As a bike commuter, I like options. That’s why I spend most of my time riding the Chicken Avenger — a longtail sports utility bike. Whether it’s spontaneous grocery shopping sprees, friends in need of a ride, or that lovely ottoman that’s just sitting out on the curb and needs a good home, my bike has me covered.

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.

Two Team RocBike members – Jack Spula and me – are holding a bike commuting panel/workshop/war story session this Sunday the 27th at the Rochester Abundance Cooperative Market Annual Meeting. I think we’ve been invited more for the strangeness of our bikes than for our friendly demeanor. The event starts at 3:30 at Tay House Lodge in Cobb’s Hill Park, right up a hill near the water treatment plant. Another familiar face at Abundance, Jessica Rodriguez, will be showing off her weird bike as well:

3:30 – 4 – Bike Commuters Show and Tell 
Jessica Rodriguez, Adam Durand, and Jack Spula talk about car-free commuting and demonstrate their two – (or three – ) wheeled wonders.

I should give The Chicken Avenger a hose-down this week. There are a bunch of other workshops, including a session on urban chickens and another on vegan gluten-free baking, and it’s completely free and open to the public. Here’s the schedule. This event is right up my alley.

Only with something like an Xtracycle can you be concerned about overpacking when bicycle camping. Emily loaded what she could onto the rack of Magdalena, her blue road bike, and the rest went into the ample bags of my longtail.

The weather report is saying 10% chance of rain, so we have high hopes that these cloudy skies will leave us alone. We’re heading first downtown, the taking the river down to Genesee Valley Park where we meet up with the canal. Shouldn’t have any difficulty reaching Holley tonight, where we’ll make camp.

Emily says there’s only two things to worry about when packing for camping trips: warmth and rain gear. As we get ready to bike the canal for three days starting tomorrow, she organizes her clothes into neat piles and readies the Zip-lock bags.

On Saturday night, Henry Sun was out walking near his house in Brighton, a Rochester suburb, and was struck and killed by a motorist. He was 14.

We had our first thunderstorm of the season that night. The details are vague and contradictory on the various news web sites, but it appears that Henry was walking in the shoulder of the road, was struck at about 8 p.m., he then later passed away at the hospital, and police have not charged the motorist.

The police have stated that there are sidewalks in the area, but news sources have quoted some who say there are no sidewalks (and Google Street View backs up the lack-of-sidewalk claims). A story in the Democrat and Chronicle discusses neighbor complaints about speeding on that stretch of road, which is known as “The Elmwood Expressway.”

Henry’s death moves me more than most deaths I read about. I was riding just south of the neighborhood where Henry was walking that night, on my way to a dinner, where I complained about the walkability issues in that part of town. But I haven’t actually done anything constructive to make the area safer for pedestrians.

The mother of a six-year-old girl who was struck on the same stretch of road in 2007 shares her frustration in the comments of this story:

I went to the town of Brighton and asked them to help slow Elmwood down before someone else was hurt or killed . . . I want to start a petition of all Brighton residents to present to both the town and the county to get the road right with sidewalks on both sides and if needed, speed bumps.

These are good ideas, I fully support them. They help to mitigate a serious problem. I doubt you’ll see the county install speed bumps on a 35 mph road, but you might see them try other traffic-calming strategies. For example: a narrower street, with a reduced shoulder size (or bike lane!) and raised sidewalks with curbs, can help signal to drivers that this is a neighborhood and not a highway. This is a response, but it doesn’t eliminate the problem.

The statistics are a little old, but the late bike advocate Ken Kifer’s site has a long rundown of the various dangers cyclists (and pedestrians) face. Ken notes that in his calculations (based on 1997 data), one out of every 69 people will either be killed by or kill someone else with a motor vehicle. Sadly, Ken was one of those people – he was killed by a drunk driver in 2003.

We know that motor vehicles are the problem here, directly causing over forty thousand deaths each year in the US alone.

The convenience of owning and operating our own cars is no good reason why so many people have to die violent, tragic deaths.

Of course, there’s a lot of work to do.

A couple weeks ago, when we were in the first major melting phase of this muddled winter, I found myself on a partially submerged road near Cobbs Hill. Apparently all of Cobbs’ snow was melting and pooling on the street. I stopped for a couple minutes to take pictures of motorists as they pondered whether to spend two minutes on a detour or risk severe damage to their cars.

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.

I picked up some studded tires from Towners about a month ago, and have been tearing up the roads with them since. I’ve experienced and seen my fair share of wipe-outs in past winter seasons, and after reading about Ethan’s experience this morning, figured that I’d share some thoughts on the studded life.

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.

My Xtracycle has been a long time coming, the result of over a year of scrimping and saving (the car-free lifestyle has helped with that a lot). It was further delayed when the Xtracycle kits remained sold out, so the morning they went back on sale I purchased one and had it shipped straight to local upscale bike shop Full Moon Vista (which had previously put together Jason’s Packet Boat).

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

This coming Monday, I’m bringing my bike in to Full Moon Vista for a modification that’s taken a year of scrimping and saving to afford. Here is a lousy animation of what keeps playing in my head:

Technorati Tags: animation, xtracycle

This past Friday night, Jess and I went out on a S24O camping trip down the Genesee Valley Greenway. It’s was a very casual, fun, refreshing adventure; and I highly recommend that those in Rochester check out the trail. Pictures and a bit of story telling follow. (more…)