Traffic lights

Via Kansas Cyclist comes a news story from Ft. Collins about bike-friendly traffic signals: metal-sensing devices in the pavement that can detect the smaller quantities of metal in bikes as they approach intersections, thus changing the lights more quickly.

Sort of off-topic re cycling but still having to do with traffic lights: from 1985-1987 I lived and taught English in Durango, Mexico. There, traffic signals' green lights would flash for a couple of seconds before turning yellow and then red. All other cautions about driving in Mexico notwithstanding, I (a motorist myself while I lived there) always thought that cities in the States would do well to have such a sequencing--how many of us, after all, have found ourselves approaching an intersection and been caught in that awkward place where the light turns yellow and we have to decide whether to slam on the brakes or speed through the intersection? That extra warning of the flashing green, I'd think, would make intersections safer for all concerned--cyclists, too.

All this reminds me as well of Wichita drivers' propensity to not signal lane changes or turns at intersections, but that's a whole other post.

Back

Sorry for being away from here; numerous distractions, some happier than others, some more pressing than others, have kept me away.

Discipline, discipline.

50-state Bike-Friendliness Rankings

The League of American Bicyclists has just published a ranking of the states in terms of their bike-friendliness. Kansas ranks a surprising 25th, ahead of all its contiguous neighbors except for Colorado. That said, those of us who live anywhere west of Lawrence know that urban areas can do much more to improve that ranking.

Follow the link to an interactive map to get explanations for each state's ranking.

September 11: The Life/Art Confluence

Note: The following, cross-posted at my other blog, does not have much to do with cycling per se, but I include it here in part because of the day but also because I mentally composed a large part of this post in my head as I rode to and from McConnell back on Tuesday.

The cover art for Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, originally scheduled for release on Reprise on September 11, 2001. Wikipedia. Image found here.

I have posted before about this day: the usual sorts of posts one has seen or will see on the anniversary of this day. In rereading my versions of those sorts of posts, I see no need to add to them.

Instead, I want to simply note a couple of musical moments that are especially striking for their timing and place and that for me, seven years on, still resonate powerfully.

I'll just let you ponder the eerie confluence of cover art and planned release date for Wilco's album. But the music, too--not just lyrically but sonically as well--is a powerful irruption of our usual ways of thinking about what our expectations and assumptions are regarding "pop music." Just what does it mean when Jeff Tweedy, in "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," sings, "I am an American aquarium drinker/I assassin down the avenue"--and in that wavering nasal-y voice of his, no less? And how is it that that tinny electric piano riff in "Poor Places" nevertheless manages to sound so grand? No matter. Whatever Wilco is selling in this album, I'm still more than willing to buy.

Here are some selections to listen to:

"I Am Trying to Break Your Heart"
"I'm the Man Who Loves You"
"Poor Places"

The other moment I want to mention is Laurie Anderson's performances in New York on September 19-20, 2001. Though she was ostensibly on tour in support of her lovely August 2001 studio release Life on a String, those songs, in combination with older material (1980's "O Superman" most especially), become quite powerful in this moment. Yet she makes no claims to know or see anything more than anyone else does, as you'll hear in her spoken intro to "Here With You."

Here are those tracks:

"Here With You"
"O Superman"

And here is the first paragraph from her liner notes for this album:

Playing my music on September 19th at Town Hall was one of the most intense evenings I've ever had as a performer. Live music is about being in the present and many people had been living almost exclusively in the present since the 11th of September. The atmosphere in the city was eerie, like during a strange holiday. The driven people in New York had all suddenly experienced enormous fear and uncertainty. Unable to predict, we were simply looking and listening.

Even if you're not a fan of Anderson's music, there's little sense, listening to this, that "you had to have been there." At that point in time, we all were there.

Freewheelin'

I am stunned and pleased to share with my readers that Freewheelin', sponsors of the free bike-share program at both of this year's national nominating conventions for President, has identified this blog as a Favorite via Blog Catalog. Here, by the way, is Freewheelin's blog. Perhaps, to Freewheelin's mind, a bike-blog is a bike-blog is a bike-blog, and never were truer words spoken of the blog whose words you're reading now. But still.

As you probably know, several cities in this country, inspired by the overall success of Paris' year-old bike-share program, are experimenting with similar programs. Freewheelin', though, has some especially serious corporate support behind its efforts in the form of the HMO Humana; and it seems that, until or unless state and federal commitments to such projects--either directly through setting up such programs or indirectly through making streets bike-friendlier--municipalities and corporations will, for now, be the way to go in establishing them.

Anyway. I hope you'll go and visit Freewheelin'.

The Wichita cycling blogosphere grows!

Written by Chris, who appears to live in the College Hill area, Random Chaos is a brand-new blog. Its maiden entry, from Monday the 8th, concerns a ride he took down Douglas to West Douglas Park and back. He's very detail-oriented; he includes information on his heart rate and even on his cadence.

Chris already is a serious cyclist; here's hoping he keeps spreading the word via his blog as well. I hope you'll go over and make his acquaintance. And of course, if you have or know of another Wichita-area cycling blog, I hope you'll let me know. The more of us are out there in the blogosphere posting on our experiences, the more we might get others to be thinking about cyclists before they see us out on the streets.

Rousing the blog from its slumber

Apologies for the silence on this end. The combination of getting some reading done before books had to be returned, preoccupations of various sorts, and nothing especially compelling about my own commuting have kept me away from here. Todays' trip, though, provided me with a couple of things worthy of note, along with a question to ask.

The question first: Is it harder to ride in cooler weather than in warm weather? This morning the temperature was in the low 50s--by far the coolest weather I have yet ridden in--and by the time I got to McConnell, I felt physically like I did the first time I rode out there . . . which is to say, awful. Heat wasn't the problem, though; I just couldn't catch my breath. The afternoon, though, was great: temperatures in the 70s, and I had no troubles with the climbs.

I'd appreciate any insight that those of you experienced in riding in cooler weather might have.

The most momentous commuting news is that on Mt. Vernon as of last week, for a couple of blocks on either side of Broadway, the city is laying water and/or sewer lines, and so for that little stretch I have to detour with the rest of the traffic. I read somewhere that that work will be going on until this January. The detour doesn't add any distance to speak of, but now I don't have a traffic light to aid me in crossing Broadway.

Odd sight of the day: The Harry Street bridge, where it crosses the Arkansas, comes through again. Last month, it was a large turtle that had somehow made it halfway across only to be killed by a car. Today, it was a skin that looked like--in size as well as appearance--it had come from the belly of a decent-sized alligator. No alligators this far north, so what I saw today of course begs the question . . .

One of these days, I hope to post on something other than odd bits of carrion.

This afternoon, I saw a car with a front plate that read "#1 Sooner Fan." I (born and raised in Austin to love all things Longhorns) instantly thought, "Some folks, you just want to light a candle for them until they get better."

And: even though gas is now down to $3.39 a gallon for regular, each time I go out, I see more and more cyclists: folks wearing backpacks, some with panniers on their bikes, but too many without helmets, even on the streets. Still: our numbers are growing . . .

Back, and a couple of announcements

I'm back from my (really) extended weekend, and I hope your holiday was at least half as restful and pleasant and bratwurst-filled (there went the diet for a couple of days) as mine was.

While I was away, two folks informed me of new-to-me activities in the area that Wichita cyclists might appreciate knowing about:

Randy of Wichita's Coasters' Bicycle Club sent me this via e-mail:

4th Annual Midwest Bicycle Fest

Sunday, September 28th
10:00am - 4:00pm

Riggs Park, Haysville, KS

Free Family Fun!
Come Talk, View and Ride, Custom, Antique and Unusual Bicycles.
Contests, Door Prizes and People's Choice Awards.
Free Hot Dogs and BBQ.
Kids Crafts.
Win a custom Bicycle.
Ride the 7 Passenger Conference Bike and More

That sounds like great fun. I hope that some of you will be able to make it.

And, in case you didn't see this in the comments for the previous post, Michael posted this:

[J]ust wanted to let you know the Riders of Rohan meet every Friday at 7pm at The Vagabond on Douglas in Delano and ride all night. Kinda like critical mass but every week! and it's a gang... I'm traveling until October but the rest of the gang should still be meeting up. check it out, hope to see you there when i get back to town!

Orc- and Uruk-Hai-hunting on the streets of Wichita on Friday nights?? If I only had a sword . . . and a headlamp for my bike . . .

As for me, I'm way behind on blog-reading; as I run into things that seem post-worthy, they'll be making their appearance here later on

On holiday

Today's Wednesday, right?

Speaking for myself: As far as the concept of a "week" is concerned, while on sabbatical all that can go a wee bit awry from time to time. I'm more or less on schedule with the rest of the world this week because I've been following the Democratic National Convention and, wouldn't you know it, they've scheduled their speakers in accordance with--get this--the days of the week. So, yeah: Wednesday. But I swear to you that yesterday, for the first hour or so, I thought it was Saturday.

Anyway. Today might as well be Friday for me, because after I keep my unofficial office hours today, I'll be heading out of town to make this holiday weekend, like, really, really long. I'll be away from "here" until after Labor Day--which will be, um, Tuesday I think. The day after Labor Day being Tuesday, I mean.

Let's just call this my personal little Year of Confusion.

Have a safe and relaxing weekend. And thanks for supporting this blog with your visits and comments.

Sunday Ride #5: K-96 Bike Path

Route map:MapMyRide (I'm sorry to say that Veloroute was not cooperating for me as of this evening; I'll try again tomorrow.)

As announced here back on Thursday, today was the big inaugural gathering of Cycling in Wichita readers and interested others (that's way too wordy for a T-shirt; I'll try to come up with something snappier for next time). Two other folks joined me: Brian and Peter, both of whom not only visit this blog but have actually left comments in the past. Just after 9:30, we left Grove Park, crossed Hillside, and rode the length of the K-96 Bike Path. Aside from our getting caught in a brief rain shower on the way back and my nearly causing Brian to crash when I slowed down suddenly, a good time was had by all. This was by far my longest ride to date, and I'm happy to note that when I got home I felt like I could keep on going.

Both Brian and Peter pulled up on fixed-gear bikes, so today was my introduction to this sort of bike. That's not saying much, of course, given how new I am to cycling. Moreover, both had experience with this bike path--Peter, in fact, uses a stretch of it on his daily commute to Beechcraft. Brian is a native of Wichita and has at one time or another ridden all the city's bike paths.

This bike path was a treat to ride. Between Hillside and Woodlawn, the path passes through grasslands and dense stands of trees in creek bottoms, which gives this path a very different feel from any of the other paths in town. Chisholm Park, in fact, is a Wichita Wild space--a habitat preserve; if it weren't for the paved path and the traffic noise from the highway, you'd likely not know you were in the midst of suburbia. From Woodlawn on, the path either passes through residential areas or hugs K-96. The path is in good condition for its entire length--in fact, it is in better overall shape than the Arkansas River path. Aside from some mild rises on its eastern side, the path is fairly flat.

As I saw at Sedgwick County Park last weekend, lots of riders were out this morning, especially in Chisholm Park and along the path's eastern side. These folks tended to ride in packs, though: more families and groups of cyclists. For that reason, it didn't feel crowded on the path, even though it was busy.

As Brian and Peter and I talked about bike paths in town today, we each lamented the lack of a centrally-located east-west route for cyclists; so, when the path crossed the abandoned railroad right-of-way that runs just south of 17th Street, I know I couldn't help but feel a bit of frustration that, as things stand now, the plans to convert it into a path are on hold.

So, yeah: we had a good time--so much so that we'll try this again toward the end of September.