Drippy bike

While my fenders aren't the best, they fend pretty well. When it's above freezing and melting outside, I stay pretty clean. However, the gross stuff gets impacted up in the fenders. When I bring my bike inside and park it next my cubicle, it drips. Is there a cure for this? I used to park it in a more out of the way spot, so the drips didn't bother anyone, but now it's right out in the open. Read more!

The sporting life

Dreary!

If you're a sporting enthusiast, times are difficult. The snow is sharp, slippery and painful and covering basketball courts, singly tracks, baseball diamonds, shuffle puck stadiums, xc country skiing routes and the roads are narrow and angry. Despite these difficulties and the 32 degree rainy weather, I met Salem for a ride today. He believed that trains plowed and compacted the snow, so we should ride on train tracks. This may sound dangerous and stupid, because it is. But, trains are loud and have those whistles. We didn't die and his theory was mostly correct. We rode from near Governors Blvd in East Hartford to the South Windsor line and rarely punched through. It was pretty cool. Then we milled around for a bit and road some East Hartford sidewalk singletrack along Forbes road up to the Glastonbury line. We parted ways and I went home over the Charter Oak Bridge; thinking that it'd be impassable, but someone plowed it!

Snowblowing the roof on to another part of the roof

Plowed bridge

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The Treacherous Pursuit of Safety

There was a lot of snow on my roof, with 3-4 foot drifts on the southern side. With the recent rash of buildings collapsing in Connecticut, I was getting nervous. My first attempt to shovel it on Monday afternoon was kind of terrifying, as the snow on the tarps currently covering some of the roof made me slip a couple of times. I cleared off the deepest drifts for a few hours and gingerly climbed back down the 40 foot ladder, determined to acquire some sort of safety harness before returning. Everything closed early on Tuesday, so first thing Wednesday morning I headed for a welding supply place on Murphy Road that carries safety gear. I chose the most direct route that featured major streets, as many side streets had not been plowed yet. Of the streets I rode, Park Street was the best and Wethersfield Ave was the worst. I had a pretty good wipeout on the latter street which left me with a sore wrist. Airport Road wasn't fun, either, come to think of it. It was a pretty sketchy ride that I didn't particularly enjoy.

I arrived at the store glazed with ice and soaked with sweat. They were already preparing to close early, and I was happy to get in under the wire. I bought an OSHA-approved harness and lanyard in a bucket. It was called "Compliance in a Can" which is my favorite product name since "Pope Soap on a Rope".

Having no desire whatsoever to retrace the route I had taken to get to the store, I followed Murphy Road to Reserve, past the regional market and Coltsville. The snow conditions were no better than the busy roads, but the minimal traffic made the return ride much better. I began to actually enjoy myself. The few cars and trucks I saw gave me a wide berth, and the only time I heard honking was a guy in an MDC truck giving me an enthusiastic thumbs-up. I found myself calmed and entertained by the sight and sound of slush churning around the tires and oozing out the leading edge of the front fender. It sounded like a Slurpee machine. Mmmm, salty.

The Mundo has been handling better than I could have ever reasonably expected in the snow. The 26x2.0 Schwalbe Marathons I recently installed are fat and smooth, which should make them utterly useless in the snow, but they worked; not well, mind you, but they worked. The rear wheel had surprisingly good traction as long as I kept my weight on the saddle. The front wheel was prone to handlebar-jerking deflection and washouts in the deeper, more irregular deposits of snow, but could be easily corrected in all but one instance. The front brake grew stiffer and a bit grabby, but never failed to work.

I still dream of building the ultimate winter city bike someday, but I'm satisfied that the current configuration of the Yuba can serve as my four season workhorse. There are a few minor tweaks I'll make, of course. I do want to rotate the front fender rearward, for instance, as a substantial amount of slush was flung at my feet and the bottom bracket shell. Minor details aside, it got me where I needed to go and it got me home again. Most importantly in this case, it helped me safely clear a lot of heavy snow off of my house which took a load off my roof and my mind. Read more!

Bikes Outside: Well Traveled, Well Red

With all the snow around Hartford, the bike sightings have been down a bit of late. I was out of town most of the past week, so that didn't help matters on the bike-spotting front (though it was very helpful on the snowboarding front). I have learned that when I'm scrambling for Bikes Outside blog fodder, there are two places where I'm virtually guaranteed to see a bike or three parked. One of these is the library, as last week's Murray demonstrated. Another proven venue for bike-spotting bounty is Park Street. This Monday, we meet at the spot that combines both favorable conditions, the Park Branch of the Hartford Public Library. I have spent a fair amount of time at the Sucursal Calle Park over the years, and the sheltered entryway has proven a popular and convenient bike-stashing spot for me and many others, including the owner of this Schwinn Traveler III.

This is classic bike boom ten speed material here: hi-ten steel frame, steel 27" wheels, and turkey wings activating the front center-pull and rear side-pull brakes. Nothing on this frame suggests anything more detailed than a Japanese origin, but Panasonic is probably a good bet for the role of "Schwinn Approved" manufacturer in this case. I've read that they produced the non-Chicago Schwinns, specifically the Le Tour, during the 70's and early 80's.

I didn't see or meet the owner of this bike, but the slam-dunked nose-down saddle and nosebleed-high stem seem to suggest that this tall Traveler might be a less-than-perfect fit for them. What appears to be a double-thick bar-wrapping job could help ensure the rider's hands are well-cushioned wherever they end up. The bright red paint and chrome fork ends on this bike still look presentable after 30-something years.

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Another public hearing to save our trails

Even this trail!

Remember the MDC trails? Remember CT's flawed municipality liability law? Me too!

So, let's go testify again, this time at the LOB. It'll be for a more permanent fix. See below:

Municipal Liability Public Hearing

This just in.. Public Hearing set for 12:00 noon Monday January 31st Room 1E of the LOB.

The Environment Committee will hold a public hearing on Monday, January 31, 2011 at 12:00 P.M. in Room 1E of the LOB. Please submit 40 copies of written testimony to Committee staff one hour prior to the start of the hearing in Room 1E of the LOB. Sign-up for the hearing will begin at 11:00 A.M. in Room 1E of the LOB. The first hour of the hearing is reserved for public officials. Speakers will be limited to three minutes of testimony. Bills will be heard in the order listed in the Bulletin. Unofficial sign-up sheets have no standing with the Committee.

Our Bill SB no 831 is 5th on the agenda .. Hope you can join us and give public testimony.

This bill will restore protections for Municipalities that existed for 25 years prior to the 1995 Conway v Wilton case.

The bill will ensure that the same limit on liability afforded by state law to state,private owners, utilities and corporations who make their land open to the free use and enjoyment of the public is likewise extended to municipal owners of land.

If you need background material for your public testimony, check out Save Our CT Trails web site and our position paper.

We were able to get an active crowd to the MDC Public Hearing with lots of public testimony .. hopefully we can have a similar turnout.

Please spread the word... this is very short notice... and we need you!

Currently there are 10 separate but very similar bills moving through the state legislature with over 28 legislative supporters. The listing of the bills can be found here.

Any questions email cberistain@saveourcttrails.org

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Weekend outing

As you may have heard, the D2R2 now has a more formidable little brother, the Green Mountain Double. It's 205 miles long has 25,000 feet of climbing (4,912,578 meters). 80% of it is on dirt. Sandy sent some pictures (including one of a place called Swearing Hill, that has a 62% grade and swears at you when you on it) and intimidating words ("a double century in miles only, it rides like a sextuple") of it to fellow snails. Unlike the D2R2, one must qualify to ride it by doing a 300k brevet, double beforehand or something to prove you're awesome.

I have no idea if I'd actually be able to complete this ride. The longest I've ever ridden in a day is about 120 miles. I'm pretty sure that I can do a double and plan to try in the spring. This, however, falls into the category of ultracycling (I mean, it's on their website) and I doubt that I'm an ultracyclist.

Nonetheless, I have begun training. Johanna and I went up to the mountainous green state this weekend. I rode! On snow! Up hill both ways! With studded tires! for 16 miles... It was very pretty, though. I have no idea how people do 100 mile races or 350 for that matter (1100??). Actually, I could probably manage a 100 mile race with checkpoints.

So, anyway, perhaps I'll take a weekend in June to ride Sandy's new impossible ride.

Swearing Hill, I can't wait. Photo credit to someone (I didn't take this picture.)

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Bikes Outside: Monterey Salt Festival

This morning's Bike Outside was spotted this past Sunday afternoon at the Hartford Public Library. With high temps barely into the teens and stern frostbite warnings on the radio, I was surprised to see two bikes locked up upon arriving for yesterday's Baby Grand Jazz show. This is one of the better bikes I've seen wearing the Murray badge. The componentry is solidly 1970's with some 60's aesthetic nostalgia thrown in, especially the champagne (pronounced in the manner of The Continental, of course) paint and the chainguard lettering. The 3-speed hub was too crusty to identify, but I'm assuming it's a Shimano or Suntour based on the decidedly non Sturmey Archer thumb shifter. The Altenburger Syncron brakes are great period pieces. They have a mixed reputation, but they are credited as the precursor to the dual-pivot sidepull brakes that are the modern road bike standard. They are also setup with the right hand lever activating the front brake, an arrangement more familiar to motorcyclists or European bicyclists.

The very presence of this bike on the roads yesterday called for some teeth-gritting fortitude on the rider's part and some sturdiness on the 40 year old bike's part. That said, I hope the owner is faring better than the salt-encrusted Murray's drivetrain. So very very salty! Had I spotted this bike in motion, I'm sure that I would have involuntarily cringed to hear that poor rusty chain laboring around. I want to take this bike in and give it a hot shower and a major overhaul in front of a roaring wood stove.

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Justice sandwich

CT Transit buses don't like bikes despite those front racks. Or at the very least, they don't like bikes in Hartford. Maybe they think bikes are taking their business. Who knows?

Anyway, back in September I was riding to work and dealing with a particularly unfriendly bus. I passed it around South Green's bus stop and then it passed me, then I passed it again. I guess the driver got mad about this, because when he passed me at Main and Buckingham, he slammed on the brakes in the middle of the intersection right after he passed me. I was force to switch lanes to avoid the bus, but there was a Rav 4 waiting for me in the other lane that had stopped because a bus had pulled out in front of it. I hit the Rav 4 and broke its taillight and dented the rear quarter panel. I was contrite and apologized. The driver was very concerned that I was going to take off.

Called 911, etc. The cops were initially nice. I admitted fault for hitting the car. They gave me a warning and right before I was about to leave, they changed their minds and decided to write a ticket for following too closely. I thought that was unfair, but despite being a fellow City employee, I avoid arguing with cops.

My renter's insurance (Liberty Mutual, they're good!) thankfully covered the Rav-4 damage, because the repair bill was almost $1000. I plead not guilty, because I figured taking evasive action to avoid an angry bus shouldn't warrant a $170 fine. My court date was today and I won! The State's attorney at first thought I was operating a motorcycle, but when I told her it was a bicycle she questioned how I could even receive a ticket for failure to signal a turn ((C.G.S. §14-242) which is what the ticket ended up being for, not sure why the cops told me something else). She also told me to be careful.

Anyway, thank you CT Judicial Branch for being lenient with me. Watch out of buses. Read more!

Comes to an end

So, it would seem that my days of awesome xc skiing will be coming to an end due the bizarre ice crap falling from the sky. It was so great I've converted Johanna into a cross country skier.

But, once again I was to attract to awkward stares of pedestrian, drivers and bus stop waiters astride my incomprehensibly awesome snow commuting machine. I'm told this falling ice crap is going to turn to water crap in the afternoon, so I'm preparing myself for the grossest commute home of all time. Grosser than this. Or this.

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Bikes Outside: Appointed Rounds

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

These words, derived from Book 8 of The Persian Wars by Herodotus, have been associated with the US Postal Service ever since they were chiseled above the entrance to the New York General Post Office on 8th Avenue circa 1914. A fine sentiment, to be sure, but I suggest that today's bike messengers have more in common with the mounted couriers of the original text than today's minivan-driving mailman. Maybe Persians making deliveries on horseback during a 50-year long war aren't so terribly far removed (2,500 years notwithstanding) from bicyclists dodging traffic on roads that have become increasingly hostile territory over the past century.

This is Madison number three for the first Bikes Outside bike single model hat trick. I see today's bike around frequently, as I work between two of its regular stops. The working messengers were among the very first to be seen out and about after last week's blizzard, and this bike has the salty layer of filth to prove it. The Ghostship pad shows some regional bike love. The railing in front of the Capitol Annex on Trinity Street is one of the more convenient unintentional bike racks in town.

This week marks the first anniversary of the Bikes Outside series. I've missed a few weeks here and there, but I've enjoyed having another reason to stop and gawk at random bikes.

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Nature's fury!

As you might expect, I'm really going after this thing cross country skiing whole hog.

Yesterday evening, the Snails ventured forth into the woods without bikes, but with skis! It was so intense that Dario's ski exploded.


Today, I took a solitary journey into the land of King Phillip. I saw some hawks and I saw a mutilated deer. It was intense. Things are generally intense for me. Skiing down the Metacomet was a lot of fun because the foot traffic had made a nice little track and I got moving pretty good. Steady improvement in my skills!

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The niche for fixed gear mountain bikes

Fixed gear mountain biking is like regular mountain biking, but harder. It greatly expands one's likelihood of hitting feet on rocks, roots, etc. and greatly reduces one's ability to reposition weight on the bicycle because one has to keep the pedals moving. Don't get me wrong it's fun, but it's harder.

I've opined about this before, so I won't blather on anymore. However, I did want to lend my support behind the superiority of fixed gear mountain bikes when commuting in the snow. Sheldon Brown knew what he was talking about. 32:19 might be a crappy gear for bike commuting in general because of all the spinning out, but it's great in the snow. Braking without braking is great!

In other news, I wonder how it'll be until mountain biking is possible again.

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Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children?

While automobile accidents remain the #1 killer of les enfants, I am unaware of any progressive legislation that would ban minors from riding in motor vehicles. Back in my day, kids had to fend for ourselves. We could sit in the front seat or back seat. We were not restrained in special seats. Hell, I remember sitting on my parents' laps, both as a passenger and as a co-pilot.

Now, the bratties have to sit in car seats facing back until hitting puberty and stay out of the front seats until they cut their wisdom teeth. They are not forced to wear helmets yet, though it's doubtful that any of these measures are significant if, say, mom had some whiskey in her coffee and has to drive 85 mph in her SUV to get her spawn to soccer practice on time, and damn, there's a tree!

On average, four children die every day as a result of motor vehicle accidents and many others are injured. The scenario created above is not just snark. One in four child fatalities resulting from motor vehicle accidents involved the driver drinking. And, as we know, speed kills.

What can be done about that? Try to ban children under six from riding on bicycles that are controlled by adults.


"But wait," you say,"if only 1.7% of traffic fatalities involve cyclists, shouldn't the focus be on the bulk of the crash victims and causes? To that, I'd answer "Stop using logic. It's unamerican!"

Oregon State Representative Mitch Greenlick, sponsor of House Bill 2228 explained his own logic:

We've just done a study showing that 30 percent of riders biking to work at least three days a week have some sort of crash that leads to an injury... When that's going on out there, what happens when you have a four year old on the back of a bike?

The research looks at riders biking to work, but not necessarily at riders with child cargo. It makes total sense to introduce a bill before conducting relevant research. Totally.

I'm more interested in answering Greenlick's question though. Admittedly, I can be a less than responsible driver at times. I'm the same way on a bicycle. But, when I have had to drive other people's children, my driving habits changed completely. The radio volume is turned down low, I'm constantly checking all mirrors, there's more appropriate distance between my vehicle and others, and my speed is exactly where it should be. I come to a full and complete stop. I do this not out of maternal instincts, but out of utter fear of what the parents would do to me should my negligence result in injury or death of their children. I have not had the opportunity to tow children around via bicycle yet, but I know that my riding skills would be improved in the same way.

If we rarely hear about bicycle-vs-bicycle or bicycle-vs-tree fatalities, then what is really the issue here? Since we're talking about El Prez, some busybody got all up in his face about his decision to schlep some of his spawn via bicycle. Her concern was not that he would slide off the road into a ditch or that he would flip the bike by doing wheelies. It was that a car might slide into the bike. So, instead of doing something more useful, like holding up a gigantic sign telling motorists to slow down so they don't skid into El Prez and Lil Prez, she went after him. You know what that's like? It's like telling a female not to walk (or ride) alone at night because somebody else might rape her. And trust, having heard that sentiment more than enough, such comments are not welcome.

A Fact Sheet of death, mutilation, chaos, and destruction explains that motor vehicles were involved in 90% of deaths of children under 14 who were in a bicycle-related crash. But here's the catch: nothing on this fact sheet mentioned children as passengers on bicycles or riding in bike trailers-- these were all children commanding their own bikes. Look, kids are pretty stupid. Even if your kid is an Honor Roll Student, she's still stupid. That's the nature of children. Their brains have not matured. Their fine and gross motor skills kind of suck. They have no real grasp on mortality. There's a reason we do not let thirteen year old kids drive cars (anymore). Behind the wheel, they'd put too many others in danger; behind the handlebars, its basically only their own lives they are endangering. Adults are better prepared to handle both motor and pedal vehicles, so our "accidents" have less to do with physical development and more to do with laziness and irresponsibility.

Others have made comments on this proposed law already. Dave of Portlandize jokingly predicts, "And next it will be to make it illegal to cross the road with a stroller, because people pushing babies in strollers get hit at crosswalks by people driving." Later, he urges lawmakers to help give cyclists better access to roads if they are really serious about our safety. After the post on Bike Portland, someone asked whether people drive differently around cyclists with children than they do around adult cyclists. Another comment on that same post was particularly on the mark:

I still don't understand what Representative Greenlick expects me to do with my child, if I can't put him on my bike. Leave him at home? Never leave the house? Purchase a car? If this bill isn't anti-family, then it's anti-woman. It's certainly anti-bike and pro-car.

In the articles on this matter, it was stated over and over that the introduction of this bill was a way to start a conversation-- though many have been wondering if the way to begin discussions is in the most extreme way possible. Would it make more sense to begin it in a way that acknowledges that child bike passengers may be vulnerable and that there are several approaches one might take to address this, such as mandating reflectors or flags on trailers, or ticketing motor vehicle operators for traveling too closely to bicycles carrying children?

Since this bill pertains to progressive Oregon and not to our Land of Steady Habits, we don't have to all panic at once. What's more, we can rejoice (just a little) that there is now a warrant for the arrest of a driver who not only hit and killed a cyclist last month, but then sped off with his tail between his legs. There's no bringing back the victim, but this is beginning to sound a little bit more like the justice we have come to expect. Read more!

Fixootr

Work had me ridiculously busy and rather stressed from late November until the end of the year. While I didn't have adequate time to begin or resume any full-fledged bike builds or other major projects, I did find that I could wind down and relax a bit at the end of my hectic days with a few minutes of wheel building. I had accumulated a few low-to-medium priority wheels to build, so this was a good way to avoid falling too far behind.

Wheel #1 was a composite affair. El Prez had a 700c flip-flop wheel on a Motobecane setup as a fixed-gear and a new 20" Weinmann BMX rim laced to a faulty coaster brake hub. Both wheels had 36 spokes, so I was tasked with mating the Quando flip-flop hub from the big rim to the the 20" rim by any means necessary. The resulting Frankenwheel would be destined for his Xootr Swift folding bike.

There were a couple of issues with the Quando hub. Firstly, the bearings were kind of shot. Secondly, it was meant for a frame with 120mm rear spacing-- fine on the old Motobecane, not fine for the 135mm rear spacing of the Xootr. The Xootr has an aluminum frame, so cold-setting is out of the question. A new set of bearings made the hub much happier about spinning. A round of spare parts scrounging at Maison D'Interstatement turned up a longer axle and a spacer/locknut combo that added up to 135mm.

The hub was ready to go, with a caveat: since most of the extra spacing had to go on the left side of the hub to maintain a straight chainline, the wheel is no longer symmetrically dished and effectively can't be flipped around for use with a freewheel. Neither of these things are deal-breakers in this case. I think the inherent overbuilt strength of a 36-spoke 20" wheel should more than compensate for the weakening effect of an off-center dish. Prez was only interested in the fixed-gear function of the hub, so he wasn't bothered by the loss of freewheeling capability. The best way to see how it holds up is some vigorous real-world riding of the sort that its owner is both qualified and inclined to dish out.

The spokes are Wheelsmith 2.0 mm, with DT Swiss brass spoke head washers making for a snug fit in the hub flange. I used UBI's online spoke calculator for the lengths. As of this writing, the wheel has been in use for several weeks and El Prez is pleased with its performance. This was my first time building a 20" wheel and I liked it for it's compact, manageable "laptop" size. There are a lot of neat hubs besides fixed (internally-geared, dynamo, drum or disc brake) that are rarely built into this configuration, and I'd like to see more. There's a lot of potential for folding bikes to become more useful and fun for more people. Read more!

Hartford backcountry skiing extreme!!!!

As you may have noticed, it snowed yesterday. Since I've recast myself as a skier, I decided to do some awesome skiing. Initially, to get in my car and ski outside of Hartford, but driving was quite difficult for most of yesterday. So, I decided to ski out my front door.

At first, I was skiing on the roads, which wasn't too bad because tracks had been worn in my a few trucks. But, the roads ended and I ventured into the wilds of Cedar Mountain. It was extreme in the difficult sense. However, 2 feet of snow certainly makes Hartford seem like secret wilderness. It was pretty cool.

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Doing it again

Another year that revolves around the D2R2. Sandy added a middle distance 72 mile version, but I signed up for the 112 again. I can't recommend this ride highly enough, so sign up today before the price goes up. Read more!