put that thing away

When riding in downtown Bend, I really enjoy nice weather days, because people have their windows down. That means, when I roll up alongside and spy they're using a cell phone, I get to say, and have heard, "Put that cell phone down." Pointing at them helps.

The younger the person, the more likely they are to do so without saying anything. Although I haven't had anyone not put their phone down. Older people, like my age, and male, are likely to say something smart-allecky, but they put it down anyway.

Love the nice weather...

even in alaska?

"The idea is to make biking more convenient and less dangerous so that more people do it." -article

Excellent premise. And this is from Alaska, cold land of the very long dog race, where sometimes people die while competing, and the mid-night sun. They want more biking and they appear (at least from this article) to have the ground-swell behind it. My sister recently moved there to attend nursing school at UA - Anchorage and is riding her bike in the dead of winter, which doesn't end for a while yet. She must be nutty.

Spending money to put more people on bikes and fewer in cars makes a trickle-down sense, more so than George H.W. Bush's trickle-down did. Fewer cars means fewer emissions, means less wear on roadways, means smaller lines at lights, means healthier citizens (yes, that is possible, even in Bend), means more parking for tourists in downtown, means easier parking for employees in downtown, means always finding a place to park. Always. Want to save money by not driving? Walking or biking will do it for you. Personally, walking may not be a money saver, if time=money. That makes biking the money maker. It saves you money, makes you healthy (healthy=money saving could be another post), and is about equal in terms of time as a car.

But, you think to yourself, I don't want to arrive at work sweaty/wet/snowy/grimy. A valid response to this statement is, you don't have to. When one goes skiing, fishing, kayaking, or snow-shoeing, one wears the proper gear. Biking or walking is no different. Equipped with weather-proof pants and jacket, which one might already own for different sports/activities means you are already equipped!

One way to make it safer is to get more people to do it. Wait, what? Read on. If more people are riding or walking, we increase our collective visibility to those in cars. Drivers learn to be more watchful for cyclists and walkers because they know we are everywhere. This was the way in Portland. When I was bike commuting there in the early 90s, I never saw anyone else riding my route (turns out my route sucked for safety, had no shoulders and blind curves. I was lucky to outlive my foolishness), so drivers were not expecting a cyclist. But now, cyclists are everywhere in Portland and thus are expected everywhere.

1. Maybe your gear closet already has items that can cross over from one sport to bike/walk commuting. Don't spend more money for bike gear, no matter what The Source tells you. This makes it convenient to you.

2. Safety in numbers. This makes it safer for you.

Make it convenient and safe. Now get out there and do it.

distract this

Oregon recently enacted a Distracted Driver law, prohibiting cell phone use while driving a motor vehicle, a Class D infraction. There are a few exceptions, like using a blue-tooth, law enforcement, people who operate a vehicle as part of their job, and others. See ORS 811.507 for a full list. Question...are drivers who wear a badge or drive truck for a living immune from distraction? Just asking.

Now consider this thought which I have been mulling over for a month or so...When a person gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, after drinking say 3-4 pints and is legally over the limit, one might argue that they were unable to formulate the necessary intent to drive under the influence. (Good luck with that, by the way.)

However, assuming one is not drunk, use of the cell phone that does not fall under an exception is a conscious choice to defy the law, distract oneself, and put the lives of others in danger. I have no stats handy, but one would have to be living under a rock to not understand the concept of a distracted driver. It seems to me that the fine associated with a Class D infraction is laughable.

zeroing in on local

I was talking with my wife today about getting local with our grocery shopping...she pointed out that Newport Market is the cheapest around, if you walk or ride your bike.

Good point. True, you do pay a bit more there, but for some things, you do not pay any more than you would elsewhere. You do get better quality for the most part. What you certainly get is better service, especially in the wine and meat departments. I hope to leverage my law degree into a job at Newport selling wine. It could happen.

It is no longer feasible to drive down to Fred Meyer's to shop their better prices. The gas is killing us (us=people in general). But for those of us who did not buy into the southern deschutes sprawl that is, say, River Rim, we are better off eschewing the car and riding down to Newport or Devores, paying a bit more per item, and burning no gas.

Is that commuting? Hell yes. The wisdom of alternative transport does not start and end with the work day.

Look at the recent article on the bulletin's site about the development program for the Bactchelor parking lot. Nowhere did anyone talk about alternative transport for the roadway engineering. Interesting.

If we can get 5% of us on bikes, maybe 6%, you will see a decrease in roadway traffic. That also means less risk. As my wife pointed out, not driving to Fred Meyer's means less of everything, gas, risk, hassle, headache...

I found an interesting video at http://www.celsias.com/2007/05/15/designing-cities-for-people/ ...scroll to the bottom. The f word is used 4-5 times, so keep your volume under control.

OK...enough random thoughts for now. Have a great weekend.

Get out there and ride...there is no someday.

done and done

Yesterday I had to give notice at my law firm. A medium sized firm by Salem standards, there are eight attorneys doing mostly insurance defense and some PLF stuff. All of them excellent practitioners and true gentlemen.

While I am bummed about no paychecks coming in, I felt it was necessary to focus on school. No more double trips in for work and classes. I am in for 17 credits this semester, 5 finals and two papers. Something had to give.

The upside, is that with the heavy load, and summer school, I get out of law school a semester early and take the Feb. bar exam next year.

The other upside, is that summer school is in Italy. Florence, Italy, actually. Not bad.

Wife and child are flying to Europe after my finals and we get two weeks to play in southern Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy. How sweet is that?

I will be sure to report on cycling and commuting over there.

death in the afternoon

I have been silent and non-blogging for awhile. Law school calls and the burden is heavy...too heavy to ignore at this price tag.

But, the fatal collision in Portland last Friday necessitates a posting. Read about it here: http://bikeportland.org/2007/10/12/hundreds-join-solemn-burnside-procession/

Two things about this accident that strike me. One the cyclist was not paying attention to her surroundings. The reports indicate the truck had his signal on. She should have seen it. Owning the bike lane does not mean one gets to play ignorant, as though enshrouded in a protective blanket against liability.

Second, Portland designed some bike lanes and motor-vehicle turn lanes to coexist peacefully in this scenario, by forcing the car/truck to cross the bike lane, yielding to cyclists, into a turn lane. Those cross overs are painted blue inside the bike lane. Drive around the Coliseum and Rose Quarter, they are all over. The city should move to make this their standard. Quickly.

The driver of the truck? What could he have done differently? Likely nothing. All vehicles have blind spots. More mirrors on his rig? When do we draw the line. At some point, it becomes unreasonable. We cannot catch everything. Small comfort for the driver who innocently was part of a fatality.

I investigated enough accidents in my insurance job to know that typically, more often than not, someone is not paying attention, driving too fast, using a cell phone or some such activity that had they been actively driving, actively aware, they could have avoided the accident.

I wish I could been in Portland for the memorial ride.

sweet, sweet candy

So, the DOT has an _a w e s o m e_ tool for preparing a ride...it is not specifically for cyclists, but it might as well be.

DOT has compiled pix of major highways, every hundredth of a mile. Now someone, anyone, can look at the stretch of highway they are going to travel, in painful detail. Likely they expect you to use a high-speed connection to do this.

Unfortunately, when I wrote this post, the link was not working. It can be found here: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/
and look under "Digital Video Log"

Why is this sweet? Now if you are touring on a secondary or tertiary (yes, I just like using "tertiary") you can review the roadway, check shoulder width, hills, turns, asphalt versus pavement versus chipseal, etc.

Remember, there is no someday. Tools like this get you there sooner. Now you know.

And knowing is half the battle...

brain bucket

I asked a class-mate how much he was spending on his law school education...over 100k...I then asked him if a $30 helmet was a worthy insurance policy for his bike rides to school.

He laughed...but did not answer...or maybe he did.

bike spider

Last Spring, I put new tape on my Nishiki bars, for the first time in about 17 years. My amateur tape job did not cover two holes underneath, nearer to the neck.

Two weeks ago, I started noticing full-on webs in the left handlebar/drop. I looked and looked, but could never find the spider. Twice a day, I was essentially gill-netting for this free-loader, as I commuted back and forth to school.

I found him a few days ago, when I returned from Labor Day back in Bend. I went to tease him a little, and he shot from the web in the left drop to the left hole in bar. Faster than I thought possible...like he had a panic button on his arse to snake in his line.

Since then, I have not been able to tease him out anymore. Freeloader.

In other news, 10 weeks left in the semester.

two a day

People sometimes never stop to answer the question, "What is the worst that could happen?" Perhaps they even fail to ask it.

Please...please..do not let this be you.

My five-year old will one day grow weary of hearing about the risks present in the world, I am sure.