planbike

Donate Your Data: Make Every Ride A Vote For Cycling

2012-07-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

Quick Note On Why Data Matters
If you cycle often enough in the U.S., eventually you either hear about or experience a close call with a car and/or a confrontation with antagonistic pedestrians, drivers, or police. Here's an incident captured on video that occurred on my home bike commute (Tunnel Ride) just a few months ago.

This kind of thing often instills a desire for more support from law enforcement and better bicycle infrastructure. It begs the question of how to get more dedicated bicycle paths, more bicycle lanes, or at least more respect from police and motorists.

It Takes More Than Good Intentions

UPDATE 2012/08/08: Portland, OR has installed their first automated bike counter. According to BikePortland.org, this is the first one in the U.S. However, some claim that Arlington, VA has had automated bike counters since 2009 (as shown here).

UPDATE 2012/07/30: Since posting this, I noticed a number of programs that leverage smartphones for cyclists. Cool stuff but it begs two big questions two consider when donating your bike data:

Do they make it easy to query all the data you provide to them? In other words, do they share what you give them so you or some other organization can use it?
Do they support all the major smartphones (e.g. Android and iPhone)? In other words, are they leaving out half the bike population because they don't have all the software support?

General GPS sharing sites have resolved both these issues:

Mapymyride.com shares data but makes you join their "partner program" first.
strava.com shares data through their REST API ( i.e. a set of simple web addresses that spew data). You can see charts generated from strava data below.

By contrast, these incentive/mile sites, don't have these issues resolved because their focus is on their drive, not long-term data sharing. Ideally, we want incentives for reporting data but we also want to keep this data handy for advocacy:

http://2milechallenge.com/ shares data by request but has no facility for doing so.
http://www.endomondo.com/campaign/national/
shares data on "retail" level. You can download your own data but it is not yet possible to query what others are doing.

Unfortunately, what quickly becomes apparent when you try to advocate for those things is that your interests must compete with the interests of all the non-cyclists or anti-cyclists out there, and that competition is stiff. "Think we need more bike lanes for all the new cyclists on the road?", those competitors will say, "Prove it."

Even when representatives are sold on the idea in general, figuring out where and how to design a new bicycle plan or legislation is still a tough question to answer without a lot of data.

Data: An Essential Tool For Advocacy

For these reasons and more, advocates are desperate for good data on cycling activity. Many schedule regular "bike counts" where they literally sit on street corners and tally the number of riders that go by.

Monitoring: An Essential Tool for Data

Of course, there are hi-tech ways to automate this. Some cities, mostly outside the U.S., have invested in video monitoring systems that use sophisticated software to distinguish what types of vehicles go by: essentially, fixed data recorders scattered around a given city.

The Problems With Monitoring Systems
However, these are very costly, not trivial to install, and can present privacy concerns. That's not exactly a slam dunk to cash-strapped car-loving municipalities in the states. New systems like BitCarrier attempt to sidestep the cost and privacy issues but they still involve a significant commitment to install and run. All this can make the monitoring system itself a political decision and, thus, a perpetually deferred one.

Improvise/Overcome

iPhone GPS App

Android GPS App

So what to do? The goal of this blog is to find ways to engage in and promote cycling right now regardless of what legislators are doing or failing to do. Until political will shows up to properly monitor cycling activity, people who care about cycling have to monitor themselves. However, that doesn't mean they can't enlist their own high tech solutions. To that end, there's a sophisticated bike monitor right under our noses, literally, that most cyclists are still not using.

New Tools Automate Self-Monitoring

In recent years, sport cyclists have become addicted to recording all their rides using GPS-enabled cycling computers or smartphones apps that do the same thing. Not only do these devices help with navigation, they record the latitude, longitude, and altitude of all the points on the ride.

That trend has led to websites catering to these sport riders that allow them to upload the GPS data. The sites not only display a map of the ride, they graphically compare each riders path and aggregate that activity by "segment" on the website.

Currently, this is most often done so wannabe racers can compare their times against other riders. However, this also provides wannabe advocates with excellent data on who is riding where and how often.

Bike Culture Clash

Geeking out with all this data collection can make certain cyclist's skin crawl. BikeSnobNYC recently tweeted, sardonically: "Every ride on your high-end bicycle is important. Be sure to document it by means of a cycling-based social networking application." His comment got retweeted over 100 times.

Self-Monitor: If Not For Your Ego, Then For Advocacy
Although it is clear why some cyclists want to distinguish themselves from those they might perceive as spandexed, "weight weenies", obsessing over ride times, cycling in general still desperately needs the data that all cyclists can provide. In fact, it is urban cycling in particular that could benefit most from adopting this practice since it is the city where so many of cycling's competing interests reside.

NYC's new bike share program equips all its bikes with GPS for just such a purpose (see this StreetsBlog article about that). What's more, cyclists are already wearing video cameras to record accidents and infractions by motorists (see this New York Times article).

This video monitoring is analogous to a flight recorder on an airplane. Using a GPS to record rides simply amounts to having a data recorder as well. What's more, this kind of monitoring is "opt-in" whereas other systems tend to record you whether you want them to or not.

Recording all your bike rides for speed may seem distasteful to some but letting that preclude the recording of rides for advocacy's sake seems more so. More ride data will result in a wealth of detail on cycling activity. With this simple act on the part of cyclists, advocates can show legislators the hardest data they've ever seen on cyclist ride patterns:

ride paths
ride dates
ride times
number of unique riders (aka voters) on a given route in a given time.

Data like that is essential when justifying the existence and the placement of bicycle infrastructure and legislation.

There's Already A Lot Of Data Out There
Some of this GPS data already includes urban cycling routes. Below, is but a sampling of the data found after a few minutes of searching. Imagine what kind of data will result when more cyclists and cycling advocates start recording their rides the same way.

Potential Bonanza For Bike Advocacy Data
Given all the potential for cycling data and its impact, advocacy groups will hopefully adopt the practice of creating and/or identifying key segments of their roadways on these websites and encourage all riders, sport or otherwise, to record every ride they take. At the very least, doing so, would be a great supplement to official bike counts. The detail on cycling activity, if not total number of rides tallied, will increase exponentially.

Smartphones As Bike Computer/Monitoring Tool

Until recently, the need for an expensive bike computer might have prevented a lot of riders from engaging in bike trip monitoring. However, most people now have GPS-enabled smartphones. Websites like strava.com already have apps that allow these smartphones to record rides and upload data just the way the GPS computers do. In fact, there's little bike computers do that a smartphone app can't anymore.

Below are some sample charts generated from aggregate ride data on strava.com.

Data On Oakland, CA

Rides/Day: Tunnel Road
Oakland, CA

Most Popular Hours
Tunnel Road
Oakland, CA

Rides/Day
Bike To Work Day North
Chicago, IL

Most Popular Hours
Bike To Work Day North
Chicago, IL

Rides/Day Los Feliz Corner
Los Angeles, CA

Most Popular Hours
Los Feliz Corner
Los Angeles, CA

The first set of charts shows all the rides recorded for the "Tunnel Road" ride in the last 2 months. This is a sport ride but it is also my commute home. The first chart in the set shows rides per day with the total number of unique riders. The second tallies the most popular hours of the day. These show the course gets heavy usage by cyclists every day all day long.

Given that two cyclists were recently hit on this course, many of us would like something done to improve safety. These charts clearly document the demand and ride patterns that will be affected.

Data for Chicago, IL
The second set of charts shows all the rides recorded for the "Bike To Work North" ride in Chicago, IL. I'm not familiar with the terrain but this is a short ride that appears to go right to downtown: not exactly a sport ride. The rider volume is not very high but that is what is so easy to fix if everyone starts getting a "data receipt" for all of their rides.

Data for Los Angeles, CA
The third set of charts shows all the rides recorded for the "Los Feliz Corner" ride in Los Angeles, CA. This looks to be another urban course. This chart even shows activity over several years. The daily activity appears very low but, even so, the number of unique cyclists is not. Again, so much more could be gained for advocacy if all of LA's urban riders participate.

Fly, Land, Bike! Look Ma, no transit, no rental car.

2012-05-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

Whenever I fly somewhere, I dream of just landing and riding my bike from the airport. I've been flying with my bike in tow for a couple of years now but, for a variety of reasons chronicled on this blog, that hasn't been practical. Until now...(cue Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra" from 2001: A Space Odyssey).

Yesterday, I landed at Ontario International Airport, in Ontario, California (not Canada). I walked off the plane with two modestly-sized carry-ons. After retrieving a typically-sized suitcase from baggage claim, I walked to a quiet corner of the airport. In less time than it takes to rent a car, ~15 minutes, I was riding off from the airport with all my luggage and still cruising at 30kph. Better still, I incurred no additional baggage charges like I did in D.C. recently.

Prior bike luggage travails:

Dream realized! What made the difference this time were some recent innovations in bicycle design: my folding Tern Verge X20 and my brand new Burley Travoy. Both performed superbly:

The Tern Verge X20

weighs 9.3kg/20.5lb
easily cruises at 36km/20mph
fits in a regular suitcase.
Incredible! Here's a link to my nycewheels review where I gush further.

The Burley Travoy

weighs 4.4 kg/9.8 lb
easily attaches and cruises behind my folding bike
fits in a regular carry-on bag (included).

Thanks to these innovations, it is a great time to be alive and cycling. Other folding bikes and trailers have come along but few fold/unfold as fast AND perform as well on the road.

CHP, please avoid bike lanes.

2012-05-12T10:19:00.001-07:00

Dear CHP (California Highway Patrol).

When stopping drivers, please guide them to a spot away from bicycle lanes. Forcing me around you risks my life and implicitly tells other drivers these lanes don't matter.

In this example, I had to pull into a lane between cars going 40 MPH. I'm brave and all but this kind of thing dramatically increases the chances I'll be dead or maimed by someone looking at you as they drive past.

Note the perfectly good turnout 50 yards ahead. You could have used that as the spot to write your citation. This would keep you from getting hit as well.

Cycling San Francisco: Lombard Street By Bike [HD VIDEO]

2012-04-14T23:19:00.001-07:00

This bright clear day around the bay gave me a great excuse to test out the new GoPro. Here's a video of San Francisco's Lombard Street by bicycle.

Fake Cable Cars Behaving Badly

On the way there, I witnessed a fake cable car picking up passengers in the bike lane. In the time it took for me to chronicle this, two cyclist's had to take the lane. Not a biggie for the seasoned cyclist but it is still how accidents happen.

And I keep hearing how the lack of infrastructure is a dealbreaker for many would-be cyclists. Given that, it is a bummer to continually see existing infrastructure poached by motor vehicles with plenty of alternative places to park.

Hill Training With Extreme Prejudice
I love downtown San Francisco for outrageous hills to climb. Today was no Seven Hills of Hell but it had some tasty climbs.

Cycling Washington D.C.: By Night

2012-04-03T19:28:00.003-07:00

At the end of Day 2 of the National Bike Summit, the Bicycle Space bike shop hosted a ride for BikeSnobNYC to help launch his new book. The clear, balmy, weather promised to make this a memorable ride through a number of D.C. landmarks at night.

The ride started off across from Bicycle Space just before dusk. It was a good turnout with a nice array of bikes and bicyclists.

Love Bike Demographic: Everybody
Group activities of all kinds are great for building a sense of community but too many attract the same demographic. To really build a true community, you've got to attract young and old, rich and poor, right and left, etc. I saw all that on this ride and see it on many rides I do elsewhere. Love that.

Bike Style On Display
A number of folks were showing off their cool bikes and attire. At one point the folding bikes had a fold-off: that's an amusing thing to watch.

I especially liked the "dress casual" the cargo bike ride rider was sporting. A button down shirt, slacks, and dress shoes are not commonly found on cargo bike riders. Presumably, because they are gonna sweat a lot on that thing but tonight's ride was easy and he looked cool either way.

I also enjoyed the houndstooth bike. Unfortunately, I never got around to finding out where the owner got that but it was super cool.

Police Blockage: Really?
The ride got off to a bizarre start just a few blocks in when a Metro Police car rushed ahead and blocked the seemingly innocuous street in front of us, with extreme prejudice I might add. There was nothing obviously sensitive on that street and it was literally one block that was off limits. That snarled the ride for a few seconds but no biggie.

White House At Sunset

A few minutes later we passed the White House. The setting sun cast a long shadow of the cyclists on the stone panels in front of the White House. It was so gorgeous I wanted to spend the whole evening taking pictures there but I am glad I didn't because of all the good stuff I found ahead.

Noone Knows Your Name But You Feel Like They Do

I just love how relaxed I feel on these group rides no matter where in the world I am on one. I've rarely had so many warm encounters with people I didn't know. Noone knows your name but you feel like they do.

Great Swaths Of Carlessness

Once passed the White House, it was on to the Lincoln Memorial. Like the White House, it has a great wide swath of carless pavement in front.

Lots More Bike Lanes To Go
If only these great swaths were all connected. Too often they are not. Instead, you find an inconsistent mix of plain car-dominated street, narrow bicycle lane, or wide but pedestrian-filled sidewalk. Nevertheless, the traffic jams from the blooming cherry blossoms did a great job of calming traffic in the area so even the streets weren't that bad (for cyclists).

Police Escort: Really?

After cruising down by the Potomac riverfront a bit, a strange site appeared. It was yet another Metro Police car but, this time, it was helping cyclists. It pulled in front of the cars instead of us, then held the traffic at bay until we all got through. What a pleasant surprise.

Nationals Park Garage
As we rode past the Nationals Park baseball stadium, the ride leaders took a counter-intuitive turn into the adjacent parking garage. The garage did have its very own bicycle parking area on the first floor which is very cool. However, there was no way we'd all fit.

No worries. The ride leaders were just adding a bit of drama to the ride by taking us up to the roof for a spectacular sunset view of the stadium and surrounding area.

Bicycle Space made the whole experience even better with excellent tunes and with free popsicles for everyone. These guys are obviously professionals.

Once down from the roof, real darkness had set in but the light show was just beginning. We cruised down to the neighboring Yards Park.

Yards Park
At Yards Park, an elegant new foot bridge gleamed in the night. I was told the whole area there was only recently constructed so there weren't any restaurants open yet. It is already a great place to languish.

Capitol Finale
After Yards Park, it was time for the finale: the back of the Capitol. The front was a moving site in broad daylight during the Ride On Washington but approaching it at night was really spectacular. Again, the balmy temperature was perfect. You didn't care that it was getting late.

Once there, folks started circling in front of it. The collection of bicycle lights under the capitol created a dream-like vision. It truly beautiful and hopeful to see people spending their evenings this way instead of behind a bar, TV, or steering wheel. It was what Spaulding Gray might call a perfect moment. I was so happy to be a part of it.

After that, it was time to head home. Didn't find a bike lane on this road but it was all smiles on the way, nevertheless.

More D.C. photos:

More ride photos:

San Francisco Critical Mass: Almost Legal at 18

P.S. Special thanks to Lisa, whom I met on this ride. You were a wealth of information about cycling and D.C. It was a real pleasure to meet you. Thanks.

Cycling Washington D.C.: Ride On Washington

2012-04-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

First order of business while in D.C. for the National Bike Summit was to participate in the finale of Tim Johnson's Ride On Washington. This is a 500 mile journey from Boston to Washington D.C. to raise funds for Bikes Belong. Tim Johnson invites all comers to ride with him for the finale into Washington D.C. on the first day of the National Bike Summit.

People Power

Last year, the "Occupy" demonstrations reignited, in many, a long lost passion for fundamental change to our economy and society. The movement grabbed international attention just by forming stationary groups in points of political interest.

Bike Power

Since then, many have realized what many cyclists already knew: that cycling is a great instrument for affecting economic and social change. Even before any stimulus, legislation, or demonstration, a single cyclist immediately diverts money spent on financing, maintaining and fueling a car to something more stimulating, economically or otherwise. Whenever many cyclists do this, people see dramatic improvements to health, community, and economy.

Powers Combined

Tim Johnson's Ride On Washington is a unique chance to illustrate both the power of assembly and the power of cycling, and do it right in front of national legislators. What better way to begin the National Bike Summit?

Starting the Finale

First though, I had to get to the start of the finale ride. It began 18 miles out in the D.C. suburb of College Park, MD. That should have been a piece of cake. Google Maps showed me a bicycle-friendly way to Proteus Bicycles: the shop hosting the start. I had 90 minutes to get there. No problem.

Bike Trouble
Unfortunately, my reassembly of my folding bike had my derailleur missing 12 out of 20 gears. Ugh!!!! My 90 minutes was going fast.

Devlin and Jimmy at Rollin Cycles

Persevering, I tapped Google Maps once again for nearby bike shops. Thankfully, one was 2 blocks away. Many thanks to Jimmy and Devlin at Rollin Bicycles for fixing my derailleur in seconds, at no charge. Thanks to them, I was able to make it out in time for the finale. I wound up taking the metro out to Greenbelt but I made it.

Proteus Bicycles

Proteus Cycles: start of the finale

When I got to College Park, I found the utterly charming Proteus bicycle shop. This place is a fabulous combination of cement floors, folksy signage, and old wall hangings that reflect many years focused on the fun of cycling.

Proteus Bicycles: Ride On Washington

Today was no different. Proteus was throwing a party in Tim's honor and contributed lots of support for the ride. Many thanks to them for their part in making it a truly pleasant experience.

Cycling Group Grows As We Hit Town

The finale ride meandered pleasantly through the suburbs of D.C. picking up more cyclists along the way. I especially dug one rider's 2 foot high head dress. It makes me wonder how helmet laws reconcile helmets with religious head dress.

Cycling Pennsylvania Avenue

Capitol View
The real highlight for me was the experience of cycling down Pennsylvania avenue with the capital building in the background. It was truly a dream come true. What a sight: the capitol, the bike lane smack dab in the middle of the street, and all these cyclists showing their support for more lanes. It fills one with pride and excitement.

D.C. Police Support?

D.C's Finest?

That said, there were a few surprises on this ride. The first was the lack of police support. It is not uncommon for rides of this type to get a police escort to secure intersections until the entire group has passed. Instead, police were found parked in the middle of a separated bike lane, forcing our group to ride in the gutter, literally.

Where Was Everybody?

A Typical SF Critical Mass Turnout

Seeing a thousand cyclists congregate peacefully is a relatively common site these days. Casual "fun rides" often get great turnouts. Given:

the recent turnouts elsewhere
the fact that Tim Johnson just knocked himself out for 500 miles to support cycling
the fact that 800+ passionate cycling advocates had just hit town

I had visions of a sea of cyclists filling the streets of D.C. so completely that even the most distracted government representative would have to take notice.

Nevertheless, by last count, we had 100+. Granted, it was a Tuesday but it is still too bad that so many local cyclists and visiting advocates missed a great opportunity to show support for cycling on a national stage. They also missed a really fun ride.

Great Finish
Regardless, the ride had a great finish. Tim Blumenthal, President of Bikes Belong, and many others joined the ride using bikes from Capital Bikeshare no less. The weather couldn't have been much better. It was a great day and a great ride. I am very grateful to Tim and all the others who made it happen.

More D.C. photos:

Cycling Washington D.C.: Getting There

2012-03-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

Background

In 1972 my dad and I toured Washington D.C. by bicycle. That produced fond memories. News in recent years from D.C. about Gabe Klein's appointment to DDOT, the resulting new Capital Bikeshare program, and miles of new bike lanes, made we want to cycle D.C. again. Cycling during the 2012 National Bike Summit in Washington D.C., made for a nice 30 year reunion between my bike and the nation's capital.

Introduction

More D.C. photos:

What follows are a lot of pictures and a few reflections on this experience. There were so many that I've divided them into separate posts. This is the first one. I just call it "getting there".

Getting There
Cycling to D.C. from California might be nice some day when I have more time to spare but since that day has not yet arrived, I had to fly. That said, the whole point was to ride the city when I got there. Where to get a bike?

Rent or Bring?
Although Capital Bikeshare is a great program for getting around the city proper, I had longer rides planned. A fitted road bike would be more suited to the task.

Although I have rented, and could rent, a proper road bike, I am also tall and oddly proportioned. Most rentals target the average-sized person. I knew from painful experience that I needed a bike that fit really well or I would be laid up with backaches instead of out enjoying my stay. Consequently, I decided to bring my own bike.

Nevertheless, if you are in that sweet spot of 5 feet 2 inches to 6 feet 2 inches, chances are there is a rental bike available no matter what quality level you require.

Flying With Bikes
Full-Size Bikes

Flying with full-size bikes can be an expensive proposition. For the Olympics, United charged me $100 each way. Granted, that was for a 3 foot by 4 foot rolling bike box but it wasn't as heavy as many regular suitcases and other airlines have charged far less or nothing at all for the same case (e.g. Southwest and JetBlue).

Folding Bikes

This time I hoped to avoid such expenditures by bringing my folding bike in a regular suitcase. The folding bike suitcase was large but not so large that it could not to be treated like regular luggage, or so I thought.

Unfortunately, I answered honestly when I was asked what was in the suitcase. Once the word "bike" was mentioned, I was kicked out of the normal luggage line and placed with the Australian surfer checking in his surfboard. He got stung for $100. I paid $125 because the ticketing staff suddenly realized that they hadn't been charging the "normal luggage fee" on top of the oversized luggage fee.

Despite the fact that my suitcase was not overweight and could easily fit on the normal conveyor belt, I was assured my bike case could not be treated as regular luggage. Consequently, it was a bitter irony to see my suitcase come out of the normal conveyor belt when it arrived in D.C., i.e. not the oversized luggage door.

My advice: don't fly United with any bike. Other airlines are way more accommodating to bikes. As for folding, make sure the suitcase really is standard size. In my case, that means I have to breakdown my Tern Verge X20 a little more than I hoped. For serious compactness, the Brompton seems good. However, no folding yet matches my Tern for serious long rides.

D.C. Metro: Nice

Ronald Reagan Airport

Thanks to the newish Ronald Reagan Washington Airport, which is surprisingly central and well-connected to D.C.s metro, getting to my hotel downtown took virtually the same amount of time as a cab at rush hour.

The D.C. metro was great. Maybe I was just lucky but I never waited long for a train, not even when I got lost and had to reverse direction. It was also relatively clean and the stations look pretty cool.

I Have Arrived

The first thing I saw as I exited my metro station was a separated bike lane: a welcoming sign. Unfortunately, I couldn't ride it just yet. My bike was packed up in its suitcase.

Note to folding bike makers: build a bike case that you can tow behind your bike so you can extract the bike and ride immediately upon arrival. I've seen a few of these but you have to assemble the wheels. The ideal would be something done in seconds at the airport or metro station.

More D.C. photos:

The Agony and Ecstasy Of A Bleeding Edge Bike Commute

2012-02-12T23:12:00.001-08:00

Introduction
This is a love story and a cautionary tale of my first bike commute on my new super light folding bike: Tern Verge X20.

Background
It is safe to say I have a challenging bike commute:

41 miles each way
7+ miles of water to cross
300+ meters of vertical to descend/climb

Given all that, I leverage regional public transportation systems all I can to ensure I don't spend 4+ hours a day commuting.

Across And Down Or Down And Across
If the Bay were a rectangle, my work would be diagonally located from my home. That means going across and down or down and across the bay.

That either means taking BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to San Francisco and CalTrain down the peninsula or taking BART down the East Bay and the Dumbarton Express bus across the Dumbarton Bridge. The first option was preferable because the CalTrain system on the peninsula has dedicated bike cars. No other system in the Bay Area does.

The Challenge

Therein, lies the real challenge for my bicycle commute: public transit bicycle policies. No public transit, except for CalTrain, is very keen on seeing cyclists around rush hour. BART outright bans them for each of the two rush hour periods on their transbay tunnel.

The Initial Solution
Initially, I took the alternate route to dodge BART's bike curfew for the SF transbay tunnel. I would take BART south to Union City and either cycle across or bus across the Dumbarton Bridge.

Some Bridges Like Bikes

I was astounded and impressed to find that the Dumbarton is the one bridge from the East Bay that has a bicycle/pedestrian lane all the way across.

This is a heartening fact in the face of the recent Bay Bridge reconstruction that includes a bicycle/pedestrian path that only goes halfway across the bay to Treasure Island (aka a bridge to nowhere).

Anyway, for the first few weeks of April, this plan worked fine. If I got up early enough, I would BART down and cycle across the Dumbarton. The whole trip took 90 minutes but who's counting when this includes a workout (aka a reprieve from a gym visit).

Some Buses Like Bikes

Whenever I woke up late, I would bus across (with my bike in a rack) and the whole trip took 70 minutes.

Neither option was super fast but given that a traffic jam could make a car trip 90 minutes or more, either wasn't bad at all. Not to mention, you could fill the whole time with web surfing or reading instead of driving.

The Reality
Then Spring hit. It stopped raining and warmed up enough that other cyclists started having the same idea for crossing the Dumbarton. This ensured that the Dumbarton Express bus racks were always full. I tried getting to it a little early but no dice: still full. After all, there were only two racks.

I quickly realized that the Dumbarton bus route was not a reliable option for a cyclist given the limited bike rack capacity. This produced a real bind. I didn't have time to cycle the bridge everyday and I couldn't reliably get up early enough to beat the bike crowds to the Dumbarton Express bus.

Hefty Hiatus
Right about that time, someone asked me to carpool so I took a bike commuting hiatus. However, this felt more restrictive than all the bicycle curfews I was avoiding. No longer could I stay late at work or run errands at lunch with my bike.

Carpooling wasn't working but, by then, I had really fallen off the wagon with early rising so it felt like I couldn't turn back. Months passed. I gained 10 pounds. I had failed to replace the cycling with another form of exercise. This wouldn't do.

The New Solution

After trying and failing to get BART to lift their rush hour bike curfew, I suddenly realized that BART's curfew excluded folding bikes. I researched those and found almost all to be sorely lacking in simplicity, sturdiness and speed. The one exception was a new generation of bikes coming from a company called Tern.

The Tern Verge X20 seemed like a great candidate for the kind of folding bike I would need. An incredible bike by any measure:

quick folding (more than I can say for many)
9.3kg (that's high end road bike territory)
SRAM Red shifting (the very best, at a price to match of course)
1.11 inch wide wheels (picture 23c road tire but only 20 inches in diameter, aka minimal resistance, gliders)

This bike sounded perfect, given all my constraints:

terrain
bike curfews
rack space constraints
time constraints (lighter equals much shorter commute times on bikes)

With a folding bike, I could travel with impunity on any transit system. The bike wouldn't even need a bike rack on a bus and it would circumvent the curfews on BART. Best of all, because it was ultralight and ultrafast, it would climb hills and cross flats almost as fast my road bike. "Woohoo! What a great time to be a bike commuter", I thought.

Waiting and Weighting

Tern is not only a brand new bike but a brand new company. Josh Hon, son of David Hon, broke away from his dad's folding bike company, you guessed it, Dahon to start his own folding bike company,Tern. The realities of starting a new company, plus some family acrimony, seemed to keep the bicycle's arrival perpetually imminent over the holidays.

Given my weight gain and total lack of will power for any other kind of exercise, I was getting desperate. After months of waiting and "weighting", the bikes finally arrived on the market and I bought the first one I found. It is here where this story really begins. The first day of bike commuting with this cutting (aka bleeding) edge commuter bike was both fantastic and horrific (no fault of the bike's btw).

The Ecstasy

The first moments were ecstasy. The bike was very stable while I reached 50kph going down 300 meters of vertical. I only added about 2 minutes to the first leg of my commute. Not bad!

Better still, I walked onto the BART train for San Francisco with no fear of punishment even though the sign flashed "NO BIKES". The train wasn't that crowded so I didn't even bother folding it. But when the train did fill up, I had it in a pretzel in seconds. Even some of the folks on the train were impressed.

Once across the bay, I discovered I had 10 minutes to get to the CalTrain station 2km away. This was a job for the super fast Verge X20.

Again, it performed magnificently, I found the small wheels of the folding bike much more nimble at dodging pedestrians and weaving through cars amidst the morning gridlock of downtown San Francisco.

Likewise, the bike cruised along at a respectable 25kph on the flat long blocks. All my waiting, planning, and spending on this new cutting edge commute tool had paid off. I was leaving all the other heavy and slow commuter bikes in the dust.

Beginners Unluck
Then fate turned on me. It started when I arrived at the SF CalTrain station just as the doors closed on my train's gate. That cost a 15 minute delay. No matter, I thought. The bike was fast, I could still make up time on the last leg in Menlo Park.

The Agony
I hit the ground running in Menlo Park, I got off the train and on the bike in seconds. I charged ahead on one of Menlo Park's beautiful bike lanes to make up some lost time. Then, 100 meters out, I ran over something weird only to feel that unmistakable rumble from my rear tire. Ugh!!!!!!!! A flat.

One thing I am pretty good at is being prepared for these mishaps. The day before, I had made a special trip to the bike store for spare inner tubes for just such an occasion as this. I had also enquired about extra tires but all the shop had were unfoldables so I skipped those. I figured I would order them soon.

Not soon enough. The flat was from a cut to the sidewall. That's death for any kind of tire. So there I was: rendered a pedestrian by a tiny piece of metal with a kickass new foldable bike in tow. I went back and gave the jagged metal a good kick to vent frustration and spare someone else the same fate.

Extraordinary Bikes Require Extraordinary Bike Stores
My fate was just getting warmed up. I've been without a tire or tube before. It's a long walk but eventually you get to a bike store and you are on your way. But this wasn't just any bike so I couldn't use just any bike store. I needed a 20" diameter, 1.1" wide, tire. That's Greek to most standard bike shops, and folding bike shops for that matter.

My mind raced:

Where had I seen folding bike dealers in this area. Only 2 shops out of a dozen came to mind.
Is the shop open? I am late to work but it is only 9 a.m.
How will I get to the shop in my bike shoes without trashing my ankles?

After making a few calls, I discovered the 2 folding bike shops were open. However, the bike was so new that none of the staff had heard of it, much less knew which parts would fix it. Still, after a LOT of explaining, I established that 1 shop had a tire I could use. Naturally, that was the most distant shop.

Googling for public transit solutions only embellished the need for a working bicycle in times like these. No buses were nearby and no bus would take me anywhere near the shop. Ironically, CalTrain got the closest to the shop so I walked back to the station, waited a quarter hour, and caught the next train.

The next hour was filled with lots of super fun walking in bike shoes and having the rare cab swiped from me by a business man while I folded my bike. But I finally got to the shop, got the tire and rode to work. Only 2.5 hours late. Woohoo!

Epilog

The moral of the story for me is this. Like any bleeding edge solution, be prepared to provide your own tech support. The newer the solution, the fewer resources to help when things go wrong.

After my ordeal, I even discovered that the shop that sold me the bike had sold me the wrong size inner tubes. When you are on the bleeding edge, you are really on your own so be prepared. Internet shopping makes this easy but I jumped the gun by cycling without all the supplies.

Despite my initial lack of supplies and abundance of bad luck, I have no regrets. The ability of this type of bicycle to negotiate both the capricious bike policies of regional transit systems and the capricious streets of downtown rush hours, should ensure these bikes become increasingly popular. That should mean more stores will carry them soon and, in turn, mean I will have less far to walk for parts.

Regardless, I now stock a new tube and tire on my back for this bike as I do for all my full sized bikes. I gambled and lost this time but I won't again, especially with such a wonderful new type of bike.

GM's Ad: Correcting The Real Offense

2011-10-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Giant Bicycles post an ad that responds to the GM ad. Details on Grist. The ad is displayed below the GM ad here.

While monitoring the "sound and fury" surrounding the recent General Motor's cyclist-bashing ad posted by BikePortland.org, it was heartening to see the downpour of support for cycling and to see it actually affect GM's plans.

Nevertheless, this ad is just the tip of the iceberg. There's been a media blitz of bicycle-bashing for years (this slate.com article talks all about it). Bicycles and cyclists are frequent symbols of emasculation and failure in media. Just in the last 5 years, there's Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading, Steve Carell in 40 Year Old Virgin, Will Ferrell in Everything Must Go and Ben Stiller in Greenberg. Is it GM we're mad at or Madison Avenue and Hollywood?

Furthermore, it seems silly to be shocked that car ads would use sex to promote cars and disparage other modes of transport. Doubly so, given that we just bailed out this particular company from financial ruin and told them to go and compete as best they can. These are the guys who took private jets to D.C. to tell us they were broke. We gave them money anyway. Now we are shocked that these guys don't "get it"?

The real offense is that we somehow elected government representatives that chose to keep this company alive instead of promoting multi-modal transportation. Had we not done that, we would be reaping the benefits of job-creating infrastructure projects and economy-stimulating traffic from pedestrians and cyclists. Instead we're spending our time shouting down tasteless ads for which we paid and ultimately voted while dodging more cars.

Given this industry's track record (GM's in particular), it is doubtful GM learned anything from this. While they are issuing an apology to us, it would not be surprising if they try to get a return on their ad investment by simply retrofitting this ad campaign for some place else in the world where folks don't squawk so much. Ultimately, GM has been and will continue to be an obsolete organization ruthlessly preserving itself and perpetuating an outdated, unsustainable, vision of transportation.

Like Steve Jobs once said, "death is nature's change agent". This ad is a perfect example of what we get when we don't let nature take its course.

Successfully shouting down this stupidity is definitely a sign of progress but it won't really change anything. Only starving the old oil and car lobbies of money will do that. Ironically, that will be tough in the next election given that our next president will either be the guy that saved this miserable company and wants to import oil from Canadian tar sands or a guy from Michigan. Regardless, we can still vote with our feet, our pedals, and our media choices.

2011 Cyclists Fatalities Already Alarming. What Can Be Done?

2011-10-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

Fatality Spikes
The last few weeks have felt like an epidemic to many cyclists in Los Angeles. BikingInLA reported 52 cyclist fatalities as of September 24 and there have been more since then.

Likewise, Seattle q13fox.com reported 10 fatalities so far this year. Three of those have occurred since July, according to StreetsBlog.

Spikes Not Pervasive
The spike hasn't been seen everywhere. In the San Francisco Bay Area, various news agencies have reported less than 10 for the year. But that's down from 15 in 2009, according to this Bike Accident Tracker. In New York City, Gothamist.com reported the city's 10th fatality on September 4. But that's down from 12 fatalities in NYC in 2009, according to stats cited in the Village Voice. Obviously, the year is not over yet but these numbers are relatively flat given the growth in cycling's popularity and compared to Seattle and LA.

Among improved instrastructure, law enforcement, and training, only law enforcement is quick to implement.

So, as many are asking, "what is going on?" And how do we prevent this? Despite an incredible, perhaps cynical, lack of data collected by our governments on cycling fatalities, we know from experience where solutions lie: improved infrastructure, law enforcement, and training. More detail can surely be revealed about the cause of the spikes this year but simply reviewing some of the cases shows these 3 components would help a lot.

Causes
In Seattle, Seattlebikeblog and others have already identified incomplete and/or poorly designed bicycle infrastructure as a cause. In LA, a common cause is hit and runs by drivers. In New York, one cause was a cyclist going the wrong way down a street. Studies to precisely identify the root causes of all these incidents take time. What can be done to prevent more people from dying right now?

Short Term Solutions: Few
Among improved instrastructure, law enforcement, and training, only law enforcement is quick to implement. New bike lanes or training programs won't save the cyclist who dies tomorrow but better law enforcement might.

Law Enforcement
However, better law enforcement requires the right laws to be in place and resources, a.k.a. dollars, to take action. As of this writing, Governor of California, Jerry Brown, just vetoed cycling advocate's third attempt to pass a "3 feet rule": SB910. Even more challenging, he did so at the urging of the CHP.

Operation Safe Passage
Even so, law enforcement does act on similar issues. Right now, a collaboration of police agencies and the CHP are implementing "Operation Safe Passage", a program to enforce "zero tolerance" of hazardous driving around schools. This operation was planned in advanced but it was able to start just a day after a 6 year old pedestrian was killed.

Since cyclists are not concentrated in one area like a school, such a program is tougher to scope to address cycling risks. Nevertheless, something similar could be designed and implemented quickly if the political will exists.

Sources of Political Will
So where to get political will? The three classic sources are money, publicity, and pooling support with other groups. All are already at work for cycling in various degrees. With immediacy being the current goal, only one stands out.

Money Can't Buy Us Love
In the current system, money could very possibly buy us love but can we afford it and do we want to perpetuate this perverted system? Regardless, using money to lobby for cycling has obvious drawbacks for the cycling community. Bicycles alone do not represent the dollars that cars and other industries do.

Bicycle Revenue Connection Still Fuzzy
Many studies show bike-friendly communities do generate lots of revenue but the association with all those dollars is not as direct. Any bicycle lobby will find it tough to compete until it consolidates financial support from all the ancillary businesses that benefit from bike-friendly streets. And that won't happen until more bike-friendly communities are created which, ironically, requires more lobbying.

Publicity
So if money can't buy cyclists love (at least for now), what about publicity? These tragedies have produced that. Seattle's mayor plans to hold a bicycle safety summit in response to all the recent cycling fatalities. However, summits don't necessarily lead to a solution as Los Angeles knows all too well. Their mayor held a bike summit last year. Despite a lot of great cycling developments in LA since then, the deaths keep coming.

Even Alan Dershowitz Can't Get Justice
In order for such events to be effective, they need the focus of the greater majority and not just the cyclist community. As Alan Dershowitz's experience shows, as he tries to identify all those involved in his sister-in-law's death, going it alone to get justice is tough. If one of the foremost attorney's in the country can't get justice, it is clear other forces need to be employed.

With a high enough profile, Mr. Dershowitz would get a cooperative DA and Los Angeles could immediately find/raise money for officers to clamp down on texters, speeders, and drunks causing the hit and runs. Without that larger audience, no summit or anything else will generate enough political will to do much more than is already being done.

Publicity Possibilities
AIDS Awareness
Nevertheless, getting that focus is not impossible. Good lessons for how to do this lie in how AIDS awareness was expanded beyond the minorities that first experienced the disease. Again, the problem is time: expanding AIDS awareness took decades.

Occupy Wall Street
So what can be done in the short term? The group Occupy Wall Street is showing one way right now: a protest. However, this is having limited success because their message is not clear and they are not appealing to the majority's self interest. This lack of focus may be intentional but it still leaves the mainstream confused and apathetic.

Overcoming Distraction
If you want a distracted person's attention, you can't waste time telling them what you are against, you've got to tell them what you are for, what you want and why they should care, and do this instantly. That's more rally or vigil than protest.

Celebrity Association
One way to instantly get people to care is to simply get familiar faces associated with your event. The Occupy Wall Street protest really took off when Michael Moore and Susan Sarandon showed up: shallow but true. The other way to engage is to illustrate the magnitude of the loss, again instantly, e.g. the AIDS quilt.

Rally For A Common Cause
This is what cyclists can do in the short term. Hold a vigil or rally for those we've lost with something visual and large of which distracted passers by or TV viewers will take note, and with a clear way for empathetic people to respond. With a high enough profile to the event, it is possible to obtain substantial new resources quickly.

Pooling Support
Pooling support with groups sharing common interests is yet another way to build support. In this case, the obvious group is pedestrians. Many groups already combine cyclists and pedestrians for this reason. This group is as financially challenged as the cyclist group, so joint efforts may not have a huge impact in lobbying any legislature. Nevertheless, it could potentially have a huge impact on any rally. Like the cycling community, pedestrians suffer greatly from cars. Many people do not cycle but almost everyone is, or has been, a pedestrian at some point. Holding a combined rally would appeal to the majority's self interest.

Long Term Solutions
A lot of the long term work is already being done. The goal is obviously to do it more effectively and swiftly. One well-known key to that is to fill the data gap. Enact legislation that forces officers and other officials to collect detailed data on bicycle traffic volume and accidents.

Data gives the few intrepid politicians out there the foothold they need to take unpopular or unprecedented action. Unfortunately, many industries like the oil, tobacco, and auto industries know this so they sometimes lobby against collecting the data. Nevertheless, from good data can come good infrastructure, training, as well as the good laws and enforcement.

After supporting any rally in support of better law enforcement, my focus is going to be on legislature that improves data collection on all cycling activity including these accidents. At best, we need to know as much detail as possible about the cause of these tragedies. At least, we need to concretely document for the powers that be how many more of us are now out there.

None of this will bring those victims back but for those of us that feel we must do something, these are constructive and tenable.

Bicycle/Train Compatibility: the good, the bad, and BART

2011-06-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

Update 20111031: Rockridge BART Getting New Fare Gates: BART to start work to provide an extra wide turnstile that accommodates wheelchairs and bicycles.

Update: BART's Bicycle Survey
Since this post, BART has disseminated a link to this bicycle survey. Please offer your feedback to BART through this tool. It is good to see BART taking an interest in cyclists. I applaud those involved with this at BART and encourage them to do all they can to support some of BART's most loyal patrons.

Beautiful Partnership When Allowed
Bikes and trains are such a powerful combination. Trains cover the longer parts of a trip and bikes polish off the last mile(s). Yet, this incredibly elegant partnership proves elusive on many train systems because of poor train policies relating to bicycles.

BART Not Onboard For Bikes
One system in the San Francisco Bay Area is particularly unfriendly to bicycles. The Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) bike rules spell out the bicycle hostility in clear detail. No bikes allowed to San Francisco during commute hours and/or crowded trains. In other words, bikes are banned at the precise time when all modes of alternative transport should be working together to minimize car use.

Other Offenders

BART is certainly not the only offender. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver's brand new metro system was equally hostile to bikes. No bikes were allowed on the system between February 8 and March 3, 2010. In other words, no bikes were allowed during the Olympics when the city needed all the help it could get to deal with added traffic congestion.

Separate, Don't Eliminate
Keeping bikes and regular train passengers separate during crowded conditions is understandable enough. No regular passenger should risk cutting their shin on a bicycle when they ride the train. Likewise, bicyclists deserve facilities that ensure they and their bicycles safely board the trains without damage. Banning bikes altogether during congested time periods is NOT a solution.

Beat The Flexibility Benchmark
One obvious reason cars are so popular around the world is the flexibility they provide to their passengers as to when and where they can travel. Of course, their popularity has largely negated that flexibility by way of traffic jams. Given that, alternative transport is essential.

However, no form of transport is a true alternative to cars unless it can match the flexibility that the car provides. Since no single mode of alternative transportation can do this alone, it is essential that all modes support one another. In other words, trains, buses, bikes, etc., MUST work together to create a collective web of passenger support.

Neighbor Metros Refute BART Excuses
BART is clearly not on board with this idea. Whereas Caltrain, a separate commuter train system in the bay area, just added a second dedicated bike car to each train it runs, BART has yet to add one.

BART always cites cost and space (for longer trains) as reasons why they have not provided similar bike support but those reasons are clearly false.

Caltrain
Caltrain has achieved its superb bicycle support despite desperate budgetary concerns this year.

Good Enough for LA and NY Metro But Not For BART?

Both the Los Angeles Metro and New York Subway systems welcome bicycles "on Metro rail trains at all times." Why are bicycles good enough for them but not BART? BART claims that adding a bicycle car (or just more cars in general) would cause trains to be too long for some of its stations.

This claim supposes that longer trains are even necessary. Look inside a Caltrain bike car at rush hour and you see how efficiently bicycles can be stored. If bicycles were not scattered throughout the BART train, they wouldn't use as much space.

Fewer Excuses, More Efficiency
Even with the current infrastructure and budget there are a variety of simple ways to deliver better service if not more capacity.

Shorter Intervals
BART could try to find a way to run current train lengths at shorter intervals the way LA Metro does. Their platforms are no longer than BART's.

BART's current 15+ minute train interval is too long as it is. LA Metro targets a 12-minute interval. Recently, it renamed its "12-minute map" to "15-minute (or less) map". Nevertheless, LA Metro ensures that a rider will not wait more than 15 minutes for a ride within a large portion of central LA. That's impressive for the former car mecca. If Los Angeles can do this, can BART really do no better? Please...

Longer Trains That Reposition For Bike Car
Some commenters point out that BART's routes across the bay and through downtown are at max capacity and, therefore, cannot support shorter intervals. The experience of others during those times make this debatable. Regardless, that doesn't preclude BART from finding innovative ways to support long trains. Trains often reposition 2 or 3 times at a station as it is. One of those repositionings could be for a bike car.

Boosting Capacity Is Inevitable, Start Now
Even if more tunnel capacity is needed to support tighter intervals, this is something any transit system should constantly be planning to address. It is done perpetually to freeways. As of this writing, crews are boring new tunnels on both sides of the bay (i.e. the Caldecott and Muni upgrades). Why not for BART?

Stop digging this hole

Not surprisingly, BART has experienced major ridership declines in recent years. BART chooses to address this with cheesy ticket giveaways during holiday periods and failing to re-upholster absolutely filthy seats.

Stop giving the service away and use the money to make the service more useful. Specifically, stop turning away some of the most impassioned transit riders at times and places when all commuters most need them to travel.

Low Hanging Fruit
Until the train car/capacity issue is resolved, BART can focus on "low hanging fruit" to provide proper bicycle support. Namely, it can improve basic sanitation and improve the ways that riders of all types can get in and out of the stations.

Fix The Stairs
Currently, BART bicyclists must carry (yes carry) their bicycles up 2 and 3 flights of stairs. The staircase at the Embarcadero station is a steep decent more than 25 yards long. I am tall and my bicycle is light so I have no problem with this. However, for many others this is a show stopper for bike/train commuting.

Given the weight of many commuter bicycles, climbing stairs with one is something many cyclists physically cannot do. My friend Christine is in pretty good shape but, given her petite frame and the weight of her commuter bicycle, she struggles to make it down these stairs without falling.

Elevators are available for those with disabilities and they are also available to bicycles but elevators cannot move bicyclists in the volume necessary to successfully get people to and from their trains during congested times. Again, the solution is not to ban certain riders at those times. The solution is to properly design stairways to be more bicycle-compatible.

In fact, BART already does this at some, but definitely not all, of its stations. At the Mission street station, troughs exist along the sides of the staircase where cyclists can wheel their bicycles up and down. This is an effective, dirt-cheap, solution so BART should use it.

Fix The Ticket Gates
The final component of proper bicycle support is proper ticket gate configuration. Never mind that many metro systems around the world function just fine without ticket gates, any system using them should provide a simple way for cyclists, luggage carriers, wheelchair users, etc., to get through them.

As of June 12, 2011, Rockridge BART station (a very busy station) has no extra wide ticket gate. Passing through the narrow ticket gate is a needlessly cumbersome experience for cyclists, those with disabilities, or just those with luggage.

Because of the lack of wide ticket gates, BART requires cyclists to:

park their bike
pass through a regular ticket gate
move back through an emergency gate
retrieve their bike (assuming it hasn't been stolen),
bring the bike back through the emergency gate.

Aside from being unpleasant and time-consuming, this process produces the excessive congestion that BART claims it is trying to avoid.

The solution is simple, have at least one extra wide ticket gate at all stations. The fact that they are at most, but not all, stations doesn't do anyone needing one much good if they reach a station without one.

Learn From The Bad Lessons
Let BART be a lesson to other transit systems for how not to do things. Frequent train intervals and heavy coordination with all other alternative transportation modes, not gift cards, are the keys to ridership revenues. Some of BART's own transit partners, like Caltrain, and neighbors, like LA Metro, show it can be done under the same geographic, political and budgetary conditions.

The Bicycle Safety Within: Watchout For Spokes

2011-05-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

External Safety Risks
There is is a lot of information and debate about bicycle safety these days. Most of it, except for the helmet debate, is focused on protecting bicycles from external risks: cars. All good stuff to talk about. I've profiled my friend Johan's ordeal after he put his knee through a car that pulled in front of him.

Internal Safety Risks
Nevertheless, the recent experience of another friend of mine reminded me to stay focused on the internal risks as well. Her experience, in particular, may become more common as all of us start using our bikes for more than sport.

She did something a lot of us have done at one time or another. It looks harmless enough when you see it but it is a potentially harmful way to travel on a bike.

Broken Elbow

First, let's highlight the risk. On this page, is an x-ray of her broken elbow from the accident: a displaced fracture. It shows the metal plate and screws holding her arm together.

Mind-bending Pain
When she first did this, she said the pain was so bad it took over her entire consciousness for several minutes. She lay in shock right outside her office next to her bike. No one was around to help. When numbness finally kicked in, she was able to get up and then some co-workers finally found her and helped.

Just Steps From Work
She had just left her office and had only been riding for a few seconds. No other vehicles or people were involved. The thing that caused all this was her purse. She had hung it on her handlebars for a second. It somehow got caught between the front wheel and the fork and locked up the wheel. That threw her over the handlebars and plunged her elbow squarely into the pavement.

Healing
It's been 8 weeks since the accident. The surgery went well. The cast is off. She still has a metal band threaded under her skin that must be taken out in a few weeks. But, otherwise, she is fine.

Back in the Saddle
To her credit, she hasn't been the least bit shell-shocked by the incident. She is already riding again. Insanely, she started riding within a week of the accident. This is so not recommended since another crash could damage the repaired elbow. However, it demonstrates this stuff doesn't have to deter you from bicycle commuting.

Prevention

The one change she has made to her cycling is the installation of a rack and basket on the *back* of her bike. I've been urging her to install an enclosed pack on the back because things can fall through the wired basket and catch on the wheel. Until then, even if that happens, on the back wheel it should not launch her so badly.

Increasingly Common Site
Today, I saw a guy pedaling home from the grocery store with 3 bags swinging from his handlebars. He also had a U-Lock dangling over his back wheel. I tried to warn him about the danger but he didn't believe me. That inspired this post. Hopefully, this will help some folks avoid a lot of pain and hassle.

Mundane Matters

We hear about dramatic bike crashes and fatalities all the time but the mundane stuff is no less dangerous so it seems like a good cautionary tale to feature. Since I'm the one who introduced her to cycling I feel responsible that I didn't warn her about this so I'm venting that guilt by way of this caution to others.

While pushing for greater safety in our bicycle infrastructure, we've got to stay focused on the safety within. Sometimes, it's the little stuff that gets you.

I've heard similar stories about headphone wires falling out and snagging. If it swings or dangles it can snag. Watch out.

Does the Cycling Epiphany Hold Water?

2011-05-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

Cycling Epiphany
Posts like this one claim that a simple bicycle ride through an urban landscape will do more to educate about urban ills/joys, and sell the joy of cycling better, than any other kind of communication. It contends the bicycle is "an instrument of experiential understanding" through which complex civic and environmental issues are graphically conveyed.

There is no question that the experience of cycling as serious transport is powerful stuff (see #1,3,4,5,6, and 8 of Why I Ride). It is also true that, like many things, actually trying something may be the best way to understand it's value and that cycling revolutionizes ones view of ones surroundings.

Back to Reality
However, it is still a massive challenge to get enough people in the saddle long enough to have that revelation.

Acquired Taste
I've been actively recruiting new cyclists for years but I can still count the converts from my personal life on one hand.

Even when you get new butts in the saddles, the first thing those butts do is complain that they are sore. It can take more than a couple rides for the epiphany to kick in.

Then, there's hair. For those who care, if the helmets don't ruin it, the wind does. That knocks out a surprising number of recruits.

And, heaven forbid it rains. Even avid cyclists complain about rain and/or don't ride in it. The cycling epiphany is quite definitely waterproof but this is not apparent even to many of the initiated (those folks need to see these photos of European cyclists in winter).

A prerequisite to the cycling epiphany seems to be a reintroduction to one's own body and the physical world. That can happen at the same time but that is too much for some.

Feeling Threatened

Amongst all the recent hype about cycling are sobering articles like this: Expansion of Bike Lanes in City Brings Backlash. This article, and many like it, show that a formidable number of Americans are still far away from having a cycling epiphany even when the opportunity is right in front of them.

Gratification Guarantee
Like a lot of great experiences out there, most folks are skipping "experiential understanding" in favor of driving home to eat something tasty and watch TV. After a hard days work, most folks want guaranteed satisfaction not a mere chance at satisfaction through something new.

Perception Issues Persist
What's more, many Americans still assume most cyclists are simply people who can't drive, e.g. the poor, the drunk or the under age. At best, they see them as over-educated nerds naively trying to save the planet.

The entertainment media embellishes this. Slate.com explains this in: "Dude, Where's Your Car?" Most movies still portray bicycles as emasculating. The "40 Year Old Virgin" is a classic example. This leaves many thinking cycling is not sexy at all. Car advertisements take it from there.

Perceptions are changing on their own in certain pockets of the U.S. And some celebrities like Katy Perry make cycling sexy by wearing their bicycles well. However, that's not putting enough butts in the saddles either.

Proven Motivators
Ironically, what compels many to start cycling are the nuts and bolts justifications downplayed by some. The FRONTLINE story "Poisoned Waters" describes this well. Although it is about the relationship between urban centers and water quality, it includes details about what swayed voters on green urban design and "livable streets". It wasn't new positive experiences or visions, it was known pain points like health, safety, and taxes.

This jibes with my personal experience. One recruited cyclist I know is a hardcore republican. The environmentalist arguments fell flat with her but after much of my nagging she tried cycling to work and found that, combined with CalTrain, the bike got her to work 20 minutes faster than the jam packed 101 freeway. After that, she was sold. She has since had the Cycling Epiphany alluded to earlier. This has led her to initiate trash cleanups of things she sees on her ride, etc.

All this makes it pretty clear, to me at least, that cycling cannot sell itself. And no single aspect of cycling is more compelling than any other. The experience of cycling is indeed profound but most people are surprisingly far from ready to appreciate it. Consequently, every catalyst must be leveraged. In fact, we need to find more of them if cycling is to become a serious mode of transport in North America.

Why I ride

2011-05-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

I ride because:

I can get from A to B without spewing carcinogens at anyone who dares go outside
My money stimulates more economic growth when 1/5 does not go to oil, cars, and loans
My commute is my workout and my lack of any other ride home is my discipline
100 years with the 24 hour din of combustion engines is enough
You don't know a city until you can see, hear, and smell it
Everyone treats one another better when there's no steel or glass between us
It gets blood pumping fast enough to prevent a host of diseases and make me thin quick
Any mistakes I make while riding may hurt but will rarely kill anybody
I never worry about parking
It is fun even at night, in rain, and in snow

Heaven on Earth: Bike Transport in Switzerland and Austria

2011-03-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

On a recent ski trip to Switzerland and Austria, I decided to devote a little time to sampling the bike transport experiences there. I managed to get out for a look in Basel, Switzerland and Innsbruck, Austria.

High Expectations
Having been to Europe before, my expectations were high. Denmark and the Netherlands are not the only European countries that take bicycle transport very seriously. On previous visits, I had seen the dedicated bike lanes in places like Munich, Germany.

However, this time I wasn't going to any large metropolis with miles of dense population. Those typically have major traffic congestion problems. Increasingly, even in the U.S., large city governments support bicycle transport as one of their traffic congestion solutions and there's already a decent amount of adoption.

Are Small Cities Any Less Committed?
Smaller cities can be a different story. With less population density, small cities can be less desperate for alternative transport solutions. Back home at least, this can mean support for bike transport is very limited, merely tolerated, or even subject to hostility. The town of Black Hawk, Colorado is now infamous/famous (depending on your perspective) for banning bikes in that small town.

Since Basel and Innsbruck are relatively small, I was not expecting much more than the limited bike support I've experienced in U.S. small cities. I didn't expect the local governments to be as focused on bike transport. I also thought the time of year might limit the cycling activity I would see.

Exceeded Expections

Nevertheless, what I found far exceeded my high expectations for bike transport in any sized town at any time of year. Basel and Innsbruck transport infrastructures not only tolerate but promote cycling as a serious transport alternative by providing comprehensive bike lanes that are not always but frequently separated from BOTH cars and pedestrians.

They also provide facilities that address common challenges with bike transport. The goal is clearly to make bike transport very practical and often more convenient than driving or even riding the train. What's more, all these facilities and services are put to good use year-round at all hours of the day and night by surprisingly active cyclists.

Serious Bike Parking
The first thing that blew my mind was Basel's bike garages. Under their central train station (Hauptbahnhof SBB), is a veritable wonderland for bike commuting enthusiasts. My local friend took me down there and what I saw was a spotless, well-lighted, well-attended, and massive space for intracity and intercity travelers to safely park their bikes at any hour of the day (not just commuter hours).

These garages are found at most train stations including the airport in Zurich. They also rent bicycles there. I was able to rent a bike there for less than 20 CHF/day. In Zurich, I found a sporting goods store willing to rent for much less: 60 CHF/week.

Especially deluxe were the dedicated entry and exit ramps for bikes. I can't describe how riding in and out of the dedicated bike garage ramps instills this bike commuter with a sense of legitimacy. It was truly a profound experience, especially, when contrasted with the cycling experience back home that leaves one feeling like a second-class or even illegitimate member of the transport community.

In the U.S., bike parking is sometimes not available at all. It is an ad hoc affair where you bring your own security in the form of pounds of bike locks. Then you might have to walk great distances looking for somewhere to use it. When bike parking is available it is likely to be sparse, outdoor, unattended, and designed to maximize damage to your bike.

How often would people drive if they had to carry a lock with them and drape that lock around a filthy rack at every location they visited? That is precisely the question that many European cities have answered for bikes. The result is a comprehensive set of facilities that make cycling very practical, clean, and therefore easy and attractive.

Bike parking in Innsbruck wasn't quite as deluxe as Basel but it was still great. Lots of racks all over. Some were outside and unattended but they were still covered and engineered to ensure one bicycle did not damage another. So refreshing. All this and I wasn't even riding the bike yet.

Serious Bike Infrastructure
Once you are out of the garage or off the rack, the support continues in the form of dedicated bike lanes, bike traffic lights, and even bike service stations. All work together to reinforce the idea that bikes aren't just toys that sometimes sneak onto the road to inconvenience cars. They are serious vehicles.

Serious Bike Services
Along those lines, service stations like this one in Basel were a welcome sign. The more ubiquitous bikes become, the more they need ubiquitous services and resources like the ones that autos enjoy.

Serious Bike Usage
The infrastructure certainly did its part to ensure cycling is serious transport. However, that wouldn't matter if people didn't use it. My expectations were exceeded here as well. Day or night, warm or cold, rain or shine, male or female, young or old, folks were using bikes to go on dates, get groceries, and of course go to work and school.

I was pleasantly surprised to see all ages and genders well represented on bikes late at night in freezing temperatures. Back home, just one of these factors is frequently cited as an excuse for not cycling. Here none are. Couples think nothing of going out to dinner on bikes at night, even in winter.

The fashionable folks I spied on bikes knocked down two more excuses for not cycling: that it trashes hairdos and clothes. This gal was having none of that. I found her chatting with these two gentleman at about 10 p.m. at night in about 30 degree weather with a handsome ensemble and a sweet looking bike.

Even during a day trip to Colmar, France, I found these two in the train station running errands on their bikes. I didn't see enough of France this trip to comment on their bike transport experience but some of the same commitment to bike transport obviously bleeds over the border from Basel.

Back home, bike transport is increasingly more mainstream but it still is most popular among young people in major metropolitan areas. Here, the range of ages and backgrounds is very wide, as is the penetration beyond big cities.

All this demonstrates that, with the right attitude and right clothing, bike commuters can experience physical and social warmth no matter when they ride.

Serious Challenge
This trip reinvigorated my resolve to see this level of bike transport infrastructure and adoption in the U.S. It can be done. It will be done, in the U.S. as it is in bike transport heaven: Europe.

PlanBike for Motorists: if you must drive, use a bike rack

2011-03-13T20:10:00.001-07:00

Confession: This Cyclist Drives

As an avid cyclist and cycling advocate, I have a confession to make: my two-person family has two cars. Even though we live in a metropolitan area, we live high in the hills of Oakland California where there is scant bus or train service. It may as well be the country. When my wife and I both need to quickly return up our 900ft vertical climb (especially with cargo), cars are the only option.

Public Transport: Limited Progress
In many metropolitan areas, there is unprecedented effort to expand public transportation infrastructure and its use. Even places known for their auto-centricity, like Los Angeles, have made incredible strides.

Despite all this, in many situations the automobile is still the only way to get around in a timely matter with kids, groceries, etc. Furthermore, budget cuts, planning bureaucracy, and the sheer sprawling layout of many cities mean that the automobile will continue to play a vital role as transport for the foreseeable future.

Optimizing Suboptimal Transport
Nevertheless, suboptimal public transportation is no excuse to simply drive alone in our cars. Instead, the thing to do is find ways to maximize the utility of an auto-based transportation system while we expand the alternative systems. Folks around the San Francisco Bay Area already do that during commute times with something called "casual carpool".

Casual Carpool
People driving alone into San Francisco, go to one of dozens of casual carpool stops where "riders" (total strangers) climb into their empty cars and share a ride into the city. Voila! The car ride is 4 times more productive than if the driver rode alone. The driver gets a discount on the bridge toll, the bridge and subway systems get less congestion, and the world gets less greenhouse gas. And both the drivers and riders leave the house any time they want: no scheduling.

Distance and Time Gaps
All this without any added cost, fancy technology, or even any formal organization. However, casual carpool does nothing for folks needing to get anywhere outside of commute hours. Nor, does it do anything for folks who need to go beyond a few blocks the car's destination. That leaves a huge gap.

Enter PlanBike for Motorists

What if these casual carpool motorists had bike racks on their car? That would dramatically increase the range of distances and timeframes in which cyclists could travel.

What if these cyclists and rack-enabled motorists identified themselves with PlanBike bumper stickers (or some other tag) so that they could match up anytime anywhere: not just at a given place and time? That would radically improve overall transport efficiency: not to mention motorist/cyclist relations.

That's essentially what a growing number of my motorist and cyclist friends are doing. It is working so fabulously I thought it was time to share this here.

When my friends run various errands, we take our bikes short distances but meetup with a driver for the long stuff when no bus or train is available or there's little time. Having the rack eliminates the need for the car to back track to the original meeting place.

PlanBike for Motorists Benefits

instantly boosts cars efficiency dramatically and cheaply
instantly boosts bicycles range dramatically and cheaply
possible to do quickly: overnight, all motorists can install bike racks
possible to do with little money: some racks cost less the $100
reduces adversarial relations between motorists and cyclists

Redesigning suburban sprawl will take years of political will, trillions of dollars, and years of construction. Until then, let's leverage the rampant car use make everyone more efficient and improve cyclist/driver relations.

This is something anyone can do right now with very little cost and effort that makes a profound impact on global health and environmental issues. That's the PlanBike mission.

If you are a motorist, I hope you'll join motorists that have installed bike racks and give rides to cyclists whenever possible. It is incredibly easy and often rewarding.

BTW - I'm really not selling here because I'm not making any money but if you want a PlanBike sticker, just click this link. I only charge what it takes to recoup my costs and I only spend this on more stickers. :-)

PlanBike's Best Bay Area Bike Shops of 2010

2010-12-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my favorite bay area bike shops of 2010. This isn't a comprehensive review of their quality of service. This is just a survey of all the shops that kept me coming back for more in 2010.

There are so many great bike shops in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this post, I'm not even profiling some of the all-time greats. For instance, the Missing Link Cooperative. Its store and annex have been institutions in the east bay for years. Likewise, the chain store Mike's Bikes is great in many ways. It carries a nice range of Cannondales, Specialized, and other assorted bikes. Also, they have some great sales: where I got my last 3 bikes. Nevertheless, as great as these stores are, they leave room for lots of niches. These niches are filled nicely by the shops I'm about to feature. I love to just visit them every couple of months whether I need anything or not.

The niches seems to fall into 2 categories: style and function. This is not to say any bike shop is lacking in either of these. However, when I think about what keeps me coming back to a given store it is one or the other these qualities. Regarding style, a relatively new shop is at the top of the list.

Points of Style

That is Public Bikes. The Public Bike shop is actually a chain of stores selling Public Bikes. There are already 2 locations in San Francisco. The shops themselves are very unique and visually interesting. Outside of their surprisingly minimal South Park location, sit some of the tripy bike racks. I saw some similar in Palo Alto while researching bike parking and security. I haven't used one yet but they are pleasing to my eye. They turn bike racks from a cluttered pile of metal to something pretty. Regardless, they look way cool outside the Public Bike storefront.

The second thing I like about Public Bikes is the hallway when you first enter. Instead of bike accessories, the walls are covered with books and magazines, some of which are not related to bicycles. This is far from the hard sell storefront. It feels more like a library.

Once inside, you are treated to a sparse but elegant display of bikes and accessories. Some of the accessories are quite unique. For instance, they have bike helmets disguised as hats. The helmets have textiles wrapped around them to minimize that safety geek look that so many cyclists seem to hate.

The final thing I like about Public is the Public Bike itself. At first glance, it looks like just another sturdy commuter bike: large seats, high handlebars, lots of fenders and racks. However, most intriguing to me is the internal shifting that many of these bikes feature. They use Shimano's Nexus internal shifting hub in 3 and 5 speed versions. These are not the lightest bikes but the elegant shifting is very cool.

For style of a different sort, I like to visit Manifesto. It's centrally located in a flat part of Oakland so it is easy to get to by bike. It is also nicely situated next to a great espresso bar and a nice assortment of other interesting shops. Perhaps all this is why cyclists tend to congregate here.

Manifesto has an eclectic mix of bikes: from cool commuter bikes (including internal shifting), to fixed gear, to regular road bikes. It also has a nice collection of accessories made out of recycled materials. It's fun to stop, grab some coffee, and have a look around. I just like the whole vibe there.

Finally, in the stylish category is Pacific Bicycles in San Francisco. The shop itself isn't particularly stylish but they carry some of the most stylish bikes. The Bianchi Pista is a classic fixed gear beauty and this shop has scads of 'em. Just seeing so many Pistas in one spot is a visual pleasure.

Pacific Bicycles also carries scads of Cervélo road bikes. These are beautiful, mostly carbon fiber, bikes and they all look cool. I love their "squoval" and blade shaped frames and find their high contrast graphics and paint jobs to be a visual pleasure. Lifting the carbon ones is a pleasure as well.

That sums up my top 3 bike shops for a stylish shopping experience. What follows are bike shops that are not the least bit lacking in style but have a wealth of functional aspects that have me frequently coming back for more.

Points of Function

First up is Recycle Bicycle in Berkeley. The name says it all. The "pre-owned" nature of their bikes makes their bikes way affordable. Even so, this is no "land of misfit toys". They've got some cool bikes in here.

Perhaps due to their focus on pre-owned bikes, they are also great at thinking creatively about all your existing bike issues. I came in asking what it would take to make an old 10 speed a fixie and they gave me a lot of details that saved me a lot of pain.

Next up on the functional side is Tip Top Bike Shop. First of all, it has a great location. It is in the heart of a major cycling neighborhood in Oakland: The Temescal. This neighborhood is, in turn, situated on a major cycling corridor, Telegraph Avenue, which stretches between UC Berkeley and some hip parts of downtown Oakland.

Perhaps its just me and where I bike but when I urgently need supplies or some work done, I consistently find Tip Top to be in the right place with the right stuff. The other day, they replaced my gear cassette while I hung out at a nearby café with my niece and nephew. I was going to schlep over to Mike's Bikes but Tip Top could do it when and where I was already going for pretty much the same price. Love that.

Tip Top also has great gear I can't find anywhere else. In particular, they have Endura bike clothing. Endura is British rain/wind gear. Their jackets blow away anything else I've seen. Noone else in town seems to carry it so I love to swing by Tip Top to try on their latest.

Finally, the guys at Tip Top are just very friendly and fun to talk to. I don't feel like they are selling the whole time.

For function of a different sort, I like Bay Area Bikes. Although it also has a great location near downtown Oakland and a great bunch of guys doing sales and service, the thing about it that really stands out is its selection of folding bikes, particularly Dahon.

Folding is a big deal. It dramatically expands where you can use a bike. You can fly with it and ride off from the airport. You can park it under your desk at work. Best of all, you can take it on the metro at rush hour.

As of this writing many metro systems won't let you take your bike on the train during rush hour periods: the exact time when they should be helping people get out of their cars and on their bikes. Folding bikes are the exception. Hopefully, metros will fully recognize their symbiotic relationship with the bicycle and let them on their trains at all times of the day. Until then, folding bikes are a great solution.

Folding bikes also have the advantage of providing all the fenders, racks, and high handlebars you find on any commuter bike but with a lot less weight. What's more, folding bikes are getting pretty stylish. Dahon's Speed Pro TT is pretty cool and fast looking. I saw one at Bay Area Bikes but it didn't stay there long. I want to take one for a spin if they get one in again.

Last but not least, is Wheels of Justice. This place wins lots of points for both style and function. On the functional side, it's tough to find any bike shops up in the east bay hills except for Wheels of Justice. The hills are where both road and mountain bikers spend a lot of time so it is great not having to schlep all the way down the hill to get something.

For parents, the place has one of the best selections I've seen of bikes for little kids. Nevertheless, it also has a great selection of supplies and unique accessories for all bikes.

I found my Ergon pack at Wheels of Justice. I hadn't seen anything like it anywhere before nor have I since. These Ergon packs have straps that are mounted on a U-joint. The pack is also incredibly water-resistant. You can't dive with it but you can stand in the shower with it. Between that and the unique strap suspension system, no other bike pack comes close. When I needed to adjust the fit, Wheels of Justice was great about ordering parts and installing them at no charge.

Although the cool products, location and customer service are great at Wheels of Justice, what I like best about this shop are the people who work there. It's their personal style that I find pleasing and useful.

First of all, there's Justice Baxter, the owner, who is super cool. He's the kilted one on the left in the photo. I asked someone about the name and all I was told is "his parents were hippies". Fair enough. Anyway, Justice solicits more customer feedback than any shop owner I've seen. He's constantly using facebook to survey what his customers want most from his store.

If that weren't enough, the store regularly hosts "customer appreciation parties", group rides, and bicycle lessons of all types. Sometimes, it feels more like a club and than a store. That is my favorite kind of bike shop.

Diverse Cycling Fashion

2010-11-14T22:43:00.000-08:00

Updated on 2010-11-14: See Casual Californian and the Loquat Lady.

In honor of Bike to Work Day, here's a survey of some of the many ways you can dress while cycling to work or play. They illustrate that it doesn't have to be all about spandex bike shorts, loud tops, weird bike shoes, and bulbous helmets. Here are some gals cycling back from dinner on a Friday evening in the bike crazy Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, California. They've got a nice mix of safety and style going.

If cycling as serious transport is ever going to go mainstream one of the many things that has to change is the perception that cycling means dressing up like a giant "day glow" lollipop. Folks seem to have many different issues with that look.

Folks don't seem to like the crisp formality of this look. One reason for that may be the similarity it has to these guys. These fellas are two of Vancouver's finest. I ran into them at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games while they were guarding the Olympic torch. Many folks simply don't want to look like they are in uniform when they cycle.

What follows are some pictures of folks I have met on the road recently showing you can get it done on bikes without all that.

A perfect case in point is this guy I met at Polk and Geary one Saturday while doing the story on Johan and his bike accident. This guy is looking fabulous in his green and black striped knee socks, matching green T-Shirt, and Elvis-style sunglasses. He's getting his PhD in urban planning and transportation design at San Jose State. He is big in to bike commuting but you wouldn't know it from this outfit.

He's a great example of the opposite end of the spectrum from the sporty or cop look. He's got no helmet, gloves, or special shoes. He's not letting the bike dictate anything. Still, he is definitely sporting an equally bold look.

This fellow is demonstrating the same thing albeit from a classic Californian perspective. The bike even ties in to it. His beautiful Saluki bike with its vintage leather/spring seat and canvass bag looks as comfortable and casual as he does. You've also got to love the "Wallaby" shoes. Don't see those that often anymore. Very cool.

This gal also is not sacrificing style or comfort or even her options for free speech. She's looking very comfortable in a beautiful skirt. Apparently, those are not a problem to ride with. She's also put on her bike the same bumper stickers she would have on her car. A pleasant surprise was her bike rack which was full of freshly-picked "loquats". Delicious! Other than the helmet, you wouldn't know she was a cyclist.

There are lots of folks showing a hybrid approach to safety/style/comfort. This guy, for instance, is pedaling and looking fine in his business suit. His side rack ensures no backpack straps will wrinkle his blazer. Nevertheless, he's got a helmet and gloves just in case. He was really moving when I took this so, for him, a little extra safety is probably not a bad idea.

This fellow has taken it up a notch with his pleated slacks and his sweet all chrome Bianchi Pista. These dress clothes didn't get in the way of performance. He tore out of the BART station and pretty much kept up with car traffic across an intersection.

Here's father and daughter who've balanced safety with style while going out to breakfast at The Creamery (a cool new café across from the SF train station) on a mellow Saturday morning. Love the Pea Coat on dad and the cute "wellies" on daughter. Also, a gorgeous red bike for two. Apparently, dad makes these himself.

Another look I found interesting was this gal. She's dressed in regular clothes. She was just pedaling home from work. No need to sport a special look for that. Like most folks, she's opted for a helmet but otherwise, you wouldn't know she was a cyclist. Nevertheless, check out those shoes.

She's riding home in clogs. Definitely a very comfortable choice for walking but not an obvious choice for cycling. I asked her if they ever slide off while she rides. She says they work fine. Those particular clogs are beauties too. Check them out in the close up. Since then I've met lots of folks who swear by slip on shoes. I never would have guessed that.

Swinging back toward the sporty direction is this guy shown by the BART train. He's got special cycling shoes for clipless pedals. I'd bet he's got other bike-specific clothing underneath. On the outside, though, its just jeans and regular clothes. I see this look a lot and for good reason. With this you get the comfort and efficiency of the bike-specific attire but you avoid the lollipop look. This guy had a sweet race bike as well. Nothing like driving a Ferrari to work every day.

Below is a picture of me cycling on the Las Vegas strip. I'll admit it. I'm like the "day glow" lollipop. I go the whole nine yards: bike-specific pants, shoes, gloves, helmet, and jacket. After biking for years, I've succumbed to the full bike uniform. I mitigate that by just throwing something over my bike attire when I arrive.

Street clothes work if you are going a few blocks but after a few miles (for me at least), they chafe, soak with sweat, or get bike soile with chain grease or gutter runoff. Not to mention, if you take a spill with no gloves or helmet you use your skin to stop. I've torn through gloves after falling at only 5 miles an hour. Luckily, I've never taken a high speed fall but Johan can attest that it warrants a helmet. All this is not to mention the rain which begs for the water-resistant or quick-drying bike clothing even more.

In the end I found that, as with anything, a bit of planning for the worst-case scenario pays off. Given that, I bite the bullet and wear the bike suit. Slipping regular clothes over spandex when you reach your destination is remarkably quick, easy, and socially acceptable. I've also found that bike shoes with mountain bike clips are decent walk shoes that look decent with black or blue jeans.

Regardless, the beautiful thing is that all these people are out there looking however they want to look while making their health, the air, and the traffic a lot better. Bless them and anyone new who cares to join them on Bike to Work Day or everyday.

P.S. Here's a CNN story on John Leguizamo cycling to work in NYC. Go John! I hope you start a trend amongst celebrities.

Cycling The Giants World Series Parade

2010-11-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

Willie Mays

After the Giants won the 2010 World Series, there was the usual mayhem in the streets the first night. Several fires were lit. Buses were stopped dead in their tracks and used as grandstands. One motorist foolish enough to try to drive through a crowd was taken out and beaten and his car was trashed. For me, that all added up to a nice cycling challenge: how to get around insanely crowded streets during events like these.

Some of my friends discouraged me from taking the bike. They thought the density of pedestrians would make it problematic. There was probably no way for any vehicle to negotiate that scene the first night. However, I thought the bike might negotiate the traffic snarls that would inevitably surround the parade area 2 days later. This event should be a bit more organized and so have a bit more space to get places. I decided to find out.

San Francisco has a metro system called BART but one of its many shortcomings is the fact that it doesn't allow bicycles on the trains during rush hours. This is precisely when you want people cycling, i.e. not driving, it seems to me. Nevertheless, BART was out for getting into town with the bike on parade day so I decided to take the ferry. This turned out to be an excellent choice. It accommodated bikes no problem. It was a nice sunny day and beautiful ride. Better still, it was not crowded at all even though BART was a mad house. I love it when the path less traveled turns out to be the best.

From the SF Ferry Building, it was a breeze pedaling along the embarcadero a few blocks, then in a few blocks to the base of the Transamerica Building where the parade was starting. I literally pedaled right up to the blockade, and parked my bike. Sweet! And totally impossible with any other vehicle. I was off to a great start.

I was a bit worried about locking my bike. I doubted anybody was gonna show up to the parade with bolt cutters but I did worry about crowds kicking or crushing my bike if things got super wild. Still dreaming of a day when there's ubiquitous bike parking, I bit the bullet and locked it to a parking meter without incident.

Sergio Romo (as the Beard)

Once done, it was time to relax and enjoy the parade. Although it was heavily front-loaded with everybody except the players, it was a great show. For starters, there were bicycles in the parade. Cool! Bicycle taxis had been utilized to cart a few sets of VIPs down the route. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize who they were but it was great to see the bikes there anyway.

Madison Bumgardner

After a long stream of back office staff that were enjoying their day in the sun along with the team they support, some familiar faces started to arrive. The mayor, Gavin Newsom, one of the senators, Diane Feinstein, and the icon of Giants baseball, Willie Mays, all participated.

Finally, the real stars showed up. Sergio Romo, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgardner, Buster Posey, and Aubrey Huff, were all on display. They each got their own end of a trolley-style bus in which to bask in the glow of being the first Giants to win the World Series in 56 years. Unfortunately, for baseball ignoramouses like myself, a lot of them were on each other's trolley. I didn't know who I was looking at. The worst was "Sergio Romo" who sported "the beard" and park himself inside Brian Wilson's bus. Fun stuff.


Buster Posey	Matt Cain

Aubrey Huff

I'm not a big baseball fan but I found the details of this team's win very interesting and moving. 56 years since the last win for the Giants. Never a World Series win on the west coast, despite participation in a couple. Almost as interesting were the team members themselves. These guys are like the Bad News Bears or something. In interviews, more than one expressed surprise and gratitude for having a job at all this season. And now they are World Series Champs. Right on!

After the parade, I took a ride down the peninsula on CalTrain to see what that was like. Thanks to some considerable lobbying by cyclists, CalTrain has had dedicated bike cars for years. Nevertheless, try telling that to thousands of weary and/or inebriated Giants fans when they want to go home. The bike car was difficult to get a bike into, to say the least. That said, I have to hand it to the conductors that fearlessly guarded the space for cyclists. Thanks, guys!

Tim Ryan

While waiting for the conductors to get all the occupants in order, I bumped into Tim Ryan, a reporter for CBS News Radio. It turns out, he's a hardcore cyclists both for sport and for transport. For fun, he does solo bike trips over the Rockies. For work, he sometimes take his bikes on a story. So cool! Today, he was taking his bike on the train for the same reason I was: to have an elegant way to quickly zip around the crowds while he reported on the event.

He says he doesn't always bike to work but does so when it is a good fit for his itinerary on a given day. He's also done this in other cities he's lived and worked in as a reporter. Meeting Tim and hearing how cycling helps him do his very dynamic, time-sensitive, job embellished my positive bike commute experience to celebrate this historic event.

Given how well it worked for me and how well it seems to work for demanding bike commutes like Tim's, I wouldn't hesitate to ride my bike into such crowds again.

Bike Gear: Wind and Rain Protection

2010-10-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

Introduction

An unaltered night photo of the Nike Vapor described below.

Cycling as serious transport in a country without a commitment to it requires a lot of guts and a lot of great gear. Over the years, I've gone through a lot of money and strife finding that gear. Below is one post in a series (see also visibility, security) profiling only the best gear that has worked for me.

Not Covered
For wind and rain protection, I'll discuss the top down, then discuss the extremities. I'll skip the head since I don't use more than a helmet. In icy conditions, I can see getting a cover for the helmet but I didn't need one while biking to work in snow at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Whistler. I'll also skip eyewear since I haven't found any good way to keep those clear in the rain other than simply wiping on occasion.

Torso
Jackets
For the torso, there are some great options. However, it took a while to find them. For years, skiers and hikers have had gore-tex: a material that won't let moisture in but will let moisture out. The great value in this is to manage perspiration and rain at the same time.

Having done all three activities (cycling, hiking, and skiing), I can safely say skiers and hikers never sweat as much as a cyclist. If breathability were needed anywhere, it is needed in cycling. Given that, it is surprising how very little breathable material I've found in cycling outerwear. Instead, I find lots of plain old nylon jackets and pants with a little bit of elastic at the ends. The plain nylon outerwear tends to be a big sweat factory. Consequently, I avoid it like the plague with one exception.

Adjustable Jackets
The nylon jackets with removable sleeves work pretty well. Obviously, having no sleeves is a great way to produce breathability. It obviously leaves you less protected which matters greatly in really cold conditions but I'll get to a solution for that later. In most conditions, a jacket with adjustable sleeves has met most of my needs for rain and wind protection.

Magnets Rule

Amongst the removable sleeve jackets, the best I've seen is the Cannondale Morphis Shell. This jacket is head and shoulders above all the other removable sleeve jackets because it is so easy to detach and attach the sleeves. It is the only one of its kind that I can do this while riding. With other jackets, you might get the sleeves off while riding but you will be hard pressed to get them back on at all because they use snaps, zippers or velcro. Even if you could, it would not be as easy as it is with the Morphis.

Why? Because the Morphis uses magnets, yes magnets, to attach the sleeves instead of zippers or velcro. These magnets break away more quickly and easily than any fastener but, more importantly, the magnets are self-attaching. When you are ready to re-attach the sleeves, you simply slide them on and the magnets find each other like something out of a Transformer movie.

The jacket is simply incredible. This kind of rapid flexibility is just what I want while riding in mixed to bad weather. All the other jackets with removable sleeves make you stop and futz in the rain to get the zippers, snaps, or velcro together but with the Morphis I detach and attach sleeves with impunity as conditions change. It's awesome.

The one issue is that the magnets leave space for air to get through the seams which can be an issue on very cold days. However, for those days you probably don't need adjustable sleeves at all.

As amazing as the Morphis shell is, having no sleeves obviously provides no shelter for the arms. Consequently, I use this shell for moderately cold and relatively dry days, windy days, or days where I don't know what it's gonna do.

Breathable Jackets
For the really serious storm, a full jacket with breathable material is the way to go. You've got to really search in the bike shops but it is there.

In the breathable category, the best I've found is the Endura Luminite Jacket. It uses a thick yet breathable material that feels really great.

In addition to being breathable it is super visible. My friend Johan and I really value visibility since we are really not into premature death. This jacket has a wealth of reflective material all over it and it comes in "day-glo" yellow (although it does come in black). If that weren't enough visibility, this jacket also has a blinking red LED light embedded in the back.

I've worn the Endura Luminite Jacket on the worst kinds of days and not been wanting for anything else. It has velcro straps to close the sleeves and a very high, cinchable, collar to keep rain off your neck. I've even worn this sailing with satisfactory results.

Jackets So Cool They Deserve Special Consideration

For all my talk about breathability, there is one jacket that I now exempt from that metric because it excels so greatly in other areas: the Nike Vapor Flash jacket.

This is actually a running jacket but I think it is better suited for cycling. Partly because it is heavier than most running jackets but mostly because it is made entirely out of reflective material. The jacket is one big reflector. Cyclists need all the visibility they can get in any weather but foul weather especially. You can't get more visible than this when headlights hit you.

Again, the jacket is made from a heavy material, is not breathable and its sleeves do not detach so I expected it to be another sweat factory. However, it has some major zipper vents to make up for the lack of breathability.

And, so far, sweat hasn't been a problem at all. I was not sweaty after riding from the Embarcadero to Golden Gate park which has a few climbs. On top of that, I wore it into Cal Academy's 85 degree rainforest and was totally comfortable.

We'll see if it feels this good in spring time. Regardless, the awesome reflectivity deserves special consideration. If you follow cyclist feeds on twitter, you know how many of us get hit every month. Given that, I choose visibility over breathability.

One other plus is that it looks good even when you are not cycling so, for me, it doubles as work wear. When the light isn't hitting it, it is just a smart looking flat grey jacket. There's nothing better than rainwear with form as good as its function because it means you pack less and have less to change into when you finish your ride.

Legs
Pants

Flexibility and breathability are sufficient qualities for outerwear covering the top of your body. However, since the real action in cycling is down below, outerwear for the bottom of your body needs something more: stretchability.

Less Pant is More Until 50°
To keep things simple, I avoid long pants as long as possible and just ride in rain in bike shorts until it gets below 50 degrees fahrenheit. It's not uncomfortable while you are pedaling. Below 50 degrees, I'll throw on some long rain pants. Thankfully these days, you can now find long rain pants that are both flexible, breathable and stretchable.

Stretchability Rules
The best I've seen of this type of outerwear is the Sugoi Firewall Pant. These pants breath and stretch beautifully. They have a nice reinforced material inside the ankle that keeps the cuff out of your chain without bunching tightly around your leg. They also have a zipper along the outside of the ankle to make them easy to slip over your shoes.

Rubberized Zippers: Double-edged Sword
Running the Sugoi Firewall pant zipper is a two-handed operation so you can't do that while you ride. However, the only time I ever want to do that is when I forget to zip before I get on the bike which is kind of my bad. The zipper is tough to zip because of the rubberizing around it so it is a feature not a bug.

Passable As Pants
Nevertheless, what really makes these pants stand out is the cut. These look and feel like regular pants. They have a matte finish to the fabric so they don't reflect light all the time like typical rubber rain gear. They even have two side pockets with zippers. The cut around the leg is just loose enough to look like normal pants. From a distance, if it weren't for some reflective graphics, you'd think they were slacks of some kind.

I actually wear these pants for a night out. Throw a dressier top over your jersey and you can get passed the "Maître d'" at most restaurants. You'll still be a little funny looking but these days who isn't?

Given this fashion feature, on top of the superb performance on the essentials, these pants stand out. With these in my pack I can be out without worrying about the rain, cold, or even the possibility of dinner plans. In the latter case, I can transform from a bike geek to a relatively normal looking patron in a couple of seconds. For more on bike fashion, check out Diverse Bicycle Fashion.

The Sugoi Firewall Pants, true to their name, are great for truly rainy days and they are passable as regular pants but since my original post, I've found that their sound gives away the fact that they are rain pants even if their looks don't. The make a swishing sound when you walk.

Almost Like Slacks

For days when the rain is light but temp is low and/or the wind is high, I wear Patagonia Traverse Pants. This is a "soft shell" pant that is really not rain gear at all. Nevertheless, light rain drops seem to bead up and blow off anyway.

What you lose in waterproofing, you gain in breathability, comfort, and style. They feel like regular pants. Sweat is never a problem. Neither is comfort because they are a loose fit that is moderately stretchy. The Firewall Pants might actually stretch more but these Traverse Pants feel more forgiving because there is no water-resistant membrane to stick to your legs.

Finally, the Traverse Pants look almost like slacks so these really do double as workwear for me. The reflector on the ankle zipper is telling but I still wear these most places I go without hesitation.

One catch with the Traverse Pants is, like a lot of Patagonia stuff, they seem to be out of production already. Patagonia does bring back items over time. Nevertheless, right now you have to buy them from a third party because they are not in Patagonia's catalog at the moment.

Feet
Shoes
Last but certainly not least are extremities. I'll start with the feet. First of all let me set the context. If you are riding without clip-less pedals then you can obviously wear any kind of shoe which allows you to pick any kind of protection you want so the comments on footwear below are moot. You can skip to gloves. Likewise, cycling in snow can demand gear where some of the things outlined below are irrelevant. Nevertheless, what follows is my experience keeping my feet dry or, at least, comfortable while using clip-less pedals and shoes.

With clip-less pedals, you are obviously focused on pedaling performance which means you are already using a shoe that is stiff and pretty well ventilated. This means, that water is going to go right into and out of the shoe constantly unless you cover it with something. Although, there are rain guards for cycling shoes, I have found the exposed and wet scenario is actually fine provided you have the right socks.

Full Booties: Rarely

I tried the full booties that slip over the shoes. They work great but they are not breathable so you can wind up with sopping wet feet from your own perspiration. Also, if rain does get in there, it doesn't easily come out. Finally, the booties are a bit of a pain to get on.

Half Booties: Never

As a remedy, I tried the "half-booty". These are slightly easier to get on but were pointless in the rain and not much help in the wind. They had the inconvenience of full booty installation without any of the moisture protection. The rain simply went up and over the half-booty and into my shoe.

Socks
Consequently, I now go out with nothing special on my shoes but something special on my feet. I wear soft nylon socks. They get wet but they dry so quickly that they feel pretty normal when I reach my destination.

I even leave them on at work. The obvious exception not yet covered is snow. If you are riding in snow then all bets are off regarding perspiration. In that case, the full booties are the way to go. I'm fond of the socks like these by DeFeet. They are cheap, they look great in business or cycling shoes, and they dry super-quick.

Hands
Gloves

For the hands, I use two options. If I'm commuting, then sooner or later I'm going to need a lot of finger dexterity to get my metro card out or money or something. I haven't found a full glove yet that does that well but I did recently find these cool mittens with a quick-release finger flap.

The finger compartment slides off when you need your fingers. Very cool when fumbling for your metro pass in a commuter line. The only issue has been that these slip a bit on my brake handles. I bought them at a runners shop so they are not designed for cycling. Otherwise, these are totally cool. Some cycling glove vendor needs to take note.

For a regular cold ride, I use these Pearl Izumi full-fingered gloves. Very nice dexterity. I can even run a smart phone touch screen with them. The only bummer has been the netting in the palm tears easily during a crash and the gel pads fall out. However, most gloves don't last long when sliding on asphalt. Regardless, I forgive this because they feel so good the rest of the time.

This gear isn't the cheapest but I think it is the best. Again, I've wasted a lot of time and money trying to skimp. In the end, I wound up with this stuff and now I don't think twice about going out on any type of day. The gear keeps me perfectly dry and/or comfortable year-round. If cycling is going to become a serious form of transport, gear like this is what it is going to take.

Carless in Los Angeles: alternative paths to CicLAvia and beyond

2010-10-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

Update

On July 15, 2011, Los Angeles began "carmageddon": the closure of the 405. Although the inconveniences will surely be mammoth, I hope Angelenos take pride and full advantage of their superb alternative transportation systems. Below, I profile my surprisingly positive experience using only the LA Metro, Metrolink, and my bicycle to get around.

Introduction

On 10/10/10, Los Angeles banned cars from 7.5 miles of roadway through the center of Los Angeles for CicLAvia. The LA Times piece covers the details of the day.

This post is about my experience flying in for the event with nothing but a bicycle. The trip shattered my outdated perception of LA as purely a car mecca. Riding nothing but public transportation throughout both urban and suburban LA was surprisingly pleasant and efficient. It also brought me closer to the people of this city in ways I didn't expect.

What's it to me?

When I first learned about LA's CicLAvia, it struck me in a very deep way. I felt like I had to be there. "Why?", I thought. Oakland, my home town, had just had "Oaklavia". Why did I care so much about this one?

Personal Redemption
Perhaps it was because, 25 years earlier, I tried and failed to use only a bike in LA while attending school. Black soot in my lungs and overt contempt from motorists quickly ended that. For this and other reasons, I transferred to UC Berkeley soon after and left town. So the prospect of cycling into the open arms of a city that had sent me and my bike packing 25 years earlier was definitely compelling.

Possible Sea Change

But this felt bigger than that. The city has had a formidable subway system for many years now. Locals still told me nobody rode it but how could that be true? All the supporters of CicLAvia are likely to be earnest supporters/patrons of public transportation. Also, the web revealed lots of new cycling activity happening all over the region. All this hinted at a dramatic shift in the city's transportation culture.

Personal redemption or historic sea change, I had to see this for myself. I signed up to volunteer at the event and padded the trip with a few extra days to try out some of the other new alternative transportation infrastructure and events.

Getting There

Train route from Burbank to Union Station

I started planning the trip down there with myopic purity. I would take my bike on the Amtrak train from the San Francisco Bay Area: maximizing fuel- and space-efficiency. Unfortunately, the need for time-efficiency inevitably altered this plan.

Inter-city Trains (Amtrak) Still Lacking
The train from the bay area to LA takes all day, literally. Doing this would require taking 2 extra days off work. On top of that, a terrorist alert had heightened train security which meant increased delays.

Planes, Trains, But No Automobiles
Given all this, I decided to fly down with the bike. I'd congest the airways getting down there but not the freeways getting around town. This seemed right to me. It's all about right-sizing your ride for the journey not using bike or train at all costs. I'm not a bike ascetic.

Bob Hope Airport

Since I would be toting a huge bicycle box from the plane ride, I wanted to avoid clogging the narrow aisle on most buses when riding from the airport. This was a job for a train. LAX only has bus service so I landed at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank which has a train station right across the street. Google maps will tell you it's a half mile away but it is actually much closer depending on how you walk. Regardless, there's a free shuttle to it if need be.

Metrolink

The train you catch at Burbank airport is part of Metrolink. This is full sized rail used for commuting: like the bay area's CalTrain. This Ventura County line is one of several outer legs of LA's surprisingly comprehensive rail system that stretches to every major suburb. This line had an asymetrical schedule with departure times that seemed to vary.

Generally though, it leaves the airport for downtown every hour during commute hours. As I found out later, weekends are a different story: there's no service on the Burbank line and other lines are severely scaled back. Nevertheless, on this particular Friday I was on a train heading to downtown in less than 10 minutes.

The train was astoundingly nice and fast. It had a clean bathroom, clean seats, and elegantly designed bike racks. It even had a few power sockets for laptops. This was much better than CalTrain. I thought I was in Germany or Switzerland. It was that good.

The only unfortunate part of the ride was realizing that this clean, nice, fast train to downtown was virtually empty at 8:45am on a Friday. I suddenly worried that perhaps this great train service would wilt before Angelenos adopted it. But it was early yet.

Regardless, I got from Burbank Airport to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles in 40 minutes. That isn't faster than a car in good traffic but it is in bad traffic. In any case, it is much cheaper and cleaner. Best of all, I could write this or read the paper while I commuted.

Union Station

25 years ago, my friends and I used to hang out in Union Station like people might hang out at a museum or an old warehouse. The beauty of the place has been featured in numerous movies including Chinatown. The grounds have a number of great courtyards in which to wait for trains. However, the interior is what attracted us most. It has row after row of big leather chairs with wide wooden armrests. The lighting of the grand hall containing these is something to behold. Nevertheless, back then there was a sadness to the place because it wasn't being used much. It felt like this beautiful monument to a bygone era of train travel in LA.

Not anymore. Union Station is now the hub for both the Metro (the inner city subway system) and MetroLink. Consequently, the place is bustling with commuters of all types. There are world tourists, professionals traveling to LAX, bag ladies, students, you name it. What a pleasant contrast to the last time I saw it. The grand hall now has at least 2 restaurants/cafes enjoyed by many from the look of it. It was genuinely moving to see such a beautiful place revived for such a beautiful purpose.

A short walk inside Union Station got me from my MetroLink train to the LA Metro Red Line. Less than 20 minutes later, I was in my hotel on 7th street. So far so good. I was in LA without a car and at my first destination within an hour.

Bike Emergency

Originally, the point of flying in early was to have some time on the bike scouting the CicLAvia course on a regular work day. However, my bike was still semi-dismantled in a bike box from the flight. When I started to reassemble it at the hotel, I discovered I had left the mounting screws for my rear derailleur back at home. Without those the bike is useless. Ugh!!

Metro Gold Line: Pasadena to the Rescue

No worries. This was a great test for the Metro. Googling with my smart phone revealed a bike shop in Pasadena, 30 miles away, that was right by a Metro station. Forty minutes later I had the screws. Woohoo! I felt so good I hung out for great fish tacos at Pasadena's Seafood Grill: unpretentious, inexpensive, delicious.

C.I.C.L.E ArtNight Ride

I was back at my hotel and had the bike assembled in plenty of time to scout a bit and then attend the "ArtNight Ride" hosted by C.I.C.L.E. The ArtNight Ride was another pleasant surprise to my outdated perception of Los Angeles as car-focused. Approximately 50-100 riders gathered in Pasadena's Central Park on a Friday night to bike between a series of art exhibits and performances. It was a beautiful night with great people, exhibits, and a heartpounding taiko drum performance.

I thought I'd stay for an hour but I stayed for three. C.I.C.L.E. has been sponsoring such rides for a number of years. They go to great pains to make everyone safe and welcome. Volunteers "take the lane" before the riders move onto a street. By contrast, lane-taking with SF Critical Mass is self-serve. Although I'm comfortable with the self-serve approach it is nice to know there's an easier intro for the new. Group rides are one of the most nourishing and fun experiences in cycling. The folks at C.I.C.L.E. are very gracious ambassadors to that. After the ride, I returned to downtown on the Orange Line about midnight with no problems.

Metro Brown Line: Pomona

Saturday, I took the San Bernadino Metrolink line to Pomona to have breakfast with my dad who was also in town. Pomona is way out from downtown LA so this was the biggest test yet for Metrolink. This line did have service on the weekend but the intervals were more sparse and, again, irregular. Nevertheless, I had the same positive experience I had coming into to town. I found myself texting on my smart phone with impunity while the train literally whizzed past cars on the freeway. I got from my hotel downtown to Pomona in an hour. Not too shabby with no car!

Returning from Pomona around 11:30 a.m. on a Saturday, I did run into a 2 hour dead zone where there was no train until after 1 p.m. I then went on a bit of a wild goose chase looking for the bus station which ran hourly. In the end, I took the train after 1 p.m. The return soaked up more of my day than I liked but it wasn't devastating. I still had time to pedal to the beach.

Pedaling to the Ocean: Union Station to Santa Monica

Once I got back from Pomona to Union Station, I was done with trains for the day. It was time to ride. I decided to score all the touristy points I could. On a bike, I didn't have to worry so much about traffic, even on a Saturday. I pedaled over to the Disney Concert Hall at Civic Center: a stunning piece of architecture at the top of a surprisingly steep hill in downtown LA.

From the concert hall, I pedaled up to Hollywood Boulevard to Mann's Chinese Theatre. This was an absolute madhouse traffic-wise but it was a piece of cake on a bike. Getting from here to Sunset was a bit hairy. Cramped lanes, fast cars, and lousy pavement on the west end of Hollywood Boulevard.

From Hollywood Boulevard, I pedaled down to Sunset and past the Beverly Hills Hotel. This is a very nice stretch of road that's palatable for cycling. However, it lacks a bike lane. At a stop light, a Ford Cobra roared up next to me. Inside were a couple fondling each other. Given their level of distraction, I was really missing a dedicated bike path. To minimize my exposure to cars, I veered off Sunset through the quieter side streets of Beverly Hills and then down to Santa Monica Boulevard.

As I crested the hill to Century City, I saw my first bike lane of the day and took my first breath of sea air. The bike lanes stopped at the 405 freeway for some reason but the sea air kept getting stronger as I approached Santa Monica and the beach so I was still feeling good. West of the 405, Santa Monica Boulevard has no bike lane but, on Saturday afternoon at least, traffic was mellow and the street was wide so the riding was pretty good anyway.

Like any other tourist, I made a bee-line for the 3rd Street Promenade. Then, I hung out to watch the sunset. It had been a while since I saw the sun boil into an ocean's horizon. Very cool. Although after that I found myself standing in the dark with at least 16 miles of central LA between me and my hotel. Pedaling around Pomona and out to the beach had left me too wiped out to want to dodge cars in the dark; not to mention, any criminal activity. I decided to take the 794 Metro Rapid bus which left right from 3rd Street Promenade and went straight to Union Station.

Existential Bus Ride
The bus ride turned out to be anything but rapid. It was a classic, sweaty, overcrowded milk run. Nevertheless, it produced some precious moments that reminded me of all the intangible reasons to bike, bus, and train.

Amongst the chaos of the bag ladies, the French and Japanese tourists, the goateed art student hitting on the scantily clad UCLA coeds, an elderly man mentioned to the bus driver that he had to get off at "Western". The bus was so crowded that he couldn't see when we arrived there so he asked the bus driver to remind him. The driver had too many other people competing for his attention to notice. I didn't realize I had until 45 minutes later.

Public transport can breed empathy. It can breed animosity as well but that night it produced empathy in me that I didn't know existed.

After an interminable number of stops, I was fed up with this bus ride and ready to just bike home. However, the neighborhoods we were moving through were not the more affluent ones I had pedaled through earlier. They looked considerably meaner to someone as ignorant as I was about neighborhood, especially at night. Consequently, I decided to shorten my bus trip by getting off at the first Metro station. The Metro is pretty well staffed with security and it would be faster than bus or bike. I was now poised like a hawk near the front windshield scouring the darkness for my stop.

I am hardly a bleeding heart. I can be bit of a loner, especially when I am feeling vulnerable on a strange city bus. Even so, while focusing on my own place to ditch the bus, I saw the old man's street approaching fast: Western! I looked back at him. Not only was he unaware, he was asleep. Now, I couldn't just tell him. I had to wake him. This took some doing. He was really out. It was comical but sweet to watch his eyes blink slowly as he came online. "Western?", he said. "Yah", I said. He got all flustered and lobbied for the bus driver to stop. He did so just in time.

The old man didn't thank me or anything but I felt really good from the experience. "Empathy", I thought. Public transport can breed empathy. It can breed animosity as well but that night it produced empathy in me that I didn't know existed. Any psychologist will tell you empathy is the key to healthy relationships. I am grateful for the reminder that there's more at stake in the transit debate than things like efficiency and air quality. Public transport is a way to keep us all from isolating ourselves to sociopathic degrees. It's hard to live in an apathetic bubble when people can reach out and touch you with their hands or their needs.

I finally got to the tip of the Metro Red Line which whisked me to the hotel. By then I had missed the group ride I hoped to attend. About 11 p.m., I saw what must have been that group taking all the lanes of the street in front of my hotel. It looked like there were hundreds of cyclists. They filled the whole block. I was so bummed I missed it but so heartened again to see such activity from a city I thought was so hostile to anything but the car. It boded well for CicLAvia the next day.

CicLAvia

I showed up at the volunteer station too early. None of my team was even there. I decided to use the time to tour the course and get some food. I made it all the way to the west end of the course and found Cafecito Organico was serving up a delicious baked egg on a bed of potato, chard, and spinach. Fabulous! I washed that down with their electrifying cappuccino and made my way back to Macarthur Park.

Along the way, still an hour before the start, I could already see very touching scenes in the streets that beautifully illustrated the point of CicLAvia. Children played, elderly strolled, young people drew pictures, and I rode in the middle of streets that would kill us on any other day.

Some volunteers I spoke with later talked about how studies have shown people stay on sidewalks even when they know a street is closed. That figures. If a certain move can get you killed in one context, you tend to avoid it for all. It's like pulling the trigger of an unloaded gun. Who wants to find out the hard way it was actually loaded?

That visceral reaction to streets, powerful as it is, does slowly fade during an event like CicLAvia. The result, for me, is a feeling of indescribable relaxation and peace. The LA Times piece talks about the silence at CicLAvia. That plays a big part as well.

People who've grown up in urban settings have never known a time, and perhaps a moment, without the din or roar of the combustion engine in the background. They've been starved of silence. If silence is a key ingredient to peace then you do the math. If we won't change our transportation culture to address obesity, air quality, and congestion, what about doing it for social cohesion and peace? They are arguably just as important to a prosperous future.

Perception Updated

North Hollywood metro station

Velo Polo players after a match

Before my trip, I thought CicLAvia would mark the beginning of major changes to LAs car focus. After 3 days and 300 miles of travel on nothing but LAs alternative transport, I see that CicLAvia marks change that is already well underway.

What's more, the people of LA have altered their culture towards alternative transport with a gusto and bravado that only they can. The way they decorate their train stations (North Hollywood), their bikes, and themselves, makes the whole thing more cool. The cyclist image desperately needs all the cool it can get (see this Slate article for more on that). Having the residents of an icon of cars and coolness getting on board trains, bikes, and the whole alternative transport scene is a vote of confidence that will breed a lot of global adoption.

Los Angeles is no longer just a car mecca. Los Angeles has a first class public transportation system that rivals many U.S. cities and compares favorably to many around the world. Most importantly, the people are using this system in droves and the city's transportation culture is embracing alternative transport in a big way. I don't recognize it anymore but I love LA.

SF Critical Mass Almost Legal at 18

2010-09-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

Mature Event

Friday was the 18th Anniversary of San Francisco's Critical Mass. At 18, it is still not quite legal but very mature. Gone are the days of violent clashes with cars, cops, and pedestrians. There's still plenty of anarchic behavior but (for the moment at least) a really beautiful balance of temperance and tolerance is at play within all sides.

Many motorists still detest Critical Mass. Even as a cyclist, I am not fond of the Critical Mass logo with a fist running between two wheels. I'm all for vigorous debate but I don't think slamming your fist on somebody's hood, or running cyclists over, is the way to do that. Fortunately, I think a lot of cyclists and motorists, at least in San Francisco, have now come to the same conclusion.

The event still involves a lot of police but they protect cyclists as much as they contain them. Cyclists still take over intersections with impunity but they take an otherwise mellow tone with the police and bystanders. Bystanders still bad-mouth (and throw water balloons) but show a lot more tolerance overall.

A lot of this may just stem from the event's age. Almost everyone in town now has heard of Critical Mass so they enjoy it if they love it, avoid it if they don't, or know it will be over soon either way. Also, cyclists seem a lot better at not giving or taking the antagonistic bait.

Warm Weather, Warm People

Regardless, this was an awesome Critical Mass. Indian Summer was in full effect on this Friday in September. There was no fog in sight nor chill that accompanies it. The balmy sunset provided a suitable backdrop to a tour of the most beautiful city on earth. This was my second Critical Mass. The one I did last year was fun but this one was even better. The great weather definitely played a part.

The warmth wasn't just in the weather. From the cyclists, to the trapped motorists, to the motorcycle cops, everyone was remarkably warm towards each other. Rolling alongside fellow travelers without being encased in a sound-proof steel container is an experience unique to cycling that makes it hard to alienate or feel alienated. The sheer vulnerability of yourself and those around you makes you want to be more social and afraid to be less so. Critical Mass is a great reminder of how powerful this aspect of cycling can be.

Still Pushing Boundaries
Cyclists still exercised plenty of free will on the ride. We literally rode circles in the middle of Market and VanNess without warning. The course is never pre-defined. Folks decide at each stopping point what is going to happen next. This week that included attempts to cross both the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges. A half dozen CHPs and SFPDs at each on ramp put a damper on that plan.

That didn't stop us from overtaking every intersection and street between bridges. It also didn't stop some cyclists from expressing themselves beyond simply taking over the street. The ride contained no less than 6 nudists, 3 DJs, 1 bubblist, and lots of weed.

Critical Ass?

Nudity is semi-legal in San Francisco. Last year, the cops hassled the naked guys pretty bad and most seemed to disappear well before the end of the ride. This year, however, folks who bared it all stayed in as long as they wanted.

The only hassle the DJs endure is getting 30+ pounds of batteries, cargo bike, and speakers up San Francisco hills. For that, and the awesome music, they are treated like heroes on the ride. It's great having more than one so you can sample many grooves that range from funk to country and western.
Great stuff!

Likewise, nobody was worried about the weed. The cops seemed focused on just keeping Critical Mass away from the bridges and the street traffic away from Critical Mass. Given that marijuana legalization is now on next state ballot, this seems like the right focus.

Conflict from Within

Ironically, the bubblist received the most heat and it came from other cyclists. After all cyclists have been through, it was sad to have the most antagonism coming from within over something so trivial.

Perhaps this is a symptom of cycling's recent success. It has never been more popular in the U.S. with major cycling initiatives underway in most major coastal cities. That's just the circumstance when balkanizing tendencies can erupt. The helmet debate is dividing cyclists just when this marginalized population can hardly afford it. Fortunately, the anti-bubble noise was balanced out by cooler heads who just wanted to ride in peace. I hope the helmet debate will resolve before it damages adoption of cycling in general.

Intangible Benefits
Crossing intersections, or riding wheelies down the middle of the Broadway tunnel, without fear of oncoming cars, police, or most bystanders puts one in a mood that is hard to describe. It makes you feel incredibly relaxed and welcome. It also erases a lot of work and personal stress.

The power of cycling to promote social cohesion, trust, and stress reduction, often gets buried under its more tangible benefits of efficiency, economy, and fitness. Nevertheless, these intangibles are potentially more important. What part of the world couldn't use more peace between people? These intangible effects have always been apparent to the Critical Mass participants but it seems increasingly apparent to police and bystanders.

Channel the Passion

The current success of Critical Mass with both participants and non-participants is an opportunity to help expand cycling massively. It's time to scale cycling and all its benefits to more than one day a month and beyond coastal cities or enlightened college towns.

Many cities in Europe have already achieved this. They have permanent and pervasive cycling infrastructures and cultures. This looks increasingly possible in American cities like Portland, San Francisco, New York, and even Los Angeles but it's nowhere near certain in these places and far less so in many others.

A rare but narrow window is now open for cycling but it may close soon. Places like Omaha have introduced new cycling initiatives but they are enduring fierce skepticism. Unprecedented numbers of Americans are fed up with the physical, environmental and economic havoc wreaked from cars and oil. However, the electric car may soon mitigate the public's distaste for cars by appearing to remove smog and CO2 from the equation. This may distract everyone from the other benefits of cycling. Given all this, cyclists need to act now to build and spread the momentum cycling currently enjoys.

If Critical Mass doesn't inspire motorists to support more cycling infrastructure, I hope it inspires the participants to do so. Critical Mass is avowed to be unstructured. There's no leader or group controlling it. While this is a key part of its attraction, I hope its thousands of participants show equal passion for cycling in more structured ways as well. If folks lobby and vote for cycling with the same gusto that they party at Critical Mass, our cities will be the better for it.

The Bike of Mormon

2010-09-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Cycling is the closest thing I've come to finding a calling. As a philosophy major at UC Berkeley, I analyzed religion but never adopted it. Over my life, I've sampled a few (buddhism, hare krishna, numerous flavors of christianity) but nothing really took. The only message that ever touched me was that, afterlife or no, the earth sustains us now so caring for it ought to be a high priority.

Back in the 80s, I did a semester of college in central Los Angeles. The Iran-Iraq war was causing oil price spikes. A family friend's 5 year old son died after he was hit by a car in their neighborhood. Smog alerts and traffic jams were a frequent part of the nightly news.

Cycling seems a perfect fit for all Christians given it reflects at least 4 of 7 heavenly virtues: temperance, diligence, patience, and humility.

Given all this, I was pretty passionate about doing something real and immediate to eliminate pollution, oil addiction, and car domination. My answer was to use only a bike to get around Los Angeles. But after a couple of months cycling between Watts and Westwood, my breathing got strained and I was coughing up black soot with regularity. This is not to mention all the hazing and near death experiences from cars. I lost faith in my cause. I felt like the world would never see what I saw in cycling: a way to solve so many huge problems all at once with so little.

More than 20 years later, my faith in the promise of cycling has been rekindled by all the news from around the world about the great awakening to cycling's benefits: to reduce obesity, healthcare costs, budget deficits, etc. So it was interesting timing to run into a couple of fellas using cycling to proselytize their faith.

Returning from lunch on a really hot day, I saw these two Mormon missionaries (Elder Campbell and Elder Kim) cycling through a business park. They were wearing classic Mormon missionary attire: dark slacks, white short-sleeved shirt, and tie.

I've seen missionaries in many settings but never on bikes. I was impressed: partly because the church obviously recognized how effective bicycles can be as a serious mode of transport and partly because cycling in their attire on such a hot day already displayed a lot of passion for their faith.

Given my travails in LA years earlier, I felt for these guys. Fascinated, I chased them down and asked for an interview. A few weeks later, we met in front of the local bike shop and went for a ride. They brought me back to one of the churches they work with in the area. We stopped and had a nice chat about their mission, their faith, and their cycling.

What a journey for these guys. Elder Campbell came from Canada and Elder Kim came all the way from Korea (and speaks perfect English). They had never met before they started their mission. Yet, they are deeply united by a profound sense of being blessed and an intense desire to share that with as many people as possible. To this end, they cycle as far as 20 miles at a stretch for hours each day. They'll continue this for 2 years. They say it is all worthwhile, especially, when they see someone really receive their message.

It turns out, Mormon missionaries have a long tradition of cycling. There are even websites, like the missionary depot, dedicated to helping them obtain cycling gear. Not all missionaries cycle but quite a few do and have for years. I am impressed to see this zeal for bikes within the Mormon church. Cycling seems a perfect fit for all Christians, not just Mormons, given it reflects at least 4 of 7 heavenly virtues: temperance, diligence, patience, and humility. I'd argue you could include kindness (to the earth).

Cycling runs in the family as well as the church for Elder Campbell. He comes from a family of downhill mountain bike racers. The terrain in Canada is perfect for that. However, he says he never biked as much as he does now and does not expect to use bikes for transport much after his mission. He says there's too much snow back in Canada to make it a viable transport option in winter. I mentioned to him, that it is possible to ride in snow. I told him about the folks I found cycling in Jackson Hole last December but I agreed it is challenging. Regardless, after his mission, he plans to get a road bike to keep in shape.

I asked them about some of the realities of cycling. For instance, did they get hot in their uniforms? That was a definitive "yes" but the church allows no alternative to the standard uniform even while cycling. The goal is to look professional while performing church duties. They certainly do that, even if the guys do look a little glossy after a ride.

Elder Campbell told the story of getting his seat stolen and having to ride home without one. Now they are experts at knowing which neighborhoods are the most vulnerable. Beware of Monument boulevard they said. "Everyone gets their bike stolen there". I recommended a few things from my post about Cycling and Security.

Both they and I noted how both missionaries and cyclists are often antagonized, or anyone dressed or acting differently for that matter. For cycling missionaries, it's a double risk. Some drivers and pedestrians can be downright hostile to cyclists. They confirmed missionaries can sometimes experience similar hostilities both on and off the road. These experiences are painful but we both agreed they help us empathize with folks who don't fit a particular mold.

While we commiserated about the challenges of spreading our respective messages of hope, I realized that I feel like a bit of a missionary myself. Only, my gospel is cycling.

Though our belief systems differ, I wish them the best of luck in their mission and a safe journey on their bikes and beyond.

Cycling and Security

2010-09-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ultimately, cycling can improve our national security by ending addiction to oil and the violent regimes that control it but we've got several million converts to win over before we get to that. And those folks need to know how to hang onto their ride.

Cycling as serious transport in a country without a commitment to it requires a lot of guts and a lot of great gear. Over the last year, I've gone through a lot of money and strife finding that gear. What follows is one of a series of posts (see visibility, rain/wind protection) sharing my experience with gear and the need it fills. This entry is about security. Namely, it's about how to minimize theft and vandalism while maximizing convenience. With that in mind, I'm highlighting the systems and tools that help me do that.

There have been some very positive developments for bike security with the proliferation of bike lockers, parking garages, and valets; not to mention, the cool "low-jack-style" GPS/RF bike tracking tools. But first, here are a few quick points about the obvious bike security tool.

Locks
Ever since my brand new Schwinn Continental was stolen outside a bowling alley back in the 70s, I've been searching for a lock I trust. The one I used that time was foolishly feeble: a 1 cm chain with a 3 digit combination lock. I was just a kid. I learned, after the fact, even I could pick this in a couple of minutes.

U-Lock

Today, folks (myself included) often favor the "U-Lock". The 2+ cm steel U-shaped bar can be as strong as chains but a tad lighter, and easier to pack. Still, there are issues.

Not all U-Locks are created equal. See Slate.com's great profile on U-Locks to learn about the differences.
Though lighter than a chain, the better U-Locks are still a lot to carry. Riders often leave them locked to a rack to avoid the weight issue.
The U-Lock's fixed shape means it has limited reach. It can't reach around thick posts or around both wheels.

There's not much to be done about the reach issue. Cables come to mind but they can be cut through easily. Chains come to mind but the good ones are really heavy. Neither option leaves you much better off than with a U-Lock. The reaction to this seems to be to use a tiny U-Lock. At least then, you are not lugging much weight and the bits you lock are secure.

This picture in front the Berkeley Bowl shows a classic example. You could remove your front wheel and lock everything around the back wheel but that means you spend time realigning your wheel with your brakes every time you make a stop which is a sure fire way to discourage bike use. To avoid this, I sometimes use a cable to loop through the back wheel but that boosts the weight and space again.

Steel-encased Cable Lock
There is one other option: the steel-encased cable. It's lighter than a chain, stronger than a cable and has the reach the U-Lock doesn't. It still won't thread both wheels but it does go around large posts. The one I use is by ABUS: a great German lock company that makes the Diskus padlock that's been very popular for years. Knock on wood, I have not lost anything so far while using the steel-encased cable.

There's a lot of video on youtube showing the big bolt cutters breaking just about every lock on the market, this lock included. However, it is hard to tell just what they are cutting and the bolt cutting scenario is hopefully an unlikely one if you've picked a good high-profile spot. Other sources say this lock is relatively tough to break. Although, they say it still only takes 3 minutes to get through without bolt cutters. For this reason, I still treat this as a lighter option.

No matter what lock you use, the old saying is still true "if they really want to take it, no lock is going to stop them". Consequently, securing your bike is really about completely hiding or completely exposing your bike to others. Hiding your bike is great (because noone knows to steal it) but tough to achieve in public so the other strategy is more popular.

Few thieves like witnesses to their crimes. If you can find a well-populated place, then all the lock has to do is keep honest people honest by removing the basic ability/temptation to ride off with your bike. With an ideal parking spot, almost any lock will do. Still, if the bike is facing hours of seclusion, I try to avert thieves with as much armor as I can stand to carry: the U-Lock and a cable.

Locks may deter thieves but they don't do a thing about vandalism. If some jackass wants to turn your rims into pretzels, there's little you can do. One exciting trend in bike commuting that addresses vandalism and the other limitations of locks is the proliferation of bike lockers, parking garages, and valets.

Bike Lockers
Subway stations in my region and my work place don't supply full-service bike parking but they do provide bike lockers like you see here. These are great: at least for day parking. Again, if someone is determined to axe or saw their way into these lockers, there is not much to stop them. Still, even this would take time and make a lot of noise and that would hopefully prompt a witness to call the cops.

Regardless, the beauty of lockers is that they:

hide the bike completely
(i.e. out of sight, out of criminal minds)
only require you to carry a sturdy padlock
provide some protection from vandalism

I find these very satisfying to use. It is literally a huge load off your mind and your back to have your bike hidden from view in a sturdy container and locked with something not much heavier than your shoes. At work, I use the ABUS Diskus padlock. I even leave this locked to a fence so I have 0 weight to lug around if I want.

Bike Garages and Valets

The ultimate in bike theft prevention, of course, are the attended bike garages or bike valets. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, provides free bike valet service at ATT Park for ballgames and at the SF Ferry Building during farmer's market on Saturdays. I can't say enough about the positive effect this has on a cycling experience. It relieves a ton of stress that you typically have when you just lock your bike and it allows you to carry more cargo because you are no longer lugging your own security system around with you. It really is a very profound difference.

To some, it might sound excessive to have structures built to house bikes but cities are littered with parking garages for cars. If bike commuting is ever going mainstream, the same will have to be true. Here's a nice one in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

These bike parking services are increasingly common in bike-friendly cities like San Francisco and Vancouver. However, even in those places the hours of operation are limited. The bike parking garage shown here by the SF CalTrain station is closed on weekends. To really support cycling as serious transport, you need to count on these services being available virtually 24/7 so that you can go out as you normally would: without concern that access to you're ride is going to disappear at the stroke of midnight.

Personal Security

Locks and bike parking provide security for the bike while it is stationary but what about security for you while you are moving? Protection from cars and the elements are best left to infrastructure but there are tools to protect you from other people and animals: for instance, the 9mm Beretta (just kidding).

Seriously, though. Lots of cyclists report having things thrown at them. I've personally had people try to block my way and hassle me. I've also had dogs literally nipping at my heels. The latter instance happened while riding in Texas. That experience caused me to buy some pepper spray. It's not much but it's a non-lethal device that can buy you some time to pedal out of harm's way. The pepper spray I've got has a really nice strap with a velcro release. I've mounted it on my pack in a readily accessible spot. Naturally, now that I have it I never have cause to use it. That's fine with me.

Cycling amongst roads and drivers that don't want you there can be stressful enough. The tools and services profiled above have helped me mitigate that stress by maximizing convenience and piece of mind.

UPDATE: Low Jack Option
Although I try to only post about stuff I've actually experienced or tested, one thing on the horizon of bike security that is too promising to ignore is the use of GPS and radio transmitters to have your bike broadcast where it is if it ever gets stolen. Currently, this only appears to be used by law enforcement as bait, e.g. UOP is fighting a bike theft epidemic with such a system. Nevertheless, if a consumer product ever becomes available at a reasonable price, it could be a great thing. How satisfying to end forever that horrible feeling you will never see your bike again or know anything about where it went. Given the escalating prices of high end bikes, I am betting we'll be hearing a lot more about this option.

Another Bike Commuter is Born

2010-09-13T23:48:00.000-07:00

This week saw the maiden ride of another convert. Bryan, one of my co-workers, has entered the bike commuter fold.

Bryan has biked sporadically all his life. One of his fondest memories was riding in the rain in Maryland as a kid. Most cyclists don't like the rain but I can actually relate. If you've got the right gear, riding in weather is down right fun. That bodes well for Bryan's perseverance as we enter the rainy season.

He says he's decided to start bike commuting because it "just makes so much sense". He lives less than 10 miles away from his job. With that short of a distance, he can beat a bus because of all the stops they make. He also leaves when he wants like he would if he drove. The fitness and smaller gasoline bill are a nice bonus as well.

I am particularly proud of Bryan's conversion because my donation of a crankset helped make it possible. The FSA crank from my Cannondale was just lying around and his Bianchi needed one so I donated it to him in accordance with the PlanBike mission.

Several weeks later he's gliding next to me using the crankset. Too cool. He's already on his 5th consecutive day. I was pretty saddle sore when I started and had to take a break. Between his love of rain and his strong start, Bryan's in danger of being a hardcore bike commuter.

Here's a picture of Bryan, Ed, and I on our first lunch trip. Check out Ed's cool folding Bike Friday "Tickit to Ride". Turns out Ed is also a recent convert. Just 16 months. Having a mobile posse greatly expands our lunch options. This time we only went about a mile out. Still, the ride made me feel better about chowing down.

Just five days in and he's already bought clipless pedals and Sidi shoes and loves them. This guy has got the bug. Right on. We need more like him.

Welcome aboard, Bryan. I can't wait for us to pedal out to all the new lunch possibilities.