Yet More Road Rage Against Cyclists

Portland may be the US utopia for cyclists, but we have plenty of folks here who for some unfathomable reason hate bicycles on the road. I did pass one guy this morning riding a bad stretch of road, where the little bit of shoulder sort of comes and goes. It’s a narrow two-lane stretch, 55MPH speed limit (I refuse to ride it). I guess it’s been built up in some places over the years, but it’s not uniform all the way down the road. Anyway, this guy was not in the shoulder portion, he was kind of out into traffic, no lights on the bike, kind of dark clothing. Even I was a little annoyed. He could have pulled over into a driveway for a few seconds to let the clump of cars behind him get by, but he didn’t (and yes, I have done that).

But there was this incident yesterday, on one of the roads I was on, Boones Ferry. At least this time witnesses were able to get details to the police and the two in the pickup truck were arrested and charged. (I had reached my car and was long past this area when it happened.)

Second Half of Inaugural Bike Commute

I guess I should have waited to write about the ride until after the return trip to get home! What I thought was going to be mostly downhill, was not. Since I was already tired from the morning ride in, my muscles were complaining loudly about working more. Luckily it wasn’t too hot, and there was a good breeze. The bad news is, it was a headwind most of the way up the hills. Ugh. That was about the slowest I could go and still see forward movement. I got close to getting off the bike and walking, and then Dory’s voice from “Finding Nemo” popped into my head: “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…!” Just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling. I was afraid if I got off the bike and stopped, I didn’t know if I could get going again, I was that tired. By this time the end was nearly in sight so that helped motivate me to keep going. Actually, now that I think about it, I did stop once to get a good drink of water, I’m not adept enough to reach down and pull the water bottle out of the holder while I’m riding without killing myself. But I made it, and surprisingly felt pretty much ok when I got home. My legs just aren’t used to that much of a workout, but I figure next time will be better. I’m a little sore today, but really not bad. The whole ride, morning and afternoon combined amounts to 27 miles, so I finally broke 200 miles (224 to be precise) on the bike! A year ago when I started running I couldn’t last one minute without huffing and puffing and having to stop and walk.  Now I can run for 30 minutes (ok, I won’t be entering the New York Marathon, but it’s progress), so I know each time I go out and push myself I get stronger. I’m taking today to let my muscles recover, and the next two days are supposed to be around 100°F/38°C so I’m not planning to ride. Maybe next week again, if the weather cooperates.  And I STILL don’t have fenders, so hopefully it won’t rain.

Oh, and that guy that passed me twice in the morning? He passed me with another fellow in the afternoon, just starting out on Boones Ferry Road. He really needs to try riding Avery, it would cut a lot of time off his ride. I got stuck at the light on BFR, turning onto Avery, and he and the other guy were long gone out of sight. When I got to the end of Avery to turn onto Tualatin-Sherwood, guess who was just passing Avery on T-S? Maybe they like going the long way, who knows.

Inaugural Bike Commute

Yes, first day! Wow, a couple of those hills were killers. My thighs hurt, I hope I can make it home tonight! I think reversing it will be mostly downhill. My town is barely above sea level, so most of the trip in the morning is uphill. Some of it looks flat, what they call a “false flat”, but you can feel as you’re pedaling you’re working to keep moving. I did drive to my co-worker’s neighborhood and park the car there (about 12.5 miles), then rode the 13.5 miles in to work. I’m not sure how much gas this is going to save, actually. Hauling the bike on the car kind of cuts down my fuel efficiency, but at least I’ll get my rides in. It was pretty chilly when I started out, and even some fog in a couple spots. But it warmed up as the sun came up, and really it was a beautiful morning for a ride. I got passed a couple times by guys on bikes, one just blew past me going uphill. Show-off. I don’t think he was human. The other guy passed me along Tualatin-Sherwood Road, and kept going straight when I turned off onto Avery. At least he smiled and said hi when he went by. I was most of the way down Boones Ferry, just in front of the high school, and he passed me again.  He was probably wondering how I got ahead of him! It was funny. He said “Hi again!” as he passed me again. We both laughed. I managed to keep up with him (by “keep up” I mean I didn’t drop any further behind) at this point, but we were kind of heading into a downhill. The sections of the road I was so worried about turned out to be no problem at all. I guess I came through early enough that I beat the worst of the traffic, and all the people who overslept and then try to make up time at Mach II weren’t on the road yet. I think I remembered most everything I needed to bring, which is hard for a creature of habit like myself. Just moving things from purse to pannier it’s easy to forget something. Got to work, managed to open the bike locker, got cleaned up and changed clothes, and voilá! I may not ride again this week, I think I’ll need a recovery day tomorrow, and then Thursday and Friday are supposed to be awfully hot.

 

Share the Road Sighting

I forgot to mention, when I was taking the bike in on Thursday to get the derailleur readjusted, I ended up next to a car at a light that had one of those “Share the Road” license plates. That’s the first one I’ve seen on the road. I was very excited to see one, but of course didn’t realize it until he got ahead of me when the light changed. I drive a wee bit slower and more cautiously with the bike on the back, I’m still not used to that. I’ve only done it three times now, but I’m getting pretty fast at getting the rack on the car, and bike on the rack and secured. Nothing like field practice.

Gearing Up

I’m still in the process of getting everything together to start bike commuting. If I lived closer to work, I don’t think it would have been such an ordeal. But this drive half/bike half has been a challenge.

Thursday I had to run my bike back in to the LBS where I bought it. After I took it in for its first well-bike check a couple weeks ago, the derailleur was slipping on two or three gears. I’d be pedaling, and all of a sudden it would shift itself to a lower gear, then back up, down, up… Annoying, and I was afraid it might do some damage (to what I wasn’t sure, but it didn’t seem like a good thing). I was surprised at how busy they were on a Thursday in the middle of the day (I had taken a couple days off from work), but one of the techs managed to get my bike in quickly, and had it all better in just a few minutes. He also lubed the chain, which surprised me because when I was in for the check up the previous week, the other guy had said it was fine. Puzzlement.

While I was there, I decided to finally get a rack and panniers. The girl I was talking to found a really nice pannier for me. I hadn’t heard of this brand before, it’s from a company called Banjo Brothers. That will link to the particular model I got, although mine looks a little different. The bottom is kind of tapered, not quite flat. The neat thing is it’s waterproof. There’s a removable inner liner for when it’s dry, which is good since they’re fairly heavy as these things go. They only had one in the shop but ordered another one over from their warehouse (or somewhere) for me.

So that’s good, but if you’ve never installed a bike rack before, let me just warn you that these things do not come with directions, and so I found myself with a bag full of parts that I had no idea what to do with. Nothing seemed designed to fit on my bike, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to use it. When the shop called the next day (yesterday) to say my second pannier was in, I had them put me through to one of the techs and told him my tale of woe trying to get this rack on. He thought he could have it installed for me fairly quickly, which I didn’t doubt, so I arranged to take it back in this morning to have the rack installed and pick up the second pannier. Long story longer, I ended up with a unique attachment. Apparently with all the variations in bike styles, there is no one-size-fits-all with racks. It took him probably close to an hour to get this thing on, so I didn’t feel quite so lame for having to bring it in and pay to have it done! In addition to this, he spent some time showing me a few other helpful things about the bike, showed me again how to get the back wheel off and on (that back brake can be tricky) and how to double-check that it’s seated right again. These guys have been great. I guess they figure I’m a dumb girl, so I play along and ask all kinds of questions. Anything you want me to ask them for you?

Anyway, on Monday I plan to drive to work, and haul in the last few items I need to keep at work that I won’t want to carry on the bike on a daily basis, but Tuesday I plan to actually do the ride. I admit I am more than a little apprehensive about certain sections of road (the overpass to get to I-5 is particularly treacherous during rush hour, people pull some wild stunts to beat the next guy to the on-ramp). We’ll see how it goes. Maybe I should get my last will and testament in order before then…

The Future of Cycling

I commented on another blog the other day that one of the reasons we’re seeing cyclists with poor riding habits (not obeying traffic laws, doing stupid things on the road) is because the last time many people rode a bike was when they were 12, and they’re now approaching cycling with the enthusiasm (and corresponding lack of responsibility) of their inner 12-year-old. So how to fix this? Some people have proposed licensing bikes, and collecting fees, and mandatory cycling education. Some drivers are whining that bikes are using “their roads” for free. For one thing, the bikes are not doing the damage to the roads that causes the constant need for repair like millions of cars, nor fueling the demand for the ever-expanding bloated highway system. Bikes are banned from major freeways in my area, I can only assume that’s true in other areas as well.

Cycling is not that complicated. I would rather not see it turned into another bureaucratic mess. I seriously don’t want to have to wait in line at the local DMV for a bike license, in addition to car registration, and driver’s license (and let’s not even think about creating a whole new government agency to deal with bicycles). I don’t think anyone wants to see more backlog at their local DMV. Collecting fees would only discourage people from bothering with bicycles, not encourage it. It’s hard enough now to get people out of their cars, making them pay for it won’t help. And I don’t think you’re ever going to get enough people riding to collect enough money to make it worthwhile. We riders are tiny minority of the population, and likely to stay that way in most areas. More bikes on the road benefits everyone: the cyclist, the motorists who can’t find parking in congested areas and then have to pay through the nose to park, and we all want cleaner air, don’t we?

Maybe a public service campaign of 30-second television spots highlighting what is required of cyclists, and drivers who encounter cyclists, would do the trick. Television stations could do an annual “Bike Week” campaign (yes, we’d have to designate a Bike Week first). Morning news shows like “Today” could get the message out in a big way. Bike manufacturers could get in on it, combine public education with a commercial for their products. We DO have a right to the road, but we also have the responsibility of riding in accordance with the law.

Assault on Iowa Hill (redux)

It was very cool (60F/15C) and cloudy and breezy this morning, very atypical for August in these parts. Stifling heat around 100F (37C) is more the norm. I’ll take the cool and cloudy, thank you very much. In fact, to the north the foothills of the Cascade Range were being menaced by some very dark clouds.

Dark clouds to the north

Riding west was heading into the wind. I was very glad I had my windbreaker on. There were a couple times I pulled off the road to wait for traffic to pass. Tongue Lane (yes, really) is another narrow, two-lane road through farm country. You can see there’s not much of a shoulder to ride in.

Heading towards the golf course

Just across the road was this. Not sure what they are growing here.

Well-tended farm

So here is a shot from a couple miles away looking up at Iowa Hill. It doesn’t look like much in the picture, the road sort of undulates on the way. I think I got a little further up the hill this time than a couple weeks ago, but there’s still no way I can take this hill. But, it’s a goal to strive for! There aren’t many markers on the map so I’m guessing at how far I went.

Looking up at Iowa Hill

I passed some farms on the way back on Johnson School Road that had rusting old farm equipment as lawn ornaments. One even had a big anchor, not quite sure about that. Maybe on my next ride I will photograph those, make that my theme. I passed this reservoir, designated on the map only as SIC Reservoir.

Reservoir

I took this shot of these water cannons that the farmers use to irrigate the fields, because I neglected to mention on my post last Saturday that when I passed the field across from one of the golf courses, these were being put to a different use than water.

Water Cannon

This was a new one on me, but they were spewing (wait for it…) manure. I kid you not. The stench almost made my eyes tear up! It still stunk today, but not quite as bad. Wow. That was foul.

And here’s a shot of the Tualatin River, followed by one of my bike sitting on the bridge where I took the pic of the river.

Tualatin River, looking east from bridge on Rood Bridge Rd.

[caption id="attachment_149" align="alignright" width="300" caption="my bike, taking a well-deserved break"][/caption]

So that’s pretty much it for today. Another 20.24 miles logged!

Your government wants you to drive

I’ve known for years that the government encourages the buying and usage of large, expensive automobiles by businesses. All you have to do is claim your Hummer (or BMW, or Lexus) is used mostly for business, and you can write off one-third of it’s value from your tax bill. That’s a good chunk of change. You would think by now with gas at $4/gallon and no doubt going to continue to climb they would finally get serious about mass transit and alternative forms of transportation, such as bicycles. But this article in Newsweek tells us why this isn’t going to happen. People are driving less now due to gas prices, but instead of helping the citizens of this country find alternatives to taking the car out of the garage, what did the Bush administration do? Robbed Peter to pay Paul. They took money out of the mass-transit fund to bolster the Federal Highway Trust Fund. Brilliant. Ugh.

All I can say is my conscience is clear. I’ve never voted for anyone named Bush.