Why education is so important...

So...this morning, as I was walking my wife to the train station, I noticed this bicycle…

I had to laugh...

In theory, the lock would prevent someone from just hopping on the bike and riding off. But this is a terrible way to "lock" your bicycle. It is stuff like this that reminds me why teaching bicycle skills to people is so important. The bicycle pictured above is the type that is commonly available at big box stores. In many cases, bikes like these are owned and operated by people who don't have any other means of transportation. If this bike was stolen, It could leave someone stranded. In many situations, a bicycle is the only means for getting to work or getting to a doctor's appointment, getting to school or even just getting grocery's. For some people, a bicycle is a critical part of daily life, and if that bike gets stolen it can be very hard to recover.

If you are reading this and don't know how to lock your bicycle, I will gladly teach you. Give me an email!

I Rode 3 Bicycles Home...at the same time!

I have hauled a lot of different things with my bicycle. This week, I set a new personal best. I loaded up my trusty trailer with 2 complete bicycles and 8 mountain bike tires. Now on a normal day, I get quite a few strange looks when I ride by…but riding around with 2 bicycles loaded upright on a trailer…I was actually afraid a couple of times I was going to cause an accident. I think I must have looked like my own little phantom peloton riding home.

The bikes and tires were a donation for an awesome group that I have started volunteering with called The Recyclery. The Recyclery is a used bicycle collective that “…seeks to build community through the restoration of donated and discarded bicycles. [they] share resources and knowledge in order to support and affordable, independent, and sustainable mode of transportation. In [a] spirit of mutual aid, [they] encourage discussion about how our transportation choices affect the health of our communities and our environment.” (adapted from the Recyclery Mission Statement: http://www.therecyclery.org/ )

The Recyclery lives out their mission though a small storefront in Southeast Evanston. The shop consists a lot of workbench space, 6 or 7 work stands with a good array of bicycle tools and A LOT of spare bicycle parts.

I was volunteering to fix up bicycles for a program known as “FreeCyclery” where by collecting discarded or unwanted bicycles and fixing them up to give away through social service agencies, they are able to provide a practical and affordable means of transportation to local people in need. It was interesting, in the relatively short time that I was there, probably a half a dozen people came through the doors asking how much it would cost to fix some broken component on their bicycles. Each time, Jesse (the staff person who was their supervising) would have to explain the mission of the group and that, while we wouldn’t fix the bicycle for them, if they came back, we would gladly teach them how to fix it themselves. Most people didn’t seem to get it at first, and it took a couple times of explaining, but when they started to understand the concept, it was really cool to see them get excited about the idea of being able to learn how to do the work themselves. So the people were invited to come back for “Open Shop” hours, where anyone can come in and work on bicycles.

The Freecycle and Open Shop hours, along with the other programs run through this group, are done with the idea that by providing some education, tools and a space to work, we can empower people in need with a means to bettering their standard of living. By providing a bicycle as transportation, we can offer people a tool to enable access to work, family, community resources, healthcare and much more. I am floored thinking about this amazing work that is being done in my own community. It isn’t a huge national movement, it doesn’t involve a huge budget with tons of bureaucracy…it is a group of people who are simply fighting poverty in a very real way, through simple, generous and sustainable methods right here at home…

Hasufel (aka Supertank) edit: New pictures!

Most bicyclists who spend a lot of time in the saddle, grow very attached to their bicycles. One of my first cycling mentors rode a Novara Ponderosa that he affectionately called “Rebecca.” Today is the one year anniversary of owning my bicycle, so I thought it would be fitting to introduce him to everyone.

My Bicycle’s name is Hasufel. The name means "grey coat" from the Old English “hasu” meaning grey; and “fel” meaning skin. He is named after the great dark-grey horse ridden by Aragorn (for a while) in the Lord of the Rings.

(If you would like more detailed information about the horses from Lord of the Rings visit: http://www.tuckborough.net/horses.html )

For those of you who are not familiar with bicycles, Hasufel is a very large bicycle. He has a stretched out or “long” frame geometry and has 29” wheels (Significantly larger than your average 26” mountain bike tires) with 2” slick tires. Because of his size, and the fact that I ride with loaded bags all the time, he has earned the nickname Supertank.

For those of you who are bicycle nerds here are Hasufel’s specs:

Make: Novara
Model: Safari
Year: 2009
Frame: 6061 Aluminum 29”
Fork: Chomrmoly Unicrown Touring
Front Wheel: Shimano Alfine Generator Hub
Rear Wheel: Shimano M-475 Hub
Rims: Alex DP – 17
Tires: Vittoria Randonneur
Drivetrain: Shimano Deore, 3x9
Crankset: Truative Fire x 3.1 48/36/26
Brakes: Avid BB7
Pedals: Crank Bros Egg Beaters
Cockpit: Safari Touring Handlebar, Novara Alloy Stem
Saddle: Velo Safari
Front Rack: Tubus Tara
Rear Rack: Tubus Cargo
Front Light: Supernova E3 Triple
Rear Light: Supernova E3 Rear
Hard Mount Accessories:
Pletscher Double Kickstand
Planet Bike Cascadia 29er Fenders
Planet Bike Protégé 9.0 Wireless Bike Computer


Cool Features to Note:

• Hasufel’s frame geometry is designed for touring. This means that the chain stays and the top tube are longer than normal. The longer chain stays allow me to have pannier bags without kicking them, and the longer top tube gives the bicycle more stability when loaded with stuff.



• Both my front and rear lights are powered by the front wheel. The Shimano Alfine hub is a 6 volt generator hub. My front light is the Supernova E3 Triple. 3 high powered LEDs are rated for a light output of 680 lumens. The rear tail light is hooked up through the front light and uses 3 high powered red LEDs. Both front and rear lights have Stand-lights, which allow the lights to remain on even after the bicycle has stopped. This is very important for intersections.




• I get a lot of comments on my handlebar setup. The funny shaped handlebars are called euro-touring or butterfly bars. They are designed to give the rider a wide variety of hand positions to keep your wrists and hands from getting sore.



• I have both front and rear racks, and carry front and rear panniers. This gives me lots of cargo space. I also have a trailer that I can use to haul larger items (including other bicycles!)

5000 Miles

Today I passed the 5000 mile mark on my “new” bicycle. It took me 357 days. Reflecting back over this last year of riding, there have been a lot of fantastic things that I experienced. Here are some highlights from the last 5000 miles:

• Seeing a mink cross the trail
• Discovering bicycle camping
• Seeing the most perfect rainbow I have ever seen at the end of a grueling 2 hour ride in pouring rain
• Riding through 4 states in 5 days
• ALMOST getting sprayed by a skunk (3 times)
• Riding through the forest preserves in the fall
• Being the only thing on the road at 10:30 at night riding through perfect snow in the moonlight
• Riding in fog so thick I could barely see the road under the bike
• Helping a Mom who was towing two kids fix a flat tire on their bicycle trailer.
• Taking my bicycle across Lake Michigan on the Muskegon-Milwaukee ferry
• Watching a REALLY fat raccoon try to outrun my bicycle
• Riding in rain, sun, hail, snow, wintery mix, 30+ mph wind, 102 degree heat, -24 degree wind chill, and everything in between
• Helping 4 baby turtles across the trail. Their shells were maybe an inch and a half around.
• Passing a pace line of spandex clad roadies on an uphill while riding my loaded touring bicycle (they never caught up with me)
• Riding through flooded streets in Chicago where the water was over my pedals
• Seeing a Screech Owl twice
• Critical Mass
• Laughing as a ridiculous number of acorns bounced off my helmet during a morning commute
• Riding eye to eye with a huge red tail hawk as it flew along side the trail
  
  And amazingly…
  
• Getting ZERO flat tires

I am truly amazed at how blessed I am. I have had no serious injuries or crashes in the past year, I have been able to spend many days riding my bicycle through God’s creation, experiencing wildlife, weather, the changing seasons, other people and more…all of which just continues to point me to His beauty and glory.

We live in an amazing world. Go out and see it!

"Going Green"

Part of my job is handling all of the donation requests that walk in the door. Sometimes this can be really tough, and most of the time people don’t really seem to appreciate that no matter how great your cause, I just don’t have enough money to give something to everyone…the organizations that raise money for kids with cancer are particularly ruthless…

Anyways, I had a woman come in today to ask for my company’s support for her “Going Green” event. Her organization was putting together an event that brought together various vendors, organizations and other groups that offer “green” products, services or education opportunities. Her goal was to help people from her community find resources to reduce their carbon footprint.

This all sounded like the type of event that I love to support and is in line with my company’s mission. So I asked if there would be an opportunity for us to come out as and be represented as a vendor at the event.

WELL…my question was met with a cynical look and she sharply informed me that the event was mainly for vendors who are “GREEN” companies who have “GREEN” products…

Let me preface my response to her comment with this: I work a company who devotes a lot of time and money to making sure that their practices are environmentally sound. Our business deals directly with people who are passionate about the outdoors, and the company’s dedication to the environment is one of the things I love most about working for them. We are currently on track to be a Carbon Neutral and a Zero Waste-to-landfill company by 2020, we carry over 250 products that are produced under our own label that are ecoSensitive™ plus we carry a wide range of eco conscious products from other manufacturers. Last year alone my company funded and coordinated 785 Outdoor service projects generating over 1.5 million service hours for environmental conservation work. We annually generate 1.1 million kilowatts of clean energy to power our facilities just through roof top solar panels and the list could go on…

But, Rather than blasting this woman and her attitude out of the water I simply said:

“Oh. Well, [my company] is actually really proactive in environmental stewardship. We do a lot to be a “Green” company. In fact even in this store I am one of several people who bike to work, and I do all the store’s off site events by bike.”

To this she responded:

“OH! That’s great! Is that your Prius in the parking lot with the bike on the back?”

I almost laughed. But instead I gave her back a little bit of her attitude and simply said:

“No. I rode my BIKE here. I didn’t drive.”

She looked a little stunned and asked:

“You ride your bike in the cold?!?”

“Yes, and here is my card. Why don’t you send me information about the event and I will see what we can do.”

“Green” is the cool buzzword thrown around a lot these days. I get really annoyed with people who are so proud of their environmental contribution because they own a hybrid car, recycle their cans and glass and only buy “organic” vegetables. If the damage that we cause to the planet could be reversed by everyone driving a Prius, then environmentalists can pack up and go home. Don’t get me wrong, I think that hybrid cars are a good step in the right direction. I think that it is very important to recycle, and I think that there is a lot to be gained by moving our culture towards more locally grown produce that we can carry home in reusable shopping bags. But the attitude of “OH MY GOSH! YOU RIDE YOUR BIKE IN THE COLD!?” doesn’t sit well with me. If you really want to call yourself an environmentally responsible person, you’d better be ready to sacrifice some of the convenience and the comforts that our culture seems to think are God given rights. The suburb that this woman drove from to get to our store is about a quarter of the distance of my daily bike commute. You want to help people reduce their carbon footprint? Then tell them to get out of their cars, get on a bicycle, stop buying crap that you don’t need, start using less and re-using more and stop thinking that because you volunteer for an organization that prints their “Green” mission statement on partially recycled business cards that you are saving the planet.

The Escalade Driver

I have had my fair share of run-ins and less than pleasant exchanges with angry drivers. But yesterday on my ride home I had the worst confrontation yet. I was stopped at a red light about a half mile from home. The lane was a “go straight or turn right lane” and there were no cars in front of me. While I was sitting there waiting for the light to change, the driver of a Black Cadillac Escalade (at least I believe that is what it was) started honking at me…

Now, this is not the first time that I have been in this situation. The driver wants to turn right on red, but I am in the way. Some drivers seem to think that since I am on a bicycle, I am required to move off the road to let them get around me. Legally, I am required to ride as far to the right as is practicable in the right-most lane that is still going in my direction of travel. So in this situation, I am legally stopped where I am supposed to be. Now in the past when I have come to intersections where I am going to be in the first position at the light, I would stay near the right hand tire track in my lane, but being on the right side of the lane gave some drivers the impression that it would be safe and acceptable to cut in front of me and turn right, essentially performing a “right hook” while I was at a standstill. This move is not only dangerous and discourteous, it is illegal. It only took that happening a couple of times for me to start claiming the lane when I came to the first position at an intersection. This is still legal and I have found, for the most part, that it is a much safer option. It makes drivers aware that I am going to be entering the intersection like an automobile and prevents impatient drivers from performing the standing right hook maneuver…

So, back to the story…I was in my claimed lane in the first position at a red light when the driver of the Escalade starts honking at me. After the 3rd honk I turned and stared at the car, but said nothing. When the light turned green I started into the intersection and as usually happens, the driver revs their engine in an attempt to scare me. As I am going through the intersection I hear that the honking driver, instead of turning, is coming through the intersection behind me and coming up fast and close. He speeds past me passing very close and yells obscenities out his open window. As he passes me, he cuts me off and slams on the breaks…

Now, when you have an angry person who is trying to hurt you with their 2000+ pound car, if they stop the car it is not a good idea to ride past them and get in front of the vehicle, so I stoped rather than trying to ride past. Now up to this point none of this is new. I have had people cut me off and slam on the breaks and honk and yell and pass me to closely…all of that is sadly routine. However when I stop my bicycle the driver gets out of the car and come running up to me screaming. This caught me off guard. I have not had a driver get out of their vehicle before, and it was also apparent from the driver’s body language that he was ready to fight. My actions at this point weren’t really thought out, I was just reacting to the situation, and in hindsight, I would do it very differently if confronted this way again…

As the driver runs at me, I don’t back down, instead I stood my ground, I think this caught him equally off guard, and his body language changed. Instead of looking like he wanted to try and beat the crap out of me, he seemed to decide the better option would be to yell at me. As best as I can remember it, the “conversation” went something like this…

Elliot: “Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?!”
Driver: “F*ck you! What are you doing blocking the f*cking lane when I am trying to turn?!”
Elliot: “I’m going straight through the interce…”
Driver: (about 2” from my nose yelling and pointing a finger in my face) “Not blocking the whole f*ucking lane your not, you’re a bicycle, I’m in a car. I’ll run you over you faggot! You shouldn’t be in the f*cking road!”
Elliot: “You want a bet?! I’m a legal vehicle on the road, I have a copy of the laws, do you want a copy?!”
Driver: “I don’t give a f*ck about what that says, you don’t be in the road, I’ll run you down!” (The driver starts walking back to his car)
Elliot: “Dude, you are such a loser!”
Driver: “F*ck you!”

At this point the driver gets back into his car and screeches away. There were a couple of guys in a parked car who rolled down their window and told me that they were sorry for what happened because they thought that bikes had a right to the road as well. I thanked them and rode home.

Looking back I realize that I made some major mistakes in how I handled the situation. First off, I didn’t get the driver’s license plate number, so I can’t file a complaint or police report. Second, I didn’t immediately get off of my bicycle when I saw they driver get out of his car. If he had decided to attack me, I would have still been partially clipped into my pedals and would not have been able to defend myself very well. (a big rule of bicycle defense is to put the bike between you and the assailant.) Third, I tried to logically defend my rights to the road by engaging in a verbal argument with a road rage driver. In the future if I am ever in a similar situation, I will immediately get off of my bicycle and call the Police. As with most difficult situations in life, I learned some hard lessons from my mistakes. I sincerely hope that the Escalade Driver is able to get some professional help for his anger issues, and that my confrontation with him does not escalate his rage towards the next cyclist he passes on the road.
Riders, be careful out there

The Hamster People

I ride my bicycle at night a lot. I have actually come to love riding at night, especially on warm summer evenings. It is at night that I most often see wildlife, I frequently have the bike trails to myself, and traffic is usually much lighter and much less angry.

On one of my regular routes from work to home I pass a large fitness center. The building is made up of floor to ceiling glass windows right at street level, so at night time you can see all of the people working out inside. On many summer nights I have passed what looks like a regular Spinning class. Now I know that a lot of people really enjoy Spin Classes (and for those of you who don’t know what it is you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_cycling ) but I really just don’t understand it. In fact when I really think about it I start laughing out loud (which, once again makes me look like some deranged guy on a bicycle.)

Seriously though, when you think about it…spinning is like watching human sized hamsters running on their bicycle shaped hamster wheels. People in these classes sit on their butts while driving up and down hills to the fitness center, climb on to a bicycle that has been re-designed to not go anywhere and welded to the floor and then pretend to ride up and down hills...only to get back into their cars and drive back home (up and down hills.)

When riding a bicycle outside, you are able to see and smell and hear and feel and experience the world around you first hand in a way that is profound and yet intimate. The very act of traveling becomes exercise, self propelled power that tests your body against the challenges of nature, fatigue and your own desire. It simultaneously forces you to interact and respond to a rapidly changing horizon and landscape. Your body goes through the torment of every climb to earn the glorious prize promised from each descent. Muscle and Machine work together to move you cleanly and efficiently forward in a way that is so carefree you almost forget the humbling and beautiful fact that you are your own source of power, your fuel is the bounty of the land, and your exhaust the sweat from your brow and quiet sigh of joy let out slowly at the end of the day looking back on the miles crossed, the worlds explored and the journeys yet to be had…

And people trade it for a sweaty guy in the front of the room with a microphone telling you to pretend you are pedaling really fast up a hill?