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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Two notables from yesterday, which was the first day since May riding in for 9:00 arrival:
Not 10, but 22 bicycles seen on the way in to work. A veritable bevy of 'em at the corner of Race & Oregon - three going South, two West.
19 of the 22 were on the street. The last 3 were on Church Street, on the sidewalks; 2 were kids under 15.
Second notable: when I went out to the bike to see if just maybe I'd left some money there, a bike was locked to the tree near the bike rack. There was space on the far right end of the rack, but I suspect that was parked up when the tree-bike-rider arrived. Gotta remember how to ask for a good bike rack for D wing.
Today, only 6 or 7 cyclists (8:00 arrival). Also, the U hasn't even started yet. (Tomorrow is Move In Day. Oh, dear. Don't even think of going to Target, dear folks ;) ) I *did* secure permission and get bike maps in a pocket on a bulletin board here on campus :) (And then go back and retrieve my keys... Kudos to the student life folks who are not just deluged, but dealing with little details like being sent the wrong ID cards, so they get to write them out by hand for students and then print them out and track them down later. Oy. Blessings all over them.)
Not 10, but 22 bicycles seen on the way in to work. A veritable bevy of 'em at the corner of Race & Oregon - three going South, two West.
19 of the 22 were on the street. The last 3 were on Church Street, on the sidewalks; 2 were kids under 15.
Second notable: when I went out to the bike to see if just maybe I'd left some money there, a bike was locked to the tree near the bike rack. There was space on the far right end of the rack, but I suspect that was parked up when the tree-bike-rider arrived. Gotta remember how to ask for a good bike rack for D wing.
Today, only 6 or 7 cyclists (8:00 arrival). Also, the U hasn't even started yet. (Tomorrow is Move In Day. Oh, dear. Don't even think of going to Target, dear folks ;) ) I *did* secure permission and get bike maps in a pocket on a bulletin board here on campus :) (And then go back and retrieve my keys... Kudos to the student life folks who are not just deluged, but dealing with little details like being sent the wrong ID cards, so they get to write them out by hand for students and then print them out and track them down later. Oy. Blessings all over them.)
Labels: bicycle commuting, bicycle facilites
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Seen from blocks behind
What's That Attention Grabber ?!?
Blinking helmet light.
Got another testiimonial last night from MS. Landreth, who descrbed seeing something bright and blinking "*blocks* ahead of us!" and then getting closer and seeing it was me. I'd say "everybody go get one," but:
Will this be just more
glaring visual assault
if novelty ends?
What's That Attention Grabber ?!?
Blinking helmet light.
Got another testiimonial last night from MS. Landreth, who descrbed seeing something bright and blinking "*blocks* ahead of us!" and then getting closer and seeing it was me. I'd say "everybody go get one," but:
Will this be just more
glaring visual assault
if novelty ends?
Labels: baiku, bicycle commuting, bicycle light
Monday, November 12, 2007
Found on road: Flash Drive. Considered whether owner might go back for it on path... decided more likely it would get blown away, rained on, etc. Took to school. Folders titled "Mid-term project." Files without owner names. Powerpoints with group memebr names. ONe name in common. Attempted contact.
IT's an accounting major so perhaps the odds are better that s/he'll have backup files? It's a cute flash drive, too. Tiny little gigabyter.
This morning I confused myself (it isn't hard). I slept in a little longer than I usually can get away with if I want to be out at 7:30 and ride the long way in. However, since it was 58 degrees, and I'd set stuff out, I was ready well before that. I kept trying to figure out what I was forgetting, so I didn't get out until 7:40 which prob'ly still would have been okay, but I went straight in and then peeled off 5 laps around campus and worked up a proper lather, but still had time to clean up and change clothes (emanating waves and clouds of endorphins).
The rains paused for long enough for me to sneak down to CHampaign CYcle - with its new outsourced website worthy of checking out! No, they don't have anything like the thingybobber that holds my hokey spokes on... but I got advice about washers. Yes, I did get a copy of the "escape map" with the assorted loops just out-of-town, because this Thursday we'll be gathering to work on the "bike-friendly routes" map for C-U.
H-316 this a.m. - going to have to go a little extra to keep it that way. HOpefully the rains will abate by the end of Chorus - radar says it will. THe Goddess Prevails :) :)
IT's an accounting major so perhaps the odds are better that s/he'll have backup files? It's a cute flash drive, too. Tiny little gigabyter.
This morning I confused myself (it isn't hard). I slept in a little longer than I usually can get away with if I want to be out at 7:30 and ride the long way in. However, since it was 58 degrees, and I'd set stuff out, I was ready well before that. I kept trying to figure out what I was forgetting, so I didn't get out until 7:40 which prob'ly still would have been okay, but I went straight in and then peeled off 5 laps around campus and worked up a proper lather, but still had time to clean up and change clothes (emanating waves and clouds of endorphins).
The rains paused for long enough for me to sneak down to CHampaign CYcle - with its new outsourced website worthy of checking out! No, they don't have anything like the thingybobber that holds my hokey spokes on... but I got advice about washers. Yes, I did get a copy of the "escape map" with the assorted loops just out-of-town, because this Thursday we'll be gathering to work on the "bike-friendly routes" map for C-U.
H-316 this a.m. - going to have to go a little extra to keep it that way. HOpefully the rains will abate by the end of Chorus - radar says it will. THe Goddess Prevails :) :)
Labels: bicycle commuting
Friday, May 04, 2007
Last night's meeting for public input for the Bicycle Master Plan went well. WCIA reported on it - the visual header saying "bicyle safety" and I'm afraid the concluding phrase was something about when they could start building bike paths. I wish I had paid more exact attention; I may send a little letter imploring WCIA et al to consider that odd word "routes" since when I'm riding down John Street, nobody would say I was on a path.
Media aside, the meeting was well-attended with over 60 folks. Show of hands at the beginning indicated that 30+ people had heard about it via email; roughly 8 folks via fliers or bike hangers and about *3* via radio/TV. I would think this doesn't mean to forget the fliers - we want to be a *presence* that the general public is aware of, even if they don't come to meetings if they're not already invested enough to be on an email list. Recreational riders were also in the acute minority; over half the people there used the bike for practical purposes and had a green-looking lean. Hmmm.... can't remember any other questions (nobody asked "who's got more than 500 miels? 1000? ... :-)) The media didn't seem to notice that.
Then Ed Barsotti showed a good Powerpoint about different cycling route options. The media didn't seem to notice that.
Then we each colored in our personal copies of the regional map with our ideas. Of course, Ed's got my whole map that we spent a lot more time on... but I highlighted my favorite issues - overpasses, access over the RRs, and for my student, the downtown area.
Then we broke up into regional groups & I picked the NE because it has an overpass and there were just three of us there.
The nifty thing was that basically, the six groups were harmonious. ONly one table cited having "different kinds of bicyclists" - in other words, a fair number of people who thought bicycles Needed to Be Separated Completely, vs. experienced cyclists. (Ed Barsotti's p[resentataion addressed this. The media missed that, too.) Generally, there honestly weren't a lot of "we need bike paths! we need bike paths!" people there. The tone was more "these are the places we need safe bicycle acces to," and people actually focused a lot of attention on arteries, not teeny side roads that people could ride on for a half mile for their exercise and look like bike paths.
The other nifty thing was that so many different groups had priorities which were contiguous with the next group's. So, we noted access to downtown from NE... and downtown noted access to us.
We did have a brief commentary from a member of the previous bicycling commision, drily wishing us luck, stating that his nose was a bit out of joint because in the past, cycling commission contributions were simply ignored. I can't tell if it's freshly out of joint and/or why ... I'm glad to say that speakers were able to address the history brought up because actually, yes, they did know about the failed efforts to make California a bikes-only lane. I think the comments by Brandon Bowersox about that were on target (as opposed to political blather) when he noted that we simply know a *lot* more about what works and what doesn't work. What *I* don't know is what kinds of things those folks put forward... and how much effort they made in educating people, as we're going to have to persist in doing, to keep that "bicyclists want paths" mindset from paving over all efforts to do anything different.
I suppose we're also going ot have to figure out a way to prevent the public from being afraid of cyclists on the streets, too.
Media aside, the meeting was well-attended with over 60 folks. Show of hands at the beginning indicated that 30+ people had heard about it via email; roughly 8 folks via fliers or bike hangers and about *3* via radio/TV. I would think this doesn't mean to forget the fliers - we want to be a *presence* that the general public is aware of, even if they don't come to meetings if they're not already invested enough to be on an email list. Recreational riders were also in the acute minority; over half the people there used the bike for practical purposes and had a green-looking lean. Hmmm.... can't remember any other questions (nobody asked "who's got more than 500 miels? 1000? ... :-)) The media didn't seem to notice that.
Then Ed Barsotti showed a good Powerpoint about different cycling route options. The media didn't seem to notice that.
Then we each colored in our personal copies of the regional map with our ideas. Of course, Ed's got my whole map that we spent a lot more time on... but I highlighted my favorite issues - overpasses, access over the RRs, and for my student, the downtown area.
Then we broke up into regional groups & I picked the NE because it has an overpass and there were just three of us there.
The nifty thing was that basically, the six groups were harmonious. ONly one table cited having "different kinds of bicyclists" - in other words, a fair number of people who thought bicycles Needed to Be Separated Completely, vs. experienced cyclists. (Ed Barsotti's p[resentataion addressed this. The media missed that, too.) Generally, there honestly weren't a lot of "we need bike paths! we need bike paths!" people there. The tone was more "these are the places we need safe bicycle acces to," and people actually focused a lot of attention on arteries, not teeny side roads that people could ride on for a half mile for their exercise and look like bike paths.
The other nifty thing was that so many different groups had priorities which were contiguous with the next group's. So, we noted access to downtown from NE... and downtown noted access to us.
We did have a brief commentary from a member of the previous bicycling commision, drily wishing us luck, stating that his nose was a bit out of joint because in the past, cycling commission contributions were simply ignored. I can't tell if it's freshly out of joint and/or why ... I'm glad to say that speakers were able to address the history brought up because actually, yes, they did know about the failed efforts to make California a bikes-only lane. I think the comments by Brandon Bowersox about that were on target (as opposed to political blather) when he noted that we simply know a *lot* more about what works and what doesn't work. What *I* don't know is what kinds of things those folks put forward... and how much effort they made in educating people, as we're going to have to persist in doing, to keep that "bicyclists want paths" mindset from paving over all efforts to do anything different.
I suppose we're also going ot have to figure out a way to prevent the public from being afraid of cyclists on the streets, too.
Labels: bicycle advocacy, bicycle commuting
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Lumotech Light
I've got the "oval" one - according to Sheldon Brown's site, it's got "German approval" (which the round ones don't?)
I"m about to hop on the Xtra and head that last half mile to the home port. Yesterday I had my generator hub & light installed at CHampaign Cycle and it's very delicious. Also very bright :) The fact that a certain Big Fat Honking light - Planet Bike Insight 15 watter - has decided to show up is of course laughable, but that one requires thinking and planning.
Only one issue with it right now: the off switch doesn't work. Stay tuned ...
I may have authority fantasies, though... I've already got red and blue Tru-Value $3 Special Garrity GLo-lites on the back... and the nice bright Lumotech... and of course I'll wear my black and yellow Gore-Tex suit... all I need is that 15-watter spotlight and "I'm in charge, here..." SNork!
I've got the "oval" one - according to Sheldon Brown's site, it's got "German approval" (which the round ones don't?)
I"m about to hop on the Xtra and head that last half mile to the home port. Yesterday I had my generator hub & light installed at CHampaign Cycle and it's very delicious. Also very bright :) The fact that a certain Big Fat Honking light - Planet Bike Insight 15 watter - has decided to show up is of course laughable, but that one requires thinking and planning.
Only one issue with it right now: the off switch doesn't work. Stay tuned ...
I may have authority fantasies, though... I've already got red and blue Tru-Value $3 Special Garrity GLo-lites on the back... and the nice bright Lumotech... and of course I'll wear my black and yellow Gore-Tex suit... all I need is that 15-watter spotlight and "I'm in charge, here..." SNork!
Labels: bicycle, bicycle commuting, bicycle light, lumotech
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Posted this http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=809 Invisible Rider article at BJ and it proved evocative, so here it is again. Now, it seems that clicking through from *here* gets a "spam is not appreciated" message, but clicking through from email gets right to the article. So, that's the link; it's worth cutting and pasting. I read it in Bicycling Magazine and was amazed that they'd done a story on "real" people - and didn't whack it down or sweeten it up. You'da thunk the writers really learned something.
It was a Mary Cliff moment for me (plays "traditions - folk music and things you can see from there" now on WAMU) - a story that transcends political simplifications of issues that are painfully real to the humans in the world.
Gas was $2.55 last night... prices staggering upwards again. I'm seeing more cycles on the commute again, now, and I replaced the batteries in a string of Christmas lights - enough experimenting, I am convinced. Those extra silhouettes make a palpable difference in driver reactions. Besides, I rather liked it Sunday when a lady came into where we were wrapping up the Bike Co-op meeting for the next event in the building and looked at me and said, "I see you all the time on a bike!" (Snork :)) ... and that I had "lots of lights." I'd like to be known as a lady with a lot of light.
It was a Mary Cliff moment for me (plays "traditions - folk music and things you can see from there" now on WAMU) - a story that transcends political simplifications of issues that are painfully real to the humans in the world.
Gas was $2.55 last night... prices staggering upwards again. I'm seeing more cycles on the commute again, now, and I replaced the batteries in a string of Christmas lights - enough experimenting, I am convinced. Those extra silhouettes make a palpable difference in driver reactions. Besides, I rather liked it Sunday when a lady came into where we were wrapping up the Bike Co-op meeting for the next event in the building and looked at me and said, "I see you all the time on a bike!" (Snork :)) ... and that I had "lots of lights." I'd like to be known as a lady with a lot of light.
Labels: bicycle commuting
