Richard already mentioned this earlier this month, but I wanted to remind our Rochester readers that RIT Center for Student Innovation is holding a Rochester Cycling Summit this Saturday October 24th. The group ride starts downtown at the Central Library at 11am!
Two Team RocBike members – Jack Spula and me – are holding a bike commuting panel/workshop/war story session this Sunday the 27th at the Rochester Abundance Cooperative Market Annual Meeting. I think we’ve been invited more for the strangeness of our bikes than for our friendly demeanor. The event starts at 3:30 at Tay House Lodge in Cobb’s Hill Park, right up a hill near the water treatment plant. Another familiar face at Abundance, Jessica Rodriguez, will be showing off her weird bike as well:
3:30 – 4 – Bike Commuters Show and Tell
Jessica Rodriguez, Adam Durand, and Jack Spula talk about car-free commuting and demonstrate their two – (or three – ) wheeled wonders.
I should give The Chicken Avenger a hose-down this week. There are a bunch of other workshops, including a session on urban chickens and another on vegan gluten-free baking, and it’s completely free and open to the public. Here’s the schedule. This event is right up my alley.
Finally, cyclists and pedestrians will be able to travel down Jefferson Road in Henrietta with a little bit of dignity:
More than one mile of the road will be upgraded, from the Marketplace Mall to under the Interstate 390 overpass. In addition to a third lane in both directions, there will be space for cyclists, sidewalks for pedestrians, and a median which will keep cars from crossing several lanes of traffic in order to make a left-hand turn.
As a cyclist, when I must travel on Jefferson Road I stick mostly to the parking lots, hopping onto the road for short stretches when there is no other option. I don’t know how they’ll handle such a heavy traffic load in a way that’s safe for non-motorists, but maybe they’ll use some ideas that have been proposed for places like New York City.
Only with something like an Xtracycle can you be concerned about overpacking when bicycle camping. Emily loaded what she could onto the rack of Magdalena, her blue road bike, and the rest went into the ample bags of my longtail.
The weather report is saying 10% chance of rain, so we have high hopes that these cloudy skies will leave us alone. We’re heading first downtown, the taking the river down to Genesee Valley Park where we meet up with the canal. Shouldn’t have any difficulty reaching Holley tonight, where we’ll make camp.
Emily says there’s only two things to worry about when packing for camping trips: warmth and rain gear. As we get ready to bike the canal for three days starting tomorrow, she organizes her clothes into neat piles and readies the Zip-lock bags.
June 26 is the last Friday of the month, which means that Critical Mass is happening all over the world. If you’re in Rochester, meet us at 6pm at the Liberty Pole.
Here’s a video I made of the March ride (I try to make one of these every year):
Gary Young wrote in to say that Rochester’s R Community Bikes is running low on bikes! They provide bikes to needy kids and adults in the area, and sometimes sell bikes to raise money for the group. They are taking all types of bikes for donation on the following dates, in ALL-CAPS so you remember:
SATURDAY JUNE 27TH
AT “THE BIKE ZONE”
885 LONG POND ROAD IN GREECE
FROM 10 A.M. TO 2:00 P.MSATURDAY JULY 18TH
AT “PENFIELD FITNESS AND RACKET CLUB”
667 PANORAMA TRAIL WEST IN PENFIELD
FROM 10 A.M. TO 2:00 P.M
I non-consensually donated a bike to them last year, and still felt good about it! You can find more details on their events page, and here’s a PDF of the event flier in case you’d like to spread the word.
Bill Collins sent in this link to a Do-It-Yourself Bike Camera Mount:
The smell of the road, the wind at your back, infinity miles per gallon…
Riding your bike sure is sweet. But you know what would make it even sweeter? The tried-and-tested, make-it-yourself, $10 + 10 minutes Photojojo BikeCam!
This image of a helmeted girl with face-trauma makes me sad. This billboard is near my house so I have to ride past her every day, and I’m getting really sick of seeing it.
One of the sign’s sponsors, Injury Free Coalition for Kids, has some interesting statistics on their site:
Head injuries incurred while riding a bike result in two-thirds of hospital admissions and more than 60 percent of the bicycling deaths.
If two-thirds of hospital admissions were actually from bicycle head injuries, I’d stop riding a bike!
I was also reading this sad story about Bradford Berk, head of the URMC, who sustained a serious spinal cord injury after losing control of his bicycle. This news report transcript doesn’t mention why he lost control, or talk about how to prevent spinal cord injury. It does, however, launch into a bizarre helmet advocacy piece. Two paragraphs about the accident, and then 5 about why helmets are so important.
If I had 5 paragraphs worth of space (or that much time on TV), I’d include a whole bunch of useful tips on top of the helmet tip, such as: ride in the road in the direction of traffic; take it slow on bike paths; use a bell or horn, lights, and a mirror; and give yourself some space on either side to avoid running into things or off the road. We don’t know if that kind of advice could have helped Mr. Berk, since there is very little reporting on the actual accident, but the media should really clear up all the bicycle safety misconceptions.
By the way, The Bagel Bin in Brighton has set up a wishing well to support Mr. Berk and his family. Ride safe out there folks — no matter what you put on your head.
This is turning out to be my favorite spring ever, and a large number of the great moments this season have involved my Xtracycle, The Chicken Avenger. Whether I’m driving around friends or family, blasting some music out the back, or getting admiring nods from cagers, I’m constantly enjoying this bike. It’s probably the best vehicle I’ll ever own.
My brother Ryan gets a ride to the grocery store.
No links of the day this past week, but hey, now you get some links of the week!
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
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.
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/
