Ridin' with Craig
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
April showers bring May......showers
Tuesday my lifelong buddy Bill was in town and we did a little more urban and path riding. Three Creeks to downtown up to Huntington Park and watched a little of the Clippers game, before heading back to Bexley for dinner. After finishing dinner and picking up the pace a little we made it back to the car just as the sun was setting. Nice day and a great 26 mile evening ride. On a side note the Clippers gave up a 6-0 lead and lost 10-7. There are still in first place though.
Lat Saturday was the first trip of the year to Johnstown to ride the bike path there. this is a nice path with sections that are in need of major maintenance. But it is a great path and out and back was 30 miles. Dodged rain and hail for a while on the way back, but a fun ride. Sunday was the Ride your bike to Taco Trucks. I skipped because of the never ending rain. Looks like a fun one. Ray George, lets do this one again.
Last night, Tuesday, I met other riders at the Franklinton Cycle Works and we rode to Elevator Brewery for the Ride the Elevator, a fundraiser for FCW. A total of 75+ showed up for the beer and ride.
All in all not a bad couple of weeks in the recovery from the winter pneumonia. Mileage is starting increase, depending on the weather anyway.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
It has been along time.
The pneumonia that affected my over the winter hung on for a lot longer than I ever expected. I have finally been able to get out much more. The miles have been becoming easier each day. Unfortunately though the TOSRV challenge is out for the year. No TOSRVs at all this year. Market to Market is this coming Saturday, not a long or difficult ride, short and all on the bike path, but great fun, great food.
I finished the 30 Days of Biking. It was not nearly as successful as I had hoped. I rode 24 out of the 30 days. I did not track mileage closely. I did a couple of 20 mile rides but most ended up being neighborhood rides, damn rain.
I went for a nice 12 miler tonight on the bike path. I rode with Rhonda for the first time since last summer. I don't feel the stress riding with her that I feel with others. I did use the Garmin 705 for the first time tonight. Time to figure out how to download it now and start getting the rides on a map my ride type of website.
Over the next couple of post I will try to catch up on several of the rides that I have done, some of the equipment that I have used, and some more of my bikes.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
What is in the stable, Part 1.
The bike that I have had the longest now is a 200t Giant TCR C2. It is a compact carbon frame that fits me just about perfectly. This bike has been riding on at least 4 editions of TOSRV, and has been ridden in about every state between here and Florida. It is a great bike. Nice all carbon, Shimano Ultregra and Time pedals. I have made some updates along the way. FSA compact carbon cranks, Bontrager Race Lite Wheelset, Ritchey stem among many others. The smoothness in this frame is amazing. It makes most roads silk.
The Time pedals were the only complaint that I had about this bike from day one. They seemed as though they did not allow as much float as I required for comfort. I quickly replaced those with Speedplay X Pedals. The Speedplay pedals were amazing. I used them for a couple of years before switching to Crank Brothers. These pedals are also great. Maye not for the kind of riding that I do on this bike, but still great pedals.
It seems to me that Giant hit a home run with this frame and the subsequent carbon frames that they have put out.
The year ahead in bikes
Photo: Steve RThere's been a bicycle movement brewing for years, and since 2008 it's been unstoppable. Things really ramped up in 2010, but it's looking like next year will be even better. Here's what I predict we'll see in 2011.
Bike sharing comes into its own
Bicycle-sharing programs -- systems that allow people to check bikes out for less than the price of a cup of coffee -- have been a big hit in Europe for years, but were little known in this country until last summer. Now, they're poised to become one of the most powerful tools for bringing bicycling into the mainstream. They also have the potential to reduce car traffic, lighten the burden on overwhelmed transit systems, and improve public health. Along with these benefits, the programs are setting a precedent for creative public-private funding partnerships.
In 2010, bike sharing came to three U.S. cities: Minneapolis, Denver, and Washington, D.C. All three programs have earned rave reviews.
Meanwhile, New York City has been aggressively laying down a bike network and has issued an RFP for a bike-sharing proposal that is bound to further populate its new cycle tracks and rival its infamous car traffic. Other municipalities, from Miami to San Francisco, are signing contracts and drumming up funding.
Anti-bike backlash
As bicycling increases -- and bike infrastructure along with it -- we're bound to see more about bicycling in politics and the news.
If 2010 was the year that mayors of major cities fell in love with bicycling (or just fell while bicycling), then 2011 will be the year their embrace of bicycling is used against them in Tea Party-flavored backlash -- exemplified by a Colorado gubernatorial candidate's wacky warnings that Denver's bike-sharing program was part of a United Nations plot to control the city. Of course, it isn't always funny, and Tea Party candidates don't all hate bicycles. Regardless, your "bicycle" news alert will definitely blossom.
We're also bound to see a nationwide surge in fabricated "bikes v. cars" rhetoric in the media as editors pen attention-grabbing headlines about any road rage incident that happens to involve someone on a bicycle, or any neighborhood gadfly willing to stand out on a street corner with a sign. If your local media is poised to pounce on bikes, take heart: in Portland this sort of absurd treatment reached an unsustainable crescendo in 2008, after which things calmed down a lot. Your job is to keep speaking reason while the madness runs its course.
Rewriting the rules
Okay, this is really wonky. But it just might be the most important thing to happen for bikes in 2011.
The next year could see such rare beasts as bike boxes, cycle tracks, and buffered bike lanes emerging into common use.
Why? Well, right now, all road design and engineering must follow the guidelines laid out in an unwieldy federal document called the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD. First drafted during the 1940s, it still reflects the values and reality of the golden age of the automobile, and offers limited guidance for cities that want to build a comprehensive bicycle network.
Cities for Cycling is a coalition of transportation planners from around the U.S. who are seeking to change all that. Using lessons learned in Europe as well as in recent experiments in U.S. cities like Portland, Seattle, and New York, the group is rapidly rolling out new "best practices" papers. Cross your fingers that their recommendations will be incorporated into this year's revision of the MUTCD.
E-bikes
If the hype is right, 2011 will be a massive year for electric cars -- but guess what? They're still cars.
The good news is that electric bicycles are also still bicycles. And they'll be taking 2011 by storm, as people who have always wanted to do more of their daily transportation by bicycle discover the transformative power of the electric assist -- which is very different from a motorcycle throttle, thank you very much.
Electric bikes are already widely used in parts of Europe and Asia, and are just now starting to catch on in the U.S.
As more options come onto the U.S. market, we'll begin to see more people like a middle-aged couple I met in hilly Olympia, Wash., who sang the praises of their electric assist bikes as a way to get around actively without having to feel like fitness fiends.
Locavores by bike
There's already quite a bit of creative intermingling between the local food and the bicycle movements -- and in the next year, I predict we'll see these two powerful emerging social forces learn new ways to work together. More businesses that deliver local produce to stores by pedal power. More bicycle-powered, hyperlocal urban farming.
And there's yet more room for synergies to flourish in the public health movement to combat childhood obesity that's been focusing on putting healthy food into schools. Maybe we'll even see Michelle Obama giving the Safe Routes to School movement a boost.
While I'm dreaming, my wish list for 2011 includes ample bike parking at farmers markets and grocery stores across the nation, and a Michael Pollan book about bicycling. Think big, Michael!
Carfree families
With a recession that just won't quit, a growing sense of environmental urgency, and the increasingly widespread availability of cargo bicycles and child seats in the U.S. market, we'll start seeing more families go down to a single car or give up auto ownership altogether in 2011.
Whether these families are going carfree by choice or by necessity, it looks like the times may at last be changing along with them. Revitalized cities, retrofitted suburbs, and the movement towards 20-minute neighborhoods will be key to making life without a car not just possible but desirable. The big challenge will be transportation equity -- making sure walkable and bikeable neighborhoods with good transit service aren't just a luxury for those who can afford to choose them.
Whatever happens, in 2011 the word "carfree" won't sound as radical or intimidating as it used to -- and it'll continue to become a gold standard for decision makers and a badge of honor for city dwellers.
Happy New Year, and thanks for reading. What are your hopes (or fears) for bicycling in 2011?
Saturday, January 1, 2011
2011 Happy New Year
Looking back at 2010 I don't know that I am disappointed with the way the year turned out but with the small things during the year. Work has never been fulfilling in any way. At least I have a job. Riding last year was without motivation or enthusiasm. Although there were several rides that stood out and will become yearly rides, hopefully anyway.
This year started with me battling pneumonia. Stuck on the coach on a rainy January 1. It is looking like my fist goal of the year may be out of reach. I had hoped for a nice ride to start the year. In shot I did make it out. One mile on the first day of the year. It did hurt, but I got it in.
So what am I going to do this year. I hope to do all three versions of TOSRV. TOSRV South, the original TOSRV and TOSRV West. The southern version will take me to Tallahassee, Florida during late April. Then The Columbus to Portsmouth ride on mother's Day weekend. And finally a nice long ride trip to Missoula, Montana for a two day ride in the Swan River Valley.
The night rides are next on the list. Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus and Detroit. I was able to attend Indianapolis and the first edition of the Columbus ride last year. I was disappointed not to make it to Chicago or Detroit.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal stretches 185 miles from Washington DC to Cumberland, MD. This year I will ride from Cumberland to DC. Two days maybe three, I have not yet decided. But I am definitely looking forward to riding that bike path.
There are many other rides along the way that are already marked on the calendar for the upcoming year. Many local and a few others out of state. Indiana, West Virgina and Maryland, maybe Virginia too. I am already registered for the Warrior Dash. A three mile cross country obstacle course in Logan, Ohio. It looks like it will be a fun day.
I finally joined a club this year. Team Cyclist Connection. We have nice personalized Jerseys. Cyclist Connection is a great local bike shop in Canal Winchester. They are very supportive of the local racing and riding scene.
I have also obtained a new GoPro camera this year. Thanks Mom! Hopefully once I get it figured out there will be some great pictures and videos.
Well one day down. One mile down.