We Told You So!

One of the best choices for commuters

 Well, we always knew this was coming. Our transportation model here in the USA has been heavily tilted towards cars. If you live in the Northeast, or Atlanta, you have a decent transportation system that would allow you to ditch your automobile, truck, or any other internal combustion vehicle.

Otherwise, though, you are just sh*t out of luck if you need to get around. Here in sunny Central Florida, the only alternative is a spotty bus line to Tampa-St. Pete. And when gas prices were reasonable, well hey, no worries. But when they started to climb this year, game over for many people. It's sad to hear stories of people having to choose between food and gasoline, but that's the new reality. Karen and I have been riding  around town on bicycles here for the past 7 years after we closed the shop and I cached in my stock options. And it's a really good area to ride. Lots of side streets in a grid system, bike lanes on the major roads in and out of town, and the climate - well, it's Florida. 

But we seldom saw anyone other than us and homeless people riding a bicycle. The cashiers in the grocery store would always want to give us extra bags to balance on handlebars, and we had to patiently explain that we had panniers . People kept worrying about us getting hit from behind, or telling us it's too hot/cold/wet to ride. Anytime I went out on a run, I NEVER saw another runner. Still don't. On a three hour ride I MIGHT see one bus. And that one only comes through our town on one route, and that's only 4 times a day. Any transportation here is done strictly by automobile and truck. For anything else it's UBER or old fashioned taxi.

And then the pandemic happenned, and the War in Europe, and the gas prices soared. Now we see MANY more folks out on bicycles, many of them riding electrics, and for their sake I'm hoping they get more than 20 miles on a charge.  And the bicycles are pretty much anything that's been hanging around the garage for years. 

I have had plenty of conversations with Europens over the years, both there when I was racing, and here, and to a person they all identified the transportation problem in the US. It's all predicated on driving, and what train service we have is not electric. And if we ever have a long-term gas crises here, the whole thing will come crashing down.

And so it goes. It's crashing down, with no end in sight.

We closed the shop 7 years ago, but maybe now we will start it up again, at least online, with stuff for commuting, cargo, and automobile replacement. And information. I just built two new wheels for our steel commuters, and from what I have seen, people need to use decent 36 spoke wheels. 

If you are using your bicycle to get the groceeries, get a rack and saddlebags - panniers. That backpack will knock you off balance. If you must use a bag, get a real messenger bag. They have a stabilizer straps and won't swing around and knock you of your bike.

Be safe, folks. And ride on the right always.

 

 

Ready or not, the era of Transportation cycling is here.

 


 

Expanding Nation

It's your choice

"This is the night, of the expanding man."
                                                                      -Donald Fagen  
                      
Getting Larger, But Not Wiser

   A recent article in a bicycle trade journal related a story about training wheels that reminded me of something I also encountered four years ago. A bicycle shop owner in Missiissippi was, well, frightened by what he saw last year.

Parents who had bought bicycles at "big box" stores were coming to him after Christmas, and asking him for help with their 6 and 7 year old children's new bicycles. They wanted heavy duty training wheels mounted on the bicycles.

Their kids were so fat they had flattened the original training wheels.

 It reminded me of something I ran into when working as a weekend mechanic at a bike shop in Atlanta. A parent came in, with a "Wally World" children's bicycle, and wanted us to do the same thing. His child couldn't use the training wheels.

They were crushed.

People, how did we all get this way? I grew up riding a bicycle to school, unless it was snowing. In that case, I would walk, or on bad mornings - below zero degrees farenheit - we took the school bus.

Nowadays? The line of cars driving their children to the local school near our old store threatened to block the road for good. And this wasn't just an isolated school in car-crazy "Hotlanta". It's everywhere.

According to the National Household Travel Survey, in 1969, nearly half of all kids ages 5 to 15 walked or biked to school  By 2009, the number had fallen to 13 percent.

We are literally training ourselves, from the time we are old enough to walk, that an automobile is the only method of transportation that can, and should be used. The results? Frightening, and a national epidemic. 

Since 1970, the number of obese children ages 6-11 has quadrupled, while the number of obese adolescents has tripled, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 20% of children were clinically obese, and 35% more were overweight in 2008.

In other words 55% of children were, well FAT.

As grownups, 68% of Americans -2/3 of us are overweight. FAT. In 1991, again according to the Robert Johnson foundation,  no state had an obesity rate over 20%.

Today, only one - Colorado - has a rate BELOW 20%.

The costs are staggering. According to the Society of Actuaries, the US and Canada are incurring a nightmarish cost of $300 Billion dollars a year in excess medical and disability expense. Yet, our  "fiscal conservatives" regularly attempt to cut programs such as Safe Routes to School that promote cycling and walking for children.

Other programs, such as Sustainable Communities, an effort to counter community "sprawl" and promote real-estate development planning for mixed use and transit orientated communities, has been completely eliminated. The  "fiscal activists" are proud of the fact that they cut programs that promote things such as ‘sustainability,’ ‘livability,’ ‘inclusivity,’ and 'equity.’

It doesn't - or shouldn't - have to come to this.Sacrificing our health and our lives - in the name of saving a buck. We are literally killing ourselves - and worse, our children - all in the name of convenience in terms of a single transportation choice - automobiles. And ignoring anything else in the name of fiscal expediency. Especially that $300 Billion a year it costs us and our neighbors to the north. Cut that cost, you get back over $1 trillion in less than 4 years.

Getting healthy and fit doesn't take fancy exercise programs and health clubs. Or expensive carbon frame bicycles with exotic components. That trusty steel frame bicycle gathering dust in the corner can be spruced up, and used. Not just for fun and exercise, but also to get around on. And carry things. Leave the car in the garage. Save some money. Sell the car, use a bicycle and public transportation. Save a whole bunch.

Dr.Mark Manley, of Minnesota Blue Cross and Blue Shield summed it up in a recent article describing the way to combat the nearly $3 billion dollar a year cost of obesity to the state:

“We’ve put a lot of emphasis on trying to build physical activity for people’s everyday lives. So we’ve been less about having people ride 100-mile bike rides,” Manley said. “It’s more about how we get more normal people, regular people, out doing their commuting or running their errands or getting their kids to school on bikes.”

Or as we say in the shop "Ride Every Day - Ride Everywhere". It's not just a matter of saving money and the environment - it's your life you are saving.

Digging a Deeper Hole

"If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you need to do is stop diggin'".
                                                                           -Old Cowboy Wisdom

   Sometimes we just don't notice how programmed we are to just accept certain things in life as
the "way they are", and don't stop to question "why" more. Today's headline news in Atlanta is an example of this:

FIRST RUSH HOUR FOR HOT LANES

 "On Monday, for the first time, Atlanta commuters can choose to dodge congestion by using toll lanes. Optional toll lanes opened over the weekend on I-85's HOV lanes in Gwinnett County, and their first big test is Monday morning rush hour. From Old Peachtree Road in Gwinnett to Chamblee Tucker Road in DeKalb, commuters, even solo drivers, can enter the lanes to leave the traffic jam on the rest of the highway. But they will have to pay a fee, which will rise and fall with congestion."

What they aren't telling you in the news article is that the toll, one way, would be an average of $6.00 if you go the entire distance. Which means $12.00 per day. Assume 5 days a week, 4 weeks per month, and now it's a fairly hefty $240.00 a month. Depending on congestion, the costs may be even higher.

If you have ever tried to deal with traffic in the Greater Atlanta area, you know what a mess it is here. Too many people, in too many cars, and most of them are one car to a person. Mass transportation is limited, and the attitude of the Georgia DOT is that bicycling is a "leisure" activity and not a true legitimate transportation alternative.

I have seen letters to the editor comparing bicycling to traveling to work by hang-gliding, and other reports suggesting it takes the "skill of a stuntman" to ride a bicycle in city traffic. Small wonder that all transportation solutions focus on automobile initiatives. Our public transportation system, MARTA, had many bus lines eliminated last year. And fares for the subway have just been increased by 25%.

It's not just here. The Milwaukee County Transportation budget is being slashed 45% by one of the new Governors elected in the tidal wave backlash against "excess spending". Right idea, but the wrong way to fix it. But, that's another subject, for another day.

So all this does, collectively, is just dig the hole deeper.  100 years of cultural conditioning in the US, and particularly the Southeast, have brought us to this situation - you need to have an automobile, and you need to drive it everywhere. Run out of room on the highways? No problem - build more highways. No room for more highways - no problem - start excluding people if they can't pay a toll. Can't afford to keep supporting the system? No problem - slash mass transportation spending. Just keep the cars running.

This is all sad, and seems like one more step down the road to creating an ever-greater divide in the US between the so-called "haves" and the "have-nots". This sort of solution completely ignores the fact that growth is what created this problem - growth in automobile ownership, and consequentially growth in highways. Trying to solve the problem by doing more of what created the problem, is just not the solution.

As a society, we need to get away from this model. However, changing the mindset of an entire culture is difficult, and time-consuming. And politics are involved.  As individuals, we can make the change far easier. Cutting back to one car - and even better - no car families - is a change we can individually choose to make.

The first step for anyone interested in eliminating their automobile use is overcoming the "cultural momentum" of  automobile ownership. We have all been indoctrinated - intentionally so - that we all need to own our own personal cars, and drive everywhere. The structures of most of our cities and suburbs have been designed - or redesigned - to this ideal. Mass transportation funds are cut, or eliminated. Bicycle riding is marginalized as just a sport, or only a leisure time activity.

The first step is to realize this situation is going on, and then resolve to make the change. Just like in the movie "The Matrix" -  you have a choice. You can take the Blue Pill, and keep driving you car everywhere, spending more money every year, contributing to a System that is on overload and ready to fall apart under it's own weight. Or you can take the Red Pill, ride a bicycle, learn to live more locally, spend money smarter, reconnect with the world, and  - just maybe  - insulate yourself against a collapse of things.

It's your choice. What will you do?

Carless and Carefree

The Last One

We took a big step towards the future last week - we sold the only motor vehicle we owned. And, we couldn't be happier.

Back in 2008, we drove our Mazda SUV to CARMAX, sold it, and rode our bicycles home. Last week we loaded our two SURLY Long Haul Truckers into our Ford F-150, drove it to CARMAX, and rode home with a check. For the first time since we were graduate students in college, we were carless again. And carefree.

It's interesting when you meet someone, and make small talk, and it comes out that you don't own a motor vehicle. Here in the Southeast, people look at you in disbelief. "How can you survive?" is what you get, either in conversation or in their body language and looks.

Yet, for some city dwellers in the USA, being carless is no big deal. Recent statistics show that over 60% of citizens of New York City don't own a car, and when looking at Manhattan, the figure rises to over 75%. While growing up in Boston in the 1960's, I knew of many families that didn't own a motor vehicle. My boyhood best friend's father was a real rocket scientist - British - and worked at Lincoln Laboratories just outside of the city. He rode a bicycle, nearly year long, or just walked the 3 miles to work when it snowed. No big deal - just life.

Yet, here we are in the 21st century, and we all find the idea of going carless - at least in Atlanta - as something  beyond comprehension. Really, it's sad, isn't it? How did we ever get this way? Yes, things are bad now, for many of us. The economy is thoroughly in the toilet, our so called "leaders" can't agree on a date for a speech by the president, and seem content with letting people starve to death to make a political point.

Watch any car ad on TV, and read the fine print on the prices. All of the current models cost more than our first house - even the so called "economy" models. You can buy buy 15 of our best touring bicycle builds for the price of the cheaper cars in the ads. Really - how did we ever get to the point where standard automobiles need computers, backup video cameras, DVD players, and satellite navigation systems?


So in light of all of this,  it's empowering  to sell your motor vehicle, drop a check in your savings account, and simplify your life. You take back control of your life in so may ways when you drop out of the automobile rat race.

For anyone considering this step, we recommend that you do it in degrees, as we did. Almost all US households have multiple motor vehicles, and could do without most of them. We had two vehicles for two people, sold one, and then opened our store with the money from the sale. We left the remaining vehicle behind our store.

 We simplified our lives wherever possible.All of our carbon bicycles we used for racing we sold, and built up steel touring frames for our personal transportation. We used our bicycles to commute, shop, and take trips On bad days,we used  public transportation. Every city has buses, and they have bicycle racks, thanks to those "nasty federal taxes". We learned to live locally, shopping at the stores in a two mile area for our regular needs.


The decision to sell the last vehicle we will ever own, was no big deal. And we really enjoy the reactions it gets from people we meet. It' a great icebreaker, and a chance to convert one more person to the idea of using bicycles for transportation.


More on this subject in the coming days.

The End of The Season

"When the white eagle of the North
   flies overhead,
And the browns, read, and golds of Autumn
   lie in the gutter, dead."


I saw the end of summer today. I knew it was coming, and had been expecting it for a while. The afternoons have still been hot, but the breezes have had a hint of coolness on the rides home. The last few cold fronts have brought back the sub-70 degree morning temperatures, and the morning ride is back in total darkness again.

But today, there was the first real sight of autumn - fallen leaves blowing down the road.

Some of the trees are beginning to lose their cover, and it won't be long now until the sleeveless jerseys of summer give way to the short sleeves, and then the riding jackets of autumn. Summer is coming to a close, and with it, many other things, as well.

After several year of carless commuting, I have changed my whole outlook on cycling, and on life, too. Daily cycling has given me back my time, and my life, again. It has changed my focus and priorities, and my goals. Living locally, and simpler, I have found a way out of the consumer way of living, and moved towards the sustainable life. The old way is passing, and a new way beckons.

It's just a simple matter of learning to let go. The same way I let go of my automobile four years ago. I see now that letting go of my automobile was just the beginning of a whole new way of living.

I'm taking the time now to savor each morning and afternoon commuting ride, as I know these rides are some of the last for me here.

Soon, I will follow the birds southward, to the land where summer never really dies, and ice storms and winter's chill will become a distant memory.

My future is waiting for me, there, as it always has been.

I won't see the autumn leaves fall again, or hear the sound of summer, passing away.

Ride safe.


"Remember then, the summer birds,
     with wings of fire,
Come to witness Spring's new hope,
    Born of leaves decaying."

Electricity

"The masking tape tangles
    It's sticky and black
And the copper
    Proud Headed Queen Lizzie
Conducts little charges
    That don't get charged black
Well, the technical manual's busy
     She's not going to fix it up, too easy"
I walked into an old fashioned disaster today on the corporate office job at 6AM. Something happened to
the power supply, and as a result, there was no electricity, other than emergency 120 volt circuits, in the entire building. And, in a classic example of 21st century hubris, the building was designed without a emergency generator. This, despite the fact that the building is serving as the International Corporate headquarters of a major US corporation.
So, I did the intelligent thing,  and pedaled back to the bike shop, where I immediately starting building, and fixing bicycles.
Looking back on a career in high tech, I have watched as systems became more complex, and saw that, as they did, the points of failure multiplied. I have watched as more reliance was placed on technology, assumptions were made, and saw what happened when assume made an "ass out of u and me".
Turning away from your automobile, and relying instead on a basic well equipped steel touring bicycle, simplifies your life. And it sets you free. You plan your day out, live locally, get in tune with your neighborhood, and the environment. You don't rely as much on technology, so when there is a gas shortage, or a traffic jam, it's no big deal.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not out to start wearing tweed clothes and tossing out my laptop and TV anytime soon. But I have watched "high tech" change people, and in many ways, it's not so good. Despite all of the many ways we can communicate with one another -Twitter, Facebook, email, IM - we have become less literate. Automobiles have onboard computers and communication devices that rival the Starship Enterprise, and are now nearly impossible to work on outside of a dealership. What happens when the dealerships close?  Or the supply lines stop?
We rely too much on technology to be a "deus ex machina" -  something to drop in and save us. I read, and hear, a lot of talk about how technology will develop a car that won't run on gasoline. There is almost an expectation that it will happen. Yet, all-electric cars are plagued with issues, and limitations. The same is true for the idea of using hydrogen, or fuel cells.
Sadly, the answer is already here, and has been here for 100 years. Bicycles, walking, and mass transit. It is possible to use a bicycle year round - I have done it the past four years. We have many customers who do just the same. All of us that do have a bit of snugness, but also we share a great sense of freedom. We can just hop on our bicycles, and pedal home. No gas required.
I just got an email - 46 hours to get the office electricity. I smiled - and turned back to truing the wheel I'm working on. The future is waiting, and it's on two wheels.

  "Well I'm learning
     It's peaceful
With a good bike and some trees
     Out of touch with the breakdown
Of this century
      They're not going to fix it up
Too easy."
  - Joni Mitchell (with apologies - I know she would understand.)