Back in the Saddle and… A Change In Plans

It’s amazing what a little thing like an election will do to foul up a routine…

From a blogging standpoint, last week was pretty much a waste.  Very likely, one of these days, the events of last week will appear in a Friday Follies post.  It would certainly be worthy of one.  On the other hand, we most certainly did defeat the T-SPLOST!  My most hearty thanks and congratulations to all of you who got out and did your civic duty last Tuesday.  Now that that’s over with, we’re back to the (somewhat) normal routine here.  So without further delay…

This week’s next order of business, a change in routing for the upcoming night ride.

We’ll be taking a somewhat different route on next week’s Mid-Summer’s Eve Celebration Night Ride.  The route will be different, and there will be no unpaved section.  That’s right, pavement all the way.

Some of you are going to be disappointed by this change.  Others may feel some relief.  Regardless, it is a necessary change.  In the past week I did some scouting, and made a discovery.  Coweta County has done things to the unpaved stretch of Bear Creek Rd.  They’ve maintained it.  That’s one word for it.  The road has been recently (badly) graded, and has had a large helping of fresh, large, loose gravel dumped and spread.  Add to that the slash-and-burn along the right of way, and the road exceptionally difficult to ride, and not a good candidate for cyclists at dusk or in the night.

I’m a bit saddened by the change, but it needed to be done.  The ride most definitely is going to go, but the route is all paved, and a good bit different.

On the brighter side, we’ve done our absolute best to pick out a route that will be entertaining and enjoyable. 

Details:

Where:  Brick Yard in Senoia

When:  7:30 PM (sharp)

Distance:  Approx 45 miles

Conditions:  Ride goes rain or shine

Requirements:  Helmets, reflective vest or sash, reflective ankle bands, good strong tail lights, good strong headlights, and of course helmets.  While not strictly “No Drop,” we will attempt to keep the group together.

Hope to see you all out there.

Temporary Interruption

Today's post will be a bit delayed.

It's Primary Election Day!

The Primary and commuting are going to take precedence over getting this thing posted this morning.

So today's post will be delayed a bit.  Thanks for your support.

Notes and a bit of Politickin’

Two Upcoming Rides:

Annual Mid-Summer (Lughnasad) Celebration Night Ride

Goes on Monday 13 August at 7:30 P.M. (promptly)

“Original Triple Gap”

Goes on Thursday 23 August at 8:00 A.M. (promptly)

For Route Description, Directions to Start, and other details, please refer to last Monday’s Post.

Now for the Politiks!

I work to leave my political views and opinions completely removed from the content on this blog.  I find it extremely annoying when others don’t.  Honestly, when I pick up a cycling magazine, or click into a cycling site, I am emphatically not interested in reading some writer’s or editor’s political jibes, jabs or japes.  That’s not why I went there.

So why am I about to write about the T-SPLOST?  Not so much because of its political connections, but rather because it is a transportation issue, and it’s local.  Transportation issues affect cycling.

Tomorrow is the Georgia Primary.  In addition to voting for or against the scoundrel of your choice, you will be afforded the opportunity to vote on a Referendum.  This is the notorious T-SPLOST.  That stands for “Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.”

I’m not going to go into all the ins and outs of this monster.  But rather to simply point out that, in my opinion, it’s an incredibly bad deal.  It amounts to a method for Atlanta, the “North Metro” counties, and MARTA to be able to reach into our pockets.

Supposedly the tax will sunset ten years from now.  Normally a SPLOST is written so that it ends when either a pre-specified amount of money is raised, or on a date certain, whichever comes first.  But there is some odd and troubling language inside this SPLOST bill.  It can be argued that the wretched thing would go on for a long time.

The bulk of the money collected is intended to go to MARTA, and the thing, if passed, will put MARTA in our back yards.

I don’t see any of that as positive.

But wait!  There’s more!

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is in this thing up to its neck.  There has been a lot of wind expended by ARC and its spokesbeings (those clean shiny young men and women in their $1,000.00 suits, with the Oh-SO EARNEST and sweet expressions on their faces) about how the T-SPLOST will do so much good for pedestrians and cyclists.  Isn’t that just special?

Friends, I don’t claim to be especially well versed on all of the issues surrounding the ARC, but I have lived and worked in this county for the past 26 years.  In that time, I have been pretty active in bicycle advocacy, and I’ve paid a lot of attention to transportation “issues.”  I’ve been to a weary huge number of meetings.  I’ve seen a large number of ARC’s “consultants” come and go.  (These folks are sales-people, pure and simple.)  I’ve participated in lots of “community involvement workshops.”  I’ve attended a pretty good number of “Public Comment Hearings,” and “Project Presentations.”  Here’s the sum total of my experience in that time.

1. ARC isn’t all bad.  And yes, some regional planning and coordination makes sense.
2. ARC wants more control over the surrounding metro counties.
3. When ARC and the rest of the gang want to get something done, they are ready to promise the Sun, Moon, and Stars to the pedestrian and cycling communities.
4. Once the project is approved and funded, the promises turn out to be a paragraph or two of nice words about cycling, and the occasional “Share the Road” sign.
5. ARC and company are aware that cyclists vote.  They court that vote.  It can make the difference in a close referendum.  All well and good, but after the dust settles, they have a nasty habit of forgetting who their friends are.

Big Highway projects, MARTA, etc are not good for cyclists and pedestrians.  They put obstacles in the way of our riding and walking.  (If you don’t believe me, please go and look at the section of GA-74 between GA-54 and GA-85, or go and look at what is being done on the “West Bypass” between Sandy Creek Rd and GA-92.  (And if you don’t think those routes are going to get re-zoned and “commercialized,” I’m afraid you are in for a bit of a disappointment.)

The Kicker:

The T-SPLOST is a tax, pure and simple.  It will increase the cost of goods in our area, for at least ten year, and quite possibly longer.  Taxes decrease business.  Local sales taxes drive purchases to other locations or onto the Internet.  They also take money out of your pocket directly.

I urge you all to get to the polls tomorrow and vote NO! on the T-SPLOST.

Be sure to check out tomorrow’s post.  It’s the next in new three year long series on developing as a cyclist.

Friday Follies ~~ The Weirdest Build Ever

I was young.  I didn’t have a lot of money.  I should have been wearing a big sign that would have said,  “Will work for bike parts.”  In fact, I was working part time for two different bike shops, for just about that reason.  (Don’t think that didn’t create a bit of friction from time to time!)

I had a new “build” in mind.  I was collecting parts for the project.  I had several boxes and crates full of bike parts in my old clunker of a car.  Some of these things were from other projects.  Some were “saves” from bikes I’d torn down.  There were new parts that were intended to go on the upcoming “bike of all dreams.”  There were new parts that I’d acquired with a mind to using them on something in the not-yet-foreseeable-future.  In addition to the parts, I almost always had a certain amount of bicycle riding stuff (shorts, jerseys, jackets, shoes, etc.) with me.  I also had my all-purpose tool box along.

I had, just the day before, acquired a frame that I intended to use to build up a dedicated training rig.

As I’ve often mentioned before, I lived in the Virginia mountains at that time of my life.  Also, during that particular historical epoch, that region of the country was more remote than it now is, and it contained areas that were even more remote than others.

On the day in question, I was en route between a very small town in West Virginia, and the largish small Virginia town where I lived.  The weather was not great, but it wasn’t terrible.  It was sort of Winterish, late-Fall, with the thermometer dropping.  Nobody in my circle of family, friends, and acquaintances knew where I was.

I had chosen a route more for expediency than speed.  In other words, I was on some not heavily traveled back country roads.  Some of these still have not seen pavement to this day.

The old clunker started running roughly.  It got worse.  It died.

Cars were somewhat simpler in those days.  Making an engine run isn’t all that hard.  Remember the “Fire Triangle”?  Oxygen.  Fuel.  Heat.  Cars use a fire in the cylinders to make the power that moves them.  The old thing about the Fire Triangle is that, “If you remove any one of the three sides, you don’t get a fire.  My car had apparently suffered a triangular removal.

I was breathing, so I could presume that oxygen was present.  The gauge said I had gas, and I filled up before I left on this journey.  The started wouldn’t turn.

Electricty is the stuff that cars use to make the heat.  My car could be having starter problems, or…

A couple of quick checks confirmed that my battery was pretty well flat.  Another test confirmed my worst suspicion.  The generator had failed.  Again.  Stuck.

I might see another car sometime in the next eight hours.  Or it might be a couple of days.  I was (by conservative estimate) at least 20 miles from the nearest outpost of civilization.  Worse, I really really needed to be home on that night.

I was rooting around aimlessly amid the clutter in the car, kind of hoping for something that would solve the car problem… remains of another generator, spare battery, magic, something! …when the idea started to form.

I spread a blanket on the ground and started arranging things on it.  Yes!  It wouldn’t be elegant, but it could be done.

About two hours later I had a working bicycle.  It was the sorriest mish-mash hob-cobble of miss-matched parts.  It had only one brake, two different wheel sizes, and about 2/3 of a functional driveline. The handlebar was an ugly thing from an old cruiser.  The non-aero drop bar brake levers didn’t fit well, and were not in a good position.  The tires were mismatched and of questionable provenance.  The saddle was also from that old cruiser, but it gave me something to rest butt upon.  The bottom bracket was loose, and the cranks were two different lengths.  Of course the pedals didn’t match either.  The headset (carefully installed by hammer and woodblock) had an ugly clunk to it, but it was rideable.

I gathered tools, copious spares, and sundries, stuffed them in a backpack, locked up the car, and took off.

The 30+ mile journey to home was not one of the more glorious things I’ve ever undertaken.  There was a major mountain along the way.  I had to push the bike up the steeper parts, and the descent (by all rights) should have killed me.   (Had there been any other traffic on that road, it probably would have.)  But it worked!

A bit more than four hours after I set out, just before darkness slammed down, I arrived home, tired, but triumphant.  Home!  Where there was a real bicycle, food, warmth, shelter.

Post Script:

About two days after my (mis)adventure, I set out once again by bike.  This time I was riding the real bicycle.  I had with me a brand new generator for my 1960 Ford. Said part must have weighed something like 300 pounds, and probably would have been suitable (but for it’s incredible unreliability) to be mounted in one of Virginia Power & Light’s major power plants.  After a grueling trip over the mountain, and three hours cursing under and over the car, I had successfully removed the old generator and replaced it.  I then managed to strain the car onto the road and get it coasting along at a good clip…  backwards and down hill.  Key to ON!  Transmission into reverse!  And the engine coughed, caught, and… RAN!

Believe me folks, there are advantages to the day and age we now live in.

Thursday Thoughts: The Second Stage

On this blog, we devote a lot of attention and time to Utility Cycling.  Here’s another aspect, and one I don’t see often discussed.

Most of the time when I am driving, I have a bicycle (or two) loaded up in the back of the truck.  I also almost always have a helmet and a pair of shoes aboard with me.  I prefer to ride to group rides and events.  It’s not always possible.  Sometimes, in order to have the correct machine at the appropriate place, I have to shuttle bikes around.  Sometimes, I’m transporting a bike to or from maintenance sites.

But there is often a more hidden and subtle reason for that bike in the bed of the truck.  It’s part of a multi-stage vehicle.

I’ve used it in just that fashion.  The bike can be launched at any time that the truck becomes impractical, or disabled.  Increased reliability and versatility.  Pretty cool.

The Good

What makes cycling good?  What is the bestest most goodest part of riding?

Getting away from stuff!

Going down hills…  fast.

It’s easy.

It’s hard.

Gliding through a turn.

Taking a turn real tight, fast, and hard.

Riding with friends.

Riding alone.

The adrenaline!

The peace.

What does it for you?

Your First Three Years ~ Part 6:

Traffic Survival 101

A Guide for Beginner (and Experienced!) Cyclists, to the Art and Practice of Cycling.  Becoming Proficient, Fit, and Happy on your bike.

Riding on the road, in traffic is actually fairly simple.  However, like many “simple” things, it is not always easy.

NOTE:  What follows is just a “bare bones” discussion of the most basic situations and strategies.  We’ll treat a lot of this in much greater detail in future posts

At first, the mere thought of taking a bicycle out onto a roadway can be intimidating.  After all, a very small car is made up of steel, glass, plastics and weighs in around a ton.  We on bicycles are not enclosed.  If we fall, or are knocked over we will be injured.  Reason tells us that to mix in with motor traffic is crazy.  But then think a little farther.  Any collision between automobiles is extremely dangerous.  Yet we drive without giving the risk much thought.  (Perhaps this last may explain some of the highway statistics.)

The truth is, most drivers are careful and conscientious.  Most are at least marginally courteous.  More, there are rules that govern how we all behave on the roadways, and most follow them.

The first thing to remember about road cycling is that a bicycle is considered to be a vehicle.  Cyclists, on the road, are expected to behave as operators vehicles.  That means we certainly are entitled to operate on the roadways.  We are expected, and required, to ride with the direction of traffic, obey traffic signals, conform to speed limits, signal our intentions.  In short, if we follow the rules, we are just as much entitled to the use of the roadway as any motorist.  (There are exceptions.  Limited access roadways, such as Interstate Highways, are not open to cyclists.)

So, if we follow the rules, then that’s it?  Right?  Well, not quite.  Road riding takes a bit of practice, and there are some special some considerations to using a bicycle in traffic.

Be Seen!:

Bright Clothing.  Flashing tail lights.  Reflectors.  Lights (at night).  Think about the sun direction.  Ride to be visible.

Look like you belong!:

This actually makes a difference.  Wear your helmet.  Ride with respect for the rules of the road, and for other road users.  Ride with purposeful and controlled motion, and always signal.  These things convey to other road users that you know what you are dong, and that you belong out there.

Situational Awareness, Know what is going on around you:

It is not possible to overstress this one.  When riding on the road, we must be aware of our surroundings.

This means:

• Using a mirror, or the “lookback” regularly, to scan traffic behind us
• Scanning the traffic ahead for problems
• Watching driveways and parked cars
• Checking cross streets before we arrive at them
• Use your hearing too!  (Sorry, music players have no place in traffic)
• And watch for pedestrians and other cyclists, often highly unpredictable and erratic!
• Stay focused!  Be Alert!  Be Aware!

Road positioning, how to be stable:

Have you ever been driving and come up behind a cyclist?  What do you look for and what do you think?  If the rider is apparently unaware, or not in constant control, it causes you stress and confusion.  A rider who is not stable on the road, who makes abrupt zig-zags, causes you concern.  Right?  Think what that does to drivers who are not cyclists.

One of our more important tasks, while riding in traffic, is to be predicatable.  Maintaining a steady and stable position on the road is critical to this task.

When riding along the road, position yourself to the right hand side of the road, and stay stable!  This is best done by looking at a point well ahead of yourself, and riding to that point.

Do not suddenly change position on the road, and don’t change position without signalling your intent to do so.  Be confident of your position and project this confidence.

NOTE:  Often new (and not so new) road riders have a fairly rational fear of being too close to traffic.  This will cause some of us to make moves that are really dangerous.  Here’s an example:  The rider is moving steadily ahead on the road.  There is some traffic approaching from the rear.  Ahead is a side street, and there is a right turn lane.  The rider moves into the turn lane, to give traffic more room to pass.  This is a mistake!  This manuver says to an overtaking motorist,  “I am about to make a right turn, you can forget about me.”  It also sends a signal to a driver who is approaching the major road from the right.  It signals that the cyclist is turning right, and will not cross in front of that driver.

Simply put; Do NOT enter right turn lanes, unless you are about to turn right.

Get out of the Way!:

Yes, we do have a “right to be there”!  Yes, we are legitimate vehicle operators.  That said, there are times when the “better part of valor” is to make a move to make things easier for all.

Some motorists are extremely afraid to pass a cyclist.  Oddly, these can be more dangerous than the types who “buzz” us, or who will “force” a pass.  The hestitant motorist can cause a huge amount of traffic to pile up behind them.  Sooner or later someone in the long and growing line of delayed drivers will have a “mental meltdown.”  What follows can be extremely dangerous for all concerned.  Sure, the hestitant driver is the one who is actually impeding the flow of traffic.  But you are the percieved problem, and are likely to be the one who will suffer.

Sometimes, the wisest course is to pull off to the side of the road, and let traffic sort itself out.  This manuver rarely costs you more than a few seconds to a minute, and could be a life saver.

When to “Take” the road:

Georgia traffic code explicitly categorizes bicycles as vehicles.  This gives cyclists the same road “rights” as are enjoyed by other operators.  At the same time, the code requires us to ride to the right hand side of the road, so as not to impede the regular flow of traffic.  Now here’s an important point.  The code does not say we must be at the far right at all times.  There is some “safe and practicable” language in the code.  This means that if it is not safe to be at the extreme right, or there is a practical reason to be positioned farther out in the road, we may certainly  do so.

In other words, we are not required to fall into the sinkhole, or ride over the sleeping tiger.  But we are wise to spot these obstructions and “clear” traffic behind us, rather than just darting out to swerve around an obstruction.  Also, if the road is so narrow that a safe “pass” is not possible, we are allowed (possibly required) to take the center of the lane.  (Take the road.)

Do not be trapped at the far right when coming to a traffic signal.  This means stop signs, yeild signs, or traffic control lights.  Under these conditions, being at the far right “invites” the following motorist to pull up beside us, and we are in danger of being struck by a righ turning, overtaking vehicle. 

When a situation is coming up:

• Look ahead and plan
• Check behind
• Adjust speed as necessary
• “Take the lane”
• Proceed through the intersection when safe and legal
• Expedite the move through the intersection (don’t be slow)
• And then return to the right as soon as practical and safe.

Think ahead!  Always have an “out”:

Does this really require explanation?  Be prepared to “dodge” trouble, and know where and when to do so.  Remember, a fall is always preferable to a crash.  Minor damage to a bike can be easily repaired, major damage to a body is a bit harder.

Avoid confrontation:

Little is gained, and often much lost by engaging motorists in shouting matches.  So the clown called you a name, or expressed his ignorance.  How does this hurt you.  Keep the coments to yourself, and your middle finger folded around the bar.  Shouting matches don’t solve anything, and they have a nasty way of escalating.  Remember!  When you share the trail with an elephant, if anyone stumbles you lose!

What about road rage?:

True “Road Rage” is a lot more rare than many think, but it does occur.  If you are being bullied or are dealing with a truly enraged and aggressive driver…  END IT NOW!  Get off of the road.  Run up to a house.  Duck into the woods.  Get away.  Then call 911.  Honest, the police will take it seriously.  But we are not equipped to do battle with a case of irrational temper aided by a two ton weapon.

Where, When, and How to Stop:

For some inexplicable reason, many cyclists will have a tendency to stop riding while still on the road.  This can be to allow other riders to catch up, or to deal with an equipment problem, or just to take a break.  There seem to be two kinds of locations for this behavior, neither of them good or safe.  1)  At intersections.  2)  On the road for no apparent reason.  Just don’t do this!

If we need to stop, we are certainly entitled to do so.  But if we are going to stop, we should signal our intentions, and then GET OFF OF THE ROAD!  And that means completely off of the road, not just a couple of inches.  Don’t obstruct travel lanes.  Don’t obstruct traffic.  Don’t present your fellow road users with unpleasant “surprises.”

Remember always, intersections are for getting through.  They are not a good place for a party or a picnic.

Next Week: Riding in groups 101

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This series began with the post on Tuesday, 19 June 2012.  It is intended to continue for three years.  Each week, we will discuss exercises, skills, practices, and activities designed to bring the new (or “experienced”) rider a high level of cycling competence.  We’ll address common problems, and (always) stress safe practice.

~//~

A Note on Timing:  This series uses Mid-June as the starting point of the “Cyclists Year.”  We do this because this is the time that most folks decide to start riding.  If you are following this guide, you can “adjust” the timing to fit your personal “first three years.”  Do note that some of the posts will concern weather and seasonal changes.  When that starts to happen, just swap the “months” around to fit your personal timeline.