Zbicyclist

20 mph+ rides from Evanston / Wilmette

2010-12-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

There's a new blog covering the routine 20+ mph rides from the Panera at Wilmette Avenue and Green Bay Rd.

http://ebc20mph.blogspot.com

These are connected to the Evanston Bike Club, but are open to all -- well, all who are fast enough.

These are also on the EBC schedule here: http://evanstonbikeclub.org/ASP/Schedule.asp?club=evbike

Seems like a good idea

2010-08-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

Sign found in the Snake River Brewing pub in Jackson, WY.

How some people make it through the winter.

2010-01-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

(No, this isn't a picture of me.)

So how about those readers of Golf Digest?

2009-11-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

Ever watch those Cialis or Viagra ads on TV? Notice they often say "see our ad in Golf Digest".

Notice they say "Golf Digest". They don't say "Bicycling" or "Adventure Cycling" or "Velonews" or "Cycling News".

Think about it.

Carbon fiber bridge

2009-10-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

Carbon fiber: it's not just for bicycles anymore! This bridge in Maine is mostly carbon fiber. See this NYT article. The bridge is lighter and resists corrosion.

The World's Smartest Human on the Chicago Olympic Bid

2009-09-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

Cecil Adams, nom-de-plume of a columnist for the Chicago Reader and "The World's Smartest Human", on Chicago's Olympic bid:

"... we face the prospect of hosting a giant world athletic competition involving billions of dollars of expenditure that nonetheless poses no financial risk. Perhaps 50 people in town can honestly claim to understand this. These individuals are operators. Chicago is their natural home."

It almost seems as if there is a local conspiracy to forget 1976 -- no, not the Bicentennial of American Independence, but the financial debacle of the Montreal Olympics.

"The Olympics were a financial disaster for Montreal, as the city faced debts for 30 years after the Games had finished. The Quebec provincial government took over construction when it became evident in 1975 that work had fallen far behind schedule; work was still under way just weeks before the opening date, and the tower was not built. Mayor Jean Drapeau had confidently predicted in 1970 that "the Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby", but the debt racked up to a billion dollars that the Quebec government mandated the city pay in full."

Aunt Bertha's a Cyclist?

2009-09-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

from I Can Has Cheezburger

September 13: North Shore Century Bike Ride

2009-08-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

This is our 25th North Shore Century, which each year raises over $10,000 for bike related causes: we've donated dozens of bikes for AIDS support workers in Africa, supported CBF, ATA, LIB, LAB and Rails to Trails, bought handcycles for rehabilitation programs, and supported bicycle education programs in many area communities.

Plus it's fun! Come on out. More info here.

Bike Parking?

2009-08-19T16:32:00.001-07:00

Actually, it's an Independence Day celebration in Indonesia.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,643333,00.html

How long do bike decorations last?

2009-07-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

As a practical joke, my daughter Abby wrapped my road bike in celery green crepe paper.

We started to wonder how long it would last. Kids' bikes on July 4th have lots of decorations, but these are ridden slowly. How would this stuff stand up to normal commuting speeds of 15-16 miles per hour?

Here we are after 7 miles. The stuff around the wheels is going (had to take a threatening piece out of the rear derailleur). Stuff on the body is in good shape.

After 14 miles, the wheels are about bare, but most of the decoration is still on the body.

At this point, I called the experiment over and removed the rest.

Cool job: Google tricycle mapper

2009-06-22T17:47:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of Joe Ferguson, I was informed of this job:

Google is mapping the paths on and around college campuses and is doing so with a tricycle equipped with their sophisticated camera technology. The mapped colleges will allow new students a way to familiarize themselves with campus before they ever arrive at campus. It will also allow parents to see what the campus is like by allowing the parents to take a “virtual tour” of the college campus...

The major benefit of mapping the paths with the tricycle is it will allow mapping and photographing of areas that can not be done with Google Mapping cars. The Google tricycle will eventually allow for some amazing “streetviews” of bicycle trails around the world.. This will allow you to be able to look at a trail before you ride it.

Story here with nice picture.

Who puts up these signs?

2009-02-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/signlanguage/4603140/Sign-language-week-36.html

From Everglades National Park

Blow Your Nose the Cyclist's Way

2009-02-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

A true cyclist can generate nasal congestion. A true cyclist checks behind them for other riders, turns their head to one side, puts a finger on one nostril, and blows out the other. This produces what's called "snot rockets", although there is only primitive rocket science involved.

Now studies shows that this is actually the healthier way to do it. According to research reported in the New York Times,

"Dr. J. Owen Hendley and other pediatric infectious disease researchers at the University of Virginia conducted CT scans and other measurements as subjects coughed, sneezed and blew their noses. In some cases, the subjects had an opaque dye dripped into their rear nasal cavities.
"Nose blowing generated enormous pressure — 'equivalent to a person’s diastolic blood pressure reading,' Dr. Hendley said — and propelled mucus into the sinuses every time. Dr. Hendley said it was unclear whether this was harmful, but added that during sickness it could shoot viruses or bacteria into the sinuses, and possibly cause further infection.

"'The proper method is to blow one nostril at a time and to take decongestants', said Dr. Anil Kumar Lalwani, chairman of the department of otolaryngology at the New York University Langone Medical Center. 'This prevents a buildup of excess pressure.'"

One nostril at a time is, of course, the only sensible way to do it on a bicycle. Who knew we were so smart?

Bike Commuting with Fat Tire Ale

2009-01-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

Winter Cycling article in Evanston Review

2009-01-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to the article, which includes two photos taken at the Evanston Bicycle Club meeting in November.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/evanston/lifestyles/currents/1375157,on-winterbikeWEB-011509-s1.article

The interview and photo session was so long ago I'd practically forgotten about it.

Boy, is this the wrong e-mail list!

2008-12-14T10:57:00.000-08:00

RAAM (the Race Across AMerica) is one of the most grueling sports events imaginable. In long bike races like the Tour de France, you race a specific distance each day and then sleep in a hotel at night. RAAM runs the width of the US with no rest stops -- you sleep when you want/need to.

I have a certain fascination with this race, and I'm on their "fan" mailing list. But either they sent this out to the wrong list or they have a very optimistic view of my capabilities:

Dear RAAM Racer, Team Manager,
We are excited to bring back the RAAM Clinics for 2009. We held two last year, one in London and one in Texas, with both being very well attended. This year it's 3 - Sacramento, CA; London, England; and our finish - Annapolis, MD. You can find more details on dates, price, and more here -
http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/subwebraam/raam.php?N_webcat_id=97.
The clinics are a great way to dive into RAAM logistics and preparation, ask your questions, and interact with the RAAM team and other team managers/crew chiefs. There are no secrets to RAAM, just lots of questions that we delve into to further your changes of a successful RAAM.
Register now at the RAAM Store (https://www.raceacrossamerica.org/subwebraam/store.php?N_webcat_id=9) under RAAM Clinics.

What does "Transportation Alliance" mean?

2008-11-22T09:40:00.001-08:00

The term "Transportation Alliance" shows up quite a bit in organization names. Google has 78,100 hits. But these groups don't seem to be unified in any way other than the use of these two buzzwords next to each other.

Let's look at the top page of Google search results

The Minnesota Transportation Alliance mostly looks like people who favor more highway spending.
http://www.transportationalliance.com/sponsors.htm

The Transportation Alliance Bank is part of Flying J (the truck stop people)
https://www.tabbank.com/home/index.jsp

There's a Bicycle Transportation Alliance in Oregon -- looks like an alliance of bicycling groups.
http://www.bta4bikes.org/

"The Pennsylvania Transportation Alliance (PTA) was formed to bring together all people with disabilities and their allies in a unified, statewide organized effort to ensure that "accessible, affordable transportation is available to all PA citizens with disabilities." http://www.cilcp.org/transportation_alliance/index.php

The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance is all about transit -- regional rail.
http://cmtalliance.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

The New North Transportation Alliance (Tampa) is also about transit, transit, transit, although they do offer a free bike rack program for businesses.
http://www.newnorthalliance.org/Bike%20Racks%20for%20Businesses.html
There's also some superficial bicycling information -- e.g. "you might think about biking to work". The maps page (which is a good indicator) has a map of bike racks on the USF campus, but otherwise is all transit.
http://www.newnorthalliance.org/maps%26pubs.htm
The advisory board doesn't list any organizations I recognize, upon quick glance, as cycling organizations.

The Regional Transportation Alliance (Raleigh) http://www.letsgetmoving.org/
is "The regional business leadership group that focuses on relieving traffic congestion and enhancing mobility." That says "build roads" to me. The project page http://www.letsgetmoving.org/Projects_&_Priorities/index.html lists road projects and the construction of a regional rail system. Well down the list (11th, 2nd from last) is "Completion of American Tobacco Trail and improved pedestrian-bicycle access to transit." [Biking on the American Tobacco Trail??] But it does have a pedestrian and bike page http://www.letsgetmoving.org/Projects_&_Priorities/Pedestrian_bicycle.html and links to bike maps on the NC DOT web site.

The Westside Transportation Alliance http://www.wta-tma.org/ [Washington County, Oregon]
OK, now we hit pay dirt. The executive directors are wearing bicycle helmets. They are big supporters of the new commuter rail line that opens next year.

Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance http://www.nvta.org/
The third paragraph of their mission statement says it all: "The debate is not roads and bridges versus buses and trains, but which strategies move the most people most effectively in most corridors." Then there's the last two paragraphs: "More than half of all transportation resources available over the next 25 years are assigned to public transit to move less than 10% of daily trips.
Road projects that will carry 90% of future vehicular – auto, truck and bus -- trips remain un-prioritized and un-funded." Doing a search on "bicycle" turns up one table showing bicycles are used on only 1-2% of daily trips, nothing else.

I don't see much of a thread here other than a general advocacy for some form of transportation (hence the word "transportation" in the name. Only the Westside group seems, at first glance, to be the type of organization ATA (formerly the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation) would want to turn into, although on a bigger scale.

Logo comparison

2008-11-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

Here's the old CBF logo and the new ATA logo.

Note:
1. The CBF logo is no thing of beauty.
2. The CBF logo is pretty Chicago centric and bicycle centric.
So, it's a fair statement that if CBF was going to expand their mission, the logo needed to go.

But
3. The new logo is pretty much as generic as you can get. There are buildings, not not recognizable ones. There's a slash -- is that supposed to be a sidewalk, separating buildings from parkway? There's an unfortunate shade of green in the lower right.
4. The logo shows the determination of ATA to get as far away from its CBF roots as possible. This could be the logo for anything that might occur in or near a gray building, which is most things.

2008-11-19T20:25:00.000-08:00

I was taken to task on the earlier posting by someone who noted:

The name is Active Transportation Alliance, not ATA. I have not seen ATA on any communication from the organization. The abbreviation used in the website name is "Active Trans".

Right, and the name is Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, not CBF.

What's your point? ATA is particularly the moniker that will stick because "Active Transportation Allliance" is just 3 generic buzzwords thrown together and "ActiveTrans" sounds like a laxative.

But my whole point has nothing to do with either ATA, ActiveTrans, or Active Transportation Alliance. My point -- which you completely ignored, thank you very much -- is that CBF threw away all the equity in their existing name. They took a name that meant something, and substituted buzzword gibberish.

It's not the specific buzzwords chosen -- although I think these are poor ones -- it's the fact that they are turning their back on their equity. It's like when Philip Morris renamed itself "Altria". At least Philip Morris had the excuse that they were trying to hide the fact that they made cigarettes.

CBF throws away its name equity.

2008-11-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation -- CBF for short -- wants to expand its mission.

While I support the expanded mission, it was STUPID to throw away all the equity in the CBF name. It's now called the Active Transportation Alliance, or ATA.

Are we ashamed of being Chicagoans?

Are we ashamed of being bicyclists?

Does ATA mean anything except a failed airline?

Could you not find some name that hearkened back to the CBF equity, rather than turn your back on it so completely and ashamedly?

Folding wheels

2008-11-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/reinventing_the_1.php

They look interesting, but due to the added weight are only practical in carbon fiber, hence they would be expensive.

In addition, folding bikes would need to be redesigned to take advantage of this technology.

So, they won't be at your bike shop soon -- it's a great idea if it works, though.

Vote -- don't take it for granted

2008-11-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

Sweep finishes ahead of ride leader?

2008-10-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday I went on a ride through "Meet Up" in rural Wisconsin. The ride leader (Ron) was very well organized, but the 20+ riders here a highly varied lot and a ride leader can't be everywhere at once. I volunteered to sweep the ride. My friend Mark stayed with me.

Mark and I and the couple of riders in the back were seldom able to see the riders in the front as we fell progressively farther back. But, about 10 miles from the end, we saw them stopped for a flat. By my reckoning, they must have been there several minutes already, and our speed was in single digits, so we just kept on going. I figured they would catch up soon.

They had some additional problems, and arrived a couple of minutes behind us -- first ride I've been on when the sweep arrived first.

One traffic fatality a day in Chicago

2008-10-16T17:46:00.001-07:00

From the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation:

Every day in Chicagoland there are more than 800 traffic crashes. Of those, about 150 drivers will flee the scene. Chicagoland has an average of more than one traffic fatality every day. Another 24 are seriously injured every day. Crashes cost the Chicago area resident $1,000 each year.

All this crashing is mostly cars crashing into other cars. But they are crashing among people biking and walking. And those are the people most vulnerable to serious injury and death.

Hit-and-run crashes

Pedestrians are disproportionately impacted by hit-and-run crashes. In Northeastern Illinois, an alarming 30 percent of all pedestrian crashes are hit-and-run. That means that in four crashes each day in our region, a driver leaves the scene after hitting a person walking. Pedestrians are left many times in the street to be found by a passerby. Cyclists fare a little better. Just under 20 percent of our region’s bicycle crashes are hit-and-run, a level similar to car-on-car hit-and-run crashes.

Bailing out banks ... and bicyclists?

2008-10-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

To get the bailout bill to pass, a variety of odd pork was added to the bill.

Here's one that might benefit me:

Congress Passes Commuter Act

WASHINGTON, DC (BRAIN)—Employers of people who bike to work stand to gain a $20 per month tax credit per cycling employee, according to the final version of the Wall Street bailout bill, H.R. 1424, passed this afternoon.

The House passed the bill today with a final vote of 263-171, a comfortable margin that was 58 more votes than the measure garnered in Monday's stunning defeat. The Senate passed the bill Wednesday by a vote of 74 for and 25 against the bill.

The bicycle tax provision was part of an additional $110 billion in line items added to the already $700 billion bailout package.

What does bicycle commuting have to do with credit issues or covering the debt racked up on Wall Street? Bicycle commuting advocate Earl Blumenauer, a Democratic Representative from Oregon, was one of the 228 Representatives who voted against the House version of the bailout package on Monday. House members looking to pass a bailout bill needed to convince as least 12 of the dissenters to switch their position and vote for a bailout bill.

According to a Blumenauer spokeswoman, the bicycle commuting tax credit had the Representative’s attention, according to a report by www.govexec.com. However, Blumenauer said he was opposed to the bill because it failed to include bankruptcy equity for homeowners, not because employers of bicycle commuters suffered unfair tax burdens. He is also against incentives for coal-based liquids, tar sands and oil shale also included in the Senate’s bill. Blumenauer voted against the bailout bill in today's vote but his pet bicycling project passed with it.

Congressman Blumenauer spearheaded a seven-year campaign to extend commuter tax benefits to those who bike to work.

Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, said the Bicycle Commuter Act has been held up getting through with previous bills.

“It’s been attached to a variety of different bills or devices—climate change, energy, transportation,” Clarke said. “It’s ironic that it would wind up in a financial rescue package, but we’ll take it. I’m not going to quibble with the method; I’m glad to see it done.”

There's a civics lesson in what's above, and it's not a pretty one.

Sunday parkways

2008-10-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today was Chicago's first Sunday Parkways.

Car traffic was banned from the city parkways streets from Logan Square down to Garfield Park. Cross-streets were still in operation, so you had to stop.

The nicest thing about this event was seeing so many parents and children out. The children were often on training wheels. There were many, many little girls on pink bikes with streamers.

The city's parkways system is a gem, but a gem that isn't paid much attention by many of us. This links parks that also are wonderful areas that can be made more wonderful.

I rode down with a group of cyclists from the Evanston Bike Club. At Garfield Park Conservatory we stopped. There were a group of cyclists from the other EBC (Elmhurst Bike Club) there. But most people seemed to be local, which is good. The Garfield Park Conservatory is such a gem, it's hard to believe I lived in the Chicago area for 25 years before visiting it.

I liked the event -- and liked that the rain held off until I was almost home.

On October 26th, there is another Sunday parkways -- this time on the south side.

Dangerous water bottles?

2008-09-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

After listening to some zealot explain the dangers of plastic water bottles to me, I looked up some information here.

The net of this is that this is a problem with the expensive, Nalgene-type water bottles. These have a "7" in the recycling triangle.

I checked the water bottles cluttering up my bicycle area. I got them all free because they advertise Amlings Cycle, the North Shore Century, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, REI, Village Cyclery and other similarly fine institutions. They are evidently free of harmful BPA as well. They have either "4" or "2" in the recycling triangle.

The BPA problem does not apply to all Nalgene bottles currently sold. I threw out the older Nalgene I used for foreign travel.

Be a bike race official?

2008-09-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting way to get involved in bicycle racing (or re-involved):

If you would like to get involved in the exciting world of bike racing from the sidelines our officials program is for you. You take a class, pay $35 for your license, and then can help
officiate at the races. Everything from criteriums to time trials, to road races, to cyclocross and track too.

What is nice is you get paid for your time and travel expenses. You can also move up through the ranks and become a National Commissar and officiate bigger regional races.

Please spread the word to your club members and if they are interested, have them sign up. The details and registration procedure is here:
http://illinoiscycling.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=73 If you have any more questions before you sign up, please send an email.

Thanks!!
Steve Hansen steveh AT illinoiscycling DOT org
President
Illinois Cycling Association

A way to clear out traffic jams

2008-09-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

Above picture from http://www.axonoid.com/images/axonoid/posts/signs/carinwater.jpg

Bank Bailout: How many bikes would it buy?

2008-09-20T21:56:00.001-07:00

BEFORE this weekend's bailout plan, I figured the potential liability of what the U.S. Treasury Department had already done amounted to $8200 per household.

[assumptions laid out here: http://mikekr.blogspot.com/2008/09/wall-street-bailout-so-far-8200-per.html ]

Now, with an additional $700 billion proposed this weekend, that's another $6300 per household, for a total potential financial loss of $1.6 trillion, or $14,500 per household.

I see REI currently has a Cannondale road bike on sale for $800. So, for what this bailout might end up costing US taxpayers, we could get 18 Cannondale bicycles for every household in the US.

http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/ provides new bicycles in poor third world countries at $134 each. (I've seen these -- these are very sturdy bikes with strong racks). That works out to 11.9 billion bicycles. Yes, friends, with what this might cost US taxpayers we could buy nearly everyone in the entire world two sturdy bicycles.

North Shore Century Sunday Sept 21

2008-09-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Our club charity ride is coming up Sunday, September 21! There's a nice article on it in the Evanston Review:

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/evanston/news/1168629,ev-centuryride-091808-s1.article

For more info, go to our website:

http://evanstonbikeclub.org/nsc/index.asp

Scraper bikes

2008-09-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

From Clare on rec.bicycles.misc:

Intersection of hip-hop and cycling:

You can see some slides here:
http://www.californiareport.org/slideshows/scraperbikes/index.jsp

A video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geIsWq5xOSE

Lance is back

2008-09-10T06:25:00.001-07:00

Just a small notice on the front page of the paper today:

Lance Armstrong said he would return to professional cycling and compete in the Tour de France next year.

It's a bold move. Lance's domination of cycling at a time a rampant doping has looked increasingly suspicious. If he comes back he will be tested relentlessly -- particularly at the TdF.

So, if he could get a top-10 finish, TT or mountain stage win, a King of the Mountains jersey, or do similarly well this would put a lot of the doubts to rest. It's too much to expect a guy who's years older to win the thing, however cool that would be.

But it's risky as well. If he's actually doping and gets caught he will be trashed forever. If he limps along in the back of the pack, wheezing as he goes, he will only give fuel to his enemies. If it's all a publicity stunt and he drops out before actually entering the TdF (or another big stage races), he will be regarded with further suspicion.

We'd all like to believe in Lance. Go, Lance, go!

Generators for Bikes

2008-09-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

From a thread on r.b.m. comes this information about finding bike dynamo generators in the U.S. [thanks to Frank Krygowski, and Steve at http://bicyclelighting.com)

Bike dynamos or generators are a bit hard to find in the US, but not
impossible. Here are some American sources:

http://www.yellowjersey.org/dynamos.html
and http://www.yellowjersey.org/lolite.html

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/dymotec.asp
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/shimano3n70.asp
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schmidt.asp

I've ordered stuff from this British firm and been well satisfied.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/category-DYNAMOS-880.htm
Shipping seemed as fast as from most American companies, and with a
valid credit card, location doesn't matter much.

=============================

Hub Dynamos
-----------
Joule, $65: "http://www.gaerlan.com/dahon/wheel.htm"
Shimano, $90 "http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=1547" or
"http://www.yellowjersey.org/dynamos.html"
Schmidt SON, $275: "http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schmidt-ordering.asp"

Tire
----
Dymotec, $60, "http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=1580"
Union,
"http://www.amazon.com/Union-Bicycle-Generator-Light-Set/dp/B000AO7E64"
or "http://store.bicyclerevolution.com/unbicliggens.html"

Also see "http://www.yellowjersey.org/lolite.html" for a 12V/6W dynamo
(all of the above are 6V/3W).

Also search on Amazon U.S. for "bicycle dynamo".

Sign up for free Bike Bits

2008-09-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

Bike Bits, the free newsletter from Adventure Cycling (the US bike tour people) is an interesting read. They recently published their 200th issue, and asked me to pass this along:

BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE!

We may have stretched the truth a bit in the opening quote, but
we're not fibbing when we tell you this is the 200th edition of Bike
Bits. Since we started sending out this e-newsletter in 1999, we've
grown the reader list to an astonishing 33,792 current subscribers.
What's more, they are distributed among more than 100 different
countries, representing every letter of the alphabet except Q and X.

Now, will you take the official Bike Bits 200th Edition Challenge?
We would like to ask every current reader to invite a friend or an
acquaintance to receive the newsletter. (We're hoping this will net
at least one subscriber from Qatar, but unfortunately there are no
countries beginning with the letter X.) If just half of all readers
rise to the challenge, our subscription list will instantly zip past
the 50,000 mark. Wouldn't that be marvelous? Forward this entire
Bike Bits (or this section) to all your cycling friends and ask
them to join with you in receiving this quick, fun cycling
e-newsletter. You do the convincing and we'll come up with the
creative cyclo-news.

Sign up for Bike Bits here:
http://www.adventurecycling.org/bikebits/index.cfm

Cosmic bicycle wheel

2008-09-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Astronomy Picture of the Day, which is a marvelous site that I very highly recommend, today features a cosmic bicycle wheel.

Making myself useful

2008-09-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did my first century of the year. This is a far cry from earlier years when I did a century a month, but maybe this is a start of another century streak.

We went up to the Jelly Belly plant in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. The pace was substantially higher than the 15-16 mph advertised, and I was often challenged on the way back, when we had a headwind. I'm a big drag in a headwind. But the ride was great fun.

I got to be useful, too. One rider had a flat, and 3 of us stayed back with him to help fix it and to follow the route. Unfortunately he couldn't get his back wheel off because it was not a quick-release wheel. But I had a wrench, which saved the day (a passing local cyclist would also have saved the day, but he lived a mile or so back).

Later, the same rider's derailleur broke/ I led him to the Lake Forest train station so he could take a train back. It was not a good day for him. As a result of this, I ended up with 120 miles for the day and was pretty tired.

Riding to interesting places

2008-09-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Jobst Brandt wrote on the rec.bicycles.misc newsgroup about the importance of interesting places. If you haven't browsed through at least a couple of Jobst's tours, this would be a good time to do so.
>
> I think riding to interesting places supercedes any interest in
> setting records and I have been riding in that manner for more than 50
> years. A collection of some of these summer tours is at:
>
> http://www.trentobike.org/Countries/Europe/Tour_Reports/Tour_of_the_Alps/
>
> That longer rides are also practical for someone in good physical
> condition is reported here:
>
> http://www.bicyclinglife.com/Recreation/SierraSpring.htm
>
> When an unusual happening occurs, such as the big freeze of 1963, you
> should take advatage of it and savor the event for a long time:
>
> http://www.trentobike.org/Countries/Switzerland/Tour_Reports/Ice_Princess_1963/

Thoreau speed of cars, bikes and walking

2008-08-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

There's an interesting discussion here about Thoreau speed:

In Walden, Thoreau proposed a modification of the traditional formula for calculating speed. Instead of merely dividing the distance traveled by the time it took to cross it, Thoreau proposed reckoning also the cost of the ticket.

So, after some assumptions and calculations, where are we left?

Kifer has also assessed the costs and the Thoreau speed of bicycles, into the bargain. He estimates the Thoreau speed of cars as between 4.8 and 14.4 miles per hour, and the Thoreau speed of bicycles as between 8.9 and 14.8 miles per hour. Though beaten to the punch, I'm posting anyway, because my sources and method are different yet I end up confirming Kifer's conclusion: When costs are factored in, cars are not faster than bikes and only twice as fast as walking.

Paging Dr. Triathalon

2008-08-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

The Trib reports on somebody who didn't follow doctor's orders:

After a swollen right knee caused the Englishman [Stuart Hayes] to take a $1,300, two-hour trip to the emergency room Saturday evening, the pain and swelling mysteriously subsided and Hayes became Sunday's improbable winner in 1 hour 48 minutes 9.2 seconds, earning $10,000.

"The doctor told me to take off two weeks," Hayes said. "I guess he's not going to like that I didn't listen."

Hayes, 29, considers the victory a breakthrough after 10 years of competing in triathlons with few major victories. His last major win came in 2005 in his hometown of London.

I guess if you've come all this way you might as well give it a go.

Bike the Dog

2008-08-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

In imitation of the Evanston Bicycle Club's Hot Dog Ride and CBF's Bike the Drive, next month features Bike the Dog, which is a bike tour of 9 hot dog places in Chicago on September 13.

The EBC's hot dog ride was yesterday. We visited 3 places this year (sometimes we do 4). I had an encased meat product at all 3 -- the Thai sausage with peanut sauce and coconut at Hot Doug's wasn't exactly a hot dog -- and fries at 1 place. I didn't eat again until today.

I can't imagine visiting all 9 places and eating at all of them. Maybe going with 3 other people and having .25 of a hot dog at each would work.

Real Estate bike tours

2008-08-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

Today's WSJ reports that some realtors are leading bike tours around to show houses. This is a good way to show off some of the features of the neighborhood as well as show several houses to multiple people.

I'd like to think of it that way, rather than a sign of desperation in the housing market ;)

One of the things it illustrates is that access to bike paths is something you want to show off. All those NIMBY people who slow down bike path construction turn out to be wrong -- it doesn't lower property values.

The Book Bike

2008-08-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

From Joe Ferguson on the BCHI list comes this gem:

Once upon a time, there was a bibliophile named Gabe Levinson who
wanted to spread the word about his passion for books.
So he did the obvious: ordered a custom-built tricycle with a 200-
pound capacity and wrote to dozens of publishers asking for book
donations. The hook: He’d ride around in his Book Bike and give away
free books to the masses.

The responses flooded in — from McSweeney’s, Dark Horse Comics, Not
for Tourists, Drawn & Quarterly, and Washington Square Press, to name
a few.

Levinson now spends his Saturdays pedaling around Chicago parks giving
away free reads. Cops have tried to stop him, but he woos them with
his bounty.

This Saturday, you, too, can be wooed (check his website for location).

Pretty cool in our book.

For locations, go to <somethingtoread.net>

Beijing by bike

2008-08-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

There's a nice photo essay on riding a bike in Beijing in the New York Times today.

Jason McCartney of the U.S. Olympic cycling team rents a commuter bike and goes for a ride. It's a bit different than being in the peleton.

What's wrong with this picture?

2008-07-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

from Mike Jacoubowsky at Chain Reaction Bicycles comes this picture. The full page at ToysRUs is here.

Sharp-eyed readers at rec.bicycles.misc noted the following:

The ad species a 26 inch frame, which would be huge (for someone about 6'5"). What they mean is 26 inch wheels.

On the rear, the plastic thingy that protects the hub in shipping is still on.

The fork has been installed backwards.

Robert Novak, columnist, involved in "Hit and Run"

2008-07-24T15:42:00.001-07:00

He trots out the old, tired, incredible excuse of “I didn’t know I hit him. ... I feel terrible,”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11985.html

The bicyclist [who chased Novak down] was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K St. N.W. when he witnessed the accident.

As he traveled east on K Street, crossing 18th, Bono said "a black Corvette convertible with top closed plows into the guy. The guy is sort of splayed into the windshield.”...“This car is speeding away. What’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and drive away,” Bono said.

Update 7/29/2008: Robert Novak has written he has a brain tumor and will, at least temporarily, retire

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/business/media/29novak.html?_r=1&8au&emc=au&oref=slogin

This is a famous person on a bike. Who is it?

2008-07-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

The bike seems to be a Rivendell. What does it mean if you recognized the bike before the famous person?

Hint: born in 1924. The picture is from 2008.

Answer

What's your neighborhood's Walk Score?

2008-07-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here a site that let's you look at the "walkability" of a
neighborhood.

http://walkscore.com/

There's a lot of variability in the scores. I typed in addresses I was personally familiar with and got a "0" in one case and a "98" in another.

The 98 is downtown Evanston, IL, near the Northwestern University campus where pretty much everything is within walking distance.

Two of my sisters live at places rated "5" and "0" -- I think the 5 is a bit harsh, but the 0 is pretty much correct since there's not a school, or a park, or a store of any kind within 2 miles. This is a 1970's suburb, by the way, not a ranch in Montana.

Not surprisingly, it works with available data, which is Google maps locations of stores, schools, and parks. Nothing in there right now about sidewalks or crime.

It works in the UK as well. "10 Downing St" scores an 87 -- very walkable.

My new bike: Xootr Swift

2008-07-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

Did I NEED a new bike?

For some values of need, yes. I'd gone from 8 bikes to four.

Two road bikes were stolen.
My younger daughter took the tandem to Philadelphia (and now that I just own a Prius I'll never get it back!)
I loaned my mountain bike to my daughter's boyfriend. He has to return it if they break up. So far, so good, although I'm not sure the bike is the major thing holding their relationship together.

In addition the old folder I bought -- a Raleigh Twenty -- just isn't big enough. I can get the seat height OK, but can't easily change the proprietary handlebars.

So, I replaced that with a Xootr Swift. I put it together last night (pictures here), but it's rained all day today so I haven't ridden it. I'm figuring this will be a lot easier to pop in the back of the car when my wife wants to go to Michigan. I can take the train out to the country without gambling on whether the conductors will let the bike on. And, in addition, I'd gotten a nice bonus and wanted to spoil myself a bit.

Pro racers aren't like you and me.

2008-07-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

Today's live coverage of the Tour de France on www.cyclingnews.com contains this gem:

The peloton is currently riding pedaling at a good 50 km/h [over 30 m.p.h.]. Is it strenuous? Well, Sebastian Lang's heart rate is not much above a hundred, sometimes below.

Metra clarifies folding bikes policy

2008-07-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

From a poster on the Chicago Folding Bike Society list:

I just grabbed the new bikes on trains brochure since I didn't have one
(carrying on is encouraged because you can kind of make out that
folding bikes aren't subject to the normal bikes program). The new
brochure says 2008 across the top right corner and in it, it
says, "Folding bicycles in protective covers are permitted on all
trains at all times but should not block train aisles or doorways."

...it's clearly stated in something you can find at
the stations and carry with you. Hopefully this eliminates any
confusion.

All bicycles weigh 50 pounds

2008-07-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

"All bicycles weigh fifty pounds.
A thirty-pound bicycle needs a twenty-pound lock.
A forty-pound bicycle needs a ten-pound lock.
A fifty-pound bicycle doesn't need a lock."
-- Anonymous

Bumper Sticker = Bad Driver

2008-06-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

Bumper Sticker Shock

Drivers who personalize their cars take it personally. Beware of the bumper sticker.

That's the unexpected conclusion of a recent study by William Szlemko of Colorado State University in the Journal of Applied Psychology, reported in the Washington Post in Shankar Vedantam's column. "Drivers of cars with bumper stickers, window decals, personalized license plates and other "territorial markers" not only get mad when someone cuts in their lane or is slow to respond to a changed traffic light, but they are far more likely than those who do not personalize their cars to use their vehicles to express rage -- by honking, tailgating and other aggressive behavior."

It does not seem to matter whether the messages on the stickers are about peace and love -- "Visualize World Peace," "My Kid Is an Honor Student" -- or angry and in your face -- "Don't Mess With Texas," "My Kid Beat Up Your Honor Student." The personalizing of the vehicle might be seen as territory markers.

"The more markers a car has, the more aggressively the person tends to drive when provoked," Szlemko said. "Just the presence of territory markers predicts the tendency to be an aggressive driver."

The implications for bicyclists are obvious -- aggressive drivers are bad news. The problems are equally obvious -- very seldom do we get a look at a vehicle's bumper until it has passed us.

Chicago World Naked Bike Ride

2008-06-13T19:17:00.001-07:00

For a variety of very good reasons, I'll not be participating in this ride. I just thought it was interesting to see the long list of rules and suggestions I was e-mailed.

CHECK-IN for the Chicago World Naked Bike Ride is at UNION PARK
Southern triangle, near 100 N. Ashland, near Washington/Ogden intersection,
South of Green/Pink Line Ashland/Lake stop, AT the statue of former mayor
Carter Henry Harrison Sr.
GoogleMaps: http://tinyurl.com/4jsjjr * YahooMaps: http://tinyurl.com/52vgo6
* MapQuest: http://tinyurl.com/3rfktm
Saturday June 14th, rain or shine, 6-9pm gathering, then riding for several
hours, ending near beginning.

DO NOT COME except participants on people-powered wheels, due to crowd
management.

NON-RIDERS go watch at the recommended VIEWING point Halsted+Belmont some
time after 10:15-ish. Belmont Red/Brown stop puts you in the neighborhood.
We should pass that point twice over a period. Last year a sizable throng
assembled there and your cheers were greatly appreciated! To get live
updates en-route text message JOIN WNBRC to 8762.

RIDERS come at/after 6pm if you need body painting or wanna hang for tunez,
contests, bike decorating, eco banners, camaraderie, donations, etc.
Or come to check-in closer to launch time, like 8:45pm at the latest.

YOU are responsible for your own bike+self, travel+lodging, ID+money,
food+water, clothes+towel, etc, and help others. m'K?
Maybe bring some snax or drinx to share; also bells/whistles,
blinkees/glowies, helmet/backpack, smiles, etc.
There's no storage to leave stuff behind for the ride, but at least we may
have a potty this year.

DONATIONS are solicited on site to help defray costs, or use PayPal from
http://ChicagoNakedRide.com

CELEBRATE positive body image and the end of the automobile era with WNBR-C.
Bare-as-you-dare outfits range from body paint to fanciful costumes to
beach-wear. GREEN is the theme color this year.
Chicago's past rides rallied hundreds of cyclists and numerous skaters
winding over a dozen miles of city streets. The ride's atmosphere is
extremely joyful, convivial, and transcendently fun. Now in its FIFTH YEAR,
Chicago's turnout is among the largest of many cities participating
globally.
With gas prices skyrocketing and obesity an epidemic, our messages have
become truisms.

=== GUIDELINES ===
1. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT visibly carry open alcohol.
2. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT arrive naked or be anywhere near the park naked.
3. DO NOT COME unless you are participating on people-powered wheels due to
risk of overcrowding. NON-RIDERS come watch at Halsted near Belmont some
time after 10:15pm.
4. No photographs allowed before ride except by identified authorized
personnel. Assume however by participating that you may be photographed
anywhere anytime.
5. Exposed goodies may make you a target for arrest. Even naked butts may
be risky. Do so at your own risk or remain minimally covered or painted.
6. If confronted by police obey commands and comply, do not escalate and do
not argue. If told to put something on simply do so immediately. And thank
them en-route for their help.
7. This ride is monitored by National Lawyers Guild volunteers who can serve
as witnesses in case of trouble. If arrested immediately call the NLG office
at 312-913-0039
8. Remember the messages: Promoting freedom from oil addiction and positive
body image. Not antagonizing cagers and residents and authorities. Hostile
acts are completely uncool towards cars not directly threatening riders.
9. For maximum First Amendment protection integrate your messages: "burns
fat not oil", "nude not lewd", "no concealed weapons", "naked is how
vulnerable I am sharing the roads with cars"
10. DO NOT LITTER.
11. For more information see ChicagoNakedRide.com or try the hotline at
773-578-6289 or text JOIN WNBRC to 8762.

=== PRACTICAL RIDE ADVICE ===
1. Keep a slow pace, it's easy to get excited and start pedaling faster, but
we need to stay together and not get stretched out.
2. We don't need to blast through every red light. They're a great chance
for the group to mass up, so we must stop every so often to allow the group
to remain in a tighter formation.
3. Avoid passing cars and swallowing them up in the ride. Drivers caught in
bike masses tend to make erratic moves, so it's best to just stop behind a
pack of cars and wait for them to move on.
4. Stay out of the oncoming lane, we don't need both sides of the street and
must leave room for emergency vehicles.
5. If you have never been on a big group ride in Chicago here's some helpful
tips: http://chicagocriticalmass.org/about/newbies
6. Mr Bike has some great tips for riding naked:
http://www.mrbike.com/how.php

==== SOUND BITES ====
"Say no to oil."
"Less gas, more ass."
"Cars support terrorists."
"Naked is how vulnerable I am sharing the roads with cars."
"Bikes don't block traffic, bikes ARE traffic"
"Why are we naked? Because it got your attention."
"This is an annual free speech exercise promoting bicycling."
"Bicyclists make better lovers!"
"My bush would make a better president."

THANK YOU participants for being the most wondrous community I've known, and
crew for having brought your A games, and the mayor and police for being so
bike friendly. C U tomorrow!

~ ~
WNBR-C Coord and avid inline skater.

Car runs into bike race

2008-06-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

A driver, possibly an American citizen, fell asleep at the wheel and ran into a bike race in Mexico, causing mayhem.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,362147,00.html

Trib Gets Bike Religion

2008-05-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

Today's Chicago Tribune devotes the Q section to a bike issue.

It's pretty well done. I'm not sure I can handle all this trendiness, though.

From Pakistan, the Inventor Spirit

2008-05-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't ordinarily post about electric bikes, but there's a post here about the bike pictured above and the man from Pakistan who put it together. It's a good story.

Instead of using expensive speed controller I've used relays to
connect batteries (4 of them) parallel and series to get 12, 24, 36
and 48 volts by a throttle switch that I designed it my self by using wood....

Most importantly I've not connected the motor directly to the wheel,
instead I've connected it to the gearing mechanism so this gives me
the choice to go for speed on straight roads and go for torque on
hills. This saves my batteries and reduces the load on motor.

With slight power of paddling it is giving me 60 km/hr these days,
I¢m really enjoying my ride to my office which is about 14 km away.

Thought for the day

2008-05-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

"I delighted in the supreme sense of freedom that comes with the
first mile of a bicycle journey. No bills, no messy
relationships, no job. All I needed was stuffed into four sturdy
panniers."
-- Dan Buettner, on setting out on a 12,000-mile ride across Africa

A kid dreams of bike racing with the pros

2008-05-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

If I had known about bicycle racing when I was 11, I might have dreamed of starring in this video.

Wheel Rage

2008-05-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

Kevin Williams (bike commuter and Tribune writer) writes:

We're mad as hell, and it's all because of the wheel.

Cyclists are dropping [two Chicago cyclists killed in the last few days], and the whole bike-versus-car showdown has become a tinderbox...

"Those bikers had it coming. They don't obey traffic laws," says a motorist.

"SUV-driving pigs hog the road and waste resources as they try to kill me," says a cyclist.

Kevin's got a theory that's as good as anybody's:

Everybody's angry, and everybody's wrong. As a cyclist and driving enthusiast, trust me—both sides are being buttheads.

But why does this blind, festering, almost cauterizing rage seal off logic? Why does it make everyone as stupid as the day is long?

I repeat: It's the wheel. Wheels make life a race. If you are strolling 10 feet behind an elderly couple, do you break into a run to reach a spot before they do? No. Do we try to outwalk each other to work? No.

But put us in a wheeled conveyance, and it's competition.

And Kevin's thought a bit about a solution:

take these easy steps:

•Use wheels sparingly. You already know they're evil.

•Self-witness, as [psychologist Leon] James puts it. The psychologist recommends turning on a little tape recorder while driving. Verbalize all the invective you're feeling, and play it back later. Shameful, isn't it? Realization is the first step toward correction.

•Recognize that we're all vulnerable. On a bike, you earn the karma you might have spawned by buzzing a pedestrian or running a light. In a car, you buzzed a rider, now an SUV is crowding you. Is that 18-wheeler crowding you, SUV driver?

Good advice, Kevin. Or, in a word: CHILL!

Sheldon Brown's April 1

2008-04-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

I humbly post this link to Sheldon Brown's past April 1 posts

[Sheldon having died recently, there won't be any more.]

Pink bike site.com

2008-03-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

Much more here.

Sheldon Brown, 1944-2008

2008-02-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

Sheldon Brown, justifiably one of the most famous bicyclists in history, died this week.

You can pay respects at sheldonbrown.blogspot.com

Sheldon was nominally a bike mechanic, but that does not begin to explain the influence of his website, and of his voluminous writings over decades.

He not only invented the real man saddle
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/real-man.html
he was a real man.

Obituary in the Boston Globe.

Retire up where it's cold

2008-02-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

Under the heading of "things I would not have expected to be true" is this
article suggesting Canada is the most popular retirement destination for the
British:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/02/01/canada-retirement.html

Wouldn't someplace warmer be nicer?

Chutzpah

2008-01-27T15:29:00.000-08:00

Driver who killed teenager sues parents over damage to his car
By Harold Heckle
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 01/25/2008 05:24:00 PM MST

Posted: 5:23 PM- MADRID, Spain -- A

speeding motorist who killed a teenage cyclist is suing the boy's parents over damage to his luxury car, the government says.

Enaitz Iriondo, 17, died instantly in August 2004 when businessman Tomas Delgado's Audi A8 crashed into him at 100 mph near Haro in northern Spain, an Interior Ministry traffic report said. The speed limit was 55 mph.

Iriondo was not wearing reflective clothing or a helmet, the ministry report said. As the sun had set when he crossed the path of Delgado's car from a side road, a regional court found both parties at fault and closed the case, the report said.

Get this. The driver is going 45 miles over the speed limit, and the cyclist is not wearing gear he isn't legally required to wear (based on US vehicle code, which I've heard is similar to what's required in most European countries). Yet they are both considered at fault.

"Chutzpah" is headline used by the person who sent me this article, and that's pretty appropriate term.

Water-filtering bike

2008-01-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.ecospace.cc/water/water-filtering-bike-0108.htm#comment-1679

"The Aquaduct is a pedal powered vehicle that stores, filters and transports water; aimed for use in the developing world. It consists of a storage tank, filter, peristaltic pump, clean tank and clutch."

It's an interesting idea and worth a look if you like engineering designs of this sort. I think it would be better if it were two-piece (bicycle separate from tank/filter apparatus), but then I didn't design it.

Winter Bike to Work Day

2008-01-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

I didn't make it this year. I was working from home while the chimney guys did some tuckpointing on my chimney. But Dave B. did as usual. Here's his report:

http://discgolfer.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1809917%3ABlogPost%3A55173

Bicycle Licence Plates?

2008-01-14T17:31:00.000-08:00

The League of Illinois Bicyclists seems like a fine organization doing good work, and I'm happy to be a member, but I don't have to agree with everything they do.

Annually, they flog their commemorative license plate, which costs $28 and can be used for one month instead of a regular plate. A bicycle license plate on your car always seemed to me like a commemorative handgun for a pacifist, and I've always passed.

But wait!

This year, they are trying for a permanent plate:

"This year we are working a getting a permanent SHARE THE ROAD license
plate for Illinois and are surveying our plate holders. We must get a
minimum of 850 firm commitments for this to happen."

There only need to be 850? No wonder Illinois has so many difference license plates. The Illinois Secretary of State's office lists the following plates:

* Amateur Radio
* America Remembers

So, who can quickly tell me what we are remembering here?

* Antique Vehicle
* B-Truck
* Charitable Vehicle
* Collegiate [21 different plates for various colleges]
* Education
* Environmental
* Farm Truck & Trailer
* Firefighter Memorial
* Hearing Impaired
* Illinois Hospice

* Illinois Michigan Canal
* Illinois Pan Hellenic Series [Four of these, honoring those fraternities who have had the most drunk driving arrests over the years.]
* Mammogram
* Master Mason
* Mileage Tax Truck
* Military [18 different plates]
* Motorcycle [3 plates]
* Organ Donor [only one! I was expecting one plate for each organ, but no...]

* Park District Youth
* Passenger
* Peoria Wildlife
* Persons With Disabilities
* Pet Friendly

* Police Memorial
* Prevent Violence
* Recreational Trailers
* Recreational Vehicles
* Route 66
* Sporting Series [There are 6 of these: duck, turkey, rival gang member, bass, pheasant, duck]
* Trailers
* Trucks over 8000 lbs.

How can such a confusing array of license plates possibly serve one of the main purposes of license plates, which is to allow people to easily identify the car? The answer is, that this confusing array just causes confusion. With such a small minimum order, it's hard to imagine the state ends up making much net income from these. But they make a lot of political interests happy. Do cyclists have to stoop so low?

Another good tandem.

2008-01-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

http://www.velonews.com/images/prn/8366.11940.f.jpg

Investing in Cambodian Bicycle Repair

2007-12-25T07:57:00.001-08:00

My daughter game me a give certificate to kiva.org, a microfinance operation. You can loan actual money to people in the third world, and if all goes well they will pay you back and you can loan some more.

I picked a bike and moto repair shop in Cambodia to invest in. Here's the link.

Supply and demand occurs here as well, and today (Christmas) there are more people loaning money than there are projects which have been vetted, and they are limiting investments to $25 per project.

This is a great idea. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Kids Prefer Cheese: Yes there are two Americas (and one of them eats real bad)

2007-12-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

Kids Prefer Cheese: Yes there are two Americas (and one of them eats real bad)

Lots of reasons to criticize Huckabee. I'm not sure I would put liking TGIFridays and Olive Garden on the list.

For the record, my dearly departed mother loved Olive Garden. My niece has worked as a waitress at an Olive Garden for years.

Child first on this bike carrier

2007-12-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

Brian Sobolak, a fellow member of the Bike Chicago e-mail list, posted a set of pictures from his trip to Amsterdam. This is a favorite one. A setup like this would have been perfect for my youngest child, who always insisted on being held facing forward so she could see everything.

The center of gravity would be pretty high, though.

If the picture doesn't show up above (sometimes it does, sometimes not), here's a direct link.

Brian also has a number of other pictures of bikes in Amsterdam.

Recumbent Video

2007-12-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

Dick Ryan (man with a long history building recumbents) writes in r.b.m.:

"This is a promotional video I made about twenty years ago. Due to the fact that misinformation about recumbents is as common today as it ever was, I thought that maybe the old cliche about a picture being worth a thousand words might apply. About 40 seconds is missing from the tape that I hope to fix shortly, (shows the riders passing the upright bike on the downhill).

The rider in the downtown Boston part of the tape was myself. The riders in the suburbs were Harry Wallace on the bike with the camera, a bike racer from Fat City Cycles. The other rider was Steve Bussolari from M.I.T. who was one of the Daedalus project engineers."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6O0Q_HQ6FVk

TDF Champs Lose to Wife

2007-11-28T17:35:00.001-08:00

A blogger called "Fat Cyclist" wrote a nice article about his wife -- who's
facing cancer AND hip replacement

http://www.fatcyclist.com/2007/11/27/wherein-i-compare-and-contrast-recent-american-tour-de-france-champions-to-my-wife/

Here's part of it. It's worth reading the rest, and there's an opportunity
to leave comments below the blog posting.

"So when will Susan's hip replacement be?
Tomorrow.

With this fairly big deal suddenly coming up, now seems like a good time to
have a Susan-centric post. I'd therefore like you to consider some rather
freaky parallels between Susan and the two most recent American Tour de
France champions, Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis.

Comparison 1: Cancer Battles

Both Lance Armstrong and Susan have battled cancer.

Armstrong fought it once, as a single man, with responsibilities to nobody
but himself.

Susan has fought it twice, with a husband and four children to take care of.

Advantage: Susan, by a mile.

Comparison 2: Cancer Awareness

Both Lance Armstrong and Susan have raised considerable quantities of money
toward cancer survivorship.

Armstrong founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which has directly
benefited thousands and thousands of cancer survivors and their families. He
has turned cancer research into a bona fide political issue for the 2008 US
presidential election.

Susan has raised more than $6000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and has
given a number of Fat Cyclist blog readers a reason to take up breast cancer
research as a cause worth fighting for.

Advantage: Armstrong. Sorry, Susan, but you've got some catching up to do on
this one.

Comparison 3: Hip Replacement

Floyd Landis had a hip replaced.

Susan's about to have a hip replaced.

Landis messed up his hip by falling off his bike and then letting the screws
holding his hip together get rusty. Or something like that.

Susan messed up her hip by doing too much kickboxing as a teenager, and also
because of that cancer thing.

Advantage: Susan. Unlike Floyd, Susan did everything she could to avoid the
hip replacement, including radiation and hobbling along on it in spite of
the fracture. Floyd, on the other hand, just let his old hip rot in its
socket. That's just gross, Floyd.

Oh, by the way, I may have made up that bit about kickboxing."

Chicagoland Bicycle Federation 50% Communicates

2007-10-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation unveiled their 20 year vision for bicycling in the area, highlighted by a vision that 50% of something would be done in some way.

Lots of confusion about 50%.

Brian, for example, wrote: "I support the vision they are selling and am strongly behind the goals they've set out to achieve: full access to public transit for bikes, 50% of trips by walking or biking, fewer crashes, etc. All very nice."

Except that I didn't think that was what they said. I heard two different things at various points in th meeting.

So, I checked the vision. In terms of what "50%" means, it's much more modest. "We envision a region where 50% of the population IS EASILY ABLE TO CHOOSE walking, bicycling, and utilizing mass transit." (emphasis added).

Some questions:

1. No baseline is provided. What's it now?

2. I personally would argue that about 99% of the population is currently ABLE to choose walking, bicycling, and utilizing mass transit. In fact, in the course of a year I would guess that over 50% of the population currently MAKES at least one trip by one of these methods.

3. So what does this 50% actually mean? CBF may have an explicit baseline and definition somewhere else. This might be a good thing to clarify in future communications.

The CBF vision.

Update: Rob Sadowsky, CBF executive director, replied: "We indeed mean that the actual mode share is 50% not just the choice. Sorry for the confusion."

Paris Velib bike rental program takes off. Chicago next?

2007-10-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/travel/14Journeys.html?ei=5087&en=a06dc28897b8e4d8&ex=1208145600&adxnnl=1&mkt=travelphoto&adxnnlx=1192982431-MnPlkkHWtqmfIz9SisrR3A

Notable is this: " installed around the city by J. C. Decaux, an outdoor
advertising company". Chicago is awash in bus shelters controlled by
Decaux. Mayor Daley is impressed with the program and has indicated interest
in exploring it here. Would this take newspaper writers attention off the
gigantic tax increases being proposed in Chicago and Cook County currently?
The desire to have front page stories on something else other than these
huge tax increases might be one of the main reasons this program gets off
the ground in Chicago.

Also notable is this view by the skeptics: "I asked an American friend
living in Paris about the bareheaded cyclists. "Just wait," he said, "until
the first reports of accidents come out. In the fall when it's cold and
slippery and business traffic really picks up, it's going to be a disaster.
It will be the Waterloo of the Vélibs." "

Yes, winter will be a good testing ground for this social experiment. I
wouldn't phrase it in terms of helmet use, but rather bike use. Will the
bikes get heavy use in the Parisian winter?

Odd Bikes

2007-10-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

Jeff Napier has a web site devoted to odd bikes. It's worth a look.

http://www.odd-bikes.com/

He doesn't have the Hula Bike (from bicycle forest) up there yet, though.
http://www.bikeforest.com/hulabike.php

That bike has no crank or chain. The rear wheel is eccentric, and the rider propels forward by bouncing up and down. They've got instructions up on the website.

Chicago Marathon Cancelled

2007-10-07T17:12:00.001-07:00

Today's Chicago Marathon was cancelled halfway through due to the heat. One runner died.

This decision can be second-guessed, but in the heat of the moment (literally) the marathon organizers did do something reasonable in hopes of saving lives.

What isn't excusable is they were out of water!!! As I commented on Eric Zorn's blog:

"Not enough WATER? This is an embarrassment to the city. It's stupid to even think about the Olympics if we can't get enough water on a marathon route -- with hot temperatures forecast for days, and with the marathon having been run for years.

This is even worse than the stupidity at the finish line (where the winner slipped and fell on the slick finish mat). Is this event being run by competent people?"

Zorn replied:

"If the International Olympic Committee comprises thinking people they'll know that the organizers and sponsors of the marathon are NOT the people who are doing the Olympics; that an Olympic marathon race has, what?, 100 entrants maybe as opposed to 40,000."

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/10/stop-in-the-nam.html#comments

Zorn's right as far as he goes. Still if Chicagoans -- after years of practice and variable midwestern weather -- can't stock rest stops with water, we have no business trying anything as complicated as hosting the Olympics.

Mississippi River Trail trip

2007-07-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

My daughter Beth and I just completed a short tour along the Mississippi River Trail, from St. Charles Mo to Quincy, IL.

The trip writeup is on the crazy guy site,
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/MRT

Is jogging right-wing?

2007-07-08T19:24:00.001-07:00

I'd never really thought of particular athletic activities as being
left-wing or right-wing, but here's a British MP commenting on a French
president to set me straight:

"The President of France goes jogging! Choc horreur! ..., the very act of le
jogging - or le running as it is now more fashionable to call it - is a
cultural humiliation. It is, in the first place, an offence to national
honour, they say, that the President of the Republic should totter back into
the Elysée Palace looking like a sweat-drenched miniature version of
Sylvester Stallone.
"But as you would expect of French philosophers, they make a deeper point.
Jogging, they say, waving their Gitanes angrily at the camera, is a
Right-wing activity. It is all about the management of the body; it is about
performance, and individualism, and the triumph of the will....

"...I am not deterred by such jibes, nor by the accusation that jogging is
Right-wing. Of course it is Right-wing, in the sense that the facts of life
are generally Right-wing. The very act of forcing yourself to go for a run,
every morning, is a highly conservative business."

The author, Boris Johnson, is MP for Henley

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/07/05/do0501.xml

or
http://www.boris-johnson.com/

American presidents

In terms of American presidents, it's hard to say jogging is associated with either side. GW Bush jogs. Clinton jogged. The whole presidential-fitness emphasis began with Eisenhower, the most centrist of modern American presidents. After his heart attack(s), Dr. Paul Dudley White, his physician, got a bully pulpit to emphasize the health value of exercise.

Well, let me amend that. The public association of presidents with exercise began with Eisenhower, but Truman was famous for his brisk walks. These walks continued long after his presidency ended.

Free Repair Information on the Road?

2007-06-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

Mobile Search For Emergency Repair?

You are on the road and one spoke breaks. Then another. Your wheel rubs against the brakes, even with the brakes open wide. Your cell phone can be helpful to call someone to bail you out, but it can also be helpful in another way. New free search services could help you locate a nearby bicycle shop. If it’s near enough, you might be able to get a repair/replacement right away and never have to suffer the indignity of having to be picked up in a (gasp) …car.
I tried 3 such free, voice recognition search services to see how well they worked. First, I assumed I needed help from my office location in downtown Chicago.

800-555-TELL

This is Microsoft’s entry, and covers not only businesses, but also stocks, news, sports, travel and other categories. Let’s look at approximately what I was asked, my answers, and how good the search was.
1. Listened to a brief commercial for the service.
2. Listened to available categories. I answered “Business Search”
3. City and state: “Chicago, Illinois”
4. Business type: “Bicycle”
5. Neighborhood: “Loop”
6. The top 5 search results were given, without any addresses. These were Bicycle Station (in Millenium Park), the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (wonder if they fix flats?) and 2 bike shops: Appreciated, and Performance. Performance, at 2720 N. Halstead, is much farther from the Loop than a number of other shops, so hearing it was a surprise.
7. When I repeated the search, it asked for the city and state again, but didn’t re-ask the neighborhood. After Bicycle Station, it listed a shop I was unfamiliar with that turned out to be at 2271 E. 71st St, much too far away to be of interest. It was also hard to understand the pronunciation of the shop names.
Net: not too bad, but was strangely missing closer options.

800-GOOG-411

This is Google’s entry. It didn’t start with a commercial
1. City and state: “Chicago, Illinois” – note it didn’t ask for a neighborhood.
2. Type of business: “Bicycle”
3. The top search results were: Village on N. Wells, Rapid Transit on North, Performance on Halstead, Johnny Sprockets, an entry I missed, and the two Kozy shops in/near the Loop.
Net: Good results, and I liked the fact that a partial address was given with the listing, but since they hadn’t asked for any neighborhood information it would apparently give the same results if you were in a Chicago neighborhood such as Rogers Park, Pullman, Hyde Park or Beverly. These would not be good results for those locations.

800-FREE-411

This is run by Jingle Networks. I was waiting for a catchy advertising jingle, but there wasn’t one.
1. City and state: “Chicago, Illinois”
2. Type: “Business” (they also have government residential listings)
3. Search by category or name of business: “Category”
4. Category: “Bicycle”
5. Neighborhood or landmark: “Loop”
6. The top search results: On the Route Bicycles on Lincoln Avenue (4 miles away), Army Navy Surplus on Lincoln Avenue, Underwater Safari Chicago on Lincoln Avenue, Home Stretch Pilot, Advantage Tennis, Golfsmith. Notable in these results is that it seemed to have mapped “Loop” to “Lincoln Avenue” and “Bicycle” into the more general category of “Sporting Goods”. Neither was helpful.
Net: Weakest of the 3 services on this search.

All of these services were substantially worse than using my laptop to make a Google Maps search for “Bicycle” near my office location. This shows the closest bike shops are Mission Bay (never mentioned by any of the 3 services), two Kozy’s locations, Appreciated, Bike Chicago (never mentioned) and Upgrade (never mentioned), all within 1.1 miles.

Second try

For the second try, I decided to assume I was actually on the road in Palmyra, Wisconsin, near Kettle Moraine’s south unit. I wanted to see which services would give me Backyard Bikes / LaGrange Country Store in LaGrange, about 5 miles south.

TELL gave me two shops, one on Main St. in Whitewater and the other in Douzman. They missed Backyard Bikes, but the two shops are reasonable -- I’ve had an emergency repair done in Douzman when I lost two spokes, and it’s a nice combination bike and coffee shop.

GOOG gave me 3 Whitewater shops, 1 Douzman, 1 in Mudwango (I must have heard that wrong). One of these was the LaGrange shop, the actual address of which is W 6098 US Highway 12 in Whitewater, since LaGrange is too small for its own post office. But if I was on the road, I wouldn’t know that.

FREE listed five shops, but listed only the street address without the city. So, the first two were on Main St, but it didn’t tell me what city they were in. This would be important, since I was asking for Palmyra and these shops were actually in Whitewater! This is a minor irritation, since if you asked for more information on the listing, you would get the city. More irritating is that, once again, although TELL said that it was searching for bicycle dealers, it included a “Marine” shop and a “Bait and Tackle” shop in its listings.

So, once again GOOG is the best, TELL is useful, and FREE is weak. None of the three would have given me the best answer in a way I would have recognized it if I was unfamiliar with the area.

None can yet match asking the old guy in the local hardware store.

Illinois' "Don't Bike" Map

2007-05-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

IDOT’S Don’t Bicycle Map
by Mike Kruger
At the last evanston bike club meeting, I picked up a copy of IDOT’s official bicycle map for Northeastern Illinois. The 2006 edition is an update of earlier editions which I found useless and never used. Within this in mind, I thought I’d see if the new edition was an improvement, and see how it compares to the Chicagoland Bicycle Map, which covers roughly the same area.

Cost?
CBF: $7
IDOT: free
Advantage: IDOT

Online?
CBF: No
IDOT: yes, at http://wrc.dot.il.gov/bikemaps The maps didn’t seem to zoom in well the day I tried.
Advantage: IDOT

Logic of map
CBF: This map is based on street information, traffic count information, and local volunteers reviewing particular sections. The emphasis is on finding through routes from point A to point B.
IDOT: This map has all the hallmarks of a map made up quickly and sloppily using statistical formulas to evaluate relatively short stretches of road. There is no apparent attempt to create through routes at all. As a result, it’s hard to use this map to get anywhere.

Emphasis
CBF wants you to bike and shows trails, major bike lanes, through routes and some shortcuts. Most routes are on through routes, but some shortcuts through neighborhoods are shown when appropriate.
IDOT prints the off-road trails twice as wide as anything else. It only shows roads IDOT has information on, and so it doesn’t show any connections through neighborhoods. The vast majority of the roads shown are shown in “red” – not recommended for biking.

Curiosities
The IDOT map shows much of the popular Sheridan Road route as “not recommended for biking”. Ironically, this does not include the part of Sheridan north of Tower Rd. where Winnetka has banned bikes. That section is marked OK.
On the other hand, it shows Waukegan Rd through Glenview in the middle category “caution advised”. Given that practically nothing in Cook County is rated as “most suitable for biking”, this is close to an endorsement. But Waukegan is a terrible choice – in the bike/ped planning process currently under way in Glenview, not a single person has proposed Waukegan as a biking corridor now, or as a road which could be sufficiently improved to be a biking corridor.
Glenview Rd shows up as “white”. Taken literally, this would mean biking is. This is probably a typo.
The bike trails are not only indicated in a very wide line, but with the type of interrupted line that usually means “under construction”. As a result, it’s hard to see where the path actually connects with any precision. There’s a bike path shown beginning at the corner of Glenview Rd. and Milwaukee Avenue, heading southwest to Central. The map makes it appear this is parallel to Dearlove Rd. In reality, this path is a quarter mile farther north, on the other side of the railroad tracks, and is blocked off from Central Rd. by two large fences. The path just goes around some athletic fields.
Even the popular North Branch Trail is inaccurately shown running on the east side of Harms Rd, not the west side, and the “Y” intersection just south of Dundee Rd. is shown on the north side of Dundee Rd. At least two miles of the Skokie Valley Trail are shown on the wrong side of Skokie Highway. The Skokie Valley Trail is shown running all the way up to 176, when it ends a mile south at Laurel Avenue.
All streets in downtown Chicago are marked as “not recommended for bicycling”, even those with bike lanes such as Roosevelt, Clinton, Canal, and Wells.
The principal diagonals northwest from downtown – Elston and Milwaukee Avenues – are mostly marked as “not recommended for biking”, even though the map also correctly indicates that Elston has bike lanes along its entire length. The portions of Damen Avenue with bike lanes are similarly marked both as having a bike lane and as being “not recommended for biking”.
This listing of errors is not the result of painstaking research. I’m sure there are many more curiosities in the remainder of the map.
Overall, the impression given by this map is that there is almost no way to do any bicycling in the Chicago area.

Excusable?
When I made similar comments on the last edition, I found a few defenders who said that while the Chicago area map might have limitations, the maps were good for the other 8 regions in the state. Considering that two-thirds of the people in Illinois live in this region, that’s not much of an excuse.

Why?
Why would a cyclist want to carry this map? I have no idea. If you need a map, spend $7 on the CBF map.
As to why IDOT would prepare the map: there were some provisions in some of the federal funding requirements that initially led to the state bicycle maps. Some states (for example, Wisconsin) did an excellent job. Other states, such as Illinois, seem to have done it out of either obligation or a desire to convince cyclists that their only place is on bike paths through parks.

Natural Organic Pet Food, Economically Priced

2007-04-25T20:27:00.001-07:00

From: Tove Momerathsson

Newsgroups: rec.humor.funny

Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 9:30 PM

Subject: A matter of taste

In response to the current problems with contaminated cat food,
Mother Nature, Inc., would like to remind you of her traditional
line of 100% all-natural cat foods. No pouches, no bags, no cans.
No mysterious "meat byproducts." No harmful chemicals. And they
may be bought at little or no cost. Each meal comes complete with
its own live-action play toy, guaranteed to amuse any cat for hours.
Available in three time-tested flavors: mouse, sparrow and cricket.

Complaints set to music

2007-04-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

The blog "Your Daily Awesome" has a video of a choral piece in which common Finnish complaints are set to music. (Yes, there are subtitles!)

http://www.yourdailyawesome.com/2007/04/14/helsinki-complaints-choir/

It's amusing, if not quite up to "Gilbert and Sullivan" standards.
Warning: the last minute of the video is empty.

Commuting to Work

2007-03-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

Here's my photoessay about my bicycle commute:

http://hometown.aol.com/mikekr/myhomepage/bike_commute_part1.htm

Floyd Landis: Brush with fame

2007-03-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Floyd Landis, the 2006 Tour de France winner (accused of using banned substances to help) sought me out for help the other night.

Out of curiosity, I went to an event to raise money for the Floyd Fairness Fund, which is raising money for his legal defense. While I was contemplating the snack table, Floyd touched me on the shoulder and said "Excuse me, can I squeeze by". I said "sure" and moved out of the way. Floyd said "Thanks". Floyd passed me like he passed all those domestiques going up the Alps, and headed off, probably to the washroom -- probably a result of having one of the Three Floyds beers that were available.

Not much of a brush with fame, but it's all I've got today.

Glenview Cyclists wanted: April 14th Village Ride

2007-03-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

Glenview, Illinois, is now in the process of planning for pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

There's a bike ride April 14th to demonstrate conditions in the area. This would be a good opportunity to influence the long-term planning process, meet some neighbors, and possibly see a few things about the village you weren't aware of. Come on out!!

More information is at the village site:

http://www.glenview.il.us/departments/capital/index.shtml

U of Michigan Students Campaign for .. Butt Cleavage?

2006-12-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

I hope this story is a hoax. Otherwise, I get to play grumpy alumnus and wonder what's going on at the old school.

http://codependentcollegian.blogspot.com/2006/12/student-leads-fight-for-butt-cleavage.html

Nutcracker suite on bike parts

2006-12-02T18:09:00.001-08:00

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/11/28/nutcracker-suite-played-exclusively-on-bicycle-parts/

Who says I don't have any Christmas spirit?
(most everyone, actually)

Update: here's the video:
http://www.specialized.com/bc/microsite/holiday/index.html

A bicycle hearse is inevitable.

2006-11-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

"there is something a bit sad about bikers being carried off in the back of an estate car."

With that attitude, "the Faster Pastor. Motorcycle-mad minister Paul Sinclair has built what he has hailed to be the world's fully enclosed sidecar hearse."

http://www.assistnews.net/ansarticle.asp?URL=Stories/s03010107.htm

Holy Rollers: the many sides of bicycling in New York

2006-11-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

Ben McGrath in the New Yorker profiles Critical Mass a bit, some people who
are sick of bicyclists on the sidewalk, and more:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/061113fa_fact

There's this interesting choice point, albeit a bit dramatic:

"Bernardin used to ride a bike,... Then, about ten years ago, he was riding
north on Sixth Avenue, "doing everything legal," he says, when another biker
came tearing around the corner, "illegally," at Twenty-second Street and
clipped him; he spilled, and barely missed having his head crushed by a
passing car.

The incident could be a Rorschach for civic activists. To a cycling
advocate, what's salient is the fact that Bernardin was nearly killed by an
automobile. Bernardin, however, saw two agents obeying the traffic
laws-himself and the car driver-and a third who, by flouting them,
introduced the element of danger."

I'm not sure this is much of a Rorschach: can this be seen as anything other than an asshole cyclist almost getting another cyclist seriously injured?

The article is a worthwhile look at the attitudes of those we might not encounter on a day to day basis.

I've often thought of curb cuts as a generally bad thing, and spent some cycling time trying to think of other alternatives that would be useful for wheelchairs, baby strollers and the like but prevent 15 mph cyclists from acting like idiots with the right of way. (A good rule: little old ladies over 80 get the right of way no matter WHERE they are!)

Bicycle Logistics

2006-10-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

There are some great pictures of bicycles being used to carry things at this link: http://aistigave.hit.bg/Logistics/

When my daughter and I were in Cambodia, we rented bikes for two days around Angor Wat, and saw similar creative uses of bicycles, although none quite some impressive as some of these.

WSJ: Urinalysis Test Faulty

2006-10-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

The first statement of an athlete accused of doping is to claim innocence, which is often a lie. But the first impulse of the testers is to claim infallibility, and that’s often a lie as well. Here’s the saga of a urinalysis test for alcohol from the Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2006. This isn’t the test involved in the Floyd Landis case, but it’s instructive about the politics of drug testing.

The EtG test is widely used to screen for alcohol use, particularly among people with past histories of alcohol abuse who need to demonstrate that they haven’t been backsliding. But alcohol metabolizes quickly. The EtG test looks for ethyl glucuronide, “a unique metabolite of alcohol that stays in urine for up to 80 hours – four times as long as does alcohol itself. ... The wider window of detection made EtG an instant hit with drug courts, professional licensing boards and other agencies ...and an instant star of the urine-testing industry, which is performing tens of thousands of EtG tests per month in the U.S.”

However, the test can be set off by the use of hand sanitizers or alcohol-containing foods or medicines, or even “a carton of apple juice left too long in the refrigerator”, persuading “even the scientist who pioneered EtG screening in America that the test is prone to so-called false positives.”

Did the testing companies care? “Even after the evidence emerged that the EtG test could detect incidental exposure ... many urine-testing firms continued marketing the screen as definitive proof... Some continue to do so. ‘EtG is not detectable... unless an alcoholic beverage has been consumed,’ says the Web site of ...AccuDiagnostics... [which] attributes that claim to toxicologists at laboratories to which it outsources its samples.”

The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has issued a warning saying that the EtG test isn’t perfect.

For a variety of information about the Floyd Landis case, try http://trustbut.blogspot.com/

So, just how drunk is this bicyclist?

2006-09-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

I'm guessing he's riding a bike in the first place because his drivers' license was removed for drunk driving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-dT4kGCNWI

Floyd Landis Does Rap Video

2006-09-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

Not, of course, the real Floyd Landis.
It has a few good moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJnYVm4iaqc

Technorati link

2006-09-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

Technorati Profile

Choosing to take this as a compliment

2006-09-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

"... theoretical physics is the cheapest of endeavors. Its practitioners require no expensive equipment. All they need is legal pads and pencils and blackboards and chalk to ply their trade, plus room and board and health insurance and a place to park their bikes. "

(via Jim Holt in the New Yorker, this is a direct quote from Lee Smolin's book, “The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next” (Houghton Mifflin; $26)

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/critics/061002crat_atlarge

This is perhaps a homage to the famous picture of Einstein on a bicycle.

Accident Victim Back At NU - City

2006-09-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

Accident Victim Back At NU - City: "The yellow Hummer knocked her down but didn't take her out. Weinberg senior Archana Sriram, the victim of a hit-and-run accident last February, is back on campus. "

So, the motorist who didn't stop and ran her down DID get away with assault with a deadly weapon. The article reports police have basically given up finding him.

Previous blog entries

2006-09-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

This blog was moved from my earlier blog on AOL journals.
http://journals.aol.com/mikekr/ZbicyclistsZlog/

I'm moving it here because AOL seems to have created this capability in response to competition, but then just let it sit there. Images aren't handled very well, and no new features have been added since the initial roll.

I'm also separating this into two blogs: bicycling (this blog) and everything else, which is mostly comments on news, statistics, politics and the occasional joke. That's "Truncated Thoughts" at http://mikekr.blogspot.com/