Inspired by Scott

On occasion before, I have admitted to aviation inspiration in my cycling, such as here, here, and here. In my last cycling commute, on April 5th, I took my cycling commute inspiration from another source; a fellow University of Washington alum. Scott Crossfield.

Scott appeared in a supporting role in "The Right Stuff" as a "civilian pilot" of the D558-2 that was the first plane to exceed Mach 2. Less well known was his attitude towards flight that was demonstrated in his role as chief contractor test pilot in the X-15 program. Scott endured much in that program, including a vehicle that exploded under him, and another that broke as he performed an emergency landing. Even so, in his last X-15 flight, he followed orders and did not exceed Mach 3 or climb into space. Watch the embedded video starting 46 minutes and 50 seconds in and for the following minute.

That example was my inspiration for my commute on April 5th. I went in and came home. No close calls, no "death on my left," no attempts to advocate cycling by exaggerating its danger (no links for this one, but I'm sure my loyal reader can think of many such sites and organizations). Simply getting the job done.

Thanks, Scott. UW Aero Class of 1947. Watch starting at about 46 minutes and 50 seconds in to the video. The entire show is, IMO, worth watching but that segment contains Scott's recollections and attitude. Simply getting the job done. So now we can move on to new topics...

Scott Crossfield Gets the Job Done Starting at 46:50

 

April Fifth

Sidi Shoe Wear...

For the last week or two, around our house, some of what passes for humor has revolved around April fifth. This started when I noted that my Sidi cycling shoes were getting tired. My wife noted: "they only have to last until April fifth!"

Saddle Wear...

Rust Up Front...

Before you knew it, the wear on Buddy's saddle was being judged by the same standard.

After all, if all goes well, April fifth will be my last bicycle commute.

A Meaningful, Meaningless Award, Soon to be Obsolete...

Lucky Man

I Admire Forester's Sentiments about Bike Commuting - Unchanged in the New Edition

While few records are truly unbreakable, Cal Ripken’s MLB consecutive game streak is one that is unlikely to be broken in my lifetime. The current active leader, if he never missed a game, would need until 2027 to break it. While it might not be quite so newsworthy, Jon Grinder achieved a somewhat similar feat by bicycle commuting for over 800 consecutive work days. His last one was reported here. Interestingly, even he has concluded it was something special, as indicated by his added post, here. Personally, I agree, though it is the sort of achievement that few with options other than cycle commuting can accomplish more than once, so he better get over it.

I found his report inspiring, though I do not expect to ever come near that mark. In fact, while I’m closing in on 350 consecutive bike commutes, I really do not expect to work enough extra days before I hang up the old "engineering triangle"  to come close to Jon/Cal. Over time, I have come to have a better appreciation for being able to cycle every day, on a schedule, regardless of the weather. Rewards have come from the satisfaction of simply having done something that is simple, but which few in our motorized society do. Getting back to bicycles instead of baseball, John Forester kept a statement unchanged in his new edition of Effective Cycling that I find to be uplifting. Namely:

“In a sense, cycle-commuting is a real test of whether a cyclist has it all together: cycling every day, through heavy traffic in all weathers and lighting, whatever the hopes or disappointments of the day, having the machine in running trim every morning and the cyclist equally capable and competent. In another sense, after a while it becomes so natural to you that you wonder what the catch is -- why so many cannot do it as easily as you do. Then you have arrived...”

Still, the second all-time baseball game leader, Lou Gehrig, provides inspiration as well. As he said in his last-ever game; “I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” Well spoken. Unlike Lou and Jon, I'm healthy as far as I know right now other than a bit of a cold I caught from one of my kids. Thanks to all three mentioned in this post - Jon, John, and Lou - collectively, I think I've finally moved beyond "fair weather cyclist" status and I thank y'all for that...

From Wikipedia - Lou Gehrig - Second after Cal Ripkin. Like Him, I'm a Lucky Man

Guessing Wrong

I Don't Really Enjoy Riding in Lightning Storms!

Weather in North Texas can be "interesting." This morning, it was 79F when I left for work. The weather lady on television (I DO miss Jennifer Lopez doing weather) was somewhat noncommittal. "40% chance" combined with "heavy rain and thunderstorms" is definitely a "don't blame me" forecast.

Still, my only concession was to bring along a few plastic bags to cover bag contents and saddle "just in case."

Well, read the title and you know the outcome. About an hour before quitting time, any frog outside would have drowned. I did manage to avoid most of the lightning danger when I left - two hours later. The temperature - for the "hot" part of the ride - 70F.

On occasion, commuting in a closed car would be OK. Today would have been such an occasion. It is rare that I run with lights on in June on the ride home. Even my kids called to see if I wanted a ride home. Did I want a ride TO work?

These Would Have Been Nice on the Way Home - Modeled by My Youngest

Still, all in all, it WAS a pretty nice day to ride to work. Though I did get reminded inadvertently of the great danger cyclists face. Especially those in lower latitudes...

These Guys Had Rivers Where Rivers Usually Do Not Go

Bike Month Wrapup

Bike to Work Shot

I had fun this bike month. Like most any other month of commuting by bike. However, I did,set a minor milestone that advocates might point out as a measure of how bike month is working for all of us.

Checking my log records, I noticed that I commuted more times this May than ever before. I rode to work 22 times in May, eclipsing the previous high of 21 times in May 2011. Bike commuting is UP! By my calculation, that'd be nearly a 5% increase year-over-year.

Of course, last year, May 1 was on a Sunday, and I try to avoid riding to work on weekends whenever possible. As I've noted in the past, figures don't lie, but liars DO figure.

Hope y'all had a good bike month yourselves!

This Photo is IRRELEVANT TO THIS POST - Well, Other Than It's Been a Long Time Since Buffalo Appeared in this Blog...

Typical Commute DUG UP

I thought that today I'd take a shot of the most dramatic, unusual, and dramatic event of my typical commute. I wondered if I'd dig up some blood curdling danger, or other item that would cause my loyal reader to consider whether cycling might be other than fun and safe.

Well, on the way in, I DID face a real stiff headwind. That slowed things down a bit, but I still arrived at work pretty much at the same time as usual, thanks to a couple of green lights I typically have to stop for. Still, a photo of a green traffic light hardly seems like something I'd be paid millions for the movie rights for.

To spice things up, I also saw a dog on the loose. Perhaps that dog was appraised of my recent post, here, as he slunk off in the opposite direction without so much as a close approach or even a friendly tail wag. Perhaps word has been making its way around the canine world. Even a dog or two that typically run along their fences barely looked up this morning.

Before you knew it, I was at work, with nary a photo-worthy event. But, there was still the afternoon commute to look forward to. Perhaps I'd have a thrilling brush with something or other on the way home.

Broken Front Derailleur. But Not MY Bike

Well, things started out promising. A fellow bike commuter noted his gears weren't working right. I fiddled with his bike a bit, finding that the spring on his front derailleur had "sprung," leaving him stuck in the big chainring. I called him up to appraise him of the mechanical difficulty. I suggested he manually move the chain to his middle ring and reset the stop in order to get home without having to push excessively big gears.

Feeling better, from at least having done my "good deed daily," I continued home. Nothing too dramatic, other than feeling good at seeing the now fixed "Hurst Killer Grate." It'd be tougher for kids riding to school to hurt themselves. Nothing real scary there. No honking or close passes, or abuse, or much of any other dramatic traffic events. Pretty much the same as the morning commute. Oh, I DID hit two more green lights, but again, they're not going to get me a movie deal. Actually, green lights are pretty much the same in Dallas County as they are around my parts of Tarrant County. In Washington State, on the other hand, they orient the signals up and down instead of side to side. Perhaps that will be another thrilling commute post. Perhaps my loyal reader, being asleep, will not notice one way or the other.

Green Lights Hardly Seem Like Thriller Material

But, suddenly, it came to me, I'd really DUG up the commute thrill of the season. It's in the photo below. What, you might ask? Well, those dead palm trees got dug up. Some of us have boring enough commutes that removed landscape foliage is worth an entire post. It is enough to give the "Safety Pyramid" a bad name.

On the other hand, despite propaganda to the contrary, it illustrates that cyling IS fun and safe. Well, even when it isn't a whole lot of fun, it's pretty safe. And, the free coffee from taking the major coffee chain survey made it a little more fun as well.

Something Has Been "Dug Up" Here. What Could it Be?

The Very Same House, Recently, Before the Excavation. Two Palm Trees Were Killed By the February 2011 Ice

Perhaps the "Safety Pyramid" is NOT All Good When the Most Exciting Thing on the Commute is Yard Work Along the Route

Danger Ahead



On the Same Stretch as in the Photo, the Oncoming Motorist "Froze"
at the Sight of a Cyclist Stopped at a Stop Sign. Clearly, the DANGER Here was
That the "Nice" Motorist Would be Rear Ended, With Me Watching the Whole Thing

Not all is cheery goodness on my daily commute. On Thursday, I encountered two dangerous motorist behaviors - within a two block distance. In the first case, I would have been a mere witness to a fiery crash my existence caused. In the second case, it could have gotten a little more personal, had I not been able to take matters in hand.
Situation 1: Cyclist (yours truly) is stopped on the side street, signaling his intent to make a right onto an arterial when traffic permits. This occurs pretty much every day for just about any cyclist. However, this time, the oncoming eastbound motorist on the arterial STOPS. Clearly, this motorist has encountered enough scofflaws on bikes to throw the rules of the road completely out the window. Luckily, the traffic behind this motorist stopped as well rather than creating the fiery mess. After an awkward delay, and the motorist finally realizing that incorrectly giving up his right of way would mean he would be STUCK behind a SLOW cyclist (and he had no way to know how slow, or that I DO control a narrow lane), he finally proceeded. As did the motorist who stopped behind him. Even for me, politeness has its limits. If motorists were required to have their cell phone numbers in their windows, I'd have called to inquire what was he thinking?

At this point, I breathed a sigh of relief and made my delayed right turn

Situation 2: Now, the cyclist is on the arterial, pedaling east, signaling his intent to make a left off that arterial when a reasonable gap appears. And that gap isn't far off. Instead, ANOTHER motorist, headed west - right in front of that gap decides to stop and be "nice." This time, the cyclist is not so amused at the motoring games. THIS time, the eastbound overtaking motorist will be overtaking HIM, and the westbound overtaking motorist behind the "nice" lady is closing that gap rapidly. In short, time is running out while some lady is sitting right IN THE WAY. Smiling. The cyclist waves her on frantically. Frustrated, he finally makes his turn behind her when she creeps far enough forward to permit it. While perfectly safe, that gap was smaller than I like. It wasn't quite so bad because the motorist behind the "nice lady" had slowed somewhat. I do regret I didn't think of waving to him as I finished my turn. He was in a situation not of his own making.

And Then, ANOTHER "Nice" Motorist Froze, Right About Where the Silver Oncoming Car is in the Photo
I Was About Where the SUV Was, Signaling My Turn Intent. MY Turn to Start About All the Gaps Closing

Oh, I forgot.

Situation 3: While still shaking his head over the sheer unnecessity of situations 1 and 2, cyclist sees a third motorist, running the stop sign off to his left and coming at him. He waves, and blows a kiss to that motorist, and yells "hello, dear." Sometimes we forgive motorist transgressions in the interest of familial harmony. At least she didn't honk at me today. "Thanks, dearest!" And, for the record, the motorist in situation 3 SWEARS she made a full and complete stop.

"Share the Road?" Darn Bikers Ought to be OFF the Road! OTOH, I think as a Pedestrian,
I'd Rather Not Be Sharing the Sidewalk with a Harley

Bicycle Commuting Tips: The Truth and Myth of Blood, Sweat, and Tears

On my blog, I try to avoid simply regurgitating material I see on other blogs. However, other blogs do provide inspiration. One such provided the title for today's post. Well, almost, because I couldn't resist adding two words to John Romeo's excellent essay entitled "Bicycle Commuting Tips: The Myth of Blood, Sweat, and Tears." If you haven't already, go read it. THIS post is, however an entirely different theme. JRA's premise is that bike commuting really isn't something to get worked up over. He thinks cycling is, and I fully agree, fun and safe.

However, besides the myth of blood, sweat, and tears, there is truth in each of the items. What's more, a lot of the truth is different than a prospective bicycle commuter might imagine.

Even a Minor Impact Can Make a Lot of Blood if You Happen to be Taking Blood Thinners!
This Incident Didn't Even Do Much to the Helmet Other than Get Blood All Over the Strap

LET THERE BE BLOOD

You're More Likely to be Hurt HERE Than By a Car

I have experienced two episodes of this during my bike commutes. Contrary to commonly expressed fears, neither involved any sort of motor vehicle by any stretch of the imagination. In the first case, a deep vein thrombosis caused a pulmonary embolism. In the second, while I was away for a week on vacation, a construction crew dug a trench that I rode into on my first day back. During the same period, two of my friends DIED of chronic breathing conditions that would likely never have become serious had they done things like cycle regularly - and I know many more that are dealing with other, mostly avoidable chronic conditions. In my own case, cycling has helped me sustain a 100 lb weight loss and quit smoking. The blunt truth is that, while I have fallen a number of times during my commutes, these falls mostly occur on the small minority of miles associated with bike paths. ALL the objective evidence is that cycling is pretty safe and gets an order of magnitude safer with a minimal amount of instruction about how to operate the bike safely. Of course, Bike Ed will not protect you against DVT. Sorry. Of course, I am not the best authority on blood since I seem to draw it even on the rare occasions I need to use a stapler to complete an expense report. Is that really an industrial accident?

Sweat DRIPS From My Headrag as I Stop for Coffee

SWEAT
Sweating is a major way your body helps regulate its temperature. If you live around Dallas, and ride anywhere much over a mile, you WILL sweat. What's more, as I have discovered, after a ride of 5 or 10 miles, you will sweat again even after taking a shower. However, I was fortunate enough to read Effective Cycling by John Forester. What? Isn't he that "crabby old vehicular cycling guy?" Yup. But in that book, he also taught me stuff I didn't realize about sweat. Stuff I have since confirmed elsewhere. And, as it turns out, the presence of a shower at work, while nice, is much less relevant than people imagine. If you doubt it, take a good shower, then work up a good sweat. Relax and towel off after about 15 minutes. Now enlist reliable sniffers. You see, as it turns out, what makes sweat stinky is the bacterial culture associated with stale sweat. Your reliable sniffers will not be alarmed while you are fresh, but they'll be cranky by your stink the next morning. What this means is it really does not matter a whole lot whether you take your shower immediately before or after your morning commute. Either way, use lots of soap. Give yourself time to cool down, towel off with a fresh towel and apply deodorant. What's more, this is a good procedure even if you have showers at work since you'll otherwise simply sweat some more after your shower. From a personal standpoint, the ideal situation is an individual shower room, lockable from inside, with adjacent assigned lockers, in a location where you can work or relax for about 15 minutes before the shower. Like a cafeteria where you eat breakfast before your shower. But basic sweat is easier to deal with than most imagine. I sweat on my commute even in the winter. I have learned other sweat secrets, but there may be co-workers reading this. Still, if it is hot and you STOP sweating, worry about the first topic.

Men Like it Simple. Soap and Shampoo and No Messy Goo!

Safety Goggles Can STOP Those Tears
Sweat? Not So Good

TEARS
I think that JRA was "turning a phrase" with the tears item. However, those that commute in freezing conditions know this is a real problem. You see, going down a hill, the 20 or 30 mph wind in the eyes will quickly generate enough tears it can be hard to see properly. However, this problem has a solution that is simplicity itself. Simply pick up a pair of safety goggles. Most manufacturing areas make these freely available to employees. Much more stylish ones can be picked up at any hardware store. And safety goggles don't seem to work very well at keeping sweat out of your eyes.

Conflicts in the Dark Season

Slightly Damp on Friday. The Rain was Reminiscent of Seattle as I Finished Coffee at a Seattle-Based Coffee Store

Lately, in this, the dark season of the year, I've been experiencing conflicts related to my bicycle commuting. You see, my new, shorter commute has allowed me to ride much more often on my v3 route than I did when I used to ride to Fort Worth Alliance Airport, sometimes referred to as "the v2 run." In moments of fantasy, I even imagine giving Jon Grinder, the "Cal Ripkin of bike commuting," a run for his money. Of course, that'll never happen.

However, amazingly, due to a combination of circumstances, I've managed to run up nearly as many miles in 2011 on a 7 mile commute as I did the year before on the 20 mile run. Still, "nearly" only counts in horseshoes and atom bombs. I'm actually about 150 miles down on the year, and now, in this dark season, I'm conflicted by the meaningless desire to come out "on top" and the much more meaningful desire to not lose out on what has mysteriously accumulated to a larger than desirable amount of "use it or lose it" vacation time.

2011 Mileage Is Close, but Vacation Beckons

Partly, this conflict has been getting addressed by taking half days of vacation, such as on Friday. After a hard, half day at the office, I stopped for a leisurely coffee on the way home. As I finished up, I glanced at my watch. All in all, a very "Seattle-like" day, with drizzle and an indicated bike computer temperature of a balmy 48F. Boy, some of these days at work lately simply seem to be FLYING by!

Hmm, It's After Noon, Better Hop on that Bike for the Daily Bike Commute Home!

In other news, our forecast suggests a remote possibility of some early December snow in North Texas on Monday night! Hmm, time to get those knobby tires ready yet?

Second Left Turn Serenade

Thomas Might be Right
Perhaps Thomas is right and my cycling has somehow gone horribly wrong. You see, my v3 commute has become routine enough that even my motoring coworkers only comment about it on particularly hot, cold, or pleasant days. After a couple hundred days in a row, the novelty wears off even for them. Other than the rare SCUM that arouses the red rage, the traffic seems pretty darn congenial. It is actually, at the risk of eliciting negative comments - BORING. In truth, motoring to work is more exciting. Motorists, for whatever reason, seem to treat each other far worse than they treat a cyclist they see and are able to quickly figure out how not to "squish into a flattened pancake that resembles a giant squirrel roadkill, with blood oozing into the storm drain." Anyway, enough of the lurid scare imagery. If you want to go somewhere the blogger uses fear as a way to sell cycling, you'd have to go somewhere like here or here. I'm sure you can think of too many others to count. In reality, cycling is fun and safe, though the commute probably simply gives me too much time to ponder the finer points of the fun part.

Looking Towards the Second Left on Cheek Sparger Road

The Left Turn at the Second Choice
Lately, I have become fascinated with taking the second opportunity to make a left turn; particularly on my morning commute. It has become almost a romance. The sweet lure of the second left turn. I'm sure this fascination is associated with a lack of motorists having OU stickers in the back of their pickups, or of Fort Worth or Colleyville Police seeing danger in responsible, if unusual, cyclist behavior. I only recall getting honked at twice so far in almost a year of my v3 commute and one of those was especially cryptic, coming from a motorist going in the other direction.

First Chance for a Left off of Westbound Harwood Road, in Bedford, Texas. Nope, Not Today!

Connection Advantages
Except in a few places; mostly associated with the Trinity River or major freeways, the flat terrain of North Texas gives urban and even suburban (such as myself) cyclists a plethora of pretty direct routes if the cyclist is going more than a couple of miles. My morning commute seems to offer a lot of left turn choices. The first left gets taken when it looks like traffic conflicts are avoided by doing so, or if the situation is clouded. The second left gets take if I've gotten bored with taking the first left. On my commute, most of these options really don't make a lot of difference. However, in the last several weeks, I've been seduced by the romance of taking the last left. Most places, that is the second of two fine choice choices.

Second Chance at the Left Turn off of Harwood Road. Sweet Morning!

Second Lefts on My Commute

The Flamethrower!

The first of these second lefts is when I roll west along Cheek Sparger road. This two-lane road with double yellow lines is about two blocks from my home. In Texas, it is illegal to pass a cyclist if your left wheels cross those lines, at least unless that cyclist is lying prostrate in the road. Luckily, nobody follows that law, and I've never had a conflict on this road, other than a coworker telling me about the cyclist that was killed on it which is why he got his job in the first place. Well, I haven't seen those teenagers myself and they'd probably do what every other motorist that has encountered me has done, which is simply to make an illegal full lane change to pass. I do the same, even when on my bike and I encounter someone walking her dog. Mostly, the advantage of the second left on Cheek Sparger is I avoid nearly ten feet of vertical climb AND a stop sign. I also get to run past a house that still waters their lawn every day. Thrills on my commute are so measured. Still, Cheek Sparger is straight and fast and my flame thrower headlight lets the oncoming traffic know something serious is coming toward them.

Cheek Sparger Road, Looking Toward Where I Turn On to the Road

The second is on westbound Harwood. Harwood is a five lane road. Well, it's actually about 4 1/2 lanes since there is a median some places. Mostly I take the second left on Harwood because I took the second left on Cheek Sparger. Doing so means I get to go uphill a little further - I think it might be as much as 20 feet of altitude gain (ironically, I gain the altitude I avoided by taking the second left on Cheek Sparger), but, being tough, I do it without supplemental oxygen. I also think it saves me about 0.1 mile.

The third is one I invariably make if I took the first two second lefts. It means I go clear to the top of the hill on Bedford Euless road and turn at the water tower. It also means a couple of dogs get no morning exercise. This second turn is a route I didn't take much last summer when our morning temperature were in the mid 80s. Especially when I was sick. I was sick long enough that the dogs now simply run along their fence without bothering to actually bark. They think this "second left" stuff is a bunch of hooey. Woof!

This Dog is Disappointed if I Take the Second Left off Bedford -Euless Road

The Second Left Off of Bedford-Euless. This is NOT Typical Road Conditions!

There are more lefts that I refer to as "the second left," though mostly they involve really taking a left only when going straight is no longer an option. On Bellaire, that is the fourth or fifth opportunity, when it dead ends at Highway 10.

Second Left is Unclear on Bellaire

Bottom Line
So, you might wonder what all these second lefts gain me? Well, if I believe my cycling computer, taking all these second lefts save me nearly 0.3 whole miles. I also avoid at least TWO stop signs. At my average speed, this suggests I save OVER A FULL MINUTE on the way to work. Of course, all this fiddling means I have to take detours on the way home to keep the two-way average unchanged. Which means an extra half hour after the coffee stop. Sigh. I guess that brings me back to the first paragraph. Maybe Thomas is right! On the OTHER hand, winter is on its way. There is NOTHING to bring a little fun back into the morning commute than fresh snow over black ice!

Recreating Sure is Prettier than Commuting, But the Commuters Have Their Rewards

Pondero and Rat Trap Press have recently made posts that extolled their dawn rides. Their posts are entirely accurate. Dawn IS the best time to ride lately in the DFW Metroplex. Their posts do, however, somewhat romaticize the glories of dawn. We commuters have to put up with somewhat more mundane photos, such as that shown below. Still, things are sometimes sweeter than their photographs. This marks the end of another low-stress commute. Well, other than my saddle is getting a bit worn.

Sunrise Over Highway 10 in Hurst, Texas, Looking Towards the East. Not nearly as Sweet as Pondero or Rat Trap.

OTOH, we commuters get to experience the GLORY of an unexpected shower such as occurred on Thursday. The photo below misses the sight of splashes covering the bonnet of the SUV to my left, but you can use your imagination and see the wetness. Such is a REAL pleasure when the low temperature is about 80. Sometimes, one has to ride every day to get the very best one's area has to offer...

Rain Was GLORIOUS On Thursday. We're #2 in the Heat Recordbooks So Far. Commuters DO Get Payback!

PS: The cough is getting better rapidly, which makes the remnants of our summer seem all the better. I look forward to getting my money's worth out of all that cold/rain gear I got at such a deep discount...

Dallas Adds Interest

Lately, the commute has been a little routine. It shows in the blog. Palm trees without leaves and out of control bike computers are on a par with a motorist blogging about how exciting the "check engine" light coming on was. In contrast to the v2 commute, this one seems to have a higher fraction of "routine" to "new" experiences. That's even on a "per mile basis" and there are a lot less miles per day.

Anyway, today was a little different. When I came out from work to go home, I found the postit note in the photo above taped to my rear rack. When I first saw it, my initial reaction was "golly, somebody doesn't like people riding bikes lawfully and safely and wants to let me know how I'm sure to be killed within the next ten minutes." Then I put my reading glasses on.

As it turned out, the note was a little different than my prejudice. I pondered it on the way home, even chancing the possibility of getting caught with the motorists through a double light sequence as I discussed here (and no, JRA, I have not given up on the idea of getting a good video of how I negotiate this intersection). Fortune was on my side and I made it through the light with no delay. At Starbucks, I dialed the mobile number and the author of the postit answered. He asked how far I was away from my bike. I replied "about ten feet." He offered to meet me at the bike, at which point I mentioned I was about 90% of the way home. He'll be commuting from Dallas. Interesting! That means he'll be doing a multimode commute, using the TRE train. In my opinion, this is an almost ideal commute because the commute winds up being reasonably quick, and the train segment allows the commuter to cool down (or warm up in winter) before the short ride across the street from the train station.

SO, what advice might be in order? I think he's starting at a good time of the year - it isn't the "fry your brains out" time of summer yet, we have lots of light, and school's out for summer so traffic is a bit lighter. I do not know his expertise in traffic, but he's been riding for several years. All you Yankees out there may not be amazed at meeting a prospective bike commuter, but we around DFW are proof there there is little validity to the "Safety in Numbers" theory. Including the plant I used to work at, our bike commute share is something a bit under 0.2% where I work. Lest you think that makes us bike unfriendly, our company won the "green" company of the year and I won the "bike commuter of the year" awards for Tarrant County. So I think a bike commuter from Dallas truly DOES add a lot of interest.

Wet and Lost on Bike to Work Day

Bike to work has become a big component of “Bike Month” for the Bike League. More or less, it’s the bicycle equivalent of “drive your car to work week.” In recent years, various cities and transit agencies have gotten on the bandwagon and sponsored “Bike to Work” events. Up until this year, none of those events were remotely practical for me to attend without missing a lot of work. This year, working near a TRE station, things looked different. I laid plans to attend one of the shindigs. THIS YEAR, I'd find out what all the fuss was about.

Yesterday, DART had coffee and donuts at the Centreport TRE Station. I considered going, but the station has little of interest as a destination, and I’m not a fan of donuts, so I contented myself with watching the television new blurb with a lady standing in the dark, talking about how she couldn’t ride with the camera news van, with a token bike in the background. Today, they had a bigger event planned at the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center (ITC). What’s more, it was scheduled to last from 7 to 9 AM. Despite a forecast of rain, I got Buddy rolling ten minutes earlier than usual and caught the train into downtown Fort Worth. When I arrived at the ITC shortly after 7, it wasn’t difficult to see where they were in the early stages setting things up for “Bike to Work” celebrations. Getting into the spirit, I took photos showing good locking technique with Buddy (I actually lugged my mini U lock along for John Romeo Alpha’s benefit), and the guys from the LBS (a sponsor) complimented me on the “nice Tricross.” Talking with the “tryparkingit” lady, I got a free bag in exchange for filling out her form. Since I’ve been using their site for over two years, I wasn’t too concerned about junk email. The “clean air booth” had air pressure gages and I got one of those, too. The lady didn’t understand when I asked her if they’d work with Presta valves. Unfortunately, the air pressure gages will only work with Schrader valves and the gage only goes up to 50psi so it won’t work with any bike I ride regularly, but their hearts are in the right place.


This Pressure Gage Doesn't Work on ANY of Our Family Bikes - It Only Goes to 50psi. Odd Giveaway on Bike Day - Something Only Good for Cars

I also got a couple of cool shots showing spandex-clad people unloading bikes from the back of a pickup for the bike to work festivities (I didn’t recognize the jerseys), and of others testing the microphones at the podium for the speeches, which would take place after any actual bike commuters had departed to go to work.

Of extra interest was a locally-based company that was showing electric bikes. Both of the ones they had were rather prosaic, but the demo guy told me they were looking at a longtail cargo bike. IMO, cargo bikes are a very attractive niche for ebikes. I have no trouble riding Buddy to work over distances and speeds far beyond a regular ebike, but I have to admit that a cargo ebike would be handy to lug 100 lb home from the store.

Based in Fort Worth, Bodhi Bikes are Made in China. The Salesman Was Honest. The Bikes are 50 lb

And then I hopped back on the TRE to go to work. The formal hoopla hadn’t really gotten going by 7:45, but I still got a lot of good photos. My favorite was one of Buddy standing below a sign I think epitomizes my personal commuting motto: “speed with safety.”

My Commute Motto - With the Road Bike Instead of Buddy

After I got off the train, I discovered that I’d have been better off to leave the camera at home, because I LOST the camera. No photos at all. I called in to the lost and found number, but I’m not optimistic that anyone will turn in a compact digital camera. As I arrived at work, the rain started to fall. And then it fell all day. Hard. We need rain in North Texas right now, but my personal preference would be for it to fall on weekends, and to NOT be accompanied by lightning.

Poly Booties Worked Fine with Clipless Pedals Today.. Careful "Foot Down" Action Makes them Good for More Than One Ride

In a nutshell, I got good use out of my polyethylene booties and O2 rainwear. It was, however, raining pretty hard so I still got WET in some spots (one must be VERY careful not to ride too fast through deep puddles). And I LOST my camera so you’ll have to imagine the spandex mafia unloading bikes from the pickup. Yup – wet and lost on Bike to Work Day.

Moving From Baseball to Golf

A "Baseball" Graph of Bike Commuting - Measuring How Many Bike Miles You've Racked Up

Gradually, I've come to the realization that there are two approaches to bicycle commuting. The first is akin to baseball. In baseball, the objective is to rack up a score. You try to ride to work more times than you used to, in more conditions. You REVEL in the numbers of miles you have racked up. You keep statistics galore. My v2 commute to Alliance Airport BEGGED to be a baseball commute. The first full year, I was PROUD to ride more than 5000 miles before counting any non-commute mileage. Whatever else was accomplished, it matured me as a cyclist and reinforced the ways I ride and deal with daily traffic.

However, my v3 commute has, bit by bit, revealed another side to bicycle commuting. This second approach is more akin to golf. Unlike baseball, golf has the objective of putting the ball in the hole with few mistakes. In the case of "golf bicycle commuting," mistakes are the situations that cause you to bail out and drive a motor vehicle to work. Kind of like having to take penalty strokes. I think some of my fellow bloggers are transportational cycling baseballers and some are golfers. One approach is not better or safer than the other, but rather a reflection of individual situations. The golf approach is definitely a different mindset.

Indications of a baseball bicycle commuter:

• One talks about mileage
• One talks about "I rode to work"
• One talks about "It was good to get back on the bike"
• One talks about cool stuff seen while riding to/from work

Indications of a golf bicycle commuter:

• One talks about "another perfect month"
• One talks about "I had to drive the car. The battery was run down."
• One talks about "I'd forgotten how nice AC is."
• One talks about commuting routine, and of dealing with ever more extreme weather

A "Golf" Graph of Bike Commuting - Measuring the Number of Car Commute Trips Over the Last 20 Commutes

Slow and Dirty Bike Commute

Last Week's "THRILLING" Picture - an "Ominous-Looking Cloud"

Lately, my commute has been getting routine. My v2 commute to Alliance Airport rarely went a week without some exciting or novel event occurring. I think the 200 mile weekly distance and the variety of roads and jurisdictions provided many opportunities. After all, how many of y'all get to see a tank and buffalo on your way to work every day? My v3 commute, on the other hand, has me worried that I'll get too complacent. As an example, last week's "thrilling" photo was a shot of an ominous-looking cloud as I sipped some coffee at a local branch of a large national coffee chain. Today, I was reminded that a routine commute is not necessarily a bad thing.

Slow and Dirty
Things turned a little sour when I came out to hop on Buddy for the ride home. I saw two birds perched on my saddle. Being a little SLOW, I neglected to take any photos of them. They actually stayed ON the saddle up until I was within a couple of feet of them. I almost thought I was going to have to flick them off the saddle. Well, then I saw the presents they left behind. DIRTY. It's bad enough to get bird poo on a car. It's nastier on a leather saddle and not real pleasant even on things like the fenders.

Dirty Bird Waste - the Photographer was too SLOW to Actually Photograph the Scofflaws

Dirty
Then I did a bit of riding on the way home. About a mile and a half along, I encountered a freshly oiled road. Freshly as in "hey, none of this was here when I came in this morning!" DIRTY!

You KNOW a Road is Pretty HumDrum When I Actually Don't Bother to Stop Before Taking a Picture - DIRTY Fresh Oil All Over

Dirty and Slow
After a block or so of oil messing up my tires and generally getting things cruddy, I turned right to detour down what I call my "bail out" route. Well, you guessed it. More DIRT. Literally, about a block or more of THIS route was getting dug out in preparation to lay fresh concrete. This time, I was so SLOW that I was about a mile past all the construction equipment before it occurred to me that I probably could have gotten the bulldozer driver to wave to the camera. So, you'll have to content yourself with the last refuge of the scoundrel, a Google map with the segment colored in.

Cycling MAY be fun and safe, but even bike commuting can become routine...

Google Maps is Good, But Streetview Doesn't Show the Bulldozers