Bike to Work Day

Friday, May 15th was Bike To Work Day here in Providence. As has been the pattern for the last few years, the day started off rainy but by the afternoon it was beautiful and sunny. Bike To Work Day is funny to me since I ride my bike to work every day. Naturally I figured I would see what all the fuss is about.

The morning 'session' consisted of some speeches, a bit of food, and a couple of table-top displays from the local bicycling advocates and shops. The big show is the mayor riding his bicycle down the hill from his house on Elmgrove Avenue to kick off the festivities. I arrived a respectful few moments right after him since I didn't want to be accused of sitting on his wheel all the way downtown. It was 7:30 or so and I had a few minutes before I needed to be at work so I stuck around just long enough to listen to what the big muckity mucks had to say. My overall impression: meh.

First of all, watching the Mayor "ride to work" is funny. He rolls with some of the other officials involved with transportation, flanked by two bike cops, and followed by a cruiser with lights flashing. When the Mayor takes the lane, he Takes The Lane...

Anyway... the speeches rolled out at 7:45 or so. Richard Godfrey (of R.I. Housing, for some reason...) spoke about Rhode Island coming in at number 35 in the League of American Bicyclists "Bicycle Friendly States" ranking. He said he has ridden in many of the states that came in ahead of us and he insists that Rhode Island is, in fact, better than these other places. Interesting... I made a mental note to myself to invite Mr. Godfrey to take an early morning commute with me some rainy day in November. Let's enjoy some time on the roads (not bike paths, not separated bike lanes, not quiet country roads: Rather, let's ride in the places where the people are...) when it's not nice out and see if he still thinks we've got it so good. Now don't get me wrong, I think Rhode Island is a great place to ride, but cycling infrastructure here is nowhere near what it is in some of the other states above us on the LAB list. That's part of what makes riding here so exciting: Adversity! And why would you even mention the list if you completely disagree with what it says? A better tactic might have been to point out how far we still have to go before bicyclists consider Rhode Island a pleasant place to ride. Now is no time for smugness!

Then Mayor Cicillini spoke. He said the same stuff he always says about how bicycling is good for us and reduces traffic and air pollution. Yes, riding is good for us, but I think his other points really say "Hey, get on your bike so that you are out of the way of the rest of us, all us folks in our cars! We're wasting our time in traffic here!"

Mike Lewis, Director of our DOT spoke next, and he highlighted all the expensive bike paths the state has built over the last ten or so years. Bike paths are good, but they're sort of like light-rail in that they don't solve "the last mile" problem. You can't put bike paths everywhere so you've still got to be able to safely ride on the roads with cars. Plus, bike paths are expensive. Now we've got some pretty nice bike paths here in Rhode Island, so I'd say that with the exception of fixing the debacle of the Washington Bridge crossing, I think we're almost done with them. Instead, I would argue DOT needs now to expend more efforts on the streets themselves, opening up space for bikes on the roads. Striping. Sharrows. Tuning traffic light sensors to trip for bicycles. You know, thinking about how to move people, not just cars.

Some other folks also spoke (Mark Dietrich from Prov. Bicycle Coalition, and Chris Wilhite from the Sierra Club), but they didn't speak into the microphone so I don't know what they said. Here's Chris and the others:

That's the Mayor in the red cap. Notice the huge crowds pressing in on all sides. Actually, in fairness, there were probably 30 people present, they just all happened to be behind me when I took this photo.

On the whole, the level of dorkiness was high, bordering on Dorktastic. I saw lots of wind pants, helmets tipped back on heads, neon vests, and bikes dusted off just for this occasion. But you know, that's awesome. More people on bikes is a good thing, at least until there are so many of them that they begin to get in my way while I'm riding to work.

Sprung is Spring

Spring is here, sorta. Based on astronomy and such it has been here for two and a half weeks. Without a calendar you'd be hard pressed to tell, though, as the weather has been cold, windy, and wet almost the whole time. Sure, there have been a couple beautiful days, but spring in New England is generally miserable.

And then, suddenly, it'll be summer. Or at least it seems that way. We're like frogs in the boiling water parable. You know, the one where some cruel scientist (or witch) puts frogs in a pot of water, then heats it to boiling. Since the temperature rises gradually, the change doesn't register until it's too late. Here in the PVD it's not nearly as cold as it was a month ago, or two months ago, but the warmup has been too gradual for me to notice. At least until the uphill ride home, when I find myself well overdressed even with my jacket crammed into my bag.

Last weekend I left the house for a 40 mile ride in mid-forty degree temperatures. When I was on my way home I got dusted by a guy wearing merely shorts and a jersey. Until that very moment, I didn't feel overdressed, but after that happened I couldn't stop sweating.

And it's definitely early season. I've ridden my mountain bike twice, once at Burlingame and once at Lincoln Woods. Both rides felt good, although my knee is twingy after the experience. Lincoln Woods still scares me. I rode a new trail with lots of exposure and at least one drop. I made everything but I rode around the drop and I chickened out on the exit (steep and REALLY exposed). All of it should be doable, but I am certainly lacking in confidence there. I think it is left over from my crash two years ago... Must... Visualize... Success! And practice. I'll throw a few smaller drops, ones I know I can do, and then it should be on from there.

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In advocacy news, the Providence Bicycle Coalition is working for legislation to define "vulnerable road users." Check it out here. Thanks to various budgetary problems, the State of Rhode Island is Fucked with a Capital F so maybe this small change to the motor vehicle code will slide through and there will be real consequences for Rhody Drivers who hit cyclists.

Also, rumor has it the Washington Bridge crossing will open again soon...

Snow, Real Snow!

We've had our first real snow of the winter.  On Monday past I had the day off because it was MLK day so I decided to go snowshoeing to take advantage of conditions.  I haven't been on snowshoes in years so I figured it'd be a good adventure.  I picked Lincoln Woods as the locale because it's close and I thought it'd be fun to view the trails from a different perspective.  Suffice it to say it's easy to get disoriented when walking up sections I normally ride down.  And then there's the snow...

Anyway, I got first tracks on almost everything I walked.  It's funny to think about it this way, like skiing.  First tracks while snowshoeing sucks, requiring much more energy.  It was beautiful nonetheless...

And so, here are a few more pics.

Sigh... It's Because It's Fun

Today the temperature was around 7 degrees when I left the house. Pretty cold, sure, but I think I've got a handle on it. As many have said before, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear. Cheesy but almost true. Yesterday it was also cold, somewhere around 16 degrees. I had a revelation, though, and that was to wear my skiing helmet rather than my bicycling helmet. The ski helmet has more coverage, insulated ear flaps, and is generally much warmer than my well-vented bike helmet. Combine a warm helmet with a balaclava to cover my face and I've got my head covered. Throw in a warmer jacket, liner gloves under my lobster claw mittens, and some long underpants and it's all good.

Unfortunately, I have created some social consequences by riding on these frigid days. My coworkers now seem to think I'm either insane or unusually tough. Both may be true, but I am not comfortable talking about it. I just like to ride my bike and when it's cold you have to bundle up a little bit. Doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary there. If I chose to drive to work, I'd still have to go outside and I would arguably be colder since I wouldn't be dressed for the conditions. So what's the deal people? I'm just riding my bike! I think the key is that folks don't understand that riding is fun for me, not a chore. Driving is no good; it makes me tense and angry since nobody else on the road is as skilled at driving as I am. Bicycling is good. It's how I get to work.

The other problem I am now faced with is the precedent I have set. People actually walk past my cubicle every day to confirm that I have ridden my bike to work. Yesterday I even got an awkward "chest bump" from an older colleague (an athlete at heart, no doubt). Inevitably a day will come when I drive my car to work. It'll probably be a nice, sunny day. My co-workers will jump at the opportunity to rib me about not bicycling. Bah! Maybe I should start making fun of them for driving: "Wow, you drove in today? That's pretty amazing. You sure are tough!" Then, if by some miracle they ride a bike or take the bus I can say: "What's the matter, too nice out to drive? You're a sissy."

The Providence schools were closed today because of the "EXTREME COLD!!!!!!!!" We're creating a state of sissies...

The Climate is Fine!

Last weekend we got our first snowfall. Almost a foot of snow, in fact. It started on Friday afternoon and continued most of the way through the weekend. The roads were mostly clear by Monday but it was still a sporty ride in. Snowbanks seem to halve the apparent width of the road. Or maybe it makes drivers extra stupid, I don't know.

Then a few days off for the holidays happened, during which time spring came. Or maybe fall returned, I don't know. Now there is no snow anywhere! Time was if you got a foot of snow in December it would stick around through March. No longer...

Tomorrow winter shall return. Maybe. Happy almost New Year...

No, Really

I thought it was cold a couple weeks ago, but I was wrong. Today it was 14 degrees outside at 7 a.m. and we had our first snowfall on Sunday morning. This means that it's time to change over to the "winter" tires. By "winter" tires I actually mean a mismatched pair of mountain knobbies that I can run at low pressure when there is actually snow on the ground. The rear is a 6 year old WTB Velociraptor 2.3 that is worn so badly that it looks more like a "commuter" tire, i.e. slick down the center and knobby on the sides. The front is a, um, well actually I don't know what it is except for that it is the stock tire that came with the bike back in 1991. It looks like a copy-cat version of an old Specialized Ground Control front with the alternating square block tread pattern. The funny thing is that the 18 year old tire appears to have held up better than the newer WTB tire. Of course it's not really fair to make a direct comparison since I rode the newer tire much more aggressively than the old one. Nonetheless, the rubber has decayed less and the sidewalls look more intact.

The funny thing in all this, however, is that I didn't actually ride in to work today. I have an errand to run in the middle of the day, unfortunately. I'll be back at it tomorrow, when it's forecast to be 16 degrees in the morning...

Cold's here...

24 Degrees this morning. Winter's coming!