Bikes

Just a couple thoughts on bikes.

First, my middle son made me really proud the other day. When he first wakes up my wife will always ask him what he wants to do on that day. First response, without fail is, "eat". To which my wife will respond, "what else". And my son will say, "ride bike". That's my son! Is there really anything else in the world besides riding a bike and eating?

Second, I sold a couple bikes. I currently only own one bike. I have my fixie that I commute on and that's it. No road bike, no mountain bike, just a commuter. My wife has two bikes, I feel that I now have some leverage in getting her to sell the minivan so we can take this simplicity thing to the next level. Actually, I have no leverage, and I never will, but I feel I've taken a good step toward simplicity. Who really needs three bikes? I would say, however, that I would like to get another bike at some point. I want something that I could use for touring or racing. I want something with relatively steep angles, that will use 700c wheels and accommodate either skinny road tires or knobbies. I also want something that I could put panniers on. If you know someone who sells the bike I want, let me know, otherwise I'm in the market for pieces to start building it.

Photos

I have a little time on a Sunday evening, so here are some recent pictures. The first may need a little explanation. This is my front wheel that has a significant bend in it. It seems that I may have had a little accident. No, I didn't get hit by a car, and no, I didn't just tip over (did you know that studies on bicycle accidents show that nearly 60% of bike accidents do not involve a car or any other object?). I hit a pedestrian. I don't feel real good about that, but as I reflect on the event, I don't know what I would have done differently. I was just leaving school going through town. I was approaching a stop sign so I was checking for pedestrians and cars on the street I was about to turn on, then all of a sudden a lady stepped out from behind a car about 15 yards before I got to the cross walk. I didn't even see her before we made contact. She hit the right side of my handle bars which caused the front wheel to turn sharply to the right. That bent the front wheel as I went over the bars. I landed on my back, crushing the Tupperware which had held one of my lunches (an unfortunate loss). I totally missed my head, my helmet had no indications of an accident at all. She also fell down right next to the curb. I jumped up, as did she, and she was quite apologetic and seemed to think it was her fault. I tend to agree, but I know that I have a slightly biased view and whenever I think that I ran into a pedestrian, I think there should have been something that I could have done to prevent it. I mentioned to her that if she were to walk the 15 yards to the cross walk she probably could have prevented the situation. She then stood behind the same car, poised to jump out at the next passing cyclist. She was fine, I said I was fine because I didn't want her to feel bad (although $50 to fix my wheel was a little rough, but then again that's only a tank of gas). I jammed my finger pretty bad, but it's starting to bend pretty well now (almost 2 weeks later). I didn't lose a whole lot of skin and very few bruises. So besides the wheel and the Tupperware, I think it turned out pretty well.

It's amazing how you can take a picture like that and not even notice that your shadow seems to be the focus of the photo.

Yesterday we went for a hike. I was ready for a little break after comps, so we went up to Bridal Veil Falls and did a little 'hiking' (I'm glad my kids were looking for dirt when I said we were going for a hike, but unfortunately there was no dirt on this trail).

This is my wife with the baby. I like this picture. I wonder what they are looking at.
This is the Mugwump playing in a little pond at the bottom of the falls.
And this has to be one of my all time favorite photos. This is Six-Pence giving me a flower. I did a little cropping to get my foot out of the picture, but I like the contrast of the grimy little boy (notice dried mud on face and fingers) being thoughtful with what he could find.
Look at that, it was almost like a real post. I've had several 'shorts' recently, but should be able to really get going again in a couple more weeks.

The commute

When I started this blog, I wrote about my bike rides. I don't do that any more because I ride the same 12 miles twice a day and I really don't deviate much from that pattern. Last night was no exception. I rode the same 12 miles as ussual, but I think the circumstances warrent a description. Grammie, Mom, you may not want to read this.

I started in Provo and it was snowing a little. Not a big deal, I ride in the snow regularly. The streets were wet, but nothing was sticking to asphalt yet. Even though I was on my fixie with 25 mm tires, I figured the ride would be fine. In fact, heading South through Provo was a piece of cake. It was wet, so I got the spray off my tires that soaked my bottom half, but I was plenty warm. When I got to Khuni road at the South end of Provo, I started seeing a little snow stuck to the road.

It still wasn't a big deal. I had a solid 20+ mph tail wind. I can't get a ride when I feel that good. Besides, nobody offered me a ride and by the time on Khuni road, there aren't any bus stops for miles. I don't recall the exact point, but things changed quickly. It got dark (although I do have a great light setup), the wind picked up and it began to snow harder. I started sliding a little, so I slowed down and unclipped my right shoe from the pedal. This was a devastating move because I had a tailwind well over 20 mph and I had to watch the snow blow by me while I worked to stay upright.

Getting to the South side of Khuni road was just a little sketchy, but things were not improving. The road turned West, so that I got a good portion of the wind right in the face. My right cheek went numb. I wonder if the snow accumulated on my cheek. It was certainly possible. I turned back South and had to go through a major intersetion. I was quite grateful for how courteous the drivers were last night. I was stopped at the stop light and saw several pairs of headlights headed my way. I knew that I was standing on ice, and that they would be unable to stop, but they approached VERY slowly and kept it safe. Heading in front of the Wal-Mart store was the last time I saw asphalt, the weather was certainly not improving.

I got back out of traffic, but the roads were nothing but ice. I found that if I rode on the 'shoulder' in the two inches of powder, I didn't slide as much. So I stayed off the road. My brakes froze, so I was glad that i was on my fixie so I could use my pedal speed to slow down. OK, I wasn't ever going fast enough to need to slow down.

The next time I turned West, I realized just how strong the wind was and how hard it was snowing. Had someone offered me a ride at that point, i would have taken it. So now I had a gusty head wind that was coming at an angle so that it was a cross wind as well. This also happens to be the point on my ride where I have the only hill on my ride. OK, it's an overpass, I can hardly call it a hill. Except last night, it was challenging. There isn't a shoulder on this part of the ride, so I had to ride on the packed snow and ice. The cross wind was hard enough that I had to lean into it in order to avoid being blown over. With my tires on ice, and leaning into a gusty wind, I thought for sure the wind would blow my bike out from under me, but it never did. The top of the overpass was the worst because it is completely exposed, with wind going over and under the road which made it pretty sketchy. I went very sowly down the other side of the overpass.

I got on some more good backroads that had plenty of powder to ride in. Then I saw the 18 wheeler coming and the car behind me. Of course we all met at the same time, but again the car behind me was quite kind and waited. When I waved to thank him when he finally passed, he gave a friendly honk. I don't get those very often.

Then I started hearing a metalic pinging sound that sounded like a spoke breaking. But I heard it so often that I would have been well out of spokes before i got home. I was still upright, so I kept going. When I got home, I found that the pinging was from the strap on my messenger bag. It had gotten wet and frozen and was pinging against the top tube.

I made it home without a single dab and without crashing. I even got first tracks on several sections of the commute. When I went out to my bike later that evening, the drive train had frozen solid. The rear wheel didn't spin at all. The front wheel would spin, but just barely and the brake was still frozen solid. It may be a while before I ride that bike again, it has some thawing to do.

This morning I rode my wife's mountain bike through 6-8 inches of fresh powder. It was tons of fun. I LOVE my commute!!

Common courtesy

On my ride home last night a guy in a pick-up pulled up beside me while I was waiting for a light and offered me a ride home. In the year and a half that I've been commuting, that is the first time that anyone has offered to help or give me a ride. I should mention that guys in the office will offer me a ride home in bad weather (and I've accepted on several occasions), but this was the first time a stranger offered me a ride. I thanked him, but refused the ride.

Last night I had about a 20 mph tailwind for my entire commute. I NEVER feel that good on a bike ride. Of course the driver didn't know that I had a tailwind, he just knew that it was 19 degrees and there was a cold wind. I appreciated the offer, but it made me think. I have ridden that route a lot in the last couple of years. I have spent a considerable amount of time on the side of that road fixing flat tires. One time I had three flat tires in about 5 minutes and then had to walk 4-5 miles home. I've spent time soaked from the rain, only to have cars buzz me and try to hit the puddle next to me. I've had cars cut me off so that I hit the brakes and end up jumping over the handlebars of the bike to avoid being hit. Without fail, the car had left before I am done picking my bike up out of the road. 99% of the time, I enjoy my commute and wouldn't take a ride if you offered me one. On the rare occasions that I would appreciate a ride, it seems as if the drivers are more aggressive (that could just be my perspective).

After I turned down the ride, I wondered if I had done the right thing. He was trying to be nice and it could have given me a chance to talk to him... about not driving because it destroys the environment. Maybe it's better that I didn't get a ride. It also made me review the times that I have been driving and pass someone who was on the side of the road. How often do I stop? --- Not often. Usually because the car is full whenever I'm in it, but that doesn't mean I couldn't offer assistance. When I'm on my bike, I will always offer assistance to stranded motorists. I thin it's sort of odd because I don't carry a cell phone and i only have enough tools to fix a bike, but still I offer. The only person to ever accept my offer to help was a lady stranded next to her motor home who asked me to pray for her. I can do that.

I began to wonder if courtesy is less common than it used to be. I don't know how it used to be, but I don't think that it is all that common now. On the other hand, I got a flat tire (actually it was Jim's flat tire) going through Pocatello Idaho and in the few minutes it took to change the tire, three people had offered to loan us a cell phone or give us a ride. A few miles later a guy in a pick-up truck threw a beer bottle at me out of his window. I know there are good people out there and I know that there are jerks. It just seems that for everyday people courtesy has become less common. I think we can place some blame on busy schedules and the fear of psychos faking a mechanical problem and just waiting for someone to stop. I think this highlights why we need to simplify our lives. We shouldn't ever be too busy to help someone and we shouldn't withhold help out of fear. Not that the fear is unwarranted, but it seems that if you let fear guide your life, you aren't really living. I would much rather die helping someone than to live knowing that I didn't help anyone.

So to the guy who offered me a ride (because I'm sure he hangs out on anti-car blogs in his free time), thanks. I appreciate it, even though I refused. (I also appreciate those who shovel my walks for me even though I would really like to do it myself).

New Years

147,090, that was the mileage on the van on January 1, 2007. Today, the mileage on the van was 152,544. Yes, I'll do the math for you, blogs are not designed to make the reader think, so I'll do that part. 5,454 miles, including a ~1500 mile trip to Arizona to visit my mom and go hiking. I was shooting for less than 100 miles a week because I wanted to ride more miles commuting than we put on the van. We were over the 100 miles per week, but I would estimate that I ride between 5500-6000 miles a year for my commute. That takes into account the fact that there are many weeks where I don't ride to school. Like this week that I have off, and last week. It also takes into account days that I take the bus because of icy roads.

I started the New Year off right, I went on my second annual New Years day Squaw Peak Hill Climb. Squaw Peak is the local "make out point" (I've never been there for that purpose, in fact, I've never been up there in a car) and the road is closed in the winter. Snowmobiles still go up there, and they keep the snow packed down a little, but otherwise it's not well traveled in the winter. On New Years Day Fatty organizes a ride up there and I like to attend. I must admit that last year was much better for me. This year I just couldn't get going on the snow, so I ended up walking about half the time. In fact I didn't even make it to the top, I turned around when everyone else started heading down (I was probably .5-1 mile from the top). On a certain level I felt that I should have been embarrassed about my performance, I really did not ride well. Actually I didn't "ride" much at all, I pushed my bike up a lot of the hill.

Even worse than walking my bike up most of the climb, was walking my bike most of the way down the hill as well. I have two major weaknesses in cycling. First, I am tentative. I am not a daredevil and I get nervous when I get going faster than I feel comfortable, and that's not very fast. This is especially a problem off road because I don't spend a lot of time off road. Second, I don't have great bike handling skills. Sure, I can track stand forever, but when it comes to picking a line on a descent, I am not good at it. The combination of these two major weaknesses is that I am REALLY slow coming down hills, especially off road (or on a road covered with a couple feet of snow). So by the time I got back to the bottom, most of the others had already left.

I think I just made it sound like a bad experience. It wasn't. In fact, I don't think I would change a thing. I was able to enjoy the solitude of the outdoors. On several occasions while I was climbing the hill, I stopped and enjoyed the absolute silence. What is it about snow that makes the silence so much more intense? I also got to a few overlooks where I could see the city below and the Utah Lake which looked to be frozen all the way across. It was really pretty up there. And my feet were warm. That was a highlight, there's nothing like being out in the snow and having warm feet.

Happy New Years

Response to Fatty

So I was studying for my last final today and I had about 20 minutes before class. I was sick of studying, so I went to Fatty's blog to see what he had to say. I don't know why I made a link since 98% of the people reading this came from there in the first place. Anyway, my final is done and so I'm free for the evening. I thought I would post pictures of my bike mobiles, along with their attributes.

This is going to be a little different than Fatty's post, because Fatty wrote about his truck that he uses to haul his bike in stuff. I use my bike just to haul stuff or to travel. I didn't get a picture of the fixie, that's sort of the "Geo Metro" commuter bike that isn't pretty, but serves its purpose as a workhorse getting good mileage day after day and never really breaking down. Except I'm going through spokes at a rate of about 3-4 a month.

Next, I have the a picture of the road bikes. Mine is the Mongoose. it's like a mid 90's Camaro. It's not a bad bike, but it is far from top of the line. It serves it's purpose and if the engine were taken care of like it should be it would be pretty fast. Until then, it hangs there waiting to be ridden (the bike, not the engine). My wife's bike hangs next to it, putting mine to shame (Thanks Cathi!). Hers is an old Basso with a real lugged steel frame, fully Ultegra equipped with down tube shifters and all. It's like a 60s Mustang. It's a classic and I'm afraid to drive it. My wife uses it around town on nice days, but it doesn't get the use that it was built for. Some day.
Here are the Mountain bikes. Mine is the Novara. It was a good bike in its day, but needs a bit of a make-over and overhaul. We'll compare it to a 62' Chevy Pickup that has been well used. My wife's is a Schwinn Moab. I'd compare it to a Early 90's Toyota. It serves its purpose well and hauls around the trailer on most of its trips.

And here's the trailer. It's an old Burley that has seen better days, but still serves its purpose. It hauls the two boys just fine, but our friends generally refuse to ride with us (they say it would be cramped back there). There's plenty of room behind the seat for a diaper bag, snacks, bike lock, tool kit and the cargo that your trip needed to drop off or pick up. When hooked up to one of the mountain bikes, it's an SUB (Sports Utility Bicycle). This isn't a bike, but it's a workhorse of the family. It's a double stroller. It will haul the two kids to the grocery store and one of the kids and the groceries home (The older kid has to walk home). It's nothing pretty, but it serves its purpose. We'll compare it to an old station wagon.
And below is the engine. You see, my wife is beginning to prefer the station wagon over the SUB because at 8 months pregnant her knees hit her belly while she's riding. While I've never been in that situation, I think that would take me off the bike as well. My wife is like a Ferrari engine that doesn't have a good home. It's foreign and a little mysterious, and it has tremendous power that demands respect. I know that it's more of an engine than I should ever be entrusted with, but she's got all of my respect. Powerful beyond measure, but with a simple elegance and grace that makes it oh so attractive.
And how do I haul my bikes? Who needs to haul a bike when you are riding it? It's such a shame to see bikes strapped to the backs of cars. They pass me all the time and I can hear the bikes telling their owners, "Look, he rides his bike".

Busy

All I have are excuses. I want to post, but school is currently destroying me. Only a couple more weeks until the end of the semester and a couple months worth of work to do. So I stay up late, don't see my family and live a fairly miserable existence for two more weeks until the semester is over. Hopefully it was worth it, I think this semester took a year off my doctoral program (not credit wise, but because all of my classes this semester are only offered once a year).

So here's what keeps me sane:
First off, my wife who takes care of EVERYTHING for me, except for my schoolwork. She's amazing!!
Second, my bike ride. Getting outside, breathing fresh air and relaxing everyday surrounded by the silence of nature has kept me sane.

Today, I want to write about my bike ride home last night. I was riding along the same road that I take every day. It parallels the railroad tracks and it's pretty dark, except some faint city lights coming through the train (and my incredible new headlight, but it doesn't point toward the sides). So I'm riding along and I see this little wave of shadows that seems to be following me, just off to the side. I put it off as the dancing shadows from the train that I often see. Then there was a truck approaching from the other direction with his headlights on and it changed the shadows a little so that I looked over and could see the silhouettes of about eight deer that were bounding along side me. At first I was thinking how cool it was that I was riding with the deer. Then I though about the oncoming truck and the fact that they could be started and turn right in front of me. That wouldn't be good, so I came to a stop, and luckily so did the truck. The eight deer passed between me and the truck and bounced off into a field.

That is why I ride my bike, because I get to ride with the deer rather than being afraid of what the deer will do to my car when I hit a it. I get to experience my commute instead of being a passive observer of an outside world.

Let there be light

Last night I finished truing the wheel and I got it all set up so I could use it on my ride in this morning. For the first time in the year and a half I've been commuting, I could see the road while i was riding at night. Now I can share some of the stories that I was afraid would upset my mother and grandmother because the problem has been cured.

For example, there's an area on my commute where I ride through a sort of swamp land next to the railroad tracks. It's on a road, but there is no development around so it's pretty dark. There also aren't any trees, except for a section about 400 meters long where there's a canopy of trees over the road. So on my commute I can sort of see on the open road (at least distinguish road from not road), and I usually ride right on the yellow line because that's the only part of the road that isn't black. The section that goes through the trees has no yellow line and the shadows from the trees make it so I can't tell road from not road. Luckily, there are a couple of street lights at the other end of the trees so I have something to aim for. So you go under the trees and it's like riding through a pitch black tunnel, you just shoot for the light at the end (and that was with my old headlight on). Today, for the first time in the dark, I was able to see the road I was riding on. I think this will be a good change

The other part of the ride where I have been a little nervous at night is at an intersection in the country with no lights around. Like I said before, I generally just follow the yellow line, because I can see it. At the intersection, the yellow line goes away, I have to turn left and hope to find the yellow line for the other road without riding into the ditch that I can't distinguish from road. Luckily I was batting a thousand and had never ended up in the ditch, but this morning I could actually see the road as I went through the corner. Oddly enough, i think i was able to take that corner faster today that I have previously. I'll write more about the new light when I have a bit more time, but as a preview, I love it!

On a completely different note, The Mugwump made a funny comment last night. He was sort of being a pill, and he wanted Mom to come in to the playroom while he got his things out of the dryer. She was busy, so I went in to help. He looked at me and said, "Dad, I love you, but I want someone pretty in the room, that's why I need Mom." They're so cute at that age.

Reporting bad drivers

In my last post I mentioned that I occasionally call the police on aggressive drivers. This is true. Someone in the comments sections asked me to expound. I don't have a lot of time (which is why I haven't written in awhile), but here's what I do. This is sort of a touchy subject for me because my main goal with my involvement with cycling is to make it safer for cyclists and a big part of that is improving cyclist, car driver relations. If you have any input in the matter, let me know.

The commenter (Chad, I think), said that he had called businesses about business cars that have been aggressive. I've done that too, and I feel that has been a worthwhile use of my time. I would also like to point out that I try to give compliments as much as I call to complain. For example, I pass through the industrial area of Provo every morning as the Provo city drivers are arriving at work or leaving for the days tasks. It only takes one bad pass and I'll make a phone call, yet I am passed by several Provo city trucks every morning and have NEVER had a bad experience. Which is more deserving of a call, one bad experience, or hundreds of non-experiences. Anyway, I called Provo maintenance people and got in communication with the right supervisor and personally thanked him and his drivers for being nice. Now I visualize in my head the supervisor sharing this call with his employees in a complimentary fashion and the employees reflecting on that as they pass me or any other cyclist. I think that helps car/bike relationships more than any call to complain.

Right, I know, the comment was about calling the police, but I wanted to put the most important point first. So if I think that complimenting is more effectively reaching my goals than complaining, why do I call the police? First, I think calling the police makes the police aware that I am a cyclist and I care about their enforcement of the law. Secondly, I want the passing motorist to know that I'm paying attention and can get their information easily enough. This is the one I wonder about though.

OK, I'm going to go through my procedures first. #1, I never call the police unless it was an aggressive maneuver that put me in danger. So I call on intentional close passes when there are no other cars around (being buzzed). When I'm on a road where there is not room for a car passing me to give me the 3 ft required by law and not collide with the oncoming car it often gets dangerous. In this case, I don't mind getting passed, but if I see an oncoming car, signal for the car behind me to slow, see the driver thinking and then trying to squeeze through, I will call the police. This is probably the most frequent reason for my calls (and I am generally positioned in the middle or to the left edge of the lane so they don't try to get by). The point is that I don't call when someone makes an unintentional mistake or is just obnoxious blowing their horn or whatever. I call when someone makes a premeditated decision to drive aggressively in a manner that puts my safety at jeopardy. I also only call if I get a licence plate number.

So when you call the police you talk to dispatch and report what happens. Then they contact a police officer who will have an officer call you back. Then you get to talk to an officer and explain the same thing to him (they've all been men so far) as you did the dispatcher. The officer will want to know if you want to press charges. I never do. I let the officer know that I just want the driver to know that their maneuver was dangerous and illegal and that my life was endangered and I'm a human being who does not want to be killed by a motorist. Besides, from what I've heard, pressing charges doesn't do any good in these situations because it ends up being your word against the driver's (if you got a physical description of the driver) and they generally don't work out. Normally the officer tells me that they will contact the person and have "a talk" with them. Do they actually do it? I don't know, I've never followed up. I have asked the officers if they feel that what I'm doing is a reasonable use of their time. They have always answered that they thought it was. They want the streets to be safer and that talk should help that come to fruition... in a very small way.

Are these reports working to improve cyclist/driver relations? Ah, here's the big question. I'm guessing that the driver is not thrilled to hear from the police about their bad choice. Then the real question becomes, will this improve their behavior around cyclists or cause them to hunt us down? I really don't think they're going to hunt us down, but I don't know that it will make a drastic improvement in behavior for the majority of drivers. But I do think that call raises awareness which is good, especially among the police that are out there day in and day out.

Let me know if you have a different opinion, I'm looking to do the best for all cyclists, but am not certain on this one.

The fall of a king

My last post involved a video of water buffaloes versus lions and the intent was to demonstrate that just because the lion has always been "king" doesn't mean that it always wins (if you haven't watched it, you should, it's a good one). There is power in working together toward a good cause. Here is another youtube clip. While NYC might be considered "wildlife" this is a clip cyclists taking over the city. It's called critical mass.

I do want to make it clear that I understand what critical mass has come to be (a sort of anarchist party revolving around smoking pot and getting drunk), and I don't support that. I support the principle. In fact, it took a little searching to find a video on youtube that didn't include cyclists being rude and destructive. That's unfortunate.

The idea that if enough people are bound together for a good cause (less cars, more bikes), they can disrupt the norm and lead toward change. For an even better example of the power of numbers, visit Vertigo, he had a great post today of a video from Amsterdam.

Some day I'll figure out how to embed video. I did it once before, but whenever I try now, it seems that youtube won't let me. Oh well.

A good use for money

For the second time this week, I left to go home, only to find that my bike had a flat tire. Tuesday was a puncture, yesterday I had a little hole in the tire which caused the inner-tube to pop. Because of the size of the hole in the tire, a new inner-tube would not have fixed the problem (the tube sort of leaks out of the hole and pops). I needed to fix it, but I didn't have a spare tire with me, only tubes. I had heard of using dollar bills before, but I had never actually seen it done. So I pulled out my wallet and grabbed a one dollar bill and put it inside the tire, over the hole. I then put in a new tube and it worked like a charm. In fact, i didn't have a chance to change the tire last night, so I'm still riding on it.

I was also proud of the tube I put in. It wasn't a new tube, I went through all of my new tubes on Tuesday when I ended up staying up late fixing inner-tubes because they all had holes in them (there were 5 that I fixed that night). During my inner-tube repair marathon on Tuesday, i ran out of patches. Of course the patch kits come with plenty of vulcanizing solution (some people call it glue, but really it isn't), but not enough patches. So I cut up an old inner-tube and used those for patches. You see, that is the beauty of vulcanizing solution, it isn't glue, it actually melts the rubber on the inner-tube and allows it to dry and chemically bond to the patch. If I use an inner-tube as a patch, then, theoretically, it should work. As I already said, I'm still riding on last night's repair job, so using an old piece of inner-tube works great for patching punctures.

Now I'm going to try to stop getting flats, I think that would work far better.

Being wrong... or unsure.

Do you know what I hate? Being wrong. Do you know what I hate even more than being wrong? Having others know that I'm wrong or having it pointed out to me. Some people seem to be OK with this. Some people have this ability to even admit that they have made mistakes and to tell others about them. My wife does this. I admire her (and anyone else who is able to openly admit mistakes) for being open and confident enough to admit mistakes. I wish I were more like that.

The other day I was doing something in the driveway and a neighbor from down the street approached me. We really don't know this particular neighbor all that well, so as he approached I was sort of excited to talk with him. Well he came to tell me that my chestnut trees were dying because I wasn't watering them. Then he left. As far as conversations go and getting to know neighbors, it was an utter disappointment. In fact, it sort of made me mad.

This is the point where I want to defend myself and say that I wasn't wrong... but I don't know that would be totally truthful. We have three chestnut trees in our yard that have always turned brown (and quite sickly looking) well before fall arrives (like June). I was of the impression that this was due to a tree disease, but I could be wrong. It could also be due to a tree disease that could be virtually eliminated by adequate water. In the end, I am pretty sure that watering the trees more regularly (or at least a couple of times) could have helped the trees.

So I was wrong, but I had some reasoning behind it. Unfortunately it is reasoning that I'm not completely sure about. For starters, the chestnut trees are horse chestnut trees, so the nuts are poisonous. What good is a poisonous nut? Then when the nuts fall, they fall in a spiky shell that stays in our yard leaving it quite inhospitable. As my wife and I talk about fixing up our house, we talk frequently about the yard. We are currently working on killing weeds so we can put in a front lawn. While I don't especially want to waste water on a front lawn, it will make the house look better, and the odds of us moving within a few years is pretty high. So I'm going against what I truly believe in order to improve resale value. I'm a sell-out and I hate it when I do that. If I were to really want to have grass somewhere, it would be in the back yard where my boys would be more likely to play in it. We haven't started that process because of the spiky things that make the back yard extremely painful to walk in. Since there is no grass in the back yard, we certainly haven't been watering it. And we haven't been going out of our way to water the trees (whose roots are under the "lawn" in the back yard) because they are the problem with the back yard. So the trees are dying.

Here's another issue that I have. Trees are essential for consuming carbon dioxide and cleaning pollution out of the air. I am all for trees and not depleting forests in order to maintain the air quality in our environment. I am also aware that imported trees often consume far more water than their native counterparts, which contributes to the drought conditions we are experiencing and plummeting water tables. So what is worse, wasting water to keep the trees healthy, or letting the trees die and wasting big carbon dioxide consumers that are needed in the area? Frankly, I think that I should be conserving the water and that people should drive less and use less electricity so that we didn't have the air pollution problems, but that's not our current situation, is it?

Earlier this week, my wife asked about my ultimate life, where we would be and what we would be doing. I told her I didn't know... and I still don't. Here's the thing. I am studying how the built environment influences transportation habits and health of a community and the members of that community. Sprawl is destroying the fabric of America and I know that it needs to change. But then when I think of my dream life, I think of living sustainably off the land. I want to live off the grid with a big enough garden and other resources (a pond?) to provide for all of life's essentials. I am also a realist, so I want my sustainable farm to be close enough to a city that I could haul my goods to a nearby city in a trailer pulled by my bike. If I needed to have a job, I would be able to ride my bike to it. This is the definition of the sprawl that I am battling to prevent. Does it make it OK for me to want to sprawl because I want to ride a bike and sell produce to the city, but it's wrong for my neighbor because he wants to drive a car and have a big lawn? I don't know the answer to that, but it doesn't feel right. Ideally, cities would all be relatively small and compact, yet surrounded by small farms providing local food to all the members of the city. That's just not how things are.

I think that being unsure may even be worse than being wrong. I try to live according to my conscience, and I know I make mistakes. Sure I'm ashamed of those, but even worse is not knowing the path I should take because of the imperfect world in which we live.

Generations

I was thinking the other day about how different generations are known for different things. For example the generation that grew up during the depression were known to be frugal. For good reason, they grew up in a hard time. It seems to be that today's generation is exactly the opposite. This is the disposable generation (no pun intended). It seems that everything that we buy is designed to be disposed of so we can get a new one. I don't think that the generation is totally to blame, marketing and manufacturing play a HUGE role in that. Either way, it's not good.

How many times have you had a computer printer break on you? Have you ever tried to get it fixed? Don't get me wrong, they'll fix it for you, but it will generally cost more to fix the printer than it would to buy a new one. Do you think they expect you to get it fixed? I don't think so, they want to sell you a new one.

I'll be fair, that isn't always the case. Cars, for example, although expensive to fix, are cheaper to fix than replace. Unfortunately with cars, in order to be "cool" you have to have the newest (or put the most money into fixing up an old one... which is cooler than the new cars). Marketing has made it popular to have the new design. Is the new design that much better than the old? Of course, who could possibly live without a DVD player in the back of every headrest? Even if the new design isn't that much better, it is still a status symbol to have the latest and greatest.

Don't think I say that just because I don't especially like cars. Bikes do the same thing. I still have an 8-speed cassette on my road bike. Last year my derailleur hit the skids so I had to replace it. I couldn't find a 9 speed, let alone an 8 speed. So now I have a 10 speed derailleur with an 8 speed cassette. So my bike doesn't shift the best, but I really feel that I have all the gears I need. Most of the time I have the gear I need on my fixie.

Back to the original topic, what was the generation before the depression like? What were they known for? My wife suggested survival. I don't think so. I'm guessing that they didn't know what they didn't have. I bet they could even look back and wonder how previous generations had survived without the convenience of trains and the cotton gin. I don't know. So if you are over 80 years old and remember what your grandparents were known for, please let me know. I wonder if they were known for their prosperity and not taking advantage of it? Or maybe they were also known for their frugality, but they may not have even known what it means to be frugal in the way we are frugal today.

Distance

I remember a college psychology class where we talked about a study that hit me. The study was about electrical shock... I don't remember what they told the participants they were studying, but they lied to them. There was an actor behind a window/blinder so that the subject could hear, but not see the actor (the subject also didn't know that the person there was an actor). There was a guy in a white lab coat who was a leader of sorts who gave commands (I think he was the study administrator). The subject sat at a desk and was in charge of giving electrical stimulation to the actor (who didn't actually feel anything, but would pretend he did). The subject was directed to press a button to give an electrical shock to the actor, wait a moment, turn up the voltage and give another shock. As the voltage increased, the actor would make louder expressions of how much the shock hurt. The subjects would generally look to the supervisor to see if it was OK to continue, he would indicate to continue. Although a few would refuse, the vast majority continued to shock the individual, thinking that they were administering a substantial amount of pain to the actor. At a certain voltage level, after much screaming, the actor would stop making any noise at all, leaving the subject to wonder if he was unconscious or even dead. Many of the subjects would continue to shock the non-responding actors even after they stopped responding to the shock.

Looking at the results, psychologists say that it was the guy in the lab coat (which certainly makes them all knowing) saying that it was OK to continue was a major contributor to the continuing shock. The subjects felt distanced from the actor, they were merely following orders. It certainly wasn't their fault that this official looking guy was directing them to administer pain and possibly death. The subjects felt distanced from the outcome because it was just how things worked. They were part of the situation and unable to make a difference.

How would I react as the subject in this situation? I don't know. I like to think I would stand up and walk out, or better yet, go rescue the poor guy being shocked. Most people didn't do that. Am I that special someone who would take a stand, or another lemming that would just follow along? Do I want to know the answer to that? Of course I don't want to be another of the multitude that would have continued administering pain to another human being. But if I were one of the select who was able to stand up and walk out, does that increase my responsibility in this life? I think it does, but I don't know that I can make the differences that I want to see made.

In how many other aspects of our life our we distanced from consequences so that we keep doing something that is really detrimental for ourselves and others around us? I spend a lot of time studying obesity and weight maintenance. We are distanced from the consequences of over eating by time. If every time you overate a little you felt terrible and gained several pounds and had to buy a new wardrobe, i don't think that obesity would be the problem that it is. Or even more obvious, if when you overate, you died of a heart attack, fewer people would overeat... or we would have a lot fewer people in the world.

Another place where we are distanced from consequences is driving. Automobiles contribute to the five leading causes of death. Those are cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, pulmonary diseases and accidents. Automobile exhaust and/or the sedentary lifestyle promoted by car travel are major contributors to the first four leading causes of death. The majority of deaths caused by accidents involve a motorist. While I don't think we need to get rid of all motorized vehicles, we do need to rethink transportation to make it safer. I've heard it argued that putting in public transportation infrastructure is expensive. Isn't health care also expensive? We need to look beyond the price tag toward long term consequences. Automobile traffic is contributing to the death of my family. I am unwilling to put a price tag on that, health is the most valued asset that i have, even beyond the convenience of a car.

It was the best of times...

Over the last several months I have had many incidents with UTA buses (local public transportation group). After a couple of close calls with buses, I started calling and complaining when buses were illegally coming too close to me while I was doing my best to share the road. It is very scary to have the mirror of a bus pass within inches of your head traveling 30+ mph. I called and complained many times, but to no avail, nothing seemed to change. Last week a bus went out of its way to give me space while he was passing me. I figured it was only fair to call and give a compliment, as I had given complaints. For the first time, I got feedback from the call center. They called to let me know that they appreciated my feedback (maybe they didn't appreciate the negative feedback) and to let me know that the bus driver had been sent a letter praising his behavior. Great, I was glad to hear it. Then later in the week I ran into the bus again on my commute. This time the guy was waving at me and helping me get through the town safely. In the end we both made it through the city faster than we would have had we played leap-frog like we had in the past.

I learned long ago that positive reinforcement is more effective than negative reinforcement. I like calling and giving compliments, it generally surprises them and hopefully encourages the behavior. The only problem is that it is difficult to find situations where I can positively reinforce drivers.

Bikes as transportation

Bikes are not toys, bikes are a valid form of transportation. This is sort of a funny topic for me. I am one of the greatest proponents for using bikes as transportation, yet I often unintentionally give it "toy" status.

I bought brake pads the other day. It took me weeks to finally get around to buying them. I was wearing real thin on the old pads and the replacement was overdue. Why did it take so long? Because I didn't want to spend the money (~$10). Sure it's what I use to stop and that's important, but I could use that $10 for lots of other things (like watermelon).

I feel bad for even hesitating to buy break pads. What makes the situation even worse is that when the car needs gas I don't hesitate to fill it. Why the hesitation? I think it stems from the fact that my bicycle has always been a recreational venture. Now I commute and it is my transportation, yet cycling is still in the "recreate" category. That needs to change so that I can keep my bike in safe working order (and let the car fall into a state of neglect). OK, I'll maintain the car, but begrudgingly and only after the necessary repairs have been made on my bike (as well as my wife's and the kid's trailer).

The irony of this is that I know the consequences of thinking of a bike as a second class form of transportation. I know that most of the incidences that I have with cars are due to the fact that I am considered a second class vehicle when I'm on the bike. In the perspective of most motorists, bicycles are for recreating so cyclist certainly aren't in a hurry and therefore should yield the right of way to motorist... ALWAYS. Is it deeper than that? Are cyclists seen as people who can't afford a car and therefore "lower class" than those who can afford a car and gas? Based on what people yell at me from car windows, they don't think I belong on the road, even when I follow every law in the books. They think I'm playing on my toy.

For whatever reason, most motorists feel that they are in a hurry, but certainly the guy on the bike isn't, he must be recreating. Guess what, I'm in a hurry too, my bike is my car. Not only do I need to get to work, but I like to maintain my pace so that I can get worthwhile aerobic exercise.

So I did a little research on cycling (OK, I lied, it just happened to be in a book I am reading). A car with one passenger takes 1860 calories to go one mile (everyone knew that gas had calories, right?). One mile walking will consume about 100 calories. One mile on a bike takes about 35 calories. Bicycles are one of the most efficient forms of transportation available, consuming one third the energy of walking and 53 times less energy than driving a car. As far as fuel efficiency goes, the bicycle is far superior. It is time that we think of a bicycle as a legitimate vehicle and means of transportation and not a toy used by second rate citizens to recreate.

Near crash

Last night on my way home I nearly crashed. It was quite the experience. I went up to Orem for an open house on the I-15 project (evidently 6 lanes in each direction 20 years from now is going to solve all of our traffic problems). I was on my way home at about 9 and I was going through a roundabout. So I turned right to go into the roundabout and then I turned left around it for 270 degrees. As I came out of the corner I stood up to accelerate and get back the speed I had lost in the corner. As I was accelerating, I pulled out of my left pedal. (For those who don't know cycling, my shoes attach to my pedals like a ski binding so I can pull up and apply force to the pedal. When I say I "pulled out", that means that the binding unexpectedly failed, leaving my foot free of the pedal). So when you pull out of a pedal, it throws off your balance because your left leg continues up and forward, even though the pedal continues back down.

On a bike with a freewheel (a bike that can coast), this wouldn't have been that big of a deal (although it has caused crashed before). If I had a freewheel, when my foot came out, my right foot simply would have dropped to the bottom of the pedal stroke and I would have coasted until I could get everything back in position. On my fixed gear when I pulled out, my right leg continued going around in circles.

Imagine with me for a minute. When I pulled my left foot out of the pedal it went forward with momentum. This made it so I was sitting on the top tube just behind the stem. My left foot, free of the pedal, banged a couple of times in the front wheel, but luckily did not enter. So I was sitting there just behind the stem, with my left foot nearly in my spokes and my hip in a funny position as my right leg continued to go around and around. This was the point where I wondered when I was going to hit the ground. I didn't (although I really think I should have).

Next, I had to figure out how to get back up onto my saddle. My weight was way further forward than it should have been and my right leg wouldn't stop going around in circles. I pushed myself up using the handlebars getting myself back on the saddle. It worked out pretty well for me and I was no longer afraid of crashing. Except I still had to get my foot in the pedal. I realized that it is easier to get a foot in the pedal while just starting than it is at 15-20 mph. I still can't believe I didn't crash. I really should have and I was fully expecting to, but for whatever reason I still have all of my skin today.

Flirting

My last few posts seem to have had a negative tone to them and I'm going to try and move away from that. In one of the comments, Sasquatch said that it sounds like I've got everything going for me, two wonderful kids, a fun career, and ample opportunities to ride my bike and live simply. He's right, I really like my life and there's not much that I would change. I really appreciated the comments from my blog on getting run off the road, I got some ideas that we are going to try and incorporate into our lives.

One simple thing that I really like is that people on my blog call me "sans". When I came up with the name of the blog and my email address I was thinking that I could use the French term for "without car" (although it is also an English term) since I started writing when I sold my car and started using my bike as my primary mode of transportation. It seemed fitting. Now when the Internet world addresses me as "sans" I feel that it better represents what I'm really about. I'm not against cars and I don't think that bicycles are the answer to everything. I am about simplicity and doing "without" extras in life. Yes, the car is one extra that I'm doing without, but so are television, movies, fast food, a big house and all sorts of things. My wife and I spend a lot of time finding additional things that we could do without.

Flirting
I was on my way home last night and I was passed by a guy on a big motorcycle out for a ride with his girl. I didn't think much of it, but with the appropriate string of events, this guy and his girl became the source of a lot of fun for me. The motorcycle got stopped at a couple of lights and I was able to almost catch it. Then, the guy had to wait to turn left at an intersection that I was able to follow him through with much more momentum than he had. So this tough guy on his hog got passed by a scrawny kid in spandex riding his bike. I even had the time to turn to his girl and say hi. She was nice and responded with a big smile. The guy wasn't smiling.
I should mention that my wife has absolutely nothing to worry about, but I really felt that experience was a lot of fun. Can you imagine taking your girl out for a ride on your motorcycle and being passed by a guy on a bike who turns and says hi to her? I am sure that everyone involved knows that the motorcycle is much faster than the bike, but with the timing of how everything worked out I got to demonstrate to a couple of people that bicycles aren't as slow as some people thing.

Adding insult to injury

This happened a week or two ago now, but it's not something I was ready to share yet. I don't especially mind getting hurt, but there is something about a person insulting everything that you believe in and stand for that hurts far worse than physical pain. I want to share it.

I am also going to make some analogies to other aspects of life. My intent is not to offend or upset anyone, but I want people to know my feelings.

The last couple of weeks have been rough. I've been leaving the house at about 6 each morning and there have been many evenings I don't get home until well after 9 or 10 (11 on occasion). I was riding home one night and it was nearly 10. Of course it was dark, but I had my bright clothes on and my obnoxious flashing lights so I was seen. Actually I think I'm better seen at night with my blinkies than I am during the day with my bright colored clothes.

I was riding the same route I take every day and a big dually diesel pickup pulled up next to me. He saw me, he even moved a little into the next lane to avoid hitting me. Then he got up along side me, slowed down and nice and slowly pushed me off the side of the road with his diesel behemoth. It wasn't a big deal, the ride got a little bumpy over in the gravel and pot holes, but there was no harm done. Then he slowed a little more so that I was really close (and so that he could could accelerate more). He accelerated. When you accelerate in a behemoth diesel, it lets out a huge cloud of black smoke. It filled my face and lungs. His attempt to spray gravel at me was pretty weak, but the exhaust in my face and his (I'm assuming it was a guy) intentions really hurt.

As soon as I could breath again I gave chase to the pickup. I can often catch cars in the city when they have to stop at stoplights and such. We were on a little country road 3-4 miles to the next stoplight. I didn't catch him to get his plate number. I wonder if that is "assault with a deadly weapon"? It should be. He certainly assaulted me. And a vehicle is certainly a deadly weapon, although getting hit would cause death more quickly, exposure to ambient air pollution (mostly caused by cars) is also closely related to death.

The rest of the ride home I was mad and depressed. What had I done to him? Nothing, except there are many cyclists on the road that don't follow the rules and make drivers mad. He may have been retaliating for that (in which case the "cycling world" may have deserved it). But I personally had done nothing to this motorist. I was doing the exact thing he was doing, trying to get from point A to point B by a means that is faster than walking. Additionally I was trying to get exercise and save the planet from pollution by taking my bike rather than another form of transportation. I have dedicated my life to that goal. I am pursuing a doctoral degree in exercise science and focusing my research on city planning that will help people be more active and less polluting. Exercise and a clean environment are a central part of who I am trying to be. This driver violated everything that I stand for in a very big way. Although there was no physical injury, I have a hard time recalling times I have hurt worse than that night.

The ride home from there seemed to take forever. I thought a lot about that driver. Although his actions were intentional and aimed directly at me personally, there are how many people on the streets every day contributing the same deadly gases and particulate matter to the air I breath? Are they not also taking a direct stand against everything I stand for?

Here comes the analogy. It may seem like a big step, but it was one of the first things I thought of upon arriving at home. The feeling that I had of being completely violated by a person taking intentional steps against things that are a central part of who I am were quite similar to the feelings that I have every year at Christmas and other occasions throughout the year. I am trying to make the smallest impact as possible on the earth. I am trying to teach my children the value of nature and relationships and people rather than stuff. That is a difficult in a world where advertisements are nearly impossible to avoid.

This is hard to say because it is contrary to the beliefs of many of my family members and friends who are very important in my life, and whose generosity I appreciate immensely, but I have to say it so that they can better know who I am. Every Christmas I feel like I just got my face filled with diesel smoke. I stand for simplicity, yet we get packages from all over the country filled with stuff that we have successfully kept out of our home the rest of the year. We love the thought, we appreciate the generosity, we recognize it is "just" tradition, but it goes against those principles that we cherish most in our lives. It should be known that we don't have anything against gifts (although it wouldn't be the end of the world not to get gifts). It is "stuff" that we have a problem with. Plants for our home or garden, donations in our name to charitable organizations, or toys that the boys could go give to those in need would be gifts that really meant something to us.

I think that part of the problem is that we have two kids that are the only grand kids and great-grand kids for all but one set of great-grandparents. Around New Years, my wife and I contemplated sending a letter to all relatives saying that we were going to do a gift free year as a way of showing our kids that life isn't about material gifts. We didn't, in large part because our relatives are distant and gifts are ways that our kids can remember them and we think that's important. One of the big things that I struggle with is the fact that I don't get to buy my kids gifts. The Mugwump is at a point where I can see that he should have a certain toy that I enjoyed growing up. I know that he would enjoy it and it would be less than $10 for me to get it for him. It would be a meaningful gift given to fill a known void that would provide a means for us to play together. I won't buy it, for the same reason I have restrained from buying him a gift the last four years. He gets enough "stuff" from everyone else and he doesn't need any more. Besides that I know that we don't have anywhere to put it. I wish I could have that opportunity.

Besides my religion and my family, today I have written about those things that matter most to me in my life. I hope that nobody took offense. I would also be interested to know what others who try to live simply do to combat this problem.

Why I ride...

I have a class this semester on health risks. One of the biggest risks is high cholesterol. We have an assignment to get our cholesterol checked and then create a diet/exercise program to improve the cholesterol levels. Then we will have our cholesterol levels checked at the end to see if our program worked. I don't think we're graded on improving our cholesterol, just the program that we write for it. I got my cholesterol back yesterday...98. That's the total. It breaks down to an LDL of 43, HDL of 48 and VLDL of 7. My triglycerides were at 33. I eat very little meat or sugar and I exercise regularly. I think I'm going to cut the pretzels out of my diet for the semester, that will be good. Otherwise I'm just going to continue with my current diet and see what happens.
Last night I went on an activity with the youth at church. We showed up and it was obviously a youth group and one of the ladies asked me if I was one of the youth or a leader. Actually, I'm the oldest leader in the group.
Honestly, I don't ride my bike for health reasons. My commute is merely transportation and a time to relax and enjoy nature (when I'm not being run off the road by a car). The commute has so many benefits that are little extras.