Filed under: bicycling, bike security, bike transportation, commute biking | Tags: nasty drivers
The other day I was in the outside of two turn lane. My lane allowed for both left turn and straight ahead and the lane next to me allowed only for left turn. I was turning left and noticed a crappy old compact in the lane to my left headed straight toward me. This beater had a large, homemade wood sign on the roof that stated something like this: “Is Your Body a Coffin? Go Veg!” Well, this guy just kept motoring forward, straight ahead without turning. I used my voice to notify him that I was there and that he was making a dangerous and illegal move: “he, he, he!” I shouted none too loud (his windows were down and we were close, too close). His response: a string of nasty obscenities as he powered his way forward, forcing me to brake and cut back (exposing me to danger from the turning cars behind me) and then the finger to boot! Man, I thought, this guy should try eating red meat! Perhaps it will curb his aggression!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Bianchi San Jose 2009 model
This is my daily use, utility and transport bike. I use it to commute to work (10 miles each way) every day, do my shopping, and for weekend bike rides on and off the pavement. To do all this, I wanted a bike that was smooth and comfortable for my 45 minute street rides twice a day, could take full-length fenders and racks, wider tires to handle the roadside debris and other shocks of the road, especially when weighted down with a lot of books, papers, food, and extra clothes. Most of what you see came with the bike. I changed the tires from the stock All-Terrainasaurus (too knobby, too much friction) to Continental Contact 700 x 32. I also put these Forté pedals on. They are platform for street shoes (good grip!) on one side and spd cleat compatible on the other side. I use both street shoes and clipless regularly and find both very comfortable. I added the rack that fits my Topeak bag and, of course, the lights. I also added both cages. In one cage I keep my tools and spare tube, but I’m thinking of getting a saddle/wedge bag for this purpose and carrying two water bottles as I sometimes run out of water, especially if I forget to refill before my return trip.
This is my first singlespeed bike. The hub can also be fitted for fixed-gear on the other side, becoming I guess what is called a “flip-flop” hub. I haven’t added the fixed-gear cog to the hub yet, although I am eager to try it and see what so many cyclists like about fixed-gear. I thought that singlespeed would take some time to get used to. Not at all. So far I’m extremely satisfied with the singlespeed and do not miss having more gears on my relatively flat commutes. When necessary I just stand up and pump.
The biggest advantage of singlespeed for my purposes, it seems, is that I don’t have to mess with tuning and am less likely to have any problems. That’s one thing that makes this more of a “utility bike” in the sense that my Dutch-bike-fan commentator emphasized. The wide tire capacity is another utilitarian element, as is the semi-upright position of the flat bars. This is also my first time with a bike that doesn’t use drop bars. I’m very comfortable with drop bars, having commuted with them (riding the brake lever rubbers) for at least a decade. I find that the flat bars put me in a similar position as drop bars but afford more visibility and greater ease of braking. Whether true or not, I feel that I can reach the brakes a touch faster and I feel that I am more alert to what is happening around me (not just in front).
This bike is wonderful and I’m quite satisfied. My criticisms so far are few. I’m a little disappointed with the “start speed” from stationary position (waiting at a red light) to moving. It takes me longer than I would like to get this bike moving and up to cruising speed. Secondly, it handles corners like an old, overweight dog: stiff, upright and cautious.
If I were to start over looking for a bike for the same functionality (daily commute, transport, and recreation), I’d look seriously at the Surly Cross Check and Surly Long Haul Trucker (touring); Specialized cross bikes; Trek cross bikes; IRO and Soma cross bikes; and perhaps a Redline singlespeed. If I had more money I’d also look at Gunnar and the Dutch luxury commuters by Koga-Miyata. If I had had more patience, I would have continued looking for a nice, older steel frame such as a Miyata, Bridgestone, Centurion, Fuji and others made in the 80s.
Filed under: bicycling, bike transportation, commute biking | Tags: bike sandals
These are new. It still hasn’t rained in the Bay Area (we’ve had one rain, for just a few hours, since May), so I’ll be posting again on how these sandals are once the weather changes. So far, I’ve ridden home in some pretty cold temps–low-50s– with wool socks and felt just fine. The sandals adjust nicely to different thickness of socks– and I have both extremes; ultra-thin and super-thick.
One surprise: I should have thought twice about the waterproof material because without socks on these sandals feel terriblly clammy and uncomfortable after a 45 minute ride: the moisture just doesn’t go away! This has been the one big disappointment, to realize that I can’t wear these sandals without socks in warmer weather– unless I’m ready to take them off as soon as I get off the bike, or put on socks. That’s the drawback to anything “waterproof” and the main reason I avoid clothing labeled as such and much prefer “water resistant”. Okay, I mainly got the sandals for riding in wet conditions so I wouldn’t have to worry about drying out wet shoes at work. But I was looking forward to the “free feet” summer riding without socks. Pity. I could have purchased a different, non-waterproof SPD-compatible sandal (Shimano, Nashbar, and Lake all make them), but none of them have a closed-toe which is something I definitely wanted for fear of injury.
Filed under: bicycling, bike security, bike transportation, commute biking
I just read this in a New York Times article about campus bike programs (10/21/2008):
“Students can wave their ID card over a docking port. The port is attached to a rubber tube, which can be used as a lock and opened by entering an access code. Students must enter the bike’s condition before it can be unlocked. The system is used in Europe, but with credit cards.
The first 15 minutes are free, and users pay 60 cents for each additional 15 minutes, or $2.40 per hour. All 925 resident students automatically become members through their ID cards. The system was intended to be environmentally friendly, with solar panels powering the ports.
A tracking system similar to G.P.S. will keep tabs on the bikes.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/education/20bikes.html?pagewanted=1)
So, bicycle tracking systems similar to GPS do indeed exist.
Filed under: bicycling, bike security, bike transportation, commute biking | Tags: anti-theft device for bicycles
I recently signed up for a free service that uses the wireless card on my laptop to monitor the laptop’s location. The service is free and totally password-protected: only I can find out the location of the laptop. Not even the service provider has access to this information. If the laptop is stolen, I simply put in a request to track it, input my password and get the information.
Is there any way to develop something like this for bicycles? I know that in Brazil, where car theft is epidemic, many car owners choose to have satellite tracking systems as an added feature in their cars. In fact, at one point the legislature was seriously considering mandating this on all new cars (probably as part of some elaborate kickback scheme that politicians rigged). What would something like the laptop wireless tracking system have to look like for a bicycle? Perhaps it could be an innocent little bike computer attached to the handlebar… only with a tiny gps unit or wireless card that sends out a signal occasionally that is then logged in a database that can be accessed if the bike is stolen. Could that work?
For years my bicycle commute was 30 minutes door-to-door each way. By car it was also just under 30 minutes door-to-door on average. This is because where I worked the parking lot for non-VIPs like myself was a good 10 minutes by foot from my office. With the bike I could park just outside the office. Imagine that! Now that my commute is longer (45 minutes each way), I’m not so sure that the car commute time would be so close to the bike commute time. Still, for both of my work sites the parking lot is far enough to add an extra 5 minutes at least to the door-to-door time. Worth considering.
In general I find that bike commute times compare very favorably with car commute times. For a brief, 3 to 5 minute car trip to the grocery store I hardly notice any difference with bike time to the same destination. Even longer trips can end up pretty even with bike time if you take traffic congestion and parking into consideration. For instance, if I were to compare two trips from my home in Sunnyvale to, say, Crissy Field in the Marina district of San Francisco, here’s what I’d probably get. Driving + parking time: between 50 and 70 minutes. Bike + Caltrain: 85 minutes. Not bad at all.
What about my feet? How shall I keep them dry on wet days?
Even on days without rain, if there has been a recent rain and the roads are wet, chances are that dirty water will be splashing up from the road and landing on your feet and ankles, sometimes entering into the shoe or from the top of the sock or spotting your pant cuffs muddy brown.
I’m not sure whether I’ve found the solution to this problem yet, but here’s what I will try this year. Firstly, I’ve decided to switch to clipless. I’ve been riding with toe clips for years now and am comfortable enough with them. The advantage of toe clips on a commute of less than an hour each way is that I don’t have to pack additional work shoes. Yesterday, for instance, there simply was no more room in my bike bags for a pair of shoes. I had books, dvds, lots of papers, change of clothes, inclement weather accessories, and some snack foods. The bags were full! A major benefit of toe clips is wearing street shoes on the commute.
So why would I switch to clipless? Curiosity. I want to find out what it is like. Does it feel better pedalling clipless? Do I get more power and punch out of each revolution? Because this is an experiment, I purchased “multipurpose” platform pedals: on one side they are SPD compatible clipless and on the other side it is a regular platform pedal that takes any street shoe. This will be great for when I want to make a quick trip in the bike to the grocery store or post office but don’t want to change shoes for that purpose. The disadvantage is that if I decided to commute in my street shoes, I won’t have the use of the toe clips for the journey.
Where this choice relates to gearing up for cold and wet riding conditions is in the choice of shoe. After consulting some online discussion forums on the topic, I decided that a cycling sandal could be the best option for cold and wet conditions. It does seem counterintuitive, I know. Here’s what I heard from experienced, year-round sandal commuters: the Keen Commuter sandal is waterproof, first of all. The part of the feet that is exposed, however, benefits from a wool sock that absorbs the wet but stays warm. The sandal, meanwhile, will be quicker to dry out once you get to work because there is really nothing there that soaks up moisture. Now, one can imagine getting the same benefit from a waterproof, fully-enclosed shoe. But there you sacrifice breathability and as I’ve said before, I have never found anything waterproof to be breathable for me. Moreover, my feet are much happier with greater circulation and I have found that of all fabrics, wool keeps them most content of all. What they really prefer (my feet, that is) is ‘to be free’, i.e., no socks at all. Thus with the sandal I can ride without socks MUCH of the year here in northern California, and use various thicknesses of wool socks when the weather is less pristine. I like this idea and am ready to give it a shot. I did talk to some commuters about using a waterproof sock with the sandal or neoprene booty in truly awful conditions and the unanimous response has been: ’sweaty, clammy, uncomfortable, not worth it.’ I think I’m just going to give the sandal + wool combination a shot and see that keeps me steady on rainy/cold days. If I have an extra pair of wool socks in my waterproofed bike bag, I should be fine. (By the way, if it is cheaper to get a bike bag that is NOT classified as a waterproof, do it. Applying a waterproofing spray on a bag is easy and cheap. You can do this yourself at home for less than $10.)
So that’s my plan for keeping my feet and ankles happy this autumn-winter-spring. I don’t know yet, however, what I’ll do to solve my space problem with packing the work shoes I need. Unfortunately, I work in two locations and cannot leave shoes at either location, so that possibility is out. It looks like I may just have to make room somehow in my bag. I did purchase a cheap ($6.00) handlebar bag that I plan on waterproofing myself with a spray. I could use that for my phone, snacks, pen drive, etc. This might create enough space in my bag for the shoes. We’ll see.
Filed under: bicycling, bike transportation, commute biking | Tags: bicycling in the rain
I’ve begun preparing for colder and wetter weather. Here in the southern end of the Bay Area, weather is fairly mild year-round. We’ll have some cold mornings and evenings, sure, but not frosty. We’ll have rain, yes, but not the constant wet pavement of, say, the Pacific Northwest and Seattle, where I grew up. Because the weather is fairly mild even in the heart of winter and the most inclement weather I can expect is heavy rains (usually with fair warning from the weather professionals), I tend to focus on finding clothing that is wind and water RESISTANT not wind and waterPROOF. Why not go with waterproof if it is available at the same cost? Because despite the garment-makers’ claims that the article is “breathable”, I find that this is rarely true for me. With water resistant clothing I usually have the coverage I need to get me through the 10 mile ride to work or back (40 to 45 minutes).
Here’s what I’ve found works pretty well in the past for water resistance. I have some Adidas track pants with knee-to-ankle side zippers and reflectors that have decent water resistance but are very breathable. The disadvantage here is that they are not narrow and can catch in the chainwheel. Another disadvantage is that unless I strap off the ends, water enters up my leg when riding in wet conditions. I also have a pair of Schoeller dry-skin pants with articulated knees that are water resistant in light rain. They have a better design for riding (stretchier, narrower leg, velcro strap at bottom of pant leg, ankle zipper) and they look fine as pants for work, meaning I often do not need to change clothes when I get to work. For me that’s a real bonus because I don’t like changing in the tiny toilet stall in the men’s bathroom. Lastly, I have a pair of Ex Officio convertible, lightweight travel pants that I have sprayed with some kind of waterproofing spray. This worked pretty well, in fact, and does not seem to harm the fabric. On the other hand, the pants did become rather thin and rip in one part. I can’t recall if this was before or after spraying them. This is a consideration: waterproofing spray may damage or at least increase the fragility of synthetic fabrics. Unfortunately for me, these pants, which I use most often for hiking, are not appropriate for work so if I use them I need to change into other pants once I arrive at work. But there are a lot of decent-looking synthetic pants on the market these days, some of them even come with water resistant or waterproof spray on them. I’ve seen many pants of this sort for sale on Sierra Trading for less than $45 a pair and am considering purchasing one pair for this rainy season. Another option, and one that I’ve seen many 4 season commute riders choose, is to get a pair of fitness/running pants and either apply some kind of weatherproofing spray, or have a weatherproof shell handy for one it really pours. I’m considering doing something like that. I’ve been looking for running pants/tights that have some kind of water/wind resistance on them. I did purchase a pair of Illuminate thermal tights from Bike Nashbar. They seem cheaply constructed and feel like plastic. I’m also afraid they are simply too warm. What looks good about them is the illuminating properties, the slim leg design, and the ankle zippers (the leg is so slim that there is really no way to get them on or off with unzipping). I’ve also been looking at a pair of rain pants made for cycling. Novara has one that interests me called the “Express” pant. It is categorized as “very water resistant” and has reflectors, ankle zippers, velcro at the leg bottom, and reinforced fabric on the inside cuff. These are all important features for a cyclist, I believe. What worries me about these pants and the reason why I haven’t decided yet whether or not to get them is the description “very” water resistant: I’m worried they will be too sweaty and clammy inside. But I do need SOMETHING for when it really pours hard. Another option I’m considering is a cycle cape/poncho. I don’t know much about these and have never seen one personally. I also don’t know anyone who uses one. I wonder if they are awkward to bike in or if the wind blows them this way and that, letting water in. In any case, a poncho won’t protect me from all the water and mud coming up from off the street, pedals, and chainwheel, so it won’t solve the pants issue. I’m thinking that if I get wool long underwear I can get away with just water resistant pants (regular pants, track pants, or fitness/running pants) even in a downpour. If I get a lightweight wool (I can also get microweight wool underwear), the wool will absorb whatever water gets through the clothes and keep me warm. Once I get to work I just whip out the dry pants from my bag and strip off the pants and long underwear and let it dry. The question is, will a very lightweight wool long underwear dry in time for my commute home? How will it be to pull on semi-wet long underwear for the return commute? What about the water-resistant pants that got soaked? (Typically, these types of fabrics dry very quickly. My Ex Officio’s do, as do the Schoeller Dryskins and the Adidas track pants).
To Be Continued: what will I do about ankles and feet in the rain? How about torso, arms, head and face?
