Local blog round-up (bike repair edition)

Image found here.

It had been my intention, last weekend and this, to ride around to a couple of places to get a sense of the current state of things regarding the overt subject of this blog. Alas. I came to realize last Saturday that a) my rear tire wasn't holding air; and b) my tire pump was broken and so couldn't air up my tire. So, as I type this my bike is up on the rack over at Bicycle X-Change; in return for this link to their place, my bike is getting some new tubes and the basic maintenance stuff, for--wait for it--full price for all of it! Oh, these perks we get in Blog Land!

(Just so no one misunderstands: Of course I didn't tell them I'd be mentioning them here, much less hint around for a discount. If my tires hold air and hold up through the coming year, I'll be more than happy, and Bicycle X-Change will get more of my business and, I hope, some of yours as well.)

Here are some links to what local and area cycling bloggers have had to say in the recent past:

Actually, this first post isn't especially recent (it's from last August), and it isn't from someone who self-identifies as a cycling blogger. But Jim's open letter to the City Council and, in particular, District 4 Representative Paul Gray is worth drawing belated attention to. For Councilman Gray to be dismissive of cycling on the grounds that it isn't a major form of transportation and no one on the council bikes to work is, sadly, a widespread attitude here--one that runs the risk of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Obviously, one hope I have for this blog is that it can do something about at least complicating that attitude. True: not many people bike on a regular basis here in town, but more people should--and would--if the city were inclined to be more foreward-leaning in providing infrastructure and encouraging development that is conducive to cycling. As for the "no one I know" argument, well, the rebuttal to that is, "Well, there are lots of people you don't know--and many of them would ride bikes to work if the city would spend a few tens of thousands of dollars and re-stripe a few streets."

Okay. Consider the choir preached to. Thank you, Jim, for your post. I don't know how many people read it, but it needs to be re-read. Here's hoping some eyeballs find their way over there.

Over at Adventure Monkey, Eric has two long but worthwhile posts up (with pictures) about a couple of long-distance rides he's just made. But they're more than simple "this is what I saw" posts; Eric has a long-term goal of getting in shape for this year's Dirty Kanza 200, so he writes as well about the psychology of these long rides, especially when confronting fatigue or wind. Their honesty and enthusiasm make for compelling reading, I think. Here, for instance, Eric's great lesson is that physically he can hang with at least some folks more accustomed to riding long distances; and here, he writes compellingly about the power of visualization to get him through a stiff headwind:

Even on the way back riding into the wind, I was pushing harder than I have in a long time. I felt great, mentally and physically. Any negative thought was captured and removed before I let it fester in my mind. It was a dreary morning with a strong headwind, and it felt great to be alive. Part of this was because I was on a bike. Bicycles are magical and have the power to let you experience the world first hand in a way that can only be felt while powering yourself on a bike. When I had made it home and completed my ride, I felt incredible, invincible. My adventure Monkey was curled up in a ball, sucking his thumb, asleep with a full belly.

Good stuff and, in all seriousness, something I'll hang on to the next time I hit that strong headwind those last couple of miles of my commute to McConnell.

Over at Cycling & CX, David does some out-loud planning for National Winter Bike to Work Day (back on January 20) in his role as the faculty sponsor of the Newton H.S. Bike Club. Here's hoping that went well. David's post leads me to throw out a bleg to my reader(s): Do you know of any other school-sponsored cycling clubs in the area? Let me know if you do, either in comments or at "blogmeridian AT sbcglobal DOT net."

At River City Cyclist, Robert posts on the small dirt track at Chapman Park; he includes a satellite photo and some pics on the site itself. It appears to get little use, so those who are so inclined need to head down there and remedy that particular problem.

Randy of the Coasters Bicycle Club notes that the club will be participating in the Delano District's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday, March 13.

That's all for now. The next round-up will be next weekend-ish.

[Update: I've been fiddling around here--I've added a "Search Cycling in Wichita" box, rearranged the links some so that they feel a bit more logical in their sequence, and added some links (in particular some more Cycle Chic blogs) and a Streeetsblog badge as a small thank you to them for having featured a couple of posts of mine on their main page. Some more rearranging to come, perhaps.]

The daily commute: Things observed and thought

A sign like this one now appears at the intersection of Mt. Vernon and Market. More about this welcome development below. Image found here.

First in an occasional series . . .

Unless otherwise noted, what follows is a description of my route from downtown to McConnell: From Keeper Plaza, south along the Arkansas River path to the Harry Street bridge; south for a block to Exchange; south to Mt. Vernon; east along Mt. Vernon to Minneapolis; south on Minneapolis to Minnesota, then over to the Canal Route path; south to Pawnee, crossing at the new bike/ped crossing at Pawnee and Minneapolis; south on Minneapolis to Glen Oaks; east to Minnesota; south on Minnesota to Wassal; cross I-135 via the pedestrian bridge; pick up the new extension of the Gypsum Creek path at Wassal; east on that path to George Washington; then south along GW to McConnell.

**During the summer, at least, both "daily" and "commute" are misnomers: I teach only on Monday and Wednesday mornings, but I will otherwise be out and about on my bike. Just so you know. So, what follows are Things Observed during yesterday's ride.

**I lost count, but yesterday I saw a good half-dozen cyclists along my route; all but two of them appeared to me to be bike-as-transportation types (i.e., panniers, handlebar pouches, etc.). As I've already noted in several posts this spring, my purely anecdotal survey of things is that substantially more people are using bikes to get around the city than was the case at this time last year. This is happening, you'll note, not because all that much has changed in terms of infrastructure but because of external pressures beyond the city's control but to which it eventually will have to respond in the form of accommodating these people's choices--just as, beginning around a century ago, cities, states and the nation gradually responded to mass ownership of automobiles. Far better, in my view, to respond proactively now, while the expense of responding is still relatively modest . . . but if you're reading this, you likely need no persuading as to the truth of this. Still: it's important for those of us who already recognize this to acknowledge--and tell others--that the ground in Wichita is shifting, household by household, in favor of choices that will contribute to making our city a more livable, healthier, safer place.

**The re-paving and re-striping of Mt. Vernon proceeds apace. Work is finished now from Greenway to Broadway, with dedicated bike lanes on both sides of Mt. Vernon up to Market (one block west of Broadway); there, to accommodate a dedicated left-turn lane, the bike lane disappears and in its place appears a "Share the Road" sign. Meanwhile, re-paving (but not re-striping) is done on Mt. Vernon from Broadway to Topeka; in the very near future, then, re-striping and (I assume) new signage will soon appear. I can't tell how much usage the lanes are getting; some gravel has already accumulated in them, and I didn't spot any tire marks through it. Still, that stretch of Mt. Vernon--that running west from Broadway to the river--is the stretch less travelled. As the bike lanes are extended eastward (that is still the plan, right, City of Wichita?), the Mt. Vernon route will become more useful to east-west commuters and, I hope, see more use . . . which, one can hope, will encourage the city to fast-track some of WAMPO's proposals for re-striping other streets to incorporate bike lanes.

As it happens, Tom Sawyer Bicycle Shop is located at the corner of Broadway and Mt. Vernon; on Monday afternoon I plan to stop by on the way home and chat with them to get a sense of how much the new lanes are getting used.

**Back in March, I'd noted signs that the extension of the Gypsum Creek path would have some additional landscaping. That's since become the case: there are substantial plantings of trees in various places, including evergreens in a couple of stretches intended to serve as screens between the path and residential properties. Also, where the path crosses Hillside and intersects with George Washington, there are now water fountains and stands for those waiting to catch buses. Right now, a large pile of dirt being used for landscaping (in the form of terracing) on the east side of Roosevelt is covering the path, but that work should be finished soon.

**On the first day of class, I'd told my students about this blog and said a few words about cycling as being about more than recreation or exercise; among other things, I'd mentioned that depending on how you tally such things, that about 80% of all car trips in this country are of distances less than 2 miles and that most anyone could walk or ride a bike that distance "to pick up a can of pop at the Quik Trip." Well: on Wednesday, one of my students asked if I'd biked to the base and I said I had. He volunteered that he'd taken his bike for a spin on Tuesday--he was going to visit a relative who lives four blocks from him and was about to jump in his car to go there when, he said, he got to thinking about what I'd said about all those short car trips and decided to ride his bike there instead.

Who knows if my student's decision will result in some larger commitment to cycling? The important thing to me, though, is that he considered it and acted on it--he now sees cycling as a possible alternative when, before, the idea hadn't entered his mind. He is one person. But so am I, and so are you who reads this. It took my seeing working-class and street people on bikes to begin giving serious consideration to cycling as transportation. All it takes is enough people seeing enough others cycling on the streets to and from work, school and shopping to encourage them at least to think about cycling as legitimate transportation, period--even if they don't see it as an option for themselves.

**A (very) long-term goal: to get a city ordinance passed forbidding steady wind speeds greater than 20 mph . . .

Readers' Ride #2: Southwind Suicide-Ride

This past weekend was the occasion of the second more-or-less monthly Cycling in Wichita Readers' Rides, this one along the venerable Arkansas River bike path. Saturday's ride was an intimate one: no one was able to meet me at the southern terminus at Garvey Park, so on the way back home I took a quick sidetrip through O. J. Watson Park then took Pawnee back to the river. The park didn't seem to have any dedicated bike paths, but that morning there were only a few cars and some runners to contend with. It was a pleasant place for a leisurely ride.

Now Sunday's ride, on the other hand . . .

I have never before worked so hard as a cyclist.

I was pleased to be joined by Chris of Random Chaos (his take on Sunday's ride, the title of which accurately sums up things for me as well, though I didn't ride nearly the distance he did) is here). Admittedly, when I made my way up the embankment at 21st Street Park and felt the full force of yesterday's steady south wind, I was afraid neither he nor anyone else would show . . . and, truth be told, I wasn't so sure I should have shown up, either, as I contemplated the ride back home. Kansas' very name comes from a Sioux word that means "south wind," and I doubt very seriously that any other state name so closely and unambiguously unites signifier and signified as "Kansas" does. At any rate, it was certainly true yesterday. Anyway: Despite ominously warning me just that morning that if it was windy he wouldn't show, here Chris came a few minutes before 1:00, having ridden all the way from his neighborhood near Harry and Webb. What a man.

While we waited to see if others would show, we talked shop. Chris is a friendly, articulate fellow who, just as his blog indicates, is serious about cycling for practical reasons and is interested in doing his bit for advocacy by being a positive presence on the streets when cycling. He got into cycling back in February for fitness purposes; he's the owner of a schweet-looking Felt bicycle (a new-to-me brand) that, as he reports over at his blog, he's customized a bit.

At about 1:15, we headed out. At first the ride was pretty pleasant. Most of the path north of downtown was fairly protected from the wind, and so we could ride and talk as we did. But just south of Exploration Place the river and path run more or less due south, and it was for that entire distance that we rode directly into a wind that was never less than 15 mph and occasionally gusted so hard that it felt as though it briefly stopped my forward progress. Just north of the Harry Street bridge, I told Chris that I had to stop and rest a bit.

As we did, an older man came strolling up the path and "conversed" with us. Actually, that's not quite the word: Chris will confirm that, aside from his telling us that we were headed the wrong way (i.e., into the wind, and never were truer words spoken) and briefly telling us that he worked for Meals on Wheels, for the entire time (15-20 minutes) we were there he only told us riddles. Some samples of his wit: "Q: What did the fish say when he swam into a concrete wall? A: Dam!" "Q: What do you call pallbearers in Oklahoma? A: "Carry-Okies" ("Karaokes"). He was the Henny Youngman of riddles . . . except, not to be mean, I liked Henny Youngman more. We might still be there yet--he was certainly in no hurry to be on his way, that's for sure--if I hadn't decided that I had rested enough.

We set off again, and the wind was every bit as strong as before. I was soon worn out again, and as we approached the Pawnee Street bridge (about a mile south of where we had stopped to rest), I gave very serious thought to telling Chris that this was just nuts and we should bag the rest of the ride. But no, I told myself: we had just a couple more miles to go to Garvey Park; riding into this is good for building up endurance and strength; what commentary on my manliness would my quitting now offer up to Chris?; etc., etc. And besides: my legs, though a bit weary, still felt okay.

We rode on and eventually reached Garvey Park. As Chris and I chatted, I confessed that I'd almost called Uncle, and he admitted that he would have been okay with that if I had.

Men are weird that way.

The ride back, this time with the wind at our backs, was the stuff of what makes cycling in Kansas a pleasant experience 50% of the time. My bike felt like it had magically acquired a carbon frame like Chris's bike, and we zipped along until, at the Harry Street bridge, we parted company.

I told Chris that, weather permitting, I hope to continue scheduling these Readers' Rides through the fall and winter, with the next one for either the weekend before or the weekend after Thanksgiving. In the meantime, we'll keep a weather eye . . .

Thanks again for joining me, Chris.

Yeah, but it's a warm 20-mph wind

At least it was today. But the calendar tells me it's October--how many warm winds do we have left this year?

The morning ride to McConnell was a bit chilly, but the air was dead-calm. As the sun began to warm the air, it was actually quite pleasant for the last couple of miles. This afternoon, though, was another story entirely: a steady 20-mph northerly wind that, given my route, I had to ride directly into for a total of about half the ride. Even with shifting into an easier gear that I'd never felt the need to use before, the ride home took about an hour. (Usually, it's 45 minutes, though I've been known to make it in 40 if traffic permits.)

I've been home almost 3 hours and my legs still feel tired from the ride home.

Aside from the usual and obvious lack of bike-friendly streets here in Wichita, another possible explanation for our city's abysmally-low percentage of folks who commute to work occurred to me on the ride home today. Perhaps folks have given bike-commuting a try in the past but--as will happen sooner or later here--end up riding on a day when the wind is blowing hard and steady and they get home and wheel the bike into the garage and decide they've had enough. That is of course their choice, but I would say to them, were they to ask, that that decision comes of not fully dissociating from recreation their image of cycling. If they instead framed their riding in terms of transportation, the wind doesn't blow any less hard, but I suspect they would persist: cycling-as-transportation shifts one's focus to concentrate more on the long term than on the short term.

Usually, it so happens that my commute is fun, or at least enjoyable. On some days, though, it is work to keep going--and by this I mean mental more than physical labor. This, for me, was one of those days. But, truth be told, I've not had very many of those days.

Oh: and in case anyone is thinking I'm just a wimp about this wind thing, have a look at Chris's recent post over at Random Chaos.