My main rig is perfect for getting from point A to point B, but it’s definitely not built for multi-modal transportation. It’ll fit on the front rack of a Rochester RTS bus if I remove the front wheel, but the sheer size of the bike puts bus drivers in a fragile emotional state. Strapping a longtail onto the back of a friend’s car is an even worse idea. And you can forget about fitting a longtail onto an Amtrak train in this region (I hear that’s a possibility on the west coast).

In times like these, I reach for my bizarrely designed, Craigslist-acquired, way-heavier-than-it-should-be Phoenix folding bike.

My bike on the 104 bike trail

This little old-fashioned single-speed contraption is not high-performance, but I’ve ridden it as far as ten miles at a time, and it has a couple nice features to make those long trips manageable. The back rack is just big enough to hold a messenger or laptop bag, keeping that weight and sweat off my back. The cruiser-style breaks are reliable enough to tackle big downhill stretches at a safe speed. And the springy seat absorbs most of the impact of all those potholes on Culver Road.

If I wake up too late in the morning to bike to work and have to take the bus, I’ll often grab the folding bike for an enjoyable ride home. Or maybe my partner wants to pick up her bike somewhere and needs to take a car to get there — I’ll throw this bike in the trunk, ride in the car out there with her, and assemble it for our ride home.

With multi-modal transportation such an infrequent but essential need in my life, I’m glad to have this folding bike around. Maybe someday I’ll invest in something a little more modern. For now, I’ll be having the occasional fun ride on my Phoenix.

Join us for the FIRST annual Finger Lakes Aptalis CF Cycle For Life®! The route begins and ends in historic Geneseo, NY (just 45 minutes from South Rochester) and offers beautiful views of the Finger Lake’s rolling hills. The 65 mile route will be a memorable ride through some of the most scenic roads in the Finger Lakes region, taking us through Groveland, past the shore of Honeoye Lake, returning to Geneseo through Livonia and Lakeville. Ride at your own pace – this event is not a race, but a day to enjoy the beautiful countryside and celebrate your efforts to improve the lives of people living with Cystic Fibrosis.

(thanks, Jessica!)

The final public meeting for discussion of the draft of the Rochester Bicycle Master Plan is

• Monday December 13, at 6pm in the Kate Gleason Auditorium in the Central Branch Library’s Bausch & Lomb building (the new one)
• 116 South Ave, between East Broad and Court Streets.
• Bike parking is out front on the South Ave side, or use the parking meters on the Broad St side.
• Cars can park on-street for free after 5pm, or in the Court St or South Ave parking garages.

This is the last chance for public input before recommendations are issued in the final report.

http://cityofrochester.gov/article.aspx?id=8589943115

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.

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.

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.

Here’s a video I made of the March ride (I try to make one of these every year):

SATURDAY JUNE 27TH
AT “THE BIKE ZONE”
885 LONG POND ROAD IN GREECE
FROM 10 A.M. TO 2:00 P.M

SATURDAY 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.

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.

My brother Ryan gets a ride to the grocery store. 

• Matthew Yglesias » Building Good Roads
• How We Drive, the Blog of Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic » Blog Archive » Light Reading
• EcoVelo » Blog Archive » By the Numbers
• Bike of Doom Under Snow | The Bike of Doom – It’s still winter in Winnipeg!
• reaching non-traditional cyclists – Cyclelicious
• bikelovejones – creak in da knees
• Tex’s Luavull Cycling: ‘BikesareTraffic dot Org’
• The Cycle: Why Do Certain Bikes Float Your Boat?
• Bike Snob NYC: Anti-Veloism: Weird, Creepy Bike Hate
• Copenhagen Cycle Chic – Streetstyle and Bike Advocacy in High Heels: Cyclodelic – Bicycle Bling for Geared Up Girls
• Product Review – Trek Side Loader pack | Commute by Bike

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!.

• Fat Cyclist » What I Would Say to Cancer
• The Epicurean Cyclist: The Perfect Mug? -
• My sick bike « Bike Noob – On chain maintenance.
• Metrofiets – handmade utility bikes from Portland, Oregon | Austin On Two Wheels – These look sweet
• Copenhagenize.com – The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog: New Orleans, Jazz and Bicycles – For Jason.
• Bicycles and Icicles: Miles o’ smiles
• Take the Lane: Cyclists need to be less like motorists
• Bicycle Design: A Cargo Bike for Uganda
• that which rolls » Blog Archive » Homemade Energy Bar Report – YUM!

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:
 

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.

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.

Check out Greta on Twitter.

• Cycling podcasts: who’s got the good ones? – Austin On Two Wheels rounds up the RocBike Review’s best competition.
• KTVU Sal Castaneda says “Cycling is dangerous” – Fritz at Cyclelicious doesn’t like the negative vibes.
• 15 Years, 30 Days – Tom Vanderbilt looks at the discrepancy in punishment for two different types of impaired driving. I’d like to see anyone who uses their motor vehicle negligently to permanently lose their driver’s license.
• An Open Letter to Rockstar Games – Fatty proposes a new video game: “Middle-Aged Cross-Country Mountain Bike Enthusiast.”
• Adversity: When the Going Gets Tough, the Smart Get Naked – BSNYC is taking his blog in unusually strange directions these days!
• Riding my bike: Then and now – “I find nearly all forms of exercise a chore, with the exception of riding my bike.”
• Feetbelts – Old seatbelts, recycled into toe straps.
• Sweet Swiss Sensibility – Promoting cycling positively!

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.

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/ 

• Bike Commuting in Columbus: Why Don’t We Bike Commute? – Excuses, excuses!
• KC Bike Commuting: Winter: 3 Spring: 1 – Photo of the Day.
• Chicago Bike Blog: Biking for wimps – If wimps couldn’t bike, I’d be posting on RocScooter.com!
• BikePortland.org » Blog Archive » Seeking a national legal standard to ensure traffic justice – BikePortland posts interest me, but if I didn’t have AdBlock to remove the tacky advertisement in the middle of each article I’d probably stop reading.
• Kent’s Bike Blog: Issaquah – Portland – Issaquah – Kent accomplishes a difficult feat – the post takes a long to read as the original bike journey!
• Flat tire cleanup « Bike Noob – Right, why do I occasionally see discards that could only be left by cyclists?!
• Grant’s Prague Bike Blog: Big Headaches – Do you consider beer an energy drink?
• Jessica Alba rides Velib – Cyclelicious – So many recent celebrity-on-bike sightings!
• gatlinburg spokejunkie: Broke in the Xtracycle. – I love cleaning up parks with the Chicken Avenger!

This is the first episode of the RocBike Review I’ve produced, and let me warn you that the sound quality from the interview is TERRIBLE! The “Good” setting on my audio recorder should be relabeled “Crappy.” But Dan has so many interesting things to say about his experiences on the road that I have to share it. Expect all future interviews to sound much better!

• Bike Hugger – Green Cargo T – A simple, fun-looking utility bike.
• Pedals Plus People at Urban Velo – Photo book of cyclists – we are an eccentric bunch! Check out the can of Miller High Life in the dude’s hand.
• Bicycle Advocacy Stimulus Package at Urban Velo – How people are getting paid to advocate cycling.
• Bicycle-Friendly Urban Prank | Bike Commuters – I’d love to see a temporary bike lane added to Main Street downtown!
• BikeGlow Bicycle Lighting — Review | Bike Commuters – A neon wire to wrap around your bike, for $25. Jason of JayceLand fame knows how to make these from scratch.
• bikelovejones – what are non-profits for? a response to the bta’s non-response – Beth considers ending her membership to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance because of their focus on middle-class constituents over the poor. Certainly a complicated issue.
• that which rolls » Crap Weather, Awesome Ride – Includes a photo of a bike corpse!
• Copenhagenize.com – The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog: Political Helmet Mishaps [and Irish Hope] – “[Y]ou can promote cycling or you can promote helmets; you cannot do both.”

In addition, here’s an interesting article on helmets: What’s wrong with bicycle helmets?

One of the worst-planned roads in the city has to be Norris Drive, at the base of Cobbs Hill. I wrote a bit about it back in January when it got flooded out. After all that flooding and freezing, it’s no surprise that the road is a wasteland at its edges:

C’mon Obama, stimulate this road back into good shape! 

Luckily, it’s not too hard to avoid the potholes if there’s not a lot of traffic.

Know of any rough streets in your neighborhood?

• BikePortland.org » Blog Archive » Veer documentary gets harsh review from PSU paper – I have yet to see a bike documentary that really has everything I want, but I look forward to Veer. My favorite so far is Return of the Scorcher.
• Commute by Bike | Lock Your Bike Up – Some of the commenters point out that the photo doesn’t make any sense unless the thief cut the spokes just for the hub.
• CycleDog: Conventional Wisdom… – “Let’s face it – the majority of cyclists are recreational riders with little knowledge of advocacy.” I’d say that even non-recreational riders like myself don’t do enough advocacy.
• that which rolls » Blog Archive » so green – Remind me again why we all live in a snowy climate . . .
• Bike Hugger – Plan B: Save the World with Bicycles – I’m guessing the solar panel is just gratuitous greenwashing, but I’d love to see something like this come to Rochester.
• Kent’s Bike Blog: Half Century – Kent turns 50 and shares some reflections on living a life.
• Vimeo – Fixed 2 – This video makes me want to wear skinny jeans.
• How We Drive, the Blog of Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic » Blog Archive » ‘…and I want to paint it black…’ – How much of our transportation policy is based on custom and not common sense? I bet a lot!
• David Byrne Journal: 01.17.09: Hong Kong — The Future of No Future – Talking Heads founder tries sightseeing on a bike in Hong Kong, and fails (via BAKFIETS EN MEER).
• Austin On Two Wheels – Axiom Transition Computer Pannier – Laptop Damage Photos – OUCH! You do not want to have your product fail in this way during a product review.

• Bicycle Design: 2009 NAHBS links – Some cool looking bikes, for sure!
• Copenhagenize.com – The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog: Bicycle Helmets – Today’s Bloodletting – An interesting take: are bike helmets bad for cycling? The comments are also a good read.
• Eco-Friendly Bicycling Photographer: Riding in the rain…. – Not to brag, but my bike is also great at carrying lighting equipment.
• Jamis Commuter 4 First Impressions – Price but attractive road bike. Also, here’s a nice photo of it.
• Bike Snob NYC: Repentance: Back-Pedaling Under Duress – “It could be that, after the Apocalypse, low-end mountain bikes and cockroaches will be the only things to survive.”
• Dave Moulton’s Bike Blog – Bicycles are Vehicles – Nice points in response to a university press release.
• Bike Commuting in Columbus: League of American Bicyclists Newsletter – March 2009 – Always good to know what the League is up to!
• Bike Hugger – Bike Sharing Boston – I lived in Cambridge for a bit, and it was not bike friendly, but I still saw plenty of cyclists.
• Takethetooker » True Traffic Tales – This is hilarious.
• Fat Cyclist » Blog Archive » Which Superhero Would You Ride With? – Too bad none of the Watchmen superheroes made it into the blog post. Stay to the end for thoughts on Wonder Woman’s invisible bike!
• bikelovejones – cheap bikes are still bikes – A $132.00 commuter bike now available at Wal-Mart, fenders not included.

I find that complaining that someone isn’t safe enough rarely does any good, whether it’s directed at the person or the general blog audience. But last month I saw two feats of cycling so reckless I have to share them here, dear readers.

1. Winter TV Haulin’ 

 
Don’t sneeze! 

I got stuck behind this fellow on my way to a friend’s house. I was in the bit of a rush, but I didn’t dare try to pass him as he weaved back and forth along poorly plowed back roads, television set delicately balanced on his handlebars. He nearly wiped out about three times as I followed him, and had to stop at one point when he hit an incline. I took that opportunity to pass him, say “Hello,” and not look back.

2. Drunken Cycling 

John 2:12 

I saw this bike outside a bicycle-themed restaurant/bar in Chicago and wanted to tell the woman who rode in on the bike that her sticker was interesting. She replied with slurred speech and breath thick with the smell of alcohol. In fact, I rarely see people this drunk in public, and can’t say that I’ve ever seen a cyclist so intoxicated. As we were leaving, she was having trouble strapping something onto the back of her bike.

Let’s here some of your recklessness cyclist stories in the comments.

The top bike commuting city is Copenhagen, not San Diego. If people can bike to work in Denmark’s winter (I even saw plenty of people biking around Helsinki in December) then it can be done wherever you might be in the USA as well. Unfortunately, American mindspace about bicyling tends to be dominated by the insidious recreational bikers, who’ve gotten it into people’s heads that even on a lovely day for a bike ride the act of pedaling requires intricate performance gear including funny biking outfits. But bike commuting is a whole different ballgame — you’re just trying to get to work, so you should wear what you would wear.

Gosh, he makes it sound so easy! Check out his post for the rest of his thoughts, and some debate in his comment section.

Maybe if I go slowly the water won’t notice that I’m here 

Winters bring the most difficult conditions for motorists to get through, be they giant puddles of indeterminate depth, deep snow to get stuck in, or icy hills that send climbing cars backwards. I haven’t had those problems yet this winter on bike. And if I do, I make the point in my Ten Reasons Why Bikes Are Better for Winter Commuting that when the going gets tough on a bike, you can walk or carry it until you’re in the clear.

I can carry 12 lifejackets in my Freeloader bags 

It’s OK to feel a little bit of smug self-satisfaction as a winter bike commuter. People think it’s so rough. Oh, you must be really dedicated. I could never do that.

The secret is that, sometimes, it’s much easier on bike.

My tires, basking in the ice-cold neon power of the Chicken Avenger 

The Right Tire for You 

My particular Nokian tires seem comparatively low-end, as Nokians go. They have just 160 studs per tire compared to the meatier Nokian Extremes that our own Jack Spula uses. Plus, it seems that the $65.00-per-tire asking price at Towners is a bit high compared to what other people are paying around the country for this particular model. So if you can spare the time to research the best value you can find, I suggest you do.

But even lower-end overpriced studded tire models receive praise from their users. I’ve spent time on icy roads with road tires, mountain bike tires, fat balloon cruiser tires, and of course these Nokians, and this winter season (with the studs) is really the first time I’ve felt comfortable in all road conditions. I’ve gotten away in the past with “knobby” mountain bike tires, but they’re only good when there’s snow on the road. Those knobs do nothing to grip onto the ice.

How Far Will Studs Take One? 

I still ride with extra caution on nights like tonight when it gets cold after a bit of a thaw. That’s my sensible nature.

Yet studs really speed up my winter commutes. I used to get off my bike and walk it on side streets when there was a lot of sludge build-up. Poorly plowed back roads are still not my preferred route to take in winter, but they’re navigable with the Nokians.

White and black ice usually isn’t much of a problem, either, though I make sure to slow down a bit when the street looks shiny. Turns are easy to take, which is a huge relief at intersections. I was riding with Joey Mac last winter, and we went to take a left at an icy intersection, but Joey’s bike kept going straight. A busy intersection is the worst place to fall off your bike, and avoiding that situation just once is worth the price of at least one studded tire.

The brown frozen sludge that cars deposit next to their path, which Jack affectionately calls “car snot,” is probably the most difficult surface to ride on with studded tires. It builds up the most on roads with moderate use, where there is enough traffic to push the sludge next to the motorists’ path but not enough to help melt it all away. When possible I just ride closer to the center of the road, in the right tire track, and let motorists try to figure out how to pass me safely. But when I have to ride in the snot, I drop the bike down to a low gear and take my time. I’ve even ridden uphill through the snot (on Empire Boulevard, by the bay) and that’s something that can’t be done with standard road tires.

Incidentally, the studs handle fine on clear roads. There’s a bit of a humming noise, and a hardly detectable increase in rolling resistance, but nothing that makes me look forward to the end of the season when the road tires go back on. These tires are welcome to stay on my bike for as long as the weather demands.

Cuts through the snow like a hot knife through Earth Balance. 

Now, To Find Studded Boots! 

One hilarious drawback of these studded tires is that they’ll take you to places where you can’t walk. I’ll stop my bike and get off, only to stumble around on the icy surface. I’m happy that my studded tires have made me stop cursing my decision to live in a northern climate while I’m on my bike. Now, for some boots that will do the same while I’m walking.

 

I have a handy ride-mapping application for my phone that sends this data over the internet. You can see on this map where I tried to cross the river at the RG&E station, but they have it all closed down for construction, so I had to make my way across Driving Park bridge instead.

Also, once I made it out to Greece I had to do what I could to avoid the shoulder-free highways. It was quite an adventure.

On the way back I was on a two-lane road with no shoulder, and some kids in a van decided to “tailgate” me (what would one call that when you have a vehicle that has no tailgate?). It got pretty scary – they were laying on their horn, and I had no idea what they were going to do. A police car passed and did absolutely nothing about it, which was surreal, but the kids seemed to be spooked enough by the cop to stop what they were doing and leave me alone.

I decided, after putting her through such a harrowing experience, that The Chicken Avenger deserved a good wash-down. I disassembled her for the first time since she was “born,” hosed her down with hot water, and put her bags through the wash. Gosh, she’s a beauty when she’s got her bags off:

This clinic covers everything you ever wanted to know about shifting, and perhaps a bit more. If you’ve ever felt that your bicycle has a mind of its own when it comes to shifting, this clinic will teach you how to make every shift with with precision and finesse. Come ready to learn about soft pedalling, chainring engagement, chain alignment, and more!

• Bike Parade Down the Strip! (The Xtracycle Blog) – This looks like SO MUCH FUN! (The Xtracycle website blog is doing some great blogging from Vegas, including this AMAZING FOLDING BIKE! 
• California passes Complete Streets (Commute by Bike) – Now all roads in California must be designed with bicyclists in mind.
• Get a Load of This… (Bike Commuters) – BC reports on a sick political essay about bike commuters.
• NYC Bike Rack Competition (Copenhagenize.com) – Nice designs.

Technorati Tags: Links of the Day

An hour after it arrived at Full Moon Vista, I received e-mail confirmation, and gave them a call. I found myself in an awkward conversation, trying to assure the fellow at FMV that I had called ahead to make sure shipping the Xtracycle kit directly to the bike shop was OK. I think he just wanted to know on principle, but I imagine they’d still be willing to do the work if I hadn’t called ahead. And then I scheduled an appointment for this past Monday. This is the first time I’ve had any work done at Full Moon Vista.

If you haven’t been to Full Moon Vista yet, you should check it out. 

Today, I got the call: the Xtracycle was complete. I headed on in and they brought her out. It was love at first sight.

I’ve named her “The Chicken Avenger,” because that’s the name Jason gave me for all the work I do to help chickens. They’re the most abused animal on the face of the planet, and my Xtracycle will help me stand up for them in a lot of ways! Plus, it makes a cool bike name.

So I paid for the work, hopped on my bike, and I was off.

Ah, entering the world of long bikes. 

But, after heading a few blocks on the bike, I realized there was a problem with the chain slipping. So I turned her around and headed back to the shop. Dave, the mechanic who had worked on the Avenger, rode her around and diagnosed it as a worn out cassette.

I hope his name is Dave. It would be a jerk thing to get his name wrong. 

You see, I’ve traveled many thousands of miles on this bike over the past year, which had done a number on my chain. A worn out chain has a way of wearing out the cassette. The new long chain on my bike simply didn’t jive with the old cassette, so $26.99 later and I was back on the road without a slip to speak of.

With a drivetrain that is half-new and wheels that I learned how to true myself, my bike feels almost new again! I remember what I love about her now and see so much more to love, so I think we’re going to be spending a lot more quality time together going forward.

It’s like the pickup truck version of a bike. 

The first thing I did with the Avenger was ride to Abundance Coop and stock up on massive quantities of delicious vegan foods. I was nervous about fitting everything in, but once I started playing around with the well-designed system of straps I realized that it’s hard to imagine a limit to what the Xtracycle can carry.

The straps on either side can actually reach over the back deck, fastening pretty much anything in place. 

Team RocBikers or other good friends/trustworthy acquaintances in the area are more than welcome to take the Avenger for a spin. Just let me know. And I’ll let you know how life with her goes.

And, in regards to Full Moon Vista, I’ll definitely be headed back. Dave was the best thing about FMV; I’ve been insulted or seriously let down by bike mechanics before (want me to go into that?), but Dave was patient, honest, and very friendly.

Technorati Tags: bike shop, xtracycle

• It’s how you use it (Chicago Bike Blog) – Great to hear the bike industry is trying to keep up with all the sales to urban commuters.
• Xtracycle talks about pricing and going open source… (Vik’s Big Dummy) – The Xtracycle team directly address the price increases.
• Newsflash: I rode my bicycle to work in the rain and I didn’t melt. (MnBicycleCommuter) – Good point.
• Shiseido Anessa sunscreen (Cyclelicious)
• The Recycletron 1000 (Spoke-N-Word) – I’ve seen this Recycletron before, but Spoke-N-Word puts it more concisely.
• Enforced (The Car Whisperer) – A good story about the justice system (via Commute by Bike)
• Congratulations for driving less. Now about your lawn… (CommuterPageBlog) – I like to whine about how much of a pain electric mowers can be, but gas-powered mowers are quite nasty!
• Hazards, cycling and lawsuits (Cyclelicious) – Biker down stories can teach us lessons, perhaps.
• The Indignity of Commuting by Bicycle: Death (Bike Snob NYC) – BSNYC tells his own account of a biker down story. This is a good read.
• Reflections on Kansas City media coverage… (KC Bike Commuting) – Noah makes it onto the news, and then critiques it.

Technorati Tags: Links of the Day

• de constructing the fixed gear timeline (libertyonbikes!) – Bike history is being written as we live it!
• Nice (glowing) Threads! (The Epicurean Cyclist) – We need a RocBike knitting circle to put some threads like this together!
• Get well soon Dave! (Bikes? Rubbish!!) – Ouch, Dave! Heal up. Nice photos, though.
• So it went kinda like this… (KC Bike Commuting) – It’s amazing what manages to stick into tires these days.
• More bicycling Realtors® (Cyclelicious) – This answers my question from a few days back about Realtors actually cycling. Also, a bizarre story about a collision with a bear.
• Before there was Chicago Critical Mass… (Bicycle Diaries) – It would be so much easier to link to them if Bicycle Diaries put their post names in the page title field. But their content compels me to link to them.

OK, time to get back to editing movies about factory farming!

• Life’s tough choices (MnBicycleCommuter) – What if you had to get rid of a bike, but they were all awesome?
• Xtracycle accessories: TekDeck and Adventure Racks (Vik’s Big Dummy) – It is interesting to see Xtracycle’s prices increasing even as their volume is no doubt increasing. But that TekDeck looks sweet, and I’m sure it gives your Xtracycle a new look.
• Stay Dry While You Bike – (CommuterPageBlog) – An umbrella attachment for the bike. I bet you shouldn’t go too fast with an umbrella attached.
• Ryders Eyewear Tarmac (Urban Velo) – Sometimes I get junk in my eyes when I ride. These may help.
• BSNYC Monday Fun Quiz! (Bike Snob NYC) – That is a fun quiz.
• Bike thief, thy name is Scum Bucket (Austin Bike Blog) – Bike thieves develop a way to suck even more.
• Back Rack Culture (Copenhagen Cycle Chic) – Funny, none of them have milk crates.

• Could You Use An Extra $10,593 A Year? Then Take Transit (CommuterPageBlog) – Fascinating report on the subsidized costs of motor vehicles.
• The MONKEY ELECTRIC (virtual) ALLEYCAT HAS STARTED (Cyclelicious) – Interesting idea, a virtual alleycat race.
• Gallery: Beth’s Longbike (EcoVelo) – Love these galleries. More longbike action today!
• What’s in your neighborhood? (Bicycle Diaries) – A Google Maps mashup. I’m surrounded by sex crimes!
• Big Dummy + TrayBien + Cross Check + BART = OK delivery (Every day Adventures) – Intense post.
• DIY Rechargable Battery Pack (Smudgemo) – Useful project, this’ll help me when my Down Low Glow stops holding its charge.
• Numb toe home remedy (Bike Noob) – Cool to see the creative solutions cyclists come up with.

Technorati Tags: Links of the Day

• A subtle difference… (Singletrack Mind) – From a few days ago, but it’s a good story about an Xtracycle.
• Be Seen! and Keeping footwear dry (Commute by Bike) – More from the Commuting 101 series.
• NY Times: Highway Trust Fund in dire straits (BikePortland.org) – People are driving less, which means not enough money coming from gas tax.
• Bike Messengers Branch Out (NPR Audio-only) – via Gwadzilla
• The best and worst states for riding (Spoke-N-Word) – Stay out of West Virginia!
• Gallery: Steve’s Lightspeed Blueridge w/Xtracycle (EcoVelo) – Attractive bike, and use of the term “S24O.”
• My Sarah Palin experiences (Up in Alaska) – Jill bid on Sarah Palin’s jet!
• Bike Arch at Burning Man (Urban Velo) – Nice!
• Dave’s Bike Blog (Cyclofiend) – The Cyclofiend mourns the fact that Dave is hanging up his hat.
• Frog in the Throat: Diagnosing Your Bicycle (Bike Snob NYC) – “Cannondale have indeed fused the essence of Fixedgeargallery style with the Capo . . .”
• Thanks UPS (surlyblog) – I know how Skip feels, last night I spent a long time restoring my friend Matt’s shipped bike to its former glory.
• Red Light Activities, An Embrace, A Skirtguard (Copenhagen Cycle Chic) – Awesome skirtguard!
• Bike retailers warm to commuting market (Bike Commute Tips Blog) – About freakin’ time.
• My Review of DiNotte 200L-AA-S Headlight (Bike When You Can) – Those DiNotte folks make some nice lights.
• the bicycle is a small craft in a sea filled with large vessels carrying freight or human cargo (gwadzilla) – What a title!

Any links you want to share?

Technorati Tags: animation, xtracycle

Pick of the pics: Rain cover bicycle rack from Cycelicious, photo by David Baker

• Producing a Bike Map for Your Town (Bike Commuters) – Time to get to work on an official RocBike map of Rochester!
• Eurobike opens today (Bicycle Design) – Nice looking bikes!
• An update on the U.S. Bicycle Route System (BikePortland.org) – A network of interstate bike routes.
• A nice custom bike add-on… (The Epicurean Cyclist) – Bike headbadges from Etsy.
• Drill, baby, drill (Cyclelicious) – Bringing politics into bike blogging, I love it!
• Moblogging, Geotagging Bike (Bike Hugger) – When will we all have contraptions like this?
• velo chicken (gwadzilla) – Blog that’s new to me. I love chickens!
• Living in the Suburbs Just Isn’t a Big Deal Anymore (CommuterPageBlog) – Are there any bike commuting real estate agents?
• The Problem With Being Well-Hydrated (Fat Cyclist) – Fatty continues to earn his reputation as one of the best writers in bike blogging.
• Copenthings (The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog) – I adore this culture!
• End of Summer (Bicycle Diaries) – I want a weather chart like that!

Sorry, no news today from the MSM. They only report the bad news about bike riding! Go ride your bike instead!

Technorati Tags: Links of the Day

Maybe it’s time for other Team RocBike members to get into the Links of the Day habit.

We got off to a bit of a funny start – we made our way down the river trail and hit the Greenway where it begins near Genesee Valley Park. At one point, pretty early on, the trail ends and you have to jump onto Scottsville Road to continue on.

Sorry, it’s time to hit the road! 

The Friends of the GVG announce on their site that a trail will be built next to the road in 2002 or 2003, and we can’t wait! Scottsville Road runs through a busy industrial section of town, past the airport, and the shoulder is littered with broken glass, metal shards, and nails. In fact, Jess found a nail with her tire!

The macro lens helps ensure that the nail is the central focus of this picture. 

Lucky for us, I had a patch kit with me, and Jess got to learn how to patch a tube! Twice! Because the nail went through both sides of her tube! 

A perfect learning opportunity 

While we were surveying the damage up on the sidewalk off of Scottsville Road (and looking totally stranded), a cyclist almost ran us over riding the wrong way down the street on the sidewalk. Then he stopped right past us, I thought to offer us help or encouragement, but just to ignore us and adjust his load. We found the situation quite humorous.

As we continued on, we were concerned that we wouldn’t be able to find the point where the trail picked back up, but lucky for us another random cyclist was riding up ahead and turned right down the trail (here’s where he turned). On the way back we found a better way to pick the trail back up – as you head south on Scottsville Road, you’ll hit some railroad tracks a good distance before the intersection with Jefferson (with a railroad bridge on your left). There’s a path on your right immediately after the tracks (here’s where it is on a map). You’ll have to lift your bike over the guardrail, but after that it’s easy to head down the trail and spot where the Greenway turns off to the left.

The Greenway itself is quite lovely. There’s a misconception that it runs along the Genesee River – in fact, the trail runs on the old Genesee Valley Canal towpath, which was later turned into a railroad. You can learn these interesting historical tidbits by reading signs while being eaten by mosquitoes on the trail.

The trail isn’t paved, but in most parts it is relatively smooth, and always wide enough to ride side by side. 

We stopped for dinner at a small park in Scottsville (the faraway town, not the road we had braved earlier) and ate vegan ham and cheese sandwiches by a water treatment plant.

You can see here that our gear-hauling setup consists of milk crates. It works. 

After dinner, we continued on the path, keeping an eye out for a good place to spend the night. At some points the old canal bed looked like a fun place to set up a tent, but in other places it was filled with swampy, stagnant water. As daylight began to fade we kept looking. And finally we found a lovely spot right off the side of the trail. The bugs were out strong that night, so I quickly began setting up tent while Jess got our gear in order.

This picture is from the next day, but I’d figure you’d want to see the setup. 

Safe inside our tents, we heard an ATV roar down the trail, and soon after a bunch of cyclists, one yelling towards our tent “Hells yeah, they have the right idea!” Otherwise no company out late at night.

The next day a recreational rider stopped by our tent. He implied that he’s been out on the trail a lot since he was a kid and never sees campers, and never thought of camping but liked the idea. We made our way back up the trail, passing cyclists and dog walkers along the way.

And we were back in Rochester by about 10:00am. Our little trip was short, but a lot of fun, and I look forward to more S24O trips in the future.

Adventure awaits you in the Genesee Valley! 

In the D&C’s style, the site is awkwardly designed and serves as little more than a link farm to the newspaper’s main web site, but, there is a gem: a video currently embedded on the main page, called “Green Riders”:

The video series features a bunch of people who commute in different ways to reduce their carbon footprint, including one bike commuter, but also people who use gas-powered scooters, ride a gas-powered bus, and drive gas-powered cars. Brought to you by Hoselton Auto Mall, currently offering 2 models that get over 30 mpg. But I digress.

Here’s a direct link to the bike commuter profile. The vignette features Rochester resident Emily Lynch discussing her bikes, her bike-friendly community in the South Wedge, and her commute to the Rochester Public Market down busy streets.

As a gas-free purist, I took slightly less interest in the other 3 categories, but it’s good to see people making a difference in all sorts of different ways.

That said, there are a few exceptions to riding on the road. I’m going to go over some of them here. Remember, if you choose to ride on the sidewalk for any length, be extra cautious. Anytime you cross a street from the sidewalk you should assume motorists aren’t looking for you. Be nice to pedestrians when you encounter them and don’t ride much faster than the speed they’re walking (here are some more tips for you sidewalk-using renegades).

OK, on with the list:

1. Momentary motorist distrust 

It’s best to assume, as a cyclist, that every motorist could go veering in any direction at any moment. In practice, this would make cycling on city streets prohibitively slow and paranoid. But it’s still good to have a handle on which cars are approaching you when. If a motorist seems unusually prone to veering, or if they are driving towards you in a way that indicates they have no idea you’re there, hopping up to the curb until they pass is the best idea.

You can, in part, rely on the sounds cars make (and perhaps the occasional head twist) to monitor traffic behind you. However, mirrors, invented 8,000 years ago, make a wonderful accessory to your bike and clue you in to approaching trouble you may not otherwise notice. They also allow you to do double-takes at other bikes out on the road without being so obvious about it. And they cost about $10.

Spot suspicious cars driving backwards towards you with a trusty mirror. 

2. Inclement weather 

You’re in an ice storm in the middle of winter, but no matter how big the metal studs on your tires are, you can be sure the motorist next to you is knuckling it on bald all-seasons. The best you can do when a 2-ton metal brick starts sliding around next to you is to put a curb between you and the brick.

Downpours can pose a different problem – potholes and poorly designed storm drains have their way of hiding underneath vast puddles. And as visibility drops, not only will motorists have a hard time seeing you, but vice-versa. Although you may be anxious to get out of the rain, playing it safer and slower up on the sidewalk may be the most prudent option.

3. Awesome shortcuts 

Part of being a safe city cyclist is using side streets when possible. Riding down the nearly-abandoned side streets in smaller cities like Rochester can be calmer, smoother, and often more picturesque.

The calmest of sides streets are that way because they aren’t open to “thru traffic,” but cyclists don’t always have to heed these traffic rules. Sometimes a pathway, a park, a footbridge, or a sidewalk connects dead ends to other roads and allows the street-smart cyclist to take these alternate routes.

Spend some time riding around side streets you otherwise may think you can’t get through, and you may be surprised at the options little footpaths give you.

My favorite shortcut in Rochester, which takes you from S Goodman and 490 to Oxford and Monroe. The numerous bike tire tracks in the snow indicate this shortcut’s popularity. 

4. Construction 

Construction often provides motorists with the terrible combination of sensory overload with confined shoulder-free lane space. Unless you’re prepared to take a lane and infuriate a motorist in standstill traffic because they need to wait 8 feet farther from their destination, it’s often a good idea to avoid construction traffic altogether.

Remember to be even more extra cautious if you choose to take the sidewalk. Motorists stuck waiting are prone to quickly turn off the main road and right into your path.

Henrietta + nighttime + construction = jump on the canal path as quickly as possible! 

5. Mixed use paths 

The long mixed use paths that may intersect your city like they do Rochester provide a great alternative to vehicular cycling. You’ll have to be aware of pedestrians, rollerbladers, unleashed dogs, woodchucks, etc. but oftentimes these paths are underutilized anyway. Unlike most sidewalks, mixed use paths are often specifically designated for bicycle use, but that doesn’t make them any more safe when you cross paths with motor traffic.

And in conclusion 

So those are my top five reasons for getting out of the way of cars and into the way of pedestrians. Like many things in the world of cycling, common sense and caution will go a long way. Do you have any good reasons for breaking the cardinal rule of vehicular cycling? Object to any of mine? Let me know in the comments.

Maybe too many people have left Rochester to play Bicycle Photo Tag anymore. Prove me wrong, folks!

Caitlin and I started bikepooling together last summer, back when we both had jobs on the other side of the city. Now that I work out of my home, I ride with Caitlin for the pleasure of her company.

Bikepooling rocks.

A number of people remarked how exciting it is that Rochester is really starting to feel like it has a bike culture. In fact, at one point in the ride, we got mistaken for the Tuesday Night Urban Assaulters – amazing that Rochester has enough bike cliques for people to mix them up.

Please join our clique for the next ride. We usually leave from Dogtown at 8pm on Wednesdays. We have a Facebook group if you enjoy receiving spam about upcoming rides. See you out there.

Darryl rides the RocBike Cruiser

I recently went on a nice little trip to Canada via Amtrak train, and decided to get to the station via bike. I took my “backup bike,” a Trek MultiTrack I picked up at an anti-war garage sale for $20 to use while my main bike was in the shop. I locked it up to a sign with a medium-quality cable lock and nothing else, and wished it luck.

While I was in Canada, I imagine a pair of bolt cutters made quick work of the cable, and when I returned I was greeted with this sight:

It was only a $20 bike, and I was un-stranded by Rochester’s reasonable public transit system, so I’m not too saddened by the loss. I had added an odometer, bottle cage, and kickstand to the backup bike, but nothing fancy like a new seat or an array of lights. The lock and helmet actually had more sentimental value than the bike itself, but I’ll always have the memories behind them.

I figured the bike would make its way to some other city and I’d never see it again. However, this post on Craigslist gives me hope that we’ll soon be reunited:

Wish us luck.

UPDATE: Unfortunately for me, “backup bike” was sold to a new buyer this morning at R Community Bikes. The group doesn’t buy bikes, they only accept donations, which makes this story all the more puzzling. Did a bike thief have a change of heart? Who knows! More if it develops . . .

UPDATE 2: RUDY! says in the comments: “Ah, maybe your bike was removed for being illegally parked (is there such a law) and subsequently donated?”

I had the same thought. I’m trying to get a hold of the manager at the Amtrak office – I may have to drop by in person if Amtrak headquarters doesn’t give me the contact info. Before I parked my bike, I asked the staff on hand about where to put it, and they recommended that spot. Who would steal it and go through the trouble of donating it – an Amtrak groundskeeper? The city? The feds?

When we got there we enjoyed delicious sushi. Cyclists were out like crazy today. The weather was perfect for cycling.

The package recently arrived here in Rochester, and on Wednesday night this week, Brian, Nick, and I got together with non-glowers Brandi, Lindsey, and Eric for an inaugural DLG cruise. We started cruising in daylight, so the class warfare didn’t start until the sun went down.

Heading down Park Avenue

This was the first time I’ve seen Brandi on the cruise – Welcome!

Waiting at Oxford and Monroe

Locking up at Dog Town to eat and wait for the dark

It’s now dusk enough to fire up those lights!

There wasn’t as much light variety this ride as there will be on future rides – there are people in Rochester with Red, Green, and Pink DLGs as well. But the blue and orange played well together, and we got plenty of shout-outs from impressed people as we rode by.

Impressive, but if everyone showed we’d have a lot more glow!

Lighting up the streets

I already have a Green DLG on my commuter bike, so for now I’ve put the Blue model on the Official RocBike Cruiser. I used the Cruiser on Wednesday but it is now available for anyone to borrow, especially on Wednesday nights. Send me an e-mail at adam.durand@gmail.com and let me know if you’d like to take it (and the Down Low Glow) for a spin.

Some downtown riding

Viewing the Falls in close quarters

Hanging out at the playground in Manhattan Square Park

It was a great cruise. We’ve decided that April 30th will be the first officially promoted Rochester cruise of the season. Spam your friends! We hope to see you there!

Come one, come all, to the first officially promoted cruiser ride of the season!

Meet at 8:00pm at Monty’s Krown, or join us an hour earlier at Dog Town just down the street. To learn more about the cruises, visit the RocBike Cruise section!

This next photo tag target is kind of easy. These distinctive gates were at the last stop on last night’s Critical Mass:

Have at it, Rochester crew!

Next it was Joey’s turn to split town, and friend-to-RocBike Brian was holding the cruiser for Jason. He’s doing a bit of relocation of his own this weekend though — and thankfully staying in town, but he figured if I took the RocBike cruiser off his hands, I would be a great help.

Brian drops off the bike — thanks, dude! 

I was more than happy to take the cruiser – I’ve been eyeing it since I first saw Joey riding it around on the Wednesday cruises.

OK, can I get this fixed up in time to use it for the day? 

The cruiser itself is a real beauty, but it had always had a bit of a problem. The seat post was slightly loose, but the bolt could not be tightened or loosened because its head was round. And although it’s still ridable with a loose, low seat, it’s not comfortable, and what’s the point of cruising if you can’t cruise comfortably?

Do you notice the pliers? They may be hard to see – it’s a bit of an optical illusion. 

Brian dropped the cruiser off about 20 minutes before I planned to leave for a day of errands and direct action, but I still decided to give fixing it my best shot. I grabbed a wrench and some needle-nose pliers. At first I tried to use the pliers to grab on to the head, but I soon found that strategy completely useless, and instead tried wedging the pliers between the bolt and the bike. A little bit of effort and the bolt came right off! I popped a quick release skewer on in the bolt’s place and could
then raise the seat to a comfortable height.

That other bike is owned and operated by a fellow named Mike. 

I took the RocBike Cruiser to all sorts of places today, including a couple banks, a music store, a fur protest, and a hot dog restaurant. It rides very well, though I was yearning for some lower gears as I headed up hill, or something a little stronger than a coaster brake as I headed downhill. It’s a bit squeaky but Joey says I should just apply some tri-flow to the squeaky bits and see what that does.

The Cruiser handles pretty well one-handed. 

Until Jason reclaims it, I’m excited to see what I can do with the cruiser. It might make a fine bike for commuting, though it would really need a nicer seat and some fancy baskets to be something I’d be able to use daily. I’m thinking about strapping a Down Low Glow to it and offering it as a Wednesday night cruiser ride, whenever we decide to get those going again. Brian recommended some steel wool on the chrome to shine it right up.

Start planning your trip by clicking on the “Get directions” tab under the Google Maps search bar. Enter your start and end addresses, and Google offer you its best guess on how you want to get there, which will often take you over highways:

Luckily, there’s a checkbox called “Avoid Highways” that you can click to have Google Maps find the shortest route that doesn’t use highways:

But it gets even better. Many cyclists feel that traveling on back roads can be more pleasant and safe than sticking to high-capacity arterial roads. Google Maps puts you on the major arterial roads when it can, but lucky for us, the interface allows you to click and drag your route and find better ways to get to your destination:

This should take one-way streets and “no left turns” into account, so you hopefully won’t run into any surprises on your route. Click the “Link” button to generate a link to save or share. Click “Print” to print out a handy guide you can put in your pocket. And then get on your bike and try it out! Google Maps was quite useful in helping Caitlin and I figure out our morning route across Rochester.

There’s plenty of room for this web application to improve. Since it isn’t built for cyclists, it has no information on mixed use paths or bike lanes. Sites like byCycle.org and Bikely have built some interesting services on top of Google Maps, but wouldn’t it be cool if there was a “Bike There” feature as part of the Google Maps interface?

In fact, there is an online petition you can go sign right now (thanks, Nicole!) to ask Google to do just that! I don’t know how effective these online petitions are, but at the very least it lets the Google Maps team know that there are thousands of people out there who would love to use this feature.

Americans love their cars. Cars are rites of passage, status symbols, objects of affection, and utility vehicles. They’re protective moving cages with environmental controls and sound systems, suitable for both long trips or short errands. For decades, cars have been at the center of American life.

But our cars are without a doubt hurting us. Automobiles are a major cause of death and injury. They run on fossil fuels, which create both short and long term problems. They contribute to noise pollution and encourage infrastructures that fracture communities and lead to sprawl. We spend a large portion of our incoming purchasing, maintaining, and fueling them. And to many, operating a motor vehicle is a stressful and sometimes scary experience.

But automobiles are a basic necessity in modern America, right? Perhaps to some. But others are turning to vehicle that preceded the automobile, and which never development many of its vices: the bicycle.

The bicycle is the most efficient form of transportation ever invented. Bikes are far less destructive, takes up less space, and can often travel faster than cars in urban environments. Bikes can be quite inexpensive to own and operate, and cycling can be an effective workout without the cost of a gym membership.

Plus, riding a bike is an adventure. When you’re on a bike, you’re not isolated from the outside world and moving so fast you can’t take in the scenery. You can interact with pedestrians and other cyclists, notice things you may have not noticed in your car, and travel on paths and to places inaccesible by motor vehicles.

Utility cycling, while quite common in many parts of the world (and, in fact, the most common form of cycling worldwide), is still rather rare in North America’s middle class communities. But that’s beginning to change. Some American cities are seeing exponential growth in bike commuters. Bike manufacturers are starting to build specialized bikes for the new commuter market. Transportation planners are recognizing the positive benefits of bicycles and are taking cyclists’ needs into account in their projects.
People looking for ways to improve their life while reducing their impact on others are turning to cycling.

If you’re interested in getting into bike commuting, here are some useful tips to get you started:

1. Get a bike! Check out Craiglist and other local classifieds, garage sales, friends, or fix up that old bike you had in high school. Visit your local bike shop. Try to avoid bikes from big box stores, as they’re usually unreliable.

2. Grow comfortable with riding on the street in the same direction as motorists. It’s much safer than the sidewalk. The book The Art of Urban Cycling is loaded with tips on how to handle the road. Try social rides like Critical Mass to help build bike confidence.

3. Be safe! Find a good helmet. If you might be riding after dark, put lights on your bike! Be cautious about motorists, they can do just about anything at any time.

4. If you’re planning on riding to work, scope out the route on your day off before your first real ride. Plan your route so you avoid major roads for a more enjoyable ride.

5. Be prepared to fix a flat or weather a sudden rainstorm. Have a backup plan in case mechanical or meteorlogical problems arise — riding near a bus route is often a good idea.

And here are some web sites with in-depth info on commuting and safety:
http://www.runmuki.com/commute/

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/commute/

http://commutebybike.com/

http://bicyclesafe.com/ 

A bike commuter spotted on the way to Brian’s house! WOW! Although some nice panniers would take the load off this fellow’s back. 

Joey was posing for a photo shoot when I got to Brian’s. The subject matter frightened me. 

We rode around on back roads mostly. It was cold, but the sun kept us warm. 

Traffic was light on this Sunday afternoon. 

We tooled around the Rochester Museum and Science Center’s parking lot, just because we could. 

And the obligatory timed photograph to finish the ride. 

Joey’s left us for a career in Connecticut but Brian and I remain to carry the Wednesday Night Cruise torch. We agreed that it’ll be too darn cold to start those cruises back up until at least next month. But when we do, we’ll let you know about it, because we’d love your company. We’ll even spam you about it if you join the RocBike Facebook group.

That’s exactly what the Syracuse Post-Standard did today. The main article focuses mostly on bike lanes:

Since 2004, [Syracuse] has designated portions of six roads mostly on the city’s East Side as lanes reserved for bicyclists.

Holstein praises the city’s efforts but says more can be done to make the community friendlier for bicyclists. One thing it could do is put more bike racks downtown for people who want to use their bikes to commute to work, she said.

“We could always do more,” she said. “We’ve just dipped our toes in the water.”

Syracuse’s mayor has some really good ideas:

Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll, an avid cyclist, said the city plans to create more bike lanes to encourage people to ride for recreation and to commute.

He said he would like to see bike lanes in all four quadrants of the city create connections with downtown. Not only will it encourage more people to get out and exercise, creating bike lanes is good for the environment, he said.

“It’s a great way to cut down on traffic and air pollution,” he said. “It would be nice to see people, even for just one day a week, riding bikes to work.”

The paper profiles three year-round bike commuters: John Murray, who bikes to stay healthy after quadruple bypass surgery in 2003, Richard Breyer, who does a good job comparing winter bike commuting to skiing, and  Don Hughes, an environmental scientist who knows a thing or two about the benefits of biking:

“It has no environmental impact hardly at all,” he said. “Cars are just terrible for the environment. The impact of driving is just astronomical. Hybrids are nice, but they’re no match for a bike.”

My friend Kristen in Syracuse (who let me know about these stories) actually works with Don. She says her office is amazed by his dedication.

It’s wonderful to see an upstate paper cover bike commuting in such a positive way. The main article argues that biking improves the quality of life for city residents, benefits the environment, reduces traffic congestion, and even leads to job creation. Let’s get to work spreading similar enthusiasm for the bicycle lifestyle here in Rochester!

Ted works on a craft while Caitlin eats the soup he brought. 

We decided that, for those interested in biking to work during that week and beyond, it would be a good idea to have an article about bike commuting in Rochester (or at least, they agreed with my idea). So I started writing it, and I’ve posted what I’ve written to a RocWiki page.

Caitlin said she’d check out the posted version and see if there’s anything to add, but it’s a free country and Wikis are part of that freedom, meaning you’re free to edit it too! If you see something in the article that can use some tweaking, just sign up at RocWiki.com and have at it.

The ride home was super chilly. I have an enormous amount of respect for those in climates much further north who don’t hesitate to brave the cold on their bike. I consider my gloves reasonably thick, but I could hardly feel my fingers when I got home.

It doesn’t get much colder than this. At least, I hope not. 

Moments before my bike and I duck into our well-heated home 

This Bike to Work Week thing is getting rather exciting. I hope three months of hype doesn’t make you grow bored of the idea.

Want to help? We’ve got three months to pull this off! I’ll go about building a little section to this site explaining the purpose of Bike to Work Week, what bike commuting is all about, and featuring businesses, government agencies, blogs, civilians, and other organizations that help us out. We’ll want to start talking to local businesses — from bike shops to smoothie bars — about holding special events or free giveaways for bike commuters during the week. We’ll also want to think about promoting a couple rides that week to get people interested in the social aspect of bike riding.

The League has some great materials on their site, including an organizer’s kit and various brochures. Take some time to look things over, think about what you’d like Bike to Work Week to be like and what you’d like to do to promote it, and if you’d like to help, leave a note in the comments or e-mail me at .

Even if you don’t count the warm-up time, bike commuting has cut my gym routine in half by eliminating the need for lower body workouts. There’s absolutely nothing I could do in an evening at the gym that would come close to matching a weekend’s worth of riding.

As I exited the gym after tonight’s workout, I was shocked to find the city – including my bike – covered in a thin layer of ice.

My lovely gym, with super-slippery steps. 

Lucky me, no windshield to scrape. 

The sidewalks were insanely dangerous, but there was enough automobile traffic on the roads to keep them mostly unfrozen. Still, there were many moments tonight when I wished that motorists would drive a little slower around me and give me just a little more room, considering that they were driving on ice.

I experienced an interesting malfunction tonight. And this may happen to every external-geared bike when it’s covered with a thin layer of ice. My rear derailer didn’t work at first. I could click to a higher gear without it actually shifting up, and I could downshift back to where I started but no lower. After a bit of riding the mechanism melted enough to work fine. But I should give it a little bit of love one of these nights and make sure everything is in good working order.

Riding in an ice storm is not always smart, but it can be fun. Sometimes rare weather conditions can make a bike commute extra memorable. Tonight was one of those times.

Back home, at the base of my driveway, safe and sound. 

It was a very cold cruise, and bikes were malfunctioning left and right. Bike seats were wigging about and literally falling off, wheels were making strange noises, and Joey nearly crashed the official RocBike cruiser into my Down-Low-Glow-equipped commuting bike! But all was well, and even though I skipped out a little early I took some photos and video to share:

The video features two minutes of silence at the end in remembrance of Joey:

Joey’s Last Cruiser Ride from Adam Durand on Vimeo.

Here’s half the hill I brave with every visit to and from Webster:

This is where Empire Boulevard drops down to Irondequoit bay. It’s a long hill, but it actually has a shoulder — which isn’t always the case on four-lane roads in Great Rochester. And when things get hairy, there’s a generous sidewalk alongside so one can walk their bike. With last night’s slippery shoulders, low visibility, and ice cold winds, things did indeed get hairy. By this blog’s standards, I was emasculated, though I brave this hill enough in less inclement weather to credit it for my calf muscles. I have great respect for Gary Young, who I believe frequents this hill on his journeys into Rochester.

The bay itself is a great place to stop for a sip from the water bottle or to snap eerie photos like this one:

My dad asked me last night if I miss my car, and I can honestly say that I much prefer bikes in all types of weather (I should note that I haven’t ridden in a monsoon yet). Last week, I drove a motor vehicle for the first time in almost 6 months. I took a simple trip to the grocery store and back home and I was anxious the whole time. I did not want to be in control of a mass I couldn’t carry, especially around pedestrians, in the dark, and on slippery pavement. There is just no sense in it at all.

When people see me show up at their house coated in a thick layer of snow, beard filled with icicles, face beet red, their natural reaction is to feel sorry for me. I try to level with them — “Do you know how much fun I just had?” Winter commuting is challenging, invigorating, almost soul-nurturing. It’s better than meditation, or maybe it’s more accurate to say it’s a special kind of meditation. Why did it take me so long to figure this out?

I often draw parallels between my “conversion” to bike commuting and my switch to a vegetarian diet a few years back. In both cases I had been following the conventional wisdom all my life, but slowly began to realize how my day to day actions were separate from my values. And I think most people recognize the goodness and benefits in vegetarianism, and the goodness and benefits in bike riding, but it takes a bit of introspection and self-confrontation to bring one’s life in line with one’s beliefs. I think it’s no fluke that almost everyone on Team RocBike is a vegetarian (everyone, that is, except Jason!), and also that many of the Rochester-area vegans I know are cyclists.

Now it’s time to get back out there and ride. Tonight’s looking to be cold but less precipitous, which is good news for the Joey Machine’s last Rochester Bike Cruise. I’ll try to get some footage of the event and post it in a timely fashion.

It was on a lovely evening last weekend that I grabbed a photo of myself at the location of Bicycle Photo Tag #6. The purple-walled spot in Manhattan Square Park is now a construction site (I believe they’re renovating the ice skating rink, which makes me sad, because I enjoy ice skating there).

It was on this very night that I came across some hippies celebrating the solstice. Jump onto your bike, find this town square, snap a photo, and you will win the next round of Bicycle Photo Tag!

Thinking about switching from car to bike as your commuter machine, but holding off until Spring before you do it? Here are ten good reasons to make the switch this season:

1. No need to brush/scrape your windows
   Unless your car is perpetually stored in garages, one of the worst parts of winter driving is frequent window brushing and scraping. Some motorists cut corners on this important step and dangerously operate at reduced visibility. A bike’s complete lack of windows makes visibility a non-issue.
2. You can skip shoveling the driveway
   Unless you’re expecting company, there’s little need to shovel, blow, or plow the driveway if your bike is your mode of transportation. Spend that time you saved in the morning reading the paper, or in the evening cozied up by the fire.
3. Bikes never get stuck in the snow
   Digging your car out of its on-street parking or making it over that hard packed snow at the end of your driveway can build character, but why bother when you can ride a vehicle that you can walk or carry if the going gets tough?
4. Biking: a low-cost winter sport
   Cars can get you out to remote mountains so you can pay to strap fiberglass to your feet and fall down them. But what if you could avoid the price of lift tickets and season passes and still get your fill of quickly moving past snow-covered stuff? While you make your way to work? Bikes can help you with that.
5. Pumping gas is a bad excuse to stand still in the cold
   Have you ever filled your tank with less gas than you usually would, just to get out of the cold? Bikes don’t have gas tanks, and the time you spend outside is time when you’re active and generating more than enough heat to stay comfortable.
6. Avoid “Winter Weight Gain“
   You are a beautiful person no matter how much you weigh, but excess weight can lead to chronic health problems and lower activity in the winter can also contribute to “seasonal affective disorder.” Ride a bike to help avoid these winter problems.
7. Studded tires rock
   Studded car tires are popular in Scandinavia, but in the U.S. they’re often illegal due to the road damage they cause. Studded bike tires are unregulated and easy to come by in regions with snow and ice. I’m pretty sure a bike with studded tires is one of the best things imaginable for handling icy roads.
8. Losing control of a bike is a bit less scary than losing control of a car
   Drive or ride around after a big snowstorm and you’ll see cars in ditches, left abandoned after their operators lose control. You can’t just bail when your 2 ton cage hits some ice and starts recklessly sliding about. While it’s not always fun to bail from a bike, it’s certainly much easier, and both bike and operator often come out fine in the end.
9. Bikes are easier to maintain
   Winter can be a real disaster to cars. Combine repeated freezing/heating of the vehicle with road salt and other melt chemicals — it’s easy to understand why cars in colder climates depreciate faster. Bikes basically just require a quick rinse after the ride an an occasional deep clean and oil change (on your chain) to keep in good working order.
10. Bikes let you enjoy the season
    Winter is beautiful. Why experience it through fogged up windows with the radio blaring when you can be out in the middle of it all? There is a lot to enjoy: the invigorating cold air entering your lungs, the sights of your town blanketed in white, the satisfying sound of your bike crunching snow. Winter is often ignored because people are too cold and depressed to pay attention. Biking gets you out there and keeps your blood flowing.

Before you start dreaming up romantic Twike dates and luxurious all-weather cross-country tours (I’ve already worked through about 7 different Twike fantasies), have a look at the price tag. Unfortunately, the US dollar isn’t doing well these days, and according to the formula on their web site this little European contraption will set you back over $30,000 (the luxury version costs over $50,000). Oh Twike, I await the day that you are mass-marketed.

Drop on over to Carectomy to see the cheesy video.

Above, you’ll find 2 minutes of video I took during my ride last night. Yesterday was my first commute on snow-covered streets, and it was a learning experience!

I currently have wide road tires on my bike. I tried putting knobby mountain bike tires on over the weekend, only to find that they don’t fit below my fenders. So I may be stuck riding with the road tires for now – they did OK yesterday, and I believe they worked even better today after I followed Keith’s advice in the comments to take some air out of the tires.

Sticking to the sidewalks

I’m changing up my riding style now that the roads are all slush. I stick mostly to the road when traffic is low, but when motorist presence picks up I jump up onto the sidewalk and do the best I can in the deeper, irregular snow. I’m also finding that even though the surfaces of the side streets are less predictable, the reduction in auto traffic is well worth it.

The milk-crate-on-the-back-rack strategy works well enough for me in fair weather. But based on my run to the grocery store last night I’m realizing that riding a bike with a high center of gravity is dependent largely on my ability to work up speed fast enough to stay balanced. After loading thirty pounds of groceries and gym clothes into the crate, there were very few stretches in my two-mile trip back home that I could actually ride my bike instead of walking it. It felt like a long walk through the snow, but I enjoyed every bit of it.

Next time I’ll bring a backpack. Or I’ll buy an Xtracycle.

While Jason was frustrating and confusing Jack with the most recent Bicycle Photo Tag target, I recalled the fact that Jason maintains another blog at SignWall.com. Sure enough, that blog features a post about this sign and divulges its exact location.

The sign is about 2 blocks from where Caitlin works, so after dropping her off this morning I headed on over and snapped this photo:

Then as I continued on to work I passed a statue featuring a guy with an awesome mustache. He’s the next photo tag target:

Good luck!

We again had an unseasonably warm Cruiser Ride this past Wednesday. I provided the music mix (including Wilco, They Might Be Giants, and Bonobo), Joey provided the speakers, Brian brought the Latin blood, Kristine and Karen brought the walkie-talkies for comedic effect, and Professor Jack schooled us all with his cycling knowledge.

Here are some pictures from the event. I don’t post items in nearly as timely a fashion as Jason does, but hey, they end up here eventually.

Joey, Brian, and I met a little after 7 at Dog Town. We talked about bikes and worked out the definition of the term “Fred.”

We brought our bikes right into Monty’s Krown and had some beers. The practice of combining night cycling with alcohol has obvious flaws, which we ignore.

Here we are pulling back onto Monroe Avenue after riding some side roads. Note that Jack is the most visible.

This marks either the second or third Cruiser ride in which we’ve used the footbridge over 490 that ends in a fun ramp.

We ended the ride at Lux, with ample outdoor seating and bike parking.

What fun! We stick out so much as a group that we no longer get ID’d at bars. If Jason was with us, they’d probably even let him in for a change!

In fact, the television news report got our message out and infuriated far more people than our ride did. We didn’t do any protesting or leafleting during our trip around town – we basically just wished everyone we saw a happy Friday. Some folks left early, some stayed late, and in solidarity we laughed and froze and had a great time!

We huddle to stay warm as we wait for the sound system to arrive.

Jack Spula rides beside the river!

The sound system played mostly anti-consumerism and James Brown tunes, but with a wider variety than we heard at October’s mostly Queen songed ride.

During the ride, we violated our own belief systems and bought some fair trade organic coffee at Abundance Coop.

And we feasted on veggie dogs at Dog Town, where my bike commuting buddy Caitlin and others joined us!

Here’s the plug that ran on RocBike

I think there’s something special about a bunch of quasi-socialists riding to the mall on bikes on busy shopping days to wish everyone a happy Friday. And of course, we’ll be gently confronting people about mindless consumerism. We’ll have leaflets, a bike trailer sound system, and a route that takes us through all the major strip malls and shopping centers in Henrietta.

For those in Rochester who’d like to promote this event, here’s a PDF of a flyer for you to paste up all over town!

It all happened very fast. I had just gotten out of work and was on my way to run an errand. I pulled on my jacket, strapped on the helmet, and fired up the Down Low Glow and assorted blinking bike lights. I waited for some cars to pass before entering the road with a right-hand turn.

After I made my way past a couple buildings, I saw a car approach from a parking lot up ahead on my right. I slowed down quite a bit to get a feel for the motorist. He wasn’t signaling, but he came to a complete stop. There was no traffic behind me, but oncoming traffic was headed our way. I advanced in front of him.

And then I heard him gun his engine. I’ve had a couple close calls since I started bike commuting in July, and I’ve come to learn that my instinctual reptilian reaction to danger is to yell “Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa,” as if to say “Settle down, buddy!” in a single repeating syllable. I don’t know if that ever helps, but it’s completely involuntary anyway.

As his big metal luxury motorcar came flying towards me, I found myself in an epic right cross, and I had no time to intentionally react on a physical level. It’s funny how time can basically stop in the situations, though. I do remember wondering what it would feel like flying onto the car’s hood or windshield. And I’m sure I got a couple whoas in before the impact.

Lucky for me, either my right leg was positioned forward by chance, or I picked it up on instinct, because the front bumper of his car struck my bike and not me. My bike and I flew sideways and the rear end spun to the left a bit, but I was able to maintain my balance. I hesitated for a moment, then quickly made my way off the road and into the parking lot entrance he had pulled out of. I could still pedal my bike and didn’t feel any pain, and both of these facts shocked me. He backed his car out of the road and got out of it.

I was in a bizarre emotional state. I enthusiastically told him that I didn’t get hit, that only my bike got hit. I wasn’t apologetic, but I do feel as if I was so happy to be unhurt that I didn’t even want to be mad at him. He checked the front bumper of his car for damage, saying he thought he hit me pretty hard. I said it felt pretty hard. And then as I was looking over my lit-up-like-a-Christmas-tree bike for damage he pointed to the front pillars of his car and said he had some blind spots. No direct apologies from him that I recall, but he at least seemed embarrassed.

I said I couldn’t find any damage on my bike and told him to have a nice evening. Maybe I should have gotten some of his information. Maybe I should have called the police. But I was in emotional shock from just getting hit, and also quite happy, so I figured I’d just be on my way.

I’ve read through Michael Bluejay’s How to Not Get Hit by Cars multiple times and follow much of his advice. In my attempt to avoid the Right Cross tonight, I used a plethora of lights (though nothing above my handlebars save the reflective tape on my helmet), I slowed down to a crawl until I believed he was waiting for me, and because there was no traffic approaching behind me I was further out to the left. I did not honk or yell until he was already on the path towards striking me. And perhaps if I had never slowed down, I would have been far past him. But I think I did OK.

In fact, maybe my ridiculously bright Down Low Glow made him see me and brake a fraction of a second earlier than he would have, letting me clear him just enough so that my bike took the impact instead. Once he decided to gun his engine to beat the oncoming cars into the lane, my fate was sealed, and it was all up to him.

After the accident, I headed over to Abundance Coop to pick up ingredients for dinner with a friend. On the way I met another bike commuter on the road and told him I had just gotten hit but came out of it unscathed. At the coop I could not focus on what to buy and ended up leaving my wallet behind, something I’ve never done. As I biked to my friend’s house I seemed a little shaky – I wasn’t sure if it was me or my bike. Things were more than a little surreal.

But all is good in my immediate world. Tonight’s events remind me of something that happened during my last week as a car commuter. I had been contemplating commuting by bike but didn’t have a bike that was capable of such a trip and was hesitating on the purchase. I was headed home from work one night, and as I pulled out of the office complex I nearly struck a cyclist who was heading the wrong way down the road. I realized at that moment that I no longer wanted to be in a position where I could seriously injure someone so easily. I headed straight to the bike shop and ordered my dream commuter bike, and that was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I don’t imagine the man who stuck me tonight will have quite the same reaction. But let’s hope both he and I are a little more cautious on the road in the future.

On Friday, I’m switching offices at my job, and my commute drops from 9 miles to 1. And although a few months ago when I drove my car I was quite excited about the prospect of a shorter commute, now that I travel by bike there’s a lot to miss.

I’ll be experiencing 1/9th of the excitement, adventure, and fun on my way to and from work than I did before. No longer will I have reason to hit the canal path on my way home. I’ll see fewer cyclists and pedestrians, and yes, I’ll even miss some of the motorists in their big metal cages. A lot of the sights and communities I’ve come to enjoy will no longer be part of my daily routine.

Sadder still, Thursday marks the last morning bikepool with Caitlin. You can read about all that was special about our morning rides in our little co-authored essay here. Not only did we make each other safer, but she’s become a close friend in the past few months.

We must accept change in our bike routes, of course. I can always fit in some random riding or extreme errand running to make up for lost commuting time. And it’s not like I won’t be allowed to see Caitlin anymore. I could even ride out in the morning with Caitlin then ride all the way back, if I really wanted to. And on days this winter when the weather gets truly awful, I’ll probably be quite happy that my commute is short enough to walk.

Anyway, this week the commutes have already been extra memorable.

The Bridge

Yesterday morning Caitlin and I took a special side journey to High Falls as we traveled through the city. At one point on our journey up St. Paul we were directed to take a detour onto the Inner Loop – a tractor trailer operator had tried to squeeze under an overpass and didn’t quite clear it, giving the trailer a nice accordion fold and tying up northbound traffic. Bikes don’t belong on the sidewalk, but they don’t belong on the Inner Loop either, so we headed up St. Paul on the Jack-Spula-approved Riverway Trail sidewalk.

We got to Pont De Rennes Bridge over the falls and a couple of guys asked if they could borrow our bikes to make a phone call. It was a very weird request. After we got our bikes back from them (just kidding) we stopped at the middle of the bridge to check out the view.

I have no idea what part of her bike Caitlin is adjusting here, but she has chosen a scenic location to do so.

The mixed-use bridge is one of the very few places in the city with a designated bike path, and the little biker stencils were actually the basis for the RocBike logo.

Picture this graphic in 3D and in a Walz Cycling Cap. That would make an awesome logo for this site.

As we were on the bridge, I gave Caitlin a token of my friendship, a copy of the book Meat Market by Erik Marcus. Universally acclaimed books about factory farming make great gifts!

Riding with Squegeeboo

That evening my commute home was suddenly dark, as Daylight Savings Time is wont to do (Dear government: I prefer more daylight in the evening, not the morning). As I approached a traffic circle stop light I saw a fellow cyclist approach from behind. We confirmed each other’s bike commutingness with much excitement. He introduced himself as squegeeboo from the Bike Forums. He said his car stopped working last year and he figured he’d start riding a bike. His secret to riding in the winter? Pajama pants, and lots of ‘em!

Although squegeeboo left me in the dust when we started moving again (Jason and I are both quite familiar with trailing behind) we kept meeting up again at traffic lights. I suggested that he contribute some stories to this group blog. And then in a long traffic-light-free stretch I watched as his little blinkie rear light moved farther and farther away. I think I can stand to push myself a little more.

The Bustastrophe

This morning I set out without Caitlin (Election Day is a vacation day for her!). Right when I left my driveway it started to lightly sprinkle. Within ten minutes it was a downpour, and foolishly I did not come properly dressed and reinforced for a major storm. I decided to go multi-modal and made my way to the downtown RTS bus stop.

I arrived just as my bus did. I loaded my bike onto the front rack (here’s a diagram of exactly what I did) and climbed into the bus.

My bike has the habit of falling off of vehicles. Or perhaps its operator (me) has the habit of not properly fastening it to vehicles. Regardless of their cause, sure enough, I noticed that the bus was making a stop in a non-designated stopping area and feared the worst. “Whose bike is this?” yells a chatty passenger standing by the driver. “Mine!” I yell out, making my way to the front of the bus.

As I approached I saw that the front restraining bar had bounced off of my bike, and my bike was now laying precariously on the edge of the rack, just one bounce away from being swept under the bus.

I tried to get out to fix it but the bus driver had already taken matters into her own hands and started to head out the door. Unfortunately, in getting out of her seat she knocked her cell phone to the floor, then her full cup of coffee onto her cell phone, and then her jacket onto the coffee. This was too much for her to take so she started kicking her RTS jacket out of the bus towards the large puddle outside. Once she was satisfied that things were ruined enough, we exited the bus.

Upon arriving at the rack next to the driver it quickly became apparent that she had no familiarity with RTS bike racks, as she started pulling and pushing various parts that had nothing to do with securing my bike. I pulled the restraining bar back over my front wheel, stopping short of the front fender as I always do, but once I got back in the bus the passenger who notified me that my bike had come loose told me it would come loose again. We both headed out and I pulled the restraining bar over my fender to his standards.

Once back inside the bus, the passenger said “Now look you made my wife spill her coffee.” The dynamic between the two was revealed. I tastefully replied with “Thank you so much for saving my bike!” and the husband replied “No problem, Homeboy,” which is the first time I’ve ever been called this.

I wonder how often bikes meet their doom on these racks. Although I did not initially pull the restraining bar all the way up on the fender like the husband said I’m supposed to, this Canadian transit page says “Make sure the support arm is resting on the tire and not on the fender or frame.” Many other sites say the exact same thing. I can see how using the fender as a pressure point could be a very bad idea. But what’s the use of preserving your front fender if the support arm comes loose and your bike ceases to exist as a bike?

This guy, who is a huge nerd, has not placed the bike on the rack properly because the support arm is not pulled up high enough. Also, the bus driver is probably getting quite angry at him for taking the time to pose for this picture.

If I acquire a folding bike at some point I will do a much better job of avoiding these potential bike disasters. Or I can just get better at attaching my bike to things. Either one will do.

And the Conclusion

So, in conclusion, that’s three interesting commutes so far this week, and the week is only getting started. I’ll miss you, 9 mile ride. Unless the weather’s really bad. Even then, I’ll probably miss you.

This Wednesday join us for a fun-filled Cruiser Ride through Rochester neighborhoods. Cruiser rides are laid-back moving social gatherings with music, lights, and all sorts of bikes, and all are welcome! Some of us will be dressing up as super-heroes this week, and we encourage you to do so as well, but costumes are optional. Be sure to bundle up as we approach the colder season!

Last week’s Halloween Ride was a huge success. Special thanks to Joey Mac, Karl, and Brian for organizing these awesome events.

Wednesday, November 7th, 8:00pm
Meet outside of Monty’s Krown
875 Monroe Ave, Rochester, NY 14620

I’m always looking for ways to make my rides more safe and fun. Nighttime visibility is becoming even more important to me as winter approaches and the sky during my commutes grows darker. So I set out to research bicycle lights, and I came across a light that promised to not only ensure that I’m seen, but also bring smiles to people’s faces.

This light is called the Down Low Glow, and I’d almost rate it a must-have for people who like riding at night. For $130 you get two neon tubes and a rechargeable battery. The components look like they were pieced together by hand with love. The whole unit is water and shock resistant. And when it’s mounted on a bike and turned on, it bathes the street with a 10-foot glow visible in all directions.

I ordered a Down Low Glow last week and it arrived today. I was hoping to receive it before last Friday’s Critical Mass, but at least I got it in time for Wednesday’s Halloween ride. Rock The Bike offer the Down Low Glow in 6 different colors; I chose Envy Green because I thought it looked the coolest.

That’s not me! Image posted by Rock The Bike on Flickr.

I mounted it on my bike with the included mounts (the whole process took me about 15 minutes). As I started my commute it was only dusk – the Glow on the pavement was barely visible. But as it grew darker, the effect grew stronger, and by the time I had reached downtown it looked cool enough for me to start hearing “nice bike” from pedestrians. The Glow is perfect for people who are starved for attention.

And I can’t scientifically test this, but it definitely felt like motorists were giving me more room as they passed me than they otherwise would without the Glow. I’ve become familiar with white-knuckling it down Culver Road at night as I pass the busy expressway intersections, then two lanes become one, then construction zones and parked cars are added to the mix. Tonight, I felt worry-free. It’s as if someone was laying out a green carpet for me as I traveled down the road.

A few people stopped to talk to me as I ran some errands in the city. The most common question I got was “How do you power it?” as if something so cool couldn’t possibly run off a rechargeable battery. That’s really how cool the Down Low Glow is.

My camera is currently out of commission, so these Flickr photos will have to suffice for now. If you want to see the Down Low Glow in person, I’ll see you on Wednesday!

I hope to see you this Friday at 6pm for some Rochester Critical Mass!

This is perhaps a deeper subject than can or should be fleshed out in a “Cycling Thoughts” blog post. But I’ve been thinking about this topic in recent days and since the environmental-themed Blog Action Day’s coming to a close, there’s no better time to put it out there.

The concept of bike commuting is nothing new. Be sure to watch this film of a trip down San Francisco’s Market Street in 1905 to see bikes peacefully coexist with automobiles, streetcars, coaches, and pedestrians. It goes without saying, though, that mass production and cheap energy have made the automobile the preferred mode of transportation in the United States. Our world has suffered for it. And bicycles, to many, are nothing more than toys for children, or exercise devices, or sporting equipment.

There’s nothing wrong with using a bike for the mere enjoyment of it. And certainly, as forms of recreation go, bicycles are kind to the environment. But if you’re throwing your bike onto your car’s bike rack and driving out to the trail in the neighboring suburb, you’re burning fossil fuel for fun. You’re probably a great person and you really do deserve to get out on the trail and yeah, it’s just the way our culture works. But in this case, your bike’s just another excuse to blow carbon into the air.

Many of us have taken to bike commuting for some or all of our daily transport, specifically to replace what we’d be doing with a car if we weren’t so eccentric, and this of course directly reduces our impact on the environment. So we can go ahead and pat ourselves on the back right now. But the percentage of Americans who voluntarily commute by bike on any given day, while perhaps growing, is quite low.

This statistics-filled essay about the environmental benefits of cycling from the League of American Bicyclists makes a lot of nice points with a lot of statistics. But one number jumped out at me – it states that 20% of household survey respondents said they used a bike for transportation within the past 30 days. I think that’s the percentage of people who used a bike for any sort of transport, and the majority of that transport would be the recreational kind that has either zero or a negative impact on the environment.

There is an oft-forgotten bike commuting demographic that I should mention. Many Americans live below the so-called “poverty line,” and these people are a large portion of the bike commuting population. They also account for a substantial number of public transport users. But in their case, it’s not the use of bicycles that’s reducing their environmental impact, but serious poverty, and that’s nothing to take comfort in.

I think that in only a small percentage of cases, the sale of a bike at a bike shop results in the reduction of fossil fuel output. It’s good to see that bike companies like Trek are campaigning to make bike commuting more mainstream, and they obviously think they can gain customers this way. But even Trek’s promotional page mentions bike recreation as part of the environmental impact goal, as if they’re too afraid to leave it out.

We need to recognize how the deep-rooted perceptions of bicycling in our culture prevent us from realizing any serious benefits, and we must strike at those roots, even by simply leading by example. See you out on the road.

But you can’t really talk about Rochester-area bike shops without first mentioning their location. Jason has been to Park Ave’s other location in Pittsford, and he’s noted the interesting trend of locating Rochester bike shops on busy, dangerous roads. Park Ave Bike Shop’s Henrietta front, in the shadow of a BJ’s Wholesale Club, is no less dangerous to approach on bike than the one in Pittsford – in fact, I’d rate it slightly more dangerous.

Those trying to get there on bike from the city are forced to spend at least some time on West Henrietta Road: a busy four-lane road with no shoulder and much of the right-hand lane occupied with periodic bike-tire-gripping storm drain grates. You can expect cars to pass within inches at speeds in excess of 45mph, and the F*** You’s Per Mile add up quite fast. Last time I operated my bike there I was ejecting items out of my rear crate as I went over huge road hazards.

The helpful guy behind the counter said that staff members, when they dare travel to work by bike, come in on the slightly-less-dangerous Brighton-Henrietta Town Line Road and use the sidewalk the rest of the way there.

The entrance to the shop, taken from inside the steel-and-glass cage that protected me from Henrietta Traffic. The people who use those bike racks have guts.

Maybe it’s just me, but the biggest issue I have with many bike shops (and coffee shops) is the attitude. My significant other, Kristine, has had nothing but good experiences at Park Ave. According to her, they’ve never talked down to her and have always been eager to help. In fact, they’ve fixed issues on her bike for free or a nominal charge when other bike shops were unable to (including a corroded seat post that other shops couldn’t budge).

And Park Ave did not let me down. I’d rate the shop as friendliest I’ve ever been to so far in Rochester (disclaimer: I have not yet been to Full Moon Vista, so this title may not stay in Park Ave’s hands for long, assuming I don’t get State St and St Paul mixed up in my head next time I try to find FMV). And I’m really only basing this on the guy behind the counter, but he was nice, honest, and eager to assist. He even cancelled out of a text message he was writing when I asked for his attention. And he let me take pictures inside the store for your enjoyment.

The first retail items you see when entering are accessories, including a reasonable selection of cycling clothing. I was in search of gloves, which I found rather quickly, with prices ranging from $15-$100 (as I recall). You can expect the standard bike-shop markup, but I could find lower end items in most product categories. Park Ave offers a wide selection for many items, which gave the store a crowded feel, but this allowed me to find the glove I wanted at the perfect price point.

A bead of sweat wouldn’t last a second in this store before getting wicked away!

The bike selection in the back of the store was off the charts. My eyes had no idea where to start when I looked at the huge mass of bikes. I’m sure this is useful when an employee is trying to find the perfect bike for someone, but this is about as crowded as I’ve ever seen a bike shop get.

So many bikes doomed to winter over at the shop.

With hundreds of bikes displayed bike after bike, it’s hard to tell which components are on which bike. In fact, I only got two bikes in before I had to stop and focus. Luckily, the first two bikes were Dahon folding bikes, and the second one will almost certainly be my next bike purchase when I’m ready to make that step (Jack practices his love on Dahon Folding Bikes here).

Dahon bikes – the perfect blend of reliability, affordability, portability, and oddity.

The guy behind the counter even came out from behind the counter, tried to fold it up for me, and offered to let me take it for a spin. It was dark outside and I didn’t want to fall in love and let my credit card help me make a hasty decision, so no bike tryouts this time.

I don’t know if this review is considered RocBike’s official stance since I am but a pawn in Jason’s plan for blog domination. That said, I happily recommend Park Ave Bike Shop’s Henrietta location if you have a cage to take you there and don’t get cross-eyed when you look at large amounts of bikes.

Jason says: Rocbike.com is a team project, so Adam’s reviews carry the exact same weight as mine, except that his have cooler graphics.

Some folks involved with Rochester, New York Critical Mass are collaborating on a monthly Zine tentatively titled “ROCin’ the Road,” and they’re looking for submissions! The first issue’s theme will be “10 Things I Love About Biking in Rochester.” If you would like to contribute your list of 10 Things, or an essay, or some artwork, send it to rochestercriticalmass@gmail.com by Sunday, October 21st. Anyone interested in even more in-depth collaboration (editing and photocopying) should write to Caitlin courtesy that address.

I look forward to posting “ROCin’ the Road” here on RocBike when it is published. Until then, you can list out the Things You Love About Biking in [Your City] in this post’s comments, and though there’s no guarantee that your list will fall into the hands of the zinemakers, I’m sure RocBike readers would love to share the good bike vibes.

For as many bicyclists that love Critical Mass, there seem to be just as many who oppose it. Some feel it angers motorists and reeks of hypocrisy. Others see it as simply an outlet for liberal aggression. The event certainly doesn’t seem to be winning over Minneapolis newspaper columnists.

In a column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Katherine Kersten comes down hard against Critical Mass and recommends serious police crack-down. She implies that all protesters in modern social movements are only interested in venting their aggression, not in making the world better. She says that like “petulant children,” leaving Critical Mass participants’ misdeeds unpunished will only result in more serious trouble down the road.

Kersten is an advocate of corporal punishment, which makes her child-punishment analogy/fantasy even more disturbing.

In order to bring some clout to her arguments that massers ride to exert power and seek to boost their reputation by adding to their arrest record, she calls in Robert Lichter of the Center for Media and Public Affairs. He shares his vast knowledge of the narcissistic and aggressive nature of “’60s-style radicals” and draws a connection to Critical Mass.

But he seems like an odd choice for a source; according to his own biography Lichter is an expert on the news and entertainment media. Maybe he used to study hippies before his current gig, but his activities prior to CMPA seem somewhat biased against social justice – he has earned himself a page on SourceWatch for his past associations and statements.

Regardless of the column’s accuracy, it’s pretty clear where the readership stands. A poll on the StarTrib site, asking “Should police crack down on ‘Critical Mass’ events?”, with almost 3300 respondents at the moment, results in 66% Yes and 32% No. Although the poll is unscientific, I’m not surprised at the results.

Critical Mass is an event, a statement, a celebration. It’s not a strategic attempt to get motorists to respect bicyclists. I’ve probably said this a hundred times to my friends. My favorite essay on the subject, by Adam Kessel, argues that Critical Mass as an event has a neutral effect on the state of bicycling. But it’s an amazing tool for energizing people into action, participation, and advocacy. People who ride in Critical Mass develop the confidence and motivation to move bureaucracies towards change.

Some see the humor in columnists getting so bent out of shape over a bike ride. Wonkette, a DC political news and satire site, mocks Kersten’s column, and commenters there make some fun points:

She should stage her own right-wing protest. She can get all of her friends to clog sthe streets of Minneapolis with gas-guzzling SUVs to really show those damn hippies….

Of course, that already has a name: rush hour.

I like the way the photo she used for her piece shows an orderly enough procession of bikes riding on the correct side of the street.

Now now…we all have a common enemy. Rollerbladers!

I can attest that Portland is the epicenter of two-wheeled terrorism. I see scores of them every morning on my drive to work. Some of the little tree-hugging bastards have the termerity not to get out of the way when I blow my horn and aim my Escalade at them.

The official Star Tribune blog post has already drawn over 350 comments so far, not nearly as insightful or funny as Wonkette’s.

If the Star Tribune site asks you to log in, username:idontthinkso password:bugmenot worked great for me! Thank you, bugmenot!

As I approached the rec center, I saw numerous people dressed in cycling clothes getting out of cars and pulling bikes off of bike racks. Soon after arriving, I saw a young man named Joey who I had met at last Friday’s Critical Mass. We were a duo of plain clothed bike commuters in a sea of LYCRA®-clad recreational and sport riders. I happened to have a backpack strapped into a milk crate on my back rack, and was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt with “Bike Commuter” in large letters on the back. I overheard a couple riders talking about how TNUA draws all kinds, knowing that they were referring to me.

Scott Page of Full Moon Vista fame pulled up right next to me and told the group to gather round. He asked who was new, and up went Joey’s hand and my hand. He told the group that we didn’t own the road and we’re not out there to anger motorists. We were told to share hazard information with each other by yelling it out to the people behind us – turns, potholes, and parked cars were all things to make note of. He said something about having a reputation for yelling at cyclists who don’t follow the rules – and there were some knowing chuckles from the group.

Scott was quite obviously the long-established leader of TNUA. People looked up to him. He spoke as if he was the model of a dedicated cyclist. He belittled others in a joking way, almost like a high school jock. Although he didn’t make a positive first impression on me with his statements and attitude, judging by the 45 or so enthusiastic riders there, he’s doing something right with the ride.

He assigned us each numbers (he was number 1, and because I was standing next to him he assigned me number 2) which the group would call off at various stops during the ride to make sure we didn’t lose anybody. And then we were off, heading towards a nearby traffic circle. I expected us to clear out of there pretty quickly but we circled around for a good few minutes. The motorists trying to pass through the circle seemed confused. I was happy when we moved on.

As my bikepooling buddy Caitlin will attest, I’m a stickler for stopping at stop signs when I’m not on group rides. This group blew right through them, probably for the better, in the interest of safety and keeping the group together. On certain roads we went single file, but we spread out to claim a full lane in low traffic or two-lane areas. Sometimes with group momentum going we’d hold back a car that had the right of way, but most motorists reacted with enthusiasm and humor as they mostly do during Critical Mass rides.

As far as I could tell, the group universally followed traffic signals, which caused the group to split if a signal went red as we passed through. At times when the forward group got out of sight, a couple bikers would stay behind to help the isolated back group find their way. This is in contrast to Critical Mass, which tries to preserve the mass as safely as possible even in the face of traffic signals changing.

Near the beginning of the ride, one cyclist’s tire popped with an amazingly loud sound. We looped around for him and he was still working on it and told us to go ahead without him. I believe that later that evening, a rider went back to get him, as he was later reunited with us.

On long, straight stretches of road, the group would ride at around 17 mph, much faster than the 8 mph or so that Rochester Critical Mass travels at. I carried on conversations with other riders when the group was stopped but I found it difficult to talk at faster speeds.

I headed out a little over an hour into the ride, after riding the hill repeatedly at Maplewood Park Rose Garden. I unintentionally popped a wheelie heading up a steep part of the hill, and figured it was time to leave to avoid too much wear and tear on my bike and my legs. Scott said that the early rides are easier than the rides he starts holding in December, but my legs were certainly remembering last night’s ride during my 9 mile commute this morning.

So Tuesday Night Urban Assault draws a different crowd than Rochester Critical Mass. I’ve never seen someone park their car near the RCM meeting place and pull their bike off a bike rack. But the folks at TNUA had just as much enthusiasm as RCM for riding on the city streets, just a different way of doing it. And although I have way more fun at Critical Mass than I did at Urban Assault, I could see the joy in it.

As far as bike advocacy goes, I doubt that seeing a bunch of riders in a large group does much to convince motorists that bikes belong on the road. But like RCM, TNUA’s strength is in empowering riders to feel comfortable on the streets. The outdated “About” page I found here captures the infectious spirit of the ride, and its goal to turn apprehensive riders into confident ones.

As someone who uses a bike mostly for transportation and never for recreation, I certainly felt out of place at TNUA. And yet you may very well find me there on Tuesday nights. Maybe I can come to enjoy recreational bike riding with enough exposure. I’m even considering a visit to Goodwill to see if they have any LYCRA® around. If you don’t mind injecting a little bit of sport into your utility riding, I highly recommend checking it out. Don’t expect the spontaneous leaderless moving social club that is Critical Mass, and expect to use those leg muscles, particularly later in the season.

Bruce Wilbur, a local cyclist, is a huge fan of TNUA and has a post up at his Scenic Route blog about last night’s ride. And be sure to visit Full Moon Vista Bike & Sport, official sponsors of TNUA (Jason gives the shop an A+).

Kristine keeps a bike rack on her car pretty much all the time. Pretty cool, huh? When she came to pick me up, we decided to strap my commuter bike onto the rack so I’d have it later in the day to get home. It’s one of the most highly utilized and valued material items in my life, so I carefully fastened it in. The front wheel tends to flop around a bit during the drive so I loosely tied it to the rack with a nylon strap.

We started our journey on Rochester’s highways, headed through the city on 490 then taking 390 North towards the lake. The bike was shaking around a bit on the rack, and we joked about it getting away, but I wasn’t overly concerned.

I don’t remember exactly what I was talking about at the moment that it happened, but my words were interrupted by a shout from Kristine – “ADAM, YOUR BIKE JUST FELL OFF THE RACK!” She had been looking at it in the rear-view mirror and watched as it lifted off the rack and disappeared from view.

I looked back in horror. Indeed, my bike was gone. As Kristine started to pull over, I tried to spot the bike on the expanse of the highway, and could see nothing. I feared that it would cause an accident. I got ready to sprint down the highway shoulder. I felt like crying.

As Kristine’s car came to a stop, I jumped out and ran around to the back. And there was my bike, attached to the back of the car by a single nylon strap around the front wheel. The loose strap had dragged it at 55 miles per hour. The seat, right-side pedal, back basket, and front fender took the brunt of the road rash. The bike remained in perfectly rideable condition.

My severe lack in proficiency with fastening the bike to the rack with the supplied rubber fasteners was made up for by my knot tying skills and distaste for a front wheel that flaps in the wind. Kristine was visibly shaking after the incident. From now on, I’ll pull those bike rack straps extra tight.

A few weeks ago, we were working together on a gender awareness workshop for Beyond the Binary. We both mentioned that we commute to work by bike, and realized that we live in the same neighborhood and work in the same direction. We also, unfortunately, had both faced motorist aggression on roads designed with cars, trucks, and buses in mind instead of bicycles. And so began our experiment in bikepooling — we meet up just about every morning for 25 minutes of commuting, conversation, and adventure.

Our experience has been fantastic. This morning we ate a small breakfast together in the convenience store parking lot where we meet. We said “Hi” to people as they walked by, and shared a smug conversation about automobile repair costs. We headed out on our bikes, riding side by side down a double lane road, while the conversation continued. A couple cars honked at us at an intersection without a shoulder, but shortly after that we were turning off the busy street onto a side street and through the Public Market. From then
on, it was mostly easy riding, through the north side of downtown.

We’ve intentionally worked out a pleasant route that sticks mostly to side streets, which is new to Caitlin, who has been commuting for a year. Caitlin’s path took her straight down Main Street from west to east, during rush hour, with the ongoing dilemma of which lane to be in, the left lane or bus lane, and the increasingly isolating mentality of not even us vs. them, but me vs. them.

Caitlin has more bike commuting experience than Adam, and riding with her has given him more confidence on the road. Now he’s much less hesitant to take up the whole lane when cars cannot safely pass, and the reduced number of near misses has made his solo commutes more enjoyable. Likewise, Caitlin looks forward to her morning commute much more with a bike buddy and is able to take the ride at a more casual pace. She also appreciates the chance to feel more socially connected through conversation with Adam, as opposed to the usual social dynamic of a biker isolated amongst drivers.

We still come across angry motorists from time to time, but find that cars are slightly more respectful and patient when two of us are riding instead of just one. We both ride in a T-shirt and shorts for comfort and change once we get to work, but we’d like to find a way to send a message to motorists that we’re commuting to work just like they are, not simply riding around for recreation. Time to make some “Bike Commuter” T-shirts, perhaps.

It is unclear what it would really take to be respected as equally entitled to being on the road. The real dangers facing bikers, whether commuting or otherwise, are much more serious than hurt feelings from angry, screaming drivers. While the fears of being hit or “doored” by a car are alleviated during our bikepool, it will take more than increased visibility to change the attitudes of motorists.

So far, we’ve stuck exclusively to morning commutes — it’s a little easier for us to sync up the start of our workdays than the end of our workdays. But it might be fun to try an evening commute at some point. And we’d be more than happy to have other bike commuters join us in the morning.

Carpooling attempts to mitigate the problems inherent with using automobiles — fuel costs, environmental impact, traffic congestion, and parking space; to name a few. Commuting by bike eliminates these problems altogether instead of merely reducing them, so at first glance bikepooling may seem unnecessary. But bikepooling shares carpooling’s benefit of social interaction and brings a whole other set of benefits to the table — increased visibility on the road, improved respect from other road users, and cooperative adventuring. If driving a car is a passive, rote task; and riding a bike is about actually living your life; then bikepooling is a way to share the daily adventure of bike commuting with someone, to learn how to be safe and fun together, to try new routes and get into the groove of familiar ones, to laugh and play together while being ambassadors for a safer, cleaner, happier city.

There’s nothing quite like being trailed by a motorist who is holding down their horn, revving their engine, and yelling “Get on the sidewalk!” Over the past two weeks, my first full weeks of exclusively commuting by bicycle, this happened enough times for me to try to avoid these sorts of situations. But sometimes these incidents are unavoidable, at least with roads designed the way they are in Rochester, New York, and that’s the price one pays for choosing the most efficient form of transportation yet invented. Bicyclists haven’t yet reached critical mass on American roads, and I imagine it’ll be some time before we’re a respected part of traffic.

For most of my life, bicycles were toys, not transportation. As a child living in the town of Webster, a suburb of Rochester, I pretty much kept my bike in my neighborhood. I was trapped on a quarter mile of pavement, cut off from the rest of the town by a major road with a tiny shoulder. Any attempts I made to venture out into the world on bike were met with honks and shouts. I got the message that the road was theirs.

So I didn’t grow up a bicycle commuter, and I didn’t become one overnight. Over the past few months I’ve had a lot to learn. I’ve learned to ride in a straight, predictable path on the street so motorists can respond predictably. I’ve begun to assert my right to the road, building confidence on major roadways that I would have avoided in the past. And I’ve practiced laughing off insults, threats, and orders from motorists while maintaining a friendly demeanor. I’ve found that the more easygoing I am, the safer I am, and the more I enjoy the ride.

I’ve been inspired by the enthusiasm of bicycle commuters, including Jason here at RocBike.com, whose ranks I eagerly wanted to join. I’ve thought long and hard about who I am and why bicycle commuting should be a part of my lifestyle. I’ve studied up on types of commuting bicycles, decided what would work for me, and had Freewheelers (my favorite local bike shop) put it together.

And the day after the bike was built was the first day of my daily bike commute. It’s an 8 mile trip directly through downtown Rochester, ending in the neighboring suburb of Gates. I have the option of taking the Genesee River and Canal Towpath instead of sticking to the city streets, but the scenic route adds a couple miles onto the commute and I’ve only taken it once.

The city streets can get a little crazy during rush hour. Add some construction and emergency vehicles into the mix and it’s pure chaos. I prefer back roads to heading directly down Main Street, but there are always trade-offs. If I happen to be the only vehicle waiting at a light on certain side streets, I don’t trip the light and I either have to wait for a car to join me, or I make a spontaneous right turn. Car doors are a bicyclist’s nightmare, and unfortunately, people seem to be a little more careless when opening up their car doors on side streets; I haven’t been doored yet because I’m usually cautious, but I’ve been close. Some side streets – such as Oxford Street between Park Avenue and Monroe Avenue – don’t have any room for passing bicyclists, and twice on Oxford alone I’ve had motorists take their frustration out on me.

Main Street downtown is another story altogether. Like many Rochester roads, it lacks a bike lane or a shoulder. But even worse, the right lane is restricted to buses and right turns only, sending bicyclists into the left lane, which on a busy day with aggressive motorists is nearly suicidal. The average speed of travel downtown is about 10 miles per hour anyway, so bicycles shouldn’t have any trouble fitting in, but in practice car drivers don’t like the company. I’ve been working for the past week with the Mayor’s office and the Rochester Police Department to learn what bicyclists can do but haven’t gotten an answer yet. The ideal answer would be, “OK, we’ll build a bike lane for ya.”

It’s not always as easy as mindlessly taking the highway into work while listening to NPR, but bicycle commuting is something that everyone should consider. In fact, just off of the top of my head, I can think of so many great reasons to commute by bike that I couldn’t possibly cover them all in the 1000 words Jason gave me. But let me just say that since I’ve switched from automobile to bike, my commute to work has gone from stressful to fun. I’ve found some real joys in commuting. And I’ve traded an hour of driving an automobile each day to an hour and a half of exercise.

We’ll see where bike commuting takes me. I’ve already got some knobby snow tires ready to go for the winter. I’m planning on upgrading my bike to an Xtracycle late in the year to increase its carrying capacity and usefulness. Maybe, someday soon, I’ll be biking across the state. I know that, at the very least, I’ll have worked out some hilarious comebacks to “Get on the sidewalk!”