Jason: Bike racks and suicide lanes

I rode nearly 40 miles yesterday, including the Critical Mass ride. It’s amazing how much more in-shape I’m feeling these days. I started working out in January, doing cardio and lifting weights. I had ballooned up to nearly 200 lbs, and it was time to start looking a little less like the Pillsbury Doughboy. I’ve lost 20+ pounds since then, and all that cardio and weightlifting has made bike riding a lot more fun than I’ve ever found it before.

I went to Barnes & Noble in Pittsford yesterday and bought Graeme Fife’s Tour De France: The History, the Legend, the Riders. Yes, I know. I’ve been commuting by bike for a month and I’m already reading a book about the Tour. Listen, when I lived in South Carolina I had a license plate that read WANKER, so you know what you’re getting into, OK?

Anyway, I was surprised to see that Barnes & Noble, a place I expect is frequented by cyclists, has a crappy low bike rack that only connects with the front wheel. I don’t know much, but I do know that my front wheel comes off quickly. I’m guessing bike thieves get that, too. And even with two locks (one from wheel to rack and one from wheel to frame), those low racks still seem likely to bend your wheel. What gives?

I’m also surprised that one of Rochester’s most popular bike shops is located on the corner of a four- (and often six-) lane thoroughfare. Coming from downtown, you have to turn left from the suicide lane to get into Park Ave Bike Shop on Monroe Ave. (It used to be on Park Ave, thus the name.) I know that our roads should be more bike-friendly, but until that day, why is the shop in such a dangerous spot?

• While I was out riding, I took pictures.

Enough kvetching for now. I had a great day on my bike yesterday, and I’m really falling in love with the whole idea of being a cyclist. Not a flashy one, just a guy on a bike.