Work Commute
I rode to work on the bike today in 29F still weather. More to come.. Other posts are already outlined.
Bicycle Commuting and the No-Car Life
Date: 2008-07-28 By: Laura E. Kreger
From Llewellyn’s 2009 Green Living Guide
Bicycle Commuting and the No-Car Life
When I moved from the rural Midwest to Portland, Oregon, I entered a metro area of 2 million people with more breweries than anywhere in the country and more strip clubs per capita than Las Vegas. My Minnesotan family collectively raised their eyebrows, but I had faith I wouldn’t do anything drastic.
Between its pints and dancers, the City of Roses sways heavily toward environmentalism. This sentiment weaves through a culture of fleece-covered yuppies, dreadlocked beat poets, hipster rock stars, and the homeless man who picks up trash in the neighborhood park. When a co-worker said he didn’t recycle, battle cries flew up from a four-cube radius. Somewhere all these groups merge to create a city recognized as one of the most environmentally-friendly, and, as a result, most bike-friendly cities in the country.
After just two years in the Pacific Northwest, I found myself making New Year’s Resolution 2007: Sell car, buy bicycle.
When I made the announcement, my parents worried that Portland hippies were ruining their daughter, but still didn’t believe I would take the plunge. Even my roommate, who supported the idea, figured this would go the way of “Do a handstand,” which ended with me sprawled on my new yoga mat, laughing at myself. I wasn’t coming into this adventure an urban biking expert. In fact, I hadn’t even sat on a bike in two years. When the car-free plan didn’t die in four days (like most of my resolutions), the questions started flying:
“Why on earth would you want to be without a car?”
“What would you do in the winter?”
“What if you get sick?”
“How will you carry groceries?”
“How will you bring us to the ocean if we visit in five years?”
All valid questions.
…
Dahon Speed D7 and Stuff
A couple of packages arrived this week. One was the spring B67 Brooks for the touring bike and the other was the folding bike. The pictures of the D7 are uploading now. Oh, and the trekking handlebars.
The Brooks saddle feels great. Much better than the Narrow B17. I can feel the spring and the much (twice?) wider back end. It also feels like it would be less comfortable ride in the drops, but I haven’t tried it yet. It makes the Bianchi look better. Older, more classic, laid back,.. It’s hard to say exactly, but I like it.
I’ve spent a bit of time with the Dahon assembling it and outfitting it. The initial tires seemed Ok, but the back one got a flat or something. The chain and gears are completely dry, which is a first for me. The seat is good, a well padded rubber covered seat. No need to change it.
Changing things is what I’ve been doing. Front and back lights, a small bag on the rack, and most of all the tires. It came with some rather nice looking 1.5″ wide tires that I upgraded to Schwalbe’s. A 1.75″ on the front and a 2″ Big Apple on the back. Also, the back tube since it didn’t seem to hold much air.
The ride. That’s what it all comes down to. It’s completely different from any bike I been on. The wheel base feel shorter, like there’s hardly anything behind you. It accelerates much faster than most bikes, but hits a max speed pretty quickly. A lot of internet posts mention a harder ride, but that’s not how I would characterize it. You can feel more bumps, but they are pretty well muted by the tires. You get much more feedback about the road surface than a regular bike. Surprisingly, turning at speed isn’t as tight, because the bike is so low you can’t peddle through it. It feels really light. I can feel that I’m not pushing a wide surface area and I wouldn’t be as afraid about being able to stop or running into things. Stops and starts are much quicker and easier. Gearing is good. You do need it. Or at least I do.
The most striking aspect is the lack of bike you are riding. My Bianchi is in my face. Unavoidable. On long rides I stare a the front tire for hours. This guy is about 1 foot or more lower, on the edge of my peripheral vision. The front tire is hardly there. I feel a bit silly on it. Maybe not silly, but self-conscious. It looks like an odd toy bike or something from a circus. That’s just my bias. It should pass. The size means that it’s a naturally pass-through frame. No lifting the legs or beating my unborn children’s DNA on a steel bar.
It was 40F during the warm part of the day, so riding was limited to around the block. I need to find the right clothes that would make this feel relatively comfortable.
Oh, one immediate positive was the trunk space. I worried over how to attach my yoga mat to my touring bike most of last night. It’s too wide, massey/heavy, and too thick. What the D7 lacks on side space for panniers it makes up in a huge trunk space. A normal bike would have about 10″ from the top of the tire to the top of the saddle. This is a high center of gravity over a bouncing wheel. The D7 has maybe 2 feet of space in the same area. The yoga mat easily fits on the rack by itself and doesn’t look like it would fall off.
I look forward to testing out the spring saddle and the trekking handlebars. Now, I just need to figure out how to attach and wrap the new handlebars.
Bike Gear
I made a number of bike purchases last night and have some more to go for the March trip. The research is a lot of fun. Two of them have been planned for months. A sprung Brooks saddle, the B67, and the folding Dahon Speed D7. Everything else was support. Quality spare tires and tubes for the Volpe and D7. For the D7 I got tires nearly as fat as possible; 1 3/4 and 2 inches wide. I have a fetish for fat tires as the cheapest and most natural shock absorber.
Oh, and I ordered a trekking handlebar. The two typical styles are “straight” bar mountain bike and the curvy, underslung drop bar for racing. I use the latter, because it gives me 4 hand positions and I can pull myself out of the wind. One thing I can’t quite manage is folding my arms on the handlebars. The geometry isn’t quite right. A trekking bar is shaped like a rounded, cursive W. It allows 4 hand positions. No drops, but you can stretch forward more and get out of the wind. The wind can change my speed by 2 mph or 20-30 minutes on 30 miles.
The sprung seat should cut down on major knocks, but not the everyday little road vibrations. That’s for the B135 and B73. It should be interesting to try. I like by B17 Narrow, but I can’t sit upright for very long at all. Really hurts the sitbones and I end up in the drops most of the time which is a test on my lower back.
The saddle is good and I actually like applying mink oil and proofide for the break in. It’s funny. One a few rides I imagined the perfect bike seat. The ideal qualities being good contact with my sitbones, which thanks to Yoga I know where they are, and a certain flexibility even through the overall stiffness. Ideally, I would take a cast of my but under the pressure of riding and get a seat made from that. It turns out that leather seats have all of these qualities. Though they appear hard in the store you are looking at blank. With care the leather makes permanent indentations according to the rider’s anatomy. and maintains overall stiffness. One advantage I never predicted was the slickness. I often rub my ass to massage it, which isn’t very reasonable on modern seats. Leather on lycra is like greased lightening. The new sprung seat is for the width, allowing a more upright position, and for the pothole/curb size bumps that exceed the limits of the leather.
The folding bike opens up commuting a bit more. Right now the weather is generally cool to cold in the day and cold at night. So, I want a hat, gloves, and scarf in addition to the spare tube and pump. I’m afraid of leaving a bike outside with a bag on it containing these items and I don’t want to take the bag on and off, because I might not secure it well, letting it fall of en route. And the bike could just walk off on it’s own. It would just make me feel better to fold the whole thing and set it in a corner.
Now, for the sweating thing with commuting I hit on a novel idea. At least I haven’t read anyone else suggesting it. I love the new Nike Dri Fit and similar material that wicks sweat away from the body and lets it dissipate quicker. This works good on my recent rides to keep from getting sweaty and my torso is the worst offender. A number of these used as undershirts should be good on the ride and for my existing underarm sweat problem. The one that seems to overwhelm nearly all antiperspirants.
We’ll see if any of this is worth a damn or I’m just crazy.
BTW, Sheldon Brown’s site has and excellent guide on handlebars and the various shapes and advantages/disadvantages.
Shimmy
During my last ride I was fortunate enough to enjoy a good headwind on the way back the put me to 25 mph at times and 16-20 mph most of the time. I discovered though that the front wheel was rocking back and forth and my hands were dampening it. If I almost let go, this bike won’t let me go hands-free, it was very pronounced. It centered around the headset. This bike has been to ~40 mph before during the century ride last summer, so a bit of 20 mph shimmy is disturbing.
My guess is that something isn’t tight enough. The bike has just hit the 500+ mile mark and needs the standard tune up. The headset is loose or my handlebar extension is too high or the front wheel is slightly (<1mm) off center with the forks.
Some internet research turned up interesting stories about front wheel shimmy. It's apparently a deadly thing in motorcycles. Some bike frames do it and others don't. Larger frames increase the odds and sometimes tightening the headset alleviates the problem.
Links
CTC Headsets & Steering Q&A
Dave Multon’s blog
Training Notes
Yesterday, I went out and rode 30 miles. A week and a half ago I got 18, but a week and a half is a long time. There was a stiff 10-15 mph headwind that made the trip out one and a half hours and the trip back one hour. Headwinds always amaze me like that.
I really cranked up the mileage on the idea that the body, or my body at least, responds better to less frequent longer duration rides for putting on muscle and conditioning for endurance. All the long, hard rides last summer seemed to really jump up my speed/intensity within about 3 days.
The challenge last year was one long 100 mile ride. The second day would have been nice, but it was really optional the whole time. This year it’s consecutive riding. In March, 50 miles/day all week. In July, 100 miles back to back. This would seem to require a longer outlook.
I’m hoping to integrate more commuter cycling to get miles, though low quality. There seem to be two trips at least that would be good for this. The first is to work and back. The second is to yoga. It made me nervous last year to leave my bike alone. So, I’ll have a folding bike I can keep in eyeshot. This should help with the weather too. It’s seldom fun to hop on a day long soaked bike.
When Mom and I trained all those years ago I noticed that you have a very different attitude about land you ride through. Cars blow by everything. It seems to be all about time and distance. Hills, rain, grass, etc. are all abstracted away to a picture window that streams by all sides of the car. This is a good thing, but you don’t really have a sense of what you are driving through. Bicycling seems like a good pace. Certainly, a bit slow sometimes. There’s a feeling like you actually know what you rode by. It’s kind of hard to explain. Maybe the difference between being able to say I have been there and I know about there.
Spring Break Plans
So, I have a week of vacation time to use up before 3/31. It was carried over from last year and I hate to lose it. I also hate to spend it at home in a nondescript, easily forgettable fashion like I usually do. My interest of late is long distance bike rides. The beginning of the year is a crappy time to ride. It’s freaking cold, snowy, and leafless throughout most of the country. Most early trips are held in April. I did find one from Adventure Cycling in March. And I signed up.
I’m pretty excited. It’s like my first real vacation. You know where you are gone from home about the length of time of the vacation time from work and you leave town to do a particular activity.
The dates are March 14(Sat)-20(Fri) leaving from Tucson, AZ and riding around the desert to the small towns, including Tombstone. It’s about 50 miles/day with a rest day in the middle with 40+ other riders. Accommodations are a patch of grass and tent+sleeping bag. Meals are provided and baggage is carried by motor vehicle. This is the link.
Google says it’s 12 hr away. All the way through New Mexico to the southern tip of AZ. El Paso is closer. Austin is closer. Still it’s just within my driving limit of 1 days car ride. I don’t need to pack a bike box, folding bike, or hotel. Though, a hotel on the last day might be nice instead of driving through the night. The big green Bianchi fox (Volpe) can fit in the trunk with the seats down. It will probably be just me. Jessica is busy and I don’t think anyone else would be interested, but I’ll ask anyway. Chris n Staci do the camping thing, but a week can be a long time.
This pushes my Seattle to Portland training plans up. If I can do 50 mi/day in March I can certainly do 100 mi/day in July. I also get experience riding with people. The training in February and March for the ride will kind of be catch as can. It hasn’t really snowed or rained so far and that means we’ll get it latter.
Last Night’s Dream
I dreamed last night about Dad. Perhaps it was an alternate dream like when I am living in a different apt in the same city. So, an alternate Dad? Dad had written a book about his life. More things like that were in the old letter he wrote to Gma. Things he never told us about his childhood when we were growing up. He had highlighted passages in the book with different colors. He actually had taken the trouble to highlight entire pages and sections. Not just the lines or words. The time and attention to detail this took really got my attention. Don’t remember much else, but the dream was probably long or time seemed slower in it. I was able to remember it without being practicing and some hours later.
Of Mom’s past I have a fairly good idea. Over the years, I and the other grandkids have asked grandma and knew our parents growing up. We’ve been able to piece together well. Dad is a mystery. His environment was drastically different in location, culture, people, religion,..
Miles from Nowhere: A Round the World Bicycle Adventure
We had to read some pretty awful crap in school. A lot of it in different styles and periods. I don’t think we read a travelogue. At least not an American one written within the past 20 years. What a damn shame. You could teach geography, history, and literature with a slightly smaller set of books.
I started a book that would be an excellent candidate for HS reading. A woman and her husband bicycle across the world in 1979. First, the US and it’s leaded gasoline, Spain after Franco died, Morocco before the Spain/Morocco bridge was built, Portugal’s cobblestone/dirt roads, England, Ireland and Norther Ireland during the bombings, France, Austria, Greece, Egypt during the Egypt/Israel peace talks, India and southeast Asia. The writing is really good. Easy and fast. The story reads like a long tale told in a college coffee house after dark. There are many long 5 star reviews on Amazon.
She doesn’t leave out human things about travel. Fights with her husband due to 24/7 living together, getting the runs in a hostile 3rd world country, mechanical breakdowns, and magical happenstance. The coolest one bit of circumstance was that in their 2 yr trip they stayed in a church only once. Cycling through England in an area where the author had ancestors she was vaguely aware of. When they woke in the morning they discovered that the church was part of her family history hundreds for years and her maiden name (all 3) were in the registry a dozen times.
Anyway, good book. Reads fast. Very interesting.
Miles from Nowhere: A Round the World Bicycle Adventure
Barbara Savage
Feeling Better
Finally, I got some sleep last night. Being sick was starting to piss me off. I struggle through work yesterday, napped for a couple of hours, and felt well enough to read half of a biycle book. The night went by without any medication and most of the symptoms have abated. I’m feelin’ pretty energetic this morning.
Can’t believe that it took almost a week or that I went through 2+ rolls of lotion coated toilet paper and all my tissues in a box and my nose is still chapped. There’s a little drainage and stuffiness left and it would surprise me if I could sleep for a couple more hours. Today should be much easier.
MacWorld ‘09
Apple announced it’s new products for Q1, at least. iLife looks cool. Snooze on iWork. And the top end MacBook Pro that was left out of the Sept ‘08 upgrades was upgraded with a very cool custom battery that gives it 8 hr. Unfortunately, it didn’t get a Quad Core CPU. iTunes goes DRM free for more money. This really highlights the fact the DRM is a feature only for the copyright holder and is an obstacle for the consumer. Something artificial that you have to pay not to have. Wait, that sounds like protection racket.
I was hoping for Apple TV, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro updates. Particularly, the first two are looking very long in the tooth. The desktop Macs really have to wait for Intel to make lots of new quad core chips, which’ll be a couple of months. Also, iMacs were left out of the upgrades that the laptops received in Sept. The one where a slide was presented showing just how dog slow the iMac video cards are. I betcha this is all, because of the difficulty nVidia has had with shipping low defect chips. If so, Apple has got to be plenty pissed that many of it’s product lines are delayed, because of it.
Overall good, but boring. Show me the products that I know are going to be updated or tell me when. I don’t want an Apple TV that is obsolete 1 month later. Which is exactly what could happen in the next three months.
BTW, I’m loving the G4 Cube after the upgrade. It’s all back in it’s case, lying on its face, and running great. A few quirks like forget about using sleep mode, and the limited USB 1.1 bus can get drastically overloaded, forget running Leopard, and Adobe doesn’t know how to code Flash for G4s. It looks cool, runs pretty stable, and the CD through USB 1.1 scans and burns just fine. This has been my main computer for the past 3 months.
New Year’s Sick
I’m so freakin’ tired of being sick. The entire long vacation I’ve got some low grade sinus viral thing that very, very slowly progresses. It’s not so annoying as to stop me from working around the house. Drugs have a wide hit and miss swing. Lately, they seem to be completely ineffective. Though, this morning I thought today might be the last day. Now, I’ve got dry sinuses, a clear runny nose, popping distant hearing, and a hard cough on my voice box that has me whispering. The worst part is the symptoms keep me from sleeping for long. The longest I’ve had since Wednesday was 4 hours. 4 freakin’ days! Aaggghhh
_GET['cat'] Doesn’t Work With Permalinks
My sidebar shows different content based upon the category that you are viewing at the time. There are so many links that I want access to that I had to break out the big categories like bicycle and garden into their own subpages.
The other day I switched to using permalinks for the URL. This replaces the URLs like this:
WordPressSS/?post_id=763
With URLs that look like this:
WordPressSS/2008/12/22/penny-stove/
This caused a big problem with showing different sidebar content based on the category. The category used to be passed in through the query string and you get it with _GET['cat']. Permalinks don’t use query strings.
To restore functionality, you need to replace “current_cat = $_GET['cat'];” with
$category = get_the_category();
$current_cat = $category[0]->cat_ID;
It would seem the permalinks can handle multiple categories, because get_the_category() returns an array. This might be useful for some feature I can’t image. Perhaps a sidebar for a tab to show Programming+Computers+Technology content.
Happy New Year!
