A new commute

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

Sphere: Related Content

Training drivers

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.

Sphere: Related Content

Today's column by Ann Fisher

For those of you who are not from Columbus, Ann writes a column for the Dispatch. Generally, I like her writing. Maybe sometime, I will give her a call and buy her a beer.

Today's column was about how people just do not know the laws regarding cycling. Should bikes be on the sidewalk? Can cyclists pass cars stopped at a red light? Do cyclists have to ride on the shoulder? It was pretty interesting because average Joe does not know the answers.

Then we read along a little further and find Upper Arlington Police Officer Heather Galli's thoughts. "Some bicyclists don't follow all the rules, but they want special treatment," she says.

Why do people use bicyclists who break the law as an example as to why cyclists need to be trained or taken off the road? Cyclists want special treatment? Nope, we just don't want to be road kill. That's all. Let me live long enough to see my children grow up. That's pretty special treatment.

How about the website that sells these windshield stickers: They are breaking the law, and wanting people to move out of their way. That's special treatment. But that is different, right? It's a car breaking the law. In that case, it is just fine.

Sphere: Related Content

Latest load on the Xtracycle

Sorry that I have not updated in a while. I spent the Fourth away from technology.

Last Thursday, some guy stopped his car to ask me about the Xtracycle. As we were talking, he told me that recognized the bike. Of course, he thought I was Jamie from Bike Commuting in Columbus.

Here is the load I carried. Three things made the trip home great. First, the car seat made people think there was a kid on the back of the bike, so I had plenty of space on the road. The second was the the car seat acted like a sail in the tail wind.

The last great part of this trip was that I ran into the Safelite guy who repaired my wife's windshield earlier that week. While he waited for the epoxy to cure, we talked bikes. As he drove past, I saw a big thumbs up. It made that last stretch home a little bit easier.

Sphere: Related Content

Pedicabs in Columbus

The Dispatch had a good article about pedicabs yesterday. It leaves me with only one question, how do I apply?

Sphere: Related Content

Bike plans get OK

A while back I wrote about Columbus's bike plan. Most great ideas are simply that, great ideas. Sometimes though, those great ideas get put into action. This seems to be one of those. Last night, the Columbus City Council voted to approve the funding for the plan.

Good job Columbus.

Sphere: Related Content

Welcome

I probably should have done this last Friday, but better late than never...

Welcome to bicycle commuting Michelle.  It was nice seeing someone else on the road.  I hope you stick with it. 

Sphere: Related Content

My personal ride of silence

I love to ride at night. If I had to list the top three conditions to ride in, it would be snow, night, and warm rain. Tonight I decided I needed some ice cream, so a trip to Handel's was on.

(A lighter side note here, Handel's has the best ice cream ever. If there is one remotely close to you, you need to get there.)

I headed out, then decided to take the long route. The silence of the neighborhood made me pause. Earlier today was Columbus's Ride of Silence. I was not able to make it, but I did stop and make my daughters say a little prayer with me as everyone left the statehouse around 7:00.

I rode for about an hour tonight. I thought about the time I was hit by a car. Twelve years ago a car right hooked me. I remember looking her in the eye right before impact. I was knocked off my bike and unconscious for a short period. The worst of my injuries were a separated shoulder and a sprained wrist. The lady that hit me drove off. I was lucky. I could have been seriously injured. Instead, I was only hurt enough to take an evening off work.

I don't know why I keep torturing myself, but I cannot look at any of the ghost bikes without getting emotional. I wonder if these have the same affect on non-cyclists.

Sphere: Related Content

Bike to Work Week -- part four

Earlier this week, Columbus's mayor Mike Coleman introduced the city's bike plan. I haven't commented yet because I wanted to read all 287 pages. Now that I have read it, I think this is a great project that I am excited to see put into action.

Here are the current bicycling accommodations on my end of Columbus:

If you are trying to figure out where I live, I live just north of Galloway Road.

The streets marked in yellow are the ones that have a wide, paved shoulder. That's it. I'm not sure what is considered a wide shoulder. On Galloway road the shoulder goes from three feet to six inches back to three feet, then back to six inches several times.

This does not mean this area is a dangerous place to be. I feel like I can hold my own on almost any road in the area. There are couple of hairy spots, but they are portions, not an entire trip.

Now I am as selfish as anyone. While I think the plan is a good one, what I really want to know is how will it affect me?

The map below is the proposed improvements. The green dotted lines are proposed paths. The blue dotted lines are where bike lanes are to be added to the road.

I have been joking with people that this plan should be renamed "Rick's personal bike routes." Every road I ride is being improved in some way. Trabue Road, the main road on my commute is getting a path. West Broad, which I use for almost all shopping, is getting bike lanes. The death trap called Hilliard-Rome Road is even getting some bike lanes.

While I joke that this is great for me, it is really great for the west side. These paths are being placed right in the main arteries of this side of town.

Please Columbus, make this happen.

Sphere: Related Content

According to the Dispatch...

This morning I walked into school and this article was brought up by the first three people I ran into. They cited it as an example why I should not ride. I know, it is because they care about me. The truth is, there are tensions between cyclists and motorists. The argument is about as old as they come. Cyclists want motorists to respect their place on the road and be safe. Motorists want cyclists off the road because getting to the red light first is more important than the life of a human being.

(Yeah, I am biased.)

While I thought the article was mostly fair, there are some quotes I take issue with. For example:

"I see motor-vehicle operators who treat bicyclists without any respect, and I have seen bicyclists do stupid things and violate the rules of the road."

The fact that cyclists violate the rules of the road is always one of the reasons people use to explain why cyclists should be off the roads. While I do not advocate running red lights, breezing through stop signs, passing on the right at stop lights, cutting through parking lots or anything else, violating the law is never used as a reason why cars should not be on the road.

Try this: Come to the intersection of... hell, you can do this at any intersection in any city... and count the cars that run through the barely red lights. Count the cars that turn right on red who do not come to a complete stop.

It's OK when a car does it, but when a bicyclist rides through a red light we should hate all of them. That makes a ton of sense.

"But be considerate of the other drivers who are going to be able to go faster than you. You don't gain anything from slowing them down."

I do gain something by slowing down traffic. Safety. My commute to work takes me over three overpasses. I am amazed at the people who will cross the center line not knowing if a car is approaching. I know what will happen if there is an oncoming car. The passing car will swerve back into the lane and end up right where I am. That will not be a pretty sight. I can avoid this by taking the lane and being visible. I am inconsiderate. I do not care if it take you an extra 45 seconds to get home because I made you wait until it was safe to pass me.

I think that Aaron Beck is a cyclist. If I thought the article was slanted one way or another, I thought it was slanted against cyclists who do not follow the rules of the road. There is still the underlying thought, even though it is not being said aloud, that bicyclists are simply in the way of the "real" road users.

Update:
Jamie at Bike Commuting in Columbus read the same article but came up with different thoughts. Take a peek over there and see what he had to say.

Update #2:

Columbisite has weighed in on the same article.  Three different people, three totally different articles.  

Sphere: Related Content

College to give free bikes to freshmen

There is an interesting article here about Ripon College give free bicycles to incoming freshmen. Last year, for the first time, the number of parking applications exceeded the number (400) of parking spots.

"We're a residential college with a beautiful, historic campus in the middle of a small town," said President David Joyce, an avid cyclist. "Paving it over was not an option I was willing to consider."

There is a phrase about the "toothpaste being out of the tube." Some will automatically argue that the car culture is the way we have to go. There is no turning back. But things like this will help. Cycling is not as hard as people think it is. Using a bike to ride a mile to pick up a gallon of milk is pretty easy.

Below is a picture of The University of Toledo's Centennial Mall. This is the center of the main campus area. In 1999, the American Society of Architects listed it as one of the 100 most beautifully landscaped areas. If you would have looked at this exact same space 30 years ago, it would have been military barracks and a parking lot. UT did not do anything spectacular as far as the car culture goes. Parking was not eliminated; it was just moved to garages on the edges of campus. But, a parking lot was removed and replaced with green space.

Things can be done. It's not as hard as you might think.

My favorite fact about the mall is the placement of the sidewalks was determined by the paths made in the snow by the students during the blizzard of 1978.

Here's another picture of the mall. In the background is University Hall. My favorite fact about that building is that there are no restrooms on the third floor.

Gas savings to date: $20.00
CO2 not added to atmosphere: 125.73 pounds Sphere: Related Content