Dead bicyclists aren't much fun

I haven't blogged in a while. It's not that I don't have things to say, it's just that everything I get riled up enough to post about is along the lines of how I can't wait for USA to stop promoting "The Starter Wife" so heavily because to me it looks like the most uninteresting show imaginable and I just want the season to start, already, because not a single clip they've shown in an ad has been the least bit funny, intriguing, or engaging, and if they can't do better than that in the ads, the show is going to tank fast, and then I won't have to hear about it ever again. Because the entire premise — a woman living in la-la land who has no idea that her marriage sucks gets knocked on her ass by divorce and suddenly O NOES WHO AM I AND WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE — is an affront to me. OK? People, get a grip on yourselves. Your life has value. You don't need another person, especially a jerkface who divorces you, to live a full life. And you don't need to listen to your jerkface friends like Judy Davis when they tell you crap about having "no prospects" (which seems to be the only scene they want to show in the ads that involves more than one line of dialogue, and that doesn't just show Debra Messing contorting her face in some really unattractive way), either.

And who wants to read my rant about that?

But then I go and visit No Impact Man this morning, a blog I visit often, and the title of today's blog post alone makes me go, "Whoa. Now that's interesting."

And a little shocking. The post is called Sad pictures of dead bicyclists that I plan to show the Senator. The author, Colin, you see, was nearly hit by the car of Senator Jeff Klein (Dem, NY) when he was riding his bike a while back. So Colin hopes to draw attention to the problem of bikes and cars and how they might learn to live together better. (Because at least bicyclists and drivers know there's a problem. No la-la land on the streets of NYC.)

And Colin has stated all the reasons why bicycling is so good for humanity, and has prepared this shocking statement, and he's right about all of it. It would really help if traffic policy allowed us all to get along.

My only question is: how? Where are the ideas? Are they being saved for a blog entry for another day? Because I've experienced the problems, too. The last time I rode my bike home from downtown Chicago (a 27-mile journey) I had to swerve up onto a sidewalk, on the opposite side of the street, and ended up traveling the opposite direction, if you can imagine it, to avoid being hit by a car. The driver wasn't even particularly at fault. He was just doing what he was doing (which was, apparently, making an alley-assisted 3-point turn) and wasn't looking for me, and I didn't understand what he was doing, so I hastily decided to just bike around him, but little did either of us know, we were both about to go the same way. And I'm not really sure what we can do about that.

And I'm not really sure that adding more bike lanes, or adding bicycle-only streets will help. Because have you ever been stopped at a light with 20 other bicyclists, preparing to cross North Broadway? It's a pain in the ass. And the idea that bicyclists should be stopping at every stop sign in the city? We would never get where we were going, and we'd badly inhibit motorists, too. Can you imagine all these cyclists slowing to a stop at the end of every block, and then starting up again? It takes for-frigging-ever. I do not want more bicyclists taking the route I take to work. There, I said it. It's selfish, but true. Bicycle congestion is a worse problem than automobile congestion ... it's just that bicycle congestion rarely exists, so we're mostly unaware of it.

I can't imagine how the Chinese do it. Of course, they have lots of problems, but mostly when automobiles are involved. From Overview of Bicycle Transportation in China:

Bicycling is the transportation mode of choice for up to 70% of the urban passenger trips in China. However, because of its slowness, serious traffic problems occur when bicycle traffic mixes with motorized vehicle traffic. The mixing of faster and slower traffic modes causes a lower capacity and results in higher accident rates. In the average Chinese city, about 30% of the traffic fatalities are bicyclists. Traffic separation, better intersection control, and improved bicycle management are recommended to improve bicycle transportation in China.

That was written in 1993. I have no idea if it's improved since then, but I hope so. And I'd like to see some video of both bicycle and bicycle/automobile traffic in Chinese cities, just to see how it works. Because I don't have any ideas, either, and I hope Colin and Senator Klein can come up with something together.

I have cyclist readers. What are your ideas?

OK, so you're NOT king of the world....

Future self, take note:

If you ever find yourself, three weeks after RAGBRAI ends, during which time you did not bike at all, and, to be exact, you exercised only your TiVo remote control finger because you spent much of that time sick in bed, and it should also be said, eating like a madwoman; if you ever find yourself with the sudden ability to bike to work in 1:47 (compared to previous times of 1:54, 1:57, 2:00, 2:03, and other similar times), do not take it as a sign that you have become a biking goddess. Do not presume that by watching track bike racing from Beijing all week, you have somehow improved your own biking skills through some form of osmosis.

No, no, no.

If you ever find yourself with the sudden ability to bike to work in 1:47, just wait 'til your bike ride home, where you will more than likely experience the brutal headwind that, it turns out, helped you secure that 1:47 time. And brace yourself for the frustrating, mind- and body-numbing ride through what feels like molasses, as it takes you 2:04 to get home.

(FYI, NONE of those are good times, not even 1:47. My dad used to ride the same distance/route to work fairly regularly, and when he was in shape he clocked around 1:30. I hope to get there, with regular riding.)

RAGBRAI or bust!

Today was my grandfather's funeral, and it was a wonderful day. The other grandchildren and I had the honor of sharing pallbearer duties. My aunt and uncle did a spectacular job of displaying photographs of Papa's life. And these kinds of family gatherings always offer opportunities to reconnect with loved ones.

Now it's time to move on, and I truly believe Papa would say, "Now go have fun with your friends." So after the services I picked up a rental car and threw my bike in the back. Before dawn tomorrow, I'm driving to Ames, Iowa to meet with the rest of my RAGBRAI team. So get ready Iowa, here comes the fun!

RAGBRAI OR BUST!

Where in the world is Jen going? (RAGBRAI 2008)

I won't be blogging most of next week because I'll be in Iowa, riding my bike most of the way across the state from the west to the east. This has become an annual trip for me (it's my third year) and I do it because: 1) it's fun with friends; 2) it gets me in shape; and 3) it gets me on my bike. I have a couple nice bikes, and I might not ever ride them if I didn't have to train for, and then ride, RAGBRAI.

The route changes every year, so we get to taste different Iowa towns from year to year. The total distance of the 2008 route is 471 miles, and it's said to be hillier than recent years. RAGBRAI 2008 will be a challenge for me!

The ride goes for seven days straight, camping at night (mostly in school fields and private yards). Day 1 is tomorrow, Sunday, July 20. Here are maps of each day's ride, so you can follow along at home! (Click the image for a larger PDF.)



My team members, the Converters, have already arrived in Missouri Valley, set up camp, and have been drinking beer for a number of hours. I will be meeting up with them on Tuesday, July 22 in Ames. Sadly, my grandfather passed away yesterday and I will be staying home through Monday for funeral services, so I can say goodbye to the wonderful man I knew as "Papa". Papa will be the subject of another post for another day and should have come first, but the fact is that this post had the good fortune of having already been written earlier in the week, scheduled to appear tomorrow morning. But since I won't be starting the ride tomorrow morning, I thought it appropriate to edit the post and go ahead and send it on its way into the Great Internets.

The good thing about arriving on Day 3 is that I'll miss the Karras Loop decision on Day 2. Each year on one of the days of the ride, an optional loop called the Karras Loop is added, which brings that day's total distance to about 100 miles. In my two years' participation I've had yet to take part in the optional century, but I really wanted to do it this year (against my better judgment). Without the Karras Loop, Day 2 is already 83 miles, but trust me, there is a big difference between 83 and 100 miles. Something happens to most riders around mile 75, and pushing it to 100 takes its toll. Especially when it's only Day 2, and you have 5 more days of pedaling ahead of you. (Plus, there is no rider support on the Karras Loop, so you need to have a level of confidence that you can make it without guaranteed food, water, or bike maintenance. This is precisely the kind of thing I would definitely do early in the day, early in the week, if I were feeling good.)

Anyway, how about those maps? I wonder if the Tour de France riders get anything that snazzy! (The Des Moines Register provided us with the maps, and I put them all together in the one-sheet printout for my team members. It folds up to become pocket-sized. I sent the maps along with the rest of the Chicago contingent, who drove out to Iowa this morning at 7am.)

Some days the heart isn't in it

Geezus, I must have made a half dozen wrong turns on my bike ride to work this morning. I mean, I know how to get to downtown Chicago: head south. And you'd think, to get to the lake front bike path, you'd head east. How hard is that?

But in reality, "heading south" without a plan will lead you into dead ends, crappy streets, etc. (OK, that's all I could think of, because that's what I encountered today.) And there are actually only a few places to get on to the lake front bike path, so you want to get that right, too.

The great thing is, the signage is fantastic. I rode to work last week for the first time in, oh, 5 years, and I really couldn't remember what route I used to take. And I also used to have a living, breathing guide to help, too. I was afraid I was in for a really long and frustrating ride as I figured out which way to go. Much like today's ride. But as it turned out, there are little green signs on just about every block pointing the way for bikes. ("To lakefront, 2.5mi", "To Loyola, .5mi", etc.) We don't have bike lanes everywhere in Chicago yet, but the efforts that have been made so far are really nice.

But signage only works, apparently, when you're watching where you're going. A modicum of alertness is required to notice when the signs are telling you to turn left. Without it, you end up dead ending into a parking lot. Which I may or may not have been able to cut across, but it looked like there was a fence on the other side. I couldn't tell. Anyway, what would I do once I got to the other side? I was annoyed. I turned around and backtracked for about four blocks until I found the green sign that I had missed. The cop standing on the corner watched me ride by her both times. I felt like such a dip.

That wasn't the first wrong turn I took this morning, and it wasn't the last. When I got to work, I took the elevator to the wrong floor. I walked my bike all the way down the 4th floor hallway before I realized that my office is on the 3rd floor. I carried the bike back down to 3 (and the cup of coffee I had been holding since I stopped at the corner coffee shop, which was a thrill) and finally made it to the office. And a nice, cool shower.

So this morning, my heart wasn't in my ride. I'm sure I'll get back in the game for my ride home.

A Sunday morning of great interest

It's only 8:30am, and I've already seen several interesting things today. Things of enough interest to take note.

I saw the sun rise over Lake Michigan (where I was riding hill repeats on my bike), into a perfectly cloudless sky.

On my way home, I saw a red fox in a driveway. Standing there, like he owned the place.

And right on my block, I saw two more interesting things:

I saw a man walking two cats on leashes.

I saw two men riding a tandem recumbent bike.

Speaking of bikes, last week when I was riding to and from work along the lakefront, I saw a couple interesting things as well.

I saw a person riding a unicycle.

I saw a person riding a penny-farthing.

I wonder what the rest of my day will bring?