A Complete Street in DC

Via Matthew Yglesias (not just a well-known political blogger but also a cyclist and strong advocate of re-imagining urban spaces in ways that permit more and varied transportation uses) comes this post from Greater Greater Washington about the redesign of U Street to accommodate more pedestrians, bike lanes, and buses--both the good things and the could-be-better things. For those of us far away from DC, this post nevertheless offers up observations and ideas applicable to any metro area contemplating its future transportation needs . . . like a certain city in south-central Kansas . . .

The conversation begins

Something I've not commented on here but which deserves some mention is the fact that my commuting to work via bicycle has been the subject of many conversations involving not only me and my colleagues but also, I've learned, among my colleagues when I'm not around. They have questions about my route and whether I've had trouble with motorists; they mention that they've been dusting off their own bicycles and thinking about them as a way to get some exercise. I can only assume that those of you reading this who are also commuting to work have had similar conversations. This is all to the good, especially in a town like ours with a, shall we say, nascent cycling culture.

But I've also learned a bit anecdotally, here and there, about cycling's past here in Wichita. My colleague Larry the Movie Guy for some reason told me yesterday that when he worked for Cessna (about 20 years ago) "a few" of his co-workers cycled to work--"and one guy even ran to work!"

Our numbers are growing: I learned yesterday while I was out at McConnell that some students have asked about base regulations governing cycling onto the base. Some are choosing to cycle because of fuel costs; others have some problem or other with their cars' documentation (expired/no insurance?) that won't permit them to bring their cars on base. But no matter. The regulations for bikes are minimal; moreover, the base, as I've mentioned before, may be the bike-friendliest place in Wichita. Also, our building has a small bike rack by the entrance. While I don't expect to see it filled to overflowing any time soon, it'll be nice for my Fuji to have some company this coming semester.

As I was leaving our Rock Road office with my bike yesterday, a woman waiting to enroll said, "That there is the best transportation you can have."

So how about you other bike-commuters? Are you having these conversations as well?

Alternate route to work

Route map here. Description: Home to Keeper of the Plains Plaza, then south on the Arkansas Bike Path to Harry; left on Harry across the river, then right (south) on Greenway to Mt. Vernon; left (east) on Mt. Vernon to Woodlawn; right (south) on Woodlawn to bike path paralleling Pawnee; left (east) on the bike path to Rock; right (south) on Rock to base entrance, then to Dole Center. The route is fairly level, though just east of the intersection of Mt. Vernon and George Washington there's a fairly abrupt rise; also, McConnell sits on a piece of higher ground that both Pawnee and Rock gradually climb toward.

As local folks know, of late we've had wonderful weather for cycling here in town: cool mornings, warm-but-not-hot afternoons. I had some business to take care of out at McConnell, and so I rode out there this morning and returned in the afternoon. I didn't push hard going either way, so each trip took me about an hour.

I had to take this route because my previous base pass had expired and the only place to get new ones is at the Rock Road entrance on the east side of the base--for me, the far side of the base. So, this route is a little over a mile longer than my usual route will be. That rise on Mt. Vernon is one that I won't have to deal with on my commute.

My chief concern with this route was with car traffic on Rock Road,a major commuter route to the base and points south. I got there at about 9:00 this morning, and so traffic was very light. Even so, I'll be riding during rush hour, so I'm very glad I won't have to ride on Rock when I take my usual route.

Finally, a word about the bike path that runs along Pawnee between Woodlawn and Rock at the north end of Cessna and the base: physically, it's a great path: concrete, nice and wide, and fairly new so it's in great shape. Moreover, it is a safe and practical way for people living east of Rock to gain access to the Gypsum Creek Bicycle Path where that path crosses Woodlawn, and it would work for folks who live close by and work at Cessna or the base. But the key phrase here is "it would work." Across from the entrance to Cessna, there is a turn off the path that connects with the street; but while there's a traffic light at that intersection, I don't recall seeing, on the bike-path side, a way for cyclists or pedestrians to control the light. So, crossing at that intersection is still pretty risky. Also, the path has the same slalom-y quality that the Canal Route has: great for recreation, but for a commuter it might create the sense that s/he's not making good time.

So: If I had to--and on occasion, I might (sometimes the base closes the gate I usually go through)--this commuter route will work. It's not a bad route by any means, but I much prefer the route I'll almost always take.

(It's good to be posting something here. I should be a bit more regular in posting for the foreseeable future.)

Checking in

Sorry for the light posting here; I've been busy with academic work, and I've not had occasion to ride lately, aside from a trip to the WSU library on Wednesday. It was on the return home on that trip, on Murdoch at about 3 in the afternoon, that I had a couple of close calls with cars trying to pass me that could not move to their left because of traffic on that side. By that time of day, Murdoch had become busy. I'll have to find an alternate route for afternoons.

On the other hand: On July 4th weekend I filled up with gas in Topeka and drove down; I had half a tank of gas left. Here it is, the 8th of August, and I still have most of that gas left still. True, I've not had to leave the apartment much, period, but whenever possible I've ridden the bike. It's paid off in my not having to buy gas for over a month, as well as all that good-for-your-health, reducing-carbon-footprint do-gooder stuff. On Monday I'll have to drive out to El Dorado, but I don't foresee needing the car on anything like a regular basis until I resume teaching full-time in the spring (I'm on sabbatical this fall--hence the academic work I mentioned above). Even then, I hope to ride the bike to work at least twice a week.

So: that's the news from the banks of the Little Arkansas. I hope to be a bit more regular in my posting here after Monday.

Make a pledge, (maybe) win a bike

Recent visitors here may have noticed the widget for 1 World 2 Wheels over in the right gutter. My motives in adding it are almost but not entirely altruistic.

As the title of this post states, from now until the end of August, if you pledge to cycle a certain number of miles per week, you become eligible to enter the daily drawing for a Trek 7.2 FX that's being given away each day until the end of the month. So, hurry up and enter and keep alive my streak of never winning anything so grand.

So--how are things going here?

I'm pleased and humbled to note the gradual increase in visitors--especially local ones--to this site. They clearly aren't coming here because of this place's years-long presence in the blogosphere or its reputation for being [TV announcer's baritone here] "Wichita's Cycling News Authority." No--they're coming here because people around town are getting interested in cycling as a serious, practical mode of transportation, and they're interested in knowing what sort of online resources, what sort of community, virtual or otherwise, exists in Wichita. And for better or for worse--I'll let them be the judges of their fortunes--they've found this blog.

To them I say, Welcome. But I also want to say that no one should regard this blog as some sort of final destination for information on cycling here in town. That's way more ambitious--not to mention pretentious--than I aspire for this blog to be. As I note over in the copy at the head of the right gutter, you really should also have a look at the links to city sites, local dealers, cycling clubs and blogs in the area, if you want really practical information. I learn much from them, too.

The other small hope I have is that I can both stay on top of and encourage visitors here to get involved with cycling-advocacy issues here in town as they arise and I/we learn of them. One easy way to begin that is to mention again the WAMPO survey of prioritizing transportation infrastructure issues that I linked to here and encourage you to participate if you haven't already.

Anyway. Again, welcome. Thanks for visiting. Have a look around. I hope this place will be useful to you as you explore the small-for-now world of cycling in Wichita . . . and inspire you to help make that world a little bigger (and friendlier).

Sunday Ride #2: Downtown to Grove Park and beyond

Kids from the Boys & Girls Clubs help city park staff with planting native plants at the new trailhead linking Grove Park to the K-96 bike path at Hillside. Image found here.

The route: East on Murdock to the Canal Route (which I posted on here), north to 17th, east to Grove, north to Grove Park (28th Street), east through the park to Hillside, then about a mile along the western end of the K-96 bike path. The route is mostly level except for a gradual rise on Grove from north of 21st Street to the park. Route map here.

First of all, a confession. I've reached that point in this cycling thing where, this morning, I actually felt an emotional need to go for a ride. Yesterday I had planned to go to the WSU library, but when I learned that, for now, they don't open until 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays, and we also are under a heat advisory until Monday . . . well, suddenly the books already piled up here seemed more necessary for me to look at. Still, even though I was doing the sensible thing, I still wanted to ride. And this morning, as I walked Scruffy, the want became a need. Hence, in part, today's ride, which I finished up in about an hour.

Yes: My name is John B., and I'm a bike-aholic.

The other reason I went to Grove Park is the picture you see here. I wanted to see this little project; also, in anticipation of cooler weather, I'm looking forward to riding the length of the K-96 route, and I wanted to try out this morning's route to see if it would be a practical way to get to the trailhead.

I suppose most any major city feels bike-friendly at 7:00 in the morning, but this morning, the still-cool weather and the near-absence of traffic combined to make this one of my most enjoyable rides yet. When I got home, I was my usual sweaty mess, but darned if I didn't feel really relaxed, as opposed to tired.

I had some advance concerns about the stretch on 17th and then Grove; the neighborhoods immediately to the east of I-135 can be rather dicey in places. And, sure, this part of town isn't what one would describe as manicured. But few of the houses are truly dilapidated, and the folks who were out and about greeted me and I them. A motorist stopped at a stop sign where her street intersected with Grove saw me coming and, even though she had plenty of time to proceed, she actually waited for me to pass before she went on. Of course, is there any mellower morning than a Sunday morning?

Grove Park was a real treat on the whole, especially if you're interested in recreational cycling. The western end of the park, where I entered it, has a rather hard-bitten look to it (the play area there is all sand and gravel, and there's no shade), but the road along its southern border is well-maintained. The trailhead area really is quite nice: it's part garden, part evocation of Wichita's trail days, and part art project, with a fiberglass Conestoga wagon and buffalo, and some large plinth-like rocks on which are carved words and images intended to interpret the virtues the pioneers would have required for the journey west--or, for that matter, any cyclists who'd be coming through there in a few hours in the 100-degree heat expected today. After crossing at Hillside and riding for about a mile on the K-96 route (in that stretch, it skirts a large field that, if one didn't pay attention to the houses on its southern flank, would give you the feeling about being somewhere well away from the city rather than smack dab in the middle of suburbia. Back at Grove Park, I rode on one of the dedicated bike paths, which follows a creek that demarcates the park's northern boundary. The creek is hard to see from the bike path: trees intervene between the path and the creek, which is for the good, seeing as the creek is at the bottom of a very steep 20-foot-deep ravine. But the path for a time meanders well away from the parking lots and athletic fields, and once again the feeling one gets is Being Out in Nature.

The trip home was all downhill--literally, yes, though not enough to insist on it, but figuratively as well. As I said above, when I got home, I felt relaxed rather than tired.

I'd gotten my fix. I'll be okay today.

Saturday-morning musings

A "Share the Road" sign from Marin County, California. Of course. Image found here.

Somehow, I don't see the City of Wichita adopting this sign any time soon. Now Lawrence, on the other hand . . . I do like it, though, because the yin-yang symbol does suggest something that I think is true about bike-friendliness and, more particularly, the Complete Streets movement: that at its best, transportation options should complement each other rather than conflict with each other. The usual Share the Road signs, though, tend to emphasize compartmentalization as the philosophical goal. Turf, territory, the notion of "special interests" seem implicit in such signs; and while, yes, bike lanes are de facto markings-off of space, re-imagined streets do feel more like a shared space than a segregated one.

Onward.

Blog Flux now has a Groups feature in which like-minded folks can arrange themselves into virtual collectives. It's a bit different from the usual directory listings in that the groups are more subject-specific than directory entries tend to be (this blog, for example, appears in "Local" in one listing and "Environment" in another because this isn't a "Sports" blog, and those directories didn't have any other options that worked as well). Anyway, as of this morning there is now a Cycling Blog Group which, as I type these words, has Yours Truly as its sole member. As others join, it's my hope that it will be a source of information and inspiration.

Well-bikey check-up

The 31st marked 30 days since I purchased my bike. As part of their new bike sales, Bicycle X-Change includes free 30-, 60- and 90-day inspections, so I rode mine down to the Douglas store to have them look at it.

When I told the Mrs. about this, she said, "Awww--like it's a baby?"

Hence the title of this post.

Anyway, something unusual had happened early last week while I was out errand-running that I learned more about on the 31st: just as I was about to turn right off a street, the handlebars suddenly slipped down to their lowest position. I was so startled that I nearly lost control, but I managed to get out of the street safely. When I got home, I couldn't figure out how to re-adjust the handlebars as they had been, so I thought, The 31st is coming up, and the bike is certainly rideable. We'll figure it out then. Turns out, the bolt that holds the handlebars at the angle had fallen out, something that the service guy says rarely happens. He told me I'd need to tighten it up every 5th ride or so.

I'm learning, I'm learning.

Actually, the relative simplicity of the bicycle-as-machine is such that I do want to be more savvy as regards its maintenance. Otherwise, I'm every bit as much at the mercy of my ignorance of it as I am of my car that requires not a human being but a computer to diagnose its ailments.

Say what you will about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as a work of philosophy, but as a meditation on how it's really kind of weird how we've become disconnected from the very machines that humans have after all designed, Pirsig seems right on to me. The nifty thing about bicycles is that they truly are elegant machines in their simplicity; and even someone like me, someone not especially mechanically-inclined, can appreciate that to the point that I want to do more than just sit back and admire that elegance but tear my hair out when something goes wrong with it. So, one of these days I'll get my hands on a Fuji maintenance manual and occasionally provide y'all with some grease-monkey posts.

Anyway. The bike is otherwise fine, you'll be pleased to know.

Planet Bicycle

Marc, from Amserdamize.com, and Marie from Copenhagen Cycle Chic, on the streets of Amsterdam, talk smack about the bicycle cultures of their respective cities:


Amsterdamize Bicycle TV : Riding With Marie from Amsterdamize on Vimeo.

I think that for us Wichitans--well, okay: for this Wichitan--the best description of our mood while watching this would be a sort of sad wistfulness. Still: something to aspire in the general direction of, if not actually to.

(Hat-tip: Cordelia)