 miles I expected. Assuming no hideously bad weather this fall, I may very well exceed that goal. I use MapMyRide to track my mileage and have found it a very useful service. It's easier to stay motivated when you have a measurement of how you are doing.

Stats, courtesy of MapMyRide

Got Privacy?

The recent revelations about the NSA data collection and surveillance (which many of us already suspected was occurring) got me to thinking about privacy and how we unconsciously change our behavior when we think someone is watching us. Chatting with many friends and acquaintances, I discovered they are thinking about expectations of privacy, too. So what's a law-abiding citizen to do? Here's my top ten list:

1. Ensure you have a good password on your all your devices.
2. Enable FileVault, BitLocker, or an equivalent product to encrypt your hard disk.
3. Use an anti-virus prorgam to regularly scan your computer.
4. Install Tor and use it for anonymous browsing.
5. Install Gnu Privacy Guard on your computer (I use GPGmail).
6. Encrypt your email and encourage your friends to do the same.
7. Install a version of GPG on your mobile device (I use ipgmail for iOS).
8. If you access email with a browser, consider using mailvelope .
9. Make a donation to the Electronic Freedom Foundation.
10. Tell your senators and congressional representative that privacy is important to you.

Remember that as citizens, we enjoy only those rights we are willing to defend.

Avoiding Pain-in-the-Neck and TTCBCOAB #37

Each of us accumulates wisdom, important information about the world and ourselves that can only be realized over time. One thing I've learned the hard way is I don't recover from strains, sprains and pulled muscles as quickly as when I was in my 20s, 30s, or even 40s. I like to think I'm more careful now. Try as we might, some things remain beyond our control.

About six weeks ago I had to make a panic stop when a driver ran a stop sign, made a sharp right turn, and cut right in front of me and my bike. I ride defensively, but this driver took me by surprise because she was looking me in the eye as she performed this maneuver. When a driver makes eye contact it is usually a good indication that a driver has their head is in the game. On this occasion a desperate braking maneuver was required.

Sliding off the saddle and throwing my weight over the back wheel, I braked heavily and just missed becoming an insult to this driver's rear, left fender. It was over in a flash and a collision was avoided, but i felt something in give between my shoulder blades around thoracic vertebrae T3 and T4. The discomfort grew during the remaining 11 mile ride home, so I did my usual approach: arnica oil applied to the area and rest. After two days, it got better ... mostly. Several weeks later, it was still bothering me and I began to look for other solutions and explanations.

I use the MapMyRide app on the iPhone to track my mileage and reviewing the statistics for the last 12 months, it showed that I'd gradually increased my mileage. And there was an interesting coincidence between the back strain incident and a spike in my daily mileage. Only a few days before the above-mentioned incident, I'd completed a ride significantly above my usual mileage. A physical therapist friend frequently reminds me that ramping up too quickly is a good way to injure an aging body. She's right, of course, but there seem to be other factors at work, too.

Experimenting with different riding positions, I discovered that angling my elbows closer to my torso helped ease the mid-back discomfort. This required placing my hands on the ends of my mostly straight handlebars: Not a longterm solution. Different handlebars seemed to be indicated, so I did some research.

I briefly considered drop bars, but that would require significant re-rigging of the Rohloff shifter - a costly and time-consuming endeavor. Then I found the Salsa Bend 2 mountain handlebars. These come in two versions: The 23 degree bend model seemed to provide the hand position I was seeking.

Salsa Bend 2

The new bar length was roughly equivalent to the old bars, but I wanted a closer hand position and some trimming was in order. 25 millimeters off each end (about an inch) seemed right.

Measure twice ...

Cut once (well, twice actually ...)

A bit of smoothing ...

Old versus new (hard to capture in a photo)

Finished product

My initial impression is that the new bars are helping, though it will likely take a while for things to heal completely. The joys of aging!

In other news, here are more TTCBCOAB (things that can be carried on a bike): Three bags of groceries. Several apples, peaches, nectarines, some pasta, tortillas, various greens, pasta sauce, cucumbers, etc.

Three bags full. A mere 35 pounds!

TTCBCOAB #36 - Six Cubic Feet of Soil and a Gasoline-free Day!

Having committed to at least two gasoline-free days each week (Sunday and Monday, our days off) my wife and I went for a nice ride for breakfast at Venus. Cycling downtown Berkeley is so much easier and stress-free than driving, especially when it comes to finding parking. We just locked our bikes together, right in front and took a window-side table so we could keep an eye on things. I'm always in a better mood when I cycle because I can see and hear things (most of them good) that I'd otherwise miss in a car.

After breakfast, we swung by the North Branch of the library and then Five Star Video to return two DVDs. And then it was on to some gardening. Oh, that's right: We need to buy some soil to top off one of the vegetable beds. No worries, American Soil has good vegetable soil by the bag, but today was a "no gasoline" day. Well, time to test out the load carrying abilities of the Blue Ox (aka our Yuba Mundo cargo bike).

After deciding on a route involving the fewest hills, I made my way in leisurely fashion. It was a beautiful day with mostly clear skies and light westerly winds. Upon arriving at American Soil, the sales person estimated the weight of each 2 cubic foot bag to be 70 to 80 pounds. After paying, I headed to Area A to pick up my three bags of soil. Worst case scenario, this would total about 240 pounds. Even though the Yuba Mundo has a placard on the frame stating that the maximum load is 440 pounds (not including the rider), this would be the most weight I had ever attempted to carry on the Blue Ox.

Initially there were no employees to be found. They must have been helping other customers, so I located the pallet containing the bags of soil I'd purchased. Loading the Blue Ox turned into quite a balancing routine. I struggled and somehow managed to get one bag secured on the right side without the bike tipping to the right. The second bag was wrestled into the left pannier, which should have balanced things, but with the bike on its center stand it still had a mind of its own, tending to tip one way or the other. The third and last bag went on top of the wooden deck I created a while back. I thought that would have stabilized things, but it didn't. I was trying to figure out how I would get the two load binding straps around the bag on the top while holding the bike steady when an employee showed up and gave me a hand.

With the bags loaded, everything cinched in place, and my receipt verified I began the trip home. Whoah! The bike was a more unstable than I had anticipated. The third bag on the top of the rear rack put the center of gravity higher than optimal. Things were made worse by the lack of weight on the front rack: I just had my lock, cable and a water bottle in the front basket, so the steering was a bit squirrelly. And even though the other two bags were cinched low into the panniers, there was a tendency for the bike to start swinging and swaying like a pendulum. Oh well, too late to do much about it now.

Shifting my weight forward, I focused on pointing the Blue Ox straight and making every move as gently as possible. I tested the braking before I got onto the open road. The caliper brakes worked, but squeaked and complained mightily. It was clear I'd have to plan all my stops well in advance. Even hitting a bump or pothole started a  spooky sequence of shifting moments that were ... interesting. Not wanting to ponder a gasoline-powered solution, I leaned forward, pedaled with purpose and thought happy thoughts.

The reaction of drivers I encountered on the way home was, surprisingly, one of deference. They must have seen the bike was heavily loaded and a bit hard to control. Everyone I encountered was civil and several drivers waved me ahead so I could avoid stopping. The few turns I had to negotiate were done slowly and with great care. The few times I had to start from a dead stop proved a challenge until the wheels got spinning fast enough to add stability.

Arriving at home, I unloaded before taking a picture since the Blue Ox wanted tip off the center stand with the slightest provocation. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Here are some the results of our labors, done the old-fashioned way, sans gasoline!

Potatoes go here ...

Tomatoes and marigolds ...

Jowl Candy and TTCBCOAB #31

The late Douglas Adams lamented there are "things that there should be words for, but aren't," which led him to write The Meaning of Liff, a sort of dictionary of new words like:

ABILENE (adj.)
Descriptive of the pleasing coolness on the reverse side of the pillow.

And there is the follow-on book, The Deeper Meaning of Liff. So it was that, while having a quiet, interspecies moment with my basenji Rio, I decided there needed to be, if not a completely new word, at least a descriptive phrase for the soft folds of skin beneath his jaw. Not jowl. Something more evocative. Why jowl candy, of course! Perhaps someone will eventually come up with a new word, an onomatopoeic concoction, but for now jowl candy will do.

After a pleasant ride to Costco and back, here's are some more things that can be carried on a bicycle (TTCBCOAB): Jug of laundry detergent, bag of microfiber towels, two cases of Cliff bars, a package of sunscreen, a package of shaving razors, and a bundle of paper towels.

TTCBCOAB #28 - Costco Run

On my way to Costco I run into my former student and friend, Todd. After explaining the mission, he elects to come along on his mountain bike. Off we go and he leaves me in a cloud of dust. With a bit of huffing and puffing, my cargo bike (aka the Blue Ox) is eventually coaxed into keeping up with him. After all, my cargo bike is empty at the moment and one's fragile, male ego must be protected!

A quick trip through the various aisles and all the necessary stuff has been collected (in no particular order) - box of Cliff Bars, jug of dishwashing detergent, two boxes of 8.5x11 printer paper, mouthwash, two bottles of maple syrup, and a post-apocalyptic supply of toilet paper. Loading up the Mundo, two dudes walk by: "F-ing awesome, man! You kick ass!" Indeed, but I'm more worried about the effects of gravity kicking my ass when I must climb Solano Avenue.

The ride home is a bit slower than the trip out, but there is a tailwind. Thanks to Todd for the fancy iPhone video work!