Category: Neato

A quick one (before I leave)

Hi everyone.  I’m in the midst of grading final exams, term papers, and preparing final grades this week, so I haven’t had much time to write.  As I write this, sitting on the couch under a blanket, I find myself looking around for reasons to delay the inevitable bike to ride to work in the rain.  So I’ll share a few links I ran across yesterday.

First, my friend Charlie sent me this story about a rather miraculous Dutch woman.  Read it, then pick your jaw up off the floor.  The takeaway?  Apparently, the best treatment for being paralyzed after getting hit by a car is getting hit by another car.

Then, my friend Pat emailed me this link about how bikes can save us.  The article and accompanying infographic make several very good points – scroll down and look at the graph on obesity rates v. trips made my bike – and does so using really nice design.  Pat and I have had several interesting conversations about design recently, something I always appreciate.

Finally, the always blogtastic (and recently married) Cort posts this about the Starry Nights Holiday Bicycle Recycle Bike Giveaway.  There are opportunities this week and weekend to volunteer to help assemble bikes for worthy kiddies.  I’m going to try to volunteer on Sunday.

OK, gotta run.  This final exam ain’t gonna grade itself.

Biking in … other cities?

I’m finally digging myself out of the back log of work from my ridiculously busy October.  As evidence, here’s a couple of articles I bookmarked from late-September that are somewhat less than relevant today, in terms of being breaking news.  Good news, to be sure, but no longer front page, above the fold.

As part of the super-busy October (and November) I have done a bit of traveling.  The trips were around 50-50 work/fun and most of them involved two or three nights in a major American city.  And so today I’m going to share some pictures and a few comments about the cyclists, bicycles, and bicycle facilities I saw in these three cities.  First stop: Chicago.

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I was in Chicago in mid-October for a conference, followed immediately by a guy’s weekend.  It was a really great trip; I never knew how much I loved Chicago-style pizza.  I was really impressed with how active the city felt.  At all hours of the day and night, people were on the streets, going to restaurants, bars, shops, and so on.  Granted, we were in the part of downtown Chicago nearest Michigan Avenue, but still.  It was really exciting.

I also saw numerous cyclists of all varieties.  I didn’t take too many pictures of them – too busy eating pizza I guess – but I did run across this website about Chicago’s cycling infrastructure.  The bravery of the cyclists really impressed me.  Biking along with traffic on a super-busy street didn’t seem to faze them, even without bike lanes.  I did snap this picture, though.

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Lovely fixie.

And this one as well.

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Here’s a few more shots from Chicago.

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On top of the world at the John Hancock Center.

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Drinks on top of the world are even better.

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NOM.

Next stop was Washington, D.C., where I attended yet another conference a couple of weeks ago.  I stayed near the Adams-Morgan neighborhood, which I thoroughly loved.  D.C. also has quite an extensive cycling infrastructure, including a city-wide bike rental program.  Here’s a few shots of what I saw there.

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My hotel.

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Bike share!  Not the prettiest bikes you’ve ever seen, but I saw lots people riding them.  Here’s a map of the system.

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And here’s a couple of additional shots I took.

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Bike parking near a Metro station.

After leaving D.C. I headed to Baltimore where my friend Jason lives.  It was my second time there, other than the hours I spent watching “The Wire.”  Upon arriving at Jason’s house, I saw this on his kitchen window sill.

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Yes, a penny-farthing pizza cutter.  Le swoon.  We soon left for dinner, and I saw these amazing bike racks outside the restaurant.

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Maybe the coolest ever.  I wonder what Cort would say?

I didn’t get to see much of Baltimore’s biking infrastructure as I was only there for one day.  Fortunately, on the flight home I got a free upgrade to first class!

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A free gin and tonic always makes flying and grading papers much more fun.

That’s all for now.  Look for a post soon about the beginning of my winter cycling adventures.

Success

I just want to say thanks to everyone who helped make Bike-to-Campus Day a success.  Ty and Cort – thanks for helping me publicize the event.  Thanks to all the Memphis bike shops who displayed posters: Victory Bicycle Studio, the Peddler Bike Shop, Outdoors Inc., and Midtown Bike Company.  And a special thanks to the Peddler for donating the water bottles.  They were a big hit.

And a huge thanks to everyone who rode today.  I really appreciate everyone’s support.  As soon as I get some pictures, I’ll post them.  Cheers.

Weekend wrap-up

People.  I have good news (and bad) for the Memphis biking community: the Shelby Farms Greenline will be receiving $3.3 million to be extended east to Cordova.  This is awesome.  I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to Cordova in the five years I’ve lived in Memphis.  With this new cycling path, perhaps my visits out east will become more frequent.

But here’s the bad news: $1.1 million for a bike-lane project on Broad Avenue was declined.  I don’t know what this means for extending the Greenline west to Midtown – whether or not other sources of funds for this project have been identified – but it’s a drag to have this initiative not receive funding.

Have you registered for the Bluff City Blues 100?  I haven’t, but only because I’ll be out of town that day.  Get on that ride and support a good cause.

I’m not so crazy about e-bikes – I like an unassisted ride – but if I were to buy one, this might just be the one.

…..

Dear Santa,

I promise I’ve been a good boy this year.  I ate all my vegetables and made my bed every day.  Now just bring me some MonkeyLectric Lights and there won’t be any problems, fat man. Capiche?  Because I’ve got a u-lock with your name on it otherwise.

Love,

Doug

…..

A bicycle mecca?  Yes, please.  Also, I did not realize that Anthony Siracusa rode across the entire freakin’ US of A when he was only 16.  FTW, Anthony.

Don’t forget that funding for cycling projects is never guaranteed.  It’s a shame that we have to fight for these dollars.  Don’t hesitate to contact your local Congressional representative.

Drivers, be nice out there.

So, what is the difference between cyclists and drivers?  At least in my state we have equal rights to the roads?  Is there any reason to classify us differently?  I think not.

Big thanks to Cort and Ty for helping me promote Bike to Campus Day.  I hope to see you all there.  Let’s all show that Memphis is a cycling-friendly and active town.

Mid-week review

Hi people.  Today was a fucking lovely day to be biking in Memphis.  The weather this morning was slightly chilled, but not too bad, and this afternoon was unbeatable.  At one point, as I was turning right on Madison from McLean, I could have sworn I was in Seattle.

I’ve been wearing my knee warmers, which I purchased from the Peddler a few weeks ago, on my morning commutes; they seem to be helping.  Hal recommended that I wear them whenever the temperature drops below 70ºF, which seemed a little extreme at first.  But he explained that the area under the kneecap gets very little warming blood and as a result the knee is prone to injury in cold weather.  Given that I was out of commission for several weeks in January due to an overly-ambitious cold-weather ride on the Greenline, I am taking much better care of my knees.  Can’t genuflect without them, you know.

Interbike 2011 was last week, and while I don’t see myself heading out for such a huge bike expo anytime soon, it’s nice to see reports from there on the other biking blogs I read.  For example, check out this absolutely sick set of bike tire chains from Slipnot Traction.  I mean, how cool is that?  Makes me want to move someone snowy.

And, have a gander at these ridonkulous lights from LED by LITE.  I’ve long wanted turn signals for my bike, and you know my love of bike lights (four rear, two front and counting).  This might be the solution that I’ve been dreaming about.

Lastly, check out this clothes-folding system for commuter cyclists.  I’ve never been particularly worried about having wrinkled clothes – that’s an academic for you! – but I might kludge my own version of this for use on my commutes.

Hey, are you a real cyclist?  I guess I am.

It’s comforting to know that Memphis is not alone in having a backlash against bike lanes.  I mean, Portland of all places?  I can sympathize with the complaints about gentrification.  Too many neighborhoods have been bifurcated or simply torn down in the name of “progress.”  Most familiar-sounding quote from the article?

“There was the feeling that the city just rolled through with this.”

Des Moines also suffers from some anti-bike lane paranoia.  But I hear it’s so flat out there …

I admit, sometimes I lose a little steam with my blogging.  Being so busy preparing for my new job plus teaching almost 300 students and keeping up with all my job responsibilities (not to mention housework) can be a little daunting.  So it’s always great to get a little love, like I did today on the facebooks.

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I’ve always favored world domination of any sort, but bicycle world domination has to be the best.  Thanks for the shout-out, Matt.  Maybe my blog will be mentioned in an article like that someday.

What made my day earlier this week was being recommended by Clark over at Victory Bicycle Studio for inclusion in a photo series by local photographer and bike mechanic Nathan Berry.  Nathan is taking pictures of local cyclists in their everyday street clothes in an effort to demystify cycling.  I really like the idea and was happy to sit for some pictures.  The project will culminate in an art opening on 14 October in the Broad Street neighborhood.  Sadly, I’ll be out of town for the event, but I’m really honored to have been cited by Clark as a prominent local cyclist.  I guess it goes to show what hundreds of miles biking and a blog can do for you.

The good people over at Greater Memphis Greenline posted this map of all the multi-use trails around town.  I had no idea there were so many such facilities scattered around town.  I can’t wait for the day when they connect with one another seamlessly.  And for a good chuckle, zoom in on the U of M campus.  We are positively dense with biking possibilities apparently.

Agreed.

Speaking of the Greenline, the second in the series of I Love Memphis murals, envisioned by Kerry Crawford of the awesome I Love Memphis blog is being installed even as we speak on our favorite rails-to-trails facility.  I loved the first such mural, located in my neighborhood as it is, and I’m really excited about the new one.  Can’t wait to bike by it and take a few pictures.

Yes, please!

Q: Are bikes more environmentally friendly than cars?  (I mean, do you really have to ask that question?)  A: Yes, they are.  By a mile.

More lighted awesomeness.  Expensive, but still awesome.  Damn my budget constraint!

I can’t say that I’ve ever really wanted to take a tall bike on my daily commute, but this video by the good people at Live from Memphis just might change my mind.

Speaking of Live from Memphis, go here to see their pictures from the recent Midnight Classic.

Well, I didn’t make the list of the 50 most influential bike bloggers this year, but there’s always next year.  Still, check out the list for some gems.  I particularly love Commute by Bike and Bike Commuters, for obvious reasons.

Do I really need more lights?  Oh, why not.  They’re so inexpensive!

Yes, please (part two)!

80% bike network coverage?  It looks like Hoboken is giving Portland a run for its money.  Although it appears that Portland is safe for the time being.  Notable fact from the article? Hoboken’s City Council approved these efforts unanimously. You listening, Memphis City Council?

…

Well, what started out as a short mid-week post has turned into a massive purge of all the biking-related links I’ve been saving over the past few weeks.  Look for another post soon.  Until then, keep biking in Memphis.

A smattering of stuff

I am so happy for the onset of autumn that I can hardly stand it.  The air smells like burning wood, the night arrives earlier, and I find myself wanting to go to a college football game.  Or at least watch one on TV.  For the purposes of this blog, the weather has gotten so much better for biking it is not even funny.  Instead of being bathed in sweat when I arrive home in the afternoon, I am merely glistening with perspiration.  Quite a difference, I assure you.

Before I get to my day’s rides, I have some good news to share with you.  The League of American Bicyclists has bestowed on our fair city not one but two awards!  We’ve received an Honorable Mention as a bike-friendly city and a Bronze-Level Bicycle Friendly Business Award.  The former is due to the construction of more than 120 miles of cycling facilities in the past 8 years; the latter is due to the installation of bike-commuter facilities, like showers and bike racks, at local businesses.  This is such good news and portends a great future for Memphis as a biking city.

Yesterday was a quite uneventful day on my bike.  I left for work in the morning then came home in the evening.  Now that the beginning of the semester has given way to the realization that we’re not getting out of this until December, my students have become much more docile.  Despair with do that to you.

Here’s a map of my ride yesterday.

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See that?  How wonderfully boring.  There and back again, on the same road no less.  Sometimes that’s nice.

Aaaaaannnnnd here’s my map from today.

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This is what running an errand at Poplar Plaza does for my ride.

You’ll note the circuitous route I took from campus to the store.  I completely skipped Central and Highland and instead biked down Midland to Greer to Joffree.  Why the extra miles?  It was rush hour when I left my office.  And as short as the bike ride down Central and up Highland would have been, I just did not feel like dealing with traffic.

But I had to ultimately, as I needed to run another errand on Cooper, which meant biking from the end of the Chickasaw Gardens route down to my ‘hood.  It wasn’t so bad until Cooper bottlenecks at Central (coming from the north).  I’m not going to be dramatic and say that I almost got run off the road, but I did choose to wait on the sidewalk next to the nursery at Cooper and Central until the light turned red and I could safely rejoin traffic.

Thursday I’m biking to campus and then Boscos for a beer around 8ish.  Hope your Thursday is good too.

Oh and guess what?  We’re still waiting.

Yesterday and today

Hi everyone.  I’ve been a bit slack in my writing in the past couple of weeks, but with good reason.  Fall semester began just under two weeks ago and, no matter how much preparation I do, there’s always 1,000,000 tasks that need to be completed in the first days of the term.  That, plus being taken out of commission for a few days due to some weird, random abdominal pains, I haven’t felt like writing much.  This means that I have an ever-growing backlog of daily rides, articles, and special events to write about.  (It’s good to know that I’ll never run out of fodder for posts.)  So I’ll knock out a couple of them right now.

Last night was the third Cycle Memphis group ride.  Last month’s event was ridiculously fun, so I arrived at the gazebo at the intersection of Cooper and Young with high expectations for this month’s ride.  I’ve learned to accept that group bike rides will often start a minute or two later than advertised; this just means more time for socializing.  Once the ride began we set off from Cooper-Young and headed down Young Avenue to Barksdale.  We then biked north to … well, just check out the map.

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And here’s a clickable link.

So basically, we biked through Midtown to the north end of downtown, then down 2nd Street to Court Square Park.  There we rested for moment, took a group picture or two, then headed south again on 2nd Street.  I loved biking past the throngs of people in downtown – hell, I just loved seeing throngs of people in downtown – and waving to them.  It was really great to see the stares and hear the comments from bystanders.

The best part of the ride?  Hands down it was biking on Riverside Drive.  Honestly, I was a little nervous about it at first.  When traffic is heavy on that road there’s not much room to move if things get heavy.  But coming down the bluff and seeing the river and the bridges come into view … it was really amazing.  The fact that Kanye West was playing on the mobile sound system only added to the awesomeness.

After a stop or two to fix a flat tire we headed back to Cooper-Young.  Quite a few people dropped off the ride before the end; the crowd at the gazebo was a bit smaller than last time. And sadly there was no spontaneous dance party.  But that’s OK.  There’s always next time.

Other coolness from the ride: I finally met Ty from Living Loud in Midtown!  I was waiting at the intersection of Linden and Cleveland for cyclists to pass when another rider stopped with me.  We continued on and chatted and, lo and behold, it was Ty.  He recognized me from my blog.  It was really cool meeting a fellow cyclist and blogger.  Ty: let’s have a beer soon, and thanks for the shout-out.

I arrived home from the ride and promptly went to bed.  (OK fine … I actually sat outside and read for a bit while swatting away mosquitos.  I think I crashed around 2:00 AM.)  But today began sometime this morning, and so I decided to run a few errands on the bike.

Errand #1: take a huge pile of mixed-paper recyclables to the recycling bins at First Congo.  The reason: the pile of magazines on and under our coffee table was getting a little ridiculous.  So I decided to load those magazines into my panniers and dump them.  My best guess is that each pannier weighed about 30 pounds fully loaded.  That made my bike ride to the recycling center quite fun.  Here’s a few pictures.

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Yep, that’s a lotta paper.

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Close-up of pannier #1.  Quite a load, right?

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Feed me, Seymour!

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And a little more for my messenger bag.

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Ahhhh … much better.

Next I headed to the Easy Way on Cooper for a few veggies.  Here’s the scene.

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Nice parking job, if I do say so myself.  Unfortunately, Easy Way doesn’t open until noon on Sunday, so I had to wait for about an hour to complete my shopping.  Hello, Otherlands!

Here’s a map of my ride today.

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Nice and boring, just like I like it.

Memphis, I hope your weekend was as good as mine.  Look for more stories about biking in Memphis soon.  Good night.

Catching up: Round 1

Since I’m bed-ridden for the time being, I thought I’d use this opportunity to catch up on some articles I’ve been meaning to share with you, dear readers.  (If it’s not obvious already, I’m a really bad patient when I’m sick.  I don’t whine or complain or annoy my caretakers; I just have a hard time sitting still and resting for an extended period of time.  After a few hours I’m ready to get up and organize something, or do some laundry, or anything.  I know … I need to work on this.)  I’m going through these in roughly chronological order, so you might have seen some from this first batch, as they are the oldest.  Whatever the case, here we go …

I had a rather unpleasant and unfortunately typical biking on Madison the other day.  It was Monday afternoon, around 5:30, and I was heading home from buying the wrong lightbulbs at Home Depot.  (No, I did not mean to buy the wrong ones.)  I was heading east and had just crossed McLean.  I’m sure you’ve noticed how tight Madison gets right there: parked cars to the right, narrow traffic lanes, little room to bail if something happens.  In hindsight I should have more assertive as I entered that stretch and taken the lane, but for whatever reason, I didn’t.

The first few cars to pass me did so fully in the left lane.  But then an elderly woman driving a Mazda decided to “share the lane” with me, without asking me first of course.  I figure her right-hand-side mirror came within about 18 inches of my handlebars.  It was at that point that I began to yell profanities and make certain hand gestures.

I’ve had a conversation or two about this.  I don’t think I suffer from road rage, at least not when I’m driving my car, but when people come that close to me on my bike, it does touch a nerve. I have made a concerted effort to be less hostile to inconsiderate drivers of late, and more thankful of those that do obey the rules.  So it was with great interest and a feeling of community that I read this article.  I really like the author’s principles of peaceful biking.  As soon as I get back to being a normal human being, I’m going to give them a try.

And speaking of being mindful and calm about the numerous offenses and infractions we cyclists must suffer at the hands of idiot drivers … oh wait, never mind.

But really, here’s a great video on greenway etiquette, courtesy the City of Memphis

Sometimes the planets align in interesting ways and I manage to find not one, not two, but three Star Wars-related custom bike (or bike accessory) articles in one week.  ”The Empire Strikes Bike” … how awesome is that?  (h/t to Kyle)

Speaking of awesome …

The Bluff City Blues 100 Ride is coming up soon.  I won’t be riding, but maybe you’d like to.  It looks like fun.

It’s never really been a concern of mine, mostly because my hair is pretty short (and my standards of grooming are somewhat “relaxed”), but here’s an interesting take on the issue of helmets and hair.

And finally, bringing it back to being mindful and cycling, here’s a great article about yoga for cyclists, courtesy my pal Leah.

Look for another round of articles soon, my people.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I’ve been meaning to mention how much I love the new Reading List feature in Safari.  It’s made collecting links for my weekly wrap-up considerably easier.  I know, there’s probably some Firefox plugin that does it 10x better, but I am after all a creature of habit.  Safari became my default browser around the time it first showed up in my Dock.  So there.

OK, on with the news.  Pleasanton, California deserves big props for using microwave technology to protect cyclists.  Microwaves: not just for burritos anymore.

The effort to get bike lanes on Madison – seriously, I think those are probably the words most commonly used together on this blog – continues.  Visit the blog and sign the petition if you haven’t, please.  Here’s a great article by the creator of said blog and petition.  Hat tip to Les Edwards everyone.

The Memphis MPO wants your pictures.

It’s good to know that North Carolina appreciates complete streets.  So do Tupelo and Hernando.  Hopefully Memphis will too.

Have you heard of Drag’n Frozen Treats?  No?  Well, you have now.  Hit up the dude for some heat-beating treats.

This is awesome.  (h/t Cort).  So is this.

So it looks like bike lanes aren’t that bad after all.

Haters gonna hate.  Also, biking in a skirt is really, really bad.

Yes, please.

The good people over at Operation Broken Silence are organizing a Ride for Refuge bike ride on 5 November at Shelby Farms.  I hope to be there, but my morning is already booked and the ride leaves at 1:00 PM.  It’ll be a stretch, but if I can be there, I will be.  You should be too.  (h/t Ryan)

And then there’s this.  Suffice to say that I will have more to say in the coming days.  Stay tuned, my people.

Yesterday’s rides

Yesterday was a really great day to be biking in Memphis.  My biking day began at the Rock and Roll Revolution group bike ride, sponsored by the good people at Revolutions Community Bike Shop and led by none other than the city’s Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator Kyle Wagenschutz.  The ride was part of the weekend-long Rock for Love festivities, the proceeds of which benefit the good people at the Church Health Center.  There was no charge for the ride, but it definitely raised awareness about the weekend’s festivities.

The riders congregated in the parking lot next to Shangri-La Records beginning at 10:30 AM and, after a few words by Kyle and Les Edwards, the local CPA who created the awesome Madison Avenue Bike Lanes blog and petition, we hit the road.  (Note: over 1240 people have signed the petition, well over the initial goal of 250 signees.  Have you signed?)  Here’s a map of the route we took.

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Pretty cool, huh?  The starting point on the map is my house, so you have to follow just the routes from Madison east of McLean and west from there to see where we biked.  Here’s a clickable link to the map.

Here’s a couple of shots of the crowd just before we left.

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We ended having about two dozen cyclists, so the pictures don’t really do the crowd justice.

I have to say, group bike rides are about my favorite way to spend a few hours on a weekend.  It’s really great to ride with others, get to know new people, and have a reason to get on my bike beyond commuting to work.  I met several new people this weekend, reconnected with some I already knew, and generally had a great time.  Several people from Live from Memphis were in attendance, including one guy with a hard-ass cargo bike and a camera mounted to his helmet.  I gotta get one of those.  Kyle did a great job of leading the group.  We rode at a very moderate pace, stopping at every stop sign and red light, so there were several times when the people in the front had to wait for those bringing up the rear to catch up. That’s OK with me … all the better to see Memphis on a level I hardly ever get to.

Speaking of, check out this awesome looking bar I saw somewhere near downtown.

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Yes, that is what awesome looks like.  It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the place is called the Knight’s Castle Bar, Grill, and Club.  I’ll probably never actually go there; that would involve leaving the house, which I am really bad at, but I love finding new and interesting parts of Memphis.  BTW, do you see the dark storm clouds in the above picture?  Somehow we managed to dodge the rain which apparently soaked much of Midtown.  Lucky us.

After leaving Shangri-La, we biked west on Madison, then south on McLean to Peabody, then west to Bellevue.  We followed Bellevue south to McLemore, then west to Mississippi, then northwest to GE Patterson.  We then biked west to Front, north to Peabody Place, then stopped for a rest at the City Market, which I’ve been meaning to visit.  Here’s a few shots from that.

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Hello new friend.

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Peeps.

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More peeps.

After chillaxing for a few, we biked to Jefferson, then east to Cleveland, south to Monroe, east to some road I’ve forgotten, then Madison back to Shangri-La.  Including biking up and back, my total ride was 16.5 miles.  Not a bad day.

After biking home and showering, I took an unplanned but much welcomed nap.  After that it was about time for dinner, so my wife and I biked to the Slider Inn, a new restaurant at Peabody and Cooper.  I had heard good things about the restaurant, located at the site of the short-lived Bluff City Bayou.  All I have to say to the people at the Slider, is that you had me when I saw this:

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The food was really good and the service was top-notch, although I’d love to see more vegetarian options.  But given that the restaurant is still in “soft open” phase, I am confident that the menu will be much improved and expanded soon.  Overall, we loved it.  We’ll be back soon.

On our way home we decided to take the long way and biked down Peabody to Carr to Diana to Vinton to Rembert to Higbee to Barksdale.  Just as we were nearing Higbee, i heard a loud pop – the kind that makes Memphians look around for gunfire – followed by what sounded like tree branches hitting the ground.  Sure enough, not ten seconds before we turned right on Higbee, a massive tree branch had fallen onto the street.  I was too shocked to take a picture, but had we been there a few seconds sooner, my biking days might be done. Chilling.

We stopped by Black Lodge on our way home and rented Vinyan, which was OK but really fell apart at the end.  Not recommended.  Then sleep, work today, and here I am.

I hope your weekend was good, my people.  Look for another blog post soon.  Until then, have fun biking in Memphis.