cruising down park ave
the birds are singing away
cars are missing this
We have the occasional train story here on RocBike, given that several of us are regular or semi-regular (irregular?) train riders. In fact, I rode Amtrak today to get home after contracting the stomach flu in Rochester over the weekend. Jen and the boys drove home yesterday, and I rode the train today.
Here’s some good news:
Budget saves Amtrak’s Adirondack line
By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor
Last updated: 1:03 p.m., Monday, March 30, 2009Full state operating support was restored for Amtrak’s Adirondack service from the Capital Region to Montreal, ensuring the train operates for another year, the president of the Empire State Passengers Association said this morning.
UPDATE: Here’s a link for the Empire State Passengers Association.
On Sunday May 3, 2009 the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society will hold its annual MS WALK.
More than 1,000 walkers will be starting at the Genesee Valley Park – Roundhouse Pavilion, on the east side of the river, to raise funds in the fight to stop Multiple Sclerosis.
We are in need of four patrollers to ride your bicycle or walk in the parking lot and along the route. You will be the eyes and ears of the medical and security staff of the MS WALK.
You will need a cell phone, along with your bicycle or walking shoes, and appropriate clothing. The event is held rain or shine.
Patrollers will be needed from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Food and beverage provided.
Please RSVP to rdsbike@rochester.rr.com
Thank you,
Richard DeSarra
585.461.5363
No links of the day this past week, but hey, now you get some links of the week!
This video is worth watching. I appreciate a cyclist admitting he does dangerous things. I also appreciate his calm explanations of why things are dangerous.
It’s because of little moments like this one:
wait, isn’t it spring?
why are my fingers freezing?
bike on.
Marlene Heuer and Peter Lazarski are two of my favorite artists – you’ll see their work displayed prominently in my house – but on top of that, they share a 2 bike, 1 car household. We sat down to discuss their methods and experiences as utility cyclists, and their hopes for the future of bike commuting.
If you’re a Rochestarian you’ve probably already seen some of their work; Marlene posts her art at Mother Popcorn and Peter is over at But I’m a wizard!.
The RocBike Review #8: Profiles in Bike Commuting - Marlene Heuer and Peter Lazarski [20:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
The Cranes took our first family trip to NYC yesterday. While we strolled through Central Park, I took some photos of pedicabs. Enjoy:
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| From Cranes In Manhattan |
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| From Cranes In Manhattan |
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| From Cranes In Manhattan |
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| From Cranes In Manhattan |
The rest of my photos from our trip are here:
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| Cranes In Manhattan |
Doug Ramsey, who writes very entertainingly about jazz at his site Rifftides, has this to say about getting back on the bike this year.
On a side note, I’ve interviewed Doug on my show, The Jazz Session. You can listen to the show, if you’d like.
I’ve been wanting to spend a lot of time on the late ’40’s RoadMaster Luxury Liner I just got rolling a little while ago, it just rides so smooth, and looks so good.
So, I rode it to work the other day, on one of the nicest days of the year so far:
My first cruiser commute of ‘09. It was a lot of fun but I realized I had been spoiled over the winter by having multiple gears on my commuting rig, suddenly it’s a bit more work to push a bike up a hill on a single speed. But I will get that back soon as I start to cruise to work more and more.
Incidentally, that crappy department store girls MTB in the background has not moved from the bike rack since I started working there over a year ago. And incidentally, it’s also a RoadMaster.
This bike is perfect for giving my girl a ride around the hood. She just sits side-saddle on the top tube. I have to pedal bow-legged but it works.
Here’s a video:
She loves it :)
Out of one hundred and sixty six potential posts on the bike blogs today, nine which I saw fit to share.
Jack did a little bit of rabble rousing on Saturday when he came out against cycling! Check out his post to understand his reasoning. I myself prefer to walk on trails that are not all torn up by mountain bikers, so I understand where Jack is coming from.
Tryon Park is the central front in this war, as it’s one of the more popular parks for mountain bikers, but seems less utilized by foot traffic. I dropped by there last night on a scouting mission.
No obvious signage indicating lesser class status for bikers.
The drier parts of the park seem to be holding up well, even with the bike use . . .
. . . but the wetter parts of the park have uneven and torn-up paths. These tracks had pretty much hardened.
What sort of jerk is tearing up the park with his shoes? Oh, that’s me.
In the interest of a truce, I suggest letting the mountain bikers try to coexist with the foot traffic at Tryon Park first. Let’s take it slow.
P.S. While I was standing at the entrance to Tryon Park, I got to witness a pole-mounted transformer explode! I waited around until the fire trucks came:
Don’t forget, this Thursday in Rochester: Let’s Talk Cycling.
News 8 ran a short interview with Jean Triest and Frank Regan about the event.
I liked what Frank had to say, though he could probably cut his soundbytes down a bit (the reporter had to kind of drag his point out of him).
Also, I’m glad Jean is talking about cycling as someone from the county government. And I know Traffic Safety is her job. So I mean the following criticism with full respect and appreciation.
But I do feel that her helmet lecture was too much. I know she means well. But if helmets prevent 89% of head trauma as Jean says, why not tell motorists to wear helmets? Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of head injuries in America. Head trauma in motor vehicle accidents kills many thousands of people a year, with head injuries occurring in 70% of severe crashes.
If you’re going to tell cyclists to wear helmets, you should probably add that with or without a helmet, safe cycling will raise your life expectancy while safe driving lowers it. And remember: the few studies that we’ve done on this topic show that the “weight of evidence is against the encouragement of cyclists to wear helmets.” I’d like to see more studies on this, and until then, I’ll wear my helmet in most contexts and stop telling other people that they should.
One way we could make Monroe County’s road really safe is to convince everyone to stop driving cars and to ride bikes instead. That may take a few millennia of advocacy (and some serious global warming), but it’s not going to come any quicker if people think that bike riding gets their heads smashed more than car driving does.
Anyway, Jean gets bonus points for saying that bikes have a right to be in the road, for giving some real practical advice on how to ride safely, and for spending time on the county dime covering bike safety issues. I’ll see you all on Thursday.
Sometimes the explosion of interest in bicycling actually saddens me. How so? How can a fanatic two-wheel advocate and activist feel or say anything negative about our beloved mode of transport, which is exceeded in holiness only by the canoe (only one moving part – and it doesn’t get any better than that)? Well, consider what many of our local brethren and sistren, as the late Molly Ivins would have called them, are up to.
An organized group of off-road cyclists, the product of years of passionate but disorganized efforts, seems determined to open a couple, and perhaps eventually all of the Monroe County Parks trails to “shared use” by mountain bikers. A draft Master Plan regarding the county parks around the rim of Irondequoit Bay is rapidly moving toward adoption – so rapidly as to arouse suspicions of insider influence. Among other things, the plan would legalize mountain biking, within stated limits, in Tryon and Irondequoit Bay West parks. I say “legalize” rather than “introduce” because rogue cyclists long ago invaded these and other county parks. I regularly see these “enthusiasts” in Highland, the most urban park in the system, where I’ve come close to being run over by off-trail slalom freaks. And just last week, on one of my regular strolls there, I paused to tamp down a gash left in the wet soil of the Pinetum by a lugged tire powered by some Lug Nut. And as for Tryon Park – why, to hike there is to enter a laboratory of off-road-bike-wrought destruction.
Well, my purpose here isn’t to rant, though a little bit of that feels mighty good. No, I want to enlist bicyclists of conscience in an environmentalist campaign to limit mountain biking in the parks, preserve the fragile park habitats and ambience, and prevent unpleasant or even dangerous interactions of hikers and bikers on narrow trails. Bikes are vehicles, and they’re not appropriate “sharers” of walking trails, even on durable soils. It should be possible to create special-use areas on appropriate sites (newly purchased parklands, anyone?) for mountain bikes, but that’s not what the Master Plan is focused on, nor is that what the off-roaders seem to desire. In any case, the county may take irreversible, or at least difficult-to-reverse, action on the plan very soon. So get plugged in, and let me know if you need more information. For starters, read the letter below, then check out the environmentalist website www.parkspreservation.org, which has considerable background material and a link to the text of the Master Plan. Thanks to all.
March 13, 2009
TO: Hon. Maggie Brooks, County Executive, et al.
RE: Ellison Park Area Master Plan Update
Dear County Executive:
The thirteen undersigned organizations find the draft Master Plan for parkland around Irondequoit Bay to be unacceptable. The proposed Master Plan does not represent the interests of the residents and park users of Monroe County, but instead, the interests of a small, vocal user group. It does not meet its stated goals of conservation and sustainability. In short: mountain biking does not belong on existing, often narrow and winding, park trails.
Please consider:
• A ban on off-road bicycles was written into our park code for good reasons that remain valid today. It was based on concerns for the safety of the public, and the care of our environment. Political winds should not compromise proper park stewardship.
• Safety is a major concern. Trail walkers must not be placed in harm’s way by cyclists traveling on the same narrow dirt trail. The experience of walkers is greatly diminished if they must be looking over their shoulders for oncoming cyclists. “Shared use” is a myth on existing, narrow park trails.
• Numerous public statements have been made, and letters written, both from individuals and prominent environmental organizations, that express serious concerns about opening our parks to cyclists. The draft Master Plan ignores these concerns.
• The Master Plan states, “public comment indicated that this [shared use trails in Tryon Park] is something that is highly desired by the community.” This is a misrepresentation of the public comments. The comments of members of the undersigned organizations, representing some 6000 citizens, indicate a lack of support for shared use on existing park trails. A single, small special interest group of mountain bikers does not represent the community, or most park users.
• There were major, unacceptable changes introduced in the Master Plan presented to the Parks Advisory Committee (PAC) in February 2009, despite representations by the Parks Director and Consultant at the January 2009 PAC meeting that there would be no substantial change to the preliminary recommendations.
• These major changes included the use of existing trails in Tryon rather than carefully designed sustainable trails, the addition of a second park (Bay Park West) for mountain biking, and proposed shared use trail loops in the Ellison Wetlands.
• We are concerned about environmental impacts caused by cycling on steep, erodible trails. Simply allowing use on existing trails without considering impacts is not good stewardship.
• With the many miles of recently constructed multi-use trails (Genesee Riverway, Genesee Valley Greenway, Lehigh Valley, etc) there are ample bike paths in the county to help cyclists stay healthy. The county park trails are a unique domain without faster traffic where walkers can safely do the same. To claim that mountain biking on park trails is necessary to stem the epidemic of childhood obesity is to distort the facts.
All the above concerns cause us to ask: Is there an unstated agenda to open all trails for shared use in the Ellison Park Complex? Will Ellison Park Complex be the first falling domino in the county park system, as we open each park to off-road cycling? That is the stated goal of the mountain biking organization.
This is a cause for alarm for all park users, for all of us who cherish our parks as one of our County’s greatest resources, and pay for them with our taxes.
Finally, the master planning process has not been inclusive. We recommend that a citizen participation group comprised of diverse representative user group organizations work with the consultant and Parks officials in order to contribute ideas and review and discuss each successive draft in the process.
We urge our County Executive and our Legislators to continue to be proper park stewards and to resist the political pressures so that we, our children and grandchildren will be able to have access to safe, environmentally sound, park trails. We urge you to reject this draft Master Plan at this time – there are too many important issues that must first be addressed.
Respectfully submitted,
Burroughs Audubon Nature Club, Center for Sustainable Living, Federation of Monroe County Environmentalists, Genesee Valley Audubon Society, Genesee Valley Hiking Club, Living in Harmony, People for Parks, Rochester Area Mycological Association, Rochester Birding Association, Rochester Butterfly Club, Sierra Club (Rochester Regional Group), League of Women Voters (Rochester Metropolitan Area), Wednesday Hikers
Greta Page-Mann shares her methods and experiences after many years of using bikes instead of cars. Greta is one of the most easy-going bike commuters I’ve met, and her no-nonsense attitude really comes through in this interview.
This episode is intentionally shorter and has better sound quality than the previous. I’m going to try to keep these things to around 20 minutes apiece.
The RocBike Review #7: Profiles in Bike Commuting - Greta Page-Mann [21:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Today was the first time someone has ever yelled “Wear a helmet!” to me – and he was a school kid riding in a bus!
On Saturday night, Henry Sun was out walking near his house in Brighton, a Rochester suburb, and was struck and killed by a motorist. He was 14.
We had our first thunderstorm of the season that night. The details are vague and contradictory on the various news web sites, but it appears that Henry was walking in the shoulder of the road, was struck at about 8 p.m., he then later passed away at the hospital, and police have not charged the motorist.
The police have stated that there are sidewalks in the area, but news sources have quoted some who say there are no sidewalks (and Google Street View backs up the lack-of-sidewalk claims). A story in the Democrat and Chronicle discusses neighbor complaints about speeding on that stretch of road, which is known as “The Elmwood Expressway.”
Henry’s death moves me more than most deaths I read about. I was riding just south of the neighborhood where Henry was walking that night, on my way to a dinner, where I complained about the walkability issues in that part of town. But I haven’t actually done anything constructive to make the area safer for pedestrians.
The mother of a six-year-old girl who was struck on the same stretch of road in 2007 shares her frustration in the comments of this story:
I went to the town of Brighton and asked them to help slow Elmwood down before someone else was hurt or killed . . . I want to start a petition of all Brighton residents to present to both the town and the county to get the road right with sidewalks on both sides and if needed, speed bumps.
These are good ideas, I fully support them. They help to mitigate a serious problem. I doubt you’ll see the county install speed bumps on a 35 mph road, but you might see them try other traffic-calming strategies. For example: a narrower street, with a reduced shoulder size (or bike lane!) and raised sidewalks with curbs, can help signal to drivers that this is a neighborhood and not a highway. This is a response, but it doesn’t eliminate the problem.
The statistics are a little old, but the late bike advocate Ken Kifer’s site has a long rundown of the various dangers cyclists (and pedestrians) face. Ken notes that in his calculations (based on 1997 data), one out of every 69 people will either be killed by or kill someone else with a motor vehicle. Sadly, Ken was one of those people – he was killed by a drunk driver in 2003.
We know that motor vehicles are the problem here, directly causing over forty thousand deaths each year in the US alone.
The convenience of owning and operating our own cars is no good reason why so many people have to die violent, tragic deaths.
Of course, there’s a lot of work to do.
The random squeegee is not his!
Dan Dunbar is the subject of the most recent RocBike Review Podcast. If you’ve had a chance to listen, let us know what you think, because I have many more podcasts planned.
Check out Dan’s travel log if you have the chance, he’s done some interesting world traveling by bike: http://danandchrisvstheworld.blogspot.com/
