9.28.06

This day has been one of an emotionial ride. Rain once again woke us all, followed by typical fall weather. Our day here was mared by a funeral for a grand lady of 102 years of age. Viola Daniel who was one of our ex-neighbors but a major cog in the wheel of our lives will be sadly missed.

After the funeral I rode my bike for twenty plus miles in the wind and sun, fighting the wind and gear changing along the way. I have been bouncing back and forth beween variations of the same route of 15, 18 and 20 milers since coming back from vacation. Right now, it is good for me, but it will become boring after a while.

Hope all is well.
b

World Car Free Day 2006

Does anyone know what this area (especially New Albany) will be doing for World Carfree Day 2006?

"New this year, we are encouraging all organisers to make this year's unofficial theme of World Carfree Day Street Conversions. World Carfree Network and Carbusters magazine are co-sponsoring a competition to design a carfree street, parking space, or intersection. For more information on the contest and the concept of street conversions, click here."
Taken from http://www.worldcarfree.net/

Be Careful

Went out and did a twenty miler this morning, but played dodge the rocks. Mother Nature specialized in hyrdaulics this weekend and with that came everyone's gravel driveway down onto the road surface. Please ride carefully.

That twenty this morning gives me eigthy plus miles this week, the first week back from a vacation that ran my system in the ground. My body is still feeling the effects of much riding and hopefully will get back in the groove before long.

I need a new chain for my bike, any suggestions of a better brand over another?

Cheers

Just outside of Prague.

We didn't make it the whole way, but I'd say that Kevin and I managed about 275-300 km of the Greenway.

As previously alluded to, we've had an epiphany with respect to the proper balance of cycling and beer drinking.

Guess which one gained ... 

Big country, relatively small path.

Beercycling 2006 has concluded, but the stories should continue to grow and prosper in the coming years.

The view above is from the national park area near Znojmo on the Czech-Austrian border. The Greenway is somewhat rough in this area, and Kevin and I bypassed it according to the dictates of our new slogan: When the going gets tough, the tough take the train.

In spite of our long overdue recognition that we're no longer spring chickens and would rather drink beer than fight mountains (at least on a regular basis), 500+ kilometers were recorded, and the beercycling adventure will be remembered fondly.

I hope to offer more in the next few days, but right now, there's work to be tended. 

CA Trip (2)

Well friends, for all that I posted about my trip to California in May of this year, ditto it and add much more. We wound up with about 400 miles in seven days. Some of that I was on my own due to my buddy TR's work schedule at the Saint Michael Alley Bistro where he is a waiter. Never the less, it was good weather and was coupled with many fine memories of the Bay Area and the peninsula area south of 'Frisco and over the mountains to Santa Cruz.

We did a little more exploring of the north shore area between Sausalito and Larkspur which included Tiburon. We road the hilly terrian of the paradise trail. Our return that day was coming back across the Golden Gate Bridge in total fog with visibility at about 30 feet. All I could see in front of me was TR's flashing red light on his bike and could hear the massive horn blast warning the ships heading in the bay of the bridge. Just like out of a movie.

The photo was taken on 9.13.06 at a bar called Zeitgeist where it would be safe to say there was near sixty to seventy bikes there in hanging racks or just locked together out back in the backyard by patrons enjoying fine California hoppy beers and other substances. Totally different culture than we are used to here in this area.

Good to be back in Indiana

Well it was a hoot, my second bike trip to California this year, but always so glad to get back home to comfy confines of good old Southern Indiana. I'll post later on the details of my trip, but for now here is a taste of one of the "grand scale bikes" that is taking the Santa Cruz area by storm with the younger crowd. Way strange when you see them coming at you on the road.

The Left Coast

Hello all from the wonderful land of bicycling known as California. We have been some 200+ miles thus far including a trip from Santa Cruz today that brought us over the mountains in 90+ degree heat. Hope all is well and will post later in the week or when I return. Oh yeah, I'm in Palo Alto and lovin' it drinking fine California Double IPA's.
Cheers....Ed

Coffee and A Newspaper

We rode over to Louisville today to the Heine Bros. on Longest, where there is also a Carmichael's bookstore. It was great that both places were open early on a Sunday because we got our usual coffee and I was able to purchase a couple of copies of this week's Business First newspaper because my daughter is in this issue! She's on the Ahead of the Curve page which is about young business professionals. So a bike ride, coffee stop and reading about your kid, what could be cooler on a Sunday?

Total mileage today: 40

Chasing Cormac

I have been hindered as of late by September infirmity, nearly as predictable as other rituals of autumn. I did seek medical authority and thus felt a return to the living yesterday. I had spent the week reading the remaining two thirds of the Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy and was inspired to seek the natural. The myriad lands around Loop Island do not recall the Southwest and Old Mexico of the maestro's explication on Duty and the sundry caprice of Life. No, it actually recalls Sutree, primoridal stretch of striated Natura Firma a stones throw from inerstate traffic. The brambles and ivy have yet to concede the onset of chilly weather and I pedalled along accordingly, noting the cadres of young people fishing, homeless blokes catnapping and the presence, en masse, of New Albany's finest investigating some situation where Silver Creek empties into the Ohio. There are paths below the old railroad bridge, though the topography of such requires greater skill on a bike than I can reasonably manage. So it goes.

Finals standings

Here we are one week later and I finally found out what my national ranking is, #8. I'm happy with it, but next year it will be #1! With my national ranking, I am now on the U.S. Cycling Team that will compete next year at the 2007 World Championships that will be in Canada.

On another note, I'm pretty bummed out that there was so little coverage of the race, especially since New Albany had two riders representing the city in the main events. The Tribune, nor the other news media I contacted prior, during and after the races have responded. The CJ just ran a press release and I saw WAVE3 out there, but nothing was on the program.

What I'm trying to get at is that New Albany is home to two national champion cyclist! We've worked really hard to earn that, but unless it involves a ball and two goals, news deems it unworthy and that BMX is some underground kid sport. Did you know that the Grand National brings in about 20 thousand people to our local area? Maybe next year we might get a nod...lol..

Exit to California

Well it is my turn to exit for a cycling vacation, my second trip to California this year. I broke the bike down and placed it in the case tonight, so as not to bother with it tommorow night. Yeah I probably should have ridden one more time but I have been working a lot and need to rest my legs. My buddy TR and I will see if we can exceed the mileage we racked up in May, hopefully, and have good weather to do it in. The rainy season starts there in mid September, maybe we can get in some good days of cruising in the mountains and also trips to San Francisco and farther north towards Santa Rosa.

Tuesday

Went out for a two hour cruise up Corydon Pike and around over to Spickert Knob this afternoon after work, damn it felt so good. After making it off the hill I road alittle in the New Albany area before making my way to downtown and then up the Spring Street hill to home. Did not ride real hard, but kept a descent pace so as not to burn my self out before my trip this weekend.

2006 NBL Grands

The 2006 NBL Grand National is history. No doubt, the best Grands EVER! We had over 450 motos. That's about 2500 riders, ranging from 5 and under to 70 something I believe.

The local organization, which is all volunteer based, put on the best race I've attended. I started out a little shakey, but finished all first through my qualifying rounds in 35 and over expert and posted a 1,5,3 in the 30 and over open wheels. Today, we started out with 1/8's and kept the winning going all the way until the main.

In class, I got out a little sluggish, but was able to keep the leader insight and I played follow the leader until the last turn and tried to make my move, but I just didn't have any fuel left. Bob O'Gorman is the world ranked #3 rider and one of the classiest guys you'll meet on the national scene.

Here's a pic from Saturdays motos. I'm # 865.

Nice ride

Went out last night for a good ride in some much needed cooler weather. Road over to Clarksville and paid my Verizon bill and then took off up Hwy31 to old Hwy6o, across I-65 and then back around Payne Koeller Rd to Charlestown Road. Made my way back to downtown NA and then up Old Vincennes to home. I have one week of training left before leaving for the West Coast and will likely ride hard this weekend and taper off next week to rest my body.
b

Big time weekend

Yesterday I climbed St. Joe Knob. I thought I was past the point in life where I'd be able to do something like that. After climbing, we rode along Skyline drive and went down Mosier Knob (that was fun!), total ride was about 27 miles I think. Oh, and right when we were at the top of Mosier Knob, my odometer crossed over to 1,000 miles! I put it on this bike when I bought it last year in October.

Then today, we went to Louisville and ended up at the Heine Bros. in Douglass Loop. Total ride today was 50 miles. A half-century. Never thought I'd ever do that either.

Set some goals and move towards them, you just might surprise yourself.

I'm outta here. See you later in September.

Keep riding!

This Is What A Bicycle Coalition Does To Help Make Change.

Cycling supporters on a roll in S.F. Bicycle Coalition has political clout and backing of public.

Rachel Gordon San Francisco Chronicle http://sfgate.com
Monday, August 21, 2006

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (www.sfbike.org), revived 16 years ago by disgruntled cyclists, has emerged as one of the most potent political forces in the city.
The organization, founded in 1970, went into hibernation through the 1980s and was reborn in 1990. Now -- with a paid membership of 5,800 and its top executive sitting on the board overseeing San Francisco's public transit, parking and traffic operations -- the bike coalition is moving aggressively to enact its goal of making the streets of San Francisco a bicycling mecca "where cars are rare and travel slowly.''
In the past decade, the city -- responding to the demands of the Bicycle Coalition -- has added bike lanes, required commercial developers to provide bike parking and equipped Muni buses with bike racks.
But as the crusade moves forward and cycling in San Francisco gains in popularity, a pushback can be felt.
The coalition's lobbying for a proposal to make a portion of Golden Gate Park car-free on Saturdays won a narrow victory at the Board of Supervisors this spring, but Mayor Gavin Newsom applied the brakes with a veto.
And in June, a San Francisco Superior Court judge put the city's bike plan on hold. The plan, which won unanimous backing by the supervisors and the mayor last year, maps out an ambitious five-year strategy to make it easier and safer for cyclists to get around town.
Critics sued, charging that the city did not conduct a review that adequately analyzed the plan's effects; for example, the city may have to remove street parking and traffic lanes to make room for cyclists.
The judge's ruling effectively prevents city officials from moving forward with much of the plan until the court rules on the merits of the litigation. The hearing has been set for Sept. 13.
Despite the setbacks, bicycle advocates in San Francisco aren't deterred.
"There is broad public support for better biking conditions,'' said Leah Shahum, who runs the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. She said a new poll of 400 likely voters by David Binder Research found that nearly 3 in 4 respondents favored creating more bike lanes in San Francisco.
The fact that the monthly Critical Mass ride -- an event organized independently of the Bicycle Coalition at which anywhere from dozens to thousands of bikers take to the streets on the last Friday of the month -- hasn't erupted into chaos for nearly a decade probably has helped move public opinion in that direction.
"The bike coalition is at the cutting edge of urban environmentalism. It reduces our reliance on foreign oil, cuts down pollution, helps ease traffic congestion and makes the city more livable,'' said Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, who represents the Richmond District in a famously liberal city where politicians work hard to put green-friendly credentials on their resumes.
In addition to lobbying for more bike lanes, the Bicycle Coalition is urging city officials to better maintain streets now pocked with potholes, to do more to prevent bicycle thefts and to enact measures to slow the speed of cars.
Jim Town, a 26-year-old math teacher, uses his 15-speed bicycle -- and Caltrain -- to commute from his home in San Francisco's Western Addition to his job in Palo Alto. He thinks San Francisco is a good place to ride, especially when bike lanes are available.
"I feel like I don't have to assert myself as much when there's a lane; drivers are more respectful,'' said Town, who only had one bad experience with a driver who was in a hurry to make a right-hand turn when they were both stopped at a red light. "I find that bicycling is a good way to get around; it's often faster than driving when there's a lot of traffic.''
The 2000 U.S. Census found that about 2 percent of the commuters in San Francisco pedal to work or school. City Hall set a goal to push that to 10 percent by 2010.
Advocates say that can't be done without the completion of a citywide bicycle network that likely would mean less room on the city's streets to drive and park cars -- a prospect that adds fuel to the tension in the city between motorists and bicyclists.
Rob Anderson is fed up. An active blogger (www.district5diary.blogspot.com), he sued the city to stop implementation of the bike plan. Anderson started a group -- he won't say how many members it has, but by all accounts there aren't many -- called "Ninety-Nine Percent.'' The name is intended to highlight the fact that only a sliver of residents rely on bicycles and that the vast majority still drive, use public transit and walk.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition "has completely free rein at City Hall. No one challenges them,'' he said.
Chris Albanese agrees. He owns Antiquario, a store on the 1600 block of Market Street. In May, the city removed parking from the front of his shop to put in a new bike lane. He said that merchants in the area, who feared a drop in business, were given little notice to protest, and that those who did could not get a fair hearing. The city's creation of new parking spaces around the corner, he said, hasn't helped.
"The removal of the meters has all but eliminated new business and has greatly inconvenienced my established customers,'' Albanese said. "But the real story here is not my loss of business. It's about the bike coalition's overwhelming and undue influence on public officials and public policy.''
There are few who would dispute that the Bicycle Coalition wields influence. In addition to being one of the biggest, if not the biggest, advocacy groups in the city, it has leaders who are politically savvy and media-friendly.
They work within the system -- Shahum's appointment to the Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors is just one example -- and have been working to build alliances with other well-organized advocacy groups, such as Rescue Muni, Walk San Francisco and the Sierra Club.
Bike coalition members don't hesitate to contact elected officials at City Hall, and the organization makes it easy by supplying preprinted postcards with the message of the moment.
During the bike coalition's first "Bike to Work Day'' in the 1990s, Supervisor Tom Ammiano was the only elected official to participate in the event. Now, most of the local pols do. Even Newsom, who hesitates to put on hats for fear of messing his gelled hair, dons a helmet for the photo-op ride to City Hall during the morning commute.
Bike coalition leaders also have shown that they're willing to compromise and are in it for the long haul. Take, for example, the proposal in the mid-1990s to ban cars on Market Street. The business community revolted, and bike advocates backed down. Now, however, "we are pushing to have fewer cars on Market Street,'' Shahum said. One of the ideas is to force cars to turn off Market Street at several downtown intersections to discourage drivers from using the busy corridor.
Another example is the proposal to limit auto traffic in Golden Gate Park on Saturdays, something that had been done on Sundays and holidays.
After Newsom killed the legislation, backers of the "Healthy Saturdays'' plan contemplated putting the issue on the November ballot, but backed off at the last minute when Newsom said he would work on coming up with a negotiated compromise. And if that doesn't happen, Shahum said, there is always next year's fall ballot -- which just happens to be when the next mayor's race will be decided.
The Bicycle Coalition endorses candidates, and getting the group's nod of approval is coveted.
"These politicians want to look green, and there are only so many things they can do at the local level,'' Shahum said.
McGoldrick, the supervisor representing the Richmond District, said supporting the bike coalition's agenda isn't an issue of quid pro quo. Instead, he maintained, the group's agenda resonates with the progressive majority of the Board of Supervisors and a large segment of the public.
"I don't think it's so much politics as policy,'' he said.