Tom Casady Rocks

I enjoyed his recent post on cycling.

This is why Lincoln, NE is a great town :).

Interesting Read

Link

Off the Sidewalk

This is a common issue that arises: How do we get sidewalk cyclists off the sidewalk and onto the street.

* Make it the law.
* Convince them.

The first one is just out, most of us can't even begin to make that happen. Besides, why do it? There are occasions for sidewalk cycling.

So, the second option.

One way we can go about this is to simply state what so many of us perceive as fact: Riding on the sidewalk is more dangerous than riding on the street. Than we can go on to explain a few reasons why: Road crossings, commercial drives, out of sight out of mind, etc.

I think the trouble here is that you're leading with the wrong thing. You're first contradicting their sensibilities. Common sense tells us that the sidewalk is a safe place to cycle: If you don't believe me I direct you to observe where most folks ride their bike on a busy street.

So how about this direction:
1. Admit that one can safely cycle on the sidewalks.
2. Explain how:
* You must keep your speed low, say below 10mph.
* You must slow, even more, for every commercial drive and street crossing; then look behind you for traffic which appears likely to turn across your path; then look forward for traffic which appears likely to cross your path (or the other way around I think).
* You must consider it your responsibility to not get hit by cars who cannot see you.
* Always ride behind, or stop for, cars which intend to pull out onto the street from side streets and commercial drives.
3. Point out that this is how you should be doing things as a pedestrian as well, but it's a bit easier to do at that speed and with that extra balance and ability to stop and go quickly.
4. Explain how to ride safely in the street:
* Ride to the right when you feel it's safe (I'd say practicable, but no sane person cares what this word means).
* Follow the same rules of the road cars do.
5. Point out that 4 is easier than 3; and since it's easier it's more repeatable and so it's probably safer in the long run.
6. Show the normal statistics.

Popularity of the Commute

This is my first summer commuting in Lincoln. I started commuting off and on last November and started doing it full time last February.

But these last two months have been, by far, the best showing of Lincoln cycle commuters I've seen. I see about 4-5 other people every morning, although they're usually different people but my schedule varies a lot. I saw my neighbor commute the other day. There are usually 4-5 others at work each day (sometimes more, sometimes a bit less). And this is a 50 person company.

I don't remember seeing so many cyclists while driving last year, but I might not have been looking.

Now, they're all on sidewalks and MUPs. But one thing at a time right?

Must be $4 a gallon gas.

87 Miles, LBL

I went on a ride to beatrice today, by the way of the homestead trail. It was a nice ride, big showing: Me and the ride leader.

Crushed limestone is punishing, especially 4 hours of crushed limestone.

Um, No

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bike-gb,0,3315740.graffitiboard?slice=24&limit=10
[QUOTE]
233. Far too many cyclists arrogantly ignore basic traffic safety laws and rules of the road. Riding side-by-side on a narrow and winding road is the height of stupidity. A profane retort to a reasonable if not polite request just compounds the stupidity. Now, you have to guys whining about injuries that would have been avoided if they had simply done the right and safe thing, ride single file. Not that the guy in the car was right just that the cyclists in this case were more wrong.

Submitted by: T.G.Smith
[/QUOTE]

This comment is responding to a story where a driver pulls ahead of two cyclists, going down a mountain road, riding next to each other (presumably taking the lane while doing so). They were doing about 30. Apparently the road is windy, which makes sense, it's a mountain road.

The driver pulls ahead, and slams on his breaks. Road bikes don't stop well at 30mph. It's not as horrible as many make it out to be, but it's not as good as a car. Especially a car with ABS who has the reflex advantage (he doesn't have to wait for reflexes).

I fail to see how it's a bad idea to ride side by side on a narrow windy road, especially if you're keeping pace. This is the _best_ time to own the road in such an obnoxious and totalitarian manner. Because: No one has good control or good visibility, and the cyclists need margin for error around the curves.
Now, going up, then it'd be pretty stinkin' rude to ride side by side when there's traffic.

This is typical of comments on this kind of story. If you're not a cyclist everything is the cyclists fault. Even if it goes against the law, reason, and our best sensibilities. If you're a cyclist then "bikes have all the same rights." Few bother to point out that we (usually) have a couple extra responsibilities.

*sigh* I'm gonna be biased here. The cyclists are correct. The cyclists were probably being slightly rude by not riding single file, in the middle of the lane (where they belonged in this case), but who cares? It would mean the same issue for the driver.

Fighting Dress

I read a letter to the editor today about how young men aren't dressing properly. Since I can't find the letter in the newspaper's online version I'll just have to attempt to recreate his essay:

[paraphrased]
I wear a suit everywhere. Anytime I go out. Other men don't. They wear muscle shirts. I think they look silly, they compliment my suit but I doubt they understand it. Everyone should wear a suit. All sensible men listen: Wear a suit.
[/paraphrased]

I've been a long standing proponent of abolishing the ridiculous garb we know as the suit. It's fine for those special occasions: Weddings, funerals, your execution. For anything else it's an attack on your fellow man.

Let's look at why.

Dress, like so much of our appearance, is relative. Your clothes look good if their fit is better, their style is newer, and their neatness is more uniform. Notice the use of the comparative. It's very intentional. You don't look good because you're wearing nice clothes, we're all wearing nice clothes: If you don't believe me, take a trip to the third world. You look good because you're wearing nicer clothes, that's why you stick out above the others.

So what happens if everyone wears clothes like yours? Do you still look the same? Certainly! Do you still stick out: No.

The point is, if most of us wear suits then we all have to wear suits. Otherwise you'd look like a slob.


So why don't we want that?

1. You can't do anything in a suit. They're not only restrictive of movement, they also don't remove heat from the body effectively. So, try walking 3 miles on a hot day in your suit. If you survive the heat, come talk to me. (Note: Using a $3,000 suit made of space age wool blends is cheating, but if you'd like to do that I don't mind. It's your money.)

2. You certainly can't bicycle in a suit. Which should matter to us utility riders who think the bicycle is a partial solution to our energy and pollution problems. I guess we just all have to ride the bus in our suits.

3. They're expensive. A comfortable suit costs $500. A comfortable suit in the summer costs a fortune.

4. They're expensive to clean. Anybody know what dry cleaning costs? I do. 6 years ago it cost more than a few dollars to clean a simple white shirt. I'd rather spend my money on something useful, like a weather shell.

So let's not bring the suit back. It's just one more way for the rich to rub poverty in the face of the lower middle class.