Conspicuity

I spent some time this weekend doing some little projects that have been on the "to do" list for way too long,  most of which involved adding visibility to my daily riding gear.

Something that I liked about my Bern helmet was the rear  plastic clip (designed for goggle retention on the ski slopes).  Most days I slipped a Planet Bike Superflash into the clip (sideways) to add an extra 3' of height to my bike light assembly.

In order to mount it on the Yakkay, I needed a loop of some sort.  I originally thought I'd put a shock cord sort of loop, and mount the light vertically instead of horizontally.  But A) I didn't have any shock cord,  B) I didn't want to make big holes in the cover for a shock cord,  and C)  the stripes on the cover are vertical, and I thought maybe the loop might look better vertical when the light isn't on.

I did have some reflective grosgrain ribbon,  and I used it to make a vertical loop that blends in nicely with the stripes on the helmet when the light is off, but holds the light clip reasonably securely (I might close the loop down a smidge if the light starts falling off.

It's surprisingly hard to take a picture of the back of one's head

I also ironed on some reflective tape on my "ugly but warm" gloves across the back of the hand.   The gloves aren't much to look at anyway, and I only wear them riding, so I didn't spend a lot of time following the contours of the seams- just put a big bar across the back.  Not subtle, but hopefully will help when signaling a turn. I will need to remember not just to put my hand out, but to turn it slightly so that the stripe is facing backward.

I have a lemon yellow "water resistant" trenchcoat, which has an inverted pleat all up the back, which I had been thinking would be a convenient place for a strip of silver that adds reflection without really changing the look of the coat.

I may do the same thing to my favorite red wool coat,  but I'm more hesitant to alter it permanently- may add a sew-on strip instead of an iron on one.

I also had some reflective adhesive strip (basically tape),  and I put a stripe of it up one panel of my leather bag.  I didn't get it in between the seams quite as neatly as it could have gone, and the effect of reflective tape on a leather bag is a bit unusual, but I think it will be relatively unobtrusive,  mostly because it's captured between two seams, so seems a bit more like it fits.

Put a tiny bit of extra tape on the Shogun,  hiding the orange VO sticker on the fenders.  I don't plan on riding the Shogun out after dark a lot (at least until I live the dream of touring)  but I think this adds a bit of reflectivity, without being noticeable.

Next, I put larger patches of 2" wide tape both front and back on the new Linus panniers.  There's a bike almost always parked along my route, with silver reflective patches on the panniers that are left on it 24/7,  and I can see them from a block away in my bike headlight.

 So I thought it would be a good addition that's not terribly incongruous with the look of the panniers.  I just cut  four 4" long pieces of tape, rounding the edges slightly to make them look a bit more finished,  and ironed them onto the heavy cotton canvas.

Finally I watched a movie and sewed a little strip of reflective grosgrain ribbon on my black softshell which is a good weight for biking, but which I don't wear much because a) it's all black and b) it's an odd length to wear with skirts.

A very busy weekend of conspicuity projects- I should be very visible these nights!  I had a recent brief conversation recently about the reflective "vests"  made by Vespertine in NYC.  Admittedly they look very fetching on models, when worn over a tank top (or less)  but I'm not sure how they'd look thrown over a coat.  For colder weather clothing, I think that adding reflective material, either sewn on, or iron on, in such a way that it follows the natural seams of the garment is more effective because it's not something extra I have to remember.  If done well it doesn't have to look like a bike specific costume, but instead can be an "inconspicuous" part of an everyday piece of clothing or luggage.

Double digits still

Having such a warm fall/ winter hasn't let me acclimate as I normally would to chilling temperatures,  so now, in January to land in the middle of a  not unseasonable 10 degree morning, feels colder than usual.

Wool tights, layered under normal ones,  thin wool socks on top of that.  Normal dress boots,  a lined denim dress (from the Boden clearance sale),  a wool sweater,  a wool coat,  "liner" gloves (from the dollar store), puffy gloves,  ear pod things,  scarf, and helmet.

I'm really careful in cold weather to put lots of moisturizer on to keep my face from getting chapped and wind burned.  By the time I got to work the piece of scarf that I had over my mouth had gotten damp from my breath, and then frozen stiff.  But I was even a bit too warm- probably could have skipped the wool sweater.  My hands were fine,  my toes were a bit cold, but not uncomfortably so.  I took off the extra tights and socks for the day.

Probably worth a separate post, but I've been struggling for a week or so with what to say to Policemen behaving badly.   I've posted several times about my generally high opinion of Cambridge's finest,  but every day for the last week or so, there has been a detail cop at an area narrowed by a construction crane.  This cop, who likely is not actually from Cambridge, but an off duty guy from elsewhere making extra money on the side doing traffic detail*  likes to stand in the middle of the bike lane while chatting to another cop on the sidewalk.    I'm not sure whether to ask him politely if he could stand on the sidewalk?  I'm not sure if I should complain to the construction company that hired him?  I don't think it would do any good to complain to the city.

I'm afraid that if I ask him,  even nicely,  that he'll get hostile, and I'll have to deal with his hostility every day for the rest of his construction.   Normally it would be no big deal to just go around him and roll my eyes,  but because of the crane on the other side of the road,  the area is already narrowed down, and there's always traffic I have to merge into.  I've rung my bell,  nicely,  just so that I don't startle him or (hopefully) to keep him from stepping out in front of me.   What to do when the authority figures are the ones causing the problem?

* lots of controversy over this in MA -where until recently civilian flaggers were not allowed- for you out of town readers.

Do you, or Don't you? (updated)

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to buy a treat for the Scientist,  and when I was riding off,  I saw a UPS truck at an intersection ahead of me, about to turn into my path.  I give all big trucks a wide berth, so I slowed down a bit, and saw the driver look right at me.  Feeling assured that she saw me, I proceeded, only to have her turn right out in front of me.  Fortunately I was acting with an abundance of caution, so I only had to brake slightly,  but when I caught up to her at the next block (she'd stopped to make a delivery) I rode up to her door, and asked "Did you see me before you pulled right out in front of me?"

She said "Yeah"

But immediately followed that with,  "but you're wearing dark clothes"
I said, "but I have a very bright light"
She said,  "you should have something flashing"
At this point, I just shook my head and rode away, pondering as I went.

This is a bit of a headscratcher.  "Yeah" she saw me and pulled out in front of me anyway?

Yeah, she saw me, despite my "dark" clothing?  and decided to punish me because I wasn't wearing neon lights?

Of course, neither flashing lights nor high vis clothing are required by law in any state I know of, and definitely not in MA, where you need a white light on the front and a red light on the back.   My lights are much brighter than many people's standard "blinkies"

For the record this is what I was wearing: white helmet (with planet bike superflash on the back) light grey sweater, black skirt with  grey tights (and red gloves).    Not exactly head to toe black.

More importantly Minerva was wearing  a Lumotec Cyco R 40 lux headlight mounted at handlebar height.

(It's what all the well dressed DL-1's are wearing these days!)

Basically she either didn't look carefully enough to see me, or didn't process that I was there, because she wasn't thinking about bikes.   After I confronted her (in a pleasant and reasonable tone) she started to make any excuse she could to excuse her carelessness and put the blame on me.

I know that the golden rule or urban cycling is to assume no one sees you.  But I also think that we have to start creating consequences for drivers who don't pay attention, consequences that are serious enough that people pay attention to what they're looking at!  Complaining to commercial driver's employers is a start, but I feel strongly that we need dramatically stronger liability laws to protects bicycles and pedestrians.

Updated-  I filed a complaint online with UPS,  and they emailed me to say that they'd forwarded it to the dispatcher. I did get a call from the dispatcher this morning (sat), but couldn't get to the phone in time.  He left a message apologizing and saying that he would call back later, although he hasn't yet, and the number he has called from seems to be permanently busy.  I don't want them to punish the driver, but I do hope that they will remind her to be careful, and perhaps keep a complaint on her record in case she later hurts someone.

Bike Accident

I suppose it was only a matter of time- but  wait it's not what you think!

I was walking back from picking up lunch, and was checking out a bike riding by.  I was wondering if the "carbon fiber" pattern of the fenders could possibly actually be carbon fiber, and why anyone would pay that much money for fenders,  when I stepped off the curb, and bam!

I guess I just misjudged the step, and caught my heel on the curb, and wham, I was down on one knee in the gutter.  I guess that will teach me to check out bikes while I walk!

Changes to onramp of Longfellow

 I made a special detour to go see what's going on on the Cambridge side of Longfellow this morning, because I've been biking via cambridgeport and the river the last couple of days, but heard from a couple of people asking what was going on there.  Basically, they turned the right lane of Broadway into a right turn only lane, in order to provide a dedicated lane for people coming off Mem drive onto the bridge.

Looking towards Cambridge

Looking towards Boston

My best guess is that it's an attempt to streamline diverted traffic from the Craigie bridge closure, which means it  may only be in place for a month while Craigie is closed.

They were anticipating a huge volume of traffic coming off of mem drive and trying to cross into Boston, and they wanted them to be able to merge onto the bridge faster.  I don't see that volume of traffic, so  it seems like overkill to me, and kind of a mess for bikers.  I don't mind the bike lane zig zagging, but there's so much visual clutter, that I'm worried that people entering the lane won't see bikers coming, what with the giant sign, the bollards and so on.  

I sent photos to someone who has better contacts at Mass DOT to ask what's going on, but that's my best guess.

Do you ride there?  What do you think they should do there? Anything?  Or does it seem clear now that you've passed through it a couple of times?

In celebration of Daylight Savings Time

In celebration of daylight savings, I have done absolutely nothing to increase the visibility of my bike.

Why?
Because I already count on being visible 365 days a year.  My bike is my primary transportation, and I can't be bothered with transportation that I can only use during the day.  November,  January, July,  I ride in the dark and need to be seen.

I personally don't go in much for reflective clothing.  I am a firm believer in reflective tire sidewalls however.  Nothing transmits "bicycle" faster to the brainstem than two circles of light.  I do have a retroreflective sash that I wear if it's raining, I'm wearing head to toe black, or it's Friday or Saturday night and I want just a little extra edge.  I bought it at a running store, and like it because it's easy to stuff in my bag for an instant transformation into an ordinary person.  It's also easy to shed if I'm trying to de-layer at a stop sign.

For maximum effectiveness, your lights need to actually be, you know, visible. Lights clipped to the top of your backpack so that they're pointing at the moon when you're bent over the handlebars, or on your seatpost hidden by the tail of your coat or the stuff  on your rack aren't actually doing anyone any good, except possibly battery manufacturers.   It's not a bad idea to have someone else either ride your bike while you follow them, or have them follow you when you're riding every so often to make sure everything is as visible as you think it is.

I like a combo of fixed and flashing lights.  Flashing lights are eye catching, but can be harder to track when someone is trying to figure out how fast you're going (like before they pull out in front of you).  A lot of people have rear blinkies because they're worried about being seen by cars from behind, but neglect front lights.  Front lights not only help you see obstacles in front of you but they keep cars from turning in front of you, and help pedestrians and other bikers know you're approaching.

 If you're a regular reader of this blog, you too probably have a lighting strategy in place, whether it gets dark at 4pm or 9pm.  What's your favorite light, and why?

Not particularly bike- related

One of the things I hope to avoid through active transportation is heart disease.  However there are lots of people out there who for whatever reason (inactivity,  genetic predisposition)  will suffer sudden cardiac arrest.
Like many people, I had to study CPR in 10th grade gym class, with the scary "recussa- Annie"  dummies, but I 'm not sure I'd really feel comfortable trying it on a real person.  So I was interested to learn that there's a new "modern" approach to CPR  called CCR (continuous chest compression) that's targeted more to laypeople than trained responders.
 I'm going to pass this along- take five minutes, learn a valid reason to get "Staying Alive" stuck in your head, and if you ever need to, you can be a Good Samaritan without having to recall those days in the high school gym.

The hour I first believed

So, the fact that rod brakes are marginal at best, and completely lousy in the rain is common knowledge amongst roadster lovers  Instead of smooth braking, I get a rattling jerky gradual slowing when I apply Minerva's brakes.
I've just been going slow and being even more conservative than usual these last couple of weeks.

And everyone talks about how much worse they are in wet conditions, so I was debating whether to ride home after this afternoon's thunderstorms, or bail and take the T.  Since it looked pretty clear, and the roads looked reasonably dry, I decided to bike home.

About halfway over the longfellow it starts to sprinkler,  and although it never really starts to pour, it gets steadily harder, and there are lots of leftover puddles in the bike lane.  I'm trying to decide whether to gut it out or bail and walk home, when I have to brake suddenly-  and got a big double handful of NOTHING.

Fortunately I wasn't going very fast, and wasn't panic stopping, just slowing a bit.
But boy do I sure believe the stories now about how lousy rod brakes are!

mark your calendars

Wednesday night at BU's Morse auditorium Nicole Freedman and the city's Bicycle task force will be having a bicycle safety summit to discuss infrastructure and what we can do to make Boston a safer city in which to bicycle.
I appreciate that the city has reacted so quickly to the recent accidents.
The more people that can show up the better in terms of establishing community support for biking in boston, so please if you live here, make an effort to show up and show the city that we deserve their attention and the effort necessary to create safer streets.

HIT

So it happened.

Something I've been worrying about for weeks.

Since the weather turned and all the newbies came out to play.

I was hit by another bike.

I was riding along the Charles River bike path, crossing Mass Ave.  The pedestrian signal had just changed from walk to flashing orange,  and there were probably 20 people (bikes and peds) in the crosswalk, and I know that light has a long warning cycle, so I proceeded at a measured pace into the crosswalk.  Wham!
A woman travelling along the stopped cars over the Mass Ave bridge ran the red light.  I don't know if she was just planning on creaming any pedestrian who happened to be in the crosswalk.  I suspect she didn't think that far ahead.

Fortunately she had almost stopped, and I was almost out of her path, so she just clipped my rear wheel.  Still.  It could have been so much worse.  What if she'd hit a baby carriage?

I yelled at the top of my lungs, (and believe me, for a 5'6" 140 pound gal, I got a set of lungs).
"What the HELL are you doing?!"   You have a RED LIGHT!!  There are PEDESTRIANS Crossing!"

She said "sorry, so sorry" and rode off.
Still at the top of my lungs ( and believe me about 100 people within a 100 yard range heard me)
"Bad enough to have to worry about getting hit by a car, but to have to worry about getting hit by a bicycle?"
I really hope she was shamed and will think twice.
Because it could have been so much worse.

Pedal Fail/ Customer Service Win

About a month ago I realized that one of my cool flashing pedals wasn’t flashing any more.  I was kind of bummed, because they were kind of pricy, and I was sad to lose that extra attention getting flash.

I thought maybe I’d try to open it up, clean it out and see if there were any obviously broken or corroded electrical connections.

I was poking around on the internet looking for information, and noted a post from the Pedalite customer service manager asking anyone with problems with the pedals to contact him so that he could try to solve the problem (before they become disgruntled ex-customers spreading ill will on the internet)

So I emailed him last Wednesday, at the address he provided in his post, and he contacted me the next day asking for a photo of the defective pedal and my shipping address.  He said that even though their warranty was normally a year, they wanted the products to last a lot longer than that,  and were willing to replace the defective pedal despite the fact that I’d had mine 18 months.

I was out sick again on Monday (2010 has been a year of plague in our household- sniffle)  but arrived to work today to find a tidy package bearing the Royal British Mail stamp, with a new pedal enclosed!

 

Super fast,  no paperwork, no five copes of my proof of purchase, no quibbling about the warranty date-  what excellent customer service!

Plus the blinking lights are very noticeable!  Put me down as a fan.  I was at Harris Cyclery Saturday (they started carrying the Pedalites a while after I bought them) and let them know so that they could help anyone else who has a failure.

 

Disclaimer in case you might think I'm a shill:

I bought these pedals at a bike store in Portland for retail.   The only financial “compensation” I’ve received is the warranty replacement.

On my soapbox

Spring seems to have finally sprung in Boston! 

I say seems because it's not uncommon in these parts for mother nature to get us all excited about longer and warmer days, only to slap us down with a week of 33 degree rain.

Thanks to the time change, I got to ride home in daylight for the first time in what feels like forever:

I stopped at the regular grocery store for Gatorade for the Scientist who has the Stomach flu- hopefully the 24 hour kind.  Then I went to Trader Joe's where I bought a case of wine.  The stock guy was overly solicitous- worried that I couldn't carry it to the front of the store.  I wanted to tell him- honey, I'm about to carry it 2 miles home on my bike, so if I can't get it to the front of the store, I have other problems!

I think this is about the limit of what I can reasonably carry on Robert.  I was super wobbly at low speed.

The nice weather and the time change have brought an influx of new or newish riders out of hibernation and back on the streets, to which I say "Hooray"

However,  I'm also seeing a lot of dangerous, and, quite frankly, rude behaviour from some people excited about riding again or for the first time.

So some suggestions from my soapbox:

1)  Smile!  You're not in a car-  relax, enjoy the ride, take a couple of deep breaths of spring air.  Biking is supposed to be fun and enjoyable, not just about getting there as fast and furiously as you can.

2)  Practice the Golden Rule/ be polite.  This has a lot of applications in biking as in the rest of life.    You hate it when cars come too close, don't yield when you have the right of way or otherwise make you feel vulnerable- don't make pedestrians or other bikers feel the same way.  You may feel like you're giving pedestrians enough space, but maybe the guy who nearly hit you with his mirror felt the same way when he buzzed you.  Additionally- practice it with cars.  If you're on a narrow road with a lot of traffic, and people are having to wait to pass you safely, maybe you shouldn't blow past them at the next stoplight and make them do it again in the next block.  If there are other drivers stopped at a redlight or a stopsign, how hard is it to stop and wait your turn? If there's really truly no one around, it's like a tree falling in the forest as far as I'm concerned, but otherwise it's illegal, and more importantly, rude.

 3) Don't put yourself in danger.   I see a lot of new riders threading through narrow gaps in the blind spots of busses and trucks.  Your life is worth the extra 20 seconds to wait and go around.  Not only are they probably not expecting you to be passing,  but they probably can not physically see you.  I personally extend this to never passing moving cars, or cars that might possibly start moving while I'm passing.  A moving car can veer into you so quickly that you can't react, and it won't be expecting you to pass it in what is really a single lane.  

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest to even new cyclists that you need to learn about vehicular cycling and consider trying to implement it.  I understand that when you're getting started the cars are scary, and you feel like you're moving slow, and the natural tendency is to pull as far over as possible.   But that puts you at risk of dooring, and unfortunately it encourages people to try to squeeze by you when they really don't have enough space.  I understand that it's challenging,  and it requires a certain amount of fortitude to make the cars wait to pass you,  but all I ask is that you learn about it and start trying it out.  Try it on less busy roads and see how it works.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how cars actually give you more respect and space and you will actually feel safer.

Finally I'm going to include biking the wrong way down a one way street in this one.  This is one of the leading cause of accidents.  I know that it often feels like a good shortcut, or a way to avoid a busier road.  But people won't be looking for you, so they're even less likely to see you.  And if you come down the bike lane the wrong way, you're in violation of #2.  The advantage of being on a bike is that you can go a couple of blocks out of your way pretty quickly.  If it's just a block or so,  it won't kill you to get off and walk on the sidewalk.   

4)  Ride in your regular clothes.  Because if you have to change your clothes to ride your bike, unless you're super hard core, you're less likely to ride your bike.  If you're riding less than 5 miles and at less than 20mph,  you can almost certainly ride in your normal clothes unless these are your normal clothes.  Honestly, unless you're built something like Lance Armstrong, or are riding some serious distance or at impressive speed, you're gonna look a little silly riding in the 100% lycra getup.  I'll try not to laugh if I see you at the streetcorner, but I can't guarantee what anyone else will do.

I'm not a super fashionable girlie girl, despite the blog title, but I manage to ride in just about anything I wear to work.  Pretty much any sturdy shoe will work (heel height is not an issue unless you plan on pedaling with your heels).   I wouldn't wear Manolo Blahniks ( if I owned such things) unless you don't mind possibly ruining the heels, but clip in pedals aren't necessary for city riding either unless you want to take up tap dancing on the side!

I do try to test ride a skirt before I take it out on parade,  and if it tends to billow up, I take precautions.  I have a couple of pairs of mostly cotton "workout shorts" that come almost to the knee and ensure modesty with fuller, floatier skirts.

5) Get lit.    You're going to have so much fun riding, that sooner or later you'll be out after dark.  For your own sake, for the sake of other bikers,  for the sake of drivers,  you should have at the very least a small (blinky) white light in the front  and a red light in the back that is not hidden by your backpack or your bag or your coat.  Thanks to LEDs there are tons of small, cheap, long lasting options out there, so there's no excuse for being a ninja.

6)  Consider wearing a helmet if you bike in the city.   This is  a personal choice and gets a lot of flame wars going.  Please do not write in with vigorous arguments for/ against.  When I ride in Europe or on a limited access bike path I often don't wear a helmet.  I understand that if a multi- ton vehicle hits or runs over me, the helmet will not help me, etc etc.

However, probably the most common accidents in a city like boston are dooring,right hooks, and hitting a bad pothole, all of which are cause to stop short and fly over your handlebars.  Although I try my best to avoid putting myself in a position for them to happen,  I like to give my head a fighting chance if it hits the pavement at speed.

SHINY!

I must be part magpie.
Whenever I see clothing in shiny silver or shiny grey, I have to touch it, and often have to try it on, much to the amusement of my shopping companions.  I had a gunmetal down coat when I first moved up to Boston that I wore until it literally fell apart.  I have a light silver light trench coat that I bought last fall for bicycling.


And now,  for the latest entry in my search for the perfect bicycling coat:

Like most people who bicycle in their regular clothes, I eschew fluorescent colored retro reflective cycling jackets.  I often have to go to meetings wearing my coat, and I'd have to bring a separate jacket to work, which kind of obviates the whole ride in your work clothes philosophy.

On the other hand, a black wool coat isn't the best thing to increase visibility when riding home after dark.  Unfortunately black goes with everything, and consequently I have a lot of black outerwear.  I compromise by wearing a retroreflective sash over black coats, but inevitably I have to shed a layer mid-ride and end up struggling with the sash and the coat all tangled up.

So a reflective grey/ silver coat would seem to be the perfect thing.  It's reasonably sober in daylight, therefore appropriate with regular clothes,  it goes with a wide variety of other colors like black does,  and when hit with a headlight's beam, it clearly is a human body.

The Scientist said when I tried it on that it looked like something from the matrix, but that it would be fine for riding in.  I like a good belted trench though, it's a classic look, which helps ground the shiny-ness (I hope).

My last silvery coat hasn't been all I hoped it would be.  I'm not crazy about the peter pan collar,the fit is kind of baggy and the lining is shredded at the sleeves already from being removed at stop lights a couple of times.  I've always meant to alter the collar and nip in the waist or belt it, but have never gotten around to it.  I'm hopeful that this one seems a little more substantial, and although it's not super warm, it seems heavier than the other one.

So far I have only two drawbacks.  The first is that it has buttons, which are hard to undo in motion.

 The second, and this is a bit of an odd thing, is that unlike a retroreflective fabric- this fabric is sort of peripherally reflective,  which means that I keep getting reflections in the corner of my eye that are caused by streetlights ahead of me bouncing off the sleeves, making me think that there's a car's headlights coming up from behind.  It happened several times that I thought someone was right behind me,  so it's a pretty strong effect.  We'll see if I get used to it.

Yikes

I saw my first bike accident last night.


It was a lot warmer on the way home- I was actually hot in all my gear from the morning.
I got passed on the Longfellow bridge by someone who I first thought was a woman wearing a skirt and opaque tights.  I was thinking that would have been super cold in the morning!


When I pulled up at the light, I realized that it was a guy wearing wool cycling knickers and wool kneesocks.  He was running a double Schmidt  E6 lighting system and we chatted about it briefly.


A couple of blocks later, I had just looked over my shoulder before moving further over into the lane.  When I looked back ahead,  the guy was hitting the pavement ahead of me.  By the time I caught up to him he was getting up.  I tried to shine my lights to help him pick up pieces of one of his E6s.   He thought he had hit a pothole and although he thought his tire had blown, it seemed to be OK.  A very nice driver (with a dual roof rack) stopped to ask if he was OK and if he needed a ride, which he declined.


This guy was doing everything right-  riding conservatively, stopping at lights, running a good lighting system.  It just shows that anyone could do it- and to me it's sure a good argument for wearing a helmet, which he was.  

Being bright

I seem to have a lot of posts frozen in mid-project- I have a couple of things in the works and haven't gotten to a good point to post any of them.  Hopefully this weekend.


In the meantime- I've been thinking about light and being bright.  I've actually been pretty impressed recently at how few ninjas I've seen out and about recently.  The fall has been relatively mild and dry and I'm seeing a lot of bikers, and most of them seem to have lights YEAH!


I thought I'd expound a bit more on my lighting strategy.
My main offense is my LED dynamo driven light, the Schmidt Edeluxe.   I posted on it right after I got it, but after a couple months of heavy use, I'm happy to say that I still love it.

I had a bit of a debacle with the fancy special order security screws that I installed to keep my light safe from thieves with allen wrenches.
While I was locking up, I  readjusted the angle on the light, and in forcing it, loosened it just enough that it kept slipping down.   I was out running errands and had to stop every 300yards to raise it back up before it hit the fender.  Sigh.  So I went to go get the driver from where I’d put it in the baggie with the rest of the security screws I bought.  Not to be found.   Frantic search ensues,  followed by tearful meltdown, followed by the Scientist going out to buy me flowers.  It had been a long day.
Anyway, $12 and a couple of days brought me a new driver, and so far so good.

All of that is a long preamble to two things I’ve noticed after living with it for a couple of months.
First-  This sucker is really really bright.  I notice a lot of pedestrians turning around to look at me as I come up behind them,  seeing the light and wondering what it is.
Secondly, and somewhat surprisingly, I’m really liking the lower light position below the basket.  With my old light position, I had to be really careful when I had stuff in the basket to keep it tamped down so that it didn’t obscure the beam.  Now I can pile it high without blocking the beam.


So that's the front.
Rear lights are tough because it's hard to see them when you're moving- so it's hard to tell how visible you are.  I recommend that people get someone else to either watch them bike away or have someone ride the bike for you, so that you can be sure that your lights are visible.  So often people have a helmet light or backpack light, that when they're crouched over becomes almost invisible.  I'm also not a fan of seatpost lights because they're easily covered by a coat tail or backpack.
I have two rear lights.  One is fender mounted- which is fairly low, but it does nicely avoid the problem of being covered with packages or my coat.  It runs off my generator, and has a nice bright standlight for several minutes after I stop.  In addition I run a battery powered LED that bolts onto the back of my rack.  I wanted a light a bit higher,  and this one is also protected from concealing clothing, although it could potentially be covered by something I'm carrying.

None of these lights are flashing.  I know that flashing lights are noticeable, but I think that it's hard to determine how fast they're coming, or going away from you, especially quickly.  Also, most of the dynamo operated stuff comes from Germany where it's illegal to have flashing lights.

I do however have flashing pedals which not only flash, but they provide a nice bit of lighting for cars approaching from the side.  They have a white light that is supposed to face forward, an amber light to the side, and a red light to the back, and they cycle with an eyecatchingly bright strobe effect- visible even during the day.   They have a little generator that is part of the pedal axle,  and a capacitor to create a stand light for several minutes after I stop.  They're really really bright, and although I'm sure there's some drag, I don't notice it. The bottom has a bit of a bump for the generator, and it mostly hangs down as its supposed to, but it's not the end of the world to pedal on it for a few revolutions. 
 The top has a nice little double row of blunt metal studs that provide a bit of extra traction.

I couldn't figure out how to post video so to see the pedals in action click here


One of the things that people forget is side visibility.  The reflective stripe on Marathon tires is really bright, and it has the added advantage of instantly identifying you as a bike.

OK,  Now that I've finished that post, I'm going to hop back on, and ride to the store for milk.  Riding the bike at night is much more appealing knowing I'm bright and visible.

Is your life worth 20 seconds?

Bikers often complain that cars won't wait for 20 seconds in order to pass safely, endangering cyclists by passing too close, cutting people off, right hooking etc.   

However, I notice that a lot of people  will ride right up next to a big truck at a stoplight, without much care for whether it's about to turn right.  After surviving my first right hook with only bruises, I've made it a policy not to pull up next to a big vehicle,  or really any vehicle, unless I can be certain I can get ahead of them before the light changes.  I'd rather wait patiently behind them for a few more seconds than to chance them starting to move and turn across my path as I try to squeeze around.   I understand that the safest place to be is in front of all the vehicles (like in a bike box),  but I also understand from personal experience that the most dangerous place is to be 3/4 back in the blind spot,  and if there's a chance I won't make it to the front of the queue before it starts to move, I'd much rather just wait behind, in normal traffic.  

This is especially true with big delivery trucks, busses and construction vehicles, where not only is the mass (and danger to an unprotected bicyclist) greater, but the reaction time is slower and the blind spots bigger.

I know that the Portland OR water department did a public service outreach to cyclists, inviting them to climb up in a big rig and see how big the blind spots really are.  I think that it would be illuminating, and that a lot of people would think twice about biking up into those blind spots if they had a real sense of what it's really like up in that cab.

 
For me personally,  I'll wait the extra 20 seconds and just hang out in the lane behind, thanks.  My life is worth a little delay.

Making Bicycling Dull

I really found this article thought provoking about the relationship between (macho) individualism and bicycle commuting on hostile streets.  I love this line :
"...policy is not to make cycling safer but to encourage more people to be brave"


The author goes on to suggest that by making cycling safe and boring though separated facilities,  it is opened up to a broad cross section of people who don't want to have to be alpha and aggressive every time they ride out their front door, just to survive.


Hear hear!


 I find it interesting that she cites a study that women tend to ride closer to the curb, more reluctant to take the lane, perhaps to make things easier for passing traffic.  Unfortunately it also makes them much more vulnerable to right and left hooks than riding in the lane.  There are all kinds of issues of social conditioning to get along and be compliant and not ruffle feathers that women internalize and bring to their bicycling, but that's not really the point.   The point is that it should be safe for anyone.  Dull, boring,  bicycle as appliance,  normal method for getting from point A to point B with the least amount of fuss and no worries.


The secret is,  that even if biking was "dull",  it would still be wonderful!  Don't tell the cagers how much fun it is to ride,  they'll start clogging up the bike lanes!!

And there was light!

And it was good,  and really, really bright!

I love how my hub dynamo lets me forget about batteries, but my halogen light was having problems and I had read about the new generation of LED dynamo lights.   So I finally saved up the money to buy a gorgeous new Schmidt Edeluxe light.
I took advantage of the lovely day Saturday to bike the 15 mile RT to Harris Cyclery in West Newton. Although this is my LBS of choice, it was made famous by having a comprehensive web site, before that was really common, created and maintained by the legendary Sheldon Brown.  Although Sheldon died in 2008, he created an incredible resource for people who love all kinds of bikes, especially old ones, and it's worth checking out whenever you have a technical question.

I never met Sheldon (although I conversed once with him via email)  but I go there for Norm the master mechanic, who rebuilt Robert as the bionic bike,  and who keeps him in tiptop shape, and for Elton, the unconventional bike part maven.  Elton and I worked out a way to mount the light symmetrically (as an architect, I'm big on symmetry) fastened to the underside of my rack, so it's in front of my basket.  Because it's a very dense light (heavy for its size)  I read a couple of warnings against using a typical head bracket mount, but Elton found a rack mounting piece that had a 90 degree twist so that I could fasten it to the bottom of my front rack, and then attach the light to the front.
I went home and did some modifications to the strut (I love my new Bosch jigsaw!).  A little more work with the wiring, a hair dryer to shrink wrap the electrical connectors, and I was in business!

So far so good, although I  need to fasten my basket back down to its previously unshakable-load-me-with-two-six-packs- state.  I also am very nervous about leaving my new investment vulnerable to anyone with a phillips screwdriver, so I'm searching for a stainless steel vandal resistant bolt.

 I was biking to the post office after my first day riding it to work, and while stopped at a stoplight, a guy in a suit asked me if that was a Edeluxe.  He said that he had a halogen E6 schmidt light , and was thinking of upgrading.

While I had the bike in the basement, and up on the rack, I tightened up the fenders, the rear light, all the little connections, and it's really great- like having a new bike!  It's so quiet and smooth,  without the little annoying rattles.   And you can see me coming from quite a bit away!

Hang up and Drive

Yesterday and this morning there was a guy standing in the median strip between lanes of traffic at the (horrific) Charles station interchange at the bottom of the Longfelllow bridge.  He was nicely dressed in a sport coat and chinos and was walking back and forth with a sign which said "Please, Please Please, Hang up and Drive" on one side,  and on the other "I'll pay you $1 if you hang up that call"  He actually got a taker,  a woman who was laughing and being a good sport.  The freeway that she had just exited makes me tense to drive on it without distraction (it's narrow and curvy and people drive way too fast and merge like crazy people).  So it might be too little too late for her to hang up now, but better now than before she passes me on the next stretch of road!




I asked him if there was a story behind his activism and he said that he worked for a non profit called Safe Roads Alliance
and although it was a bit of a publicity stunt, maybe it got people to be a bit sheepish about their phone use instead of just defensive.  Even better, there was a newspaper photographer taking pictures, maybe the organization will get some publicity and people will read about the dangers of driving distracted.

There's a lot of discussion in the transpo-cycling world about how MADD changed public perception of drunk driving from a an almost harmless "who hasn't driven after a few" activity to the sort of thing only a heartless sociopath would do.  There's a need to turn talking on cell phones while driving from a thing "everybody does"  into the kind of thing that no respectable person would admit to doing in polite society.

Although no one wants to be the victim of a distracted driver, pedestrians and cyclists who don't come equipped with airbags and crumple zones are much more vulnerable to the consequences of someone's inattention.
So keep up the good work man!  I hope you give away lots of $1 bills!

Ninja!

Can you see the bike in this picture?  I barely could, and I was looking for him- imagine if I were a car glancing that way before pulling out into the intersection. Please people, buy a crappy little light if nothing else.  It's less than a pizza at most EMS/ REI type stores.  Even if you don't care about being visible to cars, or your own safety, please do it for the individuals who don't happen to have blinding lights with them (i.e. pedestrians and most bikers).  I had a ninja salmon (riding against traffic) come right at me the other night- scared the bejeezus out of me when he suddenly appeared in my headlight, coming right at me.

Although I understand the appeal blinking lights - they're eye catching- be aware that they make it harder to gauge your oncoming speed because they're not constant.  I use one in really inclement weather to supplement my regular light, but I understand why they don't count as a legal light in most of Europe.

There's also some data to suggest that drunks are actually attracted to blinking lights, so I'm just as happy to avoid that possibility.

Although LED lights have been a huge improvement over the old battery chomping glorified flashlights that used to pass for bike lights, I'm a HUGE fan of dynamo lighting.  I've managed to accumulate quite a collection.   Robert has a built in bracket for a rim dynamo,  which I used in Italy, and which works great and is not much more than a cheapo LED.  However, I upgraded to a hub-dynamo, and it's so low-resistance that I run it all the time.  I don't even notice it's on, and hopefully, like daytime running lights on a car, it makes me just a little bit more visible.