Human power

I've pretty much stopped using my car. Don't get me wrong, I love my Subaru Forester (no, they're not paying me for that), but I'm finding I just don't need it. I'm seriously considering selling it and going car-less.

To that end, I've become fascinated by bikes. I have a great bike. It's been a great bike for almost 10 years now. I've taken good care of it, and it's done well by me. Recently I outfitted it with some collapsible pannier baskets for running errands. Now I can do grocery runs and transport stuff that I couldn't fit in a backpack.

But I still have one problem: the pets. Granted, I can put the cat in her carrier and strap her to my rack. This may not be the best option, and she may kill me in my sleep for it, but it's possible. I don't necessarily need a car to take her places as she's small and portable. The dog, on the other hand, not so much. Her kennel is nearly larger than my bike. And there's no way I could balance her on the bike with me. Basically I have to get one of those cargo trailers, but they're expensive.

Then a friend linked to this on Facebook: Madsen Cycles. They have a bike-trailer combo. I am intrigued. And right now they have this contest going to give away two free bike-trailer combo bikes. So help a girl out and click on the banner below...and let me know in the comments if you want the second bike if I win!

Back in the saddle

Literally back in the bike saddle this morning for my ride into work. I'm recovering fine from my little encounter with the trolley tracks, although I admit to some trepidation when crossing over the rails on my way to work this morning.

My left knee, on the other hand, is still a bit cranky about it all. I think it twisted a bit when I went down and landed on it, aggravating a very old ligament strain that never quite healed. I spent most of Friday working (yay for remote desktop) with my leg propped up on a couple of boxes so I could ice my knee and taking regular doses of ibuprofen. Who knew that unpacked boxes of books would prove to be so useful? They were the perfect height for a leg prop. Despite limping around the house like a lame duck, I got a surprising amount of work done (troubleshooting-r-us...er...me!), including catching up on some professional reading that was piled up before I moved and had continued to grow in the past two weeks.

But I'll be wearing long pants or capri pants for the next week or so while my skinned and bruised legs heal. Skinned knees are fine for a 10 year old...but not so attractive on a 32 year old.

New-to-me road hazard

I've written before about the road hazards for bike riders on Philly streets (here and here). Today I had first hand experience with a hazard that's quite prevalent on my new commute.

My new commute is much easier. There's a bike lane the whole way. This is wonderful. It's more scenic (trees!). It's closer. All of these things are very very good. But there's a new hazard on the road for me: trolley tracks.

Part of Philly's public transit system are trolleys. They're great. One is literally two blocks from my new place, and drops me a block from work. I love having the trolley accessible. BUT, they require tracks. In the street. This is an irritation when driving, but when riding a bike they're down right dangerous. See, trolley tracks are just wide enough for a bike tire to slip into, as I learned first hand this morning.

A truck was parked in the middle of the road so the workers could unload construction materials, effectively blocking the bike lane and the traffic lane. Cars had to stop until there was no oncoming traffic. I stopped as well, waiting for the cars to go so I could follow. I made it over the first trolley rail no problem. I made it over the second rail no problem. I started to pass the truck. But there was an oncoming vehicle. Who was NOT paying attention nor were they slowing down or moving over to allow me room. So in the interest of not colliding with the oncoming vehicle, I had to move closer to the truck. While trying to avoid the oncoming vehicle and the side mirror of the parked truck, I can't say I was paying attention to my rear wheel.

Well, my rear wheel slipped into a trolley track and down I went, sprawled in the middle of the road. Fortunately the vehicle had passed and the next one stopped so I could pick myself up. My travel coffee mug had skittered across the road (it fell out of the side pocket of my backpack). I extracted myself from under my bike, retrieved the mug, righted my bike, and walked, wounded pride and all, to the side of the road to assess damage. Lucky for me, no damage to my bike. My chain had slipped off, but that was it.

I, on the other hand, was not as lucky as my bike. I'm rather scraped up and a bit bruised. I have road rash on my elbow and knee. I haven't had a skinned knee for over a decade. I had forgotten how much they sting (like a sonofab*tch). And I just know I'm going to have some nice looking bruises on my leg since most of my weight landed on my thigh. Ouch.

Oh, thank you to the nice woman walking by that stopped to make sure I was OK. I'm fine. Really. I just wish my mom could kiss my skinned elbow and knee and make it all better like she did when I was 8.

Why I bike to work

People have all sorts of theories about why I bike to work. I've had people call me a tree-hugging hippie for riding my bike. I figured that since today is Earth Day and there are all sorts of encouragement to ride your bike today (and May, which is just around the corner, is national bike month), I'll list my reasons.

1. Biking is good for the environment. It just is. And if that makes me a tree-hugging hippie, so be it. I also recycle anything I can.

2. Biking is good for me physically. It forces me to get regular exercise. My doctor likes this. So do my hips. Regular exercise is also supposed to help boost your immune system, and with my asthma making me especially susceptible to severe respiratory infections, I'll take any boost I can get.

3. Biking is good for me mentally. It's much less stressful than trying to find parking in this city. It helps to relieve stress. There's nothing like a good hard ride when I've had a stressful day to release all the pent up energy. Exercise releases endorphins, and endorphins make you feel good.

4. Biking is good for my wallet. With rising gas prices, biking is making more and more sense. It also doesn't cost anything for me to lock up my bike, so no parking meter or garage fees. Not to mention it would have cost me over $100 a month to park my car where I work...which is about 2 1/2 miles from home where I can park my car for free (and $100 is two weeks of groceries, thankyouverymuch!).

5. I enjoy it. Seriously. I have honestly always enjoyed biking. I find it freeing.

So that's it. I'm sure I could come up with many more reasons if I really thought about it for awhile, but these are the ones that come immediately to mind.

New tires for my bike!

My bike's tires were old. Original to the bike. Which I purchased in January of 2000. For bike tires to last as long as they have is a small miracle.

Riding a bike in the city streets of Philly is like riding through a minefield. Not only do you have traffic, pedestrians, and other bikes, you have the streets. The streets themselves are their own challenge. Potholes. Debris and trash. Broken glass. Carpet staples (caused one of my flats). Bad repair jobs. Street car rails. Sink holes. And that's a short list.

So I was getting fairly frequent flats. Because as careful as you may be, that carpet staple is hard to see when it's raining. And my tires were old. And weren't designed for street riding. They were just a layer of rubber, no liner, and made for trails and soft ground. When I got my most recent flat yesterday morning on my way into work, I decided to do something about my frequent flat problem when I took it to the shop for repair. I decided to get new tires.

Tires that were made to deal with the hazards of city street riding. Tires with an extra layer of tough rubber built in. And a nylon mesh webbing lining the interior to resist punctures. The tires I got were recommended by the guys in the shop and were what I considered affordable (as in not set me back more than $100 for front and rear plus labor). These guys ride the streets every day. These shop guys have more than one bike outfitted for different purposes, and the one outfitted for the streets use these tires. I'll take that recommendation, thankyouverymuch.

So I have shiny new tires! It is a bit odd to have such shiny new tires on a bike that's definitely not shiny (wow does my bike need a tune up and a good cleaning). But I'm sure the the new tire look won't last long. I give them less than a week before the road grime covers up that shine. Especially since it's raining today.

Chaos (and senselessness) abounds

The students are back. Classes start next week. Right now, the freshmen are arriving on campus with their families to move in. People are everywhere. What's more, these are people that have no idea where they are going. The state of things can be summed up in one simple equation:

campus = chaos

To make things even worse, the chaos extends at least a ten blocks radius from campus. During a regular week, traffic is pretty heavy during rush hour. Add a couple hundred extra cars containing students and their families and it's gridlock.

It's times like these I'm so very very glad I commute by bike because I'm not trapped in that gridlock. Very. very. glad.

But the flip side is that I'm on a bike in this nasty traffic with people in cars that, again, have no idea where they are or where they are going. They're dangerous because they could turn or stop at any moment. But at least they are looking around. They are very conscious of pedestrians and bikes and other vehicles on the road that quite possibly are as lost as they are.

The other group on the road are the regular commuters, the locals, that are generally in a foul mood because of the extra traffic. Those are much worse than the out-of-towners because they are cranky and are going to do crazy/senseless things often without looking so they can get home. To prove this, I offer up the following case study:

I'm on my way home. I come to an intersection. The light is red for me. I stop. I realize that despite the fact that the light is green for the cars on the cross street, people are going nowhere. Pure gridlock. There's a big delivery truck part way through the intersection. The light at the next street one block to my right turns green, but traffic is backed up so far down the street that the truck only gets half way through the intersection. He moves forward as far as possible, realizing he's blocking the crosswalk. The light at the next intersection turns red, effectively trapping him there. I have sympathy for the truck driver. Really. He's trying. But the cards are stacked against him this afternoon and the back end of his truck is still sticking out into the intersection.

The woman in the car behind him, on the other hand, is, frankly, a b*tch. She's on her cell phone. I'm certain she's a local (no stuff in her car, city parking sticker in her window). Her light that was green now turns yellow. She's not in the intersection yet. She's on the other side. When the light turns yellow, she guns it, propelling her car into the intersection, effectively blocking ALL traffic for the cars on my street. Yeah. This qualifies as a doing a crazy/senseless thing. She's now stopped in the middle of the intersection, nowhere to go, the delivery truck immediately in front of her. My light turns green. The drivers in the cars next to me look irritated. I would be too if someone pulled that move and blocked me from moving anywhere.

Fortunately, I'm not in a car.

So I start pedaling and assess the situation. Basically, I have two options: A. go between her an the truck like the pedestrians are now forced to, or, B. cross in front of cars to go behind her.

I choose option A. Crossing in front of traffic on a bike unless it's your light is, frankly, stupid. Especially when it's not cross traffic but cars on the same street as you trying to go in the same direction as you are. For all I know the car in the far lane might decide to try and go around behind her car to get through the intersection and I don't want to put myself in front of that, thankyouverymuch. As I'm crossing in front of her, between her and the truck, just like the pedestrians are doing, she starts to roll forward (where to, I don't know, the truck hasn't moved). She then glares at me and honks her horn.

She. honked. at. ME.

WTF?? Are you kidding me woman?? Where are you trying to go? You're the b*tch that ran the yellow (again, an asinine move on your part) and got yourself stuck there. Don't be honking at me for crossing the street on MY green!

I do believe this case study of the woman on her cell phone that blocked traffic by making a idiotic move illustrates why the local daily commuter is the bigger problem in the traffic chaos surrounding campus right now.

Thank the lord that classes start next week and the mass of extra cars will be gone.

Commuting hazards

I have a flat tire on my bike this morning. It wasn't flat when I left the house, although it looked like it needed a little air. I didn't think anything of it because depending on all sorts of weather related things, my tires alternately need a little air or need a little air let out. But it wasn't flat, the tire pressure was still fine. Making a mental note that I should check the pressure again after work, I got on my bike and went on my merry way.

About half way into my little over 2 mile ride, I noticed that things just didn't feel right. The ride wasn't as smooth as normal. My rack was rattling more than normal. Hm. So when I stopped at the next light, I looked back to see what was up. Well, the problem was my rear tire was NOT up, it was FLAT. VERY FLAT. Damn. This discovery was followed by a string of rather colorful invectives in multiple languages.

So I get off my bike and dig around in my bag looking for a tube and my bike tools so I can change it. I find the tube. IT'S THE WRONG SIZE. Apparently I'm still carrying around the tubes for my last bike, which had different sized tires than my current one. Damn. More colorful invectives in multiple languages.

I throw everything back into my bag, take off my helmet, and proceed to WALK the rest of the way to work.

I passed my friend K's husband R on the way, and he gave me a look that was a mix of surprise and "gee, it's strange to be walking your bike." [K assures me he's probably forgot all about it now.] I must have looked silly walking for that last mile into work on the sidewalk, rolling my bike with it's flat tire next to me, helmet dangling from my handlebars, muttering under my breath. I FELT silly. And irritated. [Note: this challenge and my resulting mood is only made worse by the fact that I don't get my coffee until after I've arrived at work, so at this point in my morning I am still uncaffeinated.]

And I'll feel just as silly and irritated after work walking to the bike store to get a new tube. SEVERAL tubes. I wonder if they'd be interested in giving me a store credit for the ones that are the wrong size...or just exchanging them for the right size. Hm.

Such are the challenges of commuting by bike. The advantages still outweigh the challenges, but they don't make the challenges any less frustrating at 7:30 in the morning before I've had my coffee (and we all know I need my coffee to become human).

Things seen on my daily commute by bike

Weather permitting, I commute to work by bike. Basically the only weather that stops me is extreme cold, snow, or ice. Rain is not an excuse not to ride (I have rain gear). It's a little over 2 miles from home to work. Not a bad ride, except for the big hill in the middle (yes, it's really uphill both ways). It forces me to get my daily exercise, which makes my doctor very happy. Given the parking insanity, I'm hoping to use my bike a lot more here in Philly for running errands as well (grocery shopping, anyone?). It's a lot easier to find something to lock my bike to than to find a parking space, I assure you. What's really nice is being able to get outside and see (and sometimes smell) the world.

Sometimes, I see very interesting things on my rides. Granted, I spend quite a bit of time watching the road so I can avoid any broken glass or sharp objects (no one likes a flat tire), but I still get to look around at the world.

Today I saw something I could hardly believe:
A man, riding a bike, steering with one hand.
In his other hand he was holding a pet carrier.
Which contained a live cat.

I heard a faint meow as we passed each other. I'm not sure the cat was all that happy with the arrangement, but I could be wrong.

A LIVE CAT. In a carrier. Being carried by a man actively riding a bike. Not strapped to a rack, but HELD IN HIS HAND.

He's a brave brave man.