My Two Mile Challenge

A new commute

2009-07-23T06:26:00.000-04:00

One of the things that happened while I was gone is that I started a new job. This is a great thing for more than one reason. But we'll just focus on the commuting part today.

The school where I was teaching decided to change the start time from 8:30 am to 7:30 am. While most people were excited about the prospect of starting an hour earlier so that we could be finished 25 minutes earlier, I was not. The 7:30 start time would prevent me from riding my bike to school.

My wife is awesome. She puts up with a lot of stuff. Somehow, I don't think she would be too happy with me leaving her with the responsibility of getting three kids ready for school so that I could ride a bike to work. I was beginning to dread the thought of having to shelve the bike.

Luckily, I did not have to do that.

Here's an outline of my new commute...

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

If you love someone...

2009-07-21T22:17:00.002-04:00

Know that it would be untrue
Know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
I didn't set your dad on fire

If you love somebody
Better set them on fire

The Dead Milkmen were way ahead of their time. Here's a news article from Gastonia, North Carolina:

GASTONIA, NC (WBTV) - Police say a fight over a bicycle in Gastonia led to one man being set on fire Sunday afternoon.

The incident happened on Larry Lane around 7:15 p.m.

According to the Gastonia Police Department, Tony Herrin, 40, and Julie Davenport, 50, were arguing over a bicycle. Davenport allegedly shoved Herrin into a nearby ditch.

Davenport's husband, Daniel, then got involved and a physical altercation followed.

Herrin was cut several times by a rake. Police say Herrin threw a cup of gasoline into Daniel Davenport's face and lit him on fire.

Davenport suffered burn injuries and was taken to Carolinas Medical Center where he was treated and released. Herrin suffered minor injuries and was treated at a hospital in Gaston County.

Police charged Tony Herrin with assault by an incendiary device and simple assault. Julie Davenport was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and Daniel Davenport was charged with simple assault.

I'm back!

2009-07-19T07:50:00.002-04:00

I just wanna say
I haven't been away
I am still right here
Where I always was
So one day, if you're bored
By all means call me
Because you can do
(Only if you want to)

Back in January, my son decided to see what would happen if beer was combined with a laptop. I'm sure you can figure out how that worked out.

I'm still here. Now that I have a computer at home, I can get back into the game.

The nose...

2009-01-12T14:30:00.000-05:00

I realize that my topic may make some squeamish. That's not my goal. If reading about perfectly normal bodily functions bothers you, please turn away now.

I have mentioned many times that this is my first winter where I am riding consistently. One weird thing I have noticed is that my nose runs almost non-stop while I am out in the cold.

It's been bothering me. I know it is normal, but I wanted to know why it did that. So, I headed to the google to check it out.

It turns out that the nose tries to warm up the cold air before it enters the lungs. To do this, the blood vessels in the nose get wider. Wider blood vessels produce more mucus. That mucus has to go somewhere.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle...

A fuel cell bicycle?

2009-01-11T15:33:00.003-05:00

While doing some random internet searching, I came across this bike:

It almost looks like a rocket bike with those jet packs on the back. Actually, it is a hydrogen fuel cell bicycle. Of course, I went straight for the snark. Why would someone spend $3000 on a bike that would do the work for them? I mean, you can get a motorcycle that might have a little more speed for that much money.

Then I got to thinking. There had to be a real reason for producing a fuel cell bicycle. So I checked out the company, Horizon Fuel Cell Technology.

My snark was replaced with, "Gee-whiz, that is a good idea."

The idea behind this bicycle is that bicycles are needed to prevent congestion in major cities. Building a fuel cell car does nothing to address the problem of congestion. Another issue with the car is the amount of money and effort that goes into building one. The company believes that spending their resources on many bicycles rather than one car is a better bet. They even have a fancy picture that makes their point.

Interesting concept. I am curious to see how this plays out.

3 Feet Please

2009-01-02T14:52:00.004-05:00

I found this today (click on the picture to visit the website) while looking around various cycling websites. I wish I was paying more attention so I could give credit to whoever called my attention to it. It seems like a pretty good idea. I don't really believe that most motorists want to do us harm. Maybe a little visual reminder will help.

Check out the media section of the website. I am surprised by how closely the cars pass him in the video. Personally, I think that video should be used to show why you should not ride on the shoulder, but I do not know the specifics of the route. He may have a good reason for doing so.

I'll probably get one once the weather gets a bit warmer here. There's really no point in me getting on now. It will be covered by a jacket for the next three months. Plus, I blew my cycling budget on a rain cape earlier this morning.

2008 - A review

2009-01-01T10:50:00.005-05:00

The original purpose of this blog was to highlight my utilitarian trips by bicycle. I have always enjoying bicycling, but I did it more as a sport or pleasure. It was occasionally a mode of transportation. If it was a really nice day or my car broke down, there was always the bike.

In 2008, I changed that. I looked at my bike as the first vechicle and my car became what I used when I could not use the bike. The only thing I miss about driving is listening to the radio at ungodly loud volumes.

I really began slowly. It was a trip to the grocery store or church. Then I would try school every once in a while. Eventually, I began riding to school every day. There were times in 2008 that my car sat in the driveway for more than two weeks.

By the end of 2008, I had ridden a hair more than 3000 commuting miles. (I did not count pleasure rides.) That is more than 1000 more miles than my original goal. To put that into some sort of perspective, I put roughly 6000 miles on my car during 2008.

There are a number of things that I learned throughout the year...

Those white lines that are painted on the road to tell the cars where to stop get very slippery in rain.
There is nothing better than riding in a snowstorm.
Riding with kids is awesome.
There is an art to dressing for the rain. I have tried more than once to create a post about it, but I have a hard time putting it into words.
After a while, the cars really do begin to get used to you being on the road.
The worst thing about doing a blog is the guilty feeling about not updating it.
The second worst thing the shamelessly promoting it.
I really need to take better care of my bike chain.
Other than my email, the only website I check every day is Yehuda Moon.
There is a certain peacefulness to riding everyday.
If I do not ride, I start to get crabby.
Golf courses have a funny smell.
Beer tastes better after a long ride.
Beer tastes better during a long ride.
I can carry anything I want on the Xtracycle.
Secretly, I like it when people are amazed that I rode on a bike.
I really need to get my backspace key fixed on my keyboard.

2009 has the potential to banner year for me. I have some great plans. I hope to share them with you all as they happen.

Coffee to go - part two

2008-12-29T12:35:00.003-05:00

A while back, I did a write-up on a coffee mug I was using for commuting. A year later, I am on my second mug.

The first one broke because I never did get around to making it fit tighter in the bottle cage. I was coming down a hill and hit a rather bumpy area. The original bottle bounced around and popped out of the cage. The stainless steel part was intact, but the plastic lid was in pieces.

If fixed that problem. Version 2.0 is fixed up with an old bicycle tube and electrical tape. Surprisingly, all the mug needed was the little bit of thickness under the rubber grip. I added the tube down the sides so that the rattle would not drive me bonkers.

So far, this setup has held up very well. I have used it every day since the weather has turned cold without a problem.

A belated David Babcock update

2008-12-29T07:49:00.000-05:00

back in July, David Babcock was shot and killed in Toledo. He was a first-time bicycle commuter. This case really bothered me because I used to ride the area he was killed. It's been almost ten years since I have moved from Toledo, but I still recognize the area as if I had never left.

I would even ride the area at the same time as him. To imagine someone killing another person for no real reason is mind boggling. The story was that Dounche Jones was attempting to rob Babcock, but he resisted. So Jones shot him in the face. Nothing was stolen.

Jones was caught because he was overheard bragging about the murder to his friends. Two separate people heard this and went to the police. There is plenty of hope for people doing the right thing.

During a three-day trial at the start of the month, these two gentlemen and seventeen other witnesses presented their case to a jury in Toledo. It took two hours for the jury to return a guilty verdict. Having served on a few juries, the case has to be pretty open and shut to return a verdict in two hours.

A few days later, 20-year-old Dounche Jones was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 18 years.

SmartLock

2008-12-28T12:38:00.002-05:00

I found an interesting lock while playing around on the internet this morning.

SmartLock is a cable lock that has cores of compressed air and liquid running through its body. If cut, the liquids spray out over the perpetrator, his tools, the bike and the scene of the crime. A bike that has been stolen will be covered in coloured dye (the dye renders the bike undesirable and therefore unsellable) as well as transluscent Smartwater - an invisible forensic property marking liquid.

I like the idea. You can see a video of it in action here.

Why my kids are awesome...

2008-12-02T20:17:00.003-05:00

Today I had to head to Kroger to get a gallon of milk and some other stuff for dinner. I told my wife that I was going to take my bike. Both kids (Garek is too small to know what is going on) came flying out of the living room. Lindsay stared jumping around because she was so excited to go for a bike ride. Emily immediately grabbed her coat and shoes.

All this for a half-mile ride to the store. My kids are awesome.

Whodunnit?

2008-11-22T12:56:00.002-05:00

A while back, the moon walking bear was all over the internet. It made a great point about missing the obvious. The folks that brought us that have brought us another installment.

I wonder if more people would pass this test if hi-vis yellow and Planet Bike's Superflashes were used.

One ba-jillion words for snow

2008-11-20T21:45:00.002-05:00

I once heard that the Eskimos have something like a ba-jillion different words for snow. If you look around on the internet, you will find that "wa-ter" is the Eskimo word for melted snow.

Today I rode through what the Eskimos call feelslikeyouarebeinghitwithfrozenmarbleslata.

A more detailed cold weather write-up is coming soon.

Mea Culpa

2008-11-18T14:19:00.002-05:00

Sigh... Yesterday I got all crabby about the impending doom all the news people were forcasting. Then, I wake up this morning to pictures of the massive back-ups on 270 because of the slippery roads.

Should I just apologize for taking the dire warnings lightly, or should I complain that where there are constand warnings about the weather, people begin to take them lightly?

From the Columbus Dispatch

A light coating of snow combined with freezing temperatures to turn freeway bridges throughout Franklin County into sheets of ice last night, causing crashes everywhere.

There was a chain-reaction crash on a bridge in the eastbound lanes of I-270 north, about a quarter-mile west of I-71. About 20 vehicles were scattered over the highway in pinball fashion, as one after another hit ice and spun out, hitting other vehicles.

"It was ice and I just could not stop," said Pat Shirp, whose SUV rammed the back of a car driven by Aaron Hurney, who slowed when he saw the crash.

A second set of cars crashed less than a half-mile away, on the Outerbelt at I-71.

Southbound Rt. 315 had multiple crashes, including one south of Kinnear Road, one at Ackerman Road and another at the Riverside Methodist Hospital curve. And westbound I-670 near Downtown was covered with wrecked cars.

There were no serious injuries reported.

Mary Carran Webster, Columbus' assistant director of public service, said city salt crews went out about 10 p.m., though she said many of the overpasses on Rt. 315 had been treated with brine earlier in the afternoon. The Ohio Department of Transportation is responsible for salting most of the freeways in central Ohio.

White Death

2008-11-17T20:43:00.003-05:00

I woke up around 3:00 this morning. There was a light dusting of snow outside. I did not even think about it. After all, the weather people have been calling for snow for a few days now. This little bit of snow wasn't really any cause for concern. After falling back asleep, the alarm clock went off around 6:00.

At 6:00, there was maybe 1/32 of an inch of snow on the ground. I did not think much of it until I turned on the television. Oh boy, it was only then I realized the peril we were all facing. Slippery roads, low visibility... Please leave early to make sure you don't die on your way to work.

Despite the warnings of certain death, I still go on the bike this morning. I rode in the weather that causes normal people to hoard bread and eggs. It was cold. There was a short period where the snow fell pretty heavily. I escaped unscathed.

The best part? Riding over the Route 70 overpass and seeing traffic backed up. I know that when traffic is backed up at the Wilson Road overpass, I am actually making it to school faster than I would if I were driving.

All this over a light dusting of snow...

Riding a penny farthing around the world

2008-11-17T11:11:00.000-05:00

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to ride an authentic penny farthing bicycle. It was an embarrassing train wreck from start to finish. Getting on and off the bike was a mess. Bouncing around on solid rubber tires was painful. A quick trip around the parking lot was more than enough for me.

One of my favorite trip journals has been Joff Summerfield's journal detailing his trip around the world on a penny farthing bicycle. Give yourself plenty of time to read this. It is very much worth the time it will take.

David Babcock update

2008-11-16T11:01:00.000-05:00

From the Toledo Blade

South Toledo man accused of murder to stand trial

A Lucas County common pleas judge yesterday found that a South Toledo man accused of killing a man bicycling to work is competent to stand trial.

Dounche Jones, 19, of 235 Western Ave. is charged with two counts of murder. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Just days before his scheduled Oct. 20 trial date, his attorney asked for a new trial date so that Jones could be evaluated for competency. Judge James Jensen ordered the evaluation and set a Dec. 1 trial date.

Jones is accused of fatally shooting David Babcock, 46, in the 800 block of Western as the longtime employee of Fresh Products Inc. was riding his bike to work about 5:45 a.m.

Are you still riding?

2008-11-05T11:53:00.003-05:00

The e-mail came a few days ago. It was simple. It only said, "Are you still riding?"

The answer is yes. I'm still on the bike whenever I get the chance. This past month has been nuts. There have been several things that have come up that took up most of my time. First, there was a brief hospital stay. After that, my son got very ill. Finally, major issues at school were occupying almost all of my free time. That's my past month in a nut shell.

But I have been riding. I'll tell you what, commuting in November is very different from commuting in the summer. Ohio weather is predictably unpredictable. Here are the temperatures for a recent ride...

My house when I leave at 6:45 am: 32 degrees F

School when I arrive at 7:30 am: 38 degrees F

School when I leave at 4:00 pm: 60 degrees F

I pretty much need three different outfits for one day's commute. This is the fun time of the year to be on a bike.

Update on David Babcock

2008-10-24T07:51:00.002-04:00

From the Toledo Blade:

Competency evaluation delays man's trial in bicyclist's slaying

The trial for a 19-year-old South Toledoan accused of killing a man as he bicycled to work was pushed back in Lucas County Common Pleas Court yesterday so that the defendant could be evaluated for competency.

Dounche Jones of 235 Western Ave. is charged with two counts of murder. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

Yesterday, Judge James Jensen granted defense attorney Paul Geller's request to continue the trial set for Monday and referred Jones to the Court Diagnostic and Treatment Center for an evaluation.

Judge Jensen set a Nov. 12 competency hearing.

Judge Jensen had denied an earlier request by assistant prosecutors to continue with the trial date because the names of witnesses that had been kept secret for fear of retaliation had been released earlier in the week. Judge Jensen warned that any intimidation of witnesses would not be tolerated.

Jones is accused of fatally shooting David Babcock, 46, in the 800 block of Western.

Mr. Babcock, a longtime employee of Fresh Products Inc., was riding his bike about 5:45 a.m. to save on gas and make sure he arrived at work on time.

Words of encouragement

2008-10-08T19:57:00.003-04:00

Today's commute was wet. Very wet. Total downpour type of wet. I was riding down Trabue and a truck pulled up next to me and said ...

"You're f---ing crazy!"

Then, through my rain soaked glasses, I saw a thumbs up coming from the window.

My day started of great because of this guy.

Political ads

2008-10-03T17:45:00.002-04:00

Things like this generally run through blogs like wildfire. For once, I want in on the ground floor.

I guess if your solution is not, "Drill baby, drill," you are a kook.

Training drivers

2008-10-02T21:07:00.000-04:00

A while back, Yehuda Moon mentioned that drivers are trained to deal with a bicycle commuter. You know, the idea that the motorists are used to seeing a bike, so they give you a little more respect?

I generally take the same route at about the same time every day. I think I may have trained the drivers on my commute.

Exhibit One:
I ride past the Mars Pet Care plant each day. I am guessing that they start a shift at 7:00 because of the number of cars heading into the parking lot. Until recently, that was a frightening part of my trip. Cars would zoom past me just to hit the brakes and make a quick right into the parking lot. Now, they give me the space I need to be safe.

Exhibit Two:
There are two weird parts of my commute where I have to get into the left lane for a turn. For some reason, traffic is always heavy when I have to switch lanes. It used to be that I would wait for a tiny opening and force myself in it. Now, cars are starting to slow down and letting me in.

Exhibit Three:
This is my favorite example. There are three people I see on my commute every day. There is the older guy who is walking and smoking a cigarette. I love his, "Keep it up," everyday. The second guy is always at the bus stop drinking coffee. Everyday, he raises his cup of coffee to me. Finally, and probably my favorite, is the lady who is walking down Treemont everyday. She always smiles and says good morning. After the recent windstorm, I did not see her for more than a week. I was a bit worried about her. Then, when I saw her again this week, she told me that she missed me.

I do not know if they just respect me or if they are just used to seeing me. Either way, I like it.

Update - 300 miles in 30 days

2008-10-01T21:21:00.001-04:00

Early last month, I wrote about the 300 miles in 30 days challenge. I planned on riding 300 miles during the month of September. Then, I thought about it. My commute to school is about 25 miles each day. If I commute four days a week, I have 100 miles under my belt. Three-hundred miles would be a piece of cake.

Not so fast...

The first two weeks started of just fine. In fact, by the end of the second week, I had about 185 miles under my belt. Then, Columbus got hit by a hurricane. I was off from school for three days. I did a little bit of riding around, but nothing near the ten miles a day required to hit 300 miles. I rode to school one day that week.

By the end of the third week, I had about 225 miles. Still, I wasn't worried. I had more than a week of riding to get to the magic 300 number. Then, I put a nasty gash in my foot while playing around in my garden. I rode one day that week. End of week three... 250 miles.

I rode to school the last two days of September and edged myself over the 300 mile mark. I think I ended up with 307 miles for the month.

A much needed update

2008-09-30T21:04:00.004-04:00

It's been a while. Well, there are a couple of reasons...

First, I was off the bike almost all of last week. I wasn't very careful with a hoe last weekend and cut my foot pretty good. It's a dumb story with dumber actions, so I won't go into gory details.

Second, school has been kicking my ass. I am not sure how many of you are parents. If you are a parent, please rest assured that your child's teachers have much better things to do with their time than make up stories just to get your precious child in trouble. Chances are, your kid is lying, not the teacher.

Third, my overly hopped homebrew IPA tasted pretty good. I have a personal rule about staying off the internets when I have been drinking. I had a bad experience once with eBay and a credit card.

So there you have it. Three lame excuses as to why I have not written.

Stay at home week

2008-09-17T20:57:00.000-04:00

The latest attempt to save gas is coming from ABC. Conserve gas by staying at home during the week of the 21st. In a very altruistic move, ABC has decided to help our pocketbooks and the environment at the same time.
Thanks ABC. Only two-thirds of Americans are overweight. With your help, we can get that to 100 percent.